The undateable bachelor


Summary

Everyone grows up and almost everyone has had at least some experience in the love department... Yes, even Pronto... Well, okay not quite everyone. Everyone, except the current hero of Slugterra: the young Eli Shane. The problem: he likes to keep it that way. And that is very much unacceptable by numerous of people...


Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with Slugterra: all hail Nerd Corps Entertainment! The only thing I own is my weird brain and a jar of candies and cookies. Grab some if you like!


Rating: This story is most likely to become a slash story. I think that it's safe to say that it will gradually become a 16+ story.


Warning:This story is written by me, a weird person who tries to write fan fiction after abandoning fan fiction for over five years… I am hoping that my writing skills do not disappoint you, I am trying to find my spark again. Also this story is probably going to eventually contain some lemons. This is also most likely to become a slash story, so if you don't like m/m shipping then get out safely, while you can.


Updating stories: I am a busy person, but I have grown more capable of scheduling and planning my daily routines and other tasks. When I have found out how to put writing fan fiction into that schedule, I will probably update more frequently.


Reason: So, I've decided to write another Slugterra fan fic, because currently, I am highly addicted to this show and its characters, especially Eli Shane. Sorry, but he's a cutie and I've always had a thing for main characters, cause that's my weakness… Wanna kill me? Throw a cute main character at me and I'll probably die instantly…

I love to write silly stuff and I wanted to try something new. So, my aim is to try writing about an Eli who is growing up, but has no idea how to behave like a "normal" (as in the eyes of the people of Slugterra world) human being. With a heavily resisting Eli, who seriously doesn't give a damn about sappy love stories and has no idea what the general idea of flirting is. Actually he is pretty much clueless.

Also, Eli has a severe sunglasses obsession in this fic.


So, I hope you people will enjoy this and if not, I am truly sorry, but I am trying. However, I still wish you all the very best in life and may you all be happy and healthy!

Please let me know what you guys think about it, cause I have so much more prompts that are waiting to be written, yet if no one reads them… Then I might just go *swoosh* and abandon fan fiction again XD.

Always be safe, huggies!


Chapter one: Stop the running, Eli!


It was a sunny day in Slugterra. All was well and all was quiet. No real reason for heroes to overly exhaust themselves with chores. No reason for heroes to call up an army and charge in. No need, cause it was peaceful in Slugterra. For the first time people could simply walk through the streets, order delicious food, shop various necessary or unique products, simply watch a movie or go for a long walk. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Well… almost everyone…

"Eli, come on! You've gotta relax sometime." Kord tried dragging the young Shane back inside, but alas the young man was way too quick.

"Naha Kord, you never know… I mean what if Blakk comes back?"

"Eli, seriously the man is trapped in the deep caverns, he would not get out even if he was to blast himself out of his own blaster!" Trixie sighed, clearly annoyed and helped Kord dragging the boy in.

"But!..."

"No buts, Eli!" The two yelled simultaneously.

"Alright." He sighed in defeat.

"Don't worry, for Pronto will keep you busy with his magnificent new magic show!" The molenoid appeared from upstairs with a long, too long mind you, black cape draped over his shoulders.

"This is a joke, right?" The young Shane asked. Kord and Trixie shook their head in disappointment.

"I'm afraid not, Eli." Groaned the cave troll and slammed a pillow in his own face, trying to shut out the imbecile on the stairs.

For days now, Pronto had been trying to "entertain" the gang. The first time he had pretended to be the best acrobat ever. Then he tried to show his "awesome" slug slinging skills by throwing his blaster in the air and then trying to catch it and blast a slug… Other things he did, included a mini slug circus, an absolute crazy cooking show and even a story teller night, where he somehow managed to scare himself mostly… Needless to say, none of his attempts had been successful and no one from the rest of the Shane gang, including slugs, were ready to go through another round of Pronto, the absolute by far from magnificent, show.

"I can't deal with this." Trixie said as they saw how the molenoid halted midway the stairs to grab his magic wand... It was a wooden spoon…

"Okay, so we all know how this is going to happen, Pronto, so please just stop now, before you hurt yourself, or worse, hurt us." Kord sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand.

"But Pronto is the very best at magical shows! Let me show you."

"You're gonna trip over your cloak, fall down and probably knock over that vase…" Eli now said, also getting a headache.

"Nonsense Eli, I am Pronto, the magnificent. I am no fool to trip over my own magical clo… Aaagh!" And with that, exactly like the Shane had foretold, the molenoid tripped over his cloak, fell down the stairs and knocked over the vase. Luckily Eli's quick reflexes made him shoot out Spinner who caught the vase in its web.

