Work Text:
“I almost got killed pulling out of my own damn driveway.” Henry complained. “I want you two back going by the book on this one, so unless you’ve got something useful from that little stunt, I’m cutting you loose.”
“Dad, we’ve got something more than useful, Gus and I have identified Max’s old crew.”
“We’re already making inroads.”
“That’s right. Pretty soon we’ll get nicknames. I’m thinking Torch and Road Rash.” Shawn continued as Henry stormed off.
“Mm.” Gus did a little half nod thing in disagreement with their names. Shawn ignored it and followed after his father, Gus trailed behind him.
“Shawn, you agreed that Lassiter would be point on this investigation, I expect you to honor it, tell him now.” Henry ordered as he handed a coupon folders to another officer.
“Tell me what?” It was the perfect time for Lassie to be waking by.
“Alright. It took a brush with death, but Gus and I were able to infiltrate Max’s old crew, and I’m sensing that is where we will find his killer.”
“Huh.” Jules nodded. “Based on what Paget says, that actually makes sense. Whoever killed Max had to be a better driver than him. Maybe it was an old street racing buddy or somebody, I don’t know, he used to boost cars with.”
“Things went bad between them, Max decides to take this guy out. Adequate job Spencer.” Lassie smiled at him. Shawn loved the rare moment Lassie praised him, it was awesome. “O’Hara and I will shake these gear heads down. Where can I find ‘em?” He shouted the last bit as he started walking back to his desk.
“Whoa, Lassie, tap the breaks. You can’t just go in there and slap these guys around all limp wristy, expecting them to tell you everything.
“I’ve never had a limp wrist in my life.” Damn. Did he know the euphemism or was he just trying to say he was strong?
“Look, these dudes are a tribe, alright? They’re very close nit, which is why Road Rash and I will be hanging out with them tonight.”
“Why do I have to be Road Rash?” Gus asked.
“Because I’m tortch.” Shawn replied.
“I want a different nickname.”
“They all know you as Road Rash, everybody does, if you switch now there will be mass confusion.”
“Shawn, you made that name up one minute ago.”
“Fine. What do want to be called?”
“Mellow Rush.”
“Sounds like a crappy energy drink that gives you tongue hives. How about Crankshaft?”
“The old cantankerous man from the comic stripe?”
“Okay, fine, Mrs. Widdleberry it is.”
“No.”
“Enough!” Henry shouted. “Look, Shawn is right, if he and Gus can go out and get enough concrete evidence to nail the shooter, I say it’s worth it.”
“You’ve got six hours to get me a suspect, and I want the address where you’re gonna be.” Lassie ordered.
“Done!” Shawn shouted after him. “Ready to go, G-force?”
“Now, that’s what’s up.” Gus fist bumped him.
—————————————————————
And it was party time. Which went splendidly for a while. Firstly Shawn was pretty sure he was getting away with flirting with Tommy, which was awesome. It probably wouldn’t go anywhere because with his luck the guy would be straight, like every other guy Shawn’s ever had a crush on (exaggeration), common and recent examples being Lassie and Desperaux. But he wasn’t getting punched in the face or called out for it so he’d take what he could get.
He even got to stay for the after party, when all other non-crew guests had cleared out, and get told stories about all the crew’s bad crashes. Which was really enjoyable, mostly because he got to listen to Tommy talk about adrenaline (which was quite similar to how Lassie talked about Justice). And then Gina asked him to join her outside, which wasn't who he was rooting for but she was pretty. Although she wasn’t hitting on him, she was just suspicious and looking for a wire, and then she pulled a gun on him.
Thankfully Gus was apparently a danger reader and showed up just on time to knock the gun out of her hand, unfortunately she still wanted to fight them and wouldn’t let them talk it out. But then the cops arrived. Which was good, and bad. Good, because he didn’t get shot. Bad, because the other guys were looking at him with hurt and betrayal, and Gina wasn’t their guy, and he really still wanted Tommy to like him when the case was over, delusional as it was.
“Get your hand off me cop!” Shawn shouted, pushing Lassie's comforting hand off his shoulder. Now Lassie looked hurt. Oops. “Punch me in the face.” Shawn whispered, which would probably clear up the confusion on Lassie’s part.
“What?” Lassie whispered back, even more confused.”
“You’re gonna blow my cover and punch me in the face.”
“I’m not gonna punch you in the face.” Why was he being so difficult? He should enjoy this. As if he’s never wanted to punch him before. Shawn was offering a great opportunity here.
