#wired autocomplete

✧

The two of them had yet to do an interview together, which made sense given that Max wasn’t exactly in the “celebrity scene” the same way he, his brothers, and Avery were, but that had changed!

You see, a few months ago, Xander and Max launched their Super-Secret-Extra-Special Project—appropriately named by Max—and now they’ve got to do publicity for it. What, exactly, was this project? Well, when they first met, Xander and Max bonded over their love of all things nerdy, from TV shows, to books, to movies. And since the two of them were still long distance, they found themselves calling each other all the time.

This is when Max proposed “the best mother-faxing idea she’d ever had” and said they should start a podcast, where they could debate everything nerdy and pop culture-y. She said it would be like Good Mythical Morning, except their ideas would be bad, the only mythical thing would be if they could manage to get the elusive Grayson Hawthorne on the show (Xander was certain they could), and they recorded exclusively past eleven o’clock at night—“That’s when all the best ideas happen!”

So naturally, Xander was completely on board. Not that he would ever not be on board with something Max suggested, but this in particular got the gears in his brain turning. The first thing they’d had to do was come up with a name for their podcast, which wound up being easier than they’d thought. They’d needed something short, but catchy, and as Xander had come to learn about Max, she was full of nothing but short and catchy catchphrases.

They named the podcast “We’re Full of Ship,” which Xander thought was genius and Alisa thought was going to get them canceled, but they persisted! And it kind of blew up over night. They’d both promoted it a bit on their socials in the two weeks before their debut episode, but one retweet from Avery and it took off.

Xander had known the idea would be a success, but even he had underestimated just how popular the podcast was going to be. Every episode was essentially just an hour of him and Max bouncing off of each other, with a short segment in the middle with a guest. But the people loved it!

Which is what led them here. At WIRED, doing the Autocomplete Interview. They’d gained a large enough following together to be considered “socially relevant”—Avery’s publicist Landon’s words, not his—and now got to do interviews together! Which was great. But Xander thought any time he got to spend with Max was great, so he might be biased.

He totally was.

✧

“Well, let’s get rid of this board,” Xander said, flinging it off to the side. Max laughed before they both cringed, gasping as the board flew straight toward one of the producers off-screen. “Oh God, right for your head, I’m so sorry,” he laughed.

They were then handed their first board, and Max held it while Xander got to pull off the stickers. The words in the search bar said “what xander hawthorne” and Xander pulled off the first sticker and read out, “What TikTok dance did Xander Hawthorne create?”

“You created a dance?” Max asked, raising an eyebrow.

Xander grinned at her, waggling his eyebrows in response. “Am I not a man of many talents? My dancing skills are renowned, you should know this.”

“Right, right, how could I forget?” Max said, laughing. “Can we get a demo?”

“Oh I don’t think the viewers could handle that. My sheer dancing prowess might overwhelm them.”

Max paused. “Can I get a demo?”

Xander opted to respond only with a wink, before peeling off the next sticker. “What does Xander Hawthorne do in his free time?” he read. “I love scones. I rank them. Scones are great. When I’m not doing anything, I will be having a scone.”

“Going to college?” Max suggested, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Yeah, that too I guess.” He dodged the swat of Max’s hand, sticking his tongue out at her. “What is Xander Hawthorne’s favorite movie? I don’t know. What do you think?” he asked Max.

“I mean, that one we watched the other night was pretty faxing great,” Max said, grinning.

Xander blinked at her for a moment, looking confused. Then, recognition lit up his face and he let out a sharp laugh. “If by great, you mean the worst movie I have ever had the misfortune of viewing.” He doubled over in laughter, which just made Max laugh harder. At the same time, the two made eye contact with each other and sang, “I think I’m gonna die in this house.”

Max looked like she was going to fall out of her chair, she was shaking with laughter so hard. The producers off-screen had started laughing too, which just made everything funnier.

“Oh my God,” Xander said, wiping his eyes once the laughter had subsided. “We watched ‘Wuthering Heights’ a few nights ago so we could talk about it on the podcast. So bad.”

