OUT OF THIS WORLD .. ben tennyson x reader

xix. fabricated lies

Phil was only around because he wanted "job security," for some odd reason. Why he was so steadfast on hanging onto the past was an answer that evaded Ben as he handled the alien Phil released from the handheld portal-maker— a Null Void projector, he heard Max say right before he sped in.

Did Ben get knocked out by a plank mid-detransformation? Yes. Did he almost pass out when Max used a few thrusters to make the Rustbucket faster? Humiliatingly yes. Were the girls very briefly kidnapped by Phil and almost dropped off a ledge when Ben (as Greymatter) commandeered a bat-tentacle hybrid alien into his car? Also yes.

None of those events really mattered now, though. He'd unlocked a new alien on the Omnitrix and found that it was mobility and defense-based after an attempted purification by a tick-looking thing that involved sucking all the life off of the planet. The trial and error in trying to kill the thing when it was as gross as it was definitely..

Truthfully, Ben didn't even want to call it an experience. He'd stayed in the shower for hours until he finally managed to rid himself of the feeling of goo sticking to his skin.

One week later and back in civilization, it was inevitable that he'd found his way to the first game store that they'd come across. Sumo Slammer 2.1 release date had just so happened to coincide with their trip to town (or, really, his begging had finally managed to wear down Grandpa Max enough) for him to find himself close enough to the front of the line right before opening hours. Grandpa Max, [name], and Gwen had abandoned him to stand in line and buy the game himself after complaining about the heat, finding refuge in a nearby library.

That'd been thirty minutes ago now.

He'd sprinted straight back to the Rustbucket as soon as he'd handed the cash over the the cashier, sliding the cartridge into his handheld and had been gaming since then. That's part of the reason why he's lost when the three storm into the RV with [name] snatching up his left wrist to look at the Omnitrix, Gwen immediately flying off the handle and nagging "are you demented," and "going alien just to get a stupid video game," and Max standing behind them both in silent disappointment.

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about," is his only rebuttal.

"You went four-arm-freaky in front of the store! We all just saw you—"

"It wasn't him."

Gwen, red in the face, snaps her head to [name]. "Don't start defending him! I know you—"

"The watch would be timed out," [name] hums, popping the disc out and dragging his hand to show the other two as further proof. "Besides, the Four Arms we saw was the wrong color and didn't have the Omnitrix on his shoulder."

Ben nudges [name] to the side so that he can stand up, trying to pull his hand back. "Now that that's solved, can I get my wrist back?" He leaves his handheld on the table after giving it a longing look, then presses and holds the power button to turn it off. Tugging to try and get his wrist free one more time, Ben lets out a heaving sigh at the squinted look she gives him. "I'll go check it out and see what's going on. For my.. public image, or something, I guess."

Gwen sucks her tongue. "Not for the safety of the people?"

"And that too, sure."

***

"What are we? Scooby-Doo?"

"I wanna be Shaggy."

"[name], no— You're Daphne, I'm Velma, Ben's Scooby, and Grandpa's Shaggy. You're both the Fred-type, though, so—"