Outside Rising Phoenix Dojo
Late Fall, 2000 - Friday evening
6:35 PM
The hike from the soccer fields to the dojo seemed less painful before today. Even without getting beat up during practice for a change, Ben felt worn out by the time he got to the parking lot. Maybe it had something to do with the weather - at the end of summer the sun was up, the temperature was in the mid-60s and dry, and there was at most a light breeze. Now it was overcast, wet from recent rain, the ground was soggy, and there was a cold, stiff wind. When he was very young, his Aunt Lili read Winnie the Pooh to him and Gwen about a blustery day, only it had sounded like a fun adventure then. Real life blustery weather just sucked, and tended to bleed the life out of you.
It could be the conflict raging in his head about staying with soccer or returning to the dojo. The time away from karate started out the way he hoped; physical fighting, even no-contact sparring, was something he just couldn't deal with after Phoenix. The thought of facing Gwen in a tournament, something he was so excited about when he got his green belt, made his stomach twist to the point he almost puked. No, dealing with hard collisions in the goal and the ugly, painful bruises that came from them were way better. Besides, he turned out to be pretty good at playing goalkeeper, and his school team was leading the conference playoffs as a direct result. Icing on the cake!
Or so he thought. He spent the last few times he waited for his Dweeb to finish class from the bleachers, watching something he knew he'd much rather be doing, sparring and tournaments included. He knew the difference between that and fighting for his life - or fighting for his family's lives - and without the watch there was very little chance of the latter happening in Bellwood. Gwen and Paul and a few others would be testing for blue soon, and though he was excited for her - them - to advance, he was a little sad about it, too. He didn't brag about his skills, not with Sensei there to show what mastery of karate really meant, but he was pretty sure he'd have been part of that group if he had stayed.
Or it could be as simple as his Dweeb was at the dojo, not on the soccer team. Being with her on Friday nights was great, but seeing her in class during the week as well would be... awesome, brilliant, terrific, fantastic...
Wonderful! Just like her.
Oh, for pete's sake, get a grip! he thought to himself. I sound like some dork character in one of her snooty literature books!
Dorkiness aside, the last two reasons were winning out over the first one for what he wanted to do after his team won the league championship. He wasn't looking forward to telling Coach, though, and he did like playing the game. Maybe he could play in the summer league Coach talked about or something. Unless Grandpa wanted to do another trip ...
That thought faded away as Ben approached Paul's Mustang, where his friend was talking to Gwen while she waited for him. Her already happy face brightened into that smile when she saw him before turning into a smirk. His brain stripped a gear because of it as he smiled back; then he braced for the ragging.
"Took ya long enough, Mr I-run-five-miles-during-practice! I was about to call the police to file a missing person report!"
Paul turned and laughed. "Hey Runt! Tough practice?"
Ben tried to glower at her. "Hey Paul. No, not really, but thanks for asking." he said before turning to her. "At least some people are happy to see me! ... And did you think that maybe it took me a while to get here because I run that much? Slacker!"
Gwen laughed as she took a step closer. "Aw, are you tired?" she mocked as she reached out with her right hand and messed up his already messed up hair before jerking it back and wiping it on her fleece jacket with a look of disgust.
"Ew! You need a shower! Before dinner this time!"
Paul laughed again. "I don't need to hear any more! ... Do you two have a ride coming?"
"Your own fault! What'd you expect? ... Yeah, we're good, Paul. Thanks anyway." Ben grinned, looking at her. "Right?"
"Uh huh. ... But we have some time before Daddy picks us up, and I could use something to drink besides water or a soda. You can buy me a smoothie!" Gwen said, a smile dancing at the edges of her lips. Paul raised his eyebrows at the way she phrased that as he watched Ben's reaction.
Ben just barked a quick laugh. "Buy you one? You still owe me from losing the bet last week!"
