Title: Sooner or Later
Category: Television Shows » Girl Meets World
Author: And The Moment's Gone
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Words: 7,290
Warnings/Spoilers: The kids are freshmen in college, Josh is a senior, Cory still lives in denial.
Official Disclaimer: All Girl Meets World characters and plots belong to Disney Channel, Marc Jacobs, and April Kelly, I do not hold stock either the company or the people. Maya Hart, Joshua Matthews and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title comes from the Mat Kearney song Sooner or Later and I don't own that either.
Very Quick Author's note: I'm sorry this took so long. My Beta caught the plague at Uni and it took her a little while to make it through editing. I hope it was worth it.
Shawn had never been happier to be home.
Well, that might not be true.
But he was extremely contented to be paying the cabbie at seven-thirty in the morning after a red-eye flight. It might have been the fact that he and his team successfully packed a week and a half's worth of work into a little over five days. It might have been that he was sick and tired of winding up in London during the rainy season – spoiler alert: there was no such thing as a dry one. Or it could have been that after taking back to back assignments for the last four weeks, this was the first time he was able to get back to the city, and he missed New York.
Even though he was exhausted, and if he didn't nap now his jetlag would not be kind to him, he still made time to stop and say good morning to the Cyr's on the first floor – the missus rushing out to get the kids to school, and her husband trailing behind trying to remember exactly which train he needed to get him to his new job – then he grabbed his mail from the box before heading to the elevator. Maya texted him every few days with pictures of the envelopes she collected, but he was pleasantly surprised that he could hold his semi-stability in his hands, sorting through bills and a wayward paycheck on the way to his floor.
Two stops later found him scrolling through his texts to see if he could figure out on his own whether or not he had to worry about waking the blonde on his way in this morning. The last message he had received was the night before, reminding him rather cheekily that he was an old man and that pub crawls don't go so well at his age.
She hadn't mentioned sleeping arrangements.
Shawn supposed it was all right. She slept with her door closed, whether he was home or not, so as long as he didn't throw a rave between the front door and his bed, Maya should be none the wiser he had arrived.
Or at least that had been the theory.
Shawn wished it still was.
Because the second he stepped out of the box on his floor, he caught sight of a dark flop of hair locking his front door from the outside with the emergency key, turning toward and placing it back in its hiding place before coming to a full stop in front of him.
"Shit."
He wasn't sure which one of the two of them had actually said the expletive, both of them so very still about two feet away from each other in the hall. Shawn forced a deep breath in through his nose and out of his mouth before he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "I suddenly wish I had traveled with checked baggage," he articulated through gritted teeth.
And if the next words out of Joshua Matthews' mouth contained the phrase 'am I cooler than you yet,' Shawn just may have to call his best friend and apologize for the justifiable homicide of his younger brother.
Josh seemed to weigh his options, readjusting his messenger bag over his shoulder. "That thought crossed my mind." He admitted with the exact same tone. "You're not supposed to be back until Tuesday."
He narrowed his eyes, scanning the rest of the hallway and sparing a brief thought as to whether or not Josh had snuck out, or if he would have to face Maya when he entered the apartment. "Something tells me you're not going to be the last person to mention that."
"Look, Shawn–"
Shawn cut the younger man off with a wave of his occupied hand. "You have a class to get to." He left the fact that if he stayed to actually address the thoughts running through Shawn's head, Josh may not be making the rest of his courses.
Ever.
Josh nodded, sidestepping the older man and opting for the stairs rather than wait for the elevator to return to the floor.
Grabbing the handle of his carry-on, Shawn reached for the spare key, with neither the mood nor the desire to fish his keys back out of his pocket again. "She's not your kid," he told himself on his way to the door. "She's a grown adult," the third time he repeated the first phrase, he added the second. "It's entirely possible that this was innocent."
The self-talk only lasted until the entryway, when he caught a glimpse of the young adult that would never be his daughter, sitting on the island kicking her feet back and forth as she waited for more coffee to brew. She had a cereal bowl in one hand, spoon in the other, a John Adams High School Athletic Dept. hoodie over a pair of running shorts.
She wasn't facing his direction. In all actuality, Shawn would have almost guessed that Maya had had her headphones in if it weren't for the fact that her phone was in the kitchen dock, Daughtry wafting around the room.
