Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kim Possible.
Feeling a Sour Grape
By: Imyoshi
Ron knows it's weird of him to be enjoying the taste of a sour grape. Normally grapes taste sweet and succulent. But Ron actually enjoys this one and its sour and somewhat bitter taste. A sour grape is different. Not normal. And the sidekick could relate to that. It's the sour grapes that truly make the sweetest tasting wines when you wait long enough to enjoy it.
Some however feel like the sour grape is bad. They feel like it's wrong—awful—terrible—rotten.
And that always made him wonder. What exactly did those words even mean anymore? Could anyone even define a proper definition for any of them? They've seen so much use over the years that Ron feels like those words have loss almost all their true meaning. Like hate. Hate just isn't as powerful as it uses to be. It's not.
And it never will be.
All words lose their meaning eventually. So why should he care what others tell him what to feel. What is right and wrong?
Do they even know the definition of feeling?
Ron doubts any of them do.
1. the function or the power of perceiving by touch.
At the time, Ron didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
Kim had gotten stuck fighting Drakken's henchmen as Ron and her were too far apart to switch opponents. This had left the sidekick dealing with a plasma charged powerhouse of a fighter, Shego—Drakken's sidekick.
Most of the fight, if anyone could call it that, had Ron dodging each of Shego's attacks as she smirked ferociously at the scared sidekick. Plasma throws, timed upper cuts, sweep kicks, the works really. Ron barely stood a chance against the raven haired woman.
So as a last ditch effort, Ron pushed his hand out forward, tackling her full force with him falling against her.
It only took a second to realize that his hands had found their way on her chest, feeling them, both sets of eyes widen dramatically.
It took even less than a second for both parties to separate and switch partners in haste.
No one seemed to notice.
2. physical sensation not connected with sight, hearing, taste, or smell.
Ron probably should've seen this coming. The rules wouldn't have allowed him to go unpunished.
He expected a extra dose of pain the next time he run into Shego. Be it Drakken's lair or a quick snatch and steal that Drakken pays her to do. Any moment really. Ron just didn't think he would walk into his house to find Shego sitting on his couch, filing away at her charcoal nails, no gloves in sight.
And when she sees the terror in his eyes, her signature smirk is all the proof he needs to know that pain is coming.
The next few moments are him dodging her plasma attacks, getting burned every now and then. Shego by now is basically shooting fish in a barrel here, enjoying the way he dodges her strikes.
Until finally Ron has had enough and attempts to push her hands away.
But all he could do was hold her hands upward, forcing them both in an awkward position.
Except this time, Shego is ready.
"If I didn't know any better," she teases, pushing a little closer. "I would say you're doing this on purpose."
Ron is shocked, finally noticing his hands around her wrist. The soft unnatural feel of her green skin is something he can't but feel.
That is before she knees him in the groin and walks off, satisfied.
All things considered, Ron got off easy.
3. a particular sensation of this kind: a feeling of warmth; a feeling of pain.
They were even. She hurt him. Got her payback.
So why the hell did she keep attacking him instead of Kim?!
Judging by the way her eyes seem to mock him, Ron figured Shego was merely doing it just to continue teasing him. Enjoying the way he felt. Taking advantage of his uncertain actions. Exploiting the panic he had and humiliation he had done to her.
Well not this time.
This time Ron would fight back. Dodging her strikes, and countering with his own.
Most of them missed. And she got a good amount of hers in. But hey, it was something.
Eventually Ron manages to pull away one of her gloves and grip her hand in a vice like grip. Time seems to freeze there as something becomes slightly amiss to the sidekick. It was only after she stopped moving did he realize that he was holding Shego's soft hand, while the plasma continued to glow brightly.
Completely stunned, the sidekick unknowingly spoke out his thoughts.
"It doesn't burn?" Ron smiled, holding Shego's flaming hand. She merely glared anywhere but at him, but when he gripped a bit tighter, her cheeks burned.
Eventually she finally pushed him away, avoiding his stare and walking off. Having left the henchmen to fend for themselves, had resulted in Drakken's plot a failure yet again.
And on the way home, Kim talked about the upcoming Latin test they had that week, but Ron paid her no attention. Instead, he focused on his hand, free of burn marks and thinking of the feel of Shego's skin.
4. the general state of consciousness considered independently of particular sensations, thoughts, etc.
A few days have passed, but all Ron could still focus on was the soft feel of Shego's skin.
It's nothing new. Ron's a healthy male after all. And it doesn't hurt that Shego is a beautiful female.
Although dangerous, but beautiful nevertheless.
Whenever Kim tries to get his attention now, normally involving physically shaking him, Ron is somewhat disappointed that her skin and Shego's skin both feel completely different. Her's is soft, but not that soft. And is it wrong that he misses that smirk of her's as well.
Ron doesn't like to think of this and decides to numbly listen to Kim talk about this new hottie that has caught her eye this month. He occasionally responds with a word of two, but overall tunes her out.
He doesn't really feel like listening to her at the moment.
5. a consciousness or vague awareness: a feeling of inferiority.
He doesn't expect to see her again so soon. Actually, that's a lie.
Ron fully expected to see her again, just not at his house anymore.
