Short Answer: Yes

Ben’s eyes squeezed shut reflexively, hands flinching up to try and protect him from the blast that… Didn’t happen.

‘…I’m still alive?’ He let the thought sit there for a few seconds, just to make sure the red flash didn’t leave him hallucinating.

Cracking his eyes open, Ben saw the familiar sight of human hand and a green jacket, the left sleeve helpfully not covering the strange watch he had found, which now had a red glow over it instead of green.

“I’m back…? I’m back!” He threw a fist into the air in victory, “Take that, alien watch thing!”

He heard a click from over the brick wall and cut off his victory cheer, wincing as he heard his neighbor start ranting for people to keep it down. He didn’t really retain all the information about it.

‘I’m back to normal though! Ten points to Gryffindor!’ He grinned to himself as he made his way to the exit of the small back alley.

It was a bit of a night, but seeing as he wasn’t in any immediate danger of being discovered as a freak anymore, he could enjoy the rest of his night sleeping.

Plans were derailed as he opened the door, getting tackled by a hug from his mom.

“Ben! Oh, thank goodness you’re alright!” She said as she squished him up against her soft body, and he couldn’t do anything but confusedly return the gesture.

“Uh, yeah… Why wouldn’t I be?”

His dad jumped in too, giving them both a quick hug before moving to the tv, “Well, there was some kind of meteor in the park earlier, and since it’s on the way between our house and Julie’s…” he shut the tv off and set the remote on the cabinet next to the entertainment center, “But you’re fine! We’re just happy you’re okay, Ben!”

Ben grinned back at them as his mom finally let him go, and he couldn’t help chuckling nervously, “Yeah… Everything’s okay…”

His false confidence shattered when the watch chose that time to beep out.

“Oh? What’s this?” His mom asked as she looked down to his wrist, where the watch had turned back to a green color, “Now that looks fancy! Where’d you get it, Ben?”

‘Panic mode, activate…’

He couldn’t tell them how he got it, much less what it could do. They’d freak out, probably send him to doctors all over to try and fix him, and he really didn’t want to become a freak show for anybody claiming to have a cure for whatever this watch was doing.

“Uh, well… It’s annnnnn… An Anniversary gift from Julie!” Ben tried to smile confidently, “We’ve been together for fifteen months now, so she got me this watch!”

‘Not to self, Ben, let Julie know about this before your parents bring it up to her.’

“Awww, how cute!” His mom smiled, buying his quick excuse.

His dad, however, gave it a closer look, “If it’s a watch, where’s the time face?”

“Well… I don’t know how to change the display to a clock. I think it came from China or someplace, and it didn’t come with an instruction book.” He shrugged, “But it’s the thought that counts, right?”

His dad grinned, “Good call. Don’t want Julie thinking you don’t appreciate her.”

“Don’t tease him, Carl,” His mom said, “*Yawn* It’s been a bit of a stressful night. We should probably be heading to sleep ourselves.”

And that was Ben’s chance to exit to his room, “Good call, mom! *Yaaaaawn* I need some sleep myself!” Waltzing away as inconspicuously as he could, he waved to his parents, “Good night, love you!”

“Good night!” He heard them echo right before he slipped inside his room, the door shutting with a soft slam. With a sigh of relief, he slid back on it till he was sitting on the floor, glaring down at the watch taking up free space on his wrist.

“That was too close…” Whatevee this thing was, it already left a bad impression on him with its timing alone.

But now that he has time to take stock, what did he know about this watch?

So far, he knew it could turn him into a fire monster girl thing, it was able to turn him back, it had some kind of intelligence to disguise itself with it, and it came from outer space.

‘Is this some kind of alien technology? Are aliens real?!’ The clues indicated a yes, but Ben couldn’t know for sure. It might be from a different dimension for all he knew… Not that it would be any better.

Sighing, he got up and headed over to his bed, tossing his sports jacket onto his chair and kicking his shoes off, flopping back first to the mattress.

Whatever he decides to do, he could do it the next day. “*Yawn*” His parents were right, it was a stressful night.