Ben 10 | The Color Green (Ch 1)
So! I think I am far enough into my very first Ben 10 fic to start posting! :D; I... hope it's decent; I'm a little worried about Kevin's characterization because even though he's my favorite I think he's the one that I've got the weakest handle on, writing-wise. But I guess I just didn't want to write one of those stories where it's all, "He'd had a crush on Ben for so long, but he didn't dare to tell him" or anything quite so dramatic. I guess I'm not doing anything radically different than that, but I swear I'm trying to treat it more subtly than that. I imagine Kevin's not really one to examine his feelings or anything - he'd just squash them down until they explode in his face. So I'm trying to do that as realistically as possibly. Really.
And then, hilariously enough, I realized this is the second "first foray into the fandom" fic of mine that involves a main character getting sick. Yeah, I know I like doing that. >>;
Okay, enough rambling. In any case, chapter 1 out of I'm not sure how many, though I swear this won't go on forever or anything. Rated PG or so for Kevin's language, later parts will probably be higher.
The Color Green
Chapter 1
“Hey guys... I think you should take a look at this.”
“We’re a little busy, here!” Gwen grunted in between blasts of energy as she tried to keep the DNAliens from gaining any ground. “Think you might be interested in helping?” Above her, Big Chill swooped down to turn a number of aliens to ice. They shattered in the downdraft from his wings.
“I think we gotta bigger problem than just these guys,” Kevin said, reaching into the crate that had fallen and broken when the two DNAliens carrying it had met with his fist, up close and personal - and made of green steel, right from the hood of his baby. “These don’t look good.”
He held up a small metallic sphere - it was palm-sized and the green LED embedded in the side was blinking. There was a tube in the center, filled with a blue liquid not readily identifiable, unless it was Windex. Kevin was reasonably sure it wasn’t, but you never knew with these guys. Maybe they’d Googled how to make a grenade with household cleaners. Because it sure looked like a grenade to him - and Kevin knew alien tech.
“Kevin!”
Big Chill’s hiss came a fraction of a second too late - Kevin turned, but not in time to keep from being tackled by a last DNAlien from behind. He managed to get a left hook in under the thing’s chin (or where it would have been, if DNAliens had had proper chins), but he went over in the process. And the spherical probably-a-grenade went flying.
“No!” Gwen screamed, her hands full with two of the last standing attackers; Big Chill dove for the sphere but it was too late -
The thing hit the ground with a flash of blue light, setting off every device in the broken crate along with it. There was a rush of heat, and Kevin flinched. He’d only metal’d up his arms for the fight; he slapped his palm to the ground in an attempt to absorb the stone before whatever blast was coming hit him. Behind his closed eyelids, he saw what must have been a blinding flash of blue light; it hurt his eyes even though they were closed.
And then it was over.
“... Huh? What was that?” Kevin blinked and sat up. If they’d been grenades, he thought, they sure were crappy ones. Everything was still here. The spheres all lay empty, their not-actually-Windex tubes drained and their LEDs turned solid red. There was no damage whatsoever.
“Don’t know,” Big Chill rasped, landing beside Kevin as he stood, brushing himself off. “But it didn’t seem to do much.”
“Not even to these guys,” Gwen said, dropping the energy bubble she’d thrown up around herself and aiming a high kick at one last DNAlien. It fell to the ground in a heap. “Maybe they were flash bombs.”
“I dunno... guess it was pretty bright,” Kevin muttered, glancing at the crate. “But you’re sure right about the lack of a bang. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, huh?” Ben asked, reverting as Big Chill disappeared.
Kevin smirked. “Don’t look any horses in the mouth, that’s gross,” he replied, glancing down at their handiwork. “What say we get these guys taken care of and get outta here?”
“Agreed,” Gwen said, dusting her hands off on her skirt. “But we’d better take that crate with us, just in case.”
“You were a little worried back there, huh?” Ben asked, nudging Kevin with an elbow - not that nudging stone really worked, per se.
“Huh?” Kevin glared down at the younger boy, frowning. Ben raised an eyebrow, his look indicating that he meant Kevin’s current armament. Kevin sighed and rolled his eyes. “Hey, you’d be wishin’ you could cover yourself in stone if those had been real bombs,” he said, letting the stone casing disappear from his skin. “Besides - you were an alien who could go incorporeal. Who’s t’say you weren’t worried?”
Now both of Ben’s eyebrows rose. “Incorporeal? Gwen, I think he’s been sneaking looks at the dictionary to try and impress you!”
“Shut it!” Kevin smacked Ben across the shoulderblades and went about getting on with cleanup duty. He didn’t need Ben or anyone else to think he was smart, because he was and it was their own stupid fault if they couldn’t see that.
