Author's Note: Wait, how have I not written a Shules chapter yet?! I've been in love with these two since I was like…. twelve. They're the reason I found fanfiction.

Basically all I've been watching over the past 4 months is Psych; it just hits the spot every single time. So of course I had to write some Shules under the Mistletoe!

The dead body was routine.

The explosion of Christmas decorations was less so.

Juliet O'Hara and Carlton Lassiter stared around the tiny apartment they'd been called to investigate, taking in garlands on every wall, wreaths on all the doors, blown glass balls on each cabinet knob and a variety of Santa hats, china figurines and manger scenes on every possible flat surface.

Oh, and mistletoe.

Everywhere.

"Wow," Juliet deadpanned, barely able to absorb it all. "I like Christmas as much as the next gal but… wow."

Carlton just blew out a breath and stepped gingerly into the apartment. "Body's in the kitchen," he reported, and walked away without sparing another word on the Christmas fiasco.

Shaking her head, Juliet was about to follow him when she jumped at the feeling of a chin settling on her left shoulder, and then another chin settling on her right. Head jerking around, she saw Shawn and Gus on either side of her.

"Good mooooorning," Shawn greeted cheerily.

"He bribed me with crullers into doing this," Gus added, chin still uncomfortably digging into her shoulder.

Juliet shook them off, flustered. "What are you guys doing here?" she demanded, taking a few steps back. "I didn't call you for this, it was a suicide."

Shawn tsked. "Jules, Jules, Jules," he said, stepping over the threshold of the apartment and looking around him with growing curiosity. "You don't need to call me. When I couldn't get Jingle Bells out of my head for 41 hours straight, I knew there was something going on."

"Woooow…" Gus breathed, approaching the electric fireplace mantle to stare at some particularly cursed china sculptures of the Holy Family. "These are creepier than Grandma Guster's basement collection."

Juliet rubbed her forehead, both amused and already exhausted by their presence. "Okay, okay, you guys can stay, but I really think this one might just be a normal suicide. And she didn't have a cat, so you'll have to find some other witness if not."

Shawn grinned at the callback, tailing Juliet around the corner as she tried to follow her partner into the kitchen. Before she could make it there, though, he snagged her arm. "Mistletoe…"

Juliet glanced up. The doorway they were underneath, like every doorway and also some non-doorways in the apartment, had mistletoe dangling from it. Blushing, Juliet shook Shawn's hand off. "Shawn, there is a dead body in the next room."

Shawn scoffed, not seeming to see why that should mean anything. Juliet raised her eyebrows and gave her head a sharp shake.

"Okay, okay," Shawn relented, squeezing past her into the kitchen… and smacking Juliet's butt on the way by. Juliet squeaked, cheeks red, and hurried after him.

After he, inevitably, proved that the suicide was in fact a murder, the four got down to their usual investigation process. Juliet ended up back at the station during her lunch hour to peruse the case file for more possible clues, and barely noticed the figure approaching before a smoothie plunked down on her desk.

She glanced up to find Shawn and Gus in front of her.

"Lunch, m'lady?" Shawn offered with a cheeky grin, nudging the smoothie closer. "I know you always forget when we discover a body between the hours of 10 and 12."

Juliet smiled sheepishly, called out, and reached for the smoothie. "Thanks," she accepted, leaning back in her chair. "Any leads so far?"

"Spirits are sleepy," Shawn sighed.

"I'm sleepy," Gus added, checking his watch.

Shawn sent him a weird look. "Dude, don't check your watch when you say stuff like that. It makes it seem like you have a nap time."

"I don't have a nap time, Shawn, I was merely calculating how many hours it would be until my bedtime so I can count down until the sweet, sweet moment when my head hits that pillow."

Juliet smothered a laugh behind another drink of smoothie. "Okay, well, if you guys don't have anything to report on the case front I should probably get back to work."

Shawn pouted, coming around the side of her desk so he could mock-seductively rub her shoulders. "Orrrr, we could-"

Juliet saw a newer member of the SBPD walk by, young, male, eyebrows raised in their direction. Face flaming, she quickly rolled her shoulders to shake Shawn off and stood up. "Shawn, we're in my place of work. Please try to be professional."

