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WARNING!

I have applied the following content warnings to this character:
  • Child Abuse (Victim)
  • LGBTphobia (Victim, internalized)
  • Romantic Conflict
  • Mental Health

Tyler Smith
Information
Name Tyler Smith
Nickname(s) Tyler
Ty
Gender Male (cis)
Pronouns He/Him
Height 5'8'' / 173cm
Weight 154lbs / 70kg
Age 22 (as of esports debut)
Birthday July 13th
Sexuality Homosexual
Polyamorous
Nationality British
Residence Southern England
Occupation Fitness Instructor
Esports (BlueShift)
Relatives Unnamed Mother
Unnamed Father
Relations Jude Adams (Boyfriend)
Marmalade (Pet)
Aster Bianchi (Client, Crush)


Tyler Smith is a fitness instructor but is predominantly known as a member of the BlueShift esports team. He is a popular member of the team, despite his anonymity online. He has a bachelor's degree in sports science and lives in a nice apartment thanks to his income alongside his boyfriend Jude and his pet cat Marmalade.


Appearance

Tyler has styled, short, lightly fluffy brunette hair, brown eyes and a light complexion. He is slightly shorter than average and is well-toned with some muscle thanks to his athleticism. He usually wears sportswear, focusing on practicality in his outfits because of his frequent workouts outside of his job.

On the rare occasion that he is not in sports attire, he opts for comfortable loungewear, particularly baggy hoodies, vests, sweatpants and shorts. He frequently wears a friendship bracelet he made with Jude many years ago.

For his job at the gym, Tyler wears specific sports attire for his uniform, with the outfit consisting of a black and orange sports shirt, as well as black, orange and grey sports shorts, white ankle socks and matching trainers.

His esports uniform consists of a black, blue and white sports jersey featuring the number “08”, along with his name on the back, black and blue sports shorts and matching trainers with white ankle socks again.


Personality

Tyler is an enthusiastic, determined yet humble person who is very focused and driven to achieve whatever he sets himself out to do. He is gentler in nature than most would expect given his dedication to high-energy sports and exercise.

To most, Tyler is pleasantly sociable, even with people he doesn't know too well. He can come across as a little serious at times, especially if the topics of athleticism or video games are brought up. He will happily talk extensively about his specific interests with anyone willing to listen, but he is also capable of small talk and enjoys it. That said, he reserves deeper, more personal, emotional topics for those he is closest to.

Tyler is very openly affectionate and attentive around people he is closer to and trusts, particularly manifesting in giving physical affection, be it platonic or romantic. He aims to treat those he cares about gently and to be as compassionate as possible, especially after his experience at university. He is far more open and better at communicating about matters of the heart and is very sentimental.

Sometimes Tyler's determination to see things through can conflict with his compassion towards himself and others if any needs are not being met - his focus on end goals and success has the potential to make him overlook the needs of himself and others along the way. He always feels extremely guilty if this happens and tries to strike a balance between the two.

Tyler doesn't fair the best in conflict and is sensitive to perceived injustices, he can be quick to anger in situations that involve an unfairness of some kind. In cases where he gets angry, he will often remove himself until he has regulated before proceeding with action, if any. In the moment, however, he will physically clench his fists to try and ground himself. Despite this, in a well-regulated state of mind, he is caring and cooperative about finding a resolution and owning up to his wrongs.

Tyler is a creature of routine and loves staying busy. He operates best with things to keep him occupied, and he carefully plans out and follows his chosen schedule.

He can be frugal with money even if he has access to it because of his poor upbringing - often he has to remind himself that he has more than enough means to buy necessities and doesn't need to ration them.

Tyler loves sports and athleticism but strongly dislikes any bad sportsmanship or hyper-competitiveness. He enjoys being active and partaking in sports but also enjoys studying sports science, being very interested in how the human body works during exercise.

He enjoys and is exceptionally good at video games, with his main focus being on first-person shooters - though he will play other types of games for fun too.

Tyler also occasionally goes geocaching and maintains a geocache he set up himself. He enjoys checking the logbook to see who found it and what items inside the cache have been replaced over time.

He also secretly loves reading yaoi manga, but is extremely reserved about it, hiding his collection under lock and key - especially during university. Even while living with Jude, he’s very protective over them.


Backstory

Tyler grew up poor and from an unsupportive home. Before he was born his parents split, leaving him with just his Mother. He was forced to grow up fast due to her poor mental health, which made her particularly neglectful and abusive toward him throughout his childhood. He has never met his Father and was never told why he was out of the picture, who he is, or how to find him. Tyler doesn't intend on finding out.

In school, Tyler would join various sports teams - dedicating most of his time to trying out many different games, before settling on football as his favourite. He never cared for being popular but found that due to his athletic ability, he caught the attention of other sporty kids. It was easy for Tyler to make friends with them due to their admiration of his adeptness. However, he often found the large groups overwhelming and would occasionally attempt to befriend less popular peers to get a break, which is how he met Jude, the two bonding over their love for video games.

Tyler was average in most of his academics, aside from biology, which he worked hard at to be able to go on to study sports science later. He only did what was necessary and nothing more so that he could devote his time to his passion as much as possible. He competed in regional school football tournaments and did well for himself and his team. Because of the positive reputation he brought, his school helped him out with any sports equipment he needed due to his lack of access to them due to his financial hardship, as well as travel costs for the tournaments themselves. By the end, he had landed himself a scholarship to study for a bachelor’s degree in sports science at university.

