"Nice to see you too, man," Matt replied, shifting from foot to foot as he balanced his backpack on one shoulder. "You gonna let me in or just stare at me?" Ben held the door open. "By all means. Mi casa, su casa." "So the saying goes." Matt threw his backpack on the bed. "Maid service hasn't been by yet, I take it?" "I have a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. That you, apparently, ignored." Ben crossed his arms. "Why're you here?" "What, I can't come and surprise my best friend with a visit?" "I dunno who the fuck you're trying to snow with that look, but it can't be me," Ben replied. He leaned against the far wall and gave Matt a hard stare. "I know you're not trying to pull one over on me." Matt leaned back on his elbows and gave the mess in the room another pass before looking at Ben. All traces of joviality were gone. "Heard a few rumors is all." "Heard a few...ah, fuck you," Ben swore. "Tell me you're not here because you believed some jacked-off rumor in some fucking tabloid. Tell me," he demanded, when Matt just continued to look at him, saying nothing. "Matt?" Matt at least had the grace to look ashamed. "What, you want me to start lying to you now?" "I don't fucking believe this." Ben pushed himself off the wall and started stalking the room, punctuating the air with angry jabs. "You fucking cocksucker, I can't believe you actually --" He whirled, turning on Matt in fury and hurt. "You believe it, don't you?" "There were witnesses --" "I don't give a fuck if there were a thousand people who swore that I was licking body shots off Jenna Jameson, you know better! It's a tabloid. It's their job to sell papers by whatever means necessary. How many lies and half-truths have they told about us?" "Ben, I --" "How many?" "A lot, alright." Matt sighed and raked a hand through messy hair. "Exactly my point." Ben sat next to Matt. "Well?" "Oh, c'mon, man, you can't blame me for being --" "Say it." "Fine." Matt dropped his head in his hands. "I'm fucking sorry, alright," he mumbled. "And?" "And I trust you. Jesus!" "Just Ben will do, thank you." "Asshole." "Yeah, yeah, but you say it with love." Ben waited until Matt lifted his head. "I need a best friend, not a baby-sitter." "I know, it's just --" "Stop. I'm fucking serious. You try this weak-ass shit again, and I'll bust your balls so hard that a tap of my hand will kill you." Matt let out a surprised laugh. "That made absolutely no sense." Ben shrugged. "Well, it did in my head." "Should've stayed there," And Matt was definitely grinning now. "Fuck you," Ben grumbled and tried to slip away when Matt slung an arm across his shoulders. "Stop it," Matt said, and hugged Ben close. "You love me." "Not right now I don't." "Ouch, man, that hurts." "Yeah, well, we're even." "I. Am. Sorry. Fucking stubborn motherfucker." Matt shook his head, but didn't drop his arm. The weight was comforting, not that Ben was going to tell Matt that. "Can we drop it and move on to the fact that I flew out here to see you and maybe you could pretend to be slightly happy about it?" "I suppose I might've missed -- hey, ow! -- alright, I missed you." Ben rubbed his arm where Matt had punched it. "Jesus, you work out too much these days." "Stress relief," Matt grinned. "You should try it." "Why? Not like I've got a career to stress over." "Ah, God, here we go." "I'm serious. I mean, let's face it. I'm one bad flick away from Lifetime Movie of the Week." "I wouldn't let that happen to you." Ben dropped his head on Matt's shoulder for a moment. "Thanks, buddy, but I don't really think it's up to you." "Just relax, alright?" Matt squeezed Ben's shoulder. "I've been there, and you're cool. I mean, fuck, look at Travolta's career." "Yeah, he's fat, and flies planes." "He's got Kelly Preston." "True," Ben conceded. "But he does crap like 'The Punisher'." Matt lifted an eyebrow. "Mighty words from a man who donned red tights in a film." "You would bring that up," Ben grimaced. "Although you were pretty hot in them, I must admit." "Fucking pervert." But Ben smiled. "I don't go to your films to drool over you." "Wedding's definitely off now." "And here I'd just bought my dress," Ben sighed. "I hope it wasn't white." Ben gave Matt his best puppy-dog look. "Are you insinuating that I haven't been