(4 years ago)

"Burton Guster, if you spell this word correctly, you will be declared the Spelling Bee Champion. Your word is… Aggiornamento."

Burton let out a breath as sweat dripped down his face. Everything he'd worked for was hanging on this moment. He needed the win. "Can I have the language of origin?"

"The language of origin is Italian."

He was smart; he knew this. He wasn't strong like the bullies, he didn't have a lot of friends like the bullies, and he didn't have power like the bullies… but he was smarter than the bullies. And it was going to save him.

"A-G-G…" Was it an I or an O? He just barely remembered seeing the word in the dictionary. Had he said one G or two? "Wait, let me start over…"

There was a scholarship to Meitner's School on the line. If he won, he'd get away from the bullies. If he won, the whole world would open up for him. He had to be the smartest one in the room; there wasn't any other option. He squeezed his eyes shut and saw the word in his mind. "Aggiornamento, meaning 'bringing up to date.' A-G-G-I-O-R-N-A-M-E-N-T-O."

Burton held his breath, waiting for the angry buzz that would doom him to four more years of hell.

"That is correct. Congratulations, Burton Guster, you just won…" The announcer's voice faded into white noise as Burton's knees buckled and a laugh burst out of his throat. He'd won. He'd actually won. Suck it, Jimmy Nickles, he was out. No more swirlies, no more lockers, no more spitwads on the back of his head. Brains over brawn, every time.

A trophy was handed over, and Burton held it up to the sound of applause and the whoops of his parents. The stage light struck the cup, making it shine as bright as his future. As long as he stayed the smartest person in the room, nothing could stand in his way.

(Present day)

The dorm came into view, and the sight gave Gus enough energy to jog even faster. Most people who saw him would think he was rushing to class. What would they think if they knew he was rushing to his slave?

Chemistry class that morning had been a disaster; he'd managed to shatter a beaker on the counter, sending hot chemicals all over his work bench. Luckily, they hadn't been dangerous chemicals, but it had felt like an omen as he'd cleaned up his mess. He entered the building and slowed to a brisk walk. Was there another disaster waiting for him in his room?

He'd been an idiot for not thinking about Shawn's interests when he'd been coming up with options last week. Society may have taught him that slaves didn't have interests, but he knew better. He knew damn better.

It didn't matter that he was exhausted in every sense of the word; Shawn was depending on him. He couldn't keep making careless mistakes.

He paused to catch his breath at the top of the stairs before stepping into the hallway. A familiar face with green hair beamed at him as they walked back from the bathroom. "Hey, Gus! I haven't seen you for a few days."

Rowan had seemed to have made it their mission to become friends with Gus, even going so far as to invite him to a party a few days ago. Gus sighed as he looked towards his room. "Hi, Rowan, good to see you. I'm not trying to be rude, but class was terrible. Can we catch up later?"

"Sure thing, early classes are a bitch. See you around!" Rowan waved cheerfully and went to their room.

Gus waved back as he jogged the rest of the way to his door. He closed his eyes in a silent prayer as he turned the door knob. Please let their idea have worked…

His first impression wasn't very promising when he saw Shawn startle to standing from where he'd been kneeling on the floor. But then Gus noticed the book laying open in front of Shawn's feet, and the doodles filling the margin of the notebook next to it. That had to be a good sign, right?

"H-Hi, Gus. How was class?"

Shawn's shakiness didn't escape Gus' notice as he shrugged off his backpack. "Hey, Shawn. Class sucked; it's good you weren't there. Remember how the wart remover went in Willy Wonka?"

Shawn winced in solidarity. "Ouch. Explosion and all?"

"Nearly. How did things go for you?"

"I… didn't get very far." Shawn's eyes darted around, like he wasn't sure where he was supposed to be looking. "It was interesting though."

"That sounds promising." Gus sat on his bed with a heavy sigh. He couldn't handle his desk right now. He could barely handle being awake right now.

"Are you ok?" Shawn asked. A second later the bed dipped as he sat next to Gus.

"Yeah… Just tired. An eight o'clock lab was not my best idea." When was the last time he actually had a good idea? He couldn't think of any.

"Especially an 8 o'clock lab on a Monday," Shawn unhelpfully pointed out.

