"ITVR: Chapter 25"
Reassurances.
By Jadedoll, Penumbren, & Raising Kane
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Following his lover inside, Kevin heard Scott's voice trail off before he saw what had caused it to do so. "We didn't know that you were already in such good hands. Dave... Hunter." He couldn't help the raised eyebrows; of all the possibilities he'd considered, this one had never crossed his mind. To walk in and find Shawn, looking actually pretty happy, in the same room as Dave... and Hunter... Well. Looking at each of the three in turn, he could see a sparkle in Shawn's eyes that he hadn't seen there in years. Had Scott misunderstood Dave last night? Not likely. More probably, there had been some sort of confrontation this morning. Forcing himself to hide the smile at that thought, he was a little sad that he'd missed it, since Shawn in full fury was quite the sight to see, and Kevin didn't doubt that that's exactly what it had been. Dave... the big man looked awfully comfy, sprawled out over Shawn's bed... Shawn's very rumpled, very used-looking bed. His eyebrows drew back down into a slight frown as he looked consideringly at the man. He didn't think Dave was the type to take advantage of Shawn when he was as upset as he must've been last night, but... His thoughts were interrupted as Shawn kissed Hunter. He knew he was staring, but... damn. That was just... hot as hell. And... since when were those two on kissing terms? Although that at least put paid to his dark suspicions about Dave's behavior. If the big man had seduced Shawn the night before, no way in hell would Shawn practically be exuding waves of lust just from a kiss. Even a kiss like that one. Shaking himself a little, he nudged Scott with his elbow. His lover's mouth was wide open in shock, and he suspected that his own reaction hadn't been much better. Following Shawn with his eyes, he somehow wasn't surprised at the Heartbreaker's apparent intimacy with Dave. He was surprised that Hunter didn't look upset... or that Dave hadn't looked upset at that kiss. Wait a minute... "...but as you can see... I'm fine." His eyes narrowed a little. That hadn't been in the least bit subtle, even for Shawn, and if he was implying what Kevin thought he was... Before his suspicions could congeal, Hunter was talking. "Maybe Ric is plotting something and you've all just wrecked the secret?" Looking more closely at Hunt, Kevin snorted. Or maybe you're just too hung over to think clearly, huh, Hunt? The signs were absolutely unmistakable to him, regardless of the fact that Hunt "didn't drink". Kev knew better than that, even if most people didn't. The drunken phone call he'd gotten in the middle of the night after Shawn's infamous kiss in the middle of the ring had been pretty enlightening, although he'd made the mistake of passing most of Hunt's babble that night off as nothing more than drunken exaggerations. Apparently he'd been as wrong about that as he possibly could have been. Watching Hunt pull away from them, start to try to practically run out of the room... that hurt. For the first time, Kevin realised just how much he'd actually missed Hunter, how much that growing distance had hurt. And seeing that Hunt was almost afraid of them... that just twisted the knife. "I've still got a twinge in my back from that last bump that I took." What? Yeah, the chair shots last night, but Dave hadn't been having any problems then... oh. Kev's eyes followed Hunter as he stopped, looking almost trapped for a moment, then turned toward the man lying on the bed. Hmmmmm. If Dave was trying to keep Hunt from leaving... He looked at Scott, wondering if his lover was reading the same signs he was. It wouldn't be the first time something like this had happened, but with these three... "Ric thought we might appreciate a chance to visit with each other, is what he told us," Kevin offered, trying to keep his voice from revealing any of his thoughts. If the three of them were on their way to starting something, it would be up to them to tell the rest of them. As much as Kev would've loved to make some crass remark and embarrass all of them, he knew better. What he was seeing, whatever it was, was obviously still brand new and fragile, and he wasn't about to be the one responsible for breaking it. In fact... on that note, maybe he should offer them a graceful way out. He knew that Scott wanted him to talk to Hunter, but... not now. Making his decision, he put an arm around Scott's waist again and started backing for the door. "We've already eaten, so why don't we just meet you at the airport? I'm sure you three could use some more time together, anyway." Oops. So much for his attempt at subtlety. Maybe they wouldn't notice... and maybe pigs would fly. He was definitely going to hear about that one from Scott. **** "Miss me?" Chris didn't really give him a chance to answer that question before Adam