Again, thank you for your patience and wonderful comments!

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"Fuck." Shawn cursed. "So this won't be as simple as killing the Painter and solving the problem."

"Yeah." I hummed, in the middle of thinking. If someone was behind it- or even if it was just the Painter going solo- the motive was extremely unclear, and possibly the most important aspect of the whole situation. Why was the P.E. teacher the one that was killed? If it was just because he was convenient and could be used to make the gym a gory painting, then it could be a threat towards both Shawn and I. But if he was killed because of how he treated me in P.E., then it could be some sort of tribute to Shawn, threat towards me in particular, a threat towards Shawn involving me, and so on. Fuck... the fact that I was even thinking about murders like this was enough to make me hurl.

"Shawn, have you ever met anyone that could possibly admire you, be in love with you, or hate you that could have done this?" I asked.

"Uh..." Shawn let out a small grimace. "Yeah, a few." He admitted.

"Great." I said sarcastically. "Aren't serial killers supposed to keep their identity a secret?" I asked. First Spike, and now... whoever the fuck this was. Did the whole serial killer community know who Shawn was?!

"Yeah, but sometimes, like with Jade, other killers have found out that I'm a killer because of flukes, and it was too dangerous to kill them to keep them quiet." Shawn explained.

Well fan-fucking-tastic. I rubbed my temple with my free hand. "...Alright, do you know any that would hire a killer to do this?"

Shawn thought a moment. "Maybe- I'm not sure. If they were a skilled killer, they wouldn't bother hiring the Painter in the first place and do it themselves. Also, if they hired the Painter, they might be loaded and have connections... Also, the Painter could just be behind the whole thing too." Shawn then leant back on the couch and sighed in frustration. "Honestly, we just don't have enough information to discern much; this could range from them wanting to kill either of us, kidnap either of us, or protect either of us."

"Well, sooner or later we're bound to find out which it is." I said. "Besides, that message they sent was way too extravagant to be so vague. If they wanted to send you a message, then they'll probably give you another soon." I said gravely. "... I think they like the idea of you scrambling to figure out what it means."

"So, what, I just wait around until they decide to do something else?" Shawn scowled.

I shrugged. "They have the upper hand in terms of identity. They know a lot about us, and we don't know jack shit about them."

Shawn nodded begrudgingly, and then looked at me in concern. "Jake... you're taking all of this this a bit too well; are you alright?" He asked.

"Not really." I sighed. " Obviously, I'm worried as hell about what's going to happen next."

"...Anything that I can do?" Shawn asked uncertainly.

I scoffed. "What do you think? All you usually do other than threaten me is sexually-..." I trailed off. Shawn was just looking out for me at the moment... I guessed I should save my insults for when he deserved it. Which, knowing him, would be pretty fucking soon. "No, thanks for asking." I rephrased with a sigh.

Shawn looked slightly surprised. "Uh... you're welcome." He said, looking at me strangely. "...Why aren't you insulting me?" he asked.

"You don't deserve it this time." I explained.

A smirk crossed Shawn's face.

"What?" I asked in irritation.

"Hmm, nothing." He said like the egotistical bastard he was. "Just... You're actually starting to like me aren't you?"

I flinched. I opened my mouth to answer no... but I wasn't sure if that was true, and I wasn't allowed to lie either. I glared at him. "I'm not answering this shit right now." I said. There were more important things to think about anyways... like the fricken murder.

"We literally made out twice." Shawn stated, raising an eyebrow.

"You made out with me; I didn't kiss back." I grumbled, face turning red. Why did our conversations have to take such weird jumps all the time!?

"Psh. You liked it." Shawn said tersely, rolling his eyes.

"Would've liked it more if it was with a dreamboat like Henry Ross." I said just to bug Shawn. Henry Ross was the fake guy that I lost my virginity to in order to make Shawn mad when he was about to kill Spike. Somehow, it worked.

Shawn's eyes narrowed angrily. "Who the fuck is..." Shawn's glare dropped. "Oh, right... That." He said sourly. He sulked for a few moments.

Thank God, maybe now we could get back on track. "Do you think the killer is going to contact us or give us another 'murder message' anytime soon?" I asked. Since Shawn was a killer, I figured that he'd know the mentality behind when they sent their overdramatic messages.

Shawn looked thoughtful for a few moments. "Was Henry Ross based off of anyone in real life?" He asked suspiciously. He had to be fucking kidding me!

"No, It's just a name that I made up off the top of my head." I said in annoyance. "Now can you answer my fucking question?"

"Alright, alright." Shawn said. "Well, they probably want to be on edge and think about the motives- like we have been. It might be a little while until we get another message from them." Shawn said. "So I guess the solution right now is that I keep on looking into it while we wait it out... as much as I hate to admit it." Shawn explained.

I nodded silently. "...So, what now?" I asked a moment later.

"We should make out." Shawn stated with a straight face.

I hit him in the head with a couch pillow. "Fuck no." I replied. Seriously, was that all that ever went through his head!?

Shawn laughed, batting away the pillow with his free hand. "You know, despite every basically sucking ass, I'm sort of happy." He admitted, giving me a smile.

I frowned. "Why's that?" I asked. Ugh, I already regretted asking...

He chuckled. "What more do you think I could ask for than sitting next to you in your house with our hands cuffed together? Aside from hardcore sex and marriage that is."

