#I THINK that's JV. If it's not please correct me because I ALSO don't know anyone's voices

[royalarchivist]

JVNQ: In Brazil, Pac is known by "Gostoso" (sexy guy).

Pac: Mentira- that's a lie! Don't- don't worry- don't hear him, don't hear him.

Gumi: [Laughs]

JVNQ: I call Pac "Gostoso" all the time.

Pac: Guys, I'm leaving, bye! [He logs off the server]

[banannabethchase]

Matt's a senior in high school, co-captain of the cheerleading team, and doing a pretty good job in school. He's also, well. She's also a girl, which is somehow not the biggest deal in her life right now.

Nick's a junior in high school, an MVP candidate for the basketball team, and doing his best. He's also definitely not in love with his best friend, unless he's telling the truth.

~

So for some ungodly reason I decided to do another high school AU for my April Camp NaNoWriMo, and here is the fruit of that labor. It's fluffy and a bit cheesy and maybe unrealistic in parts, but I think we deserve some queer joy in our lives, don't we?

Note: throughout this fic, Matt's pronouns shift depending on her mindset, what others know, and what she has told the other people to refer to her as throughout the story. If you see a pronoun error you think is not narratively relevant, please let me know, and I will check :)

Here is the playlist for the fic, because I can't do anything without making an accompanying playlist: Set the World Alight - an AEW High School AU Playlist

~

Saturday, November 29th

Nick

Matt jumps about a foot when Nick opens the door to his bedroom.

“Holy crap,” Matt says, hand to his heart. “You scared me. Knock next time, will you?”

“I did knock,” Nick says. “What’s your deal?”

“Nothing,” Matt says, adjusting his ponytail. Nick doesn’t get why he fusses with it so much. It always looks right. “I’m fine. You ready?”

Nick nods. “Just have to get the bags in the car and we’ll head over.”

Matt checks his reflection one last time and walks to the door. They make their way downstairs like always – shoving at each other to see who will make it to the kitchen first.

“Would you two stop trying to kill each other to get to the kitchen?” Their mother is mildly amused but mostly tired, coffee in hand as she sips. “It’s like raising two deer with the way you two always lock horns.”

“We don’t lock horns, Mom,” Matt says, rolling his eyes. Nick pokes him in the ribs. “Ow! Nicholas here just refuses to admit that, as the older brother, I should get first pick of the pancakes.”

“You’re just jealous I’m finally taller than you,” Nick fires back. Matt gets him in a noogie.

“Boys. It’s not even eight in the morning. I need you to stop before I lose my mind.”

Matt lets go, Nick fixes his hair, and they eat their breakfasts fast enough that their mom has to leave the room. "I raised two wildebeests," she mutters, making her way to the living room. "Where did I go wrong?"

"You didn't!" Nick yells. "Matt's stole a pancake!"

"Alright, well, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," she says. She doesn't even bother to peek her head in. “Drive safe to the game, you two!”

“I will,” Matt calls back. “And it’s a scrimmage.”

“Don’t correct your mother!”

Once the pancakes are gone, Nick muscles Matt out of the way and insists on driving the three miles to the school. Matt is less than pleased about it based on the pout he wears the whole drive, but Matt lights up when he sees the group of players and cheerleaders collecting in front of the bus.

“Looks like we’re riding together,” Matt says.

Nick nods. “Apparently that’s the new plan this year. Cuts down on buses to have you all on the bus with us, and third team and JV traveling together.”

“Sit with me?” Matt asks. “I mean, if you want to.”

Nick nods. “Sure. I always want to.”

Matt beams at him, and Nick doesn’t understand how still, after all this time, he doesn’t seem to believe the people on the cheer squad actually like him.

“Alright, let me check in with coach, and I’ll be right there.”

Matt slides in next to Britt, who is half supporting Jamie who looks like she still hasn’t woken up all the way.

“Nicky,” says Cole, clapping him on the shoulder. “Late. As always.”

“That is entirely Matt’s fault,” Nick insists. “And Mom’s. She made us eat breakfast.”

“Oh, what a tragedy,” Moxley says, pretending to faint. “I had a can of coke for breakfast. I’d kill for, like. Actual food.”

Nick briefly digs in his gym back and pulls out a granola bar. “It’s not homemade or anything, but you can have this.” He tosses it to Mox, who lights up.

“Hell yeah.”

He proceeds to scarf down the granola bar at a speed Nick is mildly disturbed by, and the coach calls them over a second later.

“Alright, boys,” he glances over, “er, and Jamie.”

Half the team rolls their eyes. Coach was getting better with it, but he constantly forgets Jamie’s not just one of the guys. Sure, she’ll take you out harder than any guy on any team, but she’s still a girl.

Specifically, a girl who was kicked out of the girl’s league for playing too hard.

