benj-hyun

[benj-hyun]

Violet: tv show most likely to binge watch?

"Obviously, the Mandalorian."

#meme day. #// about : ben

[benj-hyun]

8. does your muse typically prefer sleeping by themselves or do they prefer the comfort of having another person in the room with them?

"I love having someone to go to bed with, just to curl up next to. I miss it, to be honest, but I need to try to stop self-sabotaging just because I expect the worst."

#meme day. #// about : ben

[benj-hyun]

5. does your muse tend to prefer firmer mattresses or plushier ones?

"I like my mattresses on the softer side. I toss and turn on a firm mattress, but sleep like a baby on the plushier ones."

#meme day. #// about : ben

[benj-hyun]

“Revolting?” Ben parrots the moment the word comes out of Ricardo’s mouth incredulously. “Isn’t business a good thing? I mean, I know it’s government funded, but,,,” No matter how the employees earn their salaries or the gardens receive financial support, foot traffic plays a role in it, doesn’t it?

Perhaps there is no rhyme or reason when funding decisions are made, but it is nice to see people out enjoying the warmth of the April sun and the life spring brings forth in the wake of winter. “I don’t know, you sure it’s not too revolting, Rick?”

@castellcnos

closed: @benj-hyun location: flower festival

"Have you seen how many people are here? It's revolting." Ricardo said, as he observed the festival-goers. Usually, he'd be happy for so much business, but all his mind would think about was the clean up that would have to take place once all the stalls had disappeared. "What do you want to do, Benny? Shall we be romantic and make tie-dye t-shirts for each other?"

#// ricardo03 #// thread #aurorabay.flowerfest

[benj-hyun]

“It’s not—!” he starts with a pitch to his tone, then stops to kill the exasperation in his voice. “It’s not to argue.” Ben slides the glass of bourbon from one hand to the other, his eyes staring down into the liquid in the glass before he takes a sip. Not one too generous, he doesn’t need to drown his nerves in liquor to get through this. “Listen, I felt bad after the fact. And I wanted to apologize, and if you’d rather keep the bar between us instead of talking somewhere else, that’s fine.”

@ponderosus

"i don't want to argue with you anymore." layla sighs, feeling all the energy she had let bubble up from within her had been expelled enough on that night. why did he want to bring the conversation back up again, was it not ben that ran away the moment the door opened so he didn't have to continue with the conversation. "benj, i don't even know what's left to talk about."

@benj-hyun

#// layla02 #// thread

[benj-hyun]

Ben: Listen, I get i. I can look at pictures of these no problem. Ben: But I should stop preaching to protect them when I would panic if one of these came at me. Ben: Even if it wasn't poisonous. Ben: I actually watched Captain Planet in middle school, thanks @ecchs

Echo: Don't use my love of cats against me. Echo: [...] Echo: Calling something a puss moth is as bad as someone with the last name Dick. Seriously, RIP Pussy Bug. Echo: Hm wasn't a nerd in elementary school so I can't say if that's an accurate quote or not.

#// echo01 #// text

[benj-hyun]

Ben lifts his coffee, his brows raised and his eyes meeting Laurel’s, not in a knowing or challenging way. She’d been insistent, he can’t decide she’s lying about preferring this ‘no strings attached’ approach. “I did do that, and one time it’s bit me in the a**. It still is.” He chuckles, but it’s humorless, when Layla crosses his mind.

“It’s just not my style. I can date without getting attached after the first one.” It’s half a lie — Ben gets attached to the idea that it might pan out. Then it doesn’t, and he’s, at best, just disappointed. 

The cup is placed down so he can warm it with a fresh pour from the pot, nervous energy by mentioning Delilah making him feel like he has to fidget. “Okay, just a little biased.” A gentle smile curls his mouth. “But even outside of that.” Ben can admit that, and even if he doesn’t elaborate, he means it. 

Then Laurel drops the big question, one he has a quick answer to.

“No. I don’t.” He can’t humor it, not after what Delilah did. “It was hard going from thinking I would be spending the rest of my life with her to…” he shrugs, not wanting to paint Delilah in a bad color. It’s not in his character to tell Laurel the reason behind the split. “It’s just a good feeling that I can see and talk to her, and walk away level-headed about it.”

@laureljreyes

"What can I say," Laurel asked, though it was more of a deadpan statement than anything else. She really had nothing to follow it up with, because what could she say? Definitely nothing that she'd ever disclose in the light of day, and certainly not while she was sober.

