I Want A Car!

"It's so ridiculous!" Gwen complained, leisurely sprawled on her bed, holding her phone up in the air. "He built Ben a car, and they can hardly stand each other sometimes!"

"Ben and Kevin have gotten better though, haven't they?" Julie asked, her voice distorted by the sound quality of Gwen's cell. Still, the Anodite could hear the amusement underlying her best friend's tone, and scowled. "At least that's how it seems to me. I haven't heard Ben grouching about Kevin recently."

"It doesn't matter," she said flippantly. "The point is: he built Ben a car and absolutely refuses to build me one. And I'm his girlfriend!"

"Maybe he wants to drive you everywhere himself. I mean, doesn't he pick you up every morning for school? If you got a car, then you'd stop seeing him so much," Julie reasoned.

"That's ridiculous. We fight aliens together practically every day; I see him all the time," Gwen argued, sitting up. "It would actually be better if I had my own car, so that he wouldn't have to go out of his way to pick me up and get us to the rendezvous point. I could just meet him there!" Exasperated, Gwen threw one of her hands up in the air, and then brought it down to cup her cheek.

"I don't know Gwen. I still think it's because he wants you to have to depend on him for a ride," Julie said, and in her bedroom she was smiling widely, knowing exactly what kind of reaction her comment would bring.

"THAT IS SO CHAUVINISTIC—"

Tok tok tok.

"AUGH! Sorry Julie, I have to go. Someone's at the door." Gwen dragged herself off her bed unwillingly, holding the phone to her mouth.

"Can't your parents get it?" she asked. Gwen pouted as she tromped down the stairs.

"They're out at this convention thing," she informed dully. "I'll talk to you later." Faintly, she heard Julie say goodbye before she hung up. Pocketing her cell, Gwen opened the front door, her eyes narrowing at the person on the other side.

"Don't slam it on me," Kevin said quickly, catching the edge as the door tried to swing shut. He pushed the door open, towering over Gwen as she glared up at him, arms crossed. "Look, I know you're mad at me for the car thing, but are you gonna keep ignoring me?" he asked, almost nonchalantly if she didn't know any better, if she didn't know him well enough to know that tinge in his voice that told her otherwise.

"That depends," Gwen shrugged, turning away. "Are you going to build me a car?"

"... no."

Kevin had a feeling he got it wrong when she spun to look at him, her eyes glowing magenta with the full scope of her Anodite powers. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he exclaimed, hands up as he inched backwards slowly off the welcome mat. "Gwen, chill, just because I said I won't build you a car doesn't mean I'm not gonna build you something."

Surprised, the pink glow faded from Gwen's eyes, restoring them back to their green glory. She tilted her head at him, crossing her arms again. "What's that supposed to mean?" Kevin smirked and gestured outside.

"She took me a couple months to make. I was gonna give her to you for your birthday, but I figured now was as good a time as any."

When Gwen stepped out onto her lawn, she saw a shiny new motorcycle parked on the curb, sleek and smooth in the trademark Plumber colours of black and green. The coat of polish rubbed over it glinted in the sun, and for a moment Gwen thought it was just an illusion; a mirage.

"A motorcycle?" she asked in awe, afraid to touch it, as if doing that would make it disappear.

"Yep," Kevin confirmed, undeniably proud of his creation and of the dumbfounded look on his girlfriend's face. "It runs mainly on gas but you can plug it in and fuel it with electricity." Gwen swung her leg over the bike, resting her hands tentatively on the handlebars. She flexed and loosened her hands, feeling around her new mode of transportation.

"Kevin, it's beautiful," she whispered, and he cleared his throat nervously. His hands enfolded hers, taking them off the bike.

"Careful." He reached over, fiddling with the handles until they slid open, revealing a set of four small panels inserted into each of the bike handles. Gwen looked curiously at them and then Kevin. "The bike runs on mana too. You just push some of your mana into the handlebars, and these panels will convert the mana into energy for the bike to use." He paused here, rubbing his neck. "Just... don't use it unless you have to. The speed of the bike depends on how much mana you give it, so you can get tired pretty quickly."

Kevin was about to launch into a set of instruction for how to care for the bike until Gwen launched herself at him, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Thank you so much!" she said, kissing him on the cheek. "This is the nicest thing anyone's done for me." Kevin just smirked and shrugged.

"It was nothin'."

"Still, thank you," she whispered, and this time kissed him on the mouth. He tensed, a bit surprised at the sudden display of affection, but took it in stride when his arms wound around her waist. He was just getting comfortable with her smaller physique pressed up against his broader one, when Gwen pulled back with a frown marring her face. "Wait..." she muttered, staring suspiciously at him. "Kevin. I don't know how to drive a motorcycle."

Kevin, instead of acting surprised like he probably should have, simply smirked and shrugged again. "Yeah, so? Learn." Gwen stepped back, breaking away from him and putting her hands on her hips.

"It takes months to get your motorcycle licence. I have to study for my permit and then practice and take classes, which I hardly have any time to do between school, karate and saving the world." She arched a brow at him for an explanation, knowing she wouldn't get one. And she was right when he just grinned at her. Gwen sighed, turning and looking balefully at the beautiful bike parked on the curb in front of her house. She wasn't going to be driving herself places anytime soon.

"Let's go for a drive. Burger Shack?" Kevin asked, twirling his car keys. Gwen shook her head exasperatedly, but looped her arm through his and walked towards his car parked in the driveway. She didn't bother asking him if she could drive; she knew what the answer would be.

Faintly, Gwen thought that Julie was actually quite right. Kevin didn't want to make her dependent on him; he just wanted to spend more time with her. (The osmosian looked down and smiled at her when he caught her staring, and she smiled back.) And maybe for the next year or two, Gwen could live with that.

"Hey, you'll drive me to my motorcycle lessons, right?"

"You built her a bike?"

"Yep."

"Dude, you are so whipped."

"Shut up Tennyson."

Faintly, in the distance: "Oh wow Gwen, I'm so jealous."

"..."

"..."

"Hey... Kevin?"

"What Tennyson?"

"You're not going to build Julie a motorcycle... right?"

END

A/N So I thought I'd mix it up a bit and give you some Gwevin. I haven't written them in awhile, so apologies if they seem out of character. And No, I will not be addressing Julie's recent character derailment from recent episodes for a few reasons. One: I want to wait until the canon Julie spam is over (ie, after The Perfect Girlfriend) so that I can hopefully kill three episodes with one rant, and Two: I'm honestly just at a loss right now. She's Julie, but she's not my Julie. I don't even care about her "aggressiveness" in Techadon (to be honest, that amused me), its that fake-hostage trick she pulled off in The Flame Keeper's Circle.

Julie. Does. Not. Do. Deceit.

So yeah. Me angry.

On a happier note for you guys, the next chapter is going to be ridiculously long, I think. Maybe. Probably. Most likely. (I should stop now.)

See you on the flip side! :)

Snowflake Flower