Only the Curious Have Something to Find

Note: Yes! One more week and I'll have taken the SAT! And, it was announced to my prep class that I've improved the most (almost 300 points) out of all of us (we take practice tests almost every weekend) so I got twenty dollars! Sweet! I'm in an awesome mood, so I hope you enjoy!

-Chapter 4-

DING-DONG

Shawn's head shot up at the sound of the doorbell. "Answer the door, will ya' Shawn?"

"Answer the door??" Shawn sputtered. "Me?"

"No, the Loch-ness monster, yes you!" Henry poked his head out the kitchen door, at seeing his son's look he added, "You're serious? Shawn, he's your friend, first of all, and second of all I have to finish the fish!"

"But-!"

"Just answer the damn door before they leave!"

Shawn stood and straightened out his shirt, he limped to the door and ran a hand through his hair. Taking a deep breath he gripped the doorknob and opened the door.

There stood Lassiter, a shy look on his face as he refused to meet Shawn's eye. Behind him stood a taller man that looked very much so like his son, next to him was a shorter woman with a pleasant smile on her face. "Hello! You, uh, you must be Shawn!" She greeted brightly, her smile faltering at Shawn's beaten appearance, but she didn't let it stop her cheeriness. "I'm Claudia and this is George. Here, we've brought this." She held out a nice looking wine bottle.

"Hi! I'm Henry Spencer, you said you're Claudia and George?" came Henry's voice as he walked up behind Shawn, shaking both parents' hands. Claudia nodded brightly as Henry ushered the three inside, taking the bottle from Shawn, "Ooh, thank you! We'll just have to open this up for dinner, it'll be ready in a few minutes." He nodded towards the kitchen.

Shawn watched Lassiter discretely, the teen glanced up at Shawn, meeting his eye. Both boys quickly looked away, finding their shoes amazingly interesting. Henry ginned at the exchange, Claudia doing the same, while George remained oblivious.

"Thank you for inviting us over, Henry. It was very kind of you." George said politely.

"Well, I should be thanking you." Henry smiled. Shawn looked up from his shoes to see the confused smiles on the Lassiters' faces. An image of Lassiter walking up to his parents in a nice looking kitchen flew past Shawn's eyes. "Mom, dad. A friend invited all of us over for dinner on Sunday, I already told them we'd go, is that OK?"

Shawn shook his head, surprised. "You didn't tell them?" He asked quietly. Most kids would run home and brag to everyone they could find about their good deed. But not Lassiter, he was different. He wanted to almost hide from the attention…maybe that was why Shawn liked him. Because he was different.

"Tell us what?" Claudia and George asked at once, looking at their son.

"How your son saved my son's life." Henry said, looking surprised as well. Both parents' eyes widened looking at their son in shock.

"You saved his life?"

"I didn't save his life…" Lassiter practically moaned, still not looking up from his shoes. "I just helped him…"

"I was having the snot beat out of me and Lassiter - er, I mean Carlton, chased the guys off."

"Is that what happened to you?" Claudia asked, a worried, maternal look on her face as she looked Shawn over. It reminded him of the way his mother used to look at him whenever he fell off of something.

"Them? There was more than one?" George seemed very intrigued.

Shawn nodded, "Yea, three. All on the wrestling team too. If Las-Carlton hadn't come in they would have killed me."

"Oh my lord!"

"That's my boy." George ruffled his son's hair, Lassiter quickly smacked his hand away.

A loud beep from the kitchen cut them all off, "Oh, excuse me. That would be dinner calling."

"Oh here, let me help!" Claudia said perkily, with a hidden smirk on her face as she glanced at the boys, George followed her wordlessly.

The two boys stood in silence for a moment, unsure of what to do. "You, uh, you look nice." Shawn offered, unsure of what else to say.

"Thanks…uh, you-you too." The two smiled at each other, meeting each other's eyes for only a moment before looking away once again.

"So, uh, you guys like fish?" Shawn asked stupidly.

