Oh my God, I scared myself. The last line of the previous chapter sounds like a set-up to a murder scene…but what if it is???? Oh, sweet banana pie!
KEEP READING!!!! XD!!!
"I'm not afraid of you."
It was the first thing out of Rey's mouth when he stepped into the room where Dave was. It was halfway down the long main hallway to the right and it looked like it was some sort of conference room. It had a table and a few chairs with metal legs. Two stacks of the same public school issue chairs were to Dave's left. He was next to the only window, which was huge and shaped like a fat rectangle. It had white blinds and the blinds were closed tight. There was a tall, white storage closet. It was a tiny, disgustingly generic room.
Dave snorted.
"Well, isn't that nice for you?"
Batista shifted uncomfortably. Rey saw it.
"Are you afraid of me, Dave?" Rey asked disbelievingly.
"Why should I be afraid of you? You're two-foot six and you've never even broke 200 pounds!"
Rey glared at him. "You know what I'm asking you."
"Ask me a direct fucking question and then I'll know what you're asking me."
Rey bit his tongue. This never worked when they both just argued in circles like this. It wouldn't solve anything.
He let the silence go on for a second so that they could both cool off.
When Rey next spoke he sounded desperate, and his voice was faint.
"Dave, if there's anything…anything at all that you need to tell me, I'll listen to you. You said I don't listen to you, so I will. If there's anything at all that you need to tell me then I'll hear you out. I don't care what it is."
Rey looked Batista directly in the eye, trying so hard to pull an answer out of him. He didn't know if Batista had a crush, an attraction, or was actually in love with him. He still couldn't tell. He just wanted to hear it from him. He didn't want to force Dave to admit about his obsession with the luchador, he just wanted him to come out and say it of his own free will.
There was a long pause.
"Dave…? Do you need to tell me anything?" Rey tried again. His eyes were wet.
"No," Batista said slowly, lying. Lying. Lying. Lying.
"Oh," Rey said quietly. "Um...okay. Okay. Well, I'll just…I'll see you later, I guess…" Rey headed for the door.
If Dave didn't say it, then maybe Shawn was wrong. Maybe this was a joke. And maybe Rey was the punch line. He shouldn't have so easily believed Shawn Michaels. Now he just went and indirectly accused his best friend of being gay for him.
Batista blinked.
Rey looked so confused and so heartbroken.
And Dave saw it. He saw that it was so hard on Rey not to know. The not-knowing was gnawing him up inside and it scared him, and it made him bitter and melancholy and nervous. Rey couldn't live his life not knowing whether Shawn had lied to him about Batista's feelings for him, or whether Batista was lying about them.
And the worst part; the part that woke Dave up. The definition of Rey Mysterio was that he had a bounce in every step. It was energetic and happy when he was, but it was still there even when he was sad; if he was okay. If he would eventually feel better. It was just something that he unconsciously had; this buoyancy that kept him afloat. And Rey was shuffling to the door right now with flat, spiritless steps. He was sinking.
"Rey, wait," Dave said weakly.
Rey looked back at him. He was just about to put his hand on the doorknob. "Yeah?"
"I…I have a confession to make."
Rey turned around, blinking his big, brown eyes.
"I…I have been hurting people backstage. Guys. When you weren't looking."
"Why…?"
"Because they looked at you like you were some worthless faggot, and I couldn't stand that," Batista blurted.
Rey nodded. "Yeah, well, I've been called things before. Behind my back or not."
"And you're okay with that? You're okay with just letting it go? They insulted you as a person! How can that be all hunky dory to you?!"
"I'm not okay with that. But I'm over it, Dave. I've been wrestling professionally since I was a kid. With guys way bigger and way older than me. I'm small and short and too young and blah blah blah," Rey sighed. "I tune it out."
"Well, a lot of the guys think you're cute," Batista murmured.
"Yeah. Shawn told me all that yesterday."
Batista flinched. "Did he tell you…?"
"I'd rather hear it from you."
Batista gnawed on his fingernails nervously. When somebody put you on a spot about your deep, dark secret feelings towards them…it was hard to fess up. It was especially hard because Rey was the one putting him on the spot but Rey was also the one he had the feelings towards.
"Well, can you just tune out all the guys scrambling around after you 24/7?"
"I didn't notice that until this weekend!" Rey protested.
