Courting Disaster

by shadows59

In a different reality, Ben and Gwen aren't separated and sent to different schools, their mothers don't ruin things, and things are generally better all around. Except for all of the adults who are around the two and slowly begin to realize that there's no stopping the chain reaction going on. They're Ben and Gwen, and the world can just deal with it. By Erico and Shadows59

7. Chapter 6: The Kids Go Solo

Chapter Six: The Kids Go Solo

By Erico

December 25th, 1995 C.E.

Gwen Tennyson's House

If there was one good thing about Thanksgiving and Christmas, it was that everyone in the family got together, which meant that even though their parents had done a lot to keep them from spending time together outside of school, they couldn't stop Ben from being around his Gwen during the holidays. Thanksgiving had been a riot, something he'd heard someone say in one of Aunt Lili's comedies where a man and a woman started off hating each other and then ended up kissing and hugging a lot.

Grandpa had come by, and even Aunt Vera had shown up with him. She insisted on pinching his cheeks then, and that had been the second bad thing about Aunt Vera being there (The first was all the time that she and Gwen spent making bird noises at each other), but it meant that the 'big table' was full enough that Uncle Frank and Aunt Lili had to set up a smaller one for him and Gwen. An entire table, all to themselves! And nobody had said anything when Gwen pulled her chair around to his side of it so they could sit together while they were eating. Then afterwards, while Aunt Lili and his mom and Aunt Vera were cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen, he and Gwen got to go out into the living room with their dads and Grandpa Max. They watched some football game somewhere, but Ben and Gwen sat in one of the comfy chairs, and she fell asleep lying half on top of him. He'd ended up falling asleep a little bit after, and it felt really nice.

The picture that their moms had taken of them after, while Grandpa Max and their dads watched with big grins was embarrassing, and a copy of it ended up in both of their picture albums. Ben was sure that they would be teasing them about it for years, but even that was worth it. He'd had one day where nobody argued with him and told him he couldn't spend the day doing stuff with Gwen, or being with Gwen. And he even got to take a nap with Gwen, which they hadn't done since they were little. He hadn't known how much he missed it.

Christmas had started out about the same, but without Aunt Vera around. Grandpa had said that she went to spend time with their other brother, Uncle Gordon and his family, but it was Christmas. And they were doing it at her house! He had a stocking full of tiny toys and chocolate and an orange and a box of cereal he ate for breakfast, and then when Grandpa and their parents finally got finished drinking their coffee, he and Gwen got to race out and scramble for the presents under the tree. He loved his new Kangaroo Kommando utility belt from Santa, and his folks even got Gwen a mask like the one the detective girl wore on Gwen's favorite TV show. There were other presents that weren't quite as good. A new sweater? Really? Ben hated sweaters, his parents got him one every year and he only ever wore it for the family pictures, and then he took it off and threw it into his closet and never looked at it again. And Aunt Lili got him books. At least Grandpa's was kind of cool, he gave them both fishing poles! Ben still remembered how much fun he and Gwen had fishing at Grandpa's favorite lake when they'd been little. The fishing poles meant that Grandpa wanted to do that again.

And then Gwen was tearing through the paper that covered her big present with Ben's help, and they both froze when they saw the box inside. The box and the doll that was wearing a funny and fluffy looking dress. "Daddy?" Gwen asked, and Ben thought she wasn't sure if she should smile or frown.

Ben didn't have any trouble knowing which way his face should be going. Especially when Uncle Frank brushed a hand through her hair and said, "Santa must have thought that you would want a doll that's taking the same classes you are, Pumpkin."

And then there wasn't any doubt at all as Aunt Natalie pulled out a piece of paper and her face glowed as she said what it meant.

"I don't wanna take ballet!" Ben said the second she stopped talking, his face scrunched up as Gwen stared at the papers, her smile fading a little. And then it died all together as his Aunt Lili cleared her throat. "It's... We didn't sign you up, Ben. It's just for Gwen."

"No Ben?" Gwen whispered, not really scared but disappointed. "But we're going to have so much fun! And - and - "

"Ballet is a special kind of dancing, Gwen." Aunt Lili went on, giving Gwen a small hug. "It's not something that they let boys do, and Mrs. Halvarrsen was…" She stopped and looked over to his mom and dad, and when Ben looked at his dad, he sighed a little.

