Living with someone was a new concept to Shawn. He'd never really had a housemate and family didn't count because you were stuck with them. The closest he'd come was spending a week on Gus' couch when he was in between apartments and a week was more than enough. He loved the guy like a brother but he had some serious OCD tendencies. One bit of dirt on the carpet and he threw a hissy fit.
It was one thing having a housemate and a totally other thing waking up every morning to a blonde junior detective.
He'd been tricked into it. It was the only explanation. He would agree to anything Juliet said when she was looking at him with wide puppy eyes and wearing on of her shorter skirts and she knew it.
One minute he was dancing around the room in his boxers a la risky business the next he was sitting on a cream couch having a staring competition with a cat, and the cat was winning.
Shawn didn't like it one bit. He didn't like the new cream couch, the cushions and the throw. He didn't like the candles that smelled like lavender and jasmine or the girly shampoo in the shower that made him smell of strawberries. He didn't even want to get started on the bubble bath or the girly products in the cabinet.
He didn't like that his wardrobe had been taken over by skirt suits and pink dresses and more shoes than Shawn had ever seen in his entire life. The fridge contained food he'd never heard of and he had a spice rack. He'd resorted to escaping to his father's house just to feel manly.
Enough was enough.
He didn't complain when his apartment was taken over by girlyness. He didn't even complain when he was chucked out of the house so Juliet and her girlfriends could drink copious amount of wine, cry over soppy films and moan about their men. It was about time he put his foot down.
"Jules!" Shawn shouted.
"What?" Juliet's muffled reply came from the other room. She appeared in the doorway fiddling with an earring.
"We need to talk."
Juliet frowned. "We do?" She asked. "Did you stick my whites in the washer with your red socks again?"
"What? No, that was all Gus' fault."
Juliet rolled her eyes. "How was it Gus' fault?"
Shawn thought for a second. "He bought me those socks for Christmas, what possessed him to buy me socks?"
"Shawn, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Shawn waved his arms about. "All this."
"All what?"
"Everything! The pink and the spice rack and the yoga dvds and the stinky candles!"
Juliet raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I understand your problem."
"Its all you Jules, and its girly."
"Shawn, that's what happens when two people move in together."
"Yeah? Well where's my stuff?"
"Shawn you wanted a giant poster of A-ha above the TV"
"And?" Shawn still didn't see what was wrong with that. It was his favourite poster. "What about the closet? There's barely any room for my clothes any more."
"Shawn you have like four plaid shirts and two pairs of jeans, how much space do you really need?"
"I'll have you know I have at least five shirts!"
"Shawn! If you didn't like what I was doing to the place you should have just said so."
"I'm saying it now."
"It's a little late don'tcha think?"
"Its not just the girly candles."
"No?" Juliet put her hands on her hips.
"You wake up too early. I like to sleep in and when you wake up I wake up, and then I can't get back to sleep again."
"I have to go work Shawn."
"You change the channel when I'm watching Miami Vice."
"Oh come on Shawn! You've seen every episode like three times!"
"And you buy whole milk!"
"So?"
"I like 2."
Juliet sighed, "This was obviously a big mistake." Juliet shook her head. She turned and entered the bedroom.
Shawn followed "What?"
"Us, living together. Its obvious that you can't handle living with someone else."
"Jules."
"It's fine." Shawn frowned as he saw Juliet plaster on a fake smile. "Really, we'll just go back to living in separate apartments."
Shawn watched as Juliet packed an over night bag, "Jules-"
"Me and my spice rack and my stinky candles will be out of your hair quicker than you can say Sonny Crockett." She stepped into Shawn's personal space, gripped his bicep and stood on tip toes to place a chaste kiss to the corner of his lip. "I'll come by tomorrow morning."
"Jules-" Shawn tried again. He didn't know what to say. He certainly didn't have anything that would magically fix this. Once again his big mouth had got him into trouble.
"Night Shawn." She gave him another fake smile before brushing past him. Shawn turned and watched as she picked up her keys from the bowl on table by the door and left, shutting the door behind her with a quiet click.
Shawn's shoulders sagged. He trudged into the living room and dropped down onto the couch. The cat immediately jumped up onto his lap and dug her claws in. It was as if she knew Shawn was to blame. He picked up the phone and pressed speed dial one.
"Dude," he said as soon as Gus answered, "I'm an idiot."
Gus hadn't helped at all. He had re-affirmed that yes, Shawn was an idiot and then proceeded to list the reasons why. When Shawn had finally gotten around to explaining what had happened Gus had called him an idiot again.
And to top it all off he hadn't been able to sleep. He'd spent the night tossing and turning and watching light night infomercials about ear lobe supporters and floam.
It was halfway through a commercial about steps for dogs with hip problems that he worked out why we couldn't sleep. Somehow, in such a short space of time, he had grown used to Juliet sleeping in the same bed. He was used to her hair tickling his nose and her cold feet. They weren't the only things he's gotten used to.
Shawn jumped when he heard a knock at the door. He frowned slightly but quickly made his way over to answer it. His frown deepened as he opened the door. "You still have a key you know."
Juliet gave a half shrug. "Seemed kind of weird to use it."
Shawn stepped back to let her in. He watched as she took in the apartment, almost like she was inspecting it so see what had been changed. "We need to talk," Shawn began.
Juliet snorted, "You remember what happened last time you said that?"
"It was yesterday Jules. I think I can remember that far back."
Juliet rolled her eyes at Shawn's sarcasm. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Us, living together," Shawn replied, repeating Juliet's words from last night.
"I was stupid to think it could work."
"But it does work."
Juliet sighed, "Shawn, it obviously doesn't, you don't have to try and pretend otherwise. We're not breaking up."
"I'm serious Jules." Juliet raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "I thought it wasn't working because of how quickly things had changed. I didn't like waking up early or missing my favourite TV shows or drinking whole milk."
"Get to the point Shawn."
"The point is that I actually got used to it. I got used to getting up early and watching you get ready, I liked it when you came in switched the TV over to some soap opera and came and sat on the couch with me, I liked-…okay, I'll never like whole milk," Shawn grinned, "Last night I barely slept because you weren't there."
"Shawn."
"And hey I might not be into all the candles and cushions and crap? But if you like them, then I can learn to like them."
Juliet grinned back. "I have a present for you."
"Please tell me it's a French maid outfit." Juliet said nothing as she unzipped her bag and pulled out a wrapped cylindrical object. She handed it over to Shawn. "Open it."
Shawn quickly ripped off the blue wrapping paper and raised an eyebrow at the yellow candle in his hand. "Another candle?"
"Smell it."
Shawn put the candle to his nose and sniffed. He recognised the scent immediately and he laughed, "Pineapple!"
"You like it?"
Shawn snaked an arm around Juliet's slim waist and pulled her against him. "I love it."
"Good," Juliet relaxed against Shawn, "And you know we could compromise on the cushions and candles."
"The closet?"
"Nice try buddy, it's mine now."