"You're lying and you know it," Batista growled.
"Well, I didn't know it was every last wrestler in WWE! How was I supposed to know that?"
"You're being honest with me? You didn't know all the guys had the hots for you until Shawn told you?"
"Yes! Why would I lie about that?!"
Batista eyed Rey. Triple H had been right earlier. Rey was a bad liar. And he wasn't lying right now.
Rey rolled his eyes and dropped his arms against his thighs in frustration. "Come on, Dave. Give me a break. What do you want me to say?"
"Say how much you noticed the other guys."
Rey swallowed. "I noticed a few looks every now and then, that's it."
"Starting when?"
Rey shook his head. "You want to hear the long story, or the short one?"
Batista narrowed his eyes. He thought Rey was talking about some long and scandalous history of affairs within the WWE that Rey wouldn't tell him about. "The long one."
He found out that's not what Rey was talking about at all.
"Men have been looking at me like I was on the menu since I was twelve. And that's only as far back as I can remember."
Batista recoiled at that, shocked. He'd never once considered how scary it must have been for Rey when he was younger. He'd been too busy fueling his own jealousy and feeling sorry for himself over the current, full-grown Rey. He'd always thought that Rey could take care of himself. But what if he hadn't been able to when he was a boy? What if something had happened to him?
"Like you said, I look 'cute'," Rey said bitterly, crossing his arms.
Batista didn't know what to say.
"Nobody hurt you, did they?" he asked warily.
Rey shook his head feverishly.
"No. And I don't even…I don't even hate gay people. I don't. Some of Angie's friends are gay guys and they're nice people. Hell, what am I saying…I guess all of my friends are gay guys, too…" Rey muttered.
Batista softened a little.
"Rey, you don't look gay."
Rey looked at him and shook his head. "Whatever."
"No, you don't! Really! I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it!"
"Well, apparently you've said a lot of things to me that you didn't mean."
"Oh, really, like what?" Batista demanded, back on the defensive already.
"Well, Jesus…you-you didn't say things, it's the fact that you didn't say them. You're keeping things from me."
Batista swallowed and glared for a second before looking away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Rey screamed. He struggled to keep his voice down, to try to stay calm, but Batista was purposely riling him up and making him forget his train of thought. It was infuriating.
He shook his head. "Forget it. I'm gonna go off with the guys. Just forget I ever tried to talk to you. I can't deal with you, anymore, Dave. I'm trying to give you a chance to talk to me, and you just keep throwing it all in my face. You are upset. There is something you're not telling me."
"How could you possibly know that, Rey? Nothing's bothering me, and I'm not hiding things from you! Stop accusing me!"
"Then why were you starting an argument over Randy rooming with us? Why did you start another one over him sleeping next to me? Why did you chase him up a goddamn flag pole?!" Rey yelled.
"WHY DID YOU TRY TO SLEEP WITH HIM?!" Batista exploded.
Rey had no idea that Batista could cross a room that fast.
He didn't see him move, he just saw Dave leering down at him when he'd got there. And he heard Dave's palm smack the wall just to the side of Rey's head.
Rey didn't break eye contact.
"I already said I'm not afraid of you."
"I seriously doubt that," Batista intoned. He was 6'6'' and Rey was exactly a foot lower than that.
Rey's eyes were on fire. "You seriously believe that I was trying to have some crazy fling with Randy Orton?" Rey snorted. "I think your parents explained sex wrong. Two guys sleeping on a gigantic fucking mattress don't constitute gay sex, Dave."
"Why the fuck would you want him to sleep next to you unless you were going to sleep with him!?"
"I have seen states smaller than that mattress! I was just trying to be nice! And why the fuck would I sleep with a guy when I've never slept with a guy before?! And even if I was gay, why would I sleep with Randy with you in the room?! Is your logic at all based in reality?!" Rey demanded.
"SHUT UP!!" Batista shouted. "You're always fucking mocking me, and I've had it!"
"I'm not mocking you! Just tell me how the hell that makes sense that I would sleep with Randy Orton!!" Rey fumed.
Batista glared down at him.
Maybe Rey was completely straight. Because everybody in their right mind knew that Randy Orton looked exactly like an underwear model- especially when he was in his wrestling briefs/ man-panties. God knows he tried to look tougher by getting sleeve tattoos along both his arms, but they didn't succeed in their purpose.
