can anybody find me... // hardzello [FINISHED]

everyday, i try and i try and i try

Joe's POV

Joe didn't say anything for a while, he didn't know how to processes it. Ben had just made an entire declaration with Somebody To Love as background music, the most romantic thing he could have ever imagined and... nothing came out of his mouth. He couldn't think of anything that would be as beautiful and meaningful as what Ben said, and he couldn't think of a accurate way of telling Ben how incredible and touching his words were. He opened his mouth to try to excuse himself for being so bad with reacting to things like that, but he couldn't so he just cried. Tears ran down from his eyes and rolled on his cheeks, but Ben cleaned them before they could drip down from his chin.

— Hey... I'm sorry I... I didn't mean to make you sad.
— You didn't. — Joe said in between sobs — I'm so happy Ben, there's no word in any language that could describe how beautiful that was. Oh my God, Ben, I could definitely love you, be sure of that.
— Really?
— Yeah... I could take you to Brooklyn, although I doubt it's as nice as Bournemouth. We have great street barbecue though.
— Sounds amazing, it truly does.
— And I really want you to show me all the nice places in London, we can go do the tourist-y stuff or the locals stuff I don't care I just really want to do it with you and we could also-

Ben stopped Joe right there, putting his hand over Joe's mouth and smiling widely.

— We could do all that, but first I want to do something I've been waiting forever to do.
— What's that? — Joe was very confused, was it like, London related or... — What do you mean?
— God Joe you can be really stupid sometimes.

So Ben grabbed Joe's cheeks and kissed him, slowly and with passion, no rush to an end and not a single second to be wasted. Joe melted in the kiss, he could taste mint gum and cigarettes and he could feel Ben smiling every now and then.

Ben at some point pulled them apart, holding Joe's face and looking at him up and down, making a heat wave run through every spot Ben looked at.

— I can now hug you the way I mean to, kiss you when you want to, dance with you and so many more things. I can hold your hand, I-I want to hold your hand, can I hold your hand?

Joe giggled, Ben was an adorable mess with all that excitement, and he couldn't come to terms with the fact that Ben was excited about being with Joe.

"He wants to hug me and kiss me and dance with me. He wants to hold my hand, he just kissed me for fucks sake!"

— You can absolutely hold my hand you dweeb.
— I feel very offended by that. — Ben intertwined his fingers with Joe's — You're now stuck with me until I say so, that's your punishment.
— Oh no! What a horrible fate am I facing! — Joe grabbed Ben's other hand, locking their fingers again — Will I ever be free?
— I don't think so, that was extremely rude, I don't think I can ever let you go.

Joe pulled Ben closer with their hands still together, and look in his beautiful, crystalline eyes.

— I don't ever want you to let me go, dweeb.
— Than I guess I will never.

Ben kissed Joe again, stopping to smile, pressing their foreheads together, their noses side by side and Joe could feel Ben's shaky breathing. He wished he could freeze this moment, just have it like that forever. He kissed Ben again. And again. And again. He kissed Ben many times, actually.

— Joe, Joe — Ben had his words muffled by Joe's lips — Joey, we should go out.

Joe separated them, looking confused at Ben.

— What?
— You know, on a date, like a proper date. One that is meant to be a date. where we could do date stuff and eat date food and call it a date because it will be a date.
— And that's how you're asking me out for one?
— I guess. Do you want me on one knee and roses?
— Absolutely.

Ben smiled and looked around the room, finding a copy of The New York Times — Probably a little memory from Joe's home — and rolled it over, getting in one knee and holding the news paper like a bouquet.

— Joseph Mazzello-
— Joseph Francis Mazzello III.
— That's a fancy name.
— Continue!
— Alright!
— Alright!
— Joe Francis Mazzello III, would you give me the honor of taking you out for drinks or dinner?
— Yes! A thousand times yes, Benjamin!
— My name is not actually Benjamin.
— Wait, your name is just Ben? — Joe dropped the acting at that point — Seriously?
— Yup.
— So I have the ridiculously long name — Joe was almost screaming at that point, he could dropped the acting but he was dramatic — and you're just Ben?
— That's exactly it.
— I don't know why that impresses me.
— I don't either, now, do you want to go tonight?
— It's already 7:13pm.
— Let's go to a Pub then!
— You are singlehandedly the only person capable of taking me to a pub without planning it ahead.
— And that's why you kept kissing me, innit?

Joe went red, completely flushed, he was not the flirty type so he could never think of a proper way to react to that type of stuff. So he kissed Ben, because for one, it didn't require words and two, it was just so good he didn't want to stop ever. At some point he broke the kiss and started pulling Ben out of the apartment.

— Yes, and that's the reason I'll keep kissing you, until my lips fall off or you get tired of me.
— I'd never get tired of you.
— That's because you haven't gone to a baseball game with me.
— That's a fair point, but you also never went to a football- or should I say soccer — Ben mocked Joe's american accent — for you, Americans?
— Shut up, will ya? — Now Joe was the one mocking Ben, making both of them laugh.
— Let's go, you twat.

i'm panicking idk if this is good enough oh god i'm fucking dying. DYING. (lmao borhap references are now part of my day to day vocabulary so sorry)