Disclaimer: not mine. just borrowing the chess pieces

Warning: M/M

Nostalgia

He remembers it snowing- sticking his Tongue out to catch falling snow flakes- it's childish, he knows- but he gets some pleasure in doing it- something utterly ridiculous even if he's ten and should really be getting to hockey practice.

After a moment or two and several melted flakes, Jay hikes up his pack and heads to the lake- only to be distracted by the moving van- he wonders who's moving in- and if they have a kid.

He pauses and stares unabashedly, he's not too old to be called rude for it. He sees several toys- a basketball- a kid's sized bed- a car pulls up the drive and he sees a tall gangly boy step out the back- his features covered by the scarf. Jay hesitates, looks at the frozen lake beyond then back at the other boy- makes up his mind and makes for the moving van.

"hi," he greets- cautious- Adam has told him hundreds of times to never ever talk to strangers- and while that didn't necessarily stop his friendliness- it did teach him to be careful.

The tall boy looks down at him and blinks, "hi?"

"I'm Jay"

"... You really shouldn't talk to strangers" the boy says

Jay shrugs, "if you tell me your name, you won't be a stranger anymore"

"... It's randy."

"hi randy" Jay chirps, "does this mean we're friend's now?"

"... Maybe."

"I can show you around if you want" Jay offers, looking up at gray eyes that looked somewhat desolate and alone even with all the adults moving around. "you live near the lake- I can show you how to play hockey"

"I'm not really interested." randy says dispassionately- he's in a bad mood- has been for the entire move. He hates the cold weather detests how it settles into his bones and refuses to move. And while he appreciates the valiant efforts of whatshisname he'd probably snap at him the first chance he got. So much for making nice.

"hey randy?"

"hn?"

"don't feel so bad... It'll get better," the small boy promised

Randy looked at blue eyes that seemed wiser beyond years and found himself believing it would be better.

"see you around Jay."

He doesn't like it. Not one bit. Adam watches as Jay coaxes randy onto the ice- the tall boy- taller than Adam himself- had no experience skating and promptly fell flat on his ass- Adam was almost tempted to laugh- but remembers he has promised Jay that he'd do his best to be nice- it had taken a week for Jay to convince Adam to let the American play with them- a week before Adam caved from all those puppy eyes- and while Jay had no concept of selfishness- Adam was as selfish as they came and instantly hated randy orton. Hated how he seemed to be hogging all of jays attention. He smashed the puck savagely into the goal- it reverberated the supports with a dull thud.

Randy bit his cheek as he tried to get up, "fuck"

"not really- c'mon- you're almost there" Jay cheered

"that's what you said two almost there's ago" randy muttered sarcastically and winced when he slipped again and banged his ass on the hard ice. He glanced at the other kids on the ice- moving like it was second nature- one blonde boy with hair tied behind his neck was staring spitefully. Randy scowled- he'd developed a strange sort of animosity with Adam from the first time they'd met- randy knew they'd never get along.

"C'mere, give me your hands" Jay said, tugging at randy, "I'll lead you out"

"No thanks- I think I'll sit right here where my ass isn't gonna be kicked"

"it's just ice randy" Jay insists, he tugs at randy's sleeve and randy uncharacteristically gives in. It has only been a week and already he finds himself surrendering to blue puppy dog eyes- had he been back in Missouri he would've kicked that said puppy dog. Jay places randy's hands on his shoulders and skates back a bit- the movement allows randy to glide close, "this is how Adam taught me to skate" he shares with a big grin- like he's proud of Adam and of what he has learned.

Randy can't imagine Adam being nice to anybody- but he finds that Jay is the exception to that- they've been best friend's for god knows how long and randy feels like he's intruding- he tries to remove his hands from jays small shoulders- feeling awkward, but Jay adamantly stops him and continues to skate back bit by bit-

"See? It's not so bad- try to move your feet" Jay instructed- "just push forward"

Randy stops thinking about Adam and about how he feels like a total moron and focuses on Jay- mimics the movement of his feet- he knows Jay can out manoeuvre him easily- but sticks to the basics for him and randy decides he doesn't want to be too much of an idiot for Jay- at least in those blue eyes- he was welcomed.