Gwen just smirked. "You mean the one you made up that I never agreed to? You're cute when you're delusional!" she said as she smacked his left cheek playfully, not hard enough to leave a mark, but not a gentle touch either. Ben blinked a couple times before putting his left hand to his cheek.
"I can't believe you let that through, Squirt! You're slipping! Maybe you should think about coming back for some refresher training." Paul said, leaning back on the front fender of his car and enjoying the spontaneous entertainment.
Ben scoffed. "Pssht! I would've stopped her if I wanted." Gwen stared at him with a mix of shock and amusement.
"Oh please! You've never been able to stop me from doing that!"
"Maybe I never felt like I had to" her cousin replied, then turned to look at his friend. "But yeah, I've been thinking about coming back."
"Promises, promises!" Gwen said with a grin, grabbing his left hand with her right and pulling him to take a step. "Let's go, Doofus". She looked at the tall blond. "Want to come with us?" she asked.
Paul shook his head. "Nah. I need to get some stuff at the music store, then head home. Thanks anyway."
"OK, see you next week. ... Hey!" Ben yelled as he got pulled towards Mr Smoothie again. "Evil..." he grumbled. Gwen laughed as he caught up with her, neither one letting go of the other.
When they saw the tables in front of the Mr Smoothie stand, it suddenly hit Gwen - this was the first time they had been here with just each other since before summer. The realization made her a little anxious. Those were almost always good times, sometimes exciting in a way they could've done without, but her last visit was with Michelle during that dark month after they got home. That had been her worst nightmare brought to life. She shook her head to clear away the memory.
"Let's see what the flavor of the month is," Ben said as they entered the store and stopped a yard or so in front of the counter. Thankfully the radio was on some innocuous easy listening station, so she shouldn't have to relive that episode - the combination of her brittle emotions and a song that seemed to emphasize isolation and loss, at least then, were more than she could deal with, driving her from the store in an emotional panic. On top of the almost unbearable pain of that month, she had been as scared of her reaction as Michelle was to see it.
Not this time, she told herself. He's here with me now. She shot a glance at her Doofus for reassurance.
Her gaze swept the front counter, then over the one in back as he absently mumbled parts of the menu to himself. Her lips twitched at his unconscious habit. His mumbling when he read his hero comics that first summer made her want to choke him just so he'd shut up! She'd grown to ignore it since then, but lately it had become one of his cuter habits.
She broke into a full smile when she saw several small figures of Ben's aliens and Lucky Girl. Looked like Deke was still busy, and his technique was improving, the alien forms were more vivid than his first few tries. Gwen wondered if Ben had seen them yet, and how they might affect him. It was hard to guess what might set either of them off, even after several months without "going hero".
"I know what I'm getting." he said, "What about you?" They stepped to the counter as the teen girl behind asked "Can I take your order?"
"I'll have a... large raspberry, broccoli, vanilla, please." Ben said, then looked from the girl to Gwen.
"And a medium blueberry and strawberry." she ordered.
Ben snorted. "Again?! You get that, like, every time. Try something different, whydoncha? The cranberry, pomegranate and cinnamon special sounds good."
"Pfft! You just want me to get it so you can have some. I'm on to you, Tennyson!" Gwen growled back with a mock glare.
"No duh!" he said, smirking at her. "Well?"
"Oh, all right! I'll have a medium one of those, please." she said to the girl.
"They'll be right up" the teen said and took the gift card Ben handed her for payment. As she handed it back and turned to make the drinks, Gwen looked at the figures again and continued scanning the back counter and the shelves above it.
Ben finally saw them, too. "Check those figures out! That's the coolest thing I've seen in a while!" He couldn't help himself from crowing, even if no one else but her knew why. Another one of his lova-, um, endearing traits, Gwen thought. Even if it was sometimes too self-focused.
"Especially the ones of y-, I mean, Lucky Girl" he said, catching her eyes with his goofy smile before his face started turning pink and he turned to look at the back wall again. Oh, come on! she thought as her brain stuttered, that's just adorable!
