Ron tapped his unused fork against the edge of the pizza tray and sighed.
Rufus (who was sitting on his haunches eating a slice from pizza that had been served on the tray) looked at Ron to see what the matter was, but Ron's gaze was on the empty seat across the booth from him. It was a seat that rightfully belonged to Kim Possible, who was both his best friend and in more recent times his girlfriend.
Kim, however, had not been occupying her seat for the past ten minutes or so of what was theoretically supposed to be their date night. Not that she had gone far. In fact, Ron could hear her from where he was sitting.
"So you see, Mr. Palmonetti, by switching the brand of soap you use, not only will you eliminate the irritation of your staff's hands, you'll be able to wash 15 percent more dishes in the same amount of time!" Ron could hear Kim saying.
"Bless you, Kim! Only you could have figured out there was a problem just by seeing that your waiter's hands were chapped, and then you solved it with a quick look around the kitchen," said Mr. Palmonetti, owner of the restaurant.
"Oh, no big," Kim modestly replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my date."
"But your food, it will have gotten cold. I will have another pizza fixed, no charge!"
"That's not necessary, but thank you" replied Kim. She walked back into Ron's line of sight and returned to her seat in the booth, pausing along the way to run a hand across Ron's shoulders.
Ron tried to force himself out of his funk. "Hey, KP, nice job on the mystery of the soap," he said.
"Thanks," said Kim. She looked down to see that most of the pizza was uneaten and looked back up at Ron, alarmed. "Is everything okay, Ron? It's been ten minutes and you've only eaten a couple of slices."
"Couldn't it be that I was just being polite, waiting for you to get back?" said Ron.
Kim looked at him skeptically. "I'll say… no." She looked from side to side and leaned in close to Ron to whisper, "Is the pizza all right? I didn't have a chance to try it."
"The pizza's fine, I'm just not feeling very hungry, that's all," said Ron. He grabbed a slice with one hand and deliberately took a bite from it.
Kim reached out and grabbed Ron's free hand, her face sympathetic. "Oh, I know what this is about. I miss Bueno Nacho too, Ron. But after what Drakken used it for…. Well, people just aren't going to go out to eat at a place where they got handed a killer robot. They had no choice but to shut it down."
Ron wasn't upset about Bueno Nacho. Or rather, he was upset about Bueno Nacho, but that wasn't what had made him lose his appetite. It was easier to let Kim think that was the problem, though. "Yeah, I know. This place isn't so bad. They don't mind Rufus… or at least, they don't mind him since world famous heroine Kim Possible asked if it was okay to let him eat with us."
"Ron!" said Kim, blushing.
"Hey, there's perks to dating a celebrity, Kim. Don't mind me if I take advantage," said Ron. He leaned back, looking satisfied.
This got an eye roll from Kim, but she reached across the table and brushed her hand over Ron's cheek before starting to eat her pizza.
There was, Ron realized, a lot more touching in their relationship since they had started dating. At least he was still getting that much from her.
Ron dribbled the basketball left, then right, before suddenly arresting his motion and taking a shot. Felix's guard was too good, however, and he managed to catch the ball with his fingertips, ruining Ron's shot and sending the ball out-of-bounds. Both of them paused, letting themselves catch their breath.
"So-" huffed Felix as he wheeled his chair to the sidelines to get water. "So after the great soap mystery, things went fine, right?"
"Not exactly," said Ron. He reached down and took his own water bottle from Rufus. The naked mole rat had strained himself carrying a water bottle as large as he was out onto the court, but Ron didn't say anything about it, not wanting Rufus to think Ron doubted his ability.
"What does 'not exactly' mean?" asked Felix.
"I was taking Kim home when we found this tour bus with a flat tire. Kim stopped to help them change it, which wasn't a big deal. Hey, I was glad to hold the flashlight for her. Then she starts talking with the people on the bus, and we find out they're this choir headed out to perform in an hour. They've got bigger problems than a flat tire, though, because one of their vocalists has gotten sick and they don't have a replacement. So of course, Kim volunteers to fill in, and I'm left with nothing to do but go back to her parents' house alone and tell them where she is," said Ron. He gulped some water and then threw out his hands in exasperation.
Felix considered. "Couldn't you have gone with her?"
