Friends Become More

***Alex's Point of View***

Jeez, can't believe I fell asleep on the couch. Wait, I'm on Ben's shoulder. "Oh, sorry about that." I lifted myself off of him.

"It's alright. Guess we both fell asleep."

"How king have you been up?" I asked him.

"About an hour."

"Why didn't you kick me off?" I laughed.

"You were in a deep sleep, besides, I wanted to take some really bad photos of you to use in case I need to blackmail you..."

"I take back my thank you from last night." I declared.

"Alright. Then get off me." He shoved me off of him, making both of us laugh.

I paused to look at him. It's taking everything in me to not kiss him right now. "I better get going." I looked away.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." He replied softly.

I grabbed my clothes out of the wash and changed out of the ones he gave me. I decided to leave the underwear one and just take them off when I got home and showered. I folded up and put the clean pair in my jacket.

"Thank you, I really needed yesterday." I pulled Ben in for a hug.

"Of course, like I said, I'm always here for you." Our hug lingered for a second, until he pulled away.

He probably doesn't think anything of it, and neither should I.

"See ya." I said as I walked out.

"Bye... oh wait!" He called out. I turned around. "I'm sorry I don't mean to be pushy about this, but you should really get tested for any diseases. You don't know who Liam was sleeping with and whatnot."

"Yeah, you're right. I will."

"Tell you what, stop by the hospital this week and we can get tested together. In solidarity."

"Thanks, will do."

I did as he suggested, and we both got our results back clean.

***

A few weeks later, during a shift, I got a call from Ben. That's weird, he never calls me when he knows I'm working. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's at work himself.

"Hey Ben what's up?"

"Hello, it's not Ben. It's Sara. He, Ben was shot, he is in surgery right now." Sara's one of our friends, also a doctor at the hospital.

"Oh my God, I'm on my way."

Me and my partner, Tom, sped to the hospital. I got more information from the department, the attacker has been arrested, he apparently was trying to finish off the job on Ben's gunshot patient, but Ben stood on the way.Sometimes that man is too decent for his own good.

I got to the hospital and rushed to the surgical wing, knowing it somewhat well having visited him here so many times.

He's still in surgery. That's good, he's not dead. Oh God, he can't die.

Sara sat with me, "How come you called me on Ben's phone and not your own?"

"He has you as his emergency contact on his phone, and on his records, I checked."

Oh my God. I'm his emergency contact? He doesn't have siblings or close relatives, and with his parents being deceased, I guess I'm the closest he has.

A doctor came out and explained to me and Sara what's going on. "He's out of surgery, but we have to monitor him closely for the next 48 hours. Make sure he comes out of the induced coma safely and with minimal effects.

"It's alright, he'll be fine. Whatever happens." Sara comforted me.

"I really hope so..." I rested my face in my palms.

"You should tell him."

"Tell him what?"

"That you love him..."

"I-"

"Don't try to pretend you don't." She interrupted. "We all see the way you two look at each other. You love him, he loves you, but neither of you know the others' feelings nor are you willing to break that wall."

"I do." I sighed. "I really do, damn it. But what if he doesn't pull through?"

"He will." She squeezed my hand. "And that's why you should tell him. Don't let the fear stop the two of you from having something incredible."

"You're right. I'll tell him when he wakes up and is out of the hospital. I want him to know. I do."

I sat in his room with him, waiting for him to wake up. I prayed and begged him to wake up. I so desperately just want to see those big brown eyes that I got lost in that night in Paris.

I saw his finger move. Is that real? I got up and grabbed his hand. "Ben? Ben?" He slowly gained more strength in his hand and squeezed mine. His eyes opened. God, those big beautiful, beautiful eyes.

I notified a nurse, and within a few hours he was off the breathing tube and seemed to be fine, no neurological issues, thank God.

After he got dinner, I got in bed next to him. "How's that big brain of yours?"

"What about your stomach? How's the wound feel?"

"Like I've been shot."

"Yeah, it sucks doesn't it?"

"Have you ever been shot?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I was shot in the leg a few years back. When I was in Afghanistan, before Tokyo."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I didn't want to ask it about it before cause I don't want you to talk about it if you don't want to."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. But yeah, only once, and I'm still here. Just like you, thank God."

Sara stopped by and hung out with him, then a bunch of our friends visited.

"Aren't you gonna head out with them?" He asked me when they left.

"I thought I'd stay the night again."

"How long have you been here?"

"Since you got out of surgery, that was 3 days ago."

