Snippets of Forever:

So Not... Short of Forever.

-x-

Junior Year
March, 2006

Ron had never been quite as relieved to step foot in his bedroom as he was that evening. After the week he had just endured, the last few stairs he climbed from his family's ground floor bathroom were slowly starting to wear on his very last ounces of energy.

His head was still spinning, even after a nice, long, rejuvenating shower. Being brainwashed from good to evil and back again in the space of a matter of days was definitely showing some lasting effects, as temporary as they may have been.

But that wasn't the only thought sending Ron dizzy.

The teenager shook his head. Closing the door to his room behind him, right as Rufus scurried in by his feet, Ron quickly dropped the towel from his waist and dried off. He pulled open his top and bottom drawers, retrieving a pair of boxers and his blue striped pyjama pants.

Ron frowned for a second, wondering where his matching button-down shirt was. As he swivelled around on the spot, he zeroed in on the pile of clean laundry his mother had folded that day and left on his desk for him while he had been at school. He crossed his room, fishing through the pile for his shirt and working down the row of buttons as he pulled it over his shoulders.

The blonde boy huffed out a breath, staring straight ahead and out his bedroom window at the darkening sky. For someone who was usually so carefree, Ron certainly couldn't remember the last time he had felt so much weighing on his mind. But he was determined to keep ignoring each of the thoughts flashing through his head. Ron looked back down to his desk with a sigh, rummaging through the rest of his laundry on the hunt for a fresh pair of socks.

That's when he spotted it.

Alongside his clean clothes, it appeared that Mrs. Stoppable had taken it upon herself to make a couple of other new additions to her son's room that day. Sitting right beside his computer monitor was a pair of framed photos that Ron hadn't seen before. Some closer inspection quickly told him that they were from his cousin's wedding that past weekend. There was one picture of Ron with the bride and groom - his cousin Reuben and his beautiful new wife. But then there was a second photo. One of Ron and his own (non)-date that had accompanied him.

Kim. She was so pretty. The notion wasn't strange or unfamiliar to Ron - he wasn't shy about always reassuring his best friend how pretty she was on the days when she didn't quite believe it for herself.

The two were pictured sitting at their table during Reuben's wedding reception with Ron's arm hanging around the back of Kim's chair. As he looked at it a little more closely, Ron couldn't help but smile. He might have groaned in embarrassment at the time when his mother had ushered them together and insisted on snapping the photo with her digital camera, but Ron couldn't deny how grateful he was now that the precious memory had been captured, and he was even more thankful for the surprise to find it framed in his room.

The bright blue colour of the dress Kim had worn that day perfectly complimented the sunny vibrancy of her hair. None of Ron's family in attendance would have ever guessed that just hours earlier she had been battling to rescue her sidekick back from the dark side of the Attitudinator. Her emerald green eyes were highlighted with impeccably applied makeup, and her smile shined brighter than the white of the bride's wedding gown. And the glossy colour of her lips...

Ron brought himself to a sudden stop then.

Crap. He was doing it again.

It had been three weeks now since Kim and Shego both had their minds totally warped by the effects of the Moodulator chips. Which meant it had also been about three weeks since Kim had fallen under the sickest kind of love spell and planted one seriously ferocious kiss on Ron's lips right in the middle of the school corridor.

Well, three weeks, two days, and nine hours to be exact - not that Ron was counting! At all. Because that would be weird. It would be so weird of him to be subconsciously calculating every precise second that had ticked by since he had tasted the sweetness of his friend's lips. Since he had inhaled her intoxicating scent as she stood so close to him, since he had felt the distinct rush of tingling goosebumps shoot up both arms, since his heart had near enough raced right out of his chest...

Oh, shit.

"No," Ron murmured to himself, covering both ears as he shook his head, "No, no, no, no..."

The teenager spun around on the spot, looking away from the framed photo and falling back on his bed. He shifted onto his side as he squeezed his eyes shut and continued rambling to himself.

"I don't like her, I don't like her, I don't - "

His repetitive panic was sharply interrupted by the thundering sound of his inner monologue.

'Yeah - no duh, moron. Because you love her.'

Ron's face flushed as white as a sheet and his stomach churned at the words from the voice that echoed in his head. It wasn't because he was sick or disgusted by the way he suddenly felt - it was because he was scared. He was scared and confused and frantic and he didn't know how to stop any of it.

He just couldn't help it. He loved his best friend. Ron was in love with Kim, after one simple kiss and many more moments beforehand that hadn't been clear until now.

