All I Want is to See You Smile [Ben]

[Cobalt Weaver]

When Ben had asked him for help cleaning out his basement, Cobalt had been all too ready to agree. Chores and menial labor were things that Cobalt could handle because they weren’t very stressful, and they didn’t require Cobalt to observe any sort of social conventions beyond “I will help you with this thing.” There were no expectations of behavior, this wasn’t a date, this wasn’t anything. Cobalt would handle that.

So, with a relieving lack of any sort of (admittedly unnecessary) anxiety, Cobalt drove over to Ben’s house and knocked on the door. When it opened, Cobalt gave Ben a slight grin. “Hey,” He greeted, “How’s it going?”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

He should have done this eons ago. When Lia moved in, Ben should have cleared out the basement, if only to let her have more space but since she didn't have that many stuff to begin with, he'd forgotten about clearing it out.

But he figured it was high time he did, so he called the first person that came to mind simply because it meant he'd spend more time with him. He'd already set aside a jug of lemonade and a plate of Riley's brownies in the fridge for after or during breaks.

Dressed in a plain grey tee and a washed out pair of jeans, Ben headed downstairs just in time to hear the knock. He answered the door with a smile which widened considerably when he saw Cobalt standing on his steps. "Hey," Ben replied, ushering him in, restraining himself at least until the door closed. Taking Cobalt's hand in his, Ben squeezed it lightly. "Thanks for helping out. I have...a lot of things down there." He laughed and let go of the older man's hand.

"Come on." Ben walked ahead of the smaller man to the back of the kitchen where the stairs leading to the basement was. "You want something to drink before we start?"

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt grinned wider, Ben’s own enthusiasm infectious. And he managed not to jump when Ben took his hand, instead only returning the affection with a little smile. Progress. And such progress (little though it was) cheered him considerably.

“That’s fine,” Cobalt replied gamely as he followed Ben through the kitchen to the basement, “I’m ready for it.” Honestly, Cobalt had never had this problem himself, because he’d never had much stuff. If pressed, he could probably fit all his worldly possessions into two large-ish boxes. And one would be devoted solely to books. At the offer of drinks, Cobalt shook his head, “Nah, I’m good.”

When he ducked into the basement, which was slightly cooler than the rest of the house, Cobalt’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. You have a crapload of boxes.” And it was true; Ben’s basement was fairly packed full of boxes, some hastily labeled in Sharpie things like “Goodwill” and “To be donated”. Some left mysteriously blank. To his credit, however, it was all mostly stacked in one corner. At least he was neat.

Cobalt stepped in and clapped his hands, “Okay. So. Let’s go through this crap, and help me sort out stuff that you wanna keep versus what you wanna donate or throw away, ‘cause I don’t know.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Ben chuckled at Cobalt's response, happy that the other man was eager to help. Not at all thinking about the myriad of embarrassing things his boyfriend could come across.

He switched on the light to the basement and laughed at Cobalt's surprise. "I had to bring all my stuff from my parents. I didn't want to clutter their home." He shrugged before pushing open the small windows around the basement so air could come in.

"Okay I've got some boxes here so it'd be easier for you to track what goes where. Any t-shirts that are still good for wear goes to Goodwill and CDs go to trash. I know I've got a shitton of those and can survive without them around. If you find any leatherbound books, you can give 'em to me." Ben grabbed two of the topmost boxes and handed one to Cobalt before sitting down on the floor and opening the box.

It was a bunch of documents from college he hadn't thrown away so he started on it. "Hey thanks again for doing this. I know this isn't what you had planned for a Saturday afternoon but...hey you don't mind right?" Ben laughed a little in embarrassment.

[Cobalt Weaver]

“Fair enough.” Cobalt conceded with a grin, “And at least it’s not up to the ceiling. Then I think we would have problems.” And a desperate need for a stepladder. That wasn’t to say that Cobalt could necessarily reach the boxes at the top of the stack comfortably, but fortunately, there were enough within reach that he would just quietly let Ben handle the ones higher up.

