Inspired by true events...

Horror fanatics: please forgive my complete lack of knowledge. I'm doing my best. Spoiler warning if you haven't seen It: Chapter 2 yet.

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In retrospect, better It than The Conjuring. It could've been worse.

Tybalt, being Tybalt, considered a classic horror movie to be a worthy substitute for going trick-or-treating. Since no one else agreed with him, they postponed movie night to the the next day.

Tybalt, Juliet, Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio all piled on and R&J's couch in front of the TV with some form of movie snack. The plan was to gorge themselves on junk food and get the shit scared out of them by the movie.

Now, it wasn't that Mercutio disliked horror. He simply had a healthy respect for it. He preferred action or psychological thriller or sci-fi or really anything that wasn't designed to scare the shit out of people. He didn't see the point. Watch the movie, scream a bit, say you're fine, then keep yourself awake with paranoia until some ungodly hour of early morning. Why??

Benvolio, on the other hand, enjoyed horror in small bursts. A movie here, a haunted house there, and no worries. Get the shit scared out of you and then fangirl over genius makeup jobs the next day. He assumed he'd been desensitized after years of walking in front of Romeo during all things Halloween, but he didn't mind. It just made it more amusing to see everyone around him jump.

So, naturally, Ben was pumped to be sat between his cousin and Mercutio, both of whom he knew were incredibly jumpy.

"Remember, there's no shame in backing out," Tybalt teased as his finger hovered over the play button. "You alright there, Mercutio?"

"Fuck off, I'm fine," Mercutio scoffed. "Just play the movie."

Bridge scene. Ben took note of the fact that Mercutio had pulled his knees to his chest. He was unsure whether it was the violence or the homophobia that caused this.

Stanley's suicide. Ben remembered Mercutio was seeing Chapter 2 for the first time. He weaved their fingers together.

Denbrough's drug-induced vision. Mercutio had tightened his grip on Ben's hand and showed no signs of relinquishing it.

Victoria's death. Mercutio exchanged his look of shock and sadness with Juliet's excited one. (She had been on the edge of her seat the entire time. She loved that movie.)

Mrs Kersh. Mercutio jumped with the jump scare as expected, letting out a breathy laugh in what Ben assumed was a release of tension.

Eddie standing up to Leper. A faint glint of happiness, enjoyment, glinted in Mercutio's eyes.

It killing Dean. Mercutio discreetly hid his face in his knees, his hand squeezing Ben's harder whenever there was a particularly gory sound effect.

The Losers perform their ritual. Mercutio nonchalantly asked, "How much longer in the movie?" As soon as the spider emerged, he amended with: "Nevermind."

Richie is caught in the Deadlights. Mercutio was biting his lip. A lot. Ben worried he'd bleed.

"Just a clown." Relieved but still very tense, Mercutio allowed himself to uncurl a little, tucking his legs under himself.

Richie returns to the bridge. Mercutio was smiling an empty smile, the kind he did when smiling was the last thing he wanted to do.

Credits. Tybalt and Juliet were laughing and talking animatedly about something, Juliet making wild gestures and sound effects. Romeo was wrapped in a blanket burrito with only his eyes showing, but by the crinkle around the edges Ben knew he was grinning.

He himself was just fine, thank you very much. His pulse was through the roof and his three-hour adrenaline rush was beginning to wear off, but he knew he had a bunch of Bill Skarsgård interviews to catch up on, and thus to look forward to.

He turned to Mercutio.

Or rather, where Mercutio had just been. In the time it had taken Benvolio to analyze their friends, he'd gathered an armful of candy and begun stuffing it in the pockets of his long, dramatic coat. (It was much too cold for said coat, but Mercutio would never pass up the chance to vaguely resemble Neo, even at the cost of his body heat.)

"As much as I love you all, I have class tomorrow," he announced with a theatrical sigh.

Juliet gave a sympathetic "Sorry, man" at the same time as Tybalt's "Sucks to be you" and the two canceled each other out. Benvolio snickered.

"I can leave Romeo in your capable hands, yes?" he said, gesturing to the (still grinning) blanket lump on the couch. Juliet nodded. "Lovely. With that, we take our leave. C'mon, Cutio." He snaked an arm around Mercutio's waist.

