Hello Readers! I hope you are all well! I want to take a moment to thank every single person who has read favorited or reviewed this drabble. You all truly are an inspiration and a drving force in my life!XD

This exerpt was supposed to be based off another idea from The Indian Princess and on a very abstract level, it still is. However, she suggested the setting for it to be Mickey's ToonTown and since I was fifteen when I first went to DisneyWorld and don't have any children, I have never been to that part of the park. I can't write about a place I know nothing about. I'm sorry.

This one once again completely got away from me lengthwise, guys. But, you all should know by now that I have an unhealthy obssesion with Devlin. I love this child! I usually write to please my readers... this one, however... this one was for me, people!XD I'm not even ashamed to admit it!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All the characters in the Ben 10 franchise belong to MOA and Cartoon Network. Walt Disney World belongs to ©Disney. I make absolutely no profit from any of this. Please, nobody sue!

"Daddy, this is borin'! Can we go?"

The little raven-haired three-year-old held both hands up to his ears in a failing attempt to drown out both the delighted squeals of his younger cousins and the cacophony that was the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade at Disney's Magic Kingdom theme park, scrunching up his little face in an over-exaggerated show of agony. He turned large jade eyes on the man who carried him.

Kevin graced him with a look between commiseration and chastisement. "Kenny and Gwenny are loving the parade, Dev. You have to give them a chance to see what they like."

The toddler turned to look back at the baby his aunt held in her arms. Her eyes were alight with wonder as she marveled at the humongous walking brooms that were currently passing right in front of her. She was laughing her tiny head off at them. His emerald eyes then landed on the two-year-old his uncle held. The toddler brunette was struggling in his father's arms to reach his tiny chubby hand forward so that someone dressed as Stitch could touch it. Once the character shook the child's hand, he started clapping and laughing in absolute ecstasy, turning frantically to both his parents to ask if they'd seen it.

Devlin raised an irritated dark little eyebrow at the scene. Of course, they'd seen it! They weren't blind! He turned his angry eyes back to his father, huffing out petulantly. "Why do I have to be here? Gwenny and Kenny are the only ones havin' any fun!" He'd actually shouted this. The kid was blessed with his father's temperament.

To his full credit, the Osmosian didn't allow his young son's tone to irk him half as much as anyone else speaking to him that way. The list of people in the Universe who got away with raising their voice to him like that could be enumerated using less than all the fingers on one hand. One such person presently occupied his arms- another had her arm around his waist and had diverted her eyes away from the passing show to listen in on the father/son exchange, once she heard the little boy's outburst.

Kevin shot his wife a quick glance before mustering up a good reserve of equanimity. He answered, sternly, "You have to be here, Devlin, because you are the oldest. You have to set a good example for your baby cousins by behaving and allowing them to have fun doing what they want to do. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean you get to be selfish and mess it up for them. So, just suck it up. It'll be over soon."

The tiny Osmosian barely sucked in a breath, before retorting heatedly and with logic far beyond that of a three-year-old, "Gwenny don't even know I'm here, Daddy! An' Kenny's only lookin' at the weirdoes! That's dumb!"

"Oh, God! He's exactly like you!"

The raven-haired man quirked a frustratingly annoyed eyebrow over his wife's head at his softly snickering mother, huffing out a quick, "Not helpful, Ma", before turning back to his son, his face was completely stoic now. "You know what, Kid? You're smart enough to understand that you're being a jerk for not caring what your little cousins want. You're stuck here. I don't care if you like it or not. You wanna reason why? You're three. I'm your father and I just said so!"

When Devlin opened his little mouth with the inevitable comeback, his father narrowed his onyx eyes in unequivocal threat, locking onto his emeralds. "For the love of God, don't test me, Devlin!"

In spite of the clear knowledge that his father had never so much as lifted a finger against him in his short memory, some innate sense of self-preservation or perhaps, some inherent respect ingrained in him since his birth toward the man who held him, caused the emerald-eyed toddler to recoil at the look in his father's eyes. His tiny mouth snapped shut, a fearful look flitting across his large eyes, before his little face scrunched up in belligerence once more. He brought his little arms up to petulantly wrap across his chest, turning away from both his father and everything else going on around him as he huffed out indignantly.

