Time: It is the day after our heroes read about Bobby's love machine. The Earth date is August 11, 2007.
Place: Inside the SOD's holoporter.
The lighting was turned down low. The music was turned up, exciting the crowd of bodies on the dance floor. The dancers moved to the various rhythms of Jazz and R&B.
Among the dancers were Sean and Hunter. The song currently playing had a slow and seductive beat. Each man was dancing with a beautiful woman in his arms. The women moved perfectly along with Sean and Hunter's own movements.
Hunter: (to Sean) Some program.
Sean: (agreeing with Hunter) Isn't it?
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Yesterday, after our heroes had read the post and spoken to Vince, each man had gone to do his own thing. Of course, Shawn, who was still having difficulty accepting Hunter's choice to sign a contract with Vince, had stormed off to his room before Vince had even finished talking to them. Shawn ended up remaining in his room for much of the remaining day.
Bret had brought food to Shawn and, Sean supposed, had talked to HBK. Bret had certainly been in Shawn's room for a long time. It was weird: now that Shawn and Hunter were fighting, Bret and Shawn were getting along well.
Meanwhile, Hunter had gone to the gym to blow off steam and Sean had gone to the holoporter. Sean, feeling creative, had wanted to design a new holoporter program, but of what he wasn't sure. So, he thought. His mind drifted to thinking about 1995 again. Despite the fact that he'd gotten into trouble and pissed off a few people during that time, overall, he'd had fun. That's what he wanted again, fun - and what with the mechanical malfunctions and constant arguments - he wasn't having any. So, he wanted to create something fun. It wouldn't just be for him, but for the others too, and maybe that something would help settle everyone's tension.
But what could that something be. Sean thought about it some more. Part of the problem on the Satellite was that four men were living with each other without contact from anyone else. So, Sean decided that his program would have lots of people. Lots of people got Sean thinking about some of the clubs the Kliq had gone to when they'd traveled in the WWE together. So, maybe a club?
The club couldn't be sleazy and overly sexual. Michaels wouldn't go for it, and God forbid, it ever got back to Terri that Sean had created a strip club. So that was out.
Sean knew that the club, whatever it was, needed music. So, he put thought into the type of music. He thought about what he and the other guys liked. Michaels liked country; Bret liked heavy metal…and neither liked the other's musical preference. Sean certainly didn't want to disrupt their peace. As for Sean himself, he liked R&B and rock. Hunter preferred more classical music and Jazz…
'Wait!' Sean had thought. None of the guys seemed to mind Jazz. A Jazz club! Why not? Jazz was a varied form of music and Sean could do a lot with it. It was perfect.
So, Sean programmed how the Jazz club would look and sound. He chose a lot of black, smoky gray and tans for the interior. For the lights, he chose electric blues, yellows and hot pinks. It didn't look half bad. He placed a five man Jazz band (complete with drums, trumpets, saxophones, piano, and trombones) towards the back wall and programmed them to play a variety of music including: light Jazz, swing, Latin Jazz and R&B – a little something for himself. In front of the band, he placed the dance floor and to the side of that, a bar. Right in front of the room, close to the holoporter's entrance, he designed small round tables and comfortable chairs. The next to last thing he did was program elegantly dressed men in hip suits and women in revealing, but tasteful clothes. Finally, because every good club needed one, he gave the club a cool name – The Mist. The colored lights created a misty effect and Sean and the others were misters.
"Absolutely perfect," Sean had said upon finishing the program's design. He saved it.
Now all he had to do was get the others excited about it.
Sean had approached Bret first inside of the Hitman's room, figuring that if he got the group's leader behind him that Bret would be able to help influence the others. To Sean's program, Bret had expressed little interest. Bret had been with Shawn for much of the day, and the Hitman said that he wanted some time alone. Sean thought that Bret looked stressed about something too. That only gave Sean more incentive to try to persuade Bret to come to the holodeck.
"Come on, Bret," Sean said trying to persuade the older man.
Bret, who was sitting at his writing desk, was barely looking at Sean as he said quickly, "Sean, I'm a little busy." Then, the Hitman went looking into his desk drawer, which he'd already looked through once during the time that Sean had entered Bret's room.
