Luke has been in this clinic for what seems like an eternity. He's starting to forget what the hell the real world is like. It's not like he ever goes there. It's all just sanitised white hallways and ugly ceiling tiles, horrible food, movie night, therapy, more therapy, nurses telling him off, drips, pills, lights out, walk don't run, what are you doing with that potentially sharp rock and where did you find it, tell us Luke, why are you so scared of the world when it did nothing at all to you?

And so forth and so on. Luke is becoming convinced he's been there forever. At least there's Gem. Gem's his friend, they spend all their free time together, making fun of the nurses and getting into trouble (which mostly means sitting in front of the TV fantasising about getting into trouble). She likes it when he eats, so sometime he eats, just because it makes her smile and because she didn't smile at all when she first came to the hospital, but now she does sometimes and Luke likes that.

Gem however got let out for the afternoon. Alec wanted to give her some fresh air or something. Luke is happy for her. No one ever lets him out. It's sad really. They barely visit him even.

So he's sitting in the TV lounge, bundled up in too many sweaters and wrapped in a blanket, aimlessly watching Jersey Shore. He's not really paying attention. There's a fat girl on the couch who's got the converter and won't hand it over.

Jake Miller shouldn't even be in Bayfield. His mum's here though, crazy lunatic she is, and his sister. Jake met Luke at his sister's wedding. You go to weddings to pick up dates, really so there's no harm in it. Well not really but the woman who raised Jake used to say all sorts of crazy nonsense like that in addiction to her jokes about redneck family reunions.

No the woman who raised Jake isn't his mother. Adel's one of those bail out kind of moms.

Still he's here, and Adel was busy and Andrea was busy, though at least Andrea had the presence of mind to tell him where Luke is, and that's just aweful. So off Jake goes to the hospital to see him. Luke already wouldn't eat, confronted with day after day of hospital food doesn't really seem like the road to remedy if you ask Jake.

He signs in flirts with the nurses and some creepy orderly way too into his phone takes Jake to the TV lounge where Luke's sitting.

Luke is watching Jersey Shore with no real interest. It's a really rubbish show if you ask Luke, not that anyone does. But it's what on so Luke's watching it. Luke's a bit like that. He doesn't take the energy to change the channels. Metaphorically, even. Literally it would be hard because the girl could definitely take Luke in a fight. Luke's not up to much.

Jake Miller is the last person Luke would be expecting to visit him, after his mother. Not that Luke expects people to visit him. Rowan did once or twice but then Jay died and Rowan apparently lost track of his ex-boyfriend. Or maybe he just forgot. It happens sometimes with Rowan. Luke doesn't blame him. But he's certainly not expecting Jake, whose name he doesn't even know. Andrea's brother.

"Luke," the orderly doesn't even look up from his phone to talk to Luke, "you've got a visitor."

So Luke looks away from the TV and well it's Jake, wow. Luke probably looks more than a little surprised. He grins, though, in his shy, quiet way.

"Hi."

"Hello. My sister said you'd been spirited away to this hole in the wall. Must be a plot to keep you out of circulation because you're so devastating." Jake can be such an aweful tease for a guy who's coat has real bullet holes in it.

Doubtless it only works because those bullet holes are so damn hot.

Luke grins and gets up from the chair he's sitting in. No need to talk over Jersey Shore really. The sketchy orderly goes away, he's got a date with the men's room and his iPhone. Luke rolls his eyes are the guy's retreating back.

"I know. Jealous creatures. They don't want me having any fun."

"Aw. We'll have to fix that." Jake talks like Luke doesn't have an I.V. and one of those bags of saline and gods know what all to drag along on it's little wheeled hanging stand.

Luke hates the damn thing. He's really not that self destructive generally, as from the fact that he won't eat, but he's ripped those fucking tubes out more times than he can count now.

"Let's get away from this awful show anyway. Unless you've got a thing for fat orange girls?"

"I'll catch up with her later." Jake sneaks her a snickers bar before they go.

That'll really endear him to the nurses. They walk down the hall to Luke's room, because, hey, there aren't any tasteless bulimic girls there at least. Luke's room is awful. Anyone else would have put up a picture of their dog or something.

"So what are you doing in town?" Luke's pretty sure Jake's not from around here.

"Well I thought I should check up on my mother, but she's behaving. Then I went to see Andrea who told me you were here, and gods this is aweful." Jake says of the eerily spartan room. "Why are you here? The price for not eating is hell before you die now?"

