It's not that Megamind isn't happy; he is; he is happy! He's with Roxanne and he's got a place now as the city's new hero and people talk to him now in public; they come up to him and say his name and shake his hand and ask him questions and—

—well, it's—it's just that it's a lot. A lot of things happening and continuing to happen, and there just aren't any pauses and it's—

It's overwhelming. And he's trying, at the same time, to wear more normal clothing, short sleeves and no gloves because he likes the feeling of Roxanne touching his skin. He loves that feeling; it's the best feeling, but…

...but without his gloves and his long sleeves, and with-so much stress happening all the time, it's unfortunately easy to fall into old habits.

Bad old habits. Old habits he's terribly ashamed of, and when Roxanne sees the teeth marks on his hands and wrists, and asks softly—

"Megamind, what's this?"

He feels a hot, sick rush of shame and his stomach twists and he squeezes his eyes shut, not able to face Roxanne.

(broken broken broken broken he's broken and to his horror he realizes he's actually biting his fingers right now in front of Roxanne and—)

He pulls his fingers from his mouth and opens his eyes, digging his fingers into his own thighs hard to stop himself from bringing them back up to his mouth.

He still can't bring himself to meet Roxanne's eyes; he focuses on a spot somewhere over her shoulder, feeling his eyes fill with tears.

She's going to leave him; she knows what a freak he is; she's—

"Hey," she says, voice gentle, "hey, sweetheart; Megamind—"

"—sorry," he gasps out, tears falling, "sorry sorry; things just—sometimes it—too much—"

"—oh," Roxanne says, in a tone that says she's just realized something.

(that he's a freak, that he's broken, that he's—)

"It's okay, baby," she says, "it's okay; I get it; you don't have to apologize."

Megamind looks at her expression, then: sympathy, not-not pity, and understanding and love and he has to close his eyes again.

"I get it," she says again, voice reassuring, "it's okay," and Megamind gasps and gasps with relief.

They talk about it, after he calms down, and-and she does get it. She nods in complete comprehension when he explains about stress and crowds and why he wore gloves, before.

And when he's finished telling her, she tells him again that it's okay, that she loves him and that he's not broken or freakish at all.

He figures out ways around it, with Roxanne.

They come up with silent signals for when he's getting overwhelmed and needs her help getting out of a situation. He wears long sleeves and jackets and she slips her hands beneath his sleeves so he's still able to feel her touching him. She paints his nails for him, which looks really cool and also tastes weird when he bites his fingertips, helping to remind him to stop.

And one day, she brings him a present that she said she had made special for him.

"It's a necklace," she says, when he opens the gift.

She pulls it from the box and holds it up for him to see.

It's a blue pendant on a black cord; the pendant is shaped like—

"It's shaped like the b.i.n.k.y. that powers your gun, see?" Roxanne says. "And it's-for biting; it's designed so that you can chew on it."

Megamind's lip part in shock.

"—you want to try it on?" Roxanne asks, watching his expression.

"—please," he says, and bends his head for her.

She smiles, quick and bright, and settles the necklace around his neck. Megamind straightens up and pulls the pendant away from his chest to look at it.

It looks really neat, and the texture of it is incredibly pleasing. The shape, too, is perfect; he can hook his fingers through the hole in the pendant or hold the end of it between his thumb and forefinger and twirl it.

Megamind brings the pendant up to his mouth and glances quickly at Roxanne, who smiles at him and nods eagerly.

He bites the pendant; the texture is even better this way-it's firm, yet yielding; it doesn't hurt his teeth and he isn't worried that he's going to bite through the pendant.

"You like it?" Roxanne asks, still watching him with anticipation in her expression.

Megamind takes the pendant from his mouth and wraps his arms tightly around Roxanne, hugging her close.

"It's perfect," he says, voice muffled because of the way he has his face pressed to the curve where her neck and her shoulder meet.

She squeezes him a little tighter.

"You're perfect," Roxanne tells him.