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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐈𝐗 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴛʜɪs ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴘɪɢɢʏ ꒱


❝ PIG-HATER ❞

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"Julie! Julie!"

Shawn's excited voice caused the redhead to pull herself out of her locker and turn to watch the boy approach. She gave him a curious look at the bright expression on his face and, with a jolt, realized it had been some time since she'd seen him so happy around her. "What's up, Shawnie?" she asked carefully, trying not to let the realization show in her voice.

"Do you remember that goldfish I used to have?"

"The turtle?" she corrected him.

"Yeah. Well, I finally replaced him." He looked down the hall and called: "here, boy." At his words, a little pink pig came squealing down the hall to stop by his leg. "What do you think?"

The girl crouched down to study the animal as a small smile curved on her lips. "Very cute."

"See that, buddy?" Shawn said to the pig, "that's your aunt that I've been telling you about. Isn't she already great?"

Juliet stood with a frown. "Aunt?"

"Yeah, well, I was going to say sister but that seemed insulting."

She tried to ignore the prickle of hurt. It was just a pig. But, once upon a time, Shawn would have introduced her as 'mom' had they still been 'married.' She missed those days now more than ever.

"I guess that's fine." She shrugged as she turned back to her locker. She missed the slight look of disappointment on the boy's face before it quickly disappeared as Cory approached. 

"Huh," the curly-haired boy remarked.

"It's a pig," Shawn explained.

"Do you know something? It is a pig." The boy bent to pet it. "Aw, he's cute."

"Last night I was at my old trailer park digging around the sludge where our house used to be and I found this little guy gnawing on my Uncle Sal's old peg leg."

"Poor Uncle Sal. How does he get around without it?"

"Who said he was without it? Sal was there, he just never noticed the pig," Shawn answered.

"Shawn, I see what's going on. I'm spending too much time with Topanga and Juliet's spending too much time with Jack. This is your oh-so-subtle way of showing us that we can be replaced by a common pig."

"Come on, Cory. As flattered as you are this piglet has nothing to do with you guys." The bell rang and Shawn bent to pick up the pig. "Well, come on, Little Coriet. Time for class."

"Shawn," Juliet spoke up pointedly.

"Hey, I couldn't chose between the two so I mashed the names together."

Topanga joined them and she saw the pig. "Oh, he's so adorable. What's your name, cute feller?"

"His name's Little Coriet," Juliet told her.

Topanga looked between the two. "I can only see the first part. Where'd you get him?"

"I found him," Shawn shared.

"Well, we have to find a nice home for Little Coriet."

"He has one, with me."

"Apparently I'm the aunt," the redhead added, unable to keep the slight note of bitterness out of her voice.

She did not miss the look exchanged between Cory and Topanga before the other girl continued, "no, I mean a proper home, where he can run around."

"He can run around with me."

"Come on, Shawn. Do you really know how to raise a pig?"

"Topanga, it sounds like you're trying to tell me what to do," Shawn stated.

"Well, it sounds like someone should."

"Guys, lighten up. I mean any way you slice it, it's only a pig, right?" The two gave the boy wide-eyed looks causing the boy to exclaim, "what?"

🌎🌎🌎

"You know Cory, having a pig is sure making school fun," Shawn decided after class.

"But the fun is over," Cory pointed out. "Look who's coming."

"Uh-oh, Feeny," Shawn agreed as he spotted the teacher. "Little Coriet, go to the locker."

The pig disappeared into the doggy door that Shawn had installed. "You taught him that?" Cory wondered.

"No, he just knows." He and Cory moved in front of the locker. "Hello, Principal Feeny."

"No farm animals here," Cory informed him.

"Yes, well, the day is young," Mr. Feeny responded before he walked away.

🌎🌎🌎

Shawn had (somewhat reluctantly) asked Juliet to come over after school to help him learn how to take care of Little Coriet. The pair was standing in the kitchen of Mr. Turner's apartment as they prepared to feed the pig. "Admit it. You love Little Coriet."

"The name is growing on me," Juliet agreed.

"I meant the pig, Julie."

"He's adorable, I'll give you that but love isn't what I'd call it."

"But you're his aunt!"

The redhead frowned at her pig-related title. "You did kinda just drop it on me, Shawnie. I don't know how to be an aunt."

"It's easy, all you have to do is spoil him. I'm the one that has to do the disciplinary action," Shawn insisted.

The pig clambered onto the couch and began to lick Mr. Turner as he slept, causing the girl's face to break into an amused smile. The man squirmed slightly in his sleep. "Oh, Catherine. Oh, Catherine, you wild woman. Oh. Oh, Catherine—" The pig's squeal woke Mr. Turner. He shot up and wiped the slobber off of him as Juliet couldn't contain her laughter any more and broke into giggles. "How long have you two been standing there?"

