The Banns

[Existentially Odd]

"Harm!" the barista called, making eye contact with him as he jolted forward from where he was resting, hunched up against the wall. She placed his large coffee on the counter with a smile and went back to the coffee machine to continue filling the numerous orders stacking up on her docket. It was eighty thirty at night and visiting hours in the hospital had recently ended. Droves of heartsick family members and stressed spouses were calling into the hospital's cafe to buy a last-minute pick-me-up to get them home after a long day of work and visiting their poorly loved ones.

It was too hot and crowded to stay inside so Harm paused long enough to dump plenty of sugar into his cup, stir it and dispose of the empty packets before he headed out through the hospital's foyer and into the large courtyard to the side of the huge, austere-looking building. As he walked, he sipped and threaded his free hand into the pocket at the front of his grey hoodie. His fingers automatically started to play with his phone, which he'd tucked in there before he left his ward. He'd thrown the hoodie on for the duration of his break, knowing he'd be venturing into the real world and wanting to look a little less conspicuous (even though his teal scrub pants gave him away as a hospital employee).

Choosing an isolated patch of thick grass near a large tree, Harm settled his butt down in the grass, leaning back against the rough bark and crossing one stretched-out leg over the other. He pulled his phone out. As he took a large swig of his coffee - enjoying the sudden burst of artificial energy flooding through his veins at this, the last quarter mark of his shift - he thumbed through his contacts and tried to prepare what he was going to say. It had been almost two weeks since he'd seen him at the carnival and making this phone call wasn't going to be easy. But he'd promised.

Sighing, Harm hit call and lifted the phone to his ear, hoping this was a good time; hopefully he was awake and a phone call now wasn't a huge inconvenience. Harm swiftly decided an apology was probably in order, just in case. The phone at the other end was picked up and his sexy voice floated down the line, like it was caressing Harm's ear as it entered him. Like he had, not all that long ago. Fuck, Trick had him so horny lately, it was all he could think about.

"Hi, Ben. This is Harm," he introduced, unsure if Ben would have entered his number into his contacts with his name attached or not. Probably just as 'Human 2736', who was he kidding that he was anyone of importance to the very important vampire? "I-is this a good time to call?" he queried, fully prepared to hang up if told Ben was busy.

[Trillian]

Ben had been distracted with plucking diminished chords using his guitar. He hadn't given up on the instrument entirely though he'd taken a year break from it and suffered the penalty. Right now he was almost back to where he'd left it.

The ringing phone was a nuisance and he initially ignored it but when he couldn't focus, he picked it up on its fourth ring without looking at the screen and gave his name, setting his guitar across his lap rather than on the stand nearby because he meant to continue his lesson.

When he found out who it was, he moved the guitar by the neck onto its stand anyway, listening to the nurse announce himself quite formally.

"Hey, how're you going? Yeah, it's a great time to call," he smiled into the phone, leaning back on his chair and picturing his favourite mortal. Harm made him feel really good, even better than Cain, just because he was new and fresh and he and Ben had shared Harm's first bite experience.

[Existentially Odd]

He could hear the smile in Ben's voice and it warmed him, causing him to smile into the streetlit darkness in response. He could feel a blush on his cheeks and his heart was thumping a little faster just because Ben had that effect on him. Remembering what it'd been like when last they'd met, being stared down by him and his swarthy sire, being told how they both liked him and implied they wanted him had his body stirring.

His thoughts went immediately to Trick and his flush increased. The combination of his sexual past with Ben and his ever-present lust for his boyfriend made him glad he'd chosen to make this call in an anonymous and isolated place, where he could get himself under control before he went back to work. For now... he'd enjoy the sparks and happy feelings shooting through him as he thought of some jaw-droppingly good looking men and talked about one with another.

Harm cleared his throat, the hand not holding his phone rubbing up his thigh and pressing on the thickened bulge in his scrubs in a way that was pleasant but not encouraging. "So... I told you I'd call and let you know how things worked out with Trick - that guy I was upset about at the carnival?" he reminded, his tone airy, words meandering like he didn't want to get to the point too quickly. His next statement would make that obvious to Ben. "Sorry it's taken me as long as it has."