“We are never getting that time back,” Max said mournfully.

Finally pulling off the last sticker, Xander read, “What music video was Xander Hawthorne in? I was in a Sabrina Carpenter music video.”

“Oh my God, that’s right!” Max said.

“It was for her ‘Espresso’ music video, I’m just in the background, but it was fun,” Xander said, looking at the camera.

“How did you even get to that point?”

Xander let out a long hum. “Well, you see, Jamie had told me he didn’t think I could pull something off just by asking for it, so I figured the best way to prove him wrong would be to just do it. I messaged her team asking to be in the background and that was that.” He shrugged, like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

“You’ve got to be shipping me,” Max said, shaking her head, but it was evident she was fighting a smile. She then threw the board she’d been holding behind her.

✧

Xander now held the board for Max, which had a similar prompt of “what max liu.”

“My turn!” Max cheered as she pulled off the first sticker. “What does Max Liu say in viral video? Oh! This one’s easy, in fact, you probably know it,” she told Xander.

“There are people who know it by heart, I think,” he laughed. “You said, ‘You mother-faxing chiphead, I hope you go straight to elf and eat a back of ducks’, which, very eloquent of you, might I add."

Max laughed. “So, not my finest moment in public. But I stand by the fact that he deserved it!” She then moved to pull off the next sticker. “What inspires Max Liu?”

There was a beat of silence before Xander went, “Crystals,” dragging out the word. Max snorted.

“No? I would say more like my friends and stuff. I mean my best friend is Avery faxing Grambs, and she’s a pretty cool beach.”

Xander dramatically rolled his eyes. “What actually inspires you?”

“That! My friends, I feel like that’s a fair answer.”

“That’s an interview answer. Give us something real. The people deserve to know this stuff, Maxine.”

She huffed mockingly. “That was my real answer. But fine, Tiramisu Panini Hawthorne inspires me. Every day.”

Xander seemed satisfied with that. “There you go.”

Max shoved him with her shoulder. “What is Max Liu’s college?” Her eyes snapped up to the camera. “I’m not telling you that! I don’t need people trying to come find me. It’s top secret,” she said, miming the ‘shhhh’ sign.

“I doubt it’s that secret. In fact, I’ll answer. You go to—” Max reached over and slammed her hand over Xander’s mouth to shut him up, but he just looked all too pleased with himself before licking her hand.

“Oh my God! Gross!” She exclaimed, wiping her palm on his pants. “You are the faxing worst, you know that, Hawthorne?”

Xander just gave her a shit-eating grin. “You might’ve mentioned it a time or two.”

“Ugh. Clearly not enough,” Max grumbled. She then moved to pull the last sticker off the board. “What is Max Liu’s fandom named?”

“Let’s make one!” Xander said.

“What would it be?”

“How about…” Xander pretended to stroke a beard as he thought. “The Maxinators?”

Max shook her head. “That is so basic. Come on, you can do better than that.”

“Team Maxatron.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “I cannot tell if you’re being serious or not.”

Xander raised his eyebrows a few times in response. “I’m always serious. Deadly serious.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Max rolled her eyes, but it was clear she was smiling. “Moving on.” Xander took the opportunity to toss the board, making sure to not hit a producer this time.

✧

The next board they were handed just said “we’re full of ship” in the google search bar, with all of the searches beneath it. They swapped back, so Max held the board and Xander got to pull off the stickers.

“Who is on We’re Full of Ship?” Xander read off. “We are! I, Xander Hawthorne, and my lovely co-host Maxine Liu are on the show. With us, are the occasional guests who include, but are not limited to, my brothers, the Grambs sisters, and any Gen-Z celebrity we can convince to spend time with us.”

“We just had Emma Chamberlain on!” Max chimed in. “And you definitely won’t want to miss that episode!”

Xander pulled the next tab off. “What is the We’re Full of Ship aesthetic? Ooh, fancy question. I don’t know, Max, what is our aesthetic?”

Max just laughed. “Chaos. I don’t think we’ve had a single episode yet where things don’t go totally off the rails. In a good way though!” she added. “But otherwise, it’s pretty casual, like if we were on facetime but there’s just also an audience.”

