"It's been over a month now since the disastrous explosion that rocked lower Metro City, and the ultimate reveal of what kind of effect it had on the alien superhero Megamind's faithful sidekick, Minion. And Metro City appears to be still reeling from just what has become of the used-to-be fish, since he never makes an appearance without wearing something brand new that, let's be honest now, does wonders for his new body."

Megamind had to roll his eyes so dramatically he was lucky he didn't strain a muscle somewhere, as he listened to the television that was on in the distance while he worked on the Invisible Car's engine. Was it really that big a deal that Minion busied himself in his downtime with designing something new to wear? Minion was a gifted fish-man when it came to designing and sewing new clothes, and he just hadn't found the one for himself.

It had taken them over two years for Megamind and Minion to discover how great he looked in spikes, leather, and spandex, as well as how great he looked in all three at once. But they weren't evil anymore, and even though Megamind had stuck to his trademark outfit, Minion wanted something to express who he was, and what he was all about.

Still, it was getting annoying. Whenever Megamind would walk into the sewing room, he'd find an almost-naked Minion trying on something new.

"Argh, curse my lack of a third arm!" Megamind suddenly complained loudly as his wrench knocked a cable loose on the car. It seemed it was full of disgusting gunk, as it began to leak out over the engine. But if he let go of what he was working on, it would be an even bigger mess. "Minion!" he called over his shoulder. "Put down that cake and help me!"

"Coming, Sir!" Minion rushed up to his boss, wearing his default black spandex outfit complete with belt and goggles. He reached over his boss and fought with the slippery cable. As he reached forward more, he realized he probably should have come up to the car from the side rather than from right behind his boss, since Megamind was now firmly pressed against his front.

"Hurry up." Megamind strained as he felt Minion's weight, and shape, suddenly bearing down upon him.

Cable reconnected, Minion pulled away, face a rich emerald, and rushed back to the 'kitchen' section of the lair. His cake, which he had just been removing from the oven, was still waiting where he left it. Replacing his bat oven mitts (complete with little wings), Minion pulled it out and set it on the table before gently nudging the oven door shut with his foot.

A month... has it really been that long? Minion could hardly believe that so much time had passed. For a while he had been a little worried that the effects would wear off and that one morning he would awake to find himself a flopping, drying out fish. But it seemed as though that wasn't the case. Megamind explained why that was so, but he couldn't wrap his head around all the large scientific words. He had assumed it was because, unlike Hal, Minion hadn't been given a tablet infused with Metro Man's DNA, but rather he'd been bathed in the stuff. Like meat that had been smoked. Not a great way to explain it, but Minion got it.

So he was stuck as a fish-man forever, since there really was no way to defuse the DNA that had altered his body. This had been a shock to him to learn at the time, since he had honestly missed being a fish. He hated getting breathless, how his muscles would ache after a busy day of work, or how he was more susceptible to disease and illness and injury. There were upsides, though; he could touch and feel things he never could before. He could feel the rain on his face, the warm breeze ruffling his hair, the touch of material, cold, heat... all sorts of things normal people took for granted. He would never forget the feeling of the grass against his skin for the first time...

Nor the feeling of his boss's skin against his own.

That one was exceptionally special, and he would hold it close in his heart forever. And it seemed as though, even after a month, he and his boss still hadn't gotten around to buying him his own bed. Every night Megamind would smack his head in annoyance at forgetting, promise that the next day they would buy Minion his own bed, before the two aliens would hop into bed together to ultimately end up clinging to one another come morning. Well, at least Megamind no longer questioned what Minion's body was doing anymore.

Deep down, Minion hoped his boss never bought him his own bed.

Mary kept insisting that it was unhealthy to keep such an obsession with his boss, but he insisted right back that it wasn't an obsession. He cared about his boss, he cared for him with his whole body, mind, and soul, and nothing would ever change that. She would laugh, and gently punch his shoulder with an understanding, warm look. The young woman from the coffee and donut shop had become a good friend over the past month as well; every morning when Minion would go into the shop, she would be there cleaning tables, taking orders, or making them, and she would always take a moment to smile at him and wave in greeting.

