Chapter 26: Ringing in the Bwenennium
Ben's House
Bellwood, California
December 31, 1999; 11:42 pm
If this was any other night, Gwen wouldn't have blinked when the trap door in the television slammed open. Not even when the thump of the cheap jump scare filled the room.
Not when she'd seen so much worse.
Of course, that would have meant she was actually watching the movie and not the boy who was sitting on the bed next to her, the one who turned and gave her such a smirk as she jolted back. One that earned him a shove even before he opened his Doofus mouth. "I told you it was scary."
"Don't even! That doesn't count!" Not that the shove shut him up. Not like the words Gwen barely even thought about before they slipped out her mouth. "And this is still the dumbest movie I've ever seen, Ben."
"What are you talking about, Dweeb!? This is the Evil Dead! This is - !"
"- dumb!" Gwen repeated as she pulled her knees up and hid her mouth in the smooth fabric of the pajama covered knees. She knew he thought he was hiding a grin, but she wasn't. It was so he wouldn't see how worried she was because all the words were right, but he didn't even try to shove her back like he should have. It was all she could do to keep it out of her voice as she waved at his television. "I mean, come on! They're in a cabin so creepy that even Grandpa would have kept driving and everyone's either a jerk or an idiot except for the girl that they're making fun of!"
Which didn't sting or feel familiar. Not even a little. The worst part was the biggest jerk wasn't even clever about it, just mean. If he was her Doofus...
Who was gaping at her like she just kicked his Wildmutt. "Army girl is right, you are crazy! This is a classic!"
"A classic what?" Gwen asked because she couldn't help herself. "And her name's - He's not really going into the basement, is he?! No one's dumb enough to go down there!"
And she knew how wrong she was before Ben even had a chance to say, "Why not? I would."
"Trust me, I know that, Ben," Gwen said with a sigh that she didn't feel. Not because he was kidding, because he so wasn't and she didn't even need to see his face right now. Not when she knew exactly what grin he was wearing. The one that was just a dare and the last thing she'd see before he disappeared down that trapdoor himself.
And it was that grin that would make her follow right after like the guy with the too big chin did in the movie as he followed the jerk down. But she wouldn't have kept calling Ben's name over and over because she knew the rules. "It's too early for the first kill," Gwen breathed as the camera spun around at all the junk they shoved down there just to show off how overboard they went on making the place terrifying, but she couldn't help looking back over and asking, "What are they going to find? Bones? A scrawled out warning?"
"W-what?" Ben asked instead of just telling her or yelling like she was sure he'd do. And she was sure she saw his eyes shoot to the television like he'd forgotten all about the movie that they were only watching because of him. And that he was staring at her. Again.
He was so weird. Weird enough that she almost said something even as her hand worried at the charm that was hiding under her top. Almost, but he let out a snort before she could. "Something a lot worse than that! The single scariest thing in the whole world!"
"Scary?" Gwen blinked at that and let her knees drop because she didn't need to hide her smirk anymore. Not when his eyes got wide as she looked right at him and teased, "Are we watching a clown movie, Ben?"
"What?" Ben said again with a blink instead of the freak out she hoped for. Then she saw the spark in his eyes, the one that made his smirk even bigger as he looked down at her. "NO! It's not clowns! It's so much worse..."
"Worse?" Gwen blinked and curiosity made her look at the television again because it wasn't like her Doofus was afraid of much. Just clowns and homework and - "A book?!" And the way Ben laughed at that…
He kept laughing, too. even after she smacked his knee and declared, "You are such a Doofus!"
"I don't know what you're complaining about," the king of the Doofuses gasped out in between the sounds that he'd swear weren't giggles even though they so were and they sounded so good, so him, that she almost grinned. At least until he ruined it by adding, "this is the perfect movie for a Dweeb like you! See? It even looks like those spellbooks you're always drooling over."
"It does not! Shut up," Gwen grumbled because it did. Not like hers, but there were others. Some of them she'd only seen on the internet. Others she'd found in museums like New Orleans. Books that were - "bound in human flesh, and inked with blood of the deceased…"
The calm way the voice in the movie said that made her shiver way more than any amount of shrieking would have and hearing the man's come out of a tape recorder instead of seeing him…
This could have been one of the lectures she taped - the man even sounded like her history teacher – or the way she sounded in some of the tapes she made before she lost her tape deck. The ones right after her Doofus found the alien device on his forearm and they were trying to figure out what all the aliens it turned him into could do, and the ones after that. The ones after Salem and the body swap and she got...
"Shut it off," Gwen whispered over the man's voice as a shudder went through her. One that didn't have anything to do with the chill in the air as she tried so hard not to think about the book in her gym bag. The one she stole. The one she didn't know anything about.
And there weren't any warnings. Not in what the man said or in Charmcaster's spellbook or from the Doofus as he poked her with his elbow. "What's with you? It's just a movie," he scoffed and she knew that if she opened her eyes she'd see him fighting back a laugh as he looked down at her. "This isn't even the scary part."
Gwen opened her mouth, but the man in the movie stole away all her words. " - recitation of these passages that the demons are given license to possess - " Words that made her shiver and pull the blanket she had around her closer. She couldn't help it. She loved horror movies. She didn't know how many she'd watched with her daddy when her mother was away or how many times they made her scream and hid her face in against his shoulder, but that was just a part of the game. Even when she was little the monsters all looked so amazing and so fun. They still were, even if they weren't scary anymore. Not since she found out that monsters were real.
Except for this one. "Doofus!"
"What?"
" - are the phonetic pronunciations - "
Gwen covered her ears and closed her eyes tight, but it didn't help when the man started reading words that sounded so different from the ones she knew, but not different enough.