Shawn opened his mouth, then, taken aback, shut it again. He nodded once and slipped back around her desk. "I'll… leave you to it, then," he said, giving her an awkward wave and heading out of the building with Gus trailing lazily behind.

Juliet sighed a little, feeling guilty. But he just didn't seem to understand: it wasn't that she didn't want to act like they were a couple; she did! She loved being with Shawn and she loved when he acted like her boyfriend, particularly after day-dreaming and pining over the relationship status for so many years. But she saw the looks from her fellow officers and caught snatches of the gossip sessions around filing cabinets that she'd never quite been privy too. She had her boundaries, and he needed to respect them.

And yes, sure, she could be a little more transparent in her communication of those boundaries and her reasons behind them, but sometimes a girl just wanted her mind read, okay?

Juliet didn't see Shawn until that evening, when she and Carlton ended up at the house of the victim's aunt, where she'd allegedly been the evening before her death. To no one's surprise, they found Shawn and Gus already sitting in the living room drinking tea.

"Jules! Lassie!" Shawn exclaimed when he, intrusive presence that he was, answered the door instead of the homeowner. "Lovely for you to join us, come on inside."

"Spencer," Lassiter growled, shoving past him. "What're you doing here?"

"Ohh, oh! This is my old friend Cindy. We met, mmm…"

"About twenty minutes ago," Gus called from the room over.

Shawn nodded his confirmation. "Exactly. Old friends."

Juliet raised her eyebrow skeptically and followed Carlton into the living room, flashing her badge as he made their position clear to Cindy. As she stood by the couch, she could feel Shawn creeping closer and closer, and then a hand rested on her lower back, creeping lower and lower-

"Shawn," she hissed finally, taking a sharp step away. "Stop it."

He made wide eyes at her, feigning innocence, but before long she felt his hand on her back again.

This time, she couldn't control her tone: "Shawn!" she exclaimed, and everyone's head turned towards them.

Caught off-guard, Shawn's gaze swiveled between Cindy and the other members of their party. Lassiter furrowed his eyebrows at her quizzically, then shook his head and returned to his interrogation.

When they'd gotten what information they could from Cindy, the four filed outside and Juliet pulled Shawn to the side. "I'm sorry I snapped," she said, not meeting his gaze. "I really wish you would respect my wishes, though."

"Your wishes," Shawn repeated. "And those are… to not act like a couple?"

"Not when I'm working."

Shawn made a face. "Jules, I spent, like, our first four years working together flirting my face off. I really don't think Lassie or the Chief cares-"

"I care!" Juliet exclaimed. "I care, Shawn."

"I-" Shawn released a frustrated breath. "You- why? What's the deal, here?"

Similarly frustrated, Juliet opened her mouth to try and explain, only to find Lassiter looking impatiently in their direction. When they made eye contact he jerked his head at his car, ready to leave. Juliet shut her eyes for a second, breathing deep to keep her calm.

"I just don't think it's a very good look to have you trying to feel me up at crime scenes," she told Shawn stiffly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to try and solve this murder before the holidays."

She slipped past him, feeling guilty once more but unable to really do anything about it.

"What was that about?" Carlton asked as she got in the passengers side and yanked her seatbelt across her body.

"Nothing," Juliet grumbled. "Let's just follow up on this lead and then call it quits for the night, okay?"

The case was still unsolved by the time that Juliet made it home, very late, and crashed in bed. She reached through her phone, skimming through messages, and became very aware of the fact that Shawn hadn't texted her. He wasn't the most consistent communicator, but he liked to check in at night, even just for the safety reasons given both their line of work.

The lack of a message didn't make Juliet scared for his safety, though, just frustrated with herself. She knew she'd hurt his feelings that afternoon, probably all day, honestly; of course he wasn't going to reach out with a sappy good night text.

Juliet groaned and tossed her phone to her bedside table, dragging her covers over her head. She was wiped; figuring out her relationship could come in the morning.

When morning did come, Juliet awoke to a text from Gus, not Shawn.

Gus: Could you talk to Shawn? Found him moping in the office at like 6:30am, not sure he even went to sleep last night.

Juliet felt the surge of guilt from the night before return. Making a decision, she shot Carlton a quick message and hopped out of bed to get dressed.

