Snippets of Forever:

So Not... A Rushed Decision.

-x-

Kim absolutely loved the sensation of free-falling.

There was nothing in the world like it. The rush she felt as she plummeted head first at a rate of knots through the clouds was indescribable. She would often close her eyes for even the shortest moment, embracing the harsh gusts of wind that flew past her face. It was all oddly comforting, but not quite as much as the following instance where she would pull her chute and float down to her destination more calmly.

It was exactly where she found herself right then and there. Kim carefully toggled either cord of her parachute as she manoeuvred herself through the sky and aimed for the rooftop quickly approaching below her feet.

And then from right above her head, she heard the panicked sound of Ron's screams.

"Wahhh-ahhh! Kiiiiiim!"

Kim snapped her neck around and squinted her eyes to spot Ron descending from above. He looked to be struggling and was falling at a much faster rate than she was.

Taking a quick glance back down at the ground to find only a few more feet beneath her, Kim swiftly unclipped herself from her chute and tucked into a forward roll. Ron overtook her then, and the terrified screeches from him and Rufus grew louder as they fell dangerously close to the edge of the building.

Kim sprung up onto her feet and sprinted across the rooftop as she reached down for the ropes of Ron's chute. She leaned back with a groan and an almighty tug, digging her feet into the concrete and pulling as hard as she could. The scream from her boyfriend seemed to crescendo when his legs slid over the edge and dangled above the busy city below, but Ron soon echoed the same grunt as Kim when she yanked him in tight and he was able to scramble back to safety.

Ron leaned back on his elbows for the first second with a deep sigh of relief before glancing up at his girlfriend.

Kim smirked down at him, extending her hand for his, "Got your back."

"Phew, badical save, KP."

"No big," she shrugged, pulling her BF to his feet. Rufus scurried up her arm and sat on her shoulder, just as relieved as the three of them began to review their surroundings.

A small frown crinkled in Kim's brow as she flicked on her Kimmunicator and called through to Wade.

"Wade? Just touched down in Hong Kong."

Wade soon materialised on the small screen on Kim's wrist, "I trust it was a safe landing?"

"Some safer than others," Kim jibed, rolling her eyes in Ron's direction, "Remind me, though - where exactly are we, again?"

"You should be standing on the roof of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University."

At this remark from her youngest friend, Kim's eyes widened.

"Oh, no way! This is one of the colleges I've been accepted to!"

With a sudden spring in her step, Kim shuffled carefully to the edge of the building and peered down to the bustling street below. The sloped, white roof where she stood was an architectural gem, and the rooftop garden on the smaller building next door was warm and inviting. The whole breath-taking sight made her heart beat lightly in her chest.

But when she spun around on the spot to shoot her enchanted smile over to her boyfriend, Kim felt her chest skip an entirely different kind of beat.

Ron was staring right back at her - ever so proud and supportive, yes. But the longing sadness in his eyes was unmistakable.

Darn them and their lack of planning for their future.

Kim almost wanted to step forward and gently take Ron's hand, when she was suddenly reminded of the briefing she was still part-way through with Wade. The young, tech genius carried right along as he spoke through the Kimmunicator.

"This is the fourth historical university the Seniors have hit in the last week. They're ransacking the whole building and snatching up anything of value."

Reluctantly casting her eyes down to the device on her wrist, Kim switched back into mission mode, "So, what's the main target this time?"

"An authentic pearl necklace, forged from pearls from the sea of Tai Po in the fourteen-hundreds."

"Ooh, yeah," Ron joined in, peeking over Kim's shoulder, "Sounds pretty priceless."

Kim nodded her head in agreement, "But if anyone can find a price, it's the Seniors."

Senor Senior Senior and Senor Senior Junior had been up to their old, devious tricks again. After Junior's temporary partnership with Shego had fallen through, the father-son duo were back to stealing anything and everything they desired to add to their already exuberant collection of priceless treasures and antiquities. But now Kim had finally managed to track them down - and she and Ron were not going to let them get away.

"We're on it. The Seniors are not leaving this building with a single thing, let alone that necklace."

"Let me know if you need anything," Wade confirmed before signing off.

Once the Kimmunicator was blank, Kim looked back up, gazing straight ahead and across the sparse grounds of the university campus below.

There were a few different thoughts suddenly battling for occupancy in her mind. The criminal heist currently taking place in the building beneath her feet, obviously, but also the fleeting moment of despondency she had sensed in her boyfriend.

Usually her next step would be a no-brainer. Rarely had she bumped into an issue more important than the mission at hand that would delay her from leaping into action, busting the bad guy and saving the day.

But when Ron silently shuffled away from her and she blinked in surprise, Kim almost didn't stop to think when she parted her lips to speak.

"Ron?" she offered gently, "Everything okay?"

"Who, me?"

"No, the other blonde cutie on this empty rooftop with us."

Her sarcasm stung in the sweetest way in the form of a red blush in his cheeks, but still, Ron only shook the emotion off, "Um, yeah, 'sha, I'm totally fine."

Convincing, Kim told herself.

"Because it sure looked like you were a little upset at me maybe, possibly, undecidedly going to college here next year?"

"What? College? What? Psh," Ron rambled, earning a groan from Rufus, "I haven't even thought about college - ya' know, despite the fact that you have a million amazing offers, and the world is your literal oyster, and I don't have a single acceptance yet, and I don't really know what that dumb oyster expression even means, and - "

"Okay, enough," Kim cut in, "We are talking about this right now."

"Right now?" Ron repeated, confused, "Um, what about the Seniors?"

"You seriously doubt my ability to multi-task."

