#BennyLafitte200Celebration

[youre-only-gay-once]

Benny and Dean » 8×05 » Blood Brother

For @transbearbenny​’s 200 follower celebration .｡.:*☆

>>> Day Four Prompt: Benny Ships

[fruitmixtape]

hoh!Benny Lafitte and his service dog Jax <3

for @transbearbenny's follower celebration day 3: disablednatural

[kjosi]

As Fate Would Have It

Fandom: Supernatural (~800 words) // Link to AO3 Characters: Benny Lafitte, Dean Winchester Summary: Of all things Benny could find in this hell-adjacent wasteland, he stumbles right across a gem. He’s a human - someone who is lost, himself, yet searching for something. Benny cuts him a deal.

Harsh winters, damp springs, scorching summers, desolate autumns.

How long he has survived like this, Benny doesn't even know. It seems that fate has doomed him into being eternally chased by his own kind, dead or not – on top of other monsters, as well. Being executed by the leaders of his own nest, ending up in a barren place that he's come to learn is called 'Purgatory'...

Each day is another fight for survival. Sometimes he's not even sure why he tries. He's so used to this place, it's practically home – but damn, what he would give to get out of here. To go back to his homeland, back on Earth (whichever direction that may be), to go and make friends. The old bonds of brotherhood, friendship, and intimacy that he craves. And his past love.

There are few friends to make down here in Purgatory, of course. The ones that he did have, he got close to as close can get.

But in the end... everyone just screws you over.

They even told lies about a way out of here that only humans could get through. Call it Purgatory folklore. As if humans can enter this place, anyway.

But the more time he spends in this “afterlife” the more he gets invested in the idea of finding this fabled escape hatch. He's heard from more than one fellow monster that some humans had gotten trapped here in the past – long, long ago.

It was a story of two lovers. A shapeshifter and her close, female companion – a witch, no less. Somehow, when the shapeshifter was killed, her human soulmate had entered purgatory with her, via spell. The spell had bound their souls together in such a way that whenever her lover was to die, the witch would follow. And follow, she did. They remained in Purgatory long enough to gain a reputation, surviving ages. They were an inseparable, and unmatched duo among the land of Eve's fallen creatures.

Soon, the legend had begun to spread of a witch escaping with her lover, through a magic portal only meant for humans. There was a spell involved, one that allowed the shifter to pass through by merging their soul into the witch's physical being. The two had never been seen since, and came to be known as the ones who... got away.

Benny wants to get away.

Some time along the path, one of his newer fellow vampire buddies catches wind of a human sighting. He warns him to stay away, that the human is his kill. Huh...a human, being stuck in these parts? He scoffs at the vampire. It's too good to be true. Fate may be a bitch, but today she is a sweet mother.

So, on the outside, Benny puts up a fight just enough to stay in character, eventually agreeing to back off. But on the inside, he balks. He secretly follows his friend into a somewhat clear area of forest, where the two of them find the human facing off with another vampire.

Benny itches to intervene, wanting a chance to display his worthiness as an ally with the human, but he quickly sees that the human is able to hold their own very easily; it doesn't end well for the nameless vampire, who is swiftly beheaded without remorse. Blinking, Benny finally steps forward, but isn't quick enough to prevent his friend from launching an attack toward the human.

The human is a handsome man, and when the vampire lunges at him, he crashes backwards to the ground, wind knocked out of him. It's a struggle, but the machete is too far from his reach, and Benny realizes that the man is bound to lose. But as fate would have it, Benny cannot afford for him to lose. So with a roar he cuts in and tackles his former “friend”, slicing through his neck without hesitation.

Retracting his fangs, he stands up, noting keenly the tense silence behind him. “What... No thanks for saving your hide?”

After some threats, along with words tossed back and forth that could almost be described as a mating dance of sorts, he makes his case to the very reasonably wary human. But this human turns out to have a very strict condition before agreeing to go along with Benny's plan.

