Title: Telling Him
Summary: Hunter and Shawn are driving to the next town at night when they take a wrong turn and get stranded. While they're stuck together, Shawn has something to tell Hunter.
Notes: This story is loosely based around acma's idea of having Shawn tell Hunter he wants to retire and asking him if he'll have the last match with him. I also keep having this want to put a very tired and sleepy Shawn in a story and also had an idea about them getting stranded in a car, just like a classic horror film. I kinda combined them all and the ending's maybe not to everyone's taste.
"This was a stupid idea."
"Of course it was, it was your idea."
"Hey." Was the meek protest from the driver as he gently hit the passenger next to him.
He glanced across to the seat to see the still form of his best friend, tiredly resting in the seat beside him. Shawn had wanted to stay at the hotel that night, but Hunter had thought it would be better to drive to the next town the same night. Now he might be regretting it. His eyes felt gritty and he rubbed then trying to feel refreshed again, but with no effect.
"So, are we nearly there yet?" Shawn asked, shuffling up in his seat to look out into the dark road.
"Nope."
"Do you know where we are?"
"We're on a road heading East." Hunter replied.
"Aren't we supposed to be heading South?"
"Yep."
"Hunter, you said it would be quicker going tonight."
"Well... if I'd gone the right way it would have been fine. And there's no traffic. Anyway, what are you complaining for, I thought you were going to sleep?"
"Yeah, well as comfortable and bed-like as these seats are, I'd rather be lying flat on my back."
"Oh that can be arranged." Hunter said. He let out a large frustrated sigh and pulled over the side of the road. "We're so lost."
They locked eyes for a few seconds before Shawn spoke. "We gonna camp out?"
"Will you just drive for a bit, please?" Hunter asked, fed up now. "We'll have to stay at a hotel for the night."
"Fine." Shawn said. He got out of the car and moved round, Hunter did the same.
"Hey, did you bring that spare bottle of water?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah, it's in the boot." Shawn said. Without another word, Hunter held out his hand and Shawn handed him the key. He quickly went round to the boot and rummaged about until he found the bottle of water. When he came back, he gave the key to Shawn.
When he put it into the ignition but as he turned it, the engine made a slight attempt at starting before cutting out. The pair shared a silent look, before Shawn tried again. The same thing happened again except it cut out a lot quicker.
"Oh, come on!" Hunter said, frustrated.
Without a word, Shawn pulled out his mobile and got out of the car. Hunter sat watching from inside as Shawn paced about making a phone call. He heard snippets of what he was saying as he attempted to get someone to come out and mend the car. Hunter noticed the gentle sound of rain starting to hit the roof of the car. Another thing they didn't need.
By the time Shawn had finished and got back into the car, the rain was pounding down heavily. "Someone should be with us in about 30-45 minutes."
"I'm sorry, this was a stupid idea." Hunter said.
"Don't worry about it." Shawn said. He adjusted the seat so he had more leg space and it was reclined a little more. He figured he might as well be comfortable.
"It's kinda creepy out there. Middle of the night, pitch black, raining, surrounded by woods. It's like a horror movie."
"I'm glad you said that now, I'd never have gone out there otherwise." Shawn said, reaching across and locking the door.
Hunter smirked at him.
"So, if this was a horror film, when would we get killed?"
"Well, we wouldn't." Hunter said. He turned to face Shawn a little more, adjusting his seat so he was level with his friend. "What would happen is when the guy gets here to fix the car, he'd get taken out by someone or something and then we'd have to steal his van to escape."
"Poor guy." Shawn sympathised.
"It's okay, he's just an extra."
Shawn tried to stifle a yawn. They were both tired, had a fairly long day and now were stuck out here in the middle of nowhere. Shawn looked at the time, almost 1am.
Looking at the watch reminded him of a conversation he'd been trying to avoid, but now, stuck together in a car with nothing else to do, he figured he might as well go for it.
"Hey, I've been thinking about something."
"Yeah? What's that?" Hunter asked.
"Well you know that..." Shawn hesitated. All the times the conversation had played out in his head he'd still never found the right words.
"Shawn." Hunter prompted.
"Sorry, um... I was talking with Vince about my contract. Coming up to the last year and I said I don't want to renew it."
"Oh." Was all Hunter said.
"I just know that when I'm done that I just wanna take a bit of time away from the business and just be with Rebecca and the kids and not be thinking that I should go back to work because I'm not being paid to stay at home."
"I understand that." Hunter said.
"Well, I told Vince that as well, and he was fine with it eventually. He wanted to try and get me to sign a contract but I guess he knew I was serious. We started to talk about what we wanted to do in the last year. I don't really have any big exciting ideas if I'm honest but I know one thing I want. Would you have my last match with me?"
"Me?"
"Is there anyone else in the car?"
"Why me? I can't give you a great send off."
"Oh, shut up, of course you can."
"No I mean, I can't give you a match like you deserve, Shawn. I love ya man, but I can't do for you what you do for everyone else."
"We've had some amazing matches, some of my favourites. I don't even care if we don't have a classic and it's just good, I want me last match to be with someone I trust and I like being in the ring with and who'll work harder than anyone else to give me a great match. You check every box, man."
"I don't know."
"Well, you don't have to answer right now, it's just something to think about."
"Okay." Hunter said.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"In this horror film, what happens once we steal the van and get away?"
"Oh, well, we get to a motel and go for help, but there's no one there, and the phones don't work, so we head back to the van and it doesn't work..."
"You know what's creepier?"
"What?"
"How about if it's like been tampered with. Like we closed the doors and now they're open. Or, well, I can't think of anything else scary."
"That's pretty good. Okay, so in that case, we have to hide in this motel and at some point some other people will turn up because other people need to get killed."
"We both live through this, right?"
"We're the heroes, course we do."
"We're not sounding very heroic." Shawn frowned.
"Well we're modern heroes. Everyone else will get killed and then we'll kill the monster guy at the end."
"And end up in a psychiatric ward after what we saw."
"You're ruining the film."
"Sorry. It was sounding great before I chipped in, huh?"
"Well I liked it." Hunter responded.
"No accounting for taste I guess."
"Why do I like you again?"
Shawn grinned "You love the hassle. That's why you started dating Steph, you wanted to get people bitching about you after I was gone and everyone started on about how you were okay if Shawn wasn't there."
Hunter smiled back. After a pause he spoke. "I'll do it."
"What?"
"The match. One more time. Me and you."
Shawn smiled. "Thanks."
"No, thank you." He said sincerely. "I'm not buying you a Rolex though."
As they waited for the van to turn up, they passed the time by talking about some of the great moments they had together when they wrestled one another before. They knew that the last time would be just as special.
He watched the stranded car and the two men sat inside as a van pulled up, here to fix the problem and rescue the men. As the mechanic got out and moved over to the men in the car, he started to creep forward, getting closer and closer, staying out of sight. They didn't even know he was here, had no idea. He moved down so he was closer, so close now. He moved until he was behind the van, out of sight. He heard the approaching footsteps of the mechanic as he came to get the tools needed. The mechanic stepped round the corner, his head down due to the heavy rain when suddenly...
The End