In the days that followed, the girls modified their agreement to allow each other to purchase one extravagant item, with a price limit. Kim chose a dress she thought Ron would appreciate as a replacement for the lost little black number, and Monique put together an outfit she intended to impress with on her first day of fashion education.
All too soon, the semester began. Even Kim found the first day nerve-wracking, but she got through it in one piece. The first thing both girls noticed was the difference in atmosphere. Perhaps it was the lack of Mr. Barkin, but college education instilled a sense of personal freedom and interaction that had been lacking in high school. No one told them to calm down or listen up, and it soon became apparent that such instruction was unnecessary. Amazing what happens when education is no longer compulsory, Kim marvelled.
The heroine attended the cheerleader informational meeting at the Coles Sports Center when the time came, and approached the coach afterwards.
"Kim Possible?" he asked, recognising the girl. "I had no idea you were coming to NYU, it's a pleasure to meet you! You've probably heard it already, but thank you for defeating that flesh-beast thing in the sewers last year."
"No big," Kim told him. "I was lucky the tanker truck was there to be used as a flamethrower; and it was the fire department that went into the sewers to finish that thing off. I don't suppose anyone ever found out where it came from?"
"If they did, they haven't told the public; on the other hand, this is New York. Anyway, planning to try out? I know you were a cheerleader in high school, but I don't know the specifics."
"Actually I captained the squad for most of my high school years, but that's not what I wanted to see you about." Kim raised her bandaged extremities. "I'm currently recovering from burn injuries, so I'm in no condition for tryouts right now. I'm doing my best to maintain my full range of motion, so I hope to try out at some point..."
"And you'd like a do-over. It'll be up to the entire team since you'll most likely be cutting into their practice time, but I doubt there'll be much argument. You are aware you'll be working against a higher standard compared to high school?" The redhead nodded. The coach continued, "And we'll need you to be very sure you can handle it. I can't let you risk tearing new skin or anything. Medical insurance, paperwork and all that."
"Not a problem," Kim assured him, so he gave her his contact information and told her she could sit in during tryouts and team practice in the future.
It wasn't until she was leaving the center that she was confronted with a familiar voice. "I guess it was too much to hope graduation was the last time I'd ever see you."
"Bonnie?" Kim turned to see the tanned brunette leaning against the wall by the doors with a grimace of distaste. "You're at NYU too?
"Steinhardt," the brunette specified.
"Still dancing, then?"
"Learning how to teach it, actually."
Kim paused as the shock wore off. "Well, that's... great? I remember you were awesome at ballet. Gonna try out for cheerleading too?"
"Duh!" Bonnie stepped forward as she noticed Kim's hands. "Doesn't look like you will, though. What happened, your wrists couldn't take the extra weight?" she asked snarkily, falling into the old habit.
"Third degree burns, Bonnie," Kim growled. "I'll get to try out when I've finished regrowing my skin."
Her high school rival showed no sympathy. "So doing your 'hero' thing finally caught up to you, huh? It was only a matter of time, you know."
The redhead drew breath to retort, then exhaled slowly before her temper rose further. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you'd be in Europe, tanning by the pool with Junior."
"Ugh, my mom didn't give me a choice after that stupid summer school thing. At least I'm living out of a penthouse by the park. I'd hate to be stuck in the dorms like you."
"Monique and I are sharing a house, actually."
"So your biggest fan is now living under the same roof? Has she found the nearest Bueno Nacho yet? I'd hate to share that bathroom."
Kim almost rose to the bait again, seethed a moment, then abruptly took a step back. "This isn't high school, B. Most people are here because they want to learn, and I'm not surprised the same isn't true of you. So don't expect your attitude to get you far. I'd hoped you'd mellow out once you were away from your sisters, but you're still a total Bonnie."
She turned on her heel and walked away before she caught Bonnie's surprised reaction.
Monique had a good laugh about it when Kim related the encounter, and consoled Kim for the prospect of continued interaction with the girl who made her high school life as miserable as she could. If history was any judge, the redhead wouldn't have much trouble topping the brunette, even after recovering from her injuries... which Kim was now able to treat herself, though the bandaging was still tricky. Monique helped with that when she was there. Kim was encouraged by the increased self-sufficiency, as well as the fact that enough new skin had risen to make her wounds look downright splotchy.