There was a single beat of silence, but a split second after Kim finished her sentence, both she and Ron sensed their eyes widen at a rumbling brewing beneath their feet. An almighty blast was all that could be heard when the glass from all the windows about three or four floors down exploded and the whole building shook. Luckily, the intense damage was centralised at the source, and the rest of the tall structure seemed to remain secure.

Kim had rapidly been able to regain her own balance, but Ron's grip was firm on her arm anyway, and she took a quick glance at him over her shoulder. She would've smiled if they hadn't been so surprised by the sudden explosion, so instead they both scampered over to the side of the building to look down and survey the damage.

Ron dared to lick his bottom lip, remembering what Kim had just spoken to him.

"And... how about now?"

Kim growled under her breath, shooting him her glare, "Oh, we are still going to talk about this now."

As she stood up and about faced, Ron watched her with one eyebrow raised. She took a few steps back and un-holstered her signature grappling gun.

And then, Kim did cock a subtle smile.

"Kim?"

She ran at him full pelt, and when she tackled him around his waist and secured her grip, Ron and Rufus let out a long, loud screech.

"KP!"

The only thing worse than diving out of a plane with a parachute was jumping off the top of a building without one, and the screams from Ron and Rufus continued to ring in Kim's ear until she shot her hairdryer through the opening of the busted windows. With a finger to the recoil trigger of the device, the teen hero and her sidekick were pulled into the structure and landed safely on the floor, completely unscathed.

Ron's breath was heavy in his chest when he spun around to fire daggers at his girlfriend, "Would it kill your to warn a guy next time?"

Kim rolled her eyes, but before she had the chance to snipe back at him, the pair suddenly found they weren't exactly alone.

"Why am I hearing the voice of Ron Stoppable?"

Through the smoke that still lingered from the explosion, Kim spotted the figure of Senor Senior Senior where he stood on the opposite side of the room. Judging by the scattered debris of thick wood and shattered glass, Kim guessed that the room had housed a number of display cabinets with the university's most treasured possessions.

The pile of growing loot at Senior's feet was another dead giveaway.

"Pappi! I have it! I've found the necklace!"

From the hallway that ran adjacent to the room, Senor Senior Junior burst through the crowds of panicked students proudly swinging the collection of shiny, white pearls around his head.

Kim curled up a fist by her side and glowered at the evil duo. It didn't seem like any students or teachers had been hurt, luckily, but the sounds of their frantic shouts echoing up and down the corridor still made her seethe.

And her serious demeanour was not lost on Junior when he finally spotted her through the clearing smoke.

"Ah! Kim Possible!"

"Junior," she replied, turning her vision to the older villain, as well, "Senior. Taking post-graduate learning to a whole new level, are we?"

Senior snickered to himself, "Come now, my dear, flattery will get you everywhere if you only try it."

"And theft will get you a one-way ticket to Cell Block D."

"Yeah, so hand over the loot, Junior!" Ron demanded, taking a first step forward.

"I will not!" Junior shouted back, clutching the pearls close to his chest, "And if you don't like it, you can just take it up with my groupies."

With the snap of his fingers, Junior was instantly flanked either side by two big, burly men who were carrying an array of expensive looking books and other trinkets from the university's archives. Ron and Kim both raised an eyebrow, sharing a confused glance until Senior groaned from the other side of the room.

"Junior," he scolded lightly, "My son, how many times must we go over this? Those fine gentlemen are not your groupies, they are our hired muscle."

"You mean goons?" Ron corrected with a snort, "Yeah, okay, I know you guys are totally loaded, or whatever, but I did not think hired goons were your thing."

"It's not like we can be sneaky and plant all the fun kind of boobie traps like on Father's island!" Junior snapped back, falling to a sharp instant of hesitation, "Well, except for the prototype of the pocket-sized spinning top of doom I dropped when I was searching through the drawers over by the window..."

"I'm sure you're both good to pay back the university for the damages," Kim sniped with her hands on her hips.

"Enough of these snarky comments," Senior demanded, pointing a finger out towards Team Possible, "Dispose of Kim Possible and her goofy sidekick."

"'Goofy sidekick'? Oh, come on, you literally said my name when you heard my voice!"

"Ron!" Kim cut in.

"Yes! Exactly! Thank you!"

"No, Ron, look out for Junior!"

Kim was already back flipping away from the two hired thugs as Junior made a direct beeline for Ron. Rufus let out a surprise yelp and dived down into his human's pocket while Ron sidestepped the villain just in time.

Senor Senior Senior was taking the well-needed distraction as an opportunity to continue ransacking the last of the cabinets that were still standing as the teen heroes battled Junior and his thugs. Ron and Junior were needlessly circling each other as they often would, while Kim was doing some serious butt-kicking all on her own. As she dodged the first goon's attempt to grab her, she sprung up into a drop kick, landing her feet square in the middle of his chest and sending him stumbling back into his partner. The two quickly scrambled back to a vertical base and dived at Kim again, but she was more than agile enough to keep them both at bay.

"Now, then," Kim said with a grunt as she connected another punch with the second goon, "Where were we?"

Ron frowned in disbelief as he and Junior finally locked up in a test of strength, "Wait, you actually want to talk about this right now?"

"Um, excuse me!" Junior cut in, "What is all this chitter-chatter? Should you not be paying all your attention to me as the serious, but sexy, threat?!"

"Oh, yeah, like you're a bigger threat than Kim dumping me to follow her college dreams all over the world next year," Ron sniped back sarcastically.

Junior paused for a second before nodding his head, "Oh, yes, now that I could totally see."

"Hey!"

"Ron! Don't let him get under your skin," Kim pleaded, distracted for a precious second as one of Senior's two thugs took her out at her ankles. She quickly recovered, though, and kipped-up to land on her feet and dodge their follow-up attack.

