A Little Lemon, a kim possible fanfic

A Little Lemon, by DoofusPrime

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. This work was not created for profit. No copyright infringement is intended.

"Kim, wake up!"

Kim Possible, teen hero extraordinaire and fresh-faced college freshman, opened her eyes with a groan. The alarm clock's display was blank. The power must have gone out overnight. Figures, thought Kim. She shifted in bed onto her back and stared up at the person who had been shaking her.

"I'm up, Bonnie," she grumbled.

"Okay, fine," shrugged Bonnie Rockwaller as she went back to her morning primping. "Just thought I'd do my roomie a favor and wake her up before she misses her first class, but judging by your attitude, maybe thats not what you wanted."

Kim looked at the dead alarm clock, which had been plugged into a wall socket that was now powering Bonnie's hair iron. "Always the altruistic one, right Bonnie?"

"Exactly, K."

Kim sat up in bed and took a few moments to try to collect her senses. She grabbed a watch from the desk beside her bed and checked the time: about half an hour before her first class. Bonnie had saved her from being late on the first day of school, but not by much. She still had to take a shower, and hopefully she'd be able to find her class in time.

Kim rummaged through the closet to grab her shower supplies. Towel, check. Soap, check. Shampoo and conditioner, check. Flip-flops, check. Her parents had been very insistent that she bring flip-flops. Kim thought it seemed like a fashion faux pas, even in the privacy of the shower, but her father's stories about getting foot fungus back in college had changed her priorities quickly.

"By the way Kim, you might want to make sure to wash your hair really well, and maybe you'll want to borrow my hair dryer when you're out of the shower. You look like you fell head first into a really furry pile of roadkill."

"Thanks, Bonnie."

Kim walked down the dormitory hallway to the shower rooms. The showers looked empty; perhaps Kim's fellow students were even more terrified than she was of being late for their classes. Kim was definitely nervous about her first day, but hygiene wasn't something you could just skip when you felt like it.

Kim slipped out of her robe and made sure her flip-flops were securely fastened before entering the shower, sighing at the feeling of hot water hitting her. For just a moment, the shower helped her ease up and stop worrying about college. What with Bonnie unplugging her alarm clock, her first day was looking ominous already.

Rooming with Bonnie had been a gamble, but Kim had decided it was preferable to having a randomly chosen roommate. Monique was attending a fashion institute in France – or, as Monique put it, France girl, France! - and Kim did not know anyone else at the University of Upperton. When she and Bonnie had discovered that they were both going to the same college, a very awkward conversation led to a tentative agreement to become roommates.

Kim did not want to feel lonely on a new campus. Despite her many acquaintances, she actually had a lot of trouble making friends and getting to know people with her busy schedule. Ron and Monique had been her only close friends in high school. Bonnie's familiar cattiness, strangely enough, felt reassuring to Kim.

She turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel to dry her hair. The knot in her stomach returned as she anticipated her day. Going on missions was no big, but college was another matter. After hearing stories about the kind of workload that one could anticipate in college, Kim wondered if she could manage it. She couldn't wait until she got to talk to Ron.

Kim stared at the sign on the door. This was it. Psychology 101.

The auditorium class was nearly full already when she went through the door and picked her way through seated students to an empty aisle seat. She set her backpack down and listened to the chatter around her. A few voices coming from behind her caught Kim's attention; they seemed to be whispering about her. Kim turned around after feeling a piece of paper bounce off her back.

A few boys were gathered in the raised row behind her. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, was wearing a T-shirt that said 'COLLEGE' on it. Kim wondered what the point of the shirt was. They were in college, wasn't that obvious? Did he need a shirt to emphasize that?

"Hey," the boy said, "aren't you Kim Possible?"

"Yep, that's right."

"So, is your website true?"

"Sorry?"

"Well, it says you can do anything. Does that mean anything?"

The boy raised an eyebrow suggestively while his friends stifled laughs. Kim rolled her eyes and turned back around to face the podium. Hopefully they would not be bothering her when classes actually started. The teacher wasn't in yet, although there were still a few seconds to go before he was technically late for -

"Mr. Barkin?"

