DISCO NIGHTS !
CHAPTER ONE
MAEVE'S WORST NIGHTMARE

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"MORNING, GRANDMA!" MAEVE enthusiastically called as she hurriedly picked up an apple from the fruit bowl in the centre of the kitchen table.

Marjorie stuck her head out from around the corner at the voice, body following right after the movement as she shot a small smile towards her granddaughter, hands on her hips. "Good morning, sweetie. What's got you in such a rush?"

Maeve huffed a small chuckle as she picked up her backpack from its position lying right outside her bedroom door, loosely slinging it over one of her shoulders. "I can't be late for school, that's all."

"Ah, right, that should've been my first guess." Marjorie huffed a light chuckle at her granddaughter's rushed actions, eyes following Maeve as she watched her granddaughter practically sprint to the front door.

"Come past the diner after school for free coffee and fries, Margie!" Maeve called out, using the affectionate nickname that she bestowed upon her beloved grandmother from childhood—which seemed to have quickly spread across town as soon as it formed, thanks to Miss Patty—, as she swung the door open and began to run outside.

It was a blessing that Maeve and Marjorie lived so close to the school and the diner; their house's convenient location truly saved Maeve from being late to both school and work way too many times for Maeve to count on one hand.

Marjorie laughed, this time a little louder, as she approached the door, remaining at the doorway as she amusedly and comfortably crossed her arms over her chest. "Still trying to negotiate a good deal for me with Mr Grumpy?"

Maeve turned on her heels to face her grandmother again as she continued walking backwards, shrugging and throwing her hands up in the air as she answered, a little out of breath from the haste of her own movements. "I really think I'm getting closer to convincing him every day."

"The day that Luke Danes willingly gives anybody free food or free coffee is the day that pigs fly, honey." A smile spread across Marjorie's face, Maeve raising her eyebrows at the jest.

Maeve was truly amazed by Marjorie and Luke's close-knit friendship. When she was old enough to first comprehend the idea of friendship and personalities as concepts, Maeve was utterly stunned that someone as open and friendly as Marjorie could be, essentially, best friends with someone as closed off and reserved as Luke Danes.

The juxtaposition between the pair was honestly remarkable, a dynamic that was incredibly fascinating to the rest of Stars Hollow. No one could conceptualise that the lovely and honest Marjorie Kelley was like a guardian angel to the aggressive, and consistently abrupt, Luke Danes.

Luke seemed to have a soft spot for Marjorie, and Maeve came to learn that it was because Marjorie had always taken care of him when they were younger. If Luke ever needed anything at all, he always went to Marjorie. This gratitude seemed to manifest in, not only a deep respect and appreciation for the woman herself, but more importantly, taking care of Maeve.

He was the first to set her up with a job for life at his diner, and he had even been there for her whenever she needed a shoulder to cry on—that wasn't Marjorie, Delaney, or any one of her other friends, of course.

"Well, let's just hope that happens within the next..." Maeve, still walking backwards to the sidewalk, briefly glanced down at the small watch that Marjorie passed down to her a few years ago on her wrist before returning her eyes to her grandmother. "Six hours. Gotta go, love you, Margie!"

Marjorie pleasantly laughed again, a sound that Maeve could listen to all day, and sent her granddaughter a wider smile as she waved. "Have a great day, sweetie. I love you too."

Maeve grinned, returning the gesture as she turned on her heels and began to sprint as fast as she could towards Stars Hollow High.

•

"M, wait up!" A familiar voice called from behind Maeve, who was now approaching her locker, the girl whipping around to face whoever had called her, although she certainly knew who it was already.

There, Delaney Jones stood—well, ran towards her best friend—long, dark hair brushing past her face and highlighting her soft facial features, which were now graced with a wide, pearly-white smile, dark, tawny eyes glistening with excitement.

Catching up to Maeve, Delaney huffed out a panting breath, strawberry lipgloss tinting her lips a sparkling, crimson cherry-coloured shade. "I ran for, like, five minutes trying to catch up to you. God, I forgot how fast you run. And don't even get me started on how quickly you walk."

Maeve just released an amused laugh as she opened her locker and began to put her backpack inside, briefly reverting her eyes between Delaney and her locker as she did so. "I grew up with Margie. If you didn't catch up, you got left behind."

A faux frown appeared on Delaney's face as her head slightly tilted to the side. "You'd think I'd be used to that by now."

"Quite frankly, I'm surprised you're not." Maeve shot the girl a pointed, raised-eyebrows look before closing her locker door once she took her books out for her following classes.

A brief, non-awkward silence passed between the pair before Delaney clicked her tongue, the girls beginning to walk to their first class of the day. "So, which movie are we watching tonight?"

