A/N: Sometimes the muses sing a different tune than the one I'd like to be hearing, but so long as the music plays, I dance. This can technically be read as both Bwen and just Ben and Gwen being dorks together. Pick your poison.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10.


It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Ben had been bored, and had intended to fix that problem by going XLR8, running over to the woods west of Bellwood and perhaps get some practice in with his aliens for the first time in over a month.

It was a simple plan. Impossible to mess up.

"Come on, you stupid thing!" He grumbled, twisting the dial and slamming it to no avail. The dial remained red. He groaned in frustration.

It was a simple plan. Impossible to mess up. Which of course meant he made it to the forest, smack dab in the middle of nowhere, and then his watch timed out and went into lockdown.

Because of course it did.

If Gwen were here, she'd be laughing at him and telling him that he hadn't thought of 'the Ben factor of bad luck' or something equally nerdy. Ben refused to quirk a smile at the thought and succeeded by sheer stubbornness.

And probably because his face was numb from the cold. Autumn was in full swing, and a cold snap had hit Bellwood hard. It looked amazing, all differing shades of leaves on the trees and on the ground, accented by light frost, but he was in no mood to really appreciate it.

"Great!" He ground out, stomping through the foliage and rubbing his arms to keep warm. He'd under dressed. His green jacket wasn't doing much to keep the chill at bay. "First time I get to use my aliens for real since summer ended, and of course I freeze to death. Classic Ben move."

From the corner of his eye, a slightly brighter spot in the forest pulled his gaze to a clearing.

A clearing with a cabin in it.

Grinning to himself, he sped towards it, the sound of rushing water in the distance filling his ears. "Oooor we get some classic Ben last minute save!" He cheered.

Any hopes of warming himself till the Omnitrix decided to play nice were, unfortunately, dashed when he approached the cabin, noting the holes in the roof, the door fallen off its hinges and the broken windows. He deflated slightly.

"And we're back to freezing. Yay." Figuring he had nothing better to do, he crossed the small porch to where the door lay. Stepping over it with a fortifying breath, he went inside. His initial impression of the place was, well, sorta spot on. The smell was bad, not of rot but of disuse and disrepair, stale. And if possible, the stillness made the air inside even colder than outside. He shivered.

"If this is a horror movie thing," he called out to the empty place, "my ghost is gonna bully my witch cousin into kicking your butts, so don't even think about it!"

No reply was forthcoming, and Ben was fine with that. Taking a look around, he noticed that the place was spacious, for one person at least, and in the back there was an opened door that led to what looked like a washroom and another one was that was closed. He hummed, walking up to the that door. "Now if this one could lead to a working sauna, that'd be- fantastic." He finished, voice flattening, eyeing the empty pantry shelves behind the opened door with ire.

A squirrel stared back at him from said shelves. Ben scoffed. "As you were." The rodent disappeared in a blur of red fur. Ben sighed, twisting the dial again. "In the wilderness for an hour and I'm already talking to squirrels." He muttered, hissing when the Omnitrix refused to work again.

Glancing around the room, he took it in. Three large holes in the roof, one storey as far as he could tell. One bathroom, one pantry, and one big living room with a fireplace. The woodwork was chipped and scratched, but it seemed intact. Not that he had any idea what to look for. Perhaps grandpa would have known.

A scratching sound alerted him to the squirrel scampering by the window, observing Ben. The boy poked his tongue out at it before giving the place a final considering look.

It would make for a cool hangout, like the one he'd used to have with J.T. and Jamie in the latter's treehouse. Ben's expression soured.

No way was he sharing this place with either of them, though. T.J. was a jerk these days, and Jamie was basically a stranger. In fact, the only person he even wanted to share this with was-

He groaned loudly in frustration. "Grandpa was right, she grew on me." He grumbled. "But come on. She's too much of a dweeb." He said, directing it at the squirrel. "You wouldn't get it, but she's completely nuts. Well, guess you'd like that. Nuts." He snickered. "Why do I always get the best ones when there's no one to hear it?"

