#benjill

Then again, in the many years Ben had been in the academy, he’d seen all sorts of things. So when he started hearing music come from the roof as he read in his room, he didn’t question much. Allison liked to keep Luther company up there, and bringing her speaker with her wasn’t an impossible explanation.

That was, until Allison walked into Ben’s room asking him what he wanted for lunch, and the music was still playing.

No Allison, then. That only left him with… well. He supposed he’d find out.

Ben left his book on his desk and made his way to the roof.

Three little birds sat on my window…

The moment he opened the door, the music finally became clearer, and Ben couldn’t help but smile as he recognized the song.

… summer came like cinnamon, so sweet…

He leaned against the wall for a bit, taking it in. It was a cloudy day, but a bright one nonetheless. The wind was strong enough to mess with his hair, and almost chilly, but just the perfect amount. Ben loved that kind of weather.

… maybe sometimes we got it wrong, but it's all right…

It didn’t take him long to realise that the song was on repeat. He chuckled, shaking his head. Of course it was on repeat—she loved that song. Deciding to come out of his hiding spot, Ben pushed himself off the wall and walked further into the roof.

“Hello?”

Not two seconds later, a certain someone walked out of the greenhouse. “Benny!”

Ben could physically feel his jaw starting to hurt from how much he smiled. “Hey, Jill.”

Jill smiled back at him, running her hands through her hair to pull it up in a bun. She was wearing a blue striped romper and a pair of pink flipflops, a slight bounce in her step as she walked up to him, taking his hands in hers.

“What are you…?”

“Shhhh…” Jill started swaying left and right to the tune of the music, and although there was a respectable amount of distance between the two, Ben was pulled along with her. He rolled his eyes, but didn’t pull back.

Girl, put your records on…

Jill gave him a little nudge, then, and Ben knew there was no escaping it. He started moving along to the song too, following Jill’s lead.

… tell me your favorite song…

It wasn’t an organized dance—nothing like the ballroom lessons he’d taken as a kid—and even though they weren’t exactly in-sync, it felt like they were. Slowly, Ben found himself paying less and less attention to how silly he must have looked; because Jill was right there, and she was mesmerizing.

… you go ahead, let your hair down…

Jill was mouthing the lyrics as she opened her arms to the side, causing her and Ben to come chest to chest, and their foreheads to lean against one another’s. Ben couldn’t help but giggle at the situation, letting their hands fall to the side, still tangled together.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

“Hello,” replied Jill playfully, and soon enough, both of them were giggling.

Ben pressed a kiss on her forehead—he still couldn’t believe he could do this now—earning another chuckle from Jill. They pulled away just enough to look at each other. “You’re incredible.”

Jill rolled her eyes. “Someone’s feeling sappy.”

“Mmmm,” Ben hummed, planting another kiss. “Would that be a bad thing?”

Jill pressed her lips together—the way she always did when she was trying to come up with some sort of tease, and Ben loved the little things she did so much that his hurt could burst just thinking about it—and booped Ben’s nose with her finger. “You’re incredible too, Ben Hargreeves.”

Ben groaned, leaning his head on Jill’s shoulder to hide his smile—and blush. “I’m the sappy one?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are extremely easy to tease?”

“Unfortunately,” Ben mumbled as Jill pushed him off, holding his face between her hands. “You are though,” he said. “Incredible.”

Jill kissed him.

It only lasted a second, but Ben was grinning from ear to ear by the time it was over. “You’re incredible.”

“Dance with me.”

Her voice was barely above a whisper, but Ben heard her loud and clear.

He smiled. “Okay.”

Jill stood up quickly, back straight as she crossed her arms, a fake offended look on her face.

Ben quickly backtracked. "I mean! The plants could make it… cozier?" He held his hands up in surrender.

"Mhm," She hummed, uncrossing her arms with a smile and continuing to push the cart. "Are you sure we need this many though?"

He threw another pot inside the cart. "Yes! We have so many tables and for maximum coziness we need at least one every other table!" Jill huffed, rolling her eyes fondly. "And come on!" He started again, throwing two purple pots into the cart. "You love plants! You even have a garden-"

"Yeah!" She cut him off. "A garden. That I can water and care for all at once. I am not taking care of these," She lied as she gestured towards them.

"Mhm," Ben hummed, mocking her from before, and she shoved his shoulder, but didn't stop him as he threw a pack of spider plant seeds into the cart. At least he was picking the ones that were the least likely to die.

"I still think this is stupid," Jill said, minutes later after they had reached the back of the store, walking with Ben as he started to grab more and more seeds before turning back. "People don't come into a cafe and bookstore to look at plants-"

"But we'll be able to look at them!" He cut her off, and she huffed, pushing down the smile that threatened to appear on her face. "Come onnnnn," He whined, dragging the word out, "You'll love the way it looks, I promise." He bumped his shoulder to hers, and she finally let her smile show.

"Well, they'll die within a week, so I guess it's fine." Ben made an offended noise from beside her. "What! I'm not helping you take care of them, and you managed to kill half my garden when I left to visit my family for three days."

Ben paused, starting to fidget with the pot in his hands. "I didn't mean to."

Jill huffed, stepping away from the cart to stand in front of him. She put one of her hands against his cheek, lifting his head slightly so that their eyes met. "I know." She lightly pushed his head to the side after a soft smile came onto his face. "I was just joking."

He grinned brightly at her, and Jill stomped down the butterflies flying in her stomach at the sight of it. He lightly shoved her away from the cart and began to push it himself while she walked beside him.

"Maybe that's enough." Ben said quietly, looking down at the cart full of pots and seeds before looking up to Jill, who rolled her eyes fondly.

"Maybe."

--

It didn't take long for them to get back to the shop, both loaded down with heavy bags full of pots, dirt, seeds and succulents as well as a watering can with a flower design.

They walked into the small shop, flipping the light switch and watching as the lights flickered for a moment before turning on completely. The building of the shop was old, and the lights didn't work sometimes, but it was theirs. And according to Ben, it was about to get a lot more home-ly.

Jill huffed as she set the heavy bags down onto the ground, crossing her arms as Ben immediately started to dig through the bags, taking the items out and organizing them into small and big piles of seeds, pots, and others.

When he eventually finished, he collapsed onto the ground and looked up at her. "I'm not really sure where to go from here," He said, looking slightly embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head, and Jill laughed loudly and fully, making a smile appear on his face even through the embarrassment.

"Okay," She started, moving to sit next to him, the sides of their legs pressing together, "Fine. I'll help you with this part, but afterwards you're on your own," She said, pointing at him jokingly, and he gave a small giggle, nodding his head up and down exaggeratedly.

It didn't take long for them to plant all of the seeds that needed to be planted and transfer the already grown plants into pots, bantering and joking back and forth while they completed the task.

Though it was dark outside when they were done, they put the finished potted plants and succulents next to the windows that let in the most light during the daytime, giving each of the plants a few spritzes of water each depending on which was which.

When they completely finished setting every plant up, (Jill still wasn't sure how many there were) they stepped back to look at the shop where all the plants were laid out, shoulders pressed together while they stood close and admired their hard work.

As Jill grabbed Ben's hand, she had to admit. The shop did look a lot cozier.