The sounds were all too familiar. The slam - slam - slamslamslam - of the lockers, the everlasting chitchat about who was dating whom and who was knocked up and who got expelled and math tests nobody studied for and teachers every student wanted to bang. It was petty but Chris Jericho chose to shut it out. He only invested his time and energy into things and people that mattered. Science and music, for instance. The occasional crush. The most recent one...days old yet fixed within him already, knitted to his heart.
Another everyday slam resonated down the hall - but it was louder than the others, more aggressive. Chris twisted his neck, peering down the crowded corridor. Through the mob of meandering students, he made the scene out.
Kevin Owens had that new kid AJ by his shirt collar, shoved against a locker. AJ glowered at him with dark eyes.
Shit, Chris thought. Not this again.
"You ain't shit, you hear me?" Kevin barked in the new kid's face. AJ was steadfast in spite of the yelling. "I told you you were lucky to get a warning, and now you're stepping over the line again, you little bitch."
Chris slammed his locker shut, looking over the scene as an outsider. AJ and Kevin had gotten into it on Friday. No fists flew, just some heated words traded before Kevin made off like he'd accomplished something by screaming at a kid shorter and smaller than him. Would this end the same way?
"You're finally stepping up, doing something about it," AJ groaned, smirking at Kevin. "Good for you, Cheeky."
Kevin pitched AJ to the floor. He rolled towards the wall, his hands beneath him.
"Disrespectful punk-ass," Kevin said, looming over AJ. Students in the hallway were wise to turn the other way, avoid the hostility. A couple of seniors stared from the other side of the wing. Chris would give it another thirty seconds or so before security was called. They were used to fights; students and staff equally. Central High wasn't as halcyon and uptown as the school website made it out to be.
"I know all about you, Styles. I know what you're about. You ain't fooling anyone around here. You ain't shit."
Chris stalked down the hallway. Why did he care so much? Why couldn't he walk the other way?
Because he'd been where AJ was. Not with Owens but a loudmouthed sass captain very similar in attitude who was no longer at their school. Chris didn't want to see AJ go down the way he'd gone down years ago.
"Go to hell," AJ growled. He pushed himself to his knees, but Kevin kicked his back, and he smacked against the dirty floor.
"Hey, Owens," Chris called. Oh this is so stupid, this is so stupid, what am I doing? "Back off him."
Owens seemed just as surprised as the others, as Chris was himself, at the intervention. "Excuse me? The hell did you just say, Jericho?"
"You heard me." Chris thought to unwind his scarf from around his neck. The last thing he needed was asphyxiation or a cervical fracture if he really did fight Kevin. "Just walk away, alright? Doesn't have to be this way."
Owens started giggling like Chris had just told a wonderful joke. "Little fashionista's sticking up for the jockey."
AJ was lifting himself up again. With an eye on Kevin, Chris knelt beside him, offering a hand. AJ looked at him like he was a martian.
"You okay?" Chris asked.
AJ nodded. "Yeah. Fine." He accepted Chris's hand.
"Cute," Kevin mocked.
Chris made sure AJ was situated on his feet before letting go of him. "Let's get to gym." For more than one reason it was Chris's favorite class. It managed to even surpass Biology this year because of one gorgeous southerner with tattoos and muscles he got to subtly check out while changing...
Chris felt a rush of wind, witnessed the flash of a fist drilling into AJ's stomach. He was on the ground again, biting back a yelp of pain.
Chris snapped. Without giving it a moment's thought he jumped onto Kevin, using all his weight to bring Kevin to the ground. He used strength he only dreamed of having back in middle school when he was on the receiving end of blow after blow, fists following one another into tender areas like the jaw and nose and eyes. His knees crushed Kevin's rib cage. Kevin fought back, casting his arms up into the side of Chris's skull, into his face, but Chris refused to fall over. Students confined them on all sides, cheering and hollering. Several were filming the incident on their phones.
