Title: Twenty Years in Two Minutes
Story summary: There are moments when we can't help but get flashes of memory. For Ron Stoppable, one such moment is when he sees a certain redhead in white. For Kim Possible, one such moment is when she sees a certain blond in black.
Disclaimer: No matter how many flashes of memory I experience, I don't recall a moment I owned Kim Possible. Huh.
~*~*KP*~*~
Twenty Years in Two Minutes
by Slipgate
The music began and, even through the obstruction of her veil, their eyes locked.
flash!
"Kim? Please don't be about to tell me that you were moodulated last night. I couldn't take it if it turned out to not be for real after I got to kiss you like that." Ron asked, as Kim settled into their booth at Bueno Nacho across from him.
Kim smiled at her guy. It was astounding – and okay, maybe a little tweaking – that he could be asking that. "Relax, Ron," she said, grinning, "it was for real."
Ron looked at her as man beheld fire.
"And I came here to kiss you again." she added, smiling saucily.
flash!
"So, then as I let you go here Kim, are you getting ready for a date tonight?" Sherry asked with a broadening grin.
Kim stood tall, smiled, and tossed the last little piece of apple in her mouth. Finishing it, she replied, "Now come on, that's private now, isn't it?"
flash!
"Hey, you know, Ron?" Kim began, holding her guy's arm as they looked up at the stars.
"Yeah?" Ron replied, lacing his fingers through hers as he tried to get comfortable in the reclined passenger seat of the Sloth.
Kim paused to consider the stars above as the purple supercar remained in station keeping above the outskirts of Middleton. "After the completely awesome display you showed about how far you'd go for me," she began, then paused again. "What do you say about us going… what do you say about us, you know we're setting out into the world now, we're setting out on our own, what do you say to the idea of getting… married?"
Ron looked at her. Days ago he was worried he was losing her, and absently constructing a fantastical hypothetical scenario like a dream, and seconds ago she just…
"Oh Kim," he began, "you do not know how badical it would be to be married to you, but…" he tried to find the words, "to be married to you right now, but I think we should wait a little bit more time."
"Oh?" Kim said, disappointed.
"Yeah, you see, I've been thinking about this, and the way I figure it is that if we try and move out and, you know, do this at the same time, that's like, difficult to get accustomed to." He paused to see if he had her attention, which he did. "We both should get used to living apart from our parents first. And then, when it's not such a big deal or so difficult to accomplish, in maybe a year or two when we're used to living on our own already and we're ready to introduce another change without falling flat on our faces, then we can get married. If you want to, I mean."
"You've seriously thought about this, haven't you?" Kim said, with a broadening grin.
"Well, uh, kinda, yeah."
"You know, the fact that you've thought about marrying me just makes up for the disappointment that you said 'not right now.' So, does this mean we're engaged, Ron Stoppable?"
"Well, maybe?" Ron said, having trouble believing he was having this conversation.
Kim grinned and whispered, "But maybe it's like a secret engagement for now?"
"Kind of like secret borrowing?" Ron said with a grin.
Kim's mouth flatlined. "Don't start," she warned.
flash!
After the past few weeks, Kim had legitimately had her doubts she'd ever be here. But here she was. Ron's hands, which had been on the small of her back but unsure what to do but respectfully stay put, had risen slightly to just under her shoulder blades, pressing in as he took the plunge, literally. Kim's hands had risen to finger the plackets of Ron's frilly shirt as she'd parted her mouth in as much expectation as fear. Her boy could take a hint, though, and he went for the gold.
Oh. Oh my. Yes, this was definitely something she could get used to.
Ron's passion blew her away. But, with a tiny sense of shame, she also noted his inexperience at this compared to her. Ron was clearly passionately kissing her as if he was worried none of this was real. The tiny part of her mind not completely consumed in how the kiss was deepening further and further realized that he wasn't breathing and accurately anticipated when he pulled away, gasping for breath. She tried to speak, but her voice could only come out in a murmur.
flash!
"But, but, Kim I had to do it!" Ron said, as the boot thrusters lifted him into the air. "I couldn't risk losing you!" he said, as he flailed for control of his body.
Kim's ready stance softened slightly. "What are you talking about? You weren't going to…" she dodged quickly from the delivered punch, "lose me!"
flash!
Their lips parted and he gulped in mouthfuls of air.
"Try breathing through your nose, Ron," she murmured, their faces close enough for him to not just hear, but to feel the words on his face. "One of those life skills that children have no use for, but… Well, you might want to work on that, okay?"
flash!
"So," she had said to Ron over the private Kimmunicator frequency that linked their crash helmets as she guided the rocket powered two wheeler down the freeway. "How long?"
"KP?"
"How long have you…liked me liked me?"
flash!
