A/N: Thanks to Bees_n_Sunshine for help with the flirting!

[Just like all snowflakes are unique, all people are unique as well. Which means that no matter whether your partner grew up just a block away or across the world, you will be dealing with a different culture. At some point, you will find that the experiences you thought were universal are actually quite individual. And this can lead to some very surprising -and often confusing- conflicts. The important thing to remember is that your partner's perspective is just as valid as your own, and it must be understood and respected before those conflicts can be addressed.]

Gus scrolled through a blog during a break between classes, skimming over paragraphs of personal testimonies and elaborations before stopping at a list of suggestions. It had seemed odd at first to be looking for slave advice from relationship blogs, but now it felt like the most natural thing in the world. For better or worse, he and Shawn were partners. Maybe not the romantic kind like the blogs were designed for, but a lot of the advice still worked.

Though it did often need some tweaking. Shawn's 'perspective' that he wasn't a person was not valid, thank you very much.

He pulled out a notebook he always kept handy and flipped to a new page, ready to take notes. It had been a game changer when he'd thought to look for advice specific to culture-clash. He and Shawn thought so differently, it sometimes felt like they were from different planets. He started to jot notes as he scrolled further through the list, losing himself to the task.

"Well, howdy, stranger," a sultry voice said right next to his elbow.

Gus jumped in surprise and looked over into the emerald eyes of the blonde who always sat two seats away from him. His mouth went suddenly dry, and his eyes moved of their own accord as they slid over her lips, down her neck, and landed on the opening of her tight shirt. Which was not where he was supposed to be looking. He snapped his eyes back up, and her mouth curved in a smile as she leaned forward, giving him a better view.

Gus' mouth gaped as his eyes struggled against gravity. He needed words. Women liked men who used words. She'd asked a question, why weren't his words working right?

"Uh… hi," he managed to stutter out.

Words sucked.

"Hi." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and leaned closer. "I've been meaning to introduce myself, but the timing was never quite right."

She had? Why was now the right time? Did he need to tell her his name now? Oh god, what was his name?

"My name's Stacy." She held her hand out with a gorgeous smile.

"Gus. My name's Gus," he realized with a burst of relief. He took her hand and gave it a shake.

"Nice to meet you, Gus." She didn't take her hand back, and he sat frozen, transfixed by her gaze. It was his turn to talk again, wasn't it? Why did it have to be talking…

Stacy's smile grew, and she scooted her chair closer, the physics of the motion making her body do wonderful, beautiful things. Gus pulled his gaze up again just in time for her to lean close enough for her hair to brush against his cheek.

Heat washed over him as she whispered, "What do you say we skip class…" a shiver ran through his body as her nose ran along the outside of his ear. "... and we go to your place. For a private lesson."

"Yes," Gus answered, his voice husky. "Yes, yes, absolutely, yes." He was going to take this gorgeous woman to his place, and they were going to do gorgeous things in his room, and it was going to be gorgeously perfect, and oh god his place was his parents place. "No. Wait, no."

She pulled back to give him a pout. "No? Why not?"

"Uh, believe me, I would love to, but, uh…" It was completely normal for a young adult to live with his parents. Why was this so hard to say?

"What, you need to get back to-" she looked over at his computer and froze as she saw a picture of a happy couple in the middle of the blog. "Oh. Oh." Her face flushed as she sat up straight. "I didn't realize…"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Gus answered quickly.

Panic truly set in when she moved even further away, taking her beautiful everything with her. She didn't sound quite as sultry when she said, "I didn't realize you had a girlfriend. I probably should have asked…"

"No, no you shouldn't have. I mean, you maybe should have, but it's fine because it's not a girl…" It was just a slave that she'd probably think was beneath her and he'd have to get mad at her and cut everything off before anything got good anyway and life just wasn't fair…

"It's not a girl." Her cheeks grew redder as she stood up and quickly grabbed her bag. "I, uh… guess I'll just see you around. In class."

She did a perfectly beautiful maneuver to make her hair fall forward to shield her face and he watched her walk away. The most perfect woman in the world had wanted him… and now she thought he was gay.

As soon as she turned a corner, he let his head fall onto his laptop, wishing he could download his consciousness into it and delete the entire memory. He was never talking to another woman again.

[Before you and your partner can find a way to work through these conflicts, you'll need to do some introspection. Culture is only part of who we are, and while it molds us, it does not define us. Ask yourself what your core values are, the beliefs and prioritizations that you cannot change without being untrue to yourself. Bring that list to your partner and compare it with theirs. As long as you two can work together to build up from your new partnership core, then everything else is just details.]

