#hardzello fic

[heysweetheart-writes]

Against all odds - Ch8

“Please, just talk to me,” Ben finally braves all the way up to where Joe is, standing in front of him. “I’m your friend, you can tell me whatever it is that’s so hard to say.” “It’s because you are my friend that I can’t, because if I do, if I finally say it- everything’ll go to shit” Joe visibly swallows and whatever thread they’re hanging from, Ben can feel is about to drop them.  “I promise you it won’t.” Ben whispers, trying to sound absolutely reassuring. 

Read more Chapter 8 here - Start from the beginning here.

[fallingprincess]

The Ben and Joe kiss (And they were roommates Bonus Feature)

You called, I answered!

This happened before the reader met Ben!

Words: 2k (got a little carried away there)

And they were roommates Masterpost

***

“Are you ready to go?“ Gwilym asked as he got off the couch, carrying the empty beer bottles from the coffee table in front of them towards the side of the room where the three of them had accumulated a rather large collection of empty bottles over the past few hours.

Ben nodded, getting up as well. He steadied himself on the back of the leather couch, the alcohol crashing down on him in one swift movement. Why did you only ever notice how drunk you really were when you got up? “Yeah, I just need my jacket from the trailer.”

“I’ll come with you.” Joe followed along with him through a hallway and out into the chilly night air. The light breeze helping to sober the both of them up a little bit before reaching Ben’s silver trailer parked outside.

“Honestly, Ben, I never would have thought someone like you could ever become my best friend.” Joe said after Ben had unlocked the door and begun digging through piles of clothes in search for his leather jacket. Why again had he just dumped it to all of Roger’s stage costumes?

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ben questioned, momentarily giving up on his quest to hand his best friend another bottle of beer he had found instead of his jacket.

Accepting it with a grateful nod, Joe opened his beer with a lighter lying on a small wooden cabinet in the corner and continued. “Just – you’re quite young. And very athletic. And handsome. And like normally not the type of friend I am associated with.”

“Aren’t you Mister Eloquent when you get drunk?” Ben joked as he clinked his bottle to Joe’s and took a large first sip.

Joe’s laugh filled the room as he let himself fall down on the sofa, moving a large pile of clothes out of the way in the process. “I’m trying to have a moment with you here, Ben.”

“Right. Sorry, man.”

“And I just think- I think it’s great that we met and that we became friends.” Joe’s eyes had found Ben’s, an honest smile present on his lips.

“Thanks. I think so, too, Joe.” And Ben meant it. He had friends, many of them. But he had never felt this comfortable and this much like himself with any of them before. Maybe it was the age difference, or that they were living on different continents, but something had just clicked the first second they had ever shaken hands on set. And Ben was very thankful for that moment.

Silence settled between them as they both sipped on their beers, both sunken in thoughts about everything and nothing.

It was Ben that interrupted the comfortable silence a few minutes later, with a mission to make his friend uncomfortable as usual. The alcohol only cheering him on. “So you think I’m handsome, hm?”

Joe laughed again and hic-upped, the many bottles of beer seemingly also getting to his head. “Oh shut up. You know you are like one the most beautiful fucking people out there, Ben.”

Ben gulped down another sip before he nodded, a smirk playing on his lips. “Yeah, I do.”

“Wow, cocky much?” Joe had raised a questioning eye brow, while he looked around the room, finally settling on a lamp that weirdly looked like a frog. Typically Ben.

“You don’t know anything about my cock!” Okay, maybe Ben was a little bit drunk, and maybe this was taking their usual banter a bit too far, but he just wasn’t able to stop himself.

“Believe me when I say, Ben, that I also don’t want to.”

Ben puffed out a stream of air before he seated himself next to Joe on the small couch. “Well, you are missing out.”

“Gladly.”

Another comfortable silence settled between them. That’s how you know you really like someone. When the silence is comfortable.

“You know you are handsome, too, right?” Ben finally said in an almost whisper, the walls suddenly appearing closer than they did before. Wow, he really was getting to his limit of drunk.

“Don’t go all sappy on me now.” Joe grinned as he ran a hand through his short brown hair. Ben laughed internally as he remembered the perm drama from two months ago. “I appreciate it though.”

Ben just nodded, opening his mouth without thinking much. “You know, I am more of a sub myself so-“

“God, I forgot drunk you does not have a filter, man.” Joe interrupted him, a hand boxing against Ben’s muscular side in a playful manner.

