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ice-magician · 5 years

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The Crying Child

So, this was a thing I had been meaning to make for @spaceiplier ‘s AU since forever. Life happened and yadda yadda, but it’s finally done. In case you didn’t know, the main story is an AU mostly surroundly Team Iplier in space, but other Youtubers make appearances. I started to wonder what would happen if MatPat and Steph were there? What species would they be? What would they do? Anyway, here it is :)

The dazzle of holographic camera flashes blinded Matt. He should’ve been used to it by now. Having your own televised program beaming across galaxies came with its share of paparazzi. As the rain began to pour so with it came the onslaught of questions.

“How did you know the Vlocam monarchs were working deals behind their people’s backs?”

“Where do you get your intel, Mr. Patrick? Surely this isn’t all from you and your small team.”

“Do you have people working for you in each planet’s government?”

“HOW do you do it all with a new baby?”

So many questions. Though every species had their differences in appearance, politics, and genetic makeup, one thing remained constant- curiosity. This is what Mat loves most about every universe. Matt wiped soggy brown hair out of his eyes. He turned towards the horde of cameras, and put on his best award-winning smile.

“The secret is quite simple- work hard, and work with those you love. As for how my broadcast was correct, well…” Matt looks into the nearest camera and winked, “... it was just a theory.”

With that, Matt slipped into the parked pod, where an android driver was waiting on him. He was completely soaked from the downpour. Matt felt the water squish in his shoes, confident they would never recover. He continued to ignore the remaining flashes and questions that roared outside as he whisked away. Finally, some peace and quiet.

Matthew undid his all too formal tie, and took in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and became unbelievably grateful that today’s antics were over. Awards were always far too formal. Everyone there thinking they’re better than the person sitting next to them, planning and gossiping. Everyone who was anyone had been there. The Awards for Intergalactic Achievements were no small deal. Matt was no exception to the crowd of “stars”, not just for his show’s intergalactic popularity, but also for his family tree. Matthew was Ahtret, a species renowned for their wide vocal range and ability to copy any sound, including voices. Ahtrets with his vocal range were few and far between, especially on Treo, thus earning him attention Matt felt he didn’t deserve or need. He was a simple guy, and at that moment all that simple guy wanted was to go home, hug his family and pet his cat.

Now that the formalities were over, they would have their show to themselves. The goofy, nerdy, and all out crazy show that never put a mask on the Patrick family’s face. They were never ashamed of who they were, and that’s why it had gained so much traction. Making theories, being proven right time and time again was nice, but nothing was better than not having to wear a fake persona. That was what he loved. Do what you love, and love what you do, and all that.

Although the Patrick family loved their job with all their hearts, it came with drawbacks. Meetings with rather… unsavory individuals. Or that time the show was Matt looking behind the camera at their guest because they refused to be videoed. The show had even received a personal, and slightly threatening, invitation to GAAP headquarters because they believed the program to be hiding or withholding information. That had all been straightened out, thankfully. In the end, the Patricks had been offered to take on cold cases for GAAP. Despite their deep intrigue, Team Theorist declined the offer. Even though GAAP practically ran universes, something about their operations were shaddy… Actually, maybe the fact that they did run universes was what made them questionable at best. His father had taught him to question everything, do your own digging and not rely on what you see in holographic tabloids. So far, it had paid off, and, secretly of course, Matthew and Stephanie Patrick saw GAAP as another potential threat to the freedom that the organization claimed to protect.

They didn’t advertise this, of course… not yet, anyway. There wasn’t enough evidence to pin down GAAP for illicit or violent activities. Higher ups were good at covering their tracks. Well, two can play at that game. With a family to worry about, they had agreed that working directly with GAAP was unwise. Instead, Stephanie insisted that Matt go to GAAP events. They needed GAAP to think that a Patrick on the premises meant GAAP had their trust. Well, so goes the old saying, “Keep your friends close, and enemies closer.”

GAAP needed to believe that the Theorists were simply focusing on minuscule ideas. Who would be the next president of Maxfor? Was the Valsic Union dealing in illegal android sales? Stick to cosmetic topics, Stephanie had insisted. That was why she hadn’t been with him. She was busy at Theorist HO. Her and the building’s AI, JASON, were digging through files on mass servers for their next broadcast. Soon, though. Soon, they’d find something. Soon everyone would see GAAP for who Matt believed them to be.

Still, it was a shame she couldn’t make it to the awards. She would chuckle at the Velm’s dress that probably cost as much as the venue. She would add more flavor to the debate Matt had had with a man who attempted to argue about the state of Treo’s biotech core. Matt thought back to his cheesy response to the reporters before he stepped into the car. He could practically feel Stephanie rolling her eyes. The upstarts of the gala wouldn’t have been the only ones receiving side comments for cringe-inducing antics.

The awards had been held in a ballroom. Rows of decorative chairs lined up to face stage made of shining opal. Stephanie’s golden tinted skin would have dazzled under the shine of stage lights. The glittering gold lines streaking from the sides of her brown Aurumen eyes. Matt would have loved to hear her telekinetic thoughts on the characters that had surrounded him. Stephanie would have made the night bearable.

Speaking of thoughts….

Matt tapped his temple, stirring his eye’s connection to life.

“CHRIS, how’s the house?”

Considering how dangerous their job might get, the Patricks long ago decided it was best to get security links to their home installed. The computer chips comfortably sat in their temples, with contacts containing mini screens on their eyes and micro implants in their ears so they could hear. The chips’ signals were linked directly to their home, and live security camera feeds would be shown via the contacts. The Patricks had built the installments themselves. They didn’t trust that biotechnitions would do it correctly, considering a significant amount of Stephanie’s biological makeup was sunlight.

Sure, Treo had the galaxy’s best and brightest technicians, but the Patricks never shied away from a challenge. Besides, it had meant working together, using their extensive knowledge of tech to grow closer. That’s how they met in college, after all. In the end, Stephanie certainly handled her own with her microtech implant. It worked perfectly; she even used the gold and sunlight in her body to generate energy for the chip. Aurumens could communicate telepathically, but Matt could not. Considering this, Steph programmed the chip to open the conversation both ways. Undetectable telepathic communication made Matt giddy sometimes. It was like he was a kid playing spy, or hide and seek where he always won.

Now that they had a baby, that decision made long ago was truly coming into use. They could check the cameras in their house whenever they pleased. They quite literally had eyes and ears everywhere. CHRIS, their home’s holographic security AI, watched over the house while they were gone. Letting their cat Skip out, making sure their son Oliver’s bedroom was at a heat level comfortable for a growing Aurumen.

This knowledge usually provided a feeling of security. That night, however, when Matt tapped the sequence to his house, the only reply was static. Matt tapped his temple again, making sure the link is stable. Still nothing. No cameras blinked to life in his vision. No audio warbled to life.

“CHRIS? CHRIS?! Are you there?”

Matt was met with eerie silence from their holographic home security manager. A cold chill ran down his spine. It could just be a glitch in the system, but his gut told him otherwise. Matt didn’t care about their collections of Earthen memorabilia of Diet Coke dispensers, or vintage video games; Oliver was in that house, and if CHRIS was not responding....

Matt entered the sequence for Stephanie’s chip. Nothing. She was probably engrossed in her work. A Patrick curse- working to the bone. Matt left an urgent message, trying to keep the strain out of his voice. He said it was probably nothing, but he was en route. Despite his bravado, when he ended the call, Matthew felt his heart beat erratically in his chest.

Matthew leaned forward to the keypad’s microphone installed behind the driver’s seat, “Step on it!”

This time, he didn’t keep the urgency hidden.

Matt jumped out of the pod so fast he almost forgot to pay his driver. He quickly slid the android the required amount of credits, down to the decimal. The driver grumbled something and zipped away. The rain outside hasn't let up in the slightest. Stephanie would be livid when she found the sopping condition of his good tuxedo, but the state of his attire flew out the window when he exited the car. The front door to his home was slightly ajar. Resisting the urge to burst through the threshold and run upstairs to check on Ollie, Matt quietly stepped into the house.

Everything seemed in order. Open family room to the left, kitchen on the right, a hallway in between where with the staircase leading upwards stood, waiting for Matt to rush up. Matt touched the wall of the house. A blue light scanned quickly over his handprint, and a small beep sounded, officially registering that it was indeed Matthew Patrick.

He whispered as softly as he could, “CHRIS, activate.” (Man, when was the last time he had turned on his house’s security system manually)?

A small hole opened in the wall, and several pixels darted out, sputtering and flashing, attempting to take on the shape of a human. Eventually, they gave up and resorted to the small speaker next to the holographic projector.

“Matt?” CHRIS’ voice came out warbled and full of glitches, but there nonetheless.

“Yeah, CHRIS. I’m here.”

“It was… tried to call… busted my system over your network….”

“Shh,” Matt tried to calm him down, “What happened exactly.”

CHRIS’ next response came clear as day, “Matt, he’s still in the house.”

A shiver ran down Matt’s spine, “Where?” A deep pit had formed in his stomach. A part of him already knew the answer.

“Oliver’s room.”

That was it. Matt dashed into the kitchen, nearly knocking over the broken soda dispenser, and grabbed the nearest thing resembling a weapon he could find. His fingers found their way into the cool grooves of a knife's handle. He quickly examined it, making sure it still worked. Matt had been fascinated with its design. Based on an old concept from Earth, the blade could change temperature depending on what you wanted to slice. Matt gently pressed the button to the knife’s highest setting. The blade began to glow a threatening orange.

As Matt quietly slid up the stairs, he was grateful for the awful carpet Stephanie had insisted on, fearing Oliver might hurt himself on the previously hardwood floor when he learned to walk. At the time, the installer bots had been sceptical, saying the shaggy material didn’t match the rest of the house’s decor. It was “outdated and irrelevant”. Clearly, the bots didn’t know the risks of having children installed in their memory banks. Going with Stephanie’s fear that Oliver would inherit Matt’s clumsiness, the carpets had been installed (much to the bots’ dismay). On that night, however, as Matt crept up the stairs, he was grateful for the beige carpet, outdated as it was. It wasn’t serving to keep Matt’s son from bumping his head, but to help him keep his footing, and prevent the intruder from hearing his approach.

Matt reached the top of the stairs, his son’s bedroom directly to his right. He gripped the metallic handle of the knife. Though the handle felt cold, the blade’s heat gently touched his skin like a warm towel, just enough to remind him of its potential. Thankfully, the device was designed to keep the needed heat on the blade, away from the wielder, but it still felt foreign in his hand. It was one thing to theorize and research battles, but being the one actually holding a weapon was entirely different.

An annoyed “Hiisss!” came from inside the bedroom.

Skip? Matt thought.

Skip was usually laid back. He was from Aurumen, like Stephanie, and their animals were known for their lazy nature. Give Skip food and sunlight, and he would be fully content. So, hearing him release a threatening screech set Matt more alert. He gripped the knife tighter, turning his knuckles white. The blade burned a threatening orangish red, reminding Matt of “futuristic” sabers from an old Earth movie he’d watched with Stephanie.

Matthew quietly opened Oliver’s bedroom door. The lights were off, but with the slight light from his knife and moonbeams swinging through a window on the back wall, he could see relatively well. It was a simple space- a closet in the back wall, a bookshelf, rocking chair, various toys and stacks of books hugged the right wall. Matt and Stephanie always grabbed any paper books they could. Scattered and nearly lost as they were, the Patricks knew the power of the written word better than anyone.

The culmination of their work overflowed the small bookshelf, and into the floor. Another small stack had started forming on the room’s left wall, where a cool green crib sat under the glow of an orange heat lamp. Matt silently closed the door and approached Oliver’s crib timidly, almost afraid that his son would not be curled in his blankets. He released a sigh of relief when Ollie’s face looked back at him, face calm in a blissful sleep. The Aurumen heat lamp continued to bask its glow on the boy, ensuring that he would get the necessary amount of sunlight he needed until his body could perfect its own growing energy source. An incubator, of sorts.

Matt peered down, and saw something curious in Oliver’s hand. A piece of metal, maybe five inches across, sat lazily in the infant’s grasp. Careful not to disturb his son, Matthew reached down and retrieved the trinket. It was smooth and black, twisted into the shape of, if Matt didn’t know any better, would be a-.

“Hiiiiiisssssss!!!!!!”

Matt jerked his head up. Eyes now adjusted to the room’s darkness, he saw Skip angrily clawing at the back closet doors. He gripped his knife. It glowed back, as if reassuring him that it could do whatever needed to be done.

“I know you’re here,” Matt tried to keep his voice steady yet quiet, taking a few solid steps towards the foreboding doors. He knew his voice had started to shake, but as long as his hands remained still….

One of the doors creaked open. Matt held out his glowing knife in what he hoped was a threatening stance. Skip hissed a few more times before backing up to Matt’s side. The darkness of the night mixed with Ollie’s lamp cast ominous shadows across the walls surrounding the black vortex of the dark closet.

Matt heard what sounded like metal creaking slightly as a robotic foot stepped into view. It was a male Velm robot, and with the cross stitching of mixed parts Matt could tell that it was homemade. From what he could see, the robot had glowing green eyes, an old fashioned monocle, brown hair, and a strong tail. The one thing most disturbing about the robot, though, was his lack of a jaw. A light crisscross of welded metal bits where his jaw should have been. Slit welded bulged over where the left and right upper corners of a mouth would have been…. Matt inwardly shuddered with realization. The robot’s jaw, and consequently his voice box, had been ripped out. Whatever had the strength to do that, to rip apart something with beyond repair....

