Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Growth

Chapter Six: Bad Guy, Not

To spite the breakthrough of discovering a new ability, Devlin was still resistant to Kevin's lessons. (Admittedly, Kevin both never taught anyone anything before and didn't know how, and had absolutely no experience with Devlin's new power. But he didn't think those were the reasons.) The boy had been consistently reluctant to take instruction from his father almost from the moment Kevin was released from the Null Void.

It was at the point now where Kevin's notoriously short patience was run out.

"Alright. That's it." Kevin moved the plasteel panel that was originally meant for the Rust Bucket out from between himself and Devlin. The boy had been glaring at it, one hand pressed to its smooth surface for almost fifteen minutes now and Kevin was done. "I get why we never made any progress with absorption now. But this is something we both already know you can do. Why are you fighting it?"

The younger man glared back at his father, a snarl quick to his lips. "I'm not fighting anything. I told you I wasn't sure if I could do it again. It was an accident before. Believe me, I would love to have a power that isn't yours!"

Kevin grit his teeth at that. So, it all came back to that. To the fact that he did a bad thing way back when Devlin was a baby. He was Kevin 11,000, Terror of the Universe, and Devlin didn't want to associate with him. "Well, I've got news for you, kiddo. I might not be able to pass through matter like you can, but that power still came from me!"

"I know!" Devlin spat back.

There was a pause.

So, it wasn't that Devlin wanted a power that Kevin didn't have. It was that he wanted a power that didn't come from Kevin. Had nothing to do with Kevin 11,000 at all. Even if Devlin could absorb matter and pass through walls, he still wouldn't be happy because while those abilities weren't negative, they still came from his father. Came from Kevin 11,000.

"Okay. Fine. I get it." Kevin growled. "You don't want anything to do with me. Then why have I been trying to train you these past few weeks? What have I been waisting my time for?"

"I donno. You're the one who's making me do this! So you tell me." The younger Osmosian snarled back at his father.

"Excuse me, I thought you wanted to learn this." Kevin reminded him. After all, Devlin was the one to ask him for lessons in matter absorption after they rescued Gwen from Cooper. Before Kevin even got his Presidential Pardon.

"Maybe I did at first. But I changed my mind." Devlin informed him. "The only reason I've still been doing this with you is because you're blackmailing me! You're blackmailing me to spend time with you, Kevin. How the kriff do you honestly expect to do any sort of real father-son bonding if your constantly threatening me to spend time with you? All you're doing is making me hate you more! Its not enough that everyone at school thinks I'm the next great evil because I'm you're son, but now Kenny is avoiding me because of you!"

"So there is something going on between you." Kevin nodded. It was plain enough to see. Sure, he hadn't known either boy very long. But up until Servantis showed up, Devlin and Kenny seemed almost like twins. Inseparable brothers. Always together. Joined at the hip, almost. Truth be told, Kevin thought it was a little weird. But that wasn't nearly as weird as suddenly and abruptly seeing the two act the exact opposite. Now Tennyson's kid was skittish and jumpy around Devlin, didn't like to be touched, rarely showed his back to the older boy, and now never stayed in the same room with him alone. "I offered to help."

"If there's a problem between Kenny and me, its your fault!" Insisted the younger man. "I never would have absorbed his Omnitrix if I wasn't your son!"

"Ugh. Not this shit again." The older man groaned. "That's right. All your problems are my fault. You're mother got sick when she was pregnant because you're my son. You have no friends because you're my son. You absorbed Tiny Tennyson's Omnitrix and tried to kill him because you're my son. When are you gonna stop lying to yourself? Because I'm getting real sick of always being your scapegoat all the time."

"You're the bad guy!" Devlin insisted.

"That's right, I'm the 'bad guy'! But, if your problems with Tennyson's kid aren't your fault, then you must be the idiot." Kevin informed him, icily calm. "That's the only explanation I can think of for why you would absorb Kenny's Omnitrix when you know what absorbing that much power does to Osmosians like us. Everyone else might be willing to believe that Servantis made you do. They all think you were under mind-control same as the other kids. But I was in your head, Devlin. I know. So who are you lying to here? Me? Or yourself? Because one of us certainly is to blame for your issues with your cousin, but its not me."

