Chapter Text
Saturday morning came and Roxanne was busy pouring over Tara’s disappearance. Her police contact had sent over his search results, which honestly wasn’t much. He was able to find the license plate that was registered to her car, and that her driver’s license expired last year without any attempt at a renewal. But no locations on anything. She couldn’t believe that she couldn’t find any leads by now. She’d even visited Tara’s parents to see if they knew anything. All that managed to do was make Tara’s mother break down in tears.
She sighed and decided to grab a cup of decaf. Maybe holding the warm cup would help give her another idea about where to search. She stood in the kitchen, sipped on her coffee and attempted to get her brain in gear.
If Tara hadn’t disappeared three years ago, she might’ve been able to sniff her out, even if it was embarrassing. But the trail had long-since gone cold. Not to mention she didn’t think tracking someone in a vehicle by scent was even possible. She hadn’t tried it of course, but everything smelled like car exhaust when she was anywhere near a street.
She’d been concentrating her search from Metro to Lansing and most of the communities and campsites in between. Perhaps she should start looking in more federal databases. Maybe Tara decided not to meet her friend in Lansing and disappeared while traveling somewhere else. Was there a cold case specialist that she could recruit? This was starting to sound like something on one of those true crime shows.
She grimaced after taking another sip of the decaf. It wasn’t helping and the taste was just aggravating her. She poured it out and grabbed a glass of water instead. It wasn’t as soothing to hold, but at least she could drink the damn thing. She wandered back to her laptop she’d set up at the kitchen table to keep from getting distracted while sitting on the couch. She just sat down and jiggled the mouse to wake up her laptop when a tapping came from her front door.
She glanced that way and absently sniffed at the air. Then she rolled her eyes at herself because the doors were closed. She’d have to be right up on the door before she could detect who was outside. Not that she was expecting anyone.
She looked through the peephole and was surprised to see a guy – whose name was Ben if the sewn-on patch was accurate – in work overalls standing there nervously. Frowning because she hadn’t called anyone to get any work done, she kept the security chain on the lock and cracked the door open.
She was about to ask who he was and what he wanted when she got a whiff of metal, faux fur, and hydraulic fluid with a hint of fish tank. “Minion?” she questioned before she thought too hard about how she knew. “What are you doing here?”
“Ready to go, Miss Ritchi?” he asked while shooting a quick glance behind him.
She closed the door slightly so she could remove the chain and then opened the door fully. When it was standing open, she said carefully, “I thought he didn’t want to see me.”
He rolled his eyes and scoffed as he said, “Pfft. Of course Sir wants to see you.”
She crossed her arms and challenged, “That sure wasn’t what it sounded like the other day. Sounded like he doesn’t want me there. I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not wanted.”
Minion’s disguise lifted a finger and replied reasonably, “If Sir didn’t want to see you, he wouldn’t have sent me to pick you up, Miss Ritchi.”
She kept her defiant stance and offered uncharitably, “Or, he just sent you on an errand to get you out of the way. Particularly if you’re still restricting his movements.”
“Which I’m not. Sir was able to resume the majority of his activities yesterday. He’s still not ready to fight Metro Man, of course, but he’s well enough for you to come over,” he replied, still keeping his calm. That was getting annoying. Here she was being deliberately difficult, and Minion wasn’t reacting at all. But then, he was used to dealing with Megamind, and she knew he could be just as petty as she could be.
“And well… I am just asking you to join me as a curtesy, you understand,” he added as a polite threat.
“So come quietly or you’ll kidnap me. Is that it?” she asked belligerently.
He glanced behind him again, then turned back and answered her cheerfully, “Exactly! So did you want to grab anything, or did you want me to use the spray?”
She glared at him silently for a moment which he had no reaction to at all. She then scowled and grumbled, “Fine. Give me a minute.” Before he could answer, she slammed the door.
Great. Just wonderful. She did say that she wanted to see Megamind, but he obviously wasn’t enthusiastic about seeing her. Minion probably just came for her on his own. He was holding the phone during their last conversation and heard everything. If it turned out that Megamind really didn’t want to see her, she’d just sink into the floor in embarrassment. Or kick him in the shins. Those weren’t hurt in her almost-fall.
