Lu and Benjamin

[om_shatterstar]

Lu and Ben make good on their beach plans.


Sitting in the sun-warmed sand beside Lu, the remnants of a street food lunch between them, Benjamin looked out toward the water. Even in California, it was too cold to venture into the ocean now, but that didn't bother him and it didn't seem to bother her either. Since meeting up that morning they'd strolled on the beach and explored the boardwalk, stopping to play a competitive match of air hockey in a near-deserted arcade and find something to eat, and he had enjoyed himself. He still was.

"I always forget it is like this," he said, interrupting the silence and the sound of the waves, and smiled faintly, "After New York."

"I know, right?" Lu smiled back and crumbled up her hot dog wrapper, stuffing it inside her empty cup so it wouldn't blow away. "I love New York to visit, but it's just..." she paused to think it over, her forehead furrowing a little. "Intense. Always. All the people rushing, all the tourists." She shrugged and smiled again. "California has it beat, hands down."

"I was thinking of the cold, mostly," Benjamin admitted, tracing an idle pattern in the sand, "The snow. The wind. I do not leave Salem Center much; I do not have to deal with the rest. It is probably good." Being surrounded by people and movement and sound had a way of putting his nerves on edge and, while he could tolerate it, he didn't like it. "But...you are right. Hands down. Even if New York is home now."

"Do you think of it as home?" Lu asked, surprised. "I mean, I like the school more than I ever thought I would, but San Diego's always home to me." Home was family, after all, and while she loved her friends, her Dad was here. She grinned. "Plus, yes. I really don't like the weather there. I always want to hole up until Spring, and it doesn't seem as if it comes until May."

Benjamin's fingers stilled against the sand and he, too, appeared momentarily surprised. "Yes," he answered after a moment of silence, his words tinged by hints of guilt but nonetheless sincere, "I do." He shifted, folding his arms against his knees, and looking pensive as he tried to figure out how to explain. "I became the person I am there. That is where I do not have to lie about who I am. That is where I have purpose. I...like being here. But I could not live here anymore."

It was all that he could say and he shook his head before glancing over at Lu. Her broad smile softened the seriousness of his expression and he pointed out, "I think that is called hibernation."

"Hibernation sounds like a pretty good plan," Lu retorted. Her smile softened, though, as she nodded acknowledgement of what he'd been saying. "I can understand that. I found that here, with my Dad. And let's face it - with my powers, I serve more of a purpose being public and outspoken than I ever will on a team." Not that she had any intention of dropping JVX, because she didn't. But ultimately, she'd come back to California. Pretending otherwise would be pointless.

Part of Benjamin was relieved to hear that Lu didn't plan to spend her life looking for trouble and rushing into danger, but it was bittersweet alongside the knowledge that she would eventually leave the institute. But he supposed most of the students would and that, for most, that was the right choice. Like it had been for Alison. "I can understand that," he echoed, giving a small nod before looking at her and asking, "What do you think you will do?"

"Work for my dad." There was no hesitation in the answer; there wasn't any reason for any, it was a foregone conclusion. "Eventually - and I hope it's a long, long time from now - I'll end up inheriting Brande Industries. I might as well learn everything I can about running it before then." Lu shrugged and offered a crooked grin. "That's a ways off, though. I've got college to worry about first, and I've got applications in on both coasts. What happens next depends on where I'm accepted."

The name Brande Industries meant nothing to Benjamin, but he nodded, able to understand both that this sounded like a significant responsibility and why Lu hoped it wasn't one that she would be taking on any time soon. He answered the mention of college and the grin he didn't fully understand with a small smile and said, "Then...I wish you luck. In the least biased way I am able."

"Thanks." Lu smiled and reached over to squeeze Ben's hand, then eyed him curiously. "Biased how? If you don't mind my asking?"

The sudden presence of Lu's small hand around his didn't surprise Benjamin anymore, but the familiar gesture felt somehow unfamiliar now and he found himself thinking inexplicably of the airport. The kiss she'd placed on his cheek before leaving to catch her flight to San Diego. He glanced down for a moment, then answered, "You...are my friend. I would miss you if you were gone."

"I'd miss you, too," Lu admitted. She tilted her head to try and catch his eyes, then smiled. "So, I may have to give serious consideration to those colleges on the East coast, huh? Though I warn you, when I'm freezing in winter? I'm going to hold you completely responsible."

Lu's eyes, no longer hidden behind brown contacts, managed to coax Benjamin's up but he shook his head. "You should do what you need to do and what you want to do. No matter where that takes you." He smiled faintly, then added, "But...if that is New York, I will be glad. And I will accept the responsibility of helping you stay warm." If the young man recognized at all how this sounded, he didn't show it, and it seemed closer to an attempt at reassurance than a line.

Lu's lips quirked up with amusement, but her eyes glazed over in a way that Ben would likely recognize as an internal conversation taking place.

"You are not saying it."

"Oh, come on. He offered!"

"But he didn't mean that! You know that!"

"I don't know that. That's why-"

"No."

"Oh, come on."

"NO!"

"Please??"

Lu shook her head almost imperceptibly, and smiled at Ben. "I may take you up on that sometime," she joked by way of compromise, ignoring Purple's continued grumbling and Orange's protestations.

Benjamin's eyebrows quirked upward because, while this near-trance that Lu slipped into was something he had seen before, he didn't know what he might've said to set the three parts of her off into internal conversation or why she was smiling. When she spoke aloud again, he nodded and said the only thing he could think to say, "...Training helps."

See? I told you!

Lu fought a snort of laughter, mostly in response to Orange's slightly disappointed but mostly smug response, and nodded. "It would. Training it is, then."