Kim yelled at the conservatively-dressed figure that entered the classroom before she realized what she was doing. She looked around the auditorium, now completely silent, and noticed that she was standing up in shock while all the other students were still sitting.

"Good morning, Miss Possible."

Kim slowly sat back down in her seat. "You're teaching this class?"

"Yes Possible, that's correct. Now, as you all know, since Possible was so kind as to introduce me," - the rest of the class laughed - "my name is Steve Barkin, and I will teaching this class."

"How can you teach a college class?" asked Kim. "What about Middleton High?"

"I get around, Possible. That and I have a PhD in clinical psychology. It helps me understand why you teens are always up to no good." He narrowed his eyes at Kim as if he was referring specifically to her.

"Oh."

"Now, everyone turn to page one of your book!"

The auditorium echoed with the soft shifting sound of pages turning. Kim began to open her book, but heard the same group of boys laughing behind her. The same boy that had bothered her earlier spoke up again as Barkin began to outline the class.

"You know him, huh Possible? He was making it sound like you're pretty familiar with being up to no good."

Mr. Barkin looked up from his own textbook placed on the podium. "You there! Interrupter!"

"Yes sir?"

"Detention!"

The class gasped. Kim heard the boy behind her stutter for a moment. "But, what... how can you give me detention? This is college!"

Mr. Barkin opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He stood at the front of the class for a moment, his face growing steadily redder. Kim thought he might be about to explode. Finally, he slammed his fist on the open pages of his textbook.

"Page one, NOW!"

Kim walked up the dormitory stairwell with a Styrofoam container tucked under her arm. She had gotten some lunch from the dining hall, but she decided not to eat alone in the middle of a crowded room on her first day of school. There was just something strange about it. Not only that, but she was hoping to call Ron, and eating in her dorm would give her a little privacy; she was pretty sure that Bonnie was still in one of her classes at the moment. As Kim approached her dorm room, she saw a sinister figure standing outside her door, jiggling the doorknob.

Kim dropped her lunch container on the ground and did several cartwheels towards the figure, landing with her legs tensed and arms ready to strike. The person did not look so sinister up close; he smiled and nodded.

"Kim Possible?"

Kim nodded.

"Evilgram!"

"What?" Kim stared at the stranger.

"I have an Evilgram for you." The man put his hand into his pocket – Kim tensed up for a moment, expecting some kind of weapon – and pulled out an envelope.

"Have a nice day, ma'am!" The man handed Kim the envelope and walked away down the hall.

Kim grabbed her lunch container off the floor and opened her door, setting her lunch inside on the desk along with the envelope and slumping into her chair with a sigh. She opened the container to find the food mixed together in a completely unappetizing fashion as a result of landing on the ground when she dropped it. Wonderful. She looked at the envelope curiously. There was no return address. She opened it. Inside the envelope was a letter, written in curly handwriting.

Kim Possible -

We wanted to wish you a good first day of school. This is the beginning of an exciting new time in a young person's life, and you have many new things to experience! Soon, for instance, you will experience the destructive power of my Neutronium Phase Inducer! Okay, that doesn't roll off the tongue, but it's still in beta stages, give me a break here.

As I was saying, your destruction is immanent, but we wanted you to enjoy your first few days of college. It just seems like the right thing to do, don't you think? We've been a little busy with our personal lives as well, so it's a win-win situation, but we didn't want you to get the impression that we were going good or anything after what happened at your high school graduation. We're still bad. Very bad.

You think you're all that, Kim Possible, but soon you will not be. Not all that, I mean. In the future, you won't be any of that. Okay, Shego is getting angry at how much time I'm taking to write this, I have to

The letter ended abruptly. Kim did not need a handwriting analyst to know who had written it, although the handwriting was disturbingly feminine and petite. Kim had not heard from her two foes in a long time, but it looked like she would be visiting Drakken and Shego in the near future. She'd have to call Wade and let him know about the letter.

But first, Ron.

Ron Stoppable strolled through a grassy courtyard at the Middleton Culinary Institute. He had been nervous about his first day, but the last couple of classes had gone surprisingly well. Now that he had a couple of hours to himself, he was planning on taking in the scenery and chatting with Rufus. Ron waved at a student passing him by.

"Hey, random dude!"