It wasn't as if Ben had no knowledge of his boyfriend's paranoia; the Trail of Terror in years previous stood testament; so he registered and recognized the subtle over-the-shoulder Mercutio kept doing. Despite registering and recognizing, however, he still let it brush itself off, as Mercutio tended to do it when he was tense in any way.

Still, it was slightly off-putting to more feel than see Mercutio swiveling his head like an owl every fifteen seconds or so as they trekked across campus back to their shared rooms.

"I know you would never give a serious answer with Tybs around, but now that we're here, are you doing okay?" Benvolio asked carefully as Mercutio unloaded the contents of his coat into a bowl.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," he responded distractedly, punctuating his lie with another glance behind him into the dark hall.

"Babe, seriously. Look, I'm gonna go turn on some lights-"

"No!"

Benvolio jumped slightly at the sudden panic in Mercutio's voice.

"I mean- you don't need to, I'm okay. Really." And he finished with a fucking glittery smile.

Benvolio sighed. Once committed to a ruse, Mercutio would not be letting it go. (Unless/until his real emotions overpowered it, which Benvolio both hoped and dreaded they would.)

"Okay. I won't." He help up his hands in surrender. Mercutio let out a breath.

"I- okay. Alright. I'm gonna... I guess I'm going to bed. D-don't get eaten by anything, yeah?"

Then, with a strained chuckle, he was gone.

Benvolio considered this carefully. He sighed, kicked off his boots, and prepared for the emotional blow of being momentarily cut off from his boyfriend's life.

