Authors' Foreword
So, Eddie isn't dead, Shego isn't raging, and Drakken isn't single. Looks like the motorman lucked out! Now, did he manage to live through and not regret his decision to try for this? Somehow one doubts that Drakken and Shego would have any regrets with how… Eager they seemed. Let's see how the mechanically-minded maniac's holding up...
ELELELELEL
Eddie blinked blearily as he filled and chugged at the glass. He was totally weirded out that he was drinking water in the morning again, even though he'd hardly touched a drop of liquor in almost a day and a half.
A gnarly, awesome day and a half, but a day and a half for sure! His little cousin must've really built up some stamina, always runnin' away from Blondie whenever he and Red Babe would break into the lair to totally harsh on his maddie mellow.
And then there was Green Babe. She wasn't lyin' when she said she was kinky! Hell, she was as kinky in action as Red was with what she said she wanted to do. That was somethin' that surprised him, 'cause Green really didn't advertise it and Red had been a seriously gnarly chick! And the fact that she actually got off on what Drew did with his vines...
He refilled his glass and chugged it, almost choking on it when a voice right in his ear chuckled, "Gettin' ready for round... What, fifteen?"
"Gah!" Eddie cried out, hacking his water several times as he turned a seriously sour look on Sheegs. That sour look didn't last long, since she was completely naked and giving him a smile he knew wasn't anywhere near as innocent as it looked. "Don't do that!"
"Oh, relax, Baldie," Green snickered, taking the half full glass from him and taking a few healthy gulps of her own as she blithely rubbed his now-bald head with her other hand.
"Dude, Gre—, er, Shego, don't do that!" He tried to wave away her hand, but she wasn't budging it. Huffing, he crossed his arms and complained, "Seriously, I'm barely able to handle bein' like this around you two. I can't even imagine going out like this! Seriously!"
"It's gotta happen at some point," Sheegs said with zero sympathy. With some amusement, she added, "Besides, the Possibles invited us to a cookout for the Fourth, and Drew accepted."
"Um..." Eddie gulped nervously, noting, "Is that, y'know, a good idea 'n' stuff? I mean, won't Red Babe, like, kick my ass on sight or somethin'?"
"Well, you haven't broken any major laws since you started workin' for Cyclops directly instead of GJ R&D over in New York. Right?" Shego prodded, earning a disgruntled nod from the motorman.
"Nah," Eddie said, then winced slightly. "Well, 'cept speeding... And kinna breakin' an' enterin' here, but we're not gonna talk 'bout that with 'em, right?"
"Oh, perish the thought," Shego chuckled, handing him the glass of water back, which he immediately refilled. "Besides, considering how she drives? Wouldn't surprise me if she found a kindred spirit in you."
"Whatever, Green," Eddie laughed, shaking his head. He turned away from the sink to regard her as she flopped down at the table, giving him an unimpeded view of her that he could appreciate almost, but not quite, as much as Drew.
She glanced up at him, cocking her head at his pensive look. "What's up, Eddie?"
The use of his name snapped him out of his reverie, and he chuckled a bit nervously, "I didn't really expect how you reacted..." When she cocked her head the other way, giving the impression of a cat looking at a particularly juicy looking mouse, he elaborated, "I mean, when I busted in to nab him, y'know?"
"Doy..." Shego rolled her eyes, before leveling a half-glare at him. "Like I said, I'm possessive about what's mine."
"So, you really like Drew that much?" Eddie asked, "I mean, love, I guess? That you consider him yours?"
"Eddie..." Shego murmured warningly, "Your point?"
"W-well..." Eddie stammered, "I mean... You and Drew... Y'know... And... Well... You haven't been nearly as harsh on him as you are with most other people... And you like the cuddles, too, y'know?" Shego rolled her eyes, but nodded, before rolling her hand at him to get to the point. "Heh, yeah, so... You must, y'know, love him? I mean, too?" Shego drew in a deep breath, and the big man knew he was stepping on the last of her patience, "I mean, as much as I do?" He worked his mouth a bit, stumbling over the words that felt weird to him. "I, erm, love 'im, I think. Even if I didn't know 'til, y'know..."
"Well doy, Eddie! Of course I do," Shego barked with a laugh, "I married him, idiot!" When Eddie kept looking at her with a nonplussed expression, she shook her head, "Think about me, Eddie. D'ya think I'd've married him if I didn't love him?"
