Us, Servants to the Moon – Chapter 7

Author's Note: And here we finally go, the seventh chapter! This time, it's a lighter one. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

It was a rather quiet night at Mystic Grill diner. Matt's shift had just begun half an hour ago, and right now, he was standing behind the bar counter, talking to his friend Tyler.

"I get it… I just wanna know why girls always have to be so difficult… you know? The night of the Foundation Festival has been such a disaster." Matt put a plate back into the cupboard. "I think Caroline and me – we're over."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Tyler replied, pointing across the Grill. "She's sitting over there and keeps staring at you."

The moment Caroline realized that Matt and Tyler were looked at her, she turned her head away.

"She's still totally into you, it's obvious," Tyler explained. "Maybe you should give her another chance. Or else I might give her a chance someday."

Matt snorted, looking at his friend. "Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you."

"She's a pretty girl."

"You're hopeless, man." Matt shook his head. "First my sister, and now you wanna go after my girlfriend? You should really find someone who's not related to me in any way."

The door to the Grill opened and Jeremy entered. He immediately spotted Tyler sitting at the bar counter, and a quick smile curved his lips.

Tyler looked away. Somehow, he was suddenly scared Matt might notice that Jeremy – his arch nemesis – had just greeted him, and that could lead to lots of critical questions. Don't be stupid, he told himself, as he stared back into his glass, there is no way that he would become suspicious. After all, two guys can very well be friends without anyone suspecting they are gay. But still, since Tyler knew the truth about his feelings for Jeremy, he couldn't suppress the fear that everyone would find out as soon as he showed even the smallest hint of affection towards the other boy.

"Hey, Jer, how's it going?" Matt asked and Tyler looked up.

"Hey guys," Jeremy replied as he sat down at the bar counter next to Tyler.

Tyler instinctively moved away from him. He couldn't believe Jeremy would sit down next to him right under Matt's eyes! Didn't he care at all that Matt could find out?

"Hey," Tyler greeted coldly, taking a big gulp from his glass. He prayed that it wouldn't take much for Jeremy to notice that he wasn't exactly welcome here.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Matt asked, friendly as usual.

"Yeah, sure," Jeremy replied and sat there quietly, until Matt handed him a glass.

Great, Tyler thought, there's no way he's going to leave anytime soon… Just don't talk to me.

"So…" Jeremy turned to Tyler. "How's it going? I haven't seen you around since the Foundation Festival."

"Was kinda busy," Tyler murmured, taking another sip. What was wrong with Jeremy? Was he really that stupid? Didn't he get that Tyler didn't want to talk to him with other people around? He thought he remembered Jeremy promising him to keep this a secret.

Matt dried a few cups. "Oh yeah, the two of you did the treasure hunt together, right? Weren't you the ones who finished last?"

"Second to last," Tyler corrected. At least that didn't make him feel like a complete idiot.

"No, I think you finished last," Matt insisted. "Caroline and me, we would have been last, but – for obvious reasons – we didn't finish at all."

"Really?" Jeremy sounded disappointed. "And we thought were hadn't been so bad."

Stop the freaking 'we', Tyler thought, growling from the inside. He couldn't help letting a sigh slip. And since Tyler didn't reply anything else, the conversation was over.

Matt shifted from one leg to the other. "So, Ty, you haven't told me about your new basketball team yet." He obviously tried to change the subject.

"Oh, really? You're playing basketball now?" Jeremy sounded so interested. "Right, you told me you were playing for another team a few weeks ago when we-"

"I don't wanna talk about sports right now, alright?" Tyler hissed, harsher than intended.

Silence returned.

"Alright…" Jeremy said after a while. "I think I better gotta get going. It's kinda late, anyway. See you soon, Matt."

"Bye," Matt replied, as Jeremy stood up and walked over to the door. Then he turned to his friend. "Geez, you gotta let go of that old bickering, Ty. He's not that bad."

Tyler stared at the glass. Jeremy was gone, that at least was a relief. But then again, maybe he had been a bit too harsh towards him. Maybe Jeremy honestly hadn't seen the problem that Tyler had with them both talking to Matt. I hope he's not mad at me right now, Tyler thought, feeling sudden regret as he thought back to the night of the Foundation Festival, when Jeremy had come looking for him, concerned, even though he hadn't have to. Tyler had been grateful for that and they had said goodbye as friends for the first time in their lives. Jeremy probably couldn't understand why Tyler was acting so cold towards him again all of a sudden. "Yeah, I know he isn't," Tyler suddenly replied, then he stood up as well, hurrying for the exit.

Outside the Grill, he could see Jeremy turning around the corner into the small, dark street that led back to his home.

"Jeremy, wait!" Tyler yelled, grabbing Jeremy's arm as soon as he reached him.

