Insufficient Actions
Drakken finished tossing the rest of his scrapped plans in the shredding bin and sighed. He'd finally, after a few days of cleaning up all of his and Mego's mess, gotten back to his projects. Well, one day had mostly been spent being distracted by a new series of projects that he'd been offered to work on... He'd said yes to all of them...which Shego had lectured him for.
She'd been right that he had taken on too many and wouldn't be able to focus...though he was not about to tell her this. He looked at the remaining drawings and calculations all over his desk. He couldn't choose one to finish because every time he got so far he was pulled back to another. What was worse, the only complete thing on his desk was a project concerning the ozone depletion...and it wasn't even a helpful one. It would further deplete the ozone to create concentrated solar heat rays.
"Could have used that a year ago," he grumbled and flopped back into his chair. He nearly fell out of it as Shego's voice came from the stairs.
"Your mother is on the phone," she said calmly. "She insisted you pick up. We just got over the latest drama at your grandmother's nursing facility. Save yourself some time. Bridget needs her cane stolen."
Drakken grumbled as he stood and began walking up the stairs.
"Maybe...suggestion. We get a transferable phone system in the lab... One you won't take apart because you needed a wire and couldn't be bothered to go to a storage room." Shego's arms were crossed as he looked at the platform above him, an amused smirk on her face.
"I only did that twice," he sighed as he walked past her to the elevator, "and the one was faulty anyway."
"Mmhmm." He knew Shego had rolled her eyes despite not looking. He heard her hit the button as he barely stepped in the elevator. "I don't remember it that way."
"So what does my mother want exactly?" Drakken said, ignoring her statement as the elevator began to move upwards. "I have a lot to do and if it's something trivial—"
"I have been on the phone with her for an hour. You can spare ten minutes," scoffed Shego.
Drakken looked at her leaning against the opposite wall. There was something about her posture he couldn't place. He felt like he was missing something, as if he'd done something recently to irritate her. But nothing came to mind, so it probably had very little to do with him and more the personal irritation that was talking to his mother for any length of time. He grumbled the entire way to the receiver on the wall and cleared his throat to hide his annoyance.
"Yes, Mother. You needed to speak to me?" He put on a forced smile to lighten his tone.
"Oh good, you weren't busy," her excited voice said on the line. "Shego said she wasn't sure."
Drakken narrowed his eyes at Shego who was currently staring at her nails with a hint of a smirk on her lips. He almost forgot his mother was prattling on as he found himself simply looking at Shego. He wasn't even sure if he was trying to figure out her posture and expression anymore. He focused back in on his mother as she mentioned visiting.
"What was that Mother?" asked Drakken quickly.
"I was hoping you'd come to a family summer get-together and bring Shego," came her annoyed voice. "August is right around the corner and it would be nice after all that kerfuffle that was going on to have some family time."
Drakken paused and mentally calculated dates.
"Mother, it's barely July," Drakken sighed.
"It's the end of July," she barked. "I didn't want to bother you on the holiday because I assumed you and Shego were still resting from your little adventure. Or are you doing something with Shego for your birthday this year? You know you never come visit unless I..."
Her voice trailed off. Drakken thought about the plant mutation, the trip to Iceland, the various projects below, Mego's visit... He'd lost track of time. If his mother was correct, he had the project he'd just scrapped...due in a few days. He suddenly wondered why he'd chosen that date, and it dawned on him it was his birthday and he'd wanted to be busy that day. His mother's voice came back in again.
"Well are you coming?" asked his mother.
"Uh, no. It seems I have lost track of time and I have some very important projects I have to do. I'll talk to you later Mother." Drakken hung up without letting her finish or giving a proper goodbye. "Shego. You didn't tell me one of my projects was due Monday. You're supposed to keep track of dates and times."
Shego raised a brow.
"You seriously forgot an entire month?" scoffed Shego. "If I didn't want to avoid Mego for another year I'd have him give you a CT scan. Besides you were done with that one anyway. I saw it yesterday when I brought you your tub of water to soak your roots in."
"I— You didn't bring me a tub of water. You brought me two gallons of water," grumbled Drakken.
"Three. You may not remember because when I brought you the third one to remind you of Monday...Flower had gotten stuck in one." Shego shook her head slowly. Drakken felt his face grow warm.
"Flower was not stuck in it... It was merely absorbing water droplets," Drakken sputtered.
"I watched you try to fight it to get it out...before I came over and melted the jug off," snorted Shego. "I watched the whole thing."
"Nghn. It doesn't matter," Drakken waved his hand dismissively. "I scraped the project. I have to start over."
"Scrapped it? Why?" Shego's eyes shot open. "You ranted and raved about its perfection just the other day when I was down there reading."
"Oh that was about the ODL," Drakken grumbled and walked past her.
"The what?" asked Shego.
