I awake to a groan.

"Agh... my head." A male voice whispers.

I pull the covers over my head to block out any more noise so I can go back to sleep, but it's useless. Shuffling echoes around the room, followed by a few more "oof"s and groans. Who even is that? Why won't he let me sleep?

Oh yeah. Ben.

I feel a poke at my shoulder. "Hmm..." I lazily mumble from underneath the covers.

"Get me food and medicine." Ben demands.

I sit up and look at him. Who does he think he is? "No." I answer.

He simply glares at me. "Did you just tell me 'no'?" He asks sassily and, I'm pretty sure, rhetorically.

I pull the covers up to my face and fall back down into bed, curling up into a ball for extra warmth.

He yanks the covers off of me and tosses them to the ground, leaving me freezing in my nightgown. I quickly pull it down past my hips to make sure everything is covered, then I let out a loud and obviously vexed growl.

"Give me the dang covers back, you biotch!" I shriek. I am not a morning person, I admit, and I can be a real jerk in the morning. But Ben deserves it right now. How dare he take my covers away?!

He winces and holds his head, then gives me a ticked-off frown. "Shut. Up." He commands. Dang, where is the sweet Ben that I met yesterday? Maybe he's not a morning person either. "Go get me my frickin' medicine, proxy, or I'll kill you."

Oh, right. I'm his slave.

"You wouldn't kill me." I retort.

"Don't think I won't."

Oh, right. He's a murderer.

Dang, I really don't have a choice, do I? "You're a jerk." I say.

"You're making my head hurt. Ugh, I hate hangovers..." he mutters, walking back to his bed.

"Then don't get drunk out of your mind." I retort, swinging my legs off the bed.

Suddenly, two hands wrap firmly around my wrists as Ben towers over me and pins me to the bed.

To say 'my heart starts racing' would be an understatement. Panic practically replaces the blood in my veins. I struggle under his grip,but he doesn't budge. Instead his grip grows painfully tighter as he leans down close to my face.

"I own your life," Ben seethes through gritted teeth. "I am your master, so start treating me like it. Or do you need me to show you why you should show me respect?"

I don't know what that could mean, but I don't want to find out, so I vigorously shake my head 'no'.

He chuckles and leans back. "I can practically smell the fear radiating off of you. Put on some perfume. It reeks." He says, stumbling back over to his bed.

Insecurity rushes over me. "I think that's morning breath that you're smelling, and I can't say yours smells too great either, elfie." I fight back.

He flops down into his bed, then groans. "Just— please. Please get me my medicine, and please don't call me elfie." He mumbles, then turns and looks up at me with that pathetic yet adorable puppy-dog-eyed look that makes me melt. Why does it make me melt? Because I'm a freaking doormat.

"Fine." I say, then stand up and stretch.

"Thanks." He mutters into his pillow.

I walk out the door and somehow find my way down to the dining room, only to find Kate and Toby already sitting there, pounding on the table and chanting.

"Waffles! Waffles! Waffles!"

"Hey guys, what's up?" I say still somewhat groggily as I walk over to them.

"(Y/N)!" Toby exclaims excitedly.

"Toby!" I call back.

"(Y/n)!" Kate cheers this time.

"Kate!" I return. I walk over to the table and sit down next to them.

"W-we're chanting f-for waffles! W-wanna join us-s?" Toby smiles.

"Why are you chanting for waffles?" I ask. Why wouldn't they go make them themselves?

"Because," Kate slaps Toby's shoulder. "This bad boy can fit so many hecking waffles."

What?

"Don't be so mean! Toby's not a bad boy!" I whine. They both give me underwhelmed giggles. "What?"

"Nothing. S-s-so whatchya u-up to?" Toby asks.

I frown, remembering what I came down here for. "Ben needs me to get him food and medicine for his hangover." I retort.

"Dang, that boy's pathetic." Kate says with a chuckle.

"D-do you need help f-f-finding it?" Toby asks. I nod. "Alright, i-i-it's over here." He stands up out of his chair and walks me into the kitchen.

Once in there, Toby opens up one of the drawers and pulls out a bottle of pain killers. He then shows me were the dishes are, so I pull out a small dish and put three of the pills in it while Toby grabs a glass of water.

"Ok sweet. So y-you said he wanted food too, r-right?" Toby asks.

"Yup. But he was being a b—" wait, Toby doesn't like swearing. "...a jerk this morning, so let's not give him anything too fancy." I say with a laugh.

Toby chuckles a bit, opening up a cabinet and pulling out a box of cereal. "Fruit Loops i-it is, then."

We pour the cereal into a bowl and fill it with milk, then Toby pulls a tray out of nowhere, proceeding to put the food and medicine on the tray.

"Uh, thanks." I mutter, confused as to where the tray came from.

"No problem!" He cheers, then prances his way around me and out of the kitchen. I pick up the tray and follow, but not without giggling a bit before I do so.