"Nice job, Spinner." He said, temporarily excited that he had least made a useful shot again after quite some time.

"Now what?" Trixie said as she helped Pronto up.

"What about some sleeping, Pronto feels like sleeping now." Stars were dancing before his eyes.

"Ugh." Trixie face palmed her face and rolled her eyes.

"I know it! What about another round of Robofights. I think I can finally beat you, Trixie!"

The redhead was immediately in her element and hopped onto the couch.

"Bring it, stink troll."

"Oh I will, pigtails."

In all their enthusiasm, they hadn't noticed that their leader had once again escaped the Shane hide out...


"Glad to be out of there. Geez." He sighed and petted Burpy who had snuggled onto his shoulder. The infurnus slug suddenly jumped up and started protesting, when his owner reached for his mecha.

"I know, Burpy, but I'm bored to death. There must be something we can do, right?" Burpy looked at him, doubt written on his small face.

"So, I guess you're not ready for an adventure then?" Eli asked the slug jokingly.

Within two seconds, Burpy had jumped off his shoulder and onto the mecha, signalling with his tiny arm to leave already.

"Whoa, easy, easy, let me get on first." He laughed and jumped onto LK-E.

He decided to ride to the cavern mall. Already contemplating if he should get another pair of sunglasses. He didn't know why, but they thought they made him look cool. Or perhaps the correct word was mature. He was seventeen now, it had been a full year since the defeat of Tad, Blakk's son. Every time he thought back about it, he felt a chill running down his spine. He couldn't believe they had been fooled…again. Twist being the first one to ever fool them. Breaking his heart in the progress. Eli never thought that betrayal could hurt so much.

And then came Junjie. Luckily he had turned out to be okay, but Junjie wasn't easily reached. He was more of Eli's opposite. Constant calmness and endless patience... Even if Eli did become a lot more mature, he still had that undoubtedly Shane trait of being in constant need of adventure. By the way, Junjie was quite a bit older, not that you could see from his outer looks. Yet, Eli had done his calculations. Thinking about it, the boy realized that he was actually still quite young, considering everyone's age around him.

He shook it off, only to think about the second one to break his heart... Tad... Oh, how he wished he could turn back time and just show the young man what his father had truly done to Slugterra. He knew, that deep down, Tad hated him, just like Twist did because of his father's action. His father, who had rightly acted out the way he did to protect the innocents, never truly saw the reality of some monsters' existence.

Yes, he, Eli Shane, son of Will Shane, showed empathy for his former enemies, including Dr. Blakk himself. And often times, he wondered what would have happened if his father had listened instead of blasting his slugs. Still, the betrayal of Twist and Tad were not easily forgotten and definitely not, and possibly never forgiven...

Burpy nudged him out of his deep thoughts, by jumping up and down on his shoulder. The slug alarmed him that they had arrived at their destination.

"Whoa, thanks buddy, I didn't even notice." Eli parked his mecha and went inside the enormous building. Upon entering various people started cheering. He was the Shane after all.

"Mommy, it's the Shane!" a young kid yelled, excitement clearly visible.

"Easy, Tommy, be polite to the young man."

Eli tried to dodge the hands that were reaching out for him… Maybe that that's where his obsession for sunglasses had come from. Everywhere he'd go, people where trying to hug him or grab him and he just couldn't deal with that. He needed his personal space very much.

So, normally, he would dress up as a complete stranger with sunglasses and all. Yet, due to the late events at the Shane hide out, he had been in hurry. Not wanting to be "grounded" again. He called it grounded, cause that was what it started to feel like. His friends were deeply concerned for him. He knew that they meant well, but being seventeen meant being close to adulthood and he could not bear the over motherly behaviour of his friends anymore sometimes. He just wanted to be free, explore the world on his own, have the peace and quiet to himself, to discover all that was Slugterra and all that was him. No, he didn't have an identity crisis, well at least, not yet. However, growing up made him feel weird, Slugterra was different in many ways from the surface, but the one thing Eli couldn't understand was…


"Eli!"

"Oh Floppers, please no." he squeaked.

"Mhmm, what was that?" Jordan, a twenty something rookie slugslinger, lay his hand over the young Shane's shoulder.

"Oh, erm, nothing..." the poor boy smiled weakly.

You sure? I mean if there's anything I can do to help you, than I'm more than game, you know." the obvious real meaning behind the helping part did go completely unnoticed past Eli's head. Yet the sudden close proximity of his face, alarmed him immediately.

"So, Eli, how is it in love's paradise?" Jordan then suggestively asked, making the young Shane visibly gulp.

And there you have it, the major problem… Somehow people from Slugterra found it strange and unusual for him to still not show any interest in dating someone. He thought the surface had shown him everything about weird expectations, but in here oh boy.

