There's a strange exhilaration / In such total detestation (scrooge x magica)

[blackmagicduck]

 Magica's fingers strummed on the desk. Without her phone, she was bored as sin. Her long nails made clacking sounds on the desk, echoing in the empty classroom. Once she got her phone back, the school would pay dearly for this. You didn't give detention to Magica De Spell! So what if she was texting in class? It wasn't like she was learning anything important. They should feel privileged she was there.

But nooo, miss whats-her-face actually reported her to the principal, and here she was. She grumbled, glaring at the clock - time moved way too slowly when you were being punished. How could this get any worse?

The door opened, and she straightened up - maybe someone had used their few brain cells and knew to get her out of there. Nope - instead, things did indeed get worse as she saw one of the teachers shoving Scrooge McDuck into the room.

Great. Fantastic. Add to her punishment, why don't you. She rolled her eyes, leaned back into her seat and propped her legs on the desk.

"What did they send you in here for?" She sneered. "Is being a buzzkill a crime now?"

Comments

[blackmagicduck]

She rolled her eyes. "Guys who insult women don't have standards. If I don't squash that, I could be the next target." She sauntered toward the door.

[richestduck]

"...Educated self-interest." Scrooge shrugged. "Can't say I can argue with that."

That was part of why he planned to stay on the straight-and-narrow after all.

[blackmagicduck]

"Don't think you can always protect your widdle sisters from that." She warned. "You act nice to a guy, you're a slut. You turn them down, you're a bitch."

[richestduck]

He snorted. "Thanks for the advice."

Honestly, as if he hadn't figured it out. Matilda was sweet as honey but it also meant she could be downright poison when she set her mind to it. McDuck rage was in her veins, but she was the scariest of the three siblings when she decided to bring the claws out.

[blackmagicduck]

"If you really wanted to thank me, you'd give me your homework." She wasn't going to let that go for a long time. The teacher stood in the hallway, and Magica snatched her phone back. The teacher warned her about "next time", not to use her phone in class, and Magica clearly ignored them to go walk and scroll, walk and scroll.

[richestduck]

"Not a chance," Scrooge groused as he started walking.

Unlike Magica, he didn't have a cellphone. Too expensive though when he moved out, he figured it would be a good regular expense to build his credit up and also to keep in touch with his family.

Speaking of, unlike Magica, there were people waiting for him.

Matilda and Hortense stood at the end of the hallway. Matilda smiled a bit apologetically at her brother while Hortense was already rushing over to ask him for details on how he laid the quarterback out flat.

He couldn't help the fond smile crossing his face, softening his entire demeanor.

[blackmagicduck]

Almost nearing a corner, Magica glanced over at that sickeningly sappy family. If Scrooge allowed it, his sisters would weigh him down like anchors, drowning his dreams before they even began.

... Click.

It was important to keep note of your enemy's movements. So, it was logical to take a picture of Scrooge's (cute) face and then slink away before he noticed. Totally logical.

[richestduck]

Scrooge managed to avoid Magica for several days, and the football team avoided him aside from giving some impotent threat of "YOU BETTER NOT CROSS US OR YOU'LL BE SORRY, NERD". (He was shaking in his knock-offs, really.)

Volunteer work probably wasn't most teens' choice of afterschool activities, but it was a good way to earn a reputation without the expense of clubs. He didn't have a good social reputation, but nobody could argue that he didn't work hard.

So a Saturday spent cleaning up the area near the creek was a good way to both make the area nice and prove that he was more than what people expected. So he'd put on clothes that were a bit too tight in places and an even crappier pair of shoes than normal to go get dirty.

[blackmagicduck]

Except, of course, things were never going to be that easy. Not even five minutes into the job, and he'd hear some familiar whining.

"But it's not FAIR!" Magica was snapping into her phone. "Do something about it! Do you have any idea how hot it is out here? And what if the girls find out? I'll never live it down!" She was storming back and forth over a small bridge over the creek. As usual she was dressy and pretty, and in no way looking as one would to pick up trash.

"Don't you dare hang up on me! Don't you-" But apparently they already had, given Magica's follow-up screech.

[richestduck]

"Ohhhh joooooy," Scrooge muttered as he approached her. "What god did I piss off?"

He walked over to her, trying not to rub his temples.

"Magica, what are you even doing here?"

[blackmagicduck]

Magica froze, her back to him. "Oh, you've got to me kidding me... are you part of my punishment?"

She turned around, ready to bark and bite and him -

Helloooooooo Nurse!

