Counting down to the new year on the boardwalk was a tradition between Shawn and Gus. It was one of their longest lasting tradition, well, that and their Hitchcock before Halloween marathons. Ever since they were kids, they would go out to the boardwalk on New Year's Eve and watch the annual firework show. Gus' parents were never into the whole celebrating with the community thing, so he had always went with Spencers. Now, since Henry had lost interest or as Shawn liked to put it 'gotten old', they made plans to go with Juliet.

Gus took hold of the tray of coffees he purchased from a nearby vendor and moved towards the section of the boardwalk where the other half of Psych was leaning against the railing.

"Isn't this great?" Shawn exclaimed with a wide sweep of his arm to gesture to their surroundings, almost knocking the tray in Gus' hand.

"Watch it, Shawn," Gus took a step backwards to get out of Shawn's 'zone', frantically trying to regain his balance so he wouldn't spill scalding hot coffee everywhere.

Shawn frowned upon seeing the coffee. "Hey, why didn't you take the travel mugs I packed in the Blueberry? I had eggnog in there. Gus! Eggnog!" Shawn accepted the drink anyway, mainly because Gus was paying for it. Gus rarely paid for things for him, not since he maxed out his credit card. Again.

"I knew you got that eggnog on sale. There's a reason why it's cheaper after Christmas and that's because it's expired."

Shawn stared at his friend for a second before bursting out into laughter. Gus had no idea why he was laughing. He glanced around subconsciously to find that people were beginning to stare so he let out a small chuckle just for their audience's sake. Shawn straightened out and slapped Gus on the arm. Hard. "Expired. That's cute." He chortled, shaking his head as his laughs died down.

"Don't tell me you eat expired food. Shawn, there's a reason why they put a 'best before date'. You can get sic-" Before Gus could launch into a health and safety rant he noticed that Shawn was busy not listening to him, but distractedly looking over his shoulder. Before Gus could ask what he was looking at he heard a greeting from a familiar voice.

"Hey guys. I'm so sorry that I'm late." Juliet offered the duo a smile before leaning up and pressing a kiss on Shawn's cheek. It was at times like these that Gus wished he had a girlfriend. Then he remembered what Shawn had told him a few weeks ago. That he was a beautiful, strong, black man that don't need no woman. Gus had to remind him that it didn't go like that, but it was surprisingly uplifting.

Gus took a sip from his cup as Shawn beamed and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist, pulling her into a brief hug. "Hi, Jules."

"Hello, Juliet." Gus held out the tray towards her and quirked an eyebrow. "Coffee?"

Juliet clapped her hands together and accepted the remaining cup. "Thank you."

"Guys! Guys, guys, guys." Shawn jabbed Gus once for every word before pointing up at the night sky. "Look! It's starting!"

He looked up in time to see the first firework explode in the dark sky, illuminating the boardwalk with a green tinge. Fireworks were his favorite. Sure, they were loud, bright, and probably terrible for the environment, but they brought back childhood memories.

"Hey, Jules. It's almost midnight and you know what that means," Shawn raised an eyebrow at her, tipping his head slightly to the side.

Juliet responded with a lighthearted laugh and put her hands on her hips, tilting her head back at him. "Oh, I don't know," she responded, playing dumb to satisfy his needs to feel smart. "It's the New Year?"

"You're not wrong, but if I recall it's American tradition to kiss at midnight of New Year's Eve." He pointed out matter-of-factly. Nudging Gus, he said "Tell us when it's exactly midnight! Man, I know you synchronize your clock so it's coincides with the earth spinning."

Gus was tempted to correct Shawn, to tell him that what he said didn't make any sense, but he didn't want to ruin Shawn's moment. So instead he rolled his eyes and glanced down at his Rolex. He waited until the second hand got horrifyingly close to signalling the start of a new year before notifying his friends. "You've got three seconds." Having said that, he dropped his arm to his side and looked up at the sky, waiting with boyish excitement for the most extravagant firework to end the year.

3...

Shawn and Juliet leaned in for a kiss.

2...

Gus watched as the firework was launched into the sky.

1...

Four things happened in that last second. The first and the most obvious being that it was a New Year. The second was the magnificent firework display; one colorful firework after the other lighting up the sky. The third was Shawn and Juliet's first kiss of the year. The fourth thing was that a man was shot while driving. Gus didn't acknowledge the latter until the crowd's delightful cheers turned into screams of horror. Whirling around, he let out his own feminish scream to match Shawn's as an oncoming car's headlights grew brighter and brighter the closer it got to them. Gus stopped screaming long enough dive out of the way of the approaching vehicle while Shawn dove in the other direction, taking Juliet with him. He hit the floor on his shoulder, but didn't stop there. He rolled like his life depended on it, tucking his arms and knees in like a pro.

Instead of slowing down, the SUV accelerated and it didn't stop until it smashed through the railings lining the boardwalk. Gus hopped to his feet, but he could only see the rear end of the car as it sunk deeper and deeper into the dark, blue abyss. Juliet was already rushing towards the damaged railing, her phone pressed against her ear.

"Carlton? It's Juliet. I think I just witnessed a suicide."

What a way to start the new year, Gus thought, mentally tsking the person responsible. For shame. Then he heard Shawn groan. Gus scrambled over to where his best friend was peeling himself off the floor.

"Dude, two things. One, remind me to work out more. Man, that barrel roll drained the life out of me. Whew!" Shawn wheezed, resting his elbow on the crook of Gus shoulder. Gus shook him off. "Two. That..." He nodded towards where Juliet was pacing along the edge of the boardwalk, pausing every now and then to look over what remained of the railings, into the water.

"That, my chocolate colored friend, was no suicide. It was murder."

A/N: Here's a fic to start off 2013! It's my first Psych fic, so feedback would be great. It's also my first fic in a year. I took a break from writing a while ago, but I started up again on this account. I'm planning on bringing back a few guest stars because face it, Psych has the best guest stars. I'm not even talking about the actors, but the characters themselves. A few I can think of on the spot is Det. Goochberg (Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast) and Declan Rand (Shawn 2.0). Anyway, if this gets enough reviews I'll continue it!