***
Kurt knew that Benoit and Jericho had been lovers many years before, but he didn't know they'd renewed their acquaintance. Therefore when he peered grinning into the locker room, intent on throwing his Summer Slam victory in the face of his former partner's loss, the scene with which he was faced was something for which he was completely unprepared.
He stood, watching silently as the two men lay naked on a swiftly-made bed of discarded clothing. Benoit's hard-muscled body arced above Jericho's slightly smoother frame. Blue eyes gazed down gently at another pair, which looked silently back up. From Kurt's perspective and the angle of the door, he could see all this without being seen.
Yet despite the entrancing view of Benoit's strong triceps flexing as he lifted Jericho's hips, and even the sight of the erections jutting from both men, it was the sounds that got to Kurt the most. The low voices as both men spoke, the words indistinct and blended together into a murmur. The soft gasps from both as their cocks brushed and their balls touched, and the panting breaths as neither could help rubbing more firmly together. The murmur became low moans as Benoit prepared his blond lover quickly but gently. Kurt did not rely on his senses to know how surprisingly gentle the brutish-looking man could be. He relied on his memory.
"Like what you see, ese?" The accented whisper so soft it was almost a breath came against Kurt's ear, and he jumped. He turned his head slightly and the figure beside him took a step back, out of sight of the door. Kurt's body remained still, his lips barely moved as he answered.
"How long have you been standing there, punk?"
"Long enough," Eddie stood shirtless, his jeans and cowboy boots shadows of color in the dimly lit hallway. His dark eyes glittered with a light Kurt didn't trust at all. He braced himself for Eddie to alert Chris and Chris to their presence, just to be an asshole.
But when Eddie spoke, his voice was barely to be heard above the hum of the air conditioning. "I think you're barking up the wrong tree, Kurt. If you came to talk to Chris..." A moan louder than the others assaulted Kurt's ears, and Eddie smiled. "He's a bit... busy, at the moment."
"Fuck you," Kurt muttered under his breath. He turned his narrowed eyes toward the couple in the locker room again. He was just in time to see Benoit choke back a whimper as his cock was coated with lube by deft hands. Kurt shifted with desire and unease. Benoit had never made such a vulnerable sound with him. Jericho flashed a devilish grin as he worked his hand up and down, and turned half-lidded eyes to Benoit's face. Benoit gave a low growl and entwined one fist in Jericho's long blond hair. He pulled the Jericho's face upward and they kissed roughly.
"You ARE enjoying yourself, aren't you?" Eddie's voice was still quiet but the smirk could be heard loud and clear. Kurt flushed and passed a hand briefly at the tent in his running pants which was not even partially hidden by his t-shirt. He attempted to press the offending member back, but quickly stopped when he realized this was being counterproductive. Instead he moved his gaze away from the softly groaning pair in the locker room and back to Eddie.
"You're not having such a bad time yourself, ese." He stressed the last word and looked pointedly at the bulge clearly visible in the front of Eddie's pants. Eddie just shrugged; not in an attempt to deny it or explain it away, but as if saying there was nothing he could really do about it. He showed no shame at all in meeting Kurt's eyes. Kurt was the first to look away; for some reason he was more comfortable when he wasn't making eye contact.
Kurt was about to speak further, but with a cry from Jericho and another deep, rumbling growl from Benoit, Kurt's attention was caught and held. Benoit's abs flexed as he drove himself into Jericho, rolling his pelvis in the smooth but sharp rhythm that Kurt remembered so well... and that apparently Eddie could recall also. Jericho threw his head back, jerking his cock with a still-lubed hand. Benoit lifted Jericho by the hips and balanced their weight on his knees.
"He was with me before you," Eddie said quickly, almost as if he had been holding it back and could do so no longer. Kurt lifted his lip into a trace of a sneer. "You might know that. He... he was there for me when I needed someone. For a little while, anyway," Eddie glared at Kurt as if daring him to laugh, but Kurt kept his face carefully turned away. "What about you?"
"Me?" Kurt snapped. His voice was slightly louder than he'd intended, but the lovers took no notice. He glanced to the side and spoke in his ventriloquist's voice again, his lips barely moving. "That's none of your damn business."
"Swept you off your feet, didn't he?" Eddie grinned tightly at Kurt. "He wanted you and he took you, until he decided it was time to move on. You knew it was over when he told you it was over. Am I right?"
Kurt's scowl was answer enough and Eddie's grin grew wider.
"Don't sweat it, homes," Eddie crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "That's just Chris for you. He has this thing about needing to save people. He sees people who seem to need someone and he steps in. So what made him save you?"
