World Wrestling Generation

The sounds of the hospital pressed in on him like wolves ready to rip him open. The smell, the white reflectiveness of the tile floor, the nondescript white walls with nothing but pale blue door outlines with numbered signs to guide you...God he hated hospitals.

He wanted to run, just get out and run far away from this place and the overwhelming sense of death that chocked him every second. But he didn't...he couldn't...he hadn't for two days. He hadn't even changed clothes since Tony had been checked in...he didn't realize it until a nurse had made mention of it to him. Everything was in a fog. All he could think about was the sight of tubes, blood, doctors, cameras, and...

hello? Kenneth?

Kid Genius heard a voice cut through the empty mist his mind had become. It was mother, he remembered he was on the phone with her. Slumped down in a non padded chair outside the room they had hooked his best friend into.

KG: hmm?

Kid asked absent from his own conversation long enough that he needed a refresher on what exactly they had been talking about.

Mrs. Mason: I said did you get a hold of Eugene and Lisa?

KG: oh...yeah...yeah i did. There...um...their flight comes in tomorrow i have someone picking them up from the airport.

Mrs. Mason: You're not going to pick them up?

KG: No...have to...stay here.

Mrs. Mason: are you sure? maybe a drive to the airport might be good...maybe...get some fresh air for a bit?

KG: I'll be fine...someone has to stay.

Mrs. Mason: Kenny, I...

KG: I'm not leaving.

Kid realized he was gripping his phone tighter than he needed too and his voice had become harsh. There was a pause on the other end of the phone and a slam of guilt in his chest that let Kid know it had not gone unnoticed.

Mrs. Mason: ok Kenny, ok.

KG: ...i'm sorry mom...i didn't..

Mrs. Mason: it's alright hun. It's your job to look after your partner and it's my job to look after you.

Kid felt the waver in his throat before the words even came out of his lips. He fought back the water building up behind his eyes.

KG: Mom....i'm scared....

Mrs. Mason: ...I am too Kenny...But everything is going to be alright. It's all going to work out.

Kid nodded his head to his mothers words. He forced them into his brain and planted them like a flag in the island of doubt that was slowly growing in his mind. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

Mrs. Mason: oh! that's Lisa calling now she's on the other line.

KG: oh...alright...ok yeah i gotta go too.

Mrs. Mason: ok hunny. i love you

KG: love you too mom.

Kid hung up the phone and hung his face in his hands.

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Blue eyes stared up at the digital display that sat above the sliding, brushed steel, doors of the hospital elevator- as if they could somehow will it to move faster.

Unresponsive was not a joke. Tony Mann had been beaten with a steel chair at the hands of Jason King and somehow managed to meander his way around the halls of the Barclay Center, but now…

Now, she knew just about as much as everyone else- minus the fact she had harassed Talent Relations for the name of the hospital Tony had been moved to. The fact that Kid had yet to pick up his phone made her even more anxious. Then again her phone’s reception hadn’t exactly been anything to rave about since she half barreled out of the cab as it pulled up to the sliding glass doors of the lobby. Both of them had gotten caught up in the disaster that was the main event at Ground Zero and neither of them had said a word since. At least not to her.

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The elevator came to a stop and the door opened on a delay. Trine had squeezed herself out before it ever had a chance to fully roll back on the track and picked up a run down the hall. She’d been in jean shorts and a hoodie which had been fine outdoors and in the heat of the sun, but air conditioned air whizzing past her sent goosebumps along the back of her legs. The slap of her flip-flops echoed behind her.

Trine Larsen had only ever willingly ran this intently through a hospital once before. It had been years ago, but for a moment it had all felt too familiar.

She shot straight through an intersection of hallways, but back tracked to check the light blue coloured signs on the corner of the left wall, before making the turn in the correct direction.

“Tony...Mann...maybe...Kenneth Mason..is this...the right wing?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t think that-”

Trind pulled her lanyard out of the drawstring bag on her back, with a WWG venue access card attached to the clip, and then her I.D.

“I’m with the company. I’m a friend. It’s just nobody is answering their phones...I wanted to check on him- or them or- either I…”

“Alright, miss Larsen. I understand...I-”brown eyes looked up from her identification, but the woman at the front desk cut herself short as the blonde squinted at something further down the hall.

By now Trine was nearly wrapped around the corner of the desk trying to see who had been sitting in a chair just outside of one of the rooms with their face buried in their hands.

”...Kid?”

Kid heard a sound over the maddening noise over the hospital around him. It was a familiar noise that tickled his ear and made him look up with a sense of confusion.

He stood up as his eyes saw Trine. His body rising to it's feet before Kid could tell it to do so. His heart was filled with the instinctual feeling of joy,relief, and happiness upon seeing Trine's face.

But what comes up must always come down and in that split second Kid learned that his own emotions were not immune to this law of reality. The worried look deep in Trine's eyes took his heart and plummeted it back into the cold white tile of the hospital floor and shattered into a million pieces all spelling out the realization on why she was here. If Trine was here...then this was all really really real...he wasn't dreaming....Tony was hurt...and it was bad.

Kid was quickly and immensely aware of the fact that he hadn't changed in a couple of days as the girl of his dreams who..was..his...um...very good friend right now came towards him.

