One Little Song
Bevin fanfiction from the master of rambling oneshots. You'll be singing this one for hours after we're done. (You should try to hear Kevin's voice in your head as you read. It makes things more fun)
"Eight days a week," Kevin sang, a bit off key, "I lo-o-o-o-ve you..."
It was a beautiful sunny day, the kind that you get maybe once a year, and he had decided to do what all good men do on such awesome days: wash his car.
"Wow," Laughed a voice from across the yard, "This is one of those times I really wish I had a camera."
"Alright Ben, y'got me. I'm a Beatles fan." Kevin tossed his rag into a bucket of soap, "Y'gonna sue now?"
The hero grinned and walked around to Kevin's side of the car. Looks like this was one of the mutant's good days. Those were a fairly fickle occurrence, and it was a good idea to get in some time with his 'friend' while the mood was cheerful.
"Nah," Ben smiled and leaned against the driver's door. "I don't think I have enough allowance to cover a lawyer."
"You could always come on a short haul with me... " The ex-con offered, probably not serious.
"Once again, I gotta decline. Even if I did think that was a good idea, Gwen would have a cow, and possibly a whale while she's at it." The two shared an obligatory eye-roll over Gwen's moral crusade. "Not to mention, that'd be a little too ironic for me."
"In what way?" The criminal raised an eyebrow and leaned over to reach a spot on the windshield.
"Oh, you know, doing illegal stuff so you can pay a lawyer to sue someone for doing illegal stuff. Kinda funny actually." The fifteen-year old found himself turning away slightly, so he wouldn't see Kevin stretched out over the car's hood.
...No idea why I did that, he thought, Except that it's sort of embarrassing.
"Illegal stuff?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's a rule against you singing in the Geneva Convention."
"Thanks man, you're nice." the older boy grabbed a second washcloth and tossed the sopping rag at Ben's head. "If you're gonna stand there and insult me, at least do something useful."
The younger teen sighed dramatically, and pulled the thing off his face with a long-suffering air. "Alright, your Majesty."
They worked in silence for a while, content on Kevin's side and somewhat awkward on his companion's. But as every musically minded person knows, when a song is stuck in your head... it doesn't just go away.
It started with the humming.
At first, the hero thought maybe he was hearing things. Maybe the neighbors over the fence had turned their air conditioner up? Maybe it was one of those stupid noises that get going in a person's head, over and over, until it drowns out everything else?
...No.
It was indeed Kevin. Ben pulled himself up over the roof of the car, taking a peek at his suspect.
Yup. No doubt. That was his energy-absorbing buddy, all right.
Said buddy inconspicuously glanced up to see Ben Tennyson glaring at him in suspicion, and quickly looked back down, pretending he hadn't noticed. What he did do was hum a bit louder. And louder. And louder.
Oh boy, this was funny. His teammate was now openly staring, and was that an eye twitching? Yes. Yes it was.
Oh what the heck, Kevin thought, and sang the next bar out loud.
"I ain't got nothin' but love, boy, eight days a we-e-ek."
Did he hear that correctly? That was not the song as he remembered it. That was weird. The brunet tilted his head and sank back behind the safety of green painted metal. Don't make assumptions, right?
It was possible that Kevin didn't know the real words, or... something. Because really, there wasn't much of an explanation beyond that one, far fetched as it was.
Well, why not ask? "Uh, Kev, you do know those aren't the right words, right?"
"Yup." Oh, was he ever getting a kick out of this one.
"...Right."
Ben went back to scrubbing, for lack of anything else to do. The mixed blessing in physical work is, it leaves your brain free to wonder such things as 'Then why'd he sing that?' and 'Am I reading way too much into this?' and everyone's favorite: 'What the hell?'
"Dude, I got a question. You mind?" He started, figuring it's best not to beat around the bush.
"Shoot," answered the black-haired teen, not looking up.
"Um... are you straight?" Great, that was subtle. Not. He could have smacked himself.
Kevin never turned. "Nope." he said nonchalantly, like it was the only logical answer in the world.
"...Gay?" Ben felt like he was pushing his luck, since most guys he knew would throw a hissy fit if he ever suggested such a thing.
"Do I look gay to you?" asked the mutant, voice dripping with sarcasm (still not looking up). "I think you're forgetting the whole situation with Gwen."
"Okay then. I'm down to the last choice here."
"Third time's the charm," the older boy felt that his smirk was getting dangerously close to a smile--good thing Ben couldn't see him. "Go ahead."
"Bi then?" the xenomorph suggested, wondering slightly if the whole situation was some kind of a joke.
"We have a winner! Vannah, show 'im what he's won." Kevin stood up straight and stretched, noting with interest as his partner inconspicuously ducked back down and out of visual range.
"So... have you ever had a boyfriend?" wondered Ben (who was no longer in his line of sight), curious in spite of himself.
The former criminal rolled his eyes and strode around the hood of his camaro to where the younger boy was. "Why the sudden interest in my personal life?"