"Erm… Oh... Heh. Good point," Eddie blushed at her conclusion, then looked past her shoulder. Drew was walking into the room, just as nude as him and Shego, as if it were the most regular thing in the world. "Mornin', Cuz..."
"Morning, Shego, Eddie," Drew muttered, blinking sleep from his eyes as he looked for the coffee maker. "No one's started coffee yet?"
"Since the last hench broke my espresso maker before they ditched us, no," Shego said, a thin veneer of anger in her words. She fixed a glare on Drew as she asked, "When is the company gonna be here to fix that? Last you said, they were supposed to be here two months ago. Where the hell have you been getting coffee from, anyway?"
"Erm," Drew gulped, hedging slightly. "They were supposed to be here, ah, this morning… Maybe they're late? And, uh, I just tended to get coffee from that one place down the street... I forgot ours was broken..."
"Oh." Shego blinked, then frowned, then screeched in annoyance, "Wait, you've been getting me instant coffee?"
"It wasn't like you even noticed!" the blue man sniped. "You and your so-called 'high class palate'!"
"No one has a working palate early in the morning!" Shego growled back, holding her palm upwards in a tight fist and pointing a finger at him accusingly.
"Well then, what difference does it make if it's fancy coffee from here or regular coffee down the street?"
"Caffeine content," Shego huffed, beginning to count points off on her fingers, "Aftertaste, mouth feel..."
"That you didn't notice the difference until I just pointed it out!" Drew interrupted insistently.
Eddie sipped at his water as he watched his cousin... His lover... His love... Argue with his wife. The Green Babe. Green Goddess, really... And couldn't help but let a smile come to his face. Nor did he fight the odd, overpowering urge to giggle, which stopped the incipient argument in its tracks.
And, of course, got Eddie to giggling all the more furiously...
ELELELELEL
Fourth of July at the Possibles was apparently an event in and of itself. According to Gr-... Shego... Their house had been rebuilt after the invasion, and was a bit larger than it had before. It now took up about a quarter of the lot that used to be next door. Most of that space was for a larger, four port garage in preparation for the little twin guys having cars or something of their own.
That also gave them a larger drive way. There were ten vehicles in the driveway, with a little bit of room left over for Shego to put the hover down, and five sitting at the curb. A couple of the cars were seriously modified, and that didn't include Red Bab-... Eddie winced as he realized that Shego wouldn't like that term for Kim Possible, and forced himself to rephrase it in his head. Kim Possible's seriously modded SL Roth.
There was also that truck he'd seen drivin' up Mount Middleton a few days earlier, though without the gnarly boat. I wonder if those chicks're here? It was odd that he wasn't hyper at the idea, just hoping to enjoy some extra scenery. Eddie grinned when he saw the chick that was driving the truck coming from around back with Kim and Blondie, chatting animatedly about something.
"You'd better put some sunscreen on that thick head of yours, Eddie." Shego admonished as she aligned the hover for landing, "I don't want to hear you bitching about a sunburn tomorrow!"
"No worries, Sheeg!" Eddie said with a laid-back grin, running his hand over his smooth head, waggling his eyes at her, "The Motor Man's got this!"
"Whatever," Shego sighed, rolling her eyes, then shaking her head as she deftly eased up the anti-grav with practiced ease. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Shego set the hover down perfectly, and they all climbed out, Eddie first. To the surprise of the three teens, Eddie held his hand up to help first Shego, then Drew, from the hover, the thief asking, "Hey, Kimmie, Doofus, your 'rents home?"
"Nope!" Ron answered before Kim could, smiling at the older woman. "They went to get some stuff Kim's dad forgot to get last night." With a confused frown, he noted, "You would think a rocket scientist would remember to get charcoal or gas or whatever their grills use…"
"Don't call Ron a doofus, Shego," Kim snipped, then smirked in a way similar to Shego. "And congratulations on the nuptials. We knew you secretly had a thing for Drakken..."
"Thank you, Kimberly," Drew answered, stepping between her and a now-irritated Shego. He glanced over at Eddie as he said, "Don't worry. Cousin Eddie will be on his best behavior."
"Right," Eddie nodded, then addressed them. "Hi, Team P!"
"Hey, Ed!" Ron waved enthusiastically, Kim giving a noncommittal grunt in greeting.