"The Ozone Depletion Lasers," sighed Drakken. "I was working on that repair idea and it turned into the opposite... Which means I should work on that sooner. Only a matter of time before someone else tries the same thing..."
Drakken trailed off as he reached the elevator.
"So you're working all weekend again?" asked Shego. Drakken nodded as he looked at his watch, wondering if he could afford a small nap or go to sleep early and binge the next few days without sleep at all. Shego was still talking. "Can't you recycle the old idea?"
"Probably not," sighed Drakken. It dawned on Drakken that Shego hadn't left the lab since Mego had left and had even stayed the last two weekends. "I'm going to need to power through what I have... No distractions."
Drakken watched a series of expressions skate across Shego's face. He tried to register them all but all he could pinpoint was shock, anger, and what looked like annoyance now as she shrugged. Drakken began mentally redrawing his idea and seeing where he went wrong. However, like before, the other sprang back up. He turned in anticipation of Shego joining him in the elevator.
"Maybe I should call Junior and go out for the weekend if you need time alone in your lab?" Shego's expression was unreadable but Drakken felt relief.
"That would be perfect!" grinned Drakken. Shego crossed her arms and sighed.
"Guess I'll go do that then," grumbled Shego. "I'll be down in a bit."
Drakken watched Shego turn on her heel and head back into the living area. He hit the elevator button and decided to head back to work.
Maybe I can rework the power configurations...
–
Shego tossed her phone on her bed and grumbled before yanking open her closet. She'd unintentionally agreed to a small villain gathering while trying to make plans with Junior. Something she wasn't sure she even wanted to attend... Her hand ran along her clothes and then to the suit she was wearing that day. She'd been in the lab all week and without Mego there, it was back to normal. She scoffed under her breath. Drakken hadn't so much as acknowledged her in his work save for asking for things or yelling for where storage items were.
If she didn't know any better...she'd think the past month had been a strange fever dream brought about by stress because of the aliens and Drakken's mutation. Though as she picked out a rather nice black dress, she wondered if she should be concerned he'd seemed to have legitimately lost time—something he normally did when he was fixated on too many things at once. She narrowed her eyes.
"I told him to say no," she complained. "I mean what is he afraid of... They'll stop giving him things...? Hey, flowers... What's the verdict on that guess?"
Shego looked towards the window where a few floated lazily in the wind. They seemed to stop and turn her way—something that was strangely becoming endearing...save for the ones that had become bold at night and opened her window to hang over her sill. They seemed not to follow her question as they returned to moving around. She rolled her eyes.
I can't believe I'm talking to plants... I do need a weekend out.
She picked the dress out of the closet and thought about the weekend again. She was both excited to leave the lair and nervous to leave it all at once. It was something she wasn't familiar with... She'd only felt that way right after the Lowardian incident when she'd gone to get food and left Drakken at the destroyed lair... It had been short-lived as they'd gotten the UN news soon after. Her stomach knotted and she took a few seconds longer than she should to realize she was anxious about leaving Drakken unguarded. Shego sat on her bed in thought, suddenly wondering if Drakken had been worried about this too and that had been the reason he had acted so hastily...and now everything was back to normal. She looked down at the dress in her hands, playing back his brief time saying he'd had feelings for her longer than she had for him... Was it true?
She shook the thought from her head and decided to get back to the lab before Drakken yelled for something else he needed and she wasn't there. He was simply stretching himself too thin. Three nights in a row she'd had to force him to leave and get sleep... She doubted he actually had because when she'd gone down the next morning...he was back to his projects.
She was halfway down the stairs when the thought came back, suddenly remembering the pickle jar situation when she'd briefly been good. He'd only come to get her because of a petty need... What was to say he wouldn't have exaggerated feelings for her out of some dormant fear of being left alone? She hated the crawling she felt in her mind at the thought. She continued down to the lab in a daze, her mind falling back to him avoiding kissing her despite knowing the spores had been fine...to kissing her to attempt distraction to reclaim his dumplings.
He hadn't kissed her since.
Now he was elated she was going for a weekend...as if he'd now moved on from a concern of being alone or something similar. The elevator door opened and she stepped out onto the landing. She processed her thoughts about what Drakken may be feeling or conspiring or if he was simply just being...Drakken. She'd never thought so deeply about Drakken's motives or actions before... Why was she suddenly concerned there was something more to them?
She looked down as Drakken tried to unroll more paper on where he'd created a bigger desk from an old storage table, the smaller scrapped paper now laid out upon it. She could hear mumbling of numbers or general noises as he tried to figure out whatever problem he'd created or forgotten.
"Ah, Shego, you're back," he smiled up at her. "Can you help me get this paper to lie flat?"
Shego pushed her thoughts aside as she headed down the stairs and let out a dramatic sigh she didn't actually mean. As she approached she watched as Flower tried to hold one side of the sheet down, and she snorted as Drakken shot it an agitated look. Shego smirked as she let her hands glow faintly as she reached for the one corner, the heat causing it to lie flat.