She felt her own cheeks start to burn from his compliment and followed his gaze to try to keep herself together. The girl making their smoothies had her back to them as she worked; she started two blenders, then turned and took a couple steps to the right to get a container of some powdered ingredient from a shelf. Her motion revealed more of the back counter, including a red and dark purple figure that was double the size of the others. Gwen heard the boy next to her inhale sharply. She also gasped at the sight before the girl returned to the blenders and hid it again, putting a scoop of the powder into each of the noisy machines.
"Did you see that?" Ben murmured as the girl turned off the blenders.
"Yeah" Gwen replied, giving the word two syllables.
The girl turned around and put two cups on the counter. "Here you go, a medium cranberry special and a large raspberry broccoli. Let me know if that tastes good - I've never tried it." she said to Ben with a smile. He and Gwen both peered around her to get another look at the statue.
"Deke really outdid himself" Gwen said as Ben nodded his head.
"Huh?" the girl said, then twisted around to look behind her. "Oh, that. Yeah, that's my favorite one! Here..." she turned and picked it up, then put it on the counter next to the cups. The closer look revealed a nine or ten inch tall, brightly colored and detailed carving of Fourarms with Lucky Girl perched on his right shoulder looking down at the big red alien, captured in an exuberant laugh. His lower right arm was crossed over her right shin holding the left one, with the hand of the upper arm resting on her right thigh, holding her in place. Her right hand was on his, her left hand was on top of his head, and Fourarms was waving both left arms. The overall picture was one of the two heroes in a playful mood. It was breathtaking!
"That's awesome!" Ben murmured.
"Do you know Deke?" the girl asked. "He comes around every couple weeks to see if we need more of the figures. They sell pretty well. Except for this one, it's only for display. Lots of people want one, though."
Gwen answered. "Yeah, we started coming when he worked here. We haven't seen him in a while, I doubt he'd remember us", tracing her fingers over the figure.
"These two sure made an impression, huh? He swears he saw them just like this the last time they came in. They look like a cute couple." The girl ducked her head with an embarrassed grin. "I mean, if a human and an alien could be like that. Know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think I do" Gwen said. More than you can possibly imagine, she thought as she looked at her Doofus with a smile.
Ben had a far away look for a moment, then he looked into her eyes with a small grin. "Uh huh" was all he said before taking both drinks and handing the smaller one to her, then started drinking through the straw in his. His eyes were glistening as he looked at her, then out the glass door.
"Thanks for showing that to us" she said to the girl as they headed for the exit and walked out.
They walked towards the dojo without talking, both pretending to be absorbed with their drinks. Gwen couldn't stop thinking about the figure and the happy day Deke gave them separate Fourarms and Lucky Girl statues as a thank you. Her mind drifted to other times Fourarms and the other aliens carried her in their arms, and had a momentary longing to feel that way again. She focused on similarly happy memories, and did her best to not think about the last time Ben used the watch. That was hard for her to do, and she couldn't imagine what it was like for him. He was being awfully quiet. She finally looked at him with concern. "Are you OK, Doofus?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He voice cracked a little. He shook his head and cleared his throat. "I was thinking about the time I carried you back to the Rust Bucket after we fought Animo and the bugs." He smiled wistfully. "That was a great day!"
"Including pinching me on the butt?!"
Ben smirked. "Did I? Fourarms sometimes did things I don't remember." he said, his eyes doing the laughing he knew his mouth shouldn't. "It's like I've said before, I like big", saying the last three words like the song before Gwen interrupted him with a swat on his upper arm.
"I DO NOT..." she started shouting as Ben started laughing out loud. "Shut up. Pervert!" she grumbled. After a few steps she broke into a grin. "I was thinking of the times you played two guitars at once." she said when he stopped chuckling a few seconds later.
"Yeah, those too" he sighed. He tossed his empty cup in a nearby trash can, then followed it with the one Gwen handed him.
