All Things Considering: By Luna Mrow

A/N: Takes place right after the new episode 'Couples Retreat'.

She stood up on her toes, giving the young man a quick kiss on his chin, a few small centimeters from his lips. His dark eyes met hers and she gave him a sly smile. "What was that for?" he asked, his tone unsure at the surface but elated in undertone.

Gwen leaned back, smiling as she shrugged. "All things considering, you're a pretty good boyfriend," she replied. In other words, he's forgiven. If Ben wasn't there, and if Charmcaster's door hadn't appeared to throw Darkstar out, Kevin would've grabbed her and kissed her again. But that didn't happen because Charmcaster did show up, Darkstar was thrown at them, and a good beating was necessary. Kevin grabbed a lead pipe that had been laying on the floor, and he, Gwen, and Ben approached Darkstar. Beating him to a pulp was always fun. And in a weird, messed up kind of way, it could be considering bonding for him and Gwen.

It had been an exhausting day for all three of them. Once again they were driving home in Kevin's car and this time Ben was riding in the front seat while Gwen sat in the back with her legs up on the seat. The whole time they had been talking about Charmcaster, and Micheal Morningstar. "You know, they actually kind of made a cute couple," Ben said.

Kevin gives the Tennyson teenager a dirty look. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm serious. I mean, yeah, they're both evil, he was just using her, all that junk, but they did look like a cute couple," Ben shrugged.

"I'm missing the part where those two are 'cute'," Kevin muttered. "And thank you, for saying both their names in the same sentence, because now it's going to be harder to mentally wipe my mind clean of the image of them kissing." The last part of his sentence the Osmosian sneered in a sarcastic tone.

Ben chuckled. "Now you know how I feel when I see you and Gwen making out." A spurt of pink manna hit him in back of the head. "Ow! What was that for, Gwen?"

The young woman in the back seat smirked. "What do you think, genius? Don't ever compare Kevin and I to those to again."

"Touchy," Ben muttered. "And I don't meant they're cute as in puppy cute. I just kind of mean... cute... in the sense of two people who clearly have issues and are both evil love each other."

Kevin scoffed. "Haven't you been paying attention? Darkstar never loved her, he was using her. That was the whole point."

"Well, yeah, he never like loved her loved her, but he did... well... he... okay. He was using her." Ben gave up in making whatever point he was attempting to make.

In the backseat, Gwen gave an amused smile, and her green eyes went up to the rear view mirror, where she met a pair of obsidian orbs. "Charmcaster should've known she was being used," Gwen said, "she made the mistake of jumping into the conclusion she loved him. It takes time to get into a good relationship, and even when you do, you have to work at it, not just you, but both sides." Kevn was no longer meeting her eyes in the mirror, he focused his attention back on the road. "But if you really do love them, you don't mind it when they mess up, you don't mind it when you have to compromise to make them happy, because you know when they're happy you're happy."

"Thanks Gwen, but I don't really need relationship advice," Ben smirked. She realized she had been talking aloud instead of saying it mentally in her head, what she intended to do. She hung her head a little lower, not really wanting to talk anymore. Five or so minutes of silence passed, and then the car came to a stop. "Oh good, I can make the new episode of Sumo Slammers," Ben grinned. He opened the car door and turned before closing it. "See you guys tomorrow?"

"Yeah, whatever," Kevin replied. "Out Tennyson." With a roll of his eyes, Ben slammed the car door, and stomped over to his front door. "Where to, Gwen?" Kevin then asked.

She lifted her head and realized it was just the two of them. Gwen said the first thing that came to her head, "Surprise me."

He turned to look at her, with one eyebrow raised in suspicion. "Really?" he asked skeptically. "Anywhere at all?"

It was only 7:34 at night. Her curfew was 9:00. "Anywhere," Gwen repeated.

Kevin gave her a sly smirk, "Well, if that's the case, you should stay in the backseat, that way you won't see where I'm taking you."