“First...we find the angel.”

Oh, what...that angel he's been hearing about? To suggest traveling with not only a human but a flashing beacon of heavenly grace? He tilts his chin up in disagreement. “Three's a crowd, chief.”

Of course the absolute rarity of a human in Purgatory would accompany the absolute unreality of an angel in Purgatory. But the man is adamant, and short with his reply.

“Well, hey...either you're in... or you're out.”

-

[gales-boyfriend]

Benny Lafitte + Fear Dance by Black Gene for the Next Scene for @transbearbenny 

day 2: pocnatural

[arsonistsam]

Day Two of the @transbearbenny 200 Followers Celebration

POCnatural: Blacknatural Benny fic

Benny doesn’t know where he comes from. Not really.

He remembers running around Carencero in knickers. Little brown-skinned boy passing between the Cajun and the Creole populations and doing odd jobs soon as he could do any job.

Usually something ‘long the lines of Deliver this letter, boy. Or Take this to pick up a cut of meat and buy yourself something with whatever’s left.

Not that he didn’t have a home. Benny had so many homes you could say he was richer than any man in town- Black or White.

He has his own room to spend the night in at Mrs. Dieuveille’s inn and one he shares with two other boys when he stays over with the Breaux sisters, old maids who made it their life’s purpose to take care of the young.

He’s not sure who named him- could be Miss. Louise who lives on the furthest block from the town square or the old man who always has washing for Benny to take.

As far as he knows, maybe he’s always been Benny.

Folks don’t ask him where his mama is no more. Not that new folks come to town. The streets stay separated. Road segregated between the languages and slang Benny knows to heart and holds in his palm like a tangible thing.

At the end of every work day sellin’ fruit off the back of Big Joe’s cart or hauling bags of feed to the chicken pens around town, he has a place to lay his head down on either side of the fence. And a hand smoothes oil into his hair like it was his own mother. He pushes into the hand like a calf to the breast and sighs deeply before his strings are cut.

[fruitmixtape]

oh no! it’s the angelvampirehunter triad! they’re trans!

(originally created for @transdisabledbearbenny ‘s 200 follower celebration day 4 benny ships and day 5 transnatural <3)

[youre-only-gay-once]

Benny Lafitte ⭒ 8×05 ⭒ Blood Brother

For @transbearbenny​’s 200 follower celebration .｡.:*☆

>>> Day One Prompt: Favorite Benny Moments/Episode

[arsonistsam]

Day Four of the @transbearbenny 200 follower Celebration

Benny Ships: Bi4Bi Andrea and Bear!Benny dance at a gay club in 1963 Florence and 2013 Cleveland.

Andrea takes him to a club. They’re in Cleveland this time, nothing like the fast paced life of Florence when they met.

When they walk into the building, Benny’s surprised at how full it is. Andrea just takes his hand in hers a leads him to the bar, “The club scene’s different from what it was in the ‘60s,” she looks around. “Much more action here.”

Benny didn’t mind the small clubs and bars they practically lived in back in Florence. The first time where not only was his build and manner accepted but celebrated. A sticky floor where the top of his shows shoes swept the hems of dress pants and gowns alike.

He orders something fruity, the type of thing you couldn’t find back then even at the types of places they hung around.

He raises his glass to Andrea, gorgeous as ever, “I don’t mind.”

She shakes her head and laughs, “You wouldn’t.”

There’s no stage in this club, just a large dance floor where everyone’s pressed up together. Pushing and swirling with no specific finesse.

Benny remembers raising his eyes to the stage during his first visit with Andrea, not more than two days since they had met. There was someone in a red dress, tall with heels that made her tower ever larger, with a baritone voice that sung like an angel.

To say Benny was startstruck would be an understatement. Especially when the singer came off the stage and swiped a hand across Benny’s shoulders in passing. It was always going to be Andrea he went home with that night, though.