"I actually used to own one of those."
It wasn't the introduction that he was hoping for, even if he did get a thrill out of Maya's startled spasm. He was also impressed that the only thing she flung across the room was her spoon. "You're not supposed to be back until Tuesday."
Shawn rolled his carry-on up to the counter, allowing the handle to telescope itself back into the suitcase. "I just had this conversation," his head shook slightly and he watched as Maya slid off the countertop to retrieve her silverware.
"Happens to me a lot too," Maya tried to reacclimate herself, her eyes wide. She looked from the front door to Shawn, and back again. If she was trying to do the math on how long it should have taken Josh to leave versus how long Shawn had been in the building, she would be dismayed to learn that the odds weren't in her favor. "How was your trip?"
He'd known the kid in front of him for far too long to think that her nonchalance was natural. When the coffee pot stopped sputtering she hopped off the counter and moved toward it, reaching up for a second mug to accompany hers.
"Yeah, this isn't gonna work for me." It was said so quickly that Maya dropped both mugs on the counter and turned to actually look at him.
Her head tilted to the side, and he'd be damned if she wasn't just as good as he was at her age. "What isn't gonna work for you?"
Shawn couldn't help it, his eyes cut back and forth from her to the front door. "This isn't one of those times when it's smart to play dumb." He decided after a moment.
Tilting her head in the other direction, Maya sucked both lips into her mouth. Whatever she had tried for earlier was now completely gone. "And I'm well past 18, so I could tell you that I hosted an orgy in here last month and you still don't get to yell at me about it."
"It's my apartment," he reminded her. Shawn tried very hard to pretend that she hadn't just made a [semi] valid point. Maya was a good kid, responsible, and while he might be able to subtly steer her into certain decisions, she was past the point where he got too much say in them. It didn't occur to either of them that he wasn't her father. "I'm pretty sure 'no orgies' was one of the first rules laid down when you got your key."
"That depends entirely on whether or not it's annexed with 'no wild parties'." Maya found herself saying, turning back to the counter and her unmade coffee. Had Shawn not gotten home there might have been the possibility of her getting back to sleep for a few more hours before her first class of the day.
There was no way in hell it was going to happen now.
"Maya."
It truly was a marvel at how well he had the patented 'parent voice' down.
"There was no orgy," she conceded.
Shawn ran a hand over his face slowly, briefly cupping his chin. "You're gonna make me ask it, aren't you?"
"Who I sleep with is none of your concern." She had both hands on her coffee mug to keep them steady.
And that was a mental picture that he could have lived without after an eight-hour flight. He'd changed Josh's diapers for crying out loud. "Neither is the Phillie's batting average." Shawn cut back, leaning forward onto the kitchen island. He called up every ounce of his will to keep his poker face intact. "But that doesn't stop me from thinking about it."
"Stay out of it Shawn." Maya stepped back then, deciding that the easiest way to end this conversation was to extradite herself from the situation. There was a sticky note on the fridge that she had to be on campus at nine-thirty for a review session with her study group before her test in Calculus, she might as well get a move on.
He didn't get another word in, not that he knew what should have been said. Maya had made it to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Shawn realized the same time she did that she had left her phone docked in the Bose speaker in the kitchen. He smiled when she cursed, and he moved over to the side of the counter she had been on, reaching for the empty mug and pouring himself a large drink.
If his nap wasn't going to happen, he might as well try to meet the rest of the day head on.
He was sitting at the kitchen island when Maya emerged from her side of the apartment. She blatantly ignored him, sliding her laptop into her Longchamp tote and tucking her wallet in behind the bag that held her charger.
"Stay out of it," she repeated carefully, still not looking at him. Her bag on the counter, Maya deposited her now empty mug in the sink and scratched her scalp. She had pulled her wet hair into a loose braid in order to keep it off of her face, and she was already regretting it. When his mouth opened, she raised a hand. "It's none of your business."
"You've been hiding a relationship with Josh Matthews?" He took a quick sip of his coffee, eyes wide. "How is that none of my business?"
"First of all, it's not a relationship." Maya corrected him shortly, yanking open the fridge and grabbing one of the Tupperware containers of grapes and chopped mixed vegetables. She tossed it into the leather tote with a shake of her head.
