BMW Shory ShawnxCory Oneshots

4

The Next Thing

BY:Mollyamory (Molly)

Summary:When he took a step back from his Master Plan and looked around, there was a whole world there. It was scary as hell, but he thought it was probably going to be okay.

Story:

After the hospital, Cory was too jittery to go straight back to the dorm. Shawn took one look at the way his leg was bouncing up and down about a hundred times a minute, and asked Cory's dad to drop them off at the park. Joshua was okay -- finally, thank God, okay -- and so it was okay, probably, for everybody to scatter. Topanga had gone back to school already, Eric had gone off to whatever overpass he'd be sleeping under from now on, and the Matthews needed time alone with the baby. That was what logic told him, but he knew that didn't always work well with this family -- his new family -- so he watched Mr. Matthews' eyes in the rear-view mirror when he made the suggestion. He looked a little relieved, so Shawn figured it was fine.

The sky was all lit up over the trees, red and orange, but there was enough light left to make their way to the swing sets. Shawn pushed Cory into one swing, then dropped into the one beside it. They shoved themselves around idly with their feet, kicking up a low cloud of dust.

"This has been a good day," Shawn pronounced, when it was dark enough to see the first star. He looked over at Cory, grinning, and found him grinning back.

"Yeah, it has."

"We are so gonna wreck this kid." A little warm glow rose up in Shawn's chest just thinking about it. He felt the smile on his face going a little silly, but couldn't seem to care.

"It's our duty," Cory said solemnly. "Everyone expects it. They'd be disappointed if we didn't."

"I can't believe how É I don't know. I guess I can't believe it's possible to go through something so scary, and feel so good about it. A lot of bad things could've happened."

"Yeah, but none of them did." Cory glanced sideways at Shawn. He looked tired. Actually, he looked kind of like somebody had beaten him up. "Everything was okay, just like you said it would be."

Shawn raised a shoulder and dropped it. Whatever. Things could've been bad, but there'd been a pretty good chance they'd turn out fine. Shawn knew what Cory's life was like.

"I'm really glad you came back, Shawnie."

"Me, too." Shawn waited, because he'd been studying Cory Matthews for years; by now he held several advanced degrees.

"I was starting to think you'd ridden off into the sunset. Like Shane or something, only you had a truck instead of a horse. That stuff you said, back at the hospital; did you mean that? You're gonna stick around now, like you said you would?"

"Yeah, I think so. I want to, anyway." Shawn spun in the swing, twisting the chains together until he was facing Cory. "I want to, but history has shown I don't always want what's good for me."

Cory just nodded; and yeah, he really was tired if he was letting that one go. Shawn lifted his feet, and let the chains slowly rotate him back. He kicked off, a real push, and stuck his feet out to grab some height.

Watching from the ground, Cory said, "Don't you think you're a little old for that?"

"Nope," Shawn said, and kicked himself higher.