wild hearts run;

Miles was tired. That was all he really knew. After three full hours of class with no breaks in between, he was simply exhausted. He was ready to go back to his room and take the longest nap of his life. He stopped for a coffee first, of course, because what else was he going to blow all his money on? Certainly not books or other useful things. He sipped at the large coffee as he headed back out to go toward his dorm, pulling his hoodie tighter around himself. It was getting cold around campus but Miles wanted to milk not having to wear a winter coat as long as he could. During the walk, he finished off the coffee and headed toward the closest trash can to throw it away. As he neared it, he noticed TJ a short distance away. The bastard. Miles hated the guy; he always had. TJ felt the same way, though, so they had this easy sort of mutual hatred for each other. Miles felt a pang of disgust as he got closer to TJ, who was talking to someone Miles didn't know. He kept his head low so he could pass peacefully and without some annoying confrontation that the two of them usually had. He pulled out his phone, pretending to have something very important he needed to pay attention to.

TJ was coming back from work when he ran into a friend from one of his classes. They talked about the homework and then just about their lives in general. TJ usually hated small talk but he felt bad for the guy, he didn't have many friends from the looks of it and he was always trying to talk to TJ. So he made an exception, letting the guy say whatever it was he wanted to say and trying to focus. But soon, he looked over to see none other than Miles Sterling coming his way. THe two of them did not get along by any means. TJ wasn't sure when exactly they first met but from the first conversation he could tell they weren't going to be friends. He actually enjoyed it, it was amusing to have someone who hated him so much because anything TJ said got under Miles' skin. When Miles got closer TJ saw an opportunity he couldn't miss. He wanted to make him angry, he wanted confrontation. He thought up the thing that would most make Miles angry and remembered how everyone in the school had whispered rumors about his best friends. TJ cut off his friend. "So you know those Bellamys?" He asked, loud enough for Miles to hear. "Kind of a fucked up bunch right?" He knew how close Miles was with the siblings (though TJ didn't know them, not at all really) and had heard everything others had to say. He knew it would really get to him if he was talking about them.

Miles stopped for a second when he heard TJ start talking about the Bellamy's. He caught himself, though, not wanting TJ to know that he was listening. So he focused intently on his phone, turning away from TJ. He walked slowly in the opposite direction, but he didn't go far enough that he wouldn't be able to hear anymore. Miles found it a little strange that TJ just happened to bring up his friends as he got closer. Then it occurred to him: it was probably on purpose. There was no one else around them, really, as everyone else was either in class, in their rooms, or eating somewhere. Plus, most people in school were so focused on the showcase or the film festival that they didn’t notice anything else. Miles didn't even know why TJ was out here with this random kid in the first place, but at the same time, he didn't care at all. All he cared about now was why TJ thought it was okay to talk about Miles' friends like this. Miles half wanted TJ to say something that Miles could make him regret.

TJ grinned to himself when he noticed Miles had stopped and was suddenly looking at the phone. He had trapped him. TJ's friend didn't seem to know who he was talking about so he took it upon himself to elaborate and introduce them. "You don't know them? Well they're these siblings who go here, but they all should be somewhere else if you ask me. They've got enough problems for all of us." He said. He usually wouldn't do something like this. Sure he was often a douche for no reason, but there wasn't much fun in talking about people behind their backs. In TJ's eyes, if he was going to mess with someone it was going to be straight to their face. But this was a sure fire way to make Miles angry. Hearing his best friends talked about behind their backs and right in front of him. TJ didn't really know any of them, but boy had he heard things. There were the rumors and of course he had seen the gossip blog. And he was going to use those rumors to his advantage. "The older one, no one even knows what team he plays for. The youngest one has just got big issues he needs to work out. The girl I heard is just weird and living in some sort of fantasy world. They’re fucking weird man, I don’t even know. I mean Jesus. How can one family be so fucked up?”

Miles tightened his grip on his phone as he listened. He wanted to say something, but that was what TJ wanted. He wanted a reaction out of Miles, something to pick on him for. But TJ was digging deep. Of course, it was nothing that Miles hadn't heard before; people really liked to personally attack Nick, Noel, and Nathan for some reason. They saw them as easy targets, which Miles hated. Everyone had problems, so why focus on the problems of three innocent people? He’d gotten his fair share of gossip, just as everyone had, but the shit people had to say about his friends was endless. In any case, he had heard everything before, but this time, it was different. Even though TJ sounded like he was in middle school, he was trying to make Miles mad. He didn't even know them! He wanted Miles to get angry and say something. And at this point, despite his attempts to be above TJ and act like an adult...Miles couldn't stop himself. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and spun on his heel, walking toward TJ and looking him dead in the eye. "Excuse me, but has anyone ever taught you to mind your own goddamn business and keep other people's names out of your mouth?"

TJ was delighted to see Miles finally deciding to come over to him. Perfect, this was his goal. Miles was going to come try to be the hero and TJ was going to laugh in his face. "Oh, here comes Super Miles." He said to his friend, a smile forming on his lips. He crossed his arms and held up his head. When Miles spoke, TJ almost choked from laughing. "You're one to talk about minding your own business. I was here having a simple conversation with my friend and you decided to listen in the whole time. Why don't you take your own advice?"

