November 2011

It had been almost a week now since Bobby had messed up, and AJ was still refusing to take his calls or answer his texts. Bobby was starting to climb the walls. He was especially anxious since their first PPV match was tonight and they hadn't gone over a thing. Not one thing. Bobby had texted AJ twice a day about that for three straight days, but still, nothing. He would have accepted a "leave me alone" text or even a verbal barrage, but this silence was carving him up inside. His control over his emotions, formerly so strong, was slipping badly.

As he drove up to the Impact Zone the day of the pay per view, he took a few minutes in the car to compose himself before going in the building. He closed his eyes and put his hands on the wheel, reminding himself over and over to stay calm and collected no matter what, to deal with today, that no matter what happened it would just be one day and it would pass. He kept repeating this over and over, under his breath, trying to make it sink in. While he was saying it for the 3rd time, Abyss knocked on his window and waved. He waved back, and decided then that he was as good and composed as he was going to get. He got out of his car and caught up with Abyss in the parking lot; they walked in together, talking of this and that.

Abyss' dressing room was up the hall from Bobby's. They stopped at the doorway, and Abyss rolled his suitcase in while they finished their conversation. Bobby laughed at something, turned around, and spotted AJ walking up the hall. The laughter died in his throat and he looked away, back into the dressing room. A few seconds later, he heard a loud "AHEM" from his shoulder and there AJ stood, not smiling, deeply sunburned, his eyes on a point somewhere to Bobby's right.

Bobby's eyes went straight to AJ's face and he quickly switched to looking at his shoulder instead. "Yes?"

"Do you have a minute? I need to go over some things in the match with you," AJ said, his eyes not moving.

"Sure, where should we talk?" Bobby answered. He thought, say my dressing room and I'll lock the door. He pushed that thought away. No time for love these days.

"My dressing room. It's three doors down on the left. Knock when you're ready." AJ turned on his heel and walked away. Bobby watched him go.

Abyss scratched his chin. "Huh. What's up with that? That was a little weird," he said.

"Eh, his ankle's been bothering him. We'll probably have to work something out around it. No big deal." Bobby glanced down at the floor and back up, and then let out a sigh. "Catch you after the show, man."

"See ya." Abyss nodded and closed the door. Bobby walked down the hall, stopping to drop his own suitcase off in his dressing room. Anderson was already there, and he gave him a quick hello before checking himself in the mirror. Eyes clear, t-shirt straightened, pants adjusted; he walked down the door feeling a little like he was walking to the guillotine. A hard ball of anxiety grew in his stomach and started ping ponging off his insides. When he finally got to the door, he paused for just a quick second to recheck his clothes, and then knocked twice, quickly. Daniels opened the door, and Bobby's small smile sagged just the tiniest bit. He walked in, greeting them both, and Daniels closed the door behind them and went back to checking his email. AJ was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. A chair was next to him, turned at a 90 degree angle to face him, so that if Bobby sat down, he would be looking at AJ and AJ would be looking somewhere else. Bobby grabbed the chair and turned it slightly out before he sat, so now they were both staring off into space.

"Hey," Bobby said as soon as he was seated. "What's up?"

"Hey yourself." AJ's tone was friendly enough, but his body language told a different story. He sat with his arms and legs crossed close. "I just thought we'd talk the match over, see what kinds of ideas you've got."

"Oh, okay. I texted you a couple of things-"

"My phone's been acting up," AJ offered.

"Oh. I see. How's your ankle?"

"It's fine. It's not going to be a problem."

"That's good. Nice sunburn."

AJ smiled a little. "Yeah, I wanted to look good on TV. Didn't work out so well."

An awkward silence fell. AJ played with one of his pants legs. Bobby was very conscious of Daniels' presence; he was sitting quietly in the corner, and yet his shadow shackled Bobby's hands to his sides. He cleared his throat and asked if AJ had gotten the finish yet.

"Yeah, you're winning with a roll up. Kind of a boring finish, if you ask me."

"I'm sure we'll find a way to make it interesting," said Bobby, an idea already percolating in his brain. It would probably make AJ even madder, but he would get a kick out of it. They started laying out a few spots, and after discussing each, Bobby was satisfied to note they were on the same page - at least, for the match. They finished up and Bobby stood to leave. He hadn't said a word about anything else, but "why haven't you returned my calls" was on the tip of his tongue. AJ stood as well and walked him to the door. Bobby threw a "later, Chris" over his shoulder and went out of the door; as AJ put his hand on the door to close it, Bobby touched him lightly on the forearm, stared into his eyes, and mouthed I love you.

AJ shook him off and closed the door in his face.

