Ariel wants to be part of your world (onlythreedays) wrote in wariscoming, @ 2012-02-23 10:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | ariel, ben braeden |
WHO: Ariel and Ben Braeden
WHAT: Ben's being a good friend to a broken mermaid
WHEN: Backdated to last night, after this
WHERE: Ariel's apartment
RATING: PG, mostly for Ben's language...it's a Disney princess, come on now. :P
STATUS: Incomplete/abandoned
The petite redhead was exhausted. She hadn’t slept through an entire night in nearly a week. Not since Jimmy — or, the future version of him, if she wanted to be more accurate — had snatched her off the street on her way back to the complex, to use her as bait, as it seemed. She didn’t understand. Had her father been right about humans all along? Were they really all fish-eating barbarians? Was she nothing more than a pawn up on the surface, just like she’d been under the sea? It wasn’t like, Ariel realized a while after being here a while, Ursula had actually wanted to help the princess. The sea witch had been using her, just like Jimmy had. …just like, if Harley Quinn was to be believed, the Joker had.
Ariel wasn’t entirely sure she should trust anyone ever again. A large part of her didn’t want to. But there was still that sliver of her who not only wanted to, but really needed to trust someone. Anyone. Abby was her best friend but she didn’t want to bog Abby down with that. Not after what had happened to Abby’s other good friend, Ziva, the one with the knives. Allana would never understand; Mr. and Mrs. Solo would’ve probably been angry with her for having left when she should have stayed. And Jimmy…well, he wasn’t Jimmy anymore. And then there was Ben…
Ben was older, now. He was bigger and stronger…and he wanted to protect her. He promised he wouldn’t hurt her and he hadn’t given her any reason to think he would. He hadn’t yet. She didn’t feel that tiny questioning feeling in the back of her mind when she talked to Ben like she had when she’d talked to Joker and Jimmy. She might not be making the right decision for it…but Ariel wanted very much to trust Ben. She thought she probably could.
So, she waited for him, sat in her bed in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, knees tucked into her chest and hugging herself. She was starving but not hungry. She was exhausted but not tired. Everything felt wrong, but last night she’d at least slept longer than normal…because of Ben. Just knowing he’d been in the other room helped. But…it still wasn’t healthy, the way things were going. Ariel felt weak; broken and defective. But worst of all…Ariel felt numb.
Ben could remember the little mermaid. Sure, the memories weren’t super strong anymore. No, he didn’t mean the movie, he meant the girl, the one that had gotten dragged into Lawrence that he’d hit on when he’d been just a kid. Back then she had been just an unattainable older girl that just so happened to be very naive and very pretty. Now, well, things were much different, actually. Now, he was the older of the two. Now, he was the one that she had kind of sought out. Part of that stroked his ego, yeah, but at the same time he knew that eventually he’d get to go back to his own time. She’d stay here. He didn’t think too much on it, though. She was going through a rough time and she had needed someone. So, Ben would be that guy. Maybe he had a hero complex .like dad did. Maybe he just felt bad for her and wanted to be a good friend. He didn’t really think too much on it.
He’d left her after she had fallen asleep the first time. He thought that the problem was feeling safe enough to fall asleep, but that didn’t seem to be it, not with the way she had messaged him again. She’d specifically asked him to stay until morning. He didn’t want her to feel like she wasn’t safe. She needed sleep. She needed someone, so he didn’t want to just leave her on her own. He couldn’t do that to her. Everyone was so busy with their own shit that he was probably one of the few options for her right now, actually.
Bag of two bacon cheese burgers and two fries in hand, Ben was heading toward Ariel’s place. She had said that she didn’t want anything and maybe she didn’t, but he wasn’t rude. He’d been grabbing something for himself, so he went ahead and got two. If she ended up not eating her’s he’d sure eat it later. That was one thing he’d gotten from his dad, he was practically a botomless pit when it came to food sometimes. So, it wasn’t going to get wasted; he’d get hungry later if he was staying until morning, he was sure of that. Maybe he could talk her into eating a little bit of it, though. It would be good for her, honestly.