Kevin couldn't help the smirk that split his features at his boy's reaction. The kid had some gumption! He knew full well that he was being a selfish jerk to his little cousins, but he was still adamant about getting his way. The Osmosian was certain the kid had no idea how adorable he looked when he pouted like that. It was certainly doing nothing to sway the older man into giving into his demands.

"I swear it's hard to tell at times if he's your son or your clone! Serves you right for what I had to go through. It's a miracle that I'm not completely gray!"

The ginger brought a hand up to cover an escaping snicker. The raven-haired woman nudged her in mock chastisement, before finishing her statement at her now frowning son. "He's going to be like that for a quite a while, you know. You were one vindictive little..."

"Yeah, Ma! I know! Thanks! And in case either of you cares to know, I'm actually trying to raise him not to be like me." The raven-haired man defended himself in a somewhat insulted tone.

His mother simply waved a dismissive hand, turning back to the festivities ahead. "You can mold clay into whatever you want, Kevin. It'll never stop being clay. You're your father- Devlin is you. At least you both come from good stock..."

The Osmosian didn't miss the hint of sadness that crept into her voice unbidden as she finished her statement. His gaze diverted back down to the little boy in his arms, who was pointedly avoiding him by adamantly staring at the ground, his large green eyes narrowed into furious slits. That smile found its way onto his face again and he tightened his grip around the small child.

Yes. Definitely, good stock... really stubborn, good stock...

Five minutes later, the parade was finally over and the crowds were dispersing on their merry way.

The Savior of the Universe lifted his young son high in the air, as the toddler laughed uncontrollably. "Wasn't that fun, Kenny?"

The little brunette was gasping for breath too hard to respond as his father let him free-fall back down into his vice-like grip and turned to face the rest of their group. His green eyes settled on his nephew's obviously sullen aspect within his father's grasp and his eyebrow quirked up in question at his best friend. Kevin's response was a rather unimpressed roll of his eyes, followed by a sigh.

The older brunette smirked, making his way over to the little sulking three-year-old. He attempted to lean down far enough to look him in the eyes, but the little boy actually lowered his face further. This caused the older emerald-eyed man to emit an amused chuckle, ruffling his long raven hair affectionately. "What's got you so ticked off, Champ?"

Devlin's response was not only instant, but also so driven by uncontrolled rage that it wasn't even fully supraliminal. In the blink of an eye, his tiny hand had ignited with faint blue manna, swiping violently at the hand his uncle rubbed softly against his head. The force of the impact was actually enough to make the far stronger older man wring his hand out to stop the stinging as he looked down in shock at the tiny boy who now burned enraged matching emerald eyes into his.

The boy's father was so overwhelmingly appalled at what his son had just done; his mind couldn't even conjure a proper response. Thankfully for him and rather unfortunately for the raven-haired toddler in his arms, however, his wife's razor sharp mind suffered no such lag.

The instant she saw her son slap her cousin's hand away from him, she literally wrenched the toddler out of her husband's arms, holding him up to her eye level as she rushed him posthaste away from the rest of the group toward an unoccupied bench. None of them missed the unmistakable anger that flashed in the Anodyte's eyes right before they became ablaze with magenta, the young boy's eyes started glowing right along with hers immediately. She reached the bench, plopping down on it with her son in her lap.

"No, no, no, no, no, Devlin! You never, ever hit or use manna against anyone in your family! Do you understand me?" When the little boy's glowing magenta eyes narrowed and he attempted to turn away from her, thus breaking their connection, she brought a hand up to cup his noticeably anger-reddened, chubby cheeks. As gently as she could, she forced his eyes back on hers. At this point, she was far too flustered to care if the others, who were now joining them, heard her chastising her child. "I'm not playing with you, Devlin Benjamin! If you know what's good for you, answer me!"

"I didn't want anyone touchin' me!" The toddler's choleric outburst finally came.

"I swear, Devlin... You scream at your mother just one more time..." Ben put a halting hand on his best friend's shoulder, pulling him back gently from leaning over both the bench and his own son menacingly. When the Osmosian snapped frantically incensed onyx eyes to meet his, the brunette only shook his head softly at him, a commiserating look on his face.

The raven-haired man shrugged the hand off, taking two steps back from the bench. He breathed in few times, raking a frustrated hand through his dark hair in an effort to rein in his temper. He inwardly thanked God that Ben was there. He really didn't want to loose it with his son... never with his boy.