Friday nights are the best- Jay thinks as he wriggles out of Adam's grapple and attempts to put a submission lock on him- Adam laughs and bucks Jay off easily and Jay lies on his back in defeat

"ugh you killed me" he groans, sticks his tongue out to exaggerate his death

"nah Jay, you killed yourself" Adam laughed, pushing back his long hair. "remember, never give up- just coz I'm taller doesn't mean you can't kick my ass"

The bell rings and Jay gets up excitedly, "I'll get it!" and dashes to the door- randy is there holding a sleeping bag- takes a look at Jay wearing a wife beater and jersey shorts and raises a brow

"we're wrestling" Jay says, "c'mon! We can tag team and kick adam's butt!" he's running back into the livingroom before randy can say anything.

The furniture has been pushed to the side to form a sort of make shift square ring- adam has gone the extra mile and littered pillows all over the floor in case someone's head happens to bang somewhere it shouldn't as well as spreading out their sleeping bags and blankets. He doesn't look at randy as the tanned teen walks in, instead he chooses to lie on the sofa and pick at his nails as Jay bounces around the ring, waving for randy to come in. "Jay don't get too hyper, you'll hurt yourself."

Jay pauses in his jumping and sticks his Tongue out at Adam playfully, "you can't make me!" and makes a sort of cackling noisy laugh that makes randy and Adam stare at him, "what? I'm an evil villain! That's my evil laugh!"

"more like a cat hacking on a hairball" Adam laughs, lying back into the sofa

Randy puts his two cents in as well, "I don't think evil villains are supposed to be... Short."

It's Jay and Adams turn to stare at him and randy backtracks quickly to check himself if he has said anything insulting- Jay laughs loudly however and randy gives a small smile.

"Cmon randy, wrestle me!" Jay challenged. Adam had called it quits and was in the kitchen building himself a sandwich- and Jay specifically chose the word constructing as Adam had a habit of piling meat and bread slices as high as they went.

Randy orton regarded the restless boy carefully, Jason reso was small for his age and his arms and legs were thin and almost twig-like. If randy wrestled the kid he'd probably end up breaking the poor boy in half. "I'd rather wrestle with kids my own size"

Jay rolled his eyes at that, he's used to the numerous nicknames that his classmates tease him with, most of them are jabs at his height. "c'mon, if I can out-wrestle adam then I can take you on too!" he insisted confidently

Randy pondered on the actual chances of that even happening before deciding why the heck not. He was tired of playing audience and special guest referee anyway. He got up and moved to the centre of the pseudo ring, "hit me with your best shot"

Jay beamed and immediately charged at randy- unfortunately for him, randy orton happened to know a lot more to wrestling than he let on and Jay found himself inexplicably trapped in a full-nelson as randy easily bent jay's scrawny arms back over the blonde head-

"Jesus orton! What the hell are you doing!" Adam yelled, rushing forward, almost stumbling over the furniture

"ngh! Randy- it hurts!" Jay whined, feeling his upper body grow numb from the lack of circulation- he squirmed uncomfortably and felt his arms released- he slumped between randy's legs with a soft groan as the prickling sensation of blood rushing through his numbed limbs started

Randy winced and looked at Adam, nervously, he hadn't meant to- it was just... He looked at Jay who made a face, "I uh... Got a little carried away?" he gingerly touched the bony shoulders, thumbing over the ball-joint mechanism gently

Jay twitched his fingers experimentally, before flexing his wrists and bending his arms- he grinned at randy, "let's do that again! You gotta teach me that!" he said excitedly, pushing himself up from between the other boy's legs

"what? Jay- no! The lunatic obviously is going to kill you!" Adam protested, bodily yanking Jay away from randy to check for any fractures.

Jay rolled his eyes at Adam as he squeezed arms and legs for any broken bones, "no he's not,right randy?"

"right..." he had no idea why Jay was so... So trusting. Had it been anyone else randy would've probably been murdered then and there or ostracised for being the freak who nearly killed off his friends. but no, Jay apparently thought it was cool. Randy had to hand it to the little guy, he was damn tough.

Adam glared at randy again, then gave Jason a disapproving look, "I'd never try to Break you even if we are playing around."

But like all children, Jason was stubborn and insisted that he was fine, after raising his arms up to prove so and maybe bribing Adam with hugs- he happily jumped on randy and sent both of them rolling into the made up ring much to Adam's chagrin.

