Disclaimer: Still don't own Ben 10.
A/N: I live.
The chips were down, the game was on.
Ben narrowed his eyes, cracking his neck and spitting into empty chips bowl.
His enemy was not intimidated, merely narrowing his own eyes (it, Tennyson. You're dealing with a demon, not a person).
Ben raised his weapon for a quick strike before retreating, awaiting a response. He thought he was safe, that he'd left no gaps in his defense.
He was wrong; his foe raised its own weapon and brought it down with conviction.
Vilgax drew his perfect circle, the third in a row, and dropped the pencil with an imperious feather rustle.
Ben groaned and flung his own pencil, glaring at the paper between them. Losing was annoying in and of itself. Losing three times in a row to a bird at tic-tac-toe? He huffed out a breath before he flopped back onto the floor. The bird abandoned him to his suffering. "Gwen was right; bird brain is too much of a compliment for me."
At least Gwen wasn't here to see it happen.
...that only made him feel worse. Maybe he'd have better luck with his comics.
So, comics were a total bust. He flung the issue across the room in frustration and again flopped onto the floor.
He tried to convince himself that the plot was simply boring after he already knew the twists and turns, but he'd read this issue several times over in the past and enjoyed it every time- heck he enjoyed the entire series every time.
But he'd enjoyed it best when Gwen had joined him and proceeded to make complete mincemeat of the writing.
"Oh, come on! Having your reader go 'what' does not mean you made a good plot twist!"
"Right?! If your twist isn't any better than what we already expected, don't do the twist!"
He could probably do the same thing with this Gwen, though. She might even have different thoughts about it than his Gwen had. That could be super fun!
Or it would be if she were here...
Video games! Those had never let him down. Maybe he could cahoot grandpa into trying them again!
Video games let him down. His pride and joy, his dependable ally through so many boring days, let him down. He didn't know if the pain in his chest was the sting of betrayal or if he was overheating again. Then again, one glance at his feverish appearance, lightly shaking hands and steamy breath indicated the latter.
He was nearly at New York levels of overheating. And this time he doubted Gwen was going to swoop in with a total screw-up that gave him cause to heal some bruises. Where was Kevin when you needed him?
...where was Gwen when he needed her?
One movie attempt, an impromptu cooking session, dozens of jumping jacks and dancing practice later (not as fun when it was the bird in his arm, though the stupid chicken had a great sense of tempo), Ben was just about ready to tear his hair out- something Vilgax found hilarious and laughed at him for.
Ben declared war and chased him around until the heat compelled him to stop- and when grandpa told him to relax because 'he needed to rest, he was sick, don't worry so much' which Ben thought was bullcrap because he didn't need rest. He knew exactly what he needed.
And she still wasn't back!
This wouldn't do and grandpa wasn't gonna budge. But it wasn't like he'd ever let that stop him before.
Popping open the back window near the bunks, safely hidden from the rest of the RV by the closet next to it, Ben slipped out silently, making his way around the back of the Rustbucket, and quickened his pace-
"Nice evening for a stroll, isn't it?"
"Son of an emerald speckled onyx humper!" Ben swore as he tripped over a particularly treacherous patch of thin air and crashed to the pavement, leading with his face. Ow.
Leaning against the Rustbucket, arms crossed sternly, his grandfather raised a brow. "I hear you ran into a Petrosapien at some point. Still, mind your language."
"Sorry grandpa." Ben grumbled into the ground before turning his head to look the man in the eye. "How'd you know I was sneaking out?"
Grandpa Max laughed deeply before looking at him with what could only be described as 'annoyed fondness'. It was a look he'd often gotten from Gwen, down to a T. "You haven't changed that much, Ben."
Ben slumped further where he lay, not bothering to get up. Night had fallen quite a while ago, and the pavement under his cheek was actually cool to the touch. "I just wanna go make sure she's alright..." He grumbled, not whined. He was not whining! Seriously!
Grandpa Max exhaled loudly before he slid down the RV's side to sit against it, looking like a mountain coming to rest, or an avalanche finally halting. Ben would be envious of his size if he didn't know that, one day, he'd be just as big and twice as awesome.
...okay, one and a half. Grandpa could seriously rock. Or he did, on literally every other night.
"We already went over this when you two came back from the festival, Ben." The man scolded. "Gwen going in in an alien form and stealing the book is high profile, but it can't be traced. Not easily, at least. However, if the high profile alien shows up with a kid in tow that was just there that afternoon, asking security questions at that, it might as well be a calling card."
Ben groaned, turning his away from the old man who did totally not have a point. "I could've worn a disguise, we'd be fine!" He grumbled. "I just want to be there with her..."
A snort found his ears. "You mean a disguise like those robes? The on in which you started a food fight large enough to feature on the local radio?"
He grinned. "I'm not apologizing. It was awesome."
The old man exhaled, loudly, and Ben could easily envision him rubbing his temples. "I'm sure you don't. But the answer is still no, Ben." The man paused. Ben still didn't face him, nor did he get up from his sprawl on the pavement, but he heard him loud and clear. "What's this really about, lad?"