Gus reviewed his notes in his head as he waited for Shawn to come in from his break. The advice had cost him an afternoon of beautiful bliss; he was not going to waste it.

Shawn didn't have core beliefs as far as Gus could tell. Or, rather, all of his core beliefs were forced onto him instead of being his own. Hopefully, someday, he could have them again, but until then they had to work with what they had.

Gus' belief was easy: Shawn was a person and he should be treated like one. But there were so many things acting against that belief, it was too much to tackle all at once.

[Change is a hard and regrettably slow process. Pick and choose your battles, and remember that small progress is still progress.]

It sucked that he couldn't change Shawn's belief all at once, but they had made progress. Even if that progress felt more like treating the symptoms instead of the disease.

He glanced at the books he'd laid on the bed, making sure things were all ready. Today's objective was to ease Shawn further into the idea that his time wasn't a commodity for someone else.

The stairs squeaked, and Gus sat up straighter, facing the door. It was Go Time.

It took a few seconds longer than expected for Shawn to walk in with a small smile. His eyes scanned the room, clearly noticing the piles on the bed. "Hi, Gus. Were you waiting for me?"

Gus smiled back; hopefully his nerves weren't completely obvious. "Yeah, I was. I'm getting ready to go downstairs, but I wanted to give you a choice first."

Shawn clasped his hands behind his back, but his expression was more curious than nervous. They were making progress. Gus nodded to the options on the bed. "You never said if you were interested in reading comics or not. I pulled out the best ones to start with. Would you rather read about Batman or Green Spirit?"

It wasn't the choice he wanted to give, but offering up a bunch of hobbies all at once would definitely be too overwhelming. Shawn looked between the comics and the clock before answering, "Green Spirit seems cool."

"He is," Gus agreed as he picked up the Batman comics and brought them back to the shelf. Shawn was still standing nervously at attention, his eyes flicking back to the clock. Gus forced himself to slow down; he needed to understand Shawn's perspective. And he needed to figure it out with respect, which meant asking in a way that the collar wouldn't force an answer. "I'm pretty sure you haven't been doing anything on your breaks, which is fine. But if there's another reason for that besides not knowing what to do, I'd like to hear it."

He took it as a win that Shawn seemed to give the question real thought instead of just spouting off some slave rule. His eyes still dropped to the ground when he finally answered, "Sometimes it's hard to keep track of time."

And thank god, it was a problem that actually had an easy fix. "Ok, what about using a timer?"

Shawn's eyebrows went down in confusion. "A timer?"

"Yeah." Gus walked past him, making sure to keep his movements slow since Shawn seemed to be fighting his slave-mode. It took less than a minute to get things set up on his clock, and he turned it to show Shawn. "You'll press this button to bring up the timer, and this one to start it. Pressing it again will reset it once it goes off. I've got it set for thirteen minutes so you have some time to switch modes before going back downstairs."

Thirteen minutes wasn't much time at all, but at least it was something. Shawn looked at the clock in shock before walking over and tentatively pressing the button Gus had indicated. The timer started and a small smile broke through his slave mask that had been trying to take over.

Gus nodded and sidled away towards the door. "You can have your break now, and don't feel like you have to read if you don't want to. I'll let Mom know I needed your help with something so you can have your full time."

Gus was out the door before he heard Shawn's quiet, "Thank you."

[One of the key things to know about your partner is what their love languages are. Some people need touch, others need acts of kindness. Learn your partner's language and try to use it, even if it isn't one you personally share.]

Gus woke to the sound of a quiet gasp. He kept his eyes closed and forced himself to breathe slow. Shawn already had to deal with nightmares; he didn't need to deal with the knowledge that he was waking his master on top of it.

Gus tentatively placed the wake-up under the 'small progress' column in his head. For the first week, Shawn woke up at least once a night. He'd gone two nights in a row this time before the nightmares caught up to him.

The nightlight seemed to be helping with the wake-ups at least, if not the dreams themselves. It had made sense that someone who was so scared of being blindfolded would be freaked out by waking up in darkness. But Gus hadn't been able to think of any other ways to help him at night.

He made a mental note to look up ways to naturally reduce nightmares as he heard quiet shuffling on the floor next to his bed. Shawn never stood up or walked around afterwards, but he did seem to stay awake for a while. Maybe there was something there Gus could help with…

An article about love languages decided to pop into his mind, and he rolled his eyes behind his eyelids. It wasn't like he could just give Shawn a hug and make it better; his slave would probably just assume he was about to be beaten. If Shawn had any love language, it was food.

