Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Right after school finished for the year Grandpa Max had taken his grandchildren on a trip across the states. He wanted to spend as much time as he could when he had the chance. He wasn't getting any younger and he knew the years were going to get him in the end so he wanted to enjoy his grandchildren as much as he could and what better way than a trip in the Rustbucket?

And if things went well, they could do this again in a few years.

It was a nice sunny day, just a week after their trip had first begun, and now they were currently touring the city of Los Angeles in his trusty Rustbucket.

The kids were enjoying their breakfast cereal and chatting among themselves. It was nice... until it wasn't...

He certainly wasn't expecting what came out of his grandson's mouth.

"Two of my ex boyfriends are here!" Ben, at eight years old, had  cheerfully announced that morning as he looked towards the streets from his seat near the window.

Taken aback, Grandpa Max shared a confused look with Gwen, who had dropped her spoonful of cereal on her plate causing a splash of milk and cereal to spread across the table.

At last she looked as astonished as he felt. He noticed as he carefully cleaned the mess with a towel before clearing his throat and asking tentatively, "What do you mean?"

...boyfriends?

A little voice in his head repeated as if in a daze.

"They are here." The kid replied as if he hadn't dropped a huge bomb on them.

"But... boyfriends?" He finally asked.

As in more than one? What was this kid doing at school? He was going to have a serious talk with Carl after this...

Slamming her fist on the table causing a new splash of her breakfast to land on the previously clean table, Gwen decided to pipe in in outrage, "No way! How come you had boyfriends when no one has ever asked me out?!"

Ben shrugged, "Not my fault your face scares everyone away, dweeb."

Grandpa Max sighed not wanting to deal with the upcoming explosion, "Ben, please don't antagonize your cousin. Its fine, it's just a bit surprising to hear that you had... boyfriends." He choked up a little at the word with a grimace.

Gwen crossed her arms with a frown, envious of her cousin's love life, "Why not a girlfriend though?", she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No girl has asked me to be their boyfriend." Ben shrugged as if that made absolute sense and maybe for the eight year old, it did.

Gwen made a choking sound, "That's -!"

Laying a placating hand on her shoulder, Grandpa Max gave her a look, "That's completely fine, Ben." He spoke in a strained voice as if in pain.

Jesus Christ... he was hoping to delay any sort of "talk" until they reached the ten year mark.

Hopefully delay it until their twenties, if he had any say in the matter.

Hold on... he paused in trepidation as he looked at Ben.

"Ben," he started, hesitating a little not really knowing if he wanted to know his grandson's answer, "when you said "two of my ex-boyfriends"... does that mean that you had more?"

Wide eyed, Gwen quickly turned towards her cousin who avidly avoided their gazes, face flushed at their scrutiny. Red faced, she pointed an accusatory finger at him but before she could open her mouth Max covered it with his hand.

He sighed heavily.

I'm too old for this.

Where were the alien invasions when you needed them?

Chapter Text

“Hey Benji.”

Ben let out a happy squeal before running towards the other boy who was standing near the entrance of the shopping mall.

Walking towards them in a steady pace, Gwen and Max stared as the two boys hugged and Grandpa Max took the time to carefully inspect the other.

He was a scrawny looking kid, taller than his grandson, with dark hair and even darker clothes that made his pale skin look even sallower.

He was a scrawny looking kid, taller than his grandson, with dark hair and even darker clothes that made his pale skin look even sallower.

This kid was the clear definition of a “bad boy” or a "punk", as he heard some people his own age refer to kids like him. Troublemakers, brats. Gangly kids that got in and out of reformatories only to come back worse.

One of those kids that surely would cause trouble in the long run, be it to themselves or to the people around them.

The fact that he was close to his grandson made alarms ring in his head.

“Grandpa, this is Kevin,” Ben announced cheerfully as he grasped the other boy’s hand, happily swinging their arms in childish joy while the black haired kid starred at Ben as if he hung the damn moon.

Jesus Christ.

“My ex-boyfriend,” Ben added happily, ignorant of the pained grimace that appeared on the kid’s face at sudden reminder.