As soon as Maeve opened her mouth to reply, Delaney quickly rose her finger up and pointed at her best friend, cutting her off before she could attempt to utter out a single word. "If you say 'Pretty in Pink' again, I will be forced to cut you off. I hate to say it, Maeve, but I just can't watch that movie for the second night in a row."

"Hey, don't knock the John Hughes classic that is 'Pretty in Pink'. Besides, you really can't go wrong with Molly Ringwald." Maeve shot the girl a little frown before her faux-offended exterior faltered after a few seconds, and she released a small huff that resembled a minor chuckle. "And I was actually going to suggest 'Heathers'."

"Ooo, I love Winona Ryder." Delaney widened her eyes in interest as her eyes flickered to Maeve. "And you have a weird obsession with teen rom-coms, by the way..."

"Yeah, because they're cheesy and sappy, and I just happen to like cheesy and sappy." Maeve simply shrugged, defending her, clearly refined, taste in films. "Do not get me wrong though, I am thoroughly obsessed with horror movies, and a bunch of other genres too. 'The Shining', 'Beetlejuice', 'The Lost-"

"Okay, M, I get your point." Delaney cut her best friend off mid-sentence, eyes momentarily widening as she interrupted Maeve, yet again. "I'm well aware of your incredibly varied taste in movies, television, and pop-culture, and I have been since we were practically born."

Maeve just nodded in acknowledgment of Delaney's argument. "I'm just saying, sign me up for anything."

Delaney huffed an entertained chuckle in response. "Got it."

Another brief silence fell between the girls before Delaney's voice arose yet again, furrowing her eyebrows as she sent Maeve a brief, inquisitive expression. "Hey, are you working after school?"

"I am." Maeve returned the look. "Why?"

"So, I can come with and sit at the counter the whole time?" Delaney's eyebrows quirked upwards as a tight-lipped, optimistic smile widely painted across her face.

A devious smirk crept onto Maeve's lips as her eyes glinted in amusement. "Effectively pissing off Luke for hours? Absolutely."

•

Maeve and Delaney entered Luke's Diner, eagerly gossiping amongst themselves and occasionally casting their eyes between each other and the building in front of them—to primarily avoid bumping into anything—, the small, rusty golden bell on top of the door chiming softly above them to signify their entrance.

Maeve began to walk backwards towards the counter, essentially knowing the diner like the back of her hand by now, while still in deep conversation with Delaney.

The pair had momentarily stopped by Maeve's house to drop off their backpacks, practically slumping them at the front entrance as soon as they opened the door, but hastily leaving as soon as they could, in order for Maeve to arrive early for work.

As Maeve found her way around the counter, she briefly stuck her head around the corner of the entrance to the kitchen to greet Caesar, the girl shooting him a kind smile as she slightly waved. "Hey, Caesar. I'm clocking in."

Caesar sent the girl a polite nod in response as he continued his task of cooking several burger patties on one of the large grills that were strategically placed around the diner's kitchen. "Hi, Maeve. Nice to see you, how was school?"

Before Maeve could answer, an unnerving, familiar voice boomed from one of the seats at the counter. "Excuse me, young lady."

Maeve closed her eyes momentarily, letting out a deep sigh as she plastered on a fake, polite smile, attempting to muster up every ounce of tolerance in the form of a faux-peppy facade as she then turned around to face the voice. "Hi, Taylor. How are you?"

"Well, I am just peachy, thank you for asking Maeve." Taylor Doose stuttered out an answer, briefly taken aback at her oddly kind words, as he expected the girl to be ruder to him due to her exasperated reaction and hesitant tone.

Furrowing his eyebrows and scoffing as he suddenly remembered what he was going to scold her about, the man just continued in the condescending tone his previous words adopted—a familiar, patronising one that usually laced all of his remarks in general, which the town were all very much used to by now. "Now, now, it is not safe for you to carelessly walk backwards in such a crowded work environment, Maeve. It is a safety hazard. You could injure yourself or others, you know."

Delaney widened her eyes as she slowly turned her head to share a direct, humoured look with Maeve, who rolled her lips inwards, the girl trying her hardest to remain stoic and not burst into a fit of laughter as she just lowered her head, steadily nodding as if she was deeply moved by Taylor's words.

As if hearing Maeve's internal prayers for this incredibly droning interaction to cease, the diner's bells jingled, and Maeve's head shot up to face the direction in which the sound came from. She swore she had never been more relieved in her entire life to see Luke Danes walk through the entrance to the diner.

