Author's Note: This story was written as an RPG (roll playing game) between myself and my friend Nocturnal08. I'm playing Shawn and Gus, and she is playing Henry. This story takes place pre-series when both boys are 16.

Party

1993

Soul Asylum's `Runaway Train' blared in the background as Gus frantically searched the house for Shawn. As he maneuvered his way around the crowd of dancing teens, he saw one of them bump the table that held his mom's favorite vase. He was able to snatch it off the table before it crashed to the floor. Glaring at the closest teen he said, "Watch what you're doing. This is a house, not a dance club."

He walked to the kitchen, continuing his search for Shawn. As he walked he muttered sarcastically, "It'll just be a few friends Gus. What could go wrong? We have to take advantage of your parents being out of town. We'll be the most popular sophomores in school Gus."

He saw another teen take his father's favorite coffee mug off the counter and use it as an ashtray. Gus walked over and snatched it out of the guy's hand and said, "Does this look like an ashtray to you? You can't smoke in the house anyway! Go outside to smoke!"

The teenager glared and said, "Who the hell are you?"

Refusing to answer, Gus walked off holding the vase and the mug while calling out over the noise, "Shawn!"

He walked into the hallway and saw Shawn with a hand on the wall getting up close and personal with Laura, one of the more popular girls in their class. Gus walked up to them and said, "Shawn!"

Shawn didn't break eye contact with Laura as he said, "Not now Gus."

Gus said, "Yes now Shawn! Do you see what's happening here?"

He held up the vase and stuck it in between Shawn and Laura so that Shawn would be forced to look at something other then her. Shawn sighed and leaned in to Laura's ear. "I'll be back in just a few seconds."

Shawn gave his full attention to Gus, knowing he would need to calm his friend down some. Shawn grabbed Gus' arm and took them a few feet away from Laura. "What's the problem?"

Gus was momentarily at a loss for words and just shook his father's coffee cup in front of Shawn's nose as if it should be obvious. Shawn said, "You haven't had enough coffee today?"

Gus snapped, "Yeah, that's my problem. Or maybe, just maybe my problem is the fact that there are fifty people in my house, I don't even know half of them, and they're making a huge mess! There's no way I'm going to be able to explain how half of my parent's things got broken in one night Shawn. You told me this wouldn't be a problem. I told you I didn't want to have a party, because they always get out of hand. And what did you say?"

Shawn opened his mouth. Gus didn't let him answer, "You said it wouldn't be a problem. You told me there would just be a few people. You told me I wouldn't get in trouble. My parents think I'm staying at your house for the weekend, and now they're not going to let me out of their sight again until I'm thirty!"

Shawn, very used to calming Gus down in a crisis, put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Gus. Buddy. It's all going to be fine. You're not going to get in trouble. Your parents aren't going to find out. I'm spending the night and most of tomorrow with you, so if something breaks, which it probably won't, I'll help you come up with a story for it. And once everyone is gone, I'll help you clean up. My dad won't be expecting me home until late in the afternoon tomorrow."

Gus wasn't convinced, "The only reason your dad is letting you stay over is because he thinks my parents are here. If my parents find out, you know they're gonna call your dad too. Then we'll both be in trouble."

Shawn turned Gus so that he was looking over at Laura to try a different tact. He said, "Laura's best friend Shelly is here too, maybe you should try to relax a little and start up a conversation. And when you start to worry, just remember that we are finally going to be the cool kids in school. We're going to be the ones who threw an awesome party!"

Gus, long used to Shawn's scheming, was about to disagree when the doorbell rang. He muttered, "Great; more people. This party is out of control Shawn. You need to help me get some of the people out of here after I deal with this."

Gus walked off to get the door and Shawn went back to talk to Laura.

