THING

"you're right, sorry," gwen admitted, looking up at him with a genuine apologetic expression. "but hey, if superpowers gave us a wild sense of humor, you wouldn't be such a rock, right?" she flashed a playful smile, trying to lighten the mood. "come on, man, if we can't laugh at the absurdity, what else can we do? let's find some humor in the chaos and rock our way through it together.”

ben grimaces, trying desperately to force a smile, but the look comes out strained. as much as his insides are saying walk away, ignore her, he can't help but admit she's one of the less annoying people he's run into today. maybe he ought to give her a chance. maybe not. "you done?" rocky, orange head tilts to the side, brow raised in mild amusement coupled with slight annoyance.

"I simply asked if you were Kronan— it is not meant to be an insult. One of my closest friends is a Kronan."

"i have no fucking clue what you're talking about, dude. i know it may not look it," he pauses, enunciating the word, " – but i'm human."

"I'm not trying to joke! You're made of rock, a good chunk of me is metal. I'm not sayin' it's great but.. you'll get used to it."

ben lets out a slight laugh, gaze drifting downward for a moment as he shakes his head, "listen kid, i appreciate the sentiment, but only one of us can still go out in public with a pair of sunglasses and noone would be the wiser – and it's certainly not me."

"Alright, alright— don't lose your pebbles. I'll take it easy on you. You must be new at all of this, huh?"

"if by this you mean no longer being made of regular old flesh and bone, then sure," he deadpans, towering over the other man as he speaks.

"—right." There was another pun forming in his mind but Peter squashed it before he got himself into any more trouble. His small smile dropped. "Sorry. I make jokes when I'm nervous. It's a bad habit. I bet you've heard enough of those, though."

ben nods without another word, blinking slowly as he watches peter with a raised eyebrow, "backed yourself into a corner there, didn't ya."

"I have yet to master humor— Rocket tells me this quite often. I am sorry." And he meant it. "Can we start again? I am Adam— what is your name, rock man?"

rocky appendages shift and scrape against one another as he stands, suddenly towering over the golden man, "for starters, it's not rock man. it's ben. or i guess the thing – but we're still workshopping that one."

“If there’s one thing humans know how to do, it’s whine. I wasn’t joking, Rock Man.”

"you know, i think if there was one thing in the world i was allowed to whine about, it'd definitely be this."

rocket took it upon himself to knock against ben's leg with a balled-up fist. then he chuckled. "i gotta say— this is a new one even for me. i know all about good senses of humor, dude. you're lookin' at one of the funniest people in the galaxy!"

"sure, ok. if that's what helps you sleep at night."

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop with the rock jokes.” Johnny insisted as he held his hands out in mock self defense and paused, letting a beat of silence linger between them for a moment. “But you’ve gotta admit they kinda write themselves.”

ben blinked, the action heavy both physically and with sarcasm, "if the next words out of your mouth aren't 'i'm sorry ben, won't happen again'–- i'm going to step on you."

A formerly invisible body flickers into view as Susan deftly steps to the side to avoid the person coming in her direction. “—Sorry. Growing pains. It’s a work in progress.” 

holding up both hands, he shuffles backward awkwardly, creating space between the two of them. "shit sorry, suse –," his words are slurred, he's maybe a little bit drunk, "wasn't– watching where i was going."

“I tried to reverse the effects— that’s not something I wanted to hide. I failed. Now we have these abilities and I’m doing my best to find meaning in that failure. It’s been.. it’s been harder for me than it has been for the others.”

rocky countenance showing even less emotion than normal, ben grits his teeth, stone jaw shifting as his gaze drifts to the floor, "reed – i love you, man. but i don't think that's a statement you get to make."

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