midorisakura

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of this work of fiction
Summary: Ethan’s getting weird vibes from Benny.
A/N: Written for cottoncandy_bingo, prompt - lending a coat in the cold (a rather liberal and possibly odd interpretation of the prompt)

“Do you know if vampires ever get cold?” Benny asks, nudging Ethan in the shoulder and pointing at Erica who’s heading toward them.

Her hair’s flowing out behind her like there’s some sort of unnatural breeze in the hallway. And Ethan wonders why it is that her hair always seems to flow like that, like she’s carrying her own little personal breeze with her wherever she goes.

It could be a vampire thing, Ethan thinks, filing the thought away to ask Sarah later that night, when she’s ‘babysitting,’ his little sister. And really, it’s about time that his parents started trusting him to look after Jane. He isn’t as irresponsible as he was a year ago.

“What do you think? I mean, do you think that Erica might one day be begging for me to lend her my coat because she’s freezing her butt off, or is she just naturally cold-blooded now that she’s a member of the undead?” Benny asks, elbowing him in the gut. “Not that she wasn’t cold-hearted before the whole becoming a vampire thing, but still…what do you think? Do you see me lending her, or Rory, or maybe even Sarah my good coat on an unseasonably cold day?”

“Umph, take it easy would you?” Ethan scowls at his best friend. He rubs his stomach, because, while Benny probably didn’t mean to elbow him so hard, it actually hurts.

“Sorry,” Benny says, his eyes growing wide.

“But,” he says a few seconds later. His lopsided smile’s back in place as though nothing’s happened, and Ethan isn’t sure how he feels about that. “Do you think that they ever actually feel cold?” he asks in a whisper, leaning close to Ethan so that no one will overhear them.

They’re in the middle of a crowded stretch of hallway, and Ethan’s trying to dodge teenagers who seem locked at the hips and lips. Now is not the best time for conversation, not if they want to get to their next class on time and avoid the wrath of their teacher.

“I don’t know if vampires feel cold or not. Why do you need to know anyway?” His question comes out a little more crossly than he intended, and Benny’s face crumples in a frown. Benny shrugs and Ethan feels like a jerk.

“No reason,” he says, “I was just curious.”

And that’s just it, his best friend is curious about a lot of things, most of which never even cross his mind. It’s one of the things that Ethan loves about him though, his insatiable quest for knowledge.

Except right now is not the best time for them to be having this particular conversation, because they’re going to be late for class if they don’t move a little quicker, and, while others might not pay much attention to them, they should still be careful. Who knows what would happen if the whole student body learned that vampires walked among them?

Benny doesn’t seem to be aware that they’re in the middle of a crowded hallway, and he accidentally walks into Rory, causing the slender vampire to bump into his locker, because he’s not watching where he’s going. Instead, he’s walking backward, watching Ethan, and it’s a little unsettling, having his best friend’s undivided attention while walking to chemistry class.

“Hey, what was that for?” Rory asks, frowning.

He’s rubbing the back of his head where it hit the locker, and Ethan wonders if the blonde vampire is actually physically hurt or if he’s pouting. For a vampire, Rory is quite sensitive, and his feelings are easily hurt.

Upon closer inspection, Ethan sees that the accidental ‘push’ that Benny gave him into the locker actually dented the metal. He wants to make a joke to ease some of the tension – I’ve heard of hard heads before, but this is something else. – but doesn’t have the heart to do it. He doesn’t think Rory would understand, and he might even be hurt by it.

“I’m so sorry,” Benny says, reaching for the scowling vampire in an attempt to convey his apology, because Benny’s big on touch. Ethan can personally testify to that. His best friend’s a very touchy, feely kind of guy.

“I didn’t mean to run into you,” Benny says, even as Rory backs away from him and shakes his head.

“Uh-uh,” Rory says as he skirts around them, “no more hurting on the Rory,” and he hurries down the hallway, leaving them behind.

Benny looks crestfallen, and Ethan doesn’t know what to do, how to get the smile back on best his friend’s face. A smiling Benny is a very good thing, a devastated Benny is just plain wrong.

“Benny,” he says in a hushed voice. He snags the collar of Benny’s shirt and pulls the boy closer to him, his eyes darting to and fro as students stream past them. “We can’t be talking about this kind of thing in the open,” Ethan says, and he realizes, being this close to the other boy, that Benny’s mouth is kind of on the big side. His lips are huge, and Ethan has to blink a couple of times to remember what he wanted to say to his friend.

“What do you mean?” Benny asks, frowning, and Ethan can’t seem to tear his eyes away from the boy’s lips. “Oh, the whole ampirevay, oldkay, estionque?” he asks when Ethan doesn’t respond, and Ethan rolls his eyes.

