7. Jerk

Reid hurried after Tyler, ignoring the cold wind blowing in his face.

"TYLER!"

Tyler continued trudging purposefully towards his Hummer. Not for the first time he noticed the badly dented side of his Hummer. Reid's fault. His anger intensified. He would give Reid the cold shoulder. A small thought ran through his mind: So I'm mad at Reid. Well, that's all good and nice and emotional, but where will I freaking SLEEP? I'm NOT going back to our room after what happened.

"Tyler, what the hell is up with you? Tyler!"

Reid's shouts were getting louder as he neared Tyler. Damn it, I'm gonna have to walk faster.

Tyler's hand closed upon the door handle of his Hummer, but Reid grabbed it and refused to let go. "Tyler–"

Tyler did his best to summon up a vicious glare and threw it at Reid.

Reid was confused, but he couldn't help looking slightly amused. "Ty, if there's anything wrong, just say it and stop acting like a girl."

Tyler's hair was still wet from his swim, and so was Reid's. Reid was an idiot, seriously.

"You fucking drowned me just now, remember? And you wrecked the side of my Hummer the other night? When you were drunk? And you lost my fucking Literature notes? It sort of adds up, you know?" Tyler shoved Reid away roughly. "Now get the hell off me or I'll push you back into the swimming pool again."

Reid smirked. "Give me a break, Ty." And Reid reached out and gently caressed an infuriated Tyler's cheek. Reid was wearing a circular earring on his right ear. Tyler thought he looked fucking cute, despite himself.

No. He was angry at Reid, and angry he would be.

Tyler turned his cheek away from Reid's caress, and Reid saw a malicious glimmer in Tyler's eyes. And something else, too . . .

"Don't touch me, Reid. I'm not your girlfriend. You already have one, remember?"

And Tyler punched Reid hard in the stomach, and as Reid flew up, up into the air, and landed some distance away with a resounding grunt Tyler realised he had used his Power as well. Tyler's breath caught. He had not meant to use his Power, not at all. Not on his friend, no matter how angry he was. What was happening to him?

Tyler's guilt overwhelmed him, and he moved towards the crumpled Reid. "Reid, hey, you okay?"

And Tyler stopped when he saw Reid get up with some difficulty, hands gripping an aching stomach, eyes black with Power and rage combined.

Shit. Reid's gonna Use on me.

Tyler ran to his Hummer, scrambled in, and turned on the ignition. As the Hummer rumbled Tyler saw Reid levitating a nearby rubbish bin with his Power.

Tyler pressed down on the accelerator, and switched gear as rapidly as he could. From his rear-view mirror he could see Reid throwing the rubbish bin with telekinetic force at the Hummer, at him.

Tyler swerved to the right and the rubbish bin missed its target, flying by the four-wheel drive and crashing somewhere. And Tyler drove away.

Where do I go to now? Crash at Caleb's house? Nah, spending the night at Caleb's house with his drunk and brooding mother would be too awkward. What about Pogue's? Nope. Pogue was with Kate for the night.

And so Tyler ended up dumping his bag on a squeaky, musky bed in the back room of Nicky's. Old Nicky had been kind enough to grudgingly allow a desperate Tyler the use of the back room to sleep in for the night. Just one night, and then he would have to worry about getting a place again.

The rusty bedsprings creaked as Tyler sat down and buried his face in his palms.

God why did I use on Reid. Reid I'm fucking sorry, okay? I just wanted to punch your stupid stomach, not Use on you.

Tyler jerked at the sound of his cell phone's ringing tone. He cast a glance at the caller ID and his thoughts raced. It was Reid. Tyler shut his phone off and lay back on the old bed. Reid could call up his stupid girlfriend instead. Reid's stupid girlfriend.

Am I jealous? Nope.

As Tyler closed his eyes, entering the blissful world of darkness and dreams, he recalled the time he watched Reid and his girlfriend make out from a window. Reid kissing a girl. Humph.

Tyler felt lost, and empty inside. So he held on to his anger, for it was the only emotion left within him. Anger at Reid's practical joke in the swimming pool. Anger at Reid's complete irresponsibility. Why did Reid have to dent his beautiful Hummer? Why did Reid never return his notes? Why did Reid have a girlfriend, when –

Whoa. Don't go there, Tyler. Reid's girlfriend was unspoken territory.

But . . .

Reid had kissed him before, hadn't he? A few times, sometimes playfully, sometimes lustily. Reid's hot breath on his neck, Reid hugging him tenderly, Reid's arms round him, telling him the dark was nothing to be afraid of, that he could go to sleep now, and if there were any Darklings or zombies Reid would protect him. Tyler could just fall in love with Reid during those times.

Tyler stopped. No, no, no. Anger, remember? Be angry, Tyler, 'cause Reid is such a JERK.

Reid looked at his cell phone in disgust. Tyler had just cancelled his call. What the hell. He had wanted to call Tyler, to apologise to him maybe, or make Tyler apologise to him. What was up with Ty nowadays? Seriously.

Tyler overreacted, that was it. I mean, come on, I've played zillions of practical jokes on that baby boy before. The swimming pool joke wasn't the first. Tyler was really living up to his nickname. A nickname given by that gold-electroplated Caleb.

Baby boy.

Caleb had come up with the nickname years before, during their younger years when Pogue had just attained his motorcycle licence, and Pogue would take each of his brothers for joy rides on his new (second-hand) bike. And Tyler would be terrified. Absolutely chicken. A mortified Tyler would plaster himself to Pogue, arms pasted round Pogue's waist, face embedded into Pogue's jacket, neck sweaty and heart thumping. And when the motorcycle started moving Tyler would freak out and whimper, and Caleb had called Tyler a baby boy, and Caleb thought he was so smart to come up with such a funny nickname, but what was important was that the name had stuck. Because Tyler was a baby boy, and would always be one.

Reid arched his back and winced at the pain. God, his back was so damn sore. Tyler's punch had been more than just a punch, it had been the Power. He could still remember the weightless feeling as Tyler's punch sent him soaring through the air.

Why did Tyler fucking Use on me?

Reid sighed, and cast another lingering look at the empty bed across the dormitory room.

It was only when Tyler looked down on himself that he realised he was still wearing Reid's cardigan, the denim one with the red hood. Tyler took it off and threw it into a corner. He wasn't going to wear anything belonging to the jerk. But then the cold got the better of him and before he knew it he had retrieved Reid's cardigan and had curled up on the bed with it, burying his nose in the scent of cologne and beer – the scent of Reid – which emanated from the cardigan.

Thanks to capristar2213 for your ideas. You rock.

Read and review, but more importantly send me any random idea/prompt/suggestion/blah you come up with to help push my plot along. Anything. Anyone. Please.

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