Title- Birthday Wish (2/?)

Author- Cristal

Rating- PG13- people curse hardcore a lot in my stories if you've never read them before. :D

Pairing- Gwen/Kevin

Disclaimer-Ben 10 and all it's lovely characters do not belong to me. They're just being borrowed. ;)

Summary- Ben and Gwen's 18th birthday party with all the drama and romantic in between!

Ben stood next to his tall, raven-haired friend as he cocked his head, hands in his pockets. "I can only imagine my aunt and uncle's faces if Gwen opened that."

Kevin shrugged, hands tucked into his jean pockets as he looked up. "Looks good though, yeah?"

"Well yeah. But I'm a teenage boy, half naked women always look good."

"More than half. This is like, three quarters."

"Point." Ben stared a moment before shaking his head and pushing his friend from the store front. "But we need to find a gift for you to get Gwen that wouldn't involve her parents putting your head on a stake in the yard any time soon."

Kevin sighed with a shrug before nodding. "Yeah, all right I guess." he planted his feet, eyebrow arched. "So, what do you think?"

"Maybe jewelry?"

"Maybe." both walked slowly through the mall towards a jewelry shop. Diamonds glittered in the display cases and perky ladies behind the counters sparkled and smiled at them.

A younger girl looked up with a smile. Kevin arched an eyebrow as his eyes passed over all the cases. "Hello sir. Can I help you find something special?" She cocked her head slightly, watching as he pushed the dark hair out of his eyes. He was handsome with the tall lanky build and long hair. And the gorgeous dark eyes that looked a little out of place in this shop.

"Not sure." he sighed deeply. "I'm looking for a birthday gift and I'm not sure what to get yet."

"Lovely!" she smiled brightly, leaning over the glass slightly, blond locks spilling over her shoulder. "Whose birthday?"

"Just...my friend."

"Who he wants to be his girlfriend eventually." Ben added helpfully with a smile.

The salesgirl looked just a bit downtrodden at that. "Ah." she hitched the smile back up. "Well I'm sure we can help make that happen!"

"I'm sure you could." Kevin cocked his head at the five carat diamond ring in the case.

Ben snickered as he drummed his fingers on the glass. "She's my cousin. Do you have anything green- like emeralds or something?"

"We do. Does she like green?"

"Her eyes are green."

"Fair enough." she smiled at Ben as she led them to another case. "So, why ten?"

"Pardon?"

"You have a ten on your jacket. Sports team or something?"

"Or something." Muttered Kevin as he looked at the shining jewelry.

She laughed lightly before pointing out some necklaces. "These are very pretty. A lot of ladies like this one." she pulled a necklace and mount from the cabinet, setting it in front of both young men. "It's an emerald heart pendant with an offset diamond chip."

"It's pretty." Kevin frowned slightly before stepping back. "You know, this really isn't what I was thinking. I think I'll check around."

She pouted slightly before grabbing a business card. "All right. Well my name is Teresa if you change your mind about anything."

Kevin nodded, grabbing the card as he and Ben headed out the door. He flipped the card between his fingers in thought as they walked towards the food court. "That wasn't quite what I wanted..."

Ben shrugged as he started eyeballing the places in the food court. "Yeah, it wasn't really Gwen. You know she-" Ben laughed as he grabbed the card as it flipped between Kevin's fingers. "Check it out! Apparently she was hoping you'd change your mind about more than the jewelry!"

Kevin glanced over seeing a number written neatly on the back in a curling hand writing. He grinned. "Women love a bad boy."

Ben snorted as he handed it back. "Y'okay." He watched with a slight smile as Kevin tossed the card in a trash bin they passed. "How many have you gotten rid of in the last three years?"

He shrugged, slight smile touching his lips. "Enough. I'm not into blonds."

"Tall skinny red heads, I know."

"She's not skinny."

"I'm sure you'd know." Ben teased with a grin as he stood in the line to a smoothie place. A serious look shadowed his face as he looked at the menu. "You know, I don't think I've eaten here before..."

"Smoothie king missed one? Scary business there." Kevin glanced over at the other food shops. "Besides, eating a smoothie just sounds wrong man."

Ben shrugged with a sigh. "Lifeblood then." he gave his order before turning back to his friend. "Have you asked Gwen what she'd like?"

"I-" he shuffled in embarrassment a moment before rounding back. "Have YOU?"

"Of course." Ben paid for his drink before taking a slurp. "Tasty." He looked back at Kevin. "She told me she'd like new shoes. So I'm going to get her some alien stomping boots."

"I can see Gwen rocking some knee high black leather boots."

"Now you're getting a little more creative than I'm comfy with..." Ben grinned. "Bet we can find some though.

Kevin picked up a couple of slices of pizza before they proceeded into the mall. "I'm...still not sure what to get her you know. I don't wanna cop out like a pussy and do cheesy shit, but I've got no idea..."

"Well, at least help me find the boots. Maybe we'll see something you'd like to get her. Better yet, we may see something you'd like to get me!" Ben smiled brightly as he slurped on his drink.

"Ben, you're cool, but you're not exactly my priority."

"Yeah, I never really have been the last few...well, ever." he snorted as Kevin took a swipe at him, missed and proceeded to just wad up napkins to pitch at his head.

"Come on you pain in the ass, let's find your boots."

"Don't forget mine!"

"Yeah...still not my priority. I could just get you a gift card to Mr Smoothie."

"Dude, a gift card?"

"Yeah. You like that place."

"Uh huh." Ben thought a moment, arms crossed over his chest. "Wasn't that you earlier that was saying you 'didn't wanna cop out like a pussy with cheesy shit'?"

"Indeed it was." Kevin grinned before pushing his friend over slightly. "Cheese suits you way better than it does Gwen though."

Ben had a finger in the air, about to argue but decided against it. "Point. Let's go find my boots for Gwen."

Kevin laughed as he followed his friend into the depths of the mall.

*End Chapter 2 Birthday Wish

Author's Notes- Thanks for hanging out with me again ladies and gents! I'm not a big fan of filler background chapters like this- not enough going on for me, so I'm thinking the next chapter should be interesting since I just got an...amusing idea. :D Anyway, regardless, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you again for reading! Apologies also for the short chapters- we'll see about making those a bit longer in the future. We'll see. :) Thanks again for reading!