*
A week later, Kevin and Gwen were stopped at the front door by Ben’s mother. She looked apologetic as she glanced from one to the other, saying, “I’m sorry, Ben’s not feeling well enough to go out today.”
The two of them exchanged looks as they were shooed off the doorstep. As soon as the door was closed, they both cocked their heads toward the side of the house, clearly thinking the same thing.
As Kevin loped around to the back of the house, where Ben’s room was, Gwen had already pulled out her cell phone. “Ben!” she said brightly, just as Kevin came to a stop outside Ben’s darkened window and peered in. “Are you - wow, you do sound pretty awful.”
Kevin glanced over at Gwen, one eyebrow raised, before he grasped the edges of Ben’s windowsill and began to inch it upward. When he’d gotten it open enough to climb in, he slid into the room, squinting in the direction of Ben’s bed.
“You know, you really outghta consider locking your window, Benji. It’s just not safe to leave it open so anyone can break in.”
“You mean anyone like you,” came the voice from the bed, and Kevin realized Gwen was right. Ben didn’t sound good. “Close it - you’re letting the cold in.”
Kevin just barely stopped himself from pointing out that it was eighty degrees outside.
“Ben?” Gwen had followed Kevin in through the window, having pocketed her cell as no longer needed. Kevin smirked quietly to himself - he was all about tech, that was for sure, but why rely on it when you could do things the old-fashioned way? In the end the only things he trusted were his hands, and maybe a Tennyson or two.
But only on a good day.
There was a mass of blankets on the bed from which Ben’s mangled voice had come. There was a glass of what looked (and smelled) like ginger ale on the bedtable, and a large mixing bowl on the floor next to the bed. Kevin didn’t want to think too long on what that was there for.
Gwen perched on the side of the bed while Kevin took up residence beside it, arms crossed and trying to school his face into some sort of look that wasn’t disgusted. He hated sick people - not that he was scared they’d get him sick or anything, but he never know how to deal with them. Sometimes they just wanted to be left alone and that was okay, but when they expected you to pamper them...
“Ben?” Gwen asked again, and pulled the covers down enough to expose her cousin’s head. Kevin had to bite back a snicker at the matted brown hair that stuck up oddly around Ben’s head, but one look at his face and it was much easier not to laugh. Ben didn’t exactly have a surfer’s tan or anything normally, but now he was as pale as his sheets and there were dark circles under eyes that seemed just a little less vibrantly green than usual - not that Kevin normally paid attention to what color Tennyson’s eyes were, of course. Well, not a lot of attention.
“Wow, you do look pretty terrible,” Kevin said, leaning over to get a better look. Ben reached over and tried to swat him away, but it was a pretty feeble excuse for a swat.
“Don’t get too close - I might get you sick too,” he croaked. “Why’re you here? Didn’t Mom tell you I was sick?”
“Yeah, but we wanted to see for ourselves,” Kevin said, and leaned back even though he wasn’t exactly afraid of getting smacked. Something in him figured he might as well humor their fearless team leader. “And it looks like she was right.”
“Do you know what it is?” Gwen asked, frowning.
“No,” Ben said, struggling to get himself into something resembling more of a sitting position. “But Mom and Dad never vaccinated me as a kid, so they think it might be something pretty bad. Even took me to a doctor this morning.”
Kevin couldn’t help but raise one eyebrow - he might not know a whole lot about Ben’s home life, but he did know enough about his parents to realize that was probably true. If they were too hippie to have bothered vaccinating their kid, he figured they’d be pretty wary of doctors. That they’d taken him to one spoke volumes about how sick Ben actually was.
“But they didn’t know what it was?” Gwen persisted.
“They did some tests but they don’t have the results yet. I’m on antibiotics, but they upset my stomach,” Ben said miserably, casting a glace at the bowl on the floor.
“Thanks for that,” Kevin said, actually taking a step back this time. Barfing was gross, no two ways about it. He was not about to be in range for that.
“Kevin, stop being such a baby,” Gwen sighed, though he noticed she’d shifted just a little farther away from Ben, too.
Kevin could’ve sworn he saw the edges of Ben’s mouth quirk up. “Look, guys, I’m gonna be out of commission for a couple of days, at least. I guess it’ll be up to you to keep an eye on things.”
Kevin shrugged. “No prob. We got it covered.”
Gwen nodded, pulling the covers up beneath her cousin’s chin and rising from the bed. “Don’t worry about it. Give us a call when you’re feeling better, okay?”
“Yeah,” Ben croaked, sliding back down against his pillows as Kevin slid the window open once more and climbed out of it, letting Gwen follow before he closed it behind them.
