PARALLEL: Hunter

[Trillian]

The gag had been super insulting. Enough that Ben didn't want to hang around with the Hunter anymore. After the backhand and the gagging, Ben figured this could be a cut-scene and they would pick up again when the Hunter returned to Ben's room.

"No," he said, thinking 'you missed your chance' but he wasn't confident about saying that. "I'll make my own way back. You enjoy your time off," he said, trying to keep all snark out of voice and mostly successful, but the last sentence had a bitter edge to it.

Ben turned to leave.

[Existentially Odd]

Hunter frowned, knowing things weren't right but feeling helpless to do anything about it. The alcohol in his system was blurring the distinction between him and Kerr again, which was bad because Kerr was terribly distraught about how this had all gone and even the hunter wasn't doing so well. Taking it outside their agreed environment so soon had been a mistake. Not being ready with Lazarus' blood had been a mistake.

He had been a mistake.

He watched the vampire go, giving him a little head start before trailing after him. He kept his distance but he did follow, wanting to be sure which room the vampire was going to. His shared cabin with his sire had the potential for other inmates but he had a key to get in there. It technically was his room. The hunter had the only key to the suite where they'd be guaranteed privacy so he'd need to let him in if that was his destination. And then there was the option of the blond visiting the old dude he'd been gambling with, the one who'd clearly invited him to his suite. Ramon. The name was a sneer inside the hunter's head and a familiar anger stirred in his chest.

He hoped they weren't going there.

[Trillian]

Ramon was at the furthest point of Ben's mind as he moved out of the ca-sino and into the wide corridor. Even though everything was open 24/7, there weren't a lot of people moving through the corridors - though there were a few insomniacs wandering around. Ben moved to the stairs rather than the lifts and stepped down them, moving around and around as each half flight led him closer to his destination.

He got to his floor and walked up the intensely long corridor to where the suite was. He barely glanced at the shared suite before trying to open the door to Kerr's. His key didn't work. He tried it a few more times before he realised his key wouldn't work with it. Annoyed at himself, he moved into the shared suite after all and closed the door behind himself. At least nobody was in the suite. He immediately went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.

There was nothing wrong with his face. No mark, no pain, no evidence that it had even happened. Had it even happened? His memory felt blurry now. Kerr would get upset if he knew the hunter had... no, wait, Win would get upset at Kerr about what the hunter had done. Ben wouldn't tell him. It wasn't his business and it wouldn't happen again. It had just been a moment of intense roleplay. Yes.

Ben shucked his clothes and moved into the shower after turning it on full hot. It would scald a mortal but he found the spray delicious. He heard the door open and close and sensed that it was Win. The other vampire entered the bathroom and spoke from the other side of the shower curtain.

"You okay? You staying the night with me?" he asked, sounding hopeful.

"No, I'm going to the hunter's room." Ben realised his mistake.

"You're roleplaying again?" Win asked, his voice rising.

"It's a different scene this time," Ben replied. "It'll be fine."

"I want to watch."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you'll mess it up. You'll stop him from... being mean. It's what I want from him."

Win said nothing but Ben could feel him stewing. Ben thought maybe he should placate him. "I'll come back to you after. We can cuddle."

"You mean I can hold you while your body recovers," Win ground out.

"Or I can blow you."

Win was silent for a moment. "Stop being an asshole. Stop letting him be an asshole to you. You're just replaying what it was like in the early days with you and Lazarus."

Was he? He didn't think so. It was an extension of what Kerr had represented as a vampire hunter. Wasn't it?

"That was different."

But the door to the suite closed shut because Win had already stormed out of the bathroom and out of the room, upset by Ben's sexual offer and the way it had sounded like a bribe... and the fact he'd wanted to accept even knowing it was a bribe, which was why he'd run away.

When Ben hopped out of the shower his body was warm. He found a pair of shorts to wear and that was all he bothered with until he heard footsteps that he recognised as Kerr's. Then he hurried to his door and opened it, looking quickly at Kerr's face to see if it really was him or if it was still the hunter and there was no intermission.