He received no answer as the redhead was too busy laughing and the brunet's gaze was fixed on the joyful girl, a soft smile on the boy's face as he watched her. The teacher sighed. "Hunter!" he addressed the boy sharply, finally regaining his attention. "We had an agreement. He can't kiss me anymore. Look, Hunter, we went over the ground rules. You can keep the pig—"

"Little Coriet," Shawn corrected him.

The man looked at the pig before he looked back up at the boy. "Little Coriet, but he's all yours. I don't want to raise him. I don't want to hear from him. Do we understand each other? And stay focused," he scolded him sternly as his eyes flicked to the redhead whose giggles had subsided.

Even a blind man would know how much Shawn Hunter cared for Juliet Capelwood and the boy had been living with him for months now. It seemed that at any given moment the conversation would turn to something about what the red-haired girl had done, said, or hadn't done yet but would in the future. Mr. Turner had gotten to know the history the two had through the boy's stories and while Shawn hadn't out rightly declared his feelings for the girl, he made it painfully obvious— though the redhead had yet to pick up on them.

The man shook his head at the pair after the boy agreed, not missing his muttered "pig-hater" comment. "I heard that."

"Is the bottle done?" Juliet wanted to know once Mr. Turner had left.

The boy picked it up. "Yeah."

"You can't just test it like that, you dork," she chided him and grabbed the bottle from his hand. Their fingers brushed as she did so and the boy jerked his fingers away as if he'd been burned, making her frown. "Sorry. Anyway, this is a better test." She held out her wrist over the sink and allowed some of the liquid to drip on to her skin.

"And you say you don't love him," he teased her with a faintly amused look as he tucked his hand behind his back.

"I just don't want him to be uncomfortable," she replied, making her way over to the couch. She sat down and held the bottle out to the pig. "C'mon, Little Coriet."

The animal immediately came over to her and put his front paws on her leg to tilt his snout up to the bottle before he grasped it with his teeth to feed. The redhead was too focused on her task to notice the soft look the boy was giving her.

"Hey, guys," Cory's voice made Shawn jump as Juliet looked up to greet her friend. "How's Little Coriet doing?"

The pig backed away from the bottle before he burped. "Better now," Shawn observed.

"Well, I brought him a present." Cory sat down next to the girl.

"That's nice, but it's not his birthday till. . . ah, heck. It's his birthday today." Cory pulled out the gift. 

"A squirrel bank?" Juliet asked, "they didn't have any piggy banks?"

"Well, I didn't think something where you shove metal into a pig's back would be that appealing to him."

"Smart," Shawn commented as Juliet nodded, surprised by his (for once) well thought-out gift. "Hey, listen, I think we'll be able to hook up with you and Topanga at Chubbie's later. Cool?"

"Oh, yeah," Juliet stated as she placed the bottle on the table. "That reminds me. Jack said he'd be able to come, too." She missed Shawn's look of annoyance but not Cory's disapproving one. "What?"

"Do you really think he should come? I mean, it's not his usual crowd," Cory pointed out.

The red-haired girl's expression became slightly hurt. "Cor, he's my boyfriend. You and Shawn are my best friends. I want you to get to know each other."

"Not likely," the dark-haired boy muttered and Cory coughed quickly to cover it up.

"I'm just saying that I don't want him to be uncomfortable. I mean, Topanga's still upset about Shawn keeping a pig in the apartment."

"Right," the boy conceded. "We don't want Jackie boy to see us disagreeing."

The redhead glanced at him with a sigh. "Shawn."

"Little Coriet, would you excuse us?" Shawn requested, and the boy set him down on the floor. He scampered off to Mr. Turner's room as he continued, "Cory, this is none of Topanga's business." He ignored the girl's reproachful look as he stood.

"You're right. You know, you're absolutely right. And I told her that," Cory announced, following him.

"Good. Thanks."

"Then I told her you'd probably find a good home for it in a couple of days, right?"

"Cory!" Juliet exclaimed. "Why would you do that?"

"Come on, guys, face it. I mean, who keeps a pig in an apartment?"

"I do and you seemed to be okay with it this morning before you talked to your girlfriend."

"He's not wrong, Cor," the redhead agreed, earning a surprised look from the dark-haired boy. "What? I can't be on your side anymore?"

Shawn just shook his head as Cory protested, "gimme a break, alright? I'm not here to take anyone's side."

"Sure doesn't sound like it."