'Yeah, real busy,' thought Sean, sarcastically. 'Bret is acting like my dad used to when I was a kid and wanted him to do something with me. My dad would always pretend that something else was more important than me. And if that's the way Bret wants to act, then I'm just going to have to act the way I used to when my dad did the same thing.'
"Please," said Sean. His voice sounded a little higher and little needy.
After four children of his own, Bret recognized the tone. He shut his desk drawer and looked directly at Sean, "Sean, I'm sure your program is wonderful, but I'm not up to big crowds at the moment, even if they are computer generated."
Bret was trying to explain to Sean why he couldn't go instead of just coming out and saying that he didn't want to go.
For the third time since Sean had come into Bret's room, Bret opened his desk drawer and looked inside.
Curious about this, Sean asked, "What are you looking for?
Bret quickly answered, "Nothing," and shut the drawer.
'Odd', Sean thought, but instead said, "About my program...please Bret, I'd really like it if you, along with Shawn and Hunter, could see what I've created. You liked what I made the last time."
Bret looked up at the Kid, "You didn't make me dress up the last time. Besides, I doubt the others are going to be up for it. That's if you can even get past the fact that Shawn doesn't want to be in the same room as Hunter. I don't think Shawn wants to be on the same satellite as Hunter, but there's nothing anyone can do about that."
"Nothing?" asked Sean. He wanted to solve the problems between DX as badly as Bret did. Things just weren't the same whenever DX were involved in serious arguments.
"Well," Bret began, "I have one idea, but it involves me having a heart to heart with Shawn."
"Don't you mean a Hart to Heartbreaker?" Sean joked.
Bret smiled a little, "I guess. Hopefully, Shawn's receptive to it because I think something more than Hunter is bothering him."
"You know he might be more receptive," Sean said suggestively, "if he were in the right environment. Surrounded by people in a warm and secure place..."
"With a cheap plug like that, you could rejoin DX," replied Bret. Then, Sean looked at Bret and the Hitman swore that in another minute, the Kid would stick his bottom lip out. Before that happened, Bret budged, "Okay, I'll come."
A cheery expression came across Sean's face, "Great! Now we just have to persuade DX."
"There you go mistaking that I need to get involved with one of your plans."
"It's your plan too," Sean protested, "Remember your Hart to Heartbreaker."
"That was cute...once," Bret said. He saw Sean looking at him again. This time the Kid's lip was trembling.
"Okay," said Bret.
"Great! I'll persuade Hunter, while you persuade Shawn." Knowing that this would be no easy task, Sean added, "Good luck."
Bret also knew it wouldn't be easy, "We're going to need it."
As it turned out, Bret had a slightly easier time persuading Shawn than Sean did persuading Hunter.
When Bret talked to Shawn about going to the holoporter, Shawn said that he'd prefer staying in his room...especially since Hunter was going to be there.
Bret wanted to have his heart to heart with Shawn right then, but he held back, and approached the current situation differently.
"Shawn, look around your room for a minute."
"Huh?"
"Just do it," Bret prodded.
Shawn did. After a moment, "Why am I doing this?"
"Think," Bret said, "what's this room remind you of?" Shawn gave him a look, "Humor me."
Shawn looked around his room again, "Now that I'm thinking...it kind of reminds me of my nephew's college dorm room."
Bret thought that it looked like his oldest daughter's own dorm room on move in day. He knew why too, but he wanted to know why Shawn thought what he did, "How so?"
"My nephew is very Spartan, like The Colonel." The Colonel was Shawn's father and he always addressed his father, who was a strict military man, in this fashion. "Although my nephew is in a normal college environment, he has as little in his dorm room as possible. His walls are completely bare. White." And so were Shawn's.
"You don't strike me as the Spartan type. Your room's even clean," said Bret.
"That's because you cleaned it just before we left the ship and I haven't had the chance to mess it up yet. As for my walls, I just don't have much to put up."
Bret avoided addressing this comment for the time being. "Shawn, if this room were you, then I'd say, stay inside. I'd understand about you wanting some privacy...but this is not just looking for privacy, it's seclusion...like locking yourself up in a jail cell."
"Regular solitary confinement," Shawn said.
"Yeah, actually," Bret agreed.
"And this place the Kid created is nice? Bright, not Spartan?"
"I haven't seen it, but the Kid's enthusiastic, and after Snakoid, I trust him."
