Three weeks after the Omnitrix arrives
"Let's see, this needs finely grated cheese…" Gwen mumbled as she re-read the recipe for cheese biscuits. The dough was almost ready to mix, it just needed a cup of Parmesan, but there wasn't enough of the already grated stuff and chopping what she needed from the solid block of cheese wouldn't work.
"So where's the grater?" Another murmur; quiet enough that the boy not ten feet away in the dining booth didn't pay any mind to it. She looked in the gadget drawer next to the fridge but only saw the box grater - that wouldn't make the fine shavings that would mix into the dough properly.
She slid the drawer closed and opened the doors to the cabinet over the sink. There it was on the edge of the top shelf, the shiny stainless steel rotary grater that was perfect for the job. She got a small, tight grin, pleased that it didn't take an extensive search to find something for a change. The kitchen may be small, but Grandpa and Ben had a habit of stashing things in the most unexpected places, making what should be a simple act sometimes turning into a twenty minute exercise of hide and seek.
Gwen reached her right hand to retrieve it, only to find that shelf was just out of her reach. Even when she stood on the toes of her left foot, her right off the ground as she stretched her body as far as she could. She slumped back to both feet with an exasperated sigh.
One that the equally exasperating boy at the table heard, much to her amazement. She was sure he wasn't paying attention to her at all.
"What's wrong, Cootie Queen?" he asked, looking up from his portable game console. His tone didn't give any clue why he was suddenly interested - at this point it was 50/50 between genuine desire to help fix the cause of her concern, or simple glee that she had it at all. The twerp kept bouncing back and forth with how he acted with her.
"Nothing you can help with, you little…" Gwen started to reply, absently allowing her irritation with not being able to reach the grater, and her belief that he was enjoying it, to show in her voice.
"Hey, I thought we agreed to not be mean to each other for the rest of the day?" Ben said, voicing a little annoyance of his own. They had agreed to that after a … misunderstanding over cleaning up the breakfast dishes got overheated. Gwen felt a little chagrined at her tone of voice.
"I'm not being mean," she tried to backtrack. She wasn't mad at him, he couldn't have put the thing out of reach; and they were both trying to cut down on insulting each other. "You are little. Short, I mean, just like me. I can't reach the cheese grater - see it on the third shelf up? I don't know why Grandpa puts it up there, we use it often enough!"
She glared at the gadget, as if it was mocking her by deliberately being just beyond her fingertip reach. She shook her head to dispel the ridiculous thought and turned to him with a sympathetic look. "You won't be able to reach it, either."
"Oh yeah?" Ben took that as a challenge, smirking at her as he got up from the table. Gwen was happy to see her unintentional slight was forgotten, just like that. He was clearly on the smaller side of kids their age, and he'd been equally clear since the start of their vacation that that truth really bugged him. The fact he wasn't fixating on defending his stature was encouraging; maybe he'd help her and be nice about it. He walked next to her and gave her shoulder a small bump with his, just enough to make her take a step to the side of the cabinet. "Move over so I can show you."
He reached for it the way she did, stretching hard but not getting close enough to even brush the bottom of the shelf. He even tried jumping from his tiptoes and stretching as far as he could, but got no closer than she did.
He settled back onto his feet and scowled at the cabinet. Gwen couldn't help the smirk forming on her face. "Told ya, Tiny! You're shorter than I am, what made you think you could reach that if I can't?!"
Sometimes it was impossible to not use the teases that presented themselves, especially when he made them appear, even knowing they could become unpleasant.
Ben growled at her. "I'll show you tiny…" as he made a motion to hop up and sit on the counter.
"What are you…?" Gwen called in alarm. "Stop, you dweeb!"
"What?! I was just going to sit there, then I'd be able to reach it!"
"You can't put your butt on the counter! I've got food there! You were sitting in the dirt just twenty minutes ago and you didn't change!" she frowned. "You're not a pig!" she muttered under her breath. "Don't act like one!"
Ben glowered at her, but she was right. He didn't know she had seen him sit down to examine at a weird looking root, but he couldn't deny it, and he knew his rear end was still plenty dusty.
He looked around the living area, but there was nothing he could stand on to get a boost, and nothing long enough to knock the grater off the shelf.
Then he got an idea. He didn't like it, but Grandpa was nowhere around to help and he couldn't stand letting her win. Plus Gwen was getting better at cooking, and anything she made was better than the horrors Grandpa put on the table. Especially if cheese was an ingredient.
He turned so he was sideways to the counter and crouched down a little.
"Here." he said, looking at her over his shoulder.
