Blackout

"Shawn get out from under the bed," Hunter said in exasperation. "It's just a thunderstorm. It is not going to hurt you."

"Oh yeah? How much did it pay you to say that?" Shawn replied. He had crawled under the bed as soon as he heard thunder and he had absolutely no intention of coming out until the storm was over.

Hunter sighed. He wished Rebecca was here to deal with this so he could be off with Stephanie. Unfortunately, life did not care what he wanted and he was stuck trying to deal with his terrified tag team partner. "Thunderstorms can't pay people to say stuff for them. Now come out of there this instant. I'll beat the storm with my sledgehammer if I have to."

Shawn reluctantly poked his head out from under the bed. "You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Okay." Shawn slowly crawled out from under the bed and stood up. His eyes darted all around the room nervously. "Where's Sledgey?"

Hunter winced. In his haste to promise Shawn just about anything, he had forgotten one important fact. "Um...I don't actually have him with me at the moment."

Shawn's eyes widened. "What? How could you--" He stopped to scream as thunder boomed and then the lights went out. "OH MY GOD! WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

Hunter grunted as Shawn jumped into his arms. "Dude come on, don't do this," he said tiredly. "I just want to go to sleep."

"You can't sleep yet Hunter," Shawn said. He got out of the larger man's arms but then immediately pulled Hunter down to the floor and made the Game crawl under the bed with him. "It's not safe up here. The storm is coming to get us."

Hunter groaned. How was he going to convince Shawn that the storm was not out to get them? Shawn acted like he couldn't even comprehend that a storm had no emotions or vendettas. It wasn't going to get them, no matter how scarily loud the thunder was.

"Matty I can't see! How are we supposed to find our room?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should start knocking on doors to see if someone will let us in."

"That dirty bastard storm!" Shawn whispered angrily. "It's sounding like Matt and Jeff in order to trick us!"

Hunter rolled his eyes. "That really is Matt and Jeff you doof." He started trying to crawl out from under the bed. "Let go of me so I can let them in."

"No, don't do it!" Shawn protested. "You can't leave me all alone here! Something could get me!"

"Damn it, would you listen to yourself for a minute? You sound like a complete idiot."

"Hold me!" Shawn said. He wrapped his arms and legs around Hunter's body and squeezed tightly.

"No," Hunter replied simply. He managed to untangle himself from Shawn's grip and rolled out from under the bed. He got up to his feet and somehow managed to find the door. He stumbled into about a million things and nearly fell on his face a couple of times, but he got to the door at least. Once he got it open, he poked his head out into the pitch black hallway. "Matt? Jeff? Are you guys still out there?"

Jeff gasped. "Hunter? Is that you?"

"Yeah. You guys should come in here and stay with me and Shawn. He's freaking out on me and I need help dealing with him."

"No! Don't let them in! They'll bring the storm in with them!" Shawn cried out.

"Well hold on a second," Matt said, obviously ignoring Shawn. "We're not even sure where you are. Keep talking so we can follow the sound of your voice."

Now that was something Hunter could do. "You know, when Stephanie was pregnant the first time around, we went to this class where they had a whole bunch of other ballooned women and poor husbands like me who had to try to deal with the nightmare of the out of control hormones. And while the women were all gushing about how they love the feeling of being pregnant, I announced I like the feeling of getting Steph pregnant. Now honestly, was that so bad to announce? I mean, it was a compliment! But Steph got all mad and embarassed and who's fingers are almost in my mouth right now?"

"Mine," Jeff said with a giggle.

"Stop that Jeff," Matt ordered. He grabbed on to Hunter's shirt. "Okay, take us in."

"Aye aye Captain!" Hunter walked back into the room and shut the door behind them. "Shawn please come out and see Matt and Jeff."

"How can he see us?" Jeff asked. "I can't even see my own hand and I'm touching my face with it!"

"Don't bring up details like that right now," Hunter said. "I--"

Shawn suddenly screamed. "There's a monster under here!"

Hunter grunted as he suddenly felt Shawn jumping at him, Jeff and Matt. Somebody lost their balance and then he was getting pulled down with them. The back of his head bounced off the wall and he let out a yell of pain.

"Monster! Monster!" Shawn yelled. He could be heard trying to run for the door.

"Shawn wait--" Matt started to say.

"Ack! Something has my ankle!"

The lights came back on just in time for Hunter to see Shawn kicking Matt right in the mouth. Matt yelped in pain and pulled himself back. His mouth was already bleeding pretty badly.

"Matty!" Jeff cried out. "Shawn, what did you do that for?"

"I thought he was a monster!" Shawn said defensively. "Like the one under the bed."

Hunter rubbed the back of his head. "There's is no monster under the bed Shawn. You are just being an idiot."

"Am not!" Shawn pulled Hunter away from the Hardys so he could look under the bed. "Look under there and tell me what you see."

Hunter did just that. "I see absolutely nothing. I still maintain that you are a freak." Just as he was about to get up, he saw a spider crawl across the floor. "Sweet baby Jesus!" he shrieked. He literally jumped straight up and landed right in Shawn's arms. Unfortunately, Shawn was not expecting that and they both went crashing to the floor.

Jeff laughed loudly. "Do it again! Do it again! That was funny!"

"Shawn I think you knocked out one of my teeth," Matt complained. He was still trying to stop his mouth from bleeding. "I'm not even joking right now dude."

Hunter groaned and rolled away from Shawn. "Okay, that kind of hurt," he said.

"What are you talking about?" Shawn grunted. "You're heavier than me and you were the one who landed on me! I should be the one complaining here!"

"Guys seriously, start looking for my tooth," Matt said. "I seriously think one is gone."

Everyone ignored Matt of course. It wasn't anything personal; they just felt like there were more important things to worry about. "I think the storm is stopping," Jeff said. "I want to go play out in the puddles."

Shawn clapped his hands excitedly. "Yeah! I want to do that too!"

Hunter rolled his eyes. They were all so childish sometimes. But if it got Shawn to stop jumping at every noise, he was willing to put up with just about anything.