A road trip.
A god damn road trip.
Just Ben and just Leslie, on a road trip to Indianapolis.
Ben didn't know whether he wanted to kill Chris for this or pull him into a hug, but he was leaning towards kill.
His feelings for Leslie had been reaching an all time high, but despite their very honest talk outside the Snakehole Lounge, Leslie still hadn't made any move to break up with Mark. If anything, she got closer to him, and Ben had witnessed the two sneaking kisses in City Hall on more than one occasion. Sure, as Assistant City Manager he had the power to call them out and tell them to get to work, but he couldn't. Ben was weak, and maybe Ben was terrified of Mark. Either way, there was absolutely no possibility for Ben to act on his feelings, and Leslie most certainly didn't feel the same way as him.
Ben was her best friend, she said so herself. Just friends. And boy, did Ben live to torture himself.
Not to mention Leslie seemed just as awkwardly put out by this road trip as Ben was, and there was no way it was for the same reasons. They had become closer, sure, and were absolutely becoming good friends, but a road trip alone together was kind of stretching what they were comfortable with so far. And oh god, what if Mark found out about it and thought Ben had something to do with it?
The car ride was awkward. As opposed to their lively, happy conversations in City Hall, they barely talked at all, and when they did it was like they had no idea what to say or do. There was an odd tension between them that Ben swore he could physically feel.
At one point he touched her. It was a mistake, really. But he was looking at her and she was looking at him and they were both smiling and his heart wouldn't stop pounding. And there was an eyelash on her face that Ben just… reached out to fix without even thinking about it.
"Make a wish," he said, and for a moment, a brief but beautiful moment, she was smiling at him. Until she smacked his hand away and told him not to touch her.
"I'm allergic to fingers," she insisted.
They didn't talk for the rest of the ride.
The presentation went well. Very well. Leslie beamed at Ben with pride as he talked up Pawnee, and he meant every word of it. Pawnee was not Ben's hometown, he didn't have that same hometown loyalty as Leslie, but he had really come to love the town with all its flaws and quirks. By the time Ben and Leslie were sitting together at dinner, all that awkwardness from the car ride was gone, replaced with easy banter and shy smiles and laughs, and Ben wanted to say so much that he just couldn't.
He wanted to tell her more about the town. How he felt about Pawnee. He wanted to look at Leslie and tell her he looked forward to the moments in his day where he got to hang out with the town. He wanted to say the town had really nice blonde hair, and the town has read a shocking number of political biographies, which he liked. He wanted to tell her he liked her and he wanted to kiss her, feel her mouth and her body against his, breathe her in and get drunk off Leslie Knope.
Ben did none of those things.
In part because Ben Wyatt was a major, massive coward. But also because they had a surprise visitor in Indianapolis.
Mark Brendanawics was walking up to their dinner table.
"Mark?" Leslie gasped, as her boyfriend slid his way over to their table, a satisfied little grin on his face. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to surprise you, babe," he told her, spreading his arms wide. "Surprise!"
Leslie knew this wasn't just some ordinary surprise, Mark coming up here. When she had told him about the road trip she and Ben were assigned to go on, Mark hadn't been happy at all. He had shut down, scowling and refusing to look at her or talk about the subject at all. He completely gave her the cold shoulder and even fell asleep on the couch that night— and now here he was, all bright smiles and calling her babe as if nothing happened at all.
She wasn't happy to see Mark. He was her boyfriend, and maybe she should have been, but in that moment she just wished he wasn't there at all. There had been an odd feeling in her stomach about Ben all day, but just then she was having a great time with him, and she wanted nothing more than to keep that good feeling going. She knew it was over when she looked at Ben and saw the way his face fell.
"Oh," Leslie said, feeling unable to form very many words to express how she felt. "You came all the way to Indianapolis to surprise me?"
Mark nodded and slid into the seat next to Leslie, wrapping his arm around her. "I did. I know you've had a tough time lately, babe, and I missed you so much and didn't want to spend a night away from you."
"You're staying the night?" Leslie asked.
Ben cleared his throat. "Oh, actually, we were just thinking maybe… we would go back to Pawnee tonight." They hadn't talked about that, but it was clear he wasn't eager to spend too much time with Mark.
"Nonsense!" Mark smiled. "We're all here and having a great time. I'll even pay for the meal and we can head out to the hotel. You good, babe?"
Truthfully, Leslie was angry. Angry that Mark would blow her off and then act way too sweet now, just to ambush her while she was in Indianapolis with Ben. Why did he care so much? Leslie knew Ben didn't think of her that way, and Leslie, well… Ben just wasn't her type. She'd totally never even thought about it before. Never, she would never.
Still, she didn't know how to say no to Mark. "Okay. Okay, let's go."
Leslie and Ben had rooms right next to each other at the hotel in Indianapolis. Mark had already gone in to Leslie's to bring her stuff in, leaving her and Ben staring at each other in their doorways.
"I feel like I need to apologize," she admitted in a low voice. Ben shook his head.
"No. I mean, what would you even apologize for?" he said, his lips twitching into a smile. "This must be great for you. I'm… really happy for you two."
She sensed the lie in his tone. He wasn't happy, that much was obvious. "Ben—"
"Good night, Leslie," he interrupted, before walking backwards into his room and shutting his door. Leslie sighed, and felt her anger burning hot once more. Not just at Mark, but at everything, at her whole life, this entire situation. Her hands curled into fists and she sighed deeply. Ben wanted her to be happy with Mark? Fine. Fine, she could do that.
She walked into her room where Mark was waiting for her on the bed. She locked the door behind her. "I'm mad at you," she told him, striding right up to stand in front of him.
He quirked a brow. "Why's that?"