Ben approached her door, reaching behind himself to straighten his shirt and jacket up a bit, making sure both were covering the gun tucked into the back of his pants, before he knocked on the door. “Ariel, it’s Ben, I’m coming in.” After a moment he got the door open and stepped inside. He was sure to kick the door closed behind him as he stepped into her place.
At the sound of Ben’s familiar voice, Ariel called back to him. “I’m in my room.” Ben was a good friend. Even when she was feeling the way she was as of late — vulnerable and scared — Ben still somehow managed to make her smile. She remembered when Sam Winchester had given her a lecture about talking to him. Nay, flirting with him. She hadn’t realized at the time what exactly that was, but she supposed, looking back on the memory, that she had been. But that was then and this was now. Now Ben was her age. Now it was okay, if she wanted, and Sam Winchester couldn’t say anything about it. That wasn’t particularly on her mind, though. Mostly, Ariel just liked having Ben around because he made her feel safe. It was something Jimmy used to do for her and couldn’t anymore.
Seeing his face when he came into view, Ariel gave him a small smile. It didn’t quite reach her eyes, but the thought was there all the same: she was glad to see him. “Thank you for coming,” she said quietly, looking away again, hugging her knees tighter against herself. “I’m sorry to keep bothering you,” she added softly, resting her chin against her kneecaps and casting her eyes down.
As much as she enjoyed having Ben around, she still felt guilty taking up his time. Ben could be doing anything right now, but he was choosing to spend time with her when she was mostly silent, sullen, and well…not very good company at all. It made her happy to see him but still, it felt a little wrong to be calling upon him all the time the way she felt like she was doing as of late.
Hearing her response Ben made a beeline for her room without even hesitating. If she was telling him that’s where she was there was no reason for him not to head in and he was pretty sure she’d want to make sure that he was actually here. He wanted her to know that he was actually here too. He wasn’t going to leave when she fell asleep this time, though he’d probably give her some privacy and find something to do part of the time and sleep himself the other part of the time. Ben did feel bad for her. Jimmy was her friend and this future, alternate, dickwad that he’d turned into had done this shit to her. That was bull. To be honest, Ben had meant it when he had said he would shoot him in the face if he bothered her. What he’d done wasn’t cool and Ben wouldn’t hesitate in shooting him. He wasn’t exactly human anymore was he? The way he acted and with the freaky mutant powers....it was excusable to shoot him if he had to. Ben’s logic was sound.
Walking into her bedroom, Ben gave the redhead a smile. “You’re welcome.” That was the proper response. He held up the bag to show it to her. “I know you said you weren’t hungry, but I’d gotten myself something and it felt rude not to get you something too. You should try to eat, but if you can’t then I’ll just eat it later.” He shrugged a little bit, sitting down on her bed, giving her enough space, so that he wasn’t making her uncomfortable. Ben sat the bag down too, forgetting it a moment. “Don’t worry about bothering me, you’re not.”
Ben gave her a smile before he pulled out one of the burgers, sitting it on his lap and then he pulled out a french fry, sticking it into his mouth and giving her a bit of a goofy look. “They’re good.” He waggled his eyebrows a little bit, trying to lighten the mood. He definitely was trying to make her feel better in some way. He didn’t know that he was suceeding.
Ariel’s eyes moved back toward Ben when he mentioned food. Her stomach growled in agreement with him; she should try to eat. But it didn’t sound good. French fries didn’t even sound good and Ariel loved French fries. Still, she shook her head and looked away again. “No, thank you,” she said softly.
