Disclaimer: I do not own Psych or any of the name brands, characters, or places used in this fiction.
This is my first fanfiction ever. Please enjoy and comment/review. Thanks!
Two can play at that game
"Come on Jules, it'll be fun!"
A wisp of hair dropped down from behind the blond detective's ear, mimicking her exasperation with the two men standing at her desk.
"Shawn I told you, it's just not my thing okay. Now can you guys please find something else to do? I'm a little busy here." She continued furiously typing on her desktop keyboard, trying desperately to get through the remainder of the week's paper work. It had been a busy week and all of her administrative work had, as usual, been pushed until the last minute on Friday. A handful of case reports piled high on her desk and a collection of pencils and papers littered any free spaces not otherwise taken by her empty coffee cup and muffin wrappers. Two or three forgotten pencils poked out of the bun in her hair which was beginning to fall apart.
Gus chimed in helpfully. "Juliet, Scare-Fest is a time honored tradition. We go every year! Of course, I usually purchase the tickets, but it was Shawn's turn and he accidentally got three instead of two."
"Gus, I told you, it's not my fault. My phone got temperamental and all auto-correcty," Shawn waved his iPhone, complete with green Psych cover, at Gus's face.
"I still don't understand why you couldn't use your computer to order the tickets." Gus retorted, rolling his eyes.
"Because my reminder popped up on my phone when I was in line at Jamba Juice and I didn't have my computer in front of me," Shawn said matter-of-factly. "Torn between Scare-Fest tickets and an Aloha Pineapple smoothie, I made the best choice of action!"
"Shawn, you could have called me. I was at the office…"
"How was I going to… Oh yea, I did have my phone…"
"Enough!" Juliet threw her hands in the air and stared at both of them in turn. "You guys, seriously, I have a lot of paperwork to do. Can you at least go sit somewhere else if you're going to hang out at the station?" They both donned sheepish grins like grade-schoolers caught in the hallway during classes and stepped away from her desk a few feet. Juliet sighed a moment of relief and went back to her case files. She picked up another pencil, made a notation in the file, and stuck the pencil in her hair with the others to be forgotten.
"Dude, don't worry, she'll say yes," Shawn whispered with complete confidence. "We'll just hang out until she's done with her paperwork and ask again."
"Fine, but I'm going to go hit the vending machine for a snack, you want anything?" Gus replied, his feet already beginning to move in that direction.
"Oo! Get me a bag of Bugles," Shawn chose excitedly.
"You know that's right…" Gus nodded approvingly as he walked away.
Shawn settled himself in a chair caddy-corner to Juliet's desk. From his vantage point, he was able to watch as the young detective feverishly scribbled on her files, stopping occasionally to form a thought. She would screw up her face looking up and to the side as she searched for the correct word, and this made Shawn smirk. She is so adorable…
As she typed, Shawn's smirks caught her eye and made her look his way. She blinked a few times and turned back to her work. She tried to fight back a smile – sort of successfully – and a blush – very unsuccessfully. His smirk widened to a full grin. She closed her eyes for a second and breathed deeply. Why is he just looking at me like that? Come on O'Hara… just focus… She decided some filing of what finished paperwork she had was in order. She grabbed the smaller stack of finished case files and strode off toward the stairs.
"Where you going?" Shawn's voice followed her steps as he sidled up beside her.
"To file these," she answered concisely.
"Why?"
"Because they are files, Shawn. That's what you do with finished files. You file them."
"So you're finished then?"
"No. I still have a few to do." They descended the stairs together and turned the corner to the filing cabinets.
Shawn rolled around the corner fluidly to put his back against the wall and face her as she opened the top drawer of the filing cabinet. "So… about that Scare-Fest ticket…" He offered casually. "Why are you so against going with us?"
"Because, Shawn, unlike you two, I don't like to pay to get the wits scared out of me. Why would people like that?" She thumbed through the folders, and found the spot for the first file.
"Well you don't have to pay; Gus already paid." He retorted.
"I thought Gus said you got the tickets…"
"Yea, but it was his credit card, so teeeeechhnically…" He juggled his hands back and forth, shrugging.
"Shawn…" Juliet sighed as she placed the second file in its spot.
"Anyway, come on Jules, getting the beans scared out of you is fun! It's exciting and makes you know you're alive!"
"By being startled by a puppet on a string or a rubber spider? That's not scary… that flustering…there's a difference."
Shawn seemed amused by her distinction. "How so?"
She explained as she closed the top drawer and opened the one beneath it, continuing her search. "Scary is something that sticks with you. It's like the difference between a psychologically scary movie and one where the bad guy jumps out at you for cheap scares. Those types of places will try to fluster you by making things jump out at you, not really scare you." She dropped the third and final file into the drawer.
