Kevin and Craig had both been acting weird lately. Well, weirder than usual. Rick wasn't sure he approved, but since no one had asked for his opinion there wasn't much he could do about it. Instead he'd taken the Invisible Space-whip 2007 out to one of the empty test chambers to practice. He had been using the lab, but after the third time he'd "accidentally" exploded something on Craig's desk, he'd been banished. Which was fine. Now he had more room to work on his moves.
"Wa-pow!"
He couldn't actually see the whip, of course, but he could feel it and hear the little crack it made when it snapped (enhanced by his own super-awesome sound effects). He could also imagine it taking down enemy after enemy as they piled on him, trying to steal the secret formula for eternal life that he was guarding. Or maybe it was a girl. Or both. He walked over to one of the targets he'd set up and tried again.
"Wa-pow!"
The turret shell exploded. He grinned; yep, this was a mighty fine invention he'd invented. He moved on to the next one.
"Wa-puh- huh- howwwdy, Miss Caroline!"
Her unexpected appearance in the doorway almost caused him to throw the whip, but a lunging move that strained his shoulder but undoubtedly looked very cool saved him from embarrassment. He smiled at her as he coiled the whip.
Seeing she had his attention, Caroline entered the room, smiling back at him. "Hello, Richard."
If you ignored the clipboard in her hand you could almost pretend she was here for more personal reasons.
"Now, Miss Caroline, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Rick?"
"At least one more time," they chimed together.
It was a standard ritual, but one he really kinda liked, even if he still hadn't gotten her to call him Rick.
"So what's a pretty thing like you doing down here in these dirty old test chambers, Miss Caroline?" He went to clip the whip to his belt, missed, and felt it bounce off his shoe. He looked down. Oh. Right. Well, as long as he didn't move, he could find it again.
"I was checking up to see how well the space whip is working out." She glanced down at her clipboard, making a notation. "It seems to be doing a fine job so far."
"Yup." Thumbs hooked through his belt loops, he puffed out his chest. "It's not the only thing doing a fine job of.. of being fine, either."
She shook her head, dark, silky hair cascading to cover part of her face. "Richard," she chided.
That gorgeous hair couldn't hide her smile, though. He swaggered over to her. "Would you care for a demonstration? I might even let you try it yourself if you say 'please'." He reached down for the whip, remembered he'd dropped it, and glanced at the floor. Where had he been standing?
"Thank you, Richard, but I think I'll pass. I'm not really good with violence."
"Oh, it's not all that violent, Miss Caroline." He stuck out a foot and started to feel around. "In fact, you don't even have to look at it!" He scuffed over and tried again. This was not the time to lose the daggone thing! Just imagine the possibilities if he could get it into her hand and help show off how it works!
"Actually, I'm down here for another reason, today."
He stepped on the whip right as she said it. He turned to face her, the whip rolled under his shoe, and he had to flail his arms to keep his balance.
"Whoop- I mean what? What… a pleasant surprise!" He turned the flailing into a suave and complicated stretch. "I wonder what reason that could be." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "If you're looking for a hot cup of Rick- uh, a hot cup with Rick. Of coffee. I- I may know a place." Yup, still smooth.
Caroline, however, was busy pulling something off of her clipboard. She handed it to him and he looked down at a painting. A smiling green stick figure with impossibly long arms jointed in the wrong places was guarding a smaller pink figure with two black lumps on its head from a blobby red thing with yellow lines shooting out of its mouth. The green man was marked as "ЯiKc", the pink one was "BELLA" and the blob was "FЯogN". There was a small, familiar-looking handprint in the corner, too.
"It's a frogon," Caroline said, amusement bubbling through. "It's a frog-dragon hybrid. Apparently they're more dangerous than the usual type. Isabelle wanted me to give that to you as a thank you."
Rick stared down at the picture, blinking rapidly due to a sudden influx of dust to the room. "I-" He cleared his throat. "Thank you. That was… was real sweet of her." He rolled the paper up very, very carefully so he wouldn't damage it.
"Douglas says if he ever becomes stuck for a babysitter again, he'll remember to give you a call."
"Who? Oh, her dad, right? Yeah, sure. She's a great lil' tyke." He hesitated. "Uh, not that I'm, y'know, I'm more about the adventure than the babysitting. Big strong adventure stuff. Wrestling bears and fighting… frogons."
"See? That's why you'd be perfect." She hugged the clipboard to her chest, giving him her full attention. "You're strong enough to fight anything that might come after her… and brave enough not to worry about getting your hands dirty with a little paint."
"Well, yeah, I guess, when you put it like that…"
"You're a good man, Richard North." She stepped close, leaned in, and kissed his cheek. "Now, get back to work."
Or at least, that might have been what she said. Rick lost track of time when her lips touched his cheek.
"YEAH, I'LL… uh…" He looked around. He was alone. "I'll, uh, do that." He reached up to touch his cheek.
Still musing over what had happened and not quite trusting it to be real, he turned around, tripped over the whip, and smacked into the floor. The picture was safe, though! And now he'd found the whip! If there was laughter echoing from somewhere down the hall, it was probably just his imagination. Yup. Nothing to worry about. He was the king of cool. That kiss proved it.
"Ha! Yeah. You still got it, Rick." He picked himself up and retrieved the whip. Time to head back to the lab and plan his next move. Wooing the lovely Miss Caroline… and finding a spot to hang his new picture.