take her to the moon for me.

“ welcome to imagination land! ”

full name: benji richard bong. pronunciation: been-gee rich-urd baang. birth date: february 2nd, 1995. zodiac sign: aquarius. gender: nonbinary. pronouns: he/they. romantic orientation: panromantic. sexual orientation: pansexual. spoken languages: english.

It was amazing how two very different people could be such best of friends. Riley was a jock through and through, and Benji was, well, unique and perfect in every way in Riley’s eyes. Whereas she was a very anxious person he was so carefree. Riley envied them sometimes. They watched Benji collapse into the snow and was about to freak out a bit when the other acted as casual as ever. Riley couldn’t help but laugh a bit and then did their best to look deep in thought. “Hm, well. The landing in the snow could have been better. But this is…what you call improv? That is the term right? I think the ‘oh no’ could have had a little more emotion behind it.” Riley plots into the snow beside them and smiles brightly. “If you’re going for realistic though I think it was just perfect.”

♡

“Mm, yes, valid point,” Benji nodded, they were never one to take constructive criticism personally, but they didn’t take it lightly either. He’d have to try it again and again until he landed the fall just right, perfected his exclamation. Maybe with more practice he could find a new scene to act out for audition tapes. “Oh, really? That’s wonderful!” Beaming, they looked over at their best friend lying beside of them, a sudden thought occurring to them. Benji was a strong believer of speaking their feelings. “I am so lucky to have you in my life, you know. There’s no one else I’d rather be freezing my butt off with right now.”

Benji would never say no to a challenge. Now, he might not have had any idea how to play the game Prilla was suggesting, but that didn’t mean they weren’t going to try their very best to be a worthy opponent. Clearing his throat, Benji put on his best face of confidence, straightened his bowtie, and looked at the girl with the most serious expression he could muster. (It was not very serious.) “Alright, my dear friend, are you ready to lose?”

“Mavis? Yeah, I know Mavis,” Benji exclaimed excitedly, taking another sip from his glass. They did not drink often, so it didn’t take much to get them tipsy. Two drinks in and their words were already slurring. “She’s great,” he continued, a wide smile on his face as he tried to describe her. “She’s... like... you know how you meet some people and your soul just starts singing? No? Oh. Well, she’s one of those people. She makes my soul sing the happiest of tunes! You’ll never leave a conversation with her without laughing. She’s so sweet, too, the human embodiment of sunshine! Gosh, I love Mavis.”

“ Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind. ”

“Aw! You so should’ve called me so that we both could’ve gone dress shopping together!” Mavis claimed with now with a small pout on her face. In no way did she think that Benji wouldn’t have been able to pull off a dress, nope! Surely if they were able to find the right one for them, than they would’ve been one of the show stoppers of the ball she bets. Then again, Mavis already did think that Benji’s current look was a show stopper as it is because she was serious when she said she that he looked fangtastic. “I bet you would’ve looked just as great in a dress too, hell, even better than me! And if you had fallen from the dress, well— maybe you could’ve landed in your zings arms, who knows.” The vampire playfully wiggled her eyebrows as she let out a giggle. “You shouldn’t, keep them up until Valentines Day. As for me, the holidays were a bit busy but nothing too hectic. Had an influx of guests coming in, but nothing too heckish.” Mavis replied, thanking the fact that she had Elsa to help her manage things back at the hotel and that nothing bad truly happened to cause a ruckus as of yet. The brunette then gasped when Benji admitted to having no date, only for her to shake her head right after. “Holy rabies, Benji, of course I want to brave the crowd with your extravagant moves! I’ll still want to dance with you even if you had fins as feet!”

...

“I’m so sad I didn’t think of that!” Benji pushed his bottom lip into a pout to match hers. It would be a lot more fun to go shopping with Mavis than to go shopping alone; plus, he trusted her input. She would make sure he looked great! “You flatter me! I could never outdo a ten out of ten!” They laughed, nodding in agreement. “I’m thinking that. I really like the decorations, it’s just so sad to take them down! If I wait until Valentines Day, at least I can replace them so the house doesn’t look bland!” That sounded like a good plan in his book. Though he’d probably end up taking them down one day when he was bored and had too much free time on his hands. “I bet so, it’s always busy around this time of year! Lots of travelling!” Benji was lucky his friends and family were here, though that wasn’t the case when he was in NYC of course. “Great! I will try my best not to trip you up! Who knows, maybe we’ll look so good out there we’ll be the talk of the ball!”

A small gasp escaped Lizzie’s lips as Benji attempted to catch the shopping bag before it hit the ground, but they seemed to just barely miss it. She shook her head at the question, smiling as she took the bag from his grasp. “Nothing breakable, luckily,” she replied with a small sigh of relief. She giggled as they tried to make her feel better, adjusting the bags in her grasp. “Well that makes me feel a little less clumsy. Thanks for that, though, you were really quick on your feet!”

...

