Cult Nonfiction -- Cory/Shawn

[A Moment In Subtext]

Boy Meets World
Gossip
By. A Moment In Subtext

X ~ x ~ X

Authors Note: This takes place during and after "Fear Strikes Out," and is AU from the middle.

X ~ x ~ X

It was the wounded look in Cory's eyes that made Shawn do it.
It was an almost defeated look, something he'd never thought he'd see on Cory's face, and when Cory had asked him to put the pencil through his head it had nearly broken his heart. It was like Cory's sad puppy-dog, the look that had always been able to make him do something foolish, except that this time it was worse. And it wasn't just the look that was worse. It was the consequences.
It was probably the third time that someone had said something within Cory's hearing about his choke-up in the closet with Topanga, and it wasn't as if the rumors hadn't been bothering Shawn before. In fact, they'd been grating very closely on his nerves. He'd had to stiffle the urge to throttle a few people he'd heard talking before. And, of course, as a dutiful best friend, he'd lied and told Cory that it hadn't spread as far as it had. It hadn't helped that as soon as he'd said it he was proven wrong by a couple of upperclassmen, but it was the thought that counted.
And then Cory had turned the look on him, and he'd felt his insides melt and dissolve into a puddle of goo, leaking slowly out the soles of his feet. Because he'd never been able to resist Cory's looks, just like Cory had never been able to resist his, though for different reasons.
The first time Cory turned the look on him, the only idea that popped into his head was the actually do what Cory had asked and shove the pencil into his brain. But he knew he couldn't do it as soon as he thought of it. One look at Cory told him that he couldn't live without him.
The second time for one brief second, he considered hopping up on a bench and just screaming at everyone to shut the hell up and get lives of their own, but he dismissed that idea, too. After all, it hadn't worked on Harley during lunch, and he liked his face where and the way it was.
But the last time, the thing that popped into his mind was probably the stupidest, most idiotic thing he'd ever thought of, and the worst possible thing he could have done. It was almost guaranteed to blow up in his face. To reveal to Cory things that he wasn't sure he was ready face for himself. Though whether Cory would understand it or not, and what he'd do if he did were possibilities Shawn barely thought of, and if he had, wasn't sure which option terrified him more. Which, of course, mean to his suddenly melted brain had decided that it was the only possible course of action.
"You want to make them shut up?" He asked Cory softly, already knowing the answer.
"More than anything."
Shawn turned to face Cory, putting his hands on the other boys shoulders and looked him squarely in the eye.
"You trust me?" He asked.
"Of course." Cory answered just as quickly, a trace of confusion in his voice.
"Good." He took a deep breath, then did what he'd been wanting to do for years. He leaned over and kissed Cory. As he'd predicted, his friends eyes and widened almost comically and he'd frozen. It hadn't been exactly the way Shawn had imagined it, but it came pretty darn close. Filing the experience in his mind to be thought about later, Shawn pulled back. "There." He said, "Now no one can say you don't have lips." Then, with the slight ghost of a smile on his face, he pulled back even further from Cory and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Cory standing there looking slightly lost, more than a bit confused, and with a comically shocked expression.