Dream Warriors

"Your turn, Jeffers." Tom responded,

"Tommy." Jeff drawled.

"Me?" Tom spat his drink. "Okay..."

The four guys, completely wasted and in various stages of consciousness, were sprawled across the furniture playing a modified version of "Truth or dare". Modified in the sense that it was all truth, but nothing was off limits.

Tom thought. What could he ask Jeff that he didn't already know the answer to.

"What's the most unusual place you've ever done it?" He asked

"With you or someone else?" Jeff answered

"Someone else, silly. I already know most of the places where we've done it." Tom answered

"Most?" Jay asked

"There were a couple times I don't remember." Tom answered "But it ain't my turn."

Jeff pondered this one. "In a tree." He replied

"That doesn't count for entry into the mile high club." Tom stated "Does it?"

"It seemed like I was a mile off the ground at the time." Jeff answered

"How fuckin' old were you?" Swagger asked

"One question at a time. Them's the rules." Jeff retorted "Jay, it's your turn."

While Jay was decided what bit of dirt he should ask about and to whom he should ask, Jeff's cell phone rang. Neither Tom nor Jeff had looked at their phones at all during the night, so Matt's first message was still unknown to them.

"Can you answer that?" Jeff took his phone out of his pocket and squinted at the display.

"Why?" You're right there." Tom answered

"Tommy, Imma too drunk to do it." Jeff threw his phone.

"Jeff's answering service... what the fuck do you want at this hour?" Tom responded "He's too drunk, Matty. You'll have to talk to me. Now, calm down and say that slower... what message. We were at the club all night. How the hell were we supposed to hear our phones?"

"Tommy, it's Adam. They got him." Matt sniffled, saying it slowly. Adam's unconscious form was still half-in, half-out of the door, being worked on by the paramedics.

"So that was the message you left?" Tom asked "Why'd you wait so long to call us back?"

"Tommy, no! They just got Adam. Shanny was also hit earlier." Matt sighed. Tom could hear him trying to hold back the tears.

"Oh, Jesus Christ." Tom gasped, looking at Jeff. A quick shake of his head was all it took for Jeff to squish in beside him and listen.

"Can you come here. I don't wanna be alone!" Matt wailed. "The police are gonna be here soon!"

"We're on our way." Tom stated, flipping the phone shut. Jack and Jay both looked at Tom, their expressions mirroring Tom's.

"Sorry, guys but we gotta cut this party short." Tom stated

"Awww..." Jay whined "I was just gonna ask Swagger to show us his dick."

Jack blushed, for obvious reasons.

"I've seen it before." Jeff answered off-handedly.

Tom paused in mid-dial for a taxi. "What?"

"Oops... did I say that out loud?" Jeff giggled.

"Whatever. We really gotta go." Tom repeated "Jay, you're coming with us."

"Me? Why?" Jay demanded

"They got Adam." Tom answered "I'm not leaving you alone... no offense Jack, but I'd rather not involve you in whatever the hell is going on."

Jay gulped. "How bad is he?"

"Matt wouldn't tell me. But he's scared out of his mind right now. Let's go. Sorry, again, Jack. We'll make it up to ya."

"It's cool. Bro's before ho's." Jack answered

"Not the most appropriate comment, but I'll chalk it up to all the booze you've had." Tom, Jeff, and Jay staggered out of the room. Jack left a few minutes later, stealthily taking whatever unopened booze he could find with him.

The medics had already taken Adam away, and the police were just finishing up their interviews with Matt when the trio showed up. The police were understandingly reluctant to allow them entry, but a little persuasion on Matt's part convinced them otherwise.

Carefully stepping over a swatch of carpet stained with Adam's blood, they waited patiently for the police to finish.

"If you think of anything else, please contact us."

"Can I ask you something, officer?" Tom focused hard on not sounding as drunk as he was.

"Depends what it is?"

"Do you think this is related to the other two recent attacks?"

"It's possible. You know anything?"

"It just seems a little weird that three of my close family friends have been attacked in the last day and a half, and there's no connection." Tom shrugged

"Is this the Shane and Shannon that you mentioned?" The officer turned back to Matt, who still looked really shaken up. He was still processing that if he'd taken the shower first, he'd be the one on his way to the hospital right now instead of Edge.

"Yeah." Matt answered, his face pale.

"If any of you hear anything, let us know. In the meantime, you might want to consider sticking together."

"That's sorta what we plan to do." Tom stated "Hopefully it works."

"We'll be in touch, Mr. Hardy!"

