Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or any of its characters

Warning: Suggestive Romance between cousins

For your reading pleasure.

WHERE IT PROBABLY STARTED

Benjamin Tennyson is not a spoiled kid. He doesn't always get what he wants. On the other hand, he also don't ask for much. His parents will attest to this. Things usually come his way, anyway - like game consoles, extra pocket money, limited edition action figures, an out of this world bracelet that can turn him into one of several hundreds of wicked butt-kicking aliens - and these things content him extensively.

That last one though has been the highlight of his childhood so far. Who else can claim to have gone through life-threatening adventures and live to tell about it?

So yes - Ben doesn't require much from life. If anyone were to ask the teenager he'd say that life throws the right kind of stuff to make him content with things.

Like having a peaceful, no-alien invasion type of day. It happens on rare occasions so it's never something he'll take for granted. On that particular day Max had taken him shopping - yet another rare occasion. He usually takes Gwen, but the girl didn't look so well that day, and had been coughing and sneezing more than talking. Ben argued that it's yet another good thing. Not that he'd wish for Gwen to get sick. He just find her really noisy and annoying sometimes. Scratch that - a LOT of times. If getting a flu is what it'll take to shut her up, maybe once every now and then wouldn't kill her.

Back at the grocery and just as expected, the boy went crazy overload with a cart filled to the brim with nothing but an assortment of sweets, junk food, and ice cream. He didn't expect to be able to buy all of them. He knew he'd only get to pick two items from the pile, three if Max was feeling generous.

"If you're gonna fall, fall with the stars!" he declared his mantra for the day, still racing for some stuff to fill the cart.

While still barreling through an isle, something caught his eye. He stopped. A small black, velvety table stood near the end of the aisle, arrayed with a variety of hair accessories. Ben would be the last person anyone would see near any market for the female interest. But one particular item stood out which, for some reason, managed to drag the boy to itself all the way from the other end of the isle.

A hairpin, with a small yellow rose. His immediate wonder was how it would look atop a fray of orange hairs. He shrugged, grabbed the accessory, and went for the cashier where Max had been waiting patiently.

Max met him there, arms crossed and eyeing the cart with a tired expression. The cashier gawked at the full cart and lamented over the extra hours she'd half to pull from her lunch to get those back in their respective isles.

"Two." Max said in a deadpan.

"Three!" Ben argued with a toothy grin. He raised three fingers at his grandfather.

Max gestured towards the cart with both hands and with incredulity over his grandson's gull to bargain.

"Two!" he said with a stern voice this time.

Ben sighed. He looked apologetically at the lady cashier, who seemed to be contemplating over her life choices.

"Three, and I'll bring the rest back to the isles."

The cashier's face brightened a little.

Max smiled. "And?"

Ben groaned and made a rather disgruntled face, "And I won't go nuts during grocery, ever."

"And?"

"Like, FOREVER, ever." Ben emphasized.

"And?"

"Oh, c'mon! This is a rip-off!"

Max didn't flinch. He just leaned back a bit and raised an eyebrow at him.

"And?"

Having failed to crack the veteran space warrior, the boy groaned again, crossed his arms and pouted angrily at his grandfather. "Three, and I'm gonna stop being a brat, grow up, and stop being mean to Gwen... too much. There."

"Well, I guess I'm just going to have to settle with that, won't I?" Max said gently to him. "Take your pick, then."

Ben's face shifted from sour to ecstatic and immediately dove through the mass of grocery stuff. He placed three items on the counter, and dashed with the cart towards the isles to return the rest.

Max shook his head. He loved his grand kids deeply, but would probably never tire of pulling their strings when they're as young and simple as this. He looked at Ben's selection, and one particular item caught his eye. At first he wondered if Ben picked it in error. The boy WAS being rather hasty. Then again, the item was rather small, so he couldn't have picked it by mistake when there are packs and foils of other stuff he could've grabbed in a hurry.

He then remembered his granddaughter's preferred color for a rose, and Max just grinned.

Back in the trailer, Ben nearly slammed the door out of habit, before he recalled his sick, annoying cousin, which would most likely be sleeping. He gave a gentle push on the screen-door, and tiptoed inside.

