Bens troubles - A Benrius oneshot

Bens troubles

Ben was perched on the side of the camp, dangling his legs over the edge as he watched Bumpy prance around in the bushes nearby, happily chomping down on the leaves. He snickered as the Ankylosaurus accidentally inhaled a moth, quickly spitting it back out in the matter of a few moments. He jumped when Darius came up behind him. 
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." Darius apologized as he sat down next to him, crossing his legs. Ben glanced over and smiled briefly before reverting his gaze back to the dinosaur. The two of them sat in silence for a while before Darius sighed and leaned backward, placing his hands behind him. 
"Is there something bothering you? You haven't really been acting yourself recently." The younger boy asked with a small frown on his face. Ben thought for a moment and opened his mouth to say something, but eventually stopped himself. He paused again before speaking up.
"I'm alright, just tired." He replied blandly, fixing his bandana. Darius frowned and put his hand on the older ones shoulder. 
"I can tell that's—" Darius began, eventually being interrupted by the other four as they returned to camp, chattering loudly. Ben looked up and eventually placed his hand on Darius' before brushing it off and standing up to go and attempt a conversation with the others. 

"Remember that time we threw pizza at those Compy's on main-street?" Sammy said in between loud giggles and snorts. The others were laughing as well and Kenji mimicked some sort of growling dinosaur noise.
"God, those stupid walkie talkies were so annoying. You kept turning it on at random times!" Yaz stated with a wide smile on her face. It was still an unusual sight for Ben, but he was slowly getting used to it. 
"What're you guys talking about?" Ben asked curiously, the others stopped laughing for a brief moment before speaking.
"Oh, it was just this time on main-street when we were trying to find the beacon." Brooklynn explained as they all began to snicker and laugh again. Brooklynn then gasped and turned to Kenji. "Remember the scooters?" She reminded him. 
"Scooters!" Kenji said excitedly as he sat down on the old couch. They all continued to chatter about that day and Ben sighed, climbing down the ladder before stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking over to where Bumpy was. Darius went to follow after him but was quickly stopped when Sammy called out his name.
"Darius! Are you gonna come join us?" She cooed happily, patting the spot next to her for him to sit down. The younger boy thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"Nah, I'm alright. I'm going to go see what Ben is doing." He stated before quickly climbing down the ladder and running after Ben. 

Ben was gently patting Bumpy's horns as she calmly chewed on some leaves, occasionally groaning and nuzzling further into Ben. Darius smiled softly and admired him for a moment before shaking his head and speaking up. Placing his hand on Ben's shoulder, startling him a bit. 
"Wow, you really love scaring me." Ben joked with a smile on his face. Darius snickered.
"Sorry," Darius began as he moved his hand from Bens shoulder to Bumpy's armored back. "Anyways... as I was saying before..." He murmured. Ben groaned quietly and interrupted him as he cleared his throat before speaking.
"Darius, I said I'm fine.." He stated, turning his head towards the younger boy. Darius' frown grew and he tilted his head as he looked at Ben. He sighed deeply before shaking his head and turning his gaze to Bumpy.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" Darius randomly suggested after a few moments of silence. Ben thought for a moment, wondering if this was some part of the boys plan. His eyes narrowed in suspicion before he eventually gave in and nodded. 
"Hm.. Sure." He replied, his voice crackling ever so slightly. Darius looked at him as he realized that he was obviously close to crying. He placed his hand on his shoulder, gaining Bens attention. He tilted his head towards the forest, showing Ben that he wanted to go that way. Ben took his hands off of Bumpy and stuffed them into his pockets once more as they began to walk in silence. Bumpy trailing slowly behind them, occasionally stopping to munch on something, whether it was berries or just leaves, sometimes the random grub. 