"Cunda astratta montose eargrets - "
"Ben!" Gwen shouted as she felt a hand catch her shoulder. A hand that she didn't even know was his until she spun around and saw his confused green eyes watching her in the dark. Eyes that disappeared again as she buried her face in his shoulder because the words wouldn't stop. Not in the movie or real life or her worst dreams. The ones she didn't tell anyone about. The ones where magic tore at the world around her again and she couldn't stop it or the words just like the ones she heard echoed in her head. Not this time. Not even when Ben reached her.
And screamed as the power surged…
That was usually when she woke up screaming, too, and just the memory made her bury her face in her cousin's shoulder now as she wrapped her arms tight around him. Tight enough that she could hear his breath catch and feel his heart pound and it still didn't keep her from whimpering, "Shut it off!"
Or keep a shiver from going up her back as the girl in the movie echoed her word for word before the world just went dead silent except for the sound of her racing heart.
And the little noise that her Doofus made right in her ear. One that made her shove him away as her face before it grew into the laugh or the joke she was sure was coming. "It isn't funny!"
"Since when do you freak out at horror movies?" He asked in a tone that almost sounded right, but Ben wouldn't look. Not even when she gave him the glare he deserved. One that should have earned her a glare right back, but just made him squirm instead. Squirm instead of fight back, and that was so wrong.
It was wrong enough that she snatched up the Evil Dead box and gave it the best evil eye she could as her mind raced. "I can't believe Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra let you watch this."
"Let?" Ben's hand found the back of his neck at that. "Let might be pushing it."
"Ben!"
"It's Dad's. I'll put it back tomorrow." The words came with a shrug as he cleared his throat and finally looked just a little sorry. "I thought you'd like it."
"You did?" Gwen asked and she didn't know why that made her duck her head and smile, but it did. It did even though it was just one more bit of weird. One she added to as she said "I know" instead of teasing him and those words made her want to hide even more than the movie. But she was a Larrson and a Tennyson and they never hid. Not from anything. So she sniffed instead even as she grabbed for the bag she'd left by her side of the bed. "It's not your fault, but I brought the Covington Calamity and it's so much - !"
That got another look, the mix of worry and challenge that was so him. The most like himself he'd been in weeks as he puffed up and grumbled, "Nuh-uh! It's my TV and I get veto rights and there's no way I'm watching anything based on a true story!"
"History is scary, Ben! You just have to give it a chance." Gwen huffed as she gave him a shove. It was her favorite just because it was real and scary in all the ways that all the other movies they watched just wished they were. It didn't need jump scares either when it started. Just two girls running into a field by their house with a camera that they 'borrowed' and the old woman who was found there the next day with the same camera still around her neck, only it was as aged as she was and full of pictures of a world with a burning violet sky and marble buildings and people in golden armor and robes and with hair all the colors of the rainbow.
And the story that the woman told…
The one that was real, and she could still remember how Michelle shrieked in her ear when they found the blood tests online that proved it. A day. The woman aged sixty years in the day she was gone, and her best friend never came home. Gwen shivered at the thought even as she gave the brown-haired boy a look and pushed herself up on her knees so she could loom over him. "'Beware the land of fairy!" she said as she tried her best to make her voice sound as terrified and old as the woman's. "Beware the Ledgerdomain!"
Just the name made her shiver, which was so much more than what Ben did.
"Please. They were just girls. We could have taken whatever they saw," the Doofus scoffed as he sunk back even deeper into his pillows. The quiet went on and on after that. The quiet that she remembered would have driven him insane just a few months ago. As crazy as her touching him, and it was. She could feel him tensing again, and she almost asked because she could feel it all happening again, but she never got the chance. Not before he sighed and mumbled, "But if you wanna watch it."
Why are you being so nice?! Those were the words that Gwen wanted to shout, the ones she'd been swallowing for weeks now every time he just gave in and did what she wanted instead of putting up a fight. Those and the bigger ones. The scary ones.
Was he sick? Was she? Or was he just getting weirder?
"No," she sighed because the movie wouldn't be fun anymore as she grabbed for a blanket.
At least she did until Ben yanked it back. "Hey! Yours is right there!" He shouted as he pulled it tight around him with one hand and waved at the one on her other side with the other.
She yelled at her like everything was normal, and she couldn't help playing along. "But… But that one's all chilly now!" Gwen said as she gave her Doofus the puppy dog look that always made her dad and Grandpa melt but it never worked on him.
Or at least it didn't. "Fine!" Ben muttered before she could even stick out her bottom lip and she couldn't help her smirk. At least his weird wasn't all bad.
"Thank you!" She said in a sing-song voice and with a grin as she grabbed his blanket before he changed his mind. Blankets that were so nice and warm and perfect that she even left him half. It wasn't her fault that his 'half' was the bit over his lap, and he only got that much because he was sitting so close to her. He was close enough that she could feel his elbow and knee brush against hers every time either of them moved, even if he did bounce away the second that they did.
Not that she took advantage, or laughed when he jolted away when she brushed her foot against his. A touch that she barely felt after she'd borrowed a pair of socks and pulled it on over the ones she was already wearing because his room was freezing. She wasn't even sure that the heat was on, and she kind of understood it because there were so many people downstairs that the rest of the house felt hot when she went to the bathroom a few minutes ago.
And the noise…
She never would have heard the strangled breath that Ben took as he jerked his foot away from hers if his door wasn't closed tight, and that would have been tragic. "Calm down, Doofus," she giggled even as she collapsed against him just to drive him crazy and that's what he deserved for being so weird. "I don't have cooties."
"That'swhatyousaidlasttime!"
It took her a second to parse that out and when she did he was the one who got shoved. "That wasn't cooties! That was chickenpox and I can't believe that you even remember that!"
