Ben closed the garage door behind his truck bed, went from his vehicle into his house, gently closed the door behind him, then screamed at the wall for twenty solid seconds. This had become a ritual since last Sunday when his entire carefully crafted world in the village was suddenly upended by the fucking mole people. This Friday was particularly brutal on account of a date he had promised Olympia just to get back at the Hero Department, but also to break off any lingering attachments.

They went to a movie, some mini-golf, and a dinner. When they were interrupted by fans for the third time at dinner, Ben acted like a pent-up bitch and left, sitting in the car pouting. He made sure to wuss out in the heroine's presence and whine about how difficult it was to constantly be bugged by third parties. He even dropped hints that he was getting paranoia from the agents in his hotel room and the recruiter who manipulated government against him.

Despite his sheer disgust for Olympia and her ilk, he mixed some real distress and depression in there. After all, that was his first real date, and Olympia was his first kiss as Benjamin Hersh.

Ben broke things up on bad terms and made Olympia promise to never see him again.

But now he was at home, in his sanctuary, the place with a soothing atmosphere and warp shield defense. He could forget about all those noisy things and just relax. Plus, with practices being out, there wasn't a game this weekend. He had the whole weekend to himself.

Vrt.

Just as he had released the tension across his body, Ben's phone vibrated with a notification. He didn't need to take it out to see it was a text from Hannah that she was coming over. Not a request to come over, but a statement of fact that she was entering his house.

The former supervillain had a feeling this was coming. He wasn't the best with emotions, but he could see that Hannah was agitated by the Olympia situation. Whether she would bring it up or not was another thing.

Still, if his time as an international fugitive had taught him anything, it was best to nip things in the bud as quickly and amicably as possible.

Ben got up, restoring some of the tension in his muscles as he picked the milk out of the fridge and made some hot chocolate. He had it in the microwave when the doorbell rang. Hannah was standing on the porch in a dress with arms crossed and hair done up like a doll. She was clearly ready for a night out, but it was already after ten at night and she was at Ben's house.

The village councilman opened the door and was physically pushed aside as the smaller woman charged into his house like she owned the place. Without asking, she marched right over to his kitchen and opened the microwave, taking out the hot chocolate and drinking it.

"Was that some kind of power play?" Ben chuckled, picturing Hannah as a Pomeranian trying to establish dominance.

"I want one," she declared, loudly slurping the lukewarm chocolate milk.

"One what?"

"A kiss.... Olympia got two, I want one."

"...That's not... that's what you're mad about?"

Hannah clunked her drink on the countertop and marched up to Ben, angrily poking him in the chest saying, "That bitch was kissing you like I didn't have dibs on your virginity."

"Yo- Wh- Hi- I'M NOT A VIRGIN."

"Oh please," Hannah rolled her eyes. "I know you're not such a pushover that you'd just be caught off-guard, so you LET HER kiss you. Even though WE'RE a thing."

"Wha-? We're not a 'thing', though?"

"We're not a 'boyfriend-girlfriend' thing," Hannah stammered, getting nervous as she revealed her thoughts about their situationship, "but we're still a thing. You're my future boyfriend. In the future, when I'm steadier. And not counting on you for so much. We're still something."

"Hannah, that's not a-"

"But she just goes and kisses you?! Like you're not already spoken for? And you let her? Are you trying to cheat on what we'll eventually have?"

Ben had nothing to say. He felt like a baseball player up to bat who had just been pitched a football with a fish taped to it.

"And, AND!" Hannah continued. "You went out on a date with her again today!"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"H-how did you know that?" Ben asked, wondering if Hannah had gone full-blown stalker.

"You added it to your calendar. Everyone at work saw it."

Ben tried to think back, then quickly pulled his phone out and worked his way into the calendar app. He opened it up and saw the few things that he'd added for his Benjamin Hersh persona to remember, but didn't see any office notifications. The two calendars were completely separate.

Then he saw it, in the top right corner, two arrows in a circle. He clicked the icon and saw that the Calendar app was synced with his Microsoft Office profile.

"It really is the little things that get you," Ben said to himself. "Look, I was using her to get rid of a bigger annoyance. She means nothing to me- why am I defending myself? We are not a thing! And until we become a thing, it's none of your business who or what I go and do!"

"It WILL become my business! And I'm going to make you pay for it all. But I deserve a kiss, right now. And I'm not leaving until I get one."

