Tales of the Afterward
By S-Chrome

9:28:29 AM, The next day. Whenever that was.

It had been less than 12 hours since the unbelievable had occurred. Ron Stoppable would kick himself if he had awoken to find out that what had transpired between he and Kim was a figment of an overactive dream sequence. He would probably do more than kick himself, though. He'd probably give his pillow a knockout blow that Golovkin would be proud of, bang his head against the wall until the sheetrock tapped out and howl to the heavens to why that soul-igniting, hormone-exploding, paradise of a dream was just that.

But that never came.

The blond-haired teen stared in the mirror to find his reflection—albeit with lips swollen, and his eyes were noticeably red… and there were marks… or at least what looked to be bite marks peppered about his neck. But, that was just a dream, right?

'I mean, a racecar can travel at 300 miles per hour. The temperature could reach 140 degrees, and even the Chicago Cubs could win the World Series,' Ron reasoned. 'But what happened last night… that had to be a dream, right?

He wasn't sure why he thought it was a dream. Perhaps there was a nagging thought in his subconscious that believed that he and Kim were only friends and that nothing so… racy could possibly happen in the way it did. Even it was a dream, the images or the experience was as vivid as it could get.

The memories of (maybe the dream, maybe reality) came rushing back to him and he knew why his back was in pain; his back collided with the front doorknob of the Possible's home last night. His clothing was soaked to the skin the night before because of the sudden downpour. He certainly remembered taking Bonnie Rockwaller to task in front of several people. He distinctly remembered just why he his lips looked as if they were stuck in a vacuum hose for three hours straight. Then that could only mean…

Great Caesar's Ghost! It was no dream.

"Kim and I…" He said to no one in particular, as if he couldn't believe it himself. The evidence was right there before him, and a despite them needing a little ice, the tingling sensation on his lips just wouldn't go away. It was a glorious morning, indeed. A beautiful day for a…

"BOO-YAH!"

His 'Boo-yah' was so triumphant that the Sportscenter guy would smile down from the Heavens.

It was a few hours passed the time that Kim Possible usually woke up, but she could stand to take a load off.

After all, the world-defending, baddie-bashing, heroine for all seasons was feeling something that she's never felt before. She threw off the covers and sat up on the bed. As she rose to her feet, she gave her athletically fit body a good stretch. Though overstretching could be a good cause of fainting, the red-haired heroine felt delightfully lightheaded this morning.

It wasn't enough that she began to take notice of Ron Stoppable, her dearest, best friend and world-defending partner (Or sidekick, depending on how she felt during the week.) a few seasons ago for more than friendly reasons. Afterward, she even found his mannerisms, goofiness and dare she say, charm, to be endearing more so than something she would want to change about him. And to put the icing on the cake of the strange variety (It would probably taste like tapioca.), she found herself jealous of girls who came near the young man, and followed that up with finding it OK to admit his attractiveness.

A smile came to her face in the memory of last night. Their first date was last night. It was something that she'd remember for a long time. Well, she forgot what movie they saw, where the movie played at, what time it was, and what part of the day it was. But it was certainly something she'd remember for a long time.

Oh, whom was she kidding?

She was the one who expected the goodnight kiss at the end. She was the one who cursed the stars, sun, and the moon when the rain dampened their potential moment. She was as the one who decided the world could take a walk when she tossed the beeping Kimmunicator on the grass. She was the one who kissed him on the lips, and then… kinda, sorta, kissed him all over. She felt the tiniest sliver of embarrassment at that fact. Kim could dismiss it as her hormones raging out of control, but she wanted to do it to Ron… and past that, she couldn't imagine being that forward with anyone else. In fact, had it not been for her mom, there was no telling how far it would've gotten. Ron… didn't seem to mind either.

Even after the lecture her mom gave the two of them, she felt very little remorse afterward, and the little bit of remorse was in kind of a 'Sorry, not sorry' sort of way.

So this is how it feels to be Bill Belichick with his cheating ways…

As she stepped into the shower, her thoughts came back to Ron. He was OK with it, right? She didn't want to go rushing into things headlong. The heroine lathered her hair with shampoo as she began to cleanse herself.

She began to rationalize. There was mutual interest between the both of them. Kim called it fireworks before, but now it was kind of like C-4. She was eager to find out what was going to become of what happened last night. At the very worst, this did mean that the awkward, apprehensive behavior between the two of them were going to stop, right?

Right?

Wait for it…

It's coming…

Let the suspense build a little bit, will ya?

WRRRRRRRRROOOOOOONNNNNNG!

See, maybe Kim was too idealistic, and maybe Ron was too celebratory that his supposed dream was reality to realize what this new atmosphere was. Because as long this was Tales of the Awkward rather than Tales of the Happy Fun Relationship Upgrade, there would be obstacles, stumbling blocks, missteps, and apprehension every step of the way.

And this particular stumbling block came early; as early as the following couple of days. Sure they had met and went about their merry way on missions set forth by Wade and such. During the missions were the only times that there was a semblance of a status quo between Kim and Ron. Folks around them knew it. Heck, even Wade knew it; something was a bit different between the two nowadays.

"All clear, Kim," the tech genius said from his control room. "Dementor's in Global Justice custody and the Simulo-Cube is back in the right hands."

"No big. Now—" Kim began.

"What was that Simulo-Cubinator thingy?" Ron asked.