"You should go home, I'll be fine."

"I know you'll be fine, but I'm still gonna stay." I smiled at him.

"Alex?" He looked at me, a little nervous.

"Yeah?" I sat on the foot of his bed.

"These last few days have been very crazy, I remember what happened and I remember people around me rushing me somewhere..." he paused for a second. "And I remember how during that entire time all I wanted to do was call you, to hear your voice if that was the last few minutes of my life."

I felt a tear fall down my cheek. "I've been so worried about you." I grabbed his hand.

"I love you, Alex. Not just as a friend. Like, I'm desperately in love with you. And I'm sick of lying to myself about it, ever since we met I've been crazy about you, and I hope this doesn't ruin our friendship because I totally get if you don't feel the same way but I can't go another day without telling you how I feel and how incredible you are and I'm sorry I won't hate you if you don't want to be friends anymore, you can leave it's fine I know I messed up my chance with you..." he trailed off, taking a deep breath after that long-winded mini-speech.

"Are you done?" I laughed.

"For now." He shook his head. "I think." He added.

"Okay, well. First off, don't worry, this doesn't ruin our friendship." I started, building up to my main point.

"Okay good, good." He interrupted. "Now we can just put this whole thing behind us, okay?"

"Are you gonna let me finish?" I laughed.

"Sorry." He pulled back.

"As I was saying..." I gave him a glare. "I love you too."

"Don't mess with me!" He pleaded.

"Im not! I love you! Ever since that day in Paris. And then we stayed friends and I've been so scared to tell you, and then you got hurt and Sara kicked my ass about how everyone knows and I was gonna tell you after you got discharged but I'm so happy to hear you say those words because I'm so desperately in love with you too. Like, can't-eat, can't-sleep, reach-for-the-stars, over-the-fence, World Series kinda stuff." I know he'll appreciate that movie reference (It Takes Two).

At this point I had a few tears in my eyes, and soon he had some as well. I scooted up the bed closer to him, leaning in, my face a couple inches from his.

"You're stuck with me, I'm not going anywhere." I closed the space between us, taking his face in my hands and kissing him so passionately my heart's ready to jump out of my chest.

***

***Ben's Point of View***

After a week of recovery, I'm finally being discharged. Alex took me home to find everything set up already. He must've come earlier and prepped the place. He helped me up the stairs, which I struggled with a little, then got me down in bed. "I bought a mini fridge and filled it with water and a few things I know you'll probably want, so you don't have to go very far." He's literally spoiling me.

"Thank you." I smiled at him, getting tired.

"Get some rest, I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

"Alright..." I yawned, closing my heavy eyes.

***

When I awoke, I found Alex sitting in a chair in the corner of my room reading a book. "Hey. How are you?"

"Kinda hungry."

"I'll go make dinner, chicken piccata good?"

"I'll come with you." I started to love but the pain made it difficult.

"No, stay here." He recovered me. "Don't worry about the food, I'll take care of it."

"You can't take care of me all the time. I have to fend for myself." I argued. "You have to get back to work.

"No you don't. And yes, I have to get back soon but I've recruited a few friends and my parents to help you while I'm at work.

"No I'll be fine."

He gave me a glare. "Good, you can be fine with the company."

The next few weeks passed and I recovered, thanks to the help of Alex, our friends, and his family.

I desperately wanted to feel better and to just be with Alex, but we both knew any intimacy would have to wait a little while.

After three weeks of being home, I was finally cleared for surgery and got back to work.

With both of us making up for lost time at work, we barely had any time together. We decided we'd use the long weekend for the Fourth of July as a mini vacation.

I'm the meantime, we spent as much time together as we could, sill holding off on sex as we navigated the shift in our relationship.

One night when I was still on bed rest we had a serious conversation.

"So, obviously we're dating now..." I started.

"Yeah..." he laughed.

"And with that comes intimacy, I assume that's something on the table, right?"

"I hope so." He smiled. "Why?"

"I'm trying to be as honest with you as possible. I want a clear line of communication on everything between us."

"So do I, Ben." He reassured me.

"I'm just worried... with our friendship it may be weird. Like we've been close for a year now, but not on that level. I just don't want to be awkward I guess."

"I get what you mean. But I love you, and I can't wait to be intimate with you. I promise it doesn't have to be awkward between us. We'll go slow, work up to that. In the mean time, we'll adjust to this shift in our relationship, but I know as long as we are open and honest about it we don't have to worry."

I kissed him. "You're right. We're the same people, we still have our friendship. It's just becoming the foundation for the rest of our relationship."

