Chapter 16: Massage

Day Six at the Haunted House

"It's dark in here," Rey whispered.

Batista opened his eyes; he'd almost nodded off there for a second. But he couldn't blame Rey for wanting him to stay awake with him.

"Wha? Oh, yeah, it is," Batista agreed and yawned. He looked over at his friend.

"Rey!" Batista exclaimed and bolted upright, causing Rey to start.

"What?! Jesus, don't move so suddenly, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Rey hissed.

"Rey, you're shivering again! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Rey pulled up the blanket. "I'm fine, Dave, It's nothing, I-"

Batista laid a finger on Rey's lips, silencing him.

"Shh. Just lay still, okay?"

Rey swallowed. "Why?"

"Shh."

Batista scooted over to his friend on his knees and gently pulled back the blanket. Rey let him. He was shivering horribly.

"I'm nuh-not that cold…" Rey said, his teeth chattering with the blanket gone.

Batista sighed and set his hand against the side of Rey's face. Rey shivered and closed his eyes. Dave almost felt hot compared to his own body temperature.

"Are ice cubes warm, Rey?" Batista asked patiently.

Rey frowned. "No. Of course not. Why?"

"Because you feel like a fucking ice cube," Batista said.

Rey shut his mouth. "Okay, okay. I'm cold. I admit it. I'm freezing."

Batista sighed. "I don't know why you insist on torturing yourself sometimes. It doesn't help you to try to become a martyr, man, it really doesn't."

Rey bit his lip.

Batista took his hand away from Rey's face and set his palms against Rey's shoulders. "I'm going to have to warm you up again. So don't freak out on me now, I'm not trying to 'seduce' you, this is just how sane people try to warm up frozen people."

Rey nodded.

Batista started rubbing Rey's shoulders and around his collarbone.

"Dave, I think I'd rather be cold and a martyr than…"

"Than what, Rey?"

Rey shook his head. "I can't just lie here all content and asleep and comfortable with them lost like this. I shouldn't."

Batista shook his head. "Rey, you're not gonna do anybody any good if you drop dead of hypothermia."

Rey covered his eyes with his hands and suppressed a cry. Batista took his hands away.

"Rey, come here."

Rey shook his head miserably.

Batista exhaled exasperatedly. "Fine then, I'm coming to you."

He lay down beside Rey and set his left hand onto Rey's hip and his friend rolled over into his chest and buried his face there.

Batista patted Rey's back. "Stop blaming yourself, mi amigo."

Rey sniffed and shivered some more. "They counted on me, they all trusted me, and I just let them get taken. And Jeff, I was right there, how could I have left Jeff?"

"Shh, Rey, no, what kind of logic is that? No…what could you possibly have done to help him? Tackle that freaky ghost and fall down the basement stairs? Come on, Rey. Really."

"Dave…" Rey cried, trying to inhale and exhale at the same time he was so upset. Dave patted him.

"Catch your breath, Rey, catch your breath."

"Dave," Rey said, breathing correctly. "You can't tell anyone this; I already told Shawn earlier when we were in the attic together. I probably shouldn't have, him of all people. He'll let it slip, I just know it. I was so stupid, but I was pissed off at you, and I was…I just needed to tell someone…"

Batista blinked. Oh God. Was Rey really going to confess to him the same thing he'd confided in Shawn earlier?

Did he…does he really trust me that much? He trusts me to keep a secret, too?

"Dave, you can't tell anyone. Please promise me that," Rey begged.

"Of course not. Of course I won't tell anyone. I swear, Rey, I promise I won't tell. Now, what are you going to tell me?"

"Jeff's afraid of the dark," Rey whispered.

Batista blinked, successfully feigning surprise.

He was floored. He couldn't think of anything as innocent and pure-hearted as Rey believing that no one had tried to listen in on his attic talk with Shawn. And he felt so…honored that Rey trusted him enough to share Jeff's secret with him.

"Is that why you're so worried about him? Jeff confided in you that he's afraid of the dark?"

Rey nodded morosely. "He…you saw his teddy bear…he's like a little kid, he said he has to have it when he goes to sleep."

Batista recalled Rey fingering the bear's ears with that heartbroken expression on his face. He hadn't thought of it earlier during the attic talk for some reason. But he understood it now.

He rocked Rey back and forth.

"It's okay. He'll be okay. We'll find him tomorrow. We'll find Jeff tomorrow. I'm sure he's fine, Rey."

Rey dried his eyes. He was still cold and shaking.