"We didn't think that Ben would want to go back to that building after school, especially with what happened. And you just said you didn't want to, Ben." Ben ducked his head at that, feeling a little ashamed now. He had said that, but he didn't realize that it meant she'd be doing something else without him.

Aunt Lili started talking again right after. "Besides Gwen, Mrs. Hunter was talking with me and she said that Marci was very excited to take ballet with you. Don't you want to spend time doing things with Marci? Now that you're not mad at her anymore?"

Gwen sank into her mom's arms and hugged her dolly, Her dolly and not Furry Freddy, who Ben brought with him when their moms and dads let them sleep out in Grandpa's Rustbucket last night just in case she wanted to borrow him. The bunks were smaller than he remembered, but they could still fit together in one. "I guess." She mumbled into the top of the doll's head. "What about Ben?"

"Oh, we're still getting Ben's 'activity' present lined up, sweetheart." Grandpa Max smiled. "Besides, the ballet classes don't start until after your 8th birthdays. So we have a little time left."

"And ballet won't be every night, Gwen." Ben's mom said. "You'll still get to see him at school and on the weekends. And maybe some school nights, if you two need to study."

Gwen looked over at Ben, her green eyes big and wide. "But…"

Ben could've done something then, he could've thrown a fit or yelled or got angry. But would it change anything? What if ballet was something that Gwen might end up liking? For a change, he wasn't thinking about what he wanted.

He thought about what Gwen might want instead. So Ben got up, walked over and looked at her so he didn't have to look at the stupid doll she was holding onto instead of Furry Freddy which was lying on the floor next to her. He picked up the bear and gave it the hug she wasn't. "You and Marci can have fun at ballet. You can tell me about it after, Gwen." He said, and Aunt Lili made a noise and smiled at him in a way that he just didn't understand, and then it got a hundred times worse when he heard his mom make the exact same noise and he looked back and she had her hands over her mouth. At least his dad acted kind of normal, enough that the burning in his face didn't make him want to run for the kitchen to get away from everyone. His dad blinked and didn't say anything, he just looked across the room to the other couch across from his where Uncle Frank and Grandpa Max were sitting, with Aunt Lili on the floor in the spot between them as she leaned against Uncle Frank's leg. Uncle Frank blinked and took his glasses off, and looked back at his dad.

"That's very mature of you, Ben." Grandpa Max rumbled, and he was smiling too. Ben looked down at the floor and shrugged, not sure what he could say after that.

"You sure it's okay, Ben?" Gwen asked. He knew she wanted to do it, but she was still asking. Why? Because he'd feel left out?

"Yup." He managed, looking at her, and added a little more so the last three minutes would stop being so weird. "I'll bet you can do even better than Marci, though."

"Yeah! Count on it!" Gwen grinned, bouncing in place a little. Ben plopped back down on the ground next to the tree and reached for the next present, one for his dad from Uncle Frank. His dad messed up his hair and Ben scowled a little and pulled back.

So Gwen would be taking ballet after their birthdays. That was fine. Things would be fine.

- o - o - o - o - o -

Tuesday, January 13th, 1996

4:43 P.M.

Things were not fine. It was after their 8th birthday and today was the first day of their after-school activities. Gwen's mom had come by and picked her up, and his mom had taken him to go to his own class. And even though he didn't want to take ballet, Ben almost asked his mom if he could go with her. He and Gwen did everything together, after all! That was just how things were!

But at least his class sounded more awesome. He was taking karate, like the kind that he and Gwen sometimes saw on television or in some of dad's old movies. Even his mom was okay with it and that surprised him, because she hated fighting. But Grandpa'd said he knew the man who ran the building - dojo - and that he would teach Ben to avoid fights. Of course, Ben knew that had to be a little bit of a lie, because people who knew karate always got into fights. You just had to fight for the right reasons.

The outfit felt weird, though. Why couldn't he just wear shorts and a t-shirt? He'd practiced putting it on at home a couple of times, but it still took him a bit to change into it. At least here in the changing room for the boys, his mom couldn't fuss all over him until it was just right. He looked over himself one last time after cinching the belt in place, nodded, and walked out into the gym.

They called it a dojo, but Ben knew what gyms smelled like, and this was a gym. There were even those blue folding mats leaned up against the back wall. Their teacher had the same stern look as the principal at his school did, and the black and gray-haired Japanese man stood and waited as everyone else filtered in from the changing rooms.

