A/N: Inspiration struck for a story!Sorry to anyone following any of my other stories, the muses for those have gone to sleep but they might come back some time! Don't give up hope!
Anyhow, enjoy the story! There will be more chapters to come!
It was Jack's laugh that echoed through the bar that caused the massive dorky grin to creep onto Dolph's face, proud that he had been the one to cause it. He would never deny that he loved the other mans laugh. It had been a long time now since they'd been a tag team together, since they no longer worked together, but he was certainly glad that although their on-screen friendship had faltered their real life one was as strong as it had ever been. The guy would have to be his best friend.
It was part of the reason why he was so glad to be sitting in a booth with said man, and a few other friends, having a casual beer after a long night at work. It was a nice way to unwind. He basically didn't even notice the others around him, mainly just seeing Jack and focusing on him, wanting to hear more of that laugh he loved so much. "Geez, just get a room you two." He was snapped out of his almost trance by Miz's voice, and he struggled to keep the blush down from his face, a sense of satisfaction as he managed to do so. Before he could comment, Jack laughed and shook his head. "Oh...he wishes." Jack smirked at Dolph and wiggled his eyebrows at him, causing a smirk to creep onto his own face. "Really? I wish that? You wish you could be that lucky." He answered quickly with a laugh and a cocky smile. Jack blinked flirtatiously at him and sighed in dramatic defeat. "You read me so well, Dolphy-wolfy." He just laughed and kicked him from under the table, although part of him wondered if it was true, part of him wanted it to be.
Over the time they'd known each other, Dolph had managed to get quite a large crush on the taller man, although he probably wouldn't admit it. A part of him wondered if Jack felt the same, if he ever would, the guy always flirted back to him after all, he always seemed to express some sort of interest in the bleached blonde, but Dolph had always just figured he was reading too much into things, he didn't even know if the guy swung that way.
A sharp kick knocked him out of his thoughts and he gave a sheepish grin to Miz, the one who had delivered it. But he just got rolled eyes and he knew that no one was mad. He took a long swig of his beer and looked at Jack out of the corner of his eye, still wondering, Jack caught his gaze and smirked at him, a little embarrassed at being caught he blushed faintly and downed the rest of his beer, still hoping like hell there was some chance the other man felt something for him. God knew Dolph needed it.
He panted slightly, sweat dripping off his body as he walked along the corridor after his match, and he was dead tired, putting all his energy into winning the match, although of course he hadn't. He never did anymore. He lost every damn time. He sighed in frustration and entered the locker room, ignoring everyone in favour of getting dressed and changed and going back to the hotel so he could just wallow in everything he'd done wrong...again. Why the hell couldn't he do this right anymore? He growled and quickly grabbed his towel and got into the shower, turning it on and shoving his trunks off. He rested his head against the wall and just let the hot water run over him, undoing some of the tension in his shoulders. He shut his eyes and managed to zone out for a moment, but quickly a dark room flashed in front of his eyes, fear flaring in his heart and he quickly opened his eyes again, heart beating much faster than it was meant to.
He padded out into the locker room, towel wrapped firmly around his waist, he was still trying to get his heart rate under control and he sighed as he reached his stuff, closing his eyes and trying to stop the shaking in his hands. He resisted the urge to flinch as he felt a hand on his shoulder, freezing, his heart almost stopping for a moment before he relaxed, the familiar feeling of Jack's hand erasing the memory and getting him relaxed again, he cast a shaky smile at him, but was met with a slightly concerned gaze. "You alright, Dolph?" he asked, that concern prominent in his gaze. He stared at him silent for a moment. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just tired, I wanna head back to my room." He managed to speak steadily. The concern didn't drop from his eyes but he removed his hand, although he did give him a small smile. "I'll come with you; we can watch crappy tv and drink some beers." Dolph's instinct told him to say no, because he'd rather be alone to obsess, but he couldn't say no to Jack so he just nodded. "Sure." He gave him another shaky smile and Jack, seemingly pleased with this headed off to take a shower of his own.
Quickly he got dressed, shoving on his normal clothes and sitting down on a bench, waiting for the taller man to reappear and get ready. It didn't take long for him to do just that, walking out from the showers and going over to his stuff to start to get changed. The towel was just loosely hung on the man's hips, his upper body exposed and Dolph swallowed, his mouth going dry, eyes glued to him before he had to tear his gaze away, his pants starting to get a little tight. He played with his phone as he waited, to take his mind off the man. He startled slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder again. Jack looked apologetic but Dolph just laughed it off, standing up and grabbing his bag, following him out to the car park, shivering in the cold night air. Jack, seemingly noting that he was cold, huddled closer to him and he felt something in his chest tighten at the gesture, breaking into a real smile again.
