A/N: Merry New Year's Day, everyone! Damn, I've been meaning to post this chapter since last year. :P

.:':. .:':. .:':.

The rest of the day transgressed in much the same manner. Megamind, despite Minion's assurances, was still a little careful around his companion, diligently paying attention to his own work and making sure he wasn't leaving anything to Minion that he had the capability and time to complete himself. Ironically enough, this just made the fish even more worried, although there was an edge of caution to his concern. Neither of them wanted to set Megamind into another fit of rage.

Conversation between the two was non-existent. Minion found it so stifling compared to their usual friendly chatter, and finally he couldn't take it anymore. He searched for a conversation starter, then decided to wing it. "Sir?"

His head snapped up instantly. "Yes, Minion? Is something wrong?"

Minion sighed internally. "No, no, everything's fine, sir. I just wanted to talk, like we usually do."

"Oh." Megamind said nothing beyond that, caught by surprise. They both stared at each other for a few moments, waiting for the other to speak, the level of awkwardness now even higher than it had been previously.

"Um… You remember Roxanne is coming over for dinner tomorrow, right?" Minion blurted out after flailing wildly around for a discussable topic. It seemed to work – Megamind's features softened at the mention of his girlfriend's name.

"Of course. I couldn't forget that!" He seemed scandalised at the mere thought. It was unfortunate, but his new position made it very hard for them to spend much quality time together. Then, he launched into a lengthy description of how he wanted everything to be set out. Minion smiled as the blue alien returned to his normal self now that he'd gotten really into the conversation. Occasionally, he'd interject with his own ideas and suggestions, and he carefully analysed each one before either approving or rejecting it. Slowly, he calmed down, and turned back to his work. However, his enormous brainpower and intellect allowed him to multitask with ease, and he continued to talk as his hand flew over the paper. That week, there had been a temporary lull in public events, and so Megamind hadn't needed to leave the lab in that respect. Of course, there had been small incidents like fires and car accidents, but the Brainbots always dealt with things like that now, as well as maintaining public cleanliness and patrolling the streets at night.

Megamind simply didn't have the time to handle these more minor dealings, though this might have been – and he would never admit it – largely due to his own poor time management. Being a hero called for a very different schedule than the one he was used to, after all. However, he was determined that he'd figure out a way to balance out his work so that he wasn't quite so thinly stretched all the time. Overburdening himself would just lead to exhaustion and consequently crashing suddenly into unconsciousness that would last a day or so, if his recent experiences were anything to go by. This would leave Minion snowed under a workload that he would try his best to cope with, but inevitably it would be too much for him, and it would just leave Megamind with even more to do when he did wake.

Of course he tried not to let himself get to that point, but often the knowledge of how much he still needed to do overpowered his reason and logic. He knew, though, he'd need to gain control over this habit – sure, that week he hadn't needed to make any public appearances, but what if he slept though a day when some important event was occurring that he'd promised he'd to show up at?

One such event was the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new mall that weekend. He sighed a little irritably – he'd only really agreed to attend to get the girl on the other end of the phone to leave him alone, and he'd had to shuffle his plans for that day around to fit. He tended to ignore the fact that with Minion in a secretarial position, most of the 'busy' aspect of his career was, in fact, spent staring at a blank page trying to figure out heroic-enough sounding replies to public requests, and of course the all-important heroic speeches. Sometimes, he wondered if people actually cared more about how his speeches sounded than if he actually did his job as hero properly.

Whatever the case, he was getting better and better at coming up with inspiring addresses. The Hero Circuit – as he'd secretly nick-named it – had extended into a network of neural connectors that were slowly encroaching into the portion of his brain that had previously supplied inspiration for his dramatic villainous monologues. Now, the piles of work that had been increasing at an alarming rate that he'd previously been unable to find a way to correctly finish were rapidly diminishing. He felt a certain sense of satisfaction that he was finally getting the hang of his new job, mingled with self-directed annoyance that he hadn't done so sooner.

By the end of the day, he'd sliced the waiting workload in half. But as soon as he'd put his pen down, an unexpected onslaught of exhaustion assaulted him. Luckily, Minion was at his desk – he was often in and out of the Lair, running errands and checking up on any unusual behaviour reported by the Brainbots – so he was there when Megamind's body decided that now was the time for sleep. "Minion," he stated simply, "I'm tired." So saying, he dropped his head into the stack of pages he'd just finished writing on.

