"Justin!" the South American turned around and looked at his best friend, who was running towards him. "Wait!"
"What's up Heath?" he said once the ginger was next to him.
"Can we talk for a sec?" said.
"Well… Matt is waiting for me. Alright." He agreed when he saw the glow on the other man eyes. "What is it?" The American shifted nervously, looking at him and saying nothing. "Heath, I told you, Matt is waiting for me and I don't want him to wait more than what is necessary, so spill it."
"Are you really… going out with Matt?"
Paul blinked confused: he thought that him and Matt made that pretty clear the other day, but hi nodded.
"Why him?"
"What the hell do you mean with 'why him', Heath?" He was starting to be pissed off. "You got a problem with me been gay?"
"What? No, of course not. Is just… you could have anyone around here and you choose Matt. You are one the best looking guys from here if not the best one and chose him. He is not handsome, he is fat… He's not even a good wrestler!" he yelled at him.
And the South African lost his cool and jumped on him, punching him on the face, straddling on his abdomen.
"I love Matt because he's the one that helped me to integrate. I love Matt because he demonstrated me that fame should never change you. I love Matt because he showed me that no matter what you can beat yourself." He yelled back at the red-haired. "And to me, he's the hottest guy around here. I don't care what you and the others say. And get something in your head: Matt is not fat. I don't even know why you are always saying this. You don't him. I would never change him. Never." He got up when he heard some one approaching.
"Angel? What are you doing?" He smiled and went to Matt who was at the corner, hugging him in order to avoid Matt seeing the other rookie still on the floor.
"I'm sorry Matty." Paul kissed his cheek. "I was talking with Heath."
"Ok. Let's go." The oldest Hardy embraced his waist and pulled him closer. "How was your day?"
"Good. But it would be better if you would had been here." Answered. "And yours?"
"Fine as well. Do you want to go somewhere?"
"I don't know." He replied, biting the inside part of his cheek. Hey made their way to the parking lot and once Justin was sat the idea popped into his mind. "Can we go to the park?"
"The park?" Matt asked, surprised.
"Uh-huh. I want to see the lake." His smile was the best one that the Hardy man had ever seen it amused him every time.
"Don't you have lakes in South Africa?" he asked, playfully, pecking him on the lips multiple times, pulling a giggle from the youngest men who threw his arms around his neck.
"Don't be mean! I don't like when you're mean." He pouted.
"Ok, ok. No more mean-Matt." And he kissed him fully and passionately on the lips.
When they split up the kiss Paul just got comfortable on the seat and smiled brightly, looking at the streets and the people.
At the beginning he felt like he was an stranger, odd. Everyone make fun of his accent and it really bothered him, causing that he barely had any friend. When Matt was assigned as his Pro he really wished that it was someone else, maybe Jeff, Cena or some of the others Pros, but when he realised that the only ones that asked his rookie to have lunch so they could know each other better were Matt and CM Punk he realised that was wrong. Very wrong.
During the lunch that they had with Punk and Darren Young he understood why the CEO chose Matt to be his mentor: he was from another country and Matthew Moore Hardy was a really outgoing person that will help him to integrate with the others.
And he did so.
Matt demonstrated to the others that, maybe he wasn't the best wrestler, but he was the one that cared the most about all them. Well, him, Punk and Jay, the others just went to do their jobs, earn their money and then were gone. Not the other three. That was the main reason for them to start calling them Papa Hardy, Momma Phil and Daddy Jay.
Paul sighed. He and Matt had been going out for two months and he couldn't be happier. At the beginning the oldest man took care of him in and outside the ring. It made him feel like he was important to someone. Then Matt got sick and he asked Phill and Jay to keep an eye on him. After two weeks he had convinced Jay to let him go to Cameron to visit his mentor, just a two days visit. And when he was there he just stood in front of the door for almost half an hour, deciding whether to knock or not.
Finally he decided to not to.
"Paul?" He flipped and looked at the man looking at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I… uh-I was… Nothing." He said, head down.
"Yeah. Not gonna fool me rookie. Come on in." He opened the door wider and smiled at him. "Come on. You don't want me to get sicker because of you, right?" that was enough for him to go inside the house, but not to go further from the hall.
"Wow… That's amazing Matt." The house was amazing: from the hall you could see a saloon with an incredible and huge TV, then on the left side and on the centre there were corridors and on the right side stairs. The style of the house was quite modern; the walls were light grey and the furniture white and black. "I didn't know that in Cameron could be a house like that."
"Because there isn't another one. Come." They headed to the kitchen. "Have a seat. Do you want something to drink?"
"Water is ok." He answered, still shy.
Matt could had been sick, but damn! He looked astonishing: his black hair was tied back; he was wearing a grey sweat pants and a dark purple loose shirt.
"Here you are." Matt handed him the glass and sat next to him, letting a long sigh scape from his lips. "So, what are you doing here?"
"I-I was…"
"Going by?" He joked, smiling at him. "I'm joking Paul."
He smiled, shy and nervous by his presence. Now that he was next to him he didn't know what to say, what to answer: he didn't know why he went to visit him.
Bullshit.
He did know why he went to Cameron, but he just couldn't say it. Not yet.
"I was worried." Mumbled.
"Pardon me?"
"I was worried for you. You didn't called me once. I-I thought that you cared about me." His tone was soft, like his was going to cry.
"Hey, hey. I do care about you." Matt smiled tenderly at him, his warm brown eyes looking at him. "Why do you think I don't?