She narrowed her eyes, her fingers moving to take handfuls of his shirt. "You ignored me for days after I told you about the trip. You wouldn't sleep in the same bed as me."
Mark started to smirk, his fingers moving down to rest on her hips. "Mm, that upset you? I had no idea you wanted me in your bed so badly."
"Maybe I do," she whispered, but refused to stifle the anger in her voice. This was just as much to get back at Mark, and she had so much built up tension she had to get out one way or another. "You're a jerk."
"You can do better than that if you want to rile me up."
"You're an asshole."
He laughed. "You just want me to fuck you, don't you? That's cute."
"You're terrible," she hissed, her nails digging into his skin. "You're terrible and you're mean and—"
Leslie's insults were immediately cut off by Mark's mouth, forcefully grabbing her face and kissing her. His hands slid into her hair and tugged, pulling her in further and further until she was on his lap. But Leslie wasn't going to roll over and let him do whatever he wanted, not this time. This time was going to be a battle.
She tore his shirt off and pushed him back onto the bed so she could properly straddle him, and for a moment, she thought she had the high ground as his hands wrapped around her hips. But it turned out that was just a strategy, as he used this to flip her around again and slide on top of her, reaching behind to unzip her dress, even if the skirt was already up at her waist by that point.
Leslie wanted to say more to upset him, to piss him off, call him out, but he kissed her so furiously that it was bruising, his hands on her body calloused and rough and very large, holding her tiny frame in a way that made her feel even smaller. She gasped when he touched her, sinking into the bed, and he grabbed a fistful of her hair to make her moan out loud.
He broke away just enough. "Do that again," he demanded, pulling tighter on her hair, pushing into her with enough force to rock the bed against the wall. "Say my name."
Leslie did as he asked. All she knew how to do was do as he asked.
Tonight Mark was fast and violent and very vocal, instructing Leslie to be the same. She was angry enough that it was easy, and she grew louder underneath Mark, the frame of the bed pushing against the wall once more. The wall that… was connected to Ben's room.
Leslie knew exactly what Mark was doing.
Ben didn't sleep well that night.
And maybe he was a little teary-eyed, but he would never admit to that. He cried too much, he had to get that under control before he ended up crying in front of Ron Swanson and getting an uncomfortable conversation about growing up.
But still, Ben gave himself a pass for crying that night. It was bad enough that his dinner with Leslie was ruined by stupid Mark Brendanawics, but now Leslie was currently screaming that name in the room right next to his, where the walls were too thin and he could hear every bang of the bed and every louder slap and the worst part was the moaning.
She was moaning for her boyfriend Mark and Ben hated to admit that he'd wondered before what she sounded like, in bed. He hated that he'd thought about it, how loud she might be if he was on top of her or if she was on top of him and he hated that he pictured it, because now he was kicked out of it entirely and the only thing he could picture was Leslie and Mark.
Mark was doing this on purpose. He had to be.
It went on a little too long. Both of them were vocal and Ben desperately wished to block them out, cradling up in his bed and pulling a pillow over his ears. All that did was muffle it. He tried to sleep, but his eyes stung and his thoughts kept him up, even well after they stopped and the room next door became silent.
So no, Ben did not sleep well that night. By the time he woke up, he was honestly unsure if he got more than an hour's sleep at all.
He didn't want to wake up. He wanted to lie in bed for as long as possible and dream up a moment where last night didn't exist and was a nightmare, but he knew that wasn't true. Ben didn't know what he expected, that they weren't having sex? They slept in the same bed every night. Still, hearing it was a very different thing. Hearing it was a special kind of hell, and when the knocking came on his hotel door that morning, he knew it was Leslie and he just didn't know if he could face her again that morning, or for another several weeks, for that matter.
But the knocking wouldn't stop, and Ben couldn't avoid his problems forever. He threw open the door in only his pajama pants and a ratty tshirt, squinting at the person on the other side. Well, they were definitely too tall to be Leslie.
"Sleep well, Wyatt?" Mark asked him. He was here alone.
Ben sighed. He really didn't want to do this. "What do you want?"
"I'm here to remind you of something before you get a little too cocky. I know you're into Leslie."
He swallowed hard. "I don't… I don't know what you're talking about, I don't…"
"Save the stuttering for television, Boy Mayor. I know you like her. But the thing is, you seem to forget your own job titles here."
"What… what about them?" Ben wanted to slam the door and go hide in his bed more than anything, but Mark was still looking at him with fire in his eyes.
Mark leaned in closer to Ben, his hand resting on his door frame. "Even if I was out of the picture, Wyatt, you wouldn't stand a chance. You know why?"
Ben didn't answer.
"She's Deputy Director of the Parks Department. You're Assistant City Manager. You're her boss. And I think you know exactly how Chris Traeger feels about that kind of office relationship."
Suddenly Ben felt faint, and the hotel lights were blurry. Was he passing out? It was getting a little dizzy. "Chris, he… he hates them. Number one rule."
Mark grinned, incredibly satisfied. "Number one rule. There's absolutely no chance with her that wouldn't end in the two of you getting fired. But go ahead, keep trying after her. I'm sure Chris Traeger would love to hear all about you pursuing your inferior."
Ben didn't respond, because he seemed to have lost the means to speak. Somehow, just somehow, that tidbit of information had completely slipped Ben's brain, making him think the only obstacle in his way was a boyfriend. It turned out there was another one. And this one was arguably much bigger.
Even if Mark was out of the way and Leslie liked him back, it would be a scandal. They would both be fired and held in disgrace. It would be the end of their careers and both of them were just starting out, they had so many big plans. Ben could never do that to Leslie.
Mark pat Ben's shoulder as if he were a friend, before walking away from his doorway. "You have a good day, man."