FIC: Substitute Sibling
Title: Substitute Sibling
Characters: Gwen, Kevin
Summary: “You’ve been dogging me for the past four months, asking me when I was gonna ask you out, flirting with me, and generally driving me crazy! And now you’re dropping it?!”
Notes: I’ll confess that I like Gwen. She can irritate me at times (especially when she’s in one of her “Oh, Kevin!” modes), but I like Gwen, so I feel the need to use her in some way, shape, or form. Gwen needs more love. Especially since in Alien Force she’s almost like an older sibling to Ben even though they have the same birthday. Which got me thinking. How could two cousins have the exact same birthday? Both their dads would’ve gotten their wives pregnant at about the exact same time and those wives would’ve gone into labor at about the exact same time. The odds are incredibly unlikely. (Yes, it can happen, but it’s an incredibly slim chance.) Then I realized that Ben’s a bit undersized in the original show and in Alien Force. That’s when it hit me that if Ben had been born early, the odds are a bit better. Kids who are born prematurely tend to be smaller than those who aren’t. (Research is fun!)
Disclaimer: Ben 10: Alien Force belongs to Man of Action
Kevin grasped the sides of his head in aggravation. He just couldn’t take it anymore. “Gwen, would you just knock it off?!”
The redhead grinned. “All right.” With that, she resumed watching the soccer game just in time to see her cousin block another goal. She cheered, “Way to go, Ben!”
The black-haired teen stared for a moment. “Hold up. That’s it?”
“What? You want me to say more? Like ‘Keep blockin’ that goal’?”
“No! The other thing!”
“Oh. Yeah. That’s it.”
The pair sat in silence for a moment as the crowd around them cheered for their respective teams.
Finally…“What the heck is up with you?!”
“Hmm?” Gwen had the nerve to look amused.
“You’ve been dogging me for the past four months, asking me when I was gonna ask you out, flirting with me, and generally driving me crazy! And now you’re dropping it?!”
She tapped a finger to her lips. “Yup.”
“WHY?!”
“Because you passed.”
Kevin seriously considered absorbing the steel they sat on and wringing her neck. Too bad that Ben probably would’ve promptly gone psychotic and used all ten aliens on his butt, somehow figuring out a way to convince the Omnitrix to let him rotate through his alien forms without switching back to human.
“Kevin, you’ve never been tested by a girl before, have you?”
“That’s not fair! I didn’t even know there was a test!”
Gwen looked smug, raising an eyebrow. “Guys aren’t ever supposed to know when girls are giving one.”
Cussing to himself, the ex-con crossed his arms and glared at her. “And what was this for anyway?”
“To see if you’d take the easy route.”
“The easy route? What easy route?”
“The girl who’s throwing herself at you as opposed to the person you’ve been obsessed with since you were eleven.”
Kevin’s jaw dropped as she pointed down to the goalie on the field who was completely oblivious to the fact that he was the subject of their conversation.
Her smile turned even more smug. “Don’t even try to deny it. Grandpa and me? We were always just bystanders when it came to fights between you and Ben. Even now, there are times I feel like I’m interrupting something private between you two.”
As much as he hated to admit it, there was no point in denying it: She had him. He narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you want?”
“That you don’t hurt him.”
That surprised the teen who absorbed metal. He blinked. “That’s it?”
It was Gwen’s turn to narrow her eyes. “I don’t think you get it, Kevin. If you hurt him, you’ll regret it.” Her eyes glowed pinkish purple. “Dearly.”
The teen in black held up his hands. “Okay, okay. Jeez. Chill out.”
They watched the game for a few minutes in silence before he finally built up the nerve to ask, “Why’re you so protective of him anyway? Didn’t he annoy the snot out of you when you guys were younger?”
“Yeah, but I think Ben was just trying to prove to everybody he could take care of himself back then. Our family was really overprotective of him.” There was a fond but sad smile on her face. “I remember my parents telling me to be careful not to hurt my cousin when I first met him.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t you ever notice how small Ben is? I guess it’s not that big a deal now, but it was really obvious when he was ten.”
“Now that you mention it, yeah. So?”
Gwen watched her cousin as she said, “We’re not supposed to have the same birthday, but there were some complications when my aunt was pregnant. Ben ended up being two months early and really sick. It really freaked out his parents and the rest of our family. Especially when the doctors said it was a matter of when he’d die, not if. Everybody pretty much walked on eggshells around him, like breathing wrong would kill him. Even long after he turned two and was well out of danger.”
The black-haired teen gaped down at the boy focused so intensely on the fierce match. He couldn’t picture Ben being frail or as anything other than the energetic-at times borderline suicidal-hero that he was. “You’re kidding me.”
The mana-wielder shook her head. “Grandpa was the only one who treated him like a normal kid in our family. Ben adored him for it and tried to show everyone else he was stronger than they thought he was. When I saw how frustrated he was with everybody, I just went along with how he and Grandpa did things but kept an eye out to make sure he didn’t get too wild. He’s mellowed out-I think partially thanks to that first go-’round with the Omnitrix-but he still sometimes acts like he needs to show he can take care of himself. And I’ll go along with it up to a point. It’s our understanding, y’know? I just watch out for him since he doesn’t have any siblings like I have Ken.”
“Which is why you did that test of yours.”
“Now you’re getting it.” She gave him a smile before wagging her finger in a mock-stern manner. “So you’d better stay on my good side, Kevin Levin, or you can kiss any help I can give you ‘goodbye’.”
The black-haired teen blinked then smirked. “Any way to start?”
“Popcorn and soda’s good.”
The smirk morphed into a grin as he raised a hand to flag down the poor unfortunate teen who’d decided to earn minimum wage during the game.
What was a few bucks in exchange for some leverage for getting that much closer to Ben?