"Here? Here what?! What do you mean?" Gwen said with a look of confusion and irritation.
"Here, hop on my back. " Ben explained as if he were dealing with a third grader, rolling his eyes.
"What's that going to do?!"
"Get on my back like we're having a chicken fight. That should give you enough of a boost to reach it."
Gwen blinked and looked at him like he grew a second head. "Get on your back? And get your cooties all over me? I don't think so." she said with small shake of her head.
"Look, genius," Ben said with his most sarcastic tone for the g word. "It's not like having you climb all over me is my idea of fun! Do you want the grater or not?"
Gwen shot him a dirty look, but had to admit he came up with a workable solution. "How do you want me to do it?"
"Just hop on my back, I'll catch you."
They'd both been the top half of summertime chicken fight teams when they were younger and their dads had taken them to a pool. It hadn't occurred to her that Ben might be strong enough to hold her up now. From that position she'd have at least an extra arm's length of reach. Gwen took a short jump on his back as he hooked his hands under her knees, and got a grip on his shoulders. Then she stretched one arm as far as she could and leaned away from his back for an extra inch or two. Ben shifted underneath her to keep from losing his balance as Gwen wiggled on his back to keep from falling off. With a final lunge her fingers caught the handle of the grater before she got back in position over the middle of his back with a triumphant cry.
"Got it!"
"About time!" her cousin grumbled. "The way you kept shifting around, we're both lucky you didn't make me fall!"
He jerked his arms sharply up, giving her a shove on the underside of both her thighs, pushing her up and away from his back. He turned around as her sneakers hit the floor; Gwen was a little surprised that the look on his face wasn't a scowl that would normally go along with his complaint.
"So, whatcha making with that thing?" he asked, eyeing the damp mass of ingredients in the mixing bowl with interest.
Now that he'd put his game console down, Ben seemed almost eager to stay involved in whatever she was cooking. Gwen felt a happy smile creep over her face - they hadn't done much cooking together for the last couple days, and she was surprised but pleased that he acted like he wanted to help.
"I'm making some cheese biscuits. You can help, if you want to." she suggested.
Ben looked at the clock on the stove, then his eyes lit up with a thought. "Sure! It's lunch time, anyway. I'm thinking some chili would be good with those. How 'bout you?"
Gwen nodded her head. "Yeah, that sounds good to me too, doofus. I'll finish the biscuits. They should be done by the time you get some chili ready."
- X -
A week and a half later, in the aftermath of another gag-inducing Grandpa dinner special, Gwen agreed to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would make a real, recognizable meal. Whoever won, the end result was not having to eat whatever crazy mess Grandpa threw together - even if Ben lost, it was worth it.
This time his geeky cousin won with paper to his rock and chose to have him cook. The rules for this game were the cook got to choose what to make, though, and the other had to eat it without complaining. And would have to do cleanup. It was a perfect chance to make something gross - although neither could even approach what Grandpa was capable of! - or use as many pots and pans and dishes as possible. The last time when Gwen did it he had to wash almost everything in the cupboards! By hand, since there wasn't a dishwasher in the small kitchen.
Ben felt the evil smirk on his face as he started plotting revenge, and by the looks of Gwen's cringe she figured out she made a big mistake!
"So what should I make?" he said slowly, tapping his right forefinger to his chin. "Maayybee… creamed tuna on toast with boiled spinach? Or, I saw some Brussels sprouts and liver in the fridge after Grandpa's last trip to the grocery store?"
"Eww! Be-en! Those are disgusting! … We're doing this so we don't have to eat nasty food, remember?!" He just gave her a dark grin and cackled, enjoying her discomfort. He thought, for a second, about asking what she had in mind, but that would lead to her joining him in the kitchen and sharing the cooking chores. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing any more - they'd been getting better at cooperating and had produced some delicious meals together, but it also meant they'd share dish duty afterwards. Grandpa would offer to do the cleanup, but the dork would always say he didn't have to since he did the driving, and set up and put away the camp stuff, and everything else the man did for them. Not to mention paying for everything. It grated on his nerves to admit it, but the dweeb was right, so Grandpa got a pass.
Splitting the cleanup got it done faster, of course, which meant they could get to the after-dinner fun quicker. - there was a go kart track and mini golf arcade only a ten minute drive away that their grandfather agreed they could try - but Ben had a little payback in mind, to make up for how his cousin had pranked him earlier that day after they stopped some annoying but harmless battery-like aliens from trashing the tourist trap they stopped at. The shock the last one zapped him with when she flipped it to him with a blue blast of magic had really stung! Almost as much as the laugh she let out while he was juggling the squirming thing before slamming it into the wooden box with the others.