Gus groaned and dropped his aching head into his hands. "I'm supposed to be the smart one. I'm not supposed to screw up schedules or forget about basic things like thermal shock." Sweet baby J, he was actually complaining to Shawn about this? What was wrong with him?

"I mean, at least it has a cool name." Shawn's leg jittered before abruptly stopping. "It could be a superhero. Thermal shock: Shoots lightning out of his hands and flames out of his… eyes."

"That's not what you were going to say at first, was it?" Gus asked, peeking at Shawn around his hands.

"Nope," Shawn admitted with a grin that was just a bit too bright. His fingers twitched before he stilled them. "Do you need to rest? I can be g- quiet."

Shawn was sitting really still… Gus sighed and sat up straight. "You really need to get out, don't you?"

"I'll be fine," Shawn answered quickly. "And you look tired."

"I'll be fine," Gus echoed with a smirk. "I'll just… drink more coffee. That's the college thing to do…"

He pushed himself to standing, but Shawn moved faster, beating him to the coffee maker. Which left Gus just standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. He really didn't want to sit back down… He looked around and noticed the book still laying on the floor. There were only a few pages turned, like Shawn had barely made it past the introduction section.

What had he done with the rest of his hour and a half?

Shawn clicked the coffee maker on and turned around just in time to see where Gus was looking. He knelt down to close the books and stack them neatly back in their pile. "Sorry, I should have cleaned those up…"

If he had the energy, Gus would have told him it was fine. But, really, it was better to not worry about stepping on books anyway. Their room was big enough, but there wasn't that much extra space.

Was he a bad person for letting Shawn do slave things? Or was he a bad person for telling Shawn he shouldn't do slave things? What was the right play?

Gus avoided the internal questions and said, "Once the coffee's done, we'll head out. There's not enough time to take a bus, but maybe we can explore and find a quieter area on campus instead."

"I shouldn't need-" Shawn cut off his sharp words as his hands clenched into fists. He took a breath and locked his hands behind his back. "Thank you."

Gus silently recited the rule he knew was going through Shawn's head: 'A slave was grateful for what he was given.' Would they ever be able to get away from those phrases? "You're welcome. And don't think I'm just doing it for you; I like knowing the area."

"You like knowing everything," Shawn said with a small smile.

"Damn right I do." The more he knew, the better choices he could make. "Knowledge is the real-world's super power."

Shawn coughed to cover up an amused snicker, and Gus realized he'd put his fists on his hips in the typical hero pose. He puffed up his chest to maximize the effect. "Just call me Tap Man, salesman by day, rhythmic superhero by night. I beat up the bad guys with the power of my mind… and syncopation."

Shawn didn't try to hide his laugh this time, and the quiet sound rang through the room, accompanied by the happy gurgles of the coffee maker. "Every good hero needs a bad guy."

An image of Jimmy popped into Gus' mind. "Bullies. And Riverdance Man."

Shawn's shoulders were looser, and his fond smile warmed Gus' heart. If they were both normal people, the friend thing to do would be to help Shawn build a superhero persona too. But Gus could already envision the way Shawn would close down and just tell him that slaves didn't get to be superheroes.

Which was ridiculous. If anyone in this room was a superhero, it was Shawn.

The coffee finished brewing as Gus filled the time, explaining all of his attacks and why tap sand actually made a great weapon. Shawn added small bits of commentary as they fleshed out Gus' character, and they were starting to think about his origin story when the coffee was ready to go.

Gus filled up his travel mug and thought for a second before grabbing the leash. "You know, we haven't checked out the dance building yet. Maybe we could find Tap Man's fortress of jazz."

"Where he discovered his powers after his love left him for pop music?"

"Why do I have to lose my love?"

"Because all superheroes have some kind of tragic backstory," Shawn explained logically as he lifted his chin.

Gus clipped the leash on as something dark eclipsed the simple joy of the conversation. "Yeah, I guess so."

Shawn was definitely the superhero in the room.

The same pattern repeated itself for several days. Shawn would stay in the dorm for one class, Gus would come back worried, and Shawn would be just slightly off for a bit before they fell back into their groove. There was a tension growing, but Gus couldn't put his finger on what it was.

The only thing he knew for sure was that Shawn still needed an energy outlet, and the longer he had to stay alone, the worse it became. Which was why they took the bus after Gus' last class on Wednesday with the goal of burning out as much of that energy as possible. Shawn had asked to stay in the dorm all morning on Thursday; it would be the longest he'd been left since the first day. They needed to give him the best chance possible at holding it together.

