Sponge: Hi everybody! Surprised to see me? Well…I'm surprised to be here, honestly. I'd started working on this side-project back in the summer of 2020 just as a character study/writing exercise, without any real plans to publish. As everyone knows, Shelma is my OTP, but I didn't have a real opportunity to expand on their relationship throughout the rest of the Origins series. I came up with a list of ideas for momentous occasions in their romance between the time that Two For The Show ends and Three To Get Ready begins. Recently, I found that list again, and since Four For The Road is getting heavy, I wanted to publish something a little lighter. Hence…this. Hope you enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera.

Summary: Shaggy invites Velma over to watch a Vincent Van Ghoul movie, which Scooby is eager to join, not realizing that it's a date.

Warnings: Kissing

Part 1: First Date

Monday, November 11

"Raggy? Roo rokay?"

Shaggy blinked at the sound of Scooby's voice, taking him out of his thoughts. "What? Like yeah, Scoob, I'm totally fine."

He wasn't fine. He was nervous. Why was he nervous? Velma had been over to his house dozens of times. Why was this time any different?

That was a stupid question. Shaggy knew why it was different. This was technically their first date.

Not that anyone besides the pair of them knew that, of course. Least of all Scooby Doo.

It was the day after the final performance of Next to Normal, and since it was Veteran's Day, it also meant they had the day off from school. Shaggy had spent nearly every single federal holiday since he was in middle school watching movies with Scooby, but he'd invited Velma to join them today. And she was going to be here any minute.

Like, why did I think this was a good idea? Shaggy wondered as he tossed another bag of popcorn into the microwave. He liked Velma a lot, he really did. But their relationship was brand new, and it was a secret that they had to keep from Scooby, which meant keeping it from Daphne, Fred, and their parents as well. And yet, he had invited her over like it was the most normal thing in the world. Like they had nothing to hide when in reality, they had everything to hide.

Ding-dong.

"Rye'll ret it!" Scooby barked joyfully, dashing out of the kitchen towards the door.

Shaggy's stomach twisted with nerves. Velma had arrived.

Like, calm down, man, he thought to himself. Scoob's not gonna read between the lines. This is like, just three friends hanging out. But of course, it wasn't. Not really. Shaggy and Velma were friends, but he couldn't deny the feelings he had for her any longer. He had to though, for Scooby's sake.

Scooby himself arrived in the kitchen then, Velma trailing behind him. At the sight of her, Shaggy felt his heart do a backflip. How was it, after everything they'd done in the past couple months, he still felt nervous and excited by her presence?

"Hi," she said, a bit shyly.

It helped Shaggy to know she was feeling nervous too. "Like hey," he replied, just as quietly.

Velma bit her lip and gave him a timid smile. He grinned back, feeling his face heat up. How did she do this to him?

Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep. The microwave signaled that the popcorn was done, bringing them out of the moment.

"Ready ror the rovie?" Scooby barked excitedly. He didn't appear to have noticed the non-verbal exchange that Shaggy and Velma had shared, for which Shaggy was immensely grateful.

"I'm ready," Velma said. "Where are we watching it?"

"Like, in the living room," Shaggy answered. He emptied the bag of popcorn into a bowl and handed it to Velma, trying not to notice when their fingers brushed each other.

"So," Velma said, clearly also wanting to pull attention away from the two of them. "I don't know much about Vincent Van Ghoul movies. Can you tell me a little bit about them?"

"Oh man like, can we ever!" Shaggy felt all the nervousness he'd been feeling evaporate – now, pure excitement took over. He could talk about Vincent Van Ghoul in his sleep. "He's like, the best B-horror movie actor in the world. I think before he started acting he was like a...magician or an archaeologist or something."

"Those are two very different things," Velma said with a smile. She followed Shaggy and Scooby, who each had popcorn bowls of their own, into the living room. There was already a separate snack spread on the coffee table. Velma shook her head wryly – she wasn't surprised.

"He like, might have been both," Shaggy admitted. "All of his movies are like, said to be based on true events and experiences he had in the past."