Gus' eyes snapped open at the realization. Shawn's love language was food. And food and water had worked in the past to calm him down…

The next night, Gus handed Shawn a small basket before leaving to change into his pajamas. Shawn's look of shock had been worth the extra grocery trip as he took in the packages of cookies, dried fruit, and bottles of water.

"Remember the rule," Gus said when he came back, hoping his voice was as nonchalant as he was trying to make it. "You're allowed to eat anything in my room, at any time. You can keep it next to your bed if you want."

A night later, he smiled in the dark when he heard the soft ratchet of a water bottle being opened.

[Just like you have to appreciate small progress, make sure to also appreciate the small things that bring you both joy.]

"King me," Shawn said with a grin as he moved his bishop into place.

"That's not what you say," Gus complained as he moved his knight to protect his king.

"Eh, I've heard it both ways."

Gus squinted in suspicion at Shawn's completely innocent face. "No you haven't."

[The greatest weapon in your arsenal against culture-shock is patience. Regardless of how you and your partner choose to resolve your conflict, the underlying beliefs that brought it about will not be so easily put aside.]

Shawn never said no unless he had to. He still hesitated when Gus handed him food, he still flinched constantly, and he still mostly avoided the words 'I want' and 'I prefer'. Every small step forward just seemed to highlight how many more things needed to be addressed.

And things didn't always move forward.

As far as Gus could tell, the only thing that had happened was his mother trying to carry too many things and ordering Shawn to hold a glass of water. Sure, it was annoying, there had been a table just a few steps away, but for some reason it had sent Shawn deep into slave-mode. Gus had even had to order him to sit on the bed to stop him from kneeling in the corner.

Which was where he was still sitting now, with his hands clasped together and his head bowed. Gus sighed quietly and fought the urge to yell at his mother for doing whatever the hell she'd done. It wouldn't be helpful, especially when he didn't understand what was going on either. Which only made it more likely to happen again in the future…

He shook his head and focused on loading a disc into his laptop and grabbing his restocked snacks; it was definitely a movie night. With luck, Shawn would be able to come back out after a few hours of being left alone. If not, then at least it passed the time until they went to bed.

Gus pressed play and put the snacks between them as a silent offering. It took half an hour for Shawn to shift to see the screen better; it took just as long before he reached out and silently took a snack.

[Sometimes it's good to step away from things you see differently and instead try something that's new for both of you. On your next date, maybe try a new restaurant, museum, or hobby.]

Gus had been hoping to take another small daytrip once church was done, but after Shawn's regression the night before, he'd changed his plans to something a bit more mundane. It sucked that they couldn't take the leash off while they were in the library, but there were some things that books still did better than laptop screens. The fact that Shawn kept glancing around like he hadn't been in a library in years was an unintended, but welcome, side effect.

Gus ran his finger along the book spines, keeping an eye on the Dewey Decimal numbers until he found the one he wanted. "Here we go." He held up the large, colorful book to Shawn and smirked at his baffled look. "You don't have hobbies, and I like to learn new things." He nodded towards the backpack Shawn had offered to carry. "I've got the paper in there already."

"Origami? Really?" Shawn asked quietly enough that no one else would hear.

"Yes, really," Gus answered, keeping his voice at regular volume. Which was still quiet; it was a library after all. "It's a very distinguished hobby. NASA uses it; that automatically makes it cool."

Shawn opened his mouth before snapping it closed again. Gus hid his disappointment by turning and leading them to one of the study rooms in the back. He'd really been hoping Shawn was comfortable enough with him to make fun of his idea of 'cool'. Apparently insulting his master still fell under the list of things he'd only do with an order.

Baby steps. Shawn was talking in public; they were making progress.

Gus closed the door and put the book on the table that took up most of the room. "You can take the bag off and get everything out."

The large window in the door made it too risky to take the leash off, so Gus did the next best thing by dropping it so Shawn could move unrestricted. He nodded to the chair furthest from the door as he sat next to it. "Just so you know, this is all old, cut up homework. I know it's not as good for folding, but it'll be thrown away no matter what, so you don't have to worry about wasting it."

"You are a very strange master," Shawn said with a small smile as he sat on the indicated chair.

"Thank you," Gus replied sincerely as he opened the book and angled it so they could both see. "So, what do you think? Which do you want to learn first: crane or star?"

Shawn hesitantly reached out and picked up one of the squares of paper. "Cranes are a classic."

"Crane it is."

They were making progress.

[Intimacy is an important part of a healthy relationship…]

Gus stared at his notebook, wishing it could talk back. Why the hell had he written that down? He remembered the day, the frantic dash for class when he realized he'd lost track of time… but not what he'd been thinking right before.

