Still doesn't feel finished...
“You don’t make sense.” Ben stated mildly. He lifted his head to grin at Kevin, “You really don’t make sense.”
Kevin stared dully at him, “Fascinating. Could you let me go now? I can’t feel my arms.” He squirmed a bit to prove his point, only amusing Ben further. The smile on the hero’s face turned a little more serious.
“Promise that you won’t hurt anyone?”
The dark-haired man sighed, “Little late for that, Benji.” He looked solemnly up at Ben, “I’ve already hurt a shit load of people, haven’t I?”
Slowly, Ben released Kevin’s wrists. Straddling the mutant’s waist, he sat up fully. To Kevin, it seemed like the hero had aged a hundred years in that moment, reaching out slowly to brush aside a stray lock of black hair. Fingering the ebony strands between his callused fingers, Ben sighed.
“Yeah, you have.”
Kevin pushed himself up, sitting with Ben in his lap now. The brunet lifted his gloved hand, running the pad of his thumb over Kevin’s cheek before continuing, “You hurt Gwen, you hurt me, you hurt civilians...” His fingers curled around the back of Kevin’s neck, keeping his head steady and his dark eyes locked on Ben’s, “But do you know who you hurt the most?”
Mesmerized by the intensity of the green eyes above him, Kevin could only try and shake his head, the movement impeded by Ben’s strong hand.
“You hurt your son.” Ben pulled Kevin to him for another bruising kiss. Unsurprisingly, Kevin’s lips were slack and unresponsive as Ben plundered his mouth. Pulling back, Ben wiped a trail of saliva from the corner of Kevin’s mouth, “Think you should apologize?”
Kevin hung his head, forehead dropping onto Ben’s shoulder, “Will he forgive me?” Kevin let his arms drape around Ben’s waist, fiddling idly with the back of his belt.
Running his fingers through Kevin’s tangled hair, Ben hummed quietly, “Who knows? It couldn’t hurt to apologize anyway, you know.”
Grimacing as Ben hit a snarl, Kevin grunted, “What’s the point if he doesn’t forgive me anyway?” The brunet’s blunt fingers pulled free of the knot, much to Kevin’s relief. Ben rose to his feet, knees creaking in protest, and pulled Kevin up with him.
“Maybe there isn’t one.” He said softly. Giving Kevin’s hands a squeeze, Ben’s voice took on a more challenging element, “You gonna find out, or what?”
---
“Kids, open the blast door. Everything’s fine.” Ben’s tinny voice filtered through the speaker, causing both Devlin and Ken to jump. The brunet struggled to his feet, pulling Devlin up with him, and ran over to the keypad. He punched in the code quickly and then stood back, still dragging Devlin, as the three blast shields slowly opened, complete with unnecessary gouts of steam and grinding gears.
When the haze cleared, the half-brothers could only stare. Before them stood a man neither had thought they’d ever have to see again, though he looked a little worse for the wear. Sunken eyes peered shamefully from beneath a tangle of dirty black hair and sharp, hollowed cheeks led to a criss-crossing scar on his chin. The man was absolutely starved, his once form-fitting body armor now hung loose and he looked as though he had lost some muscle mass from the last time they had seen him. In addition to his apparent physical state, Kevin was covered in a mixture of dust and crusty stains that looked like the dried blood of various species of alien.
Ken’s fingers twitched, wanting to go for his Omnitrix, but Devlin was squeezing his hand too tightly. He relaxed marginally when he saw the slightly shorter figure of his own father step forward and place a hand on Kevin’s shoulder. Smiling faintly, Ben gave the long-haired man a gentle push. Kevin half-stumbled, regaining his balance and shooting Ben a brief, indignant glare, and walked forward.
Kneeling in front of his son, Kevin raised a dirty hand to touch the boy’s cheek. He stopped just short, fingers inches from Devlin’s pale cheek, as if afraid to touch him. Ben leaned against the doorway, watching the scene unfold, speaking only when Kevin froze completely.
“Devlin, you father has something he would like to say to you,”
Curling his fingers, Kevin dropped his hand to his side. He took a deep breath, hands fidgeting uselessly, and did absolutely everything in his power to avoid speaking to his son. Ben, having grown impatient, stepped forward briskly and booted Kevin square in the ass, “You gonna say it, chicken? Or do I have to?”
Kevin shot Ben a tired glare before turning back to his son, “Devlin,” He started, a little too sharply, “I...” Kevin’s tone softened, “I’m sorry. I was being a major asshole and I couldn’t see anything but getting revenge on Tennyson.”
