If the sweetness of this relationship doesn't end him, Wallace Foster thought, then sheer happiness might.

Such and similar thoughts went through his head each morning when Ben Baker brought him breakfast. In fact, such thoughts kept going through his head well after the morning, and late into the night, when Wallace would wonder what Ben was up to and, with such things on his mind, would somehow manage to fall asleep, for a change.

It was a strange thing, how one would think something like love would keep you up and giddy. For Wallace, love was more of a well needed and well deserved rest, a permanent, regular, everyday getaway from the harshness of the reality, and the thought and feeling he'd keep coming back to whenever something was set to ruin his day. Even to his own surprise, it worked better than he thought it would.

Of course, his shyness taken into consideration, none of that was anything he could vocally express, which made him constantly feel guilty and which constantly made him try harder than perhaps one should, which would often result in frankly incredulous situations. Such as the time he accidentally booked three tables in a single restaurant, each time forgetting he already did it. Or the time he stayed up extra-long just to finish the gift he made for Ben – a sort of a collage of their photos, framed – only to fall asleep in the early hours, sleeping though the day and missing entirely the opportunity to wish him a happy first month of their relationship. Or when he, in an attempt to make a romantic dinner, asked Molly for help… which somehow, he recalled, dragged Roy into the entire situation, and the next thing he remembered, the soup was glistening in all the colours of the rainbow…

Many were troubles of the young sociologist when it came to Ben, and unfortunately for him, he knew little of how expressive his simple 'I love you's' or his smiles were, because those told Ben not only everything he needed but, in a sweet, sweet addition, everything he really wanted to know; that Wallace Foster was helplessly, deeply, and shamelessly in love with him.

So much in love, Ben figured, that it was about time they would start kissing properly.

Ben wasn't sure whether Wallace was aware of it – at all – but Wallace's kisses, all of them, from the very first one to the one he landed on his lips that morning – were adorably chaste, and while he didn't really mind, he had started wondering if his new boyfriend had ever acquired skills that went beyond the boundary of closed lips.

"Could be he didn't." Molly mused aloud in the coffee shop, when Ben finally decided to share these news with her. Of course, he didn't do that too gladly – but if there was one person he trusted with any sort of personal question, and from whom he could get a good romantic advice, it was her. For a young lady, she had a far richer experience than he had expected. "I don't suppose that is the problem, is it?" She asked, frowning suspiciously.

"Of course not!" Ben scoffed. "No, I'm just not sure how should I approach it without… scaring him away."

"You think that'd scare him?" Molly skeptically asked. "He's a grown man, Ben. And a pretty confident one too, despite making a great cover for it by how helplessly naiive he is."

Ben smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I've… witnessed that myself the first time, moments before Kip interrupted us."

Momentarily grinning, Molly went on to ask: "What's his deal, anyway?"

"Just past circumstances, is all." Ben swiftly replied – perhaps too swiftly, Molly noted and knew well enough to change the subject.

"Anyway, I think you should just talk to him – or just try something for yourself, really. I mean, the worst that could happen is that he could ask you to stop, or something, and then you still need to talk about it."

"I know, I'm acting like a kid." He paused. "In the end, I really don't have a lot of faith in him, huh?"

Molly sipped her tea. "You ought to change that. Knowing Wallace, he's probably just shy."

Possibly.

"…Plus, I wouldn't say you're the flirtiest guy I know."

Also a possibility. Perhaps it was time for some advanced measures. Thinking to himself for a few moments more, Ben finished his coffee and picked up his phone. Molly didn't pay half the attention to him before she heard an energetic greeting echoing from the device:

"Hey, Ben!"

"Wallace? Hey."

Even his "hey" sounded like sweet talking, and Molly's interest was piqued as she realized – she never really heard Ben talk like that with a partner. She watched him a bit expectantly. Catching her gaze, he playfully smiled at her, before again talking into the phone:

"You doing well?... Haha, figured as much. Just keep your chin up… Don't mention it. But, say, are you free on Saturday?... Yeah? Because I was thinking, how about we spend the Friday night at my place… Yeah, we could catch a movie or two, order take out. We'd just get reeeal cozy, enjoy each other's company and sleep until we're tired of sleeping." Ben joked, dragged his words all over the place, throwing in casual flirty tones like it was nothing and it then dawned on Molly, who had thought this entire time that he was trying to prove her wrong, that he had no idea he was even doing it.

