This takes place following Jennifer's ultimatum, season 4 episode 12.

"Okay, what do you got?" Shawn asks, turning frantically to Cory, hoping for a reason to not go with Jennifer.

"I—" Cory starts, as he looks between Shawn and Topanga, trying to decide what to do in this situation.

"So? Is that it then? Can we go?" Jennifer asks, looking towards Cory, with an almost evil smile on her face. Not even a second later, Cory breaks eye contact and moves towards Shawn. And he kisses him.

Cory heard Jennifer's gasp, but he's too focused on the fact that Shawn is kissing him back. After a few seconds, he pulls away, looks at Jennifer, and watches as she storms out of the room. Suddenly remembering who invited them there, Cory looks toward Topanga, eyes wide, and she just gives him a sad smile.

"Oh Cory," she starts, looking down at her feet before meeting Cory's eyes once again. "It was only a matter of time," she finishes, leaning up to kiss Cory on the cheek, and leaving as well.

"Cor?" Shawn says, pulling Cory out of his head and back into the real world. "Do you wanna go home?"

"Yeah, Shawnie. Let's go home."

*

As they walk through the gate towards the back door, Shawn grabs Cory's hand. Cory turns towards Shawn, hoping that he'll say something first, so Cory won't have to.

"Cory, what just happened back there?" Shawn says, asking the most direct form of the question Cory was dreading the whole way home. Every version of this scenario he had played out, and Shawn went with this starting point.

"I don't know, Shawnie. You asked me what I had, and I didn't know how else to top what she gave you, that was the only thing I thought could possibly work, and I panicked, I just—" and Cory was cut off by Shawn kissing him. Cory kissed him back, wondering what had provoked his best friend, and why he enjoyed this so much. This was what he was supposed to do with Topanga. This is what is normal to do with Topanga, this is not something he's supposed to do with Shawn.

Shawn pulls away, grabbing Cory by the wrist, and dragging him towards the tree house. Shawn climbs up, and Cory follows, wondering what could possibly be going through Shawn's head right now. When they get inside the treehouse, Shawn sits down, leaning against the tree through the center of the room.

"So Cor, how do we want to deal with this situation?" Shawn asks, as Cory leans against the treehouse wall opposite Shawn.

"What do you mean, deal with this situation? Deal with it how?" Cory asks, hoping the fear in his voice isn't as obvious to Shawn as it is in his head.

"Okay, maybe 'deal with' wasn't the right way to say that. I don't know about you, but I don't want to go back to the way things were. So how are we going to do this?" Shawn finishes, holding intense eye contact with Cory when he's done.

"Well, it probably isn't a great idea to parade about telling everyone, but we might need to talk to Jennifer and Topanga about it," Cory says, recalling the events of the evening.

"Honestly Cor, I don't feel like Topanga is going to say anything. Remember what she said to you? But, I'm not sure how you feel, but what if we didn't stop Jennifer? What is she going to do? Tell people we're gay? If it bothers you we can talk to her, but I don't care if people think I'm gay, because at the end of the day, they're right," Shawn says, slightly winded.

"Uh——" Cory says, not knowing how to respond, really. Shawn was probably right about topanga, she was their friend, first and foremost, and a friend wouldn't do that. But the Jennifer thing? Cory wasn't so sure. Was he gay? He was in love with Topanga, and it felt different from how he felt about Shawn.

Love is supposed to be a deep connection with another, with a strand of passion woven into it. Love is supposed to make you crazy, make you want to spend the rest of your lives with that one person, have children, and grow old together. Hadn't he always had that with Topanga? But as Cory tries to wrap his mind around love and what it means, it dawns on him. In all of his futures he has imagined, even when they're with Topanga, Shawn is always right beside her.

"Cory? I know this is a lot to process, but we should try to work out a plan before your parents and Eric get home," Shawn says, pulling Cory back to the real world and out of his head.

"Shawnie, I don't want everything to go back to normal either," Cory starts, and notes the smile Shawn is clearly trying to mask, without much success, "But I want Topanga back."

"I know you do, Cor. I know."

*

"Hello, Mrs. Lawrence. Oh, I'm sorry. Hello Rhiannon. Is Topanga home? Oh good. May I talk to her please? Thank you."

Cory had spent all day with Shawn, trying to figure out what to say to the two girls, and after concluding that they wouldn't say anything at all to Jennifer, Shawn suggested Cory call Topanga.

"Hi, Cory."

