Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"But I don't know how to play drums–"
Ben began, not really wanting to go on with this stupid performance for Heather Hills' birthday party, but Rodrick cut him off.
"Dude, two words."
Rodrick replies, ignoring what Ben had just said as he pushes his drumsticks against his friend's chest.
"Fast and loud; especially loud."
Ben groans and reluctantly takes the drumsticks from him.
"I hate this."
He muttered to himself, watching as Rodrick walked off to check out the audience from the stage. Probably looking for Heather, Ben grimaced at the thought. It took about half an hour before they got on stage, prepping for the song. Ben took a seat behind the drumset, looking defeated as Rodrick walked on to the microphone.
"This song goes out to a very special little lady."
Ben lets out a sigh, he's so fucking screwed.
"Heather Hills… This one's for you."
He could hear Heather muttering something about them supposedly needing to wear tuxedos as he began to play the drums. Rodrick, on the other hand, had started singing… horribly, if Ben was being honest. As they continued performing, he saw that Heather was walking over to the stage. She looks pissed— Uh-oh. Ben thought to himself, hoping that Rodrick would somehow figure out that this girl does not like him and he should stop being stupid for her, he didn't though, obviously not. Rodrick's eyes widened and he suddenly turned to Ben and the band.
"I need to dazzle her."
He declared, then immediately turned to Greg and that other kid he's always with and shouted.
"Crank it up full diper! Push that button!" Ah, fuck it. Ben began hitting the drums loudly, he could hear the chaos in the background. Did that girl just fall? Yes, wait, stop thinking and keep drumming, dumbass.

The band continued playing until Rodrick tripped on the chocolate fountain— dragging Heather with him. It was quite a sight, honestly. The two fell on the floor, covered in chocolate, Heather being so mad she looked like she was going to explode (NOT positively) and Rodrick, looking at her with a hopeful expression on his face.
“So, Heather, you’re a pretty cool chick. Maybe I could call you next week and we could hang?”
Ben had never wanted to walk out of a place so quickly.

☆

“Dude! I told you she’s into me.”
Rodrick insisted as Ben helped him with packing up the band equipment.
“C’mon, help me put these in your van.” Ben responds dryly, he was already fed up with Rodrick going out of his way to try and impress some girl that isn’t even a good person to begin with.
“Why have you been so dry recently?” Rodrick asks, picking up one of his drums and putting it on the back of the van, the words “Loded Diper” painted poorly on the sides of it.
“Not being dry.”
Ben deadpans, looking bemused. They soon finish packing up, Rodrick enters the van, waiting for him to get into the passenger’s seat.
“You getting in or what?”
He calls out, looking out the window, Ben walks over and gets in the van,
“I’m here, jeez.”
Rodrick shrugs in response as he starts the van, driving home.

A few minutes of awkward silence later, Rodrick decided to speak,
“You told me you didn’t know how to play drums.”
Ben paused and chuckled nervously,
“Uh, yeah? I don’t.”
“Yes you do! You were like, rocking it earlier.”
Rodrick lets out a soft laugh, He sounds adorable. Ben immediately shook the thought out of his head,
“Nah, man!”
He found himself laughing along, then there was that look. He could feel his face flush,
"Benjamin, my man. You're red."
Rodrick says with a grin on his face.
"And you're wearing chocolate stained clothes."
Ben retorted, rolling his eyes at his friend.
"Touché."

☆

"See ya tomorrow."
Rodrick calls out from his van as Ben gets out. Ben smiled and waved at him,
"See ya, Rod."
He chuckled softly before adding
"Drive safely."
Rodrick scoffs playfully, as if he got offended by the comment. He waved back at the blonde haired boy,
"Will do!"
He laughed before driving off, Ben watched as the van slowly disappeared in the distance. He let out a sigh, unlocking the door to his apartment. He tosses his bag on to the corner of the room before flopping down on his bed, tired. Today has been a long day.

Chapter Text

“-You really should move on from that chick.”