What was odd, however, was the young boy—who appeared to be Maeve and Delaney's age—, holding an unnecessarily large, army green-coloured sack of what Maeve assumed was clothes and personal belongings, trailing right behind him.

Short, dark hair swooped back with what was clearly way too much hair gel, light stubble coating a small portion of his chin and the space just above his lips—which wasn't entirely unattractive—the boy was wearing a long-sleeved, camouflage-patterned compression shirt, black, baggy jeans hanging quite low around his waist, and a navy blue vest tying the entire look together, a heavy black watch secured around his left wrist.

The boy's overwhelmed eyes were travelling around the humble diner, ever-so-slowly taking in its pastel-toned interior that entirely resembled a 'small-town diner' in itself—which Maeve eventually convinced Luke, after weeks of incessantly pleading with him, to redecorate all by herself, though the pair ended up sharing the work 40/50, with Marjorie stubbornly stealing 10% of Maeve's workload and Lorelai Gilmore occasionally helping out—and the wide variety of colourful characters sitting at the rustic tables and eating their freshly-made food.

Delaney's eyebrows bewilderingly furrowed in inquiry as she looked at Maeve in search for answers, who just lightly shook her head and shrugged in response, signifying that she, too, had no idea who this stranger was.

The stranger's sceptical eyes finally brushed past Delaney and consequently landed on Maeve, the girl subconsciously, yet unnoticeably, stiffening at the sudden attention and observation from the new guy.

His eyes casted over her in one effectively gradual scan, up and down, although the counter was blocking her bottom half, preventing him from fully taking in her attire and neat appearance.

An adequate amount of black mascara was freshly applied to her long eyelashes, consequently embellishing her sky-blue doe eyes that were entirely filled with curiosity, a faint layer of bubblegum pink lipgloss adorning her, now parted, lips, and her wavy, chestnut brown locks with barely noticeable light, honey blonde highlights draping across her shoulders, accentuating her defined jawline.

Although, despite the fact that he couldn't fully grasp her fashion-sense, from what he had just taken in, he could practically read her like a book already. Pigeonholing Maeve into a tiny, stereotypical box, the boy was entirely self-assured that he knew everything he could possibly need to know about her already.

"Taylor, stop harassing Maeve and get the hell out of my diner." Luke curtly snapped from the doorway as he shot Taylor Doose a glare that could only be attributed to pure hatred.

Taylor's eyebrows deeply creased inwards at Luke, but soon realising that the diner owner was entirely serious from the deadpanned expression he so regularly wore, which was now tinged with a fury only reserved for Taylor Doose himself, stood up and scoffed, pushing past Luke as he grumbled underneath his breath, unsatisfied at the outcome of the situation. "I was just trying to help, but shoot the messenger, that's quite alright, then..."

Delaney intently covered her mouth with her hand as she prevented herself from giggling at the scene, Maeve amusedly smirking in satisfaction, as every single interaction between Luke and Taylor fuelled her daily dose of entertainment.

It was like watching the real-life versions of Jesse Katsopolis and Joey Gladstone on a continual loop.

Rolling his eyes as he slammed the door shut behind Taylor, Luke shook off the urge to punch the man square in his jaw, this feeling not at all new to Luke. It was practically a daily struggle for the man not to give into the temptation to do so, at this point. He redirected his attention to the boy beside him as he spoke up once more. "Well, this is my diner."

"Huh." The boy answered in a sound of unenthused acceptance as his eyes continued their journey in scanning the modest establishment.

"It belonged to your grandpa."

"Hm."

"How did he manage to make the same one syllable sound more unenthusiastic than the previous one?" Delaney murmured behind her hand as she pretended to itch her cheek, leaning closer to Maeve as she sat on one of the seats at the counter right in front of her, Maeve just smirking in agreement at the joke from her position.

"Yep." Luke just nodded once.

Maeve's eyes intently flickered between Luke and the boy, both of them appearing to be as awkward and uncomfortable as the other, Luke's hands shifting their position on his hips every few seconds out of ungainliness, and the boy's eyes casting around everywhere but his uncle.

Coming to the conclusion that Luke probably needed some assistance in the conversational aspect of this current situation, Maeve cleared her throat, purposely catching both of their attentions.

"Oh, that's right!" Luke uncharacteristically widened his eyes and gestured to Maeve and Delaney as he began to quickly make his way to the counter, desperately seeking to reduce the discomfort he was now experiencing, the young boy following after him in a mixture of weariness and boredom. "This is Maeve Davis, and that's Delaney Jones. They're great kids, and they're your age."

Turning to face the girls, Luke continued his introductions. "Maeve, Delaney, this is my nephew, Jess Mariano. Maeve, you remember me telling you about him coming to live with me?"

