Gus loved organization and he loved geography. And since cartography was essentially combining the two onto a piece of paper, he loved maps as well.
The night before high school, he'd got out a map of the school and highlighted his daily route. Shawn had said he was seriously over thinking their first day, but Gus wasn't the one who was late to all his classes. Oh no, that was Shawn.
So he proved his point there: maps were essential. It was a fact.
Another fact: Before he went to college, Gus bought three maps: one of his campus, one of the surrounding city, and one of the United States. The first two maps were for him. The third was for Shawn.
When Shawn first told Gus that he was going on this crazy cross country road trip, Gus had thought for sure his friend had gone insane. Shawn only had a high school education, he had no real job, and he had no plans. There was no safety net where Shawn was going, and that worried Gus.
But Gus could tell that it was what Shawn wanted, and more importantly, what he needed. So when Shawn told him he was going to leave, Gus made sure that he met him before he left. Gus stood beside his friend's motorcycle, and they said goodbye, and Shawn rode away on his motorcycle, and there were most certainly not tears in his eyes. Shawn was a dirty liar and that wasn't true.
Fact: Shawn and Gus hadn't been apart for more than a week since they were five.
Shawn and Gus had avoided thinking about it for so long, but they couldn't keep it out of their minds much longer. They both knew that come graduation they would be separating whether they liked it or not. But even knowing that hadn't prepared them when the time came. Thinking about being apart for God knew how many years, was a lot different then actually being apart.
But Gus knew they would be okay. Sure, people drifted apart after high school, but he and Shawn had already promised that they were not going to do that.
Still, it's hard to be best friends with someone who visits a few times a year, and only arbitrarily sends postcards.
And it's hard to hear so little from someone when you're worried about them. Yes, Gus knew he was being a mother hen, but how could you know Shawn and not worry about the guy? Shawn had the tendency to get himself (and everyone around him, as Gus well knew) into some sticky situations.
This is when Gus bought the maps, at his university's bookstore. He had only come for the campus and area maps, but on a whim he purchased the U.S. map too.
Not knowing exactly what he wanted to do with it, Gus had just set it on his desk and forgotten about it. But as he began to receive the first postcards from Shawn, Gus began looking at the map every once in awhile. He traced out Shawn's routes with his finger, wondering where his friend was at that moment; looking at the map as if it could tell him where Shawn was going next.
After a few months of postcards, Gus hung the map on his dorm wall. He stuck thumbtacks at the places where Shawn had been. He looked at it whenever his college friends didn't feel quite the same as a best friend. He looked at it whenever his college friends couldn't match up to his best friend.
It wasn't an obsessive thing; Gus did have a life of his own. But he missed his friend sometimes. It was impossible to send Shawn a postcard, because by the time Gus got around to writing one, Shawn had moved on. So really, putting the tacks on the board was just Gus' way of keeping in touch.
One day he got a postcard from Shawn. Thailand. Gus just stared at the postcard for a minute. After talking about it for so long, his friend was traveling the world.
This, of course, meant getting a world map to replace his United States one, which Gus promptly did. And soon, there were tacks sticking up from all over the world, though most of them were centered in the U.S.
The postcards from Shawn got rarer and rarer over time. Shawn still visited, but their contact had become sporadic at best. Gus was okay with this – it didn't really bother him unless he dwelled on it, which he was too busy to do. Besides, Gus knew he and Shawn would be best friends forever, no matter what. So there was no need to worry.
Or at least, that's what Gus told himself.
Gus looked at the map a lot less now. He glanced up at it occasionally, but he didn't give it much of a passing glance anymore. All he could see there were the routes Shawn had taken; when what he needed to know were the future ones. Maybe one of them lead to Santa Barbara.
Though to be honest, Gus was happy even without knowing. College was turning out to be the time of Gus' life. He felt like he was finally starting his life, even if it was one without Shawn. He was learning how to make it on his own in the world; a part of a semi-successful acapella group, and he was on a first name basis with Lisa Olsen from his Statistics 101. Sure, he studied a lot, but even so he still found time to go to some of the parties (some of which were enough to have made Shawn jealous). And he had friends at college. Sure, they weren't best friends, but they were really good people. Smart, punctual, and absolutely predictable.