“Yeah, that about sums us up,” Xander agreed. “We’re Full of Ship Jameson Hawthorne.” he paused. “That’s not even a question! But yes, my dearest elder brother was on the show—”

“You could say that again,” Max cut in.

“And he…may have gotten a bit out of hand.”

“He was drunk.”

“Yes. He was drunk,” Xander agreed cheerily. “But no less entertaining!”

Max threw her head back and laughed. “I had to call—oh my God do I even tell this story? I feel like I have to. So,” she said, sitting up in her chair so she could look up at the camera, “I could tell that Jameson was going to…let’s just say he was going to say something he shouldn’t sooner or later. So I called Avery, who was with him—”

“They were in Spain, by the way!”

“Yes, yes, they were in a hotel in Spain. Avery was downstairs in a conference room getting work done while Jameson was on call with us. And I called her and just put her on speakerphone so she’d get the gist of what was going on. But when she got back to their room to come get him,” Max burst into giggles, having a hard time getting the words out. “He, he saw her, and just with no warning started to strip. On camera.”

Max’s face had flushed red from how hard she was laughing, and she had to take several deep breaths before calming down. Xander finished up the rest of the story, saying, “Yeah, I think he forgot we were there, I’m going to be honest. I have never ended a video call so fast in my life before,” he said, looking at the camera.

“We were almost traumatized,” Max giggled. “And the best part is, he didn’t faxing remember any of it! I sent Ave the video the next morning and she was mortified. She tried to get me to delete it but I know good blackmail material when I see it.”

Xander laughed. “Needless to say, that part was very much cut from the episode. But…maybe we should drop the extended version?”

“Like a director’s cut!” Max added. “Oh God they’d murder us. We’d be dead as ship. And even if they didn’t…”

“Alisa would.”

“Alisa would,” Max confirmed.

Moving onto the next question, Xander read, “What are We’re Full of Ship fans called?”

“Shippers? No,” Max said, laughing.

“Ship heads!” Xander exclaimed.

“I feel like we cannot call them that,” Max giggled.

Xander just shrugged. “I think it fits. We’re full of ship, and they’re the ship heads who watch us. Makes sense.”

They then moved on to the last question on the board. “Why does We’re Full of Ship make me laugh?” Xander read. “Because we’re hilarious, that’s why. Do you even have to ask?”

“Exactly,” Max added. “Absolute comedy genius right here. Bask in it.”

“Oh I’m basking,” Xander said with a wink before Max threw the board at him.

✧

Xander got to hold the board this time, and the prompt read “does max liu.” Max reached over to tear off the first sticker. “Does Max Liu know the Hawthornes? No, I don’t.”

“Never met them.”

“Never even heard of them. They must not be relevant,” she deadpanned.

“They’re not,” Xander added. “Super washed. All of them.”

“Does Max Liu love Avery Grambs?” she read off. Max looked up at the camera. “Yes, I do. That’s my wife right there.”

“They’re a very happy couple,” Xander chimed in.

Peeling off the next sticker, Max read, “Does Max Liu go hard?”

Both of them burst into laughter as Xander said, “Last night, Max was going hard.”

Max laughed again, burning her face in her hands. “Wait, what do they even mean by go hard?”

“Like, live it up, go out on the town,” Xander said. “Although you could just be popping off at work. Or with this fit!” he added. “Max Liu is going hard with this fit.” Xander gestured to Max’s outfit which was a pair of custom Star Wars converse, baggy jeans, and a sage green over-sized button up. Her hair had been tied up in space buns with her bangs left loose.

“Thank you.”

“For sure.”

“Does Max Liu play Pokemon?” Max read. “I do! I’ve played on just about every console I’ve ever owned, which currently is my Switch 2. But yes, I love all of the Pokemon games and the show.”

“I think we might even have an episode about it,” Xander said.

Max nodded. “You’re right, we do! I think it’s one of the first ones, if I’m not wrong. I’m sure someone in the comments will fact-check that.” She then pulled off the last sticker. “Does Max Liu have tattoos?” She paused for a moment. “No.”

