"What the hell was that last night?" Jeff hissed without preamble, glaring at Shane as he sat on the other bed in the hotel room when the dark haired man opened his eyes.

Shane yawned and stretched his arms, rubbing his eyes and moving to sit up in his own bed before responding. He knew this confrontation was going to happen when he woke up, but he'd hoped that Jeff would at least let him get his head together and brush his teeth first. No such luck, it seemed.

"What was what?" he feigned ignorance, knowing full well the younger man wasn't about to go for that route for an instant.

"You know what, Shane!" Jeff retorted. "Stop playing at stupid and just talk to me!"

The older man sighed hard and looked down at his comforter, trying to get his thoughts together. He'd been up half the night trying to figure out what to say, but nothing he came up with sounded plausible to him. And if he couldn't convince himself, he damn sure couldn't convince Jeff Hardy. Shane had always admired his best friend's bother's ability to read people … until now.

"Well?" Jeff demanded, clearly vexed about waiting for an answer.

"I hate Randy Orton!" Shane finally exploded, raising his own voice.

There, that's a start, he thought. Jeff couldn't argue much against that point. And he wouldn't know about his friend's inner turmoil over his newfound feelings. That was paramount right now. Shane didn't think he'd be able to resist the temptation if Jeff knew. And down that road awaited heartache.

"But why?" Jeff growled.

Shane pushed the covers off himself and jumped out of bed facing away from his roommate, trying to conceal his morning hard-on, which had become a lot more pronounced ever since he started rooming with his best friend's baby brother. He waddled into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Shane?" Jeff called from the bedroom.

"Can I please at least take a piss before you interrogate me?" he called back.

Silence followed that request, but Shane knew Jeff was willing to wait until he got out of the bathroom now. If not, he would have already been over there to bang on the door. Shane turned the water faucet on high to cover any sound of what he was about to do to get rid of the woody. Then he'd better hurry up and figure out what to say.

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Matt rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand as he paced the hotel gym silently. It had been about two weeks since he left his previous show, but the pain in his heart felt as fresh as it did the day he saw Lance debut on RAW. Damn but he'd do anything to turn back the clock.

"You okay, Matt?" Shannon asked quietly, setting down the dumbbell and getting off the bench.

Honestly, it was getting more and more difficult to resist the longing he saw in his brother's best friend's eyes. Matt knew Shannon wasn't aware his crush was so transparent. The kid was just that … a kid. He didn't seem to know how to conceal his feelings. But then that was one of the adorable things about him, Matt supposed. Too bad he couldn't transfer his own feelings for Shawn onto Shannon. It would make life a whole lot easier. But he couldn't, and the aching was festering inside of him. Matt simply wasn't sure how to handle that. It was morphing into a rage he was having trouble shaking off. He knew in his heart of hearts that Lance and Shawn hadn't done anything wrong; the fault lay squarely on his own shoulders for his inability to pursue the man he'd wanted.

"Matt?"

He turned to Shannon's wide-eyed, innocent green gaze and forced a smile. Though the smaller wrestler didn't appear convinced, he said nothing, merely nodding and walking over to the free weights. Matt followed him and was picking out his own set of weights when Adam entered the room.

"Hey," he greeted the two as he set his towel and water bottle down before joining them. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," Matt sighed as he hefted his arm.

Shannon gave a cursory glance over and nodded at the tall blonde before setting back to work quietly.

"A man of few words, I see" Adam smiled at the kid.

Matt quirked a dark eyebrow up but said nothing. He had a feeling Adam wouldn't welcome any teasing on the matter at the moment, as it appeared he was trying to keep Shannon from knowing about his interest, and Matt wasn't in the mood to tease his friend anyway. They rode to shows together, and that would make for an uncomfortable ride. Adam was still smarting over his own broken relationship with Jay, so Matt was reasonably sure he wouldn't be approaching Shannon anytime soon anyway. And this was good because Matt wasn't sure he could handle having to directly deflect the tall blonde from the smaller one right now, in the condition he was in. He decided to make things easier on Adam and himself by sending Shannon away.

