when jason dean was sixteen , he moved to gilbert , arizona . it was hot and shitty and humid as fuck , making it hard to wear his trench coat at any given time . it’s been three years since the death of marissa dean , his mother , and two months since he legally changed his name from jaimie dean to jason dean .
by the time big bud and jason moved to gilbert , it was only a month until finals before summer break . unfortunately , jason still had to attend classes and then do the finals , even if he would only be attending the school for this time . after all , he wouldn’t be returning in the fall .
insert chemistry class , and one benjamin knott .
he’s one of , if not the most , beautiful boys jason’s ever seen . untamed light brown hair , circular glasses that are a little bit too small for his face , brilliant brown eyes . he wore ridiculous patterned shirts , too bright and loud for jason’s taste , but he wore them well . right off the bat , he offered to help catch jason up to speed . and , though jason knew what he was doing , he couldn’t say no to him .
everyday after school was spent in the library , benji catching him up on pre - calculus , with jason pretending not to know what the fuck he was doing so they could spend more time together . to this day , he has no idea if benji knew that jason was bullshitting about being bad at math –––– all he remembers is benji’s face lighting up when jason presents him with a 97 on the final , saying it was all because he learned from the best . when summer eventually came , they’d go to each other’s houses . well , they mostly went to jason’s . big bud was normally out on site during the day , meaning the house they rented was mostly empty . days were spent playing the original legend of zelda and castlevania , fucking around arizona , taking day trips into phoenix and fucking around metrocentre .
nights were just as killer , though . most of the day trips turned to crashing there , sneaking into long wong’s on mill with fake ids that barely got them in , letting benji convince him to roller skate , and when jason confessed he didn’t know how , showing him by holding his hands and keeping him steady . the night benji taught jason how to roller skate , an hour outside of the homes they were supposed to be at , where nobody knew who they were , jason kissed him for the first time , surrounded by neon lights and horrible disco music and gaggles of people .
from then on , they weren’t just benji and jason , they were benji AND jason . you couldn’t find one without the other . benji was there when jason bought his motorcycle , held onto him tightly from the back of it as jason took sharp turns and laughed so loud it was like he was finally free .
benji was jason’s first everything . first kiss , first boyfriend , first panic of having to jump out of a window at seven am half dressed because benji’s father was approaching the door and jason was most definitely not allowed to stay the night . and , for three months , that was what benji was to jason –––– everything .
but , when august was coming to an end , and the courts had finally , finally given big bud dean the green light for tearing down an abandoned warehouse where they used to ship out hay to the rest of the country , they knew there wasn’t a way to keep their relationship alive . it wasn’t to say that they didn’t love each other , because they did . they were young and in love . but keeping a gay long distance relationship steady in the eighties , when one person moves around no less than six times a year ? it wasn’t salvageable . on august 29th , the two of them bought castlevania ii : simon’s quest , finished it the �� same day . they went to phoenix that night , got high and went rollerskating , made out in one of the booths where no one could see them , then made it back to gilbert at two am . benji helped him finish packing his clothes .
well , except one thing . a trench coat , not his signature black one , but a light blue one , not as heavy , very lightweight . perfect for arizona heat . jason made sure he left that one behind , snuck it into benji’s overnight bag with a smile and a turquoise necklace in the left pocket .
they locked eyes as the car pulled away from the rental house , jason’s motorbike in the trunk , but his eyes staring out the passenger mirror , so he could look at benji as they drove off . neither of them cried , no , most of the tears were saved for the night before and for when both of them were alone . it was an amicable break up –––– a breakup that let them still have a piece of each other’s hearts . the next place is las vegas , for a little while , jason debates on taking his bike and driving the five hours back south just to kiss benji one last time . but the day he decides he’s going to do it , big bud says it’s time to move again , and then they go to boston , then miami , seattle , evansville , sherwood .
it would take four years for the two of them to be reunited again . veronica and jason are living in a small city in connecticut called meriden . it’s the perfect halfway point between their schools –––– jason was going to columbia university for music , and veronica was going to harvard for ancient studies and an education degree . it worked out nice . neither of you necessarily liked connecticut ( when your dad’s business was stable , you lived in hartford , so it wasn’t horribly unfamiliar , but it brought bad memories ) , and you both decided that new york would be where you would move after veronica graduated , since she would be doing so early .
but the point is , jason went to college in new york , and he loved it . for the first time in his life , he had real , genuine friends . veronica called jason , sebastian , and carey the terrible trio , because they were just that . always fucking around , causing chaos because why not ? carey was fucking batshit , a total asshole and loud as fuck , the biggest prankster jason had ever meant . sebastian was dry humor and really good timing , the muscle , an absolute giant but one of the softest people he had ever met . friends , true , genuine friends .
columbia is where jason finds benjamin knott again , still wearing those obnoxiously loud dress shirts , still with glasses that are a little bit too bit . still just as gorgeous as he remembers him . when they locked eyes , for the first time in four years , they both cried . they skipped both of their next classes , hanging out , hugging each other so fiercely that jason was afraid one of them might get hurt . against all odds , they were in each others lives again , and this time , they weren’t going to let each other go .
and , really , they couldn’t . they had a bond that couldn’t be broken , and it only grew as time went on . jason’s friend group expanded from three to eight in a matter of about a week , including himself . they called themselves the bachelor party , because veronica told the other seven about how sad jason was at the idea of not having any friends so he couldn’t have his own bachelor party one day . thus , the bachelor party was born .
benji is jason’s best man at his and veronica’s wedding . his speech brought tears to everyone’s eyes , including his own . it was heart wrenchingly beautiful , the way he talked about the boy with an ash covered heart , the boy he knew when he was young , and who that boy ended up becoming .