KG: Trine...

KG the shock in his voice overlapped on the general weariness to make him sound almost awake and out of the fog he had been in for days.

KG: Hey....you're....here.

He said the last word with an inflection that made it seem half like a question.

Kid looked...well, he looked like he’d seen better days, but that was to be expected when the guy who might as well have been your brother was rumored to not even be able to breathe on his own. She remembered he’d been uncomfortable in hospitals from the last time he’d come to visit her after Rayven’s attack and from the looks of it he had been uncomfortable for a few days now. Her shoulders slumped with relief, but it was short lived and conflicted. At least now she knew where he was, that he was okay- even if judging by the look on his face okay was a real stretch. Tony was probably in the room that had been at his back, it was completely silent- he hadn’t been goofing off in the halls or making jokes. The hope that this situation had simply been blown out of proportion by rumors had started to fade. She could almost physically feel her heart breaking- both for Tony and Kid. Trine leaned to slip her identification cards off of the smooth marble countertop and stuff them in the back pocket of her shorts as she picked up a fast paced walk.

The blonde had all, but run into KG. Her arms slipped beneath his in a tight hug before her mind could scream in protest, but then she quickly pulled back. She opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, her eyebrows knit into frustration for a moment, but it passed and she pressed the side of her face back to his chest. His clothes had always smelt like a specific brand of laundry detergent that Trine could never really put her finger on. It always seemed stronger on his ring gear after a match (more than likely due to the sweat), but this time it was absent. The smell of hospital and just the natural smell of his body was the only thing left clinging to the fabric.

”...I’m sorry. I wanted to be here sooner but everything…” Trine stepped back, her arms slipping away from where they’d wrapped around KG’s midsection, ”they said he can’t breathe on his own and I just” God, I hope that’s not true. Let him be fine. Just sleeping it off. That’s why it’s so quiet. ”I got scared. I wanted to check on him- and you and- how is he doing? Do you guys need me to bring you anything?”

Trine's arms were around him before he could even muster the protest about him being not at all fresh. Kid felt the grip around this waist tighten and the rest of the world fall away. Slowly and wrapped his arms around her and for just a moment...he felt like he didn't have to be strong...for a few painful glorious seconds he could feel the complete weight of his sorrow all at once. He felt the former world champion press her face against his chest and a few random tears rolled out of his eyes before he could stop them. He wanted to hide here forever...Kid didn't want to let go and have the world come crashing in again. KG felt his arms actually shake for a moment as his strength wavered.

He felt Trine pulling away and he quickly wiped at his face to try his best to erase any evidence of crying. She looked at him. Her amazing blue eyes dropped like two enormous weights on his heart. They were so full of worry and fear...

KG: he...

Kid's voice shook like a leaf in a storm. he coughed and tried his best to compose himself.

KG: The doctors say he's in...some kind of coma...he's not breathing on his own and...

Kid Genius stopped as his words threatened to break down the dam of his emotional flood. KG balled his hands into fists so tight his knuckles went pale as he looked down and away...anywhere but Trine's eyes.

Trine had watched his face as he spoke, there were no tears, but his eyes were glossy. A hazy pink had filled in making the light blue of his eyes a shade brighter in the harsh fluorescent lighting, until he looked down. She frowned at a loss of what to say other than to just be there for him and for Tony even if-

”It’s okay...” She reached a hand out, running her thumb over the back of his knuckles that had gone bone white from the sheer pressure he had put into curling his fingers into fists.

It was hard when you wanted so desperately to feel something openly, to not be alone in it, but you’re hard wired to want to hide anything that wasn't the shining example of a happy, well put together human being. Kid Genius was like a tuna can with two lids. He opened up, but there was always so much more beneath the surface that she could feel was there, but just something...always stopped stopped it.

Things weren’t okay. It absolutely was not ‘okay’ that her friend and his best friend was in a hospital breathing through machines. It wasn’t okay that Tony was suffering. That Kid was falling apart and it was all at the hands of people she had been trying to change, or have changes put in place to stop this sort of thing from happening. At this point she could find nothing to back up her words of absolutely anything being “okay” because she was sick to her stomach that this was happening. That she was standing in a white washed hallway that smelt like sanitizer, and plastic, and recycled air holding onto the hand of man still trying to be strong and keep himself together when he had every right to just crumble.

It was okay if he needed to.

If the pieces of him he had been keeping tied together for as long as he had been in this hospital and the one before that fell away... that was okay. She would stay there and gather them up so the scatter of nurses walking by and clattering food trolleys wouldn’t blow them away. And she would hold them as long as she needed to until it was time to glue them all back together again.
Her hand fell still over KG’s and she squeezed the fist he’d been holding at his side.

She wanted to ask if he’d eaten anything. If he thought Tony would have liked to have something with him that she could get, but she couldn’t get the words out. She wanted to just pull him back into the hug and stay that way for a while. Instead she took a step to close the space between them, taking his opposite hand in hers as well and looked down. Just standing there with him in support.

”....I got you….”

KG: Trine...i can't...he's....he's my best friend....he's my best friend

Once again Kid could feel the tears welling up behind his eyes. He could feel Trine's slide across his hands and everything inside him wanted to just fall into her embrace and never come out.

