Hi folks. This is one of four element themed One-Shots. Water, Fire, Earth and Air. I'll work on these while I'm stuck with the plot for Sparkling Love to keep my writing skills sharp, as my betareader, Otaku Maiden, put it. The four stories won't be connected with each other.
This story is kinda sad, since it was written while I was depressed. At the time I feared that I was going to be thrown out of school. How would I have explained that to my mother? Don't get me wrong. I didn't do anything bad, but my grades in this semester aren't the best and since I was transfered from another school to this one, we weren't sure about my status at the school.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OF BEN 10. I only own the plot for this story and the character Ieisha.
Pairing: Pierce x Ben
Warnings: Possible need for tissues, Shonen-ai (boy x boy), possible Ooc, mpreg (If you don't like any of those, press the back button NOW)
Water – Tears
Ben, eighteen year old hero, sat in the living room of his home. He had moved out of his parents' home almost a year ago. The Bellwood Plumber base was his home now and he had his peace here since it was inactive and wouldn't be active ever again. It was too small nowadays to serve as a normal base. Ben had transformed the base into an underground house. Sometimes his friends and family would visit.
Most of the rooms were unused, dark, silent and unfurnished. In some places there was a thick layer of dust. Ben only cleaned the rooms he used every day. Even though the light and the walls were bright, the rooms were felt cold to him.
A one-year-old girl with brown hair and blue eyes lay in his arms. Small tears streamed down his face. Only in times where he was alone he allowed the tears to fall.
Your eyes are just like you father's, Ieisha*,Ben thought as more tears fell from his own eyes while he looked at his sleeping daughter. She was one of the reasons he had moved out of his parents' home. He was still an active Plumber. When he was on a mission, his parents would usually babysit Ieisha.
No one knew that Ieisha was Ben's biological daughter. He hadn't known why he had been able to get pregnant, but he was thankful for that gift. Ieisha was the only thing that kept him going aside from his responsibility as the wielder of the Ultimatrix. As far as the others were concerned, they thought he had found her during one of his off-planet missions.
He himself had only found out about the pregnancy one and a half years ago, shortly after his lover had disappeared. His lover had been declared dead two months later, since they found neither a live sign nor his body. The only reason Ben had been able to hide his pregnancy was because his stomach had been relatively flat during that time. The small bump, which had been showing, had been thought to be the result of too much chocolate.
The sudden sound of the 'doorbell' ringing ripped him from his thoughts. He quickly wiped away the tears and went to the entrance gate. Gwen, Kevin, Helen, Alan, Cooper and Manny were standing outside with smiles on their faces. Ben smiled back and let them into his home.
"How's Ieisha doing?" Gwen asked her cousin as they all went to the living room.
"The doctor said that everything's as it should be," Ben replied and motioned for his visitors to sit down on the couch. He handed his daughter to Helen and then disappeared into the kitchen. A few minutes later, he came back with tea and cookies for everyone. The brunette sat down next to Helen, who returned Ieisha to his arms.
"And how's mommy doing?" Kevin teased Ben. It was kind of a reference to the incident with Big Chill. When Kevin had found out about Ben 'adopting' Ieisha he had started teasing Ben with the nickname 'mommy' again, though Ben didn't really mind. He got used to it. Besides, his lover would have been 'daddy'.
"I'm enjoying my vacation," Ben replied with a smirk. He had just returned from a two-week mission three days ago. For a while they continued to talk about how life was and what everyone was doing.
An hour had passed since Gwen and the others had arrived. Ben had just brought Ieisha to bed and had returned to the living room just seconds ago. Everyone stopped talking as soon as they noticed the serious expression on Ben's face.
"I've decided to tell you some of the secrets, which surround Ieisha. But first I want to ask some of you a question," Ben said calmly. The guests just nodded and waited for Ben to continue.
"Helen. Alan. I want you to be Ieisha's godparents," Ben stated. Inwardly, he was nervous, especially about what he was going to tell them later.
"I would love to. Ieisha's a sweet girl," Helen responded with a happy smile.
"Me too," Alan agreed with his female teammate. "But why us? Why not Gwen or Kevin?"