There was a short scrawl right after; it looked like it started with 'Lov' but was otherwise illegible. A fragment of a thought danced just out of his reach, the scrawl barely reminding him of it.

Lov… Love. Love languages. Intimacy. Love languages and intimacy… The answer finally came to him: touch.

Shawn hadn't had any friendly touches for over five years. But what the hell was Gus supposed to do about it? He couldn't just walk up to him and give him a hug, and he couldn't ask if he wanted a hug first because Shawn never said no…

Gus tapped his pen in thought; there was something there, he knew there was. It was why he'd written it down. But he was going to have to think about it for a while. There wasn't any obvious answer.

He absently crossed the advice out and wrote under it, 'Touch starved.'

He looked at the words for a minute before moving the pen again, scribbling over the words above it so no one could read them.

Sure, the notebook was only for him, but it was the principle of the matter.

[There's a common saying that a good compromise has been reached when both parties are dissatisfied. This doesn't have to be true! Sometimes compromises are simply meeting each other in the middle. Other times, all you need is a bit of creativity to think outside the box. Always keep an eye out for the elusive third option.]

Gus crept up the stairs, making sure to skip the squeaky step. It had been a week since he'd started his campaign to teach Shawn that hobbies were good, and now it was time to see if any of it had stuck. Shawn was on break, and Gus wanted to know what he was doing.

Every morning he'd set out different activities. He never mentioned it or gave any orders, but he made sure the next edition of the comic series was on top of the shelf or a stack of papers were on his desk. This morning he'd brought the chess set out, mentioning offhandedly that they might be able to play that evening.

Sometimes it felt like he was helping, other times it felt like he was arranging for a cat to always have new toys to play with. He tried to banish those thoughts when they grew too loud; he was doing the best he could.

The door was partially open, and Gus channeled his inner jackal as he tiptoed over to peek through. He smiled when he saw that Shawn was playing with the chess board, moving one piece and then studying the board before moving the other color's piece. He looked relaxed, a stark difference from a few weeks ago.

They were making progress.

Shawn moved another piece and Gus couldn't help but study the board. And then he really studied the board. It didn't look at all like he'd expect from a beginner playing himself. Shawn moved a black rook forward and Gus whispered under his breath, "Knight to E4."

As if Shawn had heard him, his hand went immediately to the white knight and moved it to the square designated E4.

Son of a bitch.

Gus stormed through the door, ignoring Shawn's startled jump as he snapped out, "You lied to me!"

Shawn curled in on himself, cringing away as he dropped his gaze to the ground. Gus bared his teeth at the display; it wasn't fair. He was allowed to have fucking emotions.

He pointed at the chess set, refusing to let the anger go. "You told me you didn't know how to play. You lied! Why, why would you lie about that?"

He was being an ass, making Shawn answer. But he needed to know. He'd been working hard, he'd forced himself to have the patience of a saint, he'd been thinking about how to help Shawn constantly… And in the end was Shawn just pretending to need the help?

"I never lied, sir, you never asked," Shawn answered quietly.

"What, of course you did, you…" Gus trailed off, trying to remember exactly what Shawn had said. "You didn't know the piece names. And you weren't even beating me at checkers, and oh my god you were letting me win."

Shawn flinched and clenched his hands together, looking like he was having to physically restrain himself from kneeling. His answer was barely louder than a whisper. "Masters are better, sir. They always win."

Gus tried to keep his dying anger alive, but like a fire that burned too fast, there wasn't any fuel left. It died down, leaving behind a lump of smoldering guilt. He groaned and wished he was close enough to a wall to knock his head against it. "Let me guess, your trainer told you that."

"It wasn't him." Shawn didn't move, his eyes locked on the floor. "It was one of my other masters."

Gus sighed and the lump of guilt grew. Shawn didn't just have to deal with the crap from one person with a god complex; he had to deal with crap from every master he'd had as well as the whole fucking world. And Gus had yelled at him.

"Damnit." He stepped back, giving Shawn more space. "I shouldn't have yelled, I'm sorry."

Shawn didn't respond, but his shoulders did loosen. Maybe Gus had a chance to salvage things before they lost all of the progress they'd made.

"I'm not mad at you…" which was a lie, and probably not the best start. "Ok, correction. I was mad at you, but it wasn't your fault. You're not going to be punished."

Shawn relaxed even further at the reassurance and glanced up with a confused look. "Why not?"