Her chest felt like it had been hollowed out as her hands moved up KG’s arms, raising to rest on the back of his neck. The white tile she’d been focused on had started to wobble, the lines of grout rolling with the tears that had started to form, but she kept blinking back.

”I know, Ken. I know.” using his name had felt...odd, but it just didn’t feel right to use a nickname. Not now at least.

Trine wanted to fix this. To do something, anything, and have it all righted and they could all just go back to goofing off in the hallways of venues and go off on impromptu adventures.

She stood quietly rubbing circles into the back of his neck with her fingertips, the strands of his hair shifted over the back of her hands.

”I’m so sorry...this- this never should have happened.”

The feeling of Trine rubbing his neck made him feel conflicted in the very core of his being. Ever since they had met Kid couldn't pretend there was always a large part of him that wanted to be close to Trine, to hold her, to touch her...but he wasn't really ever that kinda guy to make a move on the prettiest girl around so he left it alone. However that large part of him basically expanded to jupiter sized levels since they began....hanging out...and texting...and calling etc.

He liked her a lot...that was obvious and it was a fact he was no longer trying to deny himself. However his inability to make moves without stumbling over himself like a giraffe on roller skates meant they had never really...touched or at least not on any regular basis.

So this...now....was the most bitter sweet thing Kid Genius had ever tasted. The butter flies in his stomach were drowning in the flood of guilt raging inside him.

And it truly was guilt. Kid Genius knew it and he at this moment he hated himself more than ever before for even thinking how happy he was that Trine was here...that she had come for him...Here he was having a moment of happiness, even once second of bliss while his best friend and partner lay fighting for his life....fighting for his life because Tony had rushed out to help him...

KG: it's...all my fault...

The damn broke.
Tears streamed down Kid's face as his knees buckled. His voice was more of a sob now.

KG: Trine it's my fault...it's my...

Thick rolling waves of sorry and self-loathing bellowed from his chest and out into the sterile air of the hospital hallway. His words fought to be heard threw the sobs but they couldn't not be heard. Kid pulled away and stumbled back into the wall. He hated himself for being weak, he hated himself for not being able to protect Tony, He hated himself for crying like a child in front of Trine, he hated hospitals, WHY DID EVERYONE HAVE T LEAVE HIM IN HOSPITALS?!! WHY DID THEY TAKE EVERYTHING FROM HIM??!!

Kid felt his chest tighten as his anger and grief began to became more than his body could handle. His crying overpowered his breathing and his anxiety ripped at his mind. He felt like he drowning in a raging whirlpool of thick black death and he couldn't swim.

Trine had shifted with him when Kid’s knees buckled the tears pouring over the curves of his cheeks and battling through the stuble along his jaw dropped her heart straight into the soles of her feet. He pulled away and she’d let her hands fall loose to give him the space. He blamed himself...her eyes went wide- the idea that any of this could possibly have been any fault of his ludicrous in her own mind, but he felt it. It was down deep in his core. Blue eyes watched as a tear or two collided with the fabric of his shirt, before she felt an itch along the underside of her jaw. When she moved her hand to touch it there was a tear of her own.

Seeing Kid like this…..and knowing the state that Tony was in on the other side of the door was...it hurt in a way that was hard to explain.

She stepped forward, cupping his jaw in the curve of her palms and looking at his face. As if somehow that would cement just how much she meant the words to follow.

”No.’ her voice was level, and almost stern, she’d been so sure of her own conviction, ”No, this is not your fault. Not at all. It’s….it’s the assholes that tore through Ground Zero. Please don’t blame yourself for this…”.

Kid wanted to pull away. He didn't want Trine to seem him like this. He felt all the work he put in, all the luck the universe had rolled his way turning to dust, every little bit of cool he had stored up with this girl disappearing on the glossy white tile of the hospital hallway.

But right now Trine's hands were the most stable thing in whole world. He saw her through blurred tear filled eyes and couldn't muster the urge to run anymore. He stood there and cried without words. Sadness and guilt and all of his broken heart seeping out of him like a cut to the vein.

Then his body moved on its on. Without warning or preamble he moved close to Trine and wrapped her up in his arms. He held her there in that moment as if the storm of life was going to rip him into the air if he didn't hold on to the blonde bombshell. Kid didn't think about his old shirt, he didn't think about how gross he must seem, he didn't think about anything but how glad he was that Trine was here...that he didn't have to be alone...How much he truly cared for her in a way he hand't felt for anyone in a long time.

He held her close for what felt like years but in reality might have only been a minute or two. People walked back and forth past them but Kid didn't let go. Kid's hand cradled the back of her head close to his chest as the tears finally stopped pouring down on her beautiful blonde hair. His fingers softly ran through her golden locks as if through silk. He repeated the motion until his lungs returned to a normal rhythm and he felt the world slowly drip back into place.

Kid gently moved Trine away from him while still keeping his one arm around her waist, not quite sure if he was ready yet to deal with this reality without her anchor to steady him. He looked into her eyes for a moment trying to pour out all of what he was feeling, everything his mind was churning, all the words he wanted to say without speaking. The soft pink of her cheeks were wet and Kid wasn't sure if they had been from her tears or his. he softly brushed a line of sorrow away from her check with a gentle thumb.

