a/n: Set in "Beautiful Chaos" when Link becomes a Incubus. Alternate= dreamed-Ethan/Link (nothing graphic) NO ROMANCE JUST FRIENDSHIP!

Summary:
What's the real reason why Ethan doesn't want Link(ubus) to feed off his dreams? Link said that he wouldn't, but the temptation is just too much.

Dreams Bound in Sweat and Lust

"Does this mean I'm gonna have to eat dreams now?" Link wondered out loud. He said it half jokingly, but Ethan knew it was a serious question.

"I guess. But you better not be thinking about munching on mine!" Ethan told him quickly.

"Hell no!" Link shook his head rapidly. "I ain't going nowhere near your Dreams a Doom, man."

"Good." Ethan looked a little too relieved.

Link didn't seem to notice. A broad grin eclipsed his face, his fist slapping into his hand. "I got it! Savannah. I'll eat me some Third-Degree Burn dreams, man! She won't even notice me. I'll be like the luckiest Linkubus on the planet."

Ethan shook his head. "You're one of a kind all right,"

Link just grinned, maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Link sighed explosively in the darkness of Savannah's bedroom that he could see in as clearly as if the lights were turned on. She was not a light sleeper at all. Who would have thought that Prom Queen Savannah Snow snored like a lawn mower running over a pile a rocks? He watched her drool underneath the blanket. Her hair was tied in a messy not, she wore a sleeping mask over her eyes to block out the alarm clock light, clad in a tank and sleeping shorts, white dots peppered her face.

One night, while she was busy imitating a mower in her sleep, he scoped out her bathroom and found the stuff she put on her face was to keep the pimples and acne away. He was going to have to find someone else's dreams to snack on soon. Though most of her dreams left his jaw on the floor, he thought this would be way funner— she was Third-Degree Burns in the daylight, but here, in her room... though he didn't feel cold, he shivered. The Dolls that he was sure watched him through the darkness while he was here was bad enough, but if he came here one night and she was wearing a mouth-guard and nose-strip... it would just be too much for him.

Tonight, when she finally started to dream, the staring rolls were taken by the very Dolls that were watching him right now. Link shook his head rapidly and jumped up from the stool at the mirror— that was it, Savannah could keep her dreams and her Dolls to herself.

He jumped out the open window of her bedroom on her second floor and landed on the brown lawn with hardly a crunch a dried grass. He was enveloped by the night as he threaded his way back home, but instead he found himself climbing through Ethan's open window like the night breeze.

He sat in the swivel chair at the desk and watched his best friend sleep. Ethan lay on his back, bare-chested, the sheet kicked half-off. Link knew that he promised he wouldn't go stealing Ethan's dreams, but the quarter Incubus didn't see the harm in doing it just this once. Ethan wouldn't even know about it.

Link stared, concentrating on the other boy, and slowly started to pull the current dream from his head. He always found that feeding on dreams was like watching a home movie. Jumpy, always moving. But it always varied between first-person POV and second-person POV. Ethan's were clearer than most, but Link could have guessed that was because he usually had visions instead of normal whacky dreams— Link hoped that this was just another whacky dream in the barrel.

It was 2nd POV. He saw Ethan's bedroom, but not the whole thing, it just seemed to focus on the bed more than anything else. Then Ethan of course, which made sense because this was his room after all. But he was surprised when Link found himself there as well, instead of, say, Lena. He saw the two of them talking, but he couldn't seem to make out what they were saying. Then it jumped, and he found dream-him and dream-Ethan clutching each other and falling to the bed. And it wasn't like when they were younger and wrestled each other to see who was stronger (Ethan always won, now, the roles would have been reversed), it was something different. Something that shocked Link to his Incubus core. The dream-them were clutching at each other the way Link had seen Ethan and Lena clutch at each other— desperately. He was shoved back into the dark room and reality when he saw the dream-them start to kiss.

He was on his feet staring down at his sleeping friend with an open mouth, and flew out the window like a bat from Hell, when the other boy moaned.

Link lay on his bed, wide awake, and it wasn't just because he didn't sleep anymore. He couldn't get Ethan's dream out of his head. He tugged at his spiked hair, almost as if he could rip the dream from his brain, but knew it was just wishful thinking. He wasn't if sure if a Cast spell could do the trick either, it was burned into his mind. He wondered if it was just a fluke. That tonight it was a one-time thing, but even as he thought it, something else came to mind.

