A/N: Here's a one shot I wrote a few months back. Since I'm leaving the site when I finish Benny's Baby I figured I'd post this now rather than never. Enjoy!
What Are Best Friends For?
To say Ethan had been feeling awkward around Sarah lately would be an understatement. Ever since what he 'referred the date to end all dates' things between them had been increasingly uncomfortable. That's not to say that there wasn't feelings between them it was just buried under all the chaos brought on by living in Whitechapel and Ethan's inability to actually communicate his feelings. No one had any idea how hard it was to tell the girl you had a crush on her that you had a crush on her until you were battling super natural creatures while trying to tell her you had a crush on her. And it was only made worse by the recent disaster of a date they had just gone on.
"Benny, what can I do?" asked Ethan as he sat down at the lunch table with his best friend. "We were at the movies, and we saw that new horror film. I thought I could handle it, but it turned out the killer used needles to-"
"Spoiler alerts much," said Benny as took a bite of his sandwich. "Anyways let me guess you fainted. No big deal, you've fainted plenty of times in front of Sarah before. What difference could once more make?"
"I didn't faint," said Ethan as he flushed bright red. Benny thought about it for a moment when it suddenly dawned on him.
"Oh no, you didn't get a Slurpee did you?" Ethan nodded. Benny let out a groan. "E, you know what happens when you drink one of those and get scared."
"Sarah bought it for me, and I didn't want to say no. Besides after all we've been through I didn't think anything could really scare me that bad. Then that needle showed up, man it was a close up and everything."
"You didn't."
"I did."
"No."
"Yes."
"On her?"
Ethan nodded miserably his face redder than anyone had ever seen it before.
"Oh man I'm sorry dude." said Benny as patted his friends back. "Want me to erase her memory?"
"No, that wouldn't be fair," said Ethan as he laid his head on the table. "I just wish there was a way I could let her know how I feel without something embarrassing happening or some supernatural creature attacking."
"It'll be ok man," said Benny. "If I learned anything about ladies it's that you have to just ignore the bad times and hope they forget them as well."
Rory appeared out of thin air next to Benny. "I heard you spewed all over Sarah, that's so gross but awesome man."
"How did you hear about that?" asked Ethan. Rory handed them his cell phone.
The footage showed with Ethan sitting next to an empty movie, which thanks to the heat seeking app on Rory's phone, gave the outline of his vampire date. Ethan oblivious to the taping sat in his seat sipping away at the Slurpee while casting uneasy glances to his left. In the background a large needle appeared on the theater screen. It plunged into skin and Ethan suddenly jerked to his left, there was a scream from Sarah as she recoiled in horror.
"That's so gross," mumbled movie theater Rory as he zoomed in on it. Sarah ran for the exit and the tape stopped.
"Oh gross," said Benny. Ethan slammed his head on the table. "Why were you spying on their date?"
"I was on a top secret assignment for my mysterious employer. They wanted me to gather as much information as I could on Ethan and Sarah to prove that their love is impossible."
"Erica?" asked Ethan and Benny in unison.
"My secrets shall not be revealed!" said Rory as he grabbed his cell phone and disappeared.
"Don't worry," said Benny as he got up. "I'll fix this. I'm going to need just one thing-" He yanked out a strand of Ethan's hair. "Perfect."
Ethan said nothing and remained at the table with his head buried in his arms. It was worse than Benny thought, which meant that time was of the essence. He put Ethan's hair in a bag and then stuffed it in his pocket before hurrying out of the cafeteria. Once he was in the clear he pulled out his spell book, he had seen the spell several times before it was supposed to create the ultimate bond between two people, or at least that what he thought it said. Some of the words were beyond understanding, but that didn't matter, he was doing this for his friend, and as long as he knew the general idea behind the spell then what could go wrong?
After a few more pages he found what he was looking for, he could read a little under half the instructions but he knew the ingredients he needed. Right now he needed Sarah's hair. Luckily for him she was walking down the hallway. Benny took in a deep breath put on his most sympathetic smile and approached her.
"Hey Sarah, I heard about E's little incident during your last date."
"Benny I don't want to talk about that right now," said Sarah as turned to walk away.
"I just need a strand of hair," said Benny. "Wow, that sounded so much less awkward in my head."
"I thought we established a no spell on friend's policy following the love spell fiasco," said Sarah as her fangs appeared. "Or did you forget about that?"
"Memorum erasus," said Benny. Sarah's eyes went blank for a moment. Taking advantage of this he pulled out a strand of her hair before running down the hall for dear life. When he was sure there was enough room between him and certain death he let out a sigh of relief. The things he did for his best friend.
"I saw what you did to Sarah back there," said Erica as she suddenly appeared behind him. Reacting on instinct he jumped backwards and crashed into the lockers.
"Holy Yoda," said Benny. "You and Rory need to learn what a person space bubble is."
"What are you up to?" asked Erica as she looked him over.
"I'm just trying to help out Ethan out ok? He's hit a rough patch with Sarah and I'm cooking up a spell that will help them you know bond a little."
"I thought we all agreed no more spells on friends after the love potion incident."
