csi_sanders1129 | Fic: Courage (Reply)

Title: Courage
Chapters: 10/11
Author:

csi_sanders1129
Genre: Friendship. Drama. Romance. Angst. Humor.
Ratings: T
Word Count: ~3,200
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. 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 was supposed to be the last chapter, but you know what? I lied. There are 11. The last chapter is a continuation of this chapter because the boys were demanding a happier ending than this one. And after all the stuff I threw at them, they kind of deserved it. So. Yeah.

Also counts as a response to

Courage / Orianthi

As graduating students, the Mystery Inc gang is understandably invested in attending their Senior Prom. Velma is going with Derek, the boy from her science club, and Daphne with a fellow drama geek, Calvin. While Fred and Shaggy do not technically have dates, they're kind of going together.

However, there is one rather large obstacle in the face of enjoying what is sure to be an interesting night: The Mystery Machine runs out of gas.

They'd spent close to three hours stranded on some back road of a short-cut that had been meant to get them un-lost after Scooby Doo spilled some unidentifiable foodstuff all over the map, and there was no cell phone signal. There had been an impressive mansion just down the road, but it turned out to be housing a Headless Specter that was determined to keep them from getting out of there.

It hadn't helped that most of their little group proved utterly incapable of walking away from an unsolved mystery, so Fred and Velma convinced Shaggy and Daphne to stick it out long enough to unmask the bad guy.

The process of solving the mystery involved a lot of running around, some dark and dusty rooms, a shallow well, and a few odd clues. Eventually, Shaggy and Scooby manage to accidentally capture the creeping creeper and Fred does the unmasking, revealing the owner of the house, Mr. Stillwall, who really isn't a bad guy after all. From there, they have to catch the actual bad guy, a less than friendly neighbor looking for a missing inheritance. The gang, being the apparent overachievers that they are, manages to find that, too and Mr. Stillwall gives them a generous reward for their help in addition to some gas to get them back on the road.

They're in a little less than perfect condition when they arrive, and kind of tired, but they're not letting the night go to waste. As it is, they've missed about half of the main party.

Velma and Daphne's dates are quite worried and a little annoyed by the delay, but both girls promise impressive make-up dates with their share of the unexpected reward money, so things get smoothed over pretty easily. They're off on the dance-floor in no time.

Fred and Shaggy, left on the sidelines, opt to take a few minutes to relax after their unexpected adventure. They grab sodas from the bar and then claim a few open seats.

"Next time, I vote we take the short-cut that doesn't go past the haunted mansion," Shaggy says, as he sprawls out in the chair. "That was exhausting."

"I'll make it up to you later," Fred smirks, "if you're not too tired to enjoy our hotel room, that is." The Prom is being held in the ballroom of some fancy hotel about three hours away from home. It's not an unmanageable drive, but after their excitement earlier, Fred's glad that they all decided to stay here for the night anyway.

Fred and Shaggy have their own room booked and even though they haven't gotten very far thus far in their relationship, the plans are to change that tonight.

The flush that colors Shaggy's face assures Fred that his boyfriend is looking forward to it as much as he is. Maybe he's just as nervous, too.

"I'll definitely, like, be awake for that," Shaggy says quietly and Fred somehow resists the urge to suggest bailing on the party right now and heading upstairs.

Daphne appears then, just as Fred is reconsidering the merits of that idea. "Come dance, guys," She says, grabbing Fred's hand and pulling him to his feet.

"You coming, Shags?" Fred calls back, but Shaggy says that he'll be over in a minute, as soon as he finishes his drink.

He's not alone for more than thirty seconds before someone is hovering in front of him. He cautiously looks up – always a chance it could be one of his many bullies – and is surprised to see Crystal. "Hey," he says, somewhat awkwardly.

Since he started dating Fred, he's gotten better at spotting when people are interested or flirting. Not only from his own personal experiences with Fred, but also from the girls he's noticed trying to get Fred's attention. It also helps that Daphne told him about Crystal's crush on him. At least he's not entirely oblivious this time.

