thanks for all the great reviews guys! I dunno what I did to make my hit/views count explode like it has today but hot dog I'm one happy gal! :D :D

This will be my last chapter for the night; I've already stayed up much later than I intended to!

The Scheme

Metro Man landed gracefully on Roxanne's balcony and gently placed her feet back on the ground. Once more he'd rescued her from Megamind's clutches; this time it had been in an old abandoned building and had involved a peculiar set of robots that had been crudely styled to look like Megamind. Instead of following his orders however they had gone haywire and attacked each other, causing an explosion.

"Hey Roxie, can I pick your brain about something?" he scratched at his neck; a sure sign that he was nervous. She raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Can it wait a moment while I wash up? That explosion got my clothes all full of dirt."

"Yea… sure…no problem." He cleared his throat and followed her inside. He watched as she walked towards her bedroom.

"There's lemonade in the fridge." She called out to him. When she came back out, in fresh clothes, she found that he had not even moved.

"Okay hero…what's got you so worried?" she sat down on the couch and it seemed to loosen him up; at least enough to get him to sit on the other end of the couch.

"Well, see; there's this dinner thing coming up, it's kind of silly really. But I'm supposed to be there, and being the hero it'd just look silly to go alone. And well, we've been…friends…for a little while now and-"

"And you need a date." Roxanne finished for him. Her voice held no venom or accusation, but rather a simple statement.

It was true; what he'd said. After their first disastrous date Wayne had seemed to try to work harder to get her on his side. She'd agreed rather begrudgingly to go on a few other dates with him and found that they surprisingly had a few common interests.

She was even more surprised when, on one afternoon when he'd come to her apartment for coffee, his boisterous hero mask slipped and he fell into a more calm manner. Without a watching crowd around he seemed relaxed and less self-focused. If Roxanne were honest, she liked him better this way, and had told him so.

After that they had attempted a few real dates; this time with Wayne acting as Wayne Scott and not Metro Man the hero. And even though Wayne could be charming and funny and they had a lot in common, Roxanne just didn't feel attracted to him. He just wasn't her type.

She'd had to break the news to him; she was glad to have him as a friend, but wouldn't be able to be more with him. He had been crushed at first, and had made a few more attempts. But eventually he gave in and accepted his fate. He found himself glad to call Roxanne a friend; the hero life was a lonely one and she was growing to be the best friend that he could ask for.

He only hoped that they were good enough friends that she would pull him a favor like this.

"It's not such a bad idea." Roxanne said. He almost missed it in his reverie and looked up to her.

"Huh?"

"I said that it's not such a bad idea. It's actually a really good idea. Between the two of us we have more social events to go to than the president himself." She smirked. "And those events usually call for dates. If we go together all the time we're guaranteed to at least have a decent time. None of that awkward first date nerves we'd have with someone we don't know. Besides; most everyone already thinks that we're dating, might as well make it look good."

"But… I thought we weren't dating." He raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. Roxanne smiled at him impishly. Through their friendship, short though it had been so far, Wayne had learned that Roxanne had a rather mischievous side, as did he.

"And we're not. But they don't have to know that. They just have to think it."

"I…don't follow."

"Look, the thing is; I'm too busy to date right now, and I'm not too interested in dating right now as it is…" she drifted off for a moment, not wanting to delve back into that story. There had been one night already, a few months back, when she'd had a near complete emotional breakdown and told Wayne of a bad past relationship and that she needed her time to heal.

"And I'd sure like to get my mother off of my back." He chuckled, partly to bring her out of her darker thoughts. For years now his mother had been bugging him to find a nice girl; and once Roxanne had come into the picture that had been the end of it. She had been nonstop nagging him ever since. He had finally snapped one day and told her that he was too busy saving the city to think about his love life and if that was all she was going to bug him about then he was going to change his number. She'd lightened up since then but still managed to drop hints from time to time.

"Exactly! So; if we go to social events together, and keep up our charisma on screen like we have been, the rest will all just fall into place. It's perfect for the fan base for you, and for the station ratings; ergo keeping the both of us in a job. And of course we'll still hang out together like normal." The fact that this would purely be friendship and nothing more did not need to be voiced; it was already known.

"And what about when people ask about our relationship?" he asked.

"We neither confirm nor deny it." That impish smile still played on her lips. He studied her a moment before he blinked and broke out into a chuckle.

"Roxie, you're a genius."

"I know." She shrugged and got up a grab a glass for lemonade. She quickly came back with one for him as well and she raised it in a toast. "To one of the greatest schemes that this city will ever see." She said. Wayne raised his glass as well and gently tapped it against hers.