Miles rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his chest to match TJ's body language. "Oh, grow up," he spat. "You tell me I act like a twelve-year-old and you're out here gossiping like a teenage girl just to make me mad." Miles was more annoyed than angry. TJ was just a genuinely obnoxious person that he had no interest in being around. But he kept showing up in Miles' life, and as long as they went to the same school, Miles wasn't going to be able to completely ignore him. Especially not when he was talking about things and people he didn’t know about. Miles didn’t like the idea of letting it continue to spread. "You don't even know who the hell they are. You know nothing about them, so you have no right to be talking about them like that.” He shook his head. “Get a life. Stop concerning yourself with other people's. Maybe then you’ll stop being so miserable and having to drag everyone else down with you.”

TJ scoffed. The worst part about people pointing out why he was such a jerk was the fact that they were right most of the time. But TJ wasn’t going to give Miles of all people the benefit of knowing that. “Like I said, you wouldn’t know I what I was talking about if you minded your own business as well. But while you’re here how bout you hop into the conversation?” He offered, holding out his hands. “You can help me get to know them! All I know is rumors, but I mean I’m not wrong. The little one is strange, right? Somethings going on up there none of us can quite understand. I don't even know his name. What's going on with him?”

Miles clenched his jaw, already wanting to punch TJ in the nose and call it a day. But he was trying to be a less violent person. It was one of his worst qualities. He didn’t want to stoop to the level of someone like TJ and hit people simply because he couldn’t control his anger. “He’s just a kid.” Nathan wasn’t really a kid, but it was how Miles would always see him, and it helped with his point. “You have no right to say anything about him,” he said angrily. He didn’t even want to touch on the name thing. That wasn’t any of TJ’s business. “Where do you get off picking on someone just out of high school who’s still much better off in life than you are?”

TJ narrowed his eyes. He didn’t know much about Nathan or what happened to him, so all he could say was what he had heard, which was that he was a weird kid with some real issues. Miles’ arguments were valid as he obviously knew him much better than TJ did, so TJ needed to steer the conversation elsewhere to make Miles angrier. “And the girl one. Noel right? I know that one, she's hot. Shame she’s got a boyfriend but we know that can’t last long.. She won’t even put out for him? Ouch. Is it that she’s stuck in her little fantasy world or is she just too busy with you?” He teased. He had heard that too. He knew it probably wasn't true but he couldn't resist.

Miles could feel the fire within him rising. TJ was saying all the right things that he knew would piss Miles off. He felt like he was in high school, dealing with some bully that wanted to make him cry or get him into trouble with a fight. It would be easy enough to walk away, but really, Miles wasn’t that smart. Not only that, but he wanted TJ to feel the need to walk away first. “She can make her own choices and she doesn’t need scumbags like you worrying about those choices,” he said through clenched teeth, contorting his face in disgust at the comment about himself. “And again with acting like a fucking teenager. Grow up, man.”

TJ was enjoying himself. He knew how immature he seemed, but this was how he was. This was what his life had come to and he didn’t know how to not get enjoyment from things like this. Miles just seemed to be getting madder but he responded to everything TJ tried to throw at him with answers he couldn’t argue with. But something had gotten Miles angry enough to come over in the first place and something was keeping him from leaving. TJ hadn’t even noticed his friend was now gone, and didn’t know how long ago he had left. Not that he cared. “Well there’s always the older one. I don’t think I know his name either.” TJ shrugged. “All I know for sure is he’s bad at pretending to be straight. Like really, even in the short time I‘ve been around I can see it. And I've heard things.” He shook his head. “Shame, that even the most normal seeming of them all is still a fuck up.”

Miles wasn’t sure why, but the second TJ brought up Nick, his hands balled up into fists. He clenched his teeth again, trying to regain his composure. Something about that really pissed him off. A fuck up? Where had that come from? Of course TJ was slightly homophobic on top of everything else. Miles listened to him speak, doing everything in his power to hold himself back. But he had heard enough. He had heard enough making fun of his friends for no reason when other people already did it all the time. He had heard enough of people wondering what happened to Nate. He had heard enough of people concerning themselves with Noel's life. He had heard much more than enough of people debating Nick’s sexuality, which was weirdly confusing enough for Miles as it was and likely upsetting for Nick himself. Miles was simply fed up. Talking about Nick was the trigger, because Miles was already mad at him and something about TJ’s words put him over the edge. Before he could stop himself, he reared back. As soon as his fist connected with TJ’s jaw, he seemed to come back down to Earth, blinking.

TJ wasn’t expecting to be hit. He should have been, because usually when he did this it ended up that way. But he didn’t prepare himself for the possibly beforehand. He stumbled backwards, his hands coming up to cover his face. He stood still for a moment and turned and spit, seeing blood on the ground. He was suddenly very angry, forgetting all about how his face hurt, and he straightened up to punch Miles directly in the nose, grunting as he did so from the sheer force of it.

Miles was still trying to recover from what he’d done when TJ retaliated, hitting him right back. Miles actually fell to the ground. It was partly from how hard TJ had hit him, but mostly because he was already feeling dizzy, as he couldn’t believe he actually had stooped to his level. And only after he had talked about Nick. And the only other times Miles had actually hit someone were... Okay, now he was back to being confused and upset. He quickly got to his feet, dragging a hand over his face and taking a deep breath. “I hope you’re satisfied,” he said in a low voice, glaring at TJ. He tried to ignore the throbbing feeling pulsing from the center of his face. He squared his shoulders and continued to stare at him with a dark gaze. “Fuck off. And mind your fucking business now.”

TJ watched as Miles got up and seemed to calm down dramatically. His voice was a lot lower and he seemed to be a little disoriented. TJ didn’t know what else to say because now he had an injured face to attend to. And all because he found it funny to be immature. He gave Miles one last look before brushing past him and stalking off toward his dorm.