"Exactly."

"And in honestly, you know I haven't really been with anyone since we met..."

"Yeah."

"I haven't had sex in over 3 years. So on top of whatever non-awkwardness there is I'm also very out of practice."

"Babe, that's fine. Thanks for telling me. We're in this together, we'll learn and grow together and that's all that matters. And now that I know this we can both approach it as a couple and go at a speed comfortable for us."

"That sounds great. Thanks, Alex."

"Always." He squeezed my hand. "3 years is a long time, dang." He added playfully.

"Just when I was gonna say how adult and responsible we approached this conversation." I laughed.

"You really are a workaholic aren't you? I mean, I always knew, but I expected some Grey's Anatomy level hookups in that hospital of yours."

"Oh, there are. I'm just not a participating party."

"Fair enough."

***

It's a week before our weekend getaway, which I'm so looking forward to. But today's been so bad, everything's just going wrong. I texted Alex about it, and he told me he's going to take me out tonight. Our first date, which he pointed out we haven't had yet.

"Hey." He smiled at me when I opened the door.

"Hey."

"Ready?"

"Yeah. Where we going?" I asked as I closed the door behind me.

"Oh, I thought since we decided to not count our time in Paris as a date, we must make our official first date a Parisian themed one..."

"Only took us a year." I reached for his hand, taking it in mine.

He took me to a French restaurant, holding the door open for me. We ate delicious food and talked about our days.

"What's the five year plan? I asked him out of nowhere.

"Really? Five year plan?"

"Hey, this is our first date, I gotta know your intentions." I joked.

"I'd like to still be working, hopefully with a raise and promotion. I'd also like to be married with a kid or two..." he said. "Maybe to you, if you're lucky." He added jokingly.

"Oh, feeling confident, I see."

"What about you? What's your five year plan?"

"Well, I think eventually I'd like to be Chief of Surgery at my hospital, but that'll probably be more than five years. And I guess, if someone comes along that I don't totally hate, I wouldn't be opposed to marriage and children. I'd also like to continue more research."

"Impressive. Sounds like our personal paths may line up..." he winked at me.

"Sounds like it."

Leaving the restaurant, he kept his hand on the small of my back, guiding me out.

"Now, we can't visit the Eiffel Tower tonight, but, we can visit this city's famous landmark."

"You mean the Empire State Building?"

"Yeah, I mean, I know you've lived here forever and have probably been a million times, but never with me..."

"I've actually never been. Because I've always lived here, I've never really thought to visit such a touristy place."

"Wow. Guess it's a first for both of us, just like Paris." He smiled at me, taking my hand as we walked down the street.

We had a wonderful time viewing the city from the top of the building.

He brought me home, but I didn't want him to leave. He kissed me at the door. "I really like this." He whispered.

"Me too. Thank you for today. You turned it around for me."

"Hopefully I can keep you happy." He kissed my cheek.

"Do you want to stay the night? I mean, not like that, but just sleep in the same bed. You still have clothes here from when you stayed with me after getting out of the hospital, and I could just really use a snuggle."

"I'd love to."

Once inside, we walked upstairs to the new master bedroom, which I had renovated specifically because I didn't want to live in the one my parents had.

"Do you mind if I sleep in my underwear?"

"Go for it. Be comfortable like you normally would at your own place."

"Sounds good."

I got in basketball shorts and a t-shirt while Alex stripped out of his shirt and pants. I stole a glance at him, curious to see that bulge up close.

"I saw that." He said.

"Saw what?" I asked.

He walked over and kissed me on the forehead. "That stolen glance. I saw it because I was stealing one myself."

I grabbed hold of his hands, pulling him onto the bed. "It's crazy how not-weird this is. It's so natural to kiss you even though we've been strictly friends for awhile." I rested my head on his chest.

"I get what you mean. I think a year ago we just weren't meant to be together yet, but now it's our time."

"Yeah, it feels like that. And I'm not a person to just get in bed like this so quickly, but we know each other already, so it's not like that. I know that sounds crazy, but it makes sense in my head."

"No, it's not crazy. We aren't strangers, we know each other. This is just the speed we want to go at, and rightfully so. If you think about it, we've known each other over a year and haven't had sex, that's not common."

"Fair enough." I tightened my arm around his mid-torso. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He kissed my head.

We got under the sheets and fell asleep. It felt so nice to have someone, and by someone I mean Alex, to sleep next to. The warmth of his body radiated against me, feeling so right.