I don't own Baby Daddy and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
It started off innocuously – Danny and Ben began playfully fighting over the game, but the arguing escalated from there. Riley and Bonnie, who had taken Emma for a walk, waited outside the apartment door and waited for them both to calm down before they headed in. "I don't understand why we're arguing now!" Ben was completely confused by the turn in their disagreement and didn't understand why this seemed to be a big deal to his brother.
Danny honestly didn't give a shit about the game anymore or what had set off the fight in the first place, but he had been pissed at Ben for weeks. His brother wanted to make moves on Riley, but never followed through or dated other women. He didn't have the right to be pissed since he did the exact same things, but Ben wasn't in love with her. He was. "I don't either, but it's time you stop! I can't stand it anymore!"
"What is your problem?" The impatient Ben stared at him and waited for an answer to his probe. Danny had been acting weird for weeks and he was sick of it. The little snide comments and weird comments were going to stop.
"Nothing!" Danny suddenly had a bad feeling and he was worried about where this conversation was headed. It was important Ben didn't find out about his feelings for Riley – He'd only react badly.
Ben gazed at him suspiciously but still couldn't figure out what Danny's issue was. "Okay, when you stop being an immature jackass, come talk to me. But until then? Get out of my face."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere. Get out of my face, Ben."
Ben laughed. "What are you going to do, punch me? I'd like to see you try." He was terrified of getting punched by his brother, but would never admit that out loud, especially to Danny's face. It'd probably only make it worse.
"Do not tempt me."
And that's when it hit Ben. His brother only got weird when he mentioned that he liked Riley, but that probably wasn't it. It couldn't be. "Go ahead. Do it."
Danny honestly didn't want to get into a physical fight with Ben so he didn't let his brother goad him. He was (sometimes) above that. "I'm not going to hit you so don't do that."
And that's when Ben decided to go for it. What did they have to lose? He was most likely imagining it anyway. "Is this about Riley?"
Danny panicked, but he kept himself calm (it wasn't easy) and scoffed. "It's not about Riley. Why the hell would you think it was?" He wasn't that obvious, was he? Tucker and his mom had figured it out, but that was only because they had been watching him closely.
Ben laughed, deciding he had finally figured it out. Danny was jealous for some reason and he couldn't fathom why. So he decided to say the first thing that came to his mind and hoped it wound him up enough to reveal the truth. "You want to sleep with her, don't you? Just admit it, Danny."
Outside in the hallway, Bonnie was panicking herself because of the turn this conversation had taken and was trying to usher Riley out of the building. Some truths were about to be revealed and she wasn't sure if Danny wanted Riley to find out this way. "Come on, let's go! We've been wanting to try that new Italian place for a while!"
"I'm not going anywhere. I want to hear this." Riley stood her ground and refused to move.
Bonnie reluctantly gave up and went back to (now reluctantly) eavesdropping on the conversation. Maybe this would have a good outcome. She hoped it would.
Danny glared at his brother. "I don't want to sleep with Riley." He hoped Ben didn't hear the lie. It was only half of the truth anyway – He wanted to be with her in every way that mattered. It was more than just having sex with her.
Ben thought he had truly found out the truth now and he wasn't going to let it go. "Are you acting like this just because you want to have sex with her? Is all of this over jealousy? I cannot believe you." He wanted to laugh, but held back.
"Okay, Ben, don't turn this around on me just because you want to fuck her!" Danny was furious now.
Ben just stopped and gawked at him. "What are you talking about? I like her."
"Yeah, like her after you shared one fucking dance! I've been in love with her for years." He stopped because he hadn't meant to reveal that part. Ben had riled him up to the part of accidentally revealing the truth. Danny would have tried to dig himself out of the hole, but the door opened, revealing Riley and Bonnie.
"You're in love with me?" Riley gaped at him in shock while Danny felt like the rug had been pulled out from underneath him. He had never meant for her to find out this way and now he most likely just ruined everything.
"I tried to stop her." Bonnie really felt guilty now that she hadn't been able to pull her away before it had been too late. She hoped this didn't destroy Danny and Riley's friendship and Danny and Ben's relationship.
Ben recovered enough to ask another question. "Why didn't you tell me before? If I had known about this earlier, I never would have said anything in front of you." He really wouldn't have, especially since he had apparently been unintentionally hurting his brother for months. He felt pretty guilty now even though it was irrational to feel that way.
