a/n – first wowp fic in a while. It's an AU where they are not related written on request for Alice en Juin. One more part to go, which is coming as soon as it can. Also, I can't remember Juliet's last name so I made my own. I have a faint idea that this sucks, but I think I've made my peace with that.
Disclaimer – I no own WoWP.
like day and the night.
/
Justin is seven and big square glasses frame his small face. He's clutching his backpack with a death grip and he seems a little too fidgety as he sits in the waiting room, hoping that this new school will not be too bad.
There's this little girl sitting next to him, and she seems to be looking every where at once. She's got a head full of dark hair that swings around crazily along with the movements of her head. Justin looks at her doubtfully. If she continues like that, she will get a crick in her neck. Maybe even break it.
He morbidly relishes the thought of that happening. But then concern takes over.
"Hey, you shouldn't move your neck around that much."
The little girl turns around and looks at him. Her cheeks are pink and her eyes are sparkling. She grins at him widely, with a missing tooth and replies:
"I like it. It's fun."
Justin doesn't know what to do. Breaking your neck doesn't seem like a fun thing to do. But still because he's the older one, he has to act responsible right?
"How will your head be fixed if it falls off?"His voice is full of horror at that thought. He's only seven and he doesn't know if he can get someone to fix her head back on.
"You can fix it right?"And it's something in her eyes, like a mixture of absolute trust and merriment that gets to him.
"Sure. I can manage." After all, he isn't the world's cleverest seven year old for nothing. He'll cobble something together.
"Cool. Now let's go. I'm hungry." And just like that, she's dragging him along, even though he's protesting until he finally decides to give into the inevitable that is this little girl with her head full of curls. And though he doesn't know it, this is just the beginning of all the times that he gets swept away by the force of the little girl.
As they're weaving through hallways and staircases, Justin belatedly realizes he's not supposed to go off with strangers. He doubts this little girl is 'bad' in that sense which his mother warned him about but he doesn't even know her name.
"Hey! I don't know your name."
"It's Alex. Duh. Don't you know?"
Something tells him that in the future too he'll be expected to know everything.
That's totally fine with him though.
/
"Alex!" Justin moans worriedly as they crouch behind the water fountain. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and sends what seems to be a frenzied prayer up to the Big Man above to lead him out of this latest hare-brained scheme of Alex's relatively unharmed.
The logical thing of course would be to not get involved at all in the first place. But with Alex, Justin has quickly learned that it's easier to give in than resist. Resisting means he will be on the receiving end. Giving in ensures that he will remain mostly unscathed.
But this time, they're targeting, Dean, this bully who keeps dumping Justin into dumpsters. See normally Justin would have chosen the path of least resistance and taken the dumpings with equanimity because he knows that someday, he'll be the clever rich guy who would have also hopefully packed on some muscle and a few inches while Dean will be balding and fat and be working in some dead end auto garage with only his yearbook pictures to remind him of the good old days.
But once Alex gets wind of this, she's furious, not because someone is bothering Justin but she's mad because someone else other than her is bothering Justin. Alex claims that, her and her job alone. And since it's a full time gig, she doesn't want anyone else getting there first.
Justin of course rolls his eyes and wonders why he's friends with her.
But then she takes him to the girls' bathroom, removes all the rubbish from his person and then somehow makes him smell fresh and feel clean with various lotions and potions from her capacious bag, which seems to contain everything else but school books and asks under her breath in a muttered mumble, if he's hurt anywhere.
Yeah, that's why he's friends with her.
After this moment of awkward friendship thing is over and Justin is done blushing from the fact that he's in the girl's bathroom and all, Alex cheerfully lifts herself up onto the marble slab near the sink and cheerfully asks him how he would like to orchestrate his revenge on Dean.
"There's no way I'm taking revenge on him or any nonsense like that. He'd make me into paste. Besides violence only leads to more violence." He quotes with an air of superiority.
"That is what we're going for. More violence. And since you want that, I have a plan involving maple syrup, a length of rope and chicken feathers." Her eyes are gleaming with excitement and Justin makes his disagreement known many a times and vociferously at that but before he knows it, Alex has gotten everything ready and she's pulling him along.
Just so you know, Justin said no violence. But there must be a switch in Alex's brain that transfigures everything negative into something positive.
That's how they end up behind the water fountain with Justin praying and Alex gleefully rubbing her hands together like an evil villain.
And fortunately or unfortunately Alex times her prank just exactly as people are mlling out for a short ten minute break. Justin cannot figure out if that's a good or bad thing. He'd rather not think of it.