found himself with two armfuls of attentive blond. Laying his hands along Chris' neck, Adam immersed himself in the wonder that was Chris. Soft supple lips, a dangerously talented tongue, and his sweet taste... all together formed the joy of Chris' mouth. As if that weren't enough incentive to linger at this particular activity, there was the beautiful blue depths of Chris' eyes, his silky golden hair, the light rasp of stubble along his jaw... Adam cut himself off at that point. If he kept going this way they'd never end up leaving the room, let alone the hotel in time to make it to Uniondale for the show. Breaking the kiss with a blissful sigh, Adam smiled at the man in his arms. "Did I miss you? Nope. I saw all of you, the same as Shelton did," he said with a wink. "You know... it's really too bad of you to tease the poor guy with something he can't have. So I'm going to give you the rest of the day to think about what a bad boy you've been and then when we get back to the hotel tonight... I'll let you decide what your punishment should be." Grinning wickedly at his lover, Adam pressed a quick kiss to his lips, then pulled away to pick up his bags. "C'mon sweetheart, let's go get some breakfast and blow this Popsicle stand. Jay and Ty joining us for eats?" As he stepped into the hall, Adam could hear raised voices from the room next door, though he couldn't make out what it was they were saying. "That doesn't sound good. I'm going to take that as a no?" he said looking over his shoulder at Chris for possible answers. **** Scott relished the return of his half-hug by Hunter. It seemed that Hunter had been pulling away from those gestures more often. Of course it was probably partially due to the things that Scott wanted them to talk about and the other part was probably due to Hunter not wanting to upset Kevin. That was the reason Scott felt this had gone on way too long already. As he took his place by Kevin again, he turned and stopped right where he was, frozen by the sight in front of him. Shawn was kissing Hunter. When the hell had that happened? Scott knew his mouth was hanging open, but he just couldn't seem to close it. Not only was that really damn hot, but completely unexpected after Dave's phone call last night. Of course finding them all in the same room had been unexpected in the first place... and Dave certainly didn't look at all upset that the kiss was taking place. The nudge from Kevin finally broke through his racing thoughts and Scott snapped his mouth shut, turning to scowl at Kevin. All three of the men looked comfortable with all the touching, kissing, etc. that was going on between the three of them. Scott was a little shocked. He'd known about Shawn and Hunter's feelings for each other. He'd been given a hint of Dave's feelings for Shawn... and Shawn's interest in Dave. How the hell had he missed this thing between Dave and Hunter? Because there was something. Dave hadn't been showing any real effects from the chair shots last night, so unless there had been some sort of confrontation this morning... what the hell was he thinking? Of course there had been something... knowing Shawn, something rather explosive. Now that he looked at Dave from that point of view... the glasses? Effect or necessity? He did look a little puffy around the nose. Scott blinked. This day was just getting weirder and weirder. He was thankful however that Dave had stopped Hunter from fleeing the room. This was getting downright ridiculous. Kevin's arm falling around his waist distracted him for just a moment. "I'm sure you three could use some more time together, anyway." Grinding to a halt, Scott elbowed Kevin in the ribs... hard enough for him to take notice, but not hard enough to actually hurt his lover. Looking up at Kev, he rolled his eyes. "Subtle as a chair-shot to the head there, babe." Pulling away from the big man, Scott approached Hunter and smiled a little sadly. Reaching up with one hand, he tucked a lock of behind Hunter's ear. "That right there Hunter... that's the reason we have to have that talk. The fact that you can't be around us for five minutes without trying to run out the door... that hurts. It hurts all of us. If we want back what we used to be, we have to go back to go forward. I know you're worried about this, but you don't have to be. We miss you, Hunter." Turning back to Kevin, Scott grabbed his hand and led him towards the door. "C'mon Kev. They need to go eat or they'll be late for the flight." Turning back to look at the three men still in the room, Scott smiled. "We'll see you guys at the airport. Don't do anything that we wouldn't do," he said with a wink as he pulled Kevin from the room. **** "I've still got a twinge in my back from that last bump that I took." Hunter faltered only for a moment before executing a smooth u-turn back towards the bed. That little ‘twinge’ was more than likely another nasty bruise