I don't own the Ben 10 franchise, you guys. But you knew that.

Gwen was a fourteen year old girl with long, red hair and almond-shaped green eyes. She was also a very patient person. Usually. And by usually, I mean to say that she was normally patient under normal circumstances. Then again, when it came to her dofus of a cousin, Benjamin, circumstances were nearly never normal.

The whole shebang had begun when said cousin asked her over that evening after dinner, so he could have some help studying for an Algebra test that was coming up the very next day. Actually, in all honesty, it wasn't so much Ben that really cared about the studying, but his mother certainly did, and if Ben didn't care about the mathematics exam, he did care about the stern lecturing he'd recieve from his mother if he didn't at least attempt to study. And as such, Gwen was currently sat up in her cousin's bedroom, plopped on his bed alongside him as he himself lazily glanced down at the textbook laid open across his lap.

"Who are we kidding, Gwen?" he said to her. "I'll never understand all this stuff in time for that test tomorrow."

"Yeah, not with that attitude, you won't," Gwen retorted, before glancing over at the opened book. "Oh, come on! This first problem is impossibly easy!"

"Says who?" Ben replied. "I'm not a rocket scientist, you know."

"Well then it's a good thing this isn't rocket science," Gwen said right back. "Now come on. If "x" is equal to the number three, and "x" is multiplied by "y", and the total sum of both variables is fifteen, then what is "y" equal to? Ben? Ben…?"

Glancing over to the other side of the bed, Gwen let out an exasperated sigh as she realized that her cousin wasn't paying any attention to the algebra equation at all. He was instead lying back against the comforter atop his bed, his portable GameStation in his hands.

Annoyed and at her wits' end (for she had been there in his room trying to help him for the past hour or so, at least, anyway) Gwen took the book from atop his lap and smacked him hard on the knees with it. "Ow!" Ben exclaimed, sitting bolt upright on the bed. "What was that for?"

"For not paying attention. Now for the last time, what does "y" equal? Come on, this stuff is important!"

"Oh for goodness sake, Gwen! It's not the end of the world if I don't know what "y" is equal to, or whatever!" Ben snapped back. "So what if I fail one measley little Algebra exam? What's it matter anyway? There'll be other math tests!"

"This test will count for one third of your final grade, Ben. Stop acting like an idiot and put that game away already."

"Okay, okay. I'll put the GameStation away. But then, I ask you, how on earth will I occupy myself?"

"You're supposed to be occupying yourself with the algebra, you nimrod! Ugh! Why do I even bother?"

Noticing the thoroughly disappointed and upset look on her cousin's face, Ben decided to relent a bit. "Okay, look," he said to her, taking the textbook from his cousin and closing it with a snap, before tossing it onto the bedroom floor. "I'll do the algebra you want me to do, but first we get to play a game."

"Ben…" Gwen said in a tired sort of voice, but her cousin cut her off, saying,

"C'mon - at least humor me, will you?"

Sighing, Gwen folded her arms as she remained sat on the bed. "Fine. Go on, then, tell me this game you want to play, but make it a quick one."

"Okay then," Ben replied, before scratching at his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Hmm, okay. I think I've got it - we'll play Truth or Dare."

"Truth or Dare?" Gwen repeated back. "Seriously?"

"Yep, seriously," Ben answered her, before adding. "And I'll even volunteer to go first. So tell me, which is it? Truth or dare?"

Sighing, the lanky girl rolled her eyes, before saying in a lazy voice, "Truth, I guess."

"Alright then, tell me this: is it true you used to have a crush on our gym teacher, Mr. Sawa?"

Turning a tinge red in the face, Gwen mumbled a sound that resembled the word 'yes', before adding, "But what's it to you anyway? That was a dumb question. But whatever. You go on now - truth or dare?"

"Fine. Hit me with your best shot. Truth."

"Okay, Ben," Gwen said. "Is it true that you asked out Kaci Stewart the other day, and that she turned you down right away?"

