UNDeRDOG SERIES :: Part 1 - Cinematographic
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the sorts of the SyFy television series Eureka.
Hello! I have entitled this my Underdog Series because of the type of pairing that this story is about. I have only come across two Zane/Fargo fictions ever, and one of them the pairing was only very briefly mentioned and the other is one of the best Eureka fictions I have ever come across. I understand this seems like an unlikely and improbable pairing but I would like to see if I could convert anyon-- I mean persuade them to try it out.
I'm not entirely sure how I will continue with Z/F. There are two possible options: I continue with this story or I leave it as is and create a story from another universe. Heck, maybe even do both of them. We'll see I suppose.
Enjoy!
Fargo didn't like the new guy very well.
He hated, no, hated was too much of a passionate word, and it matched too much with the feeling of love. Disliked was a better term. Douglas Fargo disliked Zane Donovan very much. Very, very much.
And he wasn't too sure why everyone else fell to their knees in the presence of the new scientist. If you could even give him such a respectable title, because Deviant would be a more appropriate one.
For starters, he looked nothing like a scientist. He came to work, in the labs at Global Dynamics, in such casual wear like jeans and t-shirts with sneakers to complete the look that only teenage boys wore. And his hair was a whole other matter in itself, because what grown man would do that and expect himself to be taken seriously?
His attitude didn't help any matters either. He was sarcastic, obnoxious, perverted, immature, cocky, conceited, arrogant and just a plain rude swaggering know-it-all that left the list going on and on. He used that stupid boyish smile to get whatever he wanted, used it to his advantage like a child so he could get out of sticky situations. He didn't seem very appealing...
It just wasn't very fair. He'd been here for a lot longer and most people only looked on at him with annoyance.
And while sitting at his desk, typing for Ms. Blake, the last person he wanted to see right now would be Zane. And because Fate liked to have it's wicked, wicked way with Fargo the object of his at the moment cognitive torture just had to appear.
"Hey Fargo."
Fargo pretended like he hadn't noticed Zane was there at first, continuing to type for a few moments before he so ever immaturely stopped to look up through the top of his glasses dramatically.
"Yes?" Fargo acted like he really wasn't interested at all in what Donovan had to say.
Zane just arched a brow, leaning forward to rest his elbows on Fargo's desk. "Just wondering if you had those papers finished yet."
"Of course." Fargo stated, shifting back slightly at the sudden intrusion to his personal space of his desk. He sifted through his folder that in his mind was labeled Very Very Important, Do Not Misplace These! for a moment until he came upon what Zane had requested.
He held out the papers for Zane in what he hoped would be casual, nothing to give away any emotion that could further this awkward encounter. When Zane grabbed for the papers, their fingers brushed slightly which caused Fargo to pull his hand back quickly.
Fargo instantly blushed at the small physical contact, looking up to find that damned smile on Zane's face. What did he think he was trying to pull, smirking at him like that? He wanted to say something, but Zane had to beat him to it.
"Thanks." His eyes twinkled like he knew something Fargo didn't. "I'll see you around, then, Fargo."
Finally Fargo sputtered out incoherent words that shouldn't have been rightfully called a sentence after Donovan had walked away, appalled at what had just happened at the safety of his own desk.
He didn't see Zane again until the next day when he was at Café Diem getting his lunch, and because Ms. Blake was so busy today, hers as well.
"Thank you Vincent." Fargo grabbed for the lunches, cradling them with care in his hands. He loved Vincent's food just like the rest of the town of Eureka.
"No problem!" Vince grinned. "Care for a Vinspresso?"
"No thanks, but..." Fargo hesitated.
...He decided to sit down for a moment before he left (the lunches sat neatly upon the counter), to get in a friendly conversation with someone who actually cared to have them with him.
"So." He leaned in, voice earnest. "Have you caught wind of any cool SciFi movies from Spencer lately?"
Vincent rubbed his hands together in excitement. "Actually, yes, I have. It's this great mutant-zombie flick with the cute yet robust hero to save all of humanity." Vincent was waving his arms around in excitement and ended with a content sigh, head coming to rest upon his hand that was held up his elbow.
Fargo was just about to poke fun at Vince when an annoyingly cocky yet curious voice cut in. "Zombie movie with a robust hero? Sounds interesting."
Dammit Donovan! Fargo swore inside of his head.
"Ooh yes." Vincent cooed. "Very bloody and very manly."
