This is the second chapter to Impossibly Young. I hope to finish all six installments at some point. Please stick it out with me. Thank you for reading.
It was another normal day in a RAW arena in Tampa, Florida. It was one of those rare days when the superstars of RAW got the day off. They were suppose to be out enjoying the day. Tampa weather and Tampa everything else should have been enough to pull the superstar's minds off of anything that even remotely reminded them of work, but that only seemed to effect about half of the regular RAW locker room.
John Cena, Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, and The Miz were all walking the backstage of the aforementioned arena area. While they were suppose to be enjoying some R&R out on the town. These superstars figured that since everyone was suppose to be in town, they could get in some practice/gym time. It wasn't like they did that enough, even though they did that every single weekday, and twice as much on weekends.
It was kind of an ingenious plan. They had been instructed to stay out of the arena area itself, but no one said anything about the gym.
Their only mistake was to assume that they were the only ones to have this idea.
As the five superstars walked around the arena in search of the gym, some strange topics of conversation started amongst them.
Namely: Which person in the WWE universe scares you the most?
"Seriously?" John Cena asks as he looks toward his friends.
"Yeah, no seriously dude, there are a lot of superstars that scare the crap outta me." Kofi says in that Jamaican accent of his.
"I know what ya mean man. Some employs here kinda make me want to run and scream sometimes." John Morrison adds as they all round a corner to another hallway.
"You guys are professional wrestlers. How could anyone scare you?" Mike 'The Miz' asks.
"Oh don't play like that Mikey. I know for a fact that a whole bunch of people scare the daylights outta you."Randy says with a twitch of the lips that might just count as a smile someday.
"What! I'm not scared of anything. Or anyone for that matter. I am a professional. I don't get scared." Miz says with confidence.
The other four superstars look at each other with raised eyebrows and Cena remarks, "Sure Mike. Nothing scares you. Except... I can remember a day, some time back, when you were having a story line with our boy Orton here. I think I saw some ones knees shaking quite a bit that week."
The other wrestlers, sans the Miz, all snicker at this and Miz looks a little embarrassed.
"Whatever man, I was not scared of Randy. I was just playing it up big. I wanted everyone to know what a stud I was for going up against 'The Viper'." Miz says as he gives a cocky grin.
Randy surreptitiously comes up behind Miz and makes like he's about to RKO him. Instead he just pulls him into a headlock and starts to laugh at the Miz's lame attempts to shake him off. The rest of the superstars laugh as they watch their friends duke it out.
"So Kof. Who are you most afraid of?" Morrison asks as they all round the corner to yet another hallway.
"No contest, Big Show." Kofi says in a definite tone.
"Big Show? Are kidding me? The dude is like a giant teddy bear." John Cena says as he shakes his head in amusement.
"Yeah, he couldn't hurt a fly... outside of, you know, all four hundred pounds of him landing on you after a pin." Randy says as he finally lets go of the Miz.
"That's easy for you guys to say. You're all considered big guys... well everyone besides Mike." Kofi says with a smirk as the Miz's smug look is wiped off of his face. "He's not quite so big if you have the ability to look over him, but I'm not even half his size. He could literally squash me at any point."
While still not convinced that the Big Show was all that scary the superstars turn another corner on their journey to the gym.
"Alright, Morrison. Who scares you?" Cena asks when the guys finally quiet down about the Big Show.
"Umm... I don't know if she counts, but I think the person who scares me the most in all of the WWE is probably... Vickie." Morrison admits with a little embarrassment.
"Vickie? As in Vickie Guerrero?" Randy asks.
"Yeah." Morrison replies.
"You're afraid of her. Like in a fighting sense?" Cena asks.
"No, not in a fighting sense. For one, I could never fight her because... well because she's a girl." Morrison replies.
"Aww. That's cute Morris. You're mommy taught you not to be mean to girls." Miz says with a flare of mocking.
"Why yes, Mike. My mother did says something like that, but I think that she wouldn't mind if I broke that rule just one time... to beat snot out of you." Morrison says. He smiles brightly at Miz and laughs along with everyone else when the Miz gives them the one fingered salute.