...well, it wasn't like he hadn't gone crying to grandpa before. And at least Gwen still wasn't here to hear it. He closed his eyes, his body relaxing completely with a soft exhale. "I used to be better at being alone." He admitted.
He used to be a champ at it. Most of his hobbies could be done on his own, and he had more than enough imagination and energy to find something to occupy his time with. And if he didn't, he'd sleep. It wasn't always the best time ever, but it worked.
And now it didn't.
Grandpa snorted. "Oh, are we not good enough company, little man? I can hear Vilgax's heart breaking."
Ben's gaze snapped up and he nearly shot off the ground because that had not been what he had meant at all-
A large hand coming down on his hair, and ruffling it, made him relax and flop back onto the pavement. He sighed in relief. "I didn't mean it like that." He still defended. "It's just..."
Grandpa pulled his hand back. "You just miss Gwen." The man concluded, amused. "She hasn't even been gone for an hour, Ben."
"...it feels longer?" He tried, weakly, and fine, he may have deserved the bout of laughter he got in return for it. He sighed. "It's just, we were having a really great time, and I kinda, sorta..." Didn't want it to stop yet. He moped to himself. Ben had never been the type to stop doing something fun until it wasn't fun anymore.
And hanging out with Gwen had been tons of fun still.
Coming down from his laughter, grandpa ruffled his hair again, seeming to need no elaboration. "Don't worry kid, I'm pretty sure she's just as eager to get back to you as you are to have her back."
Ben turned to face him, propping himself up on his elbows, eager. "You think so?" He didn't like how desperate and insecure he sounded there, because this Gwen had shown him she cared all the time, but he couldn't really help the… well. He had misjudged these things plenty of times in the past. Grandpa Max seemed to pick up on that, as his smile was comforting.
"Well, why wouldn't she be? I don't think I've ever seen her as happy as she is when she's around you." The old man grinned. "Which is really a step up from you two always bickering. It was starting to get worrying."
"We will bicker till the day we die, fair warning."
"Noted. Still, I'm glad you two are getting along, better than I could ever have hoped."
Ben grinned, cheekily. "I'm happy about it too! Hey, how about we fire up the RV and go join Gwen so we can celebrate all this happy stuff together?"
"Not on your life."
"Oh come on!" He groaned, flopping down again, hissing out a breath of steam.
He knew the man was right and that he wouldn't budge but this sucked on so many levels because he believed grandpa and if Gwen really was missing him too than that was all the more reason to be with her-
A blur of blue raced up to them before it shifted with a flash of green, caught his peripheral vision, but before he could respond he felt something snag on his right hip and heard a high pitched squeak, before his lower back took the impact of a body sprawling over him.
He felt every muscle in his body relax and a warmth filled him that had nothing to do with his out of control mana. Turning his head, he grinned at where Gwen lay. "Welcome to my level, dweeb." He greeted, snickering.
"I'm surprised we're still above ground." Came the muttered reply where Gwen's face was buried in her backpack, and Ben's grin widened so much it hurt, and he ignored grandpa's twinkling amusement and Vilgax's laughter because Gwen was back and she'd turned her head to quirk a smile back at him.
And if he could feel the way she relaxed on top of him told him anything, it was that she'd missed him too.
Gwen actually had missed him and did appreciate him healing her bruised shoulder- XLR8 was not built to shoulder bash exhibit security glass into submission, augmented with a stolen car door for padding or not.
...look, she'd left an apology note on the car she wrenched the door from, and it was an expensive looking car at that. It'd be fine. And it was that or the city.
This was the pettiest hill that she would die on, darn it.
But she was glad to be back, and it had looked like Ben was ready jump right back into the festival high they'd left behind earlier that evening, even suggesting to grandpa that the two of them stay up a little longer to try and figure out the basics of the book so he could at least sleep without the heat.
Imagine her shock, and joy, when grandpa had agreed. They quickly hunkdered down trying to decipher the whole thing- or more like, Ben sat down on one side of the booth table trying to work out the book and she said across from him, well away from his overheated butt, acting as a sounding board and fail-safe to ensure he didn't stay up all night.
But as nine o'clock turned into ten, and then into eleven, her hopes of recovering the good feelings of earlier were dashed.
Because Ben made absolutely zero headway in understanding the book, and it was all for a very predictable reason. And while she sympathized with his struggles and did genuinely like him these days, no way was she sleeping on a good opportunity to tease.
Besides, treading carefully had gotten her nowhere in the past, and she had it on good authority that Ben actually liked her snarking at him. And she kinda wanted to keep up that good impression for strictly friendly and familial reasons and nothing else at all-
She grabbed a pillow and chucked it at the kitchen counter, earning her a few stray feathers and an indignant squawk. She just narrowed her eyes at the bird. He knew he was being smug. Refocusing her attention on Ben, she spoke up.
"You know, I think we should've seen this coming."
The boy groaned, an impressive amount of steam billowing from the action. "Dweeb, I swear..."
"I mean, who'd have thought that using a magic book actually meant you'd have to have the focus to read it."