Xander laughed at her. “You act like you’re trying to remember.”

“I do not,” Max said with a laugh of her own. “I think my mom would be forever disappointed in me if I did. Not that it would sway my decision. But for now, no, I don’t have any tattoos.”

“For now, she says,” Xander comments, grinning wolfishly. “That means she can be swayed.”

Max rolled her eyes. “Why, are you into that?” she teased.

Xander just shrugged, but winked after turning away from the camera.

✧

“Last board!” Xander cheered as Max grabbed it from the producer. In the search bar was “why xander hawthorne.” He then read off the first question, saying, “Why Xander Hawthorne going to college? I mean, I’ve always known I was going to go, I feel like there’s a lot that can be learned from college. Technically,” he said, “my brothers and I all have to go. But Gray did his degree online and Jamie has yet to sit still long enough to be at any university longer than a semester.”

“At least they tried?” Max offered with a laugh.

“Sure, we’ll go with that,” Xander said. “Okay, next is, why isn’t Xander Hawthorne British?”

Max choked on a laugh. “What?”

Xander shrugged, holding his hands up to the camera. “No idea. You know, I ask myself this question regularly, why aren’t I British? I should be, and clearly whoever’s been searching this agrees.”

“Maybe you were British in your last life.”

“Aha! That must be it,” Xander exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “I’m a former Brit. One of the lads from across the pond.” Max giggled at that as Xander pulled off the next sticker. “Why is Xander Hawthorne so tall?”

“I know, right?” Max asked. “There’s no reason for it. It’s faxing ridiculous.”

Xander grinned at the camera. “Personally, I think my height comes with many advantages, including but not limited to, tackling those around me whenever I so choose.”

“Oh yeah, he does do that.”

“It’s a skill.”

“A talent.”

“Of which I have many.” He then turned back to the board. “Last question! I feel like we need a drumroll. Should we drumroll this?”

Max nodded enthusiastically, resting the board against her stomach so her hands were free to drum against her lap.

“And it is….” Xander paused dramatically as he pulled away the final tab. “Why is Xander Hawthorne that way?”

Max burst into giggles as Xander waggled his eyebrows at the camera. “Becuase I’m perfect! As the most handsome, charming, and talented Hawtorne, there’s just not enough of me to go around, but I try to be generous.”

Unable to respond, Max just shook her head and buried it in her hands after tossing the last board onto the floor.

“What did ya’ll think of the questions?” One of the producers asked from off-camera.

“There were a couple great ones—”

“And a couple weird ones,” Max finished with a laugh. “Like the British one.”

“That one was great, and I don’t appreciate you insinuating otherwise.”

“Oh of course not, I would never.”

“Uh huh,” Xander said, making a face at the cameras before they stopped rolling. He turned to Max and gave her a high five.

“Go us!” She exclaimed. “First interview in the books!”

“Hey there, I’m Ben Barnes and today I’m doing WIRED Autocomplete Interview,” Ben introduces himself with a bright smile on his lips and his eyes fixed directly on the camera, so everyone in front of the screen could feel as he was speaking specific to them.

When one of the people off-camera handed him the first question board, Ben quickly thanked them before taking a moment to look on the very well-known by internauts object. With a confident smile, he uncovered the first question and responded without hesitation. “Is Ben Barnes British? Yes, absolutely. I was born in London, England and I am 100% British, even though I spend a lot of time in the States,” he replied with a hint of amusement in his tone. “Although, I thought my accent would give it away,” he added with a chuckle before tearing off another piece of paper to reveal the next question.

“Is Ben Barnes an only child?” as he read question, he shook his hand in front of him to remove a piece of paper that had stuck to his fingers. The paper eventually fluttered to the ground, and Ben's attention returned to the camera with a grin on his face. “No, I actually have a younger brother named Jack,” he said, his eyes sparkling with joy as he recalled his sibling. “He's absolutely lovely, I miss him,” he added, nodding his head slightly.

