A/N: Yet another thanks to bcbdrums for editing.
Make A Wish
Shego idly flipped the page of her magazine. She'd been looking at the same one for hours now. This issue had no interesting articles or juicy false news. In fact, she was almost disappointed there was no mention of the retreat incident at all. Considering some of the major players had been there, it was almost shocking not a word had been spread. Honestly, she was starting to wonder just how much influence Hench had in the villain community that neither one of them were aware of.
She glanced up at Drakken, still tinkering away with his laser as he had since they had gotten back two days ago. She had no idea what he was even doing and she wasn't about to try and decipher his chicken-scratch to get it completed sooner. After the whole attempt at vacation, it was a relief for things to just fall back to normal. She narrowed her eyes at her thought as she flipped the page.
Normal?
Back to the lair, back at the next scheme—him tinkering away, muttering and talking to himself and to her. She'd even made a few snappy comebacks earlier. It was as if they had both decided to erase the last week. On the way back to the lair all they had talked about were some new plans. Or rather, recycled ones.
She found herself suddenly annoyed. And the fact that she was now annoyed baffled her. Any other time she would have reveled in the wall of ignorance. Now however, something felt like it should be different. She just didn't know what.
She threw down her magazine in frustration, which caused Drakken to look up from the panel he was working on.
"Something wrong, Shego?" asked Drakken. He seemed to move to the other side of the laser and Shego rolled her eyes.
"I was going to say nothing, but now that you mention it," said Shego as she stood and crossed her arms, "how long have you been working on that same panel?"
"Ohm, just some little adjustments," said Drakken confidently, though his head tilt told her otherwise.
"You forgot what you're doing, didn't you?" asked Shego with a smirk. Drakken shook his head.
"Shego, I know exactly what I'm doing," he replied as he pulled his micro-scoping goggles up to look at her.
"Wasting time until you remember," said Shego casually.
"...Yes," said Drakken, tossing down his tools and goggles.
"He admits it," said Shego, raising a brow in mock shock.
"Yes, well, I can't keep going over the panel for another few days," he said. He stared at the laser. "I was getting a little concerned you hadn't noticed yet."
"Do you think I sit here and actually pay attention to what you're doing?" scoffed Shego as she turned towards the door. "Besides, I figured you messed up something the last four times you opened it."
"Thought you weren't paying attention," Drakken quipped. Shego chose to ignore his comment. "Are you headed out?"
"Maybe. Why? Remember what you were planning?" asked Shego as she looked back at him. He was looking at the laser. "Well?"
"No. I'm fine, see you later then," replied Drakken as he began putting his tools away.
"Yeah, yeah," she sighed.
Shego looked at her freshly-painted nails as she entered the bank. Well, 'bank' was what villains called it—in reality it was an underground vault network for those who couldn't simply have a normal bank account. It catered mostly to villains and higher-level criminals.
She looked at her cards and sighed. Drakken had made a note about Hench's little bleeding of the account, yet he hadn't asked to borrow anything. She shrugged. Technically she did tend to use the funds more than she really should.
She'd decided to go because it would be easier to check both of their accounts in person. She hadn't really checked hers since her lavish credit card splurge months ago. If he did ask she knew he would make a big deal about it, because honestly as much as she tended to spend, he was even worse.
It took only minutes to check the accounts, and she found there were enough funds to tide them over…if a few henchman were either let go or took pay cuts. But they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.
She opened one of her deposit boxes and perused the contents; it couldn't hurt to grab a spare set of gloves while there. She'd gone to keeping extras and sentimental items here versus the lair, considering the amount of times their lairs got destroyed. Now she just needed to remember which box she kept one of her spare pairs of gloves in.
She couldn't remember which ones held the gloves and two in and Shego froze as a glowing green stone caught her eye. She picked it up and stared at it, attempting to recall what this was even doing in a box with a few pictures and the Obsidian Diamond. She turned it over and watched the liquid shimmer inside.
"Oh yeah, that stupid carbon thing I had Hermes snag from Brotherson," smirked Shego as she put it back in the box.
She had the cover almost closed when she suddenly reopened it. She'd stolen it in case she needed something to sway Drakken with for something or another. Though clearly, she had failed to even remember it existed. She supposed she should give it to him since she had no use for it and maybe it would help with his current project.
Could give it to him for his birthday... Which is…today.
Shego grabbed the stone and slammed the lid shut. Turning on her heel, she mentally muttered a string of curse words, and some aloud under her breath as she left the bank. With all her thoughts about what had happened at the resort, she'd completely forgotten why they had even gone.
Drakken's birthday.
