"I'm sorry; I'm sorry; I'm so sorry," Megamind says, voice distressed and hands soothing as he holds Roxanne's hair away from her face.
Roxanne wants to tell him that it's all right—it's not as if they didn't both think this dose of the inhibitors was correct—but she's too busy throwing up again.
Clearly they need to look over the research another time.
"You kept it," Roxanne blurts out, catching sight of the houseplant.
Megamind glances up from checking the dosage calculations for the fourteenth time. Roxanne looks over at him and sees his eyes soften as he realizes what she's looking at.
"Of course I kept it, Roxanne," he says.
She swallows hard and turns away, drawing a fingertip gently up one of the plant's spiky leaves.
"I'll—have to tell Cyril how well his offspring is doing," she says, trying to hide the catch in her voice.
They do, eventually, get the inhibitor dose right; the first time Roxanne goes out in public and her powers don't leak out at all she bursts into shocked, relieved tears and Megamind pulls her into one of the empty library reading rooms so she can cry and he can hold her.
"You," Roxanne giggles, "you all—steamrolled him! I didn't—I didn't have to do anything!"
"I—I don't know what you mean," Megamind says, laughing, too, not even bothering to try to make the denial sound convincing. "The mayor is—extremely excited to have our reformed supervillain take Metro Man's place! Extremely excited!"
"We were very polite, Miss Ritchi," Minion says, quite angelically, as if he hadn't just been menacing the Mayor in a highly effective manner only a few minutes ago.
"Now he knows how it feels," Wayne says, looking darkly satisfied. "I was fifteen when he talked me into doing it in the first place 'oh, but it's your duty as a citizen; I know you'll make the right choice, young man!' The bastard."
Roxanne makes a happy sound, hugging herself, eyes closed. Megamind laughs, sudden and joyful, and picks Roxanne up by the waist, spins her around in the air. Roxanne shrieks with surprised, delighted laughter.
Figuring out the proper inhibitor dose and getting Roxanne accepted as a superhero actually both turn out to be…slightly less difficult than—certain aspects of her relationship with Megamind.
Much to Roxanne's dismay.
"We don't have to, Roxanne," Megamind says gently. "We don't ever have to if you don't want to."
"But I do want to!" Roxanne says, hands fluttering in distress and frustration. "I've wanted you for ages; I want you so much! I just—I just keep panicking; it's so stupid; I'm so sorry—"
Megamind kisses the top of her head and she curls up closer to him, presses her face to his shoulder.
"You had some extremely terrifying experiences with this," he says, his voice soft, "the panicking is understandable, Roxanne. And it's not as if it's your fault."
Roxanne makes a miserable noise.
"I just don't want you to feel like I'm playing with you," she says unhappily.
Megamind doesn't answer for a slight beat.
"Why not?" he asks.
Roxanne sits up to look at him.
"What's wrong with playing?" he asks. "We're supposed to be having fun! You telling me to stop, and me stopping—what if you didn't wait until you actually felt uncomfortable to say stop? What if you did it—like that game, you know, the one where you turn around and people try to walk to you and then you spin around and they're supposed to freeze—"
"…red light, green light?" Roxanne says, lips trembling on the edge of a bemused smile.
"Red light, green light!" Megamind says, smiling at her brilliantly, and then adds. "Do you know, I was so disappointed as a child when I found out that game didn't involve actual dynamite—"
Roxanne laughs.
Megamind kisses his way down her neck and then across her collarbones to her bare shoulder.
"Please," Roxanne murmurs, "can you stop?"
She's careful to phrase it as a question, and not, as she would if she were using her powers, a command. Megamind sits up immediately, though, his hands folded in his lap, an attentive look on his face, and a smile at the edge of his lips.
Roxanne laughs in breathless adoration and amazement. He's so—they've been playing this game of her asking him to stop at random times for an hour, all he's taken off of her is her shirt, and he still looks as if he's having the time of his life.
(he's so wonderful. so completely and utterly wonderful)
And there's something so very—reassuring about him. About his expression, about how very there he is with her, clearly entirely mentally present. Desire in his expression, yes, but none of that horrible blankness in his eyes.
She knew, of course, knew logically that her powers don't affect him, but it's—really very reassuring to have it demonstrated so thoroughly like this.
She bites her lip and looks up at him through her lashes, then reaches out a hand and hooks two fingers beneath the hem of his shirt.
"Megamind," she says, "sweetheart—will you let me take off your shirt?"
An expression of pleased surprise flashes in Megamind's face.
"Yes," he says, "I'd—I'd like that, Roxanne."
(a line of well-watered houseplants stands beneath a big sunlit window in the old warehouse building—a large and luxurious spiky succulent in the middle of the row, and, beside it, another plant of the same type, smaller, but also green and growing well.)
And—Roxanne—
Roxanne doesn't feel afraid anymore.
(safe. she's safe. she's safe.)
...the end.
Happy Day 28 of my Birthday Fic Month! Since today is the last day of February, that means it's also the last day of the fic month. Thank you all for reading and reviewing; I hope you all enjoyed the final chapter of the story.