ben black

“i don’t know if i’m ready for college,” i say, a college student, who is already enrolled in college 😎🍕🎧🎮📓🏞

[do9]

[phabblebabbles]

"time’s like these are tough but we can pull through, together.” ben black x eva magnuson

“Time’s like these are tough, but we can pull through, together.”

“Can we though?” Eva asked, turning her head slightly to look at Ben. They were sitting in Ben’s car in the dimly lit parking lot outside of the diner. The closed diner. The diner was never closed. In Eva’s mind, this was on par with a world ending disaster… but that may have been the alcohol talking. 

“How are we supposed to get waffles now?” Eva sighed. Never mind the cook that lived in her own house– she wanted waffles and she wanted them at this diner with Ben Black.

“We could make them,” Ben offered. Eva looked at him like he’d suggested they take a rocket to get waffles on the moon.

“How?”

“By cooking them.”

“With what?”

“… batter and a waffle iron.” Ben answered slowly. If Eva’s brain hadn’t been swimming in vodka, she might have processed that Ben was coming to the realization that Eva had no clue how waffles were made. “I have a waffle iron at my place… we’ll just have to stop by the market on the way back.”

“Can’t I just get groceries delivered?” Eva fumbled with her phone, holding it up a bit too close to Ben’s face for him to actually see anything. “I have an app.”

“I don’t think that works at 2 am,” Ben chuckled, pushing the car into drive and pulling out of the parking lot. “I promise it won’t be that painful.”

Eva slid down in the car seat, silence filling the car as they drove the few short blocks to the grocery store. Ben pulled into the parking lot, the market being much more open than the diner. This annoyed Eva for some reason (vodka. vodka was the reason) and she frowned at the building as the pair walked inside. 

“Where’s the waffle stuff?” Eva demanded, her words slurring slightly as they walked inside. The lights were bright and her head immediately started spinning. She felt Ben’s hands on her shoulders, steadying her as she wobbled back and forth. 

“This way,” Ben laughed slightly, navigating her through the aisles of the store until they were loaded down with the necessary ingredients, four bags of chips, a box of cookies, and a stalk of celery Eva had insisted they needed. 

Eva felt her buzz wearing off as they arrived at Ben’s place, enough at least for her to realize she’d never actually been in his home before. She honestly had always imagined him living inside the comic book store.

The other problem with sobering up was that usually, once her buzz had worn off, Eva almost immediately fell asleep. Her eyes felt heavy as she followed Ben up the stairs in through the front door. She glanced around, spotted a couch, and immediately collapsed on it without a word. 

“Are you okay?” Ben asked, setting down the grocery bags and walking over to check on her. Eva nodded, her face smashed against a pillow. The couch smelled like him. She found that oddly comforting. 

“Just tired,” she answered, her voice muffled. Ben grinned at her, sitting down at the far end of the couch. 

“I’m a disaster in the kitchen, so I’m not even attempting to make these waffles without you,” Ben informed her. Eva pushed herself into a siting position to look at him.

“And you think I’ll be able to help you in any useful way?” Eva laughed at the idea. Ben was grinning quite brightly at her laughter.

“No, but I do need someone to call 911 if I accidentally waffle iron my hand.”

“Perhaps we should just stick with the celery,” Eva suggested, pushing herself up and pulling the stalk from the bag. She flopped back down on the couch next to Ben, breaking it in half and handing him a piece.

“Might be smarter,” Ben replied quietly. They both stared at each other for a few moments, silent, holding stalks of celery. There was a weird sensation in the air that, to Eva at least, made it feel like something was going to happen. Part of her wanted something to happen, but then part of her realized they were sitting on Ben’s couch holding pieces of celery.

“I should get a car home before Xander calls the National Guard,” Eva stood up suddenly. Ben followed suit, seemingly taken aback by her sudden decision. 

“I can take you home,” he offered, but Eva had already called an Uber and was nearly out the door. 

“Bye!” Eva called, waving behind her as she skipped down the few steps to the waiting car that had, luckily, only been around the corner. She didn’t wait to hear if Ben responded, or even looked back as the car drove away.

“Couldn’t afford flowers, huh?” the driver asked, looking in the review mirror. Eva frowned at him.

“Excuse me?”