It was cute that she thought she could force anything out of Ben. As if he couldn't have her teleported to anywhere the solar system at the snap of a finger. She was very nervous making all these declarations, and it seemed no small feat of courage to declare all these things so openly. Her angry expression hid a fearful one, that she was overstepping their boundaries and might lose him. But the fear of losing him to inaction was far worse, and forced her to come over and stake her claim.

Ben could see her train of thought and considered her. He did eventually want to marry someone and have kids, living the whole small-town life. He would obviously tell his wife his secret, and maybe their kids. Honestly, when he'd first arrived at town, he'd made a list of potential wife candidates, but Hannah wasn't on it because she was underage at the time.

'I should have considered there might be an age difference,' he thought, then realized he was considering pedophilia and crushed that notion completely.

'Wait, how old is Katherine?' he thought before putting that thought in a cannon and firing it into a black hole.

"Sir," Idet interjected his thoughts, "there are two alerts I think you should see."

"Idet, what do you have to say about this situation?" Ben deflected so he could think a little more.

"It's very interesting," she admitted, as if she was watching her favorite soap opera.

"Come on, then," Hannah challenged, her heart racing as she risked her entire relationship with Ben to move things along. "You owe me a kiss."

Ben didn't owe her anything. In fact, all outstanding debts were hers to pay him back.

However, if he were to have a wife, his ideal woman would be one who would push back at him. Someone willing to call him out, just like Hannah was trying to do now.

Ben looked at Hannah and narrowed his eyes, making her heart flutter in confusion at what the expression could mean. He looked over, then walked over to the kitchen island and grabbed the hot chocolate. He drank a little, then slid around the island and put it back into the microwave to be heated up.

Ben then turned on his 'suave charm' to maximum. He tilted his head just right so his eye contact was suggestive. He then slid around the island and approached Hannah with long, commanding steps. She shuffled as he came up to her with intent, then placed the knuckle of his index finger under her chin to guide her face to his.

"Two kisses, a half-second each," he said while staring like a hungry predator at his prey. "I'll give you one, for six seconds."

"Ok," Hannah whimpered, her eyes wide as her entire body melted under the heat of Ben's strict tone. She had come demanding a kiss, but was honestly willing to accept any advancement in their relationship. She didn't actually believe she would be kissed tonight, and reality was catching up to her dreams.

Ben leaned down a little, but forced Hannah to meet him the rest of the way by lifting her head a little more. She had to get onto the tips of her toes, which she did without thinking.

Just to be extra about it, he closed the distance a little faster than anticipated and gently nibbled her bottom lip, eliciting a groan which he silenced with his lips.

Six seconds felt like an eternity as Hannah's mind melted. She could taste him despite neither of their mouths being open. She felt her entire body sing to her to take things further, but her body was in shock and couldn't move. She was still as she was kissed with passion. Ben was in complete control as he held her chin, pushing her further but pushing her chin down to open her mouth while opening his own. Even though nothing passed between their open mouths, the sensation of soft flesh pressed light but firm was riding a high that made their heads swim.

Ben held the kiss for a full seven seconds, just to see if Hannah was actually counting. When he broke off, he saw that his assistant was in a daze, unable to comprehend anything.

Now seemed like a good time while she was distracted, "Idet, what were you trying to tell me."

"Two events have happened that I think you should be aware of," the glowing ball said, watching intently from the side.

"Give'em to me based on which one's a bigger pain in the ass to deal with."

"The first one is that some realtor's were asking around about buying one of the properties in this sub-division. They were vague about their client, but they're tied to the Hero Department."

Ben figured it must have been Olympia trying to creep on him with federal funds, but it must have been something orchestrated before their promise. The ball was in her court to cancel the realty purchase.

"Stall them without denying anything," Ben ordered. "If they try to push through, deny them anyway."

"Very well. The second thing is that the children from the Lincoln High School Hero team have been kidnapped."

Ben's oxytocin receptors were still firing from the kiss, so the information sat on his lust addled brain for ten precious seconds. When he finally managed to internalize what was just said, Ben's happy hormones did a crisp military about-face turn into stress hormones. The reaction was so guttural, he actually growled a little in the back of his throat.

The foreknowledge that this was going to be an astronomical pain in his ass constricted his throat as he viciously growled, "Every damn weekend!"

Ben seethed and seethed, breathing spittle through clenched teeth as he begrudgingly accepted the parasitic nuisance this coaching gig had become.

"WHERE?"