Not that any of his feelings truly mattered, anyway. It's not like she would ever love him back.

Rufus watched on with a concerned whimper as Ron snatched up his pillow and covered his face, letting out a long, loud, agitated groan. When he moved it aside and released a breath, Rufus climbed onto his stomach, tilting his head to one side and tittering away to his human. Ron could only sigh again.

"What the heck am I going to do..."

Before he could let any other desperately befuddled thoughts overtake him, Ron jumped slightly at the sound of his dad's voice booming from downstairs.

"Ronald? The guy from the cable company finally came and set up all the new channels on the television today! Why don't you come on down and check it out?"

Ron sat up on his bedspread. He wasn't exactly sure he felt like seeing anyone else right now. But as he took one final glance over to the photo of he and Kim, he reluctantly swung his legs over the side of his bed and came back to his feet.

Maybe this was just the kind of distraction he needed.

Besides, he seriously doubted his feelings were going to last forever.

"Sure! Coming, Dad..."


"So, the first Attitudinator sitch?"

"Yep."

"Even when we went to Montana to visit my cousin? And when we chased Junior all the way to New Zealand?"

"Mhm, the whole time."

"And when you were bonded to Barkin while I was stuck with Bonnie?"

"'Sha, are you kidding? I spent half the time imagining what might have happened if I never psyched you out of that high-five and we got stuck together instead..."

"Ron!"

Kim's tone of light scolding was accompanied by an adoring laugh when she lifted her head from Ron's shoulder and sat up in her place on the living room couch.

A couple of hours had passed since Kim had first climbed up into the treehouse in Ron's backyard earlier that evening. And in the space of just those few short moments, the young couple suddenly felt closer than ever.

Kim and Ron hadn't been in any sort of hurry to leave the warmth of their sensual, little hideaway before braving the short but chilly journey back across the yard and into his parents' house. They had cuddled and redressed, swapping a shameless number of additional kisses as the reality of the new status of their relationship quickly began to set in.

It was sort of intense. Both teenagers understood the seriousness of what they had done together, but what spoke at an even louder volume was how insanely happy it made each of them. It was like a dream come true.

Now, it was much later in the evening. Kim and Ron had spent the rest of their Friday snuggled up on the Stoppables' couch in their otherwise empty home with a thousand Agony County re-runs and a rather scrumptious takeaway pizza. Rufus had indulged in his fair share, too, and was currently lying across the couch cushion beside Ron, rubbing his full, pink tummy.

But none of that was exactly Kim's main concern in the moment at hand. The teen hero was solely focused on the line of questioning she was firing at her boyfriend regarding his earlier confession of just when he had fallen in love with her.

So much had happened to Kim and Ron from the start of that calendar year all the way through to junior prom. And Ron really meant it when he said he had loved Kim through it all?

"What about when you went on your slew of solo mishes to get me out of library lockup? Is that why you were trying so hard?"

"Uh, that was me just being the bestest best friend ever, thank you very much," he fired back with a teasing tone. Ron did stop for a second, though, shooting a shy glance down to his lap.

"Well, like, I mean - between me totally exterminating Dementor's mutant plants, and stopping Monty from going all phantom monkey on us, and shutting down Drakken's oscillating Earth orbit device thingy - "

"For a third time."

" - Right. Um, I guess, between all that, I did sorta' have one awk-weird convo with Shego that day."

Kim frowned, "Awk-weird, how?"

"She just, like, asked me where you were."

"Okay? And that's awkward? What did you say back?"

Ron cleared his throat, tugging on the collar of his shirt, "I might have, like, um... yelled back that you weren't my girlfriend."

Kim's green eyes narrowed as she processed exactly what Ron was saying to her, but before long, her features beamed with a smiley blush. She laughed out loud, scooting closer to him and wrapping his arm in a tight hug.

"Oh, my gosh. Ron!" she chuckled again, looking up at him adoringly, "So, you were pretty much obsessed with me?"

"Whoa, hey, c'mon now - obsessed is totally pushing it."

"As if," Kim challenged, sitting back with a roll of her eyes, "I know exactly how you used to get with every girl you ever had a crush on. You were always so nervous and flustered and awkward. It was even the same thing with - "

In the very next second, Kim drove herself into a skidding silence. Ron waited for her to finish her sentence, wondering what the deal was as he raised a curious eyebrow. He couldn't even tell when his girlfriend's heart rate slowed as her expression widened in realisation.

