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It was a scenario that Ron had been through countless times and would no doubt revisit countless more: him and Kim, with Rufus in tow, riding home from a mission at some crazy hour through the generosity of someone they'd helped in the past. The vehicle of the evening was a big semi truck, rumbling along a near-deserted highway while Ron looked absently out the window and wondered if it would be worth it to get a few minutes of shut-eye.
Those idle thoughts were interrupted by a series of computerized metallic clanking noises overlaid over video game music, and he turned to see Kim leaning back and messing with something on her handheld Kimmunicator. Now that he was paying attention, he recognized the sound effects and virtual fanfares that had previously been more-or-less drowned out by the truck's radio.
"Did you switch out the swanky new Kimmunicator for the old model just so you could play Everlot?" he asked.
Kim startled in her seat and held the device closer to herself, as if protecting it. "No!"
Ron gave the screen a pointed look. "You are literally playing Everlot right now."
Kim rolled her eyes, but he didn't miss the tiny playful smirk on her face. "I'm serious," she said. "Wade would kill me if I downgraded his tech just for personal reasons, but he needed the watch Kimmunicator for a bit to make some adjustments."
She leaned back into her seat and glanced back down at the screen. "The fact that the original model is big enough to play browser games is just a bonus."
Ron watched her for a moment as she returned her attention to her game. It was a hobby she'd begun dabbling in a bit after the incident at Zombiepalooza, but she hadn't really paid much attention to videogameage until they'd started dating and subsequently looking for new ways to spend time together. He'd always suspected that part of her prior aversion to video games had come from some kind of misplaced peer pressure, and just a year or two ago, he would have fully expected her to play off her newfound obsession with Everlot even if she'd let it suck her in in the first place.
It was one of those little things that reminded him that he and Kim were growing up, and that one of the ways she was growing was by learning to relax. And the thought that he had a part – however small – in helping her cut loose kind of thrilled him.
Kim caught him looking at her and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Ron blinked. "I could kiss you so much right now."
Kim blushed and ran her fingers through her hair, but her gaze flicked uneasily to the truck driver sitting at her other side. "Maybe save it for midnight, brave squire," she muttered, half lightly teasing and half awkward. "We're not the only ones here."
The truck driver chuckled at the exchange. "Aw, don't worry too much about me," she said. "I remember what it was like being your age, I don't mind a little flirting so long as you don't get carried away."
Kim turned her full attention to the woman. "Thanks again for the lift, Miss Riley. It means a lot to us to be getting help like this on a holiday."
Miss Riley grinned. "Are you kidding? This makes for a much more interestin' New Years Eve than plain old cargo hauling. I would've volunteered even if you hadn't helped out this old rig last summer!"
Ron chewed his lip at the reminder of the holiday. He'd really been looking forward to ringing in the new year with Kim, and while he supposed he'd technically gotten his wish, taking a long ride back from busting yet another one of Drakken's whack schemes hadn't been exactly what he had in mind. They'd been driving for a couple hours now, and while they'd be switching to a Global Justice jet shortly after hitting Illinois, it would still take a while to get back home.
Ron glanced over at the time on the dashboard and was dismayed to find that it was already well past eleven. It wasn't like he didn't know how long these rides could take, especially when they couldn't manage a flight the whole way, but it still tanked to confirm that they wouldn't make it back by –
Ron's thought process screeched to a halt when Kim suddenly leaned up comfortably against him. She was still playing her game, and in the limited space of the truck cab she couldn't exactly cuddle up with him, but she was close and warm and the sweet little smile she gave him as she made herself comfortable made his heart rate pick up.
Hmm. Okay, this was… This was very nice. Kim had her head resting just slightly against his, and really it wasn't that late for them because of time zones, so maybe he could just… nap or something like this for a little bit and that would be enough. Maybe.
Except, well, the truck driver did say she was cool with them flirting. He glanced over at her – relaxed, focused on the road – and then back at the dashboard clock and –
Oh, wow. Already past 11:50. How long had he been zoned out just enjoying the presence of his amazing wonderful girlfriend? Well, if he only had a few minutes left…
Ron did his best to look down at Kim without dislodging her. "Uh, KP? You know what you said earlier about midnight?"
Kim leaned her head back to meet his gaze. "Hmm? Oh!" She turned to look at the time. "Oh, wow."
