OUT OF THIS WORLD .. ben tennyson x reader

iv. stray hairs

"Have either of you seen Ben this morning?"

Gwen and [name] look up from their respective activities, glancing at each other before shaking their heads.

"You know I hate babysitting him, Grandpa."

"He took my phone before he left," [name] offers as she exits the Rustbucket. "We went on a walk after breakfast then he turned into an alien and sped off after taking them."

One side of Gwen's face pinches together when she scoffs. "You're kidding. He left us to get some second breakfast just so he could— what? Run off and—"

"I hung Cash and J.T. by their underwear on a tree."

Gwen's left spitting her hair out of her mouth, pulling strands away off her tongue with pinched brows. "Ben," she hisses. "Be careful with where you run! What if my hair got ripped out of my head?"

Though his expressions were limited, even a child could tell he was cringing at the thought.

"You don't have the head shape to be bald," he hums, patting her shoulder in faux sympathy. "At least your hair is real. I knocked some guy's wig off."

When Gwen opens her mouth to chide him some more, Ben points to the campsite with several bags of Burger Twenty-five wedged between his fingers. "You guys almost done packin'? I got me some more food."

"With what money?"

Ben freezes at Max's question. He's given an out when [name] gives the alien a gentle shove. "I gave him my card. The amount of calories he burns in a single run is too much for a human body to handle."

Ben keeps the visor on his face down to hide the way his left eye twitches.

"But! Since he's back, we might as well put him to use before he transforms back, right?"

"[name]," Ben huffs.

"I won't say you stole all of that if you do it."

Ben sputters like an engine, tripping over his words before he just stops. He takes a deep breath that comes out as an exaggerated sigh, shoving the bags into her arms and running off.

In a blink (or two, if you wanted to get him mad) the camp is packed up and the bags were in his tail's grip. "That good enough for you, princess?"

[name] responds with a smile, handing the food back before she makes her way to Gwen's side. She interlocks their arms together and drags her into the Rustbucket, facing away from Ben when the symbol on his chest begins to beep and blink red.

***

The three hours it takes to drive from New Jersey to Washington D. C. (excluding the two hours it takes to save the tenants in the burning apartment that was a front for the bank heist) was long enough to make [name]'s legs cramp.

She jumps out of the RV like the Energizer rabbit, arms stretched above her head and groans escaping her throat.

"Your energy—" Gwen is cut off by a yawn as she trails after [name]. She stretches herself in the doorway prompting Ben to push past her. "— never fails to amaze me! You've gotta play sports with stamina like that."