It doesn't take a genius for Ron to realize this must be about Drakken's last plot, when he discovered Shego's plasma doesn't burn if your holding her hand. Or it could be about payback. Payback for actually making her blush, that which he didn't even know he did to her. Ron had only been too busy holding her hand to notice.
Whatever the case is, Shego is walking up towards him, eyes fierce.
And he's completely immobilized, but not by fear. No, his monkey instincts which Ron still doesn't even realize he has, tells him to remain calm. Not too calm mind him. But calm nevertheless.
"It's your fault." So that's how the conversation starts. "Drakken knows I was fighting you and thinks I'm losing my touch if I lost to you."
"But you didn't lose to me," Ron says, arms out. "You left. You were definitely winning the last time I checked."
Shego moves to grab him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him extremely close.
"Well that doesn't matter now," Ron can see the anger in her eyes and something else... something different. "He fired me! He thinks I'm useless... I'm out of a job." Shego's eyes sadden, "He's probably already looking for a new replacement."
Seeing trace amounts of sadness in her eyes, Ron would never know what force made him do the next thing he did. Shego could only widen her eyes in shock as Ron hugged her, holding her. And for a moment she felt better. Felt wanted.
Quickly though, she pushes back, angry again. "I don't want your pity!"
"Then what do you want?"
"I don't know what I want."
She leaves before Ron can get another question in.
6. an emotion or emotional perception or attitude: a feeling of joy; a feeling of sorrow.
Ron finds her again a week later in his house once more, sitting on his couch.
At this rate, he planned to start bringing food home. Villain or not, can't start acting like a bad host now.
"So, I've been thinking." Ron didn't like the sound of this. "And the way I see it, you owe me."
She stands up, heads to the kitchen to start raiding the fridge. It's only now does he realize that Shego isn't in her standard jumpsuit, but instead in one of his worm out jerseys and a pair of black pajama shorts. She comes back with what looked like his emergency naco stash and starts eating away.
"For getting me fired," she says through bites. "I'm going to be crashing here until I can find a better boss to work for."
Ron's eye twitches, "Don't you have like millions saved up?"
She shrugs, smirking that smirk he's come to know, "Yea, so."
It hard to fight that logic when there's specs of cheese between her lips and cheese smothered around her cheeks. Throw in the fact that she looks better in his jersey than he ever did and Ron's got himself a problem. That, and he can't say no for two reasons.
He liked having his bones working and having company would be a nice change of pace.
Besides in her own twisted way, Shego's sort of right—sort of! He'll be damned if he took all the blame for this.
"What if KP walks in and finds you here?"
"Eh, we'll figure it out when the time comes."
He feels like the next few weeks are going to be pure torture.
7. capacity for emotion, especially compassion: to have great feeling for the sufferings of others.
"So I just realized that you live alone?" It's more question than statement.
Ron doesn't seem that all too bothered about it.
"Yea my dad is an actuary and my mom works for a law firm. They can basically work anywhere." he explains to her as they eat at the table. A week with Shego's high tempered mood and sarcastic remarks has already made his home seem more lively.
"What I'm getting from that is they don't live here?" Again more question than statement.
Ron merely shrugged and went to clean the dishes, "I'm use to it."
Shego eyes him for a bit as he washes the stains off the plates, wondering how the sidekick could have such a positive outlook on life?
She almost feels sorry for him.
8. a sentiment; attitude; opinion: The general feeling was in favor of the proposal.
They're at Smarty Mart buying everything they need for the week, having become incredibly use to each other's company after Shego living at Ron's house for about a little more over a month. Amazingly, Kim still hasn't discovered Shego living at his house.
Ron doesn't know if he should take that as an insult.
Shego still sarcastically teases him to no end and they fight more often than not. Normally the fights end when either push too far. Shego burning the sidekick by accident or Ron holding her hand to stop the plasma from burning him.
Although now Shego's attacks are less damaging and Ron's hand tends to linger longer every time. Neither or them seem to bring it up.
"Do you know what you want?" Ron asks as he searches through frozen meats section, wondering if he should just get Bueno Nacho on the way home instead.
Shego at the meantime seemed to freeze at those words he just spoke, recalling an earlier conversation.
Then what do you want?
I don't know what I want.
The words struck something in her core as she watched the sidekick get stuck between choosing two cold frozen dinners.
"Shego?" Ron calls out, shaking the frozen dinners.
"Uh, just get whatever, Stoppable," he shrugs and gets both.
As they continue to shop for various items, Shego tends to lean closer to Ron as they pass through the aisles.
"I think I know what I want now." Shego comments offhandedly, not actually staring at Ron.
It's not until they're outside that her fingers somehow found themselves laced with his.
If Ron noticed, he didn't say anything.
9. feelings, sensibilities; susceptibilities: to hurt one's feelings.
It finally happened.
Too bad for Kim, she chose the worst moment to walk into Ron's house.
It's not easy to see your best friend making out with your arch-nemesis. It's not.
That's why she fainted. Yea, that's what they'll go with.
"Told you we'll handle it when the time comes." Shego blushes, fixing back on her shirt. Things had been getting hot and heavy there and if the princess hadn't walked in... the sidekick would've seen how hot she could truly make her body.
"Well then," Ron mumbles, moving his hand away from her bare back. "How am I going to explain this?"
The sidekick had a feeling that his life just got a whole lot harder.
Author Notes: Re-read the first part to understand it now.