Dear Diary | Shaggy Rodgers and Fred Jones

I Love You, I Love You, I Love You. | Ch. 7

-Shaggy's POV-

-FLASHBACK-

Freddy invited me over for a sleepover, we've both never had one before. To be honest I'm nervous because I've never been away from my parents or Scooby before. Although, Fred makes me feel safe, Scooby would be jealous I said this but Freddy's my best friend too. *Knock, knock* "Hi, You must be Mrs. Rodgers, and Shaggy! Fred is upstairs, he's super excited you're staying over" She smiled. I carried my bag upstairs. "Hey, Freddy." I open the door, he had set up a fort over the bed. "Shaggy!!" He ran towards me and pulled me into a hug. "I have snacks, I know how much you love to eat!" Freddy grinned. My heart had felt light as air, I don't know why. Maybe because he did all this for me and it made me feel special. "Like, you did all this for me?" I softly smiled. "Yeah, of course. I knew you might be nervous and I just wanted you to feel.. at home." Freddy smiled. Wow, I've never felt like this before, something about Freddy from the first day we met made me feel special and like my heart was as light as air and my stomach like I swallowed a bunch of butterflies. I promise, I didn't.

We had spent the rest of the evening playing Mario Kart until we had finally went to bed. I had never felt safer than being next to Fred, never before in my life had I felt like I had a friend who actually cares, who wasn't a dog. We were both pretty sleepy so we had fallen asleep quickly. "Breakfast- oh- awe!!" Fred's mom had walked in. We had woken up arms wrapped around each other, and legs entangled. "You two are adorable! Come eat boys!" Fred's mom turned to leave and headed back downstairs. He knew this was only the beginning and that there would be thousands of more days like this, every single one of them with Fred. For the rest of their lives. Sounds kind of perfect to Shaggy, he hopes Fred thinks so too.

-END OF FLASHBACK-

The Mystery Gang had made it home, Shaggy had gotten the milkshake he was promised, and Fred had dropped him off at home. It was now the next morning, and it was pouring outside. Shaggy and Scooby were eating breakfast, of course. Until they were interrupted, of course. They had heard banging on the door. "Door, Raggy!" Scooby continues eating. Shaggy walks over through the kitchen and living room and opens the front door. He opened the door to a sopping wet covered in rain, Fred. "Fred?" Shaggy looked lost, so did Fred to be fair. "Can we.. can we talk? We kinda have a habit of um, well, getting interrupted." Shaggy gestured him inside. "Come in, come in. Like let me get you a towel, you're soaked." Shaggy walks over yo the closet and grabs a towel and wraps it around Fred.

"Did you- did you run here?" Shaggy giggles, and Fred looks embarrassed. "Uh, yeah." Shaggy just laughs. "Like, you could've taken the mystery machine, Freddy." Shaggy continues to laugh. "Oh, right! I knew I was forgetting something" his face turns almost scarlet. "I love you, you big buffoon." Fred smiles, unlike any smile he's seen before. "Now come, sit." Shaggy drags Fred over to the couch. "I love you too, Shag." Fred presses a hand on his cheek. "Like, uh, Fred? Did you catch hypothermia or something?" Shaggy looks at him a bit confused. "What were you gonna say, before we were interrupted yesterday?" Shaggy pauses for a moment, he had almost confessed everything before getting interrupted. "Like, uh, just forget about it.." Shaggy looked away. "No, Please Shaggy, tell me." Fred pauses. "What were you gonna say?" Damn it. He had almost let it all slip yesterday. What if Fred gets weirded out? Or freaks out and leaves? Or hates him? Or all of the above? "Like, It doesn't matter.." Fred lifts his chin. "It matters to me." Fred looks into his eyes, it feels like he's looking into his soul.

"Alright, alright, fine. I was- I was gonna tell you like, the same thing." Shaggy pauses. "Like, you're not the only one, I'm gay too." Shaggy looks at Fred, analyzing every part of him. "You know, there's a part I left out." Fred now has both hands on his face, and their faces are mere inches apart. "What-?" Shaggy is utterly confused. "I love you, I always have loved you." Fred has never been so venerable, so honest. "You- like- you love me too?" Shaggy smiles, he's getting everything he's ever wanted. "Too?" Fred grins. "Too." Shaggy repeats, he now has both his hands on Freds face as well. "I love you, too." They both lean in, the moment they've both been waiting for. Any imagination they've had of this moment, the first kiss. They'd both agree that nothings better than the real thing.

Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Days? A whole entire lifetime? Who knows how many passed by? "I love you, I love you, I love you." Fred repeats. Shaggy can't help but smile and rest his forehead on Fred's. "I love you, I love you, I love you." Shaggy repeats. They had been scared to say it for years, it was almost like they were catching up on all the times they wanted to say it and didn't out of fear, all the times that they had almost slipped up and said it, all the times they could've, should've said it, and all the times where it was interpreted as platonic by the other, and not the way that they meant it. They had held each other, for what felt like hours. "Shaggy?" Fred holds both his hands in his own. "Fred?" Shaggy replies. "Do you- maybe-" Fred's voice more shaky than a terrified Shaggy, Shaggy listens very intently. "Do you wanna be my-" before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted, one
last time.