Chapter Text
Ben Tennyson was very annoying. “Savior of the universe” they called him. It seemed as though everything always went his way. So much so that he had saved the universe multiple times, had two loving and living parents, a great relationship with his cousin; and somehow an apparent lack of lasting trauma from having aliens try to kill him constantly since he was ten. It would make sense, after being around him for a little while, to think him almost invincible. Very annoying indeed.
The whirring sound of a window being rolled up and down repeatedly started to get irritating after only about ten seconds. “Ben, stop that.” Rook said, his right ear twitching. He liked to think of himself as a patient person, but repeated sounds managed to wedge their way under his skin and bubble up into anger in a way he couldn’t rationalize. When there was no response, and the assault on the window button continued, Rook reached towards his own door and activated the child lock.
Ben sighed loudly, kicking his feet up against the dashboard of the proto-truk like a child. Rook would’ve found it endearing, if not for the dirt on the bottom of Ben’s shoes smudging itself against the plastic interior. “I just wish something interesting would happen,” Ben whined. “Like Vilgax coming back, or Doctor Animo, or hell, I’d take the Forever Knights.”
“That is an unwise thing to wish for,” Rook commented. “Wanting to be in danger does not seem logical, or healthy.”
“But I’m so bored,” Ben protested, swivelling in his seat so one foot was nearly touching the ceiling, while his other leg bent at the knee towards his chest. He leaned his head back on the armrest, letting his hair fall over the center console and looking up at Rook. His seatbelt was nowhere to be seen. “There’s gotta be somebody on the loose that wants to kill me.”
Rook raised a brow, glancing at Ben once, then keeping his eyes on the road as he approached a red light. “If you are so bored, we can always go train.”
Ben groaned loudly, moving to sit up at such a rapid pace it almost startled Rook, and perhaps would’ve in the first few weeks they’d known each other. By now, Rook was used to Ben’s inability to remain still, and was unphased by the sudden motion. “Training is so boring,” Ben rejected. “Besides, I’m good. No training needed.”
Rook shrugged. “I am simply offering a suggestion. I do not often see you hone your skills in your human form, it may be beneficial to-”
Ben rolled his eyes and gestured to the omnitrix on his wrist. “Uh, savior of the universe here, can transform into a bunch of aliens? Maybe you’ve heard of him.”
“With an omnitrix that does not always do what he wants, which often deactivates at random, inconvenient times,” Rook shot back. “You cannot always assume things will work out. A little preparation can make a big difference.”
It was Ben’s turn to shrug. “Whatever dude. I’ve been at this a while, when my methods actually stop working, then I’ll consider going about my hero work differently.”
Rook rolled his eyes. They’d had this conversation before many times. Ben was extremely stubborn, and no amount of logic was going to change the way he did things. It was very different for Rook. He worked hard for what he had, on the crops back on Revonnah, then in the plumber academy, and now as Ben’s partner. Things didn’t come as easily to him as they did Ben, and even though he was proud of everything he had achieved and how hard he’d worked for it, a small part of him envied Ben. To have things just fall into your lap all the time.
Rook was broken out of his train of thought when he felt an arm reaching across him, and instinctually grabbed the wrist of the offender. “What are you doing?”
“Turning off the window lock,” Ben stated innocently, as if that was a normal thing to be trying to do. When it came to Ben, it might as well have been.
“Do not distract the driver Ben, it is very unsafe.” Rook guided Ben’s arm back to his own side of the truk, then released his wrist. “I will turn it off if you promise not to play with it again.”
Ben pouted a bit and made a show of thinking about, putting his legs up against the dashboard, scratching his chin, and sighing dramatically before nodding. “Okay, I promise. Piece of cake.”
“I do not see how cake is involved.” Rook glanced at Ben in confusion.
“It’s an expression.”
Rook wondered if he would ever understand all the strange expressions Ben used. “Do you promise?”
Ben crossed his arms indignantly. “Yes, of course, I promise.”