“Yes, that.” Ethan hisses. “We’re supposed to be keeping all of this a secret. What do you want to know for anyway?”

“I’m just curious,” Benny says, shrugging.

“Fine, I’ll ask Sarah about it when she comes over tonight,” Ethan says, and he should move back from Benny because being this close to him is making him feel a little claustrophobic.

“Thanks.”

Benny smiles, and Ethan agrees with his earlier assessment, that a smiling Benny is a very good thing.

Some of the claustrophobia he’s feeling must show on his face, because Benny’s eyebrows scrunch up in concern and Ethan suddenly finds breathing to be difficult, what with Benny the way that Benny is looking at him. Ethan doesn’t know what’s going on, and he fears that maybe some kind of spell is at work, because being in such close proximity to his best friend doesn’t normally make him sweat, or make breathing such a chore.

“Are you alright?” Benny asks, and Ethan’s heart is pounding so loudly that he doesn’t think his voice can possibly be heard over its thundering.

And then Benny makes the mistake of touching him, or maybe it’s not a mistake at all, but Ethan feels a vision coming on, and the only thing he can do is wait for it to run its course. His visions pay no heed to where he is or what he’s doing at the time, they just come, and this is not at all what he’s expecting.

Benny’s hand is on his cheek, his lips are right there in front of his eyes, and they’re both surrounded by a sea of students in the middle of the hallway. But in the vision that assaults Ethan, they’re not in a crowded hallway. They aren’t at school at all.

Ethan sees his vision-self, clear as day, and Benny. They’re sitting in his kitchen with just the counter between them. He can hear Sarah and Jane in the next room. They’re talking and giggling about something, and he laughs too.

Benny leans forward, and Ethan thinks that maybe he’s going to tell him something important, because for once his best friend has a serious look on his face and they aren’t in a life-or-death kind of situation. Ethan leans forward too, and that’s when the vision gets all wonky, because what feels like a bolt of electricity goes through him and then he’s kissing his best friend right there in the middle of his kitchen with Sarah and Jane in the next room.

The vision lasts longer than others have, and he can actually feel the edges of the counter digging into his ribs. Kissing Benny’s like kissing a vacuum cleaner, or at least that’s the only correlation that Ethan can make that will do the other boy’s mouth justice. Not that he’s actually kissed a vacuum cleaner, or Benny, before.

But Benny’s mouth – his lips, his tongue, his teeth – are all consuming, and Ethan feels like he’s being sucked dry. He doesn’t even resist when Benny pulls at him until he’s lying half-way on the counter, because it’s easier to breathe, and Benny’s touching him, and…

It feels like he’s been hit by a truck when the vision ends, and he’s breathing so hard that he thinks he’s having an asthma attack, even though he’s never experienced one before. Benny’s eyeing him strangely, and the other students are giving them a wide berth, and he can’t take his eyes off of Benny’s lips.

“So…” Benny backs away from him, “how bad was it?” he asks, and Ethan’s thinking that he’s asking about the kiss, which wasn’t bad at all.

Actually the kiss was better than any he’d imagined having with Sarah, and then the realization that he just had a vision about kissing Benny sinks in, and he understands what his friend’s really asking. That he isn’t talking about the amazing kiss that has not actually happened yet, but about the vision itself.

Ethan swallows, because his mouth and throat are dry, and he licks his lips. He contemplates telling Benny what he saw, but he doesn’t know how his friend will react to it. How Benny will feel about kissing him, and he still thinks that something strange is going on because he can still feel the electricity coursing though his body.

Ethan shakes his head, and wipes the palms of his hands on his jeans because they’ve grown excessively sweaty.

“Uh,” Ethan says, and he really has no idea what to say, “it wasn’t bad, it was actually pretty good, really, really good,” and he can feel himself growing red, “uh I mean, the vision, it, uh, it wasn’t a bad one. It’s nothing for you to worry about.” It’s just for me to worry and obsess about, he thinks.

“O…kay,” Benny says, stretching the two syllables, and Ethan can’t help comparing the way Benny’s talking to the way his lips moved over his in the vision he’d had, stretching impossibly wide.

The bell rings, signaling that their next class is about to begin, but Ethan doesn’t want to go to class. He wants to go home and put the kitchen counter between himself and Benny to see what will happen, if the kiss will be anything like it was in his vision, or if it will be better. He’s spent the past year trying to stop his visions from coming true, but this is one that he desperately hopes cannot be stopped, because the Benny in his vision is a damn good kisser.

“We’d better hurry or Mr. Crandall’s going to give us detention,” Benny says, tugging on his hand to get him moving.