"Hi. So, ugh, do you maybe want to dance?" She proposes, looking between him and the dance floor anxiously. "I mean, if you don't want to, I understand…"

Shaggy doesn't know what to do. It's not like he can dance with Fred since they agreed that outing themselves right now might not be the best idea on the planet. And Velma's off with Derek, so his usual dance partner isn't available, either.

Reluctantly, he nods his agreement and gets to his feet. Fred knows he's not interested in her; it shouldn't be a big deal. "Just one, though. We, like, got lost on the way here and ended up running around some mansion out in Nowheresville for hours." He makes the mistake of mentioning the Civil War diary that gave them the clue to find the treasure, though, which is very bad because his Civil War knowledge has abandoned his brain now that finals are over. She's asking questions that he doesn't have the answer to before he can even add in, "So we're all pretty exhausted," which only makes him feel more tired.

"It's sweet that you remembered I'm into the Civil War. It's been a while since we talked," Crystal says, once it's clear he knows pretty much nothing about the diary. He's not sure why she expected him to forget that, though – she talked about it enough, and the shift in his relationship with Fred that night had certainly stuck the events of the Snow Dance firmly in his brain. Then they're finally moving to the dance floor, which is all well and good, but she tries to grab his hand for purposes that don't involve weaving through the crowd of students and even if he is dubiously okay with the dancing, he's not okay with more than that. He manages to avoid the awkwardness by moving to absently scratch at his neck like he didn't actually notice her move.

Once they get to a spot that isn't too crowded, he notices Fred and Daphne a few yards away and he has every intention of drifting over in that direction as soon as possible. As his luck would have it, though, a slow song comes on and unfortunately, it's the same song he and Crystal danced to at the Snow Dance. He might not remember that, but she does and she grins happily as she points it out.

"Uh," he starts, fishing for a reason to bail out on this right now. "Crystal, I, like, ugh…" Despite the fact that he's starting to backpedal, she matches every step he takes. When he runs out of space, she's still moving closer and he doesn't catch on fast enough to stop her before she leans forward enough to kiss him.

***

Fred is completely oblivious to what Shaggy is going through up until Daphne gestures toward a corner of the room that seems less crowded than others.

"I think Shaggy may be in need of your assistance," she points out.

He spots his boyfriend backing up like some masked monster is approaching him and he spends a few seconds looking around for so ridiculous a cause up until he spots someone following after Shaggy. It's Crystal. "What…?"

"He looks pretty freaked out." Daphne nudges him forward, following close behind as they approach Shaggy and Crystal. It's just in time to see her kiss his boyfriend.

Fred stops in his tracks, but Daphne dodges around him and continues up to them. Even though it's pretty obvious that Shaggy hadn't been all that interested in getting that kiss, it doesn't make the jealous queasiness building in his chest lessen any. Shaggy could realize he doesn't want this anymore – after all, the only girl Shaggy's ever kissed before is Velma and just because they didn't have any chemistry doesn't mean that'll be the case with everyone.

"Fred!" Daphne says, and it's clear this isn't the first time she's tried to get his attention. He must have really zoned out, as she's standing right in front of him now, and Shaggy is just behind her, staring at the ground. She grabs their arms and leads them out of the main party room and into one of several tiny offshoot rooms that are mostly there to provide more seating. This one is empty. Daphne leaves them inside and shuts the door behind her, intending to stand guard until this mess is resolved. A text to Velma quickly brings her an assistant.

***

Shaggy doesn't know what he's supposed to say. Fred's eerily silent and it's seriously worrying him. "I didn't want to do that," he finally settles on, but even though he didn't really do anything wrong, he still feels like that's not enough.

"I know," Fred sighs, which is surprising. "I saw you trying to get away from her."

"Are you mad?" He tries, because Fred still isn't looking at him.

The younger boy shakes his head. "No, not mad, Shags."