He looked around again, crossing his arms for warmth. He couldn't resist imagining this place if it was cleaned up. If the windows were intact. If some furniture was installed. He kinda wanted to. Just because. And he could use some help.

And a traitorous part of him really did want to go and get Gwen and show her.

Still.

"Can't exactly go get her when I'm stuck. Well, such a shame, but my hands are-"

The Omnitrix beeped and flashed back to green. "-tied..." He gave the watch a disgruntled glare.

"...really?"


"So let me get this straight," Gwen panted, rubbing her feet. "You give my mother a heart attack barging into our house for the first time in your life, ask me if I can 'come out and play', zip me off with XLR8, drag me through a frozen forest for half an hour just to show me-"

She gestured to the ruin with a roof in front of her. "-this?!"

Ben seemed completely unfazed by her incredulity. In fact, he seemed more alive than he had since he showed up. "Sounds about right, nerd queen."

She rubbed her temples, sorely tempted to bang her head into a tree at full force. Mostly because Ben only ever seemed to make sense through the lens of a concussion.

"Why?"

"Because its cool!" He exclaimed, marching through the door, an older coat of hers on him that he'd borrowed. Gwen snickered. He had been so mad about having to wear pink. "I mean look at it!" He gestured around.

Gwen followed him inside and glanced around with an unimpressed look. "It's a dump." She deadpanned.

"Just think of the potential!" Ben waved his arms. "Clean it up, get some windows in, it even comes with a squirrel!"

Well, the terrified rodent eyeing them from the window was… present. That much could be said for it. Ben wasn't done, though. "We could make this our spot!"

Gwen was about to point out the bonkers logistic of that idea when the words landed. "...our spot?"

Ben carried on, oblivious to her dumbfounded look. "Duh! I ain't gonna do all the work, and it'd be weird to keep you out after you help. I'm rude, dweeb, not a savage."

"Our spot?" Gwen tried again. Nope, saying it a second time did not make it sound logical. If anything, it sounded crazier. Ben was giving her a look like she was crazy, so maybe it had landed with him-

"Yeah, ours. Where me, Ben Tennyson hero extraordinaire," he jabbed a thumb at himself, "and you, Gwen 'le dweebos' Tennyson, cootie queen of the Nerd Isles, can hang out."

Or Ben doubled down on his insanity. She narrowed her eyes, magic sparking to life in her hands. "Who are you and what have you done with Ben?!"

Ben just grinned at her, not intimidated in the slightest. "Ooooh you gonna mess up and make your hair blue again?" He asked, bouncing on his feet in delight.

Gwen flushed, magic spluttering out. "That was one time..."

"It took you three hours to notice." Ben snickered.

Gwen was again tempted to hit her head on a tree. This time in mortification. Well, at least she was sure this was Ben, now. That was good. On the other hand, he had gone crazy. "Why would I want to 'hang out' with a doofus who's mean like you?" She sniffed, haughtily, looking down her nose at him.

Ben stepped closer, grinning mischievously. "Don't you want a nice, isolated place away from home where you can practice magic without being bothered?"

She tried to maintain her arrogant scowl, but it wavered under his 'persuasive' eyebrow waggle. She raised a hand to her chin in thought. "That would be… nice." Gwen conceded. She had been having trouble with that. When summer had ended and they'd returned, she sorta expected her fascination with the subject to fade when any immediate use for it did.

It hadn't faded. If anything, she read her spellbook more and more and was frustrated that she so very rarely got to try anything.

She looked around, taking in the wooden cabin around her, and the small forest clearing outside with renewed interest.

Isolated, indeed. And charming, in it's own way. She gave Ben a considering look. His grin widened. He knew he was getting to her. She narrowed her eyes. "Fine, you're right." She stepped up to loom over him just slightly. "But why shouldn't I just take this place for myself and kick you out?"