Characters: Gwen, Kevin
Summary: “You’ve been dogging me for the past four months, asking me when I was gonna ask you out, flirting with me, and generally driving me crazy! And now you’re dropping it?!”
Notes: I’ll confess that I like Gwen. She can irritate me at times (especially when she’s in one of her “Oh, Kevin!” modes), but I like Gwen, so I feel the need to use her in some way, shape, or form. Gwen needs more love. Especially since in Alien Force she’s almost like an older sibling to Ben even though they have the same birthday. Which got me thinking. How could two cousins have the exact same birthday? Both their dads would’ve gotten their wives pregnant at about the exact same time and those wives would’ve gone into labor at about the exact same time. The odds are incredibly unlikely. (Yes, it can happen, but it’s an incredibly slim chance.) Then I realized that Ben’s a bit undersized in the original show and in Alien Force. That’s when it hit me that if Ben had been born early, the odds are a bit better. Kids who are born prematurely tend to be smaller than those who aren’t. (Research is fun!)
Disclaimer: Ben 10: Alien Force belongs to Man of Action
Kevin grasped the sides of his head in aggravation. He just couldn’t take it anymore. “Gwen, would you just knock it off?!”
The redhead grinned. “All right.” With that, she resumed watching the soccer game just in time to see her cousin block another goal. She cheered, “Way to go, Ben!”
The black-haired teen stared for a moment. “Hold up. That’s it?”
“What? You want me to say more? Like ‘Keep blockin’ that goal’?”
“No! The other thing!”
“Oh. Yeah. That’s it.”
The pair sat in silence for a moment as the crowd around them cheered for their respective teams.
Finally…“What the heck is up with you?!”
“Hmm?” Gwen had the nerve to look amused.
“You’ve been dogging me for the past four months, asking me when I was gonna ask you out, flirting with me, and generally driving me crazy! And now you’re dropping it?!”
She tapped a finger to her lips. “Yup.”
“WHY?!”
“Because you passed.”
Kevin seriously considered absorbing the steel they sat on and wringing her neck. Too bad that Ben probably would’ve promptly gone psychotic and used all ten aliens on his butt, somehow figuring out a way to convince the Omnitrix to let him rotate through his alien forms without switching back to human.
“Kevin, you’ve never been tested by a girl before, have you?”
“That’s not fair! I didn’t even know there was a test!”
Gwen looked smug, raising an eyebrow. “Guys aren’t ever supposed to know when girls are giving one.”
Cussing to himself, the ex-con crossed his arms and glared at her. “And what was this for anyway?”
“To see if you’d take the easy route.”
“The easy route? What easy route?”
“The girl who’s throwing herself at you as opposed to the person you’ve been obsessed with since you were eleven.”
Kevin’s jaw dropped as she pointed down to the goalie on the field who was completely oblivious to the fact that he was the subject of their conversation.
Her smile turned even more smug. “Don’t even try to deny it. Grandpa and me? We were always just bystanders when it came to fights between you and Ben. Even now, there are times I feel like I’m interrupting something private between you two.”
As much as he hated to admit it, there was no point in denying it: She had him. He narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you want?”
“That you don’t hurt him.”
That surprised the teen who absorbed metal. He blinked. “That’s it?”
It was Gwen’s turn to narrow her eyes. “I don’t think you get it, Kevin. If you hurt him, you’ll regret it.” Her eyes glowed pinkish purple. “Dearly.”
The teen in black held up his hands. “Okay, okay. Jeez. Chill out.”
They watched the game for a few minutes in silence before he finally built up the nerve to ask, “Why’re you so protective of him anyway? Didn’t he annoy the snot out of you when you guys were younger?”
“Yeah, but I think Ben was just trying to prove to everybody he could take care of himself back then. Our family was really overprotective of him.” There was a fond but sad smile on her face. “I remember my parents telling me to be careful not to hurt my cousin when I first met him.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t you ever notice how small Ben is? I guess it’s not that big a deal now, but it was really obvious when he was ten.”
“Now that you mention it, yeah. So?”
Gwen watched her cousin as she said, “We’re not supposed to have the same birthday, but there were some complications when my aunt was pregnant. Ben ended up being two months early and really sick. It really freaked out his parents and the rest of our family. Especially when the doctors said it was a matter of when he’d die, not if. Everybody pretty much walked on eggshells around him, like breathing wrong would kill him. Even long after he turned two and was well out of danger.”
The black-haired teen gaped down at the boy focused so intensely on the fierce match. He couldn’t picture Ben being frail or as anything other than the energetic-at times borderline suicidal-hero that he was. “You’re kidding me.”
The mana-wielder shook her head. “Grandpa was the only one who treated him like a normal kid in our family. Ben adored him for it and tried to show everyone else he was stronger than they thought he was. When I saw how frustrated he was with everybody, I just went along with how he and Grandpa did things but kept an eye out to make sure he didn’t get too wild. He’s mellowed out-I think partially thanks to that first go-’round with the Omnitrix-but he still sometimes acts like he needs to show he can take care of himself. And I’ll go along with it up to a point. It’s our understanding, y’know? I just watch out for him since he doesn’t have any siblings like I have Ken.”
“Which is why you did that test of yours.”
“Now you’re getting it.” She gave him a smile before wagging her finger in a mock-stern manner. “So you’d better stay on my good side, Kevin Levin, or you can kiss any help I can give you ‘goodbye’.”
The black-haired teen blinked then smirked. “Any way to start?”
“Popcorn and soda’s good.”
The smirk morphed into a grin as he raised a hand to flag down the poor unfortunate teen who’d decided to earn minimum wage during the game.
What was a few bucks in exchange for some leverage for getting that much closer to Ben?