"Hey! I can totally focus on reading! I read comics all the time!" Ben protested, indignant. It'd be more engaging if he didn't look like a fart from Vilgax could blow him away. His bleary, feverish glare was centered more over her left shoulder than her face. She bit her lip in poorly hidden amusement.
"Can you even see the letters?"
"...err, yeah. Totally."
"Than you can probably tell how many fingers I'm holding up, right?"
It took him leaning forward and eyeing her hand through a focused, narrowed gaze for literally twelve seconds before he hesitantly offered "Two?"
Seems he'd missed her thumb being up too, but she'd let that one slide. Her point stood.
"Doofus, you are in no state to be doing this." She wrinkled his nose when he dropped his face into the open book with a groan. "And you're not gonna pick it up through face-plant osmosis."
"Stop using big words, they hurt." He whined, muffled by the pages. "And I shouldn't have to read it to make progress, Gwen's book didn't ask her to!"
...huh, that was interesting. She perked up, leaning forward, feeling like she was leaning closer to a campfire. "What do you mean?"
A groan was her only response, so with a glare she leaned forward further and started poking him in the junction of his neck and body till he started squirming and turned his head to glare back. "Dweeb, I am way too hot to even think about explaining that."
While a part of Gwen heartily agreed with that assesment, a much larger part of her was horrified that that was the case and was absolutely done with today. So she just got up, went to the kitchen, got herself a glass of cold water and walked back over to Ben.
He was looking at her with something akin to gratitude and straightened, holding out his hands for the glass. So she yanked the book to her side of the table and dunked the contents of the glass on his head.
Ah, cosmic balance has been restored.
Offended spluttering quickly gave way to sighs of relief and her own annoyance faded into amusement. This was probably the only time she'd get away with dunking water on the doofus. "How about now?"
Ben was glaring at her, but if she spotted the twitch of his lips right, it was totally for show. It still boggled her that she could tell.
"Gwen's book was different from this one." He told her, giving the offending thing the stink eye. "It was actually for teaching and stuff. This one's just on the charm's of Bezel with lots of-" he cut himself off with a steamy wheeze, which turned into a hacking cough that had him nearly double over. This time Gwen raced for another glass of water and offered it to him rather than dunking it.
He drained it in two second flat. He sighed, steam rising. "Gwen's book helped her control her magic just by touching it, but if this thing is doing anything, it's not that. I kinda hoped, kinda thought..." He rose from the booth seat, haltingly, weakly. "I guess tonight's gonna be a regular heat fest." He muttered before turning to her, a weak grin making it's way across his face, even if his gaze had drifted somewhere to around her throat. "Still, thanks for getting it, dweeb. Maybe tomorrow."
She exhaled a breath, moving to stand beside him and snake one arm around his waist in support and they started to make their way over to the back of the RV, away from where grandpa was snoring in the driver's seat. How the man could sleep in that position, and actually claim it as comfortable, she would never know. "I stole it to save the city, lame-brain, not for you." A blatant lie, as the whole 'city saving thing' was mostly nice because she could wave the theft away as 'for the greater good'. She'd mostly been thinking about how this might help Ben out and how happy he'd be with her and maybe she'd score another kiss out of it-
Dropping him in the bottom bunk like a hot potato she immediately picked up a comic Ben had left on the floor and chucked it over her shoulder. Another indignant squawk made her smirk. Ben snickered, a little deliriously.
"You're getting good at that." He remarked, but his eyes were glazed and his smile was a little vacant. Her satisfaction turned to dust.
"Yeah." She reached out to pat his hair. "Go sleep, doofus. We'll see about the book in the morning." He didn't quite seem to hear her anymore though, instead rolling over, groaning. Gwen straightened and bit her lip. Last time Ben had been this… bad, they'd been in New York. And he had gotten to heal so many minor and major injuries after the whole 'Kevin episode' that he'd cooled down for a while, and after that he had Zombozo draining him, all that.
Now there wasn't anything to cool him down, and she wasn't exactly on board with the idea of Ben harming himself or others just so that he'd have something to heal- and that was assuming he even had the presence of mind to cast the spell. With the way he was flaking out on even reading, Ben was turning 'lame-brain' into 'cooked brain' faster than she could even insult him.
She slowly trailing her eyes across the room, not knowing what she was even looking for, until her gaze settled on the box of 'spoils of war' that Ben insisted on maintaining, spying the glint of the orb he'd taken from Zombozo- such a tiny thing that had caused them a lot of trouble. She worried her lip some more, raising the Omnitrix, looking at it in contemplation.
Vilgax flew over and landed beside her feet, giving her a curious look, somehow devoid of his usual all-knowing smugness. Gwen gave him a wary glance. "I'm not doing this for brownie points." She told the bird. "Really. I just want to make him feel better."
Vilgax didn't even dignify that with a squawk or even a smug look. It wasn't needed anyway. Gwen exhaled a breath, caught between a soft groan and a sigh. "Yeah, I know, that just makes it worse, doesn't it?"
Spinning the dial, she settled on Grey Matter and slammed it.
The backroom of the RV was dimly lit at best, the morning sun casting it in faint yellows and grays. It lent itself to a cozy atmosphere, and Ben relished it, distantly reliving memories of waking up just in time to see Gwen come back from her morning workout and then fight her for the shower. Well, half fight. Ben was not a morning person.