*
Keeping an eye on things between just the two of them proved even easier done than said - there was virtually no alien activity for the rest of the week, but that wasn’t what bothered Kevin. What bothered him was that there was no call from Ben, and by the time Saturday rolled around, it had been four days. Surely he would be feeling better by now?
Kevin had picked up his phone and started dialing Ben’s number at least ten times in the course of three nights, but he never finished before he stopped and set the phone down again. He didn’t know what it was, but something about the lack of Ben in his daily activities was making him antsy, irritable. Not that Gwen had really noticed - after all, Kevin was usually pretty irritable if you rubbed him the wrong way, and he was better than most at hiding things like his feelings.
But that was just it - he shouldn’t have any feelings to hide, and so whatever it was that kept getting in the way of his thoughts just got squashed down and ignored. And so every time Kevin started to dial Ben’s number, he stopped.
Saturday morning came and Kevin and Gwen decided to stop off at Ben’s house. “We gotta make sure he’s not dead or anything,” Kevin had said, which had earned him a smack on the arm from Gwen. He’d rolled his eyes and parked in Ben’s driveway and the two of them had stood on the doorstep and waited for someone to answer the doorbell.
Ben’s mother appeared after a moment. “Oh! Gwen... Kevin,” she said, looking at the two teens on her doorstep. “Ben’s still feeling ill, I’m sorry.”
Gwen frowned. “Did the test results come back?” Clearly she’d feel better if she knew what was making her cousin sick. Honestly, Kevin didn’t blame her. At least if you knew the problem, you could start working on a solution. Otherwise you were just groping around in the dark, and that never did anyone any good.
Sandra managed to look both relieved and worried at the same time. “Yes, but they were inconclusive. Whatever he’s got, it’s not contagious - it appears to be some sort of allergic reaction. He’s on antihistamines along with the antibiotics, and the doctor hopes that with time it’ll... clear up.”
“Hm,” was all Gwen said, her face getting that slightly scrunched-up look she always got when she was thinking.
“You think he’s feelin’ okay enough for some visitors?” Kevin asked, stepping forward. They’d come all this way, after all, and given the look on Gwen’s face, she was thinking something. And she’d want to see Ben.
Ben’s mother looked indecisive for a moment, but just as she was opening her mouth to reply Ben’s father appeared behind her. “Let them in, Sandra,” he said, taking her by the shoulder and leading her aside. “I’m sure a visit from his friends would cheer Ben up.”
“Thanks,” Gwen said, as she and Kevin made their way past Ben’s parents and toward the back of the house, where Ben’s room was located. Gwen knocked gently on the door before opening it. “Ben?”
The room was mostly dark, except for the half-uncovered window shedding dim afternoon light across the carpet. The lump on the bed shifted and moved, and Kevin realized that Ben had been sitting wrapped up in his blankets, playing a game on his cell phone. He glanced up as the two of them entered the room, cracking a small smile.
“Hey, guys...”
“... Tennyson, what happened to your face?” The words were out before Kevin could keep them in.
Ben’s face suddenly fell. “Oh... uh... the doctor thinks they might be hives of some kind...”
“Some hives.” Kevin whistled lowly; Gwen elbowed him in the stomach.
There were dark blotches at the corners of Ben’s mouth, and more around his eyes. As they drew closer, Kevin saw there were blotches on some of Ben’s knuckles as well.
“They’re not bad...” Ben offered weakly, even as Gwen came closer as though to inspect them.
“Hm,” she said, peering at his face as Kevin hung back. Something about the way Ben looked... it turned Kevin’s stomach cold. Not that he thought it was gross or anything, it just seemed... wrong, somehow. He didn’t like seeing Ben still cocooned up in bed like this. It had been almost a week. Why did he look worse than when they’d come to see him last?
“Sorry I didn’t call you,” Ben was saying as he set his phone down. “I was going to, but I’ve been sleeping a lot and Mom still doesn’t want me to go out or anything...” He paused, glancing at Gwen. “I didn’t want to try to go on patrol or anything, since the last time I was sick...”
Gwen made a face. “Good idea.”
Kevin raised an eyebrow, wondering what that was supposed to me. He wasn’t dumb, though - obviously something about the Omnitrix didn’t work right when Ben was sick. That much was pretty clear, given the look in the cousins’ eyes.
“Well, glad to see you’re enjoyin’ being treated like a princess while we do all the work around here,” he said, plopping down into the chair sitting in front of Ben’s desk.
“Kevin!” Gwen admonished, and sighed. “He doesn’t mean that,” she said, much to her cousin’s apparent dismay. “It’s actually been pretty quiet this week. No alien activity that we’ve been able to sense.”
“Yet,” Kevin put in, glancing at Ben’s desk and cracking open his physics textbook before making a face and closing it again. “But they’ll be back.”
