Story Title: Could It
Story Type: Slash, AU
Characters: Roderick Strong, Evan Bourne, mentions of Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley
Pairings: Roddy/Evvy, MMG
Rating: PG-13/NC-17
Series: Neko: Just Them, Don't Touch, I Agree, You, 5 and 1-Neko, For You, Never Again, Jump Start, Next Part 1 & 2
Disclaimer: I can't explain how much it pains me, but they don't belong to me. At all. They're still the property of their various promotions: TNA/ROH/WWE and, of course, themselves.
Warnings: Slash, language
A/N: Well, another neko story. This one is mostly about Roddy and Evvy, peeps, so I hope you guys love them as much as I do. I keep getting visions of my other muses as nekos and it's getting very hard to ignore them. So, who knows? Maybe there will be more nekos in this 'verse. Enjoy, guys..
Rod opened the hotel room door, ushering Evan inside. He looked around the room, wincing a little at the mess he had left. But after a second he mentally shrugged it off; he was naturally a slob, and the sooner Evan knew it, the better, he guessed.
"It's not much," he told the neko, watching the way his eyes darted to the only bed in the room before looking over the rest of it. "I don't make the big bucks, but we won't starve or anything."
"I used to watch wrestling," Evan said, smiling a little. "When I was a kit, I watched it on the weekends."
"Ah, WWF, right?" Roddy smiled when Evan nodded. "Well, indy wrestling's not quite the same, but it's still a good time; you'll see what I mean. I've got a show tomorrow, at PWG, so it's safe for you to come with me."
"Safe?" Evan repeated, sounding nervous for the first time. "What do you mean?"
"PWG's good about watching what goes on backstage and they don't think of nekos as just dumb animals or pets -sorry," Roddy apologized when he saw the look on Evan's face, rubbing the neko's back before he went on.
"Some promotions don't care, they wouldn't say or do anything if something happened to you while I was in the ring. I don't usually wrestle in places that bad, anyways, so it's not that big of a deal. Once you get used to all the traveling and living out of a suitcase, I think you'll dig it.
"You've already made friends, too, so, it should be alright." Roddy realized he was babbling and shut his mouth, wincing a little at what a moron he sounded like.
He saw Evan glance at the bed for the third time in ten minutes and he remembered the conversation he had with Chris earlier.
"You're doing good," Chris told him, smiling at the suspicious look Roddy gave him. "Seriously, you are. You're being yourself, which, trust me, is a lot rarer then you'd think."
"Really?" Rod asked, glancing over to where Evan was sitting with Alex. "It doesn't feel like I am; I just keep thinking that I should talk more or be funnier or something."
"Trust me, just being yourself is enough," Chris said. He looked over at the nekos, smiling slightly when he saw Alex touch his fingers to his collar. "I did want to tell you something, though," Chris went on, hesitating for a minute before continuing.
"This is just my opinion, so feel free to tell me to fuck off, but you might want to wait a little while before you guys share a bed," Chris held up a hand when Roddy opened his mouth, indicating he should wait a minute before he said anything.
"Evan might not be in as rough shape as 'Lex was when I found him," there was a growl to his voice that Chris couldn't help; even all these years later just the thought of Jacobs was enough to send him into a rage if he wasn't careful. "And I sure as hell hope he didn't have it as rough as 'Lex used to, but I'm sure he was used for sex, and more then once.
"I don't know how Evan is or what kind of person he is, but if you want him to trust you, I think you could start by letting him decide when to come to you. You're a good person, Roddy, and the rest will take care of itself, but you need to start some where, and that's what I did with 'Lex."
As Roddy watched Evan look around the room again, he knew he would follow Chris's advice. He didn't know what would happen, but he did want Evan to trust him the way Alex trusted Chris.
"Will Alex and Chris be there tomorrow?" Evan asked, licking his lips nervously.
"Yup, Chris is the PWG champ, so he's usually at every show," Rod answered cheerfully, grabbing a pillow off of the bed and dumping it onto the couch that was in the corner of the room. "And wherever Chris is, Alex is right behind him. He's been playing valet lately, so I don't think he'll be in the locker room during Chris's match, but he'll be around for the rest of the night."
Evan nodded, eying Roddy curiously as he cleaned off the couch, tossing the clothes on it onto a pile on the floor. He looked down at the only clothes he had, the t-shirt and jeans he had from the store.
"We're going to have to get you some new clothes," Roddy told him, pulling off his shirt and jeans and putting on a pair of worn sweatpants. "I don't have anything that would even come close to fitting you, but I'll call Chris later and see if Alex has anything you could borrow for a couple days.
"We'll be heading back to Tampa on Friday, and I'd rather wait until we get there to go clothes shopping. Lugging all those bags home is not my idea of fun."
They spent the rest of the afternoon talking and hanging out. Evan was surprised that Roddy hadn't tried making a move on him, but he just assumed he was going to wait until they went to bed. The thought didn't upset Evan or even cause a hitch to his breathing; Roddy was his owner and he had paid for him, he could do whatever he wanted to Evan.
He found himself relaxing in the other man's company, laughing over Roddy's numerous stories from being on the road and backstage at different promotions.
Before he knew it, it was after eleven and Roddy started yawning, standing up from where he had been lounging on the end of the bed and stretching.
"Fuck, I didn't realize it was that late," Rod commented after glancing at the clock on the nightstand. "I'll call Chris in the morning. Will you be alright like that for tonight?"
"Yeah," Evan said, his throat suddenly dry. "Yeah, I'll be fine."
Roddy nodded, hesitating before petting the edges of Evan's ears. "OK, well, good night then."
He rubbed Evan's ears one last time before turning the overhead light off and arranging himself on the couch.
"Roddy?" Evan asked, his voice husky. "Don't you want to -"
"I do," Roddy answered, his hands folded under his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "But, more then that, I want you to want me. And that's worth waiting for, trust me."
By the stunned silence coming from the bed, Roddy knew Chris was right and that he had made the right choice.
He wondered how long it would be before Evan wanted the same thing he did; Evan was wondering almost the same exact thing.