Almost to the second that the police left, Matt broke down. Jeff was the first to his brother's side, holding him, whispering softly in his ear. For all the times Jeff had needed consolation, he had become quite good at offering it. Matt seemed to quiet down soon enough.

"It's all my fault, Jeffro." Matt whispered, "I should be the one going to the hospital, not Adam."

"Matty, shhhh." Jeff's stroked his ebony hair. "No one's blaming you."

"You okay, Jay?" Tom looked over at Christian. In their hurry to console Matt, both Tom and Jeff had forgotten that there was another party involved.

"I still don't understand. Adam had nothing to do with this!" Jay shouted angrily, his hands bunching into fists at his side.

"It doesn't make a whole lotta sense to me either, Jay." Tom answered "If it is Evan, and he wants to get back at me, why not just come right after me?"

"Maybe he wants to hurt you by hurting the one person who means the most to you?" Jay repeated earlier sentiments.

"Whomever is doing this better hope than I don't get my hands on them!" Tom replied fiercely.

"Tommy, Matty wants to know if he can stay with us tonight?" Jeff called over.

"Fine with me. " Tom answered, crossing his arms. The drunken stupor was wearing off really fast once the adrenaline kicked in. "You should probably stay as well."

"Yeah... we'll have a slumber party!" The liquor's effects on Jeff were wearing off.

"Leave it to Jeff to turn a serious problem into an excuse for us to get even more silly." Tom whispered behind his hand to Jay.

"Works for me. I don't have pajamas though." Jay responded

"I guess you'll be sitting around in your undies." Tom answered

"I'll find something." Jay winked. Tom chortled gleefully.

An hour later, the four of them were sitting around the Hardy's hotel room, drinking whatever Swagger hadn't absconded with. It had already been a long day, and yet no one wanted to go to sleep.

"What do you wanna do, Jeffro? This was your idea." Tom looked at his coworker and suddenly laughed.

"What's so funny?" Jeff asked

"Sorry, bro. I should be used to you and those footie pajamas." Tom rolled back on the bed.

"I think they make me look sexy." Jeff twirled around

"Only when I'm taking them off you." Tom winked. Matt and Jay looked at each other, Matt snorting loudly.

"What?" Tom and Jeff spoke simultaneously.

"You don't think so? Jeffro, come here."

Jeff jumped into Tom's lap.

"Stand up." Tom ordered

Jeff stood.

"Shall we prove them wrong, lover boy?"

"Mmmm..." Jeff swiped his tongue across his lips, moaning softly.

Slowly, Tom pulled the zipper down on the back of the sleepwear. Matt and Jay just watched at the garment started to fall down Jeff's pale form, both of them shocked at what they were witnessing.

"Now, if this ain't sexy, I don't know what is." Tom said, running his hands across Jeff's chest, hastening the garment's descent down his body.

"Should we be watching this?" Jay asked

"Probably not." Matt replied

"Are you gonna say something?"

"No, are you?"

"No." Jay stated, feeling guilty but fascinated still the same.

"Okay." Matt returned to the floor show. Jeff jammies were now at his feet. The only thing covering Jeff's private parts were his hands.

"And this is where my part of the show ends." Tom grabbed a chair and sat beside Matt.

Jeff stared to wiggle his hips to some piece of music that was probably only playing in his head.

"Does he do this often?" Jay asked, unable to turn his eyes away from the gyrating man in front of him.

"Usually it's a private show, but I guess he wants to make you forget about everything." Tom eyes were also riveted to Jeff. He'd seen the performance before, and it usually ended with Tom receiving a great deal of oral stimulation. But with three audience members, what was Jeff gonna do?

In answer to that, he started to sing!

If you want my body

And ya think I'm sexy

Come on Christian let me know...

If you really want to

I'd so let you fuck me

Tommy doesn't have to know!

Tom tried to look shocked.

"Uh, Jeff. He's sitting right beside Matt." Christian blushed

"Oh..." Jeff answered, giggling. "That could be a problem then." He scrunched his face, a sign that he was thinking hard. "I got it."

"This could be interesting." Tom whispered to Matt.

"Tommy?" Jeff asked, smiling his sugariest.

"Yeah, Skittles?"

"Imma wanna suck Jay. Is that okay?" Jeff pleaded

"Depends... can Matt and I watch?" Tom responded

Jeff puckered his lips, he looked at Christian, who was gradually turning a dark shade of red, then back to Tom who was trying to look calm, then at Matt who was grinning evilly.

