Snippets of Forever:
So Not... A Royal Affair.
-x-
It might have only been a short time ago when he had wrapped up all of that evening's events in a nice, neat, quote 'happy ending' - but as he gawked across the room at Bonnie and Junior, Ron suddenly wasn't too sure anymore.
He watched on a little longer with a curious tilt of his head, but Ron soon found himself shuddering as Junior dipped Bonnie unnecessarily low in time with the music that pumped between the walls of the school gym. Maybe Kim had been right when she had referred to it as more of a 'weird, happy ending'.
The Homecoming dance was in full swing, and Bonnie was very clearly taking full advantage of the fact that she was no longer the hapless, dateless Queen she had feared being only one short day ago. If her appointed King (officially, anyway) hadn't been having such a good time of his own, Ron thought he would almost stop to show some level of concern at the relationship blossoming all too easily between she and Junior.
The thought almost dared to make him heave, but all his worries instantly dissipated when Ron spotted another all-too familiar face across the gym.
Kim. God, she was gorgeous. That baby blue colour of her dress that she loved so much so suited her. It truly brought out the perfectly porcelain nature of her skin. Each pore was glowing like a thousand diamonds where she stood under the disco ball beside Monique, and her hair was as vibrant as the fire Ron could feel burning in his chest at the mere sight of her.
Just as his knees became that bit too weak, and he risked totally spilling the cup of punch he was currently fetching her, Ron suddenly found himself jumping in surprise at a slap in the middle of his back.
"Watch out there, buddy, you might trip up on your own jaw."
Casting his eyes downward at the teasing tone, Ron shook his head and shot Felix a smile, "Felix, my man! How is my royal affair treating you and your new lady?"
Felix returned the grin with the remnants of a faint blush, "Great, I think Zita's having a really good time. Music's been pretty good, the food was fairly edible, and the hover function of my chair makes dancing with her so much easier."
"Sounds like a good first date to me."
Ron couldn't help but almost laugh when he thought back on the moment he found out that Felix was planning on asking Zita to Homecoming that year.
His friend hadn't exactly been asking for distinct permission - Felix knew that Ron was crazy about Kim and that he and Zita had barely even been a thing in the first place. But the way Felix had approached him with the opportunity to offer any grievance was pretty considerate and super cool in Ron's eyes. Though, when had Felix been anything but?
"It's only gonna' get better at the after party," Felix went on with a smile and another encouraging pat on Ron's side, "Will you and Kim be there?"
"After party?"
"Yeah, I think Hope's parents are letting her throw one," the brunette confirmed, "Don't tell me you two are going to miss it? Again?"
"Heh, yeah," Ron murmured with a sheepish scratch to the back of his neck, "Those things aren't really our scene, ya' know? We're kinda' constantly on call with the whole saving the world gig..."
He sort of hated to be seen as a bit of a killjoy, but Ron knew that all of his and Kim's responsibilities were much more important than some crazy party. Maybe when they younger it wouldn't have been so much of a big deal, but the teenage parties of their senior year had slowly been evolving into something a little less innocent than fizzy sodas and harmless games of spin the bottle. None of it exactly went hand-in-hand with jet-setting around the world at a moment's notice to brutally fight crime.
Besides, Ron thought to himself, bailing on any tedious social gatherings only meant that he could focus on spending all of his time with Kim for the rest of the night.
Just as this rather inviting idea began to settle in his mind, Ron's vision darted to the side when he spotted a couple of his Mad Dog teammates appear in the corner of his eye. He nodded with a grin, waving at Henry in particular before shifting his attention back to Felix.
He had almost lost his train of thought when he suddenly remembered the last notion that had crossed him, "And besides, my 'rents are gone all weekend, and - "
"Whoa, wait, what did I just hear?" Henry suddenly exclaimed, breaking away from the pack of footballers. He sprung in between Ron and Felix, greeting the blonde with a friendly thump on the back and bringing him close (for the second time) to losing his cup of grape flavoured punch, "I'm sorry, did you just say your parents are gone all weekend?"
"They didn't come to your game?" Felix interjected.
Ron shrugged, "It's no biggie, my aunt has been dying to meet Hana ever since we brought her home - this weekend is the first one she and my mom both had free," he quickly explained, pausing to turn to Henry with a defiant shake of his head, "But, dude, there is no, no, noooo way I can throw a party at my house, I - "
"What? No, man, forget about the rest of us. What I'm talking about," he spoke slowly, throwing a brotherly arm over his teammate's shoulders, "Is that you and your GF can throw a private little after party of your own."
Instantly, Ron's face exploded into a crimson blush.
The teenager gulped as he felt his heart begin to race that little bit faster in his chest. It was no surprise that Ron had been looking forward to getting close to Kim on the dance floor and seeing where a couple of steamy Homecoming kisses might take them that night... but never for a second did he consider the implications of becoming a total high school cliché with her while they were alone in his empty house.
His throat was dry when he nervously cleared it, "Uh..."
"Sorry, boys, mind if I cut in?"