The robot stared at Matt silently, wringing his hands with nervous energy. His glowing eyes quickly glanced at the exit.

Matt squinted his eyes. This was what had set JASON on alert? This robot?

Looks can be deceiving, Matt’s mind reminded him.

Matt raised his glowing knife, its burning visage reflected in the Velm’s eyes. Its blade was the color of seething coals, or Matt’s fury at the idea of a monster hurting Oliver. Whether harm had been the robot’s intentions was yet to be determined.

Matt readjusted his grip on the blade, daring to take a step toward the intruder. The dapper robot’s eyes went wild, and he nearly tripped over himself trying to back into the closet. Matt looked at the knife, then the robot…. then the scar on its neck. His Theorist mind whirled.

“M...A…AT...Ttt!” CHRIS’ fractured voice cut through the room’s palpable tension.

The lights flickered on, off, then back on, but low enough to not wake the room’s sleeping baby. Once his eyes had adjusted, Matt got a better look at the intruder. In the light, the Velm looked even more like he’d stepped out of an old film. He wore a vest and bow tie, dress slacks, and wing tipped shoes. Just below his nose was an empty screw hole. Matt glanced at the curious metal piece he had found in Oliver’s grip.

He held the metal mustache up to the robot cautiously, “This yours?”

The robot touched the empty spot above his lip. He nodded slowly. A robot who looked like he belonged in early Earth’s 1920s. This robot’s creator certainly had more of an imagination than any mind Matt knew on his planet.

“I’ll cut you a deal,” Matt said, “mustache for the promise you won’t, you know, attack me.”

The robot started to nod, then froze. He pointed at Matt’s knife. Matt got the hint. Trust has to go both ways. Matt reluctantly turned off his burning blade, and brought his hand back to his side. The robot visibly relaxed. Matt tossed the metal mustache to the robot, who caught it swiftly. He looked at the mustache dejectedly, before pocketing it.

“Sooo,” Matt ventured, “you got a name?”

Before he could answer CHRIS’ voice came back, this time free of static, “MATT! Oh, thank God. I swear, he just came out of nowhere! Disabled me, and I, and… I swear, I couldn’t stop him!”

Matt paused. His home’s AI- CHRIS (Child Homecare Response Internal System), had been activated before Matt and Stephanie left home. That being so, how did the Velm get in?

As if sensing his question, the robot began making wild gestures with his hands. Sign language. The intruder was mute. So Matt had been right in his theory about the voice box.

“Hang on, hang on. Last time I signed was with a disgruntled politician.” Matt tried for a laugh. Nothing. He cleared his throat, “Why don’t you start again, slowly.”

It nodded, “My name is Jameson Jackson, JJ, healthcare robot of….” The robot, Jameson, suddenly stopped signing. Interesting, so he had something, or someone, to hide.

“.... Your door was open.” he continued.

“Wait, what?” Matt spun to the port on the wall where CHRIS’ hologram projector was built in. At the moment he didn’t have enough power to corporeally appear, Matt knew for certain that he could see him glaring.

“... Skip got caught in the rain! He’s Aurumen, remember! Those cats hate water! I had to let him in!” CHRIS protested.

“And you just happened to forget to lock the door?”

A pause, “... A lot was going on. Skip’s meowing and scratching at the door woke Oliver. I had to leave the walls and manually adjust his light to calm him down. Next thing I know Dapper Boy is standing behind me! I tried to call you, but he deactivated my system…. I’m sorry, Matt.”

The rage Matt had felt towards the house’s AI suddenly drained. It made sense. CHRIS rushing to let Skip in, then taking on his holographic form to care for Oliver would confuse any AI. Matt didn’t blame him for forgetting to lock it back. Obviously, he would have if given the time. Still, that didn’t explain one thing.

Matthew pointed at the robot. “Why did you come in? You didn’t steal anything or break any objects. Why are you here?”

Perhaps he’d stopped him in the middle of his scourging? Except, he was in Ollie’s room…. Matt’s wall went back up. Though deactivated, Matt remembered the knife hanging limply in his hand. Had he stumbled across a true enemy, one willing to harm his family? Did he have some personal vendetta? He might not have enough strength to do detrimental damage to the robot, JJ, but Matt needed to be ready. JJ continued to wring his hands, occasionally tweaking his monocle.

“I… I heard crying.” JJ finally signed.

Matt paused, “What?”

“I heard crying,” JJ signed again.

Matt glanced at his sleeping son, “You heard crying, and just decided it was a good idea to break into a house?”

JJ twitched, “I am a health care robot. The door was opened, and I heard his cries so clearly….”

The robot looked sadly over at Oliver’s crib, “He missed you so much. I-I didn’t know about your AI, I just…. It was pure instinct.”

A homecare robot, huh? Matt had heard of how empathetic they could be, throwing almost anything aside to help those who needed it. In a sad way, it started to make sense.

Suddenly, a hologram projected out of JJ’s monocle. It was full of static at first, but eventually it calmed down. Matt only saw the blurred reflection, but judging by the ears he figured it was another Velm. He was completely soaked from the rain, his brightly colored clothes darkened with the downpour.

“JJ!!” The other Velm nearly shouted, “I have been trying this damn line for hours! Screw this new tech! I’m breaking your monocle as soon as I find you, you understand me?! Where are you? You were supposed to meet me at-.”

JJ held up his hands in an attempt to stop the rant.

“No, no, no!” The angry Velm jutted a finger at JJ, “You listen to me! I have been all over this God forsaken town looking for your dapper butt, with nothing-.”

Matt couldn’t see his face, but he imagined the look of horror that crossed it when the robot noticed his friend’s surroundings.

“JJ, where are you? Where’s your mustache?” he asked in a near whisper.

JJ cast a sideways glance at Matt before answering, “I’m fine, Jackie. I just got caught in the rain. I’ll see you soon.”

“No, no. Fuck that! I’m tracking your ass right now!”

For some reason, hearing his story and seeing him in that moment, Matt was sure that Jameson did not have evil intentions. Before JJ could respond, Matt quickly broke the barrier between them. Within a few strides he was directly behind him and could see the speaker clearly. It was another Velm robot. He was identical to JJ, except that he had a mouth, further supporting Matt’s idea that something horrible had happened to JJ.

The other robot stopped whatever he was doing to stare at Matt, then back at JJ, then back at Matt, and finally back to JJ. He started to sign to his friend, apparently thinking that Matt didn’t understand. It was full of expletives, and questions.

“Don’t worry,” Matt signed, “He’s fine.”

The caller’s jaw dropped in surprise.

Matt actually laughed at the other robot’s confusion. JJ’s eyes twinkle with mischief; if he had a mouth he would have been smiling too.

The other robot shook himself from his daze, and huffed. He responded, but didn’t take his eyes off Matt. “Whatever, just get back to… where we came from.”

JJ tipped his hat, and the call ended. He turned to face Matt. Being up close to the robot Matt could see the details over his missing jaw even better. JJ wasn’t a menace, he really was just a care robot who had been lost in the rain. Matt immediately regretted his previous actions. Then there was the empty screw hole, courtesy of rain, a loose screw, and an Aurumen baby.

Matt sighed and patted the robot’s back, “Come on, let’s go downstairs. I can help you with”, he motioned to his mouth, “that.”

JJ touched the vacant spot and nodded in agreement. With one last glance at Ollie’s sleeping face, the two headed downstairs.

No longer needing to slink in the dark Matt called out, “CHRIS, lights please.”

Immediately the lights flickered on. Matt squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Just as he left it, the kitchen was a mess. Matt rounded the island, sheathed the knife he never really needed, and fumbled through a junk drawer. JJ took in everything, every obsessive article of old Earth Diet Coke memorabilia that hung on the kitchen walls, on the counters, and in cabinets.

Matt caught him looking,“I know, I know. Steph says I’m an addict… and I am. I’ll be the first to admit that.”

Matt laughed, and JJ gave him an amused look.

“Ha!” He triumphantly retrieved a screwdriver and screw from the drawer. Matt tossed them across to JJ who swiftly caught both in the air. He retrieved his mustache, and within seconds JJ was restored. He beamed at Matt, who smiled back.

“Right, let’s get you back to your friend.”

JJ started to move, then noticed Matt’s broken soda dispenser. He cocked an eyebrow in question.

“It’s an old Earth soda machine. It’s supposed to dispense Diet Coke, but something broke. I’m no expert on antiques, so I’m having it looked at as soon as I-.”

JJ rounded the island and looked at the machine. He opened its hatch, took a good look inside, and began tinkering with it. Matt heard started to object at JJ’s sudden action. Had he not heard him say “antique”? Anything could break it! Then he’d have to find some new era substitute, which were all flat and boring and…

The sound of fizzling brought Matt out of his thoughts. JJ stood over the soda dispenser, happily holding out a glass filled with a dark, fizzy beverage. Matt gingerly accepted the drink from the excited robot. He took a sip. To his utmost surprise, it was just like new!

“How?...”

JJ closed back the hatch that contained the machine’s innards. He held up tubes clogged with sticky residue. Casually, he shrugged as if to say “All in a day’s work”. Matt laughed heartily, and took another sip.

“On second thought, you can come over as often as you want.”

JJ continued to beam at his success.

“I could’ve done that…”

Matt turned and saw CHRIS’s holographic form, fully functional and very disgruntled. JJ rested his arm lazily across the machine, his stance saying “But you didn’t.” CHRIS scowled, causing a new fit of laughter from Matt. Two pieces of artificial intelligence were having a staring contest in his kitchen. The day just kept getting weirder.

“Come on, JJ. Don’t want to keep your friend waiting.”

JJ nodded his head. He and Matt walked out of the kitchen to the front door. Matt opened it and a clean breeze blew in. The rain had fully stopped. Every so often birds could be heard in the distance.

JJ tipped his hat to Matt and CHRIS as he stepped out the door.

“Oh!” Matt called, “By the way, tell Jack that he has nothing to worry about. You’re safe here.”

JJ’s eyes widen in shock. He looked ready to interrogate Matt, but his expression relaxed. A bemused twinkle appeared in his eyes.

“Just a theory?”

Matt saluted JJ with his glass of Diet Coke, “Now you’re getting it.”

With that, Jameson Jackson walked down the street, leaving Matt with a fixed soda machine, and an aggravated security AI.

“So,” CHRIS said, “what exactly are you planning on telling Steph?”

“Simple, I’ll just blame it on you.”

CHRIS threw up his hands, “Oh, sure, blame the AI. It’s always me or JASON, isn’t it?”

Matt downed the rest of his soda with a smirk, “Exactly.”

#spaceiplier #matpat #youtube #youtubers #jameson jackson #stephanie patrick #steph loves sunlight #mat has a crazy vocal range #so why not?

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gayfraphne · 6 years

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Shaggy: Velm’s the best, but she’s 26. When Velma was born, I was already 7, which means if we were friends back then, I would have been hanging out with a baby. I don’t know anything about infant care... My god, I could have killed her.

#scooby apocalypse #shaggy rogers #velma dinkley #shelma #source: parks and rec #you’re welcome mouse #this is for you

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a-distantdreamer · 6 years

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Safe and Sound (Negan Fic) - Chapter Five

This chapter is pretty much filler, with lots and lots of adorable, overprotective Negan. I promise things will get more interesting soon!

Hope you enjoy, lovelies.

Let me know your thoughts, as always.

xoxo

Chapter Five

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Negan let out a laugh of disbelief. Even after hours of reinforcing the little picket fence surrounding the farmhouse, Morty was still going, despite his age and clear exhaustion. The pair had been nailing thicker wood to the inside of the fences, along with support beams to prevent any stray walkers breaking down the old fencing.

“No time to rest, kid,” Morty had huffed when Negan had urged him to take a rest, “Can do that when I’m dead and I’m damn sure I’m not yet.”

Negan smiled at the older man before he glanced back over his shoulder to the porch. Wrapped up warm in blankets and cosy knitted clothes, Isla was cradled in Velma’s arms. A tattered book of nursery rhymes was in the elderly woman’s free hand. Negan had found it in a nearby house that he had scavenged, and Negan could see Velma’s mouth move as she cooed the tales to the infant.

Shoving his cold hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, Negan sauntered toward the porch. He watched as Velma frowned, closing the book of nursery rhymes and tucking it beside her hip before gently stroking Isla’s cheek, cooing something to the baby.

“You ok there with her, Velm?” he called out.

Brow furrowed in concern, Velma raised her hand to wave Negan over, still gently rocking the restless and bundled up baby in her care.

Negan hopped up the steps of the porch, hearing them creak beneath his weight as he did so. With three hearty home cooked meals a day he had embarrassingly had put on the weight he had lost and more besides since moving in with Velma and Morty.

Once he hit the top step, Isla’s feeble whimpers reached his ears, and they were such a worrying contrast to her usual ear splitting crying.

“Fuck, is my girl all right?” Negan asked worriedly, reaching out for her.

Isla began to cry as Negan took her from Velma, keeping the thick blush-coloured blanket wrapped round her tiny body. He peered down at her, noting her snuffles, rosy cheeks and nose, and croaky breathing. His heart ached for his little girl. She had been tearful all morning, and had barely taken any of her milk all day.

“Looks like a cold, the poor little darling. We should probably get her inside by the fire to help her break the fever,” Velma suggested, lifting herself from the bench with a groan.

Negan’s heart dropped at the thought of Isla being sick, “Is she gonna be fucking ok? She’s still so small.”