"Imma don't know. Maybe Jay can't cum with an audience?" Jeff replied

Fine... I'll watch television or something. I don't think you'll be able to convince Matt to look away." Tom looked at his younger sibling, who had his hand stuck down the front of his sweat pants and was rubbing furiously, that same evil grin on his face.

"We're s'posed to be watching each other's backs, not sucking each other off." Tom answered

"Party pooper." Jeff crossed his arms, forgetting for a moment that he was naked. A laugh from Jay made him suddenly cover up.

"Do whatever, Jeff." Tom responded crossly. "I don't care right now." He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Matt and Jay looked at each other, concerned at Tom's sudden attitude change.

"Matty, did I do bad?" Jeff whined

"Tommy's just a little stressed. " Matt responded

"Imma gonna find him." Jeff answered, stripping out of his pajamas and looking around for his clothes.

"Better hurry, bro." Matt replied

"Why?" Jeff asked suspiciously. "What are you gonna do?"

"Nothing." Matt replied, smiling smugly.

Jeff finished dressing. "BRB."

Matt and Jay looked at each other as soon as Jeff had left.

"I thought they'd never leave." Matt said, quickly moving over in front of Jay.

"Yeah... can you believe your brother. Wanting to fuck me in front of Tom?" Jay replied

"Sometime's Jeff can get like that." Matt answered, spreading Jay's legs and running his fingers lightly along his thighs. "He's only trying to make you forget what happened to Adam."

"There's only one Hardy who can make me forget that easily." Jay answered

"You think we should tell them about us?" Matt looked up at Jay.

"Why? We've kept it a secret for this long." Jay answered, squirming at the gentle stimulation from Matt as his fingers traced along his package.

"I just don't feel right about hiding something like this from our friends." Matt replied

"We'll talk about it later." Jay said "Why don't you do that thing with your mouth that always drives me crazy!"

"Mmm."

All talking ceased, only to be replaced by loud slurping noises and Jay's increasingly loud moans.

Outside the room, Jeff was searching for Tommy. To his astonishment, no one had seen a half-naked wrestler anywhere.

"Tommy!" He shouted, running up and down corridors. Several other guests, opened their doors, possibly thinking it was a fire alarm or something. Seeing Jeff changed their minds quickly.

"Tommy, I'm sorry! Imma love you!" He screeched

Still no signs of him. Jeff took the stairs down to the next floor and repeated the process. And another and another and still another. Jeff was going hoarse from all the screaming when he finally found Tommy, sitting on one of the landings, staring at the patch of floor between his legs.

"Tommy, I been lookin' for ya."

"I know." Tom mumbled "As a matter of fact, the entire hotel probably knows."

"You mad at me?" Jeff asked, sitting beside him.

"Yes." Tommy retorted

Jeff stuck out his lower lip. "Imma sorry." He apologized again.

"You're always doing shit like that, Jeff." Tom answered, finding the pattern of the tile on the landing easier to look at than Jeff's face. "I know we're not officially married yet, but still... I thought these rings meant something."

"They do." Jeff replied

"Well then maybe you should stop acting like a little slut when we're around the guys." Tom shouted

Jeff's mouth opened and closed rapidly.

"And doing your impression of Matt's goldfish impression isn't gonna save you this time." Tom responded

"Tommy, I..."

"I have bent over backwards for you since day one." Tom finally turned so he could talk face-to-face with Jeff. "And where has it gotten me?"

Jeff said nothing.

"I'll tell you where it's gotten me... it's gotten me nowhere. Career-wise, it's great, wonderful, awesome... I'm running the one brand that has half the people of Raw and Smackdown and I'm sure that what little talent I have is gonna be poached the next time we draft."

"You got me." Jeff tried to wrap himself around Tom's arm, but was refused.

"Dammit Jeffro, I put myself out there to try to prove to you how much I really do love you. I've killed and almost gotten killed for you, yet you nonchalantly tell me you're gonna give Jay a blow job right in front of me... what the hell am I supposed to think, huh? That I don't do it for you, is that it?"

"Tommy, please lemme 'splain." Jeff begged.

"Because if you want to go back to the way it was before, then fine. You can have your ring back and maybe we can keep the brother part of our relationship. Maybe. But I am not gonna share you with anyone else, nor am I gonna stand around and pretend that your prostituting yourself is okay." Tom yanked the ring off his hand, slapped it into Jeff's palm, and stood up. "I'm goin' back to my room. Good night."

"Tommy, wait..." Jeff cried out.

"Good night, Jeff." Tom didn't look back.

Matt and Jay were stretched out on one of the double beds when Tom returned. From their expressions, they expected Jeff to be back first, not he.

