Ben Gates was feeling incredibly impatient. Riley was late, again. Not that he was really that surprised. Every time when he finally arrived, Ben would act annoyed, and say that next time he wouldn't let him into the house. But of course he always did anyway. And he knew that this time would be no different.

To pass the time, he went to the kitchen. Just for something to do, he pulled out his Hersheys chocolate (with almonds, of course) and bit into it. He chewed slowly, watching out the window for Riley's car.

Why was he taking so long? He wasn't usually this late.

Maybe he was on the computer, completely distracted. There was one memorable time when Riley got an actual fan email for his book, in which the sender mentioned something that he remembered reading that supported what one of Riley's many theories was. He got so into researching that he plum forgot that he and Ben made any plans.

You would think that Ben would get tired of having this man as his best friend, but… how could he, really? They always had such fun together, researching and touring (although there was some awkwardness where Abigail was involved) and, when they had some free time, just hanging out and watching TV, like grown men stereotypically are supposed to.

But they didn't like being stereotypically grown men, so they never did the latter that often. Usually Riley had things he wanted to show Ben anyway.

It was then that Ben heard tires on the gravel driveway. He swallowed the bite of chocolate and put the rest of the bar down on the island (counter) quickly and hurried down the stairs, hopping over the last two in his haste. Before Riley even reached the door, Ben had opened it. "Riley, hey. Did you get distracted or something?"

Riley stood there, looking very guilty. "Sorry, I kind of needed to get ready for a date that I have tonight. I'm going straight from here… You don't mind, do you?"

Ben raised his eyebrows at Riley as he moved aside to let his friend inside. "You have a date?"

Riley began to say, "I ho-" But then he stopped himself and said, "Yes." Without asking, he walked up the stairs and into the kitchen, with Ben following. The first thing that caught Riley's eye was—

"Ooo, candy!" he said, walking forward to grab it off the counter.

"No!" Ben ran forward, diving across the counter and talking hold of it at the same time as Riley. "That's mine."

For a moment, Riley didn't look at Ben. Finally, he raised his eyes to look at him and said, "I don't see you eating it."

"But I was eating it before you came."

Riley seemed like he seriously wanted to either laugh uproariously or say something, but for whatever reason he didn't. He let go of the chocolate and stood back, looking down at Ben lying across the counter and said, "I won't say what I desperately want to."

Ben sat up on the counter, swinging his legs against the cabinets underneath the counter. "What do you desperately want to say, Riley?"

"If you want, you can eat it after I come."

"Wha-what?" Ben asked, looking Riley up and down. Was he saying what he thought he was saying?

"Never mind, it was just a joke." Riley started to walk away, in the direction of Ben's living room. But Ben reached out and grabbed Riley's wrist. "What do you mean by that, Riley?"

He turned around to face Ben, looking down at the hand holding firmly to his wrist. "What do you think I meant? I was talking about chocolate."

Ben raised his eyebrows at him. "You sure 'bout that?"

"No." Riley whispered.

Smiling, Ben said, "Good, you're telling the truth. Now, what do you mean?"

Riley seemed to be arguing with himself until finally he decided to say, "I meant that seeing you lying across the counter made me want to jump you, rip your clothes off with my teeth, and do bad things to you."

Ben wasn't sure if he should burst out laughing because it didn't sound like something that Riley would ever say, or if he should say something. Finally he said, "I could see why you wouldn't want to say that to me…"

"I shouldn't have said anything." Riley said, who looked like he wanted very much for Ben to let go of his hand so that he could get the hell away from this awkwardness.

Ben didn't seem sure what to say still. This was kind of a delicate situation, a friend basically saying that he wants to make love to you in your own kitchen. But he had to say something… "I'm glad you did it, though."

This time Riley was the one to seem speechless. When he decided to do something, he seemed to want to do it before he had a chance to change his mind. He did it; leaning forward and pushing Ben across the counter again, he kissed him, carefully at first, and then a bit more forcefully.

Ben felt shocked at first, but then smiled; he liked kissing Riley, which surprised him, until he realized that it honestly made sense, as far as best friends falling for each other goes. Which was when he started kissing back.

Until he remembered something. "Riley. Didn't you say you have a date tonight? What are you doing?"

Riley blushed. He seemed to contemplate continuing again. "Ben, d'you wanna go somewhere tonight?"

"Gee, I dunno… Is anyone else coming?"

"Nope, just us."

"Then sure." Ben grinned up at Riley, and he smirked back.

"Now I have a date."

Ben grinned wider as he realized that his chocolate was still in his hand. Bringing it to his mouth he said, "Mmm, chocolate." He slipped some into his mouth and started chewing on it.

Riley bent down and kissed him again, licking some of the chocolate off of his lips. "Mm, chocolate. It really is magically delicious; I dunno why Lucky Charms don't get so much publicity and chocolate has to use its own thing."