But slowly, the world of the here and now asserted itself. Scrunching his nose, he rolled over, burrowing in into the warm blanket beneath him, faintly hearing the sounds of the city and grandpa snoring in the driver's seat as well as Vilgax's soft rustling where he slept somewhere nearby. Through the distant haze of near wakefulness, he noticed that he felt... comfortable. Rested, more so than on a usual morning. Actually, he was a little chilly-
His eyes snapped open and he shot up in his bed with a bewildered look.
"What. The. Heck."
He looked down at himself. On top of the blankets, still in his shirt, not soaked through, not uncomfortable, suffering from goosebumps.
Goosebumps. From the cold.
Before he could freak out further (and proceed to celebrate not feeling like an a furnace) he noticed a new addition to his wardrobe: a white wristband, clasped around his left wrist, right where the Omnitrix used to be.
Turning it over, he found that it was actually composed of a host of smaller building blocks, with a slightly larger, raised part hovering over his pulse.
The gleaming little orb he had taken from Zombozo's machine beamed back at him merrily, pulsing with a very faint glow- the orbs the clown had used to suck out his mana…
Hold up.
Turning his focus inwards, to said mana, he could still feel it springing forth from within his body, but it traveled up his arm rather than accumulating, disappearing… disappearing into the orb.
Confused, but having his suspicions, he got out of bed and climbed up the ladder, opening his mouth to ask Gwen what was going on, only to find her bunk empty. He was saved from further confusion by a faint squawk from below. Vilgax gestured weakly to the rest of the RV before deflating on himself where he lay on the floor.
Ben quirked a brow at the bird. "What did she do to you?" Vilgax perked up at the question and squawked a series of indignant cries as Ben made his way down. The bird leaped to perch on his shoulder when he did and promptly collasped against his head, making a series of noises that could only be described as 'bird weeping'.
Ben rolled his eyes, giving the devil bird a comforting scratch. "Oh c'mon, 'slave driver'?" He asked, starting to make his way to the booth. "She can be a little demanding- okay, okay, a lot demanding, but you ain't seen nothing… yet…"
He trailed off, halting in his tracks, a slow grin spreading over his face. He'd found Gwen alright, in all her sleeping, curled over the booth table glory, surrounded by piles of notes, crumpled balls of paper and with her cheek smushed firmly into the paper under it, the light coming through the window playing prettily on her hair, even if she was less than elegant right now.
Ben snickered, mischief coloring the sound. He cracked his fingers. Gwen rarely slept in, so the times where he was awake before her were few and far between- even less so with grandpa not being awake as well. But the faint snoring from the front seat told him their grandfather was still dead to the world.
Which left Gwen asleep, undefended, and completely at his mercy. Absolute score.
Looming over her, Vilgax spread his wings menacingly on Ben's shoulder, sharing in his glee and eager to get a little good old revenge in on Gwen- whatever she'd done to him- and Ben was heartened to find them on the same side for a change.
Just as he was considering waking the girl with a nice wet ear, or perhaps get some revenge for dunking a cold glass of water on him last night, his gaze trailed to the notes. Notes with Gwen's perfect penmanship- and her awful, awful drawings. But despite their, err, creative style, it was still clear that the notes and drawings were about his new bracelet. The one that had kept him cool enough to sleep properly.
He lowered his hands, mischief giving way to a strange, happy feeling that he hadn't felt since she'd given him his blaster-
Actually, that wasn't accurate. This was more than that. He'd asked for the blaster, and even if she hadn't needed to finish it at all, she had. This, this he hadn't asked for, could never have thought of himself, even if it seemed obvious in hindsight.
He wasn't gonna be mean, no matter how tempting it was. Not today at least.
On his shoulder, Vilgax did his best approximation of a sigh and an eye-roll before he hopped off and onto the kitchen counter. Ben quirked his lips- seemed the bird wasn't brave enough to go it alone when it came to pissing Gwen off. Probably wise.
Reaching out, he placed a hand on her back, brow furrowing at the tension he felt. That position couldn't be comfortable to sleep in- heck, it was a miracle she was asleep at all. And in her regular clothes too.
He gently shook her. "Hey, dweeb." Gwen turned her head, dragging ink and paper across her cheek and tried in vain to scoot away from both his hand and the waking world in general. He almost laughed at how cute that was and couldn't keep the joy out of his voice. "C'mon dweeb, at least get to a bed."
A slow, warm grin spread over Gwen's face, even if her eyes were still firmly shut. This time, she actually moved toward the sound of his voice. "S'good dream." She muttered, dazed.
Ben had to bite his finger not to burst out laughing. He really should learn to set an alarm clock, just so he could get up before Gwen more often. It was adorable. He raised his hand to her hair, fighting down the urge to give it a quick yank and instead petting it. It was super soft.
"Are you dreaming of me, dweeb?" He asked her, with barely contained glee. Gwen was dreaming about him. Gwen flipping Tennyson was dreaming about him! If that wasn't proof he was doing this friendship thing right, he didn't know what was!
