Ok, now it's time to switch gears. The story is moving ahead approximately one year from chapter one, so that means Megamind has about 6 months of being a Hero under his belt. Things progressed just as they did in the movie with the battle of Titan and the museum opening; and yes, Megamind and Roxanne are a couple! This chapter will be pretty fluffy (I just couldn't help myself!). I felt it was important to get a feel for their relationship and interactions with each other, so that's what I'm focusing on here. I'll start moving on to the more serious stuff in chapter 3.
Thanks to those of you who reviewed, I'm getting some great tips! I would love your feedback; praise and adulation along with the constructive criticism are all appreciated, but please remember to be gentle, I'm very new at this!
Hope you enjoy!
"Oh man, I'm so glad this day's over!" Roxanne thought to herself as she drove down the empty street in a section of the city which was rarely used. All around her were huge, empty warehouses and industrial buildings that looked from the outside as though they hadn't been used in years. The pavement on the street was fractured and worn, and weeds grew from choked storm drains and cracks in the sidewalk.
To anyone who just happened upon this part of the city, it would look as though the place had been abandoned and forgotten years ago. No one could possibly know from the outside that these buildings were filled with laboratories, chambers, secret passageways, and storage rooms packed with mind boggling inventions, all belonging to Metro City's newest hero.
Roxanne turned the corner and abruptly came to a building with a high, graffitied brick wall in a lonely cul-de-sac. Without slowing down she drove right through the wall, and with a quick flash of light, found herself in her favorite place in the world.
All around her were intimidating looking devices; hanging from rafters, laying on storage shelves that lined the walls, or sitting in corners waiting to be rediscovered by their creator. In the dim light she could see various objects sitting covered by clear plastic tarps, which floated lazily in a hidden draft.
The smells of oil, hot wires, a multitude of chemicals, and dust, along with other less identifiable scents, mingled in the air with the musty smell of the old building. Those scents brought back pleasant memories of her father's shop, where he had worked on classic cars as a hobby when she was a child.
As Roxanne parked her car and climbed out, she had to smile at the thought that the whole city had once cowered at Megamind and his spikey, vicious looking gadgets. Back then, no one could have guessed what an amazingly gentle and caring person he really was, or what a courageous and selfless hero he would turn out to be. It still astounded her how much he had been willing to sacrifice for her, and for the city she loved.
"Megamind? I'm back!" she called as she walked down the corridor toward his lab, her heels clacking on the concrete floor as she went along. She wondered what her favorite man in the world had been up to all day.
"She's here Minion! Quick, put this away!" Megamind said excitedly as Roxanne's voice floated down the long hallway toward them.
He thrust the soldering gun in Minion's hand and tore the safety goggles from his head as he bolted to the other end of the lab. He went to a dark space in the corner to the right of the door and positioned himself behind a rack filled with large scraps of metal. Minion watched him with a slightly bewildered expression as he stood there smiling and biting his lip, looking like a child about to play a trick on a friend from school.
Just as Megamind found his hiding place, Roxanne walked into the lab with a happy sigh. The first thing that she noticed was Minion standing there alone, holding a soldering gun in each hand, and looking at her with a deer in headlights kind of expression. Something's up.
"Hi Minion! How was your day today?" she asked, trying to pretend she didn't notice the slightly flustered look on his fishy face as he quickly put the soldering guns on the table.
"Um… oh, hi Miss Ritchi! Glad you're back! We had a great day… got quite a bit done in the lab."
"Good! So, where is he?" she asked with a raised brow and slightly crooked smile.
Minion could see Megamind raise his finger to his lips in a "shh" sign. The grin on his face was positively wicked as he crept up slowly behind her.
"Oh, he um, just went to the tool room to grab his calipers. He should be back in a minute. Can I get you anything?"
"No thank you Minion, I… ah!" Roxanne nearly jumped to the ceiling as she felt someone dig their fingers in her sides, and give an evil "Mwaahahaha!" in her ear.
