Chapter 12: Party Shades

"So you coming to the pizza party?"

Dexter paused, washcloth in hand as he cleaned a scrape on Ben's temple. Leaning slightly to look his boyfriend in the eye, Dexter regarded Tennyson with a quizzical expression that told Ben his sanity was presently in doubt.

"You hit your head really hard, didn't you?" asked the Boy Genius.

"It's a valid question!" defended Ben.

"But pointless. No, my love, I will not. It will be far too crowded and unhygienic for me. You go and have fun and enjoy yourself, and when you get home, I'll have fun and enjoy you as well."

Ben saw nothing to complain about with such a plan. "Well, I have to go at least long enough to make sure Nigel and Chad . . ."

"Survive their first date?" suggested Dexter, resuming his gentle cleaning.

His boyfriend's touch and the dim lights and cool air were positively hypnotic after the hectic pace of this morning. Ben let himself relax, knowing he'd fall asleep soon if Dexter let him – and Dexter would most definitely let him. The Professor had cleared him after the usual post-battle physical, turning him over to Dexter for a clean-up. He didn't have a concussion, but rest was definitely the order of the day.

"Start their first date," he corrected wryly. "Slick move giving Chad that hover board."

"So he made it in time. Excellent."

"Just in time. He saved Nigel's bacon from his Fusion double."

"That's his job. I'm so glad I deafened him and had him arrested."

"You what?"

Dexter kissed him on the forehead. "I'll tell you tonight."

"Right. Well." He collected himself, settling down again and enjoying the rare sight of his boyfriend minus his lab coat. Ben most definitely had a thing for black turtleneck sweaters, especially when worn by fussy nerds in glasses. "I gave Nigel the recording of Chad's file. I told him to watch it alone."

"If he does, then all should be well."

"If he doesn't . . ."

"Our matchmaking skills will be called into question and Nigel will never trust us with another decision as long as we live."

Ben grimaced at so blunt an assessment. "Yeah, good point. Let's hope he listens."

"Indeed."

()()()()()()()()()()

See you at the pizza party – B10

He studied the text a few seconds before sending it off to Chad. Maybe he should have been more specific as to where since all the public space in DexLabs – the auditorium, the cafeteria, the atrium, the quad, and all the spaces in between were going to be put to use, but he had the impression that Chad would have little trouble finding him. He thought for a moment, and then sent the identical message to Nigel.

This was the first time a pizza party had happened the same day as a battle, and even though it wasn't as large a conflict as some in recent days, their victory over the Fusion Number One had been pretty complete and sweet. Everyone was in a mood to party, and given the number of anticipated revelers, Dexter had sent the kitchen staff to every bakery and ice cream parlor and pastry shop in Downtown to buy up all the desserts possible. It promised to be quite the feeding frenzy, and the halls were already crowded with excited soldiers and support teams with more pouring in every minute.

Still feeling tired, Ben wandered around and socialized. He would have liked to have Dexter with him, but so many strangers so close would have terrified his boyfriend and sent him running for cover or Sgt. Morton, whichever was closer (probably Morton). A lot of people asked about their date with Nigel and Ben happily, ruthlessly burst their bubbles. Most people took the disappointing news in stride, but Cow burst into tears and Coco stomped on his foot in revenge before strutting off. One girl hit him with a stuffed fox tail, and three girls and two boys threw duplicates of Nigel's sunglasses at him when they learned they were not the One for One. There were a few attempted Jedi mind tricks, but, comfortingly, every time Ben was declared too strong-willed to have his mind changed for him by such methods.

He spotted Eddy by the sound system in the cafeteria and closed in. The Quartermaster General eyed him at the same time and waited for him with arms crossed and scowl set to kill.

"You're the hero of the hour, Eddy," complimented Ben brightly. He liked Eddy, but he had little patience with all his endless wheeling and dealing. "We have you to thank for all this." He gestured at the milling crowd and tables set up for food and drinks.

