Chris Jericho glared at the tall visitor. "What the hell do you want?" He would have slammed the door in his face, but after the events of the past couple of days, he didn't have the energy.

Dave Batista sighed and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. His dark eyes scanned the injured wrestler. "Came to see how you're doing." His tone was cordial, unassuming. "I heard you got busted up."

"And you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Jericho spoke accusingly.

Batista gave him a quick look. "No! Why would you think I had anything to do with this?"

"You weren't there?"

"No, I wasn't," the taller wrestler assured him. "Just tell me what happened, Chris."

The blonde limped to the sofa and plopped down, taking the remote control in hand to mute the TV. "I got the shit beat out of me. Four guys wearing masks. One of them was about your size."

The bigger man moved quickly to sit beside him. "You should know me well enough by now to know that if I wanted to beat you up, I wouldn't hide behind a mask to do it, and I damn sure wouldn't need any help! I would never do this to you, Chris! You're such a damned idiot!"

Jericho turned blue eyes scornfully his way. "Idiot, huh? I'm an idiot?"

"Yes! Otherwise, you wouldn't have missed how much I care about you! If you had any sense, you would have realized by now."

"Care about me?" Jericho snorted. "That's why you've been pounding on me so much, right?"

"Yeah. Sort of," Batista answered, taking on a righteous pose. "Let me explain, pretty boy. I'm not like other people. Helpless people in hopeless situations don't do it for me. Nothing is about butterflies and flowers. For me, every lunatic emotion I experience comes from the same part of my twisted soul! Wrestling, love, hate, anger, sex, hunger, they're all the same. Same gut reaction. I snarl."

Jericho paused in confusion. "I don't understand. Are you telling me that you're crazy?"

Batista laughed and pulled him into his arms for a fierce hug. "Of course I'm crazy, you idiot," he answered. "Crazy about you."

Ready Story #2 of 7 titled Smitten