KG: ...Thanks....

He said in what was the most understated word he had ever said at his entire life at this point. There was so much more than "thanks" in that word. With all he knew, in all the languages he spoke, he couldn't find a phrase or a coupling of words that would truly convey what he was feeling.

...well....there was one....but he didn't dare.

KG:...um...i'm sorry Trine...

He said using the back of his hand to wipe away the wetness of his eyes. They hurt from crying and he felt as if he looked like the worst.

KG: I would give a million dollars if...you could just un-see...all of that.

Kid hung his head and let out chuckle that was more of a defeated puff of air. He shook his head back and forth as if it were slowly waving good bye to any chance of looking cool for Trine ever again.

Trine’s right hand lifted, brushing back bangs from his face, or a tear still clinging to the rough line of facial hair.

She hadn’t anticipated the movement as Kid wrapped his arms around her, but her hands had slipped down from his face, moving to lay flat against his chest. In that moment it had felt like all the pieces fit in a way that was too perfect to be of this world. It was a warm, coiling sort of comfort she could feel in her soul. A long sigh escaped her lips caught somewhere in between relief and sob that had been held back too long.

He was hurting. He was hurting and it broke her heart into so many small pieces she was sure it was dust. That it could been blown straight out of her chest with nothing more than a breath. And Tony...Oh God, poor Tony. He is one of the sweetest guys she’s ever known. A true friend in the most pure sense of the word. It was like he couldn’t catch a break between Rayven, constantly getting over looked, and now- now this.

Tony Mann deserved so much more, or at least she’d thought so, and watching him constantly get knocked down only to push himself back up with a smile twice as wide had felt so horribly unfair. This...what if there was no getting up from this? What if the last time she got to see him breathing, and moving, and smiling on his own was from the other side of a backstage monitor- being held back by the security as she tried to frantically make her way to ringside.

She should have been there. She should have fought harder to make it. Tony deserved that. He deserved better. Warm streaks of tears broke over the lip of her eyelashes and poured down her cheeks. She gritted her teeth against the sound of her own sobs, but her chest shook with the force of them. Curling her spine with the force of the contracting muscle. The hand cradling the back of her head had made the moment they stood in the hallway feel so secure. The long, gentle pull of fingers through her hair took the sting out of the sobs, slowing them down, returning her breathing to something akin to normalcy.

Kid had moved her away, the shift in space snapping her out of it, and her eyes blinked open. He’d looked into her eyes and she looked right back. Deep blue eyes sinking into a lighter shade of their own as if someone she could manage to twist all of the words and the feelings into anything that made sense- something he could understand. It had been a long time since she’d ever broken down in front of anyone, it was just something she had decided she would never do, but it felt….like it was okay with him. Like she could allow that leeway in a rule once set deep into stone.

He brushed a tear from her cheek and suddenly the vulnerability of the situation hit her like sixteen wheeler, but she pushed the knee jerk reaction to try and put the walls back where they belonged away.

”Hey, that’s what…whatever it is we are, are for.” she lifted her hand from her side as he hung his head, and ran her fingers through the front of his bangs to the back of his neck, pushing the hair back, ”don’t be sorry. There’s nothing wrong with being sad. I’m here for you.”

Advice she never allowed herself.

”...and I don’t think of you any differently because of it. If anything that was pretty much the bravest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Kid could hear the sound of thundering feet and a blast like a mega watt trumpet as the elephant in the room roared to life at Trine's words.

whatever it is that we are

KG felt a warm pull at his chest as she said this. Like he had just taken a large sip of liquor and it was warming it's way into his stomach. He was hopping the strange title-less-ness nature of their relationship was something only he had seen but he should have known it was glaringly obvious. Kid didn't know what to say...he knew what he wanted to say...but he also knew that the world right now was simply to fragile to have anything else be shattered by the unexpected. Kid looked at her as one more brick of guilt was layed on the foundation of the almost fully formed castle in his mind. He decided to shelve that issue for now. The elephant trumpeted in defiance. Kid did his best to ignore the invisible pachyderm for now and focused on Trine's words.

She spoke of him being brave and despite everything in his reality at that moment, despite all of the dark thick sorrow that still clung to the air like a black tar....Kid let out a laugh. It was about 90% air and maybe 5% mirthless but there was some geniune positivity in his face. That little part of him that wanted to hear that Trine thought...highly of him. The smallest of smiles creeped at the corners of his lips.

KG: You must have not seen "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

Kid said softly slowly lifting his eyes off the ground and back towards Trine's. It made something catch his throat to look at her. But unlike all the other times where he felt the urge to run away to keep from looking stupid or saying the wrong thing he knew...at that moment...that he really did need her there..at least for a little while. He still held her there and she hadn't made any motions to move. Her hand against the back of his neck.

The blonde bit her lip, looking up to the ceiling like she had been trying to mentally do the math for comparing him to an Indiana Jones movie.