The sound of Kim's voice brought an instant sense of calm rushing over him.
Ron spun around, smiling at his girlfriend where she stood behind him with her hands on her hips. His bright expression faltered for one cringeworthy second when he heard Felix and Henry chuckling to themselves as they took their exit.
"Sure thing. Enjoy, you two," the wide receiver teased before heading off to find the rest of their team.
Ron let a nervous squeak out from between his clenched teeth. He knew that Henry meant well and only liked to see the smaller senior squirm... but somehow it didn't make the pressure of his assumptions feel any less unnerving.
"What was all that about?"
Blinking just once and looking back to Kim, Ron only shook his head with somewhat of a laugh, "What, that? Oh, nothin', just dumb guy stuff."
"Excuse me? Guy stuff?" Kim repeated, gesturing for the drink she had been waiting for, "I didn't realise you had suddenly become one of the guys, Mister Star of the Football Team."
Ron rolled his eyes at the obvious joking tone in Kim's voice, "Hey, I'll have you know I am totally oozing the bon-diggiest levels of masculine energy up in here."
"I didn't say it was a bad thing," Kim retorted, taking a small sip of her punch. She winked teasingly at her BF, "I mean, it's honestly better late than never, if you ask me."
"Oh, ha, ha," Ron grunted, snatching back the purple drink with a smirk as he took a sip of his own. His cynical stance slipped a little when Kim crept closer towards him. She reached for the red, plastic cup and placed it back on the table beside them before straightening his bow tie.
"So, does that mean you're too busy with your new Boys' Club to slow dance with your GF?"
Ron scoffed with mock offence, "Are you kidding? The Boys' Club is as good as a four day old naco. The only club I'm down for is the Boyfriends of Kim Possible Club. I do have an exclusive membership, ya' know."
"Mm, but do you know what your entry fee is?"
His adorably large ears tinged red when his eyes fell to Kim's lips, "I think I have an idea."
"Huh, brawn and brains," she whispered against his mouth, narrowing the gap between them.
The moment, however, was all too short lived.
"Stoppable!"
At the sound of his name, Ron visibly winced, "Reager..."
Reluctantly tilting his face away from where it had almost met Kim's, Ron frowned at the sight of the redhead, freckled nerd scurrying towards them. He had a very busy looking clipboard in one hand, and Ron's red and gold crown in the other.
"What do you want, Reager?"
The dorkier Ron looked almost as insulted as his counterpart as he removed the headset from around his ears, "What I want is to keep tonight's schedule on track, Stoppable," he replied, running his eyes down the clipboard, "You're needed on the dance floor - the DJ is about to start the slow dance to celebrate the King and Queen."
Ron's face fell blank as Reager shoved the crown against his chest, "You've got to be kidding me."
"Haven't you already ruined one too many coming of age moments this week, Reager?" Kim cut in, narrowing her sharp eyes at him.
"Hey, talk to your yearbook team about it, they're the ones who want the dumb pictures," he argued back, "Dance floor, three minutes."
The weight of Ron's crown sure was a lot heavier when he let his shoulder slump down to the side - a feeling that he didn't know was even possible after all the trouble it had already brought him that week. With a soft sigh, the blonde boy dared to peek out of the corner of his eye at his girlfriend.
For the first second, Kim shared the same disappointment in her face that Ron could feel in his gut. And then, the redhead smiled.
Her expression made Ron melt, "You don't have to watch."
Kim cocked an eyebrow, "Then how would I make sure there's no more royal lip-locking?"
"K-Kim, I -"
"I'm kidding," Kim eased him, gently covering the panicked ramblings from his mouth with her hand, "I'm totally kidding. It's whatever, okay? Just try to be as quick as you can, and I'll try not to drown myself in the punch bowl in the meantime."
A grumble from between Ron's teeth made Kim giggle as she shook her head at him, "Joking. Again. I'll be with Monique and Rufus, okay?"
Before he had the chance to protest, Kim removed her hand from Ron's lips and quickly closed the gap with her own in a light, innocent peck. His cheeks were flushed red at the surprising contact when she pulled back.
"Now go, before I change my mind."
"Save me a dance?" he asked, turning on his heels.
"Duh."
The single syllable from her made Ron's heart thump in his chest when he finally made his way across the gym in search of Bonnie.
He almost breathed a sigh of relief. In that moment, Ron wouldn't have blamed her if Kim had flipped at the notion of him dancing with Bonnie and firmly put her foot down - much like she had at J.P. Bearymore's only a couple of days earlier. The memory made him cringe. Knowing now that Kim trusted him to not let something like that happen again was a whole other kind of reprieve.
Even though deep down, Ron still felt totally, completely crappy about the entire thing.
When he eventually spotted Bonnie again, just as unnecessarily close to Junior as she had been five minutes ago, Ron considered vanishing into the crowd and subtly finding his way back to Kim. But it was only one dance - not to mention it was the last of his royal responsibilities before he could finally put this whack week behind him.
With a hesitant breath, Ron's sneakers squeaked against the wooden floor of the gym when he approached the air-headed couple, "Er, Bonnie?"
