"No, I'm fine rooming by myself, thank you." Mark told his friend Glenn.

"Are you sure?" Glenn asked again, only to receive a nod in return.

Glenn and a few other friends of Mark had been worried about him. Since his break-up with Randy, which made the rounds backstage rather quickly and didn't go unnoticed by Mark. Mark had spent most of his time on his own. The times he wasn't held up in his hotel room or locker room by himself, he spent with the younger Hardy brother.

While some of the guys felt it was good for him to get out when he did, his closest friends were troubled by the fact that Mark was spending time with Jeff, after breaking it off with Randy and never really discussing the specifics of it all. To everyone, Mark just went from a good relationship with Randy back to an always rocky one with Jeff, and all within just a few days.

None of them were upset with Jeff, as none of them knew of the incidents that happened between the threesome prior to the break-up. Their concern was born of the on-again-off-again type of relationship they had had in the past. Everyone knew of that, there was no hiding the past they shared, as it was common knowledge amongst most of the guys. No one brought it up in conversation, but they all knew and so they all worried too. The thought that Mark could have been cheating on Randy with Jeff crossed everyone's mind, but no one dared to share that thought aloud either.

"Thank you, Glenn. Everything is fine though." Mark offered him, when he spotted the look of concern on the other man's face. The two men walked to the elevator of the hotel they had just checked into. Glenn shook his head at himself. He was either an idiot or just too jetlagged from the flight they had just come from to care of the consequences of asking what he was about to ask his dearest friend.

When they were in the privacy of the elevator, Glenn asked bluntly, "Mark, did you cheat on Randy with Jeff?"

Mark quickly looked at the slightly taller man, confusion and possibly fear and guilt on his face. "Why would you ask me that, Glenn?" he asked.

"It just seems like there is something going on with the three of you. You and Randy broke up, fine, and besides me, Jeff is the only other guy you can tolerate being around. Things just aren't right between the you guys, it's obvious. You," Glenn emphasized, "are acting so differently. I only want to know what's going on."

Mark nodded his head, "Is this what the whole locker room is busying themselves with lately? I don't think my personal life is anyone's business but my own. I don't need to explain anything to anyone."

"No, you don't." Glenn countered quickly, "I'm not asking you to tell the locker room your business, I'm asking you to tell me. I'd like to think that you and I are good friends, Mark. So, I'd like you to answer me truthfully. I'll drop it, if you'd like, but I'm just trying to figure out what's going on with you."

Mark swallowed hard, finally though, he had to admit to his mistake. Mark looked to Glenn and answered him, "yes." Mark quickly walked out of the elevator when the doors chimed open, leaving a stunned Glenn just behind him.

XXX

Chris sat down roughly onto his bed for the night. After the long flight he'd had, he wanted to sleep and not wake up until he absolutely needed to. Seeing his friend though, he quickly let go of that thought.

Randy rolled his suitcase to his own bed, where he opened it and started fishing out the items he would need for the night and the next morning. He looked up when he felt Chris watching him.

"Am I bothering you? You look pretty beat," he said.
"I am, but no, you're fine," Chris said. He continued to watch Randy, noting how tired he looked as well. After spending the last month rooming with him, he knew exactly why that was - the younger man hadn't had a decent night of sleep in that whole time. Some nights he stayed awake until the early morning, only getting a couple of hours of sleep. The other nights were spent restlessly.

"You look like shit, Randy." Chris stated.

Randy snorted, "thanks, Chris." Shutting his suitcase, he moved it to the side.

"Sorry, pal. It's just getting pretty obvious that you aren't getting enough sleep and that something is bothering you. You've been down since you broke it off with Mark, and as much as I love the guy, you need to get over him. He was an asshole, plain and simple. You don't need that." Chris explained. He looked at his friend once more as he spoke, the look on the other man's face said he wasn't unaware of how he looked.

"It isn't that plain and simple, Chris. I wish it was." Randy tried to defend, though he really didn't know why exactly. "It's hard, you know? I wasn't expecting it to be this hard." Chris pitied the kid, but all he could do was tell him what he thought about the situation and help him work out the obvious struggle he was dealing with.

"You stay in your head too much, trying to stay so fuckin' tough and unbothered. If you're angry, no one is going to fault you, Randy. Be fuckin' angry."