“All I am saying is, I can admit beauty when I see it.” Ben stated, his voice slightly slurred. Yup, he was officially drunk. To that he had another sip of beer.

“Thank you, Ben.” Joe smiled again, clinking his bottle against Ben’s. “If you were a girl I’d kiss you now.”

Ben suddenly turned towards his friend, a thought springing to his mind. Was it inappropriate? Maybe. But he was drunk and didn’t really care much. “Have you ever kissed a guy, Joe?” Where was he even going with this?

Joe did not seem at all surprised at his question. They did not really have any secrets and this just hadn’t been something that had come up during their endless nights of talking yet. “I have not in fact. Have you?”

Ben nodded, maybe a bit too eagerly, he wasn’t sure, everything kind of blurred together at this point. “Few times. Never anything more than that. Just for fun. Always drunk.” Wow. No filter. Seriously though.

“Good for you, man. I’m not really that into it.”

“Nothing wrong with that.” Ben shrugged, a smirk present on his face. Somebody needed to fucking stop him right now. “You’re thinking about it now, aren’t you?”

“I am not.” Joe answered, maybe a bit too fast and slightly too high.

“Of course you are not.”

“I really am not.”

“I know you are not.”

Another silence, however, this time slightly tensed and uncomfortable. Although Ben wasn’t sure if he was the only one feeling it. If his intention had been to make things awkward, he had succeeded in doing so.

Ultimately, Joe groaned, a hand running through his hair. “Okay, fine. I am thinking about it.”

Ben laughed knowingly as he bit his bottom lip to stop himself from whatever his mind had come up with now. “What about it?”

Joe appeared to be deep in thought as he emptied another good bit of his beer. “Just how it would be different, I guess?”

“Not that different, really.” Ben began talking, no filter present. “I mean the stubble is interesting, and that the other person isn’t like as weak just generally a bit rougher. Doesn’t feel bad though. Kind of exciting really.”

“Ben-” Joe tried interrupting his friend. No luck, though.

“Hey, all I am saying is that it’s not that big of a deal and-“

“Ben-“ he tried again, not the least bit more successful.

“And that it wouldn’t be something bad if you wanted to try it.”

That was enough for Joe. “Ben I thought you were more of a sub yourself, so do yourself a favor and shut up.” he burst out, shocked by his own words.

Ben’s eyes widened in surprise and he closed his mouth to swallow down something that had risen up in him. Not a good thing. Joe’s commanding voice had sent a weird rush through his body. A rush that went straight to his dick.

He didn’t even think when he leaned closer towards Joe, not as much as to suggest anything, but not as little as to reject. He glanced down towards Joe’s lips, then back up towards his questioning eyes. Ben was well aware that everything that followed was his fault alone, but he never would have admitted to that. He could honestly say he had never thought about Joe in such a way and maybe he was still trying to make him uncomfortable. Or maybe he was just an incredibly needy drunk and Joe was right there. It was probably a combination of both.

He was just as surprised as Joe, when suddenly mere inches separated their faces. The air in the small trailer seemed to have heated up a significant amount.

Joe swallowed before placing his empty beer bottle on the ground next to him, his eyes never leaving Ben’s as he whispered “Once. We pretend it never happened. I just wanna know. And I trust you with this, because you are my best friend.”

Ben couldn’t do much but nod as he allowed Joe to press the lightest of kisses to his lips. Not daring to move, he simply waited for his friend to react.

“So that was…nice.” Joe stated as he leaned back, a red flush spread along his forehead and cheeks.

“U-huh.” Ben mumbled, warily questioning if Joe was okay. Somehow that one tiny kiss had sobered him up very fast.

Neither of them daring to move, they just stared at each other in the dimly lit trailer, heat and tension radiating through them.

Ben wasn’t sure if it was him or Joe, but next thing he knew, his lips were once again firmly pressed against that of his best friend, this time more daring, wanting. He carefully dug his hands into Joe’s hair, tugging slightly at a few strands, grinning at the moan that escaped his lips.

“Fucking hell.” Joe groaned as he slipped his tongue into Ben’s mouth, almost teasingly sliding it along Ben’s bottom lip.

Ben didn’t care anymore. It could have been anyone next to him in that moment. He was drunk and needy and this was a fucking great kiss.

Willingly, he pulled Joe closer, his brain foggy from beer and pleasure, until he was straddling him on the couch, their lips never separating.

