Settling Dust

[Trillian]

"Do you think Ben will care?" Jack asked cruelly, though he was careful not to make it sound intentionally callous.  It was an honest question, for he doubted Ben wanted Kerr the same way he did.  According to his latter memories, Ben should not even have existed.  Kerr had changed that, and confused everything for everyone.

[Existentially Odd]

The question subdued Kerr and took the focus off the good feelings he\'d been experiencing, despite the potential pleasure.  Thoughts of Ben tended to dampen positive things lately, after the conflict they\'d experienced earlier.

"I don\'t know," he said quietly, his tongue stud stroking the roof of his mouth as he gave it some thought.  "I\'ll ask him, though, because the last thing I need is to have another fight with him."  After another few moments of thoughts, he looked up into Jack\'s eyes.

"So it wouldn\'t bother you to live at the beach house with the two of us?"

[Trillian]

"The beachhouse is beautiful, admittedly, but I\'d be happy just to live with you," Jack said, then smiled a lovely smile before pressing himself rather intimately to Kerr, grinding against him as best as able in his somewhat awkward position.  "I\'d swim in the surf every day and night," he said.  "You\'d wake up smelling the ocean in your bed, as well as outside," he teased, implying that Jack would be sharing Kerr\'s bed in one fell swoop.

[Existentially Odd]

"In my bed, hrmm?" Kerr murmured thoughtfully, finding again that tantalising place of sweetness with Jack willfully seducing him.  He knew it had to stop, he was getting altogether too aroused to simply walk away if it went on much longer - and he hardly felt comfortable with the thought of consummation - but not quite yet.

It was just... so nice to take a little break from the stress of being a sire to an ungrateful fledgling.

"I don\'t know if we should rush into anything," he whispered, denying with his lips but encouraging with a thrust of his hips.  "You would smell awfully delectable coated in sunshine, though," he finished wistfully, unable to help himself indulging in a few little kisses placed against the pulse at Jack\'s throat.  It was so delightful, the way it raced.

"I need to go," he groaned, when he finally managed to pull his head back, allowing it to loll on the back of the couch so he could stay as far away from Jack\'s mouth as possible, and look into his eyes.  "This isn\'t getting my stuff packed or getting us any closer to the plane that\'ll get us home.  I\'ll go and see what Ben thinks about you moving into the beachhouse too... you might yet get a room all your own," he teased, his voice firm but his lips twisted with a knowing smirk.

He really would try and keep Jack in his own room, away from him.  At first, anyway.  Well... he was pretty sure he would.  Perhaps Ben would object mightily to Jack being anywhere nearby and that would solve the whole dilemma.  Perhaps.  "Up you get," he insisted suddenly, patting Jack\'s ass in a demanding manner that signalled his wish that the mortal get up off his rather firm lap.  "We need to get this show on the road!"

[Trillian]

"Bah," Jack said, grudgingly getting up but unable to help the smile still on his face.  Their meeting was a good one.  Kerr was obviously receptive to him, and he picked up on the fact that it wouldn\'t be long before their relationship developed into something firmer and along the lines of what Jack wanted.  He gave Kerr the space required to get up off the couch, but couldn\'t stop himself from giving Kerr another hug, groping all that he could.  "See you on the plane."

The sound of the shower cutting off signalled that Samuel wasn\'t too far away from interrupting their little get together.  Jack was grateful that at least his devotee had managed to stay away from them that long and hadn\'t interrupted.  He needn\'t have worried, for Samuel remained in the bathroom until Jack went to get him.

After Kerr left Jack\'s room with a lingering stare on Jack\'s part (and likely some on Kerr\'s part too), the door to Ben\'s room opened barely after his knuckles rapped on the door a single time.  Ben had sensed him coming and went to open the door before the knock came, though hadn\'t quite beaten it.

He\'d been packing the strange assortment of clothes that were his yet not his.  Not his underwear, yet things he would\'ve bought.  Not his shirts and shorts, yet things he would\'ve bought.  His ratty sneakers weren\'t here either, though there was another pair of well-worn sneakers of a similar nature.  Those were the ones he put on his feet.

The suitcase looked oddly bare, with only a couple of days clothes worth inside a rather large space.  Kerr had interrupted his staring contest with it, and now he was scrutinising his sire in the doorway.

"Are we ready to go?" he asked quietly, too tired to be hostile.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s playful smile faded and turned into a far more sombre expression as he was met with Ben\'s seriousness.  Could there be two more polar opposites than Ben and Jack?  He didn\'t think so.

