A/N: Hmm. I've gotten interesting feedback on this one. Mostly surprise. It seems that most people in this particular fandom are not usually exceptionally impressed with high school fics, yet they still bother to read and review mine. It's an interesting phenomenon, although I'm not really sure what it means about anything lol. *hides* Well, here's another chapter. Feel free to pelt me with rotten tomatoes, I totally deserve it.
Chapter 2
Megamind's head snapped up when Roxanne blustered into detention. "You're late," Principal Xiphias growled at her as she took an empty seat in the middle of the classroom. Roxanne rolled her eyes at him. Of course she was late, she was always late to everything. It was like her life was set five minutes behind the rest of the world, and she hated it. She and Megamind were the only ones in detention, other than Xiphias, who looked seriously irritated at having to watch them.
"I'm seriously irritated at having to watch you two delinquents." Xiphias snapped. Roxanne slouched into her chair and glared at the floor. It wasn't her first detention, as it was practically impossible to go to Metro High without getting it at least once. But it had been a full semester since her last visit in the prison-esque room, and she was hoping to make it to graduation without another wasted afternoon. "You know the drill. No talking, just homework. If I catch you even thinking about talking, it's another detention. Got it?" Roxanne narrowed her eyes at the floor, and two desks over, Megamind crossed his arms. "Good." Xiphias plopped into the office chair behind the big desk in the front of the room and mopped his balding round head with a handkerchief. After a few seconds pause, Roxanne stiffly bent to retrieve her homework from her backpack. Megamind unwound his arms from his torso and whipped out his notebook that she had seen him writing in at lunch. He flipped to a page somewhere in the middle and started some new sketch with vigor.
Roxanne took her time arranging her stuff, aligning the side of her papers with the edge of the desk with precision. When she was certain she couldn't waste any more time doing that, she propped her head in her hand and started idly spinning her pen on her fingertips. Her eyes stared through her homework blankly. Maybe she should write another editorial. It had been a while since she reported on Metro Dude; she could title it 'We're Not, and Have Never Been, Dating,' by Roxanne Ritchi. Or maybe 'Megamind; the Boy Behind the Blue.' Nah, that sounded dumb. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Megamind watching her pen spin on her fingers, transfixed. She stopped and he blinked, quickly returning to whatever it was he was scribbling in his notebook.
It was uncomfortably silent. The candy bar wrapper Xiphias was fiddling with sounded extra loud, each crinkle echoing around the room. Megamind's pen scritched across his paper, and the ticking of the clock was obnoxious in it's consistency. Roxanne considered screaming to break the silence, but luckily before she could the door burst open and Coach Lyra burst in.
"Xiphias," she barked, dragging some kid behind her by the scruff of his shirt. "I caught this one smoking pot out under the bleachers. You need to write him up." A distinctly skunky smell wafted into the room, and Xiphias wrinkled his nose, a gleeful gleam in his beady eye.
"Very well," He hoisted himself to his feet, not looking much taller than when he had been sitting down. "You!" He pointed and glared at Roxanne and Megamind. "Stay put. No talking!" He sent one last glare at the pair and waddled out of the room. "Get that expensive new counselor, Dr. Whats-his-face! It's time he starts doing what I'm pay-" The door cut off the rest of his booming ramble.
As soon as the door was shut, Megamind turned casually to Roxanne, leaning on his elbow and quirking a dark eyebrow at her, the little silver stud flashing. He continued to stare at her with one eyebrow raised until she finally said, "What?"
"I think you know what," he raised his other eyebrow and leaned back in his seat. He had a fresh cut on his lower lip, and a faint purple bruise was forming on his chin.
"Why were you staring at me earlier?" She lifted her head from her hand to scowl at him better.
"I dunno, you were staring back!" he shot, flustered. "Why did you try to stop the fight?"
"Because!" she shot back. "But it looks like it was pointless now, wasn't it," she waved her arm, gesturing at his bruised chin. He sucked on his split lip for a second, shuffling his notebook self-consciously.
"Thanks," he said grudgingly, after a few minutes pause. She leaned into her desk, annoyed at how the conversation was going. She was supposed to be talking to him in a calm and composed manner, and instead they were snapping at each other. However, he brightened and leaned over to her conspiratorially. "You want to get out of here?"