Ron, meanwhile, groaned between gritted teeth as Junior seemed to be overpowering him, "Ya' know," he just managed to murmur, "Bonnie isn't exactly as dumb as she makes out to be, she's just super lazy. She could end up leaving you behind for some hoity-toity college just as easily as Kim could leave me!"

"No, not my precious Bon-Bon!" Junior gasped, giving Ron the opportunity to take the advantage in their stand-off and shove the larger man backwards. As Junior lost his balance, Rufus sprung into attack mode and snatched the pearls dangling from his breast pocket with a hearty cheer.

"Got 'em!" Ron shouted. In the next second, though, his celebrations were cut short when one of Senior's two thugs came barrelling towards him, "Uh oh!"

With his eyes closed and his body braced for impact, Ron didn't even notice when Kim appeared by his side and knocked the hefty goon away. He peaked open one eye, breathing a sigh of relief and firming his position back-to-back with his girlfriend as they worked together to hold the two men off.

But despite the situation at hand, Kim was not prepared to let Ron's comments to Junior slide.

"Not to start a fight within this fight," she quipped cynically, "But what the heck is up with you and your totally flawed assumption that we're both gonna' be single next year?"

Her question came across rather sharply as she took her frustration out on the larger of the two goons with a kick to his stomach.

"I haven't even decided where I'm going to school yet, Ron, why would you say something like that?"

"I'm not trying to be a jerk," Ron responded, suddenly sounding guilty, "I'm just... I dunno', preparing for the worst? You've been accepted to a million and one amazing schools, and I'm gonna' be stuck cleaning aisles and animal pens at Smarty Mart in Middleton. As if you're not gonna' dump me."

"As if I could ever find anyone better for me than you!"

Ron almost flinched at the volume of Kim's words, but when their context and meaning truly resonated with him, he felt a chord snap at his heart and spun around to face her.

His mouth wobbled into a watery smile.

"For real?"

"Duck!" came Kim's unexpected response when one of the hired hands snatched Ron up into his grasp.

The teenager yelped in surprise, but quickly did as he was asked as he tucked his neck downwards and allowed his girlfriend to roundhouse kick his captor around the side of his ear.

Senior was growing more and more frustrated from where he watched on, "Junior! Enough of these childish games! We cannot leave without that necklace!"

"Hngh, run!" Rufus squeaked with his tiny paws wrapped tightly around the pearls. Junior was soon in hot pursuit as Ron darted back towards the busted windows and Kim delivered a similar knockout blow to the second goon.

The teen hero whipped her head around, her eyes narrowing and her heart ceasing for a second when she spotted how closely her boyfriend was teetering on the edge of the building.

And then, Junior tackled him at full force, the two of them spilling across the floor.

"Ron!"

"Aha! I've got them, Father, I have the pearls!" Junior exclaimed, holding the necklace above his head where he was lying beside Ron and Rufus.

Ron felt like his head was thumping from where he had fallen in an unceremonious heap. Although, the more he focused on the sensation, the more it began to morph from a thumping, to a light thud, to an irritating whirring.

That's when both young men realised there was a second, micro-sized top of doom spinning away on the ground in front of them.

"Oh," Junior exclaimed simply, "The blowback on this will be a much bigger disaster for my hair than the full-sized version."

Ron instantly used the devastating distraction to snatch back the pearl necklace. And when he felt the claw from Kim's grappling gun shoot out and latch onto the back of his pants, he and Rufus waved to Junior with a pair of sly smirks.

"Laters, Junior."

"Hck, bye!"

The feeling in his gut was sharp and tight when Kim recoiled her hairdryer and roped Ron back in towards her. Along with Rufus, the three of them collided and collapsed on top of one another in precise timing with Junior's second prototype exploding by the edge of the building.

The noise was ear piercing, and before the dust could even clear, Ron rolled away from where he had shifted his body to cover Kim's as they both looked back across the room. And to be completely honest - their hearts were sort of in their stomachs.

But soon enough through all the smoke and debris, a pair of twin rockets lit up the sky as Senior flew away on a jet pack, with Junior dangling in his grip beneath him. Despite the gnawing feeling of defeat, Kim sighed in relief. She was the first to come to her feet, quickly reaching a hand down for Ron and pulling him up beside her.

"Whoa," he huffed out with a groan, "Is it just me, or is he getting stronger in his old age?"

Kim rolled her eyes for a moment and pivoted to secure the two hired goons as the sound of sirens finally started to echo from the ground below. The panicked students in the hallways seemed to be calming just slightly as well, while the teachers and lecturers tried to regain some order and shuffle them back into classrooms.

"'Ya know they'd probably, totally give you, like, a full scholarship to this school now, seeing as you saved the necklace and the rest of the loot, and all."

Kim froze for a short second, blowing the loose strands of her red hair out of her face with a sigh as she turned back around to face Ron.

He had a supportive smile on his lips, and his tone was sounding even a tad more upbeat. But Kim knew that this conversation was still far from over.

"Even if they did, it wouldn't make my decision any easier."

With their plans foiled and the Seniors having escaped for now, Kim pushed the two villains to the back of her mind and focused in on the boy standing opposite her.

To say that Ron was not meeting her same level of enthusiasm when it came to all of her college options was obviously a huge understatement. But what might not have been as immediately obvious to Kim was just how disheartened he was feeling about their future.

And no matter how difficult the conversation was going to be, Kim knew they needed to have it - or at least get a head start.

"You do know I'm still trying to make the right choice about a college. There's a lot of options to weigh up."

