In A Gazebo With My Friend

[pinkroses]

“That’d be great, thanks,” Murphy said enthusiastically, although his initial excitement dampened slightly at the thought of how his current employers might react to him writing for other people. Yes, he was freelance, there was nothing in his contract which said he couldn’t work for other people, but he’d heard from Charon how much importance his family placed on loyalty. And he definitely didn’t want Charon to be disappointed with him for any reason.

He let the silence stretch out between them, wanting to go on, wanting to say more. He wanted to tell Ben that Charon had asked about him, about their relationship, but the questions had been to make sure Murphy wouldn’t tell secrets to a potential Oligarchy source. He didn’t know any Sacramentum secrets - but even telling Ben it had been suspected might be more than Charon was happy having him know.

But damn, being careful about what he said and having to hold his tongue was not something Murphy was used to. He normally would just blurt out anything, the first thing which came to mind, and if it was ridiculous he would laugh about it afterwards. But now he couldn’t do that and he hated it.

“Is there anyone else about? Can you hear or sense anything?” he asked, tilting his head sideway to look at the blonde. He didn’t intend on spilling everything, but he suddenly felt like he couldn’t say anything without it being picked up on and maybe being used in a way he didn’t realise.

[Trillian]

Ben was enjoying the silence but was immediately curious at Murphy's sudden desire to know if they were alone.  The result of being asked to seek out if anyone was nearby had him sitting up and concentrating on casting out a mental net.  Kerr had taught him how to do it, though Ben still struggled with such a task.  When he couldn't sense anyone or anything he wasn't sure if it was because his mental search had failed or if there really wasn't anyone around.

"There's nobody around as far as I can sense, or hear," he told Murphy, turning to look at him, and he wondered if his words would be good enough.  If the reporter was antsy about continuing, he would suggest going to the Chambers - but perhaps that was somewhere Murphy thought was worse.

[pinkroses]

Murphy watched Ben intently as the vampire cast out his mental webs. Murphy loved watching him use his powers. It just looked like he was thinking on something really hard, but Murphy could imagine tendrils sneaking out, searching around for other minds, curling like vines through bushes and around trees, even though it wasn’t quite like that, he knew.

He twisted sideways on his seat, hitching his knee up between them on the bench and leaning his shoulder against the post he had been resting against. Murphy’s hazel eyes flickered around briefly, although he trusted Ben’s word (perhaps more than he should have given Ben’s own doubts) and eventually settled again on his companion.

Murphy knew if there was a vampire older than Ben around then it wouldn’t do much good, a mental search could be blocked, he could be silent or out of Ben’s ear shot but still be able to hear himself. But they knew where he lived, they could have that watched easily enough. And if they were already weary of him being with Ben, going back to the Oligarchy might be a bad plan. Here was as safe as anywhere to say what he wanted to.

“Have you ever been asked to ask me stuff about my work and employers by the Oligarchy? Or by Kerr?” he asked, his voice dropping instinctively although he knew if there was a vampire older than Ben around then it wouldn’t do much good. Murphy didn’t imagine Ben would try to find out information from him because he’d been asked to, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been asked.

[Trillian]

The question sounded like Murphy suspected something was going on with the Oligarchy.  Ben was probably assuming too much, for it was just a question after all, which meant Murph didn't know and was after information.  Still, it felt like espionage.  He grinned at his own stupid thought and realised that would look bad to his friend.

"Sorry, I had visions of James Bond or something, then," he said conversationally, then dropped his volume to mimic Murphy.  "No, I haven't been asked to find stuff out about you or ask you things, but I know there's a file on you.  There's a file on everyone.  There was a file on me when I first went to Risk and got hauled up for being a pet after six days."  He didn't repeat the story in detail, Murphy had been told everything about it already.  Ben was trying to point out that almost everybody had a file on them.  "I haven't read your file or anything, and I wouldn't," he said after a moment, then frowned, wondering if Murphy was going to ask him to get it or get access to it.  There he went, jumping to assumptions again.

[pinkroses]

The corner of Murphy’s lips twitched upwards as Ben smiled, instinctively wanting to join in and smile too, but the expression confused him too - it didn’t seem to if what he’d asked until Ben explained. His eyes flickered downwards and a hint of red rose in his cheeks. God, if Ben thought this was all so stupid maybe he was just being paranoid. But Charon had been pretty full on when he’d been asking about Ben, no matter how much he’d distracted Murphy afterwards.

