It had been eight weeks since Shawn had officially moved in, and so far, things were going great.

They had discussed some rules that Jon had put into place, nothing too bad; just a curfew, and some general rules about keeping things clean and tidy, and Shawn getting his homework done before he went off with Cory.

The two had been getting along well, and Shawn had seemed a lot more settled than when he was just staying with Jon. His dad called a little bit more often, Jon suspected he felt bad about Jon signing the papers, so he was making more of an effort to connect with his kid.

Shawn didn't seem to be falling asleep in class as much and Jon suspected he was sleeping a bit better.

It was Saturday and Jon had let Shawn sleep in. They usually went to school together (Shawn loved riding on the back of the bike) and so they got there earlier than Shawn would normally rock up.

When Shawn finally made an appearance, his hair dishevelled and still wiping the sleep from his eyes, Jon couldn't help but smile, he really had grown fond of the kid.

"You hungry?"

That got him a yawn and a shrug from the still tired teen as he slumped down on the couch and turned on the TV.

Jon rolled his eyes at the lack of response, but got the eggs and bacon out of the fridge and started cooking them both some breakfast. When he'd finished, he took both plates over to the couch, handing one to Shawn and sitting down next to him with his own plate.

"Oh, thanks." Shawn said, as if that was the first time he'd noticed that Jon had been cooking breakfast. Jon raised his eyebrows at him in amusement and handed him a fork.

Once they had finished eating and Jon had cleared the plates away, he sat back down on the couch. "Can you mute the TV for a second? We need to talk."

Shawn gave him a look, but he did as he was asked. "What have I done?"

Jon couldn't help but smirk at the kid. "No, you haven't done anything wrong, I was just going to tell you that I'm going away next weekend and you'll be staying with the Matthew's."

Shawn frowned. "Is this you lying to me again?"

He hoped not, he really didn't like that. Until that time, Jon had been one of the only adults in his life that hadn't lied to him, and he had held him to a bit of an unfair standard until that point. I'm Jon's defence, he had also been the first adult to apologise to Shawn for lying, so that had earned him back a few points in Shawn's eyes.

Jon smiled. "No, this is real. Eli and I are going to a game and we are staying away for the night, it's too big of a drive to come back that night."

Shawn sat there in silence for a couple of moments. "You'll be gone all weekend?" he asked.

Jon nodded. "We leave Friday, back Sunday."

Shawn nodded slowly. "Why can't I just stay here?"

Jon cringed a little. No matter how he answered this question, Shawn wasn't going to like the answer.

"I'd prefer you to stay with the Matthews." he said carefully, already having a feeling that response wasn't going to pacify the teen.

Sure enough, Shawn frowned at him. "Why can't I just stay here though?"

Jon sighed. "I'd prefer if you stayed at the Matthew's, Shawn. They've already said you can stay and it would make me feel a lot better knowing you were safe there."

Shawn's frown deepened. "Do you not trust me?" he asked, his temper obviously starting to flare.

Jon knew he needed tread carefully here, he didn't want a blow up from the teen. "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I'm not too keen on leaving any fifteen year old alone in the apartment for the whole weekend."

"My parents left me alone for the weekend all the time!"

Shawn was getting close to yelling now.

Jon sighed, he definitely wasn't touching that one. Shawn was not the person to talk about what he thought about his parents parenting skills, or lack thereof.

"Well, I'm not leaving you here by yourself for the weekend."

Jon's voice was starting to raise too, despite his best efforts to stay calm.

Shawn rolled his eyes heavily and sunk back into the couch. "You don't trust me." he muttered bitterly.

Jon was starting to get exasperated. This was meant to be a simple conversation and the kid was turning it into a big thing.

"It's not about me trusting you Shawn. Would Matthew's be allowed to stay in an apartment by himself for a weekend?"

Shawn scowled. "Cory's not like me, he doesn't know how to look after himself!"

Jon narrowed his eyes. "Well, you shouldn't either!!" he said angrily.

