Author's Notes: This is the story of the "deal" Megamind and Roxanne struck in the last two chapters of "Pin Up Boy." I readily admit that I don't make a habit of writing and posting erotica (as a matter of fact, this is the first time I've ever posted it), and this one-shot really is more suggestive than anything, despite the mention and use of... certain bodily parts. (Honestly, I've read much racier things in romance novels one can pick up at any ordinary bookstore without showing any proof of age.) My usual preference is to "close the door" before such scenes occur and let the reader imagine what they will. But I do have an imagination of my own (and despite my age, I'm not dead yet), so I can envision perfectly well what happens. This particular incident just didn't want to stay unwritten. It's more humor and fluff than anything else, silly fun involving a married couple, a snowy day, and a fur rug in front of a fireplace. Moreover, it actually adds a small amount of detail to my fanverse that I've been trying to find a way to incorporate, which is why I felt I should post it. The language is deliberately toned down and the "explicit" parts aren't terribly detailed, as I was wanting to emphasize the playfulness, the humor, and the love, not merely the sex. I hope I succeeded, on all counts.
The Bare Bear Rug Incident
or, Unwrapping Christmas Present
"Are you sure you really want to do this, hon? I'll understand if it makes you uncomfortable..."
"Well, wasn't that part of the point of me making that calendar in the first place? To get me out of my comfort zone so I'd stop thinking of myself in all the wrong ways, as a freak or... whatever the exact opposite would be?"
Roxanne tapped one foot while she fiddled with the remote trigger controls for the four cameras set up in the den of the Lair's living quarters, which had been set up for a photo session Megamind had agreed to do for her some weeks ago, in private. The bargain back then had been to do this on the following weekend, while Minion was away in Ypsilanti, visiting with his lady friend — girlfriend, they'd finally gotten him to admit — Astrid Kjørsvik, a post-graduate student in limnology who had been fascinated by and drawn to the alien's ichthyoid guardian since she was a teenager.
But circumstances had conspired against them. Though Minion had gone out of town, Roxanne had been called in to work to fill in for a seriously injured colleague, while Megamind had had his hands full fighting with another would-be villain who was annoyingly more effective than many of the others who'd tried to take his place. Even with Wayne's help, he'd been kept busy, as had Roxanne, and neither of them had had a chance to take the time to complete their bargain since, what with one thing or another.
But now, it was early December, Minion had gone with Astrid to attend a major conference in Chicago, and not only did the couple have the Lair to themselves, but a whopper of a snowstorm was in the process of clobbering the city, the all too common result of strong cold winds rushing down from Canada sweeping across the open waters of Lake Michigan. In general, the lake effect snows were a huge nuisance, but this one had the happy effect of keeping just about everyone, including the crooks, snug in their homes. And the city's hero, having lived in the area all his life on Earth, had recently invented an entire squadron of highly specialized search and rescue brainbots that could go out into the teeth of the worst blizzards to save stranded motorists, effect emergency repairs on downed power lines, get vital supplies where they might be needed, and in general keep the citizens safe so that emergency crews didn't need to risk their lives and could wait until the worst of the storm passed before going out to clear the streets and get the city back up and running. This was hailed by one and all as nothing less than a godsend, as it made one of the greatest problems of living in the snowbelt region more tolerable.
Thus Megamind and Roxanne were able to enjoy their downtime in the warm comfort of the Lair's living quarters, with Minion safe in Chicago and not due back for a few days. With nothing better to do after checking the data feed from the Winter Emergency/Evacuation Bots — the Weebles, as Roxanne had dubbed the crew — then watching the howling storm through the wide windows of the kitchen for a while, the idea of building a roaring fire in the fireplace of the mountain lodge style den had come up, was followed by the notion of snuggling in front of it, and finally led to the reporter recalling their deal of two months ago. Though Megamind blushed when she suggested it, he'd also smiled and eagerly agreed, saying that a proper hero never went back on a promise, especially to his own lady.
No, it had to be Roxanne who was having the second thoughts while her husband went into the den's almost empty closet to prepare for it. The deal had been that'd he'd allow her to take pictures of him like one that had been in her own celebrity calendar some five or six years ago, a shot of her lying on a large fur rug in front of a roaring fireplace, so scantily clad, the photographer had been able to make it look as if she was naked just by being clever with his angles and the lighting. She'd sworn that whatever pictures she might take of Megamind in a similar situation would be strictly for her own private viewing and enjoyment, and she certainly meant to keep that promise. But now, she was wondering if it really was fair to ask him to go through with it.
"Sweetie, you figured that out even before we finished with the shots for the calendar," she admitted. "And you did a spectacular job, everyone has said so. The charities benefiting from it are delirious with joy, they've sold out three printings already. I just don't want you to do this unless you really do want to."
She heard a modestly evil laugh come echoing from the open closet. "Why, are you getting cold feet, Ms Ritchi? The star reporter with nerves of steel who never screams for anything?"
The teasing snapped her out of her indecision. "No, of course not! I'm not afraid, just... I want to be sure you're okay with it. I hate feeling like I'm pushing you into things. Lately, it just makes me feel like the people who've been calling me a cold-blooded hard-nosed newsie bitch might be right."
"Absolutely not!" she was instantly assured. "Those people are just jealous of your success on a nationwide and international level — and if you let me know who's been calling you that, I'll pay them a personal visit to... correct their mistaken attitudes. Are you ready, then?"
She sighed, surrendering to his logic. "If you are. And what's with using the closet as a changing room? It's not like I don't see you get undressed every day..."
"Presentation, my dear, presentation! Did the housekeeping bots bring in that sheepskin rug Toby and Sunny sent us as an anniversary gift?"
"Yep, it's on the floor in front of the fireplace, all nice and clean and fluffed up. So any time you're ready."
