"Exhale to plank, inhale upward facing dog, exhale… downward facing dog."

Cory pushes his body backward, butt up in the air, heels down to the floor. It's easy now. His breathing is steady and strong. His thighs aren't screaming like they did during his first class. He hasn't toppled over since his third class.

He's been going to the free yoga class in the Pennbrooke ballroom for the last three weeks. Ever since Thanksgiving. Topanga had said he needed to step outside his box. Try things. So he is. This is his new thing. Three times a week, here he is. He even bought his own mat. Shawn bought him a water bottle.

"Very nice form, Mr. Matthews."

It's still weird that Feeny is the instructor.

But Cory likes the class. He feels calmer. It helps him break up his day, schedule his study time better. He hasn't quite made new friends yet, but there are a few people that he sees on campus that he nods to now. Stands next to while waiting in lines for things like lunch or coffee.

Cory had felt weird about telling Shawn about his little group of non-friends. Proto-friends. Pre-friends. It wasn't really an accomplishment. He'd barely moved forward, and it felt a little bit like he was challenging Shawn in the lamest way possible. You're not the only one who can make new friends.

But that wasn't how he'd meant it, and that wasn't how Shawn took it. Shawn was amused, supportive, and happy for him.

"Lift your left leg high, bring it between your hands, we'll go into warrior two. Straighten your spine a bit, Mr. Hunter."

Shawn only comes to yoga on Wednesdays. He has a class during yoga on Friday and he and Peter use Cory's absence to take advantage of the empty dorm room on Mondays.

Cory can't believe what a relief it is to have things be good with Shawn again. Shawn spends more time in the room. They get lunch together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Peter tags along every Wednesday and most Fridays.

Cory and Peter aren't really friends. He's more than someone to wait in line with, but he's not someone Cory can be alone with. Cory can hang out with Peter and Shawn without it being weird, but there is always a strange, uncomfortable pause when Shawn leaves the room to go to the bathroom, or leaves the table to get dessert, and Cory and Peter are left alone.

At least they don't hate each other anymore.

It is still weird when Cory comes home and finds Shawn and Peter curled up in Shawn's bed, watching a movie or taking a nap. Or when Shawn kisses Peter goodnight before Peter leaves.

Or on Mondays, when Cory goes home to drop his yoga stuff off on his bed and Shawn and Peter have forgotten to hang a rubber band from the door knob. He's walked in on them twice. The image of Shawn in that position is probably always going to be weird.

But more and more, it's not that it's weird to see Shawn kissing, and cuddling and loving and being loved by this guy, it's weird that Shawn is centered, and happy, and calm… and Cory isn't.

Even as his relationship with his best friend goes back to normal, and his grades improve, and he finds himself enjoying trying the occasional new thing, there is one thing keeping Cory going.

Tomorrow, he can call Topanga.

Peter was the one who kept pointing out that Topanga hadn't really dumped Cory. He called it a "trial separation."

To Cory, that sounds like Topanga is practicing to leave him. Eventually, he conceded that what he and Topanga were doing, was exploring "a temporary term of 'dating lite'."

She'd told him not to call until his semester was over. No texts, no emails, no letters, no smoke signals, no marching bands, no sky writing.

No contact at all.

"Alright, everyone lay back on your mats. As we come to the end of our practice today, leave behind the things you don't want to bring out of the room. Your anxiety over finals, maybe. Disappointment in grades. Worry over next semester. Let it go as we move into corpse pose."

No dating other people, though. Topanga promised that wasn't part it of.

She wasn't interested in or pursuing anyone at Yale. She was not giving Cory permission to date other people at Pennbrooke (Not that Cory was stupid enough to fall for that trap again. He'd learned his lesson from the Lauren debacle.)

Topanga just wanted him to prove that he could function without her.

"Bring your left knee to your chest, pull it over your body, and turn your head in the opposite direction, take a gentle twist here."

Cory turned his head, letting his knee fall and his body twist. He wasn't really into the hokey stuff about how twists were healing and certain postures were good for anxiety or concentration or whatever, but he did like this part of class. He was sweaty and quiet, looking at the back of Shawn's head as they both breathed steadily.

He'd told her that he couldn't. That she was his world. His life had gone to shit without her. She'd fixed the biggest disaster in his life in a day.

