Jeff and Matt trudged into their father's house and dropped their luggage. The older Hardy brother went to check the stack of mail while Jeff plodded into the TV room and plopped himself on the couch. He was just starting to zone out when Matt threw himself down next to him.

"I'm beat," Matt announced.

"No kidding," Jeff said not even bothering to open his eyes.

"We're still going out tonight, right?"

"Yeah," Jeff answered. "I haven't seen Shan since before he got sick. I want to know how he is."

"And I need to talk to Shane," Matt said in a somewhat sad voice.

"Matt, he was just pissed at me as usual," Jeff said looking over to his brother. "He even said you'll always be his best friend. Don't make too much out of it."

"Mmmm."

"I know that tone, bro," Jeff grinned. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Matt asked defensively.

"Can't hide it from me forever," Jeff reasoned. "Just get it over with and tell me."

"It's nothing," Matt replied crossing his arms over his chest. Now Jeff knew something was up.

"Look, either you tell me or I'll torture you all night."

"Uh huh," Matt said looking smug.

"In front of Shane."

"You wouldn't!" Matt's eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry, have we met?" Jeff laughed. "My name's Jeff and I'm the bane of your existence."

Matt grunted and looked down.

"Seriously, Matt," Jeff said. "What's going on with you and Shane? I know it's him because you get jumpy every time we're planning to see him."

"You wouldn't understand," Matt sighed.

Jeff looked his brother over more critically, taking in the nervous posture and shifting eyes. He'd been wondering lately if there was anything to the feeling he was getting, now he supposed he had his answer.

"I understand a lot more than you think," Jeff finally said sadly. "Trust me on that."

Matt's eyes jumped back to Jeff's wildly. He stared at him for a few long moments, seemingly unsure of what Jeff was trying to tell him. Then Jeff could see realization dawn on Matt, followed quickly by a look of relief mixed with pity.

"Shannon?"

"Yeah," Jeff answered quietly, not bothering to look away from Matt's inquisitive gaze.

"For how long?"

"Years," Jeff shrugged. "Since the end of high school."

"Damn," Matt whistled. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"What could I say?" Jeff demanded. "'Gee, bro, I'm in love with my best friend and he's straight. So I'm trying to get him out of my system with Beth, but it's not really working out that well, and I'd rather Shannon not know.' What would you have said?"

"I would have said, 'I know how you feel,'" Matt returned just as annoyed. "It would have been nice to know someone else understood what I'm going through, Jeff."

"Matt, we both know Shane's gay," Jeff rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just tell him?"

"He was going out with Kidman for so long, I gave up," Matt sighed. "Now that they've broken up, it just feels wrong to throw this at him, you know?"

"You don't have to make a pass at him," Jeff argued. "Just let him know you care and you're available if he's interested."

"Oh, now THAT doesn't sound too desperate," Matt countered.

Jeff laughed at the situation. Here he and Matt were, talking like a couple of teenage girls with crushes on the school's cutest guys. Okay, WCW's cutest guys. He couldn't help himself. Matt looked at him strangely for a few seconds then broke down laughing along with him.

"We're pathetic, huh?" Matt said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Nah," Jeff replied. "Just scared."

"I'm still too scared," Matt said quietly.

"I know how you feel."

**********************************

"I guess we have to tell Matt and Jeff's what's going on," Shannon said glumly from the passenger's seat of Shane's car. They were on their way to meet the Hardys after getting home earlier that afternoon.

"We don't have to tell anyone anything you don't want to," Shane said, taking his eyes off the road briefly to check on Shannon.

"They're our best friends," Shannon said softly. "And the rumors will get to their locker room. You know that."

"Probably," Shane replied. "I'm sorry, Shanny."

"Not your fault, Shaney," Shannon sighed. "You've been nothing but good to me since this whole thing started."

Shane made a noncommittal grunt and kept his eyes on the road. The rest of the week had gone well. He and Shannon had fallen into a routine of sorts. The blond had finally stopped jumping every time Shane touched him, which was good. Rey had seen the jumps at first and questioned if Shannon was being abused when Shane had left the room. Shannon covered by explaining that Evan had scared him badly and he was still recovering.

The small Latino just rubbed Shannon's arm and told him if he ever needed anyone to protect him, he should come find Rey. It was a wake up call for the blond, as he knew what Mysterio meant. Should Rey find out that Shannon ever wanted to leave Shane, Rey would be there to take Shane's place. And Shannon got the feeling that he might not be as receptive to the word 'no' as Shane. At least Shannon knew Rey would respect the rule until then.

Shane nearly hit the ceiling when Shannon told him what had happened. It just reinforced his need to protect his "little brother" all the more. And now Shannon understood that the plan couldn't just be dropped even after the danger from Evan and Juvi passed. There were predators among their colleagues and Shannon was considered a prize now that the locker room knew he'd dated men. Shane worried all the more for him. He was glad the Steiners and Stasiak were backing them up. If they weren't, some of those predators would disregard the rule altogether, or just take Shane out of the scene to get to Shannon.

"I'll be fine," Shannon asserted. "But I have to tell Jeff at least a little bit."

Shane grunted again.

"Don't be that way, Shane," the blond whined. "He's still my best friend and I care about his feelings."

"You care more about his than he does about yours."

"Well, you care more about mine than you do about Matt's," Shannon countered.

Shane nearly ran the car off the road, but pulled the wheel back just in time. "What do you mean by that, Shanny?"

"Stop calling me that," Shannon suddenly looked vexed. Shane bit back a smile and shook his head.

