I know I've been pretty committed to the Phineas and Ferb fandom, but every once in a while, I go on a Kim Possible kick and have to rewatch…like…all the episodes again. (That series was entirely too short.) I've always thought the KP fandom was just as perfect for fanfiction as P+F, but I've never tried it because…well, because I'm pretty committed to P+F. But I saw something on TV and said, "That looks like something Ron would do," and I just simply had to write this even though it is so out of character for Ron…and yet, so in character.

I don't know, I'm stupid. You'll see. Maybe. I hope.

This takes place during the summer vacation between the series finale (graduation from high school) and college. I tried writing an explanation for WHY Ron is doing what he's doing, but it just sounded…well…stupid. So I just skipped to the good part.

Ron had never really been very mechanically adept.

To be fair, he wasn't really all that adept at anything except perhaps running away, but when it came to working with anything mechanical, Ron was completely clueless.

It would come as a huge surprise to anyone who knew him to see him leaning over the engine bay of a Plymouth Superbird in his garage. Likely the first question they would ask would be, "Uhh…why?" Well, at the moment, it was because he was trying to get the forty-year-old engine to turn over.

Inside the car, Rufus was perched on a homemade contraption that Ron had made out of Lego bricks. It allowed the naked mole rat to reach the ignition key while a baseball bat wedged between the driver's seat and the clutch kept said pedal depressed so that the engine would hopefully start.

But Ron was having no such luck. He had read that spraying ether into the air intake on the carburetor would often provide the extra-volatility required to turn over a stubborn engine, and had exhausted nearly the entire can of starting fluid trying to bring the seven-liter Hemi back to life.

"Try it again, Rufus!"

The little mole rat twisted the key. The starter motor slowly cranked the engine. It sputtered a few times, sounding like it might start, but the old starter failed in its effort.

"Gahhh!" Ron groaned. "Why can't you just be a good engine and start?!" He raised the ether can to the intake again and held down the sprayer, but after a few seconds, it sputtered just like the motor, its contents expended. "Aaaaand I'm out of starter fluid. Great." He tossed the can aside, thinking hard. "Hmmm…"

Rufus jumped to the open window and crept along to edge of the Superbird's fender to Ron's side.

"Okay, wait, I got this. I just need something more, you know, prone to explode, than ether!"

Rufus wasn't sure when Ron had actually had the time to read the automotive literature necessary to restore the Plymouth, and was surprised he had actually retained any of it at all. Whatever the case, Ron had an idea.

And, like most of Ron's ideas, it probably wouldn't end well.

"Bye, Mom! I'm going over to Ron's!"

"Okay, Honey. If he's working on that car of his, keep a safe distance!"

Kim chuckled, knowing that her mother was right but still finding it funny. "Okay, Mom. See you later." She closed the door, setting off for her boyfriend's house at a brisk walk. "As if," she said to herself. "I have to stay close in case he needs medical attention."

Ron quickly grabbed an empty soda bottle out of the recycling bin and carefully poured some gasoline into it from the can in the corner. He retook his place under the hood and positioned the mouth of the bottle just above the intake. Rufus returned to his perch inside the car, shielding his eyes with his free paw, terrified at the thought of what might happen when he turned the key.

"Okay, Rufus! Hit it!"

At that very moment, Kim was walking up the driveway. She thought it was adorable how hard her BF was working on his little project. She honestly had expected him to give up on it after a week or two…or, more likely, forty-five minutes…and was proud of his diligence.

Ron was determined. He had actually read books and done research, something that surprised Kim so much that she actually asked Dr. Drakken if he had zapped him with some sort of ray. With a little instructional assistance from Wade via the internet, Ron (and Rufus) had somehow managed to piece together the Superbird from what had started as a rusting junk yard heap.

And he only had to go to the hospital twice.

But, as much as it looked like a complete car, Kim had her doubts that Ron would ever get it running. There was simply no way Ron could acquire the mechanical skill necessary to correctly overhaul a four decade old engine just from reading a few books. Still, he looked cute working so hard on the old car, and it made her smile as she caught sight of him hunched over beneath the huge hood of the Plymouth.

"Hit it!"

Rufus looked away and turned the key. As soon as the starter began to spin, Ron poured gasoline into the intake.

