half past 3 a.m., 29 December, 1997

Ben had nothing to do earlier in the night so he came back up to the loft a little past midnight. He and Chris played some video games on his new PlayStation that he had gotten for Christmas. His sister had bought him, of all games, Castlevania.

Daniel had himself a good long giggle about that. He wasn't really into video games, though, so he wiggled back into his sleeping bag, making sure it was surrounding his body snugly and fell asleep while reading The Great Gatsby again.

When 3 a.m. came and went, Chris powered down the PlayStation and left the Gillies home. Ben was already asleep on the sofa. The bassist's shift was up, though. He was hoping to get some sleep before he had to wake up later and help his mum and dad at their shop. He also needed to look and ask around auto shops in town for some clean and authentic wheels for his Datsun. The ones on the car now were all rusted.

The dark-haired teen stirred on the sofa. He was missing sleeping in his own room whenever he wanted, but he could not risk leaving Dan alone in the loft. He trusted his mate to not do anything horrible, but this more mischievous version of Daniel, and often overly sensitive and emotional version, too, was much better managed in close quarters.

It was very dark in the loft. The only light evident in the entire area was from a somber streetlamp outside. The minimal glow of its light shone subtly through a gap in the curtains above the sofa.

Ben sniffed and scratched at his nose as he turned onto his side--the side that was facing Daniel on the floor. He was still there, sleeping. Ben could see the long mound of his body encapsulated in the sleeping bag. The drummer dozed off again with a smile on his face. Maybe Dan would stay asleep until dawn.

There was a clawing sound. The sound repeated and Ben took notice of it. His eyes peered into the darkness. He tried to let the dim light from outside aide his investigation of that clawing sound, but it was really of no use.

The sleepy teen figured the sound must have been coming from the roof or the side of the house. Some sort of small animal must have been scurrying about and then caught itself onto a fallen tree branch or a gap or dip in the roof. It would surely make it out, eventually. He cleared his throat and rolled back over, pulling the thin blanket up to his chin.

The clawing sound got louder, though. It actually grated at Ben's ears. That clawing sound was the only one he could hear besides the sound of his own heart pounding. Usually, Daniel snored, but he was graciously quiet this night; him not snoring while asleep had been a rarity the past few nights.

The drummer, out of nowhere, had remembered his father had put a flashlight under that sofa several years ago. In case Ben had ever been up in the loft, alone or with friends, during a power outage he'd be able to make his way down the stairs and join the rest of the family safely. Ben exhaled, flipping himself onto his tummy and felt underneath the sofa for the flashlight. Sure enough, it was still there.

Ben switched it on with his thumb and quickly scanned where Daniel was resting. He did not want to wake up and upset the new vampire. He rose silently from the sofa and stood there waiting for the sound to come again. Sure enough, he heard the clawing sound again. It was louder and it felt as if it had cut through his ears that time. He jerked his head to the right.

As his racing heart attempted to beat itself out of his chest, the circular light of the flashlight shook a tad as it washed over the door of the closet in front of him. He took one step toward the closet, then another, and another. He was actually surprised he was even moving at all. This exact part in the  movies was when he would always close his eyes. He couldn't ever make it to the part when the monster actually appeared.

He swallowed and took another step.

What if whatever was in the closet was a danger to his mate? To his family? To his town? Ben could not let that happen.

The clawing sound slashed out again. It sent a jolt through the teen's body. He shook as he eyed the closest up and down. "Faaarrrrk," he whispered to himself as his hand shakily made its way to the doorknob. For whatever damn reason he had to know what was in that closet.

Ben mustered up all the courage he had. He imagined himself on stage during a show, beating on his drums--the god of Rhythm and Rock--and then he was able to open the door of the closet and shined the light right at what was making the sound.

The scream that escaped his mouth was not his finest moment.

He sounded just like his sister did that one time a spider actually repelled down from her web right in front of her face. Yes, only Ben's scream was far more bloodcurdling.

Some type of monster, cloaked and pale, with fangs and dark purple eyes, hissed above Ben. The monster hovered over him at least an entire foot. All Ben could do was hold his flashlight up with both of his hands. He was stuck to the spot. He couldn't bloody move.

Then the monster began laughing. Laughing maniacally.

Ben knew that laugh anywhere.

"Daniel?"

Daniel's eyes slowly came back down to eye level as he said to his mate between uproarious fits of laughter, "You should--have seen your--FACE!!"

Ben slammed the door of the closet in Daniel's face and huffed as he walked away from it. He threw the flashlight onto the floor and the light from it danced all around the walls of the loft.

Dan opened the closet door, picked up the flashlight and held it up under his chin so the light stretched upwards over his features garishly.

"What, Benny? Did you think a monster had come to suck your blood?"

"Shut up!"

Once Daniel had finally gotten his horrendous giggle fit out of him, he loosened the string around his neck and the black cloak fell to the floor. "Don't you remember you were Dracula one year for Halloween, mate?"

Ben frowned, "No. That thought hadn't crossed my mind. Thanks for reminding me."

"Oh, it was all my pleasure. I assure you."

"Well," the drummer switched the lamp on that was located on the far side of the loft, "apparently, you can levitate. That's just grand. Good to know. Now that we're up, wanna watch a  movie or something?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes at his mate. "Yeah, alright. Better not a horror flick, though. You really can't stand those, can you?"

Ben sneered, turning the tele on, and whipped his head around, "Ugh. Shut up." Then, in a more firm and matter-of-fact way, he added, "I always knew you'd come out of the closet."

At that Daniel clapped his hands gleefully and a torrent of fresh laughter overcame him anew.

♡ ♡ ♡

Alright. This chapter was mainly filler---for my own amusement.

Once I thought of Ben saying that final line to Daniel, I just HAD to write the whole scene and give it to you all. Also, that's why I just decided to write it and post it straight away. Why not?

The story will pick up more soon. I promise. 💋 💋

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Fanart above by neon_freakshow

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