Five Times Shawn and Minkus Meet

1.

Two weeks after school starts, Shawn's dad finally consents to enroll him in kindergarten. His mom dresses him in some almost new clothes and walks him to the school.

"You're gonna love school, I just know it!" she beams and Shawn doesn't disagree out loud, but his face must give his feelings away. "Aw, honey, don't listen to Joey," she continues, more gentle.

Shawn knows better. Joey's older and has been in school for three whole years, so he knows all about it.

As the come up to the school, Shawn takes in the big building. "Where are the kids?" he asks and his mom laughs. "Inside, school's already started. We have to take you to the principal's office first."

In the office, there's a nice lady who asks him to sit with her and gives him a book to look at, with colorful pictures. Shawn makes up a story to go with the pictures and says it out loud, to make it real.

He's on the third page, telling the lady about the boy wearing a hat when he notices the voices in the other room. They sound like Yelling, so Shawn expects the Really Big Argument to start any minute.

The lady stands up. "Shawn, how'd you like to see your class?"

Shawn nods and gets up too. He looks at the closed door and asks, "Will my mom be mad?"

"I'll explain it to her," the lady says. She give him a sunshine smile and leads him down the hall. She stops at a door with words on it, with the first letter a big letter.

"Names," he says out loud, and the lady smiles wider. "Good job, Shawn! Can you find your name?"

Shawn studies the choices, looking for a familiar squiggle. There are too many, and he slumps his shoulders in frustration.

"That's okay," the lady says in a nice voice. "This is why you're coming to school, to learn."

She opens the door and Shawn looks around in amazement. Kids are all over the place, some looking at books, some dressed up as grownups, and some playing at a sand table.

"I'm going to talk to Ms Champa. Go play," the lady says, and Shawn takes off before she can change her mind. He quickly goes over to the sand table. Only one boy is still there, and he smiles as Shawn walks over.

"Hello, my name is Stuart," he says. "Wanna build a castle?"

"Sure!" Shawn answers, and they almost get a whole wall to stand before his mom comes to get him, her eyes bright but calm.

"I had fun," he tells her on the way home. "I made a friend. His name is Stuart."
"I knew you'd like school!" his mom answers. She makes his favorite Hamburger Helper- lasagna- and green beans, and his dad is nice to him.

The next day, his class goes to the zoo, but Stuart doesn't go because he has allergies, whatever those are. He meets Cory and saves him, and by the time Shawn sees Stuart next, Shawn and Cory are best friends.

2.

Mr Feeny is writing something on the board, which is the perfect distraction. Shawn quickly folds the note in a triangle and sends it sailing onto Cory's desk. It lands neatly in the middles, and Shawn silently congratulates himself on another successful launch.

"So Mr Feeny, are you saying that Charlie's perception of his friends is an example of an unreliable narrator?"

At Minkus' question, Mr Feeny stops writing and turns around to see Cory unfold the note. He starts walking down the aisle and Shawn suppresses a groan. 'Trust Minkus to ruin a perfectly good goofing off moment,' he thinks as Mr Feeny stops at Cory's desk.

"Mr Matthews, can you enlighten Mr Minkus?"

"Sure," Cory answers easily. "The answer is yes."

"Well?" Mr Feeny prompts.

"Yes sir?" Cory tries.

In the end, both Shawn and Cory get detention, and they're sitting after school sullenly when Minkus comes in the classroom.

"What are you in for?" Cory asks him.

Minkus looks horrified at the thought. "I'm here to ask Mr Feeny about the movie."

"What movie?" Shawn asks, absently flicking a lighter he found on his way to school.

"The movie that's based on the book we're reading. It's called 'Charly' and I was going to ask for extra credit if I did a report on it."

"Can we work on it with you?" Cory quickly asks.

"I'm not doing the whole thing myself and just putting your name on it, if that's what you're trying to ask. I'll bet you haven't even read the whole thing!"

"Of course not, Feeny only told us to read the first ten pages," Shawn answers reasonably.