"It's not a relationship?" How did Amy and Alan manage to raise five kids? Shawn could barely manage to half-parent one. "You're sleeping with him, but it's not a relationship?" For a split second Shawn blamed Lucas Friar for this. Had the golden boy not allowed Maya to think that this kind of behavior was okay, he wouldn't be in this position now.
"There's no commitment." Did Maya listen to herself when she said things? Did she? "What Josh and I do is fun, a date here or there, a few great nights, but neither one of us gets uptight if someone sneaks out while the other is sleeping." She was in the process of pouring herself a tumbler of coffee when she finally looked up at him. "It's easy."
Briefly, Shawn wondered how exactly someone labeled randomly sleeping with your best friend's uncle counted as 'easy'.
She'd popped the lid on her tumbler and was shouldering her bag when Shawn finally seemed to catch up. "Sex is never just 'easy', Maya." When had his tone started resembling Cory's? God the things that this kid did to him. She didn't seem to be paying attention as she double checked the contents of her bag. "It's intense, it's passionate, life-altering. Sometimes it can be mindless, but it is never 'easy'."
Maya shrugged, "Maybe not the way you do it." She readjusted her cardigan and was out the door without another word.
Shawn didn't knock. He really had no need to anymore. Since he had taken up semi-permeant residence in New York, his standing invitation had been renewed. He had had to consult his calendar to make sure that Auggie wouldn't be home with his parents that afternoon, as it was Dewy's mom's turn to do the soccer carpool. Shawn had had all day to stew, and he needed a proper freak-out. A ten-year-old would have hampered that greatly.
He practically stomped all the way to the fridge, thankful that Topanga still bought his favorite beer. "Does anyone remember back when my biggest problem with Maya living in my apartment was her not picking up after herself?"
Topanga was trying really hard no to laugh at him. After all, he had gotten a pretty good glimpse at the kid Maya had been long before he'd handed her a key. "Did untidiness get trumped again?"
"Is she sneaking another boy in?" Cory caught the look that crossed Shawn's eyes and sucked in a breath. "That was my joke guess!"
"Oh," Shawn used the neck of the bottle to point at his friend. "It gets worse."
"What could be worse than a boy?" Cory was on the edge of his seat now, completely oblivious to his wife relieving him of his coffee mug and placing a beer of his own in its place.
Topanga's smile seemed to get wider. It really was true what they said about daddy's and daughters. And even though she knew she shouldn't, she dropped herself onto the bench beside her husband. "Which boy?"
"What boy?"
The front door shut with a soft click, and every single bone in Shawn's body tensed.
"That boy!"
The look on Josh's face announced that this day just couldn't get worse. "Me boy?" He gulped.
"Him boy?" Cory's eyes bugged, and Topanga could be glad that he hadn't opened his own beer. "Oh, boy."
Running his hand over his head, Josh groaned. "All I did was walk through the door!" He shouldn't have looked up at Shawn. That was just a bad decision on his part. He certainly shouldn't have shrugged the jacket off to reveal the same shirt that he'd been wearing out of Shawn's apartment. Shawn wasn't sure why, but the fact that he obviously had clothes stashed in Maya's room bothered him just as much as the sex part.
Shawn shook his head. "You've done much more than that." He announced to the room.
It seemed to catch up to Cory all at once, the older Matthews sitting up and shouting across the room. "You're sleeping with Maya!"
Josh didn't bother to deny it. In fact, after he finished hanging his jacket on the peg, he actually nodded. "I am."
Cory's shout turned into a shriek. "Joshua Gabriel!"
Topanga just wandered to the fridge and grabbed him a beer. "Before they get started," She wished that she could protect Josh in some way from the two men at the table. It was blatantly apparent that neither of them seemed to remember that once upon a time they were twenty-two-year-old men. "Are you staying for dinner?"
"That had been the plan," Josh swallowed a third of his beer in one gulp.
Even though she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to ask if Maya was going to be making an appearance as well. It was probably better to get- whatever it was that Cory and Shawn needed to get out- before she threw fuel on the fire. "We're having pot roast," she supplied.
Shawn was fairly certain that there was something seriously wrong with his best friend's wife.
"Before you two start," Josh took a breath and another sip of his beer. "Can I just point out that Maya and I are legal adults and that neither of you are our parents."