Ben looked at his friend, he had just finished listening to another one of Rodrick’s long rants about oh-so-perfect Heather Hills. He took another drag from the joint before passing it to the taller boy. Rodrick rolled his eyes and hits him on the arm playfully,

“I’ll just–,” He took the joint and placed it in between his lips, “I dunno.”

Ben looked at him before letting out a sigh, wondering how he could shake some sense into his best friend. He watched as Rodrick took a drag, taking it as a chance to admire the boy’s features. It has probably been a few minutes because Ben’s trance was broken when Rodrick nudged him on the arm.

 “–elloooooo, earth to Ben?” Rodrick nudged him again,

 “Uh, sorry. I must be higher than I thought I was.”

 “Sure, okay.”

Rodrick handed him the joint, exhaling smoke onto his direction. He wondered why Ben was frequently zoning out, being distant, and sometimes just staring— The thought made his cheeks flush pink, he silently cursed himself for thinking like that. “I shouldn’t think like that, should I?” He thought to himself. Ben took the joint, taking one last drag before putting it out.

 “I think that’s enough for today.”

He looked up at the orange sky above them, the sun was setting and Rodrick needed to go home soon, he always does. Ben never knew why, all he says when he asks him is “I have some stuff to do.” or “I’ve got a paper due tomorrow.” He knows that Rodrick isn’t the most competitive person when it comes to school, so his excuses didn’t make sense. He opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. Rodrick glanced at him,

 “Everything okay?”

 “Yeah, why?”

 “It’s nothing, you just seem… distant.”

Ben frowned, he looked back at his best friend. It was true, ever since Rodrick developed a crush on Heather, he began to have this weird feeling everytime his friend talked about the girl. He even began avoiding him. Well, until he decided to tolerate Rodrick’s rambling about this Heather that everyone in Plainview was interested in.

 “Oh.” Was all Ben could say.

 “Yeah, ‘oh’.”

Rodrick let out a sigh and as he ran a hand through his messy black hair.

 “Cut the crap, Ben.” Oh, how much he hates it when Rodrick sees right through him. How he can easily figure out what’s going on inside his head, he sometimes wished that his friend couldn’t read him this easily. He stayed silent, staring at the ground.

 “C’mon, dude. Talk to me.”

Rodrick added, looking at the shorter boy beside him. He wasn’t going to let this go, he has to know the reason why his best friend was acting odd out of nowhere. He looked at Ben once again, trying to find a reaction out of his face.

 “I’m fine, Rodrick. I swear.”

It must be just the weed taking effect but Rodrick found himself staring at his friend, for a bit too long, his cheeks flushed and he looked away when he noticed himself doing it.

 “Yeah— Okay, forget I asked anything.” He mumbled quietly, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

 “I’m guessing you have to go home now?” Ben turned to look at him,

 “Yeah, sorry. Got some things to do.”

 “Okay,” Ben paused for a moment, thinking.

 “See you around then?” Rodrick replied

 “Yup, see you around.”

After that, Rodrick got up and gave him a small wave before walking back to his van. He smiled at Ben before driving away. He smiled back as he felt his face heat up.

 “God damnit.”

Ben stood up from the pavement and walked home, his mind clouded with weed and thoughts about his best friend.

Eventually, he reached his apartment and opened the door. He sat down on his bed before pulling his phone out, he opened Rodrick’s contact and typed in a short text.

 Ding.

Rodrick lazily picked up the phone from his bedside table.

 bendover: sorry bout earlier

He stared at the text on his phone screen, then began to write a reply,

 ricky: its ok dude, idm

Rodrick let out a sigh, of course he minds. He obviously wanted to know why his friend acted like that, but he doesn’t want to push Ben any further considering that it’ll probably cause his friend to be mad at him. He set his phone back on the table, then looked up at the ceiling as he thought about what could possibly be the reason why Ben was acting so weird.

