The Anatomy of Cross-Dimensional Pirates (One-shot Collection)

Joyriding At Midnight

"Psst. Hey, Shachi." Penguin whispered to his friend, tugging on the man's ear. "Heeeyyy, wake up." He tried again, poking him in the cheek. Finally, after feeling a sharp pinch on his arm, Shachi woke with a start, but Penguin clapped a hand over his mouth, bringing a finger to his lips for silence.

"Wh-what? What's goin' on?" He yawned sleepily, reaching on the ground beside him for his glasses, putting them on despite it being dark in the room.

"I have an idea." His friend grinned, pulling on his shoes. Shachi frowned, looking around the room to see their captain fast asleep on the bed. This, in itself, was a rare occurrence.

"What are you talking about? And where are you going? Lexi-chan might wake up."

"Nah, she took some of those sleeping pills, and Captain took some too, so they won't be awake for a few hours." Finishing putting on his shoes, he stood, waiting for Shachi to get dressed and do the same. With a sigh, he did, still wondering what it was that Penguin looked so excited for.

Penguin approached the door, turning the knob slowly so it wouldn't be loud. He peeked into the hallway, looking both ways as if Lexi could be anywhere.

"Hey, you still haven't told me what you're up to." Shachi demanded, stopping and crossing his arms, refusing to budge until he knew what was going on. Penguin turned, that excited grin still in place.

"We're going to drive around in Lexi-chan's truck."

"Ok, even though Lexi-chan is totally gonna kill us if she finds out, I've been really curious about how they work."

They'd somehow made it outside of the house without alerting anyone. Well, except for Bepo, but they'd convinced him not to say anything. He was tired anyways. Shachi and Penguin descended the porch, only able to see by the moon's pale rays. The truck was parked on the gravel driveway, sideways to the house.

They'd managed to swipe the keys from the little bowl in the foyer, where Lexi always stashed them after coming home. There were several on the ring, but after seeing her drive a few times, they knew which one belonged to the truck.

Approaching the vehicle, they both stopped in front of the driver's side door, looking between each other expectantly.

"I get to drive first." Penguin said, holding out his hand for the keys but Shachi held on tighter.

"No way, I'm the one who remembered to grab the keys, so I should go first!"

"Baka, I'm the one who came up with the idea! If it wasn't for me we wouldn't be out here doing this."

They argued in heated whispers, both knowing that talking too loud or yelling could wake up the occupants of the house. They were both familiar with how light of a sleeper their Captain could be, even while under the effects of sleeping medication on his worst nights. Bickering for a few minutes about who was going to drive, Shachi finally held out his hand in a fist, prompting Penguin to do the same.

"Rock paper scissors?" He guessed, and Shachi nodded, licking his lips in concentration. He really wanted to see what driving one of these things was like, and he wasn't about to lose to Penguin for that honor.

"Ready? Rock, paper, scissors!" They held out their picks, and Shachi fist pumped the air, his rock being Penguin's scissors.

"Dammit..." His friend muttered, slumping over. "I wanted to drive."

"We can switch later on, but I get to drive first!" Shachi announced, pulling open the door and climbing inside, waiting for Penguin to get in on the passenger side. Pulling the doors shut, they sat in the seats, staring down at the suddenly very complicated-looking dashboard, not quite sure how to start.