fic: pawnee campgrounds, leslie/ben, pg
title: Pawnee Campgrounds
pairing: Leslie/Ben
rating: PG?
words: ~1900
notes: For the Halloween trope "Afraid of the dark." An AU of Camping where they didn't have a b&b to hike to for the night. Thanks to ashisfriendly and americnxidiot for the usual.
Once the van battery dies out and takes all the electricity with it, Leslie feels her panic worsen, shooting up through her stomach.
“All night work!” she keeps clamouring, hitting the stick against the grill, but no one looks pleased.
This can’t be a failure. She doesn’t have time for that. Everyone’s counting on her, everyone thinks she has the answers. Ben looks at her like she’s some sort of magical government wizard, and she’s not. She has nothing but a crappy camping trip and the memories of her one great success.
“I’ll hike to the nearest gas station to find someone to jump the engine,” Ron announces gruffly, giving Tom a death glare.
April groans and stomps away, Donna decides to call a boy toy for a ride, and Leslie can’t even look at Ben. The energizer bunny couldn’t even keep a camping trip running; she’s not ready for the disappointment on his face.
If no one else wants to work more, that just means she’ll have to work harder.
--
Once the din settles down, Ben realizes everyone has retreated to their tents or are waiting on rides, leaving his sad little sleeping bag as the only place to retire.
He looks at his phone and notices there’s still plenty of battery; he could call Chris and be out of here within half an hour. But one look toward the light coming from Leslie’s tent, and he knows she’ll stay here all night no matter what. She won’t give up that easily.
So neither will he.
It’s just, you know, hard to lay down on a sleeping bag with no pillow on the floor (ground?) of a forest.
“Ow,” he mumbles, pulling yet another twig from under his neck. He’s trying to keep working, trying to think of some way to help Leslie, but he’s working by the light of his phone screen, and the leaves keep rustling and--
What the fuck?
“Is someone there?”
Silence.
But… he could have sworn…
There’s no way no one is watching him right now.
“Hello?”
Just darkness and the glow of the tents, he can’t even see more than ten feet out into the woods, and he’s absolutely positive…
Something is watching him.
--
“Leslie?”
Ben’s voice cuts through the silence on other side of the tent and it makes her jump. In the dim light of her battery-powered lantern, she’s been trying to brainstorm, but her brainstorming goes in circles and never arrives at an idea. She hastily moves to hide her dream journal because Ben doesn’t need to know anything about Alf or that weird dream about the two of them on the Harvest Festival ferris wheel. Crouching a bit, she moves to unzip the flap.
“What’s wrong?”
The light from her lantern makes his face look even more angular than usual, and it’s really handsome, but she pretends not to notice because, as stated earlier this evening, he’s leaving soon. No use in that. It’s just her friend Ben.
“Tom won’t let me back into his tent now that there’s no power. Actually, I think he ran and hid in the van. And, uh, I don’t have a flashlight… or a pillow… And I feel like someone was watching me?”
“Huh?”
Poking her head out into the chilly night air, Leslie holds up her light, seeing only leaves and trees and tents around them.
“Do you think it was an animal?”
“I don’t know, it’s really dark, I just--”
With her lantern closer to his face, she realizes he’s sweating, panic ablaze in his eyes.
“Oh my god, are you okay?”
“No!” He fumbles forward, spilling over into her tent. Once he finds his balance he curls into a ball in the corner, breathing fast. She zips the flap to the tent back up and moves forward, instinctually reaching a hand out to comfort him. Then she stops.
Ben is in her tent.
She can’t tell if the butterflies in her stomach are from fear or excitement.
--
He’s well aware of how lame he is, running to hide in the girl he likes’ tent just because he can’t handle being outside in the dark. And suddenly those are the only two things he can think of and verify in his mind.
Yes, he’s very much afraid of the dark right now, and yes, he definitely likes Leslie. And here he is, less than five feet away from her in a tent.
