Fic: Focus
Title: Focus
Author: saucydiva
Word count: 1.7K
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Clearly I don’t own it or I’d have Joe Biden’s home number
Timeline: 3x01
Summary: What if Ann spined-up for her accidental double date?
Author’s Note: rikyl is awesome for her helpful comments, and even more awesome for her not-at-all helpful comments. And this fic is dedicated to the great whimsical_irony because I can’t bribe her the way I used to anymore.
“You’re not doing this, Leslie,” Ann hissed.
“No, I just wanted to coach you,” Leslie said. “This guy could solv-“
“I might like this guy,” Ann said. “Maybe! And that means I’m not feeling good about your plan.”
“That’s great! If anyone deserves love, it’s you, my beautiful grandfather clock. But I still think you should try to get funding for the Parks department, which I run.”
Ann sighed. “Fine. But you have to go.” She waited for Leslie to nod, and then went back to the table.
“Important phone call?” Chris asked. “Everything fine at the hospital?”
“Everything’s fine,” Ann said, shutting off her phone. “Just fine.”
She was still shocked when, moments later, Leslie was ‘surprised’ to see them and sat down for a drink.
“Leslie, can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked, pulling Leslie back over to the place they’d talked only moments before.
“You promised,” Ann said, steeling herself not to cave in to Leslie.
“I know, but Ann, Ann, I started thinking about how I can’t ask you to talk to Chris about this, but I could just piggyback off of the good mood you’ve put him in-“
“That’s just how he is. We were talking about it, actually-“
“Great! You two look great together and I think he’s really into you. And who wouldn’t be?” Leslie touched Ann’s hair, and Ann shook her off.
“Behave, Leslie. One drink.”
They’d barely sat down when Ben showed up and pulled Leslie to the side. Ann couldn’t hear their conversation, but based on the daggers they were shooting at each other over their pasted-on smiles, it couldn’t have been pleasant.
Ben was still talking in that overly enunciated way that made Ann nervous.
“You,” she said, grabbing him by his jacket and pulling him aside.
“What?” Ben said, sulking a little. He looked over her shoulder, back at the table.
“Focus,” Ann said. “If you’re coming over to ruin my date, at least look at me!”
“I’m not trying to ruin your date. But I bet Leslie is. She’s on a mission.”
“Leslie’s a good person, Ben. What makes you think she’s planning anything?”
Ben stared her down.
“Fine. But you know what? Leslie’s not going to say anything, and you’re not going to say anything, and I’m going to be on a date and no one is going to use the word budget until they are back at city hall.”
“Fine,” Ben said, and Ann had barely sat down again when Chris grabbed her hand-she felt a spark- and pulled her over.
“What did you want to talk about?” Ann asked. Her hand was still linked in his, and she had to drag her eyes up from those linked hands.
“Nothing. I just thought it was our turn to leave the table and whisper,” Chris said, eyes twinkling. Ann giggled. He continued. “Who should I bring over here next, Leslie or Ben?”
“Ben, clearly,” Ann said.
“Ben’s sure been feisty since we got to Pawnee. Leslie seems to get him fired up. You should see them argue at work.”
“I have…” she answered. Thinking over it, every time she’s visited city hall since the government shutdown, Leslie had either been arguing with Ben, or prepping herself to go argue with Ben, or ranting about an argument she’d just had with Ben.
“We should probably join those two again. What a nice surprise, to see the both of them here,” Chris said, pulling her back to the table. When they sat down again, Ann’s hand felt a little empty.
***
You’re cock-blocking me was not something Ann could say to Ben, so she opened with, “You realize that I’m supposed to be on a date here?”
“I tried to get Leslie to leave after dinner,” Ben said, scratching his neck. “She’s not exactly going to do what I want.”
Ann glanced over at where Leslie and Chris were dancing. “Here’s how we’re going to do this. I’m going to dance you on to that dance floor, and you’re going to dance her away from me and him, and we’ll all have another drink together later. Much later.”
She started swaying her hips in time to the music, then grabbed at his upper arm to take him back over to their targets.
He kept standing still.
She gripped harder, swayed harder, and pulled harder.
He shrugged. “I don’t dance.”
“Everyone dances,” she said.
“I don’t.”
“Show me.”
Ben looked cornered, which was fine, since he was cornered. He gave it a minute, listening to the music, and then started-
Whatever he was doing, exactly, didn’t resemble dancing in the least. It was more akin to a seizure, and Ann’s nurse instinct bubbled up until she shook herself out of it. No, he was doing that on purpose, for some reason.
“It’s stupid,” Ben said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He practically regressed in front of her, turning into a teenager on the wall at prom.
