16. Fireplace
December, 2005
Drakken took another sip of the whiskey that his cousin Ed had sent for Christmas. It burned, but not nearly as much as he expected Shego was getting burned standing so close to the fireplace in the den. She was so near to it in fact, that her form was in silhouette behind the flames, the other lights in the room being out at the late hour.
"Why are you standing so close?" Drakken asked, not able to articulate any further as he felt the alcohol affecting his processing.
Shego turned, seeming startled herself, and then took a few steps back. He wondered if she'd not known she was so near. He approached, but was only able to come within about six feet of her before the heat from the great fireplace was too much.
"It doesn't burn you?" he asked, squinting as he felt his eyes being scorched.
"No..." Shego said, seeming to mull over the fact. Drakken supposed it had something to do with her powers. "Why'd you have such a huge fireplace put in anyway? Compensating for something?"
Drakken rolled his eyes at her smirk and took another sip of the whiskey.
"Can't roast chestnuts in this thing," Shego continued as she reached out her hand and wiggled her fingers.
Drakken passed her the drink, and then watched in surprise as she knocked it back and handed him the snifter with a gesture to fill it up.
"The holidays sure have turned you into a lush," Drakken said, picking up the bottle from the end table pouring the amber liquid. Shego reached for it, and again over his shoulder as he turned and held it away from her. He drank from the glass until she got her hands on it and splashed a tiny bit up his nose, causing him to choke and start sneezing.
"No more than you," Shego quipped back as Drakken glared, watching her finish the second half of the glass. He plied his handkerchief and tried to diminish some of the stinging in his nostrils as he watched her step back to the fireplace.
"At least I don't let it get to me," Drakken said, finishing wiping the splashed alcohol off his person and stuffing the hanky back in his pocket.
"Pft, neither do I," Shego said, spinning around to face him with a lopsided smirk.
"Oh yes you do," Drakken said as he flopped down into the massive chair that made him feel superior. "Going to cuddle up to me again and watch a painting show?"
"There's no TV in here and that was one time," Shego retorted as she stepped toward him.
"No it wasn't. You also cuddled up to me on the sofa at my mother's house," Drakken said, his grin growing triumphant as Shego's eyes widened. "And you can't even blame alcohol for that!"
He began laughing, barely noticing when Shego reached for the bottle and refilled the glass a second time. She turned back to look at the fire again, but Drakken caught her hand and tugged. He didn't expect her to spin back from his firm gesture and fall squarely into his lap, the whiskey remaining miraculously within the glass.
They stared at one another for a moment before the drink caused laughter to bubble from Drakken's lips again.
"Score two to booze, one to...uh..." He trailed off and considered a moment before looking at Shego's eyes that seemed suddenly very large. "Shego... Why...did you cuddle up to me at my mother's house?"
Shego swallowed slowly, her expression sober.
"Why is your fireplace so big?"
Drakken looked over to where the flames roared almost as high as he was tall.
"Because, Shego," he began, "a super-villain must have things bigger and better than anyone. Take this chair, for instance. And the lair itself! The way it rises majestically out of the sea, erect."
"...Sure you're not compensating for something?"
"And not only must everything be bigger and better, it must be bigger and better than what the other villains have! And I have the most lairs out of all of them—"
"Only because Kim Possible keeps blowing them up."
"The most henchmen—"
"Because you hire new ones after they're all caught and arrested."
"The greatest inventions—"
"Most of them stolen from other scientists."
"And the best side-kick!"
Drakken realized after a moment that Shego had stopped talking, and he looked down to see the firelight reflecting in her large, verdant eyes that stared back into his. The silence lingered, and his mind raced back over the last few moments of conversation trying to assess if he'd said something wrong. But the buzz of the alcohol was already muddling his memory.
"Darn right!" Shego said, snapping him out of his thoughts.
He was no longer sure what she agreeing with, and so simply nodded with a smug look in hopes of avoiding embarrassment. And then he realized she was seated in his lap. Her legs were drawn up and leaned against his chest, one of her hands held the snifter full of whiskey, and the other had just started playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. He felt a rush of nerves from head to toe at her innocent touch and felt suddenly that if she sat there much longer, she would know he was most certainly not compensating for anything.
"Peter Puffer Puff!" he exclaimed too loudly in his sudden panic.
In a moment, Shego had been dropped to the floor, he nearly tripping on her as he scrambled to the rug in front of the fireplace where his childhood toy trains were set up that his mother had shipped as a Christmas gift. He didn't look back at her as he began making choo-choo sounds and pulling the train around the track by hand.
The seconds ticked by as Drakken pretended to be distracted by the toy, mentally bracing for the tirade or possible blast of green energy for his actions. But they didn't come. He glanced nervously toward the chair and saw Shego just sitting on the floor and leaning against the red upholstery. Her eyes were glazed over and she was staring past both him and the half-spilled glass into the fire again.
He wondered if he should apologize for dropping her, but as he took a breath to do so she focused her gaze on his face. Her cheeks flushed that familiar color he couldn't quite remember the name of in that moment, and she barely got the whiskey glass on the end table in her haste to stand.
"Shego?" Drakken called, but she had already fled the room.