They went back in and resumed their positions. But this time, Shego kept her feet curled up under herself.
Meanwhile, in their absence, Kim had had an epiphany: TWO can play at THAT game, Shego…
Kim pretended to remain involved with the program, but she was aware – and a little disappointed – that Shego had curled her legs up under herself. Hmm. No big. She looked back at Shego, smiling faintly, and grabbed both cuffs of Shego’s pants, pulling her legs straight, and setting her feet on top of her nearest thigh. “Slide down a little” she said, oh, so casually.
Ron was watching out of the corner of his eyes. The recliner on which he was working was right next to Shego, and directly in front of the TV. Only a floor lamp separated the recliner and couch. Kim glanced over at him to see if he’d noticed. She caught him watching, and smiled inwardly to herself. Two with one stone,she thought. She turned her attention back to the TV, gently fondling the tops of Shego’s feet in her lap with her free hand, while calmly taking a sip of iced tea with the other.
Ron looked over at Shego’s face, to find her looking back at him. He gave her a mock frown, I told you to slow down…,and she replied with a slightly panicked look of – It wasn’t me! It was her! I didn’t DO anything! He smiled and went back to his spreadsheet. How’s it feel to be on the other end of the stick, Shego? He smiled more.
Meanwhile, Shego was in a state of intense anxiety. She had schootched down on the couch, as asked, and was no longer in a position to watch the television at all, being reclined, as it were, too far back. She stared at the ceiling. When she was finally able to stop repeating, “What? What? What? What?” in her mind, she clarified her thoughts - probably not quite in this order: What’s she doing? Does she know what she’s doing? Does she know what she’s doing TO ME? Why is she doing this? Why is she doing this TO ME? What’s she – and so on.
Without realizing she was doing it, Shego closed her eyes, because the touch of Kim’s fingers was melting her body – and mind – away Kim was just – ever so lightly – caressing the tops of her feet, toes to ankles, and it was… it was… well, indescribable.
Kim knew she was being watched. She could feel Ron’s eyes, if not watching her, then watching what she was doing. She started to turn to catch him at it, basking in the warm glow of being able to embarrass someone else for a change. He would try to pretend he wasn’t watching, of course, and she could fire off a smart remark, a Shego remark. Like what you see? she ran down the list of barbs she had been pricked with so many times, Cat got yer tongue, What are YOU looking at, What’s the matter, Pumpkin, never -
Pumpkin. Kim’s breath caught in her throat.
Suddenly, revenge didn’t seem so important, any more. Shego’s feet in her lap, soft, warm… delicate. Yeah, ‘delicate’, right. Take one upside your head a few times and see how ‘delicate’ they are. Or into your gut. And then there’s the fire… She looked intently for awhile at the smooth but sinewy greenish skin, as if trying to find the pores through which the fire came. Kim was no foot-fetishist (whereas Shego was), but they really were pretty feet… Then she realized what she was doing, and instinctively looked up at Ron to see if he’d caught her staring at the other girl’s toes.
He had. But he wasn’t smirking. He didn’t have anything sarcastic to say, either, but Kim blushed anyway. Ron put down his pen and held his hand straight out, fingers all together, in front of him. He looked intently into Kim’s eyes. Then he took his other hand and, putting his fingertips on the top of the first hand, began to pull – not rub, but pull –the skin above the last two fingers in small circles, ever-widening. Try this.
Kim did. A light moan escaped Shego’s throat, but otherwise she made no sign. Is she going to sleep?
“That feels nice…” Shego sighed. Startled, Kim looked guiltily over at her, but Shego was still laying back, eye’s closed. Kim was beginning to forget all about “revenge”.
Ron nodded his head slightly, enough to get Kim’s attention. Still using his own hands as an example, he grabbed his fingers, and began twisting his wrist around, pulling and twisting at the same time, gently but firmly. He smiled at her and nodded again.
Kim could feel it as the bones in Shego’s ankles snapped and popped. She was using both hands now, one cradling the other girls heel, while the other pulled on her toes and twisted her foot around.
“Ah!… Oh… hhmmmmm…”
Shego had given in to it. Her mind had finally stopped fighting, questioning, rationalizing, wondering, and she was just enjoying it – the feeling, Kim… the whole thing. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but she just didn’t have the willpower to resist, anymore. She’d deal with the consequences later, if there were any. Her head sank incrementally further back into the cushion.
