A/N: I feel like I've been neglecting Ben 10. For this, I am eternally sorry. I've got my hands full with high school now and certain ideas strike for certain characters and recently, not all of them have been in the favor of this show. Set after "Absolute Power", probably a few days later or so.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or any associated characters.
"Hey, Ben?"
The boy's jade eyes rose from staring at the smoothie of pineapple, guava, and wheatgrass in his hand to the dark boy that was perched on the chair at the desk in Ben's room. Ben flipped a few strands of his copper-tinted hair from hanging in his green gaze. "Yeah?" asked Ben, turning down the volume on the tv while a commercial blared from the speakers, trying to sell Hello Kitty merchandise.
A heavily calloused hand ran through Kevin's ebony locks as his obsidian eyes darted from watching Ben to staring at the carpeted floor at his feet. "I never got to thank you... for trying to kill me."
This made Ben's eyebrow arch higher than usual. The younger teen's gaze burned with curiosity, the shock that passed across his features enough to make him look like he had just seen a ghost. Part of him was wondering if this was really Kevin. Another part of him was wondering if this was a serious conversation. The rest of his head toyed with the idea of this being some twisted nightmare where Kevin was actually nice to him for the first time in forever. "What?" he spluttered, trying to grope for more words after the inital question was out. "Have you gone cuckoo in the head again?"
A faint smile of sadness pressed to Kevin's lips, hanging there like an old friend lost long ago to tragedy; the dark orbs of his eyes shone with a bit of amusement that he wanted to show, but he didn't have the heart to force a laugh. "No, I'm pretty sure all your electric outlets have been covered due to recent events," said Kevin, barely able to scrape out the remnants of humor that he had left and manage a soft chuckle that lasted for scarcely a second.
"Why would you thank me for trying to kill you?" spat Ben, trying to decide whether to approach this with a certain hostility or to quietly avoid it and suffer through a calm questioning. "I mean, I really would've if Cooper hadn't had a way to change you back."
"And I would've done the same if you had been me," said Kevin, finally lifting his black gaze to meet that of his best friend in a shade of emerald. "I would've killed you too. Not out of spite, though. I've made amends with my inner demons. We're kind of on the same side now."
One side of Ben's mouth curved up, taking on the form of a smile that reminded Kevin of a crescent moon lingering in the solemn night's starry sky. Then the puzzlement returned to Ben's face almost as soon as it had vanished. "But why thank me?" asked the brunette Tennyson once more, brown brows now furrowed together to create the illusion of a caterpillar creeping across his forehead.
"Because you kept Gwen safe."
The answer smacked Ben in the face like a dead fish. For some reason, he felt stupid for believing that this could be a brotherly bonding moment between him and his best friend. Sometimes, he was capable of seeing Kevin as a brother. When he wasn't being horribly obnoxious, at least. "It wasn't just for Gwen, it was for the univ-"
"Man, I just don't want to see her get hurt. I've done bad things and the way I see it, it won't end well for her with any scenario this life plays out as." Once more, Kevin played with the ends of his hair the color of a raven's wing. "I can only see myself breaking her heart if something like Aggregor shows up again. I don't want to have to resort to having to absorb energy again to take care of something, but if I have to..."
"You won't," assured Ben, patting the Ultimatrix. "Gwen and I have you covered on that." His green orbs glittered with hope for his broken friend.
"Benji, just don't let me hurt her." Kevin's gaze was once more ripped from Ben's as he stared at the tv while more advertisements danced across the flickering screen. "That's all I'm asking." His arm went over the back of the chair as he resumed his relaxed pose that reflected his bad boy image perfectly. "I just want to make sure that Gwen'll be better off when I'm gone."
"It almost sounds like you plan on leaving," muttered Ben under his breath, turning up the volume just a tad so that if could be heard a bit more clearly.
Kevin's words were a response to Ben's comment, but they were hidden so under his breath that not even the younger teen could hear him. "My future has never looked bright, Tennyson." He let out a quiet sigh before resuming to watch the mindless garbage of Sumo Slammers.
A/N: It looked longer when I wrote it… Anyways, please review!
~Sky