The Anodyte afforded but a quick worried glance at her husband, before refocusing her attention on the brooding child on her lap. She too breathed in deeply, closing her eyes briefly to find the reticence she required to properly, word her arraignment to her child. She'd dealt with this volatile, explosive, unstable idiosyncrasy in her husband for a decade now and though she never wanted the boy to inherit it, she was certainly the best-qualified individual to deal with this particular quirk.

Once she reopened her jade eyes, they held a softer knowing look that, in spite of his anger, Devlin couldn't help but quirk a questioning little eyebrow at. He was naturally curious, after all. His expression further softened when his mother moved her hand softly up his chubby little cheek and into his hair, stroking the ever-growing raven locks lovingly.

When she spoke, her voice was still stern, but held an understated understanding. "There is never a good reason to hurt anyone who is only worried about you, Devlin. Manna hurts. Hitting people hurts... and as you get older, it will just hurt other people more and more. Is that what you wanted? Were you trying to hurt your uncle, Sweetheart?"

The toddler's brow furrowed in sincere confusion before he answered honestly in a soft voice. "I can't hurt Uncle Ben, Mommy. He's way bigger than me."

The ginger pursed her lips, nodding once at her son, before turning to regard her cousin. "Ben, did getting slapped by Devlin hurt?"

Before the twenty-five-year-old could reply, the little boy he held in his arms finally caught on to what had gotten the adults so rattled. He turned wide concerned eyes at his father. "Devy gave you an owie, Daddy?"

Ben sent a reassuring smile back at his son. "Nah, Kenny! I'm fine! See?" He held his hand up to the little boy, who grabbed the much larger appendage with both his own, seemingly examining it for signs his father was fibbing.

"Ben! A little honesty would be helpful here!"

The smile fell from the Savior of the Universe's lips as his eyes settled on his cousin's disapproving scowl, then traveled to meet the expectant gaze of the boy he considered his nephew.

He let out a defeated breath. "Jeesh! All right! It stung! So, the kid doesn't know his own strength. But, it's not like I'm loosing a digit or something over it! Plus, it's not like it's his fault he has you two's genetics! Honestly!"

Kenny couldn't understand most of what his father said, but he definitely understood what 'stung' meant. It was what bees did. He knew that hurt! His mom had told him so. That's why he wasn't supposed to mess with them. If his cousin had done what bees did when you messed with them... he did something bad to his father! The tiny brunette immediately turned narrowed incriminating eyes on his older cousin, shouting at the top of his lungs. "You hurt Daddy!"

The three-year-old's eyes widened in attritional horror at the accusation the only brother he'd ever known launched at him. Funny how this little two-year-old, who barely knew what went on around him half the time could get through to him with far more ease than all the adults here combined. Devlin's mind instantly went into overdrive trying to conjure an excuse, some reasoning, some way of getting his cousin to change that horrible condemning way he stared at him. "No, Kenny! I-I didn't! I-I can't...!"

His green eyes shot frantically between his cousin and uncle, the older man gracing him with a soft sympathetic smile, before they finally landed back on his mother. She was regarding him with that same soft knowing demeanor, only now one of her eyebrows was quirked up. "You need to apologize to your uncle, Devlin." She prodded softly, yet severely.

A mix between irritation and embarrassment flashed in his large green eyes at his mother's command. Regardless of the guilt he felt over what he did, he didn't want to actually, apologize for it. Stubbornness was, after all, inherent to his psyche- thanks to his sire. The crease that appeared between his mother's pretty eyebrows, made it painfully obvious he had no say in the matter, however. He lowered his eyes to the bench beside him, mumbling out, "Sorry, Uncle Ben."

He knew it wasn't right, but Kevin couldn't help the amused, sarcastic scoff that escaped him. "Loud enough for everyone to hear you, Devlin! We all know you're capable of being way louder than that, if you feel like it!"

The oldest toddler actually had the audacity to shift a sneer his father's way.

The older raven-haired man just chuckled mirthlessly, narrowing his eyes dangerously. "Seriously, Kid?"

Even at the age of three, Devlin understood the unvoiced threat in his father's baritone. He cringed briefly, before turning back to his uncle. This time his voice was much clearer, if laced with tangible resentment. "I'm sorry I hit you, Uncle Ben!

As soon as the words left his little mouth, he crossed his arms misanthropically, his emerald eyes finding the bench once more.

