February started as it typically did: cold, foggy, and with Valentine’s Day decorations having been hanging in store windows since the second day of January. For the most part, the decorations were ignored throughout the first month of the year. Chocolates and candies would not keep very well, either going stale or being eaten out of temptation or boredom. Cards written to potential romantic interests could be torn up weeks before the 14th, from altered feelings, fear, or spite. It was only when February began did any preparation for the day began.
It was on February 3rd, a Saturday, that Kim Possible found herself dragged along to the college bookstore by Ron Stoppable. The young man was frantically dashing from the racks of cards to the small selection of candies and back again, Rufus sitting comfortably in the hood of his jacket and chattering when he saw something promising.
“KP,” Ron said, groaning as he looked at the two cards in his hands. He jogged Kim, shifting his weight from foot to foot anxiously. “What should I go for? Funny or cutesy? Oh, man, I like them both—why don’t they just make ones that girls like no matter what you pick?” He opened the cards, looking at the verse of one and the punch line of the other.
“Ron, you do know that it’s supposed to be from you, right?” she asked, hands resting in the pockets of her jacket.
“But you’re Monique’s best girl friend!” he protested. “You know what she likes!”
“I don’t know what she likes from you,” Kim replied. “She thinks you’re funny. She thinks you’re sweet.”
“But I don’t know which one she thinks I’m more of!” He closed the cards and stared at the cartoon panel on one and the flowers and curling script on the other. “Are funny and cutesy mutually exclusive concepts? Are there any cards that are both?”
“You could always make a card like that,” Kim said, moving to pick up a pale green card from the rack. She looked at the card, opening it to find a blank interior. “There’s nothing wrong with a handmade card. Monique likes unique things like that.” She closed the card and replaced it, slipping her hand into her pocket and smiling at the flustered young man and his mole rat.
“Think she’ll like something like that, Rufus?” he asked. He turned to glance at Rufus, who nodded and grinned with positive squeaks. With a larger smile, Ron returned his eyes to Kim, shrugging his shoulders. “What d’you think, KP?”
“For the last time,” she sad, “she wants something from you, not me. That’d be a little too awk-weird for everyone.” Ron nodded slowly, returning the cards to their places in the rack. He gave the rows of cards another glance, but turned and strode to his friend, looping one arm in hers and tugging her toward the stairs.
“Come on!” he said. “I said we were going to have lunch when I called you, so let’s eat!” Kim smiled and followed his lead, walking up the stairs into the first floor of the building. Middleton University, one of the smaller colleges in the state, was well-known for its students’ love of the cafeteria and its varying styles of food to select. Ron vaulted over the turnstiles at the entrance of the diner, jogging immediately to the Bueno Nacho offshoot and snatching up a tray. Kim strode elsewhere, gathering soup and a sandwich while Ron crafted his signature order.
She stood by as the young man chatted with the adult server on duty, both men knowing each other’s names. Ron asked about the man’s family, and received the positive news given to him with a smile. The man inquired after Rufus, laughing when the naked mole rat sprang up from Ron’s hood onto his shoulder. Ron took his nachos and burritos when they were given to him with a cheerful thanks, bidding the other man goodbye as he turned to find Kim.
“You and every Bueno Nacho person,” Kim said, shaking her head as she chuckled.
“Hey, Jimmy’s my dawg, KP!” Ron replied. “We’ve been chill since you and me were freshmen!” They made their way to the cashiers, grabbing bottled drinks on their way. Ron waved his hand when he saw Kim reaching for the back pocket of her jeans, simply pulling his ID card from own pocket.
“Got you covered, Kim,” he said, handing his card to the student on cashier duty. The young woman glanced at their food and added it up, swiping the card and returning it to Ron with a smile. They made their way up to the second floor of the building, sitting down at one of the empty two-person tables. Ron snatched a handful of nachos from their paper container and stuffed them in his mouth, licking his fingers clean of the cheese as Rufus hopped onto the table.
“So are you finally doing something for V-day?” the young man asked after swallowing.
“I don’t really think Shego’s that eager to do the whole Valentine’s Day thing,” Kim replied, unwrapping her sandwich and taking a bite. “We might give each other cards, or something.”
“Aw, come on, Kim!” Ron protested.
“C’mon!” Rufus echoed, cheeks filled with cheesy tortilla chips.
“This is the second year you’ve been with someone during Valentine’s Day!” Ron continued. “You’ve got to do something more than just cards like you did last year!”
“Ron, it’s no big!” Kim laughed. “I’ve gone nineteen years without doing something. It’s not like I’ve never gone on a date—what difference does February 14th make?”
“It’s the biggest lovey-dovey day of the year!” Ron said, holding up his arms. “Oh, come on, you can’t say that you never wanted to go out on Valentine’s Day! It’s just—it’s like a law of the universe!”
