there will definitely also be another fic after this one, in which roxanne gives megamind the flowers she had preserved in resin!
Megamind is, as Minion had warned Roxanne he might be, a pain in the ass about his gills the next morning.
He wakes up in a wonderful mood after the first really good night's sleep he's had in years. He slept through the night at Christmas, of course, and again earlier this week when he finally broke down and slept on the floor at the top of Roxanne's stairs. But those weren't good sleeps, not really. They were still full of grief for what couldn't possibly be.
But it turns out that not only could Roxanne possibly love him back, but she already does, and has loved him for some time now. She loves him so much that she pushed herself to wait to tell him about her feelings until she had enough samples of his flowers to give him to try and gain information from, or maybe clone. So far, nobody has managed to successfully clone a Hanahaki flower into something that could actually grow; the lack of stems, roots, and leaves makes things like "being alive" and "growing" rather difficult. But if anyone can manage such a thing, it's Megamind.
Roxanne seems sort of embarrassed about the whole deal. She keeps insisting she was also using the cryogenics plan as a handy way to procrastinate telling him. But Megamind knows her. If she had not wanted to wait for flowers, she wouldn't have.
So. Megamind gets to wake up warm and slow, with a rainbow splashed across Roxanne's bedspread from sunlight shining through jars of colored water and glitter on her windowsill. He gets to wake up surrounded by floating alien flowers in vases of water.
He gets to wake up in Roxanne's bed, with Roxanne curled around him with his back to her chest, her cheek on his back and her breath warming the flannel on his shoulder. There is nothing better than this, he's sure. Today is going to be a good day. Nothing can possibly dampen his spirits today.
Nothing except for Roxanne being her incredibly stubborn, beloved self about his gills and his ointment.
"I'll be fine," Megamind insists, elbows tight against his sides and arms crossed over his chest. "I'll be fine! We did the ointment less than twelve hours ago. I don't need more, yet."
Roxanne puts her hands on her hips and gives him a frank stare. "Megamind."
"It's fine!"
"It is not." She shakes her head. "Minion told me the drill. And he told me you were going to be a butthead about it, too."
His jaw drops. "Wh—a butthead! I'm not—listen, they are my gills, I know what they need and don't need."
"They are your gills," Roxanne returns, "and they're badly damaged and it's going to hurt to fix that. You do know what they need, Megamind; you know they need this. So just…please, let me help."
He wrinkles his face at her and chatters a scold in his subvoice, annoyed and embarrassed and feeling shy and frightened, which is silly; she's already seen him. And he's already comfortable enough to vocalize around her. This shouldn't be a big deal.
Roxanne steps forward and gently puts her hands on his shoulders, rubs her hands down his upper arms. His gaze slips away and down. "Sweetheart," she says, her ears coloring at the unfamiliar endearment. She tugs at his arms until he reluctantly unfolds them and allows her to slide her hands down to hold both of his. "Sweetheart. My love. Let me help?" She swallows, very glad indeed that Minion had warned her. She would have given in already if he hadn't. "You need to do this after you wake up and before you sleep. You told me that."
Megamind wilts a little and glances back up at her. "Kiss first."
She smiles, breathes. "Of course. Always," and she cups the edge of his jaw with one hand and tips his face to hers, presses her lips to his.
And Megamind does feel better when she pulls away. The kisses are nice. Warm. More soft things.
(It's all nice, frankly. This is more nice touching than Megamind has had from someone who isn't Minion since he was a toddler and co-sleeping with his uncles, and wow, he hadn't realized one night of sleep with Roxanne would be enough to wake such a bone-deep hunger for more contact.)
"And more cuddles after," he says, eyes narrowing, and Roxanne nods and pulls him into a hug.
"Of course," she says again. "Always."
Which means Megamind has to take off his pajamas and strip down to the skin-tight polyethylfullerene undersuit he's wearing—just the bottom half, this time, rather than the full-body unitard he wears under his leathers. He ordinarily wouldn't even bother with the leggings, but the thought of wearing no undersuit at all while sleeping with Roxanne had felt…not good. Sort of skeevy. Presumably that feeling will fade at some point? He hopes?
Anyway. He takes off his pajamas and folds them, takes his time with that. And then he really has no choice but to step into Roxanne's bathtub.
