A/N: Stuck in traffic one hour into a road trip. Welp! Happy Friday to you.

~Edward~

"Your brother has the hots for your roommate. You know that, right?" Benjamin had said the first time he met Carlisle, about three weeks after they'd started dating.

Edward's response at the time had been succinct. "Okay, two things. First, I'm pretty sure that mentioning my brother while I'm on your lap, grinding on your dick, is a major party foul."

Benjamin flashed him that cheeky grin that did wonderful things to his body. "It was a slow grind."

"Secondly, you're so full of shit." And with that, Edward ended the argument with the cunning use of his tongue.

Over the next year and a half, every once in awhile, Benjamin tried to convince Edward that Carlisle had it bad for Bella. Edward had a hard time thinking about Carlisle having it bad for anyone.

"Come on. You've really never thought about it?" Benjamin poked him in the side, teasing.

"He's my brother. I don't talk with him like that."

Benjamin arched an eyebrow, looking distinctly unimpressed. "You're lying to me, habeeby. I saw your phone that night."

Edward raised his head. "Wait. What phone?"

"You like me now, so I suppose I can tell you." Benjamin looked somewhat sheepish. "I couldn't read you at all. I couldn't tell how our date was going, and I really liked you. So when you went to the restroom, I snuck a peek at your phone." He wagged a finger in Edward's face. "You were texting your brother about me."

"Oh, fuck." Edward covered his face with his hands. He'd been proud of himself, being outwardly calm. Aloof even while he texted Carlisle messages that could have come out of a swooning teenager's diary.

Benjamin chuckled, threading their fingers together. "The point is he didn't seem to mind hearing those kinds of things from his brother. Therefore, you should be able to talk about whether or not he wants to bone someone."

"Gah. Whatever. He can bone whomever he wants, but he doesn't want to bone Bella." Edward made a face. "Look, Carlisle is… Well, for me, he's more like my dad than my actual piece of crap dad. So we're more than brothers. He's my friend too, and he's Bella's friend. We're close. I love Bella, so he loves Bella. That's all it is."

"Uh huh. I'll buy that Carlisle loves Bella." Benjamin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I can't tell if she loves him though."

Edward rolled his eyes. He cupped his hand around the back of his boyfriend's neck, pulling him down and effectively ending the conversation.

~0~

"I have good news."

Edward had been tracing the line of Benjamin's arm, playing notes against his skin. He tapped his fingertips along the base of his upturned palm, composing music in his head that might put sound to the way he felt about this man. "Good news?" he asked absently.

"The love your brother has for Bella isn't unrequited after all."

Edward stopped tapping and lifted his head. He sighed, reminding himself that Benjamin knew he could get a rise out of him. "What are you talking about now?" he asked, resigned. It was best to let Benjamin get it out of his system.

His boyfriend pointed into the kitchen where Carlisle and Bella sat across from each other at the small table. "She's playing footsie with him. See?"

Edward frowned. Then, he scoffed. "That's not footsy. She's poking his leg with her toe. They're probably arguing over some book." They were grinning at each other in that way people did when they argued playfully, razzing each other.

Benjamin only smiled and ruffled his hair. "You're adorable, ya gameel. I'm going to take you to Egypt with me when I visit. You're already queen of de-nile."

~0~

Then came the day when Edward figured out Bella had never come home. Actually, he hadn't realized she was out in the first place, but he and Benjamin had been highly distracted when they stumbled in, shushing each other with passionate kisses.

He furrowed his brow, increasingly more confused as he exchanged texts with Bella. "She's being so weird. I don't understand why she didn't talk to me about this."

"Funnily enough, she might have thought she was a grown woman who can do whatever she wants without your permission." Benjamin crossed his arms behind his head, gazing up at Edward, who was sitting up in bed, with a serene expression.

"Of course she can do whatever she wants." Edward frowned at his boyfriend. "I'm not trying to control her. It's just out of character. She always tells me when she has a date."

"So maybe she went home with someone she just met." Benjamin laughed. "Don't look so scandalized. There's nothing wrong with a woman having a healthy sexual appetite."

Edward made an exasperated noise. "I wouldn't care if she hooked up with a different guy every day. But she never has before." He shook his head. "Anyway, all I'm saying is she could have shot off a text if she was going to be gone all night. Then, I wouldn't have worried."

