Disclaimer: Schooley and McCorkle created them, Disney owns them, I'm just (not-so-secretly) borrowing them.

Ron sat on top of one of the tables outside Bueno Nacho, his feet resting on the bench and his head in his hands. He stared into the darkened restaurant and sighed. His favorite fast food joint would be closed for at least the next couple of weeks for repairs. And it's all my fault, he thought glumly.

He shivered a little. In spite of the havoc he and Kim had just wreaked on Bueno Nacho, Ned had been good enough to loan him a uniform so that he wouldn't be stuck greeting the police in nothing but his boxers, but it didn't offer much protection against the bite of the fall air.

Dementor had already been carted off, and Ned and most of the cops had left as well. Only Officer Hobble remained, and Kim was just finishing up with him.

"Well, I think that covers everything, Miss Possible," the officer said as he flipped his notepad shut. "We'll, uh, try to get that supersuit o' yours back to you tomorrow."

"Please and thank you," Kim replied as Hobble climbed into his car. Ron thought she sounded tired—though he doubted that Hobble or anyone else would notice; she hid it well.

As the police car pulled away, finally leaving them alone, Kim walked over quietly and climbed up to sit next to him on the table. She didn't look at him or say anything, just joined him in staring straight ahead at the damaged restaurant.

Ron looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "You're still mad, aren't you?"

Kim sighed, but still didn't look at him. "More hurt than mad at this point, actually."

He turned then, his eyes raking worriedly over her in search of injury. If I hurt her, I'll never forgive myself, he thought guiltily. But then he saw the expression on her face and realized—oh, that kind of hurt. And then he felt even worse.

Kim spoke again before he could think of anything to say. "Even leaving aside the cheating and the lying and the stealing—"

"Secret borr—" Ron started to interrupt, but a glare from Kim shut him up.

"Even leaving aside those things," she continued, "there's still the fact that you honestly believed I would listen to Bonnie and ditch you for a jock." She paused, looking away from him again. "Ron, do you really think I'm that shallow?"

Ron coughed. "Um, is this one of those trick girl questions that gets you in trouble no matter how you answer?"

The only response he received was another glare—which didn't really answer his question, but he thought it would be safer not to point that out. Instead, he took a deep breath and dove in. "No, Kim, I don't think you're 'shallow'..."

She stared at him. "I sense a 'but.'"

"But... I do know you have a type, and let's face it: I'm not it."

She crossed her arms. "And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Well, let's look at all the guys you've ever crushed on," he said, holding out a hand and ticking off the names on his fingers. "Walter Nelson, Josh Mankey, Hirotaka, Bobby Johnson..." He trailed off; there was one more name on the tip of his tongue, but by unspoken agreement, neither of them had said it since prom night—and he decided that he wasn't brave enough to be the one to break that truce, at least not tonight. He shrugged and continued: "Not all jocks, sure, but all, well... pretty boys."

"You left someone off."

He looked at her, surprised. "I didn't think you'd want me to bring 'him' up."

"Not Eric," she said, and Ron's eyes widened even further at hearing the forbidden name spoken with such dismissive ease. "I meant you, Ron."

He looked down at his hands. "You don't have to say that, KP."

Kim growled, "I'm not lying, Ronald." He flinched and her tone quickly softened. "Is it really that hard to believe I had a crush on you?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Well, yeah, I mean come on, KP. You never acted around me the way you did around those other guys. And you know, if you lined all of us up, well—'one of these things is not like the other ones,'" he sing-songed.

Kim stared at him for a moment, sighed and then leaned back so that she was lying on the table. Ron blinked at her in confusion before she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down beside her. He looked at her, but she was staring up at the stars, so he turned his eyes skyward as well. The cloudless night sky was beautiful, but he found himself distracted by the feeling of her right arm brushing lightly against his left. He wanted to stretch out his fingers and lace them through hers—a gesture that had become comfortably familiar in the last few months—but somehow he didn't feel he had the right to just now.

"Ron, you liked me liked me before prom night, right?" she finally asked, looking over at him. "I mean, you didn't just all of a sudden start feeling that way right there in the Bueno Nacho store room, did you?"

"Yes. I mean no." He shook his head, then tried again, slowly. "Yes, I uh, felt that way about you before prom."