"So you'd rather be scared than flustered? But you like being flustered!" Shawn said with a mischievous grin.
Juliet opened her mouth to answer, and then closed it again, obviously stumped. "I… um… what?"
Shawn deftly closed the drawer that she had left open with his hip and moved around the dumbfounded detective, breathing very slowly and looking deep into her eyes. She backed into the file cabinet and blinked frantically trying to steady her breath. "Shawn what are you doing?" Another lock of golden hair fell out of her bun and down the side of her face.
"Proving my point…" He whispered huskily.
"What point is that?" She could barely manage a whisper in response; he was so close to her. "Need I remind you that you've pulled this trick already… Very-close-talking got you nowhere before…"
He edged closer. "What if I said I'm not just very-close-talking this time?" He tucked the escaped strands behind her ear gently.
Juliet held her breath and did her best to keep her composure. "Shawn…"
He chuckled and stood back up straight. "See, you enjoy be flustered…" He grinned and leaned back against the table behind him, crossing his arms across his chest triumphantly.
Juliet glared at him for a moment then an impish smile played at the corners of her mouth and she cocked an eye brow. Oh yea? Two can play at that game. "What if I said you're right? What if I do like being flustered by you?"
Shawn's triumphant grin fell as his jaw dropped open slightly. "Wha…"
Juliet pulled the pencils out of her hair and each strand cascaded over her shoulders. Setting the pencils on the filing cabinet, she slowly took one tiny step toward the never-before silenced Shawn Spencer. "What if I said I do like it?" Another step. "That I like you." A third step. "That I want you." Juliet's final step brought her inches from Shawn's face and his balance faltered. He fell back, sitting on the table and catching his balance by propping himself up on his arms. She brushed her hair back temptingly and leaned in closer to his face, her voice a breathy whisper. "What if I said you aren't the only one… who's good… at…" she fluttered her eyelids for a second as if she was going to close them. Shawn gulped audibly and his eyes shut unconsciously. He felt her breath on his lips whisper "Very… Close… Talking." The last word didn't have the same breathy allure to it, but a victorious smirking sound.
Shawn's eyes shot open and there he sat, lips pursed awkwardly and leaning back on a table as Juliet O'Hara ascended the stairs in front of him. She flipped her hair and a cocky smile over her shoulder at his shocked expression as she disappeared past the banister.
He released the breath that he didn't know he was holding. He unfroze himself from his stunned position, running his fingers through his hair. "Woah…" He had never been more attracted to Juliet than at that very moment.
"Where'd Shawn go?" Gus greeted Juliet holding 4 bags of Bugles, 2 Kit-Kat Bars, 2 Dr. Peppers, and a bag of Swedish Fish in his arms.
"I think he's downstairs." Juliet laughed quietly to herself. She was on a slight confidence high from flustering Shawn so well. She sat herself down and began typing away happily.
Gus looked at her quizzically than shrugged. He plopped down in a chair across from Juliet's desk and laid his treats on the chair next to him, popping open a Dr. Pepper. Shawn's steps came clomping down the hall from the stairs. He had one pencil tucked behind his ear and few more in his shirt pocket. He looked a little off kilter but was attempting an air of nonchalance. "Hey Buddy, what'd you find?"
Gus gestured to his chair of spoils and toasted his Dr. Pepper in Shawn's direction. Shawn joined him in the chair he had previously vacated, snatched up a bag of Bugles, and munched on them absently. Juliet typed away on her keyboard, keeping her eyes on her computer screen and smiling self-confidently. Shawn watched her as he munched. How did she do that? I've never seen her actually flirt back like that! Was it just flirting? Oh come on, not with those eyes. Or… well whatever, she's not going to get the better of me again. Two can play at that game… He crunched down on another Bugle with authority. Juliet raised an eyebrow in his direction with a stony stare and he stopped chewing on his loud, crunchy snack. He quietly put down the Bugles – as quietly as one can put down a snack bag – and began munching on the much quieter Swedish Fish. Gus looked from Juliet to Shawn and back again with obvious confusion.
"O'Hara, how are those case files coming?" Chief Vick's voice rang out from the door to her office.
"Not too shabby, Chief. Almost finished." Juliet's response sounded chipper and not normally the voice of someone doing paperwork on a Friday afternoon.
"Are you feeling okay, O'Hara?" The Chief smiled questioningly at the junior detective.
"I'm great, Chief. Just having a good day, how are you?" Juliet smiled in return. Shawn gnawed the head off of another Swedish Fish.
