Benny woke ready to fight. But his karate chopping and unintelligible shouting subsided into clutching his stomach and zombie moans nearly instantly.
"You're up!" Sarah chimes happily. Benny doesn't seem to appreciate her sentiment.
"What happened?" Benny asks.
Ethan puts his book on the floor at his feet and answers, "Cliffsnote version: you ran out of magic trying to transport us home and now we're stuck in a mountain."
"Oh." Benny replies, pauses a moment, then raises his hand, "I guess I'll get us home now."
"No." Ethan covers Benny's mouth, and Sarah catches his hand. "Slightly longer version, I had a vision that you wouldn't be able to cast the spell again for two days. So probably something way worse will happen if you try."
Benny pulls back into himself groaning, "Two days?" He sinks into the seat, shifting to try to get comfortable. "Well it isn't the worst time I've messed up. Heh."
"I beg to differ, dweeb." Erica snips from the front seat.
"Let's not spend two days fighting." Sarah pleads. "How are you feeling Benny?" She asks instead.
"Like all of my insides have been taken out, blended and put back in me." Benny complains.
"Do you need aspirin? food? water? We have tons of Doritos left still." Ethan prompts.
"Ughl, I'm gonna upchuck just thinking about it." Benny moans, rolling into the door.
Ethan looks over his shoulder into the trunk. "I think the med-kit has Pepto-Bismol." He offers.
"Barf." Benny fake gags, but it sounds a little too real. "I don't think I could keep even medicine down right now. Distraction would be nice, though, maybe." Benny asks plaintively.
"Truth or dare!" Jane pipes up quickly.
Ethan narrows his eyes suspiciously. "We can't do dares in a car, Jane."
"Truth or truth," Jane tries again.
Sarah seems amused with Jane when she asks, "What would be the point of two truths?"
"You get two questions to choose from." Jane eagerly responds. Ethan just knows she has an ulterior motive here. For further proof, Jane is nervously tapping the cover of her grimoire with one hand while the other marks a page.
"Sounds good, Janie." Benny casts the first vote. The rest of the car apathetically agrees.
"Great, I'll start. Benny, first question: what's the worst mistake you've ever made with magic?"
"Second question?" Benny asks with a grimace.
"If you had to, like Ethan was cursed, would you kiss him?" Jane rushes the words out. It was a weird question, and it didn't help Ethan figure out her endgame.
"Yeah." Benny answers immediately. Benny's loyalty warms Ethan.
"Fascinating." Erica says sarcastically, clearly less impressed. "My turn. Sarah, you can either answer: Who tastes better, nerd 1 or nerd 2?" Erica points at Benny and Ethan in turn. "Or, would you let Benny give me some blood?"
"Erica! No, Benny is no shape to feed you!" Sarah exclaims.
Erica opens her mouth to argue back, but Benny interrupts her, "Also I'm not keen on donating, if anyone cares. My turn? I've got a question for you Jane. Is there a special someone at school?"
Ethan groans, "I don't want to hear this about my sister!"
"Question stands." Benny insists.
Meanwhile, Jane has turned bright red. Seemingly forgetting the option of a second question she replies smally, "No."
"Sarah," Erica starts. Everyone is way too much into this game for Ethan's comfort. "Once Benny is feeling better would you care if I asked Benny for blood and he gave it to me?"
"It's not your turn, Erica." Sarah deflects. Ethan will have to ask Sarah later what Erica's deal is. And if he should be worried about her eating Benny.
"I'll go." Ethan offers. "Uh... Erica..." This could be a good chance to gain some intel on exactly how trustworthy Erica is at least. "Have you ever turned someone?"
Second question." Erica says sweetly.
"Fine, have you... ever kissed a girl?" Ethan throws the question out not really sure what else to ask.
"Yes." Erica answers, and then adds, "What? She looked tasty."
Benny smiles, "Hot."
