Story: Of Spitfires and Friendships
Pairing: T.J./Spinelli, lite Gretchen/Vince
Rating: Mid T
Summary: T.J. doesn't really know when his feelings for Spinelli changed, but he can't imagine living without her. Too bad she has yet to realize her own. Slight AU.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I found them sweet and I appreciate them! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Recess and am merely using the characters for my own entertainment.

When he had gotten out of the shower, T.J. had just expected to go to bed immediately, which was why he was so surprised when he received the text message from Spinelli.

can i come over?

TJ blinked at the message, confusion all over his face. It wasn't that it was weird that Spinelli wanted to come over. In fact, she came over unannounced several times in the past, often times interrupting him during his... personal activities. But it was 2 AM, and usually, she was in bed by this time. She may have been a rough n' tumble kind of gal, but her body was still small, and fatigue usually hit her heavily. So why was she asking to come over?

Sure, but why? Something going on?

She didn't respond. TJ figured she wouldn't. It was always flight for her. Ever since that horrible party, anytime someone brought up her house or her family, she would avoid answering questions like the plague, often times citing having to use the bathroom as an excuse to avoid answering. Just the week before, he had gone next door to Spinelli's on the way home since she had missed school that day. He just wanted to check up on her and make sure everything was alright, but as soon as he had approached her mailbox, Spinelli had thundered out like a woman on a mission, and forcibly redirected his path to his house so that they could play video games. Her reason for missing school? She had the "flu". Funny how she got better in one day. When he had mentioned that to her, she had shot him a look so dirty, he thought he was a goner.

True to his word, T.J. had done the best he could investigating the reason behind Spinelli's sudden turmoil. Mainly, he had questioned Gretchen about Spinelli's behaviour. She was Spinelli's best girl friend after all. He figured she would know something. And it seemed she did. When he had asked her about Spinelli, she had stumbled over her words saying that there was nothing wrong and that he was probably imagining it. Gretchen was a horrible liar, and he knew she had been lying at that moment. She knew something, which meant Spinelli had told her something which meant that something really was wrong. The only thing he couldn't figure out was why she hadn't told him yet. It only made him more determined to find out what was going on. At least he could have a chance to figure it out tonight.

She lived next door, so it didn't take her long to scramble across the tree between their windows and onto his window's ledge. She knocked twice, then paused and knocked again, their special little 'It's me' signifier. He pulled open the shades and lifted the window, stepping back so she could slide in. She looked a mess. There were leaves in her hair, her tank top was in complete disarray and her shorts had ridden up precariously, showing a few centimeters of her-

TJ quickly looked away from her before he gave the little guy a reason to wake up.

He quickly cleared his throat when Spinelli gave him a weird look and tried to calm down his red face. "So what's up? Why'd you wanna come over at 2 AM?"

She put her hands on her hips, "Can we not do the whole interrogation thing tonight, Detweiler? I just want to watch a movie."

And that's when he smelled the alcohol on her breath. It was subtle, and light, meaning she probably only had one drink, but it was definitely there. He walked straight up to her and leaned down, squinting his eyes in disbelief, "Have you been drinking, Spinelli? In what world do your parents let you drink? Especially on a school night?"

She didn't respond, just rubbed her arm silently and glared at some imaginary lint on the ground.

"Spinelli, seriously. What's going on with you? You never seem to want to go home, you refuse to talk about your family or anything that's going at your house, and now you're drinking in the vicinity of your crazy mom? What's gotten into you?"

Spinelli bit her bottom lip, and she remained looking down, her eyes becoming glassy, "Teej. I really can't do this right now... Please. Can we just watch a movie?"

TJ had never seen Spinelli behave this way. This wasn't the tough, confrontational one he knew. She looked so defeated, so weak, so... small. Suddenly, she wasn't Spinelli, the loudmouth tomboy who could beat your ass in a matter of seconds. She was Ashley, the sensitive, self-conscious girl who wasn't very good at telling people how she felt. Sighing in defeat, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, hugging her to his chest. He knew she was too proud to cry, but that didn't mean she didn't need someone to console her.

He sighed again, "Look. Whatever the deal is at your house, you obviously don't want to tell me. But I wish you would at least come to me when you're in trouble or when you're hurting. I'm your best friend, Spin. You can talk to me."

She gripped his shirt and nodded against his chest, though she still said nothing. He rubbed her back, softly, fighting the urge to blush like a kid. He liked Spinelli's spitfire, tough personality, but this sweet... cute side of her really threw him off guard. It was a side of her he rarely saw and when she showed it, he always found another piece of him falling more for his petite friend. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to be the one who would will away all her pain. His eyes widened slightly.

Huh... I like Spinelli.

He had come to that revelation, but a part of him told him he had known it all along. He had known it since that fateful day they shared their first kisses under the watchful eyes of their classmates.

