AN: I just finished reading 'Exposure' and I just haven't been able to stop thinking about 'Virals' since. I ship Ben x Tory so hard!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Virals.
How stupid am I? Chance freaking Claybourne is a Viral, and I'm sitting here thinking about Ben. Wow did my priorities need a re-think. Although in my defence, the thing with Ben did happen first.
Ugh, come on, Tory. Kiss. Not the thing, the kiss. Avoiding the word isn't going to change anything. Why did the voices in my head always have to be right?
But it wasn't even just the kiss. It was everything. The crying jag. The bone-crushing hug. Ben and I were becoming closer, and I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not. Oh who are you trying to kid? You know you like it. You don't know how to deal with it that's the problem.
Deciding that what I needed was a distraction, I logged on to the Virals chat. This was usually Hi's time online, and boy could I use some mood-lightening. My phone buzzed in my pocket as it loaded. It was Ella.
I'm so bored I'm actually looking at pictures of beret-guy's art online.
I laughed, remembering that night. If only things had stayed the way they had been then.
I was about to reply when I noticed the computer screen change. Someone had logged on.
"Hi," I said to the box.
"Hey," it responded, but not in Hiram's voice as I'd been expecting. It was Ben.
"Ah…" I choked, feeling my face turn red. "Hi." Wow, nice one, Tory. Real smooth. Honestly, with canine DNA superpowers, you'd think I'd be able to mute my internal commentary.
We sat in silence for a minute before Ben cleared his throat. "So, um, how's it going?" he asked.
"Oh, ah, not bad. Just thinking."
"Yeah, me too. This Chance thing's really making the old brain working overtime."
Thank you, Ben! "Yep, that's exactly what I was thinking about. I don't know what to do about him." I said quickly, remembering the molten red eyes from the night of my attack. I hadn't had much time to think about it recently, but I had made the connection. I figured I should probably tell the guys about it soon, now that I had some legitimate reason to believe I hadn't simply been hallucinating.
Ben nodded solemnly. "I wish we could just leave him alone, but this could be a real opportunity to figure out what's going on with us."
In all honesty I was kind of shocked. I never would have expected Ben to think about it that way. Especially not after everything that had happened with him lately. He seemed to know what I was thinking.
"Yeah, I know. At first I was really angry with him, but then I tried to think about it the way you would. I'll admit, Tory, I don't know how you do it all the time."
"Well if you ever figure it out, let me know. I'd love to know how I think as well," I joked, blushing. And I'd especially like to know what I think about you, I thought. At least I got a smile. It was nice to see Ben smiling. The silence returned. I prayed silently for Hi or Shelton to appear on the screen, but it remained filled with Ben.
"Tory…" he started.
"Ben," I warned, sensing where this was going.
"No. You know just as well as I do that we need to discuss what happened. I tried keeping it inside last time, and look how that turned out."
That shocked me even more. "Are you sure that's you, Ben?" I squeaked, trying to stall. Come on, Hi. Come on, Shelton. Save me. But again the screen remained full of Ben.
"Yep. 100% Ben Blue. And don't think I don't see what you're doing. Look, if you don't want to do this online, then fine, but we need to talk. And we might want to do it soon, before I go back to the Ben way of thinking."
"Ben…" I started.
"You know where I stand, Tory. That hasn't changed. The ball's in your court now, you just need to say the word."
His face disappeared, leaving me staring shell-shocked at the screen. My phone buzzed again, though once again I didn't get the chance to reply because someone had logged on to the chat.
"Never fear, the great Hiram is here!"
I groaned. You have got to be kidding me. "Hi, Hi." It came out sounding a little flat.
"Whoa! What's with the tone, Tor?" Hi faked a look of hurt on his face.
"Nothing. You just really know how to pick your moments, that's all."
"Ah, you spoke to Ben, didn't you?" he said with a look of knowing. I swear, that boy is all about his drama.
"Shut up."
"Hey, I know all about that little situation you two've got going on there, remember? If you wanted it a secret, you shouldn't go around being so public about it. But just so you know, you two really do need to figure everything out. Shelton and I don't need all the awkwardness."
At that moment, the screen split in half, which earned another groan from me.
"What awkwardness don't we need?" asked Shelton.
"The Ben/Tory awkwardness," Hi replied nonchalantly.
"Ah, right. Yeah, we really don't need that."
"Right, sorry. I wasn't thinking. Of course your comfort is the most important thing," I said with sarcasm dripping from my mouth.
"Of course," Hi agreed. "Now down to business. Assuming Ben's not coming back, I'm thing the bunker could really use a…"
I never heard what the bunker needed, because at that moment, Whitney called out. Never had I been so grateful for her presence in the house. "Bye guys!" I rushed, logging out.
I knew I needed to figure out I wanted to do with Ben, but I didn't want to make the wrong decision. I needed another opinion, and I knew just the person to help. It was times like these when I was glad to have Ella around.
AN: Okay, that was my first Virals fanfic. I hope you enjoyed it! I did intend to write it as a one-shot, but it ended up being more like a first chapter. Let me know if you think I should continue it. I don't think it'd be too long, maybe three chapters at most, but still.
See you next time! (maybe)