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Tyler could only tell that it was getting late because the dance was starting to wind down. At some point, Tony had switched to his playlist of slow songs to round off the rest of the night, but he stayed in place behind his set up just the same. People still on the floor had partnered off, swaying to the music or keeping up soft conversations. Or, making out like their life depended on it. Tyler did his best to avoid that. The gym was slowly emptying out, drunk friends dragging even drunker friends away from the vodka-spiked punch bowl and through the door to head home for the night with the hope that their parents wouldn't notice. Couples were racing off hand in hand around him.He kept up his rounds, not speaking to anyone, but continuing to point his camera in the right direction at the right moments. Hannah brushing him off earlier had seemed to start a trend - not that it wasn't anything he wasn't used to by now - so instead he focused on shots that didn't require him asking other people to smile. Tyler slipped between a few couples, trying to get to the edge of the dance floor so he could get a shot of Tony in his element as he changed a song. Ryan was still with him, he had been for almost the entire night. The two of them smiling and managing to keep up a conversation over the music, drinks in hand. Tyler had wondered if they were going to dance together at one point, but he figured Tony wasn't the type for that. Or if he was, definitely not here of all places.“So what happens when you’ve taken enough photos?”The question startled him. Tyler hadn't expected anyone to speak to him. Usually no one did, unless they were eager to be in yearbook for some reason. He lowered his camera, and realised that it was Alex who'd spoken. Whatever he'd said, whatever question he'd asked, was immediately wiped from his memory. Alex rarely spoke to him directly, especially when they were alone. Tyler figured that Alex couldn't risk being seen near him, considering he was friendly with some of the jocks. It probably wouldn't go down well."What?" was the only response he could manage to give.Alex smiled, which confused Tyler even more, and shrugged. "It's been hours."The gesture wasn't as calm as usual. Alex was known for emitting a very strong 'I Don't Care' vibe, especially lately, but for some reason that didn't seem to be the case tonight. Tyler couldn't help but worry about him. He wasn't sure how, or even if he should, but he knew that he wanted to ask Alex if he was okay."And?" he asked instead, unsure where this conversation was going. His eyes immediately scanned the surrounding area, looking for some of the jocks, as if this was a set up. As if they'd sent Alex to talk to him as a joke, and they'd be watching from the sidelines and laughing. But they weren't."And who cares about photos at this point." There was no bite to the phrase, and as Tyler met Alex's eyes again he could tell that Alex knew what he'd been doing, and for a second it looked like Alex pitied him.Tyler had no idea how he felt about that. He gave his usual answer for whenever anyone questioned him or his camera. "They're for yearbook.""I know, but - " Alex paused, and this time he was the one who glanced around the room. Tyler would be worried that he'd been right, and that Alex was looking for one of the jocks, but that didn't seem to be the case. It was more of a nervous gesture. Like he was on edge. "You haven't danced with anyone."Whatever Tyler had been expected him to say, it wasn't that. The words were quiet, as if Alex was half-hoping to bury them in the music still within the room. He had no idea why that would matter, let alone to someone like Alex. It wasn't like anyone ever cared what he did, or didn't do. What milestones he missed - like going to a school dance to actually dance."Neither have you," he offered.Alex's eyes narrowed. "How would you know that?"Shit. "I - I see everything," he explained. "It's my job. Student life photographer, remember?"Alex looked at him for a moment, and Tyler fully expected him to roll his eyes at the obvious cover-up, but he didn't. Instead, he ran a hand through his hair and glanced around the room again, and suddenly Tyler realised what he was doing. He wasn't looking for anyone else, he was worried that someone was looking at him. As if the idea of people watching the two of them was catastrophic. Maybe it was."Dance with me," Alex said, and it took Tyler off-guard. It wasn't a question.Surely, this had to be a prank, right? As much as Alex's actions were leaning towards him doing this of his own accord - and worrying about what people would think of him for it - what reason did he had for that? Hell, what reason did Alex have to be even mildly nice to him?"What?" he said again, and winced because of it."You heard me.""Did you lose a bet or something?" he asked.Alex shook his head. "Why? You think that's the only way I would talk to you?"Tyler swallowed, because part of him still very much felt that way. He could barely register what was happening. Part of his mind was still thinking about photography, cycling back to what he knew to cover up for the fact that he had no idea what was happening right now. He was