"Do you miss it a lot?" she asked softly.
He put his red right hand to the back of his neck and took a few steps before answering. "I miss doing things like that - you know, carrying you like that, and running, and flying, and playing hero tag..." He smiled as he spoke, turning his head to look at her. "All the fun things we could do! Sometimes I have the best dreams about it! I wish you could have them with me." Gwen felt his hand brush hers and took it, interlacing her fingers with his.
"What about you? Your healing magic feels amazing, but I haven't seen you do anything else since... then." The smile faded briefly, then turned to a smirk.
"I've seen some video caps on line of when you popped that monster drone like a zit!" He gave her hand a quick squeeze for emphasis. "I wish I could have been there to see that! You were awesome!"
Gwen started to smile at the praise. Hearing it from Ben made her feel... like she was the most important person in the galaxy. More - the most important person in his world.
The smile faded into a sorrowful grimace as she remembered what she did to defeat that drone, and the sorrow became shame. She dropped his hand and crossed her arms over her stomach.
Ben caught her arm at her sudden mood change and pulled her over to the stucco wall along the walkway. "Gwen?" he said quietly as she looked down, away from the concern in his eyes.
"I... I wasn't." she whispered miserably. "I don't deserve to have you call me that."
"What?! Why? ... What do you mean, Dweeb?"
"I did something terrible to do that." she said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I... took... mana that wasn't mine." She looked with pleading into his confused eyes as she explained. "I was hurt, and you were gone, and I was so scared you were... dead, and I needed to findyou. To be with you..."
The pain from that time almost overwhelmed her, just like then, and she sobbed. "I felt the mana in the street around me, from the grass and trees and animals, and I didn't have enough. So I stole it." Gwen lowered her face and closed her eyes, but her tears wouldn't stop.
"I took the life from everything around me; I almost took it from Grandpa!" she continued in horror. "You think I'm a hero like you, but I'm just the same as Zombozo or Hex or Charmcaster. I'm a monster!" Her grief finally overpowered her; she shuddered as sobs wracked her body and her knees started to buckle. Gwen felt herself start to collapse.
Before she could fall Ben's arms were around her, holding her up with surprising strength. He pulled her close to himself, whispering in her ear, as she buried her face into his shoulder, unable to stop the pain she had been holding in for months from finally bursting out.
Her sobs faded away and Ben pulled his head back; she lifted hers to look at him, not knowing what else to say. His emerald eyes had fear along with the concern, a look she had seen before not far from where they were now, when her magic broke loose in a whirlwind that threatened to hurt him. He was afraid for her then, not of her, and his steady presence helped her gain control and quiet the storm. At the time she never wanted to see that look again, but now she was grateful he could still see her that way. Still, it was too much, and she looked down, avoiding the hurt she put in him.
"Dweeb. Gwen! ... Come on, look at me" he said gently. She picked her head up and did as he asked.
"You're not a monster any more than I am! And you're nothing like those three, or any of the other bad guys!" he said fiercely. "I know you! I know you almost died in that crash, but you found me and were there when I needed you anyway." She started to object, but he shook his head to stop her.
"I needed you after the way I dealt with Vil" His voice caught before he could go on. " With Vilgax. I still do. ... Now I know how you did it, sort of. I just didn't know how much it cost you. Whatever you did, it was because you were trying to help me, to help someone besides yourself. That's what makes you different, better than them!"
He pulled her close again, with her head against his. "I'm sorry!" He whispered. "No matter what, you're the best person I know."
Gwen sobbed once more, not from the pain she just felt but from relief and comfort she got from her Doofus. She relaxed into his arms and hugged him as tightly as he did her. This had to be what the explanation of that word really meant, the one she couldn't say even silently to herself when she kept looking at it in her dictionary. Did he feel it, too? She thought so, especially at times like this. But she didn't want to say it to him only for him to parrot it back because he thought he had to. A shiver went down her back as she decided this should wait for another time.