He managed to lift his gaze again to meet Ben’s silver eyes as the fledgling spoke, nodding slightly at being told there was a file on him. That was to be expected, given what he did. He gave a smile finally as Ben assured him he wouldn’t read it, although Murphy didn’t mind much if he did. There couldn’t be much in there Ben didn’t already know about him.

“Good, great, fine. That’s fine. I just wanted to ask because someone asked me about, um, us and I just wanted to check they had no reason to be asking. No good reason to be asking. Just… speculation,” he said, finding himself relax slightly. He hoped that if Ben ever was the blonde would refuse to say anything, even though he didn’t know much about who Murphy worked for, but it was good to know no one had asked.

[Trillian]

Ben was silent for a long moment as Murphy's explanation of why he was asking drifted through his mind.  He mentally turned the answer this way and that; inspecting it, analysing it, travelling down different paths with it.  There was something that he kept coming back to that he could overlook or put aside.

Someone asked me about us

Any jest or humour that Ben had considered previously about spying, espionage and James Bond was abolished.  He'd never believed he would be important enough to be watched by anyone other than the Oligarchy, and realised now that it was a foolish thing to think.  He was romantically involved with the Luminary.  Of course he would be considered some kind of target.  He'd always known that he was in a kind of 'First Wife' position among the supernatural, but he'd never thought it a big deal.  It was only one city.  He was only a fledge.

He wanted to know more.

"Someone?"

He used his knowledge of Murphy's desire to fill pregnant pauses with chatter against him, feeling perversely guilty while doing so.  It didn't stop him from letting the silence compound, however.

[pinkroses]

Any relief Murphy had felt at the simple answer before disappeared as Ben said just one word, just one little word in that questioning way. It made Murphy want to spill out everything and he’d been having a hard enough time already with that. He’d felt like he could talk about anything with Ben, stuff he wouldn’t usually just tell people. He knew how to keep a secret when it mattered - but with Ben it had never seemed to matter. He could trust him. But that was exactly what Charon had been talking about. And Murphy doubted he would be happy if Murphy told Ben everything he wanted to about the ancient’s family - stories he knew Ben would want to hear.

But if Murphy spilt everything he wanted to he’d probably miss out on the chance on hearing more and that was a best case scenario. Worst case Charon would have him got rid of, and Murphy wasn’t quite ready to be knocked off. And if the Sacramentum wanted him dead… well, Ben was a fledgling, and Kerr was still a child compared to them. He’d have no protection and Murphy didn’t especially want reason to need it.
 
“Yeah, someone, I can’t… please don’t do that, don’t ask, because I can’t say and it doesn’t matter now anyway because there was no reason for them to have asked anyway.” Unless you ask and I tell you everything. Then they’ll have been right to ask.

Murphy lifted his gaze to look up at the stars again, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he tried to forget all about everything he wanted to tell Ben, a nervous churning in the pit of his stomach.

“We should get back to that poetry, that was fun. Unless you’re hungry?” Murphy said, trying to keep a more natural pacing to his voice than the garbled mess of words he’d been spouting before. He never should have said anything, but it was too late to go back now.

[Trillian]

"Okay, okay" Ben said agreeably, sitting up and reaching out to touch Murphy's shoulder, to comfort him.  He didn't want to pressure his friend into saying something he would regret.  Ben didn't want to be a pushy friend, even though he was very curious about what Murphy had been asked and what he'd said.

"What about if you don't write anything about vampires?" he asked, continuing the conversation after a brief shake of the head that he wasn't hungry.  It wasn't so, for he was always in the mood for a bite, but right now he wanted to clear things up for Murphy and himself, and bouncing ideas for Murphy's writing seemed the best way to do it.  "I mean, there's a ton of supernatural activity to write about, so nobody can be upset with you for exploring avenues that they're not... you know, invested in.  Like werewolves, or demons."

He wondered how much Murphy knew about other supernaturals.

[pinkroses]

He tore his eyes away from the sky to look sideways at Ben as the blonde touched his shoulder, grateful that Ben wasn’t pushing it, although he’d known his friend would stop if asked and it didn’t lessen his desire to tell him everything.

So he was pleased for the change of subject and Murphy tilted his head to one side thoughtfully, trying to focus on that and stop wondering if he’d already said too much to Ben about all of this. He’d managed to make both of them feel uncomfortable and possibly put himself in a bad situation, but fingers crossed nothing would come of it. Charon might never know the topic had even been touched on. Unless he read his mind.

