Story Title: You
Story Type: Slash, AU
Characters: Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley
Pairings: MMG
Rating: PG-13/NC-17
Series: Still no name, but here's the other ones: Just Them, Don't Touch and I Agree
Disclaimer: I wish they were mine, but they still belong to themselves/TNA. If they did belong to me, they'd be on TV a hell of a lot more, I can tell you. Of course, they wouldn't have clothes on, but still..
Warnings: Slash, AU, language
A/N: Hmmm, so this dedicated to: candy_belle and energy_purple both who have asked for this and more then once, lol. Hope you guys like it.
A/N2: OK, this a prequel to the whole series. Now, I'm not sure exactly who was wrestling in the Detroit area at the time, so I'm guesstimating some of this along with some stuff I do know. There is some character bashing, I don't want to say who exactly; but if you're a fan of anyone who started wrestling with Shelley all those years ago, then you may not want to read this.
Chris rolled out of the ring, clutching the back of his head, selling the bump from the ring for the fans gathered.
Once he was past the curtain, he rolled his shoulders and stretched until his lower back cracked. He headed back to packed dressing room, humming to himself.
Chris changed into his street clothes, stuffing his clothes into his duffel. He looked up when he saw Austin walk in, a disgusted look on his face.
"What's up, man?" Chris asked as he hefted his bag to his shoulder, getting ready to go to the pay window and then home to crash for a couple hours before he had to start driving for a show in Chicago tomorrow.
"It's Jimmy," Austin said, his distaste obvious. "His daddy -or whoever- bought him a neko and he's been treating him like shit. I mean, it's not like anything that idiot does surprises me but to treat another living thing like that?" Austin shook his head and went searching for his own bag.
"Jacob's a fucken asshole," Chris commented as he left the room, waving goodbye to Austin.
He walked down the narrow hallway, noticing the fight going on at the end by the exit and in front of the office where the promoter usually handed out everyone's pay. Where everyone would see it, Chris realized, disgusted.
Chris really didn't like Jimmy Jacobs; he was a spoiled brat who whined and bitched when things didn't go the way he wanted. He always acted like he was the best at everything; when, in reality, he could barely wrestle his way out of a paper bag.
Chris squeezed his way past another wrestler headed for the dressing room, and knocked on the promoter's office door.
"You fucken retard," Jimmy yelled, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "How fucken hard is it to get me a water? I swear, I don't know why I even bother -"
Chris glanced over his shoulder and saw Jacobs' back and sneered. He could see someone kneeling to the side of him, their head down and their hands clasped behind their back. A long, black tail was moving wildly; in anger or fear, Chris couldn't tell which.
"You can never do anything right," Jimmy went on, tapping his foot. "Fuck, you even suck in bed. It's like fucking a block of ice. Look at me when I'm fucken talking to you!"
Jimmy reached up and hauled the neko up by his collar, all off the neko's weight dragging against the collar, choking him. "Look at me!" Jimmy yelled again, slapping the neko across the face. The neko finally looked up at Jimmy and Chris could see his profile before the neko glanced over at him. Their gaze locked and Chris was lost when he looked into those brown eyes.
The neko looked away from him and Chris inhaled sharply; there were bruises all over the side of his face, and as Chris looked over his body, he could see the neko was skinny -really skinny, like he hadn't eaten in a couple days- and there more bruises across his chest, and Chris could also see what looked like hand print marks disappearing into the neko's jeans.
Chris snarled and before he could even register it, he was moving across the small space and grabbing Jacob's arm when he had it raised to hit him again.
"I'd stop it, if I were you, Jacobs," Chris told the younger man quietly, his grip firm. "Or you're going to lose a few teeth."
"Fuck you, Sabin," Jimmy said, sneering. "This is none of your fucken business. Now, let go of me and get the hell out of here." Jimmy took his eyes off of Chris and kicked the neko in the stomach, doubling him over.
Chris growled fiercely, making the neko look at him in surprise. He twisted Jimmy's arm behind his back, using his weight to add pressure to the arm.