Ben nodded. “They will. I guess the only thing to do for now is to be ready for them when they are.”
Gwen nodded. “Don’t worry about that - we will be. You just need to get better, first.”
Ben sighed. “Trust me, that’s at the top of my list. I’m getting pretty sick of being cooped up in here.”
Kevin snorted. “I’ll bet.” Ben didn’t seem the type to take the chance to lie around as a reprieve, the way most people did. Kevin didn’t doubt that he was driving himself crazy, being stuck here at home. In fact, Kevin almost felt sorry for him, but then he shoved the feeling away. It was pretty pointless, either way.
“Well, we’ll let you get some more rest, then,” Gwen said, stepping away from the bed and back towards the door.
Ben nodded, though Kevin didn’t miss the way his face fell in the half-shadow, as though he didn’t want them to leave. Kevin guessed Ben didn’t want to go back to playing solitaire or whatever it was on his phone. It probably was pretty boring.
“Seeya, Benji,” he said, pushing himself up off the chair and following Gwen out the door and back down the hall. He wondered why Gwen was in such a hurry to leave - wondered, even, if he should offer to stay, but that would probably seem weird. Wouldn’t it?
“... have to cancel the trip, then. That’s all there is to it,” Kevin heard Ben’s mother say as they closed the door to his room behind them.
Ben’s father sighed. “I suppose so. I was really looking forward to that reunion, but - ”
“Plannin’ on going somewhere?” Kevin asked, sticking his head into the kitchen where Ben’s parents were talking. Beside him Gwen placed a hand around his arm and yanked, as though she really didn’t want him to butt into this conversation, but Kevin weighed a hell of a lot more than she did and he didn’t budge. It was going to take more than that to move him, he thought with a smug little smile. Not that Gwen didn’t have it in her...
Carl and Sandra Tennyson looked up, startled, as Kevin and Gwen appeared in the kitchen doorway. There was silence for a moment, until Carl said, “It’s nothing. Sandra and I were planning to go to our college reunion this weekend, but obviously, under the circumstances we don’t want to leave Ben overnight - ”
Perfect. “We’ll watch him,” Kevin said, startling everyone in the room into looking at him. He simply looked back, trying to keep his annoyance at their apparent surprise out of his voice as he said, “What? We’re responsible. It’s just an allergy - he’s just gotta drink plenty of fluids and take his meds, right? It’s not like we’re gonna take him to the circus.”
“I don’t know...” Sandra looked Kevin up and down, as though trying to determine if it was safe to leave her only child in the hands of an ex-convict. It was clear she didn’t think it was a sound suggestion.
Gwen that stepped forward then, taking center stage. “Really, Mrs. Tennyson, we can look after him for two days. My parents are in town, and we can call the doctor if he gets any worse.” She cast a look back at Kevin that he couldn’t quite read, but he did know enough to tell that she agreed more with Ben’s mother than she did with Kevin. And yet she was still backing him up...
That seemed to appease Ben’s mother somewhat. “I suppose...” She glanced at Carl, who nodded once before he put a hand on his wife’s shoulder.
“They’re responsible kids, Sandra. I’m sure Ben will be in good hands.” He cast a look over the two of them that said, silently, that he expected them to uphold their word. He was trusting them to look after Ben, and somehow Kevin didn’t doubt that they’d regret it if they didn’t do as good a job as Ben’s parents expected. “Thank you,” he said, as he and his wife walked past the two teens. “We appreciate your help. The information is on the fridge. Don’t hesitate to call.”
“Well, that was very mature of you, Kevin,” Gwen said, turning to him as the door closed behind Ben’s parents.
Kevin eyed her, admittedly unsure as to whether that was a compliment or an insult. He raised one eyebrow, deciding to say nothing until he knew which one it was.
Gwen crossed her arms. “You do realize that I’ve got plans today.”
“Oh yeah?” He hadn’t, but suddenly he was grinning for no real reason. “Well, in that case, you c’n leave Benji to me.” Sure, Ben was sick, but some time alone with him in Ben’s reasonably nice house somehow didn’t sound like a bad way to spend a Saturday. And it was the perfect way to do just that, without it seeming suspicious, or whatever it would seem. He never could tell how anything would seem, especially to Gwen.
One of Gwen’s eyebrows cocked now, almost a mirror image of his own. “Leave him to you? And just what are you going to do, raid their freezer and watch TV all day?”
Kevin grinned. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea.” Gwen made a face and punched him on the arm. “Sheesh, get a grip. If Benji needs anything, I’ll be right here.” He made a shooing motion. “Go do whatever you gotta do, then.”
“I’ll be at the dojo until ten,” Gwen said, and disappeared out the front door.