“I guess. I mean… I don’t know much about them really, I’d have to do some research, like, properly try to find out stuff to fill gaps in my knowledge, not just details about stories. Could be interesting. Definitely. I might have to call on your connections to find me some people to talk to,” he said, giving Ben a proper smile once again, pleased with the new distraction. He knew Ben didn’t really have friends at the Oligarchy, but he’d know people, maybe some creatures who’d be willing to give Murphy some information.

He knew of quite a few of the different creatures which existed from visits to the Chambers and probing Ben for information, but with vampires finding out things had been easier. He had a reason to talk to them and them to talk to him - his blood. It would be far more difficult to just walk up to at demon, werewolf or shifter and just randomly strike up conversation about what they were.

[Trillian]

Ben was smiling broadly by the time Murphy finished speaking, nodding along.  He'd shifted position to sit up and then sideways to face his friend, elbow now resting upon the edging instead of his head, leg pulled up on the bench seat with him and his knee gently touching Murphy's thigh.

"I can't believe we've waited this long to think of networking."

Ben figured Murphy had probably thought about it very early on but was far too gentlemanly and nice to use Ben in that way.  Their friendship had been a naturally occurring, naturally evolving thing.  Murphy quite obviously didn't want to mix personal life with business, but it looked like someone was forcing his hand in that matter.  Ben still burned for answers about that, but he'd squashed it for now and would think it through later.  If Murphy was now getting the negative brunt of being his friend, Ben might as well offer the positive side.

"I'll have something extra for you next time we... meet up."  He was surprised he'd almost said 'hook up', and had stopped himself with only the tiniest of pauses to betray something else had almost taken its place.  Funny, how those words had almost spilled out of his mouth.  Maybe it was because he was starting to look at Murphy's neck with renewed interest.  Yes, that must be what it was.  He'd only looked at Murphy's lap to see where the mortal's legs were, in order to climb over them and get himself in a drinking position.  Maybe it meant more, considerng the way he was feeling charged up right now, but it was borne of companionship and respect, not lust.  Right?

"Here," he said, his tone changing and growing more serious.  "I changed my mind about drinking from you," he said, and in one easy move he straddled Murphy's lap and pressed his chest against the human's, in order to keep him in place.  There was a primal feel in Ben now, as he played the vampire part against his human victim.  There was always an extra thrill in this.  He moved his face closer to Murphy's and paused, to check for consent (and certain he would have it, but still making a point to confirm).

[pinkroses]

“Yeah, well…” Murphy said non-commitally, giving a shrug at Ben’s comment about how long it had taken them to do this. He’d wanted to ask Ben if he could talk to people at the Oligarchy for ages, it was a hive of activity, with so many different species coming together, working together. How could he not have thought of it? But he knew Ben had a rocky relationship with people at the Oligarchy sometimes and hadn’t wanted to be a reason for things to get worse by him demanding the privilege of prying.

Murphy’s mind was too focused on Ben’s mention of having something for him to spot the short pause and his smile grew. “Best make sure it’s not too long then,” he said, resisting the urge to ask more and was distracted once again by Ben’s shift in the conversation - and the vampire’s swift movement.

His hands settled easily on Ben’s thighs as the blonde straddled him and Murphy shifted his feet to rest flat on the floor where he legs had been stretched out before, giving a more solid base for Ben to sit comfortably on. He felt a rush of excitement at the sudden closeness, knowing what would be coming next, but Murphy couldn’t help feeling a little guilty at the same time. It had been amazing spending time with Charon and the feeding had been close and intimate, but it was nothing like this thrill.

“Knew you couldn’t resist long,” Murphy replied, wetting his lips instinctively and his gaze flickering down to Ben’s, reacting to their sudden closeness although he knew Ben’s focus was about to be elsewhere. His hands squeezed encouragingly on Ben’s legs as he gaze fixed on Ben’s silver eyes and he tilted his head a little to the side, exposing the left side of his neck more to Ben to find the best spot. Ben would no doubt have felt the change in his heart rate, the slightly deeper breaths in expectation, but Murphy had no doubt that when ben bit he would float off dreamily, as usual. This was them, peaceful, enjoying each other as friends, nothing like what Charon had been talking about. It wasn't all about sex.