Never Fear
By S-Chrome
Disclaimer: They ain't owned by me, my-dood.
I'm not here to lose, I'm here to win
'Cause I succeed in any situation I'm in
I need to succeed you can tell in my stare
That I go through the road of life without fear
"I'm Ron Stoppable... and I can't lose... in fact, I never lose... Unless it involves my pants... sigh..."
How often did Ron Stoppable second-guess himself when he gazed in the mirror and saw his reflection on the other end? Probably too many times for most people's comfort. He wasn't going to get anywhere with an attitude like this. The rule of thumb today was to not get rattled when a good chance presented itself... Not to get anxious or become faint-hearted at the moment of truth, and by God, Ron Stoppable was going to succeed today. Why? Because he wasn't afraid of anything! With the exception of monkeys, spiders, radioactive lakes, the prospect of Christmas being stolen, change...
There were those second guesses again. He had to have nerves of steel to accomplish his goal today. So with a pound of his chest in a mockery of an attempt to hype himself up, he served up his final thought as he went forth with his day.
'I've gotta be like Kim.'
With a wave goodbye to his loving parents, Ron was out... Ready to... carpe diem... or... um, seize the day.
I play with fire, though I never get burned
Even when I lose, it's a valuable lesson learned
So everything evens out in the long distance
I always take the path of least resistance
Not because I'm fearful, because I did it before
No one ever knows what might be in store
But I call it like I see it, and that's all you need to know
To win in this world, you gotta have the hustle and flow
Ron had certainly wished he was as good with poetry as he was with asking girls out.
That's what all the preparation was for. The self-positive talks, the chest pounding hype sessions, the constant Ron-in-the-mirror affairs... All that in anticipation to what might be his finest hour... or his dreariest disappointment. The last time he attempted a stunt like this was days before a dance a year or so ago and needless to say, he was shut down like rap music being played at a country club. The chance of that repeating was uncomfortably high... So why even go through the embarrassment?
He guessed that was because he knew he was going to get rejected anyway. He almost saw it as a joke. But that was last year, and he was one year older, one year wiser, one year smarter, and one year more mature.
Well, one out of four wasn't bad.
What was to fear anyway? It was simply asking a girl to the dance... It wasn't like death incarnate was staring him in the face or something like that.
The blond nodded to himself. He felt a renewed sense of confidence returning within him. He took another moment leaning on his locker to think things through.
'No Fear... No Fear... Never Fear.'
Just as the blond was beginning to buy into himself, his mantra and concentration was broken, and in a big way.
"Hi, Ron,"
His eyes shot open, and somehow he just saved himself from taking a tumble to the floor. There she was, and worse yet, right in front of him! The prospect of maintaining his calm at this point was long gone. He tried to reply, but he couldn't get his lips to move. His heart pounded a mile a second, and he felt like he was going to faint. Thankfully, though, instead of fainting, Ron somehow managed to get his right hand to move in a back-and-forth motion, producing a weak, but friendly wave. The girl giggled, in spite of his awkward behavior and gave him awave of her own. After she disappeared from his view, the blond exhaled feebly and slumped slowly to the hallway floor.
Right about now, death didn't seem so bad. At least in heaven, he could dance with all the girls that he pleased.
"I sooo cannot do this."
"Yes, you can."
Maybe Young Ron was hallucinating, because he could've sworn that he heard the voice of his best friend, Kim, come from behind him. His hallucination became stronger when she pulled him back to his feet... Ok... Maybe he wasn't hallucinating.
"Kim? What are you doing here?" He asked curiously.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot I don't go to this school," She answered jokingly. Looking at the state that her best friend was in, she decided to cut to the chase. "Come on, Ron. It's not rocket science. You know she likes you."
"How do you know that?"
"Because most girls wouldn't giggle after..."
"I was nervous!" He said defensively.
"You shouldn't be. You only see her all the time at practice."
She definitely had him there. Even though she did, he was even more determined to make Kim see things more of his way. With that in mind, the blond did some... digging.
"Yeah, well... You only saw Josh Mankey all the time, a-and you were alllike 'gaw' every time you saw him. You even went out of your way to..."
"Not about me, Ron, about you," The redhead said, putting the old news to bed.
"B-But."
"Come on, Ron, into the closet," She said, pulling him along with her.
Whenever a problem with the opposite sex came about, the old Janitor's Closet was the base of operations for Kim & Ron. The blond kept the door open slightly, from fear of that horrible sitch that happened a year ago.
"I-I still don't think I can do this, Kim. You gotta understand," He said. The auburn-haired girl wasn't having any of it.
"Ron, what's the worst that could happen?"
"Well--She could always say no... and send me on a one-way trip to humiliation nation."
"She could always say 'Yes'... and have a nice time together"
The blond takes a moment to think... He's still not exactly sold on it. He forms an unintelligible response.
"You conquered your fear of monkeys...and they're a lot more dangerous than girls."
Ron mutters once again. His best friend has given him just about every reason to swallow his fear and go through with it, but he's still not convinced enough.
"You know, there's always an alternative," She says, her eyes lowering.
"And what's that?" The blond asked, his interest picqued.
"You can always go to the dance with me, your one and only just-a-friend," She said with a Chesire Cat grin
He stops for a moment.
"Yeah... You're right, Kim. I-I should ask her,"
Before the teen heroine knew it, the blond threw her arms around her in a close embrace. She was surprised to get one of these, but not surprised in a bad way.
"Thanks for the pep talk, K.P."
"No big... Go git 'em, tiger," She said encouragingly. The redhead let out a wistful sigh as she watched Ron walk jovially down the hallways.
Maybe with the biggest shot of confidence he had gotten in his entire adolescent life, Ron sprung over to her locker. It just so happened that she was right there, her back turned, and taking some objects out of her locker. He looked her over. She was one of the prettiest girls in Middleton High. Brilliant blonde hair that went down to her back. Dazzling blue eyes that he wouldn't mind looking into for long periods of time, and to top those all off...
"Hey, Ron,"
Darnit... Not only did she catch him daydreaming, but she caught him staring... He couldn't slink away or wave weakly now... He was here with a purpose, got-dangit!
"Hi, Tara," He managed to croak out.
"Soo, are you ready for practice?" She said, trying to make some small talk.
"Y-Yeah, I am," He said simply.
In the awkward silence, Ron stared at the floor whilst Tara looked away. Neither one could stand the silence.
'Come on, Stoppable... Man up.'
A great thinker once said that "great minds think alike." because almost at the same time...
"Ron..."
"Tara..."
"...Do you want to go with me to the dance."
Both looked at one another, shocked that they just finished each other's thoughts.
"Yes!" They both said, again in unison.
Ron was afraid, elated, and joyously happy at the same time.
"G-Great... Pick you up at seven!" He said. In an instant, the boy ran through the hallways, and out of the building. Heck, he could two laps around Middleton right about now. He didn't know how exactly things were going to play out, but at least he went through with it, and she said 'yes.' There was only one thing left to say...
"Boo-YAH!"
The End
How about those personal experience fics, eh? I would go as far as to say that this happened to me once... Only exceptmyresult was a liiiittle different.
Think of this one-shot as Blonde Ambition, just with the roles reversed. That's how I see it.
S-Chrome