Cobalt scanned the room as Ben gave instructions. “Shirts to Goodwill, CDs to the trash and books to you. Got it.” He took the box Ben gave him without much comment, silently hoping Ben wouldn’t hurt himself lugging about more boxes than he could handle. Oddly, he could see over-enthusiastic, over-energetic Ben doing just that.

Cobalt dropped the box on the floor, and dropped himself after it. Sitting with his legs sprawled out on the floor (sitting crosslegged, alas, made his knees too stiff), Cobalt opened the first box, peering into his curiously. At Ben’s question, Cobalt raised an eyebrow, “Now that you mention it, I completely mind.” His face was serious, “Which is definitely why I came over. Because I frequently do things I don’t want to do.” His serious expression broke into a slight grin and he tossed a ball of packing paper at Ben’s general direction.

He peered into the box, and pulled out a large book. Cobalt raised an eyebrow and opened it, intrigued to find it to be a scrapbook. Excellent. Cobalt flipped the book to a random page to find that Ben apparently went to see Paul McCartney in Madison Square Garden when he was nineteen. And he had terrible hair. There, in the grainy picture--faded through age and the quality of camera--was Ben. He looked considerably younger, but with the same boyish grin and easy amiability. However, he also had a headful of awful, fluffy hair, teased upwards and completely ludicrous. The image was so unexpected and so surprisingly charming that Cobalt had to laugh.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Rolling his eyes at Cobalt's teasing, Ben bumped his elbow against Cobalt's forearms. "You're hilarious. Really. You are." Ben responded in a deadpan manner. Looking up at the top stacks of boxes, he realised he could bring all of them down at once just so he didn't have to keep getting up to get them down. Nah, he could do that later, he thought to himself as he continued to rummage through the documents.

He looked up from the box when Cobalt responded to his question. He couldn't help roll his eyes again. "Great, I'm dating a comedian. I've always wanted one of those." Ben teased lightly, shaking his head in amusement and ducking when the wadded up packing paper sailed his way. "Don't you have good aim. Yeesh." Ben made a show of shuddering, just because he could.

Ben left the other man to his box and found a folder with all his original theses he had done for his Abnormal Psych course. He slowly perused through them, a slow grin quirking his lips at some of the notes his lecturers had written; mostly encouraging and some...not so. He didn't even realise Cobalt had found something until he heard the laugh. He looked up and found Cobalt looking through a...oh God.

"Oh please don't look through that." He was a bit too far away to just snatch it out of Cobalt's hand so he had to get on his knees and maneuver between the two boxes on the floor. When he saw what exactly Cobalt was looking at, he groaned, his head dropping on Cobalt's shoulder as he did so. "That was so long ago."

[Cobalt Weaver]

“Thank you, I like to think so.” Cobalt replied with a slight grin. He gave Ben a mock-smug look.

He laughed slightly, “You should feel honored. I happen to be a comedic genius. It’s not every day I choose to demonstrate my talents.” He felt a little ridiculous, teasing like this, but it was a good kind of ridiculous. When Ben ducked out of the way, Cobalt made a face, letting out an exaggerated sigh, “I happen to have perfect aim as long as the target isn’t moving. So thanks a lot.” He gave Ben a glare too exaggerated to be real. “You’re not very considerate,” He informed the child psychologist helpfully.

At Ben’s protest and subsequent movement, Cobalt turned his back to Ben and held the book out of reach, “Nope. Too late, I’m definitely going to look through this right now.” He gave Ben a grin and continued leafing through the album, revealing more pictures of fluffy haired, teenaged Ben grinning at the camera. “Nah, it’s not so bad.” Cobalt assured him, craning his neck to rest his head on Ben’s, “You just had…extremely bad hair.” He snickered, knowing that if Ben had seen pictures of Cobalt as a teenager, the other man would have to call hypocrisy. Cobalt’s hair was never thick or curly enough to be fluffy, but it had spent the majority of Cobalt’s youth stringy and reaching about to his chin. It had looked as terrible, and Cobalt was lucky he didn’t have any pictures from his youth.

