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Ben Wyatt leaves Pawnee to move to Carleton College at 4am on a Friday. His mom tells him to drive safe, and Steph makes him promise he'll help her with all her math homework and call every week.
Leslie isn't there to say goodbye. He checks his phone maybe fifty times between waking up and pulling out of his driveway. But she never calls or texts.
He really shouldn't be surprised. She starts her senior year of high school on Monday and she's probably knee deep in pre-first-day-of-school binders. That, and he didn't tell her he'd decided on going back to Minnesota until yesterday.
She's probably still mad at him.
He's mad at himself too if he's being completely honest. He just couldn't bear to see her disappointed face when he told her he wasn't staying in Indiana.
Of course seeing her eyes narrow as she yelled Wyatt, you JERK! Why didn't you tell me this sooner?, wasn't much better.
He takes the long way out of Pawnee just to go by her house, bearing false hope that she'll be outside waiting to say goodbye. There's no doubt that she's awake; he'd honestly be surprised if she’d gone to sleep yet. Ben stops at the edge of her driveway. Leslie's bedroom light is definitely on, and for half a second he considers parking and knocking on her window to say goodbye himself. Instead, he just drives away.
Two weeks after Ben moves into his dorm, he gets his first call from Leslie.
It's completely out of the blue, but he still hits the accept button before the first ring even ends; nearly falling out of his desk chair in the process.
"Leslie? Uh, hey. How's- how's Pawnee?" Ben winces at his tense and awkward tone. They've been friends for almost four years, and even though two weeks is the longest they've gone without talking, it really shouldn't be so strange.
"Perfect as always, but don't think that this call means I've forgiven you for abandoning the best town in America." Leslie sounds like she's teasing him, but Ben's certain she's more upset than she's willing to admit over the phone. But, he smiles at her voice anyway. How can he not? She radiates sunshine and happiness, even when she's angry with him.
"So what's up, Knope? Is this a call to try and convince me to move back to Indiana?"
That makes her laugh a little, so Ben considers it a victory.
"No, I'll save that for another time. I'm just struggling with math homework. Statistics is kicking the crap out of me. Could you help?"
They talk until one in the morning.
And just like that, everything about their friendship is back to normal. Leslie still tries to convince him to move back to Indiana most days, but she doesn't yell or sound hurt anymore, and that's all that matters.
They talk all the time. He knows for a fact that he calls her more than his parents. It's like he's always on the phone with her. He calls her or texts her between classes, stays up to obscene hours of the night helping her with math homework (which usually means watching the History Channel and C-SPAN together over the phone.) Even when he lived in Pawnee, they didn't talk this much.
Ben's saying goodbye after a two hour long phone call when his roommate, Andy, walks in.
"Dude! Who's Leslie? You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!"
"My girlfr... what? Leslie's not my girlfriend. Nope. No no, just a friend. Close friend. Friends." Ben shakes his head and continues to say friends over and over.
"Ooohhh, so you're friends." Andy winks, and Ben thinks maybe now would be a good time to melt into the floor. "Got it, friends."
"No, Andy it's not," Ben pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head again. "She's still in high school, so it's not like that. At all. Or ever. She's... we're not. No."
"Why not? You're always on the phone with her right? Just go for it!"
Andy starts talking about taking risks and doing what you love, and also doing who you love, and it's weirdly insightful, but Ben can't seem to focus on anything other than the question of why.
Why hadn't he asked Leslie out when he lived in Indiana? She was only a year younger than him and they did everything together. It would've made sense.
Four weeks later, it's nearing Thanksgiving, and Ben couldn't stop thinking about her.
About how he's the absolute happiness whenever Leslie smiles or laughs. How she's the smartest and most passionate person he's ever met and how she can accomplish anything. She's larger than life and a ray of sunlight on a cloudy day, and the more Ben thinks about it, the more he realizes he might be a tiny bit in love with Leslie Knope.
She calls to wish him a happy birthday, and his heart jumps in his throat.
She says what would I do without you, when he explains a complicated math problem, and he's on cloud 9.
She sends him a picture of her 95% on her statistics test, and he can't stop smiling all day.
"Oh my god! This is crazy Ben! You're so in love!" Ben hasn't even spoken; he's just sitting there smiling while he packs his suitcase, but Andy must be some sort of mind reader.
"Ben's in looooooveeee with Lesliiiieeee!! Gonna be lovin' each otheeer through Thanksgiving!" Andy keeps singing about spreading your love wings and flying to your love when it starts to snow.
A blizzard hits Minnesota in the middle of the night, and Ben's flight is canceled the next morning.
Leslie yells when he tells her, but she sounds more like she may cry. "It's thanksgiving Benjamin! I don't care if your flight was canceled! You can still drive! You've been gone for four months, Ben! I, we- we missed you on your birthday!"
Even though she's yelling at him, Ben still finds the chance to smile when she almost says she missed him.
"I don't have tires that would drive well on snow or I would."
"Really, Wyatt? You moved to Minnesota without a car fit for snow? Do you think anything through!?"
Ben's upset, hurt that he can't go home and see Leslie, and she doesn't even sound disappointed, just angry. So he snaps, "Yes, Leslie, I think everything through! It's not my fault that snow tires slipped my mind or that my flight got canceled or-"
"Well you're the one who decided on Minnesota over Indiana last minute! You would've had the right tires earlier if you stayed here! Who's fault is that Benjamin?"
"Yours." It sounds harsher than he means it to be. But it's true. The only reason he was so unsure was because he wanted to be close to Pawnee. To Leslie. Carleton College just offered more scholarship money with the better accounting department. And she'd always been the one that said to follow his dreams and do what he loves.