“You can’t pull the universe-law card on me, Ron,” Kim said in return. She twisted open the cap to her bottled water, lifting the bottle to her lips. “We’ve already gone over the fact that unless it’s something like gravity, they don’t exist.” Ron frowned and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Well, it’s still important,” he said. He tilted his head back, a smile coming to his face. “I’m going to make Monique the best dinner. I’m going to go over to her apartment and start right after my classes. She even gave me her spare key so I could start before she got there!”
“She only gave you the key now?” Kim asked. “You’re over there so much that I thought you already had it.”
“Well—I did get it a while ago,” he explained. “I’m just using it to sneak in to cook instead of sneaking in to be there when she comes home.” Kim began to laugh, quietly, at the young man’s smile. He sat up, blinking as she continued to laugh.
“What?” he asked. “KP, what?”
“I don’t see why you think you need to make such a big deal over this,” she replied. “You sound like a good boyfriend to me.” He grinned broadly, reaching to take a few of the nachos that Rufus had not devoured.
“Thanks, Kim,” he said. He put the chips into his mouth, chewing a moment. “But I still say you and Shego need to do something for Valentine’s Day.” Kim groaned aloud and rolled her eyes, but with a smile.
Kim woke Wednesday morning to an empty bed, Shego’s single pillow, wrapped in a dark green case, in her arms. She blinked bleary eyes, rolling over to slap at her buzzing alarm clock. When the room was quiet, she rolled back into the warm hollow of the bed, burying her face in Shego’s pillow. No strong light came in through the window, fog once again blanketing the small town. Kim opened her eyes, taking slow breaths to catch traces of the scent of Shego’s shampoo and conditioner.
She sat up after a time, sighing at the prospect of her classes and the idea of putting her bare feet on the hardwood floor. With a small frown, she looked at the floor, wondering why she had been so excited to learn that Shego’s apartment was not entirely carpeted. Her frown and her thoughts left her when she saw her slippers, soft shoes of warm white fluff capped by floppy rabbit ears, sitting next to the bed. The last she had seen of the slippers was when she had tossed them into the closet while moving in and unpacking, having blushed and snatched them away when Shego took them from a box and raised an eyebrow.
More than willing to take another smirk at her expense, Kim put the slippers on her feet and rose from the bed, putting the pillow down after a moment of thought. She walked out of the bedroom, arms crossed against the faint chill that touched the skin exposed by her t-shirt. The apartment was silent as she made her way to the kitchen, and she sighed when she did not see her lover. She started toward the pantry, hoping to find something to have for breakfast, but paused when she looked at the table.
An envelope, sealed and with her name written in Shego’s sharp, angular style, lay before a glass filled with water and three roses, colored deep orange, bright red, and a simple pink. Kim reached out to touch the roses’ petals, smiling at their softness. She sat down and picked up the envelope, opening it and retrieving a handwritten note on a white piece of paper.
“’Princess,’” she read quietly to herself, “’I’m really sorry I didn’t get to wake you up the way I wanted to. Remind me to make sure that Doctor Director loses her other eye the next time we see her. I promise that I’ll be home when you get back from classes. Love you. Shego.’” She smiled at the note, pausing when she moved her thumb from covering a line scribbled at the bottom of the page. “’P.S. Eat something decent for breakfast or suffer the consequences the next time I get out my ropes.’” She blushed and swallowed hard, going to the pantry without knowing if she wanted a bowl of cereal or one of her instant meal concoctions.
“Shego?” The question was asked as Kim stepped into the apartment. Sunlight gently shone in through the windows, the fog having burned away mere hours after Kim had gone to the campus. She closed the door, putting her backpack in its usual place just beside the door. “Are you home?” A hand with slender fingers and finely pointed nails came to rest on the small of her back, fingers sliding up her spine in a slow caress. Kim shivered and gasped in surprise, turning to find Shego standing with a smile on her face. Shaking her head and laughing, Kim moved to hug Shego tightly.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Kimmie,” Shego said, returning the hug and pressing a kiss to Kim’s cheek.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Kim replied. She leaned back, smiling at the other woman. “So, why do I need to tell Doctor Director to protect her other eye?”
“What kind of idiot calls a person who has plans for her girlfriend on Valentine’s Day?” Shego demanded, frowning at nothing in particular. “If she calls again, she’s getting a nice description of where and how far she can shove her mission.”
“Wait a minute,” Kim said. “You didn’t tell me that you were planning something for Valentine’s Day.”
“Doy, princess,” Shego replied. “It was a surprise.” She grinned, turning Kim toward their bedroom. “And what we’re doing still is. Go get changed into something nice.” Kim laughed as Shego continued to push her forward, eventually striding to the room. Shego stood in the kitchen, letting her fingers play in the still-soft petals of the roses on the table as she waited. As the minutes passed, she swept her hands over her tight black jeans to remove bits of dust that did not exist, buttoning and unbuttoning the sleeves of her dark green shirt.
When she heard Kim’s returning footsteps, she looked up and smiled at the other woman. Kim strode toward Shego, clad in blue jeans and the tight, dark red sweater Shego had given her for Christmas. She stopped, smiling, and turned a slow circle.