 “Could it be because of Heather?” Rodrick asked himself, “No, it can’t be her, Unless if he likes her or something, which isn’t that likely…”

He groaned, why did everything have to be so damn complicated?

After about 10 minutes, Ben finally texted him back,

 bendover: OK, cool. im just idk, ive had a pretty rough week

 ricky: do yoy want to talk about it??

 ricky: if not its ok btw

 bendover: yea no im alr, dw rod

 ricky: ok im gna go get sum rest, see u tommorow

 bendover: night dude

 ricky: gnite

Chapter Text

Two weeks after that encounter, Ben found himself rummaging through the cupboards for liquor at a random high school party Rodrick persuaded him into going on. On the bright side, he found some pretty fancy whiskey, on the bad side? Rodrick was nowhere to be found.

He thought about bailing– but he couldn't really leave. His best friend would shit on him for leaving without saying anything, 

 "This sucks.” He thought to himself.

Scrambling around to find a cup, he bumped on something– or someone. 

 “Fuck– sorry.” Ben muttered, his voice sounding hushed.

 “Ben?”

 “Sorry, what?” He replied, only now noticing that the person was Rodrick's younger brother, Greg. 

 “Wait, what are you doing here? This isn't a place for middle schoolers.”

Greg only shrugged in response, he looked up at the blonde, raising an eyebrow. 

 “Why aren't you with Rodrick?”

He sighed, rolling his eyes, he has not seen Rodrick for about an hour now.

 “None of your business, Greggy.” 

Ben replied, taking a huge gulp of his drink and grimacing at the burn. He playfully messed with Greg’s hair before he started to walk the opposite direction,

 “I'm gonna go get some air, could you let me know if you see your brother?” He looked over his shoulder to see Greg crossing his arms and huffing.

 “I'm not your messenger.”

(Right, I wasn't getting my hopes up anyway.) He quietly made his way to the backyard, his thoughts were still mostly clouded by Rodrick.

“You come ‘round here often?”

Silence, then the girl walked off from him. How great.

Rodrick had been mostly sober since he got to the party, because he can't handle his alcohol well.

Humming to himself as he watched the amber coloured liquid swish around his cup, he let out a sigh. (Man, this party blows.) 

Looking around the room, he spotted a familiar figure. Heather Hills. Rodrick felt his face heat up at the sight of her, they haven't talked since what happened at her birthday. For a moment, Heather looked at him and he foolishly smiled– offering her a small wave. She ignored him and looked away, probably still pissed off about the events that occurred that day. He frowned slightly and took a sip of his drink out of utter embarrassment, Ben was right. He should move on, plus, he didn't even have that much of a chance to begin with.

Feeling defeated, he finished the rest of his drink, his face scrunching up in disgust at the aftertaste, before deciding to get up and look for his friend. He felt bad for ditching the guy as soon as they arrived earlier.

 “Hey…”

Rodrick started, sitting next to Ben besides the pool, their shoulders bumping with each other.

“How's the party?” 

Said the shorter boy, sparing his friend a short glance before looking away. Rodrick didn't answer for a few seconds,

“Heather was here.”

The name slipped out of his tongue so smoothly, Ben only nodded in acknowledgement and took a gulp from his cup, letting out a soft ah as he felt the warm feeling of the liquid run down his throat.

 “Sorry again, for last time,” Ben muttered quietly, “didn't mean to seem– I dunno, weird.”

Rodrick looked at the water in front of them, then at his friend. 

“Already told ‘ya not to worry about it.”

The other only chuckled, shaking his head, and that's when Rodrick noticed he was drunk. Ben only does that weird eye crinkle thing when they're in private, or he's drunk and they're definitely not in private right now.

 “You're really dumb, y'know Rod?” 

Ben murmured, nudging him playfully.

 “You have it bad for her.” Rodrick's cheeks started to have a slight shade of red on them.

 “Anyway,” He trailed off for a brief moment, turning to look at Rodrick. “you totally still should move on.” Rodrick looked at Ben before scoffing,

 “As if.”