"You're Edward Lipsky, right?" the girl with them asked, a tall, busty gal with boyishly short hair. Eddie nodded questioningly, and she smiled. "Love your work on the Back Country lift kits!"
"Um, thanks," Eddie mumbled, flushing slightly as Shego snickered.
"Looks like you've got a fangirl, Eddie," she said with a faux innocent voice, though her eyes were oddly suspicious of the girl.
"Nah, I just like the work," she commented with a shake of her head. "My fiancée's the fangirl!"
"Shego, you remember Alex from when you taught at MHS?" Kim said, apparently deciding to ignore Eddie.
"Yeah," Shego affirmed, her head cocked slightly. "She hit on me the first day of class. I thought that apple was from Steve 'til I asked. I also thought that the rose later on was from him, too..."
"Nope. That was all me!" Alex chirped unapologetically. "Anyway, are you still in touch with Back Country Lifts? My girl has some ideas, but since she just graduated high school..."
"Hey, lemme talk to her," Eddie said with some excitement, glad to have found some people to talk shop with. "If they're solid, I'll seriously give her some props!"
Kim winced as if in preparation for an air guitar, but a quelling glare from Shego stopped Eddie before he could do more than raise his hands. She obviously thought that was odd, but let it slide, turning instead to Alex, "Are you sure it's a good idea to expose Tara to Eddie?"
"Meh," Alex shrugged. "She's met Will..."
"True," Kim winced, turning around and waving them all to follow her. "Everyone's out back."
"You sure about this, Drew?" Shego asked nervously as the teens followed Kim to the backyard, glancing around. "That girl with the short hair looks familiar, and not in the fun way."
"Prolly because she's Dr. Director's daughter!" Ron hypothesized from between them, making all three of them jump.
"Dammit, Stoppable!" Shego grumped, "I keep forgetting you and your rat somehow became real ninjas!"
"Really?" Eddie balked, staring at the blond teen and his pet, both of whom wore easy-going smiles.
"Apparently so," Drew murmured as they went through the gate into the backyard. He cocked his head as he noticed the jealous glance Drew got from who he was pretty sure was that Professor Ramesh dude that Shego'd been grumbling about on the way over. He vaguely remembered the Indian, a somewhat successful, but mostly wannabe player when he'd first started dating Red back in the day. He also remembered Drew mentioning him a couple times in relation to a girl his cousin had dated back then. "So Bob and Ramesh are here, too, hmmm?"
Ramesh had been trying — and failing, as Drew's vicious smile showed — to flirt with an attractive blonde woman with blue eyes and a beauty mark. The blue man waved at him, not quite managing to hide his triumphant sneer from the shorter man. The frown he got in reply was clearly what Drew had been hoping for, if the sudden bounce to his step afterwards was any indication.
The man Drew had nodded to, apparently this 'Bob' — a name Eddie found odd for an obvious Chinese dude — was in a seriously serious discussion with the Possible boys. It was a bit of a surprise for the motorhead as Bob had never really been one for the nitty-gritty of mechanics and such in college. Well, at least when he'd tried to talk tech with the younger nerds from MIST. Maybe it was something that had changed for the better in the lanky man?
"Drew!" Bob spoke up with a smile, making Drew physically react, as if slapped, "Great to see you!" He turned and said something to the twins about gravity lenses, which made sense since the guy was an astronomy dude if Eddie remembered right. The boys nodded enthusiastically, then the scientist stood and strode over.
"An old buddy?" Shego asked with a raised eyebrow, glancing at a neutral Drew. A neutrality that Eddie and, as a small narrowing of her eyes let him know, Shego could easily tell he was forcing, if his tense jaw and small flinch of the eyes said anything.
"You could say that," he answered, making Eddie fume a bit as he realized just who this scrawny little nerd was. He'd heard about what had happened with Drew's 'friends', but he reserved judgement, considering how happy the man looked and the blue man's apparent attempt to keep his cool.
"Congratulations, by the way." Bob nervously chortled when he got in front of his old friend, sparing a small glance at Shego. Then his smile became a bit sheepish. "And, um... Sorry for being such a jerk back in college. I had a lot of time to think about it in the last few years since our reunion, and, with a little help from my better half..." He held out a hand, "Hope we can start over?"
Drew pursed his lips and seemed to consider Bob's hand for a moment, before smirking and reaching his own out. "Sure, Bob."
