Welcome once again to another insane musing of mine. This is the follow up to 'In The Cold Light of Morning' but it's not essential that you've read that.

I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this story; they are either property of World Wrestling Entertainment or Total Non-stop Action.

Enjoy!

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Mumbling. Muttering. Whispers. Gossip. The concoction of noise backstage in TNA set one man's nerves on edge as he strolled through the backstage area. Past all of the locker rooms and staff. He recognised some of them. In fact, some of them he'd had some of his fine matches with. Some, on the other hand, were mere acquaintances or - even worse - enemies from the dirt sheet, longing to shoot his spirit in the heart, destroying what was left of his passion.

Not this time.

All around him, the casual yet alert chitter chatter of folk around him vaguely passed through his mind. "What's he doing here?" a familiar voice yelped, the blonde failing to even acknowledge this. He continued to stride on, the objective of his visit not yet being fulfilled. He had one thing and one thing only on his mind -

Revenge.

His breathing becoming heavier, his wrists taped up, he did his best to concentrate on the road ahead. No man, woman nor beast was going to distract him, make him procrastinate or forget exactly why he'd come here at all today. Away from the comforting arms in Connecticut to the unbearable heat in Florida.

Yet, he knew he could never rest until he completed this mission. Until he had confronted that demon.

Spotting his cousin from a far, the Maverick caught up with him, to say hello and to ask exactly what he was doing there. Swatting him away, he promised to talk later; business had to be tended to first.

Wiping his locks away from his deep blue eyes, he finally spotted the man he was looking from. Making sure his wrist tape was tight enough, he marched over to the other man who was deep in conversation with someone else who had been instrumental through out his career - Vince Russo.

The bald headed man was deep in conversation with Russo, nodding occasionally and commenting amongst slurps of coffee. His back was facing the blonde; he had no idea what was about to hit him.

"I mean, it's all very well and all but he just didn't understand the situation..." the Wrestling Machine got through mid sentence, stopping and raising an eyebrow at his friends strange gestures. "What do you mean, turn around?" he quizzed, before doing so.

There he was stood; the six foot one, blonde bombshell from San Antonio, Texas, his hair flopped openly over his face, he not even trying to push it back.

"Shawn?" Kurt spluttered, dropping the piping hot coffee cup on the floor in a mixture of horror and surprise.

Their eyes connected - locking. Neither man could believe what they were seeing.

"I-I thought you were dead?" Kurt cried, picking up the polystyrene cup and placing it in the bin, his turquoise eyes still glued to HBK's.

"I know you do." he replied, very matter of factly.

His mouth wide open in distinct shock, Angle took him by the arm. "We need to talk - somewhere private." he added, dragging the Showstoppa' to an empty store cupboard, Shawn's face blank with expression.

Turning the key in the door so that they weren't interrupted, the man of intensity, integrity and intelligence spoke again. "Yo-you died." he repeated time and time again, remembering the sequencing of events to happen on the cold night in October; the argument, the crash, the lifeless body, the regret, the vacant vehicle...

All of these memories flooded back; the River Nile bursting its banks, litres of water escaping, becoming free at last. Just like tears as the younger man began to sob, kneeling before the man he once desired. The man he still desires.

Tear drops scattered across Michaels jeans as TNA's prodigy grasped onto his legs for dear life, his voice wracked with hurt. "I'm sorry, so sorry." he reoccurred, his face pressed against the rough, stone washed fabric as he inhaled the glorious smell of his lovers body. His former lovers body.

This continued for many minutes, although it seemed like hours to both men. The Icon felt his blood began to boil at the petty state clasping to him. "Get up!" he demanded with a snarl, the other man doing exactly as he said. Hastily.

As their eyes returned staring at each other, they rarely blinked; they were far too engrossed in the other to really know what was going through each others minds.

"You betrayed me." Shawn splintered the silence, his voice serious and gruff.

"I know." Kurt nodded, his tone wracked with sadness.

"I thought I could trust you."

"You can!"

"How? You left me for dead!" the Main Event vented his spleen, his eyes narrowing at the sight before him.

