A/N: You asked for 'em. I've got 'em. More Car Arguments! No Bevin here cuz that's OOC for both guys in my opinion. No offense to those who like it, but it's just not my style. But this is another Ben and Kevin one-shot. The guys are hilarious together withot Gwen. I can't help it.
"Let's make this fun!" Ben suggested, pausing for a second to take his jacket off. He let his friend take a break and threw the jacket in the backseat before returning to the rear of the exterior. "I mean, we can pretend-"
"That yet another Highbreed didn't just annihilate another tire on my car?" Kevin hissed through gritted teeth. He'd been trying to get the car back to the garage for half the night. It was already around nine or so.
Ben sighed. "Come on. It could be worse."
"Well, they took out the original tire. Then once I had put on the spare, they decided to come back and pop that one too. And the whole windshield is blown out with glass across the front seats. Do you understand how long it's going to be until I can get this thing running again?! I have to get a new engine because you fell on the hood, Humungousaur!" He was seething with anger and pounded his fist on the metal. Partially because of Ben. The other parts were due to Gwen being out of town on a short vacation. Plus, another set of rogue Highbreeds chose that time to come out again, giving the teens a lesson they wouldn't forget very easily. As an added bonus, his ID mask was broken. Again.
The other threw his hands up. "Alright, it couldn't be worse."
"Oh! And the Omnitrix died on us. I. Got. Pounded." Kevin was sore and he was the one stuck pushing the car the whole way home. "Now, we've got to get the car back to the garage so I can patch it up and then get some sleep."
"It's past my curfew. I'm dead meat. Don't think you're the only one screwed."
Kevin refrained from barking out at him again. He pushed the car further along the road. Ben had given up helping when the dark boy could do it himself most of the time.
"But seriously, let's pretend we're a couple of normal guys who actually hit a pot-hole and the tire-"
"And I'll try not to beat your guts out."
Ben shut his mouth.
The other groaned as he got the car past another mile marker. "This sucks," he said.
"I noticed. Why again aren't we calling a tow truck?" Ben asked. He walked beside Kevin, not offering to help in any way."We'll get back in no time flat."
This thought had come up a few times already and Kevin had an answer prepared. "What do you want to tell the tow truck guy? 'Our car fell in a ditch and we got out unscathed.' Or 'A meteor hit it.' Really, Benji? You want to tell them that a Highbreed took out the tire and you fell on the front in Humungousaur form? They won't drive away, convinced we're a couple of freaks?"
The brunette looked at his shoes and kept following. It was going to be a long night. "I didn't-"
"Just shut up." Hostile words kept him from trying to kill the younger boy. He was exhausted, annoyed, and already had a busy day for tomorrow fixing the car. This current alien attack wasn't helping it one bit.
"We're not a couple of freaks."
Rolling his eyes, Kevin kept moving forward at an increasingly slowing pace. His arms were beginning to feel like they'd fall off any second. "Yes, we are."
Ben was taking this moment. "I got a stroke of bad luck and found the Omnitrix. You…"
"Yeah, I can't help my issues." Kevin was snarling again. His tone was disgusted.
"You did start it."
"Walk home yourself, Tennyson." That was the last straw. "I can get back to the garage on my own. You can run ahead faster and get home. Maybe if you're lucky, your folks will go easy on the punishment."
Ben sighed. "I helped destroy the car. I'll help you get back."
With a grunt, Kevin said, "You do know this is going to suck."
"The Omnitrix recharges fast. I'll be able to help with EchoEcho pretty soon." Ben watched as Kevin kept pushing the car forward as other vehicles sped down the road past them. Headlights flashed across their faces, but no one decided to stop and help a couple of kids.
His gaze flicked over to his friend. "Leave. I'm, like, two miles from my house. I'll get my stuff from the garage tomorrow and work on it."
"I can still come with you."
"You really, really don't want to do that," Kevin warned.
"Why not?" Ben asked, suddenly curious. "Something wrong?"
The dark teen's eyes clouded over. "A lot of somethings. You don't want to be involved. I might have to push it all the way back to the garage if the step is home anyways. My life is too complicated for you to really get it."