The boy's mother released an exasperated breath, regarding him with incredulity before chancing a pleading look up to her husband. To her growing consternation, the Osmosian was openly smirking down at his son. When their eyes met, the look his obsidian pools conveyed, simply stated, 'That's pretty much the best you're getting out of the grouchy little brat!'

She leveled a disapproving scowl at the man she married and turned back to her moody toddler with a renewed sense of determination. "Fine, Devlin. If you want to have that snippy little attitude, then I'll tell you what... I've given you a break while we're here on vacation, but as soon as we get back to the hotel today- you and I are hitting the gym for a training session."

The three-year-old's head snapped up so quickly, it should have caused whiplash. His emerald eyes seemed to overtake every other feature on his little face as he shrieked in absolute mortification. "No, Mommy! Please! I'll be good! I promise! No trainin' here!"

As the boy's mother scrutinized him to decide whether to impose her punishment, Ben leaned over to his best friend in order to whisper worriedly in the older man's ear. "Okay, Dude. That's in no way, a normal reaction to the prospect of exercising! What exactly is Gwen training the poor kid to do?"

The Osmosian shrugged and leaned toward the brunette to respond just as quietly. "The kid needs to learn control, Ben... discipline. I'm certainly not qualified to teach him that, so Gwen takes him to the gym twice a week for two hours. I honestly have absolutely no idea what she does to him, Man. All I know is that when he comes out, he's always so beat, all he wants to do is go straight to bed."

The Savior of the Universe sent him a scandalized look before whispering back harshly. "You never thought to ask your wife what she's doing to your three-year-old kid that he ends up that knocked out, Psycho?"

His answer was another shrug and easy smile from the dark man. "He's in one piece, Tennyson. That's a heck of a lot more than I can guarantee if I have to teach him to hold back! I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna go about teaching him to control the Osmosian thing. The kid finds buttons to push that I didn't even know I had when he gets like this and he needs to learn control. His Anodyte abilities go berserk when he throws a tantrum. If anything, I'm eternally grateful that his mother is here to take care of this. You don't look a gift horse in the mouth, buddy."

Before the wielder of the Omnitrix could think up a good reply to that, the Osmosian moved away from him, bending over the bench to take his son in his arms once more. He grinned evilly at the slightly frowning toddler, though his tone was deathly serious. "You know what, Gwen? I have an even better punishment for Devy, here. We're not going on the Pirates of the Caribbean like he wanted."

"NO!" Was instantly chorused by three whiny, immature voices. The raven-haired man momentarily ignored the two toddlers to send an annoyed, disbelieving look at the full-grown man-child that had voiced his complaint right along with them. The brunette didn't even bother with the pretense of postpubescence. "I want to go on that, Kevin! Kenny does, too!" He punctuated the statement by pointing his disappointed, pouting son at the older man. It was as if a little child was flaunting another little child!

The man charged with the safety of this Galaxy, everybody!

The oldest member of the group stepped forth now, placing a gentle hand on her son's shoulder. She smiled up gently at him once his onyx eyes turned to her. "Ben's right, Kev. You all should go on the ride. It's not fair that everyone should be punished for Devlin's misbehaving. I'll stay behind with him... go."

"This ain't fair to me neither, Daddy! I said I'm sorry!"

Kevin rolled unimpressed eyes from his mother to land on his little boy. "Oh, and the sincerity you said it with was so believable, Kid. You ain't getting away with that!" He turned back to the raven-haired woman as the toddler once more crossed his arms, pouting. He couldn't help the lop-sided smirk that adorned his demeanor again as he regarded her. He honestly found his boy adorable when he sulked like this. "You sure, you wanna deal with him when he's like this, Ma?"

Mrs. Levin let out an amused scoff, taking her grandson out of her son's grasp. Although, the three-year-old remained with his arms crossed, a resolute scowl scrunching up his little face, he let his head rest against the crook of his grandmother's neck when she began rubbing soothing circles on his back. She smiled up at her son, sending him a pointed look. "I've dealt with worse in my lifetime, Sweetheart. Can't say I handled it the best way the first time around, but I can certainly try to make amends with the younger generation."

Guilt immediately warped the august features of the Osmosian at his mother's words. Did she actually blame herself for his childhood? She was sorely mistaken!

