Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What do you mean there’s side effects?” Ethan stood up from the wooden stool and raised his voice but felt bad immediately. He didn’t mean to shout at grandma Weir, she was only stating the facts.

“I’m afraid so,” she said unbothered by Ethan’s slight out brust. “That bloodsucker put some vampire venom in you and even after Sarah sucked it out you’ll have some side effects until the leftover venom leaves your body.”

“But he’ll be okay?” Benny asked, leaning on the table and glancing between his grandmother and best friend. “Like, he won’t be a weird half human-vampire hybrid?”

The older Weir shook her head and frowned in the way she usually does when Benny was being a goof.

“Of course not. The symptoms are minor and temporary. Three weeks, five or six at worst but you’ll be normal again afterwards. Until then you’ll have fangs you can’t hide, sunlight might hurt a little more and then there’s the thirst for blood.” She explained, sympathetically.

“I’ll want to drink blood?” Ethan’s stomach felt queasy. “And that’s it?” He asked nervously.

“Yeah, like he doesn’t even get the cool speed or strength! Not even the glowy eyes?” Benny pulled up his own eyelids with his index finger and thumb for emphasis, he meant to lighten the mood but Ethan just felt more uneasy. “Well, I guess his are pretty glowy already but still-“

“Oh, stop with that,” Evelyn lightly hit the top of her grandson’s head. “Ethan, you have nothing to worry about. Besides, the craving for blood but,” she paused to grab something from underneath the table. “Lucky you, I still have blood substitute from when Sarah was trying to keep from eating rats. Hopefully it’ll taste better to you.”

She handed him a brown paper bag that was full with juice boxes, the sides had warnings and side effects written in sharpie. Nothing either Weir said made him feel any better. Ethan accepted the bag but didn’t plan to drink any of them.

“So, I’ll just crave blood for three weeks? What if I lose control or something and bite someone? Will they turn? Will I turn into an actual vampire?” Ethan’s voice quickened with building anxiety. Benny put a hand on the seer’s shoulder to try and comfort him.

The older woman shook her head, a thin smile playing on her lips. It was nice to be reminded that Ethan would always be pure of heart and worried himself with the right things. She couldn’t always say the same about her grandson though.

“Not at all.” She reassured him. “You could bite someone and neither of you would be turned. You have Sarah to thank for that one, she was quick to get all the nasty bits of venom out of you. The only thing left is the residue and it's not that harmful, just needs to leave your system naturally now.”

“See dude! You’re totally fine,” Benny tried to look on the bright side because Ethan seemed to hyper focus on all the bad things. “It’s like a bad cold. Plus, three weeks is going to fly by!”

Ethan let out a shaky breath and tried to relax his thoughts. “Yeah,” he agreed. “It’ll… Be fine. I’ll just pretend the blood substitute is flu medicine and avoid smiling in front of my parents. I don’t have to drink it everyday, right?”

“No, just when you’re craving it. But if you go without it for too long you might get a little bit of fatigue, I’m sure you’ll be okay as long as you drink it often enough.” Grandma Weir pressed a loving hand on his head and smiled. “I promise you’ll be fine.”

“And Sarah? She gave up any chance she had at being human to save me and we haven’t been able find her since the dance.” Ethan asked, his head hanging low and his voice dripping with guilt.

The two Weirs looked at each other with sad, worried eyes understanding the seer’s pain but unsure how to comfort him. Benny thought to try anyways. He sat next to his best friend on the companying wooden stool and put an arm around the shorter boy, hugging him tightly.

“Sarah’s tough. She’ll… Be alright and who knows maybe by the time she shows up again you’ll be all better.” The spellcaster rested his chin on top of Ethan’s head and gave him a light reassuring squeeze.

“Benny is right,” Evelyn started to say.

“Ha! First time I’ve ever heard you say that,” Benny said but his laugh came out disingenuous. Still Ethan couldn’t help but grin slightly. She side eyed him but ignored the comment.

“Sarah made her choice. She chose to save you, try make her life a little easier when she gets back and stay out of trouble.” Evelyn’s tone was even and soothing. “Besides, I’m afraid she might have never found the cure before drinking human blood. I’ve never seen a fledgling be cured let alone a fully turned vampire. You were lucky, you better hope that luck doesn’t run out.”

Ethan nodded his head but made no effort to say anything else. It was a lot to take in and he still felt like everything was his fault. Even if Jesse was the one to bit him, Ethan felt he should’ve stopped Sarah or acted more on his vision from before the dance. He should have done something more and now his friend was paying the price for him not being able to protect himself. How was he meant to protect anyone else if he can’t even help himself?

“Thanks for the help. I think…” Ethan stood up, his voice soft. “I’m going to go home and just rest for a while.”

