Chapter 9

Adam woke up excited. Today not only was he going to go hang out with Mitch and Alan, but tonight was Tommy's fight. He hadn't actually seen the man in months so a little visual refresher couldn't hurt. Adam kept telling himself he was going to watch it because Tommy was his friend and he wanted to support him, not because he still had dreams of being pinned down under his considerable bulk.

Adam pulled himself out of bed and fought limping as he made his way to the kitchen. He ate a light breakfast and took his meds before he sat down to attempt to roll a few joints to take with him to Mitch's house in the woods.

Around an hour later Kyle barged in the door and plopped himself down in the chair across from Adam who had several neat looking joints in front of him. "Wow those look good. How long you been at it?"

"An hour or so. You don't want to see the first few I did. They are complete shit." Adam chuckled and handed the joints to kyle who tucked them in a metal cigarette case.

"You need to eat something. You're looking a bit rough today." Adam knit his brows and watched as Kyle searched around the kitchen until he found something eatable. Minutes later a plate of basic scrambled eggs were placed in front of him.

"Thanks man. Do I look that bad? I mean you never feed me." Adam self consciously adjusted the beanie on his head. He'd looked in the mirror. He knew he was looking rough but he didn't realize how bad it was getting.

"I'm not gonna lie: your looking a bit thin and pale. I'm sure it's just from then chemo but you really need to eat more." Kyle smiled, trying to soften the blow of his words.

"I try. I just feel sick a lot. Even with the weed after a while I just can't eat." Adam pushed the eggs around his plate and finally took a bite. The eggs taste sour in his mouth but he swallows them anyways. "Maybe I should get some protein shakes?"

"Well we're going to go hang out with the perfect people to ask." nodded and ate about half the eggs before giving up and grabbing his jacket.

Adam lit up a joint on the way to Mitch's house when he started to feel car sick. He grumbled under his breath about how everything seemed to make him sick now. Kyle rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder and Adam gave him a weak smile.

They made comfortable small talk for the half an hour drive. What they didn't talk about was how in a month Adam had to go in for his tests to see if the chemo was working.

Adam found himself laughing. Laughing so hard his sides hurt. Mitch, Alan, Kyle, and himself say around a table in the back yard and shared the joints that Adam had rolled. They talked about the radio. Adam felt a little dumb admitting his love for the outdated format but Mitch and Alan seemed to agree with him.

They had been talking for 2 hours when Mitch's wife brought them the horrible wheat grass shots. Adam felt a knot in his chest when he saw the love between the two of them. He couldn't help but to feel a little jealous and lonely. Adam unconsciously ran his fingers over his phone in his pocket. He found himself wondering what Tommy was doing right then and how he was getting ready for the fight later that night. Adam slept on the way home. Kyle nudged him awake and with a short goodbye Adam walked slowly up his front steps. His back felt like it was twisting in on it's self.

As soon as he was in the house he went straight for his pain medicine and popped as many as he was allowed at a time. He stretched out on the couch with the heating pad and rested for a bit. Tommy's fight wasn't on for another hour and a half so Adam set an alarm and let himself nap a bit longer. He sighed feeling like all he did anymore was sleep but what choice did he have with all the meds he was taking?

An hour later Adam's phone pinged. He popped an eye open and looked blearily at the screen. Adam sat up when he saw the message from Tommy on the screen.

'In the locker room. Getting pumped about this fight. I'm going to destroy that ring.'

Adam wasn't sure why the thought of Tommy washing the floor with his opponent was hot but he couldn't fight the tiny bud of warmth building in his belly.

'Good luck. I'm watching. Kick his ass.' Adam smiled and sat up, the stitch in his back seemed to have eased which was a small blessing, and turned on the TV. He flipped through the channels until he saw the octagon shining brightly. He sat and listened to the commentators yammer on about Tommy's opponent that evening. The guy was big but not as big as Tommy and broad with a tattoo across his belly.

"He looks like a douche." Adam muttered to the empty house. Skeletor, who had curled up on the floor next to him while he slept, perked up and his tail flopped on the floor in agreement. "Glad you agree with me." He rubbed the fine fur on the dogs head and smiled.

Adam's head immediately popped up when he heard Tommy's name. A short clip of Tommy knocking a guy out, in what looked like a small gym, showed on the screen as they rambled on about how Tommy had burst on the scene two years ago after the video they were showing popped up on YouTube.

Adam leaned towards the TV and soaked in the information that he didn't realize he wanted to know about. They discussed Tommy's military career and Adam felt the seed of heat in his belly grow as he thought of Tommy in camo and being a war hero was pretty hot too. Adam was a bit confused but he figured he's already gotten off with the guy so the damage to his sexuality had already been done.

Moments later the commentators turn their attention to the ring where the opponent, a guy they were calling 'The Roman' was walking up to the ring with some obnoxious rock song playing in the background. The crowd was cheering as he entered the ring and the ref checked him out. Then the auditorium went quite.

The camera focused on Tommy, wearing a look as dark as his hoodie. Adam had almost forgotten how big the guy was and his eyes traveled over the muscles showing under the dark fabric. Tommy didn't use any walk up music as he made his way to the ring. The crowd was going absolutely nuts, it was obvious who was the favorite in this fight. Tommy pulled the hoodie over his head when he reached the ring and Adam gave up trying to not be aroused. Tommy's body was already covered in a sheen of sweat from his warm up and Adam had to adjust himself in his jeans.

Adam could feel the tension building as the two fighters met in the center of the ring. When the ref stepped back the two men returned to their corners seconds later a bell rang and Tommy moved towards the other man like a freight train. The next few minute were filled with Tommy pounding the other man into the mat.

