No Change

[Trillian]

The cabbie was afforded a twenty dollar bill for taking Ben back home before first light.  There was still an hour left, but his bout of fresh air had taken him too far into the heart of the city for Ben to be able to make it back home under his own steam.

"Keep the change," Ben declared as he hurried out of the back of the peanut-shell encrusted cabbie (and avoiding a used tissue that had cleaned up god knew what, but it hadn\'t been snot, Ben\'s sense of smell unfortunately informed him) before hurrying up the path and leaping up stairs two at a time before making his way inside Arles\' place.

"I\'m home!" he called out as he entered the corridor, expecting to be told off for staying out so long after declaring he was only going for a walk (albeit a long one, with a detour).  Instead of trying to find out what Arles was up to, he made a beeline for the shower and turned on the spray, shucking clothes as though he was in a competition for something, and lathering himself with soap scented with milk and honey.  It felt good.

He thought about what Arles might be up to, perhaps reading on the bed or sofa.  He hadn\'t even checked that his sire was in.  He hoped he was and that he hadn\'t gone out looking for him.  Ben dismissed any further concern for Arles knew how to look after himself.

After the attack from Sawyl, Ben had consistently made sexual advances on Arles, redefining his role.  They were sire and fledgling, they were lovers, they were living together.  This was his home, Arles was his solid foundation - a binding glue that was stable.  Ben had never experienced such a thing before, and he liked it, he liked having someone to depend upon, to be there for him, to support him and tell him that everything would be okay.

He relinquished the soap in favour of shampoo, and began on his hair next.

[Noctambule]

Arles had gone out. Not to look for Ben, however. While the blonde vampire had mused on the concept of stalking his fledgling he finally decided that wasn\'t a good idea. Ben could care for himself and, indeed, needed to know that Arles trusted him to do so. There was nothing as undermining as realizing those who cared for you didn\'t think you capable of caring for yourself.

So he\'d tried to find something to pass the time. Reading wasn\'t holding his mind very long and though he desperately needed to organize various artworks he\'d purchased and stashed away in a room (where you couldn\'t walk without bumping into something) but he had absolutely no desire to do that. Mostly because he knew it would take several nights and his attention would wane before then and they\'d have things scattered all over the place.

Eventually he decided to go out. He caught a meal then wandered the beach for a while before heading toward more civilized realms. Ben had him thinking more and more of others. Other fledglings he\'d had...the child vampire he\'d kept for a time. That in itself was something to contemplate...that vampires who had been turned as children were seen far more in this age but that they seemed to have little variance in temperment. He couldn\'t blame the lot of them...but he could dislike those that had turned out like Sawyl.

Ben still hadn\'t shared what he\'d been shown and Arles was getting anxious. Coupled with Ben\'s new affection and devotion...well it was rather unusual. Arles had never had gifts such as the attention from his fledgling come without a price and was naturally wary.

He hadn\'t gone as far as Ben, probably, because he was entering his home when Ben was already in the shower. Arles paused for a moment as he heard the running water and his mind reached out to find Ben by instinct, simply to make sure he was alright.

Sensing no distress, Arles peeked into the bathroom just to make sure. "I\'m home," He called in case Ben had been looking for him.

[Trillian]

"Hey," Ben said warmly as Arles made an appearance.  Considering how he\'d been lately, it was easy to think he\'d make an offer for the other to join him in the shower, but it was far from his mind.  "I forgot to check the letterbox," he said, remembering he\'d promised to do so upon his return, so ready to run into the shower he\'d been.  There was probably only rate notices or other bills in there, electricity for instance, or junk mail like discounts to the local pizza parlour.  Places that Ben no longer needed to frequent.

He rinsed out his hair by stepping directly under the spray, closing his eyes and letting the warm water wash over him.

[Noctambule]

Arles had a compulsive moment to reorganize what was on the vanity. Really it was hardly anything useful. A brush, some toothpaste...decorative soaps that had somehow gotten out of their dish. He put everything in what seemed like a proper place.

"It can wait," Arles answered, pretty much knowing that there was hardly anything of interest. At least he wasn\'t expecting anything. "Unless you want me to check."

The blonde vampire tended to not bother with such things like extra steps unless there was a pressing need. "So how did you spend your evening? Hopefully I won\'t have scores of the supernatural at my door demanding access to the wild fledgling," He teased. Ben had the capability to be that wild but Arles doubted he was so stupid.

[Trillian]

"It can wait," Ben agreed about the mail.  He wasn\'t expecting anything in the letterbox, but it had been something to mention, at least.  As Arles had needed to reorganise the shelf, Ben had the compulsion to say something, and that was what had come out.