Bonnie's teal coloured eyes instantly darkened at the sight of Ron, "What do you want, loser?"
"Ignoring that," he muttered under his breath, "They're about to start the dance for the King and Queen. Do you wanna', like - "
"Um, one word - ew!" she screeched, cutting him off, "I don't even want to take some dumb picture with you - what on Earth makes you think I'd willingly dance with you in front of the whole school?"
"Stoppable, please, you're upsetting my precious Bon-Bon," Junior spoke, draping a sympathetic arm across Bonnie's shoulders, "Hush now, my love. I'll fly you back to Italy - we can buy more sparkly diamonds for your tiara."
"You'll just have to dance with one of the peasants instead," Bonnie snapped, snuggling close to Junior, "It would be much more suited to your own social standards, after all."
Ron (having been temporarily blinded by Bonnie's shiny, new tiara) blinked a couple of times as her snarky insults glazed over him.
And then, as the music eventually began to ease into a slow track in the background, Ron smiled.
"'Kay."
From where she was standing beside the snack table on the other side of the room, Kim laughed silently as Rufus dug his way through the neatly stacked tower of mini quiches. It was certainly a nice distraction from the stubborn conversation she had just been having with Monique.
"Girl, you can not ditch me at another one of these things!"
For the fiftieth time in that last minute, Kim subtly rolled her eyes, "You know you could always just skip the after party, too, right?"
"And do what? Third wheel you and Naco Boy at another late night Tex-Mex chow down?"
"Come on, you know we love hanging out with you," Kim assured her friend before quickly shaking her head, "I mean, not that it's tonight's plan with Ron's parents being away, and - "
"Whoa, hold up! Run that by me again?" Monique cut in over the top of Kim. She reached for the redhead's arm, dragging Kim around on the spot and forcing her to sit down opposite her at the closest table, "You and your boy are going to be alone at his house tonight?"
Kim reefed her hand away from Monique's, nervously twiddling her thumbs in her lap instead, "I mean, not all night - Dad's only extended my curfew for an hour, but - "
"Then what are you still doing here?" the dark haired girl asked, glimpsing at the time on her cellphone, "That's, like, two full hours of BF action you should be having right now!"
"Action? Really?"
"Girl, yes! You know, a little freaky, touchy-feely - "
"Monique," Kim interjected with a shy squeak, "We're so not there yet. You know we're taking things slow."
"And that's what you want?"
"Yes!" Kim answered in an instant, "Our friendship is what's most important to us, more than anything, and we don't want to rush and then just make everything... weird."
"Mhm," Monique hummed, raising a challenging eyebrow, "Well, your friendship seemed pretty dang in tact after that little covert mission he undertook through your bedroom window the other week - that's all I'm sayin'."
Kim's rosy cheeks instantly flushed pink at the intense memory.
Monique had been given the 4-1-1 on pretty much everything about Kim and Ron's late night adventure from a week or two ago. And why not - she was Kim's best girlfriend, after all. She knew about their dumb argument, and about how Ron had crawled through his girlfriend's window in the dead of night to apologise, and about how their heated kiss had led to Kim shedding much more than just her tweakage at her boyfriend.
It wasn't the only time that one of their make out sessions had taken such a steamy turn recently. But it was the furthest Kim and Ron had ever gone. For now.
"I didn't say that I wasn't wanting to go just one step further than that..."
Monique's suggestive, brown eyes narrowed as she nodded in approval, "That's what I'm talking about," she spoke slyly, before her shoulders collapsed with a shrug, "Guess I really will be hitting up the after party on my own tonight."
At this latest mention of the word 'party', Rufus popped his head up and through the soft crust of the very last mini quiche. Chewing his way through the scrumptious pastry, he leaped from the table and onto Monique's shoulder, chirping excitedly.
The young woman blinked at the tiny rodent, "You want to come to the after party with me, Rufus?"
"Hck! Yup!"
"Can you step in as my wingman?"
"Mm! Wingman!"
"Well, alright," Monique said smoothly, holding her finger out to Rufus for an itty-bitty high-five, "Looks like you won't be the only one landing some lucky lip-locking tonight."
Kim totally lost herself in a fit of giggles at the teasing kissing sounds from Rufus before he stuck his tongue out with a shake of his head. She was so distracted that she didn't even sense the feeling of a familiar figure approaching from over her shoulder.
"Ahem?"
An impulsive shiver ran up her spine at the sound of his voice. When Kim swiveled around curiously in her chair, she paused, and then smiled up at Ron.
"You didn't have to save that dance for too long, after all."
Kim frowned, "What happened to Bonnie?"
"Her so called Majesty is too busy dancing with Prince Junior to fulfil her royal duty," Ron said with a dismissive roll of his eyes, "But, plus side - now I get to dance with my real Queen."
When he held his hand out to her, Kim swore her heart nearly stopped.
"Ooh, girl," Monique whispered in Kim's ear, ushering her friend to her feet, "You had better give that boy a little somethin' somethin' when you get home."