"Hey, I love the little sow. Didn't his Uncle Cory show up with a gift?"

"I don't know why Topanga has a problem with this. I mean, nobody else does. Even Julie agrees and she's the sensible one," he sighed as the redhead huffed in annoyance.

Mr. Turner came out of his room. "Hunter, I got a problem with your pig. Left me a little gift on my pillow."

"Was there a card?" Shawn wondered.

🌎🌎🌎

Juliet sat in a booth with Jack as she watched Shawn charm girls with Little Coriet in Chubbie's back room. She was facing him and made a great deal of effort to keep the scowl off her face as the girls giggled at one of his jokes. Jack was doing a remarkable job of trying to keep her attention off the dark-haired boy but even his efforts were failing as he could see she was too preoccupied with glaring a blonde who was particularly close to her best friend.

"So, your friends are pretty cool," he tried again as Cory and Topanga stood after the latter couldn't stand the sight of Little Coriet anymore. Cory had gone with her in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Yeah, a little too cool," the redhead grumbled.

"You can go join them, you know," he reassured her. "I don't mind."

"No thanks," the girl dismissed as she finally tore her gaze away to look back at him. "They're having a bit of a disagreement right now and I don't want any part of it."

"Is it about the pig?"

"Yep," she confirmed, taking a sip of her drink. "I just don't want it to blow up in public."

"Is that why you haven't stopped looking over there?" Jack questioned her with a faint smirk.

"I'm sorry. I just. . ." She didn't have any excuse so she let her words trail off.

"You were watching Hunter," the boy remarked knowingly.

"No I wasn't!" the girl objected immediately. "I was watching Little Coriet!"

"No one watches a pig as if someone is stepping on their heart, Ocean Eyes," Jack pointed out gently.

"I wasn't looking like that," the redhead's face flushed. "You're just seeing things. Besides, I don't want Little Coriet to steal all the girls. It'd make Shawn sad."

"He wouldn't be the only sad one," the blond commented pointedly.

Juliet huffed and pushed down both the prickle of guilt and hurt that she felt before she stood. She moved to sit next to the blond boy. "Look, I won't even look over there anymore. I don't care," she declared firmly. "We're on a date, remember?"

"I remember."

The best way to get her mind off Shawn was to— the answer came to her and she grabbed a fistful of her boyfriend's shirt before she smashed her lips to his. Jack was understandably startled but quickly welcomed the kiss as he responded with equal enthusiasm. The tingling warmth that always came with the redhead's kisses travelled through his body and made him pull the girl closer to his chest. Juliet let herself go willingly, though the only thing she felt with the gesture was a faint hint of discomfort. It wasn't that being close to her boyfriend made her uncomfortable— she trusted Jack, really— it was just that she felt. . . nothing. 

There was no warmth, no tingling and definitely no fireworks but it was still pleasant. She ignored the feeling (or lack thereof) and continued to kiss him, only breaking off when the presence of stare made her pull away. She turned and her eyes widened as she saw Shawn giving her an annoyed look through narrowed eyes. 

"Cory and Topanga left. I thought you should know since you seemed. . . busy," the last word was sneered as if it were something foul. "I'm leaving and taking Little Coriet with me. He doesn't need his aunt anymore. Enjoy your date."

With that, Shawn turned and stalked away, the pig held securely under one arm. This time, Juliet couldn't bury the hurt that followed the boy's words and immediately lost all desire to kiss her boyfriend. Jack seemed to read her mood and pushed himself further away from the girl to give her space. She sighed and lowered her head to the table to rest her chin on her hands, her blue gaze distant and sad as a frown tugged on her lips.

Jack was instantly reminded of a kicked puppy. His first instinct was to hug her until she felt better, but he knew that there was nothing he could do. With a sigh, he leaned his head against the wall of the booth and closed his eyes. They'd had such a great time over the summer and even in the beginning of the school year. He'd really thought he'd done it— had her fall for him— but it was painfully obvious what a failure that had been. He was still human, though. He was still a teenage boy with his own feelings and thoughts and he was too selfish to let her go on his own. If she wanted out in this relationship, she'd have to be the one to do it. After all, his feelings for her were still awfully present.

🌎🌎🌎

The next day, Juliet decided to skip lunch because her appetite hadn't returned since the night before. Shawn's irritated gaze wouldn't leave her mind and his words were all she could hear as they echoed in her ears. He'd sounded so. . . disgusted.

His mood hadn't improved this morning and with the disagreement over Little Coriet, the whole group was tiptoeing around each other to avoid setting the other off. Shawn seemed to be getting the brunt of it, causing his grumpiness to linger. It was understandable, really, Juliet tried to convince herself as she listened to her Walkman in an effort to block out the echo of Shawn's voice.

