Chapter 12

Roxanne slowly woke up feeling pleasantly warm and secure. There was an unfamiliar weight lying across her stomach and her lower legs. As she became more aware, she realized that these weights belonged to the body that was hugged up behind her and was rhythmically exhaling on the back of her neck. She recalled the events of the previous night and smiled.

Megamind had nervously come to her room dressed in a set of black, non-leather pajamas. They looked crisp and new, so he was probably trying to dress to impress instead of wearing what he normally wore to bed. It was late and she convinced him to just lay down with her. They had talked for a little while, but she faded fast. They must have moved into this spooning position sometime during the night.

She wanted to turn around and look at his sleeping face, but she didn't want to disturb him. This was the first time she actually caught him asleep since she'd been staying in the lair. Maybe he didn't need as much sleep as she did. She brought her hand up and used her fingertips to gently trace nonsense designs on the back of his hand that was resting on her stomach. As she watched her pink fingers play across his vibrant blue skin, she realized that it had been several years since she thought that was odd. To her, it was just a fact: Megamind had blue skin.

Her fingertips found one of those pieces of skin that joined his fingers together. She had noticed them before when they held hands, but had never investigated. His seemed to extend out a little further than her own paper-cut prone area. As soon as she touched it though, there was a sharp gasp behind her and his hand immediately closed into a fist. Apparently, he wasn't as asleep as she thought.

Roxanne rolled over to face him and saw he was frowning and looking away from her. She placed a hand on his cheek and moved his head until his eyes met hers. He then cast his eyes down.

"Hey. It's ok. What's the matter?" she asked gently. She lightly ran her thumb against his cheekbone. He didn't say anything and it didn't look like he was going to. She sighed and said, "We've been holding hands all week, Megamind. It's not like I didn't notice. It's just part of you."

She didn't get a response so she tried a different tact. And if he wasn't going to notice the mischievous glint in her eye, that was his own fault. "Megamind, would you think less of me if I told you I was born with an extra toe?" she asked, seemingly at random.

His eyes snapped to hers, "Of course not, Roxanne!" he protested automatically. "Polydactylism? Really?" he asked curiously and she could tell he was about to throw the covers back and investigate her feet.

"No, not really," she said and tightened her grip on the covers. "If you're not going to think less of me if I was slightly different from the norm, then what makes you think I'm going to?"

He laughed bitterly, "Experience. And I'm just a bit more than slightly different from the norm."

"And I still don't mind," she said with a soft smile. "I don't normally share my bed with just anyone, you know." She leaned over and gave him a kiss. "Thanks for staying, by the way," she commented softly while staying close enough to him that her lips brushed his as she spoke.

"It was my pleasure," he mumbled against her lips before pressing forward with a kiss of his own.

She smiled as he pulled back, "What are your plans today, oh Evil Overlord?" She settled back down into her pillow and gently grabbed one of his hands between them. She didn't feel like getting up just yet, and it was nice just relaxing with her boyfriend.

He smirked, "I do enjoy when you call me that." She started playing with his hand and noticed that he still had bits of dried paint hanging around too. He continued, "We're just going to run some tests before your appointment this evening."

"Hmmm," she responded right before she yawned. They enjoyed a companionable silence, neither feeling the need to fill the room with words. Eventually, Megamind started running the fingers of his unoccupied hand through her hair.

"I've always wanted to do this," he murmured.

"What? Play with my hair, or lay in bed with me?" she asked, slightly teasingly.

"Yes," he responded seriously, then smirked at her. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.

"As lovely as this is, I need to get up," she told him and started to untangle herself from him. His expressive face gave a slight pout and she laughed. "You can stay there if you want, but I'm going to shower and get moving." She illustrated her point by getting out of the bed.

"I suppose Minion might be wondering where I've been. I'll shower and see what he's up to," he responded and also got out of the bed. She walked him to her door and gave him a lingering kiss before he left. She shut the door behind him and sighed. She was falling hard for the city's supervillain, and she was starting to care less and less about the potential consequences.

/\/\ - /\/\ - /\/\ - /\/\ - /\/\ - /\/\ - /\/\

Roxanne left her room freshly showered and ready to face the day. Her hair was still wet because of a distinct lack of a hair dryer in her room. And even though Megamind might have one or two around for parts, she wasn't going to be so insensitive as to ask him for one. She'd have time to fix it after it dried and before she went on her break-up date with Wayne.

She headed through the hallways towards the training room. She just had a feeling Megamind was in that particular area of the lair. As she passed a brainbot, she asked it to get her coffee. It had already 'bowged' and disappeared from sight before she realized that she has gotten used to the little guys. Enough so that she's giving them orders now.

She entered the training room and saw the metal detector they stole last night set up and both Megamind and Minion checking it over.