Devlin stared at his father, eyes tearing up slightly. His grip on Ken’s hand grew painfully tight, prompting the other boy to step forward in his half-brother’s defense, “That’s crazy.”
The mutant jerked back, staring incredulously at Ken. The little brunet continued bossily, “That’s totally stupid! You tried to kill my dad, and you nearly killed my brother! If you want to apologize, you better make it better than that!” He stuck his tongue out at Kevin, “Because that was a lame apology!”
Kevin sat back on his heels, glancing over his shoulder at the older brunet, “You sure this one’s not mine too?” He pointed lazily at Ken, “He’s got my attitude.”
Ben shrugged, “I was there when Kai gave birth to him.” He glanced at his son and spoke warningly, “Simmer down, Ken. Kevin’s just not used to this apology stuff.”
Ken shifted his weight uneasily, a flush coming to his tanned cheeks. He nearly jumped when the Devlin’s death grip on his hand, a comforting pressure throughout the whole ordeal, suddenly loosened and the pale boy stepped forward.
“D...Dad...” Devlin started nervously, “I...You messed up big time.” Kevin’s shoulders slumped, his eyes widening in desperation and sorrow. The dark-haired boy mirrored his father’s earlier movements, lifting a hand to touch his father’s face, but stopping a few inches away. Kevin closed his eyes as his son ghosted his hand across his face, “But I’ll give you a second chance if Ben will.”
Ben nodded solemnly, saying nothing. Instead, he reached down and grabbed Kevin by the arm, easily lifting the emaciated man to his feet. Smiling kindly at the boys and attempting to maintain some sense of normalcy, he jerked his chin in the direction of the stairs, “Let’s go get something to eat. Leftover Tetramandian from last night sound good?”
---
“Good night, boys.” Ben pecked each of the boys on the forehead before turning and giving the freshly showered Kevin a pointed look. Nervously, the older man stepped forward and patted Devlin on the head, bidding his son goodnight before glancing awkwardly at Ken. The boy shot him a look of pure venom and stormed into his bedroom, tugging Devlin in behind him.
Turning to face Ben, Kevin arched an eyebrow, “Your son hates my guts.” He leaned against the wall, masking his exhaustion with aloofness.
“I think...” Ben tugged thoughtfully at his beard, “He’s jealous.” At Kevin’s inquiring grunt, he elaborated, “He thinks you’re gonna take his brother away from him.”
Wearily, Kevin pushed himself off the wall, “That’s nice. How about bed now?” He kept his tone carefully nonchalant.
Ben grabbed Kevin’s elbow, foreseeing any exhausted wavering on the mutant’s part, and led him down the hall, “We have a spare room for you. It’s a little dusty, I think, but I can get it cleaned up.” Ben continued speaking, praising the virtues of a room that he probably hadn’t seen since he and Max had decorated the place twenty, twenty-five years ago.
Stopping abruptly, Kevin caught Ben’s wrist, “That’s all fine and well, Benji, but which way is your room?”
Ben stopped, did a double take, looked around the hallway to see if anyone was nearby to overhear him, and then spoke in hushed tones, “You’re not serious, are you?”
Kevin arched an eyebrow, “I’m serious, Tennyson. We shared a bed when we were kids, right?” Really, what was his problem? Did fatherhood make this man lose his libido as well as his playful streak?
Rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand, Ben groaned, “We never had enough money to pay for big hotel rooms. We had to share a bed.” The brunet chose his words carefully, playing dumb and hoping Kevin would buy it.
No such luck.
“You know what I mean,” Kevin purred, wrapping his arms around Ben’s waist. He was still a few inches taller than Ben, though the brunet was certainly more muscular. A fact that Ben chose to point out now, by breaking Kevin’s grip and holding him at arms length.
The hero regarded the pale man with strained eyes, “You’re too...” Weak? Hurt? Fragile? “...Tired. You can’t honestly say that you want to have sex right now. You just got out of the Null-Void!”
Kevin gave him a perplexed stare, “All the more reason?” So he was feeling a bit on the starved, ill, and exhausted side. It was all a part of the Null-Void experience!
Hesitant to shove the former prisoner, Ben only kept Kevin’s arms pinned at his sides, “No, not all the more reason. You’ll sleep in the guest room and-”
“Is this some kind of new foreplay?”
Ben paused, dumbfounded, before asking carefully, “Pardon me?”