They were four and a half! They started school a month and a half later and then…
Then…
"That's what cooties are!" Ben shouted before she could follow that thought. "JT told me - "
"JT," Gwen scoffed as she crossed her arms and sank back. "I should have shoved him back then!"
"Yeah! You shoulda!" Ben grumbled a second too late as he grimaced at the words. And his face stayed that way as he fell back into his pillows. "Doesn't mean he's wrong, though."
"No, science did that!" Gwen snapped as she crossed her legs and kicked her foot. It was so long ago. Long enough that she barely even remembered him saying that. All she remembered was scratching his bumps like he scratched hers and then their moms' fighting and school starting and him being in the wrong one. "If you'd gone to school with me you would have - "
That was as far as she got. Not because he said something, but because her phone cut them both off with a quick buzz of an alarm from where she'd dumped it on the bed next to her hours ago. Not the good one either. Not the one that meant hero time and smoothies. It was just the one she set hours ago and must have been wrong because - "No way," Ben said as he looked at the number on the screen, too.
Which was more than Gwen did. She just blinked at the glowing screen because it seemed so wrong. 11:50? It couldn't be. There wasn't any way that six hours could have gone by that fast. Not when it seemed like she just got here.
But she was the only one who cared.
"Finally!" Ben shouted as he shoved off the blanket they'd been fighting over all night like it was nothing and rolled off of the bed. He took a second to brush his hands over his clothes even as he rushed to the door.
"I'm glad you're so happy about it, Ben," Gwen scowled, and it was only a little because she was already in her pajamas as she pulled the blanket closer. Not that it was anywhere near as warm with him gone. She'd gotten changed right after dinner, but he didn't. She never gave it a thought until now, but she should have known the Doofus was up to something. "You're going to get caught."
"Please, it's me." Ben grinned in that annoyingly smug way of his that was so normal. As normal as the look he gave her as he slipped out the door. "Stay there!"
Gwen shoved the blanket away before he even finished saying the words, the chill nothing compared with the thrill. "There's no way that I'm missing this!" She cackled as she hurried over to the door and peeked out. The hall outside was empty for once. She'd heard people go back and forth all night, but of course the Doofus got lucky. He always did. If she hadn't seen him crush the Luck Charm for herself she would have been sure that he'd pocketed that one, too.
His luck held as he slipped down the stairs, his feet barely making a sound for once. Gwen held her breath and waited for the yelling. None came, or at least, none that she could hear over the music.
Or the crowd.
It seemed like every adult Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra had ever met was packed in downstairs. Over packed. Gwen didn't even know Ben's parents knew that many people, or that her mom and dad would fit right in. It still felt like a miracle that their moms weren't fighting any more. A Christmas one that was even bigger than the snow last week, but her mom was downstairs somewhere. She didn't know what her Doofus was doing, but he'd have to get it done quickly.
And so would she.
"Finally!" Gwen almost squealed as she closed the door again. Her fingers brushed the lock that she wished her door had and she almost turned it, but there wasn't any way that Ben wouldn't freak if she did. She almost did it anyway, because he was so cute when he was all red and huffy and in her face, and maybe that might be the thing that would snap him out of being weird and twitchy, but she was on a mission tonight.
The best mission. The kind made for ninja sorceresses.
Revenge.
This time there wasn't any cackling even though she could feel one building up inside of her. Her feet didn't make a sound, either, as she dashed across her Doofus's bedroom so she could steal the thing that meant the most to him in the whole world; more than the Omnitrix, more than his guitar or his Gamestation.
His ultra-rare gold Sumo Slammer Card, the one he raved about for months after his birthday last year, and that was what made it perfect. "So much revenge!"
And the best part was how predictable her Doofus was. If he wasn't, then there wasn't any way she'd ever find the card in here, but she knew him. All of him, from his favorite TV show to the way he tied his shoes. She knew everything.
Including where he hid all his best stuff.
That was why she slid the last few feet back to his bed on her knees. There wasn't any way Ben would be gone more than a few minutes. Not before he did whatever he was doing or he got caught, and she knew which way she was guessing. So she shoved her arm under his mattress the second she got close enough.
His room was so much cleaner than it used to be. Clean enough that it was almost like a human lived here and not some kind of monkey, but he had missed the dust bunny ranch under his bed. Or what looked like a topographically correct map of South Dakota when she tilted her head just right. Complete with mountains and forests.
She was almost sure that If she looked hard enough, she might find some kind of dust bunny people building a dust bunny society under there, but she didn't need to. The familiar cardboard box was right near the foot of the bed. The one that her Doofus shoved into everything into that mattered to him.
Gwen heard the bits of alien tech and whatever else he thought looked cool when he was heroing rattle around when she pulled out the box. The bits of metal and shell and just plain old rocks. All of it taken from one bad guy or the other, and all of it just jammed in instead of carefully sorted like hers was. She was ready for a mess when she pulled the lid off.
But not what she found covering it all. "Doofus…" The words were a whisper when she saw a calculator box sitting right on top. The one she got him, and for a moment all she saw was that night in the snow even as her hand found her charm again.
But that wasn't what took her breath away or made the world blur. It wasn't the dirty white and yellow belts that were under it, either. The ones that he'd earned in karate just like she had, only hers were in a display case with her orange belt. The one that took her years to earn and surpass and he'd gotten after only a few months. She should have been so jealous about that, but she wasn't. Not when she saw just how hard he worked for them.
And not when her whole world shrank down to the little stuffed lion that was sitting next to the calculator case, the brother of the blue bear on her bed. The ones they'd taken after the funer-
The thought stopped there. She couldn't -
She couldn't think about that now. Not when her Doofus needed her. Not when no one else even seemed to notice how off he was acting, and not when she'd already tried everything else. She'd even gone hero with him every night this break and a surprise snowball fight that she'd never forget just so he'd snap out of the funk he was in.
