It had been a few months now since they had made the living arrangements permanent. They had been getting along well, with only a few hiccups.

Jon had talked to Alan Matthew's about it and had set Shawn a 9pm curfew on weeknights and a 10pm curfew on weekends, just like Cory's.

Shawn had been pretty good about the curfew even though Alan had told him that Shawn didn't really have a curfew when he lived at the trailer park. So, when it got past 9pm one school night, Jon was a little worried.

He was about to get up and call the Matthew's when the door opened and Shawn strolled through.

"Hey Jon." he said casually, hanging up his jacket and heading off to his room.

"Freeze."

Shawn turned back around slowly, grimacing.

"Pretty sure I told you that your curfew is 9pm, not 9.15pm..."

Jon kept his tone light, the kid wasn't in trouble, he just needed to not be late for curfew.

Shawn bit his lip. "Sorry." he muttered.

Jon nodded. "Don't do it again."

Shawn stared at him for a couple of seconds before nodding back and heading off to his room.

A couple of nights later Jon was grading papers when he happened to look at his watch.

It was 9.12pm and there was no sign of Shawn. Jon sighed. He really didn't want to come down hard on the kid, he hadn't been staying with Jon that long and he didn't want to seem like he was being too hard on him.

When Shawn came in 5 minutes later Jon frowned at him. "You're late." he said.

That got him a shrug back. "lost track of time."

Jon sighed. "Go to bed."

Shawn hesitated, but did as he was asked.

When it happened again a few days later Jon was at a loss. He did the only thing he could think of, he went to talk to Alan.

He explained what had happened and Alan nodded slowly and knowingly.

"Shawn's testing the boundaries. He's seeing how far he can push you until he gets a reaction."

Jon's mouth fell open. "Oh."

"You said there were rules you discussed when Shawn moved in? Consequences?"

Jon nodded. "I haven't had to deal any out yet though."

Alan nodded again. "He's seeing how much he can get away with before you deal him a consequence."

Jon frowned. "He wants me to ground him?" he asked.

Alan smiled. "He wants to see if you are a man of your word, he's testing you."

Jon put his head in his hands. Why were teenagers so complicated? Couldn't he have became guardian to a cute four year old or something?

"So, what do I do?"

Alan looked thoughtful for a moment. "The way we usually go is; warning for the first time, an hour docked off for the second time and the boys get grounded if they're late a third time in a four week period."

Jon nodded. "That seems fair."

"Have you gave him a warning?"

Jon thought about it for a second. "Does 'don't do it again' count?"

Alan smiled. "Yeah, you could get away with that. Next time he does it, go for the hour docked. But if he gives you attitude or really pushes it, you might need to make a point."

Jon thanked Alan for the advice and left, it had given him a lot to think about.

That night Jon watched the clock go past 9pm. He watched as it surpassed 9.15pm, and then 9.30pm.

This time he didn't worry, and when he heard the keys in the door at 9.46pm he sat on the couch, expression neutral.

"Hey Jon." Shawn said casually, as he took off his jacket and hung it up.

"What time do you call this?" Jon asked, keeping his tone light.

That got him a shrug from the teen, who went over and got a coke out of the fridge, opening it and taking a long swig. "Lost track of time again."

Jon stood up and walked over to the kitchen. "Not good enough." he said.

Again, Shawn shrugged. "Sorry?" he said, the sentence coming out more like a question.

Jon narrowed his eyes. "I gave you a pretty reasonable curfew Shawn, it's not hard to abide by it."

Shawn rolled his eyes then. "Whatever." he said, taking his can of coke over to the couch and turning the TV on, feet up on the coffee table.

Jon took a much needed deep breath before going over and taking the remote off Shawn, turing the TV back off.

"I'm not done talking to you."

That just got him a glare from the teen. "Well, I'm done talking to you." Came the snarky response.

Jon shook his head then, mind made up.

"You're grounded." he said firmly.