Her precious snuggly warmth left his side as she sat upright and quickly logged off her game. "I did not realize it was this late here already. Stupid time zones."
She stored the Kimmunicator and faced him again with an impish smile on her face. "So, I take it you aren't just planning a countdown."
Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you were the one to bring it up." While that was obviously not a lie, he chose not to add that he had in fact been looking forward to the whole kissing-at-midnight tradition since long before she had alluded to it.
"And anyway, the kissing thing sounds way more fun than eating a bunch of grapes at midnight. Plus we don't have any grapes."
Kim snickered. "You know, part of me was looking forward to watching the tweebs try that, in a slightly horrified way. Tim is not as graceful with food as he is with computers, but I want to see what would happen if only one of them manages it."
Ron cracked a smile at that mental image, but then he looked around the cab a little awkwardly. This would be way more romantic if they weren't in a truck driving down some random highway.
"So, uh, should we find some seconds timer thingy on the Kimmunicator to count down, or–"
"Welcome to Illinois!" Miss Riley suddenly belted out, jolting both teens out of the moment. With a distinct air of gravitas, she reached over with one hand and clicked a button on the dashboard that changed the clock from 11:58 to 10:58. Welcome to the Central Time Zone too, apparently.
Ron stared at the clock for a moment. "...Well that just happened."
Miss Riley chuckled. "Sorry to spoil your fun, kids, but I'm sure you'll have a better countdown wherever you're going next than you would have in some old semi anyway. Consider this my way of giving you more time to plan your little countdown fun."
After a moment, Kim laughed a little as well. "Yeah, maybe. If you'd been just a few minutes slower, we could have had two midnights, but I guess that's kind of cheating."
Her brows furrowed in thought for a moment, and then she added, "Actually, the GJ jets move pretty fast. We'll probably still get two midnights."
Miss Riley snorted good-naturedly. "Yeah, I think three sets of New Year kisses would have gone well into cheating territory. In that case, you should be thanking me for keeping that boy of yours from getting a swollen head."
Ron did not have a contribution to the conversation. He was too busy paying his respects to the too-late-envisioned dream of getting no less than three New Year kisses in one night.
It wasn't much later before Team Possible hit the rendezvous point where they could be picked up by a Global Justice jet. The pilot was somewhat familiar to Ron – apparently he was not very fond of a certain Will Du, and often volunteered for these things as a sort of thank you to the team for knocking the guy down a couple pegs.
"I wish we didn't have to drag this many people out on a holiday," Kim said with a grimace as she and Ron buckled themselves in. "Are New Years gifts a thing? Because I have got to get Wade something special as a thank-you for finding us this many willing rides."
Ron nodded as he checked his pocket to make sure a sleeping Rufus was still comfortable and secure. "You know, when you got the flying rocket car, I'd kind of figured we wouldn't need to worry about rides anymore."
"That's because you don't have to track fuel expenses for a flying rocket car," Kim said wryly. After a moment though, she sighed.
"Still, if it hadn't broken down at the worst time, this would have definitely been a Sloth mission."
The conversation drifted naturally as they traveled, to school and New Year's resolutions and how much they both missed those several months after Junior Prom where everyone was either too reluctant or too heavily incarcerated to break Drakken out of prison.
"I don't know," Kim said, eyeing Ron skeptically as she settled in. "I really don't see how us making a resolution is supposed to stop the supervillains from breaking out and doing their thing."
"Think about it, KP. Last year, Drakken bonds with me over the underappreciated glory that is Snowman Hank and next thing we know he's calling a holiday truce – and Shego honors it! Then, Junior Prom happens and you and I get together, and that summer is just super nice and quiet and mostly villain-free."
Kim raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, but that second one is still only because Drakken actually had to stay in prison for a while and he's by far our most active foe."
Ron raised a dramatic finger, flinging warm water everywhere and ignoring the metallic clink of his armor. "Ah, but why did he go so long without being busted out?"
"We already went over that."
"But what if that wasn't the only reason?" Ron turned to Rufus, who was lounging next to him in the hot tub while wearing a tiny squire's outfit. "Back me up, buddy. You think the other supervillains stayed away from Drakken not only because he's annoying but also to give us a break, right?"