Cory's betrayed gasp almost drowned out the small noise of anger that Shawn allowed out of his mouth. "Are you sure that's how you want to begin this conversation?" He asked carefully.
Josh just nodded. "There is absolutely nothing you can say to me that I haven't already said to myself."
It seemed like a little sign flashed before Shawn's eyes that read 'challenge accepted'. "Maya says it's not a relationship."
"That is among the words that have been banned when referring to the two of us."
Josh didn't elaborate, and Shawn didn't know if he wanted to ask for clarification. Instead, he moved on. "How long has this been going on?"
"One hundred and twenty-seven days." Josh's face was as blank as he could make it for a conversation such as this. Shawn really wanted to point out the fact that Josh had been counting was all the proof he needed that it was anything but casual. "We've been seeing each other for a little over four months."
Again Cory shrieked. "I sent you to Italy!"
If he'd had the energy to keep up with Cory, Shawn probably would have let the younger man go on like that for another half an hour. "Can it Cornelius!"
Cory squeaked scandalously.
Topanga smiled.
When her husband had finally closed his mouth, Topanga leaned forward. "That's a very specific number, Josh." She pointed out carefully.
Josh shrugged, his gaze shifting across the table to a lone fork, eyes blurring. "I didn't think now was the time to be vague." He answered after a moment. Shawn had to give the kid credit. If he were in Josh's position he would not be nearly as calm. The kid in front of him held all of the quiet conviction that Shawn vaguely recalled seeing years before on his brother.
Which meant that Shawn was missing something. Something that Topanga had seemed to pick up on the second Josh had walked through the door.
"Four months," Shawn repeated to himself, counting backward. There were so many things that he wanted to know. So many that he knew for a fact Maya most likely wouldn't tell him. Shawn had no idea where to begin. Cory twitched and it seemed to hit him. "What does Riley think of this?"
"As long as Maya's happy, I don't think Riley would really care." Josh picked up his bottle just to set it back down again. "If she knew."
Another nervous giggle from the man to his right, and Shawn blinked. "Riley doesn't know?"
"I haven't discussed it with her." The youngest Matthews took a quick sip of his beer, shaking the bottle when he realized he was almost out. "And it's not exactly on Maya's list of things to do before finals."
"Does anyone know?" Shawn couldn't stop the disapproval that laced his voice. Before he could truly snap, he pushed himself away from the table, pacing the length of the living area before returning to the kitchen.
Josh covered a flinch with a hand over his face. "You mean other than you three?"
If he hadn't been so focused on staying calm, Shawn might have actually smacked the kid.
"Austin," Josh held up one finger, adding a second to it. "Friar." He chuckled. "I'm pretty sure Minkus has figured it out, but he hasn't actually come out and said anything." The last two phalanges on his right hand popped up. "Ali and Christian, but Maya doesn't know they know."
"So you're sneaking out of my apartment first thing in the morning," Shawn clarified, running a hand over his chin. "The bulk of your 'not relationship' is sex, and she's adamant about none of her friends knowing." He slammed an arm into the wall next to the fridge. " When the hell did you become that guy, Josh? And why, of all people, did you choose to become that guy with Maya?"
The younger man locked his jaw. He didn't bother to correct Shawn. After all, all the older man was going on was what he had seen in the hall and the brush off that Maya had most definitely given him. "I don't think you're exactly qualified to comment on what's going on between Maya and me." Josh held Shawn's gaze longer than was entirely comfortable.
The older man didn't blink. "Because I'm not her father?"
A little head shake, and it appeared as if Josh's smile just got smugger. "Because up until eight hours ago, you had no idea 'Maya and me' existed."
Topanga legitimately had to physically keep herself from laughing.
"You little-"
"I'm not that guy." He cut Shawn off with a wave of his hand. "And she's not that girl. We're not sleeping around, it's not a booty call at two a.m. and ignoring her every other hour of the day. Hell, we were here for dinner last night!" He waved his hand around the room as if the memory of them playing Little Big Planet with Auggie after they jointly helped him with his homework would somehow appear. "And you can berate me all you want, but you're not gonna make me feel bad about this." He cast a glance past his brother to Topanga, who was watching both him and Shawn with such a look of contemplation.
Shawn drew a blank.