"I-I didn't." Kurt stammered, noticing the blondes expression drop as his arms folded across his firm chest. "Ok, I'll be honest; I did... b-but I came back."

"Yeah, right." Shawn scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. "I didn't think honesty was a part of your vocabulary!"

"I mean that. I did come back." Angle persisted. "But you...you were gone."

"I know." the Showstoppa' nodded, shrugging. "Thank the Lord above there was somebody there."

"Who?" the Olympic Gold Medallist whispered, unsure as to if he wanted to know the answer.

Shawn exhaled heavily, not really wanting to reveal the person responsible for the last breath he took. With hesitation, he replied. "Hunter."

"Triple H?" Kurt's voice went higher, surprised in some ways by the revelation but not completely; he'd always known how close the two of them were. In fact, sometimes, it put a damper on their 'relationship', at least in Kurt's mind. Hunter was always so protective of Shawn, always wanting to know his buisness, where they were going, what they were doing. As if...as if he was jealous.

"How did he know where we were?"

"He followed us every step of the way, about ten meters behind us." the Heartbreak Kid revealed, shrugging nonchalantly. "If your mirrors weren't so messed up you would have seen him."

"He followed us?" the Olympic Gold Medallist snorted angrily. "What, you didn't trust me to keep you safe?"

Knowing what he just said was completely and utterly stupid, Kurt ran a hand over his face. "It's a good job you didn't trust me." he mumbled, barely audible, his eyes transfixed to the dust and litter laidened wooden floor.

"Don't worry, it wasn't only me. He couldn't trust a slime ball like you either." Shawn spoke monotonously, turning his back on the TNA star. His feelings had been bottled up for so long. Yet, he had no idea just how to release them, how to let them be fully known.

"I deserve that." Angle considered, his lips bending downwards. "So, where does this leave us?" he quizzed after a few moments of silence, a little more of a hopeful tone included.

"You what?" the Icon yelped, turning back to face the man he once loved. "You expect me to want anything to do with you after you leave me for dead, drowning in a pool of my own blood?"

"Please, I can't go on without you. I know I made a mistake. We can get through this. Ever since that night, I haven't stopped thinking about you!"

"There is no 'us'." Shawn's lips curled. "I made that perfectly clear on that near fatal night. There is no 'us' and probably never was." he retorted, his fists clenched as his true feelings erupted from inside him.

"You're right, I'm sorry for being so hasty." the Wrestling Machine nodded, biting his bottom lip, his mood completely changing. "Tell me, how's that scar?" he asked, beginning to unbutton the loose fitting, pale blue cuffed shirt that the man opposite him was wearing.

"Wh-what scar?" Shawn stammered.

"Your stomach scar." Kurt completed the sentence, the Showstoppa's body visible for the whole world as his shirt was ripped involuntarily from his skin. "I saw what happened with that wood and all...Ouch, that looks sore." the Olympic Gold Medallist pouted, running his hands over Shawn's naked yet hairy chest, as if he was a child, uncapable of looking after himself. "Do you want me to kiss it better?" he purred, puckering his lips.

"N-no, get away from me." Shawn begged, his breathing becoming heavier, his heartbeat rapid, his body shaking violently with nothing but pure fear.

Alas, his voice was as small as a Church mouse's; he was being ignored. The stitches were being torn from his tummy, splitting him in two once again."

"YOU ARE GOING TO FEEL MY PAIN!" Kurt cried, pinning the blonde against the wall as he lay their helplessly. "THE PAIN OF LOSING THE ONE YOU LOVE!"

"THE PAIN OF LOSING THE ONE YOU LOVE! THE PAIN OF LOSING THE ONE YOU LOVE! THE PAIN OF LOSING THE ONE YOU LOVE! THE PAIN..."

"UH?" he jerked upright, his breathing heavy, his rapid heartbeat and his shaking body all flowing at different rates, confusing his mind. An icy droplet of agitation tumbled from his forehead; another cold sweat was about to explode.