Kevin seized both Chris's arms and threw him off. Chris's figure rattled against the lockers. Kevin's legs pinned his arms to the floor, and he felt Kevin's fists on the back of his head.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE WALKED AWAY, JERICHO!" Kevin screamed. "NOW YOU GET TO FEEL IT ALL!"
But Kevin was off him again. Chris rolled onto his back just in time to see AJ kicking Kevin repeatedly in the stomach. There was a fire in his eyes and a pyre in his stance that intimidated Chris as badly as it impressed him.
"You stay the hell away from me," AJ bellowed.
The assemblage of teenagers broke apart as security drove onto the scene at last. AJ reached a hand towards Chris to help him up, but he was knocked aside by one of the officers. Chris blinked sore eyes and his vision of AJ was replaced by another officer, kneeling beside him, asking dozens of questions per second.
Principal McMahon was on the scene as well. "EVERYONE BACK TO CLASS!" he roared. "NOW!"
Chris was yanked to his feet. He caught sight of Kevin being escorted down the hall before Chris was turned around and guided the other way.
"What the hell is going on here?" Mr. McMahon interrogated.
"He's crazy, he tried to jump me!" Kevin screamed.
AJ reappeared behind a cluster of scattering girls. He'd bothered to stick around, as easy as it would have been to bail and dodge any sort of trouble. "He defended me," AJ said, looking right at Chris. "He was protecting me."
Mr. McMahon didn't care for details right then, even though he had been the one to ask what had happened. "Take 'em downstairs," he told the "officers." "Him too," he added, raising a finger towards AJ.
Chris sighed. Guess he wasn't going to gym today.
It was a long wait.
Chris was itching to get the hell out of this office. Not because he had any classes to look forward to now - not at this time of the day, with three or four minutes left until the final bell - but because he had to find AJ. He knew what to expect after something like this.
"I just don't get it, Jericho," Mr. McMahon said in a tone much less authoritative than the one he'd been using for their entire session. "You're a good kid. I don't think I've ever seen you in this office except to assist my secretaries."
Chris was quiet. His eye stung where Kevin had gotten a cheap shot in. It would be black and bruised later on, he was certain of it.
"Why did you feel picking a fight with Kevin Owens was necessary?"
"I told you. He was coming at AJ," Chris said for what felt like the hundredth time. "Kevin was pushing him around, grabbing him, kicking him. Nobody else was sticking up for him."
"You knew what the consequences were, and you still chose to engage in violent actions on school property."
"The kid was in trouble. What was I supposed to do, sit back and watch him get his ass kicked?" Chris looked at the clock. Two minutes until the final bell. Come on, just suspend me so I can get out of here already...
Mr. McMahon's eyes narrowed. "The situation would have been handled just fine by our faculty. It was unnecessary to play vigilante."
Yeah, they would've handled it after AJ was a bloody pulp on the floor. But Chris held his tongue. Defending himself against the principal was useless. He was going to be punished. He just needed this to be over.
Finally, Mr. McMahon handed him his sentence. "You'll be serving two days in in-school suspension. Monday and Tuesday of next week."
"Alright."
"You're a good kid, Chris. Don't start making stupid mistakes now. Don't throw away your future over your emotions."
"Sure thing."
Mr. McMahon sighed over the sound of the bell in the adjacent hallway. "You're dismissed. See if you can catch a nurse before she leaves. Get some ice for your eye."
Nope. "Thank you, sir." Chris's chair scraped over the floor and he got the hell out of that office.
He power-walked through the freshmen corridor and cut up the back stairwell, which dispensed him into the northern wing. AJ wasn't at his locker. Chris understood he'd been brought to the office for questioning, too, but how long had that taken? Where was he? Chris tried not to panic. He paced the floor of the hallway, keeping a sharp eye out for the five-foot-eight southern brunette. They only had two classes together during the day, gym and Biology, so Chris had no idea where he was coming from or which classroom he could find the cutie in...
