Side Note: Oh my god I am so sorry. I haven't posted anything in ages and I feel awful but christ my brain has been poopy for nearly a month. It started with a week of band camp and has just evolved into stressing about school (I'm taking an AP class this year and I have to read four book and they're alL NON FICTION AND FUCKING TERRIBLE) so sorry about my lack of posting. And this still isn't much, but I thought a little filler was in order.

At the end, I have a quick little announcement :D YAY NEWS

(also sorry if there's some grammar errors because my touchpad is doing that weird glitchy thing where it puts the cursor in the middle of the sentence and it's pissing me off. I always go onto Google Docs for spelling errors, but you know how that goes)

Title of this ficlet is from the song Still by Daughter (I have been playing this song nonstop)

~.~.~

He focuses on breathing deeply; in for four counts, out for four counts, and repeat.

It's hard to take a deep breath, though, when he can't even think, let alone function regularly. He knew coming out into the woods at night would be a bad idea, but Benny had claimed there was a good spot to sit and watch the stars and it had escalated from there. He had always been bad at saying no to Benny.

Ethan can feel the dampness of the tree behind him pressing into his jacket, seeping through his shirt and into his bones. His hold on his flashlight is shaky and his fingers are numb from how hard he's gripping onto it.

The two of them had been traipsing through the woods together not five minutes ago, heading out to Benny's secret star-gazing area together. But then Ethan had stopped to re-tie his shoes and when he looked up, Benny was gone. He'd thought about calling out, but both fear that something else was out there and fear that he'd lost his best friend in the woods closed his throat right up.

Tilting his head back, Ethan feels the rough bark pressing in on his skull, almost painful but just enough sensation to get him to think. He can breathe better with his neck exposed, anyways, and he closes his eyes against the silver leaves to focus.

His options are pretty limited; he could get himself under control and call out for Benny, risking either getting attacked by something or drawing its attention to him. He could use his flashlight and race back the way they'd come to call Grandma Weir and the vampire trio for backup, and risk leaving Benny alone in the woods in the middle of the night. He could also stay in this exact spot and wait for his boyfriend to realize that he'd left Ethan behind and come walking back- if him wandering off had been the case at all.

After many horrific scenes of Benny getting mauled by a wild animal or stabbed to death by a raving axe murderer, Ethan decides that option A is the best- yell for Benny and hope to god that nothing will come after him or perk up.

This is easier said than done.

Ethan's throat still feels as though he'd swallowed mouthful of cinnamon, dry as the desert and scratchy and aching. His hands are shaking as hard as the rest of his body is, and even though turning the flashlight back on would be a good start, light bobbing up and down rapidly is bound to get him unwelcomingly noticed.

"Benny?" he manages after a moment, and he dares to take a step away from the tree. The feeling of vulnerability intensifies tenfold now that his back is exposed, and Ethan swallows with a loud clicking sound. "Ben, are you out there?"

No one replies; the wind just continues to lightly rustle the leaves and plants around him, and in the distance, Ethan can hear birds chirping lightly and owls hooting. The darkness seems to be trying to engulf him, like an unwanted hug from an old relative.

And that thought is what gets Ethan angry. Frowning with his entire face, he stops shaking and flicks the flashlight on with a satisfying click.

"Benny," he starts, holding the light up. "I'm not even kidding with you right now. If you're trying to scare me, you're walking home. I don't even care if it was your car we took here."

He gets radio silence from Benny again, but a cute little cricket chirping joins in on the party of forest sounds. Ethan kind of wants to crush it with his boot.

Feeling the panic creeping back up, Ethan lets the shivers in and stumbles back towards the tree he was previously leaning on. Stomach churning, throat burning, and bones rattling, he tries to think of how awful the second plan would be- running for the car to grab his phone.

Not very good, he admits, and groans quietly against the roll of nausea that passes through him. Fuck it- why does this always happen to them?

"Hey, E, I think I found some magical flow-"

Ethan careens up from the tree trunk so fast he nearly face-plants onto the ground. Benny's standing in the pathway, holding a pale blue flower in his hands, and looking as hunky dory as possible.

Ethan does the only logical thing. He throws his flashlight at Benny's head.

"Ouch!" Benny hisses, shrinking away from Ethan. "Dude, what the hell was that for?"

Ethan stomps forwards, finger already out to jab at Benny's chest. "You asshole! I stop to tie my shoe and I look up and you're gone. I thought you had wandered off and gotten lost or attacked by a bear or something! Not playing Dora the fucking Explorer!"

Benny looks affronted by the sudden outburst, but can also see that Ethan was genuinely freaked out by the whole scene. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew I was heading the the side for a second."

"Obviously, I wasn't." Ethan grits out, but the angry-pointy-staby finger drops down so that Ethan's entire right hand is pressed against Benny's chest instead. "Benny, just- don't do that again. Please. We're clumsy enough in the daytime, out in the open. I don't need to have some against-the-odds accident happen because you went looking for magical plants."

"I'm sorry." Benny says again, softly, and takes both of Ethan's hands in his own. Ethan looks up at him through his his lashes, all pale skin and shadows and a whole lot of emotion. He's beautiful.

Ethan smiles against his will; it's not a huge one, just a twitch of the corners of his lips, but Benny definitely sees it and takes it as a victory. "I can even serenade you if you'd like. 'Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down-'"

This makes Ethan laugh, and his genuine grin takes place of the remaining anger and panic. He pulls Benny in by his hand for a kiss to shut him up. "Stop with the Rick Astley, Ben. Seriously, oh my god."

"It's not my fault that Rory Rick Rolled me yesterday- but joke's on him 'cause I actually like that song."

Without waiting for a reply, Benny stands in front of Ethan and snakes his arms around to pull him onto his back. Ethan lets out a small shout of surprise, before he's settled in the piggyback position, arms around Benny's neck with Benny's freakishly large hands gripping onto the underside of his knees.

"Onward we go, noble Prince."

Ethan laughs again, and leans in to rest his chin on Benny's shoulder. "You're an idiot."

~.~.~

A/N: Like I said- cute little drabble, nothing fancy, wee. I just wanted to get an update out there so you guys didn't think I was dead (or worse- expelled).

Okay, so here's the little news scoop: I plan on writing another multi-chapter Halloween fic, but I'm still trying to figure out what it should be about. Last year's was mega fun to write and there's just a plethora of Halloween themes. It could be another mishap? An AU? I don't even know. But maybe if I get enough balls to, I'll add some actual smut into this one owow. But idk- I've never really written a sex scene before, so we'll see.

Anyways, I hope this was enough-ish for my absence and I'll see you soon (probably in September with that little Halloween diddle). Have a wonderful day :D