"Hi, Topanga. I figure that you know why I am calling, and I just wanted to tell you that—"

"Cory, why don't I come over, and we can talk there? It will be better for all of us that way," Topanga offers, thoughtful as usual.

"Okay, when will you be here?" Cory asks anxiously, wanting to talk to Topanga desperately, but also afraid of what could happen, because he cannot predict everything, even when he tries to.

"About 15 minutes, Cory. Is that okay? Is Shawn there already?" Topanga asks, as if she thinks Shawn needs to be there. Cory did not think about this possibility before he called Topanga, but Shawn is there anyway.

"Yes, he is. I'll get him. See you soon." Cory hangs up the phone, and heads upstairs to get Shawn.

Shawn is sitting on Cory's bed, looking through one of the baseball card collector books in Eric and Cory's room. He looks up as Cory comes in, slowly closing the binder, and standing up to put it back on the shelf.

"How did it go? That didn't take you very long," Shawn asks, following Cory out the door and down into the kitchen.

"We didn't talk about it, she says you need to be there, and she'll be here in 15 minutes," Cory says, pulling the back door open and walking towards the front yard, a rarely used part of the Matthews' home.

Sitting on the curb next to the mailbox, Shawn and Cory sit in complete silence, waiting for Topanga to arrive. When she rounds the corner onto their street, the boys stand up, and Topanga motions for them to follow her.

They walk silently for a while, before finding themselves at a neighborhood park. There are kids on the swings, tired parents watching from surrounding benches. The three of them walk towards the grassy outcropping next to the playground, which is almost empty. They sit at the furthest bench from the park, waiting for someone to break the silence.

"So? Shawn, did you see this coming too?" Topanga starts, and Cory looks at her, jaw practically on the ground. He turns towards Shawn for an answer, only to find Shawn holding direct eye contact with Topanga.

"I can't say I expected it, but, I'm sorry Topanga, I am, I've been wanting it to," Shawn finishes, with a sort of half-smile half look of pity on his face. Topanga just smiles a sad smile, nods, and looks at Cory, who had decided to sit on the grass when they arrived, giving Topanga and Shawn the bench.

"Topanga, I'm sorry you got caught up in this," Cory says, and Topanga just chuckles a little and smiles.

"Cory, I've known you and Shawn since you fell in the llama pen. I knew that your energies were meant to converge, I have for years now, it was only a matter of time," Topanga finishes, and Cory is confused yet again.

"Energies? Like when you drew on your face with lipstick kind of energies?" Cory asks, leaning on Shawn's leg a little.

"Yes, Cory. Just like when I drew on my face with lipstick. The two of you always had such a strong draw towards each other, stronger than anything I had ever felt before. Stronger than that of Mr and Mrs Matthews, stronger than my parents. The universe put you two together for a reason," Topanga finished, and Cory was, once again, awestruck.

Looking up at Shawn, then at Topanga, Cory worked up the courage to ask his next question. "So, if you knew this was coming, that I would—want to be with Shawn, does that mean—"

"Yes Cory. Topanga will still be our friend. She's a good, kind, caring person, she wouldn't abandon us over something she saw coming, right Topanga?" Shawn finished, leaning across the bench to give her a hug.

"Thank you, Topanga," Cory said, not sure what else he could say. He had just broken up with the girl he'd spent his whole life with, and yet he wasn't really losing her. Their relationship had always been something other people were jealous of, and now it was just over. And he wasn't upset about it.

Losing Topanga as his girlfriend was something Cory had feared for a long time, because to Cory, that meant that he would lose her as a friend too. He would lose the only person besides Shawn he was ever truly able to talk to, and he never wanted to lose it. But now, here he was, losing his long time girlfriend, but Topanga was still right by his side.

"Well boys, do we wanna head to chubbies for a burger? To celebrate Cory?" Topanga asks, standing up quickly and definitively, holding her hand out to Cory who was still cemented on the ground.

"What'd ya say, Cor? Celebrate Cory and Shawn? Shawn and Cory? The inseparable pair that is now, truly, inseparable?" Shawn asks, his hand also outstretched to Cory, with the biggest smile on his face. Cory looked between the two of them, taking a deep breath, and admiring how great his two best friends were. A smile broke out on Cory's face as well, and taking both Shawn and Topanga's outstretched hands, he pulled himself up, and they walked towards their place. The place where they started, and now the place where it ends. All thanks to Jennifer.