“Ok, fine. You win. I will turn the lock off.” Rook reached over and pressed the button once again. They rode in silence for a few moments, Rook glancing at Ben a few times to ensure he was actually upholding his promise. When that did in fact seem to be the case, Rook relaxed a bit, returning his full focus towards driving again, enjoying the quiet hum of the engine being the only sound to reach his ears.
Whrrrrrrrr…
Rook shot Ben a dirty look, who was sporting a shit eating grin as he held down on the window button. Rook started to formulate a complaint, ready to chew Ben out for violating their agreement, but Ben’s silly expression fell and became serious as his eyes drifted distantly to something past Rook’s head and out the window.
“Stop the truk!”
Rook slammed on the breaks, but Ben was already halfway out of the vehicle with the door left flung open. Rook put the proto-truk in park and turned the engine off, hopping out of the vehicle and looking in the direction Ben had gone, just in time to see the hero disappear around a corner and down an alleyway. A familiar green light flashed and Rook heard a tussle begin as he sprinted towards the alley.
Rook rounded the corner, hand already on his proto-tool, just in time to see Spidermonkey pinning down an alien he didn’t recognize. Yellowish foam was dripping from its mouth, soaking mossy green fur. Its large, cat-like ears were pinned back as it yowled loudly in Spidermonkey’s face.
In an instant it managed to roll itself over, the tables flipping as it pinned Spidermonkey to the ground. Rook didn’t hesitate to aim his proto-tool at the alien and shoot, hoping to stun it long enough for Spidermonkey to get the upper hand again.
The alien cried out, a high pitched shrill that made Rook’s ears ring. It craned its neck and turned its attention towards him, giving Spidermonkey the chance to lodge his feet in the alien’s ribs and launch it up and off of him. The alien hit the brick wall, falling to the ground ungracefully with a whine. It shook its head violently, disoriented from the impact.
Rook took the chance to run over to where Spidermonkey was regaining his footing, and where he now noticed an elderly woman sitting on the ground behind the arachnachimp, a look of complete terror plastered across her face. She was clutching a tote bag that had been ripped, with groceries partially spilled out across her lap and onto the ground. A single orange had rolled almost to the other side of the alley. It did not take much for Rook to piece together what Ben might’ve seen only moments ago.
His attention refocused quickly on the battle at hand, taking a defensive stance in front of the woman as Spidermonkey ran forward to continue the fight, throwing himself blindly at the alien. “Do not worry ma’am, we will keep you safe from further harm,” he reassured, glancing at her and giving her a look that he hoped was non-threatening. She did not respond, and Rook assumed she was in shock.
Spidermonkey made some quippy remark that Rook didn’t quite catch, and when Rook returned his attention back towards the fight the alien was caught in Spidermonkey’s webbing. Spidermonkey was doing some sort of silly victory dance, facing Rook with a goofy look on his face.
The alien behind him snarled, and Rook watched curiously as the webbing started to drip, changing from opaque to transparent, then dissolving entirely into a liquid-like state. The alien stood up and shook itself off, its gaze turning and training intently on Spidermonkey.
“Ben, look out!” Rook warned, just in time for Spidermonkey to dodge out of the way of the alien launching itself towards him.
Spidermonkey clung to the wall, blinking at the alien in bewilderment. “How did it get out of my web?”
“It looked like it melted,” Rook said, hitting the alien with a few more stun shots.
The alien winced and growled in retaliation, its eyes narrowing in on Rook. It circled towards him, tail flicking irritatedly behind it. Its haunches teetered from side to side, and Rook braced himself to roll out of the way when it attacked; but Spidermonkey moved first, leaping down from his perch and landing on top of the alien’s back.
The alien yowled and tried to roll over to dismount its attacker, but Spidermonkey held tight. More webbing was shot at the alien, but dissolved almost immediately, much faster than the first time Rook had witnessed it.
The alien backed up towards the nearest wall, then threw its entire body weight against the brick. Spidermonkey’s head slammed against the wall and he was dislodged. He sat there, disoriented, one of his hands coming up to hold his head. The alien shook itself off vigorously, turning on Spidermonkey and baring its teeth with a low growl.