She could feel Ben sitting down on the bed beside her and she relaxed, albeit slightly. In spite of his telling her that she shouldn’t feel like she was bothering him, Ariel still felt like she was. “I know you’d probably rather be out with your friends,” she said quietly, giving another weak smile that didn’t match the sadness in her eyes. “But I appreciate it, anyway. More than I can say,” she replied, finally looking back at him. Just as she did, Ben put one of the fries in his mouth and made a face. The smile he got in return was a bit more genuine than the others. “I know, I love them,” she agreed. “I’m just not hungry,” she lied. It was easier to say she wasn’t hungry than to explain the way she was really feeling, which didn’t even make much sense to her.
“Do you think it’ll take him away? The Seal I mean?” she asked, referring to Jimmy and wondering if she’d ever feel truly safe again.
Ben was a guy through and through. Half of the time he let his stomach think for him. He’d be lying if he said anything other than that. That was the main reason that there was food at all. He required fuel to keep him going. Okay, he wasn’t depressed and upset like Ariel seemed to be, but he knew she needed to eat. HE couldn’t make her do anything, though. She was his friend as far as he was concerned and all he could do was sit here with her, even though he wanted to tell her she needed to eat the bacon cheeseburger otherwise she’d end up skin and bones. She was already thin to begin with. Ben knew better than to push her, though. He had a sister, he knew how bitchy girls could get if they were pushed when they weren’t in the best of moods. “All right. It’s here if you change your mind, though.”
Ben devoured the fry and then grabbed another, only pausing at her words. “Most of the other kids here are ones that are a lot younger than me back home. Sure I’m friendly, but it’s fine, I’m not missing out on anything. Don’t worry about it.” Ben told her, giving her a smile before stuffing the fry into his mouth. He knew she appreciated it, she wasn’t a thankless person. “Really, you don’t need to keep telling me how you appreciate it, I know. I don’t need thanks.” Ben winked at her, letting both it and the fry subject drop as he stuck three fries into his piehole and ate them.
Her question caught him off guard, but he didn’t ignore it. He looked at the other teenager and tilted his head a little bit, wetting his lips. “I think it will. The normal guy you know will end up back here. Just like me and all the other kids from the future will get dropped back where we belong, I’m sure.” Ben said, honestly. He figured it was the best policy.
After a few minutes, as Ben was telling her that he wasn’t really missing anything because of the age differences back when he’d come from, watching him eating the French fries, finally, she took one. She didn’t shove it in her mouth the way her stomach wanted her to, but nibbled at it until she’d finally finished it, blushing slightly when he told her that she didn’t have to keep thanking him, because he didn’t need it. Though, the tiny smile that crept over her lips dropped away again at his response to her question.
He thought that the Seal would send the bad Jimmy away and bring the good Jimmy back. That was fine, except that she didn’t want anything to do with Jimmy anymore. She knew what he was going to become and she didn’t like it. It scared her. But the part that upset her the most was that Ben said he was sure that he would be sent back again, too. “I don’t want you to go,” she gasped, reaching out and taking one of his hands in her own, squeezing it as if she thought if she let go just then he’d disappear right in that moment. “I want you to stay…” she admitted a little sheepishly, locking her eyes on his and fighting the urge to cry. The very thought that Ben, the boy-turned-man who had become her recent pillar in a place that had suddenly become so scary, would be taken away from her was heartbreaking.
Scooting herself a couple of inches closer to him, Ariel took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Please don’t go.”
Part of Ben celebrated. Shew had said she wasn’t hungry, but she had still taken a fry to nibble on. Part of him didn’t really believe that she wasn’t hungry, in fact, most of him was sure that she had to be starving at this point. She hadn’t really been taking care of that particular need as of late. She really needed to change that, but Ben was her friend in this case, not her bossy. He didn’t have any room to tell her what to do, it wasn’t his place. He could suggest, but anything more than that was beyond his power at the moment. He didn’t want to scare her or anything. Ben didn’t realize what he had said would upset the little mermaid, though. Maybe it was because he wasn’t thinking or maybe it was because he was unaware of the attachment that she had formed to him in so short a time. Either way her frown caught him slightly off guard.