"Okay," he says. He had meant to raise his voice, but. Huh. That's not happening. "Okay. I'm. Ready."
Roxanne pokes the door open, pokes her head in. "Ready?"
"Yes, ready, that's what I said."
He winces inwardly as the words leave his mouth. Fuck. He can feel himself getting snappish with nerves, irritable and jumpy and tense. He doesn't want to feel this way towards Roxanne. Doesn't want to feel this way even around Roxanne.
Thankfully, she doesn't appear to be upset. She just nods, and steps into the bathroom…and Megamind's emotions swerve sharply left and his eyes just about fall out of his head. He takes a stumbling step back, tripping and nearly falling over one of the gallon jugs of water on the floor of the tub. "Oop—! Aghhgl, fuck—"
"Whoa!" She darts forward, hands out to catch him. "You okay?"
"Yes!" He scrambles upright, having caught himself on the wall of the shower, staring at her. "Yes! Fine! You're! Wearing a bikini! What!"
Her face goes scarlet. She was already blushing hard, but now she looks—
—oh. She looks just about as nervous and freaked-out as he feels. Megamind isn't the only one who's feeling lost at sea, then. That's. A little more comforting.
"Yeah," she says, one arm across her chest and gesturing wildly with her other hand, "sorry, is that okay? I just, I thought…sorry, I kind of thought, well, I'm going to get splashed, probably. And you're upset and scared and—"
"I am not scared!"
"—and so I thought maybe this would be distracting? For you?" She gives a laugh that doesn't sound like hers, but it does sound more or less genuine. "It's winter and I haven't shaved in months but, hey. Something to look at, at least?"
Megamind is trying very hard not to look at. He makes a kind of squeaky noise, then clears his throat and gulps. "I—very. Much to look at. Thank you? Thank you, I—are you comfortable? I don't want—don't think you have to, but—also I do not care about shaving, what would you even shave?"
She exhales, her expression warming slightly as her shoulders drop. "I'm a good kind of uncomfortable. Your reaction was great. Very reassuring. Um. Okay!"
She closes the door behind her and sends him a nervous sort of breathless-looking smile, but then she pauses when Megamind's head jerks up.
"Leave that open please," he blurts. "I don't—door—the door is—"
She opens it immediately, all the way. "Okay! Okay, yeah. Sorry, you still good?"
He nods, his flare of anxiety ebbing again.
Then he frowns. "Seriously though, what would you shave? You can't—I assume you can't grow facial hair, so—"
Roxanne snorts. "My legs...?"
His eyes flick down and his ears turn fuschia, but he just scrunches his face in apparent bewilderment and says, "Why?"
"Social standards and I'm on camera." She shrugs. "It's a pain, I mostly don't bother in the winter. If I'd known we would be doing this, I might have, but—"
"I don't care," he says, sounding very frank. "I don't—your legs look—fine. Damn fine," he adds, blush deepening and spreading across his face as he attempts to flirt. "I…thank you. For distracting me. I—love you." He swallows.
"I love you, too." She smiles and comes over to climb into the tub with him, steadying herself on his offered hand. She doesn't let go of his fingers, either, even when she's standing in front of him. "Will this work? Both of us in the tub? I guess I could stand on the mat, but…"
"No, this is better," Megamind says. "This is. This will work. And it is going to be exceptionally gross," he warns. "There will be—pieces."
Roxanne nods. "The dead bits. Yeah, you said. Is this going to clear out everything, or…?"
He shakes his head. "Just as far down as the ointment was able to permeate. That's why I have to do this so…frequently." His lips twist into a grimace and he looks away again. "Do we have to," he says, more quietly. "I don't—I'm sure I could just—deal. With this. They'll heal on their own, in time."
She squeezes his fingers. "Getting an infection would be worse, you mentioned."
He sighs. Gives a very reluctant-looking nod.
It would be so nice if she could just pull him into her arms and just hold him right there until he's healed. His gills did wind up bleeding in the night, as he had warned her they might. Not a whole lot, but dark blood is crusted around his gill slits, which are red-rimmed and angry-looking. His spiracles aren't much better.
Roxanne pauses and peers at them. "Is there anything we can do for these? Lotion or something? I have some really gentle face lotion you can use, if you want."
Megamind shudders. "Please, no. I hate lotion. It feels terrible. Slimy-sticky. No."