"Hmm," said Velma as she gingerly sat down on the sofa – next to Shaggy, but not too close. "It sounds very Gilderoy Lockhart."

"Roo?" asked Scooby, who was struggling to open the DVD case.

"Gilderoy Lockhart. From Harry Potter," Velma replied. Shaggy and Scooby looked at her blankly. She gazed at them in astonishment. "Seriously? How have you never heard of Harry Potter?"

"I like, know what Harry Potter is," Shaggy exclaimed hurriedly. "I just like, never read the books."

"Ree raw rhe rovies," Scooby piped up.

"Like yeah," Shaggy said.

Velma rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. "All right. If I'm going to watch Vincent Van Ghoul, you should read Harry Potter. It's what cou –" Velma broke off, horrified that the word 'couples' had almost slipped out. Shaggy turned beet red and glanced furtively at Scooby, who was still fiddling with the DVD case. "It's what friends do," Velma corrected herself, not quite meeting Shaggy's eyes. Shaggy gulped, still eyeing Scooby.

"Rye rot it!" The dog exclaimed, triumphantly holding the DVD aloft. It appeared that he hadn't noticed anything odd about the exchange between Shaggy and Velma as he slipped the movie into the DVD player.

Velma dared to look up and caught Shaggy's eye. Watch yourself, Dinkley, she chastised herself. She resolved to be more careful during the rest of the movie.

"Rit's a rittle spooky," Scooby warned her, taking a seat on Shaggy's other side.

"Is it?" Velma asked.

"Yeah," Shaggy admitted. "But like, the jump scares still get me every time."

Velma chuckled. "How many times have you seen this movie?"

"Enough times to like, know when the jump scares are coming," Shaggy muttered.

"And yet..." Velma said with a grin.

The movie, which was called Gorgon Parade, turned out to be better than Velma would have pegged for a B-horror film. The plot revolved around a gorgon who rose from the dead, intent on turning people into an army of vampire robots. And Scooby was right – it was definitely spooky. Both Shaggy and Scooby watched most of the film through their fingers (or paws, in the dog's case). And even though Shaggy warned her when the first scare was coming, Velma still jumped when Vincent Van Ghoul first encountered the gorgon.

As Velma breathed slowly trying to get her heart rate back to normal, reminding herself that the specter on the screen was the result of hours of Hollywood makeup, and it was just an actor in a costume, she realized that she had grabbed Shaggy's hand. He noticed too, and the two of them stared at each other for a few moments. Scooby, who was still cowering under his paws, noticed nothing.

Velma removed her hand, though several more times throughout the movie, it found its way back to Shaggy's when there was a particularly scary moment. By the end of the film, the three of them were all clutching each other in fear and relief.

"Rhat rid roo rhink?" Scooby asked Velma as the credits began to roll. He disentangled himself from the trio to eject the DVD, leaving Shaggy and Velma still holding each other on the couch.

When they realized Scooby was no longer a part of their huddle, they let go in a hurry.

"Um..." Velma said, trying to hide the blush that was slowly creeping into her cheeks. "Actually, I really liked it. Are there more Vincent Van Ghoul movies?"

"Like, are there!" Shaggy exclaimed. "He's made like over four hundred films!"

"That seems like an exaggeration," Velma quipped.

It turned out though, that this was completely true – and that Shaggy and Scooby owned them all. Scooby kept disappearing and reappearing with different DVDs.

"Like, my mom makes us keep them all in my room," Shaggy explained to her after Scooby's tenth or eleventh trip back to the living room.

Velma giggled. "Jinkies. With over four hundred films, I'm surprised there's room for them all."

"We like, hide them under the floorboards," Shaggy admitted.

"Do you organize them?" Velma asked.

Shaggy nodded. "Like of course we do. If we didn't, they wouldn't all fit."

Velma smirked. "And how are they cataloged? Chronologically? Categorically? Dewey Decimal System?"

"We like, alphabetized them," Shaggy replied. He raised an eyebrow. "What do you think we are, like, animals?"