“Ronald Reagan was a terrible president.”
“Oh, you son of a bitch.” Lassie punched him, finally.
“I’ll go quietly.” Gus stepped over Shawn and ran after Jules and the others.
“Get up!” Lassie shouted. “Come on.” He dragged him all the way to his car and opened the passenger side door. No way Shawn got to ride with him. Lassie reached into the car and pulled out a plastic cup with yellow liquid. “Here.” He held it out to Shawn. Wow. He didn’t get to ride with him, but wow.
“Aw, you got me a smoothie.” Shawn took the cup and took a long sip. It was pineapple, which to be fair Shawn made pretty obvious was his favorite, but it was still sweet that Lassie knew that. “Thanks Lassie.” For a moment Lassie had a small uptick to one corner of his mouth that could technically be called a smile.
“Yeah, well, you’ve been getting me coffee.” Lassie scratched the back of his neck. “After all that I wish you’d take it as a bribe to get off this case though, we have one of them, and they’re dangerous.”
“But I was getting you coffee to help you tolerate me, I don't need anything to help tolerate you, I like being around you.” Shawn poked Lassie's shoulder. Lassie grimaced. Maybe he should’ve brought a coffee in. Or maybe he shouldn’t have ignored the second comment. Either way it was probably his cue to leave. “Thanks, again, and I’ll see you around.” Shawn smiled, spun around and came face to face with Gus, he didn’t usually sneak up on him like that. They walked away together, heading for the blueberry.
“Shawn, what the hell was that?” Gus asked once they’d gotten in the blueberry.
“What do you mean?”
“He was being nice to you and your response was to imply that he can’t tolerate you without some sort of bribery?”
“I mean, it’s true, isn’t it?”
“Shawn, if he can’t tolerate you, you wouldn’t be friends.”
“No, I mean, he likes me a little, but that doesn’t mean I suddenly stopped being annoying.”
“Alright.”
“Then again, it was quite a shocker how much he apparently didn’t want to punch me.”
“That shouldn’t be a shocker if it’s a healthy friendship.”
“Whatever.”
—————————————————————
Things really only went downhill from there. First, they were the laughing stock at the station for getting beat up by a girl, even though they refused to fight. It’s different. Secondly, Lassie was looking at him weirdly, when he thought he wasn’t looking anyway, when he was looking Lassie was laughing at his expense like the rest of the station. Thirdly the cas was not solved, but as usual everyone but him thought it was. Well, him and Gus, but only after he explained to Gus that Gina can’t use her right hand. Also, fourthly Gina’s real name was Mary Armstrong. Horrible news.
Then of course they get back to the office and Gus starts accusing Tommy, which, sure, he was right, but Shawn really didn’t want to believe, let alone, admit that until Tommy showed up at his door when he tried to storm out, so at the time he was really upset by the notion. Of course, his feelings about Tommy completely disappeared when he threatened Gus’s life, but before that, when he was just talking about stealing the Lamborghini back from the police impound he still had the cool guy edge Shawn really liked, despite the whole murderer thing. He really should work on that, he can’t keep falling for murderers. Not to mention Shawn still thinks he’s probably straight.
But Shawn steals the car, sets up a trap, and saves Gus. Day saved. And Tommy asks him to run away with him like he hadn’t threatened to kill his best friend. Fucking a sshole.
—————————————————————
“Shawn,” Tommy called out as Lassie was putting him in a cop car, “still about freedom and barriers. No regrets, bro.”
“Yeah… Good luck selling that to the other murderers in cell block C, bro.” Shawn replied. Because he was totally over him after the whole threatening Gus stunt. Also ‘bro’ really?
“Mrs. Widdleberry, nothing personal.” Choke on a sock. It was totally personal, just personal with Shawn and not Gus.
“The name is Gus.”
“Mrs. Widdleberry?” Jules teased.
“It used to be G-Force.”
“Briefly, very briefly." Shawn added, because it would be weird for him not to tease his friend, even with everything that had just happened, actually especially with everything that had just happened.
“Well, Spencer, this was a big collar for you. Congratulations.” Lassie joined their conversation. “It’s a shame I have put in a recommendation for your suspension.”
“What?” Shawn gawked. Because actually what the fuck!? They were friends now, come on!
“You stole a car from the police impound.” Lassie replied, like it should have been obvious.
“He was gonna kill Gus!” Shawn shot back, because that was obvious and a perfectly valid excuse. Come on, Lass.
“He was bluffing.” Says who!?