Kevin grinned. He retraced his steps down the hall to Ben’s door, opening it without knocking this time. “Hey, Benji,” Kevin said from the doorway, “yer parents left for the weekend so Gwen an’ I got sick boy duty. If you’re hungry I’m makin’ food in ten minutes.”
Crossposted to ben10_x_kevin11 and slashben10.
And then, hilariously enough, I realized this is the second "first foray into the fandom" fic of mine that involves a main character getting sick. Yeah, I know I like doing that. >>;
Okay, enough rambling. In any case, chapter 1 out of I'm not sure how many, though I swear this won't go on forever or anything. Rated PG or so for Kevin's language, later parts will probably be higher.
The Color Green
Chapter 1
“Hey guys... I think you should take a look at this.”
“We’re a little busy, here!” Gwen grunted in between blasts of energy as she tried to keep the DNAliens from gaining any ground. “Think you might be interested in helping?” Above her, Big Chill swooped down to turn a number of aliens to ice. They shattered in the downdraft from his wings.
“I think we gotta bigger problem than just these guys,” Kevin said, reaching into the crate that had fallen and broken when the two DNAliens carrying it had met with his fist, up close and personal - and made of green steel, right from the hood of his baby. “These don’t look good.”
He held up a small metallic sphere - it was palm-sized and the green LED embedded in the side was blinking. There was a tube in the center, filled with a blue liquid not readily identifiable, unless it was Windex. Kevin was reasonably sure it wasn’t, but you never knew with these guys. Maybe they’d Googled how to make a grenade with household cleaners. Because it sure looked like a grenade to him - and Kevin knew alien tech.
“Kevin!”
Big Chill’s hiss came a fraction of a second too late - Kevin turned, but not in time to keep from being tackled by a last DNAlien from behind. He managed to get a left hook in under the thing’s chin (or where it would have been, if DNAliens had had proper chins), but he went over in the process. And the spherical probably-a-grenade went flying.
“No!” Gwen screamed, her hands full with two of the last standing attackers; Big Chill dove for the sphere but it was too late -
The thing hit the ground with a flash of blue light, setting off every device in the broken crate along with it. There was a rush of heat, and Kevin flinched. He’d only metal’d up his arms for the fight; he slapped his palm to the ground in an attempt to absorb the stone before whatever blast was coming hit him. Behind his closed eyelids, he saw what must have been a blinding flash of blue light; it hurt his eyes even though they were closed.
And then it was over.
“... Huh? What was that?” Kevin blinked and sat up. If they’d been grenades, he thought, they sure were crappy ones. Everything was still here. The spheres all lay empty, their not-actually-Windex tubes drained and their LEDs turned solid red. There was no damage whatsoever.
“Don’t know,” Big Chill rasped, landing beside Kevin as he stood, brushing himself off. “But it didn’t seem to do much.”
“Not even to these guys,” Gwen said, dropping the energy bubble she’d thrown up around herself and aiming a high kick at one last DNAlien. It fell to the ground in a heap. “Maybe they were flash bombs.”
“I dunno... guess it was pretty bright,” Kevin muttered, glancing at the crate. “But you’re sure right about the lack of a bang. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, huh?” Ben asked, reverting as Big Chill disappeared.
Kevin smirked. “Don’t look any horses in the mouth, that’s gross,” he replied, glancing down at their handiwork. “What say we get these guys taken care of and get outta here?”
“Agreed,” Gwen said, dusting her hands off on her skirt. “But we’d better take that crate with us, just in case.”
“You were a little worried back there, huh?” Ben asked, nudging Kevin with an elbow - not that nudging stone really worked, per se.
“Huh?” Kevin glared down at the younger boy, frowning. Ben raised an eyebrow, his look indicating that he meant Kevin’s current armament. Kevin sighed and rolled his eyes. “Hey, you’d be wishin’ you could cover yourself in stone if those had been real bombs,” he said, letting the stone casing disappear from his skin. “Besides - you were an alien who could go incorporeal. Who’s t’say you weren’t worried?”
Now both of Ben’s eyebrows rose. “Incorporeal? Gwen, I think he’s been sneaking looks at the dictionary to try and impress you!”
“Shut it!” Kevin smacked Ben across the shoulderblades and went about getting on with cleanup duty. He didn’t need Ben or anyone else to think he was smart, because he was and it was their own stupid fault if they couldn’t see that.
*
A week later, Kevin and Gwen were stopped at the front door by Ben’s mother. She looked apologetic as she glanced from one to the other, saying, “I’m sorry, Ben’s not feeling well enough to go out today.”
The two of them exchanged looks as they were shooed off the doorstep. As soon as the door was closed, they both cocked their heads toward the side of the house, clearly thinking the same thing.