Shawn thought, then asked, "What about Hunter?"
'We'll talk about that later,' Bret thought. Then he said, "The holoporter's big. You and Hunter don't even have to be near one another."
Shawn sighed. "Why not?" He was in.
Meanwhile, Sean was trying to persuade Hunter, who Sean had caught up with in the ship's gym.
It seemed to Sean that Hunter was overdoing his workout in order to forget what was bothering him. Maybe Bret needed to have a heart to heart with Hunter too.
Currently, Hunter was running on a treadmill. Before the Kid had entered, The Game had stretched and worked with the weights.
"So, what do you think?" Sean asked after telling Hunter about going into the holoporter.
"Not interested," said Hunter, immediately shooting the Kid down.
"Why?"
"I'm just not."
'At least Bret had attempted to come up with an excuse,' thought Sean. Hunter was giving the Kid nothing to go on. The Kid was going to have to pull all the strings with Hunter.
Without another word to Hunter, Sean climbed onto a treadmill that was beside Hunter's own. Sean began to program the treadmill.
"What are you doing?" Hunter asked.
The treadmill began and Sean started walking, as he said, "Working out."
"You don't workout. You never work out."
"I sometimes workout."
"Ha!" Hunter said forcefully, "Your ideal workout is flipping through the tv's 1200 channels."
"And pressing the remote control for the amount of time that it takes to get through those channels is very exhausting."
"If you were up to it, I'd show you exhausting," said Hunter.
"Okay," Sean said, "show me." He was already starting to sound a little tired.
"I would if I thought you were serious."
"You think I'm not?" Sean said, "Come on, try me."
Hunter raised an eyebrow at Sean, "Okay, what level are you on right now?"
Sean looked at the machine. "Three."
'Three,' Hunter smiled to himself. "I'm on ten."
"Ten!" exclaimed the Kid. At level three, Sean felt like he was already getting a good workout.
Hunter, "Ten's nothing. You know Kid, I'll go to the holoporter to participate in your program."
That cheered Sean up, "You will?"
"If..."
"If what?" Sean wasn't cheered by that.
"If you can make it to level 10, and stay on it for one minute, after being on each level in between that for one minute, I'll go to the holoporter."
"Really," Sean said not so sure he could ever make it to level 10. Yet, to have everyone in the holoporter...enjoying his program...Sean finally decided that he'd do anything to make that happen.
"Okay," Sean replied out loud.
Hunter had to check that he'd heard right, "What?"
"I said okay...just a minute at each level, right?"
"That's all." Hunter slowed down his own treadmill until he could safely stop it and step off. Once he stepped off, Hunter shook out his body. The Kid waited for him.
Once loose, Hunter stepped in front of the Kid's treadmill. Then The Game looked at his watch and pressed a button. "All right, Kid, I have my stopwatch ready."
"Stopwatch?"
"To time you. To make sure that you do the full minute at each level...you ready?"
'As ready as I'll ever be,' Sean thought, then said, "Yeah."
"Okay," Hunter replied, looking at his watch, "turn the treadmill up to level four."
Sean did so. Hunter began the timer.
At level four, Sean had to walk a little faster. He took long strides, which helped him keep up. 'I can do this,' Sean thought.
When the minute was up, Hunter said, "Turn to level five."
Sean did. At level five, he had to jog. His breathing became heavier.
A minute passed. Hunter said, "Turn to level six."
Sean did. Now he had to jog a little faster. He was starting to tire, but Sean tried to stay positive mentally, 'I can do this.'
A minute passed. "Level seven," said Hunter.
At level seven, Sean had to break into a run. Sean could barely run. Bad knees only added to an already difficult exercise.
Sean could feel his breath deepen and grow heavier. His throat was starting to hurt, as were his legs. Remembering why he was doing this, Sean thought, 'I think I can do this...great...I'm becoming the little engine that could.'
Another minute passed. "Level eight."
Sean turned the level up again and his running steps grew heavier and louder and his thoughts became more desperate. Clunk...'I think I can'...clunk...'I think I can'...
What seemed like an eternity, at the next minute, Hunter said, "Level nine."
Sean turned the level up...and almost immediately after feeling what level nine felt like, he turned the machine down...and off.
Sean was breathing heavily. His heart was beating heavily. 'I'm dying.'
