Fic: Courage

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: Courage
Chapters: 5/10
Author: csi_sanders1129
Genre: Friendship. Drama. Romance. Angst. Humor.
Ratings: T
Word Count: ~1,400
Pairings/Characters: Fred Jones/Shaggy Rogers, Scooby Doo, Velma, Daphne.
Synopsis: Fred and Shaggy go from friends to more as they live through ten courage-requiring events at Coolsville High.

Comments: I’m writing slash for Scooby-Doo. I’m weird. I know. On that note, you have been warned. And, while reviews are awesome, flames will not be tolerated – they will be deleted. Original characters are mine, but everyone else belongs to Hanna-Barbera. It is set in the Mystery Begins/Curse of the Lake Monster!Verse, but does occasionally reference mysteries from Where Are You!, some references to Pup Named Scooby Doo via Red Herring, and one to Alien Invaders later on. This was also a ten-song challenge thing (that I totally cheated on) and so there’ll be song names at the beginning of each chapter, too. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |

Monsters / Matchbook Romance

The four of them come sidling out of the movie theater at a leisurely pace one Saturday night just after Thanksgiving Break, Scooby Doo quickly joining them from wherever he'd hidden himself away.

"Well, I thought it was tasteless and needlessly gory," Daphne chastises the admittedly uninspired horror flick they'd all somehow agreed upon seeing. "Most of the budget for the movie probably went toward horrendously fake blood. It definitely didn't go toward the acting."

Fred laughs, but he can't exactly argue. "It wasn't supposed to be serious, Daph. Just one big slapstick bloodbath."

Velma shrugs, "I must admit that I was hoping for something a bit more intellectually stimulating…"

Shaggy, looking up from his leftover popcorn, adds in his own thoughtful comment, too: "Anyone else think they jipped us on popcorn butter?"

The girls laugh and declare that they are spending the rest of the evening on a shopping spree at the mall in preparation for the upcoming Snow Dance at the school. Fred's going with Daphne and Shaggy with Velma, but only because they'll all hang out together anyway.

"Like, see you girls tomorrow!" Shaggy calls after them as Scooby inhales the remaining contents of the popcorn bucket. "So, like, what do you wanna do, Freddy?"

"Rice ream!" Scooby Doo cuts in before Freddy can suggest something normal and productive like going to hang out at the library for monster research or running laps on the track at school.

Fred nods at the canine walking between them, "I could go for some ice cream."

***

Fred's working on a chocolate milkshake, Shaggy on a quadruple scoop peppermint-strawberry-pistachio-rockyroad cone complete with rainbow sprinkles when they leave the ice cream parlor a few blocks over. Scooby has already inhaled his own twisted and obscenely large concoction of delicious frozen treats.

People give them funny looks as they start heading toward Shaggy's place – their agreed upon destination for a round of video games – because it is December and they are devouring cold things and clearly they must be insane. They don't really care.

"So," Shaggy starts, broaching a subject he knows needs covering before they go on break. "Like, my parents will be in Europe for almost all of winter break. You could, you know, just stay at my place if you need to." His open invitation to crash at Shagwell Manor still stands, of course, and Fred's even taken him up on it a few times. But Fred's been tense lately and Shaggy is pretty sure it's because his father is coming home for an extended winter break of his own. The only reason he knows about any of that – or that Fred's father is behind the bruises – is because of a few moments of delirium following the Redbeard incident.

Fred just kind of sighs in response. "If I can get away, I'll be over as much as possible," he says, which is then amends with a sincere, "thanks, Shags."

Before Shaggy can say anything else about the issue they do not often talk about, a shadowy figure appears out of the darkness of some offshoot of the alley they'd cut through. "What the-" he starts, but he cuts himself off when he sees the metallic glint of a knife. "Zoinks!"

This is not their typical masked monster chasing them around a haunted house. Those had proven dangerous enough for them all following what had happened to Fred on Redbeard's ghost ship. But just because there isn't a mask doesn't mean it's not a monster facing them.

