A/N: I finished NaNoWriMo! 50,000 words of original novel material that I'm incredibly proud of! In other news, I also saw Ben 10: Alien Swarm, which was really good especially compared to Race Against Time. Nathan Keyes did a wonderful job as Kevin (he had some of the best lines in the movie) and Ryan Kelley made a great Ben. Ben's new car was beautiful, but I still want Kevie's car more. Anyway, this oneshot is a little thing I wrote a few days after Thanksgiving. The huge part in italics is a flashback. This is assuming that Kevin lives on his own and not with his mother despite having reconciled with her. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10. I also don't own the quote at the beginning. However, I do own this story.
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"Thanksgiving is possible only for those who take time to remember; no one can give thanks who has a short memory."
-Anonymous
87. Food
Thanksgiving was a day meant for celebrating with the family and stuffing oneself with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, yams, and a variety of other dishes. Family was the key word and once upon a time, he had enjoyed the day. Well, he hadn't liked it when his stepfather was there, but after dinner, his mother would take him and tell him stories while eating pumpkin pie. Now that he lived on his own, he had no family. No family meant no reason to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Not only that, but he couldn't cook well enough to make himself a fabulous dinner. He couldn't cook a turkey (it required far too much work and he wasn't even certain that he had the necessary cooking supplies to cook it), so he settled with buying a microwavable meal that consisted of turkey and mashed potatoes. A small bag of gravy was included. It was the closest he was getting to a real Thanksgiving dinner.
So he sat and ate his meal alone on his couch, staring hard at a gray photograph of his mother and father (his real one, not his stepfather). It was almost like eating with a family except the picture couldn't talk and he was eating out of a plastic box. Maybe pretending that Thanksgiving didn't exist would've been a better idea. At least then he wouldn't have to reminisce about past dinners. Earlier when Gwen had asked him about it, he had managed to pull on a nonchalant mask.
--
He was working on his car, as usual, while Gwen sat in a chair and talked to him. Then she brought up a question that he hadn't thought about for a long time. "What are you going to do for Thanksgiving?"
Kevin had stopped working for a few moments, thinking of his most recent Thanksgiving dinners. Last year, he had been in the Null Void and he hadn't been certain of the date. Most likely, he had spent the day trading illegal alien tech and fighting for his life. The same went for the years before then. Before the Null Void, he had been out in the streets of New York. The nicest Thanksgiving dinner one could find out there was by stealing the food or robbing leftovers from the garbage, so instead he had spent time watching families in apartment windows with an envious eye. Every Thanksgiving had been different, each one devoid of the tradition that usually existed in such a day.
Because he hadn't wanted Gwen to know how much he actually wanted a nice dinner for once, he had shrugged it off nonchalantly. "Nothing."
Gwen had looked at him skeptically and asked, "I know you don't have great relations with your stepfather, but aren't you even going to go over for dinner just to be with your mom?" Kevin shook his head. He couldn't stand to be around his stepfather. Gwen sighed and tried another question, "Don't you care that you're going to be spending Thanksgiving alone?"
"Nope." Kevin smirked. "I don't care at all."
"Do you want to come over to my house for dinner?"
He had considered the offer seriously before saying, "No. I don't want to bother you."
She had insisted that he wouldn't be a bother, but he had denied it every single time. It would be far too awkward to be with all of Gwen's family on Thanksgiving and be the only outsider, the only one not connected to the rest of them. He really didn't want to bother them. She had left a little later after asking him if he was sure he would be fine on his own. He had nodded his head. He didn't need to create any difficulties for her. She needed to be with her family, not with him.
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So why couldn't he find that nonchalant mask now and place it over his emotions? Sure, it was a lie, but it sure beat thinking about it. Finally Kevin placed his empty box down. Was Thanksgiving even supposed to be this dreary? Usually he didn't mind the loneliness, but it stung him on days like this. Days loaded with mostly happy memories and good food.
He ended up falling asleep on the couch where he stayed until knocking at his door awoke him. Kevin let out an irritated growl before pushing himself up. Whoever was disturbing him was going to pay big-time.
Or not.
Most of the irritation left his mind as he opened the door to reveal Gwen standing there, holding a bag. Because it was Gwen, he couldn't be all that mad at her for interrupting his rest, but he didn't understand why she was over here at… Kevin sent a quick glance at a clock, which read 11 AM. Okay, maybe it wasn't so unbelievable. He should've woken up beforehand anyway.