"Ok... so then what's the other thing?" Cena asks as they continue walking down the hallways.
"Hmm?" Morrison asks turning from taunting Miz to look at Cena.
"You said 'for one' implying that there is another reason that she scares you." Randy says as he watches the whole conversation unfold.
"Oh, right. For one, no hitting girls, and for two... it's just- well, it's kinda like... It's her voice." Morrison says stumbling on the words as he tries to put his thoughts into sentences.
"Her voice is kinda grating." Kofi comments as he thinks back to the last time he had to listen to Vickie speak.
"Ok, that makes sense I guess." Cena says as he and the other stars turn another corner.
They finally see the entrance to the gym at the far end of the hallway. They continue to walk toward it.
"Alright, Orton. Your turn. Who scares the pants off you?" Miz asks.
"No one." Orton answers simply.
"No one? No one at all?" Morrison asks suspiciously.
"Yep, no one." Randy replies.
"Whatever." Cena says disbelievingly. "I know who scares you Randy."
"No you don't because no one does." Orton says in a dismissive tone.
"That's not what you told me last Sunday." Cena says as he glances over at 'The Viper'.
"What's this? The great and powerful Viper is afraid of one of our fellow wrestlers?" Kofi chides as he watches Randy carefully.
Randy glares one of his famous 'Viper glares' at all of his friends, but it unfortunately has no effect on them.
"Either you say it or I'll tell them." Cena says smugly as he watches one of his best friends wall of confidence slip from his face.
"Fine... I'm- I... I'm kinda a little bit afraid of..." He mumbles something that no one can hear.
"I'm sorry what was that?" Morrison asks in anticipation.
"One more time, I didn't catch that." Miz smirks.
"I said... I'm a little afraid of... Hornswoggle." Randy says in a quiet voice.
Everyone is silent, and then they all simultaneously start to laugh.
"You, the great Viper, is afraid of the little midget guy from NXT?" Kofi manages to get the words to his question out in between his laughter.
"Whatever man... The guy scares me. He's so little, and mean looking." Orton says and shakes his head at the ridiculousness of it all.
They finally reach the entrance to the gym. The guys had all had good laughs about who they were afraid of and why. They hadn't expected it to take them so long to find the gym but they were finally there. It wasn't until they had actually gotten to the door that Randy realized that they had forgotten to ask one person the question that so far everyone else had answered.
"Ok, Cena. Your turn. How are you afraid of and why?" Orton asks as they all head into the gym.
"Oh man, I was hoping you would've forgotten that I hadn't gone yet. Hmm..." Cena says contemplating the question. "Does it have to be someone I'm afraid of, or can it be someone I'm afraid for?" Cena asks. The guys all look at each other and shrug.
"Whatever you want man." Morrison answers.
Just before Cena is about to answer the question the guys all realize that the lights in the gym are already on. They must not be the first ones there. Who else would have the idea to come and train on their day off.
As the superstars get ready and start to train, Cena spots something over by the bars. "Guys... what is-" Cena says but he cuts himself off. He realizes that he recognizes the shape of the person who is on the bars.
It was none other that Evan 'Airbourne' Bourne hanging upside-down on the bars. He had a book in his hands and headphones in his ears. If the Superstars who had just entered the gym didn't know any better they would assume that Evan was reading his book upside-down and just chilling hanging on the bars. That happened to be precisely what he was doing however.
All of the Wrestlers were shocked that anyone was here to begin with let alone that it was their friend and little brother figure, hanging upside-down reading.
"Did you see him leave this morning?" Randy asks aloud to whoever was listening. One by one the superstars all shook their heads 'no'.
"How long do ya think he's been hanging there?" Kofi asks as all of the Wrestlers abandon the idea of practicing and start making their way over to their young friend.
Cena was the first to make it to Evan. At first it looked as though the young high-flyer might be asleep since he didn't move at all and they couldn't see his eyes from where they were standing.
"Evan?" Cena asks tentatively. There was no response from the young wrestler.
"Do ya think he's actually asleep like that?" Miz asks as he looks around for some kind of pole or something they could use to get their friend down.
"I don't-" Cena starts but then stops suddenly when he hears a noise coming from where Evan is hanging.