"Well, no time like the present!" With that, she heard the closet door close, and looked up. She couldn't hear Megamind's footsteps as he came toward her, as both his feet were bare, but that couldn't be said for the rest of him. He was wearing a long wrap-style robe of heavy silk that all but glowed a dark, lustrous forest green in the firelight. The edges of the shawl collar, front opening, cuffs, and hem were all edged with white fur, very much like the fluffy sheepskin of the rug, though much shorter. From the glimpses of blue she caught under the gap of the robe's front and when his lower legs moved, Roxanne was pretty sure he was naked underneath, which for some reason made her mouth suddenly go dry. This was her husband, for heaven's sake — but something about the whole situation and his willingness to go along with it made her feel as if they'd only known each other for a few days.
She took a deep breath to try to clear her head, and decided to fix her thoughts on something either more or less distracting, she wasn't sure which. "Where'd the robe come from?" she wondered. "I've never seen it before."
Megamind smiled in a way that she could only call seductive. "Oh, it's something I picked up from the Internet after we made our deal. Since your photographer did this sort of thing as a Christmas shot, I thought I should make the presentation for this in the same spirit. I've had this tucked away in the closet for months — turns out I could've saved money on the rush shipping! But it's here now, and I'm glad I didn't forget where I hid it!"
She smiled, amused by his love of showmanship. "But no Santa hat?"
He wrinkled his nose. "On this head? You know I look ridiculous in hats, and that's the last thing I wanted! No, I was going for more of a Ghost of Christmas Present sort of look — but without the wreath on the head and the starving children under the skirts. And don't you dare say that my legs are scrawny enough to pass off as starving!"
"I wasn't even thinking it," she assured him with a warmer smile as he came close enough to kiss. While she did so, her hands brushed over the bare skin of his chest and started to head south, only to be caught by the wrists and pulled away.
"Ah-ah, no peeking, naughty girl, or you won't get to see your present!" he chided.
Roxanne accepted that as reasonable. "Then let's get the show on the road," she suggested. "Do you want me to give you explicit directions, or did you have a presentation in mind?"
"I always have a presentation in mind!" Megamind proclaimed, and headed onto the thick sheepskin rug. His bare feet sank into the deep fur, and he couldn't help but giggle a bit. "It tickles," he explained, wriggling his toes in the white softness. "But nothing I can't handle. Now, my dear, would you like to have your Christmas Present unwrapped for you?"
"Oh, of course," she answered encouragingly, getting into the mood and snickering softly at his literary pun. Whether he failed or not, she'd always been entertained by Megamind's showmanship, even though she couldn't have admitted it during the old villain days. Now, it had other kinds of entertainment value, and she liked it.
"Hmm," he said thoughtfully, "we don't want to do it too quickly, though, do we?" He turned his back to her, and she thought he was attempting to delay things out of nervousness — until he turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. In the flickering light of the fire and the strategically-placed mood-setting candles, the gleam of his eyes and the glow of his expression could only be called smoldering. Roxanne felt her breath hitch just a bit, then felt it stop entirely for a moment or three as he slowly shrugged the shoulder he was looking over, letting the dark green silk of the robe slide off ever so slowly, revealing the blue curve of his shoulder and part of his upper back along the edge of furry white. He smiled wickedly, then turned his head and did the same with the other shoulder.
With his long neck, both shoulders, and a generous amount of his upper back and arms exposed, Roxanne found herself staring without intending to. It wasn't as if Megamind wasn't ever playful in the bedroom — he could be amazingly shy and even more amazingly bold and creative, depending on his mood — but for some reason, this was affecting her much, much more than she'd thought it could. It was probably just the fact that he'd planned this and had gotten into the spirit so willingly that he'd prepared for it long ago, but it was making her look at him in a different way, with a different kind of appreciation.
She hadn't quite consciously noticed, for instance, how his upper body wasn't quite as painfully thin as it had once been. He'd always been much stronger than he looked, but it showed more now than she could ever remember. Oh, he was by no means pumped like even a beginning amateur body builder, but there was just enough more shape and definition to him now to look... hot. Really hot. Really, really hot. Hot like she was going to start melting or go blind if she kept on staring. And this just from looking at his bare shoulders and a bit of his back!
She made herself blink and swallow until her throat felt sufficiently lubricated to speak again. "H—have you been working out, sweetie?" she asked in what she hoped sounded like a casual voice.
The question had the benefit of shifting his smoldering expression to a puzzled one, letting her cool off a little. "Working out? I admit, I did try when the whole calendar thing came up, but it was pointless, and I nearly broke my neck. Why — oh, you've noticed that Minion had to alter some of my clothes recently. That's not from working out, it's—"
His voice suddenly choked off and he blushed a brilliant fuchsia, pulling the robe back onto his shoulders and staring down at his bare toes.
Roxanne could feel how mortified he was feeling, and that abruptly made her aware that she'd unwittingly touched on some kind of raw nerve. But what? "Forget I said anything," she told him gently, "it doesn't really matter."
"But it does," he said softly, turning around to face her. "It's all part of me finally... growing up. It's ridonkulous, thinking that I've been an adolescent for so long, and being as skinny as a rooyal was part of it. Not that I'll ever be anything more than thin by Earth standards, all of my people were slender. And it's not like I was completely physically immature all these years, but there's a difference between reaching puberty and reaching full maturity. The maturation process for Ayalthans was multi-stage and took approximately twenty years, beginning with the onset of hormonal and morphological changes at the end of—"
He caught himself going into a full-bore babble fit on the psychophysiological processes of his people's maturation cycles and bit his lip to stop it. He knew it was just a delaying tactic. "I won't bore you with all the technicalities. It's enough to say that my people were a little different this way from yours, because of how our reproductive nature had evolved. In a gross sense, we were mostly mature in appearance and behavior and function by around twenty, when we were considered a young adult. Some subtle but important changes continued for another ten years or so. On Ayalthis, I would've been a full adult when I reached my early thirties, if I'd been... normal. That's when our people were able to start having children, in the early thirties, and even though I'm technically sterile, I'm still the same, this way. Certain gender specific hormones don't reach their fully mature levels until we reach that age, and mine were a little late getting up to speed because I'm Natoshi'ana. That's why my body changed a little, recently, it's just the last 'growth shift' in my male hormones, the last part of me finally growing up. That's all."
