Now is when the sweet stuff happens. More Bethan! Prepare yourselves! 'Cause feels and I'm fangirling already.

Well, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. ;)


This week seemed like it will be a great week for Benny. He just felt it. And he knew spell casters' intuitions were never wrong. They and seers were good at those kinds of things. Well, mostly seers since it was their thing, but they were also pretty good at sensing things.

Sure, his vampire friend Rory was acting a bit strange, but when was he ever not doing that? His grandmother seemed more relaxed now seeing that Ethan wasn't doing any harm to Benny yet over those days that passed. Still, she was slightly worried. He didn't blame her. If she told him she liked someone evil who she claims to be good, he'd be on her back twenty four-seven. And Ethan. He had been meeting him for quite a few days, and he never grew tired of him. Every time they kissed in the cabin, the passion would still be as strong as it was when they first kissed. Not only that, but Ethan was becoming more gentle and less threatening every day.

He couldn't wait to see him today, which was a Sunday. He had only one hour left till three o'clock, which was the hour of their meeting. He could kill time a bit by playing video games, but he knew he wouldn't stop thinking about today because he really couldn't wait.


Smiling, Ethan got his jacket, now on his way to meet Benny. Heading towards the door, his eyes caught Jane get out of her room, a plastic bowl with bread crumbs on it in her hands.

"Hey, Ethan! You going out?"

"Hey, Jane. Uh, yeah. Why?" he asked, raising one eyebrow at her.

"Okay, first of all, Jane? What happened to prick? And brat? And "oh, it's you"?" He rolled his eyes at her deepening her voice and making an impression of him during the last part. She was really annoying. And he also notice that she always liked to point out those changes in him. And he couldn't deny it now. He was changing. Becoming a better person. Becoming weak. "Second of all, you're ten minutes early to go to that fortune telling thing you do. You always like to be late. So who is it?"

"Huh?" How did she know he met up with someone? Was he that obvious or was she was more observant than he thought she was?

"Is it Benny?" she asked in a hushed tone. When he didn't say anything and just froze in his place, she yelped, jumping up and down, the crumbs on the bowl now of the floor. "Eeek! I knew it!"

"Shut up," he muttered. He didn't doubt that his cheeks were red. "You're so loud."

What surprised him was Jane putting the bowl on the table and hugging him, for the first time looking up at him like he was her big brother and role model. "Don't go back to the way you were," she whispered to him.

What happened to him was a mystery. He smiled at her, stroked her cheek, and then kissed her on the forehead for the second time in his lifetime. "I won't."

Just like that, his personality changed around her. He wasn't frowning anymore. He was happily treating her like a sister. But he realized something. That was it. This was a confirmation for both him and his sister. He wasn't supporting Jesse's cause anymore. And he didn't feel ashamed.


Even though Ethan had changed, but he couldn't just tell Benny like this. He hoped maybe Benny would notice so that it would be easier for him.

When Benny approached him by the cabin, he had to pretend like he was his old self, leaning against the wall of the cabin and giving him a wicked lop-sided smile.

"Hey, you," Benny said.

Then he put his hand on the door that was already ajar and opened it even more, making sure it seem like he only gave it a light touch when in reality the force he put in was only used by his middle finger. "Shall we go in?"

Benny looked impressed. "And he's dramatic. I have the best boyfriend ever, don't I?"

"Boyfriend?" Ethan asked, amusement in his face and tone at the sight of the embarrassed Benny. He didn't enjoy seeing his struggle with words, but the old him would find this slightly funny. Benny wasn't really the social type.

"Uh, we…" he ran his hand through his hair, "h-hang out a lot. I just thought that-"

"I'll be your boyfriend if you want me to be. You don't have to be so shy about it."

With a smile on his face, Benny nodded and then entered the cabin. Ethan followed him inside. Time there seemed to go fast every time they were together. This time, though, Ethan had to hurry.

Just when Benny was going to wrap his arms around Ethan's neck to deepen the kiss, Ethan leaned back so their lips weren't together. "Look, I need to hurry up. There's training and then my partners and I have to discuss business."

"Oh, right. I always forget you're that seer."

"That seer? Is that what you guys know me as?"

Benny chuckled but the laughter died too soon. Talking about Ethan's job made him remember how they had told Anastasia about Ethan being the seer. How he had betrayed Ethan when he was betrayed by him as well. How he had now made Ethan the target and the main concern of Anastasia.

For a moment, he forgot that he was the boy he fell in love with and remembered that he was the enemy and Jesse's powerful weapon. Looking back at the angelic face once again, he wondered how such a human that looked like a tiny little puppy could do all that. But that was the thing. He wasn't going to do all that because he was changing. He wasn't violent or evil now. Well, he wasn't evil. He just did evil things. He didn't believe he had bad intentions all along. He was brainwashed by Jesse.

