Warnings - Slash (Colt Cabana/Cm Punk) (Brock Lesnar/Seth Rollins), High School AU, Mild Profanity. Eventual Warnings - Slash (Kevin Owens/Dean Ambrose), Smut.
"Where the hell is Punk?" Dean takes another drag of his cigarette, ignoring the slightly disdainful look on Seth's face. His friend disapproves of his smoking, but Dean's been smoking since he was in middle school, and he doesn't intend to quit any time soon.
"I don't know." Seth snaps, pacing in a tight little circle. "This is what we get for trusting him to organise a ride." Seth sighs, and Dean blows a puff of smoke his way, laughing at Seth as he flaps his hands trying to disperse the smoke.
"He'll show up, eventually." Dean takes another draw of his cigarette, and squints up the road. "Did he go to practice or something?"
"No, he's banned." Dean doesn't bother turning around, Seth'll still be pacing around looking annoyed, and he's seen that a thousand times before.
"How'd he get banned? Was he kissing the Jock under the bleachers?" Dean chuckles at the mental image of Punk, all scruffy, ill-tempered asshole, and his wholesome dork of a boyfriend getting caught making out by the rest of the team. He finishes his smoke, and tosses the butt away, stamping on it to put it out.
"He's distracting apparently." Seth mutters, coming to stand beside Dean. Now that his cigarette is smoked, Seth seems content to keep Dean company.
"Pff... I'll bet. How'd you know that anyway?" Dean nudges Seth's shoulder, watching him flush red. He has a sneaking suspicion he knows where Seth got his information from, and intends to get a little entertainment out of winding Seth up over it.
"I went looking for him one day, and spoke to the coach." Seth mutters, his face turned away, and his cheeks beaming red.
"Yeah the coach." Dean laughs, and nudges Seth again. "You think the Jock'll be bring some buddies from the football team? Maybe he'll bring you know who."
"No, no I don't know who!" Seth snaps, his blush somehow managing to get deeper.
"Isn't he here yet?" Punk's arrival spares Seth anymore embarrassment, and Dean's almost resentful of that, teasing Seth is always more fun than it should be. "I said four-thirty sharp." Punk's scowling at nothing in particular, his arms folded over his chest.
"Punk, it's four-thirty-five." Seth glances at his phone checking the time.
"I told him what time he should be here." Punk rolls his eyes, and leans against the wall, pulling his own phone out of his pocket, and sending off a message. It takes barely a minute for it to ring. "You're late." Punk might sound annoyed, but a silly little smile has spread over his face, and Dean rolls his eyes, sharing an exasperated look with Seth. "Who?" There's a short pause, in which Punk laughs. "No, no! That's perfect! Of course... Five? Alright, see you soon. Love you."
"So the Jock's getting here at five?" Dean turns to Punk, waiting a moment for the answer, because talking to his boyfriend always seems to break Punk slightly.
"Huh? No... He'll be here in five minutes, and can you not call him the Jock? He has a name." Punk stashes his phone back in his pocket. "He's bringing a couple of friends... One I think you'll be very happy about, Seth." Punk laughs. Seth blushes once more, and turns away sharply.
"Oh? Who?" Dean goes over to lean against the wall with Punk. "Is it the star player? The school's beloved MVP?" He mock whispers into Punk's ear, smirking over at Seth.
"I couldn't possibly spoil the surprise." Punk laughs, and pushes off the wall at the sound of an approaching car. It pulls up, and Punk strides over to the passenger's side to open the door "You're in my seat." He tells the person sitting there.
"Sit in the back." Is all Punk gets in response, and an unimpressed expression flits over his face as he turns to his boyfriend.
"It's not worth arguing with him over, Kev. Sit in the back." The Jock says, and Punk smirks triumphantly.
"If you crash cause you're too distracted by your beloved I accept no responsibility." Kev gets out of the car, and something cold settles in Dean's stomach. He knows this asshole. Many years ago, back in middle school they'd been in the same class, and this asshole, this Kev had been one of Dean's many bullies. He'd changed school districts in high school, because of the bullying. In his new school he'd met Seth, and then Punk. He'd made friends, his grades had gotten better, he'd gotten better, but he never forgot his bullies. His therapist has told that he should probably let them go, that fixating on them won't help, but their faces linger. Kev meets his eyes, and something like vague recognition sparks in them, but he says nothing, instead he simply opens the car door, holding it open for Seth and Dean.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. In the back." Punk slips into the passenger seat, and Dean glances away before the inevitable PDA.
"Hi Kev, I'm Seth." Seth walks over to the car, introducing himself to Kev.
"Kevin, please." He corrects Seth, a blank expression on his face.