Kurt refused to reply, inwardly seething that Eddie had seen through him so easily. Benoit had in fact been with Kurt when he needed it... but that was none of Eddie's business. The fact that Eddie had apparently gone through the same thing was bad enough, and he pushed the thought away.
Eddie was undeterred at not receiving an answer. "Sometimes I think one of the reasons Chris made himself so strong was so that he could always protect people weaker than him. It's one of those things that make him a great friend but a shitty lover, because once you're strong enough, he moves on." He paused and looked intently at the wall that divided him from Chris, as if seeing through it. "He always seems to end up back with Jericho, though."
Kurt glanced at Eddie and saw a brief, self-mocking expression float across his face. Kurt was again disturbed at the similarities between himself and this man whom he disliked so much. He peered around the edge of the doorway at Chris Benoit, former partner, former lover. He felt as much jealousy as lust as he watched the two men in the throes of passion.
He marveled at the way Benoit's normally stern, stoic face had transformed into something quite different. Kurt had seen this many times, of course, but never without the distraction of fucking or being fucked by the man in question. Chris' brow was clear of lines, his mouth half-open as he panted. Kurt watched him try to focus his eyes on the face of the man moving beneath him, but the lids fluttered shut as he thrust faster. He rested his chin against his collarbone with a grimace of pleasure. He whimpered again, that sound so foreign to Kurt, as he grew close. Jericho cried something indeterminate as his come splashed over his hand and onto his stomach.
Kurt's breath came quick and shallow as he watched Benoit drive himself nearer to the edge. Soundlessly, catlike, Eddie stepped closer, until he was almost-but-not-quite touching Kurt. They stood, both of them, the two that had been saved and then left behind, watching together as their common ground gave a shout from behind clenched teeth. Benoit tensed, the veins in his arms and neck standing out, and his body froze in a tableau of ecstasy. At last, with a sigh, his muscles seemed to crumple as they relaxed, and he thrust weakly a few more times. He slowly, slowly let Jericho's body sink back into the pile of promotional t-shirts and tights. Benoit lay down, pressing his forehead against Jericho's rising and falling chest. Kurt sensed Eddie holding his breath beside him.
After a moment Benoit lifted his head, and regarded Jericho again. His expression was unreadable as he softly brushed Jericho's sweaty hair away. He took his lover's face in both hands.
"Close your eyes." Kurt strained to hear the softly growled whisper. Jericho did as he was told. Something caught in Kurt's throat as Benoit softly kissed first the left, then the right eyelid. He then kissed Jericho's forehead, and the tip of his nose, before at last coming to rest on his lips. Jericho's eyes smiled up as Benoit pulled back from the chaste kiss, just enough to whisper something. Kurt could not hear what he said but from his perspective, could read his lips well enough.
"I love you."
Kurt nearly started when Eddie leaned against him briefly, making a small sound that Kurt could not identify. Eddie moved away a second later, but not before Kurt's already throbbing cock tingled at the weight of bare skin pressed against him. Eddie backed further down the hallway from where he'd come, and Kurt moved out of sight of the doorway to the place Eddie had been standing. Eddie ran a hand through his bleach-tipped hair and paused, regarding Kurt with expressionless eyes.
"It's hard, I know."
Kurt's first thought was that Eddie was making another smart-ass comment about his cock. Then he thought of another possible meaning, and he bristled slightly at Eddie's implied knowledge of something far too personal to discuss.
"It is, yeah," he said finally, defiantly. A "so what" lingered behind his words but he didn't voice it.
Eddie shot him a look that was simultaneously annoyed and slightly questioning. Kurt looked back, wondering where this was going. Eddie looked down, and adjusted the front of his pants. He appeared to repress a shiver, and looked almost angrily back up at Kurt.
"The past hurts, but you gotta let it go," he said firmly. The lovers had moved on to the showers deeper in the locker room, where their voices could be heard only faintly over the sound of running water. "I'm the expert on this one, homes, so listen to me. You got to let it go and live for today. Even if you don't like it, or..." he gave a little laugh that mystified Kurt. "Or even if you can't really believe it, you got to look at what's right in front of you."
"Hey, I just saw what was right in front of me," Kurt answered back, leveling his gaze coldly on Eddie. "One of the best lovers I ever had was giving it to someone who clearly means a lot more to him than I ever did... but I'm not alone here, am I?"
Eddie merely raised his eyebrows. Kurt continued, in a low, flat voice. "It gave me a hard-on, sure. It also gave me a bad taste in my mouth and I didn't get to have any of the fun to put it there. And like I said, this is none of your fucking business anyway. Show's over."
Eddie shook his head. His anger was gone, he now looked simply exasperated. He turned his back on Kurt, paused, and looked over his shoulder.
"No, Kurt," he said. The exasperation was still on his face, but that curious unspoken question was back in his eyes. "You're not alone here." And with that, he shook his head again and walked away.