No wonder she'd caught him glancing over at her during the past few days, especially today. She'd chalked it up to him checking to see if she thought he was actually working, but it was clear to her now—he'd been waiting for her to mention it, no doubt.
Drakken sat in his office, spinning his pen in circles and leaning on his hand. His mind, per usual, was a train of thoughts speeding along like a run-on sentence. He glared. None of which had anything to do with deciphering his original ideas for the laser.
He'd managed nearly a whole day without Shego noticing he'd been working circles on it, or, so he'd thought. She had noticed, but had chosen not to comment. That wasn't normal.
He supposed there was a lot on her mind considering the last week they had. He was relieved everything was normal after their talk; he had been concerned that when they got back to the lair she would have gone on another vacation or just vanished entirely. He wasn't sure she hadn't actually, when she'd decided to leave this afternoon. He'd felt certain then she would be gone for a week at least, yet shockingly he'd seen her dart past the office a few hours ago. But when he'd called out to her, she hadn't responded.
The fire he was lazily watching caused him to close his eyes, willing himself to recall his thoughts on the laser before they'd gone on that chaotic trip. He knew he'd had thoughts while there, but the only clear thought that came to him wasn't helpful at all—his hand on Shego's face and the inclination he'd had to kiss her.
He flicked his pen across the room. Why did those thoughts pop up out of nowhere
Don't even think it. She's your...side-kick? Did she agree to partner? Associate?
She'd made it clear in the past there would be nothing between them, and thinking even for a second about it was toxic to their relationship. Friendship. Drakken nodded; they were friends. Though getting Shego to verbally say that was like pulling teeth, he knew it was so. He smirked recalling their conversation in the motel room.
He heard a commotion down the hall and raised a brow. "What on earth are the henchmen doing now?" he sighed as he began spinning another pen.
"This looks like shit," growled Shego as she tossed the pan in the sink, charred cupcakes flopping out as she did so.
Shego glared at the mess: three batches of total disaster. She looked at the box again as she waited for the last batch to be finished. It seemed simple enough, so where on earth had she gone wrong? It wasn't like she was baking from scratch—the idea made her feel psychically ill. How hard was it to add water, oil, egg, mix, and then bake? It wasn't rocket science.
She wasn't a cook or a baker. She had very little time or need to know how, ever. Even in Team Go, Hego always did the cooking if they didn't eat out. Mego baked from time to time, but that was it. Why she'd thought this was a good idea was beyond her.
"This is stupid," she scoffed and looked at the pans through the glass as the timer ran down. Only a single cupcake seemed to have turned out. "Here's hoping."
She pulled out the tray and glared. Yes, a stupid idea indeed. Her hand flared and she shot a plasma blast at the oven; clearly the thing was defective. She looked at the box and her sour expression faded as she groaned as she read the preheat time and then the oven's not-singed dial. Apparently she'd misread 350 as 550.
She picked up the only tolerable result and rolled her eyes. It was better than nothing. She could easily play off the cupcake and the stone like she hadn't blatantly forgot.
Why should I care if he does know?
She stopped as she picked up the frosting. Why was she making him cupcakes? She pooled her thoughts and came to a conclusion pretty quickly: he normally did something for her birthday, be it a dinner, a paid vacation, or an idle trinket. Though, it was doubtful he'd think she forgot as she had been the one to suggest the trip to begin with.
She looked at the cupcake and narrowed her eyes. She could have just bought one, it would have looked much better than the blue-blobbed mess she was staring at. She had seemingly wasted her whole afternoon making a series of messes for no reason.
"So you remembered? I don't see a candle," said Drakken. He was failing at hiding his grin as he held the wrapped gift, though his eyes rested on the cupcake more than on the mysterious package.
"Well, I couldn't find sixty, so I just forwent the whole thing," shrugged Shego, leaning on her palm and shaking her head.
Of course he brings up candles, how childish.
"I'm 42, Shego." His grin faltered, but she wasn't sure if it was at her crack at his age or if it was just the number itself.
"Besides, we both know what you would wish for," replied Shego. His brow quirked but he had turned his attention to the little box she'd wrapped. "World Domination of course."
"Think so?" asked Drakken as his eyes looked to hers. His expression was unreadable.
"Obviously, it's all you ever talk about," snorted Shego. "What else would you wish for?"
"Hmm, guess we'll never know," said Drakken, his eyes tearing away from hers. "So you got me a present, and baked me...a single cupcake?"
"Yeah, well...there's several dozen in the trash, so... Open it," said Shego, nudging him playfully. He raised a brow and her hand retracted. "What?"
