Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kim Possible.
I Say Tomato
By: Imyoshi
The pale teenager behind the smoothie counter handed Ron their order, poorly trying to act discreet and check out his friend from across his shoulder. Well, he thought she was her friend. But maybe she fitted in more with the label of acquaintance actually.
"What's holding you, Stoppable?" Shego asked as her voice was laced with bits of anger. "I'm thirsty over here."
Ok, he didn't what to label this as. Friend, acquaintance, sidekicks, something—hell, he didn't know!
But why fuss over it now.
Taking their order, Ron rolled his eyes at the poor teen, silently wondering if that's how he looked whenever a cute girl was nearby. Not to say Shego wasn't cute, but he would never call her that. Ron Stoppable did not have a death wish.
Casting a last glance to pay for their beverages, Ron walked over to Shego waiting by the entrance, trying to ignore the way her smirk seemed to be directed at him as if she knew every secret he ever had. In retrospect, he probably should've questioned his actions harder, much harder in fact. At some random point during the past two months of sneaking behind his best friend's back probably would've been a great time to start.
She wasn't in her normal jumpsuit and he had been forced to wear a different set of clothing, one she preferably liked or face the consequences. The plasma filled consequences.
"Took you long enough," she mocked lightly, swiping the green smoothie from his hand. "But you still get points for effort. Overall," she lightly enjoyed a bit of her smoothie, waving her hand dismissively. "I'll give you a C+."
Ron held the door open for her despite her rolling her eyes at him, slightly confused. "You're grading me for how long it took me to get the smoothies?"
Her infamous glare appeared, "You bet I am, Stoppable! If I had gone to get these, I would've been done in no time."
Both the sidekicks started to walk towards a random general direction, no real destination in mind, just as long as they avoided Kim. Neither would be able to explain how this happened if they ran into her, nor did either want to.
Sipping his peach flavored smoothie in response, Ron grinned, "You would've threatened the guy."
Shego only shrugged with a half opened smirk, "Yea, your point sidekick?"
Ron honestly didn't have an answer to that. Not like he could change of Shego acted. Hell, he doubt anyone could. Instead he settled to enjoy his beverage, silently admitting defeat. Shego merely carried on glaring at passing people, forcing them to cringe. And Ron only observed the way they feared her.
Weird part about it though, Ron somewhat enjoyed the way Shego handled herself. After moving through a rough start at beginning of this, Ron found he preferred Shego's company over Kim's, ironically. Maybe it had to do with her only visiting him on the weekends, something he's had to cover up with Kim's sudden interest in his sudden busy schedule. But Shego was different.
In a good way.
She drank her smoothie in a vicious fashion, her ever present smirk highlighting her mood.
"I'm really enjoying this pear flavored smoothie." What a weird flavor. "It's the best."
"You sure it's not because it's green?" he remarked, already avoiding her teasing gaze.
"And what's your excuse Mr. Smart Guy?" Ron looked back, confused.
"What about mine?"
"You're choice of flavor." That smirk of hers grew, "You really are a peach."
The sidekick look mortified at being called that again and he swiftly looked away from her, slurping his drink while blocking out her muffled laughing. When had he become so comfortable around her? Better yet, when had they become so comfortable around each other?
"So," she cut in, laughter done for now. "Want to hear Dr. D's this week's hair brained scheme?"
This had become routine to them. Shego would share Drakken's schemes and Ron would discuss Kim's current crisis-modes she seemed to get herself in every week. Both served a purpose. Ron liked being able to avoid Drakken's traps and Shego enjoyed taking jabs at the princess.
"Not really," she eyed him, waiting. "His plans are getting kinda sad. It's almost painful to listen to now."
Her glare grew, "At least you're not helping him, stealing useless junk and going to the most ridiculous places. You get destroy all his evil inventions while I'm stuck babysitting the henchmen and wasting my time with Kimmie."