In response, Joe started slowly grinding his hips against Ben’s making him moan out of pure frustration. Why did he always get so needy? Would he regret this the next day? Most definitely. But right now he couldn’t have cared less.

Hungrily he kissed down Joe’s neck, placing a teasing bite in the crook of his collar bone, before placing his lips back onto the others, joining them in another heated kiss.

Joe’s hands instinctively found Ben’s waistline and were about to dug into it, when the door opened with a loud squeak.

“Hey, are you guys ready. You have been in here fore- Holy shit!!” Gwilym stopped in his tracks as he watched Joe hastily jump off Ben, almost knocking over a dresser in the process.

“I swear I can explain.”, he began, panic rising in his voice. “It’s all Ben’s fault.”

Ben watched him curiously; too blurry and foggy to really comprehend what was happening yet. And he also didn’t mind as much. It had been fun, but it had also not meant anything. And he was pretty sure that they both were well aware of that. Nevertheless he agreed to it being super weird right now.

“Are you…you know…like friends with benefits or something?” Gwilym questioned as he tried wrapping his mind around what he had just witnessed, his face still in shock.

“Nope. That was the first and only time.” Ben involved himself in the conversation, a laugh playing on his lips. “We are just drunk. Sorry you had to see that, man.”

“Alright.” Gwilym began as faced the door again. “I will go outside and come back in. And we pretend this never happened. Yea?”

Ben and Joe nodded in unison as their friend closed the door behind himself and opened it a second later.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Absolutely.” Ben smiled and stood up, finally spotting his leather jacket under a nearby chair.

As Joe got up, a last spurt of weirdness came smashing down on Ben and before he could stop himself, he had grabbed his best friend’s wrist and pulled him backwards, his lips crashing down on Joe’s one last time. “One for the road.” Ben winked as he practically pushed a startled Joe out the door to close it, locking everything that had just happened behind him.

 ***

I must say I kind of enjoyed writing this. Hope you liked it!

***

@ixchel-9275  @radiob-l-a-hblah  @namelesslosers  @happy-at-home  @everybodyplaythegame​  @httpfandxms​   @onceuponadetectivedemigod���

[writeyourownlifestory]

I loved your new fic, If I Could Turn Back Time so so much! Just wanted you to know!

THAT MEANS SO MUCH TO US THANK YOU!!!!!

[hey-holtzy]

I made a side blog to write drabbles. If anyone wants to send me prompts, please do @heybuddy-drabbles

[heysweetheart-writes]

I might be crying at work writing the next chapter of the hardzello fic.

[heysweetheart-writes]

Chapters: 7/9 Fandom: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello Characters: Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Original Child Character(s), minor lumi Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Single Dad Ben Hardy, Lovers to Friends to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Joe is an idiot Summary:

A one night stand turns into a long distance friendship after commitment-phobic Joe ghosts Ben for a while. They are each other's longest and deepest relationship. But, something other than an ocean between them keeps them from being together as more than what they are now. Just friends.

Only two chapters left! 

Old taglist I resurrected: @igotsuckedintothevoid @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @warriorteam1924 @captaincoffeegirl515 @thosequeenboys @alexstandoll  @angels-fall2 @theadorabletia @satans-helper  @bohrapbois (if you want to be added or removed from the list, let me know!) 

[heysweetheart-writes]

Chapters: 6/9 Fandom: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello Characters: Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Original Child Character(s), minor lumi Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Single Dad Ben Hardy, Lovers to Friends to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Joe is an idiot Summary:

A one night stand turns into a long distance friendship after commitment-phobic Joe ghosts Ben for a while. They are each other's longest and deepest relationship. But, something other than an ocean between them keeps them from being together as more than what they are now. Just friends.

Old taglist I resurrected: @igotsuckedintothevoid @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @warriorteam1924 @captaincoffeegirl515 @thosequeenboys @alexstandoll  @angels-fall2 @theadorabletia @satans-helper  @bohrapbois (if you want to be added or removed from the list, let me know!)

[heysweetheart-writes]

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello Characters: Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Single Dad Ben Hardy, Lovers to Friends to Lovers Summary:

A one night stand turns into a long distance friendship after commitment-phobic Joe ghosts Ben for a while. They are each other's longest and deepest relationship. But, something other than an ocean between them keeps them from being together as more than what they are now. Just friends.