They would talk for as long as they could manage around her busy schedule, though it always felt as though there was never enough time. This was annoying, to both of them.

One morning, Minion had returned with the coffee and donuts later than he would have thought appropriate, and Megamind was annoyed about it all.

"Honestly, Minion, I might have died from starvation!" Megamind said as he pulled the boxes of donuts out of Minion's grasp.

"I find that highly unlikely, Sir," Minion mumbled.

"Huh. So what took you so long this time?" he asked as he lifted the lid on his coffee, and was annoyed to see it wasn't hot like he liked it. Grabbing a ray gun he'd made, he pointed it to the cup, and immediately the drink boiled to the desired temperature. "Still chatting up the ladies?" Megamind asked, and certainly not with an annoyed tinge to his voice.

"N-no," Minion replied stubbornly.

"No? Minion, don't lie to me. I've seen how some of the women look at your body when we're out. I'm not a total blind moran."

"Moron, Sir."

"Oh, so you think I am?" Megamind asked, eyes narrowed.

"No! No, Sir no! I don't think you're a moron! I just-oh. No, no I wasn't 'chatting up' anyone. I was talking to Mary," Minion finally admitted.

"Mary? Who's Mary? Who is she?"

"She's... uh. A friend. I guess?" Minion asked.

"A friend," Megamind echoed the statement flatly.

"Yes, Sir. She works at the coffee place, we, we talk when I make my order," the fish-man admitted.

"Every day?"

"Every day."

"You've talked to this girl, every single day, for how long?"

"A month, Sir."

Megamind stared at Minion with a look that made the fish-man uncomfortable. "W-what is it, Sir? Can't I have a friend besides yourself and Miss Ritchi?" he asked.

The alien wanted to shout 'No', but he forced himself to remain still, and quiet. Why was it he suddenly felt jealous of a woman he didn't even know? Minion wasn't with her all the time; he was with him most of the time, and that's what mattered wasn't it? But Minion had been taking longer, and longer, with bringing coffee and donuts each morning. He claimed he wasn't chatting up any girl, but now he says he's been 'chatting' with a girl. That's one word away from chatting up! Did Minion like her? As in like her, and was keeping it secret from him? He must be, otherwise he would have mentioned this Mary ages ago!

"If you like her so much, you should just go out with her," Megamind heard himself say.

"Go out-Sir!" Minion gasped, wounded.

"Well, why not? Is that not how things work?" asked the alien as he grabbed another donut greedily. "You meet a girl, you talk a lot, you end up going out, falling in love, and running away to be beautifully and happily ever after," Megamind ranted, and once he was done he took a bite out of his donut.

Minion frowned, insulted by what his boss was saying. Granted, he did like Mary's company and found her fun to talk to, but she was certainly not his Sir. But now Megamind was saying mean, hateful things, and they wounded the fish-man deeply. "You know what? Maybe I will ask her out!" Minion announced loudly. "Yeah, I, I'll ask her out and we'll go somewhere great!"

"Good, great, fine! I'm happy for you," Megamind lied.

"So am I!" Minion lied right back.

And that was how Minion came to be sitting on a park bench with Mary on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon. She had been delighted when he asked if she would like to catch up outside her work hours, and had jumped at the chance. Minion couldn't fight the nerves bubbling in his stomach since his boss had merely huffed a 'have fun' comment when he had left that afternoon. He didn't like being on bad terms with Megamind at the best of times, but being here and not helping him around the base, or in case of any evil in town, felt... strange.

"You seem tense, Minion," Mary said. "Are you sure it's all right to be here?"

"Hm?" Minion blinked out of his thoughts, and smiled. "Oh, sure! Of course it is!"