“Does this count as ‘nice?’” she asked. Shego grinned and put her hands on Kim’s hips, pulling her close enough to kiss.
“I think you worked with Doctor Drakken for too long.” Shego looked up at Kim, the red haired woman leaning against the side of the car with a smirk on her face.
“That’s not an opinion, Kimmie,” Shego replied. “That’s a fact that I hate admitting.”
“Well, it sure explains this ‘surprise’ that you have.” Kim giggled, slipping her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “A picnic in February. At least we’re not having to fight other couples.” Shego chuckled, lifting the large blanket and wicker basket from the trunk of the car.
“I thought you liked it when we fought,” she said. Kim sighed dramatically as she took the blanket into her arms, smiling as she followed Shego away from the car.
“Only when it’s us,” she explained. “Fighting other people with you is fun, I guess, but there’s something a lot better about when we’re sparring.”
“Oh, so we’re making up more names for it now?” Shego asked. “Why don’t you just call it what it is Kimmie? I’ll say it first—foreplay.” She grinned, trailing her fingers down Kim’s back to the top of her jeans. “Say it with me now—foreplay.” Kim laughed and reached to take Shego’s hand before it could continue its path downward.
“I guess I should be happy that we’re not at a restaurant,” she said. Shego groaned and rolled her eyes, bringing Kim’s hand to her lips and kissing the tip of each finger in turn.
“You are no fun, princess,” she murmured. “Tell me you at least know where we are.”
“We’re on a hill,” Kim replied. “We’re on a hill that’s almost an hour away from the apartment.” She looked down the hill, unable to keep from smiling at the dark green of the thick grass that grew beneath her feet and covered the hill almost entirely. When she noticed the patches of thin, pale green grass, she paused. The patches were in a shape that made her reach to touch her chin, eyes narrowing in thought.
“You can’t tell me that you got hit on the head that hard,” Shego said, setting down the basket and taking the blanket. As she opened it with a snap of her wrists, Kim reached up to the right side of her head, pressing her fingers to where a bloody lump had swelled almost two years earlier.
“This is the same hill Drakken attacked us on?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Shego replied. “I know it’s not the best place in the world now, but—I don’t know. I still like it.” She looked at Kim and the soft smile on her face, the young woman’s gaze falling on the patches of thin, half-dead grass. “Are you thinking about it?”
“A little,” Kim murmured. “But in a good way.” She turned away from the hill, the two women sitting down onto the blanket. Shego rummaged in the basket for a moment, retrieving a bottle and two small glasses.
“Think you’re in a good enough mood to not be the goody-two-shoes hero?” she asked, lifting the bottle.
“You brought wine?” Kim asked, brow raised. It was with a smile that she held out her hand, however, and Shego smirked. She gave Kim one of the glasses, putting the second down on the blanket before beginning to open the bottle.
“I thought you’d get pissed if I brought vodka,” she remarked. She poured the red wine into the glasses, putting the bottle back into the basket and picking up her glass. She tapped her glass against Kim’s, smiling slowly at the other woman.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Kim,” she said. “I love you.” Kim smiled, taking Shego’s free hand in hers.
“I love you too, Shego. Happy Valentine’s Day.” They lifted their glasses to their lips and drank, moving to sit shoulder to shoulder. The afternoon turned into the evening as they chatted, drank, and ate the sandwiches and chocolates Shego had packed in the basket. The sky was dark and the air was cold by the time they packed up their things and returned to the car, Kim huddling in her seat against the chill. Shego only smiled when Kim fell asleep, filled with food and wine as she was, letting the young woman nap until they reached the apartment building.
With hands too gentle to wake her, Shego lifted Kim from the car and carried her from the private lot into the building, taking the empty elevator with Kim’s head lolling on her shoulder. When they reached their floor, Shego went straight to their apartment, Kim only sighing quietly when Shego shifted her about to find her keys and unlock the door. At the click of the door closing, Kim opened her eyes.
“Did I fall asleep?” she asked. Shego smiled once more, putting Kim down and letting her hands slide to rest on Kim’s hips.
“I let you,” Shego replied. “It means you can stay up later now.” She tilted her head down to suckle at the skin of Kim’s throat. Kim’s eyes widened, any lingering droop to her shoulders from the nap vanishing. She put her hands on Shego’s arms, unable to keep from lifting her chin as Shego pressed more kisses to her neck.
“It’s—I have classes tomorrow,” she protested, moaning at the gentle bite Shego gave to her shoulder.
“I’d just give up now, princess,” Shego said, kissing Kim’s ear. “There is no way that you’re pulling the school night excuse on me tonight.” She trailed one hand from Kim’s hip up her side to cup her breast, humming with a grin at the new moan that Kim made. Kim put her hands on Shego’s cheeks, turning the woman’s face up to kiss her mouth.
“I never said I was making an excuse.” Shego grinned at the smile that Kim gave her, and covered the young woman’s lips with her own, letting her hands roam as they pleased, and groaning when Kim’s hands began to do the same.
—end—