She spun around to see her handsome, and at times very irritating boyfriend laughing happily at her reaction to his sneak attack. With the back of her hand she playfully smacked him on the chest right in the middle of his big blue lightning bolt. "Aghh… Megamind! What are you doing?"
"Trying to scare you, and judging by your reaction I think it worked!" he answered as he laughed hard enough to make him almost double over. "But I don't think it worked well enough, I was hoping to get a scream out of you this time."
"Well good luck with that! I've told you about a million times that's not going to happen." she replied, trying her best to sound annoyed, although it was so difficult when he laughed like that. He was just too cute!
"No? Hmm, maybe it's time for me to move to plan B."
Before Roxanne had time to react, he whipped his arms out and grabbed her gently but firmly around the wrists, and began walking her backwards until she found herself in a corner where two storage shelves intersected. He positioned himself so she was penned in, and with one hand around her waste to hold her he began working along her collar bone with the long fingers of his free hand until she began to squeal.
"Ahh… no! Stop it!" She giggled and screeched as she tried to find an opening she could use to escape.
"Well now, that's a little better, Miss Ritchi. But I think you can do better than that. Maybe I need to step it up a notch? Yes… I think it might be time for the 'typewriter'!"
He pulled back just far enough for him to put his hands directly in front of her where she could see them, and then began dramatically flexing his fingers and slowly moving in toward her sides with that old villainous gleam in his eyes.
When she heard what he had planned, she frantically began to put her hands up to try and block his, knowing what was coming. She squealed through her laughter, "Megamind, no! Please not the typewriter! God, I hate that! Stop!"
He was thoroughly enjoying this. Man, it's fun to make her squirm like this! He suddenly shot his hands through her attempts at blocking him, and attacked her sides with his fingertips, moving them up and down and working them rapidly as though he was typing on a keyboard. As soon as he made contact with her sides, her laughter rose to a scream, and she twisted and squirmed and clutched at his hands, making every attempt to get away.
Their laughter echoed through the huge room, and the ruckus drew the attention of the brainbots, who came rushing in, ready to fight if need be. When they saw Daddy playing with Miss Ritchi, they let their guard down and simply hovered nearby to observe their strange behavior. They'd seen this sort of thing before, Daddy always acted so peculiar when Miss Ritchi was around.
Finally, Megamind decided that she'd had enough. He took his hands from her sides and slid them around her back and watched her with a smile as she caught her breath. "I missed you today."
"Nice way to show it; that was very evil of you!" she teased. "You know how much I hate being tickled, especially the typewriter!"
"It wasn't e-vil... I gave that up, remember? I was teasing you because I love you. Besides," he lowered his voice and leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially in her ear. "I got you to scream!"
When she heard his low, silky voice so close to her ear a thrill passed through her, and with a tiny shiver she put her arms around his shoulders and gazed into the green eyes that she loved so much. "Megamind, you are such a cheater! Tickling me doesn't count, and you know it!"
"Well no matter what you say, it still worked. Anyway, it's just a matter of time before I scare a scream out of you!" He leaned his head forward and rested it on hers, and began to nuzzle her cheek with his nose. " I did miss you today, Roxanne."
She let out a small giggle and snuggled herself closer to him as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. "I missed you too".
They pulled back just enough to look into each other's eyes, and then pressed their lips together in a deep, longing kiss. The room was quiet as they held and caressed each other, savoring every moment of being in each other's arms after the long and busy day away.
Roxanne felt that she just couldn't get close enough to him. As she felt his lips, so strong and soft against hers; and as she felt his arms wrap more tightly around her, and his hands gently stroking the small of her back and traveling up between her shoulder blades to draw her in, she felt the fire beginning to build. She tingled everywhere his hands touched, and that tingling was very quickly moving to some very exciting places.
Just as their kisses were really beginning to intensify and their caresses were escalating into serious groping, they heard a loud clatter of metal. Being so engrossed in each other, the loud noise startled them both, and they separated with a jump and looked across the room to find Minion standing there, looking very uncomfortable, and a multitude of brain bots gathered around, taking in the show.