"(Y/n)! I have an idea!" Kate exclaims.

Oh dear heavens, save me.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Dude, dude, dude. When you give Ben the medicine, you should call him 'master'."

Oh dear heavens, save me.

"Kate, no—!"

"YES! DO YOU WANT HIM OR NOT?" She shouts excitedly.

"I couldn't care less! It's you who wants me to want him!" I exclaim with an exasperated giggle.

"No! No no no!" She denies, shaking her head vigorously. "Just do it! Please? For me?" She begs, giving me puppy dog eyes.

Oh no... not the eyes... I always lose to those eyes, no matter who it is.

"Fine." I say shortly. Suddenly both her and Toby start rejoicing, and rather obnoxiously too. I shake my head with a laugh.

"Well let's go see how it turns out." I say, making my way back to the stairs. They wave me off, then sit down and continue their chant for waffles.

Wow. These are my friends.

Oh boy.

I begin my journey to Ben's room, and with every step, I feel my stomach filling up with dread. It'll be so embarrassing if I do what Kate says and call him master, but I don't want to let her down. I imagine the scenario of what it would be like to come back and tell her I didn't say it...

"So? How'd it go?!" Kate asks me eagerly.

"Uh, it went fine." I reply nervously, wringing my hands and avoiding eye contact.

"How'd he react to when you called him master?" She asks, slightly less enthusiastic this time. I know she notices my nervousness, which is raising her suspicion.

"About that... I didn't call him master." I reveal, hanging my head.

She doesn't answer at first, but after a few seconds she finally speaks. "Why not?" She asks with no emotion in her voice.

Ugh, the dreaded question of 'why'... "I just... thought that would be embarrassing." I mutter. I can feel my ears burning, so that means I'm definitely blushing.

"Huh, what a wimp." She says, turning her back to me and walking up the stairs to meet Toby.

I shake my head. I don't want that to happen. I care more about Kate and Toby and their opinion of me than I do Ben and his opinion.

I somehow make my way back to Ben's room successfully, so I take a deep breath and let myself in. He lays curled up on his bed underneath his covers, his hair covering his eyes. I quietly walk up to him and gaze down at his face.

It's hot.

I mean the room is, not him. But, not saying he isn't attractive, which he's not, he's just really pleasant to look at, because he's so beautiful. Wait, no—

Okay I give up. He's attractive.

But so are Kate and Toby. Plenty of people are attractive. So why am I not drooling over Toby or Kate?

I mean, not saying I'm drooling over Ben or anything. He's just really cute...

Ugh. I confuse myself so much. It's almost like I'm a character in a story and the author is trying to rush the romance even though not enough has happened between me and Ben for romantic feelings to arise.

"U-uh, Ben. Wake up...?" I mumble.

"I've been awake the whole minute and a half you were staring at me." He mutters.

I'm suddenly very thankful that it's not brightly lit in the room, because then he'd be able to see how red my face just became.

I hold out the tray towards him. "I— uh— h-h-here's your food a-and medicine..." oh crap. I have to say it. For Kate and Toby! "... master..."

It's silent. At least I'm assuming it is, because the only thing I can hear is the sound of my heartbeat thumping in my ears.

Finally, after what feels like hours, he speaks up. "Wow, you're starting to sound like Toby with all that stuttering." He mutters, then takes the tray from my hands. "Now... go make some friends, or something. I gotta get ready." He waves me off.

I step back, appalled by his reaction, but I shake off the rejection with a huff as I turn on my heel and walk to the door.

"Wait, (y/n)," he calls. I stop. What more could he possibly want? I curiously turn around to face him. "Thank you." He says, then goes back to taking the pills.

A blush creeps onto my face, and I don't even know why, but I quickly spin on my heel and get out of there before he can notice.

As soon as I open the door, I slam into Toby and Kate, who look at me with eager faces as they bounce on their feet. I know they're going to bombard me with questions, so I quickly close the door to block any sound from reaching Ben's ears.

"Did you say it? Did you say it?" Kate exclaims with wide, excited eyes.

"Yes." I say, trying to hide my red face.

"Wh-what did he say?!" Toby asks.

"He told me to go, but..." I pause, half so I can relive the moment and half for dramatic effect. "...he stopped me before I reached the door, and he thanked me. But it was like, not a shallow thank you, if that makes any sense." I say, avoiding eye contact with both of them as I stare at my feet and fidget with my hands.

"Oh my gosh! That's so cute!" Kate squeals, and very loudly too.

"It was nothing!" I shout back at her.

"Oh, b-but it's not!" Toby exclaims.

"Why are we being so loud?" I ask.

"Y-yeah, lets quiet down. Ben i-is trying to r-rest." Toby stutters shyly.

"Okay, okay, you're right. Let's go downstairs!" Kate cheers, then grabs Toby's and my hand, dragging us with her as she skips to the stairs.

How does she have so much energy?

(Word count: 1975)