Now, he and Andrea with their drinks step out onto the floor. It’s hot and he’s already sweating through his white tank top. Andrea kisses the cheeks of a woman she sees across the room as Benny bobs his head to the music.

When Andrea comes back he ropes her into a dance, pressing them together with a hand to her back and hers in his hair.

There’s a lot more grinding to the dance than there was when they used to hit the town. Not that the scene was always sweet and gentle but even here, times have changed.

Someone comes up behind him, about level height- maybe taller- to Benny. He presses against Benny’s back, moving with them, blowing warm air onto the back of his neck. Benny could shake ‘im off but he’s already breathless from Andrea’s lips brushing his ear and the stranger’s hand gripping his hips.

Andrea pulls him into a kiss. He’s never loved her as much as right now, she’s flawless in the dark light- flushed and breathing hard. Sweat wets her skin and hair, loose from her ponytail, sticks to her face.

The stranger brushes stubble across the hair on the back of Benny’s neck. Makes him jolt back into that hard line like he’s stuck between too furnaces. The idea of a Benny-sandwich makes him laugh right into Andrea’s mouth. She kisses him with their teeth clacking.

The world narrows back down to the two of them when the stranger leaves, presumably to find a dance partner who’s more practiced at the swivel of his hips to the beat.

Andrea’s eyes are glassy, she tugs on a piece of leather at his hip. “Let’s get out of here!” She yells over the music.

This time Benny’s the one to pull her through to the bar. He raps on the counter, “‘cuse me, how do I pay for the tab?”

The bartender looks confused, they point up to a sign that says in big bold lettering BEAR NIGHT: TUESDAY NIGHTS BEARS DRINK FREE.

Andrea pushes him through to the exit, she’s laughing at him, good-naturedly. “You really think a place like that has a tab?”

“How was I supposed to know? I’ve never been here before. I never saw you pay, neither.”

Andrea leans into his side, hard, “I just told him drinks were on you,” she giggles again.

Benny turns around to face him, cups her face in his hands and swoops down to kiss her in the street-lamp light.

“I love you.”

Andrea smiles wide, “I love you.”

A thousand cars pass as they stand on the sidewalk and a thousand people dance, in 1963 and 2013.

[gales-boyfriend]

8.09 + The World of Mercy by Dir En Grey for @transbearbenny 💗!!

day 1: favorite benny moment/episode

[arsonistsam]

Day three of the @transbearbenny 200 follower celebration

Disablednatural: Benny with Arthritis (slight DeanBenny)

As long as Benny can remember, his hands have hurt. Maybe from years of holding a sword, a blade, a rope. Years gripping necks and picking people up by their scruff. Watching ‘em run for their lives.

His hands hurt now though when he kneads dough for dinner rolls and clutches the wheel while driving.

Dean takes pity on him and massages his worn-out knuckles. And God- it hurts. But it feel so good. Good to have someone close who cares about him. Someone’s hands on your hands.

Sometimes Benny’s hands shake, from the pain, sometimes, but sometimes the memories of what he’s done come back to him like a big old storm rushing in, breaking his fingers and knees down like he’s a sinner bearing the cross.

The pain gets so bad he stays in bed ignoring Dean’s concerned check-ins and the plates of food left next to him.

He shakes and cries.

Dean forces him to the doctor when he recovers. She holds his red gnarled hands in hers and sends him for an X-ray.

Rheumatoid Arthritis, that’s the word She says when he comes back. His autoimmune system’s been attacking himself. Hell for his hands.

She gives him so pills to try out. Benny doesn’t have the heart to tell her it probably won’t work on him. Dean makes him promise to take them for a while anyway.

He’s exhausted when he gets home even though he’s done basically nothing all day. He collapses right into bed barely remembering to slip himself one of the pills before he’s knocked out.

He wakes up to the sound of clacking.

Dean is illuminated by the light of computer screen, fingers rushing over the keyboard.

“Hey,” Benny rubs his eyes.