"Tell me," he demanded.

"Matt's hurt, Shane," Shannon sighed. "Can't you see that?"

"How do you know?"

"Jeff told me what you said when I last talked to him," the blond replied. "Matt's feelings are hurt and you act like you don't even know."

"I didn't know," Shane asserted. "My only concern that night was you. It still is."

"I know," Shannon said and guiltily looked away. "But there's no need to hurt Matt, too. He'll only end up resenting me if we don't explain."

"Why would he resent you?"

"Because you'll be spending most of your time with me," Shannon held up a hand. "Don't try to pretend that's not true. It is. You know how you get when I'm in trouble."

Shane shrugged, as he knew he couldn't argue.

"And Matt won't understand if we don't tell him," Shannon went on. "I don't want him to start hating me like you do Jeff."

"I don't HATE Jeff," Shane growled. "I just don't like him."

"Mmmhmm," Shannon said. "And that dislike will keep you from leaving me alone with him again if you can help it. I know it will."

"Well, if anyone finds out that I let you spend time alone with him, it will put you in danger," Shane argued.

"Which will lead to Matt hating me," Shannon finally finished glumly. "I like Matt and I don't want to be the reason he's hurting."

"I don't want to hurt him either," Shane conceded. "All right, you can tell them what you feel you need to. But you should maybe avoid mentioning any names. This business is small and our friends act first and think second. Okay?"

"Okay."

**********************************

Matt and Jeff slid into the booth opposite Shane and Shannon. The four eyed each other awkwardly before Jeff finally broke the silence.

"How are you, bud?" he asked looking the smaller blond over carefully.

"Not bad now," Shannon said. "But if Shane hadn't been there for me, who knows what would have happened."

"He said you were sick," Matt cut in a little more harsh than Jeff had expected him to be. Jeff looked over and saw that he, too, was watching Shannon carefully, but with much less concern.

"Yeah, well I would have been if he didn't come for me," Shannon replied.

Shane sat stoically in his seat. He'd been glaring at Jeff at first. But now he merely stared warily across the table at his best friend, looking like he wanted to jump in to keep Matt from interrogating Shannon, but he wasn't quite sure what to say. Jeff was stunned by this and almost missed Shannon's next statement.

"The thing was, he'd found out someone was trying to, well, trying to," Shannon stopped and looked down. He was suddenly sweating and his face was flushed.

"Trying to what?" Matt demanded quietly. Shannon began to shake.

"Trying to rape him," Shane completed Shannon's sentence and put his arm around the smaller man's shoulder. "Matt, back the hell down. He's been through enough this week."

Matt's face paled considerably and Jeff's stomach about dropped out of his body. Both Hardys gasped and leaned forward.

"Shan!" Jeff exclaimed. "What happened?"

Shannon's eyes began to tear but he sucked in the sobs that Jeff could see were trying to get out. A few long minutes later he'd collected himself and recounted a horrible story that Jeff knew would give him nightmares. He'd been planning to see Jeff and Matt with Shane that night when an acquaintance called and said he needed Shannon to stay with him after getting into a fight. Shane reluctantly left him at the guy's door and went out. Once inside, Shannon was attacked and nearly raped by the guy and one of his friends, but Shane and Rick Steiner got there just in time. Now Shane was pretending to be with Shannon to keep the other, less trustworthy guys away from him.

Jeff was doubly horrified for Shannon because the poor blond was straight and now he had to pretend to be gay and with one of his closer friends to stay safe. It was probably among a straight man's worst nightmare. Jeff warred with another emotion he was feeling rearing up on him, too: jealousy. God, how he wished he were Shane right now. He tried to tamp down the insane feeling, but it wouldn't leave. He looked at Matt to see how he was taking this. The older man looked stricken by conflicting emotions as well. He sighed and looked back across the table, touching Shannon's hand. Shannon was startled at first, but relaxed his hand into Jeff's with a sigh. Shane just stared at the two Hardys with an unreadable expression.

"I'm sorry, Shannon," Matt whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"You didn't know," the blond sniffled. "I told Shane we had to tell you two. I don't want to start trouble between us all. We're best friends. I need all of you."

The Hardys nodded and Shane lifted an eyebrow. Jeff looked at him carefully. He knew the other man still didn't like him, but they were all bound together now. At last Shane decided to speak again.

"No one can know," he said, not looking away from Jeff. "No one."

"But the police," Matt said.

"No one," Shane repeated, shifting his gaze to Matt's. "Shannon has already been targeted by some of the more aggressive guys."

"WHO?" Jeff growled in outrage. No one would hurt his best friend again. He wanted to hunt down the ones who had. "Who's after him and who did this to him?" He demanded, glaring at Shane. He knew instinctively that Shannon wouldn't tell him. Shane had most likely suggested that. If he had to deal with his nemesis to get the names, he'd do it gladly. "Who, Shane?"

"Jeff, calm down," Matt said touching Jeff's arm.

"No, I will NOT calm down," he growled, never looking away from Shane's sarcastic expression. "I want to know who did this to MY best friend. I also want to know why you wouldn't let ME come help him that night. I know you don't like me, Shane, and I don't know why. But, quite frankly, I'm beyond caring about that. Now you're interfering in MY relationship with him," he said pointing at a sullen-faced Shannon. "Now, I don't care if I have to hound you forever, but you WILL tell me who did this to him. Eventually. You might as well save yourself the torment and give me what I want to know."

Shane looked back at Jeff in stony silence. Well then, Jeff thought, let the games begin.

**********************************

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