AN~ Post-Code ramblings; in no order and with no plot. Because I like looking at stories from other viewpoints and because I felt like writing a Virals fanfic for once.

Disclaimer: Ha. Ha ha. Ha.

Ben is terrified of the times Tory invades their headspace, and not just because that's his head and he doesn't want anyone poking around in there (and she's getting further into his brain each time she does this) but because he's afraid that one of these times she's going to see what Hi and Sheldon have already guessed: that he's fallen for her so hard that he can't even check other girls out anymore; they don't hold a candle to Tory.

He's sure it's a matter of time. She's pushing into his head so much these days that he's never sure when she'll pop up in it (and he gets the feeling she doesn't know, either- so she should stop messing around with that before they end up someplace they can't get back from) and eventually she's going to notice that the way his head feels about her is very different from the way the other's heads do.

"Dude, if you like her so much, why don't you just ask her out?" Hi asks.

"You kidding?" Ben snorts. "You heard her with all that 'you guys are like my family' crap. She'd shut me down before I got half the words out."

Hi nods his understanding. "Too bad," he says appreciatively. "The things I'd do to that girl..."

Sheldon nudges Hi in the shoulder, and the other boy takes a look at Ben's face. The oldest of them is not happy.

"Not that I'd actually do them," Hi hurries to say. "I mean, she's Tory. It'd be like making out with my sister."

Tory may not have been there long, but for Hi and Sheldon, this is absolutely true. The problem is that to Ben, she's not a sister. She's so much more. And it's driving him crazy.

Ben's drinking because he's not sure he'll get through the night if he doesn't.

He's watching Tory and Jason hang out, and he's sitting by the keg. Hi and Sheldon are being stupid somewhere, and he's here, being just as stupid and far, far angrier.

That stupid rich kid doesn't even understand her. He'll never be able to understand her, not really. Ben, Hi, and Sheldon, are the only ones who can ever really know how she feels. And out of them... Well, Ben should be the obvious choice. Nothing against the other two, really.

Except that they're smart. And apparently Jason is, too. And Ben's just... not. He's just Ben, the boy in the boat. That's all he'll ever be. The boat kid. His dad isn't a scientist, and he didn't have anyone's brains to inherit. He doesn't even get anything spectacular when he flares. Sure, he gets stronger and faster, but he was strong to begin with. He was already fast.

It's why he's pulling this whole thing- to prove he's as good as any one of Tory's other boy toys (he has the slight consolation of knowing he's better than Chance, but it doesn't help much).

And it's not even working. It's gone horribly wrong, and he doesn't know how to get out of it. He hasn't even told them.

Jason doesn't deserve Tory. And when Ben thinks about it, nobody does- not even him.