Bob's smile became a bit plastic as Drew firmly shook his hand. The mad scientist was a lot stronger than he'd been back in college by a large margin, and back then, he'd easily tied James — a former ranch and farm hand — as the strongest member of the MISTcreants. He didn't bear down long, though, letting up with a chuckle when Bob's face relaxed.
"Forgot that grip of yours..." Bob chuckled nervously, shaking his hand a few times to try and get feeling back into it.
"Shego," Drew said, trying and failing to hide his smug smirk, "This is Robert Chen. Bob, this is my wife, Shego."
"A pleasure," Bob said, shaking her hand with his off-hand.
"I'm sure," Shego snarked lightly, though she kept a smile on her face, removing some of the sting. "Seems life moves on for some people."
"Yeah." Bob actually reached up to scratch his neck a bit as he regarded Drew, "My wife was rather... Stern about my attitudes. Wasn't really happy when I told her about our last run-in, the one with the Bebes, before you dropped out of sight? And, um, after the thing at the Crooked D and the second time with the Bebes, I had to agree I might've had a hand in driving you away."
"I had no idea you were married," Drew raised an eyebrow, making Bob cough apprehensively. "I mean, you said better half, but…"
"You remember Ezzie?" Bob looked nervous as he filled in the silence after the blue man trailed off.
"Lezzie Ezzie?" Drew gasped in shock. He noticed Shego's face twitch at that, and he made a note to apologize and be prepared for a small amount of punishment from her later.
"Well..." Bob blushed, scratching his cheek. "When she was drunk, she was more... Open... And, well, one thing led to another..." He wore an oddly subdued, but honest smile when he continued, "We actually worked out, after she almost literally beat the idiot out of me one night."
"Sounds like a tough chick," Eddie muttered distractedly.
"Sounds familiar to me," Shego noted, her gaze drilling into Eddie's face. The motorman was about to totally get his snark on when his gaze fell on a bubbly blonde literally bouncing up to him with Alex in tow.
"Hey, Mr. Lipsky!" the blonde chirped, "Alex said you'd wanna look at some of my stuff?"
"This is your girl?" Eddie asked with mild surprise. He hadn't been expectin' a lipstick lesbian, especially considerin' how seriously girlish Alex already was. Then again, he had no room to question that sorta thing, what with his own preferences...
"Yup." Alex nodded proudly, "This is my fiancée, Tara."
"Well, cool," Eddie beamed, both a little proud that he hadn't stuck his foot in his mouth and happy at the supportive nod he got from Drew. "Let's check these ideas of yours out!"
"Sweet!" Tara all but squealed, drawing a mix of looks from those in attendance as she grabbed the much larger man's hand and dragged him bodily over towards the pool, another new addition to the Possible property.
ELELELELEL
"Oh, God," Shego muttered as they practically pranced off, raising a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "A female Motor Ed in the making."
"I hope not," Kim sighed noisily, making Drew jump and Shego chuckle at his reaction.
"Even out of the evil business you surprise me, Kimberly!" Drew groused, though there was a smile on his face.
"I'm so ferociously happy you two stuck with your pardons." Kim said, smiling up at Shego daringly, "Especially you, Shego; you were actually starting to get to my level."
"Eh, I was gettin' bored with it anyway, what with the lack of challenge and all..." Shego chuckled, gazing about the pool party and appreciating the scenery, both regular and Motor Ed-style.
"If you were getting bored, you could've always tried working for another villain. Or learning new fighting stuff! I'm just kinda surprise that you decided to give up when you started to get bored," Ron said obliviously from next to Kim. He managed to get everyone, including Shego and Kim, to jump at his sudden appearance.
Recovering first, Shego said nonchalantly, "Please. That stuff would've taken way too much effort."
"And marriage doesn't?" Kim said, prodding the green woman a little.
"Doc and I know each other well enough to not need to work on it like certain others do," she said pointedly, both fighting back against and brushing off the comment.
"Uh, huh. It's not like you stuck around with someone paying less than you were worth — for years I might add — in a relationship that was completely not romantic at all," Ron said sagely, smirking at her in a knowing fashion that had Shego narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him.
Drew sighed when he realized the blond wasn't trying to provoke his wife when the thief barked a laugh "Touché, Sport... You're gettin' better."