"What? You can't ground me for not wanting to talk to you."

Jon narrowed his eyes again. "I'm not. You're grounded because this is the fourth time you've been late for curfew."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "I wasn't even that late." he said.

"Your curfew time is not a negotiation Shawn, Its always been at 9pm. Tonight you were 45 minutes late."

Shawn looked like he wanted to argue more but Jon put his hand up. "I'm grounding you for three days; Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you're late again after that, you're curfew will be 7pm until you can prove to me that I can trust you again."

Shawn sat up then. "Jon, I have a date Saturday night!"

Jon shook his head. "Should have thought about that before you broke the rules."

Shawn scowled. "You suck." he muttered.

It was Jon's turn to shrug now. "You brought this on yourself, kid."

Shawn just glared at him then.

"Go to bed." Jon said. It was late and he wanted to get to bed himself, but he wanted to make sure that Shawn was in bed before he went, because he wouldn't put it past the kid to leave.

That got him a deeper glare. Shawn hated being told what to do in the best of times, let alone when he was this annoyed.

Shawn let out an exasperated noise, but he stood up and went to his room, slamming the door behind him.

The next morning Jon was greeted with a glare from the teen when he walked out of his room, ready for school.

"Morning. Breakfast?"

Shawn just shook his head, not wanting to actually speak to the man.

Jon sighed. "I know you're not very happy with me right now, but if you hadn't had been late, you wouldn't be in trouble right now."

All that got him was a scowl. Jon held back the urge to give the kid a firm slap to the back of his head.

Instead, he frowned at him.

"Alright, well there's fruit if you just want something quick."

When that still didn't get him a response, he sighed again, trying not to let his frustration come through, he was sure that would appease the kid, and he didn't want to give him that satisfaction.

"Straight home after school remember, I expect you to be here when I get home."

That got him a deeper scowl, but a slight nod, which he took as acceptance.

Jon managed to avoid Shawn for most of the day at school, he thought the space might do them both some good. Shawn seemed to have the same thought, because he seemed to be avoiding Jon too.

After detention duty and a quick meeting, Jon finally headed home. He paused and readied himself as he put his keys in the door that afternoon, half expecting Hunter to not be in the apartment. However, what he found waiting for him was actually somewhat worse.

Shawn was sitting on the couch, TV on, Cory and Topanga on either side of him. The three teens were laughing, watching a movie.

Jon had to take a few deep breaths to stop himself from walking in and yelling at Shawn. Despite how pissed he was, he didn't want to embarrass the kid any more than he needed to.

"Hi Mr. Turner." Topanga greeted him politely, while Cory gave him a wave. Shawn said nothing.

"Matthews, Lawrence." Jon greeted back, keeping his voice even. "Shawn here must have forgot to tell you; he's actually grounded, so you two will need to go home now."

Cory and Topanga shared a surprised look before both looking at Shawn, who was glaring at Jon, eyes blazing.

"Uh, he didn't mention that." Cory said, voice sounding a bit nervous.

"I'm sure he didn't." Jon answered dryly.

Topanga and Cory quickly got up and said goodbye to Shawn.

"I'll, uh, I'll see you..." Cory stuttered.

"Monday." Jon said firmly. "You'll see him Monday."

"But we have a double date tomorrow night—"

Cory stopped short when he noticed the look on Jon's face.

"Which obviously Shawn will not be attending, because he's grounded. Gotcha." he quickly finished.

"Bye Shawnie, see you Monday."

Shawn didn't say a word to either of them, just sat glaring at Jon.

Once Topanga and Cory had left, Jon sat on the coffee table in front of Shawn, effectively blocking him from standing up.

"Funny, I thought you were there for the conversation we had last night when I said you were grounded."

Shawn shrugged and spoke to Jon for the first time since the night before. "You said I had to come straight home, you never said that I couldn't have friends over."

Jon closed his eyes briefly. Trust the kid to find a loop hole in everything he said. For a kid that claimed he wasn't smart, Shawn had a level of intelligence Jon seemed to he constantly surprised at.