Roxanne glanced at the door. "Won't Xiphias get pissed and just give us more detention?"
"Nah, he's already forgotten about us, trust me." Megamind shoved his notebook into his backpack and threw it over his shoulder as he stood. "We just have to be back like five minutes before it's over." Roxanne stared at the door, her leg bouncing on it's own accord. Megamind sighed. "Don't you ever get tired of doing everything right and you still get in trouble for it?" Her gaze slowly transferred from the door to Megamind. He grinned at her and winced when it stretched the cut on his lip. Right when it seemed like he was going to shrug her off as a lost cause, Roxanne made a decision. She stuffed her untouched homework back in her bag, shouldering it as she joined Megamind.
He smiled as best he could with his cut as she sidled up next to him at the door, the tips of his ears purpling as their shoulders touched. "Okay, let me go first in case Xiphias is out there," He cracked open the door and poked his giant head out. It seemed they were in the clear, because he smiled back at her and snaked his skinny body out the door. Roxanne followed, a little thrill going through her. They half ran, half skulked through the hall, tiptoeing past the Principals office. Inside the muffled roar of Xiphias could be heard. Megamind was right; it sounded like they had been entirely forgotten about.
"Where are we going?" Roxanne whispered. They had around two hours to burn, and if she was honest with herself, she could only think about spending that time in the newspaper office. Was she that much of a loner?
Megamind shrugged. "First we should go to my locker to let Minion out," he said, nodding at the janitor sweeping up the general litter from the day. The janitor watched them creep past, uncaring. "He's been in there all day."
"You haven't let him out yet? But you weren't in class at all after lunch!" Roxanne hissed at him. He frowned, looking torn between exasperation and flattery.
"Well, I was a bit preoccupied with-" he sucked in a breath as behind them the door to the Principals office creaked open. Roxanne and Megamind froze for a second, but then he grabbed her hand and pulled her in an almost-sprint to the end of the hall and around the corner. They flattened against the wall, both attempting to hold their gasping breaths as they listened to the conversation down the hall.
"... no reason to call the cops, really David." Dr. Mirfak was saying. "I'll just hold him in my office while you contact his parents."
Roxanne realized her hand was still in Megamind's, and she exchanged an adrenaline-fueled excited glance with him, her heart pounding at the close call. "Oh crap! The counselor's office is down here!" she whispered, and they were off and running again. Roxanne found herself giggling as they stumbled and skittered around another corner, clutching Megamind's arm for balance as his Converses squeaked on the linoleum. They continued down hallways, putting a few wings between themselves and the authorities. Eventually, the run became a jog, and then a light stroll, both of them panting and grinning. Roxanne's hand was still clasped in Megamind's blue one, and he watched them swing between them.
"So when you said you were preoccupied..." Roxanne began, and Megamind dropped her hand.
"That guy and his stupid goons caught me after lunch and trapped me in his gym locker." Megamind wrinkled his nose. "All afternoon with the dude's jockstrap. Not one of my better days."
They reached his locker and Megamind spun the dial, still looking disgusted. "I'm sorry," Roxanne said awkwardly. Megamind gave a noncommittal grunt. "How did you get out?"
"Some tall gray guy let me out halfway through last period." Megamind shrugged and opened his locker. "Guess he was the only one who noticed I was missing. 'Sup, dude," he added when the robot monkey put down the book he was reading and hopped out of the locker. The little guy stretched, although Roxanne was at a loss as to why a robot needed to, the fish inside the head grinning toothily up at them.
"Hey Boss. Hello Miss Ritchi," Minion waved cheerily at her and Roxanne returned it.
"That would have been Dr. Mirfak," Roxanne said. Megamind banged his locker shut. "The new counselor. He showed up to psychology and said some weird stuff to me. It must have been after he let you out." Megamind picked a seemingly random direction to walk, and Roxanne and Minion fell in step next to him.
"Weird like how?" Minion asked, trotting to keep up in his little body.
"I don't know, it was just weird." Roxanne thought for a minute. "He knew like, everything that was going on in the school, even all the rumors and stuff."
"Yeah, he was strange to me too." Megamind rubbed his arms. It was then that Roxanne noticed his hoodie was missing; he was only in a thin black t-shirt with the Batman logo on it. "He knew that the last explosion to the counselor's office was an accident. No one believed me when I told them."
