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English
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Published:
2023-07-22
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1,116
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1/1
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Right Pocket

Summary:

Fred has two phones. Now most girls, if they learned that about their boyfriend, they'd demand to know what the other one was for, why he was keeping secrets, why he was cheating, why she wasn't enough. Daphne though... She didn't care all too much. For one, she and her Freddie had liberated their town and saved the world together. Nothing could break them apart. For another, Daphne trusts him. If Fred needs two phones, then he needs two phones. She's not going to stop him.

---

Or, Fred gets a second cell phone and forgets to tell Daphne why.

Notes:

I just think Fred deserves good parents :(

Work Text:

Fred has two phones. Now most girls, if they learned that about their boyfriend, they'd demand to know what the other one was for, why he was keeping secrets, why he was cheating, why she wasn't enough. Daphne though... She didn't care all too much. For one, she and her Freddie had liberated their town and saved the world together. Nothing could break them apart. For another, Daphne trusts him. If Fred needs two phones, then he needs two phones. She's not going to stop him. And it's not like he's keeping it a secret. He'll text on the new one in front of her just as often as the old. 

So no, she's not concerned. She is, however, curious. Her Freddie forgets sometimes that people—Daphne, usually—can't read his mind. 

"Daph, do you know where I left my soldering iron?" Fred asks. 

Case in point. 

She doesn't hold in her smile when she sees him. His hands and shirt are streaked with grime and he has the pinched look on his face he gets when he's deep in a project. "No, Freddie," she responds, folding over the page she's on (Velma can lecture her about dog-earing later) and closing her book. It's the sequel to the Dusk novel, although in this universe it's called New Moon instead Dusk: Early Evening. It's terrible, by comparison, or maybe it's just as bad and her taste has improved. She definitely wouldn't consider the romance between the main characters in these novels similar to her and Fred anymore. 

Fred passes her on his route to the kitchen, switching on the faucet with his elbow (Daphne's glad that request has stuck) and washing off his hands. 

"What are you working on?" she prompts, turning to watch him. 

"Reinstalling the passenger seat ejection. Don't know how old Fred survived without one." 

She laughs. "It's a real wonder," she teases. She sets aside her book and goes to join him in the kitchen. "You were going to tell me when it was installed right?" 

"Uhhhhhhhh-" Fred is interrupted by his phone ringing in his pocket. 

"Saved by the bell," she jokes. 

Fred keeps washing his hands, content that he's escaped her lecture about rocketing her out of the Mystery Machine. 

His shrill ringtone continues.

She leans against the counter beside him. "Freddie." 

"Huh." He flicks off the water and dries his hands with the dish towel neatly folded over the handle for the oven. Velma must have used the kitchen last. 

"Are you going to answer?"

He cocks his head. "It's the left pocket right?" Shoving the dish towel haphazardly between the oven and its handle. 

She nods. 

He shakes his head, patting his back pocket. "Left phone gets spam calls." 

She follows him as he starts toward the stairs that lead to the second floor. "And right phone…?"

"What about it?" He keeps going up the stairs, but she pauses on the bottom step. 

Daphne holds in a sigh. She knows he's not being difficult, rather that she's not being direct enough. "Why doesn't the phone in your right pocket get spam calls?" 

Freddie brightens at that, turning to face her from the top of the stairs. "Oh, Velma hooked it up. It only gets calls from his number. Neat, right?"

Daphne's heart squeezes a little. She loves him, plain and simple. "Very," she agrees. She thinks about it a beat longer. "Who can call you?"  

"My dad," he answers easily, heading down the right hallway, which leads toward his room. 

Daphne doesn't follow him. Her initial reaction is panic. Why is he communicating with Brad? The last time they talked about their parents and the other people they left behind in the Cove, she, Shaggy, and Fred had agreed that they didn't want contact with anyone back home. Velma keeps in touch with her mom and Hot Dog Water, emailing them regularly, but she is careful to hide that the rest of the gang is with her. Daphne's family is wealthy enough and Freddie's birth parents are determined enough that if Angie Dinkley announced that they're together, they'd be found quickly. 

They've finally gotten settled in just outside Miskatonic University. No one in the gang wants to be on the run. If Freddie is talking to Brad… 

She calms herself quickly though. The only time Freddie's referred to Brad as 'Dad' is when he was planting a bug on him in prep for the heist. 

Fred's only true dad is his namesake: Fred Jones Sr. This universe's principal of Crystal Cove High. 

The thought that Freddie is staying in contact with his dad, even if the mayor doesn't remember being a mayor, let alone Fred's dad, makes her chest fill with emotion. 

She's watched her boyfriend struggle with his dad since they met in kindergarten. Freddie's an open person—it's one of the things she loves about him—but his dad has always been closed off, and tried to encourage Fred to be the same. She wonders every once in a while how much of the mayor's standoffishness came from the worry about being found out as a kidnapper and how much of it was already a part of him. It's a pointless curiosity. It was clear from their only interaction in this universe that so much of his being was influenced by the Evil Entity. 

After the mayor had been arrested, after Fred pulled her back into the gang, Fred hadn't reached out to his dad for a long time. 

It was only until his ‘real’ parents appeared that Fred visited him in prison. 

Now, Fred is reaching out to the mayor and Daphne can’t help but be warmed by that. 

“Found it,” Fred calls from the top of the stairs. He proudly displays his soldering iron to Daphne as he descends toward her. 

Daphne hasn’t moved and she pulls on one of the few clean spots on his shirt, stopping him before he can return to the garage. 

“Freddie,” she starts. She has to be sure. “When you say your dad, you’re talking about the may- the principal, right?” 

He nods, face darkening and mentally, she kicks herself for it. “It’s Mayor Dad,” he confirms quietly. “I don’t want- Brad and Judy, they can’t-”

“I know, Freddie,” she whispers, eyes shining with tears. “I’m sorry.” She sniffles a little. “I’m really glad you’re talking to your real dad though.”

“He doesn’t remember me,” Fred admits.

Daphne reaches out and squeezes his hand. “He will. Maybe not raising you, but who you are. How much he cares about you. He’ll remember that.” 

“Thanks, Daph.” He sounds reassured. 

For good measure, she kisses him on the cheek. “Of course.”