Fargo for the moment opted to glare at the counter, but when he turned to glare at the actual person he found him leaning his side against the counter while he rested upon an elbow. Not only was he doing that, but he was smirking again at Fargo and to anyone else it would seem that he was just being his friendly little self but Fargo knew he was only there to bug him. And somehow Zane made it unbelievingly easy to make constant eye contact with him while it appeared he was having a normal conversation with a third person. Or maybe Vince was so far into his fantasy right now he really didn't notice it.
"So when is the party?" Zane casually asked, ignoring the glare he was getting from Fargo to look expectingly at Vince.
"Hmm..." Vince thought for a moment. "We don't usually allow too many people to go, but one more wouldn't hurt. Right Fargo?"
"Mhmm." Fargo grumbled, knowing the movie day would be ruined now that Donovan would be there to spoil it for him. Hopefully they would get to sit on opposite sides of the room. He'd have to focus in on Vince's dreamy sighs and the sound of gurgling mutants because Jo would probably be flirting the whole time with Zane and that would just make things even worse.
"Well we don't have a specific date." Vince said a matter-of-factly, mulling it over in his head. "It'll probably be Friday night."
"Awesome." Zane pulled another one of his charming smiles, acting like he was actually interested in the little get-togethers they had been having. "I'll be there."
"I gotta go." Fargo mumbled, quickly getting up from the stool he had been vacating. "Don't want Dr. Blake's food to get cold."
"Well alright Fargo." Vince said his goodbyes. "I'll talk to you later then."
"Cya Vince." And with that, Fargo left the Café. But he mustn't have been the only one because he hard footsteps following his. And he didn't need to turn around and look to know who it was.
Finally when he got to his car, he turned around to find Zane standing behind him. "What do you want?" He asked none too nicely.
Zane shrugged, hands in his pockets. "Can't a guy have simple conversation?"
"With you nothing is simple." Fargo grumbled dejectedly. "And first of all you have to be speaking to be conversing."
"Isn't that what we're doing now?" Zane asked, a grin easily sliding into place. "Speaking?"
"No." Fargo mumbled, annoyed again that Zane was trying to use his boyishness on him. And with that, he turned to his car door and unlocked it, getting in. His car purred, excited that her Driver was back.
"Hello Fargo." Tabitha purred and the butt part of his seat began to warm. It always made him jump slightly at the suddenness of it.
"Uh, Goodbye?" Zane said from where he was standing outside of the car, looking slightly dejected from having to duck to look inside of the car. It must have felt weird being so easily ignored like that.
"Goodbye." Fargo cast a quick glance with nothing else more before his car drove away toward Global Dynamics.
It was Wednesday now, and the day had started quickly with events that required the Sheriff and Deputy Jo to be on hand. Apparently there had been jealous foul play with a machine dealing with sound frequencies and pressure. Their machine was so out of whack that the walls and floor around it were literally melting, and to make matters worse the whole building could hear the ringing in their ears depending in which Section they were in.
At first the ringing was small and manageable, but was becoming quickly irritable to the point where it was hard to concentrate on the work one was doing.
"Fargo." A voice called from behind him.
"Fargo!"
"Uhm, yes?" Fargo turned around in his desk chair, seeing his boss standing behind him with a pinched expression on her face.
"As you can tell," And here Ms. Blake rubbed at her ears in annoyance. "The ringing is getting worse."
"Oh. Okay."
"So I'd like you to help with passing out these." Allison held out her hand toward him. "These are yours. Follow me to my office for a moment, I have more."
Fargo stared down at his hand, noticing he had just received special earplugs. He was quick to put them in, ecstatic that he could hear nothing other than his own thoughts and be alone in his head without consciously having to think about what he was thinking.
Upon entering her office, he was presented with a box. Not just any box, but a box full of... earplugs. Ms. Blake grinned, but it faltered when she suddenly realized she hadn't put in her own pair yet.
"Thanks for doing this Fargo." Alison's smile was pleasant again. He nodded silently at her politeness. "Now if you see the Sheriff, could you tell him I was looking for him?"
He didn't understand. "Why not just call him?" He inquired, giving her a puzzled look.
Ms. Blake sighed. "With the frequencies so messed up right now, mechanical communication is a bit hard to accomplish successfully. It's too much of a headache to attempt."
Fargo made up 'o' face. "Alrighty. Will do." His fingers drummed against the box. He was just about to leave when her voice called to him again.
"Oh! By the way." He turned back to look at her. "Make sure you stop by with these for Zane first, he should be down where the broken machine is with Henry."
Fargo nodded numbly, agitated he'd have to be in the same vicinity as Donovan again. He hustled to get to his destination, because the quicker he got it done the quicker it would be over with.
