Mixed Messages
Shego hung up her damp and ruined dress and sighed. She was certain there was no saving the already mottling fabric. She yanked the towel out of her hair and hung it up too and pulled her slightly damp hair back in a pony tail. She was still furious about Drakken's little stunt. She knew he'd been in a mood and probably thought she was snooping along with Ed, but a surprise dip was not the way to go about it. Now her dress was ruined—she sneezed—and she found her mental rant stem off into a glare at the ground.
I swear if I get a cold...
She was too alert now to even try to sleep despite that she would have normally done so at this hour. There was a part of her that wanted to march over to Drakken's room and blast him. Another part wanted to go over there and explain that he'd gotten the wrong idea. While she knew neither was going to happen, she never had a chance to decide as there was a very light knock at her door. If she hadn't been so close to it, she might not have even heard it.
"What do you want?" snapped Shego. Yeah, she was clearly still agitated.
"Shego...Can we talk?"
She was leaning towards blasting him now. She took a deep breath before pushing the button to open the door. She focused on not doing just that as the door slid open. He stood in his pajamas staring at his hands as he massaged them. The sound seemed to startle him as he jumped and his eyes shot up to hers. His expression flickered through a series of emotions she had no time to register before falling to indifferent.
"Ohm...So Villa-TV has a special—"
"Are you kidding me right now?" asked Shego. She shook her head as she closed the door.
She flopped down on her bed and rubbed her temples. He was so infuriating. Who comes to a person's door in the middle of the night after the chaotic weekend they'd had? As if mere hours ago he hadn't spun her into a freezing lake. He didn't knock again so she assumed he'd gotten the message she was not in the mood to talk or watch TV with him. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself into sleep. The image of his expressions flooded through her head. For a moment he'd looked frustrated now that she thought about. Had he been angry that she'd opened the door? Why would...
Shego's mind swam to the attic again. Her anger about the pond faded into annoyance as she slid off her bed and headed to the living room. Her agitation was still present, but had waned enough that she was ready to hear him whine about it. Then she could snap at him about the destruction of her dress and his petty behavior. She smirked as she walked down the hallway. He would argue, she would argue, he'd storm off because she would be right. Tomorrow morning they would both be over it. She didn't even make it to the living room quarters as she saw Drakken standing at his door.
"Shego," he took a step back as he'd about to go in. "Are you headed to the kitchen?"
"No. You woke me up," she lied as she crossed her arms and stood in front of him. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Nehn..." He looked on edge before clearing his throat, "I just wanted to apologize for not warning you before I dropped Possible and her side-kick off."
"Yeah, that would have been nice," said Shego as she leaned against the wall. "Or if not warn me, pushing the auto seat-belt button would have been appreciated."
"I didn't think about that. It was a spur-of-the-moment thought," stated Drakken as he leaned against his door
"Well next time you decide to get a subconscious spur-of-the-moment revenge idea," sighed Shego, "maybe wait until you're sure there's a reason for it."
"I wasn't..." he trailed off in confusion that resolved into narrowed eyes. "Why were you in the attic with those two?"
"I heard them up there," shrugged Shego. She didn't feel like elaborating on her step-by-step actions. "I wasn't snooping in your family things. Though it would have been nice to know those things existed."
"I don't see how their existence changes anything," Drakken glared now.
"While Motor Ed is looking to find old lairs for black market sales, perhaps knowing the possible location of a person who has orchestrated two attacks on me...would be a good heads-up." Her agitation making its way back.
"There's nothing about that in those things even if someone could have understood the secretarial codes," responded Drakken calmly.
Shego opened her mouth to continue the topic but chose not to. She didn't want to further tempt herself into delving more into something she knew Drakken didn't want to discuss. He'd apologized for his antics, though she was still bitter about her ruined clothes. She smirked though; it had been funny to see the two teens' expressions before she'd swam to shore. She decided that it was best to just let the whole weekend go and move on. If she did, it would also mean there would be no talk of other events that had occurred.
"What's the special?" asked Shego.
"I...what?" Drakken responded with confusion. Clearly he'd expected her to press more.
"You said there was a special on?" shrugged Shego. "It better be good."
"Oh...ohm. I think it's a holiday one," he muttered before clearing his throat. "If you're not tired..."
"I wouldn't have asked what it was if I wasn't planning on watching it," sighed Shego as she walked towards the kitchen. "Do we have any popcorn left?"
"Depends if you bought any after the last movie night," shrugged Drakken as he walked beside her.
"So...no," said Shego. Drakken nodded as they entered the room. "Chips and salsa?"
"We have hummus...but I don't know when it was purchased," responded Drakken as he opened the fridge.
"I'll see your questionable hummus and raise you some stale chips," Shego said through a sneeze "and a possible cold."
"...Fine," shrugged Drakken as he grabbed the hummus and some juice. "But if you get sick just to veto our next plan...I will not hear it."
"Do we have a new plan?" asked Shego.
"...No," Drakken shook his head as they headed to the living area.
They flopped onto the center of the couch at the same time. Shego's arm bumped into his. They both glanced at each other and she scooted away. He followed her cue and did the same. Shego sat back against the couch, whatever thoughts she had about their previous discussion faded away completely. The television channel was switched as Shego killed the lamp and Villa-TV started playing holiday movies. All about villains winning of course.
