“I don't know why you couldn't have brought Monique,” Shego grumbled. “Monique likes to shop. She could make a _career_ out of shopping.”
“Because if I let you shop for yourself, you'll do what you always do,” Kim chided her. “You'll buy the same two colors you always buy, green and black.”
“Those are my colors,” Shego pointed out. “There isn't a lot that goes with my skin coloring, you know.”
“You'd be surprised if you tried something different. I'm willing to experiment. Are you saying there's something I'm brave enough to do that YOU'RE not?”
Shego's eyes gleamed. “Oh, you so did not play that card.”
Kim smiled and shrugged. “We've been together four years, and I've NEVER known you to back down from a challenge.”
“Because if you're so willing to experiment, I have a few ideas for you,” Shego said wickedly.
Kim hesitated. What had she just gotten herself into?”
She cringed visibly when she got out of the car and saw the sign. “Spank Me Mama?” Kim asked, mortified. “I can't go into a place like this! This was about trying new clothes, not - “
“Not what? Sex toys?” Shego purred.
Kim turned on her. “Shego!”
“Doy, you're such a prude, Kimmie. I swear, sleeping together all these years has not corrupted you one bit,” Shego sighed. “And they sell clothes here too, according to the advertisement.”
“Not exactly clothes you'd wear outdoors,” Kim groused.
Shego took a step back and put her hands on her hips, cocking her head. “See what I'm wearing?” she asked.
Once again Kim's eyes took in the sight of Shego in blue jeans so tight that they might have been painted on, and a tight white top with short sleeves and a high collar. Kim swallowed. She knew she'd already lost.
“And I've got a dozen more outfits like it in the car,” Shego went on, sensing victory. “Not a speck of green or black to be seen. So unless you're willing to admit that YOU'RE the one who's afraid of experimentation - “
“Kim Possible isn't afraid of anything,” Kim retorted.
Shego only grinned and gestured for Kim to go inside first.
Kim exhaled, defeated. The rules of their relationship were simple. One did NOT issue a challenge to the other, and then expect not to be called on it.
“Don't worry, pumpkin,” Shego said as she followed Kim in and put an arm around her shoulders, while the younger woman gazed at the merchandise on display, her jaw dropping. “I won't make you wear any of this outside. Today, anyway.”
Five minutes later, Kim felt almost totally relaxed. Really, she'd been silly. She was a twenty-five year old woman. She'd seen horrors and evils that would blight the dreams of most people. An ordinary fetish and bondage gear store - a high-priced one at that, from the tags she'd seen - was positively innocent by comparison.
She wondered, though. Their sex life had always been, while passionate, somewhat conventional. She'd never had the desire to try roleplaying, and she only owned one or two sex toys. But did this trip mean Shego had hidden desires of her own from Kim?
Some people might look at their intensely competitive relationship and mistake them for rivals, not lovers. But it wasn't about winning or beating each other for the sake of it. It was about them recognizing that the only people who could ever be their equals were each other. It was about them measuring their lives by the standards set by each other. It was about them understanding that their competitive drive made them better people, better at their job - and therefore better able to protect each other and the rest of their loved ones. It also meant that they could share virtually anything with each other.
Kim fingered a black leather whip. If Shego had wanted to try something like this, why hadn't she said so earlier? Had she been afraid that Kim wouldn't understand? Or that Kim was too conservative to ever try this?
Well, neither of those were true. And to prove it, she'd go as far as Shego pushed her - and then go farther.
She went back to something she'd noticed earlier. Her breasts had always been smaller than Shego's, but that corset over there would -
Just as her hand was about to grab hold of the garment, another woman beat her to it. Kim latched onto it before the second woman could take it. “Uh, excuse me, but I saw this first.”
“Maybe, but I got here first, so - “ The petite woman, shorter than Kim, pretty with honey-blonde hair, gestured as if to say, _C'est la vie_.