"You're being a jerk Ben," and then there's a familiar buzzing in his ear telling him she's hung up.
He throws himself into his hobbies for the rest of November. Leslie doesn't call him, and he doesn't call her. He pretends it doesn't hurt.
Ben's making his fifth calzone in the communal kitchen, two days before finals week, when his neighbor Chris confronts him.
"Ben Wyatt! You are quite the master at making Italian dishes!" Ben starts to thank him, but Chris cuts him off, "But I am very worried about you."
"Um, what?"
"You appear to be deeply depressed. And the first year of college is always the hardest, so you should never be afraid to talk to someone if you're feeling homesick."
"Well, I'm not depressed, and I'm definitely not homesick." Ben slides a spinach and feta calzone onto a plate and passes it towards Andy, who gladly accepts it from his spot atop the kitchen counter. "I'm just delving into my hobbies. Giving myself time to experiment with stuff while I'm away from home, that sort of thing."
Andy interjects with a mouthful of calzone, "He's also moping cause he got in a fight with his girlfriend."
Chris perks up at that.
"Ben! You did not tell me you were seeing someone! I am sure she is absolutely delightful, and if anyone can work this out its you."
A few days later Stephanie calls him.
"So you're coming home for Christmas break right? Not gonna blow us off like you did for Thanksgiving?"
"Steph..."
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I know you didn't blow us off. Well, at least you didn't blow some of us off..."
Ben cringes at his little sister's tone; it's ridiculous how similar she sounds to their mom when she's frustrated with him.
"What are you talking about? I haven't blown off any of you. We talk almost everyday, I call mom every week and dad sometimes and even Henry on occasion!" But Ben already knows the answer.
"You're kidding right? Henry's right- you're so dense. Ben, you haven't talked to Leslie since before Thanksgiving! It's December! And don't even try to say she's the one that hung up. Leslie told me everything, and you're being a huge jerk."
"Since when does my own sister side against me?"
"Shut up. Promise you'll call her? You're probably all mopey and Leslie's doing that thing where she pretends she's not upset and stays up all night doing next week's school assignments."
Ben feels his heart break imagining Leslie being upset, but even so, he's sure she wouldn't want to talk to him after the way he acted. "She doesn't want to talk to me Steph."
"Mom, Dad, Henry, and Ann Perkins all gave me permission to kick your ass of you don't call her. Promise?"
He calls Leslie for the first time just after his last final, as he's packing up all his last minute odds and ends. He doesn't really expect her to answer, but before it even hits the second ring she's speaking. Not her usual cheerful disposition. No, this time she's annoyed and hurt, and she's not at all trying to hide it.
"Benjamin," is all she says when she picks up. Just his name. Sharp and serious and dripping with formality.
"Lesliemin," he says, trying to lighten the mood, even though he knows it won't work. She doesn't even react to the nickname, remaining completely silent on the other end of the line.
"I was a jerk." Ben's pretty sure she mumbles something about that being an understatement, but it's so quiet he can hardly tell. "I was a major jerk and an idiot. I should've bought snow tires; I was stupid to move to Minnesota without them, and it was stupid to decide on schools so late. And to move out of Indiana in general. I was stupid."
There's a sniffle on the other end as Leslie says, "That's true." So he takes that as incentive to continue.
"I was mostly an idiot for snapping at you, I was stressed and upset that I wouldn't get home to see yo- Pawnee. To see Pawnee. So I snapped, and I am sorry."
When she talks again, he can practically feel the slight smile through the phone." Yeah, well, I might've overreacted. And I'm sorry for everything I said." Ben opens his mouth to assure her that she has nothing to apologize for, but he doesn't get the chance. She's back to babbling on about her day as if they didn't just spend over a month not speaking to each other. And in the stress of the holidays and end of semester anxieties, it's nice to have this slice of normalcy back.
-----
Ben texts his mom the minute his plane lands in Indianapolis. He would've preferred a direct flight to Pawnee, but he's starting to think that the airport is against him.
Just landed in Indianapolis.
Her reply is almost immediate.
Alright, Benji! We can't wait to see you when you get home!
Ben does a double take at the text message, they do know he doesn't have a car at the airport right? That he still needs a way from Indianapolis to Pawnee?
Wait, someone's here to pick me up right?
He tries his hardest not to worry when his mom doesn't text him back before he's walking off the plane. He's halfway through dialing the number of a cab company when he sees her. Standing right outside the exit of his gate. Blonde hair curling just over her shoulders, blue eyes sparkling even more than he remembered, and a smile bigger and brighter than any smile he's ever received from her. And she's just there, in the middle of the airport jumping from foot to foot as if that's the only thing keeping her to the ground.
Ben's not sure when he started running. Or when he ended up right in front of Leslie, cupping her face in his hands. And he's certainly not sure when bent down slightly and started kissing her.
But now that he is he never wants to stop.
When he pulls away after a moment he waits for Leslie to smack him or inform him that just waltzing up to a girl in the middle of an airport and kissing her is insanely primitive. But she doesn't.
Instead she smiles, a smile he's never seen from her before, and pulls him down by the neck, lips connecting with a contented sigh. Only breaking apart when an older gentlemen scoffs at their outrageous public displays of affection.
He holds her hand as they walk to the baggage claim and grins like mad when she says "took you long enough."
It did take him long enough. Too long in fact, and he's kind of an idiot for it. But the second she smiles at him, Ben knows he'll always be an idiot in love when it comes to Leslie Knope.