"Maybe." PG. Leslie/Ben.
Title: Maybe
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Character(s)/Pairing: pre-Ben/Leslie
Word Count: 586
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine!
-Author Notes: My first Parks ficlet. Because I have the skills of a ninja, I have been lurking around the Parks fandom on tumblr. (Seriously, my lurkerdom has been honed to a fine, sharp point.) There's so much love for this show, and so much good-natured enjoyment, that it was only a matter of time before I dipped my toes further in. THIS IS THAT TIME.
Maybe
It occurs to Ben, sometime between the juice and the syrup, that he may actually have been duped. He puts down his fork and watches, for a long, drawn-out moment, as Leslie digs enthusiastically into the waffles on her plate. It is not for nothing that she is considered one of JJ's best patrons. "Leslie," he says.
"Yes?" She looks up, wide-eyed and interested, and Ben hides a smile behind a fist as he fakes a cough.
He clears his throat and tries again. "Leslie, is this... Is this a date?"
She stares at him for a moment longer and Ben fidgets in his seat, his collar suddenly far too tight. He shovels a bite of eggs in his mouth as he watches Leslie's face shift into a half-smile. "No," she says, and he thinks she sounds sincere. She shakes her head and he watches as her hair moves softly with her. It's lovely, soft and golden, and Ben is trying very, very hard to ignore the way it makes something thick and warm well up in his throat. She might be lying, but as soon as he thinks that he pushes it back down, because if they were going to doing under-the-radar dating, he knew Leslie well enough to know that she would at least make him complicit. "This isn't a date, Ben," she says, and she gives him a smile that says he's being silly even suggesting such a thing. Leslie shrugs. "Just... two colleagues having breakfast."
"Right." He gives her a half-smile in return. She's radiant, put-together in a plaid shirt and a neatly tailored blazer; she's a little crazy, and wildly enthusiastic, with more determination and kindness than anyone else he's ever met. Leslie Knope is one in a million. And he regrets, deeply, that staying here to work in Pawnee - staying close to her - is the reason they can't ever move past friendship. "It's ahh, very good," he says. He would never consider saying anything else about JJ's in her hearing, but he is fortunate that the praise is warranted.
"Of course it is," Leslie says. She looks delighted that he's enjoying himself. "I can't get enough of JJ's waffles." The two she's currently eating have a large dab of whipped cream topping them, with four strawberry halves stuck in. The next bite she takes leaves a trace of whipped cream on her upper lip and she quickly mouths it off, sucking her lip for half a second before wiping it with the side of her hand.
Ben's smile goes wobbly. "If there's one person I'd go to as an authority on waffles, it's Leslie Knope."
She laughs at him and that makes him fill, just a little bit, with pride. "Well, Ben Wyatt, I think you're learning."
And maybe they don't talk about Chris, or about the rule they both feel is unfair - it's ironic that the two most professional people are the ones who want to test the waters of a new relationship, the two least likely to cause a scandal, are the only ones Chris' rule affects. But they're friends, moving into very good friends, and Ben thinks that maybe, because it's Leslie and because it's hard not to be grateful for her no matter how she's there, that's enough. For now.
Because he pretended to like a mini-horse for her, and because she made him love a city that he first thought was beyond hope.
And Ben thinks that has to count for something.
~~~
Thanks for reading! Feedback always appreciate!
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Character(s)/Pairing: pre-Ben/Leslie
Word Count: 586
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine!
-Author Notes: My first Parks ficlet. Because I have the skills of a ninja, I have been lurking around the Parks fandom on tumblr. (Seriously, my lurkerdom has been honed to a fine, sharp point.) There's so much love for this show, and so much good-natured enjoyment, that it was only a matter of time before I dipped my toes further in. THIS IS THAT TIME.
Maybe
It occurs to Ben, sometime between the juice and the syrup, that he may actually have been duped. He puts down his fork and watches, for a long, drawn-out moment, as Leslie digs enthusiastically into the waffles on her plate. It is not for nothing that she is considered one of JJ's best patrons. "Leslie," he says.
"Yes?" She looks up, wide-eyed and interested, and Ben hides a smile behind a fist as he fakes a cough.
He clears his throat and tries again. "Leslie, is this... Is this a date?"
She stares at him for a moment longer and Ben fidgets in his seat, his collar suddenly far too tight. He shovels a bite of eggs in his mouth as he watches Leslie's face shift into a half-smile. "No," she says, and he thinks she sounds sincere. She shakes her head and he watches as her hair moves softly with her. It's lovely, soft and golden, and Ben is trying very, very hard to ignore the way it makes something thick and warm well up in his throat. She might be lying, but as soon as he thinks that he pushes it back down, because if they were going to doing under-the-radar dating, he knew Leslie well enough to know that she would at least make him complicit. "This isn't a date, Ben," she says, and she gives him a smile that says he's being silly even suggesting such a thing. Leslie shrugs. "Just... two colleagues having breakfast."
"Right." He gives her a half-smile in return. She's radiant, put-together in a plaid shirt and a neatly tailored blazer; she's a little crazy, and wildly enthusiastic, with more determination and kindness than anyone else he's ever met. Leslie Knope is one in a million. And he regrets, deeply, that staying here to work in Pawnee - staying close to her - is the reason they can't ever move past friendship. "It's ahh, very good," he says. He would never consider saying anything else about JJ's in her hearing, but he is fortunate that the praise is warranted.
"Of course it is," Leslie says. She looks delighted that he's enjoying himself. "I can't get enough of JJ's waffles." The two she's currently eating have a large dab of whipped cream topping them, with four strawberry halves stuck in. The next bite she takes leaves a trace of whipped cream on her upper lip and she quickly mouths it off, sucking her lip for half a second before wiping it with the side of her hand.
Ben's smile goes wobbly. "If there's one person I'd go to as an authority on waffles, it's Leslie Knope."
She laughs at him and that makes him fill, just a little bit, with pride. "Well, Ben Wyatt, I think you're learning."
And maybe they don't talk about Chris, or about the rule they both feel is unfair - it's ironic that the two most professional people are the ones who want to test the waters of a new relationship, the two least likely to cause a scandal, are the only ones Chris' rule affects. But they're friends, moving into very good friends, and Ben thinks that maybe, because it's Leslie and because it's hard not to be grateful for her no matter how she's there, that's enough. For now.
Because he pretended to like a mini-horse for her, and because she made him love a city that he first thought was beyond hope.
And Ben thinks that has to count for something.
~~~
Thanks for reading! Feedback always appreciate!