“Dancing isn’t stupid. If you do it with the right partner, dancing can be better than sex,” Ann said. She flushed a little-what had possessed her?-but she stood her ground.
“Not true,” Ben said. “But fine.” He crossed his arms at her, practically daring her to prove it.
“I just… we can work on this,” she said, biting her lip. He was pretty hopeless, but she was out of ideas. “Do you understand rhythm?”
He didn’t.
“Ok,” she said, tapping a hand to his heart. “I need you to. Feel. The. Beat. Can. You. Feel. That. Beat?” He nodded. “Good. Clap. Your. Hands. On. Two. And. Four.”
He had it, momentarily, but then he lost it a dozen bars in.
“Ok! Let’s try something else,” she said, frowning. “Let’s move your hips-“ she put her hands on his hips firmly, and he looked shocked. She started swaying him to the music herself.
His moves looked almost human, and he looked excited. She gave him an encouraging smile, and he started to move his hands in time-no, he lost it again, even as she was still tapping on his hips.
This called for drastic measures.
With another glance at her abandoned date and her best friend, who were laughing about something that sure as hell better not be about your budget, Leslie, Ann looked Ben square in the eyes and pulled him flush against her.
“I, ah-“ Ben started, putting his hands on her shoulders like he was about to cast her off.
“No,” she said, and splayed her hands on his back. “Luckily, Leslie’s going to lead you no matter what, so pay attention, this is all you have to do.” She tapped out the beat on his back, while his hands went loosely around her neck. His eyes, meanwhile, were looking everywhere but at her.
“Focus. Eyes on mine. We’re going to do this,” she said, smacking him lightly on his kidney. They started moving in opposite directions, but this time, he stopped, watched her, and started following her movements.
“So you and Leslie sure got into it at dinner,” she said lightly.
His face took on a brief, pained expression. “I just think that the real scandal of Wikileaks is the-“
“Whoa. Let’s not rehash your argument,” she said. It was boring the first time around. They’d gone from being snippy at each other to flat-out arguing, with the occasional monologue on the First Amendment, uniting only to yell at Chris when he suggested that the website’s founder and the US government should just ‘get along.’
Afterwards, Leslie’s eyes had been wild, and Leslie had dragged Ann over to rant about Ben and his wrong opinions, wrong choice of profession, and wrong hair. Ann nodded along, while finger-combing Leslie’s hair, applying a fresh coat of lipstick, and unbuttoning the first two buttons of Leslie’s top.
Ann’d tried to steer the conversation in more pleasant directions after that.
But now that she had Ben alone, she was going to get some information. “Yeah, you two sure love to argue.”
“She just… Leslie’s a great worker. Pawnee is lucky to have her. But she’s a tornado.”
“She’s a tornado with great hair.”
Ben cocked his head at Ann, and then nodded.
***
Leslie kept to her word and didn’t bring up the Parks budget, but Ben did. He started talking about all the ways they were being stifled by a lack of budget.
Leslie, shining with the light sweat of someone who had led the world’s least coordinated dancer through a dozen songs, looked hopeful, and started in too.
Chris leaned forward slightly on the table. “You know, I don’t know if it’s because I’m in such a good mood, or because of the charming Ann Perkins, but I am going to seriously consider that.”
“Really? That’s great,” Leslie said. “ Mission -"
Ben’s eyes went wide, and he dived in, grabbed her face, and kissed her full on the mouth. Leslie’s breath hitched visibly, but she grabbed a fistful of Ben’s shirt and pulled him closer.
They broke apart when Chris stood up. “Benjamin Wyatt, we have a sacred duty to the state of Indiana, as well as the citizens of Pawnee, to be unbiased in our-“
Ann hooked a hand behind his head and drew him down, kissing him with all she had. His lips were smooth, and he tasted like expensive beer and promise. Wow, she thought, and parted her lips.
When they broke apart, Chris looked as dazed as Ann felt. He waved his hand in Ben’s general direction. “Well, we’re done in Pawnee next week, so just… I’ll handle the Parks budget till then.”
“You’re leaving?” Ann asked, wincing at her vocal tone.
“We’re going over to Blythe. Things haven’t been the same with that budget since the mayor got audited,” Chris said.
“Who knew you could hide so many goats from the IRS?” Leslie mused.
“You know Blythe?” Ben asked.
“It’s right next door to Pawnee,” Ann said. Everyone grinned a little at that.
“I’m going to go settle the tab,” Chris said.
“Are you two… good?” Ann asked, looking at Leslie.
“We should-do you want to go discuss-my car’s just outside,” Leslie said, gesturing at Ben.
“My car is also-“
“We could… how do you feel about waffles?”
Ann left them to hash things out, and went to the bar in search of Chris. After all, dancing wasn’t always better than sex.
