She found Ben downstairs, stealing shortbread biscuits from the jar next to the Bread Bin - both things were painted a hideous tortoiseshell pattern and as though to complete that same dastardly effect, her mother was leaning next to the dishwasher, her brown jacket clashing horribly against her tan trousers. And all the while, her eyebrows steadily rose into her hairline as Ben frantically shoveled four of the now misshapen shortbread biscuits into his mouth.

Gwen suppressed a shudder.

'You do know how much fat is in those things, right?' she asked.

Ben didn't so much as glance at her. 'WhrydoyathiunkImma eating 'em?' he grunted out.

Her mother looked appalled, and quite honestly Gwen couldn't blame her. Ben was far from polite, but he usually made an effort to act civilised in front of her parents.

'Ben,' she said, then trailed off. Because her mother didn't like alien stuff. Her nose wrinkled if she ever so much as saw pink flare off from Gwen's eyes or hands.

Ben snorted and swallowed a few crumbs from his fingers. 'Aunt Natalie, not to be a pain, but we're gonna be talking about alien stuff. Anodite stuff. Not that we wanna make you feel uncomfortable or anything, but...'

Her mother sniffed and promptly walked out of the room and for one brief moment, Gwen was reminded of Sunny and Verdona and the way they pointedly glided away from anything that failed to hold their interest. The comparison was enough to make her smile.

'You shouldn't have done that. She'll send you the cheapest possible card for your next birthday and no present.'

Ben gave her a level stare. 'Oh no, how on earth will I survive?'

Gwen's smile widened and she brought her hand up to her face, letting a familiar pink glow burst up around her palm. Then she stretched it out towards Ben, almost as though she were asking for a handshake.

'Gwen, what are you-'

'Remember when we first went to Ledgerdomain and Charmcaster and I held hands to power up her spells?' she interrupted. 'I couldn't hurt her with my mana because she had an affinity for it. And you won't be able to hurt me with yours, no matter how out of control it gets.'

Ben raised an eyebrow. 'What is this? A trust exercise?'

And Gwen raised one of her own in return. 'Sure. Why not?'

Ben stared at her for a minute and then slowly, as though he were afraid she was going to suddenly reach out and karate chop him in the palm, reached out with his own hand.

'No,' said Gwen softly, 'c'mon, light it up. You won't hurt me.'

Ben gave her a piercing stare but after a moment his brow wrinkled and pink flickered around his fingers. It seemed to shudder, sliding out into non-existence for one second, before springing back into an unsteady flare of light, the next.

Tired, Gwen reached out and grasped his hand, threading her mana directly into the briefs spikes of light clashing against her steady glow. Ben jolted at that and so did she. A flood of nerves, of anger, pulsed low and steady into her head from Ben, and she struggled, projecting calm into the light around her palm, as she tried to soothe the jittery flickers round Ben's fingers.

Ben breathed. 'Oh no,' he said, 'I did not sign up for any mind-jedi tricks.'

He was about to pull back, Gwen could tell, so she said in a rush: 'wait, wait, tell me how you lit it up the first time?'

Ben blinked. 'I was trying to stop Charmcaster. I panicked because she was going to you and I couldn't really stop it.' A half-hearted smile appeared on his face, dancing there briefly before it dropped away and Gwen felt herself ache to see it go. 'I was so caught up in everything that was happening that I didn't even stop to use the Omnitrix. Lame, huh?'

'It wouldn't be the first time you've rushed into the action without transforming,' Gwen pointed out, surprised to hear her voice emerge as a low whisper. 'I can understand why Rook's so happy about this happening, even if you aren't.'

As soon as she mentioned his partner, the light surrounding Ben's hand flared, reaching up to twine with her own glow. It pulsed slightly, and Gwen felt a rush of more anger, leaked with confusion and a touch of affection leaking up her arm and into her stomach. It was weird feeling the realm of the emotional breach into the physical, no longer trapped inside the boy before her, and she wondered if the transition felt smoother to pure Anodites, given the way their bodies were designed.

Ben laughed. 'Okay, this is more like it.' He gave her a fond look. 'You're just as freaked out about this as I am, aren't you? I wasn't sure but yep, I'm feeling all kinds of trepidation from you.'