She reaches out her hand like she’s going to pat his shoulder, then pulls back, wide-eyed.
Hmm.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have to stay, I don’t want to encroach--”
“No, no,” she interrupts him, her voice higher than usual. “Ann’s not coming back, and I’m just going to be up trying to brainstorm, so…”
“I can help with that?” he offers, mentally kicking himself at his own eagerness. But her face lights up.
“That’d be great!”
Ben looks down into his lap, realizing his notebook and phone were hastily dropped to the ground in his escape.
“Crap. All my stuff is back out there.”
He reaches for the zipper, knows he has to go back out there and get his stuff before a bear or something eats his phone (there probably aren’t bears in Indiana, but who knows at this point). But he remembers the feeling of unseen eyes on him and shivers.
Leslie must notice his hesitation.
“I’ll get it,” she bravely offers, gathering her wits about her. “I’m sure there’s nothing out there, anyway.”
“Be careful,” he warns, before he can stop himself. She rolls her eyes with a smile, and he can’t take how pretty her face is.
“I used to camp all the time, I’ve got this.”
--
And it’s true. Leslie feels little hesitation when she emerges from the tent, lantern in hand. She knows these woods like the back of her hand. Ben might not be used to the great outdoors, but she’s not gonna get flustered (not that it’s not adorable on him, because it kind of is) over some rodent keeping watch on her from behind a tree.
It’s quiet. The only ones left are Jerry, Tom, and April. She doesn’t hear a peep from any of their tents; Jerry must be asleep, Tom’s still locked in the van, April doesn’t seem to be active. Ron must still be hiking for help. They probably could have called someone ages ago, but whatever, camping shouldn’t need electricity anyway. It just needs a ride home after.
Leaves crunch under her feet as she holds the light in front of her, trying to find Ben’s sleeping bag on the ground. She sees the glint of his cell phone screen, reflecting off the lantern, and starts over that way.
Halfway to it, she stops.
Something is moving fast through the trees on the edge of their campsite.
“Ben?” she calls out, ignoring the shake in her voice. She turns around toward her tent and sees his head pop out through the flap.
“Are you okay?”
“You don’t think there are raccoons, do you? They’re not supposed to be on this side of town. That was the unspoken agreement.”
“I don’t know, all I know is that something is definitely--”
Suddenly Leslie hears heavy breathing, and she runs back to the tent, dropping her lantern and leaving Ben’s things in the dust.
Ben’s not ready for her quick return and they both fumble over each other, Leslie scrambling to zip the flap back up before realizing it’s pitch black inside, and she’s essentially in Ben’s lap.
Crap on a kookaburra.
--
Ben has no idea what spooked Leslie so bad, but he’s definitely aware of the fact that her back’s pressed to his chest, her body haphazardly flung over his knees, her hand just a little too high up on his thigh.
“Sorry!” she squeaks, and they both try to right themselves. She’s panting from the sprint but he can’t quite catch his breath either, his heart racing a mile a minute. At this point he can’t tell if it’s because of Leslie or what’s going on outside.
“Here.” Leslie shines her cell phone into the tent, but it creates so little light that he can just see her face, bathed in a blue glow.
She’s inches away from him. Inches. Just looking at him. So close, that all he would have to do is lean in…
Leaves are crunching outside their tent.
Right outside their tent.
“Jesus, what is going on?” he shouts, and scrambles into the back corner of the tent. Leslie is grasping his arm, retreating with him, burrowed into his side as someone (something??) began unzipping their tent flap.
“JERRY I SWEAR TO GOD IF THAT’S YOU--” Leslie begins yelling, and as the flap opens Ben finds himself screeching, arms wrapping around Leslie to protect her--
“Oh, hey guys!” Andy’s big, smiling face pops into their tent, illuminated by Leslie’s lantern.
“What the hell!” Ben exclaims on an exhale, unable to get his breathing back. He looks to Leslie, who seems just as angry and confused. They both jump a little as April shows up next to Andy.