T-Shirts were not supposed to look that good on anybody, and of course a cheapskate like him was wearing something so small and thin and tight that it... showed... off... a lot...

So he really had been hiding a six-pack.

[richestduck]

It probably helped that the material of his shirt was a bit worn. He didn't even think about how it might look on the outside...and why some lady volunteers wanted to work with him rather than their friends.

"Oh great. You're one of those," Scrooge sighed, now rubbing at his temples. He glanced over her. "You're not dressed for this at all. Are those heels?"

[blackmagicduck]

Magica didn't hear anything except the sound of dirty saxophones in her head. What right did a lower-class dork have to be so ripped? She was so struck by his body that her own body forgot what it was doing...

... Until she heard a "splash" from below.

"My phone!" She yelped, running to the side, and groaning at the sight of it in the creek. "Oh, gross!"

[richestduck]

He'd been about to start waving in her face to see if he could get a response when her phone went into the creek. He watched it sink to the bottom before he sighed and started removing his shirt without thinking.

If he was going to go retrieve the stupid thing, he didn't want to be completely soaked.

[blackmagicduck]

"Great." She ran a hand down her face. "Now dad's going to think I did on purpose, I'll never hear the end of-"

AND HE WAS STRIPPING.

Why. Why. Why why why hello hello hello. She stared, eyes nearly bulging out of her head. You could grate cheese on those abs. "W-what are you...?"

[richestduck]

"You want your phone back, don't you? I'd rather not be working in a wet T-shirt after this."

He also removed his shoes, not wanting to have the awful squelching. (He would've gone barefoot but he hadn't wanted to step on a rusty nail in all the garbage.) Rolling up his pant legs, he vaulted over the side of the bridge and dropped down into the creek with a splash. His pants got a little wet, but his chest definitely would've taken a direct hit given how he'd bent his knees to land and had bent over his knees in the process.

He then reached down into the water to retrieve the phone, picking it up and giving it a shake to try and get some of the water out.

"Might want to put it in a bag of rice for a few days to make sure it dries out, but it should be all right."

[blackmagicduck]

... Maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all. She leaned over the bridge - not intending to help at all - as she watched him. It really wasn't fair. If he wasn't born so low on the social ladder, he'd totally be her type.

He seemed to be more focused on the phone than on her, which was a relief as she was licking her lips at the nice view. Would she get away with it if she dropped something like that again later?

"Rice. Yeah. Sure. Good. I'll get on that." Woof woof.

[richestduck]

Scrooge looked up at her, pocketing her phone for a moment, before holding out his hands. "Toss me down my shoes. I'll need them back on shore."

His shirt he could get in a minute.

[blackmagicduck]

His shirt he could get in a lot of minutes, for all she cared.

It took her a moment to realize what he was demanding, and for once she didn't complain. She grabbed both shoes and dropped them down. "Bon voyage."

[richestduck]

He caught them easily. "Thank you!"

He then waded over to the shore and put on his first shoe to step on shore with. Then he balanced on one foot to shoe the other one and start walking back to her.

He pulled her phone out of his pocket and held it out to her. "Here. Lucky for you, it didn't land on its screen. Be a little more careful next time."

[blackmagicduck]

Magica glanced down at her phone, then him, then back at the phone.

He clearly didn't have one, so maybe he didn't know how they worked.

"Let me make sure it still works." She said as she took it, holding it up as if to inspect it.

Click.

"Hm. I suppose it does."

Definitely saving that for a lonely cold night.

[richestduck]

Scrooge might not have had a phone, but his father had one...albeit it was a basic flip phone. It still had a camera though.

She was probably going to delete that photo anyway. He turned away to walk over to his shirt and pick it up to put it back on.

"You're not really dressed for being outside. You're gonna get filthy."

[blackmagicduck]

She tucked her phone back in her pocket. "I didn't expect to stay." She huffed, going back into her usual antics.

"I thought I'd just make an appearance, then pay off some of these idiots to say I was here, but they were all so uncooperative!" Their fault, clearly.

[richestduck]

"Yes, how dare people expect anyone who shows up to work," Scrooge said with a roll of his eyes.

He tapped his foot. If she worked in the weeds with those heels, she was liable to hurt herself.

"I'll work in the weeds while you get what's along the path. That's more or less even and less chance of you twisting your ankle."

[blackmagicduck]

"How clumsy so you think I am?" She sniffed. She didn't need his help! ... Aside from getting her phone.

"What about you?" She shot back. "Did you beat up anymore jocks to earn your place on the chain gang?" She assumed he was here as punishment not as a volunteer.