Ben looked scandalized. "Hey! I found it first!" He protested, crossing his arms with a petulant pout and a glare.

Gwen hummed in mock thought, tapping her lips. "Well, that's fair. I guess I could give you..." she dragged out the word before clucking her tongue. "That corner." She pointed a finger at the corner where the window with the squirrel was at. "You can bunk with Squeakers."

Ben scoffed, giving her an unimpressed look. "Sure. Good luck renovating without my aliens."

Gwen gave another considering look around. "Speaking of, maybe we should first check if this thing is even fixable, lame brain. Cuz I gotta say," She gave the holes in the roof a pointed look, "I think this puppy is better off put down."

Ben rolled his eyes too. "Yeah, fine. We can figure out who gets what part later." He looked around the cabin before turning back to her sheepishly. "I have no idea what to look for."

Gwen felt her lips twitch, eyeing the corner window mischievously. "Would sure be a lot easier if you had a way to turn into a tiny alien that's very good at observing things."

Ben was silent for a moment before he lit up, spun the dial and slammed it, leaving a very small Grey Matter in his place. The boy hummed.

"It occurs to me that we do not need superior Galvan intellect for mere cataloging. furthermore if Grey Matter does all the cerebral work, and my other forms can cover the manual labor, what are you going to be doing- ah!"

Gwen burst into peals of laughter when the squirrel pounced on Ben playfully, Grey Matter squirming under the rodent. Shooing the furry creature off, she plucked Grey Matter off the ground, cradling him in her hands.

"I make sure you don't get rabies. Duh." She teased, giggling still, before her cheer dimmed when she noticed the tiny creature shivering- and noting it felt cold to the touch. It was probably cold blooded, Gwen considered.

Deciding to take pity on him, she raised him up and stuffed him under her beanie. No way was she letting him into her coat.

The content sigh she heard told her she'd done well enough. "The texture of your hair his ludicrously soft."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "It's called 'grooming' and 'basic hygiene'; maybe the three of you should get to know each other."

"Noted. Now-" Ben poked his tiny head out from under her beanie, tugging at her hair. "-onward!"

Gwen snorted, but let it slide, moving around the hut, idly listening to Ben's musings and observations. She only spoke where he missed something, or where Grey Matter needed focusing ("I don't need to know the taxonomy of the squirrel, doofus. Focus on the cabin.") The space wasn't large, nor where there many rooms, so they were done soon enough.

Grey Matter was still comfortably huddled on top of her head, humming to himself. "I think we have the essentials covered, but I think my brain lacks the necessary context for the next steps."

Gwen looked up at him, barely seeing his eyes peek over her brow ridge. "You mean Grey Matter doesn't magically know everything?"

The creature shook his head and went to explain, before a beeping sound stopped them cold. Gwen felt her stomach drop, and moments later she herself did when a ten year old boy flashed to life on top of her head and sent them toppling.

Gwen managed to catch her head on her arms. Ben, though…

"And you call my skull thick?" He groaned, pulling his cheek from where it had connected with the back of her head, rubbing it gingerly as he rolled off her, sprawling on the floor. "You could use your head as a fluffy battering ram!"

"I drink my milk, doofus." She sighed, propping herself up on her elbows. "Try it. Might make you taller." She snickered. Ben glared, poking out his tongue, before he rolled onto his back, staring up at the holes in the ceiling.

"I think I have a basic idea on how to fix this." Ben mused. "But Grey Matter is a little vague on details. It doesn't know a lot about-" he gestured around them. "-this."

Gwen hummed, before grinning. Ben gave her a suspicious look. "I think I know where we can find what we need."


"Come on doofus." Gwen sang sweetly under her breath, her voice barely audible, but in the oppressive quiet of this evil place it still carried to his ears. He tore his gaze from the tall bookcases, narrowing his eyes at the amused twinkling gaze that met his.