The sound of the omnitrix powering down reached Rook’s ears faster than he could react. He aimed his proto-tool again, but couldn’t fire fast enough, frozen in time. With wide eyes he watched, almost in slow motion, as the alien lunged at Ben with open jaws. Ben, stunned and still clutching his head, tried to dodge out of the way, but his human reflexes weren’t nearly as fast as the alien attacker or Spidermonkey. Teeth clasped around Ben’s shoulder, biting down hard, and the agonizing shriek that escaped Ben’s mouth surely could’ve been heard from several blocks away.
It happened too fast to react properly, but Rook sprung into action as quickly as his body allowed, firing multiple stun shots at the alien. It was the alien’s turn to scream, crying out and scampering backwards. It looked between Ben and Rook, a growl forming through its bared teeth, then shook its head once again, turning and running off out of the alley.
Rook’s eyes followed it, but the sound of pained gasping caught his attention again and he rushed over to Ben, who was now leaning against the wall with his hand clutching the shoulder wound, his body shuddering.
“Ben!” Rook knelt down and reached his hands out but hesitated, unsure of what to do. He was not familiar enough with human biology to be of any real assistance.
“What are you doing?! Go after it!!” Ben hissed, his hand clasped hard around the bite mark, deep red blood already starting to slowly seep between his fingers and run down the back of his hand.
“But-”
“GO!”
Rook’s face scrunched as he froze for a moment with indecision, but the look in Ben’s eyes told him to shut up and do what he was told. He stood up and spun on his heels, running full speed in the direction he had seen the rogue alien go.
Rook quickly changed the setting on his proto-tool as he ran, a menial task he’d done hundreds of times, yet somehow holding much more weight than normal. He knew he’d only have one shot at this, and wanted to return to Ben’s aid as soon as possible.
Rook rounded the corner out of the alley, seeing the alien hadn’t gotten too far and continued his pursuit. He aimed his proto-tool as he ran, focusing hard on his target. He inhaled sharply, then pulled the trigger, a net instantly flying out of it and towards the alien.
The net hit its target perfectly, the alien crying out as it stumbled to the ground, limbs tangling hopelessly in the netting. Rook ran up to it and without hesitating used his proto-tool as a bludgeon to hit it in the head. The alien shuttered and went still, and Rook took a step back, not quite sure what came over him just then. He glanced at his proto-tool in uncertainty, deciding to stow it back on its spot on his shoulder.
The alien did not stir, and despite the guilt of not following through on proper protocol, Rook made the decision that the alien was secure enough and turned around to head back to the alley. He had half a mind to remember he had a human first aid kit in the proto-truk, and while silently thanking his past self for the forethought of putting it there, took a quick detour to where the truk was parked.
The passenger door was still open wide, but Rook ignored it as he opened the back of the truk. It was not like any normal human could easily operate the truk if they wanted to steal it anyway, and he wasn’t going to waste time walking over to close the door. Rook located the first aid kit under one of the panels, perfectly in its own place in his neatly organized vehicle.
He sprinted back to the alley with the kit tucked under his arm, just in time to see Ben’s full body shudder as he collapsed fully onto the ground.
Rook rushed to Ben’s side, pulling him back into an upright position and propping him against the wall. Ben groaned at the movement, his hand squeezing the shoulder wound, causing more blood to flow out of it.
“Ben, how are you feeling?” Rook asked.
“Fantastic,” Ben half laughed, rolling his head to the side towards Rook. There was a mixture of pain and amusement etched into those green eyes. “Just give me a minute, I can totally walk this off.”
Rook, much less amused by the comment, furrowed his brows in worry, cursing himself internally for not knowing more about human biology. Revonnans had tough skin and blood that clotted quickly and was incredibly resistant to infections, an evolutionary trait that came about for fighting off the Muroids. If Rook had taken that bite instead of Ben, it may not have even punctured his flesh. He’d never seen an injury this severe in person, and he felt lost about where to even start.
Rook pulled out his communicator. “Rook Blonko to plumber base. Come in. An incident on 4th and Main has occurred, one injured. Backup requested.”