Velma smiled, and rubbed his arm reassuringly, “she’ll be absolutely fine dear. Let’s just get inside and get her cosy hm?”

“Come on Isla-bug,” Negan groaned desperately, trying to coax the teat of the bottle between Isla’s lips as she howled at him, “you need to eat baby girl. Gotta keep your fuckin’ strength up.”

Isla sobbed some more, tears and snot running down her face as her tongue adamantly pushed back against the teat of the bottle and she tried to turn her head away. Negan shook his head in frustration, placing the bottle down on the coffee table and shifting her up against his shoulder.

“All right bug. I won’t fucking make you have it,” Negan murmured softly against the side of her head, his lips brushing against her feather-soft dark hair, “Daddy’s got you. Shhh, baby girl.”

Isla’s cries of discomfort eventually softened to gentle whimpers, leaving Negan with a ringing in his ears and a tear-soaked spot on his shirt.

Gathering up Isla’s blanket, Negan leant back into the softness of the armchair and draped it over Isla. He ran his fingers through the silky, ever-lengthening curls at the nape of her neck.

“You’re going to be as right as fucking rain soon sweetheart,” he passed his hand over the small expanse of her back as he spoke, “Daddy’s going to scare that fucking shitty, snotty cold of yours away, as well as those fucking dead fucks out there.”

Isla whimpered, smacking her fist against against Negan’s chest as she snuffled pitifully. Despite feeling so unwell, her tiny hands packed a surprising punch that made Negan laugh in surprise.

“Just like your mommy,” he chuckled, “you inherited all that fucking sass from her, Isla-bug.”

Into the evening, Isla became increasingly fussy, crying most of the time and refusing each bottle Negan tried to tempt her with. By the late evening he was convinced she didn’t even know what she wanted anymore. Around dinner time, he attempted to pass Isla to Velma so he could eat something himself, but she howled so loudly that he simply had to have her back. Her cries were breaking his heart.

Not wanting to disturb the entirety of Morty and Velma’s evening with Isla’s incessant sobbing, Negan retreated to the sanctuary of their secluded little bedroom which was feeling more and more like home with every day that passed.

His boots and leather jacket now sat by the door, and the closet was filled with clothes that both fit him and suited his style. Isla also had her own bassinet that rested on a stand right beside the bed, though Negan often lifted her from it in the night to have her sleep chest-to-chest with him. He thought that they both slept more soundly in each other’s arms.

With that in mind, Negan settled Isla for bed on his bare chest, listening to the wind howling outside the windows.

“So, what the fuck do we do now bug?” he queried, rubbing her tiny back which was rattling with each crackly breath she took, “it’s way past your bedtime, and daddy needs his fucking beauty sleep too.”

Isla grunted in reply, her big blue eyes peering up at him in the low light of the room. Negan liked to keep the room dark in the evenings to ensure that Isla had a sense that it was time for bed, no matter how small she was.

“How the fuck about this huh? Once upon a time....shit,” Negan laughed lowly at his own words. He couldn’t believe what was coming out of his own mouth, but Isla enjoyed the deep timbre of his voice, and he really needed her to sleep.

“Once upon a time, there was a handsome, strong prince named Negan. He loved his job, teaching little fuckers how to um...joust and sword-fight before becoming knights. One thing was definitely missing though. He was lonely, and nobody seemed to be enough to fucking fix that for him. One day, he was strolling through the kingdom, women swooning over him as usual, when his best friend suggested he should go on a blind date with a princess from a nearby...kingdom,” Negan began, his voice low and rumbling in his chest as he watched Isla blink back at him, completely mesmerised between sniffles.

“Well, the second he laid eyes on Princess Lucille, he fucking knew she was the one. She was funny, smart, sassy and fucking beautiful. Creamy porcelain skin that flushed a gorgeous fucking pink colour, and dark, curly hair that she hated but Prince Negan fucking adored. She kept Prince Negan in line, that’s for fucking sure. They got married and eventually found out they were expecting their own little one - a brand new princess. Princess Lucille was so fucking excited to meet her baby girl…”

Welling up at his own tale, he pressed his lips to Isla’s clammy forehead in order to compose himself, “Fucking fuck. Story-time is over kiddo. Daddy can’t finish this one tonight.”

He tilted his head down to look at Isla and grinned when he saw her eyes were closed, and her breathing calmer than it had been all day. Only then did the tears finally fall down his cheeks, as the absence of Lucille struck him again and again like an incessant tidal wave.

The pain, when it struck like that, was unbearable. He grunted through his tears, trying to fight the sensation of his heart being crushed in a vice at the thought of her only being in their daughter’s life through his whimsical fairy stories that did not give her justice. He’d never be able to explain to Isla how much her mother loved her, and how excited she had been to meet her. He’d never be able to recreate the fire she got in her eyes when she was cross, or the lilting melody of her laugh.

“I need to get fucking better at telling bedtime stories, bug,” he sobbed, pressing his lips to the top of Isla’s head and letting his tears dampen her hair.

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@lovingzombiechaos

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#jeffrey dean morgan #negan #negan's thirst squad #negan fanfic #negan fic #negan baby fic #safe and sound #my fanfic #the walking dead #the walking dead fic

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scoobydoominuscoobydoo · 6 years

Photo

Part Seven:

“You’re so smart I could kiss you right now!”

Being a senior seemed to just be a short 365 days of trying to keep it together because damn it you were almost at the finish line.

Mrs. Moony, the track and field coach, always liked to say, “The last lap is always the longest!”

To which she would receive a mixture of glares because nobody was enjoying her trying to make them feel less miserable.

Since track and field was one of the few things Shaggy liked to think he was decent at, he always took Mrs. Moony’s life lessons to heart. At least the ones that applied to him, even though it was always interesting to learn how to prepare a proper sedar dinner.

At first, Shaggy hadn’t feared the step to becoming a senior.

People’s expectations of him never had much of an effect on him.

Not even his parents hounding him about which “respectable” colleges to apply to bugged him all that much.

He was always gonna be his own person and if people wanted or expected something other than that, than they didn’t want Shaggy and they’d need to fulfill their expectations in someone else.

Even his best friends had expectations for him that were never gonna happen of his own free will.

But that had changed when they reached adulthood.

Well, three of them did.

Since Velma was technically a year ahead in high school she was still 17. But mentally she was in between the ages of 45 and 6, it all depended on the time of day and the cycle of the moon.

Regardless of the grey area that was Velma’s age, once senior year had started the gang all seemed to have adopted the trait called acceptance.

Never really pushing each other towards any sort of direction like they did when they were younger. Now they just silently supported and reassured that they were always on each other’s sides. Which is something they could all use since the rest of the world was peeking it’s head in their direction and asking in that stupid wishy washy voice, “So what are you planning on doing with your life after high school?”

Shaggy had always laughed softly while rubbing the back of his neck and saying he was considering Career #1 or Career #2.

That was enough for the world to go back to their corner of not minding their own business.

Fred and Velma both had their versions of a five year plan mapped out in their heads and had no issue talking the world’s ear off so that it couldn’t get an opinionated word in.

Velma and Freddie thrived in planning, especially when it came to their own futures.

Shaggy remembered the first time he saw early applications for Stanford sprawled out in the back of the Mystery Machine. During freshman year Velma had being getting a lot of interested letters and phone calls but the only college that would ever catch her eye was Stanford.

Velms had been crawling between each piece of paper, each asking a lot of questions Shag never even really considered. Especially back when he was 15.

He wasn’t really confident that Velma thought about them either because she ended up throwing the packet away and avoided discussing the subject with her parents and the distressed guidance counselor.

At the start of senior year Fred had gone up to Massachusetts for an interview with Harvard, even though it didn’t really interest him at all. Daph had made that observation a long time ago. Deep down she was sure Fred was getting swept by the world trying to drag him around, not even sure what he wanted to do with himself.

Regardless of whether or not Fred and Velms were ready, they were definitely prepared.

Shag wasn’t really sure what was going on with Daph when it came to her future.

Ever since they had reunited in the 6th grade Daphne had been obsessed with NYU. He remembered that glint in her eye when she’d talk about it, mouth full of tater tots and hands covered in glitter due to art class incidents.

It was the same glint that had overwhelmed him when they first met in that hallway and a strange purple girl had given Norville Rogers a name.

That NYU glint disappeared a long time ago though.

High school happened.

Drama happened.

Fred happened.

It wasn’t really anyone’s fault, once your age has the suffix “teen” in it, NYU glints tend to get chewed up and spit out, now bruised and battered and not really wanting to get up again.

Too many people telling her to be realistic and aim lower. Telling her to hold back.

But if anyone could convince the glint to stand up and face the future again, it was Daphne.

At least, that’t what Shaggy thought.

He had seen little peeks of the glint this year when she discussed all the appealing things on her transcript that she was sure would appeal to NYU’s ideals.

He loved that glint, and he really hoped that Daph was able to help it stand up and bring it with her through the rest of her life.

Senior year had brought forth a new form of jokes that Shaggy utilized wholeheartedly. He called them the community college jokes, and they actually got laughs out of people which was honestly a miracle.

The whole schtick just consisted of him reacting to his grades, or even if anything inconvenient happened, and stating, “Now I’ll never get into community college!”

These jokes were the answer to people’s questions that involved his plans regarding the future.

At this point in his life he believed he had everything together, that he was actually gonna make it through this high school shit with only mild trauma and a crippling fear of silicon.

He could see the finish line, and while his calves we killing him and sweat was pouring out of him, he had made it.

But than Daphne had run up in front of him and stopped him in the middle of the track. “Daph, like what are you doing?” He nervously eyed his parents who were sitting off by themselves on the bleachers. Neither one of them had peeked up from their phones. Their dark eyes always seemed to be on something other than him, ever since he was born its been that way.

He felt his eyes welling up with tears and he wished he could leave the track, just for a couple minutes.

But Daphne was holding on tightly to his shoulders.

“Da-Daphne can you ju-” He was left breathless by the sight of Daph’s bright violet eyes one him, not leaving him for even a second.

The whole world went quiet, like it all seemed to just disappear.

Leaving just a breathless shaggy dog and a strange purple girl.

He wasn’t sure what to do, he wasn’t frightened by the purple girl, but he wasn’t sure what she was gonna do. Suddenly something happened that made his heart totally stop- it was one pause for a few moments.

The purple girl’s eyes sparkled, with this hope and happiness that felt almost familiar to him. A familiar glint. One he seemed to adore, like it was an old friend.

And those violet stars grew closer and closer until he felt like he was gonna burn up, but he didn’t even care. Because that glint was beautiful.

He closed his eyes, ready to burst into flames.

But instead he felt something cold and soft.

Her lips on his.

And it’s rushed and clumsy.

And they have no idea what they’re supposed to do. Almost as if it’s their first ever kiss and they have zero experience.

At least that’s what feels like.

Rushed, clumsy, and new.

Oh so new and it feels too right to even be happening.

The right thing never happens to them.

They get chased by men in masks and pretend their parents love them. They Set up elaborate traps that are doomed to fail and they avoid eye contact with with people who laugh at them in the hallways.

He feels her purple hands grip onto his shaking ones. And suddenly he doesn’t care.

Because it’s about time he found something good on this damn track.

They both slowly pulled away and just stared at each other. His face probably looking just as shocked as her’s.

Her grip on his hand’s tightened.

His heartbeat returned.

He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

Her eyes sparkled.

He let out a startled yelp at the sound of his alarm clock losing it’s fucking mind.

Shag stared down at the meal that had been slapped down on his tray. Normally the lunch crew were very friendly to him since he was one of the few people that complimented them on their food without fail.

“Dorrine must have gotten a visit from her ex again, that’d explain her mood.” He thought as he began to worm his way through all the tables and walked toward the back door.

He sighed as he noticed that the usual soggy french fries were dried out and kinda spongy looking.

It wasn’t that big of a deal since he just dipped them in the canned gravy that they served with the bagged mashed potatoes.

Food truly was a work of divine art.

He pushed open the back door and instantly spotted the unforgettable colors of his people.

Velma joked about how after freshman year they somehow all became totally color coded when it came to their wardrobe. It wasn’t until Velma had pointed it out that Shag realized just how much green he owned. But that was fine, he liked green.

Today was just wearing a green hoodie over a white tee and jeans.

Fred had used to be obsessed with wearing ascots when they were in middle school. If he wasn’t wearing anything kitschy around his neck than he might as well have been naked. And then it was dumb hats that you would wear on backwards more for principle’s sake than style.

And now they were in the era of watches, but just the old looking ones with hash marks instead of numbers.

Currently Freddie was wearing a silver one that he seemed to favor quite a bit.

And Velms was sitting next to him, picking at the sad excuse of a salad that they served for people who weren’t willing to brave the risk of food poisoning. She was rocking a black turtle neck and a simple orange cardigan.

Velma had always worn turtle necks for as long as Shag had known her.

The reason back then was she still had baby fat and kids were assholes so a lot of names were shouted out to her and they would stick in her head.

Those words turned into turtle necks.

Now Shag was pretty sure she just wore them because she hated the way anything else looked on her.

Daph was sitting on their table facing his direction as she seemed to be invested in the large Subway sandwich she had in her hands. Her pink cheeks were stuffed and there was mayo stuck on the corner of her mouth.

He grinned to himself. Daphne would always be the strange purple girl.

It was as if she couldn’t physically leave the house unless she had something purple on.

Sometimes her whole outfit would be an elaborate display of purple with almost every accessory you could think of. And sometimes it was just a subtle display, maybe just purple shoes or a purple hairclip.