He shuffled around with the box, handing out the accessories with careful haste before he finally came to the destined room with a spastic beating heart. He gulped. He came right into the lab with the tampered device, wincing slightly as the sound penetrated the defenses of his brain.
"Hello?" He asked, looking around not finding anyone. That was strange, why wasn't anyone here at the moment working on this nuisance? So he tried again. "Hello, anybody here?"
A hand from behind landed on his shoulder, startling Fargo. He jumped, screeched and dropped the box he was holding.
"Sorry!" Henry yelled, looking seriously concerned. "I didn't mean to scare you. But you didn't hear me come up."
A hand rested over Fargo's heart, hoping it would calm down. "It's okay-- I-- sometimes I'm really jumpy." He yelled over the noise.
Henry nodded down toward the box he had dropped just moments ago. "What's that?"
"Hm? Oh!" Fargo jumped to quickly pick it up, some of it had scattered onto the floor. He hoped the package that was inside was not damaged due to the fall. But because of his awful luck, it wouldn't surprise him if he had somehow damaged the part Zane and Henry needed to fix the machine. He also somehow ended up being fault for most of the misgivings here in Eureka. He handed said small package to Henry, noting that the outside of it looked fine. "It's from Ms. Blake. Said you guys need it for this... thing."
He stared the whirring and flashing machine disdainfully, suddenly noticing that Donovan wasn't around while Henry inspected the package. "Where's Donovan?" Fargo asked.
"What?" Henry looked up from his hands. "Could you repeat that for me please?"
"I said." Fargo yelled. "Why isn't Zane here? Isn't he supposed to be helping to fix the machine?"
"Oh." Henry laughed, finally understanding. "He-- We I should say-- have to leave. Staying too long could damage the ears."
Fargo made a little anxious face. "Maybe I should get going then. I don't want to damage my hearing!" He yelled.
"Well, actually, you need to-- Oh nevermind." Henry waved his hands in dismissal. "Cya Fargo."
Fargo took a few steps before he remembered something. "If the Sheriff stops by, ask him if he saw Ms. Blake yet. She wanted to talk to him."
"Okay." Henry yelled one last time. "Can do."
On the way out, and down the hall, and to the elevator and inside of it, and into the next hall after that he had never ran into the person he was avoiding. Fargo sat quietly at his desk, thankful that at certain times he did have luck to help him out of these awkward situations.
And then, for a second time in the last hour, a hand from behind landed on his shoulder. He startled and squeaked a little.
His attacker startled a little as well, but that was only because Dr. Blake hadn't expected Fargo to jump like that. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "You seemed to be daydreaming. Did you happen to see the Sheriff?"
"Oh, no." He mumbled. "But I told Henry that if he pops up down there, to tell the Sheriff to come to see you if he hadn't already."
"Thanks. And everything else went okay?"
"Yep." Fargo nodded toward his boss like the good little assistant that he was.
"Well then." Ms. Blake gave him a shrug. "You can leave early today, if you want, most people have already."
"But, Ms. Blake, what if--"
Dr. Blake put her hands up to calm him and to make him stop talking. "Woah, woah, Fargo. Theres not much going on at the moment, the situation is being handled right now so there is no need to worry. You've done your part for the moment and I appreciate it."
Fargo opened his mouth to talk again, but Ms. Blake stopped him. "Really Fargo, it's okay. Go into town and have dinner at the Café or something."
Fargo tumbled the idea around in his head for a moment, once again glad for the silence. "Oh... okay." He gave in before he said, "Really?"
Ms. Blake let out a laugh. "Yes. Now go."
It was early Thursday morning, and Fargo was seriously tempted in having a sick day today as he mulled it over in bed after just waking up. Last night had been a great one, because Buffy just made everything better. And some of Vincent's food had helped too. Just a little.
He rolled over onto his back, causing part of an arm to hang off of the bed. His hand was licked by a foreign tongue. What the-- oh. Oh. His dog. He rolled onto his stomach again though in a different position where he was sideways on the bed, feet hanging off one side while he rested his head on his folded arms on the other.
"Hey." He greeted, stretching an arm out to pet the dogs head. "What do you think Sparky? Should I take the day off?" The dog licked his hand in response.
He hummed low in his throat. "What do you know, you have every day off." The dog tilted its head at him.
"Don't look at me like that. Laying around, piddling on the self-cleaning rugs and putting holes in my socks does not count as a work day."
The dog turned it's head the other way, staring up at him before it made an annoyed noise in it's throat.
"Oh go wait by your dish." Fargo grumbled. "I'll feed you breakfast in a minute." The dog yipped in happiness, practically skipping out of the room.