"Gwen, what are you doing here?" Kevin asked, still eyeing the container she held with curiosity.
"Bringing you a Thanksgiving dinner."
Kevin stared at her before smirking, "Gwen, are you getting the days mixed up? Thanksgiving was yesterday."
She rolled her eyes. "Do you want free food or not?"
He smiled and motioned for her to go inside. "Free food is always good."
He trailed after her as she walked into his kitchen and set out various Tupperware containers on the dirty counter. His smile widened as he saw her glance around at the mess with a clearly disapproving glance. "If I had known you were coming over, I would've cleaned up a bit."
"I'm sure you would've."
He ignored her sarcasm as she opened one container, revealing yams. Another container had mashed potatoes and yet another stored cranberry sauce. Finally she opened the container that held the big prize, slices of turkey meat.
"Wow, you brought enough food for a feast." Kevin chuckled. "What's in that container?" He stretched out a hand towards the one container that she hadn't opened up yet.
"Not yet," Gwen whisked the container away from Kevin before the boy could reach it.
He scowled momentarily at her before shrugging it off and fixing his eyes on the containers that she had opened. "Did you heat it before you came here?"
"No." Gwen, still holding the last container, walked over to Kevin's microwave and opened it. "Can you put the food in?"
"I thought you were supposed to be doing all the work while I watched."
"Kevin," her warning tone caused the boy to chuckle before he picked up the container of turkey and placed it into the microwave.
They quickly heated up the food and then sat down on Kevin's couch with a plateful of food on each of their laps. "So what made you decide to bring some leftovers to eat with me?" Kevin asked as he took a spoonful of mashed potatoes.
"I know you said you didn't care about it, but I figured you would want a real dinner and not just something you heat up in a microwave."
"We did heat this up in a microwave." Kevin pointed out with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes. "But it didn't come in a package from the frozen food aisle."
"True," Kevin stuffed more mashed potatoes into his mouth before following up with some turkey slathered in cranberry sauce. "It sure beats frozen food."
Once they had finished eating, Kevin pointed out towards the container that Gwen had kept away from this entire time. "Can I see what's in there now?"
"If you insist."
Gwen handed over the container to Kevin who quickly tore off the lid. Two hearty slices of pumpkin pie stared back at him. Memories of sitting with his mother came to mind. They had always sat upstairs in his room, away from his stepfather who would be watching football at the time. Each of them would have a slice of pumpkin pie and she would be telling him stories, almost all of which were about his dad and the days before he had disappeared. Sometimes the pie would be topped with whipped cream, other times they would eat it plain. However, every time it was just the two of them, eating and telling stories.
"Kevin, is there something wrong?" Gwen's voice broke him out of his reverie. "Do you not like pumpkin pie?"
Kevin shook his head. "Everything's fine." He smiled at her and added, "Better than fine."
"Then what's with the thoughtful expression?"
"Just reliving things." Kevin didn't say anything more and Gwen didn't bother him about it. Sometimes it was best to push him about things or he would never say anything, but at this moment, it was best to just let him tell her on his own accord.
Using a fork, he maneuvered each pie slice on to their plates. Taking a bite out of it, Kevin felt himself drift further into his memories. It was probably the best thing he had tasted in a long time. A content smile slipped on to his face and he spoke softly, "My mom and I used to have pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving while my stepfather watched football. It was always just the two of us."
Gwen hadn't really expected him to talk about it, but now that he did, she listened quietly to him talk about the old Thanksgiving tradition. A smile appeared on her face as she listened to him, but she stayed silent the entire time. Sometimes saying nothing was far better than saying something.
When Kevin was done with the pumpkin pie, he stopped talking about his mother and the stories she had told him. For a few moments, the two sat in silence, basking in each other's company.
"You should bring food over more often." Kevin finally said, placing his plate down on the table.
"What happened to not caring about Thanksgiving dinner?" Gwen smiled at him, causing the boy to smirk.
"It's not Thanksgiving and it's not dinner either."
Gwen rolled her eyes, only to feel Kevin's lips press against her cheek and his voice whisper into her ear, "Thanks." Then he pulled away, feeling thankful that he had someone like her in his life.
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A/N: I liked how this one came out. It was nice to write something with pointless fluff in it. The title is fairly self-explanatory, seeing as there's food involved with Thanksgiving. I don't think I've got anything else to say except that I'm looking forwards to Trade-off this Friday. Oh and happy late Thanksgiving!
Twilight Phantom Dragon