Author: saucydiva
Word count: 1.7K
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Clearly I don’t own it or I’d have Joe Biden’s home number
Timeline: 3x01
Summary: What if Ann spined-up for her accidental double date?
Author’s Note: rikyl is awesome for her helpful comments, and even more awesome for her not-at-all helpful comments. And this fic is dedicated to the great whimsical_irony because I can’t bribe her the way I used to anymore.
“You’re not doing this, Leslie,” Ann hissed.
“No, I just wanted to coach you,” Leslie said. “This guy could solv-“
“I might like this guy,” Ann said. “Maybe! And that means I’m not feeling good about your plan.”
“That’s great! If anyone deserves love, it’s you, my beautiful grandfather clock. But I still think you should try to get funding for the Parks department, which I run.”
Ann sighed. “Fine. But you have to go.” She waited for Leslie to nod, and then went back to the table.
“Important phone call?” Chris asked. “Everything fine at the hospital?”
“Everything’s fine,” Ann said, shutting off her phone. “Just fine.”
She was still shocked when, moments later, Leslie was ‘surprised’ to see them and sat down for a drink.
“Leslie, can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked, pulling Leslie back over to the place they’d talked only moments before.
“You promised,” Ann said, steeling herself not to cave in to Leslie.
“I know, but Ann, Ann, I started thinking about how I can’t ask you to talk to Chris about this, but I could just piggyback off of the good mood you’ve put him in-“
“That’s just how he is. We were talking about it, actually-“
“Great! You two look great together and I think he’s really into you. And who wouldn’t be?” Leslie touched Ann’s hair, and Ann shook her off.
“Behave, Leslie. One drink.”
They’d barely sat down when Ben showed up and pulled Leslie to the side. Ann couldn’t hear their conversation, but based on the daggers they were shooting at each other over their pasted-on smiles, it couldn’t have been pleasant.
Ben was still talking in that overly enunciated way that made Ann nervous.
“You,” she said, grabbing him by his jacket and pulling him aside.
“What?” Ben said, sulking a little. He looked over her shoulder, back at the table.
“Focus,” Ann said. “If you’re coming over to ruin my date, at least look at me!”
“I’m not trying to ruin your date. But I bet Leslie is. She’s on a mission.”
“Leslie’s a good person, Ben. What makes you think she’s planning anything?”
Ben stared her down.
“Fine. But you know what? Leslie’s not going to say anything, and you’re not going to say anything, and I’m going to be on a date and no one is going to use the word budget until they are back at city hall.”
“Fine,” Ben said, and Ann had barely sat down again when Chris grabbed her hand-she felt a spark- and pulled her over.
“What did you want to talk about?” Ann asked. Her hand was still linked in his, and she had to drag her eyes up from those linked hands.
“Nothing. I just thought it was our turn to leave the table and whisper,” Chris said, eyes twinkling. Ann giggled. He continued. “Who should I bring over here next, Leslie or Ben?”
“Ben, clearly,” Ann said.
“Ben’s sure been feisty since we got to Pawnee. Leslie seems to get him fired up. You should see them argue at work.”
“I have…” she answered. Thinking over it, every time she’s visited city hall since the government shutdown, Leslie had either been arguing with Ben, or prepping herself to go argue with Ben, or ranting about an argument she’d just had with Ben.
“We should probably join those two again. What a nice surprise, to see the both of them here,” Chris said, pulling her back to the table. When they sat down again, Ann’s hand felt a little empty.
***
You’re cock-blocking me was not something Ann could say to Ben, so she opened with, “You realize that I’m supposed to be on a date here?”
“I tried to get Leslie to leave after dinner,” Ben said, scratching his neck. “She’s not exactly going to do what I want.”
Ann glanced over at where Leslie and Chris were dancing. “Here’s how we’re going to do this. I’m going to dance you on to that dance floor, and you’re going to dance her away from me and him, and we’ll all have another drink together later. Much later.”
She started swaying her hips in time to the music, then grabbed at his upper arm to take him back over to their targets.
He kept standing still.
She gripped harder, swayed harder, and pulled harder.
He shrugged. “I don’t dance.”
“Everyone dances,” she said.
“I don’t.”
“Show me.”
Ben looked cornered, which was fine, since he was cornered. He gave it a minute, listening to the music, and then started-
Whatever he was doing, exactly, didn’t resemble dancing in the least. It was more akin to a seizure, and Ann’s nurse instinct bubbled up until she shook herself out of it. No, he was doing that on purpose, for some reason.
“It’s stupid,” Ben said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He practically regressed in front of her, turning into a teenager on the wall at prom.