Even his step became firmer and more serious as he walked into the room and had a look around.  He\'d brought all his things from the other room back with him when he came first to Ben this evening, and he could see that his fledgling had packed everything in his absence.

"Yes, that\'s everything.  It was always only going to just be a couple of nights\' stay, so I didn\'t bring too much.  The rest of your clothes we\'ll likely have to get tomorrow night, along with a bed for you," he informed Ben distractedly.  "Can I ask you something?" Kerr requested, gently taking Ben\'s hand and leading him back to the pair of chairs they\'d sat in earlier.

He\'d come up with a plan after leaving Jack\'s room, he just had yet to ask the other what he thought about it.  He wanted to take the bed out of his apartment so that Ben could sleep in it at the beachhouse (along with his clothes).  For some reason, it was important to him that his fledgling sleep in their relationship bed, rather than him buying a new one, and since Hannah would be leaving the penthouse anyway, he\'d happily take it.  It could happen via a phone call in the air but he thought it a better idea if Jack went to the apartment for tonight and finished things off with his girlfriend, and he\'d take Ben with him to the beachhouse.  Whether the sleeping arrangements changed after that was anybody\'s guess.

He still had to check the idea with Ben.

When his fledgling seemed open to having questions asked of him, Kerr gave it a little thought and continued.  "For tonight, because we\'ll be getting back fairly late, I was planning for just you and I to stay at the beachhouse.  Jack has indicated that he\'d like to share it with us in the near future also, though, and I was wondering what you thought about that?" he queried gently, looking into Ben\'s eyes for an honest answer.  A great deal hinged on his reaction and Kerr was looking for the honest response; if it bothered Ben at all that Jack was going to be around, it wouldn\'t happen.

Of course, to Kerr at this stage, the fact that Ben was likely to embrace the idea was slightly more painful, because there was a distance between them that his fledgling seemed determined to maintain.  He\'d probably be happy for Jack to be around to distract Kerr\'s affectionate attention, so that he got only the training that he wanted to become independent and move on, with none of the baggage he wanted to deny was present.

It hurt to think that Ben fobbing him off onto someone else would be a relief to the fledgling, but Kerr had to face the facts thus far; Ben was not his biggest fan.  He supposed it was easier to blame the person closest... and Kerr was certainly copping all the blame.  It was probably the only role Ben would let him play for a very long time, and he\'d best get used to being a target now.

[Trillian]

Ben was now exhausted after the discovery roller coaster he\'d been on tonight.  It had been a rather emotional trip as well, what with being pleased to finally be a vampire but then there was this other weird shit attached to it.  So it wasn\'t straight forward, but at least he had what he\'d always wanted.  Funny how he wasn\'t really in the mood to celebrate it.

He was placid now, tired from everything he\'d been feeling so now he was just numb.  He nodded before Kerr took his hand and thought nothing of it, following his sire closely until they were both seated, opposite one another.  Ben slumped in his chair more than sat, watching Kerr and waiting for whatever questions that were to be thrown his way.

There was an expression of confusion initially, followed by a frown, though it was a thoughtful frown rather than one coupled with a glare.

"I don\'t know," he said, without too much time passing between quesiton and answer.  "I don\'t know him.  It\'s your house," he justified at the end, figuring Kerr should just do what he wanted.  He was just grateful that he wouldn\'t be living with Sawyl.  Jack was an unknown in this, but apparently he was someone Kerr had liked (no, loved, he loved Jack, thinking it had been Ben) enough to sire, with Ben reaping the benefits at the end.  A question occurred to him to ask.

"Are you planning on siring Jack?"

It had been a logical conclusion; for he sensed no other vampires near them and he thought now that he would, for he\'d always read that vampires could sense others of their kind in close proximity.  Jack\'s room was nearby, and Ben was getting no readings other than mortal ones.  So, if there were no other vampires apart from himself and Kerr, and Jack was nearby, it meant Jack was mortal.

[Existentially Odd]

Boy, oh boy.  For someone who was intent on not getting his head clogged with details, Ben sure knew how to ask the million dollar questions.  Kerr\'s lips twisted as he gnawed on his tongue stud, deliberating carefully on his answer before he gave it.
 
"Before all this," he began, making a circular gesture with his hand that included he, Ben and Jack down the hall, "before the ritual, he told me of coming to life in other eras, in older times.  Whenever it happens, he\'s been mortal and died, which is why the mark was passed on, so that his memory would remain and followers would try to bring him back into existence again.  He asked me to sire him to stop that cycle and I told him I\'d see."
 