Upon reading the next question, Ben furrowed his eyebrows, a hint of confusion flickering across his face. “Is Ben Barnes Spanish?” he raised his head to look at the camera and chuckled. “I don’t think we need to answer this question,” he said genuinely amused by the search. Without skipping a beat, he quickly moved on to the next question, and when he read it, his face lit up with a warm smile again. “Is Ben Barnes in the T-Mobile commercial? Yes!” he declared, his voice brimming with pride. He sent the camera a charming grin and added, “I, in fact, am this charming British actor,” winking at the camera and playfully imitating a line spoken in the commercial.

The quiet giggles of the women working in production behind the camera made you burst out laughing. Even though you couldn't see them, you could picture the adorable grins on their faces. Ben always knew how to work his charm, and sometimes you found yourself resenting him for it, especially when he used it against you. Both of you knew you couldn't resist his charismatic plays.

You sit on the couch, absorbed in the latest interview with Ben, which had just been posted online. You could be his girlfriend, his confidante, his partner in crime, but he never shared any behind-the-scenes secrets with you. He loved seeing your genuine reactions to his work, no matter what they were. It was just one of the many things that made him so endearing to you.

As the interview continued to play on your phone, you heard the familiar sound of Ben's footsteps entering the living room. You looked up to see him walking towards you, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He knew what you were watching and he couldn't resist the opportunity to tease you. He leaned over the back of the couch, his face hovering just inches from yours.

“What are you watching, love?” he asked, his voice full of amusement.

You rolled your eyes at his playful tone, but couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of your lips. “Just the latest interview with my favorite actor,” you replied, pretending to be unimpressed.

Ben grinned and leaned in closer, his breath tickling your cheek. “Oh, really? And who might that be?” he asked, his voice dripping with mock curiosity.

You shook your head, trying to hide your smile. “I don't know, some Benjamin? He reminds me of my favorite character from Disney animation,” you teased back.

Ben chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to your temple before settling onto the couch next to you. You leaned into him, enjoying his familiar scent and the feeling of his arm draped around your shoulder. The interview continued to play, but you found yourself more distracted by Ben's presence than the questions being asked. You couldn't help but steal glances at him, admiring the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled and the way his hair looked even messier than always. You could hardly believe that the charming and witty actor was your boyfriend.

“Wait,” he suddenly spoke up, snapping you out of your thoughts about him. He shifted his curious gaze to you after he stopped the video, his eyes a warm shade of brown that you could get lost in for hours. “Which character?” he asked, his voice filled with interest.

You furrowed your eyebrows completely off guard. It took you a moment to realize that he was referring to the words spoken as a joke. “Oh,” you said, your eyebrows raising slightly as your brain processed his question. “Eugene Fitzherbert.”

“Eugene?” Ben repeated, looking even more confused than you were a seconds earlier.

“Oh my goodness,” you muttered pretending to be annoyed. “Flynn Rider, does that tell you anything? Girl with magic hair? An evil stepmother keeping her in a tower?” you shifted away from him, settling into a cross-legged position as you faced him. “I've got a dream, I've got a dream. I just wanna see the floating lanterns gleam,” you sang, earning a chuckle from Ben.

“Okay, Rapunzel. Right,” he said, still laughing as he watched you. “I should have known. You’ve watched that movie, what, a hundred times?”

You rolled your eyes playfully, but couldn't help the fond smile that crept onto your face. "Only a hundred? I thought you knew me better than that," you teased, leaning back into his side.

Ben shook his head, still grinning from ear to ear at your playful banter. He reached for your phone and resumed the interview with a smile. You watched him intently as he answered all this questions, his passion for storytelling evident in every word he said. But suddenly your attention was diverted by something you hadn't noticed before – something that could potentially create a stir online.

Your hand flew to your mouth in surprise. “Oh no,” you gasped. “Is this what I'm thinking about?”

Without a second thought, you took the phone out of Ben's hands and held it up to your face, squinting to make sure you weren't mistaken.