"Konnichi wa, students. Form a line." He rumbled, and the few kids who were whispering stopped talking. There was something about his voice that made Ben shiver a little and do what he asked. Their teacher nodded at them all and put his arms down at his sides. "I am Mister Yamamoto, but in our dojo, you will call me Sensei. It means 'Teacher' in Japanese, and is a mark of respect." He stated evenly. "Respect goes both ways in this dojo. You will answer 'yes, sensei' or 'no, sensei' and you will show respect this way. I will show respect by learning and using your names every day, and answering every question you have with patience and care. Do you understand?"

Ben wasn't the only kid who looked around nervously, as they all guessed what they should say. They managed to all say 'yes sensei' in a garbled mess, but Mr. Yamamoto seemed to accept it. The man smiled and gave them a nod.

"Good. We will work on that." He bowed at the waist, keeping his back straight the entire time. "Bowing is another sign of respect. I bow to you at the start of class, and you bow to me. Try it." They did so, and when Ben straightened up, Mr. Yamamoto was more relaxed than before.

"This is your first day, so we will only do a few things. Warmup exercises and some basic stances. They are the foundation for everything else you will learn here. I can see by your eyes that some of you are disappointed - perhaps you thought that you would be learning punches and kicks and throwing people over your shoulder on the first day. That is wrong. We do not study karate to start fights. You will learn discipline and patience, and self-control." Mr. Yamamoto folded his arms behind his back and walked in front of them, going down the line of students. "One thing that you will not understand now, but will understand in the future, is that you are not studying karate to master martial arts. You are studying karate to master yourself. If I hear from your parents or your teachers that you are fighting with what I have taught you, I will be very displeased."

Ben flinched a little at the warning, but at least he wasn't the only one. The few girls in the class didn't react, but from his spot at the end of the line, he could see three other boys that did the same thing. He jerked his head forward and looked up when he realized that Mr. Yamamoto had stopped in front of him and was looking down at him.

"We do not start fights. We use karate to protect ourselves and others...and to stop fights." He said, and his head moved just a little bit as he kept his eyes locked on Ben's. "Understood, students?"

"Yes, sensei!" The response from the class was louder than before, even if Ben's came out scratchy. The man smiled, stepped back away from the line, and moved so that everyone could look at him.

"Now, let's begin with some stretches…"

- o - o - o - o - o -

1 Hour Later

Ben was tired and his arms and his legs hurt and he was amazed at how sweaty his karate pajamas were. It wasn't as bad as the time he and Gwen had gone to Jimmy's birthday party and they had that enormous water balloon fight, but the white uniform still stuck to him. His mom had given him an old bag that she'd pulled out of the closet, and after he'd changed into his pants and his T-Shirt, he shoved the uniform into the bag and zipped it up along with the towel she'd made him bring. He was only a little sweaty after all, he didn't need it, and he felt warm enough that he just tossed his jacket over his shoulder as he walked out of the changing room.

His mom was waiting just inside the front doors in the little waiting area for the parents and she smiled and waved at him as he came out. "There's my little man!" She said, and Ben blushed a little. "How did it go?"

"Okay. Our sensei went over the rules and we learned some stretches and stuff." He told her. "It was a little harder than I thought it would be."

"Well, I thought you deserved a little reward for working so hard, so while you were in class I went and picked up dinner." Mom said, opening the door so they could walk out. Ben felt the cold of the outside air hit him and hissed a little, but kept on walking. "For heaven's sake, Ben, put on your jacket!" She told him. Ben just laughed and walked a little faster towards the van, and when he yanked open the side door to toss his bag in, the smell of chinese food smacked him in the face. He grinned and put his bag down inside so it wouldn't hit the food, then shut the door and went to the passenger seat.

"Chinese? Awesome!" He chirped as mom got into the driver's seat. "C'mon, let's get home!"

"Seatbelt?" She reminded him, and Ben groaned for the two seconds it took to pull it down and snap it into place. "Okay, now we can go." She said, starting the engine. "I got the noodles you like."

"With chicken?"

"Yes, with chicken."

"You're the best, mom!" He cheered, and she grinned as they pulled out onto the street and headed for home. "Did you remember to get the thin egg rolls that Gwen likes? She doesn't like the great big ones, you know." He loved the smells that came with chinese food, the sweet and the salty combinations. And the orange chicken which was the only good way to eat broccoli, no matter what Gwen said about the vegetable.