Gus took a slow breath to make sure he had the right words. This felt important. "Because it was my fault. You're right, I'd assumed you didn't know how to play. And I'd assumed you were playing to win. That's on me."

The confused look was still on Shawn's face, and Gus forced himself to think things through; it was time to focus on a symptom again, because he had absolutely no idea what the disease even was. "I like to play games where there's a chance I'll lose. That way, when I win, it feels like I earned it. When I play games with you, I'm expecting to lose sometimes."

Shawn was listening intently, but his hands were clenched again and Gus could see them trembling. He probably could have talked Shawn through it if he hadn't just yelled at him for doing what he'd thought he was supposed to do…

Gus shook his head at himself; he'd screwed up, now he had to fix it. Something was scaring Shawn away from playing to win; Gus didn't want him to lose on purpose. He needed to find a compromise that both of them could live with.

"Ok, I'll prove it." Gus moved slowly and replaced the chess pieces with checkers. They needed a simpler game to work through this. Shawn still shied away from him, but at least he didn't flinch. "We're going to play, and I order you to win."

Shawn froze as his eyes widened with a panicked edge. Which was definitely not part of the plan.

Gus thought fast; Shawn understood orders, but orders also had to be followed. He probably still thought he wasn't allowed to win, but he'd been ordered to win, so it was a lose-lose either way. Gus needed to fix it using language Shawn understood.

Shawn understood punishments.

"I told you that you'd never be surprised by discipline, and I meant it." And he never would have guessed that this was what he'd have to do his first official discipline over. "So, if you don't follow your order –if you lose– you have to do five push-ups."

The shift to pure bafflement on Shawn's face would have been funny in almost any other situation. Gus waited and was rewarded by Shawn figuring out how to talk again. "...Push-ups?"

The blog was right; there were things that Gus thought were universal constants that apparently weren't. "Yeah, push-ups. You know, you lay on your stomach and keep your body flat, and you use your arms to push your body up…"

Shawn gave him a Look to rival all Looks. "I know what push-ups are."

Gus tried to not let his relief show through. Shawn was coming back out of the shell he'd been scared into. "Good. That's your discipline if you don't follow the order. But, if you win, then you get a reward. You get to watch me do five push-ups."

He was out of his damn mind to say that. It was a ridiculous thing to call a 'reward'... except Shawn was doing that thing again, where he stared at Gus like he could x-ray through him, and he didn't seem opposed to the idea.

Gus stared back and let a hint of a challenge color his voice as he asked, "Do you understand the order?"

"Yes." The answer was tentative, but the lack of the honorific gave Gus hope.

He moved one of his pieces forward, and Shawn thought for a long second before setting his face in determination. He reached out and moved a piece, going on the offensive instead of trying to stop the incoming attack. His hand shook as he pulled it back to his lap, and Gus pretended to not notice as he played again.

It quickly became apparent that Shawn's playstyle was much different when he wasn't intentionally losing. He pushed deep into enemy territory, always on the offensive and barely leaving any pieces behind to guard his king's row. Gus found himself unable to take advantage of that weakness as he had to spend all of his time trying to keep Shawn at bay.

The game finally ended in a draw, with Gus in the superior position but unable to capture Shawn's final piece. They both sat back and contemplated the board before Shawn broke the silence that had fallen while they played. "So… What happens in a tie?"

Sometimes compromises just meant meeting each other in the middle.

"We split," Gus decided on the fly. "I do two and a half, you do two and a half."

He could feel Shawn's stare as he dropped to the ground and did two full push-ups and then one more with his knees on the floor. He sat back on the bed and pretended like it was just a normal thing to do on a normal day as he jerked his chin forward. "Your turn."

Shawn's mouth was open in shock, and he seemed overwhelmed, but he did as he was told and dropped down to match what Gus had done. Gus nodded in satisfaction and reset the board, giving Shawn the red pieces.

"Do I need to order it again?"

Shawn hesitated, still clearly conflicted, and Gus made sure to keep his voice neutral as he said, "Ok. I order you to win. Same rules as last time."

Shawn nodded before looking down and seeing the change to the board. He looked up in surprise, and Gus smirked at him. "Red goes first."

Shawn won. Gus did his push-ups as promised.

[There will be times when your differences feel insurmountable. Take a moment, breathe, and have hope. As long as you and your partner can continue to work together with respect and understanding, nothing can stand in your way. Things will get better, and your partnership will be stronger for it. Make your own culture. Together.]

A/N: I swear, the pattern of Gus realizes something, gets upset, then helps Shawn through it won't be every chapter! I just happened to work for (checks notes) the last 3 of them, LOL.