If she was being perfectly honest, the gym full of students and teachers and chaperones were all lucky that Kim didn't pounce on Ron right then and there. But with a practiced level of restraint, the teenage girl simply took her boyfriend's hand, giving it an extra tight squeeze as she let him lead her to the dance floor.
The way his opposite arm slinked around the small of her back made goosebumps pop up over her skin. She stifled another laugh when she spotted Reager grumble something to himself and throw his clipboard to the ground, totally exasperated. But her own Ron clearly didn't care, and his presence was warm as ever when he pivoted the both of them around on the spot and he took her by the waist, swaying slowly to the music.
For the first second, Kim glimpsed upwards at the crown that sat proudly on her boyfriend's head. And then, her eyes locked with Ron's.
"Sorta' glad there's no-one standing around and staring at us this time," she pointed out, taking notice of the other couples dancing all around them, "It was kinda' cute at Junior Prom, but I definitely don't need to re-live it."
"Well, you don't need to worry about anyone looking at the ol' Ronster," Ron lamented, pulling Kim a step closer, "Seriously, people were starting to question me winning the dumb Homecoming crown more than Bonnie, I - ow!"
Kim smirked as Ron twitched at the sudden pain from where she pinched him on the point of his shoulder, "Amp down on the self-diss, please and thank you," she warned him, "Don't make me step on your foot."
"Uh, now, now - is that any way to speak to your King?"
"Did you not just call me your Queen? I think that pretty much gives me a free pass to use forever."
A deep affection settled in Ron's expression as he shook his head at her, "Okay, maybe you've got me there," he conceded with a smile, taking the crown off his head, "And this old thing probably suits you way better, anyway."
"Ron," Kim chuckled as he gently placed the royal headwear over her ponytail, "Shouldn't I be wearing a tiara?"
"Traditionally, yes, but your awesomely badical levels of fearlessness and babeliciousness totally cream all gender norms."
The swarm of butterflies that immediately soared into a backflip in Kim's stomach made her gaze up at Ron with an adoring pout. He really could still floor her with his words sometimes, even if he didn't always realise how sweet he was being. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, it simply left Kim with every chance to show her boyfriend exactly how sweet she thought he was.
Her hands shimmied up from his shoulders to join in a loose link behind his neck as her lips upturned into an all too tempting smile. She felt him dare to tug her in even closer, but before Kim could consider closing her eyes and leaning into him, she and Ron were abruptly barged off their balance.
"As if, you freaks!" Bonnie roared, smirking at the way she and Junior purposely danced their way right into Kim and Ron, "This is still my dance, so get out of my spot light!"
It took Kim a stunned couple of moments to realise what had happened, but when she eventually registered that she and Ron had been shoved away from the centre of the gym and his crown had tumbled from her head to the floor, she immediately bristled. With her teeth bared and her hand slowly curling into a fist, Kim attempted to take one heated step towards her high school nemesis.
But Ron's hand around her hip stopped her.
"Hey?"
The gentle tone in his voice instantly caught her attention.
Kim came to a halt, gazing down at the place on her side where Ron was holding her. His grip had flown there, instantly, strong and secure to prevent her from tripping up after Bonnie's spiteful stunt. His touch was so tender.
"Hey, ignore that royal pain in the butt. And forget about the stupid crown, it's fine."
The music may have still been playing light and slow, but Ron's words were so soft that Kim almost struggled to hear him. It made her heart race.
As they straightened back up and regained all composure, Ron's hands were still innocently low, sitting affectionately at the base of Kim's back. And the more it made her body tingle, the more she absolutely beamed at him.
To say that Bonnie had already ruined their week in more ways than one was the most harshly obvious deduction to make. But the fact that Ron wasn't prepared to stand back and let her cause any more trouble spoke a much louder volume than any meaningless kiss ever could.
And a kiss of their very own was only the first little somethin' somethin' on Kim's mind that evening.
Ron caught her lips with his the second that Kim craned up towards him. He was almost thrown back in heated surprise at first, but he soon settled into the very public display of affection his gorgeous girlfriend was bestowing upon him. Her hands on his chest and her mouth opened to his made Ron smile into her as he lapped at Kim's kiss and held her close.
Even the ever-watchful eye of Mr. 'No P.D.A.' Barkin wasn't enough to spoil the epically royal moment.
Ron couldn't resist a slightly bewildered frown when the Sloth pulled up a house or two down the road from his and Kim's driveways a little later that night.
He stared down at the centre console when Kim pulled up the handbrake, and looked at her with a curious tilt of his head as the ignition switched off.
"What gives?" he asked, confused.
Kim glanced up at him, smiling from the very corner of her lip, "No doubt Dad has been keeping an eye out for the Sloth for the last two hours. This way he won't know we're home yet."
It took a second for Ron to detect the subtleties in Kim's answer. And then, his eyes widened, "But, uh," he stuttered, "But, I thought your dad extended your curfew?"
"He did," Kim confirmed simply, "And he'd be totally cool with me staying out till eleven at a chaperoned school dance. But staying out till eleven at my boyfriend's house while his parents aren't home? Bit of a different story."