"And, it's your turn Sarah." Ethan prompts to keep Benny from thinking too hard about Erica kissing girls.
"Oh. Um. Benny, how far have you gotten with a girl?" Sarah asks. This whole car has its mind in the gutter.
"What?!" Benny barks clearly uncomfortable, "I, uh, don't think that's a good topic around Jane."
"I'm not that young!" Jane objects.
"Yes you are." Ethan doesn't really want to hear details of Benny's love life either.
Ethan gives Sarah a questioning glare, but she shrugs innocently. "Okay bad question. Sorry. Benny... You said you would kiss Ethan if you had to, how hard would it be for you?" Erica giggles. "I mean like would you put if off as long as possible or would you be more or less okay with it."
"Great, much better question Sarah." Benny replies sardonically. With his face turned away, Ethan can see the tips of his ears turning red. "Uh... I guess I'm pretty comfortable with Ethan. It wouldn't be that big a deal. No homo or anything." Erica snorts.
"Okay!" Jane says urgently, "My turn again and I have a dare for you, Ethan, and you have to do it. No buts." Ethan begins to protest, but Jane bowls over him, "I dare you to kiss Benny."
"What?!" Ethan yelps jumping away from Benny as much as he could in a car. This had to be what Jane was getting at, but why?
"No, why would you even ask that? I'm not doing that." Ethan pauses in disbelief at the serious expression on Jane's face. "I have a bunch of reasons for not doing that: One) I'm dating Sarah," Ethan begins ticking the reasons on his fingers, "Two) I'm not into guys; Three) Benny's my best friend and that would be weird; Four) Benny's not into guys; And just to round it out, five) Benny feels like crap right now and isn't exactly in the romantic mood."
"What he said." Benny concurs.
Jane throws one hand over her shoulder in surrender, the other opens her grimoire where she had been marking her page. She gestures to the solid block of Latin writing, "It's just I was reading everything I could about magic energy. Mages can transfer energy between themselves with a spell, but it's too complicated for me to manage.
"Ethan as a seer you have a lot of magic energy, but you can't cast spells at all. However, acts of intimacy also naturally transfer energy like when you were cuddling with Benny earlier," Ethan feels his face heating up and decidedly doesn't look in Sarah's direction. "But the more intimate the act, the faster the energy transfer. You could get us home a lot earlier, or at least help Benny feel better." Jane apologetically side smiles at her brother.
Behind Ethan, Benny says, "Never mind. I'm in."
Sarah shrugs, "It's fine with me, if you're okay with it Ethan."
"Um." Jane licks her lips hesitantly, "Just to be clear, you'd have to really kiss Benny. Like kiss him like you kiss Sarah." She's pointing to a line of text as proof. Ethan has to take her word for it. Benny's the only other one in the car who can read Latin.
"Still in." Benny chimes. Either the guilt or the pain must be really bad for Benny.
"Sarah?" Erica questions with an arched eyebrow.
"Well it'll get us home sooner." Sarah reasons. "And I know Ethan loves me. Okay, I'm still okay with it."
Ethan feels like his stomach fell out. "Woul-" His voice catches and he has to start again. "Couldn't we just cuddle more?"
"Ethan weren't you listening," Jane switches from sympathetic to irritated, "Cuddling works, but not fast enough. Is one kiss really going to hurt?"
Ethan balks. He can't bring himself to even look at Benny right now.
Erica sighs, clearly put upon, "Listen here, dork. You are literally the only person in the car who has a problem with this. I will not be trapped in this teeny metal junkheap-"
"Hey." Benny objects to the insult to his car.
Erica continues over him, "-with you idiots for two days with no radio or internet or tasty guys. We won't even be able to play music off our phones for that long before they die. And did you forget that you meatbags have to go to the bathroom eventually?