People from Slugterra found it absolutely abnormal to be single after the age of sixteen. Which was weird since Trixie, Kord and Pronto were all still single… Okay, Pronto was perhaps a different league… Yet, it just didn't add up. Why were people so focused on him getting into a relationship?! Hadn't he done enough for them?!

"Hey, Eli, I know you are somewhere in there. Or are you playing with me, cause I love games." Jordan, now holding him with both his hands, at his hips mind you; gazed longingly at him.

The young Shane blushed deeply when he realized where Jordan's hands actually were and on impulse he wiggled himself loose.

"Whoa, excuse me, I, … I have to go." And with that he stormed away, ignoring all the stares he received.


"Maybe, that this wasn't such a good idea, Burpy."

The infurnus slug gave him a sad smile. Burpy knew how much Eli hated all the attention. At the beginning of his slug slinging career that had been totally different. But now, after all he had been through, after maturing slow but steady, he had been more distant, shy even. And people only made it worse with their high expectations of the young Shane.

"Shane!" Ruby this time. She was a nice looking girl and to be honest a decent slug slinger, but date material? Hell no.

"Uh hi, Ruby… Sorry, but I really have to go. Err. Sorry, bye." He didn't know how hard he had to run, but he just wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible.

After a good ten minutes of making his way through the Shane worshiping crowd, he had arrived at his destination.

"Sunglasses, yes!" Burpy laughed at him.

"Oh come on, as if you don't want another pair. You know we look cool in them."

At that the slug merrily nodded.

Eli entered the shop, eyeing his surroundings nervously. He really didn't want any of the Shane fans to appear now. And they were usually everywhere. Fortunately for him they were nowhere to be seen and finally he could relax and enjoy himself a little. Quickly he scanned the shop for new and awesome looking sunglasses. In the corner he spotted a cool looking light blue pair and Eli was in love.

"Can you marry a pair of sunglasses, cause wow!" he exclaimed and put the sunglasses on.

"So, what do you think?" he asked Burpy.

"I think they suit you very well, Eli. It's a match with your hair."

Every single muscle in his entire body locked up, his heart felt like it had jumped out of his body and the hairs on his neck and arms all stood straight up. He knew that voice


"Twist?" It came out like a whisper. Eli turned around, glasses still on and stared directly in the face of the Shane gang's first traitor.

"Yes, that's still my name. Glad you still have a working brain." The blond sassily replied, crossing his arms in the progress.

It took the young Shane a couple of seconds to realize what was happening, what had happened.

Hastily he put back the glasses, not wanting anything to wear that reminded him of the utter douche that was Twist.

"Not going to buy them? And here I thought you were planning to marry them…"

Eli knew that he had to get out of there as quick as possible. Otherwise he might just start a fight and starting a fight in the middle of a shopping mall, where everyone knew him and could see him, wasn't such a good idea. He took a deep breath and walked out of the store…

"Burpy, let's go home." He said.

Burpy, being the intelligent slug he was, immediately noticed how stressed out his owner suddenly seemed and he warned the other slugs to get ready to defend their owner in case of emergency.

"Oh, it's Eli Shane!"

"No, no, no, no…" Eli spoke in soft mantra. He was getting real tired of the bullshit.

"Autograph please? For my son, he's a big fan. I'm too."

"I'm a bigger fan!"

"You're so cool, mister Shane, I want to be just like you when I grow up!"

"You're my number one hero, Eli!"

Hands were grabbing at him, pictures were being shoved into his face, the demands of an autograph were endless and some even dared to fully drag him over to their place and force him into an awkward photo session…

Burpy suddenly lighted up and burned someone's hand. Clearly stating that people had to back away from his owner.

"Wow, your infurnus is so cool!" Normally Eli and his slugs loved children, but today was different. Today, Eli had had enough, had become paranoid and his slugs defended him to the bone, growling and snapping at everyone getting too close.

Suddenly Eli felt himself being pulled out of the horde of people. When the young Shane turned around he found himself looking, once again, in the face of Twist, who started to get this deep and dark stare Eli only had him seen wearing around him...

"A little lost, Eli?" the taller and tan boy asked, giving him an almost deviously grin.

Eli responded… but not in the way his slugs had expected. Burpy, who already had climbed into the blaster, shrieked even at what his owner did...


With lightning speed Eli had giving Twist a harsh and loud smack with his flat hand. The sound had echoed through the suddenly quiet mall.

No one dared to make a sound and the young Shane actually looked shocked of himself. It had been a reflex after all.