Ah, there he was, swaggering down the hall with mistrustful eyes watching his foreign classmates. People who'd clapped and screamed at a fight he could have been involved in, unconcerned for his well-being. They didn't know him. Chris didn't know him, not really. But he still cared. Maybe too much. Enough to get a black eye and suspended just to protect him.
Chris jogged towards him. "Hey. AJ."
His eyes, so stormy, seemed to soften and brighten in the slightest as he regarded Chris. His face showed no trace of the attack. "Hey. Erm, Chris, right?"
"Yep. Chris Jericho. Pleasure."
"Good to meet you, officially." AJ swung a hand into Chris's.
"Yeah. Wish it were under better circumstances though."
AJ smiled softly. "Listen, uh. What you did...I mean, you didn't have to."
Someone had to. But that wasn't his verbal answer. "Don't worry about it. Owens is a dick. He likes to run his mouth."
"Oh, I know. I've dealt with him before."
Chris cocked his head. "You have?"
"Yeah. I played ball against him a few times at my old school. He's loud."
"You're an athlete?"
"Yeah. Basketball and soccer. Kind of mad the season's over already, or else I'd get on the team here. Maybe next year."
"Wow. That's pretty cool."
AJ smiled, a bit bigger this time.
"Look, I'm here because I wanted to make sure Owens didn't come near you again."
"I heard he got suspended. He better not fuckin' try."
"I know, but that's why I'm worried. I know how these guys work. They like to catch you out back, off campus, where they can do whatever the hell they want to you because the rent-a-cops around here can't do shit."
AJ pursed his lips. "You been there?"
He hadn't just been there. It had replayed before his eyes just watching Owens go after AJ. "Yeah. I've been there."
"Well." AJ's backpack hung off one shoulder, and he tugged on the strap, eyes falling briefly off Chris's. "Can't lie, I don't mind the company. We victims gotta stick together, y'know?"
Chris laughed. "Hey. We're not victims. Not anymore. But I do agree with you about sticking together. You going home?"
"Yeah."
"Bus, or...?"
"I'm walking. We moved into this house on Carmel Drive."
That street was two blocks away from school. Chris figured the walk wouldn't kill either of them. "Mind if I, uh...just kinda...walk with you?"
God, were his eyes pretty. Especially when he smiled. They seemed to smile on their own when he did, dimples lifting in his cheeks. "Yeah. That sounds good."
"Just to make sure you're okay."
"Whatever it takes."
The air was cool, still holding a drizzle following an early afternoon shower. Chris walked on the street side, shielding AJ from the curb and cars passing by. He kept his head on a swivel, continuously checking for Owens. He zipped his jacket up and fastened his scarf around his neck. AJ was sleeveless. His muscled arms were pricking with goosebumps already.
"You cold?" Chris asked on the sidewalk.
"Nah, I'll be fine. I'm used to the humidity."
"But not the chill, I bet."
"Not quite yet."
"Where are you from?"
"North Carolina." The accent tinted with southern twang was evidence of such.
"You miss it?"
"Eh. Had its ups and downs, just like everywhere. Colorado is beautiful, though."
"How long have you lived in Colorado?"
"About five years. I used to be over at Barnes High until we moved to this little place on Carmel. But yeah, born 'n raised in North Carolina before that."
"And the accent's gone nowhere since," Chris said, giggling. AJ giggled with him but Chris noticed he was shivering with the motion.
"Oh, you don't need to act tough with me, Mr. Athlete. Are you cold?"
"A little," AJ admitted.
"Here." Chris shrugged out of his jacket and handed it off to AJ.
AJ just stared at it.
"I don't mind."
"Okay...thanks." AJ slipped his arms through the sleeves. He looked adorable in it. Even better than Chris looked.
"How much class did you miss today?" Chris asked.
"Not much. Most of gym. They let me go when I convinced 'em I had nothin' to do with the fight."