The sound of the driver's door closing behind her thudded in time with Ron's heart in his chest. He took a moment, drew in a breath, and then with a smirk of his own, he left all his nerves behind and climbed out of the car.
The walk from the bottom of his driveway up to his front door seemed a little longer than usual. As he fumbled around for his keys in his pocket, Ron fell back to a slim sense of hesitation.
He might not have been nervous - but after the jokes Henry and Felix has made earlier that evening, Ron just wanted to make sure that he and Kim were still on the same page.
"Hey, so we're still not gonna', like..." he trailed off, distracted as he unlocked the front door before quickly clearing his throat, "Like, all we're gonna' do is - "
"Ferociously make out and maybe lose a layer?"
Ron couldn't help but sense the tips of his ears turn red when Kim finished his sentence for him. His neck whipped around on a swivel and his brown eyes totally gawked at her. The redhead giggled to herself, nudging her boyfriend with her elbow.
"Yes - that's all we're gonna' do."
Kim pushed on the door as soon as the latch clicked open, slipping her hand into Ron's and tugging him in behind her.
This was exactly what the two of them needed. Some quiet time alone - no parents, no tweebs, their friends (and Rufus) at their own party, and no villain drama beeping to ruin their night (well, they could hope...).
So, naturally, all of Ron's time spent by the punch bowl that evening had to choose right then and there to betray him.
"Um, sorry, just gotta' pee."
Kim teasingly rolled her eyes as she took a seat on the sofa, "I told you to go before we left."
"Yeah, yeah," Ron droned with a chuckle before ducking around the corner and into the hallway, "Two minutes, KP."
There was a confident kind of step in his stride as Ron sauntered towards the downstairs bathroom, shrugging out of his tuxedo jacket and dropping it in the laundry basket by the door. He was quick to empty his bladder and flush the toilet, spinning around on the spot to turn on the water faucet.
As he washed his hands, Ron glanced upwards, studying himself closely in the mirror. He still sort of couldn't believe it sometimes. Here he was, average ol' Ron Stoppable, and just down the hall from where he stood was quite literally the most beautiful girl in the world just waiting to - in her own words - ferociously make out with him on the night of the Homecoming dance.
And then, that's when the sharp feeling of guilt swiftly returned to him.
The sudden stabbing feeling in his stomach made Ron's expression drop as he sighed. He quickly splashed some water on his face, trying everything he could to erase the memory of Bonnie kissing him earlier that week. The only image that was worse was the one of devastation that had fallen into Kim's features upon her discovery. It still tore a hole through Ron's heart.
Ron knew that the whole event hadn't really been his fault. Okay, so, maybe he could have been a little more wise to Bonnie's freakishly flirtatious nature and stopped her from getting so close to him, but nothing ever told him that an actual kiss would be on the cards.
That, and he still hadn't offered Kim any real kind of apology.
He ripped off his red bow tie in frustration and left it to join his jacket in the laundry basket. As he headed back towards the living room, he rolled the white sleeves of his dress shirt up to his elbows. His flustering jitters might have hit a new spike, but it was nothing that Ron couldn't handle.
Or, that's what he thought.
As soon his eyes landed back on Kim, the guilt simply vomited from between Ron's lips.
"I'm sorry."
From where she had been staring aimlessly at her cell phone, Kim's vision shot up at Ron. She had already slipped her shoes off and curled up on the couch, and the calm on her face instantly collapsed into a deep frown.
"For what?"
"For everything. This week," Ron groaned, taking a step further into the room and regathering his thoughts, "For everything Bonnie. Her and Reager rigging the vote, and her crashing our missions, and her... ya' know, kissing me."
Kim's expression softened through all of Ron's ramblings, "I know that wasn't your fault," she promised, patting the spot beside her on the sofa.
"Yeah, but it just tanks," he sighed, joining his girlfriend with a dejected slouch, "One dumb kiss ruined, like, everything."
"What are you talking about?"
"Uh, hello? The totally faithful nature of our lips, obviously," Ron spat, "I've never kissed another girl before. Not for real. And we were always gonna' have that, but then Bonnie had to lose control of her stupid lips, and now I've kissed someone else and you haven't and it just sucks."
The realisation toppled down on Kim like a ton of bricks.
Her face drained to a very cynical shade of white, making her cringe. It was all the exact opposite of how her face had appeared at the time when she actually had her first kiss.
"Um," she mumbled shyly, "Okay, except that, like... I mean, you might not have actually been mine. My first kiss."
A mood slicing silence fell between the two of them as the cogs in Ron's brain began to turn. There was a twinging pang of pain resonating in his eyes.
"But you said you never kissed Eric?"
"Ew, no, I didn't. And I so wouldn't lie to you if I had."
"Okay, well, I know you guys locked braces, or whatever, but I don't think Walter Nelson exactly counts. It's not like that was a real kiss."
"And Josh wasn't, either, it was literally the tiniest - "
"Wait, Josh?"