"Okay, but—"
"Please, no. I hate lotion. It feels terrible. Slimy-sticky. No."
She huffs a laugh and nods, leans forward to kiss his cheek. His head is tilted down, even though he flutters a half-smile at her when she pulls away, and she squeezes his fingers again. "Okay. Okay, love. We'll just do your gills, then." He nods. "Do I just pour the water down into your shoulders? Is there anything else I need to do?"
He presses his lips together and drops his gaze. His throat bobs as he swallows.
"Megamind?" she prompts gently.
He sighs. "...No. That's all." He sounds miserable. He looks miserable.
"It'll be okay," Roxanne tries to tell him. "I'm sorry. But we do have to."
He nods.
"Come on." She stoops and picks up the first jug. "Put your hand on my shoulder, okay? Good. And, um, and open for me—that's perfect—"
Megamind bares his teeth around a long, loud snarl and his hand on her shoulder clenches hard as Roxanne pours water into his left spiracle to trickle out through his gill slits on that side. She tries to be as careful as possible, tries to keep the flow steady and not let the water glug. Hopefully that helps, or at least isn't worse.
The water that splashes out of Megamind's gill slits is tinted pink and carries some wet-looking shreds of feathery gray tissue with it, which rinse down his legs with the rest of the water and blood. There's actually less than Roxanne was expecting; that's…is that a good sign? She doesn't know.
Megamind is panting badly by the time she finishes the first jug and has to bend down for the next one, and Roxanne peers at his face, concerned. "Do you need a rest, or—"
"No. Get it over with. Alternate sides."
Roxanne nods and switches to his other spiracle, and Megamind grits his teeth and grips her shoulder, his free hand squeezed into a fist at his side. He's holding his arm away from his body so his gills aren't pinned closed.
He releases the breath he was holding in a low hiss as the jug empties. He's very pale, and Roxanne hesitates again, worried. Can he go into shock from this? Is that a possibility she should be keeping an eye out for?
"Do you need to sit down?"
"I need you to keep going," he spits, slitting his eyes open and glaring at her, baring his teeth. "I appreciate your concern but I very much wish you would just shut up and gheeEEEAGHGHGHFUCK—aahghaaaa—"
She's back on the left again. "Sorry, sorry. Okay. You're okay. I know it hurts, I know it hurts, you're doing so good. You're being so good with this, sweetheart, I'm so sorry it hurts. I know. It's okay. There, okay, we're halfway done! Halfway there, baby, you're doing so good, so good—"
"Nnnnndon't—baby—don't like that—"
"Noted, yep, thanks for telling me. Only three more, my love, ready—"
They continue this way, Roxanne chanting reassurances and encouragement and Megamind hissing and snarling and swearing through his teeth. By the time the last jug finally empties, his voice is a high whine of pain and he's trembling badly and hanging onto her with both hands.
"There," Roxanne whispers, dropping the jug to the bottom of the tub with a hollow plastic noise so she can catch Megamind's elbows when his wobbly knees threaten to buckle. "There, you're done. We're done, sweetling, my dove, you did so good. Here, can I turn the shower on, get you rinsed off? Okay, switch places."
She pulls the shower curtain closed and turns the water on warm, switches from faucet to showerhead. Megamind jumps, shivering.
"Okay, you're okay," Roxanne says, worried. She turns him, wipes carefully at his skin and legs to make sure the bloody water and shreds of dead gill are gone, then—
Well, her first thought is to get Megamind out of the shower as quickly as possible, but then she thinks, oh, but he's aquatic. Is this maybe comforting for him? Is it worse?
"Stay in the shower, or get out?" she asks. Maybe he'll let her hold him for a while like this, until he's steadier?
But no, the corners of his mouth turn down and he just blinks his flat eyes and shakes his head, flutters a hand toward the faucet.
So Roxanne turns off the water and shakes her wet hair out of her eyes. The lavender towels are very fluffy, some of the softest she owns. Megamind blinks at her as she bundles the big one around his shoulders and rubs up and down his arms.
"I can dry off," he says, sounding numb and exhausted. "Thank you."
Roxanne nods and lets him take over. She's wet now, too, which she hadn't been thinking about when she reached for the shower. It's really fine, since she would need to wet her hair down anyway in order to make it behave for the day, but…she had been planning on keeping the swimsuit on. But it's going to be chilly, now.
