Author's note: This story is a companion piece to Maat's story called "Finch," which is brilliant and lovely. I strongly advise you to read it first. ( w ww .fanfiction s/7446854/1/Finch)
It was also inspired by multiple fan videos on YouTube using this song for this character.

"Ben, the two of us—"

Harold Finch jerked.

It was a voice singing, obviously over the bookstore speaker system, for once slightly too quiet rather than too loud, difficult to tell whether it was a woman's voice or a boy's. All he could hear was, "Ben, the two of us something something something friend in me…" He reached out and caught the arm of the nearest employee.

"Would you please tell me what that song is?"

The young man stopped and listened. "I don't know. Let me go find out."

A few minutes later he came back with a CD in his hand. "Wouldn't you know, it's Michael Jackson."

The memory flooded back so strongly he didn't see the boy holding out the jewel case to him until he said, "Um…hello? Are you alright?"

"I'm sorry." He took the CD. It had a 1970s-style cover with a thoughtful-looking boy with an afro and the words, "Michael Jackson" and "Ben."

"It's the song called 'Ben.' Made for a movie."

"A horror movie, I think. Yes, someone told me about that." He stared at the cover.

"We have it in vinyl, too, if you want."

"No, the CD will do. Thank you."

He bought the CD, went out to his car, and put it into his CD drive, scanned ahead to the song that had taken him back to the Island.

Hugo used to sing this song. He hadn't known all the words either, though. In fact, he was the one who used to sing, "Ben, the two of us something something something friend in me…" He used to sing it to tease his Number Two, because it was from a movie about a mouse and a boy who was his friend. Ben didn't know what a mouse had to do with it (he was not one for horror films, having no need to be reminded of hopelessness and horrors), though he slightly suspected that Hugo thought he looked like one.

It was true that he and Hugo had been friends, in a manner of speaking. He didn't know how to have friends, and Hugo was friends with everyone he ever met, so he wasn't sure if their friendship really meant anything, as friendship. He'd found Hugo to be a mentor, teaching him how to see other humans as valuable in themselves, and he'd been Hugo's mentor, teaching him how the Island worked. He hadn't known, at the time, how to view the big, friendly young man as a friend. No, this song had not applied to him and Hugo at the time.

But now he listened to it and put a trembling hand to his mouth. It applied to him now, though his name was no longer Ben. It applied to Harold Finch and the man he had hired to do the footwork he could no longer do. It was about him and John Reese. But he wasn't sure which of them was the "Ben" of the song and which of them was the person singing. Maybe both of them were both of them.

Ben, the two of us need look no more
We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
I'll never be alone
And you my friend will see
You've got a friend in me
(You've got a friend in me)

Ben, you're always running here and there
(Here and there)
You feel you're not wanted anywhere
(Anywhere)
If you ever look behind
And don't like what you find
There's something you should know
You've got a place to go
(You've got a place to go)

I used to say "I" and "me"
Now it's "us", now it's "we"
I used to say "I" and "me"
Now it's "us", now it's "we"

Ben, most people would turn you away
I don't listen to a word they say
They don't see you as I do
I wish they would try to
I'm sure they'd think again
If they had a friend like Ben
(A friend)
Like Ben
(Like Ben)
Like Ben