"MINION!" Megamind exclaimed in exasperation.
" Oops, sorry. Hehe… Dropped the wrench." Minion said awkwardly as he moved to the other side of the work table to pick it up. "Um, Sir, Miss Ritchi might be hungry after her busy day, don't you think we should go into the kitchen and eat?"
Megamind just stood there and gave Minion an irate glare for interrupting his welcome for Roxanne. Why on earth would he pick this exact moment to be concerned about food?
Roxanne realized that if she didn't step in, her blue boyfriend's temper was going to blow, so she decided to answer for him in an attempt to spare her fishy friend's tender feelings. "Yes! Actually, I'm starving Minion! I haven't eaten since breakfast. Lets go get some dinner."
She took Megamind's hand and pulled him along, guiding him down the hall toward the kitchen. As they walked together, she glanced over at him and wasn't surprised to see him scowling at Minion as he trudged along ahead of them, giving orders to the remaining brainbots to clean up the mess in the laboratory and put away the tools.
"What's wrong?" she asked, trying as hard as she could to hide an amused smirk.
"He did that on purpose." he huffed with an exaggerated frown.
"Did what on purpose?" she queried as she fought with herself to keep hold of the laughter that threatened to burst out at any moment.
"The wrench! That was not an accident! How could he have dropped it there when he was standing on the opposite side of the table? And it hit awfully hard for it to have made so much noise when it hit the ground. I know he threw it!" he ranted as he threw his arms into the air, doing his very best to throw a convincing tantrum. "Haven't you ever noticed that every time we're giving each other attention and Minion is anywhere nearby, something like that happens? Every time!"
Roxanne couldn't help it anymore, and she launched into a fit of laughter that made her sides ache. She put her arms around his waist and snuggled closer to him as they walked along. "Oh Megs, I love the way you make me laugh!"
"Well I'm glad you're having fun, but I'm genuinely irritated right now. I mean it Roxanne, he does this every time!" he fumed, doing his best to display his frustration, but finding it very hard to continue being angry with his friend when Roxanne was clinging to him so closely, and her laughter bubbled so sweetly in his ear.
"Ok. Well, put yourself in his place. Don't you think he feels more than a little awkward being in the same room with us when we get carried away and start in on a make out session? I can't blame him."
"He could just leave." he huffed.
"Yah, I'll give you that, he could just go somewhere else. But there have been a few times when something like this has happened, and he couldn't leave. Like the time we were doing surveillance on those car thieves in the invisible car?"
"Oh yah," the irritation on his face began to soften, and was replaced by a slightly dreamy expression as the memory of that evening flooded his oversized brain. "That was fun," he said with a chuckle.
"Alright, so no more being upset with Minion. And you know, we really should be more careful about this. Poor guy! I can't help but feel a little bad for embarrassing him like that."
"Yes, but no promises. You're just too good at being a temptress!" he said smoothly with a leering grin.
Roxanne had to laugh at his sweet expressiveness. You're pretty tempting yourself!
"You know, we can always pick up where we left off a little later." she said with a crooked smile as she looked at him through her lashes.
She nudged him a bit and giggled when he looked at her with an eager expression and said "Hmm… I like the sound of that!"
The small apartment that the trio called home was tucked away in the back of the lair, facing the lakefront. Because of the lifestyle Megamind and Minion had lived in their infamous days of terrorizing the citizens of Metro City, they had given very little thought to making it a comfortable place to live, particularly considering that so much of Megamind's time was spent in prison. It had always been more of a place to crash between evil plans.
When Roxanne moved in however, the little apartment went through quite a transformation. A large bank of windows looked out onto the water, and once they had been cleaned, offered a beautiful view of the lake. With the help of the De-Gun, much of her furniture had been moved to the lair, including her couch and bedroom set. For the first time in Megamind's life, he actually felt that he had a real home.