She looked around her apartment to see if there was anything she could put together into a care package. She never put one together because she assumed that she wasn’t going to visit.
She grabbed her laptop bag since it was nearby and shoved her laptop and notebook in it. She scooped up a few DVDs that she’d been wanting to watch with Megamind and shoved those in the bag too. Opening the pantry only reminded her that Minion would have better treats than anything she would have in stock. She did spy an expensive unopened bag of coffee grounds from the before-times. Hoping it hadn’t went stale in the interim, she grabbed that too as a peace offering.
Nothing else spoke to her, so she zipped up the bag and slipped on some closed-toe shoes. Luckily, she’d decided not to stay in her pajamas all day so while she didn’t look her best, she wasn’t particularly slovenly.
And her tank top and blue jeans were miles better than just a sheet.
She slung the bag over her shoulder and opened the front door with the intention to leave. Then she remembered that they kept the lair cold, even here in August. Minion opened his mouth to say something, but she held up a finger and closed the door again. She rummaged in her coat closet and grabbed a well-loved hoodie. She draped it over her arm and opened the front door again to Minion’s bewildered face.
“Alright. Let’s go,” she said as she stepped out and locked her door. She quicky stormed her way to the elevator which forced Minion to hurry after her.
Unfortunately, she had to wait on the elevator. Minion sidled up next to her while she impatiently tapped her foot before commenting, “It was your suggestion that you come to the lair today. What has you so upset, Miss Ritchi?”
She took a calming breath (in through the nose and out through the mouth) before turning to her disguised friend and answering, “Because your boss made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to see me. I know avoidance when I hear it. And I don’t really appreciate being railroaded like this.”
“And once again, Miss Ritchi, he wouldn’t have sent me to pick you up if he didn’t want to see you. He’s been planning this not-a-date since your last conversation,” he chided her. With a particular emphasis that made it clear he didn’t buy the fake-dating thing but was willing to humor them both. Up to a point, anyway.
Now it was her turn to scoff as the doors opened and they entered the elevator. “I saw he called back, but he sure didn’t bother to leave a message.”
“Well… we can’t very well have our voices recorded leaving you friendly messages, Miss Ritchi. Not if we’re going to keep up appearances,” he reminded her.
“I guess a text was too difficult?” she snapped. “He’s never had a problem sending those before.”
“Except at the time, I wasn’t allowing him to type to give his arms time to heal.” He flexed a disguised hand in front of the two of them and commented, “And I’m afraid that the buttons on his phone are just too small for me to operate accurately. Even looking like this I don’t have the dexterity needed.”
Yeah, she’d seen him hold a phone before. His usual metal hands absolutely dwarfed the thing. She frowned at a thought and commented, “Yeah, ok. I get that. But you said that he could use his hands yesterday. What about then?”
“He was well into the planning phase by then, and I honestly don’t think that it occurred to him to contact you,” he said with a shrug. “You did offer, so he proceeded to plan.”
She shot him a quick glare and reminded him, “That I then rescinded. I’m supposed to be busy today, remember?”
He lifted an eyebrow and squinted his other eye at her as he asked skeptically, “Were you? I seem to remember finding you in your apartment barefoot and in comfy clothes.”
“I was researching,” she commented airily and shifted her bag unconsciously.
He perked up and asked brightly, “Oh? Anything interesting?”
Roxanne sighed and let herself be distracted. It wasn’t good for her to hang on to her anger, apparently. She felt her shoulders drop down from somewhere up around her ears, and admitted, “Just a bunch of dead ends. I was trying to think of another database I could search.”
The elevator dinged and opened the doors to allow them to exit. They headed towards the front door of her building with Minion positioning himself where she was between him and anyone else in the lobby. Perhaps he was afraid that his disguise would drop? She didn’t know why he thought he’d be able to hide behind her much shorter self if his watch did malfunction.
Once they put some distance between the other people in the lobby, Minion picked up the conversation and suggested, “Perhaps Sir and I could help? What are you researching? I don’t mean to brag, but we’re pretty handy with computers.” Like she’d never seen Megamind use only one hand to program a backup robot he built with spare parts when his original plan fell through.