entirely aware of the shots he was missing while having this conversation, and the fact that he was running out of time to take them, but he wanted to stay here and keep talking to Alex. Maybe part of him was scared of that fact."I don't really dance," he muttered, unsure if he was being defensive or not. At this point, there wasn't anything Tyler was truly sure of.Alex didn't take the bait. Tyler wasn't sure if he'd expected him to. "Neither do I.""Then why ask?" He hadn't meant to say it out loud, but Alex seemed to anticipate the question, even so, he shuffled uncomfortably as if struggling to think of an answer.Tyler wondered if he'd had some of that punch that Justin had spiked. Maybe that was why he seemed a little off.Alex mustn't have been able to come up with anything to say, because he just shrugged instead.Before Tyler could respond, Tony's voice called out over the sound system, "Last two dances. Make 'em count!"There was a cheer from the remaining people in the room. Tyler squeezed his camera in his hand, just to feel the dig of metal into the skin of his palm. It proved that this was real. That he was still in this moment at this dance, with Alex in front of him. Alex who'd spoken to him seemingly of his own volition. Alex who'd sort of asked him to dance. He still wasn't sure why any of that was happening, and once again he looked passed Alex's shoulder, glanced around the room as if he'd finally see the group of jocks he'd been anticipating.But they still weren't there.Wasn't Alex supposed to be on a date tonight? Hadn't Tyler heard that he was supposed to be there with Jessica? Jessica who he could have sworn had brushed Alex off at some point earlier in the night."If this is some weird way to make Jessica jealous or something ..." he trailed off, already regretting the words.Something crossed Alex's face, something like hurt. "Come on, you know she's not even here."He was right. She'd left with Hannah, who practically had to drag her from the room. He wondered if Alex had been waiting for her to leave to talk to him. Or, was he waiting for ... most people to leave. The room really was half-empty compared to earlier in the night. Subconsciously, Tyler's eyes scanned the room, and he spotted Monty standing near the punch, gaze quickly darting away again."Monty still is."Part of him didn't know why he'd said it, and he worried that voicing it made Alex aware of just how scared of Monty he was.He cracked a smile, and that just confirmed Tyler's thoughts. "I've never been scared of Monty," he said, with such conviction that Tyler considered that Alex had never been scared of anything in his life.Even so, he still was. He always was, and not even Alex could take that away. He didn't say anything else, and Alex's smile slowly fell. Tyler could feel the pressing weight of every second that passed around them. Tony had said two dances, which meant two songs. Had the first one finished yet? He couldn't tell, because all the noise in the room seemed very far away.Alex took a step closer to him and Tyler didn't know what to do."You can still say no," he muttered.Tyler wasn't sure if he could say anything, but he shrugged and hoped that counted. Alex seemed to think so because he grabbed Tyler's hand and pulled him closer, one hand moving to his waist. Over Alex's shoulder, Tyler's eyes found Monty again, but he really wasn't paying them any attention. He was probably kind of drunk anyway. Right? Would Monty kill him if he looked up at the wrong moment? Probably, but Tyler was trying his best to force the thought away and take a deep breath instead."You can put your hand on my shoulder."His gaze snapped quickly back to Alex, and he felt an instant wave of regret that it hadn't been on him the whole time. Tyler really wanted it to be."This is the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me," he said, as he placed his hand on Alex's shoulder, far too conscious of the warmth radiating through the fabric of Alex's suit."Yeah."It was a non-answer, and definitely something he should have expected. He wouldn't have any idea what to say to something like that either."Is there a reason you're doing this?" he pressed.Alex's eyes were boring into his, and Tyler couldn't look away. "Do I need a reason?""Yeah. I think so." Especially with how strange he'd been acting.Alex paused, his hand shifted on Tyler's waist, somehow managing to pull him even closer. Tyler's breath caught at the action."I'm looking for something," he said, not once breaking eye contact. How long could they look into each other's eyes before it became uncomfortable?Tyler swallowed, his grip on Alex's shoulder tightening without him realising it. This was suddenly a much more serious moment than he thought it would be."What for?""My will to live. Have you seen it?"He definitely shouldn't have laughed, but with Alex's deadpanned delivery, he couldn't help it. "That's not funny," he recovered.Alex shrugged, and the gesture seemed far more relaxed now. His lips pulled into a smile and Tyler couldn't remember the last time he saw Alex smile more than once. More than that, he was entirely baffled by the fact that he was smiling because of Tyler's reaction to his really bad joke."What if my reason was that I wanted to?" he asked.