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hold me clos-uh tiny danc-uuh
count the headlights on the high waaaaay
lay me down in sheets of linnnnn-nen
you had a busy day todaaay
*am not thinking about anything but strippers and elton john songs. yes yes that's it. that's the ticket.*
jesus freeee-aks
out in the streee-eeets
*shawn sings this in the shower when he thinks he's alone and no one can hear him*
count the headlights on the high waaaaay
lay me down in sheets of linnnnn-nen
you had a busy day todaaay
*am not thinking about anything but strippers and elton john songs. yes yes that's it. that's the ticket.*
jesus freeee-aks
out in the streee-eeets
*shawn sings this in the shower when he thinks he's alone and no one can hear him*
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
Juliet is drunk. Not sloppy, fall-down drunk, not yet. Giggly drunk. Feely drunk. Loves-the-world-and-everyone-in-it drunk. "Dance with me, Gus" drunk. Gus is merely pleasantly buzzed and enjoying all the attention from her and his three new friends. Were he Shawn, he'd remember their names, he'd have worked out the chances of going home with one of them by the, oh, jewelry one wore or the way the brunette had forgotten to close her purse.
Names don't matter anyway, not when he has four attractive--well, three very attractive and one he needs a few more drinks for--women slinking, sliding, grinding, all sweat and grapefruit and rum and clouds of perfume, closed eyes and roaming hands pulling his head down to cradle themselves in the crook of his neck while he gladly obliges.
Something by Fatboy Slim is playing; dance beats for the masses. Something all women could dance to without a pacifier and a glow stick and a desire to be 16 and at a late 90s rave. Something that lets a man still look cool while on the dance floor.
What a picture he must be making, truly a king among men in his crisp royal shirt, dark skin a stark contrast even next to the Santa Barbara-sunned women surrounding him.
Shawn should see this. All the charm and luck and sweet talking are no match for this manly display.
Gus assumes Shawn is still nursing the drink up at the bar, waiting to make his grand entrance and steal the spotlight. Or perhaps by now he's found some nubile young blonde and is having a "vision" of what the two of them will be doing later.
Gus cranes his neck to look towards the bar. He sees a few people seated up there, but no Shawn. He scans the crowd for ridiculously styled hair and dancing like only a white man can do, but Shawn is not dancing, either. He would turn to ask Jules to help, using her cop eyes, but those eyes are glossed over and she's too short anyway.
He wonders if Hornstock has found Shawn yet. He'd exchanged fist bumps and complimented his new tie, congratulating himself for exerting an influence on at least one person around here, not five minutes before and he is also nowhere around. He can't have gone far in that short amount of time. He doesn't seem like the dancing type to Gus and even if he were, Gus has a lot of work ahead of him if he wants Hornstock to be able to ask a woman to dance with him. Maybe he'd left as quickly as he came. Shawn probably scared him off if Hornstock did go in Shawn’s direction; he's not exactly the most subtle, even around other men. Especially around other men.
The crowd is thick and trying to move through it now would be like an ant moving through sap, but he knows that Shawn plus alcohol plus a pretty young thing always equals trouble and Gus is tired of bailing him out, playing his scorned lover, angry father, boss, and there was that one time he had to pretend to be head priest and Father Shawn was in serious trouble for breaking his vow of chastity, just to get Shawn out of that second date. If he didn't move now, he would be that ant and in ten minutes, he would be left for a paleontologist to find, trapped in the amber that is the late-night Santa Barbara crowd, and clone him. Not that a race of Guses would be a bad thing.
He excuses himself--reluctantly--from his throng of admiring women, three phone numbers in his pocket, thank you very much--well, two phone numbers he might actually use.
From:
Re: i really want a popsicle now
Head Detective Carlton Lassiter? Here? Gus blinks once, hard. He'd assumed that Lassiter had said yes to Shawn's invitation to merely shut him up but here he is, suit and slicked back hair and steely eyes disapproving of all he sees. Gus, ever polite, even in the face of the very scary head detective, turns to make towards his side of the room. If anything, those still-sober cop instincts, or just the raw power of his dislike of Shawn will help Gus find him before he gets into too much trouble.