And not when the convention was tomorrow, the one she spent a whole week talking her daddy into taking her to and the one that promised that she'd spend most of the day in the car with him and her best friend. The only thing that would have made the day any worse was if the Doofus was coming, too, but that would have ruined the whole surprise. One that just started with him freaking out when he realized that his precious was gone. Which would be when she asked about it in a couple of days. She could hardly wait to see his face when he realized.
And she already knew that the one he'd make when he got it back would be even better. Especially when he saw the names signed on it. And even then, even with both of the show creator's signatures, it still wouldn't be as good a present as her necklace, but -
"Hey!"
Gwen's head shot up when she heard Ben's shout. "I wasn't doing anything, Doofus!" She snapped even as she dropped the card back in the box and shoved it all back under the bed in a panic because Ben always got away with everything, but when she did one itty bitty kinda bad thing and she got caught.
So not fair!
She spun around, her mind already racing for some kind of excuse, but she was alone in the room with the door still closed.
"Ben?"
"Ben!" Aunt Sandra's voice echoed back, only she was a lot louder and more upset. As upset as the woman got when she wasn't talking to Gwen's mom anyway.
Gwen didn't hear what Ben said next, but she had a feeling that whatever it was got him into more trouble. Which meant he'd be back in just a couple of seconds. She threw herself on the bed and wiggled back into her spot even as she reached for the blanket and threw it over her legs. Then she sat back on the pillows and looked as innocent as she could as she watched Aunt Sandra drag him in by the arm. "Mom, I didn't - Come on, let go! You're embarrassing me!"
"What did the little Doofus do now?" Gwen asked because she should even as her heart pounded in her chest. It didn't help, but it didn't matter. Neither of them was paying any attention to her.
Aunt Sandra glanced over at Gwen for just a moment before she kicked the door closed behind her. Then she just stopped and took a deep breath and Gwen almost laughed at the look her Doofus got on his face even before the woman knelt to look her son in the eyes. "Now, honey. I know that at your age you want to try new things and push your boundaries, but you're not old enough - "
"Mom! Not in front of the Dweeb!"
Gwen smirked a little because that whine was so normal and she lifted her hands as they turned to look at her. "No, please keep going! Just pretend I'm not here."
"Gwen," Aunt Sandra said with a sigh as she shook her head.
Gwen pouted. "Oh, come on… You can make it my birthday present, Aunt Sandra!"
"Gwen," Aunt Sandra repeated as she ran her hand through the bob of her blonde hair. Hair that already had confetti in it. She gave Gwen a quick pleading look before she turned her attention back to her son. "Maybe in a few more years, Ben, but for now…"
"Mom!"
"Ben!" The woman parroted back and nothing could have stopped Gwen's laugh at that or the way the Doofus stiffened as he was pulled into a hug. Maybe she wasn't the only one with cooties after all. "Just a few more years, but for right now I want you to stay my sweet little angel."
"Mom!" Ben groaned even as he shot another glance over at Gwen.
The grin went away when Aunt Sandra nailed her with the squint-eyed look that every mom must learn even if she never imagined that she'd see it on her face. "And what were you doing while Ben was sneaking around, young lady?"
Gwen froze and squirmed on the floor as her mind raced for any excuse. "Watching - " she started to say before Aunt Sandra turned and stared at the television.
The blank television.
Ben had turned it off. How could she have forgotten?
Aunt Sandra didn't say a word as she got up and walked over to the nightstand as all the funny died. She didn't say a word, but she didn't take her eyes off of Gwen either, except for a moment to glance down at the remote. Gwen heard the party from Times Square come up as she turned the thing back on and she felt the Doofus staring at her. She knew he was the one smirking now, and it so wasn't fair. She'd have glared at him if she was brave enough to take her eyes away from her aunt's.
Gwen swallowed hard when she felt a hand catch her shoulder and pull her back up to her feet before it sat her down on the bed. Then there was a little whine of her own filling the air as her aunt sighed and leaned in. "Don't prank him too badly," the words were whispered right into her ear. Gwen nodded out of shock more than anything as Aunt Sandra gave her a smug little grin and a quick kiss on the forehead before she stood back up. "It's almost time. I want you two to enjoy the big night and then go right to bed, all right?" Gwen nodded, but she didn't have to see Ben's face to know that he was rolling his eyes until his mother finally sighed, "Ben?"
"Fine."
"I'll keep an eye on him, Aunt Sandra," Gwen offered with a little smirk at Ben. The smirk got bigger as he glared back and she could have giggled at the normalcy of it.
Aunt Sandra shot her a look that said she couldn't decide whether to smile or sigh. She settled on sighing again. She opened her mouth to say something when the music outside picked up a little and someone started calling for her. "Thank you, Gwen." She gave her son another look before she leaned down to kiss him on the cheek. "I wish you weren't in such a hurry to grow up."
"MOM!"
With that. Aunt Sandra stood and walked out. "Happy New Year. I love you two."
"I love you, too." Gwen managed to wait until her aunt closed the door before she crossed her arms and added, "I told you so," she paused for just a moment, just so the knife would sink in deep, "angel."
Ben glared at her as he tried to rub his mother's kiss off his cheek. "Yeah, yeah. I'm not beat yet."
"Whatever it is, just give it up. Come on, let's watch the countdown. Don't ruin the night."
"No. We have to do it right," Ben grumbled as he glanced down at the Omnitrix.
"No, Ben!" He ignored her and twisted the dial. "There are too many people. And someone will notice a blue dinosaur, no matter how fast you move!"
