Cold Fusion: Hallows' Eve, Ch. 10 (Part 2)
"Roxie?" Wayne spins in a quick circle in midair. He's in jeans and a white sweater, which Megamind supposes counts as 'dressed,' but he's only wearing one sock. He has a toothbrush in one hand and his cell phone in the other, and he sounds like his mouth is full - he stops spinning when he sees Roxanne. His eyebrows go up and the cell phone and toothbrush go flying in opposite directions as he spits hurriedly and flits over.
"Kindly do not spit on my floor!" Megamind snaps, more because of the principle of the thing than because he actually cares where Wayne spits his toothpaste when Roxanne is like this. "And how many times do I have to tell you to just use the door?"
Wayne ignores him in favor of stooping and folding Roxanne into a massive bear hug. "Wayne," Roxanne cries, and flings her arms around his neck. Megamind's first reaction is an almost unbelievable amount of relief. It's funny, he thinks, that he still associates Metro Man with Roxanne's safety. His second reaction is - much as he hates to admit it, and does he ever hate to admit it - some jealousy at the way Roxanne is holding onto Wayne.
That last nerve of his is jangling like crazy.
"Uh. What…" Wayne looks at Megamind over the top of Roxanne's head, totally bewildered. "What the hell?"
Megamind thinks of eleven ways to answer that, and picks the fourth one because it's the most relevant to his interests at the moment. "Roxanne's ex-boyfriend, Chad. I don't suppose you know his surname?"
"Don't tell him," Roxanne mumbles, and Megamind feels like he has just been punched. He had been holding Roxanne earlier, but she had not reciprocated at all, had not seemed to need him at all, but there she is clinging to Wayne. Which had sort of been the point of calling him over in the first place, but now she's telling Wayne to hide things from him? Okay, wow. That really stings.
"Uh," Wayne says again, blinking first down at Roxanne, then back over at Megamind. "Why?"
"Tell me, Wayne," Megamind says evenly. "Do you know?"
"Well, yeah, I mean…"
"Then tell me."
"Don't," Roxanne says again, and Megamind looks at her, filled with a sudden burning rage that has absolutely nowhere to go. He wants to do something. Anything. He wants, badly, to help, but Roxanne is refusing to let him - she's just shutting him down, refusing to let him even try.
"No," he says, just as Wayne opens his mouth. "No, you know what? Don't tell me. If you don't want me to know," Megamind says to Roxanne, "I guess I just won't know. That's cool. That's just…fine."
"Uh…" Wayne glances around as if he might find an answer or explanation for Megamind's reaction somewhere in the Lair, because he can tell just by looking that he's not going to get anything like a coherent response from Megamind in the near future. Megamind has just agreed to forgo information, which is a pretty safe indication that he's pissed. He's standing there with his chin up and his arms straight down by his sides, staring at Roxanne with flashing green eyes, the thin black brows angled like two furious slash marks above them.
Wayne tenses, expecting him to start racing around the lair and screaming about something or other at any second. But then Megamind's eyes squeeze closed and he takes a deep breath and lets out a high-pitched sound like a rusty teakettle, chatters something in what Wayne recognizes as Chinese but doesn't understand, flails his arms a bit, hops up and down a few times, stamps his feet, yells on an incoherent monosyllable for a few seconds, and finally scrubs his hands over his face and mutters his way into silence. And goes back to staring at Roxanne.
Huh, Wayne thinks. That's new. Then Roxanne wriggles a little, so he sets her on the floor before landing a short distance away.
She reaches towards Megamind, but he actually skips back, his movements strange and jerky. Roxanne recoils, blinking. "Um," she says, "Megamind?"
"Don't," he says, breathing hard through his nose, and shakes his head. "Don't."
"I brought tea!" Minion announces cheerily, wheeling a dolly into the room. There's a teapot, an empty ice tray, and three cups, two of which are normal-looking china teacups and one of which is a stainless-steel tankard. The dolly squeaks horribly when it moves, setting Wayne's hair on end. Minion glances at Wayne and nods curtly. "Scott."
Wayne manages a sickly-looking smile and a jerky nod. "Minion," he returns. Then, hurriedly and ignoring the fact that Minion is staring at him as if he has sprouted a second head, he says, "Look, I'm not sure what you needed me for. Roxie, would you please tell me what's going on?"