[Existentially Odd]

The hunter had kept his distance in the corridor too well; he hadn't caught the vampire in time to let him into his room and so he disappeared into his own. Flustered, he'd paced outside the closed door for a moment before going into his own suite.

He was a little bit drunk and indecisive but a moment of contemplation assured him he needed a break from the hunter. That asshole needed to get home to his wife and kids. He stripped out of his clothes and sat on the toilet for a while, then he flushed and had a shower. The alcohol plus the late hour were turning him maudlin, filling him with regrets that ate at him. He needed to see Ben, to apologise.

When he got out of the shower, he tousled his hair with the towel rather than properly drying it and then swiped the towel around his body in a similarly distracted manner. He hung it up and pulled on a pair of jeans, leaving a shoe in his doorway so it wouldn't lock before going next door to see if he could get Ben's attention. To his eternal relief, Ben opened his door before he even knocked and a small smile lifted the corners of his mouth when he saw him.

He was a miserable sight. Hair half-dried and spiking up in random directions, smatters of water droplets still glinting across his shoulders, arms and abs, jeans hanging low on his hips and eyes tinged red from tiredness and alcohol consumption. He looked ready to cry because he was. "I'm sorry," he croaked, his lower lip trembling as tears threatened. He didn't dare step close to Ben without some sort of indication of how he was feeling towards him and that it would be okay.

[Trillian]

Ben was surprised/disappointed/shocked/relieved that it wasn't the hunter at his door but Kerr. With the door wide open, the mortal looked dishevelled before an apology was uttered. Ben's heart twisted and he threw himself at Kerr to hug him.

"It's okay, I'm okay," he whispered into his ear, his body just as warm as Kerr's, though the mortal had a heartbeat and the most delicious smells to throw into the mix. He might look out of sorts but he smelled the same and felt the same and regardless of what had happened upstairs and the role he'd taken, he was still Kerr. "We'll reset for next time. We'll take tonight off."

He hoped Kerr insisted they didn't. He wanted to explore what the hunter would be like now there was some concession.

[Existentially Odd]

"I... okay. Whatever you want," he whispered defeatedly, burying his face in the crook of Ben's neck and squeezing him, delighted by the warmth of his bare torso pressed to his.

The scene between them felt unfinished and it grated, like someone running their hand the wrong way through his hair did. He wanted to finish it, to do something to make it up to the vampire so that he felt better about that hit. It was like a cancer beneath his skin, intangible but very much there, debilitating him. He wanted to gouge it out somehow.

By the same token, he was relieved they wouldn't go back there tonight (though would leaving it make it better... really?). He was emotional about hitting Ben's face, about that level of rage and desperation coming out of him and tapping into it again so soon scared him. He didn't have the strength of Lazarus' blood to give him confidence and it seemed all bets were off when that happened. He tapped into a more primal, fear-fuelled side of himself and anything could happen.

It was better if they left it, he told himself. He had the feeling that things might spin even farther out of control if they went back.

[Trillian]

"Do you want to hang around here? Or back to your room?" Ben asked, wanting Kerr to feel comfortable. He could feel the guilt and shame pouring off him and the faster that was dealt with, the sooner they could get back to playing the role. He wasn't ready to give it up yet but he didn't want Kerr to lament the hit for so long that he ultimately pulled away.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr pulled back enough the he could see Ben's face, a tentative smile flitting around his mouth."My room, if that's okay?" he asked, relieved when Ben agreed and they headed in there. Instinctively, he headed for the bed, wanting to just lay down and cuddle with Ben for a while.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, once he was installed at Ben's side, an arm and a leg draped over him and his face pressed in against Ben's collarbone, head resting on his bicep. "We should probably not go out in public. It didn't go the way I thought it would because there were ship security guards there. If they'd seen me pushing you around, it would've ruined everything and we'd have ended up in the ship's real jail." He assumed they had to have some sort of holding cell on the ship, buried in its depths, just in case.

"I didn't think it would be quite so fun then, so I took us out of the way but... it didn't go as planned, sorry."