After similar treatment to both of Shego’s feet, Kim looked up at Ron for further instructions. Ron made an exaggerated bow of his head. Then he laid one hand over the other, and showed her how his thumb was pressing into various places of his other hand’s palm.
“Oh… god, Kim…” was all Shego could say.
Ron put his hands behind his head, getting comfortable to watch the show. Kim frowned at him, but only a little. For some reason, she didn’t really mind, but she felt like she should, anyway. This was… well, this was just weird, wasn’t it? Boys. And then, as she returned her attention to Shego, she thought again: Pumpkin…
“Whatever happened to ‘Pumpkin’?” Kim asked softly. “I kinda liked ‘Pumpkin’…”. Is this part of my evil plan?
“uhmmm… you… you did?” Shego responded sleepily, not really understanding the implications.
“Yeah. Never cared for ‘Kimmie’ and really hated ‘Princess’… but I kinda liked ‘Pumpkin’.” Kim’s hands began to work on her other foot.
“haaaaah…” Shego exhaled deeply, “Okay, ‘Pumpkin’. Just please-please-please don’t stop. Pumpkin.”
Shego was in bliss. What Kim was doing to her was just making everything slide away – guilt, anxiety, pain… and she couldn’t have gotten off of that couch if the apartment had been on fire. Added to that, it was Kim doing it. Who’d a thunk it? Her touch was so gentle, yet firm… sensitive… Better than she’d ever fantasized it would be. And she had fantasized about Kim’s touch. Maybe not on her feet, but…
“I love you so much, Pumpkin” Shego very softly sighed to herself. Or so she thought.
The foot-massage came to an abrupt halt.
“What?” Kim asked with a incredulous tone.
Uh-oh, Ron thought, Show time.Careful now, Ron. Very careful.
Shego’s eye’s opened wide in fear. Ron saw it. She didn’t mean to say that…
“Yes, Shego” Ron put his arms back down, “you did say it out loud. Don’t panic. Just tell her how you feel…”
Ron got up and turned the TV off the old-fashioned way, since Kim had the remote. He remained standing in front of it. The silence was deafening, and Kim was looking back and forth from Shego to Ron, suspicion on her face. It was becoming apparent that Shego wasn’t going to say anything.
Well, it would’ve meant more coming from you, Shego, but ok, I’ll do it, Ron thought.
“What she said was that she loved you. I think you heard her… you’re surprised?” Ron asked. You didn’t need to say ‘I think you heard her’, you idiot! Are you TRYING to screw this up? FOCUS, Stoppable!
Kim pushed Shego’s legs off her lap roughly and stood up. “Okay, what… what THE HELL is going on between you two!”
Spill it, Ron, Ron thought, time for Truth. The Truth shall set you free… wait. Better idea.
“I love you too, y’know” he said.
“That… that’s different and you know it. We’re -”
“Best Friends for Life, yes. Still, I do love you. And furthermore, I love her,too” Ron said.
“Wha-” Shego’s panic wasn’t subsiding at all with that little remark…
“See? She’s surprised. Not because she didn’t know, but just because I’ve never said it before.” he let that sink in awhile.
Then he continued, “Yes, it’s in yet a different way. Stupid language only has one word for ‘love’. It’s really amazing that we’re able to communicate at all… Anyway, yeah, I love Shego, but not romantically…”, he glanced at Shego, seeing the relief as she was finally able to exhale. He smiled at her. She looked at him quizically, like something had occurred to her.
“… and not like what we have, either, Kim. I can’t quite put my finger on the right word… but -”, Ron was cut off by a single, quiet word from Shego:
“Comrade” she said, looking off into the distance. The word had just popped into her mind from nowhere, and the truth of it was overpowering.
Ron looked back at her, as the word worked into his mind. “Yes. ‘Comrade’. That’s it.” The deeper the word went, the more it meant to him. His eyes began to moisten. FOCUS, Ron! This isn’t about you and Shego!
Kim was getting more pissed by the second. “’Comrades’ in what, exactly!”, her voice rose in volume with each word. “You… you’re SETTING ME UP!”.
Ron was at a loss. No help was coming from that secret place inside his brain for this. He was on his own. “Sort of… I mean… Yes”, he said. Truth will set you free, my ass.
