"We're going in there?" Drakken asked, voice cracking, as they approached the small structure. He pointed to a food cart nearby. "Wouldn't you rather stay out in this wide open public space and get…"
Shego shoved Drakken into the photo booth and jammed a handful of quarters into the coin slot. He briefly wondered where her costume had pockets, but it was more than his life was worth to look her over to find out. Usually, anyway. He angled his head cautiously to one side, almost giving himself whiplash when Shego squealed and he jerked his neck straight again.
"I haven't been in one of these in forever!" Shego exclaimed. "Not since back when I was a kid and my friends and I would all make funny faces. Watch!" She pressed the start button, brought her hands to the sides of her head like antlers, and stuck out her tongue. She turned around and burst out laughing. "You should see your face! You look terrified!"
"Heh, heh," he forced out. "I, uh...you've never done something like that..."
She smirked at him. "Oh, there's plenty of things I've never done before."
"What exactly do you…?"
He was cut off as Shego launched herself at him, knocking him against the back wall and kissing him. Actually kissing him. Because the world was completely upside down. He put his hands against her shoulders and pushed her off. "Shego!"
Her lip stuck out in an exaggerated pout.
"Um, we should vacate the booth. Others might be waiting. And, um...we should go...watch...the ducks..."
"Oooo! Feeding the ducks from the pier? That's soooo romantic."
"They might be hungry. We'd better move quickly."
"I'm hungry, too," she said, walking her fingers up his lapels.
Drakken whipped the curtain open and stumbled out of the booth. "Then let's skip feeding the ducks, and, uh...go for dinner! In a restaurant! A popular restaurant with many people and a large table between us."
Her eyebrows drew together in a scowl.
"Soooo that I can stare into your beautiful eyes."
"Awww!" She tugged the photo strip from the booth and leaned against his chest, nuzzling her nose against his and tucking the images into his coat pocket. "There you go. Now you can stare into my eyes whenever we're apart. Which I hope is never again." She made her hands into claws and snapped them close to his face, making him jump.
"Lobster!" he exclaimed. "There's a quaint little seafood place down the pier. Always pretty crowded. Let's head there. Immediately." And he booked it away from the photo booth as fast as he possibly could, Shego running along by his side.
Three years later…
"You don't have to bother with a reception when you already have one of these," Shego said, flourishing an envelope. "I thought that was the whole point of the justice of the peace."
"You don't have any romance associated with marriage at all?" asked Drakken as they descended the steps in front of the Middleton courthouse.
"Nope. None. I'm in it for the tax benefits."
"I'm in it for finding out your legal first name." He opened the envelope and removed the notarized piece of paper. "What? Are we even officially married?"
"Got my name changed while we were there."
His frown turned into a smile. "Shego Lipsky?"
"Eh, didn't want to use first name 'She,' last name 'Go.'"
"It would've been shorter on tax forms."
She shrugged. "We can hire those out. You're paid well enough."
"And think how much money we'll be saving, now that we only have to heat one bedroom."
"I know you're trying to be...lecherous or whatever, but that's not how HVAC works." He rolled his eyes, and she patted his face. "We can turn the heat down a few degrees at night, though, since I'll have my own person-sized hot water bottle."
His eyes narrowed. "Shego...do you have cold feet?"
"Cold feet are for before the ceremony." He glared at her, and she grinned back. "Of course I do. But I can wear socks if it'll save us a therapy bill."
"You know what'd help start this marriage off right?"
"I have a few ideas."
He folded his arms. "A reception."
Shego tossed her hands in the air. "You need to have friends to throw a reception."
"We have family."
"Specifically didn't want my brothers to be part of this, and we're already having brunch with your mom tomorrow." Drakken opened his mouth, and Shego swiftly placed her hand over it. "You even suggest those two and I'm not wearing socks to bed this winter."
He heaved a deep sigh. "There has to be something special you'd like to do to celebrate. Outside of the lair." A flicker passed over her face. "What? What is it?"
"You...uh, you remember that photo booth in the park?"
"No, that strip of photos on my dresser mirror just appeared there magically."
"You kept the photos? I thought you would've destroyed them. You were completely freaked out."
"I was. And I started to. But…" Drakken twiddled his thumbs. "I accidentally picked them out of the trash two seconds after I threw them away. It kind of...became a less freaky memory later. After first getting to be a more freaky memory, when I realized I didn't exactly hate...I mean, I kind of missed…"
She smirked at him. "When your daily planner had room for kissy-face, after all?"
He looked at his watch. "Actually…"
She laughed and kissed him. He obliged for a minute, then pulled back and turned to walk in the direction of the park.
"We should save some of that gold for the photo strip," he said.
"Okay, okay, photo booth reception it is. I have enough cash for a few rounds."
One of the perks of marriage was that he didn't need to disguise his look as he scanned her up and down.
"Seriously, where do you have room for cash?"
She just smirked at him, and he huffed in irritation.
"Regardless...I have enough for soft pretzels from that cart nearby. You didn't want to stop there before."
"Well, you didn't want to be in the park with me at all before, so we're even."
He did a few exaggerated facial stretches. "Ready now. You can have all the kissy-face photos you want, sugarplum."
She shook her head. "I can't believe I married this."
"Believe it, Mrs. Lipsky." He held up his ringed hand.
Shego clinked her ring against his. "I could go for a soft pretzel."
"Photo booth, pretzels, walk in the park, and then...home for a tour of your new room?"
"Sounds like a successful scheme."
They took their time in the booth, and returned to the lair with a handful of photo strips that Shego immediately tucked into the edges of the dresser mirror. Drakken reached to take the first set down, and Shego swatted his hand away.
"Leave it!"
"Why?"
"For comparison."
Drakken looked between the images. "Ah, yes," he said, winding his arms around her waist. "You look positively sane today. Beyond all expectation."
"And you," she said, twisting to face him, "look like somebody ready for absolutely anything that comes next."
"You might still scare me; just a very little bit."
"Don't worry, Lips." She swung him away from the mirror and took his face in her hands. "That's how I like it."