Danny felt like he was trapped and opened his mouth a few times to say something – anything – but no words came out. After a few awkward minutes he finally had had enough and bolted out of the apartment. He wanted to head to the bar and get drunk but realized that was bad idea immediately. Instead, Danny ran down to Emma's favorite park and sat himself down on a bench.
Bonnie was ready to defuse the tense situation. "Alright, this ends here. Enough is enough. Danny's hurt and I'm pretty sure you two are also. Ben, sweetie, I love you, but the rest of us have known for years that Danny's in love with Riley. Riley, I love you too even though you've been hurting my son all this time, but it was pretty obvious. Not sure how either of you didn't realize it sooner. Fix it as soon as possible." She wheeled Emma's stroller to the kitchen to feed her granddaughter and left them to sort out their problems on their own. She wasn't going to interfere anymore – It was not completely up to them on what to do next.
Riley gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh God, he told me before but I just waved it off. It is really obvious now that I think about it. How could I be so stupid?" She felt guilty and a mixture of other assorted feelings she couldn't place. She definitely needed to sort through her feelings and try to figure them out so she didn't hurt Danny any more than she already had. But she was confused about everything and wasn't sure what her next step should be.
"I'm going to apologize to him when he comes back. And I'm sorry, Riles." He wasn't exactly sure why he was apologizing, but Ben meant it. He should have been upfront with her from the start and said something. He was going to back off now that he knew that Danny was in love with her because his feelings were nothing in comparison to his brother's. He was going to be the bigger man. It was only right.
Riley laughed. "You want to know what's funny about this entire situation? I've had feelings for you for years, but I never said anything. I think I was just in love with the idea of liking you. And I'm not sure how I feel about Danny." Her stomach was fluttering, though, and she had an idea of what her feelings were for the other man. But would he feel the same way after this disaster of a day? Riley wasn't sure, but she was a little terrified to find out.
Ben laughed too and then pulled in for a hug. "We're both morons. Go and get him. I can see it in your eyes."
"You sure?" Riley wanted to make sure that he wasn't hurt.
He sighed and nodded. "I'm sure. You should be happy and if that's not with me, I'm still fine with it. Now go!"
She laughed, but listened. After kissing Emma goodbye, she headed out to find Danny and tried to figure out what she was going to say to him. Riley had to tread lightly or else she'd truly hurt him and risk ruining their friendship for good. She definitely didn't want to do that as it was not her intention at all.
Danny was hurting – Not physically, but emotionally. There was no Riley felt the same way about him so she and Ben were probably making up for lost time now. Riley was finally going to get what she wanted, and although it hurt, he was happy that this could finally happen for her. He would get over this eventually and try his best to move on, but for now he was going to wallow in self-pity. He flinched when Riley showed up right in his field of vision. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Ben?"
Riley had suspected his location, but hadn't known if she was right until she saw him sitting forlornly on Emma's favorite bench. She had tried to come up with something to say, but now that he was in front of her, she was floundering. "I need to talk to you, Danny," she finally said.
"About?" He didn't want to drag this heartbreak out. Getting it over with was the best plan. He'd go home and drown himself in the TV or food. That sounded like an amazing plan.
And suddenly Riley knew, what she had been denying for years. But first she had to know. "How long?"
"I told you before, remember? Since high school."
Her lips curled up into a smile. "You loved me when I was Fatpants. You didn't care about my weight?"
"Why would I care about your weight? It's your personality I fell in love with, Riles. The weight never once mattered to me."
She sniffled and tried not to break down into tears. "You know what I realized in there? I'm not in love with you – yet – but you're my best friend. I really like you and want to be with you."
He was terrified he was imagining this so he pinched himself and then winced. "This is really happening?"
Riley nodded in the affirmative. "It's really happening. Now are you going to kiss me or what?"
He started laughing but calmed down long enough to kiss her. "I love you."
She blushed. "I really like you and I'm excited to see where this goes."
Danny and Riley had finally found each other and it was all because of a stupid fight with Ben that escalated. And no one was surprised when Ben was his brother's best man three years later. He had happily moved on with someone who happily adored Emma and helped the group raise her. Life was pretty good and they were all happy.