AN: Hello, all! It's good to be back after not writing for a while. I just recently started re-playing all the Sly Cooper games (which I ADORE). And, after being reminded about how adorable Sly and Carmelita are, I decided to write about them! This'll be a multi-chapter fic. Not sure how long. I'll write as fast as I can to get the second chapter up.
Some points about this chapter and the story in general:
1.) For this fic (and any other Sly Cooper fics I write with Carmelita in them), Carmelita's voice will sound like her voice from the 2nd game. I like her voice in that the best.
2.) When Artemis says "brinner," it means "breakfast for dinner" (in case you didn't already know).
3.) Artemis has an Irish accent. I'm going to be typing her speech normally, but just keep in mind that she's got an Irish accent.
4.) Artemis' full name is Artemis O'Shea. Will's full name is William Winther. Just fyi.
5.) Artemis O'Shea and Will Winther are characters I made up. I probably won't use Will Winther again. But, I may draw Artemis and possibly Sly and Carmelita's son (who I'll probably name Will). So, if you wanna use Winther in one of your stories, feel free. Just tell me first, yeah?
It was a hot summer day, just like any other when Interpol agent Inspector Carmelita Fox was driving home from a long day of busting criminals. The rush-hour traffic actually isn't half bad today, she thought to herself. Then again, it is only Wednesday.
When she pulled up into the parking lot of her apartment complex, Carmelita's sixth sense she gained from years on the force kicked in. Something was about to happen.
Pushing it to the side of her thoughts for now (although still remaining alert), the blue-haired vixen grabbed the keys to her apartment and stepped out of her car. She made her way up the steps to her floor.
Upon arrival at her door, she fumbled with the keys before slipping the correct one into the door handle, unlocking it and stepping inside.
"Artemis, I'm back," she called to her roommate that may or may not be in. Carmelita slipped off her boots and set them beside the door.
"Hey, Carm! How was work today?" she heard a voice ask from another room, the person's voice lilting with an Irish accent.
"Oh, you know, the usual. Busted some criminals, made the boss happy." She walked over to the couch in the living room area of the apartment and sat down on it.
She heard laughter come from the other room before seeing a tall, slim figure emerge from the hallway. "All in a day's work, huh?" Artemis teased.
Carmelita grinned back. "You know it."
Artemis only replied with a bright smile before the snow leopard walked into the small kitchen, her black short-shorts and blue T-shirt with a Native American design on it keeping her cool.
Humming to herself, Artemis started to get out things for dinner. "Brinner sound good to you?" asked the Irishwoman lightly.
Carmelita raised an eyebrow at her roommate, who seemed to be on Cloud 9. "Uh... Yeah, sure," she said uncertainly.
"Okay," the other woman sighed, barely acknowledging the fox's hesitation.
"Hey, Art, you okay?" asked Carmelita warily.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm perfectly fine," replied Artemis in her natural Irish accent, continuing to make dinner for the two of them. She then put her lower back-length black hair up in a ponytail so it wouldn't get dirty.
"What's got you so happy, then?"
After a long bout of silence, Carmelita began to get suspicious. "Artemis O'Shea, you'd better tell me what's going on."
"Nothing's going on!" Artemis replied quickly, brushing her side bangs that couldn't fit into the ponytail out of her eyes.
"... Alright," Inspector Fox replied, still unconvinced but not wanting to start anything.
As the two women were sitting at their countertop, eating in silence, Carmelita couldn't help wanting to start a conversation.
"So, how are you and Will doing?" she asked, knowing that bringing up Artemis' long-time boyfriend would definitely get her talking.
"We're doing wonderfully, thank you for asking!" the snow leopard exclaimed.
"Oh, which reminds me!" she quickly added before Carmelita could say something. "Would you mind coming to dinner with Will and I on Friday? He's inviting his best mate as well," she added the last bit as an afterthought.
Carmelita groaned and set her fork down, slumping back in her chair. "Please tell me this isn't another one of your 'set-Carmelita-up-with-someone-so-she'll-be-happier' plans, is it? Because you know I'm perfectly happy already."
"No, no. I promise it's nothing like that! We just got tired of going on dates by ourselves..." she fibbed.
"I don't know, Art..." Carmelita said skeptically.
"Pleeease? It would mean the world to me! And Will!" the black-haired woman begged, her green eyes pleading with Carmelita to accept.
The vixen sighed heavily. "Oh, alright."
"Yes!" fist pumped Artemis. "Thank you so much, Carm!"