She jumped when she felt someone tap her foot. Looking up, she realized Mr. Turner was standing over her with a frown on his face. She quickly paused her music and slid her headphones off. "Hi, Mr. Turner. Is something wrong?"

The man gave an exasperated sigh. "Why is it when I talk to students outside of class they immediately think something's wrong?" he wanted to know, shaking his head before he continued, "you tell me, Capelwood. You, Hunter and Matthews were fine over the weekend and now here you are, skipping lunch."

"It's nothing, Mr. Turner," she promised quickly. "High school problems. It'll pass."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment before he sank onto the floor next to her. "Now you better tell me what's goin' on since it'll take me awhile to stand back up again."

This made the girl crack a smile, though it didn't reach her normally bright eyes. "You're not that old, Mr. Turner."

"Old? Who said anything about old? I'm so tall it'll take me awhile to stand up to my regular height."

Juliet shook her head slightly before she fell silent again. She played with her fingers in her lap for a moment before she finally decided to speak. "I just— I don't know if I'd feel talking about it to-to a teacher. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just— awkward."

"Well, then tell me the non-awkward parts."

She frowned as she reluctantly tossed the thing she really wanted to talk about in the bin and instead started with the easier topic: "Topanga thinks Shawn shouldn't keep Little Coriet and Shawn obviously thinks he should. Cory took Topanga's side and now no one's really talking to each other," she began. "I don't think it'll last forever but it's making them irritable and I just didn't want to-to sit with them when they're like this."

"Do you agree with Topanga?" Mr. Turner inquired.

The redhead shrugged. "I don't really care, to be honest. I know it sounds bad but I've got more to worry about than that and it just seems inconsequential."

"More to worry about?" he prompted her.

"I— well— it's my mom," Juliet confessed. "She's been acting weird since school started. She's been home more often but I'm not really seeing her, she's always busy. She's talking on the phone a lot and she seems. . . happier, I guess, but the whole thing's fishy and I don't know what's going on. If I ask her she just lies to me."

Mr. Turner frowned. "Have you told Matthews or Hunter this?"

"I sort of talked to Shawn about it but I think he's forgotten. I've talked to Jack, too. "At the man's confusion, she clarified, "he's my boyfriend, but he knows as much as I do." The girl glanced over and saw the man's surprised look. "What?"

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

A small smile curved on her lips. "With all due respect, Mr. Turner, I don't make it a habit of telling teachers about my personal life. Shawn hasn't told you, though?"

He shook his head. "Never even mentioned him and he talks about you plenty. It's enough to make my ears bleed if it wasn't all praise."

The redhead's face turned faintly pink. "Shawn talks about me?"

"I probably shouldn't have said that," Mr. Turner admitted guiltily, "but yeah. There's times when I think he won't shut up about you."

"Oh," Juliet murmured, and she smiled more genuinely. She felt better already.

"Never mind that," he added hastily. "I'm sure Hunter hasn't forgotten what you've told him. Even if you two are having a spat right now, he cares about you more than whatever you're arguing about. If you tell him you need to talk to him I'm sure he'll listen, Capelwood."

🌎🌎🌎

"Shawn?" Juliet asked tentatively the next day. The boy turned slightly to acknowledge he was listening. "Uh, where's Little Coriet?"

"He's at Turner's," the boy replied as he faced her fully. "Topanga realized she made a mistake. I just decided not to bring him to school today."

"Oh— oh. That's, uh, that's good." She played with a strand of her red hair, feeling uncommonly nervous as she talked to her best friend. "Are-are you still mad at me?"

Shawn frowned. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well, uh, you seemed mad at Chubbie's the other day and then yesterday at school you wouldn't even look at me, so I figured—"

"I'm not mad at you, Julie," he interrupted her.

"Well you seemed upset," she stated.

"I was, at Topanga," the boy explained with a sigh. And at me. "Not at you. I'm sorry, Julie."

"It's-it's okay," she mumbled as her gaze found her feet. She wanted so badly to just blurt out everything she was. . . feeling inside to her best friend, like she used to be able to do. She wanted to be able to tell about how. . . how giddy she felt when he was around, about how happy he made her feel in general, about how much she liked him, and just let her words spill out in tidal wave of emotion until she'd shared every missing feeling with the boy in front of her. But, she wasn't brave enough and the best thing to do was keep silent. So, she did.

"I'll, uh, see you later then?"

"Y-yeah. See you," he answered as he turned back to look into his locker— and the moment was lost. 

[written dec. 2020]
[edited may 2022]