It took another full minute after Eddie was out of sight for understanding to widen Kurt's eyes.
His first reaction was revulsion; his second was shock at how quickly the revulsion faded. He drew in his mind's eye the image of Eddie's reaction to Jericho and Benoit. He discovered, to his surprise, that the erection he was losing immediately returned full-force at the memory.
Kurt caught up with Eddie in the parking lot.
"Wait!" Eddie turned, a careless smile on his face. Kurt paused, his fists clenched. Now that he was there, he wasn't quite sure what to say.
"What did you mean when you--" was all he managed to get out before his body was seized and pushed up against a rental car. A Ford something, Kurt thought distantly, and then Eddie's body was pressed against his, and his mouth was being crushed in a claiming kiss.
"You know what your problem is, Kurt?" Eddie muttered against his lips. He snaked his hands underneath Kurt's shirt and ran them over the smooth skin he found beneath. "Your problem is that you think about yourself so much that you miss the obvious."
"I miss the obvious," Kurt repeated vaguely. He wasn't really paying attention to words. He was too busy sliding his tongue back into Eddie's mouth, grasping the back of his neck to pull him in tighter. Contrary to Eddie's statement, he wasn't actually thinking a whole lot at the moment, other than wondering how big a backseat Eddie's rental car possessed.
Eddie moaned into Kurt's mouth, and pulled back to suck at Kurt's jaw. He pressed his hands to the front of Kurt's pants, drawing a gasp. "You do," Eddie said in a thick voice. "Have you never happened to wonder why we always go out of our way to piss each other off?"
Kurt conceded to himself that he had never wondered that. He'd always assumed he hated Eddie, just for being Eddie. But as Eddie attempted to drive back to the hotel with Kurt mostly in his lap, Kurt started to wonder if it really was hate that drove him to tangle with Eddie so often. He continued to ponder the issue in the back of his mind when the two of them were making out furiously in the elevator. Eddie was whispering dirty, obscene things into Kurt's ear that really ought to have put him off, because Kurt didn't like dirty, obscene things. Except it was hard for him to believe that when he heard himself moaning and begging Eddie in rushed whispers to please, PLEASE carry through on those dirty, obscene promises.
By the time the two of them were in the hotel room, Kurt realized finally that maybe he didn't hate Eddie, that in fact maybe all the furious energy of their feuds had another cause entirely. And maybe most of his real anger was actually annoyance at Eddie's refusal to take life seriously. Kurt took life seriously, because life was serious. Eddie looked on things with a carelessness that set Kurt's teeth on edge.
Then again, Kurt was honest enough with himself to admit that Eddie did take some things seriously; he knew that well, and not just from the methodical way he was removing Kurt's clothing a piece at a time. Eddie had come back from the depths of a self-inflicted hell against all odds, and that wasn't something to be taken lightly. Maybe, a now-naked Kurt thought as Eddie began to shed his own clothing, all Eddie's jokes and pranks were his way of dealing with the demons whose claws had very nearly ripped him to shreds. Even through his lust, Kurt felt a grudging admiration for the man who was now straddling him, and he was surprised to find that Eddie was right. He DID miss the obvious. He hadn't seen what was right in front of him.
Eddie, now naked as well, hungrily raked Kurt's skin with his eyes, and Kurt wriggled beneath him. Eddie slapped sharply at Kurt's bare hip. "Turn over," he said, and his eyes glowed in anticipation.
Kurt arched his eyebrows and grinned. No way was he going down that easily. "Make me," he replied, and with the quickness that startled fans all over the world, seized Eddie under the arms. With a whoop from Eddie, they switched positions, the bed squealing in protest as it was used as a wrestling mat. Kurt soon had Eddie down on his stomach, using a wrist lock and his weight to pin him down.
"Fuck!" Eddie's voice was muffled, and he turned his face to the side. "You know, they used to wrestle naked at the Olympics... when you were training for your gold medal, did you...?"
Kurt chuckled and tightened his grip, making Eddie grunt. Struggling against the sliding bed sheets but nevertheless grinning, Eddie employed a novel way of breaking the hold. He arched his back, pressing his ass up against Kurt's stiff cock. Kurt gasped, and as his grip loosened, Eddie managed free his arm. He used his leverage to flip Kurt onto his side, the bed complaining again. With a bound, Eddie leaped to his other side, pressing his chest against Kurt's back, and applied a sleeper. He pulled back on Kurt's throat, not tight enough to choke, but bringing their faces close enough so that Eddie could lick at Kurt's stubble. He blew gently at the wetness he left behind and Kurt shivered.
"Cheater," Kurt said.
"Live the gimmick, baby," Eddie's breath was hot against his ear.
