happilyeverbeginning | he's down on his luck / he's down on his knees (scrooge x poe)

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he's down on his luck / he's down on his knees (scrooge x poe)

This hadn't been the best plan, but for Poe De Spell, it was the only plan he had. He'd lost track of how long it'd been since that fateful day he ran away in the middle of the night, in a desperate escape to get away from his parent's clutches. The arranged marriage had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

What a sight he must be now, he mused. The high-class fashion he was once so proud of was basically in tatters. He had long since run out of the money he could use - he didn't bring his credit cards, that would have made for easy tracking. Anything he had managed to take had now been sold just so he could eat and maybe find a roof to sleep under, but even that wasn't made to be forever.

Where did one find work when your grades were bribed to As? Who did you trust, when his parents had a bounty on his head?

He did keep his phone, but it was off. If he turned it on, his parents would find him. But it was a last chance deal - if truly all else failed, he'd use it. He prayed it never came to that. Even if it meant selling the last thing he had - himself.

He sat on the side of the road, ignoring his stomach growling for the umpteenth time, eyes distant and not really staring at anything.

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"... I don't suppose you know anyone who could hire someone who's no good at anything?" He couldn't believe it. He was asking Scrooge McDuck for help. Practically begging.

"You're exaggerating." Scrooge gave a sigh. "Besides, you and I are in the same boat now: looking for work with high school diplomas but no college degrees."

"At least your diplomas is legitimate." Poe sighed. "Do you have any idea how many teachers my parents bribed to make sure I had straight As?"

Scrooge glanced at him. "You know you would've gotten those grades yourself if you'd applied yourself. It's not like you've nothing between your ears."

When they'd been partnered up for that first English assignment, Scrooge hadn't let Poe just slack off. He'd made sure the lazy, pampered rich boy had done his full share of the work.

"I don't even know what I earned!" Poe snapped back. "I wasn't allowed to even have a B! Anything less than perfection would have gotten me a smack across the face and..."

Oh, what was even the point? Poe rubbed his face. Argument wasn't going to solve matters.

"... Thanks. I think."

"We got a legitimate A on it. I know this because that's what I got on my half."

Honestly, the teacher had written a note on Scrooge's copy of their grade saying he'd been shocked that Scrooge had managed to get Poe to apply himself.

"Regardless, my point still stands. We're most eligible for grunt work based on the lack of degrees, but there's the possibility of finding somewhere to work our way up to something that pays better. Even if it is starting off on the night shift washing dishes."

"Something is better than nothing... I'd be grateful for anything at this point." No matter how low he had to go.

Still... being praised and encouraged by Scrooge was... weird.

"... Why are you helping me?"

"Because you're actually trying for once in your bloody life," Scrooge stated bluntly. "You could've lived the life your parents had planned out for you, just coasted through on your money and good looks. Hell, your planned wife probably wouldn't have minded you having lovers on the side because she would've been doing the same.

"Yet here you are: On your own, struggling to make your own way. I can respect that and want to see you succeed at it."

Poe blinked slowly. This wasn't really fitting with the narrative he'd built up in his own head. He fumbled for words before finally choosing them.

"But I... Magica and I made your life hell!" Scrooge had been their favorite victim for several reasons. "We were always mocking you and bullying you! An hour ago, if someone had asked me what you'd do me with a car, I'd have said you'd run me over, not offer a ride."

It just made no sense. "Don't you hate me?"

"What pissed me off in school wasn't the teasing and all of that. Yes, you were annoying and did everything you could to get my blood up, but honestly? That didn't matter. You insulted me and tried to make me feel like I'd die in a ditch with only my fleas to mourn me. So what? Almost everybody at Duckburg High did that. Besides, at least you two had limits. You made me the target, not Hortense and certainly not Matilda. And when those rumors spread about Matilda, I saw you two trying to shut down one of the rumormongers.

"What bothered me about you and Magica was how you two were lazy yet so wealthy. I was working two jobs while going to school full time, hardly got any sleep, and had to swallow my pride on multiple occasions, but I was still fishing through the garbage for bottles of fancy nail polish to have something nice to give my sisters. Nail polish your sister threw away just because she suddenly decided she didn't like the color." Scrooge's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Magica even told me during one bout of detention that she planned to marry richer than she already was. If she even bothered going to college, probably would've been for husband hunting. Meanwhile all I managed to save up from what didn't go into keeping my family afloat was to get a cellphone, a cell plan, and to get this old junker running again."

As if on cue, they hit a small bump in the road. Scrooge grimaced as the engine rattled a bit. Then he growled as the radio came on of its own volition. He removed one hand from the steering wheel to bang on the dash and stop the radio.