Ben chuckled at your sudden change in behavior. “What are you looking at? I know I'm devilishly handsome, but you can look at me in person, you know?” he joked, but as he noticed your furrowed brow and lack of response, his expression turned serious.

“What is that?”

You turned your head, shifting your gaze to Ben, all the while holding your hand to your mouth with eyes wide open. “The reddish mark on your neck.”

Hearing your words, Ben's eyes widened and he almost snatched the phone from your hands to get a better look. At the same moment, a question about whether Ben had a partner appeared on the white board, to which he firmly denied and quickly moved on to the next topic. Hearing this coincidence, you burst out laughing uncontrollably, but Ben didn't find it as amusing since you had managed to keep your relationship a secret for over a year. Only your closest friends and family knew about it, and no one else. You had made the mutual decision to keep your relationship under wraps. It had started as a way to avoid unwanted attention and speculation from the media and fans, but as time went on, it had become a way to protect your relationship and keep it sacred. It had been a source of stress and anxiety at times, but it had also brought you closer together, sharing this special secret that only the two of you knew.

The situation was too ironic, and you couldn't stop laughing. The timing of the question about Ben's relationship status coming up at the same moment you noticed the mark on his neck was too much of a coincidence to ignore. Finally getting a hold of yourself, you asked, “What do we do now?” Noticing the look on Ben's face, you could tell he was worried.

He tried to reassure himself by saying, “This mark is barely noticeable. No one should be able to spot it, right?”

But you couldn't offer him any comfort, and you just helplessly shrugged your shoulders. You had to be honest with yourself, the idea of it being exposed was kind of terrifying. You knew that if you made it public, it would change everything. People would start scrutinizing every little detail of your lives, and the media could potentially spin it in a negative light. Being a regular person, you valued your privacy and didn't want to deal with the hassle of being in the public eye. Besides, what if his fans didn't like you? The thought of reading negative comments about yourself on all your social media profiles was daunting. You knew what kind of venom some users were capable of spewing, and you didn't want to expose yourself to that kind of negativity.

You quickly navigated to the comments section below the interview, frantically searching through the fan reactions, praying that no one had caught a glimpse of the conspicuous reddish mark on Ben's neck that you had left there before he went to work. Why the makeup artists had failed to conceal the mark before filming? They should have noticed it.

As you scrolled through the fan reactions in the comments section, you couldn't help but groan when you came across the first comment that mentioned the hint of your lipstick with an exact time reference. “03:31 BENJABIN THOMAS BARNES WHAT IS THAT MARK ON YOUR NECK?” you read aloud, and looked uncertainly at Ben, who was also staring at the phone screen. Your fears had come true.

As you continued to read, you noticed that there were other comments that also mentioned the mark. Ben pointed his finger at one of them too, confirming your suspicions. The situation was getting out of hand.

But amidst all the serious comments, there were a few that made you chuckle. “Someone wrote all men do is lie,” you laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

“I don’t lie,” he rolled his eyes, biting his lower lip to keep himself from laughing along with you.

“You do and this video is the proof of that,” when you said these words, you suddenly realized something. You straightened up, opening your mouth in surprise, and looked at Ben with feigned indignation. “Are you the one who ate the last cookies in the package? Don’t lie to me,” you said clearly, pointing an accusing finger at him with a serious face, wandering your eyes over his face.

“I-” Ben began in a defensive tone, and you watched the amusement that started painting on his face. “Okay, fine, it was me,” he admitted, laughing and defusing the tension. “But let’s not start a cookie war right now.”

As you both sat there in silence, you reached over to lock the screen of the phone, effectively ending the interview. With the device now resting on the table in front of you, the weight of what had just occurred began to sink in.

After a few moments, you tentatively broke the silence with a suggestion. “Why don't we just pretend that nothing happened?” you offered, hoping that Ben would agree. It was clear to both of you that publicly announcing your relationship was not an option, and this seemed like the best way to handle the situation.

Ben looked relieved at your suggestion and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that's probably for the best,” he said, his voice sounding a little strained. You could tell that he was still processing everything that had just happened.