”Eeehh, I dunno. It’s pretty close. Maybe more like a tie for first. Indiana Jones is pretty rad, but…”

Kid lifted his gaze and she smiled just sort of taking in the details of his face. Trine had gotten lost there for a moment, in the way damp eyelashes stuck to one another, in the small crease between his eyebrows. The way red and blonde hairs peppered their way between the majority of light brown in his eyebrows and the hair along his jaw. The cowlick at the front of his hairline. The click from one of the doors further down the hall echoed through the hall and her eyes widened marginally as the placement of her hand started to sink in. Just how close they’d been and how much they’d touched since she’d arrived.

”I-” she dropped her hand back to her side, nervously rubbing her thumb over the knuckle of her pointer finger.”...sorry, I didn’t mean to-...uh…well...

She turned her attention down the hall, watching as a woman stepped out of one of the rooms.

”Have you been able to get anything to eat? I can grab you something from downstairs if you want to stay with him…” a part of her was scared to leave Tony by himself. As if by some strange logic that would be the opening for the universe to throw one more curve ball and she wasn’t willing to take that chance. The other part was afraid the second she left KG’s hold around her she’d just collapse in a hallway somewhere trying to pull herself back together.

The mood suddenly shifted. Trine pulled away from him and Kid let her go like she was a hot stove. Had he done something wrong? For a second it felt like there was a giant weight in his stomach as he watched her fidget and touch her hand. Kid felt a deep deep rolling sadness in that moment that he tried to keep from clawing up his throat and onto the hospital floor.

KG: um...no it's ok.

At that moment KG's stomach must have heard the conversation and as an independent organ with no desires for Trine decided then that Kid did not speak for him. It made a loud rumble to signify that unlike KG it had eaten in about a day. Kid Genius looked down at his stomach and then back up at Trine.

KG: heh..he's just vocal...seriously you don't have to.

Kid said. It had all felt so...real...for a moment it felt like Trine, a woman like that, would actually...could actually be with a dude like him. But now it seemed like reality had caught up to them. Kid hated reality. The reality amplified the sounds of monitors beeping around him and hospital codes being carried in echos around the hallway. Reality also reminded him that he had stepped out to make a phone call and Tony had been a lone for...far too long.

Kid's feet felt like lead...one of the reasons he hated leaving the room was because every time he went back in...he had to see Tony not be Tony....he had to see his best friend with tubes down his throat, bruises everywhere, his head shaved bald because they had cut into him to reduce the swelling in his brain...it was Kid's worst nightmare....

Something in Kid Genius seemed to deflate as Trine moved her hand from his neck and she frowned a little, catching brief glimpse of it in his eyes. She wanted to just hold him and not move until everything fixed itself. Until Tony was better. Until that sadness in KG’s eyes that seemed like it was so much older than the last few days went away. It was hard to be caught in between feeling so incredibly close to someone- so quickly, and trying to figure out where you stood. Sure, they’d spent time together in Miami on a ‘more than friends’ date, but this felt serious. This was the kind of situation where your significant other slept with you in the uncomfortable chairs beside the hospital bed. Where you both sat beside holding onto one another and the hope that things would turn around.But the reality was that Trine was far from a significant other- no matter how much that notion felt natural at the back of her mind where she continued to push it.

She was just a check in the ‘other’ box- terrified of crossing a line in the sand she couldn’t see.

And the fact that this was something she was worried about when Tony was on the other side of that hospital room door made her stomach sour. This wasn’t the time to be worrying over the waters of whatever sort of relationship she and Kid had- or her own insecurities. She was so angry with herself for a moment, but the sound of Kid’s stomach drew her attention away.

Blue eyes looked down to the grumbling protest, before looking back up- meeting Ken’s gaze. The blonde smiled.

”I offered and I think your stomach took me up on it.” she shifted, like she’d been about to take a step back, but changed her mind. Something held her there, like her feet had been cemented to the white tiled floor beneath them. Her mind sent the signals to move, but there was a resistance like someone had tied a string in the center of her chest and anchored it into Kid’s.

Her mind wanted to go, but her heart refused.

”I’ll find the good stuff, her feet still didn’t budge, but she lifted her hands up, and wrapped her arms around his mid-section with her ear pressed to his chest, ”I’ll be right back…”

She didn’t want to leave. The anxiety of if she left then something bad could happen in between and she wouldn’t be there was eating away at her mind and soul, but she let her arms fall to her sides, and took a step back.

”I’m kinda hungry too. So, I’ll sit with you and Tony.” another smile, but it was faulty. Tony wouldn’t have been eating with them, but at least they’d be there for him.

Trine wasn't taking no for answer it would seem. She looked strange, like her body and her mind were fighting for the steering wheel. She seemed out of sorts and KG could relate. Hospitals did that to him every time...he tried his best to avoid them at all costs. It hadn't even been that long ago since Trine had been here herself and Kid had fought passed every insecurity and fear in his mind to get himself in the building.

Seeing her here though Kid knew just how kind and wonderful Trine was...her uncomfortableness was all over her eyes but she still smiled at him. She was here and she was fighting past her own battles to be there for Tony and maybe...for him too. Kid couldn't help but feel like her smile was the best thing he had seen in the longest time. It was like he had been trapped in a deep dark cave and just for a moment a fresh wind blew into the empty blackness and reminded him of the beauty outside this hole he was in. Trine pressed herself against him once more and again KG soaked it in as much as he could. He couldn't help himself but her presence had made him feel...not so broken...and he needed every drop of that right now.