"I maintain that it's better this way. No feelings, just fun. You should try it, actually. You might get that little heart of yours broken less."

Ben's momentary bumbling around the correct terminology was certainly interesting, but she let it slide without pressing him. She was letting him in slowly, so she'd be something of a hypocrite to demand he totally spill his guts about touchy subjects whenever they were broached. Besides, it already made these meetups of theirs more interesting. She liked picking up little tidbits and putting the pieces together in her head.

And, well, at least one of them had an even semi-positive interaction with an ex. Or, at least, not horrible. Her own conversation with Kat had made her feel sore all over, like she'd run a marathon she hadn't spent a second training for.

"Sure, not biased at all," she said, deadpan once again, even though it definitely wouldn't take Ben's particular brand of bias to acknowledge that Delilah pretty much always looked good. She'd keep that part to herself, though.

"Is that a you thing, or is it about her? Do you want some kind of relationship with her again or are you just looking for closure?"

@benj-hyun

#// laurel02 #// thread

[benj-hyun]

Ben: Would it change your mind if I told you it was named after cats? Ben: Because it's fluffy Ben: A puss moth, the name isn't doing it any good either, but cats are cute. Ben: 🌎 Planeteers... The rings are not the source of your power. The real power to save Earth comes from within; inside you. @ecchs

Echo: Ben, don't be Captain Planet about this. Echo: If it was born on a Wednesday then it started with a pretty crappy life, honestly, so we'd be doing it a favor.

#// echo01 #// text

[benj-hyun]

She’s apprehensive, and that’s to be expected. Ben didn’t come to her expecting it to be easy to get a conversation out of her. And if she declines tonight, he’ll try again in another instance — not at her job even if it’s the only place he knows how to find her, he’ll figure it out.

“About the things you said in the elevator,” he calls back above the bustle of the other bar patrons. “If you want. And if you’re not too busy. It doesn’t have to be now, I just needed to break the ice before I chickened out.” Get the ball rolling, so to speak, unless Layla doesn't want to give him the time of day.

@ponderosus

layla had hoped the elevator was the end of the line for them. that benj would do what he did best, hide his tail between his legs and do whatever he could to avoid owning up to anything. but it seemed as if he had a second wave of confidence. for what? layla didn't know. "hi." she glances over her should to the backroom for a moment, before turning back to face benj. she takes his order in silence, turning for the bar behind her before he calls out a second time. "about what?" her lips form a thin line, exhaling evenly as she reaches out for the bourbon bottle.

@benj-hyun

#// layla02 #// thread

[benj-hyun]

CLOSED STARTER for @maura-cortes at four leaf pub

Ben picks a booth off to the side when he arrives simply for the fact he can’t get it out of his head that Maura is just a teenager. She isn’t, she’s a grown adult, but time is funny like that. It just feels better to be at the booth and not the bar, as if it’ll de-age him in some way. 

“There she is,” he hums, eyes shining in amusement. He plays with the square coaster his beer sits on, gently spinning it around full circle. “Whatever did you call me here for? I've been dying to know.”

#// maura02 #// thread

[benj-hyun]

He didn’t imagine he’d be killing time for too long. Mostly, because he thought Ricardo would be meeting up with him eventually, as they usually do nearly every weekend. But time went by, Ricardo didn't show up, and Ben had already been several beers in. He could have left then…

But, seeing this as an opportunity to just enjoy the rest of the night in all his solitude, he found a comfortable spot at the bar to nurse his last beer before he'd have to call a cab.

Then, when he's addressed by the newest addition to the bar, Ben suddenly wishes he turned in earlier. Or sober him would have just to avoid any potential awkwardness, because Ben with a decent buzz is a more amicable and forgiving person. Besides, if he can chat to Delilah, who'd done worse to him, for a bit at a bar, why couldn't he with Auggie?

He's surprised Auggie hasn't noticed yet, but maybe he's too many sheets to the wind to pay attention without Ben waving it directly in front of his face. Besides, he's preoccupied with being proud of his skill, and Ben's not going to be a Debbie downer.

"Being boring makes you boring, kids or not, and that's not very August Villanueva-branded, even if you're a certified book nerd." The jest is one light-hearted in nature, absent of all the bitterness he felt so long ago. He's going to have to text Laurel about this run-in next.

Ben slides his glass toward himself but doesn't pick it up off the bar for another sip just yet. "Out for anything specifically, or are you just taking a break from being dad for the night?"