The radio crackled to life with a response, but Rook hardly registered it. He quickly opened up the first aid kit, scanning it for a moment, trying to decide what would be useful.
“Hey!”
Rook was startled by the sudden sound, turning to see whose mouth it had originated from. The elderly woman from before was now standing, strutting over to him with a fury in her step.
“Leave that young man alone! Get away from him!”
Rook furrowed his brows. ‘“I am helping him, miss. He is my partner." He didn’t have time for this.
The woman stepped closer, a hatred filling her eyes that looked nothing like the fear Rook had seen in them earlier. “I’m going to call the police! Get off this planet! You’re not welcome here Alien!!”
Ah. Rook had gotten so used to being around humans like Ben and the other plumbers, he’d forgotten some of the rest of humanity found his appearance… unappealing. She must have been too scared a few minutes ago to properly object to who was saving her. Rook opened his mouth to respond again, but Ben shifted his head to look at her and beat him to it.
“Fuck off lady, we just saved your life,” Ben muttered out. The woman’s angry face twisted into one of surprise that mirrored Rook’s. Ben shifted more to sit up fully, his attention turning to the first aid kit, fully ignoring the woman now. “Grab the gauze,” he instructed.
Rook glanced at the woman, but did as he was told, reaching into the kit and pulling out a large roll of gauze. “Should we not clean the wound first?” He asked.
Ben shook his head. “They’ll do that back at base. Probably stitch me up too if it’s bad enough. We just gotta stop the bleeding until backup gets here.” Rook nodded and unraveled a large piece of the gauze, holding it out and signaling Ben to remove his hand. Ben started to move, but shuttered and paused. “You gotta apply pressure, okay? Like, more than I’m doing right now. I’m not gonna like it.”
Rook nodded sternly. “Understood.” He heard a loud huff behind him followed by heated footsteps that slowly got quieter as they faded out of the alley. Rook glanced behind himself again, seeing that the woman was pulling out her phone as she stormed off. It didn’t really matter, since the plumbers would get there much faster than any human police could. It was good, that woman was being too distracting.
Ben removed his hand fully, giving Rook a chance to actually look at the bite. It had torn through Ben’s shirt, leaving tattered bits of black fabric hanging uselessly, giving full access to the wound sight. The incision marks did not appear as bad as Rook had initially feared, perhaps less than an inch deep, and he couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved at that fact. What was concerning, however, was the yellowish foam smeared across the full bite, mixing with the blood and seeping into the cuts. Rook had seen it foaming out of the alien’s mouth earlier, and hoped it didn’t have some infection causing agent in it.
Rook quickly placed the gauze over the front of the wound, then wrapped it towards the back where there were also a few incision marks. Satisfied with the placement, he clasped Ben’s shoulder between his hands on both sides, applying even pressure with the palms of his hands. Ben hissed, biting his lip and seeming like he was holding back a scream. His uninjured arm grabbed his forearm, smearing blood across it while squeezing it tightly.
“Ow- okay, you gotta press a little harder–shit, that’s worse than I thought it was gonna be. Hold on,” Ben choked out, jerking his body as if trying to escape Rook’s grasp, but Rook held tight. “Ugh, upright feels bad. My head is- my whole body, I gotta lay down.”
“Alright, hold on for a moment,” Rook said, adjusting himself from a squatting position to sitting on his knees, which was awkward to do without his hands available.
Once sat, he gently guided Ben backwards towards him, flipping his hand placement on the wound to work with the new position. Ben grunted at the movement, but sighed in relief when he was situated against Rook.
“Jesus–okay, that’s better. Still hurts like a bitch. But better,” Ben said, aiming a strained smile up towards Rook. Rook smiled back, trying not to note the way Ben’s bangs fell messily into his face; but it morphed into a frown when Ben’s whole body began to convulse and he rolled to the side and almost off of Rook, coughing hard. Rook could only really watch, continuing to hold Ben’s shoulder as he had been instructed to do in order to keep the bleeding at bay.
