Ben 10 - Gray

On normal occasions, hearing herself being referred to as Mrs. Levin brought a warm smile to her face. It was a declaration to the world, to the universe even, of what she had always known to be true. That she, Gwendolyn Tennyson, belonged to Kevin Levin, now and forever more.

However, when the words came from the lips of a frowning, portly, multi-limbed, multi-eyed middle school principal, Gwendolyn decided it was bad manners to have anything but an apologetic look on her face.

“Thank you for coming, Mrs. Levin. I know you’re usually so busy with your work with the Plumbers and given the nature of young Devlin’s circumstance neither of you should even be here.” The principal rubbed the stalk of an eye with a tentacle while his other eyes turned towards the pale young man seated beside his mother. “But the school board is being extra strict in handling fights that break out on school property especially when portions of said property get broken.”

“It’s no problem, Principal Kirken. What exactly happened?” Gwendolyn asked of the alien as she placed a reassuring on her son’s shoulder.

“Devlin? Would you care to tell your mother or shall I?”

The dark-haired boy shrugged before turning to face Gwendolyn, “Hank was picking on some third graders so I told him to lay off. He made like he was gonna stop so I walked back to Ken and the gang. Then he sucker punched me.”

Gwendolyn looked indignant that someone could be so cowardly as to do such a thing. Until she reminded herself that these were kids and that her husband was known to fight dirty even up to the present. She stared at Devlin and carefully studied him. Even if his long, obsidian hair was pulled back away from his face or his nose wasn’t as aquiline as Kevin’s, his features made him the spitting image of his father.

She noted the unconcerned, unapologetic expression that was the sign of budding arrogance, which was closely similar to Kevin’s own smug, self-assured confidence. The female Plumber could already predict what her son did next.

Devlin would have assumed his larger form and pounded some manners and maybe fear into Hank. He wouldn’t hold back, considering Hank had made the first move and a cheap shot at that. Without knowing what specie Hank was (as Earth was now home to more than just the human race), Gwendolyn could only use Devlin’s abilities to gauge the amount of damage the school took.

Sure enough, Devlin admitted that he had indeed roughed Hank up and then some. And judging from the lack of bruising on her son, Gwendolyn could tell it had been a one-sided fight that heavily favored the dark-haired boy.

“Devlin may have been standing up to a bully but he did cause a good deal of damage to the school yard, the cafeteria and the parking lot.” Principal Kirken explained.

“How much damage are we talking about?” Gwendolyn bit her lower lip. When the principal showed her the estimated sum, emerald eyes grew saucer-wide.

“You don’t have to worry about paying for any of it, seems one of the third graders Devlin stood up for is the daughter of a construction company owner.” The alien assured the red-head, “This is all for formality and protocol’s sake. To be quite honest, Hank has been quite the trouble maker but none of the students ever came forward to report him. He made sure never to cause any mischief whenever a teacher was a round so the school couldn’t quite do anything about it.

“And strictly off the record, I was rather glad to see that brat get tossed around like a ragdoll. Your son he must take after both his parents.”

Gwendolyn would have mentioned that if her son took after her, he wouldn’t have caused so much damage but she did feel the strange warmth of pride glowing within her. So instead, she smiled affectionately at Devlin whose cheeks seemed to be tinged pink from the praise.

“It was nothing.” He mumbled, trying to make it sound as if it didn’t matter to him in the least.

“Well then, I hope the next time we meet it’ll be under more pleasant circumstances.” The principal extended a tentacle to both Gwendolyn and Devlin. They accepted the proffered limb and shook politely before exiting.

Outside, Gwendolyn spied a strangely familiar blonde man scolding an already injured boy who was several years older and bigger than Devlin (at least when the dark-haired boy was in his human form).

“That’s Hank Morningstar,” the pale lad whispered to his mother when they were out of earshot. “Turns out he’s a real pushover.”

Gwendolyn blinked at hearing the boy’s last name and was decidedly glad that Devlin had no idea who the boy’s father was. “Violence is never the answer, Devlin.”

“But he hit me first.” He reasoned, “And Dad said it was okay to fight back so long as I didn’t throw the first punch.”

“Your dad plays by his own rules.” Gwendolyn reminded him, though the hint of a smile tugged at her lips. “He’s not exactly the best person to use as a role model when it comes to judging when it’s time to fight.”

“If I don’t fight back, Dad says everyone’ll walk all over me.” Devlin pouted, folding his arms across his chest.

“Devlin, you just showed everyone at your school that they can’t walk all over you.” Gwendolyn laughed, ruffling her son’s hair playfully, “And I guess since you were sticking up for those third graders and Hank did start the fight I could let this slide.”

The dark-haired boy looked up to his mother with the sole physical feature he inherited from her. The corners of his verdant eyes crinkled as he smiled brightly at her, “Are you gonna tell dad about this when he gets back?”