Adam was impressed that the guy actually lasted 3 rounds when Tommy finally punched him upside the head and he went down like a sack of potatoes. Adam cheered when the ref counted the man out and Tommy was declared the winner. Tommy raised his fist in the air and had a small grin on his face as the in ring camera came in for a close up. Adam swore he was looking right at him through the TV.

"Oh fuck." Adam muttered feeling himself go from interested and aroused to rock hard. Adam shooed Skeletor away and unbuttoned his pants and they pulled Tommy aside for the after fight interview.

Adam had no idea what was being said and he didn't care as he slipped his hand in his pants, his eyes focusing on the way Tommy's lips moved. Adam let out a small moan as he wrapped his fist around himself. After a second he pulled his hand out of his pants and licked his hand to wet his palm, returning to grip his length again, this time pulling quickly at the head. Adam had no interest in dragging this out and soon he wouldn't have Tommy's face spread across his TV.

Adam grunted and thrust up into his fist as they showed a replay of Tommy's knock out punch. He moved his hand over his length as he breath picked up. Now they were showing other highlights of the fight. Adam's eyes traveled over Tommy's body as he threw the other man to the ground, slamming him against the mat.

Soon he was gasping as he felt his body drawing tight, as his orgasm started to build. When Tommy looked into the camera again Adam shouted feeling pleasure ripping through his body, his hand didn't stop as he shuttered and came over his fist until he collapsed back on the couch.

"Oh fuck..." Adam whimpered still twitching with the aftershocks when he realized he should call Tommy and congratulate him. With a sigh, Adam wiped his hand on his boxers and reached for his phone and lit up a joint.

"God Tommy that was amazing.. Congrats man." Tommy listened to Adam's voice mail once he got out of the shower. He sounded breathless and his words were slightly slurred, Tommy wondered what he had be doing while watching the fight. He knew Adam wasn't much of a drinker even though when he first met him he'd been drunk as a skunk.

'Glad you enjoyed it. Felt great to pound that prick into the ground.'

'He wasn't the only prick getting pounded.'

Tommy raised his brow and had to stop a moment to figure out how exactly to reply to the fact that Adam had just admitted to jerking off, most likely during the fight.

'Oh shit. I didn't mean to say that. Please forget I sent that.'

'I'm high. I swear I wasn't jerking off.'

'Don't lie. I'm glad you liked what you saw.' Tommy chuckled and stood to pull on his jacket.

'I mean.. oh hell. Yes I masturbated. I'm sorry?'

'Sorry? Don't be sorry. You just gave me something to think about later when I go to bed.'

Tommy fought a grin as he pocketed his phone, letting Adam stew on that for a minute.

Colt gave Tommy a ride back to their hotel and Tommy stopped him before they reached the elevators.

"Hey man.. do me a favor?" Tommy asked shifting his bag on his shoulder.

"Sure. What do you need? And no I'm not sending a hooker to your room. Your not popular enough for that yet." Colt grinned at him and pushed the button for the elevator.

"I need you to book me a flight to Seattle in the next week or so."

"Seattle? Why?" Colt looked surprised as the stepped in as the doors opened.

"I want to visit a friend of mine that's sick. That's all you need to know. I don't have another fight for a month. I can spare a week." Tommy pressed the button to his floor and Colt followed suit.

"OK man. I'll see what I can do. That's cutting it really close on your next fight. If I let you go you have to promise to keep up your work out. No slacking off the diet and the running while your off gallivanting in Washington."

"Sure." Tommy said simply. Colt smiled at him and waved goodnight to him as he got off on his floor.

Tommy sighed and waited for the elevator to reach his floor. Adam had mentioned that he had an important doctors appointment coming up where they would see how his chemo was progressing. Tommy knew it had to be scary for Adam and he felt like he needed to be there for him. He didn't think that Adam would mine if he showed up. At least he hoped he wouldn't.

Tommy decided to talk to Adam about it the next day when he got back from his chemo treatment. If Adam said 'no' he'd just tell Colt to not book anything.

When he reached his hotel room he stuck his key card in the door and pushed it open heading straight for the bed where he flopped across the hideously pastel comforter.

He pulled out his phone and grinned at the progressively flustered texts from Adam. He really was a bit of a spaz when he got worked up. Tommy shot off a few texts and got back up to order some food to be brought up while he changed into some loose fitting shorts and a t-shirt.

Tommy tipped the person that brought him his food and he sat at the small table, watching the rerun of the fight. Tommy knew he should never watch his own fights because he'd start nit picking, but tonight he watched knowing that across the country Adam had watch it and got turned on.

Tommy sighed and pushed his plate aside before moving back to his bed, the exertion of the night finally catching up to him. The bone deep fatigue washed through him and he slid under the blankets. He shot Adam a few more teasing texts before he shut the TV off and tried to sleep.

The next morning Tommy woke up and groaned at the early hour. He silently packed up his things and waited for Colt in the lobby. When he showed up they nodded to each other in a silent and sleepy communication. On the plane ride back to Pittsburgh they both slept.

Tommy let out a content sigh as he made it back into his apartment. It was finally starting to feel like home. Tommy tossed his bag in the chair and made his way to the kitchen where he pulled out a beer and settled on the couch. He let Adam know he was home safe. When he didn't get a reply he figured Adam was napping or possibly still at his chemo session.

When the sun started to set and he hadn't heard from Adam he started to worry. He tried calling and got no answer. Just when Tommy started pacing his living room he heard the text alert from his phone. With a great heaving sigh he unlocked the screen relieved to see Adam's name on his alerts.

'Mitch is dead.'

Tommy felt his heart sink. He knew how close Adam was to the older men he met during chemo. He didn't know how to respond and he felt useless sitting there on the couch. After a moment he sent Adam the only thing he could think of.

'I'm here if you need me.'