A/N: June 1993

Shawn was ten. He didn't need a babysitter.

Shawn had been staying with Jon for about three months now. So far, it had been pretty good. He missed home, but he was pretty sure his dad was going to come back any day now. He'd called Shawn twice since summer started, which was a lot for him.

Jon was pretty cool, for the most part. He spent a lot of time hanging out with Shawn, helping him with his homework and taking him to do fun things, and he always made sure there was food in the house, which was nice. But he was too strict about some things, and he was completely stupid about other things. Like thinking ten was way too young to spend the evening home alone when Jon went out on a date. It didn't matter how many times Shawn told him he'd been staying home alone since he was five. If he was old enough to make a peanut butter sandwich, he was old enough to take care of himself. That's what his dad said.

And the babysitter this time had really sucked. She wouldn't let him watch any of the good stuff on TV, and she wouldn't let him have any of the Oreos Jon had bought for him. Usually, Shawn just stayed with Cory for the night. But the Matthews were out on their camping trip, so that left Shawn to try to make the evening not totally suck by having some fun.

He hadn't done all that much. He'd just copied everything she said and did for about a half an hour. And made a huge mess in the kitchen that took her the next half an hour to clean up. And made a bunch of prank calls. And rolled up some little papers and pretended to be smoking. And spilled juice in her purse.

Actually, it sounded like a lot, as she listed everything out to Jon. Shawn listened from the top of the stairs, and he darted into his room as soon as the door to the apartment was closed.

Jon's footsteps headed up the stairs a minute later, and he stepped into Shawn's room without knocking. "Hunter, get over here."

Shawn swallowed hard. He hadn't really thought about how mad Jon was going to be at him about how he'd behaved. It wasn't like he'd lit the apartment on fire or anything. "Uh, I'm good."

Jon stalked over toward him, grabbed him by the arm and yanked him up from his bed.

And Shawn shrank back.

For a minute, or maybe just a second, Shawn didn't see or hear anything that happened. When he came to, he was curled up on the bed, arms wrapped around his knees, shaking.

"Whoa." Jon stepped back, hands raised in surrender. "I'm sorry. You okay?"

Shawn nodded, but he couldn't let go of his knees.

"I'm not gonna hurt you."

Shawn took in a long, slow breath. He knew that. He'd never reacted like this before. He didn't know what had changed.

"Hey." Jon knelt down in front of him, close enough to touch but without touching him. "What's going on, Hunter?"

Shawn's muscles tensed tighter. But now he knew why. "You're drunk."

"What? I'm not drunk."

"You smell like it."

"I had a couple of beers, but I'm not drunk, Shawn."

Shawn turned his face away. He could still smell it.

Jon slowly stood and backed up. "Does the smell bother you?"

"You're mad at me."

"I'll go brush my teeth."

"It won't help."

Jon sighed. "Why don't you go get ready for bed? We can talk about this in the morning."

"After your hangover goes away?"

"I'm not gonna have a hangover after two beers."

Shawn frowned. Jon had to be lying. No one just had two beers. Still, it sounded like he was getting out of trouble, at least for tonight.

Jon nodded toward the door. "Go brush your teeth."

Shawn nodded and stood. Jon stepped aside, giving him plenty of space to get to the doorway, but when Shawn got there, he looked back at Jon. He had to ask. "What are you going to do to me in the morning?"

"Let's talk about that then."

Shawn wasn't sure whether he'd be able to sleep with that hovering over his head. He wasn't sure how his dad would have handled this—he never would have hired a babysitter—but he had an idea how Mr. Matthews would, if it was Cory. "It's not gonna hurt?"

"Well, it's probably gonna suck. But I'm not gonna hurt you, Shawn. I promise."

That didn't feel much better. But if Jon was really going to keep his promise, Shawn was pretty sure he could at least sleep. "Okay. Night."

"Good night, Shawn."

This is part of the "Home" AU series (which is not in chronological order). The series so far:

Part 1 - You're gonna be fine

Part 2 - Just a couple of spoonfuls

Part 3 - You know what it's like to be hungry

Part 4 - Because it's true

Part 5 - Everyone knows it was me

Part 6 - I don't want your charity

Part 7 - You can't do that

Part 8 - Stealing is a federal crime

Part 9 - Like my old man

Part 10 - He called you a loser

Part 11 - It's not nothing

Part 12 - Call someone

Part 13 - I'm not gonna hurt you (this fic)

Part 14 - (coming soon!)