He remembered all those months ago, when he was talking to Ethan about he new eating habits, and how he instantly told him to stay from his dreams. Was this the reason why?

"No, no, no, no, no, no," Link muttered, the heals on his palms pressed painfully in his eyes. He knew that he couldn't just forget about this, and knew that he was going to have to check out Ethan's dreams a few more times to confirm.

Link had become a pretty good actor. He had to be now that he was turned into an Incubus. His mom would bring down Gatlin if she ever found out that her only son was something other than what she thought him. So he was sure that Ethan wasn't suspicious that he knew anything about the dream. It was the weekend, and Link now spent his nights in Ethan's room instead of Savannah's.

The dreams were recurring.

Link pulled himself from a different, but similar dream. And thought about what this could mean. He knew that he should just put it out of his mind, make like it never happened, that nothing had changed. But as much as he wished he could have pretended, it wasn't going to happen, and he knew it.

He wondered how long it had been going on. It couldn't have just been recently, because on some of these recurring dreams, they weren't how they were now, but how they used to be, so Link knew it had nothing to do with the Linkubus's power of attraction. Ethan was in love with Lena, so what could this really mean? Maybe they were like the involuntary dreams that he used to have back when he could asleep, about Mrs. English. He shuddered at the memory.

"Link? W-what the Hell!" Ethan bolted up in bed as he saw Link in the swivel chair at his desk, watching him.

Link cursed and was startled to his feet. "Ethan! It's not what you think!" he held up his hands.

Ethan looked at him, sleep dishevelled. "What the Hell are you doing here?" he repeated more clearly.

"Uh... nothing weird, I swear."

"Were you... were you watching me dream?" He asked nervously.

"No." Link either answered too quick or too slow, in this instant he wasn't sure, but the other boy's expression turned suspicious and angry.

"I told you not to do that, and you promised!" He snapped.

"Look, I didn't mean to, okay?"

"What? So you did?!" His expression crossed into betrayal and embarrassment as he jumped from the bed, just wearing a pair of boxers. It was hard to be taken seriously like that.

Link was stuck between a hard place and an even harder place. And it didn't matter whether he was a Incubus or not, that wasn't gonna save him this time. "Ethan..." he started.

"How could you!" Ethan yelled at him. His fists were clenched at his side.

"Can we just talk about this?" His open palms still in the air. "What's with those dreams?"

Ethan spoke through clenched teeth, the only light coming through the window by the moon. "I don't know what your talking about. Now get out of my room!"

Link was starting to panic. Ethan was kicking him out. Was it just going to be out of his room, or was it going to be out of his best-friend's life too? He couldn't go. He was sure that once he left the room, Ethan wouldn't never talk to him again, not after he did this— betraying their friendship since second grade.

Without thinking, or maybe he was thinking— he didn't know anymore— Link surprised Ethan by stepping forward, before crushing his lips to his friend's— desperately.

"Hmph!" Link wasn't sure who was more surprised, him or Ethan. "What the Hell do you thing you're doing?!" Ethan demanded, finally shoving Link away, swiping the back of his hand across his assaulted lips.

Link could hear how fast his heart beat, how red and flushed his face was in the dark. "I don't know!"

"Just go,"

"No,"

"What do you mean 'no'? Go!" Ethan threw his arm towards the open window.

But Link didn't budge. "I'm not going to go until we talk about this, Ethan."

Ethan looked at him incredulous. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Why are you having those dreams? Do you have, like, feelings for me?" Link pressed.

He only answered because he had no other choice. "You're my friend, that's it!"

"You're my friend too, but I don't have dreams like that about you." Link countered.

Ethan slumped down onto the edge of his bed, his head in his hands. "No. But you don't feel that way about Mrs. English, but you've had those kind of dreams about her, right?"

Link sat back down in the swivel chair. "Yeah..." he admitted, he remembered telling Ethan about it once, just to gross him out.

"Well, it's like that."

Link looked at him, and Ethan stared back. "That's all?"

"Your Linkubus powers of attraction don't work on me, you're thinking of Savannah." Ethan told him.

"So... this is awkward then." The Linkubus admitted, feeling shame.

"Yeah,"

"We don't have to tell anyone about this, right? This can just stay between the two of us?" Link hoped, but they were dashed when Ethan answered him.

"I'm pretty sure Lena already does," he pointed to his head.

Link closed his eyes. "I think I'm going to move into the Tunnels."

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