KG: ok

Was all that Kid managed to say as they embraced. He knew that if he spoke much more than that he would most likely say something he could never take back. So instead of words he just sunk in the hug a little closer and a little tighter. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought that maybe if he hugged Trine just right she would know...everything...and he wouldn't have to risk shattering the world around him by saying a word.

She let go
He let go

Trine took a step back and spoke with another smile that was betrayed by her sadness. Her eyes were still red from crying and Kid could almost feel the heavy weight. She made mention of Tony and he looked back behind him, for a split second,through the crack in the door. He could see the still unmoving hand of his best friend in the world on the bed sheet. He turned back to Trine and took a breath in and then let it out before nodding his head.

KG: um....yeah...uh...we would.... i would...really appreciate that.

Kid said with a small waver in his voice as the words had to stumble over the jagged rocks of grief, guilt, and sorrow that lined his throat. He moved to head back into the room where his best friend lay fighting furiously for his life in a battle that no one could see. Kid stopped as he turned back around slightly.

KG: ...Trine...

He spoke softly as a doctor walked between them down the hallway towards something more life and death but undoubteble not as complicated as the feelings bouncing back between the two former champions.

KG: I wanted to call you...it's...it's just...i'm sorry i didn't. But you came anyway and....i really am happy you're here. Tony always did like looking at you more than looking at me  so maybe....

a few tears rolled down Kid's cheek even as he smiled and shook his head. His chest was heavy with the weight of what he knew lay beyond the door he was about to walk into.

KG: you're a good...friend...to come her for Tony...thank you.

Trine had turned to head down the hallway when she heard Kid say her name. She turned around, a soft genuine, smile on her face despite the fact her eyes had already started to well up with tears. She’d done a lot of difficult things throughout her life, but walking away (even if she was coming right back) had been one of the worst.

She was so **** scared of the unknown and once that room was out of eyesight- Kid and Tony became unknowns. That thought was killing her. To not be there...just incase...what if…

”We really need to get better at this whole calling each other thing…” she laughed, but it was a quarter sob and shakey. ”but that means more to me than I think I can say. You guys...you guys mean alot to me- and I’m here for both of you.”

Her bottom lip shook and that was her cue to turn back around.

”I’m just gonna buy up all the chocolate chip cookies. We can split them. We need….just a ton of junk food or something…” she picked up a walk, clenching her hands at her side as she tried to keep her voice even.

KG: sweet...

Kid said but he was so soft and Trine was so far away that he doubted she heard him. He turned back to the door and stood there. Now that she had gone he realized just how tired, weak, and scared he had been all this time. The door felt like it weighed as much as a small moon. Kid didn't even want to try and push it open because nothing good layon the other side of it.

but...after a minute of standing at the door...he walked inside.


The room was deathly quiet...not that there wasn't sound. The machines that kept Tony breath whirred and buzzed. His heart rate monitor beeped at a steady rhythm. But every room that Tony was in always seemed to just be erupting with life but now...it was just the machines...so patterned...so dull...

KG: hey dude...

Kid said walking and closing the door behind him. Tony didn't move, he didn't blink, he didn't twitch his hand or shift in anyway. His face was a big bruise with surgery scars and tubes sticking out of it. His hair was gone and his bright colorful clothes had been replaced with the hospital gowns they gave everyone. At least, KG had thought, they were had little green dots on them...Tony
s' favorite color was green. He had said it was pink for awhile...back when Rayven had kept her hair like that but...KG had always known it was still green.

Kid walked over fighting the urge to openly sob on the unmoving body of his best friend. He sat down in one of the three chairs in the room. He didn't want to touch Tony at all...it would be...to much. So instead he sat close to him and locked his fingers together.

KG: So...that was my mom on the phone...she says she...um she loves you and she's gonna come up to see you as soon as she can.

Kid waited a second for the mom joke that would never come. The machines beeped and whirred. Tony stayed still.

KG: Yeah so..*cough* i'm flying her out here soon. Your parents will be here tomorrow so.....

He didn't know what he wanted to say. He didn't want to think about Tony's poor parents. He didn't want to think about how he was going to have to tell them their son hadn't opened his eyes in two days.

KG: hey man...um...Trine is here. She is getting some food but...*cough* she's going to be in here real soon to see you...

Kid fought back the lump in his throat but he lost and he began to cry. He hung his head and the tears returned again. He lifted his head up and managed a smile that shook ever so slightly from the sobs making his chest jump.

KG: If you just move your hand...just a finger man...i...i'll ask if she wants to switch places with that nurse that's been doing the sponge bath. I won't even be mad dude...i promise...just...please...don't...just move your hand.

Kid looked at his friend as he lay still in the bed. there was no movement or even the semblance of something Kid could pretend was movement. Kid hung his head again and let the sobs take over for a minute before sitting back up in his chair and wiping the tears away from his eyes.

The walk to the elevator, the ride down, and the walk from the downstairs lobby to the cafeteria had all been a blur. She couldn’t read half of the signs at first glance because she’d spent the almost the entirety of the walk with tears silently rolling down her face. They dropped to the sterile tile below like liquid atom bombs.