"But you didn't really act around me the way you did around Amelia, or Zita, or even Yori, either."

"Um, no, I guess not."

She turned her gaze skyward once more and nodded. She waited a few beats, then spoke again. "See, Ron, I learned something about crushes this year."

"What?"

"That there's more than one kind."

Ron wrinkled his brow. "Meaning?"

Kim blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Meaning... well, there's the first kind of crush, the kind that I always had before. You know, the kind that basically starts with seeing someone and thinking, well, that they're a hottie. And then because you like how they look, you try to find out more about them, to get to know them better—and maybe you find out that you really like them on the inside, too... or maybe you find out that you don't really like them, or even that you just don't click even though there's not really anything wrong with them, and eventually the crush just sort of... fades."

Ron nodded. "And the second kind?"

"The second kind of crush starts with someone who you already know, inside and out. Someone that you already love—even if it's not in a romantic way—because you know how sweet and funny and loyal they are. You know because they're the kind of person who would spend all their money to buy you a silly jacket you wanted, or go after a villain on their own so you could spend Christmas Eve with your family, or go all the way to the Amazon to keep you from disappearing forever and not say anything when you stupidly risk your life to go on a date.

"So you already know how great this person is, even if a lot of times you take it for granted... and then one day you just find yourself looking at them differently somehow. All of a sudden you start to notice little things you never noticed before, like how happy it makes you feel when he smiles, or how cute his ears are..."

Ron grinned. He understood now. "Or how shiny her hair is, or the cute way she tilts her head when she's thinking about something."

Kim giggled. "Yeah. Like that." She reached over and threaded her fingers through his, giving his hand a squeeze. They both sighed happily and continued their night sky vigil.

They stayed like that for several minutes before Ron stirred again. One question had been put to rest, but it had opened the gate to so many more, and as contented as he felt just lying there next to Kim, he needed to ask. "So... when did you start to, um, see me that way?"

Kim pursed her lips. "It's kind of hard to pinpoint, Ron."

He hesitated before plowing on. "Maybe the Moodulator...?" Wow, that made two "forbidden" topics they'd broached in one night. And this time he'd been the one to bring it up—even though it scared him even more than the other one. Because if Kim had started liking him during the Moodulator sitch, then maybe none of this was real. The prom, the kiss, the best summer of his life, and all the things that she had just said... could all just be a side effect of that stupid chip.

But, "No," Kim said confidently. "It started before the Moodulator. Though that sitch did make me finally start to realize what those feelings meant."

"You're sure?" Ron asked. "I mean, what if—"

"Ron, I'm sure." She squeezed his hand and turned her head to look at him directly. "You remember when Drakken overloaded the controls and the setting got stuck on 'anger'?"

He nodded. Oh yeah, hard to forget that.

"I didn't just go on some blind rampage, right? I came after you, because I was already angry at you. The Moodulator didn't create emotions—it just amplified them."

Ron stared back at her quietly. What she said made sense; he had entertained the idea himself in his more hopeful moments. And the confidence shining in Kim's eyes and resonating in her voice told him that she was sure of what she was saying. But if that was true, why hadn't she said anything? Well, there had been that confusing comment about fireworks, but then the real fireworks had started, and she hadn't said anything else, so he'd just thought...

"Anyway, I know I was crushing on you before that; it just took me a while to realize it because, like I said, it wasn't the kind of crush that I was used to. But between the Moodulator incident and the whole Yori sitch—"

"Wait, Yori?" Ron interrupted her, his eyes widening. "You mean you really were jealing about Yori?"

"Of course I was, Ron!" Kim replied, exasperation creeping into her voice.

"But you kept insisting that you weren't!"

"Yeah," she said matter-of-factly, as if that one word ought to explain the whole situation perfectly.

Ron shook his head, remembering what she'd said to him after the "Yori sitch": You really don't understand girls, do you?

No Kim, he thought now, I really don't.

But as he recalled that moment, he found himself remembering something that had only fluttered at the edge of his consciousness then—something just a little off about the way she'd said it... almost like she was talking about herself instead of Yori...

Could she have been trying to tell him something?

He shook his head again. "You know I'm not good at picking up stuff like that, KP."

