Chapter 21: Snow

Day Six at the Haunted House (Day Seven at Midnight)

Rey was utterly exhausted as he stumbled through the forest. Batista tucked the marker in his pocket.
Rey sensed what was coming.

"Rey-Rey, let me give you a lift."

"I'm not four, I don't need anyone to carry me," Rey argued tiredly, dragging his feet.

Batista pursued his friend and Rey weaved in and out, becoming a moving target.

But he started panting after a while and could only manage a straight path.

Batista pounced on him and scooped him up into his arms like a bulldozer.

"Come on, you stubborn thing, you," Batista said.

"Dave, no, I can walk, put me down," Rey protested, squirming half-heartedly. His feet ached, his bones were sore, and after he'd been relieved of all of the paranormal stresses his body began to shut down into drowsiness.

He squirmed for a second more and Batista just held him closer.

Rey submitted because his head was spinning and his cut was sending spikes of pain through him. And Batista felt warm and soft. Rey let his head loll against his friend's thick, welcoming chest.

Batista carried Rey into their room and set the smaller man down onto his sleeping bag.

"Stay with me now, don't you pass out on me."
Rey nodded. Batista got out the disinfectant spray and the bandages.

"Oh, God, that stings…" Rey said through clenched teeth as Batista applied the medication to his arm again.

Rey shuddered as blood ran down his arm, but the cut was already clotting.

Batista bandaged Rey's arm, careful not to make it too tight lest he cut off Rey's circulation.

"You want some Tylenol or something?"

"I guess," Rey answered and took some with a bottle of water Batista fetched for him.

Rey was still lying down when Batista got back with the water, and he knew that wasn't a good sign.

"Rey, are you all right? The ghost didn't touch your skin anywhere, did he?"

"No. I'm just tired, that's all."

"Rey, if you're lying, I-"

"I'm all covered up, Dave, how could he have touched me? Answer me that."

"You're not all covered up," Batista contradicted.

Rey exhaled in annoyance. "Do you not see this mask on my face? He couldn't have-"

Batista had set a fingertip on Rey's lips. He trailed it around them very gently.

Rey stopped talking and blushed profusely.

"Your lips," Batista said quietly. "And your eyes, too. They're both uncovered."

Rey turned away from Batista. "He didn't touch me, Dave, I swear to you."

"You're sure?"

"What, you think he kissed me?"

Batista shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just saying that there was a chance that he could have touched your eyelids or something when you weren't looking."

"Well, he didn't."

Rey was still turned away from Batista.

"Don't touch my mouth like that…you're scaring me," Rey muttered and pulled off his mask and set it down respectfully.

He turned back to Dave with a frown on his face.

"Sorry, Rey," Batista said sincerely.

"I'm not your toy, stop touching me everywhere like I am one."

Batista looked concerned by this remark. "Rey, I don't think you're a toy, I don't. I was…I was just…I'm sorry."

Rey struggled to his feet stubbornly, not wanting to be around Dave if the larger man was so clearly in the mood for love and Rey was never going to be, but he was getting increasingly drowsy…

He didn't want to be vulnerable around Batista anymore. He tried to walk out of the room, but he made it about two paces before shuddering.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm…dizzy. Really…dizzy…" Rey murmured and his eyelids fell.

"REY!" Batista yelped and caught his friend.

"I…I need to lie down," Rey whispered hoarsely.

"No shit," Batista told him and set Rey back down onto his sleeping bag, even lowering his head slowly onto the pillow.

"I'm sorry I touched you on the mouth. That was too intimate, I get it, I'm sorry. You don't have to get up and run from me when you're barely even conscious, okay?"

Rey swallowed and didn't answer.

"Rey, are you all right?"

Rey turned away again.

Batista set his hands on his hips and exhaled, exasperated. "What's the big deal, anyway? You kiss me on the cheek sometimes."
"Shut up. That doesn't mean what you think it means. Get your mind out of the gutter," Rey whined.

Batista smirked, amused.

"Rey-Rey…" he crooned quietly. "Six one nine…"

"Leave me alone."

Batista blinked. That tone was much more serious."What's wrong?"

Rey shook his head. "No. Just get out."

"Get out of the-? Rey, no, I'm not abandoning you."

"Then stop touching me."

Batista gave a little sigh. "I'm sorry, Rey."

"What? Are lips not what a gay guy would consider an intimate body part?"

Batista stiffened. "I'm not gay."

"Right. You're just gay for me. Like Cena. Just my luck."

"You're just bringing him up because you like him better than me, don't you?" Batista asked resentfully.

"I don't like any of you that way. Get over yourself. I don't try to force you to go date women or something; I could go off and try to make you be with all the Divas or I could guilt-trip you into feeling like you have to be straight. But I don't. Stop trying to make me feel guilty that I'm not gay."

