Disclaimer: All characters belong either to themselves or NWA-TNA. I claim no ownership or accuracy of depiction of the real people involved. This is purely fiction involving characters and nothing more. No infringement has been intended.
Rating: PG, mild slash
Continuity: TNA - post-Sacrifice 2006. Mentions stuff from Turning Point 2005 onwards.
Characters: AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels
Summary: AJ knows this won't last.
Anything
Clutching his head, AJ stepped out of the trainer's room to find Christopher Daniels waiting for him on the other side. While AJ was still in his wrestling trunks, drawstring loosened and dangling, the ends tickling the top of his thighs, Daniels had already showered and changed, immaculate in a white button shirt and dark slacks. Concern mixed with lingering vexation was transparent across Daniels' face, and AJ thought this must be some kind of a Twilight Zone. He couldn't believe Daniels was waiting for him, but a lot of things couldn't be believed these days when it came to the Fallen Angel.
"How's your head?" Daniels approached the moment AJ stepped foot in the corridor, and Daniels was looking him over, just like he did in the ring. Unsurprising though, Daniels didn't touch him. No doubt because AJ was still sweaty and probably stunk. Daniels always was a neat one.
AJ winced as he fingered the knot on his head. Not a good idea, but he was the kind of kid who picked at his scabs. "Hard as diamonds."
Daniels snorted. "You and your head need to stay away from blunt objects."
"Don't you think I know that?" Rolling his eyes, AJ began to make his way toward the locker room, and Daniels followed. A curse nearly slipped past AJ's lips as his head throbbed in a particularly nasty manner, but Daniels had already cursed enough for him and a small country earlier.
"We're going to get them, AJ. And if I have to climb the rafters to get at Gail, I will."
The words made AJ pause, and he turned to look at Daniels. "You still wanna tag?"
Daniels shot him a disbelieving look. "After losing the way we did? There's no way I will let this go."
Well, AJ had to give Daniels that; the man had always been a tenacious one, like a damn badger with his mouthful who would never let go. "I thought you'd be pissed that I lost the match for us."
"It wasn't your fault."
Four little words. Coming from any other man, they wouldn't be surprising. Nor remarkable. It truly wasn't AJ's fault that they had lost the match, but this was Christopher Daniels, a man who could probably find a way to blame AJ for global warming if he wanted.
"Thanks," AJ finally said, not knowing what else to say. Maybe it was the knock to his head, but the past few weeks seemed sharper than ever. His alliance with Daniels, their flawless teamwork, the near victory at Impact, and the unfair defeat tonight. It was too much for his head to take, so AJ shoved the whole thing under the rug for now. Right now, what he wanted most was a shower and then to get back to the hotel and sleep off his headache.
Daniels seemed to sense this and remained quiet, though he followed AJ right to the locker room. He wasn't hovering, didn't seem to be concerned that AJ would suddenly keel over from his head injury, but he stayed close nonethless, and AJ was somewhat unsettled to find Daniels' presence comforting rather than annoying.
Don't think about it, he told himself. Shower. A hot shower would make him feel so much better. And it did. Hot water and steam washed the evening away, the taint of loss swirling down the drain, replaced by determination to do better next time. AJ stepped out of the shower and back into the locker room as he towel-dried his hair, breathing in deeply, skin abruptly chilled by the air-conditioning, making him shiver.
He tossed the towel onto the bench, a splash of white against shades of brown. Daniels was sitting on that bench, still waiting for him, his own bag at his feet, ready to go whenever AJ was.
A towel. It had been a towel that had broken their tenuous "friendship". Daniels had been by his side for New Years, the first match of 2006, also against AMW. They had gelled as well then as they did tonight. Strange, how they could mesh as well as any tag team who had been together for years, but sometimes enemies knew each other better than friends ever could. Still, they hadn't lasted long. A towel, nothing more than a handful of cotton fibers, had mutated Daniels' slowly building respect into resentment.
