Title: Camouflage

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: The song "Blurry" is copyrighted to Puddle of Mudd and nobody else. I do not own anybody from the WWF, as much I wish I could own Jeffy…Anyway, this is set a few months ago, around the time the Hardyz split. I love the Hardyz, lol!

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Everything's so blurry

and everyone's so fake

and everybody's empty

and everything is so messed up

pre-occupied without you

I cannot live at all

My whole world surrounds you

I stumble then I crawl

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



*Jeff*



If one word could describe how I feel about my big brother, it would be 'love'. There's nothing more than pure love that I have for Matt. He took care of me when we were kids, he looked out for me when I was in high school, and he had my back when we came into the business. There's nobody in this world that I love more than my brother. I should have known something was terribly wrong when he started to change. He was becoming paranoid about Amy and me, he was becoming more irritable, and he was definitely way more aggressive.



*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

You could be my someone

you could be my sea

you know that I'll protect you

from all of the obscene

I wonder what you're doing

imagine where you are

there's oceans in between us

but that's not very far

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I was just too blind to see it at the time. I should have listened to what he told me before our cage match with the Dudleyz at Survivor Series. He took me aside and said,

"Jeff, if we win this match, it's a solid assurance that we stay in the business. Not only that, but we'll be the champs again! I don't want you to go and hurt yourself again, and definitely not tonight, of all nights. I don't want to be worried about you the whole night."

He was joking about that last part, of course, but I knew that he was serious. He didn't want me to do something stupid, obviously, but he said it in so many words. But I was too stubborn to listen to him. Too blinded by the rush of adrenaline I knew I would feel if I jumped. We would have had a 100% chance of winning those titles…if only I had climbed down the cage. But I jumped. I flew off that steel cage and got myself a painful landing onto a table. I didn't know what happened at first, I was too shocked to really understand what had happened. I think I started to realize that I almost blew our chance of having a secure place at our dream job when the paramedics came down to check on me. I didn't want to move from that spot in the middle of the cage. I wanted to die right there. I wanted my life to end because I knew I would be too ashamed to look my brother in the eye. I saw Lita's red hair flashing in front of my face and I knew that she had rushed down with the paramedics. I saw tears running down her face and I felt helpless. Then I saw Matt's horrified face as he looked over me. At first, I thought he was upset because I lost the match. Later I learned that it was because he was, in fact, concerned about my well being. I thought he wasn't mad at me, but later revelations revealed that he was. Everything went downhill from Survivor Series and he started to accuse me of being the weak link of Team Xtreme. I knew he was right, I always had. It just hurt me to hear if say it to my face. Then the accusations of me hitting on Lita started. I don't know if I was more angry or hurt to hear him yell at me for trying to romance his girlfriend. He knew she was like a sister to me, yet he thought I would want to steal the woman he called the love of his life away from him?

In another match later on, he once again told me I was the reason for loss of our team. I couldn't take it anymore and I challenged him to a match at Vengeance. I don't really know what I was thinking when I did that. It was just a sudden impulse that took over me and I couldn't control it. The night of that match, I was talking to Lita. I was telling her how nervous I was about facing my own brother in a battle of egos. I remember that she told me that everything would settle down afterwards, but I didn't believe her. I knew that if Matt won, he would never let me live it down and if I won, he would have his nose so high up in the air that he wouldn't want to have anything to do with me for awhile. So, I went out there and gave it my all and I knew Lita would call it straight down the middle because she wanted to stay neutral in this little rivalry. I hurt my ankle sometime during the match, but I don't remember exactly when or how. All I remember is the shooting pain that kept coming as Matt aimed for my ankle for the next few shots he gave me. It really took my all to do that Swanton. I covered him and Matt's leg shot up to the ropes. I saw it before Lita could and pulled it off, leaving Lita to count the 1-2-3. She helped me up to announce me as the winner as Matt looked on, looking furious. He fought with Lita for a few minutes before shaking his head and walking backstage. That's when I knew that Matt was serious. If I had one wish, it would, for sure, be to redo everything I had done wrong. I would take back that Swanton from the top of the cage, I would take back that pin that Lita counted, and I would take back that challenge to the match at Vengeance all together. As long as it meant Team Xtreme would stay together.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Can you take it all away