Once they got to Dolph's hotel room they ditched their bags, Jack headed towards the couch and Dolph to the kitchen, grabbing a couple beers from the fridge before returning to Jack, sitting on the other edge of the couch and handing him one of the beers. He cracked his open and took a long drink from it, finding the remote to the tv and changing it to some channel. He didn't really care so he just tossed the remote to the younger man, letting himself zone out slightly and try to relax. After a moment he felt eyes on him and he turned to see Jack with a curious expression on his face. "What?" he warily asked him, and Jack gave a short shrug. "Just wondering...why were you so weird back there?" Dolph mentally winced at the question, not sure how to answer it. "Weird? How?" he asked back smoothly, showing no hesitation, not wanting to draw attention to it. "You were shaking, dude, you had this glassy look. And now you're all distant and stuff." Jack shrugged and looked back at the TV, and Dolph got the feeling he didn't really want to intrude, but he wanted to know his friend was alright. Dolph sighed and opened his mouth to speak, quickly trying to come up with some excuse. When a few minutes passed he still had nothing and he sighed again. "It was nothing, I'm alright. Just tired from my match, I guess." He sighed, knowing that it didn't sound very believable. Jack's eyes went back to him with a frown, but he didn't push it. "Okay, if you say so, but you know that I'll listen, dude, it's what buddies do right?" Dolph flashed him a smile and nodded. "Yeah, I know thanks." Silence fell over them again but it was more comfortable this time, both men just watching the tv and drinking some beer, but having the younger man there meant more than he would possibly let on.
The flashbacks kept happening, and getting worse and he found himself sleepless most nights, the shaking getting worse and the panic even more so. Every time he closed his eyes all he could see was him and all he could hear was him and it was driving him insane. The only moment of peace he got was with Jack, he felt safe with him, it calmed him, but he tried not to let on anything was wrong, he was easy with convincing people by now.
The more he hung out with Jack, especially when he wasn't in such a good way, the more he felt himself drawn to the man, the more he wanted him, and it was the first time he had seriously considered wanting a relationship with someone since him. He thought that maybe that was why the flashbacks were getting bad again, it was like his mind knew he was moving on and were giving him a final fight, and he just hoped that they would leave him alone again.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by being kicked once again, this time by Jack. It was just the two of them today, sitting at a booth together, although there were a large number of other Superstars and Divas here, the bar was next to the arena so most of them just sorta gravitated there and Jack and Dolph had chosen to sit by themselves, more because that was what Dolph had wanted, although they were far from alone. Silence bleed between them and Dolph played with his bottle of beer, just thinking. Trying to convince himself to go through with this, to make a move maybe. He knew he wasn't the only gay Superstar, there were a few other couples around, but no one really knew he was gay, he kept it to himself, and it was much better that way.
His eyes flicked to Jack and he downed the rest of his beer, gaining a bit of Dutch courage. "...Hey, Jack...ah, listen, I sorta want to talk to you about something." All Jack's attention was on him by now and he resisted the urge to squirm uncomfortably in his seat. His mouth was dry with nerves and his palms were sweating. "Sure thing." Jack replied, and Dolph could hear the curiosity in his voice. "Well...we've become sorta close recently, right?" he waited for a nod from Jack to continue "Ah...well I really like spending time with you, you know? And I was sorta wondering if you'd wanna...I dunno, go on like a date, sometime?" he asked cautiously, blush spreading onto his cheeks.
The silence that met him made the panic that was constantly on his chest grow and start to creep into him. He risked a look to Jack and froze in fear at the look on his face, he was sure he could see the disgust. "A date? What the fuck, man? Are you fucking gay?" that was definitely disgust. Dolph stared at him, fear starting to creep in, he didn't know what to say so he just sat silently as Jack continued. "You're gay! If I knew this I never would've fucking hung out with you, how dare you, you're disgusting, being with another man...that's filthy." The fear snapped in him at being called disgusting and dirty, mind desperately wanting to get away but his body not reacting just sitting frozen there, Jack not there anymore, but instead it was him. Calling him dirty and filthy and disgusting, calling him a whore, but it was Jack's voice, the panic bubbled up and just before it was about to snap he felt a fist connect to his face, startled and not prepared for it he fell off his chair and to the ground, the fear making him shake, embarrassed tears welling in his eyes. How could he be so stupid? Who would want him? Being gay was wrong wasn't it? Just hurt you... The bar was silent by now, everybody hearing Jack yelling, he was standing up now, standing over him still yelling and he just cowered away, tears flowing by now. Scared, he was dead scared. He was still yelling at him, about to hit him again and he felt another punch connect to his face, he whimpered, not even flinching, just taking it and not even thinking about fighting back, it was better to just let it happen. Desperately he tried to make himself smaller, whimpering and cowering, trying to get out of his way. "Sorry." He whimpered pathetically, but that only seemed to anger him more. "You're sorry? You're FUCKING SORRY? All those times I was alone with you, all the jokes that obviously weren't jokes...Jesus, Dolph, I hugged you and everything! What if you spread your gay filth onto me or something?!" Jack went for another punch and Dolph shut his eyes, but he never felt it connect, he opened his eyes and saw someone hold him back, speaking harshly to him, keeping him away, but in his haze he couldn't see who it was, or what they were saying. He was thankful, somewhere deep down, but he couldn't comprehend it right now, someone helping him in a situation like that. He watched through watery eyes as Jack stormed off and his saviour knelt beside him and gently rested their hand on his shoulder, that did it. It sent him over the edge and the panic exploded inside of him and he couldn't breathe, he desperately scrambled away from him, pleading with him not to touch him, to leave him alone, he was sorry, he hadn't meant to upset anyone, hadn't meant to do anything wrong, he was sorry, so sorry, but as he scrambled away they just followed him, being cautious, trying not to startle him, but it was no use, it was him and he had to get away. Somehow he found himself at door, eyes still wide in panic, still unable to breathe as the feeling of doom transcended on him, but he managed to get to his feet and run, out the door and just continue to run, needing to get as far away as he could. He had to get away.