"You should get changed."
She glances up at him, startled. Megamind sends her a wan smile. "Get changed," he says again, nodding at the door. "You'll be cold. And I am…not strong enough to keep from staring. Sorry."
"Megamind, you staring at me was the point of this getup," she exclaims. "What good are boobs if I can't use them to cheer up my partner when he's in pain?"
Megamind snorts.
"But, okay," Roxanne says. "Yeah, I'm cold. Do you need something else to wear? sweatpants, or…"
She trails off; he's shaking his head. "I'll just put my pajamas back on."
She nods. Awkwardly squeezes his hand, then leaves him to it.
He pulls the door closed after her.
Roxanne pulls her pajamas back on, too, with her lips pressed together and tears in her eyes. She is happy to help, truly she is; she is flattered and honored that he trusts her so much. But god, being the one to hurt him like this feels awful! Especially because he so obviously doesn't want to do it at all. Pushing him to let her do this…it feels so wrong. It feels like she's insisting he let her hurt him, it makes her feel sick to her stomach.
Still, she blows her nose and swallows her tears. This isn't about her, and she's good at putting a happy face on things. She makes her bed and puts a few more towels down on the covers, layering them, and then finally she spreads an old sheet out on top of everything so the terrycloth won't catch on the loose flaps of Megamind's abused gill slits.
Megamind steps out and smiles a little when he sees. "Good thinking."
Roxanne nods. "You go ahead and lie down, I'll…I'll go wash my hands."
And he nods back—
—but he catches her arm with one hand as she goes past, and touches her chin with the other when she stops in surprise. He leans in and kisses her with almost no hesitation at all, a brief, sweet press of lips, and his eyes are still tired and dull with pain but his smile at least looks genuine when he withdraws.
"Thank you," he says, "by the way. That was so much better than doing it myself."
She wants-
Fuck. She wants to turn to him fully and kiss him until he's gasping, put her arm around his back to hold him close and use her other to guide his head, touch his jaw, his ears, his throat. The inhuman lines of muscle in his shoulders and chest. He's shirtless and right in front of her and he is not, it occurs to her now, wearing anything under his pajama bottoms anymore.
But. He's also not feeling well, and he's trusting her to help him, not take advantage. So she steps back instead.
"Of course," she says lightly. "I'm glad I can help! Let me go wash my hands. And we can wrap this up and have breakfast."
He blinks at her, but nods.
Megamind is quiet when Roxanne settles behind and over him, but he still nods when she asks if he's ready. He takes a quick breath, starts breathing shallow and fast with anticipation of pain, and Roxanne pauses.
"Hey, could I try something?"
"Yes what."
"I need you to breathe slow and deep for me," she says. He slits an eye open at her, then sucks a deep breath and lets it out slowly, squeezing his eyes closed and turning his face away towards the pillow. Worried, Roxanne adds, "Only if it's okay, I don't—"
"It's fine," he says tightly. "Please just do this. Try."
She bites her lip and changes position to give herself more stability: on one knee behind him, with her other foot flat on the sheet in front of his stomach. She tracks the motion of his ribs, matches his breathing, matches the motion with her hands as she lifts the flap of skin and slips her fingers up under his gill slit.
Because…she's thinking that maybe part of the problem was the way his ribs, and therefore his gills, kept bumping into her fingers with his ragged breathing before? So, maybe if they treat this slower, it'll be better? Less painful? It seems to be going okay for a few seconds, but then she mistimes it and Megamind keens through his nose, a high whine of pain. Shit. Okay. Focus, Annie, she scolds herself. Focus.
But Megamind does continue to breathe slowly and steadily, as she requested. Roxanne moves with him, breathes with him so it's easier for her hands to follow the rise and fall of his scalloped ribcage. And he doesn't cry out, doesn't swear the way he did that first time; he just flinches and whines when she bumps him too hard.
"Is this...better? At all?" she asks when she finishes with the second gill. His silence is starting to really worry her.
"A little," he says, after a moment. He still isn't looking at her. "It is…steadier. Yes. It's fine."
"What is wrong," she says. "Megamind, if you need to jump and yell and swear, that's okay, that's-"
"I am really fine with this," Megamind says, an edge in his voice. "It is better. Yes. Please continue."
She bites her lips together and stares down at him, frustrated and upset and concerned and confused.