Rey was really upset.

"Rey, I'm not trying to guilt you into-" he stopped himself. Rey was right. He was trying to convince Rey to love him, and seduction wasn't working, so he was preying on Rey's sense of kindness and hinting that he would be happy if only Rey would just let himself be taken, just for a little while.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was…I'm sorry."

Rey didn't answer and he wouldn't face Dave.

"Rey, please don't be mad at me. Please."

"Why do you like me anyway?" Rey asked quietly. "You couldn't find anybody else to drool over? Or is it just because I'm close to you?"

Batista stared at Rey's back in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"What?"

Batista twiddled his fingers. "You really don't know why I like you?"

"No. I do not. Do I want to know?"

Batista shrugged. "You want to hear the G-rated version?"

Rey sighed. "I don't know."

"I like the color of your skin. I like the kind of…dark chocolate eyes you have."

Rey rolled his eyes. "Why do you like me? Not 'why are you attracted to me'?" he said, frustrated.

Batista bit his lip. "I'm not very good with words, Rey, I can't explain that. I can't explain why I…why I want to be with you."

Rey sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"I know," Rey said a little bitterly. But he swallowed. "I…I'm going to go take a bath."

Batista silently helped Rey to his feet and watched Rey gather some pajamas. He followed the luchador carefully as he tottered over to the bathroom and closed the door.

Batista exhaled and went to sit back in the living room for a while.

Rey didn't wash his wounded arm on the cut. He scrubbed manically all over his body, not knowing why he felt like he did. He was so worried about Batista. And he felt intimidated by Dave's advances.

He felt lost.

Even after he nearly scrubbed his skin raw he didn't want to get out of the bath just yet. With his wounded arm dangling over the side, he sat there morosely. Soaking.

"What am I supposed to do…?" he muttered to himself. "Should I…I don't want to hurt him. I don't."

Rey sat there for minutes on end, and decided not to think about Batista.

"Don't think about him. Think about anything else. Anything else at all…"

He remembered Batista bandaging his finger and being so worried about him. But then he remembered that Dave had gone out into the woods to find him.

Rey's first instinct was to become defensive again at the thought of what he saw as Batista being overtly possessive again. But as he sat there all the anger soaked out of him. He looked at the facts and realized that Batista had seen the woman on the stairs immediately before he had come out into the woods to find Rey. It wasn't his urge to possess Rey that sent him out there. It was his urge to protect him.

Rey sighed. "I misunderstood then. Maybe I'm misunderstanding now…"

He thought of Batista fingering his lips and swallowed. But he separated himself from his personal, awkward, embarrassed feelings towards the gesture.

Dave had done that just to prove a point that Rey's lips and eyes were uncovered and since Sylvia's father had definitely been a malevolent spirit and definitely been trying to kill or harm Rey, he might have known that his touch was like freezer burn to living people and he might have tried to use it as a weapon. Dave had a legitimate reason to be concerned. Rey had already nearly succumbed to freezing to death twice on this little adventure. And Rey had been so preoccupied with trying to protect Sylvia that he might not have noticed a prick of frostbite from the ghost.

Rey sighed. "You jump to conclusions. He may be a hothead and he may be too…grabby with you, but he's still protective of you. What is the likelihood that he's more harmful than protective?"

Rey considered that. He added up the most extreme of Batista's actions. When he'd gripped Rey's arm hard enough to cause bruising. That was definitely something an abuser would do. They wanted their victim at all costs and they wanted to steer and control that victim.

Rey gulped. He didn't want to be bruised that way again.

But he considered that Dave had apologized and had said he didn't know he'd done that. And Rey knew that a serious, unrepentant abuser would abuse again, and wouldn't apologize for hurting someone. They would threaten to hurt again. They wouldn't have that look of honest surprise on their face like Dave had had. They wouldn't touch him tenderly and apologize.

Besides, Batista had gotten therapy early when he was just showing signs of becoming possessive. He had gotten help before he had started showing too many symptoms.

Rey exhaled in relief. It was less likely that someone who had agreed to get help for their issues would abuse again than if they refused to admit they had done anything wrong. Batista had been visibly very upset over hurting Rey. And he had let Rey cease talking to him for a whole day. He'd never cornered the luchador to force him to talk to him. Batista had reacted like a calm, considerate person, letting Rey get some space and then when he finally needed to talk to Rey, he had been gentle and apologetic. An abuser would have slammed him against the wall and demanded to be talked to.

Rey drew up his knees to him in the waist-deep water. His toes were getting thick and wrinkly with moisture but he still didn't want to get out of the tub.