“I never hear about your childhood,” Cobalt said, vaguely revelatory in tone, “I’m curious. Besides, it could be worse. I can’t imagine you making a lovely scrapbook of you in your…less dignified moments.” He grinned at him, leafing through pictures of Ben with his old friends, grinning and laughing.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Ben simply rolled his eyes and snorted a bit at Cobalt's antics, particularly enjoying the mock-glare. A part of him went all aflutter when he realised Cobalt was actually really comfortable with the banter going on. The guy was loosening up big time.

"No. I really am not." Ben affirmed his inconsiderateness jokingly with a serious look on his face. "I mean, being a child psychologist is just a front. I'm really an actor." The idea of him being an actor amused him greatly. He had no acting skills whatsoever.

Ben growled half-heartedly when Cobalt refused to give up the book but practically nuzzled the older man when he felt the weight atop his head shift. He pulled his face up so his chin hung over Cobalt's shoulder, adjusting himself so he could look through the scrapbook as well. His hand easily circled around Cobalt's waist while he pulled his leg up so it was resting against Cobalt's back.

Little comments left his mouth as they looked through the book together and Ben decided to never ever grow his hair out. He looked stupidly ridiculous! Cobalt's question brought him to the now and he laughed at Cobalt's words. "I think my friends have more of those moments' pictures. I hope they burned them." He leaned closer, if that was even possible, and turned his head to press his lips against Cobalt's cheek. "What do you wanna know?" He asked before scooting backwards so Cobalt could look at him properly and he could continue with his own cleaning up part.

As Cobalt had already revealed a big part of himself the last time they were together, Ben felt it was only fair that he return the favour.

[Cobalt Weaver]

“…What? Oh!” Cobalt snickered a little, “Oh I see. Well, then I apologize. I had no idea.” He leaned against Ben a little, still keeping the book out of the other man’s reach. He was certainly not done with this.

He jumped a little when Ben wrapped an arm around his waist, but relaxed fairly quickly. “Oh hello.” He smiled a little, “I hope you don’t think that will get your book back. You are never getting this back. It is simply too hilarious.” And it was. Shorter hair and clothes that weren’t grass stained or ripped suited Ben much better. “I hope so too,” Cobalt laughed, “Oddly, I’m not as interested in pictures of you drunk off your ass.” He didn’t doubt that the other man had been drunk off his ass before. But the less Cobalt knew about it, the saner he’d be.

“Mmm…” Cobalt leafed through the book, thinking about what he wanted to know. Finally, the answer revealed itself for him in the form of another picture.

“…You played football?”

It was true; Cobalt found himself staring down at a cocky-looking, grinning teenage Ben in a football jersey. He had to laugh, remembering how much he probably would have hated confident, popular Ben if they had met in high school. “Good lord.” He laughed.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

"Aww, Cobalt...you're apologising!" Ben snuggled Cobalt from behind before rubbing his nose against the other man bristly cheek. "How thoughtful of you." He chuckled.

The fact that Cobalt instantly relaxed at Ben's touch made the younger man happy as punch. Not to mention the fact that Cobalt was teasing Ben in a manner that Ben really, really liked. "Oh, Cobalt. When are you going to realise that if I want something, I'd have already gotten it." He chuckled. Truthfully, Ben agreed with Cobalt about the pictures. It could have been worst. Good thing he didn't keep too many embarrassing artifacts from his yesteryears.

Or so he thought.

As he waited for Cobalt to figure out what he wanted to ask Ben, the latter man decided to continue with the perusing of his old theses, letting the man think. He only looked up when he heard Cobalt's question. "Oh...well yeah." He went back to settle against Cobalt's back to see which picture he was at and Ben grinned. That was a good picture. A lot of the pictures in his football era were pretty amazing. It helped that his girl cousin was really into photography back then. She was really good at it too.