“You guys are like, super jumpy.” She stares them down so intensely that a shiver runs up Ben’s spine.
“You dropped this big flashlight, Leslie!” Andy hands over the lantern and Leslie quickly snatches it back, looking astonished. “Oh also, I stepped on this.”
He holds out Ben’s now-cracked cell phone. Ben sighs loudly.
“What on earth were you guys doing?” Leslie demands. “You scared us half to death!”
“Andy had trouble finding our campsite in the dark,” April explains, an evil glee playing in her eyes. “Or the boogeyman came to eat Ben’s brains.”
Ben realizes his arms are still around Leslie, and she hasn’t moved. She’s not moving. She’s shaking, trying to catch her breath, and not moving.
--
“Just April and Andy,” Leslie mumbles to herself, like a mantra. “April and Andy. No raccoons, just April and Andy.”
No violent rabies tonight. Everything’s fine. It’s light in her tent again, Ben’s here, Ben’s… still holding her? Ben’s holding her. They both got scared of the dark, and now Ben’s holding her.
Suddenly Leslie can’t stop laughing. April rolls her eyes and pulls Andy away, and as the two of them start to leave, Leslie leans into Ben for support, giggling into his shoulder.
“That was really intense,” he says, but then he starts laughing too, and she looks up at him, his eyes crinkled and mouth wide, and why is he leaving Pawnee eventually?
Whatever, they’re safe, being scared was silly, and she’s laughing with a cute guy she might kinda like in a tent.
At least one nice thing came out of this camping trip.
--
“Wait,” Ben starts, once he finds his breath again. He just remembered-- “What was looking at me? Before you heard Andy in the woods?”
Leslie stops laughing and stares at him, curious.
--
These people are awfully boring, Orin writes in his journal. No rituals, no animal sacrifice, no blood drawn. What a terribly awful night for watching the woods. He looks back down in the darkness from his perch in a large oak tree, just above a lone red sleeping bag.
pairing: Leslie/Ben
rating: PG?
words: ~1900
notes: For the Halloween trope "Afraid of the dark." An AU of Camping where they didn't have a b&b to hike to for the night. Thanks to ashisfriendly and americnxidiot for the usual.
Once the van battery dies out and takes all the electricity with it, Leslie feels her panic worsen, shooting up through her stomach.
“All night work!” she keeps clamouring, hitting the stick against the grill, but no one looks pleased.
This can’t be a failure. She doesn’t have time for that. Everyone’s counting on her, everyone thinks she has the answers. Ben looks at her like she’s some sort of magical government wizard, and she’s not. She has nothing but a crappy camping trip and the memories of her one great success.
“I’ll hike to the nearest gas station to find someone to jump the engine,” Ron announces gruffly, giving Tom a death glare.
April groans and stomps away, Donna decides to call a boy toy for a ride, and Leslie can’t even look at Ben. The energizer bunny couldn’t even keep a camping trip running; she’s not ready for the disappointment on his face.
If no one else wants to work more, that just means she’ll have to work harder.
--
Once the din settles down, Ben realizes everyone has retreated to their tents or are waiting on rides, leaving his sad little sleeping bag as the only place to retire.
He looks at his phone and notices there’s still plenty of battery; he could call Chris and be out of here within half an hour. But one look toward the light coming from Leslie’s tent, and he knows she’ll stay here all night no matter what. She won’t give up that easily.
So neither will he.
It’s just, you know, hard to lay down on a sleeping bag with no pillow on the floor (ground?) of a forest.
“Ow,” he mumbles, pulling yet another twig from under his neck. He’s trying to keep working, trying to think of some way to help Leslie, but he’s working by the light of his phone screen, and the leaves keep rustling and--
What the fuck?
“Is someone there?”
Silence.
But… he could have sworn…
There’s no way no one is watching him right now.
“Hello?”