"Yori."

Ron was still confused, taking a pause for himself.

"Yori? What about Yori?"

Kim licked her bottom lip.

"The first time I ever met Yori, when she arrived in Middleton out of the blue and you two went all worldwide, covert ninja to rescue Sensei," she began to explain, taking a breath, "That was only a few weeks before junior prom. But you admitted that you liked her."

With some degree of shy subtlety still lingering in Kim's very indirect question, her intentions all suddenly became very clear to Ron.

"Oh," he offered at first, quietly gathering his thoughts, "Right. Yeah. That was a pretty complicated time for me," he said with a light-hearted laugh and a sheepish scratch at the back of his neck.

Kim swallowed, "Because you liked us both?"

"Um. Ye-yeah," he admitted carefully, "But, ya' know, even though Yori was the only one to actually like me back at first, or whatever," Ron went on, trying not to ramble too much, "I mean, it was still you over her. It always was."

Kim's lips wobbled into a bashful smile, "Really?"

Ron frowned with a small shake of his head, "Duh. Don't you remember? When we were all fighting Gorilla Fist, or DNAmy, or whatever you wanna' call her - and one of her freakish, ape henchmen came after me? I needed help, and who did I yell out for?"

The seriously whack monkey mission felt like a lifetime ago, and yet, when Kim's memories came flooding back to her, she sensed her chest skip another beat. From high up in the jungle canopy when Ron had been scared and spiralling into an ape-phobic panic, there was only one name he called out to save him. And it wasn't Yori - it was Kim.

The redhead beamed from the inside out, feeling months' worth of insecurities drain from her core, "Okay, wow. Guess I really didn't have a reason to be jealin' so hard."

Ron instantly latched onto one of the last words that left Kim, "Wait, you were jealin'? Even back then?"

"Do not rub it in," she warned him with a laugh. She gave him a gentle shove as he shot a sly smirk at her, "You know how gorchy that feeling can be, too, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he agreed, hesitating to himself for another second, "But seriously. You didn't need to worry. There was no contest."

"You sure?" she teased cheekily. But Ron's expression remained firm.

"Completely. I did like Yori. But I loved you."

Kim was suddenly stunned, her emerald eyes twinkling in surprise.

How? How on Earth did Ron ever go from her dorky, little best friend at four years old, to her loyal and reliable sidekick, to the absolute sweetest boyfriend on the planet? Everything about the way Josh had ever kissed her or Eric had ever looked at her paled in comparison to the way Ron made her feel with a simple smile.

But what had suddenly become a much more important question in that moment - how the heck was Kim ever going to bring herself to leave Ron that night and return to her own home and her own bed?

Kim shot a subtle side eye at the clock that hung on the wall above the television. Nine twenty-eight in the evening.

"Well... guess I'd better start kissing you goodnight now if I'm ever gonna' make it home by ten."

With a flirtatious tone laced between each of her adoring words, Kim shuffled along the couch to sit closer to Ron as she leaned in. Ron met her in an instant, pressing his lips to hers and melting into the exchange. But before he could get too lost in the taste of her kiss, Ron pecked at Kim just once more and slowly pulled back.

Kim immediately raised an eyebrow, "Everything okay?"

Ron paused in thought, drawing in a hopeful breath, "Can't you stay?"

At what she could only assume was a joke, Kim scoffed with a playful snort, "Have you met my dad?"

The redhead leaned back in, searching for her boyfriend's lips, but only coming up short when Ron moved away even further to gently stare at her. Kim's eyes widened.

"Wait, you're serious?"

"I dunno', he has seemed a lot cooler with us lately."

"Not cool enough to actually let me spend the night here," Kim argued with a cynical chuckle.

"Couldn't you just call him and ask?"

"Ron..." Kim sighed, "I don't know..."

Her reluctance stung a little in Ron's chest. He knew how strict James could be, and he knew how much Kim respected her dad, but the blonde boy thought that at least some enthusiasm from his girlfriend wouldn't have gone amiss. Especially after everything that had happened between them that night.

Ron shrugged his shoulders, "Look, if you don't wanna' stay, it's fine, just - "

"What? No! No, so not what I meant," Kim interjected, reaching for his hand as she squeezed with reassurance, "Of course I wanna' stay, Ron, but I just..."

Kim trailed off as her sentence dwindled to an end. She just, what? Was she intimidated by her dad or scared of what his response might be? Not in the slightest. But it was like Ron had just said - James was actually starting to show some signs of giving Kim and Ron a little more freedom in their relationship and treating them with even the smallest level of increased maturity. Kim didn't want to get greedy and risk messing all that up.