Once they exited the building, he guided her towards the gap between her building and the next, supposedly where he parked the invisible car. As she waited for him to open a door out of thin air for her, she admitted, “I wanted to get in touch with Tara, but she vanished awhile back. I’m trying to find out what happened to her.”
She let the door stay open to let the excess heat out while Minion moved to the other side of the car. If she waited to get in at the same time as he did, then she wouldn’t have to sit on the summer-baked leather for too long before he started the car and air conditioner.
He walked around to the driver’s side and asked, “Miss Tara? The friend you went camping with?”
He dropped into the driver seat and turned off the disguise watch. She was thankful to see him instead of ‘Ben the technician.’ Mostly because she knew what Minion smelled like and not seeing him where his scent was originating from was giving her anxiety. That… that might be something new she’d have to add to the ever-increasing weirdness list…
She was about to gingerly settle herself down onto the hot leather when she had a thought. She spread her hoodie over the seat and then carefully sat on it, trying to make sure it didn’t shift under her. When she was sure she wasn’t going to get scorched, she closed her door and answered, “Yeah. Her. I started feeling bad that you guys have been my support system recently and started to wonder if she had anyone. Assuming we have the same condition, but I can’t imagine that we don’t.” She absently dug her sleep mask out of her bag and placed it over her eyes without being prompted while she continued, “I thought I’d look her up and get in touch, but she’s been missing since she left the hospital after the attack. I’ve been looking into her disappearance since I last saw you and I keep coming up empty-handed. It’s incredibly frustrating!”
“It sure sounds like it, Miss Ritchi,” Minion commiserated. “I know you’ll eventually find something, because you’re good at your job.” Roxanne’s cheeks heated up at the unexpected compliment as he continued, “But would you like Sir and I to help you search? It’s been three years, right? In that amount of time, even a virtual trail can go cold. Not to mention, we can probably search places you wouldn’t be able to gain access to.”
She moved her head to face him, even though she couldn’t see at the moment and asked, “Like hacking? Where?”
He hesitantly answered, “Ah… It’d probably be better if you don’t know the exact details about that.”
She snorted and moved to ‘look’ back out the windshield and said, “You know… I am aware that you guys aren’t the ‘Masters of Following-All-the-Rules.' If you can get into places I can’t – and you refuse to show me how – then by all means, go ahead! I can use all the help I can get on this. I’m worried and I should’ve known that she was missing sooner.” She glanced back in his direction worriedly and added, “That is… if you guys aren’t too busy? I feel like I’ve asked an awful lot from you two. You’ve fixed up my panic room, made a cage for me, are trying to make the changes easier, and you’re working on finding a cure! And now I’ve hurt Megamind and there’s still a possibility I’ve cursed him despite what the blood tests say! I don’t know why you’re still putting up with me!”
“You’re our friend, Miss Ritchi. Why wouldn’t we want to help you?” Minion asked innocently.
Just the sincerity in his voice with that question made some of the guilt she’d been holding onto vanish, and her eyes watered in relief. “Really?” she asked in a small voice, wanting and hoping that she heard correctly. It’d been years since she had friends that would help without expecting anything in return. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with that information…
“Of course!” he replied, sounding surprised that she would even ask.
She ducked her head and blingly twiddled with the fabric of her pants at her knee as she asked quietly, “Even if I cursed Megamind?”
“Even if Sir is infected, then you’re still our friend and we’ll still want to help you while we figure out the new normal,” he replied kindly.
She’d never wanted to hug an alien fish in a mechanical gorilla suit more than she did at that very moment. Knowing he was busy driving like a maniac (she wasn’t unconscious every time she was in the invisible car), she opted to lean over and laid her head against his arm instead.
“Thanks,” she whispered and really hoped he heard what she couldn’t say.
Minion gently led her through the Evil Lair while she remained blindfolded. Soon, he pulled her to a stop and announced, “You can remove your blindfold, Miss Ritchi. Sir, we’re back.”
Roxanne removed her sleep mask while Megamind answered, “Excellent, Minion. Can you see about lunch?”
“You got it, boss!” he replied cheerfully before setting down Roxanne’s bags he insisted on carrying and shuffling out the door.
Roxanne’s eyes quickly found Megamind once she blinked them clear. He was wearing his usual leather villain outfit, so his arms had to be at least slightly healed. She couldn’t imagine that skin-tight outfit would feel very good if his wounds were still tender.
