Heart's a Mess
Bluff
That was the amusing thing about humans. Upon losing her eyesight in the explosion, from all the commotion and confusion, she was willing to trust him. After all, his face was the perfect replica of someone she trusted with her life. At least it felt exactly the same.
Through it all, he could feel her constantly questioning him. But he was getting better at lying through his teeth. Her eyes still looked perfectly dark despite the injury and yet she couldn't see his left eye twitch.
Then she lead them to the Alien Force headquarters.
"What's that, a new look?"
"Yes, Ed," he said flatly. "That is exactly what it is."
He didn't even look at her to see her face contorting slightly.
As they stepped into the compound, the humming machinery around them not even remotely distracting him from listing which tech is which. While his fingers tapped into the main computer's keyboard, something clicked, followed by the sound of recharge from a blaster directed at his head.
But she didn't shoot. He also knew that she couldn't shoot. Not because she had no idea how to handle the blaster but because it was never in her heart, in her trembling hands, to kill. Unlike him. He sat on the desktop and stared at the unseeing figure. No one would come for an indeterminate amount of time. Like her, he waited. Not for the kid who she thought was him, but for her constantly shifting, uncertain black eyes to come to a dead stop. And pull the trigger. To satisfy his morbid curiosity.
The other girls present in the Omnitrix bearer's group would have pulled that blaster faster than she did. But she was unwilling, uncertain. He could call her bluff. If he was at all honest, he'd admit that they were at a stalemate. She couldn't shoot him. He couldn't kill her. She was too interesting. Like a warmonger watching a peacemaker.
"You should put that down," he advised her, a slight hint of condescension in his tone - like an adult talking to a child. Which was a given. The body was deceptive. He was much older than this. He threatened, "You're endangering yourself more than me."
When he remained sitting still on the desktop, he thought he saw a small smile on her lips. Even without sight, she must have already called his bluff.
Advice
She knew perfectly who he was. Making her way over to him despite that fact made her believe she was secretly suicidal. However, that couldn't be the case because she had a lot going for her. Starting with her capabilities in tennis.
A hiss. The stomps she was making on the floor was becoming more forceful. Strange how if she saw the face quite similar to the guy she was approaching, she would shove her tennis trophy up his - Not that she could really do that. But she was pissed with him anyway and she needed to vent. Someone with his face was perfect to vent on.
So she was here at Burger Shack, plopping herself unceremoniously on the chair across his white-haired clone. Said clone paused from eating a fry to stare at her pointedly.
"Am I really that unimportant?" she asked. He blinked in confusion and was about to ask something but she interrupted. "Do I ask too much? It's one day I ask for him to watch my game and - Ugh! A movie! The Forever Knights, okay. Not a movie!" The figure in front of her raised both eyebrows. "I wanted to watch it anyway. But no!" She slammed her forehead on the table before the person in front of her could respond.
Then she raised her head so quickly she actually surprised him into dropping the fry on his hand. His lips flattened to a thin line.
"I heard that there are other girls who just latch on to their boyfriend and never let go. Do I act that clingy?" she demanded, her voice unintentionally loud. The other patrons were staring at their table. "I don't even ask to go to his Hero Time. I don't call him every day. Then I ask for him to be there in this really important, life-changing event for me and- and-" She was shaking. Too angry.
The clone was staring at her as if he wanted to dig a hole through her head with just the force of his glare. Normally, Julie had wonderful amounts of self-preservation instinct. Not that day. Anger was first.
He opened his mouth to say something.
But she said something first, "Am I ugly? Is that why?" More insecurity than self-preservation. "What? He doesn't even care anymore because I'm not even worth it?" The copy stared at her owlishly, blinking pointedly now and again.
Before she could open her mouth again, he stood up from his seat violently and slammed his hands on the table.
"You are not demanding to him, but you are to me! I don't know if you are ugly or not! I can't tell! What do I care about the aesthetics your insignificant species possesses! Why ask me? If you find all this so troubling, ask him! And leave me alone! I don't even know you!" There was a pause. "Perhaps you are not so ugly. Otherwise, I would have killed you by now for bothering me!"
She blinked. Once. Twice. Then she started to smile.
Moving out of the opposite chair, she walked over to the practically angrily panting clone of her boyfriend and hugged him. "Thank you!" she said to him while he stiffened in her arms. Then she was off. If Ben called, she would pick up her phone.
For a moment, Albedo's eye just twitched in response to the outlandish events that had happened. He had questions of his own. Who in the Godforsaken galaxy was that girl? Forever Knights? Hero Time? She must have been talking about the Omnitrix bearer.
"You and your girlfriend really should have taken that outside," a person on the adjacent table said to him.
Whipping his white-haired head to the direction of the person who talked, he glared viciously at the insolent human. He'd already forgotten what he was thinking before because of how irritated he was at the suggestion. Hissing, he grabbed his chilli fries and stomped outside of the greasy establishment. Was there any hole in that damned planet where he could eat in peace?
Not So Different
Arrogant.
The thing about Ben was that he was, at heart, insecure. There were people like that. Building walls of strength out of the paper thin parts of one's weaknesses. It was a shield, preventing him from getting hurt. So he was overconfident just to stop others from noticing that he was actually feeling insecure.
She loved that about him. His weaknesses emphasized the humanity that others failed to remember because of his heroism; because of the deeds that made him larger than life. It told her that at the end of the day, Ben and her weren't so different after all.
Albedo, on the other hand.
"Is that all? You really are just a pathetic human," he scoffed, looking at her on the floor with his chin raised.
Okay, she had to concede. That was really cool. She had her tennis racket raised, running towards him at full speed. The only action he took was that when she got close enough, he crouched down and delivered a spinning kick from the floor. She toppled right over. The tennis racket bounced out of her hands. Her side hurt in so many ways from that move.
When he spoke, her ears started ringing in annoyance. He was so arrogant. Not pretend arrogant either. Every word was stated in the way that confirmed to her that he believed it. Every word.
Well, much could be said about her own pride. She wasn't going down without a fight. Crumpled on the floor, she refused to move until he was close enough and his body stance told her he'd let his guard down. Using her elbows to give her that momentum, she kicked his gut with both legs with all the force that she could muster.
The smile on her face said everything about how proud she was about that move. Maybe they weren't so different after all.
A/N: I wasn't going to show this to anyone else but, hey, I liked them. I can't call "Advice" micro fiction. It's too long. XD And I write a lot of Benlie that my poor Allie plot bunny is shuffling around in a corner feeling unloved. So there. It's finally out of my system. XD