on Dave’s back from having five hundred pounds of Hunter and Shawn fall on him last night. Although he was beginning to have doubts about that as the ‘wounded’ man leaned into Shawn’s palm like a cat being tickled under its chin. Yep, looked like he was in agony there. Hunter said so as he grabbed a wrist and hefted the big man to his feet none too gently. “Sure Dave, I can see you're in agony lying down like that,” he smirked playfully at Shawn while reaching up to dust and smooth out any wrinkles in Dave’s shirt. The small frisson of pleasure he felt lightly caressing the cotton-clad chest was best suited to another time entirely. As he turned back towards the door, Hunter was suddenly weighed down by half of Dave’s not inconsiderable weight through the solid arm slung across his shoulder. Reacting without thought, Hunt wrapped his own arm around Dave’s waist and adjusted his stance to compensate for his new burden. Maybe Dave was more hurt than he appeared? Tilting his head away and slightly to the side, Hunter lifted his free hand and tugged the dark glasses gently down Dave’s nose. “You okay?” he asked quietly, very aware of the other men in the room. Dave’s whispered answer was lost in Kevin’s voice as he replied to Hunter’s crack about the flight. Seeing Scott and Kevin moving to the door, Hunter felt it would be a damn good idea to wait till the airport before talking with his old friends. Kevin’s looming presence was like a magnet, both attracting and repelling Hunter in equal measure. For years Kev had been Hunter’s rock, his close and much loved friend, a man who, like Shawn, had never cared or judged Hunt’s decisions, whether professional or personal. He could remember countless credit card breaking phone calls at all hours between the two of them, mostly from Hunter he admitted to himself. If he couldn’t tell Shawn, he told Kevin… just about everything. Hunt had tried to get things to go both ways, but Kevin was such a private man, so controlled that Hunter had often reverted to simply chatting about work to try and give the man breathing room when he was going through ‘a rough patch’ with Scotty. Then somehow because of Vince, he’d broken it and Hunt couldn’t for the life of him work out how to fix things. can't be around us for five minutes without trying to run out the door...that hurts Oh. So Hunter hadn't been as subtle as he thought he'd been. Despite his reluctance maybe Scotty was right, maybe they did need to talk about the past to try and find out if they could return their friendship to its former glory. Ten years was worth at least a shot; actually it deserved plenty of shots and maybe now with Shawn and Dave as support, he could risk it. But when? Now? When he and Shawn had been stripped emotionally bare by last night and this morning’s revelations? When his head was pounding and his stomach rebelling at even the thought of food, let alone an air flight, a workout and then Smackdown? He didn’t even need to be there tonight for heaven’s sake! He was doing a promo about Shawn and that was about it, but Vince liked all his Raw talent at Smackdown tapings for meetings, lectures and any pre-recordings that they needed to do. On the plane, Hunter promised himself, when he’d snuck a coffee past Dave and no-one had to rush off suddenly, Scotty could have his ‘talk’. He didn’t mind if Dave heard what had happened, didn’t mind if Shawn did either. They’d both seen him at his worst this very morning and guess fucking what? They were still here, still wanting him despite what he’d done. It was only an internal metaphor, but Hunter acknowledged it none the less. He shouldered as much as he could of Dave’s bulk and really smiled at Scott and Kevin for the first time in ages. “Thanks Kev, we might use that time wisely. But then…” He winked at Dave, his face so close to Hunt’s own, “… we might not. We’ll see you at the airport anyway. It’s only fifteen minutes by car; we can’t get up to too much trouble in that time." **** Happily following Adam out of the room, Chris speculated on his possible punishment later that night. So Adam had been aware of his little envelope pushing? Good. CJ didn't like to think he could walk all over Adam and get away with it blind. He'd had that kind of power over someone before and Chris had found he loathed it. Being punished in a hilarious, loving way was going to be so much fun. Adam could very well be the best thing that ever happened to him, a partner, a lover, a friend and an equal all rolled into one. Could he really be that lucky? That doesn't sound good. I'm going to take that as a no? Chris winced and nodded at the look Adam threw over his shoulder. "I don't think my interruption had anything to do with that." CJ pointed a finger at the room in question before stealing one of his bags from Adam and tapping the 'down' button on the elevator. Leaning against the opposite wall, he eyed his lover