“Whew, that’s a relief.” They pretended to wipe sweat from their brow. He really would feel bad if she’d broken something she just bought and he hadn’t been able to help at all. “Oh, you’re welcome! I try to be! Sometimes I don’t even stay on my feet, but it’s the price you have to pay! Nothing to feel bad about, we’re all clumsy sometimes!”

Riley can’t help but giggle. There was something about Benji that made all of Riley’s troubles and worries seemingly disappear. He was like rays of sunshine after a rainy day. “Oh, but haven’t you heard? It’s a winter special! Hot cocoa flavored cocoa puffs with marshmallows! We just have to find a box…” Riley’s eyes drift back to the hundreds of cereal boxes on the shelf and they wander a few feet away until finding what their mind was destined on. “Aha! Found it!”

...

“What?” His jaw dropped. “I’m just finding this out now?” Snatching two of the boxes off the shelf, they hugged them close to their chest. All the more reason to appreciate running into Riley today. “What if it’s the best cereal I’ve ever had? It’ll go away and I won’t have it again until next winter! I have to get two boxes! Maybe three or four!”

The two of them had entirely met by chance, but Dory was eternally grateful for having Benji in her life. His spark was just something to behold, his positivity contagious, his personality overwhelming in the best way. Never once had he ever commentated on her disability or even looked at her differently when he found out about the extent of it; if anything, he took it better than everyone else. Maybe because he was so forward-thinking in general, a little all-over-the-place with his bounciness and colorful attitude. The holidays seemed to be perfect for him, his smile as bright as the twinkling lights and his words sweet as the sugar cookies toted in the local bakeries. “ Marshmallows ! ” she agreed with a nod of her head. “ Love marshmallows in my hot chocolate. ” Popping the lid off of her own to let it cool just a bit, she hoped his came with enough whipped cream to satisfy his sweet tooth. “ But here’s a question - do you put a lot of little ones in your hot chocolate, or one big one ? ” It was a fun, festive question while their drinks cooled. “ I usually do a bunch of small ones, but Marlin does one big one in his mugs all the time. ” And Nico… She couldn’t quite recall. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment at the thought, trying to rack her brain to see what she could come up with. But, just like that, the thought passed, and she was back to thinking about how to make hot chocolate. “ I also do little chocolate shavings sometimes, if I’m feeling really fancy, ” she added with a laugh.

...

“The more the better,” he beamed. Dory was just the kind of person he could get along with. Not that Benji had much trouble getting along with anyone. They seemed to have more in common than some of his friends, and he would always enjoy and appreciate the outlook she brought to his life. And company! “Never one big one!” He chuckled. “Sometimes a lot of the little ones, sometimes multiple of the big ones. I like to put a few when it’s still so hot they start to melt, then when it cools off a little, put a few more in so it has a chew to it! Sometimes I’m too lazy to do that though, so I just toss them in and hope for the best!”

“Chocolate shavings?” Their eyes lit up as if they’d just been told a life changing secret. He leaned into the table, curious. “How do you do that? I want to do that! Can you use a regular cheese grater and chocolate bar? Or is there a special technique?”

“nah, dude, i think it looks sick.” teddy reassured, observing the window for a moment with a nod. he liked that the other wasn’t afraid to be who he was, even if it meant standing out or coming off as weird to some, that was basically wonderland’s schtick in a nutshell and he embraced all of that wholeheartedly. “…might make it a lil hard ta tell when it’s day time or night time, though.” he contemplates out loud, furrowing his brows a little as he keeps his gaze on the window for a bit longer. “but hey, ‘m pretty sure my boss man has a ladder somewhere at work, want me ta ask?”

...

“Good thing I can sleep with the lights on! I hope everyone else can,” he said as a second thought, scratching his head. “Actually... yeah, that would be great! I’m not sure how I’m going to take these down when the time comes. Suppose I thought I’d fly. Which would be sick, but that is one skill I have not yet mastered! So, yeah, if you could get me a ladder or someone who can fly, it would be much appreciated!”

Only Benji would take her calling their home to be a tacky nightmare as a compliment. Though, she truly hadn’t expected him to see it as the lighthearted insult that it was originally meant to be. Upsetting the other hadn’t been Davina’s intention, despite the fact that she truly did sort of hate the whole eyesore of a house that he now placed on their block. “Uh, isn’t that what a like storage unit is for?” she suggests with a roll of her eyes at the ridiculousness of their statement. “I would say you can take some of ours - but not only do you have enough going on here already, I also don’t think Joy would be too happy if I gave away her decorations.” 

...

“A storage unit, not a bad idea,” Benji nodded slowly, thinking this suggestion over. Did he have enough stuff for a storage unit? Not quite. But they could fill it rather quickly. Oh, all of the extra costumes he could have with a whole extra building! “No, no, you’re right there. More might be a bit excessive for now.” As if it wasn’t already. “And I’d never want to make Joy sad. Maybe I will indeed look into a storage unit and double up on everything next year. Go big or go home! Except, I am already home... what a conundrum.”