Chapter 3 - 'WTF - I KNOW?'
Shawn and Tyler talked on the phone whenever possible, and Tyler would sometimes have dinner waiting for Shawn when he came home late from work. Tyler knew he was tired and didn't want him to have to miss dinner or grab something on his way home. He would drag in some nights because he was still working twelve to sixteen hours.
One night he walked in at almost eight, and Tyler had been there reading over some research but had dinner waiting. Tyler didn't hear Shawn, and he stood in the kitchen doorway watching Tyler. "You know you're too good to me."
"Oh shit." Tyler jumped, and Shawn chuckled.
"Sorry, Babe, I didn't realize you didn't hear me come in." He smiled because he knew that he was going to make Tyler jump.
He went over and sat next to him and hugged him. "What are you doing?"
"Just reading over some of the research I have been doing for my dissertation. Come winter term, I will be back in classes."
"Mmmm, you are a smarty, like my sister said. That's great. I never went to college."
Tyler was shocked, "Never?"
"Nope, I worked at the police department for a few years, doing whatever they wanted me to do. Sometimes I was a radio operator or desk clerk until I was old enough to take the exam and enter the police academy. I know they prefer you to have an associates or bachelors in something. Still, I scored high enough to get in on my own merit and with the help of all the other guys at the station." Shawn chuckled.
"What help did they give?"
"Some of the answers." Shawn chuckled again. "They really liked me. It's where I work now."
"They guaranteed they got to keep you as an officer once you passed the academy?"
"Pretty much."
Shawn ate and put his head in Tyler's lap because he continued to read. Shawn was asleep in just a few minutes. Tyler liked how their relationship has progressed but decided he better get Shawn to bed and himself home, so he could make it up in the morning.
Waking Shawn, on the other hand, was not the easiest to do. Tyler had to keep calling his name and caressing his face, which didn't work. He finally just got up, which caused Shawn's head to drop to the couch, which woke him. He was able to finally get him to bed and Shawn didn't want his snuggle bug to leave, but Tyler insisted.
As new recruits were being hired, Shawn's hours were returning to normal, and Tyler and he could do more things together. On one of Shawn's days off, he surprised Tyler with a picnic lunch at the university. He was glad it was a warm fall day. So, he texted and asked if he was free and to meet him near the fountain.
When Tyler arrived at the fountain area, he didn't see Shawn and called him. "Where are you?" Shawn laughed and told him to turn his entire body ninety degrees to his right and look forward. When he did this, he saw Shawn had lunch set out for him on a blanket, picnic basket, and all. "Oh my God, Shawn, you didn't." But Tyler was smiling, walked over, and sat down. "You made me lunch?"
"No, you are going to starve, I just made myself lunch, and you get to watch me eat." Shawn chuckled and hugged Tyler to him for a second.
"You're an ass." Tyler laughed.
"I know," Shawn responded. "I love giving you a hard time. The look on your face sometimes is priceless."
They sat, ate, and talked for forty-five minutes, and then Tyler said he had to return to the office. They weren't touchy or anything. They just had lunch, laughed, and enjoyed one another's company. Shawn knew that Tyler didn't want to attract too much attention with public displays of affection, so he kept it down to a minimum. He would touch Tyler a little, his back or arm, but he never kissed him.
Tyler did surprise him after getting to his feet. He leaned over and kissed Shawn before walking away. "Thank you, I love you," Tyler said it by accident, and he couldn't take it back now.
"I know." Was Shawn's only response. He didn't say it back, just the phrase, I know. He just smiled, and Tyler walked away.
Tyler was screaming at himself, 'why did you tell him.' He couldn't believe it slipped out, and Shawn didn't say it back. It made him sad and a little depressed. He ran into Dawn in the hallway, and she could tell something was wrong, so she followed him to his office.
Shawn cleaned up the stuff and left the university, and halfway home, he got a text from his sister. 'WTF, I KNOW??????' Shawn just laughed and didn't respond to the text. He knows eventually it will dawn on Tyler where the line came from because Tyler is too much of a sci-fi nerd not to realize.
Dean called him not too much later, "Shit, man, really, are you trying to piss your sister off and depress your boyfriend?"
"When he sits and thinks about it, he will get it."
"What the fuck does that mean?" Dean responded, then it dawned on him. "Oh shit, really, man, really, you didn't quote a damn movie." Dean then burst into laughter. "Only you would do that, you know that right."
"He loves those movies. If he doesn't get it, then it's on him. And he asked again to watch the series we've been watching every Friday and Saturday night, so we'll be watching that one this weekend. If he's still pissed at me, maybe it will dawn on him during that scene."
"I need to call your sister and tell her." Dean was still laughing.
"Don't you dare! If you do, she will tell Tyler, and I want him to figure it out on his own." Shawn was laughing too.
"I have to listen to her bitch about you for how long?"
"At max a few days, I know I'm an insensitive jerk or ass as she calls me," Shawn responded. "But he knows I love him, and I will tell him when he figures this out."
"What if he never does?" Dean asked.
"Then I will tell him after this weekend." Shawn laughed. "But I have faith in him."
"I think you should wait a bit." He has noticed that Shawn has fallen for Tyler hard, unlike all the other boyfriends he has had. Dean didn't like that Shawn was falling in love or has already fallen in love with Tyler. Dean was becoming jealous of Tyler, knowing he had to put his thoughts elsewhere. He still has his friend.
"I know I probably should have responded with it today. I just thought it would be funnier to say what I did. Hopefully, Tyler isn't too pissed at me and does figure it out. But I know he will, if not before this weekend. I have faith in him that he will Friday night."
Tyler was pissed at Shawn for the next few days, he hardly spoke to him when he did come over, and Shawn would just kiss him anyways. He was thinking, play dumb and not notice how distant Tyler was. Shawn tried to make him laugh, and sometimes Tyler would smile and chuckle but was still trying to be pissed.
By the weekend, Tyler had talked to another coworker, not just Dawn, and she told him not to worry that Shawn would say it back when he was ready. She told him just act like it's not bothering you so much because you don't want him saying it out of sadness for you. Tyler thought about it. Shawn does show that he loves him in many ways all the time and decided that he didn't need Shawn to say it back right now. Tyler thought his coworker was right. He shouldn't force it out of Shawn.
They had been watching the Star Wars movies in order, and this weekend was the last two movies, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which they will watch the last one on Saturday, one a night. On Friday evening, Tyler was ready and waiting at Shawn's for movie night.
