csi_sanders1129 | Fic: Courage (Reply)

Title: Courage
Chapters: 11/10
Author:

csi_sanders1129
Genre: Friendship. Drama. Romance. Angst. Humor.
Ratings: T
Word Count: ~3,900
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 is the last chapter. Sad to see it end, but the boys get their happy ending, so yeah. Also, I should mention that despite the overall rating of T, this chapter is rated M. Seriously. M. This is your warning. The few lines of lyrics belong to Alex Band of The Calling.

Also counts as a response to

Rest Of Our Lives / Alex Band

Shaggy finds himself pressed back against the door of the hotel room the second after it clicks shut behind them. "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. He pushes off the door and spins them around, so Fred's against it now and his hands shrug the tuxedo jacket off of his shoulders and Shaggy's pressing kisses against the exposed skin on his neck. He shrugs out of his own jacket, more ridiculous and colorful than Fred's standard black one, and then his hands settle on the task of undoing the many, many buttons on Fred's vest and dress-shirt.

Fred tilts his head back and kind of groans when Shaggy hits a sensitive spot just below his ear, though it's certainly not the first time he's made a target of it. And he's fumbling awkwardly at the buttons on Shaggy's vest and shirt, but with less success given his present state of distraction.

Shaggy's hands slide up his chest to push the vest and shirt off his shoulders and down his arms and he is very clearly frustrated to find an undershirt underneath.

"Here," Fred says, dragging the thin material over his head and tossing it aside. Now that Shaggy isn't assaulting his neck, he can more coherently focus on getting the older boy out of his clothes, too. He has the vest and shirt undone in seconds and kind of laughs when he finds a similar undershirt on Shaggy. "You're right, there are way too many layers involved in this."

"Like, no kidding," Shaggy retorts as he struggles to free himself from the numerous shirts. Once he's free, he's back to the kissing. Starts with lips again, moves across jaw and neck – takes a moment to catch that place under Fred's ear again and leaves a suction bruise behind – and then he follows along his collarbone. Fred's hand tangles in his hair around the time he reaches chest level, nipping lightly at deliciously bare skin.

But, then Fred's other hand is working at undoing his belt and then into his pants and Shaggy kind of loses focus once Fred brushes against him through his boxers. He's already hard and he makes some indistinguishable sound and his hips move forward of their own volition.

"Mm, and no one's walking in on us this time," Fred mumbles against his ear. They'd gotten a little further than this once before, but Shaggy's parents had come barging into the basement without knocking. Luckily, they'd still been curled up in Shaggy's bed and under the covers, or else that would have been a way more embarrassing experience.

Shaggy pushes into Fred's hand again and he shoves at the younger boy's pants until they fall to pool around his ankles. "Like, don't jinx it, man," he says.

Fred extricates his hand, but only to get the rather limiting pants out of his way. They both spend a moment trying not to trip over their piles of discarded clothing as they stumble their way out of shoes and socks. It all gets kicked aside to deal with later.

"I, like, kinda want to try something," Shaggy admits and the flush that spreads across his chest and all the way up to his ears makes Fred more than interested in whatever that something is.

"Okay," Fred agrees without question or hesitation. Shaggy catches his hand and he lets the older boy drag him toward the bed. His knees hit the edge and he falls back without resistance. He expects Shaggy to follow after him, but his boyfriend is still awkwardly standing at the edge of the bed. He sits up. "What's wrong, Shags?"

"Ugh, I don't know if I'll be any good at it…"

"We don't have to do anything you don't want to," Fred says, and he wants them to be perfectly clear on that idea going in to this.

"I want to," Shaggy says quickly. "Just, like, tell me to stop if it sucks or something."

Fred still has no idea what 'it' is supposed to be, but then Shaggy's dropping to his knees and he might have an idea by that point. Hands settle on his hips and Shaggy's mouth drops sloppy, open-mouthed kisses in a trail down his chest and stomach. Fred just watches and every once in a while Shaggy looks up and catches his eyes before he's back to dropping lower and lower.

"Shaggy," the word comes out as a sharp inhale when suddenly Shaggy's mouth is on him through the thin fabric of his boxer-briefs. He does it a couple more times while his fingers hook into the elastic band and tug down insistently; he lifts up off the bed enough for Shaggy to get them out of the way.

The other boy is just as hard as he is when Shaggy curls his hand around the base of Fred's cock. After a few experimental drags of his hand over the sensitive flesh he leans forward, nervously licking his lips before he lets the head of the organ slip into his mouth. He knows what he's doing in theory – after all, he is a teenage boy with access to the internet, thank you very much – but theory and practice are two different things entirely. It takes a minute to get used to the idea of what he's doing, and another to grow accustomed to the heavy weight on his tongue, and he remembers something about watching your teeth so he curls his lips in a little bit to keep from messing this up within the first ten seconds.