"I believed you, sir," Minion piped up. Megamind rolled his eyes.
"You were there."
"It was an accident?" Roxanne tried to catch his eye, but he was looking forward with determination.
"Well yeah. It's not my fault that quack wanted to prove I was dangerous by turning on my science fair project. I told them that the nuclear reactor was unstable without the proper materials, which the school was unwilling to give me-"
"You built a nuclear reactor?" Roxanne's voice went up a pitch.
"Yeah, I wanted a way to cleanly power a small robotic limb, like a prosthetic leg, but it's hard enough getting the right tools for one reactor, let alone two-"
"Two?" Roxanne nearly shouted.
"There's one powering my suit," Minion pointed proudly to some machinery on his back.
"It's perfectly safe," Megamind hurried to reassure her at the shocked look on her face. "The fusion and fission emissions are completely contained. You'll get more radiation from a microwave."
"Huh?" Roxanne blinked. "When did you have the time to make all of this?"
Megamind smiled at her, his eyes lighting up with delight. "I invent things all the time; in class, in detention, and last year Mr. Allen, the Chem professor, let me set up a kind of lab in his back room. That's how I blew it up twice." He an Minion exchanged knowing glances, the excitement still unrestrained in Megamind's green eyes.
"You know, I wrote a piece on that," Roxanne said hesitantly. "About how villains are who we make them out to be, and maybe it wasn't your fault, or like, it wasn't what we thought it was." Megamind looked up at her in surprise. His eyes really were a striking shade of green, unlike anything she had ever seen. The pointed stud in his eyebrow was cute, although those eyes didn't really need any accessories. "This was before I became editor, so it was pushed for something about Metro Dude winning football trophies and saving kittens or whatever. It's still on my flashdrive, if you want to look at it." He should seriously stop looking at her, she found it hard to concentrate when she was drowning in emerald.
"Could I?" His voice was quiet. "No one has ever given me the benefit of the doubt, so to speak." Roxanne nodded and fished in her backpack for the flashdrive. He took it carefully, regarding it like it was made of a precious gemstone.
"So where are we going?" Roxanne said casually, brushing off Megamind's brief insecurity. "We still have," she checked her watch, "an hour and a half until detention ends."
"We usually just hang out in the Boss's Lab," Minion chirped. The little metal monkey feet clinked happily on the floor.
Megamind smirked. "Not many people know about it."
A thought struck her. "Hey Minion, why don't you hang out in the lab instead of his locker? Or at home? Isn't it boring in there?"
The fish waved his fins in a 'so-so' manner, and the robot body shrugged. "I read a lot of books, and this way I get to see the Boss in between classes. I would be just as bored in the lab, or back in the prison."
"Prison?"
"Here we are," Megamind held the door to the basic Chemistry classroom open for Roxanne and Minion, closing it as quietly as possible behind them. "C'mon," he bounced around her to what she always assumed was a supply closet. He made a big show of pulling out a set of keys and unlocking the door, opening it with a sweep of his hand. "Welcome to my secret lair."
Roxanne stepped inside. It was a supply closet; the walls stocked with chemistry and physics supplies, a small table in the middle cluttered with half-finished robotics and computer projects; the only chair stacked with advanced textbooks for every science discipline. He set the textbooks on the floor and glanced around the room uncomfortably. "It's a little small..."
Through the little window on the classroom door, Roxanne could see someone walk by. She grabbed a chair from one of the desks and wrestled it next to Megamind's, letting the supply closet door close behind her. "That's okay." She picked up a discarded computer chip and examined it. "So what now?"
Megamind opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking lost. "I've got some playing cards," Minion offered. Megamind let his shoulders drop in relief as Minion pulled out a deck of cards from a little compartment in his robotic suit. Megamind fumbled with an ancient boombox on a shelf, skipping over a death-metal-screamo song to what sounded like Blink-182.
"Awesome." Roxanne helped clear a space on the table and folded one leg under her in her chair. Megamind sat gingerly next to her, their elbows brushing, and Minion perched on the edge of the table, dealing out their hands. Their game of Texas Hold-em was as hilarious as it was informative, and Roxanne learned a lot about the two aliens. For instance, Megamind had absolutely no poker face whatsoever, cackling manically when he had a good hand and making faces at bad ones. Minion turned out to be the best of them, and the banter between them was funny and smart.