Just darkness and the glow of the tents, he can’t even see more than ten feet out into the woods, and he’s absolutely positive…
Something is watching him.
--
“Leslie?”
Ben’s voice cuts through the silence on other side of the tent and it makes her jump. In the dim light of her battery-powered lantern, she’s been trying to brainstorm, but her brainstorming goes in circles and never arrives at an idea. She hastily moves to hide her dream journal because Ben doesn’t need to know anything about Alf or that weird dream about the two of them on the Harvest Festival ferris wheel. Crouching a bit, she moves to unzip the flap.
“What’s wrong?”
The light from her lantern makes his face look even more angular than usual, and it’s really handsome, but she pretends not to notice because, as stated earlier this evening, he’s leaving soon. No use in that. It’s just her friend Ben.
“Tom won’t let me back into his tent now that there’s no power. Actually, I think he ran and hid in the van. And, uh, I don’t have a flashlight… or a pillow… And I feel like someone was watching me?”
“Huh?”
Poking her head out into the chilly night air, Leslie holds up her light, seeing only leaves and trees and tents around them.
“Do you think it was an animal?”
“I don’t know, it’s really dark, I just--”
With her lantern closer to his face, she realizes he’s sweating, panic ablaze in his eyes.
“Oh my god, are you okay?”
“No!” He fumbles forward, spilling over into her tent. Once he finds his balance he curls into a ball in the corner, breathing fast. She zips the flap to the tent back up and moves forward, instinctually reaching a hand out to comfort him. Then she stops.
Ben is in her tent.
She can’t tell if the butterflies in her stomach are from fear or excitement.
--
He’s well aware of how lame he is, running to hide in the girl he likes’ tent just because he can’t handle being outside in the dark. And suddenly those are the only two things he can think of and verify in his mind.
Yes, he’s very much afraid of the dark right now, and yes, he definitely likes Leslie. And here he is, less than five feet away from her in a tent.
She reaches out her hand like she’s going to pat his shoulder, then pulls back, wide-eyed.
Hmm.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have to stay, I don’t want to encroach--”
“No, no,” she interrupts him, her voice higher than usual. “Ann’s not coming back, and I’m just going to be up trying to brainstorm, so…”
“I can help with that?” he offers, mentally kicking himself at his own eagerness. But her face lights up.
“That’d be great!”
Ben looks down into his lap, realizing his notebook and phone were hastily dropped to the ground in his escape.
“Crap. All my stuff is back out there.”
He reaches for the zipper, knows he has to go back out there and get his stuff before a bear or something eats his phone (there probably aren’t bears in Indiana, but who knows at this point). But he remembers the feeling of unseen eyes on him and shivers.
Leslie must notice his hesitation.
“I’ll get it,” she bravely offers, gathering her wits about her. “I’m sure there’s nothing out there, anyway.”
“Be careful,” he warns, before he can stop himself. She rolls her eyes with a smile, and he can’t take how pretty her face is.
“I used to camp all the time, I’ve got this.”
--
And it’s true. Leslie feels little hesitation when she emerges from the tent, lantern in hand. She knows these woods like the back of her hand. Ben might not be used to the great outdoors, but she’s not gonna get flustered (not that it’s not adorable on him, because it kind of is) over some rodent keeping watch on her from behind a tree.
It’s quiet. The only ones left are Jerry, Tom, and April. She doesn’t hear a peep from any of their tents; Jerry must be asleep, Tom’s still locked in the van, April doesn’t seem to be active. Ron must still be hiking for help. They probably could have called someone ages ago, but whatever, camping shouldn’t need electricity anyway. It just needs a ride home after.
Leaves crunch under her feet as she holds the light in front of her, trying to find Ben’s sleeping bag on the ground. She sees the glint of his cell phone screen, reflecting off the lantern, and starts over that way.
Halfway to it, she stops.
Something is moving fast through the trees on the edge of their campsite.