Ethan’s hand tingles where Benny’s touching it, and breathing seems to be optional for him this afternoon, because, with the way that Benny keeps taking his breath away, he really should be dead. He lets Benny pull him along, wondering if his vision will come true tonight or if he’ll be tortured with the memory of it for the next several days, weeks, months. And he can’t wait for months, not without going mad.

They squeeze into the room while Mr. Crandall’s attention is on writing complicated formulas on the whiteboard, hoping that he’ll just assume they’ve been there the whole time.

“Welcome to class Mr. Morgan and Mr. Weir,” he says.

“Shoot,” Benny says beneath his breath, “I thought we’d made it.”

“We’re on page thirty-two of the text,” Mr. Crandall says, and the rest of the class passes by in a blur for Ethan who just can’t shake the vision from his mind no matter what he does or who or what he thinks of.

When school’s over, Ethan’s not sure how to get his best friend to come over for the night, even though Benny is almost always at his house every other day of the week. He knows that he’s being ridiculous, that all he has to do is ask Benny if he’s coming over, but the thought that Benny might say, no, has him terrified and nervous.

Get a grip, he tells himself.

“So, you coming over for dinner tonight?” Ethan asks.

Benny tilts his head to the side and thinks, a little too long and hard for Ethan’s comfort. But then he smiles and says, “Sure. Do you think Sarah will answer my question?”

Ethan groans internally, and he wonders if maybe Benny doesn’t have a crush on one of their three vampire friends, what with his repeated question about their warmth, or rather lack thereof. He can picture Benny lending Erica, or Sarah, or even Rory his coat in a self-less act of chivalry, and it makes him jealous. Why can’t Benny lend him his best coat? He’s one hundred percent human, and he gets cold from time to time, and he’s been his best friend since forever.

“I’m sure she will,” Ethan says. He doesn’t pay much attention to the conversation they have on the way home, because all he can think about is Benny’s mouth and hands and how much heat was between them when they kissed in his vision.

It’s not until well after dinner, and Ethan’s gut is twisting with the fear that nothing will happen tonight or ever, that Sarah takes Jane into the living room to watch a movie about a princess finding her true love. It’s complete girly fare. Ethan and Benny opt to sit in the kitchen and make the popcorn for the girls. They’re also supposed to be studying, but Ethan doesn’t even think his brain will work properly until after Benny’s left for the night and he makes the time to sort through his vision. Because, if he’s honest with himself, as great as the kiss was in the vision he’d had, it’s got to mean something else – like an omen of something good. Or maybe it’s a warning, because most of his visions are portents of danger.

Sarah says something that catches his ear and draws him from his inner, self-torment, and he laughs, because, in a way, it’s a perfect way to end a completely uneventful night. The vision that he had has been effectively thwarted, though through no effort of his own.

“It’s such a romantic gesture when a gentleman lends a lady his coat,” Sarah’s voice drifts to the kitchen, and there’s a dreamy quality to it.

Jane snorts and Ethan can picture the look of disgust and disbelief on his little sister’s face when she says, “Ew, that’s gross.”

“Just wait until you get older,” Sarah says, and Jane starts giggling.

Ethan chooses that moment to turn in his chair, and he catches Benny staring at him. He can’t read the look in his best friend’s eyes, but it makes his stomach twist in knots, and causes the laughter to die on his lips.

“Did you ask Sarah about...” the rest of Ethan’s question is cut off by Benny’s lips, and it isn’t until weeks later that Benny tells him vampires don’t feel the cold.

And even though he’s had a vision about this, Benny’s kiss still takes him off-guard. He isn’t sure what to do with his hands or how his mouth is supposed to move, or what he’s supposed to do with his tongue when Benny’s enters his mouth. Their noses get in the way, and it’s awkward, and the counter is digging into his ribs, and he really has no clue what to do with his hands, so he just clutches at the counter, and inches forward when Benny grabs at him.

And, he was right, Benny’s mouth is a regular Hoover, sucking the breath right out of him, and his lips and tongue are more flexible than his vision gave his best friend credit for. Benny’s mouth is making these obscene suckling noises that cause the hairs on the back of Ethan’s neck stand up, and give him goose bumps. And he’s panting and moaning and he can’t get enough, because Benny is the source of the electric pulse that went through him in the vision that he had earlier that day, and Benny’s touch is setting him on fire.

“Eh hem.”

The sound of Sarah clearing her throat acts like a bucket of cold water, and Benny’s mouth is suddenly gone. Ethan’s lips tingle and ache and he touches a finger to them. They’re warm and swollen.

