Rook was in adventure mode. Ben had let him borrow his computer so that he could learn more about this wonder known as "The Internet."
It was quite odd. In addition to other things, he had learned that humans took characters from various forms of media and created fictional works of them.
Which was why he was surprised to see that there was an archive for such creations for Ben Tennyson.
Curious, he clicked the link. Interesting, there was an entire list of stories, and almost all of them were about people he knew. One story in particular caught his attention. It was titled, "Ben and Rook's Realization." He clicked again.
He read through the lines, trying to understand what this was. The plot made no sense, jumping from one moment to another. But beyond that, something else puzzled him. There was a word in it that he did not know the meaning of. It was strange, and he wanted to learn about it.
He got the chance as soon as Ben walked in.
Rook turned to his friend. "I must ask. What is frenching?"
Ben raised an eyebrow. "Okay? Why the question?"
Rook turned back to the computer. "There is a sort of 'fan story' on here where we are performing that action." Ben was quick to grimace. "I found it odd because we are not in France."
"Umm... Rook, that's not what it is. You're reading a slash story."
Rook tilted his head. "What is a slash story?"
"It's when they pair two characters of the same gender," sighed Ben.
"I do not understand."
"You know, as partners."
"But I thought we are-"
"As romantic partners."
"Oh." Rook stared blankly. "Why would they do that?" He could not recall anything he did suggesting that he and Ben were attracted to one another.
Ben shrugged. "When you're as awesome as me, it happens sometimes."
Rook rolled his eyes. "I see. There is almost a total of four thousand of these stories."
"Wow, that many?" He looked at the summaries. "Me and Julie, me and Eunice, me and... Kevin? Don't know where that came from. Kevin and Gwen... lots of it. And, yuck, me and Gwen."
"I thought cousins did not marry in this country."
"The writers don't care."
"I see."
Ben stared at the archive. "Vilgax with Psyphon, Albedo with an OC... Wow, even Ship has been shipped."
Rook continued to scroll down the list. "This story has me curious," he mused.
Click. Both he and Ben stared at the screen, reading, until...
"Azmuth?! With me as Way Big?!" Ben squeaked, his eyes filled with horror. "Doing THAT?!"
"I do not believe that is even anatomically possible," noted Rook. He scratched his head.
"Ew, I don't want to think about it!" He backed away from the computer.
A smile spread across Rook's face as he continued reading it. "I have to admire the grammar. It appears better than that of a lot of the other stories on here. Listen, 'It delicately slid into the proper place like-'"
"Agh! That's it!"
Ben slammed the Omnitrix, and, in a flash, Brainstorm appeared in his place.
"I must expunge this abomination of a memory from my psyche immediately. Now, where in my residence lies the sodium hypochlorite?" he muttered to himself as he scuttled off, skull plates wide open.
Without a word, Rook turned back to the computer and clicked the "Next Chapter" button. This was, after all, teaching him a lot about the human mind. Not to mention, this was also oddly amusing, and it annoyed Ben.
One thought crossed his mind: Who took the time to write it?
"I, DR. ANIMO, have created a story that shall horrify the masses! MWAHAHAHA!"
A pair of Plumbers in the surveillance room were watching the insane scientist from the monitor. One elbowed the other and said, "Why do I have the feeling letting him have Internet access was a bad idea?"