He felt like a coward, sitting here in bed wishing he didn't have to face the day. He was supposed to be an adult, he was supposed to take responsibility and that was why he felt so bad. He had made such a fuss last night, not wanting to leave everything on Ms. Blake's shoulders but right now he'd do anything right now to have anything but responsibility.
Fargo sat there for a few more moments, sighing dramatically when he stood up out of bed. He'd have to face today, and any other day, because he had to.
"I brought your coffee, Dr. Blake." Fargo handed her the cup and she accepted it with with a warm smile.
"Did you catch the Sheriff yesterday?" He inquired, and they fell into a steady stride next to each other as they left the large entrance room of the Global Dynamics Headquarters.
"Just barely!" Ms. Blake laughed. "I'm very glad the situation was dealt with correctly. Things always become too hectic, it's nice when it is quickly corrected."
"So how long did it take?" Fargo asked, looking at his boss in the face for a moment so he could catch her expression.
Ms. Blake sighed. "Sometime around 2 A.M., the sudden silence was actually quite deafening."
"I see." Fargo answered back. He felt kinda bad, really, knowing that the glue that held this town together had to work so vigorously hard because of someone who let their jealousy get the better of them. Henry, Sheriff Carter and Dr. Allison Blake all held a certain section of Eureka up by their shoulders alone, carrying the brute weight of their small town by themselves. Fargo liked to think he held all of these authoritative figures high with much do respect, because that was what they deserved. He wasn't putting himself down, no, he knew that he held a certain place here as well and that with his absence things would be different. Eureka needed him, that was for sure, even though sometimes life around him had a hard time showing it.
They were leaving the elevator now, soon to be in their respectable places. He was walking up to his desk when he saw a familiar mop of ridiculous hair down a ways down the hall. He ducked down into his his desk quickly, and Ms. Blake just raised a questionable eyebrow at his odd behavior before walking into her own office. He tried to busy himself with work quickly, squeezing down as much as possible so anybody that was walking by wouldn't notice him. He thought Donovan had walked by already, had left the hallway, but he moved to see where he was right when Zane was walking by. He let out a shocked noise, moving to duck back down again when Donovan did a double take before back peddling to his desk.
"Hey Fargo." The other male stood in front of the desk, leaning over as far as he could so he could peer at the top of his head. Fargo cursed at himself, wishing he had stayed put for only a few scathing moments longer. "Why are you sitting like that?"
"Like what?" He asked back, moving up slowly into his regular position. Donovan moved back to his, though he still leaned too forward for Fargo's liking. "It's my desk, I can sit at it how I want to."
Zane snorted at him, before scrubbing at his eyes. Fargo took notice that he looked extremely tired, no doubt from staying up so late to work on the machine. "Whatever. I was looking for you, I needed to ask you something."
"And what would that be?" Fargo tried to make his tone nice and civil, because Donovan did just sacrifice countless hours to correct someone else's mistake.
Donovan combed a hand through his already disheveled hair. "About Friday night, do I have to bring anything?" There was only serious curiousness to his voice.
Up until now, Fargo had forgotten about the little festivity they would be having tomorrow night. "No. Spencer provides the entertainment and seating, and Vince always cooks." Fargo tried to hide a tiny little smile. "I bring popcorn."
"Well, alright." And with that, the conversation ended awkwardly. Fargo didn't understand why Donovan continued to stand there like he had nothing else better to do. He looked up a fraction questioningly trough his lashes, finding that he was also being looked at.
Zane caught the look, turning his lax face into that of a smirking one. He looked Fargo up and down before proclaiming, "Nice sweater vest."
Quickly responding to the insult, he retaliated with a sputter from being so offended. Donovan took another up and down take to look at his handiwork, laughing at his expense. When he walked away, there seemed to be an annoying quirk to his step.
Another ten minutes or so went by with Fargo angrily muttering to himself, when Larry appeared.
"Hello, Fargo." His rival greeted insolently, sounding extremely snippy with his lame combed back hair. "Been doing anything important recently?"
"I'm always doing important work Larry. And I'm not so sure about you though." Fargo glared, not wanting to take the bait.
Larry glared with the same intensity back. The two began an attempt at a hard glaring match, seeing who could be more intimidating. Annoyed that Fargo wouldn't back down, Larry sniffed in disdain. "You may have time to waste doing absolutely nothing, but I don't."
"Yeah, well," Fargo stood up to yell at the retreating back. "I'd like to see some real evidence concerning that!"
A low rumble in his pocket alerted Fargo that someone was calling him.