He kept thinking about what all mom might've ordered, so he didn't catch how she wasn't answering his question. He was looking out the front window, so he wasn't looking at her face as it changed.

"Ben," she said, and it sounded wrong enough that he finally turned to look at her and saw her frown, "Gwen's not here, honey."

He blinked, and looked in the back, seeing only his bag and the bundles of food. No Gwen. For a moment, he'd forgotten that she wasn't here. That she wasn't supposed to be here.

"Oh." He got out, and sank into the seat. Gwen was at ballet. He was taking karate on his own. But he could've sworn for a second that she was here! It - it felt like she was supposed to be here.

"It's okay, Ben." She told him, and reached a hand over to pat the top of his head. "You can tell her all about it tomorrow at school."

"Okay." He mumbled, and was glad that his mom didn't try to talk to him on the rest of the drive home. He suddenly didn't feel like it.

- o - o - o - o - o -

Angelwood Academy

Thursday, January 15th

Lunchtime

Ben rubbed his Kangaroo Kommando decoder ring when he was nervous or feeling sad. He didn't realize he did it until one of his classmates pointed it out the day before, and now he couldn't stop thinking about it. Sure, his sensei made him take it off in karate, but he put it right back on again after he got changed. It was always there, it had been there since costume day last October when they had -

"...and then Mrs. Henicke said if we did well tonight, she'd let us watch Swan Lake on Friday!" Marci cheered from her spot off of Gwen's left shoulder. Ben was sitting on her other side, because everyone knew to save a spot so they could always sit together. Ben looked up from his half-eaten grilled cheese sandwich (Which wasn't anywhere near as good as the ones his mom made) and the green beans he poked his fork at, and looked over to see Marci holding on to Gwen's arm as the yellow-haired girl kept on babbling about their ballet class on Tuesday. And they were talking about tonight too, it seemed.

From her spot across from them, Olivia sighed. "Well, you two are doing better than me right now. I musta tripped like, half a dozen times on Tuesday."

"Hey, I thought you did fine." Gwen said to the taller girl. "So you're a little taller than everyone else there. My mom said that girls grow up differently, but we all end up as women eventually."

"Really?" Marci raised an eyebrow. "She said that?"

"Once." Ben said, and everyone turned to look at him. He fidgeted a little as all the girls at their table looked at him with wide eyes and the three other boys gave him weird side glances. He coughed a little and looked to the side, rubbing his plastic decoder ring again. "It was at a picnic." He explained, and quickly changed the subject. "But you're having fun Gwen?"

"Um. Yeah. Lots!" She said happily, bouncing in her seat a little. "It's more fun than I thought it'd be, and Marci helps me out!"

"We're stretching partners." Marci grinned to the table. "You need someone to help you bend as far as you hafta to get warmed up."

"Yeah, who cares." Julio grumbled from his spot over by Olivia. The boy grinned and nodded at Ben. "Enough about dancing. I wanna hear about karate."

"Yeah!" Matthew cheered, bouncing in his seat a little. "Is it awesome, Ben? Are you learning how to kick butt?"

"Matt!" Marci hissed at him, and Ben knew if she'd been sitting by the boy she would've poked him in the shoulder for it. "What if a teacher heard you?" She demanded, trying to keep quiet, though Ben thought the low hissing was louder than if she'd just talked normally. Matt just shrugged, looking back at Ben right after.

"C'mon, Ben. What's it like?"

"A lot of stretches. And following directions." Ben admitted. Sensei managed to do what most of his teachers couldn't, though. He made Ben pay attention and not goof off. Ben didn't know what it was about the guy that made him stand up straight. Maybe it was just because after the first hour, the man had shown the entire class what they would be working towards when he chopped a wooden board in half with his bare hand. "It's okay, but I think I've got a while before I'm good enough to kick butt like the guys in the movies."

"Aw." Julio made a face. "But there's this one guy in my neighborhood I wanted you to mess with…"

Ben blinked and sharply shook his head. "No. Not ever. Sensei says that you don't start fights, and you don't learn karate to get into them." The table blinked a little and leaned forward, and sensing the audience, Ben blushed a little before adding, "He doesn't want us getting into fights, Julio. He wants us to be able to finish them."

Matthew blinked several times at the announcement, and Julio's mouth fell open. "Dude." Julio whispered. "That's so awesome."