"quick addie I pinned him! Count it!" Jay yelled with a laugh as he managed to perch himself on randy's belly

Of course, randy was... Competitive and he quickly rolled over before Adam could get to counting, "not in this life, reso" he chuckled, squishing Jay's smaller body under his own

Jay grinned brightly, "wanna bet?" and his slender fingers snuck under randy's loose shirt and tickled his skin- and Jay was once more sitting on top of randy as he continued to laugh, trying to dislodge Jay from his abdomen

"does that even count?" Adam wondered out loud, of course, scowling and maybe feeling a bit envious. There was a reason why three was a crowd

"hey if his shoulders are on the mat, it's a pin!"

Adam quickly did the count and Jay rolled off randy as the boy sat up to inhale lungfuls of air, "that... Was uncalled for..." randy grumbled breathlessly. He didn't even know he was ticklish! He gingerly touched his chest, and looked at Jay (who remained unapologetic) who Adam had pounced on- and Jay was laughing, trying to wriggle away from Adam. Randy wondered how he had let someone that short beat him at wrestling. He never let anyone beat him. He sat back against the sofa and watched as Jay tried to push himself up on his knees to shake adam's weight off him- of course Adam retaliated by collapsing on top of his best friend and promptly sandwiching him between a rock and a hard place

"I give!" Jay yelled, tapping on the rumpled blankets

"what? Why?"

"you're drooling on me!"

Adam laughed and stayed a little longer, feeling Jay trying to fruitlessly escape- before finally getting off him, flashing randy a smug grin.

When Jay got out to grab some water, Adam brushed back his long hair and stalked over to randy who frowned at him, "what?"

"hurt Jay again and I'll send you to the hospital." he threatened, eyes flashing dangerously

Randy stood up, meeting Adams eyes with the same intensity, "it was an accident copeland."

Adam crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, "I'll accidentally make sure I'll send you to the hospital then."

"don't count on it" randy growled

They were still glaring at each other when Jay came back with a couple of cans of soda and bottled water, "cool! I was wondering when you two would wrestle- I'll be the guest referee!" he set down the beverages and got into the ring again

Randy and Adam drew back, and randy had this sinking feeling that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have been challenging the obviously murderous Boy- especially if he had a reason to be after randy's blood.

"don't worry, adam's great at wrestling, it'll be fun" Jay assured, tugging at randy's shirt.

He gave Jay a wry grin, that was something to apparently be worried about... He looked at Adam who had a malevolent gleam to his eye, "if anything happens to me... I want you to have my stuff" randy muttered to Jason.

"don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to you, that's kind of my job" Jay replied, thinking randy was pulling his leg. Jay mimicked a pinging sound to begin the match and Adam was at randy's throat before he even knew what had happened

Adam slammed into randy- hard, heard the air escape the other boys lungs and he grinned at that, he pulled the dazed kid up and prepared to lift him to do a body slam when randy's eyes snapped open and he shoved Adam back, gasping for breath. This obviously wasn't agame anymore, and if it still was, randy was going to have to damn well make sure to get out of it in one piece. He glanced at Jay who seemed to have picked up on the strange level of aggression that Adam was portraying but he looked confused than anything else and randy flashed him a small smile before focusing on Adam again. If Jay was there, randy was sure that the kid wouldn't let Adam tear him apart. He'd bet his life on it.

Adam lunged again and this time randy evaded, grappled with him- they were evenly matched- and Adam kicked his shin- caused randy to stumble- and before he could regain his footing, adam had his arm around randy's neck and was pressing hard on his trachea. Randy winced and grabbed adam's arm, trying to get it loose- instead it squeezed harder and randy felt his head spin-

Jays eyes widened when randy stopped moving. That was not supposed to happen. He ran up to the two boys and grabbed adam's arm, "addie, stop!"

Adam blinked and stared at Jay who was trying to detach his arm from where it was choking the life out of randy orton. Adam released his grip and orton collapsed on his feet, and Jay was frantic,

"he's blue! Why is he blue?" Jay panicked, hands on randy's face- his skin was strangely cold and Jay rubbed his hands together and pressed them on randy's cheeks again. It wasn't helping.

"addie, what happened?" Jay asked, voice a pitch higher. He shook randy's arm to try to get him to wake, "we should call my mom-"

Adam looked at orton who looked like he had seen better days. Instead of feeling guilty or repentant however, he just shrugged, "maybe he fell asleep?"

"I told him nothing bad would happen!" Jay cried, tugging at randy's shirt, "I told him he'd be okay!"