"I feel like you're shutting down," she says. "I—I don't—know what to do."
"Please can we just get this over with," he says. "We can talk after. I do not want to be doing this any more than you do; can we please just do it and be done."
Roxanne swallows. Nods.
She finishes with that side, and Megamind rolls himself over without waiting for assistance. He's pale and his eyes are dark, and his arms seem very shaky, and Roxanne…
…can't.
"You are acting way different from last night," she says, desperate. "Something is wrong. And I don't know what it is or if it's my fault or anything. Please talk to me, here, I'm—"
"There's nothing to talk about," he tells her. "I don't know what you want from me."
"Talk to me," she says again, desperate. "Tell me how I'm doing, walk me through this! Don't just—"
"I can't! I physically cannot. If I'm breathing that way, I can't talk, it'll interrupt the rhythm!"
"Then we don't have to—"
"And it is helping," he continues, "it is better! This way! You aren't going too deep, you're doing fine, can we please just get on with it!"
Roxanne stares at him, then settles back on her heel, looking around for some kind of inspiration. There has to be a way. Some kind of middle ground or a code they can use. Something. She can't have her hands inside him this way without some kind of something to guide her. What happens if she pokes him in the lung?
"Your other voice," she says. "It doesn't use your lungs, right? It's something else." At his nod, she swallows. "Then…could you use that? The knocking, if you need me to stop? Or something else?"
He sighs. "What are you doing."
"I am trying to make sure I don't hurt you worse than l have to!" she cries, sharply enough that he startles and finally looks up at her. "For heaven's sake, Megamind! You seemed on board with that last night; what the hell changed? You seemed kind of okay just a few minutes ago; what changed?"
"You don't—want to be doing this," he says, halting, big eyes scanning over her face and stance. "You are—unhappy! Doing this! I just—and I know, I know it's—disgusting, unsanitary—fucking revolting, chunks of dead shit coming out of me, and then you have to reach in there and touch them, but I do need help, I do want help, but you don't want to be doing this and so I just—"
Roxanne throws both hands up. "When did I say that?"
"I—you—"
"Of course I want to be doing this! It needs to be done and I want to help! I have said that, out loud! When the hell did I say otherwise?"
He swallows. "But," he says, "you are unhappy. Upset! About this! I can, I can tell; you were upset in the bathroom and, and then you were pulling away after and—"
Roxanne stops herself just before she contaminates her hands by putting her face in them. As it is, she flails wordlessly for a moment and settles for spluttering, "Oh—my god. Oh my god oh my god. Stop, stop—okay. Shit, goddammit. Um. I don't—even know where to start with that."
Megamind swallows and rests a trembling hand on her leg, his touch feather-light and hesitant. "Sorry?" he offers. "Sorry. I'm. I don't understand."
"Yeah I think that's pretty obvious," she exclaims, and he flinches. "Megamind, you…listen, listen to me. I am happy to help you take care of this in any way I can. Yes? Understand?"
His eyebrows net and tweak upward. "But-"
"And I am unhappy because it is hurting you," she continues. "Because I have thought about touching you for so long, and now I finally get to do it…and it is causing you pain. And no, I am not happy about that! But my desire to help trumps my desire to refuse and force you to hurt more without my help. So, yeah, sometimes I am not going to look alive-awake-alert-enthusiastic to rinse your gills or put ointment on them, but that doesn't mean I don't want to do it."
"...Oh," he says, a little bit weakly. "Oh. Yes. I…okay."
"Please do not assume you know why I'm doing something," Roxanne says flatly. "I think we're probably both pretty shit at that, considering how the last couple years went. Please don't assume. I hate that."
Megamind swallows again, hard. "I'll—try? I don't—I don't know if—but I'll try. I'll—sorry. I can at least try to notice when I'm assuming something? Is that... will that be enough?"
She sighs, slumps a little. "Maybe? I guess we'll find out."
He nods.
"Sorry," he says again, after a long few seconds, and sends her a nervous-looking grimace. His eyes are still very round. "I—do—know not to make assumptions. It, it makes an ass out of you and—and mumptions."
Roxanne blinks once as that sinks in.
Then she wheezes into shocked laughter. "Mumptions?"
He frowns. "Is that not…?"