Old taglist I resurrected: @igotsuckedintothevoid @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @warriorteam1924 @captaincoffeegirl515 @thosequeenboys @alexstandoll  @angels-fall2 @theadorabletia @satans-helper  @bohrapbois (if you want to be added or removed from the list, let me know!) 

[heysweetheart-writes]

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello Characters: Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Single Dad Ben Hardy, Lovers to Friends to Lovers Summary:

A one night stand turns into a long distance friendship after commitment-phobic Joe ghosts Ben for a while. They are each other's longest and deepest relationship. But, something other than an ocean between them keeps them from being together as more than what they are now. Just friends.

Old taglist I resurrected: @igotsuckedintothevoid @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @warriorteam1924 @captaincoffeegirl515 @thosequeenboys @alexstandoll  @angels-fall2 @theadorabletia @satans-helper  @bohrapbois (if you want to be added or removed from the list, let me know!)

Comments are very much encouraged and appreciated please???

[heysweetheart-writes]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello Characters: Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Single Dad Ben Hardy, Lovers to Friends to Lovers Summary:

A one night stand turns into a long distance friendship after commitment-phobic Joe ghosts Ben for a while. They are each other's longest and deepest relationship. But, something other than an ocean between them keeps them from being together as more than what they are now. Just friends. 

Old taglist I resurrected: @igotsuckedintothevoid @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @warriorteam1924 @captaincoffeegirl515 @thosequeenboys @alexstandoll  @angels-fall2 @lovebirdy93 @theadorabletia @satans-helper  @bohrapbois (if you want to be added or removed from the list, let me know!)

Comments are very much encouraged and appreciated please???

[heysweetheart-writes]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello Characters: Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Single Dad Ben Hardy, Lovers to Friends to Lovers Summary:

A one night stand turns into a long distance friendship after commitment-phobic Joe ghosts Ben for a while. They are each other's longest and deepest relationship. But, something other than an ocean between them keeps them from being together as more than what they are now. Just friends.

Old taglist I resurrected: @igotsuckedintothevoid @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels @warriorteam1924 @captaincoffeegirl515 @thosequeenboys @alexstandoll  @angels-fall2 @lovebirdy93 @theadorabletia @satans-helper  @bohrapbois (if you want to be added or removed from the list, let me know!)

[heysweetheart-writes]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello Characters: Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton, Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Single Dad Ben Hardy, Lovers to Friends to Lovers Summary:

A one night stand turns into a long distance friendship after commitment-phobic Joe ghosts Ben for a while. They are each other's longest and deepest relationship. But, something other than an ocean between them keeps them from being together as more than what they are now. Just friends.

Hello! It's here! I finally finished two chapters of this which is when I promised I would start posting so here goes!! I want to post the next chapter next week and ideally I'd have some of chapter three down by it if not all of it. 

Would love to hear from you! 

Let me know if I should make a tag list again. 

Miss you all.

[heysweetheart-writes]

SEVEN SENTENCE SUNDAY

thanks for tagging, @alexstandoll ❤

Joe can’t take his eyes out of him. 

But he has to because after a few minutes of watching the blond doing one of the most mundane tasks among house chores, he sees him stop and look for something as he heads towards the glass window to open it and he steps outside, to both Joe’s delight and fucking personal hell. 