Today she had met in the middle with a royal purple tanktop and earrings to go with her black jeans and green scarf.

Daph was never able to put it in human words as to why she adored the color purple some much, but she ensured them that if at least one of the human languages had the right word to describe it, she would use it all the time.

She looked up from her sub, that seemed to be the love of her life at that moment, and made direct eye contact with him.

And then she sent him a bright smile and mouthed out the word “Hi.”

He returned the smile and made his way over to their table.

Well it wasn’t really their table, it was just some old picnic bench in the the central courtyard. After they had been officially branded as the weird Nancy Drew wannabes they ended up hiding outside while eating, unless it rained.Than they’d just sit in the back of the Mystery Machine in a circle, knees touching.

They didn’t purposely isolate themselves, it just kinda happened.

They figured that would be a lot easier than being involved in unnecessary drama.

Of course after all the business with Marilyn Andrews and them finding Natalie McCall, they had been getting a lot more attention.

Shaggy still wasn’t used to queen bee Natalie waving to them and asking them if they wanted to go out and do something with student council later.

So lunch wasn’t as quiet as it used to be, but at least they weren’t getting hounded by teenagers with condescending tones.

At the moment, the gang was alone.

“You took your own sweet time getting here. Usually you’re the first one in line for lunch.” Velma looked over at him and popped a cherry tomato in her mouth, “God didn’t give you the world’s longest legs for nothing.”

Shag rolled his eyes and grabbed a napkin from his tray, handing it to Daphne.

He pointed at the corner of his mouth and she nodded, wiping the mayo off.

“Well I was about to make a mad dash for the front of the line, like maybe hop over a few tables in the process.” Daph giggled and took another big bite of her one true love.

He placed his tray on the table next to where Daphne was sitting and leaned against the edge next to her.

“But Nat popped out of fucking nowhere and was asking me about hanging out this weekend.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking for his cell phone which he had the terrible inkling he had left sitting in the back of the van.

Fred chuckled, “Nat seems to like popping out of freakin’ nowhere when it comes to you Shag.”

“Hardy har Freddie.” He let out a soft sigh of relief as he remembered he’d put his phone in his back pocket. Velma jumped in, “No wait, maybe Fred is right. I mean all the signs are there, you’re the only one she reached out to on all the social stuff.” She picked up what sort of looked like an olive and threw toward him.

Totally missing and hitting Daph.

She let out an annoyed huff but said nothing, seeming to choose putting her full attention on her sandwich.

Velma smirked, it had just occurred to her that this conversation topic was the last thing Daph would wanna participate in. So Velma did as Velma does. She kept pushing the topic.

“I mean I’m pretty sure the cheerleaders probably told her everything, about how you were the one who made the promise that we’d find her.” Shag’s cheeks went pink and he rolled his eyes, now he knew Velma was just trying to get him all flustered.

“One, she has a boyfriend who she is pretty happy with last I checked. And two, the only thing I did to earn her feelings was make that promise. Like, other than that I did fuck all.” He reached behind him and picked up a spongy french fry.

Velms snicked and shook her head, still gauging Daph’s reactions to everything they were saying.

For now it seemed that she was just trying to ignore the conversation and pay attention to her food. But Velma could see right through her, and she could see that Daph was getting annoyed. Perfect.

“Oh my dear Shaggy, my darling Norville.” He cringed and threw another fry at her. She stuck her tongue out and continued, “Crushing on someone is not as simple as liking one person at a time. That’s like you having one favorite food.” Shaggy placed a hand over his heart and faked a hurt gasp.

Velma nodded, “I know right? Seems impossible.” She popped another tomato in her mouth.

She sent a quick glance over toward an annoyed Daphne and then proceeded, “You see it’s possible for her to still really like her boyfriend, whoever the hell he was, and also like you, maybe just the teeniest tiniest bit.”

“Mensa level vocab there Einstein.” Fred giggled and poked Velma in the shoulder. “Thank you.” She shoved another one of those olive looking things in Freddie’s mouth to shut him up.

“Or,” She made clear eye contact with Daph, who was avoiding looking at anything besides the damn sandwich,

“It’s possible she’s over her boyfriend and just likes you now, that’s the kind of thing that happens when you’re a sophomore, you’re still young and not really sure what the hell you want yet.”

Shag writhed uncomfortably, “Okay Velms like that might be taking a little too much liberty. Plus if that were the case, which it isn’t, than it’s more Nat’s business than ours anyway.” She spotted Daph’s small nod and grin at his response.

She sighed.

Daphne will always be easy to read.

“The point is that sometimes people like one person and it seems like a forever deal and nothing is gonna change it, but than they’re brains mature and decide they want something else.” Fred sent her a confused look, which she ignored.

This was definitely something that was higher than his current social skills level.

The issues that come with being a sheltered mayor’s kid.

Shaggy gave her a confused look as well, but it was a different kind of confused.

“Yeah, like I know that Velms. Like you just described the basics of high school dating. Any reason why you’re talking about this?” Velma sent a subtle glance back to Daph, who was definitely going red.

She smirked, she was done here.

Letting out a loud sigh, she turned back to her depressed salad, “No real reason, I just like to tease you on how much of a ladies man you are. You’re quite the slugger son.”

Shag grinned, “Shut the hell your mouth, loser.”

Velma and Fred giggled, bringing their attention back to whatever they were doing before they started talking about Nat’s love life.

“Ahem! A-Anyway- oh thanks Daph.” Daph handed him the rest of her sandwich and Velma snickered, she had talked the appetite right out of her.

He seemed to basically inhale to sandwich in a few seconds as his friends watched on in awe. Velma still believed that if they ever needed to be involved in a school fundraiser, they just needed to have people pay to try and get Shaggy full. They would be able to pay back the school’s debt tenfold and then some.

He crumpled up the wrapper and carried on, “The thing Nat wanted to talk to me about was student council having a party tonight in our- I mean the- central courtyard.”

He gestured to the area around them with his free hand.

“It’s supposed to be for the varsity teams and stuff but like she believed we deserved to come.”

Velma groaned, “Oh yeah that sounds like a blast, lets hang out with the lovely young men and women that made high school a living hell for us.”

Shag sent her a warning look and she shut up, bitterly picking at her lunch.

“I didn’t wanna flat out say ‘No’ to her so I just said we’d talk about it and get back to her.” Velma turned and look over at him and whined, “Why the fuck would would you give that poor girl some hope??” Shag flinched and rolled his eyes.

“Because Velms, she’s a sweet girl and she’s just trying to make things right between us and the rest of the damn student body before we graduate and only return for awkward high school reunions 20 years from now.”

Velma opened her mouth to respond, but she didn’t feel like that statement deserved one of her smartass comments.

So she just sat there opening and closing her mouth, trying to think of the right thing to say.

Suddenly, Daphne finally said something after remaining quiet for the whole time Shag had been out there. He almost was startled by the sound of her clear and high pitched voice, but was still always glad to hear it, “Well since the goldfish isn’t saying anything I will.”

Fred snickered.

Another olive resembling substance was shoved in his mouth.

Daph turned and their eyes met instantly.

Shaggy gulped, he suddenly remembered the dream he had last night.

Of them.

And their eyes.

And their hands.

And most of all, their lips. Their clumsy lips.

“I’ll only go if Shags goes.” Velma turned and looked at both of them so fast that her glasses fell down her nose and she needed to straighten them out.

Daph seemed to suddenly realize what she said and looked down at her hands.

“I-I um. I meant I’ll- I’m okay with it i-if we all wanna go.” Fred’s shocked face settled and he nodded.

Velma snickered.

“Oh yeah only if all of us go.”

“Velma you are invited to shut up at anytime.” Daph still hadn’t looked up from her hands.

“Don’t wanna.”

Shag rolled his eyes, Daphne had set her off again.

Velma had turned into the stereotypical Bond villain and was now drumming her fingers together.

After a minute of horrifying silence and clear evil scheming she spoke, “Alright, I’ll go to this dumb party to patch up the holes of my flawed high school life.” Shaggy grinned and was about to speak but Daphne placed a finger over his mouth to stop him.

She raised her eyebrow at Velms than said, “If??”

Velma cackled, “You don’t miss a beat my dear nemesis!”

Shaggy didn’t even know what was happening anymore, and he could tell Freddie had gotten lost in this conversation a long time ago and was now playing puzzle games on his phone while absentmindedly listening to bits and pieces.

“I’ll eagerly go and be nice to every stupid letterman jacket there if......”

Her gaze hopped from Daph to Shaggy and back again and suddenly Shag felt very nervous.

“You two wear matching earrings”

That’s not as bad as he was expecting.

Daph looked back at Shag and he nodded.

She sighed and turned back to Velma, “Alright fine. Do you have anymore weirdly specific demands or are you done exploiting your power?”

Velma shrugged and picked up the last tomato in the bowl, throwing it in her mouth.

Shaggy’s grin resurfaced and he turned toward Fred, “Fredison? Like, you in bud?” Fred was pulled out of his spot the difference streak shortly to send him a thumbs up, “It’ll be really fun, I mean that’s what I think anyway.”

Shag nodded and turned toward a trash can a few feet away from them.

He took the form as if he was about to shoot a basket and threw the wadded up Subway wrapper.

Unsurprisingly, he missed and watched as the wrapper rested on the ground next to the wrapper less basket. Daph let out a loud, “Booooooo!!!!!” And Velma said, “You suck, you’ll never be Shaq!!” Fred sent him and apologetic look and nodded in agreement.

Shag let out a loud groan and threw his hands in the air, “Nooooooo!!!!!! Now I’ll never get accepted into community college!!!”

The people sitting by the courtyard exit in the cafeteria could hear a loud mixture of boos and laughter.

Shaggy didn’t actually remember the exact reason he had gotten his ears pierced. Deep down he was pretty sure Velma had manipulated the situation to convince him that it was his idea but in reality it was hers.

The main reason he went with was, “Hell yeah I’m 18 losers and I can do whatever I want and so I’m gonna get holes punched in my ears!!”

He only had a couple pairs of earrings, both of which were purchased as gifts by Daphne.

The whole experience was a blur since they only had one place where you could get your ears pierced cheap. And it was jewelry store for 12 year old girls. Plus he was pretty sure he cried which made him just wanna bury the experience ten times more.

At this point he didn’t really think the whole ordeal was worth it since Shag only wore things in his ears every so often.

He stared out of his bedroom window, resting his elbows on the window sill, just waiting for that familiar relic to pull up in their fancy half circle driveway. It was still up for debate whether his parents had actually heard him when he told them he was going out tonight and wasn’t sure what time he would get home.

He sighed and closed his eyes, running his hands through his hair.

They wouldn’t really care unless they genuinely required his presence for something, usually to be a model for their “experimental” pieces.

If that was the case than they would be royally pissed off that he left the house and wasn’t on standby for their dumb paintings.

It wasn’t the normal bad stuff he did that pissed them off, the couldn’t give less of a shit about his staying out past curfew or something. But oh boy if he dared to do a load of laundry or go and drop of their recyclables, that’s when all hell would break loose.

The last time he washed the dishes they got so mad that he was only allowed to leave the house for school and nothing else, for a whole week.

Apparently they had been needing those dirty dishes to complete their latest work of art.

They could have given him a heads up or something but okay fine.

Cruel and unusual punishment it is.

Of course as soon as the gang found out they snuck in through his bedroom window, on the third floor, and hung out with him. Everyday for a week they did that. It was like they were all sharing his punishment to the point that it wasn’t a punishment anymore.

Shaggy grinned as he looked down at chipped paint on the sill that had gone through the runner with them all stomping on it when they’d climb in.

He stared at one large bare patch that was just exposed wood now.

Climbing up a ladder to a third story window every day was just asking for trouble. Especially when it came to Danger Prone Daphne.

It was on a Thursday when her danger prone ways finally got the best of her.

She had somehow lost her footing on the ladder right when she had reached the sill. Luckily she was fast and gripped onto the wood, cringing as she felt the paint peel up under her fingernails.

“Jeepers! Freddie help me!!!”

The whole gang turned toward the window urgently and Velma let out a distressed cry as they all ran over to help Daph.

Shag was surprised that he was the first one to get to her and didn’t waste anytime grabbing onto her wrist and bracing his legs as he began to pull as hard as was humanly possible. He felt Fred grip onto his sides, helping him pull. He was sure Velma was doing the same thing behind Fred.

After a long struggle of forcing themselves to back up and not lose their footing they had gotten her up on the sill.

Everyone let out a loud sigh of relief and Shag let go of her wrists, that had turned totally red from how tightly he was holding on. He was about to ask her if she was alright but she quickly bounded off the window sill, where he now saw a lot of the paint had been chipped off, and wrapped her arms around Shaggy’s neck.

Shag’s eyes widened, that wasn’t what he was expecting.

“Oh Fred I knew you’d save me!”

He closed his eyes and sighed, now that was what he was expecting.

Fred cleared his throat, clearly not a fan of the turned tables. “Er Daph.....”

Instantly Daph’s eyes shot open and she quickly assessed the situation she was in.

She let out a nervous chuckle and backed up, avoiding eye contact with Shaggy. “I-I mean, thank you Shaggy.” Focusing on twiddling her thumbs she let out a couple thank you’s to Fred and Velms as well.

Shag decided to brush the whole interaction off and grinned, “You are very welcome my dear.”

He grinned at the memory.

And remembered how the idea of Daph giving him the kind of hugs she gave Fred made his heart race a little too fast.

