Title: Ink Where It Matters
Fandom: TNA (Total Nonstop Action)
Characters: Eddie Edwards/Davey Richards
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Eddie Edwards has to rest up after surgery on his broken heel. Davey Richards makes sure Eddie knows that he isn’t forgotten or alone and that Eddie is only the wolf for him.
There were footsteps but no knock at the door so Eddie knew it was Davey. Yep, there was the scrape of a key followed by the flip up-and-over in Eddie's chest. There was also the amazing smell of curry from one of Eddie’s favorite takeaway joints. Eddie’s stomach growled in response and Davey’s laugh arrived before he did, his eyes crinkling up at the corners.
“You’re wasting away here, huh.”
“I think that's obvious.”
Eddie grinned and despite his foot cast, tried to get up to help Davey with his handful of bottles and takeaway bags.
“You know, I was thinking about changing the locks...”
Davey looked at him, his gaze clear with that constant underburn, and smirked, “No, you weren't.”
He was so sure, with his pungent offering of takeaway and beer but Eddie let his gaze fall all over Davey. Both their expressions were burning now but there was food to eat. Davey pointedly glanced over at the couch.
“I can make you sit down.”
True and Eddie was pretty set on experiencing Davey trying but Davey’s expression had serious lines to it behind the teasing and Eddie’s insides clenched up a bit because he really hated being reminded of his bum foot and how it’d led to the Wolves vacating the tag team belts. But his foot was hurting and he didn't want to make it worse; the longer he was off work because of his injury, the worse he was going to feel so Eddie snagged a soda bottle, swept a hand to Davey’s back and hobbled over to the couch to sit down again, propping his leg up on a stool.
Davey grabbed a beer for himself and stuck the rest in the fridge. He got plates and silverware out of the kitchen. Eddie watched Davey’s silhouette, as familiar as his own, dishing up curry and moving with a sureness of his surroundings that made Eddie really feel that lick of heat that he always got around Davey, even now. Davey had always looked good in his apartment.
There’d been a lot of apartments over the years, apartments and dojo floors and car backseats. They’d slept wherever they’d had to in order to wrestle and make their mark. And here they were, multiple-time tag team champions, former world champions as singles stars. The world knew who they were; the Wolves Nation was behind them and wanted them back in the ring as a team as soon as possible. Fuck, Eddie wanted that too. And he hadn’t wanted Davey to give up the belts but Davey had been adamant - he wasn't going to hold those titles with anyone but Eddie.
Fuck, Eddie loved him even harder for that. He also felt a surge of guilt every time he thought about it. There was a whole soup of emotions that Eddie battled with daily. Davey was out there wrestling still, making money and keeping the Wolves’ name prominent, and yeah, Eddie really didn’t like the thought of Davey working without Eddie around to watch his back. And maybe a tiny sickening thought took root sometimes, that while Eddie was recovering Davey might find himself another badass tag team partner, one that he'd end up preferring to Eddie.
Davey appeared in front of him, as though summoned, carrying two loaded plates. He gave one to Eddie and seemed to actually be thinking about sitting on a nearby chair. No fucking way. It was Eddie’s turn to wield a pointed look as he swung his gaze from Davey to the couch where there was plenty of room for Davey to sit beside him.
“Really?”
Davey snorted but sat down next to Eddie, careful about how he shifted his weight and silently double-checking that Eddie was comfortable. The curry smelled amazing; Eddie inhaled the smell appreciatively as Davey dropped a bottle-opener into his lap. Yeah, that’d help. Eddie laughed quietly as he managed to open both his bottle and Davey’s. Eddie took a swig of soda and then settled the bottle down within reach. There was fresh warm naan bread and onion bhajis and the curry was pretty close to making Eddie sweat, just the way he liked it.
There was very companionable silence for a while as the two of them ate. The food was seriously good and occupied Eddie’s thoughts while Davey’s thigh pressed against his and Davey openly tried to steal a bhaji from Eddie’s plate. Eddie wouldn’t let him though was quite happy to accept the precarious kiss that Davey laid on him, licking into Eddie’s mouth like he was trying to steal the taste of bhaji instead.
They got back to finishing dinner - because otherwise it would have spilled over everywhere, their reflexes were good but not miraculous. Eddie mopped up his plate with naan and then swapped his plate for what was left of his drink. Davey did the same, as always they were in tune with one another, and sat back, his free hand dropping to Eddie’s thigh.
Soon, Eddie was going to be allowed to drink beer again, once he was done with his post-op meds. That’d fill the time, all those hours before he could start working-out properly again, not just his upper-body, getting himself back into shape for an in-ring return which was absolutely going to happen. A broken heel wasn’t going to stop Eddie Edwards.