Over the next few weeks, Bonnie ignored Kim completely when she observed tryouts and practice. For her part, Kim downplayed her celebrity status as much as she could. Even when the team had become used to her presence, she was sure some of the girls were sneaking looks at her when time allowed, and the heroine found herself wondering just what those girls were thinking when they did.
As she walked home one evening, Kim started concocting sexual scenarios about when she joined - and started showering with - the squad. Unlike her previous imaginings of the high school team, it was doing something for her; so she was feeling fairly frisky when she returned home to find Ron chatting with Monique on the couch, while Rufus was happily munching away in a bowl of snackage on the coffee table. Monique gave Kim a wink as the couple embraced before making her excuses and going out for a few hours. Ron was being dragged to the bedroom even as the front door closed.
Kim was entirely in charge of the encounter. She wanted to feel Ron's hands and mouth all over her naked body, and he spent half an hour fulfilling her wish before his girlfriend pulled down his pants in a sudden hungry rush to reciprocate his current efforts. From there she was in an ideal position to roll the condom onto his hard, wet manhood. She managed to swing around easily enough using elbows instead of hands, and he considerately guided himself into her as she lowered herself, until he was buried to the hilt inside her.
At first she remained upright, riding him slow and strong, enjoying the feel of him inside her. It didn't take long, however, before she fell forward to kiss him with renewed intensity. His hands moving from her thighs to her breasts, her clitoris against his pelvic bone, she was soon compelled to break the passionate makeout and begin thrusting down on him, harder and faster, their hot breath in each others' faces until she flung her head back as the first wave of her climax engulfed her. She felt him buck beneath her as he joined her in ecstasy, both of them spasming until she collapsed upon him.
Take that, fantasy-Shego, Kim thought once she'd recovered sufficiently to think in words, and giggled. "I needed that!" she declared aloud before Ron questioned her.
"Looks like," the blond admitted as he wrapped his arms around her. "I hope your neighbours are cool with it. You were noisy!"
"This is what happens when you try to starve me," she scolded him.
"Yeah, well... like I said, things to do."
The odd tone of Ron's voice did not go unnoticed. "Did you ask Mr. Smarty for the transfer?" the redhead asked.
A significant pause before he answered. "No. No, I didn't," he finally admitted. Kim shifted to look him eye to eye. "I didn't think this would be the best time to talk about it, but... you asked..." he continued nervously.
"Rooon?"
"Maybe we should, um-" he squirmed a bit, still technically inside her though he was currently spent.
"Ron!"
"Okay, okay!" He gave a resigned sigh and relaxed. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, lately..." he looked up and watched the girl's eyebrow rise. "...Yeah, don't do that KP. I'm serious."
Kim blinked as she took in his serious face, and her irritation gave way to a nervousness of her own. "Sorry..."
"S'okay. Look... Smartymart has been great, apart from making me spend more time with Mr. Barkin than the law should allow. It's given me experience, the occasional adventure, enough scratch to show my gorgeous girlfriend a good time, now and then..." They both knew he was buttering her up with that remark, but he continued regardless. "But high school's over. We've graduated, and you're tuning down the hero thing while you're here because you want to make more of yourself than you are now." Another breath. "So do I."
"How?" Kim asked as neutrally as she could.
"Well... I could go to Hollywood and get my foot in the door of prosthetics. Or I could go to Ottawa, or even Paris, and try the cord-on-blew chef thing. But... those are just things I could do. They're not who or what I am. And what I am... is the master of mystical monkey power."
This time Kim couldn't keep the emotion out of her voice. "You... you want to go to Japan?"
"Yeah... yes. I do."
Ron had to reach down fast and snatch the condom before Kim took it with her as she pulled herself off of him to sit on the edge of the bed. "Y-you're breaking up with me?"
"What? No!" Ron sat up in a rush and suffered a moment of dizziness before managing to put a hand on Kim's shoulder.. "No no no. I meant what I said, when I said I couldn't live without you."
"Ron, you're moving to a whole other continent!"
"Well... yeah... but it won't be so bad. Especially while you have Monique with you, and that'll be at least a year, right?"
"Huh?"
"I'm not leaving you alone, Kim. And if you do go on missions, ones I can't reach you in time for, she can watch your back instead. I dunno why, but I get the feeling she can pull it off."