You sat in silence for a few more minutes, both lost in your thoughts. Finally, you decided to break the tension with a joke. “Well, at least now we know that your fans are Sherlock-level detectives,” you quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

Ben chuckled, a small smile playing on his lips. “Yeah, I guess I underestimated their sleuthing skills,” he replied, his voice sounding a little more relaxed now.

As the weeks passed after the incident during the interview, you and Ben did your best to keep your relationship under wraps. You avoided going out in public together, and when you did, you made sure to keep a low profile. But on this particular day, you decided to grab lunch at a small café near the neighborhood he lived in. You were enjoying your meal and chatting with Ben when a fan spotted him and shyly approached your table.

“Excuse me, are you Ben Barnes?” the fan asked excited, holding out their phone for a photo.

Ben smiled politely and put his coffee down on the table before agreeing to take a photo with her. She handed you her phone, her hands shaking with excitement, and asked if you could take the picture for her. You accepted with a soft smile and positioned yourself to take a few shots while Ben stood up to pose with the fan.

After the photos were taken, she couldn’t contain her happiness and gushed, “I’m such a big fan! I loved you in The Punisher.”

Ben chuckled and responded with a grateful tone, “Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

The fan asked him a few more questions about his upcoming projects and music, and you observed with admiration as Ben responded with a smile and listened intently to her every word. He never gave the impression that he was bothered or uninterested, even if the topic wasn't something he was particularly fond of. You thought how much his fans meant to him and how he treated each of them with respect and kindness, making them feel important and appreciated.

As the fan walked away from your table, beaming with excitement, you couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy at her experience. It was amazing to see how Ben handled his fans with such kindness and charm, making each and every one of them feel special, and you were sure that the girl would cherish this encounter for a long time. Despite having witnessed this before, you were still impressed every time by his sincere connection with his fans.

When Ben sat back down, you could tell that he was still in a good mood. “She was sweet,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. “It's always nice to meet fans, you know?”

You smiled at him, feeling warm in your heart. “You're amazing with your fans, Ben. I don't know how you do it.”

He shrugged, looking down at his coffee cup. “I don't know, I just try to make them feel appreciated. They're the reason I get to do what I love, after all.”

The two of you continued chatting for a while longer, discussing the least important things, enjoying each other's presence and having lunch together. But as you were about to leave the café, you noticed something strange happening on your phone.

“What's going on?” Ben asked, noticing the look of concern on your face.

You showed him your Twitter feed, where several notifications were popping up, all of them about the photo you had just taken of Ben with the fan, praising Ben's good looks and speculating about your identity. “Looks like we're trending on Twitter,” you said not sure how to react.

You glanced at your phone's screen once again and read the tweet that had caught your attention. “JUST SAW BEN BARNES OUT FOR LUNCH WITH HIS MYSTERY GIRLFRIEND! I have no idea who she is but THEY LOOK SO CUTE TOGETHER! Screaming crying throwing up #thatshouldbeme”.

Ben let out a small laugh as he read the tweet on his phone. "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag," he said, glancing up at you.

The tweet had already been retweeted hundreds of times and you could feel your anxiety rising as you thought about what this might mean for you. For your relationship.

“What do we do now?” you asked him, your voice trembling slightly.

Ben took a moment to think before responding. “I think we should just embrace it,” he said, his voice calm and reassuring. “We can't change the fact that people know now, so there's no point in trying to hide it. And honestly, I’ve been thinking about it. I don't want to have to pretend that I'm not dating the most amazing person in the world,” he added, reaching across the table to take your hand and give it a reassuring squeeze.

Despite the less-than-ideal situation, his unwavering support and affection provided you with a sense of comfort, as though everything would be alright.

As you and Ben exited the café, you couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched, even though it seemed like everyone was just minding their own business. Some pedestrians recognized Ben and pointed discreetly, while others tried to catch a glimpse of you, the mysterious girlfriend. The paparazzi were nowhere in sight, but you knew it was only a matter of time before they caught on. You wondered how you would handle the inevitable intrusion into your private life, but for now, you were content to hold Ben's hand and enjoy the moment.