A Revolution In Shadow And Blood

Men in Black

We don't speak for what feels like minutes, but could just as easily be hours. Instead, we sit in our silence together on my bed. Ben's arms are around me, his chin resting on my shoulder. My arms wrap around his, with one arm over his head, my hand in his hair. Our legs are side by side, stretched out over the covers. Once we were all cried-out, we just sat down and started to catch up on much needed cuddle time.

"I need to call my parents," I whisper, and try to reach for my phone in my pocket.

"Mm-mm," Ben responds, and traps my arm with his.

I roll my eyes, but a smile is fixed on my face, "Ok, then we'll talk first."

"I thought we already did that?"

"You mean the screaming match?" I shake my head. "We need to talk about other things. Happier things, I promise."

Ben sighs, "Fine," he pulls away from me enough that we can see each other, but not without placing a kiss on my cheek. I can still feel his lips on my skin after he pulls away. "What's up?"

"How do you want to break the news to my parents?" I thread my fingers with his while I talk.

He cringes, "After meeting your parents, are you sure you want to tell them? I mean, your Dad was giving me the side eye when I met him, and he didn't even know."

I laugh, and elbow him, "They have to know sometime, Ben. You really think that we're going to keep the fact that we're Fated a secret?"

Ben sticks out his bottom lip, "Yes?"

Man, I really missed this.

"We don't have to tell them right now. That's not over the phone news. Next time they visit, we'll tell them. Or when there's a break from school," I detach my hand from his, "It's dinner, and I'm hungry. Let's go get some food."

"Deal," He grins, and stands, holding out his hand to help me up. I take it, and he doesn't let go all the way to the cafeteria.

"I'm telling you, sherbet is better than Jello," I say as I set down my tray on the table, and take a seat.

"No way," Ben responds, taking the seat next to me, "Jello, with fruits in it, is the best."

"How could you say that? Ice cream tops everything!" I turn to the rest of the table, "What do you guys think? Ice cream or Jello?"

Guanyin grins at the two of us, and responds, "Ice cream." Then she holds up her own cup of sherbet, and we touch ours together, and say 'cheers' before laughing.

Ben grumbles, and looks to the other guys for support. Luke and Conner are speechless, and just staring at the two of us.

Conner finally stutters out, "I- I thought you guys hated each other?"

I glance over at Ben, "We never hated each other, but we had a little bit of a disagreement in the past, and now we've worked it out."

"Which leads to this," Ben grabs my hand, and thunks them both onto the table, his on the bottom so mine doesn't get squished, and looks directly at Conner, "she's my girlfriend."

Kill. Me. Now.

Instead of trying to will a hole into existence to swallow me up, I pull my hand away so I can smack Ben on the back of his head, "Nice job being subtle, idiot."

He smiles over at me, rubbing the back of his head, "Maybe. But there's no point beating around the bush," he frowns, "What'd you hit me so hard for?"

I lift one side of my lips, "Sorry."

Guanyin doesn't miss a beat, and laughs at our antics, "I called it."

Luke smiles at Guanyin, and holds up his Jello cup to Ben, "I agree with you, man, Jello is best."