"I didn't want to go listen to a bunch of strangers sing!" shouted Ron. He took a deep breath and continued in a more normal tone of voice. "I wanted just the two of us to walk home together and then maybe I could have given her a goodnight kiss on her doorstep."
Looking uncomfortable, Felix grunted and cleared his throat a few times before replying. "Ron… you know that Kim and I have never really clicked. And that's cool and all, we still get along fine. My point is that I don't know her as well as you do, but even I know that just sounds like Kim being Kim. She does this sort of thing all the time. So why the drama?"
Ron walked over to the benches on the sidelines and sat down. He leaned forward and rested his chin in the palms of his hands, letting his elbows rest on his lap. Finally he turned his head and answered Felix's question. "That's the thing. Last night was Kim being Kim, but for a little while she was… different. After we first kissed at the Prom, we were so into each other. It was like nothing else mattered, and when we were around each other, I knew she wasn't thinking of anything but me. I've seen Kim act like that before, when she was crushing on other guys, but this time it was me she was crushing on. It was like we were the world to each other. It was great."
Felix rolled closer. "And then you stopped feeling that way?" he asked gently.
"I've never stopped feeling that way. When Kim is around, she's all I can think about. Kim, though…. She…. It's not like she ignores me or anything. With Kim, it's gone back to the way things were before, where she's always got one ear out for someone in trouble who needs her help. That's leaves me as the guy she hangs around with when she doesn't have anything better to be doing," said Ron bitterly.
"Look, I don't think Kim thinks of it that way," said Felix.
"I didn't mind being her back-up plan as a friend. I was proud of it, that someone like her would want to hang around me. That she lets me help her go do all these amazing things she does. But being a back-up boyfriend… it kind of sucks. What do you think I should do?" said Ron.
"Gee Ron, I don't know. I'm not a relationship guy, here. Maybe you should talk to her about how you're feeling?" said Felix.
Ron jumped to his feet and proceeded to misplace his anger. "Oh, oh, that's great advice. 'Talk to her.' Yeah, how could I not have thought of that one, genius. You've sure cleared things up for me. It's all so clear, now. I knew I should have talked to Wade about this. Sure he's not through puberty yet, but I don't see how he could do worse than, 'talk to her'."
Felix banged the controls on his wheelchair, causing several tentacles to extend menacingly. "Hey, I tried to listen nicely to your problems, but I don't have any experience that applies here. See, I've only dated normal girls, and you're dating Kim Possible. I don't exactly know what to say when you're worried that your girlfriend doesn't love you because she's doing too many hero missions!" he shouted.
Ron began waving his hands around in his usual effort at a martial arts stance. "Oh, you're taking back that crack about Kim. She's normal in every possible way that being normal is a good thing!"
They glared at each other for a few seconds, and then Ron sprang at Felix. He managed to dodge past the mass of tentacles extending from the chair and grab Felix by the collar of his shirt. Felix forwent using his chair to counterattack, and instead he wrestled with Ron using only his body. They huffed and puffed for about half a minute before Felix finally managed to get Ron in a headlock.
Ron stopped struggling and caught his breath. "You've… got a lot of upper body strength, don't you?"
"Well duh," said Felix. He released his friend. "You feeling better, Ron?"
"Strangely, yes." Ron took a few steps back and adjusted his clothes. "Uh, Felix, I'm sorry."
Felix waved off what was surely going to be Ron's apology. "We're guys, and you needed to blow off some steam. I could tell you weren't really trying to hurt me… either that, or you really suck at fighting."
"I'll have you know that I've punched out ninjas, so we're just going to assume number one," said Ron in his usual confident tone.
"Boo-yah, KP! I call this one a 100 percent success," said Ron. He raised his hand for the high-five, which Kim unhesitatingly gave him.
"Not only do I agree, but this one was all yours, Ron. I hardly did anything but get us past the sharks. You were the one who talked Mr. Finnely out of a career in villainy," said Kim.
"No big thing," said Ron, making a dismissive gesture. "I just explained to him that the path of a marine biologist is the path of love, not the path of hate. He listened to the Ronster's wisdom and so was enlightened."
"Yeah… right," said Kim, sounding a bit uncertain.
Ron looked from side to side in a furtive fashion, and then leaned in towards Kim. "So this makes up for my little oopsie in turning Senor Senior Senior onto villainy, right?"
"I'm not sure you can really keep score like that," said Kim.
Ron cast his eyes downwards, looking so disappointed that Kim immediately relented.
