Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of this work of fiction, and no profit, monetary or otherwise, is being made through the writing of this.
A/N: Written for the cotton candy bingo square - heirloom/antique
"Be careful with that, Benny," Ethan whispers, pulling at his best friend's arm to keep him from touching the very old looking vase that he seems to be mesmerized by.
Benny frowns and shakes his head. "Wha-?"
"That vase," Ethan says, voice a little louder. He gives Benny a little shake, and points at the blue and white vase. "Watch out for it."
Benny blinks at him and nods slowly, even as he reaches for the vase. Ethan tugs at his arm, growing concerned with the almost blank look that's on Benny's face. It's almost like he's in some kind of trance.
"What's going on?" he muses aloud, waving his hand in front of Benny's face. It has no effect, and Ethan starts to worry.
"I need to get you out of this place," Ethan mutters, gut twisting, because if they don't do this now, then they might never get the chance to do it at all.
It's important - the mansion is reportedly haunted, and there are people missing - but not as important as Benny's life. Maybe he can get Benny out of the mansion, and then return himself, once he's certain that Benny's no longer under whatever spell is currently affecting him. He can't risk leaving Benny on his own if he isn't in control of his own mind.
Ethan wraps his arms around Benny's waist and pulls him forcibly away from the vase when Benny nearly launches himself at it. Benny's strong, or maybe whatever it is that's controlling him is giving him enhanced strength, and by the time that Ethan manages to get Benny away from the vase, he's gasping at air, wiping sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand.
"Benny, enough," Ethan says, voice a little harsher than he intends for it to be. He knows that whatever is going on isn't Benny's fault, but it's hard not to be angry about the situation.
"Stop fighting me, okay?" Ethan asks, hoping to have some sign from Benny that he understands what he's said, or some kind of recognition. There's nothing. Just a blank stare, and then Benny starts to struggle against his hold, grunting and shoving at Ethan.
Ethan gets an elbow in the gut that winds him, but he doesn't give up. He has no idea what will happen if Benny succeeds in touching the vase, doesn't want to find out. It can't be anything good. For all he knows, those people who've gone missing could've been sucked into the vase, or worse.
They fight, and it's weird, because they've never really fought, fought before. It's always been playful wrestling. Ethan catches a right hook to the jaw that makes him see stars, and he's hesitant to do anything to Benny, because he knows his friend isn't in his right mind, but when Benny rams his head into Ethan's gut, Ethan acts on instinct. He grabs Benny's head, and, in a move that he learned in P.E. class, he ends up flipping Benny, and then pinning him to the floor.
Ethan feels dizzy and oddly euphoric. He never got the move right in P.E. class, but he got it right now, when it mattered. His moment of victory is short-lived, though, because Benny tries to throw him off - bucking and squirming.
Not knowing what else to do, Ethan straddles his best friend, and holds Benny's flailing arms down to the floor, keeping him solidly in place. They're both panting, and Benny continues to thrash and buck.
"Stop," Ethan says, face inches from Benny. "Just, stop, please. C'mon, Benny, I need you to come back to me. Please?"
Benny's eyes are glazed and his face is red. Ethan's own face feels warm. All of him feels warm, and he can feel hot, sticky sweat on his back. He wipes his forehead on his shoulder.
"Benny, can you hear me?" Ethan asks, heart sinking when Benny's eyes slide away from his gaze, no doubt he's searching for the vase.
"Benny, I..." Ethan's not sure what to do, what to say, how to bring his best friend back from wherever the hell his mind has gone to. His side hurts from where Benny had elbowed him, and his chest feels tight, and he just wants to get out of this mansion and have someone else, maybe Benny's grandmother, figure things out. He just wants Benny back.
"Benny?" Ethan asks in no more than a whisper, peering more closely at his friend. Benny's eyes are unfocused, his mouth slightly open. The whole thing reminds Ethan of the story that his sister told him about, "Sleeping Beauty," and he shakes his head to clear it when he gets the urge to kiss his best friend.
Ethan almost crawls off of his friend. Almost sets him free to touch the vase if he wants to, because this is insane, and no way in hell is he going to kiss Benny. That's ridiculous, and his sister's fairy tales are messing with his head.
"I am not going to kiss you," Ethan whispers a little crossly, lightly tapping Benny on the cheek. Benny doesn't even flinch, just continues to stare off into space, breathing growing a little more shallow, and Ethan wonders if Benny hadn't managed to touch the vase after all, if he was slipping away from him due to some poison, or some kind of magic coming from the vase.
"I can't...kiss you," Ethan says, frowning at the very thought of it. He can't kiss Benny. Benny's his best friend, and he doesn't want to lose what they've got, but, if he doesn't kiss him, doesn't stop whatever magic is at work, Ethan might lose him in a much more real way.
It's that thought, the thought of losing Benny forever, that has Ethan closing his eyes, and bending to press his lips to Benny's. They're surprisingly warm, and...soft, and pliable. And it's nothing like he'd imagined kissing would be, though, when he had imagined kissing, he'd imagined kissing Sarah, not Benny.
Ethan's eyes snap open when something about the kiss changes. The lips are still warm, still pliable, but now there are teeth and there's a tongue, and then it dawns on him that Benny's kissing back. Eyes completely clear, cheeks slightly flushed, Benny is Benny, and Ethan scrambles backward, but Benny follows, and the kiss becomes something more than merely a life-saving option. It becomes a kiss. A real, honest to goodness kiss, and he likes it.
When they finally concede to come up for air, gasping, clinging to each other, Ethan feels like the air around them is electrified, and his senses have been heightened. He knows now what needs to be done, how to break the curse - it is a curse, not ghosts, not magic, but a curse - that's been plaguing the mansion. He has to break the vase, but to do that, he has to make sure that Benny doesn't get caught in its thrall again.
"Benny, stay here, I need to do something." Ethan feels giddy, doesn't want to stop touching Benny, kind of wants to kiss him again.
Benny nods. "Do it," he says, nodding toward the vase, but not looking at it.
Ethan smiles, and squeezes Benny's hand reassuringly. The vase has no effect on him, and he wonders if it's because of his 'gift,' if that makes him immune to it. The vase looks ordinary enough, though Ethan knows that it isn't. He knows not to touch it, opting to topple the table that it's sitting on.
It crashes to the floor, cracks into several pieces. A thick, black smoke pours out of the broken vase, twines itself around Ethan, stealing his breath and his sight for several terrifying seconds before finally leaving, with a loud screeching sound that shatters the windows. The black smoke disappears, swallowed by a hole that appears in the sky, and people, held captive by its dark magic are set free. Ethan can't see them, but he can feel them, and he knows that Benny and he will have to find them, within the rooms of the mansion, help get them oriented and help them find their way home. But, right now, he's exhausted, though, really, he hasn't done that much. Not enough to make it feel like he's run a marathon, and then been run over by a truck, twice.
Ethan's chest feels tight and his vision is fuzzy. He sways on his feet, but before he can fall, there are arms around him and a calm, soothing hand running through his hair, and a soft voice comforting him. Ethan sighs. The curse is broken, and Benny's kissing him, and Ethan kind of doesn't want that to end...ever.
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