The Model and the Movie Star

[Trillian]

IT HAD BEEN TWO WEEKS of \'just friends\' between himself and Kerr, and Ben had begun to forget what it was like to be tethered to something and someone real.  He\'d hooked up with Lazarus twice at Risk, going back to the Oligarchy\'s penthouse with the blonde Ancient and a couple of mortals for a party that had been more like an orgy.  Ben rediscovered Lazarus\' rules about what he would and wouldn\'t do (nobody would have Lazarus\' mouth around their cock, nor have him bending over for them because both positions were submissive) while Lazarus learned that Ben would perform almost every sexual trick except he wouldn\'t let anyone kiss him.  Once the mortals were used up and kicked out, Ben remained with Lazarus discussing a great many things.  Ben felt that he and Lazarus were in much the same place, though he didn\'t mention it to the egotistical blonde, fearing that his observations wouldn\'t be taken well.  How else could it be explained to someone that they\'re numb and lonely without declaring it bluntly?  He kept it to himself.

He hadn\'t had sex for four nights, thinking that doing the anonymous deed with mortals whose names he forgot almost immediately after he was with them wasn\'t helping his cause.  After four nights and no change in his emotions (or lack thereof), he was beginning to rethink himself.  At least when he was having sex, he felt good during and for a short while afterward.  It was a purely physical pleasure but it was a kind of happiness and he was struggling to achieve such an emotion without it.

He was lying down on the three seater sofa and watching a DVD from the expansive collection out of Kerr\'s library.  It was a sci-fi flick that required focus in order to understand it, but it was an interesting enough movie that Ben was obliged to give it his full attention.  He was therefore surprised by the knock at the door and paused the DVD in order to sit up and look over the back of the sofa and stare at the door.  His vampiric sense went to investigate, to decipher who the person was and received a kind of mental smack once he touched the mind of who was at the door.  He\'d only got enough to know that the visitor wasn\'t hostile (until he\'d been investigated) and was obviously a vampire.

Ben moved to the front door and unlocked it, being the only one in the apartment to do so.  Kerr was out with Jenna, and Ben had used a blood-bag out of the fridge instead of venturing out to Risk again.  With the door pulled wide open, he got a clear first impression look at the vampire on the other side.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash Rivers hadn\'t expected young mental fingers to skitter over his mind as he stood at the door.  He knew Kerr had his fledgling with him because he lived above them both and it wasn\'t hard to detect two vampires below and do the math as to who it was.  He\'d been seeing a lot less of Kerr since Kerr had latched onto his fire-demon girlfriend, and Ash had begun to grow bored with Carly now that the three of them weren\'t playing together anymore.

When the door opened, Ash grinned down at Ben who looked dressed for a night at home, while Ash could choose to either go out or lounge around - dressed in blue-jeans with a flashy silver buckled belt and a black button-up shirt unbuttoned over a tight white t-shirt.  He\'d put his boots on but was planning more on hanging out here than going out.

"Hey, Ben," he said, revealing that he knew the fledgling on sight.  "I\'m Ash.  I live upstairs," he said, pointing at the ceiling in case Ben didn\'t know where upstairs was.  "Can I come in?" he asked, but stepped past the blonde anyway, moving into the apartment smoothly and heading straight for the lounge, where The Matrix was paused on the television.

[Trillian]

Being greeted by name from someone he didn\'t know made him think he\'d met him before and it was one of the memory-holes he had.  He\'d told Lazarus about it once they were alone after a great deal of sex and the blonde Ancient had found it funny.  When Ash introduced himself though, Ben had to change his mind about having met him before.  He wasn\'t surprised at Ash\'s arrogance and only closed and locked the door behind him, following Kerr\'s neighbour friend back towards the lounge.  Every vampire he\'d met so far was arrogant - with the exception of Kerr - so Ash didn\'t strike him any differently.

"Kerr isn\'t here," he said, though he figured Ash probably already knew this.  Their senses were attuned to feeling their own kind after all.  Ash would likely know Ben was alone, which meant he\'d come here to see him.

[Malkavian Riddler]

"I know," Ash said, moving around the sofa and selecting the armchair to seat himself on, taking the time to make himself comfortable before looking back at Kerr\'s fledgling.

The pictures Kerr had of Ben hadn\'t really done him justice, for they\'d been candid shots of the two of them together, smiling into the camera and looking happy.  The magazine shots had Ben all pouty and serious, and that was where the sexiness began (and probably ended) with the blonde.  The expressionless look he was getting now wasn\'t bad, but Ben had too many clothes on and wasn\'t striking the same slouchy pose that had got Ash all fired up enough to masturbate over the glossy pictures.  Kerr knew he\'d done it because he\'d discovered a spot on the pages after Ash revealed what Ben was up to, to him.  He wondered if he\'d told his fledge about it, and how serious they were.

"Is he out fucking his girlfriend?" he asked, being as abrasive as possible to see what kind of reaction he got.

[Trillian]

Ben moved around to sit on the sofa, on the middle cushion, watching Ash while he himself was being looked over.  Such a thing didn\'t strike him as unusual anymore.  He wasn\'t self-conscious about it, or even flattered, it was just one of those things that confident people did.  The fact Ash did it obviously instead of discretely made him feel a bit more relaxed around the other vampire.  It meant he had nothing to hide.

The question was surprising because of the way it had been phrased, but Ben didn\'t do more than pause for a moment before answering.

"Probably."

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash stared at Ben for a long moment, thinking about what the lack of a reaction might mean.  Kerr\'s fledge had been the love of Kerr\'s life until he\'d had his amnesia attack, then he\'d freaked out and run off to New York, becoming a model, of all things.  Kerr had gone there for closure, Ash had thought, but had then returned with his fledge, who had been in \'a bad situation\' and Kerr hadn\'t clarified any further.  Ash hadn\'t bothered to ask, figuring Ben would likely run off again, but he hadn\'t, so what was keeping him here?