"What I mean to say is that it totally makes up for Triple-S, and you should never feel bad about that again," said Kim.
"Really?" asked Ron.
"Really. In fact, I think the hero of the day deserves a little reward." Kim leaned in and pressed her lips to Ron's. Their kiss ended up pressing Ron back against the car seat, and they stayed that way for a while until they were interrupted by a hacking cough.
Kim pulled back, suddenly feeling a bit exposed. They weren't in private after all, but in the rear seat of a van catching a ride on the last leg of their journey back from their latest mission. Both Kim and Ron were still in slightly damp mission clothes, smelling of seawater.
"Sorry Mr. Morgan," said Kim to the driver.
"Ahh, I was young and in love once myself," replied Morgan, using one hand to hold a handkerchief up to his mouth. "I have to thank you kids again for tracking down my son for me."
"No big, Mr. Morgan. You know it turned out he had just misplaced your address and phone number," replied Kim.
"Still, a ride is the least I can do. It's probably a good thing I interrupted you, though. I need to pick up someone else. Giving her a ride into Middleton too. You don't mind, right?" said Morgan.
Kim and Ron gave each other half-smiles. Kim said, "Plenty of room back here, Mr. Morgan."
Soon they had picked up their additional passenger, a Ms. Stinge. She started the ride quiet and withdrawn, but Kim, in Kim's usual friendly fashion, soon wormed out Ms. Stinge's problem. She was due to go out bird watching the next morning and had anticipated catching sight of some rare birds she had been pursuing a long time. Unfortunately, her regular partner had canceled, and she was reluctant to go hiking through the woods alone.
"No problem, Ms. Stinge," said Kim. "I've never been bird watching, but I like the woods and I'm not doing anything tomorrow. We can go out at dawn. You live really close, so it's no big."
Unseen by Kim, Ron rolled his eyes. He said nothing, though, until Mr. Morgan dropped off him and Kim off.
"You know Kim, I had been thinking we could hang together tomorrow," said Ron casually.
"You could come bird watching with Ms. Stinge and me," said Kim.
Ron managed to look put-upon. "Yeah, I'm sure that would be a lot of fun, KP, but I was thinking something with just you and me. I like it when we can do something that's about us, instead of about me hanging around while you help someone else."
Kim was a bit surprised at Ron's attitude, but offered, "Well I'm sure the bird watching thing won't take all day. We could get together after that."
Ron looked away from Kim. "Sure, unless you find something better to do in the meantime," he said.
"Now what is that supposed to mean?" asked Kim with a definite bite in her voice.
"Just that you only seem to have time for me when you can't find an excuse to be somewhere else. I mean, bird watching, Kim? It's not exactly save the world stuff here. She's a nice lady, but she could find someone else or just not go at all," said Ron.
"It's not like we had anything scheduled for tomorrow, Ron," replied Kim, sounding defensive.
"I didn't think I had to schedule time with you, Kim. I was dumb enough to think that my girlfriend liked being with me and would rather be with me than doing something else. Guess I was wrong. I'll be sure to post to the website when I want some time with you. I'm sure Wade can schedule me in," said Ron hotly.
"Ronald Stoppable, you are being completely unfair. I love you. I love being with you. I just have a hard time saying no to other commitments. I have a responsibility," said Kim.
"You don't just have a hard time saying 'no', you look for things to say yes to. If you love me so much, how come whenever we're together, you're always looking for a reason to be somewhere else? Not cool, Kim," said Ron, shouting the last sentence.
He turned and walked away, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Ron!" shouted Kim, but he didn't turn around. She let him walk away, deciding that Ron needed time to cool down… and she needed time to think.
Ron sat in his tree house, holding Rufus in his hands and stroking the naked mole rat. His eyes were red from the tears he had been crying the previous night.
Rufus did not normally enjoy being petted, but he allowed Ron to hold onto him, sensing that Ron needed the contact.
"I screwed up, buddy," Ron told Rufus. "I had the greatest thing in the world, and now I've screwed it all up. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I can't believe I yelled at her. She shouldn't have to take that from someone like me. She's Kim Possible."
Rufus shook his head at Ron and carefully patted Ron's hand with one of his small paws.
"I should have just kept my mouth shut," Ron lamented.
