10 Things About Ben and Leslie
Rating: PG13
1.
Leslie first tried scuba diving in Florida on Spring Break in college - after the first day, while everyone else was on the beach during the day and out partying at night, Leslie would creep out of the crowded motel room to dive in the early morning hours. She couldn't believe that she'd waited until she was 20 to experience this. (See also #5, except it's sex and she's older than 20.) She felt that people who had gone diving should basically force everyone who hadn't tried it yet to go, so they could see it for themselves. Being able to be underwater but still able to breathe, and float around the fish and the coral, and the silence... the idea that she would so crave something that didn't allow talking seemed so strange, but it made her so very, very happy. She loves aquariums but prefers to go alone, or at least with someone who is quiet, so she can remember diving.
2.
Contrary to what some people might think, to Ben numbers aren't cut and dried or precise - that's the point, that's why they're interesting. Financial reporting is about the past, and he's less interested in that, honestly. He likes budgeting, which is about the future. It's about best guesses as to what's going to happen. It's about how much you have to set aside for contingencies. It's about now versus later. In a city it's about whether it's going to cost more in the long run to keep things superbly maintained, versus letting them run down more and doing a big fix. It's about knowing what all the answers depend on. So every number contains estimates, guesses, politics, hope, pessimism... his job is to help figure out the right mix. Budgets are living documents; they're not perfectly predictable. He likes seeing at the end of the year how close to right they were at the beginning - he'll sit down with reports from towns he was in the previous year and compare the actuals versus the budgets and see if he could have guessed where they were wildly off, or where they got it about right. He'll look online to see if terrible weather is the reason the public works budget got shot to hell in a place where he spent 6 weeks, a year and a half ago.
He's spent all these years since his mayoral debacle developing his judgement, to try to learn how these decisions can get made well. He wades into the stuff that's horrendously complicated because he remembers what it was like to have absolutely no idea how to deal with a situation that got out of control when he was mayor. It takes going into the details, balanced with taking a step back and looking at the big picture, before going into the details again. He's gotten really good at it.
3.
When Ben ran for mayor, his parents thought it was a great experiment in democracy, were convinced there was no way he'd win, were shocked when he did... and then had absolutely no clue how to support him through the process (they didn't work anywhere near government). Despite best efforts, their relationship with him was really strained by his impeachment and subsequent crash into a teenage boy live-in-a-cave-and-grunt dark period. They just didn't know what to do, how to help him. (Who could have, really?) Now, they have a loving relationship but he learned that he'd have to be really truly independent of them from that point on. He had a road to travel and they had no map to give him. Neither did anyone else.
What did help was his one goofy friend, Simon. Simon didn't give a shit about Ben being mayor one way or another - he came to the inauguration party, sure, and hit on the city attorney's daughter (successfully) - but otherwise it's almost like he didn't notice. Simon and Ben spent a lot of time after the impeachment in Ben's basement, watching tapes of Star Wars movies, and debating the finer points of Star Trek: The Next Generation plotting, and playing Risk. Simon lives in Minneapolis with his wife and daughter and works as a freelance graphic designer, and Ben visits for a weekend at least once a year. If Ben reads a text on his phone and gives a quick snort of laughter, and won't explain it if someone, say, Tom asks, it's from Simon, and nobody else on the planet would find it funny.
4.
When they were on the couch at Chris' condo, he was dying to kiss her. Positively dying to kiss her. He couldn't really think beyond that. That was the entire content of his brain at the time.
5.
Sex with Ben is so incredibly good that Leslie thinks she's had some kind of new set of ladyparts installed and she just didn't notice it. That's partly why she wants to stay hidden in the bubble for so long. She can't believe how he makes her feel, how he makes her come, how many times he makes her come, how much he likes doing it, how open and comfortable and confident she feels about it, about all of it. She somehow thinks that if real life intrudes too much this will end - not even so much because they might break up or stop sleeping together, she isn't thinking about that - but because she doesn't quite get yet how to integrate this sexual fulfilment with the rest of her life. She had no idea sex could be like this. It's not as if she hasn't had some good sexual experiences among the horror stories, but her connection with Ben, and his approach to sex, puts this in another realm altogether. She's not sure she can have people know she's dating Ben, and presumably sleeping with him, and not scream at them how amazing it is.
Ann, of course, has been briefed on the situation. Not completely, but fully. They have had a number of discussions about the timing of a woman's sexual prime.
6.
For Ben, sex with Leslie is emotionally charged, yes, but also super-fun. She laughs (and makes him laugh), she giggles, she's a little ticklish, she's enthusiastic, she's energetic, she's appreciative, and she makes some highly encouraging noises. He just wants to keep on making her make those noises, really, is what it comes down to.
7.
Leslie hasn't thought very hard about whether she wants to have kids, but has a vague feeling that she'll regret it if she doesn't, and sometimes thinks about her age. But she wouldn't want to do it alone, so she hasn't thought about it too hard until now.
8.
April knows. She helped these sorry Charlies out when Leslie gave Jerry the "cute butt" paper, and now they owe her for bailing them out, but they don't even know it. Andy didn't tell April that Ben confided in him, just because he forgot about it, and April hasn't told Andy that she knows, just because he hasn't asked. April covers for Ben around the house, and that's why Ben doesn't realize that April knows; because he thinks Andy would be asking him if there was something going on, but Andy doesn't, because April tells him that Ben was at home when he wasn't.
April likes keeping secrets; it's a form of currency, even if she's more of a saver than a spender. It's also a private amusement.
9.
Leslie knows she's never going to be President, and that's OK. Doesn't mean she can't be a kick-ass mayor, though.
10.
Ben knows Leslie has a lot to learn about the breadth of city government and politics if she runs for office.