It was apparent from the look on Cory's face that he'd actually tried to stay out of the conversation. His younger brother was sleeping with his daughter's best friend –who had spent enough time in his house to be considered his own- but he had taken a step back and tried to let Shawn handle it. He leaned forward now, taking a long swig of his beer. "You two have been hiding this from almost everyone for four months, Josh." He shook his head to try to make sense of that he was listening to and sighed. "That should tell you something."
"It tells me I'm the second longest relationship that Maya's had in her entire life."
Shawn jumped to point out that Josh had used one –of the apparent many- words that they had evidently banned. He came up short when Topanga raised a hand, not taking her eyes off of Josh.
"Even if she refuses to call it that." His finger twitched on the edge of the bottle's label. "It tells me that I'm man enough to do what she needs me to, to be who she needs me to be, to make her feel confident and secure in at least one aspect of her life." The nail that was tracing the label stilled and Josh brought his thumb to his lips, teeth immediately finding the cuticle. He closed his eyes for a second, and he bit down a little too hard when he realized that he'd most likely said too much. "It tells me that neither one of us needed your approval or your judgment, and that this was one of the many situations that we were trying to avoid by keeping it to ourselves."
Topanga's hands slid across the table, taking the empty bottle from him and giving him an anchor point. Of the three other people in the room, she had been the only one that hadn't tried to keep a running commentary on the situation. Shawn wanted to say that it was because she was a mother.
He realized now that it had more to do with the fact that she knew exactly what a Matthews in love looked like, and she'd most likely seen it coming long before it actually happened.
"She's wrong," Josh slammed his lids over his eyes. It didn't stop Topanga from running her thumb over the back of his hand and finishing her question. "Isn't she? This isn't casual."
"This is whatever Maya needs it to be." Josh's voice was firm. He even managed to keep his eyes steady when they opened and caught Shawn's. He nodded to himself.
One long, deep breath and Cory traced a water stain on the table with one hand while he downed the rest of his beer with the other. Shawn couldn't even find it in him to smile when his best friend dropped the bottle to the table and puffed out his cheeks. "Oh boy."
"Does Maya know?" Topanga caught Josh's gaze again, her thumb still smoothing circles into his hand.
Shawn felt another punch to the gut when Josh's head gave the smallest shake. This was certainly not the way he imagined this conversation going. Not that he imagined having to have this conversation at all.
"Is this the part where you tell me that if I hurt her, you'll hurt me?"
Every fiber of his being wanted to laugh. Not because Josh had asked the question. Considering the way that he had stormed in here, and the righteous anger he'd held for the bulk of the day, it was probably a pretty safe bet that there was going to be a threat in there somewhere.
It was the fact that calm had once again settled over Josh's features. He wasn't as cocky as he had been before his admission; he seemed relieved that this was one less secret that he had to carry.
"No." Shawn took a deep breath and leveled his gaze on the younger man. His best friend shifted in his seat before pushing away from the table. Shawn didn't watch him leave the room. "Because regardless of the fantasy world we've built here, I'm not her father." He set his beer down on the table and crossed his arm across his chest. "I also have the added benefit of having known you for your entire life, kid." The smile he shared now was wry. "I'm actually more worried she's gonna hurt you."
Josh tapped a finger to the table for a second, running the words through his mind. Finally, he smiled back, albeit sadly. "It'll be worth it."
Maya showed up exactly fifteen minutes before dinner, Auggie somehow miraculously in tow. She threw out a greeting, announcing that she took the liberty of grabbing the kid from Dewey's on her way from the station. She helped herself to the coffee that Topanga had started when the serious talk was over and flopped down on the couch beside Cory to critique the episode of Antique Roadshow his best friend was enjoying.
And Shawn watched.
They didn't touch. That was the first thing Shawn noted. Josh and Maya shifted around each other in one of the least awkward dances that he'd seen in a good long time as they discussed lectures and assignments.
Maya grabbed him another beer when she refilled her mug without being prompted, and Josh automatically gave her the baby carrots off out of his scoopful of veggies. And Topanga just smiled when Auggie announced that Maya and Riley had inspired him to start learning Italian and Josh pointed out that Maya was actually better at it than the brunette was –just don't tell her he said that.
After that was time for Auggie's homework.