"Rey!" Scooby's indignant response caused Shaggy and Velma to jump back from each other. They had drawn quite close together during their verbal flirting and now they glanced nervously at Scooby. He was frowning. "Rye'm a ranimal," he reminded them, his frown giving way to a grin.

Shaggy and Velma laughed nervously.

"Like, you want to watch another one?" Shaggy asked. He knew he was tempting fate here – there had already been too many close calls – but he didn't want Velma to leave yet.

"Sure," Velma said, picking up a popcorn bowl. "That one where he turns into a lizard person sounded pretty good. Why don't you set it up, and I'll get some more popcorn."

"Roy boy!" Scooby barked, digging through the pile of DVDs he'd amassed in his quest to prove to Velma how many Vincent Van Ghoul movies there actually were.

"Like I'll help," Shaggy volunteered, shooting to his feet and following Velma into the kitchen.

Once they were alone, they looked at each other anxiously.

"I'm sorry," Velma whispered. "I know I wasn't very subtle during the movie. Or after."

"Like don't worry about it," Shaggy murmured back, squeezing by her to put more popcorn in the microwave. "I'm like, not doing a very good job either. Sorry."

Velma glanced up at him. "Would it be easier if I went home?"

It would be easier if she went home, and Shaggy knew it. But he really, really didn't want her to leave. "Stay for like, just one more movie," he said. "We can get through it without like..." Touching. Flirting. Giving ourselves away.

He didn't finish the sentence.

Velma bit her lip as the microwave went off. Shaggy wished she wouldn't do that – it made it hard for him to think clearly. "Can we?" she asked, dubiously. Shaggy didn't blame her. He was feeling pretty doubtful himself.

But he really wanted to give this a shot.

"We can try," he told her.

As it turned out, Shaggy had a harder time during the next movie than Velma did. Even though he'd seen the movie dozens of times, he still screamed when Van Ghoul's face peeled away to reveal the reptilian creature underneath. To his relief, Scooby and Velma also screamed. Unintentionally, Shaggy also reached out on either side of him in fear, grabbing Velma on his left, and Scooby on his right.

Shaggy and Velma glanced at each other and let go of each others' hands. But Scooby surprised them both by reaching across Shaggy to grab Velma's hand with his free paw. With Scooby's help, the three of them became a clump much like they'd been at the end of "Gorgon Parade." Scooby, who was still trembling in fear from the reveal of the lizard face, didn't notice the look that Shaggy and Velma shared. Their expressions said the same thing – it appeared they had an excuse to hold each other.

Tentatively, Shaggy put his left arm around Velma's shoulder. She carefully nestled herself into his chest, glancing at Scooby all the while. He had buried his face in Shaggy's other shoulder and again, didn't notice anything strange about Shaggy and Velma.

In this way, the three of them watched three more Vincent Van Ghoul movies, Shaggy and Velma hiding their amorous embraces behind their fear. Shaggy had to admit, he was glad for a reason to hold her, and for her to hold him back. But a small part of him, in the back of his mind, knew that he was playing with fire. Surely they couldn't keep this up forever? Scooby was bound to notice something eventually, wasn't he?

At the end of the final movie, the three of them again let go of each other and Velma looked at the time on the large grandfather clock in the foyer.

"I should probably get going," she sighed. "My mom will probably want my help with dinner."

"Like, want me to walk you home?" Shaggy heard himself say. Immediately he felt a blush creep up his neck and saw that Velma, too, had turned crimson. Furtively, they glanced at Scooby, but he had grabbed the popcorn bowls and was heading for the kitchen.

"Rye can reen up!" he called over his shoulder. "Rye, Relma!"

His tone was amicable, and again, he didn't seem suspicious about anything. Velma and Shaggy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sure," Velma replied. "Thanks, Shag. Bye, Scooby! Thanks for the movies!"

"Rou're relcome!" Scooby called from the kitchen. Shaggy and Velma looked at each other and headed for the front door.