Roxanne was startled to hear all this, but not displeased. It made sense, though she did understand his reaction to her questioning it. And she felt like a terrible reporter — not to mention an incredibly awful wife — not to have noticed it sooner. Yes, the changes were subtle, but not that subtle. Leaving the cameras for the time being, she went over to give him a tight, loving hug and deep kiss.
"Thank you for telling me," she said when she broke the kiss, but kept her arms around him. "I'm sorry I've been too dense or busy or something to notice it sooner, but I'm not bothered by it one bit — and I'm glad you're not going to turn into some hulk like Wayne. It's nice to know, actually, that you're not all that different from the rest of your people, except for that wonderful brain of yours. So stop feeling embarrassed and upset, okay?"
His bright green eyes fairly glowed in the firelight as he studied her face, and saw no trace of so much as a fib. "Okay. And please don't feel too bad for not noticing sooner, I didn't even realize what was really happening until two weeks before Halloween — and let me tell you, was Minion miffed over needing to alter those elaborate clothes he'd made for me to wear to the costume ball, he'd figured I'd stopped 'growing' years ago! At first, we both thought I was just putting on weight, but it wasn't in the right places for that. Until I knew for sure what was happening, I didn't want to worry you about it unless you said something first, so when you didn't, I went and researched it when I was supposed to be studying something else. After I knew what was going on, I asked Minion to be subtle about making the changes to my clothes, so you wouldn't think that something was wrong with me, that I was sick. You had an awful lot of stress on your plate already, filling in for Marcus Wilson, and I have to admit, I was embarrassed, trying to come up with a way to say, 'By the way, dear, did you notice that I've finally finished growing up?'"
He fidgeted for few moments. "Now that you've noticed, do you... like it?"
Roxanne's smile turned wicked as she slipped her hands into the front of his robes to very lightly caress his chest as she leaned forward to huskily whisper in his ear. "Like it? Sweetie, seeing just that little bit of your back got me so hot and bothered, I was starting to think to hell with the pictures so I could jump your bones."
She could feel the shiver of delight run from his toes to the top of his head. "We can do it that way, if you want," he purred back, ready to do anything she wanted.
But she stepped back, withdrawing her hands before she was tempted to explore more thoroughly and spoil the surprise. Under his soft skin, she'd been able to feel different contours and firmness to the muscles and tendons, and she wanted to see what her fingers could only guess at. "Oh, no, it's my present and I want you to unwrap it for me, just the way you planned."
He arched one eyebrow. "Are you sure? You might be disappointed..."
Megamind swore he could actually feel the heat in the kiss she blew him. "Not a chance. You are the Master of Presentation, after all!"
That she had such confidence in him, even in something like this, did a lot to reassure him. He started to turn around again to start over, then stopped and looked back at her. "Roxanne? Do you really mean it? It doesn't bother you that it's taken me so long to literally finish growing up?"
"Not one little bit," she vowed. "I think it's great! It makes me feel like I'm a teenager again, getting to finally find out what my boyfriend's really like under all those clothes. Now, let's see a little action, or I will come over and rip that beautiful robe to shreds to get at you!"
The smile that twitched at his lips quickly spread wide and glinted in his eyes. "As you wish, my dear," he said, giving her a sweeping bow before turning about once more. "Now, where did I leave off...? Oh, yes, right about... here!" He shrugged both shoulders, and the robe promptly dropped back to where it had been earlier, and perhaps a bit lower, the rich green silk and the white furry trim both a nice contrast to his blue skin, especially in the warm firelight.
He glanced over his shoulder again, and Roxanne was happy to see the smoldering expression back. She wondered if she ought to just put the cameras into autoshoot mode and save her thumb from getting sprained, constantly firing the remote.
Megamind noticed her slight distraction and smirked faintly. "You know, I think it's actually a bit chilly in here, maybe I should just pull this back up again—"
"Don't you dare!" he was instantly threatened.
His low chuckle was positively delicious. "Of course, I just wanted to be sure you were still watching."
"Like a hawk," the reporter promised.
The smirk became a smile of pleasure. "Good, this is your present, after all. Actually, from the way you're turning red, I'd say it's too warm." He lifted his hands to fan his face, then made a sound of displeasure. "No, that won't do. Let's see if this works..."
The blue hands dropped again, disappearing in front of him. He made some simple movement, and the robe's belt loosened, letting the fur-trimmed silk slide even lower until the line of fluffy white draped very enticingly just below his waist, across the point where his firm butt began, baring his entire back and both arms to below the elbows. "Is that better?"
Roxanne was tugging at the neckline of her top, wanting to look for something to use as a fan, but unwilling to take her eyes off her semi-dressed husband. Oh, God, he might never be considered husky or more than slender by typical Earth standards, but the changes in his muscular definition that had followed this shift in his hormonal balance were so very, very fine...! Seriously, she needed to get her eyes checked and her head examined (not to mention her own hormonal balances tested) for not noticing this sooner! "I... think maybe it's way too hot in here," she admitted, and honestly meant it, though not in terms of air temperature.