"Dork, I can smell you from my sleep." Gwen said, her usually sweet voice rusty and course because of the flu.

So much for worrying about her. With the consideration of tact over their generally brash treatment of one another out of the way, Ben leaped towards the empty side of Gwen's bed, purposely rocking her. The girl groaned and proceeded punching the lad by the shoulder with whatever limited energy she had.

"Got you something." Ben said, and rummaged through the paper bag in his hand. Gwen stretch her arms up to get the circulation running even for just a bit, and smiled at him, eyes still misty from the cold.

"Banana flavored ice-cream." Ben said with a devious look, putting the small tumbler near her face.

Gwen's smile faded. "I hate that flavor."

"Exactly!" Ben declared proudly, "Wouldn't have brought it otherwise."

The girl resumed the barrage of weak punches on her little cousin. Ben jumped out of her bed, and both chuckled. Gwen would definitely eat it later, despite the case of hating the flavor. The exchanged surprisingly drained the girl, but in a good way. She immediately dozed off while Ben was in the middle of examining the rest of the contents of the bag. She didn't see him place something on the table by her bed.

"Grandpa!"

Ben winced at his cousin's voice. That consequently brought his car crashing through the railings and down the cliffs. The explosive aftermath was followed by the question if he wanted to continue or start over. Ben clicks the latter and mumbled something in annoyance. It was peace and quiet with Gwen bed-ridden just yesterday.

"I put the hairpin on."

Max popped his head up from the new alien tech he was working on and smiled at Gwen. "That looks real good on you, honey. Do you like it?"

"I absolutely love it." Gwen beamed at him, "Where did you get it?"

"Oh, I didn't." Max said, "Ben did."

"Huh? Ben?"

Said boy was too engrossed with his game he didn't notice her approach.

"What?" Ben asked with mild irritation.

Gwen didn't speak just yet. Ben felt her stand there, tapping a foot on the carpeted floor impatiently. As preemptive measure Ben began thinking of what he did to make her mad. All he could think about was the ice cream.

"So, you got me this hairpin, huh?"

Ben finally recalled. Yeah, he did that. "Oh - sure. I figured you'll be crying like a baby if I didn't get you anything, so I just picked whatever."

"You got me that ice cream. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be." Gwen told him like it was a straight-faced fact.

It then dawned at the boy that two out of the three items he got were for Gwen. For a brief moment he almost let the expression of shock and regret appear on his face. Luckily his game was interesting and it distracted him from the girl standing beside her.

"So..."

"What now? Are seriously going to make a big deal out of it?" Ben asked.

A moment more and Gwen was still standing there. That did it - Ben paused the game and looked up at his cousin. She was staring blankly at him, expression unreadable which was unusual since he normally could tell if she was at least mad at him. Looking at her more closely, she actually had the hairpin on. It tucked her hair neatly, but a few strands managed to get away and form a streak of bangs across her forehead. A conflicted feeling suddenly got riled up and he turned away.

How does he say she looks cute without telling her she looks cute?

"You finally got to look like a human being for once." he said snickering, satisfied with that remark.

That didn't drive her away, unfortunately. She remained standing there, seemingly passive, unflinching, and still up to something judging by the way her foot was still tapping. What's more, she didn't have any comeback. That bothered Ben greatly. Then again, he was a little mean telling that to Gwen, who he sometimes forget is actually a girl, and not just a constant part of his life. Girls are sensitive, he thought. Maybe he should apologize. Or maybe another hairpin will do the trick.

Arguing with Gwen wouldn't be something new. Hurting her and making her upset to the point she can't fight back - that was unthinkable for the boy. He may not always play clean, but he always play fair, and never strikes a low blow. If he needs to apologize later, fine, he'll do it.

He got into another round of race on his game while thinking about a scenario in his head.

Before he could make progress, however, a slender arm suddenly coated his neck from behind, a flash of orange straining on his face, and something soft was pressed against his left cheek. It lasted for a few seconds, but his mind got suspended somewhere with the suddenness of the act that even after Gwen pulled away and took a few steps back, he did not have enough time to process what happened.

Finally his mind returned to reality, and his head nearly ignited with heat.