Having one of the most powerful and influential men in the city hanging on the other end of his line was a nice little ego boost he didn't want to end any sooner than it had to, he had to admit to himself. Plus, he had a half hour dinner break to fill in that he'd saved until almost the end of his shift so that he could be sure Ben would be able to talk to him. He was in no hurry.

[Trillian]

"No need to be sorry. It's given me something to look forward to," Ben said, his grin broadening. He was laying it on thick, he knew, but he liked Harm and he hoped that the call was coming because the man Harm had set his sights on had been a dud. Hopefully the delay in calling him meant that Harm had been too embarrassed to call too soon and so had waited for the pain to fade. Of course it could have meant things had gone the other way and that Harm was now paired up and unavailable. That would be so disappointing.

"You know whatever you have to tell me is good news, right?" Ben continued, picturing Harm hanging on his every word. He paused for dramatic effect before explaining himself. "If you worked things out with Trick, you have a new relationship to explore with him, and if you didn't work things out with Trick, well, you have you have me to explore all of you." He said this last in a voice he could hear was low and sexy and flirty.

If he was human, his heart would be hammering. Oh, how he hoped Harm was calling to tell him that things hadn't worked out and what time could he come over?

[Existentially Odd]

Harm chuckled (though it was skating painfully close to being a giggle, he could hear in his own voice) as Ben caused him to blush by telling him he'd been looking forward to his call. Flattery was one thing but Ben was going to a whole new level with that compliment. He was telling Harm he mattered and even though he'd implied as much many times before, for some reason this was the time it seemed all too real to him.

He made a curious grunt when Ben implied that he was calling with good news, either way. The giggle finally made an appearance when Ben explained his reasoning and talked about him exploring all of Harm. It was throughly inappropriate to entertain now but, again, it was a compliment he couldn't ignore. His body quickened again and the hand on his crotch dug its heel in and massaged lightly, causing his breath to quiver ever so gently.

"Well, as nice as that sounds," he sighed regretfully, "it's not going to happen. Trick and I met up and guess what? He's my boyfriend now." He couldn't help the grin of pride that split his lips as he discussed his sexy boyfriend. "Oh! And guess what else? We're going away together! To Europe, England first. Indefinitely. I mean, we haven't booked flights or anything - I haven't even got a passport, let alone a visa - but we're dipping into our savings and going together. It's pretty crazy but I finish up at work in five weeks' time! Arrgh!" he screeched, trying to rope Ben into sharing his enthusiasm with the excited sound.

[Trillian]

There was a momentary pause where Ben's disappointment could be seen in the way he moved the phone away from his mouth and pressed the top of it to his forehead and closed his eyes. He moved it back shortly after, forced a smile back onto his lips - though it felt sad - and spoke again.

"I'm glad things worked out for you," he said, somewhere between the truth and a lie. "You'll love England, I bet. I holidayed there with Kerr some time ago," he said. He remembered it from his movie memories and wished to return there and experience it again. He didn't properly remember it and would like to.

He kept the conversation going, filling in the silence because he didn't want to hear Harm gush about Trick anymore. "He has properties all over Europe and the United Kingdom, including a castle." He paused for a moment, an idea forming in his mind. "Hey, why don't you both keep those savings intact and use Kerr's plane to fly over there, and you can even stay at one of the properties rent free. Then your money can just go towards food and doing touristy things, yeah?"

[Existentially Odd]

Harm hummed agreement when Ben talked about him loving England. The mention of the castle had his expression opening up in shock, even though Ben wouldn't be able to see it through the phone. A fucking castle? He didn't even know people could own those, he'd have thought they belonged to the country or the queen or whatever, not a vampire.

"Holy shit," he interjected with an amazed chuckle when Ben paused and gave him time to slip it in. He forced himself to focus when Ben started talking again, his smile growing because he found it mildly absurd that Kerr owned a castle and it tickled his funny bone. All of that humour ground to a halt when Ben made his offer. In fact, everything inside him felt like it stuttered to a halt. "What... did you say?" he asked tremulously, not trusting that he'd heard correctly.

[Trillian]

Ben laughed softly, though not in a way that was condescending or smug. He recognised how that had felt, being told about private jets and castles - a distant memory for him because it had been when he'd met Kerr. A little over eight years ago maybe? It was hard to judge with his absent memories in the way. It could be more. It still felt relatively fresh because it had been the first meeting... no, second, because Sawyl had been the one to tell him about it.