can you take it all away

well ya shoved it in my face

this pain you gave to me

Can you take it all away

can you take it all away

well ya shoved it my face

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



It wasn't until later that I discovered that Matt still cared about me. It was the night I faced the Undertaker for the Hardcore title. Being the Dead Man walking, he physically dominated me before giving me the Last Ride and pinning me to retain his title. When Lita came to check on me after the match, he decided to come back into the ring and pretty much chased Lita away with one of his threatening glares. Then he saw it fit to carry me to the top of the stage and give me another Last Ride into the equipment area, right through a table covered with who knows what. I didn't want to move. I felt the same way I did after Survivor Series, except this was more physically damaging. I drowned out all of the fans mix of booing and cheering and started to fade out until the sense of another drop pulled me out of my dreamland. I looked around and saw Lita face down in front of me and I froze in sheer terror. The Undertaker was a true monster to do something like that to Lita. This couldn't be the same Undertaker who had been a face and fan favorite just the previous year. The man I'd teamed up in tag team match with at one point. But it was. The dead man was once again the Lord of Darkness and the destroyer of everybody who got in his way. I closed my eyes and felt the paramedics crowding around me once again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Everyone is changing

there's noone left that's real

to make up your own ending

and let me know just how you feel

cause I am lost without you

I cannot live at all

my whole world surrounds you

I stumble then I crawl

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



That same night, I woke up in a hospital bed to find Matt dozing in a chair next to my bedside. His hands were on my bed and his head on his hands. I shook him to make him wake up. He awoke with a jerk and looked around for a moment, as if he was registering where he was. He looked at me and a look of recognition and concern took over his confused face.

"Hey, little bro," Matt said softly.

"Hey," I croaked back.

"How you feelin'?" he asked.

"I don't know…my back hurts a lot and I have a hell of a headache," I replied.

He gave a small chuckle. "You know, you freaked me out there, for a minute."

"Why?"

"Well, it's not easy watching your little brother get thrown of a stage and onto a table."

I bit my lip. "I…I thought you were mad at me, Matt."

Matt looked straight into my eyes with an apologetic stare.

"Jeff, listen to me. I am so sorry about all those things I've said and done. I've been selfish, I know, and I had my head to far up my ass to notice."

I smiled at that.

"I'm sorry too, Matt," I whispered.

"What for, Jeff? There's nothing for you to be sorry about," Matt told me. He had gone back to looking confused.

"I'm sorry for costing us so many matches," I told him, tears clouding my eyes, "and for being too stubborn and stupid to listen to you when you told me not to do all the crazy crap I've been doing."

Matt closed his eyes for a minute and shook his head.

"Jeff, no, that 'crazy crap' you do is what makes you unique. Now, I'm not saying that doing that stuff all the time is good, mind you, I'm just saying that it's what makes you who you are. You're the 'crazy Hardy'," he teased, "I'm only hard on you for doing what you do because I'm afraid."

"Of what?" I asked.

"I'm afraid that you're going to get seriously hurt, baby bro," he said, "and I would never want that to happen, Jeff, never. I love you."

I looked at him and felt a big smile creeping across my face.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nobody told me what you thought

nobody told me what to say

everyone showed you where to turn

told you when to runaway

nobody told you where to hide

nobody told you what to say

everyone showed you where to turn

showed you when to runaway

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I love you too, Matt," I replied, "and thank you."

"For…?"

"For being my big brother…for looking out for me, for being there for me," I said.

"Hey, it's what I'm here for," he replied.

I sighed, when all of a sudden a thought jumped into my mind.

"How's Amy?" I asked.

"Oh, she's fine. The doctor said both of you can get out of here today," Matt told me.

"Awesome," I said, happily.

"Look, I'll go find out when exactly we can leave, and you get a little rest, okay?"

I didn't feel like sleeping at the moment, but I agreed to his proposition. He smiled and stood up. He walked out to talk to the doctor, but not before bending down, giving me a small kiss on the forehead and squeezing my head. I watched as he walked out of the room and I turned my head to look outside the window, only to be greeted by the bright sun. It was a beautiful day and my brother and I had just had a beautiful reconciliation.

Yes, if there was one word to describe how I feel about my brother, it would, without a shadow of a doubt, be love. That will never change. I used to think that he didn't feel the same way, but, thank the Lord, he had proved me wrong. And I knew that the Hardy Boyz and Team Xtreme would be back in business after that.



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This pain you gave to me

You take it all

You take it all away...

This pain you gave to me

You take it all away

This pain you gave to me

Take it all away

This pain you gave to me

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I really hope you enjoyed this little fic that popped into my head. I wrote it in about an hour (I began at around 11:00 p.m. and it is two until midnight). This is my first WWF fan fiction, meaning my first Hardy Boys fiction and I hope you liked it. And if you're wondering why I chose "Blurry" as the song, it's because I think that the song is very fitting to the subject of this story.