“Ever cross your mind that there might be a little PROBLEM with that? Like, she’s a GIRL! I’m so sorry to ruin your little teenage male fantasy, Ron, but every time two girls look at each other doesn’t mean they’re… lesbian or something!” Kim was out for blood.
Ron sighed. “Kim, it’s -”, but he was cut off.
“I’m NOT gay, Ron! I DON’T like girls! What do I have to do to beat that into your head! Or maybe I do need to beat it into your head, is that it!” Kim was almost screaming. Ron’s head hung down.
I am SO screwing this up, he thought. It’s because I can’t read her. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t really even know whether she likes girls or not! God, why am I even involved in this? This isn’t my business. I mean, it’s SO not my business! She says she doesn’t like girls, but… and the light dawned. He had been looking for help in the wrong place. When it came, it came not from his mysterious secret source, but from Ron himself, flooding it’s way from the back of his mind to the front, a laser-beam of crystalline insight. It came from… from being Best Friends.
Everything fell into place with a click. Why he hadn’t been able to figure Kim out. Why Kim and Shego fought the way they did. The trading of insults and barbs. Kim’s excitement when she knew she was gong to tangle with the Green Fire Girl again. Her near-depression when it was over. Suddenly, he knew, Shego went through exactly the same things. He understood it all. He was such an idiot…
“I believe you, Kim” he said, still looking down.
Kim’s breathing slowed, just a little. “What?”
“I believe you. You don’t like girls. I’ve been an idiot” he said. Realizing the effect this was likely to have on Shego, he put his hand out toward her in the universal gesture of HALT, in this case meaning, Be quiet. Wait. It was a gesture that probably originated before people developed language. There was no mistaking it.
“You would know by now, if you did… wouldn’t you… You’re surrounded by the sexiest girls in school every day. In the locker-room, too. Wearing cheerleader outfits that could have only been invented by a man, and a dirty old man – or a horny lesbian – at that. So you would know. And you’re not the kind that would… “, he didn’t finish. “No, you’re not the least bit attracted to girls.”
“Well, I’m glad you FINALLY -” she began.
Ron looked up and met Kim’s glare with serious, sympathetic eyes, silencing her.
“… but you are attracted to her.”
He lowered his eyes from her stunned gaze and brushed past her, leaving her facing the kitchen while he went and stood by the front window, looking out into the night.
Give her a minute. She realizes it’s true or she’d be screaming again by now. Give her a minute… he thought.
Kim didn’t move. Shego could hardly breathe. Eventually, Ron went on:
“Think about it, Kim. What if… what if Shego wasn’t a woman… what if she’d been a man. Everything else the same, but she’d been a… guy. How would you feel then?”
Kim turned around to face him. “Well, not like I feel now, that’s for sure”, she replied sarcastically.
“Yeah, but what do you mean? You mean you wouldn’t feel like you do now, or do you mean you wouldn’t feel so… uncomfortable… about what you feel now…” Ron asked.
“Well, yeah, obviously I wouldn’t feel ‘uncomfortable’ about it if she… were…”, she trailed off, and thought, but I would feel exactly the same about her. If she were a him. Oh my god. Oh my god…
“But… but she… she’s not, I mean, she was just teasing me, right? Just trying to embarrass me… Just being mean…” Kim desperately searched for a way to make it… not so.
“Yeah. She does like to embarrass you, doesn’t she… but ‘to be mean’?” Ron appeared to think for awhile, then said, ” Shego, tell her why. Tell her what you feel when she blushes.”
Shego was silent. I can’t do this, Ron. I want to… but I can’t…
Sensing what lay behind Shego’s hesitation, Ron said, “C’mon, Shego. You’ve come this far, however unintentionally. Bare it. Tell her how it makes you feel.”
“It… it takes my breath away, Kim. It makes me feel… weak in the knees… I know it sounds stupid…” she said slowly, quietly, and obviously with great difficulty.
Let that sink in, Ron thought.
“Y- You mean, all those… times, during the fights… I mean, ALL those times…” Kim fought against the realization, “you… you embarrass me because you get off on the way I…”
“Yeah” Shego said simply, eyes downcast.
