[ Ben gives an eloquent little raise of his eyebrows and nods when Peter says he's going to confirm the robots's competency, first. Smart kid. He considers explaining how they'd helped Klaus, but that had only been one bot, and maybe others in there are defective. Best to let Peter do his own research.
When Peter says the publicity and fans and the lot of it sounded rough, Ben gives a wry little smile and says, with friendly sarcasm: ]
Yeah, it wasn't ideal. And I bet it'd be even less ideal if you were trying to live a semi-normal life at the same time. [ A pause as Ben considers. The more he talks to Peter, the less tempted he is to lie, twist things to make them sound better than they were. He likes this kid. He kind of wants to be friends with him, in a legit way. But that poses the question of how to be honest without oversharing or making things uncomfortable. ] Like, none of us went to school. Or had friends. Or - were allowed to leave the house if it wasn't part of training or on a mission.
[ He says it lightly, but he knows maybe the whole 'rich guy adopts a bunch of babies with superpowers' thing is starting to sound a little bit less like a charming kid's story and a little bit more uncomfy to Peter. Ben turns his eyes back to the books, starting to sort out the ones with the worst water damage, standing them up vertically to let any remaining water drain away. It's good to have something to do with his hands anyway. ]
I think we were, like, thirteen when we had our official debut mission, and let the press know we existed and all that. [ Those pictures of him in the paper, smaller than most of his other siblings, standing in the back, looking like he wanted to disappear. Covered head to toe in blood. What a great first impression on the world that was. ] Stopped a bank robbery. But we had been doing smaller, covert missions for a few months leading up to that, and training... well, as far back as I can remember.
[ It is so strange, reflecting back on those days, talking to someone without pre-existing biases about Reginald Hargreeves or the Umbrella Academy. Imagining how it must sound to Peter is... bracing. Which is why Ben asks about him. He wants to know how it had been for Peter. To hear a story that maybe (he hopes) is just a little bit happier. ]
So the other Avengers are older? [ Otherwise, Peter would know whether they would be weird about his age or not. Stands to reason. ] How many of you are there? How old were you when you started? And- how'd you join them if you didn't all train together or come from the same place?
no subject
When Peter says the publicity and fans and the lot of it sounded rough, Ben gives a wry little smile and says, with friendly sarcasm: ]
Yeah, it wasn't ideal. And I bet it'd be even less ideal if you were trying to live a semi-normal life at the same time. [ A pause as Ben considers. The more he talks to Peter, the less tempted he is to lie, twist things to make them sound better than they were. He likes this kid. He kind of wants to be friends with him, in a legit way. But that poses the question of how to be honest without oversharing or making things uncomfortable. ] Like, none of us went to school. Or had friends. Or - were allowed to leave the house if it wasn't part of training or on a mission.
[ He says it lightly, but he knows maybe the whole 'rich guy adopts a bunch of babies with superpowers' thing is starting to sound a little bit less like a charming kid's story and a little bit more uncomfy to Peter. Ben turns his eyes back to the books, starting to sort out the ones with the worst water damage, standing them up vertically to let any remaining water drain away. It's good to have something to do with his hands anyway. ]
I think we were, like, thirteen when we had our official debut mission, and let the press know we existed and all that. [ Those pictures of him in the paper, smaller than most of his other siblings, standing in the back, looking like he wanted to disappear. Covered head to toe in blood. What a great first impression on the world that was. ] Stopped a bank robbery. But we had been doing smaller, covert missions for a few months leading up to that, and training... well, as far back as I can remember.
[ It is so strange, reflecting back on those days, talking to someone without pre-existing biases about Reginald Hargreeves or the Umbrella Academy. Imagining how it must sound to Peter is... bracing. Which is why Ben asks about him. He wants to know how it had been for Peter. To hear a story that maybe (he hopes) is just a little bit happier. ]
So the other Avengers are older? [ Otherwise, Peter would know whether they would be weird about his age or not. Stands to reason. ] How many of you are there? How old were you when you started? And- how'd you join them if you didn't all train together or come from the same place?