She couldn't see it as he'd turned his face away for a moment, but Megamind was grinning from ear to ear, pleased that his presentation was working so well. "You're right, it is," he agreed, swaying his arms to make the robe move across his butt, sliding back and forth and drawing attention to the nicely shaped ass under the shimmery fabric. When the robe appeared to be stuck at its current height, he wiggled his behind in a deliberately provocative way that he knew Roxanne loved, and the robe shimmied a bit lower, exposing the upper curve of his firm backside, enough to show the beginning of the cleft between the cheeks and the fact that at the very least, he wasn't wearing ordinary briefs.
His wife swallowed. Oh, he was being very naughty, doing exactly what he knew would get her more overheated — and she loved it. "Better," she managed to squeak.
"But not enough, yet." It wasn't a question. He moved his right arm down, and the slippery silk smoothly slid away, falling from his arm but still draping across his now slightly more exposed rear. "Ah, there we go," he purred as he turned at the waist enough to give his wife a slightly better view of the almost entirely "unwrapped" side of him. "Better?" he asked, one eyebrow raised in enticing inquiry.
This time, she didn't even try to speak, but nodded vigorously. Crap, why had she decided to wear a top without any buttons today? She could sure use a little extra ventilation, right about now.
Megamind's answering smile was a very intriguing combination of innocent and devilish. "Good, then maybe this will help." When he lowered his left arm to let the sleeve slide off, he caught the robe before it could entirely fall to the floor, sweeping it up almost like a bullfighter might use his cape to entice the bull, pulling it in front of him.
That left his entire back uncovered, and while it wasn't totally naked — there was a thin strip of shiny silver cloth below his hips and a narrow wedge over the middle of his butt, a man's rather skimpy version of bikini type underwear with little left to the imagination — she could see quite enough to know for sure that he hadn't been exaggerating about the shift in his body shape. The increased definition wasn't confined to his shoulders and back; she could see it clearly in all his other muscles, a subtle but very pleasing change to his shape that she suspected was meant by nature to attract the now fertile female's interest in claiming this also mature male as her mate. That was definitely the effect it was having on her, and she was from a different branch on the family tree!
Now that she thought about it, she realized that he'd been going through these subtle changes back when they'd made the calendar, which explained why he'd been so oddly self-conscious and concerned about how people would react to pictures of him with little on — why he'd worried about the very idea that he might somehow be cheating on her. If he'd been noticing certain things about himself and not saying anything because he didn't yet understand them, it was perfectly reasonable that he might've been nervous, afraid that someone would point it out when he had no ready explanation to give, and even more afraid that Roxanne would be rightfully upset if other women looked lustfully at her mate. She'd ogled him right along with those women at the Renaissance fair, and hadn't quite understood her own extreme reactions. She did now; oh boy, did she understand them now! And if he looked this good from the back, she was afraid she might faint when she got an eyeful of him from the front.
Oh, well, it was a dangerous job, but someone had to tackle it, and she'd never been one to back down from a challenge!
Megamind actually had a fair idea of how she was taking this. Not only could he feel her devouring him with her eyes, she hadn't said a word, and he knew that it wasn't because she was repelled. It felt incredibly good to know that she wanted him so strongly, despite him being an obvious alien, especially after all those years of being reviled and ridiculed for his appearance. Quite deliberately, he wiggled his ass at her, knowing how she enjoyed that, and moved the hand that wasn't holding the robe to run its thumb under the low-slung top band of his tiny silver underwear, which he'd gotten more recently from an odd little Internet shop.
That move caused an audible gulp from her, and he was secretly thrilled to be doing so well with his not-quite-impromptu seduction. He pushed down on the band an inch or two, as if beginning to remove the bit of clothing, then caught Roxanne's wide eyes with a seductive smirk. "Should I unwrap this part, too, or would you prefer to do it yourself?"
It took her so long to get her voice working, he started to wonder if she'd had some kind of seizure. "No," she finally croaked out. "I mean, no, you can, but not yet. I... want to see what the front of it looks like first." Good excuse, she congratulated herself. She wanted him to finish this torturous little striptease —oh, yes, she wanted it! — but she was a teensy bit afraid that seeing his entire front completely naked, all at once, might be too much for her overheating hormones and slowly exploding brain to handle. She'd be better off, watching him do that final "unwrapping" from a distance!
And even though she wanted to ravish her husband so badly, she also was enjoying the little show he was giving her. They didn't often get a chance to play in such elaborate ways, and she didn't want to waste this rare opportunity, when the fun could be prolonged without any worry of interruption.
But lord almighty, she half-wished she'd been able to get out of her own head a little more often during these last however many months it had been, so she wouldn't be feeling like such a fool right now for not seeing these changes in the man she'd married!
Then again, this was one hell of a great surprise, so maybe her inner reporter hadn't been so dumb after all, turning a blind eye.
Upon hearing the answer to his question, Megamind gave her an impish little smile. "Whatever you want, my dear Roxanne." Her name rolled off his tongue in that silky, sultry way he had, threatening to melt her insides and vaporize her resolve to be patient. When he removed his thumb from under the waistband, she thought it would get better, until he slowly ran the same hand over the exposed curve of that side of his rear. He heard her little whimper, and relented.
"I think this is getting to be a bit much, don't you?" he asked with unctuously kind concern. "You did want to take a picture of me lying on the fur rug, so maybe we should just move on to that and get it over with." His tone dripped exaggerated apology for having so "upset" her.
Before she could decide whether or not she wanted to move on to the fulfillment of their deal, he spun about and gracefully dropped onto the thick fur rug, the robe fanning out around him like a flaring cape as he moved, coming to rest across his lap as he settled on the rug.
He leaned his upper body back a bit, propping himself up on his arms as he smiled coyly at her, green eyes aglow with perfectly wicked innocence. And he didn't have to say or do a thing more.