"Have to say you're wrong on that one, Ron," interrupted Kim's voice. Kim herself soon followed, sticking her head up through the hole in the floor. "You can always talk to me about anything, no matter what it is. That's what you and me is all about. I'll always be there for you, and you'll always be there for me."
Ron tried to be surprised to see her, but he wasn't. Despite his tears, he'd never really thought that Kim would abandon him. Not in his heart. "What happened to the bird watching?" he asked.
Kim shrugged. "Eh, had to tell Ms. Stinge that something more important came up. I guess she can find somebody else, or not go at all."
Ron considered this for a moment. "You found someone else to go with her, didn't you?"
Looking embarrassed at how well Ron knew her, Kim replied, "Yes I did. But if I hadn't been able to, I still wouldn't have gone. For one thing, I'm a little tired right now. I spent all night hiking up and down Mt. Middleton."
"Huh?" said Ron. He noticed, now that he looked carefully, that Kim had circles under her eyes and other indications that she hadn't slept much, if at all.
"I wanted some time to think, and that was a good place for it. Also, I picked you these from the ice pack on top of the mountain." As Kim said the last part, she climbed fully into the tree house. In one hand she held a bouquet of beautiful purple flowers, and she held them out for Ron to take.
Ron stared at the bouquet, momentarily nonplused. "Flowers? You brought me flowers?"
Looking crushed, Kim slammed the palm of her free hand into her forehead. "Sorry Ron, I'm an idiot. Chocolate! I knew I should have brought you chocolate instead. I'm sorry; I knew I should have gone for chocolate."
"No, no, Kim! Flowers are fine. Chocolate would have been better, but flowers are great," said Ron. He reached out and took them from Kim's hand, then carefully put them in an old pencil holder he had sitting on a shelf.
Kim smiled at him in relief.
"It's just, you realize what this means?' said Ron.
Kim tried to puzzle out what he was getting at. "It means that I love you?"
"No! Well yes, but what it also means is that…." Ron paused dramatically. "I am totally the girl in this relationship. You're bringing me flowers. You rescue me when I'm in distress. I'm the one asking my friends for advice on if you're paying enough attention to me. I'm the girl! At least this means you'll have to pay for our dates from now on."
Raising one hand to signal she wanted to speak, Kim said, "Ron…. I already do pay for our dates. You never have any money."
"Masculinity slipping away… slipping away… gone. Hey, that didn't feel so bad," said Ron.
He and Kim looked into each other's eyes for a while, and Kim gradually confirmed her suspicion. Ron was joking with her. Ron knew by the narrowing of her eyes that Kim had caught on, and they both burst out laughing. The laughter punctured the tension between them, and they stepped forward to hug each other.
Finally Kim said, "Well I don't care if you're the girl, I still get to be the one to sit in your lap." She pushed Ron down until he was sitting on the floor and then sat in front of him, pressing her back against his front.
Ron wrapped his arms around Kim and allowed her to rest her head in the crook of his neck. She was so strong and fast, it was only in moments like this that Ron could remember that he was actually much bigger than Kim. He'd never understand how all that power could be wrapped up in a body that seemed so petite and lean. Kim's muscles didn't bulge out, but running his hand up and down her arm, Ron could feel them under her skin. They felt like steel cable, and thought came to mind that Kim could probably bench press about four Ron Stoppables.
"So talk to me," said Kim.
"Kim, you're the most important thing in the world to me. Like literally, more important than anything else. I don't know if you feel that way about me, though. You always seem to have all these things on your to-do list. When we're with each other, I'm not thinking about anything but you, but I feel like I have only part of your attention. I mean, yeah it's a big part. Like maybe… 81 percent of you is with me. The rest of you is always on the look-out for something wrong in the world that needs fixing. And whenever you find something, I lose you," said Ron. He was trying to speak from his heart as best he could.
For a while there was nothing but the sound of breathing as Kim thought about what she wanted to say.
"I don't know how to talk about this. I don't think I ever have before. Ron… It's not that I'm looking for problems, exactly, though I guess that's kind of close. It's more that… I care. I care about people and about the world, and I want to do what I can to help if there's something wrong. I have the website because if I have gifts that let me do more than most people, then the best and most noble thing I can do with them is put them to use for anybody who needs the help.