A second later, the carburetor belched out a ball fire, exploding with a poof! as it reached the open air.

"AHH!" Ron cried, unintentionally flinging the now on-fire bottle of gasoline out the garage door as he covered his hot face with his forearms. He stumbled over backwards, landing hard on his rear on the concrete floor.

Kim saw the flash of fire and sprinted to the garage. In a second, she was kneeling at Ron's side; Rufus joined her a moment later, squeaking excitedly with concern.

"Ron! Ron, are you okay?!" she asked, her voice laced with panic.

"KP?" He parted his arms just enough that he could see her. "I think my life just flashed before my eyes."
"The only thing that flashed before your eyes was a fireball, Ron. You're lucky you didn't set yourself on fire or burn your garage down." She stood and looked to where the soda bottle was smoldering in the driveway before holding out a hand to him. It wasn't until she hauled him to his feet that she actually got a good look at her boyfriend's face. "Um…Ron?"

Ron could see the look of concern on Kim's face. "What? What is it? Am I horribly burned?" The boy started to panic. "Have I been horribly disfigured for life?!"
"No, but, uh…" Kim reached into her pocket and extracted her compact, which she directed toward Ron's face. "Your eyebrows are, uh, sorta gone."

Ron snatched the mirror and held it close to her face. Sure enough, his eyebrows had been completely singed off, leaving the top half of his face looking rather vaccant.

"Aww, man! My eyebrows are my best feature! Or, I guess, were my best feature."

Kim opened her mouth to make a sarcastic comment, but her ears picked up a sound that made her freeze. She simply couldn't believe it. "Ron?"

Her boyfriend was not paying her any attention. He was too busy staring at himself in the mirror and rubbing the spot where his eyebrows had been.

"Ron!"

He snapped to attention. "Huh? What?"

Kim pointed to the engine bay of the Plymouth. "Your car!"

"What about it?"
"It's running!"

"It is?!"

The 426 Hemi was not running smoothly by even the loosest definition. It clanked and banged and sounded like it wanted to stall out, but sure enough, it was running.

"It is! It's running!" He gave a triumphant fist pump. "Booyah!"

"Ron, I'm so- hurk!" Kim was suddenly cut off by a crushing hug. She coughed a few times when Ron released her.

"Whoops, sorry, KP. You were saying?"

"I said I'm- *cough* proud of you!" she sputtered.

"I gotta admit," he said, leaning against the fender and trying to appear cool, "the ol' Ron-man did a pretty bang up job of restoring this ol' heap." He slammed the hood closed. "C'mon! I've been itchin' to go for a drive!"

Kim crossed her arms. "Ron, this car isn't registered. You can't legally drive it on the road."

He was too eager to listen. He removed Rufus's booster platform and baseball bat and jumped into the driver's seat while his pet buckled into the passenger side. Ron grabbed his sunglasses off the dashboard and pushed them onto his face. Rufus had materialized glasses of his own and they sat back into the seats, feeling like the most badical dudes on the planet.

Kim simply watched, no longer intent on stopping them after noticing a fairly major flaw in Ron's plan. She smirked, finding it rather humorous.

"Let's hit the road!" Ron cried triumphantly as he depressed the clutch and shifted into first gear.

Suddenly the engine sputtered, shook hard enough to rattle the entire car, and stalled out.

Kim covered her mouth, trying to keep from laughing as Ron's face wrinkled in confusion. "I see two problems with your plan, Mr. Andretti," she chuckled as she leaned on the open window. "One, you have no idea how to drive a stick, and two, your back wheels are still on jack stands."

Ron sank down in the worn out seat. "Oh." Rufus groaned in disappointment.

Kim smiled and cupped her hand under his chin, turning his head to face hers. His eyes met hers and he felt a happy warmth spread through his chest. She spoke softly. "But you are adorable. Even without your eyebrows."

And as her lips met his, Ron couldn't help but feel lucky; partially because he hadn't set the garage on fire, but mostly because he had Kim. Sure, he was far from being a world renowned mechanic, not that he really had any desire to be, and he wasn't sure the Superbird would ever run like new again, but in the end, it didn't matter. He and his best friend were in love.

And isn't that really the most important thing in the world?