Gwen sighed. 'I'm sorry. I don't want to be all petty and jealous but-'

'No, no,' Ben said airily, waving his free hand around in a dismissive, well, wave. 'I get it. Before that summer with Grandpa I used to get jealous of the way your parents, well, your mum anyway, would boost to mine, about all these certificates and prizes you'd win. She actually used to bring your medals round and show them off in a little velvet-coated box like they were a diamond ring or something. And my Mum would just sit, a pleasant smile on her face and say, 'yes, Ben's doing quite well on the soccer team.' Which didn't really compare, you know? I mean, she was nice about it and everything but you could just feel it, the way my Dad was struggling to smile with her and how your mum was...' Ben trailed off, suddenly aware that anything he might say next probably wouldn't paint her mum in the best light.

Gwen swallowed. 'I never knew you felt like that. I mean you were always calling me a geek and dweeb and stuff. I always thought you looked down on me as a swot.'

'Well, I kinda did,' Ben admitted. 'But that didn't mean that I couldn't see how it paid off sometimes.'

Gwen laughed and the orb of light round her palm slid carefully into her cousin's, causing them to shine a brilliant, hot white for a moment, to burn like a miniature sun, before thoughts and images started racing down between them like snapshots from a holiday album, all jumbled out of time.

-Pride, delicious, hot, dizzy pride threading through her at the look on Ken's face because he had come to see her, taken time out from his tour of university campuses to see her at her drama club, even though Mum hadn't come, telling her that it 'wasn't as if there was an achievement waiting for you at the end of it, anyway.' –

-Guilt, stupid, hot, ugly guilt, and it made him shake as he saw the red stain the water, his Grandpa's hand on his back as he said 'that's nature for you,' but still Ben didn't mean to, if he had known the larger fish would tear the smaller one apart, he would never have put them in the same bucket-

-'Sorry,' Gwen said as she touched the burn on Kevin's mouth, she had only lost control for a second, but sometimes that was all it took-

- 'Sorry,' said Rook as he touched the bite on Ben's shoulder, and Ben had only made the tiniest yelp, but sometimes that was all it took-

-for him to look at her and grin and say 'hot.'-

-for him to look at him and sigh and say 'let us stop.'-

- 'NO!' screamed Gwen, seeing Kevin and Ben fall at her feet, looking lifeless, and it tugged at her, that temptation to go full-on Anodite and sweep all their enemies away, but if she did that she might not come back, might not want to go back to being human and easily hurt, and the disappointment in Kevin's and her Grandpa's eyes wouldn't even scorch her, she would look at them and think 'well, aren't they tiny.'-

- No, thought Ben, seeing the Omnitrix fly off his wrist, feeling something in him shatter as he handed it over to Vilgax, because Gwen and Kevin were more important, always would be, but there was still something selfish in him that wondered, for the briefest of moments, what would happen if he said no, if he slammed his palm down and trusted in the chance that he could move just that little bit faster than Vilgax and then he wouldn't have to give anything up at all.-

-'Yes,' said Kevin, the grin overtaking his face, 'a million times yes, babe, we'll be there and back before your art class starts at three.' -

-'Yes,' Ben heard himself say, 'whatever you want Rook Blonko, Magister, I'll call you anything you want if you get us home in time to catch the Sumo Slammer special.'-

-A hole opened up her insides at the look on Ben's face, at the way the ice in his voice bit her as he said Kevin needed to be put down like a dog-

-A hole opened up his insides at the look on Grandpa's face, at the way his eyes flittered to the ground as he asked if he was sure, because he thought, after seeing the gameshow that he had something going on with Kai and wasn't she a nice girl and yes, Rook was nice too, but-

-'Everything will be alright, because we're gonna make it so,' Kevin declared stoutly, still half-naked, but Gwen didn't care because she had got him back and-

-'There you are,' Rook said, stroking Ben's hair away from his face and Ben shuddered at the sensation, at the overwhelming feeling of being human again and tried not to remember how a whole planet had filled his head not minutes before.–

Gwen staggered back, Ben grabbed the kitchen counter, and the light faded, the contact between them lost.