"Let him go," Chris said, twisting harder. "Now. Or I'll break your fucken arm."
Jimmy whimpered and let go of the collar, making the neko sink back to his knees before he fell forward, his hands catching him before his own momentum made him face plant himself.
"Now, you're going to come with me and we're going to have a conversation." Chris informed him, dragging him down the hall a little ways.
The neko watched blankly while the other man yelled and started fighting with his ma- The neko shuddered; even in his mind he couldn't bring himself to call Jimmy 'master'.
Chris kicked Jimmy in the ribs and picked him up by his hair. Leaning over, Chris made sure he was close enough to hiss in his ear: "Stay the fuck away from him, you fucken cunt. And go fucken wrestle somewhere else; no one fucken likes you here."
He kneed Jimmy in the face, holding onto the back of his head to make the impact harder. Chris threw him on the ground, kicking him one last time before he turned back to the neko.
He hesitated for a minute, running his hand through his hair. Chris walked slowly toward the neko, ignoring the other wrestler that were gathering at the end of the hall by the dressing room; including a grinning Austin, who looked like his birthday came early as he nudged Jimmy with his foot.
"Hey," Chris said softly, trying not to startle him. "My name's Chris."
Chris paused for a minute, waiting to see if the neko introduced himself. When he didn't, Chris went on: "Um, is there anyone I can call for you? Or some place I can take you?"
"There's no one," the neko told him, his ears flattening against his head, and his tail wrapping around his legs. "I don't have.."
"You could come with me," Chris offered, still not touching the obviously upset neko. "I have a show in Chicago tomorrow, you could come for the ride and hang out in the hotel. Or even at the show, if you wanted to."
The neko risked another glance at Chris, meeting the blue eyes looking at him in concern. He nodded slowly; anything had to be better the Jimmy and he had no where else to go.
Chris let out a sigh of relief and grinned. He stood up and offered him a hand. The neko shook his head and stood up on his own, wobbling a little but keeping his balance.
Chris saw the bruises on his skin and frowned. He pulled off his hoody and handed it to the neko, who looked at him in confusion.
"It's cold outside," Chris explained as the neko very slowly took it from him. "And I don't have any clean clothes in my car.
"Lucky for us, we're just about the same size. I'm not filthy like Jimmy," Chris noticed the slight flinch at the other man's name and had surpress the urge to turn around and beat the shit out of him again.
"So, it's a little tight between shows, but we'll be alright." Chris said, as they got to the car, he opened his door and then leaned over to open the neko's side.
"You can take that off, if you want," Chris said once they were settled in the car and headed for his apartment. Almost as if he was waiting for permission, the neko took it off with shaking fingers and then rolled down the window and tossed it out.
"We'll need to get you a new one, for when we're outside, but as long as we're home, or inside, you don't have to wear it unless you want to.
"Fuck, I'm hungry," Chris said, pulling into a Mickey D's drive thru. He ordered ten cheeseburgers and two sodas.
He paid, grabbing the drinks and getting them situated before he took the bag of food. As they pulled out, Chris pulled out two burgers and tossed the rest of the bag onto the neko's lap. Driving with one hand he stuffed his face, pausing once in a while to take a drink.
When he was done, he noticed the neko hadn't eaten anything.
"Hey, what's up? Aren't you hungry?" Chris asked, looking over at the neko while they were stopped at a red light.
"Yeah, I guess I am," the neko told Chris, pausing for a second before adding: "I didn't know if I was supposed to eat."
Chris's temper flared again but he kept his voice light and teasing. "Supposed to? Eat if you get hungry, man. As long as it's there, go for it. If we're at the apartment, be careful; I haven't gone shopping in fucken weeks, so who the fuck knows if there's anything edible there."
The neko looked at Chris, trying to see if he meant what he was saying. He was usually a good judge of character. After all, he had seen Jimmy and known that it was going to be a hard time with him. After a minute, he pulled out one of the burgers and wrapped it.
"Alex," he told Chris, talking around a mouthful of food. He swallowed and then repeated himself. "My name's Alex."