Rufus popped out of his pocket and seconded the greeting. "Mm, heya!"

The student looked at them in confusion and continued walking, but Ron didn't mind. He stepped into an empty gazebo in the center of the courtyard, whitewashed and crossed with wood latticework. It was a pleasant spot to sit down for a while on one of its benches.

Ron thought about what his girlfriend might be doing at that very moment. His grades in high school were not high enough to get into the same college as Kim, but the Culinary Institute had let Ron in after he had barged into the admissions office with some samples of his work in plastic containers. He was also taking some community college classes on the side. After a year or two, he and Kim would see where they were, but until then, they were confident that they could work things out.

Ron was about to call Kim when his phone rang first.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ron!"

"Oh, hey Kim! I was just about to call you up."

"Beat you! So sitch me Ron. How is your first day going?"

Ron looked down as his pet mole rat tugged on his shirtsleeve. "Rufus says hi, by the way. My first day has been pretty badical so far! My teachers seem pretty cool, and one of them gave us these really tasty truffles that he's gonna to show us how to make later in the semester. How's your day going?"

"Ferociously bad."

Ron frowned. "Really? Why's that?"

"My psychology teacher is Mr. Barkin."

Ron almost choked, despite the fact that he wasn't eating anything. "For real?"

"Yes, for real Ron. And then I got back to my dorm room and some guy gave me this letter from Drakken and Shego. They were talking about how they have some evil scheme they're going to bust out on us soon."

"Sounds like a job for Kim Possible, then."

"I guess." The voice on the other end of the phone sighed. "I miss you, Ron."

"I miss you too, KP. We'll see each other soon though. And I'm sure the rest of your classes will be a little better." Ron thought about Kim's roommate situation with a combination of amusement and confusion. "So, you're still rooming with Bonnie, right? How is she treating you?"

"She's Bonnie. You know how it is."

"Yeah."

Ron felt his stomach begin to rumble. He did not want to end the conversation with his girlfriend, so he continued to talk on the phone as he left the gazebo and started to wander around in search of a place to eat. Ron was beginning to regret not looking into the campus food situation before he actually started classes.

Kim kept venting about her day on the phone as Ron followed his nose in the direction of a pleasant odor coming from nearby. His girlfriend sounded pretty frazzled about her classes. Ron was surprised; he was expecting to freak out himself, but school had turned out better than he had expected so far. Perhaps he would have to do something to cheer Kim up before the day was out.

Principles of Biology.

Kim had finally gotten to her next class. She burst through the door, barely noting the class name, and raced to find an empty seat. She had gotten a little lost on campus, and had only seconds to spare before she was late. Kim hadn't realized how useful Wade was in terms of giving her directions on missions. She sat down in her desk, gasping for breath and rummaging through her backpack for her biology book, when she heard a voice coming from the front of the room.

"Kim Possible?"

Kim looked to the front of the room and jerked up out of her chair with a gasp.

"DNAmy?"

Her fellow students laughed at the strange scene. Kim heard several people whispering to each other about how she was the same girl who had been acting crazy in the Psychology class. Great, she thought. It was the first day of school and she was already getting a reputation for being the crazy girl.

"What are you doing here, Amy?"

Amy made an indignant noise and straightened herself up as much as her pudgy frame would allow. "I'm teaching this class, Kim," she said.

"Okay, Mr. Barkin I can accept, but you? How are you allowed to be a teacher? Haven't you been arrested and stuff? I'm pretty sure I've personally been there to see you get arrested."

"I have tenure!"

The other students murmured to each other. "Seems reasonable to me," one of them said.

"Allow me to introduce myself, everyone! I'm Amy Hall, and of course I will be your teacher for Principles of Biology. I think we're going to have a lot of fun in this class. I've been doing some really neat gene-splicing work lately, and you guys will just love -"

"Come on," interrupted Kim, still standing up from her desk. "I have to take a class taught by my arch foe? This is crazy!"

The other students glared at her.

"Kimmie, sweetie, I'm going to have to ask you to sit down and stop interrupting me. I don't want to have to turn you into a freakish hybrid travesty of... I mean, um, I don't want to have to ask you to leave the room."