“We’re on the bus with the cheerleaders, effective today. I don’t want to see any hanky-panky on there, you hear?”

“Yeah, Jamie,” Mox says, nudging her with his elbow, “don’t want a repeat of you and Britt in the science labs.”

Jamie blushes bright red. “Oh, shut up, Moxley, we all know what you and Kingston were up to last year at the championship game. You’re one to talk.”

“No one should be talking,” Coach says. Nick wonders when he’ll give up and let the team do their own thing. It’s always what works best. “Alright. Bowens and Caster, you are not allowed to sit next to each other after last week.”

“Aw!” the two of them whine.

“No,” Coach Gunn says, pointing at the two of them. “You two keep it up, I’ll make your parents drive you to and from the games, and you can deal with them.”

The two of them shrink. “Okay,” Bowens mutters.

“Yuta, you sit with Caster,” Coach Gunn demands. “Nick, you’re sitting with Bowens.”

“Wait, what?” Nick asks. “I already promised Matt –”

“Your brother will figure it out. I need somebody responsible to sit with these two clowns.”

Nick texts Matt to let him know, and gets a frowny face in return.

You can sit with Britt or Willow, you’ll be fine.

Willow’s sitting with Riho!! And Britt’ll be with Jamie!!

Nick exhales. Okay, sit with literally anybody. Nobody’s gonna kick you off the bus.

He gets back a panicked combination of emojis, and Nick begins to wonder why Matt’s so frickin’ weird.

They pile into the bus and Matt’s on his arm in a second.

“Everybody else has a bus person,” Matt mutters. “You are my bus person.”

“I have been assigned Anthony Bowens duty,” Nick says.

“Hey!”

“I am not wrong,” Nick tells Anthony over his shoulder. “Just, Matt, sit wherever’s a free seat. Everybody knows you. You’re fine.”

Matt’s eyes flicker around the faces in line. ���But there’s nobody else I want to sit with!”

“Just – figure it out!”

Once they get on the bus, Nick peeks around to make sure Matt’s not crying on the ceiling out of panic or anything. To Nick’s surprise, Matt’s plopped down in the first open seat, right next to Danny Garcia. He doesn’t look any kind of comfortable, but he’s seated and not crying or anything, so Nick considers it a win.

Interesting choice he texts to him. Bowens slides in to the seat a few behind Matt and Danny, and Nick moves to follow.

Matt turns around as Nick’s shoving Bowens further into the seat and glares.

He was pouting because Yuta’s stuck with Caster, so we both will be miserable together.

Nick rolls his eyes.

“What?” Bowens asks. “You’re being weird.”

“I’m not being weird,” Nick says, getting comfortable for the bust ride to the game. “I’m existing on a bus.” He closes his eyes, tries to relax. “You aren’t going to do anything weird, are you?”

Bowens makes a sad little sound. “No. Caster and I planned on putting silly putty in somebody’s hair, but it doesn’t feel right to do it without him.”

Nick is awake and alert the entire ride.

~

Matt

He resists the urge to text Nick frantically the whole car ride, and instead settles for trying to start his English essay. They’re finished with the personal narratives, finally, but he’s now stuck analyzing Salome and that whole poem is a lot to deal with.

He’s also been assigned the role of Salome in his all-boy group to present, and, well. He – he thinks this might be reminding him of something he’s been trying really hard not to think about.

Something she’s been trying really hard not to think about.

Matt isn’t sure, is the thing. Sure, he feels like a girl, but doesn’t everybody, sometimes? Doesn’t everybody sometimes convince themselves that they don’t belong with the certain body, the certain presentation they were born with?

Glancing around the bus, nobody is paying attention to him. Danny’s snoring, mouth open as he leans against the window. Jamie and Britt aren’t not making out in the seat next to him, and the rest of the bus looks otherwise occupied.

So he googles it.

how do you know if you’re actually trans and not just faking

hhat does trans feel like

how do you know if you’re a girl

He’s thankful for the two hour bus ride, for once in his life, because he’s able to read testimonies from so many people – from trans women in their thirties, nonbinary people in their forties, trans men at sixty-five. He’s baffled – he didn’t know this many people existed. He takes a deep breath. He didn't know this many people who think the same as he does existed.

He also is a little baffled at a common theme that keeps popping up: if you think you’re trans, you probably are.

The bus stops and he’s – well, he’s not sure he’s “he”, is the thing, but he has some other things to focus on right now.

Matt’s pretty sure the first game of the season has never felt so exhilarating, even though it’s not really the first game. His team does a pretty good job of keeping the energy going on the sidelines, but, even with the modifications from the football seasons in place, they put on a great halftime show. Better than the other team, if he’s being realistic.

“I’m not bragging, Wills,” he says to Willow, “I’m being objective. Our routine had, like, four times the difficulty of theirs.”