During university, Jude and Tyler began dating. Unfortunately, their relationship was quickly strained due to Tyler’s focus on spending time with the university’s football team, driven to succeed in the sport as he had done so far. His team harassed Jude because of his gender identity and sexuality, as well as his appearance. Tyler resented them for this despite being friendly towards them for the sake of the sport. This took a heavy toll on him as his determination came into conflict with his feelings and care for Jude, feeling immense guilt for remaining on the team in light of his teammate’s behaviour, and also being homosexual himself and feeling that if this secret came to light, he’d be singled out of the team. However, Tyler was still determined to pursue sports and felt it necessary to continue despite this, choosing to hide his sexuality and his relationship with Jude. The two reluctantly agreed to keep things lowkey to avoid it getting revealed, but this didn’t prevent the fear and guilt Tyler shouldered during this time.

Despite this, they both still attended the university's gaming society together, serving as the only time they would openly meet on university grounds. Outside of that, the two would meet remotely or online whenever possible, not daring to hang out at one another’s dorms just in case any rumours started. However, despite their carefulness, Tyler’s sports team found out about his attendance at the gaming society, singling him out for being an avid gamer in itself, regardless of his relationship with Jude. This led Tyler to quit the team altogether.

Tyler lost his sense of direction after this, feeling he’d lost out on his dream. He eventually resolved that the best he could do in the meantime was to complete his bachelor’s in sports science with as much effort as possible, focusing his energy on it to cope with the loss. His accomplishments landed him on the Dean’s list and was awarded first-class honours at the end of his studies.

After university, Tyler landed a well-paying job as a fitness instructor at a high-end gym, which suited him well. With plenty of money for rent, he moved into a nice apartment and Jude joined him, the two deciding to live together so that Jude wouldn’t have to return to his parent’s house. Soon after, much to Tyler's surprise and initial apprehension, Jude brought home Marmalade, who would join them in the apartment too. It took Tyler a little time to adjust to living with Jude, especially his way of decorating their new home, but after establishing a "pink zone", things ran a lot more smoothly.

However, despite liking his job and being financially comfortable, Tyler still wanted to compete in sports again but decided not to return to football after his experience. Due to enjoying and being very good at video games, and out of spite for getting singled out for this fact before, he attended an open tryout for a successful esports team and was recruited.

His success at the tryouts and joining esports came with the added challenge of receiving a lot of sudden and unexpected publicity, which Tyler did not like. For this reason, despite taking esports seriously, he refused to be active on social media or attend many public events or panels unless mandatory, only contributing to any conversation when absolutely necessary. However, there was only so much he could do to avoid the public eye, and the mystery around him only made those interested in him even more diligent in studying the elusive team member.


Present Day

Tyler continues to live happily alongside Jude and Marmalade in their apartment, able to live very comfortably thanks to their combined income, with Tyler earning the majority of it from his job and his revenue from winning esports tournaments, which is very lucrative. Tyler continues to juggle his commitments to his job, esports, keeping on top of his exercise and setting time aside for himself and Jude, living a busy routine. He doesn’t mind this, functioning well with lots to do, but recently added pressures from the esports team as they progress through tournaments have begun to unsettle the balance a little, leading Tyler to a fork in the road as he decides what to prioritise.


Relationships

Jude Adams

Tyler's once childhood friend, now boyfriend and roommate. During university, Tyler’s shame around his sexuality put a strain on their relationship, but this has since been worked through and the two are doing far better. Tyler greatly appreciates the support Jude provides him and finds his dedication to making plans with him when there's time to very endearing and helpful when it comes to keeping himself busy. Tyler treats him gently and compassionately, and overall being very affectionate towards his boyfriend. While he enjoys his day-to-day schedule, he does wish for more time to set aside to spend with him as he thoroughly enjoys his company regardless of what they're up to.


Marmalade

Tyler was a little on the fence about Marmalade at first when Jude had brought her home, claiming that he wasn’t much of a cat person, but he found she very quickly grew on him. He finds her ditzy behaviour very amusing and will play with her when he has the chance, watching her try (and usually fail) to pounce on her favourite pet toy. He will also help take care of her in general, but more often than not Jude beats him to it as the fluffy critter will usually approach him first when she needs anything.


Aster Bianchi

Aster is one of Tyler’s clients at his job at the gym - he is extremely difficult for him to work with, though. Aster will flirt with him and tease him constantly during their sessions, refusing to take his training seriously and would seemingly much rather try to make Tyler flustered instead - which unfortunately works very well on him. Tyler will often share his feelings to Jude about his troublesome client when he gets home on the days he's scheduled with him, but often ends up blushing when recounting Aster’s behaviour, to which Jude will comfort him while holding back giggles at the fitness instructor’s obvious crush on the guy.


Unnamed Parents

Tyler had a very poor relationship with his mother, maintaining no contact with her as an adult. She was very neglectful and abusive towards him during his childhood, taking out a lot of her frustration at their poverty they lived in and the lack of contact each of them had with Tyler’s father on Tyler himself. This left Tyler very resentful towards her as he felt that it robbed him of a proper childhood.


Trivia