"Okay... Well, let's go." Seth nods awkwardly, and gets in the car. Thankfully as it's more of an SUV than a car, there's not the awkward problem of trying to fit all of them into the back of the car, because that would be a squeeze. Dean's filled out since he last saw Kevin, but Kevin's filled out even more, only Seth is kind of on the small side, so having a largish vehicle means that Dean's not pressed against anyone more than he's comfortable with. "I thought you were bringing a couple of friends, Colt." Seth says once the car's moving. Colt, Punk's boyfriend, laughs slightly, and Dean doesn't miss the look that he exchanges with Punk.
"We're one man down, but don't worry, we're gonna pick him up." He glances at Seth in the rearview mirror, and stops at the gym just off the school campus. "Go get him." Punk scowls at his boyfriend, but does get out of the car, trotting into the gym.
"I didn't get your name." Kevin says to Dean in the silence, and Dean grits his teeth, not willing to say more to this asshole than he has to.
"The skinny one's Seth, the other one's Dean. I told you like a million times, Kev." Colt sounds exasperated, his eyes not shifting from the gym's front door.
"I'm bad with names, what can I say." Kevin's watching Dean through narrowed eyes. "Do I know you?" There's a moment, a single shining moment where Dean wants to scream yes, and start beating the shit out this asshole. It's a moment where every harsh word, every shoving into lockers, every taunt, and jibe this fat asshole ever threw at him comes flooding back, and it robs Dean of the ability to speak. His temporary muteness is ignored though, because Punk and the final member of this outing arrive just then.
"In the back." Punk slides open the car door, and a far bigger student gets in. "No bitching, I'm providing the tickets, Colt's providing the car, and if he's driving, I'm shotgun, that's how it works." Punk gets back in, and once more they're on their way.
"Hey, Seth." The newcomer is smiling over at Seth, the smile on his face is curiously sweet smile given his size, and reputation. Kevin meets Dean's eyes, and pulls a mildly disgusted face at the display. Seth's coy giggle, and shy response almost have Dean returning Kevin' gesture, almost have him initiating camaraderie with him, but a particularly unpleasant memory resurfaces, and Dean turns to scowl out of the window.
"So... Am I to believe that you're hoping me and the guy who looks like he just got finished shooting an episode of Trailer Park Bachelor are gonna hook up?" Kevin pipes up, chuckling at his own comment. Dean grits his teeth. It's nice to see that his asshole bully has only grown out rather than up.
"Trailer Park Bachelor?" Seth sounds confused, and Kevin laughs at his own joke once more. "Those two are the only ones hooking up." Dean supposes Seth's gesturing to Punk and Colt.
"Uh-huh... You pair are totally not a thing." Kevin's voice is dripping with sarcasm.
"We're not-"
"Blah, blah, blah! You might not be dating yet, but even the blind can see you wanna." Punk cuts in, and Dean bits back a laugh at the choked sound of dismay Brock makes. "Seriously, go on a date." Punk annunciates each word slowly, and carefully as though he was talking to an idiot.
"I'm not... I mean... Uh..." Brock stumbles for words, and the laugh Punk gives is triumphant.
"Sure... The movies are a great first date, isn't that right, Punkers?" Colt chimes in, which gets more stammering from Brock, and another laugh from Punk.
"We're not talking about at this." Seth declares loudly, and Dean rolls his eyes, knowing that poor Seth is probably beet red, and wondering how pissed off Colt would be if Punk was murdered.
The rest of trip to the cinema is silent, and Dean spends his time glaring out of the window cursing his luck. He's travelling with the most established couple he knows in Punk and Colt, and the most blatantly crushing on each other people he knows in Seth and Brock. That would be bad enough. The only thing more awkward than being the third wheel is being the fifth wheel. This situation is worse though. He's not only the fifth wheel, he's here with a guy who made his life hell for years. That's not the worst thing about this though, the worst thing is he's the fifth wheel, he's here with a guy who made his life hell for years, and who doesn't remember who Dean is. If he'd made an impact, if Kevin remembered the cruelty he'd inflicted on Dean, he'd feel a little more validated, but Kevin doesn't remember, or doesn't care, either way it's not fair. Dean wants something from his former bully, something other than the blank expression he seems to give everyone.
"Alright, here are your tickets. Sit where you want, we'll meet you out front after the movie." Punk and Colt leave them alone almost as soon as they arrive at the cinema. Punk takes movies far too seriously for a seventeen year old, and Colt is far too easy-going to not be swept along by his boyfriend. Dean takes his ticket, and joins the line to buy a soda. He's not really got the money to buy much more than a small, but he's thirsty, so it'll have to do. When he gets to the right screen, the seats are almost all empty. Brock and Seth are sitting in the middle of the back row, Seth suspiciously close to Brock, a giddy little smile on his face. In the middle of the middle row are Punk and Colt. Punk talking low, quiet, and fast, Colt nodding every so often, his arm around Punk's shoulders. They've stolen the best seats in the house. The middle of the middle, not too close, and not too far. The best seats in the whole room. He'd be more annoyed if he didn't know that Punk will actually pay attention to the movie, even if Colt does nothing but sit there and twist Punk's hair around his fingers, at least one of the best seats isn't going to waste. He has two options now though. He can either sit right at the front, and get a sore neck, or he can sit in the rows between the two couples. It's not a hard choice really. He takes a seat in the middle a few rows back from Punk and Colt. It's not the best seat, but it's not the worst.
