Master Fic List TITLE: if seventy were young
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 818ish
CHARACTERS: Shawn/Carlton, Buzz (Juliet gets a mention or two)
WARNINGS: Future fic (if that requires a warning...)
SUMMARY: Lassiter's 70th birthday - from Shawn's POV.
AO3 Link Disclaimer: Not mine - never has been, never will be. *le sigh*
Author's Note: I was reading some E. E. Cummings the other day and this plot bunny hit me over the head. Inspired by
this poem, it's set many, many years in the future. Just a snippet of Lassiter and Shawn as senior citizens.
I'm using this to fill #032 - Birthday on my
lover100 table. (Rest of the table is
here)
Random P.S. - As I was re-reading this, I realized it can probably be read as Shawn/Carlton/Buzz if you really want it to be...
-----------------------------
Shawn smiles to himself as he putters around the kitchen, purposefully un-straightening things every so often. For the past five years, since his husband’s retirement, it’s been his duty to provide the other man with plenty to do. And Lassie has always been a compulsive straightener.
Shawn finishes with the kitchen and putters on into the living room, casually knocking a picture frame off-center as he passes it in the hall. It’s early yet for Shawn, but Lassiter’s been gone a few hours on his Extra Special Birthday Fishing Expedition with Buzz. Lassiter has long given up asking Shawn along, though Buzz still asks from time-to-time. Shawn has never been too fond of fishing, so he happily lets Lassiter find playmates on his own. They have plenty of other things to do together. Shawn grins as he looks at the framed portrait that hangs above the TV. Thirty-ish years together and they’ve still got it goin’ on. They’d had a slow start, both men cautious of getting involved with anyone, but once they’d started...
Shawn glances around the rest of the room and takes in the memories he’s built over the past three decades. Jules is flying in for a surprise visit, but Shawn’s got another hour before he has to leave to pick her up; he has the time to reminisce a bit. Sometimes he can’t believe he was ever afraid of growing old. Not only is the senior discount at Jamba Juice AWESOME, but Shawn’s had a lot of fun over the years; a lot of laughs. And a lot of it’s revolved around a certain grumpy old man who’s turning seventy today.
The sound of Buzz’s car in the drive has Shawn frowning, turning to look out the window in curiosity. His heart picks up a beat when he remembers Lassiter had driven his own vehicle to the Marina, boat in tow. What if something’s happened? What if Lassie fell out of the boat and got himself eaten by a rabid dolphin?
Shawn calms down as he watches Lassiter get out of the passenger side of the car and even smiles a bit when he recognizes the fuming mood of the retired police chief. Buzz is hanging back a cautious step behind and Shawn laughs out loud at the scene. He’s proud of his Lassie for turning seventy and still intimidating the hell out of people.
Lassiter comes stomping into the house as Shawn meets them in the foyer. “You’re not supposed to be back until lunch,” Shawn accuses as he leans against the doorway to watch Lassiter struggle out of his fishing vest. Buzz gives Shawn an apologetic look; his one task had been to keep Lassiter of the house until Shawn could pick up Jules from the airport.
“Some jackass college kids thought we needed help getting the boat in the water,” Lassiter growls as he finally frees himself of the vest. “They waited until I was in the bait shop to insist they help Buzz.” Shawn winces - Buzz has always had a hard time saying no. Even as Shawn glances at him, Buzz is staring at the floor, looking more abashed than a man in his late-fifties has any right to. “Jeep’s at the shop, drying out.” Shawn bites his lip to keep from laughing out loud. Lassiter always has the best fish stories and they almost never actually involve fish.
Lassiter stops with his fuming and faces Shawn. The man may be seventy today, but he still makes Shawn’s heart flutter. Of course, these days going up the stairs makes Shawn’s heart flutter...
“What time are we picking up O’Hara?” Lassiter asks. Shawn shoots a glare at Buzz, but the other man shakes his head frantically to say he had nothing to do with it. The birthday boy steps into Shawn’s personal space, a tiny little smirk on his lips. “I may be a fragile old man, but I was a detective once, you know,” he murmurs. Shawn grins as Carlton leans in to kiss him.
“Go get changed, old man,” Shawn says with a gentle shove toward the stairs. “Jules’ll never let me hear the end of it if she sees you in so much flannel.”
Pausing in the hall to straighten the picture frame, Lassiter gives him the kind of glare that Shawn has always interpreted as a smile. Shawn smiles back before he turns to face the other man in the foyer.
“So, Buzz, how’d you convince Lassie not to shoot those college kids?”
Buzz still looks as innocent as ever...but Shawn has taught him a few tricks over the years. “Oh, I just reminded him his weapon was in the glove box of a vehicle that was underwater...” Shawn stares at the man for a moment before he throws back his head and laughs. This is what keeps him young.
/end