This picks up while Megamind is dating Roxanne Ritchi, disguised as Bernard. They are talking in the park...


"Well... it's too bad you didn't go to the same school as me." Roxanne said, smiling softly at Bernard. Her fingers mingled with his as they lay side by side on a quilt she thought she'd never use again, taking in the tranquility of the trees that whispered above their heads. Then she started to giggle. Bernard quickly looked at her, giggling too, though not knowing why.

"Well," she began, "When I went to school here in Metro City, that is, I would have been your friend, never mind those poor dumb ordinary people... But I was just thinking of this one school I went to after my parents split up." Her giggle tumbled into laughter as she continued, "At that school we had such a lovely variety of eccentric people, I think even Megamind would have looked like just another kid in the crowd!" Then she started to howl. Bernard's eyes grew wide as he laughed along with her. Could such a place really exist?

"Where was that? Or, um.. what happened?" Bernard inquired between breaths, trying to hide his eagerness with concern.

Roxanne's laughter diminished a little as she gazed toward the grassy horizon. "Oh… I never knew all the details. My mother seemed to be getting crabby about this town, though. She said the Art Guild didn't really care about art, and the Book Club only read safe books. Then one day she was all torn up," she said more slowly, "…and Dad wasn't around for some reason, and I still remember her saying "Pack your things, Roxanne. We're going to go stay with my sister for a while. I'm going back to Berkeley, where everything makes sense!" Roxanne heaved a laugh that was almost a sigh. "So my first High School years were quite a wake-up call from this place, in more ways than I can list THIS afternoon. But they say everything happens for a reason, and the things that don't kill us can make us stronger."

"And postpone the inevitable." Bernard interjected, with another cover of his curiosity. In trying to be normal, he was trying to go with less is more, but it sure was easy to get carried away being this close to Roxanne.

"Right." She said with another dry giggle. She swung her head over to look at her companion again, contemplating how far this would go. It was nice, stealing these moments of humanity as though she were in some normal person's life. In between eating and sleeping, if work wasn't calling her, she'd come to expect the husky twin H engine's sound out of nowhere and the familiar bitter scent of knockout spray.

Noticing he had a pretty predictable wardrobe, like some other people she knew, she asked, "What about you? Did you go to High School in the area?"

"Oh, no. I was privately taught during that time. I was kind of sheltered, you might say." That was an accurate sugar-coated description of prison, wasn't it?

"Overbearing parents?" she asked, ever the inquisitive one, moving on to her side with an engaged demeanor. She scooted her hips back for better balance. He noticed.

He softened inside to think of his parents, his real parents. "No, they were wonderful." He blinked, trying to think of how to handle this subject if she asked anything further. He didn't think they'd ever get this... intimate.

"No dances? No lunchtime humiliation? No yearbooks?" Roxanne's eyes twinkled with sympathy and mischief simultaneously as he shook his head. "Oh, you poor thing."

"I did crash parties now and then, but it never turned out well." He admitted with a chuckle. That was certainly the truth, too. Half-lying wasn't so hard. He caught her looking at his watch and coyly hid it behind his head as he turned himself on his side.

"You know... " she said as though she were looking through him at his watch still. "I almost feel guilty being out here."

With a gasp and furrowed brow, Bernard looked longingly at Roxanne for a second before admitting, "I do have an appointment. That boy I'm mentoring..." Trading her company for Hal's was not very appealing, but they had a lot of work to do before he could debut as a proper hero. Plus he had to pick up the new costume his gifted Minion had been working on before meeting Hal.

"Oh is it that time already?" Roxanne sighed, knowing full well how schedules could take over one's life.

"I'll text you whenever I can." Bernard offered with puppy-dog eyes. That look reminded her of someone, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Who else had amazing emerald eyes like that? He popped up as she began to brush the bits of grass and leaves off her quilt. He was already hurrying off on his bike, paddling with his feet and wearing a huge "I'm sorry" smile for her as she folded the red checkered cotton and wondered when she would next hear from him.


and... I've kind of abandoned this particular story. I will cannibalize some of it for another one I'm working on.