Benoit and Jericho

"The Odd Ones Out"

"Never gonna stop,
We never let down.
We gotta keep up,
Keep our heads on 'high'.
Never gonna die,
'Cos we gotta keep it alive…"

- "Got To Do It" ~ Andrew W. K.

          Sweat poured down his face. His body wanted no part in what he was doing to it, and it told him so. The aches and pains were always there, jabbing him from every section of his body. He was a wrestler, and he wasn't going to quit. No, he refused to quit. His dream was to be what he was working on, and he wasn't going to give up because his body was complaining.

          He was on his five hundredth push-up when they finally all came in. Most of them looked towards him with contempt. He was always there for at least an hour before he had to be there, training and working his body to every limit possible. Of course, that labeled him as some sort of teacher's pet, as he always did seem to gain favor with the great Stu Hart.

          Standing, his eyes scanned the annoyed looks he was getting. He wasn't trying to do anything wrong, he just liked working hard. Of course, he knew that he had no chance in hell of making friends with a bunch like this, so it was a bit lonely. Sometimes even that feeling compelled him to stop.

          No...that thought quickly washed out of his mind. He knew they wanted him to leave, so they could look the best. He unconsciously wiped some of the sweat off his face. As he went back to working out, his eyes caught a young man who was working out as much as he was. While the other guys sat and waited for Mr. Hart, he was easily working up a sweat with exercises.

          "Who is that?" he questioned basically to himself. He was about to advance towards him with Stu walked out and called all of them over for their usual run of the day.

          That day was particularly brutal in the social department. He had to find a partner, first, and to hell any of them would be nice enough to offer their services. He sighed, about to walk on the side. Without a partner, he wouldn't be doing much that day. Just as he was moving towards the side, he felt a hand slightly tap his shoulder. Turning around, he found himself face to face with the man he had seen before.

          "They're being jerks to you too, huh?" he asked in a low voice. Jericho nodded, then shook his head.

          "I'm used to it." he shrugged it off. So, this guy was a lot like him. "Do you have a partner?"

          "Nope." he replied. "These guys don't like me so much."

          "Well, if you want, I'll work with you." he offered.

          "Sounds good." the man nodded, then extended his hand. "Chris Benoit."

          "Chris Jericho." he shook his hand, grateful to find someone that seemed to not hate him for his extra effort. They joined the group huddled around the aged Stu Hart, though they got some annoyed stares.

          They were working on their tag team skills that day. Everyone butted in front of them, and they soon found themselves last in line to show their skills. Mr. Hart knew talent when he saw it, and he knew who was good in tag team action. He watched that all, and that was how he decided who was good at what. Some people were good in singles action, while others worked great with a partner…

          "Ahh, Mr. Jericho, I see you've made a friend." Stu smiled wearily at him. He must have noticed the intense distaste that most of the wrestlers gave him. "I should have known it'd be you."

          "Guess we loners have to stick together." Benoit replied.

          "I guess so." he nodded. "Go on, show me what you two have."

          They faced two of the meaner people in the school. They sneered viciously at them. Jericho remembered the two, they worked together for a long time. They weren't easy people to face, to put it lightly. Actually, as Jericho got in, he knew it was trouble when the guy nearly bore holes into him with the look was being given.

          They 'accidentally' made sure the match was hell. They beat the shit out of both of them, showing absolutely no mercy at all. Hell, it was the first time Jericho was happy to be pinned. Benoit had to physically drag him out. As he helped him up, one of the men who beat them up walked up to them and snickered.

          "So, I guess the suck-ups aren't so great, are they?" he muttered to them. Stalking away, he caught up with the usual group of the people that seriously had a grudge against them. Benoit just glared at them before carefully pulling Jericho up to his feet.

          "Well now, excellent job, you two!" The group that had been snickering shut up in seconds as the old man turned his attention to the beaten up men. "You held your own incredibly well against them, even as such a new team." he turned to the group. "As for you two..." he pointed them out. "Please pack your bags and leave."

          "What?!" one asked.

          "I will not tolerate any sort of unsportsman like action. What you did today was totally uncalled for and it is my job to make sure that only the best come out of my doors as wrestlers. If you do that to your fellow peers here, how am I to know you wouldn't pull a stunt like this when you're out in the world? Now, do as I said...my decision is final." The whole place was silent, and everyone watched as the duo trudged out. "Now then, we will continue work on tag team action..."

          No one said anything against it. Jericho had caught his second wind and was able to stand on his own. Benoit gave him a worried look and Jericho smiled, though looking a bit pained.

          "Come on, partner." he said cheerfully. He rubbed his gut for a moment. "Oww."

          "Sure you're up to it?"

          "Psh, a good beating never got me down." he joked, striding to where they had assembled. No one gave them dirty looks that time. No one looked at them at all. Actually, during the whole thing, it was almost as bad as the looks because they completely ignored them then.

          Jericho had a bad feeling about it, but decided that it wasn't his problem. At the end of the very long day, he simply pulled off his sweaty outfit and replaced it with much more fresher clothing. He pushed past a few scattered wrestlers and walked out into the crisp night air. It was always pretty cold where the school was located.

          He didn't get far. They had snuck up so quietly on him that he didn't see them until they basically had him cornered. When he did see them, he saw a circle of people around him with black masks on. Glancing left and right, he found no opening besides backing away. Right into a wall.

          "Heh heh, looks like he's scared." one of the guys said. He was, but he kept a straight, pursed face.

          "Don't you have someone else to bother?" he questioned, his blue eyes piercingly staring at one of the men in front of him.

          "No." The man nearest winded up with some sort of foreign object, and Jericho braced himself…

          "What the hell?!" he opened his eyes to see someone standing in front of him. The man with the object, which he found was out was a bat, was staring straight at the person in front of him. On the side, two guys were downed. Whoever was by him now held the bat, which he cracked down on the guy's shoulder. The other two that was with them quickly ran at the sight of their buddy falling to the ground, out like a light.

          Jericho stared at the person in front of him. The man slowly turned and stepped into the light. It had been the person he figured it was.

          "You all right? They almost gotcha there." he grinned, offering the bottom half of the broken bat to him.

          "You just saved me…where the hell did you get a bat?"

          "Stu has a couple hardcore items, just in case. I saw the commotion outside and grabbed one to come help. Anyway, if you had gotten your ass kicked, who would I work with when it's time for tag teaming?" he let out a dry chuckle. "Anyway, I felt like hitting something."

          "Thank you." he replied simply.

          "It's all right." Benoit shrugged. "Hey, I've been wanting to have a partner for awhile. Who knows, maybe we'll be partners one day when we're famous?"

          "Us? Nah, we'll totally hate each other...I mean, you're as good as me!" They stepped over the downed bodies and slowly walked to their respective cars.

          "Hey, Chris!" Benoit slowly pulled his head up so that he could see over his car.

          "Yeah?"

          "I bet if we ever were against each other, we'd make quite a few good matches!" he called to him. He saw the features of a sadistic grin appear on the face of his new found ally.

          "Most definitely." he chuckled. For some reason, though, he actually did believe what he said was true.