Chapter 59: Conversations and Awards

"That's strange," Kim said, looking at the door they had just passed through.

"What's that, KP?" Ron asked.

"This door," Kim answered. "All of the other exits have those roll-down steel shutter things on the inside. Part of the reason we only had one day to decorate was that the contractor was still installing them. Then there's these bracket things on the outside. They look like they're here to hold a bar, the kind that blocks the door shut."

"Well, I'm sure that Barkin will be all over the contractor when he finds that they've missed a door." Ron replied. "And maybe those brackets let the staff make this door more secure."

"I think that barring a door from the outside is a violation of the fire codes," Kim countered. She shook her head before continuing. "By the way, how did you manage reservations at The Watchtower on such short notice?"

"I called in a favor."

"Oh, that solo mission you took last summer, when I had the swim meet?"

"Yeah," Ron answered. "They were complaining about funny noises coming from the dumbwaiter shaft. It turns out a badger had built a nest in there."

"How did you get it out?"

"I had a few words with it," Ron replied. "Once it realized that it wouldn't have any peace where it was, it agreed to move out."

"You're really some piece of work," she said. "But we're not out here to talk about missions or the doors, are we?"

"No, no we're not," Ron agreed, taking a deep breath. He leaned back against the gym and looked ahead. The stadium was a couple hundred yards away. Ron was pretty sure that there were at least a few students there, either sneaking smokes or finding some couple time. But as long as they kept their voices low, the upcoming conversation should be private. I've got two things that I really need to tell you. You may laugh at me, you may slap me, but I've really got to say them."

"I've got two things, as well," Kim said. "Who goes first?"

"Call it," Ron instructed, pulling a quarter out of his pocket. Ron won the toss and chose to go first.

Ron braced himself and told Kim all about his experience with the sleazy reporter and his unsavory minions.

"So it wasn't any sort of great integrity that let me…resist…Dessie," Ron concluded. "It was because I had been burned before." The blond boy looked anxiously at Kim, waiting for her reaction.

Kim looked at him for several endless minutes. "If you had told me about this back when it happened, I probably would have gone ballistic on you," She told him. "I would have gone ballistic, then apologized a couple of days later. That's how I am Ron, and you know it. I'm impulsive and I want to do something every time a sitch comes up. Sometimes I act before I think, but I'm learning." She took a deep breath of her own. "My turn."

Kim told Ron what Wade had told her. She told him that Drakken had based synthodrone 901's personality on his.

"He knew what I was looking for in a boyfriend." Kim told him. "I was looking for you, but I just didn't understand it myself. We were working that way, after we rescued that couple, but I.." Here she paused and looked down at her feet. "I wasn't satisfied with a guy who was right for me... I wanted a guy who the other girls would envy. I didn't appreciate you until you were wrapped in a hottie. I was so terribly shallow."

Ron thought about it for a minute. "We're teenagers," he said, his face both sad and thoughtful. "It's not like I haven't had my head turned by a pretty face. You're just more bold and capable about acting on it than I am. My turn again."

"My dad had a talk with me before I left the house tonight," Ron informed her. "And he recalled his high school days. He pulled out his yearbooks and showed me that the only pictures of him in them were the class pictures. He wasn't in any activities, clubs, committees, or on any teams. He just showed up, went to class, and went home. Sure, his grades were better than mine but he never involved himself in anything." Ron shifted to look at her, now leaning back on a utility pole. "While he told me that he was proud of me for helping you and for all we manage to do, he said what really made him proud of me was the fact that I was willing to go out and risk making a fool out of myself. While he was happy that I succeeded in being a good mascot, then wrestler, he was mostly proud that I tried."

Ron looked up at the night sky in deep contemplation. "He told me that while he regrets the times he made a fool out of himself, he really regrets the times he didn't take a chance because he was afraid of making a fool out of himself. He said that what made him proud of me was that I was willing to risk failure, risk being the buffoon, in order to accomplish something."

"Then he showed me pictures of the high school friends he had," Ron went on. "Like me, he didn't have a lot of friends but he was really close to the ones he did have." Ron paused, then looked at Kim. "And he drifted away from every last one. He showed me each and every picture; he drifted away from some of them right after high school, some he stayed friends with through college and beyond. Bottom line up front, he hasn't spoken with any of his high school friends for close to twenty years. He didn't even attend his last reunion."

Ron shuddered, afraid to go on but more afraid not to. "Then he told me not to let my fear of failure prevent me from trying for the best thing in my life."

Kim's eyes were very wide, she looked at him intently.

"So I won't," Ron continued in a nervous voice. "Kim, I know I said that I would never let us be more than friends, but that was just playing things safe. You may laugh at me and you might tell me to leave, but I won't forgive myself if I don't say this. I…I want to try to be more, Kim. I want to date you, I want to try to be your boyfriend." With a last, deep breath he finished, "I want us to try to make the 'teen couple' thing work. I don't want to just drift away from you, KP. I'd rather take the chance that we can make something special, and fail, than show my son your picture in my yearbook and tell him that that we used to be best friends, we drifted apart, and that I haven't spoken to you in twenty years."

With that Ron Stoppable slumped back against the pole, more tired than if he had just spent a half-hour dodging Dementor's goons.

Kim, on the other hand, could barely keep from yelling a certain 'b' word that Ron was known for utilizing. Instead, she took a couple of calming breaths before answering.

"My turn," she said. Ron's eyes bugged out at the almost impossible mixture of quavering and sultriness in her voice. "Now that I have permission, from Mon, to say this, here goes. I want us to be a couple, Ron." Kim noted Ron's happily flabbergasted expression, smiled and continued. "I can't guarantee that I won't be attracted to other guys. But being attracted to a pretty boy doesn't mean I'm going to chase him. If there's one thing I've learned these last few weeks, it's just how much good looks don't matter in the long run. If some hunk shows up I'm going to look, admire, then remember that you've always had my back, how much we've always been a part of each other's lives, and how much more meaningful that is."