She gulps and blinks owlishly at him. "I," she says hollowly, "I - can't."
"Oh that's such shit," Megamind snarls, sharply enough to make even Wayne jump. "Look at you, all holding onto him like - like he's everything, and yeah okay that was sort of the point, but now you're saying you can't tell him what's wrong with you? That's so stupid. That's insane. What the hell what the hell what the hell. Maybe you can't tell me - fine, whatever, I'll just deal with that on my own, thanks - but I know you can tell him."
Roxanne stares at him, then at Wayne, then swallows and rubs her hair a little. "I don't…I don't think I understand."
"The point is that you evidently feel like you can't trust me enough to talk to me about whatever it is that's bothering you. If you can't talk to me, something's wrong.'" He tilts his head at her with a sardonic smile, taps a finger against his temple. "Eidetic memory. It's a bitch, isn't it. You're such a hypocrite!"
"Hey now, all right, back off," Wayne warns, but Megamind ignores him, glares at Roxanne.
"So, what, I'm supposed to talk to you about all my problems and you talk to me about nothing and I am not allowed to be upset about this?" He swallows, scowling bleakly. "Relationships are give and take."
Roxanne blinks and draws back - almost flinches. "Wha - you can't -"
Suddenly he spins on his heels and throws out his arms. "Brainbots!" he cries. Roxanne jumps back a few feet. "You lot - yes, you! Fetch me the Couch! And put it there, in the corner, at an angle." He points at the corner under the thick of his idea cloud, and a few bots detach from the rest of the host to go get the demanded sofa. "And chairs. You nine, bring me the Comfy Chair. Deactivate it first! I don't think it's charged, but better safe than sorry. Gamma group, bring Minion's chair from his room. And you three! I need a rug. The blue Persian, I think. And the glass coffee table, and the matching floor lamps."
He trots over to the corner he had indicated, where he stands with his back straight and his hands on his hips, barking orders and pointing imperiously until all necessary furniture has been arranged into what is actually a fairly cozy little sitting area in the corner of what had previously been the cold cement floor under his idea cloud.
Finally he turns around. "All right," he announces. "Now we can hash this out in style." He throws himself backwards onto the sofa, sits cross-legged at one end - it's a testament to the leather that it doesn't tear when the spikes on his boots scrape across it.
Roxanne starts to move towards the Comfy Chair, but Megamind stares at her. She blinks at him. He blinks back, and Roxanne swallows and wedges herself into the corner of the sofa as far from Megamind as she can and pulls her knees to her chest.
Wayne takes the Comfy Chair, as Megamind had intended him to. It's far too big for anybody else.
Besides, even if it goes off, it won't do anything to him, he reasons. There isn't any fruit in it.
"Brainbots, hot plate and ice beam," Minion says as he approaches with the tray. He sets the kettle down on the hot plate and leaves the ice beam where it is, then sits gingerly down in his chair. It isn't in his nature to sit still when Megamind is like this, or when people are over.
"So, are we ready to get this sorted out or what?" Megamind asks Roxanne. His upper foot is twitching wildly, but his arms are clamped over his chest like a bar. And as flat and hard as his expression is, his eyes are still desperately searching hers for answers - Roxanne can't tell what he's feeling; his face is so expressive, and the emotions flashing past range from anger to worry to suspicion but they're moving too quickly for her to get an accurate reading on him.
She looks down at her hands. "I…don't know if I'm ready for this."
"Yeah, well, I didn't think I was ready to get all touchy-feely with you several months ago, but you dragged it out of me and I was fine. You're a strong lady. You'll be fine too." Megamind's voice is sharp and strangely brittle. "Triggers for triggers," he adds. "Science and studying and Washington, D.C. Your turn."
Roxanne stares at him. "You're…are you trying to make me feel guilty about that?"
"And behold my success."
"That's not very nice."
"No," he agrees, "it isn't. But it's effective, and I'm just a little bit upset." He stares right back at her, and Roxanne glares as if she's been betrayed. Megamind's eyes narrow. "Roxanne, I will be here for you no matter what, and you know it, so stop looking at me like that. But I thought - I thought that when I started telling you things you needed to know about me, you'd do the same. But prior to today, you gave me no indications! Oh, sure, you told me Chad was a douchebag, oh yeah, that's great, that's all you ever needed to say. I'm a genius, I'm not psychic," he snarls. "Remember a couple of months ago, when you were all, 'trust me, Megamind, talk to me, Megamind, blah blee blee blah'?"