"Here he comes. Go ahead dork, pull the rope." She says affectionately pushing the rope into his nerveless hands. Justin by now is feeling the force of glassy eyed terror and he feels like he's going to hurl. Alex huffs exasperatedly and then takes the rope from him and pulls.
There's ensuing chaos and the end result is that Dean looks like a weird chicken and smells sickly sweet. Justin is not good at orchestrating revenge plans and such but there is one thing he can do.
As Dean's enraged roar echoes over the hallways over jeering laughter, Justin pulls Alex to her feet and takes off from the scene.
Yeah, if the situation demands, Justin can run a marathon.
"You're such a wuss." Alex tells him irritably. But Justin notes that she's not protesting really because here she is, still running with him instead of standing her ground.
Maybe when he can catch his breath after sometime he'll point out, very smugly, that how she could have stayed but she chose to run.
Ha! He doesn't really see her getting out of that one.
/
The thing about growing up and growing into your teenage is the opposite sex. They are the stuff nightmares and dreams are made of. Alex and Justin discover that within months of each other.
It all starts like this.
Justin enters the ninth grade, fifteen and full of the jumping hormones which sometimes play truant with him. With his square black frames and a sketchy beard that gives him a shady look, Justin looks every inch that weird inbetween man-child.
And along with the jumpingjumping hormones comes the knowledge that, Juliet van Huesen, his enemy in all things academic is the possessor of lovely blond hair and a set of charming dimples.
Suffice to say, Justin's heart turns turtles at the sight of her.
"You are drooling like a monkey." Alex snaps matter of factly, one afternoon at lunch time when Justin's hand to mouth co-ordination is affected because the sight of Juliet flipping her locks in front of him, causes his brain to re-wire.
He hastily wipes the drool away and continues gazing, attention never waning and interest undiminished.
"Gosh, what do you see in her? I mean, she's like nerdy and goody and completely uninteresting."
"Hush Alex. She's a beautiful blonde goddess." Justin hurriedly chastises, looking affronted. "In fact, I think you should be more like her. She could be a good role model to a pathological rule-breaker like you."
It is just sheer will power that keeps Alex from batting Justin one or one million on the head. Jail is not on her agenda until she's old enough to be tried as an adult. And as of now, she's four years short of it.
Instead she settles for dumping her lunch tray over his head and walking away without a second glance, ignoring his offended sputters of indignation and distress.
If he's going to spout garbage like that, then he will receive a bath in the questionable contents of their school lunch.
/
It takes Justin two weeks before he comes back to his senses and realizes that the heart of a teenage girl is but a flighty mistress who answers only to a special brand of reason that does not translate into a language that is recognizable to teenage boys. And as Justin discovers with disgust, even the 1's and 0's of the binary system cannot break it down.
It may have taken Justin two weeks to wash his hands off love and its many issues but it takes him three weeks to get back into Alex's good books.
To be brutally honest about it, she makes him grovel because she doesn't take too kindly to being ditched for blonde brainiacs of the bland, brittle persuasion.
She finally succumbs somewhere between Justin following her around like a lost puppy and her unsuccessfully trying to get him into trouble with the jocks. She just can't bring herself to do it. He maybe an idiot but he's her idiot. And really, she's got a heart of stone but his stupid brown earnest eyes behind his big bug spectacles just get to her.
They make her all aggravated and she just can't think straight anymore, then.
"Ah, fuck it," she swears. "Stop making me feel guilty. It was you who started all this!"
He stills looks at her pathetically and Alex can feel her stomach clenching and un-clenching. He's an idiot but he's so pathetically adorable that she can't help but cave.
"Fine," she declares dramatically. "I forgive you. And because I am so gracious, you will treat me to a triple scoop fudge decker at Benji's on the way back home today.
Justin's face light's up like a Christmas tree, his happiness overtaking every thing, even the fact that she can never finish that ice-cream on her own and even though, he doesn't like the nuts in the fudge, he'll eat it because she'll feel bad otherwise and they somehow end up arguing anyways.
And even though all is fine now, neither of them will mention the fact that staying apart without each other is like carrying around a hollow wound in your body. Nor will Justin mention that now that he knows something about love, there will only girl for him – and that is Alex because it's hard not to love someone who still sticks with you even though they think you are a class A nerd. And no matter how much they rag on you, they will always fight tooth and nail to protect you from the whole world if they have too, just because they love you too much. Even if you were the very dictionary definition of uncool. Alex is all of that and more.
"Moron," Alex grumbles as she hooks her arm through his and drags him to god knows where. Her face however, is wreathed in smiles though.
Justin is back where he belongs.
Right next to her.