Carmelita laughed lightly and shook her head at her best friend's antics. "Yeah, yeah."
The Irish snow leopard happily picked up both her and Carmelita's empty plates and gently laid them in the sink, nearly skipping down the short hallway to her room. No doubt she was about to call Will and tell him that Carmelita accepted.
Carmelita sighed and sat back in her chair. Friday is going to be interesting, she thought to herself.
"Sly, hurry up! We don't have much time. The owner will be back soon," a nasally voice came from the comm in his ear.
"I'm going as fast as I can, Bentley," replied the raccoon currently racing across rooftops.
"Wait... Are you even at the house yet?"
"Uh, no. But that's not important."
"Yes! Yes it is important! We could be caught!"
Sly skidded to a halt, the gap between the roof he's on and the next one bigger than before. "We're not going to get caught. Just... Have a little faith in me, Bentley." And with that, he turned off his comm.
Taking a deep breath, the master thief backed up so he was in the middle of the roof. Flicking his ringed tail and twirling his trusty cane in his hand, Sly burst forward at a sprint.
As he approached the edge of the roof, he leapt forward and soared across the open space, landing in a roll on the far platform. When he came out of the roll, he was crouched.
"Hell yeah!" he exclaimed, jumping up and continuing across the roof.
A couple roofs later, Sly stuck his cane in his mouth and latched onto a pipe, climbing down onto a balcony. Once there, he took the cane in his hand again. Turning so he was facing the open window across the alley, he smirked.
Sly leapt from the balcony, reaching up with his cane and hooking onto a convenient clothesline and swinging silently across the gap and through the window.
Landing in a crouch, Cooper looked up. He stood and made his way out of the bedroom and into the hallway.
Not knowing where he was going, he turned the comm back on. "Where am I going, Bentley?"
"Okay, so you're in the hallway now, right?" the turtle asked.
"Yeah," Sly replied, his tail gently waving around behind him as he looked down the hallway. "I'm in the bedroom doorway."
Some clicking from a keyboard could be heard through the comm. "When you step out into the hallway, the second door on your left should be the one with the safe."
"Alright, thanks man." The raccoon in blue crept down the hallway. "No one's home, right, Bentley?" Sly asked in a whisper, just in case there was, in fact, someone there.
"Shouldn't be... Why, do you see someone?" came the worried reply.
Sly stepped up to the door and softly opened it. "No, it's all clear."
Spotting the safe, he made his way over. He knelt next to the safe and turned his head so his ear was on the door.
Cooper slowly turned the knob left until - click. There's the first number, he thought to himself.
He then started to turn it right until the same click happened again. And the second. After that, it was back to the left.
Finally, the third click sounded and Sly leaned back and pulled the handle. With a satisfied smirk on his face, he easily pulled it open. Bingo.
Taking the contents of the safe and leaving a calling card, he closed the door to the safe and stuck the object in his pouch.
"I'm all done in here, Bentley."
"Alright, Sly. Head into the alley and Murray and I will be there in the van," came the cheery reply.
The raccoon stepped out of the safe room and into the hallway. Suddenly, the sound of a door shutting set him on edge, instantly making him shove himself silently against the wall.
When he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, he moved to the bedroom with silent steps acquired after years and years of being a thief.
The steps continued down the hallway towards him, so Sly dove to the ground, quickly rolling underneath the bed.
Holding his breath, Sly watched the person's feet as they went around the room. The boots came to a stop at the bed. The person - they looked to be a monkey of some sort - kicked off their shoes and nudged them under the bed.
Sly silently thanked the heavens that the man didn't kneel down and look before doing so.
A heavy sigh came from the man as he sat down on the bed. Sly pushed himself more against the floor so the monkey didn't feel something pushing up on the mattress and check underneath.
The man let out a breathy curse before getting up and walking out of the room. Sly waited a few moments to make sure he was gone and staying gone for a little bit before launching out from under the bed and running over to the windowsill.
Spotting a slick pipe that lead to the glorious Cooper Van, he hopped on it and slid down to the ground before running to the passenger seat and hopping in through the open window.
Once finally safe, Sly breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, Murray. Step on it!"
After saying goodbye to his gang, the raccoon in blue stepped out of the van and made his way to the front door of his apartment building.
He would live with the gang in the safe house, but he had to keep up the pretense that he was a normal person, and not a thief, so he had to get an apartment. His roommate was a cool dude. They did a full background check (and with Bentley's hacking ability, it was even more extensive) on him before Sly moved in.
