Title: Mutual
Author: Brendan/brencon
Pairings/Characters: Logan/Veronica, ensemble
Word Count: 1,813
Rating: PG-13, so far.
Summary: What if Logan and Veronica got together before everything went to hell?
Spoilers: Set pre-series, but will include some season one stuff later.
Warnings: Swearing.
Disclaimer: Veronica Mars belongs to Rob Thomas and the nice people at the CW
Author's Note: Thanks to Nikita for the beta. Italics represent Veronica's thoughts and/or voiceovers. Obviously, I've fudged up the timeline, but not by much.
Thursday had come, without any major catastrophes so far. Veronica and Logan had been lucky in escaping from any contact with any member of the 09er-dom. It was finally lunch and the two were at their usual table, waiting for Yolanda to arrive before ordering food.
They had avoided the topic of Lilly Kane since the night before and were both happy to keep doing it. That was until Yolanda rushed up to their table and, in the process of catching her breath, tried to explain what had happened.
"Your…your car, Logan. It's - it's, I dunno what happened, but -" she said, saying nothing that remotely made sense to the couple before her.
"Yolanda, breathe slowly," Veronica instructed, her fingers idly playing with the fingers on Logan's left hand.
Taking the advice, Yolanda breathed slowly through her nose and filled her lungs.
"Someone trashed your car!" she finally revealed, much to the shock of Logan and Veronica.
Quickly, Logan jumped to his feet and ran off to the car park, keys in hand and a hot blonde and her BFF at his feet.
Lilly, Dick, Duncan and the rest of the 09ers looked on in amusement, laughing loudly and openly at their attack.
"What made you go on the offensive, Lilly?" One of the 09er girls asked, her eyes twinkling with awe and wonder at the queen before her.
"Oh, I just thought it was time that I show love's young dream what happens when you mess with Lilly Kane!" she said extravagantly, before facing Dick, Caz and Casey, "Oh, and boys?" She said, licking her lips, making them quiver with anticipation, "Thanks for your help…I couldn't have gotten it all done by myself in one period."
"I was glad to help," Casey said, watching Lilly's heaving bosom dance enticingly.
"Oh, hell yeah, it was my pleasure!" Dick said, smiling stupidly in Lilly's direction.
Caz, being Lilly's latest toyboy, leaned over and felt Lilly's lips brush his own, then her tongue a second later.
"What about your girlfriend?" Lilly said seductively, her hands stroking his bicep.
"Dumped her ass yesterday! Why keep the snack when I have the four course dinner?" he joked, leaning down for another kiss. But before he made contact, Lilly had pushed him away and was sighing loudly.
"You did?" she asked, sounding a tad upset, as she searched the quad for Sabrina before shifting closer to Casey. "Then this isn't fun anymore! Now shoo, you're blocking my manhunt."
"Just like that, it's over?" Caz said angrily.
"Uh-huh," Lilly said, before leaning in close and whispering something dirty to Casey that made him blush a deep shade of red.
------
Arriving at Logan's car, Veronica realised that Yolanda's 'trashed' comment was an understatement. The SUV was up on blocks, all four tires and the spare missing, the windshield smashed, window wipers snapped like kindling, and all of the lights were broken.
"One guess as to who did this," Logan said, running a hand through his hair before he kicked at the ground, sending a number of stones against the wreckage of the car.
"I can't believe she went this far!" Veronica growled, her anger bubbling just below the surface. She had taken a stance of anger and Logan had to control himself from kissing her.
"This is the end of it!" Veronica said as she faced the direction of the entrance. She would finally rip Lilly a new one. She hadn't decided what exactly she'd rip, but she figured Lilly would miss her mouth a lot.
"Wow, slow down there Ronnie, we don't know for sure if it was her," Logan said, taking his cell phone from his pocket and calling triple A.
"Hi, this is Logan Echolls. I need you to collect my car for service…the problem? I had an accident. It's in the Neptune high car park… bright yellow, but that won't be how you'll recognise it. Thanks."
He walked over to Veronica and took her hand in his before leading away from his car.
"They'll be here in twenty, which gives us enough time to come up with some sort of retaliation."
"Revenge," Yolanda said, smirking, "You two would make Bonnie and Clyde jealous!"
Smiling, Veronica dropped her messenger bag at her feet as she sat down on the grass.
"Thanks Yo!"
"Yo?" Yolanda said, laughing softly at the nickname, "I kinda like it."
"See, I told you it would work!" Veronica said, poking Logan, "Now, back to this talk of retaliation. I have an idea of what we could do tomorrow at the car wash."
"Ooh, do tell!" Yolanda smiled, sitting alongside Veronica.
"Well, since we know that Lilly can't get enough attention, how about we do just that?"
"Give her attention?" Logan questioned, sitting on the other side of Veronica, "That's not really revenge then, is it?"