The smell of the cafeteria snapped her out of it for a moment. The task at hand pushing to the forefront of everything as she scanned through the line of trays and hot plates. There was a small nook for the grill and that seemed more appealing than something that say in a tray of water over an over glorified lighter for an indiscriminate amount of hours.

She wasn’t sure what Kid would have liked, but back in Vegas he’d opted for a hamburger and fries- so that was a safe bet as far as she was concerned. Then a Grill Cheese sandwich- she had no problem waiting either. This way he had some kind of choice. She pulled a mountain dew from the small, glass front, mini fridge just before the cash register and a bottled water.

Then- almost quite literally, a bag full of cookies. The woman at the register raised and eyebrow, but Trine wasn’t up to making a joke. So, she just shrugged and paid.

-

The door in front of her felt so ominous.

Blue eyes stared down at the slick metal of the doorknob, then to the thin window that ran along the left side of the door. The blinds had been drawn and she couldn’t see inside. She shifted the bags in her arms to try and knock, but it was hopeless. She frowned, readjusted, and knocked the front of her flip-flop against the door.

She took a deep breath and tilted her head to rub her eyes against the curves of her shoulders.

”It’s Trine. I think...I might have gotten too much.” she laughed breathlessly, stepping back from the door.

Kid Genius moved his head to the sound of something hitting the door. He hadn't gotten up because the sound was...not quite a knock and it sound like it was coming from the bottom of the door. Then he heard Trines voice and he stood up from his chair quickly. There was small stupid part of himself that thought that Trine coming here had been a dream or that she wouldn't want to come back after she saw him have a mental freak out just moments before. But there she was at the door. Kid wiped at his eyes again and tried to make himself look...not such a mess. He moved to the door and opened it just enough to slip through.
He saw Trine was carrying a small army of food in her arms.

KG: Wow...

Kid said with an actual smile that he didn't think he would ever be capable of making

KG: So you weren't kidding about all the junk food huh?

A bag of cookies began to fell from the group and Kid quickly grabbed in before it tumbled to the ground. He reached forward and took the rest of the food from Trine as well. He looked down at it and then back up to Trine.

KG: You didn't have to do all this...but....thanks. Tell me how much it was and i'll pay you back.

”I don’t joke around when it comes to food.” she smiled, thanking him for catching the rogue bag of cookies,”Keep your money, good sir!”

She pushed up onto the balls of her feet and plucked one of the bags up with her thumb and pointer finger.

”Aaaand...also some of it is for me. So. You’re fine. No need to pay me back.I got a burger and a grilled cheese. So, whichever one you don’t want I’ll take.”

She failed to mention she’d gotten an uneven number of cookies...just incase…

Trine blinked realizing they hadn’t really made a plan for who was eating what and where. She didn’t want to just step in if Kid needed to be alone, but at the same time she’d wanted to pay Tony a visit. It was hard to explain, but it felt like he was too far away. Even if he was just on the other side of the door.

At the same time she was terrified to see him not looking like himself. She’d forgone funerals based solely on that fear...but this was not a funeral. He would get better. Things would work out just fine and the three of them would be back to goofing off before they knew it.

Tony would be okay.

”Uh- I mean, if you wanted company. I can always just eat when I get back to the hotel- It’s not far! Sorry, I didn’t even think- If you need time to just- if you need alone time that’s totally fine!”

KG: No!

Kid Genius spurted out a little harder and faster than he had wanted. He cleared his throat and shook his head.

KG: I mean...no i think it would be good for....i think you being here would be nice...for Tony...

He looked down and then back up at Trine.

KG: and...me.

Kid smiled sheepishly realizing suddenly that his natural instinct to run his hands through his hair when he was nervous was impeded by the large amount of food in his hands. Kid's smile slowly faded as he took a deep breath and looked into Trine's eyes solemnly.

KG: it's just...

He let the words place themselves together in his mind the best way he could without causing pain to himself. It was like putting on clothes while doing your best to avoid an all over sunburn.

KG: It's...not good in there Trine...i wanted you to be ready for when you walk in.

Trine took a breath in, but it had wavered. She smiled, but it was thin and barely holding on as she nodded her head towards the bag of cookies- letting the breath she’d taken earlier out through her nose.

”I got….a lot of cookies….I have a feeling there is no being ready for this sort of thing…”

She looked up to KG and she could feel her heart bottom out. A part of her wanted to run in the other direction- or just never step through the door at all, but she knew it wouldn’t fix anything. It was time to be strong. If there was some way that Tony would have been able to know that she was there...she wanted to be strong.

”...I don’t know how you’ve managed to go back in after coming out because this feels terrifying…”

KG: Honestly...

Kid said after taking a deep breath.

KG: Every time it gets a little harder. Every hour....every day.... just makes it more and more real and...i am so scared Trine.

KG felt his arms strain under the weight of his emotions and the food he had taken from Trine. All the walls he had built up around this were shattered now and the hurt, the fear, and sorrow flooded out of him like a broken dam. Kid wasn't sure if it was because he finally found his breaking point...or if someone was finally here for him to lean on. Either way...Kid couldn't hold back his feelings. He stood there for a moment. His eyes shut tight for what seemed like a year to will everything back inside him.