"So I want you to pucker up and get all hot and handsy with Benny. If it helps your primate heteronormative brain, I can guarantee that we'll all pretend nothing happened. And you can live your merry life in denial," Erica's worked up enough that she's baring her fangs at Ethan again. "ONCE we are out of this car." Done with her tirade, Erica slams back into her seat, arms crossed, staring angrily at the stone beyond the windshield.
"Okay. Fine. I'll do it." Ethan isn't sure how to feel and his voice comes out strained because of it.
"Ethan," Sarah reaches and grabs his hand giving it a little shake, "It's alright really." She reassures him, lowering her head to meet his eyes. Erica is plugging her phone into the car's stereo. "Okay?"
Ethan smiles tersely, "Yeah I'm fine. Sorry."
"Jane I'd recommend you move to the back." Benny says, "I can't really move right now, and I doubt you want to sit next to us while we mack." He adds as clarification.
"Moving." Jane scampers over the back seat into the trunk area. "I'm going to need therapy after this." She grumbled to herself.
'Fancy' blares out of the car speakers. Erica has started up her playlist, but Ethan knows the vampires will still be able to hear them. Vampires including his girlfriend. His girlfriend is sitting in the front seat listening to him essentially cheat on her. And she was okay with it?
Ethan takes a deep bracing breath; he can't let himself think about that at the moment. He turns to face Benny now that everyone is situated. Benny is watching him, waiting. Despite feeling sick, he has shifted his body to better face Ethan.
Ethan considers the challenge, staring at Benny's mouth. Benny chuckles lightly, "E, it's like a Band-Aid, you gotta just rip it off." He puckers his mouth comically.
"Uh... okay. Just stop doing that." Ethan protests. Benny relaxes his mouth, but immediately cracks into a grin. Ethan dramatically buries his face in his hands making Benny laugh.
"Ow. Don't make me laugh, that hurts." Benny complains.
"Okay. Okay." Ethan tries to focus, but the moment he opens his eyes and sees Benny's stupid face he cracks up again. Benny's chest shakes, clearly trying to stifle his own laughter.
"Stop that," Ethan commands Benny covering his mouth with his hand, as if that would silence him. Ethan can feel Benny smiling against his palm. Without another thought Ethan leans in, sliding his hand up to hold Benny's face, and quickly kisses him.
Internally Ethan realizes that this first kiss was not intimate. It would be more accurately described as head-butting Benny with his mouth. Before Benny can react, Ethan kisses him again. This time opening his mouth slightly to fully press into Benny's warm soft lips. Benny sits forward, trying to deepen the kiss but Ethan moves back with him keeping the pressure teasing. Ethan is surprised when he feels the tip of Benny's tongue brush against his bottom lip, and pulls back in shock, breaking the kiss.
"Wow," Benny says reverently, "That really worked." Benny pulls himself into a fully upright position, and rests his head against the seat in front of him. Just the fact that he's moving around is a good sign. He turns to look at Ethan, smiling sweetly. "I don't feel like I'm going to puke my guts out anymore!"
The boys break into laughter again.
"Great," Erica snips from the front seat, "you survived a single kiss. Can we go home now?"
"Uh..." Ethan grabs Benny's shoulder with that question in mind. Benny still has this gooey look on his face that embarrasses Ethan knowing he put it there. "35 hours and 14 minutes."
Erica groans. Sarah flicks her arm, "Erica! It took a lot for them to do that. It's not their fault it only took off ten hours."
Ethan wipes the spit off his mouth, considering whether he should kiss Benny again. Nobody wanted to be stuck in this car, but he wanted to come out of this with Sarah still talking to him. When Ethan chanced looking her way, she smiled back encouragingly. That was good, right?
Benny wasn't waiting for Ethan, though. Rotating his weight, Benny pushes Ethan firmly against the seat back, taking his mouth in a full kiss. Ethan gasps and incidentally sucks in Benny's hot breath.