She realized that the silence between them stretched longer than was normal and had started to become awkward. So, she decided she would be the one to break it. “Hey,” she began quietly. “How’re your arms?” she asked and let her gaze drift to the stained concrete floor between the two of them.
“Much better, or Minion would still be sitting on me to keep me from moving,” he joked. But she wasn’t quite ready to be flippant about it yet.
“Much better?” she repeated worriedly, her eyes snapping back up to his. It hadn’t really been that long since she scratched him. If he was healing quicker than usual…
“N-Not like that,” he quickly interrupted her spiraling thoughts. “I… in general, I tend to heal faster than humans. There are still twinges when I overextend myself if that helps put your mind at ease.”
The corner of her mouth lifted involuntarily as she replied, “It actually does. I’ve been so worried,” she admitted and finally forced herself to ask the question that would prove to her that they were ok. “Can I hug you?”
He gave her one of those soft smiles that he normally only wears when he doesn’t realize that she can see him and answered, “I’ve told you before that you don’t need permission to touch me, Roxanne.”
Her answer to that was to cross the empty space between them in just a couple strides, throw her arms around him, and squeeze him to her – spikes be damned. She could heal. His arms immediately went around her too – most likely to just keep his balance – but she didn’t care.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. His ear was right in front of her after all. No need to burst his eardrum too.
“It was an accident, Roxanne,” he stated. “You were forgiven as soon as it occurred. If one of my inventions hadn’t been malfunctioning, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
She blinked at the guilt she heard in his voice. Why?... Keeping her arms around him, she pulled her head back to look into his face. Her head tilted to the side as she asked, “Are you blaming yourself for me hurting you?”
“I’m the one at fault,” he admitted matter-of-factly. “I kidnapped you. I tied you to that chair. I suspended you several stories up above an alligator pit. And a brainbot I invented was malfunctioning. I was aware of it and hadn’t ‘gotten around’ to fixing it yet. I don’t see how any fault can lay anywhere else.”
She hugged him fully again and said, “Well, I don’t blame you either.” They stayed like that for a long moment before she finally admitted, “I thought you hated me and didn’t want to see me anymore.”
He gasped and now he pulled back to look at her in shock. “Of course not, Roxanne!” he protested. “I could never - ” his mouth clamped shut before voicing whatever the rest of that thought was.
She was a little curious about what he stopped himself from saying, but she wasn’t going to press. His reaction to her admittance was comforting though. She stepped back from him and their extended hug, ran a hand through her hair and laughed softly at herself. She shook her head, glanced at him and confessed, “I was so sure that you would never want to see me again and start kidnapping someone else. I’ve been a wreck.”
“You, Miss Ritchi, are a vital part of my schemes,” he told her haughtily, which was strangely reassuring. “I’m afraid that you’ll just have to resign yourself to being my victim of choice.” It was so stupid, but she smiled brightly at his statement.
Ehh, what the hell. She wasn’t that far away from him.
Riding high on his reassurance and the weight of most of her guilt being lifted from her, she hopped over to invade his personal bubble and gave him a quick peck on the lips. His arms flew out beside him in surprise, and she jumped back to where she started from before he could react much more than that.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” she asked more cheerfully than she’d felt since the last kidnapping. Surprisingly, he remained in the same spot where she left him for a good moment. A fact that she was greatly amused by. She loved when she could keep him off-balance. It was usually one of her main goals on kidnapping days.
Megamind blinked a few times as he came back to awareness enough to answer.
Holy shit.
He did like her! That was just a playful kiss, and it still stopped his mental processes. She’d expect that from a make-out session, but from just a small peck? That was incredibly flattering.
He cleared his throat and finally answered her. “Oh, I’m afraid it’s not much. I’ve been recovering,” he explained casually. Too casually.
She squinted at him disbelievingly. He was downplaying something. Minion had mentioned that he’d been busy planning their ‘not-a-date.’ “Uh-huh,” she replied doubtfully.
“Just the usual movie and conversation,” he continued blandly with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
She rolled her eyes and decided to play along. “That’s why you sent Minion to kidnap me?”
“At your request, I might add,” he continued for her. He stepped toward her and offered his elbow. “Roxanne? If I may?”