"Uh-huh." She mumbled, folding her arms under her head and burying her face in them with a little smile.
The boy grinned. "Soooo what am I doing in your dream? Being awesome and magical?" He asked, buying time for him to figure out a way to get her to the bunks. She clearly needed more sleep, and if she kept doing it in this position she was gonna be sore all day and he knew she'd take it out on his butt.
And he liked his butt. It had finally cooled down enough to be worth saving again!
Gwen let out a jaw cracking yawn. "Cuddles." She mumbled. "Holdin."
Huh. Well, he'd once had a dream where Gwen had tossed him into a swimming pool filled with puppies, so who was he to judge? Still, a Cheshire grin spread over his face.
"I can work with that."
Grabbing Gwen by the shoulder, he first eased her upright before lifting her to stand altogether. He'd half expected her to wake up by this point, but she only teetered in a daze for a long second before she started tipping forward into him. He caught her around the waist and supported her with his hips, not even bothering to hide his amusement.
"Glad to know you still suck at mornings like the rest of us." He muttered. She responded by laying her head on his shoulder and looping her arms around his neck. He couldn't see her face but he could definitely feel the happy sigh ghosting across his cheek.
Heh. Cute. He flipped off the bird behind Gwen's back, staunchly ignoring its smug look. Gwen was being objectively cute and he was not gonna apologize for seeing it.
He'd managed to haul her to the backroom, for which he totally deserved mad props, before he hit a snag.
"B-Ben? What are you doing?"
Snag being that Gwen was finally awake. Ben grinned. "Well, you wanted a hug, I needed to move your fat butt, so here we are-"
"That's muscled butt, thank you!" She returned, sounding much more aware then before, even if still clearly tired.
"If that helps you sleep at night." He shrugged, trying to lift her along. "And speaking of sleep, get back to your cuddle dreams. You look like death warmed over-"
Gwen tensed in his hold, digging in her feet and pulling back enough to look him in the eye, face white as snow. "Y-You- how did you- dream-"
Ben quirked a brow. "I asked what you were dreaming about, sleeptalker."
Well, the color was back on her face alright. "You shouldn't just sound out someone's dreams like that, doofus!" She yelped, her red faced glare fierce. "That's a total violation of privacy!"
Fierce, but it wasn't even remotely intimidating- in fact, Ben would sooner call it adorable. He grinned cheekily, moving the arms around her waist till his fingers hovered over them. This made her even more red-faced, this time in what he assumed was fear. "Can't help it if you talk. And don't push it dweeb, I know all your tickle spots."
Her look flattened and the arms still around his neck adjusted to wrap more around his head and then they tensed, her tank top doing nothing to hide the lean muscles along them. The muscles that she had wrapped around his head. Ready to put him in a choke-hold. A drop of sweat rolled down his back and his grin went from cheeky to sheepish.
"Err, mistakes were made?"
"Oh, you bet."
Yup, mistakes were made. But he hadn't survived a decade with this girl for nothing. So he didn't even bother trying to safe his head from being popped like a melon when she moved in for the kill and instead put the arms around her waist to use by tickling her sides mercilessly.
She squealed, but rather than jump away she all but crushed his head to her collar and squeezed the life out of it, which only caused his own tickle assault to accelerate. With neither of them really watching their legs in all this, they got tangled up and they toppled to the floor in a laughing and groaning heap.
Well, at least Gwen made for an amazing fall breaker, and the head hug was pretty comfy when it wasn't trying to, you know, destroy his skull. "Sorry." He told her, chuckling.
She was silent for a moment, not letting go yet. He was in no hurry. He could still feel how tense she was.
"...what exactly did I say about…?"
He had no idea why she sounded so fearful, but it sounded wrong wrong wrong and he had to make it right.
"Just that I was in your dream, hugging something. Which is total bullcrap, because everybody knows I should be kicking butts and being awesome wherever I am, dreams included." He answered, propping himself up on his elbow so he could look down at her face.
The fear ebbed away, even if her blush didn't. "...a kitten. You were cuddling with a kitten." She admitted, sounding way more embarrassed about it than she ought to. So he gave her what he hoped was a warm smile.
"That sounds pretty cool, actually. I'll let the butt kicking slide for some kitten cuddling."
Her answering smile was hesitant and, dare he say it, mischievous. "Y-Yeah, it was. Pretty cool, I mean."
The sound of footsteps coming to a halt caused them both to turn their heads as one, catching the bewildered look of grandpa Max.
Seconds ticked by in painful silence before the man's bewildered look flattened and he turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose and started lumbering back to the front of the RV with a resigned sigh.
Ben had nary a second to even blink before Gwen pushed him off harshly and he was flat on his back. He glanced up to see Gwen race after their grandfather, squeaking, "It's not what it looks like!"
Ben watched her go with mild irritation and a lot of bemusement. Sure, when grandpa had caught them dancing in his timeline he'd tossed Gwen too- but that was because he didn't want to be caught being nice with her. He'd hoped that kinda wouldn't matter anymore with this Gwen, what with all the 'being officially friends' and all that- heck, she even dreamt of him! Shouldn't that count for something?