After a while Minion either grew bored of winning, or subtly was giving Roxanne and Megamind some one-on-one time. He pulled out a book and settled in the corner while they played Slap Jack, loudly congratulating themselves on every win.
Roxanne shrieked in delight as she beat Megamind to a card, his hand on top of hers. "How are you accomplishing this?" he asked, pinning her hand to the table.
"I just rock," Roxanne laughed. "Let go!"
He grinned and raised his eyebrow again. "No way. I think you're cheating."
Roxanne tugged on her trapped hand. "You wish!" she turned to grin at him, finding their faces suddenly close. His nose was practically touching hers. He realized this at the same time, his eyes going wide and purple flooding his cheeks. Roxanne inexplicably found herself leaning in, the grin sliding off her face. The cut on his lip had scabbed over in a dark green color, and the bruise beneath it was dark and angry. Megamind swallowed, his eyes flashing from her lips to their hands and back. Roxanne stopped before they touched, heat rushing to her face. "Um, it's probably about time for us to get back to detention..."
Megamind let out a shaky breath that drifted across her cheek. "Right, right." Neither of them moved. Over on the shelf, a song ended and another one started up as his long nose grazed against hers. Minion shifted ever so slightly in his corner, gears whirring internally. The sound was enough to jolt Megamind and Roxanne apart, each avoiding eye contact.
"Uh, we should hurry-"
"Yeah, Xiphias might blow a gasket if we're not there-"
"Sorry, let me just get by-"
"In your way, it's so tight in here-"
Megamind scrambled to collect the cards and Roxanne attempted to untangle her bag from the chairs. In the chaos, several things fell off the table and the boombox began skipping. Megamind hurried to slap it off and gather his projects on the floor, and Roxanne stumbled out of the supply closet. "Bye Minion, I'll come get you in a few!" Megamind yelped as he tripped his way over the clutter to join Roxanne.
"Yeah, see ya Minion, we should play poker again sometime!" Roxanne added, righting the extra chair and putting it back in it's usual place as Megamind scrabbled to get his feet underneath him. Minion just smiled at the pair of them, waving knowingly as the door slid shut.
Megamind cleared his throat and adjusted his t-shirt. "Okay. So, detention?"
Roxanne nodded and checked her watch thoroughly so she could avoid looking at him. "We have eleven minutes. Perfect amount of time to make it back." They slipped back into the hallway, walking quietly but quickly. Roxanne stared straight ahead, but her eyes kept betraying her, flicking over to Megamind every few seconds. What just happened? They bonded over a single detention slash card game and she was going to kiss him? Had she finally snapped and gone insane, and everything that had happened today was nothing more than a nightmare in her head? For some reason she hoped not. She also inadvertently wished for another reason to hold his hand, which was weird, because they had only ever talked in short one sentence interactions before today. For all the articles she had written about him, or had at least mentioned him, she had only asked for his opinion a few times. And even then, he had answered in as few words as possible.
Megamind peered around a corner before they continued, and Roxanne furrowed her brow at the back of his head. For all of freshman year, as she recalled, she had pretty much assumed he was mute because he never spoke, not even when he was called on. That had changed over the years; in some classes the trick was getting him to shut up as he tended to ramble on intellectual subjects beyond her grasp. In fact, the first time she had ever heard him speak was after she had published that editorial about Metro Man, and all he had said was something along the lines of, "I'm glad someone is brave enough to tell the truth." She had waved him off, at the time more worried about her popularity, or lack thereof, to acknowledge him.
Roxanne remembered just in time that Dr. Mirfak was definitely in his office with the pot-head kid, and he had to know she was supposed to be in detention. The office had been remodeled with lots of glass and swanky leather chairs after Megamind had blown it up. That is, she corrected herself, been present at the explosion, but in no way initiated it. "We can't go that way," she said, grabbing his scrawny arm.
"Crap!" He whispered back. "That's right; I almost forgot. Okay, let's cut by the gym and through the locker room." She had to let go of his arm as they darted across the end of the hall.
"The boys' locker room? No way, isn't like, the basketball team in there today?"
"I think it's wrestling this time of year, and I don't think practice is over for a while. Why, are you worried you might see something?" He turned to smirk at her and she blushed, punching him playfully on the arm.