Turning away, AJ slowly dressed, but he couldn't stop thinking of circumstance five months ago. Stop thinking. Stop thinking. Stop thinking. Maybe if he repeated that enough, he could make himself stop for real. It didn't help that Daniels was still here, but god help him, he didn't want Daniels to leave.
AJ breathed deeply, then picked up his bag and turned back around. Daniels eyed him, but didn't say a word before standing, taking his own bag in hand and leading the way out. It was unspoken that Daniels would give AJ a ride back to the hotel. Though AJ had ridden to the studio with Sabin, it was Daniels whom he roomed with. It had been Daniels' idea, come to think of it. Daniels had talked him into it, not that AJ had needed much convincing. They had needed the time and the privacy to talk strategy for the tag title match.
There was little need for talking now.
The moment AJ stepped inside the hotel room, he dropped his bag and sagged against the wall. Even the few steps required to get him to the bed seemed an insurmountable distance. He was going to fall asleep standing up, he really was, his eyelids drooping... and they immediately opened wide when AJ felt Daniels' hands upon him.
Daniels was cradling his face, peering at him with concern, and AJ stared.
"It really wasn't your fault."
That wasn't what AJ had expected Daniels to say, though he couldn't say just what, if anything, he had been expecting.
"I didn't think it was my fault." AJ didn't know why he was whispering, but this tiny corridor they were standing in between the door and the bedroom suddenly seemed so much smaller than before.
"You looked like you needed me to say it again."
AJ hesitated a moment before answering. "I know it wasn't my fault."
Daniels half-smirked. "I know you know that. But you wanted to hear me say it, so you'd know you didn't imagine it the first time."
Daniels always could cut to the quick, but AJ didn't flinch. Didn't want to. Daniels' hands were warm against his cheeks, his skin suffused with a glow that could only come from a touch filled with genuine concern. How did it happen that Daniels was the one to give this to him?
Looking at Daniels, AJ found that he had no answer. Half of Daniels' face was in shadows, and though AJ had no poetic soul, he thought the visual was far too fitting. For months, Daniels could be relentless and ruthless, filled with jealousy and resentment. And then there were these moments when co-existence wasn't a fancy, but a reality.
The difference was suddenly clear: there was no belt between them.
The realization wasn't comforting in the least.
"I meant what I said, AJ. Whatever it takes to have those belts."
AJ clasped his hand over Daniels'. The intention had been to lower those hands from his face, but he couldn't seem to follow through.
"Are titles the only thing that matters to you?"
Daniels cocked his head, regarding AJ with a gaze that could be only be called penetrative. Pinned to the wall by those eyes, AJ offered nothing but a full view. He never had anything to hide.
"Why do I have a feeling that's a loaded question?" Stepping closer, Daniels did his best to loom, but AJ showed no intimidation; he felt none. It helped that Daniels wasn't much taller than he was. "It's not like you to talk in circles, AJ. Whatever it is you want to say, say it."
AJ opened his mouth, ready to be heard, but his throat seized up, for reasons he couldn't fathom. Daniels seemed to be patient enough, though he slipped his hands out from under AJ's and planted a forearm on the wall next to AJ's head, taking this silence as an opportunity to move even closer. AJ didn't dare look down to see where Daniels' other hand went, but he felt it soon enough, resting upon his hip, so casually as though they did this every day.
"What're you doin'?"
Daniels offered little more than a half-shrug and a smirk. "Taking a page from your playbook. You've always been much better at doing than talking."
AJ frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
That was when Daniels kissed him.
The kiss didn't shock AJ; what shocked him as his own reaction. He bowed off the wall to meet Daniels, arm wrapping around the back of Daniels' neck to draw him closer, mouth pressed full to Daniels' lips. There was a hunger inside him that he hadn't known to have existed, but now awakened, he couldn't feel anything but craving.