"Well, good. I'd hate to see you get in trouble; you're such a nice fish. Uh. Man. Fish-man?" she asked nervously.

"Fish-man works." Minion smiled.

"Awesome. So, what're we gonna do?" she asked. "I know you can't bike ride, so we can leave that out. How about a movie? Or a walk through town?"

"Ooh, a movie. Is there anything new showing?" Minion asked, smiling hopefully.

"I'm sure we'll find something."

"I mean, I can't believe it. Can you believe it? I can't believe how much attention he's getting! It's like, it's like I don't even exist anymore! All these people talk about is Minion this, Minion that, hair this, clothing that. It's like I don't even save this city anymore, since all they talk about is his junk and what it may look like! Don't you people have anything more important to report on, like, oh I don't know, ME stopping Hot Flash in her latest attempt to burn the city to the ground? No? Hah! I don't know why I bother!"

Roxanne sat there in her loft, sipping her cup of coffee as the hero of the city stormed back and forth, ranting and raving over the fact his fish-man minion had a date and he didn't. She found this incredibly amusing as well as adorable.

"People are interested in him, Megamind. You can't fault them for that," Roxanne said gently as she could, but still with a firmness there so he would listen to her.

"Well, good on them!" Megamind spat back.

"Megamind, stop being jealous. Green isn't your colour," Roxanne said flatly.

"Jealous? Jealous? HAH!" he scoffed. "I am NOT jealous!"

"So why did you come over here, then? It wasn't to do anything else, that's for sure. Minion has been the only thing you've talked about since walking through the door. What's so wrong with him finding somebody to spend some time with who isn't you?" she asked.

Megamind came to a stop and looked at her, sitting there in her sweats and holding her coffee mug. He clenched his fists by his side before turning away, and gazed out her window that looked out over Metro City. It felt like only yesterday he had come up here begging for her help in his ripped up Black Mamba... "Because he might leave me."

Roxanne felt the knife of guilt stab its way into her heart and twist painfully deeper. She sighed, and set the mug down and got to her feet. "Minion won't leave you, Megamind."

"He will if he finds someone," Megamind said as he stared past his own reflection in the glass. "He'll want to spend all his time with her."

"Does he really operate like that, though?" Roxanne asked. "He was a fish for so long, and a pretty faithful one at that..."

"It's all changed. He's human now. He has desires. Wants that he didn't have before. All this DNA in his body it, it's screwed him up! Yes, he's still Minion, and yet there's so many things different now," Megamind explained tiredly, lifting a hand to rub at the bridge of his nose. "I don't... I don't want to be alone."

"You won't be," she said soothingly as she reached out and touched his arm. He flinched, but didn't pull away from her.

"What if she hurts him?" Megamind asked. "What if... what if they do get close, they fall in love, but what if she falls out of it? What if she realizes that it's wrong or, or thinks they don't fit and stops seeing him? I can't. I can't go and cube her like I want to, but I couldn't let her get away with the law of not breaking his heart."

"If that happens then he'll have you there to help him through it," Roxanne said gently. "Just like he was there for you. Am I right?"

The look he gave her told her she had mentioned maybe a little too much, and she let him go, apologizing with body language. She knew how badly it had hurt him when she had broken it off with him, but it hadn't been easy for her either. Roxanne liked Megamind, she cared about him deeply as a friend, but not as a lover. Their personalities just continued to bump heads against each other. While sometimes he would act like a mature grown man, at a flip of a coin he was like a child, reminding her just how different the two of them were.

And let's not even mention anatomy. She didn't even know what he had; any time she had tried to be intimate with him he had broken out in a powerful blush, spluttering and squirming and ending up falling out of the bed. While Roxanne was a gentle and patient woman, she realized Megamind hadn't been meant to be anything more to her than a friend. It still broke her heart, though, when she talked about it. Why couldn't she adore him as much as he obviously adored her?

"Look... he has a right to be happy, doesn't he?" Roxanne asked.

