csi_sanders1129 | Fic: Courage (Reply)

Title: Courage
Chapters: 7/10
Author:

csi_sanders1129
Genre: Friendship. Drama. Romance. Angst. Humor.
Ratings: T
Word Count: ~1,700
Pairings/Characters: Fred Jones/Shaggy Rogers.
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! Reviews are awesome and very much appreciated!

This chapter kicks off the romance-y aspect of the fic, so consider yourselves warned for that. Also counts as one of my

No Matter What / Ronan Keating – making out

The winter formal, creatively dubbed the Snow Dance by the school system, is held the last night before their break begins. Pretty much everyone is in attendance and that includes the Mystery Inc gang – sans Scooby Doo, who's occupying himself by playing in the snow outside.

They arrive in the Mystery Machine, Shaggy's outrageous outfit somehow compliments Velma's dress and Fred's does the same for Daphne's. They all have free passes to dance with whoever they want because they're not actually together, so after they get through the initial round of friendly greetings to other party guests, everyone but Shaggy takes off dancing. Even Velma's got a dance partner, some guy she runs into from the science club who loses his glasses about as often as she does.

Shaggy sips punch on the sidelines staring up at the bleachers which have been liberally decorated in shimmering silver snowflakes and sparkling white and blue streamers.

"Not dancing, Shaggy?" Daphne asks him, when she and Fred return after a few songs. She ignores his non-committal shrug and pulls him out to the dance floor for a couple of songs, and he gets a dance with Velma, too, while her science club guy is taking a break. Fred dances with a few of the girls from the cheerleading squad, mostly because he's kind of obligated to, with his position of starting quarterback.

But, then the music switches from a fast-paced techno song to something slower and everyone pairs off. Velma returns to her previous dance partner, Fred and Daphne move together, just so they can stay on the floor, and some random girl taps Shaggy on the shoulder.

"Like, hi," he says, with an awkward smile.

"Hey," she says, and then they're dancing together, too. "My name's Crystal," she says, once they've gotten through the first few beats without anyone stepping on toes. "You're Shaggy, right?"

He nods, "Yup, that'd be me," he nervously replies. "You're… in my history class, aren't you?"

"I am," Crystal replies, looking flattered to be recognized, "Your project on Sharpsburg was pretty impressive. To be honest, I kind of thought you were a bit of a slacker up until then."

He laughs, can't really take offense to it since he really didn't care about his grades up until it meant being held back while the rest of the gang moved on. "I did, too," he says instead.

Shaggy doesn't notice that Fred's watching him during this exchange, though.

***

"Hello? Earth to Fred?" Daphne sighs, trying to regain his wandering attention. "You're not being very subtle, you know. At least you remain as transparently jealous now as you were with me over summer."

Fred's mouth opens and closes a few times as he tries to think of a way to deny what she's claiming, "What are you talking about? I don't have anything to be jealous about; you know I'm not dating anyone."

She laughs, "Please, you've been looking at him like that since before he saved you from drowning, so I know it's not another hayloft thing."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Daph."

"Fine, don't tell him. But I happen to know Crystal has a major crush on him, so if you're okay with seeing him with her then I guess that's that." She shrugs and lets her arms drop from Fred's shoulders as the song ends. "For the record, he looks at you the same way." She walks away mumbling about stupid boys and missed opportunities.

Fred considers the situation carefully, and then follows Shaggy and Crystal off the dance floor.

***

"So, like, you're really into the Civil War, huh?" Shaggy asks, as he grabs two cups of punch from the snack table, and offers one to Crystal.

She nods and sips at the drink, looking about as nervous as he felt doing that presentation – at least before he'd noticed Fred. "I think it's pretty interesting," she admits, "is that weird?"

"No, not at all," he answers. After all, he hunts crazy people dressed in costumes who have almost caused he and his friends serious harm, he certainly can't talk about weird.

Crystal smiles and then she's biting her lip and looking even more nervous. Her nervousness is putting Shaggy on edge. "So, ugh, I was wondering if maybe you'd want to-"

Her question is cut off when Fred appears from nowhere. "Hey, Shags," he says, a hand landing on Shaggy's shoulder of its own volition – which Shaggy seems to lean into about as instinctively. And yeah, he knows what he interrupted, but then that was the point. He only feels a little bit like a jerk for cutting her off. "You mind if we go outside? I, ugh, need to talk to you about something important."