She was surprised when his 'surprise' was her neighborhood park. It wasn't because she didn't like parks, she loved her neighborhood park, it was just he had never taken her here and never showed any interest to. To Kevin parks where places for little kids to play on the playground, and old people to feed stale bread to ducks. In his stubborn mind parks weren't places for teens, malls and arcades and Mr. Smoothie was the place for teens. He chuckled when he saw her surprised expression. "You said to surprise you."

"You did," Gwen replied. She got out of the car the same time he did. "You know, a walk around the park sounds really nice right now."

"Mhm." He took her hand in his. He lead the way and the two started walking, not saying anything. It wasn't an awkward silence, opposite in fact, it was a nice and peaceful silence. That was one thing Gwen enjoyed about her and Kevin. When the two were together they could talk about absolutely nothing, they could talk about important things, trivial things, or they just didn't talk at all. But, they didn't feel any pressure to say anything, or feel weird or awkward if they weren't talking. It was just... nice. Although, as usual, Kevin was the first to break the silence. "Wanna sit on the swings?"

She nodded yes, taking her hand out of his. "You want to race?" Gwen asked.

He pretended to really think it over. "Depends. Does the winner get anything?"

"I knew you'd ask that."

"I like to make things interesting. So, what does the winner get?"

"How about the loser does whatever the winner wants?" she asked.

He seemed to like that idea. "Deal." Kevin shot off running!

"I never said start!" Gwen yelled, running after him.

"You never said stop, either!" he laughed deviously. She could've used her manna and thrown him behind, or used it to create steps into the air so she could beat him. But honestly, she was curious to see what he'd make her do, so she let him win. He made it to the swings a few seconds before her, and she leaned over one of the swing seats to catch her breath. Kevin was only a little out of breath, but not so much that he was panting or needed to lean over. Instead, he sat down beside her and chuckled. "You know, you could've beat me," he smirked.

She finally sat down on the swing beside him. "Yeah," she panted, "but I wanted to know what it was you'd have me do."

Kevin raised a brow. "Did you now?"

"Yeah. So humor me." Gwen shifted herself so she faced him instead of straight ahead.

"Well," he drawled. "I can't help but remember something you said earlier today. Something about me being a pretty good boyfriend, you know, all things considering." Kevin was leaning closer to her, and gripped her swing chain with his so the swings were pulled closer together. "And after I did some considering, pretty good just doesn't seem fair," he finished, lowering his tone of voice.

"Really?" Gwen asked. "So, what do you want me to do? Say you're the best boyfriend ever in the whole entire universe?"

"No," he replied. "I just want you to stay still."

"That's it?"

"Yup."

"Just stay still?"

"Like a statue." Kevin grinned mischievously. "Go on, Gwenny." She gave him one quick look and then surrendered. Gwen closed her eyes and remained perfectly still. Kevin then used his other hand, the one that was holding the two swings together, and wrapped it around the back of her head, bringing her face to his in a kiss. He kissed her rougher than usual, his lips molding against hers, and she kissed him back with the same ferocity. She broke her deal and moved, bringing her hands on his shoulders to pull him closer, but he didn't mind. His tongue delved into her mouth and she met his playfully. The two were lost in each other and Kevin let go of the swing chains. Because they were both leaning over on the same side, the minute he let go he lost their balance.

Bam!

Kevin and Gwen both fell backward into the sand. She started laughing and he hacked because he got sand in his mouth, which only made her laugh more. Kevin eventually started laughing as well, and Gwen leaned over him, burying her face in the crook of his neck. His arms went around her torso, and he kept her body against his. "Okay, all things considering, you're an awesome boyfriend," she smiled. She gave his lips another peck. "All things considering, I love you."

"I love you too," Kevin told her. "All things considering, you're a pretty good girlfriend."

She scoffed playfully. "Pretty good?" she demanded.

Kevin smirked. "Unless you can convince me otherwise." Gwen laughed and kissed him again.

All things considering, those two really were made for each other.

Author's Note:

Wow, yeah, it's been a long time since I've been in the Ben 10 fandom, even longer since I've written Gwevin. But I'm glad I did this one-shot, and I'm happy to have at least another Ben 10 story. So please review, and thank you for reading. Muffins for everyone! :D

~Luna