“He couldn’t afford flowers so he got you vegetables instead,” the driver gestured over his shoulder and Eva suddenly realized she was still holding her stalk of celery. 

“… something like that,” Eva mumbled, sinking down into the seat and staring out the window. 

[cendaya]

Tom Holland & Zendaya at a mall in Los Angeles - November 26, 2017

[aifevangelina]

Waffles or Bust || ben + eva

“Pull over.”

Even on the island, the nightlife was as dead as one would assume on a Tuesday night. Xander had hidden himself away somewhere, so she had been forced to venture out on her own that evening.It was not necessarily early for some people, but it was an early night for her. The downtown was mostly silent as she rode along in silence with her Uber driver. Normal people with responsibilities didn’t go out partying on Tuesday nights. Eva had no responsibilities to anyone or anything except to herself. Her current lot in life was to drink until nothing mattered anymore, which exactly what she’d managed to do that night.

“Pull over!” Eva demanded again, pointing at the corner causing the Uber driver to veer to the right suddenly. Eva pushed open the door and stumbled out of the car.

“This isn’t your stop, miss.”

“I’ll give you five stars, bye!” Eva shouted, waving dismissively as she stumbled towards the darkened door of the comic book store. A small light still shone inside, illuminating a figure finishing closing the store.

“Ben!” she banged her first on the door. “Ben Bla– ow!” she yelped, tumbling sideways off her heels, landing in a disgraceful mess on the sidewalk as the door opened. 

[aifbenjamin]

To be honest ... he’d been procrastinating. 

He had one last paper to finish writing before the fall term was over and he’d promised himself that he wasn’t going to wait until tomorrow to start it. That didn’t mean, of course, that he couldn’t volunteer to close up the shop on his own so his sister could go to the movies with Emma. He was taking his time about it, too, using extra care as he straightened up behind the counter and double (and then triple) checked his math as he wrote out the nightly deposit. 

He was just about to do one final check and then lock up when Eva Magnuson literally fell right into his shop. 

“Whoa, oh my god, are you okay?” He asked, running to help her up. 

She was drunk. She only seemed to show up to see him when she had alcohol in her system. Part of him wondered if he should take offense, while part of him knew that she was grieving. Mostly he found he was just happy to see her at all. 

“C’mon on, let me help.” He said, putting one hand gently round her waist as he helped her to feet (something that was harder than he’d thought it would be since both her buzz, her heels, and gravity were all working against him). 

Eva safely back on her feet (for the moment, at least), Ben gave her a smile. “So ... what’s up?” He asked, “What has you dropping in tonight?” He added, trying to be both witty and cool, but instead he found he was cringing internally at his poor attempt at a pun. "Er ... I mean, you up for grabbing waffles?” 

[aifbenjamin]

Stranded | Ben & Xander

[aifbenjamin]

aifxander:

“Chels, Chels, hold that thought, babe.  I gotta take this,” Xander winked as he turned away from her and pressed his phone to his ear.  “Hey, there, brother from another,” he answered.  “What’s up?”

All of Ben’s instincts - carefully cultivated by years of experiencing Xander’s habits - were dead on.  Xander was at the club, had been dancing it up on a sexy girl who was wearing a very, very short metallic mini-dress, and they’d broken into the drinking portion of the evening.  After all, it was about midnight and, naturally, the night was ramping up towards something interest…and, yes, he was very awake.  

He was also a little tipsy, admittedly, (but he’d been sure that his driver was there for them all, tonight), which was probably the reason his face more or less lit up (a more sober Xander was better at pretending not to care about anything) when he saw Ben Black flash across the screen of his phone.

“Oh, man, that really sucks.”  Xander glanced at Chelsea, who did an enticing sexy-lip-bite, and then turned back away.  Grabbing a cocktail napkin, he scribbled his number on it and handed it to her, waved his goodbye and started towards the door.  “Well,” he laughed.  “You know I can’t say no to pancakes.  How, um…Would you be embarrassed if I brought the limo?  That’s kind of my ride, tonight…Fortunately, it’s got a full bar, because nothing goes with pancakes like tequila, huh?  I’m guessing you’re between your house and the diner, yeah?  I’ll be there in,” he shrugged.  “Five minutes.  See you soon.”