As if reading where his train of thought was heading, the older ebony quickly remarked mirthfully, "Oh, please, Kevin! Don't look at me like that! Plenty of mistakes were made throughout your upbringing and they can't all be blamed on an emotionally unstable child who had no idea who or what he was! You're being melodramatic. I'm just grateful that you ended up semi-okay as an adult and I have this little guy to try again with. You never know. Maybe, this time around, I'll get a better end result. Leave!"

Kevin quirked a jilted dark eyebrow at the woman who'd given him life, clicking his tongue; some of that little dissertation was pretty insulting, even if she'd worded it as a joke. The joke was still at his expense.

His mother noticed. She graced him with a fictitiously innocent, saccharin smile, bringing her hand up to tap his cheek sweetly, before heading back to sit on the bench with her grandchild. She looked down at the beautiful angry little boy, calling over her shoulder. "We'll be here when you all get back."

The Japanese American, who'd finished accommodating her infant daughter in the stroller during this whole little family moment, now came to place a hand on her scowling dark friend's arm. She smiled sympathetically at him. "Don't feel bad, Kev. I read somewhere that children never really grow up in their mother's eyes.

He smiled down at her gratefully before the innocuous gesture turned devious. "Why exactly are you with Ben again, Julie? You're aware that you really married down, right?"

"Hey! I'm standing right here, Dude!"

The little ebony giggled, bringing the stroller around to start walking in the direction of their next destination. She passed her husband, who was still glaring at his best friend and couldn't help remarking, "I decided to be charitable. It's pathetic how helpless he is without me."

The brunette instantly turned on her, catching up to her stride with his son in his arms. Affront was clear in his tenor. "Okay. Ha, ha! So, it's 'make Ben a target day', now?" All he received in response was another bout of giggles.

The Anodyte snickered softly at the retreating couple, bending down on her haunches before her son. He still didn't meet her gaze as she placed a soft kiss to his little cheek. She sighed shortly, commanding, "You behave for Grandma while we're gone, Dev. I know you don't like this, but you need to learn that this kind of behavior just isn't okay, baby."

When the toddler turned his face fully, burying his nose in the older woman's clavicle with a huff, the ginger rose to her feet, releasing a resigned breath. She found comfort in the strong arms her husband wrapped around her waist from behind as he approached the bench.

The raven-haired woman nuzzled the three-year-old's forehead with her cheek, sending his parents a commiserating smile. "I told you. Levins are as obstinate as they come. You would stay mad longer than you could even remember what you were angry at in the first place when you were this age, Kevin."

"Yeah! That's definitely not gonna happen with Dev, Ma. The kid remembers everything! Trust me. Weird thing is that I actually think he gets it from Ben, of all people. He'll stay mad until he finds something more interesting to draw his attention. If you need anything, we're a call away, okay." With those final words, he pulled his redhead away in the direction the Tennysons had gone.

A half hour later, Mrs. Levin still sat at the bench awaiting the return of her group. She diverted her eyes away from the story she read on her tablet to look down somewhat worriedly at the somber three-year-old, who now used her thigh as a pillow as he watched the people pass by. He'd grown tired of his position on her lap about twenty five minutes ago and decided to lay down instead. He hadn't spoken a single word, however, and the silence was starting to unnerve the older woman.

"You know, Devy, I'm not the one you're mad at. Some conversation would be nice... Your videogame is in my purse. Would you like to play a little? Your parents don't have to find out." All she received in response was a rustling against her thigh, correlating with the toddler shaking his little head.

"Wow! Tough room!" She huffed under her breath.

"I hope you don't find this too forward of me, Miss, but your son is absolutely adorable!"

The raven-haired woman jolted slightly at the unfamiliar voice, staring up beside her to regard a man in his early fifties. He had unusually light gray eyes behind thin-rimmed glasses and a rather healthy build for a man his age. However, the way he smiled at her, eying her as if he could see through her clothes- was seriously creeping her out. Not to mention, she had to pointedly, avoid looking too far up on the man's face. His all too obvious toupee was simply too distracting.

Harvey had been bald, but he was nowhere near vain enough to wear a rug! This man was growing less impressive the longer she looked at him.

Before she could respond in an amicably dismissive manner to his poorly masked pickup line, she found her previously prone grandson had beaten her to it. "She's too old to be my mommy. Maybe, your glasses are broken." The older woman had to bring a hand up to her mouth to cover up her snort.

The aspiring suitor narrowed his eyes at the toddler, his smile growing ambidextrous as he rolled his eyes away from the child, settling them once more on his target.