Ron's harsh interjection made Kim's words come skidding to a halt as he sprung forward from the back of the couch. She stared at him, desperately trying to ignore the way his voice had croaked over Josh's name.
"Mankey?"
"Yeah?"
"When?"
Kim's brow dropped into a frown again. The direct line of her boyfriend's questioning sort of made her tummy turn over on itself.
"Um, when I nearly blushed myself into oblivion," she explained, quickly tweaking her story in Ron's favour, "After you totally, selflessly saved my butt."
Her plan, however cunning, did not exactly have the desired effect.
"Well, that's just awesome," Ron huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and falling back into the sofa.
"Ron," Kim soothed him, admittedly a little thrown, "I'm talking, like, two years ago here. I've barely even thought about Josh since."
"How come you never told me before?"
A hauntingly ironic blush sank into Kim's cheeks as she shrugged her shoulders, "I mean, we didn't exactly talk about that stuff before we were dating," she offered lamely.
The stinging sensation in Ron's chest throbbed again as one thoughtless moment of spite dared to cross his mind, "Well, just make sure to keep me in the loop next year when you're hanging out with your new boyfriend in Venice or Hone Kong or London."
A feeling not dissimilar to Shego booting her in the gut settled in Kim's core as her face distorted and she stared at Ron, hard.
It wasn't a lie that the two teens hadn't exactly spoken in any great detail about all of Kim's plans and aspirations and goals for after high school - but seriously? There was no need for Ron to even imply something so ridiculous.
"Can I interest you in a time machine if you're so set on grilling me about both my past and our future?"
They always had been just as stubborn as each other. The young couple shared an agitated glare with their arms folded and a matching wrinkle of frustration sinking into the skin between their brows. But naturally, Ron was the first to crack. The features of his face seemed to relax, and Kim was quick to follow as her own fortitude slowly crumbled.
There was clearly a lot about next year that they still needed to find the courage to talk about. But that would come later, Kim told herself. One problem at a time.
"Why does any of this even matter?"
Ron didn't reply at first. Every one of his heart strings was being tugged on by the last words Kim had spoken to him, no matter how sniping they might have been.
Our future.
Ron didn't want to mess any of that up. But he couldn't help his feelings, either.
"Because," Ron stressed, "At least if you had kissed Eric I'd be able to compete with some slime bag, robot, freak. But Josh? The dumb boy you were totally gaga over for half of high school, with perfect hair and a perfect smile, and now somehow I've gotta' find a way to live up to - "
"Ew! No, okay, stop - I am not going to let you do this to yourself."
Before his self-inflicted verbal wounds could cut any deeper, Kim propelled herself from the corner of the couch and absolutely dived into Ron's embrace. When her mouth latched itself around his, Ron's eyes shot open.
There was no slow build. Kim was all things sensual and passionate and intrusive with the way her kiss massaged Ron's. Teeth clashed, tongues twirled, and ragged breath was exchanged between heavy lungs as she pressed herself into him.
And then, it was like the intense moment was over before it even began. Ron's mind was almost certainly playing catch up with his lips when Kim pulled back, her teeth nibbling at him one last time as she did.
The room was deathly silent, all except for Ron's breathless panting. His brown orbs were wide and blank, while Kim's shimmering green ones only stared right into him, so endlessly sultry.
And then, she raised a single eyebrow.
"I never let Josh Mankey kiss me like that."
The way she looked at him was an unholy level of tempting. In the one swift act of boldness and passion from her, Kim had made Ron totally forget who the hell Josh Mankey even was, let alone what he had been so upset about. And he wasn't ready for the moment to end.
With a renewed sense of confidence, the teenage boy slid closer towards his girlfriend. And without another word being exchanged between them, Ron leaned back in to kiss her. Kim was quick to join him, her lips finding his in the much more tender meeting.
They stayed upright for all of four seconds before Kim jumped slightly at the sensation of Ron's hand on her hip. It lay there stilly for the first instant, but with an easing motion downwards, the blonde boy gently coaxed his girlfriend into lying back. When she tugged on the collar of his shirt, Ron shifted the lead back to Kim and allowed her to pull him down on top of her.
This time, there was a slow build. And, oh, how it made her shiver.
There was an awkwardly chaste kind of wriggle between them as the young couple made themselves comfortable. Ron's weight on top of her felt light as a feather to Kim when he finally settled with one leg between both of hers and angled down to kiss her softly. She was still holding him close as she shut her eyes and pecked back at him sweetly. A tiny smirk popped up in the corner of her mouth as she tilted her head slightly, trailing her kiss away from his lips and down towards his jaw.
Ron chuckled under his breath. He dipped down with a shake of his head, catching her lips again and daring to part them for a deeper kiss. He heard the rigid way Kim breathed out through her nose as she took a hand up to cup the side of his face. Her fingers traced the familiar path of his freckled cheek, and she sighed when Ron took advantage of leading his own lips down her neck instead.