Drakken kept shifting every few minutes, but Shego didn't get annoyed. Mostly because she was thinking about why she'd scooted away so quickly. Normally she would have simply shoved him and told him he was in her space. He would have pulled a face and she would have continued to poke and annoy him until it board her. She glanced towards him as he leaned on his hand and offered her chips. She took one as she hugged her pillow to her.
She settled into trying to focus on the plot of the movie and eat the questionable snacks. She chewed slowly and then pulled a face, and put down the hummus. Clearly that was not happening. Drakken went to dip his chip into it and she scooted it away and shook her head. He grimaced in understanding. She heard him let out a sigh amid the sound of crunching from both of them.
They sat in silence for half the movie, occasionally yanking the bag of chips back and forth playfully. Shego watched the two main characters kiss on the screen and it made a swirl of emotions constrict her gut at the sight. It was very clear that the two in the film were about to go much further then a currently heated kiss. Normally she might enjoy whatever was happening in a 'villains win' movie, but there was something unsettling about it now. Perhaps it was because it was in a kitchen setting. And that the characters were two villain partners... She felt she was on the right track in her reasoning.
"I'm changing the channel. This is stupid," sighed Shego as she reached for the remote as the scene was changing to a bedroom setting.
"Why did you kiss me?"
Shego's whole body seized up and her hand clutched the remote tightly. In a series of brief seconds her mind spun Drakken's statement. Drakken had actually asked? She wondered if this had been the real reason he'd come to her door. She doubted that. Replaying their last twenty minutes of conversation, the agitation she still felt, the fact she had not planned on talking about this...and the solid fact they were both sitting on a couch in their pajamas in the middle of the night in their lair, alone...drew a solid blank in her head. She looked at him with the remote clutched in her hand. His expression was unreadable, his eyes only held the question in them.
Just tell him you wanted to... Say why not—
The idea of telling Drakken she had no real idea why other than the fact she'd been thinking about it more than she cared to admit to herself...both terrified and horrified her. Two scenes played very quickly in her head if she said that. He would freak out, give a lecture on they were partners and that was something she should work on...because of world conquest or whatever. Or...or. Her chest pounded at the idea of there being an 'or' at all. She didn't know which one she feared more. The only way for her to decide on telling him was his expression...and there wasn't one. She clutched the remote tighter.
Say something…
"I was just messing with you," said Shego.
She waited to read his expression to see if she should continue, if she should say more or play it as a joke. However she didn't get to see Drakken's expression shift because in her nerves she'd changed the channel. The momentary darkness obscured his face for a few seconds. When the light came back, there was a look of relief on his face. Her chest tightened.
"I figured as much," he let out a light chuckle as he looked at the television with a half-smile. "What a relief. I was worried you suddenly had a crush on me or something."
"Pfft," scoffed Shego as she shoved her hair behind her ear and slumped into the couch. "Me, have a crush on you?"
"I know right? Lucky you I had the right mindset when you did that. I told myself, 'She has to be setting up a joke here...because she knows I don't see her that way,' you know, because I don't," said Drakken as he slumped farther into his corner away from her.
"That's... That's why I did it," she replied, beginning to chuckle. "I knew you knew...it would be a joke," she finished through laughter.
"Right. Because I've said it before: I don't see you in that light...like at all. Completely platonic friendship and partnership..." Drakken prattled on. He mirrored her chuckle.
"Oh yes. Got it. Loud and clear," retorted Shego.
A Christmas film began on the television now. Shego grabbed the couch pillow on the opposite end of where Drakken slumped. Her chest was pounding at his words. She was more secure in her decision now, but she didn't like that she'd made the right one. She glanced at Drakken... He was focused on the television. He didn't see her that way. He'd said that before, but the relief she'd seen on his face... It hurt. She glared at the television. Of course he didn't.
He liked women like Carmella or DNAmy. Cuddly, touchy, sickeningly sweet... She wasn't any of those things. In Drakken's eyes she was snarky, difficult, dangerous, and at times cruel. Perfect for a villainous partner... Not so much for a romantic partner. She rolled her eyes at her own musings now. It wasn't like she couldn't be any of those, it was just not something you projected in a villain environment.
She had a flashback to her date with Steve. She'd liked the attention, the flirting, the hand-holding... She could chalk that up to being good and her mind compromised. She glanced over at Drakken as he snuggled his couch pillow closer. She had a sudden image of wanting to be the one snuggled under his arm and watching that romantic comedy she'd been so eager to turn off.
Her stomach turned for a whole different reason. She wanted to have couch-cuddles, hand-holding, snarky jokes, stupid plots, and kisses on a couch while watching stupid movies before coming up with the latest scheme. Her confused thoughts over the past few months finally resolved into the understanding she had been fighting until he'd made that statement. It was the same feeling she'd had as they'd been laughing and fighting over a pillow... The swirl she'd felt as she'd tugged on his apron to kiss him.
She tightened her grip on her pillow as she looked anywhere but at Drakken. He couldn't see her as anything more than his partner in crime, and she... She...
I'm in love with him.
Boom! -