… Was he blushing?!

"Fantastic. Friday, six it is. Alright then, I'll see you tonight in the coffee shop before you go home, 'kay? Love ya."

Molly's jaw dropped.

Ben hung up his phone and gave her a quizzical stare. "… What?"

Wallace's phone rang and Wallace snapped out of his work routine. Noticing the name, he beamed and picked up faster than he knew he could.

"Hey, Ben!" He said a bit too loudly into the phone.

"Wallace? Hey."

His name and a subtle 'hey' were enough for his legs to turn into jelly.

"You doing well?"

"I'm working, so… not really, hahaha!" Wallace joked, and got a smooth chuckle in return.

"Figured as much. Just keep your chin up." It was something he had recently been saying to Wallace a lot and for some reason, coming from Ben, he found it endlessly endearing.

"Thank you, Ben."

"But, say, are you free on Saturday?"

"Yup, no work for me!"

And that's when it came. Like a bucket of water in the nice summer day but still scorching cold, pleasant and icy all in one, freezing Wallace to the spot and stopping his mind in its tracks while at the same time decorating him in the most charming shade of red that even Roy would be envious of.

"Ohyeah?" He managed, not wanting to be impolite. Ben's smoky voice only further continued to entice him with a promise of movies, good food and… getting… cozy…"

Reeeal cozy, Ben said. That had to be at least three "R's".

"Yeahsoundsgreat!" Wallace managed, and even he didn't know how, his voice stuck in his throat.

As Ben said goodbye, Wallace figured he could die on the spot of the sheer odd icy warmth engulfing his body.

When evening came, and Ben and Wallace met in the coffee shop, they haven't talked or even mentioned their "date" on Friday at all. In fact, the date wasn't mentioned at all amongst them for the rest of the week.

Wallace, for one, was too nervous about it to bring it up, whereas Ben, who could detect that from the other side of the street – well actually, right away from over the phone, figured the man could use some time to get his marbles together about it, though what was it exactly that made Wallace so nervous was still a mystery to him.

"Oh well, you'll have plenty of time to discuss it tonight." Molly as heard from the inside of the Ben's closet, checking out his small and not entirely impressive collection of shirts and hoodies. She poked her head out, mildly frustrated. "Don't you have anything nice to wear?"

"What do you mean? Most of those are Fruits of the Doom hoodies."

"Exactly! Hoodies, hoodies everywhere! Don't you want to… dress up a bit?"

"… Molly we're just watching a movie and getting pizza."

Molly opened her mouth and closed them. Ben snickered. "I think it's the crafting master in you, coming out at time like this, suggesting I 'dress up' for a date on a couch."

"Oh shush." Molly grinned. "I just want you to look your best, is all. Are you ready for tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Not nervous?"

"Nah."

"Everything according to plan?"

"Eeyup."

"And if you must be in your undies when you're alone, don't forget to put on your pants back on before he comes by, okay?"

"I might as well."

"Also-"

"Molly, is it just me, or are you more nervous about this than anyone included in this date?"

Molly paused in her mental checkup, fell quiet and then gave Ben a rather stern stare.

"I really want you guys to… to have something great, Ben. You know, I haven't seen you like this… in a long time."

"Oh…" He was going to deny it but, on the other hand, thinking about it more clearly… "Yeah, I … I guess it's been… quite a while."

Molly beamed at him and embraced him. On her way out, she winked at him playfully and said: "Stay sharp, big guy."

Ben waved and, remembering what she said, for the first time since Tuesday felt a tinge of nervousness.

But of good kind.

"Hey, Ben!"

"Wallace. Hey."

And just like that, with those two smoky-toned words, Wallace felt like melting.

"Well, are you going to come in, or…?"

"Oh, sure!" Wallace stumbled inside and put the paper bag right onto the counter of the kitchen. He had been at Ben's apartment a few times before, sometimes for coffee or tea, sometime being the one getting breakfast for both of them, and sometimes visiting in the afternoon to watch their favorite shows… and was always in awe of how the apartment of the same size and in the same building as his could look so differently. The entirety of it was so well put together, breathing with the very coziness Ben had in mind.

It had only occurred to him at that very moment that it perhaps might seem slightly strange they haven't yet spent a night together.

… Just thinking about the fact made his face burn for more reasons that he could speak aloud.

"I brought something to drink, if that's fine!" He spoke so as to distract from the fact he was burning up. At this point though, even Wallace suspected it was wildly noticeable, judging from the amused way Ben had looked at him.