No, he would enjoy letting her sweat his choice of dinner away from the kitchen, and make sure there was a good amount of stuff to wash afterwards.
In the end, though, he chose a personal favorite; even if he would never admit it, she was right about trying to beat the master of gross meals at his own game. Why work to make something disgusting when he could do nothing and get the same nasty glop Grandpa cooked? Better to make something tasty and leave the cleanup to her.
It was just a coincidence that it was one of her favorites, too.
He got the ingredients and a big bowl, and was done mixing the stuff together in about fifteen minutes. Now it was time to make what had to actually go in the oven, but first…
After a minute of opening drawers and cabinets, closing each one a little louder out of frustration at not finding what he needed, Ben was seriously annoyed when he finally spied it.
"Who put the rolling pin up there?" Ben mumbled in irritation. "Grandpa!" he yelled to the front.
The man in question turned in the right front seat to peer back to the living spaces of the RV. "What is it, Sport?"
"Stop putting stuff on the top shelf! I can't reach it!"
Ben turned to glare at the red headed girl snickering in the dining booth. "And neither can you, Cootie Queen! Not without my help, anyway!"
Gwen closed the top to her laptop and smirked at him; without the mean look in her eyes this time, he noticed with a small jolt. Hearing him being forced to admit his short stature used to encourage her to heap on a litany of less than friendly abuse that always ended in a shouting match. But this time he saw playfulness in her green eyes.
"I know!" she said in a quiet voice, her cheeks turning a light pink. "That's why I figured I owed it to you to help. … Shorty!"
Ben was even more surprised to hear the look in her eyes got into her voice, too. Even the last word, one that was almost guaranteed to set him off when he heard it from one of his dirtbag classmates. But the way she said it, ducking her head with a stifled giggle - she was obviously not trying to goad him. Except maybe to do something fun…
This was a really weird turn of events, but he kinda liked it. And that was an even bigger shock.
Grandpa called out "Sorry about that, Ben. Guess I'm not completely used to having you two in the Old Girl all the time." He started getting up from the seat. "Hang on, I'll be right there."
"Don't worry about it, Grandpa. I've got it." Gwen replied as she took the few steps from the table to Ben's back.
"You sure? You're not that much taller than your cousin."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Ben figured out a way for us to get stuff up there."
Grandpa quirked an eyebrow, shrugged his shoulders and sat back down. "All right, if you say so." Ben noticed he also had a ghost of a smile as he picked up the book he was reading.
Gwen looked over Ben's shoulder at the butcher block cutting board, covered in flour to keep the lumps of pizza dough he just finished making from sticking.
"You're making two of them?" she asked with a surprised tone of her own.
Ben half turned to face towards her. "Well yeah. One for a normal pepperoni and sausage for me and Grandpa, and one for your disgusting ham and pineapple!" he said with a heavy dose of disapproval. "Duh!"
His cousin didn't buy a word of it. "Sure, dweeb. Whatever you say!" she murmured with that almost giggle. "Come on, let me up."
He turned his back to her with his hands ready to catch her, and she hopped on his back in a practiced way. They'd had to do this more than once since the first time he helped her retrieve the cheese grater. He felt her stretch over his back to grab the rolling pin handle, then push lightly on his shoulder to let him know he could let her go.
She slid down his back, and when her feet hit the floor she put the wooden cylinder on the cutting board. "Let me know when you've rolled out the crusts, Ben. I'll put my toppings on so you don't have to contaminate yours with the pineapple juice." she teased gently. And a real smile, the one he was getting more used to seeing.
"And thanks, Doofus!" She gave him a look directly in his eyes for a moment, then returned to her place at the booth.
"Yeah, don't mention it, nerd". Ben gave her a small smile back, then got back to work on their dinner. "Just don't forget you have dish duty when we're done."
- M -
"Where is that thing?" Max heard the red haired girl grumble, just barely loud enough for her voice to carry from the galley to the front of the old RV. The frustration evident in her tone was enough to pull his attention away from the bit of engine machinery in his hands, though, even though he knew she wasn't trying to complain at him directly. There was the sound of multiple drawers opening, hands briefly rummaging in each before closing them with a thump. Then the apparent search expanded, with first one, then another, cabinet door opening and closing, each closure getting a bit more noisy.
Max also heard a moderately fast and methodical noise of a knife striking a cutting board as the small, brown haired boy near her focused intently on mincing something up. That drew a tight grin on Max's lips at his grandson's split personality pretense - he knew the boy was very aware of his cousin's growing agitation at not finding whatever she was looking for, and was probably giving himself the business over not helping her while at the same time pretending he couldn't care less.