"Ah, that's true. And I would have appreciated the heads up." Benjamin smirked, his eyes sparkling with heated mischief. "If I'd have known she was gone, I would have let you scream last night. You make such beautiful noises for me."

Edward flushed hot. He bit his bottom lip to stifle a moan. It had been so good last night, and Benjamin had clamped his hand hard over Edward's mouth to keep him quiet. With a groan, he lay back down in bed, taking Benjamin's face in his hands and kissing him voraciously. If his boyfriend had been trying to distract him from whatever was going on with Bella, it was working.

Then again, maybe it wasn't working as well as Benjamin wanted. Just as he took Edward's leg and hitched it up around his waist, the phone chimed again. "Mmph," Edward said into Benjamin's mouth. With a sigh, he pushed him away and lunged for his phone.

"Oh, ignore it. Leave Bella alone and come back here."

"Give me just one… Ahnghuh!" The noise Edward made when he saw what was waiting for him on the phone wasn't anything resembling human. He hurtled his phone away from him and tried to stand, neglecting to remember that he was in bed. His feet tangled in the sheets, and he ended up in a heap on the floor, thrashing as he tried to free himself from the blankets that had fallen with him.

"Habeeby! Edward, are you okay?"

"No! I'm not okay. There's nothing about this that's okay," Edward sputtered, his brain not firing on all cylinders. He was normally eloquent enough. His brain was broken.

But, apparently, Benjamin, having seen with his own eyes that Edward was physically fine, had gone for the phone. He had it in his hand, and when he saw what Edward had seen, his expression went from concerned to ecstatic. "Oh." He laughed. "Oh, I see."

"You, see? You see?" Edward got to his knees and lunged across the bed, plucking his phone from Benjamin's hands. He looked at the picture again, sure he had to have seen wrong. He hadn't. "Holy fuck."

He dialed without thinking, and when Bella answered the phone so casually, he started to sputter. His brain just hadn't caught up yet. "You...I don't… What are you…"

"For fuck's sake." Benjamin reached over and took the phone from his hand, putting it to his ear. "Bella, that was a cruel thing to do. I really think Edward's heart might have stopped."

Edward could hear Bella and Carlisle both laughing their asses off. He crossed his arms and harrumphed. Benjamin ruffled his hair and spoke into the phone again. "Why don't you get some clothes on if you can manage."

"Gah." Edward shuddered as it sunk in that Bella and Carlisle had been naked under the blankets. Surely, Carlisle had pajama pants on at least. And Bella… "Bleh."

Benjamin was grinning at him. "I'll make us all breakfast if you bring the Starbucks. We're going to need a lot of coffee," he said to Bella.

She must have agreed because he hung up then and reached for Edward. "Come here, my beautiful drama queen."

Edward grumbled again but let Benjamin pull him into his arms. He closed his eyes as his boyfriend kissed the side of his head and stroked his fingers through his hair making comforting shushing noises. "This is what you wanted for them, isn't it? For them to find good people who will take care of them the way you take care of me." Benjamin kissed his forehead. "And I take care of you. I think it's awesome they found that with each other. They're good together, Edward. They both deserve something so good."

"I know that," Edward said with a sigh. "It's just…"

"Shhh." Crooking a finger under his chin, Benjamin tilted Edward's head up and kissed him sweetly.

~0~

About an hour later, Benjamin was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, and Edward was "helping." If by helping one meant wandering over to the living room window every few minutes. He was there when Carlisle and Bella arrived. In Carlisle's car, Edward noted, even though Bella's car was nowhere to be seen. This meant they were going back to Carlisle's place together.

They didn't get out of the car right away. From his vantage point, Edward could see they were turned toward each other. After a moment, they both leaned forward sharing a brief kiss.

Edward shuddered. It wasn't that it was disgusting. It was just weird. He hadn't been able to put his finger on why it felt wrong. Maybe it was that it felt like it should be wrong, even though Edward couldn't find a rational reason why.

"It's just unsettling," he mumbled to himself, rubbing the back of his neck. He watched Bella and Carlisle get out of the car. Carlisle extended his hand, and his smile was so gentle and adoring as Bella twined their fingers together. They were grinning at each other like goons with that look on their faces. The look of two people newly in love.

"I'm unsettled," Edward said as Benjamin came up behind him.

"Mmhmm." Benjamin kissed him. "You'll be fine."