"Did it have to be here?" He groaned, not bothering to mask his volume. He refused to let this- this hellhole tell him what to do. Gwen stepped up and lightly swatted his arm.

"Stop being a baby." She murmured, though her amusement never faded. "The library never hurt anyone." Ben gave the librarian seated behind the counter, a young woman with dyed hair that looked like she'd had her soul crushed long ago, a pointed look. Gwen snickered at that. He counted that as a win, even if he was still miffed. "Alright, maybe she missed her calling somewhere else. But as a rule, libraries won't hurt you."

"Yeeeaaah, I think the Burger Shack across the street is my calling- ow!"

"Mind your voice!" She hissed, amusement finally fading to mild annoyance. And it was mild. Gwen could easily glare hard enough to burn a hole in the wall. This one barely made his face tingle.

The girl turned back, scanning the shelves of books, the bookcases reaching far above their head. Ben wasn't sure if it was because of his cartoon and comic rich diet, but he had to actively resist the urge to tip one over.

The domino effect probably wouldn't be as pretty in real life as it was in Tom & Jerry. A pity. Sighing, loudly, and poking his tongue out when Gwen gave him a warning look over her shoulder, Ben wandered down the isle, whistling a soft tune, just loud enough that he could see Gwen tense over it, but not loud enough to bug anyone else. The sweet spot.

Absentmindedly, his gaze drifted over the books of the architecture section- which apparently blurred with both the art and the hobbyist section.

Ben wasn't sure if that was just poorly thought out or if the library's collection was just that small. He honestly thought it was the first. The Bellwood library, as Gwen had cheerfully narrated as she all but dragged him into the building earlier, was one of the oldest still standing buildings in Bellwood. And because Ben had lost the ability to tune her out over the summer, the lecture stuck.

'The woodcarver's Bible' too specialized. 'Westward drive: the style of the settlers-' Eh, nah. The thing is more recent than that at least…

Ben's gaze landed on a book on cabins. He couldn't read the entire title because it was high up, but it looked like his best shot. He didn't see any stools, but he was pretty sure the sturdy case could hold him easily, so he put his foot on a lower shelf and hoisted himself higher.

Gwen found him about four shelves off the floor.

"Doofus!" She hissed, a tinge of panic in her voice. "Get down from there!"

"Almost… got it…" He muttered, reaching up, climbing one more shelf-

"Get down!" A yank on his pants, Gwen's hands bunching in them. "You'll get us in trouble!"

"Nearly there!" He hissed back, fingers brushing the spine of the book-

The sound of cracking wood was like a canon shot in the quiet library.

As was the groan of the entire bookcase.

The shelf under his climbing foot gave out- and the shelf under that too when the books came crashing down. Ben went crashing down with them, a frantic part of him reaching for his watch, but he never hit the ground, nor did he get buried under books. A warm body caught his falling one and with a grunt of exertion both he and Gwen- of course it was Gwen- threw themselves out of the path of the small avalanche of books.

With a groan they pulled themselves off the floor and sat up, turning to see the last of the books balance precariously on what remained of the now broken case before they too clattered onto the enormous pile with a sad thud.

Ben slowly turned to look at Gwen and held up the book he'd been going for in the first place. "Uhm, I got the book?"

Gwen slowly turned towards him, her shell shocked expression slowly morphing into one of pure rage. This time, Ben did feel the force of her glare. He slowly scooted away, holding the book between them as a shield.

"You are so dead." She hissed, muscles tensing for a pounce-

"I agree. You are." A new voice broke in with an accent Ben couldn't place- probably something European- and both Tennysons whipped around to see the Librarian looming over them, arms crossed, expression cold. "Both of you."

Gwen's expression turned again, this time from anger to fear. Ben honestly preferred the anger.


And he'd take anything, anything, over the hurt on her face now, standing in front of the library, gazing up at the towering building. The girl looked like a stiff breeze cold knock her over and Gwen should never look that weak in his opinion. Tentatively, he spoke up.

"Uhm, dweeb? Are you okay?"

Gwen didn't respond at first, and when she did speak it was like her voice was coming from a distance. "I had that library card since I was six." She mumbled, voice hitching slightly. If she started to cry, he was going to panic. And probably cry too.

Ugh, he used to be so good at not caring about Gwen being sad.

Biting his lip, he tried again. "We got the book, at least?" He offered, holding it up. In the confusion of getting hollered at, the bookcase in ruins, revoking Gwen's library card and kicking them out, no one had noticed he'd still been holding it.

He'd call it a lucky break, but the confused, outraged look Gwen sent him kinda told him that it wouldn't cut it. He swallowed. "Sooo I guess we can still do our project?" He grinned, weakly. "Hey, maybe by the time that we're done, they'll have changed their mind and-"

"You are the last person I want to spent any time with right now, Ben!" She yelled, none too gently, anger finally breaking through. "You just got my library card revoked- and you think I- keep your stupid book! And your stupid cabin!" She went on.

Ben huffed. "Jeeze, if you hadn't pulled on me I wouldn't have fallen-"

"If you hadn't climbed the bookcase like an idiot, none of this would have happened!"

Gwen closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, the anger draining out of her in an almost visible wave.

Ben didn't like what remained any better. "I'm going home." She intoned, turning around and walking off.

Ben made to follow. "Guess I'll drop the coat off- no way am I taking this ugly pink thing home-"

"Keep it." Gwen bit out, voice cold and hard, like a door slamming shut. His steps slowed to a halt. Not because of the harsh tone, no, he was used to that from Gwen. It was the suppressed tears he could hear in her voice that did that.

When she tore off down the sidewalk, he didn't follow, leaving him with his own swirling thoughts. A part of him was looking for indignant anger to help him through this, but no amount of twisting and turning could keep him from the simple thought that Gwen was crying, and it was his fault.

He swallowed hard himself and sighed, turning around and trudging back in the direction of home.


His mother was waiting for him when he arrived.

"You know, we're lucky the library didn't press vandalism charges." She said, simply.

"I know." Ben agreed, sighing, sliding off his stupid pink coat and all but slumping against the shut front door. This was not how he'd planned on today going. His mom wasn't done with him.

"Also, your aunt called." Sandra said. "Gwen's not happy, to put it mildly. Neither is Natalie." Ben grit his teeth, taking the rebukes in stride. Grandpa Max was fond of saying 'if you find yourself getting shaved, don't struggle.'

And he was definitely getting shaved right now. Stepping up, Sandra pried the book and coat from his limp fingers. "Neither am I, for that matter. As Nat tells it, Gwen had a reading list she wanted to get to for the next six months at least."

Ben tried for a grin. It felt fragile. "I guess I gave her a lot of free time?"

His mom was not as amused. "I'm sure Gwen is very grateful for that." She deadpanned, turning the book over in her hands. "And all for this…? Did you check this out? No, you don't have a library card." She sighed. "I guess I'll drive down to the library to return it."

Ben perked up, giving his mom a considering look. "You have a library card, right?"

Sandra gave him a bemused look. "Yes…?"

Alright, here goes nothing. "Could we, maybe, try to weasel that reading list out of aunt Nat and we could get the books for Gwen on your card instead? I kinda..." He sighed, then bit the bullet. "I kinda messed up and I wanna make it up to the commander in dweeb."

Sandra's expression softened, and for a second he thought it might work. But then the smile turned sardonic."Bold of you to ask for favors when we haven't even discussed a proper punishment for this..." Then the smile turned sharper. Sweetly sharp. In a way that he'd seen on Gwen's face a lot when she was getting ready to royally mess someone up.

A chill ran down Ben's spine. His classmates liked to say he was lucky for having such a relaxed mom, but they didn't know that the rare occasions where she wanted to punish him, she got creative. "But I think I know something." She handed the book back to him and tossed him the pink coat. "You want to make it up to Gwen? Then you can call aunt Nat about the book list, and get your own library card and pick up the books Gwen wanted. And you can apologize profusely to the library staff while you're at it."