"Fargo?" A familiar voice said to him when he answered. "Are you busy?"
"No, my schedule is clear at the moment Sheriff Carter." Fargo responded holding his phone between a shoulder and side of his head while he folded another one of his towels before setting it into a pile. "Is there something wrong?"
"Uh, yeah..." The Sheriff's voice trailed off for a moment and Fargo could hear a few faint whispers in the background that sounded feminine. "I think something is wrong with S.A.R.A.H.. She's acting a bit... different."
Fargo pondered this for a moment, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. "She isn't-- again-- should I call Jo?" His voice started to become shrill with worry and paranoia.
"What, no--"
"Jo is already there, isn't she!" He dropped the laundry he was holding and began to pace. "Who should I call? Taggert isn't even anywhere near Eureka!"
"Fargo would you calm down!" The Sheriff yelled, and the command wrung inside of his head. "Jo isn't here right now."
"You're right, I'm sorry!" Fargo tried to still his pacing, and when he did his hands nervously twitched. "Me freaking out wouldn't help! How could I even think that? I should have--"
"You're doing it again, Fargo." There was a loud and frustrated audible sigh that followed, and Fargo could imagine the Sheriff was running a hand across his face because he was about to lose his patience. "Just, just come over as soon as you can. It's nothing major like a crazy home death trap thing."
"It is a death trap isn't it! And this is your way of warning me!"
"Fargo!"
"Sorry, sorry!" He squeaked. "Coming right over."
"Sooo..." Fargo directed toward the Sheriff, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The Sheriff just gave him a look, leaning back against the couch in his blue robe as it swayed with him slightly. Fargo had just finished tinkering around with the AI's computer for an hour or so which left the awkward silence moment to make it's appearance.
"Any plans, Sheriff?" He tried again. "It is Friday after all."
The Sheriff rubbed the back of his neck and grinned. "Three things: Beer. Baseball. And total relaxation."
"Ah. I see." He bounced on his feet again. "I'm going to Spencer's tonight."
The Sheriff's head whipped up. "For what?" The silent meek response was the only thing needed he had to give.
"I thought you knew!" Fargo commented weakly. "Jo always goes when she has the opportunity!"
The Sheriff made an extremely unpleasant angry face and Fargo gulped. Not only did the man in front of him frighten him, but also the thought that at some time in the future the Sheriff would tell Jo that he had told.
"It's not the same as before!" Fargo swallowed. "He doesn't use anything dangerous like that anymore. And, Spencer is still kinda off..." He stated matter-of-factly.
"Get out!" The Sheriff yelled, pointing toward the bunker's door. "This isn't what I meant when I said I wanted total relaxation."
"Going then!"
It was nearing 5 o'clock, and Fargo took this opportunity to get himself a light snack back in town from Café Diem. He figured by the time he finished, headed back home to get ready it would be a good enough time to leave for Spencer's. And it was also a good time to snoop into what Vincent was bringing over for them to eat.
"Good evening Vince."
"Hey!" Vincent smiled, walking over. "What are you up to?"
"Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that." He said modestly with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Well that's good!" Vince said a bit overly cheery. Fargo wondered how many of his own Vinspresso's he had consumed and would consume before the night was over. "I'll see you later, I have so much to do!"
And with that, Vince dashed off in the opposite direction, like he was dancing the waltz with an invisible partner. This meant he probably wasn't going to get that milkshake. He was alone for a minute or so before a weight settled in next to him. He turned his whole body slowly, finding Donovan sitting next to him pretending to be innocent.
Fargo leaned in and whispered, "You're not stalking me, are you? I don't think I am quite particularly fond of them unless they happen to be Sarah Michelle Gellar."
Donovan snickered, probably because he was mocking him. "Sorry Fargo, I'm not a blonde nor do I have a bust. Better luck next time."
For one thing, Fargo was serious in his acquisitions toward the other male and didn't understand why it was funny as to whether or not somebody had a stalker. Something must have shown up on his face because Zane gave him a look.
"Don't get your hopes up, I have better things to do with my time then to follow you around."
Fargo's face screwed up, turning away from his offender to face forward in his seat. Sometimes he just had to be so offensive. He considered he might as well leave now, leave before any pride was ripped away from him.
"Thank you for that." He mumbled, moving to stand up.
"Where are you going?" Donovan asked him. "You can be so touchy."
"Maybe you are just good at offending people." He jabbed back. They silently stared at each other for long period of time, people around them either too caught up with each other or ignoring whatever was going on
"What you said earlier." Fargo pointed out. "Why are you around me so much?"
