The room was full of people, people she knew and thought might be a good time to question trust on. The real question on her mind though was obvious, but she knew she needed to stall right now, any stalling would help her. Of course ihow/i she was supposed to stall when she was the one with all eyes on her made her grit her teeth in frustration, so she quickly opted to chewing on the insides of her cheeks as she thought over her options.
"Well, Gwenafer? What's it going to be?" Kevin asked her with a smirk, he was still snide and sickly sweet like he'd known every thought that was going on through her head.
"Gwendolyn." she corrected, taking her sweet time as the others in the room shifted their weight impatiently.
"Oh come on Gwen, this getting ridiculous!" Ben nearly shouted, irritated more than ever as he groaned and started leaning over to Edwin as the other boy rolled his eyes.
"Please decide, Gwen, Ben is driving me iinsane./i" Edwin smiled, patting the brunettes head and letting his fingers tangle in his lovers hair.
"Woof woof, don't treat me like a dog Eddy." Ben rolled his shoulder, smiling up at Edwin as they smirked in a knowing way.
"Oh just roll the damn dice Gwen, you have 6 of them in your hand and 7 roll outs already!" Hinu growled as he leaned over, then shot back as his arms crossed against his chest. "Never should have taught them how to play this game," he mumbled darkly.
"Oh hush Hinu, here, hold Itis, he's fussy, I need a break," Gorg held out the infant and placed him in her suddenly overly nervous husbands arms.
"Gorg! No I'll drop him he's too small!" Gwen couldn't help but laugh happily, the tension easing already as Kevin rolled his eyes as Itis started screaming.
"Dear god, pass him over." Kevin quickly picked up the infant and shoved them face to face, the baby sniffling as he stared back, wide eyed. "Shut up you little runt."
"Kevin!" Gwen nearly threw the dice at his head, but Itis started flailing and laughing hysterically at the words.
"What? He likes me, and I don't I ihate/i babies all to much. If you show them your fear they freak out because they start thinking something is wrong," Kevin quickly offered up a finger as Itis pulled it into his mouth, gumming at it, "ewww infant droool!"
Gwen rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she tossed the dice in her hands and then rolled them into the box on the table. Hinu watched, admiring how easy his son was to entertain.
"Ok, three ones, a five, a four and a two. I'll keep it, your turn Gorg," the naga woman smiled back, writing the score down on a paper before taking the dice from her hand. Edwin smiled up at them from his spot, looking over toward Itis for the millionth time that night.
Gorg looked up at the feel of the gaze and started smiling even brighter before dropping the dice. "Edwin, would you like to hold him dear? You've been watching him since you got here." she said gently, leaving the one on the board before rolling the other five dice again. Edwin flushed, hands up in an almost defensive position.
"I couldn't, I-" but Kevin was already holding the baby out arms length toward him, rolling his eyes.
"Seriously, am I the ionly/i guy who can deal with kids after being in ispace/i and the inull void/i most of my life? You guys need to check your bal-" Gwen glared at him as Edwin squeaked and quickly scooped up the baby, minding his head with one hand, "don't give me that look. They're freaking out over a two week old."
"Kevin you cried when we found your car totaled when we were 15, don't talk about who the real man is." Ben finally spoke up, setting his gaze toward his boyfriend and the baby in his arms.
"I don't need the pregnant one telling me-"
"I'm not pregnant Ke-"
"Shut. Up." Edwin glared them both down when Itis started getting fussy, finally relaxing when everyone had quieted and Gorg passed the dice to Hinu. "He's so cute." Edwin continued to coo over the baby even as he slept on his arms, Ben smiling as he watched.
The game continued, uneventful again as everyone hushed for the sleeping infant, and as the scores were added together Gwen slipped out, heading to the roof to lay back with a sigh. She was staring at the stars as the wind picked up her hair and let it flutter around her neck, relaxing as her gaze watched the twinkling pieces of life.
The quiet chirping of crickets and an owl off in the distance calmed her down, her eyes fluttering closed as she relaxed in quiet peace. The wind continued to splash over her and her mind crawled toward the back as it recalled little bits of information, piece by piece.
"You would go up on the roof, some of us can't fly you know," Gwen smiled, reeling from her thoughts as she opened her eyes to the person beside her. "Evenin'," Kevin smirked, sitting with his knees out.
"Hi Kevin." she said, looking up at him before turning away to stare at the stars.
"I noticed you slipped out of the party?" he smirked.