Dean’s head pops up over his laptop, “Why’re you up at two in the morning.”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Dean looks away, “I’ve been researching how to help you with your whole-“ his hand circles in the air.

“Arthritis,” Benny substitutes.

Dean’s hand drops, “Yeah, that.”

Benny can’t believe he’s saying this, “Maybe you can’t help, Cher. Maybe it’s something we need to trust the doctors with.”

Dean makes a face, “C’mon, Benny. You know that’s BS. Listen,” a new hand swipes through the air, horizontal, “give me a problem and I can fix it.”

Dean’s not gonna rest till he does something. “Well,” Benny leans against the frame of the threshold, “in that case I wouldn’t mind one of your famous hand massages.”

Dean’s like a little kid in how he jumps up to grab the lotion. He pulls Benny down and into the chair he was sitting at seconds before.

Neither of them speak, the feeling of Dean’s calloused fingertips pressing into Benny’s sore joints speaks for itself. So does the load moan Benny lets out.

Dean barks out a laugh, “That good, huh?”

Benny grins wide. “When it’s you, always.”

Dean looks down at their hands and gulps, smoothes his thumb over the thin skin of Benny’s knuckles.

Benny bends down to catch his eye, “How’s it look, Doc?”

“Good. Real good.”

Benny goes back to sleep with the warm memory of Dean’s touch battling the sharp pain of his wrists and various ligaments.

When he wakes up, in the morning he takes another pill. Oughta give it a try anyway.

[arsonistsam]

Day six/last day of the @transbearbenny 200 follower count celebration. It’s been fun, y’all.

Free Space: Prophet!Benny

It’s the middle of the afternoon and Dean’s been out all week. Benny thinks Sam went with him, out on some hunt for a Vitala. “No, you can’t come. Just watch the kid. Maybe some tv.” Sounds nasty.

Kevin’s passed out on the kitchen table, God-rock sitting pretty next to him

Benny knows he’s not supposed to touch it or look it or think about it. Every time he even comes into the kitchen Dean ushers him out and promises to make whatever he wants most. Dean refuses to go to the nearest blood bank and steal a few pints of A positive for him. What typa friend…

So, yeah. Benny touches it anyway. He holds it up and his big old fingers and sets his eyes on the symbols. They swim in front of his face for a second before sharpening into clarity.

Who said this was hard? It’s like a slight pressure on his temples. Like the pre-pre-cursor to a migraine. Benny fills a glass of water and gulps it down and the feeling fades. Benny imagined more drama. Maybe his eyes would burn out, which would suck, or, he doesn’t know, wounds would suddenly open on his skin. But no, he looks at the symbols and they look back at him. There’s a symbol with a twist at the end like a pogo stick- that’s lamb’s blood.

He thought this would be harder. Isn’t Kevin supposedly the only one that can translate this thing? The only prophet around?

Benny grabs a big piece of paper and a pencil from Sam’s room. He spends the next twenty minutes translating to the symbols from what they mean in his mind to the words in English. By the end he’s got a recipe for a spell with the annoying sort of foreword Dean complains about while he cooks.

It’s only when he’s putting the notebook down next to Kevin’s practically comatose body that he remembers why he came here in the first place.

The video thingy is broken. VCR. See had what happened was that Benny put the tape in like Dean instructed, some sort of movie about a man dying and meetin’ his maker. When the time came that the video was over Benny wanted to switch it out for a new one, Some Like It Hot, but the damn tape wouldn’t come out! In all his hee-ing and haw-ing the whole thing crashed onto the concrete ground and broke into a million pieces.

Fuck him.

Alright. Guess that means he’s going to the store. How much can a new VCR cost? Two dollars? He does in fact know how to drive even if he doesn’t know how to get gasoline. He asks the pretty sounding lady in the car machine on how to get to a tv store. She points him Northwest.

He arrives at an asymmetrical monstrosity of a building. Best Buy a great big tag reads on the store front. Even Benny in his old ways knows that combination of yellow and blue makes for sore eyes.