Benny watched his friend walk off and called out, “text to you tomorrow?”

“Sure.” Ethan shrugged and left the Weir household without another word.

Evelyn glanced over to her grandson, face sad and concerned. “Look out for him and keep an eye out that the symptoms don’t get worse. If he lets himself get too hungry for blood he might do something he’ll regret.”

“Of course I’m going to look out for him! Ethan’s my best friend and I’m worried he’s going beat himself up about Sarah forever now.” Benny sighed, frustrated at how his friend always put other people before himself. “He won’t actually turn into a vampire, right?”

“If I’m honest, we can never be too sure but it’s doubtful. I think he’ll be fine as long as he listens to his body and he doesn’t deny himself of his craving. And don't go throwing your own neck out for him.” She carefully eyed her grandson, knowingly.

Benny raised his hands up in mock defense, smiling sheepishly. "I didn't say I would but it wouldn't be so bad if I did."

"Sometimes you're too much, Benji."

--

Ethan ran up to his room, ignoring his parents welcoming calls, and locked the door behind him. He sat on his bed, staring down at the brown bag in his hand.

“It can’t be that bad, right?” Ethan said to himself and grabbed one of the juice boxes. Erica wasn’t lying when she said it smelled like shoe, somehow drinking it through a straw seemed worse and grosser, but chugging it down was out of the question. He didn’t need it spilled all over the floor.

Ethan’s stomach grumbled loudly. This was going to be the longest three weeks of his life.

Pinching the bridge of his nose and taking in as many large gulps as he could stomach, Ethan swallowed the liquid. He didn’t want to see the color, shutting his eyes tight. It was probably a strange red shade that would only make it harder to not gag.

It didn’t help that his teeth ached as they were now sharpened to small fangs. It wasn't totally noticeable but they hurt the same way growing wisdom teeth did, another annoying thing he’d have to deal with the coming weeks. Hopefully those weren’t a permanent problem. It was only slightly less worse than having to drink this fake blood junk.

Ethan coughed, unable to take in more than three full gulps of fluid before it was too disgusting to handle. He spat up the rest into his hand, finding his assumptions were right as his hand was coated in a weirdly bright red and sticky substance now mixed with spit.

It tasted it like licking the bottom of a used tire, what the hell was even in this? Why not just use animal blood or anything else than powdered herbs with names too hard to pronounce mixed into water?!

The seer groaned, shoving the unfinished drink into the bag and tossing it next to the trash can and laid on his bed disappointedly, arms folded over his face to shield his eyes from any light.

There was no way he was going to be able to drink that and he’d be lucky if this only lasted three weeks. Maybe he’d be fine if he just skipped out on drinking it as often as possible. What was the worst that could happen anyways? It wasn’t like he was actually a vampire.

Chapter Text

Three full days into the temporary vampire illness and Ethan felt physically awful. His teeth stopped aching as much but he would accidentally bite his lip and cut it open from how sharp his fangs were. Fangs that his mom would probably notice any day now and he still had no idea how to explain them.

Then there was walking outside into the sun which hurt. A lot. More than if he was actually a vampire and it was complicating going to school. At least the rash he got in sunlight let him out of doing gym class. Benny was jealous of that part.

He was getting moody with a short temper; probably because he hadn’t actually drank any of the blood substitutes since he last spoke with grandma Weir. Maybe just sucking it up and drinking the gross liquid wouldn’t be as bad as what he was feeling now but something about whatever was in those juice boxes made him more mad. Despite eating more human food Ethan still felt so hungry and he knew what he was craving. He just didn’t want to admit it, it felt wrong and he was upset at himself for wanting actual blood to drink.

It didn’t help that at one point he got a vision that scared him half to death. Flashes of his face with blood dripping down his mouth and fangs, Benny was under him with bite marks in his neck. It was terrifying. He refused to let it happen, even if his body got excited at the idea of drinking blood, drinking Benny’s blood. It was wrong and he shouldn’t want it.

So, for the past few days Ethan was avoidant and easily upset meaning it didn’t take long for Benny to notice something was seriously wrong.

“Dude, what’s been your damage lately? You’ve talked back to teachers and nearly broke your locker off its hinges when it got stuck. Twice!” Benny pointed out after school. They were sitting in Ethan’s room attempting to get homework done. “You’ve been dealing with that vampire flu how grandma said to, right?”

“It’s not a flu, B. And… Yeah, I think I have it pretty under control.” Ethan lied. He was an awful lair.

Benny sat back on the bed, textbook lazily thrown to the side and an eyebrow raised in disbelief. If Ethan wasn’t so frustrated with himself he would’ve thought more about how attractive Benny looked when he was serious and focused.