It was more than a little amusing, wondering if Ben's hero complex and innate desire to help people would overcome his childish antagonism towards the girl he still pretended he didn't like. Heaven forbid he should let her know that! Never mind that the boy volunteered to help with cooking, like both had been for the past month or so.
His knife work was both a source of pride and protectiveness. A week ago he would have been trying to make it sound like a machine gun, doing his best to emulate the way celebrity chefs showed off their knife skills on the cooking shows the kids had taken to watching together. Then his cousin had her frightening mishap, and Ben had backed off his barely controlled staccato chopping. The scar was barely noticeable, but Max knew the ragged cut Gwen got on her hand from her kitchen accident had been painful as well as somewhat gory, so she was understandably skittish about prep work involving a knife. The effect on Ben was less obvious, but Max saw the way her wound and pain had affected the small hero - it tore him up that he couldn't do anything to help Gwen directly. At least that's the way his grandson saw it.
That's not what Max - or Gwen - experienced, though. Ben had kept his cool remarkably well even as she bled freely from the cut, and then became more protective of her than Max could have guessed. First as he carefully held her hand still while Max tended to the ugly wound, and again when he equally carefully and gently cleaned the blood away when it stopped bleeding. And yet again whenever they did any cooking since then - Ben had insisted he could handle all the knife related tasks, stopping Gwen's complaints that he was treating her like a child by calmly but firmly reminding her that she did the same for him after his hand was burned. All with an easy going smile instead of his trademark smirk, so she knew there wasn't a delayed prank lurking in the future.
The two had agreed on what to make for lunch about fifteen minutes ago, and were making progress on the prep work the last time he looked up from the balky water pump he was rebuilding. He'd watched them, un-noticed, for several minutes as they worked side by side, efficiently divvying up the recipe steps and making good natured complaints about how the other was doing whatever as wrong as it could possibly be, and then give happy approval when the results turned out good anyway. It warmed his heart to see the two adjusting to each other as their vacation progressed - two of his favorite people in the world were learning why he thought that about them.
Their progress on lunch had come to an unexpected halt, though; apparently Gwen couldn't find something she needed.
"It's gotta be here somewhere!" Gwen groused crossly, "We used it just a few days ago!"
She yanked open another cabinet above the counter, hard enough that some of the dishes on the lower shelves rattled.
"There it is!" his granddaughter yelped with excitement. Then her tone of voice shifted abruptly from gleeful to dark in an instant. "And of course it has to be on the top shelf!"
"Not again!" she cried in exasperation.
Max put the pump housing down and grabbed a rag to clean his hands off before getting up to fetch whatever she found. Before he could stand up, though, she beat him to it.
"Hey, Doofus."
Without a word, the normally cantankerous boy looked up, put down the knife he was using, looked from the girl's expectant face to the cabinet she stood in front of. He took the few steps towards it and stopped in front of her and stooped over a bit, looking over his shoulder. Gwen made a hop up and towards him, landing midway up Ben's back as his hands caught her legs just behind her knees. She steadied herself with one hand on his shoulder and stretched the other arm towards the top shelf, retrieving what looked like the large measuring cup. She tapped his shoulder lightly, he let go and she slid down his back. He was walking back to his cutting board just as her feet hit the floor.
The whole thing took no more than a few seconds. Max was gobsmacked that Ben let his 'geeky, cootie infested, girly cousin' climb on him like that - those words had been a direct quote more than once - as much as watching Gwen treat it as nothing out of the ordinary.
Max felt his face twitch and settle into a happy grin as he returned to his repair project, still unnoticed by the kids. No, that little moment of domestic non-drama wasn't out of the ordinary. Not any more.
Now that he thought about it, these two had been helping each other fetch otherwise out of reach objects for many weeks now, advancing to the point that a verbal request wasn't needed - one just needed to get the other's attention. The foul bickering back and forth for several minutes over who should do what that caused him so many headaches at the start of the trip had turned into scenes just like the one he was now admiring.
They weren't all done this smoothly, though. Max didn't try to suppress the soft chuckle the memory of a recent near miss brought out. That time it was Ben who needed something that had been stashed at the top of the cabinet over the sink; he'd similarly called out the nickname for Gwen that he'd started favoring (and the girl stopped having negative reactions to; Max wondered what her mother would think of her smart and vibrant daughter being called 'dweeb', especially by that boy) and she'd approached Ben without a smidgen of an argument.
And then did something that caught both her cousin and their grandfather by surprise. Instead of getting behind Ben, she stopped in front of him and hunched her back.