She hadn't budged. She'd cried, her voice had shook, but she didn't give in.

Shawn had convinced Cory that his only chance to keep her was to respect her wishes, and Cory had settled in for three weeks of tortuous anguish.

"Bring your left knee up, extend your left leg as you bring your right leg to your chest, and take another twist."

And it hadn't been that bad.

He's been hanging out with Shawn. Trying to get a long with Peter and Jeremy. He learned that Feeny had come back from Jackson Hole, and begged Feeny to tutor him.

He'd registered for his classes. At the last minute Shawn had convinced him to drop the composition class that Topanga suggested and take Intro to Gender and Sexuality with him instead.

Missing Topanga was like a rock in his stomach. He thought about her every day. He worried that she was going to pick up the phone tomorrow and tell him that it was over.

But it didn't consume him like it used too.

"When you're ready, come up to sitting. We'll take a few breaths here. Thank you for coming to class today. For those of you who still have finals today, I wish you luck and I hope all of you have an enjoyable winter break, and find time to spend with people who are important to you."

Class broke up. People quietly stood, rolled up their mats. Most people headed for the door, Cory and Shawn went for the stairs, and the locker rooms.

"Nervous for your final today?" Shawn asks as they pull open their lockers. Shawn starts to unselfconsciously strip, tossing his sweaty clothes into his gym bag. Cory goes over to the shelves full of rough white towels and grabs one.

"Less nervous than I was. Feeny tells me I should be pretty confident about my two final papers, and they're both weighted so heavily that I can pass the class as long as I get a B plus or better. He got Professor Connors to switch me to pass fail, so at least his class won't destroy my GPA. But… I need to fucking ace this final to have a hope of getting a D in the class… so yeah. Still pretty nervous."

Cory pulls his sweaty shirt off, then his work out shorts. He wraps the towel around his waist and pulls his boxers out from under it.

Shawn gives him a bemused look, and goes into the open shower. Cory ducks into the one private shower as quickly as he can and starts scrubbing down fast. He doesn't like to linger.

"So… it's cool that I stay with your family for Christmas, right?"

"Yeah, you always spend Christmas with us," Cory calls back. Shawn hasn't asked him if his parents know about Peter. Cory's pretty sure Shawn just assumed that Cory couldn't keep a secret. He's right, of course. Cory told his parents the week after Thanksgiving. They seemed pretty uncomfortable, but Cory's sure that it'll be fine as long as Peter isn't there. Shawn hasn't changed. His parents will get used to this new Shawn thing. Cory has.

"You're sure you don't want to go Peter's for Christmas?"

"Yeah," Shawn calls back. "I mean… this is the best relationship I've ever been in, but it's still only been a few months. Christmas is a pretty serious thing. I don't think we're there yet. But he's going to stay at Pennbrooke for a couple extra days before and after Christmas, so we can have some time together before the basketball season goes totally crazy. I'm excited."

"Good," Cory tells him, rinsing himself off. He grabs his towel from outside the shower and pats himself dry before wrapping his towel around his waist. "What are you guys up to tonight?"

"Dinner. Movie. Back to the dorms to hang out." Shawn says. He's still standing in the open shower, eyes closed, washing shampoo out of his hair. Cory rolls his eyes and heads back to the lockers to get dressed. It only takes a couple minutes for Shawn to join him.

"Are you going to call Topanga tonight?" Shawn asks.

Cory scoffs. "Hell with that. I'm calling her on my way out of that final. Put down pencil, pick up cell. It's been three weeks."

"Right," Shawn nods. "Well. If…"

"If what?" Cory demands.

Shawn bites his lip and shrugs. "If it doesn't go well, text me. I'll come back."

"Don't worry about it, Shawn," Cory tells him. "Go out with your boyfriend. I'll be fine."

Cory sits on one of the grody plastic benches and ties his shoes as Shawn dries off and gets dressed.

It'll be fine. Cory knows that. Realistically, three weeks is not that long. Taken as a percentage of the total time he and Topanga have been together, three weeks is nothing. It has to be okay.

Besides, Topanga wouldn't make him hang for three weeks, just to dump him. That would just be cruel.

Cory finishes tying his shoes and waits for Shawn to finish dressing.