As Kevin loped around to the back of the house, where Ben’s room was, Gwen had already pulled out her cell phone. “Ben!” she said brightly, just as Kevin came to a stop outside Ben’s darkened window and peered in. “Are you - wow, you do sound pretty awful.”
Kevin glanced over at Gwen, one eyebrow raised, before he grasped the edges of Ben’s windowsill and began to inch it upward. When he’d gotten it open enough to climb in, he slid into the room, squinting in the direction of Ben’s bed.
“You know, you really outghta consider locking your window, Benji. It’s just not safe to leave it open so anyone can break in.”
“You mean anyone like you,” came the voice from the bed, and Kevin realized Gwen was right. Ben didn’t sound good. “Close it - you’re letting the cold in.”
Kevin just barely stopped himself from pointing out that it was eighty degrees outside.
“Ben?” Gwen had followed Kevin in through the window, having pocketed her cell as no longer needed. Kevin smirked quietly to himself - he was all about tech, that was for sure, but why rely on it when you could do things the old-fashioned way? In the end the only things he trusted were his hands, and maybe a Tennyson or two.
But only on a good day.
There was a mass of blankets on the bed from which Ben’s mangled voice had come. There was a glass of what looked (and smelled) like ginger ale on the bedtable, and a large mixing bowl on the floor next to the bed. Kevin didn’t want to think too long on what that was there for.
Gwen perched on the side of the bed while Kevin took up residence beside it, arms crossed and trying to school his face into some sort of look that wasn’t disgusted. He hated sick people - not that he was scared they’d get him sick or anything, but he never know how to deal with them. Sometimes they just wanted to be left alone and that was okay, but when they expected you to pamper them...
“Ben?” Gwen asked again, and pulled the covers down enough to expose her cousin’s head. Kevin had to bite back a snicker at the matted brown hair that stuck up oddly around Ben’s head, but one look at his face and it was much easier not to laugh. Ben didn’t exactly have a surfer’s tan or anything normally, but now he was as pale as his sheets and there were dark circles under eyes that seemed just a little less vibrantly green than usual - not that Kevin normally paid attention to what color Tennyson’s eyes were, of course. Well, not a lot of attention.
“Wow, you do look pretty terrible,” Kevin said, leaning over to get a better look. Ben reached over and tried to swat him away, but it was a pretty feeble excuse for a swat.
“Don’t get too close - I might get you sick too,” he croaked. “Why’re you here? Didn’t Mom tell you I was sick?”
“Yeah, but we wanted to see for ourselves,” Kevin said, and leaned back even though he wasn’t exactly afraid of getting smacked. Something in him figured he might as well humor their fearless team leader. “And it looks like she was right.”
“Do you know what it is?” Gwen asked, frowning.
“No,” Ben said, struggling to get himself into something resembling more of a sitting position. “But Mom and Dad never vaccinated me as a kid, so they think it might be something pretty bad. Even took me to a doctor this morning.”
Kevin couldn’t help but raise one eyebrow - he might not know a whole lot about Ben’s home life, but he did know enough about his parents to realize that was probably true. If they were too hippie to have bothered vaccinating their kid, he figured they’d be pretty wary of doctors. That they’d taken him to one spoke volumes about how sick Ben actually was.
“But they didn’t know what it was?” Gwen persisted.
“They did some tests but they don’t have the results yet. I’m on antibiotics, but they upset my stomach,” Ben said miserably, casting a glace at the bowl on the floor.
“Thanks for that,” Kevin said, actually taking a step back this time. Barfing was gross, no two ways about it. He was not about to be in range for that.
“Kevin, stop being such a baby,” Gwen sighed, though he noticed she’d shifted just a little farther away from Ben, too.
Kevin could’ve sworn he saw the edges of Ben’s mouth quirk up. “Look, guys, I’m gonna be out of commission for a couple of days, at least. I guess it’ll be up to you to keep an eye on things.”
Kevin shrugged. “No prob. We got it covered.”
Gwen nodded, pulling the covers up beneath her cousin’s chin and rising from the bed. “Don’t worry about it. Give us a call when you’re feeling better, okay?”
“Yeah,” Ben croaked, sliding back down against his pillows as Kevin slid the window open once more and climbed out of it, letting Gwen follow before he closed it behind them.
*
Keeping an eye on things between just the two of them proved even easier done than said - there was virtually no alien activity for the rest of the week, but that wasn’t what bothered Kevin. What bothered him was that there was no call from Ben, and by the time Saturday rolled around, it had been four days. Surely he would be feeling better by now?