Whereas the last time Shawn was there, Topanga handled questions from Math and Science, and Cory explained the basics of Ancient Rome, he was treated to a different kind of assistance. Maya had pulled her laptop and text book from her bag, passing a spare notebook to Josh when he realized that he'd left the one he was working out of at work when he'd stopped in for the few hours he'd spent there. She denied him a pen on principle, though, citing that he should have been better prepared.
Shawn took his place on the couch while Cory spread out his papers on the coffee table to be graded. "You're gonna want to see this," Topanga muttered from the chair closest to the door, eyes flicking to the table and back.
"I can never remember," Auggie started, reaching into the center of the table to grab one of Josh's highlighters. "Which one's longitude, and which one's latitude?"
Maya flipped her pencil in her hand, not even looking at the boy. "Which do you think is which?"
Auggie flipped back a page in his notebook, not finding what he was looking for and then turning back to his worksheet. "Latitude goes this way?" He used his pencil as a wand, cutting strips up and down in the air.
Josh didn't even seem to be watching them, but he still offered a noise of disapproval.
"Think of it this way," Maya positioned her own pencil in her hand, parallel to the table. "Latitude makes a ladder." The pencil moved up and down in the air in front of Maya's laptop. She paused so Auggie could repeat it to himself a few times. "Longitude goes around the world long ways." Her pencil changed directions, rotating in an up and down circle."
"The Earth is a sphere," Josh pointed out without looking up. "There is no 'long ways' around it."
Maya rolled her eyes at him, and Shawn was fairly certain the movement under the table was her kicking him in the shin. "Don't listen to your uncle, Aug," she insisted. "He doesn't understand mnemonic devices."
"She's forgetting I'm the one that taught her the secret to binary fraction to decimal conversion." Josh stole a sip of her coffee and Maya flicked him off under the guise of scratching her ear.
"Josh corrected the tour guide in Florence three times while touring the Cattedrale di Santa Maria," Maya informed the kid to her left softly, her eyes meeting Josh's across the table.
The smile they shared was softer than any that Shawn had noticed up until this moment. "By 'tour guide', Maya means Farkle." Josh corrected, nudging her foot with his under the table. "And ask Blondie how long she stared at The Last Judgement before your sister had to physically remove her from the room."
"At least I didn't map the Colosseum from memory after we toured it." Cory snorted and Maya bounced up on her thighs to look at him. "He used napkins at the restaurant."
"No," Josh's smile widened. This wasn't a contest, per say. Cory's laugh and Topanga's indulgent smile meant that this was something they did often. "You just tripped over a pew staring at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel."
"That's not all I did in the Sistine Chapel," Maya might have thought she was muttering under her breath. Shawn suddenly wished he had never had the ability to hear.
Turning again, he noticed that Auggie was ignoring both of them, continuing with the worksheet that Maya had started him on.
"I'm gonna miss Italy." Josh took a breath and another sip of Maya's coffee with a sigh.
Maya didn't acknowledge the statement, but she smiled anyway. "You don't have anything after your conference call on Wednesday, do you?" She had reached for her phone at some point while Shawn had been considering the two of them. Josh shook his head and pulled up his calendar on his computer. The unspoken 'why' hung in the air. "Austin asked me to go apartment hunting with him." Maya supplied when he still didn't speak.
"Are you wanting to trade?" There didn't seem to be anything after the time he'd blocked off for whatever call Maya had been talking about.
"Torreano's offering me an informal audit slot for his lecture on the economics of the visual arts," Shawn wasn't sure which of the three men in the room had the biggest smile on his face. The more Maya interacted with her faculty advisor, the more the man seemed impressed with her. "I'd really like to sit in."
Josh reached for his phone. "I'll take Aus." He offered dumbly. "You wanna meet us for dinner?"
The blonde closed her eyes for a moment before scrolling through another screen on her phone. "He's got a six o'clock with the realtor in Murray Hill."
It was Josh's turn to think. "The Shakespeare?" He offered even as he glanced at the math worksheet that Auggie was pulling out of his folder. "Remember F.O.I.L." He coached, still not looking at Maya.
"I can be there by six thirty."
Josh's phone buzzed with a text. "Done."
Head nodding, Maya turned back to her own laptop. "You suggested," she threw out with a dazzling smile. "You pay."