He sighed, sitting up. "Girl's are weird." He muttered, quirking a brow when Vilgax landed on his shoulder, giving him a smug feather rustle as he did. Ben rolled his eyes. "Don't even start."
A disbelieving squawk.
"No, I don't think it was weird- it was just a tickle fight. With attempted murder. Same old."
A flat look.
"Don't give me that-"
Gwen stormed passed him, beet red and pointedly not looking at him. "I'm going to bed!" She announced, climbing up the ladder and rolling into her blanket like a human burrito in the blink of an eye.
Though she did find the time to scream into her pillow. Loudly.
Ben followed the procession with a flat look. When Vilgax opened his beak, the boy pushed it shut with a finger.
"I don't even wanna know." Getting up off the floor, he went to the booth table and recovered his book from the pile and sitting down as grandpa started on breakfast-
Well, insofar the old man wasn't muttering to himself. Ben sighed again, flipping the book open.
With how everyone was acting in this RV, even when he was reading an ancient magic book, he felt like he was the sanest of the bunch.
...now that was a terrifying thought.
A few more hours of sleep and not waking up to find your cousin dragging you around with deliciously- err, disgustingly little appreciation for personal space did wonders for Gwen's nerves. It didn't do much for her grogginess, as rising around noon was not exactly concurrent with her usual sleep schedule, and that was completely ignoring the fact that she, apparently, had fallen asleep tidying up her notes after she'd slapped the bracelet onto Ben.
Gwen stretched, her back giving a few satisfying pops as she did, groaning as she moved into the RV proper.
Grandpa smiled kindly at her and gave her a bowl of what seemed to be tomato soup. She eyed it suspiciously and the old man chuckled heartily.
"Don't worry, this isexactly what it looks like." He reached out to pet her hair. "Consider it thanks for being so nice to make Ben that bracelet… and an apology for jumping to conclusions."
Gwen sniffed primly before promptly digging into the soup, hiding her blushing face.
Well, Grandpa should be sorry for assuming. They'd just been bickering. And wrestling. Nothing. Weird.
Her eye surreptitiously wandered to Ben, who had his face planted firmly in the book and was muttering to himself at the booth table. It was a far cry from the more… charming version of him she could vaguely recall having a dream about, and yet...
Her heart skipped approximately three beats and she was pretty sure her face was-
"Are you okay, Gwen? Your face is getting a little-"
"Soup's hot!" She exclaimed, blowing on it excessively. "Just the soup! And- and just got out of bed! So- uhm, that's why!" She placed the bowl on the table, pointedly not looking at Ben. "I-I'll go splash some water in my face!"
Gwen didn't wait for a response, just rushing off to the bathroom and locking the door behind her. "Really?!" She hissed at herself. "'Hot soup?!' That's the best you got?!" She didn't come out until she'd visited the toilet, splashed some water in her face, and the RV was moving again.
That meant grandpa wouldn't be waiting on her to give her strange looks. Good.
She gave herself a quick pep-talk ('He's not that cute!') before she marched out and sat across from Ben, resolving to just drink her soup, look out the window and ignore the freakazoid for as long as she could-
"Doofus! That's my soup!"
Ben froze, slowly pulling the spoon out of his mouth and swallowing a mouthful of soup. It was ridiculously endearing and Gwen took it in with a sinking feeling. Crap, he's totally that cute."Uhm, sorry?" He grinned, sheepish. "It sorta just appeared outta nowhere and..."
Gwen rolled her eyes, reaching across and snatching the spoon and bowl. She wasn't all that hungry, honestly, but it was the principle of it. But before she could dig in, she paused, eyeing her spoon. The spoon Ben had just used. Ew.
She considered getting a new one, because again: ew; but then she met Ben's eyes.
If the amused challenge in there wasn't daring her to commit, she didn't know what was. And no way was she chickening out on that.
She stuck out her tongue at him and spooned a mouthful of soup in there, rolling it around her tongue, never breaking eye contact and daring him to make something of it.
Ben turned faintly red but was otherwise undaunted. Huh. Maybe he and other Gwen had been more used to sharing cooties.
...well that was it's own blush inducing bag of cats. Gwen hid behind her bowl.
Maybe they'd just slowly gotten used to it. She had already exchanged cooties with his cheek after all, and somehow survived the mortification as well as not catching doofiness, so maybe this was just the logical progression.
She was not going to reflect on where it might be progressing towards- that way lay madness (and maybe more kisses. But mostly madness).
Desperately looking for a way to take her mind of things, she gestured to her not-cutely smiling cousin. "Doing better?"
Crap, that was a megawatt grin abort eye contact, abort eye contact-
"Yes!" He cheered, enthusiastically, almost vibrating in his seat. "Haven't felt this good in forever!" He sighed, before the boy turned shy and oh no that meant- "Thanks, dweeb."
-that it would be followed by heartfelt, vulnerable gratitude. Curses, my one weakness!
Gwen could feel her higher brain functions go down the drain in real time- so in an effort to not just sit there and gape at him, she dropped her spoon to the floor, dove after it under the table, banged her fist against the underside of said table and buried her face firmly in the seat cushions to muffle her scream.