“I can’t really control it.” Ben stated, not trying to be mean, but factually. He was sure that the Seal wouldn’t leave him here and take everyone else back. The way the Seal worked he had to head back, otherwise it’d cause a hell of a lot of issues here in this world. Ben was surprised at the fact that Ariel took his hand, though. He automatically squeezed her hand back, though softly. Her hands were smaller than his, softer too. His own hands were more calloused, used to working in various different ways. He wished that he could tell her he’d stay, but honestly he didn’t know how long he’d be here, the only thing he could do would be to tell the truth or lie. Neither option seemed that great at the moment.
As she scooted closer Ben didn’t think much. He wrapped his burger up one-handed and dropped it into the back before moving said bag onto the floor. After he’d done that Ben put his arm over Ariel’s shoulders, trying to comfort her, honestly. “I’m not leaving for as long as I can help it.” That was the best he could say. He’d stay here with her while she needed him and while he was here. He couldn’t control when the Seal took him, though. “Don’t worry about anything else. The Seal could keep me here for a while. You could end up sick of me in the mean time.” He joked, giving her a smile. “Just don’t worry, okay?”
Knitting her brow, Ariel looked down again. The idea of Ben not having control over something as important to her as just being around wasn’t something she liked at all. Though, she supposed it was unfair of her to put that sort of weight on Ben’s shoulders. She knew just as well as anyone that the Seal did what it wanted, when it wanted, to who it wanted and no one had a say or could stop it. If some of the most powerful people she’d ever met couldn’t even control the Seal with their heads together; it was ridiculous to want for Ben to be able to.
It was mildly comforting feeling Ben squeeze her hand in return. When she thought about it, she couldn’t recall a time earlier in the week when he had. It made her smile, if only for a second. But then he’d put his arm around her and told her he was going to stay as long as he could help it. From under long lashes, Ariel looked up at Ben with large, trusting eyes, studying his face. She wondered fleetingly why she did this to herself. First, she’d fallen in love with a human when she was a mermaid. Now, there was Ben…who could turn back into a twelve-year-old any minute. Her sisters would have teased her. Flounder would’ve wrinkled his nose up at her. Even Abby, she thought, might have been less than enthused for her in this moment.
She’d trusted Ursula to help her and that had been a mistake. Allana and Rose and they’d let her get drunk; Kon and Max had picked on her for it. She’d trusted Romana and had seen no progress in attentiveness to Ariel’s eagerness to learn. She’d trusted Joker and he’d lied. Then, she’d trusted Jimmy and he’d used her. Even Ariel could see that trusting Ben was a bad idea, given her track record…but she wanted to badly enough that she found herself doing just that. She knew that, in all likelihood, sooner than later he’d be gone and she’d be alone again.
None of that, however, stopped her from staring up at him with a hesitant sort of anticipation as she wet her lips. She ignored his joke, focused on her own train of thoughts; besides, Ariel knew she wouldn’t get sick of Ben, ever. Even as a youth, he made her smile. He’d made her feel pretty and interesting. Now, he did that and made her feel protected and safe, to boot. “If you could stay, Ben…” she whispered, pausing as she tried to ignore the fluttery sensation in her stomach, “would you?”
Ben really wasn’t used to someone relying on him like this. Sure, he made Sammy realize that he was there. And yeah, okay, he bossed her around a lot. And he chased boys away from her, but this was different. Ariel wasn’t his sister, and he wasn’t looking out for her because it was one of the main jobs he had in life. This wasn’t like his father had said ‘Watch out for Sammy’. This was Ben being a good friend, caring about someone and trying to help them get through something. It felt a little weird. Not that Ben didn’t care about his friends or anything. Ariel was a girl, though. Honestly he could remember hitting on her when he’d been younger. If she weren’t in such a state he probably would have hit on her here a lot more too, passed the initial thing.