"That's not-"
"Do you remember?"
Slowly, she nods. "Yes, I remember."
"All right, then allow me to respectfully inquire as to what the fuck?" He rolls a little and suddenly he's kneeling on the sofa cushions, feet curled under, back straight. It's a louder position, somehow, especially now that he's using his hands to gesticulate wildly as he speaks. "What, were you lying? Was it all bullshit, or did you mean it? You sounded like you meant it."
"No, I - I meant it!" she exclaims.
"Then why didn't you do the same?"
"I don't know why you're so angry!" Roxanne cries, hugging her knees and staring at him. "I don't - I don't understand -"
Megamind rears back, one hand flying into the air, fingers together, palm flat, poised to strike. Roxanne clamps her mouth shut and throws her arms up to shield her head.
Megamind drops his hand. "That's why," he says softly. "That's why I'm angry. I thought you were scared of me. I thought it was something I did that rendered you so frantic you had to resort to counting to get yourself back under control. I thought it was my fault. You could have just said you'd been in an abusive relationship! What is so hard about that? 'I just get head-shy sometimes?'" He throws out his hands, eyes wide with indignant anger. "What the hell? That's not an answer! That's not anything like what I need to know about that kind of situation!"
Roxanne swallows again and glances down at her hands. "What is your problem? What do you need to know?"
"My problem?" His voice is rising, he can hear it, but he's powerless to stop it. He has lost his temper, and with it, an unsettling amount of self-control. "At the risk of sounding more emo than I have in my entire life, my problem is that I have bared my soul to you! I have given you information that could end life as I know it! And you 'evidently' don't trust me enough or, or don't care enough to reciprocate. I need to know these things, so that I don't do something so incredibly stupid that you lose all trust and leave me for good! I thought you knew that! If I ever lost control and did something stupid and slapped you, god forbid, you would never trust me again! And I wouldn't know why. I've been flying blind around - oh my god, Roxanne, is this why you were so weird and stammery when I was geeking out over Nibs and that stupid table?"
Wayne leans over and nudges Minion. "Should we be here for this?" he whispers. Minion looks at him like a deer caught in the headlights.
"It is, isn't it? Fuck, Roxanne!" Megamind presses both fists to the side of his skull in a hair-pulling motion. "What is wrong with you? For that matter, what's wrong with me? I thought you trusted me! I know I trusted you!"
"I do trust you, I just -" Roxanne shakes her head wildly. "I just, I couldn't. I was scared, okay?"
Megamind's eyes nearly bug right out of his head. "Of what? Of me? How long have you been scared of me?"
"All right, that's enough," Wayne snaps, and rises - draws himself up to his full height, towering briefly over the seated trio before he leans forward and grabs Megamind by the collar with one hand.
He lifts the blue alien effortlessly off the couch, and Megamind goes nuts. He twists and thrashes, lips pulling back from white teeth in a snarling shriek as he claws desperately at Wayne's fingers and wrist. His nails leave whitish lines in Wayne's skin, but fail to raise anything resembling welts, and Megamind lets out a startlingly creative stream of profanity that covers everything from Wayne's size to his mother to his intelligence and back again. Most of it is in English, although Wayne thinks he recognizes a few Spanish slurs.
"Put him down!" Minion is on his feet as well, now, metal hands clenching into shining fists.
Wayne glances at him and shakes his head. "Sorry, Minion. Not this time. I'll be right back. Won't hurt him, I promise." He stalks over to the curtain, yanks it aside, and hurls Megamind into the hallway beyond.
Where he catches the smaller man before he falls to startle him into silence. This time, Megamind dangles from Wayne's fist so that he's facing him, and Megamind clamps his arms over his chest, glowering from beneath lowered brows and breathing hard. Wayne fully expects him to spit in his face, and Megamind does not disappoint.
Wayne doesn't react. "Are you finished?" he asks grimly.
"Fuck you," Megamind snarls. "Fuck. You."