"Shh. Lay still. Just lay still," Batista whispered.

Rey returned to his back and set his skull on his pillow, blinking sad irises up at the ceiling.

"Close your eyes, Rey," Dave whispered in his ear.

He grinned in spite of his best efforts not to when Rey silently obeyed him.

Rey was cold and that was partly bad for Dave because his flesh wasn't nearly as pleasurable to touch as it would be if he were warm. It was partly good though because if Rey's body wasn't at this temperature then Dave wouldn't be able to find an excuse to run his hands all over him in the first place.

He started out with Rey's shoulders, an innocent area that friends could touch and not catch any hell at all about it. If he touched Rey's shoulders first then Dave could convince Rey that he wasn't thinking of this interaction as anything more intimate than a hug. And Rey would feel comfortable with that.

The ploy of leading Rey into the massage with a neutral part of his torso succeeded, and Dave felt his friend's body succumb to relaxation. Rey's muscles released their tension and Dave was there to felt the power in them as they did so. Rey was certainly much stronger than he looked. But his height disarmed him and fooled Dave into believing a lot of the time that Rey was very young and innocuous.

He tried to recall the feeling of power that had been in Rey's backhanding the other day, without reliving the horrific sting afterwards. He couldn't fully gain that feeling back so he switched to thinking of Rey's hug earlier. He remembered those tightly muscled arms squeezing him like a harmless python, full of love.

Batista soon discovered that the good outweighed the bad in this scenario because Rey was so cold that he was immobilized to a large degree but not to the degree that he was unresponsive to a pleasing touch. And he was just out of it enough that he would exhale as Batista ran fingertips across his heart.

The softness of Rey's skin never ceased to amaze Batista; the Latino took excellent care of himself in every way imaginable. His muscle definition was immaculate even lying down in this position. Not disgustingly sculptured, but just toned to a fine strength that was completely palpable everywhere you touched Rey. He moved his hands along Rey's nearly invisible but hard abdominals and tried not to shudder with arousal. Rey's chest was gorgeous, and refused to sink into flab even though he was reclining. Batista swallowed a whole lot of hot desire when he discovered that Rey's nipples were hard from the cold. He couldn't linger on them without suspicion so he just smoothed over Rey's chest over and over under the guise of reheating his heart. But really he was savoring the fleshy little pricks against his hands.

He wanted desperately to lean down and lick them and then trail his tongue up along Rey's pec and over Rey's neck. He imagined Rey tensing at first, maybe not knowing what to do, but then he would give in; Rey was so out of it, he hoped Rey would just give in. Maybe he'd even want it by the time Dave would lean in and reach for his lips. He imagined Rey arching into him at the touch of his tongue and moaning softly, trying to stifle his own arousal. But he would really want it after all, he would. He would be shy and blush and be afraid that the others might wake up and see them. But Rey would ignore the fierce redness on his own cheeks and return Dave's kiss with his own. He would reach up and run his fingers along Dave's scalp as he massaged their tongues together.

Dave had tried to look away the few times that Rey couldn't avoid kissing his wife in front of Batista. Rey was an excellent kisser from the way that Angie always reacted to him. He was especially valuable in that department because he didn't seem to know just how good he was, much in the way that he didn't seem to believe anyone when they told him he was the cutest thing on the face of the earth. When the kiss was over, he'd smile sweetly and whisper something kind like, 'I missed you' or whatever the equivalent of that was in Spanish.

Angie would actually blush at her own husband sometimes. So this was where Batista pieced the kissing part of the fantasy together from.

Of course Rey was far from a pervert so Dave had never seen him make love to any thing or any one. So he had to imagine this next part all by himself. He was surprised at his own ingenuity in imagining the feel of Rey arching up again as Dave lay on his side beside Rey. Rey would shiver and rise up into Dave's pelvis with his own and they would touch and shake with anticipation.

And he would be embarrassed and open his eyes and whimper at Dave because he would be so hard and he wouldn't know he had wanted this so badly. But he would open his mouth and it would be wet with hunger and he would rub his hardness against Dave's without knowing how to stop himself. He would feel taken and unrestrained and unable to resist his friend's advances any longer. He would be a little intimidated when Dave would rub his hard-on against him in return; Dave's body was so much larger and so much thicker with muscle. But he would assure Rey with a stroke to the cheek and Rey would gasp and open his mouth and they would kiss deeply.