He walks through the magic sliding doors and is met by a teenager with a sparse mustache and similarly disconcerting blue shirt.

“Hi, sir! How can I help you?” The kid’s voice is squeaky and grates Benny’s already frayed nerves. He takes a deep breath and plants his feet.

“I- uh- I need a VCR. Mine had an accident.” Practically killed itself, via Benny of course.

The teenager tilts his head at Benny, “We don’t sell VCRs anymore. But we can get you a DVD player.”

“Dee-vee-dee?”

The boy, Benny shoots a look to his name tag, Mason exhales hard through his nose.

“It’s like a VCR but instead of VHS tapes you buy in DVDs.”

All the acronyms are starting to be too confusing. “I just need a VCR.”

Mason puts his hands on his hips, “You’ll have to buy one online then. We don’t sell them here.”

“Fine.” Benny turns to make his way back to the car.

“Fine!” says Mason behind him. Benny shoots him a glare and he shrinks down.

How’s he gonna explain this to the Winchesters?

Turns out that’s not even his first problem when he gets back to the bunker. Sam and Dean and Kevin are all gathered in the kitchen facing the table. Sam is gripping his head, Dean’s frozen in place, and Kevin is furiously pointing at the piece of paper Benny left next to his head.

“That was not me! I woke up and there it was, completed, right next to my sleeping head,” Kevin starts pacing, “Oh, God. What if this is threat? What if someone is saying they could have killed me? Why would they even leave the Demon tablet? What if they took Benny for ransom?”

“Well that wouldn’t make any sense considering I’m right here.” All three boys turn to look at him.

“Benny! You’re alive!” Kevin throws his arms around Benny’s neck.

Benny pats his back for a while, “Yeah just went out to buy something.” Kevin lets go.

“So you don’t know who did this?”

“I do,” Benny takes a deep breath, “I translated it.”

He’s immediately hit with a face full o’ holy water.

“Thanks for that,” he swipes a hand down his face. “‘M not a demon.”

Dean pushes him up against the wall, forearm to his chest, “So what are you, then? And what have you done with Benny?”

“It’s me! I’m just Benny.”

“Yeah, right.” Dean pushes away from him and picks up the paper to examine it.

Sam speaks up from next to him, “Benny, how did you translate this?”

“I don’t know,” Benny shoves his hands in his pockets, “I just looked at the rock and suddenly the words popped in my head. Figured it’d be a waste if I didn’t write them down for y’all.”

“I thought there could only be a single prophet at once?” Dean pipes up.

Sam shifts on his feet, “Maybe Benny doesn’t really count as alive. I mean aside from being undead he also literally died and went to the afterlife.”

“But he came back.”

Sam shrugs, “Maybe it doesn’t matter in the eyes of God.”

Everyone’s staring at Benny now, the preassure’s rising- “I broke the video player thing!” He blurts out, slapping a hand over his mouth.

“You What?!” Dean storms past him to get to the machine.

Benny turns to Sam, “I was trying to take the tape out and the whole thing just crashed on the floor.”

Sam claps him on the shoulder, “It’s alright. Probably time to upgrade to DVD anyway.”

“That’s what the guy at the store said too.”

Kevin’s sunk to the floor by this point, head in hands, he’s rocking back and forth.

“Am I a fraud? Is my life a lie? Am I even real?” He looks at Benny and Sam, “Can you guys see me?”

“Yeah we can see you just fine.”

Sam crouches down to sit next to Kevin on the floor, “Just means you get to take a break now.”

Kevin nods his head and gets up, he walks to Benny’s side, “Thanks, for helping me out.”

“‘Course.”

Kevin nods his head and leaves the kitchen, presumably for his room.

Sam turns to Benny, “How are you holding up with all of this?”

“I feel bad about breaking Dean’s VH- whatever.”

“No, I meant like- the demon tablet.”

