Story Title: I'm Not Jesus

Story Type: Slash

Characters: Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt, Austin Aries, Jimmy Jacobs

Pairings: MMG

Rating: PG-13/NC-17

Series: Wing!fic 'verse: Not Now, He Knew , Home and Never

Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish it was different, but it's a no go. They belong to themselves/TNA.

Warnings: Slash, language

A/N: Finally, here's the next wing!fic. Sorry for the wait and I hope you guys like it.

Chris glanced around the kitchen, smiling slightly at the sight of his friends all crowded in the corner by the keg.

He hated to admit it, but Alex was right; it felt good to be celebrating his birthday with his friends this year. The last three birthdays he had been content to spend with Alex, playing video games and hanging out. He hadn't even mentioned it was his birthday until Alex had asked him a few months later when his was.

By then, Alex had known enough about Chris's childhood not to rag on him for the particulars, but Alex had made up his mind then that Chris would have an old fashioned birthday party, complete with beer, bad music and loud friends. He had tried to be slick about it, but Chris knew him as well as he knew himself and had seen through it right away. He had let Alex have his fun, though; mostly because he knew that Alex was trying to make up for what he thought of as a lack of fun when Chris was growing up.

As far as Chris was concerned, what happened when he was a kid had been worth it because it had brought him to where he was now.

"See? Didn't I tell you that this would be awesome?" Alex asked as he threw an arm around Chris's shoulders. He pulled Chris close enough for an affectionate kiss on his hair before pulling away and grinning at him.

"It could be worse," Chris said blandly, deliberately downplaying his enjoyment to tease Alex.

Alex rolled his eyes, downing the beer in his hand before he put the cup on the table. He moved his arm to rest his hand on Chris's upper back, smiling innocently when Chris twitched and sent him a heated look.

Before Chris could say or do anything, Petey walked into the kitchen with a worried expression on his face.

"Guys, Jimmy's passed out on the couch in there."

"So what?" Alex said, rolling his eyes. "I didn't invite the little fucker anyway."

"Jesus, Alex, he's just a kid," Petey told him, waving his hand around. "It's our responsibility to -"

"Responsibility, my ass," Alex snorted. He took a sip of the drink in his hand and exchanged amused looks with Chris. "The only responsibility I have tonight is to get laid before I pass out and to get drunk before that."

Petey threw his hands up and walked back into the other room, muttering to himself. Alex grinned; he absolutely loved driving Petey bat shit crazy.

"He's going to kill you one day," Sonjay informed him, grabbing a handful of chips from the bowl on the table. "I hope that I can stop laughing long enough to take pictures," he added before he went back towards where Austin was still standing by the keg.

"Fuck off, asshole," Alex called after him, halfheartedly throwing his empty cup at him. Sonjay didn't even bother looking at him, he just flipped him off.

Chris smiled and took a sip of the drink he was holding; he'd been nursing the same beer all night but Alex had been the only one who noticed. And Alex knew well enough why Chris never got drunk.

When there was a lull in the music, Chris could hear someone knocking on the front door.

"Who else did you invite?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow at Alex when he shook his head. "Come in!" he called out over all the noise.

"No one," Alex answered, confused. "Maybe Austin or one of the other guys invited someone -"

Chris barely heard anything Alex was saying; the door had swung open to reveal his father and his brother standing in the doorway, disapproval radiating from them.

Alex finally recognized Dave and glared at him, taking a step forward before he even glanced at the man standing next to him. Alex looked him over quickly, taking in his dark blond hair streaked with gray and faded blue eyes. His eyes narrowed and he stepped closer to Chris, touching their shoulders together.

They walked the rest of the way in, closing the door behind them. None of the other guys even noticed; they were currently egging on Austin who was trying to get Jimmy to piss his pants while he was passed out.

"Joshua," his father said formally, a frown on his face. "What are you doing?"

"Having a party," Chris answered, his voice carefully blank. He was used to the frown on his father's face -he had seen it everyday for eighteen years before he left. "How did you get the address?"

Chris kept calm; even as he felt the ache in the middle of his shoulder blades that meant his wings were dangerously close to coming out, he kept his cool. Throwing a fit wouldn't help, no matter how much he might want to.

"Your brother called the place where he saw you last time and told them there was a family emergency," he said, waving it away as if it didn't matter. "What do you think you're doing? Throwing a party? Drinking? In front of other people, no less. Did you forget that you have to be careful? What if -"

"What? They found out I'm some kind of fucken freak?" Chris asked, his voice level. "Don't worry, Dad, my control is still as good as it was when I was a kid."

"You weren't so controlled last night," Alex said, trying to break the tension he could feel rising in the room. He hated the walls he could feel Chris rebuilding around himself and desperately wanted to beat the shit out of the two men responsible for it.

A quick glance over his shoulder told Alex that their friends finally got the idea something was going because they were starting to slowly but surely make their into the kitchen.

Chris smirked at Alex's words, moving his right hand to briefly squeeze the back of Alex's neck before he let his hand skate down Alex's back.

"We can talk about this later," his father went on as if neither Chris nor Alex had spoken. "Go pack, you're going home to see your mother."