She grinned and gently slipped her arm through his, being careful not to rest too much weight in the area where she scratched him. He didn’t act injured when the incident first happened, so he sure wasn’t after he had a chance to heal for a while, no matter how it felt. But she didn’t want to hurt him again. “Sure. Why not? I’m already here,” she playfully teased.
He smiled brightly at her in response. Like he was still unsure on what her reaction would be and was pleasantly surprised by the results.
“This way, Roxanne,” he instructed and proceeded to lead her to a room she hadn’t seen before. And if the new lumber and unpainted drywall facing them was any indication, it hadn’t actually been here before.
“What’s this?” she asked as he reached for the door with super-shiny hinges. Yup. All new construction.
He grinned and answered, “You’ll see.” He swung the door open to reveal a room with only darkly painted walls and a black couch in the middle.
“And… what am I seeing?” she asked as she looked around. The tall, darkly painted ceilings had something up there near the recessed lighting, but they weren’t activated. Whatever they were.
“I thought we could watch a movie in here,” he said innocently and gently pulled her into the room.
“How? I don’t see a screen.”
He raised his eyebrows and asked, “Don’t you? If you’ll allow me today’s choice?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you pick is fine,” she agreed. She was more curious about what was going on than what he wanted to watch.
They settled on the couch in the center of the empty room. He hit a button on his watch, then a keyboard projected from the watch into the air in front of him. He quickly typed something with his free hand. In response, the overhead lights turned off. The room was instantly plunged into darkness, but she could still see Megamind in shades of gray next to her, furiously typing on the slightly glowing projected keyboard. He paused with a finger poised to hit a final key with a flourish and looked over at her.
He was about to say something, but then his head jerked back slightly in surprise. She frowned at that and asked, “What’s wrong?”
He lowered his hand that was hovering over the keyboard and said carefully, “I’m unsure if this is a new development, or we just haven’t noticed before.”
“What is?” she asked warily, not liking that whatever he noticed just interrupted him from unveiling his surprise. That was one of his favorite things.
He commented, “I’d suggest avoiding reporting at night unless you’re in a well-lit studio. Or perhaps wear glasses to disguise the effect.”
“What effect?” she demanded. “And I can’t wear glasses! That’s a reporter’s death sentence.”
For some reason, he pressed a button on his watch and the keyboard vanished. Then he extended a gloved hand out in front of him and held up three fingers. “Roxanne. How many fingers am I holding up?”
She rolled her eyes, getting tired of him not just telling her what he saw. “Three. Why? What’s going on?”
He pressed, “You’re sure? Even without any available light?”
“What are you talking about? There must be some leaking in. I see you right there. You just tucked your hand under your cape,” she reached out and gripped his other hand that was still partially lifted and that held the watch. “See?”
He let out a breath of air that almost sounded like it wanted to be a laugh and answered, “Actually, no. I don’t. I constructed this room to be light proof because of its primary function. The only light source currently active is from my watch face. I can’t see anything around me except the small area of my wrist where the watch is illuminating. And I have better low-light vision than typical humans. It looks like at some point you’ve developed night-vision. And the tapetum lucidum that goes with it.”
“The what?” she asked. Night-vision, she could understand. He lost her at that other part.
“Tapetum lucidum. Eye shine,” he explained simply.
“Shit,” she cursed, not really sure what else to say in response to that. The night-vision didn’t bother her, but eye-shine? “How am I supposed to get around that?” she asked rhetorically. “I can’t dictate when I can be on camera,” she complained.
“As long as you’re well-lit, it shouldn’t be an issue,” he suggested. “Perhaps you could blame a camera flare? Have you noticed any vision changes?”
“What, you mean along with the hyperactive nose, ears, and anger issues? Kinda slipped my notice. But really… when does it get dark in the city? This just means that I don’t need to turn on the lights if I get up in the middle of the night.” She firmly decided that while it was something to add to the list, it wasn’t something that she was going to worry about. As long as her lighting was good… She’d need to bribe Gabe again and keep him happy to work with her. Maybe come up with a convincing lie if she was ever called out on it.
