shelter_diner | Fic: Putting Two and Two Together (How Gabe Finds Out)

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Title: Putting Two and Two Together (How Gabe Finds Out)
Writer:

girloftheburbs
Character: Shaun and Gabe (with Zach nearby)
Fandom: Shelter
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 1095
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, but they were created by the wonderfully talented Jonah Markowitz. I’m just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: How Gabe finds out about Shaun and Zach. (Gapfiller)
Author Note: Okay, this is my very first fic, so be kind, okay? LOL I had an inspiration to write this after watching the movie, "Shelter", a few times, and was curious about how Gabe had discovered that his best friend, Zach, and his brother were dating. It's a gapfiller, so it includes a lot of the dialogue from a couple corresponding scenes.

Gabe pulled into the driveway of the mansion, curiously checking out Zach’s Jimmy ride, pulled discreetly off to the side. He sat for a moment, considering what this meant. He’d heard around that Zach had been hanging out with Shaun a lot over the past month, including surfing and around the campfires. When they were growing up, he and his buddy had followed around after his cool, older bro, so he wasn’t that surprised to hear that Zach was still surfing around the mansion.

He locked up his car and opened the front door, slamming it closed in his usual exuberant manner. He quickly checked around the kitchen and living room, but all was quiet in the mid-morning sunshine, so he galloped up the stairs, yelling out "Shauny-poo! Your bro Gabe is back! Where’s my princess big brother?" There was no response, so when he got to Shaun’s bedroom, he grabbed the doorknob, finding it locked.

"You got a guy in there, you slut?" He heard his brother yell out "No!" a little nervously and right near the door. Something was up, but he wasn’t sure yet what it could be. He heard a lot of moving around and whispered voices, but he didn’t think much of it, since his brother had sneaked in a few guys over the years. He continued teasing his brother, asking if he had a girl in with him, which would truly be a shock, but something was off with his sibling, and he was determined to find out what. He hadn’t seen Zach around, even though his car was out front, but he figured that his friend was out surfing somewhere, although it was a little early for his friend to be up and about.

A few moments later, the door opened, with a slightly flushed-looking Shaun, in a tank and drawers. "Did I interrupt you beating off?"

"No, I was sleeping."

Gabe smirked, knowing full well that the flush on his brother’s cheeks was not from sleeping, but from something a little more aerobic. He made a beeline for the retreat area, intent on finding out who his brother had hiding. On the way there, however, Shaun pulled him back and manhandled him into a huge hug. "Whoa! Hey, c’mere, dude." Gabe replied, a little surprised, "Good to see you, too, bro."

"Missed you so much," Shaun said.

Gabe shook his head, thinking this was a little over the top, but then again, not much surprised him about his creative, resourceful brother, so he let him pull him into the bear hug. He tightened his arms around him for a moment, then stepped back, and then launched himself up onto the messed up bed. The covers were half off. Sleeping, my ass, he thought, amused.

"Dude, so what are you doing here, man? I thought you were moving into your new place this week." Looks like he had interrupted something.

"Nah nah, the thought of moving into an empty place is just, like, depressing, you know?"

"Yeah, well, it’s pretty empty here. You doing all right?"

"Yeah, I’m good."

"You sure?" He looked at his brother. Shaun stood stiffly, not looking very depressed to him,
but rather a little sheepish.

"Mmmhmm..."

"Yeah, I heard it was pretty tough there for a while."

"Yeah... it was tough."

"Well, don’t worry Romeo. You’ll find a new one."

"Yeah. Thanks." Shaun paused for a moment, then waved his hand back, in a noncommittal gesture.

Gabe couldn’t get past the niggling feeling that his brother was hiding something, but figured that it was just someone he didn’t want to introduce to the family. No biggie. "So you ready to hang up your pink Gucci suit and come paddle out with your real friends?"

"Yeah, OK."

"Right on. I’ll call Zach."

"OK. Good. Give him a call."

The front door slammed suddenly. "What was that?"

"June’s probably cleaning today." He loved giving his bro a hard time.

"But, uh, June comes on Tuesdays."

"Yes she does. Pool guy? I don’t know."

"You OK?"

"Yeah... uhh..."

"You look a bit freaked out."

"No, I’m just tired." My ass, thought Gabe, but he was having too much fun watching his normally Zen-like brother look like a deer in the headlights.

"Alright..."

"Just tired."

"Is there anything good to eat in the fridge or did you stock it with low carb fag food? I’m fucking starving, man." He figured he’d find out what was up soon enough, so he asked about what food was available in the house, and ran back downstairs.

"Just a lot of fag food," he heard Shaun say faintly.

Gabe walked back down the drive, noticing that Zach’s car was gone. "Huh." He drove over to the Pacific Diner where Zach was working; he walked over to the kitchen, seeing his friend flipping burgers on the grill. He grabbed one, slapping it onto a bun and took a big bite. "Yo, burger boy!"

"What up?" He bumped fists with Zach, "My buddy."

"What’re you doing down here?" Funny, that was just what Shaun had said.

"Ah, Sherri's back down for the weekend. Told her I’d come down." He humped the grill for a moment in jest, then noticed his friend seemed a little nervous. Gabe looked at his friend’s face, then... well, would you look at that? His friend was just as jumpy as Shaun was, and he was wearing his brother’s shirt that he’d bought in Europe last summer. He knew the shirt well since his brother practically lived in it. Well well well, the plot thickens!

Gabe talked shit about setting up a party, and suggested that he and his buddy should go for a surf sesh after Zach was off work. He slyly mentioned that Zach’s surfboard was still at his family home out back, the one he knew his friend never went more than two days without.

"Oh, yeah yeah, that board. Man I left that there a while ago." Likely story, he thought. Once he saw the evidence, even he could put two and two together. Well, what do you know, Zach and his brother... together?? "Whatever. So I’ll see you around at 5:00 at mine."
He figured he would let his friend give the big reveal when he was ready, knowing that Zach would take his time, but eventually would confide in him.

"Okay."

"Alright cool." He couldn’t resist one last nudge to his friend, though. "Nice shirt, by the way." He watched as his friend looked down, then back up, and froze. Gabe smirked, thinking Bingo! and walked outside.

Current Mood: nervous
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: Traffic outside