That was another thing. While both boys understood they shared some feelings for each other neither one of them were brave enough to make the first move. The pent up emotions about that only made Ethan feel even more out of his mind.

He knew there would be some fatigue but when it came to Benny, he never felt mad. Just… there was a burning pit in his stomach and it grew with his hunger. Ethan’s craving for blood and his want to be with Benny made it hard to think sometimes.

“E? Ethan,” Benny snapped his fingers in front of the seer’s face. Ethan blinked his thoughts away. “You totally zoned out there.”

“Oh. Sorry, dude. What did you say?”

“Just that you’re a shit lair aaaand,” Benny dragged on the word, lifting a brown paper bag off the floor. “You’re even worse at hiding the evidence. Seriously, E, you haven’t drank any of these. No wonder you’ve been so pissed off lately.”

Shit. Ethan had totally forgotten that he left the bag full of those gross juice boxes on the floor next to the trash can, he was lucky his mom hadn’t looked through it.

Ethan stood up from his desk chair to reach over and take the bag from Benny, the spellcaster pulled his hand back to keep it away from him.

“Benny, give me that. I can explain,” Ethan whined, half climbing on top of his friend to snag the brown bag back. In all honesty Ethan could care less if Benny set the bag on fire but knew he wouldn’t be that lucky. Likely his best friend was going to force him to drink at least one and the thought alone made his stomach turn uneasy.

“Oh really? Then tell me why you’ve barely touched one and lied about it. If you’re drinking actual blood I won’t judge you but I know you haven’t done that either otherwise you wouldn’t be so pissy.” Benny had no time or spare brain power to enjoy the way Ethan was climbing on top of him to get the bag. He was only keeping it away because he knew Ethan was just going to toss it back next to the trash.

“So?” The seer spat back, upset. “It’s not like I’m going to die if I don’t drink it.”

“E, that’s not the point. You’re just going get more sick,” Benny stopped pushing his friend away, his voice full of concern. “I’m just worried. You’ve lashed out a lot these past days, I know you aren’t that kind of person and it’s just going to keep getting worse. At least drink one today. Please, for me.”

Neither of them moved from their spots. Ethan practically sitting on Benny’s lap, knees folded onto the bed. Benny sat back and held a single juice box in one hand and the bag in the other, a pleading look on his face. In any other context this would’ve been a dream but right now there was little enjoyment to be had.

“I can’t,” Ethan said plainly, head hanging low.

“Why not?”

“It’s just,” Ethan let out a frustrated sigh and rested his forehead against Benny’s shoulder. “I don’t know. It tastes so fucking awful, B. And my brain keeps thinking about how much it wants to drink blood. Actual blood, and I can’t help but feel awful about it.” Ethan didn’t want to look up, he didn’t want to meet his friend’s eyes and reveal the look of shame on his face. “But I’m really fucking hungry.”

His fangs ached again. He was so close to Benny. So close to his neck. Ethan could hear Benny’s steady heart beat and it only served to make him feel worse about how hungry he was for blood. For seemingly Benny’s blood. He remembered the vision and the ache subsided with guilt.

Benny put down the juice box and paper bag, opting to toss them to the side, his now free hands holding onto the lower half of Ethan’s waist.

“Then bite me.”

It came out suddenly, almost like an order and the demand startled Ethan despite the way his stomach jumped and his heart skipped a beat. Benny sounded completely serious and Ethan raised his head to search his friend’s face for any signs that this was okay, that he wasn’t fearful and just giving into what he thought Ethan wanted. There was no way he could want this.

“You’re joking,” Ethan shook his head. “There’s no way I could… I-I can’t do that… What if I hurt you? Or drink too much? Or-“

Benny held onto Ethan's shoulders. “Dude, I trust you. If this is what you need then I’ll help you. It’s okay, I promise.”

If the spellcaster was totally honest with himself, the prospect of Ethan biting his neck was both terrifying and intriguing.

Ethan’s eyes went wide and he bit his lip, careful not cut himself again. Deep down Ethan knew he wanted this. Actually, it wasn’t even that deep, he was well aware of how much he wanted this and it was being offered to him like it was no big deal. But there was the strong possibility that things would end badly.

“I… Benny, I can’t hurt you like that.”

“You won’t be doing anything I didn’t ask for.” Benny cupped his face in one hand, smiling. “Now come on. Put those wicked chompers in my neck veins.”

Ethan scrunched up his nose at the statement. “Do you really have to say it like that? That somehow makes it sound worse but in a goofy way.”