“Ben!”
The coughing fit ended almost as fast as it came, but the shaking continued as Ben tried to prop himself up on his good arm. “Oh man, my shoulder’s all tingly now,” Ben whined out. “That’s new. And bad. D’you think that thing was poisonous or something?”
“Venemous, Ben,” Rook corrected, although correcting Ben did not hold its usual satisfaction. “It is entirely possible.”
“Okay, shoot, that’s not good. You caught it, right?” Ben asked, leaning back on his knees and resting his head face first against Rook’s legs.
“I did, yes,” Rook said.
Ben shifted his head to the side, half lidded eyes attempting to look up at Rook. “Okay yes good, great. They can uhhh fix me with that.”
Rook’s frown seemed to be becoming permanently etched into his face at this point. Ben’s condition was going downhill rapidly. Rook made a quick list of symptoms in his head, tingling, coughing, muscle spasms, droopy eyelids. All happening far too early to be signs of infection, so Ben’s venom theory held some ground.
Rook shifted their position so Ben was on his side, in case another coughing fit occurred. “Make sure to remain conscious, Ben. I saw you hit your head pretty hard earlier, so you may have a concussion.”
Ben just hummed in response.
The sound of brakes creaking to a stop echoed into the alley and Rook pulled Ben closer protectively and stared in the direction of the sound, unsure if it would be friend or foe. Footfall on the ground quickly rounded the corner and Rook released the tension in his shoulders when he saw the familiar plumber uniforms. The team of plumbers filed into the alley, splitting off to examine the scene of the incident while a few made it towards where Ben and Rook were.
Rook felt them take Ben out of his arms as another round of coughs wracked through his partner’s body, heard distant shouting as the coughing stopped and Ben laid still. Someone questioned him about what happened, and the words flowed out of his lips on autopilot in a recount of the fight and the whereabouts of the attacker, the fast deterioration of his partner’s condition, his symptoms.
The walls started to move and Rook realized it was actually his legs moving, steadily taking one step in front of the other as they carried him towards the truck that Ben was being rushed into. He wanted to shout, to climb into that truck and do something useful. But the walls didn’t stop moving when Rook planted his feet firmly, watching as the truck disappeared down the street as everything spun around him.
His hands appeared in front of his face, except they weren’t his hands, not really, because his hands weren’t supposed to be covered in blood.
~~~
Rook sat, motionless, in a little folding chair that he was probably a little too tall for. He was leaning forward, forearms resting on his knees and hands clasped together in front of him. The only sound that filled the room was a steady beeping indicating the stable condition of his partner. Rook couldn’t help but stare at the rise and fall of Ben’s chest as air entered and exited his lungs.
Rook wasn’t sure what to think. He was used to Ben being reckless. He even learned to trust it. To think the teen always had some sort of plan running through his head, or just some kind of cosmic protection that always aided him at the last second. He’d seen Ben injured before, sure. A concussion here and there, scrapes and bruises. That was part of the job. And it wasn’t like Rook was unaware of the possibility of he or Ben dying. Plumbers knew the risk they were taking when they joined the academy.
The events of that afternoon kept playing in Rook’s head on repeat. It just didn’t make sense. It felt like such a routine fight. Not like any of the heavy hitters that were really a threat, like Vilgax. Just some stray that ended up on the wrong planet. That may be what felt so off about it. It was just some alien that found itself on Earth, scared and lost and lashing out. There was no reason for anyone to walk out of the fight with anything but minor injuries.
If Rook had been closer to the fight instead of trying to hang back and protect that woman, or if he’d just started with the net, or if Ben hadn’t been so reckless-
“Hey, don’t go and start planning my funeral just yet.”
Rook snapped out of his thought spiral, adjusting his posture more upright and looking up towards Ben’s face. “Apologies, Ben. I was just lost in thought. How are you feeling?”
Ben rolled his eyes, using his good arm to push himself into a seating position. Rook held back the urge to fret and try to stop Ben from moving too much or hurting himself. After adjusting fully, Ben smiled brightly. “I’ve been worse. It takes more than a little bite to take me out. And whatever painkillers they have me on are totally working.”
