▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʙᴇᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴇ* ꒱　


❝ IS THERE UNRESOLVED
SEXUAL TENSION, PERHAPS? ❞

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

[12 days ago]

Even before he'd come back, Shawn had been a constant thought in Juliet's mind. It was hardly a surprise seeing as how they spent nearly every day together but it wasn't just because she saw him regularly. Her heart tugged her towards him instinctively even though he wasn't hers anymore. Sometimes she woke up in the middle of the night thinking about him and how it had felt when he kissed her and the way his lips felt against her skin and. . . well, you get the point.

Sometime during his absence, she'd taken to getting out of bed in the early hours of the morning as sleep escaped her. When this happened, she opted to head for the showers to take nice brisk one. It didn't always help but it was better than just lying awake in bed as she listened to either Angela or Topanga snore (she wasn't sure who the sound came from.)

As usual, she was woken by the loud sleeping noises that came from one of her roommates. While she tried to get back to sleep, it was inevitable that her mind drifted to her. . . well, she could never think of Shawn in terms of him being her "ex-boyfriend" because of the negative stigma the word had. With a sigh, Juliet pushed back the covers of her bed and changed quietly into her bathrobe before she collected her towel and hairbrush. She shut the door softly behind her and headed for her destination. She was unaware that someone else was doing the same thing until she heard a voice speak from behind her: "Julie?"

The redhead jumped and whirled around. Her eyes widened as her heart pounded in her chest. Of all people it had to be him!

 "Sh-Shawnie! I, um, didn't see you." She eyed his bathrobe and towel that was draped over his arm. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" he returned. He had noted her similar dress.

"I asked you first," she pointed out stubbornly as her hand tightened around her hairbrush.

"I asked you second."

"Congratulations, you know how to count," she snarked, her scare making her tone short. "Now answer the question."

"Fine," the dark-haired boy sighed. "I'm taking a shower. Happy?"

"At three a.m.?"

"Well, what are you doing?"

Juliet hesitated as her face warmed. Her eyes found her feet as she mumbled, "taking a shower."

"At three a.m.?"

"Don't you have any original questions?"

"Fine," Shawn said again. "Why are you taking a shower at three a.m.?"

"Anything else but that one."

"Too bad, that's what I'm asking."

"Why else would someone be taking a shower at three a.m.?" she questioned him pointedly. "I mean, why are you here?"

"Deflecting by answering my question with another question isn't—" He froze as he suddenly understood. "Oh." The redhead noticeably avoided his gaze as his eyes widened. "You— I mean— who—" Almost uncertainly he asked, "me?"

"I— well. . ." There was no way she was willing to answer him alone so she followed up with: "me?"

Shawn stared at her in disbelief and Juliet shifted uncomfortably under his attention until he eloquently replied, "huh."

The redhead chewed on her bottom lip— a sure sign that she was overthinking things and an action that made his need for a shower more urgent— when she finally offered: "um, do you want company?"

(Well, it wasn't like he was going to say no to that, now was he?)

🌎🌎🌎
[7 days ago]

"How'd your audition go, Gollum?" Kendrick asked the Saturday following the previous event.

He, Rachel and Juliet had chosen to eat off-campus at a small restaurant in the nearby college town. They were sitting at a high-top table in the café that was sparsely occupied by other students who were working on assignments while they had lunch. It was their first time going out together since Shawn had returned because the previous Saturday Juliet had gone to help Cory and Topanga find a wedding venue.

"I, um, missed the deadline," the redhead admitted quietly. "With everything that was going on with Cory and the baby it just slipped my mind. I'll apply for it next year though."

His expression softened. "Have you told your friends yet?"

"I told Shawn."

"Anyone else?"

"Um, no."

"Gollum, you should let them know. I mean, they don't even know what you gave up for them. They're lucky to have a friend like you."

Juliet shrugged. "It's alright. I don't think I would've gotten in this semester anyway and now I have more time to practice."

"Yeah, right," Rachel scoffed. "They'd be idiots not to let you in."

"You've never heard me play."

"I don't have to. From what Kendrick's told me you totally would've."

