"Hey!"

Tyler Lockwood shut his eyes tightly and wished he would just disappear in the darkness surrounding him. It was an annoying déjà vu, Jeremy Gilbert calling his name, running over to him, and showering him with pity.

"What do you want, Gilbert?"

"I saw you sitting here." Jeremy stopped in front of him. "You're okay?"

Tyler cursed the moon that illuminated him, making him the beacon in the night for reformed pill pushers. At the moment, he would rather have the old teenager with his pockets full of pills annoying him.

"It's none of your business," Tyler snapped, but his voice was strained because of his swollen cheek. Jeremy's eyes drifted to exactly that spot in Tyler's face, as though he could sense the thoughts. Maybe he just had good eyes…

"You know…" Jeremy slumped down on the bench. There was barely one foot left separating him from Tyler. "I shouldn't be out here. I write a test tomorrow morning and –"

"And you should be happily walking in the land of dreams by now. I'm not keeping you."

"You are!"

Tyler stared at Jeremy… and stared and stared and stared.

Finally, Jeremy tore his gaze away. "Would you stop looking at me like that?"

"Just go away, then I can't look at you."

Jeremy stayed, but remained silent. Tyler accepted his presence, but only because everything was better than going back home. His cheek was still stinging and his jaw hurt, but not as bad as his ego.

"What happened there?" Jeremy touched his cheek, so suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere that Tyler jerked back like a timid fawn.

"It's none of your business!"

Jeremy just ignored him. "Your dad?"

Tyler growled, growled like an angry wolf in the moonlight. That realisation extinguished every spark of aggression and saved Jeremy from getting beaten up. "Why do you even care?"

"I don't know," Jeremy said in a quiet voice. "I… I had this feeling. Like someone needed me. It kept me from sleeping, so I decided to take a walk and run straight into you. Isn't that… a weird coincidence?" Jeremy smiled, his face seemed rather pale in the silvery moonlight, but there was a soft blush visible on his cheeks. "Why're you looking at me like this?"

"I just wondered why I don't punch you for saying that," Tyler replied. "Probably because you're too high to defend yourself."

Jeremy frowned at him. "I'm not high."

Tyler nodded as if he were in slow motion.

"I am not high!" Jeremy said with a huff.

"Yeah, it just happens to be your newest hobby to stalk me and quote cheesy romance novels."

Jeremy pushed him, not very hard, and Tyler found himself giving an equally gentle shove back. Jeremy tried again, but Tyler dodged the shove and laughed hoarsely at Jeremy's annoyed expression.

"Why don't you stop being such a jerk for a time, Lockwood? I just wanted to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk about what a disappointment I am. I want to sit here and forget that," Tyler said, gazing into the night and searching for a single spot of light in the darkness. He found his eyes shifting back to Jeremy. "I don't need your pity."

Jeremy glared at him. "Wouldn't waste it on you, anyway," he said, but moved a little closer, barely notable, and still Tyler sensed it as though they were sitting thigh to thigh now. "I just like sitting here."

The corner of Tyler's mouth turned upwards, the side Jeremy couldn't see.