Chapter 3

A/N: These aren't meant to become a story ya know, its just kind of happening… And for those of you who voted for the threesome: I just happen to agree.

The show: On 9/17/02, for those of you who didn't see it, I was there, live. And nearly threw a Christian (hissy) fit. Raven lost by way of serious cheating … and thus got his head shaved. ::sob::

PS this isn't beta'd. My beta went to sleep before I did.

            Punk and Julio chased Slash and Sinn out of the ring, beating them as they passed through the crowd. Punk allowed himself a little smile as he heard a body hit the mat and the crowd cheer. Since they were removing the interference, Raven should have no trouble taking Douglass. Raven had a lot of encouragement to win. Not just because he liked his hair, but also because Punk liked it. Watching Sinn run off, Punk stayed behind him, remembering last night and just how much and how many times he had enjoyed running his hands through that hair.

            Sinn moved off through a door in the back. Punk followed him in, seeing Julio and Slash just ahead in the room. And just as he passed through he heard Julio scream, "Punk, no!" but it was too late. He heard Father Mitchell laugh and the door slammed behind him and he turned to see Sinn and Slash run out a side door, both ending in the clicks of locks. "Shit!" he cried, knowing that things were about to go bad.

            "Watch your leader now boys!" Came Mitchell's sarcasm from outside.

            Julio grabbed Punk's arm and led him to where a TV was playing the live feed from the arena. "No." Punk moaned as he saw the match continuing. In desperation, he threw himself against both sets of doors, neither budging. Probably locked and blocked at this point. He walked back over to where Julio stood, never once moving from the screen

            "I never should have left the ring." Julio muttered. "This is going to go very bad."

            Punk grabbed his hand, to both give and take comfort. "Well how were we to know?"

            "We should have been smarter. We should have…" Julio stopped as they saw Raven come seconds away from winning, and the lights go out. "Fuck!"

            Punk whimpered, and began his mantra, "No, no, no, no, no, no."

            They watched, gripping each other's hand tightly as the mystery man, set Raven up, dropped him, and knocked him out. Punk howled with injustice as Douglass got the pinfall. But both of them stood in distress as the man pulled his mask off and revealed Vampiro.

            The minutes passed in silence between the two men. The TV had no sound on its feed and the sounds from the arena were muffled. But both men could easily image the illustrations Father Mitchell was making with his voice. Issues of trust were simple to mess with when discussing Raven. Punk felt his heart break, as the hair was cut and Raven looked so lost. The last image before the production guys cut the feed was of Raven burying his head in his hands. Punk slid to the floor, tears filling his eyes.

            Julio had taken to walking around and throwing things he found in the room against the door. A chair went flying, then a piece of a table, then a 2 by 4. I started paying attention to him when he himself went flying to collide with the door. "Julio? What the…?" Punk stopped when his friend turned around. The tears Julio was shedding was enough to worry Punk, but the anger and the conviction with which he said, "That son of a bitch has signed his death warrant," made Punk wonder just how much his friend felt for Raven too.

            Punk, spoke without thinking, "Holy shit, you're in love with him too."

            Julio's eyes widened. "What? I … uh. Punk? Let's just get out of here and too him first okay? We can discuss this insane idea of yours later."

            "Ok." Punk started banging his fists on the door. Ok, Julio, we will get out of here, he thought, and we will talk too.

            Only thirty minutes later one of the security guys heard them and released them. Punk looked at the metal bracings the New Church had placed on the doors and sighed. Jerks. He stopped the security guard, Chris, before he could get away. "Where's Raven?"

            Chris hesitated. "He's gone."

            "Gone?" Julio choked.

            Chris took a step back at the look in their faces. "Yeah, he stayed long enough to get someone to actually finish shaving his head and he left. Went back to the hotel I think he said."

            "Thank god we took two rentals," Punk sighed. "Now lets get the hell outta here."

            At the hotel, they weren't surprised to find the hotel room locked against them. Sure they could get into Julio's room but Punk's and Raven's was locked up tight. With Raven inside.

            "Raven," Punk knocked on the door, "Let me in."

            All he received was silence.

            Julio pounded on the door. "Raven, we've gone through this before. At least let Punk in. We're kinda worried." He stared at Punk, "Why the hell don't you have the key?"

            "What and lose it?"

            "Asshole."

            "Hey you love me and you know it."

