AU: I apologize that this is kinda late, I discovered Final Fantasy XV and let's just say it is highly distracting. I hope you enjoy a longer chapter as a treat. And the sass levels of Harley my god I love that girl.
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It had been two weeks since the night that will not be mentioned. And Ben was fine, he was great actually. Life was perfect.
Ok, so there had been a problem with shaking and some nausea, but that was easily explained away by the stress of life. It was nothing that the boy couldn't handle. No reason to worry or dwell on the past. ...If Ben was being completely honest with himself, he hadn't been able to sleep more than four hours straight since that night, but again totally normal. All easily explained by stress from life. There was absolutely zero connection to Eric and that night.
Shit, Ben couldn't even lie to himself convincingly. He missed Eric like a chocoholic missed their Hershey bar. It was a nagging ache that should have gotten better with time but only seemed to get worse.
The boy couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat, he was shaking all the time with slight tremors like an addict needing their fix. This had to end, Ben couldn't keep going on like this, but by God was he going to try. He needed to prove to the world, and mostly himself that he didn't need anyone to be ok. Especially someone he had spent less than 24 hours with.
So he went to school, his part-time job, and kept a fake smile plastered to his face for his friends.
His smile must not have been as convincing as he thought, because it was the thirteenth day of his self-imposed exile from all things Eric when Harley cornered him.
Harley, his "best" friend who he kept at arm's length. She was a petite little thing with a curvaceous figure at 5'2 and 130 pounds and managed to rock the punk goth look better than most. It fit her flamboyant personality as well as her odd set of interests, which included knitting and serial killers (to name some of the polar opposites.)
She managed to catch him In the men's room (of course). Couldn't he take a piss in a public bathroom without being emotionally assaulted?
Ben was washing his hands in the sink when Harley barged into the college restroom. The boy jumped then glared at the spunky woman.
"What the hell Harley?! This is the men's room!"
She grabbed his shirt and pulled his face down to her shorter height and glared back.
"I drew the short straw, that's what the hell. The rest of the friend group think something is more wrong with you than usual and I'm the one that got stuck getting the truth out of you about it. Plus they blame me for taking you to a BDSM club and probably scarring that prude mind of yours for life." She rolled her eyes, but her grip was strong on his clothes.
The door swung open behind them before Ben could speak and someone walked into the bathroom. The two looked over at the intruder who froze and backed slowly out of the men's room. Poor bastard, it looked like a little freshman still learning the ways of college life.
"Can we do this somewhere else?" Ben asked pointedly looking around at the college men's room.
"No, because the second you get a chance to escape, you will and disappear for a week, and everyone will wonder if I drove you to suicide."
Ben rolled his eyes. "Isn't that being a bit dramatic?"
"Not where you're concerned. You're more dramatic about things than I am and that's saying something."
"I am not dramatic!" Ben felt a little like he was arguing with Eric again. Why were people making so many assumptions about him? He was just a normal college student.
It was Harley's turn to roll her eyes. "You're at Mean Girls level dramatic."
"What does that even mean, and I thought you hated Mean Girls."
"I may hate it but that doesn't make it any less true, and there you go trying to distract and deflect like you always do."
"I do not."
"See you're doing it again. Christ, Ben, would it kill you to be truly honest for a second."
"You know I don't lie, I'm horrible at it."
"That doesn't mean you're not great at omitting."
"What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to let me in," Harley growled.
"I do."
"Stop lying! You keep everyone at arm's length. The only reason I haven't pushed is I don't want to drive you away but we've been friends for over two years. It's about time I started acting like one."
"Harley, you've been a great friend. I don't want you to feel bad about it."
"Oh my god, you're doing it again!! Fucking hell Ben." Harley looked down, unable to meet the boy's eyes, which actually made Ben worry. Harley never broke eye contact. She continued: "just talk to me, for real and stop deflecting. I want to be there for you."
The boy's shoulders slumped. He couldn't say no to a request like that. For all Harley's strength and bitchy attitude, she really was a sensitive soul.
"It's...a guy." Ben finally got out.
"What do you mean? Is someone being mean to you? Bullying you? I'll kick him in the nuts. Where the fuck is he?" Harley went from sad damsel to angry bitch in 0.5 seconds, it almost gave Ben whiplash.
"No! No, nothing like that." The boy quickly corrected, grabbing onto the girl before she could go terrorizing in the hall. She'd probably kick every guy in sight in the balls until she found the right one just to prove a point.
"Then...what?"
"I'm..." fuck this shouldn't be so hard to say. "Gay."
"Ok.. and?" Harley said totally unfazed.
"Aren't you like shocked?" Ben demanded a little miffed at the underwhelming response.
"Ben, I've known you've been gay since I first met you. I'm hot, like really hot. 8 out of 10 at least. I mean look at these tits." She put a hand under each of her size Ds and cupped them, like an offering.
The boy looked down then back up at Harley's face not getting the picture. "So?"
"Exactly, every straight guy I know wants to slather them in whip cream and motorboat these babies. You couldn't give a shit."
"They're just boobs, Harley. It's not like they're a gift from god. Some guys are ass men."
Harley gave him a look then shook her head as if beyond disappointed. "Honey, my tits ARE god sent. Plus" she turned mid-sentence and stuck out her butt. "My ass is almost as good as my tits, and you haven't even checked it out, though I've given you ample opportunity."
Ben rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine I get it."
"Now what's with this guy?"
"I met him at the BDSM club."
Harley snapped her fingers as she had just put two and two together. "That's why you grabbed me and dragged me out, I thought it was just because you had had enough being flirted at."
Ben's brain screeched to a halt so fast he could almost smell burning rubber. "Wait, what? No. No one flirted with me, well one did but that's beside the point."