Drew jumped again when the blonde Ramesh had been failing to attract came up to Kim, a sheepish yet happy smile on her face. "Sorry to interrupt, but I just got a call from Oliver, Kim."
"Okay?" Kim muttered in another rare show of being caught completely off guard. Then her eyes brightened as she made a connection. "Did he have good news from the project leader, Vivian?"
"Yes!" the blonde cried. "They've given me permission to use your Roth as a testbed for the navigation and self-driving systems I worked on with Dr. Freeman!"
"Self driving car, Kimmie?" Shego smirked, "What happened to the crazy teen heroine that drove a rocket powered car after the Not-So-Mullet-Man?"
"Nothing," the redhead said with a moment of distraction, hers and her beau's eyes drawn to the hairless head of the motorman. "But sometimes it's nice to have a car come to you when you're trying to stop a villain."
"What happened to Ed's hair, anyway?" Ron asked, Rufus squeaking in agreed curiosity.
"It's a long story, Stoppable," The blue man chuckled as he baited, "And involves a complete misunderstanding, plasma, and a powered armor suit made from a Gnarly-Davidoff motorcycle!"
"Oh, I've got to hear this..." Kim laughed with some schadenfreude, and Drew prepared to go into the spiel that he, Shego, and Eddie had come up with to hide the truth almost in plain sight.
ELELELELEL
"Seriously, this is awesome!" Eddie articulated with a great deal of enthusiasm. He and the two engaged ladies were bent over a set of blueprints, examining them with an attention to detail that most didn't think the now-bald man could manage. Pointing to a specific section, he said, "I only see a couple of hiccups in this thing, considerin' you're tryin' to design it to be a 'one piece' replacement for a stock Henery H-150..."
"I think I know what you're going to say." Tara said in a serious tone that many people would have found shocking, "I figured it out while we were talking: the lower control arm frame mounting points and the upper ball joint?"
"Exactly!" Eddie nodded, pointing at the section of a complex suspension joint. "Right here, the joint that you have would totally need to more robust if this is gonna hold up to Baja racing; it's seriously subject to extra stress at full compression and full rebound. On the other hand, you have the frame attachments a little overbuilt — that's not a bad thing, seriously! — but you could shave ten percent off of the weight here and still have it over sixty percent stronger than the stock points. Then you could put some extra reinforcement, oh, around here," he indicated the upper ball joint, "a raised section parallel to the direction of the likely forces. You'd have to do some computational fluid dynamics for exact location, but it should be damn close to perfect about like so..."
Alex watched as the big man used deft fingers to draw on the blueprint, finally asking with some curiosity, "Isn't it already stronger than stock?" While she wasn't an self-taught, engineer-in-training like Tara, she was a hardcore tinkerer that actually had a clue about mods and what they did.
"Yeah, but Baja racing is, like, the most demanding thing for a truck out there." Eddie smiled at the brunette, impressed that she had learned a little about the craft without being a serious study. "Seriously, there're only a few types of racing that're totally harder on components. Things like drag racing, rally racing, Formula 1 and the like." He nodded at the blueprint, "This piece should seriously lower the unsprung weight, but, considering the forces involved, it could totally snap after a gnarly jump, and that would, like, not be cool at all."
Eddie was about to continue, when a voice he hadn't heard in a seriously long time carried over to him from the gateway. He looked up, shocked, as a flash from the past strolled in carrying a couple of bags of charcoal.
"We're back!" A redheaded MILF that Eddie would have recognized if he was half-blind and deaf proclaimed as she and a strangely familiar middle-aged man walked through the gate with armloads of charcoal.
"And we've got enough fuel and food to last us five cookouts!" the man added from behind a precariously balanced stack of bags, likely the coals 'n' grub in question. Absentmindedly, he added, "Unless the boys have a steampunk phase. Then I can't guarantee that about the coal…"
"Everyone knows that steampunk is all about style, Dad," the twin named Jim said as he took a couple of bags from his father.
"And charcoal is just dirty. Authentic, yeah, but practical for steampunk cosplay? Nuh-uh," Tim finished, taking another bag from the older man and one from his mom.
"Ah, you young people and your 'cosplay'." The kind-of familiar guy laughed and followed his boys to the grills.