"Hey, don't you have a meeting with Heyman and Noble to get to?" he asked softly.

The small blonde looked up at him then at the clock on the wall and paled. "Oh no! I forgot!"

"It's okay," Matt smiled. "You're not late. Yet."

That did it. Shannon immediately returned the weights to the floor and nodded his thanks, grabbing his towel and water bottle from the floor before trotting out the door.

"Good thing he has you," Adam laughed from beside him."

"Yeah, sure," the dark haired man replied humorlessly. "Good thing."

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He'd better get his tight ass out here soon, Jeff thought to himself as he crossed his arms and watched the bathroom door. No way was Shane getting out of the talk they were about to have. One way or another, he had to know why his friend hated Randy so much. It didn't make any lick of sense, as far as he could see.

Jeff went over the events of the previous night, from the time Shane and Molly walked into the restaurant until he'd fallen asleep waiting for Shane to get back. He dimly thought he felt the other man touch his hair before he got into his own bed, but he dismissed as a dream.

Why couldn't Randy affect him this way? Jeff had tried to come up with an answer for that question, but none seemed to come to him. Even in their earlier flirting days, when Randy did cause a flutter to the younger Hardy brother's innards, it never sent him into the tailspin Shane was now apparently capable of creating. One intense look froze him in place and Shane's sweet yet demanding tone weakened his knees. If he didn't know any better, Jeff would swear he was falling in love. But this was Shane, and Shane was straight. He'd told him so himself in no uncertain terms that night after the catering room incident. Yet, Jeff couldn't shake the sensation that there was something to this.

He pulled his knees to his chest and swallowed hard, his resolve seeming to diminish the longer he waited for Shane to come out of the bathroom. Whatever was happening, he just knew he had to stop the bad feelings between his friend and Randy ... because if Shane wasn't acting on jealousy and was straight, as he claimed, then Jeff had a duty to protect his budding new relationship. And somehow that thought did nothing to regroup his nerves. Unfortunately, he wouldn't have any more time to prepare. The door opened and Shane stood against the jamb, shirtless. And he was wearing one of his mysteriously intense gazes. Jeff swallowed again, caught up in the storm.

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Shane contemplated his roommate as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom, not trusting himself to get any closer. Judging by the deer-caught-in-headlights look on Jeff's gorgeous face, his own expression must mirror his uncontrollable emotions. He'd damn near hollered them just a few minutes ago but he'd bitten down on a wash cloth to hold them back. Sit this was getting complicated! Maybe he could use the same tactic as the previous night to get out of this. Jeff suddenly looked like he was in no condition to push matters anyway.

"I keep telling you I don't like that boy you've been seeing," he started in that same soft, sweet voice – adding an extra thick accent to sugarcoat the words – making sure he held those pretty green eyes with his own dark stare. "I ain't never going to like him."

"B-but that's … that's no excuse," Jeff sputtered. "You can't just fall back on it every time."

"He's bad news."

"Says who?"

It seemed Jeff was determined to stand his ground, and Shane had admitted just the night before that he had no business being jealous of Randy if he didn't intend to start a relationship with Jeff himself. Still, something deep inside him growled at the idea of letting him go.

"Says me," Shane replied. "I've never been wrong about one of these gut feelings before, and I'm not going to ignore it now."

"I ain't your responsibility," Jeff muttered as he twisted his blanket in his fists, seemingly annoyed that he couldn't look away.

Yeah, just you try, Shane silently taunted him in his head. I won't be cast aside that easily, baby. He vaguely felt a measure of shock at his own words but it did nothing to break the tension that had settled upon the room.

"You are if I say so."

Jeff mutely shook his head, pissing Shane off.

"Stop seeing him," he hissed.

Jeff's eyes widened and his expression morphed into defiance as he sat up straight and glared at Shane, uttering two words in a direct, unmistakable challenge: "Make me."

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NOTE: A little cliffie for the regulars. Maybe an incentive for a review?