"Yeah, but two can play at that game, remember?" Kurt pressed back, rubbing against Eddie's cock, which, from the feel, was just as hard as his own. He was rewarded with a low moan.
"Fine then," Eddie whispered, his voice playful. "No pinning, we compete enough anyway." One of his arms left Kurt's throat. Kurt felt Eddie's muscles stretch as he reached for something. A second later he heard a soft pop and thought he knew what that might be, and his cock twitched at the thought. The smell of grapes filled his nose and he surprised himself by laughing, a real laugh, from deep down.
Eddie laughed too. "What is it?"
"I can't believe you have scented lube," Kurt said, giggling now. He felt almost giddy. "Wait, no, actually I can believe that. Do your condoms glow in the dark, too?"
"Hey!" Eddie sounded surprised. "How did you know that?"
Kurt snorted laughter again and again until he felt a slick finger press between his ass cheeks. Kurt gasped and pressed back, trying get more inside of him.
"Easy!" Eddie's voice shook. "Don’t want to hurt you..."
"I think that's the first time I've ever heard that from you," Kurt bit his lip and relaxed as Eddie stretched him, but gently, and added another finger. After Kurt began pressing back again, Eddie pulled Kurt's leg back to rest on his own and replaced his fingers with his cock, lubed and covered in latex that apparently glowed in the dark. Kurt repressed another giggle and realized with surprise that he was nervous.
He relaxed a bit as Eddie kissed the back of his neck. Then, his voice husky, Eddie began to talk to Kurt, as he slowly pushed deeper inside of him. He repeated all the things he'd said in the elevator and added a few more colorful phrases. By the time Eddie was buried to the balls, Kurt was about to explode, and was amazed to realize that the whimpers he heard were coming from his own throat. As Eddie paused to let him adjust, he pressed his forehead to Kurt's shoulders and added a whimper of his own.
"When did you know you wanted this?" He gasped out. Kurt considered as well as he could.
"When I saw how watching Benoit and Jericho got you hard," Kurt said in between shallow breaths. "I don't know why, but when I saw that, I had to get my hands on you."
Incredibly, Eddie gave a breathless laugh. "Kurt, I've got my fucking cock in you, and you don't get it yet? I wasn't hard because Chris and Chris were fucking. I was hard from seeing YOU hard."
Kurt's only reply was a moan, because at that Eddie began to move. Kurt rocked his hips back, meeting Eddie's every thrust. Eddie nibbled at Kurt's neck, nipping harder when Kurt growled his approval, and he reached around to pump Kurt's cock in time with their rhythm.
There had been too much teasing for either man to last long. Kurt came first, gasping Eddie's name as he spurted into his hand. Eddie moaned and thrust harder, muttering half in Spanish and half in English.
"Fuck... Dios... Kurt!" With a last, long cry, Eddie came, shaking as Kurt's muscles clamped around his cock. The two men lay still for a moment, panting, Eddie occasionally licking at the sweat beading on Kurt's skin.
"You're loud when you come," Kurt said drowsily. He was feeling more relaxed than he had in months. Eddie slipped out of Kurt and the bed bounced as he got up. He wavered on his feet for a second and laughed.
"You ain't heard nothing yet," he said as he went to the bathroom. He quickly disposed of the condom and returned to join Kurt in bed. "You should hear me when I'm the one being fucked."
"Oh, I think that I will," Kurt's voice was a purr. He could feel Eddie's answering grin against his neck.
"My, my, how things do change," Eddie said in a falsely wondering voice. "Just a few hours ago you hated my guts."
"Well..." Kurt thought slowly over the ideas that had occurred to him earlier. "Maybe I didn't. Not really."
"You mean you like me?" Eddie's voice was now filled with fake elation. "You really, really like me? Kurt, I don't know what to say. You've taken my breath away, you've stolen my heart! Should we go and pick out a china pattern today, or maybe--"
"Maybe you should shut the hell up." Kurt was smiling despite his best efforts. "Shut up and sleep, Eddie. You're going to need it."
"Is that a promise?" Eddie demanded.
"Yeah, it's a promise."
Eddie tightened his arms around Kurt in response, and Kurt leaned back against him, letting his eyes close. His opinion of Eddie had indeed changed. But it wasn't as if he'd discovered something new, exactly; it was as if he was seeing something that had been there for quite awhile, but that he'd just never noticed. He'd had to look from a different angle to really see it. And it appeared Eddie had taken the steps to alter Kurt's vision.
Kurt shook his head, just slightly, not wanting to disturb the soft snores already emanating from behind him. Eddie had been determined to make him see. And now that Kurt could, he was willing to explore everything this new perspective had to offer.
He was still thinking of the possibilities when he fell asleep.
***
