Sustenance

By Massunm

Pairing: Spinner/Johnny DiMarco

Time line: Pretty much goes through snippets of “Rock This Town”, “Standing in the Dark”, and “Death or Glory”. After that it does not follow up with what is currently going on in the show and goes on a different road.

Rating: May fluctuate. This chapter due to language is Mature as will be the rest, though none will be heavily sexually explicit; in all probability acceptable for ages 14 and up.

Summary: When two people make an unlikely pair, unlikely results ensue. Can Spinner and Johnny face the odds of their attraction?

Author’s Note: I’m very proud of this story and how it is coming along. This is not a pairing I would have ever dreamt up on my own yet after watching Death or Glory with thoughts of these two possibly being together I realized what an excellent slash pairing they would make. Thanks to, if she had not requested such a story this would have never come into being. This story is for her. Please if you are not even attracted to this pairing, give this story a try.

Second A/N: This first part of the story does not contain a lot of dialogue, if this is something that bothers you please bear with me until the next installment. I really wanted people to get both characters points of view during the episodes this part focuses on. Sorry if the story is a bit rushed, I was really trying to add more character commentary into the episodes this story deals with to lay the ground work for Spinner and Johnny’s relationship.

Chapter 1: Ordinary

“Hey if you idiots are here to start something, don’t even think about it.” The cute, dirty-blonde haired boy chastised Johnny.

Johnny looked in the boys eyes for a moment and saw a strange flicker of something familiar, fading as quickly as it was shown.

“Consider us Lakehurst ambassadors.” Johnny managed and he and Drake entered the party, the dirty-blonde keeping an eye on him as they were engulfed by the crowd of Degrassi students.

Later on Johnny would wish they’d been thrown out right then. He’d wish even harder that they never showed up to Liberty Vanzant’s birthday party at all.

Later that night an intoxicated Johnny was relieving himself on a car when his Degrassi rival appeared.

“Couldn’t find a toilet?” JT asked, sounding weary.Drake’s smart ass, intimidation mode kicked in immediately. “He did.” JT rolled his eyes. “Oh I get it. My car sucks. Ha ha you guys slay me with your humor.”

“Yeah mascot boy? Laugh at this!”

In an instant Drake pulled out his knife and lunged it into JT’s back. Before Johnny could comprehend what had happened JT was sliding to the ground, his face frozen in panic and shock.“Man what the hell did you do?” Johnny gasped. Both Drake and Johnny heard the foot steps at the same time and instinctively took off in different directions.

When Johnny got home he slowly crept upstairs to his room and closed his bedroom door. His face was stained with sweat and tears. For the first time in a long time he prayed to the god who always ignored him and hoped just this once he’d answer a prayer. Don’t let him die.

---

“You stood there while your friend stabbed my friend to death.”

Toby’s words were burned into Johnny’s mind. He knew the geek defined what most Degrassi students thought of him with that sentence. Hell, not just students, teachers and even cafeteria workers gave him the evil eye. His first weeks at Degrassi had been no picnic, which raised his already elevated temper. The damn nerd’s podcast didn’t help the seething rivalry a bit, and he felt like he was right in the center of it.

Johnny didn’t need this, he just wanted to be an ordinary kid yet somehow life constantly got in the way of that goal. He grew up with an alcoholic father who was always trying to make him feel smaller with his words or fist. His mother was a schizophrenic who frequently went off her medication, causing her to do a number of insane things such as poisoning the neighbor’s cat because the “voices” told her to. Still that wasn’t even the worst of it; the worst came when Johnny was in middle school and realized he was gay.

You-can-not be apart of a tough crowd like his and be a homo. It’s not like something they just frown upon, it is something that they thought openly contradicted your masculinity. So Johnny hid it of course, just as easily as he hid the bruises from his father and the fact that his mother was a nut job. He repressed his feeling, letting them reside in the ball of hate and anger that consumed the pieces of him screaming to be heard.

Johnny could handle being beaten, being hated, or maybe someday being a nut job like his mom; nonetheless he could not, would not handle being a faggot. This was why he hated Gavin “Spinner” Mason so much. The first day he started at Degrassi he came across the dirty-blonde haired boy who’d been his source of many late night fantasies since that party. The older boy who’d glimpsed at him with a gaze that may have just been his imagination.

He wanted Gavin, he wanted to taste his plump lips and run his hands through that short, fluffy hair. Johnny sighed at the thought. This can go nowhere.

---

Spinner watched Johnny DiMarco mock and intimidate his peers like a fifth grade bully in the cafeteria. He’d noticed the guy a lot and had already labeled him a complete asshole so he wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to give Johnny a look over. Jane walked pass his lunch table and he immediately switched his attention to her. He thought about how Johnny’s lengthy golden blonde hair and more colored complexion was more striking than Jane’s and was thrown by the random comparison. He quickly began to chat about his like of the girl to avoid this thought.

---

“That dude is a goddamn hypocrite,” one of Johnny’s friends spat out.

“You shouldn’t have said his friend was asking to get stabbed dickweed,” Johnny countered. “What the hell are you on about?”

This was after Johnny’s crew’s second confrontation with Gavin. Johnny could tell they were itching to show Gavin he wasn’t as tough as he thought.

“You don’t know?” Bruce smirked at him.

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Ob-vi-ous-ly.”

“He‘s the one who put his best friend in a wheel chair.” Bruce explained.

“The guy who got expelled for causing the shooting?” Johnny asked, taken aback.

Bruce nodded enthusiastically.

“I’d be dead if my dad found out I was involved in something like that,” Johnny embellished. “I thought I wouldn’t walk for days after the beating I got when Drake was arrested.”