Something in what he was seeing gave him pause, though. "Wait a minute." He looked around the jet, at the hot tub, at his and Rufus' outfits, at the miniature New Year's ball thing spinning slowly near the back as it waited for the right time to drop.
Ron eyed Kim with a contemplative frown. "Where's your Everlot gear?"
Kim blinked and glanced down at the mission gear she was wearing – the old-school gear, not even her current duds. "Oh, I found a spare set of this in the back of my closet. I guess I just wanted to wear it again for old times' sake."
"Huh." Ron nodded. That checked out.
Kim leaned forward, water rippling around her. "Back to the point. Let's say you're right about the supervillains going out of their way to give us a break last summer. What makes you think they would do that again just because we make New Year's resolutions to avoid overworking ourselves? I mean, it's practically half the tradition to fail at resolutions within the first couple weeks."
Ron grimaced. He hadn't thought about that.
However, Kim didn't seem particularly deterred by the holes she herself had poked in his argument. She started giving him that cute little coy look that he was pretty sure he'd never seen her give any of her previous boyfriends, the one that made his heart do little flippy-floppies.
"Actually," she said, "I think your other idea for New Year's Eve would help us out better there. You know the point of kissing at midnight is to have good luck in love for all the next year, right?"
Ron blushed and glanced away, his stomach tying itself in a little knot for just a moment before he shook it off. "Well… yeah. Why did you think I wanted to try it?"
Kim nodded. "Right. And we make, like, the best team. Even more so now that we're together. So instead of relying on the bad guys to lay off and make our lives easier, I think we should take advantage of the time zone changes and have multiple New Year's kisses, for aaaalll the luck. Then we'll be unstoppable."
Ron swallowed thickly. He hadn't seen Kim move from her spot, but he could have sworn she was closer to him than she had been five seconds ago. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and her coy expression suddenly turned serious.
"I have to warn you, though. Too much luck might have unintended consequences, or at least not what we intend right now. We might end up getting married or something. New Year's rules and whatnot."
Ron cracked a smile at the mental image. "I dunno, that actually sounds like it would be kind of –"
His thought was abruptly cut off by the sudden jolt of someone shaking his shoulder, accompanied by the hiss of Kim's voice loudly whispering his name in his ear. Ron's surroundings fractured and faded, and he opened his eyes to find himself sitting kind of awkwardly in the seat of a Global Justice jet severely lacking in hot tubs or miniature New Year's balls. Kim was leaning over him a little, but she removed her hand from his shoulder and backed off when she saw that he'd woken up. She had a slightly guilty look on her face.
Ron looked around the cabin of the jet, still groggy. "Wherza midnight kiss?"
Kim winced sympathetically. "You must be looking forward to that if you're dreaming about it," she remarked with a low sigh. "Well, I have good news and bad news."
Ron groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Oh, don't tell me I fell asleep and missed it!"
Kim nodded. "We both did, or else I would have woken you up in time for the countdown. I consider myself lucky that I managed to wake up before we got home."
She offered him a wan smile. "But remember that good news I mentioned? I just checked and we're making really good time, so we should be back home in plenty of time for midnight in our own time zone!"
Ron froze for a moment, before looking up at her with a horror-stricken face. "Why would you say that?! You just jinxed it!"
Kim frowned. "Oh come on, it's a simple fact and a completely natural thing to mention. There's no way I –"
The familiar four-tone ring of the Kimmunicator cut her off then, and it was her turn to freeze. After a second, she retrieved the device, turned it on, and begged, "Please tell me this isn't a new sitch."
Wade winced apologetically from the other end of the screen. "Sorry, wish I could. On the upside, the robbery you're getting called in for is right here in Middleton."
Silence. Kim looked over at Ron. Ron looked back at her. Wade, confused, looked at both of them and asked, "Guys?"
Finally, Kim spoke. "Oh my God I actually jinxed it."
As it turned out, the Middleton Museum had recently set up a temporary exhibit on clockwork and timekeeping. As it also turned out, one of the pieces currently displayed there had a bit of a conspiracy theory surrounding it.
"So, let me get this straight," Kim said, rubbing her temples. "You think that resetting a fancy clock… at a specific time… will give you superpowers."