"Yeah, I know," Ron agreed with a nod of his head, "There's just not really a whole bunch of options that keep you in Middleton."

Kim sighed again, taking two or three steps closer to Ron and shooting him a sympathetic smile, "It's not like I'm purposely trying to run away to the other side of the world, or anything. I'm just considering what other experiences might be out there - none of which involve leaving you behind, by the way."

Her words were warm and made Ron melt when he took a bashful glance downwards.

Kim continued straight on, "Is there seriously any part of you that doesn't see us sticking together?"

"No," he answered quickly. He pulled back on his impulse then, falling to some hesitation, "I mean... maybe... I mean, I don't know! I don't even want to think about any of this stuff right now."

"Okay, so who says we have to?" Kim instantly countered.

Ron watched as she reached a hand out for him. He frowned quietly for a second before slowly placing the beaded pearls in her outstretched grasp. Kim snorted under her breath, shaking her head at Ron's oblivious nature when she shoved the necklace into her pocket and took his hand in hers instead. She squeezed and tugged him in a step closer.

"We've still got one whole semester to go, graduation is, like, seven months away! We don't need to dwell on any of this right now," she argued with an adoring smile, "Let's just enjoy what we have left of senior year and then we can focus on the rest of forever. Can that be enough? Just for now?"

Ron was still sceptically silent for a moment or two until he felt his heart skip a beat when Kim leaned up on her toes to press a gentle kiss to his mouth.

She stayed frozen against him for a few heavenly seconds before she pulled back to murmur against his lips.

"Got your back, remember?"

Her words were near muted, but Ron could hear Kim's sincerity all the same - and just like always, she was already making him feel so much better. He knew she truly did believe their relationship could survive anything. Ron also just happened to know that he'd be a fool to try and predict any kind of certain future for them.

But like Kim had said, it probably didn't matter all that much. Not right now.

With a more permanent smile finally fixed into his features, Ron dipped down to reciprocate Kim's quick kiss as he pecked at her lips.

"Okay. But you will tell me if you make your mind up about anything, right?"

"Duh," she promised him, "You'll be the first to know."

"Heyyy!" came the tiny squeaks of protest from their little, pink buddy.

Kim laughed, patting Rufus on the head, "And then obviously Rufus will be the second to know."

Ron joined in with a chuckle of his own, but before he could even think about pulling his GF back in for another sweet kiss, the sounds of the local authorities had finally reached the upper level of the building where they stood. Kim glanced over her shoulder, beckoning for Ron to follow her towards them.

She did stop for one extra moment, looking back up at him with a soft grin hidden behind the longer of her red locks hanging across her face.

Kim hated to think that Ron couldn't shake even his slimmest feelings of concern for their future, but it did make her feel better to think that they had put the whole conversation on ice - at least for now.

As she jingled the pearl necklace in her hand and pulled it out of her pocket to return it to the university officials, there was only one other thought humming in the back of Kim's mind. And that thought just happened to be of the other very important conversation she was still needing to have with her boyfriend.

Little did either of them know, the opportunity for that particular convo would come around much sooner than either of them expected.


"KP?"

The sound of Ron's voice came echoing up the stairs as Kim huffed out in irritation, hurrying to slip into her shoes.

"Up here!"

A few moments drifted by, but when Ron and Rufus finally appeared at the ascent of his girlfriend's loft, Kim felt some of the tension in her chest ease.

"Hey. Sorry, I'll be ready to leave in, like, two seconds."

A week or so had gone by since their clash with the Seniors in Hong Kong, and it was now Sunday evening. The conclusion of their spring semester was fast approaching, and the tweebs had both just aced their first official high school exams, each scoring one hundred per cent on their respective physics tests. James and Ann were thrilled and instantly offered to take the boys, along with Kim and Ron, out to dinner to celebrate.

While her family were already at the restaurant downtown, Team Possible had been called out for a last-minute mission that afternoon, so now Kim and Ron were racing to meet the reservation in time.

"Drakken and Shego are so lucky I don't stick them with the bill for making us late to dinner."

"Like they could even afford it with all that wasted coin on death rays and doomsday thingies."

"You mean stolen coin?" Kim countered with a snide chuckle. She finished tying her shoes and stood from the bed, patting the pocket of her jeans with a frown on her face, "Cell phone..." she mused, until her eyes flicked over to her backpack across the room.

She gestured past Ron towards where it sat on the desk beside him, "Could you pass me my backpack?"

"Sure thing," he obliged immediately. He always was quick to be helpful - but perhaps in this instant he had been a little too quick. In his haste to make it out the door and across town, Ron spun back around and clumsily tripped on the upturned corner of Kim's bedroom rug.

The teenage boy made a surprised grunting sound as he fell across the carpet and all the contents of Kim's backpack spilled out in front of him. Rufus groaned in annoyance, rubbing a sore spot of his own from their tumble as Kim simply rolled her eyes with another small laugh.

"Maybe the tweebs' perfect physics scores could help you learn how to stay more upright."

"Ha, ha," he grumbled, leaning up on his knees as he began to tidy the mess back into Kim's bag, "It's not my fault if my senses have torpedoed from Shego blasting us one too many times today. You should actually be more concerned!"

"Mhm, I'm sure," Kim hummed sarcastically, joining him on the floor with a flirtatious wink. Ron tried to hold his firm expression, but soon felt himself crumble with a chuckle of his own.

Spotting her cell phone down by his side, Ron picked it up and passed it to Kim before scooping up the rest of her belongings. Compact mirror, her notebook, regular lipstick, laser lipstick, some loose change, her house keys... and then, a square packet of tiny, round pills.

Ron's jaw dropped open in surprise.