"I've seen you go in and out of there so many times," he agreed. "You're definitely on your way to ten thousand hours."

"Seriously, it's okay. I already have a lot going on," she said. "You don't have to worry about it. I mean, with Cory and Topanga doing their wedding planning and all the homework I'm getting for the end of the semester it would've been a lot to handle." Not to mention her new. . . after-hours activity.

"You do seem happier now, Gollum. Is it because you and Shawn are back on speaking terms?" Kendrick asked. "Because the last I heard, you two could barely be in the same room together."

"That's an exaggeration," she huffed, though she was surprised that he'd picked up on her change in mood. "But yes, I think that's part of it. We're definitely talking again. Although," the redhead added, "we've been doing a lot more arguing recently which isn't like us at all."

"Definitely?" the short-haired redhead repeated pointedly. "Is there something you're not telling us, Jules?"

She ignored her friend's teasing tone, though she knew she gave herself away by how her face flamed. "Nope. I've told you everything."

"Right," the man replied as he caught on. He sent her a suspicious look. "And this. . . arguing. . . is there unresolved sexual tension, perhaps?"

Juliet— who had taken another sip of water— spluttered indignantly and sprayed the droplets over the table, earning disgusted exclamations from the other two. "No!" she exclaimed hastily. "God no." After all, it wasn't unresolved.

"Uh-huh," he commented, unconvinced. "You do know that we're older than you, right?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It means," Rachel explained patiently, "that we can pick up on these things. You might be able to hide it from your friends but we can see that there's something. . . different about you."

"So you two are back together then?" Kendrick finished and he smirked faintly at her.

The redhead sighed as she realized that she couldn't hide it from them. "No," she answered. "It's just. . . weird. I think it's why we've been arguing so much during the. . . day actually. It all happened kind of fast but I'm not-not happy that I'm here now, you know?"

"Yeah," the short-haired redhead agreed. She reached out to place a hand on the younger girl's arm. "Just be careful, okay? Things like this can get messy and I know how upset you were the first time."

"Like you and Jack?" the girl asked, having been filled in on her friend's new relationship.

"Exactly."

"I'll be fine," Juliet promised her.

🌎🌎🌎
[present day]

Predictably, Juliet and Shawn met up at their. . . usual hour. He wasted no time in sliding an arm around her waist to pull her closer and his lips found hers easily. She closed her eyes as their kiss became hungrier, her hands sliding into his hair to tug on the ends gently. When they pulled apart to catch their breath, he gave her stunning smile. "It's kind of exciting, sneaking around like this. It's risky."

"Yes, it's definitely risqué," Juliet joked.

The dark-haired boy groaned. "I can't believe that you'd make a pun about sex."

"You know you love it."

"I don't, actually," he retorted (not truly meaning it), "but I'll take it if that means our minds think alike."

"Who's to say that I'm doing this because of you?" she teased him. "I mean, I could be thinking about Leonardo Di Caprio or John Stamos and you just happen to be the only one available." Shawn's eyes narrowed slightly. He kissed her again so that when they separated the next time, she admitted, "okay, yeah. It's you."

"That's what I thought," he told her smugly.

🌎🌎🌎

When the sun had risen above the horizon so that it was a decent hour, Juliet went down to the Student Union as she pretended like nothing was amiss. Shawn was already there, fully dressed, and with a cup of coffee in hand. Cory was at the counter paying for his own drink when she joined them. The dark-haired boy smirked at her faintly. "I got this for you," he explained as he handed her the second to-go mug.

She smiled happily at him as she accepted it. "Thanks." They sat at one of the couches as Cory joined them. "Morning, Cor!"

Juliet winced as Shawn elbowed her, her tone coming out too brightly. Their friend picked up on it and sent her a suspicious look. "Morning, Jules. Ready for our bake sale today?"

"Why are we doing this again?"

"To help the underprivileged children, Julie. Don't you care about them at all?"

The redhead huffed. "Well duh. That's why I'm doing this stupid thing with you guys. I doubt we're gonna sell anything, though. Do you think we could leave early?"

"You got somewhere else to be, Jules?"

