OMG, I can't believe it took me 20 years to read this absolute masterpiece. Ron's character here is so endearing. And their first kiss? Shivers! I love how Kim goes from liking him to adoring all his quirks and Ronnerisms. What an absolutely delightful read. Thank you so much for the good feelings!

Good lord what a perfect fic. amazing work

A lot to unpack in this final chapter... Good Oh Boyz reference, though the oldies station bit is not quite as horribly true even today... is it? Also good callbacks to Hidden Talent (and Queen BeBe, if that counts).

The situation over dinner is a tricky one - not specifying more detail than "a blatantly anti-Semitic joke" has some practical benefits, but it dulls the impact on the reader. No good answers here. Anyway, Kim and Ron do the right thing in getting the hell out of there, but the real consequences of the move to Fentonville imploding are glossed over a bit. The transition to "Ron's opening his restaurant" is a bit rushed. Similarly, Kim's new job at the hospital is barely explored.

As for Ron's mother... The words "cruelest and saddest" seem to fall short. She was hurtful in previous chapters, but her letter just takes it to another level. Again, the Possibles step up to fill the void.

Ron visiting Rufus just before the wedding is necessary, bittersweet scene. Actually celebrating at Bueno Nacho is a unique, but appropriate idea to wrap up the story.

I'm somewhat torn on the idea of an epilogue. On one hand, the ending was a bit vague and rushed; on the other hand, it did end on a good note and I can't really imagine what a short epilogue could meaningfully add without turning into an entirely separate continuation - which raises the question of how it would be fundamentally different from more traditional stories where Kim and Ron do meet in pre-K.

Overall, this has to be one of the best KP fanfics out there. Despite the AU setting, everything is still very similar, it's believable that a single small change would have resulted in this. The plot flows fairly logically from its initial state, and is mostly boiled down to its essentials - perhaps slightly so, but that's better than endless cruft that doesn't add to the story. As it is, the story is substantial without being overwhelming.

I should also note the high technical quality of the writing, which makes the reading experience very enjoyable.

Seeing Kim become a better person and Ron making an effort beyond the minimum makes for a very heart-warming tale; the twist of them never having met until they're 30 highlights how much they really need each other and ends up being emblematic of K/R.

Oof, and in case there was any doubt about how poorly Kim was going to deal with the rest of the conference, the answer is "getting completely wasted at dinner" poorly.

Ron running into, and recognizing Felix in Honolulu might be pushing it as far as coincidences go, but it does give Kim a chance at redemption, in a way. While not stated outright, it sounds like Monique and Felix (to a lesser extent) were those most hurt by Kim.

And although it took seven-and-a-half chapters, finally something that resembles a mission, quite a high note for Kim, Ron and us readers.

...and Ron's mother only gets worse. I'd say very out of character, but AU and all that... To some extent, I wonder how much of it is from not having season 4. Some elements borrowed from Epic Sitch feel kinda weird having watched all four seasons in one go, though Ron's mother is just the mother from hell here. Holy crap, it hurts, but it is comforting to see the Possibles quasi-adopting Ron.

Oh boy, "Hikaru Sulu". Big groan. That one's just too on the nose, even if dealing with Sensei's name is tricky in this scenario.

Setting that aside, it's a good twist that Ron is dealing better with the conference than Kim is.

The first two thirds of Chapter 6 are pretty much by-the-book, not in a bad way - some speedbumps, but no real kickers.

Towards the end, it takes quite a turn into "oh no" territory as far as Ron's parents are concerned. Rufus' alternate backstory is a somewhat funny way of putting Ron and Rufus together instead of Ron and some other Naked Mole Rat - but their forgetting about Ron's birthday is a major red flag even by the standards the show sets, and one that goes beyond what even most authors do.
Her first impression is a very poor one...

What kind of asshole holds up a fast food joint on Christmas?

Anyway, a nice detail is that the other employees' names suggest that they don't celebrate Christmas, while those we know who might are absent. Less positive is that the hold-up doesn't bring much new to the table and the resolution is kinda weird, like a reference to a story that was never published. The silver lining is that Ron's private Kung Fu lessons pay off after the smoke grenades go off.

Kim comforting Rajiv is something we definitely wouldn't have seen at the beginning of the story, it's a good way of letting the reader know that she has indeed changed.

As for the framed CCTV shot... I call BS unless Ned had the foresight to archive it, otherwise it wouldn't have survived months. Not a super trivial thing either in 2005, so props to him for going the extra mile in arranging for that transfer.

Kim's suggestion of buying a place together is not a bad place to end, and it's good to see her help Ron overcome his insecurities.