"What are you doing?" Ben asked, with no hint of anything but the surprise he felt at her action.
Gwen looked over her shoulder at him with a faint blush. "You always let me climb on your back. I thought it would only be fair that you get a turn, too."
Ben's face went from a slight frown of hesitation to a pleased look. "All right" he said as he jumped on her back. "Just try not to fall over with me up here, OK? Holding up all this awesomeness without practice can't be easy!" The snark was back, but not the nastiness it used to come with.
"Oh please, you dork! Your ridiculous ego doesn't weigh any more than your tiny pea brain!" Gwen snorted back, equally snarky and playful. "I've got you."
Ben reached for the top shelf but couldn't quite make it, so he wiggled to try and get a little further up her back. "Hey! Settle down up there! You're making me get off balance!"
"Yeah, yeah" Ben muttered as he stretched to Gwen's left. "Almost got it…" he mumbled, leaning far enough across her back that Gwen had to shift her left leg to accommodate the change in their center of gravity. Ben's hand closed on the three inch cast iron mini skillet, and he lunged back from his extended reach. Unfortunately he over corrected, lurching too far to Gwen's right, and before she could get back underneath him her leg collapsed.
Both fell with a yelp as Gwen put her hands out, catching herself on her hands and knees, only to be driven spread eagled face down on the floor from the force of Ben's landing as he ended up sprawled across her back. He at least managed to thrust his hand holding the small but deceptively heavy skillet forward and to the right over Gwen's shoulder instead of bashing her in the head with it.
The fall forced out her breath with a loud gasp. Her left cheek was flat on the floor, her nose only inches from Ben's as they dropped in a heap. He dropped the pan and pushed himself up on his right hand, partially off her back. Gwen coughed twice before she sucked in a deep breath, eyes closed.
Ben looked down at her with a concerned expression. "Are you OK, Dweeb?!" he asked in alarm as his left hand gently patted her back twice before resting between her shoulder blades.
She opened her eyes and took another deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me when you made me go splat." She looked up at him, without any of the anger Max expected after getting banged up like that. Instead, it looked almost like she thought it was funny…
Maybe it was how the boy's expression went from worry to obvious relief that she wasn't hurt. "Good" he murmured, letting his head fall back to the floor as the shock of falling finally started to wear off. They lay on the floor for another few seconds before Gwen softly cleared her throat.
"You can get off me now, Doofus."
Ben's eyes shot open wide as he finally registered the condition they were in, and he scrambled to stand up and move away from Gwen. "Um yeah, right! … Sorry!"
"Maybe we should just have you get on my back from now on, Dweeb. You have a longer reach…" he said to the floor next to her, his left hand rubbing the back of his neck.
Gwen sat up and brushed a stray lock of hair back behind her ear and looked up at him with a chagrined smile. "Yeah, maybe you're right."
She held out a hand to him. "Come on, the least you can do is help me up..." Her eyes twinkled with playfulness. "Clumsy!"
The look and tone of voice must have convinced Ben she was teasing, because rather than lash out at her like he used to, Ben got a sheepish grin before rolling his eyes into a bored look. He grabbed her hand, though, and hauled her up.
"Pshtt! You're the one who dropped us!"
"I didn't…" she started to argue, then thought better of continuing . "Whatever…" Gwen murmured happily as she bent down to pick up the skillet and handed it to him. "Here. Now, can we finish making lunch?"
Ben smiled back at her. "Uh huh. All that excitement got me really hungry!"
Max laughed quietly one more time at the memory and picked up the impeller blades and fit the part into the pump body. Even when things went literally sideways, the kids were learning to take it in stride and not attack each other.
If that's all they got from this vacation, it would be quite worth the time and effort he spent on it.
- B -
"So where are we headed next, Grandpa?" Gwen asked after they'd been on the road for ten minutes.
"Well…" their grandfather rubbed the back of his head with his right hand while holding the steering wheel with his left. His eyes didn't leave the road, but he was splitting his attention between driving and talking, although he suddenly acted like the conversation left a bad taste in his mouth. "We need to head west…"
"We do? Why?" Ben asked from his place behind the passenger's seat in the front of the RV. Whenever they left one camp, Grandpa usually had a new destination in mind, but in general he didn't keep to a strict plan, except for festivals and stuff like that..
"Um, you know what day it is, right, Sport?" Grandpa said, hesitantly.
"Yeah!" Ben snorted. "What's that got to do with anything?!"
Gwen had a faraway stare for a few seconds, then twisted in her seat to look up at him and rolled her eyes. "It's the middle of August, Doofus! School starts in a few weeks…"
Ben received the news with shock and disbelief - "WHAT?! No way! Summer can't be that close to ending!"