His favourite was one where he was practicing and he was looking down at the ball with a smile. She framed it up for him and it was in his room. "Well hey, why are you laughing?" He asked as he too laughed. Cobalt's laughter was surprisingly infectious.

[Cobalt Weaver]

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to—gack!” Cobalt let out an undignified yelp as Ben grabbed him into a cuddle. It probably wasn’t as sudden as that, but it took Cobalt by surprise, and he instinctually flailed his arms for a moment, trying to decide what he should do with himself. Although he never kept track, the last time he was being cuddled, it was by a two year old. To say he was out of practice would be an understatement. But it wasn’t a bad feeling, and although he still felt like squirming a little, he was enjoying himself.

At Ben’s comment, Cobalt snorted, craning his neck to look at Ben, “Really? What do you even mean?” He laughed slightly, “I don’t think you’re that sneaky.” He turned back around, leaning against Ben once more.

“I didn’t know that,” Cobalt flipped through the album, with different snapshots of Ben playing with his friends, “What position did you play?” Finished with the album, he decided to keep rooting around in the box in front of him, since it worked out so well last time.

The first thing he pulled out was an old, clearly unread book with a glossy cover. Curiosity piqued, Cobalt flipped the cover over to see the title loudly proclaiming it to be ”31 Ways to Please a Woman”. Cobalt blinked in surprise. Well…that certainly wasn’t what he expected.

A smile twitching his lips, he leaned back and waved the book in Ben’s general direction, “So how’d this work out for you?” He dropped the book on Ben’s lap and turned back to the box, “Man, you just gave me the worst box possible, didn’t y—EUGH.”

Cobalt had grabbed something hard and shiny and pink and had immediately dropped it upon realizing that it was a vibrator. There was a moment of silence and Cobalt turned bright red until he looked at it closer:

“…Is that Hello Kitty?”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Cobalt's surprise had Ben grinning but he didn't let Cobalt go. He was pretty sure he was taking advantage of the man's generosity by groping the hell out of him but he could care less. The man was cuddly despite giving off the facade of a prickly insensitive lawyer type.

"That's what I want you to think." Ben grinned smugly, despite not actually having anything up his sleeve. Truthfully, Ben was the type of guy who would wait rather than pounce, despite his current behaviour.

"It was just in high school." He shrugged with a grin. Best years of his life, those years he dedicated to football. So dedicated was he that he had his jersey number tattooed on his shoulder. "I was a wide receiver when I first started. And then I changed position to cornerback and then I was quarterback when I was a senior." He explained with a smile. He moved back so Cobalt could continue with the box.

Cobalt's question brought Ben back to where the other man was sitting and groaned when he found the two most embarrassing things he had kept. So much for preserving his dignity. "Dude I am so sorry I..." his palm hit his face when the apparatus dropped on to the floor and started to...vibrate.

Ben was frozen as the expression on his face more or less depicted the horror he was feeling of having his boyfriend find the set of gag gifts his cousin Andrew had given him the year after he had come out to his family. He quickly grabbed the book off his lap and the vibrator off the floor and flung it into the box of trash in the corner. "Should have thrown that-" Ben could still hear the thing cluttering in the box. He hurriedly went over to the trash and dismantled the thing, removing the battery and dumping it back into the trashbox.

"Uh..." Ben looked to Cobalt and grabbed the box he had been perusing and shoved it to the corner. "That's enough of that." He let out an embarrassed laugh before grabbing another box that was marked "Christmas 1987". He remembered he got mostly innocent gifts that year. He was presumably safe. "We'll not talk about that again, yes? Gag gift. Never used it. Ever. Andrew...yeah." He didn't even know why he was explaining himself to Cobalt. He was just completely mortified.

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt was starting to mind less and less that Ben was trying very hard to snuggle him. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t still hyperaware that there were arms around him. The novelty of the situation was almost distracting, and Cobalt wasn’t quite sure what to do with his hands. Fortunately, he was otherwise preoccupied with the conversation, preventing him from overthinking something as simple as cuddling.