He was angry. Angry, upset, disappointed, hurt and just tired. He wasn't aware just how tired and hurt he truly was until this moment. Lying in bed after talking with Chris, he realized just how tired he was of it all. So much time he spent trying to support Mark in dealing with his struggles, sacrificing his own needs and emotions to make sure Mark was in a good enough place for him, but never really having Mark for himself - all of it had taken a large toll on him. His selfless endeavors only brought about more conflict. In the darkness of the hotel room, the thoughts going through his mind were heavy and heated.

Going back and forth with Jeff, jeopardizing his own character for their benefit, and having nothing to show for it was finally showing itself to him. Maybe Mark was worth it all, but it was obvious that Mark didn't think he was worth it.

With a clearer vision of his feelings and everything that had led to them, Randy realized that he didn't want to care about it anymore. It was too much, and like Chris said, he'd be better off not suppressing everything he felt. That's what had gotten him in trouble before. He wouldn't do that anymore.

Briefly, the fear that he may not be able to constructively release the anger he had flowing through him now made him question if he was going about this the right way, however another one of those emotions he'd hidden for much too long overrode that thought. Mark had hurt him, after all they had done to mend whatever wounds may have still been open between the three of them, he had gone and made a mistake that cut deeply. Whether intentional, it didn't matter. It hurt all the same.

Hurt and tired, Randy was fed up with feeling the way he did. He wanted to feel normal again and not have Mark on his mind constantly; if he never talked to Jeff again, he wouldn't mind either. As a naturally strong and independent person, it was an odd feeling to be so affected by another person, but that only fueled his newfound desire to rid his thoughts of the older man and the one who had proven to the victor in some game he'd allowed himself to become apart of. They could have each other, just as it probably always should have been. He was a fool to believe anything could change between the two of them; they'd always need each other. Though he could admit he still held feeling for Mark, they were feelings he'd let go by any means necessary. He was too tired and hurt to care about being the bigger man anymore. It was too much work to try to hide just how tired and hurt he was. He wanted to be angry. He would allow himself to be angry about this. He felt he'd earned that right; by walking away from Mark, he had to deny himself something that felt so good and right, but now, he wouldn't do that. He'd earned the right to be angry, at least until he could move on.

XXX

Jeff dried his hair in the fluffy hotel towel as he walked out of the bathroom. Mark glanced up from his book and smirked at the youngest Hardy gliding across the room, another towel clung to his hips, leaving little to Mark's imagination. Mark chastised himself and went back to his book.

"It's okay to peek, you know?" Jeff piped up. "It ain't nothing you haven't seen before." he added as he stood up and threw the towel he was using on his hair to the chair beside him. "In fact, I kind of like when you gawk."

"I was not gawking. Noticing, but not gawking." Mark said as convincingly as possible, but with a hint of playfulness in his voice.

"Whatever you say, man," Jeff said. After taking a moment to gawk himself, Jeff strutted over to the bedside, beside Mark, who was back to his book. Mark glanced over his eyelashes to stare at Jeff who was staring straight back.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Jeff plucked the book from Mark's hand as he leaned down to kiss him. Needy, Jeff snaked his tongue between Mark's lips. Blushing from the heat building in him, Jeff pulled away.

"Fuck me," he shamelessly demanded. Mark groaned as Jeff played with the hem of the towel around his waist, taunting and tantalizing the older man.

He stopped Jeff's hand before he could finish unwrapping himself. "I can't, I won't Jeff," he said. Jeff stepped an inch closer, running his hand across the front of his towel, teasingly now. Mark shifted higher on the bed, trying his best to ignore what the younger man was eliciting from him.

"There's no good excuse not to," Jeff reasoned. "No anymore."

The subject was still a sensitive one for Mark, so he tried to stifle his agitation, but he knew Jeff was right. There was nothing stopping them, but Mark wasn't willing to give into Jeff until the terms were clear. If they were going to happen again, he wanted them both to be sure. He needed to know that through all the mistakes they'd made in the past, all the mistakes he'd made with Randy, that he was a better man having learned from them. He wasn't sure that he had learned everything he was supposed to. He practically abandoned Jeff, found solace in Randy, then fought for Jeff only to end up having to fight for Randy as well. In the end, he'd still managed to make a mess of their lives.

