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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇs​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴀʀʟʏ ʏᴇᴀʀs ꒱


❝ I THINK I LOVE YOU ❞

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Before there was Shawn, Cory, Topanga and Juliet, there was Juliet and Shawn.

The red-haired girl didn't seek out the dark-haired boy right away. In fact, kindergarten was nearly over before she even thought to approach him. Juliet was a pretty girl with flaming red hair and blue eyes, thus making her rather popular among the other girls of her class. She was bubbly and bright and no one thought twice to ask her where she was from despite her second-hand clothes and pawn shop books.

Shawn, on the other hand, despite his smooth dark hair and blue eyes, was quiet and defensive when approached, especially once the secret got out about where he lived. Not many of the other kids wanted to be friends with him after that and so he spent most of kindergarten alone and watched the others play together.

That was, until the spring of that year when Juliet finally noticed a boy sitting by himself. She wasn't sure what had caught her attention about him but he just looked so. . . lonely. She stood.

"Where are you going, Jules?" one of her friends, Sarah, asked.

The girl looked down at the blonde. "I wanna sit with him. He looks nice." She pointed to the boy.

Sarah made a face. "Don't you know where he's from? My mommy says he's not from good people."

She shot the other girl a confused look. "Have you spoken to him?"

"No. Why would I want to?"

Juliet shrugged away the girl's concerns and gathered her lunch, skipping slightly to where the boy sat. She put her food down and paused. "Can I sit with you?"

The boy hunched his shoulders slightly. "Why?"

She tilted her head, causing her twin braids to appear slightly askew. "You look lonely."

"Haven't you heard—"

"I don't care what people think," she said firmly. "Unless you're a big meanie I think we'd be great friends."

Shawn couldn't help but smile at the statement. Friends. He shrugged, seemingly careless. "Okay, I guess. If you really don't mind."

She shot him a bright smile as she sat down. "I don't. And I'm Juliet."

"Shawn," he answered. He turned more fully to look at her and his eyes widened slightly. Oh.

Juliet laid out her lunch again, ignoring Sarah's eyes staring at her from across the lunchroom. "Besides," she continued, "we're from the same neighborhood, anyway."

"What?" She lived in a trailer park?

"Rainbow Falls, the apartment complex next door."

"You live there?" He couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. Everyone knew that place was pretty much a dump. The redhead nodded as she opened her sandwich bag. "How come I've never seen you, then?"

She shrugged and took a bite of her sandwich. "Maybe you were just never looking," she said with her mouth full.

By the time lunch was almost over, Juliet and Shawn were very nearly friends. The last act that would cement their lifelong relationship came in the form of a three-piece package of Oreos.

Juliet gave a happy little gasp when she saw the blue package and grabbed it excitedly. "I love Oreos!"

He couldn't help but grin. "Me too. They're my favorite."

She hesitated. "Do you want to share?"

Shawn shook his head. "No thanks, they're yours."

"I don't mind," Juliet insisted again while she opened the bag. She gave them each one which meant that there was one left over. Thinking quickly, she broke it in half and gave one side to the boy.

Opening her full Oreo so the icing showed, she asked, "how do you like to eat them?"

"I like the cookie part best," he decided. "The cream is too soft."

Juliet gave him a surprised look. "I like the icing part best. The cookie part gets stuck in my teeth and I don't like it."

The boy frowned thoughtfully for a second before he picked up the plastic knife that had come in his lunch. Then he opened his one and a half Oreos and carefully scraped the white icing off the cookie. He tipped the cream onto the girl's napkin. "Here, you can have my icing, then."

Her eyes lit up. "And you can have my cookie parts!" She used the same technique and passed him her cookie halves.

Shawn stared at her. "I think I love you."

Juliet rolled her eyes slightly. "We can be cookie buddies," she answered in response.

He reached over and gently tugged on one of her braids. "Didn't you know that being cookie buddies is basically getting married?"

She giggled. "Well, then you better keep your half of the deal, Mister! Otherwise I want a divorce and no more cookies for you."

🌎🌎🌎

The first (brief) test of their friendship came in first grade in the unassuming form of a brilliant boy named Stuart Minkus.

Juliet, while being smart and well-read, didn't often raise her hand to answer questions and left that up the blond-haired boy who'd always been the smartest in their class. Spelling bees were much harder to hide the fact that one knew things and Juliet was never one to forfeit for the sake of an image. Soon, there were just three students remaining: Minkus, Juliet and a girl with bushy, curly hair named Topanga.

"Complete," Ms. Applewood said. "As in, to finish a project."

It was Minkus' turn and of course, he spelled it correctly. The three of them had been going at it for fifteen minutes now with none of them missing any words.

"Yawn," the teacher said to Juliet. "To open one's mouth in tiredness or boredom."

"Y-A-W-N," Juliet spelled, and then she smiled as her eyes found the dark-haired boy who was sitting next to her empty desk. "As in Shawn."

The class laughed at that and even Ms. Applewood smiled slightly. The boy gave her a thumbs-up and turned to the curly-haired boy who sat across the aisle from him. "That's my wife," he whispered, proud of how smart she was.

The other boy nodded. "The curly haired girl's mine."

Eventually, Juliet missed conscience and Topanga missed vicious, leaving Minkus as the winner. The blond-haired boy approached them, his hand outstretched in a gesture of good sportsmanship. "Congratulations, ladies. A valiant— V-A-L-I-A-N-T— effort."

Juliet shook his hand. "Good job, Minkus. I think we all knew what was gonna happen."

The boy flashed her a bright smile. "Thank you, Juliet. You know—"

An arm wrapped around her shoulders and the girl instantly knew who it was. "Watch it, Minki. That's my wife you're talking to."

She rolled her eyes. "Cookie partner, Shawnie."

"Same thing."

The smaller boy was unimpressed. "I would be a much better Romeo for a smart girl like you, Juliet."

The redhead straightened indignantly. "I don't need a Romeo. I'm an independent woman!"

The blond haired boy gave a dreamy little sigh. "Even better." He turned away, towards Topanga, undeterred. "So, Topanga—"

Juliet shifted to look at her best friend and frowned. "You're quiet."

"What if this Juliet had a Shawn?" he asked, avoiding her gaze.

Oh. 

"I don't mind that nearly as much," she reassured him. "I just don't want a guy killing himself for me."

The boy's expression brightened and he laughed. "Don't worry, Julie. I would check to make sure you're still alive first." 

A/n: welcome to my Shawn Hunter fanfiction! I've had this plot idea in my head for years and even attempted writing it at one point but it wasn't the right time. Now it is! I've completely finished the first season and am on the fifth episode of the second so it's coming along. I have plans for all the way into Girl Meets World which will also double as a Farkle Minkus x OC fanfiction. I'm super excited to share my idea with you guys and hope you like it. As always, feel free to let me know what you think!

[Edited apr. 2022]