Kerr ruminated while he gnawed on his tongue stud, his gaze dropping to Ben\'s shoulder as his thoughts turned inward.  The possibilities now were many.  He\'d pushed aside the thought that he\'d told Jack he\'d sire him, until it was alluded to earlier, and then he\'d had to reluctantly face it.  He\'d been surprised and very pleased that Jack had been so open to waiting and allowing changes to happen.  Kerr supposed he wasn\'t ready to deny himself half of a day - the brightest, happiest part when the sun was out, at that - just yet, so there was no urgency.  He also guessed that that would change.
 
"If I do sire him, it won\'t be for a long while yet.  A couple of years at least.  I want him to grow a bit older, to change so that he\'s not exactly like you and you at least have some differences beyond very unique personalities," Kerr admitted, his gaze lifting back to Ben\'s beautiful eyes.  It had been odd (in a pleasant sort of way) too look into Jack\'s and remember what they\'d once looked like.  "It\'s certainly not going to happen while I\'m still with you," he promised,
 
With you?
With you?  What are you talking about?
I meant to say \'training you\', he\'ll know what I mean
... or worry you\'re coming on too strong and skip away at the first opportunity
shut up
 
"if that makes a difference to how you feel about him being in the same house.  Do you want to decide after you have a plane trip with him?" he conceded, figuring Ben really needed to have an opinion about Jack before he began to feel one way or the other.

[Trillian]

Ben tried to hide his impatience at Kerr\'s refusal yet again to give his direct question a direct answer.  Apart from slightly narrowing eyes, Ben felt he mostly hid it well.  It was odd, how he was so impatient lately, but he figured he was allowed to be - he\'d been hit pretty hard with some pretty weird things.

He\'d been so grateful to see Kerr in the desert, even though he\'d been embarrassingly naked.  He\'d been so grateful to have Kerr drive him to the hotel.  As soon as the first bit of information had been given him though, Ben had lost his gratitude and only known anger.

Was Kerr really so dense that he couldn\'t spare Ben a slow acceptance of information?  Did he really have to take the history hammer out and wallop Ben around with it?  Why did he keep insisting he gave a shit about Ben when he had this lookalike version of him that he\'d spent three years with?  Was he really so confused that he would mix the two of them up?

"It makes no difference to me," he insisted, not wanting Kerr to confuse the two of them any further.  If that meant he was going to play happy houses with Ben\'s twin while training Ben in the art of vampirism, then Ben thought he could put up with that.  It would be weird to see a version of himself running around mortal and aging, but it also drew his curiosity.  "It\'s your house."

[Existentially Odd]

A brief frown flitted across Kerr\'s features as he tried to decide whether Ben was sincere or not, but there was an edge to his voice that he took to be genuine indifference... it could have been anger or impatience also, but Kerr preferred to think it was the former.

"Alright," he smiled, "but it\'s your house too, so if ever you want anything changed, you only have to say the word and it\'s done," he said airily, standing up again.  A wave of admiration struck him as he looked at Ben staring stonily at him, looking strong and resolved despite the fact that he was reeling.  His heart clenched with pride and he reached down to grasp both his fledgling\'s hands in his, in an attempt to draw him to his feet.

"You\'re so brave.  I\'m so sorry this has worked out like it has but I\'m so proud of you for forging ahead," he said tenderly and moved to embrace Ben in much the same way.

[Trillian]

At first there was suspicion in Kerr\'s words, for he\'d expected Kerr to once again attack him with a barrage of questions and statements.  When he was complimented and pulled into a hug instead, he was initially bewildered before he allowed himself to surrender to it.  Despite himself, he wanted praise, he wanted intimacy, he wanted a connection with someone after being told that everything he knew about his life as it was had changed.

Kerr was that connection.

He wrapped his arms around his sire, remembering the night they\'d met.  Ben had asked for this, had asked to be sired by a stranger with little introduction.

"Thank you," he said into Kerr\'s shirt before moving his head so his face was pressed against Kerr\'s hard chest.  "Thank you," he said again, his words muffled the second time before he turned his head the rest of the way and latched onto Kerr in an embrace that was heartfelt.

[Existentially Odd]

"It\'s my pleasure," Kerr whispered back, more relieved than he\'d been willing to admit that his embrace was returned.  Half of him had expected to be rejected; he was sincerely glad he hadn\'t been.  He gave Ben a squeeze to show that, moving his head so that his lips were pressed to his fledgling\'s temple.

"It will get better.  It has to - it can\'t get much worse," he laughed wryly.  "Hang in there with me.  We\'ll see it through together."