Title: Chasing the Moon
Author: Rebellecherry
Summary: A summer love between a Straight Edge stripper and unstable rookie cop burns out as their two lives move in different directions, but their romance is never really forgotten not even five years later. Memories of that hot summer followed them for years.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, the whole concept has probably been done, but it wouldn't leave me alone so here it is.
Present Day
Punk was in the little room with April and Jon who he should probably get used to calling AJ and Dean but he couldn't not yet he couldn't get over their affiliation or any of the things that happened today.
"This is going to hurt a lot," April said holding a syringe.
"What is that?" Punk wanted to know what was in the syringe the young woman was holding.
"Do you trust me?" she asked.
"Not particularly," Jon answered the question looking at the small dark haired woman.
Punk nodded.
"Just be quiet and hold him down," April said this time addressing Jon.
Jon balanced his hands on Punk's hips, and Punk couldn't stop the intake of breath at the feeling of Jon's hands on him it was the only thing he'd ever been addicted to in his whole life. He'd been in a tailspin since Jon had left and he could admit it now if not just to himself. Leaning against the table with Jon at his back reminded him of the last time he'd had Jon inside him, he'd been stupid and selfish he hated himself for how he'd behaved that day.
"Nice job Deano!" she said.
"Don't start that shit already," Jon swore as April pulled Punk's sweats down a bit and plunged the needle in is flesh.
Punk had been preparing himself he tried not to wince, he'd been expecting it, hoping that he'd get some sleep from what was no doubt a sedative. He could use one, he was notorious for not sleeping a sedative would be just what he needed to get himself on track. He was used to functioning on a small amount of sleep but the nightmares plaguing him were worse, every regret every past mistake played over and over in his dreams at night. He welcomed a medicine induced dreamless sleep. Once the injection was over he realized this was no sedative, a heart beat later he felt like his skin was on fire he rocked forward screaming.
"What the hell was that?" Jon wanted to know.
"Dermal pigmentation suppressant. It's a very painful process," April explained, "it feels like your skins melting off."
Jon didn't say anything but he pulled Punk closer as his body shook more. He hurt so much but he was aware of their conversation.
"Have you had this done to you before?" Jon said.
"Yes, but it gets easier," she said, "it's something you'll not have to go through. We'll have to do it once a month. Nothing hurts quite like the first time."
"What was the injection for?" Jon asked still holding Punk tight and Punk let himself be held as he cried the pain finally subsiding.
She didn't answer his question. Her silences were often loaded, another of the little sisters he'd never had, so different from the others, she'd always been the one who needed him she was the youngest the only person he knew who'd been wanted less by their parents than he'd been by his own.
"It's over now," Jon tried to soothe him but Punk wrenched himself away.
"Don't touch me," Punk hissed at him his eyes squeezed shut for a moment before he looked at April full of venom and accusation, "what have you done to me?"
"What had to be done," April told him flatly.
Jon was too busy gaping at him. He wondered why he was staring like that.
Punk looked down at his belly to find the last of the word Edge fading, before looking back at April, "Everything that was me is gone."
He cried in earnest everything that defined him was gone. Cabana most assuredly thought he was dead. He'd sold the house in Frisco holding on to it longer than he should have not willing to give up on the idea of living there, living there with Jon. He'd been the one to let things with them die, he'd dragged his feet and lived in fear for far longer than he should have. Now here he was without his tattoos Vince was in jail, there was a madman after him that he wasn't sure if he wanted to fuck him or kill him and then the madman's crazy pyromaniac loon of a wife, not to mention Vince's vindictive ex-wife all hot on his trail.
"I am so sorry Punk," she said sounding remorseful, "you had so many, and if anyone suspects you might still be alive after the blast they might come for you. With them you had a target on your back without them you might be free."
"Without them I'm lost," he said, "Can I have a minute by myself?"
"Sure, I'll find you something to wear and Jon will get you something to eat, we leave within the hour," April said, "they aren't gone forever, we'll have to do injections every thirty days, until this is over, and when it's done they'll come back like they've never left."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Punk asked softly but was met with a confused frown from April.
