Okay, I'm having a slight moment of vanity of posting a Ben-Gwen birthday fic on my birthday...

Birthday Baby Blues

Kevin Levin couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow as he heard his girlfriend growl (yes, growl) out of frustration. The normally composed Gwendolyn Tennyson was sitting on her bed with several opened magazines, shaking her head at each layout she saw.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kevin asked.

Gwen looked up at the current intrusion from her dilemma. "Ben's birthday is coming up."

"So's yours – same day right?" Kevin still looked confused. It still irked him how two completely different personalities like Ben's and Gwen's could sometimes act alike; then again the shared a birth date could be a factor. "What's wrong with that?"

"For the last four years, Ben has given me something amazing for my birthday." Gwen sighed. "I need to give him something of equal value!"

"It can't be anything as amazing as the locket I gave you last year."

Taking a deep breath, Gwen began listing the gifts. "When we turned thirteen, I gave Ben a Sumo Slammer Action Figure and he gave me a charm bracelet; at fourteen I bought him $50.00 worth of gift cards for Mr. Smoothy and he found a rare spell book for my gift; at fifteen, while he made me a leather-bound diary with a lock so that I could practice writing my own spells while I gave him a food basket; then last year I gave Ben a silk shirt while he got me the MP3 player that I use to help study for tests."

Kevin just stared at Gwen, mouth gaping. "What the hell?" He finally croaked.

"Yeah." Gwen smiled. "Our clueless, cocky, immature brat of a leader is the considerate type." She sighed again. "Seriously Kev, what could I possibly get Ben that's practical and sentimental? It's like I don't know my own cousin as well as he knows me…"

"Sounds like an one-up man-ship contest to me..." Kevin muttered.

Gwen narrowed her eyes. "That has nothing to do with this." Gwen sighed, leaning back on her bed and started to massage her temples. "Ben has always been generous, not only with his gifts but also with his loyalty. He deserves something that shows that he's appreciated."

Kevin couldn't argue with Gwen. After all, when he first joined the team, Ben tried to give him a second chance. That, plus Ben got him a very sweet engine and distributor caps of alien design on his last birthday. "I could spy on him to find out what he really needs..." He folded his arms, tapping a finger on his chin.

"Why does it boil down to you wanting to spy on people nowadays?" Gwen questioned.

"Well?" Kevin questioned back. "Do you want to know what he wants for his birthday or not?"

Gwen sighed. "Do it..." It was like she was hitting an all-new low. "And I need to find out quickly for our private gift-exchange at the end of that day."

As Kevin arrived to Ben's place and accepted the cookies that Sandra offered him with much appreciation (how Ben's mom made organic raisin-oatmeal cookies taste awesome, he never knew), he entered his best friend's room, just to see him stare off into space with a book on his lap as he sat on his bed.

"Yo, space cadet!" Kevin shouted to get Ben's attention. Oddly, Ben never made his startled jump like he usually did. The older teen decided to shake the smaller boy's shoulder but still nothing. Feeling somewhat frustrated, he decided to flick a finger by Ben's ear.

"OW!" Ben yelled. "Why the hell did you do that for?"

"You ignored me." Came the simple response. Ben huffed at his best friend and turned his attention to the book on his lap. "So, what are you reading?"

Ben looked away from the opened page to face the other teen. "not so much reading, but writing."

"Homework?"

"Nah, but it's kinda private..."

"Like a diary?" Kevin scoffed. "This is just pilin' up the reason why I call you girly, Tennyson." He stretched for the book. "Lemme read it!"

"Hell no, you ass!" Ben manoeuvred away from Kevin, keeping the book close. "It's more like a log of our Plumber missions."

"If that's all, then it shouldn't be so secret from a friend and teammate." Kevin countered.

"Look, Kev." Ben tried to reason. "There's a lot of personal reflections on our assignments that I'd rather not share with anyone." He sighed lightly. "If it helps keep you off my back, I've written some stuff about dealing with Aggregor and Ma Vreedle that..."

"Say no more." Kevin got up from the bed and headed towards the door. "Just hearing those names is enough to make me not know what you got in there."

"Thanks."

"See ya later, Tennyson." Kevin called out as he left the house.

Kevin was hitting an all-time low in the 'best friend' category.

Later that night as Ben slept, Kevin sneaked into his room to locate the so-called 'log book', which he knew was code for 'diary'. Being careful to not rouse the light sleeper, Kevin searched the room, rifling the stack of books on the computer desk as well as searching its drawers, looking through his sock drawer, and checking the book shelves. As he was about to give up, he almost tripped over the trunk at the foot of Ben's bed, the noise making the young hero stir slightly. Luckily, the noise didn't wake him. Kevin was ready to kick himself for not searching the trunk sooner. He carefully opened it to find the object of his search. 'Jackpot!' He thought as he opened the book to glance for any information that would be helpful for Gwen's dilemma of gift options. Once he came across a page that seemed useful, he placed the book back in its hiding spot and sneaked out of the house.

