#aifbenjamin

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[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.