Kevin had picked up his phone and started dialing Ben’s number at least ten times in the course of three nights, but he never finished before he stopped and set the phone down again. He didn’t know what it was, but something about the lack of Ben in his daily activities was making him antsy, irritable. Not that Gwen had really noticed - after all, Kevin was usually pretty irritable if you rubbed him the wrong way, and he was better than most at hiding things like his feelings.
But that was just it - he shouldn’t have any feelings to hide, and so whatever it was that kept getting in the way of his thoughts just got squashed down and ignored. And so every time Kevin started to dial Ben’s number, he stopped.
Saturday morning came and Kevin and Gwen decided to stop off at Ben’s house. “We gotta make sure he’s not dead or anything,” Kevin had said, which had earned him a smack on the arm from Gwen. He’d rolled his eyes and parked in Ben’s driveway and the two of them had stood on the doorstep and waited for someone to answer the doorbell.
Ben’s mother appeared after a moment. “Oh! Gwen... Kevin,” she said, looking at the two teens on her doorstep. “Ben’s still feeling ill, I’m sorry.”
Gwen frowned. “Did the test results come back?” Clearly she’d feel better if she knew what was making her cousin sick. Honestly, Kevin didn’t blame her. At least if you knew the problem, you could start working on a solution. Otherwise you were just groping around in the dark, and that never did anyone any good.
Sandra managed to look both relieved and worried at the same time. “Yes, but they were inconclusive. Whatever he’s got, it’s not contagious - it appears to be some sort of allergic reaction. He’s on antihistamines along with the antibiotics, and the doctor hopes that with time it’ll... clear up.”
“Hm,” was all Gwen said, her face getting that slightly scrunched-up look she always got when she was thinking.
“You think he’s feelin’ okay enough for some visitors?” Kevin asked, stepping forward. They’d come all this way, after all, and given the look on Gwen’s face, she was thinking something. And she’d want to see Ben.
Ben’s mother looked indecisive for a moment, but just as she was opening her mouth to reply Ben’s father appeared behind her. “Let them in, Sandra,” he said, taking her by the shoulder and leading her aside. “I’m sure a visit from his friends would cheer Ben up.”
“Thanks,” Gwen said, as she and Kevin made their way past Ben’s parents and toward the back of the house, where Ben’s room was located. Gwen knocked gently on the door before opening it. “Ben?”
The room was mostly dark, except for the half-uncovered window shedding dim afternoon light across the carpet. The lump on the bed shifted and moved, and Kevin realized that Ben had been sitting wrapped up in his blankets, playing a game on his cell phone. He glanced up as the two of them entered the room, cracking a small smile.
“Hey, guys...”
“... Tennyson, what happened to your face?” The words were out before Kevin could keep them in.
Ben’s face suddenly fell. “Oh... uh... the doctor thinks they might be hives of some kind...”
“Some hives.” Kevin whistled lowly; Gwen elbowed him in the stomach.
There were dark blotches at the corners of Ben’s mouth, and more around his eyes. As they drew closer, Kevin saw there were blotches on some of Ben’s knuckles as well.
“They’re not bad...” Ben offered weakly, even as Gwen came closer as though to inspect them.
“Hm,” she said, peering at his face as Kevin hung back. Something about the way Ben looked... it turned Kevin’s stomach cold. Not that he thought it was gross or anything, it just seemed... wrong, somehow. He didn’t like seeing Ben still cocooned up in bed like this. It had been almost a week. Why did he look worse than when they’d come to see him last?
“Sorry I didn’t call you,” Ben was saying as he set his phone down. “I was going to, but I’ve been sleeping a lot and Mom still doesn’t want me to go out or anything...” He paused, glancing at Gwen. “I didn’t want to try to go on patrol or anything, since the last time I was sick...”
Gwen made a face. “Good idea.”
Kevin raised an eyebrow, wondering what that was supposed to me. He wasn’t dumb, though - obviously something about the Omnitrix didn’t work right when Ben was sick. That much was pretty clear, given the look in the cousins’ eyes.
“Well, glad to see you’re enjoyin’ being treated like a princess while we do all the work around here,” he said, plopping down into the chair sitting in front of Ben’s desk.
“Kevin!” Gwen admonished, and sighed. “He doesn’t mean that,” she said, much to her cousin’s apparent dismay. “It’s actually been pretty quiet this week. No alien activity that we’ve been able to sense.”
“Yet,” Kevin put in, glancing at Ben’s desk and cracking open his physics textbook before making a face and closing it again. “But they’ll be back.”
Ben nodded. “They will. I guess the only thing to do for now is to be ready for them when they are.”
Gwen nodded. “Don’t worry about that - we will be. You just need to get better, first.”
Ben sighed. “Trust me, that’s at the top of my list. I’m getting pretty sick of being cooped up in here.”