"What about..?"
"And vines."
"But..."
"Not even Grey Matter."
"He's too small anyway." Which was so vague that Gwen almost asked. "Fine, I don't need the watch anyway. I have mad ninja skills now, thanks to you."
She pushed herself to the end of the bed so she could grab him. She'd make him sit down if she had to. "You're going to get me in trouble, too!"
Ben didn't even pretend to care about that. "Be right back." With that, he slipped out of the room before she could even get up. Gwen sighed and waited on the edge of the bed. She didn't bother to root through his stuff anymore. Not when she knew right where the card was and she was sure he would be back before she could even touch the box again anyway.
And she was right.
The door flew open. Gwen expected to see Aunt Sandra dragging Ben back through the door again, but it was just Ben. Only now, he was grinning.
Grinning and holding a single crystal flute in his hands. "Told you I could do it," Ben said. He looked more pleased with himself now than he did even after going hero. He closed the door behind him and carefully walked over to sit down next to her on the bed. "With time to spare, too. Man, I'm good!"
"That's what you were getting?!" Gwen stared at the bubbly beige-colored liquid in the half-filled glass. Champagne. He'd gotten champagne. "How?"
Ben's grin got bigger as he swirled the drink around in the glass. "It was super easy! Your mom was filling all these glasses in the kitchen when your dad came and - "
He flushed then and scrunched up his face and Gwen just hid her face in her knees because she knew just what they were doing. She just couldn't believe that they'd do it in front of company! It was bad enough when she stumbled in on them! Her mother was supposed to be a lady and her parents were so gross. "Sorry."
"Not as sorry as I am!" Ben said with a snort that didn't go away even after she hit him with his pillow, even if he did shout and save the glass. "They weren't paying any attention, so I swiped a couple of these and was on my way back when I saw my mom coming. So I hid one behind a photo and let her take the other one." There was definite pride in his voice and the smile came back as he added, "Just like Grandpa taught us."
Gwen crossed her arms and scowled. It was one of a thousand little tricks Grandpa taught them since their lives went crazy, but that didn't make it right. "He didn't do it so you could steal drinks!"
Ben shrugged. "He didn't say not to, did he? Besides, it's traditional, isn't it? And I'm going all out to ring in the Bennenium!"
"Gwennenium," Gwen corrected. She let out an annoyed sniff and would have rolled her eyes if she didn't have them locked on the drink. "And for the last time, the new Millennium doesn't start until next year!"
"Not even in your dreams," Ben said as he swirled the liquid around in the glass. "And if it isn't the new millennium, why is everyone going nuts downstairs?"
"For the same reason Grandpa was so happy when he went a million miles in the Rust Bucket. People just wanted to see the numbers roll over. That doesn't mean that they're right!"
"So they just want to party? Why didn't you just say so? Everyone wants to party." Ben smirked at her. "Well, almost everyone, anyway."
"I party!"
"Yeah, that's why you brought books tonight."
"You're just mad that my spellbook and journal aren't picture books."
Ben stuck out his tongue. "Well, you go read then. I'm going to celebrate!" He swished the champagne around in the glass as much as he could without spilling it.
Gwen couldn't take her eyes off of the champagne. There was so much in the glass. "You're going to drink it all?"
"Yup!"
Gwen hesitated. She couldn't believe that he even wanted to try the stuff. She should just let him. He wasn't going to listen and he'd probably be as funny as all the idiots she'd seen on the news during Spring Break. He'd either be funny or he'd get sick, which would be even better. It would teach him his lesson and he'd get into SO much trouble.
They were way too young to even think about it. She knew it, and she knew that he knew it, too. He was just being stupid. No, he was being worse than that, he was...
"I wanna try some," Gwen said, and her voice was barely a whisper.
Ben snorted and brought the glass up to his lips. "Go get your own then."
She thought about trying the Bambi eyes on him again, but she knew he was acting too much like himself right now which made her shift on her knees with joy because this was way better. Her Doofus always made her earn it, by outsmarting him or outracing him. She felt her fingers itch for the glass as he brought it up to his lips and started tilting it back, but she didn't try to take it away. She played the one trick she almost never did instead. "Please?"
Ben stopped and for a moment he looked like he was going to laugh and drink it all right in front of her. Then he got that look on his face again. Like he was going to bolt or throw up or do something stupid before he let out a little breath. "Fine."
Gwen made a happy noise as she reached past him and grabbed the closest cup off of the nightstand and plopped down on the bed next to her. It was only after he poured half of the drink in that she realized that it was his. "Eww. I don't want your germs," she said when he tried to hand the cup back. He rolled his eyes, but he didn't say a word as he handed over the crystal. She took it in both hands and sniffed the bubbly liquid inside. It was strong, she thought, but it didn't smell all that bad.
Ben sniffed his cup, too, but he wasn't trying to drink it again. Instead, his eyes went to the television, and hers followed. There were just a couple of minutes left. "We drink at midnight, right?"
"I guess," Gwen said. She thought that was how it worked, but she never really thought to ask. What if that was bad luck? "Maybe we're supposed to drink it right after, or..." she started to babble even as she reached for her phone so she could check.
Then the floorboards outside the door creaked and it didn't matter.
"Happynewyear!" They said together, the words in a rush. They clinked their glasses together – well, clunked, plastic cups didn't clink very well - and drank. The crystal felt cool on her lips, and Gwen tilted the glass back to take a little sip, just in case. That was the plan, right up until she watched Ben down all of his in one big gulp.
