#benoftheweek fluff

you were sitting on the soft, damp grass as chris ran away, giggling, from the sparkling firework before it blasted into the night sky, shooting into multiple shades of colors beneath the stars. your best friend, ben, was sitting right beside you with his hands behind him planted onto the soil, next to yours. he was watching the fireworks, as was everybody else. it was new years and everybody agreed to hang out together which is the reason everyone was here now. it was only 11:49 at the moment but you guys had been taking turns, setting off fireworks while waiting for the time to come. it was now ben's turn to light a fountain firework, so he sat up, flashed a smile at you then walked over to where colby was standing, holding the lighter for him. it was quite loud with music blaring behind you and the chatter of people talking to each other, but you were still able to make out what they were saying. "now be careful, don't light yourself on fire." a chuckle from ben was let out as colby handed the lighter to him, quickly walking away as ben had bent over to light it. it suddenly sparked up causing him to jump, letting out a quiet squeal noise as he ran back to his original spot as the fountain blew colors onto the grass beneath it. he turns to you quickly, a toothy grin on his face as you stared at the fountain, the colors lighting up your face making your facial features more visible with the light not being able to reach the shadows on your face. he adored your face. he found it cute. your cheekbones. your jawline. your nose. everything. your hand was now in the small space between you two, the firework now dying as jake ran out to place a new one. your eyes finally went to meet bens as a smile was placed onto your soft lips. he looked at them before looking you back in the eye, looking back at the newly placed firework light up.

he felt weird. like a good kind of weird but he didn't quite understand what it was. his stomach was churning but in a good way. it was when you smiled back at him. but you always smiled at him so what was the difference? he suddenly noticed tara walking over and starting a conversation with you. "oh yeah, it's 11:57." you said as tara nodded, thanking you and walking back to where she stood originally which was next to jake and johnnie. "have you ever had a new years kiss?" ben speaks up from beside you, not looking your way but still the question was directed to you. "no, i haven't unfortunately. why?" he finally looks at you, the gaze he had left an unusual feeling in your stomach. was it a good feeling? who knows. as you wait for your question to be answered, another loud firework goes off that had an ear ringing noise. the colors light up his face, only making the weird feeling happen again. he looks away from you again, his hand now placed on yours as there was awkward tension between you two. "me neither." ben lets out a soft sigh. sometimes he confused you a lot, he would always ask random questions but when you asked questions back, no direct response.

someone pulls you up from the ground, holding you tightly--not too tight--by the arm and as you look to see who it was it was your friend, nick. ben stands up beside you as everybody started counting down. it was already loud enough with just the music and talking but with everybody yelling it made it way louder.

you join in with the yelling, counting down until it was finally 2025. the year you all had been anticipating for. you look back towards ben as he was already looking at you with a smile plastered on his face. chris being the loudest as you can hear him clearly over all the others yelling.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...you were cut off from saying happy new year as somebody's lips were quickly attached to yours. your eyes were shot wide open as realization kicks in and you realize it's your best friend. ben. he doesn't pull away for a couple of seconds, the kiss feeling like its lasting forever. shock suddenly faded to passion as you returned the kiss.

“this isn’t fair, you have such an advantage!” he groaned, looking skeptically at his painting, trying to find an angle that made just a bit of sense.

you laughed mischievously, knowing that you chose this activity solely because you had the upper hand. “not my fault! sorry you have poor eye to hand coordination” you mumbled with a grin. he gasped and clutched his chest in an offended manner.

“that is!- fine. i’ll show you how much of an artist i can be.” he declared. turning his attention back to his painting, concentrated entirely on making sure he wins.

a few minutes later, you announced that you had finished with your painting.

“i’m done!” you held your painting up next to ben and smiled, knowing victory was soon to be declared.

ben didn’t respond, instead, he continued meticulously picking paint and holding it up next to your features, putting his thumb up to measure your proportions…

“aaand…done!” he dragged on, reviewing his painting with a grin.

“mhm, should we reveal them now?” you asked, he nodded.

“i’ll go first” you stated, he rolled his eyes playfully in response. he muttered an “of course” under his breath, teasingly.

he flipped your painting and revealed a spot on recreation of his face, done in under 30 minutes. his mouth was left agape, stunned at the art piece before him. i mean, he knew you were good but this had only further proved it to him.

“it’s decent.” he said, neglecting to look at you in the face, trying to disguise the fact that he had been left with his mouth opened for a good 15 seconds at the utter shock of your skills.

you snorted, “decent, sure” you rolled your eyes as you crossed your arms. you obviously knew that he knew that you were a very talented artist, and he was lucky to have such a creative partner, but it was fun to watch him pretend.

“okay okay now mine” he said excitedly. you turned the painting towards you, covering your mouth with your hand upon contemplation.

“oh my god.” everything was all over the place, you hair was spikes, your eyes were giant in comparison to your little face, the neck was way too long, and the colors formed a muddy mix almost everywhere.

“this is amazing ben! i think you’ve won!” you say smiling, holding in the laughter.

“duh, i told you” he acted like a little kid showing his babysitter his drawing. but soon enough the both of you burst with laughter, giggling about the painting for at least 15 minutes.

“okay you win, can we just go lay down now? painting is really draining” he said exaggeratedly. you nodded and looked back at the mess of brushes, pallets, and splotches of colors on the table. then you looked back at him.

“tomorrow.” you both said in unison, breaking out in laughter once again before heading to his room, laying in bed and making fun of his painting again. this went on for a few minutes before peppering him with kisses, apologizing for bullying his “awesome” art piece. you both fell asleep shortly after, resting your head on his chest, intertwined together.

senseless kisses were being placed on the nape of my neck, causing me to giggle, as the soft skin of his lips tickled against my neck.

we had been laying like this for a few hours now. After his difficult and chaotic video shoot all he wanted was to be lazy besides his girlfriend.

I turned to face him, gently moving his curls out of his face. He sighed against my touch, nuzzling his face so it rested on the crook of my neck.

“you’re so pretty" i mumble, tangling my fingers in his hair, looping them around his curls.

"i love you" he muttered, removing himself from the position he was in, this time he laid back, letting my head rest on his chest, stroking my hair delicately, cautious as to not tug on it or do anything that could remotely hurt me.

My arm hung across his waist, as he stroked my arm, drawing circles and tracing my small white lines, gently hovering over the texture and bumps of the cured skin.

I retracted my arm, shying away at his touch, feeling vulnerable. He furrowed his brows “did i do something?” He asked innocently, softening his eyes as he saw me neglect eye contact.

A few minutes passed as he processed the situation, trying to come up with something, but starting to worry about making me uncomfortable.

He took my hand and held it close to his lips, hovering over before placing gentle kisses to my skin, making his way up my arm. I smiled in adoration at his gentle tactics. His kisses went up to my shoulder, shortly then reaching my cheek, finally, my lips. I sighed into the kiss, smiling.