'You better not be setting off any magic fireworks in the kitchen!' came her mother's voice and Gwen laughed, still a little disoriented by the strength of feelings that were not her own, no matter how much of a memory they truly were.

'Wow,' Ben gasped, 'I did not need that close-up of Kevin.'

'And I never needed to see Rook make goo-goo eyes at me either!' Gwen retorted sharply, though her voice lacked any real heat.

Ben grinned at her, straightening slightly. 'Yeah. Perhaps this wasn't the best idea to make me jump aboard Team Anodite.'

Gwen snorted.

Ben frowned a little. 'It's not that I don't get why Rook wouldn't want me to have an extra weapon in my arsenal,' he said slowly. 'It's just...you weren't there. Although you might have caught the tail end of what it was like at the end there. And he was right about me not being...well, me. And it could still happen, if I get too immersed in being an Anodite. I've seen it happen to you.' He brought the Omnitrix up to his face, tilting it slightly as he eyed it's plastic shine. 'When I transform, I have to be that alien fully. All it's quirks, the body...it's mine and I'm it. Because if I'm not there, if I try to distance myself from it, then I'm distracted and I'm dead. It's just...I don't know how to be an alien and not fully immerse myself in the experience. And I can't do that with this Anodite thing. Otherwise I'll lose myself.'

Gwen's quiet. She'd never really heard Ben explain his transformations like that before. But it made sense.

'Kevin helps ground me,' she said quietly after a moment. 'And not just him, all that earthly stuff I once described to Grandma. Eating and doing fun stuff with my friends, breaking boards with my hands, things that being an Anodite doesn't help you feel.' She smiled. 'From what I've seen of you, you'll have no problems thinking up reasons to stay. Just think; a smoothie will never taste the same again if you're stuck as an Anodite.'

Ben's eyes widened in horror. And Gwen felt relief touch her. Because maybe, just maybe, she had managed to get through to him.

Night was a casual time, filled with the ringing of the doorbell and multiple boxes of pizza being delivered under the hallway light. But the Pizza-man still did a double take as Charmcaster collected the take-out - not because she was hot, but because Shar stood bristling over her shoulder - and that was mostly because Ben had hastily whispered for someone to 'supervise her, otherwise she could poison the pepperoni with a spell or something.'

Charmcaster ignored him and sniffed, drawing a few dollar bills out of thin air with a casual swirl of light that made the poor Pizza-man's eyes widen even further. Luckily, his legs still remembered how to work and he quickly high-tailed it out of there after the blue cat lady muttered about how 'there better be a way to prove that was not counterfeit tender.'

'Oh hush,' Charmcaster said cheerfully, bopping Shar on the nose with another magically appearing dollar bill. 'I can literally make it rain money and you're complaining? Why, do you want to pay the bill?'

Shar wrinkled her nose from under the droop of paper money that rested there, whisking it away with her fingers before popping it on top of the pizza boxes that Charmcaster was now making orbit round her shoulders. 'I have heard it is customary to give deliverymen tips on this planet. Please magic this into his pocket. He left without it.'

Charmcaster eyed her. 'If I make it disappear, how can you be sure I've done as you asked?'

Shar shrugged with one shoulder. 'I cannot. But it is better than having him scream because a blue-furred alien is running after him waving a piece of money.'

Charmcaster thought about that for a moment and then shrugged and brushed past her, the money disappearing with a rippling white flare of light. 'Alright, we got a cheese and tomato – boring, probably Gwen's-'

'Hey!'

'That's mine, actually.'

'Kevin's? Huh. Well aren't you a teddy bear. Oh, but you're sharing with Gwen so it still counts, ha. And now, ham and pineapple-'

'Mine,' said Shar firmly, grabbing the box before it could go sailing off onto the coffee table. 'I have never had pineapple that is cooked before – I am anxious to try it. And I am too hungry to share.'

Charmcaster smiled and to everyone else in the room, she gave off the same air as a hungry crocodile. 'Alright. And –urgh – anchovies, green pepper and chilli?'

'Oooh!' Rook bounced up from his seat like a child, arms eagerly outstretched. 'That would be mine! Are you sure you do not wish to share, Ben?'

