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Leslie was at the party for nearly an hour and a half when she realized why she felt so out of place.
Ann had dragged her to the New Year's Eve party full of gross happy couples. Half of the people in the living room were either kissing loudly or dancing on each other.
In fact Leslie was 99% sure that one of the couples were literally having sex on the dance floor.
At any other party Leslie would've just talked to Ann and convinced her to go back to their shared apartment. But Ann had ran off with Chris to go make out in one of the spare rooms. Leaving Leslie alone amongst couples that were undoubtedly going to kiss when it was midnight.
Miserable would have been an understatement.
But then she caught a glimpse of messy hair and a plaid shirt across the room and it took every inch of self control to not jump for joy.
"Ben!!" Leslie tried desperately to make her voice louder than the music and the noise makers, which were completely impractical considering it wasn't even 11:30 yet. She shouted a few more times before Ben turned around and his warm brown eyes locked with hers. After forcing his way through the seemingly endless crowd Ben was beside Leslie, wrapping an arm around her in a friendly hug.
It was a completely normal and casual gesture. Ben had been hugging her as a greeting since they were little kids and lived across the street from each other. They weren't lingering bear hugs, unless Leslie was hugging him or it was a special occasion, more like a soft side hug and a shoulder squeeze. But Leslie appreciated them nonetheless.
Especially when she's been abandoned by her best friend amongst a sea of couples.
"Happy New Years Eve, Les." Ben's nearly shouting to be heard over the music, all while looking down at Leslie with his usual Ben Wyatt smirk.
"Chris said you weren't coming, what changed your mind?" Leslie shouts back against the music, positive that if they continue talking here she'll lose her voice before the night is over.
"Well, Chris left out the crucial fact that my best friend would be here too." He bumps her shoulder with his, a smile pulling at his lips. "And then he texted me a few minutes ago saying i was missing," Ben formed air quotations as he quoted Chris, "literally the best New Year's Eve party with Ann Perkins and Leslie Knope. I couldn't let him have all the fun."
Leslie grins, a type of grin that's so bright it could put the sun to shame.
"Well now you can join me as the only other single person at this entire party."
Ben laughs and says something about how that explains everything before tugging on Leslie's hand to get to the kitchen for more beer.
~~~~~~
It's ten minutes till midnight and the amount of people in whosever house they're at has doubled. Leslie's pretty sure they're way over maximum capacity and probably breaking at least a few laws on fire evacuation safety.
But none of that seems to matter anymore. Because now she's sitting on the couch next to Ben, laughing about that one time back in fifth grade when a cop came in for career day and Ben vomited all over the poor man's shoes. Her legs are draped over his in the most domestic way possible, and as she cackles at Ben she almost forgets that in a few minutes she won't have anyone to kiss to ring in the new year.
Only almost forgets.
"Well I'm not the only one who made a scene on career day!" Ben rolls his eyes but he's smiling. He can't help it. Leslie's laugh is infectious. "Remember that time Mrs. Swanson the librarian came in in 3rd grade? You called her a book peddling she-demon Leslie! You were 8!"
Leslie cackles again and gives Ben's shoulder a slight shove. She goes to retort back that it's not her fault Mrs. Swanson couldn't handle the truth, but those words don't quite find their way.
She hears someone yell "6 minutes till midnight!" From across the room and suddenly new words just fall out.
"You should kiss me at midnight."
Ben's eyes grow as big as saucers and he nearly chokes on his beer. There's a slight tinge of red creeping along his cheeks as well.
"Wait I? You want to- we will do? With what I- What?"
takes every ounce of self control in Leslie's body not to laugh at Ben's nervous blabbering. Instead she just shrugs and scoots closer to him. She tells herself it's so he can hear her better over the music and the New Years Eve special playing on the TV. Not at all because she enjoys the way she feels when she's curled up beside him. Definitely not that.
"I mean we've known each other for ages it's not like it would be that weird."
Leslie's giving him that pleading smile and persuasive head tilt. The same one that always convinced him to get waffles for dinner when he knew he should eat a more balanced meal. The smile that would basically make do anything she asked him to.
Someone shouts out "four minutes until the ball drops," and before Ben can even give it a second though he finds himself saying, "I mean, sure. If you don't think it'll be weird."
Leslie smiles and rests her head just bellow his shoulder, "Of course it won't be weird Benjamin. It's just a kiss."
He doesn't miss the her voice rises ever so slightly when she insists it's "just a kiss." It's the same small change in octave that happens whenever she's lying.