The shortest way back to Velma's house was through the woods between their streets, but it was getting dark, so they'd walk down the street. It didn't matter, though – Shaggy was okay with taking the long way. Even though they'd spent the better part of the afternoon together, he was still reluctant to see Velma go.

They didn't speak until they had reached the mouth of FitzSimmonds Court, when Shaggy was certain that they were far enough away from the house. Impulsively, he reached out and took Velma's hand. Surprised, she looked at their hands, then at his face, and smiled. Shaggy smiled back and felt butterflies erupt in his stomach.

"So like...seriously," he said. "What did you think of those movies? I know they're like, not for everybody, but I appreciate you like, giving them a chance."

Velma shrugged but kept smiling. "I honestly did enjoy them a lot. My favorite was The Mutant Bee – it was reminiscent of The Metamorphosis by Kafka."

Shaggy laughed out loud. Leave it to Velma to find the literary references in terrible horror films.

"But the most frightening one," she continued. "Was Castle of Gummy Discharge. I think I'll be seeing Professor Jantzen's half face and hearing his maniacal laugh in my nightmares for a long time."

"Like yeah," Shaggy agreed. "That one's definitely the scariest movie."

"Why do you do that to yourselves?" Velma asked. "I mean…we all know that you and Scooby are…" She didn't finish the thought, but Shaggy knew what she meant.

"Like, scaredy-cats? Wimps? Cowards?" he supplied.

Velma turned pink. "I don't mean that. You just frighten more easily than the rest of us." She looked up at him. "Why do you watch horror films? Why do you solve scary mysteries?"

Shaggy shrugged. "I guess we like the rush. You know like, when you're watching a scary movie and that moment right after the scary thing happened and your heart goes back to like, beating normally? Or like, at the end of a mystery when we dramatically take off the monster's mask? I like the feeling of relief, I guess – realizing that there's nothing to be scared of after all."

Velma grinned. "I see. So you're an adrenaline junkie."

Shaggy laughed. "I guess I like, never really thought of it that way. But yeah, that like, makes sense." He shrugged again. "It helps to like, have someone else around to be scared with. Like Scooby Doo. Or…you." Shaggy felt himself flush.

Velma smiled wider. She knew exactly what he was talking about – she felt that way too.

"It was nice to have a justification to be affectionate today," she admitted. Her face fell slightly. "But we won't be able hide behind horror movies every time, will we? Especially if Scooby's going to be around."

"Like Scoob won't be around every time we hang out," Shaggy told her, but he knew he couldn't keep that promise. The dubious look Velma gave him said that she didn't believe him either. Shaggy sighed. "Well...we like, knew this would be hard when we started. Maybe it'll get easier as we go on?"

It was Velma's turn to sigh. "Most relationships start the other way, with the beginning being easy and fun, and the harder stuff coming later. And I understand why we have to keep our relationship secret for now, I do, but..." Velma trailed off and looked down. "It's adding an element of difficulty that most other relationships don't have."

Shaggy exhaled through his nose and squeezed Velma's hand. They had turned onto her block, and were only a few yards from her house. There was a question he had to ask, though he hated to do it. "Do you...do you think we're like, making a big mistake here?"

Velma stopped walking and turned to face Shaggy. They were right next to her house. "Do you think we're making a mistake?" she asked.

Shaggy grabbed her other hand – now he was holding them both – and immediately shook his head no. Even though he'd asked the question, he knew the answer. "This doesn't feel like a mistake to me."

Velma grinned softly and rubbed a thumb over Shaggy's knuckles. "It doesn't feel like a mistake to me either."

Shaggy bent down and kissed Velma gently on the lips. When she kissed him back, fireworks exploded behind his ears. He let go of her hands so he could cup her face, and she pulled herself closer to him. Shaggy felt his heart soar.

"We'll figure this out," Velma whispered as they broke apart. "I have a good feeling about us."

Shaggy smiled down at her. "I have like, a good feeling about us, too."

Sponge: Thanks for reading! There's not going to be a strict posting schedule for this…I'll just be updating whenever I feel like it. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, make sure to let me know in a review!