When she had first moved into the lair, they decided that they would all take turns preparing the evening meals, but before long Minion and Roxanne took over most of Megamind's turns. Not that his cooking was bad, but variety was not something that seemed to be a part of his considerable vocabulary when it came to his culinary skills. He typically only wanted to prepare dishes that were his personal favorites, but the trouble was that he was a rather picky eater. Growing up eating prison chow had given him a bad impression of too many foods, which in turn limited his interest in cooking to just a handful of meals. To his credit, he had always tried to be thoughtful to Minion over the years, and ate most of the foods he prepaired for him without complaint whether he liked them or not.
For dinner that night, Minion made a simple meal of spaghetti and a salad, which was a favorite of both Megamind and Roxanne. As they sat companionably at the table with a bottle of wine and finished their meal, they happily discussed the events of their day.
"How did the coverage of the Fall Festival go? I wanted to watch the broadcast, but I got so wrapped up in what I was doing, I lost track of time and missed it." Megamind queried. Fall Festival was Metro City's kick off to the holiday season, always landing on the weekend before Thanksgiving.
"Oh, it was wet and windy, and really hard to pretend that I didn't want to be anywhere else but there. Especially when the parade started. I had to stand there with an umbrella, trying not to look like I was getting soaked and freezing to death."
"Oh, that's too bad. You look forward to this every year, too." Minion put in. He thought back to the way they always had a particularly special abduction ready for her on Festival weekend, and how upset she had always been when they made her miss one of her favorite days. He couldn't help but feel a little bad about that, but it was all in the past, and she had forgiven them both whole heartedly.
"I know, but this time it was kind of hard to have fun standing in the middle of a rain storm. I would much rather have been here with you two." she said, reaching out with a smile to take Megamind's hand. "So how did it go for you today? Did you get called out for any rescues?"
"No, things were pretty quiet. We just stayed in the lab and worked on the new setting for the De-Gun. I'm pretty close to having the bugs worked out of it. It should be ready for me to give it it's second round of tests by tomorrow."
"That's right! De-ep Freeze, right?"
"Umhmm, I thought it may come in handy some day... you never know."
"Important to be prepared!" She put in with a grin. The things he came up with boggled her mind, and his intellect and imagination astounded her. He was the most amazingly creative person she had ever known, and that was one of the many things that she had always loved so much about him, even in his days of villainy.
"Well, I think It's time we start getting things cleaned up." Minion announced cheerfully as he stood and began collecting the dishes from the table.
"Minion, I would normally give you a hand, but I'm a little tired. If you don't mind I think I'll just go to bed." replied Roxanne as she made eye contact with Megamind and gave him a suggestive wink.
"Oh! You know, me too." At this he gave a loud and exaggerated yawn and stood up with a huge stretch. "I think I'm just going to head off to bed too. Sorry Minion, I'll give you a hand with the clean up next time, ok?" He called back as he put his arm around Roxanne and they headed off down the hall together.
Minion just rolled his eyes at their obvious cover up, he knew exactly what was going on. Annoyed though he was at the fact that he was left once again with the bulk of the mess to take care of, he couldn't help smiling at the couple as he watched them cling to one another while they walked down the hallway. The sound of their laughter warmed his heart, and a smile crept across his fishy lips at the thought that his best friend whom he loved like a brother was finally so happy with the woman he had loved for so many years. Under these circumstances, he didn't mind being left to clean up on his own.
"Brainbots, help me clean this up." he called out with a smile to the small group of bots that always hovered nearby, ready to help at a moments notice.
As soon as Megamind and Roxanne entered their bedroom and closed the door, Roxanne grabbed hold of her handsome sweetheart and began smothering him with deep, hungry kisses. Her hands roved all around his body, exploring every inch of his lithe frame as her leg lifted to wrap itself around his thighs. Her longing for him was so strong, she felt the only way she could get close enough to him was if she somehow found a way crawl inside his lovely blue skin.