"Yeah, I know, fuck me and the horse I rode in on and anybody who looks like me, yeah okay, I get it, you're mad." Wayne rolls his eyes. "Same to you and so's your mum. Are you done now?"
Megamind just glares at him in ringing silence, which Wayne decides to take as a 'yes.' "Good," he snarls. "Now, you listen to me, you little blue son of a maraca. You're gonna stay out here until you've got your head on straight. Yeah, I agree that she should have given you a little bit of a head's-up, but you are way out of line and I'm not going to sit and watch you antagonize her. And believe me, I would love to see things from your point of view, but-" he leans in, gets right up in Megamind's face, "-I don't think I'll be able to get my head far enough up my ass. I'm not sure what all your deal is right now, but you best check yourself before you wreck yourself, because you can bet your butt that Roxanne is not going to respond well to you yelling at her."
He sets Megamind carefully on his feet.
"For what it's worth, I didn't know about it, either. She's never said a single thing to me about anything Chad ever did to her." Wayne shakes his head and stuffs his hands in his pockets. "And Roxie and me are both really picky about who we show emotions to. We have the same stupid double standard."
Megamind starts and looks up at him, then, and Wayne shrugs. "Oh, we know it isn't fair. We know it's dumb. We also know it's really hard to do anything else. It doesn't matter if she breaks down on me; I already know she isn't the unshakable pillar of strength she wants everybody to think she is. But your opinion matters too much.
"I'm telling you this because you've had a shitty life and I think a lot of that is my fault, but it's looking up for you and you deserve to be happy for once. And so does Roxie. And it makes me sick, seeing you throwing that into jeopardy like it's nothing. So listen up. I'm telling you stuff that she'd probably kill me for telling you, and I will not say this again."
There's an awful lot of confusion crawling into Megamind's expression, now, and it's joined by an odd, terrible hope, and Wayne hates himself for making the little guy look so wrecked. But he presses on ruthlessly. "She loves you. If you ask me, she's scared to death of losing you. Which she doesn't like, because she's spent so long telling herself that she doesn't want a relationship. You should hear how often she used to say that to me. Whenever the subject would come up, she was always 'Well, you know me, Wayne, I don't need anybody.' But here you come along and sweep her off her feet? After everything that's happened? She has some issues, Blue; she's not the rock you think she is. But she wants you to think she's a rock."
He shrugs again. "That's my input. I could be totally wrong, but I really don't think I am." He starts to turn around, but then he pauses. "Oh. And one more thing. Stop worrying about how comfortable she is with me, okay? I told you before: she's really not my type."
"But," Megamind whispers. Wayne cuts him off.
"No. I am telling you right now that I am not, I have never been, and I will never be attracted to Roxanne Ritchi. And she doesn't want me, either."
"But she might someday," Megamind manages to protest. His head is spinning, the thoughts whirling too rapidly now for him to keep up. "I mean - you fit together, you two always have - she lets you pick her up and toss her around without batting an eye, she cries on you, she trusts you - I don't fit with anybody, I'm still just - I've never seen her cry before, not like that." He blinks rapidly, angry tears starting in his eyes. His breathing is getting shallow, and he can see Wayne's eyebrows going down, which is never a good sign, but he can't seem to stop talking. "I can't - she's not. You're perfect for her. Anyone can see it. And she's perfect for you. Why's she settling for me, I'm not - she shouldn't do that."
"Oh my god," Wayne snarls, slamming a closed fist into the wall hard enough to leave a dent. "Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up. Holy shit-slinging fuck. Your head is so big but you are amazingly fucking brainless. You seriously haven't figured it out."
"L-leave me alone." Megamind steps back, shaking his head. "Give me a - a minute. I can handle this. I can handle this. Leave me alone."
"Yeah, I think we just saw how good you are at handling it," Wayne starts, but that's when Megamind's very last nerve finally snaps. It's amazing, really, that Wayne can see it happen so clearly. His pupils blow wide and his voice shoots up the octave.
"Leave me alone!" he screams, between huge gulping gasps, and Wayne drops his aggressive stance and backs off immediately. "I can't think - you're too - you, I can't think, I can't deal with all these people - Bernard and Mercedes and Sundown and - and Roxanne, and I have to balance her and Minion, and -"
Holy smokes. Wayne takes a cautious step forward. "Megamind? Little buddy?"