Kim sat down in a huff. She thought bad grades or dropping out were the worst things that could happen to her in college, but apparently she had to worry about being turned into a human Cuddle Buddy as well. Kim was beginning to look forward to hanging out with Bonnie when she got back to her dorm. She definitely did not understand college.

Bonnie stared in amazement at the pile of papers on her desk.

The first day of school was not supposed to be like this. Bonnie had just returned to the dorm after getting through all her classes, and was looking through the handouts she had been given. She was just beginning to realize the amount of homework she had to do. A lot of it was just introductory busywork, to be fair, but Bonnie had been expecting an easy ride for the first week or two.

Not only did she have actual work to do, but she had found the whole college experience to be very disconcerting. There was no obvious food chain, no social pecking order to adhere to in her classes. People seemed to sit randomly. During one class, she had been walking through the aisle to get to an empty seat and found her path blocked by a backpack. The backpack's owner looked like a nerd, so Bonnie had made a disparaging comment and told him to move the backpack. Instead of moving it, the nerd – along with a whole group of nearby students – had laughed at her. Laughed, at Bonnie Rockwaller!

She remembered the incident and shivered. It was hard to admit, even to herself, but she was almost looking forward to her roommate returning from classes. Kim was still out somewhere, since she was taking more classes than Bonnie. She wondered if Kim's experiences had been equally strange. Perhaps, as a former cheerleader, Kim could sympathize with the weird social atmosphere of college. Probably not, thought Bonnie, judging by the fact that she hadn't dumped Stoppable when the two had gone to different colleges. She decided they must have some freakish form of love going on.

The dorm room's silence was broken by the sound of a knock. Bonnie got up and opened the door, surprised to find herself feeling excited at Kim's return, but found someone else standing outside the door instead.

"Ron? What are you doing here?"

"Hey Bonnie. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Bonnie stepped back as Ron entered the room, carrying a large pack with him. "What's in the pack?" she asked.

"Uh, well, that's kind of why I'm here. I have a favor to ask you."

Bonnie knelt down and opened the pack before Ron could object. The first objects she saw were red roses and candles.

"Oh, I see. Ron, you naughty boy..."

"DNAmy, really?"

"I know mom, that's what I said!"

Kim walked down a cobblestone sidewalk bordered by a thick row of hedges to her right. She was finally finished with her classes, which ran so long that it was already dark outside. She had called her parents as soon as her last class was finished to talk about her day. Her mother sympathized.

"It just seems like a lot more work than high school. I know I never had a problem with that before, but how do I know I can handle it now?"

"You can, Kim. Believe me. And you don't have to make all your decisions in the first semester, just take things easy. I really think you'll like the University of Upperton, even with your bad luck in teachers. You've gotten the first day past you, and you'll get used to things eventually. You know you can do anything."

"I know, mom."

"Your father says hello, by the way."

"Hi dad. Tell the tweebs I said hi, too."

Kim noticed someone walking towards her on the sidewalk from the opposite direction as her mother continued talking. "You know, Kim, I have a feeling you'll feel a lot better tonight, now that your classes are over."

"I hope so, mom."

The figure got closer – it was the same boy who had heckled her in Psychology class, wearing his 'COLLEGE' shirt. He seemed to be drunk, seeing as he could barely prevent himself from walking off the sidewalk into the hedges.

"Hey mom, I have to go," said Kim.

"Alright, bye honey. We love you."

"Love you guys too."

Kim hung up the phone as the boy approached. "Hey, it's Kim Possible!" he said.

"Hello again."

The boy stood awkwardly, as if unsure about whether he wanted to continue talking or vomit. "Hey, you know, you're kinda scary with all that fighting and stuff, but you're kinda hot too."

Kim raised an eyebrow.

"We're in college now, right?" The boy seemed to be firing all brain cells on full blast to decide what to say next. "Maybe we should, like, go to your place. It's all about new experiences and all that."

"I don't know if being vomited on is the kind of new experience I went to college for."

The boy laughed and hiccuped. "Come on baby, don't be stuck up. You know you want some of this."

Kim sighed. It was obvious he wasn't going to let her pass by without being disgusting. She glanced at the row of hedges on their right.

"You know what? You're right. You're totally irresistible. Why don't we sneak behind these hedges there so no one can see us, and then we can have some fun in private."