Roxanne decided at once that she was glad he was playing a slow-reveal kind of game, because she'd been right about her brain wanting to short-circuit when she saw him from the front. A tiny, logical part of her mind pointed out that the high contrast of light and shadow caused by the firelight was accentuating things more than an even ambient lighting would, but the fact that this was a purely natural illumination added its own dimension to the reality.
And that reality was stunningly beautiful. Or handsome. Or damn sexy. Whatever. She was positive he had to be putting out some kind of new and more effective pheromones, to elicit this strong a reaction from her. Roxanne could feel her fingers twitching with the desire to go over and touch every inch of him, to explore these interestingly subtle masculine changes in her beautiful blue husband with her hands before she explored them with her lips and all the rest of her. The difference in the contours of his soft, smooth skin over the slightly altered musculature was really not that great, but it was like hearing the difference between a violin being played with one string ever so faintly out of tune, and hearing it played when adjusted to perfection.
Because she'd been so immersed in other things that ate away at her concentration since September, it seemed as if these changes had happened overnight. She knew it wasn't so, but honestly, her libido didn't care one bit — in fact, she liked it all the more because it was so seemingly sudden.
She felt Megamind watching her consume him with her eyes, and for a moment, she was embarrassed to be caught — until she saw his wry and definitely happy little smile. "Ah, good," he sighed with expansive relief, making his chest move in ways that made his wife's mouth water. "You do like your present. But you haven't seen it all quite yet, you know."
"I know," she breathed, somewhere between a contented sigh and a moan of longing. "Oh, sweetie," she managed to say coherently, if still breathily, "I don't know how I could've missed this — and I'm so so sorry if that made you feel bad!"
Megamind cocked his head in a naughtily flirtatious way as he toyed with one furry edge of the robe still concealing his lap. "Oh, I didn't really mind," he told her in an offhand manner. "I was more afraid that you'd notice before I knew why it was happening, and I'd come off sounding like I was lying about not going to a gym or something behind your back."
His playful attitude suddenly faded and he looked up with an expression that almost broke her heart. "That's why I was so worried about you thinking I was cheating on you, in any way. Minion saw some talk show on television just about the time I realized my body was... shifting, about the warning signs of someone cheating in a relationship."
Roxanne knew exactly what he meant; she'd done enough puff pieces over her years as a reporter to recite the list by heart. "And a sudden, unexplained change in attention to one's appearance would count — like sneaking off to go to the gym."
The blue hero nodded. "I didn't know why my body was doing this when I wasn't trying to change it, and when the calendar thing came up, I did start trying to work out behind your back, but it didn't work anyway, and I was confused as hell over what was happening, afraid to say anything to you, afraid you'd notice before I did know what to say... I guess I didn't need to worry, after all."
"You didn't," she assured him most emphatically. "But I do understand, Mykaal, really. I think I would've felt exactly the same, under the circumstances. And we both understand now, so maybe it's time we just put aside any guilt or regrets and move forward. Because when we've finished this picture taking thing, I am gonna jump your bones, and love every second of it!"
The smile that crept back across the blue face began a bit hesitantly, but ended with his characteristic enthusiasm and a boyishly seductive smirk. "We can skip right to that part, you know..."
She smirked right back. "I know. But a deal's a deal, and I think we'll both enjoy the... ahem... climax a lot more if we see the whole show first." She waggled her eyebrows at him, winning herself a full, honest laugh in reward.
"Okay, you're right," he allowed when he could speak again. "Even my failures were more satisfying when I at least knew I'd succeeded with a good presentation!"
The reporter grinned. "Oh, there's no way you're going to fail this one, tiger," she assured him.
His own answering smile was brilliant. "Well, then, I'll just have to go for a complete success from start to finish!"
His eyes sparkled in the flickering firelight as the hand that had been toying with the robe's edge began to slowly draw the fabric aside. "I have learned a few things over the years, you know, about different kinds of presentations and how timing can be so important." The slow but steady flow of the heavy, dark silk over the landscape of what lay beneath had Roxanne totally mesmerized, waiting to see what the shifting "waters" might reveal. "Too quick, and the dramatic effect is lost, too slow, and the audience gets bored... Are you bored, yet, Ms Ritchi?"
She shook her head without thinking, completely caught up in the movement of the cloth, the velvety sound of his voice, the warmth of the room, the playful way in which he said her name, as if he were the villain again and this another kidnapping. Well, it was in a way, and she'd never felt more effectively and delightfully captured.
The slow movement of the cloth finally revealed a bit of blue and a small flash of silver. It paused for a moment, showing no more than that hint; Roxanne felt her breath quicken as she leaned forward, willing the movement to start again and put an end to this sweet torment of waiting...
...and then it did, moving no more quickly than before, but moving steadily nonetheless. Soon, a leanly muscled thigh was revealed along with the swell of one firm butt cheek above it. The flowing, fur-trimmed cloth continued its inexorable progress, rising up over the top of the leg, dipping slightly again, then slowing to an agonizing crawl over another swelling, smaller than the blue leg, uncovering a rise of silver that stretched tightly over the groin, just barely hiding the prize beneath. With that uncovered, the remaining cloth flowed away smoothly, if not swiftly, a choice of presentation that gave Roxanne ample opportunity to study the final wrapped portion of her gift.
With the robe now pulled away to one side, Megamind lay back on the rug with his arms folded behind his head so that he could both watch his lady and let her study him for as long as she liked. He smiled, both smugly pleased and a tiny bit embarrassed by how well his presentation had worked thus far. The silver underpants weren't hiding much, as their pouch was perhaps as big as that of a jockstrap (and thank God the fabric stretched in the right ways to keep his... er... increasingly excited condition adequately concealed, or the whole planned presentation might be spoiled), but they'd been deliberately cut to be more seductive, and he knew it. The tiny traces of his very sparse but silky black nether hairs that showed at the lowest exposed point of his belly couldn't be seen when he wore normal underthings or his swimsuit. That sight alone was enough to set Roxanne's heart racing. He could almost hear it, even over the crackling of the fire on the hearth.