"Hmm, perfect." Ben spoke as he picked up and span tin cans Wallace brought, all labeled 'ginger beer', and further labeled

Wallace blushed at the comment. "It-it is?"

"Oh definitely. I'm glad you didn't bring any real booze, if that's something that crossed your mind."

"Well uh, yeah actually but- I simply figured this might be a bit more, uh…" He struggled to say it but in the end managed with a cute smile, "… cozy."

Ben laughed. "That's so thoughtful of you. Oh, nearly forgot…" He leaned in, and pressed a short, sweet kiss to his lips, which Wallace smiled into. "I would be a bad boyfriend if I didn't greet you with one, would I?"

"I'd honestly think you are teasing me if it kept up." Wallace admitted shyly and Ben smirked, coolly blurting out before he could stop himself but not regretting a single word of it:

"Oh, we'll get to that eventually."

The reaction was instant. Although Ben enjoyed very little of it in his attempt to act naturally, as he picked up the cans of ginger beer and started stacking them in the fridge, he was pretty sure there was a new expression he hadn't seen before in this capacity: Wallace may have been embarrassed to the roots of his hair but if Ben wasn't mistaken, he was also intrigued.

"A-Anyway, what movie did you have in mind for tonight?" Wallace asked, probably much too loudly, as was his tendency when forcefully changing subjects. Finished with the fridge, Ben leaned on the counter of the kitchen.

"That depends. What do you wanna watch?"

"Oh well, uh," Wallace made a face, "I do have an idea and I did bring some things but I honestly- it's really not everyone's cup of tea-"

"Out with it, already," Ben encouraged with a chuckle. Still blushing brightly, Wallace pulled out a couple of DVDs from his backpack – all of which looked generally harmless – only to, as if leaving the grand finale for the end, put down several VHS tapes, and the first thing Ben realized when seeing the collection of incredibly old B movies in their original format was that he was utterly in love and there was no way out.

"Good god Wallace, what have you brought into my apartment." Despite what he said, the tone was clearly endearing.

"I know, I know, it's terrible," Wallace chuckled, "but I noticed you still had a VHS and a couple of movies for it, so I figured if it works, you might wanna give these a chance or something but-"

"Is that the Hills and Tears? I thought VHS was impossible to get."

Wallace perked up. "You mean, you've seen that one?"

"Oh man," Ben looked at Wallace with nothing less than wonder in his eyes, "my parents bought it at some old garage sale when I was a tiny kid, and I was terrified of it but I loved it. Which feels weird now, because I'm sure it's terrible in every possible aspect."

"It's the absolute worst!" Wallace exclaimed, his joyful love for bad products of cinematic history bursting from within him. "I-I've only seen it like, three times but every couple of years, when I forget what it's all about, I pop it in and, I-" Never finishing the sentence, he started giggling as he recalled something, "It's just—so good!" and it turned into a full blown laughter, which Ben was luckily the witness of.

When Wallace finally recovered, he realized Ben was carefully watching him.

"What-"

"You're just… really attractive when you laugh so earnestly, you know."

"Uh… I-" Before he could react, Ben approached him. Wallace automatically looked down at his shoes.

"Now, you know what I say-" his finger gently hooked his chin, lifting his face towards his own, "keep your chin up," and their lips met. Never passing that invisible boundary but terribly tempted to do so, their kiss was long and slow but never anything more or further than that.

Which is why it confused him, when he finally managed to leave Wallace's lips in peace, on Wallace's face he saw that thing once again – intrigue.

"S-so, the Hills and the Tears?"

"… Sure. Let me order pizza."

"No spicy for me, I can't handle that well!"

And that's where the intrigue had to took a back seat, because once the movie began, the two had a hard time thinking about anything else but the absolutely impressively low quality of the said media. It would be one thing if it was simply badly made but the movie was clearly a passion project of someone who had no idea what they were doing, which just made it that much more interesting and charming. By the time romantic subplot was introduced, none of the two even took it as an opportunity to get romantic themselves, since they were so engrossed with the overall incompetence of absolutely everything in it.

"Man. What a ride." Ben admitted by the time the credits rolled. Wallace, still giggling a bit, had nested himself next to Ben, enjoying the arms thrown over his shoulders.

"It's terrible, and that's exactly what's so amazing about it. It still lives on."