“I’m afraid I couldn’t take that chance.”
“You don’t negotiate with kidnappers. It’s cop 101.”
“But we’re talking about Gus. He’s one of us.” Jules interjected.
“Barely.” Lassie replied. Oh no.
“Excuse me?” Gus squeaked. No. Not again.
“I’m sorry, that was insensitive. The fact of the matter is I’m quite fond of you, Guster. Although, professionally I do often wonder what you bring to the table.”
“Carlton.” Jules scolded.
“I’m being honest!”
“Okay, Lassie, things Gus brings to the table: One, the blueberry. Two, the super sniffer. Three, a positive working attitude. Four, pharmaceutical knowledge. Five…” Shawn tuned him out.
“It is such a shame that you didn’t get to see me behind the wheel of that machine.”
“Mmhm.”
“What do you say the two of us take it for a little spin?”
“It’s still evidence Shawn.”
“You know you want to.”
“No, no, I really don’t.”
“Yeah you do. Because you have the kamikaze in you and I can smell it from a mile way.”’
“That’s disgusting.”
“It’s Point Break.”
“Never seen it.”
“You- you’ve never seen Point Break?”
“Nope.” Jules started walking away. “I’ve seen Fast Break.”
“Fast Break? With Gabe Kaplan?” Shawn asked but she ignored him. He glanced back at Lassie, still busy being lectured by Gus and snuck closer to the car.
“Spencer, get out of the car!” Lassie yelled the second he got his foot in. He spun back around. Damn it. A few steps away from the car and he spun back around heading toward Gus and Lassie. Lassie seemed to enjoy chasing the car before, maybe he could convince him to let them drive it around for a bit.
“Hey, Lassieface.” Shawn smiled at him.
“No.”
“Come on. You have the Kamik-”
“I am not breaking police protocol.”
“You know you want to.”
“Not the point.”
“Come on, Lass. I know you like the car.”
“No. And you’ve gotten yourself into enough trouble with this case.” Lassie argued.
“My Dad and the chief aren’t going to suspend me, they know it was for Gus.” Shawn argued back and Gus nodded.
“Not- Well, yes, that, but also everything else.” Lassie replied and Gus started backing away.
“What do you mean everything else?”
“Stealing your dad’s truck, cutting the breaks-”
“That was an accident.”
“Getting attached to the people you’re investigating-”
“What.” Shawn scoffed.
“I could see it in your eyes when you told me to punch you, and Guster mentioned it in his list of reasons why he’s useful.”
“Of course he did. But he was awesome. You would’ve liked him too prior to the whole threatening to kill Gus thing.”
“I don’t think so.”
“When he first entered the garage he threw his keys right onto the hook, it was awesome.”
“Spencer.”
“And when I started shit with one of the guys at the last race he stepped in and kept me from being murdered.”
“Spencer! Stop. I really don’t want to hear it.”
“But-”
“Maybe you just need to stop getting crushes on criminals.” Oh shit.
“I- That’s not cool.”
“Yeah, it’s not.” Lassie scoffed, crossing his arms. “What did you even see- Nope, I don’t wanna know.”
“What did I see in him?”
“Spencer, please don’t.”
“I saw a guy perform cool stunts and be protective over both his crew, and a random funny stranger he first met. Sure, I was
wrong about him, but he really did seem like a great guy at first, and-”
“You were there to investigate him? Shouldn’t that have been enough of a red flag?” Oh. So it was a Lassie disapproving of the specific person thing and not a homophobic thing. That was good at least.
“I was investigating the whole crew, not him specifically!” Shawn argued.
“Whatever.” Lassie shot his arms in the air. “What about Despereaux, you knew he was guilty.”
“I- of a non violent crime! And- What!? Why do you even care!?”
“There’s- better… people…”
“Despereaux didn’t even actually steal the art, it was just a boring insurance scheme.”
“Wha- Is that why!? You just think crime is… what, exciting!?”
“Well, if it had been real art theft he would’ve been pretty impressive, even you can admit that. Come on, Lass.” Shawn pleaded. Why was even yelling at him? Lassie just scoffed.
“Go home, Spencer.”
“Fine!” Shawn threw his arms up in exasperation. “But you would’ve had fun driving that car.” He spun around to stomp off.
“Would you like me better?” Lassie asked and Shawn stopped dead in his tracks.