As this took place, the man beside him woke up, disturbed by the man who was up until a few moments ago laying comfortably in his arms. He squinted, his sleep ridden eyes becoming adjusted once again to the dark surrounding him. His hands stumbled over the crisp, white bed sheets, feeling the sweat trickle onto them.

"Shawn?" he coughed, his deep sleep interrupted. "Are you ok?"

Clearly he wasn't; by now, his body was a complete and utter wreck, trembling forcefully.

"Not another one of those nightmares?" he asked gently, not wanting to upset the soul beside him.

His head clutched in his hands, crumpled in a mess, Shawn's sobs became more louder and obvious. "Hu-Hunter, he was gonna kill me." he choked, the slightly younger man now sitting up beside him. "H-he..."

"Shhh, baby, it's ok." he soothed his sweetheart, rubbing Shawn's back softly as he lent against his best friends firm bicep.

"He...he was gonna rape me." the Texas native mumbled incoherently, the words spilling from his mouth and his mind not in sync with each other.

As the taller man listened to Shawn's concerned musings, his dark, depressing, dire thoughts from his surreal and troubling hallucination, he moved closer, his presence becoming more and more known.

"Hold me." the Heartbreak Kid asked with a yawn, his eyes drooping shut.

As his breathing became steadier, his heartbeat slower and his body returning to a normal temperature, his tremors turned into peaceful, envisage like movements as he drifted off into sleep as the King of Kings did as he commanded in the most loving of ways.

Laying Shawn beside him, Hunter laid him on his side, himself practising the same motions. His hands fumbling over his best friends scar, he alleviated both his physical and mental pain in the greatest way he knew how to - through love.

Pushing the dirty blonde layers of hair away from his darlings face, he kissed his cooling, smooth cheek lightly, not wanting to wake him from his now tranquillised slumber. As he continued to watch him sleep, laying a caring hand over his diminishing muscles, he realised just how much they'd been through in the past few months. How much they'd never want to go through again.

'I'll never know how to repay you, how to thank you enough for what you did.' his Texas twang stated, the Games memory reminding him of the time his partner in crime was still recovering in the dingy, yet necessary evil of a hospital. How he'd finally come round from sedation - thankfully - on the road to recovery, if there would ever be an end to that.

Yet, he had become much more to him than just a partner in crime. Much more than either of them had dared to fantasize.

Finding him laying in a bloody heap in that automobile made him confront his deepest feelings for the Heartbreak Kid, thoughts that he'd tried to suppress for so long. But, on that fateful night, he'd realised just how close he was to losing him, just how close he was to losing everything good in his life.

That would have made his own world worthless.

Lost in his thoughts at the sight of the beautiful resting body beside him, he'd always tried to figure out just what it was about Kurt Angle that Shawn was attracted to, why they were so into each other. Alas, he'd asked him many times before, and got the same answer each and every time; "I don't know, there's just something about him..."

'Yeah, there is just something about him...that makes me want to kill him.' Hunter mused to himself, soon succumbing to his own sleepy nature.

As the hazy, distilled sun crept through the crimson, translucent curtains, the morning was upon the world quicker than expected.

Waking from his now peaceful dreaming, the Heartbreak Kid lifted his head from his pillow, his hand patting the space in the King size bed beside him.

Empty.

Laying back down, he heard the door creak open, a bout of cursing - in mumbles -following.

Kicking the door slightly shut, a pair of blue eyes fell onto the man entering the room.

"Hey, baby, how are you feeling?" Hunter questioned, playing the tray on the bedside table and sitting on the edge of the bed. Shawn's side of the bed.

"I'm doing good." The Icon nodded. "Thanks to you."

Blushing, Hunter didn't quite know how to reply to that. Grasping each others hands, they gazed adorably into each others eyes, smiles lighting up even the most sleep deprived of faces.

"Paul - I love you."

"I love you too, Shawn, more than you could ever know."

Their lips locked, their tongues entwining; friendship, destiny and passion all colliding simultaneously.

And neither of them would have it any other way.

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Ok, thank you for reading. Hope it didn't get too fluffy at the end!

Please let me know what you think