Ben eyed him from behind his barrier of rose-pink cushions. 'Quite sure, yeah.'

Rook shrugged, not looking greatly surprised. 'Your loss.'

For a moment Charmcaster looked as though she wanted to hurl the box straight into his face just out of principle. But no, a moment later it simply went sailing into Rook's fingers in a low-set glide.

'So, I guess I'm sharing the pepperoni with Ben.'

'No funny stuff,' Ben warned her. 'This pepperoni better taste like spiced sausage and not magic slugs or frog guts or stuff.'

Gwen stopped and turned to fix him with a glare as she slowly chewed on her first mouthful of cheese and tomato.

Charmcaster cackled and bounced down between Ben and Rook, deftly untwisting the cardboard top from its base. 'Please. If I'm gonna kill you, it'll be with something much more flashy than poison.'

'How reassuring,' Kevin muttered.

But still. The evening was nice. Aunt Natalie was sulking upstairs at the amount of alien guests invading her house and Verdona was chilling on the ceiling, just watching them eat. And as Ben seized a huge mouthful of pepperoni, his teeth sawing through with a physical grind that almost felt painful, alongside the heat of melted cheese blurring against his tongue, he thought, for a moment, that maybe he could navigate his way out of this mess.

Ben groaned and thumped down against the sheets in Rook's quarters. He should have wanted to go home, should have wanted the comfort of familiarity that came with his green duvet. But going home meant dealing with his parents and he wasn't ready to talk to them about what had happened, would probably never be ready. His Mum wouldn't bat an eye, he didn't think, but his Dad...Ben groaned and rolled his head into Rook's pillow.

He heard the slight thump as Rook's Proto-Armour hit the floor and then the careful rustle as Rook folded it neatly into a typically squarish shape. Next, there was a slight thud as it was dropped firmly onto a shelf, before, after the sound of two easy strides, Rook's fingers became busy pushing into Ben's side, smoothing over the creases in his clothes with a faint nudge.

'You should not go to sleep, fully clothed. You will feel better if...'

'I wear attire more suited for the evening hours,' Ben said drolly, too tired to inject much mocking into his tone. He let out a snort as Rook raised a brow at him and then left to dig through a set of drawers nearby.

'You only ever leave one set of pyjamas over here and they are currently in the wash,' he muttered as explanation, glancing back in time to see the sly smile curl Ben's lips. He frowned as Ben waved a hand dismissively at him before letting it drop back onto the sheets. After all, what was the big deal?

It's not like they didn't often end up sleeping bare-skin-to-fur whenever he stayed the night. And it wasn't even a sex thing, just some weird rough cuddling that quickly descended into a casual drift into the land of slumber. He'd never met anyone quite like Rook before, someone so eager to hug in bed that he didn't care how ruffled and unmanly they looked doing it. Then again, it wasn't like Ben had really hugged a lot of other guys in bed, so he wasn't an expert, though it was, he acknowledged, the sort of thing Sunny would know or be interested in. Not that he was going to be traveling down that road, thank you very much.

'I can't believe Grandma wants me to take lessons from Gwen. And that she wants to supervise them.'

Rook's lips quirked. 'Your cousin does have more experience in managing her Anodite heritage, so it makes sense.'

Ben stared at the ceiling. 'I wonder if Sunny would give me lessons...Gwen's gonna get all technical and have actual lesson plans drawn up beforehand. But Sunny would let me have some fun.'

His view of the ceiling was promptly cut off as Rook threw a large T-shirt at him. Well, large by Ben's standards, not by Rook's. After he had finished drowning beneath the white material, Ben cast it from his face with a glare. 'Knew you still had that lying 't believe you spend the whole cruise wearing this over your armour.'

'Considering how the ship was attacked barely a day later, it turned out to be a wise choice,' Rook pointed out, before he seated himself beside Ben. But Ben was feeling a little too angsty to be comfortable around him and he quickly dived off, almost stumbling as he started tugging off his clothes in a whirl of hurried movement.