One of the grills was the Possible's, the other from the Stoppable's, and both used charcoal to work, to Eddie's minor regret. There had been enough initial coals to get things started before the trio had gotten there, but if this was gonna be any kind of seriously awesome party there needed to be more of, like, nearly everything. At least they'd realized it before the party fell over into a pile of lame.
"'scuse me, gals. I gotta go an' reacquaint myself with an old flame," Eddie said, standing up straight, giving them a two-finger wave, and heading over to where most of the Possible family was setting things up. Tara and Alex giggled at something, reinforcing Eddie's thought that the girls were both really girly, compared to most lesbians he'd met.
He tried to get a suave feel going for him as he walked up to Red. It would be seriously rank if she thought he had totally lost his edge.
Putting on a slightly forced smile, he sidled up to her side and drawled, "Heya Red!" He waited until she turned around to pick her up by the waist and give her an amazingly awesome hug. It took a moment, but she did reciprocate after she managed to process just who the motorman was. He set her down, though he kept a hand on her side, and gave her a wink. "Been a real long time since I've gotten to hang with you, seriously!"
"Hello to you too, Ed," Red said with a slightly naughty smile. Eddie fought the desire to do an air guitar. Goodness knew his awesome appearance would be totally wrecked if Shego came over and stomped his ass! That also made him pull the hand back, wondering how she'd handle his hand wandering, but he managed to make it a smooth transition to running his hand over his now smooth pate. She put a hand on her chin as she gave him a quick up-down. "You're still looking good. Keeping up with your physicals?"
"You know it, baby!" Eddie posed, kissing his biceps with a good deal of showmanship. With an appreciative grin, he gesticulated, "You still got it too! Still flamin' flippin' awesome!" As the man who was apparently her husband came back over to see what was going on, the motorman looked over, saying, "So, this dude is… Your…"
"Husband, yes." Red turned to the man and smiled at him, "James, you remember Eddie, right?"
Eddie gulped as subtly as he could as the man stepped over. He hadn't lost any height, so he could still look Drew straight in the eye, even if he still looked as skinny as he did back then. He had gray at his temples that, oddly for Eddie, made him look subtly more intimidating... Which was surprising, since the dude had nearly broken his wrist, and had broken his nose and cheek. With one punch!
The dangerous dude from back in the day blinked in confusion at Eddie for a few moments, then a light of understanding came to his eyes. He said with a genuine, if slightly smug, smile, "Hello there!" Eddie nodded stiffly. "It's been a rather long time! As my wife said, I'm James Possible." Eyeing him critically, the father of three asked, "Have your manners improved?"
The larger man grimaced, reaching up and rubbing his cheek self-consciously. "Ah, yeah, yes Sir! They totally have." He spared a nervous glance at Red, then out of the corner of his eyes at a curious Shego, before he looked back at James. "I was just, like, super excited to see Red after all this time, y'know?"
"I can imagine," the middle-aged father replied with an honest chuckle. A friendly arm went around his wife's middle, the message to Eddie loud and clear, "Glad I went easy on your wrist. I've heard you're doing amazing things over at GJ HQ!"
"Yeah, seriously!" Eddie enthused, before calming slightly and moving the hand scratching his cheek to scratch the back of his neck. He then dropped his hand, indicating Tara and Alex with a slight wave, "Also helpin' Bubbles over there with somethin' she's designing!"
"Good!" James chuckled, reaching out to shake his hand. Eddie hesitated slightly, but took the hand. The smaller man's grip tightened almost painfully as he said, "I'd hate to hear that you're tangling with my daughter again."
"Oh, no way, Sir!" Eddie croaked, realizations just who Kim Possible was, and how she must have let him off easy in the past. Once James loosened his grip, the motorman snatched his hand back like it was about to be torn off. "Okay, uh, well, it was totally great to see you again," Eddie said, bowing away from the seriously scary dad. "Nice to see your relationship worked out…"
"What was that all about?" Kim asked as Eddie made his retreat, her tone confused, but her stiff posture saying she understood, at least unconsciously, what had happened. As did the brief, intense gaze she sent the motorman's way, which made him feel oddly nervous. "I've never seen Motor Ed that nervous before."
"Well, Kimmie-cub..." James muttered nervously, and Eddie turned back just in time to see Blondie come up and calm things down.
"I'll explain it all later, KP!" he said while his mole rat buddy was trying not to laugh. Blondie elbowed Red Babe, pointing toward the gate, "And Mo just got here, and wants to ask ya about something!"