“Ben?” she calls out, ignoring the shake in her voice. She turns around toward her tent and sees his head pop out through the flap.
“Are you okay?”
“You don’t think there are raccoons, do you? They’re not supposed to be on this side of town. That was the unspoken agreement.”
“I don’t know, all I know is that something is definitely--”
Suddenly Leslie hears heavy breathing, and she runs back to the tent, dropping her lantern and leaving Ben’s things in the dust.
Ben’s not ready for her quick return and they both fumble over each other, Leslie scrambling to zip the flap back up before realizing it’s pitch black inside, and she’s essentially in Ben’s lap.
Crap on a kookaburra.
--
Ben has no idea what spooked Leslie so bad, but he’s definitely aware of the fact that her back’s pressed to his chest, her body haphazardly flung over his knees, her hand just a little too high up on his thigh.
“Sorry!” she squeaks, and they both try to right themselves. She’s panting from the sprint but he can’t quite catch his breath either, his heart racing a mile a minute. At this point he can’t tell if it’s because of Leslie or what’s going on outside.
“Here.” Leslie shines her cell phone into the tent, but it creates so little light that he can just see her face, bathed in a blue glow.
She’s inches away from him. Inches. Just looking at him. So close, that all he would have to do is lean in…
Leaves are crunching outside their tent.
Right outside their tent.
“Jesus, what is going on?” he shouts, and scrambles into the back corner of the tent. Leslie is grasping his arm, retreating with him, burrowed into his side as someone (something??) began unzipping their tent flap.
“JERRY I SWEAR TO GOD IF THAT’S YOU--” Leslie begins yelling, and as the flap opens Ben finds himself screeching, arms wrapping around Leslie to protect her--
“Oh, hey guys!” Andy’s big, smiling face pops into their tent, illuminated by Leslie’s lantern.
“What the hell!” Ben exclaims on an exhale, unable to get his breathing back. He looks to Leslie, who seems just as angry and confused. They both jump a little as April shows up next to Andy.
“You guys are like, super jumpy.” She stares them down so intensely that a shiver runs up Ben’s spine.
“You dropped this big flashlight, Leslie!” Andy hands over the lantern and Leslie quickly snatches it back, looking astonished. “Oh also, I stepped on this.”
He holds out Ben’s now-cracked cell phone. Ben sighs loudly.
“What on earth were you guys doing?” Leslie demands. “You scared us half to death!”
“Andy had trouble finding our campsite in the dark,” April explains, an evil glee playing in her eyes. “Or the boogeyman came to eat Ben’s brains.”
Ben realizes his arms are still around Leslie, and she hasn’t moved. She’s not moving. She’s shaking, trying to catch her breath, and not moving.
--
“Just April and Andy,” Leslie mumbles to herself, like a mantra. “April and Andy. No raccoons, just April and Andy.”
No violent rabies tonight. Everything’s fine. It’s light in her tent again, Ben’s here, Ben’s… still holding her? Ben’s holding her. They both got scared of the dark, and now Ben’s holding her.
Suddenly Leslie can’t stop laughing. April rolls her eyes and pulls Andy away, and as the two of them start to leave, Leslie leans into Ben for support, giggling into his shoulder.
“That was really intense,” he says, but then he starts laughing too, and she looks up at him, his eyes crinkled and mouth wide, and why is he leaving Pawnee eventually?
Whatever, they’re safe, being scared was silly, and she’s laughing with a cute guy she might kinda like in a tent.
At least one nice thing came out of this camping trip.
--
“Wait,” Ben starts, once he finds his breath again. He just remembered-- “What was looking at me? Before you heard Andy in the woods?”
Leslie stops laughing and stares at him, curious.
--
These people are awfully boring, Orin writes in his journal. No rituals, no animal sacrifice, no blood drawn. What a terribly awful night for watching the woods. He looks back down in the darkness from his perch in a large oak tree, just above a lone red sleeping bag.