The wannabe supervillain scowled and held the intricate and priceless table clock he'd swiped closer to himself. "Of course not!" he snapped. "The Galaxy Clock does not grant powers, it is the source of the power. When I have unleashed its full potential, I will be the master of time!"
Yeah, this guy was clearly not setting himself up to be as much of a recurring problem as he thought. Ron scowled at the… clockwork robot thing the man was huddled behind, which was pretty much the only reason Kim hadn't taken him out already. Her first attempt to take it on had gotten her thrown only inches away from displays full of unique museum pieces, and now she warily circled the thing and its master as she looked for a less destructive way to get through.
The thief – he'd gone and dubbed himself "Father Time" because of course he had – gave her as intimidating a glare as he could manage while still cowering behind his robot and held the galactic whatever close to his chest. "Not much longer now," he muttered, seemingly half to himself. "It was a shame I couldn't reach it back for the turn of the millennium, but the dawn of a new year still has plenty of liminal chronal energy to unleash the Galaxy Clock's true potential. All my perfect mechanical minion needs to do is hold you off until midnight and then the power of time and space will literally be in the palm of my hands!"
Ron's eyebrow twitched. While he supposed that all his run-ins with Mystical Monkey Power and whatnot meant he couldn't entirely rule out that this guy's conspiracy was legit, he was fairly certain that, in this case, all this stuff about "liminal chronal energies" and the clock having power over them was completely made up. Even so, he was absolutely not about to wait until he'd missed midnight again to test that theory.
"Rufus?" he asked, too softly for Father Time to notice past all his own ranting. "Let's show this guy how to really rework a clock."
The mole rat in question hopped out of Ron's pocket and smacked a tiny fist against his other paw. He scampered off toward the robot while it was busy watching Kim, and after giving the little guy a moment, Ron stepped forward.
"Hey, tinface!" he called out to the robot. "You want some of this?"
He could just see the baffled look on Kim's face from the corner of his eye as he charged the clockwork thing full-tilt. It turned to face him with a mechanical grumble, raised pistoned arms to grab him –
– and overbalanced itself when Ron dropped into a slide just in time to duck under said arms. It creaked ominously as it tipped over, almost in slow motion, and then finally toppled to the ground with a lot more clattering than even a robot of that kind should probably warrant.
There was a quiet moment as everyone stared at the now motionless robot, and then Rufus popped out of its metal frame with a few small gears and other carefully selected bits clutched triumphantly in his jaws.
While Father Time was still staring wordlessly, Kim stomped over and snatched the Galaxy Clock out of his loosened grip.
"This is going back where it belongs," she snapped when he looked over at her, then her teammates, in a far less confident fashion than he had moments ago. "And you are going to be starting off the New Year in jail. Congratulations."
When the museum security had been assured that their would-be supervillain and his mechanical minion were no longer threats, and had taken over the job of marching off the former and trying to dispose of the latter, Kim turned to Ron with an impressed smirk. "Well that was bold. Not to mention efficient. You really don't want to miss the countdown, do you?"
Ron grunted. "I mean, the dude called himself 'Father Time.' He couldn't have been that hard to deal with. But also, no, I do not."
Kim sighed. "Yeah, I hear you. I have a good feeling he needed some help with that robot thing, but I think that mystery can wait till tomorrow. Ready to head home?"
For the first time since this whole dumb clock mission was called in, Ron's annoyed scowl gave way to a grin. "Do you even have to ask?"
Fortunately, the police who arrived on the scene were more than happy to give Kim and Ron a ride back to the former's house. Before the Drakken mission back he-didn't-want-to-think how long ago, they'd been just about to start a New Year's Eve get together there with the rest of her family as well as Ron's mom (his dad had opted to stay home with a too-young Hana and turn in early with her).
Kim had already called up the small party to let them know that they were finally on their way over, and Rufus was perched on Ron's shoulder, wide awake now that he'd been more or less the star player of the latest mission. Ron drummed his fingers on his legs and watched Middleton pass by out the window of the patrol car, pointedly avoiding looking at its dashboard clock. It had gotten dangerously close to midnight since their latest diversion, and he got the vibe that the officer driving them home wouldn't be quite as chill about impromptu midnight kisses as Miss Riley would have been. Not that he would do anything about it, but making things all awkward would just ruin the mood.