"As for you Alan, you seem to have a thing with kids and you're kinda like a younger brother to me. With Helen it's another reason, which you'll shortly understand," Ben answered the half-Pyronite's question. He told them to not to interrupt him until he was finished with a stern voice. The others could only nod.
"Pierce and I were lovers. He asked me out five months before he disappeared and we started dating. Two months later he knocked me up during our first time. I only found out about my pregnancy a week after his disappearance. My stomach stayed relatively flat during that time, allowing me to hide the pregnancy. What I'm trying to tell you is that Pierce and I are Ieisha's biological parents."
Ben's expression had gone from serious to sad. He looked like he was about to cry, but he held the tears back. He watched the reactions of his friends. Of course they were all shocked. Most of them, mainly Kevin and Manny, were shocked, because Ben had been in a relationship with a male and got pregnant the normal way. Well as normal as it could be for a man to get pregnant.
Helen wasn't really shocked that Pierce had been with Ben. She had known that her adoptive brother had had a thing for the green-eyed hero, though she hadn't known that they had actually been together. She was more shocked that Ben had been raising his daughter alone without the one he loved.
Gwen was shocked for similar reasons, while Alan and Cooper were mainly amazed at how well Ben had been taking care of his daughter despite being a single parent and a full-fledged, active Plumber.
"We meant to tell you after that one mission, but after Pierce was gone I couldn't bring myself to tell you," Ben confessed with a shaky voice. Helen jumped up and was at Ben's side within second. She pulled him into a hug to give him some solace. She could see that Ben still loved her brother.
Ben willingly leaned into the hug. Only now did he notice just how much he needed someone to support him. Since Pierce had disappeared he had solved every problem without the help of others. But now that the secrets were out in the open, he felt like breaking down. At the same time he felt a lot less heavy.
With shaky hands, Ben reached into one of his pockets. He pulled out a picture and gave it to Helen. It showed Pierce and Ben under an arch made of red roses. Ben was wearing his usually outfit in the picture, minus the green trademark jacket, which was tied around his waist. Pierce had changed out of his uniform and was wearing black jeans and a dark blue, sleeveless shirt. His trademark wristbands had remained.
Both of them had very happy smiles on their faces. Pierce was standing behind Ben with his arms wrapped around the younger teen's waist and his chin resting on Ben's left shoulders. Ben's arms covered the ones of Pierce. Neither of them was looking at the person who had taken the picture. Instead they looked at each other with gazes full of love.
"It was taken during our first date," Ben whispered, but everyone could hear him. The picture was his treasure and he always carried it around with him. Just like the silver, heart-shaped necklace, which contained small pictures of both of them and had been a present from Pierce shortly before his disappearance.
Finally, Ben couldn't take it anymore. The tears broke loose and streamed down his face. This time it wasn't silent crying like when he was alone. Sobs racked his body and his knees gave in, causing him to pull Helen down onto the ground with him.
No one really knew what to do. They had never encountered such a situation. Helen just continued to hold the weeping man in her arms and whispered soothing words. Helen asked Gwen to get more tea and gave Alan the task of finding some blankets. The two of them set off to do what Helen asked of them.
Alan was the first to return with a bunch of blankets and handed them to the Kineceleran. Helen used them to wrap the still-crying Ben up in order to give him warmth. The tea would provide additional warmth once Ben had calmed down.
It took them almost thirty minutes to calm Ben down. Afterwards, everyone decided to stay the night to give Ben a real vacation. They would help with Ieisha, the chores, and maybe one of them would take Ben out to an amusement park tomorrow, while the others took care of his daughter and reorganised the base.
Maybe then Ben would be able to forget his grief for a while. They knew that Ben would never stop loving Pierce, but they could still help him to deal with his loss, so that one day he would be able to smile a happy smile instead of a sad one when thinking about him.
*Ieisha means 'Alive' or 'She Who Lives'. Personally I prefer the second meaning. There's a reason I chose that name for her. I'm sure you can guess what reason.
Critique and reviews are always welcomed. I'm not sure if I'm going to write a sequel to this one, because I haven't decided whatever Pierce is dead or not.