"W-what the hell was that?" Ben asked, putting a hand on the part of his face where the kiss just landed.

"No cussing." his grandfather called absentmindedly from beneath the machine.

"Collateral." Gwen said. She had an arm covering the lower part of her face as if to hide her mouth, while her eyes averted looking at him.

"For what?"

Gwen answered first by tapping the hairpin on her head, then she said further, "Until I pay you back."

He could be wrong, but right then, before Gwen went out of the trailer for her usual spell-casting training routine, Ben swore he saw a foreign kind of smile on Gwen's blushing face - one with just the right tinge of sweetness and mischief.

Ben was a mess full of conflict that evening, and he couldn't bring himself to even look at his cousin, who, much to his annoyance, didn't seem the least bit affected with what she just did. But that wasn't the worst part - he also couldn't bring himself to get mad at Gwen because… well…

He didn't really know.

He glanced over at Gwen, for like the up-tenth time that afternoon, and immediately had THE incident replaying in his mind. And then he'd stretch the few seconds into minutes before coming up with a whole bunch of scenarios as to what would happen next.

"Ben!" Gwen's voice reeled him back into the world of the sane. She had a confused look on her face, which contorted into a grimace, "Eww, why are you grinning like that."

"None of your business." He said, backing away from his cousin and turning around.

Gwen sighed. "Well, it's my turn to do clean up, so get your butt out of the van."

It was a routine chore that involved just a tad bit of wiping, washing, vacuuming, nothing really intensive or complicated, but like any other simple task that pulls a kid away from his 'me' time its usually something Ben frowns upon. Gwen wasn't so different, though she's actually less vocal about it than Ben. Still, today just happened to be the scheduled rerun of her favorite show, and she actually missed the first telecast due to her cold, so she was being extra snobby.

"C'mon! Move it, already! Grandpa's gonna be back from his appointment and I want to be done before then. Unless YOU want to do cleaning for me."

"Sure." Ben said.

Gwen was still in the middle of conjuring up some childish explicits that normally initiates their usual banter, but Ben's sudden acceptance to her proposal got her taken aback. It was supposed to be just a retort; she wasn't actually putting it on the table.

"Are you feeling alright?" Gwen asked.

He snagged the mop from her instead of answering, and started doing the routine sweeps. Gwen watched him, not really trusting the boy's sanity at the moment.

"You're going to miss your show." Ben said before turning the vacuum on and filling the entire vehicle with its noise. Gwen winced and started her way out, mumbling a 'whatever' to no one in particular.

A few minutes in and Ben was almost done. He looked out the window and saw Gwen sitting upright on a boulder, her legs crossed and the hairpin still tucking her hair in. She didn't have the bangs this time. The rose sparkled a bit with the stray streak of light from the setting sun. Her phone was in her hand, and a pair of headphones where capturing her ears. A small smirk formed on her face, which slowly turned into a full smile, before finally, Ben was watching his cousin laugh, doubling over and wiping a tear from her eye.

Ben caught himself sighing, and he quickly returned to the task at hand, slapping his cheeks and shaking his head to do away with the redness that he just knew was there. He didn't understand why he volunteered – it just sort of happened, and it felt like it was meant to happen. Then again, it also felt like he did it for a reason.

Such peculiarity didn't end there. Over the next three days Ben was doing more and more for Gwen than what was necessary, or reasonable. He did them discretely, leaving no room for arguments and giving no reason to be questioned. Mealtime, he'd always be the first to finish, and just grab everyone's dish once they were through. Listening to patrol frequencies for the occasional extraterrestrial activity, he'd sneak past the little girl, seat by the intercom and pay no heed to her while she tries to push him away. Just some of the duties he had taken unto himself, and none of these went past the bewildered girl. She immediately suspected a less noble intention, but after much thought, she remembered Ben wasn't the sharpest of kids to be able to pull a long-con such as this one, so the suspicion was reduced to simple confusion.

"Ah, hey!" Ben yelled. Gwen had beaten him to the dishes this time. She stuck out her tongue at him, to which the boy just glared at. Gwen giggled softly.

Max was nowhere near complaining. He had never seen any of his grand kids be so keen on doing chores, and it has been almost a week since he had to ask Ben to do something.