Kim felt like she was sinking further into the couch as Ron's body descended onto hers. It was a pressure that suffocated her senses in the best possible way. The faintest smell of his cologne left from the dance drove her crazy, and the taste of his skin on her lips was as amazing as ever. It was only her sense of touch that was lacking when she popped his top two shirt buttons open and crawled her hand from his neck down to his chest.
It was all the encouragement Ron needed. His right hand had already fallen down her side, over her hip, and around the curve of her backside. And the high side-slit of her dress was slipping away inch by inch when he dared to take his touch to her bare thigh.
He thought he heard the tiniest semblance of a moan from her. He was almost sure of it. And he was certainly lucky not to echo the same sentiment when his hand slithered under her dress and his fingers brushed against the lace behind of her underwear.
"Is this okay?"
His deep whisper sounded almost husky. It made Kim want to sing out her instant consent at the top of her lungs. But with even half a second to compose herself, the teenage girl took a breath and added as much saucy softness to her voice as she could.
"I said lose a layer, remember?"
With that adorably naïve expression of his, Ron stared at Kim, mouth slightly agape, not wanting to leap to any conclusions. Kim peered right back at him, biting down on her bottom lip. And then as she leaned up and took her boyfriend's hand, she led him around to the back of her strapless dress. Ron immediately took the hint.
The tiny, blue zipper came down effortlessly, and Ron's gentle touch followed each centimetre of skin that was revealed between the parting fabric. He braced himself, waiting for the moment when the zip would get caught against the clip of her bra.
That's when the realisation hit him.
"Are - "
He stuttered, clearing his throat.
"A-Are you wearing a bra?"
There was another intense quiet. And then with a small smile, Kim shook her head.
Ron's entire body froze. His lungs skipped a dozen or so breaths and his heart raced, so loudly. The only thing louder than the thumping of his own chest was the same sound he could hear reverberating from Kim's.
"For real?"
"...For real, I'm not wearing one?"
"No," Ron chuckled faintly. The light playfulness dissipated from his eyes when his hand squeezed at her shoulder, "For real, this is okay?"
The pounding behind Kim's ribs turned to a flutter as she mirrored the warm expression in Ron's face that gazed down at her. It was so sweetly bizarre how quickly he had been the one to assume the protective position over her. It was a feeling that was sort of unfamiliar to her, but it was one that she simply couldn't get enough of.
She did actually stop to hesitate... for only the shortest moment in existence, "Mhmm."
The humming noise that vibrated from the back of her throat made Ron totally surrender to her as he placed another delicate kiss on her lips, one that was filled with all the devotion in the world.
As he slowly unfastened her zip the rest of the way, Kim tugged on the bodice of her dress from the front, pulling it down and over her chest. Ron took his hand to her breast first, while his lips stayed on hers and his eyes stayed cordially closed. He already wanted to explode. Her skin was milky soft and the near-silent mewling noise that left her was indescribable.
"Ron..." she murmured between their kiss, coaxing his eyes back open.
The way he looked at her left Kim warped under Ron's spell. She could feel the heat of his breath on her bare chest where he was fixated on her. There was a confident spark in his eye. His biceps were kind of tensed where he continued to hold himself above her, and the shadows dancing down his face ran firm along his jawline.
Kim blinked, almost surprised. It was the furthest away Ron had ever looked from the little boy she had grown up with. He looked like a man. And his voice had certainly dropped an octave or two when he crouched back down towards her.
"You're so beautiful."
His words were accompanied with a lingering kiss in the dip of her collarbone. It sent tingles shooting up Kim's spine. The teenage girl arched her back, pressing her torso into her boyfriend's as Ron's lips continued to trail down her upper body.
The running back took his time, giving his girlfriend every chance to ask him to stop if she wanted to. But when Kim took his hand and escorted it back around to its place under her dress, Ron only stomped on the accelerator.
He grasped onto the widest curve of her backside and grazed his lips over her breast. The sensation was incredible. Kim breathed out again, this time with a much higher pitch as she ran her fingers through Ron's hair. The moisture from his mouth that tiptoed across her bust left a string of irresistible goosebumps, and when his tongue circled around the small, pink nub in her most sensitive area, Kim groaned with a whistling sigh.
She reached her hands down, tugging Ron's shirt out from where it was still tucked into his pants as he switched his attention to her other breast. The moment was so insanely heavenly. Kim could feel the thin layer of sweat forming across Ron's body when she slid one hand up his shirt and took the other to his belt buckle.
And then - it became explicitly clear that Ron's mouth and hands and back weren't the only things that Kim could suddenly feel.
The teenage boy allowed a rumbling kind of growl to leave him as Kim's complexion paled, just slightly overwhelmed. When he pulled back and away from her, Kim immediately noticed the pressure vanish from where a lump in the crotch of Ron's pants had been pressed against the inside of her leg. The snow coloured pores of her face filled with more of a red tinge when she realised. But the moment of embarrassment was only very short-lived. Because the last thing Kim wanted was for Ron to feel that same emotion.
Subtly slipping her dress halfway up to largely cover herself, Kim tilted her head back towards Ron's and kissed him again, telling him with each gentle peck that everything was okay. She ran her nails through the lick of blonde hair that sat in the nape of his neck, whispering against his lips.
