Ben shared a room with Matt but he hardly ever slept. Only after fighting a battle were Ben or the other de-harnessed kids tired enough to sleep. The room was basically just a place for Benjamin Mason to store his few extra sets of clothing and a handful of personal items he managed to hang on to.
He was surprised to find out that Deni was sleeping in tent city. "You know it's not safe for you out there. If Pope or some other lunatic decides they want to start killing us it would be easy for them to get to you."
Ben and Deni had similar fighting styles and had become close friends quickly. In fact, Ben was spending more time with Deni than he was with Matt.
"They are not gonna kill us, they're scared of us." Deni truly believed that people's fear of her 'powers' kept her safe. Ben thought that if given the chance none of the Berserkers would hesitate to take them out, if they could do it without being caught.
"Benji, I am tired, I'm going to bed." It looked like she was going to keep calling him that.
"Look, it's ten in the morning and since the "bomb incident" Matt has been going to school every day. Why don't you come back inside the compound with me? You can sleep in Matt's bed until tonight. He probably won't even come back to his room until after dinner."
Deni looked tired. She started to argue then changed her mind. "What if someone sees me going into your room with you? What would your Dad say? Would he get mad?"
"My Dad's never around. He barely sleeps himself. No one talks to me, no one will say anything. There are a few perks to being the President's son." Ben smiled that smile and Deni knew she was done.
"Alright." she sighed. It didn't take them long to get to Ben's room. And no one had asked any questions.
Ben opened the door and there were two twin beds, one on each side of the room. It was easy to tell which one was Ben's. It was the one that was made up and had nothing on it. Matt's bed however, was covered in school papers and notebooks and a few toys.
"Sorry. He's usually not so messy." Ben began picking up papers and trying to find a place to put them. It was a small room with one dresser. He gave up and started throwing them on the floor. Deni decided there would never be a better opportunity.
"You don't have to put his stuff on the floor. We could just share your bed."
Ben spun around to face Deni. How did she know that he had thought about that? Then suddenly he knew that it had been a lucky guess. Because suddenly he knew everything that she was thinking and he could feel everything that she was feeling.
It was like that time with Karen, when they had connected. He could see the blue glow of her spikes reflecting off of the white wall. He could feel how much Deni wanted him, that she wanted him to touch her face, to kiss her. He managed to focus for just a minute.
"Deni... How is this happening? How are we doing this?"
Deni stopped looking at Ben's lips and looked into his eyes. "I don't know. I was just thinking about how... I wanted to be with you. I wanted to be with you in your bed."
She reached out her hands and touched his chest. Ben lost any focus that he had attained and wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her. He put one hand in her curly hair and bent her over backwards to kiss her neck. She gasped. It was exactly what she had wanted.
Deni could see what Ben wanted, she could see the thoughts he had been having and they were very close to the things she had thought in the back of her mind. She could also feel the fear, the all too familiar feeling that sat in her chest too. She could feel the sadness Ben felt from losing his mom and Jimmy and others. But the thing that stood out the most was that Ben wanted to see her with her shirt off.
She pushed herself out of his grip and pulled her two shirts off at the same time. Ben was panting hard now. They were still standing next to each other and she could see inside of his mind. She turned slowly and showed him what the spikes and patches looked like on her back. Her back looked almost exactly like his. Then she turned back around and took off her bra.
"Yes. Touch me Ben." Deni said, and she had barely said the words before Ben grabbed her and started roaming her body with his hands.
After they had gotten some sleep in Ben's bed, they talked. Their spikes weren't glowing any more. Ben wondered why it had happened now, after weeks of being near each other.
"I just wish I knew what made it happen. It would kind of be embarrassing to have that happen in the lunchroom or something. Ya know?"
"Oh, I know! I mean I don't even know what just happened so I would I explain it to anyone else?" Deni said as she lay curled up next to Ben.
"What was different about this morning?" Ben asked Deni. Deni turned her face to stare across the room and mumbled "I don't know..."
"Deni, be straight with me. Come on, don't push me away now. What was different about this morning?"
Deni squirmed not wanting to answer. "Well... I just really wanted you. More than ever before."
"Really? You just wanted...to..." Ben trailed off.
Deni blushed. "Yes. Girls think that way too!" Ben laughed, "Apparently!"
Over the next few weeks they would figure out that Ben couldn't turn their spikes on, he could only turn Deni on. But when she did get turned on, it was hard to turn her back off!