"So, have you learned anything interesting yet?" Gus asked as he ducked a treebranch and continued on the rocky trail.

"About hiking?" Shawn answered innocently as he looked through the trees, still letting Gus lead even though he wasn't leashed. "I've learned we still haven't seen any bears."

"I'd rather see it than have it sneak up on us." Gus glanced up at the tree branches, making sure they were bear-free. "But I meant about the criminology stuff."

"I haven't read too much yet, and I already knew- it's all pretty basic stuff so far."

If it was so basic, then why had it taken several days for him to reach the end of the first chapter? Gus had seen him read much faster before. What was he missing? "I guess that makes sense that you'd already know some of it. You were taught how to fool lie detectors; you were probably taught cop stuff too."

Damnit, what was he doing? Why had his mouth gone rogue? What happened to respecting Shawn's privacy?

Gus turned around to apologize, but Shawn's calculating look stopped him. They stared at each other for several seconds before Shawn said, "Yeah. I was."

He didn't seem opposed to sharing how he knew all of those things, but Gus suddenly found himself not wanting to ask. Shawn's willingness to answer was enough. His trust was enough. "Well, just let me know if you need a harder book."

Shawn's expression shifted subtly, his lips ticking up even as his eyebrows tilted down. Gus smirked and turned back around; it never grew old, being able to surprise him. He continued down the trail, not worrying that Shawn still wasn't moving. That trust ran both ways.

Gus was barely able to concentrate on his classes the next morning. Every line of notes and copied formula were replaced with visions of Shawn tearing himself apart in their dorm room. Shawn had been tense and antsy after only an hour and a half. How bad would three hours be?

Gus cracked his door open nervously, but to his surprise Shawn was standing at ease next to the desk. He smiled at Gus, and it actually looked happy instead of frantic. "Hey, Gus."

"Hi…" Gus stepped into the room as he tried to adjust to the strange reality he'd been dumped in. Shawn even looked calmer than he had after only an hour of alone time. What was going on?

"I know you don't have much time, so I made you lunch." Shawn held out a plate with a sandwich and chips on it.

Gus continued to stare, even as he noticed Shawn had made the ham sandwich exactly how he liked it. Why was Shawn ok? Why wasn't there another frantic mess? Had he been taken over by an alien?

Shawn shifted, his smile fading. The nervous movement broke Gus out of his daze and he took the plate. "Sorry, thanks. Did you get food?"

"...I'm ok."

That was more familiar, and it was so wrong that Gus felt relieved at it. And worried about it, which was also familiar. "We won't be back here for a bit, it's the best time to eat."

Shawn hesitated before ducking his head and making his way to the minifridge to find his own lunch. Gus looked around as he ate, seeing small signs that things hadn't gone as easily as he'd first thought. The daily newspapers were all stacked haphazardly, with ink scrawling across the visible pages. The trash had several new crumpled papers in it, including some with deliberate folds on them. And Shawn's textbook was lying crooked on his sleeping bag, the creases in the cloth suggesting that it had been thrown there.

So what had changed to calm Shawn down?

The ham turned sour on his tongue when the answer came to him. Shawn had found a way to be useful.

And what made it worse was the fact that it had clearly helped. And hadn't Gus said it was ok to do slave things to help ease Shawn into their new life? Had he actually been wrong to fight against a way for Shawn to be useful?

"Is it ok?" Shawn asked nervously, his food already almost gone.

He couldn't forget their positions. Or how he could help, as a master. "Yeah, it's perfect. Thanks."

Shawn relaxed, and Gus' thoughts kept spiraling as he ate the food his slave had prepared, packed the bag his slave would carry, and attached the leash to his slave's collar. He'd thought things were getting better, so why did they suddenly seem even further away from their goal?

Or was it just his goal?

Did Shawn still want the same thing as him?

"Gus?"

Gus jumped, realizing he'd just been staring at Shawn's collar while he thought. Shawn was looking at him in concern, and the question was right there, needing to be asked. But they were also tight on time, and it probably wasn't fair to ask it right before Shawn had to deal with crowds for the next several hours.

"Yeah, sorry. Let's go."