Rook half smiled back. “I will alert the nurses that you are awake.”
He stood up and walked over to the door.
“Wait, Rook, you'll come back right?”
Rook turned his head. “You want me to?”
“I mean, duh. Anything the doctors tell me I’m just gonna turn around and tell you anyway. Might as well get the version that comes from the guy that knows all the medical jargon and not just me trying to repeat it while high on pain meds.”
Rook nodded and left the room. He located a nurse quickly, letting her know Ben was awake and lucid, and she scurried off to find a doctor. Rook didn’t know why, but he felt a little uneasy about being alone with Ben again. He didn’t think about what he’d say when Ben woke up. So he waited outside of Ben’s room until the doctor showed up, and then followed them in.
The doctor took a seat in the chair Rook had been using, and explained that Ben had a minor concussion, a fractured rib, and needed 19 stitches. The alien that bit him had a neurotoxin in its saliva that it used for hunting prey on its home planet. The toxin was extremely potent to him and reached his nervous system fast, causing shutdowns in the nerves and muscles all over his body, including in his heart. They were only able to create an antivenom quickly enough to save him because Rook had caught the alien, allowing them to collect a direct sample of the venom.
Rook leaned against the wall on the far side of the room as he listened in. Ben was nodding along, but didn’t seem to be taking much in, instead his eyes often drifting over to Rook with a look on his face that Rook couldn’t quite read. He wasn’t sure what to make of it.
After a long winded explanation about all of his injuries, procedures that had been done, how long healing would take, when he’d be discharged, etc. and the doctor attempting to notify Ben’s parents; (to which Ben almost leaped straight up to stop them from doing, causing them to settle on calling Grandpa Max) the doctor left and Ben and Rook were alone again.
A moment of awkward silence passed.
“Okay, Rook, you gotta tell me what’s up,” Ben huffed.
Rook looked at him, puzzled. “I do not know what you are talking about.”
“You’re acting all mopey dude. Like I died or something.”
Rook shifted uncomfortably, folding his arms across his chest. “I did witness you stop breathing.”
“For like a minute,” Ben crossed his arms as well, immediately wincing from the action. “Look, I’m totally fine.”
“If I had not caught the alien you would be dead.”
“But you did catch it.”
“That is not the point.”
“Then what is the point?”
Rook threw his arms up in the air. “The point is that you could have died! If I had not caught the alien, or not stopped the bleeding, or if the plumbers had not shown up on time-”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Dude, if I spent all my time thinking about how many times I’ve almost died I would never stop thinking about it! Just move on, no big deal.”
“If it is no big deal, why do you not wish to tell your parents?” Rook raised a brow.
“Leave my parents out of this!”
“You do not want to worry them! Because this is cause for worry!”
Ben grabbed a fistful of blanket in his good hand. “It’s not! That’s why I’m not telling them! So that they don’t worry!”
Rook stepped closer, growing frustrated. “Your lack of concern for your own well-being is going to actually get you killed one day!”
“Well it hasn’t yet!!”
Rook felt a growl forming in the back of his throat, taking a step back and inhaling sharply to recenter himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. “You are untrained and reckless. I am simply trying to express concern for your well-being.”
“Yeah? Well don’t! I didn’t ask for you to be concerned for me. I didn’t even want a partner.”
The words hung in the air, Ben’s eyes staring intently at his blanket with deeply furrowed brows, clutching at the blanket like it was a lifeline.
Rook blinked and deflated a little. “Apologies. I thought…” thought what? That they were getting closer? Becoming friends? “I suppose I overstepped.”
Ben didn’t respond, eyes still concentrated on the blanket. Rook waited for him to say something. To tell him to leave, or to stay, or to apologize. But they continued to sit in silence, Ben’s gaze unmoving.
Rook sighed, turning and heading towards the door. “I will see you at work,” he said.
He did not turn around to see the way Ben was looking at him as he opened the door and shut it gently behind himself.
Ben Tennyson was very annoying.