"Ben…" Grandpa started, but he was in no mood to listen to an explanation.
"NO!" Ben yelled. "No no no… This can't be!" He turned on his heel and raced for the back of the Rustbucket, holding his hands to his head. He burst into the space where their bunks were and launched himself at the top one, burying his face in the pillow and screaming.
"NOOOOO!"
He wasn't ready for this! They just got started, didn't they?! And he'd only had the Omnitrix for a little while, there was still so much to learn about it. The Dweeb just started doing magic, she couldn't be ready to stop! They were good with this hero thing! They were! They couldn't stop now!
"Well, that went well…" Gwen's voice drifted to the back. Funny how her voice was so easy to make out from all the way in the front, even over the road noise. She and Grandpa keep talking and he kept hearing it, about his reaction to the news, about Gwen's, about her plans for the school year…
It was too much, more than Ben could stand hearing, so he grabbed his headphones and turned on the personal cassette player it was plugged into. He turned up the volume and drowned out the world with the songs from KISS, Foo Fighters, Gin Blossoms, and others he learned or planned to.
This was the one thing he didn't share with anyone, his go to thing that he did by himself when the world turned against him and he needed to escape it - to forget his parents, a bad baseball practice, the ongoing mess that was school. Even the latest news about what his genius nerd cousin did that was always so amazing!
He didn't need to crank the volume as high as he did; she wasn't even talking loud, like she could - he knew the difference between her loud, excited voice and what he heard before he retreated to his music. He made the sound in his ears smother her voice anyway, but he stillheard that tone in her voice..
She hadn't used that tone - the one he hated to hear now more than any other one - for weeks. Not since he'd ignored her next to the fire pit when they first started the trip. When she was sad…
Sad.
Sad?!
Why would the Dweeb be sad? They'd be back in school in less than three weeks - she lovedthat place! She should be happy! Ecstatic! Nothing was better than school for her! Well, maybe karate.
Except Gwen didn't react to the news that they'd be returning to school soon quite the way he expected; she didn't shout in celebration and rant about how much she was looking forward to it. When Grandpa made his announcement she'd gotten a dejected look and stared at her shoes before she recovered and made her snarky comment to him from the front seat.
Did the coming end of their adventure make her sad? If he weren't so outraged at the unfairness of summer being so short… he'd be sad, too. He liked doing all the things they did, the heroing, and traveling around and seeing new stuff, and making jokes with Grandpa, and… even getting to know his weird, irritating… fun cousin.
He wondered if she thought doing all that stuff with him was fun, too…
"Nah!" he snorted to himself. "There's no way…".
They'd be back in school soon. That's where she had fun, with the other brainiac friends she had there.
They were well into the drive from Texas to Flagstaff, an eleven hour haul that would take them through Albuquerque. Ben grinned briefly when the nasally voice of that cartoon rabbit popped up in his brain, something about how he should have taken that right turn at the funny sounding city's name. Grandpa apologized for not stopping there - he obviously couldn't have planned for their impromptu three days off planet with Tetrax - so they were going to blast right by and at least get in the expected day at the Grand Canyon and maybe Hoover Dam. Then they'd be mostly back on track to stop at Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe before the last push back to…
Ben sighed as he reluctantly finished that thought. Back to Bellwood, their families, and that horrible prison called school. He shook his head to not keep pondering that awful situation; it didn't matter that it'd be the last year he was in elementary school and supposedly in the top of the class hierarchy. There'd just be middle school in another year, then high school after that… School, school, school! And he wasn't one of the movers and shakers in his class - he was in the group that got moved, if anything - so overall he had no expectations that this year would be any different than last year.
A particularly loud banging of pots being put away made him look up from the comic book he was reading for the third time; he should have bought the latest ones at the book store they stopped at before the trip took the turn that even now he couldn't shake off. The near cataclysm the Watch caused, and the even worse personal tragedy that took his cousin away, if only for a short time. The absolute worst few hours of his life…
Events that had to affect said cousin, too - were affecting, actually, if her sleepless nights were anything at all like his - and left him so confused with so many unrecognizable feelings that he barely talked since they got back. It might have been nice to ask her about them since they both went through it all together without even Grandpa, but it seemed every time they said or did anything now was even worse than how they did in June.
Another clang of stuff being shifted in a drawer broke his melancholy reverie. The Dweeb was at least keeping up her end of taking care of the mess they made while getting lunch together - he'd done the washing on his own, when Gwen uncharacteristically retreated to her bunk while he got started. Only a week ago they'd had a blast cooking cooking several meals together - the time they made spaghetti was a riot! - but now even that was more than either could deal with.