"Anyway, I can stay for four minutes max," Ethan said.

"Alright, but-" And he was cut off by his hungry-for-kissing boyfriend.

"I'm planning on using all of those four minutes."

Benny laughed into the kiss as Ethan pushed him back so he was on top. Truly, Benny couldn't ask for a better boyfriend.


Monday seemed to be fairly boring. Ethan had to cancel meeting with Benny for today so he could work on his paper for school. He still hadn't even started, so he needed time to do it.

He frowned when an image of a disappointed Benny came to his head. He didn't want to make him sad, but Benny insisted that he didn't mind the cancellation. The frown turned upside down, though, when he remembered his dream. This night, he had a dream of when Jesse came to help him when he was bullied at the age of six, but instead of Ethan taking his hand, he took hold of much warm-looking hands. When he looked up, it was a young Benny. He never knew young Benny, but he had seen his pictures saved on Benny's phone. He was so happy and cheery. He wanted to be like that.

But he had no such happy plans for today. He wanted to go home, open his laptop, and type until his fingers would get tired.

When he opened the door to his house, he realized that those plans weren't going to happen, either. In the living room sat Jesse with his angry parents. He thought they were terrifying when he saw them, but when their eyes met his, he wanted to melt into a puddle and disappear.

Jesse grinned in satisfaction. What was happening? Why were they angry? Did he do something to make Jesse smile like this at the sight of a scared Ethan?

"I'll leave now. I think this needs to be discussed alone." All the while Jesse was talking, his parents' eyes were fixed one him.

When Jesse left, Ethan dared to speak. "What's going on?"

"Sit. Now." Her voice was so loud and scary that he had to sit down with no arguments to consider. Her eyes bore into his soul as he took his seat in front of them. His dad was slightly calmer, but still angry. It was nicer looking at him rather than his mom. "Jesse told us that you're no longer loyal to him. You've been defying him. I know it's true because you haven't been yourself lately."

He didn't speak even though she was wrong. She didn't know what "being himself" was like.

The next words she spoke were calm yet scarier than before. "Are you with Anastasia?" At the mention of the vampire's name, Samantha became more bitter than she already was but still calm.

"No." And he wasn't lying. He wasn't on her side, really. He had no side as of now.

"Then what's going on?" his father asked.

"Do not speak to him like he deserves being treated kindly, Ross."

Ross rolled his eyes, but Ethan didn't doubt that he was still angry at him.

"Ten years he trained you and here you are, throwing everything away!" she yelled.

His hands were suddenly shaky, and his throat was not allowing him to speak. He had never heard her yell at him this loudly. Maybe she'd have the right to at times, but at this? He wasn't the wrong one. Jesse was.

So he got up and ran outside, his school bag still on his back. He hadn't left it because of the fear he had when he entered the living room. He was too frozen in place to do anything.

He didn't like being a coward, but he couldn't stay at home and deal with his unfair parents. He ran until he was in front of Benny's house and rang the doorbell, but for what? Ten times? He didn't know. He just wanted Mrs. Weir or Benny to answer it quickly.

He didn't realize his breathing was heavy until he stopped moving and tried to relax, which was hard to do considering his parents hated him now.

"Ethan?" Just his luck. Rory was the one to answer the door. Not one of the Weirs.

"I need Benny," Ethan said. His face must've looked so pathetic because Rory let him in without any argument. Did he really look horrible and in need of help?

"Rory, who is it?" Benny's voice came from upstairs.

Both of them looked up as feet came down from the top floor, slowly revealing the top part of Benny's body. Rory didn't need to answer. The answer was right in front of Benny, panting and looking desperate.

"Ethan," he whispered. "A-Are you okay? Let me help you." He came to his side and put his arm around Ethan's arms, helping him stand up well. They were both aware of Rory's stares, but they didn't care. Ethan had his troubles at the moment, and Benny was too worried.

Once Ethan was sitting on Benny's bed with a cup of water in his hands, the conversation began.

"What happened?" Benny asked from beside him.

Ethan looked uncomfortable. Mostly because Rory was sitting right in front of them. He didn't want to reveal anything to Rory just yet.

Benny must've sensed this because he said, "Rory, can you?" He moved his eyes slightly to his left where the door was.

Rory sighed. "Fine." Then he got up, muttering something about "always being the third wheel".

When he was outside, Ethan took a gulp of the water and then looked back at Benny, now ready to spill everything out. "I should've told you this before, but... I'm not longer on Jesse's side. Not officially, but I guess now Jesse knows it."