"And you," Megamind shrieks, cringing away from Wayne with his whole body, "and the fire I'm so sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I should have done something I should have heard - why are you here, why are you helping me I don't deserve any help - Roxanne, you, Minion, I don't - leave me alone, get away from me, get away! Like you should!" His head goes down and he makes an awful noise like a train whistle torturing a piccolo, sobbing tremolo overtones and everything.
"Move over," Minion snaps, and Wayne jumps aside so that the robotic body can push past him. "Here, Sir. It's all right. I've got you, you're all right."
"Is he gonna be okay?" Wayne asks, shaken.
Megamind lifts his head without opening his eyes. "'Okay' is an abbreviation of a misspelled 'all correct' and is incorrect in that context!" he howls.
"I think it's best if you just don't say anything," Minion tells Wayne.
"Should I go home?" Wayne isn't sure exactly what just happened, but it seems to have had a really adverse effect on Megamind, and he feels unexpectedly bad about it. Megamind has never snapped before, that Wayne has seen, and he hadn't really thought he could ever push the little guy to the breaking point. "Seems like I've done more harm than good, I mean…"
"Oh, no," Minion says bitterly, as he takes Megamind's head in his hands and brings his friend around around to face him, "you've done us a favor. All this would have come out eventually. Better to have it all out in the open. Sir, it's me. It's Minion, it's your Minion."
Megamind has passed beyond coherency, but he pushes his head forward until he runs into the metal breastplate and grabs Minion's hands in his own. Minion turns to look over his shoulder at Roxanne. "Miss Ritchi?"
"Can I help?" she whispers, hugging her arms and staring at Megamind. She doesn't notice Wayne backing slowly down the hall, and if Minion does, he doesn't mention it. "Will he let me?"
"I'm interested to see if he does," Minion replies tightly. "I've managed to calm him down before by insisting that I'd always be here for him, so I'm wondering what will happen if you can convince him that I'm not the only one. You two should really hammer this out on your own, you know. It'll never last if you can't freak out on each other every now and again."
Roxanne comes up behind Megamind without hesitation, wraps her arms around his chest from behind and curls her cheek into the curve of his shoulder. The effect on Megamind is electric - he spasms away into Minion and then whips around, staring at Roxanne, his eyes wide, the pupils dilated.
"You-you-you," he stammers. "Still here, what are you doing - what are you still doing here?"
She reaches forward to take his hand. He looks desperately shocked at this, huddling back against Minion as his bewildered gaze searches Roxanne's face. She takes hold of the buckle on his upper arm, pulls it back and down to release it, tugs off his glove to expose blue skin, then nets her fingers with his and studies their joined hands.
"You know," she says, fighting to keep her voice steady, "doing this with Peter and Chad would always start hurting after a while, because their fingers were too thick. But your hands are just right." She looks up, catches his eye. "I could do this with you forever."
He stares at her for a moment, and then his face crumples and he reaches for her, slings his free arm around her shoulders and all but lurches forward into her neck, tears his hand from hers so that he can hold onto her with both arms.
Minion steps back, and Roxanne looks at him. He glances meaningfully towards the kitchen, mouths something like, I'm going to go. Roxanne nods.
"Come on," she says to Megamind, pushing at him a little - not too much, but enough to get him so that they can both walk. "Come on, let's go back where we can sit down."
She eases off to the side and keeps an arm around his waist until they get to the sofa, where she lets go so she can push him backwards onto the couch. Then she drops into a crouch in front of him and looks up. "Sweetie. Hey. What was that?"
He swallows hard. Walking - the simple act of moving forward, putting one foot in front of the other - seems to have done him some good. "You're going to think I'm an idiot," he rasps, and Roxanne rubs her hands up and down his calves a few times. She can only deal with so many crises at once, and she'd much rather deal with Megamind's. She's aware, in a vague sort of way, that she ought to be angry with him for blaming her as much as he apparently does and for exploding at her, but she just…doesn't care. Not right now. After all, it's clear to her that something is going on underneath the surface - in all the years she has known Megamind, he has never broken down like this. And anyway, what good would getting mad do? No good at all.
Better to just move on. They'll talk about it later.
"Megamind, love. I already know you're an idiot. I don't care. I just want to know why you went nova back there."