"I was, like, trying to tell her I was dating someone when she kissed me, Freddy, I swear," Shaggy says, as he slips into nervous rambling mode. "All I said was that I'd dance for one song, but then it was, like, a slow one. Like, the same one from the Snow Dance, apparently and she…"

"Shag," Fred says, and he moves to hover in front of his boyfriend, "It's okay, really. I just… would you have… if you weren't with me…?"

Shaggy's only about 90% sure he's understanding what Fred is attempting to ask him and it's weird to see Fred seem so insecure about something – he's only seen him like this when he's talking about his Dad and Shaggy doesn't ever want to be grouped in with him. "I wasn't interested in her before I was with you, and, like, I'm not interested in her now," Shaggy says. "I'm with you and nothing and no one can change how I feel about you." He catches Fred's hand and anxiously bites his lip. "I was, ugh, going to tell you later, but, like, now might be a better time to say it."

Fred doesn't even have time to ask 'say what?' before Shaggy's kissing him. It lasts for a long, drawn-out minute before Shaggy pulls away enough to whisper, "I love you."

The grin that spreads across Freddy's face almost makes the craziness with Crystal worth it. Fred's hands come up to frame his face and then there's more kissing and there's a hand buried in his hair and he's trying to press closer and closer to Fred. If they were upstairs, he would have a pretty good idea of where this would be leading. But they're not in their room, they're in a public place where people can walk in and catch them. He might not really care if they're out or not, but Fred's pretty worried about it. Somehow, he's the one to break them apart, putting a few feet of distance between them so that they don't start again.

"We, like, we should stop. Or leave the party. Or something, but we should definitely stop doing this here." He's kind of rambling, but Fred's still grinning like it's Christmas. "You okay?"

"I'm awesome," Fred answers, as he nudges Shaggy back toward the door.

Velma's waiting on the other side with a fully informed smirk. "You two kiss and make up?"

Fred laughs, "We might have."

She rolls her eyes and starts to walk away, "Daphne's talking Crystal down, so you should be clear of her for the rest of the night, Shaggy."

They're both glad to hear that. They don't really need any more drama tonight. "You, ugh, think you might want to leave soon?" Fred asks, as it looks like some people have already started abandoning the school-sanctioned party for various after-parties.

Shaggy nods, but Fred catches him looking toward the dance floor. "I wish I could dance with you here."

"Me, too, Shags," Fred answers, "but I don't… I…"

Fred is just full of insecurity tonight. Shaggy squeezes his shoulder gently. "I know you don't want to, and, like, I wouldn't make you. But you owe me a dance once we're alone upstairs."

They probably should have known that escaping more drama wouldn't be that easy.

"Jeez, Jones, and here I thought I was making things up just to screw with you," the regrettably familiar, slightly slurred, voice comes from behind them. When they turn around, Red actually seems kind of surprised his taunting proved true; he also seems kind of drunk. "No wonder you were sticking up for him all the time." A disbelieving laugh comes, followed by, "Dude, you're seriously with that freak-show?"

"Red, don't do this…" Shaggy tries, trying to spare Freddy from being outed by the biggest bully in the school in front of most of their graduating class.

Fred shakes his head and looks away and Red interprets this as a sign of weakness that he can further exploit. His voice amplifies in the room and he gets the attention of as many people as possible. "Fred Jones a fag, who would've guessed?" He stops to laugh, "Well, I guess I did, but still… So that's why he's been at all our practices and games. And why you always show up at school at the same time."

Shaggy doesn't know why they aren't walking away from this before it gets more out of hand. Daphne and Velma step up beside them, trying to glare Red away or something, but it's about as effective as expected.

"Like, I didn't know you cared so much," Shaggy snarks, because no one else is saying anything and this conversation needs to end, "to notice all that, I mean. Someone might think you liked us or something."

"Shut up, Rogers," Red growls out, as his hand darts forward to curl into Shaggy's shirt like it always does when he's about to get shoved into something.