Benny wiggled his eyebrows, grinning. “That’s the point. I had to break the tension somehow. It doesn’t need to be a big serious deal, E. Would you rather a kiss on the cheek? Or are you the type that needs dinner and a movie before you’re willing to commit?” Benny only meant to be jokingly facetious about it, if he could turn it into a lame joke than maybe Ethan would lighten up.

But then he saw the way Ethan’s cheeks began to turn a funny shade of bright pink and realized there was an even better way to go about this.

“Or would you rather we lead into it in a different way?” Benny asked, one hand going up Ethan’s shirt slightly. Just enough for him to press a cold hand against warm skin causing Ethan to shiver.

Ethan bit the inside of his cheek internally swearing at himself. He fought against himself, one part of him wanted to give into all his current desires and the other wanted to keep as much control of himself as possible. With the way Benny was taking things the latter seemed harder to do.

“It’s okay, E. I promise.”

“It doesn’t feel okay,” Ethan got up and stood facing away from his friend, arms wrapped around himself. “I’ll… Just ask Rory about animal blood or something. Maybe I can just trick myself into drinking it or-or I don’t know! I just don’t want to hurt you.”

“Ethan… You aren’t going to hurt me. I trust you.” Benny reached to comfort his friend but Ethan pulled away from the touch.

“Yeah, you trust me but what if I can’t control it? I don’t trust myself, B. That’s different.” Ethan wanted to cry, letting out a shaky breath. “I had vision. I was hanging over you and my face covered in blood. Your blood. I’m scared of what that means.”

Benny took a few steps back to give his friend space. “Okay…. Okay, you don’t want to do that and I won’t ever make you.”

“Thanks…” Ethan’s voice cracked slightly. “Is it okay if I just get some space right now? We’ll talk later. I’ll try to be better by then.” The seer forced a tired, sad half smile.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Benny nodded his head, walking out to leave. “And E, don’t beat yourself up about all this. I’m not scared of you and we don’t need to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

Ethan let out a breath of relief once his friend left. He needed to pull himself together and get this under control.

Chapter Text

Admittedly the idea of drinking animal blood was totally and utterly gross, but it was Ethan’s best bet to not go crazy with hunger.

“The trick is coming at them from the side,” Rory whispered. They were in the graveyard because according to Rory blood tasted, like most foods, best when it was fresh. So Ethan joined him on a nightly hunt for possums and rats to get a meal from. More and more Ethan was understanding why Sarah hated this so much and couldn’t see the appeal Rory and Erica got from being vampires. Maybe it was because they got all the good parts instead of only just the shitty inconvenient parts that Ethan was stuck with.

“Rory, I don’t have vampire speed. I can’t run fast enough to catch anything.” Ethan reminded him.

“Ooooh, so you’re like the lamest vampire ever,” it was a joke. A Poor one at that.

“Yeah, right after you… Besides, I’m not a vampire and I am going to push you into sharp wood if you keep that up.” Ethan buffed, joking back.

“I am not lame and you can’t kill me if you can’t catch me!” In the blink of an eye Rory was gone. Ethan looked around himself rapidly to see where the vampire could have sped off to but found him nowhere.

Ethan let out an annoyed sigh and sat onto the dirt ground. His stomach growled and he couldn’t help from groaning. This totally sucked! Suddenly he felt a breeze blow in front of him and looking up an overgrown rat was two inches from his face. Ethan jumped back, surprised and scared. Quickly realizing that Rory had ran back towards him with the creature.

“For you, my good bro-man.” Rory said, jokingly bowing and handing over the now dead rat. It hit Ethan just how fucking gross this was.

“You know what, you can have the first bit. I think I’m okay for now.” Ethan turned him down as politely as he could, but the sound of his stomach growling again made Rory raise an eyebrow.

“No way, dude. I promised Benny you’d eat something and what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t make sure you were eating healthy.” Rory said proudly, pushing the rat closer towards Ethan’s face.

“Rory, get that fucking rat out off my face or I’ll-” Ethan stopped his threat at the sudden sharp pain in his gut. He doubled over, hugging his arms around his stomach and groaned. He hadn’t meant to be so angry towards his friend but luckily Rory didn’t get offended. The vampire boy was more concerned with making sure Ethan was alright.

Putting the rat to the side Rory sat next to Ethan, putting his arms around the seer and rubbing his back for comfort. Ethan leaned onto Rory, his entire body was stiff and tense with pain, a hot flash making him sweat. This was happening more often with the lack of food. Ethan was starving himself and his body was reacting poorly.

“When was the last time you drank any of the red stuff?” Rory asked, all humor gone from his voice.

“I think-” Ethan hissed in pain and gasped at how badly it hurt. “Six days. It’s been six days. I tried the fake blood stuff once and that was it.”