@auggievillanueva

closed @benj-hyun

location: four leaf

Auggie rarely got nights off anymore, so when he did have them, he took advantage of them. He'd left Rosie with a sitter for the night before heading out to spend some time with friends from college. Although he'd only been at UCLA for a few years, he'd managed to hang onto a small core. They'd posted up at Four Leaf after Auggie mentioned he knew the owner, which his friends took to mean he could get them free drinks. (He let them think that, but he'd already slipped the bartender his card to cover the tab.)

As it got later and later, members of the group slowly trickled out, until Auggie was finally putting his last friend in an Uber and promising they'd do it again soon. He'd stayed the soberest of the bunch but was by no means completely clearheaded, so he figured he'd go back in for one more and decompress a little, while also waiting to see if Santiago would poke his head in.

One Guinness ordered and tab settled, he took up a seat at the bar and promptly split the G, holding the glass up in front of his eyes to check his work. "Hey," he said to no one in particular but sort of to the person next to him, who he'd registered when he sat down but hadn't yet fully looked over to take in. "Look, I still got it. Who ever said being a parent makes you boring?"

#// auggie01 #// thread #{ dont match my ramble }

[benj-hyun]

Ben: Woah, don't threaten murder on it for innocently existing. Ben: They're very important to the ecosystem, too. Ben: And they only live up to a week, so don't steal those precious days away! @ecchs

Echo: That looks like it would look great on a bottom of a shoe Echo: it has no business being fuzzy

#// echo01 #// texts

[benj-hyun]

💬 - for my muse to directly say a secret or confession

"I think I try to stick with dating people who are a little more off-kilter so I can leave them first and justify it as a way to protect myself after the way things ended with both Auggie and Delilah. Two different kind of heartbreaks, but they both equally sucked. And it's been a very hard habit to break."

@auggievillanueva @delilahcarreno

#meme day. #// about : ben #// ft. delilah carreno #// ft. auggie villanueva

[benj-hyun]

💥 - is your muse reckless? or too cautious and paranoid?

"Somewhere in between, probably. I've done my fair share of impulsive, reckless things, but it's never been an issue. I'm not so much an adrenaline-junkie, but I don't err on the side of caution so much it limits me, either."

#meme day. #// about : ben

[benj-hyun]

CLOSED STARTER for @ponderosus at the reef

"Hi, Layla."

It's easier that it's by choice. Not like the last time they'd met and gotten stuck inside an elevator. Though any other situation would've made it possible for him to flee rather than sit through everything Layla had to say. And Ben sat on it. He hated every second of it, but he sat on it and thought about it, rolled it over in his head.

So, when he saw it was Layla behind the bar of The Reef that night, he decided maybe an apology was in order. One he means, this time, not just something to say in the moment because it felt necessary in the moment.

"Can I have a bourbon, neat?" Ordered in honor of Laurel for hopefully a bit of good luck. "And…" he draws the word out, eyes dancing around the room until he wills himself to look at her. "Maybe, when you have downtime, we can talk?"

#// layla02 #// thread

[benj-hyun]

"And there's the silver lining." Wherever Ricardo is and whatever he is up to, he is a grown man. If there had been anything to worry about, Ben would hang around and wait, but seeing as to how he can make a swift escape and be in bed shortly after midnight. "I might make a welfare check on him, just to make sure before heading out. But I am going to stay for the count down."

With or without a midnight kiss, it doesn't matter. Truth be told, they didn't feel as special with a random. He can just hope that the next year brings him someone he can celebrate with.

Ben looks to Bradley, amused at the mention of a Vogue cover, not that he thinks it's a ludicrous idea at all. He just knows it'll happen.

"Isn't it cheating to pick something that's not a challenge? Because you have that in the bag, easy." A compliment to her, of course, and it only adds to the wonder of why Santiago voluntarily made this fumble. "Who knows? Maybe you motivated me. I'll aspire to be on the cover of Men's Health magazine," Ben tosses back with a chuckle, enjoying their conversation and the steady buzz he's been carrying.

"To be honest, I haven't put much thought into resolutions this year, aside from the same one I've had for the last few years. Maybe 2024 will be different and throw me a bone."

@bradley-banner

"At least you get to decide what time you leave then." She remarks the easiest perk she can find to going home solo, there was nothing worse being stuck at an event longer than you wanted because you were waiting on someone else - not that Bradley often found herself in such a situation, she had a way of being done with things and excusing herself.