“Better than what?” He asked, barely above a whisper, and spun just enough to face him. Lassie raised an eyebrow at him. Was he really going to make him guess? Shawn shouldn’t be guessing when all he seemed to be was jealous, guessing would end badly for everyone involved. Lassie scoffed, apparently displeased Shawn wasn’t guessing. If only he knew the only guess Shawn could think of, he’d be glad then that he wasn’t jumping to that conclusion.
“What do you think, Spencer?” Lassie asked after a long silence.
“You don’t want to know what I think.” Shawn replied, turning around again. They just became friends. He couldn’t ruin it this soon. He wouldn’t. He walked away, looking for Gus so they could leave.
—————————————————————
It was barely four hours later when Lassie called him. He had probably just gotten back to his own house. Shawn almost didn’t pick up, scared they’d still be fighting and he would ruin everything they had just built, but then he thought ignoring his calls would probably do the same thing and at least he stood a chance trying to talk it out.
“Hi, Lassafrass, how’s it hanging?”
“I do want to know what you think.” Lassie replied. Straight to the point.
“You really don’t. You’d just be mad at me, and we just became real friends, let me hold onto that a little longer.”
“You- This doesn’t have to be friendship ruining.” Lassie sighed.
“What does that even mean?”
“That it’s your choice.”
“My- What the fuck does that mean!?”
“What? Why are you mad?”
“Why am I- You just- My choice!? You know, Lassie, I’m still not even sure if this is you judging my general taste or being homophobic and that sounds-”
“I’m pan.”
“What?” Shawn felt like someone whacked him in the stomach with a two by four. “Um.” He cleared his throat. “Oh. Uh… Wait but then- Are you… Was I ri… Are you jealous?” Shawn finally got out. There was a moment of silence. “Lassie?”
“Yeah.” Lassie sighed. A wide smile broke across Shawn’s face.
“Lassie, you’re way cooler than Tommy, especially after the whole threatening Gus thing.”
“And before?”
“You hum danger music while in pursuit."
“You could’ve just said no.” Lassie mumbled, getting him completely wrong.
“No! No, that’s a good thing, it’s cute.”
“Spencer.”
“It is. I was humming it earlier actually, it’s pretty catchy.” Shawn explained. “Hey, Lass?”
“Hm?”
“I uh, I’ve liked you since the Malcolm case, so, you really don’t need to be jealous.”
“You- Really?”
“Uh-huh. Uh… Can I- Can I come over?”
“Yeah.” Lassie choked out.
“Cool, see you in a bit!” Shawn hung up the phone.”
—————————————————————
He knocked on Lassie’s door. It only took a view seconds before it was opened and Shawn immediately launched himself at Lassie and wrapped his arms around him. Could he have gone for a kiss after that phone call? Probably. But ‘probably’ wasn’t a ‘definitely’ and a hug seemed safer. Plus, what if the neighbors had a stalking habit? He didn’t know. Lassie hugged him back.
“Hi, Spencer.”
“Hi!” Shawn pulled back just enough to look lassie in the eyes and smiled. Lassie leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. Shawn knew he should be getting Lassie call the shots, because their friendship was new and fragile, and this was kind of huge, but also Lassie was kissing him and Shawn was never very good with restraint. He brought a hand up to the back of Lassie’s head and pulled him back in just as he was starting to pull away. Hopefully they’d still be able to talk to each other when the night was over.
“Shawn.” Lassie pulled back again, and Shawn let him because that was his first name and he had either royally fucked up or something. Maybe things would get better, but considering that sad look on Lassie’s face Shawn doubted it. “Do you really think I don’t want to be around you?”
“What?”
“Yesterday, you said you get me coffee so I can tolerate you, and that I didn’t need to get you a smoothie because you already like being around me, which implies you don’t think I like being around you.”
“Oh. I- I mean I know we’re friends now… or… um, I guess that might’ve changed?”
“Might’ve?” Lassie raised an eyebrow.”
“Yeah.” Shawn cleared his throat. “Uh, but I- I know I still annoy the crap out of you, even if you technically like me.”
“There’s no ‘technically’ Shawn.” Lassie tilted Shawn’s jaw up and gave him a small peck. “I like you, even when you’re being annoying.”
“Oh.”
“Now, get inside. We’re letting all the heat out.” Lassie stepped back and waved him into his house.
“Right.” Shawn laughed, stepping inside. Lassie shut the door behind him.
“I started cooking as soon as you hung up, it should be ready in like twenty minutes.” Lassie informed him. “I was hoping you hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and even if you had you do seem to be always hungry.” A grin broke out across Shawn’s face.
“You know me so well.” Shawn pulled Lassie into another kiss.