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“This is ridiculous,” Shego sighed as the destination came into view. In a big open lot filling up fast with cars, it was hard to miss what amounted to a repurposed billboard painted white.
“Ah-ah-ah. We flipped a coin,” reminded Drakken sternly from behind the controls of the hovercar. “I won fair and square.” From the corner of her eye, she didn’t miss his tongue poke out in her direction.
She rolled her eyes in exasperation and rested her temple against her fist, elbow propped on the rim of the hovercar. “But we have this movie. You know, in the living room, gathering dust with the rest of our VHS’s.”
“Yes, but we never get out,” argued the insistent man. Whining, more like.
“We ‘get out’ at least twice a month,” Shego reminded with the regrettable use of finger quotes and holding two fingers up as if it were evidence in her halfhearted case against his decision.
Drakken ground out something frustrated and his grip tightened on the controls. After Shego had won the coin toss three outings in a row – electing for a casino, a stowaway day on a cruise ship, and a childish game of laser tag – it was only fair she humor him in his turn to choose a destination or activity, an indulgence for just the two of them.
Nonetheless, Shego blew a raspberry as Drakken brought the hovercar in for a landing. “This is stupid,” she criticized for the umpteenth time.
“It’s a movie, Shego. Not water torture,” Drakken retorted, his patience wearing thin.
She didn’t look him in the eye, lest she see the trace of hurt there. She sat straighter with an apathetic sigh. “Whatever. Did you grab the bug spray?”
He grunted a confirmation and tossed her the can before leaping out of the car.
Insect repellent assaulting her senses wasn’t the ideal way to kick off their evening out, but she resigned to giving herself a quick spray, and the blue man too when he returned. He made an unappreciative noise and choked on it.
“Don’t be a baby,” Shego snipped. “You could be wearing your nice cologne, but hey, you’re the one who wanted to do something outside.”
“I am wearing my nice cologne,” Drakken defended, short of a whine again.
A wry little, “Huh,” was all she had to say about that. He glowered at her, but she smirked and snatched up a bucket of popcorn he’d brought back from the dashboard before he could make a grab for it himself.
He managed to swipe a handful of the hot buttery snack for himself before kicking the hovercar back into gear, elevating them several feet off the ground, well above the rest of the cars crowding the lot. He’d been working on silencing the engine for stealth purposes, but if the inevitable hum bothered anybody else, that was their problem. A quick tune of the radio, and he set his feet up on the dash and folded his arms behind his head to get comfortable for the show. He grinned ear to ear at Shego, proudly declaring with his mouth full, “Best seat in the house.”
“I dunno about that,” Shego muttered. “I’d rather be home watching it from the couch.”
His smile fell as he looked over to her, dumbfounded for a moment before his brow knit together. Given they’d seen the decade-old film before, Shego worried for a moment the whole movie would be spent bickering. But then he grunted and glared back at the big screen. “You don’t go to the movies just for the movie. You go for the experience,” he reminded.
Even if he was right, arguing was second-nature. “Yeah, and right now I’m experiencing some major—”
Drakken’s arm landed heavily around her shoulders then. She shut her trap and tried not to look his way, but she caved, stealing a peek at his lower lip pushed out. He was making an effort not to argue, straining just to pout at her. She sighed and supposed she should try as well, and quickly pecked his frowning lips before she could think twice. Fleeting as it was, it was enough to make him flash a grin, even if she had to wipe the bitter taste of the bug spray off on the inside of her own sweater.
“These things are hard to come by,” he said, less defensive and more… informative… as Shego relaxed against his side, his cable-knit sweater soft and warm and making him unfairly huggable, try as she might to resist it. “You ever been to a drive-in?”
“With my family,” she admitted. “When I was a kid.”
He hummed pensively after a minute, his ever-buzzing mind distracted from the movie in front of them, though that was to be expected. “You know, I think we might be pioneers,” he said optimistically.
She tried not to roll her eyes or sigh at his interruption. “Why’s that?”
“We must be the first to make this a fly-in movie.”
Shego leaned back to grimace incredulously at him. “You know they have movies on planes, right?” she said. Sure, catching a movie on a flight wasn’t the same, but she delighted in watching it crawl under his skin nonetheless.
He grunted. “You know what I mean.”
She shook her head and settled back against him. “Doc, has anyone ever told you how behind the times you are?”
Drakken reached for the popcorn in her lap. “Can’t beat the classics,” he said with a contented smile as his eyes finally focused on the big screen once and for all.