Fred unexpectedly bucks his hips when Shaggy's tongue slips along the underside of his cock and he has to use his free hand to try to keep the younger boy still so he doesn't end up choking. He imagines that would be very un-romantic.

"S-sorry, Shags," Fred says. Shaggy figures he must be doing something right because he's never heard Fred's voice break like that.

His hand moves kind of in sync with what he's trying to do with his mouth. It's kind of sloppy but Fred doesn't seem to mind so he keeps going. Mostly he's just trying random things to see if it gets a reaction. A few minutes in, he tries flicking his tongue over the tip and Fred just kind of shudders. Shaggy makes some sort of inaudible noise in response and whatever vibrations that gives off earns him a string of inarticulate expressions and a loud groan.

Then there's a hand gently curling into his hair, tugging lightly, but Fred's not like forcing him down further or anything. If anything, he realizes - a little too late - it's probably a warning, because Fred comes a few seconds later. Shaggy doesn't even think about pulling off, doesn't think about not swallowing once Fred's done. It tastes kind of weird, but it's definitely not the strangest thing he's ever swallowed.

"So, ugh," Shaggy says, bringing a hand up to wipe at his mouth; his lips feel kind of sore, but whatever. "How was it?"

Fred still seems like an inert blob sprawled across the bed, so it might not be the best time to ask. But then Fred's reaching up and pulling at Shaggy's wrist until he's on the bed, too. "Fuck," he says, – and Fred doesn't usually curse, so that's pretty informative in and of itself – "you're amazing."

The older boy flushes red again, and Fred captures swollen lips without a second thought, tasting himself on Shaggy's tongue. "Thanks," he whispers, but he hasn't gotten any relief yet – too nervous about what he was doing to Fred to concentrate on his own state of arousal – so he's kind of grinding his hips against Freddy's.

Fred's hand snakes between them and works its way into Shaggy's boxers. He's got the older boy kind of mumbling incoherently and hanging on the edge of release.

And then the phone rings.

Startled, both boys freeze like someone has just walked in on them. There's a moment of relief and then a moment of confusion – who the hell is calling them now? – and another in which they contemplate ignoring it. But, it's Shaggy's parent's ringtone, so that might not be a good idea.

"What're they calling for?" Fred asks, exasperated as he shuffles over to their pile of clothes to search for his cell phone. As usual, Shaggy didn't bring his, so it's Fred's that's ringing.

"Gah, why now?" Shaggy groans, rather miserable in his present state, but Fred tosses him the phone all the same.

His father's voice booms on the other end of the line. It's on speaker, so Fred hears it all, too. "Norville, I know it's late, but your mother just had a nightmare. I know it's weird. But it's your mother, what do you expect?" There a pause in the conversation and some indecipherable shouts from somewhere in the background, presumably in opposition to such comments. "Anyway, she had a nightmare and made me call you to make sure that you boys are okay. So, you're okay?"

Shaggy stares at the phone. This cannot be happening. "We're okay."

There's a sharp inhale and then Shaggy's Dad is shouting something like, "DARLING, THEY'RE OKAY, I TOLD YOU SO!" And Fred and Shaggy both cringe at the volume. Mr. Rogers then ends the conversation with, "Alright, have fun boys. Be safe! See you in the morning," And hangs up before either of them can say anything else.

"Did… did that really just happen?" Fred asks, still staring in disbelief at the now silent phone.

"Like, yeah, I think so," Shaggy laughs. He turns the phone off and sets it aside so it cannot interrupt them further. "That didn't, like, totally kill the mood or anything."

The younger boy is still kind of incredulously laughing, too, but he shifts closer to Shaggy and mumbles something like, "I can fix that," before the making out starts up again. They're distracted from the ridiculous phone call quickly enough and pretty soon they're both worked up all over again.

"You want this to go further, Shags?" Fred asks, in all seriousness. "We don't have to, we can just-" Fred starts to offer reassurances in case the answer is no.

"I want it to. Do you?" Shaggy answers, sounding more confident now than he did earlier. Luckily he knows what'll happen in theory there, too.

Fred nods and Shaggy slides off the bed to grab a few things from his overnight bag. He tosses a condom and a bottle of lotion onto the bed and mumbles something about packing them just in case. He knows it'll hurt at first, but if he can talk Fred through doing this right, it won't be for long. He'll just have to deal with the awkwardness.

