This one-shot came to me after a discussion on the Forums under the topic "Hana Stoppable". Pharoah Rutin Tutin said something that kicked the idea into high gear, and well… here it is. Thanks for the inspiration PRT!!!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the quirky yet loveable characters on the show Kim Possible…
Meet the Brother
The doorbell rang and a 16 year-old Hana Stoppable called out, "That's Vince! I got it!"
After their parents had moved into an Assisted Living Apartment, Hana Stoppable had moved in with her brother Ron and his wife Kim. It just seemed the right thing to do, and Kim and Ron were more than happy to offer her a place to live until she went off to college.
She jumped down from her loft bedroom and rolled after the 10-foot leap. She came to a stop standing in front of the door, and straightened her shirt. Hana looked in the mirror by the entrance, and checked her short-cropped raven black hair. "Perfect." She said to herself, and opened the door.
"Hey Vince…" she said, giving her boyfriend a peck on the cheek. "I'm glad you took my advice on the clothes… and taking out the nose and earring."
She hooked her arm in his and led him to the dinning room where Kim was setting up the table. She looked up as the two entered.
"Oh… Is this Vince?" Kim wiped her hand on her apron and extended it out. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Kim." Vince just looked at as if it were something alien.
"Vince has a thing… about germs."
"Oh…" Kim responded as she withdrew her hand. "You two can sit down now. I'm just finishing with the table, and Ron is getting everything together. Did he tell you Hana? Ron is going to perform his Teppenyaki tonight."
The young teen groaned. "Not again." She took a breath and led Vince to a chair. He sat down and then Hana took her own seat. Kim left, and came back without the apron. Just as she pulled her chair underneath herself, Ron came into the room pushing a steel car loaded with plates of meat and vegetables.
"So this is the famous Vince?" Ron said as he sharpened a 6-inch blade on a piece of leather strapping attached to the steel cart.
"Y… yes, sir." The young boy started to look nervous.
"Did you hear that Kim? He called me sir." Ron pointed the gleaming blade at Vince. "It's good to see respect from the younger generation these days. Well… let's get started."
Ron took out another blade of the same length, and began to chop up some of the vegetables, and placed them on a heating plate built into the cart. They sizzled as soon as the food contacted the previously oiled surface.
"So, Vince…" Ron said as he continued to chop up various carrots, celery, and Zucchini. He wasn't even aware that he wasn't looking at what he was doing, as Ron was looking right at Vince the entire time. "What are you planning on doing after High School?"
The blades seemed to speed up, and Vince answered the best he could. "I… I'm planning on going t… to college, sir."
"That's good. College is a good thing." Ron said as he flipped more veggies onto the hot plate. "Which one are you planning on going to?"
"Ummm… Go City U."
"Good college." Ron said, and took some raw meat that had been marinating from a bowl and began to slice and chop it up. "Have you picked a major yet?"
"Y… yes, Sir." Ron raised an eyebrow questioningly. "It… it's an… Art… major."
One of the blades must have slipped in Ron's hand, as it shot straight up and buried the tip into the ceiling. All four looked up at the knife as it vibrated for a few seconds from the force of the impact. Ron just pulled out a chair, stepped up, and pulled the knife out of the ceiling.
"Vince is holding down two jobs now too, Ron." Hana said, coming to her boyfriend's assistance. "Smarty Mart, and Nacho Taco."
"That's the new Mexican joint, isn't it?" Ron said after pausing with his knives. "The Corporate place that's driving out all the individually owned Bueno Nacho's."
"I… I guess s… so. Sir." Ron started to chop the meat again with more gusto.
Ron continued with his food preparation while looking at Vince. He reached over and stabbed a piece of sausage from a bowl he had boiled up earlier. He slapped it down on the cutting board, and pulled out a small knife. He pierced the skin with the tip, and sliced down the full length, causing it to lay open, exposing the meat inside. He then peeled the skin off and slapped it down on the cutting board.
"So Vince…" Ron said, and pulled out the six-inch knife again. He brought the blade down and with a WHACK! Sliced the sausage into two equal pieces. What are your… intentions… with my Baby Sister?"
Kim hid her face with one hand while Hana's jaw almost fell to the floor.
Ron continued to slice up the meat, and placed it with the now steaming vegetables. As he slowly drew the knife across the meat creating perfect slices, Ron leaned over and scrutinized the young teenager's face.
"Are those… holes… in your nose and ear?" Vince gulped audibly and nodded in agreement. "So, you wear… jewelry, I take it?"
"S… Sometimes." He said, and then quickly said, "But not all the time."
Ron turned his head sideways, and looked at the obviously frightened teenager from the side of his dangerously narrowed eyes. "You don't have any tattoos, do you?"
"No Sir! I don't. That's something I simply won't do."
"But yet you have holes drilled into yourself to hang jewelry from." Ron scooped the sliced meat onto the hot plate. "Very interesting."
For the next few minutes things were very silent, and all you could hear was the sizzling of dinner, and the ticking of the clock on the wall. Hana couldn't help but absently wonder why Kim and Ron would have such an antiquated timepiece.
"OK… Then, " Ron finally said breaking the tension. "I think we're ready here." He scooped steamed rice, meat and vegetables onto plates and passed them around.