"Mr. Guster. Mr. Spencer. Fancy seeing you here when there are no active cases for you to work on." Chief Vick greeted the two snack hoarders taking residence in her police station.
"Well Chief, my psychic signals were feeling a bit… flustered…" He glanced sidelong at Juliet to catch her smile as she didn't look away from her screen. "…back at the 'ol Psych office, so I assumed that meant there could be something happening her at the 'ol S. B. P. D."
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you Mr. Spencer, but it's been a pretty quiet afternoon. We don't have anything for you, or else we would have called you. As you know." The Chief sounded like she was trying very hard to be patient with her two favorite outside hires.
"We're sorry to drop by unannounced, Chief Vick," Gus offered, "but we had an extra ticket to Scare-Fest this weekend and we were offering it to Detective O'Hara here."
Chief Vick chuckled softly. "I don't believe you two know any other way to come around the police station but unannounced, Mr. Guster…"
"Oh con-trey-ry, Chief Vick-" Shawn began to respond.
"It's au contraire, Shawn." Gus corrected.
"I've heard it both ways."
"No you haven't."
"Chief, we've arrived at your request, Lassie's request, the lovely Detective O'Hara's request, under duress, when stressed…" Shawn nodded to Gus.
"To address. With a guest…" He nodded back.
"In jest. With zest. On a quest…"
"To protest, impress, and assess."
"Whaaat?" They shared a fist bump.
Chief Vick raised her hand to stop any further rhyming. "Gentlemen. Just… don't bother my detectives while they finish their work."
"Right-o, Chief. Oh, while you're here. Would you like a Swedish Fish?" Shawn offered the Chief his half eaten bag of candies. "They're sweet." He paused and nodded to the side in thought. "…ish." The Chief rolled her eyes and chuckled as she walked back to her office. Shawn turned to Gus. "But never with the Psych-Signal…" He sighed dejected. Gus nodded, "Psht, that's messed up…"
About fourty minutes later, Juliet shut the folder of her last case file with a sigh of relief. She closed her eyes and stretched high above her head. And with twenty minutes to spare; well done O'Hara! She congratulated herself and opened her eyes as she stood to begin packing up. She started as Shawn and Gus were both standing at the front of her desk, staring at her. "Jeez guys, a little creepy much?"
"Jules, come on. We already got the ticket and if you don't come we have to take Lassie, and that'll just be no fun for anyone." Shawn pleaded.
She sighed in exasperation. "Fine! I'll go, what time do I need to be there?"
Both Shawn and Gus's faces lit up like Christmas morning, making Juliet smile quietly. "Don't worry, I'll drive. We'll be at your apartment at 2 'o clock tomorrow afternoon," Gus answered assertively. He began gathering up the snack wrappers and empty bottles on their treasure chair.
Juliet stopped gathering her things to look at Gus "2 'o clock? Doesn't it open at 4?"
"We have to be first in line," Gus said, as if this answer was the most obvious assertion.
"Oookay," she responded and made a mental note to pack snacks in her purse.
"This is going to be so much fun, you'll see!" Shawn encouraged with a child like excitement.
Juliet shrugged. "I guess it could be fun…" She raised an eyebrow at Shawn suggestively and his breath almost caught.
He composed himself quickly and smirked at her. "Yes… it will…" He circled her desk quickly and got really close in her face. "You are so on, lady."
"Bring it, Spencer."
"Oh, it's already been brought'n."
They both blinked and looked confused at Shawn's choice of movie reference.
Gus stood on the opposite side of Juliet's desk looking from one to the other again, clutching the trash from their snack pile. "Um…"
"Let's go Gus." Shawn made a dramatic about face and strode off determinedly.
"Uh, see you tomorrow," Gus nodded to Juliet and followed his best friend.
She giggled and grabbed her coat. Well, this should be interesting.
"Dude, what is going on?" Gus questioned Shawn as they got to The Blueberry in the police department's parking lot.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Shawn breezed. They both got into the car and clicked their seatbelts.
"Don't play, Shawn. You and Juliet; what is going on? Are you guys angry at each other or something?" Gus asked as he started up the car and headed to drop Shawn off at his apartment.
"No man. It seems we're in some sort of competition…" Shawn answered distractedly. And I'm going to win. He began plotting in his head.
"Oh that doesn't sound like it's going to end well. What exactly do you mean 'competition'?"
"I'm not exactly sure but I have a feeling either Juliet really digs me… or she is much more pure evil than I thought she was…"
Gus just shook his head at Shawn. I'm going to have to stock up on ice cream and pineapple slices again.