Kevin scratched at a scab on his pale stomach, “Like sexy hide-and-go-seek, right? You leave me alone in the guest room, run off somewhere, and I find you.” The words “and then we have sex!” were unspoken, but very clearly implied.
Though the brunet dearly wanted to rub tiredly at his eyes, he felt that releasing Kevin and leaving him to his own devices could only end badly. Very badly. Instead, he kept a solid grip on Kevin’s scarred arms, noting idly that, yes, there used to be more muscle mass here.
Obviously, simply saying “no” just wasn’t working. Ben decided to switch tactics, “No, Kevin.” Saying “no” with authority rather than incredulity would surely work!
Clearly, the ex-con turned con turned (hopefully) ex-con again was going to have none of these shenanigans. He stubbornly jerked his arms out of Ben’s hands, barely managing to break the grip, before wrapping his arms around the other man’s neck. Looming close enough to make Ben go cross-eyed, Kevin whispered sensually, “I guess I am pretty tired...” Before Ben could begin his internal victory dance, the mutant continued, “If you like, I’ll let you do all the work this time...”
Breaking Kevin’s grip once more-man, he was getting tired of that-Ben pushed the other man against the wall as gently as he could. He was mildly surprised (but certainly not disappointed, he told himself) that Kevin’s lustful tone hadn’t affected him in the ways it used to. Perhaps his instincts as father and hero had kicked in, suppressing any and all urges to hump Kevin into the wall. He looked carefully into the weaker man’s eyes, spotting a spark of desperation there that he hadn’t seen before.
“No, Kevin. It’s for the best.” His slid one hand off Kevin’s shoulder and cupped his cheek, “You can...Sleep in my bed tonight.” Turning away, Ben gave in to his earlier temptation and rubbed tiredly at his aching eyes, “Don’t confuse sex with comfort, alright?”
Notes
--LJ cuts are still looking weird on the rich text page. Is anyone else having this issue?
--Yeah, yeah...I'm too vanilla. For me, relationship = comfort. Relationship =/= Sex (usually).
--I have about nine essays due last Friday that I need to write tonight this morning.
--Procrastination. I has it.
--I need some other future-verse fics like burning.
--The future of this fic is very epic. Like...30+ chapters epic.
--Should I work Albedo in Y/N?
--WHY THE HELL AM I WRITING ANGST IT DOES NOT AGREE WITH ME
Kevin stared dully at him, “Fascinating. Could you let me go now? I can’t feel my arms.” He squirmed a bit to prove his point, only amusing Ben further. The smile on the hero’s face turned a little more serious.
“Promise that you won’t hurt anyone?”
The dark-haired man sighed, “Little late for that, Benji.” He looked solemnly up at Ben, “I’ve already hurt a shit load of people, haven’t I?”
Slowly, Ben released Kevin’s wrists. Straddling the mutant’s waist, he sat up fully. To Kevin, it seemed like the hero had aged a hundred years in that moment, reaching out slowly to brush aside a stray lock of black hair. Fingering the ebony strands between his callused fingers, Ben sighed.
“Yeah, you have.”
Kevin pushed himself up, sitting with Ben in his lap now. The brunet lifted his gloved hand, running the pad of his thumb over Kevin’s cheek before continuing, “You hurt Gwen, you hurt me, you hurt civilians...” His fingers curled around the back of Kevin’s neck, keeping his head steady and his dark eyes locked on Ben’s, “But do you know who you hurt the most?”
Mesmerized by the intensity of the green eyes above him, Kevin could only try and shake his head, the movement impeded by Ben’s strong hand.
“You hurt your son.” Ben pulled Kevin to him for another bruising kiss. Unsurprisingly, Kevin’s lips were slack and unresponsive as Ben plundered his mouth. Pulling back, Ben wiped a trail of saliva from the corner of Kevin’s mouth, “Think you should apologize?”
Kevin hung his head, forehead dropping onto Ben’s shoulder, “Will he forgive me?” Kevin let his arms drape around Ben’s waist, fiddling idly with the back of his belt.
Running his fingers through Kevin’s tangled hair, Ben hummed quietly, “Who knows? It couldn’t hurt to apologize anyway, you know.”
Grimacing as Ben hit a snarl, Kevin grunted, “What’s the point if he doesn’t forgive me anyway?” The brunet’s blunt fingers pulled free of the knot, much to Kevin’s relief. Ben rose to his feet, knees creaking in protest, and pulled Kevin up with him.