"Yea…yea. You guys seem to." Lassiter offered and Shawn nodded, looking around the room as if he'd never seen it before.

"So uh, your mom's nice."

Lassiter smiled, "Thanks. She's very…maternal."

Shawn smiled, "She reminds me of the way my mother used to be."

Lassiter smiled sympathetically, nodding as if he wasn't sure what to say. He looked up and the two met eyes once again. They held their gaze this time. Lassiter sighed and started, a determined look on his face, "Shawn, I-"

"Boys!" Both jumped as Lassiter's words were cut off, "Dinner!"

--

The five sat around the table, the parents all chatting politely while the two teens sat quietly, sparring glances at each other every moment or so.

Seeing this Claudia smirked to herself and asked "So, Shawn, do you and Carlton hang out much at school?"

Shawn, a little surprised by being brought into the conversation, quickly answered "Uh we, uh, bump into each other everyone now and then." As he said it he glanced to his new friend, who was also smiling. Their eyes met and yet again they quickly looked away, this time missing Henry and Claudia's identical smirks.

"So, Carlton," Henry continued the interrogation, "Why'd you help my son?"

"The fact I'm awesome isn't enough?"

Henry rolled his eyes, all three Lassiters laughing a little. "Sure, son. Keep thinking that." Then he looked to Carlton, waiting for an answer, and though he was trying to look indifferent Shawn was obviously waiting for the answer as well.

"Well, I-uh…" Carlton quickly stumbled over his words. "I was still there because of student council stuff, and I-uh-I…heard them and-uh, and Shawn." At Shawn's confused look Lassiter sheepishly added, "You were screaming at one point." Shawn blushed and Lassiter looked away, quickly continuing. "So, I just ran over and…they ran off." He shrugged.

"Yes, but why?" Shawn kicked Henry under the table, but his father said nothing, only kicking him back.

Lassiter got a slightly confused look on his face, "Why? I—who would walk away from that?"

A smile spread across Henry's face, he turned to Claudia and George, "That's a good boy you've got there."

"It sure is." Shawn agreed, but once he realized he'd said it aloud and quickly stuffed several forkfuls of fish into his mouth at once, nearly choking. Lassiter smiled laughingly, and a little embarrassedly, quickly taking a sip of his milk to hide it.

Henry spared a glance at Claudia to see she had a similar look to his, they were thinking the same evil plot. Get the boys together – well, in Henry's case, humiliate his son at the same time. Henry was sure he was going to get along quite well with Mrs. Lassiter.

George still seemed oblivious to the whole situation. "So, Henry? You caught this yourself?"

Henry tore his eyes from the blushing face of his son, as Shawn tried to swallow his fish with some dignity. "Well, the particular fish you're eating Shawn actually caught." And by caught, Henry meant he'd falling asleep against his fishing pole until it jerked with a catch, freaked out and forced Henry to reel it in. "One of his biggest catches yet. He's been reeling in a lot of good ones lately." Henry said as he glanced at his son's crush, only to be kicked again. At this rate he'd have a sprained knee to match his son's.

"Is this table stable?" George asked, glancing underneath, "I could swear it keeps jerking."

"Uh, yea, the table does that sometimes…when it doesn't like what we're talking about." Shawn whispered the last part to his father, glaring slightly, his look screaming 'Stop it!'.

"So, um, Mr. Spencer. I noticed some of the fish you had mounted in the living room." Lassiter supplied. "Did you catch those too?"

"As a matter of fact…" Shawn tuned out the conversation after that, choosing then to focus on the curly black hair of the Irish teen beside him. And those icy blue eyes…unh. Shawn thought about just staring into those eyes for hours…of running his hands through that hair. Feeling it in between his fingers. Hoping it was as soft as it looked.

"Shawn?" The teen jumped a little, blushing as if they could hear his thoughts.

"Huh-yea? What?"

"I just said help me with the dishes." Henry smirked a little, and Shawn shook his head.