Dave would slip off his own pants and Rey would touch his chest anxiously, afraid to do the full deal just yet. Dave would give him a peck on the lips and smile understandingly. He wouldn't want to hurt Rey; the first time could be painful and now was not the time and place to cause Rey any more pain. He would smooth over Rey's hips and lean down there and look up at Rey for permission. Rey would nod finally and Batista would slip off Rey's pants.

He would take Rey into his mouth and suck on him for a minute. Rey would gasp and maybe try to resist, try to pull away and Dave would stop for a moment and look up at him again. Rey would open his mouth and, shivering with want, he would nod to go on.

Dave would start on him again in a less forward way this time, touching Rey with his fingers, massaging him and admiring him. He would somehow manage to make Rey even harder.

At this point Rey would call out softly and Dave would be impressed and further aroused at Rey's restraint and ability to keep himself from coming just yet.

Dave would take him in his mouth again and make it almost like a kiss so that Rey wouldn't be afraid to enjoy it.

Rey was like a fine, sweet wine, he had to be savored and loved slowly, not desperately and without great care.

Rey would tense up at the pleasure of a few small, brave licks to him with Dave's hot tongue. He would bite onto his own fist to keep from crying out in ecstasy and his dick would twitch in excitement as the man beneath him would utilize his tongue and the sucking at the same time.

A few more moments of deliciousness and then Rey would shake uncontrollably and finally come hard into Dave's mouth. He would be shivering wonderfully and very embarrassed at his first climax with another man until he realized that his pleasure had made Dave come too.

"Oh…" he would murmur. Dave would swallow all of Rey's savory, hot cum and he would lick Rey clean with small, loving strokes of his tongue. A few more drops would trickle out of Rey and he would whimper at the feeling. Dave would suck on him softly and lap them up. He would wipe his mouth after swallowing.

He would lie down close to Rey again and hold him. Rey would be fragile and feel deliriously happy, but he would rub his temple against Dave's heart and he would fall asleep this way, utterly spent. Batista would be a gentleman and cover Rey first with a blanket and then himself. He would rub Rey's back one final time as Rey sighed in his sleep and then he would nod off too. And together they would fall asleep this way.

Jesus Christ, how the hell were they supposed to explain having their pants off in the morning?!

Of course Batista imagined all of this. He was too stunned by Rey's masculine beauty to actually act on his lust.

But in real life, Rey moaned softly, on the edges of sleep a moment later.

Dear God, he even moaned for him.

He was grateful right now that Rey was Hispanic not just because that was the reason why his skin looked so incredible at the moment, but because Rey's culture found it perfectly acceptable for members of the same gender to kiss each other on the cheek. He intended to take advantage of this soon.

"Why do you only warm up my body?" Rey murmured drowsily.

Batista's heart jumped in his chest. Rey probably hadn't meant it the way it sounded to him but his hormonal brain was telling him otherwise.

Go lower.

But he suppressed the urge to.

"Because you don't have any vital organs in your limbs, Rey, unless you're hiding your kidneys in your triceps. You're not, are you?" he teased.

Rey smiled sleepily, his eyes still shut. "No."

Batista smiled and wanted to lean in close and nibble Rey's ear, but he resisted the temptation. Instead, he set his fingers on the round edges of Rey's shoulders and stretched his hands out, trailing them slowly down Rey's arms like a little in-joke between the two of them. Rey's palms were up and so the tender sides of his arms were the places where Batista could touch.

Rey smiled faintly as Dave slid his fingers off of his palms.

Batista chuckled softly. He returned to stroking the curves of Rey's waist. He'd finally become lukewarm after what felt like forever.

"Dave…"

"Yeah, Rey?"

Okay, he needed to get ahold of himself. There was no way in hell that Rey was gonna say anything romantic right now so he needed to just knock off his crazy sexual high before he set himself up to crash and burn. There would be no 'take me now, you stud' escaping from Rey's lips and he knew it, he just wouldn't admit it to himself.

"I couldn't help Sylvia, Dave," Rey confessed in a sweet little beaten-down whisper.

Talk about a buzz kill.

Batista gave a short sigh. But he was far more put out than he let on. In more ways than one. He had almost gotten a little somethin' somethin' going on there (again), if you catch my drift. Maybe it was just as well that Rey had inadvertently ruined that, because he wouldn't have known what to do with an erection if he'd achieved (another) one.

"That's exactly right, Rey, you couldn't help Sylvia. Not wouldn't. It's that it was not at all possible for you to go back in time and prevent her death. Okay? Do you understand that?"

