Moiety: Chapter 1: Seeing a New Horizon
Pairing: Edward C. and O.C. (Benji)
No flames please, it's not classy or endearing.
Disclaimer: I own nothing besides the plot. Stephanie Meyer gloats in my dreams, and I cry at her heterosexual feet. :[
Summary: Twilight with a bit of reality… And homosexuality! (well, not really. We're talking about vampires and junk here! :D )
Moiety (MOY uh tee): an equal half of a total whole.
What really surprised me was how easy it was to leave Phoenix. Everything was there for me. Friends, family, even my adorable boyfriend, Clyde. Nothing was waiting for me in that wet jungle called Forks, except my dad. As I stepped away from the edge of the desert, collecting a small hedgehog cactus that happened to be blooming with its bright magenta-fuchsia flowers, I reflected on the last couple of years. It was a pivotal time for me, coming out in freshman year, and finding out that my best friend liked me the same that I liked him. How could I describe Clyde without a sigh punctuating every sentence?
Either way, it's probably unhealthy to dwell on the fact that I'll be leaving him. Even though it'll be easy to separate with him, he's so much a part of my identity. I'm leaving Phoenix and my scatter-brained mom and her new husband because they're moving to Jacksonville, Florida and it's probably just easier to do that without me. They want to have a mini-roadtrip along the way, and I can totally understand that. So I'll be going up to Forks, the occasional summer home of my youth until I was eight. Up there was my dad, Charlie, or Chief Swan to the residents of the tiny town. He was the strong, silent type, I guess. Besides the holiday calls, I've had very little interaction with him since those early years. I can't wait to get up there and shake up that town, but at the same time, Clyde is wearing down my heart.
The Port Angeles wasn't much of a sight to behold. In fact, if I hadn't landed on the tarmac myself, I wouldn't have thought it was an airport at all. You could barely tell Port Angeles was a city, and if the conversations I had with other people on the two airplanes I took held any veracity, I was looking to be in something more along the lines of a hovel than a town!
At least I recognized my dad. It would've been awkward if I was trying to locate the man that donated half of my genetic code. He led me out to his police cruiser, taking my bags after a disjointed and jerky hug, and we began the forty minute drive down to Forks. Naturally, it was raining. We were locked in a sort of half-comfortable silence, that didn't really obligate us to speak. At least from my end, it seemed that way. Fortunately, I was entertained by the droplets spreading across my window. By focusing and holding up a surreptitious finger, I froze a few droplets at a time, and then thawed them out.
Maybe that's a bit of a shock so soon. Let me explain: My name is Benji. Judging from the comments I hear and the girls' hearts I crush when they find out I'm gay, I'm fairly decent looking with a very lean, but muscled tone, like a less broad swimmer, and very dark brown hair, cropped a bit short and swept to the side. I don't want to fit into any category, so it's not too short to be too butch and definitely not too long to sweep across my forehead like an alt-rocker. That's how I am. I wear skinny square frame glasses without the nerd factor and I like to dress smartly. That is, not vibrant and colorful like a lot of the gay guys I encounter, but with a more neutral wardrobe. There's no goth or emo effect on my clothes, and strangely, Clyde and I trade clothes sometimes (although, he's a lot broader, so we tend to only trade pants unless I want to sleep in one of his shirts or wear his hoodie). I'm about six feet tall even.
Besides that, I have the quirky ability to influence things with heat, or lack of it. Don't get excited, streams of fire or pillars of ice don't just come from my hands, and it doesn't happen immediately. It's gradual and only really effective in warming up my food, or freezing these droplets running across the passenger side window of my dad's cruiser.
My parents and Clyde know, so I don't have to tiptoe around them, thankfully, but I worry about my curious ability and try not to be obvious about it. I've met only one other person that could these things, and oddly, it was our school's janitor. Apparently he's been using his ability for years in our school. He filters air. Earth-shattering, isn't it? At least our classrooms never have some funky smell, I suppose.
We pulled up to the little house I remember, and we got out, heading up the three steps to my new home. Inside, everything was exactly as my old hazy memories held it. The same living room, the same television, left on ESPN, the same dinky kitchen with hardly any counter space, the same narrow steep steps leading up to the bedrooms. Dad liked to be called Charlie, even by me, so I humored him with the casual gesture.
"So… Same bedroom for me?" I asked, wanting to drop off my luggage. Charlie turned to me and gave me happily morose look, if anyone could manage that ambivalence.
"Haven't changed a thing." He answered curtly. That was just his style. Charlie was never one for the long talks and the emotional introspection my mom and I have. I nodded my head in acknowledgment and hefted my suitcase up the stairs with Charlie towing behind me with the other suitcase.