While driving away, Kevin pulled out his cell to call Gwen. "Yeah, Gwen?" He sighed after hearing the lecture of his timing to call so late at night. "Whatever. You want information as to what to give your cousin for his birthday or not?" The muttering on the other line was rough, but it confirmed that the sleepy redhead was paying attention. "Good. Here's what I found out..."

The big day finally arrived; Ben and Gwen's 17th birthday.

After being denied the pleasure of hosting sweet sixteen parties last year, Sandra and Natalie demanded being able to host a joint party in Natalie's place, since it was large enough for all the invited guests. The home-made food was enjoyed by all, classmates and Plumber associates (mainly Plumber kids) having their fill as they wished the birthday girl and birthday boy well and watched enthusiastically the unwrapping of gifts. The highlight of the gifts were from Kevin; Gwen finally getting a car (no more driving his girl around town in his ride) 'Thanks a lot Ben' the Osmosian thought sarcastically, since Ben was the one to hint the gift suggestion. Then Ben opened his gift to see that he got a weapon that fused Galvanic technology with Crystalsapien rare metals to develop a laser-sword hybrid. Both cousins were ecstatic over the gifts, but Ben had a nagging feeling about his.

"Kevin, how did you know that I was interested in a weapon that's similar to one from Final Fantasy 8?"

Kevin rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I, ah, kinda sneaked a peak into your diary and saw the entry about how you thought the Forever Knights' swords and lasers looked kinda cool, so I decided to forge one?"

"YOU WHAT?"

"Uh...time to go!" Someone called out, leading all the guests to leave.

Sandra lightly tapped Kevin's shoulder. "This would be the best time to escape." She giggled. Only Kevin could get away with doing something kind in an underhanded way.

As the parents cleaned the house, Gwen and Ben went to the back yard to perform their private gift exchange tradition.

"Here, Gwen." Ben smiled as he gave his cousin a colourful envelope with a bow. "I hope you like it."

Gwen quirked an eyebrow at the large envelope, trying to figure out what her cousin could have gotten her. As she opened her gift, she saw documents listing that a tree was planted in South America and chickens and sporting equipment were donated to a small African community in her name.

"Ben!" She hugged him tightly. "This is so nice!" She cleared her throat, ready to give him his gift. "Um, before I give you your gift, I have a confession to make..."

Ben was puzzled. "What type of confession?"

"Well," Gwen started. "Kevin told me a detail from your diary to help me find your gift..."

As much as Ben wanted to be mad, he gave a frustrated sigh. "Well, what is it?"

"First things first..." Gwen created a blindfold made of mana to cover Ben's eyes. "You can't see what it is until we get to our destination."

"Destination?" Ben was confused. "Okay, I know that I've never written anything about going anywhere!"

Ignoring her cousin, Gwen chanted "Meven Aweg", leading them to a new location.

Still blindfolded, Ben felt cold. "Okay, Gwen where are we?" He demanded but received no response. This did not surprise him since Gwen always felt tired after performing a teleportation spell. But he thought it was odd that she would send them to some unknown cold climate and not say anything. All he was able to hear was Gwen's tired breathing and something that sounded like...purring and chattering?

"Kevin told me about the entry about our encounter with Ma Vreedle and not knowing where Big Chill's...well... your babies were." Gwen whispered. "You seem to be thinking about them a lot recently, not knowing where they are..."

"Gwen?" Ben questioned. "Where are you going with this?" But there was no answer. Instead, he felt a slight nudge against his cheek that felt cool. As the mana blindfold faded, Ben came face to face to a small Necrofriggian purring at him. The next thing he knew, four more Necrofriggians about the size of toddlers came flying around him. Ben wasn't stupid; he knew that these were his kids. Although not all of them were together, Ben knew that the babies – well technically toddlers – were safe and it set his mind at ease. As the young Necrofriggians continued with their purrs of being by their mother again, a smaller Necrofriggian – the runt of the litter – came barrelling towards Ben, purring and cuddling against his mother's chest. Ben held the youngest, slight tears running down his eyes and smiling warmly; suddenly it didn't feel so cold.

Gwen just sat to one side, ignoring the headache from teleporting, watching with kind eyes and a soft smile, seeing true joy on her cousin's face.

Fin

Happy Birthday to all December babies!