Well, seems that someone is still hung up about the breakup. He couldn’t help the slight pang of sympathy he felt for the kid.

Ben could be extremely oblivious on things, especially concerning feelings.

Oh, Ben…

Gwen couldn’t keep quiet anymore and scoffed, “The ruffian? Seriously?” She asked with a frown, placing her hands on her hips. Max gave her a confused look and she huffed, “That’s what aunt Sandra calls him,” she plainly explained, then turned back to the other two and stuck her tongue out, “’cause that’s what he is!”

“Hey, Kevin is nice! Unlike you!”

Max sighed trying to tune out the bickering and glanced at the Kevin kid who stood rooted on the spot staring at the joined hands with a light flush on his face.

Running a hand across his face Max cleared his throat loudly to draw the kids’ attention. “Why don’t we all go to the mall to do some shopping?” They were planning on going to the shopping center anyways, might as well go now, “And, Kevin, if you’re not busy, why don’t you join us? I’m sure Ben would like it if you could come with us.”

Maybe that way I can also keep an eye on you to make sure you are safe for Ben...

If Carl is not going to step up as the parent figure and make a background check on any boyfriends, then it was his duty as the head of the family.

Never let it be said that Grandpa Max didn't take care of his family.

His invitation seemed to catch the other off guard as he stammered for a bit before looking at Ben for confirmation, only to be met with impossibly bright puppy dog eyes, begging him to agree.

Turning his face around, a red faced Kevin mumbled a quiet “fine” which was promptly met with an exuberant cheer from Ben followed by a quick peck on his cheek.

Max thought that it wasn’t healthy how red the kid’s face turned, but it was highly amusing so he didn’t say anything, and after making sure that the other two would follow their lead, he began pulling a sullen looking Gwen towards the mall before she could make a comment.

He tried to ignore how those two kept holding hands.

Chapter Text

This was the moment that he hated the most.

It was the third time he had to change school, this time was because of his stepfather's job, and so it was the third time he had to do the stupid introduction in front of the entire class.

"Name's Kevin," he mumbled, hands firmly balled into fists inside the pockets of his pants. "Family moved here because of work," He bluntly stated before he looked at the teacher with a quirk of his eyebrow, "can I go now?"

Startled at the brief introduction, the balding teacher gaped for a second, "Ah, yes, Kevin please take a seat. Feel free to take any of the empty desks."

Looking around, he frowned at the fact that all the seats at the back of the classroom were taken, leaving only two free desks in the entire class.

He will have to resign himself with taking a seat in either the desk on the middle or the one in front of the class near the teacher desk and he sure as hell won't take the latter.

Huffing lightly, he moved towards the desk placed on the third row ignoring the looks of the other kids. Bumbling idiots, he thought, he can already picture the group of girls gossiping in recess and the unfortunate buffoon that would try to intimidate him to show who was the top dog.

Too bad that they didn't know that one of the reasons of his constant moving across schools was that he broke the nose of the last kid who tried. The adults back then, didn't even care that the bully had been older than him by three years and also had constantly harassed other kids, mostly girls, on the bathrooms.

His stepfather wasn't amused that he had been expelled, but his mom had been proud once she had dragged the reason behind his violence out of his mouth.

"I'm so proud of you, baby. It wasn't the best way to do it but you stood for yourself and tried to help others. It would have been preferable if you hadn't broken that kid's nose but now I'm sure everyone in that school would be more careful to prevent something like this happening again."

It made him feel warm inside that she had cared enough, knew him well enough, to find out the reasoning, while everyone else had just singled him out as "the problem kid" because of his dark clothes and borderline unfriendly nature.

Not that he tried to make himself more likeable to others. He didn't saw the reasoning in trying to pretend being someone else, someone nicer.

After all, that's what that bully in his last school did, as soon as one of the teachers were near he would pretend to be helping his victims and everyone brought that shit.

So nah, he didn't really care what they thought of him.

If they really cared enough, people would try and accept him as he is.

He paused as a light snicker brought his attention.

It was the kid seated in front of the desk he was about to take and he seemed to be deeply engrossed in the paper he was scribbling on.