The ride didn’t take too long and, soon, the Magnuson family limo was pulling up alongside Ben’s broken down car.  Xander rolled down the window, glanced at Ben over his sunglasses (which he was wearing…despite the fact that it was nighttime because, again, he was feeling his drinks).  Putting his hand out the window, Xander banged it against the outside of the car door.  “Come on!  Pancakes are calling!”

Ben couldn’t help but laugh: of course he was in a limo. He’d been friends with the Magnusons for years and he still wasn’t used to the way they lived. When Xander pulled up, he couldn’t help but compare the two vehicles as they pulled up side by side. His sorry excuse of a car looked like a pile of useless metal (not that it was really much more than that. But, still.) 

He would hear an earful tomorrow, but for now, all he could think about was the pancakes that were calling his name. He locked up his car (not that he expected that anyone would try to steal it or anything in it ... if they wanted the old air freshener or collection of fast food napkins he’d acquired, they were welcome to it) and he got in beside Xander. 

“Wow, that was fast.” He said, forgetting that cars that actually run tend to make it from point A to B without incident. “Hey, thanks so much!” He added. “You have no idea how much I appreciate it.” He’d have to make it up to him, somehow. He knew that he was probably dragging him away from something ... or, more probably, someone. 

Ben took a  moment to take in his surroundings. He’d been in a Magnuson limo before, but he didn’t think he’d been in this exact one. It had a sprawling bar which was better stocked than Ben’s entire house had ever been. There was also a flatscreen, tons of places to place drinks, and he noticed lots of places to plug in your phone. He bet it even had WiFi. “Woah this limo is awesome.” He grinned, “I could live here.”

[saoirseofrph]

[aifbenjamin]

Give Me All the Fries You Have | Ben & Sophia

One time last semester, Ben had gone to the diner in the middle of the night when he had three papers to write and it had been the most productive night of his life. He’d plugged his headphones in, snacked on some endless fries he washed down with a vanilla milkshake, and he’d gotten through his work in record time. 

He hadn’t ever been quite as productive as that night since then, but he was always chasing that high whenever he came back. Most times, it resulted in him typing maybe half a page at best and spending the rest of it chatting with Sophia or one of his friends who had also wondered in. 

He was determined tonight not to be distracted and before his waitress could even walk over to take his drink order, he’d already laid out all of his text books and class notes all over his table. He was in the middle of booting up his computer when Sophia came over to his table. 

“I need fries.” He said, without bothering to look up. Beat that, procrastination tendencies! 

“Er, no. I--I’m sorry,” He said, a moment later, “That was super rude. Um, yeah, I’d like some fries when you get a chance? But, more importantly. Hi. How are you?” 

So much for no distractions. 

[aifevangelina]

ooc | ben + eva

[aifbenjamin]

aifevangelina:

THOSE ARE LITERALLY ALL PERFECT. And YES she HAS to make him a comic book. I’m not sure how great of an artist she is (that’s vee’s thing!) but it would be so cute and adorable even if its a hot mess. OMG this is a thing now.

I definitely agree they’ve been friends for awhile, though I’m honestly thinking she probably hasn’t had a thing for him probably as long as he has for her… I think she’s always enjoyed him as a person but maybe it was in the past year or so when she was like “oh… oh man, that’s feelings isn’t it?” i sort of have his idea that eva, for various reasons, bought into the whole “you should socialize/date/marry who the family says!” for most of her life… but i think recently she’s been rethinking that. i think she kind of struggles with it a lot still, which is why she plays these kind of dumb games of wanting to hang out, but not really, only alone, something being rude and ignoring him… its not really an excuse, but she just isn’t sure how to process things. Because I’m thinking she’s definitely picked up on the fact he sort of likes her? (and probably any time now he pulls the “marry me!” joke she has some response like “if only! and then awkward staring and silence for a few moments.) i think she realizes her behavior is mean and rude and he’s way too nice for continuing to hang out with her sometimes, but she justifies it by saying she’s “letting him down easy.”  EMOTIONS ARE HARD.

I think part of the reason she ends up drunk outside his store is because she’d rather be not drunk and just hanging out with him instead? also, i think she’s going to end up drunk confessing her feelings one night? probably with something eloquent ala this moment. so i mean, i don’t know if you had any plans/ideas about how things might go with them… or how he’d even react to her actually telling him her feelings (albeit drunk but she’d probably remember that and then have the awkward sober discussion?)