“E, that isn’t good. I know it’s freaky but you can’t do this to yourself.”

“How do you…” Ethan searched for the right words but there was no nice way of saying it. “How do you not feel like some monster? How do you not over do it and lose control?”

Rory shrugged but he was smiling again, only slightly. “Honestly? It never really bothered me. Maybe that’s bad but I don’t attack people. I mean, I like animal blood because it’s fun to run and catch a meal if I’m being for real, but human blood is better and isn’t that hard to come by. I don’t turn anyone and I don’t go after anyone on the streets and leave them in the gutter either. There’s other ways to get human blood, y’know. I guess it’s harder for you, those blood trucks can smell your human and then turn you into a meal.” Rory stared straight ahead unsure if his friend was going to see him differently now. “Even Erica only bits people she goes on dates with and they just think she’s being kinky or something.”

Ethan relaxed a little, the pain was subsiding and he could breathe easier now and listened closely to his friend speak.

“And what about losing control?”

“You just need to trust yourself more, figure out your limits. Stuff like that. It’s not that hard honestly, at least, when you’re actually eating properly.” Rory grinned and nudged Ethan in the shoulder. “Why are you so scared? You’re friends with three vampires and we’ve never done anything that bad.”

Ethan shrugged, pulling his knees towards his chest and resting his head against Rory’s shoulder. “I think I just freaked myself out after everything with Sarah and I couldn’t help but feel guilty afterwards. All I feel is guilt. About Sarah. About wanting to drink blood. About liking Benny and wanting to bite him…. I had this vision and Benny told me to bite him and it freaked me out. My brain cannot handle all of this at once.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Benny asked you to bite him? You’re way lucky, dude. Erica said his blood tastes the best. Could be the magic,” Rory nearly jumped up, sitting up straighter and turned his head to look over at the seer. “I mean,” Rory flinched and cleared his throat realizing that wasn’t the best word choice, “that’s besides the point. Listen, E, those things aren’t your fault and there’s wrong with how you feel. Sarah made her choice, you can’t regret that for her. And liking Benny and drinking blood isn’t that bad, it’s not the end of the world because you want to bite him or date him or whatever. You have his consent and everything. Are you just worried about what you’ll do?”

Ethan hid his face while nodding his head, embarrassed and still feeling guilty. “I know I can’t change what Sarah did and I guess all I can do is move forward with her…. But with Benny….. My vision felt wrong. I bit him and it seemed so scary seeing my mouth covered in blood and just hanging over him on my bed, he was covering his mouth and shirtless. That has to mean I did something bad, right?”

“Uhh,” Rory pulled on the front of his shirt and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “E, I don’t know about all that but it could just as easily be something good happening. With what Benny has told me I think that was a vision of you guys was more about you two doing… y’know…. Stuff. But, uh, there’s nothing wrong with that!”

Ethan’s face went red and hot, completely hiding his face in Rory’s chest and he let out a loud groan; this time out of total embarrassment. “You have to be kidding me,” he said, voice muffled.

“Maybe that’s why you shouldn’t over think everything,” Rory laughed, fingers running through Ethan’s hair. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know.. You don’t need to feel guilty for wanting to do that stuff, E. Honestly, you don’t need to feel guilt over any of that stuff but I get why you might. It’s not that bad though.”

“Which part? The bloodsucking or the making out-”

“Nope! Stop! La, la, la! I don’t want to hear about my friends making out! La, la, la!” Rory covered his ears, cheeks pink and raised his voice whenever he saw Ethan’s lips move.

Ethan couldn’t help but laugh, his chest felt lighter like things could be better. He could want these things and not have to feel awful about it, it was okay. He would still need work through everything with time but this was a start. He could forgive himself about Sarah and he could be comfortable with his feelings towards Benny. He just needed time to process. He was glad he got to talk with Rory, even if no one else realized it Rory was good at making people feel better. Maybe it’s because he was honest while always looking on the bright side and never took anything too seriously. It’s nice being friends with him.

“Okay, okay, R. I won’t talk about how me and Benny are totally going to go m-” Ethan’s smug smile was covered by Rory’s hands before he could finish his sentence, not that he planned to actually say anything that bad.

For a second they didn’t move, Rory’s hands awkwardly covering Ethan’s mouth and it felt so silly that they couldn’t help but laugh at themselves. Then came another growl from Ethan’s stomach.

“Think you’re up for a bite now?” Rory asked, his laughter dying down to small giggles. “The rat is still good, it’s not even stiff yet!”

“Well…. If I close my eyes, I can pretend it’s another one of my mom’s shitty cakes.” Ethan said, awkwardly taking the creature in hand and letting out a deep breath. He was only doing it so he wasn’t completely hungry when he went to see Benny later.

