Chapter Text
Leslie's political science class is taking a trip to Washington, D.C., and she could not be more excited. Leslie wants to be president one day, but this is as close as she’ll get to the White House for now—a bonus is being in the same city as Joe Biden, the man of her dreams. While on the plane, she is with her friends Donna, April, and Andy. Her best friend in the world, Ann Perkins, would have come, but she had exams all day. But Leslie is still texting her every hour to give her updates.
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They land a few hours later at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Leslie feels like this is the best day of her life. The tour guides take them all around D.C., showing them the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, and then ending the day by going to the Capitol. Donna, April, and Andy weren’t as interested as Leslie in the sights, but being here was enough.
When they returned to the hotel, her friends wanted to go to a club because Donna had scored some fake IDs and wanted to try them out. Although Donna did have a real ID, where’s the fun in that? April was on board really fast, and Andy was soon to follow. Leslie was more hesitant but went along with it.
When they got to the club, it looked rundown, with revealed brick lining the outside in a cool vintage way, and the inside looked lively, with colorful lights everywhere and upbeat music coming from somewhere. The night was young, so most people weren’t there yet, but no one asked for their IDs, which was a huge relief because Leslie was sweating and nervous, trying to come up with a cover story if need be. She would say they are adults who aren’t doing anything suspicious and are just living life, yo.
As the hours passed, her friends got more tipsy, the music louder, and the crowd grew in size. Somewhere between 11:00 and 12:00, she lost her friends in the dancing sea of people. Leslie herself was a bit drunk because she had never had alcohol before today. She had never planned to get drunk, but she thought one shot couldn’t hurt, but it did, and it tasted horrible. This is why she ordered a pina colada to balance it out, but that had alcohol too. Leslie had decided the night should probably end here, so she went to find her friends, but as she turned her body, she smacked face-first into someone’s chest. She went stumbling back, not really aware of her surroundings, but the stranger caught her arm before she could make a fool of herself.
“Hey, are you okay there?” The stranger asked her.
“Um… What? Yes, mhm… um… Yeah, thanks for saving me there,” Leslie said, trying to balance and focus her eyes on the dark-haired guy standing in front of her, whose face just couldn’t come into focus. What’s wrong with his face? Why are the walls switching with the ceiling?
“Yeah, no problem. Do you need some water? You don’t look so good."
“WHAT? THAT IS SO RUDE. YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW ME! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT?” At this point, she doesn’t even know what she’s saying.
“I’m so sorry. What? I’m sorry, I was just... I just meant... Uh, water? What?” Ben stuttered.
"I WILL GET WATER IF I CHOOSE TO; I DON’T EVEN KNOW YOUR NAME! I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT TO ME! Can I get some water, please?" Leslie asked the bartender as she continued to yell over the music, but no one seemed to pay them any mind. The guy stayed silent, not knowing what to say and feeling awkward. After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Leslie is drinking the water, and her mind is clearing slightly. Well, enough to know that she had been an idiot and totally embarrassed herself with this complete stranger.
“I’m sorry,” Leslie said to break the silence. “I know what you meant, but I’m drunk and confused, and I swear I am not like this usually. I’m Leslie.”
“That’s okay, Leslie. I figured you probably weren’t a drunk woman yelling at strangers usually. I’m Ben, by the way."
“Let’s restart, okay? I think we should restart. I’m Leslie; nice to meet you,” she held out her hand as he shook it.
“Hi Leslie, I’m Ben. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Ben smiled, which made Leslie smile.
They talked a little about what brought them both to D.C., and Ben revealed he was actually from a little country in Europe called Wenrovia and was visiting America with his father. Leslie told him about Pawnee and how it is the greatest city in America, and that he should definitely visit there sometimes. Ben and Leslie talked about their passions, future goals, and how they both have a love for politics. Ben talked about how he actually spends half his time in America staying with his mom because his parents are divorced.
They talk all night until they realize it’s getting late and Leslie has to get back to her friends soon. They both had a great time and decided to exchange numbers and be possible pen pals, but Leslie hasn’t asked him yet. He told her it was time for him to leave because it was nearing 1 a.m. and he should probably go home. Leslie decided to walk him out and talk a little more.
“Tonight was fun. Right? I mean, we had a good time; at least I did-”
“I had a great time, Leslie. It was truly amazing to meet you. Y’know, I’ve never met anyone like you, which is exciting because I meet a lot of people.” Ben looked into her crystal blue eyes, which reflected beautifully with the lights outside the club.
“Um… yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone like you either." Leslie felt like he was looking into her soul. This guy was so sweet, nice, and charming, but he lived on the other side of the world for most of the year, so it could never work. Not that she thought about it.
“Well, I guess this is the end of the road,” Ben said as he held out his hand. As much as he wanted to keep getting to know Leslie because he knew there was something there, he knew that his life was not conducive to dating anyone.
“Put that thing away." Leslie pushed his hand away and hugged him. Tomorrow, she could blame this one on the alcohol, but she knows that she has been sober for the past hour. They both don’t want to separate and stay in each other’s warm embrace, but they both have lives to get back to.
Leslie had never met a stranger who had this much of an effect on her, but she found that she didn’t really mind it all that much.
“Bye, Leslie.”
“Bye, Ben."
The next morning...
Leslie woke up to her phone exploding with notifications. She begrudgingly opened her eyes and checked her phone. She doesn’t know how April is sleeping through this noise. Most of the notifications were from Ann, ranging from “LESLIE, ANSWER ME!” to "LESLIE, HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME?” or one that Leslie found extremely weird, “LESLIE, CHECK TMZ!"
Leslie went to the TMZ website and saw that the front page news was "THE PRINCE OF WENROVIA, BEN WYATT WAS SPOTTED WITH A NEW MYSTERIOUS GIRLFRIEND AT A D.C. CLUB."