He’s halfway there now and Lassiter is moving towards the back of the room, away from Juliet and the three easy women and the bar. Lassiter moves deftly through the crowd, utilizing all the crowd control training he must have gotten way back in his beat cop days. Gus is having a hard time keeping up, but he finds the crowd a bit thinner in the back and he is able to see Lassiter better now.
He watches Lassiter from a distance, trying to gauge his mood before assaulting him with greetings and a plea for help. He’s still moving towards the back and Gus now sees that he is making his way to the restroom. It can wait, thinks Gus.
Hornstock walks out of the bathroom before Lassiter can make it to the door and it doesn’t take a cop or a fake psychic or even a Super Smeller to know that something is wrong. He is pale and Gus can see even at his distance that he is shaking and disheveled, his brand new tie askew, his hair a mess and he is just wrong. He nods toward Lassiter and makes for a quick exit. Lassiter purses his lips and nods back, confused at Hornstock’s appearance. Gus knows he should abandon his search for Shawn, at least temporarily, and go after Hornstock, the poor kid.
Lassiter grabs the handle of the door and opens it, but stops short before entering. Gus can’t see around him to know why he is just standing there. Maybe Hornstock threw up in there and missed everything but the floor. It would explain why he looks so bad, but no, Lassiter’s head is moving like he is talking.
Ooooooh. Hornstock was in there with someone. Shouldn't that be lucky him and not scared-to-death him?
Gus is beyond intrigued at this point and barely notices as Hornstock pushes his way past him, but he faintly notices the smell of sweat and mumbled acknowledgement of Gus as he pushes by.
Well, ok, it might be intruding, but how is he supposed to help Hornstock if he doesn’t know who he just maybe possibly had sex with in the bathroom and, really, is Lassiter giving the poor girl a lecture about sex in public places or what because he’s not moving yet.
But he does move, and as he does, ridiculous hair and a polo comes into view and now, only right now, does it come together and make sense and horrify and confirm and send Gus reeling, but he’ll deal with that later because there is no way Shawn won’t notice Gus staring in his direction at this distance. He ducks and retreats back to the other side of the club to where Jules is and where his best friend didn’t just have sex with another man in a bathroom.
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
“Gus! Jules!” He swaggers past them and raises his eyebrows, smiling deviously as he lowers his voice. “Ladies.” But it’s all a lie now. Gus isn’t stupid. Sure he may not have Shawn’s celebrated fake psychic abilities, but he’s not totally unobservant. Gus has long suspected that those less than innocent gropes and “vision faces” that could not look less like the height of pleasure were less a show for the whole police department and more of a private performance for Detective Lassiter and it makes Gus angry because confirming that your lifelong best friend butters his toast on both sides is not something that should happen by accident in a crowded bar.
But here it is. It's there, but it's not there. Gus can't say anything because Shawn hasn't said anything and he can't betray him, even if Shawn has betrayed him, but, really, does the best friend code even apply in this case? Why Hornstock? What was it about him that made Shawn go from walking that bisexual line to actually stomping all over it? He looked terrified and now Shawn doesn't exactly look 100 percent, either. Does this mean that Shawn actually has a crush on Lassiter? Is all that touching and lapsitting and dazzling and stretching because he wants Lassiter? Did he hit on Lassiter and he said no and Hornstock said yes and he's drowning his sor-
His thoughts are interrupted when he sees Lassiter approach the group. He isn’t dancing, he isn’t drinking, and he isn’t happy. Shawn doesn't greet him with a jubilant, "Lassi," or a "Carly," "Carlito," or even a mildly polite, "Lassiter," and Lassiter isn't even acknowledging that Shawn is standing there, avoiding his gaze at all costs and being bitterly obvious about it and gazing is all Shawn is doing right now. He makes no move to touch him, which, Gus thinks, might be the right move for once, considering the look on Lassiter’s face that could still kill Shawn even if he’s still not looking in Shawn’s direction.