That was probably the start of him being aware of how much he just liked to look at Daphne. Seeing every little subconscious tick she had. Those little grins she’d give to the little things that made her happy. The way she’d play with her rings when she was deathly bored. Her uncharacteristically boorish laugh that would always make everyone around her just as happy as she was.

He figured that was the start of things being weird between them. The start of something being there.

Stroking the bare wood his mind flashed back to the first time he ever met his purple girl. Her speaking a little too loudly just to make sure he was listening to every word she was saying. And of course he was, because everything about this strange purple alien captivated him. And everything about her always would.

Sighing he directed his attention back toward the window.

Who was he kidding?

Ever since he had met her he had seen that something standing between them, just pulling them together. Very slowly.

He had just never seen it pulling them, until he asked Daph to dance.

That was something Shaggy didn’t do with Daphne, but he did it anyway.

And now senior year was a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

He let out a loud groan that made Scooby jump and almost fall off his spot at the foot of Shag’s bed.

Shag didn’t have anytime to laugh at him because he spotted the dim lights of a “groovy” green micro-van. They must have seen him waiting like a loser with no life outside of his friends because Daph stuck her torso out of the passenger side window. He spotted that huge smile and her waving her arms back and forth like windmill propellers.

He waved back to signal that he saw her.

God even from the damn third floor of his house and at 7 o’clock at night he could still see those eyes.

Petting Scooby on the head he said, “See you later bud. Like I’ll try to bring back some high school party snack food for you.” The dog’s head perked up and he licked Shag’s hand. Letting out a low whine as some sort of thank you.

He was 100% certain that his dog could understand English and anyone that said otherwise could take it up with his Great Dane that just whined out a thank you for him.

Walking over to the hatch that was sort of his bedroom door, he pushed it down and watched the ladder fall, creating a path for his exit.

Once he had closed up his “door” he stared down toward the stairs that would lead him into the living room, which was in eye shot of the studio. And judging by the strong scent of charcoal and acrylic that’s definitely where his parents where.

He didn’t wanna risk being spotted and stopped so they could ask him to take his shoes off real quick so mom could do something weird like paint a pair of shoes onto his bare feet. And he didn’t have time for that.

There was back staircase that led down to the back door, which they could only see if they were in the kitchen.

And they were never in the kitchen.

He took a deep breath as he wrapped his fingers around the knob.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t be grounded until graduation when he came back.

He dashed quickly through the back yard, avoiding the spotlights dad had set up to show off his flower garden. Taking one last look behind him, he opened the fence gate that would take him to the front gate.

“Shags, everytime we pick you up from your house anytime after four you act like you’re trying to break out of prison.” Daph giggled as she turned fully in the front seat so that she was looking at him sitting in the back.

He chuckled halfheartedly and shrugged, “My parents are time wasters, what else can I say?”

Her gaze seemed to be ten times more intense to him when they were surrounded by the beginnings of evening. His dream involving her eyes being the equivalent of young, violet stars didn’t seem all that absurd now that he was looking at her directly.

Not even realizing that nobody had said anything for a good five minutes because he was too busy just being caught in bright, purple headlights.

Velma rolled her eyes.

Freddie was too busy driving to care what his passengers were doing.

“AHEM!!!”

Daph and Shag jumped out of their pocket universe and back into reality, both turning their attention to Velms.

Velma folded her arms over her chest and smirked at the obvious blush on Daph’s cheeks, “I believe you two losers made a promise to me in exchange for my attendance to this apparently obligatory gathering of jackasses.”

They stared at her blankly for a second, piecing the sentence together before their faces lit up in remembrance and Daphne grabbed her purse.

After a couple seconds of fishing around, she pulled out a small Ziploc bag containing a single stud earring with a purple jewel.

It was then that Shaggy realized Daphne was wearing the stud’s brother or sister on her left ear. When Velma said matching earrings this isn’t what he was picturing. He figured she meant like they’d both wear a set of pearls or something. Not wearing one half of one set.

That was like saying that Daph was his other half to a bunch of people who didn’t have any business knowing any of that.

Suddenly his eyes widened as he realized what was going on and turned to look at Velma. She currently was sporting an innocent grin, but he knew damn well what she was doing.

He wanted to groan or sigh or something but instead he just grabbed the baggie and opened it.

Why did Velms suddenly care enough to meddle in her friend’s lives?

She never cared enough about that before.

She’d just let weirdness and drama happen and stay as far away from it as possible.

“Y-You put it in your right ear Shags.” Daph stated, a huge grin stuck on her face. He nodded, his eyes not leaving Velma’s.

She just stuck her tongue out at him and directed her attention to Fred, who seemed to be in his own little world at the moment. Just waiting for the exit that would take them to the high school.

Honestly it gave Shag the chills at just how easily Velma was able to control the mood around her with a single action. Daph was a big, beaming mess. Shag couldn’t stop fucking staring at her. And Fred was stuck in one track mind mode.

He wouldn’t even be surprised if Velma had ordered them to wear matching earrings just so the the van would be dead quiet on the way to the party.

And Shaggy was fairly certain he was the only one that could ever figure out Velma’s ulterior motives.

She wasn’t on a Bond villain level.

No she could scheme fucking circles around Auric Goldfinger.

And due to her scheme, the ride was silent for the rest of the way to the school.

Eventually they were pulling into the school’s parking lot and to the spot farthest away from where they had hidden from Andrews. Seeing the school at night time, when it was dark, sent a wave of chills through Shag’s body.

He didn’t like this one bit.

He saw Velma leaning her head against the walls of the van, reaching up and tracing the spot wear the bullet holes used to be. Fred’s dad had payed to repair them a couple weeks after it happened.

After they had gotten enough pictures for all the newspapers and networks of course.

Fred was just keeping his hands on the keys that he had just pulled out of the ignition, face blank like he was trying to prevent himself from getting shaken up about something that was already over and done with.

Daphne bit her lip and kept her eyes on the compartment where they kept the spare tire, never really brave enough to bring it up with Freddie again.

Velma had yelled at him for a long time at the police station after they had given their statements and were just ready to go home.

But after that, nobody really saw a point in fighting over it.

It didn’t matter anymore.

There was maybe a couple minutes of brooding silence before Velma let out a sigh and began to crawl toward the back door.

“Let’s get this shit over with.”

That seemed to snap everybody out of it and as a group they walked toward the school.

The setup was about what you’d expect from the Student Council budget.

Balloons and tablecloths.

That was about it.

In the school colors of course.

Orange and Purple.

As soon as the gang entered they were welcomed by a bubbly Nat, who wasted no time announcing their arrival to the whole damn party.

Shaggy and Velma eyed each other, both in the mood to go hide behind the snack table to avoid all the new eyes on them.

Daphne and Freddie instantly got comfortable moved into conversation mode with a group of the cheerleaders. Shag turned to ask Velma if she wanted to hide in the big bowl of pretzels with him, but saw that she was already there, stuffing her face so she would have an excuse not to talk.

Of course Jesse McIntyre didn’t care and quickly approached her.

Now he was in dangerous territory, but luckily he seemed to be a master of one sided conversation seeing as Velma was only contributing the occasional nod and Jesse still looked thoroughly invested.

Shaggy smiled, still awkwardly standing at the entrance alone.

He looked over at Fred and Daph, one of the cheerleaders must have said something funny because Daph was letting out that amazingly terrifying laugh.

Fred’s laugh look so composed compared to her’s, a couple of the cheerleaders looked a little spooked by the noises coming from the girl’s mouth. Shag sighed, this was usually how parties ended up when all four of them went to one.

Fred and Daphne being the only ones brave enough to have conversations.

Velma letting other people start conversations with her.

And Shaggy standing alone near the snack table staring at his phone.

Or in this case, staring at Daphne but that’s neither here nor there.

He wasn’t really sure how long he had just been standing like there staring at Daphne Blake like a sad asshole, but he soon felt a small hand grab onto his and begin to tug him toward all the “fun.”

Startled, he looked down and saw Natalie gripping onto him, a wide smile on her face.

Shag always thought it was a little weird that Nat had like the exact same shade of blue eyes that Fred did. Freddie constantly promises they aren’t related but Shaggy still didn’t totally buy it. He felt like someone had to be lying.

But other than the eyes, Nat and Fred were nothing alike.

Nat’s natural hair color was a light sunkissed brown, although she usually had it dyed some crazy unnatural color.

This month she had it dyed a dark purple that was darker at the roots and faded into a lighter purple at the tips.

He gulped, everything he was gonna look at for the rest of his fucking life would remind him of Daphne wasn’t it?

Cool. He was glad to be in a perpetual state of patheticness for all eternity.

His eyes shot back down to Nat, who was about the same height as Velms. Meaning she was far too small to him, like miles down. She giggled before saying, “I’m not letting you get out of having fun.”

He groaned, “Aw damn it, so close.”

She giggled again and steered him toward a huddle of people.”

His heartbeat picked up, it was group of the football players. The same ones that would call him “Mop Top” and “The Jolly Green Giant.” He had no idea how to talk to new people that he knew nothing about. That was pitiful considering he had grown up with most of them and he could only recall their first names.

That big bowl of pretzels suddenly became incredibly tempting.

‘No! We’re not chickening out! This was our idea to begin with and we’re gonna follow through with it!’

‘Who the fuck is ‘we’?! I’m on my own moron.’

“Everyone,” Nat’s clear voice rang out and attracted the group’s attention like a suspicious noise attracted Fred away from Mystery Machine. “You guys remember Shaggy right?” Still not letting go of his hand, she pulled him forward so that they were both included in the man huddle.

A couple of them stared at him blankly, having no idea who the hell this tall boy was.

Most of them smirked and nodded.

A few looked sort of sheepish, probably remembering something rude they said to him or about him.

One guy, Christopher Merlin, said, “Yeah he’s with the Nancy’s right?”

Is that what the gang was officially branded as now? The Nancy’s?

Shaggy figured it could have been a lot worse, if anything is could be taken as a compliment.

A very backhanded one.

Nat sent them all a very intimidating smile and said, “He’s also the one who stood up to Hayden and the cheer squad and promised them he’d find me.” Shag raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, “Stood up to,” is definitely stretching his actions out way too far.

He had really only said something to Hayden because if he didn’t Daphne would probably scalp her.

He wasn’t totally sure how far the truth had been re-woven before it had reached Nat. So it was possible that all the attention she was giving him was misdirected. Or he was just refusing to believe that Velma’s pointless teasing had some light to it.

It was then that he realized that Nat was still squeezing onto his hand, and that alone was really weird. But the fact that they were in front of half of the football team made it seem like some crazy dream he’d have that Fred would try to over explain and Daph would ask what he had for dinner that night.

He had the strong desire to pinch his arm and suddenly wake up in a cold sweat.

All the stares he was getting from guys who had never really been on amazing terms with was making him ever regret convincing the gang to come to this thing.

Since when was he the one that cared about ending their high school days on a good note?

Nat had been carrying on a conversation for what seemed like a million years, Shaggy was just praying that she’d be done soon and just drag him over to the damn pretzels.

A better idea would be to let go of Nat’s hand and excuse himself from the conversation, that’s what Shag normally would do.

But Shag wasn’t exactly set to normal tonight.

He figured he’d be fine as long as he wasn’t directly addressed.

But of course the second he thought it, the fates chuckled and pulled their puppet strings, forcing Shaggy Rogers to be directly addressed at a high school party.

“So, Shagster,” That was a new one, “When the hell did you do that to your ears?” One of the players that was standing next to him, Shag was sure his name was Randy, tugged lightly on his right ear. The one with Daph’s earring in it.

Suddenly everyone looked back at him, a look of realization on everyone’s faces as they saw what Randy was gently yanking on.

Shaggy didn’t answer for a few seconds, as he was trying to collect his thoughts and his thoughts were currently a big jumble of, ‘Oh Zoinks. Fuckin. Shit Shit Shit.’

And he was fairly certain that all of those weren’t a proper response to Randy’s question.

‘Wait, what the hell did he ask me again?!’

‘Ears....’

‘Oh yeah.’

He let out a quiet breath and finally replied, “Like, um, at the beginning of this year. You know, because I was officially 18 so I wanted to do something dumb but not really dumb.” God this was painful.

“Yeah? Well, purple looks just darling on you.” Randy chuckled and turned back towards the group.

Shag let out a soft laugh, behind that laugh was the desire to go hide in the Mystery Machine. But that would mean letting go of Nat’s hand forcefully and just leaving the circle. And suddenly Shaggy was afraid of hurting these people’s damn feelings.

Seventeen year old Shaggy wouldn’t have cared.

But to be fair seventeen year old Shaggy only had to worry about the mask of the week and an occasional bad grade because he hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before.

He was sure his hands felt incredibly sweaty in Nat’s, but of course she was barely acting like her holding his hand was beyond their current friendship level.

Suddenly his clammy hand that felt almost fused to Nat’s was pulled from the small girl’s grip and he swore he felt his hand take in a big gulp of air.

Looking up he wondered what had forcefully released Shag’s hand from a death grip.

As he looked over he saw that familiar bright red hair rush between him and Nat, “Henry oh my word it feels like forever since I last saw you!”

Daphne had run forward and pulled one of the players, now identified at Henry, into a classy side hug. Henry gave her a confused smile and chuckled, “Daphne I saw you in Macro this morning. You threw a pack of Skittles at me remember?”

Shaggy grinned, he remembered that.

Daph stared at the football player blankly, as if it occurred to her that he wouldn’t remember that. Eventually she let out a sheepish giggle and began to rub the back of her neck, “I-I guess that just feels like forever you know?”