His smile widened after he'd given her a minute or two to enjoy the view, and take whatever pictures she wished (though he suspected she'd either completely forgotten about taking pictures, or had turned the cameras onto autoshoot or video mode). "Let me know when you want me to untie the bow," he told her in a husky voice, lowering one arm to trace the thumb along the band of the briefs.
A breathy laugh escaped her. "Can you do that while you're still lying flat on your back?" she teased.
"Of course," he preened. "Though that mightn't be quite as entertaining for you to watch."
She was magnanimous. "Oh, well, if you had something else in mind, go right ahead."
He continued to play with the band for a bit, and just as she began to suspect that he was going to do nothing more, he suddenly rose up to his knees and turned, displaying his back for her. The thumbs of both hands then hooked into the narrow sides of the briefs, and with slow deliberation, he pulled the seat down, humming to himself as he exposed the rest of his rear. When it was bare, he bent his waist just enough to thrust his butt toward her and her cameras while he wriggled for her enjoyment.
Roxanne whistled appreciatively. "Show off," she accused playfully, which he answered with a chuckle and a sudden motion, running both hands down over the curve of his ass and into the little silver briefs. He pulled the stretchy sides outward, holding them in place as he somehow managed to pivot on one knee, bringing his front into her view. He then slid both hands forward, one keeping its thumb hooked on the band while the other slipped into the already full silver pouch, stroking the contents with a very contented purr, eyes all but closed.
Roxanne clicked her tongue even as her blue eyes widened. "What a naughty, naughty boy!" she scolded, not meaning it at all. "I only pretended for the camera, you know, and nothing like this!"
Megamind sighed. "Oh, but you have no idea just how much I wished you hadn't been pretending... and just for me." He closed his eyes as the memory of his blissful, if unrequited, imaginings from the past revisited him. He then opened his eyes and looked straight at the heart of all his fantasies and affections. "I want to give you more than just pretend, Roxanne. All of this is just for you, and no one else. Ever."
The brunette felt more than just her cheeks grow warm from the combined power of that smooth voice and his eyes glowing like green embers. She swallowed thickly. It wasn't just that he was turning her on physically; it was the fact that she knew he meant what he said, and was so willing to give her anything and everything he had to give. It was a demonstration of want and need and lust and pure love that was so very strong, she could feel it rushing from him like a storm wave, powerful, all-encompassing, raw, and wholly natural. Roxanne knew that Megamind's people had incredibly intense emotions and that they had an instinctive tendency to project them, but she seldom felt his like this. Her own eyes closed in rapture as his feelings washed through her, and when the wave had passed into gentle ripples, she opened them again.
"Then I'm the luckiest woman in the universe," she said with quiet intensity, meaning every word of it as fully as he had.
The ex-villain smiled, reveling in the echoes of love and desire he felt her return to him. He didn't need to say that he was every bit as lucky, if not more so, because he knew that she knew it, too. For a moment, he considered just saying to hell with the whole game, but she'd been right when she'd mentioned how more rewarding the climax could be if one didn't rush ahead to the end.
So instead, he shifted his hands to hook both thumbs around the upper band, then rolled back to lift up his legs as he pushed the silver fabric down, a smooth move that ended with him once more on his back atop the thick fur rug, the silver underwear dangling from one finger for a few seconds before he flicked it away to join the robe lying off to the side. His other hand wound up demurely covering what it could of his now exposed genitals.
Again, Roxanne clicked her tongue. "Spoilsport," she scolded.
Her naked blue hero chuckled. "Not at all," he contradicted. "I just wanted to be sure you were ready."
When she answered with a threatening glare, he laughed quietly, then moved his hand, just for her. Despite his generally slender build, Megamind wasn't as ridiculously unendowed as many people thought (for which he blamed a horde of cartoon artists who over the years had caricatured him as so extremely skinny, he came off looking like a collection of walking pencils with a blue lightbulb on top — and the mindless drones of the world had actually believed it). Nor was he bizarrely inhuman, with retractable parts or — God forbid — some kind of tentacles or stamens (a belief that had cropped up when people realized that his companion from childhood was an intelligent fish. What did they think, that Earth was the only planet in the universe inhabited by a rich and diverse biosystem?) His sexual organs differed only from a Terran human male's in two things: they were blue, and they shrank to a much more compact — and therefore more easily protected — size when unaroused. Otherwise, his penis looked and acted like a normal penis and his testicles like normal testicles, both on the modestly generous side of average, which on his slim frame looked proportionately more impressive when excited.
At the moment, he certainly wasn't unaroused, and watching his wife drinking in the sight of him merely encouraged that situation. When he could see that she wasn't at all disappointed — he had to admit that he'd been just a teensy bit nervous about it, fearing that she might have expected some spectacular change in his sexual organs, or that she might find them inadequate now, since they hadn't changed even as noticeably as the rest of him — he released a silent sigh of relief and let himself relax. Or rather, let go of that anxiety. Relaxation was likely not on the agenda for a while, and he couldn't say that he minded it one bit.
So rather than relax, he made the most of the delicious tension building inside him. He let one of his hands drift back to his groin, to rub his shaft that was getting achingly hard, stroking it in a way he knew Roxanne would do when she was seducing him. He hummed softly as he enjoyed the wakening sensations that shot up through him like tiny electrical sparks, promising more enjoyable fireworks ahead.