"Yes..." Megamind sighed, hating to admit it. "More than anyone."

"So be happy for him, Megamind. Be his friend, be there for him, and be happy if anything comes from this."

Megamind stared out at the city some more, as if looking for something. He chewed his bottom lip before shutting his eyes on a small, sad sound. "Why aren't I ever enough?"

Roxanne's heart went out to him, as did her arms, and she was soon enveloping him in a hug, and didn't care that his spikes were prodding her arms. They luckily weren't sharpened to a tip at their ends, but it was still an odd feeling, embracing a man in spikes. Megamind seemed to freeze a moment, before he leaned into the embrace and wrapped his own arms around her shoulders.

"You will be enough for somebody. And that person is going to be the luckiest person in the world," Roxanne whispered to him.

When she said that, only one person seemed to appear in his mind. There stood Minion, wearing one of his aprons and holding a freshly baked pastry. He turned to look over his shoulder and smiled brightly, happy to see his boss, his friend. Megamind opened his eyes as he held onto her closely, hearts beating in painful throbs within his chest and brain. A warmth spread over him that he hadn't felt in so, so long. The last time this kind of feeling had filled him had been when he thought of Roxanne all those months ago. He had fallen for her so quickly, maybe he had always loved her but had been too naive and childish to realize it. That feeling was something else now, what he felt for her, but this feeling of total adoration and love and wanting to do any and everything to see him smile, laugh, and to wake up in his bed with him in the mornings just like he had been doing for over a month...

It finally struck him like a mallet to the head.

My God, he thought to himself. I'm in love with my best friend.

"You know, I've never met a guy who wanted to sit through a romantic comedy in all my life," Mary grinned as she, and Minion, exited the cinema after the movie was over and done with. The fish-man was carrying what was left of the popcorn in one of his hands, popping one or two into his jaws as they walked down the street.

"Really?" the fish-man asked before scoffing. "Well, that's just stupid. What's better than love and laughter?"

"Oh now see, that's the kind of stuff that would have any girl fall for you straight away, so be careful!" she grinned.

"Huh." Minion blinked in surprise. He was just being honest, yet all the time Mary told him it was a mystery why he hadn't gotten a million proposals over email yet. How was he to know that his boss had a habit of nuking every single such message with a filter system he had created? He blushed emerald and shrugged. "Well, I'm just being honest..."

"Cooks, cleans, sews, listens, understanding, funny, not hung up on being all macho..." Mary listed on her fingers as they walked, before narrowing an eye at him. "You're like... the perfect man."

"Even with my appearance?" he asked. "I mean. I'm not human..."

"No you're not, and I find that far more interesting than human men," she answered on a smile. "I've really began looking forward to my job in the mornings now. Do you know why?" she asked.

"Why?" Minion asked.

He was suddenly pulled down, and the woman pressed her lips over his own. He could suddenly taste the chocolate she had eaten in the cinema, and the tang of soda. Minion's eyes widened to twice their size, and what was left of his popcorn fell to the ground. When the initial shock wore off, he returned the kiss softly, awkwardly, since this was his first. Last thing he wanted to do was rip her lip open with his teeth.

"Understand why, now?" Mary asked after she pulled away from him, smiling at him.

"...Yes. I. I think I do. In fact I know I do," Minion mumbled dumbly.

She giggled, and took his green hand into her own and smiled. "So, I was wondering about you coming back to my place for coffee? I know how you like it." Mary grinned playfully.

Minion stared at her for a moment, then looked down at her hand in his. He suddenly thought of his boss sitting at their base, waiting for him, wondering where he would be. But then he remembered how angry and annoyed he had been at the mere mention, and reveal, about Mary. Why had he been so mean? Hadn't he learned anything from the Roxanne situation at all? While he hated to think about it, Minion felt as though perhaps it would be better to just... enjoy his time with Mary now. After all, so far he had had a great time.

He smiled slowly.

"I'd love to."

To be continued