So she did the same thing. She might have liked a sip, but now she felt her whole face scrunch up as tears filled her eyes. The champagne burned in her mouth and all she wanted to do was spit it right back out, but if she did she'd never hear the end of it. So she swallowed hard and started coughing as the drink hit her stomach like fire. She waited for Ben to start laughing at her and forced her eyes open just so she could glare at him, but he was coughing, too. His face was bright red, too. The only time she'd ever seen his face redder was the day they'd spent at Monument Valley and he refused to wear sunscreen.
He wiped his eyes with the blanket and forced them open to look at her. "Gross," they said together.
"People drink this for fun?" Ben asked as he started to scrap at his tongue with his t-shirt sleeve.
Gwen followed suit with the sleeve of her pajamas. The cotton tasted a lot better than Champagne. "Dumb people."
"If you were any redder, you'd look like a lobster."
"I'm not as red as you," Gwen shot back. She didn't know if that was true or not, but she sure hoped it was.
"Yeah, right…" Ben said with a snort, which turned into a hiccup. He blushed again and clapped his hand over his mouth.
Gwen wanted to laugh at him. Instead, she put her hand on her stomach. The sharp heat from the champagne was dying down into a much more pleasant tingly warmth. She rubbed at her stomach as the heat started to spread out. It was kind of nice, but in no way worth the taste it left behind.
Her eyes went to her other hand, to the empty glass she was still holding.
Her first drink.
And her first out and out broken rule because heroing didn't count. That thought gave her a little thrill even though it was all Ben's fault.
Of course, it was.
"What?" Ben asked and he sounded like he was getting strangled again. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Gwen realized that she was grinning a little as she watched him and she didn't know why. "Hey, it's my first New Year's Eve. I get to smile if I want."
"Well," Ben muttered. "Not at me."
She shifted a little closer to him as her smile turned into a smirk because he always made this so easy. "I'll smile at whoever I want, Doofus!"
Ben glared back at her before he shook his head and made a point of turning his back on her. "Spaz." He bit the word out, but he didn't sound angry. Not really. If anything, he looked twitchy.
He always looked twitchy now.
Gwen's only answer was to move even closer, until her chin was just behind his shoulder, just to drive him nuts. Ben felt it, but instead of just looking over his shoulder at her like a normal person he spun around. And the smile died on Gwen's face because he ended up a lot closer than she expected.
Way too close.
He was so close that she could feel his breath on her face and it tickled enough to make her shiver. She stared at him and she knew she should move back, but he was right there. Just inches away and when she looked into his eyes her breath caught and the rest of her froze as -
- as he flicked her on the tip of her nose with his finger.
"What was that for!" Gwen shouted as she threw herself backward and covered her poor abused nose with her hands.
"Made you blink!" Ben said with a howl of laughter that was big enough that he fell back onto the mattress.
Gwen glared at him as he kept giggling and almost started screaming at him. Almost, but that would have only made him laugh more. No, she knew what she needed to do to get him back. She just needed to figure out - "10!" The words came sudden and excited from the television and were echoed through the floor from everyone partying downstairs.
And Gwen grinned because she knew just what time it was. She wondered how deep she could make him blush this time as she pushed herself up on her knees again. She didn't know if that was what made Ben's grin vanish or if he just saw her smirk, but something made him squirm and mutter, "Stop it."
"Nine!"
"There's another tradition," she said, her voice a teasing sing-song as she got on all fours and crawled over. Some part of her wished that she was wearing her Lucky Girl costume because even if she didn't feel like the cat's meow - and she did, she so did - he looked just like a cornered mouse right then.
"Eight!"
Ben gave her a look that was almost pure panic as he tried to pull away too late. "What? N - no there isn't!"
"Seven!"
"Yes, there is!" Gwen declared as she pounced. He was too startled to even pull his Watch arm back before she landed on it and pinned it down between her leg and the mattress even as she sat down on his stomach and held the rest of him down. She loved it when he squirmed and he never did as much as he did now, not in all the times she'd gone nuclear on him. If she'd known that it would be this much fun, she would have done it more. The thought made her giggle even as she put her hands on the wall on either side of his head and stared down at him. He tried to lean back, but there wasn't anywhere he could go before he hit his pillow and his eyes opened wide when he realized that and all the wider as she leaned in closer.
Good! This was what he deserved for making her worry!
"Six!"
Gwen's body hummed with the heat of the drink and him as she got closer and closer and waited for him to freak like he always did.
He didn't freak.
"Five!"
She was that many inches away when Ben stopped squirming and just stared back. It was the most still he'd been in weeks and the shock of it made her stop. The shock and his eyes, which were huge from here. Huge and so dark that there was just a sliver of green around them. A sliver that she couldn't take her eyes off of and there was something about them that made her mouth go dry. Dry enough that she swallowed hard and licked her lips as her heart pounded in her ears. He was supposed to freak...
"Four!"
Instead, he leaned up.
And the universe stopped when she felt his lips press against hers. They were still chapped from the cold last week and she didn't care. Not when they were so warm, so him, and she didn't...
Maybe that was why she didn't pull away. Why she froze for a kiss could have lasted forever or for just a moment. She didn't know. Not any more than she did which of them let out the little surprised noise that was almost a moan as he started to pull back just as she started to close her eyes...
His lips...
Then the house shook with noise and Gwen jumped away in surprise. It took her forever to realize it was cheering, and that they'd missed their first New Years together, as she sat back on his lap and just stared as his kiss echoed through her. Stared as he sucked in a strangled breath of air and stared back. A blush covered his entire face, but she knew that hers was worse without even looking.
He stared, but he didn't say anything, and neither did she. Not when her lips tingled too much for words. She felt his trapped hand twitch against her leg, but she couldn't move.
Her first…
It was just supposed to be a game! She'd kiss his cheek and he'd freak out like he always did and…
And he…
He was her cousin! Her Doofus and he…!