“Dancing isn’t stupid. If you do it with the right partner, dancing can be better than sex,” Ann said. She flushed a little-what had possessed her?-but she stood her ground.
“Not true,” Ben said. “But fine.” He crossed his arms at her, practically daring her to prove it.
“I just… we can work on this,” she said, biting her lip. He was pretty hopeless, but she was out of ideas. “Do you understand rhythm?”
He didn’t.
“Ok,” she said, tapping a hand to his heart. “I need you to. Feel. The. Beat. Can. You. Feel. That. Beat?” He nodded. “Good. Clap. Your. Hands. On. Two. And. Four.”
He had it, momentarily, but then he lost it a dozen bars in.
“Ok! Let’s try something else,” she said, frowning. “Let’s move your hips-“ she put her hands on his hips firmly, and he looked shocked. She started swaying him to the music herself.
His moves looked almost human, and he looked excited. She gave him an encouraging smile, and he started to move his hands in time-no, he lost it again, even as she was still tapping on his hips.
This called for drastic measures.
With another glance at her abandoned date and her best friend, who were laughing about something that sure as hell better not be about your budget, Leslie, Ann looked Ben square in the eyes and pulled him flush against her.
“I, ah-“ Ben started, putting his hands on her shoulders like he was about to cast her off.
“No,” she said, and splayed her hands on his back. “Luckily, Leslie’s going to lead you no matter what, so pay attention, this is all you have to do.” She tapped out the beat on his back, while his hands went loosely around her neck. His eyes, meanwhile, were looking everywhere but at her.
“Focus. Eyes on mine. We’re going to do this,” she said, smacking him lightly on his kidney. They started moving in opposite directions, but this time, he stopped, watched her, and started following her movements.
“So you and Leslie sure got into it at dinner,” she said lightly.
His face took on a brief, pained expression. “I just think that the real scandal of Wikileaks is the-“
“Whoa. Let’s not rehash your argument,” she said. It was boring the first time around. They’d gone from being snippy at each other to flat-out arguing, with the occasional monologue on the First Amendment, uniting only to yell at Chris when he suggested that the website’s founder and the US government should just ‘get along.’
Afterwards, Leslie’s eyes had been wild, and Leslie had dragged Ann over to rant about Ben and his wrong opinions, wrong choice of profession, and wrong hair. Ann nodded along, while finger-combing Leslie’s hair, applying a fresh coat of lipstick, and unbuttoning the first two buttons of Leslie’s top.
Ann’d tried to steer the conversation in more pleasant directions after that.
But now that she had Ben alone, she was going to get some information. “Yeah, you two sure love to argue.”
“She just… Leslie’s a great worker. Pawnee is lucky to have her. But she’s a tornado.”
“She’s a tornado with great hair.”
Ben cocked his head at Ann, and then nodded.
***
Leslie kept to her word and didn’t bring up the Parks budget, but Ben did. He started talking about all the ways they were being stifled by a lack of budget.
Leslie, shining with the light sweat of someone who had led the world’s least coordinated dancer through a dozen songs, looked hopeful, and started in too.
Chris leaned forward slightly on the table. “You know, I don’t know if it’s because I’m in such a good mood, or because of the charming Ann Perkins, but I am going to seriously consider that.”
“Really? That’s great,” Leslie said. “ Mission -"
Ben’s eyes went wide, and he dived in, grabbed her face, and kissed her full on the mouth. Leslie’s breath hitched visibly, but she grabbed a fistful of Ben’s shirt and pulled him closer.
They broke apart when Chris stood up. “Benjamin Wyatt, we have a sacred duty to the state of Indiana, as well as the citizens of Pawnee, to be unbiased in our-“
Ann hooked a hand behind his head and drew him down, kissing him with all she had. His lips were smooth, and he tasted like expensive beer and promise. Wow, she thought, and parted her lips.
When they broke apart, Chris looked as dazed as Ann felt. He waved his hand in Ben’s general direction. “Well, we’re done in Pawnee next week, so just… I’ll handle the Parks budget till then.”
“You’re leaving?” Ann asked, wincing at her vocal tone.
“We’re going over to Blythe. Things haven’t been the same with that budget since the mayor got audited,” Chris said.
“Who knew you could hide so many goats from the IRS?” Leslie mused.
“You know Blythe?” Ben asked.
“It’s right next door to Pawnee,” Ann said. Everyone grinned a little at that.
“I’m going to go settle the tab,” Chris said.
“Are you two… good?” Ann asked, looking at Leslie.
“We should-do you want to go discuss-my car’s just outside,” Leslie said, gesturing at Ben.
“My car is also-“
“We could… how do you feel about waffles?”
Ann left them to hash things out, and went to the bar in search of Chris. After all, dancing wasn’t always better than sex.