They lapsed into silence.

Kevin crossed his arms over his chest, watching his son digest his words.

Devlin looked at his boots.

Everything Kevin said made so much sense and sounded so right. But how could it be when Kevin was the one saying it? He was a bad guy. Kevin wasn't just a bad guy, he was the bad guy that Devlin was related to. The bad guy that shamed Devlin his whole life. Prevented him from forming friendships outside the family or his mom and uncle's small group of friends. Gave him the monstrous form he was born in, causing him to stay hidden away in the tower for most of his young life. All those things were definitely Kevin's fault. Most of the bad things in Devlin's life were because of his father. He was so used to blaming his problems on the man that at some point he just decided that all problems were because of Kevin.

And that worked for Devlin.

At least, it worked back when Kevin was still stuck in the Null Void. Back when he was just a name and a vague idea of a person.

Now Kevin was out and about. Showing Devlin who he really was and what he really wasn't. Reaching out. Trying to form a connection. Wanting to help his son grow. But also not willing to put up with any of Devlin's teen angst and melodrama. Sure, he was absent from most of his son's life. Sure, his reputation might have caused problems in his social life. But that didn't mean Kevin was okay with being blamed for every jar of pickles the boy couldn't open. There came a time in a boy's life when he had to grow the kriff up and start taking responsibility for his own damn mistakes.

"What do you want me to do?" Devlin asked finally.

"Well, what do you want?" Kevin countered.

The boy looked up, frustrated and angry. "You're the one who's blackmailing me, Kevin. Sorry, 'Dad'! So what do you want me to do?"

With a sigh of frustration, Kevin ran a hand through his long dark hair. He placed both hands on his son's narrow shoulders. "Devlin, I'm not gonna tell anyone Servantis couldn't control your mind. I'm not gonna do that to you. I just… I just wanted you to make time for me. The only reason Tennyson didn't throw me back in the Null Void after we rescued your mom was because you said you wanted me here. But almost as soon as that happened, you changed your mind and started avoiding me again."

He had been under so much pressure lately. Between all the excitement these past few weeks, his mother's kidnapping, the Rooters fiasco, all the problems between him and Kenny. It was so much strain on Devlin. Now Kevin was offering him a branch of empathy and he just broke. The younger man's voice cracked. "I just… I don't know you, Kevin!"

And he began to cry.

It was the second time Kevin saw his son cry. The first being in the Null Void chamber the day Tennyson was going to send him back. The boy broke down into tears and confessed that he didn't want Kevin to go. He did want the chance to get to know his father and to learn more about his powers.

Devlin liked to present a strong and confident front. Calm and independent. But Kevin was beginning to realize that his son was actually a lot weaker and more fragile than he let on. Self-conscious and insecure.

Hands on the boy's shoulders, Kevin pulled his son into a tight hug. "You could have spent these past few weeks getting to know me."

"But you're a bad guy!" The younger man sobbed into front of his proto-tech armor, his dirty, week and a half by this point, unwashed proto-tech armor.

"Last week, so were you." Kevin reminded him. "Devlin, look at me. Morality isn't as clean cut and neat as you seem to think it is. There're shades of gray in everything. You want to be a Plumber so you can help people and show the world you're not evil like me. Fine. But to do that, you joined an unsanctioned black ops unit, kidnapped your friends, and almost killed your cousin. Your reasons might have been good but your actions were very, very bad. I was the same."

Devlin pulled away enough to wipe his eyes and blink up at his father.

"I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I was when you were born." Kevin explained. "Gwen would get healthy again and all our problems would be over. But then they cut you out of her and you looked the way you did and- and- christ, Devlin! Gwen won't remember this, she was to doped up at the time, but the doctor tried to kill you! Right then and there! If I hand stopped her…"

The older man paused, rubbing his face with one hand as if doing so could wipe the memory away.

"Tennyson pulled me off her but that wasn't the end of our problems. Your Pyronite arm was always setting things on fire. Between your extra arms, your tail, and your wings nobody could find clothes for you. Shit! You were born with teeth! For the first few days Gwen had no idea how to even feed you! I thought it was all my fault since sit was my mutation you inherited. So I set out to fix you. I remembered an old enemy we fought once -Osmosian, like us- who made it all the way to the Forge of Creation to absorb a Celestialsapien. Celestialsapiens are practically gods. If I could absorb one of them I would been able to fix you. Give you a normal human form… So, I left. I stole all four pieces of the Map of Infinity… I did almost everything Aggregor tried to do back when I was your age. I did lots of bad guy things. But I did it all for my son -for you, Devlin. So don't you dare tell me you don't wanna get to know me because I'm a 'bad guy'. I became a bad guy again for you."

A silence stretched between them.

It lasted for one… two… three beats.

Then, Devlin fidgeted from foot to foot. Chancing hesitant glances up at his father but not quite meeting the older man's eyes.

"Earlier you offered to help me with Kenny." He began, hesitant and unsure. "Would you… Is that offer still open? I don't want Kenny to hate me anymore, and- -and I think I'm ready to stop hating you too." A hesitant smile. "After all, you saved Kenny from me. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even have him anymore."

Kevin smiled down at the boy. Suddenly feeling like he'd made more progress with his son in this one conversation than he had in the weeks he'd been free. "Like I said, I've got lots of experience fixing broken friendships."

…

Ally didn't drive Kenny home right away.

They drove around in her truck for an hour or two to give Kenny time to calm down and recompose himself. He didn't want to go home with red, puffy eyes, looking like he'd been crying. Someone would end up asking him what was wrong and not leave him alone until e told them something. He didn't want to tell his dad or Aunt anything. So they just drove around for a bit.

Ally didn't agree with his strategy. After her mother passed away, she and her dad told each other everything. When Kenny and Devlin weren't available, her dad was her best friend. Of course, he wasn't talking to her as much since he started dating Kai Green. But then again, there were some things about Alan's relationship with Kenny's mom that Ally just did not want to know. And if not wanting to talk was anything like not wanting to hear, Ally could understand Kenny's decision. She didn't agree with it, but she understood.

There were some things a person just couldn't talk about with their parent.

She pulled her truck up to the Plumbers Headquarters main entrance at street level. Ally's truck wasn't a hover vehicle, so she couldn't fly him up directly to the private hanger used by the family.

"Thanks, Ally. I needed this." Kenny climbed out, but didn't go immediately into the building. Instead he paused, leaning back in through the open passenger window. "This, you and I hanging out without Dev, was it really that awkward?"

"Only at first." She assured him.

He nodded. "Okay, 'cause- My mom's doing on dig on your dad's land right now, right? I… Dev and I usually spend summer vacation with her as part of my custody agreement. But with Kevin out, he and Dev will probably do their own thing, so it'll just be me going to my mom. If Mom's gonna be at your dad's then… you and I are gonna be hanging out a lot together. Without Devlin."

Ally blinked at him. She hadn't thought of that. Oh, god! It was already happening! She and Kenny were becoming like siblings. If they had to spend the summer together… without Devlin there to get in the middle… their friendship would never be the same! "Well, you better not hog the bathroom all the time. That's all I gotta say."

"Fine. And you better not leave your girly things out where I can find them. That's all I gotta say." He shot back with a playful smile.

It was good to see him smiling again. Like he was getting back to the old Kenny she was used to. The goofy doofus, with a light heart, who found humor in almost everything. That was the Kenny that Ally liked. Not this mopey, brooding, anxious worrier he had become. Mopey and brooding was Devlin's schtick. It did not suit Kenny well.

"I'll see you at the Academy this weekend." She waved him off.

"You're still going?"

"At least until the end of term."

He smiled and stepped away from the truck so she could pull back out into traffic. "Then I'll see you there."

Kenny watched her go until she turned a corner and the old red pick-up was no longer visible. Then, with a sigh, we went inside.

It wasn't really all that late. But it was past dinner time. That meant that everyone was doing their own thing and no two members of the family were in the same room. Grandpa Max was in the Null Void chamber, monitoring the controls. Aunt Gwendolyn was in her library, looking up… something that had to do with her High Magus work. Dad was in the kitchen, making a smoothy of his own -lemongrass, kale, mango, and chili. And Kevin, Kenny ran into in the hall.

He was just stepping out of the steaming bathroom, having just finished his nightly shower. A towel wrapped around his waist, wet hair plastered to his neck and back, barefoot on the paneled floor. Seriously, to dude needed to go shopping. Get a robe and some slippers. Kenny wondered if he should give the man a shopping list for when Aunt Gwendolyn finally took him out.

"Oh." The older man came up short, suddenly finding the hallway blocked. "Hi. So, did ya get lucky?"

"Lucky?" The kid blinked at him, not quite understanding. "No. The only useful Luck feat is Fortuitous Strike, and even then only if you need to reroll an attack or damage roll. Its better just to build-up your Speed or Charisma stats."

"Wut?" Now it was the older man's turn to blink in incomprehension. "How old are you, again?"

"Fifteen." Kenny answered dutifully.

For some reason Kevin looked skeptical. As if he didn't believe that Kenny had actually reached puberty, let along was almost done with it. Not if he didn't understand an obvious (and common) sexual innuendo. But then again, since Kevin had been out at least, Devlin didn't appear to show any interest in girls either. Maybe it was just a symptom of the new generation. Jeez. Kids these days with their angst, and their self-pity, and their melodrama, and their scapegoating… They had no time for puppy love or dirty mindedness.

"Anyway, glad you're back. Tennyson was ready to have a kanipshin if you didn't call in the next ten seconds."

"He does that." Kenny agreed.

There was an awkward pause. Kenny still hadn't figured out how to talk to Kevin. He was so casual and laid back, almost like a big brother. But he was older than Dad, that definitely made him a grown-up. So, how was Kenny supposed to talk to him? Like an equal, or like a superior?

"Well, I'm soaking wet and would kinda like to get to my room." Kevin informed him.

"Right." The boy nodded.

"You're in the way." The older man barked.

"Oh! Oh, right!" Kenny hopped to the said so that Kevin could pass by. He was almost at Aunt Gwendolyn's bedroom before Kenny stopped him again. "Uh, Kevin? I, uh, I don't think I ever thanked you." The boy began hesitantly. "For saving my life, I mean. From Devlin. After he… after he 'pulled a Kevin'. He could have killed me and the only reason he didn't was because you stopped him. You saved my life. So, thank you."

For a second, Kevin looked like he had no idea what he was supposed to say. He must not get thanked that often. Either that, or he still hadn't figured out how to talk to Kenny either. "Don't mention it."

He turned the bedroom door handle.

"You, uh-" Kenny began again and this time, Kevin definitely looked annoyed when he turned his attention back to the boy. But Kenny refused to be discouraged. "You've been doing a lot of saving people since you got out. You saved Aunt Gwendolyn, you saved me, you saved Ally and Billings. You're actually a hero, Kevin. I know they say you did terrible things before. But, I just want you to know, I don't think of you as one of the bad guys."

The older man stared at him. As if disbelieving. As if it was utterly and completely incredible that, not only did someone not think of him as a bad guy, but that that someone was Ben Tennyson's immature and naive offspring. Kevin cleared his throat. "Well, I'm glad someone does."

He opened the bedroom door and disappeared inside.

Kenny wondered if he should have asked Kevin for help with Devlin. But, he reflected, ambushing him in the hall when he's soaking wet and wearing nothing but a towel probably wasn't the best time.

...