Once they had reached a clearing, Darius stopped. Ben grew confused and he raised an eyebrow. 
"Darius? Is something wrong?" He asked curiously. A hint of worry in his voice, was something wrong with him? Was he mad or upset? Darius took a step closer to Ben and placed his hand on his shoulder as a form of comfort. 
"Nothing is wrong with me, but I know that there's something wrong with you." He murmured softly, his thumb began to gently rub his shoulder and Ben averted eye contact, looking down at the grass. 
"I uh.. I don't know what you're talking about, D." Ben fibbed, clearing his throat. The younger boy tilted his head and frowned as he moved his hand from Bens shoulder to his cheek, cupping it softly. Ben resisted the urge to melt into his touch and he continued to maintain his gaze on the ground. 
"Ben, please. I know something is wrong.." He said, his voice barely above a warm whisper. Ben shook his head.
"It's nothing, Darius. I promise." The older boy replied as he placed his hand over Darius'. Darius huffed, knowing that he most likely wasn't going to get any answers out of Ben at that moment so he gave up and he just pulled him into a tight hug. 
"I know that there's something bothering you, and I'm going to find out what it is sooner or later." Darius whispered with a slightly teasing tone. Ben snickered quietly and hugged Darius back, enjoying the warm embrace. 

After a short while, they returned back to camp just before dusk. The others were still sitting around laughing about things when the two climbed back into camp. 
"Oh, hey guys!" Sammy greeted them happily, waving to them as they walked past.
"Hey Sammy." Ben replied with a genuine smile. Sammy had always been one of the sweeter ones, she had never teased him unlike the others and he liked Darius and Sammy from the start. But  he seemed to like Darius more than he liked Sammy, for some unknown reason...

The six of them mingled and laughed about random things, but Ben didn't contribute much to the conversation, as whenever he tried to he was always interrupted by Kenji. Once they had all grown tired, it was way past nightfall. They all agreed to head to sleep, and Ben was to be on first watch. Once Ben thought everyone had fallen asleep, he sat down on the couch and buried his face in his hands as one of his legs bounced up and down uncontrollably. He sighed deeply and looked up at the sky, watching the stars. 
There was the quiet sound of footsteps and when Ben looked up, Darius was already sitting down next to him with his hand on his shoulder.
"Now I definitely know that something is wrong." He exclaimed. Ben looked down at the floor and his leg stopped shaking, he inhaled deeply and sighed before turning to Darius.
"I'm alright, I'm just being dramatic." He said, sniffling quietly. Darius frowned and cupped his cheek once again.
"You aren't being dramatic Ben, I'm sure that whatever is bothering you is perfectly reasonable. Now, what's up?" He asked once again. Ben thought for a moment, wondering if he should answer honestly or if he should just lie about it. He didn't want to bother anyone with his issues. 
"I uh..." He began. "I just feel a bit left out, that's all." He admitted. "You all have these inside jokes and stories and I was gone for so long... You're all such good friends now..." He muttered, blurting out whatever came to mind. Darius tilted his head as he listened intently. For some reason he had always done that, whenever he was paying attention to something that he was truly interested in he had always tilted his head as if he were some sort of curious dog. Ben found that funny and rather adorable. Once Darius knew that Ben had finished speaking, he spoke up.
"Ben, you may have been gone for a month, but there's still time to bond. I'm sure we'll make plenty of new memories all together and you'll be apart of all the jokes." Darius assured, trying his best to comfort him. "I'm sorry you feel left out, but I'm sure you'll become good friends with everyone and you'll get a chance to bond with them too." He consoled. Ben stared at the floor for a moment before fixing his gaze to Darius. He smiled warmly and sniffled quietly. 
"Thanks D, you really didn't need to say all that.." He said, he was truly thankful for what Darius had said, and he wanted to hug him but he didn't want to make it awkward. Thankfully though, Darius hugged him first.
"Always..." He whispered into his ear softly. Ben sunk into the hug and sighed deeply, burying his face in the crook of Darius' neck. 

A/N
This was just a random short one-shot I wanted to do just to get back into the hang of writing. It's not the best and I didn't put much effort into it so uh.. Yeah. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.