"Do you want to know what scares me?" Kim asked. Ron nodded and she answered. "It's that you'll meet another girl like Sue, a cute girl who doesn't drag you off to put your neck on the line. Or that you'll meet a girl like Yori, who appreciates you for what you are and doesn't snap at you the minute you're less than perfect." Kim offered him her best smile. "But, like you keep telling me, we're teenagers, so we're bound to make mistakes. I just hope that we can forgive each other without all the drama from now on, since we should have a really long future ahead of us, and almost anything can happen."

Ron nodded and Kim continued, "When I spoke with your sensei in that dream thing, he asked me if I found our friendship fulfilling. I've had the chance to think about it and the answer is yes, but not fulfilling enough. You're capable of being more than a friend to me, Ron. We're capable of being more than friends to each other, and I want that! I want the whole friendship, cuddle-buddy, pushing the curfew, teen hormones making the 'rents nervous thing." Now she was sporting one of Ron's trademark, goofy grins. It had finally happened! It was all out in the open and they were on the same page!

Ron almost let loose with the most powerful 'Boo-yah' of his life, but being behind the gym on prom night, such a bellow would probably by misinterpreted. She fell for me as a goof, and I can do goofy even here, he thought. "You're the smart one, Kim, so help me out here."

Kim smiled in anticipation.

"I want us to be a couple and you want us to be a couple," Ron continued. "We've both decided to put aside what had been holding us back and neither of us is attached right now. Does that, make us, a couple?" He pushed off from the pole and took a half-step towards her.

"I'd say it meets the requirements," she answered, also stepping forward.

"No contract to write up and sign, no special handshake or anything like that?" He asked with a gentle smile, covering the remaining distance between them.

"Not that I know of," she replied, with her smile widening.

"So, there isn't anything we need to do to make this official?" He was leaning slightly down towards her as he asked the last question.

He's taking the initiative, she thought. He's the one taking action, taking control, and for some reason, I don't really mind.

"Oh, I think we can do something to seal the deal," her eyes closed and her hands slid up onto the front of his jacket. She felt his arms circling around her, his warm breath on her face and then…

"Hey guys!" Oscar burst out of the door. "Bonnie's about to make some announcements and she's passed the word that she wants both of you insiiiiiiiddddeee…oops." He practically wilted under the glares of both Kim and Ron, who had jumped back from each other. "Um, er, nice night tonight and wow, would you look at that full moon. Beautiful full moon out tonight!"

"That…would be…a streetlight," Kim grated out.

"Oh, yeah, I can see that now," Oscar rubbed the back of his neck in a very Ron-like gesture.

Kim and Ron glared for a second or two more, then the humor of the situation hit them. Both of them giggled, blushed, then gave each other their best 'later' looks. Ron offered his arm, which Kim took, and the pair went inside. Oscar shook his head a little, then followed them inside.

"Before Yvonne announces this year's prom queen, I'd like to thank some people," Bonnie was addressing the students as Kim and Ron rejoined the assembly. "First of all, I'd like to call the prom committee up on stage to be recognized. So please, come on up as I call your name."

With that, Bonnie called on each of the prom committee members, Kim included, to come up on stage, where she gave each one a framed certificate of appreciation. "These people really put in some effort to put this together on short notice," she announced. "Let's hear it for them!'

The crowd applauded.

"Next, I'd like to thank everyone who helped decorate the gym," Bonnie continued. "Don't you think they did a great job in just one day?"

The crowd applauded again and Bonnie repeated the earlier ceremony, giving all of the volunteers, except for Ron, a certificate. Ron thought that Bonnie was slighting him again until…

"Finally, what do you all think of the food? Bonnie asked the crowd, which brought on another round of applause. "Well, one guy stepped up and took care of that, Ron Stoppable. Come on up here Ron!"

Nudged on by his friends, Ron walked up and onto the stage to stand next to Bonnie. Bonnie held out another framed certificate to him and thanked him for his efforts. As he reached out to take the certificate, the safety net fell from the ceiling, trapping everyone who was on the floor.

There were some screams, then mainly laughter as the students realized what had happened.

"AHHH YEA! Got 'em all, seriously!" A familiar voice bellowed from the hall leading to one of the locker rooms.

"Motor Ed?" Ron gasped, as the big man, flanked by several of his 'Gearhead' buddies, strode into the main gym.

"This is one seriously righteous trap, skinny dude!" The criminal declared. "Alright boys, seriously, grab the wheel-boy's power pack!" Motor Ed produced a remote control from his pocket. "No running away anybody, seriously!" He hit a button and all of the rolling shutters dropped down, sealing the exits. Except for one door.

"Hey boss-dude, the skinny dude's all yours," the mullet wearing man yelled. "I'll take care of Red, seriously!"

"Monkey ninjas, attaaaaack!" The familiar voice called from the gym's ceiling, where Monkeyfist had been hidden above the net.

Monkey ninjas swarmed out from under the stage, surrounding it and giving Ron no route of retreat. Monkeyfist himself appeared, swinging on a rope towards the stage. Ron dropped into a fighting stance while Bonnie screamed in terror. The villain collided with Ron and the two tumbled, fighting, kicking, and grappling, off the back of the stage and out of the door.

Several of the monkey ninjas followed their master outside. Bonnie saw the door swing closed then heard the sound of a bar being set in place.

A/N:

Thanks again to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading.

daccu65