saving myself for you?" "Ben, I'm the only person in Hollywood you haven't fucked." "That's not true. I haven't fucked the Olsen twins." "They're just now legal, doesn't count." "You sound a little jealous there," Ben said, and chuckled when Matt glowered at him. "Finally, after all these years, you've reached the universal conclusion." He stretched and gave Matt a lazy grin. "And what conclusion is that?" "That I, my friend, am irresistible and you've been hot for my bod for years." "Talk about believing tabloids..." "Your lips say no, but your eyes say 'Oh, Ben, claim me and make sweet love to me, Ben'." He leaned forward to place an affectionate buss on Matt's cheek, and was somewhat shocked (to say the least) when Matt turned into it and pressed a hard, desperate kiss to surprised lips. Ben gasped in surprise and Matt took advantage, sliding his tongue past Ben's teeth. He buried a hand in Ben's hair, nibbling on Ben's bottom lip as his tongue swept across an open mouth, tangling with Ben's in slick, furious twists. Ben could only moan and hold onto Matt's bicep, his only tenuous grasp in a reality that had been reduced to the feel of a stubbled jaw scraping over his, and soft lips conforming to his every movement. Ben blinked in surprise when Matt pulled back, lips bruised and swollen from the ferocity of the kiss. "What the --?" "I'm sorry.'" Matt bit his lower lip. "I, um, well, I..." Ben licked his lips experimentally, felt the buzz clear to his toes. "Owe me an explanation maybe." "Yeah, well, that too." Matt shrugged and Ben noticed a small, red mark on the corner of Matt's mouth. I did that, Ben thought. Jesus. "Well?" "Should be obvious, alright." Matt lifted a hand in supplication, and dropped it almost immediately. "I mean, the rest of the fucking world seems to have a pretty good clue." "But...I'm not...we're not..." Ben trailed off when he saw that Matt wasn't laughing. This wasn't a joke. Not that the kiss had felt like one (more like a nuclear freight train), but still... "I've been in love with you since I was ten years old." "Jesus." "Yeah." After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Matt made a move to stand up. "Well, um, now that I've..." Ben stopped him with a hand to the arm. "Sit your skinny ass down. I'm not finished processing this yet." "What's to process?" But Matt resumed his place. Ben noticed, for the first time, just how tired Matt looked. The protective instinct came as both a surprise and relief. "Well, it's not every day your best friend says he loves you." "Guess not." "Matt...Matt, c'mon, look at me." Ben cupped Matt's chin with gentle fingers. "I'm just being honest here. I haven't exactly thought about...me...you...this. I mean, aside from us joking around, and Kevin all...fuck, I mean. Well, I've thought about it. But not, y'know, seriously." "I think I've thought about it enough for the both of us." Ben chuckled and stroked Matt's chin, noticing the way that Matt nuzzled into the light touch. "So why don't you tell me what you thought about?" "This is stupid, man. I mean, you're not --" "Stop." To Ben's considerable surprise, he found himself brushing a light kiss across Matt's lips. "I'm being serious. I wanna know." "Alright." Matt licked his lower lip and gave Ben a shy smile. "I just...I want to be with you." "And Jen and Lucy?" "This isn't about them. This is us. No one else." "Alright." "Alright, what, alright?" Ben couldn't help the grin at Matt's suspicious look. "Alright, we can try it, alright." "That's it?" "Yeah." Ben lifted his shoulders, but didn't look away. "No one in the world I love or trust more than you. Why shouldn't we take it to the next level?" "Take it to the next level," Matt repeated, shaking his head. "It's love, man, not a business meeting." "You know what I mean." "I always do." "Yeah." Ben brushed another quick kiss across parted lips. He was even getting a little used to the stubble. And Matt tasted pretty damn good for a guy. "But I'm not holding hands with you in public." "I'd kick your ass if you tried." A moment later, Ben found himself with a lapful of strong, warm male. Matt straddled him like he'd been doing it his whole life. "Just us." "Just us," Ben agreed, and surrendered.
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