Jeremy turned around, catching his lips in a sudden, unexpected, but heartfelt kiss.

Tyler didn't resist. He had been waiting for this. And it felt so good. Jeremy felt so good. He pushed him to the wall. It was actually their first real kiss, Tyler realized. The first kiss when none of them was drunk, none of them was influenced by supernatural powers. They were just themselves. That's what made it so special.

Tyler was grateful to have met Jeremy, to have become friends with him even though the other boy had once been the person that Tyler had hated the most. He was glad that he'd changed his mind. He kissed Jeremy back more passionately than before, and with every second that passed, he got the feeling that it was so much more that connected them, that bound them together. A common urge, a similar mind. He put his hand around Jeremy's neck, pulling him even closer. Closer than they already were.

Maybe this wouldn't last forever, Tyler thought, but then again, maybe it didn't have to. It lasted for this moment, and for this moment, it was enough.

"Jeremy…" A girl's voice whispered. "Jeremy!"

"What?" Jeremy turned around, his voice coming out a bit too harsh. He had been indulging in a memory and she had destroyed it.

The girl sitting behind him pointed at the floor. "My pen!"

"Hm?" He took a look at the floor, then he understood what she wanted him to do, reached down, picked up the pen and gave it back to her.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"Quiet, you guys in the back!" the teacher yelled. "You should pay more attention to the equation than to your pen. You'll need this equation for the test."

"I'll need my pen, too," the girl reminded him. Some of her friends giggled.

The teacher simply gave her an annoyed look, then he continued talking about figures and algorithms.

Jeremy leaned back and stared at the blackboard. There was definitely no period more boring than math. He took a look at his watch. Still half an hour left. He sighed.

Suddenly his cellphone vibrated. There was a new text popping up. From Tyler Lockwood. Jeremy almost dropped it to the floor. His heart rate sped up as he read it: Wanna see you. Let's meet in the woods, the place where we sat together after Foundation Festival, 5 p.m.?

Jeremy hit a button to reply with a smile on his face. Maybe this math lesson wasn't so bad after all.

They soon found out that meeting in the woods was actually a great way of spending time together. Out there, they were all by themselves, no one saw them come or leave together. That way, they could keep it a secret.

It was another afternoon about one week later, when Tyler and Jeremy were sitting opposite each other at a small lake in the woods, leaning against two big felled tree trunks. Each one of them had a notebook and a sharp pencil in his hands. They seemed both so focused on their task; only once in a while one of them would look up at the other boy, and then continue sketching.

After a while, Tyler chuckled. "Man, this looks bad. You'll laugh so hard when you see this."

"Oh, come on," Jeremy replied. "I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

"That's just not my thing, realistic drawings," Tyler explained. "I could draw a picture of you comic-style, and it would look more like you than this does."

"You know what's really helpful for me? When I find something I wanna draw, then I imagine looking at it through a grid. Then I start drawing square by square, without even thinking what it is, that I'm drawing at the moment. I'm not thinking, oh, that's part of a bird's wing or something, it's just a few lines inside my little square. It helps me to abstract from the actual scene and draw more precise."

"Okay," Tyler replied. "I'll try that."

They went back to their tasks again for about half an hour, until Jeremy put away his pencil. "So, have you finished, Picasso?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. It's not quite the picture of Dorian Gray, but… whatever."

"Let me see," Jeremy said, came over and sat down next to Tyler. "So?"

Tyler handed him the notebook.

"Wow…" Jeremy said, looking at his portrait. It looked like a scrawly version of himself. "It's… good! It looks like a mixture of Mickey Mouse and Michael Jackson, but otherwise, you did a great job."

"Just shut up," Tyler replied, grabbing Jeremy's notebook, "and let me see yours." He took a look at the portrait Jeremy had drawn. "Wow…" he held his breath. "That looks so amazing. I'll never be able to match up to you."

"Oh, come on," Jeremy relented. "Your drawing is pretty cool, too, seriously, and this was your first try. You're talented, you just need a bit more practice." He looked at his friend. "Maybe you should start with… an apple?"

"An apple?" Tyler repeated. "You can't be serious…"

Jeremy started laughing.

"Oh, shut up!" Tyler frowned, but then he started laughing, too. It was so easy being with Jeremy. He loved it.

"So, I guess we're done with today's art classes." Jeremy put the notebook away and lifted his eyebrows. "What are we going to do now?"

"Well, there is one more thing," Tyler said, crawling towards Jeremy. "My mom's gone on Saturday night."

"Oh, really?" Jeremy grinned. "So?"

Tyler sat on his lap, resting his arms on the trunk and closing them behind the back of Jeremy's head. "So," he repeated, "I was thinking, maybe…" He smiled, tilting his head teasingly just a bit, as if he was about to kiss him.

