*PENNY'S POV*
During the day, he's my arch-nemesis. We hate each other. Almost immediately in our encounters would we engage in battle, get at each other's throats, and sometimes, find ourselves close to death.
But when we aren't on duty to our respective agencies, it's another story entirely.
I was on my way home from the mall, where I met with Kayla earlier. We didn't buy anything, we were just window-shopping. The roads on my usual way home were busy, so I decided to take the back-roads this time.
A "spraying" sound caught my attention; across the street from me, I saw the figure of a boy about my age, committing graffiti in a dark alleyway. A breeze blows from his direction to mine, and I recognize the scent it brings immediately:
Hair gel.
Luckily, there was no one else nearby him. I don't get these often, but an idea to mess with him came to mind.
"FREEZE, DELINQUENT!" I switched on a flashing red and blue light on my cuff link bracelet, with a siren sound to match. Startled, my target screamed like a little girl, dropping the can of spray paint. Turning it off, I can't help but burst out laughing at his reaction. Realizing it's just me, he grabs his chest where his heart was, and sighs, relieved.
"Okay, copper. You got me," he smirks teasingly, half-heartedly raising his hands in the air as if in surrender. His name is Talon. Or, at least, that's what he calls himself. I doubt that's his actual name, but like any villain with half a brain, he won't tell me his real one. When we first met, I mistakenly thought it was love at first sight...but later that same day I found out he was the nephew and second-in-command of the evil Dr. Claw, head of MAD, one of world's biggest criminal organizations. We've been arch-enemies ever since.
But then came the times when we would run into each other when we weren't on missions, like a comic book store or the park. The fifth time or so we had run into each other like this, he came up with the idea of being friends when we weren't enemies. We already had so much in common, and when we put some thought into it, the only thing that really made us enemies were our good/evil alignments.
We've been "frienemies" for six months exactly now. Just frienemies. So far so good, but deep down, I always have this suspicion that some way, somehow, if we were anything more, he would try to influence me to turn to the dark side. It hasn't happened yet, but you can never be too careful.
I took a moment to look at the art on the wall: little scenes of people without faces, doing things like eating pizza or playing cards.
"I found I still had a bit of spray paint from earlier. Thought I'd make good use of it."
"I don't know what your uncle was thinking: painting a leopard's spots?"
"His 'brilliant evil plan' was to prove that old saying 'a leopard can't change its' spots' was wrong."
"I guess it can't change its diet, either," I giggled, referring to the incident earlier today when that same leopard Talon tried to paint almost made him its lunch. Luckily I was there to save him in the nick of time. He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"...Yeah...I guess not."
We still had a little while before curfew, so we decided to walk around town for a little while. We had already interacted during the day a lot earlier, so we didn't make much conversation other than small talk. Still, it was good not to have to kick each other's butts. Then we felt the ground shaking.
"Hey, do you feel that?" I asked him.
"Yeah..." he stamped the ground in thought. "...some kind of vibration." He opened his MADex to look for a signal he finds a building that looks like a club. "Oh yeah! I forgot they opened that new dance place not too long ago."
"Dance place?"
"Just right down the street," he said, closing his MADex. "You wanna go check it out?" He raised a devilish eyebrow at me.
"Wha-? Really? I don't know..."
"Oh come on, Pen. Don't be such a goodie-goodie."
"W-well maybe I am!" I spat indignantly. He only laughed it off and started walking away. "...Hey, wait up!"
Standing by a building next to the club, Talon hit some buttons on his virtual cuff, and in a moment, his whole attire changed to a long-sleeved, buttoned, white dress shirt, sleeves rolled halfway up, a dark purple vest over it, and a black tie underneath. His dark jeans stopped just when they touched the black dress shoes. His hair went from their usual purple spikes to its natural raven color, slicked back away from his face.
"Some places are just a little picky about their dress code," he explained, noticing me. "To be on the safe side, you should throw something else on. If you're tagging along, that is."