"I noticed you were gone all of yesterday and your hands are blister burned. Your control slip or did you just have a normal relapse in judgment?" she smirked as she leaned back and Kevin gave a laugh.
"So cynical today aren't you?" he laid back, arm out in offering and Gwen looked over then around before sighing and laying next to him, letting his arm wrap around her.
"It's ok, I'm having mood swings." she said with a smile, relaxed against him.
"Oh? Should I be afraid?" he asked, relaxed now as the tension between them melted. It was the little moments like this, the no fighting, no real motive, thing like these and she was 15 all over again.
"Yes, very afraid," she listened to him chuckle, then sighed as she turned her head on his chest, "tomorrow my grandma wants to do a kind of wide video ultra sound on Ben, you know, to prove he's pregnant." she chuckled herself, looking up at him, "will you be there for it?"
Kevin thought for a while, blinking up at the space around them before nodding. "Yea, I'll have to take a few potions here and there of course but I wouldn't miss the look on Tennyson's face when he finds out he's knocked up for the world," and Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Why do you relish in torching him, Kevin? You two used to get along you know." she said, moving back to her snuggled position.
"Well, he idid/i make my life a living hell on more than one occasion." he counter.
"So did I." she countered back, smiling at him before tensing a bit.
"Yes, but iyou/i made it up to me when we-"
"Finish that sentence and you'll never see the light of day again." she chirped and Kevin laughed while rubbing her back with a smile afterwords.
"Glad to see you'll never change." he said as he closed his eyes, sighing gently.
"Neither will you," she remarked back with a laugh, relaxing again and closing her eyes, "we're going to have a long day ahead of us." she muttered, sighing out gently.
--
"Ok, lay backwards Ben, look up and don't imove./i" Verdona cooed out as she let her grandson lay on the stiff crinkled paper covered table, arms behind his head as he rolled his eyes.
"Grandma I'm n-"
"Shut up Ben, I want to see the baby..." Edwin whispered, relaxing in his chair as Verdona drew out lines with her fingers over Ben's stomach.
"There is nothing-"
"Oh hush darlings. Let mummy do her work." Verdona chimed, hovering a bit as she worked on smoothing the line out in mid-air, eyes glowing that eerie color of mana from the human sockets. Her body threatened to shed to her mana form, but the skin clung thick by request of Edwin, being around Ben was enough of an oddity as it was.
"Now, you'll feel a light pinch." Kevin chuckled from the chair he'd pulled up just then, Gwen swatting the back of his head as she narrowed her eyes on him.
"Shut up." she whispered harshly, then heard Ben gasp, watching his eyes shut as his knuckles bled white when he gripped the edge of the table.
"Ben!" Edwin shot up from his chair, ready to rush over, but Verdona shooed him.
"It's alright, I told him it would pinch." she smirked, her presently gray hair twining in curls around the mana she let pour from her as she worked.
"Please just hurry up!" Ben whined, gripping the tables edge tighter.
"Remind me never to get knocked up." Kevin said at a passing glance toward the scene.
"Kevin another word from you and I'm having grandma Verdona tape your mouth shut with cement glue." Gwen grumbled, walking over to the screen the older Anodite had lifted right side up.
"Now, let me just refocus that... Eddy sweety, you stand right in front so you're the first to see." Verdona moved around as Edwin hurried and stood beside Gwen as they watched the screen move. A silence twisted, then Verdona smiled and a slow look of shock rose on Edwin's face.
Kevin hurried over, standing behind Gwen before covering his mouth.
"What?! Come on you gu-" Verdona cut her grandson off, flipping the screen toward him.
"Congratulations sweety, you're having twins." she purred in an almost vindictive voice. Ben blinked, staring at the screen as he sat up. Two human fetus shapes were nestled asleep inside his body, their fingers twitching as they dreamed. Ben paled, rubbing his eyes.
"Babies don't grow that fast!" he tried arguing, but the look on his face said it all.
"Alien babies do though, sugar." Verdona snipped back.
"I'm not an Alien! I mean I can turn into them but-"
"Oh god..." Edwin held back a shrieked, scuttling backwards until his back met Gwen's chest. "Beny-She gave me this-And Now Ben is-Oh god Igotmyboyfriendpregnant!" he rambled out, turning a worried and frazzled look to his friend.
"Eddy!" Gwen groaned, shoving the dark haired spaz forward before turning and walking out, rubbing her temples. Voices bounced and echoed dully around before she exited the building, heading out into the forest.
