Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10. Although, it would be awesome if I did.
Please enjoy. Second chapter coming soon.
"Kevin, do you think Ben's been acting different?" Gwen asked Kevin as he lay beneath his car, working on the underside. Gwen would have preferred having Kevin look at her while she talked. It was only courtesy to look someone in the eyes when they were speaking to you. But she let it go. Kevin wasn't one to fully respect her or anybody else anyways.
"No," he grunted as he tightened a bolt.
"Oh, come on! You're honestly telling me that he seems the same to you?"
"Sorry, what are we talking about? I was kind of focused on my car."
Gwen resisted the urge to pull him out from under that precious car of his and slap him. "Ben! Has he seemed different to you?"
"Oh. Yeah. He's been acting like a jerk. I asked him if he could lend me $5.00 and he told me to go and rob someone else! Like, what the heck did I do to him?"
"That's what I'm saying. Something's going on. I asked him if he wanted help studying and he said he didn't need me telling him how dumb he was."
Kevin came out from under his car, a wrench in hand. He was beginning to feel uneasy knowing he wasn't the only one who noticed a change in Ben's behavior. "You know, everytime I see him, he looks so out of it."
"Yeah," Gwen agreed, remembering how withdrawn Ben seemed when she last saw him. He was practicing soccer, but it was clear that he wasn't focused on the game. When he kicked the ball, it bounced off a wall and hit him dead on in the face. He didn't even try to dodge. After that, he was so angry, he threw the ball in a trashcan. "Maybe he's stressed out about his finals next week."
"Oh, come on," Kevin snorted. "How much more stressful can some stupid tests be than saving the world?"
"Maybe that's it then. Maybe being responsible for the ultimatrix is finally getting to him."
"If he could handle it when he was ten, why can't he handle it now?"
"Ben didn't feel responsible for the safety of the world then. He was just excited to kick alien butt."
Kevin thought for a minute. "Do you think he's sick?"
"Maybe," Gwen considered, but she wasn't convinced. Ben's been sick without acting like this before. "Is he being bullied?"
Kevin punched his fist into his palm. "Oh! Well, if that's the case, I can fix it," he said, smiling connivingly.
Gwen rolled her eyes. "But if he was getting bullied, why take his anger out on us?"
"You don't need to be mad at someone to lash out at them. You just need to be in a bad mood."
"I'm sure you would know, Kevin."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Gwen ignored him. "I guess we're just going to have to ask him," Gwen decided. "This calls for an intervention."
"Intervention?"
"What? Any better ideas?" Gwen asked, almost daring him to say something of actual value.
"Yeah. Let's go find Cash and J.T., and feed them a knuckle sandwich. If Ben's getting bullied, it would definitely be by those two."
"We don't even know that he's getting bullied. And you just want an excuse to beat them up after they stole your car."
"That's only partly true. I'm also fed up with them. Ben's already saved their butts more than enough times for them to put a sock in it already."
At least he cares, Gwen thought.
"Let's just meet him up at Smoothy and ask him what's going on."
"Fine," Kevin begrudgingly agreed, then added,"We'll all meet at Smoothy and talk about our feelings."
Gwen did not appreciate the sarcasm. "Hate to break it to you Kevin, but that is exactly what we are going to do."
Kevin groaned, his worst nightmare being realized.