Kevin snorted. “I’ll bet.” Ben didn’t seem the type to take the chance to lie around as a reprieve, the way most people did. Kevin didn’t doubt that he was driving himself crazy, being stuck here at home. In fact, Kevin almost felt sorry for him, but then he shoved the feeling away. It was pretty pointless, either way.
“Well, we’ll let you get some more rest, then,” Gwen said, stepping away from the bed and back towards the door.
Ben nodded, though Kevin didn’t miss the way his face fell in the half-shadow, as though he didn’t want them to leave. Kevin guessed Ben didn’t want to go back to playing solitaire or whatever it was on his phone. It probably was pretty boring.
“Seeya, Benji,” he said, pushing himself up off the chair and following Gwen out the door and back down the hall. He wondered why Gwen was in such a hurry to leave - wondered, even, if he should offer to stay, but that would probably seem weird. Wouldn’t it?
“... have to cancel the trip, then. That’s all there is to it,” Kevin heard Ben’s mother say as they closed the door to his room behind them.
Ben’s father sighed. “I suppose so. I was really looking forward to that reunion, but - ”
“Plannin’ on going somewhere?” Kevin asked, sticking his head into the kitchen where Ben’s parents were talking. Beside him Gwen placed a hand around his arm and yanked, as though she really didn’t want him to butt into this conversation, but Kevin weighed a hell of a lot more than she did and he didn’t budge. It was going to take more than that to move him, he thought with a smug little smile. Not that Gwen didn’t have it in her...
Carl and Sandra Tennyson looked up, startled, as Kevin and Gwen appeared in the kitchen doorway. There was silence for a moment, until Carl said, “It’s nothing. Sandra and I were planning to go to our college reunion this weekend, but obviously, under the circumstances we don’t want to leave Ben overnight - ”
Perfect. “We’ll watch him,” Kevin said, startling everyone in the room into looking at him. He simply looked back, trying to keep his annoyance at their apparent surprise out of his voice as he said, “What? We’re responsible. It’s just an allergy - he’s just gotta drink plenty of fluids and take his meds, right? It’s not like we’re gonna take him to the circus.”
“I don’t know...” Sandra looked Kevin up and down, as though trying to determine if it was safe to leave her only child in the hands of an ex-convict. It was clear she didn’t think it was a sound suggestion.
Gwen that stepped forward then, taking center stage. “Really, Mrs. Tennyson, we can look after him for two days. My parents are in town, and we can call the doctor if he gets any worse.” She cast a look back at Kevin that he couldn’t quite read, but he did know enough to tell that she agreed more with Ben’s mother than she did with Kevin. And yet she was still backing him up...
That seemed to appease Ben’s mother somewhat. “I suppose...” She glanced at Carl, who nodded once before he put a hand on his wife’s shoulder.
“They’re responsible kids, Sandra. I’m sure Ben will be in good hands.” He cast a look over the two of them that said, silently, that he expected them to uphold their word. He was trusting them to look after Ben, and somehow Kevin didn’t doubt that they’d regret it if they didn’t do as good a job as Ben’s parents expected. “Thank you,” he said, as he and his wife walked past the two teens. “We appreciate your help. The information is on the fridge. Don’t hesitate to call.”
“Well, that was very mature of you, Kevin,” Gwen said, turning to him as the door closed behind Ben’s parents.
Kevin eyed her, admittedly unsure as to whether that was a compliment or an insult. He raised one eyebrow, deciding to say nothing until he knew which one it was.
Gwen crossed her arms. “You do realize that I’ve got plans today.”
“Oh yeah?” He hadn’t, but suddenly he was grinning for no real reason. “Well, in that case, you c’n leave Benji to me.” Sure, Ben was sick, but some time alone with him in Ben’s reasonably nice house somehow didn’t sound like a bad way to spend a Saturday. And it was the perfect way to do just that, without it seeming suspicious, or whatever it would seem. He never could tell how anything would seem, especially to Gwen.
One of Gwen’s eyebrows cocked now, almost a mirror image of his own. “Leave him to you? And just what are you going to do, raid their freezer and watch TV all day?”
Kevin grinned. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea.” Gwen made a face and punched him on the arm. “Sheesh, get a grip. If Benji needs anything, I’ll be right here.” He made a shooing motion. “Go do whatever you gotta do, then.”
“I’ll be at the dojo until ten,” Gwen said, and disappeared out the front door.
Kevin grinned. He retraced his steps down the hall to Ben’s door, opening it without knocking this time. “Hey, Benji,” Kevin said from the doorway, “yer parents left for the weekend so Gwen an’ I got sick boy duty. If you’re hungry I’m makin’ food in ten minutes.”
Crossposted to ben10_x_kevin11 and slashben10.