"Oh," Benny said. "Oh!" he said, this time raising his eyebrows. "You... You... And... Was it me?"

Ethan couldn't help but chuckle at how nervous yet cute he was. "Yes, it was you." Now he was back to being sad. This was no time to be cheerful in. "But... Jesse told my parents. And now they hate me."

"And you ran away?" Benny concluded.

Ethan looked down in shame. "Yeah. I know what you're gonna say. I'm a coward. I know. I just can't handle it. My parents were yelling and- well, my mom was, and I freaked out."

"First of all, you're not a coward. A coward would've cried and then run away."

"Not helping." He couldn't keep a straight face because Benny's face clearly said "I'm joking, but seriously, though".

"Second, it's going to be okay. You can stay here for a while if you need to. Anyway, I'm happy to see you're not with him." Benny gave him a one-sided hug, and Ethan didn't hesitate to lean in to the touch.

Benny stroke his head, smiling when Ethan looked up at him. His eyes were huge and sparkly. And so sad. But mostly adorable and innocent.

"I swear you're like a little, cute puppy," Benny said

Ethan blushed and backed away. "I'm not!" Benny forgot how Ethan always tried to be tough. This "weakness" thing, as he referred to it, was new.

"Then I have to take a picture to show you," he said. He made a move to get his phone out, but Ethan knew he was just joking.

He ended up spending hours here, talking with Benny - who once checked if Rory was there but found out he left - and lying down to calm down, doing his homework with his boyfriend to take his mind off of things. He even had dinner there. Half of the time, it was working. The other half, he kept thinking of his angry parents. He didn't want to go back home.

"Boys, I brought cookies. I bet you're hungry," she said.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weir," Ethan said with a smile. She seemed to know what was going on. She definitely trusted him. He could tell that much. He had been told she was a clever earth priestess.

Meanwhile, Benny was jumping up and down like a six-year-old, yelling, "Cookies!"

"Now, Benny, behave." Ethan heard her say in a low tone, "Gosh, you're a disgrace to us Weirs," which made him chuckle.

He pouted, settling on the bed once again. "Okay."

When she gave them the plate and left, Benny's childish grin came back. He grabbed three of the cookies and put them directly in his mouth, chewing them with ease as if he's done it several times. And maybe he did.

Ethan stared at him with an eyebrow raised.

Benny froze and then said, "Try them."

He got one in his mouth. They were good. Really good.

He wished he could stay here in a nice family like this. With good morals. With those amazing cookies. Sure, the family was only made of two people, and Benny was an orphan, but at least this was a peaceful, nice, and strong family.

Sadly, he couldn't stay. Despite his parents' anger, they still loved him, and he knew it. Besides, he had to face them if they were still awake and sitting in the living room or somewhere out in the open.

"I have to leave," Ethan announced.

"Oh, alright." Benny stood up as Ethan did. "Well, I had fun tonight."

Ethan grabbed his jacket and school stuff. "Me too."

"Good luck," Benny said. When he was at the door, Benny gave him a goodbye kiss and smiled.

"Bye," Ethan said, hearing the same response afterwards.

Then he went outside to head home. He had to be quiet when he was entering. He didn't want to freak out anyone. His parents were nowhere downstairs. He didn't expect them to be, really. It was past dinner time. After eating, the whole family would go upstairs to their rooms, doing whatever.

He tip-toed his way upstairs and headed for him room. On the way there, he heard whispers from his parents' room. "What if something happened to him?"

"He'll be fine. He can take care of himself."

"I shouldn't have been this harsh." His mother was so worried. He felt guilty. She then added, "Though I wanna know why he's doing this."

He continued his way to his room. He wanted to hear more, but he was also tired from the day's events. He needed to sleep.

He changed into his pajamas and sat in his bed for a moment, reviewing this day and how much his life changed. He wasn't welcome on Jesse's side and Anastasia's. His parents weren't going to treat him as kindly as they did before. His sister was starting to smile at him. His now-boyfriend now knew about him and so did his grandmother.

"Ethan?" He didn't even hear the door open. He was so lost in his thoughts. He was happy to see that Jane was standing in front of the door. "I thought you ran away."

He smiled. "I'd never leave you alone."

She responded with a grin. "Well, I have to leave to my room. Mom and Dad might catch me awake at this time."

Her grin never left her face even as she waved at him and left. He was glad to have her in his life.

The question was: How was he supposed to deal with his parents now?


Sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm sick, and when I'm sick, my brain stops working. All I think about is sleeping.

Well, until next time...

-TEM