And she didn't know! She couldn't even figure out if she was breathing too fast or not at all. She just knew that he was right there and his lips…
His lips looked…
And then another voice on the other side of the door cut through it all. One she knew down to her bones. "I've got them, Carl! Keep looking for that CD!"
"Daddy?!" The word was just a gasp, one that none of the monsters that they'd fought ever got out of her. One that she tried to catch with her hands and hit herself in the face with the crystal flute instead. The one she'd forgotten she was even holding and the one that would make her deader than dead if she was caught with.
God, she might even be grounded!
She barely had time to suck in a breath before the glass was gone. She blinked and saw it in Ben's hand as he squirmed out from under her and leaned over the edge of the bed. It was gone when he pulled himself back up a second later as she rolled the other way.
They were both right side up a moment later, which was just barely fast enough. "Hey, Pumpkin!" Her father said, his smile wide under his glasses as he walked in as his eyes went right to her. Eyes that always saw everything and Gwen couldn't breathe because she knew everything that they'd just done was written all over her face and anything he said was just a trap. Especially his "Are you two having fun?"
Those words were so simple, but they drove all the ones that Gwen knew right out of her head. Magic and normal. All that was left was a scream that wouldn't stop and she couldn't get her mouth to make and the tingling in her lips that gave it all away. Ben -
A boy…
Ben is a boy! BenisaboyBenisaboyBen - Ben k -
"Is everything all right in here?" her daddy asked and Gwen finally looked up again just in time to see the last of his smile melt away and a wrinkle mar his brow. It was a look that always cut her to the core.
"Except for the fact that my room smells like Dweeb now, sure," Ben said before any of that could get out of her mouth as he gave her a look that she knew so well. "And she keeps stealing all the blankets!"
"Hey!" Gwen shouted, the word just spilling out as she grabbed for the blanket she'd forgotten all about as his hand shot over for it. "Daddy, tell him it's - !" Those words were just as much instinct, too, and the last one died on the tip of her tongue when their fingers brushed and she looked up into his emerald green eyes again.
One look, that was all it took. She felt her cheeks burn as his eyes went wide. Eyes she only saw for a moment before hers dropped back down to his lips and everything else disappeared because he -
"Frank!" Another voice that she knew cut through that thought even as the room echoed with another cheer and the thunder of feet on the stairs. Thunder ushered in her uncle as he rushed into the room. "We found the CD, Frank and Lili's getting warmed up! Man, I haven't seen her do 'the Jackal' in years!"
Her uncle's words didn't make any more sense than the rest of the night and she didn't know why her father lit up at them, but he did. "Well, you're not missing it now!" The words were a laugh. A laugh that Gwen didn't understand at all as her father gave her another look and bent down so he could brush a kiss against her forehead. "Happy New Year, Pumpkin."
Gwen just nodded as the man brushed a hand through her hair and said something to Ben. Something that her uncle echoed even as her father rushed out the door. Uncle Carl was only a step behind as he gave them both one last look before he closed the door behind them as her mind just spun around on itself. Spun around until she started to giggle. One she caught in her hands as she turned towards her Doofus and -
And choked when she felt her lips brush her palms as she remembered. He kissed her! He kissed her! He -
He bounced out of the bed like it was on fire under his stare. He bounced out and all but ran to his dresser and froze there with one hand on a drawer. "Ben?"
"You heard dad, I have to..." Ben choked out those words as he went so red. Red enough that she almost asked before she saw the pants in his hand. The one she saw so many times. His pajamas.
There weren't words after that. Not once she realized and scurried under the covers. She pulled them up to her chin as she turned her back to Ben. She still heard him getting changed even though she tried so hard not to listen. Her hand clutched at the pillow and she would have hidden her head under it, but that would have made things so much worse somehow. As it was she just laid there curled up on her side with her knees tucked up under her chin. She brushed her hand against her lips and thought that they felt puffy and hot.
Her first...
He was her cousin! What if their friends at the dojo found out? Or her parents? Or his? They would freak! They wouldn't let her see him again! And it was all because of her stupid game! It had been her life's dream once, to never have to spend time with him again, but now...
Now...
"Ben?" She asked before she realized that she had no idea what to say.
And he didn't say a word, and it was the weirdest thing, him being quiet. Quiet enough now that she could hear him breathing. She buried her face in the pillow to block it out until she realized that it smelled like him. He was everywhere, and it was too much, too fast. Her heart pounded so loud in her chest that she was sure that everyone downstairs could hear it.
She was sure that there were going to be outraged screams. That her daddy was going to figure it out and come charging back up with his parents right behind him. And her mom! Oh, God…
She could almost hear them storming up the stairs…
Almost, but Ben clomped around too loud behind her as he moved back to the bed, and her face burned brighter with every step as she imagined him getting in with her. Only he didn't. He stopped at the side instead and she heard something rustle. If it was any other night she would have remembered the sleeping bag there before now. If it was any other night, she would have caught her mouth before it ran off without her and said, "Don't be silly, Doofus, I already told you that you don't have to…"
The noise of the bag, the noise of everything stopped when those words slipped out of her again. They were the same words that she'd said hours ago without even thinking about them when she saw the sleeping bag lying on the floor because him sleeping there didn't make any sense. Not when his bed was huge and they slept closer on the Rust Bucket. Besides, it was just Ben. She'd told him that without even thinking about it before and she told herself that over and over again now and she almost believed it.
It was just Ben. It was just Ben.
Then she felt the bed behind her move as he climbed in and she wasn't thinking anything except that he was a boy. She was in bed with a boy! One who just…
Just...
Gwen couldn't help the nervous giggle. They'd spent half the day lying in bed together - most of it fighting over the same blanket even though there were two more - and she never gave it a second thought.