Hunter left his place for a moment and then came back with an unopened water bottle and clean towel.
"Here," Hunter said, holding the water to Sean.
Sean was so tired. Hunter noticed and even took the bottle back to unscrew the top off. When Hunter held the bottle out again, Sean took it gratefully.
Breathlessly, Sean said, "Th...tha...thanks." He took a drink.
"Easy," Hunter said, afraid that the Kid might drink too fast and choke.
The Kid lowered the bottle from his mouth. "I couldn't do it."
Hunter couldn't keep a straight face anymore, and burst out in laughter.
Sean lifted an eyebrow, "What's so funny?"
Hunter continued to laugh loudly.
"What's so funny!?" Sean demanded.
"I hate say it...but you are Kid."
"Huh?"
The Hunter calmed a bit, "Sean, I never expected you to try."
"What do you mean?" the Kid was starting to catch onto something.
"I mean that I thought you'd give up by level five...seven at the latest...but you just kept going."
"But I gave up," Sean replied.
"Well if you didn't, I would have stopped you." A smile crossed Hunter's face, "It would have been only fair...because I was cheating."
"What?" Sean glared.
"You didn't realize that I made you stay on levels five and six for a minute and ten seconds, or that I had you stay on level seven for a minute and thirty."
"You what?"
"You stayed on level eight for two minutes."
"You ass," Sean spit out.
"I couldn't help myself...and I thought you were going to realize what I was doing."
"I was too busy not dying."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't die," said Hunter.
"Why not?"
"Because if you did, we wouldn't be going out tonight."
Sean had to check if he heard right, "Wait, you're coming to the holoporter?"
Hunter nodded. He laughed again, "Kid, I would have come even if you hadn't done this."
That's when Sean collapsed down onto the treadmill.
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Once Sean had revived and recuperated, he instructed everyone to put on their best clothes. Luckily, everyone had a suit that he could wear and look good in.
And here, in the holoporter, they were.
Hunter: You've outdone yourself, Kid.
Sean: Thanks Hunter.
The two continued dancing.
Hunter: I only wish I was dancing with Stephanie. She'd love this.
Sean: Well, you go back home...soon. (he really wished the time on the satellite was reset to Earth's ) You can take her out to a real club.
Hunter: If there's any time, what with Summerslam, and Raw and all.
Sean: At least you'll see her and Aurora.
Hunter: I can't wait. And I can't help but feel a little creeped out at the moment. .
Sean: Why's that?
Hunter: It's just, you created women.
Sean: I don't follow.
Hunter: You created women to dance with us, move with us...
Sean: Maybe it's the workout you put me through because I'm not thinking very clearly. You're going to be less vague.
Hunter: Well, you remember yesterday's post?
Sean: Remember...I'm still trying to get it out of my head. What a sick man.
Hunter: Well, I think he's influenced you.
Sean: What? (realizing what Hunter's saying) Hunter...how can you...
Hunter: Again, the women.
Sean: Are purely here to dance with. Unless you wanted to dance with the men...or with me.
Hunter: No thanks.
Sean: See? Look, these women are here just to divert us from the current awful state of our lives. Are you even interested in them?
Hunter: No. I want Stephanie.
Sean: And I want Terri. So, we're fine. Right?
Hunter: Yeah.
Hunter twirled the girl around so that his eyes could look in the direction of the bar.
Sean: Still concerned about Shawn?
Hunter: What do you think?
Sean: He will come around.
Hunter: When? (Sean shrugs at him) I forgot how stubborn he can be.
Sean: Bret thinks something else is going on with him.
Hunter: Does he know what?
Sean: I don't think so.
Hunter: Wait...is that what Bret is doing with Shawn at the bar...talking with him about what's wrong?
Sean: I believe so.
Hunter: I hope Bret finds out.
End of Chapter 1
This was another fun piece to write, especially the exercise scene with Hunter and Sean. Hope you liked this. Unusual for me is that I've decided to send this story while it's in progress. I just wanted to submit something now while I had a chance because I'm going to be very busy for the rest of the week and don't know when I'll be able to submit again.
In the next chapter, Bret and Shawn will have their heart to heart. We'll find out about Shawn's problem and find out why Bret was looking in his desk drawer so much.
And then...well...you'll have to wait.