Devlin sat up straighter to send the man his best sneer, though at three, it wasn't particularly intimidating. This guy was really rubbing him the wrong way. The guy didn't even bother looking at him when it was obvious to the toddler it was him he directed his next statement at. "No need to throw a hissy fit, young man. I just thought your lovely baby-sitter here would like to join me for dinner tonight?"

The raven-haired woman did her best to suppress the disgusted shudder the prospect of walking even three feet in any direction with this man evoked, plastering a fake congenial smile on her face while responding, "Actually, I'm here with my son and his family... my schedule is pretty full. I'm sorry, though."

The older man was in no way deterred by her obvious rejection. "Oh, I'm certain they can manage one night without your company- regardless how amazing I'm certain that company must be!" His smile became so suggestive at this point, the ebony felt the need to bring her arms up to wrap over her chest. He was making her feel so exposed... so uncomfortable.

Her frazzled expression did not go unnoticed by the uniquely perceptive toddler at her side. His under-developed emotional level interpreted her expression as serious distress instead of mild annoyance, however. He instantly turned blazing green eyes on the offensive intruder. "Hey! I don't care how bad your glasses are! My grandma doesn't like you! Leave her alone!"

The older man smiled unpleasantly now, coming to stand directly in front of the three-year-old. He bent down on his haunches in order to lock his life-less gray eyes with those of the sneering child. His voice had an unmistakable spite to it that caused the boy's grandmother to bring an arm around him protectively. "Children should know better than interrupting the conversation of their elders, child. You have obviously been taught no manners."

Both the raven-haired little boy and his outraged grandmother had colorful rebuttals to that statement prepared, but neither had the chance to voice them once the dark man that had come to stand directly behind the kneeling moron with his best friend directly beside him spoke, causing both their eyes to shoot up to him in unhidden relief. "Is there a problem here, Ma?"

"Daddy! This mean man with the weird thing on his head won't leave Grandma alone!"

Both Ben and Kevin started snickering at Devlin's amazingly accurate description of the man's hairpiece. It wasn't polite, but their wives weren't around to scold them about it, so...

The aforementioned huffed out an affronted breath, rising to his full stature while continuing to sneer at the toddler. "The boy is obviously confused." He began turning to finish his statement facing his trophy's son. "I merely wished to-" His statement cut-off there, upon his realization that he only came face to neck with the man he was speaking to and said neck was as thick as his entire head with muscle. His eyes widened, shooting down briefly to seize up the rest of this man, noting the very disconcerting reality that he was built like an armored truck. The shoulders of the chestnut-haired man standing beside him actually seemed even broader (if that was even possible) and he looked as wracked with muscle as the latter.

He swallowed thickly, backpedaling. "Hey, look buddy, I'm not looking for trouble. I just thought the lady was pretty and hoped she'd go out with me, that's all."

Mrs. Levin was growing increasingly uncomfortable with this situation. Who she dated was never a topic of conversation between her and her son. No one ever lived up to the Osmosian's elevated standards for her. The truth was: no one was Devin Levin and only he was good enough for her in her boy's mind. Even at twenty-six and with his own family, he begrudged the family he'd lost as a child. Therefore, she kept him pretty much in the dark about every relationship she'd been involved in since her divorce from Harvey.

Having this loser tell her son that he found her attractive now must've been astronomically awkward for him. For this reason, she was shocked beyond words when Kevin simply quirked an intrigued dark eyebrow at the man, never diverting his onyx eyes from him while directing his next inquiry at her in a completely emotionless intonation. "You feel like goin' out with this guy, Ma?"

Her response was instantaneous, though worded as politely as possible in an attempt to spare the man's ego. "I've already explained to the nice gentleman that my schedule is full, Kevin. I simply have no time for such things."

The Osmosian nodded once in indication he'd understood her. He leaned down slightly, narrowing his eyes at the now grimacing older man. His tone now tinged with warning. "I don't think she's into you, Dude..."

The older man fumbled over an apology, tripping over his own feet to make a hasty retreat towards whatever rock he'd crawled up from under.

Ben, Devlin and Kevin followed him with glaring eyes until he was out of their line of sight.

"What are all you boys staring at?" The Anodyte snickered upon arriving with the Japanese-American to find her boys and her cousin all gazing at some random spot in the distance.