Now she did. Now it felt weird as he pulled up the covers and shifted around like he couldn't get comfortable in his bed.
Things never felt weird with Ben before. Annoying, sure. Scary, sometimes, but never weird and now it was. For both of them, she could tell just from how his voice shook a little as he finally said, "Thanks. I hate sleeping on the floor. It stinks down there."
It didn't. She knew it didn't.
"You so owe me," Gwen whispered like she was doing him a favor and like she didn't want to scream when she felt the bed shift again as the champagne burned in her stomach. Then she felt his hand on the small of her back and she almost leaped out of bed. "What're you doing?!" she asked, her voice just short of a shriek, as the touch became a shove and he pushed her to the edge of the mattress.
"I'm not getting cooties again."
"Cooties?" It took a moment for her to realize what he meant, and when she did the tension in her chest broke. "That was years ago! Let it go!"
"Yeah, but who knows what else you've picked up since then?"
"I've picked up a Doofus," Gwen snapped at him and pulled as much of the covers around her as she could, only to have Ben pull them back. They fought until neither had as much as they wanted, but at least they were sure that the other wasn't comfortable either.
It didn't feel weird after that.
Good.
But he didn't say another word to her after that either. Not even goodnight. Not even after he kissed her. She wondered if he regretted it.
She wondered if she did.
She didn't know what she'd been thinking, teasing him like that. Daring him. Of course, he'd get back at her. It must have been the champagne. She could still feel the heat of it in her stomach. There wasn't any way that she was ever drinking it again.
He was Ben, for God's sake. The pinnacle of grossness.
That stupid drink.
Gwen laid there with her back to him and brushed her finger against her lips again. They felt weird under her fingertips and it took her a long moment to realize she was grinning. She'd never touched her grin before.
Her first kiss. He stole her first kiss!
Gwen wanted to giggle or shout, but she didn't make a sound. She just laid there and ran the words through her head again and again, and they sounded better each time. She felt like she was buzzing, or calling up magic, and she knew that there wasn't any way that she'd ever fall asleep. Not tonight, and maybe not ever again.
He stole her first kiss! Her hand barely caught her giggle in time as the thought went through her head again. She wished he would say something. She wished she knew why she didn't shove him away.
She wished it made sense.
Gwen was still wide awake when Ben started snoring behind her. She couldn't help listening to the soft wheezing sound he made and remembered how annoying it used to be, but she couldn't remember why.
And she barely noticed it as her breathing fell into the same rhythm...
- o - o - o - o - o -
The air was so warm, and the sun was just coming up and painting the sky red. She could hear insects chirp in the distance, and in the tall flowing grasses, there were flickers of movement from grazing animals. A red-haired girl in strange clothes sat on a rock overlooking it all, not sleeping, not really awake, stuck in between. Gwen started at the sight and she didn't know why. She just made her way over through the waist-high grass, staring the whole way.
The girl was her age, or maybe just a hair older, and looked so much like her. It was like looking into a mirror with only a few details changed; her green eyes were deeper, more reflective. And the smile was one Gwen had never made, never seen herself make in any picture.
"Can you see it?" The girl asked her, and Gwen blinked. The girl kept staring out over the endless horizon of a sea of grass and a small river that ran through it, trees dotting the edges as something rumbled through the air around them. "Do you know what this is?"
Gwen tried to speak, tried to ask her what she was talking about, and found that she couldn't speak. She opened her mouth, she tried to force noise out of it, and only the rumble answered her.
A rumble that got louder and louder until the other girl finally looked up and laughed once as she kicked her bare feet over the edge of the rock. Then she shook her head and finally looked down so their eyes could meet. She was still smiling, but it was a sad smile now. Like she was disappointed. "Don't ever forget what's important. Can you promise me that?"
And Gwen tried to talk again and failed, and there was just the rumble as the green world went away...
- o - o - o - o - o -
A rumble that was a snore, her Doofus's, and it filled her world like it never had before.
There was a world of difference between him snoring a couple of feet away and his snoring right in her ear. Gwen realized as she woke up and tried to hold onto the dream, but she couldn't. Not when she felt him pressed up against her back with his left arm wrapped around her waist.
"Ben," she whispered as she tried to pull away and remember something. Something that slipped away as his grip around her middle tightened and the Omnitrix dug into her stomach. A grip that relaxed the second she stopped moving, even as she dealt with the rest like she did for a summer and a half, with words that were just a loud whisper that he always heard. "Doofus! You're snoring!"
"Deal with it, Dweeb," he mumbled, the words a sleepy slur as he moved his head a little. A second later he was asleep again and his hot breath brought up goosebumps as it tickled the back of her neck, but at least he wasn't snoring.
But he hadn't moved anything else.
She knew she should move, or hit him until he did. If their parents found them like this they would never hear the end of it if they were lucky.
She should, but he felt so warm and she was too comfy and too tired to worry about anything.
He'd kissed her, she thought one last time as she snuggled a little closer to him and took his hand in hers. She guessed that the world didn't end and she didn't know what she should think about anything, but this was a new millennium and she had plenty of time to think about it. Tomorrow she would freak. She knew that already even if she was too sleepy to remember why.
But for right now she just closed her eyes and smiled as her Ben held her close and she didn't open them again for the rest of the night.
- o - o - o - o - o -
Author's Note
There's art for this chapter now!
deviant art com /kira0503/art/Bwen-10-Ringing-in-the-Bennenium-823134429
If you like it please leave a review telling Kira0503 so because she caught the moment perfectly and my friend csgt for commissioning it.
And in much less important news next week's chapter might be delayed because I had an idea that changes quite a bit of it. I'm not sure if it'll work, but I want to give it a try.