When a plate landed in front of Vince, he just looked at it.
"Is something wrong?" Hana asked.
"Oh… it's nothing… really. You see… I'm a vegetarian."
Ron was taking a drink of his water and did a spit-take, spraying water onto his food. He had inadvertently breathed some of the water in and was now going into a coughing fit. Kim came around to his side, and started to pat him on the back, and Hana took Vince's plate and replaced it with one that only had vegetables and rice.
Kim led her husband out of the dining room and into the kitchen as Ron continued to cough and hack the water out he had inhaled.
…x x x x…
In the dining room:
"Hana… I'm so… so sorry. I thought you knew. If there's anything I can do…"
"That… that's OK Vince. I apologize for what my Big Brother was doing while he was cooking. Hew was obviously trying to intimidate you."
"Well… it worked." Vince said matter-of-factly. "I don't think your father… I mean brother, likes me very much."
"He does treat me like a daughter, but I think that's why I love him so much. He would do anything to protect me." Both Hana and Vince stood up from the table.
The two began to speak at the same time. "Hana…" Vince…"
"Jinx! You owe me a soda!" Hana said, and Vince looked at her funny. "What… you've never heard me say that?"
"No, I haven't." There was a bit of a pause, and ten Vince spoke again. "I… don't think this is going to work out, Hana. It seems that neither of us really knows very much about each other. I mean… just tonight, I heard a phrase you obviously say quite a bit, for the first time…"
"And I never knew you were a vegetarian." Hana finished.
…x x x x…
In the Kitchen:
Cough… cough… hack! Wheeze! Ron gasped for air, and finally his lungs cleared up. He stood with his eyes watering, and breathing hard, leaning on the counter. Kim patted him on the back and gave him a consoling look. "Are you OK now, Honey? For a second there, I thought you were going to stop breathing."
"Yeah… I'm fine. Now what I would like to know is just what the heck Hana SEES in this guy?"
"Well, after that little show you put on at the dinner table, I'm sure we won't be seeing him around here for quite a while."
"Be better if I didn't see him at all."
"Ronald Stoppable!" Kim said swatting him on the shoulder, making Ron flinch. "How can you say that? The boy seemed very nice, and you pretty much were telling him that if he came close to our daughter you would…" Kim stopped herself.
"Now you know how I feel, Kim. I only want what's best for her. I really wish Mom and Dad were here, but we're all Hana's got. I just… I just want what's best for her, and I don't think this… Vince… is. I mean, he's a vegetarian, for God's sake!"
Kim gave her husband a look that told him he was going to be in the Dog House tonight. "Ronald… I thought I knew you, and now you say… this! Now you better go out there and apologize to that boy or you're cut off for a month! Do you hear me?"
"A whole month?" He said, wondering how long Kim would have him cut off if he just threw the boy out of his house. "OK…" Like a prisoner walking to the electric chair, Ron strode from the kitchen back into the dinning room.
He didn't realize that his footfalls were so silent that Hana and Vince didn't hear him enter. Ron just stood in the doorway out of site, watching as they said their good-byes.
"So… That's it, then?" Vince asked.
"I… I just don't know." Hana responded.
That's it, Lover Boy… Just walk on out. Ron thought to himself.
"I think I better go before your brother decides to take one of those knives to me."
"I'm so sorry again, Vince. My father… Dang-it, I did it again. I mean my brother can be a bit over-protective." She paused for a bit. "Will I see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'll probably see you around." Ron decided to step in and say something. He just couldn't take it if he was the reason these two kids broke up.
"Hana…?" Ron said as he stepped into the room, and the two teens turned around. "Vince… I just wanted to… apologize, for my actions earlier. As my little sister said, I can be a bit… over protective."
"You were listening in to our conversation?" Hana said, her anger starting to rise.
"It was purely unintentional, I assure you. After all, I was only in the next room." He paused for a bit. "Vince…? If you want to come by again, I promise I'll be a better Host. OK? I just need to remember, no meat."
Vince smiled, and held out his hand. Hana was completely surprised at this, and her face conveyed her astonishment. "I've… been working with a psychiatrist about my… germ issues." He said to Hana, and Ron had a confused look on his face. He then took Vince's out stretched hand, and gave it a shake.
A light suddenly went on in Ron's head, and he quickly excused himself. Vince turned to Hana with a questioning look, and she just shrugged her shoulders. "Vince is leaving now, Kim! I'm going to walk him to the door!" Hana yelled, and Kim came out of the kitchen.
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Vince." Kim said. "I hope to see you again."
"I think you will, Mrs. Stoppable… I think you will."
…x x x x…
After Hana said "Good Bye" to Vince just outside the front door a couple of times (OK, more than a couple…) Vince walked back to his car, and pressed the transmitter to un-lock his door. It didn't quite register to him that the door had already been unlocked since he was still pretty much in La La Land from Hana's good-bye kisses.
However, things came crashing down when he sat down in the driver's seat. There on his dash, right in front of the steering wheel… was half of a cut sausage.
The boy left twin black lines on the street after backing out of the driveway.
The end…
OK… All the guys can stop cringing now…