"Here? Not a bad choice." Kevin sits down beside him, and Dean is once more faced with the impossible desire to punch him. He wants some kind of retribution for the years of torment he suffered, but this is probably not the place.
"Sit somewhere else." Dean mutters, but apparently Kevin didn't hear him.
"You want some popcorn?" Kevin waves a packet of popcorn at Dean, his attention on the screen, the previews starting to play.
"No." Dean bats the popcorn away, and considers how rude it would be to move. Kevin doesn't know Dean, Dean might know him, but clearly the memory is only one way, so just leaving would be incredibly rude.
"Good... If you went to get some you'd miss the movie." Kevin starts eating the popcorn, slowly, crunching it just loudly enough to be annoying, but not so loud that it's a nuisance to anyone else. After about five minutes, Kevin stops eating, and barges past Dean. He's gone so long that Dean was convinced he'd gone home, but he does return, and once more barges straight past. It's a fine line Kevin's dancing, the line of only irritating Dean. It's not fair. As much as Dean's learned life isn't fair, he'd have been far happier if Kevin had literally been any other jock friend of Colt's, as tedious as he is, even Seth's ex-boyfriend would have been better than Kevin. His only hope is that this one trip to the movies doesn't mean that Kevin's part of the crew.
When Dean first came to this school, he'd been shown around by Seth, a nervous, bookish kid with glasses, and a quiet voice that hadn't broken yet. Dean had been nervous too, he'd skulked along after Seth, his hands in his sleeves, not looking at anything other than the floor. He'd expected to have other students throwing insults at him, he'd expected his past to follow him, but nothing came. All that happened was Seth showed him to where they were having first period, and sat down at the same desk as him. Twenty minutes later, ten after the class had started, a tardy student had arrived. They'd apologised for being late, and left a note with the teacher, then sat down on the other side of Seth. It'd taken Dean a moment to realise that this late student was Seth's friend. Seth was a very clean cut looking kid, the late student looked like he'd decided that a hurricane was the best place to get dressed. His uniform was crumpled, the shirt untucked, his hair too long, and bleached, hanging in his eyes. He looked like he should be pulled up for dress-code violations at least, but the teacher didn't seem to care. After the class, Seth had quietly introduced Dean to Phil, better known to the other students as Punk. They'd been the first friends Dean had had, the first group of people who seemed to genuinely like him, and he them. It'd been great for about a year, then things changed. Punk had started working at the cinema. It hadn't been a problem at first, free tickets to the latest movies, popcorn, pick of the best seats, it was pretty great in fact. The problem arose pretty quickly though. The cinema job somehow led to Punk meeting Scott 'Colt' Colton, a football player, and the beginning of the end for Dean's little group of friends. Punk wanted to spend more time with his boyfriend, and as it's easier to talk the wind out of blowing than getting Punk to change his mind, that meant they all spent more time with Punk's boyfriend. On his own, Colt is fine. When it's just the four of them, not much has changed, in fact Dean would go so far as to say he considers Colt a good friend, but sometimes it's not just the four of them. On occasion one of Colt's football buddies will tag along, and that's where Seth's first boyfriend came from. Roman was nice, but dull. Focussed on his playing, and his studying, and nothing else. He and Set h dated for maybe a month, then he was off the scene. About three months ago Brock tagged along to a bowling game, and Seth hadn't been overly impressed with him, but Brock was clearly besotted. Seth's been growing more, and more interested, much to amusement of the rest of the crew. A crew that definitely doesn't include Kevin. At least Dean hopes it doesn't, because if Kevin's staying as part of the crew, Dean's going to have to stop being friends with them, or beat the shit out of the fat asshole.
"So... Pizza?" Punk speaks first when they all pile out of the cinema.
"I should go... Thanks for the ticket, Punk." Kevin excuses himself quickly, hurrying away so fast that no one has a chance to respond, leaving Punk looking after him in confusion.
"We're uh... Umm..." Seth starts, and Brock very deliberately takes his hand, cradling it gently. "Yeah." Seth grins slightly, standing a little straighter. "We'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Deano?" Punk asks, turning to him with a grin on his face. "You coming or is it just gonna be me and Colt?" As hungry as Dean is, he thinks that the way Punk phrased that leaves little doubt of what he'd like to happen.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Punker." Dean pats Punk on the shoulder, and slinks off to catch the bus back to home. He can do his homework, and consider how long he'd spend in detention for beating the crap out of Kevin.
Hello! This is an Alternative Universe, so everyone's ages are very screwed up, and eventually this will be a Kevin Owens/Dean Ambrose fic, it'll just take them some time to get there. If you enjoyed it, please do review.