He pulled slightly away and gazed down at her. Her face was slightly red, though her eyes weren't misty anymore. She bit her bottom lip again and her brown eyes looked up at him uncertainly, her hands tightening their hold on his shirt. His eyes dropped down to her lips before moving back to her eyes.

"T.J... I-"

"Shh..."

He was sure he had a death wish. But he couldn't help it. Something in him propelled him to slide his hand under her chin and tilt it up. Her eyes began to draw closed as his face drew nearer. He would worry about the consequences later. He didn't want to pass up this chance now.

What chance? The chance to royally fuck up your friendship?

"T.J is everything alright? I heard some rustling by the tree outside your-

They sprang apart so fast, as if an electrical current ran between them, faces burning red and T.J's unfortunate little guy, throbbing for some damn reason. He turned to the left, to try to keep his mom and Spinelli from seeing his excitement.

His mom's face was poking through his bedroom door, "Oh, Spinelli. I didn't know you were over." She shot T.J a knowing smile, "Care to tell me what this late night rendezvous is about young man? It's 2 AM."

He burned red and forced himself not to look over at Spinelli, "Mom, she couldn't sleep so she just came over to watch a movie."

"Oh?" She turned to Spinelli whose face had turned impassive again, the wall firmly in place, moment, totally forgotten. "Where were you planning on sleeping Ashley?"

She shrugged, "I dunno, Jan. I guess in your son's bed?"

Janet smiled, "As much as I'd love for that to happen soon-

"Mom!" He wasn't sure his face could get any redder than it already was. He figured his color was something like carmine at this point. But then again, that was kind of a good thing. At least it kept the blood up there and not down south.

"-I do believe it would be inappropriate for a school night. I know you're responsible, but I'll prepare the guest bedroom for you Ashley, once you two are done." TJ shot his mom an annoyed glare, and she put her hands up in mock surrender, "With the movie, T.J." She grinned knowingly at them once more before ducking out his room, leaving them to their thoughts. T.J. couldn't speak for her, but his mind was reeling.

Spinelli scratched her arm nervously, "Maybe I should just go back home, you know?" She looked up from where her eyes had been on the carpet, but when her eyes met T.J's, she quickly averted her gaze. She wasn't blushing. T.J. knew she felt awkward, as opposed to flustered, which he would have preferred.

"We can still watch the movie." He rolled his eyes. She was picking flight again, running away from the situation. Well, he for one, was not going to let her keep running from him because of what almost happened. He wished he could have kissed her, but maybe she really wasn't emotionally ready. Besides, something told him it was probably the alcohol that let him hug her and almost kiss her. There was no way the Spinelli he knew would let it get that far. He knew he should wait. He definitely knew how he felt about her. But he had no idea how she felt. And Spinelli wasn't one to normally dwell on feelings. He could wait for her, he guessed. He'd wait until she had defeated some of her demons before he pressed his feelings upon her. "Didn't you want to escape home in the first place? Don't tell me you'd rather go back there than watch a movie with your best friend?"

Sensing no awkwardness on his part, a grin grew on Spinelli's face, "You'd better pick a good movie! Action and lots of fighting please!"

He rolled his eyes as she hopped onto his bed and made herself comfortable as he turned on his tv. "We're never going to sleep, you know? And then we'll fail out of school because we aren't getting enough sleep and can't focus."

"Quit bitchin' like a little girl, T.J. You could have said no, couldn't you?"

"Even if I had said no, you still would have come barging in, demanding I watch the movie with you."

She laughed, "Damn straight."

Once the DVD was playing and Spinelli had fallen silent, enraptured by the plot did T.J. finally chance a glance at Spinelli. Her face was alight in happiness, her eyes shining happily at the violence on the screen. She looked completely at ease, completely like the Spinelli with all her walls intact. She didn't seem to be plagued at all by what had almost transpired between them.

Of course.

He tried to ignore the disappointment he felt. This was Spinelli he was talking about. Of course she wasn't affected. She probably had just shoved the moment to the back of her mind, pretending it was a dream that never happened.

He was trying to be accepting of her seriously limited emotional capacity, but it was hard. He still couldn't quite ignore the hurt he felt that she seemed quite eager to ignore the moment. And also the hurt from the the fact that Spinelli didn't trust him enough to tell him what was going on with her.

He turned back to the screen, and watched the film, though his mind was elsewhere. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, he'd go to Gretchen. Spinelli didn't seem to want to tell him what was going on so he'd get his answers from Gretchen.

Chapter three! Hope you enjoyed it! :)

Note: This chapter hasn't been revised yet, but I felt bad I haven't updated in almost a month so I tried to dispatch the chapter as soon as possible. If there are any horrible grammatical errors, I'll take care of them in due time.