With a loud yawn, Daniel Bryan reached into his duffle bag for the room key. It was at least 2 am, and the roster had just returned to their hotel from a large group dinner. He was satisfied for the most part, aside from the fact that his tag team partner never showed up. He knew his partner was upset, but it was shallow to ditch such an eventful dinner. After all, thought Daniel, Kane was just a big rage monster, he couldn't be that upset.

As he found the card that unlocked the room, he shoved open the door, not caring how loud he slammed it behind him. As expected, Kane sat on the bed farthest to the wall with his back to the door. His head hung low, not even peering up to see who had walked in. Daniel rolled his eyes. It was like that guy never slept.

"Kane. It was rude of you not to show at dinner tonight. Granted, you usually aren't invited, but tonight was special. Tonight was for Paul." He smirked and nodded his head in approval of his own argument. When he got no response nor a movement from the larger man, he added, "You aren't still upset about what CM Punk did, are you?" He let out a huff of breath and tossed his duffle bag onto the opposite bed. "If it makes you feel any better, he wasn't invited."

With that, the stronger half of the tag team responded with a twitch of movement and a small sigh. He continued to stare down, strands of hair dangling over his hunched shoulders. Daniel rolled his eyes and ran an annoyed hand through his messy blonde hair. "Whatever." He plopped down on the bed opposite to his partners, putting his hands under his head and staring upwards. The goat faced wrestler yawned and, without realizing it, he thought about his tag team partner. It was normal for Kane to be mysterious and creepy, especially when someone pisses him off like CM Punk did by disrespecting his late father. But instead of being creepy in the dangerous way, he was just being quiet and sad. It was strange not hear his partners voice almost all day, besides once, from the sound of his distant shouts during his rage earlier in the locker rooms. It was almost boring without him. The shorter champion rolled onto his side and stared at the back of his counterpart. "Kane," he started, thinking for a moment. "Are you alright?"

Kane raised his head, but didn't glance behind.

"Hmmm." Daniel wasn't the most sympathetic guy, and he knew it. But it almost hurt to see a guy like Kane so miserable. He sat up and crossed onto the other bed, plopping down next to his partner. "You can talk to me, you know." When there was no response, he went on. "Chin up. You of all people should understand that people gotta die. You also should understand that CM Punk is just a jerk and would've done this to anyone." He glanced at his partner. To his surprise, Kane had looked over and listened, his mismatched eyes watery. "Are you crying?" Daniel hadn't realized what he said until it was too late, and he braced himself for the worst. Kane shook his head slowly and looked down in embarrassment.

"Wait, no- I didn't mean…." The shorter man frowned and wrapped his arm around the shoulders of his taller counterpart. "Listen. It's fine. You can cry, I… Guess. I mean, there isn't anything wrong with that." He sighed. "I'm sorry."

Kane looked up once more. "I really, really miss him."

He was a bit surprised to hear his partners voice crack. He mumbled, "We all do." He looked over at the masked man, who had turned his attention to the wall. Silently, Daniel wrapped his arms around his partner. Kane leaned into the embrace and sighed.

"You were great out there, he would've been proud."

"I wouldn't have even had that match if he hadn't-"

"Kane, you need to stop dwelling on that. You're making yourself upset."

"…I guess."

Daniel sighed and rested his head on his partners shoulder, closing his eyes. "If you want me to stay up with you, I… Don't mind." He had lied, he was really tired and needed a rest.

The stronger tag team champion put his arm around the shoulders of his partner, sighing. "Nah."

"W…well then, I'll just sit here and listen… Because that's… What friends… do…" Daniel murmured and yawned, drifting between dreams and consciousness.

Kane tilted his head. "Friends?" He hadn't ever been called a friend by Daniel, but he didn't deny the fact. Though he would never admit to it. "Daniel, since when-" He stopped mid sentence when he noticed his partner had fell fast asleep, leaning against Kane. "Oh."

"Goodnight, then. And thanks, for everything."

A/N: Before I end, let me say that I don't own any characters or story lines mentioned, obviously I only own the story itself and not WWE, yadda yadda.

Now, I wrote this for my good friend Ricki and I'm sorry it isn't a lot, I just haven't been in a writing mood lately.

Thanks for everything, Mr. Bearer, and RIP.