It was definitely strange having someone willingly rely on him. Ariel had sought him out after he had left. He felt pretty useful...and he felt as if he were needed. It felt good to be needed. Ben knew that he wanted to help people; why else would he be a hunter? Seeing her smile definitely reminded him of why he was sitting here and helping her. He felt bad for her, having gone through so much shit that confused her. What could he say, he was a good guy?
Ben didn’t move. He didn’t feel the need to. If she was uncomfortable with any of this he hoped that she would have moved or said something. He was a teenage boy, though, so he was fine with how things were. the way she was looking at him didn’t really phase him completely. She probably didn’t realize it, but Ben was pretty smooth with the ladies, not that he’d had anything of lasting capability so far, but that wasn’t on him so much as it was on the girls. They hadn’t felt like he was the relationship type. Maybe he wasn’t. He was a good friend no matter what, though.
Ben blinked at the question. Would he stay if he could? He wasn’t sure. He liked how things were in the future. He definitely didn’t miss all the danger. Part of him would like to go home now, but another part of him didn’t really mind the past so much, he was more useful here. There were positives and negatives to both, really. Ben looked down at the floor for a moment then back at Ariel. “Yeah, I’d stay.” It was the easier answer, knowing that he’d eventually have to go home that wasn’t an option. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, it was what she wanted to hear and she deserved to hear it even if it wasn’t a possibility.
Giving Ben a smile, small and sad, Ariel nodded. She wished he could stay. She hoped that he would be able to, at least a little longer. It felt good to have his arm around her; she felt protected there. "Do you remember the first time we talked?" she asked, looking up at him. "I didn't have a voice yet. You told me I was pretty...I had hoped you'd be my first kiss and break the spell, but your Uncle Sam got awfully upset with me before I even got that far," she said with a sheepish look.
Part of her still wanted him to be. To Ariel, Ben was a hero. He might not be a prince but did she really need a prince? Her voice was back and she was human, far from wherever Ursula and Eric might be. Ursula couldn't hurt her anymore and Eric hadn't seemed to care for her the way she had for him. Ben showed her, every day, that she mattered as a person. She wasn't some mute child taking up residence in a strange castle anymore; she wasn't in need of any spells to be broken. He still cared. He didn't have to...but he did.
Without even realizing right away what she was doing, Ariel reached up to touch Ben's face and brush some of his hair back. "You grew up so fast...faster than me," she thought aloud, catching his eye again. "Without me."
Ben remained unmoving where he was, she seemed pretty comfortable with his arm around her and sitting there, and it wasn’t like he was in some big hurry to get back to his burger. It’d keep, even if it tasted better warm. His sandwich wasn’t the most important thing at the moment, people definitely mattered over food. Her question caught the teenage boy off guard, and he actually had to think about it for a moment in order to answer too. He vaguely remembered it actually, not as well as she did, he was sure. Then again, it was fresh for her unlike it was for him, it’d been so long ago since he had been that age. Her telling him actually really helped. “Oh yeah, I do remember that. Uncle Sam was.....a dumbass sometimes. But I was a kid. An ass of a kid even. At least your curse did get broken, though?” He said giving her a bit of a charming grin. He could understand part of where his uncle had been coming from, even if he’d said it in the dumbest way possible, he was sure.
“I’m sure Sam meant the best, though, even if he said it the wrong way or whatever.” Ben commented, being honest with how he thought. At that age Ben had gotten himself into a lot of shit at times and his uncle generally just tried to look after him, no mater how much of an ass Ben was being. Yup, Ben could admit there were more than enough occasions where he was a total dickwad to his family, his dad and uncle especially. He’d caused them a hell of a lot of grief over the years but it wasn’t so bad now, really.