Making some adjustments, I look different too: my hair is loose from its pigtails, down to my shoulders. A black jacket hung openly over a plain gray shirt, and black boots to match come up just past my ankles, covering the ends of the skinny jeans I'm in. "How's this?" I ask. Talon clears his throat.
"That'll do." Judging from his efforts to clear blush on his face, clearly visible by the streetlight, I think he approved more than he let on. I secretly took some satisfaction in that.
We snuck in through the back door, open, and surprisingly unsupervised. Instantly when we walk in the room, my body felt like it's pulsing with the beat, and my eyes scanned the room with admiration at all the bright lights. Something about being somewhere you know you weren't supposed to was so exciting! No wonder "normal" teens sneak out!
"Come on. Are you gonna stand there and stare all night, or are we gonna go have a good time?" Laughing, I follow him.
I had no idea how long we were there. It was loud, and I didn't know anyone else here. Most of the time it was Talon and I dancing together, even if it was just up and down to the beat. It got so crowded, there was barely any space left between Talon and me. Carefully, we guided ourselves away from the sea of people to a small area to the side, closer to the back of the large room with a couch and two chairs. Despite it being really busy tonight, we were the only ones in that area.
"Ha, ha. Wow. It sure is crazy out there," I smiled weakly.
"Yeah," he sighed. We both took a seat on the couch. "That was fun though."
Both of us laughed softly, out of breath. I couldn't put my finger on it, but the way the lights shined on him, he just looked...amazing.
Feeling like an idiot for staring, I quickly looked away, and tried to distract myself from the moment by watching people on the dance floor.
I felt his fingers slowly brush my hand until it was in his. I looked back at him, his brown eyes soft, a little nervous even. It was so...different than the way he looks at me when we're about to go into combat. Not once breaking our gaze, he slowly leans in closer, but he's waiting for my response. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't help but think to myself,
How bad could one kiss be? It's not like anyone else has to know.
I closed my eyes and leaned forward, meeting him halfway. A shiver ran down my spine as his lips lightly brush against mine. Oooh...I knew it was a bad idea...because then I wanted more.
I went back in, my lips gently holding his as a sweet, electric feeling buzzed through my face. I could feel the hand that was holding mine move to hold me around the lower back, the other cupping my face, his thumb gently stroking my cheek. After a while, I felt like I'm forgetting something...
...BREATHING! I pull back. Breathing would be good. Panting slightly, my eyes met his and we smiled at each other. I could tell he liked this just as much as I did. He leaned his forehead on mine as I pull him back in for another kiss. As they gradually became deeper, it wasn't long before I found him on top of me, one hand on my shoulder, another around my waist. I wrapped my own in between his shoulders and neck.
It was going great...until we heard sirens. There was a fight going on, and it got so bad, someone had to call the police, and an ambulance. Talon and I were too wrapped up in each other to notice.
Getting off of me, he took me by the hand, and we quietly left the same way we came in.
"How long have we been there?" I asked him. He checked the time on his cellphone.
"It's almost midnight now."
Oh, god. I hoped Uncle Gadget was asleep. He wasn't feeling well, so he had to stay hooked up to a computer to clean off some viruses on his hard-drive. Then again, Brain might give me a parental talk-down in his place.
Other than a brief 'goodnight', we didn't say a thing to each other on the way home. I felt so ashamed of myself. Yeah, it wasn't anything more than a make-out session, but we were supposed to be just friends when we weren't enemies! It was just that moment...it was so hard to remember what we were...and what we were supposed to be.
Sometimes...I wish we were just normal teenagers. Then we could be together without having to worry about betraying anyone or putting anyone's lives' in danger! I went to bed that night cursing my teenage hormones.
A FEW DAYS LATER...
*TALON'S POV*
Tonight was one of those rare moments I actually had some spare time on my hands. None of my uncle's crazy demands, and all the new junior agents had completed their training today. I kind of wanted to text Penny but...thinking about the other night, I wondered...what was that?