"Who said it was from us…or good attention?" Veronica said, smirking.
"Continue," Yolanda replied, sounding intrigued.
------
The girls left Logan at his car as he waited for AAA to arrive and tow his car, in search of food. They had agreed to meet up at Veronica's that evening to go over the fine details of Veronica's plan of action.
"So, you and Logan seem to be getting on really well."
"Yeah, he's great. We're great."
"Excited about Homecoming?"
"As much as I would be about asking the Kane's to support me at Stanford," Veronica snarked, eyeing the lasagne in front of her.
"What's so wrong with them…beside Lilly being a complete bitch?"
"They own everyone and everything in town. Jake Kane is this computer genius who earns more in one week than my dad could in about five years. His wife Celeste thinks that nothing is good enough for her son – baseball, football, me –"
"You and Duncan?" Yolanda said, disbelieving.
"Yeah, we were together since we were twelve, up until a few days before you got here. It seemed so right, me with Duncan and Lilly with Logan. The student body called us the 'Fab Four.'"
"Lemme guess, it wasn't all that fabulous?"
"You win a prize! Lilly would cheat on Logan with anything that moved, and she did that constantly. And the last couple of weeks before we broke up, me and Duncan were just so disconnected. We barely talked, or spent time with each other. The only times we saw each other was during lunch. Sometimes, it felt like he was ignoring me."
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt. So, if you both were involved with a Kane, then how did you and Logan get together?"
"That was Lilly's doing, as a matter of fact."
"What?"
"Yeah, I know, it shocked me too when I realised that. She had thrown this back-to-school party a week after school had started again. The alcohol poured fast, and someone, Dick I think, shouted out 'Truth or dare!', so we all agreed to play and got into a circle, me beside Duncan, Lilly and Logan across from us. Dick and Madison were to my right, Casey and Shelley were beside them, and Cole and Meg were between Duncan and Lilly."
"Sounds…delightful," Yolanda said sarcastically as she ordered up a plate of French fries and ketchup.
"You got it. So, Lilly of course went first and chose dare, so Dick dared her to do a sexy strip. Being Lilly, she accepted the offer, and stripped to her bathing suit, much to Logan's jealous streak. He grabbed a bottle of vodka from the couch and started doing shots. The game kept going on and on, Logan getting drunker and drunker, when it came to my turn. Not yet drunk enough, I choose truth."
The girls paid for their food and returned to their table. Yolanda motioned for Veronica to continue her story, and she did.
"Lilly knew that I liked Logan, had for a while at this point. She knew that I wouldn't do anything about, because I was with Duncan and I would never cheat. Anyways, Lilly asked who, besides Duncan, did I like. I sheepishly answered and then blushed as Logan started to stare at me."
"The game fizzled out and the others went outside to go skinny dipping, which of course Lilly suggested, leaving me, Duncan and a very drunk Logan sitting on the floor."
"Awkward much," Yolanda said, laughing.
"Yeah, it really was. Duncan said he was going to get a beer and left me with Logan, even though he had heard my revelation. I felt really out-of-place, and nervous. Logan was still doing shots but his eyes just had not left me since the game. He crawled over to me and just started talking to me about Lilly. He was complaining that he knew she was cheating on him again. I was a friend and took his hand in mine to give him comfort."
"You're kind of like a marshmallow, you know that, right?" Yolanda interrupted, taking her bottle out of her hands and taking a couple of sips.
"I've been told that before. Maybe it is true."
"I really think there's no 'maybe' about it, V. Now back to your story."
"Right, so I was holding Logan's hand. He kind of got to his feet, and wobbling some, he lifted me to my feet and placed my hands around his neck as his hands went to my hips. I could feel his breath on my face, and saw the seriousness in his eyes and I was thrown. I started asking all these questions like did he like me like I liked him? Of course, these were in my head. And it happened in slow motion, I think. He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. My breath was caught in my throat. My dreams were coming true. As soon as his lips left mine, they had returned with a lot more passion. And we just stood there, in the Kane poolhouse, kissing."
"Wow, that's kinda romantic."
"Yeah, it really was. Until we heard someone running. We had just broken apart when Duncan returned with a beer in one hand and a rum and coke in the other. Logan wandered outside and there was this splash. He'd jumped into the deep end of the pool. And I felt sick as Duncan asked me what was up with him. I lied and said it was Lilly."
"That's all he said?"
"Yeah."
"He didn't ask why you were bright red or why you were being distant?"
"I don't think he even noticed any of that!"
"Wow," Yolanda said, shocked, "Wonder what was up with him then."
"You're not the only one…"
The girls were quiet as they feasted on their lunches. A few minutes later Logan returned, stealing a few fries from Yolanda's plate in the process. Kissing Veronica's forehead, he sat beside her on the bench.
"So, about this plot of revenge you were brewing?"