First one in this fandom, generally a new step. Holla y'all. It's 6.26 am where I am right now, so...yup.

CHAPTER 1

It was a regular day at the SBPD: cases were worked, bad guys were caught and the Chief had the ever-problematic task of deciding who to hand the latest murder. Usually she gave cases like that to det. Lassiter but mr. Spencer was bound to tag along as usual, and the husband of the murdered woman was an old friend of hers with a strict no-nonsense attitude. Giving it to Lassiter was essentially the same as also giving it to Shawn, who would drive Gary nuts, but giving it to someone else would anger Gary even more. She could already here him go:"Why didn't you assign your best cop to handle this?!"

With a sigh, she caved and called Lassiter to her office. Her head detective entered with a relaxed demeanor (for him, at least) and nodded respectfully to the Chief. Ever-eager for a new assignment, Lassiter sat down, anxious to hear what she had to say.

"So. What is it Chief?"

That was one thing that the Chief had always liked about Lassiter; his respect for authority. "The wife of a friend of mine from academy was murdered. I want you to find out who's behind it." As she spoke, she handed him a file.

"I'll get right on it, Chief", Lassiter nodded and got up.

"Wait a second. There's the..." Vick already dreaded his reaction to her..decision. "I need to assign you a temporary partner while det. O'Hara is at that convention. What was it for again?" They were both silent for a while, faces distorted of wonder. "Never mind."

"Oh, I can handle this by myself."

"No, you won't. Your temporary partner is arriving in 5 minutes. He'll meet us here–stay put while I run some things."

Lassiter was confused to see the Chief look guiltily away as she rushed out of the office. He didn't have too long to dwell on her expression as he felt someone grab him from behind and heard a familiar voice: "Hey Lassie-face :-)"

Lassiter's first thought was what, he even talks in smileys?? and the second one was, less of a thought and more of a basic instinct: to flip Spencer on his back.

Unfortunately for Shawn, Lassiter often obeys his instincts, at least when the psychic was concerned. He kicked Spencer's legs from under him and watched the psychic fall – that is, until he felt a pull on his hands and saw Spencer reappear. He had grabbed the older man's hands to stop himself from falling and to pull himself back up. Shawn looked immensely pleased with himself, and even Lassiter had to admit it was nicely done of the guy. Lassiter couldn't help breaking into a smile. He soon caught himself, and also noticed that they were still holding hands. He was about to pull away when Shawn, apparently still hopped up on the awesomeness of the moment, brought his face to his.

It wasn't a kiss: just (?) two faces connecting. Forehead to forehead, nose to nose, mouth..nervously close to mouth. Shawn hadn't anticipated this at all, he'd just done what he always did, just went with it. He could feel Lassie's hot breath against his own, and even though he was rather sure of liking the ladies, it excited him all the same. Meanwhile, Lassiter assessed that he wasn't in danger, but he didn't exactly know what he was in, and he didn't particularly revel in that feeling. He looked up to see Shawn looking sternly back at him in a challenging manner, urging him to do something, but what? and flinched, breaking the whatever-they-were-in.

Lassiter coughed and then practically growled: "Spencer, what in God's creation was that? This time you went so far out of line, I don't think you even know where the line is!"

"Lass, sweetie, we were nearly sucking face and you deflect by mentioning God? How very catholic of you", Spencer sourly pointed out before seemingly returning to his old self. "Well, you know, I just figured that I'd need to get a closer look on your soul with my psychic abilities if we're going to be partners for a while, Lassie-poo."

Shawn took great pride in the level of disbelief he had just rendered Lassiter in. The SBPD head detective sat down, looking as if he was feeling ill. "You?"

"Yes, me." Shawn observed Lassiter's turmoil as he quite visibly tried to decide what to do.

The Chief returned at last. "Mr. Spencer is the only one available right now, and since mr. Guster is at the same conference as O'Hara, he was quite eager to join forces with you." She tried to phathom how the head detective would react to the news of being stuck with his worst nightmare for the next couple of weeks.

Lassiter's train of thought: I can't ask for someone else, because everyone already has a case and is swamped. For the same reason I can't switch partners with someone because they are already familiar with their cases, and it would just hinder someone else's investigation. There was no way out of this. "Alright."

Shawn reacted like a kid, expecting a fight and trying to get it either way. "What? You can't say 'alright'."

"I can."

"You're never 'alright' with me joining in on your action. Ne-veeer. At least you never say it aloud. Sure, I know you secretly think I'm amazing, but your Amish upbringing simply won't let you admit it--"

"Well, we're just going to have to work together, won't we?" Lassiter cut him off.

"Okay, since it's okay with you too, just get on it", the Chief commanded, showing them the door.

Lassiter and Shawn made their way to Lassiter's office. Before Shawn could sit, Lassiter moved next to him, placed his right hand on his shoulder and whispered: "And Spencer? If you try something like that on me again, I will break your arm."

Shawn smiled at Lassiter's threat as the older man began going through the case file. He figured he could wait a few minutes before having a psychic spasm or whatever, so, sipping on a smoothie, he turned his thoughts to a more pressing matter. Let's face it, she's already dead. A few minutes of personal reflection won't do harm to anyone. He shot a sideway glance at Lassiter. Always so serious, he smiled. He could never help trying to break Lassie's concentration, and it was for his benefit. I'm a positive influence in his life. Who else is going to shake him up? Speaking of being shook up, that odd moment they'd shared in the Chief's office had definitely been...what? Horrifying? Threatening? Exciting? He paused for a moment. What? Exciting? He tried to fight it, but yes, he'd felt..tingly, for the lack of a better word. If his mother was here, she'd say it was his classic if people think it's wrong, I want it-attitude he'd had since, well, forever. So, I'm not into him. I just get off on what I feel is wrong. Oh, man I have daddy-issues.

He felt good about his new-found resolve, and was ready to dazzle Lassiter. He looked up and the words he was about to have said got stuck in his throat. Shawn gazed at Lassiter tentatively and he could only think: I want the tingles back. He knew it was a bad idea. Alas, when had that ever stopped him?