"No, I'm not," Chris told him calmly enough, but he could feel his temper starting to heat up. "I told Dave both times I talked to him that I wasn't going. The answer's the same for you; there's no way in hell I'm going back there."

"Listen to me, Joshua," he told his son, anger starting to color his words. "Your mother is sick and for some reason I can't fathom, she wants to see you. Stop arguing and go get some clothes; we're leaving here in a half an hour -or else."

"You listen to me, I'm not going back there," Chris repeated, his fists clenched as he looked over the table at the people who should have been his family.

"Hell could freeze over, your life could fucken depend on it and I still wouldn't go near that place. Leave and go tell Mom I died; I don't care what you tell her as long as she comprehends what I'm fucken telling you now: I'll be dead before I set foot in that house."

"God dammit," his father cursed, his face turning red. "Go get your shit and stop whining like a five year old. I'm tired of you -"

"Do you ever fucken listen to me?" Chris thundered, slamming his hands on the table. "I'm not seven any more; you can't drag me in the house and tell me to stop acting like a fucken freak whenever the hell you want.

"I'm a fucken adult and if I tell you to get the fuck out, you better turn around and leave before I beat the shit out of you."

By the end of his tirade everyone was staring at Chris; even his brother. Chris never lost his temper; he was always chilled and laid back about everything. It was what he was known for -in fact, his self control was so legendary that more then one drunken bet had started with, "If you make Chris lose it, I'll..." and ended with some crazy suicidal and/or humiliating promise of action. Even Jimmy, who just stumbled in the kitchen, still drunk and soaking wet, looked at Chris with astonishment.

Alex saw Chris shudder and his back seem to ripple before his shirt smoothed out again. Clearing his throat, he moved closer to Chris and placed his hand on Chris's lower back.

"Hey, guys, can you clear out?" Alex asked quietly, know that if Chris really lost it, the less witnesses the better. "We'll hang during the week or something."

They all nodded and headed out; saying 'happy birthday' to Chris and shoving Jimmy out of the door ahead of them. Petey paused to look at Alex.

"Do you guys need me to stay?" He asked Alex, concerned. He eyed Chris's father and brother with barely concealed disdain. "Or I could stop by later to check in on you."

"Thanks, Dad," Alex told him, the sarcasm familiar and friendly. "We'll be fine, though."

With one last frown, Petey left, closing the door behind him and leaving the four people inside alone.

"I don't appreciate you talking to me like that," his father said. "Just like I don't appreciate you disrespecting your mother and me."

"You've got to be fucken kidding me," Alex said in disbelief. "I can't believe you come in here, demanding things after ignoring your kid for six years."

"You have no idea what it's like," he spit out, his jaw clenched. "Raising a kid like that -"

"You're right, I don't know what it's like to raise a kid," Alex told him, moving away from Chris and placing his hands on the kitchen table. "And I'd probably be terrible at it, but you can bet your ass I wouldn't treat any kid of mine the way you treated Chris.

"Ignoring him, making sure he knew that he didn't belong, making him feel unloved," Alex went on, leaning over the table, his voice getting harder with every word. If Jimmy could see the look on Alex's face, he would have killed himself just to get away from him.

"I wouldn't treat a fucken dog that way. I don't know how he managed to get out of there without murdering one of your sorry asses, but I'm glad he did because now he has me -and the rest of his friends. And I swear to fucken god, if you don't turn around and get the fuck out of here, I'm going to put the both of you in the hospital. Understand me?"

"Don't you dare talk to me like that! You can't -"

"Get out," Chris said quietly. "Now. Get out, leave and never come back. Or I swear, I'll help Alex put you in the ER room."

"Come on, Dad, let's get home," Dave said, steering him to the door. "Mom's probably wondering where we are; we don't want to keep her waiting."

They left, Chris's dad muttering the whole time. Once the door closed, Alex walked over and locked it before turning to face his boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, man." Alex apologized. He didn't know for what, but he felt like someone should.

"It's not your fault," Chris said, turning to go into the bedroom and sitting on the bed. "You didn't do anything but stand up for me."

He was quiet for a minute, just staring at the floor.

"He thought my mom cheated on him," Chris finally said when Alex sat down next to him. "For years, he refused to believe I could be his. Every time he looked at me, I knew he didn't approve of me.

"It wasn't until I was nine that I realized nothing I would ever do, would ever make him love me. It wasn't until I was fifteen that I stopped caring.

"And until I met you, I was convinced I could go along by myself, for the rest of my life, and be fine. Because if that was what family and love meant, then I didn't want it. Even more, I didn't deserve it.

"But now... Now, I have you and that's what matters to me. I won't make you stay with me if you ever want to leave, but please promise me you won't leave because of them."

"Dude, stop being a fucken idiot," Alex told him, shoving him. "The only way I'm leaving your ass is if you start sucking in bed."

Chris laughed and shoved Alex back, starting an impromptu wrestling match.

Later on, when they were laying down, Chris curled up behind Alex, one of his wings draped over them protectively, Alex swore that if he had to, he would follow through on his threat to Chris's family. There was no way in hell he was going to let them come here and make Chris feel like that again.