Minkus shrugs and turns to leave but Shawn stops him. "Wait, we'll help out. And read the book." It's the end of the year, and Shawn needs all the help he can get in this class.

"Speak for yourself, Shawn," Cory says. "I think I'll just stick with good old regular credit."

When Mr Feeny comes back in, eyeing Shawn and Cory suspiciously, and Minkus tells him about the movie, the first thing Mr Feeny asks is "did Mr Hunter put you up to this?"

"No sir, I told him about it and he said it sounded like fun." Minkus' tone is the perfect mix of 'I'm being respectful to the teacher' and 'but really, I think we're equals here', and Shawn has an unwilling moment of friendship towards Minkus.

"Well, if it's okay with your parents to see that movie, then it's fine with me. Your assignment will be due when the final report on the book is, a week from Thursday."

Beyond thrilled that a plan is actually working, Shawn makes plans to go home with Minkus the next day.

After school, Minkus slinks up to Shawn like he's ashamed to be seen with him. Shawn automatically goes up on the defensive, but from the way Minkus is looking around, he's more concerned that Shawn will be ashamed to be seen with him, and the feeling of respect grows a little stronger. "Hey Minkus," he calls out loudly, and hey, he's not subtle, but Minkus smiles.

"Hey, my mom's picking us up and then we're going to stop at Blockbuster to pick up the tape. Is that acceptable?"

"I got nothing but time," Shawn agrees.

On the way over to the house, Minkus asks Shawn about the book, which Shawn had marathonned through last night- it's not like the book is long- and had actually enjoyed, in a sad sort of way.

"I thought that you were right, in class the other day," Shawn says reluctantly.

"About what?" Minkus is busy reading the back of the video box.

"About Charlie not being reliable. He thought all those guys were his friends, and they made fun of him."

"An unreliable narrator." Minkus says it in a matter of fact voice, which doesn't make Shawn feel stupid. He smiles to himself and holds that feeling until they actually start watching the film.

"Um. Did your parents actually say yes to watching the movie?" Shawn asks carefully, glancing at the screen and then as quickly looking away again.

"I told them it was for my educational benefit. I don't think they meant this kind of education." Minkus is staring at the screen, in a 'can't look away from the wreck' kind of way.

"We're so not going to be able to write a report about this. Feeny will kick us out for the year," Shawn groans. It's bad enough that this movie has sexy-times, but in the uncomfortable way and not the fun way, but the things in this are introducing new concepts that frankly, Shawn's not ready for.

"That's what we'll do our report on. How we weren't ready to see this kind of movie." Minkus says this decisively, and because Shawn knows for a fact that he's not the brains of this operation, he follows Minkus' lead.

They get a A.

The year ends. Shawn manages to pass all his classes, but in Feeny's class, he gets a C. It's a C he's earned, and he looks at his report card with something like pride before promptly forging his dad's signature on it and getting the heck out his trailer.

3.

Shawn sits down at his computer, determined to slog through his e-mails once and for all. He moves all of the Cory sent ones into the Cory filter, moves the ones from his editor into the trash, except for one- Shawn knows they all basically are the same e-mail, about his ignoring his deadline- and dutifully skims the other ones until he gets one from John Adams High School. It's nothing but a request for updated info, until he reads the end sentence.

"Remember, our ten year reunion is right around the corner!"

Shawn groans, ending on a whiny sigh. Out of their whole high school class, he's only kept with three people- Cory, Topanga and Angela- and mostly pushed high school into the category in his mind called "Good, but useless memories". He has no reason to want to reunite with these people, but as his mind's protesting, he's filling in the the information and mentally filling in what he's been up to for ten years.

Their class president- Shawn remembers a nervous looking girl- sends him back a link to their Facebook group, and he doubly regrets not junking the e-mail. So far, he's resisted the siren call of Facebook, although Cory tries to get him to join, asking about something called Farmville and muttering to himself about nails on his Blackberry, none of this making Shawn want to join. Giving this up as a lost cause, he fills out the form, letting the site search his address book for more contacts, and putting in his high school info.