Lloyd didn't answer, he looked down and fixed his eyes on the water inside his glass. He wanted to tell him, he really did, but what if Matt rejected him? What if Matt stopped being his mentor? He could not conceive the idea of being away from him. He needed Matt as much as he needed the oxygen.
"I want to be your friend. I want you to know that I'm here for you." He said instead.
"But I'm your friend. I didn't call you because I didn't want to distract you nothing else." He said before he sipped some of his own water.
"Really?"
"Yes. I would never lie about this." He got up. "Come, I need to lay down." They went to the stairs and once they were upstairs Matt opened a door that revealed his bedroom, but Paul didn't get in. "Come on. I don't bite." He pointed the chair.
"What about the house? Why did you said that there isn't another one like yours?" He asked just to start a new conversation.
"I crafted it myself." Matt answered. "Damn." He growled when he felt like a stab in his head.
"What is it? Are you ok? Do you need something?" He rushed.
"Geez rookie! Calm down! But if you can get a painkiller from the desk, that would be great." He answered.
"Sure." A few seconds later he was swallowing the medicine with the help of Justin. "Did you grafted? I thought you needed to be an architect or something to do something like craft a building!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah. An architect or have an Engineering degree." He said, smiling.
"You are an engineer? Holy crap! Why did you tell me?" He looked at his tutor. He was amazing, he was the greatest person he would ever met: he had an enormous heart, a great sense of humour, he was a fantastic wrestler, a better mentor and friend and now an engineer.
"Well, not many people know it. Plus I liked to keep it as a secret, so you know; you'll have to take to the grave with you, ok?"
"Ok. When are you coming back?" asked shyly the one from the other continent
"I hope that at the end of the week." Matt said and then snuggled carefully to get completely covered up with the blankets. "When are you going back to Florida?"
"The day after tomorrow."
"Where are you staying?"
"Uh… I actually didn't…" he flushed brightly. "Is there any hotel in Cameron?"
Matt laugh distressed him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." The one with long hair apologised "There isn't. Any way, you have come to visit me, so the less I can do is to let you stay here."
He was pulled out from his mind when a really tender kiss was left on his lips. He blinked, confused and looked at his boyfriend.
"What?" asked when he saw how Matt was contemplating at him: the love glowing in his eyes.
"You are really cute. What were you thinking?"
"The day I came into your house." He answered, gladly receiving the kiss that he was given.
The oldest Hardy only smiled brightly before going out the car, waiting for him outside. Rapidly he joined him and took his hand and leaned his head on his shoulder.
Matt admired the lake and then his boyfriend. One of the things that surprised him the most was Paul's willingness to make his relationship public. He didn't care about what the world thought about him as long as he had his friends, his brother (to whom he didn't actually had told him, but he knew his brother, he would understand it.) and Paul by his side. But the other male was at the beginning of his professional career and he didn't want to send to hell all the work he had done.
At the commencement it was hard because of the press but they didn't want to mess up with wrestlers, so they soon forgot about it and left them alone.
They sat on the grass and stared at the lake.
"It was a great idea to come over here. It's so peaceful." Matt said, caressing his lover, who hummed in response.
This peace it didn't last.
"Matty!" a colourful shadow jumped on them, kissing the oldest on both cheeks.
"What the hell! Jeffro!" exclaimed.
"How are you? I missed you so much! Why didn't you called me? I was so worried and… Who are you?" asked the newly arrived staring at Justin, who was staring back at him.
"No. Who are you?" he was afraid, pissed. Who was that well-looking man who it seemed to have a very close relation with his boyfriend? Was Matt cheating on him? He wouldn't be capable, right?
"His about to cry, Matty." He blinked to hold back the tears.
"Hey baby. What's the matter? What's wrong?" He cupped his face on his hands and wiped away the tears that escape from his eyes.
"W-who is he-e?" Paul sobbed, looking away.
"He?" He pointed at the other man and the youngest nodded. "His my baby brother."
"Your… brother?" Could it be? They looked nothing similar. But Matt would never lie to him.
"Uh-huh. I'm Jeff. Jeff Hardy. And who are you again?"
"P-paul Lloyd." He was still sobbing, but the strong arms around him made him feel sure. "Nice om jou te ontmoet." He mumbled.
"What?" the colour-haired man said.
"He's from South Africa, Jeff. When he's nervous he just mixes Afrikaans and English." Matt explained, kissing his boyfriend's cheek.
"Cool." Then he looked at his brother, then at the man on his arms, at his brother again and then exclaimed. "Matthew!"
"What?"
"Isn't your rookie from South Africa?" Matt smiled at his brother perspicacity. "So… Your rookie is also your boyfriend?"
"Glad to see that you understand things without having to explain it first." He bit his lip, nervous. "Are you cool with me being gay?"
"Hey. You're my bro. I love you no matter what." They embraced each other on a tight hug. "And you, better take care of him." Said looking to Justin who nodded.
Matt was really glad his brother accepted him without asking anything.
"Are you staying here?" The oldest Hardy asked, letting his brother go.
"Yeah. I'm rooming with JoMo."
"Cool. Come to our room and we'll have dinner together." He proposed, looking at his boyfriend who nodded, showing his agreement.
"All right. See you later. Nice to meet you Paul, by the way."
"Nice to meet you too." He answered, more confidentially.
When Jeff was gone he looked at his boyfriend, but closed his mouth when he saw his best friend at the other side of the park.