As she remained quiet for a second longer, Kim blinked out of her trance when Ron squeezed her hand right back. She glanced up at him, a little apologetic at first, but Ron merely smiled at her with a second shrug.

"The worst he's gonna' do is say no."

Rufus echoed this last sentiment from Ron with a high pitched squeak and his best mole rat impersonation of a classic puppy dog pout as Kim finally conceded, digging into her pocket for her cell phone.

She hit the speed dial on her dad's number, looking back to her boyfriend, "You're lucky you're cute."

"Hey!"

"Yeah, yeah, Rufus - you too."

The monotonous dial tone in her ear seemed to stretch on for a lifetime as Kim patiently waited for James to answer his phone from where she presumed he was nestled comfortably in front of the T.V. in his leather armchair. She nervously bit down on the corner of her bottom lip, sharing an expectant glance with Ron.

When she heard the receiver pick up, she crossed her fingers.

"Kimmie-Cub! Hi, honey, everything okay?"

"Hey, Dad. Oh, yeah, everything's fine. I'm still next door with Ron, just checking in."

"Good, good - hey, the boys will be in bed by ten-thirty, and there's a piece on the late news tonight that references some older aerodynamic research from me and my team. There's a big slice of your mom's home-made apple pie with your name on it if you wanted to stay up with me and watch?"

"Oh, yeah? That sounds cool, Dad... um, actually, though - I kinda' wanted to ask you something," she began, keeping her eyes locked on Ron's for an added boost of confidence, "I was sorta' hoping I could sleep here at Ron's tonight. Would that be okay?"

Immediate silence. Not a great first sign.

"I see. And are Ronald's parents home?"

"Oh," Kim exclaimed, her mind suddenly racing.

For one sudden, inexplicable moment, Kim considered lying. But the thought quickly passed - being anything but honest with her parents was so not Kim's deal, even if it might have helped her case in this circumstance. Amongst the silence of the room, Ron could just make out the words from Mr. Dr. P. that echoed down the phone, and he too quickly shook his head, encouraging Kim to press on with the truth.

"Um... no. I thought you knew Mr. and Mrs. S. had gone away with Hana for the weekend?"

"Oh, I did. That was me testing you to check what your answer might be."

Without stopping to think, Kim leaned into her bristling initial reaction, "Seriously? Dad, that is so - "

Before she could completely fly off the handle, Kim came to a halt as Ron frantically waved his arms back and forth to reign her in. Kim bit her tongue as she drew in a deep breath and swallowed her pride. She could let her dad have this one.

" - So, wise, and totally within your right as a parent."

Ron wiped his brow in relief with a silent 'phew', but his nerves still lingered as James took his time responding to Kim.

The older man cleared his throat, hesitating, "Why did you call me instead of your mother?"

Kim phrased her next words carefully, "Because I knew that Mom would probably say yes. But I wanted to make sure you were okay with it, too."

James furrowed his brow. Oh, yes - he had definitely chosen the most amazing woman in the world to be the mother of his children, but the beautiful, trusting relationship between Ann and Kim was certainly not helping James keep tabs on his daughter as closely as he might have liked.

And yet somehow, the scientist simply couldn't shake the conversation he had shared with his wife when they were curled up in bed together just a few short weeks ago.

Kim wasn't a little girl anymore. She was almost eighteen.

He needed to trust her.

"But I'm guessing it's a no, right?"

The sound of Kim's soft voice reverberating back down the phone snapped James from his trance.

Boy, he was sure he was going to regret this.

"We are not going to be making a habit out of this, young lady, understand?"

Kim's jaw dropped open as she stared back at Ron with a promising spark in her emerald eyes, "Are you saying I can stay...?"

"Don't go getting too excited. I mean it, Kim - this is the first and only time before you both graduate and are in college."

With a final squeal or confirmation from his girlfriend, Ron's expression beamed brighter than the sun as he practically dived across the couch towards her in excitement.

Kim chuckled under breath, attempting to keep Ron at arm's length and stay quiet so as to not alert her father's attention.

"On the condition that you're both here for family breakfast tomorrow morning. Eight A.M. sharp, alright?"

"Yes! Yep, got it, whatever you want," Kim quickly agreed, giggling again as Ron grabbed her arm and started to pull her towards him.