The boy seemed surprised by her forwardness. "Sweet! That's what I'm talking about!"

He left the sidewalk and burrowed his way through the hedges as Kim listened. After a moment, she heard a brief scream and a series of muffled thumps as the boy rolled down the long gravel embankment that Kim knew had been masked by the hedges. The thumping stopped, followed by the skittering sound of gravel rolling down the hill from where it had been disturbed. The sounds ended with a low groan.

Kim continued walking to her dorm, wondering whether College T-shirt Boy would be showing up at their next class together. As she had learned many times from her missions, rolling down a gravelly hillside tended to hurt. Someone really ought to put a fence in front of those hedges, she thought.

Kim entered her residence hall feeling exhausted. It had been a long day, and she was ready to go into her dorm room and flop down on the bed without even changing out of her clothes. Kim had called Wade about the note sent by Drakken and Shego. Wade would be on the lookout for their whereabouts and would let her know if anything major happened, but for now, she had the night to herself.

Kim wondered if Bonnie had gone through a similar day. Hopefully Bonnie would be in the mood to commiserate with Kim, or at least she might be too tired to take potshots at her. She walked up the stairway again and down her dormitory hall, half expecting to see another Evilgram messenger in front of her door, but the hall was clear. She could hear some music playing at the far end of the hall – probably a few of her fellow students celebrating the conclusion of their first day of school. Fortunately, the music was not loud.

Kim turned the doorknob and walked into her dark room, throwing her backpack carelessly on the floor without bothering to turn on the light. She was so ready to throw herself right into bed that she nearly stumbled over the table that had been set up in the center of the room. She blinked as she noticed the sandy-haired boy sitting on the other side of the table.

"Ron?"

"Hey KP!"

Kim sat down at the table opposite Ron with a bemused smile. She looked around at the dorm room; the furniture had been pushed farther against the edges of the walls to maximize what little space they had in the center of the room, where Ron had set the table up. The table itself was covered in a white tablecloth and topped with a vase of red roses. Candles were lit, placed on any furniture that had space available on top.

Judging by the sound coming from Bonnie's stereo, Ron had commandeered it for the night; it was playing 'Quit Playing Games With my Head' by the Oh Boyz on low volume. Kim was not a fan of the group – at least not beyond a week or two in high school when she had been obsessed with them – but besides the choice in music, Ron had done quite well. Kim had to admit that Ron had given the room as much of a romantic atmosphere as a dorm room could have.

"Where's Bonnie?"

"She went out," said Ron as he got up and fiddled with something on Kim's bed. "I asked her if we could have the dorm room to ourselves for most of the evening, and she said she was fine with it. I think she went to some campus party or something." He returned to the table with a pair of plates. "I had to microwave these since I had to come over here early with the food. I hope it's still okay."

Kim looked at her plate of food and picked up a bite with her fork. One taste of the food confirmed why Ron was going to culinary school. Even microwaved, it made her mouth feel like it was in mouth heaven. Kim was still tired, but she was unable to resist the urge to gobble the food down.

After their meal had disappeared, Ron got up again. "I think you ate faster than I did, KP. That was a little creepy."

Kim stuck her tongue out. "It was just that good, I guess!"

"Glad you liked it." Ron returned to the table with another plate of food that he had prepared from his station on Kim's bed. "And now, for dessert!"

Kim looked at the plate. It was covered in small yellow rectangles, arranged in the shape of a smiley face.

"Ron! Nana's lemon squares!" She stuffed one of them into her mouth before Ron had even sat down. "How did you get these? It's a secret recipe!"

"I called Nana up and asked for a favor, and she told me how to make them. I told her you were having a bad first day of school, and she understood."

Kim nodded as she ate another lemon square. "These are even better than the way Nana makes them!" She had a vague feeling that she had just said something blasphemous, and changed her appraisal a little. "Um, I mean, these are almost equally as good as Nana's."

"I guess you have to thank Nana for giving me the recipe then."

Kim nodded. "Wait, Ron, did you skip classes to do this? It must have taken you a while to come all the way over here and set all this up."

"I skipped a class, yeah."

"Aw, Ron, you didn't need to do that!"