She handed her little boy the ice cream shaped like Mickey's head she'd stopped off to get him as the toddler eagerly exclaimed, "Some weirdo with a dead kitty on his head was bothering Grandma and Daddy scared him away, Mommy! It was so cool! You shoulda seen it!"

The ginger shot a questioning look at her excited three-year-old, who innocently bit into his ice cream. Then, she regarded her mother-in-law, husband and cousin with a similar expression, as all three seemed to be choking due to their laughter. She was obviously out of the loop, here. She decided to direct her inquiry at her husband. "A man with a dead kitty on his head...?"

The adorable befuddled expression his redhead wore to ask the question did nothing to mitigate the dark-haired man's humor so he had to choke out between bouts of laughter. "Dude was wearing the cheapest rug ever, Gwen!"

For the sake of setting a good example for her son, the redhead made a valiant attempt at a chastising look at her husband, while trying to keep a snicker from escaping before turning back to her son. She schooled her semblance into controlled stoicism. "It isn't nice to make fun of someone's physical appearance, Devlin."

The toddler's dark little brows knit together in honest, innocent confusion. "I'm not making fun of him, Mommy. That's just what it looked like. It looked like a kitty fell asleep or died on his head."

At this point, even Julie was laughing. She could picture the guy's toupee clearly.

Gwen let out a defeated breath turning back to her still snickering husband. "You want to lend a hand, here?"

The Osmosian just shrugged, bending over to take his boy into his arms. He smirked at her lopsidedly, replying, "Actually, he gets a free ride on that one from me, Gwen. The jerk was harassing Ma and the kid honestly has no idea what that thing on his head was-"

"I don't know what that thing on the freak's head was!" The Savior of the Universe supplied helpfully, still catching his breath. He ignored his cousin's recriminating glare, heading over to the stroller to pick up his son.

Kevin snorted mirthfully, directing the end of his statement at his young son. "I heard you stick up for your grandma, Dev. Good job looking out. Where do you want to go next?"

The little boy didn't even hesitate a second to think about it. "Splash Mountain!" He squealed excitedly.

His father couldn't help chuckle at his effervescence as he shook his head. "You're too little to go on that, Kid."

The three-year-old shook his head vigorously at his father as he responded matter-of-factually. "Na-uh, Daddy! We passed it a little bit ago and I stood wear they were checkin' to see how big you gotta be to go on it and I was big enough."

The raven-haired man found he didn't really have a rebuttal to that. The kid did look closer to seven or eight than three. He shot his wife a brief pleading look. The ginger simply quirked an amused manicured eyebrow in response as if saying 'This one's all yours, Dad'. Kevin frowned at her before turning back to his son. "Okay, Dev. Let me reword that. Kenny can tell when you leave him behind to go on rides but he's not tall enough to go on that yet. You just felt what it's like to get left behind. Do you really want to do that to your little cousin?"

The oldest toddler ventured a look at the little brunette who was in his father's arms happily eating his ice cream, managing to get more of it on his clothes and face than in his mouth.

He grimaced in disgust.

His baby cousin was such a pain half the time. He was gross. His hands were always sticky. He somehow always managed to break one of his toys when he came over to play. He loved bugging him and embarrassing him. Moreover, what was worse, he was tiny! The toddler couldn't imagine how long it would even take someone that little to grow big enough to ride anything really fun in this park!

Then, right before he turned back to tell his father how much he cared if they even lost the two-year-old in this place, the little brunette lost his grip on the stick that held his ice cream, causing the whole thing to topple to the ground. His big almond shaped green eyes started watering, his tiny lower lip quivering in a prelude to what promised to be a ponderous crying fit.

Without even thinking, Devlin shot out the chubby hand that still held his half eaten ice-cream toward his cousin, shrieking frantically to gain his attention. "Here, Kenny! I don't want any more! Just don't cry!"

The little brunette's aspect morphed instantly to eager expectance as he reached out for the proffered treat. His father let out a chuckle, setting him down on the ground so he could make his own way to his uncle.

Kevin set Devlin down, as well. The raven-haired child extended the ice-cream as far in front of him as he could for his cousin to take it. He really didn't want the kid touching him until Aunt Julie cleaned him up.

Of course, the younger toddler had absolutely no compunction as to his older cousin's discomfort with his eating habits or hygiene. Therefore, as soon as he popped the ice cream in his mouth, he did what came completely natural to him.