The joking question didn\'t fail too badly, but Ben still wasn\'t completely at ease about what had happened with Sawyl.  He smiled and laughed half-heartedly, on breath he did not need to expel, then turned his face into the spray, his eyes closed and his hands slicking his hair back from his face, concentrating on the warming runnels of water over his body.  With his profile now to Arles, he wondered if his sire would invite himself into the shower.  It wasn\'t like they hadn\'t been consistently intimate.

[Noctambule]

Arles was tired, for some reason. Really he didn\'t think he could be so easily tired physically from what he\'d done through the night. Maybe there were too many things in his mind. But that had been the case lately for whatever reason. He couldn\'t will his mind quiet and calm.

He felt like he was climbing the walls though he hoped there was no outward indication of that. For however close he and Ben had gotten in one way he still felt rather like he was missing something.

Arles poked his head into the shower enough to give Ben a quick kiss but made no motion to join him. His thoughts were obviously elsewhere.

"Did you just spend the night wandering about?"

[Trillian]

"I fed," Ben said, nodding, letting Arles know that his walk hadn\'t been entirely aimless, that he\'d intended to do as vampires should and take blood from someone.  He hadn\'t ended up doing it, he\'d drunk from a plastic baggie instead, but that wasn\'t something he\'d aimed to do.

For just a moment, he considered telling Arles who he\'d bumped into, the fact that it had led to a conversation, and then an argument, and then making up with hugging and kissing, and that was the end of the moment.  Ben had no desire to share such a thing with Arles, lover or not.  He didn\'t want Arles to withdraw his position, he didn\'t want Arles to change, to think of him differently, to either turn his back on him or say everything was okay, because it wouldn\'t be.  Knowing was knowing, and you couldn\'t un-know something after you knew it.  He would think about it some more, and he didn\'t foresee that the relationship with Kerr would advance so quickly that he had to warn Arles about anything.

Smiling, content with his decision to just see where things would lead, happy to remain as he was, he allowed Arles to continue being distracted, because Ben himself was distracted, and eventually they would climb into bed together, as the night drew to a close.

[Noctambule]

Unfortunately the head in the shower stunt had gotten Arles\'s hair wet. He frowned at it, finding a brush to comb the wetness through at least and then attempting to locate something to pull it back with.

He and Ben were often quiet with one another. But this silence...was odd. It was uncomfortable and Arles wasn\'t exactly certain why. He wasn\'t angry. Ben wasn\'t angry. He was in fact glad that Ben had gone out on his own for a while.

So then...what was wrong?

"Any problems feeding?" Arles questioned. When in doubt...he could resort back to the sire position quite easily. The sire of Ben wanted to know if he\'d fed well. Ben\'s lover...was still disquieted.

He found a tie and pulled his hair from his face expertly, dark eyes watching in Ben\'s general direction.

[Trillian]

Ben thought about the baggie he\'d drunk from.

"No problems," he said, then added: "It was easier, actually."  Now it was time for a subject change, because Ben didn\'t want the conversation to remain on him, his feeding, or what else he\'d got up to.  Looking over through the shower mist at Arles\' foggy presence, he asked his own question.  "Did you get to start a new book tonight?"

Ben, who\'d asked about the book Arles had currently been reading, had found himself interested in the plot Arles had vaguely described, and had mentioned he\'d like to read it.  If Arles had started a new book, that meant Ben could read the one that was finished.  They could talk about the book.

[Noctambule]

Arles didn\'t pursue the line of questioning despite his want to do so. He was curious...who Ben had picked and what had gone on but he supposed if Ben didn\'t want to talk about it that was his business. He offered a half smile to his fledgling at the question.

"I finished the last book if that\'s what you mean," He answered agreeably. And he hadn\'t started anything else but he soon would. There were piles of his purchasing conquests that had yet to be examined. "I left it...on the coffee table." Though no doubt Ben could locate it if he wanted it.

"Just debating on what I want to look at next. Too much to choose from. Not sure if I want fiction or history or...historical fiction..." He smirked, bending to get a towel out for Ben.

[Trillian]

"You could tell me a story about your history," Ben suggested, hungry for personal information.  He wanted the same kind of bond with Arles as he did with Kerr, the knowledge of personal experiences, the intimacy of opinions formed throughout the ages.  Arles was older too, he would have more stories, and they would hopefully not be as twisted and incestuous as Kerr\'s.  Guilt was driving the fledgling into this request, but he had no idea of this, he believed his motives were sincere, genuine, urged ahead by desire to get to know Arles better than he did now, because he was his sire.  One of them, anyway.

He shut off the taps and stepped out to towel himself dry, his gaze only leaving Arles for the moment that it took him to seek out and grab a towel, wrapping it about his hips once he was mostly dried.  He took another in order to towel his hair a little more, and wondered if he would be told off for using too many towels at a time.  His former roommates had complained about the laundry until Ben had offered to take on more weeks than his usual round.