Shawn watched as Josh didn't miss a beat. "It's funny how that keeps happening." His tone was playful. His eyes challenging.
Maya just blew him a kiss and grabbed another highlighter, scooting closer to Auggie to help with his graph.
The kids disappeared shortly after Auggie went to bed. Josh reminded Cory of the Yankees game that they were going to that Friday, and Topanga mentioned the shifts that had been switched in order for Maya to be able to spend the weekend with Riley for Will's birthday. And to the blonde's credit, any disagreement that she and Shawn had had that morning seemed to be forgotten when she popped up to kiss him on the cheek.
"Don't wait up." Maya threw out as she reached for her jacket.
On the other side of the chair, Josh tried no to look guilty.
"She's an adult," he reminded himself after he had helped unload the dishwasher and dropped back onto the couch. "I don't get to make these decisions for her."
An arm appeared from over the back of the couch, and Shawn took the offered beer.
"You get bonus points for coming to that conclusion." Glancing over his shoulder, Shawn laughed at the cookie that Topanga was holding out for him as well. She propped herself up on her elbows and dropped her chin to his shoulder. "And she could do worse than Josh."
For a split second, Shawn was reminded of the look on Topanga's face when the younger Matthews brother was at her kitchen table. "How long have you known?"
"Honestly," Topanga pushed herself off and circled the couch. "I didn't." Shawn's brows rose and she shook her head. "Not officially." She dropped down into the chair closest to the front door and smiled. "They've always had this 'thing'." Her voice caught as she groped for the words. "It just seemed to evolve since finals."
He thought back to December. Shawn vaguely remembered nights when he assumed Maya was staying in the dorms during his month off. Then all of the kids had come home and it was a shell game where Maya was when, and who she was with.
"It didn't make sense until we were at lunch before their trip," Topanga admitted, taking a long sip of her own bottle.
Shawn didn't want to ask. Really he didn't. But the afternoon sped through his mind, from the second Maya arrived with Josh and Lucas to the moment when Minkus had shut the SUV door for Riley. Nothing stood out; at least not in the way Topanga seemed to think it did.
Then there was a shout from the office, and suddenly it clicked.
Josh is not a slave to his hormones.
"Maya and the lemonade." He sputtered, clearly picturing the way the blonde had coughed and how it took both her and Katy to keep her from falling out of her seat.
"It didn't strike you as odd that she and Lucas Friar were the only ones that thought that statement was funny?"
He honestly hadn't thought about it. Maya had always been the one to crack jokes at inopportune times; the one that used Cory's overenthusiasm against him. He had honestly just thought it was par for the course. Then again, he hadn't even thought to look at Josh. He was too busy focusing on Cory's speech and Maya and Katy.
Another thing occurred to Shawn at the thought of Maya's mother.
It was staunched the second Cory wandered into the room. "No, I don't think I'm overreacting!" His best friend was muttering over and over again.
There was a grumble on the other end of the phone and Shawn hid his laugh behind a cough. Alan Matthews put up with a lot from his children. Shawn just hoped that the older Matthews was smart enough not to allow his wife on the phone with their son.
A feminine voice echoed from Cory's phone and Shawn just shook his head.
"Did he tell you?" For what Shawn assumed was the second time in the last half hour, Cory launched into the torrid affair of Josh and Maya. It was amazing that he had managed to bite his tongue for the entirety of the time that Maya herself had been in the house. Or maybe Cory just realized that had he called her out on it, Maya would have made dinner as uncomfortable as she possibly could in retaliation. There was a long scoff. "I know!"
Topanga just sighed. "Back into the office." She announced coolly. "Auggie is trying to sleep directly above you."
Riley's room is directly above them. It was a fact of architecture that everyone in that house was fully aware of. But Cory began nodding emphatically and rambling on to his mother that his baby brother –who was an adult- has started a casual relationship with his daughter's best friend –who was also an adult- without telling anyone. He didn't have time to consider whether or not his wife's order was factually true.
So Cory backpedaled into the hallway and Shawn couldn't hold his laughter in any longer.
"Personally," Shawn noted when the room quieted again. He ran the thought back through his head before taking another swig of beer. "I blame Friar for this shit."
Topanga peered at him over the neck of her bottle. "Lucas is to blame for Josh and Maya sleeping together?"