It worked, for the most part. Even if Ben did lay down sideways in his seat so he could peer under the table. "Err, you okay, kitten?"
Gwen came up from the cushion for air. "Banged my head. Fine now." She glared at him, thrusting a finger at his face while fighting the heat in her own and hoping he took the blush as embarrassment- which it absolutely was! "And don't call me kitten!"
She couldn't believe she was hoping that he'd mock her, just so she could find a reason to be pissed off at him. But Ben just smiled fondly, with a giggle, and how dare he steal that expression straight from grandpa and how dare he pair it with those eyes-
"Is that any way to speak to the man of your dreams?" He teased.
...well, that was it. She was pretty sure that her blush was never going down. She snatched her spoon off the floor. "T-This one has been on the floor too long!" She crawled out from under the table and fled the short distance to the kitchen counter with stiff muscles.
Vilgax had taken up residence there, but instead of giving her a smug look, he nuzzled her shoulder with his head. She smiled, petting him, retrieving a new spoon from the drawer. "Sorry I made you drag all the stuff."
An indignant squawk was the response she got and she heard Ben snicker behind her. "So that's what you did to him."
Gwen shrugged. Talking to Ben was easier with some distance, it seemed. And not having to look at him helped too- the brat was just too open with his affection. He didn't even give a girl a chance.
Stupid time travel turning her perfectly manageable jerk of a doofus into this cool sweetheart. Could she trade them back?
...okay, she didn't really want that because this was awesome ninety percent of the time but also absolutely nerve wrecking- "Grey Matter couldn't do it. Too small." She supplied, turning to face him, leaning against the counter instead of going back to her seat. The added distance was only slight, but it made all the difference.
"Wait, all of that stuff was dragged from the backroom by the bird?" He asked, amusement dripping from the words. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but feather butt is right. You are a slave driver."
Vilgax leaped off the counter and flew to sit at Ben's side, snuggling into him. The boy snickered. Gwen glared.
"How is that fair? You try to blow him up and cook him on a daily basis, and it's all good. I make him work once, and now I'm that bad guy?"
"I think you mean 'bad kitten'-"
She put the spoon down and reached for an empty glass, holding it under the tap threateningly, never taking her death glare off him. He averted his eyes nervously and whistled innocently. She bit back a smile, satisfied that even on edge and being a total freak, she could still keep him on his toes.
Her eyes trailed to the book resting in front of him. She put the glass down and pushed off the counter to lean over the table for a better look.
"So is this going any better now that you're not melting?"
"...yes and no." He supplied, grinning awkwardly. She poked him till he eleborated. "Yes as I can actually see the words now, no cuz I'm still not a fan."
Gwen's brows furrowed in consternation, pulling the book towards her and leaning her hands on the table, taking in the page he was on. It was a dizzying experience, how the ancient script seemed to translate itself in front of her eyes, but the feeling went away in a few seconds. "That's pretty handy..." She muttered.
"That's where the help stops though." Ben lamented. "Gwen's book was just, you know, a spell book. It had spells, with an explanation, you say the words, do the mana thing and boom: magic."
Gwen turned the page, taking in the words, a more coherent understanding of the book slowly forming. "And these are all about those 'charms of Bezel' that you talked about?" She asked, the thrill of actually learning something so new and outlandish restoring her composure quickly.
Ben nodded. "Err, most. I haven't checked all the entries yet."
"Didn't check the table of contents?"
"Doesn't have it."
"Have you tried the index in the back?"
"...totally."
Gwen sighed, amusement coloring her voice. Ben could be, brave and kind and all that on occasion, but he'd always be a doofus. "Lame brain." She told him, flipping to the back. "You should always check the- There's no index?! What madman wrote this?!"
"Maybe that Bezel dude…?" Ben shrugged and reached for the book, flipping through it. "Anyway, I was trying this one. Says it should help with mana control with the Fire Charm. Figured that's as close to useful as it's gonna get." Ben slumped in his seat. Gwen gave him a long look.
"So, what's the problem?"
Ben scratched his neck. "The book's set up so that you kinda need to read, like, these stories, understand them, and then it's like… I don't know, I guess it's like a passive buff in Sumo Slammers?"
Gwen was completely in the dark to the reference, but she thought she got it. "So instead of one spell, you have to internalize a story and that will give you a continuous ability?"
"I'm not sure about what you just said, but because it's you, I'm gonna assume you got it."
Completely unsolicited display of confidence in her abilities- nice. She was filing that one away for later. For now, she had to focus on making her theft of this thing worthwhile.
"So… read the story." She concluded. "Not seeing the problem here."
Ben squirmed in his seat. She narrowed her eyes at him. He squirmed some more.
"...I don't believe this."
"C'mon Gwen! You know I have the focus of a toaster!"
"How can you read through half your comic stash in a day and focus on your stupid games for hours on end and not even be a little captivated by the literal magical spellbook you have here?!" She snapped back. Part of her relished this. Some good, old fashioned reminders of why Ben could be the most frustrating person on the planet. She needed that. Badly.
"But the stories are so boring! All about fairies and stuff!" He whined, and no, she would not give him the credit of actually calling it anything else.