"That's what I kept telling them, but they didn't want to listen to me."
"I'm really glad you were there, Chris. I know how to hold my own okay, but Owens is kind of ruthless."
"I know. Dwayne was the same way."
"Dwayne?"
Chris flinched twice at the name. He didn't think he could ever forget the despicable fiend that was Dwayne Johnson. "He bullied me in middle school. He was the reason I finally learned how to defend myself. I was tired of getting picked on. He went to a different high school, though. I don't have to deal with his shit anymore."
"That's good. If a fool ever comes at you like that, I'll whoop him."
"We should just team up. Nobody can stop us."
"Sounds good to me. The southern belle and the...well, what are you into? What do you do?"
"I'm kind of a nerd," Chris laughed. "Computer stuff, science. Comics."
"Marvel or DC?" AJ questioned.
Chris scoffed. "Marvel, all the way. The exception is Batman. Batman is the best."
"I agree. You ever play Arkham Knight?"
"Oh, absolutely."
"I still haven't gotten all the way through it. You should show me the ropes sometime."
"Alright, it's a date."
Chris could have punched himself in the mouth. Why did he have to word it like that? Was he crazy? Why did he have it so bad?
"Sure. It's a date," AJ said.
Relief surged through him. He played that off nicely...
The walk was quiet for the next block. Chris wasn't uncomfortable. Better not to force the silence away with meaningless babble. He was just enjoying AJ's company. Everything about him was so remarkable. His good looks, his commitment to doing the right thing, his strength, his kind heart, his sense of humor...how'd God fit that much good into one guy?
Their hands swung so close to one another that Chris could feel a hum of electricity in the fragment of space, like AJ would shock him if their fingers happened to brush against one another. He wanted to find out, but he controlled his urge.
Just outside AJ's neighborhood, Chris voiced, "So, if we're sticking together against the forces of evil and planning video game dates...you wanna, I don't know...hang out sometime? Get together?" Strengthen this...whatever we've got going on?
"I'd like that. You seem cool, Chris, and I can't get over that you stuck up for me today. Didn't think I had anyone on my side at that school."
"You've been here for only three days," Chris advocated.
"And I've already got a couple enemies."
"Owens doesn't count. He hates everyone."
AJ smiled.
"But if nobody else has you, AJ, I do. I won't let anything happen to you, okay?" Chris pretended something on his left was absolutely fascinating so AJ wouldn't catch his cheeks reddening.
"Thanks, Chris. This is me, here on the right."
Chris sighed. The walk had seemed too short. "Made it here in one piece. Good deal."
"Owens grew a brain in the last hour or so."
"I doubt he's done. Hopefully he's backed off, but..."
"If he hasn't, we're ready." To Chris's surprise, AJ reached forward and captured Chris's pinky finger under his own. "Thanks again for today."
Chris felt brave. He braided all his fingers into AJ's, not just the littlest one. "My pleasure."
AJ watched him curiously. Chris wondered what was next...his heart was battering against his ribcage and his hands were clammy...AJ's eyes so beautiful, watching him, watching AJ...
"I'll see you tomorrow, Chris."
Chris felt deflated. What had he expected, really? "Alright. Tomorrow, then."
AJ released his hand, gave a small wave, then trotted up the porch steps. Chris waited until he was safely inside, then turned to make the long walk back to school. He'd have to hurry. The buses stopped running at four.
The entire time, he was nimble on his soles, walking on a fine cloud by the name of nine. AJ's touch stayed with him, keeping him warm...he realized AJ still had his jacket but it didn't bother him. He did look damn good in it.
For the first time in years, Chris felt pretty damn good himself. For the first time in years, he didn't feel so alone.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed my first Jeristyles/Y2AJ fic! More to come, and I'm definitely going to expand this one if it's received well. I'm helpless and hopeless against this new ship. Their chemistry is so raw.
Review? ^^~