Realising his mistake immediately, Jon jumped up. "Shawn, I didn't-"

But it was too late. Shawn stood up too, feeling like his chest was too tight. "You have no right to judge my parents." he said, his voice quiet, but angry.

Jon sighed. "I'm not, Shawn."

Shawn shook his head. "You are. You don't think they should have left me alone."

Jon needed to calm this situation down, Shawn was getting very agitated, and everything Jon was saying was making it worse. He knew how protective Shawn was about his family, how much he hated it when anyone said anything negative about them. It made Jon feel sad that the boy cared so deeply about people that had let him down so many times.

"Shawn, I'm not judging anyone. I'm in no position to do that."

Shawn just glared at him. "You're not perfect you know."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "Now, hold up a minute here, let's not get personal."

Shawn scoffed. "You call my parents neglectful, and I'm making it personal?"

Jon narrowed his eyes again. "I never used those words."

He made a mental note to follow up on that word with the school guidance counsellor, because it wasn't a word Shawn would have came out with on his own.

"Well, you may as well have!" Shawn yelled.

Jon held up both hands. "You need to calm down." he said firmly.

Shawn glared at him, the words obviously having an opposite effect.

"Don't tell me what to do, you're not my dad." he said, his voice almost coming out as a growl.

Shawn turned then, grabbing his coat off the rack, opening the door and slamming it behind him.

Jon sank into the couch, his head in his hands. This is not how he wanted the night to go. He had talked to Shawn about the storming out. He had told him that there would be consequences if he did it again. He really, really didn't want to punish the kid, but Shawn needed boundaries. He needed an adult in his life that stuck to their word and didn't lie to him. Even if it meant that Jon would have to deal out consequences.

Jon sighed and stood up to grab his coat. He would check the Matthew's house first. Jon jumped back in surprise as the front door slammed open, revealing a still angry Shawn.

Jon stared at him in surprise for a couple of seconds before opening his mouth to speak, but Shawn beat him to it.

"Can I go to Cory's?" he asked, his voice was gruff and he was avoiding eye contact.

"What?"

Jon was still in a state of shock and it was the only word that he could think of.

Shawn let out a noise of annoyance. "You said I couldn't just take off, but I need to go and cool down. Can I go to Cory's?"

The kid still wasn't making eye contact and Jon could hear in his voice that he was still angry... but he'd came back. He was asking permission instead of just storming off. Jon could have hugged him, but that would not have gone over well.

Instead, he nodded. "Yeah, you can. Just make sure you're back by dinner?"

He spoke very calmly and saw Shawn's shoulders relax a bit. Still not looking up, Shawn turned around and went to walk out of the apartment.

"Hey buddy?" Jon said, and Shawn turned back around slowly.

"Thanks for coming back, and thanks for asking about going to Cory's. I'm very proud of you for not taking off."

That made the teen look up at him in surprise, he wasn't expecting that. Every instinct in him had told him to run, to go to Cory's and not come back until he'd completely calmed down. But Jon had been very clear with him that he wasn't okay with the running. His parents hadn't cared. Shawn had often ran straight to Cory's after a fight at home, and not gone back until it was dark and he was sure his parents would be asleep. Then they would never talk about the fight again, and act like it had never happened.

But with Jon it was different, Jon wanted to talk about it. Jon wanted to know where he was and that he was safe. Shawn wasn't used to that at all.

Shawn felt all the fight leave him at Jon's words. But he still needed to get away for a bit. "Okay." he said, looking Jon in the eyes.

When he did, instead of anger, or pity, all he saw was kindness. It honestly made him feel like bursting into tears.

Instead, he took a deep breath. "I'll—Uh, I'll be home for dinner." he said.

Jon nodded and gave him a genuine smile which the kid returned. It was small, but it was there.

As soon as Shawn shut the door to the apartment, Jon let put a huge breath and sunk into the couch.

The kid had listened. The kid had took off and then come back. They had survived their first real argument without killing each other.

Maybe he could do thing parenting thing after all.