Ben pulled back to look at her again, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You don't have to do this alone, either, you know. That's what I'm here for, too." he said, and gave her a smile before touching his forehead to hers.
"I know, Doofus. ... Thank you!" she smiled back, then leaned her head down to him from the right, kissing him gently. He kissed her back, moving his hands around her neck and head, as the gentle kiss became more intense.
— X —
The guy at the cash register counted out his change, dropping coins in his hand and putting two ones and a five on top. "So, that's twelve sixty four, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and twenty. Thanks for coming in. See you again soon."
"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be back again. Thanks." Paul slipped the coins into his pocket, picked up the plastic bag of guitar strings and other stuff he bought and walked to the exit of the music store. He folded the bills and stuffed them into his other front pocket before grabbing the door. The walkway outside was clear except for a partially shadowed figure next to the stucco wall on the left. Not too surprising considering it was close to when the store would close. It might be a Friday night, but the fall air got chilly quickly after sundown - there wouldn't be much foot traffic until late spring.
After a few steps the shadow turned into what looked like a couple kids in a tight embrace at the near edge of a pool of light from an overhead fixture.
Paul glanced with disinterest at the make-out session going on, then refocused on the covered walkway in front of him, intent on getting to his car and driving home. That is, until the oblivious couple shifted back a step into the light, highlighting the back turned to him that was topped by a blaze of red hair with a hand tangled in it. There was something familiar about it that he couldn't place... So was the head of uncombed brown hair whose face was hidden by it, with the red head tilted down in a passionate and long lasting kiss. Seriously, the two sets of lips were going to have some major chapping issues if they kept at it. The arms around the back he was looking at were covered by a long sleeved lime green jersey, just like the one the Squirt wore when he took his position in a goal for a soccer match...
His brain came to a jarring stop - an image of the Mustang screeching to a halt with tires and brake pads smoking flashed in his mind - as Paul realized with a jolt what exactly he was looking at. "Gwen? Shorty? ... Is that you?!"
The two heads jerked apart as the shoulders nearest him visibly tensed up. The back twisted to the left as the head on top covered in crimson hair swiveled to face him, revealing a very familiar face with a similar shade of red creeping up from her neck to her eyes. A second face he knew peered over her left shoulder, doing the same color-changing trick. Both had deep green eyes that were as wide as dinner plates. The boy partially hidden by the girl whispered "Oh, shit!", while the girl's face was covered with a horrified expression.
Gwen gasped and blurted out "Paul!" as Ben shouted "This isn't what it looks like!"
Paul stopped abruptly a yard away from the couple he recognized as his friends, so shocked at finding them in this unexpected encounter that the bag of strings and picks and sheet music he bought in the store slipped out of his fingers unnoticed. "Don't stop on my account." he said in the most reasonable tone of voice he could.
"But when you come up for air again, I have questions." he said with a growing smirk. "And if this isn't what it looks like I have different questions!"
Gwen took a step away from Ben and smoothed out her clothes, collected herself with a deep breath, put on her best fake smile and looked Paul in the eyes. "Ben was just telling me he's going to come back to the dojo and karate again! Isn't that great?! I was just giving him a hug to say congrat..."
Ben looked at her and blinked his eyes while she was talking, with his mouth open a little but unable to speak. His jaw kept dropping at her outlandish story; then he turned to his friend as a grin spread across his face. He started nodding his head at Gwen's blatant lie, and almost thought she'd brazen it out and Paul would let it go.
Almost. Without a sound, Paul cocked his head and held up his open right hand, then closed it so his index finger was pointing up and waggled it at her. He fixed Gwen with a stare and an evil smirk, which made her stop talking in the middle of the word. He dropped his hand in the resulting thick silence, then crossed his arms over his chest. "Seriously? I watch you two play tonsil hockey for, like, fifteen seconds and that's what you come up with?! I don't expect Shorty to improvise very well in this kind of situation, but you, Gwen?" He shook his head. "That was just lame. I'm sorely disappointed!", struggling now to keep a straight face.