He paused for a moment, studying the plastic packet in his hand, noting that each section was labelled with a different day of the week. His heart near enough skipped a beat, and the colour drained from his face when he realised that six or seven of the little, pink pills were already missing.

"Um..."

His timid tone was only met with another frown from Kim, until she noticed what Ron was holding onto. Her own lips parted and she drew in a silent gasp when her green eyes flew up to meet the brown of his.

Her bedroom had fallen to a sudden hush, and the young couple were locked in a staring contest with one another, waiting for the other to speak first.

Kim swallowed back a gulp, the cogs in her mind turning.

Okay. She supposed it was now or never.

"We should talk."

The three simple words from her caused an unnecessary amount of panic in Ron when he glanced at Kim in horror. The teenage girl only stared back at him with an obvious expression as she gently snatched the pills from his hand.

"Oh, relax - so not what I meant. What part of this do you really see ending with me dumping you?"

As she stood from the floor and sauntered over to her bed to take a seat, Kim placed the pill packet and her phone on her nightstand. She hesitated for another second or two, but then looked back towards Ron.

The words from the conversation with her mother only a short couple of weeks ago echoed in her head when she drew in a deep breath.

"What I mean is... we should talk about whether we ever think about having sex."

There it was, Ron told himself. His palms were already sweating, and a knot had already formed in his stomach.

Actually being intimate with Kim was one thing. It was always in the heat of the moment, so he often didn't have the time to even think about it. It was fun, it was exciting - it didn't make him nervous at all. But talking about it after the fact? That was something that Ron still didn't quite have all that much confidence in.

With this thought in this mind, Ron quickly scrambled back to his feet. He scratched the back of his neck and pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to check his Fearless Ferret watch.

"W-Well, it's just, like, we're already kinda' a little late for dinner," Ron stuttered. Rufus quickly joined him, whining with a murmured squeak as he rubbed his hungry tummy. Ron pressed on, "Don't you think we should really get going?"

From where she sat in her place on her bed, Kim was quiet, musing over the words she had just heard from her boyfriend. She closed her eyes for a split second, blowing out another sigh. And then, Kim slowly shook her head.

"Okay, fine. Let's just go. I guess we're clearly not ready to have this conversation."

Her tone of disappointment was soul-shattering.

Ron blinked five or six times, suddenly realising exactly what he had just done. Here he was - standing face to face with his amazing, smart, beautiful best friend, who not only had kissed him almost six months ago and made herself his girlfriend, but was now more or less welcoming the idea of them eventually sharing an even more intense intimacy with one another.

And Ron was totally screwing it all up.

"I do think about it."

His abrupt sputtering made Kim freeze where she was halfway back to her feet. Her heart was starting to beat a little faster, and when she stared at him a little harder, Ron finally shot her a very small, very soft, apologetic smile.

Rufus, however, only groaned out loud as his stomach growled even louder. He snatched up the keys to the Sloth and sprinted back downstairs, hoping that his humans would make it quick and head off to dinner before starvation totally took over. But as Kim looked back to her BF, she honestly didn't have the first clue how long this conversation would take, or where it was even about to go. She sat back down on her bedspread, folding her hands in her lap and urging Ron to go on.

The sidekick took a breath. This wasn't scary, he told himself. This was Kim.

"I do think about... having sex. Like, in general, and with you, obviously. B-But not, like, in a creepy way. It's just that we've obviously done other stuff and, ya' know, the next step we might want to kinda' think about taking is to, um - "

"Ron."

The gentle sound of Kim's voice snapped Ron out of his ramblings. The shade of pink slowly faded from his cheeks when she patted the spot on the bed next to her and coaxed him to join her. She licked her bottom lip, ready to speak again.

"I think about it with you, too."

"Is that why you started taking birth control?" he asked, taking his place beside her.

"Actually, at first it was to help manage Code P," she answered with a smirk, "But there's obviously other benefits that come with it now..."

Ron nodded his head, hesitating, "How come you didn't tell me?"

Kim shrugged her shoulders, "I still get nervous, too. I didn't know whether or not to just bring it up out of nowhere."

"You? Nervous?"

"Do not push it," she warned him teasingly, "I didn't even know when or how to say anything at all, it was only when I spoke to Mom and she told me if we weren't mature enough to - "

"Whoa, wait, what? Your mom?" Ron cut in, "Your mom knows, like... details about us? Is she mad? Does she hate me? Is she gonna' tell your dad - !"

"Relax! No, no and no, on all fronts," Kim assured him, "It's fine, Mom is fine, she gets it. She's the one who said I should consider birth control in the first place. She just wants us to make sure we keep talking, about every decision we make. And I can't say I disagree with her."

"Alright. Okay, well," Ron straightened his back a little as he took another moment of two to mull over his next words, "I can talk - we can talk. What do you want to know?"

His willingness finally made the words come a little easier to Kim as she scooted closer towards him, "I mean, does any of this feel as weird as you were worried it would when we started dating?"

"No," Ron answered in an instant, "No way, not even a little bit. Being with you is literally the best feeling in the entire world. Like, everything that happened at the Mad Dog party was the best, and that first time in your car after roller skating was the best, but... I kinda' feel like our real first time... ya' know, having sex, isn't something we can plan for, or force, or whatever."

Ron's own thoughts were thankfully flowing a lot more freely, as well, and he searched for Kim's hand to give it a gentle squeeze, "I think it's just gonna' sorta' happen... naturally."

"So... you still don't feel ready? Right now?"

"...No? Do you?"

"No," Kim replied, "Definitely not right now. But maybe, sooner rather than... later?"

The blush in his cheeks came back at full force when Ron glanced down to his lap, stifling a chuckle under his breath.