“Matt, you know this one isn’t a competition, right?” Willow throws one of those smiles his way, the kinds where he’s glad he’s gay so he doesn’t fall in love with her. “It’s okay that they weren’t as good as we are.”

“That’s all I’m looking for,” Matt says, tossing his ponytail over his shoulder. “An – an agreement.”

They do their cheering duties for the team through the second quarter, and Matt cheers extra loudly when Nick gets something like eight points in four minutes, which Matt knows enough to know it’s impressive.

“Hey! Jamie didn’t punch that guy!” Riho says, leaning over to look at Britt. “That’s good, right?”

Britt nods, a proud smile on her lips. “Yeah. She’s been doing so good with not punching people. Well, during games. There was that time at the movies.”

“That asshole deserved it,” Matt says.

“Ooh,” Riho says, “Matt’s swearing. It must have been quite the problem to earn that.”

Matt rolls his eyes. “I swear.”

“Like, almost never,” Britt says. “But, yeah. He deserved it.”

The game finishes up around noon, and Matt is starving.

“I told you to bring a snack,” Nick says, devouring a protein bar.

“Can I have a bite?”

Nick turns, cradling the bar and glaring at Matt. “Starve.”

“Oh, that’s cold.”

Matt turns to see Jon Moxley, grinning. “Right?” Matt says. “He’s so mean to me.”

“Am not!”

“I don’t know, Nick,” Mox says, eyes flicking to Matt. Almost like he wants to make sure Matt’s still watching. “Refusing to give your brother food? That sounds pretty mean.”

Matt grins, a little smarmy. “See? You’re so mean to me. Even Mox knows it.”

Nick looks between both of them. “I’m walking away now.”

Matt throws his best smile at Mox, because why not, and gets something a little sweet, a little not so sweet back.

~

He spends the rest of the bus ride trying and failing to do his math homework. Somebody decided to sing 99 Bottles of Jizz on the wall and, while funny, Matt’s kind of sick of it at 84 bottles and it’s only going to get worse.

“This is hell,” Danny says, staring straight ahead of him. Matt thinks he looks a little like a person in that zoned out state in movies, like when they’re trying to show a flashback. “I’ve never heard the word ‘jizz’ said so much in my life.”

Matt tries a reassuring pat on his shoulder. “You can borrow my headphones, if you want? The basketball team is full of some…interesting people.”

Danny shakes his head. “No, I got my own.”

“Oh,” Matt says, moving his hand. “Then – then why aren’t you listening to literally anything else?”

Danny shrugs. “I really don’t know.”

They stop at a gas station about an hour into the ride, and Matt flies into there, desperate for a snack and some caffeine.

“Don’t get distracted in the snack aisle!” Coach Gunn hollers after him. “You either, O’Reilly.”

Nick bumps his shoulder as he walks to the candy aisle. “Don’t get lost, dork.”

“Oh, shut up,” he calls as he hops his way to the wall with all the coolers. If the universe is in his favor, there will be plenty of double shots available for him to shove into his face. He’s still got an entire math assignment to finish on the bus.

He snags a bag of Chex Mix on his way to the cooler, and spots the coffee drinks. There’s only one can of his beloved Double Shots left. He picks up the pace to grab it, only to reach the door at the same time as a familiar face looks down at him.

“You like the double shots, too?” Jon Moxley asks, his grin wide. Matt’s heart starts beating at an unreasonable speed. “That how you cheerleaders keep up all the energy?”

Matt giggles a little. He can’t help it. “Well, one of the ways. You should see the way we have to train for splits.”

He didn’t mean for it to be…well, suggestive. But, from the way Mox’s eyes widen, it was. “Oh. Well.” His laugh is a little close to a giggle too. “All yours. I can grab, like, a Coke or something.” He brushes the side of Matt’s hand. Just gentle. Just barely. “See you on the bus, Matty.”

Matt doesn’t move until Nick comes up behind him and pegs him in the back with his basketball. “Dude, your coach is about to kill you if you don’t get out there,” he hisses. “Buy your dumb coffee and let’s go.”

Matt nods, a little dazed. “Hey, um,” he says as he hands the cash to the cashier, “what – has Mox said anything about me?”

Nick groans. “Oh, god, you have a crush on Moxley?”

“Shh!” Matt says, looking around nervously. They’re the only two from the high school left in the store, but still. “Look, sort of. Shut up.”

Nick sighs, spinning the basketball on his fingertip. Like it’s easy. Jerk. “He hasn’t. But I’ll…” Nick pauses, takes a deep breath like whatever he’s about to say is going to hurt. “I’ll put out feelers.”

Matt feels like he’s filled with lightning as he bounces out to the bus. He sits next to Nick, as always. But Mox’s eyes follow him as he walks down the center of the bus, and it makes the lightning spark, something like possibility.