"I thought you liked fighting KP," he teased.
Hmph, her eyes narrowed a bit, "She's starting to annoy me. All she does is hit and run. I can't really get a good fight out of it. I'm actually starting to think she waits until the lair's crashing down than stay and fight me."
Ron grinned, laughing a bit at her heated glare, "That's actually normally the plan." He imitated Kim's voice next. "Ok Ron, here's the plan. We go in, you find the device Drakken stole and I'll distract Shego."
Shego's anger flared. "Distract Shego," she growled, gripping her drink tighter. "What does she take me for?!"
"A sidekick," Ron answered absently use to her anger, not yet regretting his words—not yet.
Before long, she grabbed him by his collar, shoving her angered face to his shocked one, plasma lit. Yea, now he was regretting his words.
"Oh really," she demanded, all playfulness gone. Then she paused at his scared expression.
Her glare softened, it wasn't his fault, at least not entirely. Indirectly he contributed to the problem. Easily destroying Drakken's lairs each time had seemed to damper her rep. Slowly, but surely giving the princess the impression they were losing their touch. Shego wasn't fully sure if she was right either.
"Well if the princess considers me a sidekick," letting go of his collar, she pokes him mockingly. "I could only imagine what that makes you."
It takes him a second of relief to notice the jab she just poked at him.
"Hey," he's offended. "I'm getting better!"
"If by getting better, you mean majorly not. Then yes, you're definitely getting better."
He frowns, "Well, what about you?" Challenge called, "Isn't your job supposed to make sure we don't stop Drakken's plans?"
Pouting a smidge, she rests her hand on her hip, wondering where to even begin. First she had to admit that Ron was getting braver around her. She'd have to fix that. Second, the sidekick had a point. It was her job, regretful enough, but it was her job. However, nobody could ever fully blame her for Drakken's failed take over the world attempts. Common sense definitely played a key part to his immense failure.
Restarting their walk, she flails her free hand wildly, "Yea well, maybe if Dr. D realizes having a self destruct switch on his inventions wasn't such a great idea, we'll be a lot better off."
"If it was me, things would be a whole lot different," mumbles Ron, just loud enough for her to hear.
And just stupid enough to make her laugh, "A whole lot different how? What? You'll serve churros for lunch if you had it your way?"
He didn't falter, "Not only would I serve churros, but I'll avoid the dumb mistakes all the villains seem to make."
Proud at his claim, Ron greedily enjoyed himself to a slurp of his smoothie, momentarily losing himself in a world of peaches.
However at the same time, Shego stops laughing, her eye brows becoming uneven, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out there sidekick!" he does. "Are you being serious here?"
Ron opens one eye at her, still enjoying his beverage, silently telling her his attention has been grabbed despite being sucked into the world of peachy goodness.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he softly glared, but not at her. "I can see the problems that the bad guys have in all their plots. Their teamwork, strategy, and escape routes, I can see it all. And really, I'm not too impressed. They make such dumb mistakes." Ron applies bits of pressure to his smoothie, something Shego takes immediate notice, "So many mistakes."
"And how would you know?" she scoffs, leading him, her curiosity peaked. "What? You take notes or something? The princess making you work on some extra credit homework for school? Hmph, everyone knows you need it."
She waits for his normal outburst for mocking him, but Ron remains deep in thought. Then for a split moment, Shego notices a smirk on his face. An amused dim smirk on the sidekick's face, but as soon as she saw it, the smirk vanished. To only be replaced quickly by a scowl.
"Ron?"
Ron ignores her, silently staring at his drink. He hardly makes an attempt to notice her presence until his frown vanishes. He doesn't resume his once happy mood, just instead remains stuck in a lost gaze. For once Shego worries over the sidekick, never once having seen him this worked up about anything—ever.
"Shego?" finally he looks over at her, eyes squarely focused and a good amount of essential Ronness missing. "What's it like to be evil?"