Ron continued, “See, for years now, KP, I just haven’t… been able to ‘get’ you. There’s always been this thing between you and Shego, but I couldn’t figure it out. Oh, how she feels about you has always been plain as day. Shego’s been… hot… for you for… I don’t know how long. I’m not even sure whether she was trying to hide it. But, I don’t think she felt love until recently. In fact, probably not until Lee came along. Because he used that. He used something inside Shego that she didn’t even know was there. And the using of it made… brought it to Shego’s awareness.”
“But you were still a mystery, KP. And it was because… well, because I think you’re a very extra-ordinary woman.”
“See, Shego – and me – and most others for that matter, are attracted to people first, and then we fall in love with them. But you… I think you’re one of the – rare – people who do it the other way around. You fell in love with her first, and then - gradually, I imagine - began to be attracted to her. Am I wrong?”
Kim remained silent.
Not much longer, Kim. I know it’s painful, but we’re almost there…, Ron thought.
“Kim”, Ron said quietly, earnestly, “KP, can you tell me when you first fell in love with her?”
After a long moment of silence, Kim said, “I… I guess it was…”,
“Hold that thought, Kim. Sorry” he faced Shego. “Shego, when did you first become aware of your attraction to Kim?”
Shego looked at him. To her, this was like being operated on wide awake; open-heart surgery, while she watched. But if you want to get better, you have to tell the doctor everything, don’t you…
“First time I saw her. At the White Mountain dojo” she said slowly, quietly, unable to look Kim in the eye.
Ron looked at Kim now, who was staring openly at Shego, and breathing deeply. “Kim, is that what you were going to say?”
She never took her eyes off the other girl’s face. Shego looked up at her. Just as they had been the night before, when Kim had first become aware that Shego felt… something…, they were locked, emerald eyes gazing straight through each other.
“Yes” Kim whispered.
Wrap it up, Ron. It’s almost time to leave them alone. “So. You both fell in love at first sight, only in radically different ways. Shego was sexually attracted, you were in love. And you couldn’t have told each other before now, because only just recently have you both acquired the other half of the relationship. Shego fell in love with you, and you, Kim, became sexually attracted to her. Independently.”
Now Ron shut up. He went back to the window and stared out, literally counting the seconds while Shego and Kim mulled over their thoughts. They kept staring at each other, but weren’t really seeing anything at all.
Shego:
I DO love her. I… ME, I love HER. I LOVE her! I could HANDLE the sex, hell, I’ve been looking FORWARD… well, fantasizing about, anyway, having sex with her for SO long. But this… I don’t know what to do! I HAVE NO IDEA what to do! How does one… I mean, how do you… ‘make love’?
Kim:
I’m… I’m in love with her. No, that’s not what’s so… what’s bothering me, is it… I’m in LUST with her. I am. I am. I want to… have… sex-with-another-girl. Kim sighed deeply. No, still not right. Sex-with-Shego. I want to touch her. Taste her… Ahhhh gawd…
“Sorry, Mom, no grandkids for you, I’m hot for another woman!” Great. Just goddamn freakin’ great. Bonnie will be thrilled to freakin’ death, when she finds out. And they WILL find out… they always do.
What am I gonna do?
Kim and Shego broke their stares off at the same time, Shego finding something fascinating to look at on the entertainment center, and Kim just staring at the floor.
They need to just take a step back from all this…Ron was thinking.
Kim let out a deep, loud, exasperated sigh.
“Fine. Just… fuckin’ fine. I’m gay. A homosexual… a lesbian… a, uh -”
Ron cut in, “dyke.”
“a dyke…”, Kim agreed.
“a rug-muncher, a carpet-”, Ron continued, only to be met with simultaneous shouts from both girls:
“RON!”,Shego shouted as she jumped up from the couch and Kim whirled around, looks of total disbelief on their faces.
“Oh, sorry. Got carried away” Ron said, still looking out the window. He tried to suppress his burgeoning smile. He shoots…
The two girls looked at each other, did he just say…
Kim glared over at Ron standing by the window. Slowly, the glare softened, replaced by perplexion. Then she began to smile.
“’Rug-muncher?” Kim asked incredulously.
Kim looked at Ron. Ron looked at Shego. Kim looked at Shego. Shego looked at… Kim’s crotch.
Kim began to giggle, and Shego joined her. Soon, laughter filled the tiny apartment.
… and he scores! Boo-yah!