The Grand Gesture

part 7

{I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith}

The two finally get back from their mostly silent car ride, aside from Ben's attempts to make a joke, followed by a pity laugh from Joe.

They walk into Ben's living room and Joe plops himself on the sofa. It kills Ben to see him like this. He walks over and takes a seat next to him.

"So. We got a whole day. What are we doing?" Ben says trying to sound more upbeat than he actually was.

Joe looks up. "I- I don't really feel like doing anything."

"Well that sucks because we sure as hell aren't staying here all day. Today is our last day together and I'll be damned if we're spending it crying to each other." He made a compelling argument.

"Um. Okay," Joe didn't know how to respond to that but he obviously had no choice.

"Great! So, since you're visiting, what haven't you done? Where do you wanna go?"

Joe's attitude shifts completely. "Well, I still haven't gotten my grand gesture yet. Why don't you plan out our night and surprise me," he smirks.

Ben sits there with somewhat squinted eyes and a half smile. "You're on." He hops up and goes to his room. Joe has no idea what he's doing and honestly he's a bit worried now. "Get ready! We're leaving in 20!" He yells from across the loft.

Joe looks down at what he's wearing and figures he doesn't need to change. He's still wearing the hoodie and jeans but it's not dirty and it's not like Ben is going to take him anywhere too fancy anyways. So he continues lounging around on his phone waiting for the other to come back out.

"Joe? What are you waiting for?" Ben startles him. He turns around to look at Ben and explain himself but he finds himself speechless. Ben is standing there in a white button down shirt (with the top two buttons undone) and charcoal slim-fit polyester pants. He looks at Joe casually rolling up his sleeves which made his heart stop. He didn't know what else to think except BEN LOOKS HOT.

"Well! Get dressed, c'mon!" Ben hurried. He knew his outfit was going to get a reaction from a nervous Joe.

Joe walks into the bedroom and simply looks down at his suit case and realizes one important detail. He walks back out to the main area.

"Ben..." he says timidly. "I don't have anything that nice."

"Okay, let's see." Ben gets up and they both walk back to the bedroom to find some options.

"Here, you have the suit you wore to the awards the other night," Ben reminded him.

"Well, yea, but I'm not going out in a full suit."

"Then don't wear the coat or tie, just wear the shirt and pants." Joe stands there thinking for a moment.

"That could work." Joe gathers his outfit to get changed. He begins to make his way to the bathroom when Ben stops him.

"Where are you going?" Joe was confused. He assumed the answer was fairly self explanatory.

"Um... To the bathroom...?"

"Just change here." Pretty ballsy. "I mean, you've seen me damn near undressed and we did do something that didn't require clothes yesterday, so I don't mind-" Ben stops when he notices Joe walking back. I won? I won! He really didn't think that would work in his favor.

Joe has a very mischievous look on his face. He walks over and stands directly in front of Ben. He drops his clothes and takes the hoodie off without a second thought.