I didn't know what came over me, but I finally had the courage to kiss her. I couldn't believe I didn't get slapped for leaning in. Sure, we both like each other. Like, like-like each other. That's no secret. But ninety-nine percent of the time, Penny doesn't forget her boundaries. Especially when it comes to me.
I ran into her earlier today, the first time I'd seen her since then, and we barely did anything. Usually, I would have a one-liner to annoy and/or flirt with her, but my mind went blank. We didn't even fight each other. I didn't tell my uncle, but...for once, I let HQ win. I even hit myself until I was black-and-blue in the face afterwards to make it look like she gave me a rough time. (I still got punished via shark tank, but, hey, can't blame a guy for trying, right?)
With that moment playing over in my head, I wondered...maybe Penny wouldn't mind going out with me? Officially? The moment I picked up my phone, it starts vibrating with its usual ringtone. It's Penny. Perfect! Alright, easy...just...be cool.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Talon."
"Penny, hey. What's up?"
"I don't know, the ceiling?"
"Heh, heh, you're getting better at that." There was an awkward silence before she spoke up.
"Um...listen, I just wanted to call about what happened...the other night at the club..."
"Yeah, uh, I was actually about to call you about that just now and..." Some kind of instinct somewhere told me it was better if she said what she needed to before I did. "...sorry, you first."
"Okay, so, I was thinking about that, and running into you again...how awkward everything was earlier..."
"Yeah?"
"...I think we should just stick to being arch-nemeses. Without the friendship part." Silence. "...It's nothing personal, it's just...for the better of both of our agencies. The other night proved that our...attraction...to each other might be too strong. And since we're supposed to be enemies, that's...just not good. Um...you understand, right?"
"...Yeah! Yeah. I'm...glad we're on the same page here, heh." God, I hoped I don't sound like a lying, heartbroken moron.
"Oh, okay, good. I was worried you'd take it...kind of personally." Luckily, she seemed to buy my act.
"No, no. It's all good. Really, I get it."
"Alright then." Silence again. "So...kick your butt next time?"
"After I kick yours."
"Heh, heh. Okay, bye."
"Yeah, bye." I hung up, and made sure the call cut off before I threw my phone on the bed and screamed into my pillow. It was official: I was fed up with being a MAD Agent! Constantly being taunted by the fact that I had fallen for my arch-nemesis was probably the third worst part about my job. It wasn't third by much, it was right underneath the second-worst: having to put up with the crap that my dim-witted uncle and his mangy cat give me on a daily basis, then the absolute worst: having to go through the same routine every single day: Wake up, get ready, (take extra time on my hair), go see whatever stupid idea my uncle's come up with now, try to carry it out for him (even if it was pretty much impossible), have everything go just fine until Penny showed up, usually engage in battle, and then her uncle, with luck on their side, ruin everything MAD (and by "MAD" I mostly mean just me) set up. Then I would go home to my uncle after the failure and take whatever punishment he gives me, even if it wasn't my fault.
I don't think anyone else knows, but I stick to longer clothing, not just my MAD uniform, but also to hide whatever cuts, bruises, or scars I got from most of those punishments. The only thing that improved the vicious cycle of my life was Penny agreeing to be friends off-duty. I know I can't force her to love me, but I'll admit it, I didn't plan to stay just friends forever. I was going to make a move on her at some point, but I wanted to wait until she was comfortable with it (more for my safety more than hers, of course). Just when I thought I had her right where I wanted her, we end up back at square one. Sure as hell, tomorrow is going back to the days it was before then, plus the awkwardness held between us because of what we were.
We were everything: arch-nemeses, best friends, almost lovers even. We were just what couldn't be.
Sitting up, and gazing at the full moon outside my window, I realize nothing different is going to happen if I just sit here and feel sorry for myself. Something has to change, and it has to change now!
...But what?