'Ben?' he heard his partner ask in trepidation as he slithered out of the prison jumpsuit and started yanking his underwear down his legs. Ben pushed out a shaky breath as he kicked off the last of his clothes, pausing to reshape them into a neatish pile with his hands rather than simply kicking them away from the bed the way he usually did. Then he straightened, and with all the confidence he didn't feel, he turned, marched over to Rook and flopped into his lap.

Rook went surprisingly rigid, hands knuckling into the sheets under his hips as Ben pushed his own hands round the cheeks that fell away under those surprised orange eyes, letting the fur poke through between fingers and thumbs. And then his mouth was attached to Rook's as he waggled his tongue inside, shoving in with that familiar swipe and stroke that, with them, was as familiar as a door knock.

Rook softened a little and shifted, his hand coming up to play with the loose dip at Ben's back that signified his spine falling away into a curve. And Ben pushed deeper, letting his tongue flick over Rook's teeth playfully, as he pulled his head back slightly to let himself lean in at a new angle.

'Love you,' he mumbled, between breaths, between licks, because now Rook's tongue was pressing forwards, ripping into his mouth with it's characteristic curl and flick that was so typical of a cat.

Rook let out an appreciative hum and pulled away, his other hand finally drifting away from the bed to settle at Ben's hip. 'We are not having sex,' he told Ben firmly, a rather wicked smirk pasting itself onto his mouth.

Ben eyed it, then tilted his head to one side slowly, letting the end of his curls fall against his neck with a slight rustle. It was a move that took more luck than actual skill to pull off, thanks to the bend of gravity, but he knew he struck gold by the way he saw Rook's throat bulge as he swallowed. Wasting no time, he leaned up to kiss the slight hollow the motion had left behind, smiling as the fur rose up to form another lump, also due to be swallowed down as his lips meshed with the fur once again.

'You say that, but I know you're interested,' Ben said, before pulling away to inspect the state of Rook's expression. Because yep, mission accomplished, he had managed to chase away that smirk and replace it with actual doubt. As well as an excited and widened gleam of inky black pupils. Poor Rook. Those cat-like attributes of his species really worked against him sometimes. 'Besides, I seem to remember promising to make it up to you when I was a lost waif of an Anodite.'

Rook frowned. 'I also remember telling you that I did not care so long as you became human again.' His hand climbed up over the curve of Ben's back and the crease of his shoulder, dragging its way into his hair. 'I love you, and I will always be there to help you find your way back into being a hairless ape once more,' he told him, sounding very grave. 'That will always be true no matter what alien form you have happened to immerse yourself in. Your experiences as Benjamin Tennyson outweigh them all.'

Ben made a face, trying to ignore the soothing strokes Rook was now pulling through his hair. 'Did you have a chat with Gwen while I wasn't paying attention?'

'An easy feat,' Rook teased, 'while your eyes were hooked on the 'action flick' in front of us. You did not notice Gwen giving me a 'look' as she asked me to help clear up the pizza boxes.'

Ben groaned a little. 'Whatever. That still doesn't mean-'

'You are having trouble controlling your powers,' Rook broke in firmly. 'The more you feel, the more likely you are to glow. Gwen told me she had to be careful while navigating her physical relationship with Kevin.'

Ben remembered the burnt lip from one of Gwen's downloaded memories and grimaces. 'All the more reason for us to practise,' he said, allowing his voice to dip down into its familiar wheedling tone. 'Plus, it will give me experience in what to expect when I really cut myself loose.'

Rook sighed. But gave in and lifted his legs as Ben started tugging on his underwear insistingly.

'I do love you,' he informed Ben. 'But you are a metaphorical pain in the butt. Though the pain in your butt, by the time we are done, will be remarkably more physical.'

Ben hesitated as Rook's underwear left his legs and fell on a flop by the floor. 'Erm.'

But then that wicked smirk was back in place as Rook rolled him onto his back, flicking his teeth almost casually against the line of his neck as the Revonnahgander left tiny love bites, faint marks that would barely glance across the resulting photograph the next time a camera flashed in Ben's line of sight. Ben laughed, and pushed his wrists out to either side, careful not to reach out and grasp for any part of Rook; faint pink was already starting to decorate his lifelines, running just beneath the skin like a stream.