Batista hoped he didn't sound too harsh or bitter, but damn it, he'd wanted a Gone with the Wind "Kiss me you fool" moment, not some Bohemian Rhapsody-style hardcore pained confession of guilt for a nonexistent crime.

"Rey, how about I give you another blanket so that you at least have two layers to warm up with. I'll crawl into my sleeping bag. How about we try that?" Batista suggested, completely ready to just give up and go to sleep now.

"Don't bother; I'll just put the blanket back onto you when you're not looking. You know I will."

Rey opened his eyes and looked at Batista.

He froze.

Rey's huge brown eyes were red around the edges but the eyes themselves were not necessarily wet. They gleamed, but they weren't soaked or tearing up.

He realized then that the only way to make Rey feel better was to help him hurt himself.

Batista looked sadly down at his friend and swallowed.

"Your heart's too big, Rey," he mumbled.

"I'm working on it," Rey said quietly.

Dave nodded and leaned down, kissing Rey's forehead.

"Try to get some sleep," he pleaded, tucking the one blanket up around Rey's neck.

"I will," Rey lied. "Go to sleep, Dave."

Batista was secretly a little grateful that Rey had put on pants. He didn't know if he could have resisted the urges to kiss Rey somewhere if Rey's beautiful body was lying out there completely naked under that blanket.

"Night, Rey," Batista mumbled, hoping for a response.

"Goodnight," Rey returned, almost inaudibly.

Batista smiled to himself because he had heard it.

His heart skipped a beat as he lay down next to Rey and pulled up the other blanket around him.

Rey tried to sleep sometimes for Batista's sake and tried to heed Punk's advice but every time he shut his eyes long enough, the axe dropped again.

He knew in the corner of his mind that her father had dismembered her after she died with that axe.

Poor little Sylvia. Poor, sweet little thing that she was.

Her father was sick, he must have been crazy.

Maybe Sylvia's mother was gone because she left him when she had the chance.

No, she was killed.
Well, was she killed trying to leave him?

But how could she have let her child with such a monster?

Well, maybe she was the first one that he pushed down the stairs.

Or worse, maybe she pushed herself down the stairs.

Rey shuddered at the thought. He hoped Sylvia hadn't seen what happened to her mother if it was anywhere near as terrible as her own demise.

He prayed quietly to himself but none of the words came out right. Rey was usually good at asking God for assistance, some sort of rescue or request for advice, but he felt lost in this house. He didn't know what to ask for or how to ask it. The words left him in this place.

He shut his eyes and tried to start over, but it was no use.

He felt utterly alone when that failed him.

He blinked; awake, in this dark, haunted house.

It didn't matter that the others were safe in the room with him. It didn't matter that Dave was right beside him, breathing and warm, and ever-present. It didn't matter that his family was safe in California. It didn't matter that God was in heaven looking down at him.

He felt abandoned. And Rey had only felt that way a few times in his life.

Dave Batista's perspective on how the night went.

Batista managed to synchronize his sleeping with Rey's out of sheer determination to do so. The poor little guy could only sleep for at most, an hour at a time and then he would start and sit up and look around forlornly, or he would just lie there and shudder and pull his measly little blanket closer to his cold, scared body.

But Rey would feel worse in his heart if he were comfortable.

God, Batista wanted so much to just sit up and squeeze all the hurt out of Rey. He wanted his friend to snuggle over to his chest again so that he could pretend he was still asleep and wrap his arm around him. That would be romantic. If he could only convince Rey to come closer. But he never could and eventually Rey would fade out into unconsciousness again.

It didn't seem that much like sleep to Dave. His sleep was surpassingly peaceful, maybe because he'd been put in a much better mood than his friend. Dave had gotten to hug his crush and force him to take off his clothes and see his junk through wet underwear, and oh sweet Jesus, Rey was gorgeous…

Dave tried not to dwell on that for too long because if he had a raging hard-on he wouldn't be able to stay with Rey, he'd have to wander off and go masturbate. Oh, the irony of it all. If he wanted to stay close to Rey he had to convince himself that he didn't want to be that close to Rey. But he did, of course.

But Rey's sleep was terrible. It wasn't like anything he'd ever seen. It was almost like fever-dreams. He hoped Rey hadn't gotten sick during that short trip into the torrential downpour. Rey's sleep was full of nightmares and presumably reenactment after reenactment of Sylvia's murder. He shook during those dreams and sometimes Dave would reach out and stroke Rey's arm.

Rey just whimpered. Batista pulled his hand back guiltily and didn't touch him again.

Sometimes he was afraid that Rey was actually crying in his sleep.