He considered the previous night when he and Batista had slept very close to each other. Rey blushed at the thought of it. He couldn't have helped that. He would have succumbed to hypothermia if it wasn't for Dave lending his body heat. He knew that. He'd felt sick and very tired and every bit of him had ached that night. If Batista hadn't forced Rey to come close and be held like that then Rey might not have lived long.

Rey withdrew his hand from the bathwater and looked at it. It was prune-y and sopping wet. He sighed.

"I don't know. I just don't know."

You do, though.

He's more protective.

Admit it to yourself. If you'd been in his position, you would have kissed you so fast; you wouldn't even have been able to shout anything.

Rey buried his face in his knees miserably. "I had no choice; I would have frozen to death. I didn't want to tempt him."

There's nothing to be sad about. He didn't touch you. He didn't even kiss you on the mouth. You were delirious, half-naked and at one point, full naked. He never even kissed you.

Rey blinked and sat up. Batista had never laid a hand on him. All night, sleeping right with temptation in his arms, Batista had never tried to make love to Rey.

He cares about you. He wants to protect you more than he wants to have you.

What more proof do you need other than that night? He spent the whole night with you and you were perfectly safe.

Rey got out of the bath finally and dried himself off, sitting with the towel around his waist and watching the water slurp down the drain. He pretended to have washed off some of his negative thoughts into the water. And now they were draining away.

He sighed when the water disappeared and the tub was empty again. The image helped him clear his mind.

He stepped into some boxers and some pajama bottoms.

When he opened the door Batista looked up from his seat on the couch. "Hey, Rey."

"Hey."

Rey stood there kind of awkwardly and fingered his bandages. "I…Dave, I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. I was being oversensitive earlier about you…touching my mouth. But…next time you try to prove a point, could you try not to be so physical with me? I mean, you trailed your fingertip around my lips. That was…that was just too close for comfort. Okay?"

Batista nodded. "It won't happen again, Rey, I promise."

Rey swallowed and sat down on the couch next to Dave. "So…you got the fire going."

"Yeah," Batista confirmed.

"Where is everybody?"

"Running around outside. It started snowing."

Rey looked discreetly at his skin. He was getting goose bumps from the cold. "I should have packed warmer. I didn't bring pajama tops."

Batista shrugged. "It's not your fault; you're used to California weather. How could you know that it would snow up here in the fall?"

Rey sighed. "Yeah, I guess I couldn't know something like that."

Batista got up for a second and when he came back he had Rey's blanket. He set it around his friend's shoulders.

"Maybe you should get closer to the fire," he advised gently.

Rey nodded and gratefully clutched the blanket closed around him. "In a minute."

He turned around on the couch and looked out the window.

"It is snowing."

"Please don't go out in that, that would be even worse on you than the rain…" Batista groaned, exhausted.

Rey smiled. "I won't. But I can look."

Batista looked at Rey watching the snow fall.

A kind of serenity had settled over him as he witnessed the flakes drift down from the sky. His big brown eyes looked softer and he'd hid his mouth in the crook of his arm. His body expanded and contracted gently with calmed air. He blinked slowly and seemed to see every last snowflake in the sky. The white flickers danced their reflections in his large, dark eyes and Batista was mesmerized by the sight of it.

"It's hard to believe something like that is real, it's so beautiful," Rey said quietly.

"Snow is pretty," Batista agreed softly. But he wasn't talking about the snow.

He waited a moment.

"Hey, Rey?"

"Mmm?" Rey said sleepily.

"I like you because of moments like this."

Rey looked at him, his face blank with surprise and then he smiled.

"I like that reason better than 'I like your eyes'."

"Why? You don't like your eyes?" Batista asked cutely.

"They're too dark."

Batista chuckled. "Why do you say that?"

"They're almost black. Even I can barely see the brown in them sometimes."

Batista shrugged. "I guess mine are a little lighter brown."

Rey glanced at Batista, who squeezed his eyes shut.

Rey laughed. "Hey, no fair."

Batista opened them again.

Rey shuffled a little closer and looked deep into his friend's eyes.

"Yeah. Yours are lighter."

Rey sat back onto his perch against the back of the couch.

"Do you want to trade?" Batista teased.

"Maybe if I could," Rey answered, smiling.

**

Everyone came in a couple minutes later and they drank hot chocolate together.

Rey kept himself huddled up in a blanket and he stayed instinctively close to Batista. He didn't know why, he still seemed very shy around the other man, but he seemed to want to feel comfortable with him again as fast as possible.

Batista sensed this and when everyone else had gone to sleep and Rey was debating how close he should lay his sleeping bag next to Batista's the Animal knew he had to say something.

"Rey?"

Rey looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"I don't mind if you want to sleep a little further away from me tonight. You don't need to force yourself into being close to me again just yet. I understand that that made you feel…shy, having to be so close to me last night."