“Maybe there isn’t one.” He said softly. Giving Kevin’s hands a squeeze, Ben’s voice took on a more challenging element, “You gonna find out, or what?”
---
“Kids, open the blast door. Everything’s fine.” Ben’s tinny voice filtered through the speaker, causing both Devlin and Ken to jump. The brunet struggled to his feet, pulling Devlin up with him, and ran over to the keypad. He punched in the code quickly and then stood back, still dragging Devlin, as the three blast shields slowly opened, complete with unnecessary gouts of steam and grinding gears.
When the haze cleared, the half-brothers could only stare. Before them stood a man neither had thought they’d ever have to see again, though he looked a little worse for the wear. Sunken eyes peered shamefully from beneath a tangle of dirty black hair and sharp, hollowed cheeks led to a criss-crossing scar on his chin. The man was absolutely starved, his once form-fitting body armor now hung loose and he looked as though he had lost some muscle mass from the last time they had seen him. In addition to his apparent physical state, Kevin was covered in a mixture of dust and crusty stains that looked like the dried blood of various species of alien.
Ken’s fingers twitched, wanting to go for his Omnitrix, but Devlin was squeezing his hand too tightly. He relaxed marginally when he saw the slightly shorter figure of his own father step forward and place a hand on Kevin’s shoulder. Smiling faintly, Ben gave the long-haired man a gentle push. Kevin half-stumbled, regaining his balance and shooting Ben a brief, indignant glare, and walked forward.
Kneeling in front of his son, Kevin raised a dirty hand to touch the boy’s cheek. He stopped just short, fingers inches from Devlin’s pale cheek, as if afraid to touch him. Ben leaned against the doorway, watching the scene unfold, speaking only when Kevin froze completely.
“Devlin, you father has something he would like to say to you,”
Curling his fingers, Kevin dropped his hand to his side. He took a deep breath, hands fidgeting uselessly, and did absolutely everything in his power to avoid speaking to his son. Ben, having grown impatient, stepped forward briskly and booted Kevin square in the ass, “You gonna say it, chicken? Or do I have to?”
Kevin shot Ben a tired glare before turning back to his son, “Devlin,” He started, a little too sharply, “I...” Kevin’s tone softened, “I’m sorry. I was being a major asshole and I couldn’t see anything but getting revenge on Tennyson.”
Devlin stared at his father, eyes tearing up slightly. His grip on Ken’s hand grew painfully tight, prompting the other boy to step forward in his half-brother’s defense, “That’s crazy.”
The mutant jerked back, staring incredulously at Ken. The little brunet continued bossily, “That’s totally stupid! You tried to kill my dad, and you nearly killed my brother! If you want to apologize, you better make it better than that!” He stuck his tongue out at Kevin, “Because that was a lame apology!”
Kevin sat back on his heels, glancing over his shoulder at the older brunet, “You sure this one’s not mine too?” He pointed lazily at Ken, “He’s got my attitude.”
Ben shrugged, “I was there when Kai gave birth to him.” He glanced at his son and spoke warningly, “Simmer down, Ken. Kevin’s just not used to this apology stuff.”
Ken shifted his weight uneasily, a flush coming to his tanned cheeks. He nearly jumped when the Devlin’s death grip on his hand, a comforting pressure throughout the whole ordeal, suddenly loosened and the pale boy stepped forward.
“D...Dad...” Devlin started nervously, “I...You messed up big time.” Kevin’s shoulders slumped, his eyes widening in desperation and sorrow. The dark-haired boy mirrored his father’s earlier movements, lifting a hand to touch his father’s face, but stopping a few inches away. Kevin closed his eyes as his son ghosted his hand across his face, “But I’ll give you a second chance if Ben will.”
Ben nodded solemnly, saying nothing. Instead, he reached down and grabbed Kevin by the arm, easily lifting the emaciated man to his feet. Smiling kindly at the boys and attempting to maintain some sense of normalcy, he jerked his chin in the direction of the stairs, “Let’s go get something to eat. Leftover Tetramandian from last night sound good?”
---
“Good night, boys.” Ben pecked each of the boys on the forehead before turning and giving the freshly showered Kevin a pointed look. Nervously, the older man stepped forward and patted Devlin on the head, bidding his son goodnight before glancing awkwardly at Ken. The boy shot him a look of pure venom and stormed into his bedroom, tugging Devlin in behind him.
Turning to face Ben, Kevin arched an eyebrow, “Your son hates my guts.” He leaned against the wall, masking his exhaustion with aloofness.