“Oh, hey. Were you kicked out of bed?” The blond asks, knowing all too well already that Joe doesn’t usually wake up before noon. He hates and loves that he knows that. Ben questions him with a cigarette between his lips while he tries to light it. He does once he finishes asking.

~~~~~~~~

This is from an unpublished untitled fic that I call “The Balcony AU” which just like Joe’s feelings towards Ben here, I love and fucking hate haha I never finished it sadly so this is possibly all you get from it. 

It’s not Sunday but I really wanted to post it. Maybe on Sunday I’ll post something more/else? If this gets enough attention, I’ll do it haha 

I won’t tag anyone to do it but if you see this and makes you want to do it, you can tag me to see it! :) 

[heysweetheart-writes]

I'm in the midst of planning a Hardzello fantasy AU series.

[heysweetheart-writes]

Call off the search for your soul (or put it on hold again)

Pairing: Hardzello (Ben Hardy x Joe Mazzello)

Words: 2930

Warnings: Minor cursing

A/N: I’ve had this in my mind for months and I’m so happy I wrote it and finished it! Also fun fact, I debated about making Ben a stripper or not because of the song it’s inspired by. (might fuck around and write one like that too haha)

2nd A/N: I’m reposting this because I heard tumblr eats the posts that contains links and it got half the notes it usually gets so I’ll leave the link for whoever wants to read it on AO3 or listen to the song in a reblog! 

The bar where he’s sat at, in a booth in the far back, is dark and half empty and it smells like cheap liquor and smoke. It shouldn’t smell like smoke, people are not supposed to smoke indoors but they do here and that would have been a deciding factor for Joe to never set foot in a place like that, and he was going to do exactly that. The booze is terrible and the music isn’t great either so he thought that that was his first and last time there. But he keeps coming back, night after night, because his now usual seat gives him a direct view to the bar. And that’s where he first spots him.

Right when he was about to finish the disgusting drink he had in his hands and head home, he looked up from the glass and caught a glance of a blond at the bar, half bent over it, greeting the bartender with a quick hug before he settled and not a minute later, without asking, he has his drink in front of him and a lit cigarette on his lips.

Joe didn’t know what it was but he couldn’t look away. Well he did know what it was actually. The man might be one of the most gorgeous creatures he’s ever seen and he’s fascinated.

So his plans of never setting foot in that filthy bar change when 12 hours later in the bright light of day, he can’t stop thinking about the blond in the brown bomber jacket and combed back hair and that night, he’s there again. And so is the blond. But he doesn’t do anything other than watch him because after an hour there’s a girl next to him. He buys her a drink, she laughs too hard at his jokes and they leave together not long after that.

You would think that this would be a sign and that he should have stuck to his original plan of never returning to this place. He would think the same. Yet night after night for a month, he sits at that booth at the back of the bar with that perfect view and watches the blond leave with a different person each night.

It makes him angry. It makes him drink more every night.

What if I try? What if I stop?

Tonight is different from every night he’s been here. The blond is at the bar as usual, but he’s been drinking alone for the past two hours. His only company, the bartender who he chats with whenever he’s not busy. Joe waits. People stop by but no one stays for long. And he doesn’t leave with any of them. Maybe he’s not picking anyone tonight… Joe thinks. Maybe… I could try. After all, it’s not like I want to fall in love with him, I just want to know– how he feels like.

And he downs his drink. And he puts it down. And he gets up.

With a firm step - as firm as he can after two hours of drinking - He walks to the bar and sits a stool away from the blond.

“Two vodka sodas, please,” He asks and looks at the bartender and then at the blond and the bartender nods, giving the blond a quick look, then moving to prepare the drinks and hand them.

“Thanks, mate” The blond man nods at him with his drink in hand and gives it a sip. Joe nods back and does the same.

There’s a moment of silence. The blond doesn’t seem remotely interested. Doesn’t even ask why he bought him the drink, doesn’t even look at him more than once. Nothing. Then, he should say something. He’s come here, bought the drink. He’s clearly the interested one. So why can’t him?

Joe downs this drink quickly, licking his lips after and waits for a moment to let it hit him after the burning but slightly sweet sensation down his throat. He shakes his head, a slight buzz there now and it’s all he needs to turn to the blond.

“I think I might know you from somewhere,” He blurts out, head turned to the blond and he looks back at Joe for a moment. The seconds tick loudly in his ears and he just realized he knows nothing about this man and where they could have possibly met and doesn’t know what excuse he’s going to give out if he asks where. But he doesn’t.

“I don’t think so.” He deadpans and Joe nods again and looks back at his empty glass now.

Silence again.