“I’m not going to worry about it,” she declared firmly. It really was small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Then she remembered how Megamind pulled back from her when he noticed. “Does… does it bother you?” she asked worriedly and leaned away from him in case the answer was ‘yes.’ Was this the last bit of weird he could take from her?
Fortunately, he scoffed and answered, “Of course not, Roxanne. I’m just disappointed that I didn’t think to test you for vision anomalies when we were testing your hearing.”
“Good,” she stated firmly. “I’d hate to get too strange for you to tolerate,” she admitted.
Now he did laugh and said, “I think you have it the wrong way around. I’m the alien here, remember?”
He admitted it?!
While joking?
That’s got to be a first. At least around her. That conversation she had with Minion flashed through her head and made her realize what he was doing. Well…
Determined not to let him win, she teased back, “And I’m the supernatural creature here. And I can see you!” To prove her point, she reached out and gently poked him in the side nearest her.
He laughed and grabbed her hand before she could pull away. “Ah, ah, Miss Ritchi. No poking.”
“Pfft, tell that to your spikes, Mr. Supervillain,” she playfully complained. “Do you have any idea just how many times you’ve poked me with those things?”
“That’s because you’re determined to hug a supervillain. In general, that’s not a good idea. We can be touchy at the best of times,” he teased back.
She purposely scooted over to him and cuddled into his side. She liked this being able to see when he couldn’t thing. As she got comfortable, she commented, “Oh, you like it. You’ve told me so.”
“Indeed,” he agreed as she felt his arm snake around her. “Just because it’s you,” he admitted, and she smiled widely as her cheeks heated up. For the first time in a long while, she felt that everything would be alright.
He activated the keyboard from his watch again. He lifted his free hand and positioned it over the holographic keyboard, then looked over at her.
“Ready?” he asked, grinning with anticipation.
“Sure,” she answered with a shrug, not really seeing what he was so excited about. She was guessing that it was just a home theater. While cool, he was acting like he does when he unveils his newest giant robot.
His smile widened and he finally jabbed the button he’d been hovering over to start the movie. She let him dismiss the keyboard and then snuggled further into his side.
The studio’s logo showed on the wall in front of them. When it faded, they were suddenly surrounded by light. She blinked rapidly from the suddenness of it.
Then she saw.
It wasn’t just an image being projected on the wall. The image was being projected all around them. They were surrounded with tall yellowish grass. Or wheat? She was a city girl; she wasn’t actually sure. There was a 1950s model car driving across the road in front of them. It was so vivid she could almost smell the scene that holographically surrounded them.
Wait…
She looked around again and sniffed the air.
It was faint, but behind the scent of Megamind, leather, and herself, she could smell the image. There was even a hint of car exhaust as the camera zoomed in on the vehicle.
She slowly looked over at Megamind, who was watching her intently, and asked, “What did you do?”
“I made a movie theater,” he replied, nearly vibrating with the need to explain. But he was obviously enjoying her bafflement.
The main character on the screen and his captors got into a shootout with some guards and she smelled gunpowder as the shots went off.
“Why can I smell what’s happening in the movie?” she asked dazedly. She wasn’t quite sure what she thought about that. She usually tried to ignore her newly sensitive nose.
“Oh, it is working! Fantastic! All the sensors indicated it was, but I wasn’t able to detect it,” he commented without explaining further. Before she could prod again, she got distracted by the scent of old wood and dust which made her look at her surroundings again. The hologram showed them weaving their way through old wooden boxes in some type of warehouse. Suddenly, the screen stopped moving.
She looked back at Megamind who had his keyboard being projected again. “What? What is this?” she asked now that she wasn’t as distracted.
“This, Roxanne, is a fully immersive theater,” he explained. “A little tweaking of the video to get surround-image in addition to surround-sound. With gentle scents thrown in for full sensory engagement.”
“Scents that are too subtle for you to detect?” she asked, remembering what he mentioned earlier.
“Well, yes. But I didn’t make this for me,” he admitted.
She grimaced a bit and replied, “I… I don’t know how I feel about that, honestly.”