A long stretch of silence followed that. Poe wasn't really sure how to feel about what had been said. It was all true, yes, even the part about stopping the verbal assault on Matilda. To Poe, at least, it seemed like kicking a puppy. No fun to be found there.

"She did it on purpose," Poe finally said, looking away again. "The nail polish thing."

All right, so he was ratting his sister out - but she probably hated him for abandoning her anyway. It wasn't like he could make things worse between them.

"Not to bug you... well. Yeah, probably to bug you. But also so you would give it to your sisters."

Scrooge's eyes widening in surprise was the only outward sign of his shock at that revelation. Magica had always made fun of him digging through the garbage. To know that she did that deliberately just so his sisters would have something nice for once...

He opened his mouth to say that apparently he owed Magica some long-overdue thanks, but stopped as he heard a sound from the engine compartment. He swore in Scots-Gaelic as he pulled over to the side of the road, the string of curses continuing even as he shut off the engine, hopped out, and popped the hood. He stepped back as steam rose from the engine compartment, his swearing increasing in volume. Poe would probably see the beginnings of frustrated tears, but Scrooge held them in. No. He was not going to break down and cry over the goddamn radiator. Especially not now that he'd have a witness to the lapse.

Edited 2021-04-29 20:04 (UTC)

Great. It was like Poe was a bad luck magnet. He rubbed his arm, feeling awkward and helpless. Maybe if Scrooge had kept driving without him, he could have gone farther without it breaking down?

He bit his lip. Maybe... if they only used it for a few minutes... he could use his phone to get some help. There was a chance his parents could still find him and yank him back - but he had to do something to earn this ride.

"... Is there... someone, or some place, I can call?" He quietly asked.

"No. And I've got a phone, remember?" Scrooge groaned. He glanced up at the sky. "I knew I should've stopped farther back, but I was making such good time..."

He sighed and moved to the passenger side, away from the road. He leaned against the truck and closed his eyes.

"It's the blasted radiator thermometer. Since it doesn't register that the engine's overheating, the radiator keeps acting like we're going at idle speed. It's blasted expensive, and I don't have the money for it right now. Usually I try to keep an eye on how long I've been driving for and make stops. I should've stopped about an hour back and let the engine cool down a bit."

Though who knows what would've happened to Poe in that time?

"We're probably gonna have to spend the night in the truck."

Nothing new for him, but with a passenger...well, forget stretching across the bench seat that was his normal bed.

"Ah, right." His mind was still fixed on Scrooge being poor that the idea of him having a phone just didn't really register. From the looks of things, they were too far away from a walk to a hotel.

Poe looked around in his seat. "So, where does the bed fold out in this thing?"

... You can take the brat out of spoiled brat, but spoiled still remained.

Scrooge actually barked a laugh at that. "This is an old pickup truck, not a semi-truck: You want a bed, you sleep across the bench seat in the cab or in the truck bed."

"... Seriously?" He turned around, trying to see the truck bed. "Please tell me you at least have a pillow!"

"Usually just fold up the blanket if it's hot out or use my arm when it's cold. And I sleep in the cab, but there's not enough for both of us to lie down on the bench seat without one of us landing on the gear shifter."

"Uuuughhhh." Poe groaned, sliding down his seat. Life seemed to be enjoying kicking Poe along.

"... Well. We need you to drive, so you take wherever's... easier to sleep in." Poe genuinely couldn't tell which was where.

"I've slept sitting up in the cab before. It's fine."

Though Poe was going to be uncomfortable. Then again, he could nap on the drive.

"Then I'm out on the truck bed." Poe guessed, undoing his seat belt.

"Still, this is night is going better than I thought it would." Better to be on a cold truck bed than under some ugly stranger's body.

"There's enough space in the seat if we sit up. Besides, you can nap against the window tomorrow while we drive," Scrooge stated bluntly. "No reason to make you sleep in the truck bed."

"... What?" Was Scrooge suggesting what it sounded like? "Won't it be... Uncomfortable?" To put it mildly.

"A bit, but it's more comfortable than in the truck bed."

He pointed through the back window to the view of the truck bed. The ridges would make for one very, very uncomfortable night.

"I've got a much higher tolerance for pain, but even I wouldn't want to do that."

Yes, Scrooge was serious. Poe was baffled - Scrooge was either a saint or had some marbles missing. Still... again, best not to argue the point.

"... I should warn you. I'm a cuddler." Said without a lick of shame. "So if we wake up in a weird position, I promise you it means nothing."

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