Shawn looked like he was about to say something before stopping himself and falling back in line. Gus tried not to think about the slavism that was probably behind the action as he led the way into the hall. He should be celebrating that Shawn had done so well; it shouldn't fill him with dread…

"Hey, Gus!"

Gus groaned at hearing Rowan's voice. It was like they had a camera on him or something… He sped up, hoping to just outrun the conversation he didn't want to deal with. Naturally, Rowan just jogged to catch up. "Mind if I walk with you for a bit?"

The annoying thing was that Rowan seemed like a decent person; they didn't deserve Gus always brushing them off. But was Shawn ok? Gus glanced back and was caught off guard by the glare Shawn was shooting at the other student. Shawn caught his eye and the glare disappeared as fast as it had appeared as he ducked his head back down. What was that for?

The glance back also let him see who was missing. "You don't have Penny today?"

"Nah," Rowan answered, looking pleased that they hadn't been told to go away. "She's great and all, but sometimes I just need one less thing to worry about, you know?"

"I guess…" He could understand wanting to worry less. He couldn't understand leaving someone behind to do it. "How was the party?"

"Oh, it was great!" Rowan practically bounced down the steps. "I met a lot of neat people, they had some fun games, there were lots of beverages." They pumped their eyebrows in a knowing way. "You really should have come with."

The back of Gus' neck started to burn, like he was being stared at. "I'm not really a party kind of person."

It wasn't a complete lie; he'd never been invited to a party before. But he also hadn't wanted to leave Shawn alone, and bringing him with would have been even worse. Gus wouldn't do that to him.

"If you ever change your mind, let me know." Rowan held the door open at the bottom of the stairs as they grinned. "You can always sell it to yourself that you're just there to make connections. That's the business thing to do."

An unexpected voice chimed in. "Like you used Penny to make 'connections'?"

Rowan and Gus both stopped and looked back in shock. Shawn wasn't hiding his glare now. "Or did you just lie to yourself and say that those hickies came from something else?"

Rowan's jaw dropped, and they looked back and forth between Shawn and Gus. They finally settled on Gus and stuttered out, "Y-You let him-"

Gus ignored the question as his opinion of the other student plummeted. "You brought your slave to a party?"

Rowan stared even more, their eyes practically bugging out of their face. "She's… used to having other slaves around…" They shook themselves and added more confidently, "A few of us agreed to let our slaves interact. They were in their own room, it wasn't like I let her wander around by herself."

"But you let her get hurt?" Gus pressed. He'd thought Rowan was one of the good ones…

"No, a few drunk guys got a bit handsy, but we stopped them once we realized what was going on." They set their jaw, their smile gone. "Accidents happen. I was being a good owner and making sure her needs were met. It's not my fault that people get stupid sometimes."

But they could have known not to bring her in the first place… "She was hurt on your watch. That's on you." Gus checked the time, giving Shawn the space to chime in if he wanted to. After a second of silence he said, "We're running late, see you later."

He left the dumbfounded Rowan behind before they could say anything else. Gus walked for a block in silence before turning onto a quieter sidewalk and slowing down. He could handle being late to class. "Are you ok?"

"I… don't know." The relief Shawn had found in their dorm room was gone, and in its place was a confused, frustrated look. "I'm sorry I spoke out of turn."

"I'm glad you said something," Gus said honestly. Shawn huffed a laugh and shook his head, and Gus answered with a shrug. "Weird master, I know. But I mean it."

"Yeah, I know you do." Shawn glanced behind them before saying quietly, "She didn't want to go. No slave would, even if they'd never say it."

"And Rowan didn't think to ask," Gus sighed. He shook his head in disgust. "They assumed they knew what was best."

"It wasn't." Shawn's eyes flicked up to meet Gus' before he fell back to the slave spot behind him.

They walked the rest of the way to the classroom in silence.

Shawn handled Friday's alone time well, but he seemed nervous and lost in thought after class. Gus was just about to force the conversation when Shawn spoke up. "A while ago, y-you told me that... friends had boundaries. Is that true? For us?"

Gus' eyebrows rose at the unexpected question and he closed his laptop. He'd been so busy with their current problems, he'd forgotten about the other lessons he'd been trying to teach. "Yeah, that counts for us too."

Shawn swallowed nervously and picked at Gus' bedspread. "So, if I told you I knew something, I could ask-" His jaw worked for a second before he forced the rest of the words out. "I could ask you to not ask how I know?"