"Kerr has properties all over Europe, and mostly they don't get rented out so that we can drop everything and go to them whenever the urge takes us. I think they have housekeepers though, to keep things dust free? I don't know, it's not important. Basically, I would love for you and your new boyfriend to enjoy those properties. Either one of them or all of them, it doesn't matter. He literally has a villa on the Riviera. Those kinds of experiences can't be bought. Well, not unless you have a shitload of money or know the right people." He smiled and laughed gently into his next sentence. "Like you do."

[Existentially Odd]

The final words made Harm feel inexplicably treasured and special and he could feel the heat on his cheeks. He lifted his hand from his diminishing hard on to his enflamed face instead, his head spinning. Ben was offering he and Trick free accommodation? And a flight to get to Europe? It seemed too good to be true and his instinct was to fight it.

"You're kidding... right? I mean... that sounds amazing but... you'd do that for us? Without expecting anything in return?" He was skeptical, though Ben didn't know Trick or what he was. Vampires hungered for nymph blood but Ben hadn't been told what sort of supernatural he was (unless he'd plucked it out of his mind at the carnival). It was the most logical thing for Ben to demand... well, besides him in his bed again, of course.

Harm's cheeks heated anew as he thought about Ben demanding something sexual from him. It would save them an awful lot of money but he didn't want to do anything with anyone besides Trick now... well, he didn't want to want to do anything, anyway - so he didn't. Ben and Kerr were the only ones he might consider... fuck, this was crazy. It sounded like a plot for a cheesy eighties movie; earn nonstop rewards for just one night of passion with a rich guy.

Ugh! He was getting ahead of himself. He listened to Ben instead of his own internal freak out.

[Trillian]

"Well, it makes sense for a friend to use them. They're just sitting empty and in a month's time I'll be swamped running a district so I won't be cavorting through Europe anytime soon." He paused for just a moment. "Are we friends? Will Trick be against that because we've had sex?"

Ben wondered what kind of boyfriend Harm had. All he knew was that Trick had run out on Harm because he'd put the moves on him. Ben had pieced together the misunderstanding because in Trick's place he would've thought exactly the same thing. Thing was, he would've confronted Harm instead of racing out the door. Who knew what a guy who behaved in extremes like that would be like in terms of jealousy?

[Existentially Odd]

"Well, if it gets me a free flight and accommodation in Europe, we're fucking best friends!" Harm quipped cheekily, his mouth running to give his mind time to catch up. Not only was the offer genuine, Ben wanted to call him a friend? He wasn't even sure how he felt about that, let alone how Trick would feel about it.

He couldn't exactly tell Ben that Trick straight up didn't trust vampires because he'd been manipulated by them in the past, that would lead to a discussion about him being a nymph. But if he didn't share that part of the story, him telling Ben Trick would be uneasy about them being friends would make it sound like he was overly possessive of him. Harm didn't believe Trick was like that at all, even though the closest to testing the theory he'd come had been when he invited Tobi over. Trick had only included himself because Tobi was a fan, Harm was pretty sure. He wasn't the jealous type and Harm wouldn't give him anything to be jealous about.

Although... he was nervous about discussing this phone call. He'd have to talk about it because he couldn't just say yes to Ben without discussing it with Trick but there was a reason he'd rung during his dinner break at work. It wasn't just so it didn't eat into his time with Trick. Thinking about broaching it with Trick later filled him with a flutter of trepidation and guilt. He tried to tell himself he hadn't technically done anything wrong but the light throbbing in his groin and his flushed face contradicted his thought. He was incredibly attracted to Ben, even though he had no intention of doing anything about it. He was afraid Trick would figure it out and see him calling Ben as a form of betrayal.

That thought had his gut clenching in an entirely unpleasant way and his blood pounding in fear. The last thing he wanted was to give Trick reason to doubt his loyalty, because it was unwavering, despite this little... tremor. Fuck. He lifted his knees and leant forward until his forehead smacked sharply against his kneecaps, huddling in on himself as he ensured the phone remained at his ear. He needed to get the fuck over whatever this was with Ben and be sure he presented it to Trick as exactly what Ben was implying. They were friends (who'd fucked once) and one had made the other an amazing offer.