Twist dropped his arm off him and reached for his by now angry red cheek. The force of the blow had left the fingerprints on his flesh and the older boy stared in absolute disbelief at his rival. His rival whose eyes appeared to get wet from the tears that were threatening to slip out.

"Eli?" His voice sounded a lot softer now.

Eli slowly stepped backwards, still in shock of all that had happened. He had to get out of here, now. Once again, he turned around, but was this time faced by the enormous crowd. Eli felt himself panicking. His breathing becoming irregular, his eyes widening with shock and his cheeks reddening from shame. Just as he was about to have a mental break down, he heard the voices of his friends.

"Eli!" Trixie ran to their leader.

"Eli, what's wrong?" she asked him.

"I wanna go home." He whispered, more to himself then her.

"Okay, ...then let's go home." She said, while putting her hand on his shoulder as if to guide him.

"No, I meant back where I came from. Upstairs home…" He meant the surface and Trixie genuinely looked concerned now.

"Eli?" she gasped, not believing her ears. What had just happened that made him feel so unwelcome in their world?

"Maybe, that this is an explanation." Kord had managed to capture Twist, who still was looking a bit dazed.

"Twist!" Trixie shouted angrily.

"What have you done to Eli, you filthy piece of rotten gum!" she demanded and was on her way to strangle him.

"Err Trixie, even though I understand you, we are kind of not alone…" Kord said and pointed to the crowd.

The crowd had been silently eyeing the situation in shock and fascination. They had never seen the young Shane behave that way before. So utterly confused and lost in the world. So sad…

"Fear not, Pronto will talk with them. Pronto is the absolute best at talking with people." Overconfident as ever, the molenoid neared the crowd, but the crowd dispersed. The mall cops had arrived…

"Ah, Eli Shane, good to see you…" Millard Milford halted his movements when he eyed the boy. He looked pale as a ghost, minus the small blush then. And the tears in the corner of the boy's eyes betrayed it to be a slightly different situation than they had been anticipating for.

"You okay, son?" he asked and studied the Shane cautiously.

"I, err… yeah. Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit…tired." Eli lied and hastily wiped away the tears.

"Are you sure, son?"

Eli nodded with a false confidence, bid his farewell to the guards and walked towards the exit...


"Oh no, you don't." Kord yelled and dropped Twist on the ground. Once outside his friends stopped him.

"Eli, are you sure that you want to return to the surface?" the redhead asked worriedly.

"Return to the surface?! But what about Pronto? Pronto cannot be the very best molenoid if Eli isn't around."

"Bro, are you for real?!" Kord now asked him seriously.

"I…I don't know…"

"But why?"

"Yes why? Was it because Pronto's meals are not tasty enough. Is it Pronto's extra insect legs he likes to hide in the cookie jar?"

"Iel, gross Pronto…" Trixie felt like throwing up and Kord already made the sounds.

"Eli?"

"I… just want to be left alone for a while." He quietly said and was on his way to get on his mecha.

"Wait Eli, if you really want to go back, then… we won't stop you. Just know, that we will really miss you." Trixie now said, the hurt clearly written on her face.

"What Trixie said, even if I won't like it, bro." Kord replied, also with a sad frown marring his face.

"Pronto agrees… to not agree! Pronto cannot lose you, Eli!" the molenoid threw himself at Eli's feet, eyes watery and big, hands folded in a silent plea.

The young Shane got onto his mecha.

"I don't want to leave, but… I just want to… have some time to myself and… you guys worry too much. I can't breathe enough, I guess." He admitted and bit the inside of his cheeks to stop focusing on the pain from within.

"You need some space, bro? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes, space, I need space." He sighed in relief, knowing that at least one of them got the hint.

"Eli, I'm so sorry if you felt like we didn't give you your space. I guess we do worry a bit too much about you, but hey you're our leader." Trixie explained honestly.

"I know, which is exactly the reason why I need my space. I want to be more than just the Shane. I feel like I'm missing out on things in life and while you guys are the most awesome people I've ever met, I just want to… I just want to… Oh whatever."

Yep, now, he did have an identity crisis.

"Well, what if we all promise to keep our distance and let you be? Will you stay then?" the girl suggested, hope shining in her eyes.

"I think I will." Eli smiled softly and dared to look his friends in the eye again.

"Well then, you've got yourself a deal."

"Great! ...Now, what's for dinner? I'm starving." Eli asked jokingly.

And with smiles on their faces and laughter once again in the air, they went back home... Not noticing the pair of eyes, which were watching the young Shane intently as he left...


T.b.c.


Well, dear people, please let me know what you think! Also I plan on making this a poll fic, letting you decide which lucky bastard is going to end up with Eli.

So, thank you for reading this! I love all of you and wish you the very best in life!

Huggies!

Daphne