Of all the things she expected him to ask... Shego hadn't imagined that.
And for the first time ever, Shego is generally surprised at him. Not like the time he could be a worthy shopping partner or eat with decent manners. No, for once Ron Stoppable has caught her completely off guard.
All motion in her legs comes to a stop. Her eyes remain slightly widen.
"What?"
He sighs, "Evil... what's it like?"
She studies him, "Why are you asking me this? Why do you want to know, Stoppable?"
Ron laughs a little, "Can't a guy just ask?" Clearly by the face she's making... no they cannot. "It's stupid really."
"I'll be the judge of that, Stoppable." Ron flinches back at the sudden hard edge of her voice, forced to face her sharp eyes. "Why are you asking?"
He sweats a bit, getting slightly uncomfortable in his clothes. Shego was sending him that same glare she shot at Kim whenever they fought. And Ron didn't like it. Of all the times for his mind to wander, it just had to been now. Damn it to hell.
"Look how about you go back to telling me about Drakken's latest plot?" he tries to change the subject, acting as cheery as possible.
"Too late," she's off course not gonna let him. "Why did you ask me that?"
Ron knows he's lost this fight. No point of lying to Shego, she's able to tell if he's lying just by looking at him, courtesy to them spending time together—funny enough though, he doesn't seem to mind as much.
"I remember being Zorpox."
Her mind reels and slowly she asks, "How much exactly do you remember?"
Ron merely shrugs, slurping his drink as if it's not that important to ponder over, "I remember bits and pieces of being Zorpox, but not all of it." Shego doesn't know what to ask next, luckily he continues. "I really don't like fighting them. The boring everyday villains, they're... lacking in the villain department. It's almost insulting."
Despite the deep talk, she sees him smirk again. He then laughs that same Ron laugh. Acting like despite the sitch, it's nothing serious.
"They're so weak," he laughs more before slowly coming to a stop, the smirk swapped for a sadden face. "It scares me Shego, but when I was Zorpox... I felt different—I was different, but in a good way."
"Why are you telling me this?"
He stares, walking forward again, "I thought you wanted to know?"
She follows, frustrated, "That's not what I mean sidekick and you know—don't give me that look! I know you're smarted than you let on!"
Disregarding her again, Ron wonders how he gets himself into these messes, first saving the world, hanging out with his best friend's archenemy, and now talking about his feelings. Yea, some god out there must truly hate him.
"You were once a hero?" Shego shudders at the memory, "What made you change?"
Playing along, Shego thinks on how to answer that when she sees an outside fruit stand and expertly swipes a tomato from under the shop keeper's nose.
"This," she answers, "is the reason I turned evil."
"You changed because of a tomato?"
"No, Stoppable!" she knows he can't help it; Ron really can be that dense sometimes. "It's not the tomato! It's what I did to get it!"
"All you did was take it," he stares, not following. Couldn't Shego just buy a tomato?
Fighting the urge to both hit him and roll her eyes, she wonders what happened to serious Ron moments ago. "It's not the fact that I stole it, but instead how happy it made me. I enjoyed taking this from that poor gullible sap back there."
Ron doesn't answer—can't answer. He's already surprised Shego is still talking about this. Still talking to him. Shego did not do emotions. She made that painfully clear each time Ron wandered into that territory.
"Wanna know what I learned Ron when I became a villain?" she adds. "I learned that good and evil are nothing different."
"What do you mean by that?" he can't help but ask. "Good and evil are totally different! One is wrong and one is right!"
"Come on, Stoppable, don't be so stupid!" She glared, forcing him to cringe. "Heroes and villains are like this... this tomato here!"
"What?"
"Yea, they're like this tomato," she repeats with more vigor. "C'mon you know, I say tomato and you say..." Shego trailed for him to finish, using a small grin.
"Tomato?" he answers.
The grin on her face grew, "Exactly."
"I'm a bit lost here, Shego?"