“I like your mom’s cooking!”

That makes one of us, Ethan thought as he shut his eyes tight and biting down where there was the least amount of fur. It was strange and not something he would want to do again ever in his life. The texture was thick and almost hard to swallow, like a syrup, but still watery enough to go down his throat smoothly. The taste wasn’t much better. It was metallic like typical blood but also much more bitter and reminded him of rust, the decay already setting in. Ethan was still able to stomach it easier than he could the blood substitute and he drank enough until the hunger that was gnawing at his insides eased off.

Ethan coughs after a few moments of drinking the blood, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. That was somehow both really gross and really satisfying at the same time. Honestly he was dizzy but in the same way a teen-ager feels after their first beer, a soft buzz going on from how his head spins but in the best way.

“Typically you’re meant to take the head off first so you don’t get the fur too,” Rory says after taking the rat and placing it gently on the ground and chuckles a little. “Tastes less like dirt that way.”

“Rory! Why wouldn’t you say anything before I did that!” Ethan whines and sticks out his tongue. “That was way gross.”

“Consider it pay back for calling me a lame vampire,” Rory grins and Ethan can’t stay mad about it for long. “So, how do you feel?”

Ethan let’s out a deep exhale. “A lot better than before.”

“Enough to go talk with Benny?”

The seer bit the inside of his cheek, unsure but nods his head anyways. “Yeah, I think so. Maybe after I get the taste of rat out of my mouth first though.”

Chapter Text

Since Ethan’s night with Rory he’s felt much better and admittedly the blood high he got lasted a few days but he still had a week and a half left in his temporary vampire problem. He would need to feed again pretty soon and even with what Rory told him, Ethan was still on edge about bringing up the whole biting Benny thing. He didn’t need to eat as often as a typical vampire so enough days had gone by for him to feel more relaxed about the situation and think through his feelings a little more, deep breaths always helped him calm down too.

“You’ve been looking a lot better,” the spell master noted with a smile. “Rory said you guys went to the graveyard on Friday. I guess it went well.”

“It wasn’t too bad. Talked about stuff. Ate a rat. The usual bro time stuff.” Ethan shrugged. They were back in his bedroom like they always were, mostly just bumming around with nothing to do. Everything had been pretty quiet and Sarah was still gone; things felt like how they were before the whole vampires, paranormal fighting happened. Well, almost back to normal. Ethan’s fangs started to ache again and his stomach was beginning to cramp from pain on occasion, but nothing close to how bad it was before. “I might have to ask to join him again soon though.”

Benny bit his lip and fidgeted with the thread of his jeans, it was obvious he wanted to say something but for the first time in Benny’s life he thought against just blurting out his words. Ethan knew what his friend probably wanted to ask.

“I guess with Sarah gone you’re the rat biter now,” Benny joked lamely.

“Ugh, yeah. I got a mouth full of fur. I’m totally getting Rory back for that one.” Ethan said, turning around on his desk chair to better face his friend that half laid on the bed reading a spell book.

“Sounds gross….” Benny trailed. It was becoming unbearable to watch Benny bite his tongue about whatever he wanted to say but Ethan didn’t know how to bring up the topic without seeming too eager. “I know you can’t go to the blood truck because you smell human, but maybe Erica could get you some?”

“I doubt it. She’s pretty upset about Sarah being gone and I haven’t talked to her all week. It’s not that big of a deal.” Ethan shrugged. “I can manage another week or two even if rats taste like licking a rusty pipe.”

“You’re making it really hard for me not to just offer for you to bite me.” Benny finally blurted out before visually regretting it the moment right after. “I mean, only if you wanted. No pressure or anything. I-I know you’re uncomfortable with the idea and I didn’t mean to- but, y’know, if you get sick of rat blood than I could ask grandma to just bag my blood for you or I could-”

“Ben,” Ethan said smoothly and Benny swallowed hard. “It’s fine… I think I’m okay with it now which feels weird to say but after I talked with Rory things feel less... scary.”

Benny sat on the edge of the bed, close enough to the seer to hold hands. “Are you sure? You can still say no, I’m just worried about you and we could do something different so you feel better about it.”

Ethan’s face felt warm and his chest tightened as his heart beat faster. Sometimes he had to remind himself that Benny wasn’t just lame jokes and messy spells. The boy could be soft and caring, he worried about Ethan in a way that made the seer feel so special that his chest could burst. He looked down at how Benny loosely held their hands together.

Despite not starving like before Ethan still had a burning feeling in the pit of his stomach. The desire, the aching, the longing. It was still there. It was more than just hunger that was driving Ethan’s vampire cravings because one thing that was undeniable about vampires is they were emotion driven and took what they wanted and Ethan wanted Benny. Put simply, blood lust wasn’t the only kind of thirst he wanted to satisfy. But he would never force anything. Neither of them would.

