Work Text:
Ben groaned as he was stuck lying on his bed. He was laying flat on his stomach because of a sprained back. He wished he could say the injury was caused by doing something cool, like fighting off the Forever Knights or for being knocked out by whatever mutant animal Dr Animo sicced on him. But it was none of that.
It was from something mundane. His mom had told him to clean the garage earlier. And while Ben was sifting through stuff they should keep and stuff they can throw away, he lifted a heavy box the wrong way and that was what sprained his back.
In hindsight, he should've used Fourarms.
A knock on his door alerted the boy of a visitor. Ben let out a groan telling whoever to come in.
“Ben,” said Rook as he entered into the watch wielder’s room, “I was told from your mother that you have blown your back out. Are you alright? What foe had blasted your back out of commission?”
Ben couldn’t help but laugh at the genuine concern in his partner’s voice and misinterpretation of an Earth phrase. He replied without moving from his position, “It wasn’t the work of a bad guy or anything. I just lifted something heavy and sprained my back. All I need is some rest.”
“Ah, I see…” Rook says. Ben heard a clink sound on his bedside table and turned his head, careful not to jostle his back too much, to see what it was.
It was a plate of orange slices, probably prepared for by his mom. A dip on the bed made Ben aware that Rook had taken a seat next to him.
“Why do you have a bag of vegetables on your back?” questioned Rook.
“They were frozen.” Ben simply answered back. The bag was thawed by now, its condensation had made a big wet spot on his shirt and Ben was pretty sure that some of it had dripped onto his bed too.
The Revonnahgander picked up the bag, leaving a dripping line across Ben’s bed. Rook frowned at the water trail he unintentionally made. He pressed down on the wet spot of Ben’s lower back the soaking bag had left behind, gaining a pitiful groan from the boy.
“Rook, do me a favor and get me another frozen bag in the freezer?” Ben asked him.
“You know,” Rook began to say, “My mother would often have a sore back at the end of the day. Usually, she would rest on the bed with a cup of tea by her side. Sometimes though, she would have me or my sisters massage her back.”
“Are you offering to massage my back?” asked Ben.
“If you are alright with that.” responded Rook.
Ben hummed at the thought. It's not like he has a lot to lose. His back was already sore, and he could just tell Rook to stop if it hurts too much. Plus, with Rook’s cat-like appearance, the picture of his partner kneading on his back like a cat kneading its bedding as if it were ‘making biscuits’ amused Ben. “Yeah, why not?”
“Then, excuse me,” said Rook.
The watch wielder felt the bed shift again and then there was a weight on his legs. Rook had climbed onto his bed and had straddled on top of Ben’s legs.
The Revonnahgander started with Ben’s shoulders, his thumbs were digging into the muscles. It felt kinda nice, his shoulders started to relax and he hadn’t even known they were taunt in the first place, Ben let out a sigh of contentment.
“Mmm, that’s nice.” Ben said blissfully.
Rook smiled, glad that his partner was enjoying the massage so far. He moved down to the spine, firmly pressing his knuckles into it. He made sure he wasn’t pressing too hard.
Ben let out a sharp hiss as Rook got down to the sore spot, making the Revonnahgander abruptly stop.
“No, no. Don’t stop,” Ben assured him, “You can keep going.”
Rook continued as Ben told him, albeit a bit hesitant. Carefully, he kept on pressing down the spine and when he got to the lower back, he began to rub small circles.
Ben let out a pleased moan, “Yeah, that’s good. That’s good.”
It kinda hurt actually, but he wasn’t lying that it felt good. It was like a pleasant kind of pain.
The thought made Ben hope that he wasn’t becoming a masochist or something, what with constantly getting hurt in some way throughout his life.
The young hero gasped suddenly, Rook hitting a spot that made him flinch.
“You’re good, Rook.” Ben says hurriedly when he felt Rook removing his hands off him, “You’re good.”
Rook frowned, unconvinced that the massage was ‘good’ as Ben kept assuring him. “Ben, if it is painful for you, it is alright if you ask me to stop.”
Ben shook his head, “No, don’t stop.”
The Revonnahgander was still unconvinced, but he relented and continued.
Ben let out more moans, hums, and sighs as Rook’s big and strong hands kept massaging his back, giving the watch wielder a nice relief to his pain.
Meanwhile outside of Ben’s bedroom door stood Ben’s father. Carl was as frozen as the bag of frozen peas he was holding to replace his son’s defrosted one. Judging from the noises he was hearing, the man couldn’t bring himself to walk in on whatever he thinks is happening in there. Instead, he left the bag of frozen peas at the doorway and quietly walked away, giving the two some privacy.
~*~
When Rook was done, Ben’s back was still sore but the massage did good work in ebbing away most of the pain. The Revonnahgander went to leave but was stopped in his tracks by the slightly melted bag of frozen peas at the doorway. Thinking nothing of it, he picked up the frozen bag and laid it on Ben’s back, who had dozed off. Then, taking the other melted bag, he put the thing back in the freezer before leaving the house. He bid goodbye to Ben’s father on his way out, finding it a little odd that the man tried to not meet his eye.
By dinnertime, Ben was able to comfortably walk around and he found his dad sitting on the living room couch watching TV.
“Hey dad,” Ben greeted him as he headed to the kitchen.
“Er, son, I think you and I need to talk.” Carl said, making Ben pause.
“Okay?” The young hero was a little confused why his dad wanted to talk to him all of a sudden. Still, he went and sat on the couch next to Carl anyway.
Carl turns off the TV, making Ben a little nervous. Did he see something about Ben on TV that he didn’t like? It has to be. Otherwise, why was he looking so serious? What was Harangue talking about him now? He didn’t even do anything today!
“Son…" His dad laid a firm hand on his shoulder, "Ben, I think it’s about time I need to give you ‘the talk’.”