Chapter Six: meeting the gang "people need others to survive, one cannot truly live a solitary life, friends are the spices of our lives, spices that we never run out of" -Bordos the invincible kevin woke around 7:50 AM his rest had been wonderful after his chat with benson, the little guy really was more mature than he looked. (speaking of benson...) kevin sat up and stretched, then got out of bed, and peered into the little box that was benson's temporary bed. "morn- Huh?" benson's bed was empty and made. he checked it with his finger and it was cold (he's been out of it for an hour at least) kevin guessed. kevin caught the scent of sizzling bacon, it smelt good... "ben must'a ... wait..." kevin stopped "how would he even USE anything at his size?" kevin pulled on a pair of shorts and walked downstairs to the kitchen, making sure to keep an eye out for any little orange menaces as he walked. the scent was getting stronger, he could practically taste the bacon now... once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw benson on the dining table, there was a plate of five bacon strips at the place opposite where benson was laying, he guessed it was for him. he took a closer look and noticed benson was talking on his phone, he hid and listened in... "yeah, just like that. i'm still waiting for him to wake up, actually, i thought you said the bacon-lure method was foolproof?" ... "no, i'm not!, i design amazing things, how does that make me a fool? a fool couldn't perform particle-molecular fusion construction, could they?" ... "no they couldn't." ... "NO. THEY. COULD. NOT!" ... "oh shut your face, Ian, i may be friends with one, but you KNOW i'm not one! you know that i'm into lily..." ... "yes i am" ... "YES. I. AM!" benson spoke with someone on the other end of the line. kevin held back a laugh, this was too funny! suddenly there was a tickle in his nose (dammit...) kevin sneezed. twice. benson jumped at the sudden noise "AH!" ... "No it wasn't, Ian ... i'll call you back." (damn, so close!) kevin whined inwardly "that you kevin?" kevin jumped out from behind the corner "yyyyyyyyes it is!" benson smiled "eavesdropping on people's private calls a hobby of yours?" "no..." "then please don't" "fine" kevin submitted "who was that, anyway?" benson stood up on the table "Ian buckler, a friend of mine. kevin thought of something... "human?" benson nodded. "blonde hair?" another nod. "about... this tall?" kevin made a reference by putting his hand at the guess hight next to benson. "y-yes... how did you know?" "that's the human i saw in my nightmare last night..." "the one at the campfire?" "bingo." the little fox's brow furrowed. "hold on just a second..." "can i have the bacon?" "you may..." benson replied, searching through his phone for something... kevin was on the third strip of bacon by the time benson found what he was looking for. "here we go." "longest second ever." kevin said with a full mouth. "shut up." benson walked across the table to kevin, and held up his phone "is this them? the ones from your dream?" kevin swallowed the bacon, and squinted to try and look at the tiny picture. "i... don't know." "why not?" kevin gave him the 'are you kdding?' face. "obviously it's too small." "let me on your face, i can fix that." "jus' go up m'arm" benson crawled up kevin's arm, climbing onto his muzzle. "it'd have been kinder to have simply helped me up, you know" "i can't do EVERYTHING for you! you're 25!" benson glared "yeah, i'm also less than a quarter of your size." he reminded him. "okay, fair point, now, how're ya' gonna let me see the picture?" "close your left eye." he did. benson walked up to kevin's right eye and held up the phone "how about now?" "back up a bit... okay i can see it." "is this them?" benson asked again kevin examined the image. all five of them were in front of a very high-society looking building, each wearing a graduation hat. two yellow felines stood on the far right and left of the picture, they appeared to be laughing. and on benson's right, a black feline had him in a playful headlock, benson's mouth was open in laughter, and to his left, a particularly amused blonde human was looking quite amused. he was holding up a paper sign which read "finally done with college!" kevin recognised each of them from the nightmare. "........yeah, that's them. who are they?" benson gestured to be let down, so kevin dipped his muzzle, and let benson slide off onto the table. "they're my closest friends at my own height, i've known them since grade school." benson pointed out each of them, and told kevin their names "the guy cat is patrick khyber, the girls are lily and amelia heartrow, the human is Ian, and you can obviously tell which one is me." "which one is lily?" "can't tell from this pic." kevin wanted more information "because....?" "because they're identical twins." "oh." "you got a computer?" kevin, still eating the last two strips of bacon, looked at the far end of the kitchen and pointed out an old desktop unit, a printer and webcam were attatched. "s'over there, why?" "i'd like to do a videochat with them, Ian's probably told everyone you exist by now. they should meet you" kevin swallowed the last of the bacon and sighed contentedly. "okay... i'll stay outta the shot 'till you introduce me though." "okay... mind turning it on??" "oh, right!" minutes later, the old computer was on, and kevin had logged in, he put benson on his shoulder, and