Fic: When the Movie Ends (Comfortember)

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: When the Movie Ends
Chapters: 1/1
Author:csi_sanders1129
Genre: Friendship.
Ratings: K+
Word Count: 366
Pairings/Characters: Shaggy Rogers, Fred Jones.
Synopsis: In which Shaggy is not a fan of scary movies.
Comments: Written for Comfortember 2020, Prompt: Movie Night. This was actually the first thing I wrote for Comfortember, but I’m posting in prompt order, so... Set either in Mystery Begins!verse or What’s New Scooby Doo!verse. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!

"Like, why did it have to be a horror movie?" Shaggy laments, lying in his bed in the darkness of his room, still very much awake a solid four hours after the film they'd watched had ended. Friday night movies had developed into something of a tradition in the time since the gang's first mystery together, even moreso now that they're all renting a house together, and they always seemed to lean toward the scarier flicks – as if there wasn't enough mystery solving and supernatural shenanigans in their day to day lives.

Scooby, who'd slept through most of tonight's gruesome and gory film, remains soundly asleep in his usual spot at the foot of Shaggy's bed, completely oblivious to his friend's insomnia.

He grabs his phone off the nightstand and sends a single message to a single recipient. He can hear the subtle ping of a received message in the next room, but he doesn't know if he'll get a response. Surely, he's the only one still awake in the house.

Several long moments pass before the display of his phone changes, alerting him to the fact that the recipient of his message is typing something in response. But a message never comes through, and the three little dots disappear.

Shaggy's beginning to think he imagined the notification entirely, or, if he didn't, that whatever message he'd been about to get maybe wasn't very nice – chances were the message had woken it's recipient from a sound sleep.

But then his bedroom door creaks slowly open and then slowly closed again. Fred's there, in his room, crossing to stand at Shaggy's bedside, still half-asleep, stifling a yawn, a pillow in hand.

Without question, he lifts the blanket in invitation and the other boy crawls in beside him, nudging Scooby just enough so that he actually fits (Scooby does not mind, he sleeps like a partially moveable rock) and settles in. He's on his side, facing Shaggy.

"Like, thanks," he says, offering a small, but relieved, smile. "Sorry I woke you up for this."

"Next time, you can pick the movie," Fred promises, one arm settling loosely around Shaggy's chest.

It's easy enough to fall asleep after that.