Ben continued glaring at his cousin while she wiped a foamy sponge on the plate. He already stopped trying to figure out while he was doing all those things, and just let himself get dragged into his own desire to just try and please her. He stepped beside her and starting wiping the soaking plates one by one before putting them on the racks. His eyes rolled to the side, and he saw Gwen grinning at him. She scooted a bit towards him so that their shoulders were touching. He stiffened, and it made her laugh. A rich, full laugh - not the mocking one, he thought - not even the one she'd make whenever he'd do something stupid. It was just a Gwen type of laugh, and he silently admitted he had always liked the sound of it.

While the resolve to to keep on stealing her share of the chores was still there, his body could no longer keep up. After all, the past few days didn't just require mundane, every day tasks. Bad guys both domestic and extraterrestrial plagued the country side that week. Ben didn't realize he had been concluding the day utterly exhausted.

It all finally took a toll on him through a terrible fever that rendered him panting and sweating the entire morning.

"We're still a couple of miles out from the nearest clinic." Max said, eyeing the ruthless storm outside as he went over one-fifty.

"Guys, I'm fine. We don't need to go see any stupid doctor."

"Shut up and lie down, Ben." Gwen ordered him, taking a seat on his bed. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her lips pouting, and her eyes shone a bit with worry. She placed a hand on Ben's forehead and sighed before grinning down at him, her worried expression diminishing a bit.

She stood and grabbed a small cup of a familiar looking ice-cream from the fridge. She cracked the top open and began eating with a spoon while walking back towards the boy. He had a blanket covering him, and his face shone with sweat. Feeling the bed shift with Gwen's weight, he opened his hazy eyes, registering the smile Gwen gave him, and smiled back toothily.

"You know, I'd like to admit I was the cause for your current miserable state," Gwen began teasing him, "But I don't want to take all the noble credit."

"Pft, you couldn't make me sick. Even my immune system is stronger than whatever virus you're carrying." he countered.

Gwen's smile got warmer with something akin to relief washing them. She reached down and started squeezing Ben's nose. He growled, and shoved her hand away, and the two wrestled for a bit, laughing. After a while, Gwen leaned back, and Ben looked up at her, still very much feverish, but also visibly happy.

Gwen looked at their grandfather who was still busy playing race-cart in the storm with their trailer. She then looked down at Ben, and took a spoon-full of her ice-cream.

"You hate that flavor." Ben pointed.

"I did." Gwen shrugged. "But the one you bought - I've grown to like that one."

She offered a scoop of the yellow, sweet paste to Ben. The boy eyed the spoon, then the ice-cream, then Gwen's face, and his cheeks, flustered with the fever, got even redder. He leaned his head slightly up, and took the offering in his own lips. The cool confection lingered in his dry mouth for a bit, and there was a pleasantly relieving effect.

"More?" Gwen offered.

Ben nodded and leaned up again. This time, Gwen pulled the spoon away, and leaned her face towards his instead. Ben's head immediately fell back to the pillow and he stared at his cousin.

A devious smile found its way on her face, and she whispered, "You know - if you want to get another kiss, all you had to do was ask."

His eyes widened so much he had a feeling they'd just popped out of his head altogether. His facial color transitioned from feverish red, to pale with confused panic, to beat red embarrassment. It wasn't just that Gwen knew about it - she knew about it before even he did. He never got to the point of figuring out why he was being so altruistic all of a sudden, but Gwen just downright exposed the truth behind it all. That hairpin was an unusually sweet gesture, and it earned him a sweet reward. Throughout the week, he tried to work for that same reward. He finally understood. Or rather, Gwen made him understand, and his heart went on overdrive over such humiliating revelation.

Refusing to back down, he opened his mouth, hoping some form of verbal retaliation will pour out naturally. Gwen tilted her head, and made a face like she was challenging him to continue. He closed his mouth as his words were running dry like his throat. He opened them again after a moment more, but still nothing. He decided to give her at least a scowl. But the hues on his stout cheeks made such expression look so harmless it actually became comical. Gwen chuckled slightly.

"We... don't always get what we want." Ben said in a frustrated voice.