"Apparently," Luke agrees, sitting down on his bed. It really is awful. And everything smells nastily like antiseptic, which doesn't make sense, there aren't even any sick people there and even if there were you'd think they'd sterlise things magically. "It's really lame, but they seem to think a fuckload of therapy and boiled broccoli is going to give me more zeal for life."

"Well it might work on other mindless vegetables." Jake suggests. He produces another candy bar which he eats.

"Mindless vegetables have to be enthusiastic about life, they know they get boiled and served for dinner if they aren't," Luke tells him, looking at his hands, candy bars are... eurgh, Luke doesn't even want to think about it. He's being good, he eat all his cereal and milk this morning because Gem asked him to, but really, chocolate bars.

Jake will eat anything, and really he can, sticks, pebbles, but it's the finer things in life he craves like chocolate and icecream. "So how'd this all start?"

"Trying to trick me into more therapy?" Luke asks, teasingly. "You could just ask them for my file, I bet if you smiled pretty enough they'd hand it over."

"Fuck that, I'm asking you. You know yourself better than they do." Jake says.

"Oh, nah. I don't know anything," Luke assures him. "I just wanted people to pay attention to me I suppose. But it was a long time ago."

Jake frowns. "Work on it. This isn't a very fun date, and they won't let me take you anywhere with the tubes in you." Jake says.

Well, there's always blatant bribery for a tactic. No one's ever tried that before. Luke reaches out and brushes his fingers over Jake's cheek. He's wearing black gloves with the fingers cut off of them but his hands are still cool.

"Okay."

Jake nods and looks at the hand then at Luke. "I can't even warm you up like last time with all this business. I'll have you know I'm crushed."

"Well you know you should have told me you were coming," Luke says, "I never get visitors really so how was I to know?" If Jake had warned him last week maybe he'd have spent the rest of the week eating things.

"Hey it's part of my charm, surprise, there I am. So you'd better stay on your toes." Jake warns.

Jake has a lot of charm, really. Shame on him wandering around using it on innocent little boys at weddings. One tumble and he's got Luke all wrapped around his finger already and Luke hadn't even seen him since the damn wedding. Indeed he'd all but escaped Luke's mind, but now he's here and larger than life and just wow. If Luke's heart could beat fast it probably would be.

Jake like Rowan get's distracted, only people can point out to him he has been and he can actually focus enough to correct matters. Luke is a nice boy, and Jake really has all the time in the world so there's no reason not go give some to Luke.

Someone ought to, even the damn orderly mostly ignores Luke. And really all he wants is to be paid attention to.

"Well we should do something about this wall." Jake says. He pulls some sidewalk chalk out of his pocket and grins.

Luke laughs. Sidewalk chalk, brilliant.

"We did gay fish murals on the outside wall the other day," he tells Jake. Practice makes perfect after all.

"Gay fish? well. How do you feel about flying saucers and time machines?"

Better if they're gay, of course.

"Good," Luke tells him, he feels good about those. Or anything else Jake cares to draw on his wall.

Jake starts doodling. He starts out with a flying saucer right out of a nineteen fifties comic book and then moves on to the Delorean from Back to the Future. He draws some other crazy things too they don't quite look like something out of starwars but you get the idea. He whistles while he draws. He's not going to be opening at Len's gallery anytime soon but his comic cartoony style is fun. He draws a moon that really is made out ouf cheese too and astronaught mice.

Luke watches him, laughing. It's fun, really. And Luke does dig arty boys. He's utterly talentless himself so he likes hanging around people who can do cool stuff. Hence his enduring fascination with Rowan Beck.

"Wow."

"Hmmm what else does this need?" Jake says. "Ah some Daleks and the Tardis." Which he adds next.

Luke is terrible uncultured and hasn't got the faintest idea what Jake is drawing.

"What's a TARDIS?"

"It's from Dr. Who. He's almost as cool as I am." really Jake can be so pompous sometimes. Dr. Who doesn't have bullet holes in his coat though. "Will they let you have a mini dvd player in here?"

"I haven't yet demonstrated that I can try to kill myself with one, so probably. There's a DVD player in the TV lounge too. Jersey Shore girl isn't usually in there at night."

"I'll bring you some stuff later. You have a favorite show?"

Luke will watch pretty much anything with good looking boys in.

"True Blood probably."

Jake nods. "Okay."

Yes, Luke's tasteless and cultureless but he's still kinda cute.

And he won't live forever so Jake will have to make sure he makes the most of what time he'll be around for.