Gwen's eyes rolled so hard that she was amazed they didn't pop out. "It's not that bad, doofus."
He sniffed, crossing his arms petulantly. "If it's not so bad, you give it a shot."
She humphed, dragging the book with her when she moved back to her old seat across from him, her soup forgotten. She had a point to proof and a wonderfully contrary doofus to put in his place. This was just what the doctor ordered. "Fine, I will! Bet you I can get through it in an hour!"
"Bet you you're a dweeb and you totally can't!"
She waved him off dismissively, opting to bend herself over the book and actually start the story. She had to admit, Ben was correct in saying that it was fighting her. The way the letters magically translated themselves into coherent sentences before her eyes slowed her down more than a little. Keeping track of the mental tally was hard and she had to reread more than she liked.
But Ben was already smirking at her mounting frustration so no way was she gonna back down now.
She took it from the top and found that mouthing the words made reading less of a hassle, and found that reading them out loud made it as easy as it should be.
"They came from below, their enemies. Madmen, wet men, hiding in the cracks, under the rocks, at the bottom of the rivers, where fire could not live, could not warm..." She started, already liking the mood it was setting and heartily diving in.
It wasn't until an hour later, when she finished the short story, that she even realized Ben hadn't spoken a word for all of it- and that was even more outlandish than the tale she just read. Daring a glance in his direction, she saw that he was looking straight at her, but was looking through her, as if in a sort of trance.
Then clarity returned and his eyes met hers squarely. She smirked.
"Told you I could do it in an hour."
He poked his tongue out at her. "Of course you'd be good at being a nerd."
"You're just jealous that my grade average isn't always always going south."
He scoffed. "Who needs good grades when you got- huh. Forgot that you had the watch there for a moment. Do over: who needs good grades when you got looks like mine?" He waggled his brows at her and she laughed at him. Hard. Which was in no way an attempt to cover up her heart skipping a beat or three again.
"Sorry freakazoid. I'm sure your horrible looks can scare off some baddies, but you're gonna need to actually study magic for the bigger ones." She turned the book around and pushed it over to his side of the table. "Chop chop, sorcerer's apprentice."
"Do I look like Mickey Mouse to you?" He grumbled, sourly.
"More like Bugs Bunny." She teased, winking, and the way he screamed in mortification was like a balm to her frazzled nerves. Oh yeah, vengeance was good. She gave him an encouraging wave to get started, but he only spent a solid minute sort of squirming and giving her weird looks, getting progressively redder. It was a relief to know she wasn't the only one who did that.
She was about to ask what his problem was when he turned the book around and pushed it over to her side again, not meeting her eyes and flushing beet red.
"C-Can you do another one?" He asked quietly, and the only reason she didn't laugh out loud was because he was being shy and endearing and it got under her skin. And because she was busy gaping.
"Why? You love making noise."
His answer was so silent it might as well not have been a sound at all, but Gwen had become increasingly good at deciphering Ben's muttering.
"I like it better when you do it." He admitted, flushing even redder somehow. "I like... listening. To you. Helps me focus." He ground out, ducking his head, all but trying to hide in himself.
Gwen would have laughed if she hadn't been in dire need of a pillow to scream in. Wrestling the impulse under control, she pulled the book closer and cleared her throat.
"F-Fine, but you're doing the next one."
And there was that brilliant grin again. "Thank dweeb. You're the best. By far. Except for maybe me. It's touch and go."
She soaked up the praise like a plant soaked up water, a smirk working its way onto her face. "Careful doofus, people are gonna think I'm the girl of your dreams." She froze, dread pooling in her stomach.
Oh crap, oh crap she'd totally pushed the envelope too far and she was a total idiot who shouldn't be allowed in polite society ever and she just needed grandpa to drop her off in the Rockies somewhere so she could live out her shame in isolation as a hermit-
"I don't think my dreams can live up to the real thing, cootie queen." He told her and her heart just stopped.
Ben didn't seem to really have expected that either, as he raised his fingers to his lips with an equally wide eyed and red-faced expression- before he turned his gaze to the window. But he didn't take the words back.
Gwen's mortification gave way to warmth and her eyes scrunched shut and she didn't even bother hiding her happy grin and she also didn't even bother flinging something at the smug bird giving them both far too knowing looks because screw it, she was allowed to be happy about this.
Besides, if she was going to help him through this book, she better get used to him being grateful. The thick book with lots of entries and lots of things for them to read. Together.
She almost vibrated in her seat. Oh yeah, she was super okay with this. Clearing her throat again, she started to read.
A/N: Gwen is a happy kitten. To any of you wondering why Gwen is such a sucker for sincerity and honest praise, personal headcanon for this story is that, between being friendless, bullied and having sort of distant (or at least not very emotionally supportive) parents, basically the only validation Gwen ever got were from grandpa Max, her teachers, and occasionally her parents if she excelled. Everyone else was just dragging her down, Ben included. Gwen is completely starved for affection and validation.
And then future Ben rolls in and makes it his life mission to make her feel like she's the center of the universe just for being herself. That's leaving a mark. Muwahahah.