Kim mimicked him, albeit out of an uncertain sense of confusion, "What is it?"

"No, sorry, I mean - yes, sooner rather than later totally works for me," he admitted, "I'm still just wrapping my head around the fact that you even wanna' do it with me, like, at all."

"Ron," she scolded him, swatting at his arm, "I literally throw myself at you in Bonnie Rockwaller's closest of all places, and you're saying I'm still not getting my point across?"

"Oh, no, trust me, I'm hearing you loud and clear. I think there's just some bogus lag in connection between my ears and my brain. And do not even get me started on what I'm supposed to do when we are actually ready - I'm the one who skipped grade nine health class, remember?"

Kim laughed out loud then, grateful that some regular banter had finally taken the place of the serious tone in their conversation, "Hello, who's the team that saves the world on a regular basis here? I'm sure we are more than capable of figuring it all out. I mean, I hope so, if that means saving myself from too many more awk-weird convos with my mom."

"Ew, awk-weird, how?"

"Totally my own fault," Kim began, so comfortable by this point she wasn't even considering her words, "I asked innocently whether our first time was going to be even a tiny bit painful, and she openly starts talking about being turned on and, like... wet down there to make it less uncomfortable."

A shot of heat stabbed at Ron in the stomach at the last few words Kim had spoken. They had already mentioned it a couple of times in the last five or so minutes, but suddenly Ron's mind was transported back to the seven minutes of complete bliss he had experienced with Kim at Bonnie's party only two or three weeks ago.

Different snapshots of the intense moment flashed through his brain. Snippets of Kim's mouth on his, and his mouth on her chest, and his hand under her skirt made his abdomen ache.

Ron recalled all too clearly just how turned on his girlfriend had been that evening.

"Yeah. Yeah, well, okay - but, I mean, we know that's not an issue. Like, at all."

Kim was instantly befuddled as she frowned at Ron's sudden ramblings.

"We know what's not an issue?"

"You know... you being wet."

The silence had returned between them at full force when Kim's jaw dropped back open and her expression exploded with a burst of crimson. Ron immediately noticed how quickly her face had changed.

"B-Because from when we were in the closet, at the party, and I was... touching you. You didn't, sort of, feel it?"

Kim's chest skipped an all too longing beat. The sensation mimicked everything that she had felt that evening at the party, even if Ron's hands weren't on her in that very moment.

She suddenly felt the same level of excitement, the same rush of electricity, the same tingles from head to toe, and the same bout of desire.

The only thing that would feel even better, would be Ron's real touch on her body.

"I mean... feel free to remind me."

Her hand that had been joined with his abruptly moved to his thigh as Ron almost jumped in his place. He glanced down to where she was holding him, and then looked back up to Kim as he studied the sudden, sultry look in her green eyes.

Ron gulped, "Um, we kinda' actually are late to the restaurant already."

"Exactly," Kim cut him off, moving her face closer to his, "We're already late. And my parents don't even know we made it back from busting Drakken yet."

"Oh, my God," Ron interjected with a harsh whisper, "Please, do not talk about Drakken when all I'm thinking about is - "

" - Is, what?"

Their stubborn stand-off had returned once more. But it only lasted another four, three, two... one second when Ron took his hand to Kim's waist and crashed his lips into hers.

The smile she instantly kissed him with was like magic. This already felt so different, but in the least intimidating way. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted from both of their shoulders with one, simple conversation, and now that they each knew what the other truly wanted, the sense of pressure had totally dissipated.

Kim straightened up and inched her way closer to Ron, her arms tingling when the smirk on his lips matched her own. He squeezed tighter at her waist while she took a gentle hand to his jawline before creeping up to adoringly follow the path of his freckled cheek.

"Okay, seriously," Ron breathed out between kisses, "Are you sure we shouldn't be heading - "

"Absolutely not."

Her answer was immediate and tiptoed between playful and firm when Kim grabbed onto Ron's hand and tugged at him to lie across the bed with her. She fell back into her pillows with a giggle while he manoeuvred himself to hover above her. His knees were pressed into the mattress between her own that were parted to make way for him, and his hands were beside her head when he leaned back down to kiss her all over again.

Kim mirrored all of his affections, taking a manicured hand to the back of his neck as she lightly scratched at the finer of his blonde hairs and deepened their kiss. She practically swallowed his lips with her own, drowning in the sensation of his tongue brushing against hers as they lapped at each other over and over again.

One of his hands released its tense grip on her bedsheets as Ron cradled his girlfriend's cheek and ran the pad of his thumb over her skin, before his grasp slowly began to linger downwards. When he paused on the all too familiar journey and his fingers danced around her collarbone, Kim grinned to herself again as she teased his bottom lip between her teeth and quickly decided beat him to the punch.

Her opposite hand was suddenly under his red hockey jersey, and after a moment or two of circling the bone at his hip just above his underwear, Kim seductively began to walk her fingers elsewhere. When her touch crawled around to the back of his pants, Kim daringly slipped a hand under the material and grabbed his backside with a force that brought him properly crashing into her.

Ron stifled a groan when he felt the ever-growing lump in his pants collide with Kim's lower half. He stole his kiss away from hers for a moment as he re-centred himself and bravely moved his hips against hers.

"KP..."

Before Kim could even react to the husky sound of his hiss in her ear, she echoed a sigh of her own when his grip travelled to its intended destination under her shirt. He covered the sound with another deep kiss on her lips, while his hand fondled her breast through her bra and made its way beyond the material to pinch gently at her nipple. All the while, their hips were still moving together with some sort of lazy, inexperienced rhythm, but Kim quickly interjected herself into the exchange when she reached down to unhook the button of her fly.

