Author: Mick

Title: Wear and Tear

Distribution: You take it, make sure I'm credited. If I'm not and I catch you there will be hell to pay

Characters: John Cena and Aubrey, an OC that I'm quite fond of and use often.

Note: Some of these chapters are kind of short, but some of them aren't. It all depended on how much I felt like writing at a given time. Hope you enjoy it.

It was a typical summer day in West Newbury, Massachusetts: the sun was shining, there was a slight breeze in the air, and children were playing throughout the neighborhood. The children were gathered in the backyard of one house, in particular. It was the house they gathered at every day, the moment they got "the call". It was the same backyard everyday, even when it was raining. They ranged in age, from five or six all the way up to thirteen. The small crowd of eleven was made up entirely of boys, which was the only way they'd have it. Girls didn't play sports with the boys, at least not with this particular group. They believed that girls belonged inside playing with Barbies, not out in the mud playing tackle football. After all, if they got hurt the boys would get into trouble and that would be the end of all their fun. Unfortunately for the boys, there was one girl that always wanted to play with them. At seven years old, she would follow her older brother by three years to the house and sit and watch the boys play. She loved to get dirty, she loved to play rough, and she hated Barbie. Unfortunately for her, all but one of the boys refused to let her do more than sit on the sidelines. This one boy was the second of five brothers. He liked the girl, he thought she was cool and that she could throw a better spiral than half of the boys that he played with everyday. However, he knew it was no use fighting with the ten others, especially the girl's brother. So he played football with his friends, he took over second base when they switched to baseball, and he was always an offensive player when it came time to pull out the soccer ball. All the while, he would glance over at the girl who looked so lonely sitting on the sidelines, wanting nothing more than to be one of the boys.

"Guys, hold on a minute! Hold up!" Ten-year-old John Cena made the "T" symbol with his hands and trapped the ratty old soccer ball between his feet, where it had been for most of the game.

"What's up John? We're in the middle of a game here, c'mon man!" All his friends yelled at him and tried to get the ball away, not in the mood to listen to whatever it was he had to say.

"Guys, why can't she play with us? It's just soccer. Look at the kid, she looks miserable sitting there all by herself!"

"John! My sister is NOT playing soccer, or any other sport, with us today or any other day. She's too damn small, she'll get hurt and go crying home to my mom!" John's best friend, and the girl's older brother, argued.

"C'mon Tommy, please?" Aubrey, Tommy's little sister, had heard John's argument and ran over to put in her two cents, "PLEASE let me play! I'm a good kicker! I promise!"

Aubrey began to pout, sticking out her lower lip and making her jaw tremble. It was a tactic she'd learned that worked on nearly everyone. Most of the guys rolled their eyes and shook their heads at the little girl with the curly brown hair and big hazel eyes. They knew her game and it didn't faze them one bit. John, who was already on her side, frowned at her face and put an arm around her, "C'mon guys, look at this face. Just let her play for a couple minutes."

From the back door of the house, John's mother yelled to the boys across the yard, "Cena-Clan! Time for dinner, come on in now!"

A chorus of groans and unhappy muttering rose up and all the boys went their separate ways, knowing that their parents would soon start calling for them as well. John lagged behind his brothers, giving Aubrey an apologetic look. She looked up at him through her bangs with big round eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kiddo. Maybe I can convince them tomorrow," he gave her an affectionate squeeze, "but I'll tell ya what. Come over after you eat dinner and me and you will shoot some hoops, ok?"

Aubrey's face brightened and she was quickly all smiles, "Really? Thanks John!"

John watched as Aubrey ran across the yard and raced down the block to her house as he walked up to the door of his own house. He had a soft spot for the little girl. She was the only sister in a house with two other boys, none of the girls on the block liked her, and the boys wouldn't let her play in any of their games. John had taken up calling her Rudolph, because she once told him that was exactly how she felt. He thought about this and shook his head as he kicked off his shoes and sauntered into the kitchen.

"So, what's for dinner mom?" John asked, trying to get a glimpse inside the big pot on the stove.

"Nothing, if you don't go wash up," she replied, blocking his view.

Sighing, John made his way into the bathroom where his older brother Steve, who was twelve and two years his senior, and youngest brother, Kevin, were washing up. He squeezed in between them and poured an exuberant amount of soap onto his hands before slapping them together under the faucet. Both of his brothers were being unnaturally quiet, and giving him none-too-happy looks in the mirror. John knew he was in for it the next day; his brothers hated that he stuck up for Aubrey all the time.

Once everyone was settled around the dinner table, and their father had said grace, all the boys began talking at once. Their parents shared an amused look from across the table and smiled. Dinnertime was never a quiet time in the Cena household; in fact, the only time it was ever quiet was when the boys were in bed, asleep.

"So how was sports time today?" Their father asked as he scooped some mashed potatoes into his plate.

A varied amount of responses arose, but only one was in complete agreement, "John tried to get Aubrey to play with us again today and wasted our soccer time!"

John lowered his head and pretended to have a large interest in the peas rolling around on his plate. Both his parents could see the blush creeping across his face, and knew he felt bad for annoying his brothers. They quickly changed the subject and John gave them a grateful look.

After dinner, John and his brothers were helping to wash the dishes when the doorbell rang. John smiled and turned to his mom, "That's Aubrey, I promised I'd shoot hoops with her. May I be excused?"

"Of course you can," his mother replied, taking over his position as dish dryer.

John grabbed his shoes from the back door and hopped his way to the front, pulling his shoes on in the process. He pulled the door open and waved to Aubrey, grabbing a basketball from the foyer before running outside to the hoop with her. The two stayed outside for hours, playing one on one, Horse, and a number of other made-up games. John's brothers watched from random windows, each one more and more upset that John could turn on them like that.

"Boys, instead of being angry with John for trying to be nice to someone, why don't you go and follow his lead? Y'know, one day when you're all older and John's got all the girlfriends you'll stop and wonder why you weren't as nice to the girls as he is," their mother teased.

"Eeeew, mom! Girls have cooties!" Yelled Kevin, who at six-years-old, was the youngest of the five.