▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐎 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʙᴏʏ ᴍᴇᴇᴛs ʀᴇᴀʟ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ꒱


❝ I THINK SHAWN WOULD
MAKE A GREAT UNCLE JESSE ❞

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

"'Hi, Julie,'" Shawn said into the phone he was holding. "'Yeah, every day until the end of the school year is available. You're available every day too? That's great!'" He gave the camera a goofy smile.

The lens then swung around at Jack's entrance to show that the older Hunter was wearing a suit. "'Hey, brother Shawn. It's me, Jack, home from college. Got an A. Now they want me to teach.'"

"'Cut!'" Cory's voice called from offscreen.

The film ended and Mr. Feeny turned off the TV as the students clapped for Cory's work. "An excellent start on your documentary, Mr. Matthews," his teacher praised him.

"What?"

"Yes, excellent. I said 'excellent' and I was talking about something you did. I don't know what came over me."

"Wow, Mr. Feeny. You really think I made a good film?" Cory asked.

"No," Mr. Feeny corrected him. "I think The Graduate was a good film. What we have here is an excellent—"

"What?"

"Don't toy with me, Mr. Matthews," the older man told him sternly. "I would simply suggest that this being your senior year and NYU having a wonderful film program that this student film could be your foot in the door to a fine university."

The curly-haired boy took the tape from his teacher and returned to his seat. He leaned towards his girlfriend. "This film could be my foot."

"That said, are there any comments on the documentary we just saw?" He nodded to a girl in the back. "Yes, Angela?"

"No offence, Cory, but your project looks like you ripped off that show on MTV, The Real World," she stated.

"I have no knowledge of this Real World of which you speak. My real world is the real, real world."

As the bell rang, Juliet slung her backpack on her shoulder and approached the curly-haired boy. "Well I think it reminds me of a smaller, less professional cast of Full House. I think Shawn would make a great Uncle Jesse."

"Only because you're biased," Topanga teased her.

🌎🌎🌎

Juliet sat on the cot in Morgan's room that the Matthews had set up for her as Cory sat on his sister's bed nearby. He raised the camera and focused it on her. "So, how do you like living with me, Jules?"

"Is that really the most important question you wanna ask?" she questioned him and sighed when he didn't reply. "Okay, fine. It's nice. I like having a little sister and your parents are great. I'm not really a fan of the curfew but I'll take it over a five hour drive every day."

"You sound a lot like Shawn, you know," Cory pointed out. "How's that going, by the way?"

"Pretty good, all things considered," Juliet replied, her face turning its usual pink whenever the topic was mentioned. "He's my best friend. I'm glad things are working out."

"So, when do you think he'll ask you to be his official girlfriend?"

"Cory," the redhead said reproachfully. "That's not a camera-appropriate conversation. Why don't you ask me something else?"

"No, no. I think it's a great conversation to have. Then I can show him and he can get a move on."

"We're happy moving at our own pace, Cor. Can't you just leave it at that?" she asked. "Besides, there's a lot going on right now with him getting to know his brother. Why don't you interview me about that?"

"Shouldn't I ask Shawn?"

"Well yeah, but I don't wanna talk about what you wanna talk about so I'm giving you other topics." She gave him a sarcastic smile.

"But no one likes family drama. What show has ever been successful on family drama?" he demanded. "What people like is romance! We gotta give the people what they want."

"Plenty of shows have been successful with family drama. Full house, for example. It's not entirely focused on romance."

"Yeah, yeah. You and Full House. Get some new material, would you? So, you and Shawn," Cory repeated.

"I think it's good that Shawn's giving his brother a chance," Juliet replied cheerfully, ignoring his groan. "I mean, I know it's gonna be hard for him. There's a lot of bad history there and it's going to take time but I think it'll be nice for him to have more family around. And maybe it'll be like Chet said: Jack's Pennbrook time will make Shawn want to go to college. Then I won't have to work so hard to convince him."

🌎🌎🌎

The quartet sat in their usual booth at Chubbie's eating dinner together. Topanga was trying to convince Cory that constant filming was unnecessary while Juliet was tentatively asking Shawn about how it was going in the apartment (she didn't want to set him off again.)

It was only when Cory caught sight of Jack and a curly-haired girl coming down the stairs that their conversation was drawn to a halt. She watched curiously as Shawn stood and made his way over to the other table. Then the two Hunters left the room. Cory picked up his camera and followed them quickly, trailed by Topanga and Juliet.

"So, how do you know Wendy?" Jack asked.

"She came to the door," Shawn replied. "You?"

"Orientation," his brother answered. "It was a lot more exciting than it sounds."

"Phone number?" Shawn held up his hand.

"Phone number," Jack agreed, mirroring him. "Kiss?"

"I'm with Julie," the dark-haired boy countered.

"Well, then I don't know what you're so worked up about. I'm in the middle of a date and you're in the middle of me being on a date," Jack said.

"I don't have a problem. Where did you take her?"

"To dinner and a concert."

"Dinner and a concert?" Shawn repeated.

"Sheryl Crow. We're here for dessert."

"You win," he conceded, visibly deflating. Truthfully, he couldn't care less about Wendy. What he did care about was how good of a potential boyfriend he could be for Julie and he couldn't even come close.

"What?"

"I can't compete with dinner and a concert, Jack."

"Shawn, it's not a competition," his brother argued. "There's more to this than Wendy, okay? So if you want, I'll tell her to go home and you and I could have some time to talk."

"It's not even about Wendy," he agreed. "I'm sorry I bothered you at all. Have a nice date, okay?"

