They met in the lobby of Mean Girls on Broadway! Ben was working as an usher and Russell was selling merchandise. When Act II was about to start, they both noticed that a few fans were waiting by the bar to say "hi" to Joe Jonas. Ben went over to talk to Russell (and Alex) about how Joe Jonas was there... and the rest is history!

After work one night, Ben went up to Russell's apartment to hangout for the first time! They drank wine and caught up on Season 10 of RuPaul's Drag Race. After that night, Russell left for Texas for the holidays with his family and they kept in touch by texting every day.

On New Year's Eve of 2018, Ben got to throw a party at his office building in Times Square. Russell was flying back to the city from Texas, arrived in Manhattan, threw his bags down at his apartment, jumped on the train to midtown, and arrived just in time to see the ball drop and to have his New Year's kiss with Ben, who had just spilled half a bottle of red wine all over himself!

Russell and Ben were both a part of the Broadway Bowling League which was where they hung out next after the New Year's party. Ben's team was very good at bowling (two-time champions AY!) while Russell's team excelled at team spirit! After a late-night dinner on Saturday night at Dutch Fred's, Russell and Ben headed back to Ben's apartment for some wine and dessert and later that night, Ben asked Russell to be his boyfriend.

After a year of dating, Ben and Russell decided to move-in together into Ben's apartment. This was supposed to happen in February, but naturally, Ben's organizational skills expedited the process. Russell subletted out his apartment with Monique and Sarah and moved up to Inwood to start a new adventure with Ben, his cat Molly, and his roommates Sarah and Allsun!

Pre-pandemic, Ben and Russell spent hours upon hours looking at pictures of puppies that they could potentially adopt, and in early-February they began going through the interview and approval process. One of their prospective adoptions fell through while Ben was at Jagged Little Pill with their friend Michaelah, and during intermission, he quickly searched the Hearts and Bones website and found Mango (FKA Nene Leaks)! They scheduled a meeting to meet Mango, took a ninety-minute train to Brooklyn with their roommate Sarah, and brought the crazy pup home that day!

Pandemic life while raising a puppy brought Ben and Russell closer and they continued to talk more about their future together. One cute Hanukkah evening, Ben and Russell watched a Joseph Gordon-Levitt Christmas movie and cuddled up with some hot chocolate. That night, they spent hours talking about the future and Ben snuck a ring under Russell's pillow. When Russell didn't notice it, Ben surprised him with the ring and asked him to marry him. Soon after, Russell told Ben that he would be proposing to him in Texas during Christmas, however, this was all a guise to catch him off-guard! On December 22nd, Russell made Ben a breakfast sandwich with a little box on the side, got down on one knee, and asked him to marry him. Spoiler alert: they both said YES!