"That that was what the shit in the needle was going to do?" Punk asked, "I thought it was drugs."
"I knew you wouldn't have agreed to lose your tattoos but you trusted me enough to let me inject you with drugs?" she asked sounding more hurt than she had right to be.
"There had to be a reason you wouldn't tell me," Punk said, "I didn't think it was anything more than a sedative."
"That makes me feel a little better I guess," she shrugged.
"What about making him feel better?" Jon demanded.
"She did what had to be done Jon," Punk wiped his tears away, "if I want to live I'll have to do this. I have to remember I'm not Punk anymore."
"Punk-" April started.
"I'm not Punk," he told her slipping into an accent that he remembered hearing in a movie, "I'm Phil."
"Wow, that's pretty damn good," April said, "I knew you could do it."
"It's too dramatic," Punk said slipping back into his own accent it didn't fit, "I'm going to need to work on it. You might have given me the motivation I needed to accept my new identity, but I can't forgive you for not telling me you were going to take away my tattoos."
"You wouldn't have let me," she whispered, "don't you want your life back? Don't you want to see Vince? Don't you want to see Brooke again? To hold her?"
Punk touched a hand to his ribcage, where his daughter's name used to be.
"Alright then," she said wiping her own tears, "you might not forgive me, and I'm okay with that but I won't compromise when it comes to keeping you safe."
"Who is Brooke?" Jon asked but his question went ignored.
"I need a dermal suppressor too," April said.
"You don't have any tattoos," Jon said.
"They're very well hidden," she said.
"But I've seen you naked," Jon said.
"Well, aren't you two awfully chummy," Punk said, "do I even wanna know?"
"Don't get all jealous, I was a bait girl once," she smirked.
"A bait girl, like in To Catch a Predator?" Punk asked.
"Not really but same theme, pervs and kidnapped teenage girls," April said, "Remember when I came back from that conference with what you said was Harajuku hair."
"Those were just terrible bangs," Punk said.
Jon let a barking laugh probably recalling April with the hairstyle himself.
"There was nothing I could do I had to wait for them to grow out," April said, "it took a while for me to let Celeste see me with my clothes off because of the canings the old man headed the operation gave me for being disrespectful, those pervs like their girls clean without marks save the ones that they put on."
"But the blonde chunks though," Punk complained, "horrible. Who told you that was a good look, worse than the bob you had when you were little."
"Glad we're on good enough terms that you can talk about bad hair cuts I've gotten," April said, "you're the one who cut my hair!"
"You're the one who got gum in it," Punk told her.
"See, I knew you couldn't stay mad at me," she said.
"I'm still pretty pissed at you," Punk said, "I've lost everything, my tats were all I had left. You took them without even talking about it with me, and you think I should be fine a minute later. I know we don't have any but I need a little time."
"You've got it," April said, "We're going to get you food and clean clothes."
Jon nodded and followed April out leaving Punk alone in the room. He was more than thankful to he be finalally left to his own devices he was able to do something he'd hadn't done since the police came for Vince, and before that he hadn't done since the night he'd stood on the airport roof sobbing as the helicopter carrying the love of his life took off. He didn't cry after what happened when he'd dropped Brooke off with Celeste. He didn't cry when hack reporters got ahold of the sex tape Gabe had made without his permission soon after his name was brought up in the McMahon scandal.
It felt good cathartic he might be able to sleep after this, his heart was broken his little girl would be safer now that everyone thought he was dead but he worried what it would do to her in the long term. Hell what would it do to Celeste? April was here with him and her wife was taking care of all three children and alone thinking he was dead.
He'd lived his life by strict moral code and none of that mattered all his abstaining didn't stop him from being selfish and stupid he'd done that all on his own and he'd lost the man he loved because of it. He'd been determined not to make that mistake with Vince the man he'd built a life with, and it'd happened so quickly despite all the outward drama things were easy with Vince, he'd pursued Punk not long after Jon left after a series of failed relationships and sad one night stands Punk really didn't want to let him but Vince was so fucking persistent he'd let him in he'd loved him and they were raising a daughter together when the scandal broke. He was missing so much of Brooke's development but he was thankful that at least one of her biological parents were there to witness it.