Davey dug his fingers into Eddie’s thigh, then slid his hand purposefully under Eddie’s shirt. Eddie pushed into the touch with a pleased hum. He and Davey had learned how to frequently and inventively work around injuries; they liked to make up for the times that they were apart. Eddie dropped his empty bottle and took Davey’s off of him too, getting an amused chuckle in return, a sound which expanded once Eddie peeled Davey’s shirt off. Yeah, he missed Davey’s body; compact and muscled and so fucking solid, yet he always moved so quickly and gracefully between the ropes. Fucking amazing.
Eddie traced the muscles and divots he knew so well as Davey palmed a hand to the side of Eddie’s neck and carefully maneuvered so that he ended up straddling Eddie’s thighs. There was a minute pause as Davey silently waited to see if Eddie needed to move or was in any pain, then Davey tugged Eddie’s shirt off and let out a heavy breath as Eddie immediately leaned closer, his mouth tracing what his fingers had touched only moments before.
It wasn't a careful touch, it never was between them. Eddie grazed his teeth sharply across Davey's abs, he could feel Davey getting hard and his hips rolled up but his foot moved and fuck, that hurt. He hissed against Davey's skin, boiling with all kinds of frustration.
Davey pressed a hand to Eddie's hip, like a warning, but then unzipped both his jeans and Eddie's before purposefully licking his own hand. Eddie let out a sharp breath, he knew what was coming. Sure enough, Davey wrapped a hand around both their cocks and started a gloriously intense rhythm. Eddie dug his hands into Davey's back and exploded sounds into Davey's chest, unashamed and so fucking turned on, as always. Davey hissed and dipped down to capture Eddie's mouth, the kiss messy, greedy and full of teeth as Davey's hand sped up and Eddie really wanted to move his hips but he had to trust that Davey would get him there because he was not going to let his own foot spoil this, no fucking way.
“It's always you,” Davey muttered with sudden searing force into Eddie's mouth.
Eddie didn't close his eyes even for a second, instead he let out a rough sound of fucking need for the man filling his lap and moved his mouth to Davey's chest again, sinking his teeth beyond flesh as his release arrived in a furious amazing surge. Davey's followed soon afterward. Eddie lapped at the mark he'd left on Davey with relish and satisfaction. It looked good. Davey often left similar marks all over Eddie, wearing each other's bites suited them both.
They stayed hunched together, holding onto one another silently until Eddie shifted slightly and didn’t wince but it was a close thing. Davey still slid away from him, reaching for something on a nearby surface and yep, there was the rattle of a pill bottle. Davey always noticed everything, even the things Eddie didn’t do.
“C’mon.”
Davey tipped a couple of capsules into Eddie’s cupped hand and then left, still shirtless and sticky, to grab a glass of water. They'd shower together soon, Eddie's foot wrapped in plastic, Davey taking firm care of him and making sure that he didn't fall. Eddie took the pills and thought a few months back, we were pulling into another motel, for another show. We had the tag belts, Davey should still have them now. But Davey had meant what he’d said and the same was true in reverse; it was always Davey for Eddie. Sometimes, they both needed a vivid claiming reminder. Davey handed Eddie a water glass, Eddie drained it.
Davey had been there before Eddie’s surgery and right afterward too; sat beside Davey’s bed and talking to him, reading him some of the Twitter messages that’d come in for them both. Davey had stocked the fridge with Gatorade flavors that Eddie preferred and easy-to-cook protein rich food that wasn’t always available on the road. He rang every day that he was away working and visited whenever he could.
It wasn't all just because he just missed his long-term tag team partner, not just because he wanted to be performing as a team in front of the Wolves Nation again, not just because he wanted those belts back. It was also because Davey was a hell of a guy and because the bond between them was fucking claw-in-deep and they both knew it. They fucking relished it.
Eddie was glad that he was able to do upper-body work-outs, lifting weights and keeping himself in as good a shape as was possible given his foot. He didn’t want to have to climb a huge hill once he was able to do a full body work-out again. He wanted to wrestle beside Davey, wearing that gold, just like they deserved. He wanted to be with Davey, that was what really fucking mattered.
He didn’t say it and neither did Davey. It burned through their veins, in the meal Davey had made Eddie, the beer bottle Eddie had opened for Davey, the next shower they'd take together, every meeting of their eyes and touch of skin-on-skin.
Eddie’s fingers glided down Davey’s chest, outlining where the temporary claw-mark tattoos were painted before every one of their matches. They still were now while Davey wrestled solo, because he was still a wolf and so was Eddie, even when he hated what his own body had done. They were both still wolves. Davey's mouth curled upward and his hand took on Eddie’s chest, marking out the same.
-the end