Because of a little slip of the tongue on Murray's part when the hippo and turtle were over, Sly's roommate knew what they did in their free time. Thankfully, he promised not to tell anyone about it once he was explained that the Cooper Gang were honorable thieves who only stole from bad people who deserved it.
Honestly, Sly wasn't exactly sure what he would have done if his roommate reacted differently.
Arriving at the door, Sly pulled out his keys and stuck them in the lock, turning it so it became unlocked. He then opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind him and slipping off his shoes.
He glanced at the clock. 6:34. Alright.
The honorable thief took off his mask (which was pretty redundant, seeing as how he's a raccoon) and gloves, setting them in the special compartment in the living room.
He could smell mac'n'cheese coming from the kitchen. When he went into the kitchen, he spotted his roommate on the phone.
"-she accepted, sweetie," Sly heard, just catching the end of the sentence. He sent a quick head nod to his roommate before grabbing a bowl and scooping some noodles into it.
His friend nodded back. "Yeah, I know. I'll ask him tonight."
Sly's brows furrowed in confusion. He was obviously talking to his girlfriend, Artemis, who Sly had met many times. She was a pretty cool chick. Her accent was awesome.
"Me too, hun. See you then... Love you too, bye," said his roomie before hanging up and slipping his cellphone in his pocket. "Hey, Sly."
"'Sup, Will. Who was that on the phone?" he asked, knowing full well who is was.
"Oh, that was Artemis."
"Sweet. How are you two doing, by the way?" he asked, leaning against the kitchen counter and scooping a spoonful of noodles in his mouth.
"We're doing great. How was the heist?" Will asked, knowing that that's what his friend had been doing.
"It went very nicely. Almost got caught by the guy, but I managed to avoid it," the raccoon replied calmly.
"Oo. Good thing you didn't. Or I'd probably have to bail you out, wouldn't I?" the slightly taller, more built man asked.
Sly chuckled at his panther friend. "Probably."
"Hey, Sly?" Will asked after a moment of them eating their food.
"Yeah?"
"You free on Friday?"
"William Winther, are you asking me out on a date? But what about Artemis?" Sly asked, gasping dramatically and putting a hand to his chest.
Will laughed and shook his head. "That's real cute, Sly."
"Thanks, I thought so," he replied cheekily.
"No, I was just wondering because Art and I wanted you to come with us to dinner," the panther continued, getting to the point.
"Uh..."
"She's inviting a friend of hers as well. She wanted to try something different, like going on dates with other people," Will added.
Sly sighed. "Man, you know I don't have time to meet anyone. Besides, it'd suck not being able to tell her what I do if we do get serious. Not everyone would react like you did. We got lucky."
"I know, I know. But it doesn't have to be anything like that! Just think of it this way; it's like me and Art are going to a ball or something-"
"-Seriously dude, a ball?"
"Shut up, I'm trying to help you understand."
"Sorry," Sly at least had the decency to look sheepish, scratching the back of his neck.
"Anyway, it's like we're going to some sort of event and you're my plus-one and Art's friend is hers. You don't have to get married and have kids or anything, just please be civil," Winther begged.
Sly sighed again. "Alright, alright, I'll come." Then, after a short moment, "Is it formal wear?"
"Naw, man. We're just going to Outback."
"Okay, sounds good."
Will let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks so much, Sly."
"Eh, no problem," he replied, waving him off before setting his empty dish in the sink. "Now go call Artemis and tell her I said yes, just like she called you."
Will gave Sly a confused look before it dawned on him. "Were you listening to our conversation?"
The raccoon in question shrugged. "Only your half of it. I could piece together the rest on my own, it's not that hard."
Will sighed and shook his head, mumbling something about how it must be the thief in Sly, always aware of the things going on around him. He then walked off down the hallway to his bedroom.
Sly sighed and leaned against the counter again. "Friday is going to be interesting," he mumbled to himself.
AN: (Forgot the disclaimer, whoops: any and all recognizable "Sly Cooper" characters from the games are not mine. Artemis and Will ARE mine. See # 5 up top for more info. Outback Steakhouse does not belong to me, although I've been there many times) There you have it! The first chapter of "From Strangers to Dance Partners"! Next chapter will probably be the dinner. I'll have it ASAP! But, I'm a little busy this summer, so hopefully I'll get around to it soon.
If you wanna, drop me a review to let me know what you guys think! It'd be greatly appreciated!