Family matters

[thesmartone]

Who: Ben Tennyson, Gwen Tennyson
What: Two cousins meet again after secrets have been revealed.
When: Friday afternoon
Where: The Tennyson house (Pick one)
Warning: Dorks being dorks and dweebs being dweebs.



Gwen easily sneaked in through the window and changed cloths into her normal 'Gwen Tennyson' attire. Her mom had told her that she had to be home early because they wanted to have some friends over for dinner. When she came down the stairs and was greeted by her aunt and uncle she could have almost dropped her face in her hands. After the encounter with Ben she was sure the last place he wanted to be was in her house. She looked around reflexively. Where was he anyway?

Comments

[thesmartone]

She was pretty sure she'd die if she lost her powers tomorrow, but that was because they were part of her whole being an alien thing. "So take karate with me. Or judo, or jujitsu or something. If you're worried you can't fight then learn to. What makes a superhero isn't their powers or gadgets, it's their heart."

[omnitrixter]

Ben toed the carpet, looking back down at it and thinking what Gwen said over. Fighting freestyle was more his thing but learning a few moves wouldn't be a bad idea. However, he wasn't sure he'd be able to have the time or dedication for classes.

[thesmartone]

Gwen watched him for a few minutes before speaking up. "Talk to Grandpa Max. He'll help." And she'll help of course, but she already said that.

[omnitrixter]

Ben nodded his head. Cousin or not, she was a more experienced hero and, therefore, was trying to get him the help he needed so he could become a better hero. Gwen wasn't the only one who'd told him that all heroes had to start somewhere. He'd been fumbling for the past two months.

"I just hope he'll give me a chance to prove I can do this," Ben admitted. "I thought about going to him after I found the watch but, well, I wasn't sure what he'd do then."

[thesmartone]

"He probably would have taken you away so you could learn to use it right." She looks down at her hands. "Like he did with me and my powers." She didn't regret her childhood travels with Grandpa Max, they just got lonely sometimes. It would have been nice to have Ben around actually; but he'd only found the watch a few months ago, so it wouldn't have helped with those years, just the most recent year away.

[omnitrixter]

"Is that where you went this past year?" Ben asked. "I know it wasn't Harvard. Well, I know now."

[thesmartone]

She nods. "He wanted me to get some official training, just in case." Gwen had learned that Grandpa Max really worried about all of them. She'd always known that he loved them all; there was no denying that, but in the past five years she'd learned that he worried more then probably both their moms put together - and with good reason. "Grandpa Max is a retired Plumber, you know, the space cops. He was worried someone was going to go after me because I was a Tennyson and an alien; but I think you're a bigger target now that you've got the plumber tech watch on."

[omnitrixter]

"What's the big deal about us being Tennysons?"

Also, he was nervous about her calling the watch Plumber tech. That meant that if not Grandpa Max, somebody in the Plumbers was probably gonna want it back.

"Our parents don't know, do they?" Ben realized. "Our dads, I mean."

[thesmartone]

She shrugs. "He never said if they knew or not." In the end it was best to assume that they didn't, after all, she and Grandpa Max had never told her parents about her powers.

[omnitrixter]

"Okay. But why is it such a big deal that you're a Tennyson?"

[thesmartone]

"Grandpa Max was a really good space cop."Seriously Ben, does she have to spell this one out for you?

[omnitrixter]

"...Somehow, that's not surprising, but how good are we talking here?"

[thesmartone]

"I'm pretty sure he was a legend or something. He didn't really talk about it though." Granted, having an epic level space cop grandpa was kinda awesome, but on the other hand it only made sense that anyone going for revenge would go after the grand kids he doted on.

[omnitrixter]

"Whoa. Seriously?" Ben asked, eyes wide.

He always knew Grandpa Max was awesome, but to be a legend was beyond his wildest imaginings.

[thesmartone]

"Seriously." Finding out about Grandpa Max's Plumber history had been really intimidating for Gwen. She'd wanted to do a good job as Lucky Girl, then she found out exactly what she had to look up to and it was big. Somehow she didn't think Ben would have the same reaction. He'd never actually had any trouble making a big scene of himself - at least as far as she'd seen.

[omnitrixter]

Acting big with Ben was just that: an act. If he showed off a ton of confidence, nobody would know how scared and lost he really was. And as a hero, that seemed to be a good thing since that would (hopefully) make the people he was protecting more confident in him.

"So how much space do the Plumbers cover?"

[thesmartone]

"Pretty much all of it." That included the parts of space they didn't know about - which was a lot of space. "I'm pretty sure normal humans don't know about them though; except maybe the people at Roswell and Area 51."

[omnitrixter]

"So Grandpa's famous across entire galaxies?!"

That...that was incredibly intimidating. Little wonder bearing Max's name would make them targets: Their grandfather had likely made plenty of enemies as a space cop...Plumber...whatever.

[thesmartone]

She winced. Maybe she shouldn't have told Ben that. "I'm sure there are a couple of planets that haven't heard of him." After all, not everyone needed space cops, right?

[omnitrixter]

Ben sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose. "This is all making my brain hurt."

Way too much. Way, way too much.

[thesmartone]

She let a hand rest on his shoulder. It felt really good to be able to do that now. It felt really good that Ben knew about Lucky Girl and all the things she'd been hiding from him. "We can always talk more about it later. Dinner's probably waiting."

[omnitrixter]

"Yeah. Wouldn't want to miss Mom's tofu and mungbean casserole that she brought over to share." Ben shuddered. "Some days I almost wish for a bowl of mealworms."

He paused.

"Though on those days I wonder if that's me talking or something filtering through from Grey Matter since those are usually the days I end up being him a lot."

[thesmartone]

She winces at that. Tofu was fine, it was the mungbean that she had an issue with. "I think I'd rather space food again." Hopefully there was enough other food that they could give the casserole a polite pass.

[omnitrixter]

"What'd you have in space?" Ben asked. "Also, can your parents adopt me? I love mine, but I could do without the latest vegan kick Mom's been on."

[thesmartone]

"Grandpa was nice enough to bring space food." Otherwise tofu casserole would have been an improvement. "You could probably come over for dinner when you're going on patrol."