“I want this.” Ethan finally admitted and it felt like a relief to say out loud without being guilt stricken. It felt like he was accepting more than Benny’s blood, this was about more than just that. This had everything to do with their feelings for each other as much as it did with vampire stuff. “I really want this, Ben.”

Benny said nothing in reply, he didn’t need to, instead he crashed their lips together with a hand held behind Ethan’s neck. The kiss was messy and sweet, faces pressed together and hands wandering looking to grab more, to feel more, needing more. Benny pulled the other boy towards him and they took a similar position from the first time. Ethan is sitting on top of Benny’s lap and Benny’s hands are slipping under the bottom of Ethan’s shirt.

This was what Ethan has been wanting for longer than he knows, his hands cupping the sides of the spellcaster’s face as their kiss continued. It felt surreal to feel Benny’s tongue in his mouth and teeth lightly hitting each other while they kept wanting to be closer and closer, wanting to fill every gap between them.

Benny let out a gasp and Ethan opened his eyes to realize his fangs had cut the other boy’s lips, there’s a moment of worry then it's replaced with curiosity. Ethan kisses Benny’s bottom lip and gets the smallest taste of blood. It’s bitter and metallic like typical blood but something is different. It’s bitter in the way dark chocolate is and the iron is more appealing than before, the smell is oddly sweet and Ethan can’t help himself with wanting more of it. This was what he craved.

Unsteadily Ethan moves a hand to pull the collar of Benny’s shirt down but pauses. “Is it still okay?”

“When it’s you, it’ll always be okay.”

Ethan’s heart is racing, his throat is dry when he tries to swallow nervously before carefully placing the points of his fangs against warm skin. This was it. Slowly, he pierced Benny’s skin. The sound of a small stifled groan nearly escapes Benny’s lips, Ethan can feel the noise while he drinks but there isn’t pain behind it.

Ethan enjoys the way Benny runs his fingers through his hair and the burning feeling in his stomach is a strong flame now but the warmth is good. The blood goes down smoothly and sweetly, it drips from the sides of his mouth and he can feel the beat of Benny’s heart, like a hum in the back of his throat. All of this is good. Amazing, in fact. There’s a hot cold feeling running through him and for a moment Ethan doesn’t want to pull away; liking the way Benny tastes and the way the tall boy tugs on his shirt to keep them close. But he knows better and reluctantly Ethan pulls his fangs out of the spellcaster’s neck, tongue pressed against skin to save any blood from dripping downward.

There’s another moan that falls from Benny’s lips and Ethan wants to sink his teeth back in, but instead wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth with the palm of his hand. Benny watches and his face lights up when he thinks of something foolish to say.

“Is it my turn to take a bite?” He’s grinning like an idiot and if it wasn’t for the blood high Ethan might have rolled his eyes at how lame the joke was.

Ethan kisses the corner of Benny’s lips, blood getting on the spellcaster’s lower cheek and chin. “The vamps were right. You taste really good.”

That got the spellcaster to stay silent, it was hard to cause him to be at a loss for words so the seer was a little proud of himself for it. A muffled sound came from the back of the tall boy’s throat. Benny covered his face with his hands, too flustered to think of a comeback.

“Your face is so red. You can’t be that embarrassed,” Ethan said leaning close enough to mutter in the caster’s ear. Lightly he kissed where he had bitten, the skin pink and bruised like a hickey with small bite markings, sharp teeth grazing over the sensitive nape of neck causing Benny to shiver in pleasure. Ethan couldn’t help but grin.

“If I didn’t know any better I would think you wanted me to bite you more for yourself than helping me. Should I be worried about that?” He teased.

“No,” Benny choked out. “But it's a good thing you don’t know any better…. So if you need more I can handle it.”

“You’re so obvious.” Ethan didn’t need to drink more but he wanted it, just a love bite to satisfy them both. A treat after a meal. Besides, there was a different hunger that Ethan needed to feed within all of this, one that him and Benny shared. Their lips connected again and the heat raised between them all over again, hands tugging on clothes or hair. Benny could taste his own blood on Ethan’s tongue and he grinned into the kiss, the metallic iron-like taste had little appeal for non vampires but Benny could still get off on the idea that Ethan wanted him and his blood specifically. The bite mark said he was Ethan’s and that made the bitter taste turn sickly sweet.

Benny lifted his shirt over his head, breaking the kiss briefly and Ethan pushed him onto his back to hover over him. From lips to chin Ethan kissed along the spellcaster’s jawline and down his neck.