"Well, you know. Me and Gwen, we always wanted to know stuff, but there never really seemed like a good time to ask."
He made a noncommittal noise in his throat. "The answer to your question is 'yes', and 'several'."
"Oh," said the hero (for lack of anything else to say), turning back to finish scrubbing at a window.
"I think it's clean now." Kevin pointed out. Just as he'd suspected, his friend was indeed 'the awkward type'.
It was a blessing that Ben's skin was so dark, otherwise he might have visibly blushed. Instead, he dropped the rag onto the car's roof and sat down on the ground. Well, this was not the sort of revelation he'd expected on a Saturday morning. He'd been prepared for some witty banter, a bit of mild labor, maybe a smoothie with Gwen...
Well, it really wasn't that big of a deal. Honestly, when you fight extraterrestrial menaces on a near weekly basis, little domestic things like this don't make as much of an impact. And logically, Kevin was no different now that he knew, than he'd been before... if that made any sense.
"Can you tell me about them?" Ben inquired suddenly, struck with a ripple of curiosity.
"Them who?"
"The boyfriends." he replied, as if it were not only the most obvious but also completely normal question in the world.
"...I cannot believe you're asking me about my love life." the ex-con deadpanned. That was the bad thing about Karma... it always hit you right when you least expected it. And Kevin did have some serious Karma built up.
"C'mon Kev." Ben grinned and patted the ground beside him, "Pull up some dirt, tell a story. What can it hurt?"
Kevin eyed the grass suspiciously. "This is so not going to end well." he muttered, taking a seat. "From the first?"
"Sure."
"Okay... Hmm. Well, boyfriend number one was maybe six months after I got back. You know where from. He was actually a normal guy, as far as that goes, I met 'im while I was tryin' to get a car... showed me how to hot wire one without ruining it. One hot son of a bitch, for his age, but personality of a disease." The raven-haired boy frowned. "Tried to turn me in for the reward cash."
"Ouch." Ben winced.
"Numero dose was somethin' like me, interplanetary arms dealer. First time we met, he tried to take my head off—we ended up in my backseat. Good enough guy, considering, but he went into hiding after a month or so and I never saw him again."
"And the third one?" the younger teen pressed, after a moment of silence. He didn't want to push his luck, but he did want to hear the rest. In all seriousness, this was the most he'd ever heard about Kevin and he planned to milk it for all it was worth.
"The third one was my favorite. Kinda sentimental, y'know? But the best fighter you're ever likely to see. Jhonen, that was his name, Jhonen was the son of this paranormal crime lord. We had to keep the whole thing on the DL, 'cause his dad had no clue what was going on. Superstitious guy, Jhonen, wouldn't wear black on Fridays. I remember once, he stopped right in the middle of a blow job, 'cause some owl hooted outside the car." The criminal laughed out loud, catching sight of Ben's startled face.
"Okay, maybe that's more than you wanted t' hear. Anyways, me and Jhonen broke it off when his dad started to catch on." The look on Kevin's face might have been called 'nostalgic', provided whoever said that was in a far away room. "So... that was the end of that. Four was nothing special, besides being half alien--but not a plumber's kid, so don't get any ideas. I broke up with him when I got bored, like two weeks later or somethin'."
"Oh. What species?"
"Mmm… Can't remember the technical name, something green with big red eyes and a bigger... um, never mind." The mutant shrugged somewhat apologetically.
"...Right. So then what?" urged Ben.
"There was a girlfriend between four and five, but that's not what we're talkin' about. Lemme see... I started datin' the last one about three months before you and Gwen found me. Pretty much a jerk all around, but then what guy isn't?" Kevin stood up brushed himself off, and then--as a second thought--offered his car-washing companion a hand up.
"So how come you don't have one now?" the brunet asked, taking the offered hand.
"... I'm not sure I want to tell you that." the bigger teen crossed his arms and looked hard at his, now standing, opposite.
"Please?"
"Okay, here's a hint, because I'm in a good mood: Maybe I got my eye on someone who don't know it yet?" Kevin uncrossed his arms and grabbed the bucket.
He headed for the house with the pail of soap water in one hand, singing again. "Hold me, lo-ove me..."
Ben stared after him, startlingly confused for someone who just had all his questions answered. Not to mention, trying rather hard to ignore the criminal's weirdly swaying hips.
"Ain't got nothin' but love boy, eight days a wee-ek."
...I thought this up last night while waiting for the spider I just coated in raid to freaking DIE. I don't know if I'll turn it into a multi-chapter (if I do, it'll only be like, four chapters.). I DO however, know that it's supposed to be happening (just after) in the same time line as A Place. Which, come to think of it, means it's also after Scylla and Charybdis.
Yeah. But anyways, despite its sillyness, I don't think it's too OOC--feel free to argue that point, maybe I'm just not seeing it. Kevin is just a weird guy, in my humble opinion, and he likes to get Ben's goat.
(oh, and yeah. That was a half-Irken, if you know what I mean)
Comments? Critique? Continue?