"Yeah." Gwen said, and Ben turned to see her looking at him with stars in her eyes. "Karate sounds terrific."

Ben smiled a little at the praise. "Yeah, well." He shrugged it off, looking away long enough to hide his blush. He looked back after though, he couldn't help looking at Gwen sometimes. For a second, he almost asked her to quit ballet and come do karate with him instead. She'd probably say yes, no matter how much she was enjoying ballet. He didn't though. When he thought about saying it, his stomach got even more twisted up than it was already. "It'd be more fun if you were there, but ballet's fun for you too." He looked past Gwen to Marci, who had a sour look on her face. It was too perfect an opening. "Besides, Marci would get lonely without you there."

"Wuh - what?" Marci sputtered, hunching her shoulders up. "As if you knew anything, Benjamin!" The table laughed, and Ben did as well even if his heart wasn't in it. The knot in his stomach wasn't going away, and he pushed the rest of his sandwich towards Gwen.

"Ben?" She asked, surprised. Of course she would be, he never turned down grilled cheese.

"I had a big breakfast." Ben lied. "Go ahead, I coulda sworn I heard your stomach growling in spelling this morning." She huffed at the ding, but took the warm toasted bread and cheese and kissed him on the cheek for it.

"Eww!" Julio made a face, while Ben just sat there blinking. "Cooties!"

"Oh, please." Marci rolled her eyes. "You boys are so immature, there's no such thing as cooties. Boys are just gross."

The conversations went back to normal after that, and Ben stuck his hands under the table as Gwen happily polished off the rest of his sandwich. He rubbed at his green decoder ring where nobody could see it. He didn't want them seeing him touch it.

- o - o - o - o - o -

Friday Night

5:42 P.M.

The one thing that you could count on about Grandpa was that he always had the best ideas, and they were never ideas that you expected. When Ben got back from karate and saw the Rustbucket parked out on the curb in front of his house, he was beyond excited. He only had enough time to give the man a quick hug before his mom shoved him towards the house and ordered him to take a shower, because Gwen and her parents were coming over for dinner and Grandpa had spent all afternoon setting up a stone circle in the backyard and bringing in firewood. They were going to have a cookout in the backyard and roast marshmallows and everything, and even though it was chilly, Grandpa said that the fire would be hot enough that nobody would be cold.

Grandpa was right. Even though his mom made him wear his winter jacket and a stocking hat, Ben felt like he was sticking his head in an oven when he leaned in to cook his second hot dog on the metal stick that Grandpa had given him to use. Grandpa had gone all out and gotten what looked like half of a tree cut up and laid out onto the fire, and the little flames licked at the sky over the heads of all the adults. The little green plastic portable picnic table from the garage was set out and covered in all the fixings for hot dogs and s'mores and one of the two packages of buns was completely demolished. The small plate of deer sausages that Grandpa had brought along was nearly untouched, though. The adults talked a little about their weeks (Uncle Frank had a tough case that he wouldn't get into the details about, Grandpa Max talked about maybe going to see Aunt Vera soon, his dad complained about the city council not putting enough money towards the summer season, which meant they couldn't hire the high schoolers to help mow the lawns in the parks, his mom tried to talk Aunt Lili into going to her book club again), but soon enough everyone looked to Ben and Gwen and asked how their after-school activities were going.

Ben was rubbing his decoder ring as soon as Gwen started talking about the movie that they got to watch in ballet, and what they'd been doing earlier in the week. Which was bad enough even before his aunt gave her a hug and started cooing something about 'her little Prima Ballerina.' He wasn't paying much attention at all after that, which ended up getting him in trouble when his dad almost shouted his name.

"Ben!" He startled and looked over to his dad, who smirked at him with a half-eaten hot dog in one hand as he pointed with the other. "And here I thought I had a few more years before you'd start ignoring me."

"Sorry, dad." Ben apologized, and looked over to Gwen, who was nibbling at her lower lip. "Um. I didn't hear you?" He got out weakly, pulling his hand back away from his decoder ring.

"I asked you how karate was going. Tonight was your third class, right?"

"It's fine." Ben said without thinking about it.

"It's better'n fine!" Gwen argued, and Ben looked over to see her scowling at him as she hugged her doll which was way less awesome than Furry Freddy in its stupid tutu.

