Benji

It had been a week since our date and I was absolutely certain that Benji made me the happiest guy alive.

I loved that he lived so close, and that he generally spent more time at my house than his because Carl was away so often. I loved that he still blushed whenever we were together. I loved that, when he wasn’t with me, he was never far away. I was certain I was slowly falling in love with him.

Every time I was with him, just seeing his smile made my heart beat a little faster, just hearing his laugh brightened my day. He always made an attempt to be close to me and I’m not complaining one bit. If he wasn’t holding my hand, he would have his arm wrapped around my waist, clutching at my shirt. He was still really shy which meant I was usually the one initiating any kisses, but the fact was that he was my boyfriend and he actually wanted me to kiss him, so I didn’t even mind.

He was so incredibly amazing and I was so incredibly happy.

At the moment, Benji and I were wrapped up in a blanket in the living-room. There was some crappy reality show on TV but I wasn’t really paying it any attention as I was too focused on my boyfriend.

He was cuddled into my side, his head resting on my shoulder as he absently played with a button on my shirt. Strands of his hair had fallen across his face but I didn’t want to move them. This moment was so quiet and intimate; I was afraid that if I moved it would be ruined.

There was a small smile on Benji’s lips and he murmured, “Do you ever just watch the actual television?”

“Nope,” I grinned. “I’d rather watch you.”

“You’re such a creeper.” His quiet laughter rippled through his body as he shifted so he was sitting on my lap, facing me. He wrapped his arms around my neck and buried his face in the cushion beside my head.

“I may be a creeper,” I murmured in his ear, “but you like me anyway.”

He hummed his agreement, shifting so that his mouth was no longer pressed into the cushion. “You’re so warm,” he mumbled, his breath floating across my exposed collarbone. “And you smell nice.”

“What, are those your only reasons for liking me?” I joked.

His small fingers pinched my upper arm. “Don’t be an idiot,” he scolded me. “I like you for lots of reasons, which I’m not going to go into ‘cause I don’t want to embarrass myself.”

I laughed under my breath, running my fingers gently down Benji’s sides. To my surprise, he squirmed in my lap, trying to get away from my touch.

“Are you ticklish?” I questioned him with an eyebrow raised.

Benji leaned back so he could look me in the eyes. “No,” he said, with an air of defiance in his voice.

I allowed a grin to spread across my face, but didn’t say anything more.

“I’m really seriously not,” my boyfriend continued, his blue eyes growing wide as I leaned towards him.

He scrambled off my lap and over to the other side of the couch, where he held his hands out in front of him in protest. “Please don’t,” he pleaded.

I threw myself at him before he could escape, quickly beginning to torture his sides. Benji’s laughter rang through the air, his small body squirming as he tried to escape my fingers. His hands pushed uselessly against my chest but it was futile because I was bigger and stronger than him.

“Reid! Stop! Please stop!” He shrieked when he was finally able to draw enough breath.

I paused, my fingers still pressed into his sides but unmoving. “And if I don’t want to stop?”

“I’ll do anything, I promise!”

I grinned down at Benji. His cheeks were baby pink and his lips were parted as he panted. I don’t think he fully understood the implications of what he had said until he looked up at me, his eyes widening in realisation. I practically heard him gulp.

I moved closer, gently bumping our noses together, enjoying the feeling of heat radiating from his cheeks. “Anything?”

After a tiny moment of hesitation, he nodded quickly. His cheeks visibly darkened in colour.

I shifted so I was holding myself up with my arms – he was so tiny, I didn’t want to crush him. What I did want to do, however, was crash my lips against his, invade his mouth with my tongue. I wanted to kiss him, touch him in ways he’s never been touched. I wanted him to feel so much pleasure, and I wanted to be the one giving it.

But the shy smile he was giving me forced all those thoughts from my head, replacing them with sweeter ones, softer, gentler.

While I was busy gazing at my gorgeous boyfriend and contemplating how best to go about kissing him, he must have gotten impatient, because all of a sudden his hands were pulling at my shoulders and he was pressing his lips against mine.

My eyes closed automatically as I responded, kissing back with an equal amount of pressure. Benji’s lips were soft and I could feel him smiling into the kiss, which only made me kiss him harder.

There was something intimate in the way his thumb brushed across my collarbone and I couldn’t help but let some of my weight rest against him, desperately wanting him closer. Benji gasped softly at the sudden weight and I immediately went to move away. Before I had a chance to though, he’d wrapped his arms around my neck and was kissing me with more passion than ever.

His lips parted and it was to my surprise that I felt his tongue swipe slowly across my bottom lip. Without a thought I granted him access and finally let myself do what I’d wanted to do for so long – that is, tentatively brush my tongue against his.

“Reid!”

I pulled away quickly, resting my head on Benji’s shoulder when I realised it was just my brother. “Fuck off, Kyle,” I groaned.

“Stop molesting my friend,” he snapped back.

Rolling my eyes, I looked up at him, not missing the huge grin on his face. “What do you want?”

He attempted a casual shrug. “Oh, nothing much. Just wanted to see what you two were doing, which turns out to be something I really don’t want to see.”

I just glared at him before resting my head against Benji again. “Make him go away,” I grumbled.

Benji giggled nervously and stroked my hair. “What’s up, Kyle?” He asked, trying to sound like we hadn’t just been caught making out, but the nerves were evident in his voice.

“We’re going out tonight,” Kyle replied excitedly. “Anna, Mel’s friend, is having a party and Mel said that she’d only go if she could invite me and so I asked if you could come and she thought that me coming automatically meant you coming so yeah, we’re going out later.”

There was a brief moment of silence, during which I guessed Benji was thinking about it.

“Cool,” he finally said. “Do you… Do you think that maybe Reid could come, if he wants?”

Kyle groaned loudly. “I guess. But that doesn’t mean that you two get to sit in a corner all night!”

“We won’t!” Benji called.

I looked up, Kyle had gone, and Benji was avoiding eye contact.

“You didn’t have to ask if I could come as well. I don’t mind if you go out,” I told him.

“No, but, I… I want you to come,” he mumbled.

“Why?” I asked, bewildered. “I won’t know anyone there so I’ll just be following you around all night like a social outcast, and I won’t be drinking because I’ll have to drive. I’m not going to be any fun.”

“But I want you to come because I like spending time with you,” Benji smiled. “And I don’t know many people either, so we can be social outcasts together. And I’m definitely not drinking, not after last time.”

I chuckled. “But are you sure you really want me to come?”

“Yes!” He laughed, and lightly pressed his lips to my cheek.