At the bachelorette party:
"So Kim-girl, come on, with you and Ron hooking up after having known each other practically all your lives, there has to be some juicy irony to tell in the Kim and Ron afternoon movie. Give us gold, girl!"
"I don't know…" Kim hedged. She'd long grown an aversion to poking at Ron, seeing his "is this for real?" lack of self-confidence as being sometimes Kim-inflicted even if he assured her that she was his best friend at a time when guys and girls alike wouldn't give him the time of day.
"C'mon, cuz, ah' promise it'll stay with the girls in this room to their deaths. Ah'll break the knees of anyone who breaks that promise!" Joss said, and then promptly rounded a glare on the gathered women that would've given nightmares to post-Diablo Drakken.
Reluctantly, Kim went with the memory that had flitted through her mind in relation to something she'd been looking forward to a lot coming tomorrow and Monique's choice of the term "irony."
"Well, you see," Kim began, hesitantly, "I ended up teaching Ron about the birds and the bees when his parents didn't quite cover the subject."
flash!
Kim put her hand on Ron's football-padded shoulder. "I voted for you," she said softly.
Barkin's voice interrupted them as he began, "This year's Homecoming King…"
Completely missing the desired response, Ron's face curled in delight as he said, "I voted for me too!" Still, Kim knew her guy would have voted for her as Queen, and the way his hand curled around hers kept her from rolling her eyes at him. Besides, she couldn't help but see the look of confidence and… was that desire?… in his eyes.
flash!
Ron felt distinctly unpleasant but his brain was still rebooting from what had just happened. Then he heard a voice that froze his veins in fear.
"What is the sitch!" his Kim demanded in the angriest non-moodulated voice he'd ever heard from her as she marched over.
Of course only at that moment did Bonnie let go. "Hey, I was the kissee here, not the kisser!" he cried, seeing all the wonderful times with Kim flashing before his eyes.
Thankfully, breaking movie stereotype, his Kim actually knew and trusted him. But she still sounded angry.
"No kidding! It took ya twelve stinkin' years to kiss me," she declared, flinging her arms wide and finally crossing them in front of her.
"Oh phew," Ron breathed, seeing the impending murder in her eyes redirect to Bonnie behind him. "Hey, wait a minute…"
flash!
"Heh, no way, KP. These toes are toasty."
"Good," she said, a smile in her voice. "You don't sound like I woke you up, though."
"Uh, yeah," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Actually, I was just debating calling you."
"Debating?"
"Yeah, well, for one thing, you did once threaten never to kiss me again if I kept calling you in the middle of the night."
Kim snorted. "Yeah, and look how that turned out."
flash!
At the bachelor party:
Wade continued, "Yes, I think we can state that Ronald Stoppable has truly been a man on a mission. That mission, to get out of his pants around Kim Possible as often as humanly possible, no pun intended." There were gales of laughter around the room.
flash-bang!
And suddenly they were in the moment again.
"We are gathered here today…"
fin
~*~*KP*~*~
Author's Notes: I hate my propensity for long author's notes, but in this case it's necessary to pay tribute to people who let me use their work here. I would like very much to acknowledge waveform, Michael Howard, Thomas Linquist, and Pinky Jo Curlytail for letting me use scenes from The Night Before, Undercover, Possible Pregnancies, and Jitters respectively.
The uses of Michael Howard and waveform have been because, from the start, the way these two wrote Kim and Ron has been a huge influence on me, even if it might be hard for others to see where those influences manifest. As I've continued to write, there's more and more separation from what they wrote owing to the fact that my style of writing is different. However, the scenes I chose just so perfectly match things I imagine happening to my Kim and Ron that I had to ask them if I could use those scenes of theirs as they stand.
The scene I used from Thomas Linquist (the bachelor party line from Wade) is the first time I can remember bursting out laughing at a Kim Possible fanfiction. With the body of work that exists for Kim and Ron happily getting married, I felt it deserved a nod in whatever humble way I could do.
The scene from Jitters is because I've really liked Pinky Jo Curlytail's stuff. Notably, my favorites list was kind of static, with only Michael Howard, waveform, and legacy works from years ago until she started writing. Also, I really thought that scene of Jitters was great too. But most of all, Pinky Jo Curlytail has been encouraging my writing a lot, and I wanted to throw this nod to her. In one notable case, she helped me make one of my stories to be readable. Holy crap you would not want to have read the first draft of Looking Back, Coming Clean, but she slogged through it multiple times. It's amazing she even still liked the thing after how many times she went through it.
Anyways, this is my nod to influences and great writers in my attempt to have my own little montage of scenes running through Ron and Kim's heads before their nuptials to each other. I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are like manna, but tastier, and I promise to respond to each personally.