Raising an eyebrow, he stared a little at the paper seeing a doddle of a thin person screaming, eyes bugged out, as they were being dragged by a rocket from the back of their pants. There was even a comedic drawing of a small earth on the bottom corner while a semi realistic moon, with craters and all, was on the top of the paper.

"Rocket powered wedgie?"

The kid jumped in his seat and quickly moved his arms on top of the paper to hide it. "Ah! I don't-!" He squeaked as his face reddened at being caught obviously so distracted drawing that he hadn't even noticed that the classroom has been full for a few minutes now.

Kevin blinked as the other kid looked at him with wide eyes.

Were those...

Were those eyes normal?

He didn't think so. They were such an impossible shade of green he didn't believe for a second that this kid was human.

"Are you new?" The kid asked.

He sounded normal...

He looked normal too, if you ignored his eyes. Brown hair, tanned skin, seemed to be smaller than him but it was hard to say as the other was still seated, but then again, Kevin probably was a year older too.

That's what happened when you constantly moved schools.

Kevin cleared his throat, realizing that he had stood there staring at the other for a while.

"Yeah, recently moved here, name's Kevin."

"Oh, cool! I'm Ben!" The kid grinned seemingly forgetting about his previous panic over the drawing.

He seemed like a decent kid, Kevin decided, and maybe they could be friends.

And it wouldn't hurt to keep a close eye on him to figure out what was going on with his eyes.

"Be my boyfriend!"

He hadn't meant to scream that.

Kevin panicked.

He had meant to say "be my friend", but of course he couldn't act like a normal person and became so tongue tied that he blurted out "boyfriend" instead.

He could hear Cash laughing like a stupid hyena with asthma somewhere across the field.

Ben stared at him in confusion, his head tilted like a puppy and all cute and Kevin hated it so much he felt his face reddening by the second.

They were in recess.

It had been a week since Kevin joined the school and met Ben.

They had barely spoken with each other.

Ben being too distracted doing whatever he did with his free time, either doing pranks, drawing stupid things, and trying to prevent Cash from being a dick to others.

And Kevin... he didn't even know how to approach others. Everyone always gave him the wide berth, too scared of him to simply talk, so he was unsure on how to do the "friend" stuff.

He couldn't just do something as lame as approach the other as if they were kindergarteners and ask to be friends! He was sure he would be laughed at!

He even tried to ask his mom for help! And she laughed! At him!

So this fateful day he simply decided to man up.

Suck it up, he told himself, don't be a crybaby, walk up to Ben and just ask him out front.

It couldn't be so hard. Babies do it.

It went as good as he expected.

It went horrendously.

His hands were sweating so much with nerves but he ignored the urge to rub them against his pants.

He stomped his way towards him like a huffing rhino instead of calmly walking.

He demanded instead of asking.

And he messed up his words so badly he said boyfriend instead of friend as he had intended.

So much for nonchalance...

He facepalmed so harshly the sound resonated like a slap, slightly hoping that the force would make him unconscious so he could escape this mortifying moment of his short life.

Cash kept laughing so hard he fell on his knees, clutching at his sides while JT looked at his friend in concern.

If he survived the embarrassment, he swore, he was going to kill that idiot.

Kevin breathed out and slowly moved his hand away from his face, "Look, I meant to say-"

"Alright."

Kevin blinked, what did he just said?

"Eh, what?"

"Sure, I guess." Ben shrugged, as if it was a common thing to have someone approach you screaming (demanding more like) to be boyfriends.

"Wait, what?" He asked dumbly.

"Yeah, let's be boyfriends! We are friends now, right?"

This kid...

Wasn't normal at all.

How was he supposed to tell his mom that he had a boyfriend now instead of just a friend as he had first intended?

Chapter Text

Kendra Levin was concerned.

Her baby, her son, has been quiet ever since she picked him up from school that day. She was worried that maybe something went bad with this "Ben" kid, she had noticed how worked up her son was about the matter, but surely it couldn't be something bad. Her son was just being overly dramatic.