Gus hadn't thought about the map in about a month when he heard a knock at his door. He scowled. "Maggie, I told you I'll be there later! My term paper's due in a week!"
"Dude!" called a voice behind the door. "You're coped up in your room, everyone's studying, and I see no evidence of pineapple Jell-O shots anywhere! I thought this college thing was supposed to be fun!"
Gus' eyes widened. He sprang from his chair and fumbled at the lock until he finally got it undone. He swung open the door and there was Shawn, grinning and as happy as ever.
Gus' smile matched Shawn's exactly. "It's been awhile, man," he said, fistbumping his friend, then giving him a quick (manly) hug. He ushered Shawn into the dorm, moving a stack of books off the couch so Shawn could sit down.
"So, college," Shawn said, looking around, taking the room in. His eyes stopped over near Gus' desk.
Gus nodded, stacking all of his books in a neat pile. "Oh yeah, it's a blast, Shawn. You'd have loved it. But I guess your road trip thing is a lot cooler, yeah?"
"If by cool, you mean totally awesome, then yes."
Gus rolled his eyes. "Most people who say cool generally mean that."
"Please. You're just jealous that I got to enjoy a very festive Mardi Gras this year," Shawn said.
"Louisiana? Oh yeah, I think I remember that postcard. You been anywhere else recently?"
Shawn didn't answer, but got up from the couch and approached Gus' desk. Gus followed his gaze and saw that Shawn was looking at the map.
"You've been documenting my trip?" Shawn asked, amused.
Gus didn't know whether to be embarrassed or just try to shrug it off. "I had some down time."
"So instead of spending it with some lovely women, or perhaps trying to make some pineapple Jell-O shots, you spend it making a map? Burton Guster, you are just as nerdy as ever." Shawn shook his head in mock disapproval.
"Okay, first of all? There's no such thing as pineapple Jell-O," Gus said, ignoring Shawn's look of hurt at the fact that the Jell-O shots he had been planning couldn't happen. "And second of all…"
Gus was at a bit of a loss for words, something that didn't happen often. To be honest, he couldn't explain away the map, because he wasn't entirely sure why he'd made it. It was just something he'd done without really thinking about.
Shawn seemed to understand though, and clapped him on the shoulder. "No worries, dude," he said with a grin.
Gus, feeling very relieved, began talking at length about college life. Soon the two of them had forgotten about the map and were catching up. They talked about nothing for hours, and sometimes just sat in silence, enjoying each other's presence as only two people who had known each other for a lifetime could.
Shawn stayed for two days before leaving. Gus had enjoyed every minute of that time, though the majority of it was spent bickering with his friend.
But soon it was time for Shawn to move on. Gus stood by Shawn and his motorcycle, just like he always did.
"See you, Shawn," Gus said, holding out his fist.
Shawn bumped it and put on his helmet. "See you, Gus. I'll send you some postcards, so you can keep up with that map," he grinned. With a mock salute he gunned the engine and drove off into the (figurative) sunset.
A lot more postcards came after Shawn left. As usual, Gus carefully marked the city where Shawn had been, and even began connecting the dots between them.
A year later Gus graduated college. Shawn was there for that too. When his friend looked at the map for the second time, there were about ten more pins on there, and a route had been written out in red pen.
Gus could have tried to explain it to his friend again, but he didn't. He and Shawn had come to accept that the map was just a thing they shared. Gus supposed that if he had to explain what it meant, it was something that kept them together.
After Gus graduated, he got a job as a sales representative at Central Coast Pharmaceuticals. He worked hard, enjoyed his job, and didn't have to pay much attention to the map that was hung up in his office. He still got the occasional postcard from Shawn; put up the occasional tack on the map. He still kept in touch with his friend.
In the summer of 2006, Shawn came home to Santa Barbara. This time for good.
Initially Gus wasn't sure how long Shawn would stay, but after Psych had been up and running for a few months, Gus took the tacks out of the map. He folded it up and put it in the bottom drawer of his desk, mostly forgotten. He felt a little sad putting it away to be honest – the map had been a part of his life for so long – but he also knew that he didn't really need it anymore. Not with the real Shawn here to stay.
Fact: From 1994 – 2006, Shawn and Gus had been apart for over ten years.
Fact: Yes, they had missed each other, and yes, they had felt lonely at one time or another. But they had never felt apart.