"I have weights—or that works," smirked Drakken. "So I think I figured out the formula issue but now I have to redesign it to work. If I can get that drawn up...I could have this done by Saturday night."
Shego raised a brow and looked at him.
"So...did you want me not to go out all weekend?" asked Shego. She felt her stomach flutter.
The excited grin he'd gained in his ramblings faltered as he looked up at her. She watched the stiffening of his jaw before he waved his hands dismissively.
"Oh no. You go out and have fun doing...whatever you and Junior do. I have plenty of other things to work on," he gave a nervous chuckle. "So ohm...when are you leaving?"
"Tonight. We're going to a club in Venice," said Shego. The fluttering had stopped. "I can cancel if—"
"No. No," hastened Drakken, "I have Flower if I need anything so no worries about me bothering you either... Did you want to go get ready then?"
Shego fought the urge to narrow her eyes as he practically seemed to be shooing her from the lab. She wanted to berate him with questions about her previous thoughts from upstairs but she found she was more afraid of the answers she might gain from it. Instead she shrugged and finished heating the edges of the paper to smooth it out.
"I might take you up on that offer." An idea struck her. "Gotta get all dolled up if I want to get guys to buy my drinks, right?"
She tried to read his posture or expression. She watched the corner of his lip twitch before he rolled his eyes.
"That's not exactly hard for you, Shego," he gave a forced smirk. "All else fails...you have my cards memorized."
"That I do," she teased. Still nothing gauged from him as he walked around the paper and flattened any small creases, so she continued. "Who knows... I might find some big dumb beach gorilla who's wealthier than Junior to treat us."
"Are you sure you're not talking about Junior?" teased Drakken. Shego snorted and shook her head. Drakken looked up. "You have a fun time. I'll see you...Monday?"
"Maybe," shrugged Shego, "I'll see."
Shego waited there for a second, unsure if she should leave or say something more. Drakken didn't seem fazed by her words and it only fueled the boiling inside her head. She looked down at her hand next to his and watched his fingers twitch.
"So...guess I'll head out," Shego stated. Drakken nodded.
"Let me know if you need bail money," he chortled.
Shego snickered and made her way hastily up the stairs to the elevator, a series of feelings fluttering through her at his lack of concern at her words or the fact he'd not even made an effort to seem romantically inclined at all. As the door of the elevator opened and she quickly stepped in, she found her arms wrapping around herself as she glared at the ground. She knew the weekend was going to be far from relaxing.
–
Drakken watched as the elevator door closed before falling back into his chair and kicking his desk in anger and frustration. He had to stop himself from tugging on his hair, Flower flying towards him to bring him a box of tissue. He glared at the flower and tossed the box away from him. He looked up at the closed door and let his mind wander away from his project.
A mistake really. He'd only just gotten focused on that one and away from the others before Shego had come down the stairs. He'd had to stop himself from asking her to cancel the plans he'd previously encouraged. He'd been relieved that he'd be done sooner and had thought perhaps a very late Villaversary celebration... A month late, but it was the gesture. He'd even pondered it as a stepping-stone to an actual...date.
He mumbled a series of frustrated syllables, venting as he tried to clear his thoughts only to land back on Shego's words.
"I might find some big dumb beach gorilla..."
He leaned on his desk and glared. He didn't want to be presumptuous or ruffle feathers by stepping too fast too far, but he'd be lying if he said the idea of Shego flirting with some muscle-bound idiot for free drinks didn't made him nauseous. It was clear she was setting up boundaries with her words... While she claimed to have feelings for him...it was becoming clear they were not in the same attitude as his. He wondered what would happen if he stormed upstairs and told her he didn't want her flirting with anyone, or that he wanted a more clear confirmation of their current status.
She hadn't so much as made any form of romantic gesture since the night Mego left... And he'd been the one to kiss her by means of using the dumplings as an excuse to do so. He knew all that him expressing himself would gain would be an eye roll or a snort...or maybe even Shego putting a cold halt to where they currently were.
"Wherever that is," he hissed. "Ngn... Maybe if I just give her my card and insist she use it so she doesn't need to flirt at all... That might sound less insistent and more...casual...right?"
He looked at Flower, who did nothing but smack him in the face and vanish.
"You are lucky I can't get rid of you," he grumbled as he stood up. "Moody little foliage."
Drakken practiced his words internally the whole way upstairs, trying to find other ways of wording things that would not sound demanding or needy in any way. He assumed she would come down to the lab to say goodbye like she always had in the past. Even a simple wave had been common. So when he got upstairs to see the hover car flying off in the distance he'd been a little shocked. The words that he'd carefully crafted fell away as he let out a deep sigh and picked up his phone, sending a quick text telling her to have a good time. He felt some of his energy drain as he turned back around and headed to the lab. He knew that his weekend was going to be far from productive now.
I mean... we all know they have issues...