"Don't worry, it was totally worth it. Besides, I managed to convince the teacher to let me miss class in exchange for a little favor." Ron looked around conspiratorially and leaned in closer to Kim. "I gave him your Nana's lemon square recipe for his own private use."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah, hope you don't mind."

Kim decided it was probably alright, as long as no one told Nana about the breach in lemon square recipe security.

"By the way Kim, it wasn't the regular teacher. Someone else was subbing for the first day of class while the teacher was out sick from some kind of dough-making accident. Guess who the substitute was?"

Kim looked at him in amazement. It couldn't be.

"Mr. Barkin?" Ron nodded at Kim's guess. "He must have gone right from teaching my class to teaching yours! It's like the man never sleeps."

"Creepy, I know."

Other than a couple of stragglers still hanging out on the plate, the lemon squares had been devoured between the two of them. Ron began to clear the table. "So, what else do you want to do tonight, Kim?"

"Oh, I'm not sure Ron," groaned Kim. "This has been really amazing, but I don't know if I want to go out. I'm kind of exhausted after all those classes. Could we just stay in maybe?"

"I was hoping you'd say that." Ron pulled a DVD from his pants pocket. "Check it, Kim! Home entertainment at your demand. I thought you might like to watch The Memo Pad."

Kim lit up at the suggestion. "I'd love that!"

Ron went to put the DVD into the player as Kim got into her bed. One of the good things about rooming with a high-maintenance former cheerleader was that Bonnie had stuffed the dorm room with all the amenities Kim could think of, including a hi-def television. Kim had barely needed to bring anything herself.

"You know," said Ron, "Just in case you wanted another option, I did bring Bricks of Fury III: The Final Brickening..."

"Nope, Memo Pad!"

"If you insist," Ron grumbled good-naturedly. "Oh, one more thing KP. Check out your pillows there."

Kim looked at the abundant pillows on her bed. She didn't know how she had missed it when she first sat down, but amongst the pillows sat a familiar figure: her Pandaroo.

"Ron! You brought Pandaroo!"

"I stopped by your house to say hi to your parents and picked it up before I came over here. I thought you might like it. I'm surprised you didn't bring it yourself!"

"I guess I just forgot."

Kim had not forgotten; she had left her Pandaroo at home because she was worried it might be a little childish to have it in college, or that Bonnie would make comments about it. Now that Ron had brought it along, however, she realized that keeping a piece of her childhood with her was not such a bad thing. Perhaps she wasn't ready to be completely grown up yet, after all.

Kim patted a spot on the bed next to her as Ron finished loading the DVD. He climbed in beside her and lay back against some pillows as the movie began. Kim gave him a lemony kiss and settled down beside him, her red hair cascading over as she rested her head on his shoulder with a yawn.

She wanted to stay awake and enjoy the movie with her boyfriend, but she felt her eyes flickering as his arm wrapped around her. She wrapped one of her own arms around Ron, while the other held Pandaroo closely. Tonight definitely made up for the rest of her day. It was like Ron had known exactly why she had been upset. College was new and unfamiliar - it could be exciting, but it was also intimidating, and Kim felt overwhelmed by all of the options ahead of her, by the approach of adulthood. Getting Mr. Barkin and a psychotic geneticist as teachers did not help, either.

Ron had calmed those fears by bringing her Pandaroo and Nana's lemon squares. They were both things that comforted her and gave her a sense of familiarity in her unfamiliar environment. Much in the same way that being roommates with Bonnie comforted her, even if it could be annoying at the same time. Ron seemed to be getting a bit more thoughtful as he grew up, Kim thought. Even the Oh Boyz song had its own quirky charm.

Kim yawned again as she felt herself drifting towards sleep. Her last thoughts were about the next day of school. She wasn't chomping at the bit to see what new surprises lay in store, but the nervousness she had experienced leading up to her first day of classes was gone. Tomorrow wouldn't be as bad. She could manage it.

Notes - That's it, hope you guys liked it! Reviews are appreciated, and I respond to them all.

And this is a one-shot just to let you guys know, although it is possible someday I might expand it or include it in the continuity of some other stories, since there are parts of it I like and would probably use in the future (i.e. DNAmy and Barkin being college professors).