"Probably." She answers, the lack of full rooms were no major concern, on the grande scheme of things for the Banners they'd never notice the lack of one filled floor. It was pennies to their bottom line, less than. That wasn't to say she wasn't eager to get the floor back up and running, she was a good business woman after all. A smile lifts the corner of her lip as he praises her. Bradley was used to praise, received it daily when it came to doing her sideline of work, especially the ventures that didn't include everyone who bared her surname. But still, she appreciates the sentiment because for once it's not from someone who wants something from her. "I appreciate that, thank you."

Graceful response, as ever.

"I wish I was more buzzed than I am." She answers, she'd put the expensive bottle behind the bar, taken the odd glass of champagne, but she had never been a big drinker per se, cared too much about how she was perceived - the risk of drunk and disorderly pictures finding themselves into the archives of the web did not spur her to let loose often, and then she cared even more about how she looked physically, everything that entered her body was done with strict discipline. "As for resolutions?" She can't help but laugh because her resolutions seemed silly, and they weren't ones she thought smart to share with Ben, all things considered. Bradley had internally promised to put herself first, to find something that really mattered, to focus on family for herself, it felt like her biological clock was slipping through her fingers faster than she liked so she figured it was time to truly find some focus.

( A similar resolution she'd made for 2023, so it already didn't bode well. Distractions seemed to find her easily. )

"I'd like another Vogue cover." She settles on the first thing she can pluck from the air whilst living in the knowledge she was days away from signing up for one in the coming months, maybe saying it out loud was bad juju, but she'd risk it. "How about you? Whats the 2024 agenda got in store?"

( @benj-hyun )

#// bradley01 #// thread #aurorabay.masquerade

[benj-hyun]

“Your aversion to anything remotely romantic is so fascinating.” There Ben does realize it could be due to certain events. His own privilege of a nuclear family with a mother and father that are both still married to this day are his influence in this facet of life. Laurel, well… 

Ben isn’t going to turn this into a deep-prying session. It’s only been a month of sporadic diner dates, and he’s not going to risk them now.

“Ex-... well, girlfriend, technically. I can’t help it, I was— it doesn’t matter. But ex-girlfriend,” he corrects himself. 

Ben doubts anything will come out of explaining how he’d been so ready to call Delilah his finance, and eventually, his wife. After everything with Auggie, he felt this time he’d gotten it right, only to find out he’d gotten it wrong. “But we did talk. It wasn’t bad.” It wasn’t great, either, he mentally adds. The sting has long since dulled into a very mild ache for the loss of something great.

“She looked good. And I mean that in the most neutral way possible, she did. I’m not biased.” He was-is- for that particular shade of blue she’d wear, and the way she'd smile, or how her hair fell just above her shoulders, but he didn’t leave that conversation feeling any different than he already did.

“It’s good to know it sucks exponentially, less holding a conversation with her than it used to, that’s for sure. It counts as a good thing in my book.”

@laureljreyes

Laurel allowed the first few volleys of sarcasm go by mostly unaddressed, though she did acknowledge the very first one with a brief roll of her eyes. She'd learned pretty quickly that she needed to pick her battles with Ben in that department, otherwise they'd just run around and around in little circles of quips and barbs and never get anywhere.

Over the top of her menu, she watched him pour her a cup of coffee with measured fondness. She was still trying to figure him out a little bit, trying to get used to the politeness and niceness that she'd usually find phony in most other people but for some reason bought when it came from him. That, on top of his occasional and delicious saltiness that made the other stuff more tolerable.

She took the now filled cup, added her creamer and sugar, and raised it in a toast to Ben, the closest she'd get to an actual 'thank you.' It stopped halfway to her mouth so she could mutter "fat fucking chance" at his teasing question, and by the time it was set back down on the table, she was rolling her eyes again. "I still can't believe you subjected yourself to that." And she was about to go on berating him for willingly participating in a blind date when Ben mentioned his ex. Oh, interesting.

"Expand," she ordered succinctly, leaning forward so that her elbows were sitting atop the table. "Did you talk?" Laurel knew Delilah — considered her a friend, even — but they hadn't talked about this, and she suspected it would be easier to extract information from Ben. Learning that the two of them had a history (and a long, rather complicated one, at that) was a particularly juicy piece of news, and sometimes she did like to indulge in a little gossip.

@benj-hyun

#// laurel02 #// thread