The Chief may not see it. Jules may not notice it (or perhaps she does after all, judging by that slip outside the courthouse). Lassiter himself may be in deep public denial about it, but Gus knows now that Shawn has it bad for Lassiter, even though he just slipped up with Hornstock. And Gus is pretty sure from his behaviour that Lassiter has it pretty bad for Shawn as well.
Shawn is hurting. Gus cannot help him until he wants to talk about it and even then, Gus isn't sure he wants to talk to Shawn after he kept that secret for so long, and Lassiter could help if he would just look at him and see how bad Shawn feels. Instead, he looks at his partner, observing her unsteady gait. “O’Hara, how many did you have tonight? Do you need a ride home?”
“I had two and yes, I do…hee…that rhymed! Two…do…two…dooooo.” He would joke with Shawn about how Jules cannot hold her liquor, but he just remembered that he is not speaking to Shawn.
Lassiter nods his head toward Gus and guides Juliet through the crowd as she blows kisses to everyone and waves back toward Gus and Shawn, who is watching Lassiter. Shawn’s shoulders slump as SBPD’s finest disappears into the crowd and his face, never in danger of hiding how Shawn felt from Gus, looks even sadder now. He stares into Gus’ eyes, trying to say everything he wants to say without actually having to say it out loud, hoping that the bonds of a 22 year old friendship could somehow let Gus read his mind. Gus softens.
“Take me home, Gus.” His voice is dead. Defeated. Gus sighs as Shawn flings an arm around his shoulder and leans on him all the way to his car.
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
SRS FIC IS SRS BSNS. And HARD. I admire you!
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
(I mean, yes, ok my thoughts always jump right to Lassi, I am a perv, but Gus isn't me).
I wonder when it becomes totally obvious to others that Lassiter also has real real bad for Shawn? During the groping in the third story? haha when he takes it?
Poor Mama Gus...
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
OK, I will fill in some parts there...what did I tell you about barebonesing it the first go round? See what I mean?
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
But he does move, and as he does, ridiculous hair and a polo comes into view and now, only right now, does it come together and make sense and horrify and confirm and send Gus reeling, but he’ll deal with that later because there is no way Shawn won’t notice Gus staring in his direction at this distance. He ducks and retreats back to the other side of the club to where Jules is and where his best friend didn’t just have sex with another man in a bathroom.
You mean here, right? Fill in more here?
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
But here it is. It's there, but it's not there. Gus can't say anything because Shawn hasn't said anything and he can't betray him, even if Shawn has betrayed him, but, really, does the best friend code even apply in this case? Why Hornstock? What was it about him that made Shawn go from walking that bisexual line to actually stomping all over it? He looked terrified and now Shawn doesn't exactly look 100 percent, either. Does this mean that Shawn actually has a crush on Lassiter? Is all that touching and lapsitting and dazzling and stretching because he wants Lassiter? Did he hit on Lassiter and he said no and Hornstock said yes and he's drowning his sor-
It's a lot packed in here, thoughts that need addressing, one by one (if not here then later, but they definitely each need their own space here, for processing purposes). Gus goes from realizing that Shawn had sex in the bathroom...with Hornstock...with another man...to thinking about Shawn groping Lassiter, to wondering if Lassiter, who just got there, somehow started all of this.
I mean, he kind of did, but it's a pretty quick train of thought, you know? Unless you're Shawn, and even then there'd be a pause while he does he psychic vision thing and notices something.
Also, I just want more smexy, angsty details... :P
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
Yes, sir!
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
but the devil is a sexy motherfuckah.
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
*cough*
lassiter is so damn hot.
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
Hot Lassi wall-slamming. omg.
I decided if you like, Hornstock can totally get with a stripper.
on my flist pir8fancier is the best for telling me in my stories when i've completely jumped ahead mentally without bringing people along with me. i do it a lot. :) eager to get to the porns.
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
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Re: i really want a popsicle now
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Re: i really want a popsicle now