"And let's just be clear I'm only allowing this because you aced your math quiz this morning, and because I'm right next door, and because I can still easily lock Ronald up in a rocket and fire him off into the stars whenever I like."

"Yes, okay, threat noted, Dad," she shot back, playfully pushing Ron away when he landed a silent kiss right by her ear. The goosebumps all over her body were instant, but Kim maintained her restraint when she turned to the side and refocused her attention on James, "Dad?"

"Yes?"

Kim took a beat, her heart smiling.

"Thank you for trusting me. I love you."

James smirked, though resisted the urge to call her out as he did so. Did he trust his Kimmie to make the decisions that he desired for her? Not necessarily. But did he trust her to make the right decisions that made her happy? Of course.

It was a small win he supposed he could take.

"I love you, too, Kimmie-Cub. Sweet dreams."

"Good night."

As soon as she snapped her cell phone shut, Kim swivelled back around in her spot with a coy sort of glare towards her boyfriend, "Way to almost blow it. I thought you wanted me to stay?"

Ron cocked an all too confident eyebrow, "Oh, like I didn't make that clear."

Kim's heart sped up and she giggled in anticipation when Ron grabbed her lower legs and dragged her towards him. She was still half-sitting up on the couch when he leaned down and kissed her, his grin stretched from ear to ear as the thought danced across his mind. She was here, to stay, for the whole night, with him. And after what they'd been doing just three hours earlier, Ron absolutely couldn't be happier.

Although, having endured more than enough kissy-face for one evening, Rufus was quick to jump on Ron's shoulder with squeaking objection until his humans finally broke apart. Ron lingered until the very last possible second, pecking at Kim's lips once or twice more before pulling back.

Kim's head was spinning, but she shook off the feeling as best she could as she sat up properly on the couch, "So, what do you want to do?"

Ron hummed out loud, "Ice cream and more re-runs?"

"Sounds perfect."

"Well, coming right up, m'lady."

It took every fibre of Kim's being to not latch her hand around Ron's wrist and stop him from leaving her side when he stood up from the couch to hurry off to the kitchen. She sighed, leaning back into the soft, purple cushions as Rufus jumped into her lap and snuggled downwards. He was just as happy to have Kim staying as both she and Ron were, and it made her smile as she scratched his tiny, pink head.

To say that she was surprised to hear her father actually cave when it came to her and Ron's sleeping arrangement that night was probably the understatement of the century, but Kim was choosing not to question it. At least not right now. Any hidden clauses that came with his suspicious leniency could be dealt with later - for now, all Kim wanted was to enjoy the rest of her night with her boyfriend and continue to bask in the romantic, little bubble they had created for themselves that evening.

No bad guys, no bullies, and no annoying younger brothers.

Just her, and the guy she loved.


The room was almost pitch black when Ron slowly fluttered his eyes open sometime later. There was a soft glow coming from the television that hummed quietly with whatever dumb reality dating show they had last landed on before drifting off to sleep what had to be only an hour or so ago. The teenage boy groaned a little, stretching his arms over his head with a low yawn. Ron was crammed in the corner of his family's couch, slumped down slightly with his elbow leaning on the right arm rest and Rufus snoring away at the opposite end of the sofa.

He hadn't exactly been dead asleep. He was aware that he had been falling in and out of a light doze, but as he eventually regained complete consciousness, Ron was suddenly reminded exactly why he had been unapologetically squished into the side of the couch.

Kim. The sight made Ron's heart skip a beat when he glanced down to stare at her. The redhead was out like a light and was breathing softly in her sleep. She had both feet curled up on the couch with her head nuzzled down in the crook of Ron's shoulder and her arm wrapped around his waist.

She was so beautiful. And Ron so hated to wake her, but as he gently pressed a silent button on the Kimmunicator the check the time on her wrist, he carefully took the same hand to her forehead to sweep the longer of her red locks out of her eyes.

"Kim?" he whispered, smiling sweetly as she began to stir, "KP?"

Kim murmured, scrunching her fist up in his red jersey in protest for a second before her eyes finally slipped open.

Ron tightened the arm he had around her in an adoring hug, "C'mon, we should go up to bed."

Kim expelled a yawn of her own, mumbling as she spoke, "What time is it?"

"Almost one-thirty in the morning," Ron replied, "I think we'll both have a much better sleep if we head upstairs."

While the dull ache in her back made her inclined to agree, Kim was reluctant, and she only held Ron closer as she grumbled into his side.

"Ugh, no. Can't we just stay here forever?"