Henry Spencer was not in a good mood. It was Friday night and his only lead on the Trumbolt case hadn't "lead" him anywhere, so instead of real police work, he was out settling domestic disputes and curfew violations. "Punk ass kids," he muttered as he pulled away, having just busted a group of teens skateboarding in the park where they had no business being. "I get enough of this at home," Henry grumbled, thinking of how Shawn had been pushing his buttons lately. "And what kind of parent doesn't know what their own kid is up to on a Friday night?" he thought indignantly.

His ears perked up as the radio picked up a call, but his face darkened immediately when the call came through.

"I got this," he ground out through the radio and headed towards Gus' house. A noise violation with the Guster's residence at the epicenter; precisely where his son was supposed to be having an "uneventful" evening made Henry more than suspicious.

When he had dropped Shawn off earlier, he'd been clear that he didn't want to hear any bad reports. Shawn had already been warned about the attitude and Henry was keeping a close eye on him. His son had promised that the evening was going to be "totally uneventful, without event, eventless." That alone should have clued him in, Henry thought, switching on the siren.

He barely recognized the place, now that the teenage maelstrom had hit. The lawn was torn up, there were kids smoking out the back and the place was littered with beer cans. Loud music pumped from inside the house.

The flashing lights spooked away those who were loitering in the yard and Henry let them go, advancing up the steps, determined to find his son.

Inside, Henry plowed through the throngs of teenagers. "Party's over, boys," he informed them having to bellow over the music. "Raymond?" he said, catching sight of one of Shawn's friends who'd been in his cub-scout group, "Does your mother know you are here?" Eyes wide, Raymond bolted.

Finally, Henry found the source of the racket. Wincing against the painfully loud music, he reached down and pulled the stereo plug. Suddenly he had the attention of the whole room, which was good because he was ready to start handing out citations. These kids needed to learn.

Gus had done a full circle around the house. He'd been to the front door where he found a drunk girl laughing and pushing the doorbell again and again. He'd been to the kitchen where he found strawberry goo all over the cupboards from the blender no one had bothered to put the lid on. And he was currently back in the hallway watching Shawn kiss Laura. He was about to break it up and start yelling at Shawn when he heard the music cut off. He muttered, "Now why didn't I think of that."

He looked at Shawn, who was starting to look a little worried. They both rushed into the living room to see what had happened, and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Shawn's father standing in the middle of the living room eyeing the kids that weren't running for the front door. Shawn leaned into Gus and whispered, "If we can make it to the back door without him seeing us, I can come up with a story to cover this."

Unfortunately for Shawn, Henry had been keeping an eye out for his delinquent son. "SHAWN!" He bellowed as soon as the boy made an appearance, "Hold it right there."

By now most of the kids had gotten smart and left en mass, with just a few left stammering apologies while Henry handed out citations. Those he knew got a particularly scathing lecture and he promised to call their parents personally. A few lingered, groaning, while Henry had them call their parents for a ride home, not willing to let any of those knuckleheads try driving themselves home.

When he had dispatched with the other children, he turned to Shawn and Gus. "Gus, where are your parents? Shawn, you're taking a breathalyzer test!"

Shawn jumped a little at his name being shouted, and tried to come up with some kind of reasonable excuse while his father spoke to some of the other kids that were left at the party.

Gus' emotions kept flipping. On the one hand he was relieved that it was over, and that Henry was getting the kids to leave, but on the other hand he was worried that his parents were going to murder him when they got home to see the damage. He looked over at Shawn who was obviously cooking up a story and rolled his eyes. He said, "Give it up Shawn. We're busted."

Shawn was too busy thinking to respond. Once Henry finally directed his attention to the boys, Gus said, "I'm sorry Mr. Spencer, my folks are..."

Shawn interrupted, "In the hospital!"

Gus looked over at Shawn with disbelief. Shawn said, "This isn't what it looks like Dad, Gus and I were having a nice uneventful evening at home with Mr. and Mrs. Guster when they got a call about Mrs. Guster's sister. She had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. Mr. and Mrs. Guster had to go and check on her. Then while they were gone one of Gus' friends called and asked if he could come over for a little while. But he brought some friends and before Gus and I knew what was happening, all these people showed up."

