So, I realized how dark a lot of my dragon rider stories are to Ben, especially ones about his father. So I decided to make this fic about his father. It's on the lighter side and I'm trying to make a humorous story. This will also take place three months after 'One wild ride' so if you haven't read that (in which you have to read 'out of the frying pan' before that) please go and do so.
Ten-year-old Ben looked at the therapist office, then back to his adoptive family,
"Do I have to?" He asked and the others nodded,
"It'll be quick, go on," Barnabas told them ushering the boy forward. Sighing softly, Ben grabbed the handle and opened the door. Walking in, he shut the door behind him and sat down across from the therapist. At first, the man didn't acknowledge him as he sat there writing stuff down. Finally, he put the papers away and looked at Ben who looked back at him.
"Ok...Benjamin...I'm just going to ask you a few standard questions, nothing serious, just a bit about your life before you were adopted...Now...If I can find that paper..." The man paused and flicked through some papers before he let out a happy "Ah!" once he found it. Placing it down he took out a pen and sighed.
"Alright, Benjamin-"
"Ben...Please, I don't like being called by my full name..." Ben mumbled rubbing his arm. The man let out a bitter sigh and just continued.
"First question...What do you remember before you found the Greenblooms?"
"What do you mean?" Ben questioned.
"Your life before, of course."
"Oh...Right...Uh...I was in foster care for the longest time...I don't really much on my biological mom, only that she got sick and couldn't care for me...I was told rather...Heartlessly by my foster parents that she died..."
"What about your biological father?"
"Beats me, the guy walked out two weeks after I was born."
"So you've never seen him?"
"No...Never..."
-Six years later-
"WAKE UP!"
Ben gasped as Guinevere, not so kindly, jumped on his bed as he slept. Groaning, he moved the blanket over his head.
"GET UP!" She happily demanded.
"Guin...It's five in the morning..." Ben mumbled as he peeked at his clock. "It's not even a school day..." Ben groaned.
"AND! C'MON GET UP!"
"Guin, you're going to wake mom and dad..." Ben rolled over.
"They're in Norway for the weekend! Remember!? GET UP!" Grabbing Ben's arm, she literally pulled him out of bed landing face first on the floor, Ben groaned.
"Guin...What did I do to you?" He asked his voice muffled by the floor.
"What is going on?" Twigleg asked sleepily from the desk, he rubbed his eye with the palm his hand and yawned loudly. Ben lifted his upper body up a bit and yawned as well as Guinevere responded to Twigleg,
"Ben's being depressing."
"Guin's being obnoxious."
Guinevere stuck her tongue out at Ben who just sighed and shifted his body around so he was finally standing up.
"Ok, I'm up, why did you wake me up at five in the morning?" Ben asked looking like he's ready to fall back asleep standing up.
"So I can do this." With no warning, she pulled out an air horn and blew it. Needless to say, with in seconds she was running down the stairs at a fast rate as Ben started to chase her. What Ben didn't expect was when Guinevere cornered herself in the kitchen. Ben took a deep breath in and slowly spoke,
"Guin...Once my ears stop ringing, I swear I'm going to-"
Guinevere grabbed the flour off of the counter and threw a handful at his face.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"
Guinevere laughed and continued to pelt Ben with handfuls of flour, Ben was quick to retaliate, scooping up the white powder from the floor, soon the two were in an all out flour war. Ben managed to duck a few good times as did She. Guinevere shrieked when Ben managed to grab the bag from her and without hesitating he proceeded to dump all of the flour on her head and down it went from the top of her head to the floor below. Shaking the bag so to get the last of it out of the bag, Ben tossed the bag to the ground and Guinevere giggled, ever little movement she made there was just a white dust cloud following her.
"Ok...I deserved that..." She giggled madly.
"Oh...My...God..." Came a voice from the doorway, both turned to see Atticus strutting in, mouth wide at the site of them and the horrific state of the kitchen and living room as they realized they got flour everywhere, naturally the kitchen was in the worst state as they couldn't even see the tile floor under all of the flour. The living room, which was right next to the kitchen, had flour everywhere as well, somehow, one of the two managed to get a good bit of flour on the TV, the beige couch was now polka dotted with white and the carpet...It was rather noticeable, let's not get started on the brown walls that surrounded them.
"...Atticus...What are you doing here at five in the morning?" Ben asked and Atticus opened his mouth, eyes still wide as he looked at the damage.
"The Prof...Wanted to see how you two were doing...Y'know...I'm currently raising three children, two of which had turned into vampires by now, and the other is three...and yet somehow...They make less of a mess than two sixteen-year-olds-"
Guinevere clearly got bored with Atticus as she threw a good handful of powder in his face.
"Ok...You're so dead!" With that, Atticus playfully lunged at Guinevere, While he was busy trying to get Guinevere back, Ben laughed loudly as he scooped up a big chunk of flour off of the ground and slyly pulled on the back of Atticus's shirt before the vampire could react Ben poured the flour down Atticus's shirt.