Shag could feel his insides imploding for her, now she had been trapped in a painful social situation.

Henry just gave her a soft smile and turned his attention back to Randy, who was now rambling about how they took Skittles out of the school vending machines for some reason.

Daph let out a quiet, possibly relieved, sigh and turned back toward Shag sending him and amused look.

In return he gave her an apologetic one.

For a split second Daph’s eyes had left his and darted to the left of him. It was then that Shaggy remembered Nat was standing next to him, and had been gripping onto his hand up until a minute ago.

It came to his mind that Daphne didn’t need to run between him and Nat since it probably would have been much easier for her to just run between him and Randy.

He quickly brushed those thoughts to the side since this was Daphne and she tended to do everything without thinking about it and just ended up confusing herself when she was asked why the hell she did that.

After another minute of awkwardly standing in the middle of the huddle Daph silently took the spot between Randy and Shag.

Neither of them contributed anything to the conversations happening around them.

They just stood next to each other, and that was enough to make both of them feel safe.

Shaggy had shoved both of his hands in his pockets in fear that Nat might try to grab his hand again and then she would have to suffer holding onto his nasty, damp hands.

Occasionally the group would be sent into loud bouts of laughter, and during those times Daph and Shags would giggle along, pretending they 100% knew what hilarious thing had just been said and they also thought it was hilarious.

Sometimes she’d catch him looking at her and vice versa and then they’d look into each other’s eyes for a couple seconds before giggling awkwardly and turning away.

So far this party thing had been fairly standard for the two of them, although it had a pretty shaky start and Shag doubted he would ever actually get to the damn snack table. But that was okay, he thought, at least he wasn’t stranded and alone over here.

“So wait. Wait, wait, wait...”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to the guy standing next Henry, Shag recognized him as Elliot, Daph recognized him as the 3rd date she had gone on during sophomore year.

“Daphne I thought you were dating the Jones guy?”

Shaggy looked down at her, she was wearing a very confused expression.

She bit her bottom lip let out a puzzled laugh, “Um....I’m not. W-We’re just friends as far as I can tell.”

Randy snorted, “Where the hell did that come from Elliot? Are we playing Truth or Dare, 8th grade edition?” Elliot gave him and annoyed glare, “Well fuckin’ I’m sorry dude! I just kinda always assumed Blake and Jones were and item and then the Nancy’s show up tonight and it’s fucking Blake and Rogers wearing the couples earrings.”

He lifted up his hands and gestured between the two of them.

Instantly all eyes were on them, and Shag could feel Nat’s powerful stare.

That was it.

It was time to just die.

Anytime.

Right now preferably.

Daphne let out another nervous chuckle and Shag saw her fingers begin to fidget as she tried to think of a response.

Deciding he needed to help her, he took in a deep breath, “It’s- There not couple’s earrings. Like Velma just dared us to wear matching earrings to this party so that she would-um come.” That was never gonna get any easier was it?

Randy raised an eyebrow skeptically, and the rest of the team followed him.

Nat let out a chuckle, “So you two aren’t a thing?”

‘Define thing.’ Shag thought as he would admit that things were really complicated between them. But that was also none of their damn business.

He shook his head, “Like we’re just friends guys, right Daph?”

For a second he was wondering who he was asking the question for.

The crowd of curious football players and one student council president.

Or for himself, maybe searching for some sort of reality check that would remind him that Daphne was always gonna be in love with Fred.

That “always” was probably the biggest thing keeping his feelings hidden, so far down that even he didn’t see them. And maybe if he heard that “always” again in the form of her agreeing that they were just friends, than he’d be able to accept and move on.

But instead of Daph agreeing with him, she just stared up at him for several seconds, looking absolutely lost even though she knew right where she was.

And suddenly Shag felt lost too. There was no “always?” Where was it?!

What the hell did this mean now?

Daphne never answered his question.

Instead she exited the huddle and rushed past everything and everyone, and straight toward the exit into their courtyard.

And of fucking course Shag wasted no time following her because now they had been transported into some stupid rom com and chasing after her went right along with this Freeform worthy script.

Fred and Velma both sent concerned glance toward them but Velma signalled to Fred to just let them go.

He nodded, confusion clearly on his face.

The huddle plus Nat stared after them.

Nat let out another chuckle before turning back to the group.

“Elliot what door have you opened?”

Elliot scowled, “Oh sure it’s always my fault Miss ‘So like you are totally not dating right?’” He pretended to bat his eyelashes and twirl his hair with his fingers.

Nat rolled her eyes, “Randy, you’re the one that went to the same class as them, what do you think.”

He remained silent for a few seconds, maintaining a pensive look, “He asked her to dance at prom a couple months ago right? And she actually danced with him right?”

Everyone nodded and looked at one another knowingly.

Except Nat who seemed to be missing some crucial detail.

“So? Guys and girls can dance and not have it result in a marriage proposal.” She placed her hands on her hips.

The huddle all snickered before Henry clued the confused girl in, “Dear Natalie, we have basically grown up with Daphne always being a part of our life, dances included.” Nat still wasn’t getting why this was a big deal.

“During the eight year worth of dances, stupidly awkward middle school dances to trashy dance parties where losers spike the punch,” He sent an annoyed look over toward Randy, who just let out an exaggerated cackle, “Daphne Blake has never, and when I say never I fucking mean never-no exceptions, danced with anyone except Fred Jones.”

Shaggy groaned and ran his hands through his hair, what exactly was happening right now?

What was he trying to accomplish by chasing after her?

Was he trying to be dashing or something?

Because he doubted he looked anywhere near dashing as he tried not to trip on loose tiles.

Not to mention his hands were still in his pockets.

So he definitely looked like some sort of freakishly tall, armless creatures that was just bounding through nature.

Truly horrifying.

He wasn’t even surprised that Daph could run so fast even though she was wearing heels.

He had seen her take on some terrifying men in masks twice he size in six inch heels.

Lucky for him, high heels weren’t particularly quiet shoes and so he had a distinct *clip clop* to follow. This went on for several minutes and he had the sinking feeling that Daph would never stop running for the rest of eternity.

So he decided to call out to her.

“Excuse me!! Daphne! Have you run out of juice yet?!”

He then turned a corner and was surprised to see that he had caught up to her quite a bit. Now she was only a few feet in front of him.

“Jesus I’d like to talk to you about the Avengers’ initiative, good God!”

He heard her let out a soft laugh.

She stopped running.

So did he.

She still hadn’t turned around to look at him.

He shifted his weight from on foot to the other, just staring at her messy red hair that had gotten wrecked up by the force of her endurance running through the whole damn school.

When she did eventually turn around he was terrified.

Mainly because his brilliant rom com hero’s plot hadn’t been written out this far.

He stared at her for a few seconds.

She didn’t look mad or sad or happy or anything really.

She just looked like Daphne with messy hair and red cheeks.

What really sent his heartbeat going beyond the speed limit was that fucking glint in her eyes. Why was it there?!

‘Fuck it. Like we’ll do it live’

He took a couple steps forward.

He gulped.

Breathing was really hard if he thought about it.

“Daph, like what’s wrong?”

Brilliant, he clearly had grand control of this situation.

Daph looked down at her feet, an amused smile on her face.

When she did reply, it seemed annoyed, “Timing, that’s what’s wrong.”

He raised an eyebrow.

Timing?

Timing.

His eyes widened.

Timing!

Oh.

Timing.

“Yeah.”

Daphne looked back up at him, her eyes still practically glowing.

“Shags I.......I really wish I had danced with you sooner than the end of senior year.” She took a step forward and he instinctively took his hands out of his pockets, letting her grab onto both of them.

He intertwined his fingers with her’s instantly.

“I wish I had been smart enough to ask you sooner....”

She shook her head and smiled up at him.

“My dumb ass probably wouldn’t have said yes.”

He thought about for a second before nodding.

“And damn it, when I finally did say yes to you it fucking a few months before all four of us separate for our new lives!!” He saw her eyes begin to tear up so he squeezed her hands tightly.

She let out a pained chuckle, “I don’t suppose NYU happens to interest you at all huh?”

He smirked at her, “New York has amazing food, and you soon. But other than that I don’t see any appeal.” She sighed and nodded.

Silence.

For a long time, just silence.

“Wait so you are for sure accepted into NYU than?” She beamed brighter than any star he had ever seen, honestly all stars were posers compared to her damn smiles.

“Orientation starts August 26th.”

He squeezed her hands again.

“So I have one more summer with you....”

She squeezed back.

“Indeed you do.”

A/N Okay this took me way too long to write and I know it’s really long but the fact that it’s so long is why it’s been like eight millions years since i updated!

#scooby doo #shaphne #shaggy rogers #daphne blake #shaphne fanfiction

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scoobydoominuscoobydoo · 6 years

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Part Six

“You know like...two people, together. That nobody ever thought would be together...”

“I’ll let you students know right now that this job I’ve appointed you is your top priority, grades and attendance will be ignored until you find Miss McCall.”

Velma visibly flinched, as if their attendance record could get any worse this year.

The gang all sent each other worried looks, the fact that the principal thought calling them in here to let them know that their grades and attendance didn’t matter would make them find Natalie McCall faster was concerning.

Never had so many people put so much faith in them and so far they were letting them all down.

To the point that the freaking principal, the god of their dimension, had to intervene and tell them that either they get their shit together and find his granddaughter or be forced to repeat the year due to the amount of classes they missed. Or worse.

People had sudden expectations of them now. And it was nerve wracking.

Before people would just label them the Nancy Drew wannabes that always sat outside during lunch and had a weird van that seemed like the prime piece of real estate to hand out pot.

Which explained why so many people approached Shag with the hope of buying “A couple ounces.”

Which only led to Shaggy being confused and that person never associating with the gang ever again.

Daph would usually just say, “I’ll explain it to you when you’re older dear.”

But now the student body president, and local queen of Coolsville, had been kidnapped a week ago and still no ransom was announced.

Suddenly people expected the Nancy Drews and their pot van to jump right in and search for the top rung of the social ladder. But for a while the gang hadn’t planned on getting involved, seeing as there was no man in a mask involved. So it didn’t really fall under their criteria of mysteries.

But when Natalie’s boyfriend approached them offering money to find her, it became clear the people thought they were going to find the lost girl.

After a couple more days of pestering and one altercation where one of the girls from the cheer squad shoved Shaggy against the lockers and demanded they find Nat unless they wanted to be thrown into the school swimming pool that would be “conveniently” filled with a mixture of Vaseline and Nair.

Of course Daphne nearly strangled her to the ground, she had zero tolerance for anyone who threatened her gang (Shaggy especially) but Shag pulled her away and promised they’d try what they could to find her.

Unfortunately, the gang had no idea where to start and Daph’s constant suggestion that they just rip the cheer squad a new one and let the police handle it wasn’t helping.They had started by talking with the parents who didn’t even try to hide their disappointment at the sight of a bunch of seniors being their only hope to find their baby girl.

They then, skeptically, relayed anything they could remember regarding the kidnapping and their daughter.

The only useful things they got out of that conversation was the fact the Natalie was “the perfect little angel.” And that she was snatched the day of her 16th birthday party.

A party Daph and Fred had been invited to but both turned down since Scooby had a vet appointment that day and they didn’t want a stressed out Shag left alone with Velms who would definitely try to be sympathetic and comforting. But she would absolutely 100% beyond the shadow of a doubt fail horribly and certainly make it worse. Bless her heart.

A few leads would pop up here and there but for the most part they all led to zilch.

The students were getting anxious about Nat’s safety and annoyed with the gang who had yet to find anything on her. The cheerleaders had filled Shag’s locker with unopened tubes of Nair that all came tumbling down on him when he opened it.

This only further convinced Daph that they needed to attack the squad and forget about finding Nat.

“Daph, like they just miss their friend. Wouldn’t you do the same thing if I was snatched by some freak?”

“Shaggy, the last time you got kidnapped you were missing for 24 hours and even during that small amount of time I wasn’t able to function or think. I-If you were missing for the same amount of time as Nat than I........”

She never finished that sentence.

They had left the principal’s office with grim looks on their faces.

The gang could see the gears in Velma’s head set at maximum speed as she tried to figure out their next damn move.

Fred grabbed the back of her shoulders and steered her through the crowd of people as she continued to think. Daph sent glares to any of the cheerleaders that walked by them and took a protective stance next to Shaggy.

“Oh man my sweet knight in shining armor! Like, what would I do without you?”

She was pulled out of bodyguard mode by his clear teasing and sighed, she knew Shag wanted her to give them a break. But that would mean having to apologize to them, and Daphne was not a fan of saying sorry to people she disliked.

They all stopped at Velma’s locker, the wheels still turning it seemed, and Fred leaned against the door of the locker next to hers.

Shaggy and Daphne looked at each other and then back at Velms.

Whenever her brain was turned onto 100% she would usually be spaced out for a few minutes to a few hours. They were all hoping it would be the latter.

And they were lucky this time because after another five or so minutes with eyes glazed over, she popped back into reality with a start. Making Shaggy jump back and bump into one of the students. Both of them crashed to the ground.

Velma looked down and rolled her eyes, “Maybe we should call you Danger Prone Shaggy so that you and Daph can be all matchy matchy.”

Daphne giggled nervously as she grabbed onto his arm and helped Shaggy stand up again, sending anxious glaces to a confused Fred, who didn’t get the point of Velma’s joke.

Shaggy didn’t seem to hear what Velms said since he was too busy apologizing to whoever he crashed into and knocked down.