Cobalt listened to Ben’s story of his high school football career. Quarterback in high school…they definitely wouldn’t have gotten along as teenagers. And Cobalt was suddenly very grateful that he didn’t have pictures of himself as a teenager. He can only think of one picture he was ever in where he was smiling. Instead of saying any of that and ruining the mood, he said: “Wow. That’s great.” He…didn’t really talk sports usually, nor did he make heads or tails out of football, but he didn’t want Ben to think he wasn’t interested at all. But there were more important things to worry about. Like the fact that Ben apparently had a Hello Kitty vibrator.

Cobalt watched Ben sputter and scramble about, trying to cover up his embarrassment by throwing the vibrator into the trash and letting it rattle about in there before he tripped all over himself trying to dismantle it. He listened as the younger man stammered about gag gifts and his cousin and it was odd, how Ben was usually the self-assured one and Cobalt was the one tripping all over himself, trying to get a handle on things. And this role reversal had been facilitated by a Hello Kitty vibrator and a book on how to please women.

The dissonance of that thought was too much for Cobalt’s brain. He leaned backwards from where he was sitting, tilted onto the floor and started to laugh. Hysterically. He hadn’t laughed this hard…ever, probably. The sheer ludicrousness of the situation, coupled with Ben’s clear mortification and his own secret concerns of being the only one who was ever at a loss rendering him completely helpless.

“I’m s-sorry…” Cobalt gasped, staring at the ceiling, his chest hurting, “It’s just…you…” Finally, he regained enough control to at least be coherent (though not enough to get off the floor) and say, “…I really hope you washed that, because I touched it.” He grinned again, fairly certain that Ben had probably never used it before.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Cobalt's less than enthused response didn't really dim Ben's. He was taking a stroll down memory lane as he looked at the pictures. Although he loved that part of his past, he didn't mind not reliving it again. And if Cobalt didn't talk sports, Ben was sure he could find other friends who shared that particular interest with him.

It was discouraging how hard Cobalt was laughing at his expense and his cheeks were startening to heat up considerably despite the cold temperature of the room. It wasn't bad really, being laughed at by Cobalt. At least the man was laughing. And the situation was definitely hilarious, Ben had to admit it. So he laughed a little, especially when he realised how much of an idiot he was to even keep it, even if it was a gag gift.

"Oh my God!" Ben punched Cobalt's shoulder when the man implied Ben had used the toy. "You suck, Weaver." He rolled his eyes but still laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. "Come on, we've got so many more boxes to do. Yes. Boxes." Why yes, Ben was definitely trying being a killjoy.

God he hoped the new box Cobalt had didn't have any more embarrassing things. Sweaters with reindeer he could handle. But if Cobalt found any other...toys, Ben will just forego this whole cleaning thing altogether. "So, getting to know about my past...not so fun." He laughed in embarrassment as he flipped through his folders.

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt finally was able to haul himself off the floor and into a sitting position only to have Ben punch him in the arm. “Ow, hey!” He exclaimed, making a big show of rubbing his arm, “Well you never know! I was just asking.” He gave Ben a wide-eyed, innocent look that Ben would probably be able to see right through.

“All right, all right, all right.” Cobalt sighed, pushing himself up, wincing slightly when his knees complained, “If you say so. Let’s get to boxes.” He stretched his back out before reaching for another box, which disappointingly looked like it was going to be full of clothes.

“Oh come on,” Cobalt grinned, “If it were me in this situation, you would be laughing too.” But Cobalt would never be in that type of situation, because Cobalt didn’t have an excess of things to clean, and the things he did have weren’t embarrassing. Not to that degree. “Besides, I’m having a lot of fun, I don’t know what your problem is.” He snickered lightly, digging around in the box, making sure it was just clothes.

“Well, fine, tell me something about your past, then.” Cobalt invited, “Something that you’d want me to know. It’s only fair.”