Status: One-shot (complete).

Rating: K (G).

Characters: Gus, Shawn, Jessica.

Genre: Friendship, humour.

Beta: Nop. English isn't my first language, so comments are more than welcome.

Disclaimer: Psych doesn't belong to me. Neither do I own "Katamari" – but I love playing it!

Notes: This an oldie I'm rescueing from my harddrive. In fact, it's my first Psych fic ever. I'm not really happy with their voices, but oh well.

AWKWARD MOMENT

Like some many others in the past, at first it looked like a good idea.

The client had called to let us know she'd be a bit late, so we needed to find something to do while waiting.

I still wonder if he did it on purpose. It was his idea, after all.

But at the moment, I couldn't see anything wrong with it. We both had done it before, each one by his own, it was just a matter of time until we shared the experience. An experience which soon became a competition, like it always happen. A competition with some surprising results.

Wow.

I mean, I've always known there was a difference, but this...

Just wow.

"Well... it looks like I win." I tried to hide the surprise in my voice, even when I knew deep inside that I couldn't hide anything from him.

"Really..." He was taking it quite well, I noted; in fact, he was taking it too well. This little change in our usual "competition routine" (a match, an argument, a re-match, another argument, two hours of sitting and looking at the ceiling until the loser finally apologies for accusing the winner of cheating) managed to irritate me a bit.

"Numbers don't lie, Shawn. Mine is bigger." There, I said it. The b-word. I thought it'd get a reaction out of him, but his only answer was raising an eyebrow. I was starting to understand why people thought it was such an annoying habit.

"Ok, which is your excuse this time? Are you sensing "bad vibes"? This isn't what destiny had planned for you?"

"I think..." Perhaps the one sensing bad vibes was me while listening to him. "...I think things not always are what they seem. We need a new perspective."

...He must be kidding me.

"Shawn, you don't even know what perspective is."

"Why can you use long and complicated words and I can't? That's totally unfair, dude."

"Here. Paper and pen. Spell "perspective"."

I watched how he took the pen and, after some thinking-time, he wrote down "Duty of the Spelling Machine, a.k.a. Magic Head, or Just Gus". Without bothering to do something about the smile in my face, I started to say something only to be interrupted by him.

"You're right, Gus." Wait a minute. Did he just...

...Agree with me?

"Perhaps perspective isn't enough. What we need it's a third opinion." With that said, he stood up from his seat next to me and walked to the door to open it. Of course, he wasn't surprised to find someone waiting outside.

It was a young woman, around our age, standing there like a statue. Her eyes were wide open and her hand was up in a fist, it looked like she was about to knock but something stopped her. Oh God, please don't tell me she listened to our conversation...

"Jessica, dear! Long time no see!" I was too shocked to notice the familiar treatment my partner was giving to this unknown girl. "You arrived just in time, my buddy here and me were having a little argument and we need an objective view on the matter. How good are you at measuring and sizes?"

Oh, he just didn't.

"Eh... I... well... Sorry, gotta go." Red as a tomato, the girl turned around and left as quickly as her legs would allow her.

After closing the door, my friend came back to his seat with such a grin plastered on his face that it would have made the Cheshire Cat very proud. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for what he always gets after his little shows: a reaction to his amazing skills. Maybe he forgot he was dealing with me and wouldn't receive a "OMG! How did you...?" from my part. Instead, I concentrated on what my nose was trying to tell me. That scent... and he treated her like he knew her... it couldn't be...

"Jessica? As in my-old-girlfriend-from-school-Jessica?"

"Yep. I received her call yesterday, she wanted our help. Another common case of suspicious-boyfriend."

"And instead of actually helping the girl, you asked her among all the people to give us a hand on our problems?!"

"Mmh, good point. She used to date you so she'd have given you preference. And that isn't objective. Besides, she hated me."

"Is that why you decided to frighten her off?" I rolled my eyes. "Shawn, name at least one girlfriend of mine who didn't hate you." I asked him while I got up to put away all the stuff we previously used.

"Not my fault they were jealous of me. And my hair. What are you doing?"

"Order. I know it's an alien concept for you, but you'll have to live with it."

"Oh, no, you won't."

I turned my head around and glared at him. I could tell he was really amused. "Watch me. If you know me well enough, you must have learned that you can't prevent me from cleaning."

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "I know you well enough to assure that you won't just disconnect the playstation after getting your best score ever."

A moment passed when the only sound you could hear was "Katamari's" catchy music coming out from the tv. I took a look at it, the results were still glowing on the screen. I'd made a really good job, my planet was at least 300 kms larger than his. With all the dignity left in me, I went back to my seat, took the joystick and saved the game.

Obviously, Shawn wouldn't let that pass without commenting on it. "You have a rather simple ego if it gets pumped by things like this."

"What makes you think that my ego "gets pumped by things like this", as you put it?"

"Gus, the only reason you accepted to play was because you knew you are better than me... at least, in this game in particular."

"Does that mean you are too afraid for a another match?"

"...............Bring it on, silly-ego boy."

-The end-


N/A: I guess I own you an explanation, right? Katamari is japanese video game. You are a... well, this funny looking "being" who has the mission to make new stars and planets for the universe. You start with a little plastic-like ball, and have to make it spin around to make things attach to it, from flowers and pencils to people and buildings when you're big enough. It's very fun and absolutely addictive. I dare you to play it and not to spend the rest of the week humming its songs!