"We did, but Ethan needs my help. You saw the video, I know you did." He placed a hand on Erica's shoulder. "Can you honestly tell me that unless I do something those two are going to make it through this little 'incident'?"
Erica smacked his hand away. "Fine, but I'm only agreeing because I want Sarah to be happy. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yeah make sure Sarah doesn't try and kill me after the little stunt I just pulled. And keep Rory away from those two. Having him spy, have you no shame woman?"
"You can help your friend and I can't help mine? I'm only trying to prove that humans and vampires shouldn't date. Especially when the mortals can't keep their food down."
"And now you're going to help me?" asked Benny confused. "You were so much easier to understand when you were a ner-"
"If you know what's good for you you'll stop talking," Said Erica as she bared her fangs. "Just get the spell done, but if anything goes wrong then you'll have more to answer than just an angry Sarah."
Benny nodded and slowly backed away. It was becoming rapidly clear that this school was not as safe as it should be. Then again being a Weir meant attracting trouble, and that was something he was ok with. He ditched his fifth period class and when he got home he opened his spell book. He needed snipped roses, salted snails, and chocolate dipped rat tails. Something seemed awfully familiar about the spell….
As luck would have it not only did his Grandma have all the ingredients, she was also out of the house when he snuck in. He mixed them all together and read ahead to the final directions. He needed add both hairs to the potion while chanting the spell. Benny pulled out both strands of hair and added Ethan's first, the brown liquid changed into a dark yellow color. Now to add his own spin to the potion, he turned the page and found a small spell for confidence. He chanted the words, the liquid began to bubble.
He dropped in the second strand and watched as the liquid turned blue and gave off a bright light. He held out his hand and a bright blur orb hovered appeared, was this the way the spell was supposed to work? He had never combined two spells before; he checked his book with one hand while he held the glowing orb in the other. No instructions on what to do with it, oh well looked like he was going to wing it. Benny smiled as he placed the spell into a vial, it was weird seeing a spell in physical form, but it was what it was.
He made it back to school before the next period was over; sneaking into class he took a seat next to his best friend.
"How ya holding up?"
"Benny how am I ever going to look her in the face again? I went to talk to her and she ran away, she can't stand to look at me!" said Ethan he slammed his head on the desk again. "Ouch."
"Come on E, things will get better. You've gotten through worse things before."
"I'd rather battle Stern all over again."
"I have a plan that is guaranteed to work; all you have to do is meet me in the front of the school, at the end of the day, ok?"
"This doesn't involve magic does it? Because I don't think magic is the best solution for this problem."
"What? Magic? Psh," said Benny as he tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. "We don't want another love potion accident; after all we agreed no more spells on friends. Just make sure you meet me in front of the school."
"Fine."'
After class Benny sent a text to Eric to make sure Sarah would be at the front of the school. Class could not go by fast enough, when he was let out he made a mad dash for the front of Whitechapel High. He saw Erica standing behind a bush, she motioned him over.
"What's the plan?"
"This," said Benny as he pulled out the vial containing the spell. "It's a spell I made; it's supposed to give Ethan confidence, especially when talking with Sarah, that's why I needed her hair. The only problem is I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with it."
"How can you make a spell and you have no idea what to do with it?" asked Erica in disbelief. "I thought that your little book had directions."
"It does but I can't read them all. When Sarah and Ethan get here I'm going to throw the spell at them."
"Throw the spell?"
"Yeah like a fireball, hopefully something good happens."
"This can't end well," whispered Erica as she rubbed her eyes.
"What can't?" whispered Rory as he landed next to them. "And why are we talking like this?"
"Nothing, now get out of here."
"Aww, why? Benny gets to hang with you and I can't. I thought we were friends, and besides you hired me to spy on Ethan and Sarah and my Intel says their meeting here after school."
And sure enough Ethan appeared at the front of the school. He looked lost; Benny uncapped the vial and slid the blue orb into his hand. He looked up at Erica who motioned for him to throw it.
"Ethan!" yelled Benny as he stood up. When his friend turned Benny threw the spell. Upon impact there was a flash of light. Ethan was knocked off his feet and crashed onto the ground. He lay there groaning from in pain and before any of them could so much as blink Sarah was at his side.
"Ethan are you ok?" she asked as she helped him up. "What happened?"
"I don't know," said Ethan as he rubbed the back of his head. "One minute I'm standing here and the next I'm on the ground." When he notice who he was talking to he turned red. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me after what happened."
The trio slowly ducked behind to bush.
"Ethan that was an accident, and about not talking to you earlier I was sort of in a daze. I don't really remember what happened today. It's like someone wiped my memory."
"So then you're not mad at me for accidently-"
"Accidents happen," said Sarah as she took his hand in hers. "Even though it was really gross it's kind of cute how scared you get of needles."
"Way to go doofus," hissed Erica. "Now you've ruined any chance they have of getting together."
"What are you talking about?" asked Benny as he peered over the watched Sarah place a kiss on Ethan's cheek and smiled. "See the way their bonding? My spell worked fine."
And there you have it. Fun condensed little story.