"You can tell me," Ben offered.
"You don't want to know."
They kept walking in silence for a few more minutes.
"Why don't we call Gwen?" the brunette asked.
Kevin moaned. "Gwen's out of town. Remember? She told us a week ago and then everyday after that before she left. Then again the day she left. Didn't you notice she's been gone for a few days?"
The younger thought for a bit. He blinked a few times. "She's been gone?"
The raven headed teen wanted to bash his head into the car. "Yes, she has, you idiot."
"Oh. And you noticed?"
"Of course I noticed!" Kevin regretted the words.
"Because you love Gwen?"
The next syllable was inaudible.
"What'd you say, Kev?" Ben laughed.
He was silent again.
"Come on. Say it."
"Yeah, I love your cousin. Good enough for you?"
Ben folded his arms across his chest. "That's better. Now if only I had a tape recorder for that…" His grin turned upwards a little more. "She'd love to hear you say that."
"Yeah, so would a ton of other people."
The brunette rolled his eyes and hopped on the trunk of the car. "You know, we could sit here all night and kill time until Gwen to come back from vacation. We only have to wait for morning."
"I can't stand much more than an hour with you. How do you expect me to survive all night without ripping out your vocal chords?" He'd stopped the efforts because Ben was on the trunk.
"I was hoping you had self-control."
Kevin shrugged. "I do." He let a thought come across him. "But it's been used tonight when you fell on my car."
More silence hung in the air.
"I could call Julie. She could send Ship to pick us up."
That was a good idea. Too bad it came three hours later when they only had a mile left to go to the garage. They'd skipped Kevin's house because a certain car was in the driveway and headed for the suburbs of Bellwood.
The older boy's patience cracked. "You think of calling Gwen, who has been gone for days without you noticing, but ignore the fact that your girlfriend has a galvanic mechomorph who could've flown us home the entire time?!"
"She'd get in trouble. It's late." Ben wasn't threatened by Kevin's behavior. Just surprised by it. "Why didn't you think of it, tough guy? And besides her phone is usually off by now."
"Then why'd you suggest it?!"
"I don't know."
They both sat on the trunk of the car for a moment. Kevin's breathing was heavy from the exertion of pushing the car all night. His arms were sore and badly strained. If there was a fight in the coming days, he would be in no condition. Ben was fine other than tired of walking. He'd been busy most of the fight until the Omnitrix went into recharge mode. Then he'd cursed a bit and ran, leaving the battle into his friend's hands. They'd won after lengthened struggling from the Highbreeds.
Kevin leaned back and stared up into the clouds. "It looks like it's gonna rain," he commented.
Then the water poured down in drops the size of golf balls.
The two got back to pushing the car to the garage, not wanting to sit in the cold.
Ben started to talk a bit. "Kevin?"
"Yeah?" the darker one asked.
"Why'd you have to say that?"
They both groaned and the tires rolled a bit easier on the slick black pavement.
"Ben?"
"Yeah?"
"It got worse."
The younger nodded in agreement as his soaked hair fell into his vision, blocking out everything else. "I noticed."
They managed to get to the garage around two in the morning to see a familiar figure standing there waiting for them.
"Guys, I called you both on your badges and Ben's phone seven times. Each! Why didn't you pick up?!"
Kevin's eyes shot daggers to Ben. "Why didn't you pick up you're phone, Benji?" he growled fiercely.
"I didn't know it rang," he whimpered, shaking the water from his hair. "It was on silent."
"And why was it on silent?" snarled the dark teen.
"Because it pisses you off when my ringtone goes off every five minutes. You know, the one with the frogs and stuff."
Kevin thumped the back of Ben's head before stalking off deeper into the garage.
Gwen looked to her cousin, a touch of sympathy in her eyes. "That could've gone over much worse."
Rubbing the spot where a dull pain had broken out, Ben whimpered with his voice's pitch rising a bit. "I was expecting to lose my head."
A/N: lol! I loved this! Ben and Kevin stuck pushing the car bak… funneh! Hope you liked it. Comments and reviews make me happy! So do good Ben and Kevin moments... Gwen always seems to show up in the end...
~Sky