Benrook for the pairing challenge
“You’re the only one I trust to do this.”
The words carry a heavy weight with them from across the space of Rook’s room. Ben is only a few feet away, eyes steady and as determined at the Revonnahgander has ever seen them. He thinks that no one would be able to look to those eyes and recognize the look for what it is. Most people only see the joking side of the hero, only see him putting a front of cocky smiles and over-confidence, but this --- this is the side of him that only so many get to see. It makes his breath catch in his throat, not wanting to look down to what Ben holds in his hand because of what it would mean.
It’s the reconstruction of the same remote that he had gotten a hold of while Ben was under the influence of Nyancy. He remembers clearly the dulled out pain in his partner’s gaze as he had been switched unwillingly from form to form. A weight settles deep within his chest at the memory, making it hard to breath with how heavy it is as though it takes up too much space for any air to be allowed into his lungs.
He doesn’t like that the plumbers made another as thought Ben is someone who might one day go out of control and they need some sort of insurance.
“Ben, I do not ---”
“Rook, you’re the only one. I don’t trust anyone else to hold onto this and maybe... it’ll come in handy.”
There’s no trace of shaking fear in his voice, but Rook can hear the tension just underneath and the meaning behind it. If something goes wrong, the last thing Ben wants to be is a threat to everyone around him. He’s already gone through that once recently, making no mention of time he was hypnotized as a kid or the alternate versions of him that Rook has been made aware of. The very ones that prove what kind of damage Ben is capable of if his life had gone differently.
Rook has no right to deny him this security and he can’t stomach the thought of a faceless plumber holding the remote in his hands.
“Alright, but I do not think that I will have need of it.”
His hand is just steady enough to take the remote from Ben’s slack grip, it feels like it should be heavier than it is with everything that it resembles. The sudden and complete desire to destroy it surges through him to tighten his grip. Fingers twitching around a control to the omnitrix, barely restraining himself from crushing it in his palm. They would just make another. At least like this, Rook can keep anyone from using against the human he has come to love.
When Ben smiles, it makes his chest ache from the bittersweet twist he can see across the edges and how it falls just short of his eyes.
“Probably not.”
Neither of them say a word about it again, but Rook feels the weight of it keenly even after he’s locked it away tight. If it makes him hold Ben just a little bit tighter that night, the brunet doesn’t complain.