“Oh.” Benny thinks, he doesn’t feel any different, “I don’t feel anything new.”

Sam sweeps him up and down with his eyes like he’s checking for a physical change. “Don’t feel too bad about Dean’s VHS. If he really wants another one he can find it online.”

“I have money if that’ll help,” Benny holds out his crinkled $10 bill.

“Yeah,” the word moves out Sam’s mouth slowly, “thanks.”

Benny feels strangely accomplished.

They all take a break to go to the beach. Kevin’s so pale from having been underground for months that he gets tanlines on the tops of his feet.

Benny enjoys the feeling of swim shorts against his leg hair and catches Dean looking once or twice at how the stretch waist digs into his belly. He’s got a fruity drink in hand with a bright pink parasol to boot.

When the new VHS finally comes, Dean bans Benny from operating it.

That’s all good by him, the damn thing is impossible to use anyway.

When a new word-o’-God comes by Benny’ll take a look. Take a load off the kid.

Life on top isn’t so bad when he’s got a family.

[arsonistsam]

Favorite Benny Quote for Day One of the @transbearbenny 200 follower celebration!

It’s not my favorite episode but my favorite quote from Benny is:

“Maybe you like being man meat for every Tom, Dick, and Harry.”

From 8x01 We Need to Talk About Kevin

Runner up is him going back and forth with Castiel about being his aunt.

Most of my favorite Benny scenes are set in purgatory which makes for most insane lines.

[arsonistsam]

Day five of the @transbearbenny 200 follower celebration!

Transnatural: Starts with Elizabeth’s pov then switches to Benny’s story. CW: Pregnancy, unintentional misgendering, gender dysphoria, and The Ancient One being generally creepy

There’s a picture that hanging up on the wall of Quidry’s Gumbo Shack where Elizabeth rings up breakfast for the regulars. Not that non-regulars come to the restaurant unless they’ve lost their way and need directions.

It shows a woman, tall and stocky with hair down her back and a newborn in her arms. She ain’t smiling and there’s something off about the whole photograph- sepia and wrinkled. Old almost to the point of disrepair. The writing on the back just says Benjamine and Baby Girl Adele.

Before Roy came to town- Benny, Liz knows now- Mr. Cormier down the street used to point to the picture whenever it was time to settle his bill. His wrinkled old finger almost touching that stern yellowed face in the photograph, “Who’s that?” he’d ask like he hadn’t asked last Sunday and the Sunday before that.

Liz would sigh her usual sigh and say, “You know, Mr. Cormier? We never can be sure. Mawmaw always said it was her mother but no one really remembers. Could be the Virgin Mary, herself.”

Every time she said that last part Mr. Cormier would laugh and laugh, “I bet.” Then go on his way only to come back and remember he’d left his hat.

Liz knows better now that she knows Benny. Ever since he revealed himself as a vampire and that same damn Benjamine with the extra vowel knocked off, “Took too long to write,” he likes to joke but there’s a sad look in his eyes.

He’d been right surprised when she didn’t even question his vampirism like he doesn’t remember where he comes from. The folk tales of lycanthropes and big ghosts that rise from the gulf and drag you down with them. Benny’s not like those monsters, he’s sweet and gentle-like with every stew and piece of bread, every child that walks into the shack with big eyes and bigger heart than even he has.

He doesn’t say anything about the picture so Liz doesn’t take it down. She wants him to decide what he wants. Sometimes she catches him holding it, brushing his big thumb across her grandmother’s cheek over the film.

Mr. Cormier comes by of Sunday like clockwork, “Who’s that?” he asks, already having left his hat on the counter next to the register.

Liz hesitates. Maybe it’s not her place to tell. She throws a glance back at Benny working the grill. He’s looking up at her through the window. He nods.

She turns back to Mr. Cormier, “Family,” she says. When he leaves the forgets the hat and has to come back as usual.

After the morning rush of locals has cleared, Benny comes around to stay next to Liz at the counter. The silence is easy but it’s clear he wants to say something.