The startled fish-cyborg jumped out of his seat and rushed towards the slumped figure. "Sir!" he exclaimed, gently shaking him by the shoulder, but he continued to sleep. Helplessly, he lifted Megamind off the papers before he drooled on them, then, making it the third time that week that he'd carried the unconscious hero to his room.

.:':. .:':. .:':.

"He's asleep again?" Roxanne asked disbelievingly.

Minion nodded, uncomfortable. "I'm afraid so, Miss Ritchie. He did quite a lot of work yesterday – probably half of what was piled up." Her eyebrows rose. "It seems he's finally gotten the hang of the more technical side to being a hero," he explained.

"But he invited me over for dinner tonight! You're telling me that he's most likely going to sleep through something that he arranged?" The fish nodded. She growled in frustration.

"Well then, we'll just have to wake him up," she told him resolutely, marching towards the bedroom at the opposite end of the Lair, ignoring Minion's protests as he trailed behind her.

"Miss Ritchie, I'm not really sure that's a good idea. Waking him up before his body decides that he's slept enough could just disrupt his sleeping patterns even more. Before we know it, he could become nocturnal or something!" She gave him a look after that last remark. "What?" he asked defensively. "It's a possibility, you know!"

She allowed a small smile despite herself as she pushed the door open. Minion reluctantly followed her inside. "Rise and shine, Megamind!" Grabbing his shoulders, she shook him, none to gently. The fish winced involuntarily. "I don't think girlfriends treat their boyfriends like that, Miss Ritchie," he told her mildly. "Besides, he-"

"They do when said boyfriend is sleeping through a date he arranged," she said firmly. Her rough treatment hadn't roused the blue alien, though. He slept on just as soundly as he had before. She crossed her arms angrily. "That does it," she muttered.

Drawing a deep breath and leaning close to the unsuspecting alien's ear, she shouted, "If you were any sort of boyfriend, you'd wake up right now!" She stepped back, glancing smugly at Minion as the alien hero groaned and shifted in his bed. Then, he simply turned over and kept on sleeping. Her jaw dropped and she looked from Minion to Megamind several times. "I don't believe him!" she fumed.

"Miss Ritchie, if you'd let me finish, please? It's very hard to wake him when he's crashed. I've tried lots of things over the years, but none of them work. It's best to just let him wake on-"

"Have you tried slapping him?"

Minion looked horrified. "Of course not, Miss Ritchie! My role is to protect him, not brutalise him!"

A grin tugged the corner of her lips. "Well, there's a first time for everything." She made to move towards the bed again but Minion caught her in his robotic arms.

She wriggled in his grasp. "Oh, come on! You know I wasn't going to hit him too hard."

"Miss Ritchie, please listen!" he protested. "Waking him after he's crashed could be very damaging for his health." Still she tried in vain to pry herself from his grip. "Just give him some time."

"I'll give him ten minutes," she acquiesced. "Then I'm slapping him." He sighed, but figured that was the best he was going to get, and let her go. She tapped her foot impatiently, glancing at her watch every few seconds.

In the end, it only took four minutes for him to wake. He gazed around blearily, still mostly in the realm of unconsciousness. Without thinking, he reached out for the edge of the blanket and tossed it off himself, then froze. What the…? Why was he in a bed in the first place? A little more awake, he saw Minion standing a little off to the side. He opened his mouth to ask Minion why he was in a bed.

Then he saw Roxanne.

"Minion!" he screeched. "What is she doing here?" He pulled the covers back up. I can't let her see me in my pyjamas! He thought.

"Well, sir, she came over for the dinner you invited her to, but you were still aslee-"

"Dinner?" he asked, almost contemptuously. "Minion, I did not invite our hostage over for dinner."

Roxanne and Minion exchanged glances. Hostage? Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

.:':. .:':. .:':.

A/N: Shock! Drama! Suspense! Other random imperative statements intended to hook readers, but instead having a decidedly cheesy effect!

So yeah, something bad is going down with Megamind. Don't worry, it gets worse. *cackles and stokes a black cat*

-pixie.