OMG HER CONFESSING HER FEELS TO BEN <33

okay, so honestly I haven’t had any ideas yet as to what might happen w/ them down the road, but as far as how Ben would react to her drunkenly confessing her feels for him --- omg I feel like he’d have lots of emotions about that!! 

So ... I don’t think Ben feels like he fits in with her life at all? Like, he wants to (and doesn’t want to?) all at the same time. I mean, he’s def fantasized about being her boyfriend for years lol and his optimistic/positive side has always been like “if she likes me back, we’d make it work!!!!” but I think he’s also come to terms with the fact that she’s never going to like him back and to help him cope with that, i think he’s allowed himself to look at the situation a little more realistically and he sees that he’s just not cut out to be with a Magnuson. And like he saw how things ended between his bro and Vee ++ how Eva seems to treat him whenever she’s around her college friends and how it seems like they can only just be friends when it is only the two of them, you know? And I think sometimes he thinks that he would do anything/change everything for her, but in the end, he doesn’t want to change who he is to fit in with that lifestyle 

And I think that he would have convinced himself that it wouldn’t work out (even if she did like him back, which she clearly doesn’t). i FEEL like he’d want to be like “hey, you’re drunk. we should talk about this later.” and not read too much into it/bring it up again. 

BUT I feel like realistically getting really caught up in the moment and just being like “omg u like me!!!! i like you too!!! so much!!!!” 

eva: yeah literally everyone on this island knows that 

ben: how?? i was being so subtle 

eva: .... 

[aifbenjamin]

Stranded | Ben & Xander

“No, no, no, no, no, no! C’mon, not tonight.” 

Ben was pleading with his car. It had stopped, suddenly (for no reason, as far as Ben could tell), on the side of the road. He'd been working on it yesterday and he’d kind of sorta of promised Eli that it wouldn’t drive it tonight until his brother had had a chance to look it over. That wasn’t supposed to be a problem: he had a paper to write tonight and didn’t have plans to go anywhere. 

That is until he got a craving for a midnight snack. The diner was only about a five minute drive from his house (no highways involved!) and he was positive that it could make it that far. 

He’d been wrong. 

He knew that there was a bunch of people he could call that would jump out of bed to help him (Eli included), but he figured he’d try Xander first. He doubted he had any plans to go to bed anytime soon. 

“Hi. So ... my car just died. Any chance you could maybe give me a ride?” He asked, “There’s all you can eat pancakes on me if you say yes,” He added, with the sort of confidence that made it sound like all you can eat pancakes with him might actually be more fun than some girl who was probably ready to him back to his place. 

[aifbenjamin]

The Return of the Sparkly Disco Lizard | Ben & Tom

Getting new issues of ODR in was like Christmas. No, it was better than Christmas (Ben would probably fight you on this). He’d jumped out of bed yesterday before his alarm had a chance to wake him and had run down the street (half in his PJs, half dressed) to unwrap the boxes that had been delivered. 

Yesterday had been the worst, as he and Bianca tried to read in between customers. (Pro of owning a comic shop: you got to read the new stuff before anyone else. Cons? You might have to actually work that day.) 

By today, however, he’d long finished it and was eager to sell it to everyone who walked in the door (or, after recovering from the shock, convince them to start the series if they hadn’t already). After trying (and failing) to try to form a coherent synopsis to some tourists who’d wandered in (and then promptly out again) a few moments ago, Ben was especially eager to see Tom. Finally, someone who would appreciate it! “You have to read this now.” He said, pushing it into his hand, not bothering with a hello, “Dude, check out the cover. Dezód is back!” 