Well, that was a long shot anyway and Joe is drunk, and humiliated now, so he better collect the little dignity he has left and just make a graceful exit to never to never set foot in that place again. He pays for the drinks and makes his way out without looking back. Outside, he stands by the bar’s wall, head resting back and eyes closed, catching his breath while he debates if he should call a cab or walk home at 3am.

“Wanna go for a walk?” Joe hears, followed by the click of a lighter and he opens his eyes and turns his head towards the voice, wondering if he’s too drunk he’s imagining this when he sees the blond standing in front of him.

“Sure,” but he answers without a second of hesitation and follows wherever the blond leads him.

The cold air hits his warm cheeks as they roam the city in silence and Joe’s feeling all kinds of confused but can’t help but keep walking. In his mind, he’s going through a million things he wants to say. Talk about how he’s watched him this whole time. Tell him he keeps coming back to that bar because of him. Ask him a million questions.

“You know,” His thoughts are interrupted by that voice again, that deep sweet voice. Joe dreamt about that voice for the past month, about actually hearing it close. Hear it directed towards him. And in all that time he never imagined it to be this perfect. “After watching me for weeks, I thought you’d do more than just buy me a drink and leave,”

Fuck.

What does he do now? Joe remains silent while the million thoughts running through his mind suddenly multiply by another million. It’s like this guy is training his brain for a marathon because he makes it run and run and stress and perhaps, if he wasn’t this drunk he would possibly be having a panic attack. Typically Joe would have something to say now. He prides himself on being quick witted and he usually has an answer to everything, a jab, anything. But now he sighs.

“I’m sorry,” he says, hands deep in his pocket, teeth digging into the inside of his bottom lip and eyes trained on the top of his boots. The blond man says nothing to that but he feels him watching. “They made it look easy– I thought maybe I could do it too. Just come up to you and you’d take me wherever you take them,”

They come to a stop on their walk and Joe doesn’t exactly know where they are but a minute ago they walked over a bridge and now, the man made a stop in the middle of it, a river and the city night by their side. It’s a great view and he makes it all the more beautiful and Joe really wants to kiss him.

“You didn’t seem interested.” Joe continues and shakes his head, turning to lean over the bridge and look somewhere that isn’t the blond before he starts staring.

“You didn’t say anything interesting,” He takes a pack of cigarettes and takes out one, lits it quickly, taking a long drag and exhaling a cloud of smoke into the crisp air of the night, then turns around and imitates Joe’s position, resting his forearms on the bridge and looks at him. He takes another drag, a quicker one this time and blows the smoke away from Joe’s face. “well-?” he asks, his head tilted to the side. “I’m sure you got more than ‘I think I know you from somewhere’, come on,”

“Did you just bring me out here to mock me? Because I think I humiliated myself enough tonight for you to give it a go too, thanks,”

Joe steps back from the bridge and gives this beautiful asshole a last look before he walks away. He doesn’t even know where he is or where he’s supposed to go, this isn’t his city. He’s been here a couple of times but never at night and never drunk and alone this late. But he’d rather walk aimlessly for a while than go back to his place and end the night by admitting defeat. So much for trying things without a plan. That’s not who he is. He plans everything to a T. Everything has a place and a time. But not him. Not whenever he walked into that bar to see him. And it felt freeing somehow.

“I wasn’t trying to humiliate you,” he hears behind him and turns his head so fast it almost started spinning. “maybe we can start again? And maybe you can stop walking away from me?” The blond pauses while Joe examines his face and tries to figure out if he’s pulling his leg right now or if he’s seriously trying to talk to him. “I’m Ben,”

“Joe,” he turns around again and starts walking and is glad that the blond man, Ben, is following him.

“Where are you from?”

“New York,”

“Fancy,” Joe turns his head and Ben seems to be smiling. Or smirking. Is he playing him? “Why are you here then, Joe?”

Joe sighs deeply. “umm, vacation. Just taking a break from everything.” Do half truths count as a truth or a lie?

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Ben shrugs with his hands stuck in his jacket, cigarette long gone again but Joe has a feeling it won’t be the last.

“Why that bar?” Joe asks suddenly and unprompted and looks back quizzically at Ben.

“Oh the pub? Cheap booze, easy people.”

Joe snorts a laugh and shakes his head. “I don’t think you’d have any problem picking up people anywhere,” He says before he can stop himself but when he looks back at Ben, expecting a smug look, he’s blushing instead.

“What about you? Why that pub?” Ben counter asks him and Joe sighs again as they keep walking nowhere.

“I wanted a drink one night, saw it, got in, thought it was disgusting and was about to leave,” Joe mumbles quickly looking down, then up at Ben. “and then I saw you,”

“What about me?”

They hold their gaze for a few seconds and Joe looks away and stays silent. He’s gonna make me say it isn’t he? Joe wonders if this is what Ben wants. If he gets off on people telling him how beautiful he is. If he’ll sleep with anyone who compliments him. And if he will, then why not try it himself. After all, that’s all he wants, right? It’s not like I’m falling in love or anything. He tells himself again. Just one night, let him lose his mind.