Gus and Shawn were, thankfully, both still at the Psych office when Juliet pulled up and let herself in. Gus was busy on his computer, and Shawn was staring off into space, absentmindedly tossing a foam ball with a chunk out of it up into the air every couple of seconds.

Juliet stepped into the main space in their office and cleared her throat. "Good morning."

Gus glanced up, looked at Shawn, and got to his feet. "I need… a donut," he announced, and walked out the door.

Shawn didn't even question the complete non-sequitur, looking at Juliet for a moment before returning his gaze to the ceiling. He threw the ball in the air, keeping his voice deliberately casual when he said: "Hey, Jules; do you have a lead on the case?"

Juliet sighed, grabbing a spare chair and hoisting it over to where he was sitting. She sat so they were facing each other, knees bumping. "No. We need to talk. And I need to apologize."

Shawn's knee jiggled and he tossed the ball in the air again. Juliet let him fidget, but put a hand on the other knee and gave it a squeeze. "I'm really sorry, Shawn, for not communicating better. I totally brushed you off yesterday and probably really hurt your feelings."

"Well, I shouldn't have pushed your boundaries," Shawn said, still not looking at her. "I just kept making the same mistake, so… yeah."

"Sure," Juliet allowed. "But I wasn't explaining myself. So I'm going to explain myself now, and try to make up for it. I don't have a ton of issue with PDA, generally; I mean, public make outs are kind of a lot but holding hands and, you know, that's all fine. But at the precinct, or when I'm on a case, I just feel like…"

She bit her lip, trying to formulate the words. "I just feel like everyone is watching me and judging me and that I'm falling into this whole "falls in love with a coworker" cliche, and being a female detective is hard enough without people gossiping about your personal life. But I can't separate my personally life from my work life, because you're a part of both, and I love that, Shawn, I really do."

Shawn had finally met her gaze and instead of tossing the ball was squeezing it lightly. "I thought you might be embarrassed of me."

"What?" Juliet stared at him, horrified. "No! Shawn, no. Okay, sure, you can be a little much sometimes, especially in a work environment that's generally pretty serious. But you are great at what you do and your results speak for themselves! I'm extremely proud to be on your team and to be your girlfriend, I promise."

A smile squirmed its way onto Shawn's face and he reacted out to cup her cheeks and give them a little squish. Juliet smiled back at home, raising her eyebrows in an unspoken question: we okay now?

"Sooo, what should I do?" Shawn asked, dropping his hands to grasp hers, one resting on each thigh. "No more SPBD PDA? It's too many letters, anyway."

"It is a lot of letters," Juliet agreed, wrinkling her nose. "And… honestly, I don't entirely know yet. Maybe we can work up to it? Take it moment by moment and just try to listen to each other?"

Shawn screwed up his face, mock-contemplating, before he nodded. "Sold. Now. We have a murder to solve?"

"We do," Juliet grimaced. "And I may have told Carlton he was going to have to fly solo until I could join him this morning so I could talk to you?"

Shawn winced. "We should get to the precinct."

"Yeahhhh."

Their investigations ended up leading the four right back to where they'd started: the victims Christmas Palooza of an apartment. As Lassiter led the way inside, Juliet scoped out a doorway and snagged Shawn's hand. He lifted his eyebrows in question and she dragged him underneath the door frame.

"Mistletoe," she said innocently, and pulled him in for a kiss.

From the kitchen, they could both hear Lassiter: "Spencer! Get your paws off of my partner!"

Juliet pulled away, pressing her face into Shawn's shoulder, but not before she saw the wide grin on his face.

Author's Note: Okay! Gotta say, I'm quite happy with this one.

I'll be honest, I was actually a little worried there wasn't going to be a Mishaps with Mistletoe installment for this year :'( As some of you may have possibly noticed, I have not been posting much this year. To put it frankly, for the first time in my life I'm putting my creative focus into works that I could someday possibly monetize (in other words: original works instead of fanfiction). That being said, fic still means a lot to me and I wanted to make sure that 2023 had a chapter! I've been writing this fic for eight years now, and skipping a year just felt so depressing.

So thank you Psych! And Merry Christmas to you all; whether or not you celebrate, I hope you have a blessed days with all your loved ones 3