Not strictly a chapter 4 thing, but so far Josh Mankey has been painted as a terrible person, and yet it keeps getting worse! Sure, it's obvious that he needs to be sacrificed to the gods of storytelling so that the plot makes sense, but it gets to be a bit over the top. At least we get a great insult out of it.

We've seen a lot of Ron helping Kim to be a better person, but Kim tends to help out Ron more than she helps him improve. This dynamic might be starting to shift over Christmas, it'll be interesting to see where it goes. What I am glad to see is that the Thanksgiving incident is firmly in the rear-view mirror

Hmm, "a few weeks" is a bit of a stretch, since it's been an absolute minimum of six weeks, but let's say two months and let it slide.

With that out of the way, I like that there's no "will they/won't they" to draw things out. Just a straightforward "it took her a few days", and then straight into more events. The mugging attempt is an interesting way of moving things along by means of a nudge.

Thanksgiving escalates very quickly, but the resolution is excellent. Mr. Dr. P. stands out if only by virtue of playing a much different role than he's often shoehorned into.

Chapter 2 starts out strong (more phone-related anachronisms aside), showing us that Kim still has a journey ahead if she wants to change. The description of her reaction to being stopped by the cops was perfect, just like I've done so many times in traffic for all sorts of annoyances.

Ron at 30 is portrayed as being pretty good with peopled, which makes sense since we see a lot of that in the show, but moderated by various factors. It's also nice to see the elder Drs. P. giving Kim no-nonsense advice, the black hole joke is funny but gets way overused and taken far too literally by most authors and there's none of that here.

The Personal Digital Assistant Kim uses is again very anachronistic and really dates the story to the early 2000s (any use of the term was dead by 2011 and smartphones were taking over even by 2005, accelerating from 2007). This mostly sticks out due to the overuse of "PDA" for Public Display of Affection in KP fanfics, so the flow of the story breaks a bit.

Much of the chapter has a business as usual vibe, clearly building up to something, and Kim's first visit to Ron's place, and in particular the first time she meets Rufus, is nice, with giving Pandaroo to Rufus being a very sweet gesture, probably her first action that can be described as such, so far.

The basic premise has an uphill battle to climb to be believable, and that takes a while. So, it was a stroke of genius to immediately drop the "Dr. Mankey" bomb - I said to myself out loud that I hated the situation already - only to quickly and decisively shove it into the dustbin of history a few sentences later. It makes clear that things are not okay (which ties into Kim's very aggressive behavior).

As a sidenote, the drawback of writing about the near future is that things quickly end up looking anachronistic in small but noticeable ways. Kim's car having an ignition lock with a key that she turns is very out of place for any car she might drive circa 2017 (and let's be honest, even by 2005 the writing was on the wall, the luxury market was quickly adopting various non-traditional keys and the French were all in on the same concept up and down the model ranges). Given the picture that we get of her, she would absolutely be driving at a minimum something like a BMW 3-series or Mercedes C-Class and more likely a Porsche or Bentley. Similarly, when Kim later gives Ron her home phone number, I can't help but think that it would have been a thing in 2005 but just not at all realistic in 2017.

Painting Ron as an underachiever gets sort of undermined by Ned being assistant manager for over a decade at this point, but this is not something that sticks out when naturally reading the story.

In any case, it's also good to see that Kim and Ron's first meeting is not held back, but happens very quickly, about as quickly as can be reasonably done, effectively stating "this is a new chapter for both their lives and this is where and when it starts". I also like that there's no nonsense, they are who they are at this point - "Stuff it, Nacho Boy" hurts and this is not glossed over, and it's good to see that the Kim we know does exist, when she reflects upon her behavior at Bueno Nacho and later when talking with her parents.

Kim feeling at ease with Ron feels very natural as written, and with just enough speedbumps to not feel rushed.

Overall, Chapter 1 is a very strong start, putting a lot of recognizable pieces on the board, but arranging them in an odd manner. The real skill lies in maintaining the balance between different and recognizable, and so far it's done very well.

Great story! All though I think Mrs Stoppable is way out of character, you managed to make it work. But very enjoyable AU, wish there was more.

Very nice start, looking forward to see where this goes!

This might be one of the sweetest things I've ever read. Going through a lot with my SO at the moment and while fiction should never be confused with reality... a lot of themes and lessons here touched home and gave me more hope. Bravo.

This kind of twist to the story is just refreshing, just romance and slight action that I found and I'm truly thankful to stumble in this masterpiece. Really good approach of the story, the pacing was just Amazing, no rush to their Romance even if it's just 9 chapters.