“I’m sure he’d love to hear all about it.” She nodded before suddenly taking flight, “Race you home!”

Devlin’s face shone with glee as he changed into his larger form to speed after his mother.

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Kevin was seated on the couch, waiting impatiently for his family to arrive. He didn’t like coming home to find it empty. It worried him. If the doors and windows hadn’t been locked when he got there, he would have thought the worst had happened while he was away. That was one of the down sides to being a bounty hunter. You made more enemies than you would as a Plumber.

The dark-haired mutant had long left the Plumbers. They had too many rules, too many restrictions and that annoying moral compass of theirs nearly drove him nuts. The only thing that organization had going for them was that the female Tennyson. And now that she was his, legally at that, he really saw no point in keeping the badge.

It wasn’t that he was back on the side of evil, he had turned his back on that part of his life the moment he decided Gwendolyn would be his.

And in return he would be hers and hers alone.

It wasn’t a fair trade. Kevin was more than convinced he got the better deal.

The sound of the automated door lock shutting off caught his attention. He got to his feet, ready with a slew of questions regarding the how’s and why’s of their not-being-home. But when he heard the laughter of his wife and his son he realized he was being a foolish, overprotective idiot who forgot that his family was more than capable of fending for themselves.

Still, he wanted answers and answers he will get. Right after he takes Gwendolyn into his arms and kisses her until Devlin declares that his parents are being gross. Kevin presses his mouth against Gwendolyn’s lips and onto the skin of her cheeks, her forehead, her neck and whatever else he could reach.

“Ewww, could you two not do that in front of me.” Devlin made a face as he shielded his eyes with a shudder.

“Sorry kiddo,” Gwendolyn laughed in between the shower of kisses she was raining down on Kevin.

“I’ll be in my room until you two decide to stop being so mushy.” The lad declared as he rushed upstairs.

“I do believe we’ve scared our son into hiding,” Gwendolyn laughed as she stared after Devlin’s retreating figure.

“He’ll toughen up,” Kevin chuckled, “Anything happen while I was gone?”

She nodded and proceeded to tell him of the trouble their child had gotten himself into.

“And he said it was Morningstar’s kid?” Kevin was grinning like a mad man; it was an expression that sent both a cold shudder and a delicious thrill up Gwendolyn’s spine.

“The father did look suspiciously familiar.” She confirmed. “But I don’t think Devlin should know who Mike was and what happened. The past’s the past, you know?”

“You were always too forgiving, Gwendolyn.” He shook his head. Though Kevin knew he had no reason to begrudge her for that, otherwise he wouldn’t have had a snowball’s chance in hell with her.

She curled her arms around Kevin’s neck, murmuring “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

“I’m glad you gave me one.” He whispered.

“And I’m glad you took it.” She tiptoed to kiss him lightly on the lips before pulling back, “I’m going to go make dinner. I’d ask you to give Devlin a talk about the fight in the meantime, but you’ll probably only encourage him.”

“Would I do a thing like that?” He gasped feigning wounded pride.

She placed a hand on her hip as she smirked at him. “Yes, yes you would.”

Regardless of his wife’s words, Kevin still went up to speak with his son. Mostly to get the details of the actual fight and to learn what state Devlin left Hank. Gwendolyn may have forgiven Morningstar of his transgressions against them in the past, but Kevin was not as kind.

"You didn’t rough him up that much?" Kevin frowned.

“He had something like a second shield on him at all times. I had to bash him through a whole ton of stuff before that glittery stuff flaked off.” Devlin explained. “After that all it took was one punch and then passed out.”

Kevin suppressed a laugh, seems Mike’s son inherited not only the absurd sparkles of his father but the weak constitution to boot.

“Besides, Mom says I should be using my powers to help people instead of hurting them.” Devlin added.

“You were helping people, those third graders right?”

The young boy scratched the back of his head, “Yeah I guess, but Mom also says that I shouldn’t be too rough with the bad guys if I could help it. Unless they did something really stupid like hurt family.”

Kevin listened intently to his son’s words, if he closed his eyes he could swear he was listening to Gwendolyn. Even if his voice was nothing like the red-head’s, the way Devlin spoke with conviction and a strong sense of justice made the young boy sound just like her.

The bounty hunter noted how his son had so much of his features, save for his eyes. Eyes that seemed capable of seeing beyond the surface of anything, of anyone. But far as Kevin was concerned, he was looking at a smaller version of himself on the outside. And on the inside, where it really mattered, he was looking at Gwendolyn.  

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Devlin was the perfect marriage between the darkness in Kevin that gave him strength of will and of the light in Gwendolyn that gave him strength of character. He was Kevin's atonement and Gwendolyn's promise, a wonderful blend of the good and the bad. If they had been in a world of clear-cut black and white, Devlin was gray.