Henry, knowing his son, wasn't exactly surprised by the wildly fabricated story, "I find it a little hard to believe that the Gusters would leave you two alone, Shawn, even in an emergency… especially after that incident with the Pony."

He turned to Gus, who, unlike his son, had never been able to lie to him. "I'm gonna need to talk to them about this, Gus. Are they going to confirm that story?"

He had the two boys sit down on the couch, sniffing Shawn's breath suspiciously. He was positive the boy had been drinking. And if that was the case, then Shawn was in for it big time.

Indignant Shawn said, "That wasn't my fault either!"

Unable to believe that Shawn was still trying to lie, and pissed that Shawn had gotten him in trouble yet again, Gus said, "No sir."

Shawn glared at Gus and said, "Way to back me up dude."

When Henry leaned in to sniff Shawn's breath, Shawn rolled his eyes and said, "I wasn't drinking Dad. If you smell alcohol it's because one of the most popular girls in school found me irresistible and kissed me. She'd been drinking."

Henry rolled his eyes. "And just how, exactly, is that supposed to make me feel better Shawn? Where did this alcohol come from anyway? I'm gonna need some answers boys."

He dispatched the last of the stragglers, reassuring their parents when they arrived and letting them know that he was going to *deal* with the real culprits.

"Gus, why don't you tell me what happened?"

Shawn groaned and hid his face in his hands knowing Gus would not only tell his father everything but wouldn't even try to spin it in a positive way.

Gus said, "I'm so sorry Mr. Spencer, I really didn't mean for things to get this bad. It all started last week, when my parents decided to go away for the weekend. They wanted me to ask if I could stay the weekend with Shawn, and when I brought it up to Shawn, he suggested that the two of us stay here by ourselves instead."

Gus turned to Shawn who had groaned again and said, "YOU said we would just hang out and watch movies all night. YOU said we wouldn't do anything wild."

He turned back to Henry and said, "I know it was wrong of us to lie to you and tell you that my parents were home, but we really were just planning to take it easy and stay home."

Shawn perked up and said, "That's right! And then when we were at school on Friday our friend Mike told us that he wanted to come over too. We were just going to watch some movies, but then when he showed up he had all these...."

Gus stood up and yelled at Shawn, "Stop it Shawn! Look at my parent's house!! It's gonna take hours to clean this up, and some of it, I may not even be able to clean up. So just shut up!"

"Alright boys; cool it." Henry said, starting to get a headache. "Gus you and Shawn will BOTH be spending tomorrow cleaning up this mess and I'll see about getting..." he referred to his list, "John, Maria, Michael, Karen, Peter, Owen, Jack and Laura to show up as well.

He sighed and looked down at the teenagers, disappointed. "Gus, you know I wouldn't have let Shawn stay over if I knew your parents weren't going to be here," he scolded.

Then he looked at Shawn. "And YOU; not only did you lie to me, but you are responsible for this whole mess! That's destruction of property, underage drinking, not to mention whatever other disgusting things those other kids might have been up to. Inviting them here means that Gus and his parents are liable, Shawn! What were you thinking!!?"

Gus felt a little better knowing that he would be getting help to clean up his house, though he doubted that would make him any more popular in school, but at this point he just didn't care. When Henry scolded him, Gus looked down at his shoes and nodded in agreement, knowing everything he said was true.

Shawn doubted his father would appreciate what he had been thinking. He'd been thinking that he could get Laura to kiss him, which he had. And he'd been thinking that he could throw a party to become more popular, which he had. "Umm... well... I hadn't really planned on the house getting trashed or there being any alcohol. I guess maybe things got a little out of control."

Gus added, "We didn't buy any alcohol Mr. Spencer. I don't even know who brought it."

"A little out of control Shawn?" Henry spluttered. "That's the understatement of the century. Take a look around! What you did was dangerous and irresponsible. And to top it off, you did it behind my back; the first I hear about this is on the police scanner, now, how do you think that makes me feel!"