Now he was slumped against the big picture window over the dining booth table, trying vainly to stay interested in the comic story he could recite word for word. He covertly focused instead on what the red headed girl was doing; she finished putting away the stuff he cleaned, and was getting other stuff out, like she was going to make something else. The stand mixer, flour, baking soda and powder, sugar, cocoa powder… When she got eggs, butter and milk from the fridge he knew what she was up to - those were the ingredients for the batch of brownies they made together ten days ago.
He smiled to himself - that had been a great time, baking together in the cramped galley. They kept bumping shoulders, at first by accident, then little by little intentionally, accompanied by one of the best rounds of their game! She'd been particularly inventive with her burns about him and his aliens, and he'd let loose more than a few masterful ripostes about her sometimes wonky magic, if he did say so himself. His smile turned into a wry grin - truth be told, he never would have known some of the words he used if it hadn't been for her influence. And to top it off, the made-from-scratch brownies had tasted so much better than the store bought mix! Grandpa said so, so it had to be true!
Ben considered briefly about getting up to help, but thought better of it. The way she'd been acting the last day or two, she seemed to not want anything to do with him. After his unforgivable screw up on Xenon, he could hardly blame her.
She got out the square baking pan they used last time, then frowned at something as she read the recipe. She looked up and caught him watching her, and the barest hint of the smile she got when they had fun flashed over her lips and eyes. Then it clouded over, again, and Ben quickly buried his nose in the comic. Even the sight of him was more than she could take…
Something was wrong, though. He heard her make her annoyed noise, and was glad it wasn't directed at him. At least that's what he thought; he couldn't have done something to piss her off in the short time it took to wash the dishes and huddle by himself at the table. He couldn't help looking up again to make sure, though.
Sure enough, she was glaring fiercely - thankfully not at him, at an open cabinet instead. She still had the brownie pan in her hands, and when he followed her gaze he saw it's twin on the top shelf. Before she could catch him looking at her again, he went back to his reading.
And then, out of the blue…
"Hey, Doofus…" she said in a timid voice.
He looked up again to see her facing him, still in front of the open cabinet. "I, um… I'm making those brownies we did, but a double batch…" She looked away from him to the pan she was holding. "There'll probably be enough for both of us to take some h-".
Her voice hitched. "Home." She finished. She glanced meaningfully between her hands, then the cabinet, then back to him.
"Can you give me a boost?
Really?! She wanted him to help? What kind of prank was this, after days of barely saying anything to him that didn't turn nasty?
"Nah, you don't need me for that." he replied and focused back on the page he hadn't turned since before she started putting stuff away. He knew she could handle it without him. And that bugged him more than it should, but he didn't know why.
"Come on, Ben, it won't take a minute. … You can have first pick when they're done!" she said in a sing song way.
Without looking up he replied "Hmmm … that would be tempting if there weren't already a bunch of cookies left." he said, trying to be neutrally casual. "But no." Really, she should just take the hint and let him be.
"Since when does having one kind of junk food keep you from wanting another?" she replied, irritation showing in her voice. She took a deep breath, though, and tried again in her own neutral voice.
"Listen, I won't bug you again, but you know I can't reach that pan by myself."
Ben couldn't for the life of him understand why she kept acting nice. He knew he messed up, he knew she only acted like she liked being together because it made Grandpa happy. He knew she'd forget everything they did as soon as she got back to that hoity toity school she couldn't stop talking about!
"I'm reading! If I do I'll lose my place and my train of thought, and it'll take me five minutes to get back into the story… I'm just trying to get back in the mindset of being in school, like you always tell me I should!"
"Ben Tennyson!" Gwen yelled in frustration, glaring. "You're reading a comic book! That has nothing to do with schoolwork! Get your lazy butt up from the table and help me!"
Her angry shouting made him return it. "What are you dweebing out about?!" Ben yelled back. "Why should I, you crazy freak?! Can't you just… magic… it down or something? What do you need me for?!"
He regretted saying that as soon as the words flew out of his dumb mouth. Gwen got a dejected look for a moment that Ben knew he wouldn't forget any time soon, all because of him. Again.
He'd felt that kind of dejection only four months ago, when he took a chance and tried to hang out with one of the gamer boys in his class when Jamie was out of town one weekend. He and the other guy had been complaining about an upcoming test, with both agreeing they didn't really care about the expected grade. Neither were all that motivated to do much beyond just pass, and the boy admitted he wouldn't do anything more than re-read the chapter summary in their textbook. But when Ben suggested they ride their bikes to the arcade on Saturday and check it out for a few hours over lunch, the guy blew him off without even considering it. Either he was lying about not having other plans - bad enough - or he preferred to sit around his house and do nothing instead of doing something fun with Ben.