[aifelijah]

OOC | Elijah & Ben

[aifbenjamin]

aifelijah:

PINEAPPLE IS A HATE CRIME it truE Eli 10000% agrees tbh!!!!! no pineapple pizzas, don’t worry ;DDDD   Honestly these two bonding over pizza flavors is something I need esp bc I feel like whenever something new comes out Eli has to try it and sometimes it’s great but other times…just…no hahaha  It’s def happened on more than 1 occasion!!!  I feel like it might even be sort of a tradition atp, like once a week he shows up w pizza and drinks and they have a lil pizza night and hang out <3333

STILL HASN’T LIVED IT DOWN!!!!!!  Ok, so full disclosure, I ~do think he knows what iTunes is and how to work it that was just an example too good to turn up ;D  But I think he’s only a lil better at tech than that????  Like the last time he learned how to do something it was probably c. 2001 and he probs still has that same first era ipod and has a flip phone and the idea of anything more advanced is a lil scary bc he’s a bit of an old man and he’s stuck in his ways and he’s been using those things for like sixteen years and he sees no reason to move on honestly #facepalm  So I’m certain there’s still something like that out there that’s almost as embarrassing that he will probably neVER live down hahaha  And whenever there’s something more complicated than c. 2001 tech, he def puts Bee or Ben on it hahaha and honestly the only reason he knows what snapchat and instagram are is bc of Ben telling him and showing him and I feel like at least once he accidentally sent a snapchat wo realizing it to everyone #facepalm when he was trying to like use one of his sibling’s phone for something and it’s probs him just super stressed saying something like WORK DAMN IT and poking the phone repeatedly (and a screenshot of that is almost def Sophia’s contact photo for him in her phone)

OMGGGG now I’m picturing Ben sitting him down and being like ‘ok you’re ready it’s time’ and showing him vn for the first time alkdjflkjadsklfjdjs that’ll be a breathtaking experience for him.  I feel like he was lowkey obsessed w star wars when he was a kid but he hasn’t really revisited that for a long time (since that time he made a home video of himself swinging a broom and making lightsaber noises when he was like 6 and probs partially recorded over something else too…it was gr8) so it would be a loT to take in ;DDD or like odr and like again…same dealio…he loved lotr when the movies came out but…it’s been awhile hahaha  He’d also be like ‘oh that’s that cedric dude you told me about!!!’ or like ‘wait who is this guy idr you talking about him’ when he sees like idk corran or whatever hahaha

OMG!!!!!!! I feel like they’ve gotten into heated debates about which pizza toppings are the best/which crust is the perfect one/etc. (but they can always come back to that pineapple is horrible lol so things don’t get too intense. ;DD) 

bianca: are you guys fighting over food topping again? [rolls eyes] nerds. [then the three of them get into heated debates over financial comic book characters ;DDD]

HAHHAH well i’m glad he’s better than my dad lol ;DDD (it’s a low bar, even if he does use emojis now) BUT a lot has happened since 2001 lol so Ben still has a lot to teach him about bitmojis and snapchat and hashtags :))))) AHHHHHH BUT OMG I LOVE ELI ACCIDENTALLY SENDING SNAPCHATS!!!!!!!! (Also sophia is probably ben’s hero for putting a screenshot of eli yelling at his phone as her contact photo. ben: can u send that one to me? we need new pics for our christmas card collage ;)))) 

“YOU’RE READY IT’S TIME!!!!” hahahah omg I feel like he would absolutely say that!!!! And now I have this headcannon that he overheard bianca and ben talking about VN and wanted to read it and ben and bianca were like “hahah whoa yeah you aren’t ready for VN yet -- let’s get you started on some more basic comics and we will go from there” ;DDDD 

ELI MAKING SW MOVIES AS A KID (ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS THIS) also that is hands down ben’s fav video if it still exists (ben: this is even better than the originals! :DDD and then he laughs a lot until eli brings up that 1 time that ben did basically the same thing but with ODR and much more recently than when he was six ;DDDD) 

[quillington]

BEEP! Ben & Elijah Black

14. A text that wasn’t sent

ben: hey, if you ever do want to talk about it, im around

elijah: [unsent] i can’t rn i can’t face it i mean to loose vee under any circumstances, but esp after all that fighting, to know that for all of it, all she feels rn is guilt and grief, and that it’s selfish of me to wish anything else…it’s more than i can talk about i wish i could

elijah: thanks, little brother, i’ll keep that in mind

[phabblebabbles]

BEEP! Ben x Eva

22.  A one word textEva: Waffles

[nlckmiller]

[aiftom]

OOC | Tom & Ben

As I was saying on Bianca, I can def see Tom coming around the comic shop!!  I mean, he’s probs not there all the time by any stretch, but I can def see him checking in and chatting about various shows vs books, etc hahaha  Anyway, how do you think Ben might react to Tom?