As he turned his attention back to the group, Daph let go of his arm and pretended to be busy brushing imaginary dirt off of her dress.

Fred just shrugged and turned back to Velma.

“You got anything Velms?”

She stared at all of them for a second before smirking, “Of course I do, why else would you guys keep me?” She turned around and started to enter the combination for her locker as she began to explain her idea.

“This is obviously so much bigger than just Natalie. I mean while it may be tempting to kidnap a 15 - no - 16 year old girl now.” She pulled open her locker, “I believe that this has something to do with her parents, her father more specifically.”

“Wait so you think Nat’s dad, like went out and pissed somebody off and like a decent human being the somebody that got pissed went and kidnapped the apple of his eye and now has him so nervous that he’s practically pulling his hair out without touching it?” Velma sent Shaggy a glare and turned back to searching her locker.

“I checked out a book on the McCall family seeing as they’re one of the oldest families in Coolsville and this town is bored as fuck.” She shoved a pile of, “light reading” books aside and got on her tip toes to try and reach up and grab whatever was behind them.

“And for the generation before ours, or Nat’s parents. The family had split off into two, one with Nat’s dad and - thank you Freddie - one with Nat’s uncle or her dad’s brother.” She held out the book that Fred had grabbed from the locker and handed to her.

She flipped through the pages quickly, most likely trying to spot one page in particular.

“Basically a lot of bickering and, ‘Why did daddy give you the nice house and I just got his $300,000 car??!!’ went down and the brothers stopped talking to each other.” Daph snorted.

“Been there done that, family feuds are so not as fun as you’d think.” Everyone rolled their eyes and sent Daphne a look that said, “Not now.”

“Aaaanywaaay, because Nat’s dad had made smarter business choices and isn’t a fucking moron his brother got pissed at him and decided the reason he was rich was because he inherited ‘more’ than him from their dad.”

Fred cleared his throat and nodded.

Daph sighed, “So....you think that this brother hated Nat’s dad so much that he kidnapped his niece....o-out of revenge for being poorer than his brother??”

Velma shrugged, “That would explain why there’s been no ransom demand, and the brothers have both been known to threaten each other in public. Plus he’s able to play the concerned uncle card so the police haven’t focused on him.”

Freddie groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Velms you do realize that is grasping at not even straws here, we’re grasping at coffee stirrers?”

Velma shook head.

“Look this uncle recently rented out the newer yacht brought to the marina and he’s done nothing with it. He hasn’t even taken it out on the the water! I’ll bet you anything that he’s keeping Natalie there!”

Shaggy chuckled nervously, “Like, I hope you’re not willing to bet us all probably getting expelled if this doesn’t work out.”

He could see Daphne glance down at his hands out of the corner of his eye. They weren’t shaking, but he wasn’t really sure why she thought they would be shaking at all.

After Velma’s revelation they discussed the plan with the police.

While the idea got a lot of eyebrow raises, these meddling kids had never been wrong before.

So they dropped Shaggy and Daphne back at the high school so that if Nat was safe and intact they could call them and they would let the school know she was fine.

Fred and Velma were gonna be forced to stay in the squad car and that was the best they could get.

As Shag and Daph waited for the call from Velma it became clear how riled up the students were getting. The cheerleaders sneered and others sent them warning glares. They had no idea why them not being able to find Nat would automatically be their fault. Solving mysteries grounded in reality was never their thing and Nat was no exception.

Shaggy sighed, that was just the logic of high school, he was so glad he only had less than one year left of this hell.

And then he gulped, if this didn’t work out then who knows what the principal would do to them. He could force them to repeat a year or worse, expel them.

If that happened it wouldn’t be any good for Fred and Velma who both applied to Yale and Stanford. He glanced over at Daphne who was twiddling her thumbs and just looking pretty in general. She wanted to go to NYU in a desperate attempt to escape her family’s stupid traditions and live as far away from them as she could within reason.

He felt his heartbeat start to pick up.

The future always seemed to make him nervous.

But the chance that this would ruin his friend’s futures, Daphne’s future, it just made his skin run cold.

He wondered how their parents would react.

He gulped, he had a pretty good idea of how his parents would respond.

He took a deep breath and bit into his lower lip, he needed to calm down. If he panicked now then he would just go absolutely insane if Nat wasn’t okay.

It had been around an hour since they had been dropped off and there was still no call from Velms and no news of the condition of of the victim.

Daphne looked over at Shag and saw that he seemed to be in his beginning stages of panic, she wasn’t totally sure where the panic was coming from but the current stakes people had put on them were even making her nervous.

She walked over to him slowly an began to make a grab for his hand, “Shags...you alri-”

Her moment was cut off by the sound of the Dairy Queen theme.

Shaggy’s ringtone.

They jumped and seemed frozen for a second, both just looking at each other.

Exhaling, he grabbed his phone out of his back pocket and answered.

“Velma?......... It what?......With his girlfriend......She’s just....gone???” Daphne was holding her breath as she heard the bits and pieces and felt her heart sink as Shaggy’s face fell and his breathing picked up.

She wasn’t there.

They had no idea where she was.

Or if she was still alive.

His hand fell back down to his side, Velma still talking to him on the other end, probably not aware that he wasn’t listening.

Daph watched as his eyes began to dart around, “Shaggy a-are you alright?? You need to breathe!” She grabbed onto his hand which he quickly tightened around hers.

“Hey! Nancy’s! How’s Nat is she doing okay??” Daph groaned as she looked around trying to spot a place to escape.She could hear him begin to wheeze, totally at a loss for breath, as more people began to approach them and demand Nat’s condition. Making it even harder for Daph to plot an escape route.

After a second she groaned and made sure her grip on Shag’s hand was tight.

With her other arm she began to elbow people out of the way, trying to find somewhere where everything would be quiet.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the van parked next to the front courtyard. She looked back at Shaggy, who was definitely not okay, and tightened her grip on his hand and choosing to ignore all the people that were calling out to them.

She tuned them out as she opened the front doors and made sure her and Shaggy didn’t come tumbling down the front steps.

Looking back again her heart ached to see him like his.

Sure she had seen it happen before but usually Scooby helped him out a lot.

And this was definitely nothing like her mother’s panic attacks that just required a shot of tequila and the Cheetah Girls 2 sound track.

Luckily the van had been left unlocked and she opened the back doors, climbing in and pulling Shag in with her.

Letting go of his hand, she crawled over and shut the back doors.

Now that she had nothing to tune out, Shag’s shallow, panicked breath was the only thing she could hear. She turned back and looked at his pale face, “Shag wha-what do you need me to do?” She crawled back over to him and grabbed both of his hands but he pulled them away. He cradled his head in his hands, still failing to breathe properly.

Daphne felt like crying and screaming and having her own panic attack but she would be leaving Shaggy alone. And that wasn’t an option.

“Sh-Shags look at me wh-what’s wrong?!”

She placed both of her hands on either side of his face and forced him to look at her face. His brown eyes were tearing up and were darting all over the place, almost refusing to stay focused on one thing.

As he tried to speak to her he seemed to be speaking fast in his head but it came out in a jumbled mess that he could barely squeeze out through panicked wheezes.

“W-We...sh-she’s- we’re never- gonna find her......Sh-She could - She could be dead!! A-and we’re gonna be......m-......my parents are-......they’re gonna kill me.” Daphne shook her head, her eyes were probably tearing up just like his.

He kept going on and on to the point that it looked painful for him to try and talk to her, to barely string these sentences together.

She couldn’t stand to see this, to see Shaggy, her Shaggy, losing himself and she couldn’t think of anything to do. She watched his eyes that seemed to examine every detail of her face.

Those eyes always made her happy.

She loved those eyes dearly, and couldn’t stand to see them so terrified.

What would she do to protect those eyes?

Maybe a better question is what wouldn’t she do for those eyes to stay safe.

Nothing.

There is nothing she wouldn’t do to protect those eyes, and the perfection they belong to.

Everything suddenly felt warm, not just the space around them but they themselves felt warm. A nice, comforting warmth, like the kind you get from a hug. But the kind of hug you want.

It had taken Daph a few seconds to process where this warmth was coming from.

And then she remembered that a few seconds ago she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Shaggy’s, which I guess is typically classified as a kiss.

They stayed in that position for a while, Daph’s hands resting on his cheeks as they both relaxed. At that moment, neither of them wanted to move at all because then that would mean they’d either pretend this never happened or talk about it.

Eventually that warmth had to fade, so Daph pulled away gently.

Not nearly brave enough to open her eyes and look into that face.

She noted that his breathing seemed to be evening out which was good. She slid her hands down his cheeks and let them rest on her knees.

Letting out a heavy sigh, she opened her eyes and was quickly welcomed by the shocked face of her good old friend Shaggy. His eyes were wide as he looked at her, clearly trying to process the events that had just conspired.

“Wh-....What?” Daph flinched and bit her lip.

Shag was quiet again for a few seconds before saying, “W-Why the hell....Why did you kiss me??” Daph’s heartbeat picked up and she felt her cheeks go red. ‘Because I’m so freaking in love with you to the point that it physically affects me and I hate it but I think I’d go crazy without it.’

That was the first answer that popped up in her head and it was a little too over eager and on top of that it included the stunning revelation that she was in love with him.

Something even she herself was not aware of.

“I-...I just...I don’t know!! Isn’t that just what you do in the movies?? I-I just....you know figured since kissing is more powerful than modern medicine.” She blurted that all out a lot louder than she needed to but it’s the thought that counts.

Shag shook his head, “You tried to end my panic attack by like using something only Disney would think of?” Daphne rolled her eyes, her cheeks still feeling hot as ever.

“Well it worked didn’t it? Look at you! You’re all cool and okay. I mean....are you doing better?” She rested her hand on his shoulder, her voice quickly becoming concerned. He let out a sigh and leaned his head back so that is was rest on the back of the front seats.

“S-Sorry, it was just a little too much all at once.” She shook her head.

“Don’t apologize unless you did something wrong.” He chuckled and looked back forward toward her, good lord those eyes are back, “Shags, we’re gonna be fine, you know that right? It’s always gonna be okay no matter what happens. And even though we may have been wrong about Nat this one time that-....that doesn’t mean we won’t find her at all.”

She held onto his hand gingerly and stroked it with her thumb.

“She’s gonna be okay Shag’s, we’re always gonna be okay.”

He stared down at their intertwined fingers and nodded slowly.

Daphne smiled, “Now we could either stay in here and wait for Velma and Freddie, or we wait for them back in the school.”

“Like, staying here’s good.”

Nodding, she relaxed her position, not letting go of his hands.

For the next few minuted they just sat in that familiar, comfortable silence waiting for their friends to return with the next plan.

The main thing on Daphne’s mind during that time was, out of all the kisses she’d experienced in her life, which was a lot; this one was definitely her favorite.

#scooby doo #shaphne #shaggy rogers #daphne blake #shaphne fanfiction #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #lydia martin #stydia #stydia fanfiction

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scoobydoominuscoobydoo · 6 years

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Part Four

“If you die, I’ll literally go out of my freaking mind.”

“Look, at the end of the day I’m able to handle our, like terrible, life-shortening lifestyle. But that was because no matter how many horrible ghouls got up close and personal and nearly caused me to exit my body in an ethereal form, it always ended and that was that.”

Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats as Fred sped down the empty highway.

Shaggy was leaning against the back door of the van, Daphne sitting right next to him. All of them were out of breath and Shag’s breathing seemed to hitch every few seconds, his hands were shaking hard. But he couldn’t get them to stop.

They had just been chased out of Fred’s house by a woman taller than Shaggy wearing what looked like a baby doll’s face.

She was recognized as Marilyn Andrews, an ex-special forces who had been terrorizing Coolsville for the past month or so. That it, until some meddling kids came along and did what they do best.

They thought it was gonna be like every other case, every loose end get’s tied up and the bad guy goes to jail for a long ass time.

Except this time that’s not what happened.

Instead Andrews escaped, and her first instinct was to go after the meddling kids that thought they could outsmart her. Just to ensure it would never happen.

“Shaggy she’s ex-special forces, of course she can break out of prison. I-I guess we were just hoping she wouldn’t remember how.” Velma gently pet Scooby’s head that was resting on her lap.

Shag let out a tired laugh, “Or course we were. You guys know what your problem is? Like, you’re never willing to admit when maybe this is out of our hands. Maybe, just for once, we could let the damn police handle something!!” He lifted his hands up in frustration.

He knew that Velma and Fred would rather die than admit they were in over their heads.

It was possible they still had trouble trusting adults and that was why they never bothered to never get them involved.

Nobody responded.

Daph had gotten on her knees and turned around to look out the window, probably checking to see if they were being followed.

She let out a sigh of relief and pressed her forehead against the glass.

Shaggy felt his heartbeat relax as he looked at her calmed face and her gentle eyes. For the moment everything was quiet, all of them just trying to grasp onto reality and keep their wits about them.

Velma continued to pet Scoob’s shaking head.

Fred gripped tightly onto the steering wheel.

Shaggy and Daphne stared into each other’s eyes trying to find an anchor to hold onto.

Eventually, the silence was ended by Fred handing Velma his phone and telling her to dial 911. Shaggy felt a rush of relief run over him and he finally felt his tense body relax.

Velma explained the situation as clearly as she could, she was having trouble forming full sentences.

“G-Got it, okay....um thank you officer.”

She hung up and turned to Fred, “Uh- They tell us to head toward the high school a-and wait for them. I-In the van of course.”

Fred nodded and without signalling, he turned right toward their school.