Charlie was right. He hadn't changed a single thing. I still had my favorite chair in the corner, my cowboy lamp on the nightstand and the rocket ship sheets on the bed. I'm pretty sure a shopping trip to the Bed Bath & Beyond in Port Angeles has been long overdue for some time. Actually, the whole house needed an update really bad, but I think I'll just start with my room. I dumped off my suitcase and I turned around to take the other from Charlie. He put his hands into his pockets. If anything, he looked like a little boy on the playground rubbing his toe in the dirt before looking up to speak to me.
"So… the rest of your stuff. It comes in a few days, right?"
"Monday, hopefully."
"K. We'll leave in a few for dinner." He left to go to his bedroom a bit and calm himself down. He looked pretty distressed, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. I put a few clothes away, and laid out my nightclothes before heading downstairs to a waiting Chief Swan. We left the house and had dinner at a little diner in town, where, apparently, I used to really like the blueberry pie. I ate it to please my dad. On the way back, he awkwardly asked me what was on his mind the whole time.
"So, you're gay?" I tensed, worried he might be one of those guys that judge, or even one that might think, "no, not my son."
"Um. Yeah."
"Ok." And that was it. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Charlie had just the faintest smile on his face, but every time I looked, it disappeared.
When we got back to the house, there was a large, red, vintage chevy and a black truck waiting in our driveway. A familiar looking man in a wheelchair was sitting by another guy that looked to be a little bit older than me and had long black hair. They were definitely from the reservation down at La Push.
"Hey, Benji!" said Wheels, "'Member me? Billy Black?" The name registered with something but I couldn't quite place it. "You and Jake here used to make mud pies together and throw them out the houses when you were little guys!" Ah. That's it. I remember a few very early summer memories playing with Jacob at the reservation or in our yard. I recall that we had a lot of fun, too.
"Hey, Benji." Jake's voice was totally smooth and deep, almost… visceral somehow. He was a lot taller than what he should be at his age. Big-boned, I guess, but damn, Jacob was good-lookin'! Too bad that boy looked straight as an arrow! "How's it going? I fixed this up for you. Your dad said you might like it." He gestured to the truck.
My dad got me a truck. I looked at it, and ran my hands over the rough paint and metal surface. It was very vintage. It had character, and I liked that.
"I'm good. This is really great! You fixed it up? Like, were the tires bad or something?"
"I rebuilt the engine." He said modestly. I turned to him.
"Oh. Wow. I'm pretty much useless in the garage."
"Well when you're settled in, you can come over and I can show you some things." I nodded.
"I'd like that." I leaned against the truck door.
"Here, let me show you how it runs. Ever done stick?" He reached over for the handle, brushing against my arm. He felt really warm and now he was really close to my body. He seemed totally oblivious to my awkwardness. Fortunately there was room to slide out to the side. I'm sure I was blushing.
"Um, yeah, but only a little." He gestured for me to climb in as he went around to the other side and he walked me through turning the car on and working the clutch and shifting. I'm not gonna lie, it was kinda fun, even if automatics are easier. Clyde would've like this. In fact, Clyde would've loved this town. He was always the type to want to get out of Phoenix, but his parents loved the desert and took regular trips to camp out there. Those were the best nights, because those were the ones when I could come over and we'd just stay up and talk and fall asleep on the couch together. We were practically a married couple. So many people were angry that they wouldn't be able to vote us as cutest couple when we're seniors for superlatives. But that's life, I guess.
In the meantime though, Jacob was trying to get my attention and my brain was deciding to wander. Until Jacob put his hand on my thigh, that is.
"Huh, what?" Jacob squeezed a little, laughed and with a blush, turned straight ahead, saying, "I said, it sucks we won't have school together, because I go to the one on the rez."
"Oh," I said dejectedly, "It would've been nice to know at least one person." He smiled at me brilliantly.
"No Benji, everyone knows you, you just don't know everyone!" He laughed and I was confused. I didn't meet anyone yet! This was my first day here! I gave him a look and he elaborated, "Forks isn't a big town. Everyone knows about the new kid. Just wait and see. Monday will be fun for you!" He opened up the truck door, hopped out and ran off to his dad, giving his salutations to Charlie.
Great. Now I'm gonna be the weird new kid. Charlie and Billy finished up, and the Blacks left and we went inside the house. I wanted to go get some sleep right now. I felt super drained from all the activities. At least tomorrow is Sunday and I can sleep in and have all day to get used to my new home.
After all, I have to make the most of my stay here.
A/N: How do you guys like it so far? I know it's just the first chapter, and a bit slow and short at that, but I promise it'll get better. Updating will be very slow too. Sorry about that. Also, It's my first Twilight story. Oh, one last thing, the story will be Benji and Edward, NOT Benji and Jacob. You'll see how it turns out. I hope, hahahah. READ AND REVIEW, MY LOVLIES!