"Nothing... You're just…in a good mood…" said Drakken. Shego shrugged. "…as opposed to your normal sassy demeanor filled with candy-coated venom."
"I'll have you know, I take that as a compliment," said Shego as she leaned back against her chair.
"I meant it as one," said Drakken as he opened the box. The green glow seemed brighter to her as he took out the stone. "Shego. Where did you get this?"
"You know back when I worked for Brotherson..." stated Shego. Drakken pursed his lips.
"So you've just...had this...the entire time... You know I needed it for a laser?" asked Drakken as he put the box down and leaned on his hand to look at her. "Just...collecting dust?"
"Honestly…I may have forgotten I had it," said Shego. She had an urge to smile at his expression.
What she had wagered was annoyance, a joke about reliability, or an eye roll. She hadn't expected the smirk he was fighting or the way his grin returned as he sat back and looked at it. He suddenly seemed to be fighting a laugh or a snicker; she couldn't tell which. She nudged him with her leg under the table and he looked back at her, his face falling into a half smile.
"So, that laser I was going to need this for... Funny story. I turned it into the mini hover board." His lip twitched. "The one you use."
"And...you can't make another one?" asked Shego. Drakken shook his head. "Because you can't or because it would be a veto idea?"
"So very veto. I vetoed it myself and turned it into the hover board," said Drakken, his grin spreading.
"So essentially, I stole from one of the most powerful people in the villain world to get you a...pretty paper-weight?" asked Shego. He nodded. "I wish I would have known that. I would have stolen something actually useful."
"I have a lot of papers, and the glow will be a nice ambience," said Drakken, his hand resting on her shoulder in thanks.
"Too bad it's green, it won't match your décor," responded Shego. His hand slid on her shoulder a little but stayed there.
"I don't know, Shego, I'm rather fond of green." There was something in his tone she couldn't read, but his grin was still there. Shego smirked.
"Interesting, I see a lot of red around here," she said.
"The most important things in this room are green," said Drakken. His eyes shifted to hers, and she felt a strange flutter as she raised a brow.
"Are they?" asked Shego. She found herself leaning closer.
"Yes." His eyes looked at hers for a beat before looking at his belt. "My coat and belt have green on them, and you know how much I love my coat. And now…my new favorite paper-weight."
"Idiot," Shego snorted before bursting into laughter.
She laughed long at his joke, though she didn't find it that funny. She froze as he handed her a fork. He seemed completely un-phased by the action, but she wasn't. She replayed the last few hours in her head and looked at the blue-frosted cupcake. She had never had an affinity for baking, nor did she plan on starting up a new hobby—had she really spent an afternoon attempting to bake cupcakes when she could have bought them far easier? Though, funds were low... That was not really the issue, just an internal detail she relayed to herself.
No… As her smile faded and she took the fork, there was a new question practically kicking her in the chest—had she just been flirting? With Drakken?
"Excuse me," sounded a voice near the door and they both turned to see Lucius holding up a box. "Sorry to interrupt, but Shego asked us to find these."
"The candles," said Shego, being pulled out of her thoughts as he tossed them to her and took far too long stepping out of the door.
"So you did get me candles?" asked Drakken, looking down at the frosted lump. "Shego, please don't tell me you're going to shove all these candles in one cupcake?"
"No, I'm just putting on the proper amount," snorted Shego as she stuck one in, her throat tighter than she thought it should be. "One seems more fitting to your maturity level."
"It's a five and you know it," retorted Drakken. Shego tried to push back the struggle she was having with her thoughts in order to focus, but she was having a lot of trouble. She gave a half-hearted laugh.
"All right, so, ohm," she lit the candle, "make a wish."
"Right," said Drakken. His smile faded a little and Shego found herself watching his features more than she should. She looked at the candle. Suddenly she felt uncomfortable, but less as his hand finally drifted off of her shoulder.
"Make it a good one," said Shego, knowing full-well it was some lame world take-over scheme or domination wish. She waited and focused on the flame, but Drakken seemed hesitant. "Well, Doc?"
Shego looked up at him, her body tense and her mind an array of spinning thoughts. She was expecting to see him looking at the candle, staring off in space, or even fiddling with the green stone that she now knew was useless to him. What she hadn't expected was the melancholy look on his face as he looked away from her quickly and then blew out the candle.
She felt the racing in her head finally stop. She hadn't been flirting. No. If she had been, he would have stated something was weird or that she was freaking him out again.
Me? Flirting with Drakken? Yeah right.
Still as they dug in to the cupcake, she felt like she should have been more concerned with the idea that she might have been.
Snickers →