He gave his best friend a bear hug.

"Ugh! Kenny, gross! Get off me! Uncle Ben, Daddy... get 'im off! He's gettin' goo all over me! Get off, Kenny!" The older toddler's large emerald eyes locked onto the older men pleadingly as he tried frantically to pry the little brunette off as best he could. However, the task was seriously hindered by his reluctance to actually touch him. He couldn't find an area on him that wasn't sticky to get the proper leverage.

Julie giggled, bringing an arm up to wrap around her husband's waist. "He's only showing his gratitude to you, Dev. It's really sweet."

Devlin shot the most skeptical look he could muster at his aunt. This kid really had his entire family fooled! "Aunt Julie, he can say 'thanks'! He's doin' this just 'cause he knows it bugs me! Why do you guys think he won't let go?" He looked back down menacingly at his best friend, what little patience he possessed growing short. "Get off, Kenny!"

Realizing at this point that he would be just about ready to deck the kid if he was in his son's place, (and let's be honest, considering their similarities in personalities- he may as well have been), Kevin wisely leaned down to separate his son from the little brunette. His onyx eyes narrowed suspiciously at the two-year-old when he let go the moment he saw him crouch before them, a humongous innocent smile lighting up his little face before he ran back giggling to hide behind his father's legs.

The Osmosian continued scrutinizing the tiny toddler that seemed to be trying to play peek-a-boo with him from behind his father's legs. He was positively adorable and seemed completely aware of the fact. Was this kid actually so shrewd as to pretend to be out of it just to get away with messing with his son? Ben pretended to be an idiot whenever it suited his purposes. Had this kid inherited his father's ingenuity?

His amused introspection was interrupted by his son's aggravated, disgruntled protest. "Eeeww! Kenny, you got gunk all over me! Mommy, can you clean this stuff off?" He turned an angrily arched eyebrow at his father as the ginger bent down with a moistened wipe to clean him as best she could, still snickering. "Okay. If I can't go on Splash Mountain 'cause he's too little, let's go on the Jungle Boat ride... But, I'm not lookin' at another parade!"

The Osmosian chuckled, lifting him back up in his arms and walking away in the direction of the next ride with his wife in tow. "Sounds fair to me, Squirt..."

After the group had moved about ten yards away from the bench, Devlin realized his hands still felt dirty from touching Kenny. He looked back over his father's shoulder to send a scowl at the little chestnut-haired boy.

To his ever-growing aggravation, the two-year-old actually had the audacity to venture a quick look at his parents, both of whom seemed too engrossed in conversation to notice what the toddler was doing within the older brunette's arms, before sticking out his tongue mockingly at his older cousin.

The now enraged three-year-old immediately directed an indignant and far too clever question at his sire. "Okay! So, if Kenny's too little to ride the good stuff here... How old does he have to be for me to hit 'im?"

It took all of a split second for the Osmosian's dry reply to come. "You can hit him when he's five."

"Kevin!" Was instantly chorused by every adult in the group in outrage. To which the ginger added dangerously. "You want to rephrase that?"

The raven-haired man quirked a thoughtful thick dark eyebrow at her before turning to his son. "You can't hit him hard enough to cause any real damage, though- just hard enough it hurts."

"Dude! Are you serious? Don't tell your kid he can hit mine! What kind of parent are you?"

Kevin leveled a sinister smirk at his best friend before responding flatly. "An acutely astute one, Tennyson. Your son takes after you way too much. He's only two and he's already figured out exactly how to play you. Consider it a generosity that I'm willing to allow the runt three more years to develop some mass and Devlin some self control before I let them handle their problems on their own."

With that, the older man turned with his equally sinisterly smirking three-year-old and continued his trek toward their next destination.

The Savior of the Universe turned confused eyes down to lock with the large almond emeralds of his innocently grinning little boy before shooting a frantic look at his cousin. "You're aware that you married a complete lunatic, right!"

Gwen snickered softly, turning to follow her husband and child. She shot back over her shoulder. "That's a given, Ben. But, as the man said, I married an acutely astute one!"

FIN

A/N: Yay! I'm not dead! Just really distracted, busy and in poor health! Also, I just bought the first 'Hunger Games' book and finished it in like nine hours. That thing is EPIC!XD I know this is long, but I have no idea when I can get another one out, so it has to last... I'll try to make the wait as short as possible, though.

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