"No, I just think it'll be awkward as hell. You go though the boys', I'll go through the girls'."
"Doesn't that only let out into the gym?"
"Oh yeah. Who designed this school, a sexist toddler with a crayon? Wait, how did you know? Never mind, don't answer that." They approached the locker room and Roxanne hesitated at the little man symbol on the door. Megamind pushed it open and stopped when he realized she wasn't following him.
"I used to like, memorize blueprints," he tilted his head in, his eyes lighting up at her. "It's not as bad as you think, I swear. Or you could go back past the counselor's office."
Roxanne squared her shoulders and pushed past him. "As if. That guy would probably try to psychoanalyze me again." Megamind caught up with her, leading the way past rows of locker banks, many of them half open with soiled clothes spilling out. He was right, it wasn't as bad as she thought; it was worse. The whole place had a curious smell of dirty socks, urine, mold and jock straps, and it seemed as if all the mud and slush from outside had migrated to converge across the floor. Roxanne felt her lip curl as they passed the showers, and Megamind actually started to laugh under his breath at her.
She was just about to remark about his under-exaggeration at the state of the place, or suggest that they just turn around and put up with the new counselor, when a shout echoed throughout the locker room.
"Dude! There's a chick in here!" Roxanne gritted her teeth in embarrassment, and Megamind looked equally startled.
"Holy shit, and that blue freak who spilled your soda!" This time it was Roxanne who grabbed Megamind's hand, running blindly towards where she hoped the exit was.
"Hey where you going, creep? Come back!" The laughter of what sounded like three very large, testosterone-fueled jocks filled Roxanne's ears, and the pounding of feet as they chased after the pair.
Megamind took the lead, leaping over a bench and smashing against a locker bank as they tried to turn a corner at a full sprint. Roxanne was a little more nimble, letting go of Megamind's hand to ricochet off the lockers. She could see the door ahead of them, and she focused on it, pushing her legs to run faster.
Megamind glanced over his shoulder to make sure she was keeping up, his eyes widening as two large bangs erupted where the jocks slammed into the lockers behind them. Roxanne let out a sort of gasping yelp as the third jock appeared at the end of the row of lockers, effectively blocking their escape.
For being small and scrawny and slightly malnourished looking, Megamind could certainly move when he wanted to. He barely even slowed, faking left and dodging right. The linebacker from lunch was too slow and his arms closed harmlessly on air as Megamind slipped by. Roxanne simply jumped over his leg on his other side before he could recover. Together they burst out into the hallway, not caring how much noise they made.
"I frickin' HATE that guy!" one of the football players yelled as they too blundered into the hall. Out in the open, it became obvious how little athleticism both Megamind and Roxanne possessed. Although they had several seconds' head starts and neither of them had slowed their sprint down the hall, the three jocks caught up easily. Roxanne shrieked as rough hands grabbed her shoulders and pushed her out of the way. She tripped and stumbled, catching herself harshly on the wall.
"Roxanne!" Megamind slowed a step at her yell, turning to look back at her. The jerk in front, Roxanne couldn't tell who it was, full-on tackled Megamind, both of them crashing violently to the floor. His backpack skidded down the hall, the contents spilling out of it. Megamind clawed at the ground, attempting to worm his way out from under the jock and keep running. He managed to get up to one knee, and then the other two jocks caught up. One shoved him into the floor again, and the other raised his fist.
"Stop it!" Roxanne yelled, pushing herself off the wall. She ran forward on shaky legs, wrapping both her arms around the beefcake's raised one, using her entire body weight to hold his arm back. "Somebody help!" She winced as she heard a fist connect with Megamind's head; a dull thud that reverberated in her chest. Megamind's skull hit the floor, and he curled his arms around it, tucking into a protective ball as another fist rained down on him. Roxanne pulled on sweaty t-shirts, her fingernails digging into muscle. One guy simply shrugged her off, his elbow knocking her away. She stumbled back a few steps and fell gracelessly on her behind. "Metro Dude!" she finally shouted in desperation, tears beginning to sting at the corners of her eyes. There was no telltale swoop, no burst of air to announce his presence, though she knew he had some sort of super hearing. She struggled to her feet again, ready to dive back into the brawl even though it was evident to even her that it would be futile. She took a step, another call for Metro Dude on her lips.
And that's when Roxanne was attacked by a zombie.