“I thought you were one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen in my life,” Joe blurts out first and then looks back at Ben.

He’s not looking back. And he’s flushing again. For a moment, he looks like someone who doesn’t get complimented very often and Joe is growing more and more confused by the second. And curious too. What does he want anyway?

They don’t talk for a while after that. They just walk aimlessly through the sleeping city and further into the night that’s slowly going to sleep as well, just like everyone else. Soon, morning will find them lost in silence and thought, remnants of what the night left behind for the sun to see when it comes up.

Joe notices they’re slowly coming back to where the pub is and he knows how to get to his place from there and so he starts going in that direction, leading the way now and Ben follows suit without question.

A few blocks more and Joe notices he’s fumbling through his pockets. Another cigarette for sure.

“Do you mind if I take your picture?”

Ben doesn’t have a cigarette in his hand, instead, he has his phone. Joe squints his eyes.

“Why?”

Ben shrugs, “The dawning light suits you,”

Joe watches the blond and hesitates but ends up nodding and stepping away a little as Ben does too. And in that moment he knew that he would do anything this man asked him right now. Anything.

He doesn’t know exactly what to do. He looks at the phone. And down. And away. And waits. Ben doesn’t say anything and after a few clicks he’s walking up to him. Closer and closer. Closer than he’s been all night, so close their shoes are almost touching. Joe notices they’re actually the same height even if it felt like Ben was taller than him. Or maybe it was just his mind, idealizing this perfect stranger.

“They’re good,” Ben nods, swiping through the pictures in a way Joe can see them too but all Joe can see is his lips so close to his own and feel his breath just over his face.

“If you say so,”

“I can send them over to you– if you give me your number,” Ben hands him the phone and looks up at him.

“Is this your move?” Joe asks. He doesn’t take the phone. “you could’ve just asked for my number, didn’t need to take the pictures,”

Ben seems irritated by the accusation so he locks his phone and puts it away. He starts walking again. Obviously, Joe follows after he swallows hard. Did he just hurt Ben’s feelings? They haven’t even kissed and he’s already hurting the blond? That has to be some kind of record.  

“You could’ve just asked me out, didn’t need to buy me a drink and fuck off,” Touche, “But no, that wasn’t a move. I like taking pictures.”

Silence again and Joe feels like shit. But the night is coming to an end and just around the block is his hotel. Then they’ll never have to see each other again and tonight will be just a weird blip in Joe’s mind. Although he has a feeling it’ll be a while until he can forget today.

So he takes a few steps past Ben and crosses the street and a minute later, they’re by the hotel’s entrance.

“Well, this is me,” Joe states and they’re standing in front of each other, both looking down at their shoes but then Joe looks up, “Sorry for wasting your time,” Ben doesn’t look up.

Joe turns around and is about to head inside when he feels Ben’s hand on his arm grabbing him and turning him around. That hand moves to his lower back and his other hand comes up to cup his face and then, he’s finally tasting those pink full lips he’s been dreaming about for weeks, that he’s been wanting to taste all night. He closes his eyes and gets lost in it. Melts in Ben’s arms so much he feels like he’s going to turn into liquid at his feet so he clings to him, grabbing at his jacket just to feel like he’s real, he’s there in his physical form.

The kiss is different from every other kiss Joe has had in his life. It makes him feel like it’s the first time he’s been kissed. Like there was a right way of kissing and he’s only finding out now that he’s been doing it wrong all this time. But if it took him 36 years of wrong kisses to finally find the right one, it was definitely worth the wait. He didn’t know that a kiss should make you feel like you are not the owner of your own body. That you have to feel it fill spaces you didn’t know were empty. Joe certainly did not know a kiss could change you. Change your life forever.

When they break away from the kiss, Ben is still holding his face close and looking into his eyes and Joe is close to running away because it’s possible that no one has ever looked at him this intensely and it makes his stomach turn and his throat close.

“I wanted you to come up to me,” Ben whispers, “I was waiting all night. I sent everyone away. I wanted to see if you’d finally get the courage to come talk to me,”

“I– ” Joe doesn’t know what to say.

“Come back again tomorrow and maybe we can start again,”

“Why me?”

“No one’s ever come back for me before, they never do. I give them what they want and that’s that. And even if I don’t, they move on. Not you.”

“What if I do?”Joe asks and he can feel his heart right in his throat, “What if you give me what I want and that’s that?”

“Can’t wait to find out,” Ben smiles and brings him back in for another kiss before he lets him go and starts walking back, with his eyes still on Joe. Then turns around and Joe watches him get lost into the night.

_________________________________

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Here is a little sneak peek of the upcoming fic!