Maeve's eyebrows slowly raised, the girl shaking her head at Luke as she tried not to make this whole encounter even more awkward than it was; though, that would be pretty hard to beat. "This is the first I'm hearing about it, Luke..."

Luke hesitated for a brief moment before releasing a long sigh. "Oh. Well, Jess will be...living with me for a while."

Maeve just nodded slowly, taking in Luke's abnormality and weirdness, and deciding to push it aside. Never in her whole life had she witnessed Luke act in any manner such as this, and if she was being quite honest, it was starting to scare her.

Delaney politely smiled at Jess, speaking up and catching the group's attention as she sat up in her seat. "Hi, Jess. It's cool to meet a new face."

Also shifting her attention to Jess, Maeve sent the boy a small, friendly smile. "Nice to meet you."

Jess' eyes just slid between the pair, and his face didn't even move a single muscle as he just blankly stared at them.

Maeve slowly raised her eyebrows as she awaited the boy's words, eyes briefly darting to the sides in discomfort as she soon directed them to Luke. Sending the man a tight-lipped smile, Maeve tried her best not to further complicate the conversation; not that it could be classified as a 'conversation' in the slightest. "Well, he's chatty."

Clearing his throat, Luke just gestured between the trio before moving his hands to rest on his hips again. "You three should, uh, be friends. Start a group, or somethin'."

Jess scoffed in immediate refusal at the suggestion.

Maeve simply focused on Luke as she ignored Jess' disconcertingly instant response. "If your nephew can vocalise more than a grunt of acknowledgment, then sure."

Luke just blew out a hopeless breath, momentarily glancing at Delaney, who mouthed a sympathetic "sorry, we tried", the words accompanied by a pitiful shrug.

"Just follow me." Luke referred to Jess as he gave up on trying to socialise his nephew, simply beginning to make his way behind the counter and towards his flat, which was just up the stairs and behind a large curtain further away from the counter, Jess just wordlessly following after him at the command.

As soon as the two were out of eye and ear-shot, Delaney widened her eyes and placed her palms on the counter, leaning forwards for dramatic effect. "Wow. Man, he's hot. I just wish he wasn't a mute so we could actually talk to him in a civilised manner."

Maeve just huffed out a disinterested scoff as she grabbed a rag from the side and began to wipe the counter. "If he is as rude as he was just then all the time, then maybe he isn't the heartthrob you had just gotten your hopes up real high for."

"Maybe he's just insecure?" Delaney slightly tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes in a cringing motion, trying to give Jess the benefit of the doubt before the two could pre-determinedly judge him.

"Well, if he is, he needs to get it in check before he scoffs and rolls his eyes at Miss Patty, and she tells the whole town he's the teenage Michael Corleone." Maeve joked, briefly meeting Delaney's humoured gaze with one of her own, as her best friend giggled at the playful nature of their conversation.

As if on cue, the incredibly reserved boy sauntered down the stairs, carelessly pushing the thin curtain aside and brushing past Maeve, shoving her shoulder with his in the process as he headed towards the diner's exit.

Only slightly turning his head to observe Maeve's reaction while he continued walking, he held in his amused smirk as he watched the girl frustratedly throw her arms out to the sides in a 'what the hell?' motion, hardened eyes boring into the back of the boy's head.

Satisfied that he caused a stir, Jess just turned around to face the front and swung the diner's door wide open, wordlessly leaving without waiting for another moment to pass.

Before Maeve and Delaney could express their dissatisfaction at the new kid's intrusiveness, the sudden sound of crinkling sugar packets from the far end of the counter caught Maeve's attention.

Once she realised what was occurring, the girl just rolled her eyes, approaching where the sound was coming from and slapping Kirk's hand mid-sugar packet reach.

Kirk yelped at the action, yanking his hand out from the cup of sugar packets on the counter and frowning at Maeve in protest. "Ow!"

Maeve just shook her head disapprovingly at him. "You can't keep abusing our complimentary sugar packet policy, Kirk."

"But I need several of them!"

"So, buy them in bulk from Taylor's market." Maeve widened her eyes as a form of warning, matching his complaining tone to convey the silliness of his words and lack of reasoning. "Problem solved."

Kirk just defeatedly slumped down in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest with a pout as he watched Maeve slide the cup to the other side of the counter. "You're so mean..."

Maeve smiled to herself as she redirected her attention back to wiping the counter. "Thanks for the constructive criticism, Kirk, I'll get right on fixing that."

•

AUTHOR'S NOTE
i hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of disco nights! i thought i'd focus more on the dynamics between my characters and the cannon ones, so this was more of an introduction to them.

more coming soon!

© voidvaleska