He snorted, then managed to splutter "Congratulations my ass!" before finally convulsing in laughter at their stricken and red faces, doubling over and howling with his hands on his knees.
While he was thoroughly enjoying their plight, Ben instinctively nudged up against Gwen's right side and wrapped his left arm protectively around her shoulders, pulling her close. They both looked embarrassed, guilty and defiant all at the same time, trying to give Paul a death glare and utterly failing at it.
He finally got a grip on himself and stopped cracking up. "Hoo!" he exhaled, followed by a deep breath. "Man!" he said, wiping at his eyes as he straightened up. "Congratulations? More like busted!" He had another spasm of laughter before he was able to regain control. Ben and Gwen shifted on their feet and stared at the ground but otherwise didn't react, both blushing beet red from the shoulders up.
"And it's about damn time!" Paul almost shouted, causing the two to jerk their heads up to look at him with surprise. "You two and your ... complicated relationship! I've got whiplash from watching you bounce around since the beginning of the year." He stopped as his laid back smile came out, and shook his head a couple times as they started to grin sheepishly. "So how long has this been going on?"
Ben spoke first, tentatively, knowing that the tall blond had been more or less believing this outcome was going to happen since they first became friends in January. Paul was the only person he knew who he could confide in even a little bit about personal things like this. Gwen covered everything else - and maybe Grandpa for alien and Plumber kinds of stuff - but talking to her about his feelings for her had been too awkward and confusing and painful to even consider. Until the night under the stars before Phoenix happened, when he told her his dreams and she didn't laugh at him or think he was sick; instead she showed him that she felt the same way. And again when the pain of being apart was so much worse than dealing with his feelings. If Grandpa didn't take them to that place...
He rubbed the back of his head with his right hand and said "Since the end of July."
Paul made a startled shake of his head, mumbling to himself "No shit?" Then he stared and raised his eyebrows expectantly, silently demanding more explanation. Ben continued "Grandpa took us to a park for his birthday, and, well... I did what you said, there was an opportunity and we had a little talk."
Gwen twisted her head to face Ben with a shocked look, then a glare that could light a match and elbowed him in the ribs. "An opportunity?! A little talk?! Geez, Doofus, you need to dial it back and be less romantic!", sarcasm dripping off every word. Ben flinched from the attack with an apologetic grin, shrugged his shoulders and hugged her a bit tighter. Despite her display of irritation, though, she stayed attached hip to hip and squeezed her right arm that had slipped around his waist.
"I'm the one who said we can hang out after practice again, Dweeb. Or don't you remember that part?" he said, looking back at her.
Gwen's face softened into a big smile, the memory of the rest of that time overshadowing their current circumstances as they locked eyes. "That, and a few other things!" she said softly, leaning her head down to kiss him again.
Paul watched this scene with a bemused expression. One thing for sure, when these two decide to do something they don't hold back! he thought, recalling all the drama from their birthdays to now. It was good to see them happy again, but his wildest imagination couldn't have come up with this.
Ben had pulled her around into an entangled hug to kiss her back, Gwen's arms wrapped around his neck and head. After another several seconds Paul cleared his throat, snapping them away from each other, regaining the deep red blushes and standing side by side again, arms at their sides. "Isn't this where I came in?" He stared at them, not quite knowing what to say, when another piece of the puzzle slid into place.
"Hold on - you two were a thing that day we played mini-golf?" he asked, the reason for Gwen's atypical bashfulness that day becoming clear. And the way she reacted to Ben's anxiety attack in his car the week before that.
"Uh, yeah" "Uh huh" they replied in unison, relieved that Paul wasn't freaking out over their new situation. At least that's what he hoped he saw on their faces and in the way they were acting.