Ben looked at Ariel when she touched his face, giving a bit of a grin and a shrug. “Not really. I mean, I’m from a little ways in the future. It took me a while get get this old and handsome.” He joked, giving her a smile. “And you were around, from what I remember.” Ben stated mostly nonchalantly. At the age he actually was during this time....well, he wasn’t serious about anything. He wasn’t serious about girls or anything else. He wasn’t ready for that kind of stuff. He was just flirty and thought he knew everything when he really didn’t.
“I think you’re thinking a little too much on all of this.” Ben pointed out with a small smile for her.
Giving a weak smile, Ariel nodded. “I wished my voice back on the bauble,” she replied. “My curse isn’t broken. If the Seal sends me back, it’ll be gone again, probably,” she added. “I cheated. There’s only one real way to break it,” she finished. Her eyes moved away from his at that. Chewing her bottom lip, Ariel considered that for the very first time since using the bauble. If the Seal sent her home, she would still be under Ursula’s contract. She would still have to make Eric fall in love with her or she would belong to Ursula forever. But what if, by the time she went back, it was too late or she didn’t love him anymore? By now, she almost couldn’t remember his face, as it was. She’d only spent a day with him and it’d been months since she’d arrived.
She went on moving her hand in Ben’s hair, looking back up at him as he debunked her. That was true, but it still felt like he’d grown up without her. The fact that he had to point out that she was around, from what he remembered, made Ariel feel badly. They must not have been friends. She wondered if Sam’s having chastised her had ruined that for her forever and, if so, she was missing out on a great guy. “Probably,” she finally said after a long pause. “But, I can’t help it,” she admitted, searching his eyes. “You’re the only one I still trust. …and you’re going to leave me. And it’s all so much to try to understand… Is it so bad, Ben, that I miss you before you’re gone…?” she asked. Then, she paused and moved closer still, so that she was pressed up against him, and slid her hand out of his hair, resting it on his jaw for a moment before dropping it away. “Because I do.”
Ben gave her a wry smile. “It’s broken here, I mean she’s not here, so that’s not something you’ve bot to worry about.” He pointed out, but decided to tack onto that, “And if you do get sent home, for most people (from what I’ve gathered) they don’t remember their time here...and it takes you back to right where you came from, generally.” That probably wasn’t as big of a comfort as Ben really thought it was, but he did try. He was trying, even though his thing was normally flirting with the girls and then failing to keep them around for all that long. Apparently that was changing, somehow. Ben chose then to give her a wink. “Besides, sometimes a little cheating isn’t a bad thing when the alternative isn’t fair.”
Ben couldn’t help but feel bad for her thinking about all of this, really she was focusing too intently on it. If she was worried so much about him going away she’d waste the time that he had here period. She wouldn’t mean to, really, but that was the way it would happen if she could get passed it. Not that he wanted her to focus on that. Really, he didn’t want her to feel so badly about all of this period, but he had a feeling it was going to happen regardless of what he wanted.
Ben wasn’t uncomfortable at all by her touches, really why should he be? He wasn’t bad with girls, no matter what his sister said. He really liked girls and he liked her, though anything he could have with Ariel, like most other ventures he tried out, wouldn’t be lasting. It couldn’t be. Back home she’d be older than him. Here he was out of time, out of place, there was no way that he could stay here.
As Ariel told Ben that he was the only one she trusted, as much as it flattered him, it was bad for her, and if a doofus like him could see that, then it had to be pointed out. “Ariel, I’m sure I’m not the only one around here that’s trustworthy. People do stupid shit sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t trust them. That dude Jimmy, the one you knew from the right time. He didn’t do anything not to be trusted, just that one possibility of a future for him did. And there are lots of people that you can and should trust here. You can’t rely on one person, though, that puts a lot of pressure on them, makes it hard to live up to. You gotta let people in, even if they do make mistakes. Otherwise you’re screwing yourself over.” Ben said, thinking he sounded a little stupid, but he couldn’t help it.
He did give her a little bit of a squeeze, though. “And yeah, it’s bad. Stop missing me, I’m sitting right here.” He laughed to show her that he was joking easily enough.