"Yeah, I know," she said with a small smile.

"So why didn't you ever just... you know, say something?"

Her smile faltered. "Well... why did you break up with me in the middle of the Moodulator sitch?"

Ron ran a hand down the front of his borrowed shirt, smoothing the cheap polyester. He wished he could say that of course it was because he knew even before Bortel showed up that something wasn't right. But he couldn't. He should have been able to tell that his best friend wasn't herself—deep down he probably had—but he'd been blinded all too easily by the thrill of a kiss... and then, as that thrill had faded, by the fear of what might follow it.

So he told her the truth. "Because I was afraid of ruining our friendship."

Kim nodded again. "That was part of it for me, too."

He wanted to ask her what the other parts were, but somehow another question shoved its way to the front of the line instead. "And Eric?"

Kim flinched a little, but at the same time she seemed almost like she had expected the question—even though it had caught him by surprise. She drew in a deep breath and released it with a shaky sigh. "Falling for Eric felt... safe. It was going back to that first kind of crush that I was used to and knew how to deal with. I mean, as much as crushing like that used to turn me into a nervous wreck, now, in comparison... If Eric didn't like me back, or if we broke up down the road, it was really no big in the grand scheme of things.

"But liking you... felt deeper and more dangerous than anything I'd ever felt before, like if I took one step forward, everything I knew would change and there'd be no going back, and..." She took another deep breath, then softly confessed, "That scared me. So when Eric came along, I took the distraction and ran."

Ron was quiet. He understood what she meant—he understood exactly what she meant. And yet he still couldn't seem to stop himself from feeling just a twinge of hurt at hearing her say that liking him had scared her.

As if sensing this, Kim squeezed his hand again and said, "I'm sorry, Ron."

"That's okay, KP," he said, surprised at how quiet his voice sounded. "I know what you mean. I felt the same way."

"But you didn't run, Ron. You stayed. You had my back—like you always have." She sat up again, pulling Ron up with her. "That's the other thing I learned this year."

"What?"

"That Joss was right about you."

Ron's brow furrowed. "Joss?"

Kim just nodded. "Remember what she said about you being the real hero? Ron, people think I'm so brave because of all the world-saving stuff, but the truth is, it's easy for me to do all those things because they don't scare me. But when it comes to the things that really do scare me, like telling my best friend that I think I like him... I've always been a total coward."

Ron opened his mouth to object, but Kim stopped him with a finger placed against his lips and a look that said, 'Just hear me out.'

"But you, Ron—you do things even though they scare you. Ever since the first day I met you, when you stood up to those bullies in Pre-K, you've been the bravest person I've ever known. And seeing you be brave in spite of your fears is what has always given me the courage to face my own. When you spoke up back in that Bueno Nacho store room, you didn't just give me the courage to go back out there and face Drakken and Shego and... Eric. You gave me the courage to face how I felt about you. That's what makes you a hero, Ron, just like Joss said. My hero. And that's why you're the perfect guy for me."

She grinned before adding, "Well, that and the cute ears." And with that, she grabbed said ears and pulled him in for a kiss.

As they parted, Ron sighed, light-headed and happy. "Thanks, KP." He didn't need to elaborate. Her 'You're welcome' was a quick kiss to his cheek.

"Well, we should probably get home now," she said, standing up from the table.

"Yeah," Ron said, following her lead. "Before your dad starts planning a manned mission to the nearest black hole." Kim giggled.

Still holding hands, they began the walk home. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Kim looked at him, her head tilted to one side. "Okay, Ron, I can just about hear the wheels turning. What are you thinking about?"

He started to say 'Nothing,' but there was a warning in her gaze that stopped him. Keeping his worries to himself was what had gotten them into this sitch. "Oh, I was just wondering how I'm going to explain to Barkin what happened to my uniform." He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "Not to mention what I'm going to do about the game next Friday."

Kim squeezed his hand. "Just go out there and do your best, Ron. And no matter what happens, I'll be right there cheering you on."

Ron smiled. "That's good, because Kim?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm only brave because of you."

The End

A/N: So... a little longer and maybe a bit of a different tone than my usual stories, right? Let me know what you thought—reviews are always greatly appreciated!