fic: can't take my eyes off you (parks and rec, ben/leslie)
Title: can't take my eyes off you
Disclaimer: Not mine in any way, shape, or form.
Fandom/Characters: Parks and Rec, Ben/Leslie
Word Count:
Requested By: otempora42
Ben remembers being five years old and going to an art museum with his mother. He didn't want to be there. He wanted to be at home watching cartoons, but his mom promised that they'd get ice cream on the way home and Ben loved fudge ripple more than almost anything in the world. She holds his hand all the way to the museum door, but before they go inside, she stops and bends down to look him in the eye. "Now remember, Ben," she said. "We can look but we can't touch." He nodded, more focused on the promise of ice cream than priceless works of art. But somehow, despite the fact that he wasn't really listening, those words stuck with him.
He thinks about those words a lot these days. He thinks about them every time he looks at Leslie, every time he so much as senses that she's in the same room. In those moments, there's nothing Ben wants more than to cross the distance between them. He wants to touch her and hold her and kiss her, and he knows that he can't. He loves her too much to make her choose between him and the life she wants to lead.
So he watches instead, and tells himself that it's enough.
*
Leslie sees Ben watching her. He's always careful to do it when he thinks she's not looking, but what he doesn't realize is that she's watching him as often as he's watching her. She sees the longing that flashes across his face, and she wants so badly to let it echo on hers. She knows that if it does, she won't be able to pretend any longer.
She misses him with every cell in her body. She doesn't know if she's ever missed anyone more.
So she imagines herself as Councilwoman Knope and tells herself that all this heartache will be worth it. She doesn't know that anything could ever be enough.
*
They watch each other and they lie to themselves. They watch each other and they wish for something more.
Disclaimer: Not mine in any way, shape, or form.
Fandom/Characters: Parks and Rec, Ben/Leslie
Word Count:
Requested By: otempora42
Ben remembers being five years old and going to an art museum with his mother. He didn't want to be there. He wanted to be at home watching cartoons, but his mom promised that they'd get ice cream on the way home and Ben loved fudge ripple more than almost anything in the world. She holds his hand all the way to the museum door, but before they go inside, she stops and bends down to look him in the eye. "Now remember, Ben," she said. "We can look but we can't touch." He nodded, more focused on the promise of ice cream than priceless works of art. But somehow, despite the fact that he wasn't really listening, those words stuck with him.
He thinks about those words a lot these days. He thinks about them every time he looks at Leslie, every time he so much as senses that she's in the same room. In those moments, there's nothing Ben wants more than to cross the distance between them. He wants to touch her and hold her and kiss her, and he knows that he can't. He loves her too much to make her choose between him and the life she wants to lead.
So he watches instead, and tells himself that it's enough.
*
Leslie sees Ben watching her. He's always careful to do it when he thinks she's not looking, but what he doesn't realize is that she's watching him as often as he's watching her. She sees the longing that flashes across his face, and she wants so badly to let it echo on hers. She knows that if it does, she won't be able to pretend any longer.
She misses him with every cell in her body. She doesn't know if she's ever missed anyone more.
So she imagines herself as Councilwoman Knope and tells herself that all this heartache will be worth it. She doesn't know that anything could ever be enough.
*
They watch each other and they lie to themselves. They watch each other and they wish for something more.