"But uhh… if by some crazy twist of fate, it doesn't go well… don't kick me out of the room, okay?"

Shawn pats him on the back. "Sure thing, man."

"Peter," Shawn gasps, knotting his fingers into the back of Peter's tee shirt as Peter presses his body down against him. "I don't think we should."

Peter groans, but pulls away. "Why not?"

Shawn catches his breath, shifting a little on the mattress. He's not totally hard yet, but if Peter touches him he's going to totally lose his resolve.

"Because I don't want Cory to come back from talking to Topanga and find a rubber band on the door."

Peter runs his hand through Shawn's hair. "You are a sweet sensitive guy and a good friend." He kisses Shawn's his neck, and rolls his weight back onto Shawn's body. "Matthews will get over it."

Shawn groans and rolls his hips up into Peter's, feeling Peter's hard cock against him. They've had sex at every available opportunity for the last three weeks, and it isn't nearly enough. It would be so easy to tug Peter's shirt out of his jeans, press his hands to Peter's warm, bare skin, kiss him, undress him. Spread his legs and let Peter thrust into him and not even bother with the fucking rubber band on the door.

"What about your room?" Shawn asks breathlessly.

"Jeremy has a final in the morning and wants to study at his own desk. We can't pretend we don't owe him," Peter kisses Shawn's neck again and starts toying with the button at the top of his fly.

Shawn thinks about stopping Peter. He really does. Thinking about Cory walking up to the door and hearing the two of them going at it is almost enough to make him set his hand on top of Peter's and push it away from his zipper. If "I don't think we should" changes to "I don't want to" Shawn knows that Peter will stop.

And then they'll stop touching each other. Maybe go get some coffee instead.

Run into Cory in the midst of melt down and possibly not get to have sex before Peter leaves for home.

Shawn yanks Peter's shirt out of his jeans and shoves his hand into Peter's boxers, cupping his boyfriend's ass and pulling Peter's body tighter to his own.

"Yeah. He'll get over it," Shawn agrees.

They pull away long enough to yank their shirts over their heads and toss them away, then fall on each other again.

"Do you want to top me this time?" Peter whispers, kissing Shawn's face.

Shawn shivers and shakes his head. "No. I'm not ready yet. But ask me again sometime."

He's not sure why he can't quite wrap his head around taking charge in bed with Peter. But he's also not worried about it. This is how they do it right now. They have plenty of time ahead of them to explore each other.

It's good. It's always good. Peter kisses Shawn while he moves inside him. Shawn totally gives himself over the gasping and moaning, and the embarrassing little noises that pop out of him when Peter pushes in just like that or touches him right there.

They both come. Shawn wraps his legs around Peter as Peter jerks and twitches and cries out, and holds him inside while they both catch their breath. Peter digs his arms under Shawn's back and squeezes him tight before he pulls out, deals with the condom, and pulls the sheet up over both of them.

Shawn rests his head on Peter's shoulder and sighs happily. Peter wraps an arm around him, and plays with his hair for a long stretch of comfortable silence.

"Hey, sweetheart?" Peter asks quietly.

"Hmm?"

"You know you can ask me for things, right?"

"What?"

"Like if you want to try something in bed, you can ask me."

Shawn feels a strange tingle in his spine. "Are you bored?"

It's weird to ask, but it's not scary or uncomfortable.

Peter chuckles and squeezes Shawn closer. "No. Of course not. I can't get enough of you." He kisses Shawn's forehead. "I just want to make sure you don't have any… I don't know… preconceived notions about what we can do together. And you're… kind of quiet."

"I'm not quiet," Shawn snorts.

Peter laughs. "Yeah, okay… reserved. You kind of let me do whatever to you, and I worry that you… aren't asking me for what you want, you're just letting me do what I want."

"Oh." Shawn's not sure what else to say. His brain is still pretty orgasm foggy and he's having trouble figuring out how important this is, because Peter is talking in his soft bedroom voice.

"And that's okay, if that's what you want, but just, if you want something, ask me. I might not do it, but you can ask."

"Okay," Shawn says. "Me too. You can ask me too."

"Okay. Awesome."

The door opens as Peter leans in to kiss Shawn and they pull apart quickly to see Cory standing in the doorway, face held in a rictus of crazed supportiveness.