"Well-well no. It's just. . ."

"It's just nothing," Shawn finished quickly. "We're going to be there all day. Isn't that right?"

"Yes. Yes, definitely."

Cory remained unconvinced. "Ri— hey, what's that?"

Juliet, who had leaned forward to stir some sugar into her coffee, looked up at him quizzically. "What's what?"

The curly-haired boy leaned forward to flick her red hair away from her shoulder with his fingers. His eyes widened. "What's this? It's not—" He turned to his best friend accusingly. "Is that a hickey?"

The redhead's eyes grew round and her hand immediately reached up to cover the spot on her neck. Shawn choked on the sip of coffee he'd just taken and coughed several times to recover. Mentally, Juliet cursed at herself. She was smarter than this! She hadn't even given a thought to what she would wear that day and her hair was long enough to cover her shoulders so only her movement would make them visible.

"Shut up, Cory!" she snapped. "It's not. Something just. . . fell on my shoulder—"

"Yeah, Shawn's mouth," Cory retorted. "I can't believe you two are back together and you didn't tell me!" Then, he groaned. "That means I'm the only virgin left!"

"We aren't," the dark-haired boy said quickly as he shot the girl a 'why didn't you catch that' look. "I mean, we're not back together."

"Wait. . . that means that you two. . ." He gagged slightly. "Oh, gross."

"Please don't make a big deal about this," Juliet begged. "We were trying to keep it under wraps so you're not even supposed to know. Shawn and I can handle ourselves, Cor."

"Uh-huh," he replied. "Like when you broke up and moped over each other for weeks?"

"I didn't—" they protested at the same time.

"You did. What happens the next time you break up?"

"What Shawn and I do is none of your business, okay?" the redhead told him primly. "And if even try to pry, I'm not afraid to go in-depth about everything we've been doing—"

"Okay, okay!" Cory yelped as he covered his ears with his hands. "I'm innocent, I swear! I mean, Topanga and I have been together longer than you guys and I haven't even gotten to do anything!"

"Can we please go back to talking about the bake sale?" Shawn asked, looking extremely uncomfortable. 

🌎🌎🌎

Somehow, she'd been roped into helping Cory and Shawn scheme to get Mr. Feeny and the Dean together. Eric had come up to them later that day while they were manning their bake sale and asked for their help, which lead them to come up with a plan to frame their teacher. Juliet— as usual— was certain it wasn't going to work but she said nothing as her best friend picked the lock to the archeologist's office.

"Shawnie, Jules, of all the plans we've concocted this is the best one," Cory told them as he shut the door, "and we have concocted some doozies, especially the one you two came up with."

"I thought we weren't gonna talk about that," the redhead said pointedly.

Shawn brushed over it to add instead, "and Feeny always caught us."

"Yeah, he always had us figured out."

"But we're in college now. We're older, we're wiser."

"I wouldn't say that," Juliet commented. "The 'we' is incorrect. You guys are still idiots."

"You're still here, though, so you clearly haven't learned," the dark-haired boy disagreed. "Besides, it's us against him. We're living on the edge, babe."

"Are you sure you two aren't together?" Cory asked as the girl's face turned pink. "Because it certainly—"

"I thought I said that we weren't talking about this?" she huffed.

"But—"

"Alright," Shawn spoke loudly over them. "Eric said this guy Curtis stored all the stuff from the last dig here in the science lab."

"Yeah, he's supposedly got something that's gonna alter the course of the new millennium," the curly-haired boy agreed, thankfully dropping the subject for the time being.

"Are you two ready to execute phase one of our master plan?"

"Ready," Juliet agreed with a sigh.

"Let's mess this place up!"

They began with the loose papers by throwing them haphazardly on the floor. "You know, Shawnie and Jules, I honestly don't see how anything could be simpler," Cory remarked as they worked.

"This is child's play," Shawn conceded. He walked over to the table that stood off to the side of the room. "What's this, a brain?"

They joined him to look at the object floating in the liquid. "That's gotta be his discovery. He's discovered the world's first brain. If this gets out Feeny'll never get the Dean. Ouch!"

