The Barefoot Violinist

Grump

Where on earth was Cody? He was in no mood to hang around after the day he'd had. He felt irritated and everybody seemed ten times dumber and slower than they usually were, and that was still being generous, he thought. Scowling, while he looked around the parking lot for Cory or his car, but neither of them were around. He needed the quiet of his room and his violin.

"Sorry you had to wait." Cory's arms wrapped around him from behind.

"I'd like to go home now." Bennett shrugged out of his embrace.

"Home it is!" Cory grinned, leading him to the car. Grumpy Bennett was a tough nut to crack, but still cute as hell.

They drove in silence, with Cory regularly shooting a glance at Bennett. He seemed too caught up in his own thoughts to notice anything. When they pulled up into the drive way, he followed Bennett up the steps, who seemed to be in a hurry to get away. Stepping up to the threshold, the front door slammed shut in his face, causing him to bounce back, almost losing his footing.

"Okay, that was uncalled for," he mumbled, frowning at the closed door. Forging on, he let himself in, following Bennett up the stairs into his room.

"Still not over the prank?" he laughed when Bennett snapped at him to leave, while he kicked off his shoes and removed his socks. Those damn socks! Cory looked at the offending items that could cause a lot of chaos and damage. He had first-hand experience.

"It was just some fun between friends, it's part of the joy, you know?" he tried to tackle Bennett's bad mood and Ellie's request for help at the same time.

"You can get out now." he moodily pointed to the door, glaring at Cory, who was slowly approaching him, almost as if any sudden movement would set him off.

"Look, grumpy Bennett, this can go two ways." Cory wrapped his arms around Bennett's waist, pulling him closer. "You can huff and puff for the next week, or you can give me a kiss and forgive your friends."

"What?" Bennett asked in surprise, being caught off guard by Cory's statement.

"I've got a surprise for you, two in fact, if you give me a kiss and forgive your friends. They're really sorry, you know." He placed his finger under Bennett's chin to make him look up.

"What's the surprise?" Bennett asked, not interested in hearing anything about friends at the moment.

"I'll tell you once you kiss me and forgive your friends." he insisted.

"What's it to you if I forgive those morons?" Bennett challenged, still furious at his friends, but also very curious about Cory's surprise.

"They're your friends Bennett. Part of being friends is forgiving stupid things and laughing about them later. Or you can always prank them back." he threw in for good measure, grinning again.

"So what's the surprise?" he asked after a moment's thought.

"Are you going to forgive them and kiss me?" He refused to let go of Bennett, who tried to wriggle out of his grasp.

"Oh, okay!" he sighed in exasperation. "They're forgiven! Now, what's the surprise?" he pushed against Cory's hard chest.

"For a smart kid, you sure forget things quickly." Cory observed, pulling Bennett closer. When he got a quick peck, he pursed his lips and shook his head. Bennett stood on his toes and planted a slow soft kiss on his lips. Cory's head went fuzzy for a moment, at the thrill of feeling his lips. Instead of letting go, he shook his head again and leaned in closer. This time, the kiss was slow and smouldering.

"Wow!" he whispered when he pulled away from Bennett.

"You got your kiss, now where's my surprise?" Bennett pushed against his chest smiling.

"I wanted a kiss on the cheek! You're the one who decided to take advantage of me." Cory grinned even wider.

"You're a moron," Bennett laughed, planting one more kiss on his mouth before moving out of his grasp. "Where's my surprise?" he held out his hand.

"One." Cory pulled a paper from his back pocket, straightening it out and holding it out to Bennett.

"What?" He looked at the graded calculus paper being held in front of him with a deep frown. What was so great about that? It was a B. He'd never gotten a B in anything. "Why are you getting so excited over a bad grade?"

"A what?!" Cory's eyes showed his shock. "I got a B on my calculus paper!" he exclaimed, thrusting the page closer to Bennett to make him look. "For normal people, that's good! For me, that's great!" he threw the paper onto the desk. "Not so much of a moron now, am I?"

"That's up for debate. Now, what's the real surprise?"

"You're like a child sometimes, you know?" Cory frowned at him. "Okay, you second surprise is that I'm cooking!"

"You're so dumb. I can't believe I fall for it every time." Bennett sighed in resignation. "My intelligence is dropping from repeat exposure." he laughed, moving forward to give Cory a hug. "Do you want me to help?"

"Good lord no!" Cory exploded. "You're about as useful in a kitchen, as chalk on a white board." Seeing the frown of Bennett's face, he explained, "You play, I cook. That's the way it should stay for now." he softly chuckled, leaving the room. 

Hearing the doorbell ring, some time later, Bennett headed downstairs. He wasn't expecting anybody. When he opened the door his three friends were standing with hopeful smiles looking at him. Without thought, he immediately slammed the door shut and turned around, but came to a sharp stop, hitting Cory's solid frame.

"I thought I heard the doorbell ring?" He steadied Bennett by his shoulders as the bell rang again.

"Oh, it's no one. Wrong address." he tried to push past Cory, but he wouldn't budge.

"Come on, open up." Cory turned him around to face the door. After another ring, he finally opened the door.

"You can leave. We're having supper." he snapped, about to shut the door again. This time Cory stopped him.

"You promised, remember?" he whispered in Bennett's ear.

After a moment's hesitation, Bennett stepped back to let them in, while Ellie and Victor smiled warmly at Cory, Blue's face revealed no emotion. Bennett was sure that she was trying to pretend that Cory wasn't standing there. 

"Is this why you're cooking?" Bennett asked suspiciously as they all sat down to eat. Looking at the spread that Cory had put together, it was obvious that he had spent some thought on his little plan.

"I cook because someone needs to keep you fed and watered when your mum's gone, and this is a sort of peace meal." he grabbed Bennett's hand, giving it a light squeeze. "And no, you can't eat yet." he knew that Bennett would carry on eating ignoring his friends if he didn't put his foot down.

"Fine. You're all forgiven." he snapped at them, before turning to Cory. "Now can we eat?"

Ellie, Blue and Victor watched the two of them arguing, like they were spectators at a tennis match. There seemed no end to the volley of words between the two. With Bennett being closed off and back to a bad mood again, while Cory joked and cajoled and finally threatened to get him to give in.

The first few minutes were tense, with no one talking. At some point Victor tried to crack a joke, but quickly stopped when he saw the storm cloud on Bennett's face.

"Look Ben, we're sorry okay? We weren't thinking straight." Blue finally spoke up after another tense silence.

"Oh, now you're sorry?" Bennett set his fork down. "You two didn't seem so sorry before."

"It was really just supposed to be fun Bennett, promise." Ellie pleaded with him.

He looked over at Cory who nodded his head, with pursed lips.

"Okay, fine! I'll get over it, but you need to make it up to Victor and me. Big time!"