The next day, Shawn comes home to 27 friend requests, which makes him feel good until he counts and realizes that the Matthewses and variations thereof have all individually friended him, some are from people that apparently friend everyone, and there are some contacts from work. He starts accepting all of them except the trolls when he sees a name that he hasn't in ten years.
"Stuart Minkus wants to be your friend!"

Shawn clicks on his profile, wanting to be nosy, and reads that apparently Minkus has been busy since they last saw each other. His wall is full of people inviting him to events, causes, and just general things. Shawn looks through pictures of Minkus has taken at various places around the world with more than a little envy, but he can't say that Minkus is bragging- his pictures aren't marked, just jumbled in an order that is incomprehensible to Shawn.

He accepts the friend request and after, goes about his day.

As the days pass, Shawn realizes that Facebook is slowly taking over his life. Since he has Cory's horrible example in front of him, he knows better than to get sucked into the games, but having a smart phone, capable of keeping him connected 24/7, is driving him a little crazy. He checks people's statuses like some people breathe, and he realizes it's another delaying tactic on his book. However, any delaying tactic is a good thing, so he jumps into it, commenting on everything, filling his profile with pages as random as a Chubbies tribute page to "Oregon Trail Was The Best Part of Computer Lab".

"I have a problem," he tells Cory at lunch one day, but since Cory's frantically doing something to crops, it goes unnoticed. Since he's being ignored, and he hasn't checked in the last half hour, he logs on and reads down his friend list, and stops at another Minkus update that makes no sense to Shawn.

"What's with the bingo every Wednesday?" he mutters out loud.

"What bingo?" Cory sits back and eyes him suspiciously.

"Minkus is always posting about bingo. Must be a Philly thing."

"We never played bingo there," Cory muses. "Maybe it's a Minkus thing, instead."

"Probably true," Shawn agrees, and they move on to other subjects.

4.

Shawn's back home in Philly, presumably taking a break from the no writing he's doing, but really trying to move past this monumental block he's got going. He wanders around on foot as much as possible, trying to take life in before he submerges into himself again.

"Shawn? Shawn Hunter?"

Shawn spins around from the store he's standing in front of to face a man he vaguely recognizes but can't place. "That's me," he confirms, a little cautiously.

"It's me. Stuart Minkus." He smiles, tentatively.

Shawn eyes him for a second- he really hasn't seen Minkus since high school graduation, and the hair is different and the glasses have been traded for a much more modern pair- then grins. "Hey, good to see ya! Still settled here?"

"It's home, you know? I tried Boston for a while, and I liked it, but it never became home."

Shawn doesn't really know- being transient is something that comes naturally to him- but he nods anyway. "I think New York is as close as I am to home right now. It took a while, though."

"So what brings you here?" Minkus looks actually interested in what Shawn's saying, so Shawn answers, "Just needed some familiar sights. I'm supposed to be writing, but that's not happening. Sometimes shaking up my routine helps."

Minkus looks serious for a second, and then visibly steels himself. "How much would you like to vary your routine?"

This is how, an hour later, Shawn finds himself surrounded by teenagers, some of them looking like him circa 1996. They're working on a poster design for a film festival, and as they discuss fonts and wording, Shawn starts wandering around the converted house, looking at various pictures and things on the wall. Minkus joins him after a while, motioning him to an office.

"What do you think?" he asks Shawn as he closes the door.

"About this place? Do you run it on fundraising alone or do you accept donations?"

"Shawn. You know what I mean."

"Oh, you mean the whole GLBT youth thing? Wish they'd had that when we were in high school," Shawn goes up to a poster that's hanging on the door. "Since when does Philly have gay bingo?"

Behind him, he hears Minkus sigh, but when he turns back around, Minkus is grabbing something from his desk. "I'm not sure. I wandered in one day and it seemed fun. It's how I got this job; the old director met me there and offered one day."
"Do you like it?" Shawn asks, as if it isn't obvious.

"I do, really. I feel like I haven't left high school sometimes, but other than that, I never could have imagined my life any better."