He knew how this part went. Leave him be, count to three, wait and see, as Romeo had coined it. Mercutio would be back to normal, if a little sleep-deprived, but that wasn't new, in the morning.

~~~

At the turn from 6:59 to 7:00 AM, Mercutio managed to summon the willpower to force his tense limbs into movement. Several times during his journey he had to pause with his back pressed against the wall, wild eyes staring at nothing but unable to close.

After much too long, he crept, stumbling, into a sleeping Benvolio's room. Mercutio carefully slid under the covers between the wall and his boyfriend, shuffling up to the former and searching the latter's face desperately for the comfort he always found there. After a brief moment (where Mercutio absolutely didn't feel a sudden need to check Benvolio's pulse, why ever would you think that, it would be much too Hamlet a thing to do), he carefully nuzzled into Benvolio's neck and found his hand under the blankets.

Not five minutes later, Benvolio woke to a trembling and decidedly not sleeping Mercutio pressed to his side.

"Hey, what happen- Jesus, Mer, you're shaking!"

Benvolio's arms were around him instantly after that, carding through his hair and rubbing gentle circles in his back.

Soft murmurs of "Shh, shh, it's okay, you're okay," and Mercutio's near-silent crying filled the quiet room.

After a few minutes, Mercutio angrily wiped away his tears.

"God, I'm sorry-"

"Don't," Benvolio cut him off, "don't even finish that sentence. We've been over this a thousand times: don't ever be sorry for feeling things."

"You always forget that goes for you too," Mercutio grumbled.

Benvolio pressed his lips to Mercutio's forehead, then murmured into his hair, "Maybe, but I don't think I'm really the priority right now."

He knew it was bad when Mercutio didn't quip back at him, instead letting teary eyes fall shut and burying himself further into the safe spot where Benvolio's neck met his shoulder.

"I just want to sleep," he whimpered, and it broke Benvolio's heart.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Mercutio expertly avoided eye contact, playing with a loose thread on Benvolio's sleeve. "I-"

Benvolio, also expertly, weaved his fingers through Mercutio's and held their hands to his chest. "As much as I'd like to be telepathic, I'm not, so you gotta tell me if you need something here," he said softly.

Mercutio let out a sigh of internal debate, falling silent afterward for a moment. Benvolio patiently waited for him to collect his thoughts and assemble his words.

"It's stupid," he finally whined.

"Hey, look." Benvolio shuffled down enough to press a kiss to his lips. "It's not stupid. Nothing is stupid if it helps you."

Mercutio blinked at him a few times, then looked down.

"Could you... could you put your hand on my back? It's just a thing with the weight and contact placement-"

Benvolio kissed him again, at first only to shut him up but gaining the unintended side-effect of a lovely excuse to hold him tighter.

"You don't need to explain, love. It helps, that's reason enough for me."

A comfortable silence spanned several minutes, in which Benvolio was given ample time to remind himself of all the tricks and tells of Mercutio-before-sleep. He noticed the ankle rotating in agitated circles, a piece of energy even at the brink of surrendering to unconsciousness; the tensed muscles despite the relaxed setting, which trembled and relented as Benvolio ran his fingertips over the skin; Mercutio's nose scrunching up as he attempted to blink the melatonin-induced sting from his eyes.

Eventually, after ten minutes and six different mental excercises (not that Mercutio would ever admit he tried them), he fell asleep, and Benvolio soon after.

They ended up sleeping through nineteen texts and two missed calls, exclusively from Juliet. Benvolio squinted at his phone screen in the late afternoon light streaming through the window.

[Missed call, 12:37 PM]

Yo, did Cutio empty the candy bowl

I can't find any of the stuff

It was either him or Ro and R's a shit liar

Ben?

Benvolio?

Volioooooo

You're probably asleep lol

Or you've been kidnapped

I swear to god if you and Mer had sex last night and that's why you're still asleep now

Dude, two in the afternoon, this is really far off your sleep schedule.

Wait

Fuck

[Missed call, 2:06 PM]

Is Mer okay??

That's why you're not answering

You ARE still asleep, M was up late too, right?

The jumpy paranoia or whatever the proper psych term is

I didn't know he was still doing that

I mean it's not really a surprise, I guess I didn't expect it to just disappear, but it's gotten better, yeah?

Ugh, just call me when you wake up

Mercutio shifted in his sleep and his expression turned minutely more distressed. Benvolio, gentle as ever, smoothed out the crease between his eyebrows with the pad of his thumb, and Mercutio's face relaxed again. He clicked call.

"Hey, I'm alive. Cutio's okay now, I think. He's still asleep."

"How late were you two up?"

"7:10, last I remember."

"Jesus. When did he come to you?"

"Bold of you to assume he left in the first place."

"BEN."

"Around seven."

"And he didn't sleep before that as far as you know?"

"He definitely didn't."

"Dammit! God, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking about him when Tybalt suggested the movie. I wouldn't have said yes if I remembered."

"I know, and he does too. Don't feel bad."

"Little difficult not to when Mer spent approximately eight hours staving off sleep!"

"Look, he'll never admit to anything, and he's okay now. Do don't beat yourself up about it."

"I will and you can't stop me!"

"Have fun with that, then."

"Tell him I'm sorry?"

"Will do."

"Thanks. Gotta go, your cousin might forget not to microwave the fork again and I'd like my building not to burn down."

"I see. Go save the day, Jules."

"Bye!"

Mercutio, without opening his eyes, tightened the arm he had thrown over Benvolio's middle. "Who's that?"

"Juliet."

He yawned and nodded. "Kay. 'M still tired."

"Cause you overslept, idjit," and Benvolio emphasized the insult with a flick to Mercutio's nose, causing his eyebrows to furrow and his bottom lip to stick out in a pout.

"It's called an opportunistic sleep schedule, babe."

Benvolio laughed, carefully removing himself from the tangle of Mercutio's limbs. "Gotcha. Well, you enjoy your opportunistic sleep. I'm off to make tiny waffles."

At that, his eyes shot open. "I'm sorry what?"

"Yeah, with the tiny waffle maker. Such a pity I'll have to only make enough for myself..."

And then Mercutio was up quick, swinging long legs over the side of the bed to propel himself forward, landing right in Benvolio's arms.

"Reluctant to admit as I am, tiny waffles are suitable incentive to remove myself from the haven that is bed," he said, looking at Benvolio with much more intensity than was appropriate for the statement.

Mercutio then pecked him on the lips, patted his cheek, stepped around him in what very well could have been a waltz move of some kind, and swaggered out of the room.

Benvolio sighed. His boyfriend would be reduced to a trembling ball of stress again in five to six hours, but he knew he should enjoy the present state of emotional overcompensation for the brief lapse in stability.

He followed Mercutio to make tiny waffles.

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A bit late, but this is my obligatory Hallowe'en writing piece. I should/could have done Tall Man, but there's some residual sadness there that I'm not going to mess with. Plus the recent ghosty one shot. I'm good.

Happy All Hallows Day, faeries, and may you never, ever watch It. At least not until you've read the book.