"Is he fucking you on the side?" Ash asked, and if the answer was a yes, he\'d be bitter about it, because Kerr had ended their playtime once this Jenna chick had got her claws into him.

[Trillian]

It really wasn\'t any of Ash\'s business, Ben knew, but he wasn\'t about to spout that at him.  They were just talking, and no subject was taboo to him.  Lazarus had also asked the same thing (with the exception of asking about Jenna, for the Ancient hadn\'t seemed to know about Kerr\'s current relationship, though he\'d known Ben and Kerr had been together), and Ben had told him.

"Just the once," Ben said.  "After that he told me we couldn\'t anymore, because he\'s with Jenna now."

It wasn\'t quite like that, but summarising it in such a way simplified it to its absolute core.  Kerr didn\'t want him, he was with Jenna now.  He watched Ash quietly, expecting more questions to come shooting out of Kerr\'s inquisitive neighbour.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash raised his eyebrows momentarily before staring at Ben for a little while.  The youngling wasn\'t terribly talkative, but was certainly forthcoming with the answers.  There was still bitterness felt at Ben\'s answer, but it was a different kind of bitterness, more towards the woman Kerr was enchanted with.  After all the fun time they\'d had picking up, Kerr had to end that with something stupid like a \'serious relationship\'.

Fuck that.

"So how are you taking that?" he asked, though he really didn\'t want to know about the emotional attachment.  He got a sense that Ben wasn\'t really into Kerr the same way as Kerr was into Ben, but then again, it seemed even Ben was on the sidelines now that Jenna Miss Mighty had come along.  How could a vampire trust a fucking fire demon anyway?  She could toast him with half a chance.  He couldn\'t even safely break up with her, in case she was a vindictive bitch.

Stupid.

[Trillian]

Ben shrugged and glanced at the television screen momentarily before meeting Ash\'s gaze once more.

"It\'s what he wants.  What else am I supposed to do but accept it?" he said.

He wasn\'t sure what Ash was after but he didn\'t really trust the other vampire so much, not after questions like these and without knowing what his motivation was for asking them.

[Malkavian Riddler]

The kid was really difficult to talk to, unlike Kerr.  He wondered how the two of them had ever paired up.  He knew the story because Kerr had told him - Ben had approached Kerr at Risk and asked him to sire him.  A complete stranger!  It spoke of a confidence in the youth that Ash couldn\'t immediately see right now, not that he thought Ben was particularly shy either, because he was answering personal questions without hesitation.  Most would tell him to mind his own business or become offended.

"I helped him find you," he said, wondering if this would inspire a reaction from Kerr\'s fledge.  He doubted it, but put the words out there anyway, just for something to say.

[Trillian]

The other vampire\'s words hit the mark, though Ben\'s reaction was not overly-expressive or expansive.  His attitude towards Ash changed and could be seen in his body language as he shifted, sitting forward instead of leaning back, more interested in what Ash had to say, and his face changing from wariness to curiosity.
 
"How did you do that?" he asked, genuinely wanting to know.  Had Ash been so good a friend that he\'d set Kerr on the path to find him?  If Ash was Kerr\'s motivation for doing so, then he would need Ash\'s approval in order for Kerr to better accept him.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash grinned broadly, liking the change in Ben, feeling like he was now properly being paid attention to, when before Ben had let his presence simply wash over him.  He didn\'t like feeling unimportant.

"I saw your pictures in High Street," he said, naming one of the top fashion magazines that dominantly covered male fashions.  "Recognised you from the photos in Kerr\'s apartment," he said, circling a finger to indicate the place where they were at now.  "You looked pretty good in those pictures," he added after a moment, pausing before he continued his compliment to see how Ben was taking it.  "You look good now, but you were wearing less then."

He met the youth\'s stare, thinking he had nice eyes (like Kerr had described) but there was something missing in them.

[Trillian]

Ben remembered the High Street spread, mostly because it had been the first time he\'d cheated on Themba, blowing the other model in the changeroom.  He licked his lips at the memory without intending to, thinking about what he\'d worn that had apparently appealed to Ash.  Only a few shots had him shirtless wearing cargo shorts, slumped among a bunch of satin pillows.  He supposed those were the ones Ash was referring to.  The gathering of pillows reminded him of Risk in a way, for some of the partitioned rooms only had clusters of cushions rather than furniture.  He usually bypassed those.
 
"You showed Kerr the magazine," he guessed, not caring about the compliment one way or the other.  He figured if Ash was serious about hitting on him, he\'d do it again.  Right now he was dismissing the compliment as another example of Ash\'s brash manner, much like the questions had been.  He was a little like Lazarus that way, Ben thought, but Lazarus was more up-front about what he was after.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Ash wasn\'t sure what Ben thought of his compliment.  The blonde was incredibly hard to read and he didn\'t like interacting with strangers when they made it too hard a challenge.  He\'d give it one more go and then get the fuck out of here if it didn\'t pay off.

"Yeah, I did," he confirmed, nodding.  Then he gave a short, calculated laugh.  "He got offended over the fact I spilled a little spot on it, but he couldn\'t be too angry, since I got him a lead on you."

He wondered if Ben would take the bait.

[Trillian]

Now that Ben knew how Ash had helped Kerr find him, he focussed on the other part of what Ash had said.
 
"Spilled..." he began, and was about to ask blood?, but he knew better. "You jerked off over my picture? And then showed Kerr?"
 
For some reason it struck him as funny, and he found himself grinning at Ash. Likely the other vampire would take his smile the wrong way, but it didn\'t really matter. He\'d been sitting here thinking about how horny he was and then Ash had conveniently shown up.