Of course, it wouldn't do at all if he got carried away and pushed himself over the brink too quickly, so he suddenly withdrew his hand and flipped over onto his stomach, deliberately striking a pose that was almost identical to the one Roxanne had used in her calendar. His chin came to rest on his hands, his lower legs lifted up into the air, and his ankles wound about each other as he looked up through his dark lashes to give his wife an amusingly coquettish little smile.
"Is this the kind of pose you were looking for?" he asked innocently, well aware that she'd recognize it at once. "Oh, no, wait, I forgot to bring a peppermint stick, and you know how much I love peppermint...!"
Roxanne almost lost it at that remark, which was at once incredibly suggestive and absolutely true. She knew very well that her husband adored peppermint, but she also knew that he was devoted to her alone, and had no desire to go about... sampling the sort of candy that her own photographer had been deliberately suggesting when he'd had her licking a candy cane. She coughed and nearly choked on her own saliva, as her mouth had been working overtime, wanting to get a taste of her playfully wicked blue husband. The warm firelight was beautiful on his bare blue skin, especially on the tight fullness of his butt. She had an urge to go and start pinching some cheeks...
Until he decided to make up for neglecting to bring along the same kind of prop she'd used in her photo session. He started by licking on one long blue finger, sliding it up and down the tip of his pink tongue, then slowly dragging the wet tip across his lips until he had her undivided attention. He then licked it again, once, twice, before sliding it into his mouth and slowly pulling it out until only the tip remained held by his lips. He slid it back in, sucking on its long length, then repeated the performance, in and out, in and out, making small, deliciously wet noises, sucking and humming.
"Oh, god," Roxanne breathed hoarsely when his little demonstration was leaving nothing to the imagination. It was at that point that his eyes gleamed wickedly, and he rolled onto his back again, his finger still sliding in and out of his mouth as his other hand slid down to his crotch, to stroke the aching shaft that was beginning to show signs of getting as wet as the finger in his mouth...
And that was the last straw. Not caring what the cameras might or might not happen to catch, Roxanne pounced on her husband like a starving tigress. She was all over him, kissing, touching, licking, stroking, experiencing as much as she could of him now that her rational brain really wasn't in control, anymore.
Fortunately, Megamind had it a bit more together than she did — not by a lot, but at least he'd been expecting — indeed, counting on — such a reaction. It wasn't hard at all for him to coax her out of her clothing — she was practically tearing it off when she'd pounced on him — and before long, they were naked together on the lush fur rug, and thoroughly lost in the pleasure of pleasing one another. Hands and lips and tongues and even teeth explored, touched, tasted, devoured, seeking out and fairly worshiping all those places that they knew would bring the most delight to their partner, and themselves. They molded their bodies to each other, tangled arms and legs and fingers and any other part of them capable of getting tangled, and in general savored the feelings of being so close, they could almost slip under the other's skin and erase the boundaries between them.
And they joined in the way they wanted and needed the most to satisfy their mutual hunger, his throbbing hardness enveloped in her tight wet heat, his erection filling her as her acceptance of him within her filled more than just a physical need. For it was in these most intense moments of making love — no matter how tender or wild or conventional or kinky they might be — that they became one in every way possible.
They lived in their separateness as all creatures do during most of their lives, but it was only when they made love and were fully open to each other in heart, mind, body, and soul that a brief but very real psychic ability awakened in those of Mykaal's race, and the minds and emotions of true mates joined wholly and literally as one for an instant of pure and loving and all-encompassing ecstasy.
As often as this had happened since they'd committed themselves to one another, completely and irrevocably, Roxanne never failed to be stunned by the sheer joy of the experience. It wasn't something that had happened from the very first time they'd had sex, at least not for her. Mykaal — whose true name she hadn't even known at the time — had told her that he'd experienced it weakly and after a fashion in that first night, and while she'd felt something distinctly different — and very enjoyable — when she'd first climaxed while physically joined to him, it had been a pale, pale echo of what had happened on their wedding night.
Those feelings had grown stronger the closer and more intimate they'd become, but apparently the formal act of commitment was more than a mere legality for the Ayalthans. On their wedding night, the connection that they'd both felt strengthening during their time as a couple had awakened as if a switch had been thrown to complete an electrical circuit that only then could allow the full power of it to shine in all its unbridled glory. That glory occurred only briefly, at the height of their physical and emotional ecstasy, but it brought their minds and souls together as they were meant to be.
Why this happened only after formal commitment, Megamind didn't know; he was still researching the subject of this elusive ability in the huge mass of knowledge that had been sent with him in his escape pod. It was an extremely complex thing and didn't occur between all Ayalthan spouses, only between those that studies referred to as "soul mates," for lack of a better term. It actually had nothing to do with gender or orientation, but with a connection between two spirits that were somehow born as halves of a whole; commitment and the trigger of intimacy awakened that link, even if only for a brief moment during sex. On their wedding night, they'd both been so tired by the stresses of the day that they hadn't expected their lovemaking to be mind-blowing — and in many ways, it hadn't been, but in that one...!
As the connection briefly flared to life between them now, Roxanne found herself giddily and eagerly allowing herself to be swept up in it once more, not only because of the physical ecstasy, but because it made her want to shout for joy over the undeniable evidence that this was fate, it was destiny, it was truly meant to be, that a woman from backward Earth and a man from lost Ayalthis somehow managed to truly be made for each other, and had come together despite every insurmountable obstacle between them.
And in that one moment, when they could hide nothing from one another and could experience all that it meant to be the other, there could be no doubt that their love was genuine, their trust unbreakable, their need for each other unfathomable, their faith in one another without limit. What shouldn't have been possible was possible, and no one, not even the most hardhearted bigot or narrow-minded religious zealot, would ever be able to convince them that they didn't belong together.