Shaggy immediately thinks of Freddy's precarious relationship with his father – who arrived home last night – and so he's nodding and letting Fred drag him away before any other alternatives can really cross his mind.

He's not sure where to go to keep from being overheard. Nowhere inside is safe, and just stepping outside might not work, either. He settles for pulling Shaggy into the back of the Mystery Machine. "Sorry I interrupted your conversation with Crystal," he says.

"Like, no problem, man," Shaggy assures him, "what's going on?"

Fred has no idea what to say. He might've thought about it, yeah, but everything he'd thought about even possibly saying has abandoned his brain and left him in the lurch. He sighs and decides to just talk. "You know how you and Velma didn't really have any chemistry?" He gets an awkward and somewhat suspicious nod in response. "Well, neither did Daphne and I, really. I mean, after the whole hayloft thing, we kind of worked and I just figured that's what I was supposed to do. But, we all saw how that worked out."

Shaggy just looks bafflingly confused. "Why are you telling me this? Is it a warning because I was talking to Crystal? Cause, like, I'm really not interested in dating her and even if I was I don't think the whole hayloft factor comes into play…"

He tries and fails to hide the sigh of relief at hearing that. "Good to know, but no. This isn't about her. Not really."

"Alright," Shaggy says, "then, like, what is it about?"

Just say it, he thinks, tell him. His mind fabricates this big, long speech that details the reasons why this is a phenomenally stupid idea and there's another, much longer, list that details why it is a phenomenally amazing idea, but what he actually ends up ineloquently blurting out is: "I like you."

It's short and to the point. Maybe too short and maybe too to the point, because Shaggy's just kind of blankly staring at him.

"Shags?"

"Like, you like me?" He says the words as if they are a completely foreign concept to him, as if it's impossible that someone could possibly be saying that to him.

"I like you. A lot." Fred emphasizes. If he thought it would help, and not terrify Shaggy into running, he'd probably admit to more, but he's not risking this by pushing too far too fast.

Shaggy starts laughing then, and Fred isn't entirely sure that he didn't break something of importance in his friend's head with his admission, but then he's talking and the laughing makes a little more sense. "You know, Crystal was sitting in front of you when I did that presentation. She noticed that I was grinning like an idiot the whole time, and I guess it looked like I was smiling at her and not because you were there."

Fred's hand lands on Shaggy's, "does that mean you like me, too?"

Shaggy nods and notices that they've shifted a lot closer to each other in the dim lighting of the van. "I, like, kind of really want to kiss you right now, but what if there's nothing there, either?"

"That is not even possible," Fred responds, as he lets his hand curl around the back of Shaggy's neck. "And I'll prove it to you." With that, he's closing the last few inches between them, pressing his lips against Shaggy's in what is meant to be a short kiss. Stars and fireworks and other clichéd sayings explode between them, and it quickly becomes a very long kiss because neither of them can actually seem to break it, up until the point that air becomes an undeniably crucial necessity.

Fred starts to say something that might be, "Told you so, Shags," but now that they've both caught their breath, Shaggy kisses him again and he just kind of mumbles it against Shaggy's mouth instead. More involved and a little less hesitant this time, lips and tongue and teeth mash together in less than gentle movements spurred on by unfounded levels of chemistry. When that one ends, Fred stays leaned in, forehead pressed against Shaggy's with his hand still buried in purposefully messy brown hair.

Shaggy's kind of half-smiling at him in utter disbelief and Fred is only a little surprised when he says something like, "Why would you wanna be with me, anyway?" when his nerves get the best of him. He's wearing the same self-deprecating look that had appeared on his face after Velma originally shot him down for their date, and then there's a full on panicked look, "Is this one of those casual things you were talking about over summer? Just, like, hanging out?"

Fred is quick to squash that idea. "This is in no way casual for me, I swear, Shags. I'm completely serious about this, have been for a while, I just… didn't know how to tell you." He adds in another quick kiss for good measure and it's kind of ridiculous how much different it is kissing him than it had been kissing Daphne, how much better they fit together. "And as for why I want to be with you, I'm not even going to dignify something that ridiculous with an answer – why wouldn't I want to be with you?"

There's a lot more kissing after that.