The rejection was more devastating to Ben than he wanted to admit. He backed out of the invitation as best he could, trying to not show his hurt and maintain his outward face of indifference as much as possible. But the lesson stuck; Ben was not worth making an effort to be with, even for minor stuff.
He wouldn't make that mistake again; he did just fine on his own, thank you very much!
But that turned out to not be quite true - he'd gone to the arcade by himself, anyway, telling his parents a fib that he was meeting some guys from school. The way his Mom's face brightened up at the lie was almost more than he could take…
And contrary to what he told her when he got home a few hours later, he was miserable almost from the time he walked in. Seeing all the other kids in the place laughing and rough housing and just having fun with each other only intensified how alone he felt. Even his best game left him feeling hollow - he put up one of his best scores, putting him at number four on the game's electronic leader board. But there was no one to crow about it to!
He never felt so lonely, there in that happy, crowded place…
He saw how he felt then flash over Gwen's face now, and it hurt more this time than that Saturday. If his cousin felt even a little of what he did, and he was the cause of it, well…
Gwen's face clouded over for a moment with anger before it changed to just a scowl. She put the pan she was holding on the countertop, turned to the cabinet and put her hand out. It started to glow blue, then the second pan did, too, before lifting off the cabinet shelf and moved with purpose to her hand as she caught it.
She turned to face him, still with the scowl, and snapped "You mean like that?!"
Then she turned back to the cabinets, and the cabinet next to the one she got the brownie pan from opened and four things in it glowed blue and started to move out into the empty air of the kitchen, hovering for a second before they all started moving in every direction in a silent three dimensional dance. Then a cast iron skillet came up as the juggling act continued for another fifteen seconds. The whole time Gwen was concentrating on controlling the movements of those things, she occasionally stole glances at him, glaring at him with a look of hurt and disappointment that was worse than any of her angry outbursts, both hands glowing as she moved them slightly to control the display around her. After twenty seconds or so she turned so she could see where to put everything back to where they came from, finally closing the open cabinet doors with a thump. The blue glow faded away as she turned to face him again with a fierce glare that burned into his forehead.
Ben had dropped the comic book when the dance began and sat upright, mouth open in amazement.
"I can use magic to get what I needed. I don't need your help, doofus! Any more than Fourarms or Diamondhead needs me to pick up a car and chuck it at a bad guy!"
Her scowl faded away, and all that was left was a sad, disappointed look before she turned back to the counter, her shoulders sagging as her gaze dropped.
"I… I just like it when you do." she said softly, staring at a plastic egg yolk separator, something they didn't even know was up there, laying forgotten on the floor.
Ben felt like a heel. "Really?!" he asked her in genuine surprise. She did like doing stuff with him?
Gwen snorted weakly without looking up, but he knew she was rolling her eyes despite how dejected she was. He could feel it.
"Yes, really. Why would i say that if I didn't mean it, you doofus?" she said with some bitterness.
It hurt that she said that word without any of the fondness he'd gotten used to hearing, but he knew he deserved it after the last day or two. He didn't know why he kept acting like the brat she used to call him - he didn't want to say the crappy things he said, but his mouth didn't pay attention to the words his brain tried to get out. He hated that they stopped getting along. They probably still wouldn't after they got home and she was back with her friends at her school, and that thought made him feel even worse.
But at least for now, maybe they could have a little fun one more time before the trip ended…
He got up, walked past her to pick up the small gadget. "I didn't know we even had one of these. I bet Grandpa forgot it was up there." He held it out to her with a bashful smile.
"We don't need it though, right? We should probably keep it out of the way."
Gwen looked up at him in silent surprise and briefly met his eyes. Without thinking she reached out for it, and when she took it from his hand he turned his back to her, hunched over and looked at her over his shoulder. The look she gave him made him feel better than he had for days!
Instead of the sarcastic smirk she would have seen even a week ago, Ben kept the small, shy smile that went with the burn he felt in his cheeks. It wasn't much of an apology, she deserved better from him considering all the ways he'd let her down lately, especially the one thing he utterly failed at. But the words he was thinking wouldn't come out of his mouth again, and what good would they do anyway?
None of that seemed to matter to her, though, as the surprised look she had a second ago turned into the pleased smile and happy look her green eyes got before all - that - happened.
"Come on, Dweeb. Hop on…"
.
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