1.
Leslie first tried scuba diving in Florida on Spring Break in college - after the first day, while everyone else was on the beach during the day and out partying at night, Leslie would creep out of the crowded motel room to dive in the early morning hours. She couldn't believe that she'd waited until she was 20 to experience this. (See also #5, except it's sex and she's older than 20.) She felt that people who had gone diving should basically force everyone who hadn't tried it yet to go, so they could see it for themselves. Being able to be underwater but still able to breathe, and float around the fish and the coral, and the silence... the idea that she would so crave something that didn't allow talking seemed so strange, but it made her so very, very happy. She loves aquariums but prefers to go alone, or at least with someone who is quiet, so she can remember diving.
2.
Contrary to what some people might think, to Ben numbers aren't cut and dried or precise - that's the point, that's why they're interesting. Financial reporting is about the past, and he's less interested in that, honestly. He likes budgeting, which is about the future. It's about best guesses as to what's going to happen. It's about how much you have to set aside for contingencies. It's about now versus later. In a city it's about whether it's going to cost more in the long run to keep things superbly maintained, versus letting them run down more and doing a big fix. It's about knowing what all the answers depend on. So every number contains estimates, guesses, politics, hope, pessimism... his job is to help figure out the right mix. Budgets are living documents; they're not perfectly predictable. He likes seeing at the end of the year how close to right they were at the beginning - he'll sit down with reports from towns he was in the previous year and compare the actuals versus the budgets and see if he could have guessed where they were wildly off, or where they got it about right. He'll look online to see if terrible weather is the reason the public works budget got shot to hell in a place where he spent 6 weeks, a year and a half ago.
He's spent all these years since his mayoral debacle developing his judgement, to try to learn how these decisions can get made well. He wades into the stuff that's horrendously complicated because he remembers what it was like to have absolutely no idea how to deal with a situation that got out of control when he was mayor. It takes going into the details, balanced with taking a step back and looking at the big picture, before going into the details again. He's gotten really good at it.
3.
When Ben ran for mayor, his parents thought it was a great experiment in democracy, were convinced there was no way he'd win, were shocked when he did... and then had absolutely no clue how to support him through the process (they didn't work anywhere near government). Despite best efforts, their relationship with him was really strained by his impeachment and subsequent crash into a teenage boy live-in-a-cave-and-grunt dark period. They just didn't know what to do, how to help him. (Who could have, really?) Now, they have a loving relationship but he learned that he'd have to be really truly independent of them from that point on. He had a road to travel and they had no map to give him. Neither did anyone else.
What did help was his one goofy friend, Simon. Simon didn't give a shit about Ben being mayor one way or another - he came to the inauguration party, sure, and hit on the city attorney's daughter (successfully) - but otherwise it's almost like he didn't notice. Simon and Ben spent a lot of time after the impeachment in Ben's basement, watching tapes of Star Wars movies, and debating the finer points of Star Trek: The Next Generation plotting, and playing Risk. Simon lives in Minneapolis with his wife and daughter and works as a freelance graphic designer, and Ben visits for a weekend at least once a year. If Ben reads a text on his phone and gives a quick snort of laughter, and won't explain it if someone, say, Tom asks, it's from Simon, and nobody else on the planet would find it funny.
4.
When they were on the couch at Chris' condo, he was dying to kiss her. Positively dying to kiss her. He couldn't really think beyond that. That was the entire content of his brain at the time.
5.
Sex with Ben is so incredibly good that Leslie thinks she's had some kind of new set of ladyparts installed and she just didn't notice it. That's partly why she wants to stay hidden in the bubble for so long. She can't believe how he makes her feel, how he makes her come, how many times he makes her come, how much he likes doing it, how open and comfortable and confident she feels about it, about all of it. She somehow thinks that if real life intrudes too much this will end - not even so much because they might break up or stop sleeping together, she isn't thinking about that - but because she doesn't quite get yet how to integrate this sexual fulfilment with the rest of her life. She had no idea sex could be like this. It's not as if she hasn't had some good sexual experiences among the horror stories, but her connection with Ben, and his approach to sex, puts this in another realm altogether. She's not sure she can have people know she's dating Ben, and presumably sleeping with him, and not scream at them how amazing it is.
Ann, of course, has been briefed on the situation. Not completely, but fully. They have had a number of discussions about the timing of a woman's sexual prime.
6.
For Ben, sex with Leslie is emotionally charged, yes, but also super-fun. She laughs (and makes him laugh), she giggles, she's a little ticklish, she's enthusiastic, she's energetic, she's appreciative, and she makes some highly encouraging noises. He just wants to keep on making her make those noises, really, is what it comes down to.
7.
Leslie hasn't thought very hard about whether she wants to have kids, but has a vague feeling that she'll regret it if she doesn't, and sometimes thinks about her age. But she wouldn't want to do it alone, so she hasn't thought about it too hard until now.
8.
April knows. She helped these sorry Charlies out when Leslie gave Jerry the "cute butt" paper, and now they owe her for bailing them out, but they don't even know it. Andy didn't tell April that Ben confided in him, just because he forgot about it, and April hasn't told Andy that she knows, just because he hasn't asked. April covers for Ben around the house, and that's why Ben doesn't realize that April knows; because he thinks Andy would be asking him if there was something going on, but Andy doesn't, because April tells him that Ben was at home when he wasn't.
April likes keeping secrets; it's a form of currency, even if she's more of a saver than a spender. It's also a private amusement.
9.
Leslie knows she's never going to be President, and that's OK. Doesn't mean she can't be a kick-ass mayor, though.
10.
Ben knows Leslie has a lot to learn about the breadth of city government and politics if she runs for office.