Well, that… "That's quite a romantic way to look at it." Ben noted, and Wallace perked up.

"I suppose you could say that, I mean… I've just always appreciated works that were made when no one else knew how to make them- there were no standards for movies back then, you know? So people always worked straight from their heart, you know? It's so-"

"-romantic, it's definitely a romantic way to look at it." Ben teased but was silently impressed, not realizing the depth of love Wallace had for works like this, and for a reason such as that— every time he thought he got to know him better, he discovered there was a whole lot more to know about him and each time, one thing after the other, made him further fall for him.

He looked over to Wallace.

"Thanks for showing this to me. I'm really glad I saw it again."

"I'm glad that one of my all time favorites is something dear to you."

"Perhaps 'dear' is a strong word…"

The two bickered about the movie as Wallace got up to get more of the ginger beer.

"Look, just because it's not good in your eyes anymore, doesn't mean you can't enjoy it again." He said as he came back to Ben and handed him his tin. Ben looked at him questionably.

"Aren't you going to sit down?"

"That's okay, I just wanted to stretch myself."

"… We'll get to that eventually, as well."

As he expected, Wallace didn't get it at first. But when redness yet again covered his face, it was clear that he got it and – Ben was waiting for it – that same intrigue, interest, curiosity, Ben didn't know what else to call it, swam to the surface of his face.

Ben stood up. Before Wallace could even register it, he found himself face-to-face with him and Ben's hands resting on his hips.

"Ah…" He breathed but said nothing as he felt those hand pull and suddenly even their chests were touching, and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to get once more lost in the depth of Ben's ki—

Oh.

Oh.

OH.

Oh my…

Wallace hadn't expected that. He didn't expected that kind of a kiss at all. He didn't expect the sudden invasion of flavors, ginger beer, and spiced up pizza and—

… Again with this? What was it that he tasted, dammit?!

This question however, whether one might think was important or not, soon got evaporated in favor of feeling the rest of the kiss out. Not because Wallace wanted to discover the origin of the mysterious spiciness but good god because that kiss was so-!

And just like that then, it ended. Wallace blinked open and saw Ben standing there, reddened, and clearly enjoying what has transpired but most of all, as cool as a cucumber, as he said:

"I told you we'd get to teasing eventually."

Wallace blinked.

"I-I have to go to the bathroom."

The reaction was instant.

"You could simply let me give a hand."

Wallace gasped as he realized his own implications, even as Ben laughed at his own teasing. "I- that's n-not- I just wanted to freshen up b-but now that you say something like that, I—"

Oh? So there was something, was there?

"You… what?"

Wallace fell quiet.

"When I say things like that," Ben repeated, "you… what?" He paused. "I mean, I hope you know I would expect you to tell me if you don't like i-"

"Wh-no! I mean—no I— Ben."

Wallace grabbed his shoulders comically and made a determined face.

"You're too spicy for me Ben, okay? Your kisses, your hands, your eyes, your- your everything is too spicy for me, and I can't handle it without—overheating! You overheat me!"

Gears turned and clicked in Ben's head and once they clicked right, Wallace had the unique opportunity of witnessing a fully blushed face of Ben Baker staring at him, touched, embarrassed and flattered and in that moment, Wallace had perhaps partially realized there was truly no reason to be so nervous, because-

"So," Ben chuckled, red and clearly flattered to no end but his voice once again as cool as it used to be, "to get this straight, you're having downright insufferably strong hots for me, and you thought I'd find that problematic?"

Wallace swallowed.

"We-well, not when you put it that wa-"

Wallace's back suddenly hit a wall. Ben's lips, hands and body were over his. On an instinct, his arms wrapped around his neck and Ben's hand tugged at his shirt, pulling it out of his pants and when those fingers touched his side, he—

"You've been driving me crazy for five weeks now, Wallace." Ben breathed as Wallace's own breathing got stuck in his throat. "I think it would only be fair to drive you crazy for five minutes."

"Soundsgoodtome." Wallace finally managed and, as if by magic, when he relaxed the entire make out session went on in an even better direction that Ben could've hoped for. Wallace's hands became active on his back and neck, his hips moved bit by bit closer to Ben's own, and when Ben felt his lips being gently nibbled on, he knew there would be a whole lot more surprised to experience from Wallace Foster.

"Youknow," Wallace managed, "you know what I'm in the mood for now?"

"Mmm?"

"Something different."

…

Something spicy.