“So about that extra vowel-“ he starts.

“And the long hair,” Liz tilts her head towards him.

Benny rakes a hand down his face, “And the long hair.”

Liz turns to full face him, “I don’t care about that. You are who you are, doesn’t matter who you used to be.”

Benny peeks at her from the side, obviously suspicious, “Really?”

“You thought I’d be normal about you bein’ a vampire but weird about you having been a lady?” She puts a hand to her chest, mock offended, “I’m a modern woman, you know.”

Benny smiles, look down at his hands, “Some folks are like that. I hope you never have to deal with ‘em.”

Liz ain’t so lucky.

~

Benny was 19 when he found work on Mr. Landry’s small farm. He grew corn like most other folks around here but didn’t see much success.

Benny wasn’t hired as a farm hand, he was hired as a maid.

His own Mama sent him out when they started to come on harder times- mind you this was before the depression raged through America and most everybody came on hard times. She gave him a fresh few loaves of bread and some money to find a place to stay though not many people would let him book a night unattended. He left with her handprint burning on his cheek, Meilleurs voeux, Benjamine.

The Landry’s lent Benny a room for a cut of his paycheck as he worked, cooking and cleaning and taking care of the sick Madame Landry who’d grown incapacitated due to her illness. Mr. Landry never would tell what it was.

Throughout his work, Mr. Landry came to see that he was just as strong as any of the farmhands working in the field and periodically sent him out when there was nothing to be done.

That’s where he met Nathan. They grew close under the Louisiana sun and by the end of the summer Benny was sick in the mornings and thrumming with anxiety.

He couldn’t hide anymore. Nathan’s parents had called for him to come home at which point he had to confess that he had no money and obviously no land and that he’d have to leave Benny behind. Benny confessed to Mr. Landry, just to have someone to talk to as Madame Landry was growing weaker with each passing day.

To his surprise, Landry didn’t kick him out right there but offered him an extended stay in exchange for working until Madam Landry perished. Benny couldn’t think of a reason to say no. He stayed and his belly grew fuller each passing week.

He stood in front the full body mirror in his rented room, framed his stomach through his threadbare dress and tried to imagine what his child would look like- if it would look like Nathan at all.

He took to talking to himself, talking to the baby he reasoned, “Hello, there.” He’d stand in front of the mirror each morning and try to think of something to say. He soon grew sick of seeing himself, even more so than his usual discomfort. His chest had become less flat and figure more obvious underneath his thin clothing. He wrapped his arms around himself and covered the mirror, preferring to pretend like nothing was happening inside of him.

The months passed quickly with Madame Landry having good and bad days at a seemingly equal occurrence. She’d have a burst of energy then be restricted to bed rest and warm broth all in the same twenty four hours.

Benny himself grew feverish, pains and marks stretching over his skin leaving him panting and needing care in his own bed. Mr. Landry brought him glasses of water and stroked his hair as he struggled.

The baby came and doubled in size in no time, Adele, he names her. Rosy cheeked and interested in everything around her.

Around Adele’s third birthday Landry splurged and paid for Benny and the baby- now a toddler- to have a portrait taken. He and Madame were in good spirits as the crop yielded particularly well.

Then a man came to town, he conducted business with Mr. Landry. Said he was a sailor but never gave a name. He must’ve seen Benny working around the house cause he cornered him in the kitchen one day.

“What’s your name?” His eyes were sharp and too knowing.

“Benny.” Benny kept his eyes to the ground.

A long finger touched his hair, his shoulder, “Benny. An interesting name for an interesting housemaid.”

Benny nodded, flushing with embarrassing. He wasn’t small or meek by any means, even compared to many of the men out on the field he was the tallest of them all. Still, he wasn’t sure what to say here. “What’s your name?”

The man tipped his head, “Never mind that for now,” he swerved his eyes up and down Benny’s body, “How old are you.”

“Twenty-three. And you?”

