I Surrender By Cryptic Enigma
	Title: I Surrender Rating: PG-13 Content: Slash, romance, kissing, mild heavy petting Distribution: Ask first, please. Characters: Christian/Lance Storm (My favorite pairing! *Squeals*) Genre: Slash, Romance Disclaimer: WWE owns the characters, not me. Summary: Lance and Christian come to terms with the way they’re feeling. Author Notes: This is kind of a weird one. It’s ripped right from the center of what could be a potential series…I just haven’t wrote that series yet. *Laughs nervously* You get the basic idea of what’s going on when you read it though. I Surrender Christian ran a brush through his hair slowly as he stared blankly at his reflection in the mirror before him. His match that evening had gone surprisingly well, despite the mood he was in. Saying that, he definitely had a lot of frustration to take out on something, anything. He just hoped Shane Helms would forgive him. Christian had given him a superhero-sized ass-kicking earlier that evening, finished off by an unnecessarily stiff Unprettier. Perhaps if Shane was aware of what Christian was going through at that point in time, he’d understand. But of course, Christian knew the current going’s on were all down to his own fault. How could he have let things get so out of hand? Christian couldn’t believe he had ruined one of the greatest friendships he had even known. And for what? Why had he done something so stupid over the sake of a silly little crush? But if the crush was so silly, why did the rejection hurt so much? A tear trickled slowly down the young Canadian’s face as that tight feeling in his chest returned again. Why was this happening to him? Why now? Why at all? Why...? The dressing room door opened quietly. Christian didn’t even have to turn around to know who had entered. There, in the doorway, stood his former good friend. Lance froze on spying Christian before hastily crossing the room and grabbing his bag. Just as he was about to take his leave, something inside Christian snapped. He pounced over to the door and slammed it shut, pressing his back up against handle, making it impossible for Lance to reach it. The older Canadian’s eyes narrowed before he sat down on the nearest bench, waiting patiently for Christian to move. The blonde tried to catch his prisoner’s eye, but Lance made sure to look anyway except for directly at Christian. Pain burned inside Christian. He knew Lance was upset with him, but he could at least give him a chance to explain. Biting back his tears, Christian cleared his throat lightly. ‘Can we please talk, just for a moment?’ he said quietly. Touched by the softness in Christian’s voice, Lance dropped his eyes to gaze at the floor. Guilt began to engulf him as he started to feel the heartache his young friend was currently enduring. But that guilt could not be overpowered by that ever-present fear. Pasting one of his customary solemn expressions on his face, the Calgary native got to his feet and strode determinedly towards the door. ‘We don’t have anything to talk about,’ he said harshly. Lance reached out for the door handle as if Christian’s body wasn’t even blocking the way, hoping that his cutting tone would somehow encourage Christian to move. To his dismay however, his method proved to be ineffective. He flinched as the younger Canadian reached out and grabbed his extended wrist, not roughly but forcefully. ‘Lance, please,’ Christian whimpered desperately. ‘Just let me explain, please.’ The dark hared Canadian wanted Christian’s pathetic pleas to annoy him, to make him angry enough to shove the blonde out of the way so he could get the hell out of there. But the anger never came. All Lance could find was the knowledge that he had caused his young friend to hurt like this. And within that knowledge was his own pain. The pain of confusion and of apprehension and of truth. How could he deny Christian his chance at explaining when he had so much explaining to do himself? Feeling Christian’s grip on his wrist relax, Lance slowly raised his eyes to meet his fellow Canadian’s. Those wondrous cerulean stars glistened with unshed tears, the lifeless liquid shimmering on the surface like puddles in a rainstorm. Anguish, sorrow and regret throbbed in their midst. Lance sworn he could feel his heart melt in his throat and trickle down into the pit of his stomach, the weight of his torment