“I think...” Ben tugged thoughtfully at his beard, “He’s jealous.” At Kevin’s inquiring grunt, he elaborated, “He thinks you’re gonna take his brother away from him.”
Wearily, Kevin pushed himself off the wall, “That’s nice. How about bed now?” He kept his tone carefully nonchalant.
Ben grabbed Kevin’s elbow, foreseeing any exhausted wavering on the mutant’s part, and led him down the hall, “We have a spare room for you. It’s a little dusty, I think, but I can get it cleaned up.” Ben continued speaking, praising the virtues of a room that he probably hadn’t seen since he and Max had decorated the place twenty, twenty-five years ago.
Stopping abruptly, Kevin caught Ben’s wrist, “That’s all fine and well, Benji, but which way is your room?”
Ben stopped, did a double take, looked around the hallway to see if anyone was nearby to overhear him, and then spoke in hushed tones, “You’re not serious, are you?”
Kevin arched an eyebrow, “I’m serious, Tennyson. We shared a bed when we were kids, right?” Really, what was his problem? Did fatherhood make this man lose his libido as well as his playful streak?
Rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand, Ben groaned, “We never had enough money to pay for big hotel rooms. We had to share a bed.” The brunet chose his words carefully, playing dumb and hoping Kevin would buy it.
No such luck.
“You know what I mean,” Kevin purred, wrapping his arms around Ben’s waist. He was still a few inches taller than Ben, though the brunet was certainly more muscular. A fact that Ben chose to point out now, by breaking Kevin’s grip and holding him at arms length.
The hero regarded the pale man with strained eyes, “You’re too...” Weak? Hurt? Fragile? “...Tired. You can’t honestly say that you want to have sex right now. You just got out of the Null-Void!”
Kevin gave him a perplexed stare, “All the more reason?” So he was feeling a bit on the starved, ill, and exhausted side. It was all a part of the Null-Void experience!
Hesitant to shove the former prisoner, Ben only kept Kevin’s arms pinned at his sides, “No, not all the more reason. You’ll sleep in the guest room and-”
“Is this some kind of new foreplay?”
Ben paused, dumbfounded, before asking carefully, “Pardon me?”
Kevin scratched at a scab on his pale stomach, “Like sexy hide-and-go-seek, right? You leave me alone in the guest room, run off somewhere, and I find you.” The words “and then we have sex!” were unspoken, but very clearly implied.
Though the brunet dearly wanted to rub tiredly at his eyes, he felt that releasing Kevin and leaving him to his own devices could only end badly. Very badly. Instead, he kept a solid grip on Kevin’s scarred arms, noting idly that, yes, there used to be more muscle mass here.
Obviously, simply saying “no” just wasn’t working. Ben decided to switch tactics, “No, Kevin.” Saying “no” with authority rather than incredulity would surely work!
Clearly, the ex-con turned con turned (hopefully) ex-con again was going to have none of these shenanigans. He stubbornly jerked his arms out of Ben’s hands, barely managing to break the grip, before wrapping his arms around the other man’s neck. Looming close enough to make Ben go cross-eyed, Kevin whispered sensually, “I guess I am pretty tired...” Before Ben could begin his internal victory dance, the mutant continued, “If you like, I’ll let you do all the work this time...”
Breaking Kevin’s grip once more-man, he was getting tired of that-Ben pushed the other man against the wall as gently as he could. He was mildly surprised (but certainly not disappointed, he told himself) that Kevin’s lustful tone hadn’t affected him in the ways it used to. Perhaps his instincts as father and hero had kicked in, suppressing any and all urges to hump Kevin into the wall. He looked carefully into the weaker man’s eyes, spotting a spark of desperation there that he hadn’t seen before.
“No, Kevin. It’s for the best.” His slid one hand off Kevin’s shoulder and cupped his cheek, “You can...Sleep in my bed tonight.” Turning away, Ben gave in to his earlier temptation and rubbed tiredly at his aching eyes, “Don’t confuse sex with comfort, alright?”
Notes
--LJ cuts are still looking weird on the rich text page. Is anyone else having this issue?
--Yeah, yeah...I'm too vanilla. For me, relationship = comfort. Relationship =/= Sex (usually).
--I have about nine essays due last Friday that I need to write tonight this morning.
--Procrastination. I has it.
--I need some other future-verse fics like burning.
--The future of this fic is very epic. Like...30+ chapters epic.
--Should I work Albedo in Y/N?
--WHY THE HELL AM I WRITING ANGST IT DOES NOT AGREE WITH ME