"It's assume," she chokes out, settling fully onto the mattress behind him so she won't overbalance and fall on his hip. "It's—Megamind—oh my love—it's assume. Don't assume; it makes an ass out of u and me."
"Oh!" His eyebrows go up. "Oh. That does make more sense. Yes."
"Mumptions, oh my god, you," she laughs, bending over and hiding her eyes against his bicep for a moment before sitting up again. "Okay," she says, smiling down at him. "Okay. Shall we keep going? Please tell me what I'm doing wrong, I need feedback. Okay?"
He nods. "Yes. Okay."
And then he moves suddenly, catching one of her hands in his—the one that isn't covered in ointment—and bringing her knuckles to his lips as his eyes slide closed. Roxanne freezes, charmed and touched and thinking, god, this man, let me keep him forever.
"Thank you," he says, after a moment. The morning sunlight catches his eyes when he opens them and looks up at her again, lighting them up so green it nearly takes Roxanne's breath away. "Again. For this. Everything. The deep breathing really does help—are you all right, like that? Moving with me, not leaning on anything?"
She nods. "Yeah, I'm okay. Keep going?"
"Yes." He turns away again and moves his arm into position so she'll have access, and a low hum thrums out of him as she bends down.
Things go much more smoothly after that. It's not perfect, Roxanne does bump him a few times and his water-voice goes sharp to let her know what's not good. He jumps and swears once or twice. But on the whole, it does not seem nearly as bad as it did last night. And afterwards, while Megamind is still on his back and trying to catch his breath, he says, "Roxanne? Can you clarify…the part of this you don't like. Is it that I'm in pain, or are you upset because you're hurting me?"
She grimaces, cleaning her hands off with a couple of alcohol wipes. "It's both. I know it's going to hurt anyway, I just…"
He nods and slowly sits up. "For what it is worth," he says, watching as she throws the wipes away, "this has happened before. My gills drying out. And I can tell you, Roxanne, and I do hope you find this at least somewhat reassuring…having to rinse myself out, having to apply my own ointment…it really is all much more painful and difficult than this was. I meant that. This is already better."
She sends him a little smile, sitting on the bed by his hip. "I'm glad. But. Still."
"Also," he continues, slowly sitting up as a blush paints itself across his cheeks and up his ears, "also, a couple of…notes? Pain is…well this, this is a lot," gesturing at his sides, "this is too much. But in general, I don't…always mind it. The, ah, the opposite of 'mind it.' In fact. Sometimes."
Roxanne blinks. "Oh?"
He winces, sort of crosses his arms over his chest and leans them on his knees. It tugs at his gill slits and sends a fresh line of blood down his ribs onto the sheet, but he doesn't seem to notice, this time. "I thought…probably you should know that. If you're going to be doing this for me. As my gills heal, it might—I might, um—"
She leans in and catches the edge of his jaw in her hand, catches his mouth with a kiss. He startles when she reaches for his face, but he goes pliant as soon as her lips make contact, returning the kiss without hesitation.
"We'll get there when we get there," she murmurs as they part, and he gives a shaky nod. "I don't mind if this…might lead to other things, someday."
"Oh," he says, breathless, blinking at her. "Really? You…really?"
Roxanne smiles at him, feeling heat in her own cheeks. Megamind really does look taken aback at this, but he certainly doesn't look upset or disappointed, and…
"Here," she says, to distract from how pink her ears must be, "scoot forward a little for me? Yeah, let me just…"
She crawls behind him and he goes a little bit stiff, but Roxanne puts his hips between her legs and tugs him to lean back against her chest, and he makes a little oh noise of realization and settles backwards almost immediately. His hands are fluttery, uncertain; finally he rests one of them on her knee and the other on his own. Roxanne leans her head forward and tries resting her chin on his shoulder. "You did say you wanted cuddles after," she reminds him, sliding her hand over his on her knee and curling her fingers between his. "This okay?"
Slowly, he curls his fingers a little. "This is. Okay," he confirms, and he still has his knees pulled up so Roxanne squeezes his other hand as well and then slides her palm down his shin and curls her loose grip around his bony ankle.
Then she lifts her head. "Good lord your ankles are tiny," she realizes. "How are you not completely shattered after every battle?"
He shrugs. "The internal structure of my bones is stronger than yours, and I'm semi-cartilaginous. Stretchy, bendy. I am far less brittle than I look, Miss Ritchi, you may be sure. We…" He pauses. "We're really doing this. Aren't we. You and me."