Megamind instantly responded in kind, wrapping one arm around her upper back and into her hair, while the other held and caressed her curvey bottom. He kissed her with a passion so intense, it felt as though he hadn't seen her in weeks. When his lips traveled down her neck to her collarbone to explore her perfect skin, he could feel a small shiver pass through her, and he heard her sharp intake of breath. He knew the intense effect he had on her too well, and he loved to intensify that effect by moving slowly and deliberately, fanning that always smoldering passion into a roaring flame. God, Roxanne! I don't know how I ever lived without you!
"Mmmm… Baby, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this all day!" Roxanne breathed when he pulled away for a moment to begin unbuttoning her blouse. She trembled deliciously as she felt his gentle hands caress the skin on her chest, and his lips softly press against her. It took all of her considerable self control not to throw him onto the bed and begin tearing that gloriously tight leather suit off him right then and there. She let out a little moan of delight as he undid the last button and reached up to slide a bra strap from her shoulder, kissing the skin he found hidden underneath.
"Me too," he answered tenderly between kisses. Holding her in his arms and knowing she wanted him as much as he wanted her was intoxicating, and he was even finding it hard to breath as her soft, silky body pressed against his. "It was hard to concentrate on what I was doing today, all I could think about was you. You're distracting even when you're not here."
The sultry purr in his voice and the look of pure love in his emerald eyes made her heart pound, and she attacked him with kisses so filled with passion, it took both of their breath away.
She undid the zipper on the back of his leather suit and pulled his top off to expose his smooth skin, and ran her hands across his shoulders and chest. With skilled fingers he reached up to undo the clasp to her bra as they hungrily explored each others mouths, and pressed against one another with bare skin. Just at that moment, they heard a jingling coming from somewhere very nearby. In their distracted state, it took a moment for it to register that what they were hearing was Megamind's emergency phone, the link between Metro City PD, and their new hero in times of necessity.
"No!" Roxanne huffed as Megamind broke their embrace to answer the call.
"Ollo?" he answered slightly breathlessly, his voice still husky with passion.
As he tried to focus his attention on the call, Roxanne lightly stroked her fingertips along his chest, and planted light kisses along his jaw and goatee. She held out the hope that this call was nothing more than a check in, and in that event she wanted to keep things smoldering. With her teasing touches, he was finding it intensely difficult to concentrate on the voice at the other end of the line. With a seductive smile and a raised eyebrow, he mouthed the word "Temptress!"
Roxanne stifled a giggle and continued her attentions in earnest.
"Sir, this is Chris O'Donnell with the MCPD. I'm terribly sorry to bother you at this hour, but we have a situation going down that needs your attention."
Megamind let out an exasperated sigh and with a roll of his eyes reluctantly said "Ok, where?"
As he ended the call, he reached out to take his very disappointed girlfriend into his arms and give her a reassuring kiss. "We just can't get a break today, can we?"
"It's ok, you know I understand." she said gently as she looked up at him. Then she couldn't help but pout a little, "But times like this, I almost wish you didn't have to be the hero." Although she sometimes teased him with this, he knew she didn't really mean it. Roxanne loved the fact that he was her very own personal hero, and knowing the risks he took to keep others safe made her so proud of him. The fact that in the beginning, he became the hero for no other reason than because of his love for her melted her inside, and made her love him all the more.
"I know sweetheart. I'm sorry. Listen, I promise that when I get back, we'll pick this up where we left off, ok?" he said lovingly as he dressed. He sometimes felt a bit guilty that he had to live at the beck and call of that little phone, and that it seemed to interfere more often than it should with his time with Roxanne.
"That sounds awfully familiar. I think we've already heard that once tonight!" responed Roxanne as she rebuttoned her shirt and smoothed her rumpled hair.
"I promise" he asserted with a smile. He took her in his arms to give her a hug as he planted one last kiss on her lovely lips before he walked out the door.
"I love you," she called with a smile, watching him walk down the hallway to find Minion. "please be careful."
"Sweetie, you know I will. I love you too." he answered gently as he turned back for a moment to give her a small wave. Then he turned the corner, and was out of sight.