“I - " Tyler faltered, unable to come up with a response. "That makes no sense?”“Why?”“It just doesn’t seem like you.”Alex leaned in and then there was only inches between them, which meant there was no way that Alex didn't hear the way Tyler's breath caught in his throat. "Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do," he said, and then pulled back again.Tyler's head was spinning, and he blinked, trying to process what had just happened. Alex had been close enough to kiss him and the fact that he didn't was going to haunt him. The fact that he'd been close enough for Tyler to even consider it would as well. Besides, knowing people was supposed to be his thing. He was supposed to know everything about everyone."You know, when you inevitably forget about this by Monday it's going to be a really weird thing for me to look back on," he muttered."“What makes you think I’m going to forget?”Suddenly, the music stopped. Tyler let go of Alex and stepped away before he even realised what he was doing. He needed to put space between them before anyone else managed to see them like that. His hands reflexively reached for his camera, and he used it to ground him again."Have a good night, Liberty High!" Tony's voice called over the speakers.Tyler wasn't sure what to do. The dance was over, and everyone else was shifting around him, heading to group up with any remaining friends and then leave the gym.Alex hadn't so much as moved. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "I think I found what I was looking for," he said, and Tyler wished he had any clue what that could possibly mean. Before he could ask, though, Alex started walking away as quickly as he'd appeared. Tyler didn't have the words to stop him, nor did he know if he should. He felt as if he was rooted to the spot, shell-shocked.A hand clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, Tyler."For a split second, he thought that it was Monty coming to kill him and he flinched away from the hand. But when he looked up, he just saw Jeff smiling down at him."You okay?" he asked, in that easy way he always did. As horrible as the jocks could be, Jeff was the exception. Jeff was always nice to him. "You seem a little shaken."Tyler wondered if Jeff had any idea what had happened that night. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he'd worried that he'd seen something, even though he knew that Jeff had spent most of his time with Leah or sitting on the bleachers with Clay. Tyler wasn't sure if the glint in his eyes was all-knowing, or if he was looking too far into things."Weird night," he said, as way of explanation."Get a lot of pictures?"Well, if he had seen anything, then at least Jeff wasn't the type to bring it up. Tyler nodded, even though it wasn't really something that needed saying."Any of me and my girl?"His energy was infectious, and Tyler found himself smiling as he answered. "Too many."Jeff beamed in response, and it was somehow incredibly calming. "You need a ride home?" he asked.He kind of wished he did, if only to experience more of Jeff's easy happiness. "My mum's picking me up.""See you around then," he shrugged."Yeah."Jeff tapped his shoulder one more time. "Send me some of those pictures later. Like, tomorrow or something."Tyler nodded again and watched as Jeff headed off, slinging an arm around Leah's shoulders as he reached her. The two of them were disgustingly cute. Tyler couldn't quite hate it."Hey, you know you can leave right?" Tony asked, his voice teasing as he came to a stop next to Tyler.Immediately, he had that irrational feeling that Tony was just trying to get rid of him. Even if that would never be his intention."Just thought I'd check to see if you needed any help packing up," he recovered.Tony shrugged. "If you don't mind hanging around. There's a lot of shit to take back to my car."Tyler nodded and followed Tony back to where Ryan was carefully stacking Tony's cassette tapes into a box."So, what happened with Alex tonight?" Ryan asked, without even looking up at him.He felt a wave of panic crash over him. Of course Ryan would have been able to see it, he could see practically the whole room from where he'd been standing with Tony.When he didn't answer, Ryan looked up at him and laughed."Relax, I'm not making fun of you. I'm just curious. I've never seen him approach anyone like that before."Tyler wasn't really sure what to say. "I haven't either."“Yeah? You see everything so that’s extra weird.”He wasn't sure if that was a job or not. It was hard to tell with Ryan. "He seemed off," he said, taking the heap of cables that Tony was holding out to him. "If that makes a difference.""Hmm," Ryan muttered, as Tyler placed the cables in a box. "He didn't really look off from here. Tony, what do you think?"Tony shrugged, picking up the box with his tapes. Tyler didn't need to ask to know that he wouldn't trust anyone else with them."I think he's had a weird time lately, but that doesn't have to take anything away from tonight."Tyler thought that over while Ryan muttered something in agreement that he didn't quite make out."I think he'll forget by Monday," he said.Ryan shook his head, the corner of his mouth pulling into a smirk. "Don't be so sure."