"Hello, Roxanne," Megamind greeted without looking up just as she entered the room. She smiled and leaned against the wall, deciding not to get in their way. The brainbot she sent for coffee came up and offered her a steaming mug. She accepted it and patted it on top of its glowing dome. To her surprise, it continued to hover nearby before eventually worming its way under her free hand. She gave it a little half smile and stroked its dome. She could feel little tingles where small electric arcs were meeting her fingertips through the glass.

"Ok, Minion," Megamind's voice drew her attention back to them. "Poke an arm through and it should alarm."

"Right," he agreed and walked up to the white freestanding rectangle. He raised a mechanical arm and stuck it through the opening. As expected, it alarmed and he removed his arm.

"Activate the watch and try it again," Megamind ordered. Minion twisted the dial on his watch and after a small flash of light he appeared as a tan, solidly-built, early-thirtyish man with dark hair. He was dressed in a dark striped, button-down, short-sleeve shirt, gray pants, and black tennis shoes. Joel. That was the name Minion had chosen for this particular disguise. Minion tried putting his holographically disguised arm through and it alarmed again.

"I was expecting that," Megamind commented. "Switch on the Deflector and attempt to pass through this time." Minion gingerly picked up an iPod-looking device and delicately pressed the middle button. There was a momentary shimmering in the air around Minion as it was activated, but it faded quickly. Roxanne noticed that he looked at the opening and then visibly checked his narrower-appearing shoulders before starting forward. She smiled as she saw him struggle to not turn sideways to enter. He passed through without setting it off.

"Ha! I did it!" Megamind cheered and clapped Minion on the back. Roxanne smiled as she felt a small sense of triumph that he managed to pull off what he'd been working on for a few days now.

"I knew you would, Sir!" Minion congratulated.

"What are you going to do about his shoes?" Roxanne interrupted while looking down at the dark shoes it looked like Minion was wearing. Both of them looked down at Minion's feet then looked back up at her. It was almost comical how well coordinated they were about it.

"What are you talking about? He's wearing proper footwear," Megamind said.

"Yeah, but they make you take your shoes off and put them on the conveyor," she told them as she handed her empty coffee cup to the brainbot that had wanted attention. They both stared at her as they processed what she told them.

Megamind sighed and ran a hand down his face. "How absolutely uncivilized… I haven't even experimented with those particular settings yet," Megamind murmured. He then looked up at her, "Are you positive about that? Will chartering a private jet bypass the shoe removal?"

"Yes, I'm positive. Well, for commercial airlines anyway. I've never been on a private jet, so I don't know if there's any difference."

Minion scoffed and replied, "For the prices they charge, there darn well better be!"

Megamind closed his eyes and rubbed his temples before saying, "Minion. Check on that will you? Anything else you can think of, Roxanne?"

She grimaced and said, "Sorry. Just stuff I usually go through at the airports." She tried to remember about any other oddities. "Oh, you have to remove laptops from their cases if you're carrying them on, and they can search any bag they think is 'suspicious.' Oh! And your carry-on toiletries…" she trailed off as she started thinking about just what these two were probably going to hide. "Why don't you just dehydrate everything you're going to bring, then one of you carry the cubes under the hologram? Then just have a small bag with whatever you're going to use on the plane," she suggested.

"That's inspired! And here I was, about to test how the cubes would scan under an x-ray," he flashed a quick smile at her.

"That's me. Vacation packer extraordinaire," she replied drily. Then she added, "Although it would help if I knew where we were going…" as she tried to coax that bit of info out.

"Ah ah ah. Somewhere tropic-kal is all that we'll tell you for now," Megamind teased as he approached her.

"You know I'm just going to find out when we get to the airport, right?" she asked drily as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Good job with your deflector thing," she said softly right before she gave him a kiss. His arms wrapped around her waist.

"Sir, I'm just going to… go… and work on that project…," Minion gently interrupted and walked past them and out of the room. Apparently he had turned his watch off at some point.

"Yes, yes, Minion. Go ahead," Megamind said distractedly before looking at Roxanne again, "I was under the impression that my inventions didn't impress you, Miss Ritchi?" He had a teasing glint in his eye.

She smirked in reply and admitted just as softly, "Well, I may not have always been entirely truthful about that."

He smirked in reply and responded, "I had my suspis-shions." He held one of her hands and gently pulled away from her. "Come, Roxanne. Let's try to modify these holograms Just in case," he said and started walking out of the room. She noticed that the same brainbot that brought her coffee decided to follow them.

Curious, she asked, "I thought you needed to copy someone before you could project their image."

"That's mostly true," he confessed and led her inside a room full of computers that she hadn't seen before. She really needed to get the official tour. "I left coding inside the watches that would allow us to create an image instead of using a copied template. I haven't had a chance to experiment with the setting yet though."