Turning a tinge red in the face his own self, Ben twiddled his thumbs idly, before answering, "Yes, that's true, but she was supposed to turn me down, so it doesn't really matter that she did."

Not even bothering with the protocol of the game they were playing, Gwen didn't ask Ben truth or dare, but instead said, "Care to elaborate?"

"Not really," Ben said at once. "Now go on, ask me truth or dare."

"Fine. Truth or dare?" Gwen replied, her arms folding across her bosom.

"Truth," Ben said once more, not trusting what Gwen might make him do at this point after annoying her by avoiding the Kaci Stewart situation; better to play safe, after all.

"Okay, truth it is then," Gwen replied, before adding, "Tell me the truth about why you asked out Kaci Stewart."

Ben sighed to himself. He'd gotten himself into a trap of sorts, and he felt that he should have somehow seen it coming. Closing his eyes as a painful expression came over his face, he finally looked over to his cousin with half squinted eyes. "I was just practicing. That's all."

"Practicing for what?" Gwen asked at once, just as Ben figured she would.

"Practicing for asking a girl out, obviously. I just needed some girl advice. What's the big deal?" he exclaimed to her in a rather annoyed tone of voice, before throwing his hands up in the air. "I mean, why else would someone practice something unless they were planning on actually doing the something that they were practicing for? Do you not comprehend basic, common sense? And since when is asking for girl advice from an actual girl such a big deal anyway?"

Rolling her eyes as she stood up from the bed, Gwen leant her head over to the side, before saying, "So what's with all this theatrics and stalling? What aren't you telling me?"

"I'm not not telling you anything. Geez, Gwen. Look, if you're so curious about all this, why don't you give Kaci Stewart a call and find out everything for yourself?"

"Okay," the redheaded teen replied at once, slipping her cell phone from her back pocket. "I'll just give her a call like you said, and-"

"No!" Ben exclaimed at once, reaching forward and snatching the mobile phone from his cousin's hand.

"What is with you?" Gwen asked him, arching an eyebrow. "Gimme my phone back!"

"Nope. Not gonna," the brown-haired young man said to her, before promptly tossing the cell phone out through the nearby open window.

"Ben!" Gwen shouted, before running over to the window and sticking her head outside of it to see where it had landed, before sticking her head back inside and turning to face Ben. "It was just raining outside there earlier, you idiot! My phone's probably ruined now. You are so paying for it, you idiotic, spastic-"

Whatever Gwen was about to finish saying, however, was cut off spontaneously - by her cousin's lips. Her eyes popping open wide as she felt her body lean back instinctively against the window sill, Gwen felt as if all the blood in her entire body was rushing to her head, for it was certainly beginning to spin. The more it spun around, the more flustered she began to feel, and - as if they had a mind of their own - her hands, she found, had suddenly moved around to the back of her cousin's head, her slender fingers running through his rough and unkempt hair.

Returning the gesture, Ben hooked his arms around Gwen's waist, dipping her backwards as he deepend the kiss for another few seconds more, before breaking off the kiss almost as suddenly as he had began to kiss her in the first place, and it was with a breathless sort of stare that he looked back at his cousin, both of their faces red as scarlet.

After a few seconds of silence, Ben found his voice again, and he said to Gwen in a strange, uneven pitched sort of way, "So, should we go back to truth or dare, or…?"

"Uhm… sure," Gwen answered him, before bending over forward and lifting the textbook from the floor. "I... I dare you to figure out these first five algebra problems."

Sighing, Ben replied, "I had a feeling you'd do just that, Gwen."

"Well then, Ben, maybe it turns out you already know plenty about girls after all."

"Actually, I'm not all too sure about that, Gwen," he answered her, stepping up to her once more, until his face was within an inch of hers. "Maybe there's a little more left for me to learn."

And then he kissed her again, once more, with feeling.