            "Yeah, yeah." Julio went back to talking to the door. "Raven please?"

            "What do you want?" Ah, finally! He talks.

            "We want in there, Raven. We want to talk to you." Julio says for the both of them.

            The door opens a bit and, just as Punk begins to smile, his bag is tossed out into Julio. "Too bad."

            Punk freezes. Raven just tossed his things out of their room. Where they stay. He starts to shake.

            Fortunately, Julio can move fast. He drops the bag and gets a shoulder and a leg in the door crack before Raven can fully close it. "Hell no, you ain't fucking tossing him outta here. And you will listen damnit."

            Raven backed away from the door and watched them come in. "I want both of you gone. Get out. Find somewhere else to be. Find someone else to follow." He ran a hand over his shorn head. "I'm no leader. I can't be trusted. Now get out."

            Punk stood in shock. He wanted to touch Raven. So badly. But Raven was pulling away from even the thought. God, that hurt.

            "No, Raven you can be trusted. It's me who's the fuck up." Julio responded. "Just don't blame Punk. It was my fault. I should have made sure one of us stayed behind."

            Raven stood very still, like moving would break him. "Stayed behind huh? Well you left, and you sure as hell didn't come back!" he finished with a roar. "What me losing again made you see what a lost cause I was. Well fuck you Julio, and you too Punk. I don't need either of you."

            With tears again falling from his eyes, Punk dropped his jaw. Raven couldn't be saying this. Not Raven. Not the man that he had to chase out of the bathroom this morning just so he could actually take a shower without both of them being late. The one who was laughing at Julio at breakfast. The one who said … he loved him. No, nonononono. He didn't realize when the word had become vocal, but it had. Raven and Julio were both looking at him; he saw Julio's doubt and anger and anger, pain and betrayal from Raven. "No, we didn't just leave you. We didn't stay away because you lost. We were away because The New Church locked us up again. They tortured us Raven." He saw the flinch in Raven's eyes and pressed on. "Yeah, tortured us. Know how? They locked us in a room and left us with a production TV! We could see everything that happened to you, couldn't hear it and couldn't do a damned thing! And if you think I would walk out on you that easy, well then fuck you too!" Punk turned to walk out. Oh it hurt. And he had to get out before he said something else stupid.

            Julio reached out and grabbed Punk's arm. Raven turned away from them and Punk still looked at the door, his escape route. "Punk's right Raven. We trust you. You being bald don't matter. It will grow back, big deal. We don't care if you lose. Hell, you can lose all you want, it's that you keep going back for more. That is why we follow you. You may lose but you never admit defeat. Hey I'll admit we all kinda screwed up tonight. But I promise to have Vampiro begging for mercy when I get my hands on him. His bullshit ends now. I don't want you to face any of those psychos alone. You can say you don't need us, but Punk loves you man."

            Raven never turned back but spoke softly. "And what about you Julio? You love me too?"

            Remembering his earlier epiphany, Punk looked at Julio's reaction. Julio glanced in his direction before staring at the floor. "Yes."

            Raven can be a silent little shit when he wants to. And apparently he wanted to. Punk watched him walk right up to Julio before the younger man noticed he was there. "I'm glad." Raven said, "I can't possibly excuse what I said and how I behaved. I've left partners and been left, but none of them hurt as bad as the thought of you two leaving me."

            Julio looked up at him. "Look Raven, that will never- ." Julio was cut short by Raven's lips pressed against his. His eyes closed, and he kissed back.

            Punk smirked. Yeah, he had been on the receiving end of a 'shut up' kiss from Raven before. And ya know, Raven kissing another guy didn't bother him so much. No. Especially not when it was Julio. Cause damn, Julio was hot. Punk was caught up in the sight so much that he failed to notice Raven's arm reaching for him, and gasped as he was pulled into a tight grip by Raven and quickly on the end of Raven's kiss. One that had the older man's tongue asking for forgiveness over what he said. Punk's mouth was happy to accept his apology and give forgiveness.

            Raven laughed as they released each other to breathe. "One of you go find me some hats to wear for now and the other some paper. We have to plot how to get our revenge." Regardless of what he said, Raven didn't release the two. "Now I have my Jim Bean," he nuzzled Punk, "and my Jack Daniel's both back," he finished, pulling Julio closer.

A/N: Sleeeeep. Sleep is good. Nitey-nite now.