🌎🌎🌎

Juliet had agreed to watch Morgan for the afternoon while Mr. and Mrs. Matthews did errands and Cory was busy filming. She hadn't spent a lot of time with the younger girl since her main friendship was with Cory, but she much preferred the youngest Matthews over the eldest.

The redhead had suggested that they go to the mall and catch a movie, to which the blonde had agreed happily. They had decided on seeing Free Willy Three which had come out earlier that summer. To Morgan's delight, Juliet had splurged and bought popcorn and two extra snacks, Sno-Caps for her and Twizzlers for the younger girl.

As they made their way to their seats, Morgan opened the red package happily. "You're way better than Cory. He doesn't let me choose any snacks and gets scared every time there's a thunder scene."

Juliet gave her an amused look. "I can totally see that. Does he run out of the theater?"

"One time, yeah," she said as she bit off the top of a sticky rope.

"Only once?" she wondered jokingly as they entered the darkened room. "I'd have my money on at least three times."

"He would have," Morgan admitted, "but Eric blocked his exit so he just curled up on the floor."

As they sat in their chosen places (middle of the theater, towards the back) Juliet gave her a sympathetic look. "You must miss him," she observed, noticing how the girl said her brother's name wistfully.

"I do," she agreed. "I tried to hire a new brother but he's not doing a very good job."

"Well," the redhead began, "I know I can't replace him— nor would I want to— but hopefully this will make you feel better."

"You're doing a very well," the girl told her as the coming attractions started.

🌎🌎🌎

After the movie, the two girls went to the food court to get Wendy's since they were both in the mood for burgers and Frosties. As they sat at a two-top, Juliet asked, "so, how'd you like the movie?"

"I liked it, especially at the end when they were able to save the whales and stop the whalers. I didn't want them to hurt Willy," she replied.

"You know," the redhead began after she took a bite of her burger, "I had an oceanography phase when I was in elementary school. I forgot how much I liked sea creatures."

"You did?" Morgan asked curiously.

"Yeah. Most girls have a princess obsession or something like that. I was really into oceanography for at least three years."

"I really liked sports when I was little," the blonde stated as she ate some of her fries.

"I remember that," Juliet remarked. "Your mom had to teach you not to kick the coach. Cory told me."

The younger girl smiled at the memory. "I'm more into art now but I'm not very good at it."

"You've probably only recently started, right?" she asked. When the Matthews nodded, she continued: "so you've got lots of time to practice. I'm sure you'll be an amazing artist if you want to be."

When the girls finished their early dinner, they cleaned up their space and strolled around the mall for a bit to window shop as they pointed out which styles they liked. Juliet also teased her about any boys Morgan's age they passed, causing the girl to roll her eyes.

They returned to the Matthews as it grew dark out and the redhead realized that it almost felt as if she'd spent the whole afternoon with Topanga instead of just babysitting. She'd enjoyed it even more than she realized and Mrs. Matthews had even commented how good she was with taking care of someone younger than her. (Not that she had a very high bar to beat seeing as how Cory had done so terribly, but still.)

🌎🌎🌎

That night, Cory filled her in on the newest disagreement Jack and Shawn were having and they both went to find their best friend. They found the dark-haired boy near where he used to live, standing outside on the sidewalk as he bounced a ball aimlessly. At their approach, Shawn looked up. "Hey, look who's here, the documentary man. South Philly, making movies." He noticed the redhead. "Hey, Julie."

She smiled at him in greeting as Cory responded, "yeah, I figured you'd be here. I haven't been here since you moved."

"Yeah," Shawn agreed. "So why don't you start rolling that thing and we'll finish your movie?"

"No," Cory countered. "No, I'm not here for that. That's not important anymore."

"It is to me. I've got something to say," he said. "Turn it on."

Juliet watched as the boy slowly slid the camera into the proper position, looking slightly uncertain as he did so. When it was ready, Shawn spoke: "a few days ago, I met my brother. You know, I always wanted a brother. I wondered what he looked like, if he even knew about me. My dad told me about him when I was seven. When I was ten, I wrote him my first letter. I never got an answer but I kept writing. I must've written, like, fifteen letters and I never got an answer."

"I never got any letters." Jack's voice sounded from behind his brother.

"What are you doing here?" the dark-haired boy demanded as he turned around.

"My mom must have thrown them away without showing them to me." The older Hunter realized.

"You know, I don't believe that. I'm guessing you were ashamed of our family." Shawn turned to leave but Cory reached out grabbed him.

"Shawn—"

"Let me go."

"No. You're not listening to him, okay? Now listen to what he has to say."

"Don't get in the middle of this," he warned the other boy.

"No, the problem is, Shawn, that I didn't get in the middle of this in the beginning."

"You were behind your camera from the beginning," Shawn replied.

"I didn't realize what was going on. Listen, it's not about my film anymore, it's too personal now. This is your life. Give it a happy ending, okay?"

He hesitated before he turned back to his brother. "Did she really throw them away?"

"I never got them."

"But if you had, would you have written me back?" Shawn asked.

"If I had known that I had a brother who wanted to see me, I would've gotten on a bus and found you," Jack said simply.

"Yeah?"

"I found you, didn't I?"

"All I ever wanted was a brother," the boy admitted quietly.

"Okay, you got one."

Juliet's expression softened as she watched Jack pull his brother in for a hug. Knowing how upset Shawn had been about the lack of replies, she was glad that he was able to move on. 

[written apr. 2021]
[edited may 2022]