"I, ugh, have to get you ready, right?" Fred asks, and maybe he was exploring the internet, too. "Or are you getting me ready?"

That throws Shaggy. He hadn't really expected Fred to be up for that, at least maybe not right away. The idea is rather intriguing, though and it definitely plants some interesting images in his head. "Hnng, maybe, like, next time. You can top for now." He grabs a pillow and settles it under his hips as he lies down.

"Okay," Fred agrees as he grabs up the lotion and coats a few fingers liberally in the substance before he moves to hover over Shaggy's prone form. His hand drags up and down Shaggy's cock once or twice before it drops lower and he lets one slick finger circle around his entrance. Fred watches Shaggy carefully as he slowly allows it to slip in up to the first knuckle.

"Weird," Shaggy concludes, even though it kind of stings, too.

Fred slides his finger in a little further and then it's just tight, warm heat all around. Shaggy's actively wincing by that point and clearly it's more than a little bit uncomfortable but when Fred offers to stop, Shaggy shakes his head.

"It's getting better," he says, "try moving around a little."

He does that for a few minutes before Shaggy starts to relax again. He knows that's not enough, though, so he starts to slide a second finger in, too.

Shaggy's sharp inhale stops him from moving at all and he sees the older boy's hands fist into the comforter on the bed, his knuckles quickly turn white. "Tell me to stop and I will, Shags," Fred says softly, but Shaggy's still shaking his head.

Fred gets two fingers in as far as he can and tries to move slowly. At some point, he brushes against a spot that feels denser than everything else and Shaggy's hips arch off the bed in response. Despite the pain of being stretched, Shaggy's pushing down on his fingers like he's trying to get more contact. "Do that again, Freddy," he requests and when Fred complies he gets a string of incoherent expletives in response.

He slips a third finger in while Shaggy's distracted and while it still clearly hurts, Fred manages to get his mind off of it pretty quickly. A few more minutes pass and by that point, Shaggy's regained any momentum he lost with the pain.

"That good, you think?" Fred questions, extricating his fingers even before Shaggy offers a disappointed but affirmative response. He reaches for the condom, but he has no idea where it got to – he thinks Shaggy might've knocked it off the bed – but it's not like he's getting Shaggy pregnant or anything and he knows neither of them have been with anyone before this, so he's not really all that worried. He says as much to Shaggy and asks if he's okay with it and he gets another affirmative answer.

Shaggy's eyes fixate on him as he coats himself in the lotion and settles between his boyfriend's legs. The older boy looks kind of tense and nervous so Fred takes a moment to kiss his way up Shaggy's chest and neck and finally to his lips as he lines up. Fred feels him start to relax so he pushes in a little bit.

There's a distinct hiss of pain and this time Shaggy's hands clutch desperately at Fred's biceps, leaving biting, half-moon impressions in his wake courtesy of blunted fingernails. He's using one hand to brace himself against the mattress, but the hand that isn't doing that curls around Shaggy's fading erection, offering lazy, drawn-out movements to try to calm him down. "It's okay, Shags," he mumbles against Shaggy's ear. "Just hold on and it'll be okay."

The older boy offers a nod, otherwise silent as he clenches his eyes closed. But he's starting to move his hips a little in time with Fred's hand and Fred risks pushing in a little deeper.

He'd thought Shaggy had been hot and tight around his fingers, but around his cock, it's some sort of indescribable level of amazing. By the time he's completely buried in Shaggy, he's fighting just to stay still until he gets the okay to move.

"Ugh, like, you can move… just go slow," Shaggy finally says. Fred pulls back all the way and moves forward again just as gradually. A few more restrained thrusts and Shaggy's moving to meet his movements.

He picks up speed and pretty soon he's getting a litany of words like faster, more, harder and Freddy and fuck pouring from Shaggy's mouth. Some of them get cut off with clumsy, graceless meetings of lips and tongue. Shaggy arches off the bed again when Fred hits his prostate several strokes in a row and even though Fred curls his fingers around the base of Shaggy's cock to hold him off, all too soon Shaggy comes crashing over the edge. Strands of white splatter against Fred's hand and both of their stomachs and suddenly everything gets even more intense for Fred as muscles contract around him from inside of Shaggy while he rides out the waves of his release. "Fuck, Shags," he garbles out, only getting in a few more arrhythmic movements before he's coming, too.

Shaggy feels Fred explode inside of him just before Fred lands kind of half on top of him. The younger boy rolls to the side a few minutes later and his arms curl around Shaggy's lithe frame. "You are definitely trying that at some point," Fred tells him and Shaggy's kind of glad that the initial pain he was in didn't turn Fred off of being willing to try switching, either.

