Chapter 21: Bex

"Yo, yo, Daddy-o, any idea where Bex is hiding?"

The Professor looked from his microscope to see mischievous green eyes smiling at him from across the table. Buttercup knew perfectly well she wasn't supposed to use that nickname outside of their suite, but she also knew that he found the name amusing and cute and wouldn't do much more than make faces at her, which he did.

"Not here," he corrected, trying to be stern.

Leaning on her hand, Buttercup looked around the lab and under the table, deliberately misinterpreting his meaning. "Yeah, no sign of 'em."

"If he's finished up his classes for the day, your brother should be down in his lab."

"With his green shadow?" she asked with a wry smile. It was a fitting nickname since the boys were rarely more than three feet apart and followed each other around like a pair of lost puppies.

Like Dexter, the Powerpuff Girls were delighted to have Ben staying with them, but unlike Dexter, they didn't know the whole story. They only knew that Ben's shoulder had been re-injured and that they were not allowed to rib him about it. That was perfectly fine with the three girls – as far as they were concerned, there was no time to waste with teasing (or, at least, not too much time) or even questioning their good fortune when there was a live-action yaoi romance going on right before their eyes. This stuff was pure gold and almost too good to be believed. Having front-row seats to a private fandom as their shrimpy, socially inept, totally smitten, slightly older brother interacted with the tall, witty, broody, handsome and ever-appealing Ben Tennyson was worth any price and practically a dream come true. As far as the girls were concerned, the two young men were adorable together and every look, comment, and touch had to have some deeper meaning (even if Ben was just handing Dexter the salt at dinner), and if it wasn't instantly obvious, they made something up to suit. Bubbles had been provided with enough fodder to produce reams of fluffy Bex fanfic, which her highly appreciative sisters devoured as quickly as she could write. Ben found the triplets entertaining and just a little annoying. The girls had never giggled and cooed so much and Dexter had never rolled his eyes quite so much as in the week following Ben's arrival.

So long as everything stayed under wraps and they boys weren't harassed too badly, the Professor just let the children sort themselves out and made sure that nothing Bubbles wrote ended up on the internet. He politely refused to beta read her fanfic – he was too afraid of where her imagination might be going and he didn't want to be scarred for life – but occasionally he did read some of her stories just to assure himself that she wasn't getting terribly graphic. He needn't have worried – the sweetest of his daughters wrote stories as sugary and cute as she was, and the only real danger would be from cavities or Dexter's scorn if he ever saw himself starring in a high school fic, or, worse still, a songfic.

"Of course," the Professor replied as if it was perfectly obvious (which it was). Glad to lay off his research for a moment, he imitated her posture. "Why? What's up?"

"'Member Benji was asking after Albedo?"

"Yeah," he replied soberly.

"Rumor has it Sector T KND spotted him in Ashton. That's just a few klicks north of Bellwood."

"Rumor?"

"Same jacket and hair, but they said he still looked . . . off."

"Did they say where he was or exactly what he was doing?"

Buttercup nodded. "Yeah - walking toward the bus station."

"When?"

"Yesterday afternoon. They've got feelers out to find him again."

A sigh escaped him. Ben was emerging from his shell only very slowly, and he couldn't imagine what this news would do. Still, he had to be told.

"Thanks, honey. Let me know if you hear anything else. I'll make sure Ben knows."

()()()()()()()()()()

The silence was maddening.

Dexter was quite used to working alone, something he usually preferred. When there was another person within earshot of his work station, though, he was not only highly aware of their presence, but after years of having DeeDee invade his space, unless the person was assisting him, he expected a steady stream of mayhem. He could actually function very well in such cases because he was forced to concentrate harder than if all was quiet. Ben was usually very good at annoying him, being fidgety and easily bored, but right now he was not delivering.

"Ben?"

Kevin's attack was little over a week old and Ben was very slowly returning to his old self. Dexter tried not to hover too much out of fear of driving Ben as crazy as he was now driving Dexter, but he couldn't help himself. Perhaps this was simply a case of turnabout being fair play.

He had made several attempts to bring up the subject of Gwen and what Ben wanted to do now, but every time he did, Ben just shook his head and maintained his silence. Dexter's stress levels were reaching new highs, though he did his best to conceal it. The Professor hadn't even voiced a word of protest when Dexter and Ben had shared the same bed every night - he seemed perfectly (and correctly) assured that nothing was going to happen between the two teens. Sometimes Dexter woke up with Ben wrapped around him or he'd wake to find himself draped atop Ben, but that was all. Dexter was afraid to initiate anything like intimacy and Ben just didn't. Not a kiss, not a single accidentally-on-purpose groping, not a peck on the cheek, no wandering hands, not a hint of Ben wanting to do more than sleep. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. Zilch.

Talk about maddening.