And okay, Shawn could see where her skepticism in that sentence had merit.
"It all started with him." There was that overindulgent smile again. The one that said that he had about a minute and a half to clarify that sentence before she unloaded lawyer logic all over his argument. "If they hadn't gotten into –whatever the fuck you want to call her senior year- it's highly likely that she and Josh wouldn't currently be in the relationship that apparently is not."
"It's highly likely that if Lucas hadn't helped her explore her emotions and express herself however she needed to that she would currently be incredibly emotionally stunted and sleeping her way through college instead of engaging in a positive relationship." Topanga physically pointed out, scooting back in the chair and propping her feet up on the coffee table. "I love Maya dearly, but her view on men has not always been the healthiest thing on the planet." A quick swig of her beer, and a pause to try to gage how far in his conversation Cory had gotten and Topanga's head cocked to the side again.
Shawn pulled a breath in through his nose. "Do you have an answer for everything?"
His best friend barked something from the office, and she shook her head. "You've met my family, right?" They shared a smile. "I happen to be the keeper of the sanity in this household."
Shawn found he couldn't exactly argue with that. So instead he leaned back and mimicked her position. "All right Mrs. Cory." He decided with a smile. "I've got a logic question for you." Topanga's brow rose. "Josh said that Maya hasn't told Riley." It wasn't the exact phrasing that the youngest Matthews sibling had used, but it was damn close. "Maya and Riley are joined at the hip. I'm willing to bet the number of secrets that they have from each other could fit on one hand." He neglected to mention that was a generous assumption. If Shawn were to actually make a bet, he would guess that the only secret between the two of them was that Maya and Josh were seeing each other. "Why would Maya keep this one?"
The look that crossed her features was one that Shawn knew well. It was the one that Topanga used to pull when Shawn would talk to her about things that would cause a Cory overreaction. It was the face that would offer beer and advice at three in the morning when Shawn wasn't sure if his best friend was the one he needed. Topanga knew the answer to what he'd asked. But she wasn't about to just give it to him.
"You should probably ask Maya that question." She offered with another sip of her beer. "Or –if you think you can manage without breaking something- you could try to broach it with Josh." They shared a look that rang with their conversation with Josh earlier. More importantly, the way Shawn didn't seem to be paying attention to Josh's answers so much as reacting to them.
"And why would Josh agree to that?" The question popped out before Shawn could think to recall it.
"He loves her," Topanga said softly. "He may not know it yet, and if he does, he has no idea what to do with it, but Josh would most likely agree to anything to keep her in his life." She gave him a wry smile. "Not that either one of us knows what that feels like."
Shawn drained his bottle. "Point made, counselor."
There was silence for another few minutes, where both of them listened as Cory ranted and raved to his mother about his brother's seemingly poor life choices.
Shawn hadn't been expecting the snort that came from the other side of the room. He glanced up sharply at the sound, just in time to see Topanga attempt to physically hold in the next one. "What?" He inquired after she failed on her third effort.
"This never even made the top ten in the list of conversations I ever thought you and I would have in our lifetime." She snorted again, leaning forward just enough to drop the bottle onto the floor to keep from spilling it.
"For the record," it was Shawn's turn to snort. "I don't think either one of us actually thought that your husband's little brother was going to fall for your daughter's best friend." Neither one of them could hold in their laughter now. It was entirely possible that they had hit the portion of the emotionally charged day where they were both punch drunk. Then their eyes met. "I'll give you all of the cash in my wallet right now if you repeat that sentence to Cory."
He could honestly say that he knew Topanga long enough to understand that she was tempted.
Then the phone on the coffee table buzzed, and Shawn bit back his curse when Josh's picture flashed on the screen.
"I'm trying very hard not to be pissed at the kid." He said even as he was reaching for his phone. Thumbing his phone open revealed a picture of the blonde curled up in the center of Josh's bed surrounded by textbooks, notepads, and her laptop. The message under it simply read, 'I'm not waking her up to send her home'. He wasn't going to admit that Josh was just too much Matthews for Shawn to be successful when it came to blaming him for the situation.
Even though she couldn't see the message, Shawn's smile was in full view. She didn't offer him a response, choosing instead to reaching down to grab her beer bottle again and taking another long sip.
Down the hall, Cory ranted away.