Chapter 1

Gwen slammed the RV door with such force that the vehicle shook violently before coming to a stop. It was lucky Grandpa Max wasn't nearby, but it wouldn't have mattered to her right now.

Right now, she was so angry that she felt she could rip a tree with her bare hands.

"That lazy, freaking...asshole",she sweared in her mind. She had never done that before, and had to admit that it did feel pretty good. Stomping her feet, she started to go towards the forest, not caring about anything or anyone.

Inside the RV, Ben slumped down onto the couch with his arms crossed and his legs folded. Slamming a fist on the table, he looked outside from the window to see his cousin's leaving figure.

"Good ! I hope she never returns. That dweeb!",he thought to himself, his anger flaring up again at the thought of her condescending expression, looking down on him like he was some country bumpkin, and he slammed his fist down again.

A few hours later

He blinked, once, then twice as the colour of vision started to return to him. "Did I fall asleep?",Ben thought just as he realised it. Stretching his arms and letting out a huge yawn, he got up on his feet and scratched the small of his back.

A quick glance outside let him know that it was evening. He walked out the RV, taking in the gentle breeze before stretching his arms again. As he looked around, Ben noticed a small campfire burning just a few metres away, and over it, roasting a marshmallow was an old man with a Hawaiian t-shirt.

Ben walked towards him, and soon, was noticed. Grandpa Max gave him a warm, inviting smile, which Ben returned and sat down on a tree stump beside him.

"Here",Grandpa Max said, handing him a pointed stick and an opened bag of s'mores. "Not hungry",Ben replied, looking in the direction of the fire.

The anger he was experiencing before had subsided, and Ben felt a tinge of remorse. "I shouldn't've talked to her like that",he thought.

"Something on your mind, kiddo?",Grandpa asked.

"Kinda...",he muttered. Even though he felt bad, he didn't wanna admit it out loud that he was the wrong one in a situation.

"Hey, grandpa...",he said after a while,"You're probably tired of me and Gwen fighting all the time, right?"

"Hmm? Where did that come from?"

Ben shrugged.

"It is annoying...",Grandpa Max started to say,"...but in the long term, I know it's for the best"

"Us hating each other?"

"No, you both coming to realise how important you are to each other"

Ben gave him a confused look.

"Though you fight and squabble about the most little things, I know that you'll always have each other's backs. In fact, I've seen it, whenever we're fighting aliens or criminals, you two fight like the perfect team"

"Really?"

Grandpa nodded.

"Huh",Ben thought about it. He never realised it consciously, but it was the truth. He and Gwen were always in sync. She was the smart, logical one who would assess the situation while maintaining defense, while he would be the one to charge right in the front recklessly. Together, they balanced each other's weaknesses almost perfectly.

"Talking of Gwen...",Grandpa started to say,"...Will you wake her up too?"

Ben nodded obediently, got up and walked back towards the RV. On entering, he looked once towards the couches, and on not finding her there, he stepped towards the bunk beds. But to his surprise, she wasn't there too. It was the same case with the bathroom, which confirmed she wasn't in the vehicle.

"Wait, did she even come back?"

The thought made him feel strangely uneasy. Gulping hard, he rushed out of the door, and looked in the direction of the forest. "Gwen...",he muttered her name apprehensively.

"Something wrong?",he heard Grandpa call out.

"Uh...she's sleeping and not hungry either",Ben answered quickly, turning his attention back towards the dark, dense night forest. "I'm just gonna get some air",he yelled to Grandpa, and without waiting for his consent, rushed away from there.

"Gwen...please be okay"

Half an hour earlier

Whack

The snapping noise came from a tree branch being... snapped. Gwen tossed the two pieces away carelessly, and they fell into a pile of similarly broken branches. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, gazing at the destruction she had caused due to her rage.

"Man...That was intense",she thought to herself as she massaged her shoulder,"Is it evening already?"

Gwen then started to make her way back to the Rustbucket, but the thought of seeing her dumb cousin again made her stop and turn around. She started walking in the opposite direction from where she came, and kept walking till she reached a clearing. In the middle of the clearing, was a beautiful pond, illuminated by the reflection of the setting Sun in its waters.

The scene gave her immense peace, and Gwen let her tired legs have their way by sitting down and slumping against a tree. As time passed, she kept thinking about the fight. "I should've been more mature with him. He may be stupid and lazy, but he's my family after all",she thought to herself in remorse and sighed.

Just then, her thoughts were interrupted abruptly by her ears perking up due to a slight rustling noise. She jumped up and made some distance between herself and the tree she was against, then turned towards what was the source of the noise.