She nods, rests her forehead on the lovely slope of the back of his cranium. "We are."
Megamind sighs. "And…exactly how firm do you intend to be about the 'no heavy lifting until my gills are healed'?"
Roxanne shrugs. "Not sure yet. I do realize you have a career to worry about, and you know your limits better than I do. But I do worry about you pushing yourself. Do you know how long it will take?" she adds. "To heal?"
"Fully? Probably a little over a month. But I'll be able to stop doing the ointment and rinses in…two weeks, maybe three."
Roxanne nods slowly. "Okay. Do you…hmmm. Do you think you could hold off on the next evil plot until then? At least?"
He's quiet for a moment. Finally he says, "I can do two weeks. No promises on three."
"That sounds good. Thank you, love, I just don't want you to hurt yourself." She presses a kiss to the back of his head and starts to move, to crawl out from behind him so she can suggest they get dressed and have some breakfast—but Megamind squeezes her hands, and she pauses.
"Ah," he says. "Um. I do realize that was a turn of phrase, but I should…I don't…know if you'll find this comforting or not. But. A thought occurs, regarding the you-being-the-one-to-hurt-me concern."
"Okay?"
His hands tighten around hers. "The…possible alternative is that I hurt myself. And." He pauses, then slowly says, "As necessary as this ordeal may be…that is a habit I would prefer not to get back into. So." He takes a deep breath. "I really am grateful to you for helping with this."
Roxanne pauses, blinking, and then she pulls her hands free and wraps both arms around his upper body and squeezes as hard as she can. "I am so very happy to help you with it, Megamind. You trusting me with your gills is beyond anything I ever imagined, when I was thinking about this. I love you."
He makes a disgruntled noise and grips one of her arms. "I can't hug you like this," he complains. "I like sitting like this but I can't hug you. This is untenable. Let go so I can turn around."
"Nope," Roxanne says, hugging him tighter. "Nope, too late. You're trapped."
"Oh, Am I," he says, and this is when Roxanne discovers that he was just being polite when he asked her to let go, and remembers that he is in fact a lot stronger than he looks, because he simply lifts his arms away from his sides to break her grip and wriggles around in front of her until he's two-thirds of the way around in her arms and twisted the rest of the way with his own arms twined around her shoulders.
"Ha," he says then, sounding very smug.
"Ass," Roxanne returns, and kisses the end of his nose. He crinkles it at her, ears pinking, eyes sparkling.
Then she looks down and sighs at him. "You're bleeding again, with your arms up like that."
He shrugs. "I've gotten used to it. No, it's not good," he agrees, when she opens her mouth to tell him exactly that, "but what else am I supposed to do? Keep my arms down at my sides for three weeks?"
"Yes," she tells him, trying not to laugh at the raspberry he blows at her, "that is exactly what you're supposed to do."
"Well that's not happening," he says flatly. "You'd have to tie them down."
"That can be arranged," says Roxanne, before she can think, and then she catches herself and grimaces when Megamind's eyebrows shoot up his forehead and his mouth falls open. "Sorry," she begins, but suddenly his teeth are sunk into his bottom lip and he is turning very pink and grinning at her, and she changes this to, "oh, well, if you're into that then I won't bother being sorry. I'll just—kiss you—mmm. And get the alcohol wipes so you can put your shirt back on and we can go eat."
Megamind tells her he can wipe himself down, but Roxanne is still riding the high of being allowed to help with any of this. So he sits, instead, on the edge of her bed, while she cleans the drying blood off his sides and then helps him into his shirt.
He looks up at her in the morning sunlight, his happy smile fading to a more nervous-looking one. "What if," he says, "Roxanne, what if I can't make it two weeks? I don't…It's been a long time since I've taken that kind of break; what if I can't…"
Roxanne pets a hand over the crown of his head. "We'll cross that bridge if we get there," she promises, as Megamind catches her hand and squeezes it.
"As long as we don't burn it," he says, and she laughs a little.
"Sweetheart, it'll take a lot more than you being a little rough with yourself for me to burn any bridges with you."
"Promise?"
"Promise." She kisses the top of his high forehead, then smiles at him as his worried expression relaxes. "Come on," she says, leaning back and tugging gently on his hand, "let's go have breakfast."