The same doll he'd been glaring at all night when she wasn't looking, and the one he forgot all about as she huffed and added, "You shoulda heard him talking about it at lunch a couple of days ago! One of our friends asked him if he'd come kick butt, and Ben told them that karate wasn't about gettin' into fights." Aunt Lili hissed Gwen's name at the words she used, but Gwen didn't back down a bit.

"Oh, that's a relief." His mom said, pleased by the answer. Gwen grinned from ear to ear and ruined the moment a second later.

"It's about finishing 'em." Gwen declared. His mom squeaked in horror, but Grandpa Max busted out laughing at that, and both his dad and Uncle Frank looked...happy?

"Well, that's a pretty good motto. Did your teacher tell you that, Ben?" His dad asked, reaching over and ruffling his hair a little.

"Um. Yeah. First day." He admitted.

"Ben, I didn't sign you up for karate so you'd get in fights!" His mom sputtered.

"Easy, Sandy Bear." His dad hummed, leaning over to hug mom and kiss her forehead. "You heard Gwen. He told off the other kids at school when they asked if he'd fight other kids for them. Seems to me like his teacher's passing on some valuable life lessons on top of everything else. You know, Ben, Uncle Frank and I got into some scrapes when we were kids too. Just keep up with that attitude. I don't want you charging off and fighting, but I do want you to know how to defend yourself if somebody else decides that they're stupid enough to not use their words. We learned how to fight a little ourselves when we were young and it came in handy."

"Really?" Grandpa said, sounding surprised. "I didn't teach you two how to fight."

"No." Uncle Frank agreed, a little distantly. "Mom did."

None of the adults said anything after that, and Grandpa ducked his head like he'd done something wrong. Ben looked around the campfire, wondering why his parents and Gwen's suddenly looked sad.

"Frank…" Grandpa started to say. Uncle Frank shook his head.

"It's okay, dad. It was a long time ago. And you're here now." Uncle Frank smiled, and chuckled when Grandpa Max looked up again hopefully. "Although you bring the weirdest things to eat still. Hey, Carl? I dare you to split one of those deer sausage dogs with me."

"Aw, fu -udge." His dad muttered, flinching a little when both mom and Aunt Lili glared at him. Dad rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "Well, can't say no to a dare from my big brother now, can I?" Everyone relaxed at that, and Ben felt itchy all over. And too warm as he looked at the girl who used to do everything with him, the doll in her hands, and the fire that towered over both of them. The one that would get rid of that stupid doll and its stupid tutu once and for all and make her…

Make her cry. "Mom, can I go get another soda?" He asked as he jerked his head away as tears flooded his eyes.

"Sure, honey. You know where they are, right?" He nodded, and set his metal skewer on his chair as he stood up, and rushed for the door.

"Hey, wait for me!" Gwen said. "I want one too!" Ben snorted once and headed in, making Gwen have to run to catch up to him.

They walked through the back door of the kitchen and Ben went straight for the stairs that went down into the basement where the furnace and all the house stuff was. There was an old refrigerator from dad's work he'd taken after they were going to throw it out, a big clunky metal thing with faded blue-green paint and a metal handle that he loved pulling on. It was always a little bit cold down here, especially with nothing but bare concrete for the floor. That made it great in the summer, but right now it was just a little bit warmer than outside, since all the heat from the furnace went upstairs.

"Which one do you want, Gwen?" He asked as he put Furry Freddy down because it took both his hands to pull open the door. The sodas were on the lower shelves, and he grabbed a grape soda for himself and his bear.

"Orange, please." She answered him, and her voice sounded a little funny. He looked back at her and blinked when he saw her mouth buried in her doll's hair again. "Ben? Are you really having fun in karate?" The worry in her eyes made him look away.

He grabbed her can of orange soda and closed the metal door again. Was he, he asked himself? He could blurt out the same thing he had to their parents and to Grandpa. That it was okay. But not Gwen. She saw through the little lies he'd try out, she always did.