It was one of this cat and mouse games, right. Jeremy couldn't resist playing along. "Maybe what?" he asked back, innocently, making it hard for Tyler to catch his lips.

Tyler stopped and looked at him. "Maybe you could come over to my place."

"To your place? On a Saturday night?" Jeremy lifted his eyebrow. "Sounds like a date to me."

"Yeah, maybe you could call it a date." Tyler grinned and leaned towards Jeremy once again, closing his eyes, and this time, Jeremy didn't turn his head away. "So, what do you say?" he whispered.

"Hm, I don't know… I guess," Jeremy replied, closing his eyes as well, "I'm not interested." He leaned back against the trunk while Tyler was all over him.

Saturday night was a cold, cloudy night. They said there was a storm about to hit the city. Jeremy had his jacket zipped up to the chin, when he walked over to the Lockwood's house. He rang the doorbell and not even a second later, Tyler had already opened the door.

"Hi," Jeremy said with a smug smile on his face. "Have you been lurking behind the door? You opened so fast."

"No, it's actually the garden gate. It makes this loud squealing sound you can't overhear, not even if you're sleeping."

"Poor burglars, I guess," Jeremy replied.

Tyler stepped back. "Come in." He watched the other boy as Jeremy moved past him into the hall. Now this was the third time that Jeremy actually visited him like that, but third time is a charm, or so they say. Oh yes, tonight would be nothing but incredible.

"Sorry, I'm late," Jeremy said while taking off his jacket. He wasn't actually late, but it was always a good thing to say if you didn't have anything to say at all.

"No problem," Tyler replied and pointed down the hallway. "Over there."

Jeremy knew immediately where Tyler was leading him. He hadn't forgotten. It was the room they had spent the evening on Jeremy's very first visit alone, the night everything had stated with an unexpected kiss. A lot of things had happened since, and still, here they were again.

Tyler opened the door, and a surprised grin formed on Jeremy's face. Everything had been arranged just in the same way it had been on that night, that very special night of their very first kiss. Two glasses were placed on the table next to the sofa, together with a bottle from the liquor cabinet. And to Jeremy's special delight, the fireplace had been lit to.

"I know how much the fire had fascinated you last time," Tyler confessed with a wink.

"It's awesome," Jeremy grinned back at him.

"So," Tyler pointed at the sofa. "Make yourself at home."

"Really? I can take off my shoes and put my feet on the table?"

"If that's what you want?"

"I'll think about it," Jeremy replied, sitting down on the couch, waiting for Tyler to fill their glasses.

Then Tyler sat down next to Jeremy and looked at the other boy. "So, what do you wanna do?" he asked, like any friendly host would. "Do you wanna chat a little? Or…"

Jeremy snorted, looking at Tyler intensely. "I'm not a girl, you know."

Tyler grinned, as Jeremy leaned towards him, grabbing his arm with his right hand. "I think I like that," he murmured, as Jeremy kissed him gently, pushing him back on the sofa. Tyler put his hand on Jeremy's back. He realized once again how much heavier Jeremy was compared to any girl. It was unfamiliar, but deep inside he enjoyed it very much. Eagerly, he pulled Jeremy closer. Here, in this room, on this sofa with Jeremy, he felt totally free. The walls of the house were shielding them from anyone's glances. No one would find out, so, for once, they could forget all about their inhibitions.

Jeremy had his hands on Tyler's thighs, moving them up over the pockets of his pants, the belt and under his pullover.

Oh yeah, Tyler though, this night would become incredible.

Carol Lockwood turned the key around and opened the door. With a quick, familiar movement she switched on the lights took off her shoes. Her feet had been hurting all day and she way happy to finally get them off. It was half past nine, so Tyler would be in his room, she was certain. But then she heard some muffled voices from the living room. Does Tyler have a friend over? she wondered.

Quietly, she sneaked along the hallway. Yes, there was definitely someone there. She could hear another boy's voice. Maybe it was Matt? Well, the food she brought home would surely be enough for three people, so it wasn't a big deal.

Slowly she opened the door and peeked into the room.

Tyler and another boy were sitting on the sofa, books and notebooks spread all over the table.

Tyler was taking a look at the other boy's notebook. " X to the fourth power minus seventeen," he wrote something down, "divided by…"

"Divided by y," the other boy completed. "No, that can't be right… Do you think this it right?"

"How should I know?"

Carol hesitated. Obviously the boys hadn't noticed her yet, so she quietly knocked against the door case. "Hey guys," she smiled, as they turned around. Finally she recognized the other boy. It was Jeremy Gilbert, to her surprise. More than once, she had been sitting in the principal's office, excusing her son's fights with that very boy. It had been over a girl, she had found out. Fortunately, there wasn't any girl present right now.

"Oh, mom! What are you doing here?" Tyler seemed surprised. "Aren't you supposed to be on your way to New York?"

