Cardboard Lover × HARDZELLO

9

Wake up. WAKE UP

Joe was convinced he was dreaming: There was no way Ben Hardy had kissed him.

Yet there He was, kneeling right in front of him, hand still caressing his tear-stained face, lips still moist, eyes never leaving his. "You're so fucking pretty." His voice was literally music to Joe ears.

"No I'm not," Joe's face burned bright red as he looked down, trying to hide his smile. "Now there's that smile I'm looking for." Ben grinned, using his finger to lift his chin. "Now don't you dare look away." This time Joe obeyed as Ben pressed his lips yet again against Joe's.

xxxxx

"Welcome to my humble abode." Ben announced as he opened the door for Joe and then shut it behind him. This was it. He was going to enter Ben's dorm, a place he'd been dreaming about visiting for god knows how long. "You can close your mouth now." Ben laughed and Joe realized his mouth was gaping open before he quickly shut it. The room was rather messy; a boyish kind of messy. One side was more cluttered than the other though, jerseys lazily strewn on the floor, school bag tossed in the middle of nowhere. "Don't worry, that's Gwil's side." Ben said as he moved to perch his ass on his desk, noticing Joe looking at the cluttered floor. "Nah, my room's worse." Joe lied, earning a laugh from Ben. "You're such a bad liar! I swear your dorm is the neatest thing I've ever seen, apart from the pillow fort." Ben said, a blush rose to his cheeks as he unintentionally recalled the night they had shared in that cramped yet cozy construction.

The mention of Gwilym's name caught Joe's attention, "Hey wait, don't you have some place to be? Celebrating your win with the team or something?"

Ben shook his head, "Nope, I don't wanna. I'm celebrating it here. With you," His eyes stayed on Joe for a reaction, and he was rewarded with a small blush on the ginger's cheeks.

"It's the second time you've missed an event because of me. First it was Miami's party to apologize, now it's ditching your celebratory party to comfort my crying ass." Joe mumbled, causing Ben to sarcastically roll his eyes. "There's another reason I want you here." Ben admitted, his hand moving slowly towards his spectacle frame resting at its usual place on his desk; the one Joe had picked up for him. Joe's eyes widened when he saw it. "Wait... no way," he said as he rushed over to Ben's side, picking up the glasses that were lacking their lenses. Ben smirked, crossing his legs, exaggerating the movement to draw Joe's attention to his feet. And draw his attention it did, as Joe gasped at the sight of Ben's Maroon Adidas.

"You're... that boy... the one in the beanie...," Joe looked up, only to find Ben's face only inches away from his.

"The one you saved." Ben corrected, turning his body to face Joe.

Joe tried to put the pieces together, but it didn't make sense. He looked at Ben, a stark contrast from that nerdy boy a year ago. Yet the light blonde hair of his had stayed exactly the same. "What... How...the fuck?" Joe squinted his eyes. How had he not noticed that before?

Ben chuckled at the adorkable response. "Yup, that's me,"

After a few seconds of silence, Joe's confused look suddenly turned to one of annoyance. He huffed and stomped his way to Ben's bed, plopping his bum onto it, crossing his arms like a little child who hadn't gotten his way.

"So I guess you're just being nice to be because you feel obligated to return the favour." Joe said lowly.

"What no!" Ben quickly said as he moved to join Joe on the bed. He had gotten the totally wrong idea, and Ben had to correct it.

"I want to return the favour not because I feel like I need to. I didn't come all the way to apologise because I felt bad. I didn't drag my feet to your dorm the other day, you know. I didn't ditch my afterparty grudgingly," Ben unconsciously reached for Joe's hand, "I didn't want to be congratulated by the coach, the cheerleaders, the students. I came looking because I only wanted to hear it from you."

"......"

Joe noticed how close Ben was, how tightly Ben's hand was gripping his, how passionately Ben's eyes were gazing into his, and Joe so badly wanted to kiss those pink lips again, but a small part of him told him otherwise. Ben wasn't his boyfriend, let alone his friend. Instead, his lips just formed a small smile.

"Congratulations, Benny."

Ben chuckled but his gaze never faltered. "Well, aren't you going to give me my reward?" He closed the gap between them.

xxxxx

I NEED MORE POSTS FROM JOE AND DAILY MAKEUP TUTORIALS

also if anyone cld recommend me Hardzello fics on Wattpad or Archives of our own I would be eternally grateful <3