“Well his dad’s dead,” another hooligan in their crew stated.

“Lucky bastard,” Johnny joked.

Everyone laughed knowing some of Johnny’s history with his father. Johnny cackled as well, but felt his insides chill.

---

Spinner saw the little prick that’d been haunting his thoughts for days. Johnny and his friends were tossing around Toby’s scarf. Spinner’s cancer revelation was enough to deal with, he didn’t need this guy showing up out of nowhere and making him question himself. The distraught Spinner couldn’t take it any longer, he needed to stomp this kid out of his thoughts.

"You heard him give it back,” Spinner growled.

"What are you going to do about it sing Kumbaya?" Johnny dared.

"Not this time."

Spinner’s fist collided with Johnny’s face twice, fast and hard. Johnny stumbled back more from the surprise than the force, and landed on his ass. He popped back up quickly and went for Spinner, but his friends promptly held him back.

"Walk away coward," Johnny screamed at the retreating Spinner.

When he’d finally stopped his stride Spinner bent over, gagging. If he hated Johnny DiMarco so much why when he was punching the crap out of him did he see his self?

---

Spinner began to feel remorse right after the fight and getting crap from Jimmy about it made him feel even worse. Despite his internal need to be defiant he decided the disapproval was deserved. Besides he knew what he’d done to Johnny was shameful, it came from a part of him he thought had been released a long time ago. It was the same part of him that reacted badly to his friend Marco telling Spinner he was gay. Now Spinner wondered if that was just stupid macho hostility or if it reflected Spinner’s own insecurities. Whatever the reason, Johnny may be a jerk but he was not to blame.

Spinner spotted him in the hall way and decided it was time to bury the hatchet.

Spinner approached him confidently. “Johnny I want to apologize about the fight, okay? I lost my cool."

Johnny’s eyes narrowed. "You know I love the peace and love act Gavin."

"Look we've gotta stop this Lakehurst Degrassi crap okay?" Spinner persisted.

"Look who cares about that, alright? We're famous." Johnny grinned.

"Dude are you insane? The videos out there and everyone can see it." Spinner reasoned.

"Exactly; look this is about putting on a show, when guys square off people want to watch." Johnny simplified.

"Great”, Spinner shook his head, “I have better things to worry about."

As Spinner turned to go Johnny kept pushing, "well if you ever decide to man up my buddy Bruce here's a bit rusty, he'd love a shot at you."

Spinner turned to see Bruce bark at him and promptly turned back around, and walked away.

Man up man up man up

The phrase ran through Spinner’s mind as he shaved his head, the grim expression on his face sending a warning of things to come. He’d show Johnny what a true man could do.

---

The man with the Mohawk came at Johnny out of nowhere with a full on assault.

“Man chill,” Johnny shouted.

It wasn’t until he was on the ground getting the crap beaten out of him that he recognized Gavin’s dark eyes staring back at him. They ere wild with rage and fear, Johnny knew how it felt to have a look like that. He refused to hit Gavin back; instead he opted for trying to get the bigger man off him.

Car lights emerged from the darkness and his friends pounded on a momentarily distracted Gavin before scattering into the night. Johnny didn’t want to leave him, but someone grabbed on tight to his limp body and dragged him away with the others.

The next day at school Johnny was trying to get his friends to not seek retaliation.

“You should rat the guy out to the cops and say we had nothing to do with the filming. He kicked the shit out of you.” Bruce insisted.

“Nah man,” Johnny sighed, “let’s leave the cops out of this. Let’s just forget it.”

Johnny spotted Spinner coming toward them.

"You win Mr. Unity,” Johnny acknowledged. “Games, peace, love and harmony all the time."

"So that’s how you man up.” Spinner taunted.

"Whatever. Simpson is talking about calling the cops so whatever." Johnny babbled, thrown off by Spinner’s aggression.

"You’re safe Johnny boy.” Spinner pointed at Bruce. “I want him."

"After school, bring the cameras." Spinner requested.

Johnny frowned.

Bruce grinned. “You’re dead.”

Thankfully before the fight took place Johnny saw Spinner’s friend Jimmy giving him a talk and Spinner backed out of the fight. The whole lot of them got a massive amount of detention and Johnny’s would be spent with Spinner.

The next day Jane caught up with Johnny on his way to his last class.

“Hey,” Jane greeted him as if she hadn’t avoided him since they were in middle school. “I think Spinner’s looking for you.”

“You’re kidding?” Johnny huffed.

“I guess he feels bad for acting like such a freak, cancer can do that to people.” Jane revealed.

Johnny stopped dead in his tracks. “Cancer?”

“Of the testicular variety,” she went on. “He had one of his little fellas removed this morning.”

“Wow,” Johnny breathed.

Jane placed a hand on his arm, again playing the buddy routine. “The guy has more issues than half of Toronto so it’d be real noble if you could take his apology and let this feud die. “

Johnny bowed his head. “Sure.”

“Cool.” Jane walked off.

Johnny spotted Gavin leaning against his locker when his finally class let out. He took a deep breath and approached Gavin slowly.

“Hey,” Johnny waved at Gavin.

Gavin’s head was completely shaved now and he looked like hell. “Hey man, I just wanted to say how sorry I am. I’m not usually like that, well, not all the time. I’m sort of going through a rough patch.” He confessed.

The sides of Johnny’s mouth twitched. “I know how those go. Don’t worry about it. Far as I’m concerned it’s both our bad.”

“You’re not such a bad guy Johnny,” Gavin observed.

Johnny reached his hand out and Gavin took it. “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

END of Chapter 1

Expect Chapter 2 in one week. Three chapters to go.