A Need for Speed
This story takes place sometime during the Alien Force timeline and early on in Gwen and Kevin's relationship. Enjoy the shameless Gwevin fluff I wrote!
Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 and characters.
''We should be back in Bellwood in about an hour,'' Kevin told the passengers of his car as they drove off from their most recent fight. The fight with some Forever Knights had brought them out of town and had taken much longer than expected thanks to Ben's Omnitrix. It had been another one of those fights where the Omnitrix wouldn't let Ben transform into the aliens he wanted so he had no option but to fight the old-fashioned way. An exhausted Ben was now soundly asleep in the back seat of Kevin's car. Kevin only realized this because Ben answered him by loudly snoring.
''Sounds good,'' Gwen replied. Kevin was thankful that she was still awake and could keep him company as they drove home. He enjoyed just sitting in the car and driving with her in the passenger seat, whether they talked or not. But to his disappointment, when he briefly glanced over at her, he noticed that she looked exhausted and was trying to stifle a yawn.
''You should try and sleep if you're tired,'' Kevin said, keeping his eyes on the road.
''That's okay, I'm not really tired,'' Gwen told him sweetly, touched that he was trying to take care of her.
''It's three in the morning, you're trying to stop yourself from yawning and you have school tomorrow,'' Kevin argued, not buying Gwen's lie.
''It's okay, really. I'd rather stay awake and spend time with you,'' Gwen admitted, but as she heard herself speak, she realized how that sounded. Panicking because she was afraid Kevin would think she was being too sappy or something, she backpedaled and tried to explain herself. ''I mean, it's better if we're both awake, you know, in case you fall asleep at the wheel, that could be dangerous.''
Kevin raised an eyebrow in confusion but remained oblivious as to why Gwen seemed to be panicking. ''Seriously Gwen, I'm fine,'' he tried to reassure her. He was more worried about her. They didn't seem to realize that they were equally concerned about each other but just couldn't admit it yet.
''Fine, but I doubt I'll be able to sleep with Ben's snoring,'' Gwen finally agreed.
''I could put a sock in his mouth or something?'' Kevin offered in a joking manner. Gwen gently laughed in response.
''Why do I feel like you'd leave that sock there forever to stop Ben from ever talking again?'' Gwen bantered.
''Am I that predictable?'' Kevin replied, a smile forming on his lips.
''I just know you very well,'' Gwen answered, but was interrupted by another yawn.
Kevin turned his head in her direction and gave her a clear, ''I told you so'' look. Gwen rolled her eyes in response.
''Okay, okay,'' Gwen said as she reached her hand across the car to gently turn his head back towards the road. ''You win, I'll try to sleep.''
From the corner of his eye, Kevin saw Gwen recline her seat a bit and shift positions, trying to get comfortable. The inside of the car grew silent as Gwen's breathing slowed down. Unfortunately, Ben's snoring was the only sound that remained. But Kevin was happy that Gwen would manage to get a bit of rest before her long day at school tomorrow.
When it was safe to do so, he kept glancing over at Gwen as she slowly started to fall asleep. He couldn't help himself. Gwen was beautiful, but there was just something about the way she looked when she was relaxed and peacefully sleeping. He wished she could feel this way more often, he hated seeing her stressed or in pain like during a fight. He would never admit it, especially to Ben, but whenever they were in the middle of a fight, he always tried his best to keep an eye on her. He knew, more than anyone, how strong Gwen was and how capable she was of protecting herself and others. But he still didn't want to risk the chance of her getting hurt.
Kevin wondered if this is what being in love felt like. He wasn't sure, he had never been in a real relationship or truly felt love for somebody.
''That's it!'' Gwen suddenly muttered, sitting up in her seat. Her unexpected movement abruptly put an end to Kevin's internal questioning. So much for her getting some sleep. "Where is it?" she angrily said as she turned around to rummage in the dark for something on the floor of the back of his car.
"Where's what?" Kevin asked, concerned by her sudden state of panic.
"My backpack!" Gwen exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You didn't have it when I picked you up," Kevin quickly answered. He was quite certain of it because he had picked her up at her home and not at school like he did most days of the week.
"Damn it," Gwen swore as she turned back around in her seat.
Kevin knew Gwen was mad, but for some reason, he couldn't help but smile a bit at her explosive reaction. He didn't often hear her swear and when it wasn't directed at him, it was kind of cute.
"Why do you need it?" he asked.
''I just thought of the perfect way to phrase my thesis for my history essay,'' Gwen explained to him, but she still sounded really panicked. ''I've been trying all week to write it, but it's never been good enough. I couldn't properly express my argument. And I just thought of the perfect phrasing when I was trying to sleep but, of course, the one time I need my pencil and notebook, I don't have my backpack.''