Ben gaped, feeling indignant, helpless rage grow in him because no way was he going to call his she-devil of an aunt or ever set foot in that stupid library again-

But then his brain took that moment to supply a vivid image of Gwen's heartbroken face, and play a tape of her breaking voice.

The anger spluttered out. He exhaled, through grit teeth and marched over to the phone. His mother watched him go with a slightly shocked expression. She probably expected a tantrum. He expected a tantrum.

Stupid dweeb and her stupid nerd hobbies that stupidly grew on him.

Picking up the phone, he got ready for one heck of a shaving.


She really should've left him hanging, Gwen considered as she followed her doofus of a cousin through the undergrowth. The scenery was more frost tinged than a few weeks ago, but she knew where they were going.

And it made her a little mad. Scratch that, it made her a lot mad.

Not because she was still pissed about the library card- she was, but not as viscerally as she had been. She'd mostly been, in her father's words, 'moping so hard he thought puberty had set in early.'

No, she was pissed that Ben showed up out of nowhere after three weeks of radio silence, wearing her old pink coat again and a rueful smile, asked if she wanted to come out and play, and her mother, of all people, said it was an excellent idea and suggested that she should go along.

Gwen knew a veiled order when she heard one.

So here she was, following Ben through the undergrowth after he'd dropped her there with XLR8, rushed ahead for whatever reason, and then returned to finish the rest of the trek on foot with her, following him to the same stupid cabin that had started this stupid mess.

It was like he didn't even care that he'd hurt her! Or that this only reminded her of it! Or that she'd said she wanted no part in it! He was just trying to wave her away, forget about it without so much as an apology! She really ought to give him a piece of her mind-

"And here we are!" He declared, triumphantly.

Gwen grit her teeth. "Yes, a ruin with a holed roof, I know doo...fus… huh."

Well, not quite a ruin anymore. It was hardly a palace, but at least the roof looked restored and the door was back in the door frame. She gave Ben a look. He ignored it in favor of grabbing her wrist and dragging her forward.

"Come on, you might like freezing, ice queen, but I'm cool enough as it is." He teased, pushing the door open and hauling them inside.

A wave of pleasant warmth hit Gwen, and the fire cheerfully dancing in the fireplace gave a merry jump when the door shut but was otherwise very well behaved. As was the squirrel warming themselves by it.

Gwen couldn't help but take a moment to take it in despite her lingering anger. It was rough around the edges, but her impression had been correct. The roof, door and windows were fixed, debris cleared, a beanbag chair had been installed ("XLR8 couldn't move the Jacuzzi here. I know, real shame.") and overall, it was leagues ahead of what it had been.

She felt Ben nervously squeeze her wrist and remembered that she was supposed to be mad at him. She tore free and walked further in, tossing her coat onto the coat hanger (huh, that was new, too) and spun around with a critical eye before she settled a hard look on Ben.

"Not bad." She conceded as he hung up his own coat. He grinned back.

"You're impressed."

"Am not."

"Yes you are."

"I'm not impressed. I'm still mad at you."

"Then why are you smiling?"

Gwen killed the smile forming. Traitor lips. "Because I can still have involuntary facial spasms while being mad at someone."

Ben snickered. "You had to phrase it in the nerdiest way possible, didn't you?"

Gwen scoffed. "I'm clever. Deal with it."

"I did!" Ben cheered, walking over to the two shut doors in the back, flinging one open to reveal a darkened space beyond. "This cabin is nerd proof!" He gestured inside.

Gwen gave him a skeptical look, lighting a ball of light in her palm with magic- she doubted he'd managed to fix a working light bulb in there yet. "If you lock me in, I'm burning this place to the ground."

