Ballet Shoes

III

First, Rook accidentally learns about Ben doing ballet and now this? Oh boy...

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Third Person's P.O.V.

"This can't be happening," Ben thought.

He kept reading the title of the article over and over. Panic coursing through him. This must be some kind of joke. A ploy for media outlets to get some traction. There was no way videos of Ben doing ballet got leaked. It was just a clickbait title that had nothing to do with the actual contents of the article. It had to be.

But Rook wouldn't have said there was a problem if it was fake. He wouldn't have sounded slightly panicked when he told Ben that either. The revonnahgander probably wouldn't have even called Ben on his plumbers badge if it was a sham. Heck, Rook wouldn't have mentioned the article at all if its contents were indeed fraudulent. Not until he and Ben were out on patrol at least.

If the article truly is fake, then there is also the chance that Rook thinks the article was real. He's been on earth for three years but he still misunderstands some things about it. That explanation seems plausible considering that Rook found out Ben does ballet only last week. But the again, he's smart enough to not believe everything on the internet. And to an extent, the extranet as well.

"Oh shit," Ben muttered as he looked through the article.

It was real. The article was actually real. And the videos... Whoever leaked them got a video of all of Ben's performances from every charity show he's ever performed at since he was thirteen. Estelle had been teaching him for two years at that point and finally thought he was ready. Or she finally got annoyed of him asking almost every class for nearly two years and decided to give in.

That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that the whole world now knows that Ben does ballet. It won't be long before the entire universe knows it. What makes this worse is that Ben can't deny this as some rumour that a random person made up. There's video evidence to back it up. Especially since the leaker got a few practice videos of some of the dances. Anyone could tell that it's the wielder of the omnitrix and not some random person who bears some resemblance.

To expound, when Ben performs at charity shows he wears a mask. They cover the top half of his face so that no one can really tell who he is without a much closer inspection. He did that before he even put back on the omnitrix and got his identity revealed. Heck, Ben also used a stage name when registering for the charity events to ensure this secret of his would never make it to the public eye. Guess that wasn't enough given the current predicament.

"Ben?"

Rook saying his name brought Ben back to reality.

"S-sorry," the brunette stuttered, "I... I'll be at HQ in a few minutes."

-page break-

Ben plopped himself on the driver's seat of his car. Gently tossing his small duffel bag on the passenger seat. The brunette shut his door and buckled up. Fumbling with his car keys before turning on the ignition. However, Ben made no move to change gears and drive to where he needed to go.

After a few minutes of just sitting there, Ben glanced over to the passenger seat. Eyes landing on the familiar small duffel bag that he'd put there mere moments ago. Ben promptly looked away and groaned. Covering his face with his hands. He soon leaned forward to rest his head against the steering wheel. Careful not to press on the horn.

"Today was a mess," Ben muttered.

Indeed it was.

Upon arriving at the HQ, majority of the plumbers there were engaged in hushed conversations. Those which died down as Ben got nearer and immediately started up again before he was even out of earshot. From the snippets of conversation he heard, the opinions of his coworkers were rather mixed but none leaned towards the negative. Some were very intrigued to learn more like Rook had been and others couldn't believe what they saw. Ballet was very unlike Ben after all. A perfect contrast even.