This time Ethan aimed a little lower than the neck, the bite is more slow and swallow; just deep enough to draw another taste of blood and cause Benny to suck in a sharp inhale, a hiss that was followed by Benny looking away to cover his mouth wanting to muffle a moan, eyes lidded over in soft delight. Despite the slight pain his muscles relaxed after a moment getting used to the feeling.

When Ethan pulls away again he hovers over the other boy, heart beating out his chest and the feeling of deja vu is strong. This is what the vision was, this was what he saw. And it was good. Ethan swallows hard, Benny is watching him with wide amazed eyes now, his face covered in a warm blush that crept up to his ears. The fresh bite marks, the taste of blood on his lips, and Benny trying to stifle moans shirtless and allowing himself to Ethan willingly; it all makes Ethan feel a little dizzy, thoughts buzzing in his head in a warm hum. He can still hear Benny’s heart beat, it has a quick rhythm to it.

“Remind me to thank Rory for giving you that pep talk,” Benny says jokingly, breathless and smiling. Ethan didn’t know if he should laugh or politely tell him to keep quiet.

He doesn’t need to do either though as Benny pulls them into another kiss, slower and more in sync. He continues to run fingers through the seer’s hair. Ethan has a hand on Benny’s neck to gently thumb over the bite marks which makes the other boy hiss into the kiss but he can feel Benny grinning into it right after, mouth wide and swollen. Before any more movement can start (not that they ever wanted to go further than this) there’s a sound that causes them to freeze in their place.

“Ethan? We’re home!” It was the Morgan family.

They pull away. Ethan rolls off of Benny quickly, laying on his back and wiping the blood from his mouth with his sleeve. Benny snaps his fingers and the door is locked to buy them a little more time as he looks for where he had tossed his shirt on the floor. They’re breathlessly laughing. Slightly dried blood stains the spellcaster’s neck as he pulls his shirt over his head and lays on the bed with Ethan; they’re laying on their backs next to each other, hands close and wanting to inch closer to intertwined their fingers, cheeks warm and softly pained from their constant smiles.

“Is it bad I could get used to this kind of thing?” Benny asks, grin growing wider.

“You are such a horndog, Ben.” Ethan rolls his eyes but the playfulness in his voice is notable.

“How could you ever say such a thing? Your words wound me!” Benny replies back dramatically and they giggle.

There’s a knock on the door and they both have no idea what kind of lie they're going to come up with this time to tell Ross Morgan. Honestly they’re glad he’s already pretty gullible and mostly oblivious to everything.

---

The last week and a half went by a lot more smoothly than the first week. A pattern had formed, a few days went by and Ethan would get hungry and Benny would be okay with another bite or two. Then came the awkward day when it seemed the vampire problem was starting to wear off.

Ethan’s mouth pressed against Benny’s neck, small fangs piercing skin and drawing blood but when Ethan tried to drink any of the thick red liquid he began to choke and cough. He pushed away to spit into his hand and wrinkle up his nose.

“What? You’re sick of me already?” Benny joked but his voice still came out worried.

“No,” Ethan wiped the blood away from his lips. “I think I’m over all the vampire venom finally. I can’t drink the blood, are the fangs gone too?” His teeth ached weirdly.

Benny carefully cupped Ethan’s face, his thumb tracing over the seer’s lips and checked for any sharp teeth but there was none now. “I think it’s done with but grandma should look you over to be sure.”

There’s a small huff of an exhale, a sigh of relief, and Ethan gets off of his friend, putting his shirt on and walking towards the door only to notice Benny hadn’t moved. “Aren’t we going, B?”

“Oh, right now?” Benny asks sheepishly. “I… My legs are a little shaky right now…” That tended to happen, his knees would just buckle under his own weight from how much blood got sucked out or just from how hire wired his nerves got after this, whatever ‘this’ was exactly was hard to describe.

“You’re kidding me.”

“Hey now, it’s not like we’re in a rush just give me a second to get the blood flowing again. Look on the bright side,” Benny’s voice was warm and tired. “At least all the side effects should be gone now. You can stop stressing about it and Sarah might be back soon. Just in time for the school break.”

Ethan’s shoulders relaxed slightly and he bit back a smile of his own. “Oh yeah. I guess things are going to be normal again.”

“Normal is a stretch but it’ll be better, definitely. I’m going miss the fangs though.” The spellcaster was grinning widely and it only served to make Ethan roll his eyes again but they started laughing at each other.

“You are so unbelieve, B!” Ethan smiled, feeling a warmth in his chest; things were going to be alright. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach in the same way he felt that burning love he had for his best friend. Sarah would be back soon and things would stay the same and also be different, in a good way. Everything would work itself out, somehow.