Eddie was happy to see that neither Red nor Mr. Possible's eyes were anywhere near him, as he made an effort to find someplace out of the way to sit and regain his composure... And get his bowels to unclench a bit.
ELELELELEL
"You gonna live there, Eddie?" Shego spared a glance at the happy couple who were chatting with each other and Ron while James and the blond were minding the meats and veggie burgers. Tilting her head, she exclaimed sarcastically when he jumped, "And that's 'the One' that you lost and her big, badass boyfriend that busted your face? Seriously?"
"Seriously!" the blond replied. "That guy is, like, way more than he looks." At Shego's raised eyebrow, he sighed, "Like, I went to take a swing at him, and he did this totally badass kung fu thing, like you and Red Babe do, and took me down. When I told him I'd kick his ass he, well..."
"'Well', what, Eddie?" Shego said with a laugh, cocking her head to the side.
"He hit me once and broke my nose and cheek." Eddie flushed slightly when her snicker got a bit louder.
Shego shook her head. "I guess this was before you and Drew got into that mess that turned him blue, and gave you both that damn quasi-invulnerability?"
"Yeah..." Eddie groused, giving her a dirty look at mentioning that little accident. Shego didn't really like his gaze so she raised her other eyebrow, daring him to make a comment.
"Hm? What are you two talking about?" Drew asked as he walked up, a plate loaded with hamburgers and hot dogs balanced precariously in his hands. His vines carried a couple of other plates, and, to Eddie's clear surprise, one of them was supposed to be for him.
The large amount of beans and pork loaded on it and a beef burger piled with every condiment and topping choice available, including even more pork and beans, was nearly obscene to her. Yet Shego smirked, wondering how Eddie would react to the fact that Drew had remembered the motorman's favorite foods. Eddie's face twisted with some mild confusion, then his face lit up, likely from feeling 'the weird mushy, girly feeling in his chest', as the former mullet-man called it. She felt an odd sort of relaxation as he seemed to embrace it, giving his cousin an affectionate smile as the plate was handed to him.
"We're talking about how your cousin is scared of your old college buddy," Shego deadpanned as she accepted her own plate full-up with a variety of grilled vegetables and a veggie burger. When Drew cocked his head slightly, she sighed and rolled her eyes, "James, Love."
"Eh? Old college buddy?" Eddie looked back at the couple, a frown forming on his face.
"Yeah. James… He was kind of the leader of the posse I was part of." He apparently misunderstood Eddie's frown and elbowed him lightly, "We called ourselves the MISTcreants?"
"Yeah?" Eddie snarked a bit, giving James a bit of a dirty look... Which disappeared when James gaze seemed to swing over them. Shego couldn't help but snicker at that, shaking her head at the whole situation.
"But one punch broke your nose and cheek, huh?" Shego prodded, her tone dripping with enjoyment at Eddie's discomfiture.
"Not surprising." Drew chuckled, shaking his head. "I was strong, after helping Uncles Boris and Joseph on their farm back in Iowa during the summers, but James worked on his fathers ranch and his uncle's farm up in Montana since he was six... And if I remember right, he did some roustabout work up in Wyoming during the oil boom during summer breaks? He was really strong for his size."
"Still is," Eddie grumped, unconsciously shaking his hand.
"I wonder..." Shego murmured, a suddenly considering gaze settling on Anne and James as they talked to Ron about something that had the blond blushing deeply. They were all startled when someone in the yard set off a battery of loud, whistling rockets, the first of the day from the Possible's home.
"This could end up being a noisy day." Shego chuckled as she saw the double armloads of fireworks the twins, Kim's younger cousin, and the girl's father were bringing in from around front.
"Seriously!" Eddie and Drew agreed at the same time. Neither of them understood why Shego nearly fell over laughing.
Authors' Notes
Poor Eddie just can't seem to catch a break! How was he supposed to know that Red and that harsh boyfriend guy got hitched? Yeah, James' skills can't handle a sumo ninja, but he could still take down Eddie if he had to. At least Eddie's smart enough to back off. Not that he has all the much interest in Red anymore, what with being a third in a threesome now…
All that's left is the epilogue! What kind of magical happenings will happen now? A triple marriage? An epic proposal? Rufus turning into a real boy? We'll find out next time!