Donovan stared for a moment at him before snorting. "Like I also said before, I have better things to do with my time."
"I think sometimes you're worse than Larry."
Donovan had a look of mock hurt on his face. "Now you're the one being offensive, comparing me to him of all people."
"Well it's true." Fargo said, right before his phone started going off. He didn't even say anything, opting to quickly open and answer his phone.
"Dr. Stark?" He answered as politely as possible. He listened for a moment, catching every word that was spoken to him. He didn't know whether to feel happy he'd get away from Donovan or that there was a chance he'd miss spending time with the people he called his friends. "Of course Dr. Stark. I'll be right over."
He closed his phone, turning back to Zane who was giving him an expectant look. "I have to go." He mumbled.
"Have fun, Goldie-Locks."
Fargo scowled to himself when he left, ignoring that one.
"Hello, Dr. Stark, sir."
"Good evening Fargo." Stark greeted, turning around in his office chair to face the younger man. Even though Stark wasn't running things anymore, Fargo still and would always look up to the man. He seemed to radiate dominance toward anyone in the room with him, because that was who he was. He had to own everything in his life, he had to take lead.
"So." Dr. Stark leaned forward, resting his elbows upon his desk. "How are your reports going? Do you have anything worthwhile that I should be spending my time on?"
"Yes, of course Dr. Stark." He shifted mindlessly foot to foot. "I should have excellent results to show you soon, I hope."
"Good then." Dr. Stark seemed to instantly already have something else on his mind. Fargo hesitated for a moment, unsure if he was given the okay to leave. He shifted aimlessly a few more times, and turned to leave.
"Oh, and Fargo?" Dr. Stark hadn't even looked away from the papers he was engrossed with.
"Yes Dr. Stark?" Fargo asked hesitantly.
Dr. Stark looked up this time, looking him straight in the eyes. "Is something wrong?"
Fargo did a little dance in the spot that he stood in, fidgeted and then rose an eyebrow to show he was slightly confused. "Pardon?"
Dr. Stark sighed heavily and took a moment before he said anything. Fargo assumed he was keeping the snark comments at bay.
"Um, nothing is wrong, sir." He had to stop fidgeting to make his statement seem more... true.
"Uh huh."
"Really! I swear! Honest." Fargo crossed his heart put on his best you-can-trust-me-face. He really had not hoped to die, stick a needle in his eye or even, God-forbid, eat a cow heart pie. These questions were making him nervous...
"...Alright."
"Huhmm? What?" He faltered.
"I believe you. You can go."
"Okay..."
Dr. Stark didn't believe him. He could tell. But he really wanted to go, so he left.
"God this sweater is itchy." Fargo scratched aimlessly at his neck. "Is it the tag--?" Nonsense. His clothing didn't even have tags. He was at the door to Spencer's house, waiting after he had knocked, when finally the door swung open.
"Hi." he said sheepishly, looking up at Jo who had opened the door for him. It was rare to see her in anything other than her... Deputy-ness. He was definitely using that word inside of his head, no one else was in there to scold him for it.
"You finally came." She said, moving out of the way so he could enter.
"Heh, yeah." Donovan called out, leaning near the counter. "Last one here is a rotten egg."
Fargo wanted to wipe that smirk right off of his face.
"Oooh. Rotten eggs." Vince cooed. "I'll have to bring those some other time."
Everyone made either a disgusted or horrified face.
"What?" Vince asked. "They're a delicacy in China. Though I wonder if I can somehow reproduce ones that are actually a hundred or a thousand years old..." He trailed off, thinking to himself.
"Dude, bad idea." Spencer walked closer to the others, because he had just been messing around with his equipment to most likely make sure everything was ready to go. "I don't want my house to smell like that. Imagine having to live in a trailer that smells like century old sulfur."
"Ugh." Vince rolled his eyes for the whole room to see. "Fine, fine. I try to do nice things for you people and this is how you repay me?"
"Um." Fargo held up the treasures he had been holding in his hands. "I have the popcorn."
This was a great way to distract Vince from a meltdown, who turned to Fargo with a grin.
"I'll take those!" He grabbed the recyclable tin that contained the kernels.
"Shoo!" Vince had commanded the others, actually making the motions with his hands after he had made room for the popcorn somewhere else.
Spencer ended up sitting on the far right chair facing the TV, so he could be near the equipment while Jo took an opportunity to use the restroom before the movie started. Everyone hates when during the middle of a huge plot sequence you get the huge urge to urinate.