"It's kinda tough to explain. It was stolen a few days ago and I'm still a bit unclear on how it works," Wade answered. "Come to think of it, what happened the other night, Kim? I tried contacting you—"

As Wade spoke of why the Simulo-Cube fell into Dementor's hands and what might happen to the world because of the duo's tardiness, said duos' faces became more and more red with embarrassment.

"I-it's kinda personal, Wade," Kim drifted, but anyone could tell that it wasn't the whole truth. Wade understood that and gave the over and out before his face on the screen became the KP logo. With that, Kim shoved the device in her pocket. This had the makings of a long trip home.

What did happen that night? Sure both of them knew what happened, but neither one of them approached the subject since.

The rest of the trip home to Middleton was mostly in silence. Even Rufus wasn't his usual chattering self. There could be plenty of conversation to be had in the back of a cargo jet carrying Washington Redskins Super Bowl XLI Champions memorabilia, namely why did it exist in the first place.

But that was neither here nor there. What was here is that Kim & Ron could barely muster a few words together to each other, never mind a concerted effort to avoid eye contact.

Kim had to do something. Somehow after all their interpersonal turmoil and ambiguousness, things seemed to be every more tenuous than before. Rufus was even biting his fingernails.

She refused to let S-Chrome win and let them fall back into the same patterns.

The same pattern was repetitive, boring, redundant, and monotonous. Yes, those were all synonyms.

"You know, Ron—" she began, turning to his direction. As she did, he turned away from her, as if something on the drab, grey wall was the most interesting thing at the time. Regardless of that, she pressed on.

"—What happened that night… I don't regret it."

The blond boy's eyes went wide. "I-I… me neither," he quickly said. He stopped short of saying that it was one of, if not, the, best experience of his life. "The date was great and the end was…" he struggled to find the words.

"Badical," she and he said at the same time. "Jinx. You owe me a soda," they both stated in unison.

Both of them shared a chuckle at this. They finally found a common ground. The imaginary wall that surrounded them seemed to give way. Green eyes found their way to brown at long last.

"It's just that… like, what are we now?" Ron asked. "I mean, it's not like were…" He gestured with his hands. Kim understood him almost perfectly.

"Do you want to?" She asked, hopefully. "I mean, be…" words failed her this time. It was beyond odd to have this kind of a conversation with her best friend about the nature of their new relationship.

Beautiful girl who was very much into him and kicked all sorts of biscuit… and the lady happened to be his best friend. He wanted to shout out "Yes" louder than Daniel Bryan did, but…

"Ye-yeah," he stated uneasily. "But, what if… what if it falls apart? What if it was just what we were feeling at the time? If we were ever to…" he didn't want to fathom the thought. "K.P., if I lost you, I wouldn't know what to do," he finished, hanging his head.

He averted her gaze once again. He really did want to speak his actual feelings on the matter. Kim on the other hand, was glad that he spoke his mind. It pretty much mimicked her fears as well. She scooted closer to him, and placed her hand on top of his on the floor.

"Ron," her other hand reached the side of the blond's face to tilt in her direction. "I don't remember too many things from that night. But, you said that you never lose me and I said the same to you."

Ron's features brightened a bit at that memory.

"Yeah," he said, his lips curling into a smile.

"Well, I meant it, and I'm sure you did too," the redhead affirmed. "Whether we date, or become BF/GF, or even if we stay friends…" She smirked as Ron somewhat cringed at the last proposition.

"You'll be Ron Stoppable; my best friend and the one person in the world I couldn't do without," she confessed. "So, even if it's awkward, or smooth sailing, let's just take it as it happens, ok?"

Ron nodded and smiled back at her. It seemed pretty darn reasonable. There was just one problem, though. Kim was really close… like, nearly too close for him to think anything but what was going on in his hormone-addled mind.

"Take it as it happens, huh?" He asked her. "Would it be bad if I wanted something to happen right now?"

She smirked at him again. That gaze she wore was reminiscent of that night, right before she and he went on an all-expense trip to Makeout City. And she wasn't backing down either. The heroine was sliding closer to him still. He knew exactly what to do: close his eyes, enjoy the ride to paradise once more, and suddenly drop to the floor.

Wait, did the Earth just move?

"Sorry about that, Ms. Possible. Just ran into a little turbulence," the pilot spoke calmly over the intercom, located near the ceiling of the cargo area.

Turbulence just cost him a trip to the greatest city on the world… someone definitely had it in for them. Kim just shook her head… she'd seen this movie before.

"Turbulence? Now? Well that's certainly convenient," the sidekick said bitterly, getting up to his former seated position.

"So not the drama, Ron," Kim replied attempting to calm him down. "There'll be more chances… maybe sooner than you think."

"Sooner? W—" Before Ron could get the second word out, he felt the redhead's lips on his once again. The surprise of her lips on his made him fall back to the floor, breaking their embrace momentarily. Kim remedied this by hovering over him, placing both of her hands on either side of his head before she lowered down to claim his lips once more.

She really liked sneaking of him didn't she?

As he thought about the sudden ambush that he would never complain about, he found his hands intertwining with hers and their kiss deepening. His mind went on autopilot and his thoughts went as blank as a Philadelphia Eagle trophy case.

He really didn't want this trip home to end.

The End.

Chrome Notes: Yes, I had this epilogue chapter floating around in the lab for quite some time. Of course, 2012 S-Chrome thought that said document containing this last chapter was lost. But imagine my surprise on the 1st Day of the 1st Month of 2017, I still had it on one of my many (many, many) flash drives. Of course, at that point, the references were... dated to say the last. But, hey, it's the thought that counts, ne?