"Why do you always try to take care of the younger guys, Rey?"
The wheels started to turn in Rey's head and he realized that Batista thought he had a thing for the younger guys on the roster and that he wasn't taking them under his wing out of any sort of adult sense of responsibility or fatherly impulses.
"Like hell I'd go after a younger guy! And what? Get arrested for statutory rape?" Rey asked.
"Randy's older than that, Rey."
Rey rolled his eyes. "Come on, he doesn't look like it. That's…that creeps me out. No. If I were gay, I wouldn't be gay for Randy Orton." Rey shuddered.
"Well, you know just because Randy likes you doesn't mean that he's gay, right?" Dave asked carefully.
Rey blinked at him, confused. "Seriously? You think the whole male half of the roster is straight even though they're after me?"
"I didn't say that. I think that most of the guys are bi."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Maria, Madre de dios…" he muttered.
Jesus Christ, it was getting difficult to keep up with all this new information.
"You think I turned everyone gay just for me?"
Batista shrugged. "In some cases, yeah."
Rey sighed.
This was getting ridiculous.
"I am such a…goddamnit, Finley was right. I'm a fucking 'faggot magnet'."
"Don't call me a fag, Rey," Batista blurted, offended.
Rey started.
Batista blushed and then paled intensely, and backed off, retreating to the other side of the room and began pacing anxiously.
Rey had finally gotten him to say it.
"You-you mean you do like me?" Rey asked trying to make sure he'd heard correctly.
"You already knew that. Why did you want to hear me say it? You need some sort of evidence that I'm after you so you can get a restraining order or something?" Batista accused.
"No! I just wanted to know whether or not Shawn was lying! Do you have any idea how crazy that guy is? He's got Undertaker and Triple H eating out of the palm of his hand! How the hell do you even begin to pull that off? He's crazy like a fox! He could have been tricking me too, I wasn't sure! I had to know from you!" Rey explained.
He couldn't help but being a little relieved. He finally knew the truth. Shawn hadn't been lying! That meant that Rey wasn't going crazy for suspecting that Dave liked him!
I'm not crazy! The voice in Rey's head cheered.
He tried to stifle the euphoria but there was no helping it. All this fucking worrying and hesitancy hadn't been misdirected! He was right! He was probably going to be utterly confused about his relationship with Dave for weeks after this, but he was right, goddamnit!
"I thought you knew I liked you! Why do you have to get me to say it?" Batista demanded.
"And you can wipe that smile off your face," he added venomously.
The happy sound effects in Rey's head switched to the noises of a car screeching to a halt only to smash into another one with a massive clinking and clunking of shredding metal. While that car accident was going on in his head, Rey swallowed his smile.
He is very clearly in love with you. Rey's conscience told him.
Stop telling me things I already know. Rey thought back. And wait a second; you don't even know for sure how in love with you he is! It could still be just a crush!
Okay, fine, you're right…his conscience admitted disappointedly. His conscience loved to scare him and make things seem worse than they actually were.
I mean, for God's sake, I fell in'love' with a puppy one time! That doesn't mean I would go off and marry that dog!
OKAY! I GET IT!! his conscience surrendered.
"Do you- do you like me, like Shawn said C.M. Punk likes me? As a friend? Or as a crush, like Kane, or…or do you love me?" Rey said, trying his best not to mince words.
"STOP FUCKING WITH ME! I LOVE YOU! YOU KNOW THAT!" Batista shouted.
Rey opened his mouth to speak and a ghost of a voice floated out. "Oh."
Batista stared at him, shaken. "What do you mean, 'oh'?"
Rey looked very pale. "I…I didn't…I don't…know that…" Rey managed to get out.
"What?" Batista said hoarsely.
There was a long pause. They could have heard a pin drop all the way down the hall from that room it was so quiet.
"Are you serious? You're not pulling my leg? You didn't know…?"
Rey shook his head slowly, like he was in a trance. "No, I didn't…"
"All this time…? You had no idea I liked you this whole time?"
"No…" Rey said weakly.
Batista looked like he'd just found out a bomb had been dropped on his house.
"You're kidding," Batista finally said with a tinge of bitterness.
"I don't blame you for being angry with me. I know it's my fault," Rey began sadly.
"What?!"