Kevin could tell she was rambling because she was so frustrated and panicked, he didn't like seeing her in distress. ''Just type it out on your phone and text it to me or something, that way it'll be written down somewhere.''
''I left my cellphone in my backpack,'' Gwen groaned, mentally kicking herself for her forgetfulness.
''Okay, new plan,'' Kevin said. He removed his right hand from the steering wheel and leaned across the car to reach inside the glove compartment. Without taking his eyes off the road, he fumbled around before grabbing a piece of paper and a spare pencil he remembered throwing in there sometime in the past. ''Here, write it on this,'' Kevin said, handing the pencil and paper to Gwen.
''You still haven't paid off these speeding tickets?'' Gwen remarked incredulously, grabbing the items Kevin gave her.
''I told you, I'm setting a personal record,'' Kevin winked. ''Now write your history thing before you forget it,'' he told her, giving her a small smile.
''Thank you, Kevin,'' she replied gratefully.
Kevin could tell by her intonation that she had visibly relaxed. She was quickly in her element as she started to furiously scribble away in the margins of the speeding ticket. Once again, it became quiet within the car. Ben, by some godly miracle, had stopped snoring and was still asleep. The only sounds were those of the engine and Gwen's pencil scratching on paper. With the history essay crisis averted, Kevin's thoughts once more returned to Gwen. He realized that he also enjoyed watching her work on homework. She was always so focused, she somehow managed to make that look beautiful as well. It was the same look she had whenever she read books for fun, which Kevin would never understand how she found that entertaining. But he loved that she loved it. He thought back to all the times she had sat in his garage when he was working on his car. Most of the time, she was either reading or doing homework. And whenever he rolled out from underneath his car, he always noticed that same look of concentration on her face.
Okay, he needed to stop. Why was he thinking about her all the time? Maybe it was love after all, but what made him worthy of receiving Gwen's love?
''Can I use another one?'' he heard Gwen ask, saving him from his own thoughts.
''Not like I'm going to use them,'' Kevin replied, before glancing over at her. The speeding ticket he had given her was covered with stuff she had written. ''What are you doing, writing a novel?'' he joked.
''No,'' she blushed as she reached inside the glove compartment to grab more speeding tickets. ''I can't help myself; I just had an idea for one of the examples in my essay.''
''I'm kidding, keep writing,'' he told her. ''Don't let me distract you.''
''Thanks,'' Gwen replied, already back at work.
Kevin couldn't help but smile again.
By the time Kevin had made it back to Bellwood and dropped Ben off at his house, it was already past four in the morning. Gwen had barely stopped writing and had used up pretty much all the speeding tickets he had accumulated over the years. At least they had been useful for something. He took a lot of pride in the idea that they had helped Gwen out during a crisis.
Kevin pulled over when he reached Gwen's house. He put the car in park and turned to face the redhead.
''Class is over,'' Kevin said jokingly as he looked at Gwen, who was somehow still writing.
''What?'' she asked confused, clearly too absorbed in her essay to realize that they had made it back to her house. ''Oh, sorry'' she exclaimed when she looked out the window.
''It's fine,'' Kevin said. ''Did you finish your whole essay?''
''Pretty much,'' Gwen admitted, grabbing all the pieces of paper that had accumulated around her. ''It just came to me. Thank you for letting me use your speeding tickets, you're a lifesaver!''
''When's your next essay due?'' Kevin asked her seriously.
''What?'' Gwen replied confused by his sudden change in topic.
''Well I need to know my time frame for collecting more speeding tickets for my stash, just in case you're in a crisis again,'' Kevin joked, giving her his signature smirk.
''Don't you dare,'' Gwen said, playfully hitting him on the shoulder. But she was smiling, nonetheless.
''Go get some sleep now. You can type your essay tomorrow,'' Kevin told her. He knew Gwen's habits and knew she would sacrifice sleep to finish her schoolwork first.
''I will, I promise,'' she said as she unbuckled her seatbelt. ''See you tomorrow?''
''Yeah,'' Kevin answered. ''I'll pick you up after school and we can go to my garage, you can finish your essay then.''
''Sounds good. Goodnight Kevin,'' she said, leaning over to gently kiss him on the cheek. ''Sleep well.''
''Yeah,'' was all Kevin managed to reply as he sat there shocked by the gentle kiss Gwen had given him.
He watched her as she got out of the car and closed the door behind her. He waited until she had safely made it inside her house before driving away. As he drove the short distance back to his house, he made a mental note to stop at the supply store before picking Gwen up at school tomorrow. He wanted to buy a couple of pens and a notebook to leave in his glove compartment. Just in case Gwen needed to be rescued again. He would do anything to make her happy.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! And yes, I did write this instead of working on my ten page essay for my history class! I can't say no when inspiration strikes! :P Take care everyone! Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome.