"Birthday!" Ben said brightly. "You know, whenever you get older you have a birthday," he explained.
"Older? You're always getting older," Hoverboard said.
Ben rolled his green eyes in exasperation. "No, like when you…" he paused, trying to explain his reasoning. "Well, on earth when a year passes we say it's our birthday. Like… I was born on May 10th, 1996 so I'm 10 years old. And I celebrate my birthday on May 10th every year. Make sense?"
"Yes…" Hoverboard said slowly. "And this… thing?" he looked pointedly at the cake.
"Well, when we celebrate our birthdays on earth we have cake!" Ben said brightly. "And ice-cream and soda and presents, but the cake is a big thing. And I was bored, so I made a cake," he grinned. "Want some?"
"It's food?" Hoverboard asked.
Ben looked a tiny bit put out and Red tried unsuccessfully to cover a laugh behind his massive hands. "Yes," Ben said hotly. "It's very good too. Everyone helped to make it," he shifted his hold on the cake so that it rested on his palm and he used his other hand to wave at the aliens behind him.
"Well then," Hoverboard said with a defeated sigh. "Let's try it."
Ben brightened up and handed him the cake. "Hold on, we need plates and stuff so everyone can try," he said excitedly and dashed out of the room.
"Very… energetic, isn't he?" Hoverboard asked.
"I think he may have inhaled some sugar causing his brain receptors to break down the chemical and cause a state of heightened energy output," Tech said wisely.
"The kid's hyper," Sun translated for those that needed it.
"We figured," Red said with a guffaw. "May as well call everyone else down. The kid seems quite happy over this. Perhaps he's just a little homesick and needs something that reminds him of home."
"Maybe," Hoverboard sighed. "But we're not here to tend to an earthling's needs."
"No, but you brought him up here," Red told him with a pointed glance.
"Very well," Hoverboard said and made a com announcement to meet in the main hall room.
Ben returned with plates and utensils that could be used to the best of his knowledge and grinned when he saw everyone was there. He handed a knife to Hoverboard and looked at him expectantly. "Well?" he asked.
"Well what?" Hoverboard replied.
"Aren't you going to cut it?" came the answer.
"Why don't you cut it?" Hoverboard asked.
Ben raised an eyebrow then grinned. "You trust me with sharp and pointy objects?" he asked with a devilish look in his eyes.
Hoverboard tightened his grip on the knife he was holding. "No," he said quickly.
"You and the rest of the world," Ben laughed.
"And you're proud of this, why?" Sun asked.
"Why not?" Ben asked with a wicked grin. "If you're gonna be known for something, may as well be known for something cool."
Hoverboard began to cut the cake. "May I ask what you did to be 'known'?" he asked.
"Well…" Ben feigned innocence as he recounted the event. "I kinda sorta… yanno… wanted to see how sharp my mom's kitchen knives really were so I went into the shed and found some extra rope and cut it. Two months later I find out they're the ropes that hold the extra storage thing on the top of our car," Ben laughed. "Yeah, I got into a lot of trouble and banned from anything sharp and pointy from that point on. Mom threw a fit…" he trailed off, his expression becoming a little sad. "I wonder how she's doing," he said softly.
Hoverboard quickly put the cake on the plates and handed one to Ben. "Well, your grandfather said you could talk to her next time you call. So, right now, it's my birthday, right?"
Ben brightened and took the cake. "Right," he said and took a large bite of the confection. He chewed happily and swallowed. "Okay, no where near as good as mom's but pretty good if I do say so myself."
Red took a tentative bite of his and nodded in agreement before putting the rest of the slice in his mouth and chewing it. "Very good," he said and gave Ben a smile. "Is this what all cake tastes like?"
"No way!" Ben said, getting excited again. "There's all kinds of cake. There's chocolate and banana and marble which is a mixture of chocolate and vanilla and angel cake which is Gwen's favorite… and lots of others," he finished.
"Interesting," Tech said while eating his own, figuratively smaller slice. "So, many different flavors but they are all under the title, 'cake'?"
"I… guess?" Ben said questioningly. Tech's way of talking still confused him and it bothered him even more when he wasn't the alien himself.
After everyone had finished the cake and agreed that it was generally good, things were cleared up and everyone returned to the work that they had been given to do. Ben at this point had sugar running through his veins and was ready to take on Mount Everest. Unfortunately, no one was ready to help him or put up with it.
"What do we do now?" Ben asked Red.
Red smiled kindly at Ben. "Sorry, but we've got work to do. We'll play later."
"Awww," Ben pouted. He was on a spaceship in orbit of earth with 10 alien species and he was bored. How was that for an oxymoron?
Rampage came over and sniffed at Ben who turned around with a wide grin on his face. "You wanna play with me?" he asked.
Rampage gave a yip that Ben took to be an invitation and ran after the creature down the hall to the open gym that they had played in earlier. Ben rooted around in the bin and pulled out a ball made of some tough material and threw it across the gym. Rampage went after it and nosed it back to Ben who caught it in both his arms. "Nice shot!" he yelled.
Rampage bayed loudly and Ben threw the ball again, waiting for Rampage to 'throw' it back to the best of his ability.
He jumped up high in the air and missed it this time but happily scampered after it in order to continue the game. "Here it comes!" he yelled and threw it as hard as he could.
"Sugar seems to be his energy source," Tech said quietly as his luminous eyes closed slowly.
"I don't think that's it," Red said while scratching his head. "He eats other stuff."
"Why do you care?" Accelerate asked.
"We're trying to figure out how to keep a better eye on him," Sun sighed. "It's becoming a little obvious that he's not mature enough for a human to be taking care of himself."
"Why don't you just look in the databases on Earth?" Specter asked.
There was a thick silence that hovered over the table as the aliens pondered this simple solution. "Yes…" Tech said falteringly. "That would work."
"Speaking of Ben," Umi's raspy voice cut in. "Where is he?"
"Probably playing with Rampage in the storage area again," Impulse said. "He seemed pretty hyper earlier."
"I'll go get him," Red said and stood up. He walked out of the room and left, glad to be able to roam around again.
He made his way down to the storage area and poked his head in. "Hello?" he asked.
There was a light growl in the darkness of the storage area. Alarmed, Red flipped on the light and ran inside to see Ben turning over and snuggling against Rampage's stiff coat of fur. Rampage growled at him, presumably for disturbing Ben and lay back down.
Red chuckled at his own foolishness and walked over. "Sorry," he told Red. "I've got to get him in a normal bed."
Rampage sniffed but didn't protest when he lifted Ben up and began to walk back towards Ben's room.
Halfway there, Ben stirred a bit and opened a sleep eye. "Huh?" he asked.
"You were asleep, we're going back to your room," Red told him.
"Oh…" Ben merely fell back asleep leaving Red to wonder if he had really been awake in the first place.
For the second time since Ben's visit, he tucked the messy child into bed. With a nod he left the room and returned to the meeting hall, which now contained all ten aliens. "Kid passed out," Red laughed. "Apparently the sugar only lasts so long."
"Thank god," Hoverboard breathed.
"Yes, well, it still seems that we have much to learn," Tech said. "We still do not know anything about the human race or its customs."
"And not knowing is probably only going to get us into trouble," Impulse pointed out.
"So, looking at the databases on earth's 'internet' is a good idea for now," Tech concluded.
"Yes, but how will this help us?" Sun asked.
"For one thing, it'll make sure that Ben can't tell us something that isn't true so that he can get away with anything," Hoverboard noted. "For another, he's a living being, just like the rest of us but he is also still a child. Children, regardless of race, just aren't equipped to take care of themselves. It seems that earth's age of 'childhood' is quite a long one, spanning many of their 'years'. It seems that Ben is only about halfway through his own."
"In other words we need to keep a closer eye on him or he might do something foolish," Specter said.
"Exactly. And that's exactly what we're trying to avoid," Umi replied.
"So, let's learn a little more about this earth," Hoverboard concluded.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
So, heading off the new questions. No, I will not add the new aliens that are appearing in the new eps. This became an AU fic the second I took Ben into outer space.
Also, I may use some family situations that may or may not end up canonical but again this is to my disgression. Just giving you guys fair warning.
Other then that, enjoy the fic.