[aifbenjamin]

ben: has anyone ever told u that u could play captain america? 

tom: *looks directly into the camera like he’s on the office* 

anyway, ben loves meeting new people and honestly adores all of his customers b/c they all share!!!!!!!! his passion!!!!!!!! and tbh that’s why he loves his job???? making money while doing it is just an added bonus haha. :) Oh! But he also dated Olivia and Ben is BFFS with her sister Emily, so they probably saw each other now and again back in the day. too?????? 

[aifsophia]

OOC | Sophia & Ben

So since Sophia and Elijah are bffs, I def think they see a lot of each other’s family?  Anyway, Sophia would def like Ben and always be friendly!!  I think she can be a ~lot sometimes hahaha but her heart is deF in the right place!! and she tries really hard!!!  I think she would def like to be friends w him (I mean, she wants to be friends w everyone but I think she lowkey see Elijah’s little siblings like her cousins or something hahah)  Anyway, all that being said, I’m not sure how Ben would feel about her?

[aifbenjamin]

Yes!!!!!! Okay, so I def think that Ben would wanna be friends with her, too! And especially if Sophia & Elijah have been best friends for awhile, I can see where Ben would consider her to be like family, too! Also, he cannot cook to save his life and I feel like he pulls a lot of all nighters working on last minute papers and projects and I can see him coming into the diner a lot at weird hours for either a break and/or to just have some food and a change of scenery while he works and he definitely always requests her as a server <333 

[aifevangelina]

ooc | ben + eva

i have so many thoughts about eva and ben rn. part of me sees them as kinda like being early jim and pam in the office? like when there was clearly an unspoken thing but no one COULD say anything because of reasons and such? but probably worse because if any of eva’s terrible “party” friends showed up and said “who’s that?” she’d be like “nobody” and leave and smh she’s an idiot.

but do you think they’ve known one another for awhile/been kinda friends? like i have this idea they every so often hang out and do something random and weird eva would never do with any of her other friends… but their hang outs are like completely separate from their own social circles? if that makes sense? i feel like one on one they’d just be like… cracking jokes and having a stupid amount of sarcasm and bad puns? like eva would never act that way with any of her other friends, honestly. but then once they’re done hanging out and she’s with her other friends its just kinda an “oh hi?” when she sees him? because she is the worse?

because if that’s the case, i kinda have this idea that every so often drunk!eva goes past the comic book store in her uber and sees ben there late and she makes the driver drop her off and yells bangs on the door until he agrees to go to some greasy all night diner and eat waffles with her while she sobers up.

but i am not married to any of this so tell me your thoughtsssssssss <33333

[aifbenjamin]

AHHH I love the jim/pam comparison and I just took a trip into their tag and found a bunch of posts that made me think of them: THE MOST BEN ABOUT EVA, (also at some point can eva make ben a comic book??? he would die), ben as pam and eva as jim lol, also this has happened

So I imagine that they’ve been friends for a long time? I mean the Blacks/Magnusons do have a lot of connections with all of the Blacks having at least 1 Manguson as a best friend ++ Elijah and Vee dated for awhile. I do think that he’s had a crush on her for just as long tbh. I think it was pretty superficial when it first started and he was just like “that is the prettiest girl i’ve ever seen!” but now he’s gotten to know her and he found out that she’s super cool (she reads comics!!!! <3333) and she’s warm and funny and he just cares about her so!!!! much!!!!

That being said, he’s 100% sure she doesn’t like him like that -- and tbh sometimes I think he wonders if they are even close friends since she seems embarrassed of him around her other friends (which ben totally gets but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt when she does). 

I don’t think he’s ever officially asked her out ever, but he def says things like

all the time like it is a joke, but it isn’t. 

But I agree!!!! I feel like Ben just doesn’t really fit in with her ~other friends and the things she does when she’s with them, so I feel like their friendship is mostly a one-on-one thing and they just have these great moments away from everyone else! and tbh he def hangs on to those moments when she’s acting like she doesn’t know who he is 

ALSO even tho I think it makes him kinda sad to see her drunk so often, he also lives for the late nights when she comes by and wants to go eat together haha <3 honestly greasy food + eva = ben’s perfect night