KG: But...but.

Kid sighed and stood up.

KG: If it were me in there...Tony would be here. He would be hitting on nurses and probably already drawn a dick on my face but...he would be here. So scared or not...i am gonna be here for him.

He stepped back and allowed the door to open a little wider than it had been before. He looked at Trine once more with a mixture of hope and sorrow.

KG: Trine, you are one of the strongest women i know...hell you're one of the strongest people i know...Tony really liked you...he would have wanted you to be here...i really want you here...You don't have to be brave...i'm not....you just need to be Trine...that's the best thing in the world right now.

Kid spoke with a smile that he knew would fade the moment she stepped in the door but he looked at her trying to will confidence and strength he did not posses himself into the small blonde warrior.

She tucked the bag she’d taken from Kid beneath her arm, and shifted forward in a small attempt to try and hug him in some comforting way. It was mostly just a mash of paper bags and her fingertips brushing over his biceps.

”You’re braver than you give yourself credit for,” she stepped back and smiled, but it wilted at the corners, ”.....alrighty…..”

It was mostly just an exhale with language whispered into it as she moved to make her way into the room. Her hand reached back, hooking her fingers into the hem of Kid’s shirt as if that physicality could ground her enough.

Trine lifted her gaze from the floor of the hospital room.

She couldn’t do this.

”.......oh…….” the words caught in her throat. It was nothing more than a squeak.

Blue eyes followed over the swollen curves of Tony’s face, the skin in places a deep plum color that just looked so impossibly saturated. How could skin even be that colour? The tubes keeping fluid off of his brain curled over the head of the hospital bed before getting lost in the tangle of IV tubes, and breathing tubes, and monitor wires- all of it just attached to her friend.

Just laying there. No jokes. No smiles. No quips about sponge baths. No arm around her shoulder or her waist because he did that sort of thing even is she always wormed her way out of it- Oh, God she should have just stayed there. It felt too close at the time, but now even though she had shuffled her way to his bedside he felt so **** far away. Even if she she’d crawled onto the small section of hospital bed not occupied by a broken human being and tubes it wouldn’t have fixed that feeling.

The hot roll of tears over the curve of her cheeks had started up before she was even aware they’d started to form. She could feel them hitting her shirt in burning drops, one after the other, after the other, after the other.

It didn’t stop.

Her mouth opened, but the only thing it had done was release a trembling, sort of whimper of a sound, as she reached a hand out and took a hold of Tony’s. The opposite hand followed suit and the bag beneath her arm dropped to the cold hospital floor. She could feel tremors wracking through the sinew tissue throughout her body as the first sob broke through.

”ooooohhh T-tony.”

The shaking had hit her knees and she pushed the hands wrapped around Tony’s into the stiff mattress to try and keep herself stable.

They were friends on such a pure level. Neither wanting anything from the other except for that companionship and it was something she hadn’t gotten to experience since she signed a contract at the WWG. Even on the same level of friendship with Kid Genius there had been just something more to it- but with Tony it was just….

It was so freaking simple and beautiful and it was the best feeling- and now….

Oh, God, but now…

”.....Kid…..” she’d only said his name, but it sounded more like a weak cry for help that managed to make its way through the long silent sobbing exhales and the jerky, intervaled, inhales.

Kid watched as Trine broke down right before his eyes.

The most powerful woman he had ever seen...done just like that.

There was a part of him...that was happy to see it. Yes the sight of Trine crying, her body convulsing with sobs that she could neither command nor control, made his heart break into even finer pieces than it had been already. But at least he didn't feel so alone in his grief. At least it wasn't some horrible nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. She was seeing it too...he wasn't crazy...

But that thought gave way to the other thought that hit him like a steam train on full throttle.
This wasn't a dream...
This was real...really real
Trine had grabbed Tony's hand and he hadn't moved an inch. Not even a flicker behind his closed eyes. He was just as still as he was an hour ago...a day ago...

KG moved over to one of the chairs and set the food stuff down on it and moved across the room to where Trine sobbed at the bedside of his broken best friend. She was gripping Tony's hand so tight and her shirt collar was starting to darken from the sheer about of sorrow rolling down her perfect cheeks. Her sobs were raw and untamed. The dug into his throat and scattered the dust that was his heart to the wind.

He slide his arms around her and held her tightly. He felt the jerking movement of her body as she cried in away that only those who have ever loved something can cry. The room was filled with the sounds of her crying...Kid thought back to his own hospital room so many years ago. Silence of his room splintered by the axe of his weeping after the doctors had told him that his father had died and that he...would never walk again. It was the cry of someone who lost something that they could never replace. Fear and anger and sorrow and loss all whirled together in a wet, hot, wail that rolled through your body and threatened to shake you right out of your weary bones.

Trine cried like that now...Kid wanted to make it all go away...but he knew he couldn't. Only Tony could...and right now tony was more machine than man.

The whir of the breathing machine and the steady beeping of the heart monitor were only heard in those few moments that Trine's cries would stop from lack of air, not lack of sorrow.

Kid held her there as tightly and as gently as he knew how. His own tears on his face...his own sobs throbbing at his throat.

KG: i'm right here....Trine i am right here...