“Uh, I think it’s time to break up the kissing,” Sarah says.

When neither of them moves, she reaches between them, and Ethan quickly scoots off the counter, looking around to make sure that his little sister did not see what happened between Benny and him. Not that he’s embarrassed by it or anything, but he doesn’t think his little eight-year-old sister needs to witness anyone kissing like that, unless of course it’s their mom and dad.

Sarah looks at each of them in turn, and Ethan feels his heart sinking. His vision had given him nothing beyond the kissing. She raises an eyebrow in question, first at him and then at Benny.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault,” Benny says, and he won’t meet Sarah’s or Ethan’s eyes and Ethan feels like he’s been kicked in the chest when he says, “I don’t know why I did that. It won’t happen again. I promise.”

“Benny, there’s nothing wrong with what you and Ethan did, just keep in mind that there’s an eight-year-old girl in the other room,” Sarah says. “Somehow I don’t think that Ethan’s parents would like her to see you two making out on the kitchen counter. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but...”

“You’re the babysitter and ...” Ethan says, feeling relieved that Sarah’s not freaking out about him and Benny kissing.

“And I’m responsible for you and Jane, like it or not,” she finishes, “so, no more making out in the kitchen, and you’re both going to come into the living room and finish watching the movie with Jane and me.”

“But…” Benny protests.

“I’ve got to find some way to punish you,” Sarah says, and Ethan’s stomach clenches at the implication of her words, “for burning the popcorn,” she finishes, shaking her head.

“You’ve got three and a half minutes before you need to get yourselves into the living room,” Sarah says, “make the most of it, and this time, don’t forget the popcorn.”

“I’ll put the bag in the microwave,” Benny says once Sarah’s left, and he’s still not meeting Ethan’s eyes.

When he makes no move to say anything once he’s started the popcorn, Ethan reaches across the counter and taps him on the shoulder and waits for Benny to look at him. The boy’s eyes are filled with worry and fear and shame.

“I’m sorry,” Benny says, “I don’t know what came over me, I…”

“I’m not sorry,” Ethan says, “and I kind of want you to do that again, except, well, maybe we shouldn’t do it in the kitchen, my ribs are killing me.”

Benny’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline, but there’s a faint smile forming on his lips, and the fear is gone from his eyes. Ethan knows that there’s still a lot they have to talk about, the least of which is the question of what is going on between them, but he has confidence that this make-out session won’t be their last.

He joins Benny on the other side of the kitchen island and gives him an experimental kiss on the lips. It’s nothing like the kiss Benny initiated earlier, there’s no tongue or teeth, and it’s rather chaste by comparison, but it feels good and right. The microwave dings just as Benny’s lips part, and they both groan at the interruption.

“Guess we’d better head in there,” Ethan says, jerking his thumb in the direction of the living room.

“Remind me never to burn Sarah’s popcorn again,” Benny says, but he grabs Ethan’s hand and Ethan grabs the popcorn, and they walk into the living room holding hands.

Jane scowls at the both of them, and Benny stiffens beside him, but Ethan squeezes his hand and gives the bag of popcorn to Sarah before tugging him onto the couch beside him. They both flop down with an audible, plop, and Jane turns to glare at them.

Ethan opens his mouth to explain to Jane that he and Benny are holding hands because they kind of sort of like each other or something like that. He isn’t sure that it’s love, but he isn’t sure that it’s not love either. He just doesn’t want to freak Benny out by making any declarations.

“Are you two done burning the popcorn?” Jane asks icily, and Ethan laughs.

“It’s not funny,” Jane scolds, “we’ve been waiting forever for you two to make the popcorn, and now we’ve got to start the movie over again because you’re watching now.”

“Uh, that won’t be necessary,” Benny says, and there’s a genuine smile on his face now. He rubs his thumb over the back of Ethan’s hand, and says, “you can continue the movie where you left off.”

“We have to start it over because you interrupted us and I can’t remember how the prince got through the obstacle of fire,” Jane says.

Both Benny and Ethan groan aloud, and Sarah smiles at them. It’s one of those overly sweet smiles that promises a lot of torture in the future, but, Ethan is much too happy to care.

Because Benny’s sitting right next to him on the couch, their legs are touching and they’re still holding hands, and his lips are, even now, stinging from Benny’s kiss. His little sister is sticking her tongue out at them because they’d ruined the first batch of popcorn. The babysitter, who just so happens to be a vampire, is cuing up a movie about a prince rescuing a princess for the four of them to watch.

As he leans back against the cushions of the couch and takes a look around him, Ethan can’t help but think that everything is perfect, and that, for once, one of his visions resulted in a happy ending, or at least the promise of one.