speculatively over their gear. "Dibs on Bunnykins, if it all goes pear-shaped." Leaving their gear at the porter's station, Chris opened the restaurant door gallantly for Adam and offered him a plate while they stood at the buffet table. He'd have to decide if he wanted a banana or not... there was teasing and there was teasing. **** "Dibs on Bunnykins, if it all goes pear-shaped." Adam raised a brow as he looked at Chris. He knew that Chris hadn't meant that how it sounded. Shuddering at the god-awful nickname that Chris seemed to have settled on for Ty, he smirked. Of course he'd end up having to deal with Jay if things got bad. He sincerely hoped that wouldn't be the case. Things were going pretty well with Chris at the moment and the last thing he wanted was to be squirreled away with Jay trying to rescue Jay and Ty's relationship. Okay, so he felt kind of bad thinking that way, but if he a dollar for every time that he'd been pulled in to referee during one of Jay's relationships over some nit-picky little thing that had upset Jay he could probably buy the whole fed. This unfortunately sounded a little more serious. He sincerely hoped not. Tearing himself away from his depressing train of thought, Adam smiled at Chris when he opened the door for him. Would this be considered their second date? Or was it technically their first? That hadn't actually been on a date last night after all... Deciding that it didn't really matter, he filled his plate from the buffet. For some reason he was ravenous. Well... duh. Hot, rowdy sex would do that to ya. If last night and this morning were any indication, he needed to keep up his strength as well. As they sat down at a table to eat, Adam couldn't help but keep looking at Chris. Saying that this was one of the last places he'd expected to be this morning when he'd gone to the arena yesterday was a huge understatement. He found that he was completely happy for the first time in a long, long time. That almost made him wonder how long it was going to last... not that he was normally pessimistic, but good luck had been in short supply for the last couple of years. Taking a bite of the spice cake that he'd picked up from the buffet, Adam swallowed the delicious cake, then slowly licked his lips, cleaning them of the white frosting. Looking at Chris with a wicked twinkle in his eye, he smiled and lowered his voice so only Chris would hear him. "You know, this cake kind of reminds me of you... sweet on the outside, spicy on the inside." Taking another bite, he savored the taste in his mouth before once again licking his lips. "You want a taste?" he asked, his voice low and seductive. He knew he shouldn't be teasing Chris, but it seemed to work for them... this playful new relationship that they had. After pausing just long enough to give Chris time to wonder exactly how he was supposed to get that taste, Adam lifted a forkful of the cake to his lips. **** Shawn's smile faded as he watched Hunter turn away and try to hide from them. He knew that it wasn't aimed at himself or at Dave, but it still hurt to watch his best friend distance himself from the other two in the room. Before he could try to do anything about it---like smack Scott, maybe, for bringing up whatever the hell he'd said at such a bad time---Dave was speaking. "I've still got a twinge in my back from that last bump that I took." What? But Dave had been fine last night... although he never had answered Shawn's question about the chair shots, come to think of it. Frowning, he was about to ask Dave if he needed anything when the man laid his face against Shawn's hand in an unmistakable gesture. Blinking, he could see the hint of a smile on Dave's lips. Glancing across the room at Hunter, watching him pause while looking almost agonised for an instant of indecision, the light dawned. Shifting, he trailed his fingertips across Dave's cheek, smiling down at him. At least one of them was thinking on his feet. If Hunt had made it out the door, Shawn was afraid that they wouldn't have seen him again. Whatever was up between Hunter and Kevin was obviously affecting Hunt much more than he'd realised. Whatever it was, Shawn wasn't about to let Scotty corner Hunt at such a vulnerable moment, let alone corner him by himself. What affected Hunter affected him, even if he was just now realising how much. "Sure Dave, I can see you're in agony lying down like that." Well, that smirk was a good sign anyway. He leaned back a little and smiled lazily up at Hunter, not missing the man's reaction to touching Dave. Watching them together was going to keep him smiling, he suspected. It was such an attractive sight, the two of them with arms around each other. God, what he wouldn't do to be able to lock the door and throw them down on the bed... no. No. He wasn't going to go there. This was definitely not the time. "I'm sure you three could use some more time together, anyway." He