Juliet had flicked the back of his head. "You moron. The world's first brain no longer exists. But maybe it's yours because you're clearly not using it."

The dark-haired boy chuckled at her jab. "You could get any woman if you used your brain."

"Could I get Topanga?"

Shawn ignored the girl's muttered "idiot" as he replied, "yeah, I think you could." Cory reached for the container as he continued: "that jar's been closed for five thousand years."

"No it's— you know what, yes. Yes it has," the redhead sighed. "I give up."

"You know, this must be the world's first jar," the boy said. "How do I get it open?"

"Here, hand me that rare Phoenician mallet."

"Next up on 'here's where mistakes happen. . .'" Juliet mumbled.

Cory picked up one of the items only for Shawn to correct him, "no, no, that's an early Egyptian dental tool." He fixed his mistake and handed the other boy the mallet. When Shawn tried to use it, the hammer part fell off. "Phoenician piece of crap."

"Can I go now?"

"No, Jules. You're stuck here with us especially now that Shawn messed up the plan."

"I'll replace it. I see them all the time at Bed, Bath and Phoenician. Hand me the Byzantine statue of King Hafaratu." When he tried to use the base of the figurine, it shattered. "Home shopping channel. There's six billion of them left."

"Okay, what about now?"

"You do it if you want to be a part of this."

"I don't want to be a part of this, actually," the redhead informed him, "but fine, you're about to be shown up by a girl." She picked up the jar and with some effort, the lid opened. "Ha!"

Cory reached into the container. "You could only open that because we loosened it for you." He dismissed her achievement and turned to the object inside. "Wow, the human brain. The thing that separates us from animals."

"It doesn't separate everyone," Juliet commented. She grimaced at the gooey substance that dripped from his fingers.

"I hold in my hands the pinnacle of God's creation. Think fast!"

"Ugh, it's slimy!" she squealed and sent it towards Shawn. The boy missed the catch and it landed on the floor, causing it to split in half.

He picked it up and offered it to the curly-haired boy. "You want personality or motor skills? Cory, look what you did. You had a perfectly good world's first brain and now look at it."

"How many times do I have to say that it's not?" she grumbled as she flicked her hands to try and get the goop off.

"I'm sorry."

"Well, here. Just, like, smoosh it back together and put it back in the jar."

Cory placed it inside before he picked up the container. "You know what, I better hide this because. . ."

Juliet groaned as he dropped it due to his slippery hands, smashing the glass against some of the other artefacts. "Great, just great. Cory, you broke another jar. I bet it was the world's first 'I'm stupid' award."

As the boy turned to glare at her, a loud buzzing noise caused them to jump. "Whoa! That's one angry bee!"

"Alright, forget about the bee. On to phase two."

"Yeah," Shawn said with a smirk. "How about we open a window for some air?"

"Wait a minute, Shawn. Won't an open window set off an alarm?" Cory asked.

Without bothering to answer him, the dark-haired boy went over and opened the window, which immediately caused the bell to ring. In a completely monotone voice, he commented, "oh man. We never learn anything, do we?"

"Well, it's not like that's a surprise," the redhead muttered before she raised her voice: "and now the teacher from next door's gonna hear that alarm."

"And he's gonna come in here all mad. . ."

"And I wonder who that teacher's gonna be?" Cory finished.

Mr. Feeny arrived seconds later with a concerned look on his face as he appeared in the door. At the sight of him, the trio deadpanned: "oh no. It's Feeny."

"What's going on in here?" he demanded.

"Nothing."

"We didn't break this stuff."

"Well, who did?"

"You did!" Cory exclaimed, pointing at him.

"And we're telling!" Shawn added. He grasped the redhead's hand without a thought as they ran out of the room, making sure to close the door behind them.

🌎🌎🌎

As Juliet had expected, they ended up getting caught for their scheme. Still, it was a surprise that it had worked and the Dean and Mr. Feeny did end up getting together. While washing seven hundred-plus windows wasn't fun, she just kept reminding herself what the night would hold which certainly got her through the consequence.

[written oct. 2021]
[edited jun. 2022]