Ben let out a soft laugh, a bitter one at that. “Pfft– whatever, dude.”

 “Wanna ditch this party?” Rodrick blurted out, before sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “Honestly, it kind of sucks.” He added. Ben only shrugged before snickering, “I don’t see why not.”

The pair got up, but not without Rodrick needing to help his friend who was definitely way more than just buzzed. 

Ben took his hand and let himself get pulled up, his lips twitching up into a small grin. (Must be the whiskey.) He thought to himself, their hands lingered for a second before Rodrick let go and chuckled awkwardly to himself.

 “Alright well, let's get outta here.”

The moment Ben tried to take a step, his knees failed him and before he knew it, he was falling towards the pool. He grabbed onto Rodrick's arm with a yelp, and both of them plummeted into the cold water.

 “Ngk– cold–” He shivered while Rodrick struggled to get himself out of the pool. When he did, he offered Ben a hand; the other gladly took it. Now out of the near freezing cold, the pair awkwardly tried to dry themselves. 

 “This was not how I expected this night to go…” 

Ben barked out a laugh, still shivering slightly.

 “Let's go to my van, dude. I do not want to get a cold.”

 “Right behind ‘ya.”

The pair left a trail of water droplets on the floor as they walked, once they got in the van, Rodrick let out a dramatic sigh.

 “Damn, the seats are gonna be ruined.”

 “Yeah, and we're going to get sick.”

Rodrick rolled his eyes as he put the key in, starting the van. He tapped his fingers on the wheel as the quiet hum of the vehicle took over the silence and began their drive back home, or more like dropping Ben off at his place before going home to his house.

As the drive went on, Ben absentmindedly rested his head on the window as he watched the houses and stores that they passed. He didn't even notice that he had dozed off until he felt a nudge on his shoulder, it was Rodrick.

 “Wake up, we're outside your apartment.”

 He yawned, feeling the uncomfortable feeling of the wet clothes sticking to his skin. “M'kay, see you tomorrow.”

Ben got out of the van, waving at Rodrick as he walked to his front door. Smiling a bit, he unlocked the door as he heard his friend drive off. He went inside and threw his damp clothes into a hamper. (damn, that pool was fucking cold.) He walked to his room and grabbed a pair of shorts, a shirt, and underwear. 

He had just finished putting on fresh clothes when his phone went off.

 Ding.

Lazily picking it up, Ben saw a text from none other than–

 ricky: dude im sniffling already 

 ricky: js got home btw

He chuckled, typing out a reply as he flopped down on his bed.

 bendover: L immune system

 bendover: but seriously mb for pulling you into the pool bro

 ricky: you owe me!!!!!!

 ricky: >:(

 bendover: u just want me to buy you a slurpee again

 ricky: right

 bendover: srsly?

 ricky: shut up

 ricky: if i get sick its totally ur fault asshole

 bendover: lol 

 bendover: go get changed idiot

 ricky: I AM

He laughed a bit at Rodrick's reply, picturing his friend struggling on taking off his clothes while continuing to text on his phone, like an idiot. (He's so stupid…) 

A few minutes passed without a reply, Ben figured he got off the phone to properly change his clothes. He hummed quietly and opened up his notes app, deciding to put on another journal entry because he hasn't done that in a while.

New note

I fell into a pool today, accidentally pulled R with me. I hope he doesn't get sick or anything but he did tell me he's sniffling, (hopefully he's being dramatic as usual) Anyway, the party earlier was pretty boring. Nothing interesting happened, I ran into R’s brother which was pretty weird, middle schoolers don't usually appear in high school parties. I might ask R about it, 

unless I forget, of course. That's it for a life update, I guess.

 -Ben.

He felt a bit silly for signing the end, this was on a notes app after all. He put his phone down and sat up on the bed, (I should do my piled up schoolwork…)

Ben reluctantly got up and walked over to his desk, and began writing an essay he was supposed to turn in almost a week ago.