Suddenly Evan turns a page in his book but still doesn't realize that he has acquired an audience.
"Is he actually reading like that? No way..." Morrison says.
Randy looks over at Cena and shakes his head in familiar exasperation. "We better get him down before he hurts himself. No telling how long he's been hanging there."
Cena nods and then goes up closer to Evan. "Evan?" Cena says in an attempt to get the high-flyer's attention. No luck.
"Hey, Bourne!" Miz yells a little louder. Nothing works.
Evan is too high up to just grab and John is a little afraid of what will happen if one of them climbs up to get to him.
"Hey, John." Kofi says from somewhere to Cena's right. The Jamaican Superstar holds up a sparing pole and tosses it to John. "Thanks Kof." John says.
He is painfully aware of the possibilities of this going wrong and Evan ending up with some kind of broken body part. Chance he'll have to take however.
John looks at the distance between where Evan is and the ground and makes an executive decision that it really isn't that long of a fall.
So he raises the pole to an appropriate length and pokes Evan.
Never has any of the five superstars ever seen someone so startled by something before. The result of poking Evan was first the dropping of the book. Evan looked startled and a little shocked that their were other people in the gym, and he hadn't heard them come in. At first he looked slightly annoyed but then he realized who he was staring at. "Hey guys!" Evan says a little too loud due in part to the fact that he still had his headphones in.
The five superstars start to complain that he's being to loud, but it's a sure bet that he can't here any of them. He looks at them a little confused, but then the realization hits him. He can't hear what they are saying. He holds up a finger and then does something that gets John Cena, Randy Orton, and probably all the other wrestlers heart rates up.
Evan, completely oblivious to the problem of falling and breaking a body part. Grabs one of the bars with his hand, swings a little using his body weight to propel himself, and flips backwards off of the contraption. No one has time to stop him or breath, in the moments when Evan's feet aren't touching the ground. Fortunately, it was a perfect dismount, and the practice high-flying monkey sticks the landing.
Nobody realizes that they had all held their breathes as they watched their young friend flip in the air. Evan, still oblivious, takes out his earphones and stoops to pick up his book. He stands up straight, book in hand and looks at his friends who are all staring at him in shock. And dammit if he didn't have that impossibly young look on his face again.
"Hey guys, didn't hear you come in. What's up?" Evan asks innocently.
The five superstars turn to each other and shrug with a hint of exasperation.
"We... came to train. How long have you been hanging like that?" Cena says cutting to the chase.
"Um... I've been here since six. I was just catching up on some reading. Why? What time is it now?" Evan says as he smiles that familiar ever present smile of his.
Kofi looks at his watch and his eyes widen a little at the time. He refrains from answering the time question for a few moments. "You've been up there since six?"
Evan nods.
"Well... it's nine now... so how ya feeling?" Kofi says nonchalantly trying to keep it as light as possible. He knows of the big brother protective bond that Orton and Cena and all of the other superstars including himself feel toward Evan.
Cena and the rest of the Wrestlers turn menacingly toward Evan.
"You've been hanging up there for three hours?" Cena asks rhetorically. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should get down?"
Evan gets that impossibly young look on his face again and says, "Um... no? Sorry. I was gonna get down, but then I started to read and I dropped my bookmark, and it just seemed easier to finish the book then try and find my bookmark... so... oops?" Evan says innocently.
The only problem was that it was all literally innocent. He couldn't help but be the kid that looked like a lost puppy dog.
That didn't mean that Cena was any less angry, but Orton seeing the impending argument, intervened. "Well how about we buy you a kindle with a built in bookmark, so this kind of thing doesn't happen again."
Cena's meaningful glare softens a little at the thoughtful look on Evan's face when a new toy is brought up.
He glances at the other superstars and sees the same look of exasperation and bemusement that he supposed that he had on his face.
With the situation finally defused and Evan no longer hanging upside-down fifteen feet in the air, the superstars, including Evan, resume their original idea of working out.
When everything is finally settled and the wrestlers had been working out a while, the guys finish their reps and decide to call it a day. As they are all getting ready to leave and get cleaned up for their plans that they made for after their gym session, The Miz remembers something. "Hey wait! Cena. You never told us what you were afraid of."
