Finally, the European tour ends and Dolph finds himself back in the States, sitting at the foot of Zack's bed, hands warm against his calves as he idly massages the warm flesh there, opting to ignore his jetlag in place of making it up for Zack that he wasn't there after the procedure attempting to repair his torn rotator cuff. "Kid?"
Zack's sprawled out on his stomach, his hopefully healing arm carefully resting on a pillow as he breathes against the sheets. "Hmm?" he asks sleepily.
Dolph shifts up, carefully stretching out against Zack's back. "Did you see my tweet?" he wonders softly, holding his phone so Zack could see it without moving.
He watches as Zack squints at it, frowning. "Solar panels? Are you serious, bro?"
Dolph chuckles and kisses the back of Zack's neck before moving back down to where he'd left off at, rubbing up Zack's legs until his fingers find where they'd removed the stem cells from his hip to place in his shoulder, lightly rubbing the mostly faded bruise. His eyes soften as he releases a soft breath, kissing that spot, before moving up to knead along Zack's back. He moves slow, careful, reminding himself once more of the old damage there from Kane. Zack feels pliant and sleepy under his fingers, so Dolph brushes solid but gentle touches along his good shoulder and neck, keeping his bad arm for last.
Once Dolph moves to the other side, he stares down at the bruises covering this part of Zack's body, similar to his hip but more defined somehow. His touches are feather soft and slow, making sure not to jostle his arm and cause him any pain, so careful that he doubts Zack can feel this in his sleep, but he continues on anyway, lightly stroking down Zack's forearm to his wrist, before curling his fingers around Zack's. "I love you, kid."
Zack doesn't respond for a minute and Dolph assumes he really has just fallen deeply asleep but, when Dolph slowly settles in next to him, he sighs and wonders how much of a struggle falling asleep is going to be thanks to the jetlag jitters leaving him anxious and a little twitchy... when he realizes that Zack's staring at him. "Love you too, bro," he murmurs, sighing as Dolph nuzzles in and kisses him. The angle's odd, since Zack's still on his stomach, and Dolph's on his side, but they make it work, somehow. Zack groans softly into the kiss before pulling back enough to talk. "As for the tongue ring, I get a preview, right?"
Dolph's grin is sharp and quick in the half-lit room, an answer all on its own in the suggestive gleam of his eyes. "I thought you didn't notice that."
Zack smirks at him. "Course I did, bro. Now I don't know about you, but I think we should get some sleep." Zack's eyes are already fluttering shut as he says it so Dolph leans in and presses another, quick kiss to the corner of his lips before he dozes off finally.
Lulled by Zack's warmth and the sounds of his steady breathing- which is something Dolph's missed more than he's realized the last couple of weeks- he quickly falls asleep as well, arm wrapped lazily around Zack's waist in a half-hug.