"Truthfully? I don't know about Trick," he admitted quietly, his bent over position pressing his mouth closer to his phone so he probably sounded huskier or louder to Ben right about now. He didn't shift, though. "I'd like to call you a friend, though. It makes me feel more important and it's a far catchier title than 'Harm: that-nurse-that-propositoned-me-that-one-time', I'm sure," he breathed a laugh, his mind never circling far from the astounding offer hanging between them. He hadn't accepted it and he hadn't said he'd have to talk about it with Trick; he hoped it was implied. "You're sure Kerr won't mind?" he hazarded, figuring the couple that had been together long enough to have a relationship that didn't get ruined by fucking other people definitely didn't need to be asking each other's permission for stuff like this, but he was compelled to ask anyway.

He was still finding the whole concept difficult to process and his instinct was to ask questions.

[Trillian]

Ben did notice the sexier tone in Harm's voice and knew that something had changed for Harm to sound that way. It felt secretive and it only got Ben more excited about their relationship. The way Harm was talking about this Trick guy, it sounded like they were rushing headlong into things and didn't really know one another properly. No good was going to come of that. Ben had learnt so much about Kerr on the first and second nights that they'd met. He'd ignored the red flags of Kerr's vampiric family, but all in all he'd pretty much known what Kerr was all about in their first week together. Just as well because they'd gone through a lot of trials together. He didn't think they would've come back to each other the way they had if they'd been strangers following an attraction.

"You should feel important," Ben said. "I don't have a lot of friends," he admitted. "The last good friend I had held it against me when I wouldn't sire him and that was the end of that," he said. Okay, so what he was saying wasn't exactly fair but Murphy should've known that Kerr coming back from the dead changed everything. "And Kerr won't mind at all. When I tell him what's going on I'm sure he'll be glad. He likes you as well."

There would've been a time when that could've placed Harm in bed between them, but Kerr didn't want that and Ben felt the loss now more than ever (not that Harm was available anymore). He loved Kerr with all his heart and that was the reason they were together still - because they were so, so different.

[Existentially Odd]

Harm blinked at the revelation that Ben lost a friendship over siring someone. That didn't sound like much of a friendship to begin with, to him; it sounded like the 'friend' was only out to take advantage of Ben. Fuck, was that what he was doing? A spike of panic made him rethink this whole scenario and the guilt was back - for a different reason, at least.

"I don't want to take advantage of you!" he blurted. "It's a really generous offer but I don't want you to think that I'm only interested in what I can get from you," he justified, knowing that Ben had offered, he hadn't asked but still feeling like a leech. A guy like Ben must have a ton of fair-weather friends and Harm didn't want to be thought of like that. He'd prefer to reject Ben's offer outright and live up to the title of 'friend' than accept it and then leave the city.

[Trillian]

"Please, Harm," Ben said, his tone growing more serious, "what happened with Murphy was a lot more complicated than I made it sound. I know you're not taking advantage. I'm more likely to take advantage of you," he said with a lecherous laugh. "But seriously, I mean... we're going into this with our eyes open, right? You know I'm in a relationship, that I'm interested in you, that I'm happy to step back into friendship because now you're in a relationship. I get it. There's no surprises or hurt feelings."

[Existentially Odd]

Harm gnawed on his lower lip, thinking through Ben's reassurance, letting it settle and calm him down. Hearing Ben boldly say he was interested in him sent a flutter of awareness through him that he knew he should be ashamed of because he couldn't squash his pleasure at hearing it... but he just couldn't.

"Plus, you're helping me escape the city in, like, five weeks' time so it's not like we're likely to get into too much trouble," he chuckled, then blinked, hearing himself. Was he flirting with Ben? Fucking hell. What was he saying? What was Ben saying? The way they were talking, it sounded like something more than just friendship was being implied, even though Ben was specifically talking about stepping back into friendship. He cleared his throat and straightened up, forcing himself to get back to the point.

"I'll, um, I'll have to talk to Trick about it. Check that he's cool with us accepting your hospitality. I guess that'll mean another phone call," he laughed again, biting the inside of his lower lip to stop himself from smiling.