Rey looked at him with his big doe eyes. "It…yeah, it did."

"Then don't force yourself, buddy. Why are you lying down to me so close now? You don't have to; you won't hurt my feelings if you sleep a little ways away," Batista assured him sweetly.

"Dave?"

"Yeah, Rey?"

"Can I- could you…um, could you hold me?"

Batista blinked. "What?"

He thought for sure he'd misheard that. It was too good to be true.

"I feel…I feel cold again," Rey confessed. "That's why I'm…getting close to you again."

Batista reached out and set the back of his hand onto Rey's forehead.

"You are chilly. Come here."

Rey nodded and lay down. Batista shifted closer to him but Rey didn't budge, he was too embarrassed that he'd admitted to needing Batista's body heat.

"Rey, come here," Batista murmured and set his hand on Rey's lower back, pulling him closer. He wanted Rey to scoot the rest of the way towards him, which wasn't even an inch.

Rey was blushing profusely.

"I-maybe I should just…put on some more clothes or something, maybe we shouldn't-"

"Rey," Batista said, setting a finger on Rey's lips again, silencing him immediately.

"Sorry to touch your mouth again, but…I'm not very good with words."

Rey swallowed. "That's…it's okay."

Rey stared up at him with his big doe eyes, so vulnerable. He was shivering terribly now.

"I promise I won't do anything to you."

Rey swallowed.

"Don't touch me below my waist, okay?" he pleaded.

"I won't," Batista promised him.

Rey hesitated one more second before scooting closer and laying his temple against Batista's warm chest. He was tense and afraid of Dave's attraction to him.

He shuddered as his body made contact with his friend's hot form.

"Oh, God, I'm so cold…" Rey admitted, rubbing his temple against Batista's chest, trying to get himself to stop shivering.

Batista used all of his willpower to think flaccid thoughts and managed to prevent his arousal.

This position was almost too much to take; it was Rey on his side, with both his beautiful behind and his crotch vulnerable.

Batista wanted to reach down and stroke Rey's manhood until it was hard as a rock and then see how rough Rey would allow him to be before he came.

He felt the hardness of Rey's nipples again and all of the muscles in his torso pressing tight against his own thick, strong body. He had no clue how this was failing to arouse Rey, but forgave him that because Rey seemed delirious at the moment.

But Rey wasn't so delirious that he wasn't still aware of Batista's hot breath coming in shakes, like he was drooling over the luchador and barely restraining himself.

"Dave, please don't…" Rey whimpered, shaking.

Batista gulped down his own lust and wrapped Rey tightly up into the blanket. He cared for Rey too much to scare him off by losing control now of all times. If he resisted Rey once, then he could do it again.

He pulled the sleeping bag over and unzipped it, turning it into a comforter.

He laid it over Rey, who murmured appreciatively.

"I'm not gonna touch you…" Batista whispered, trailing his fingers down Rey's cheek.

Rey breathed and arched into the touch. He was half-asleep; he wasn't fully aware of how responsive he was being to Batista.

Batista rubbed Rey's back and with the fire, the blankets and sleeping bags, and the body heat, Rey became warmer. He also became woozier and was almost entirely unconscious.

"Does that feel better?" Batista purred as he massaged Rey's shoulder blades under the covers.

"Yeah…" Rey whispered, snuggling closer to Dave in his delirium.

Batista caressed his friend's face and saw his eyes slowly close as he drifted off.

His mouth opened slightly and Batista resisted the urge to stick his tongue in and ravage Rey's mouth with his own.

He set his hand on Rey's waist and rubbed his hip bone a hundred different ways until Rey brought his pelvis closer to Batista's, he was so mesmerized by the touch.

Batista needed to relieve at least some of his lust after that movement.

He kissed Rey's forehead for a long time, pretending that the skin was his mouth.

Rey exhaled in his sleep.

"These aren't below your waist, but I know what you meant, so I'll leave them alone," Batista whispered, fingering Rey's lips.

"I love you," he whispered softly.

Rey didn't say anything. He was sound asleep now.

"I wasn't sure. But if I don't even have to have sex with you for you to steal my heart like this then that's gotta be what I feel."

Rey breathed in his sleep.

"You hear me, Rey? I love you."

Batista stroked Rey's soft, youthful face and Rey leaned into the touch, cat-like.

Batista whispered "I love you" so softly that it barely left his lips at all.

Rey sighed peacefully.

He was dreaming about the snow, but in his dream he was wrapped up warm in coats and mittens and a scarf and a hat. He was sitting out on the top porch steps of the old house and watching it fall to the ground.

Rey hadn't seen a lot of snow in his life.

He was happy.