You ever had one of those days?
You know the kind when you just want to roll back into bed and hope for a do over? Where the idea of even getting out of bed, makes you want to just roll over and cover your eyes with the blanket? Fred was having one of those days.
It wasn't anything actually bad had happened, but he was just having trouble with everything. The first thing he did in the morning when he got out of bed was place a thumb accidentally through the edge of his favorite t-shirt. Sure it was old and worn, but he didn't expect it to have been thin enough for a wandering finger to poke through the collar during an awkward morning stretch. Marring the poor fabric with an oddly placed hole that Daphne would have a field day with 'I told you so's' about his fashion sense. She would make sure to remind him that he needed new sleepwear… again.
It only got worse from there… The floor was oddly cold, and his socks or slippers were nowhere in sight. And for some reason, it took several tries to get his stupid door open, something he would have to let Velma know was wrong so she could see what she could do.
When he then moved to try to get to the bathroom, it felt as if he had wound up and kicked the door frame as hard as he could. Bashing his toe in, making it feel like he had aimed for it. Like someone had installed a Fred's big toe magnet, to the wood. Not only cracking part of the nail, but it buried a small splinter into his foot, that he then had to hop to the bathroom to remove. Once he managed to pull the little wooden piece out from his toe and trim his nail, he moved to do his normal morning routine and he cracked a tine on his favorite comb while brushing his hair. So far for Fred, the morning wasn't exactly panning out to be a good start. Nothing earth shattering, but certainly frustrating way to begin the day.
Stumbling finally to get downstairs, he found that he had forgotten to set his clock ahead and it was really an hour later then he had thought. Making him miss breakfast with the rest of the gang, as the girls had left already for something… and he found Shaggy and Scooby cleaning up.
"Like' morning Fred!" Shaggy chirped over his shoulder, fighting off a wave of suds from an overly enthusiastic and helpful Scooby. Having added too much dish soap and making the whole sink overflow with happy bubbles. Leaving him elbow deep in the stuff, but nothing that would dent his cheery mood after some good food. And while normally a morning person himself, Fred just groaned at the chipper attitude that came off of the duo.
"Uggghhh… Morning." Zombie Fred moaned, limping slightly due to his injured toe and shambling towards his section of the kitchen.
Most of the kitchen belonged to the duo, there were an area that the girls and he, had to themselves. Shaggy and Scooby had a massive walk in pantry that they kept all their food in, while the rest of the gang shared a small, normal sized cupboard for the three of them. It had the option to lock it against the two when the rest of the gang had some type of food that would catch the hungry duos attention, and needed to be kept away from hungry mouths. But Daphne still hadn't found the perfect lock to protect their food stores, trying to find more and more complicated locks to keep the duo out. Since when the two were serious about getting their hands on something food related, their deft hands and paws were a force to be reckoned with.
Opening up the door, Fred reached out of habit to the shelf with his favorite cereal. Expecting it to be there, he sighed when his hand hit the wood shelving. Patting it around, his wandering fingers didn't find the edge of the box he was searching for. It seemed that there was no boxes at all that were the right size for cereal. Not ever one of Daphne's fancy name brand cereals, that she had only gotten since it was new and trending at the time.
'What else today…' He mentally grumbled, shifting his weight and peering into the shelf pace to see if for some reason the box was out of place. Pushing some of the other food out of the way, he wasn't able to find it. His favorite cereal was nowhere to be found.
"Argh!" Fred growled lightly as he swung the cabinet door closed in annoyance, making a bit of a bang as it slammed shut. Today was not going well, and he had just woken up. He could imagine what the rest of the day would be like, if this was any indication.
"R'ou r'ok Red?" Hearing the noises coming out of Fred, Scooby had noticed the mood from the man and came over concerned. One of his people wasn't happy in his favorite place. Who isn't happy when there was so much food all around to eat? It had to be serious! So he wanted to cheer Fred up, and pressed his head against the man to try to comfort him. Looking up at him with concerned puppy eyes, wide with worry and want to make it better.
Looking down into those eyes, Fred caved a bit. No matter how much of a bad day he was having, Scooby would try to make it better for poor Fred. And it was hard to be a total grump with an eager pup nuzzling into his midsection.
"Sorry Scoob, didn't mean to make you fuss. Just a rough morning so far." Fred said as he gave the pup an affectionate rub behind the ears and on his head. Earning a drool slobbered kiss in thank you.
"Like' what happened Fred?" Shaggy asked, moving closer to his two buddies were, drying his hands off with a nearby towel he snagged. Having numerous kitchen towels hanging about, there was always one close at hand. He crossed most of his kitchen, to get in ear shot of the others in the room to make talking easier.
"Just… Just one of those days, Shag." Fred sighed, sliding down the pantry door and settled on the floor to pet Scooby more and sigh yet again into the floor. Fred didn't really want to talk about it to Shaggy, feeling like he would just end up sounding whiny. His whole body showing off a defeated posture, slumping against himself. Though Fred was also trying to take the weight off the throbbing toe, to rest it a bit.
Placing a hand upon his goatee, Shaggy looked over the frumpy version of Fred then he was used to seeing the man as. His hair was a mess, compared to his normal immaculate coif he wore. And the PJ's looked worse for wear, noticing the thumb hole that Fred had put in the shirt. And he was favoring a foot, with one toe loosely wrapped in some band aids.
Shaggy hadn't missed that Daphne had finished off Fred's favorite cereal earlier, knowing that was probably what Fred had been searching for Breakfast. And losing one's preferred meal, is never a happy event. So Shaggy could tell well enough, what had happened to the other man and why his mood was so glum. Nodding a few times, his mind went to work on something that might fix poor Fred's predicament.
"Hm? Does that mean I should kidnap you today?" Shaggy wondered aloud, addressing the man by his feet with his pondering.
'...should kidnap you today?' Echoing in his head, Fred looked up at Shaggy with a confused look on his face. Was his best friend proposing that he should be tied up and carted off somewhere? While Fred had been kidnapped before, it tended to be a rare occurrence and not something that would happen in his own house... by his best friend. But surely there was more too it then that, right?
"Kidnapped?" Fred said cautiously, trying to read Shaggy's motives from his posture. But that was the problem with trying to read the laid back, beatnik of a man. Especially in his own home, and favorite room in the house. If he wanted too, Shaggy had a killer poker face.
"Yeah, like what I ended up doing for Velms and Daphne!" Shaggy spoke cheerily, crouching down to rub Scooby into belly rubbing submission. Tail thumbing wildly against the tiled kitchen floor.
Thinking about it, Fred did recall a while ago when Shaggy was up to something and had 'kidnapped' Daphne. Tossing her over his shoulder and everything. Kidnapping the woman to a secret place and hung out all day playing on some swings he had installed by their old clubhouse. And Fred later had bugged Velma about what had happened with her and whatever 'scouts honor' meant to her. Finding out that Shaggy and Scooby had ganged up on her to bring her after a long day of writing to see a sunrise.
In the past, Shaggy had been behind some of their more enjoyable and not monster driven vacations that they had been to, and countless fun things around the house as well. So maybe it was worth leaving the rest of the day up to Shaggy and one of his 'plans'. Being able to just take a back seat, and let someone else take charge for a day! …Even if it was to be 'kidnapped'.
"Alright!" Fred agreed, tossing a hand up for Shaggy to help lift him to his feet. "What do you need me to do first?"