"he looks okay." Adam offered, grabbing a bottle of water and gulping a mouthful

"he looks weird!" jay stared at randy's face, the colour was weird, like a dark purple or blue instead of the usual tan he was accustomed to seeing on the taller boy. He looked at Adam again who finally knelt next to him. And emptied the water bottle onto randy's face.

"what did you do that for? He doesn't need a bath!"

"I was just trying to help!" Adam defended. Although he did feel a slight satisfaction being able to stomp all over the probably unconscious orton's massive ego.

Jay bit his lip and glanced around, there had to be something- his eyes landed on one of the big books his mom read to him ages ago, "I know what to do!"

And before Adam could ask him what he was talking about, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when Jay leaned over and pressed his lips on randy orton's own mouth "Jay! What the-!" he grabbed jay's elbow and yanked him away

"addie let go!"

"what are you thinking?" adam yelled, shaking jay's arm

Before Jay could explain himself- randy orton decided to rejoin the world of the living and sat up gasping for air.

"it worked!" Jay cheered, twisting his arm away from adam's grip to check on his other friend

Randy groaned, his head throbbed and pounded- he rubbed his temple and coughed, "ugh... Why am I wet?" he blinked quickly, felt hands on his face as he was pulled down to jay's own eye level, worried blue eyes searching his own grey ones. He felt his body heat up at that, his stomach churned as Jay curiously ran his thumb over his cheek bone and his lips

"you're back!"

"...what about my back?" randy asked in confusion, staring at Jay and feeling oddly... Euphoric. It wasn't really his back he was curious about, he wanted to know why he was dripping wet.

"no, I mean, you're here now, and not blue" Jay explained as best as a ten year old could make sense of anything.

Randy frowned, why would I be blue? He felt jay's fingers touch his neck- the touch feather light and almost reverent as he stroked something there- and randy felt a growling purr rise out of his chest. Weird.

Jay eyed the bruise around randy's neck and ran a finger over it again, "I'm sorry I got you hurt" he whispered, touching the bruise worriedly

Adam rolled his eyes at Jay and randy, "oh for the love of- he's fine! He just fainted most probably"

Randy touched his neck and winced, swallowing. that was one heck of a bruise. His hand bumped jays own and they looked at each other, and randy could see that of he didn't say anything, Jay would probably Think they weren't friends anymore. "it okay. I'm still... Uh... Alive."

"yeah I know, you were like snow White" Jay giggled

Randy stared at Jay, then at Adam.. He made a mental side note to never ever mess with the other kid.

Adam smirked at that, nothing like rubbing orton's near death experience into his face and calling him a princess. "it's like this orton, I had you in a choke hold and you fainted like a sissy. Jay, your prince charming, kissed your god awful mouth and here you are again, an eyesore. The end."

Randy blinked, then looked sharply at Jay who looked embarrassed and shy all of a sudden, "you? You k-"

"well it was only to save your life!" Jay explained frantically, "i mean- you were turning a weird colour! And-and-" he stopped trying to talk when randy burst out laughing.

"oh no! Addie I think he's broken!"

He could've just made disgusted face or cursed about cooties- but randy couldn't help himself- he laughed- and it felt so good- so utterly relieving to have everything escape in a burst of laughter. Had he's still been in Missouri, he would've socked the first person who dared to do CPR on him should they be the same gender as himself- but to think that Jay honestly truly firmly believed that one single tiny kiss from a fairy tale book was enough to bring back one randy orton to life... He looked once more at Jay who was staring at him in dismay. "thank you, Jay. For saving me" he said earnestly.

Jay coloured slightly, fiddled with his shirt, "uh... You're welcome...?"

Randy grinned and pressed his hand on the back of jay's neck, carefully pulled him close and pressed his own kiss on jay's forehead. "I mean it."

Jay nodded, pressed a hand on the spot where randy had kissed him back, and smiled back.

"so if you kissed me... Why am I wet?"

Jay laughed and Adam rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen to grab a snack. He took two packs of chips for himself and one for Jay- then thinking, he grabbed another one for randy orton. Annoying as he was, the dolt was undoubtedly here to stay. And if anyone could look at Jason with those eyes, and talk to him in that tone that wasn't mocking or condescending... then Adam could accept having randy orton as a friend. Even if it meant sharing his one best friend. Of course he'd have to draw a line somewhere, Adam thought, as he watched randy and Jay talking- Jay having settled onto randy's legs and randy allowing him to do so. But that could wait. For now, it was alright if they acted like ten year olds.