Henry had spoken to the Gusters about punishment in the past, and while they were always shocked to hear that their son had gotten involved in Shawn's crazy adventures, they trusted Henry to rein the boys in. And since Gus was supposed to be under his care this weekend, Henry didn't feel bad when he demanded: "Gus, go get me the spoon."

Shawn knew his father's question was rhetorical but muttered, "I guess proud isn't the right answer."

Then when Henry asked Gus to get the spoon Shawn quickly changed his attitude, "What? No! Dad, I'm sixteen! We're sixteen! That's way too old for you to be spanking us! AND nothing bad even happened! No one got hurt! It was just some kids getting together. Let's not blow it out of proportion. Gus and I will clean it all up. Right Gus? Gus?"

Gus had already headed into the kitchen while dragging his feet. His parents didn't ever spank him, but Shawn's dad had a couple of times, and he had to agree that he'd deserved it both of those times too. He told himself that he needed to get better at telling Shawn no as he dug through the kitchen drawer to get the same spoon that had been used on both of them after the pony incident.

He went back and handed it to Henry and said, "We're really sorry about all of this. It won't happen again."

Henry sometimes wondered how he and Shawn could possibly be related; this was one of those times. "Nothing Bad even happened?" he repeated in disbelief. "Do you see what you and your 'friends' have done to this house? And who do you expect is going to pay for the damages? Those punk kids? Gus?"

Henry knew that Shawn honestly cared about Gus, but he was starting to wonder if his son would ever grow up and start thinking about the consequences of his actions.

He didn't really blame Gus and he was proud that the teenager was accepting his punishment and setting a good example for Shawn—he just wished Gus had shown the same common sense earlier.

"Thank you, Gus," he said, voice firm, but no longer angry. He took the wooden spoon from Gus' hands and sat down on the couch across from Shawn. "Take down those jeans, please," he instructed Gus.

Gus started to undo his pants, but Shawn stood up in between Gus and his father. He looked at his dad and said with complete honesty, "It's not Gus' fault Dad. He tried to talk me out of it every step of the way. If you're going to punish someone, not that I think you should, but if you're going to, it should be me not him."

Henry gave his son a measured look. He was glad that Shawn was finally sticking up for his friend and taking responsibility for what he had done. "Shawn, you know I don't like punishing you or your friend. But Gus has to learn to stand up to you, and YOU have to learn to think before you drag your friend into these things. So, yes, Shawn, Gus is getting a spanking, but it won't hold a candle to what I'm going to do to your butt when I'm done with his. Now, I know you don't like to watch, so you can go park your behind in the corner and think about all the trouble you could have avoided if you had listened to your friend."

Shawn knew that once his dad made up his mind about something there was no turning back, and gave up on the argument. He turned to Gus and said, "I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you... somehow."

Gus wasn't in a very forgiving mood at the moment and didn't reply. Shawn trudged his way over to the nearest corner, because his father was right, he didn't want to see Gus getting it. He didn't want to hear it either but that was unavoidable.

Gus undid his jeans and looked to Henry for instructions.

Henry sighed. It was always worse spanking someone else's kid and he hated the way Gus was looking at him nervously. He gently guided Gus over his knee, catching a hold of his thin torso. "Just keep your hands up front, buddy," he warned before laying into the vulnerable behind. He spanked Gus just like he did Shawn, smacking side to side and letting the spanks reverberate a little and the sting set in.

In the corner Shawn winced in sympathy to the sounds coming from behind him, and hoped that Gus wouldn't hate him after everything was said and done.

Gus for his part tried to be stoic about it, knowing he did deserve it for letting Shawn talk him into yet another bad idea. But it was hard to be stoic while thinking about what a huge mess the house was, and what his parents were going to say to him when they got back. Those thoughts alone were enough to start Gus crying, and the building pain in his rear made it impossible to keep them at bay. He tried to be still, but soon found himself squirming as well.

