A/N: This is partially to prove to myself that I can write more than just whump and h/c, lol.
"I hate you, Shawn. I hate you!"
"I know you do! Isn't this awesome?!"
Gus was barely hanging on to the rocks with his fingers, his feet kept slipping as they looked for purchase, and his eyes were squeezed closed so he wouldn't have to look at the drop below him.
"This is not awesome! You know I hate heights!" Gus snapped at his best friend.
"But you still came up here!" Shawn exclaimed back, sounding like he was having the time of his life. "I'm proud of you."
Gus refused to open his eyes, but he just knew Shawn was pointing at him. He reached up and tried to find the next handhold before quickly returning his grip to the rock he knew he could hold onto. His hands were starting to sweat; he didn't know how much longer he could hold on.
Shawn's voice called out again, sounding higher up. "Come on buddy, you have to use your eyes to keep going."
Gus whined and forced his eyes open, a slab of grey rock stared back at him. He took a deep breath and started a motivational chant, "Don't look down, don't look down…"
He looked up. Right into the face of Shawn who was hanging carelessly right next to him. "Welcome back to the party! We're like Sylvester Stallone and Janine Turner! It's fine, I'll be Turner."
"No," Gus gritted out as he saw the next handhold and grabbed for it, pulling himself up next to Shawn. "You're Stallone, because I'm going to be Lithgow, because I'm going to kill you!"
"I don't think that works. Doesn't his character die?"
"Not in my version," Gus said as he climbed up another handhold. He wedged his feet where his hands had been and paused to catch his breath as his muscles trembled. "In my version, I throw you off of a cliff for having a terrible idea!"
"You have to catch me first," Shawn said with a grin before scrambling to the top of the rock slab. He looked down with a smug look before spreading his arms wide and throwing himself back.
"Shawn!" Gus yelled as his friend free fell past him. He tried to look down to keep watching and the distance below seemed to stretch into miles. He squeezed his eyes shut and locked his hands into place.
Shawn's whoop rose up from the depths and Gus sighed past his terror; it would figure that Shawn would come back to haunt him as an adrenaline-junky ghost.
"Come on buddy, you can do it!" Shawn's ghost called out.
Gus shook his head and clung even harder to the rocks under his hands. "Nope, no, no way, no how, I'm staying right here!"
Shawn's ghost argued, "You can't stay up there, it's the finals of American Duos tonight!"
"You can tape it and bring it up here!" Gus argued back.
"How does that even make sense?" Shawn's ghost really just sounded like Shawn. Wasn't there supposed to be an echo?
His fingers were starting to slip.
Shawn called up to him again, "Dude, it's fine. It's like a trust fall!"
"I hate trust falls, Shawn. You know what always happens when I do trust falls?!" Gus yelled back. "I fall!"
"Well, that's the point!" Shawn cheerfully informed him. "Come on, this is nothing compared to when you hang glided off of a cliff!"
"I can't do it! I don't have the kamikaze!"
"Wrong case, but I'm loving the enthusiasm!"
"Damnit, Shawn!"
"There you go! Come on, let's go! Come get me!"
Gus stared at his fingers where they were slowly but surely losing their grip. He had to make a choice. Gus grumbled to himself about stupid friends with stupid ideas and stupid smug smiles and stupid outfits and stupid hair as he braced himself for the impossible.
"Woah, the hair? Really?!"
Ok, maybe he was yell-grumbling. Gus took a deep breath and threw himself backwards, crossing his arms across his chest so he'd be ready for his coffin.
Less than two seconds and an eternity later, Gus landed with a distinguished flop onto a giant inflatable cushion. He kept his eyes closed, certain this was just a pit stop on the way to certain doom.
A hand clasped his shoulder and he didn't have the mental capacity to react, too busy waiting for the next fall. Shawn spoke up from next to him. "I knew you could do it! Don't you feel great?!"
"Never again, Shawn. Never!" Gus rasped out as he finally opened his eyes and stared up into his best friend's beaming face. "Please tell me you have what you need for the case now."
"Oh, I solved the case hours ago." Shawn waved his hands carelessly in the air. "This was just for you. You beat your fear! You won!"
Gus took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relishing the look on Shawn's face as it transitioned from smug to nervous. Gus sat up and faced him squarely as he said each word calmly and deliberately, "I. Am going. To kill you."
There was a beat of silence where nothing seemed to move before Shawn started to quickly scoot towards the edge of the large cushion. "You have to catch me first!"
"Oh, you are on!" Gus started to scoot quickly after him, ignoring the line of bewildered pre-teens who were waiting their turn for the climbing wall.
"You cast me as Stallone! I can't be beat!" Shawn slid off the cushion and immediately started to run for the obstacle course.
"Have you never seen Rocky?!" Gus asked as he chased after him.
Shawn turned around to run backwards as he answered, "Of course I have! He punches meat! Wait, am I allowed to say that around-" The back of his foot caught on a beam bolted to the floor and he fell in a spectacularly dramatic fashion.
Gus caught up to him and put his hands on his hips as he panted for breath. "He loses the fight, Shawn."
"Wow, spoilers," Shawn retorted as he stayed on his back, staring at the ceiling. He suddenly tilted his head and grinned before looking back at Gus. "Dude, I've got an idea. Do you trust me?"
"What?! No! Of course I don't trust you!"
Shawn popped up to his feet. "Awesome! Let's go!"
He sprinted off towards the stairs and Gus only stared after him for a second before sprinting after him, "I said I don't trust you!"
(Five minutes later)
Gus clung to the strap on his harness as he stared down the long stretch of zip line leading back to the ground level. "I HATE YOU, SHAWN!"