Yup, I regretted asking. And as usual, since I didn't know how to reply, I struggled to think of a quick subject change. "I- uhm- I've never killed a pig?" I said, cringing as soon as I finished the sentence. I'd definitely came up with better... And what was with the fucking pig theme recently?

Shawn bit his lip to keep from bursting out laughing. "Is that a fact?" He said. He then gave me a knowing smile. "You've never had sex with me either." He added. "And I really want to have sex with you." He said huskily, leaning forward.

I flinched back. Fuck. He knew me well enough now to know how I changed topics when I got uncomfortable with the situation... "I-I've never drank prune juice before today either..." I said in an extremely weak attempt to get the fucking subject off of sex while we were handcuffed together.

"I have something for you to drink." Shawn said sensually. This was a fucking game to him, wasn't it!?

I recoiled even further, avoiding eye contact. "N-no... I've also never eaten... a dic- di-delicious banana!" I stammered out. Shit, I was on a fucking role, wasn't I?!

Shawn blanched. "... Were just about to say you've never eaten a dick?" He asked, hardly able to contain his laughter.

"I... I don't... Fucking forget it, I totally was." I sighed in defeat.

Shawn finally lost is and started laughing hysterically. A few moments later I started laughing softly too, which turned into an awkward cough when Shawn stopped suddenly. Was he going to say crap about me laughing with him? No, he had a serious expression on and was staring at the front door.

"Someone's there." He said, just as somebody knocked. Damn, he had good hearing.

Shawn suddenly whipped a key out of his pocket and unlocked the hancuffs, pushing me back roughly behind the couch before rushing to the door. He peered through the peephole, and then looked back at me with an annoyed expression. "It's one of your damn friends."

I stood up from behind the couch. "Which one?" I asked. I wasn't expecting any of them... but then again I hadn't checked my phone in a while.

"The booky one." Shawn said uninterestedly, moving away from the door to sit behind the couch himself.

So it was Celeste then. I walked up to the door and opened it. "Celeste, what are you doing here?" I asked.

She looked me over expressionlessly. "...You haven't been answering your texts, so I was wondering if you were okay." She explained.

"A-ah, sorry... I've been busy." I apologized, deliberately avoiding inviting her inside. I couldn't let her see Shawn...

"Well, I was worried. You know, with all of the murders happening. Also, you've been acting really weird... Is anything going on?" She pried.

Damn. I forgot how observant she was. I swallowed. "Not really... this whole thing has just thrown me for a loop, you know?" I said.

She nodded. "...And you've started dating someone?" She asked.

"What?" I asked in shock. Why the hell did she think that!?

She pointed at my neck. "You have a hickey." She said. "...I don't want to pry, but is it that new guy Trudy's seen you with in P.E.?"

"Huh? Las Vegas...?" I said. I wondered if I should say yes. Well, judging by the death glare Shawn was sending me, I decided that I'd better not... "No, not him. He's a bit of an airhead."

Celeste nodded. "...Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Not yet...I am dating someone, but I wanted to give it a little time before announcing it, since there are all these murders going around, and also because I'm not sure if it'll work out..." I said, much to my dismay. I couldn't believe that I just implied that I was dating Shawn. Damn, I was digging myself further into my grave every damn day.

Celeste widened her eyes. "Shane?" She asked. Fuck, she was too sharp.

I cleared my throat. "...Sort of?" I said. Fuck. "But it probably wont turn into anything serious." I said. Great, now I implied that I was having some sort of one night stand with Shawn.

Celeste nodded. "Is he not as much of a douche as we thought?"

"No, he's more of a douche than we thought." I said truthfully. What was the point of lying?

Celeste nodded. "...I never knew that you liked the douche type." She said.

I sighed. "Me neither..." I said.

"Well, don't keep going out with him if he's a dick to you again, alright?" She said with a sigh. "And Shane, I don't know how you got Jake to go out with you, but I won't forgive you if you screw Jake over again!" Celeste called into the house.

"It's Shawn!" Shawn said back.

I blinked. "Wait, how did you know that he was inside?" I asked incredulously.

Celeste silently pointed to the Porsche in the driveway.

"Oh yeah..." I said dumbly.

"Um, I guess that I'll leave for Matt's now." Celeste said, shifting on her feet awkwardly. "Uh, if you ever need to talk about anything, I'd be happy to listen... so just don't go MIA anymore." She said.

I smiled. "I'll try my best. Say hi to Matt for me- and be careful!" I said.

"Bye Jake, and you too Shane!" Celeste said, walking away towards her car.

"It's fucking Shawn!" Shawn yelled out, running by the door.

I shrugged. "Shane is a cooler name." I said, shutting the door of the house.

Shawn narrowed his eyes as he watched her car leave through the window. "I don't like her; she's too perceptive." He turned his head to smirk at me. "Good thing you had that wonderful explanation at the ready." He said.

I glared at him. "I hate you- I dislike you a majority of the time." I said, afraid that he'd complain about 'lying'.

Shawn grinned. "Hey, you're the one who said it, not me." He said.

I sighed, slumping my back against the door. I put my head in my hands and groaned. Now, in addition to Shawn living in my house, handcuffing us together everyday, and me having to kiss him every damn day, now I even had to fucking pretend to be dating him. And the worst part was, most of it was my fault too. Just...Fuck.

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If you can't already tell, I had a bit too much fun. Anyways, shit's gonna get real next chapter (sorry for the lack of answers in this one XD).

Sorry if the chapter was choppy or abrupt or anything. I really hope everyone liked it!