A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to flowery-laser-blasts of Tumblr fame! It's short and was written in a hurry, but, I still wanted to give you something so you know just how much you are appreciated. I hope you'll enjoy this little slice-of-life.

Know what's neat, is in writing this... I was seeing them in your art style as I went. Interesting filter my brain applied. It was fun.

Drakken adjusted the magnification on his glasses, zooming in as he continued his delicate work. The tiniest error would ruin everything and could result in an explosion that would leave him both physically and emotionally wounded for weeks, not to mention the blow to his pride for not being able to finish the job he'd started.

He slowly leaned back, adjusted his grip, and then leaned forward again as he carefully positioned the brush. He painted a nearly-microscopic black, glittering line across the curved surface, not releasing his breath until he had finished. Then he then leaned back again with a grin of satisfaction. The sparkling zig-zag line was perfectly straight, separating the darker green from the lighter, and would catch the light beautifully.

"Do you want the gel top coat after they dry?" he asked.

"Of course," Shego replied as she spread her fingers and studied the fresh coat of polish on her nails. "I like the zig-zags."

Drakken puffed up in pride and with a bit of relief. He never wanted to relive how angry Shego had been the time he made a small mistake in his fine detail work because of Commodore Puddles licking his ankle unexpectedly.

"Change the channel, then you can do my other hand," she said, setting the painted one flat on the table with her fingers spread apart.

Drakken dutifully lifted the remote and after quickly checking the time, flipped over to Shego's favorite reality show—Monster Jam—and then prepared to paint the nails of her other hand.

"I still can't believe your cousin snuck onto the show," Shego said after a moment.

Drakken grumbled as he glanced at the screen during the show's intro montage, displaying monster trucks crushing car after car.

"He said their monster trucks were 'seriously under-powered,'" Drakken replied.

He gently lifted Shego's other hand from the table, allowed himself a moment to savor the sensation of her hot skin against his, feel how delicate and smooth her fingers were in comparison to his calloused ones.

"I bet you could build a better one."

"Hnh. Don't tempt me," Drakken said as he adjusted his glasses and dipped the brush into the black polish. The accent nail on this hand was going to have a tiny green skull, but he of course needed the base coat first.

As he started, he felt Shego's eyes leave the screen and focus on him instead. His cheeks began to warm as he felt her soft smile on him rather than her fingers.

"If I had known you were so good at this I'd have stopped going to the salon years ago."

Drakken felt his heart flutter.

"I'm good with my hands in other ways too," he said, dipping the brush in the polish again.

Shego didn't reply, and when he looked up her face was flushed crimson and her eyes darted away from his, fixing unblinking on the television. It took him an embarrassingly long time to follow the train of her thoughts, and when he arrived at their conclusion he dropped the brush on the table and nearly choked in his shock.

"Ahhheheheh, I mean! Ahh, I'm— I'm...very good at...giving massages."

Drakken watched Shego bite the inside of her cheek as she glanced back at him cautiously, not bothering to pretend her mind hadn't gone exactly where it must have.

"Youuu you you...don't...need to pay for the spa, either. If you don't want to," he continued quickly.

Shego swallowed slowly, recovered herself, and then turned to smirk at him.

"You pay for my spa vacations."

"Nyeh! Shego... Work with me here."

She chuckled, and Drakken sighed in relief to be let off the hook.

"Okay, okay. I'll bite. When my nails dry you can try to convince me that staying in the lair for a massage is better than a fifteen hour flight to Greece. What do you say?"

Drakken picked up the brush again and cleaned it to resume his painting. He had been frowning in reaction to the misunderstanding, but as he stole glances at Shego watching TV he felt a different kind of flush rise under his collar. She was pointedly not looking at him, and every now and then when she thought he was engrossed in the details of the painting he saw her bite her lip, and her hand had gone clammy in his.

He grinned as he wondered... Perhaps he shouldn't have corrected her after all.

Perhaps he should misunderstand something later when she let him try to prove his other skills.

Drakken dipped the brush in the bright green polish as he allowed himself to stroke her hand with his thumb just once.

"I say...you're on."