“Hey, this is my first time in a store like this, and this is the first thing I saw that I actually LIKED, so why don't you cut me a little slack?” Kim asked, flashing back to that time in Club Banana years ago when they'd fought over a jacket.
“Andrea? Is there a problem?”
Kim looked past the other shopper - Andrea, evidently - and saw a third woman, this one dressed in a fire-engine red suit that looked like it cost more than her father made in a week. It went well with her bright red hair, and she had the figure to flaunt it. “No problem,” Kim said. “She's just trying to take something that _I_ was already going to buy.” She gave the corset a little tug on the word “I”.
“I've been TRYING to explain to this woman that I was here first, Domi, but - “
“And possession is nine-tenths of the law,” Domi said.
“There are plenty of other corsets in this store,” Kim pointed out.
“Agreed. Why don't you go find one?”
“Man, Kimmie. I take you to one store like this and you're already about to start a catfight,” Shego said, smiling like the Cheshire Cat as she appeared.
“Excuse me,” Domi said to the late arrival. “But your friend is being extremely rude.”
“Rude?” Kim squawked.
“Domi,” Andrea began to say.
“Can you even afford it?” Domi added, narrowing her eyes. “Perhaps you should try something a little more in your price range. A 'Hot Topic', perhaps?”
Shego bristled at the condescension. “You don't know who you're dealing with,” she snapped.
“Shego,” Kim muttered, sensing that this minor confrontation had been hijacked by Shego and 'Domi'.
Domi picked up on what Kim had said, took in Shego's unusual coloration, and put two and two together. “I know perfectly well who I'm dealing with,” she said curtly. “You're two of those Team Possible people.”
Andrea gasped. “You're Kim Possible?!”
“Well, yeah - “
“And you're the ones that don't know who they're dealing with,” Domi went on.
“Yeah?” Shego growled.
The older woman could have said that she was Dominique Destine, CEO and owner of Nightstone Unlimited, one of the world's wealthiest women, and someone who had covertly hired Shego for a job or two when she'd been just a high-priced thief. Or, if she was feeling particularly insane, she could have said that she was Demona, an immortal gargoyle and sorceress who could have defeated these two young world-beaters easily if she was so inclined.
Instead, she just smiled cunningly. “Unlike the two of you, we happen to be loyal repeat customers.”
“Ms. Destine, is there a problem?”
“Miss Charmaine, these women are refusing to allow Andrea to purchase something she had already picked out,” Dominique said.
“Ms. Destine?” Kim asked. That name . . . she groaned softly. This woman was one of the most successful businesswomen in the country!
“Really, Domi, it's all right,” Andrea said. She handed the corset to Kim. “It's the least I can do, considering all the times you've saved me - and the rest of the world along with it.”
“No big,” Kim said. “Sorry I got a little overzealous before. And Shego, well, she's always a little overzealous.”
“Hey!” Shego said.
“Domi's the same way,” Andrea said.
“Oh, you'll pay for that later,” Dominique murmured.
“I should HOPE so.”
“Well, princess, if you're willing to get into an argument over a corset, I guess you're more into this sort of thing than I thought,” Shego said wickedly.
“Is that a challenge?”
The End.
Author's Note - The basic premise of this story - Kim and Shego encounter Demona and Andrea while shopping - was suggested by LJ user “patrickat”. Andrea Calhoun is an original character created for the The Gargoyles Saga, the “virtual seasons” written by the online community set after the end of Season Two. Her romantic relationship with Demona was developed by the writing team of Madame Destine. As Patrick is a part of said team, I assume I've been granted permission to use her, as well as the store “Spank Me Mama” and its employee Denise Charmaine, for this story.
You can find TGS at http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org/garg/index.html
You can find Madame Destine's stories at http://destinemanor.artchicks.org
While this is an AU, Kim and Shego's relationship is no different from their relationship in my “Unacceptable Sitch” Kigo series.