Daniels pushed him right back against the wall, no surprise in his frame, as though everything was moving merrily to his plan. AJ didn't care, only that Daniels was smothering him and he was sandwiched between Daniels' firm body and the hard wall behind him, and god, it felt good.
Sense tore him from the kiss, and AJ was left panting, hands on the sides of Daniels' neck, unable to push Daniels away even though that was the wisest course of action. Daniels was undeterred and stole kisses, nothing rough, nothing hard, just little pecks of their lips, forehead touched to AJ's.
"What're you doin'?" AJ asked again, and he nearly winced at the faintly pleading note in his voice.
"You should ask yourself that question."
AJ tilted his head back to look at Daniels. To say there was no guile in Daniels' face was akin to saying there was no warmth in the sun's rays. Yet there were times when both were true. And it had to mean something, right, for a man who loved to elaborate things to death to leave the interpretation to him? Then again, it was just like Daniels to play these sorts of headgames.
"I got a headache, Chris. I'm not in the mood to play with ya."
"Who says I'm playing?"
AJ took a second look, and Daniels was all seriousness, though before AJ could say a word, Daniels was speaking again.
"You thrive on competition, but what you want most is harmony." Daniels guided AJ's hands down, then cradled AJ's face in his own again. AJ expected more: explanations and speeches, persuasion and logic. All Daniels gave him, however, was another kiss. Soft. Light. AJ didn't dare to call it sweet. It wasn't too difficult to know what Daniels was trying to say though.
"A kiss doesn't mean anything."
"A kiss," Daniels murmured, "means as much as you want it to."
Sighing, AJ turned his face away. "That's called deludin' yourself. I'm not gonna play this game with you, Chris. You want it all out in the open, fine." Taking a deep breath, AJ looked at Daniels again. "You're not gonna care whose feelings you hurt when what you want is on the line. It's great taggin' with you, Chris, it really is. There's nobody else like ya on this earth, and I'm not scared to say that. But when the belt comes between us again, you'll do anything."
Daniels was quiet, gaze downcast, and AJ's stomach twisted. He'd hurt Daniels' feelings. It was laughable, really; he'd spoken nothing but the truth.
"People can change, AJ," Daniels finally said.
"I know," AJ whispered. "They can also change back."
Daniels' brow knitted, and his lips were draw into a grim line. Then abruptly, he yanked AJ into a kiss. This time, AJ was surprised, eyes widening for just a brief moment before he reflexively kissed back.
"You can't tell me you don't want me," Daniels said against AJ's lips.
"I don't trust you."
"That's not the same thing."
"No... it isn't."
Daniels drew back at the tone of AJ's voice and stared, then he exhaled roughly and pulled completely away. He seemed to be salvaging the remnants of his dignity, though AJ certainly never tried to strip that from him. It hadn't been his intention to cut Daniels off so harshly. Stepping forward, AJ took Daniels' hand into his own.
"Some things you can't just take and have, Chris. They gotta be worked for."
Daniels glanced at their hands, then at AJ, almost frowning as he read between the lines. "I thought I'll do anything and people will always change back."
"You can prove me wrong, if you really want."
Uncharacteristically quiet, Daniels tugged AJ forward, and AJ followed, eyes slipping shut as Daniels' arms wrapped around him in a warm embrace. Daniels merely hugged him and nothing more.
"Your head still hurting?"
"A little, yeah."
"I got some Excedrin."
Pulling back slightly, AJ smiled at Daniels. "Thanks."
Daniels vaguely shrugged, then took AJ's hand and led him into the bedroom. They didn't kiss again, hardly talked before each went to his respective beds, but the silence was deceptive. Daniels wasn't deterred and AJ's heart wasn't cold. He did want Daniels, and the craving inside him still burned strong and bright. He had staved off one advance, but tomorrow was a different story. As AJ switched off the lights and settled upon his pillow, he wondered how long it would take for Daniels to earn his trust.
And how long it'd be before Daniels betrayed it.
end