John had honestly forgotten, but instead of answering he turns toward Evan when he sees a quizzical look pass his features. "When we were walking here to work out, someone made up the question of who we were afraid of in the WWE universe, and why."
Evan nods in understanding he smiles and then says, "I know who all of you are afraid of."
The superstars all look at each other but most of them are shaking their heads 'no' in a way that they assume that Evan really doesn't know. On the contrary though, he nods his head 'yes' and then starts to name them off one by one and their fears.
"Kofi, you're afraid of The Big Show. Understandably so. I mean, the guy has a heart of gold, but he's like hugnormous. Miz, you're afraid of Randy, or a least you were. I don't see why, but that's your business. Morris, you're afraid of Vickie, because for one, you have no defense against her whenever she comes out with Dolph, she is a girl... kind of, and for two... her voice. It really is extremely grating. Randy, you say that you're afraid of no one, but in actuality you're afraid of Hornswaggle. You think he's mean, and unnaturally small. Both of which are true." Evan says all of this in only a few short breaths.
All of the superstars are stunned that the kid knew all of this information that they had just learned about each other. They each separately realized that they had probably told the young superstar about their fears individually and he had them all committed to memory.
"Ok, kid. You know our fears, so... who are you most afraid of and why?" Kofi asks expectantly.
Evan looks thoughtful for a second before that impossibly young look creeps back on his face.
He glances around their surroundings like he's expecting the person he is about to name to pop out at any second. "I am afraid of... The Undertaker." Evan says admittedly. "Always have been. Always will be."
Surprisingly none of the Superstars laughed or contradicted his statement. They all nodded their heads in agreement. Truth was, The Undertaker scared everyone to some extent. Evan's reason was his eyes. Whenever he did his whole, 'rolling his eyes so you could only see the whites, and scaring the crap out of everyone' thing, it really did scare the crap out of him.
The superstars started out again. They took the now partially familiar hallway back out of the arena.
That's when the Miz remembered something again. "Wait, Cena. You still haven't told us who you're afraid of." The Miz gives a thoughtful look, but then turns toward Evan. "Wait, you didn't tell us what he was afraid of either."
Evan smiles and then shrugs.
"That's because John isn't afraid of anything." Evan says admittedly.
This doesn't surprise Kofi, Morrison, Miz, or Orton, but Cena looks a little surprised. "Not Giants, or Midgets, or Vipers, or Vickie, not even the Undertaker." Evan continues.
The other superstars accept this answer and start to move on to a different subject.
Cena on the other hand falls back a few steps and ponders what he just heard.
It wasn't true. John was afraid of something. Or more likely he was afraid for someone. In the past year that Evan had been a superstar, he had not only become one of John's closest friends, but also his little brother. It was a testament to all of them that Evan had asked and remembered who they were all afraid of and why. John had never assumed that he would ever be afraid for someone else's well being, but he supposed that this was what being a big brother was all about.
It's true, John Cena wasn't afraid of giants, or midgets, or vipers, or Vickie's, or even the Undertaker, but when it came to being scared for someone. He was more afraid then anyone else.
Randy Orton had seen John fall back in step and made it a point to catch his gaze. When he got an unsure look from his friend it told him all he needed to know about what he was thinking. Randy glanced quickly at Evan who was talking to the other superstars and then back at John. Surprisingly enough Randy knew what John was afraid of. He raised his eyebrows at John and nodded at the affirmation he got from his friend. He knew exactly how Cena felt since he shared that feeling of fear for their youngest companion too.
Unfortunately for both of them there was nothing that they could do about Evan's dangerous tendencies.
All they could hope for was to protect him when they could, and be there for him when they couldn't.
The six superstars exited the building knowing a little bit more about their friends then they had when they walked in.
It was another normal day in a RAW arena in Tampa, Florida. It was one of those rare days when the superstars of RAW got the day off. They were suppose to be out enjoying the day. Instead they were together enjoying each others company and learning about each others fears. Cause that's what friends are for.
-fini-
That was it. This story will be continued. Please review. Thanks again for reading. Bye.