Henry saw Gus' efforts to be still and added just a few more stinging wallops to make his point very clear, heat radiated from behind Gus' thin underpants and the flesh that peeked out around the white fabric was starting to glow. He helped Gus up, ready to give him the comfort he needed. "There now, big guy," he said, pulling Gus into a rough embrace. "You took that like a man."

Happy to have it over and feeling a little bit pleased that Henry thought he had taken it like a man; Gus sniffed a few times and tried to stop crying. He said, "I'm really sorry Mr. Spencer. You're not gonna call my parents are you? I mean I know we'll have to tell them, but can it wait until they get home? It's gonna be bad enough without wrecking their trip."

In the corner, Shawn's heart rate was picking up, knowing his turn was coming very soon, and also knowing his dad was pissed about the whole thing.

"It's too late to call them tonight," Henry acknowledged, "but the two of you do not leave my sight until they get back. You told them I would be responsible for you this weekend, Gus, and I mean to be. Now here." He handed Gus a tissue. "You go on up and get ready for bed."

Once Gus headed up the stairs, Henry turned a hard eye on his son. "Shawn," he said. "Come over here, now."

Gus took the tissue, wiped at his eyes, and blew his nose. He was especially relieved that Henry wasn't going to make him call his parents right then and there. He pulled up his pants and nodded in acceptance at what Henry had said. As he was walking up the stairs he heard Henry calling Shawn, and took the steps two at a time. He knew for sure that Shawn deserved what he was going to get, but he didn't want to stick around and see it. He was glad his turn was over, glad that the party was over, and glad that he would have help cleaning up the next day.

Shawn cringed at the thought of going over to his father. He turned around but didn't step towards him. He said, "Look Dad, you're tired, and I know you'd rather be working on one of your cases then dealing with this. How about we just pretend you already did it, and I'll head up to bed too?"

"Thanks, Shawn," Henry said sarcastically, "but I'll be fine. Now stop dawdling and get over here." He gave his son an expectant look. Shawn was very good at avoiding situations he didn't want to deal with, but Henry was determined to make sure this lesson "hit home" so to speak.

Shawn stayed put and said, "Dawdling? Really Dad, who says that? We need to work on your vocabulary."

Again, Shawn seemed to show absolutely no sense of self preservation. Henry shook his head. "Do you really think smart-mouthing me is the best idea right now? Because you are in enough trouble already, little boy. So I suggest that you get over here right now, or you're getting this spanking on your bare bottom, understand?"

"Crap!" Shawn said to that idea, and moved quickly over to his father's side. Once he was within reach he said, "I wasn't smart-mouthing you, I was just making an observation."

Henry didn't bother to respond, reaching out to undo Shawn's jeans. He was ready to get this over with and wasn't going to stand for any more delays on Shawn's part, and he said as much. "Shawn, you brought this on yourself. Now, I never want to hear about you being so irresponsible and deceitful again." He pulled his son down over his lap and picked up the spoon. "Are we clear?"

Shawn thought that if his father didn't want to hear about him being irresponsible again, then he should probably invest in some ear plugs, but didn't share that thought. He knew what his dad wanted to hear, and he didn't want to make him even angrier now that he had his butt up over his lap. He said, "Yeah, we're clear." and scrunched up his face in anticipation of the first blow.

Henry saw Shawn's whole body clench up in anticipation of the spanking, including his butt. All this flailing around was ridiculous. "Settle down, Shawn" he instructed, though his voiced softened. Keeping a good hold on Shawn to be sure he wouldn't flail right off his lap, he raised the spoon and smacked it down squarely in the center of Shawn's right butt cheek. Laying three hard smacks down in the same spot, he then moved on to do the same to the left side and making sure every inch of his son's naughty bottom had a good dose of the spoon.

Shawn's whole body jumped at the impact of the first swat, and as they continued to come down he yelled, "Owwwww!"