"I miss you." He got out around the heavy lump in his throat, flinching when he heard that little gasp of hers. "But when you and Marci and the other girls talk about how much fun you're having in ballet…" He stopped talking, took a breath, and turned back around. He stuck the can of orange soda towards her, waiting until she took it. "We got in trouble because we did everything together. We weren't sharing." He tried not to spit the word out, even though remembering how their dance teacher had made such a fuss about it still made him angry. "And...And you're having fun with Marci. She's your friend now." Ben looked at Gwen again, wondering why she wasn't saying anything. Her lips were pressed together and she held her orange soda tightly between her mittened hands. He huffed and looked down at the ground, rubbing at his decoder ring again. At least he knew why he was rubbing it now, it was obvious. He missed her. Even when she was sitting beside him at lunch, he still missed her. She probably thought he was crazy now. "So that's what I'm doing." He ground out. "I'm sharing you. Even though I wanna ask you to quit ballet and come do karate with me, I'm not gonna. Because it isn't fair, because you like ballet and it's somethin' you n' Marci do together."

He waited for her to call him a doofus, or a silly scruffy, or one of the other things she liked to call him when his name just wasn't enough for the job. He kept on waiting, and Gwen looked between the can in her hands and the floor and his face, her own face turning almost as red as her hair the whole time before she finally said something.

"I miss you too." She said softly. Ben blinked. "But...But I thought that you wanted me to go away for a while."

His own face heated up as he rubbed at his decoder ring again. "No."

She let out a huff and shook her head. "I kept looking over my shoulder in ballet to talk to you, and you weren't there. Ballet's fun, but I hated that. Marci's nice and all, but...she isn't you."

Ben looked back at her, then snorted and finally let his hand drop away from his decoder ring. He smiled at her, and she smiled back and the two of them kept giggling, and that twisted knot in his stomach finally, finally started to work itself loose. He finally felt like himself again.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, and Gwen stopped giggling to look at him curiously.

"You're sorry? What for?" She asked.

"For making you feel bad. Duh." He said, and stuck his tongue out at her. "For making you feel like I - like I didn't want you around me." Because he did. All the time, and maybe that was a little bit weird, but she was his best friend, and they'd dressed up and gave each other rings and said those words. It wasn't just so nobody else could kiss him, Ben knew now. He'd promised to stay with her. Forever.

That wasn't such a bad thing.

"Well." Gwen coughed into her hand, smiling and blushing the whole time while her green eyes almost glowed. "I probably oughta stick with ballet for the rest of this year. You know. Just until we're done with school."

"Yeah." Ben sighed. He'd been expecting that. Gwen didn't do anything halfway, after all.

"But after...after." Gwen added hopefully. "Do you think I could come do karate with you?"

"You wanna?" Ben blurted out. "Just to be with me?"

"No, not just to be with you." She huffed, and gave him a little shove that their parents would've yelled at her for if they'd seen her do it. "Karate sounds so great. And besides, I know that you get in less trouble when I'm there to stop you from doing stupid scruffy things."

"I do not." He complained, and she laughed.

"You do! You really do, Scruffy!" Gwen giggled into her hand. "But...I don't wanna start karate next year not knowin' what to do." She pulled her hand away and looked into his eyes. "Can you show me?"

Anything, Ben thought suddenly, and wondered where that had come from. He coughed and shook his head, then went over and put his soda on top of the washing machine. Gwen did the same thing and looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"I guess I could try. But sensei's the teacher. I'm probably gonna goof this up." He warned her.

"You won't." She said, and he could tell that she believed it. Believed in him. The jolt of confidence made him feel like he could fight the whole world by himself...But he wouldn't need to. Not if she was there too.

"Okay." Ben smiled, and took off his jacket and his stocking hat.

"Watch Mrs. Curie, Freddy!" Gwen said with an excited squeal as she set her doll down so they could lean against each other and watch. Then she followed his lead and yanked off her coat and her mittens. Ben grinned at her as he walked out into the middle of the floor and Gwen mirrored him, standing in front of him expectantly.

He took a breath and nodded. "The first thing you do, every time in sensei's class, is you bow to him, and he bows to you…"

Their first private karate lesson began with Ben and Gwen bowing to each other in the cold basement of his home.

It wouldn't be their last.

- o - o - o - o - o -

(Erico) Author's Note: In the Little Moments-Verse, Gwen started taking karate after her 8th birthday instead of ballet, much to the chagrin of her mother. Here, though, the kids follow a much different script since the previous events in their lives have played out much differently and they're still best friends and more besides. Gwen's getting along enough with Marci to make going to ballet palatable, and even if Ben hates doing something without Gwen there, he's tamping down enough of his impulse control to act a little mature about it. For an 8-year old who's still struggling with empathy and putting others ahead of himself, at least. Gwen's the one person who he'd drop everything to help out in this reality, though. That helps a lot.