"Yeah... yeah, I get it," Kim muttered, anger now reaching the forefront of her reactions. "You graduated from sidekick to superhero. You deserve to get out of my shadow."
"What? No!" Ron's hand left her shoulder as he gestured emphatically in the negative. "That's not what I'm saying!"
"You're stronger, I'm weaker, remember?" Kim growled.
Now the blond frowned. "Oh, so now you're throwing that back in my face? Kim-ness alert..."
During major arguments, they had developed a system by which any mention of Kim-ness or Ron-ness meant a timeout. They both sat in silence for a couple of minutes, calming down and thinking things over.
"I..." Kim tried to begin, "I just can't see how we can be together if we're not... together."
"I know," Ron actually agreed, " But I don't want to break up." He paused as he considered something else. "On the other hand, I don't want to be unfair about this either, so... not broken up, just... on a break?"
Kim snorted. "So now you're giving me permission to go fuck whoever I want? And vice versa, I suppose. Won't Yori be pleased."
"Yori's too honorable to do that," Ron declared with a surprising amount of vehemence, forcing Kim too look at him in surprise. "I admit I'd be tempted, but I wouldn't take advantage of that. And I'd expect the same of you. Don't go bed-hopping just because I'm not around to scratch your itch." He grimaced suddenly. "Uh, you know what I mean."
"Then what are you saying?" Kim asked.
Ron had the sense to think it through first, this time. "You're gonna meet new people here, make new friends, and you might even care about some of them enough that you... want to be closer to them. If that happens, I'm okay with it. However far you choose to take it. Just..." And at this point, Ron's old insecure self made itself known for a moment, "Don't fall madly in love with anyone else while I'm gone, okay?"
Kim couldn't decide what to think or feel. "We'd better get dressed before Monique gets back," she muttered, deciding to get into her sleepwear while Ron snagged his clothes from the floor.
The blond tried to relieve the tension. "And if you end up doing anything with Monique, I want pictures."
"We're not like that, Ron," Kim deadpanned.
"I'm just saying," he offered with a smile before it was lost in his shirt.
Kim watched him dress a moment. "You wouldn't mind me being with girls?" she chose to ask.
"I'd prefer it to you being with boys," he admitted wholeheartedly. "Especially if there are pictures. Or a video. Or at least a detailed description when we both get back to Middleton for the holidays."
The redhead rolled her eyes. "Shego was right. Men are dogs."
"...She referred to me as a man? Wow."
That finally won a smirk from Kim, which she immediately regretted. The pained look on her face returned. "Give me one good reason why you need to go back to Yamanouchi."
Ron didn't hesitate. "Lorwardia."
The heroine didn't expect that. "What?"
"KP, two aliens on one ship conquered the world in ten minutes flat. There's a whole planet of them out there somewhere. Probably with an entire spacefleet. Maybe more than one. And Warhok claimed to be the most powerful warrior in the galaxy. Even if he wasn't just boasting, someone out there might be wondering what happened to him. And Warmonga might not be the only one looking for the Great Blue. Who might show up themselves, someday." He shrugged. "We just don't know. We don't know what else is out there, but the molerat's officially out of the pocket, now.
"Truth is, I've been thinking about this for a while, but fighting Shego was my wake-up call. It's not just about the power, it's about me. I want... I need to be worthy of this responsibility. So I'll be ready for whatever comes." The blond looked Kim in the eye. "This is something I have to do."
"Ron... I'm sure the world's governments, countless agencies, are reverse engineering the alien tech, coming up with defences, countermeasures..."
"Would that stop you?" Ron asked softly, but firmly.
Kim stared at him for a long moment, then picked up the handheld version of her kimmunicator on her bedside table and signalled the genius who invented it. "Wade, I'm giving this kimmunicator to Ron. Can you set up a direct link between this one and my wrist one?"
Wade's image nodded. "I'll start writing the software now. I should have it uploaded to both units by lunchtime tomorrow."
"Thanks Wade," Kim said before thumbing the control to kill the connection. She handed the Kimmunicator to Ron. "I understand," she told him. "I don't like it... but I get it." She didn't say they'd still be best friends forever, no matter what. At just that moment, it didn't feel likely.
They hugged and didn't let go for a long time. And they cried a little, quietly.
Perhaps a break wasn't a break-up, but Kim's heart couldn't tell the difference.