Joey Mercury was a hard man to surprise. It must have been all that time in ECW. After a few months, it was nothing to see guys screwing in the shower, drugs being passed around like breath mints, or workers screaming at the boss. Hell his choice in friends - well, former friends - probably had something to do with his inability to be shocked. It was easy to get used to Shane and Shannon's running-all-through-the-hotel-tag, or Matt macking hot and heavy with some chick only to humiliate her seconds later. Hell, whenever he walked into a hotel, Joey was almost disappointed not to see Jeff swinging from the chandelier, painted green, orange and navy blue, while balancing a Christmas wreath on his dick.

Tonight, he was in no mood to be surprised.

His face throobed, whether he had the mask on or not; it was only the kind of pain that changed. When he had it on, the ache was centralized, a steady throbbing from his nose to his cheekbones. When he took it off, like now, the pain spread to encompass his entire head, compounded by the unfamiliar tightness of the ballcap currently shielding the worst of the cuts from all but the most intense scrutiny. Joey kept his head down as he signed in, ignoring the looks he was getting. Popularity so had its down side. When the paperwork was done, he started towards the elevator, nearly jumping out of his skin when Melina's fingers brushed against his.

"We totally nailed that Hardy bitch," Melina grinned. "We'll keep making them pay for what they did to you."

"I know," he replied, wondering why those words made him feel about ten years older. He looked around the lobby, "Where's Johnny?"

"Oh, he said he had some things to take care of," Melina replied blithely, making a show of checking her nails. "He's probably back at the hotel by now."

If it wouldn't hurt so much, Joey would snort; for all her other traits, Melina was probably the worst liar he'd ever met. "Right. You can head back too, if you want. I'm just going to head upstairs and get some sleep." She nodded, leaned over to kiss his cheek, then hesitated, her lips pursed a few inches away from the mask. With an awkward little smile, she reached out and squeezed his hand instead.

Before she got too far away, Joey shook his head. "Do me a favour? Call him up and tell him I'm really not in the mood."

Melina turned on her heel, catwalk style, and shook her head. "Let him have his fun." She nodded, decision proclaimed, so sayeth Melina, and sauntered out the door.

Well Johnny could have his fun, but he'd have to wait for it. The bar was looking nice and dark right now, a lovely black hole of booze where he could easily kill some time. Considering how late it was, there weren't too many people inside and even better, most weren't co-workers. Joey dropped into a nicely shaded booth seat at the far end where he'd able to keep an eye on the entrance. Within a few minutes, a waitress who looked too young to be drinking, let alone working in the place, took his order. He had to admire the effort she made not to look at him. Joey ordered himself a pitcher of beer. The low-cal stuff was tempting, but Joey found himself looking forward to not feeling his face for a little while.

Once the waitress left, his gaze scanned the bar. One of three pool tables was occupied by a game of pool that seemed to be more about having fun than winning money. Across the way, Cena was feeling up some rat in a tube top and Matt was necking with a redhead three tables down. When his pitcher and glass came, Joey paid for them, toasted the happy couples and knocked back a large gulp.

By the time he got halfway done his third glass on his second pitcher John was leading the girl towards the elevator and Matt had pushed the redhead off his lap and stormed out, leaving her literally crying into her drink wondering what she'd done wrong. Joey didn't feel up to explaining it to her. He killed the last of his pitcher in a few gulps, tossed down a couple more bucks as a tip and started to make his way towards the elevator.

The lift was mercifully empty and he relished the silence for all seven floors. When the doors opened, the hallway was equally barren; Joey walked down the hall, cursing his damn wallet for being so hard to find and his coordination for being the first thing to go when he was drunk. He found himself wondering who in the hell put the Do Not Disturb sign on his door, then decided that he didn't care. Finally he swiped the card and the little light flashed from red to green. He stepped into his room with a sigh and closed his eyes, tensing instinctively as he reached behind his head and pulled off the mask.

Joey took two steps towards the bed and blinked a few times when he realized that it was already occupied. He started to wonder if he was in the wrong room before his brain kicked in and his dick recognized Johnny.

Nitro was curled on his side with one arm buried under the pillow and the other against his hip. It looked like he'd tried to toss his shirt across a chair and missed. When he shifted on to his other side, Joey noted that his black jeans were unbuttoned. Even the beer couldn't mask the twinge of guilt that made the back of his neck feel hot.

Sighing softly, Joey went into the bathroom. He took a little longer than usual, but when his teeth were brushed and his gums flossed and his hair tied back and stripped down to his boxer briefs, he flicked off the lights and crawled into bed. In less time than it took to breathe, Johnny curled up against him, leaving Joey to wonder if they were magnitized, chest to back, because that seemed to be their default position. Melina always joked that they'd probably cuddle if they got stuck in traffic, which wasn't true at all. Well, she didn't need to know that more often than not, traffic only led to handjobs.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling of Johnny's warm breath against the back of his ear. Just as he was drifting off, the rhythm of the breathing paused, changed and turned into a pair of lips travelling from his earlobe to the base of his neck. "Hey," Johnny purred, his voice gruff with sleep but still too damn sexy for its own good.

"Hey," Joey replied, covering Johnny's hand with his own. "You been waiting long?"

"Yes."

"Sorry." He said with a shrug. He was caught off guard when he got rolled on to his back. By now, Joey's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but he couldn't see Johnny. They were so close they were sharing the same air, but he still couldn't see him. Yet he could feel Nitro's warmth and weight settling on top of him.

"Missed you," Johnny murmured, his lips pressed to Joey's neck.

"I know," Joey's hand slid up, a little awkwardly and sifted through Johnny's hair, working out a few tangles that must have formed while he'd been sleeping. "You didn't have to wait for me."

"Wanted to," Johnny's lips found their way to Joey's for a brief moment.

"Babe it's late," Joey said after a moment. "We've got an early flight tomorrow and you've got that interview with the magazine, plus the photo shoot, and I've got that roster meeting. It's too late start anything. We'll squeeze in a quickie in the morning, I promise."

"I know, I know," Johnny sounded a little more awake. "Just wanted to touch you."

Joey's breath caught when he felt Johnny's fingers on his face, dangerously close to the lowest of his wounds. "Johnny, don't--"

The words died completely as he felt Johnny shift on top of him again. He closed his eyes, bracing himself the same way he would when someone was about to jump on him: hands clenched, arms rigid, expecting a shock of pain. All he got instead were warm, soft, moist lips pressed against the cut on his right cheek, then the one on the left. His fingers relaxed and his breathing eased. There wasn't any pain this time. A final kiss was pressed to the bridge of his nose and he brushed aside a twinge of discomfort. Before he could say anything, Johnny was spooned up behind him again and their legs were twined together like always. He closed his eyes, but found he didn't relax completely until Johnny's body relaxed and his breathing evened out.

Joey closed his eyes, matching Johnny's breathing pattern. He had started to doze off before Johnny's warm arm came around his waist. The act startled him, but Joey didn't open his eyes; suprises weren't always a bad thing.

THE END