Gwen looked up, fingers on her chin like was really thinking about it. "True. But if it comes your way, why not take it?"

She placed the cup on the table, looked back at her grandfather to make sure the moment was privately theirs, and positioned herself on top of him so that her face was completely above his.

Ben suddenly missed that ice cream. His throat just went from parched, to desert dry. That, or something was just clogged in there. Gwen was undeniably pretty, no matter how much Ben tried to deny it. She looked down at him, her orange hair, having gained some length over the past few days, dangled beside his face, making her look even more stunning in the boy's eyes. He finally managed to swallow that lump in his throat, though that also made him more thirsty.

"So," Gwen began, "Do you want it?"

Ben nodded slightly.

"You're not going to tell granpa?"

Ben shook his head.

"You're not going to make it weird?"

He shook his head again.

"You're not going to act strange, take my share of the chores, and do reckless alien stuff that would wind up hurting you bad, or making you sick?"

She had a very serious tone with the last question, carrying as well genuine worry. Ben managed a small smile before shaking his head. Gwen smiled back at him.

"Very well, sir." she began, reverting to breath-full whispers of her words, "Where do you want it?"

Ben's smile disappeared. He wasn't expecting that offer. His eyes trailed towards Gwen's lush, red lips, moist with ice-cream and seemingly inviting him to just take them for himself. Hesitantly, nervously, and with heart still thumping loudly, he raises a shaky finger and pointed at his own lips.

If you're gonna fall, fall with the stars, he thought.

Gwen made a look like she wasn't expecting such a straightforward answer. Her own face got decorated with a blush of her own, and her smile earlier turned into full grin. This new found power over her adorable cousin - it was endearing, in as much as she also thought it gave her an unruly advantage. She told herself she wouldn't use this again over Ben, but right now, she might as well take what she wants while it has gone her way.

Gwen leaned forward, and spoke with her lips almost touching his. "That's a very adult kind of kiss, Ben. You sure you want to make your first one with me?"

Ben suddenly frowned, embarrassment becoming unbearable and his heart no longer containing such treatment from her. "Fine, I don't want it." he declared.

The boy then turned around brashly, causing the girl the lean back, laughing slightly and completely shifting the mood to one of amusement. He pulled the covers over himself and curled up in a ball, his back towards Gwen who started wooing him back to her side of things. Ben groaned while Gwen shook him, stubbornness persisting over the regret he felt for his prideful refusal to accept Gwen's offer, inasmuch as she was most likely just teasing him.

"Aww, c'mon, Ben, don't sulk."

"Go away." he said, his words ending up sounding garbled because of the sheets.

"Alright, I stop messing." she said, her shaking changed into gentle strokes on the boy's shoulder and back. The boy was admittedly soothed by her contact. "Ben, come on, just help me finish this ice cream. It'll go bad tomorrow." she invited, though it really wasn't her intention.

She saw him heave a deep sigh, and after a moment more, finally turned to face her. Gwen greeted him with a warm smile, certainly not teasing this time. Ben looked up at her with misty emerald eyes. He seemed like a hurt puppy hoping for a better treatment after coming out of hiding. She took a soaked towel and began wiping his drenched forehead. He certainly seemed better now than how he was a few minutes ago, Gwen thought.

Ben didn't notice the hum that escaped his lips as he enjoyed the cool sensation of Gwen's hand on his face. Gwen noticed, though, but bit back the urge to say anything about it as she wiped him from head to neck.

Instead, she simply leaned down and kissed the boy's forehead. The said boy was shocked at first. His eyes shot open, and he was met with Gwen's neck as she was kissing him. Slowly, his eyes drift to a close again, and simply relished in the comfort and the affection she was giving.

A moment more, and Gwen pulled back, satisfied that Ben would probably be himself tomorrow, and the fever will subside.

Before she could move away, Ben suddenly grabbed her wrist. He had longing, hopeful eyes, as he spoke in what sounded like a sleepy, drunken yet also completely conscious haze, the blush on his face renewed, and his next words causing the same on Gwen's.

"You said... if I want one, all I got to do was ask, right?"

The end.

Not really that satisfied with this one. I just tried writing this to see if I can handle longer stories. Comments are very much welcome.