Chapter Text
“Ben? Son, can you hear me?” Grandpa Max’s voice sounded through a fog. Ben could faintly make out a beeping sound somewhere in the distance as well, but where it was he couldn’t tell. The teen let out a faint groan. Why was it so hard to move? Why was he so tired? He could make out another voice, “His brain patterns are stabling. He should be waking up momentarily.”
Waking up? Had he been asleep? Why? What had happened to him? With more strength then he really felt like he had the teen managed to rasp out, “Grandpa?”
“My God, Ben!” The relieved voice of Max was heard, and Ben could swear he felt what was a gentle hug to his person. Why couldn’t he see anything? Oh right, his eyes were closed. Had he really been sleeping? “What happened?”
“You were hit in the noggin, Ben,” Max’s voice said softly. Had he said that part out loud? The voice of Azmuth called out somewhere nearby as well, “It appears you were targeted in the few seconds between transformation from alien back to human. Thankfully the most you sustained was a head injury that seems to have only done minor damage though your memory center may be a bit off for the next few weeks to months as you heal. I don’t see why you should not make a full recovery however.”
He tried to force his eyes open. He needed to see. He believed Azmuth that he was mostly alright, but there is a true difference between hearing and seeing. With more effort than he knew the act warranted Ben finally managed to open his eyes. Grandpa Max stood on one side of the medical bed, he was in fact holding Ben’s hand now and looking down at him with a worried expression. On the other side, standing on a side table, and looking over a data pad of what was probably Ben’s medical record in his hand, was Azmuth.
“So I’m going to be okay,” Ben asked nervously and , with some difficulty, turned his head slightly so that he could focus a bit more on the Galvan. His head must be off. The little alien looked a little bit different then Ben remembered. Azmuth nodded his head and in a bored sounding voice agreed. “You will be fine. Thankfully the Segmentasapien DNA was still just enough in your system to heal the worst damage and increased your healing factor. There may be some side effects from the injury but those should be minor and heal on their own given a little time.”
As he took in the information, his hand squeezed Max’s as he sought comfort from his Grandpa. He could feel the elder human patting his shoulder with his other hand. It was soothing and helped him stay calm. Not a moment too soon more support showed up in the form of Kevin swinging open the door with force, Gwen behind him. He offered the two a friendly, if not overly tired smile and took in the minor details that this indeed seemed to be different then what he could remember.
“Good to see you still with us, Tennyson! Knew you had a hard head,” Kevin said with a bright smile. The smaller teen couldn’t help but chuckle. He glanced over at his cousin and couldn’t help but frown as the girl looked back through the doorway the two had just entered through and said something to someone in the hallway.
A moment later a very tall, blue alien stepped through the doorway and joined the group in the medical room. Ben looked curiously at the alien who seemed to be very upset and nervous, he even seemed unable to look at Ben. Curious, Ben couldn’t help but ask, “Who are you?” He was not prepared for the reactions that one question triggered. Between Max’s response of, “Oh Kiddo,” Kevin’s announcement of, “well that’s not good,” and even Azmuth’s curious click to sound that he was thinking, Ben didn’t know what was happening, but the one person whose reaction was the worst was the blue alien’s. He looked up at him with golden eyes that looked close to tears. His face showing devastation and just how close the alien was to breaking from guilt.
“Ben…,” that voice was soft as he looked to the teen with such sadness, “I…my name is Rook Blonko…,” he glanced at Max who nodded at the alien before turning back towards him to continue, “I am your partner.” Ben just glanced at him for a moment, something about that triggering the hints of a memory. He knew, just knew that Gwen and Kevin weren’t with him anymore. They were doing their own thing. Partner, he had said. Ben offered the alien what he hoped was a comforting smile. He definitely could do a whole lot worse.
From that tall thin frame, though something about how the weird blue armor sat seemed to indicate that there was a great deal of hidden muscle there. The fur that Ben could see looked like it would be velvety soft and made the teen’s hand twitch and want to touch. Between the cute elvish pointed ears to the shimmering sunset golden eyes, Ben knew this was someone he could definitely see himself with. Partners sounded really good.
“Well it doesn’t surprise me that my boyfriend is someone as cute as you. Hope you don’t mind waiting on me to get out of medical before we go out again,” he said with a hint of a smile, trying to ease the pain he saw in those eyes. He didn’t really understand why the room suddenly went quiet and everyone stared at him, but his partner, Rook… or was it Blonko… had the loveliest coloring to his cheeks through that blue and white fur and his eyes, which had gone wide, were simply enchanting. Oh yeah, Ben could have done worse. He wondered if Blonko liked chili fries? Where did one go with an alien on a date?