A/N: All the... Uh, back-story (I guess you could call it that) in this is pretty fake. One of the little back-story parts in the story has to do with something from a fanfic I'm working on for The 4400 that isn't finished yet. Besides that... It's basically just Shawn thinking about Kyle and himself.
Disclaimer: I don't own The 4400. (Duh.) Or really anything.
Like A Frown
They used to play Mario and Zelda and eat disgusting cheap pizza that they had made themselves on the weekend. But it was the weekend, and they were guys, and it didn't matter how disgusting the pizza tasted, or that they both couldn't get passed level 5 or some number on Mario or that Zelda froze every once in awhile.
Because besides the fact that they were family, that they were cousins, that Kyle and he had hung out and did more things together than Danny and he had ever done, they were best friends.
It didn't matter that when they were ten he had almost died because they had stupidly gone out onto a nearly frozen lake, or that they had pulled Nikki's hair and teased Danny mercilessly.
They had fun together, and went to camp together, and did everything together so much that he has to wonder if maybe Danny was really his cousin and Kyle was really his brother. And he had even asked him mom about it once and she had laughed and said 'No' and then he had asked if Kyle could come over for dinner.
And he'd do anything for Kyle, he would, but being in a coma for three years and being abducted by future beings is kind of hard to change, and it's harder to change the fact that he's changed. They both have.
And if he ever sees Kyle again they'll both fool around, and Kyle will ask 'How it's going at the center?' with a slight annoyed look on his face, and he'll roll his eyes and say 'It's not like that.'
And then they'll both sigh and continue to talk about nothing, both of them trying to ignore how they sound kind of desperate, like they're trying to grasp onto some fragments of their lives they'll never get back.
They'll go to a burger place across the street, where people will glance and stare at his suit for a minute before they return to their own meals, and Kyle will get this look on his face, like he wants to say something. But he won't.
And he'll glance around nervously, hoping that Jordan isn't stalking him again and they'll both eat in silence. And in another hour they'll both be on the way to their different homes, and they'll share an awkward hug with an equally awkward goodbye.
He'll wait around for a few minutes, watching Kyle drive away, and knows that when Kyle will get home and when he'll see Danny and Danny will ask where he's been, he'll say nowhere. And when Danny asks if Kyle's seen him, Kyle will shake his head in the meaning of 'No.'
Then Danny will smile at Kyle which really looks more like a frown, and then they'll both go play video games that he and Kyle had once played. Long, long ago.
Himself, he'll sigh and make his way toward his own car, driving back to the uncertainty that is his life, and Jordan will ask where he's been and Shawn will pretend like the tone in Jordan's voice is over-protectiveness and not something else.
He'll smile at him, and say 'Oh, nowhere. I just went for a walk.'
And then Jordan will have the same smile (that really looks like a frown) on his face that Danny has and both he and Kyle will go on pretending that they haven't spoken in four years. Or three.
And they'll both keep each others' secrets, because after all, they're not just cousins who sat around on the weekends eating disgusting pizza that they made themselves and playing video games instead of expanding their horizons, or minds.
No, they're not just that. They're best friends.
They just got a little lost along the way.
The end.