Ethan was used to Sarah doing this, pinning him and taking control. Ethan thought it was her vampire side showing, she even fanged out sometimes and accidentally nipped Ethan's lips. Kissing Benny was... different. Despite Benny's dominant position hovering over Ethan, he was following Ethan's lead. Scrunching his body down to kiss Ethan at his level instead of pulling Ethan's head back to meet him.
Ethan takes another breath, purposely breathing Benny in this time. It was heady. Benny kinda nuzzles Ethan with his nose, letting the kiss get sloppy. Ethan sucks on Benny's bottom lip, just grazing him with his teeth.
Benny shifts back slightly, taking a hand off of Ethan's shoulders to reach into his pants. Ethan chokes off a moan, wanting to stay completely silent, and failing that he at least wants to not give any indication he was enjoying this. The hand came out again quickly—Benny was only straightening himself out, but that means Benny was hard. The realization sparks a buzzy needy feeling in Ethan's body.
Benny smiles against Ethan's lips, that mischievous pleased smile. Ethan wedges his hand between their bodies to push Benny away. Quizzically Benny sits back on his haunches, biting his lip worriedly.
One hand pushing on his chest, the other steady on the nape of Benny's neck, Ethan holds Benny in place. He only needs a moment to breathe through the panic and guilt-he's not actually trying to get Benny off of him.
Ethan gives Benny the slightest nudge to move back in and Benny is already there. It's so easy being intimate with Benny, and Ethan decides to just let himself sink into it. Ethan strokes Benny's arm, going under the sleeve, feeling the tension in his muscles as he holds himself up. Ethan arches his back while pulling Benny into him. Benny's chest is warm and broad, and feels so good against Ethan's body.
And that's when Benny jumps back like he's placed his hand on the hot stove. In one instant Ethan sees Benny whack his head against the roof of the car, and in the next Sarah has vamp-sped to fill the newly created void between the two boys.
"Are you okay?" Sarah asks petting Benny's head. Ethan cannot process the uneasy amalgam of harsh rejection, shame, and a spike of jealousy watching Sarah coo over Benny.
Benny is gasping for breath, folded over himself with his hand covering his heart. He nods, but can't apparently speak. Benny goes through a couple of intentionally slow deep breaths. Ethan notices Jane peaking over the back seat from the trunk. Apparently she could hear them well enough to know something happened.
"I think you put too much into that last kiss E. It felt like biting into a live wire." Benny explains finally.
"Oh." Is all Ethan can think to respond.
The expression on Ethan's face must be telling, because as soon as Sarah looks at him she falls back into a cuddle with him, resting her head against his shoulder, "Ethan can you check the time we have left again?" She asks sweetly.
Ethan holds out his hand and Benny takes it. "Twenty-two minutes." Ethan reports. "Probably short enough to just ride this out." Or what he really meant to say, please don't make me kiss Benny again and go through all these emotions all over again.
"Good," Jane chimes in. "because there aren't heaters in the far back of the car, and I'm getting cold again." She starts climbing over the back seat, stepping behind Ethan but not sitting down. "Can I have the driver's seat?"
It's a diplomatic way of saying that she doesn't want to sit next to the awkward sexual tension that materialized in the last five minutes. Ethan is just grateful that his sister isn't saying more. Sarah nods.
"So..." Benny asks while Jane crawls into the front, "Sarah. We're still friends right?" There's that slightly high timbre in his voice.
"Of course, Benny!" Sarah exclaims. She seems bizarrely okay. Ethan wonders if that's girl for actually being really upset.
Ethan was left feeling moody. He scooted back so he was resting against the door opposite Benny. Sarah gladly snuggled with him. If Ethan was being honest, she seemed rather pleased with the whole situation. No one was talking though, and even with the music Ethan could feel the atmosphere in the car become increasingly awkward.
"You're lucky, Sarah," Benny says finally, trying to fight a smile, "Ethan's kisses are electric." Benny's dumb joke does actually provoke some laughter in the car.