making him ill with grief. Still, his defences were up, shielding him, making him seem void of all emotion. He inwardly cursed his cold-hearted cowardice, knowing he could right every wrong he’d ever forced upon his dear friend if only he could find the strength to be honest. But instead, he sat down quietly and waited for Christian to say his piece. Tugging his fingers through his golden mane nervously, Christian took a deep breath and looked Lance in the eye. ‘Look, I know you’re mad. But I’m sorry about what happened the other night,’ he began, appearing to be calmer then he actually was. ‘I just got really carried away. I’d had too much to drink, but that was no excuse for what I did. It was a silly little mistake and I really don’t want it to screw up our friendship. Please tell me I haven’t screwed up our friendship.’ With a slight smile, Lance slowly rose to his feet and loosely draped his arms around the younger man. Christian felt like jumping for joy and thanked his lucky stars when Lance’s warm, familiar arms encased him. ‘You haven’t screwed anything up, Christian,’ Lance said softly. ‘Fair enough, it was a mistake and you’re sorry. I’m okay with that.’ Christian smiled happily and patted Lance on the shoulders amiably. After a moment, they broke the embrace and Christian crossed back over to the mirror to finish rearranging his hair. Lance turned and began blindly rifling through his gym bag, making out like he was looking for something. In actuality, he was deep in thought. Soon, he turned back to his young friend, who was brushing his precious locks back into a ponytail. ‘But why did you do it?’ Christian jumped, startled by such an abrupt question. After a pause, he laughed nervously, hastily thinking up a valid excuse. ‘I already told you. I was drunk, Lance,’ he offered lamely. Wordlessly, Lance paced over to where Christian was standing in front of the mirror and waited for the younger man to meet his eye. When Christian finally looked around at his patriotic friend, he could see that Lance clearly didn’t believe his initial reason and was still awaiting a truthful answer. The younger man cringed. He hated lying with a passion, and was dreadfully bad at it, especially when it came to deceiving his closest of friends. With a soft sigh, Christian raised his hands to massage his temples, as if it would enable him to think straight. ‘I…I don’t know.' Though Christian’s reason sounded stupid, there was clearly a lot of truth in it. Maybe he didn’t know for sure why he had kissed Lance, but it was likely that he had a few pretty good ideas about what would drive him to such a thing. Lance folded his arms and gave the younger man a patient though inquisitive look. ‘Well, why do you think you did it?’ Christian opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. Biting his bottom lip thoughtfully, Christian cast his eyes down to the floor and shuffled his feet anxiously as he contemplated his next answer. ‘I don’t think I know that for sure either,’ he murmured. ‘Look, does it really matter now? Can’t we just drop this?’ Before Lance could comment, Christian sighed impatiently as he tinkered with his ponytail. Pretending to be dissatisfied with the way his hair was looking, he quickly tore the elastic band from his hair and began sweeping the brush through it once again. Getting pretty impatient himself, Lance boldly reached over and grabbed the brush from Christian’s busy hand. Whirling round to ask Lance what the big idea was, Christian was silenced when he was met with the older Canadian amazingly intense jade eyes. ‘Yes, it matters,’ Lance replied. ‘So no, we can’t just drop it. At least let me know what you think made you do it.’ At the end of his tether, Christian snatched the brush back from Lance and turned back to face the mirror. ‘I’ve already told you, I don’t know why,’ he snapped firmly. ‘How can I tell you something if I don’t know the answer to it, huh?’ ‘Because I think you do know the answer, Christian,’ Lance said matter-of-factly. ‘I think you just don’t want to tell me. I think you’re too scared to say why, am I right?’ Christian wasn’t sure what annoyed him more. The fact that Lance wouldn’t drop it or the fact that Lance was indeed right. But whatever it was, it was enough to make Christian slam his hairbrush down onto the dressing room floor and spin back around to face Lance with blazing eyes. ‘What the hell would you know about being scared?’ he yelled. ‘If I don’t want to tell you, that’s my business, so stop pressuring me, damn it! Don’t you think you’ve tortured me enough already this week?’ Lance’s eyes widened at this remark as he too began to loose his cool. ‘Oh, I’ve tortured you, have I?’ he snapped incredulously. ‘That’s rich!’ ‘How can you say that?’ Christian retorted. ‘You think you’re the victim here? I make an honest mistake that I own up to and was more than happy to apologise for. I wasn’t the one declining phone calls and ignoring messages and blanking people in the hallway, was I?’ Cringing at the hurt in his friend’s voice, Lance thought back to the numerous occasions when he had done all of the above over the past few days. His temper cooling due to this, he merely sighed and shook his head regretfully. He was just making things a lot worse than they should be by arguing with Christian. ‘Look, forget I said anything,’ Lance requested quietly. ‘It’s not that important that I know. We should just drop this.’ The dark hared Canadian began to turn to walk away, but was spun back round and brought nose to nose with the teary-eyed blonde. ‘Oh no, you don’t,’ Christian scolded. ‘You were the one that wanted to talk about this, so talk.’ There was another long, uncomfortable silence as the two Canadians stood eye to eye, staring into the other’s soul. This seemed to soften both of their foul moods as well as stir some different emotions in them. Christian’s hand reluctantly raised and slid up Lance’s arm to rest on his shoulder. Lance gave the hand a fleeting glance before focusing his eyes on Christian’s face, anywhere but his eyes. ‘I want to know what you’re thinking, Lance,’ Christian said softly. ‘Tell me what you’re thinking. Let me know how you’re feeling about this, please.’ Unbeknownst to the blonde, Lance perused the movement of Christian’s lips as the younger man spoke. Lance studied Christian’s mouth with keen interest – The healthy cherry-red shade of his lips, the motion of his tongue as he sounded the different words, the row of perfect pure white teeth barely showing behind his top lip. And the way those lips pouted…that slightly puckered shape that made them look so beautiful. And so soft… Christian fell into a haze over what happened next, quite unexpectedly. All he was aware of was Lance’s lips pressing insistently against his own. Hesitantly allowing his eyelids to droop, Christian pressed back against Lance, savouring the familiar sensation of hot flesh on hot flesh. The blonde soon found himself glad that he had dragged the tie out of his hair as Lance’s fingers eagerly lost themselves amongst the shimmering golden locks. The older man deepened the kiss with such intensity that Christian was sure that they would both stop breathing before the glorious embrace would finally end. It didn’t come to that as Lance reluctantly pulled back to look at the younger man. Christian could see the trepidation marring Lance’s attractive features. He looked truly terrified over how Christian may react. Before the blonde could say a word, Lance spoke. ‘I know that seemed odd, me doing that,’ he began. ‘Especially considering the way I’ve been treating you these past few days. But the fact of the matter is I’m scared, Christian.’ Diverting his eyes away from Christian sheepishly, Lance swallowed down the lump in his throat. Seeing how difficult this was for his good friend, Christian gently pulled Lance into a comforting embrace, rubbing his back softly as Lance continued. ‘I’m scared because I’ve never felt this way before. I don’t just mean for a man, because that’s new to me too. I mean for anyone. You wouldn’t believe how much you’re on my mind, it’s like you’re all I ever think about. I even dream about you. It’s like everything you do makes me want to be all the more closer to you.’ Christian felt a blush rising in his cheeks as Lance talked. Noticing this, Lance smiled lightly. ‘I don’t know for sure that this is what you want to hear. All I know is that I’ve never loved anyone so much in my entire life.’ The younger man didn’t even notice the tear rolling down his cheek until Lance gently wiped it away with the back of his hand. Tightening his arms around Lance, Christian gently rested his head against the older man’s shoulder, smiling when he felt Lance inhale the clean herbal scent of his hair. After a moment, Christian raised his head and gently brushed his lips against Lance’s ear. ‘I love you too,’ he whispered softly. ‘That’s the reason I kissed you. I’ve had a crush on you for so long now.’ Lance pulled back to look at Christian, apparently astonished by this new piece of information. Cupping the older man’s cheek in his hand, Christian leaned forward with a coy smile and gently kissed the tip of Lance’s nose. ‘Like you, it scared me too, but it didn’t really surprise me I suppose.’ Christian grinned. ‘I’d always thought that perhaps I was a bit fruity.’ Lance chuckled softly, languidly trailing his fingers up and down the blonde’s well-muscled arm. Catching the teasing fingers in the palm of his hand, Christian squeezed Lance’s hand in his. It felt so perfect and true, their hands clasped together like that. ‘But now I realise that you mean so much more to me than just my first gay crush.’ Staring deeply into Christian’s eyes, a rare content smile broke out on Lance’s handsome face. He happily responded as Christian leaned into him, gladly surrendering his mouth to the younger man as their lips met once more. Lance was sure that he would never get tired of the feeling of Christian’s silken lips pressed against his own. When they broke the kiss again, the Canadian duo gazed at each other for a long moment. Christian broke the silence, shyly glancing down at their arms still possessively enveloping each other. ‘So what now?’ he murmured. Lance sighed thoughtfully, resting his forehead against Christian’s. Tightening his arms around the younger man’s waist, Lance licked his lips nervously before quickly building up the nerve to ask that elusive question. ‘Have you ever been with a guy before?’ ‘Nope,’ Christian smiled and shook his head. ‘You?’ ‘Never,’ Lance replied softly. ‘But…How about we, erm…give it a whirl, huh?’ Detecting the immense doubt in Lance’s voice, Christian gave the older man a reassuring kiss on the cheek. ‘Splendid,’ he giggled playfully. Lance rolled his eyes at Christian’s attempt at imitating him, but smiled all the same. Closing the distance between their mouths, the two newly established lovers deepened their kiss further this time. Christian looked mildly overwhelmed when the tip of Lance’s tongue flickered against his lips. The shock quickly passed and the blonde slowly parted his lips, allowing his own tongue to slide out to meet Lance’s. Shuddering slightly as Christian’s hands moved down towards his lower back, Lance sighed lightly as the blonde’s hands gently cupped his ass. Noticing how unsure Christian’s touch was, Lance reassured his young love with his own bold caress. Sliding his hand down the front of Christian’s toned torso, the older man softly stroked the slight bulge growing in Christian’s trousers. Jumping back slightly, Christian blushed and looked at Lance, his eyes wide. ‘Easy tiger!’ he giggled. Grinning cheekily, though secretly quite surprised by his own immodest actions, Lance tenderly raked his fingers through Christian’s hair as he opened his mouth to say something apologetic. Just then, the dressing room door opened behind them and in stepped Jericho, looking truly fatigued from his match. So much that he didn’t seem to notice the flushing in his friends’ cheeks, or the romantic atmosphere that his fellow Canadians had created between themselves. He simply smiled one of his patented Jericho smiles and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. ‘Oh good, you’re talking again,’ he said brightly, though breathlessly. ‘Nice to see my two best buddies have kissed and made up.’ Reluctantly stepping apart from each other, sharing a secret smile as they did so, Lance and Christian went back to getting dressed. ‘Hey CJ,’ Christian welcomed. ‘Good match, Chris?’ Lance queried. ‘You bet!’ Jericho grinned. ‘I always knew Kurt was a great worker, but tonight was amazing…’ Jericho proceeded to chatter about his match, unaware that his audience could barely hear a word he was saying. The pair gazed at each other from opposing sides of the locker room, smiling warmly and mouthing romantic gestures back and forth. Right there and then, they could tell that this was going to be the start of a something special. *~*~*~* Did I forget to mention how sappy this was going to be? Ah well…Reviews will be much appreciated! Cherry Cage.