Zane ended up sitting next to Spencer, and they dived into some conversation that Fargo chose to ignore and tune out. He took a seat not to the far left, but the one next to it. For some reason he liked this angle of the television.
Coming up behind him, Vince handed him a huge bowl of hot, buttery, and salty popcorn. The grin that lit up his face could have probably powered up the whole of Eureka.
His friend left for a moment, before he returned with mounds of food that was piled upon the table before all of them. He turned when he saw Spencer give a cheer, diving in quickly.
"What are these? Bite sized bacon-cheese-burger-things?" Spencer said through a mouthful.
"Actually, it's bison." Vince corrected, doing the final touches of the drinks he was about to bring over. "Organic cheese and faux-bacon."
"Mmm, they're so good..."
Donovan just slouched there, an amused smirk on his face. "Yeah, I could tell." He took a handful from his own large bowl of popcorn.
When Vincent had returned, he had expected Vince to sit to his left, but in reality he ended up filling in the space between himself and Zane.
Just then Jo reappeared from her suspiciously long time in the bathroom, sharing the same thought as Fargo: She had hoped to sit next to Zane. She plopped down in the only remaining seat silently before she leaned forward, taking hold on her drink.
"Ready then, ladies and gentlemen?" Spencer asked, hand poised over the button that would turn off the light.
Fargo could see Jo quirk an eyebrow at his comment. "Ladies?"
"Sorry, lady."
"That's better."
"Yes, yes! Just hurry up already!" Vince waved one of his hands around. He was getting anxious and losing his patience. "Start the movie already!"
The lights ceased to exist in the trailer, except for the beginning glow of the movie. Fargo could tell it was some B-Movie, nothing you would see in the theatres. He quickly busied himself with his bowl of popcorn, focusing on the beginning scene with the hero being manly in a dimly light bar, who then got into a manly bar-fight with another manly man-beer-drinker-guy, when someone jabbed him a little in the side.
Fargo's eyes slowly slid to his left, to see Jo giving him an expectant look in the face, and then at the popcorn. "Are you going to share that, or what?"
He nodded slowly, moving the bowl between them while he pouted inside of his head. He wished he could have it all to himself, but getting on Jo's bad side was a bad idea...
Vince ended up shifting in his seat constantly, and a little over twenty minutes in, which by now the hero of the movie had decided to break up with his skanky girlfriend because she had cheated on him with his half-brother (yes, really, she did) and by now the zombie-virus was beginning to spread like an out-of-control STD, he nudged his neighbor and called out to Zane.
"I'm sorry Zane." Vince pleaded. "But this chair is killing my back. Mind if we switch?"
Not even Dr. Nathan Stark on a bad day could resist and deny anything a pleading Vincent asked, so Fargo wasn't surprised when he glanced over to see Donovan nod his head and they quickly traded seats.
"Thank you." Vince patted Zane's arm in thanks.
Everyone else fell back into watching the movie, but Fargo couldn't help but notice that that person was now sitting next to him and Jo wasn't even bothering to watch the movie half the time but staring through him to stare at Zane aka Slouchy McSloucherson.
Vince's dreamy sigh broke through his thoughts and Fargo shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He figured the best way to end this little predicament was to simply ignore everything around him and do the thing he came there to do: watch the cheesy SciFi B-Movie.
That did last for a while, it really did, until it all went crashing down the very moment he stuck his hand back into the behemoth thing called the popcorn bowl and felt someone else's hand. Not only was it more than just a brush of the fingers, it was almost a hand grasped upon hand.
Fargo flung his hand out instantly. It had not taken him long to realize that it was not Jo, because it would have been impossible for Jo's hand to be coming at him from his right, unless well, she happened to be extremely flexible... Okay. Bad thought to be thinking. Jo probably and secretly was a psychic or something and knew right now all of the inappropriate things he was thinking at this very moment.
He took a chance glance. Jo gave him a quick look and a raise of an eyebrow, as if to say, Are you thinking things you shouldn't? Because I swear to God if you are I will tear you limb. From. Limb.
He gulped, craning his head until it was facing the screen again so he could concentrate on calming his breathing, listening to the sounds of gurgling zombies and shotgun blasts. Fargo was brought out of his head when there was sudden conversation.
"Woah." Spencer gasped in the background. "He took out four of them at once!"
"Oh." Vince said worriedly in response, hands clutched together. "I hope he makes it out of that basement alive."
"He's the main character." Zane said coolly, like he wasn't concerned because he had given a slight shrug of the shoulder. "He can't die."
Fargo winced slightly, remembering and knowing that he had just accidentally touched Zane Donovan intimately of all people. Again. He knew that his presence would ruin the night. Jerk. Could this night be any more traumatic?