He wasn't convinced he couldn't jump into a relationship, especially not back into one with Jeff. Jeff, try as he might, was still flighty. But it wasn't without effort. He could see Jeff wanted to establish roots with someone, as flighty as he was, Jeff needed to be grounded more than anything. Between his brother, his dad and Mark, he never had the need to establish a connection with anyone else. Between the three of them, all of his needs were satisfied. That's what Mark feared. He knew Jeff loved him, but it was whether Jeff could love him enough to not treat him like a lifeline to use when he felt himself drowning in everything else. Mark needed to be the lifeline Jeff always held close, not the one he only clung to in a time of need. He knew Jeff needed and wanted that, but if he'd allow himself to give into it was another question.

It was wrong of him to put so much of their situation on Jeff. It was his doing that caused most of it. Jeff had nothing to do with his relationship with Randy, it was him who felt the need to reach out to Jeff. Randy, the selfish prince he was, encouraged him, wanting him to work through his issues, but he should have learned to separate the two relationships better. It wasn't Randy's responsibility to help fix his problems. Mark cursed himself for ever letting things escalate to the level they had. Simply, he should have never let Randy get dragged into his problem, a problem much more difficult to understand than even he knew.

He did love Randy, he was sure of it, but his feelings for Jeff were still strong. He certainly loved Jeff too, how could he not after going through everything they had gone through and still being here with him now.

"Jeff, I already told you." Mark said. "I don't want to cross that line until we're sure. Until I'm sure."

"That's such bullshit, Mark." Jeff accused, "We both know how we feel, you just don't want to feel guilty. I need you, Mark. I know that you feel the same way, stop being such a pussy about it."

Mark rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away from Jeff's hip where it had been resting. "I just want to be sure no one will be getting hurt again. I haven't even spoken with him to see how he's doing. I need to be sure I'm doing the right thing."

Jeff snorted and threw up his hands. "Why am I here then? If you're not sure, why am I standing here in your room with you? I mean something to you don't I? You mean everything to me, Mark. I'm sorry things happened the way they did, but I just want to be with you, I just -," he trailed off, his heart and body working faster than his mind could manage.

Jeff leaned down once more before Mark could give any sort of answer, he captured Mark's lips with his own. He brought his hand to rest at the back of Mark's neck. He let his thumb caress the other man's jaw line and opened his mouth a bit to let Mark in. Jeff brought his knee up onto the bed and straddled Mark's waist, letting the towel slip slightly from his hips. Leaning against the bigger man, Jeff felt Mark's hands on his waist as they kissed. He could also feel his growing need to be with Mark once again. Mark felt Jeff reach under the hem of his shirt and begin to caress his abdomen and chest. Mark pulled away, trying to gain some control over his senses. He looked at the man in front of him, saw the fear and hope in his eyes, just as much as he saw the desire. He wanted to please the man, he wanted to make him happy, that was all he ever wanted. He wanted Jeff to be happy and he wanted to be the cause of that happiness.

Watching Mark's face, Jeff searched for just a sliver of hope for them. After a moment, he found it there in the green eyes staring back at him. Like so many other times before, he looked at Mark and saw what he needed to see. He saw hope, and desire and…

"Love me," Jeff whispered to him.

In that moment, he heard everything he needed to in that plead of desperation. Mark still stood rigid though, he wouldn't allow himself to give in, he needed to know for certain before he could do anything more with Jeff. Still though, he knew regardless of what their future held, he loved Jeff. That wouldn't change.

"I already do," he said just before attacking Jeff's Adam's apple. His teeth grazed along the sensitive flesh and Jeff's hips grinded into his. From the sensitive skin there, he moved up along his jaw, stubble prickling his lips. One hand on his hip, the other at the back of Jeff's head, Mark moved along, kissing and nipping at the flesh. Though he wouldn't break his promise to himself, he could feel each and every one of Jeff's moans and touch eat away at that. Jeff needed Mark, and Mark couldn't deny what his body was feeling at the moment. He reached down between their bodies as his ever-roaming lips found Jeff's ear. Unable to resist a quick nibble there, Mark satisfied himself with a taste. Feeling a shiver travel through the younger man, Mark whispered huskily to him, as he unwrapped and freed him of his towel, "touch yourself, Jeff."

What, a new chapter? Yeah, I posted a new chapter. Anyone still interested in this? I hope so! Leave a review and let me know. :) Hope everyone is doing well and all. Feel free to just say hi or whatever too. To those who read this, thank you. Really. - FTLOW