And it was probably a good thing that the brief experience generally occurred only once whenever they had sex. While exhilarating in the extreme as it happened, it was also invariably exhausting, though in the most satisfying way imaginable. The afterglow of their intimacy always felt like just that, now, the lingering glow from the explosion of pleasurable togetherness they'd shared. The fire in the hearth, though still quite warm and glowing, was no longer roaring and crackling, a suitable metaphor for the way they were currently feeling, snuggled together on the deep fur rug, exchanging small intimacies and enjoying the simple wonder of being together.
"Feel like getting up and tossing another log on the fire?" Roxanne asked impishly after a while, knowing perfectly well which gutter their minds were currently stuck in.
Megamind chuckled as he brushed back her mussed hair and kissed her forehead. "I thought you're supposed to be a cold-blooded, hard-nosed bitch. Cold-blooded creatures don't notice little things like heat and chill, you know."
She smiled and kissed his nose. "Then I guess I can't be cold-blooded, 'cause you sure made me feel the heat tonight!" She ran one hand along the curve of his neck and shoulder, then down his arm and across his chest, enjoying the slight but very pleasant changes that she now appreciated as she should've done several months ago. "I know you haven't completed all the research yet, but if you didn't finish 'growing up' until just a month or so back, how come we could feel that whole psychic connection thing ever since our wedding night? It didn't seem any different now..."
"It probably wasn't," he said with a shrug, luxuriating in her caresses. "And I don't really know, not yet. It could be that I was mature enough for whatever triggers the connection to work — or it could just be that we're soul mates, and we were both beyond the local age of consent when we married. Does it matter?"
She shook her head. "No, I was just curious. We're both happy, that's all that really matters." To prove it, she snuggled closer to give him a long, deep, utterly satisfying kiss that left them both humming and blissful. Until she giggled.
"Okay, what's so funny?" he wanted to know as he let his own hands explore Roxanne's body as she'd explored him. God, he loved this woman, who'd never once cringed or backed away from him or his desire for her, once he permitted himself to let her see it. He loved her beautiful body, soft and curvaceous and different from his own in all the right ways, and he loved the beautiful person who inhabited it, who accepted every weird little thing about him, from his blue skin and pointy ears to his decades long adolescence and this totally unexpected five-second psychic merging thing that happened only when they made love. So she often found something to giggle about after they'd had sex. It was a quirk he'd happily accept and indulge for the joy of having her as his soul mate.
"I wouldn't say funny," she prefaced, "so don't get huffy or offended. That little striptease you did for me. Had you really planned to do it that weekend after we finished the shoot?"
He grinned, glad that she'd been properly entertained by it. "Absolutely! Since Minion was going out of town, I thought it would be a good way to unwind after a stressful week." He frowned. "Who would've thought you'd need to fill in for more than a month for that idiot network anchor who broke his back, pretending he was a teenager doing tricks on a skateboard?"
Roxanne soothed him with little kisses along his strong, slender neck. "No need to stay upset over it, hon. They let me do the anchor broadcasts from here in town, Marcus is back on the job, I scored a lot of big points with the network brass while I was filling in, and I think this is one surprise that turned out better because we waited. Neither of us was tired or cranky from too much work, today. You did a very good presentation, by the way, I haven't gotten that turned on since... well, ever!"
She could feel the smirk on his lips as he nuzzled her ear. "Then it was a complete success," he gloated, tempering it with, "though I can't really claim the entire responsibility for the spectacular finish! I couldn't come from a giant-headed people with telepathy or mind control or even telekinesis, those might've actually been useful back in my villain days. No, I had to come from a race whose one, single, solitary psionic ability lasts for five freaking seconds during the climax of sex — and only with one person!"
Roxanne snickered. "I hope this isn't your way of telling me you've been experimenting to find out if it works with anyone else..." she mock threatened.
Megamind's entire head turned a brilliant purple pink that glowed almost like one of the embers in the fireplace. "What? No! Asbotootly not! I just meant — that is, I was merely thinking — you know I would never...!"
One finger pressed ever so lightly over his lips silenced his protests of innocence, though not as effectively as the affectionately amused look his wife gave him as she kissed the tip of his nose. "Relax, sweetie, I was just teasing, I know you wouldn't — but I couldn't pass up an opening like that! To tell the truth, I'm glad this is as far as it goes for any psychic powers you might have. It's a fantastic thing to share, but it's nothing that either of us have to live with 24/7. Real mind-control and telepathy would probably be a major pain in the butt for you, hearing people's thoughts and secrets and all that. Though there's one little secret I wouldn't mind getting out of you..."
Megamind kissed the tip of her finger before she removed it, his expression curious. "And what might that be, temptress?"
"Where did you get that little silver bikini?"
He coughed. "Ah... a shop online, it specializes in all kinds of men's underwear. I didn't think they'd have anything in my size, but they were very accommodating. Why?"
She grinned. "Well, Christmas is coming, and I never know what to get for my very hot hubby who has more money than God, so I was thinking I could pick out a few special sexy things — you know, so we can enjoy them together."
Her ultra-suggestive tone brought both a faint blush and a wider smile to the blue hero's face. "I think I can give the site address to you — on one condition."
Roxanne gave him a sidelong, suspicious nosy reporter look. "And that would be...?"
Megamind's grin became positively wicked. "That you pay up on your half of our deal! Remember, I get to take pictures of you for my private collection! Where's the remote for those cameras? Did you run down their batteries leaving them on autoshoot — or did you use video mode? I didn't agree to make poornugruphic movies for you, you know! That may require renegotiation of our bargain if you did! I should—mmmmmMMMMmmmmmmmmm..."
Well, Roxanne told herself some time later, kissing her excitable genius of a husband until his toes curled and he was literally humming with pleasure wasn't her most original way to open negotiations, but it never failed, both to work as an opening gambit, and to make both of them incredibly happy.
Finis