Some small amount of time had passed, and Fargo noticed that something strange was happening. Zane seemed to be constantly eating from the popcorn bowl, not that that wasn't strange, but the strange part was that he seemed to linger for an unnecessary amount of time with his hand in the bowl. He would scoop down, w—aaay to the bottom, and sit there for a few brief moments before his hand was pulled back out.
The night did become more traumatic when he decided it was Donovan's turn to get a quick glance after another one of his weird popcorn-eating-things. What he found what he wasn't suspecting, he found Zane giving him a knowingly arrogant smirk.
Fargo's mouth fell open. He was-- he was doing this on purpose! His face felt red, becoming embarrassed that something so perverse was being done to him, it made him feel so violated. He shifted uncomfortably, unsure how to react.
"Here." he mumbled, pushing the bowl over to Zane. "I'm going to the bathroom."
Fargo needed to get out of there. This was all too much for him to handle.
He didn't come back until he could tell that the movie was over with. As soon as Fargo had walked back into the main room of Spencer's house, Vince gave him a concerned look. Vince at the moment was cleaning up in the kitchen with Spencer while Zane was still in the living room area, talking it up with Jo.
"You okay there Fargo?"
"Yeah, you were gone for a while." Spender added.
"Oh, you know." Fargo waved it off. "Too much food or something, made me a little, ya know..."
"Well, go home then." Vince nodded. "And make sure to have something with peppermint!"
"Yeah dude, sorry you don't feel well." Spencer looked sympathetic, it was probably because Spencer still felt off since the whole 'Alien Abduction' thing.
"Don't worry about it. I'll feel better by tomorrow." Sort of. "Bye guys! We'll do this again, right?" He did a quick wave, bouncing on his feet.
"You bet! Cya soon!" Spencer yelled out to him as walked out of the house.
It was disturbingly dark, but the cold felt fresh and relieving compared to the then awkward feeling of the house. Fargo was at his car, fishing around for his keys when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.
Jumping from being frightened, he spun around in shock to get a view of his assailant.
"Hey." Zane greeted, hands now is his pockets.
"What do you want?" Fargo yelled, being reminded of the other day when this exact same thing had happened.
"Look." Zane resembled someone who was uncomfortable, his words actually a tad meek. "I'm sorry about, you know, I didn't mean to freak you out so much."
Fargo shifted around on his feet before he made a move to fix his glasses. "Well, you did."
Zane grinned. "So, you forgive me then?"
"N-No!" Fargo grumbled out, moving backwards to get away before bumping into Tabitha. "Did that sound like a, 'you're forgiven'?"
Zane frowned and let out a quick stunned chuckle. "I was only joking around with you."
"Er, yeah." Fargo fumbled around until he had his door open and was inside. He had his car roll down the window.
"Why do you have to be so offensive sometimes?" Was the las thing said as Fargo drove away, leaving a surprised and paralyzed Zane behind.
It was the next day and Jo was sitting at her desk, depressed, when Zoe walked in.
"Hey, Jo." Zoe stopped in her tracks, seeing the look upon the Deputy's face which wasn't what she had expected. "What's up? You look really down."
Jo played with a pen for a moment, nervously, before dropping it. "Let's just say that what I said before was true. All the good men are either taken, gay, or a robot."
Zoe looked confused. "Who are you talking about?"
"Zane."
"Oh." Zoe was slightly taken aback. "So did you go on a date with him or something?"
"Not exactly..." Jo mumbled. "But he just so happens to fall under two of those categories."
Zoe sat there in silence for a moment, her face contorting in even more confusion while she tilted her head. "Zane is a robot? What kind of mad scientist created that up."
"Uh, no." Jo sat back, looking defeated. "He's not a robot."
"If he's not a robot, then that only leaves two other things..."
Zoe thought about this for a moment. "Oh. Oh." She nodded her head dramatically. "Wow."
"Wow is, right."
"You said he was taken? Already? By who?" Zoe took a seat across from Jo, thankful that her father wasn't there to intrude on the gossip.
Jo leaned forward, voice low. "Don't tell anybody, but, he made sure to give a special goodbye to Fargo last night. Zane had to 'suddenly go' as soon as Fargo left and I caught them talking to each other. It looked kind of intimate."
Zoe's eyes went wide. "Fargo?"
"Yep, Fargo."
Yep. Fargo. xD
Poor guy, I'll probably end up having him being molested in the bathroom at GD by Zane or something.
Thank you for reading my story, and I really encourage reviews! Please!