Gwen assumed it to be a wild animal and kept her guard up, reading her magic spells in her mind. But when a figure stepped out and came into view, she instantly dropped her defense.

"Gwen?"

Her eyes widened as she saw Ben. Just before his expression switched to relief, he looked white with fear. His face had some scratches on the side, and his clothes were covered with leaves. So stupified she was by his demeanour, that she didn't even realise when he had ran forward towards her, and the next thing Gwen knew, he had his arms wrapped around her tightly.

"Ben what-?"

"Thank goodness, you're okay!",he said, hugging her even tighter.

"You're...squeezing me...",she croaked and he instantly let go.

"S-Sorry",Ben apologized sheepishly. Taking a deep breath to compensate for the lack of air for the second her lungs were crushed, Gwen then looked up at him, and noticed the moistness in his eyes. But then his hand quickly reached up and wiped his eyes, as he looked sideways with a blush on his face.

"Ben...",she muttered,"What happened to you?"

"Huh? What-?",he then looked down at his clothes and realised what she was talking about. "Oh. Nothing, just that I ran into a bear before I found you and the Omnitrix wasn't working, so I kept running without seeing where I was going",he explained in a casual tone,"Ran into a bunch of trees. No biggie"

"Are you crazy?",she yelled at him, making him flinch. She moved forward towards him and put her hand on his cheek, caressing the light scratches on his face. The softness of her hand and degree of closeness between them made his face get red once again.

"Gwen-"

Their eyes met, and for the first time in his life, Ben saw his cousin in a light he had never seen anyone. Her face looked so warm and comforting, he just couldn't-

And before they knew it, their lips were on each other's. Her hand, already on his face, moved to the back of his head, lightly pushing him forward in an effort to deepen the kiss.

It was only when a light moan escaped from his mouth that Gwen snapped back to reality and she pushed back him lightly, breaking their contact.

"Ben!",she panted,"What the hell were you doing?!"

"I didn't-! I mean...uh?",he raised his hands up in defense, but couldn't think of a verbal argument to justify the sudden action. All he knew was that now, he was gonna get into a whole truckload of troub-

And once again, before he knew it, she had closed the distance between them and they were kissing again. All his qualms started to fade away as he enjoyed the sensation, putting a hand on her face and caressing it gently.

Ben stared out of the window of the Rustbucket, gazing at the moving desert with a long face, the events of last night still fresh in his mind. He had never kissed a girl before, that too his cousin, but when he was faced with the idea that something might've happened to her, he just couldn't think rationally. He wondered if those feelings were just that of caring about a family member, or something more?

Ben sighed. Whatever it was, he won't be able to confirm that she reciprocates the same feelings. After their make out session, they hadn't spoken to each other and walked back to the camp in silence. Ben wanted to talk to her in the morning, but Gwen was already in the shower by the time he woke up, and the rest of the day till afternoon, Grandpa was with them the whole time.

"I wish we could get some privacy so I could talk it out with her",Ben wished.

As if on cue, the Rustbucket started slowing down, eventually coming to a halt near a gas station. As Grandpa Max got up from the driver's seat and walked towards the door, Ben turned his head back in the couch to see Gwen laying in her bed, with a book held above her head.

Once Grandpa left, he jumped up and slowly made his way towards her. Nervously, he partially sat down near her feet and gulped.

Her hands retracted as she turned her attention away from the book towards him, and gave him a stern glare.

"What?"

"Uh...",Ben scratched the side of his head, wondering how to start the conversation. It felt strangely awkward talking about this, even though he knew it wasn't just him who initiated the kissing.

"Are you gonna say something?",she prodded.

"Oh um yeah...",Ben took a deep breath, and said,"I like you"

As soon the sentence ended, both their eyes had widened.

"Was that too direct?!",he thought to himself apprehensively while almost biting his tongue.

"Ben..."

His fears were alleviated when Gwen sat up straight and scooted forward towards him, and clasped his hands in hers. "...I like you too",she muttered, blushing a little.

"Then you wouldn't mind, right?",he asked, his excitement growing by the second.

Raising an eyebrow, she asked,"Mind what?"

Before she had a chance to react, Ben grabbed her face with his hands, and brought her lips to his in one swift action. Gwen was obviously taken by surprise, but thanks to Ben's momentary courage of addressing the elephant in the room, she no longer had any reservations, and kissed back with equal passion.

Compared to last night, this session felt on an extremely different level altogether. They both were worried and sad at that time, but now... they were free. Free to explore each other, free to indulge in their deepest desires, free to do whatever the freaking hell they want.

And right now, they just wanted each other.