"AH! YOU ASS!" Atticus screamed jumping up and down to get the flour off his back.
"OH MY LORD!" Twigleg screamed as he looked at the three laughing it up. Standing there shocked he just shook his head and mumbled; "Your parents are going to kill you..."
"...We should...Probably clean this up..." Ben laughed as he dropped down to the ground, they watched as he laid on his back and sighed. "Ok...Getting up at five in the morning...Worth it."
Guinevere laughed and laid down with him, the two in the flour not really caring at this point.
"It's good to have you back..." She responded and he sighed,
"I never left."
After that the two got up, thankfully Atticus wasn't heartless and helped them clean the mess in the kitchen and living room. After countless hours of vacuuming, changing the vacuum, and vacuuming again, it was finally clean enough to look passible.
"Hey, Ben...Let's put some flour on the fan." Guinevere suggested as she looked up at the fan hanging above the dining table and Atticus leaned in and looked at her.
"Are you trying to get killed?" He asked and Ben chuckled as he wrapped up the vacuum cord.
"I'm with Atticus on this one, Guin, you know mom will kill us."
"Oh, it'll be funny."
"Guin, your idea of funny is waking me up so you can blow an air horn in my ear at five in the morning. I don't think dad or mom will like it if we're eating and flour starts flying everywhere. But I mean, if you want, I'm not gonna stop you. I'm having no part in it." Ben told her simply as he walked away to put the vacuum back in the closet.
"Oh my god, you're actually going to do it." Ben heard Atticus say with a mix of amusement and slight concern.
Once the Vacuum was in the closet, Ben heard someone knocking at the door, looking at the time, he frowned they had spent a good three hours cleaning the kitchen. Still, with it being eight in the morning he had to wonder who was here.
"I got it!" He called out and quickly rushed to the door, forgetting about the fact that he was still covered head to toe in white flour, he opened the door.
"Yes?" He asked the man who seemed a tad startled by Ben.
The man was rather tall, taller than Atticus, but probably shorter than Barnabas. Once over his slight shock on Ben's looks, the man tucked some of the shoulder length dark brown hair behind his ear and huffed out.
"I-Is your dad home?" The man asked his green eyes flickering about. Ben shook his head, some powder moving from his hair.
"Nope. Away. Why are you a business partner or something?"
"Uh..."
"Ben, who's at the door?" Atticus asked, he and Guinevere walked to the guy took a deep breath in through his nose, Ben figured it was at the site of the two.
"Did...Did you guys have a cocaine party or something?" The guy chuckled softly, all three of them looked down at their clothes and Guinevere giggled,
"Flour fight."
"Anyway...Did you need to leave a message for my dad or something? He won't be back until Monday night." Ben asked leaning against the doorway.
"Uh...No...Actually, I was hoping to talk to...You."
There was a moment of silence, Ben looked from the man to Atticus who know stood there eye's narrowed dangerously.
"But you said-" Ben started but the man cut him off.
"I know what I said...Uh...Benjamin...This isn't easy but...I'm your biological father." The man sighed out. There was a heavy heartbeat of silence. Guinevere's eyes widened and Atticus seemed shocked by it was well as his hand went to his mouth.
Everyone waited for Ben's reaction. Finally after what seemed like forever, Ben backed away from the doorway, it seemed like he was ready to let the man into the home...
The man opened his mouth to speak again...
Ben slammed to door in his face.
"Nope." Ben responded shaking his head, "I'll be in the shower." Ben turned and walked up the stairs to the bathroom. Guinevere let out a huff and put her hands on her hips. Walking up to the door, she opened it, the man still outside.
"Come in." She told him Atticus let out a bitter sigh and leaned in closer to her,
"Do you even love your family?" Atticus asked her and she smiled, gesturing for the man to come in. He did so rather nervously.
"Tea?" She asked him and he nodded, Atticus shook his head as she went off to the kitchen to make the drink.
"Guin, Ben shut the door in his face for a reason, why are you doing this?" Atticus asked her as she reached down to grab the kettle, she filled it up and placed it on the stove before shrugging.
"He clearly came here for a reason. Oh, SUGAR!?" She screamed to the man in the other room.
"Yes...Milk too please."
She nodded and grabbed the items and Atticus leaned against the kitchen counter.
"Ben's not going to be happy."
"You don't know that." She told him once the kettle started to steam up. Grabbing some glasses she poured the hot water in and added the tea.
"Really? Him slamming the door in the guy's face wasn't an indication of anything?"
"We'll see. There's some extra water if you want some tea."
Walking out of the kitchen she placed the sugar and milk on the table and gestured for him to sit.
"So you got a name?" She asked him as they both sat, he added his sugar and milk to his drink just as Atticus walked in, his own cup in his hands.
"Oliver."
"Guinevere."
They shook hands and Guinevere smiled.
"So you think you're Ben's father-"
"I don't think, I know I'm his father."