"Oh, yea, right. Sure." He quickly stood, helping his father collect the plates. As he reached down, in front of Lassiter to grab his plate Shawn almost stopped in front of him, able to feel the boy's breath on his arm. In a fit of panic, unsure if it seemed he'd taken too long to grab the plate Shawn snatched the final item and rushed to the sink, placing them in one by one.

"Would anyone like any coffee?" Henry asked, turning to the Lassiters.

"Oh, yes please. Decaf?"

"You got it, how 'bout you, George?"

"I'd love a cup as well, thank you Henry."

"Coming right up. Hey, Shawn, why don't you show Carlton your room? Assuming you cleaned up after you and Gus-" Henry got a plate slammed on top of his hand, stopping him from continuing. Henry bit back a laugh and a slight yelp of pain at the same moment.

"Oops." Shawn said sarcastically, quietly. "Sorry dad." He quickly lowered his voice to a whisper and snarled, "You're trying to sabotage me!" Henry held back a loud laugh, as his son got a look in his eye that said 'I will get you for this.' Before turning to his peer and saying, "Uh, sure, you want to see my room?"

Lassiter smiled politely, a blush creeping across his cheeks. "Sure, why not?"

--

"So…this is my room."

"This is your room." Lassiter said with a nod, following the shorter boy in. He looked up at one of the posters, "The Styx, nice." He smiled, turning to Shawn who smiled widely back.

"You like them too?"

"Of course. They're exceptional." Shawn smiled brightly, happy for the approval. Lassiter glanced around the room once more, and seeing a violin case sitting by Shawn's closet asked, curiously. "You play the violin?"

"I—used to. I used to take lessons, I mean. My mom wanted me to. Once she died I just sorta stopped…" Lassiter smiled softly, a pained look in his eyes. Shawn was a little shocked, Lassiter was hurting for him.

"Do you play any other instruments?"

"Uh, a little bit. The piano a little, I know the fingerings of most band instruments but that doesn't necessarily mean I know how to play them…my mom and dad could play about ten instruments between each other, they passed it on to me." He smiled a little, embarrassed he was still talking when suddenly an image of Lassiter strumming guitar strings flashed by. "The one instrument I'd love to play is the guitar, though."

A bright smile played across the older teen's lips. "That's the one instrument I can play!" He laughed a little, trying to cover up his enthusiasm. "I could teach you—uh, ahem, I mean. If you wanted."

An even bigger smile passed across Shawn's face. "That'd be awesome!" Shawn coughed, trying to play off his over enthusiasm as well.

"Well, we'll just have to get together sometime. I could show you some fingerings…maybe we could even 'jam' together. You on your violin…" Lassiter laughed a little awkwardly, trying to think of the right thing to say.

"That'd be really awesome, Lassiter." Shawn smiled.

The two stood there, smiling at each other, the silence suddenly not so awkward anymore. Lassiter opened his mouth, the determined look creeping back. "Shawn… you, I mean I…I mean when I saw what they were-"

"Carlton!"

"Shawn!"

Both boys jumped as their names were called in unison, as Lassiter was cut off once again. "Come back down, Shawn! The Lassiters have to head out." Henry called up.

Shawn looked at his new friend, not wanting Lassiter to go without something said. The older boy smiled at Shawn, a slightly agitated look on his face, as he turned towards the door. "Lass, wait!" The older boy turned, intrigued. "I…you, uh, you wanna eat with Gus and I tomorrow? At lunch? The two of us are usually alone anyway. I mean, you and Jules could come and join us. I…I know Gus would really love to have Juliet sit with us."

Lassiter smiled, "That'd be nice…I know Juliet would love to sit with Gus, as well." An identical smile played across the shorter boy's lips. "I'll see you tomorrow, Shawn." He smiled warmly, turning to go.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Lassie." Shawn whispered dreamily, the older boy already gone.

-TBC-

I really hope you guys liked this! I'm sorry this is taking me so long…but like I said just one more week! Thank you for sticking with me! I mean, 40 reviews? Holy crap you guys are amazing! I love you all so much, thank you!

-claire