At the very last word that left her with a sleepy slur, Ron froze. The tingling chill that had initially crossed his body was immediately replaced with a glowing warmth in his chest as his heart raced faster and faster.

The feeling was all too familiar to him. And on this occasion, it made him chuckle out loud.

Kim frowned at the sound that left him, still a little woozy with exhaustion as she glanced upwards.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Oh," came Ron's first response, "Nothing, don't worry about it. Should we head up?"

His attempt at sweeping his reaction under the rug suddenly left Kim feeling much more awake as she leaned up from where she was lying on him. Her green eyes narrowed sharply through her restless daze.

"Ron? What is it?"

Even amongst the darkness of the room, Kim could spot the faint blush that stained Ron's cheeks as he sheepishly looked away from her. He cleared his throat, glancing back with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

"You just kinda' always say that."

"Say what?"

There was an uncertain silence between them for the first moment. But when Ron spoke next, his features glistened in delight.

"Forever."

The simple confirmation from him left Kim openly confused as her expression encouraged him to go on.

"Ya' know? We're gonna' be best friends forever, you didn't wanna' wait forever, you want me to stay my same, quote, 'dorky, sweet self' forever, you wanna' be with me forever. You say it all the time."

The moment the realisation struck her was one of the most profound of Kim's life as her jaw dropped open. Almost instantly, a million snapshots from countless snippets of their lives flashed through her mind as she recalled just how often she really did utter that word to him.

'I don't care about anyone's opinion that isn't yours or mine. I meant that then, and I mean it now and forever.'

'There is no way I would ever break up with you forever over something as shallow as the way you look.'

'Let's just enjoy what we have left of senior year and then we can focus on the rest of forever.'

The thought had subconsciously left her over and over again at dozens of points across the last six months. But Ron had always heard it - every single time. And as he continued to smile at her, nothing had ever brought Kim so much joy.

Ron backtracked for a brief moment, hoping that the observation hadn't sounded like a criticism.

"I like it. It's nice."

Kim's was quick to correct her boyfriend's choice of adjective.

"It's true."

Ron's stomach flipped.

"I know. And ditto. Obviously."

And with that, Ron reached for Kim's hand, coaxing it into his hand as he let the subject be.

"Come on. Let's hit the hay."

His assurance in her was so plain, but somehow, Kim had never heard Ron sound so confident about anything in their near fourteen years of friendship. He trusted that she loved him, and that she would do so forever. And the thought only made her love him even more.

When they came to their feet, Kim shuffled in towards him, leaning up on her toes and pressing one long, delicate, sleepy kiss to his lips before she squeezed his hand in hers and stepped back. Ron returned the loving gesture, making sure to gently scoop up a still sleeping Rufus in his opposite hand before the three silently crept up the stairs to his room in the attic.

There were hundreds of thoughts of varying importance floating across Kim's mind when she climbed under the covers of the blue coloured futon and rested her head back on Ron's shoulder. But one was a little louder and certainly a smidge more cheeky than the rest.

What the heck was she going to have to do to convince her dad let them have even more sleepovers between now and graduation?


My friends, we've now reached the part of our scheduled programming where ya girl reveals that I am a sucker for a motif, and that Kim has said the word "forever" to Ron (or in regards to Ron) in every chapter of this story so far :) Phew! I think now is when we save it for special occasions so I'm not struggling to cram it in somewhere every time before posting, haha! Did anyone pick up on it?!

I really hope you all enjoyed this follow-up entry to our last monumental chapter. I totally get that Mr. Dr. P. is probably a tad OOO here, but I'm hoping it's not too unbelievable. Kim is growing into a young adult after all, and I hope the work I've put into their relationship to date and James' growing feelings about Kim and Ron as a couple in this story so far supports all his decision making here :)

Also, side note - my point about Ron calling out for Kim's help over Yori in the Gorilla Fist episode from S3? That totally happened! As if I was going to miss it ;)

Finally, I know after the last chapter I got a tonne of questions about whether this story will be coming to an end anytime soon seeing as we're so close to the end of S4 now - but fear nottttt! In reality, there's still basically a whole semester between K&R's 6-month anniversary and when they're due to graduate high school, so I happen to have a whole bunch of original content planned to fill that gap. You cannot get rid mf me that easily! :)

For now, I'd really love to hear everyone's thoughts here. Faves and reviews as always are super duper appreciated!

Hope everyone is keeping healthy and well!

Till next time,

Reneyyyyyy x