"Later," Shaggy manages to say, still kind of blissed out from his overwhelming release. His eyes dilate when he sees Fred drag his tongue along one of the ribbons of white painted on his stomach. He reaches out to let his fingers settle in Fred's hair and pull him down to bring their lips together, and several lazy, open-mouthed kisses follow that. "I love you," he mumbles out again.

"And I love you back, Shags," Fred answers with a content smile. He disappears long enough to fetch some wet washcloths from the bathroom so they can clean up, but as soon as that's done, he's wrapping his arms around Shaggy again and pretty soon they're both drifting off to sleep.

***

Despite their busy night, the boys wake up ridiculously early.

They're not set to leave until 11, at check-out time, but they're both up and showered long before that. This is especially impressive given that their joint shower – theoretically meant to save time – inevitably turns into a very, very long shower.

Fred and Shaggy kind of lounge around the room in nothing but pajama pants for a while. After all, they've cleaned up and mostly packed – all they have to do is change back into regular clothes – so they're not really in any hurry.

"You know," Fred says randomly, when they're both relaxing on the bed after their post-shower activities; "I still owe you a dance, don't I?"

Shaggy laughs because he was really only joking when he said it – and after what that comment started, he hadn't really expected Fred to want to dance with him. "You don't have to."

"Yes, yes I do. Now," he starts, climbing off the bed, "come on."

Shaggy kind of grins and climbs off the bed, wincing as he first moves due to their activities last night. He digs through the depths of his overnight bag to find his mp3 player and tosses it to Fred. "It's your choice – pick a song," he says.

The younger boy spends a few moments scrolling through the wide array of music in search of an applicable song. Eventually he settles on one that's slow enough to dance to. He takes one ear-bud for himself and offers the other to Shaggy.

Shaggy only kind of recognizes the song, but it works well for what they need it for.

His arms curl around Fred's neck and Fred's settle on Shaggy's hips, tracing absent patterns on the smooth skin over sharp bones there. They move as close as they can get, slowly drifting in a circle as they both listen to the music.

The song is pretty perfect, actually, Shaggy realizes as it progresses. It's even devoid of the gratuitously specific pronouns a lot of songs tend to contain. "Nice choice," Shaggy says quietly as they easily sway to the music.

"A story with an ending
That I would never change.

And if you ever need me
I'll be there for you.
And if you stop believing
Just know we'll make it through.
And when you're down and broken
Well, I'll be by your side.
'Cause I know that today
Is the first day of the rest of our lives."

"I figured it was appropriate," Fred answers, absently humming along to the music as he leans forward enough to press his lips against Shaggy's for the umpteenth time in the last few hours. "The next song should be pretty mellow, too, if you want to keep dancing."

Shaggy nods and they both kind of get lost in the music and in each other as the song finishes out. The next one, a song by the same artist, picks up and it's just as slow as Fred predicted it would be.

Half way through that one, however, there's a knock on their hotel room door. It's still early, so it's unexpected, but Daphne and Velma appear when Fred reluctantly separates from Shaggy to open it.

"Sorry to interrupt," Daphne starts, smirking. "But…"

"But, we've got another mystery on our hands." Velma finishes. "We've called all parents already to let them know we'll be back later than expected."

"What's the mystery?" Shaggy asks.

"You know how we're supposed to go see Captain Morgan next week about that trip to see Skull Island?" Daphne says, "Well, he's apparently disappeared. People are saying that it was the ghost of a Skull Island prisoner, Old Iron Face."

Shaggy gulps, "Like, sorry I asked."

Fred claps a hand on his shoulder, "We'll meet you in the lobby in a few minutes, girls," he says and they head off to grab their own bags. Once they're gone, he says, "We can skip this one if you want, Shags."

"What, like, really?" The older boy asks, clearly surprised by the option, as they both hurry to change and get their stuff together.

"We just had that hang up at the haunted house last night, and we never find mysteries this close together," Fred logically explains, but it still seems weird. "This one's up to you."

Shaggy shakes his head and hovers in front of his boyfriend. "Okay, Freddy. If you're sure." Fred's hands pulls him close enough for another quick kiss and they mumble out 'I love you' and 'I love you back' again before they have to return to the world outside of their hotel room. Shaggy catches Fred's hand and pulls him toward the door once they've got backpacks slung across their shoulders. "C'mon," he says. "We've, like, got a mystery to solve."

'Cause I know that today
Is the first day of the rest of our lives.