"Hey… fellas. There was no rubber band."

Shawn clears his throat and makes a little bit of space between his body and Peter's.

"Yeah… ummm… we… didn't get to it."

"Sorry, man," Peter chimes in.

"No it's… you know. Whatever. I just… I guess I'll grab my computer and let you two…"

As he babbles, Shawn realizes that Cory's eyes are red rimmed. He's not just flustered, he's upset.

"It's fine. We're… um, done." Shawn cringes at his choice of words and pats Peter's thigh apologetically. "Is everything okay? Did you talk to Topanga?"

"Yeah, I called her. We talked."

Shawn shoots Peter a look. Peter nods.

"Here, give us a second to get dressed and let's go get some coffee," Shawn suggests.

"Yeah. Okay."

Cory steps out. Peter and Shawn do their best to clean up with a handful of Kleenexes before pulling their clothes back on and meeting Cory outside the door.

Cory vents while the three of them trudge to the student union.

"I just… I never know what she wants from me!" Cory hisses as he drops into a chair opposite Shawn and Peter goes up to the counter to order everyone's drinks. "She wanted me to try new things, I did. She wanted me to take charge with my classes, I did. She wanted me to make new friends… it's only been three weeks!"

"You and Peter are on better terms. Jeremy too. Beth likes you," Shawn points out.

"I know. I brought that up!"

Peter comes back with three mugs. He gives Shawn his usual chai, Cory his usual vanilla latte, and keeps his amaretto cappuccino.

"So… dude, I have to ask… what was the point of this conversation?"

"What?" Cory asks, coming up from his mug with a foam mustache.

"She told you to leave her alone for three weeks, and that you could call when all of your finals were over. Why?"

"I don't understand what you're asking, babe." Shawn shook his head.

"I mean… what did she want to hear? That you really couldn't live without talking to her and the last three weeks were the most miserable of your entire life? That you are just fine without her and she didn't have to worry about you? That you could follow her directions? I don't know the girl at all. You've known her forever. What did she want?"

Cory shakes his head. "I don't know." He takes another sip from his cup, making the mustache worse. "I… should know. Right? Shawn?"

"I…"

Shawn has a rotten feeling in his gut. He's been wondering about this weird three week hiatus ever since Cory told him about it. He knows that Topanga doesn't want to hurt Cory. He knows there isn't another guy. He hasn't spoken to Topanga since she left for Yale. He knows that Cory has been driving everyone nuts, and that everyone wants him to be able to prove that he can take care of himself… but something's wrong.

"It sounds like a test to me, man," Peter chimes in. "Again, I don't know her, but she… gave you an assignment. That's… to me that isn't right. That's not how you treat someone you love. If you want to help them change for the better… you help them. You don't give them a reading and a due date."

"It did help me though," Cory argues. "I've… made progress these last few weeks."

"Yeah," Shawn concedes. "But… Topanga didn't help you with that. Taking a step back from a long distance relationship did."

Cory nods. Drinks his latte. Sets it down. Picks it back up. Drinks again.

"You know what? I think I need to just… take a step back from this whole topic right now. Let's just… talk about something else. Christmas plans. What are you guys up to for the next week, huh?"

Shawn bites his lip. This isn't like Cory. Cory doesn't take a step back or let things go. Cory obsesses over them until he drives everyone out of their mind.

But Peter doesn't know that. So when Cory wants to change the subject, Peter goes with it. He goes into his family's entire holiday plan, and his and Shawn's plans for before and after the holiday. He brags about how he thinks he got a Shawn a really good gift, and teases Shawn about whether he'll get it before Christmas or have to wait.

Cory laughs and nods along and let's the whole Topanga issue pass.

Eventually, they all start to yawn. Peter kisses Shawn goodnight and goes back to his dorm. Shawn and Cory walk back to their room.

And Shawn almost manages to let it go. He almost lets Cory keep pretending that he's able to just turn this worry off. But as the two of them get into their pajamas, he can't stop himself from asking.

"Cor? Is Topanga coming for Christmas?"

"Oh… um. No. She's going to New York City with her roommate. She's never been and she's excited to go see it."

"Yeah. Okay. I was just curious. Night, Cor."

"Night, Shawn."