Ron immediately came to a standstill, pulling back and glancing down at her with an affectionate twinkle in his brown eyes. When she reciprocated the expression with a subtle nod of her head, Kim coaxed Ron's kiss back down to hers. She sensed his hand wander away from her bust to carefully make its way down her stomach.

His pace was slow and measured. It seemed like he was paying extra close attention to every single one of the light, fine hairs on her body until Ron finally came into contact with the top of Kim's jeans.

His actions were still just slightly unfamiliar to him. Their time in the Sloth atop Mount Middleton when she first explored below his belt wasn't the only handjob Kim had given him since then, but between Bonnie's party the other week and now, Ron was yet to return the favour again and attempt any further exploration of his girlfriend's body.

As he resisted the nervous shaking of his hand, Ron tugged on the zipper of Kim's pants to slowly pull it down. She breathed out against his mouth where he was still kissing her, and he did the same when he felt the lace of her underwear under his fingers. He temptingly followed the stitching of the material for the first few moments, and then inch by inch, he led his hand down the front of her panties. He stopped at her centre, rubbing in more of an up and down motion with two fingers.

A very slight dampness was already making itself known in the cotton of her panties, and the weight of all his previous expectation suddenly vanished to make way for a distinct sense of confidence when Ron twisted his hand to try and crawl under her very last layer. He was still lying completely on top of her, though, and the teenage boy quickly found that the motion in his arm was limited from where it was sandwiched between their bodies.

Ron froze for a second as he tried to gain a better vantage point, but his unnecessary panic was only cut off by a gentle giggle from Kim.

"Ron?"

Her sweet whisper made Ron laugh just as quietly, "Sorry. This was way easier when you were wearing a skirt."

The joking nature of his tone was unmistakable. But Kim was utterly serious when she licked her bottom lip and lowered her voice in his ear.

"So, take my pants off..."

Ron's breath caught in his throat as he abruptly pulled back from Kim to look down at her again, an uncertain frown etched into his face. Kim stared right back at him, craning her neck upwards to kiss his puzzled expression with a clear sense of purpose.

And when she reached her own hand down to join with his and rocked her core against him, Ron snapped out of his trance.

"But, not sex?"

"Not sex," she agreed with a light laugh, brushing her lips more gently with his.

Ron quickly did the same, and with only a moment more of chivalrous hesitation, the blonde boy climbed back from his girlfriend and took hold of the top of her jeans. They came down smoothly, tracing the silky skin of her legs. Ron stopped just past her knee, and then reached back for her underwear.

He took his time, admiring the pink coloured lace and how it hugged her hips and her thighs and her butt so perfectly. The true gravity of their situation was not lost on him one bit - being with Kim at the Mad Dog party and touching and teasing her most sensitive spots was one thing, but it had all been under the cover of darkness in a small, cramped space. And seeing his best friend from head to toe in the flesh was certainly not something the Ron of even seven months ago ever would have had on his bingo card.

He'd be kidding himself if he said the nerves weren't even slightly getting to him. And so, before he completely undressed her, he fastened his lips back to hers and slipped his hand into her underwear, instead.

Kim inhaled sharply with a high-pitched gasp at the contact. Ron's large digits were suddenly fingering her centre, and when one long extremity dared to dip fully inside of her, Kim simply melted back into her mattress. When a second finger joined his efforts, Kim scrunched the front of Ron's shirt into her fist with a mewling, little cry.

"You okay?"

"Mhm, yeah."

Her answer was fast and breathy when she leaned into her boyfriend again and encouraged him to keep going. Ron rolled off Kim then, nestling into her side and finally blowing out a sigh of bravery when he took the lace hem of her panties between his fingers and gently pulled them down her body.

His face exploded with a scarlet coloured blush, and Kim only mirrored him when she spotted the way Ron was looking at her. He took his time, examining her freshly groomed skin and tracing her entrance with his thumb for a moment. The motion followed the glistening, wet trail of her arousal - very wet arousal. Ron stared right back at her with a knowing smirk, one that all but flat out said 'told ya' so'. He could see just how tempted his girlfriend was to playfully smack the smugness right off his face, but it only made his hand move even faster.

Kim wriggled at the overwhelming sensation as Ron slid a finger all the way back inside of her, intently watching the penetrative action for himself. The hard bump in the crotch of his pants began to rock into her thigh when he entered a second finger again and moved them both in and out of her.

Kim's head fell back into her pillow as she closed her eyes and rode out the feeling. She sent a hand down to join his for a second, the two of them silently finding a fast paced rhythm between Ron fingering her and firmly grinding his erection into her leg at the same time. When he used his thumb to stimulate a similar friction on the outside of her sex and began to pepper sharp kisses in one or two places on her neck, Kim whimpered.

"Oh, my God..."

The teen hero cursed under her breath a second time then, when without warning, he cell phone started ringing out loud from where it sat on her nightstand. Ron stumbled in his pace for a second, looking over at it.

"Ignore it," Kim commanded with a harsh whisper, directing Ron's attention back to her with another kiss.

The sidekick was stunned, trying to focus all of his attention on his girlfriend's presence. But the momentary distraction had totally shattered all of his concentration and unknowingly highlighted a fast growing problem inside Ron's pants.

Ron chewed down on the inside his bottom lip with an uncomfortable groan. The abrupt realisation that had made its way into the back of his mind was a distressing level of alarming. If he and Kim didn't stop soon... there was going to be nowhere comfortable for Ron's nearing orgasm to go.

The ringing from Kim's cell finally stopped, and it was immediately followed by the chiming on a text message. Ron couldn't take it anymore when he fumbled and slowed in his actions.