"Where's Jeff?" Matt asked

"Last time I saw him... he was trying to explain why acting like a whore was gonna keep us together." Tom answered, grabbing his duffel bag and throwing clothes into it.

"Where are you going?" Jay asked

"Imma gonna find another room. It's probably better that way."

"Tom, what happened? Seriously." Matt rolled off the bed and stood before his older brother, a hand placed securely on his shoulder.

Tom waved his now ringless hand at Matt.

"You didn't." Matt replied

"The hell I did." Tom answered

Matt's expression shifted from one of understanding to one of anger. He slapped Tom hard across the face. Even Jay's eyes bulged at the unexpected show of violence.

Tom cocked his head slightly, narrowing his gaze. "Well, fuck you too." He slapped Matt just as hard.

Matt snarled and punched Tom in the stomach. The air went out of him and he crumpled on the ground, gasping harshly.

"I don't know what you said, but you are going to take it all back, man." Matt stood over Tom.

"I am not. If Jeff wants to fuck around with Jay, then there's no sense me trying to keep this relationship together." Tom stated

"Tommy, there's nothin' goin' on with Jay and Jeff." Matt said

"How the fuck would you know?" Tom demanded

Matt looked over at Jay, who nodded.

"Tommy, Jay and I are a couple. "

"So... what's that got to do with the price of guacamole in Mexico?" Tom wheezed, his solar plexus still aching from Matt's fist.

"Get a clue, bro." Matt slapped his forehead. "If Jeff were to start fooling around with Jay, not only would he lose you, which apparently he has, but he would lose me as well. Can you see Jeff doing something as irresponsible as that?"

"Yes." Tom groaned, finally getting back on his feet. "Does Jeff even know about the two of you?"

"I'm sure he's figured it out." Matt answered

"I had no clue." Tom said

"Jeffers' been hangin' with us a lot more than you have. If he hasn't figured it out, then I'd be surprised." Matt replied. Jay nodded in agreement.

"So this whole things was just Jeff being Jeff?" Tom asked

"When Jeff drinks a lot, he sometimes does stupid things. He doesn't do them out of spite or to make people angry, he just has no clue." Matt answered

"And me being the jackass that I am completely blew it out of proportion." Tom answered "Not to mention that I left him sitting alone in a stairwell when someone is out to get him!" Tom ran for the door, flung it open, and stared right into Jeff's red face. He'd obviously been crying.

"I just came to get my stuff. Swagger said I could stay with him again." Jeff forced his way into the room and started packing his own bag.

"Over Matty's dead body, you are!" Tom answered

"But you said..." Jeff looked confused, squinting at Tom through his red-rimmed eyes.

"I know what I said and how can I say this without sounding completely fucking pathetic? Uhmmm, Jeff... " Tom sighed "Oh, this is pathetic! Jeff, I'm an idiot... I'm a total fucking idiot, okay."

"I know that, but that doesn't make it all better." Jeff retorted "You said some really hurtful things back there."

"I know." Tom answered "I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to speak to me again. But..."

"You're sorry, is that it?" Jeff asked

"Well, yeah."

"Then say it."

"I'm sorry." Tom sighed

"Apology accepted." Jeff grabbed Tom in a warm embrace. "But don't ever do that again!"

"I won't." Tom answered "I promise."

"If you promise, then I think you should probably keep this." Jeff placed a small object into Tom's palm and folded his fingers over it.

"I was starting to feel naked without it." Tom took Jeff back into his arms, holding him tightly. "I love you."

"Imma love you too, Tommy. Let's not fight ever again."

"I can't guarantee that, but I'll try." Tom answered "But I need a break from all this. Anything good on TV?"

"I dunno." Jeff answered

Matt clicked on the screen, the only thing on at that hour was news.

"And police have announced that they are looking for a serial attacker following a fourth assault on a wrestler in the past two days..."

"What?" Matt, Tom, Jay, and Jeff shouted simultaneously.

"The body of Amy Dumas, formerly known as Lita, was found moments ago in her Atlanta home. Police won't comment on their investigation but say that a playing card found next to the body is a possible link it to three previous assaults. Anyone with any information is asked to come forward..."

"How the hell is this happening?" Matt demanded

"It's obvious that there's either a copycat or it isn't one person. There's no way that whoever got Adam travelled all the way to Atlanta that quickly."

"Obvious there is more than one person involved." Tom answered "And whomever they are, they are gonna pay."

TBC

A little sketchy in places, but I needed to wrap this chapter up so I can deal (or no deal) with all the trades that just occurred.

Hope you enjoy!