Noticing, Rook gave him a warm grin. 'Already?' he asked, but it was hard to feel angry at him for the taunt, not when that big head dived back down and starting pasting sloppy, open-mouthed kisses over the bites.

Needlessly to say, the walls of Rook's room and, a few tightly-clenched handholds of his sheets ended up crisp and slightly blackened the next morning.

Ben inspected the damage with a droll eye. We can paint over them, he thought determinedly. It wasn't like Rook's room couldn't do with the colour, anyway. And as for the sheets? Well, how expensive could it be to buy more?

There was a beep and he rolled over with a groan to reach for the green mobile phone Rook had thoughtfully deposited on the shelf nearest them. It felt good to run his fingers back over the casing again, to feel it's familiar weight resting in his palm. A solid, human thing where the buzz and crackle of energy only happened inside.

He couldn't help but sigh though, as he read the new text that had appeared.

Hey Ben! Got this number from Grandma. She's a pushover now that she's thinks I'm more 'responsible' lol. Anyway gonna pop in and see how your doing with those boring, lameo lessons she's got princess cooking up for you. I want to make sure she doesn't get you all prim and proper. And how're things with the boyfriend? Is the sex good, y/n? I never really bothered to ask and I know humans have these weird feelings about knowing other's family members behaviour over this stuff, but c'mon, you're part anodite now tooooo, so you gotta tell me this! Besides Grandma says that while your relationship's dreary and boring, it's also healthy, so I figure you could tell me what sort of behaviour to look for with my next boyfriend? Any tips?

Xoxo Sunny!

Ben stared down at the screen a few moments more, then rolled his eyes and slumped down, letting the phone loosen from his fingers.

'Who was it?' asked Rook sleepily, nuzzling his nose into the crook of Ben's neck.

'Sunny,' Ben answered blithely, 'she wants to know how good you are in bed.'

It was worth the momentary discomfort to push those words out into the open when Rook immediately stiffened and pulled away.

'I know I cannot forbid you from talking with her, but still...I find your newfound understanding with her a little unsettling. As well as her apparent fascination with our relationship.'

'Relax,' Ben told him, shuffling round as the sheets dragged back against his movement, pressing a light kiss to the bend in Rook's brow as he did so. 'I'm not gonna give her the play-by-play. I'll just craft an obvious lie that she'll accept at face value. Like, 'he's everything I dreamed of and more.' Or 'when he touches me, my heart soars and he's real gentle and treats me like glass.' She'll eat that kinda stuff right up.'

Rook looked both horrified and amused by the way Ben was so easily sprouting these lines. 'You are right about the 'obvious lie' part. I have never treated you as though you were an object made of glass.'

Liar, Ben thought fondly, as he felt Rook's hands travel down beneath the sheets to curve lightly over his hips. They smoothed over the faint bruises there with a gentle roll of his thumbs.

'But I have to admit, I would not mind being thought of as 'everything you dreamed of, and more.' Rook grinned and dragged Ben closer to him - but not as hard as he could have, the human noted. 'And am I, Ben? Everything you dreamed of and more?'

Ben let himself smile. And then after a few moments, allowed himself to answer.

Notes: The cruise referenced by Ben here, is a little homage to the Omniverse IDW comics where they go on vacation, discover mermaids exist, save an underwater kingdom, and we, the readers, get a nice little commentary on how Ben does indeed feel a little isolated from the rest of the world. Oh yeah, and we see that Rook can be persuaded to wear actual clothes...over his Proto-Armour. Never change, Rook. Never change.

And hence ends the story, I've held off publishing the very, well, end of because...I feel like I could do more with it. I've sketched out rough outlines for other ideas I've had for this whole scenario of Ben-is-a-Anodite-now, further on in this verse, but all of them seem to peter out. This one, at least, has a conclusion of sorts, using a Disney plot-point.

I also feel like I've left it open-ended enough to come back to if I want, one day, and play around with. But on the other hand, it can be a stand-alone, as well. My greatest fear is starting off a sequel and never getting round to finishing it. I've got at least two other chaptered stories featuring this paring that I may never get round to publishing because I can't think up an ending for them, and there's nothing lamer than dangling a story you can't finish in front of people.