But, he did have a point. Jon hadn't actually sat him down and stipulated the rules of his grounding. "Okay, well let's go over it now, so that there's no more confusion."

Shawn tolled his eyes, but he didn't go to move, so Jon continued. "When I ground you, you come straight home from school and you stay here. You don't have friends over... or girls."

He added the bit about girls before Shawn could use it as another loophole.

"I don't care if you watch TV if your homework is done, but if I ban you from the TV, I expect you to respect that."

Shawn seemed to subconsciously perk up a little at that statement, but then he slouched down again, remembering that he was mad.

"Still think you're being unfair." he muttered.

Jon frowned at him. "Are you kidding me? What did you think was going to happen if you kept being late? That I'd give you a tardy? This isn't school Shawn. I don't have many rules for you, but curfew is important. You need time to get to bed so that you get a acceptable amount of sleep so that you're not constantly falling asleep in English."

Shawn still frowned, but he didn't say anything, so Jon continued. "You know what I think? I think you were testing me to see what I would do."

Shawn scowled and looked away, which made Jon even more sure he was right.

Jon sighed. "Why would you feel like you need to test me?"

Shawn still didn't say anything, just continued to tug on his bottom lip. He was struggling to keep it together, he felt like he could burst into tears any second. Deep down he knew he had been testing Jon. He wanted to see the worst thing that would happen if he kept breaking Jon's rules. But now that he'd done it, he was feeling very unsure.

"Didn't know if you would get rid of me." he muttered.

Jon sighed in frustration then. They had gone over this, he thought he had made it clear that he wasn't going to do that.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not going to kick you out?"

Shawn snapped then, sitting up, eyes filled with tears. "How do I know that you won't? How do I know that one day you won't wake up and realize that I'm not actually worth caring about? That you won't just give up on me like everyone else does? Don't you get it Jon? No-one wants me!"

A few tears ran down Shawn's face now and Jon thought he looked much younger than his 14 years in that moment.

Jon took a big breath in. He had thought this was about Shawn wanting to test him, he didn't realize it was more about the kid's insecurities. Looking at him, he probably should have.

Without thinking too much into it, Jon stood up, pulling the crying teen up with him. "Come here, kid." he murmured, cupping the back of Shawn's head and pulling him in for a hug.

Shawn didn't respond at first, but after a few moments he clung onto Jon, silently crying against the man. He was embarrassed at first for crying, but Jon didn't seem to care, so he relaxed a bit, let himself be vulnerable. It felt scary to be vulnerable in front of someone. Usually he didn't let anyone see his vulnerability, see past the image he presented. But Jon was the first adult that he actually found himself trusting, which, more than anything, scared him more than he would like to admit.

Once the gentle sobbing tapered off, Jon sat the still sniffling kid back down and positioned himself on the coffee table again. He leaned forward and put his hands on Shawn's shoulders.

"I'm going to be very clear with you so that you won't forget this, but if you do forget, I'm okay with reminding you."

This made Shawn look up, curious, his eyes still shiny and vulnerable.

"I'm not going to kick you out. You can push me all you like, you can be late for your curfew a hundred times over, and all that will get you is more time in the apartment of a night. I've said this before, kid, but I'm in this. The only way you're leaving is if you choose to do so, and you have somewhere stable to go."

Shawn bit his lip then, trying not to let more tears spill. But Jon's words meant more to him than he was willing to admit.

"You got me?"

Shawn nodded quickly. "Yeah, I got you." he said softly.

Jon looked at the kid then. He looked less unsure than he did before, but there was still looked very vulnerable, so Jon moved next to him on the couch and slung an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close.

Shawn instantly rested his head against Jon and Jon dropped a kiss on the top of his head. "I'm not going anywhere, kid." he murmured.

"Okay." Came the soft reply.

And for the first time in a long time, Shawn felt genuinely safe.