veronica and jason couldn’t have children naturally . as a trans man , it would’ve been impossible . but veronica wasn’t short on either money or time . science was what lead them to have their first born daughter , athena celeste sawyer - dean . the day that she was born , jason got two new members into his family . his daughter , and benji , athena’s god father . the two of them were linked , forever . when jason’s son , julian gordon sawyer - dean , was born three years later , benji became his god father , too . and when benji and his husband , michael bloomfield , adopted their daughter , bridget , jason became her god father .
in a way , benji and jason are definitely soulmates . just , maybe not in a traditional way . everyone can have multiple . veronica is the love of jason’s life , the reason he gets out of bed , his holy grail . but benji was jason’s first love . and without him , jason wouldn’t have been able to love veronica , or anyone . he put the foundation down for jason to be able to heal , and that’s the best thing he could have ever done for him .
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hello! i love your fic a ton, jsyk, but could you please explain armand's powers? i understand the basic gist of the different gifts, but i read somewhere that armand is extra good at telepathy, basically, but i'm not sure what that actually means? and the wiki is tbh not very helpful :/
Hi! Thank you! :D
I’m gonna be completely honest with you: I’m feeling like, pretty fucking lazy right now and I’m kickin back in my PJs drinking Vitamin Water and stuff so if anyone else wants to hop in with some quotes and stuff from the books that would be cool! But this is what I have to say about Armand’s Powers just off the top of my head LOL
Armand IS extra good at telepathy and it crops up here and there in the books, and Anne has talked about it on FB and stuff too. (I recall her talking about it on one of her RP threads when she was answering questions as Lestat? (Yeah I said it, that’s an RP thread, Anne.) )
Mostly the thing is that he’s just really good at Mind Gift stuff, especially when it comes to communicating and influencing people. He can also see spirits and auras, which is really rare for vampires. He’s able to cast powerful illusions, notably like in The Vampire Armand when he’s all fucked up and burnt and he creates an illusion for Benji & Sybelle so that they don’t have to see him like that. And there’s the question of how he saved them, if he really was astrally projecting himself and using telekinesis to physically hurt someone.
Those are the things that come to my mind first as far as like objective proof that he’s just really deft, but I’ll bring up a couple other points that are sort of a gray area/headcanon territory.
When we meet him in Interview with the Vampire Louis basically instantly obsessed and in love and keeps talking about how calm and easy Armand feels and in some ways it’s just, so not the Armand that we actually know. Armand even admits to trying to influence him later, to get Louis to come speak to him and probably to leave Claudia. There’s also the way Claudia is all zonked out and quiet when they’re talking to Armand, like he did that to do her, and she mentions to Louis that he was communicating to her directly.
These things in and of themselves may or may not be extraordinary with the Mind Gift. Lestat usually discusses it in a context of “and then I found out I could pop lightbulbs, holy shit!” and he’s not getting into the mechanics of whether or not it’s difficult to maintain varying channels with different people all at once, like how Armand would’ve been doing with Louis and Claudia. So really like, that may or may not be a very average skill to have but I imagine it takes a certain degree of focus and I like to think that Armand is special because he’s my son.
And the same happens in TVL when Lestat meets him and Armand is telling him backstory using mostly Mind Gifting and like, that again is not necessarily an extraordinary feat because a lot of vampires can do it I guess, but Lestat is still a baby fledgling at the time so he’s like OMG DO YOU BELIEVE THIS!!! I also suspect that to be a coven leader you’d need to be fairly adept at Mind Gifting and influencing people when you need to. That seems important. I’m convinced that he used a lot of telepathic manipulation to keep everything in order, and while I love the idea that Armand maybe fell into the same cycle of cruelty from the way he was indoctrinated, I could see a version where he relied on Mind Gifting to break people as a way to keep some tiny last shred of his own dignity. LIKE YKNOW, VERSUS THE METHOD OF STARVING SOMEONE AND FEEDING THEM THEIR BEST FRIEND? YKNOW?
Like don’t get me wrong cause I’m a slut for Armand being cruel but I could also hurt myself with angst and empathy if I entertain that idea. Fuck I’m sad lol.AND THEN! YKNOW LIKE IN QUEEN OF THE DAMNED. It’s like, whose version do we believe if we have Daniel roving around all paranoid and wondering if Armand is DOING this to him? Was he really? Both of them are such messes it’s hard to really say–Daniel was in the throes of addiction to regular substances as well as to Armand’s blood so we can’t 100% trust him not to be paranoid, but who’s to say Armand WASN’T doing it to him?
I know other vampires can spellbind and stuff like that so this is again not to say that Armand’s gifts are necessarily unique, but I think there’s wiggle room here to exaggerate his skill if we want to. Like, for example, I personally got the impression that the whole CALLING SOMEONE FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE is reserved for the extra powerful, like the ancients or like yknow Lestat bcuz he’s a Mary Sue he drank so much of Akasha’s blood, but Armand seems to be able to do it with Daniel, and pinpoint his location or call to him from anywhere.
It’s just weird cause like of the POV characters we get in canon like, we get Lestat and he’s an anomaly, we get Marius who’s like 8 million years old, and then David and Quinn are both like witchy Talamasca bros so they don’t count, and Louis didn’t have the Mind Gift, so… I think there’s not really a good control to look at when we try to figure out like, what does run-of-the-mill Mind Gifting look like? And that leaves me a lot of space to pretend that Armand is extra good.
Anyway my boy is really talented and smart and withdrawn and those are a fantastic combination to let him sulk inside his head for 500 years and practice. ;.;
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