"Hm..." She hummed, there was a silence as the sound of someone coming down the stairs.
"...Really?" Ben asked once he was at the bottom of the stairs.
"Benjamin, please hear me out."
"No. You left. You get no hear out...That sounded better in my head." Ben growled bitterly.
"I want to make things right again-"
"Then you should have stayed. Or at least helped. But you didn't. Unless you have a really good reason for leaving, I don't want to hear anything you have to say." Ben cut him off slashing his arm through the air. "You abandoned us...My biological mother had to give me up, do you know the hell I went through in foster care? What those people did to me?" Everyone sat in awkward silence as Guinevere seemed to be trying to sink into her seat while Atticus found a sudden interest in his nails.
"N-No, but, I want to. I want to know, Ben I know I messed up by leaving. Please...Give me a chance. If it's any comfort, I don't want to take you away, I swear on my life, I don't...I want to know you...Please..." Oliver spoke softly as he stood from his chair. Ben put a hand on his hip and frowned deeply, he watched as Ben then crossed his arms and looked away.
"...Oliver Pearson." Oliver said as he brought his hand out for Ben to shake.
"It's a little sad that my own dad has to tell me his name." Ben deadpanned and Oliver brought his hand down and sighed softly.
"Y-Yeah...I guess it is."
"Any leftover water for tea?" Ben asked bypassing Oliver and Guinevere shook her head.
"Ok. I'll go and make some more then." Ben mumbled and went off into the kitchen.
Oliver looked down and sighed softly,
"This...Was clearly a mistake-"
Guinevere shot up from her seat and gave him a look to wait, getting into the kitchen she saw Ben waiting for his water to boil.
"Ben..." She whispered and he gave her a sour look.
"Why did you let him in? I want nothing to do with him." Ben whispered back to her and she scooting a little closer to him, twisting her hands together as she shut her eyes.
"He wants to know you."
"I don't care. He abandoned me and my biological mother-"
"Annnd if it wasn't for that you wouldn't be the dragon rider..." She gently twirled a piece of her hair in between her fingers.
"Guin...Yes if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have met Firedrake, or be part of your family, but...It still stands, Guin, he left my mom when he found out she had cancer..." Ben practically pleaded as he grabbed onto her hands to stop her constant fidgeting. "Why should I give him a chance when he didn't give my mom a chance?"
"...Still...He wants to make amends. Give him a chance...That's what he wants is just a chance with you."
Ben let out a soft sigh and Guinevere smiled warmly at him.
"Fine...Fine! But we're doing this by my rules." Ben huffed, turning he walked out of the kitchen. Atticus raised an eyebrow at Ben as his friend stood there in front of Oliver.
"Ok...I...Talked it over with my sister. And I've decided to...Listen to what you have to say."
Oliver perked up happily and smiled at Ben, Atticus frowned, they had the exact same smile right down to a T.
"However...If we're doing this...I decided I want my adoptive father here as well." Ben continued and Oliver's smile dropped a bit at that and he scratched his nose.
"O-Oh...I figured you were too old for adult supervision..." Oliver mumbled quickly Ben narrowed and leaned down so he and Oliver were face to face.
"I'm not doing this without him here. That's final." Ben snarled pointing down to the ground bitterly.
"Alright...Alright...I'll agree to it. When will he be back?"
"Monday morning."
"Ok. That's good, here's my number, tell your adoptive father to call me whenever he gets a chance." Oliver stood and tossed a piece of paper on the table, Ben watched as he finished off his tea and then started to leave. Ben walked him to the door before he opened the door, Oliver turned causing Ben to stop.
"Thank you...Seriously. I look forward to seeing you again."
"Y-Yeah..." Ben muttered and looked away, his father stood there, arms open for a hug and Ben just scooted away a bit. Making Oliver slowly put his arms down.
"Ok...See you, Ben...I'm glad you're doing well..." With that Oliver turned and opened the door, walking out, he shut the door behind him.
"...Things are about to get really interesting. Aren't they, Young Master?" Twigleg asked, popping out from behind a vase.
"Very...Very interesting, Twiggy." Atticus chuckled as he polished off the rest of his tea. Everyone was quick to look at Ben who just shut his eyes. Slowly he sat down in the chair and rubbed his forehead, with an irritated sigh he spoke,
"Just when things were getting normal again...Life throws a goddamn crowbar my way."
Guinevere came back in from the kitchen, cup in her hands, gently she placed the cup down and placed both hands on Ben's shoulders.
"It'll be alright."
Ben dunked the tea bag up and down before grabbing the milk and pouring a bit in, stirring it a bit, he reached over and grabbed the sugar, Atticus cupped his hands under his chin and watched as Ben poured three spoonful's of sugar into his drink. That was when he chuckled.
Ben looked up at him and frowned.
"What?" Ben demanded as he cupped his hands around his drink. Atticus just smirked slyly as he stood up.
"Oliver made his tea the exact same way."