Glowering, Eddy snapped, "And I have you to thank for giving me the suggestion. You made a huge mistake, Tennyson! We could have raked in a fortune!"

"You have no idea how much work you made for me with that little scheme."

"It was little. You have no idea how much money there is to be made in dating services. I'm thinking of setting up a matchmaking business right here. We get a few big names in this war to sign up and our fortunes are made. By the way, are you seeing anyone? I could set you up with the perfect match. I'll even waive your application fee."

Ben shook his head. "Don't do it with Dexter's copiers or paper. He's on to you already."

Eddy's eyes narrowed sharply. "Skunk."

"I prefer Stinkfly, thanks," said Ben, handing over a pair of sunglasses he'd collected.

The sleek shades seemed to mollify Eddy's temper, and through his glares he donned them with a flourish, striking a dramatic pose and waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Wow. I can see why Number One wears them. Instant suave. The ladies won't be able to resist."

Eddy was possibly the furthest thing from sophistication on the planet, but Ben wasn't about to argue with such confidence and swagger. He put another pair of the dark glasses on in a show of manly solidarity. "Go get 'em, tiger."

Another set of sunglasses went to Mandy as she stalked through, making an appearance for appearance's sake. Not a word was exchanged as he passed them to her, but she put them on and went about her business of looking short and menacing. Ben happily left her behind as he made his way to the main lobby and then outside to the stone-paved entrance. Evening was falling and it was wonderfully warm and he was feeling rather pleased with himself. He found a spot to sit on one of the planters in the quad and kicked back to wait and enjoy some people watching.

He wasn't surprised when not much later a tall, slim figure settled down next to him. Chad was casually dressed and he carried the rolled-up hover board Dexter had loaned him. Carefully he kept his head bent and his face angled away from the people walking by to avoid recognition.

"Ben."

"Good to see you," greeted Ben. "It was even better to see you at the battle before. Awesome job against the Fusion."

Chad smiled a bit and nodded. "Thanks. I'm just glad I made it in time." He set the hover board on the planter between them. "I'm supposed to return this to you."

"Yeah, I'll get it back to Dex."

"I was very surprised to meet him."

"He said he had you arrested?" asked Ben, looking over the top of his sunglasses.

"Sort of. I really didn't expect that."

Ben chuckled. "He's usually pretty direct like that."

"He was really concerned about Nigel. He seems like a good friend."

"You got that right. This," and he jerked his thumb at the piece of technology sitting between them, "is a very good indicator that he likes you."

A bit of a sigh escaped Chad and he relaxed a little. Ben knew it was relief that at least two people in the world knew the truth about 274's status and believed in him.

"Have you spoken to Nigel?" wondered Chad, daring to look around a bit. Dusk had fallen and the crowd was thicker, and two teens sitting off to the side went mostly unnoticed.

"Not since the battle. I got mashed up pretty well and had to sleep it off. I gave him the copy of your files and told him to watch it alone. I'm just hoping he listened."

"Everything is riding on that," he said softly, and in that one statement all his pent-up fears were revealed.

"He's stubborn, but not stupid. If he wants to get mad at anyone, he can get mad at me. And if he still doesn't want to play nice and do what he's told, Dexter can always hack into their computers again and replace every file with Kangaroo Commando cartoons until he does see it."

Chad was grinning, but he still said, "Please don't. Do you think he watched it?"

There was a bit of a commotion by the main entrance. Ben craned his neck to see what was going on."Oh, look," he said, spotting sunglasses and no hair heading their way. He waved. "The kid himself. Yo!"

Chad shifted and looked up, automatically pushing the hair out of his eyes. Nigel had seen Ben and now it was clear he saw and recognized Chad Dickson as well. He stopped in his tracks, mouth open and his glasses so low on his nose that his eyes – his very wide and shocked eyes – were visible.

For a moment, it seemed that time had stopped. Ben could feel the anxiety radiating off of Chad as the former KND waited to find out his fate.

Fury and hurt were written on every line of his face as Nigel savagely demanded, "What are you doing here?"