Sigh, "What else is new?"
"You're not helping here," Ron groans, pushing his fingers through his hair. "I'm still confused here! How can heroes and villains be the same thing?!"
"Aha! So you do know what I'm talking about!"
Ron swiftly glares at her and she finds it to be vastly intimidating. Shego almost flinches at first sight, but her strong resolves keeps her steady.
"Of course I know what you're talking about! But it's wrong!" Ron starts to get tongue tied, "Heroes and villains don't mix! They don't! It's majorly wrong. Miles of bad road!"
Her resolve doubles, "Well if you're so sure of yourself there! Then why are you hanging out with me!"
Ron steps toward her, "I don't know! That's why I'm asking you! You've been on both sides! If anyone would have the answer, it would be you!"
Shego as well steps forward, "The answer to what, Stoppable?! I don't know what the hell you're trying to ask me?!"
Ron throws down his smoothie; his anger has finally reached its boiling point. All his bottled up emotions are finally cracking him under the pressure. All the thoughts he went through watching each pathetic villain fail one after another at last surfacing.
It doesn't take long before he stands right in front of Shego with his entire body burning with anger, but as soon as he did, his temper dulled almost immediately. All traces of his rage quickly withered away, leaving behind a husk of absence.
"How did you do it, huh?" he sounded so tired, way too tired compared to his normal foolish self. "How did you make the choice you did? Becoming evil and turning your back on the people that needed your help? How were you able to make such a choice? H-How?"
Shego doesn't know what to make of the question until she finally takes note of his eyes... his tired eyes. Now everything was starting to make sense to her. Now she knew why she continued to discuss emotions with him against her better judgment. He's not angry at the idea of evil, but at himself.
She once had those same eyes.
Slowly, every part of her softened, her anger turned into a blanket of comfort. It's been years since the emotion even took hold of her.
"I had to make a choice," she starts, reminiscing. "Continue living a lie where everyone loved me... or throw it all away to be hated by the world, but to finally be happy. Selfishly I chose my own happiness."
"Didn't you have any regrets?" he asks.
Shego finishes her smoothie, burning the container with her powers. Bluntly she adds, "Life's too short to have regrets. I chose being evil because I'm good at it and love doing it."
"It can't just be that simple?"
She shrugs, handing him the tomato in her hand, "Maybe not for you, but for me it was."
Ron studies the fruit in his hand, slowly recalling the entire conversation. He looks up, not as sad anymore, "You're taking this surprisingly well."
That smirk of hers returns, "What can I say, Stoppable? You were way better than Dr.D when you two switched sides. Sure the attitudinator made you a bit crazy, but I like to think if you did switch, you wouldn't be him again."
"Wait?" he stops. "What makes you think—?"
Beep-beep-beep-beep!
Shego points at his pocket, smirking, "Looks like the princess is calling you."
Pulling out the kimmunicator, Ron reads the message Wade sent, glowering after each word. He unenthusiastically shoves the device back in his pocket, already hating his life a bit more.
"It's Professor Dementor again. He's made some machine that controls plant life and we need to stop him before he gains control over the forest." Ron informed, eyes slightly narrow. "I need to go meet Kim by her house in a few."
"Well, I'll let you and Kimmie get on with that." Shego only takes a few steps away before Ron grabs her by the wrist. She doesn't make any attempts to break his hold.
"Wait," his hand shakes nervously. "I still don't know... what am I suppose to do?"
It doesn't take her long to give him an answer. She had already found it years ago.
"Do what makes you happy," Shego pulls her wrist free, smiling with a hint of a smirk. "That's what I did."
By the time the words sink in, the Kimmunicator is going off again and Shego had already left. Ron ignores the annoying beeping. All he could focus on is Shego's parting words and wordlessly stare at the tomato still in his hand.
Author Notes: Yes, tomatoes are a fruit. In case your lost - Subtle Orange - Read it.