As he turned he said, “Daphne, there’s a compartment right next to where we keep the spare tire. Open it and get what’s inside.” Daph nodded slowly and began to crawl over to where the tire was kept.

She wobbled around as the van sped up and slowed down.

Shaggy crawled over behind her and helped her lift up the door where the tire was. Instantly he spotted the compartment and motioned toward it. Daph followed his hand and nodded.

She leaned over his lap and opened the little door.

After opening it she froze for a few seconds, Shag placed a hand on her shoulder, “Daph, like you all good?”

“Jeepers.”

She uttered this just under her breath causing Shaggy’s hair on the back of his neck to stand up.

Jeepers was Daph’s filler word she used when she couldn’t think of anything better to say. Most of them had a filler word at this point, except Fred who never really needed to voice his feelings.

Velma turned around in her seat, “What was that? Freddie what did you hide?”

Fred’s face was grim and he stared straight ahead at the road, not replying. Shag was attempting to spot what had shocked Daph but to no avail.

Eventually, Daphne removed her hand from the compartment, Shaggy and Velma’s eyes widened when they saw what she was carefully holding.

“Jinkies Fred.”

“Zoinks.”

They used their filler words at the same time, not really sure how they were supposed to react.

Velma turned around with her brows furrowed, “Fred just what the hell are you doing with a gun in the Mystery Machine?! Are you crazy?? If the police find out, who knows how much trouble we’ll be in!!”

Shaggy and Daphne flinched, Velma rarely raised her voice at Fred since they both never seemed to be disappointed in one another.

It was like watching Mom and Dad fight, not fun.

“Velma, we’re getting chased by a freakin ex-special forces that’s probably learned how to survive cyanide pill and escape Gulags, me getting arrested for unlawful possession is the least of our damn worries!!” Fred snapped back at her as he made a turn into the high school parking lot, sending Shaggy and Daphne crashing into the back doors.

Daph yelped as she dropped the gun, terrified it would go off.

“Freddie when were you gonna tell us-no-me about this unknown Plan B?!” There was hurt in her voice, Fred remained silent as he tried to find a parking spot that was relatively hidden.

Daphne leaned over and tried to grab the gun but was once again flying against the door, a loud thud echoed through the van.

Shaggy looked over to her and saw her bite her lip and run the back of her head.

He sighed, they had all lost their anchors and were drifting off, it was getting too hard to pull themselves together.

As Fred turned into a dark parking spot behind a tree the gun slid right in front of Shaggy, without a second thought he reached over and grabbed it. Guns were heavier than he thought, he rested it in his lap as he tried to even out his breathing again.

Now all they needed to do was not move, or breathe, or anything to draw attention themselves until the police came.

He could really see how much he was trembling as he held the gun, he felt a rubber band that was being pulled back so far that instead of snapping, it might just break.

Everyone was way too close to snapping at this point.

His hand felt like they were both cell phones set to vibrate and people wouldn’t stop calling them.

He saw two hands go over his own, he recognized the assortments of rings and the sparkly purple nail polish. The second her hands touched his a shiver went up his spine and his breathing hitched.

Her touch didn’t normally do that, usually it just calmed him.

The quiet was becoming too much to bear.

It was like when you play hide and seek and you have a hiding in plain sight spot, and the seeker is in the same room as you.

You end up holding your breath and don’t even dare to move out of fear of being discovered, and then having to be It. This was like that, but a million times more terrifying and ended in them dying if the seeker found them.

Nobody in the van was moving or speaking, just sitting there and using up as little oxygen as they could.

Daph’s hands were still rested gently over Shags.

And he really hoped she didn’t move them. Getting chills from her hands was better than being too scared to look up from his lap.

You could hear everyone release a deep breath as Fred broke the silence, “Daphne,” Her grip of Shag’s hands tightened, “Since you’re the only one in this van with actual experience with firearms, you’re getting the gun.”

Shaggy could hear her breathing pick up and felt a panic in her voice.

“Bu- Freddie those were just hunting rifles and shotguns, for killing pigeons!! Thi-This is a 9 mil, I-I’ve only fired one of these once!”

She was practically squeezing the life out of his hands at this point, but he couldn’t find the energy to stop her.

“Daph that’s one more than any of us, you’re the best shot here. Besides it’s only if Andrews beats the police here.” Shag’s blood ran cold at that statement, there was a chance the psycho would be able to find them and cut their intestines out and wear them a horrifying scarf of meddling kids.

Daph sighed, “But...Fre-”

She was cut off by the sound of a motorcycle engine roaring into the parking lot.

Her hands were quickly pulled away from him as she covered her mouth with her hands, closing her eyes tightly.

Shag ignored the cold feeling he got when her hands left his and placed the gun in front of her. He then got on his knees and turned around as quietly as he could, he then peeked out the window.

It only took a second to spot the huge woman sitting on the vehicle scanning the area.

Instantly he dropped down from the window and held his breath, “Like, that’s definitely not the police.” He whispered it so quietly that only Daph could have heard him, but she didn’t react.

He heard shuffling and peeked back to see that Fred, Velma and Scooby were all ducking down in the front seat so no one could see them through the windows.

He looked back down at the grey carpet, counting slowly in his head so as not to lose his shit at the last second.

For a while they just heard the engine softly humming on the other side of the parking lot.

The farther away she felt the more unbearable everything became.

Why wouldn’t she just leave??

Suddenly the engine roared and was heading distinctly in their direction.

Shaggy felt Daph’s hand reach out for his and he held onto it tightly. Both of their knuckles were white as mayonnaise on a BLT. Shag didn’t even know what was running through Fred and Velms’ heads. He had a good idea of Scoob’s mental state, right around the same as his.

The engine’s purr was getting closer and closer as Shag’s grip on her hand got tighter and tighter.

He swore he could hear the motorcycle on the other side of the doors.

He could practically see Andrews right in front of them.

But instead of the doors being ripped off their hinges and them all getting their tongues ripped out, the sound of the engine grew distant, heading off in the other direction.

He heard Daph’s breathing for the first time in the past two minutes.

He also felt a wash of relief go over his body.

But that all was reversed the second he heard the loud ringing of Fred’s cell phone from the front seat.

There was the sound of scrambling and the sound of the NCIS theme song was silenced.

That didn’t change anything though, it was way too late.

Shag peeked over and saw a tear running down Daph’s cheeks as the sound of the engine halted, Andrews had parked. There was the sound of footsteps toward the van, he saw Daphne’s hand reach for the gun out of the corner of his eye.

Before he had time to think, there was a loud *BANG* and a bullet whizzed through the side of the Mystery Machine.

Shaggy let out an ear piercing scream, and for once he wasn’t the only one.

Immediately, Fred, Velms and Scoob jumped over the front seat and into the back.

Shag could barely process what was happening as Velma shook Fred, begging for him to have a plan. Daphne leaned over and slapped her telling her to shut her damn mouth.

Shaggy grabbed onto her shoulder and pulled her back, the whole van felt like it was spinning. He then heard another *BANG* and pulled Daph down so they were both in the fetal position. Another bullet, this time through the driver’s side window.

Fred was trying to steady his breathing while everyone was either crying or on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Okay,” His voice was shaking, like a pillar about to break apart, “She’s gonna kill us if we stay here. W-We need to get into the school building.”

Shag took a second to clarify what he said, “Like no way man!! Are you out of you’re damn mind Fred?? There are a good 50 feet between the Mystery Machine and the front door. And in those 50 feet at a bullet hell being provided by a fucking psychopath lookin like Andre the Giant with a damn machine gun!!!”

Another *BANG* and they all ducked down again, she was getting closer.

Velma stepped in, “Shaggy it’s not 50 feet, it’s 43 feet and 15 inches.”

Shag stared at her with a look of disbelief on his face, “Right and that makes it so much better!! That brings out chances of survival up a whole 7.8%! Like, good for us!!”

*BANG*

“Shaggy we will indeed die if we try to make a run for the front door. But if we drive up to the front door we’ll have a higher chance.” Shaggy gulped, he didn’t like the way any of that sounded.

He had completely zoned out while they went over their plan.

All he knew was they were splitting up (of fucking course they were) and that he was with Daph. Which didn’t make him any happier since he knew that if he was with Daphne he’d be more likely to do something stupid in an effort to protect her, even if she didn’t need it.

They waited until the next *BANG* and Velma made her move for the driver’s seat.

Ducking down, she turned the key in the ignition and the poor, scarred Mystery Machine awoke. Her next move was to put it in reverse straight toward the front steps of the school.

She put her foot on the gas and floored it.

Sending the rest of the gang forward crashing into the front seat.

There was a wave of *BANGS* but luckily all of them were near misses.

“HERE WE GO!!” Velma yelled and the gang braced themselves for impact with the front steps.

The collision shook the whole van and knocked the wind out of Shaggy, his chest feeling tight. But he didn’t have time to think about that because Velms had already put it in park and they were all crawling over to the back door.

Daphne pushed both of the doors open, the gun still in her right hand.

All of them quickly jumped out of the back and began to make a run for it.

Except Daphne, who had stopped and was staring at Andrews who was making her way toward the school. Shaggy groaned and rolled his eye as he ran back over to her and grabbed her free hand.

He then began to drag her into the school where they made a left toward the Chem lab where Scoob was supposed to be hiding.

“I swear Daph you make every horror movie mistake in the book. Like you didn’t get the nickname Danger Prone Daphne by making smart decisions.”

Daph only responded by tightening her grip on his hand.

When they made it to the Chem lab Shaggy could hear someone kick the front doors open and head in the direction where Fred and Velma went. Daphne prayed that Fred wouldn’t get hurt and that Velma could handle herself.

Shaggy let out a loud sigh of relief and slid down the wall he was leaning against.

He looked around the room and spotted Scooby hiding under one of the desks in the corner, Daphne’s desk to be exact.

Maybe Daph’s scent calmed him down.

He then realized he hadn’t let go of her hand yet. Looking up at her, he saw that she was staring down at the gun in her hand, a troubled look on her face.

“Daph, like I-I uh.....I doubt you’ll need to use it. Before you know it the police will be here they’ll slap some cuffs on good ol’ Andrews the Giant. And then we can go out to the nearest all you can eat buffet and prove how false their advertising is.” She sent him a grateful smile but the doubt was written in her eyes.

They had rested there for maybe 8 minutes, aside from the occasional door slamming things were pretty quiet.

Daphne still hadn’t let go of Shaggy’s hand, but he wasn’t really letting go either.

Shaggy was getting ready to walk over to the window and see if there was any sign of the damn police, wherever the hell they were they need to get in gear and save their lives already.

But he was cut short by one of those dreaded *BANGS!*

Both of them jumped and Scoob whimpered.

After a second Daph said in a voice laced with terror, “Tha-That came from Fred and Velma’s direction!”

“Daph wai-”

Daphne had already opened the door and was making her way toward the gunshot.

“Damn horror movie mistakes.” Shaggy muttered under his breath as he stood up, breathing heavily he stared out the doorway.

He turned back to Scooby who shook his head, his choice had already been made. Shaggy let out a long, shaky sigh and gulped, this could be listed as one of those stupid things he would do to protect Daphne even though she didn’t need it.

As he turned out of the door he spotted Daph a few feet ahead of him, trying to find where the *BANG* came from.

He began to follow her cautiously, being wary of all the places a 10 foot tall monster could pop out and turn his kneecaps into belt buckles. He was brought to attention by the sound of Daphne cocking the gun.

“Zoinks.” He whispered, this was for real.

They made their way down the hallway slowly, both a several feet apart from each other.

Shaggy felt his soul jump out of his body for a second at the sound of a deafening scream echoing through the whole school. Velma’s scream.

That prompted Daph to break into a sprint towards the central courtyard.

Shag groaned as he jogged after her but grew nervous when he lost sight of her around the corner.

He then turned on his super speed when he heard a different *BANG* to the *BANG* he was used to.

As he reached the courtyard he froze for a second, drinking in the whole scene.

Velma’s turtleneck was covered in what he hated to assume was blood. Tears were streaming down her cheeks but her face seemed to lack any sort of emotion or understanding of what was before her. Fred was on his knees next her, all the color had been drained from his face and he looked ready to throw up.

Daphne was only a couple feet in front of him, her back was to so he wasn’t sure what her state was.

All he could see was her shoulders rise and fall with her breathing.

Lying in the middle of the courtyard, with an AK still in her hand, a bullet hole through the side of her head, was Marilyn Andrews.

Her eyes were still open and angry, the hunger to kill them still fresh in her lifeless face.

Shaggy’s heartbeat had spiked and his breathing picked up.

It had just clicked.

Daphne had shot Andrews in the head to save Velma.

Daphne had killed Andrews.

Daphne, who saw the good in all people and preached that life was a sacred thing.

He felt like his legs were about to give out, “Daphne?”

She gasped and turned around, he saw that her face was drenched in tears. Her eyes were trembling and filled with so many different emotions he couldn’t comprehend. A stark contrast to Fred and Velma’s eyes that seemed glazed over and blank.

She dropped the gun and, without saying a word, wrapped her arms around his neck.

He heard her break into sobs as she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck.

This only made his wanna cry with her, but instead he wrapped his arms around her and began to stroke her hair. Just letting her cry.

The jingle of Scooby’s collar could be heard back in the school, making it’s way closer to them.

And like the ringing sound of a cruel joke, police sirens quickly filled the parking lot.

#scooby doo #shaphne #shaggy rogers #daphne blake #shaphne fanfiction #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #lydia martin #stydia fanfiction

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