He reached out and grasped her hand that was the closest to him and said sincerely, “I know, Roxanne. Don’t be upset, but I’ve noticed how lately you’ve been bored with movies. Ones that you were excited about after reading the description. Or even ones you’re rewatching because you enjoyed it in the past. And you’ve had the same complaint. That they don’t seem real.” He waved his other hand dismissively and said, “Oh, the wording was different, and you couldn’t pin-point why, but the common denominator is that they all lacked realism. So, I found a movie you’ve been excited about but haven’t seen yet. Enhanced the visuals and, what I suspect will turn out to be the most important, added an olfactory track.”
She squinted at him and asked in disbelief, “You… you did all this so I could enjoy movies?”
“Of course,” he stated matter-of-factly. Like him making things just for her was how the universe was supposed to work. “When the movie is over, please let me know what you think. If this test is unsuccessful, I’ll just scrap the thing.”
“Oh, don’t do that!” she exclaimed, then gestured at the paused image surrounding them and added, “The surround-image is amazing!” She snuggled back into his side and admitted where he couldn’t see her face, “The scent thing is a hang-up of mine. I know it is. I’m willing to try though.”
He lifted his watch to start the movie again, but she interrupted him. She had to know, “So how did you get the scents for the movie?”
“I’ll admit, I’ve been planning something similar for a while. So I’ve amassed quite a collection of scented oils. There are dispersers located around the room and they activate the correct scent at the correct time. Minion did have to prescreen the movie and record what scents need to happen when. I’m still looking for a way to automate it without having to create an individual olfactory track for each movie,” he added a little sheepishly.
“Aww, so either Minion or you would have to watch the movie first? That’s not fair if we all wanted to watch something together,” she commented.
He gave her a squeeze and replied, “One of the reasons why I need a baseline before I can automate. If this is even worth pursuing.”
“I think it is,” she replied. Mostly because of the work he already put into it. For her. It’s not his fault that she’s not entirely comfortable with herself. And she really appreciated the work that went into his surprise for her. She’d do her best to put her discomfort about her own senses aside for a little while. “Thank you. Press play?”
He silently fiddled with his watch for a moment and the movie started up again around them. It took a few scenes, but she was eventually able to relax and enjoy herself. And now that she was aware of it, the scents did help her connect more with the action surrounding her.
Before she knew it, the end credits were rolling and she was still curled up into Megamind’s side although now her head was resting on his shoulder. To her delight, he removed the spikes about an hour into the movie. “Well?” Megamind asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
She hummed and answered, “I wasn’t a fan of the ending, but the ride getting there was fun. I did like that they brought back the love-interest from the first movie.”
“Yes. Minion did warn me that I wouldn’t like the ending, so I was prepared for there to be something.,” he replied.
She grimaced at the thought and said, “Oof, yeah. I imagine so.” She grinned mischievously since the credits had ended and he still hadn’t brought up the lights so he couldn’t see her right now. She suggested, “You should send the producer a letter stating your dissatisfaction. Go full-on supervillain with it.”
He chortled and said, “You say that like you’re joking, but I haven’t discounted the option yet. But that wasn’t entirely what I was asking about.”
Roxanne had to admit, “Besides the disappointing ending of the movie, the experience itself was breathtaking. Thank you.” She leaned over and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. Then she rested her head back on his shoulder before she could see his reaction.
He cleared his throat a couple times and said, “I’m happy that you enjoyed the experience then. I suppose I won’t scrap everything just yet.”
“Don’t you dare,” she responded playfully. Honestly, what could she do if he decided he needed a part or two for his next laser. He just hummed in answer. She glanced up at him and saw a contented smile on his face. She probably only got to see that since it was dark in here and he forgot she could see him.
“Hey, Megamind?” Roxanne began after they shared a moment cuddling on the couch in the dark room.
“Yes, Roxanne?” he answered, obviously not in a big hurry to leave.
She placed her hand over his that was resting on her side, not wanting him to withdraw when she made her point. And she was going to take advantage of this dark-vision situation. “So… I’ve been thinking about our fake-dating,” she started and tightened her grip on his hand when she felt it want to jerk away from her. “I think I’m too invested to continue to call it ‘fake,’” she finally admitted. She tilted her head so she could see his reaction.
His head snapped around to look in her general direction with wide eyes. “You… I… What?” he stuttered in surprise.
She bit her lip and clarified, “I like you, and I think you like me. The only thing that kept our fake-dates from being real was calling them fake. We’ve been dating, Megamind. I thought you should know.”