~~~~~~
"10! 9! 8! 7!"
Everyone's counting down as the TV screen displays the ball dropping on Time Square. Most of the couples around the living room and kitchen aren't really watching, they're more less staring at each other's faces.
"6! 5! 4!"
Leslie keeps glancing at Ben's profile from the corner of her eye. His eyes are firmly locked on the TV and she starts to think that maybe he won't kiss her. Maybe he'll crinkle his nose and turn away from her. Or even worse, kiss her on the cheek like he would to his sister.
Leslie's mouth twitches as if she's about to say something, but then the entire house is shouting "1! Happy New Year!" Then Ben's lips are on hers and he tastes like beer and happiness and he smells like cinnamon, and Leslie doesn't even bother holding in her soft moan because WOAH.
She doesn't know how long they've been kissing, but she's positive that nothing is better than the way Ben's lips feel against hers. Except maybe his tongue. But then he pulls away, a smirk plastered across his face as he whispers "Happy New Year, Leslie."
Leslie's trying to form a coherent sentence, but she sees Ann running towards her with two glasses of champagne.
"Happy New Year Leslieeee!" Ann wraps her arms around Leslie's neck, letting the champagne slosh out of the glasses as she hugs her. All the while telling her how she's "such a great friend, the absolute best in the world, for coming to the party, even though she really wanted to sleep and prep for next semester."
Leslie's eyes brim with tears from the compliments, even if they are at least slightly alcohol induced.
"I actually had a really fun time! I was with-" Leslie freezes when she turns around to face the couch where she was just curled up beside Ben.
He was gone.
She was wrong. Kissing her and then leaving was way worse than kissing her on the cheek.
"Les?" Ann dropped all traces of being happy and having a good time just by seeing the broken look on Leslie face.
Leslie bit her lip and furrowed her brow, trying to figure out why he would just leave. It definitely wasn't a bad kiss. Leslie had thought it was anything but.
"I think he went off to find Chris." Ann offers Leslie a soft smile before nudging her in the direction of the kitchen.
She just manages to get through a herd of people when she feels something grab her wrist, pulling her into a more secluded area of the house.
Any and all protests die on her tongue when she sees Ben's warm brown eyes, simultaneously making her melt and also want a giant plate of fudge brownies.
"Hey," Leslie's honestly shocked she can still formulate words when Ben's gazing down at her like she's some radiant ninja crossed with a Jedi or something.
"Hey, I really wanted to talk to you, but there's just a lot of people and noise, and then I figured you'd want to talk to Ann and-"
Leslie's nodding enthusiastically as he speaks. He's about to start another string of babbling but instead Leslie's pressing her lips against his.
"Kissing works to..." Ben whispers as they break apart, but he's pulling her closer before Leslie can say anything in return. His one hand is wrapped around her back, drawing invisible patterns just bellow the zipper on her red dress. Even with the fabric barrier it gives Leslie goosebumps. Then Ben's other hand is brushing her blonde curls from the side of her face before tilting her head back just slightly to deepen the kiss.
When she hears him moan into her mouth Leslie can't help but wonder why the hell they didn't do this sooner. Because now Leslie's running her fingers through his very messy hair and if she stands up on her tiptoes she can rub their noses together, which turns their normal kisses into smiley kisses. And if Leslie thought kissing Ben Wyatt was great, it was nothing compared to the giddy feeling from when he smiles because he's kissing her.
Leslie's just about to ask if he wants to go back to her apartment when suddenly Chris is slapping Ben on the back and shouting "Ben Wyatt!" With the most energetic smile. A smile that Leslie would really love to smack.
"The lovely Ann Perkins and I are heading to Tom's New Years Eve party. Will you two be joining us?"
Ben creases his brow and opens his mouth to answer but Leslie interjects first.
"I think I'm just gonna head back to my apartment, Ben's taking me home." Judging from the subtle squeeze on her hip Leslie can tell that Ben wholeheartedly agrees with this plan. She has to bite back her grin before saying "tell Ann to call me later," as she and Ben make their way through drunken crowds.
His hand never leaves her hip the entire way home, the entire walk upstairs to her apartment, and the entire night.
When she's dozing off, wrapped around Ben like a koala, she nearly asks if this means they're dating. But then Ben nuzzles into her neck, leaving sloppy kisses in his wake, and she decides to save it for another day.
Right now she's just content with kissing after midnight.