"Hi, Mrs. Lockwood," Jeremy said.

"Hello, Jeremy," Carol greeted back. "Yeah, I was on my way, but take a look outside. They got a storm warning and the flight was cancelled. Well, it can't be helped. I brought some Chinese, in case you're hungry."

"I'm embarrassed, Jeremy, seriously," Carol Lockwood said, looking at the take-away Chinese boxes she put on the wooden table of the dining room. "Please don't think that stuff like that is all we eat."

"It's fine, Mrs. Lockwood, really," Jeremy replied, taking a bite. Even though he was surprised that Mrs. Lockwood would ever even consider buying fast food, although her entire lifestyle was so noble and expensive, it made him feel quite comfortable to know that deep inside the mayor's family was just like any other ordinary family, too.

"So what have you guys been up to? I hope I didn't interrupt your studies," Carol said, starting to eat.

"It's just a project," Tyler said quickly. "A school project."

Jeremy looked at him. "Yeah…" He was unsure what to reply. "They matched the project partners randomly."

"Totally randomly," Tyler agreed. "We had no influence over that."

"Nope, not the slightest bit."

"I see," Carol replied, slightly wondering why the boys were so eager to stress that fact. "And what is this project about?"

"Math," Tyler said, while Jeremy replied "History".

"Math and history," Jeremy corrected. "It's cross-disciplinary."

"That sounds… well… unusual," Carol replied. "But I'm sure it's interesting."

The boys nodded and everyone turned their focus back to the meal, which was the only thing that kept them from noticing the weird silence.

The red wine Carol had been drinking with her Chinese fast food – probably to stress the fact, that she was normally used to more sophisticated dinners – started to show some effect even before they had finished and suddenly she became rather talkative, to which Jeremy responded surprisingly open.

So Tyler spent the next half an hour listening to their conversation, mostly about school or Jeremy's aunt Jenna, who Carol had known for ages, feeling awkward about his never-to-be-known-boyfriend getting along so well with his mother. Of course, if she knew about all this, Jeremy would experience a fate even worse than Vicky had and, before he even knew it, he would be kicked off the Lockwood estate.

Silently, Tyler sighed. What was he doing anyway? All this, dating a guy, was insane. There was no way they could ever be together, if anyone ever found out. He wondered how long they would be able to keep this up, meeting secretly in the woods, acting like strangers around other people. It was like his curse, always picking someone he couldn't really be with. First Vicky, now Jeremy.

Speaking of curses, there was also this slight other problem around. Only two and a half weeks left until the next full moon… And with what Jules had told him, the second time wouldn't nearly be as harmless as the first time. If he was honest, he was scared about it. He knew he should spend his time preparing for that night, but being with Jeremy was too much of a distraction. Whenever he was with that other boy, the werewolf curse seemed so far away. But, seriously, for how long…

Something poked Tyler's leg and immediately his mind was back in the dining room with Jeremy and his mother. He looked up and saw Jeremy wink at him. It had been his foot under the table. One look at that sly grin was enough to get Tyler's mind off his worries. This was their little secret, which no one else knew about. He stretched his leg, touching Jeremy's foot, while Carol mumbled on happily.

At half past eleven, Tyler and Jeremy were standing outside the door. It was a cold night, especially compared to the comfortable warmth of the Lockwoods' dining room, and the wind that constantly grew stronger suggested that the approaching storm was not far away.

"Well", Tyler said, "that was the pilot episode of How you met my mother."

Jeremy grinned.

"Sorry the evening went the way it did. I had really no idea that she would come back," Tyler whispered. "We should really thank the garden gate. Otherwise we would have been found out and that would have been ugly."

"I thank your ears," Jeremy replied, then he shook his head. "No, tonight was fun, actually. Not the way it had been planned, but still fun." He chuckled. "Seriously. And by the way, we're now even. My aunt and Elena retuning one day early and now your mother did too."

"Yeah, dammit," Tyler growled. "I guess I can't tease you about that anymore."

"Nope," Jeremy agreed. "Those days are over."

"Too bad." Tyler shrugged, looking to the ground. Silence returned for a moment. They were both embarrassed at their goodbye. He just wished he could kiss Jeremy one last time, even though that would be a cold comfort for what they had missed tonight, but his mother could be watching so there was no way he could.

Jeremy understood. "So, I guess, I'll see you around," he said with a shrug and turned around.

"Yeah," Tyler replied. "I'll call you." He put his hands back into his pockets, as he watched Jeremy leave. His fingers touched a piece of paper. Oh right. He had almost forgotten about that. Funny thing, it had been there all along, even when it had only been the cloth of his pants that had kept Jeremy from finding it. He pulled the note out and, for a moment, he stared at the number. It was Jules' number.

To be continued…