Gus' heart burst in pride as he nodded and said, "Yep. I won't ask."

Shawn picked at the bedspread for another long moment as he visibly built up his courage. "P-Penny is being put in the janitor program."

That hadn't been what he'd been expecting. Rowan must have decided to find a different way to get Penny around other slaves. But why was Shawn bringing it up?

"I think-" Shawn shook his head at himself before meeting Gus' eyes. "I want to join too."

"Shit," Gus said before he could stop himself. Shawn flinched but didn't look away.

A thousand thoughts sped by in that moment. He'd promised he wouldn't say no, but it was wrong, but Shawn had asked, but they both knew it relied on him agreeing. Shawn was the hero, but he was also dealing with slave thoughts, and Gus knew what was better, but he wasn't the only master who thought he knew better than his slave. He'd messed so many other things up; he couldn't mess up on this.

He didn't have the right to tell Shawn no.

"Ok." Gus let out a shaky sigh as Shawn slumped in relief. This was going to end horribly… "Can we at least talk to Crystal and get the information first, though? It's still your call afterwards."

Shawn nodded quickly and Gus stood up. "May as well take care of it now, then."

Shawn scrambled to his feet and took the lanyard with the floor number that Gus held out. Gus didn't let go as he said, "But if you do this, you have to promise me that you'll keep your head down and not cause trouble. Please don't get yourself hurt."

Shawn didn't look like a slave when he stared steadily back. "I promise, I won't cause trouble."

It was impossible to tell if he was lying or not. Gus let go of the lanyard and opened the door. "Alright, let's do this."

Crystal was in her room, taking notes on a large textbook open on her desk. He knocked on her doorframe, and she answered without looking up. "Yo."

Nerves that had nothing to do with her heavily ripped jeans made Gus' voice shaky. "H-Hi. Do you have a minute?"

"Yup." She put her pen down and nodded towards a small futon couch in a silent invitation. "What's up?"

Gus sat down and patted the spot next to him when Shawn hesitated at the door. Crystal's expression didn't change when Shawn gingerly sat on the couch, though it was hard to tell for sure with her hair hiding most of her face.

"We wanted to know more about the janitorial program," Gus said once everyone was settled. "The handbook said you were the one to ask."

"Second one this week," Crystal said in a monotone as she pulled a box out from under her desk. She flipped through the folders inside before finding the right piece of paper and holding it out. "Info's here. Four hours a day, there's weekday, weekend, or both, and you can choose whether to apply the food credit to your current plan or get additional meals at a discount."

Gus took the paper and handed it immediately to Shawn. "What do they have to do?"

"The slave gets dropped off at the custodian closet where they'll wait to be picked up by the staff. They help clean all of the common areas in the dorm including bathrooms, dining hall, and study areas. If there's enough slaves, the janitor acts in more of an overseer role. It's steady work, but not back-breaking."

"How likely is it for slaves to be hurt?" Was there any answer she could give that would convince Shawn not to go?

Crystal's visible eye narrowed as she glanced between them. "Technically the only discipline the staff is allowed to use is the collars. The University would be liable for anything more permanent, and the University doesn't like being liable."

"And non-technically?"

"Good question." She leaned forward, and he barely noticed the opening in her shirt as her gaze intensified. "We usually don't see much worse than a few accidental bruises. But there's plenty of options that don't leave marks, and slaves rarely open up if something was done to them."

Gus gulped at the words and asked quietly, "Shawn?"

"Yes, sir?" Shawn asked blandly, his hands folded over the paper on his lap.

"You really don't have to do this." Shawn shouldn't do this. This was a terrible idea.

"I know, sir." Shawn's eyes flicked up to Crystal before snapping back down. His voice was barely a whisper when he added, "Please…"

The word punched Gus in the gut. He could save Shawn from himself, he had the power. Shawn would probably even forgive him –eventually– for using that power. He could still say no.

And it would break the trust Shawn had given him. And it would be taking away Shawn's choice. And it would be proving that he was like every other master on the planet.

Gus' chest was tight when he turned back to Crystal and asked his last question. "How do we sign up?"

A/N: While I didn't directly quote it, the Tap Man stuff was pulled from the episode, The Amazing Psych-Man & Tap Man, Issue No. 2