Bobby stood in the hallway, his mouth stretching as the rejection washed over and irritated him. He stood there for a second, letting the anger simmer down, and to his surprise the door opened again, and AJ said, his voice carrying just enough to where Bobby was standing, "I'm sorry. I'm still mad," and shut the door again. Bobby scratched his chin and walked back to his dressing room, a grin hovering around the edges of his face.

Bobby was mostly fine during the introductions. He kept sneaking glances at AJ, and inwardly marveling at the look of that sunburn. If they were talking, he would have teased him mercilessly. He settled instead for a long and intense look, and then they got down to business. Occasionally, when they were rolling on the mat, the feel of AJ's body against his would send a rippling shiver up his back and he'd have to move away. Once he caught a flash of something in AJ's eyes - love? regret? sympathy? - but it was gone in a second. Before he knew it the referee was telling them to end the match. AJ got him in position for a Styles Clash, but Bobby rolled through and pulled AJ's tights up...and up...and up, his fingers practically on AJ's taint. AJ half-whispered, half-yelped, "What in the world? There's too much air on my butt!" and Bobby hid a quick smile against AJ's leg. Served him right!

He rolled out of the ring, gave the camera some quick love, then hightailed it for his dressing room. Anderson had been watching the show and he tossed Bobby a beer and a compliment on his match as soon as he walked in the door. Bobby thanked him for both. He opened his beer and was halfway through it when the door flew open and AJ cannonballed inside.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled.

Bobby coolly finished off his beer before replying. "Making the finish a little more dramatic."

"Dramatic? DRAMATIC? Are you crazy? People all across the world are going to see this!"

"Well, yeah," said Bobby, his grin turning downright devilish. "Gotta up those buyrates somehow."

AJ stared at him, his chest heaving. Bobby stared right back, his eyes brimming with desire. His lips parted and he caressed his upper lip with his tongue. In the end, AJ blinked first. He pointed a finger at Bobby and said, "You think you're so funny. You just wait. I've got a lot of things to say to you tonight, Bobby. A LOT of things." He whirled around and stomped out of the door, slamming it shut behind him. Anderson whistled and Bobby motioned for another beer without taking his eyes off the door. The ice was thawing, and that was good...right? Another beer slipped into his hand and he opened it absently, AJ's face on his mind.

Hours later he wasn't thinking about AJ at all, just getting some sleep. He'd hit the hotel bar hard with EY and they had partied until the bar shut down, then went back to their hotel room to drink and talk more until they wound down. EY had already lost a shoe somewhere. He was lying on the bed watching ESPN and babbling something probably sports related. Bobby had pulled off his shirt and was working on the zipper to his pants. It kept bobbing and weaving. He had stopped to try and focus when three sharp knocks came on his door.

"EY," Bobby slurred, "get the door man, I can't see shit."

"You get it," EY replied. "I'm a fucking mess."

The door banged again.

"Come on EY, I can't even work my fucking pants."

"Answer it in your underwear dude. Nobody's gonna care tonight."

"Please, dude, this one time?"

"Alright, alright, fine." EY rolled over and out of bed, crawled to the dresser, pulled himself up, opened the door, and promptly slumped against the wall.

AJ came in and gave EY a look. "You went all in, huh?" He swiveled his head and looked at Bobby, who had just worried his zipper open, and was holding his waistband together in his hands. "Looks like both of y'all did. Hey EY, can you go down to James' for a while? I'm here to yell at Bobby, so I don't know if you want to stay for that."

"Yell at him?" EY said, the words dripping out of the corner of his mouth.

"Did you see the match tonight?"

"Oh. Oh yeah. Your ass, hahahahaha..."

"Get going before I yell at you, too. James' is down the hall. Three doors." AJ walked forward so EY could get out the door. He crashed into the doorway and sailed off in a general direction. AJ leaned out and yelled, "THE OTHER WAY!" and EY did an about face and went ass over teakettle onto the floor. AJ couldn't help laughing. EY picked himself up, waved, and went down the hall until AJ told him to stop. He knocked on the door, it opened, and music blared so loud Bobby could hear it over the TV. AJ closed the door and the music stopped.

"Now," AJ said, his smile disappearing, "on to you. I want to know what in the world you were thinking out there. I bet twenty dollars Bischoff has either called you already or is gonna call you in the morning to chew you out. And you deserve it. What do you think it looks like, huh?"

"Like I made a bunch of fans very happy."

"Oh ha ha, Bobby. You think you're so funny. It's not funny, okay? It's not funny in the slightest. Here I am, trying to put food on my family's table, and you keep trying to mess that up."

His words sobered Bobby up quickly. "I'm sorry, alright? I got carried away."

"You sure did. I couldn't even look at you during the match. Every time I caught your eye you were almost drooling. What's wrong with you?"

"I miss you."

"I get that, but it's like you can't contain yourself in public anymore. You need to find a way to do that before both of us lose our jobs."