He removed his watch and hooked it up to a computer. She saw all the images that he had stored inside the watch pop up on one of many monitors. Including two of her. She gave him a look, but didn't say anything. They both pulled up a chair as he selected the image he had decided he was going to use on the trip. The brainbot lowered down and proceeded to hover over her lap once she got settled.

Dean, (the name Megamind chose for the image) had brown hair, was pale and just slightly taller than Megamind. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a black polo shirt with a little blue phone box above the shirt pocket, dark tennis shoes, and dark-framed glasses. Roxanne watched as Megamind's fingers practically flew over the keyboard and he kept glancing at a monitor filled with computer code and back at the screen with Dean's image. Soon, there were two pictures of Dean on the screen and then one vanished.

"Ok, here we go," Megamind muttered, his fingers never slowing down. Dean's feet vanished from the image. A minute or two later, his feet reappeared, but with black socks instead of black shoes. "How does that look, Roxanne?" he asked.

She analyzed it and commented, "It looks good on the screen. Can you put it on so we can look at it in person?"

"Yes, just give me one more second…and … done!" he replied as he finished typing. He picked up the watch, strapped it on, and twisted the dial. There was a flash of blue light and 'Dean' was sitting there in his socks. He lifted them up one at a time for inspection. He looked at her and an eyebrow rose on the unfamiliar face, "It seems to be working. I'll need to see if a pair of shoes will slip on over it. Does it look ok?" he asked in his normal voice. He didn't have a voice file for this image so it defaulted to his normal speaking voice.

"Seems fine. No glitching," she reported. "But it's still disorienting to see you in a hologram."

"It's merely a high-tech equivalent of a mask and cloak," Megamind dismissed as he turned off his watch. He suddenly smiled and said, "Oh! It looks like 423 has taken a shine to you," he said with what could only be pleased surprise.

She laughed and gave the hovering brainbot a little pat and asked, "Do they all have numbers? And how can you tell them apart?"

"Yes, they all have a numerical designat-shion," he answered one of her questions. "I think I'll assign 423 as the head of your own squad."

"Now what would I do with a squad a brainbots?" she asked with amusement.

"Whatever you want! That's the point," he explained.

"Why can't I just borrow one of yours when I need one?" she asked.

"You can. This will just eliminate the possibility of them having conflicting orders," he had already turned back to one of the computers and was typing again. The monitor with all the code went momentarily blank then filled up again. He hit a final button with a flourish and spun in his chair to face her with that slightly manic grin. "Ok, Roxanne! You have ten brainbots assigned to you."

"Ten! What am I going to do with ten of the little guys?"

"You'll figure something out," he waved off. He suddenly clapped his hands and changed the subject. "Now, I believe that we have some paint-related video to watch," he grinned at her as he jumped up and pulled her to her feet.

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into that," she half-heartedly complained.

Megamind gingerly wrapped an arm across her shoulders to guide her to the viewing room. She gave him a smile since this was the first time he did that. "You know you had fun," he said with a smile.

Roxanne leaned into him and wrapped an arm around his waist as they walked and admitted, "I really did." After a moment of silence, she continued, "It's too bad Minion stopped us before we could start lobbing balloons at each other. I'd have paid good money to see you splashed with a couple different colors." She grinned mischievously.

"I think you're forgetting the fact that I am incredibly agile and you'd have to catch me first," he teased.

"Please! You were just on the other side of the car. I think I could've at least clipped ya," she replied back. She was expecting him to immediately reply back with something about his superior brain or dodging ability or the like. So his momentary silence was surprising. She looked over and saw his brows were furrowed and his eyes were making short, rapid side-to-side movements like he was quickly reading an invisible list.

Before she could say anything his face cleared and he replied, "Perhaps you're not entirely wrong."

"Well, gee, thanks," she said sarcastically, then thought a moment. "Wait. Tell me you didn't just run through a bunch of calculations to see if it was possible for me to hit you."

"Ok, I won't tell you," he acquiesced as they entered the viewing room. She laughed and gave him a playful nudge. They settled on the leather couch and he pulled out a keyboard from somewhere.

"So, do you have like twelve computers in every room?" she asked.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said with a playful smile, "not every room." He turned his attention back to the keyboard, presumably loading up the brainbots' recordings of the paint-bombed Beamer.

While he was busy, Roxanne thought about the smile he just gave her. She hadn't seen it much, even in the last week when everything changed between them. She liked it. It made him look carefree and happy and she felt a warm little glow when she saw it. She was slightly ashamed to admit that she never realized (or more accurately, she never thought about) how unhappy he was before.

"Here we go!" Megamind announced and hid the keyboard away again. She focused on the monitor that held a display of a parking garage and waited for Joselyn's reaction. Then she grabbed one of Megamind's hands and drew it across her shoulder and snuggled up to him.

Yep.

Snuggling with a supervillain. And not for the first or, if she could help it, the last time.