couldn't help but grin. Kev was trying so hard to be tactful, the expression on his face telling Shawn that his little "hint" had indeed gotten through to the other two. Of course, it being Kevin, his idea of "tactful" was... well... not. But the other two were making "leaving" motions, which suited him perfectly at the moment. He very much wanted to find out what exactly was up between Hunter and Kevin, and although he suspected that he'd have to drag it out of the two of them, right now he just wanted to make sure that the three of them were still okay. The proposal he'd put forth was incredibly fragile right now, and probably would be for the immediate future; he wasn't about to sit back and watch it crack for any reason. "If we want back what we used to be, we have to go back to go forward." Well, that settled that. Scott wanted to deal with whatever the problem was, which Shawn was all for, but he wasn't so sure that he was going to agree with whatever Scott had planned. He'd disagreed with the Bad Guy before, but this time was going to be a little different... this time he wanted to protect the man he loved from being hurt even more. Their friends certainly weren't planning on hurting anyone, but their timing was going to make it inevitable if they pushed too hard right now. And this time... Shawn's breath caught at the realisation. This time, he had something to protect. Something he'd always wanted. Something like what was between Kevin and Scott. "Don't do anything that we wouldn't do." Shawn nearly missed Scott's words as the two left, laughing as hard as he was. Talk about an open invitation for trouble... At least he knew that the Outsiders were going to support the decision they'd so tentatively made. He shouldn't have been surprised, but then, he hadn't really even thought about anyone else since this morning, so their appearance had been unexpected. Shrugging off his worries for the moment, he rose from the bed and walked across the room, stopping in front of his two... friends? lovers-to-be? partners? No matter. Looking consideringly at them for a moment, enjoying the sight, he smiled a little. Shaking his head at Dave, he said, "That was a good save, but it worried me for a minute. Just what exactly did we do to you this morning, anyway?" Reaching out before the big man could move away, he snatched the sunglasses away from Dave's face, trying to be as gentle as possible but probably failing, from the wince he received. He sucked in a breath as he gently traced the air over the bruised eyes, feeling incredibly guilty. Both were bruised, although one worse than the other, and Dave's nose was a little swollen. "Dave... god. It's not broken, at least. But... I'm so sorry. If I just hadn't lost my temper..." He'd been so caught up in worrying about Hunter that he hadn't even noticed Dave was hurt. What did that say? How were they supposed to make this work if he couldn't even notice the obvious? Caught up in his rapidly darkening thoughts, the arm wrapping around his waist was a surprise. He tensed at the initial touch but relaxed almost immediately, letting Dave pull him close. Leaning his head against Dave's chest, letting himself accept the comfort, he could feel some of his tension draining away. He was so used to relying only on himself, knowing that he couldn't afford to let anyone get close to him, that being able to turn to Hunter and Dave was going to take some getting used to now. Somehow, Shawn suspected that the two of them weren't going to give him a choice about that... and he wasn't about to complain. **** Ouch. Dammit, that hurt. Rubbing his side, Kevin narrowed his eyes at his lover at Scott pulled away to talk to Hunter again. It hadn't been that bad of a slip-up, had it? He'd meant well... The grin on Shawn's face was a pretty big clue that everyone had indeed caught it. Although he could at least take comfort in knowing from that selfsame grin that he'd been right about what was going on. Dying as he was now to know what the hell had happened after that phone call, he was increasingly aware of the tension in the room and wanted to get the two of them out of there ASAP. "We miss you, Hunter." God, did he. He found himself nodding at those words, feeling the hole inside where Hunt had always been before. He missed the man, missed those damned middle-of-the-night phone calls, missed the babbling when Hunter knew that Kev was upset over something but just couldn't bring himself to spit it out... God. He really was overly controlled, wasn't he? When one of his best friends, his only real confidante besides Scott, had silently but so obviously offered again and again to help him through the rough spots and he hadn't been able to reach out to let him do that... Scott's hand slipping back into his brought him out of his thoughts. Shaking himself a little, he resolved to make things right with Hunter no matter what... and