Megamind goes rigid, seizes up, and Roxanne covers his hands with hers and squeezes hard. His voice when he finally speaks sounds strangled and wobbly. "Please. Don't use that term."
Roxanne blinks. "Wha…? Oh." She groans and drops her head against Megamind's knees, grimacing. "Crap. I'm sorry, sweetie. I forgot."
"And stop apologizing, stop apologizing, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I'm sorry." He gulps, stares wildly down at her. "I'm. I'm sorry. Roxanne, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry f-for everything. I'm - I'm sorry I let Wayne's dad die, and I'm sorry I pretended to be Bernard, and-"
"Oh, hush," Roxanne tells him, shaking her head. "We've moved past that. It's okay. And what, you let Lord Scott die? You had nothing to do with that!"
It's like Megamind hasn't heard a single word. He keeps stammering apologies. "I-I'm sorry I tried force you away, I'm sorry I left you at the schoolhouse so you had to go face Titan on your own, I'm sorry I kidnapped you all those times, I'm sorry I couldn't do a better job on the rebuild project, I'm sorry I never told you about York and Lancaster and Sundown, I'm sorry I was so horrible to Bernard, I'm sorry I couldn't just quit in high school, I'm sorry I lied and cheated and exploited to get where I am, I'm sorry I made Titan and I'm sorry I couldn't save Hal, I'm s-sorry I made you worry, I'm sorry I yelled about Chad, I'm sorry I ruined your relationship with your mother - I'm - I'm sorry I - I'm sorry -" He draws a shuddery breath and slumps forward, shoulders shaking, his face in his hands.
Jesus, I am really bad at this, Roxanne thinks, reaching up to twine her arms around her boyfriend's shoulders as she crawls onto the sofa. Megamind - Megamind is crying. She hadn't been sure that was even possible. "Okay. Listen. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Chad. I should have at least given you fair warning. I didn't because, for one thing, I'm almost completely fine now."
"S-Stop apologizing. I'm serious." He pushes his mouth against her shoulder, and Roxanne has to think for a couple of seconds before she realizes that he's trying to bite her but can't quite bring himself to.
She chuckles in spite of herself and hugs him closer. "Oh, for heaven's sake. And sweetie, the rest of that stuff? It doesn't matter. You don't need to be sorry about it."
Hugging on the sofa doesn't really work, but Roxanne refuses to stand up for this conversation, so she turns, sits loosely cross-legged and takes Megamind by the shoulders to turn him a little
He sniffs hugely, sliding his hands down to rest on her arms, reluctant to let her go. He gulps, his breath coming in little hiccupping gasps as he blinks at her in total confusion. "Wh-what are you doing?"
"C'mon, sit sideways - no, facing me." Roxanne grabs his legs and pushes them apart. "Right, okay, now hold still." She scoots forward to wrap her own legs around Megamind's waist. It's a little awkward, but better than sitting twisted to the side.
"There," she says, "now I can hug you without getting a crick in my neck."
"I still don't understand why you'd want to," he whispers, holding himself stiffly away from her. "After - all those awful things I said to you -"
Roxanne sighs. "Honey. You don't freak out like that over nothing. I know you don't. Will you tell me what's got you so worked up?"
Megamind's expression shutters, a little. He looks almost reproachful, a little indignant, a little injured. "You said," he whispers, "you said you wanted to tell me but couldn't. Roxanne." He stares at her. "Why can't you?"
Roxanne almost turns the subject back to him. Megamind is very vulnerable right now, and it would be so easy to just evade the question - she knows he would let her if she guilt-tripped him about it. It would be so easy, and she almost does it. Almost says, I'm not comfortable with that right now, give me some time, you've made your point.
But if she does, she'll be acknowledging that she can't talk to him about certain subjects. And she'll be manipulating him in the worst way.
And she really does owe him an explanation.
But she can't. Not yet. She can't. So what she says is, "You first. And then, I promise, I give you my word, I'll try my very hardest to explain."
"Deal," he whispers, and lets his breath out in a long, shuddering sigh. "God. This is just. You're going to think I'm so stupid."
"You aren't stupid." Roxanne smiles at him and kisses his forehead. "You're wickedly, deviously intelligent. Remember?"