Settling down was not on Shawn's agenda. He squirmed and tried to get off Henry's lap, but found he was being held securely. He kicked his legs and yelled, "Okay, that's enough! I've totally learned my lesson! No more parties for me! Ow! Come on Dad, I swear I get it!"

Henry ignored Shawn's dramatic protests, keeping up the swats 'til the punishment matched the crime, which meant a long, hard spanking for Shawn. Finally, he dropped the spoon. "Alright, Shawn, that's it. You're okay, son."

Shawn's struggles had gone from deliberate to reactionary very quickly, and his attitude had gone from angry and annoyed to pleading and apologetic soon after. By the time Henry was done, Shawn was crying. As soon as his father let him up, Shawn stood, pulled up his pants, and backed away a few steps. He wiped at his face and kept his eyes on the ground, feeling sorry for himself.

It hurt Henry's heart to see Shawn step away from him like that. When Shawn was younger, he hadn't had too many qualms about snuggling up close, especially after a spanking. Henry wasn't a demonstrative man, but he loved his son and he wanted to comfort him. Awkwardly, he tried the same tactics that had seemed to work on Gus. "You did good, Shawn. You faced your mistake and took your punishment well."

"Yeah, if you call bawling like a five year old taking it well."

Shawn sighed and said honestly, "I really am sorry that the house got so messed up. I hadn't thought that far ahead when I was planning it. And I'm sorry I got Gus in trouble too.... again."

He looked at Henry for the first time since the spanking had ended and asked, "Are you still mad?"

"No, Shawn. I'm not mad," Henry said, though his voice was still a little gruff. "Here," he said, handing Shawn a few tissues putting his large, calloused hand on Shawn's neck, tugging him closer in an almost-hug.

Relieved that is father didn't seem angry any more; Shawn blew his nose, and leaned his head on Henry's chest feeling slightly better. After a few quiet seconds Shawn said, "Am I spending the night here with Gus?"

Henry ruffled Shawn's hair affectionately. "We can't leave the house like this," he explained, "place like this, after a party like that, it's a prime suspect for break ins." He looked around at the room, which was strewn with trash and empty beer cans. "I didn't see too many people upstairs, so hopefully that looks better," he remarked. "You'll be in with Gus and I'll be just down the hall. Both you guys get changed. I want you in bed in an hour."

Shawn nodded and said, "Okay. I'll go get ready and get into bed."

He headed up the stairs and went into Gus' bedroom. He could see that Gus was already in bed. He whispered, "Gus? You awake?"

"Hard to sleep with all the noise."

Shawn got some pajamas out of his bag and said, "Are you okay?"

"I guess. How about you?"

"Not really."

"Yeah." Gus said with sympathy, knowing Shawn had gotten it worse.

Shawn went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and change, and by the time he got back Gus was asleep. He climbed into bed himself and tried to decide if it had been worth it. Kissing Laura was pretty high up there on his 'things to do' list, and getting spanked was at the very top of his 'thing to avoid' list. He fell asleep undecided.

After making the promised phone calls to the other teenagers, Henry did a survey on the house, taking care of a few spills that couldn't wait and cleaning up a corner of the kitchen so he could have his coffee in the morning. He grabbed his gym bag from the car, which had a pair of sweats he could use for the night, made sure both door were locked and the alarm was set, and headed up to check on the boys.

Gus was snoring softly, lying on his stomach. Shawn was splayed out, sleeping a bit more fitfully. He whimpered in his sleep. They were both pretty tuckered out. Henry went, opened the window, like he knew Shawn liked and covered Gus with an extra blanket. He then went over and untangled his son's limbs, rolling his eyes as Shawn muttered something about 'the coolest girl in school.'

From the doorway he glanced back at the two boys not letting himself indulge in the thought that they both were getting bigger, growing up. Yeah, 'cause that would mean you were getting old, Henry, he chided himself, smiling before he closed the door.

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