Once again brown eyes stood looking at his lover filling with tears as he was determined to be not good enough. This time though it was different. This time was not supposed to have happened. Shane was supposed to have stayed forever because that is what he promised to do. Yet here they were standing in a hotel room while Shane told him that he was going back to Raven. Of all the people in the world for him to be abandoned for his friend had broken his heart and abandoned him for Raven.

Raven… the man that broke Shane and left him in so many pieces that they almost hadn't been able to put him back together again wanted him back and being who he was Shane was complying. Matt bowed his head not wanting any more to watch Shane packing his things and when his friend said that he was sorry and goodbye Matt didn't even respond. How could he? Once again one of his cherubs had let him down. Jeff had been right.

Then, Jeff was only looking out for his own needs and wants. He didn't warn his older brother of Shane's upcoming defection out of love and concern. He had warned him in a hope of putting a wedge between them so that he could get back that which he looked at as his. When they were together Jeff cursed him and said that he couldn't wait to get away from him, but then when he got it and they were apart Jeff schemed and conned trying to get back into his arms. When would the sickening cycle that was his life end? When would someone enter his life that didn't wanna rush off as soon as he got there?

Down the hall Mark poked his head out his door as he was awakened for the second time in two days by some little twink in the hallway. Growling he was unhappy to see another young victim outside the door of Charlie Haas. This time it was young Josh Mathews in the hall crying and upset. He stepped halfway into the hallway before he noticed Steve watching angrily from his room doorway. Chuckling softly he decided that Steve had a much larger vested interest in all of this, seeing as the shithead had thrown all of Steve's new "travelmates" belongings over the balcony the night before and they had been lost or stolen by groupies and fans. Pretty soon Charlie Haas was going to figure out it wasn't a smart thing to piss off the bionic redneck even if he was supposedly "retired from the ring".

Watching he saw Steve walk across the hall to Al's room and pound on the door then stepped back to his room as Josh continued to wail in the hallway. Quickly Al hurried out with his lover Maven and as Maven hurried poor little Joshua back into their room Al warned Charlie about messing with his boys. Just as he was about to turn and go back into his own room he saw Shane Helms leave with one bag over his shoulder and the other being pulled behind him minus Matt Hardy's presence.

Turning his head Mark called to his brother Glenn who hurriedly joined him in the doorway. "Your little friend has flown the coop back to his Raven of Destruction… just as Jeff warned." Glenn grunted watching Shane hurry down the hall. "Oh yeah, that beacon of selflessness. He only said that to rattle my cage."

Mark sighed looking at Glenn and shook his head. "You know, brother, Jeffrey may be a bastion of selfishness, but that doesn't make him WRONG. And while everyone is discounting him as only looking out for himself, it doesn't appear to me as if YOUR little crush is looking out for an ass other than HIS OWN… unless it's Raven's. I do believe that he did promise Matt that he would be there for him and love him and I don't recall Matt telling me anything about a disclaimer that including Raven crooking his finger. So you can get off your fucking high horse and leave Jeff alone. I don't know what it is about you two, but if you would stop hating him for one second you would see that he stands nothing to gain by you saving Shane from himself. In fact it would profit him greatly to let Shane finally self destruct for the last time at the hands of Raven. Then he won't ever have to worry about his greatest competitor for Matt's heart again."

Glenn grunted wanting to respond but as he saw Shane disappearing from sight he decided that he would be better served trying to talk Shane out of making the biggest mistake of his life. Mark grunted watching Glenn predictably hurrying down the hallway chasing the heart he would never admit belonged to him. Stepping back into his room Mark grabbed his wallet and his door key before leaving.

When he heard the heavy knock on his door, Matt had the urge not to respond, but found himself rolling out of bed to answer it anyway. He knew that the knock was too heavy to be Shane, but somewhere in his heart he hoped… "Oh, Mark." Turning from the open door he made his way back to the bed where he laid down and curled into a ball. Mark sighed and ran a hand through his long gone long red curls. Making his way to the bed side Mark sat down on the edge making the bed dip low under his weight.

"I'm sorry kid," Mark started then stopped unsure of how to proceed and hoping that Matt would lead him in the right direction. "Ain't nothing for you to forgive. You didn't warn me so's you could tear apart the happiness of the person you were claiming to love and you aren't the person that just left me after SWEARING you'd be here forever so you can run back to the man that will probably finally kill you."

Mark nodded trying to find a path to take that didn't include his usual knock to the side of the head bluntness. "No I'm not kiddo, but before I tell you who I am, let me ask you a question about your brother. By warning you ahead of time about Raven's… intentions was you leaving Shane the only… possible ending?" Matt frowned at the wall then rolled over to lay on his back looking up at Mark. "Whaddya mean?"

Mark watched Matt carefully as he spoke. "Well I know that you have convinced yourself that all Jeff was after was to split you and Shane up, but was that the most predictable response to his statement? And for that matter what was his statement? Did he say, 'Matty ya gotta dump Shane before he breaks your heart and goes back to Raven' or did he instead say, 'Matty I hate to have to tell you this an I've waited as long as I can hopin' that Shane would tell him to bugger off, but Raven is after Shane again an this time I don' think we'll be able to save him if Raven gets his claws into him'?

Mark took Matt's stubborn silence as a good sign and thanked the Gods that Jeff has listened to him for once and thought before he spoke. "So, I am going to assume by your silence that it was the latter rather than the former statement. Then in warning you because he feared for Shane's safety as much as he missed you what did he stand to gain? It was more likely that you would save Shane and convince him to stay with you as it was that you took the road you did. So what, pray tell me, did your brother stand to gain by warning you?"

Mark nodded when Matt didn't answer again knowing that he was having a difficult time trying to come up with an answer. "Now, while you are thinkin bout that I will tell you who I am. I am the man that loves you Matt. I am the man that wants to take care of you. I am the man that ain't some flighty youngster who's gonna be goin an' changing his mind every two seconds. I am old enough to know what I want and to make sure that it IS what I want before I go after it. Matthew, I want you."

Matt couldn't have been more stunned if you'd beaten him over the head with a two by four. "But you love Jeff," he stated hoping that he hadn't completely lost his mind, but when Mark nodded he found himself more confused than ever. "I do love your brother Matt, and I love you as well." Matt blinked confused trying to find the trick that would send him spiraling down his own little path to destruction. "You love us both? But… but what does that mean?" Mark smiled softly shaking his head and thinking that they heeded to lay off the head shots for Matt. "That means kid that you ain't alone unless you wanna be." When Mark carefully lay down, Matt laid his head on the big man's massive chest and wondered what Twilight Zone he had slipped into.

The End… for now

Read the next story Don't Let Me Down