Though mostly concealed, that single note of laughter caught Benjamin's attention and uncertainty remained etched in his expression, even as the girl agreed with him. "I...have said something strange?" he guessed.

Lu gave him an apologetic look, though her lips were still twitching a bit, and shook her head. "No, you're fine, I'm sorry. You just said something that could be taken more than one way, and part of me wanted to misinterpret.

Liar. All of us did.

Orange immediately protested, and Neutral rolled her eyes. Oh, enough's enough. Just shut up already, both of you.

For a moment, Benjamin was quiet, recalling the words he had used and searching for a secondary meaning and coming up short. "What did you want me to mean?" he asked finally.

Lu shook her head and smiled crookedly. "Just what you meant," she assured him more or less truthfully. They were friends, first and foremost, and she really didn't want to jeopardize that, however hot Ben might be. "But just so you know? Offering to keep someone warm...doesn't always refer to training."

Even this didn't clarify the matter for Benjamin immediately and, when he nodded slowly in response, it was obvious he didn't understand. It wasn't until his mismatched eyes flicked back down to the sand, where Lu's hand still rested on his, that the meaning clicked. The places where their skin touched were quite warm. "You mean..." he began and trailed off, looking up at her with an expression that was more curious than embarrassed, "I had not thought of that. That would keep you warm."

Then a hint of color rose in the young man's face. "You may laugh if you want to."

Lu's smile softened, and she shook her head. "There's nothing to laugh about. It was sweet of you to offer, no matter what you meant."

Benjamin wasn't certain about that, not when Lu had needed to hold a laugh back just several moments ago, but he responded only with a small shake of his head. The girl was giving him too much latitude and too much credit. "You are my friend," he said again, "I want to help you as I can. That is how it should be."

"And that's why it's not anything to laugh about." Lu squeezed Ben's hand, then let it go, grinning a little. "The argument in my head, on the other hand...sometimes it's hard not to react to it. Even if it does make me seem like I'm crazy."

"You do not seem crazy," Benjamin assured her, shaking his head and setting his hands palm-down on his knees as he considered how she did seem during those far away moments she spent in her own head, "Just...distracted. You should not worry."

"Probably not, but I do, a little," Lu admitted. She pulled her legs up and leaned forward to rest her arms on her knees. "I spent time in a mental hospital before I fully manifested. 'Crazy' has some extra negative associations. But it's good to know I'm not looking it, at least."

Benjamin's lips thinned, a frown twitching at the edges as he looked at Lu. The girl had alluded to this before, but it was still a difficult truth to think about because she had never been crazy and she had never deserved to be locked away anywhere. "You are not crazy," he said finally, shaking his head, "You are different. That should not have happened."

"Oh, I know. I mean, it was a completely reasonable diagnosis, if...well, I wasn't me." She smiled faintly and shrugged. It had been years ago, and nothing she wanted to ruin the overall mood by talking about. Compared to what Ben had dealt with growing up, some time in a hospital really didn't compare. "Anyway, I know I'm not crazy. It's just good to know I don't look like I am to other people when I randomly start laughing at something one of me says."

Reasonable or unreasonable didn't make a difference to Benjamin, not when it came to the harm the decision had caused his friend, but he could see that Lu didn't want to talk about that. He understood and, while he couldn't smile back, he said with the same earnestness as before, "I have never thought that when I look at you. I do not think anyone else would." Typically, he didn't consider himself a good judge of what anyone else might think about anything, but this seemed true.

"Here's hoping. But hey, at least the conversations are internal, right? I've heard," she said mock-confidentially, "that talking aloud to yourself is considered a very bad sign." She grinned a little. "Which doesn't explain all the people you see doing it all the time. So, it all evens out. At least when I'm talking to myself out loud, there's someone physically there to talk to."

This time, a small smile did touch the edge's of Benjamin's lips, coaxed out by Lu's animated assessment of the situation. "I have heard," he offered obligingly, "That there are exceptions to every rule. I think you, all of you, qualify."

Lu's smile widened at the sight of Ben's, and she nodded an acknowledgement. "Overall? I think I like being an exception. So, the rest of it's all just...whatever." She crossed her legs and leaned forward a little, holding up her bottle of soda in a toast. "To being exceptional?"

While Benjamin's own bottle was almost entirely empty, he recognized the gesture and lifted the drink from where it sat suspended in the sand to clink it against Lu's. "...To being exceptional," he agreed.

"So, anything you'd like to do for the rest of the day?" Lu asked after she'd taken a sip of her soda.

Benjamin drank what remained of his soda and glanced thoughtfully out toward the water. When it came to days like these, the who tended to matter more to him than the what and he hadn't come armed with plans for how to spend the afternoon. He looked back at Lu. "You are more familiar with San Diego than I am," he pointed out, "Is there anything you would like to do?"

"Not particularly." Lu smiled and shrugged. "I'm fine with just hanging out. I just didn't want you to be bored."

This suggestion seemed to genuinely surprise Benjamin, who blinked several times before shaking his head. "I am not bored. I enjoy your company. That is why I came."

Lu smiled, picked up her garbage, and got to her feet. "In that case, want to wander down the beach further? There's a gorgeous view if you don't mind climbing up a cliff."

Following Lu, Benjamin gathered the remaining trash and rose to his feet before glancing curiously up the beach. The coast stretched on and on and even the first cliffs were just distant shapes from here, but he didn't mind the prospect of the trek or the climb at all. He liked the idea. "Yes," he said, "I do."

Comments

[om_cyclops]

These two are adorable. <3