"Sometimes I push too hard. You were right yesterday when you said that sometimes it's not a matter of me not saying no but of me looking for things to say yes to. And maybe that's pretty arrogant of me, thinking I can fix everything wrong in the world. Maybe I should at least wait for somebody to ask for my help before I offer and assume I have what they need. If I'm hurting you, Ron, then I must be doing something wrong. I can't believe I made you think that I don't want to be with you. You're so important to me. You're the most important thing in my life. Yeah the missions can be fun, but they're only fun because you're there with me," said Kim.
"I believe you Kim. Hey, I know you so well that I know all of this. It's just that… I know you need me, and when I was your friend, that was enough. Just like you said, we're about always being there for each other. Here's the sitch, though. If we're dating and saying that we're in love, then I don't just want you to need me. I want you to want me. I want to know that you think I'm a pretty cool guy and you want to be with me, even if your responsibility says to be somewhere else. I want you to have a hard time blowing off a chance to give me a goodnight kiss so you can go be a substitute singer. Is this making any sense, because I didn't get a lot of sleep and I might be babbling," said Ron.
"I promise, things are going to change," said Kim.
Alarmed, Ron pushed back and to the side so that he could look Kim in the eyes. "Hey, don't try to suppress your natural Kimness for me, KP. It'll never work."
Kim thumped Ron gently in the chest. "I won't change my 'Kimness', but I will change how I've been taking you for granted. I've been assuming that if you weren't saying anything, you didn't need anything, and that's a bad assume. From now on, I'm giving myself a new mission, high-priority. Be a better girlfriend to Ron. Let you know that I want you. Takes precedence over almost anything else."
"Almost anything?" said Ron.
"I'd like a pass for genuine save the world stuff," replied Kim.
"All right, you got me on that one," said Ron.
"To do this, I need something from you too," said Kim.
Ron started to grin, then saw that she was very serious. "You know I'll do whatever you need me to do. Hey, I'd jump off a cliff if you thought it was really a good idea."
"You have to work with me to find the balance. This is all as new for me as it is for you. If you think I'm doing something wrong or making a choice you don't like, tell me when I'm doing it. Don't bottle it up until you get mad and start shouting. I don't promise to go along with you every time, but I'll listen. You never used to hesitate about telling me if you thought I was being stupid," said Kim.
"So let me get this straight, this is permission… nay, a command, from you my girlfriend, to tell you exactly what I think instead of what I think you want to hear. And you promise to listen and not get mad," said Ron, starting to smile.
Kim hesitated. "Basically. I mean, a little flattery-"
"BEST. GIRLFRIEND. EVER!" shouted Ron as he hugged Kim.
Kim relaxed and leaned back into Ron, her drowsiness suddenly hitting her full force. "Mmmm. I hate it when we fight."
"Me too," said Ron.
"Can I just sleep here for a while?" said Kim, closing her eyes.
"Booyah," whispered Ron into her ear. He continued to hold Kim as her breathing slowly settled into the regular pattern of sleep. While he held her, Ron thought. His thoughts drifted along the funny pathways of a man who has had too little sleep.
He thought about what Kim had said. She had said that Ron was the most important thing in her life, and he believed it. For Ron, though, Kim wasn't just the most important thing, she was the only thing. She was more important than everything else put together. He couldn't imagine doing anything with his life other than spending it trying to support and help Kim. This wasn't something he had ever consciously admitted to himself before, but there it was.
Kim didn't feel that way about Ron. She loved Ron, but there were other claims on her heart. Kim had a Mission, the collective of all her little missions, to try to fix whatever went wrong in the world. For a little while, Ron had fooled himself into thinking it wasn't so and that he could be the only thing for Kim just like she was the only thing for him. It had hurt when he realized he was mistaken, but now he was glad it was so. What would he and Kim do with themselves, wrapped up in only in each other? It all sounded romantic in the abstract, but things were much better this way.
Kim could find purpose in her Mission and happiness in having Ron's support and love. Kim would make Ron happy, now that she understood what he needed from her. Winners all around, the world included. Maybe Ron would never have all of Kim's heart, but he still had a lot. 81 percent, to pull a number out of nowhere. That was an awful lot, Ron decided as his mind crossed the threshold to true sleep. It was plenty, really.
What kind of greedy fool would need more than 81 percent of her heart?
Author's Notes:
I believe this is true to the characters. All else must be left to the interpretation of the reader.
Ron is totally the girl in that relationship. Not that there's anything wrong with that.