"Um..."

Kim's eyes shot open when she huffed out in frustration and reached over for her phone. Her irritation was in no way directed at Ron, though - she didn't even realise the predicament he was in. She was simply annoyed at being interrupted in their exploits (again), and this was only punctuated by the missed call from her mother and the words she read in her text that had followed.

'Kimmie, are you coming?'

Kim hung her head down with an ironic chuckle.

"No, but I could swear I was about to..."

"Huh?"

At the sound of his confused murmur, Kim snapped back around to stare at Ron.

"Nothing. Sorry."

"N-No, it's cool, I'm sorry. I'm, uh - "

Kim's frown was deepening slightly with each stumbling word Ron was struggling to get out. When he cut himself off, the teenage boy only waited one more second before releasing a huffing sigh.

"Can we, like, pause? I'm sorry, Kim, I just - "

"No!" Kim interjected, quickly shaking her head to herself, "I mean - no, don't be sorry. And, yes, of course we can pause."

She took one swift second to reach down for her underwear, but found herself coming to a stop, glancing instead at the laundry basket by her bed. When she gestured for the towel sitting on top of the pile, Ron instantly understood. He snatched up the fluffy, blue material, wiping his own hand on it first before passing it to Kim.

It only took another moment or two longer for the redhead to shyly clean herself up and pull her underwear back to their place on her hips. Without waiting a second longer, Kim jumped in pleasant surprise when Ron tipped her chin up to peck at her lips and press his forehead to hers with an appreciative sigh.

She feigned another blush and smiled at the butterflies she could feel tumbling through her tummy. But they weren't the only thing that Kim could still feel. As she squirmed just slightly at the very light, damp sensation in her panties, Kim gazed under the hood of her eyelashes up at Ron.

"Well, consider myself officially reminded," she teased seductively. The bashful expression Ron offered her in return only made her laugh at him sweetly, "Could you be anymore amazing?"

"Oh, come on, coming from you?" he countered, brushing off her compliment and tugging at the top of her jeans where they still sat below her knee. Kim rolled her eyes, lifting her backside off the bed and allowing Ron to help her pull them back up.

When she fixed her fly and her vision fell over to look at Ron beside her, Kim came to another standstill, her jaw parting just slightly. The obvious bump in the crotch of Ron's pants was yet to subside - and it suddenly told her everything she needed to know about why her boyfriend had hit the brakes on her so sharply.

"Um, did you need me help with anything?"

Her offer was immediately enticing - and why wouldn't it be? Ron was still a simple, needy boy at the end of the day. He hesitated with an all too tempted hum, glancing between himself and his girlfriend.

But when he heard her phone chime out loud again, Ron quickly snapped out of it, shaking his head at Kim.

"If I say no that that question literally ever again, I want you to hit me with all sixteen badical styles of Kung Fu, deal?" he laughed, "But, really, it's cool. We should get going."

"You're probably right," Kim agreed reluctantly. She settled back into the brief silence as she swayed into Ron's side and looked up at him. He instantly read her mind, leaning down to share a soft, innocent kiss with her.

"I might just run down to the bathroom. Meet you downstairs?"

"Sure," Kim replied, "I'll be two minutes."

"Okay."

"Okay."

The adoring smile lingered between the two of them until the last possible second when Ron finally disappeared down the stairs. The very second that he did, Kim collapsed back on her bed with a sigh and a giddy giggle.

Running a hand down her still flushed face, Kim bit down just slightly on her bottom lip. She couldn't exactly pinpoint the moment where the sweet, little blonde dork she had first met in Pre-K had transformed into a fully-fledged hottie - but God, she was eternally grateful that he had. Even if each of their more sensual encounters hadn't exactly lived up to the satisfactory potentials that Kim knew were brewing within her, she at least had the certainty now that it was only a matter of time.

Every other lingering, slow, sultry practice session in the meantime was making each next step so worth the wait.

With another half-hearted breath from the pit of her lungs, Kim finally sat forward and reached for her phone, typing a reply to her mum.

'Sorry! Just got back from the mish. On our way now x'

Kim was the first of the two of them to make it down to her front door, but Ron wasn't far behind her. She turned at the sound of him coming down the stairs and flashed him another soft smirk.

"I'm assuming you've worked up an appetite?"

Ron shook his head at her crude teasing when he met her at the door. Kim immediately went to leave, but in a last second of indecision, Ron reached for her arm, holding her back.

"Um," he started, finding Kim's green orbs with the brown of his own when she glanced up at him, "Whenever you wanna', ya' know, talk. I'm all ears. Always."

Kim's heart skipped a beat.

The happiness warming her soul felt amazing. She and Ron really had made a breakthrough that evening, and she couldn't be more excited for their future, or appreciative for the man he was becoming.

"Oh, Ron," she cooed gently, lining up for another kiss. They were only an inch or two away when the young couple jumped in surprise at the loud honking of the Sloth's horn.

Kim and Ron both spun around on the spot to stare at the purple car. The sight of a very impatient Rufus standing on top of the steering wheel and crying loudly about his empty tummy shot an immediate guilt through both of them when they finally scrambled to shut the front door.

When they locked eyes with a matching, pink glow and an embarrassed laugh, Ron shook his head.

"Okay, but seriously - "

"Yep," Kim finished for him, "Let's get out of here."


Another day, another chapter, another near 10k words :)

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this latest instalment. I'm still having so much fun writing these snippets, and we are inching ever so close to a couple of very pivotal moments in the series.. ;)

Would love to hear all your feedback and reviews!

I hope everyone is keeping healthy and safe x

Till next time,

Reneyyyyyyy x