"Hnng, Freddy…" Shaggy stammers, just as the shadowy figure grabs at him, curling an arm around Shaggy and brandishing the blade perilously close to his captive's neck, and Shaggy's half-eaten ice cream falls to the ground.

Shaggy's best human friend stands unmoving, hands held in a placating I-mean-no-harm sort of gesture, while his best canine friend cowers, whimpering, behind Fred.

"Do what I say and we can all go about our business," the villain spits out, tightening his hold on his prisoner.

"Leave, Freddy," Shaggy says, voice shaking in terror. But he's not abandoning Shaggy. Ever.

Fred nods his head and waits for orders from the man with a knife to Shaggy's neck, mind spinning for ways to get them out of this.

"Wallets, phones, keys, watches, rings."

He's a little more than angry that this criminal is willing to risk Shaggy's life for a collective twenty seven dollars and fifty four cents – all the cash they have on hand between them – two driver's licenses, and the emergency credit card that Fred's dad insisted he carry. Shaggy never remembers to bring his cell phone with him, so only Fred's gets added to the pile and neither of them has anything but house keys because they walked over here – he doesn't bother adding those to the pile of objects being sacrificed. Fred normally has his high school ring and the watch that his grandfather gave him, but he's not wearing either today. Shaggy only has a silly comic book character watch, but he adds it to the pile all the same.

"That's all, really." Fred assures the man, but he doesn't look satisfied and this is all going to go bad if something doesn't change. "What else do you want? We don't have anything."

The shadowed man keeps his grip on Shaggy, but Fred had to get closer to retrieve his friend's wallet for the thief. He's still close and the only chance he has is to get them all away right now. He takes a deep breath and strikes, tossing the contents of the milkshake he is still somehow holding into the man's face and then pulling the knife-wielding arm away from Shaggy's throat.

"Damn it, kid!" The man curses, and blindly tries to swipe at either of them with the blade – which is at least more difficult with ice cream in his eyes. Shaggy pushes away, but he has to reach up to block the knife and it manages to catch him on the hand before he can grab Fred's arm and run, with Scooby Doo right behind them.

They run and run and run, nearly all the way back to Shaggy's place. They're not entirely sure it's a good idea, since the shadowed figure got their wallets and by default their addresses, but he doesn't have the keys so there is that working in their favor.

Once they are within the relative safety of Shaggy's basement, doubled over and panting for breath that adrenaline and panic is no longer supplying, they break into a sort of hysterical laughter.

"That," Shaggy starts, "that was, like," more laughing, "absolutely terrifying."

"It was," Fred agrees between his own broken laughter. "Almost more terrifying than last month on the boat."

Shaggy shakes his head in denial of that claim. "No, not even, like, anywhere close to that terrifying." Scooby nudges his arm, and mumbles a concerned, 'R'okay?' Blood is starting to streak down to his elbow and it's really the first time he remembers that he's been cut. It's then that he also remembers it kind of hurts. "Oh. Ouch."

Fred's next to him in seconds, carefully looking over the wound and then pulling Shaggy back to his feet and toward the basement bathroom.

"Look bad?" Shaggy asks, as Fred digs a pathetically stocked first aid kid out from under the sink.

"No, it's not that deep," he assures his friend, as he's seen more than enough injuries between sports and his father's attacks. The cut is across Shaggy's palm and doing anything with that hand for the next few days is going to be miserable but it could have been so much worse and Fred's being gentle about fixing it up so Shaggy really can't complain. Some quick clean up, some antibiotic ointment, and a bandage and it's done. "Finished."

"Like, thanks, man," Shaggy says, "For, you know, everything." He does something unexpected as they return to the main room of the basement, pulling Fred into a close hug that probably lasts longer than it rightly should. "Let's, like, not get in anymore terrifying situations for a while, yeah?"

"Sounds good," Fred responds as the embrace finally ends. "Now, I vote we go report our stolen wallets to the police, and then hide out down here for a while."

"Rood idea," Scooby puts in and Shaggy is disinclined to argue.