April and Celeste were discussing having children at the same time Vince and Punk were considering adoption. Celeste was taking hormones, and trying to persuade April to contact her biological brother but April had been resolute in saying that Punk was her only family. So he gave them some sperm and they agreed that April and Celeste would keep the first baby then two years later they'd try again for Vince and Punk. As it happened Celeste got pregnant right away with twins, they decided that April and Celeste would keep the boy and Punk and Vince would get the girl.
The fraternal twins were raised as individual siblings in different homes at first Punk worried that they'd fuck them up by not dressing them alike and doing embarrassing twin things with them more often.
Through all that he'd never given himself fully to Vince, and he hated himself for it there was this part of him that Jon had access to and no one else. He loved Vince, and he hated the fact that they were apart, and he could admit to himself the way he felt for Jon eclipsed everything he felt for Vince. Seeing him today brought back all of those feelings and reminded him of how stupid and selfish he'd been and how ashamed he felt for making them because he feared being trapped in a relationship where he was a prisoner again. He knew Jon wasn't raven and but some scars never really healed.
It wasn't long before Jon let himself in the little room. Punk's tears had run their course, he was going to do things differently in this new life, he was going to get through this for his baby girl. And he was going to start right now he was going to tell Jon the truth.
Jon returned with some fruit and yogurt, Punk was hungry but he didn't dare to eat.
"I brought you something," Jon said.
"I'm not hungry," he said though the growling of his stomach proved otherwise.
"Really," Jon said.
"I'm not," he said.
"Just eat something today has been hard enough," Jon said.
"How do you know how hard my day has been?"
"You wake up and nearly get blown up, you found the girl you've known half your life isn't who you thought she was," Jon said, "you find out that you're being relocated, we see each other again, and the same girl from before injects you with some suppressant that makes your tats invisible. You probably feel like everything you've known is gone."
"It is gone," Punk said, "I've finally disappeared."
"You didn't disappear," Jon said, "just because your home is gone and your tats aren't there anymore doesn't mean you're not the same person."
"I never liked that house much anyway," Punk smiled, "I liked the place had in Frisco with Cabana. We finally got the pool finished, and then Vince asked me to move to LA with him. I sold it. I need to disappear so I can live."
"I'm so sorry," Jon said feeling the guilt churn in his stomach.
"It's not your fault," Punk said, "you didn't send the goon squad after me."
"I shouldn't have-" Jon started but Punk cut him off.
"-I was there that night, just after you'd gone," Punk revealed, "Cabana convinced me to go and tell you my answer was yes. But you were gone. I always knew. I should have said yes. If I had said yes…so much would be different now."
"You can't just tell me that," Jon paced the room, "not after all the time that has passed. Not after what you said to me at Colby and Joes wedding, not after I came to see you after and found you frolicking with old Daddy Warbucks."
Punk sobbed softly, "I should have said yes. Right when you asked me, though I thought you were just fucking with me at first. I mean really, who would want to-"
The door opened revealing April some jeans and hoodie effectively breaking the moment and ending the conversation, but it was for the best it was in the past, "Got you some clothes."
"Great," Punk toed off his shoes and was getting ready to pull of his sweat pants.
Jon turned giving Punk privacy, that he ddint want he wanted to gauge the response to see if Jon was still interested. Jon wasn't known for being a genetleman he'd never pass up the chance to look at Punk's body. Punk wondered if Jon was seeing someone or if he was just revolted by how Punk had let himself go. He was too thin and pale. Maybe he'd lost all his sex appeal it hadn't been a focal point since Vince got locked up. He took it as both disinterest and the fact that Jon had moved on and though he didn't like it he was going to have to accept it, they'd be spending a lot of time together until this whole thing blew over if it ever blew over and Punk was just going to have to deal with how he felt and that Jon didn't feel the same anymore.