~0~

And, for the most part, Edward was fine. It was awkward. Carlisle didn't bother to pretend he didn't like touching Bella. He was always touching her in some way, as though he couldn't get over the fact that he was allowed to now.

Yeah, that made two of them.

Bella, his best friend who had never been head over heels for anyone, was practically glowing. She was happy. So happy she couldn't contain her grin. Every time Carlisle touched her, she'd look over at him with this soft, radiant look on her face. It was sweet. He'd have been giddy for her if it wasn't also just a little bit weird.

"You have to be okay with this," Bella said when they were alone together for a few minutes. "I know he's your big brother, and maybe it's a little uncomfortable, but I need my bestie right now."

Edward reached out and took Bella's hands, squeezing them. "I love you so much, Bella. That's not going to change. You're my family too. Maybe that's why it feels weird. Like incest or something, but you can still tell me anything."

Her eyes shone. "It's just…" She sighed. "This thing with us? It's so intense. I don't even know how to explain it. I can't figure out how I didn't realize it was there for so long. Because this isn't just a crush, you know? This isn't just about…" She flushed, looking at him apologetically. "This isn't just about sex."

Edward flinched. He rolled his eyes but waved his hand in a go-on motion.

"But as much as I feel stupid for not figuring all this out sooner, I'm glad too. Most of the time, this whole couplehood thing starts just like with the other guys I've been with. That kind of attraction hits you like a wrecking ball, like a voice in your ear that shouts 'him' from across a crowded room. That perfect moment of meeting, attraction, and falling together."

Edward nodded. That was how it had been with Benjamin. He saw him on the field and something in him had just come alive like a beacon pinging.

Bella shook her head, her expression far away. "But this… There's something to be said about a connection that forms gradually like this. Like…" She glanced at him, obviously self-conscious. "Don't laugh at me, okay? This is going to sound grandiose and dramatic, but it's how I feel right now."

Edward smiled wryly. "Grandiose and dramatic are what you usually accuse me of being, so I guess you've earned a turn, hmm?"

Bella smiled and tucked herself under his arm, cuddling up to him with her head on his shoulder. "It's like the Grand Canyon. Like we've kind of been shaped for each other because we've known each other for so long. That's how it feels. Like I'm looking at something so beautiful and big."

"That is dramatic." Edward ran his fingers through her hair. "But I understand."

She raised her head to look at him. "You and Carlisle have been my rocks for the last four years. Even when I was with someone, it wasn't them I went to when I really needed something. It wasn't them who helped me pick up the pieces in every crisis of my life. Your brother has always been so good to me."

Edward rested his head against the back of the couch, a smile quirking at the corner of his lips. "And you guys are the same kind of dork. Get you started on your books and Christ, it's like I don't even exist."

She grinned and tilted her head. "Do you want to know how he is in bed?"

"Gah! No. Jesus." He rolled his eyes. "I'm already traumatized for life. Have you seen your face today? You have post-coital glow face."

"Well, that's because-"

"Bella!" Edward clamped a hand over her mouth.

~0~

At the end of the day, Edward only had one question for his brother. "I get it. I really do. You're good friends, to say the least, and that's not a bad place to start a relationship. It's not without complications, but whatever. That's every relationship."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow. "But?"

"No but. I'm just wondering how serious this is to you. I know it's serious." Edward shrugged. "I just need context, I guess."

Carlisle looked away, hesitating for a long moment before he turned back to look Edward in his eyes. "It's Esme-serious."

Edward's heart did a flip-flop in his chest. "Whoa."

"Yeah." Carlisle looked down at his feet, but there was a smile on his lips. "I fought it for a long time. I know it's not ideal…"

"No. It is. It really is." Edward hugged his big brother. "You're the best man I've ever known." He snorted stepping back. "I guess it's a good thing you're not actually my father."

"Why is that?"

"Because when you marry her, she'll be my sister. And that works. But if you'd made my best friend my stepmother, I would have needed therapy for life."

Carlisle threw his head back and laughed. Then he slung an arm around Edward's shoulder and pulled him in for another hug, giving him a noogie as he did so. Because, after all, he was Edward's big brother.

A/N: Let's see if I can beg Mina to update for me.

Mina: Review begging HER for a spin off with Eddie and Benji.
And no, Kris, Thoughtless doesn't count!