"Damn! And we totally crashed your date! Sheila was right. ... Sorry about that!" They both cringed when he used the 'd' word, and Paul had to stifle another laugh attack, even as a quick snort escaped him.
"Oh come on! That's what it was, right?"
"Well, yeah, I guess so" Ben admitted, he and Gwen both looking a little pained, "but we ..."
"We haven't... I mean, we don't... " Gwen traded glances with Ben and tried to finish what her cousin started to say, then just stopped with a pleading look. Gwen crossed her arms across her stomach, and Ben stuffed his hands into the pockets of his sweat pants.
And Paul had a flash of insight, just like the day at Ben's house after seeing their family picture on the stairs.
"Ooohh... You aren't public about it, huh?" His smile was replaced by as neutral an expression as he could muster. While the current situation was a riot, he knew the bigger picture was complex, to say the least.
"No." Both answered in a low voice together. Again. How the hell do they do that? Paul thought.
"It's not that we're, um, apologizing about this." Ben said, quickly following with "We haven't done anything like ... you know." They both stared at the ground, and if they turned a deeper shade of red Paul was sure they'd pass out. Ben pulled his hands out of his pockets and let them drop as he looked up with an almost defiant expression, as Gwen unconsciously took his left hand in her right and also looked Paul in the eyes. "You know what our home situation is" Ben said quietly.
Paul nodded his head slowly, recalling that conversation. "Mmm-hmmn. Yeah. Yeah, I do. You remember what I said when I found out?" Ben nodded his head in return; Gwen looked at him and Paul questioningly, clearly apprehensive.
Paul gave her an encouraging smile. "I told Squirt that your family situation doesn't affect me or anyone else as long as you all have it sorted out. And that your story isn't mine to tell. I'll follow whatever your decision is."
He saw the relief wash over their faces, as their hunched shoulders visibly relaxed and they grinned sheepishly at him.
"Thanks, Paul! That means a lot! We really appreciate it!" Gwen said, as Ben nodded his head. "We don't like keeping us a secret, but..."
"Buuut you're in an, um, unconventional situation. I get it. You don't need unwanted attention complicating things any more than they are. ... Does anyone else know?"
"Yeah, Grandpa and my friend Michelle from school. No one in our class." Gwen said. "Or my school ", Ben added.
"Good, no one I'm likely to run into." Paul muttered, then grinned at them. "And I know how to keep my yap shut, so don't worry about the dojo."
They was silence for a few moments before Ben broke it. "So now what?"
Gwen shook her head once, took her phone from a pocket and looked at the display with a sharp breath. "We need to get back. Daddy will be coming soon to get us."
"Movie night, right? Better get going, then, don't give him a reason to wonder where you are." Paul picked up the bag of stuff from the music store he dropped when all this got started. "Don't have too much fun!" he said with a wink, causing Gwen and Ben to blush again as they all turned to be on their way.
Ben snorted, but smiled before walking off. "Thanks, Paul! Really."
"For you two? Any time." He took a step towards the parking lot, then turned back to them and called out "Hey!" and waited for them to stop and look back. "I should have said this sooner - good for you!"
As he walked to his car, Paul heard Gwen grilling her boyfr - no, that word just didn't sound right in his mind. He chuckled to himself as he thought of their private names for each other.
"You didn't tell me you talked to Paul about us, Doofus!"
"Yeah, well, it was after our birthday, Dweeb. A couple times, actually. Usually after something went wrong and I was afraid that I messed things up ..."
Their voices faded out as they got further away, but he remembered the times his friend was talking about. He was glad he could help - both of them, as it turned out - even if all he did, really, was pay attention and listen. Well, and give a little advice.
Dweeb and Doofus. The meanings finally made a little more sense now, in a bizarre sort of way. But only when they used them.
It's good to finally not wonder what's going on with those two, he thought with a grin as he opened the door to his car. For the time being, anyway.
/