She kept giving him side glances from behind the wheel while Kevin kept staring at his hand like it was a foreign thing.

He had seemed to be fine when she saw him on the school door when she arrived to pick him up. Well... maybe he looked a bit spaced out, she thought as she looked back trying to figure out if she had missed something important.

The kid, who she guessed was Ben, stood next to him talking a mile a minute while her poor son seemed so out of it, he could only nod from time to time.

When she approached them, Ben had grabbed Kevin's hand unrelenting in whatever he had been talking about. Kevin's face turned a brilliant pink as he stared at their connected hands.

Oh?

Surely not...

She had cleared her throat to announce her presence and was mildly amused at how her son had jumped, eyes impossibly wide as he looked at her. The look of a deer caught in the highlights.

If his face had previously been bright pink now it had turned a dark red as he saw his mother a few feet away.

She had to cover her mouth to prevent any laughter to escape.

Oh baby...

"Kevin, are you ready to go home?" She asked after she managed to get her a hold of her amusement. Her son was simply too adorable when he was flustered.

"Y-yeah, I'm going-!" He squeaked and hurriedly moved towards the car only to be pulled back as he had forgotten that his hand was still grasped by the other kid.

His face turned crimson now.

It was mildly concerning but highly amusing, so she simply covered her mouth and waited it out next to the car deciding it would be best to give them some space, lest her son would possibly combust.

It took a whole three minutes before Kevin approached the car and took a seat on the back without uttering a word.

As soon as they arrived home, Kevin dropped his backpack before making a beeline towards his room, Kendra quietly going after him in concern seeing him fall face down on top of his bed letting out a long and drawn out groan.

"Baby, is everything okay?" She quietly asked as she stood on the doorway, not knowing if her presence would be welcome at that moment, "Did Ben reject your friendship?" It didn't look like that was the case, if the way the other has been speaking non-stop with him was any clue.

She sure hoped that things had gone well, her son needed to have friends his age.

At her question, her son seemed to became even more desperate and his groan turned into a whine that sounded something akin to a dying walrus.

Now that was worrying...

"Kevin, tell me what happened." She prodded as she walked closer to the bed and poked insistently at his side when he remained quiet.

"He... he is not normal, I swear."

Kendra frowned, "Kevin, that's not a nice thing to say."

"I messed up." He whined.

Kendra blinked in confusion, "How badly?" She prodded as she gingerly took a seat on the bed, "He seemed to be okay when I went to pick you up."

More silence.

Unimpressed, Kendra proceeded to continue to poke at his side causing him to try and wiggle out of the way to no avail as she took the upper hand and lifted him, pulling him to her lap, his back against her chest and holding him closer.

Kevin had this thing where he wouldn't speak up face to face unless he was furious, she knew that very well. So as much as she had wanted to see his face to figure whatever was going on with his internal turmoil regarding another kid his age, she would have to make do with holding him to her chest like a grumpy teddy bear.

"I messed up." He mumbled as if he was pouting.

He probably was, she thought cooing.

She hummed inquiring for him to continue.

"Instead of saying "be my friend"..." Kevin began and seemed to shrink into himself, "I said "be my boyfriend"."

Oh

Well, that...

That certainly explained some things.

She really tried to be strong for her son's sake but she couldn't control the shaking of her shoulders as a couple snickers escaped.

"You are laughing!" Kevin exclaimed affronted as he tried to wiggle away from her grasp, "Don't laugh! This is a serious matter!"

A cackle escaped her lips.

Oh, baby, only you mess up a friendship request and get a boyfriend instead.

That's how Harvey found them.

Kevin red faced in fury and embarrassment, while his wife was cackling like mad on the kitchen.

He stood on the doorway wondering if maybe he should just turn around and leave.

Another loud cackle interrupted his thoughts as he saw Kevin huff and turn towards his room slamming the door behind him.

Was he already in that period of teenager moodiness?

He asked his wife what had happened. He knew Kevin had some doubts about making friends, surely it went well?

He only received a good-natured slap on his back as Kendra continued to laugh even louder.

He wondered if maybe he was the only sane person in this family.