to allow himself to accept that helping hand when he had to. Knowing what it was like to be distant from the man now, he wasn't about to push him away again. "...we can’t get up to too much trouble in that time." Kevin forbore to respond, although he snorted as he closed the door behind them, Shawn's laughter following them out into the hall. Those two could get up to trouble faster than anyone else he'd ever known, including Kid---and that was saying something. "Well... that was interesting," he said dryly as he followed Scott down the hall, not releasing his hand. Maybe they'd worried too much... or maybe not. The brief glimpse of Dave's face he'd had had shown some impressive bruising, which meant that something had gone down that morning. At least the apparent trauma of the night before had resulted in something that looked like it would make all three of them happy. Hopefully. He laughed a little to himself. He was definitely going to have to get to know Dave better now... couldn't be a stranger to your own family, after all. **** The fingertips trailing over his cheek reassured him that Shawn wasn't about to freak out over his 'supposed' injuries. Good. Now Hunter... "Sure Dave, I can see you're in agony lying down like that." Dave smiled at the sharp tug from Hunter pulling him to his feet. Looked like he hadn't fooled Hunter either. That was okay though, because Hunter wasn't going anywhere. The hands on his chest almost distracted him long enough for Hunter to get away, but not quite. Tossing an arm around Hunter's shoulders kept him from getting too far. Hunter's arm wrapping around him in turn was a revelation. It was comfortable, but at the same time not. It definitely headed his brain in directions that it shouldn't be headed at the moment. When Hunter tilted his head and looked at him, pulling his glasses down his nose, he almost winced. Ow. Silent that time, Dave. Very good. Maybe he'd overplayed his hand just a bit because Hunter was looking worried again. "You okay?" He was pretty sure Hunter missed his return whisper of "Just fine" due to Kevin chiming in to answer Hunter's earlier question. "I'm sure you three could use some more time together, anyway." Dave had figured that Scott and Kevin had at least a hint of what was going on with them, but he hadn't expected them to acknowledge it... not yet anyway. Looking to the other two to take his own cue of how to react seemed like a good thing. Shawn was grinning like crazy, so he must consider their knowing a good thing. He couldn't quite tell for sure what Hunter was thinking though. Then it became a non-issue when Scott approached Hunter. He hid a smile over the way Scott tucked Hunter's hair behind his ear. The whole group were so openly affectionate with each other... it was something that Dave would have to get used to, or at least remember that he wasn't supposed to growl when one of the others touched Shawn or Hunter so casually. He almost growled at Scott anyway. Obviously there was something in the past that had opened a chasm between Hunter and Kevin... Scott was obviously somehow involved. Was right now the time to bring it up? Dave couldn't really say without knowing the circumstances, but he wasn’t about to ask. If Hunter wanted him to know, then he'd tell him. He pulled Hunter a little closer in a bid to offer at least a little support, inadvertently shifting more weight onto his shoulder, but he wasn't going to let him go. Noticing that Hunter actually smiled at Kevin and Scott, he felt a little better about the whole situation. Maybe he was worrying too much? "Don't do anything that we wouldn't do." Somehow Dave figured there wasn't a whole lot included in that list. Shawn's laughter pretty much confirmed it. Hunter's wink helped broaden his smile. He could think of an awful lot of trouble that they could get up to in fifteen minutes if given the chance. Although they weren't really ready for anything heavy duty he suspected. They still had a lot to talk about. Even though Scott and Kevin were gone, he left his arm around Hunter's shoulder most likely just because he could. He was still trying to wrap his mind around that. He could actually touch now if he wanted to... and how long had he wanted to? Seemed like forever. Dave watched as Shawn got off the bed and approached the two of them. Shawn looked happy, at least for the moment, about how things had turned out with Scott and Kevin's unexpected visit. It sounded like the plane trip was going to be full of all kinds of interesting adventures. Of course with Ric on board that had already pretty much been guaranteed. "That was a good save, but it worried me for a minute. Just what exactly did we do to you this morning, anyway?" Whoops. He hadn't wanted to worry Shawn at all. Dave also hadn't wanted Shawn to get a good look at his face just yet either. He hadn't had a chance to look again himself and he knew