Disclaimer: If I owned them, I wouldn't have to write this crap.
There was no way that Evan could be more excited. He was going to wrestle on Raw tonight with his idol, Rey Mysterio for the third time! In all honesty though, being on Raw was pretty intimidating. He was currently in the locker room that a number of superstars were sharing, none of which he knew very well, but were basically the big name guys in the business. The Legacy stood talking in a corner, joking amongst themselves. MVP was changing into his ring gear and Batista was stretching nearby.
Evan was at least glad that Jay had come over to RAW from ECW for the night also, so that he had someone he really knew around. But currently Jay was down that hall because in addition to a match he was also cutting a promo and wanted to make sure he had it down before going on live.
So there he sat in a tank top and basketball shorts. There was actually quite a bit of time before the beginning of the show and he wanted to warm up before changing into his ring gear. He didn't want to accidently ruin it. Hey, he was on Monday Night RAW, he wanted to look good.
And he was feeling good, until he went to pull on his right sneaker and . . .
SQUISH.
Evan yelped at the sensation, drawing the attention of everyone in the locker room. He didn't really notice though, to busy standing and trying to yank the oddly sticky sneaker off of his foot.
"You okay over there, kid?" Randy's deep voice cuts through the room, only garnering a glance from the ECW wrestler.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Evan blushed, not wanting to look stupid, "There's just something in my – FUCK!"
Cody practically jumped onto Ted to get out of the way of the sneaker that came flying towards his head. It landed by his feet and Randy could clearly see that there was something in it that shouldn't be. Leaning down towards it he saw . . . peanut butter?
The Legend Killer chuckled a bit, quickly realizing that The Miz had been getting bored with his usual prank victims and had relished the opportunity to get someone new. Randy looked up towards Evan, ready to see a funny expression on the young man's face, but instead was met with a worrying sight.
Evan had been reaching for his backpack hanging in the stall, when his legs gave out, sending him slumping to the floor. Randy moved over to him as soon as he saw this and so did Dave, who had seen what was going on out of the corner of his eye.
Dave easily rolls Evan over and props him up against the bench. The two older men ignore the peanut butter on his foot and ankle, which should be funny, instead keeping their eyes on the distressed young man. The highflier's face is flushed red and he is taking short, staggered breaths while little red dots are popping up on his neck and chest.
"What's wrong?!" Randy bellows, barely noticing as Montel runs from the room, trying to find some help.
". . . peanuts . . . epi-" Evan chokes on his words, sending a tremor through his body. The other four men in the room can only watch helplessly as his head lolls back and forth and each breath becomes seemingly harder than the last.
It's at that moment that Jay enters the room with Matt Hardy beside him. Until now they had been unaware of what was happening in the locker room, and the other wrestlers barely spare them a glance until Jay rushes towards them, seeing Evan struggling.
Dave attempts to explain what has happened and as soon as the peanut butter is mentioned, the ECW Champion's eyes light up with understanding. He grabs for Evan's backpack, practically leaping over the men kneeling on the floor in front of him. Rifling through the front pocket he comes up with a small tube.
Jay pops it open and withdraws an epi-pen, twisting the back end off as fast as he can to get it ready to use.
And then it makes sense. Evan is allergic to peanuts. Deathly allergic.
"MOVE!" he shouts and Randy and Dave scramble out of the way to make room by Evan's side. Jay drops to the floor, leaning over the dark-haired man who is practically unconscious at this point. He swings his arm back and with as much force as he can, stabs the pen into Evan's cloth covered thigh.
He holds the pen in for a count of ten then pulls it away and stores it back in the tube so the now sharp end will not be exposed. Turning back to Evan, Jay presses two fingers to the injection spot, rubbing in gentle circles, encouraging the spread of epinephrine through the younger man's body.
The effects are almost immediate. Evan's breathing evens out some and the swelling of his chest and neck becomes a little less glaringly red. His brown eyes are half open and the tension in the room suddenly releases.
Then the paramedics burst into the room with Montel trailing behind them. They swiftly whisk Evan out of the room and presumably to the nearest hospital. Jay sinks down into Evan's vacated seat and rubs a hand over his face tiredly.
"How'd you know what to do?" Cody squeaks out, looking down at the sneaker lying abandoned on the floor by his feet.
Jay sighs, "When Evan first came to ECW, Teddy Long made everyone on staff learn how to use an epi-pen. Half of us even carry one on us just in case."
Randy looks down at the older man in admiration, also glad that the ECW general manager had the foresight to take such a serious precaution. After seeing Evan's reaction, he'd hate to think what could happen if no one around him had known what to do.
"So . . . peanuts?"
Jay looks up at the WWE Champion, "Yeah, it's really bad. I mean you guys saw it. All it has to do is touch his skin and . . . he could suffocate."
It's at this moment that Mike bounds into the room, expecting to see the aftermath of his brilliant prank. Instead of laughter, he is facing a room full of glares and the sneaker he had so painstakingly filled with peanut butter.
"What?" he shrugs, grinning widely, "Did I get him?"
Jay just stands and shoves past him to leave the room, mumbling something about seeing Vince and finding out where they took Evan.
"Guys?" Mike's smile falters, "What's going on?"
"The paramedics just took the ECW kid to the hospital," Dave says easily, making Mike cringe, "Severe allergic reaction. Peanuts apparently. If Jay hadn't been here the kid would be dead."
All eyes go to Mike, waiting for his reaction.
"Shit."
********************
The show went off without a hitch, thanks to some quick thinking by Vince to figure out what to do with Evan's match. The only thing someone in the crowd might have noticed was that during the main event tag team match, Randy hit The Miz especially hard, which was pretty unnecessary considering they were on the same team.
Jay couldn't concentrate at all though. He was amazed that he had made it through the show without breaking down in the middle of it. He didn't let it show, but seeing Evan like that had hurt. His heart had been close to bursting in his chest, even though the other wrestlers in the locker room may have thought he was calm and in control when he had seen Evan.
"Hey Jay!" John Cena calls from where he is talking to Randy after the show, "We're gonna hit the hotel bar. You down?"
Jay shrugs his jacket on before answering, "No thanks man. I'm going to go see Evan. He's probably having a conniption because he missed the show."
John nods, grinning, and Randy cuts in, "Tell flyboy we're thinking about him, okay?"
"Of course," Jay returns the smiles and after grabbing his bag he heads outside for his rental.
He doesn't want to start thinking too much. The hospital he was told is not far, but he doesn't want to get lost driving there. So all he has to do it not think about how scared he was, or how helpless Evan had looked.
Jay makes it to the hospital without incident and a nurse helpfully guides him to Evan's room (Oh that cute one with the allergy? He's right this way.) He enters the room and makes sure that the door is fully closed behind him so that they are away from the prying eyes of the nurses and doctors. Evan is sitting up in the bed, spooning green jello out of a small cup.
His eyes light up when he sees that Jay is the one who has just entered his room, "Hi Jay! Want some jello?"
The blond sits down in the chair next to bed and look questioningly at the spoon that is being held out to him with a glob of the green stuff balancing precariously. Evan has a huge smile on his face and Jay sighs, leans forward, and slurps the jello right off the spoon.
The younger man's face flushes at this and now it's Jay's turn to grin. This is new.