The man laughed like there was a joke only he knew, “I’m very old, older than you’d think.”

“You don’t look a day over 30,” Benny said. The man chuckled again and went through the door to speak with Landry. So strange.

The Mr. and Madame Landry offered the man to stay the night. Benny was shocked that they were so open to his business and company, being an unmarried man. He figured they must really trust this man.

In the middle of the night, however, he was awoken by a knock at his door. He threw on his robe and rushed to open it. It was the man.

He pressed a finger to Benny’s mouth, “Do you want for anything?”

Benny couldn’t speak with a finger over his mouth, he glared at the man instead.

“Anything you want, your deepest wish. Come with me and you can have it.”

Mama always told Benny to never make a deal with the devil, but this was Louisiana, not Georgia, and he sure didn’t have a fiddle to fight with.

“Adele. I want her to be safe and cared for here. To never be left on her own.”

The man granted him this and Benny left with him in the middle of the night after he placed a kiss on Adele’s forehead.

The man’s boat was nothing like Benny imagined. A large towering thing like pirate stories of yore. Benny was brought aboard and found a group of people, some who called the man “Ancient one” while others simply called him “Father.”

Benny was stripped of his clothing and given men’s clothes similar to what he wore when working out in the field. “Can’t sail in those dresses,” The Ancient One had said.

Benny liked the linen pants and shirt, looser around his body and breathable to let the air in.

When he cut his hair, The Ancient One didn’t even take a second glance at him, and most of the crew had already assumed he was a boy.

He loved life on the sea, even if he missed his daughter, the high paced action of fighting and boarding ships to take their precious cargo was freeing. He wasn’t chained to anything, Louisiana or his past. He was just Benny, Benjamin when being formal.

He’s had his suspicions, Father truly never aged, looking just as young as the day he and Benny had met. It was only when Benny caught Father draining the blood from a prisoner that his suspicions were confirmed. Father wasn’t human.

Even for a decade afterward of plundering and fighting together, Benny didn’t truly know Father. Not until Father made him a new deal, “Let me turn you into one of us and you’ll have anything you want.”

Benny didn’t really have any wants. He’d grown into his body. Broad and muscly from years of work and covered in coarse hair that the ship’s women ran their fingers through as he passed. Voice deepened with time and grit. He had his fair share of wealth and had climbed the ranks among Father’s most beloved. Until he remembered, “To see Adele. I want to see my daughter.”

Father turned Benny into one of those things, a vampire, below the moonlight and they began the sailed back to Louisiana.

Benny watched from the road as his daughter, almost twenty now, brought bags inside of the old farmhouse where she had been born. He knew it was her from the way she walked, even so much time later.

He walked up and knocked on the screen door startling her as she sliced peaches into a large pot.

“Yes?” Adele curled her hand around the door.

Benny looked into her clear blue eyes, so much like his own. “Hi. I’m an old friend of Mr. Landry’s, thought I’d come by for a visit.”

Adele sunk against the door, “Oh- I’m sorry to tell you the news. Papa’s been dead for over three years.”

Benny’s heart fell. The man that took such good care of him and his child was dead? “Of course,” he said, “Thank you.”

He was on his way back down the road when the door opened again.

“Hey, Mister!” Adele yelled, “Why don’t you stay for supper?”

“I’m sorry, I have to go!” Benny declined. If he stayed for a moment too long he’d never want to leave again.

He felt at peace’s with his decision to come back when he boarded the ship. The memory of his daughter, safe, carried him throughout his first taste of human blood and sickness that wracked his body for days. He was almost happy with his fate.

Until he met Andrea.

[dogboy-danielcain]

Benny Lafitte + Eastriverstatepark by MOZIAH

For @transbearbenny's 200 Follower Celebration!

Day 6, Free Space: This is basically a really self-indulgent AU-ish thing where Benny gets to settle down with his husband and his great-granddaughter and work at a restaurant and just be part of a family