"That's the way I feel about writing. When I actually can write," Shawn amends. "While I'm in town, I'd like to volunteer. Do I have to do anything fancy? Take a whiz quiz?"

Minkus laughs. "There is an official class and and all that, but since we're not actually state funded, we usually just run a background check and call it good."

"Sign me up then."

Shawn finds himself driving that two plus hour drive to Philly a lot. He tells himself at first that being there for the children is what it's about, but really, Minkus- Stuart- is just as big as a reason. They spend time together doing things, and when Shawn finds himself saying the immortal words "What are you doing after this?" he knows he's in deep.

He consults Topanga, who's much better than Cory at these matters.
"Have you two had the talk yet?" she asks point blank.

"Facebook. Everything's on Facebook. I just didn't pay all that much attention."

"If you missed it, he might have also," she points out. "Don't wimp out."

All of Shawn's preparation turns out to be wasted, as Stuart officially asks him out the next time they see each other, and Shawn says yes so fast that they both laugh.

It's not until years later that Topanga confesses she sent Stuart a message on what else, Facebook, letting him know his overtures would be accepted. Shawn teases her that her and Stuart spoke in their secret geek code, and she takes this with only a small act of revenge.

5.

"Meet me for lunch?"

More days than not, they have lunch together. The only thing that never changes that Stuart's never late and most of the time, he waits for Shawn. Shawn always apologizes profusely and promises that next time he won't be deep into what he's working on, and Stuart just laughs- this is their routine.

Today, though, Shawn's right on time, parking next to Stuart and leaping out his car. He races over to Stuart and grabs his hand. One look into his eyes and-

"Oh my god, you finished it."

Shawn nods, still too visibly excited to speak. He's trembling, and Stuart quickly realizes that there's no way they're eating lunch now. He unlocks his car. "Get in," he says and Shawn does, beginning to come down slowly.

"What about my car?"

"We'll be back. For dinner," Stuart says, forming a plan. He runs inside to make reservations and comes back out. "Okay. Wanna go somewhere in particular?"

"Home. Let's go home."

Home is a downtown apartment, because even though Shawn swears that he's totally done being metropolitan, he likes walking everywhere he needs to go and seeing the city lights. Stuart doesn't care enough to have a preference, and he's sentimental (sappy) enough to just want Shawn happy.

As they walk in the door, Shawn swings Stuart around enough until his back is touching the door before pouncing on him, bestowing hard, hungry kisses until Stuart catches up and kisses him back, tangling fingers in that always perfect hair.

Shawn moves to his neck and Stuart laughs, partly from being ticklish and mostly from relief. A Shawn on the final stretch is a Shawn that's surly and silent, like he's afraid that let any words come out except for on paper.

"I missed you," Stuart lets slip out as Shawn works a hand under his shirt. The hand moving on his stomach is both soothing and making him tense, all in a good way.

"I'm sorry," Shawn gasps, between kisses. He seems to have developed three hands, and Stuart accepts this as long as they're on him.

Stuart starts to answer, but Shawn takes that as a sign to kiss him until they're both seeing stars. Shawn's slipping Stuart's shirt over his head, and then his own, and by the time Stuart remembers he wanted to say something, they're laying in a messy pile, still in front of their door. He hopes they remembered to lock the door this time, or at least, that their neighbors are not home.

"That is the way to celebrate," Shawn says smugly, as they slowly untangle.

"Yep." They slowly stand up, listening to knees crack a little- the floor is hard- and make their way over to the couch. Still holding hands, they sit together, enjoying their silence, and the silent computer.

As they sit there, Stuart drops a kiss onto Shawn's shoulder. "So can we do this daily instead of lunch? I've been meaning to cut back."

Shawn laughs, and Stuart does too. He dashes into the bathroom and freshens up, and redresses. "Duty calls. Seven good for dinner?"

"Sounds good. Don't forget to pick me up."

"So text me." They kiss once more before Stuart heads out, whistling the whole way to the car.

Once inside, he takes a look back at their window, mentally sends a 'I love you' up and goes about his day.