Fred's had enough, though. He shakes his head again and looks Red in the eyes. He's done with this, he's done hiding, and he's done caring what a bunch of Neanderthals think of his feelings for Shaggy. "Get your hands off of my boyfriend, Herring."

All eyes turn to Fred. Even Shaggy's, "What're you doing?"

"You're not denying it, then?" Red asks, once again surprised. His grip on Shaggy loosens.

"Why would I? Shaggy's the best thing that's ever happened to me." Fred defends. Shaggy moves to Fred's side, kind of angled behind his shoulder. As brave as he was in standing up to Fred's father, Red is a little more terrifying for him.

Red laughs. "Is this a joke? It is, isn't it? This is some sort of payback for picking on him or something. Funny, Jones. You almost had me there."

As confused as Shaggy is by Fred's sudden change of heart on being out – not that they have much of a choice anymore – he knows that there's no going back now. A quick exchanged glance and a single nod are all he needs from Fred to confirm that.

Fred catches Shaggy's hand and squeezes lightly before he turns around enough to quickly press his lips against his boyfriend's. "We're not joking, Red. We've been together since December. But high school's over; there's nothing you can say or do to us anymore."

"Wanna bet?" Red counters, taking a staggered step forward.

Other students are starting to circle around them now, like there's going to be a fight or something. Everyone's whispering, some subtly, some less so. A few of the teachers acting as chaperones come over to break up the gaggle of students.

Red's gone silent, but they can tell he's fuming when Mr. Vespucci steps in and gets between them. "Now, that's enough, everyone. Get moving." Together with a few other teachers, most of the crowd gets shooed away. Then it's just the gang versus Red and a couple of stubborn onlookers who didn't drift too far away. "Is there a problem here?"

"No, Mr. Vespucci, we're leaving. C'mon, Freddy," Shaggy says, urging the younger boy to walk away before Red tries punching their faces in. "Let's go."

"Not so fast!" Red says, and he grabs Fred's shoulder before they can take more than a step. It's Fred's bad one, the one that's still kind of messed up from what Red let happen on the football field during the Championship game. While it's mostly healed, certain things tend to make it hurt like hell – Red's rough vice-grip is one of those things.

Fred hisses at the unexpected pain and Shaggy's moving before Mr. Vespucci can keep them apart.

"Get off of him!" Shaggy shouts, shoving Red back. Velma and Daphne pull Fred away just as Red tries for a swing at Shaggy. He easily avoids Red's sloppy and uncoordinated attempt – whatever level of intoxication the bully is at certainly helps, as does several years of practice at honing his dodging abilities. But, this time he fights back.

Shaggy swings and manages to land an impressive punch not unlike the one Fred had gifted the bully with last year. It's entirely in self-defense, as Red starts barreling forward on unsteady feet. Red stumbles backwards and ends up hitting the floor as he recoils in shock. Shaggy opts to ignore the colorful threats and the array of curses Red is spewing at his retreating figure. He's done.

Fred grabs his hand as they leave the room.

***

Shaggy finds himself pressed back against the door of the hotel room the second after it clicks shut. "Mmph," he gets out, before Fred's lips connect with his again. Shaggy drops their overnight bags – quickly fetched from the back of the Mystery machine – off to one side and let's his hands settle on Fred's hips, pulling him in closer.

"So, mm," Fred starts to say, but he's rather distracted when Shaggy's mouth opens against his and then his tongue is delving in and the older boy lightly nips at his bottom lip. "Were you okay with how all that turned out?"

It takes a minute for Shaggy's brain to realize what he's talking about, even when Fred pulls back enough to put a temporary stop to the kissing. "Like, I'm not particularly thrilled that Red outed us and we didn't out us, but I'm okay with the idea that it happened. And, ugh, thanks for, like, not denying it." That would have hurt a lot more than he's willing to admit. "You're the best thing that's happened to me, too."

"I, ugh, didn't say it earlier, when you did, but you better know that I love you back, Shags."

"I, like, had a pretty good idea, Freddy," Shaggy grins.