12

red is the color of being weak
white is the color of being asleep

There was no reason to hang around after the show wrapped. Most of the time the boys were only too glad to get on the road, head for home. There was something different tonight. Maybe it was the feeling of camaraderie, of the brands being mixed. Maybe it was just catching up with people they hadn't seen in a while. Those who really had no one to go home too stuck around for an extra night.

Conversations crossed, rounds were ordered, David sat by himself, watching. Every time Brian moved against the high banquette he winced. David was sure no one saw it because Brian was careful, guarded his face, drank right along with the rest of them. Finlay made sure to pound him on the back to accentuate every point he made, and David was pretty sure he could hear the gasps of ill-concealed pain even from his seat across the room.

When he couldn't take it any longer, David rose, dropped money on the table for his drink. He paused behind Brian's chair, laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Brian looked up, his hair fell over unfocused eyes. In that instant David communicated his desire before he turned and walked away.

Fortunately it was late enough that no one hovered in the lobby. He approached the front desk with a smile designed to make the desk clerk's heart flutter.

"I need a room key," he said softly.

"Yes sir," she said a trifle breathlessly, "Your name?"

Full lips curved into a smile, "I'm quite sure you know my name, but the key isn't for my room." He laid his hand flat on the counter, slid it closer revealing a corner of the hundred-dollar bill.

"Oh," she said, and color crept up her cheeks. "What…whose…?"

"Brian Kendrick," he said softly.

She quickly typed on her keyboard, grabbed a blank key card from the box beside her and slid it into the machine. The exchange of money for key card was smooth, and she said softly, "1412."

"Thank you," he said as he deposited the key in his pocket. "I know there's an ice machine in the hallway, but could you have a tub of ice sent to the room?"

"His room?" she said, and the color deepened on her cheeks.

He smiled, "Yes. I managed to tweak his back pretty good tonight, I just want to pop up there and surprise him with a body sized ice-pack," he said with a wink.

The color faded from her cheeks, and she smiled, "Oh! Of course, I'll send the ice up right away, anything else you need?"

"Some extra bath towels," he said, "Thanks."

He looked in the bar as he strode toward the elevator the group was still there drinking. It looked like it wouldn't last too much longer.

The tub was filled with warm water, extra bath towels stacked on the counter, the tub of ice beside them. David had dimmed the lights in the room and pulled the covers back on the bed. His shoes were set neatly in the closet cutout, his shirt unbuttoned, jeans rode low on his hips. He waited in a chair by the window, just out of the line of sight of the door.

"Fuck," Brian cursed softly when he opened the door a few minutes later. He stumbled down the entry hall and came to a dead stop as his eyes rested first on the bed, and then on David sitting beside it. "What the hell? How did you….what the fuck are you doing here?"

"Not much of a greeting," David said softly.

"Well what the fuck kind of greeting did you want?" Brian demanded as he threw his key card on to the dresser. I don't remember giving you an invitation…in fact what I remember is you beating the hell out of me, and smiling while you did it."

David clicked his tongue against the top of his mouth; "You're the last person I'd have expected to wimp out about something that goes down in the ring."

Brian shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it angrily on the floor. "'What the fuck? I'm not wimping out the business, I'm just fucking ….get the fuck out of my room!" He put his fists on his hips, stood with his legs spread apart.

Head tipped to the side, David growled, "Is that the only curse word you know Brian...fuck?"

As Brian gasped, David pushed himself out of his chair and sauntered closer. He moved around behind Brian, laid his razor stubbled cheek along his. "What I want you to do is get out of those clothes, lie down on the bed, on your belly."

"Fuck you Batista," Brian said with the last shred of spunk he could muster.

"No little one," David murmured. He stood back, reached for the hem of Brian's shirt and pulled it up over his head. It was his turn to wince as he saw the vivid red weals that stood out against pale flesh. "Get in bed." He turned on his heel and walked into the bathroom, leaving Brian to comply with his command.

A towel filled with ice first and then a warm one. It would only take a few before the pain began to subside. They'd all been through it, but it was rare to find someone to help. Somehow the effect was lost when you had to do it yourself, and David was pretty sure Brian would be glad of the help.

Sure enough, Brian had stripped out of the rest of his clothes, flung them around the room in his anger. He lay face down on the bed, his face turned away. "Happy?" he growled.

"Depends," David said as he lay the ice filled towel on Brian's back. He positioned it so that it covered the biggest of the welts.

"Depends on what? Christ, you're an evil bastard."

"Mmm," David murmured as he let his eyes travel over Brian's body, "Glad to see you learned a new word." He laid his hand on Brian's ass to stay his response, "It depends on whether or not you cooled down."

"Oh I'm not cooled down, not one little bit," Brian ground out.

"No? Well, then why don't you tell me all about it then." David moved the ice pack, and began a gentle caressing of Brian's lower back and ass.

"Let's see," Brian said as he shifted on the bed, "Hot tag to Batista, he comes in like a house on fire and pushes The Brian Kendrick back to the corner where he proceeds to lay into him with the lamest. Wrestling. Move. Ever. Then after that he slams him to the ring like a rag doll, giving an extra oomph to the move so as to cause the biggest amount of pain. But he's not done yet, no way. Clothesline…from hell I might add, lots of other brutal manhandling—" the rest of his words were caught in a squawk as David brought his hand down in a loud smack against Brian's ass.

"That's enough little one," he said. He gathered the sodden towel and stood to walk back into the bathroom and retrieve a warm towel from the tub.