"Oh yes I am," he warns. "That's just to mask my inherent stupidity.
She purses her lips and tilts her head, regards him critically for a moment. "How about you tell me why you're so stupid, and then I'll tell you if I agree."
"Fair enough," he agrees shakily. "I freaked out over nothing. I was…upset that I didn't know about Chad." Upset that you didn't tell me about Chad, he doesn't say, but he knows she reads him loud and clear. "And it was just, that was the last straw. Maxence two nights ago, and now there are nineteen men dead for no discernible reason, and somebody took away the one I dehydrated - so whoever's behind it hasn't been caught, and I have no leads. And now Sundown has come out to play, and he knew where and when and how to help you, and he told you to tell me hello from him, so he definitely knows about us."
"He also said to tell you that his debt hasn't been repaid," Roxanne remembers suddenly, and Megamind blinks. Then his eyebrows shoot up.
"Really? He said that?" Megamind lets out another sigh, but this one is one of relief. "Well, that's one a load off my shoulders, at least."
Roxanne swallows. "And Chad's last name is Whitehill. I guess you may as well -" She cuts off, frowning at Megamind's suddenly pale face. "What?"
"And the load is back on," Megamind groans, his head falling forward to clunk gently against Roxanne's. "Well, no. That's not entirely accurate. At least now I have someone I can fight. Anyway, the kidnapping and then the fire and then Wayne stresses me out like you wouldn't believe. I'm so on edge around him. And now those two thugs that came after you. I bet Whitehill was behind it. And I have to be on my best behavior for the city, and I've got the brainbots on patrols, but there're still some mix-ups sometimes. Some of them forget that we're the good guys and end up batting for the other team. Oh, and Bernard. And his girlfriend. And Lady Scott. It's just." He looks helplessly up at Roxanne, shaking his head, and for a moment he looks older than he is - the lines around his mouth and eyes deepen, and he just looks tired. "It's too much. It's too much, and I just couldn't handle all of that and you. I'm sorry."
It's Roxanne's turn to blink. "That's all it was?"
Megamind nods, unable to look her in the eye. "Like I said. Stupid."
"That's not stupid." Roxanne half-smiles and shakes her head at him. "That's called biting off more than you can chew, and bottling it up. And getting overwhelmed."
"But I should be able to handle it," Megamind argues. "It's my j-job to handle stuff like that without getting overwhelmed."
Roxanne tilts her head to the other side, smiling the way that always makes Megamind's heart stutter-stop. "You are the most amazing person I have ever met," she says. "And I've met a lot of people. But you can't do everything. You can try all you want - and you do try - but you have limits. Everybody does."
Megamind scowls. "I do not."
"It's a good thing," Roxanne says softly, which makes him blink and pause. "Makes you accessible. Relatable."
Megamind grumbles something under his breath, and Roxanne kisses him.
"And my roommate back in college could have told you horror stories about me and my workload," she murmurs, rubbing her nose absently against Megamind's. "I remember one time, I was up until four in the morning writing this paper that was due the next day and freaking out intermittently because I had no idea what to write about. Like, full-on sobbing and crying freaking out. And the best part? The best part is that the paper was due the following Monday."
Megamind pulls back just a little and looks at her. "Really?" Roxanne nods.
"Another time, me and my partner stayed up 'til six hammering out this massive report we had to do. The class was at nine, and I managed to stay awake through it. But my second class that day was in the same room, with the same professor, so when classes switched I put my head down on my desk. And slept through half of my next class."
Megamind's lips twitch into a reluctant smile.
"That's number one on my list of reasons I love Dr. Kodaly. He let me sleep through half his class before waking me up. And afterwards I went to see him in his office to apologize, but I was overtired and ended up freaking out all over him. Trust me, sweetie, you aren't the only one who gets overwhelmed and then loses his marbles a little."
Megamind chuckles. "That. Actually helps a lot, thank you. Was Kodaly angry?"
"Not really." Roxanne shrugs sheepishly. "He handed me a box of tissues and told me to go home and go to bed."
Megamind actually laughs at that, and pulls her in close, turning his head to bury his nose in her hair. "Thank you," he whispers, and his arms tighten briefly. Then he draws back.
"Okay," he says, and there's a tiny bit of steel in his voice that hadn't been there before. "Your turn."
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