"Pause?"
She could almost sense when his impulsive twinge of regret morphed into an uplifting relief. His adoring eyes locked onto hers as he smiled and eventually nodded in agreement.
The gap that still existed between them from Ron's sudden movement was stretching far too thin when he shifted himself in beside her and pulled Kim into a tight hug. She instantly fell into his embrace, nuzzling into the crook of his shoulder and soaking in the remnants of his smell that she loved so much.
Neither of them were sure how long they lay there in silence, simply holding one another. Everything felt so utterly surreal. The way they had seen each other in this new and intimate light after so many years of friendship was all kinds of intimidating. But at the same time, all the genuinely euphoric emotions it evoked within them were pure magic.
When Kim finally heard Ron's heart fall back to a more steady pace in his chest, she smirked to herself.
"For the record... I never let Walter Nelson kiss me like that either."
The laugh that left him countered the volume of her audacity when Ron loosened their hug and shook his head, "Good to know," he exclaimed, kissing her with light lips and an even lighter laugh.
Kim's hand latched it's way around his wrist then, encouraging him to stay as she placed another two or three quick kisses on his mouth. But when the front of her dress kept daring to slip down, the cheerleader rolled her eyes with an innocent giggle.
Sitting up on the couch cushion more fully, she turned her back to Ron, "Zip me back up?"
His hands were warm the second they settled in their place on her back. A wildly adverse shiver crossed her as the baby blue fabric came back together smoothly. She almost wondered if it was weird that Ron hadn't really said much else yet. Kim bit down on her bottom lip, listening to the sounds of concentration she swore she could hear running laps in his brain as he re-dressed her...
...It definitely wasn't her fault that she was still just a tad too virtuous to realise that her BF was really focusing all of his energy into willing away the physical presence of his previous arousal. But then, he swallowed a tiny lump in his throat.
"You are, ya' know. Beautiful."
Ron gave the delicate zipper one last tug as he placed a gentle kiss on Kim's shoulder. He really did make her feel like a Queen.
"Ron..." she swooned softly.
Tucking a loose strand from her disheveled ponytail behind her ear, Kim thought back on everything that had sent Ron spiraling into his initial panic that evening. He never had been one to under-sell his emotions - that was for sure. But Kim was absolutely certain of her own.
"Remember last week when you said you've never liked any other girl as much as you like me?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, ditto, ya' big dork," she joked, turning back around to face him. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it sincerely, "I never will."
Ron's smile beamed brighter than the Homecoming disco ball. He never knew it was possible to feel so wanted. Because he did, and he also knew now that nothing else outside of that mattered. Josh didn't matter, and Bonnie didn't matter. The only person that did matter was curled up across from him on his family's couch, still holding onto his hand.
"So... all of that, like, just now was - "
" - Everything I wanted it to be?"
A perfectly content beat of silent reassurance passed between them as Ron traced light circles across Kim's hand with his thumb and he breathed out at her words.
He chuckled again, still in slight disbelief, "Well, I guess it was perfect night then."
"Mm, almost," Kim confirmed, narrowing her eyes at him cheekily.
The frown that fell into his brow was the absolute cutest.
It was true what Kim had told Monique at the dance earlier that night. At the core of everything else, Kim and Ron were still best friends. Their friendship was most important, to both of them. And as long as she still had him for the next hour or so before her curfew, Kim was sure that she was going to remind Ron of that.
"It's only just after ten. Still plenty of time to order a pizza and watch Agony County re-runs?"
Ron's expression lit up like the sun. God, her adored her.
"Boo-yah! Best Homecoming ever!"
With another totally smitten laugh, Kim watched as Ron snatched up the Kimmunicator to place an order through to J.P. Bearymore's. She snuggled up next to him, nestling herself under his arm and subtly re-doing one of his open shirt buttons.
A nervous kind of butterfly tumbled through her tummy then. She almost opened her mouth to speak. But instead, Kim simply stretched upwards and pecked Ron on the cheek.
Best Homecoming ever was such the understatement.
We've now reached the part of our scheduled programming where I put forward my argument as to why the Homecoming episode belongs here in the timeline for season 4 :)
Firstly, Kim is wearing her new mission gear, so it obviously takes place after 'Clothes Minded'. Secondly, you might recall at the start of the episode that Kim draws attention to her wrist Kimmunicator and refers to it as "My new Kimmunicator". That kinda' tells me its the first appearance of it? And thirdly, not that I'm American and have any real idea, but doesn't Homecoming take place closer to the beginning of the school year?
Anywho. It's totally not even a big deal, but I just wanted to clear that up in case anyone wondered why I seemed to be jumping so far ahead in time.
Also, hello! I'm so happy to be back uploading a new chapter for this story. I can't even remember the last time I reached chapter 10 for a story before growing bored and moving on from it... so I hope this long, saucy instalment was well worth the wait ;)
I'd of course appreciate any faves and reviews! I'd love to hear what you all thought.
Till next time guys,
Reneyyyyyyy x