"Wanna tell me what that was all about?" Brian huffed when David resumed his seat. He couldn't quite hold back the groan of pleasure as the warm towel was laid over his back.

"What?" David asked as he delivered another smack, "That?"

"Goddamn you," Brian growled. He turned, pulled himself up from the bed and wasn't able to hold back the gasp of pain. "Haven't you done enough already?"

Quick as lightning David caged both of Brian's hands and pinned them above his head, angled him down so he was flat on the bed. He rose up and straddled over his body, bent down so that his face was inches from Brian's. "All that bullshit, the babble you said earlier, it was all a lie. There's something else bothering you Brian Kendrick, and I don't think you're man enough to tell me what it is."

Brian struggled, but David held him firmly. His cheeks flushed, and he blew out through his lips to get the hair out of his eyes. "Are you the bigger man then? Breaking into my room, smacking my ass, and holding me down to the bed? What're you gonna do now, force yourself on me?"

"I don't have to force you Brian," David said. He slid his crotch back, jeans teasing over Brian's erection. "All I want from you is the truth. There was a time when you'd have come straight with me after a show like this. There'd have been a fire in your eyes, you wouldn't have been able to wait to get back to the room and let that aggression, the kind that we're not usually allowed like that, spill over into bed. But tonight you avoided me, I want to know why."

His cheeks flaming, Brian struggled one last time, then subsided back to the bed. "Have you ever called me Dave? Huh? Have you ever thought to check up on me once since we switched brands again? Did it ever occur to you once that things are pretty sweet for me now, and that maybe, just maybe I wanted to share that with you?"

David lowered down, brushed his lips over Brian's neck, felt his fluttering pulse, "Phone lines go both ways."

"That's bullshit and you know it," Brian raged. "I did call you a few times, when you didn't pick up I figured you were screening my calls. I'm not a little high school crush that's gonna leave you a 'call me' message."

Slowly David loosened his grip, moved to let Brian up, swung his legs over the side of the bed but remained seated. "I wasn't screening your calls," he said softly.

Brian reached up to push the hair out of his eyes. He sat beside David, leaned into him slightly. "You didn't answer."

"I suck with that phone Brian, you know that," David murmured. "Half the time I can't get to it in time, and when I punch up the button for missed alerts I fuck it all up and I just give up because I think whoever it was will call back. The other half of the time the phone is in my car, or deep in my bag, and I just don't hear it ring."

"I just wanted," Brian said, and he turned to press a kiss against the dragon on David's biceps. "To share it with you David."

David turned, reached up and cupped the side of Brian's cheek, eased his face up and met his eyes. "I'm here now." He lowered down to catch Brian's lips in a kiss that deepened instantly, and he felt the anger ease out of him. "You mean a lot to me little one," he whispered when the kiss broke naturally.

Brian reached over, laid his hand against the warm bulge in David's jeans. "The hot and cold treatment is nice and all… but there's something else that would make the pain go away…"

"I don't want you stiffening up," David said as he shrugged out of his shirt. He pulled the cooling towel off the bed and threw it toward the bathroom door.

Brian moved back and reclined against the mound of pillows at the headboard. His hair had fallen into his eyes again. He spread his legs and raised his knees, snaked a hand down to cup his erection against his belly, "Too late for that big Dave."

With a sultry smile David stood, lazily undid the button at his waist, grated his zipper down. It was a slow striptease as he revealed his own stiffened cock. He walked around to the foot of the bed and knelt there, worked his way up Brian's leg with gentle kisses.

Brian groaned, arched his back and slid down flat on the bed, "That's it," he husked when David stopped the progression at his cock. His breath caught in his throat when David swallowed him down. He gripped the sheets tightly and gave himself up.

David tongued the ridged head of Brian's cock, followed the pulsing vein down to his sack and drew his balls into his mouth. He trailed a hand up Brian's leg, raised his knee higher.

Eyes tightly closed Brian moaned and reached down to smooth his hand over the top of David's head. "'S good." He jerked when David's pointed tongue teased at his sensitive perineum. "Ffff…." he was unable to form the word.

His hand up from Brian's knee, David cupped and stroked his cock as he moved lower, probed at the rose of his hole, then plunged in deep with pointed tongue.

Cum oozed from the tip of Brian's cock as he arched up, eyes wide open. "Fuck me David…now please…"

Ignoring him, David continued sawing his tongue in and out moved his hand to squeeze the base of Brian's cock.

Brian was reduced to wordless mews of content, he scraped his fingers over the back of David's head, lowered his hands and dug into bunched muscles, his world reduced down to a torrent of swirling colors.

At last David rose up, certain that Brian was loosened just enough, he positioned and began to slide in slowly, slowly. He reached up and took Brian's hand, twined their fingers together as he eased his arm up over his head again. "Say it again Brian…"

"Fuck me," Brian wailed.

"The other," David growled his hand tight in Brian's.

"Please."

David slid out once, and pushed in, felt the last of the resistance melt away and then unleashed the animal inside. He pounded against Brian's body, was nearly oblivious to the cries of pleasure and encouragement. Brian was nearly the only person he knew who could keep up, could match him.

Brian's eyes flew open at the moment his orgasm hit. There was power in watching David's face, open and full of emotion when his own orgasm boiled out of him.

It was in that unguarded moment that both could see the truth that neither of them was ready to admit. Their eyes locked, and the words were there as clearly as if they had spoken them.

In the blink of an eye it was gone, and David slipped free, rolled down beside Brian and held him close against him. Legs tangled, bellies glued together with Brian's jism.

With no further words they drifted to sleep.

Lyrics by the Notwist used without permission