"I'm sorry. It's…it's my fault that you ever liked me as anything more than a friend," Rey started to explain, but Batista cut him off.
"That's exactly your problem, Rey, you think that everything's always about you. All this crap from all the guys has gotten to your head, finally."
Rey tried to ignore the sting he felt from that remark. "I-I know it was my fault. I know. I think you remember it, too, I swear to you, Dave, I didn't mean anything by it…I didn't…" Rey's eyes were fogging up.
That memory, that stupid, stupid, terrible memory…
He hadn't cried this much in so few days since…in years. He hadn't cried this often in years.
"I-I don't want to talk about it, don't make me say it, you know what day I'm talking about!" Rey said, choking on sobs that he was desperately holding back.
"I thought it was mutual…I thought you liked me just as much as I liked you.
And just recently, I thought you were just messing with my head…"
"I wasn't…" Rey protested. "I wouldn't. I wouldn't do that to you."
"I don't know what 'day' you're talking about. You'll just have to spell it out for me," Batista said, frustrated. He was lying again.
"WHEN EDDIE DIED!" Rey screamed. Tears leaked out from him. They were beyond his control now. "When Eddie died…the day after he died, when we all heard he'd had a heart attack…" Rey cried. "I heard, and I went numb at first, and then, I…I managed to get to work, and Angie knew I was upset, but I had to go. We both knew I had to go, and I didn't get a chance to get all of the pain off my chest before I had to leave…so when I showed up at the memorial episode I just…I was…I was like a robot or something, I don't even remember the video, or anything, I just know that Shawn was standing next to me…"
Batista's eyes widened and his expression went blank with shock and understanding. It all came flashing back to him rapid-fire. It all came crashing down around him because of that one memory.
"And after the tribute video and everything went out…I…I…" Rey couldn't finish.
"I remember," Batista said quietly.
Shawn Michaels had led a stunned and breathless Rey Mysterio backstage to the locker room where many of the guys were also in tears over the unexpected and untimely death of Eddie Guerrero. Nobody had known what to say to Rey. Rey had been best friends with Eddie on screen and off for years.
John Cena patted his shoulder gently as he walked out and many of the others followed suit and decided to leave Rey alone with Shawn and Batista, who was at the other end of the room. When everyone else had left, Rey had just stood there, eyes unblinking and completely devoid of thought.
The bounce in Rey's steps had left for days, if not weeks after Eddie's death, and tonight they were so solid and grounded that Rey didn't resemble himself. Rey was a speedy, good-spirited, hyperactive, gymnastic, god of high-flying. Eddie's death had turned him mortal. And although he could still wrestle with his entire prowess by switching off his emotions or going on autopilot, he wasn't aware of the change in how he carried himself. The real Rey; the happy Rey floated. He didn't walk, he floated. This Rey, this heartbroken Rey Mysterio did walk. Like any other mortal who couldn't fly.
His wings were clipped.
Shawn had looked at him to make sure he wouldn't faint or something and before anyone knew what was happening; Rey tottered all the way across the room, dead silent and bumped into Batista.
Batista looked down to find Rey's face buried in his torso, quiet tears streaming down his mask and face.
Batista hadn't known what to say, so he didn't say anything. He wrapped his arms around Rey's shoulders and tried to comfort him, but there was nothing that could be done. So he just held him there for a while.
And a terrible, amazing, beautiful thing had happened. Rey had stretched up his arms and hugged onto Dave's back, his gloved hands gently clutching tight against Batista's body just as some of his tears fell down Batista's bare skin.
Batista remembered looking up to see Shawn's face; completely flabbergasted and riddled with melancholy. Shawn had smiled sadly, but gratefully, at Batista and a tear had trailed down his cheek.
"I remember telling you before then that I only ever cried in front of Angie…" Rey gasped. "That's why I know it was my fault that you took it that way… you thought I was crying in front of you because I loved you…I'm so sorry, Dave, I'm so sorry…"
Batista just looked at him, so upset he couldn't speak. He took one look at Rey, his beautiful skin streaked with tears, begging for forgiveness and he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to forgive. So he walked out of the room without a single word.
"I'm so sorry…" Rey whispered.
Rey collapsed back against the wall and crumpled into a pile, holding his knees as he buried his face and sobbed uncontrollably into them.
He felt the material of his jeans slowly soak up with wetness and for some reason that just made him cry harder.