Finally, finally, Kim's house came into view. Ron could tell she was getting as jazzed about this as he was, and when the car parked, she actually grabbed his hand to drag him out as she threw back one last thanks for the ride home.
The front door opened even as the two teens approached, Jim bolting out to greet them while both of their mothers followed at a more leisurely pace.
"You guys missed it!" Jim shouted with that slightly evil grin the tweebs got when they were proud of something. "Tim totally flubbed the grape challenge, and now there's grapes all over the living room. You should have seen it!"
"Hey, that challenge is harder than it looks!" Tim called out from somewhere within the house.
Jim cackled back. "Then why was I able to get it on the first try?"
Kim waved the hand not clutched to Ron's in a hang-on gesture. "Woah, wait, hold up. Why did you guys do that already? Officer Gorman's clock just said we've got a few minutes left till midnight!"
Mrs. Dr. Possible frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry honey, but his clock must be a little slow. It's 12:02 by now."
Ron froze in place when he heard that. He was dimly aware of Kim groaning in defeat and gently pulling her hand from his, but he didn't react when she gave him a consolatory peck on the cheek and said, "Sorry Ron, maybe next year."
His own mom stepped forward. "We still have plenty of time to celebrate the new year," she offered. "Why don't you kids come in and have some sparkling cider? I think they're still showing the end of the ball drop on TV."
Ron finally managed a mechanical nod, but Kim eyed him worriedly. She turned toward the others and said, "Why don't you guys go on in? We'll join you in a sec."
Once the two of them were alone – Rufus having scampered in after the others – Kim walked around to face Ron fully and placed her hands gently on his shoulders. "Hey, you okay? I know you were really looking forward to the whole midnight kiss tradition, but we can still enjoy the rest of the night and then have a special New Year's Day date tomorrow. Your pick what we do. Would that help?"
Ron groaned and rubbed his eyes. "I dunno… A little, maybe? But it won't be the same."
He swallowed thickly and cast his gaze around, trying to piece his thoughts together into coherent words. "It… This is our first New Year's Eve as a couple, Kim. It was supposed to be special."
"And it still can be," she gently insisted. "There's still plenty we can do, we just have to wait until next year for that one specific tradition."
"But what if we don't have next year?"
Kim drew back, surprised. "What do you mean?"
Ron spread his arms in a helpless gesture. "I mean so much has changed this year… or last year, I guess. And most of it was good, really good, but what if it doesn't all last? I mean, we're seniors, we'll be doing who knows what a year from now, and… And what if that doesn't include there being an 'us' anymore?"
Kim's expression fell, and she raised one hand to cup his cheek. "Oh, Ron…"
Ron leaned a little into her touch, even as he let out a low sigh. "I don't want to lose you, Kim. I don't want to lose what we have right now. And I just thought a little 'love luck' might help with that." He shrugged. "And, well, even if it doesn't, it still would have made for a special memory. But now…"
Kim was silent as he trailed off. She chewed her lip thoughtfully for several moments, and then finally took a deep breath.
"Wait here," she said. "I just might have an idea."
Ron raised an intrigued eyebrow when she headed inside the house, but he didn't move other than to shuffle onto the entry porch to get out of the winter wind.
After only a few moments, Kim stepped back outside with a devious smile on her face and her car keys dangling triumphantly from one hand.
"Leave it to the tweebs to get bored and start tinkering on a holiday where they get to stay up late," she said. "They finished with the car about an hour ago, and with its speed, we still have some time to celebrate with our fams before heading out."
Ron stared at the keys in her hand for a moment. Blinked. Looked back into her deep green eyes. Blinked again. "Wait, are you seriously saying you're willing to fly us all the way –"
"To the Pacific Time Zone? Yes," Kim replied. "After the ridiculous night we've had, I think we've both earned a small adventure on our own terms."
Before Ron could formulate a proper response to that, she drew forward and pulled him into a deep kiss that was warm and sweet and far too short. Her eyes twinkled when she broke off and smiled at him.
"I know it's not exactly a midnight kiss, but hopefully that will tide you over for the next hour."
Ron could only respond with a vague but very contented affirming hum, and he gladly followed her back inside to hang out with the others. It just went to show him that no matter how much they grew or changed, some of the best things would always be the same.
And one of them was that Kim Possible was anything but forgettable.