"I know," sighed Bobby, finally releasing his jeans and running his hands down his thighs, "and I had every intention of being cool and just focusing on the wrestling tonight." He reached down to take off his boots. "And even so, I think we had a pretty good match. Don't you think so?"

"I do. I thought it was good. We work well together."

"We do." Bobby took his shoes off and stood up to slide his pants down his legs. AJ looked elsewhere. Bobby took his jeans off and folded them up, then turned to put them on top of his suitcase. He was now wearing only tight black boxer briefs, and he put his hands on his lower back and slid them down slowly into the waistband.

"Keep your draws on, please," said AJ. "We're not done talking."

Bobby turned around and shrugged. "Whatever you want."

"I'm still mad at you, anyway."

"Yeah. I still hope one day you won't be."

"Well every time I stop being mad, that dickhead Tommy seems to show up. I swear, he has this way of grinning at me that's like, it just makes me want to punch him. Like he knows exactly what you look like naked and he's rubbing it in my face. And then I get mad at you all over again because how could you get with him, of all people? Maybe it's stupid, but I don't care."

"I know what you mean," Bobby said, sitting on the bed. "He gives me the same look. I just ignore him and talk to James."

"What does he have to say about this?"

"Stay away from his crazy ass as much as possible."

"You doing that?"

"Hell yeah."

"Good." AJ crossed his arms. "That's a start."

Bobby leaned back on the bed and ran his eyes all over AJ, drinking him in, inch by luscious inch. AJ started blushing. "Bobby, stop."

"Come over here and make me."

"I'm not coming over there. We're not cool yet."

"We could be."

"Bobby, stop. Seriously. Didn't we just talk about you toning it down?"

"In public, yes sir, we talked about that. But you didn't say anything about in private. And if I've got to be cool, calm and collected in public, you bet that ass I'm going to be twice as hot in private. You know I miss you so much." Bobby's voice dropped even lower. "Come here."

AJ closed his eyes, clearly torn between wanting to leave and keep the upper hand and wanting to be with Bobby. He bit his lip in thought, and with his eyes still closed, he shook his head. "I'd better go."

Bobby stood up and crossed the distance between them in a few short strides. He pulled AJ into his arms and AJ's eyes snapped open. As he opened his mouth to protest, Bobby kissed him forcefully, grabbing the back of his head so he couldn't pull away. His other hand slid down his back and grabbed his belt. AJ uncrossed his arms and pushed his hands against Bobby's chest, trying to push him away, but Bobby's hot, urgent kisses melted his resistance. Instead he slowly trailed his hands down Bobby's body, and Bobby moaned with the delight of it. AJ played his hands over Bobby's stomach, and circled his waist, finally coming to rest at the small of his toned back. They stayed like that for several minutes, tasting each other, each getting more and more excited by the minute. Bobby's hand moved up from AJ's waist and slipped under his shirt, and AJ moved his hips against him in response. Their tongues curled around each other...

...and a thump came at the door. They broke apart. AJ hurriedly adjusted himself. Bobby quickly backed up and sat on the bed. The thump came again, and EY's voice came faintly through the door.

"I know how to work a hotel key, damnit."

Bobby sighed. "Oh Eric, terrible timing."

"No," replied AJ, "Great timing. Got me before I do something I'd regret."

"Regret, eh?"

"I'm still mad at you!"

Bobby licked his lips. "How about I let you bite me? Would that get it out of your system?"

AJ was about to come back with a remark when EY managed to get the door open and stumbled into the room. "What's up guys? You all finished?"

"Yeah," said AJ. "No," said Bobby. AJ flashed Bobby a look, and Bobby smiled back, completely unapologetic. AJ smiled a little and turned towards EY.

"We're done for tonight, anyway. Can you do something with this hard headed fool before someone pushes him off a cliff?"

"Been trying for years, but he's got a head like a brick shithouse," EY said before he fell onto the bed. "Maybe I'll try again in the morning but right now dudes, I need some sleep."

"Can't hang, eh?" said Bobby.

EY only grunted. He was already half asleep.

AJ ran his hands through his hair. "That means good night for me too. I'm bushed."

"Yeah, no wonder. I'll see you in the morning?"

"Maybe."

"Get your phone fixed."

"Nothing wrong with it."

"Oh, I see how it is."

"Yeah."

"Is it fixed now?"

"I suppose so, as long as you don't blow it up."

"I promise." Bobby winked. AJ shook his head and went to the door. He opened it and wished Bobby a good night.

"Hey AJ?"

"Yes?"

Bobby mouthed, "I love you," and then said, "Good night." AJ stood watching Bobby for a little bit, then nodded and left, the door closing quietly behind him. Bobby turned out the lights and curled up in bed. He couldn't stop smiling.