Foot falls of heavy boots followed her and she knew Kevin was behind her, ready to listen if only just to taunt her. She rubbed her eyes next, the damp air curling around her as she stopped and looked up at the tree in front of her. A few feet off she knew she would find the lake, and at the lake, right where this tree' line was, there stood another with carved names of both her grandparents.
She frowned again, reaching up to place her hand on the trees trunk as she closed her eyes. She had so many memories of these places, this was her home and she knew that, but something was missing.
Then Kevin placed his hand on top of hers, looking down with a smile as he pulled her hand away from the rough bark. His skin was tinged pink from the cold, actual flesh and bone if only until he relapsed in a power surge. She could feel the blood flow beneath his skin, pump through his veins and swish into his heart.
"You wanna climb up?" he asked, nodding upward into the branches. She followed his gaze, blinking a few times before giving a nod and feeling a free arm wrap around her waist to hoist her up.
Tangling her fingers in Kevin's she stopped his movements only momentarily before he lifted her higher, a branch now in her reach as she abandoned his grasp to start her climb.
Moments later when they were both out on the limbs, Kevin leaning against the trunk of the tree, Gwen sighing and rolling a few leaves around in her fingers.
"What's wrong?" he asked, whether he actually cared or not she had no idea. With a sniffle from the chill she turned to him, giving up on the crisp air to crawl toward him and sit next to him for the heat, an arm wrapped around her.
"My cousin is having babies. No, better yet, my male cousin is having babies. Before me. And I actually have the proper organs for it. And the only reason he's even having babies is because his boyfriend took something from a stranger and ended up knocking him up." she sighed, leaning her head to one of his shoulders. "I know you're loving how messed up this is, but it just gives me a migraine you know?"
Kevin laughed, rubbing the skin exposed on her arm with a smile. "You know what cures head aches though, don't you?" he asked, looking up into the stars between the leaves.
"Sleep and dark rooms with no noise?" she asked, all too ready to curl up in her own dark room and sleep the day... better yet the year away really.
"That too, but also orga-"
"Kevin, shut up. I am not in the mood for jokes right now!" she hit at his arm, closing her eyes as he laughed and went back to comforting her arm with gentle finger strokes against the exposed skin. The hum and chirp of crickets washed over the symphony of the night, soft light from fireflies dancing across the lake glowing in the distance as the night crept forward.
Gwen sighed again, listening to the heartbeat a hands breath away from her, the feeling that the one she loved when she was younger was alive, that everything was alright was a fleeting thing.
The noise of the two teen boys getting out of the building in slow shuffles and climbing into a car, the sound of cars door slamming, then quiet as Gwen guessed the two were talking in the car went off in the distance.
Ben Tennyson, intergalactic hero, subdued by his boyfriend and knocked up with twins.
She couldn't keep in her laughter from spewing out then in a sudden realization, rocking forward a bit as Kevin raised an eyebrow.
"What's so funny?" he asked, keeping her steady as she continued laughing.
"Ben... Ben's pregnant!"
--
"You can just drop me off here, Kevin." Gwen said, smiling as she wiped her eyes from mirthful tears and rubbed at her cheek, unbuckling her seat belt and pulling it off.
"You sure, I can walk you up to your place, maybe make you dinner, set something fire on the process and end up ordering take out." Gwen laughed again at Kevin's serious expression, smiling once she could stop as she lifted her bag up.
"Afraid I'll have to take a rain check on that." she chimed, opening the door and stepping out. Kevin watched her in surprise, quickly following her out of the car as he took a few steps toward the building. He drew back almost mechanically, holding his stomach with a wince before looking away, hoping Gwen hadn't seen.
But he was only half lucky, Gwen only caught the end of the action as she walked around the car and stopped on the sidewalk. Her mind mulled over her next moves and eventually she sighed.
"... Kevin, you don't really have a place to stay yet, right?" she asked him, shifting in the chill. He looked up at her, brushing hair from his face as he shrugged and masked the pain, his skin still rippling as it tried morphing.
"I can go crash at my old pl-"
"Oh good, since you don't have a place to stay, you can crash on my couch. Just don't actually set anything on fire, I'm still paying stuff off." she turned, ready to drop the conversation before a hand caught her wrist and turned her.
Kevin pulled her close, brushing their noses together before he closed his eyes and leaned in for a soft kiss. Gwen let her face flush, and once he had pulled away she shook her head and turned quickly with a stammer.
"Geez Kevin, you act like this is a big deal or something!" she muttered, hurrying up the steps as he laughed and followed.