She stepped in- and froze at the sight of three pantry shelves stacked to the brim with books- books she recognized because she'd been wanting to read all of them for ages but the only reason she couldn't-

She liked to think that she'd coolly spun around and demanded an explanation, but she was pretty sure she gaped for five solid seconds before tripping around to face her cousin.

Said cousin had lost his confident swagger and was rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous blush on his face. He cleared his throat, giving her a crooked smile. "Err, grandpa helped pick them up and XLR8 took it from there. And mom and aunt Nat helped- you can only loan like, ten books at a time per card and aunt Nat knew what you wanted and-"

"You did this for me?" She asked, seeing no other explanation but still completely flabbergasted by what her brain and, well, Ben were telling her.

Ben shuffled his feet. "I-" He swallowed. "I m sorry I screwed up. I wanted to make it up to you, but I also kinda wanted to make it more special than just smuggling you books like some really nerdy criminal, because I made a pretty big mess and all, so I thought of this," he gestured to the improvised library, "but that only works with a lot of books, and if this place wasn't a dump, so I had to fix that first, which took forever but..." He sighed before giving her a tentative smile. "You… like it?"

Gwen looked at him for another long moment, before trailing her gaze from him to the cabin behind him, to the cheerful fire, the comfy looking beanbag chair, the wood, the squirrel, and then slowly turned around to see her own little library.

As far as apologies went… wow. She felt a smile break onto her face, reaching out to pick up a book she'd been wanting to read for weeks. "...I'm gonna have to read really fast to get through all these before they expire."

She all but felt Ben wince behind her. "Err, yeah, I guess. Didn't think of that-"

She strode passed him with the book, jabbing her elbow lightly in his side as she did (ignoring his indignant yelp), and dropped herself into the beanbag by the fireplace. "Well, I suppose that means I'll have to come over often. To read." She decided. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ben relax and smiled to herself.

"Guess that's as close to a 'yes, I like it' as I'm gonna get."

"I think I feel a 'yes' coming on, but it depends on your position on foot rubs-"

"Don't push it." The doofus teased, shutting the door to the library and eyeing the small stack of comics by the window with an uncertain look, realizing that she'd taken the only seat.

The seat was technically big enough for the two of them, so Ben turned his puppy eyes on her. Gwen snorted.

"Not on your life. You got your corner over there."

"Please?" He weaseled with an impressive pout. She only cackled, rolling her eyes.

"You can sit against my chair." She conceded imperiously.

Ben poked his tongue out at her, grabbing a comic book and sitting against the beanbag chair rather than on it, all but sagging into it. Then flipped open his comic book and started to read. She did the same with her novel.

It could have been hours before Ben broke through her peace. "Should really get a couch in here." He mused, flipping a page on his- wow, there was a stack of comics beside him now. How long had they been there? She licked her lips. She was a little thirsty.

Gwen hummed, flipping the page of what she noticed was chapter nine of her book. "I know a pretty good thrift shop downtown. I can take you there tomorrow."

"...that'd be sweet." He said. She more felt than saw him turning to look up at her with a big grin. She staunchly ignored the heat crawling up her neck.

Instead, she scoffed delicately. "Someone has to make sure you actually decorate this place properly."

Ben scoffed right back at her. "You have no taste, cootie queen."

She finally tore her eyes from the book to meet his. "I don't know, freakazoid. I think I have a pretty good taste in friends."

Ben looked absolutely gobsmacked for a second before he turned back to his comics, grinning.

She rolled her eyes, but one glance at him and at the little library he created for her softened her heart. She reached out to ruffle his hair. "Lame brain."

He didn't respond to it, really, just preened. So she turned back to the book with only the distant sound of the fire crackling around her and Ben's presence beside her. She never moved her hand from his hair, nor did he move away. Gwen smiled to herself.

She could get used to this.


A/N: Sometimes you just need a little cozy in your writing. I haven't really been able to deliver on the fluff in recent times, so I hope this helps tide over my sugar addicted readers.