grabbed the webcam, aiming it so it would appear that benson was using the computer. benson told him how to log in to the site, specifically his username and password, which benson made kevin swear he'd keep secret, or suffer torture. seconds later, Ian, Khyber, Lily and Amelia's video chat boxes appeared on screen, lily and amelia shared a box. "yo Ben! how've you been?" khyber asked enthusiastically "what's up khyber! i've been great!" "hey, what's all this about the giant guy?" amelia asked, her voice slightly deep, but not unusual for a female. "ian told us about it already, but we don't know how much he made up" lily piped in, her voice was a little higher than amelia's. "oh, come on, don't any of you trust me?" ian queried nobody answered. "hello?" ian asked "nobody does, ian." benson said dryly "in fact, i told you NOT to tell anyone, remember?" ian shut up, khyber laughed, the girls giggled. "so can we see a picture of him?" amelia asked. "better than that..." benson smiled slyly khyber's eyes widened "no..." he shook his head in disbelief "you don't mean...?" everyone leaned closer to their cameras. benson smirked "oh, but i do! introducing..." benson made a fake drumroll noise. "my largest friend; Keviiiiiiiiiin Ghaaaaaaaaast!!!" kevin moved the camera back to it's original position, allowing everyone to now see both kevin's smiling face and benson perched on his shoulder. "hello everyone!" kevin waved. Ian fell off his chair, khyber jumped in his seat, the girls accidentally knocked their camera over. "guys... seriously?" benson asked dissapointedly. "use your manners!" "where's the camera?!" came amelia's voice "girls, your camera landed in the bean-bag chair." benson answered "thanks ben!" came lily's voice as their camera was put back. ian's arm rose up as he pulled himself back up from the floor "ow." kevin laughed "you guys are funny!" the four people onscreen fidgeted. "....uh... y-yeah.... n-nice to meet y-you ... kevin was it?" khyber spoke up. kevin nodded. ian immediately flew into a rage "FIRST: WHADDA YOU MEAN 'FUNNY' ?! SECOND: you BETTER NOT be keeping ben hostage you-!!" "IAN SHUT UP!" the other three yelled kevin was taken aback "u-um... i just.... think you guys're funny people..." ian scowled "a- and..." kevin stammered, but then took a deep breath, and composed himself "i'm not the kind of monster who does that to ANYONE." kevin said firmy "benson's the only friend i've actually got..." he said, looking at his shoulder, and the little fox sitting on it. "i'd never let that kinda' thing happen to 'im, not if i had a say in things." khyber rubbed his chin "hmmm, sounds like ben picked a good one, then." kevin said nothing. "that's a compliment" benson whispered loudly to kevin "oh! um... thankyou." the girls giggled "oh gods, ben! you look so small! you look like you'd fit in my purse!!" amelia laughed. "you do look pretty small... puts things in perspective, huh?" lily asked him. benson shrugged "guess so. you guys are all around my height aren't you?" ian started to say something "except ian, he's really short. and khyber's a head taller than me" benson quipped. khyber nodded, ian glared. benson's face lit up, "hey kevin," benson said to him, and whispered something in his ear. "...what do you think?" kevin smiled broadly "Sure! let's do it!" everyone was confused. kevin turned back to the screen "would you guys like to come here?" kevin asked. everyone was stunned. "don't you... live in the, um, 'giant' territory?" ian asked nervously "we can meet you at the 'ligraa' beach in bordertown, you'd be in no danger." benson added the girls squealed "WE'RE IN!" "i-i'd really like to meet you, kevin" lily added kindly "awesome." he replied. "i'm going too!" khyber replied with determination. "it's not every day that a chance like this comes around!" "thanks, khyber" benson laughed. "i knew we could trust you to come!" ian fidgeted onscreen. "ian...?" benson asked "are you coming, or are you going to be an ass and wimp out?" "hey. that's unfair. you guys know i'm afraid of macros, they purposely try to scare me!" "we prefer 'GIANTS', over 'macros' you know." kevin warned "maybe that's why they intentionally scare you." ian squirmed. "look, if you DO come, i'm not going to hurt you, not unless you give me a DAMN good reason." "h-how long is the list of those r-reasons?" ian asked, frightened. "even shorter than benson looks on your screen." "kevin..." benson said as a warning "sorry, best analogy i could think of!" kevin said defensively "i- i'll come... as long as i wont get killed..." ian said nervously kevin looked at ian's window happily "good to have you on board! is tomorrow good for you guys?" everyone nodded. "awesome! ben'll meet you guys in front of the beach at lunchtime, he'll lead you guys here after that." "i remember the way pretty well." benson commented a loud buzz sounded on kevin's computer "what's that?" benson asked. kevin waved to the others "gotta go, computer's overheatin'" kevin and benson said goodbye in unison and turned the computer off. kevin picked benson up, and placed him on the desk "thanks!" "no problem." benson said coolly "now you'll have FIVE 'little friends' instead of just me!" "you..." kevin said touching benson's chest with his finger "...are the best little fox ever!" "aww, stop!" the two began talking about making things more convinent for the coming visitors, they had a lot of work to do before tommorrow!