more than likely that the marks had darkened now. Hopefully it wasn't too bad. As Shawn pulled his glasses off, he could help but wince a little. First Hunter and now Shawn, he should have just taken them off himself. He almost laughed but the look on Shawn's face forestalled the impulse. "Dave... god. It's not broken, at least. But... I'm so sorry. If I just hadn't lost my temper..." No, no, no. That just wasn't going to happen. Shawn was not going to take the blame for something that had purely been an accident. Dave quickly wrapped his free arm around Shawn and pulled him close. He wanted to run a hand through Shawn's hair, comfort him, but he didn't want to let Hunter go either... so he compromised and pulled Hunter closer to Shawn, hoping that Hunter would take the hint. "Shawn, it wasn't your fault, sweetheart. It was a freak accident. You can't blame yourself because Hunter's head is as hard as a rock," he said, winking at Hunter over the top of Shawn's head to show he was only joking. "This could just as easily have happened in the ring. I'll visit makeup before the show. Not a big deal. It doesn't even hurt now." Obviously he wasn't good at fibbing, even if it was for a good cause, at least judging by the way that Shawn was looking at him now. "Okay, so maybe it hurts a little tiny bit, but I know what would make it feel a lot better," Dave said with a grin even as he was leaning closer to Shawn. Pressing his lips against Shawn's, he spent a moment or two trying to convince Shawn that he really was okay. Well that and he got caught up in the softness of Shawn's lips and his sweet taste. The fact that Hunter was right there beside them just made it seem even better. Finally lifting his head, he turned his eyes to Hunter, a sparkle of amusement visible in the depths of his own. "So... you going to kiss it better too, oh hard-headed one?" **** "Well... that was interesting." Scott turned and looked at Kevin like he'd grown another head. "Interesting? Sometimes I worry about you, Kev," he said with a smirk, tightening his grip on Kevin's hand briefly. "The last twenty-four hours have been just plain bizarre. So last night...Dave sleeps in Shawn's bed... he obviously didn't 'wake him up' last night, not with the way Shawn was humming with all that repressed sexual tension. Hunter really tied one on. This morning Shawn and Dave go to see Hunter and they obviously had a fight of some kind by the look of poor Dave's face. I wonder which one of them popped him?" Scott mused as he leaned against the wall by the elevator. Walking into the open doors, his hand still tightly twined with Kevin's, Scott smiled up at his lover upon finding that they were all alone in the tiny space. "Somewhere along the way, Hunter caved in and stopped being such an ass... most likely because he has one bitch of a headache and just couldn't stand Shawn's screaming anymore. I cannot believe I missed that thing with Dave and Hunter. I'm betting that it was Shawn's idea for the three of them to try to be together... he's the one with experience in that arena. I really hope they can make it work. Wow." Leaning into Kevin's side, Scott smiled affectionately up at him. "Now that I'm done babbling worse than Kid, how are you doing? Figures that we'll have the limo all to ourselves today and not be in any kind of condition to enjoy it. Of course that would give us a chance to put more cream on your... sore spots, unless you'd rather wait until we get to the airport?" He knew he was being downright incorrigible, but Kevin just brought it out in him. That and the fact that he was really happy that his little boo-boo from last night hadn't had worse repercussions. It seemed that the three men had come to an agreement of some sort, at least they had if Scott were reading things right. He wasn't even going to let himself speculate on how hot the three of them looked together, although if it came to fruition he probably would at some point. That's just the way he was... appreciative of the beautiful things in life. Right now he was going to concentrate on the beautiful one standing beside him. He was excited about seeing how Kevin reacted to the little surprise he planned for him later and he was also a little worried about the talk that they were going to have with Hunter. He wouldn't dwell on that for the moment though. Best to wait until the situation was at hand and then figure out the best way to approach that topic. Hopefully they could get past all the hurt and anger and get back the close friendship they'd had with Hunter. Scott had been honest... they both missed him. He had a feeling that Kevin missed Hunter most of all. They had been so close before that it had to have left a gap in Kevin's life. Scott was going to help him fix that because it was something Kevin needed and Scott would always try his best to give Kevin whatever it was he might need. **** to be continued... |