What was even more frustrating (if that was possible), Ben did not seem interested in pursuing any sort of action against Kevin and it was a topic Dexter did not dare broach. It was possible Ben was simply biding his time. Dexter hoped so. He did not want Levin to go unpunished, little realizing that Ben's silence was torture for the likes of Kevin Levin. They could not risk the girls finding out, either, because he knew perfectly well they would declare full-out war on the Osmosian (before coming home and writing an epic fanfic saga about it - by Einstein, was he actually the subject of silly stories written by giggly girls? It was unthinkable). Ben no longer carried his phone, either, leaving it turned off in the guest room. Gwen had called DexLabs almost daily, but Ben ignored the messages Sgt. Morton dutifully delivered by hand.

He turned his seat to where Ben was dozing against the caisson of a Null-Void howitzer. With inactivity forced upon him, Ben's shoulder was getting better and his mood was gradually shifting from destroyed to simply miserable, a marked improvement, sad though it was. Dexter had been in the room when the Professor had told Mandy and Number One in no uncertain terms that short of Planet Fusion landing smack atop DexLabs, Ben was not to be disturbed. Dexter, however, was not included in that order, and therefore disturbing was authorized, as it were.

"Ben?"

"Mmmyeah, Dex?" he muttered, jerking awake. He blinked and yawned, rubbing his face.

"It's too quiet. I need some noise."

"Music?" suggested Ben, eyebrows raised at the obvious suggestion.

Dexter brushed the idea aside. "Too predictable. Here."

He picked up the nearest text book and rolled his chair over to Ben, opening the heavy volume at random. "Read to me."

Ben looked at the text and frowned. "Uh, Dex, this book is in French."

"I know. Read."

"But . . . I don't know how to pronounce French. I only took Spanish in high school."

"Good. Read."

Ben shrugged gamely and humored him. It was a massacre as the brunet plowed through astrophysics, destroying as he went. Dexter found himself correcting Ben every few words. To hear Dexter speak French through his heavy Eastern European accent amused Ben as mightily as Ben's murder of the French tongue annoyed (and therefore entertained) Dexter. Ben didn't even try to pick up the pronunciations thrown his way, he just kept at it with the occasional foray into high school Spanish when the accents looked right.

()()()()()()()()()()

Dexter was growling corrections in Ben's general direction when the Professor came down to the laboratory. He paused to watch the two young men for a few moments, and he was immensely pleased to see Ben was smiling faintly as Dexter expounded on the merits of an accent aigu versus a circumflex. Utonium knew perfectly well that Ben rarely bothered to follow more than one word in ten when Dexter was lecturing like this and that the accent and fiery temper were what held his attention.

"You done? Want me to keep reading?"

"Yes and yes, Ben, but please remember that oi produces a w sound."

Tennyson stared at him. "Right," he said, and promptly ignored the correction and went on killing French astrophysics for the sake of chaos and mayhem in Dexter's laboratory. The Professor watched Dexter wince a few more times as Ben stumbled over the long, scientific terms in a foreign tongue.

"All right! I give up!" Dexter abruptly yelled, slamming his hands down. "You win, Ben! Stop reading! No more. I can't take it. You have killed French!" he ended dramatically, pointing across his work station at the Wielder of the Omnitrix.

Ben paused, peering over the edge of the book for a moment, then went right back to reading as if Dexter hadn't said a thing. A happily infuriated shout escaped the redhead, and Utonium picked that moment to make his presence known.

"Having fun, are we?"

Dexter's shout ended in a strangled squeak as the sight of his father. "No!"

"Yes," said Ben at the same moment.

"Good," Utonium replied, sitting on the computer table. Ben's pleasure trumped Dexter's ire and his son fell into a minor pout that had no effect whatsoever on their sympathies. "I was just talking to Buttercup and she had some interesting news."

Both boys looked wary, wondering what adorableness they had committed this time. The Professor spared them and addressed Ben directly.

"Albedo was spotted in Ashton yesterday, by the bus station."

Ben set the textbook down. "That's not far from Bellwood."

They waited for more out of him as he weighed the significance of the trapped and disappointed Galvan so close to his family and friends and home. Finally he stirred. "Professor, can I borrow your phone?"

Utonium handed over his cell phone. Ben paused, looking at his boyfriend.

"You get reception down here?"

Dexter folded his arms and huffed. "Benjamin, you offend me."

"Okay, good," said Ben, skipping over the offense and getting straight to dialing. Dexter glanced at Utonium, nervous. Dexter was trying very hard to hide how stressed he was over this whole situation, but the Professor knew him too well for him to mask his anxiety very well.

"Gwen? It's me. I just had it on good authority that Albedo was seen in Ashton yesterday, so he's probably in Bellwood today. I don't know what he's up to, but he hasn't been seen since the Battle of Citiesville. Keep a look out for him. Call my cell phone if he gets out of hand. I promise I'll answer." He hung up the phone and returned it to the Professor, explaining, "Voice mail."

Father and son gazed at him with open concern, but Ben just smiled faintly before pulling the astrophysics book close again. "Should I keep going?"

"Please," Dexter replied, and in his voice was all the unspoken fear and worry he was feeling.