CHAPTER 08: "A Snack for Scooby-Doo (and also Shaggy)"

Apparently Velma was accustomed to her friend's behavior, because all she did was roll her eyes at Shaggy's dramatic antics. "Oh, don't be like that," she said, kneeling beside him on the floor. Her hand alit between his shoulder blades, prompting him to look up at her with huge, watery eyes that begged for mercy. Velma remained unmerciful, however, saying: "I really think you can explain everything, Shaggy."

Shaggy appeared unconvinced. "Like—I can?"

"Yes." Velma offered him an encouraging smile. "Tell us how you first met Scooby-Doo."

Curiously, Shaggy looked at Scooby. Only when Scooby's lips curled upward into an eerily human smile (one that sent a shiver down Yusuke's spine; that dog was a whole lotta nope) did Shaggy swallow, take a deep breath, and sit up.

"W-well, I was—" He swallowed again, running a hand over his fuzzy goatee. "I guess I was in middle school when he, like, came crashing through my window. He didn't have a collar or anything, but boy, the little guy was sure hungry." Shaggy smiled at the memory and gave another of his wheezing chuckles. "We downed a couple of pizzas together and've been best buddies ever since."

"Reah!" Scooby said, sitting up on his haunches with a beam of pride. "Rest ruddies!"

"And when did he first start talking?" Velma asked.

Shaggy's smile disappeared. So did Scooby-Doo's. They exchanged a long look, heavy with meaning Yusuke couldn't quite figure out (Hiei was the mind reader, not him—and where the hell was Hiei, anyway? Laughing at them while he watched this mess with his Jagan in a tree somewhere? Probably so, knowing that sadistic little edgelord).

Velma was likewise put off by the mysterious silence of her friends. "Shaggy," she said, voice full of stern warning. "Tell me. Now."

He put his hands over his face. "Like, I can't, Velma!"

Velma held up a large carton with a cartoon dog on the front, one she had not been holding before, and shook it. "Not even for a Scooby Snack?"

Kuwabara did a double-take. "Where the hell was she hiding that box?!"

It was a valid question. Her skirt was too short and her sweater not large enough to hide a bulky cardboard box, but Shaggy and Scooby (and Fred and Daphne by extension) didn't appear at all perturbed by the sudden manifestation of what Yusuke assumed were some form of dogs treats. In fact, Scooby and Shaggy both bolted to their feet in excitement, eyes lighting up as their tongue's lolled out of their mouths.

Yes. Even Shaggy's lolled. Which was really, really gross, Yusuke thought.

"A Rooby Rack?" Scooby said, dancing from paw to paw in place. "Roh boy roh boy roh boy—"

"A Scooby Snack?!" Shaggy said at the same time, and he rubbed his belly with a wistful smile. "Now we're talkin'! Like, it's hard to talk on an empty stomach."

What followed had Yusuke staring in abject amazement, and also horror, because this was horrifying and he hated it. Between Scooby's unnervingly human mannerism's and Shaggy's sudden hunger for dog treats, which Velma tossed to them as if tossing a tennis ball to a playful Rottweiler, he was having a hard time telling who was the dog (or dog-demon) and who was the human being. Shaggy crunched up the treat with the same enthusiasm as Scooby-Doo, and when both had had their snack, they sat leaning against each other's backs on the floor with contented sighs.

Kuwabara edged up to Yusuke, face pale. "What the in the ever lovin' heck is happening?" he whisper-screamed, but Yusuke truly was at a loss to say.

As always, none of the Mystery Inc. kids were at all bothered by Shaggy's penchant for dog food. Velma, eyes hard, just sat down next to Scooby and Shaggy on the floor again to ask, "Now that you've had your snack, let's try this again. Tell me one more time about the night you met Scooby."

Scooby and Shaggy shared another Look before Shaggy swallowed and started talking. "W-well. I was in my basement like I am on most Friday nights. I'd ordered a few pizzas—"

"Try a few dozen," Fred muttered to Daphne, who giggled.

"—and was about to watch a totally groovy movie, when suddenly—"

Velma interjected, "Why had you ordered the pizzas, Shaggy?"

He blanched. "Um."

Velma stared at him. "Shaggy."

"Oh c'mon, Velma," he said with a nervous laugh. "You know I don't like to talk about—"

"Shaggy."

And under her hard stare, he crumbled. "Because I'd had a whole entire plate of my special brownies, that's why!" Shaggy blurted, and he buried his face in his hands.

Beside him, Scooby-Doo face-palmed. Or face-pawed. Whatever.

NOTES: I mean did you REALLY think I wouldn't make weed jokes about the dude with the constant munchies wearing 70s bellbottoms? WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? But I promise there's a reason this is coming up.