gotgreenmagic

"You're welcome." He said it shortly, more like he knew it was customary that one phrase followed the other in polite conversation. "Just don't let it get around. We've both got reputations to maintain, right?"

"Yeah, sure. God forbid that two grouchy sarcastic jerks would ever see anything in each other," she said dryly, then blinked and checked herself. "I mean - hell - you know what I mean."

"Oh stop," he drawled. "I hardly meant it like that. And if that were the case it still wouldn't be any of their business."

Shego made a non-committal noise. For someone who'd knocked out his Warden's lights on her behalf, or maybe his own behalf for reasons of brief but psychotic jealousy, Mozenrath really seemed not to have mind his mind up on the issue of how much like that they were ever likely to get. Not that she was ever going to lead the way there. It just - would have been nice to feel needed.

She dismissed that entire internal monologue as a symptom of sleep deprivation and picked herself up off the floor, dusting herself down.

"I - didn't exactly mean to show up here and offload on you," she offered, the closest she'd ever get to an admission of embarrassment.

He didn't attempt to correct her on the matter. Whatever he'd decided in regards to her, it was caught up in his determination not to give his Warden leverage over him. "Well, you might not have meant for that to happen, but I did, and one of us was going to get our way, don't you think?"

She smiled wryly. "I guess. Why'd you want to know so much anyway? I didn't think guys did the whole feelings shtick." There was sort of a compliment hiding in there.

"You know perfectly well why I wanted to know so much," he objected, crossing his arms as he did so, looking particularly unhappy at her suggestion.

She just stared at him for a moment. "D'you know something, I'm not so sure that I do."

Damnit. She was always doing this. Mozenrath sighed. He figured he brought her here because no one else would be here and he'd already embarrassed himself enough. "You weren't acting like yourself, Shego."

"That doesn't explain why you wanted to know why I wasn't acting like myself," she said flatly.

"Because I didn't think you had amnesia on top of everything else."

"Yeah. Okay." She rubbed lightly at one temple, then swept a hand through her hair and looked up, staring at the stars.

"You know, Mozenrath - if you ever - I mean, if - maybe - "

She pulled a face and glared into the dark. "Never mind. Thanks for letting me in here."

It wasn't difficult for him to pick up on the shift. They'd practically been doing the same thing the whole night. "No -- what is it?"

"Nothing. It was stupid. I've already turned the 'uncomfortable' factor of this conversation up to 11 as it is."

He rolled his eyes. "Better to get it all out while there's no one around to heckle."

"Look, it's just - you doing this - knowing someone gives a damn, it's kind of - sweet, okay? And if you ever wanted to, you know, arrange a time and place where we've got some peace and quiet and no hecklers for reasons other than what's basically an intervention then that - "

She hesitated. Screw it. Since when did she use words when actions spoke louder?

She leaned over and kissed him.

"...that would be okay."

Mozenrath blinked. That was the second kiss in the last couple weeks that he hadn't expected to get -- which, to be fair was more than he ever planned on getting. Thankfully this one was at least pleasantly surprising. Still a little stunned, he shook his head. "I -- well yeah. We could do that." Realizing that sounded awkward, he recovered, speaking a little more confidently. "Whatever you like."

"Great." She smiled and wondered, vaguely, if they had even one successful correctly-executed date between them. Probably not. At least then neither of them would really have a frame of reference if any attempt ended up being a total train wreck.

'Whatever you like' did get him the eyebrow, though. "You...can say no, if you want. I'm a grown-up, I can take it."

"Shego, if you're aware of anything about me, it should be that when I want to say 'no', I'm quite capable."

"Point." She wrapped her arms around herself. "You wanna go find someplace warmer? At least I'm out of things to say that can't be said around witnesses."

He laughed a little. It was a nervous gesture. "Yeah, good idea. These privileges will probably mean more once something resembling spring comes in."

"I'd really like to know where the Admiral gets off on changing the freaking climate in an interdimensional void without any real atmosphere," Shego muttered, heading back towards the door. "And I'm guessing you still don't take the cold all that well."

Mozenrath turned to follow her. "You're right. It's still colder than it ever got back home."

"I was never so much into spending winter in the northern hemisphere. Buuut Dr. D liked his snow-capped mountain lairs and sometimes he couldn't cover heating bills, so I kinda got used to it." She opened the door and slipped through. "It's not like 'ruthless supervillain' is a look that lends itself to fuzzy sweaters, y'know?"

Mozenrath followed her out and pulled the door shut behind him. "This is why I own my own land. No red tape making things more difficult." And this was true. He didn't fully understand the concept of a "heating bill" so well, but had seen enough of what she knew as a modern world to have some idea.

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