“I… you… you want to date me?” he asked disbelievingly with a gobsmacked expression on his face.
“Well… yeah,” she admitted and traced small circles on his glove that she still held captive. “I think we’ve been doing alright. When we remember to talk, anyway.”
“Why?” he asked sharply.
Now she was taken aback. Did she misread him entirely? “I… do you not want to?” she asked disappointedly and started to pull away from him. She was such an idiot. She’d thought they were ok, but there she goes glomping onto people again. Everyone hates it when she gets clingy. Maybe she could convince Minion to drive her home. It would be less awkward than staying here after this.
“No! No, I do,” he said hurriedly before she could remove herself from his side entirely. Now he held her in place and continued, “I just don’t understand why you’d want to date me?”
“We’ve been dating,” she reiterated. “I mean, I think we work together.”
“I’m a supervillain,” he stated like that would prevent her from wanting to date him.
“I’m well aware. And I’m your damsel,” she reminded him.
“I’m not even human,” he added.
“Neither am I! Not anymore,” she argued. “You’re an alien, I’m a monster, but I still think we work well together!”
“You’re not a monster, Roxanne,” he said firmly. “I’ve seen monsters. I’ve been the monster. You? You’re not a monster. And I don’t want to put you in a situation where you’ll see me be one.”
She looked away from him and said to the other side of the room, “I don’t want you to see me like that either.”
His hand blindly slid up her side, along her arm and neck until he eventually reached her chin. He gently gripped it and turned her head to face him. Even though he couldn’t see her, he knew she could see him. “I don’t. You’re not a monster.”
She lifted a hand and placed it on his cheek and said gently, “Neither are you, Megamind. I know that there’s violence inherent in becoming and staying a supervillain. But I know you. You’re not a monster either.”
Deciding to gamble a little, she used her hand on his cheek to guide him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. She held it for a moment before pulling back and asking again, “Can I call you my boyfriend?”
“I… It won’t be easy,” he said quietly.
“I’m not asking for easy. I’m asking for you,” she reiterated.
To her immense surprise, her answer was a kiss initiated by Megamind. She’d always just been excited when he touched her without her prompting. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to sink into the kiss. When he pulled back, she had to blink her eyes a couple times to remember where she was.
She bit her lip and smiled up at him as she asked, “That was a yes, then?”
He huffed a bit and pressed his forehead to hers as he answered, “I have no idea why you’d want to, but yes. As long as I also have permission.”
She smiled and let her hand drift to the back of his head. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I’d like it if you’d call me your girlfriend.”
“Unless you want to join me in my reign of evil, we’ll have to keep our relationship a secret,” he said seriously. “Otherwise, it will destroy your career.”
“I know. Doesn’t mean that I don’t want to try,” she replied just as seriously.
His reply was yet another kiss. She could get used to this.
Roxanne was just starting to wonder if the couch would be comfortable with both of them laying on it when there was a loud knock and the door swung open.
They broke their kiss but still had their arms around each other when Minion poked his head in and said, “Sir, is the movie done? Why aren’t the lights on?”
Roxanne slowly scooted away from Megamind and subtly adjusted her clothes. With the light now entering the room, she saw Megamind blush and said, “We got sidetracked. What is it, Minion?”
Minion stared them both down with a judgy eye-ridge raised. When neither of them offered an explanation, he let out a few bubbles and announced, “Lunch is ready, Sir. Miss Ritchi.”
“We’ll be right there, Minion,” Roxanne offered. He eyeballed them again, then turned to leave. She bit her lip and looked up at Megamind through her eyelashes and offered, “Oops.”
He laughed, stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and he playfully chided, “Don’t pretend that all was an accident.”
“Nope,” she agreed and leaned into his side as they walked, still holding hands. “That was entirely on purpose. Boyfriend.” She glanced at him and was delighted to see that lovely fuchsia color rise on his cheeks and ears.
He smiled softly at her and said back, “Girlfriend.” Now it was her turn to feel her cheeks heat up. She nudged his side again as they walked into the kitchen.
Megamind dropped her hand and then pulled out a chair for her at the table. She grinned and took the offered seat. He sat in the chair next to hers as Minion served them the lunch he’d been working on while they ‘discussed’ things.