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Rooming together with his demonic partner had become the new normal for Hook.
They were on the road more often than not so it only made sense to share a room to save money and to "strengthen their bond as a team" (his dad's words). Hook had protested at first, he was already forced to spend most of his day with this walking, talking headache and his night routine had become his escape from the constant babbling and unwanted touching.
His father insisted and Hook knew better than anyone not to argue with the man when he made up his mind about something.
The first few times they had to share a room were awkward, to say the least. Aside from wrestling the two of them had no interests that they could bond over not to mention that one of the pair was a human while the other was decidedly not.
Outside and in the ring Hook could avoid talking to Danhausen but there was no escaping him in their shared room and so for the first time Hook had to actually spend time with his partner.
It didn't take him long to realize after that Danhausen was actually not as bad as he thought he was.
Much to Hooks's shock did he start to actually enjoy Danhausen's company (not that he would ever admit it out loud).
The older man was incredibly knowledgeable about all things wrestling-related. His humor was also something that he quickly grew fond of, it was still incredibly bizarre and nonsensical but it had its charm. Just like the demon it belonged to.
Danhausen was still overwhelming at times but he started to see that the other was a lot more than that. When it was just them the older became a lot less energetic, his posture relaxed visibly and his smile seemed a lot more genuine. He felt honored in a way, Hook doubted that Danhausen showed that side of himself to very many people.
Hook didn't know what he did to make Danhausen trust him like that, he had been awfully rude to him when they first meet but something about the way he would look at Hook made him want to be better, to truly earn that trust and devotion placed in him.
Without even noticing he had begun to earnestly look forward to spending all their time together. He still insisted on sleeping in his own separate bed and slept with headphones on to block out the amount of noise that Danhausen always made.
After they started truly working together they fell into a natural sort of rhythm. They would check into whatever hotel they were staying at, pick their preferred side of the room, watch movies that Danhausen had picked for them and talk about anything that came to mind.
While he started out dreading having to spend time with the other man, now he had to admit it had become his favorite part of any day.
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Team Tazhausen was in Chicago for that week's Dynamite and things were already going wrong. They had booked rooms a few weeks in advance but due to a mix-up, their rooms had been given to other people. The team tried to book a different set of rooms but due to a medical convention being in town that wasn't possible either.
They spend a good chunk of the afternoon searching for a hotel with available space. The only place still available was a small motel at the edge of town. It looked run down and like it could easily be part of a horror movie but they had to make do with what they got.
"I think I've seen public bathrooms cleaner than this place." Ricky took off his sunglasses and look around with obvious disgust. Taz put his hand on the man's shoulder, trying to calm him down "It's just for the night. Tomorrow we can look for something better to stay at."
Ricky grumbled under his breath but didn't make any further comments.
Not that he could fault Starks, the place was a dump. The carpet alone looked as if it had multiple different diseases.
The group stopped at a room at the end of the hall. Hook could barely make out the room number, the letters on the door having almost faded completely.
Taz reached into his pocket and pulled out a key before tossing it at Hook.
"Try not to stay up too late. Can't have my best fighter dead on his feet." He ruffled his son's hair, making it even more unruly, before making his way to his own room with Ricky and Hobbs.
Hook immediately went to unlock the room’s door, wanting nothing more than a good night's sleep, while Danhausen stood behind him having decided to carry their luggage.
Hook opened the door expecting to find their usual setup only to find that there was only one bed.
Not only was there only one bed, but it was also barely big enough to be a double bed.
Great.
If they were going to share it was going to be a tight squeeze.
Despite how much closer the two of them had become over the past few months, Hook didn’t look forward to spending the night in such close quarters.
It was far too intimate for his liking and he didn't trust his body not to embarrass him.
Suggestive dreams featuring Danhausen had become a regular for him. Hook wasn't usually someone who cared about the meanings behind dreams but it was very clear what his subconscious was telling him.
Danhausen seemingly picked up the reluctance radiating off of him and tried to comfort the other “Danhausen doesn’t think this bed is big enough for two people, if the Hook wants Danhasuen would be willing to take the floor.”
Hook swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to deny the offer “D, the floor sucks, it wouldn’t be right to force you to sleep there. I just need to get over myself-.”
Danhausen held up a hand to stop the younger from going on “Danhausen understands that Hook isn't fond of physical contact. It would be no problem for him to take the floor. It is only for one night anyways, something like that wouldn’t kill Danhausen. He is very powerful after all!”
The older replied proudly with a bright smile which caused his heart to beat faster.
A small smile crossed Hook’s face “Thanks D.”
Sometimes he wondered what he did to deserve Danhausen.
The two of them decided to unpack before making themselves comfortable and watch some bad horror movie the demon had found while sharing a bag of chips with each other. Danhausen even made him laugh so hard that his stomach hurt.
Hook knew that nobody had ever made him feel like that before.
Hours later while he was driffting off to sleep thoughts about his lovable partner crossed his mind and put a smile on his lips.
It was nights like these that had Hook wishing they would always be together.
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When Hook woke up it took him some time to figure out where he was.
His mind was hazy with sleep and he didn’t know what woke him up.
It was still dark outside, his bladder wasn’t screaming at him to wake up and he didn’t feel cold or anything.
What was going on?
After a few minutes, of contemplating did he realize that there was a noise coming from the floor.
Heavy labored breathing which was every so often interrupted by a soft whimpering. Hook looked down the side of the bed and noticed that those noises were coming from Danhausen.
His face was screwed up and he was tossing and turning. Hook stared down at his friend before he finally came to the realization that Danhausen was having a nightmare.
He wanted to comfort his friend but he didn’t know how to. Hook was never somebody that comforted people. It just wasn’t in his nature. He offered quite support or did something nice after the fact but situations like these just made him uncomfortable.
But he also knew that if the situations were reversed Danhausen wouldn’t hesitate to try and make Hook feel better.
His thoughts were interrupted by a practically loud noise made by his friend, it sounded almost like a sob, and the older started to curl into himself.
Danhausen seemed so much smaller than usual, scared and hurt.
Much different than his normal electric and positive demeanor.
It broke Hook's heart to see him like this so he decided to act. He got out of bed and slide down next to his partner on the floor.
Danhausen's back was turned towards him so he decided to rest a gentle hand on the older's shoulder and to try to wake him up. "D, wake up,"
Hook said trying to keep his voice down so as not to startle him too badly. Despite his efforts, Danhausen just didn't seem to wake up so Hook started to shake him a little harder.
"Dan you're having a bad dream wake up!"
Danhausen shot up with what could best be described as a scream which even startled Hook. The demon looked around frantically as if searching for an invisible threat and his breathing was bordering on hyperventilating.
Hook took Danhausen's bare jaw into both of his hands to try and ground him.
Danhausen's blue eyes turned to look into his own dark ones and it took him a moment to recognize who he was looking at but once he did, tears were shooting into his eyes and running down his cheeks, shocking a helpless Hook.
He had never seen Danhausen cry before and he knew that he would do anything to never have to see it again.
Before he knew what he was doing, Hook had pulled his friend into a bone-crushing hug and ran a comforting hand through his hair.
Danhausen instinctively buried his face in the crook of Hook's neck and just started sobbing.
Hook could feel his shirt becoming damp at the spot but he didn't care, nothing mattered but trying to comfort the other.
So they just sat there, on some dirty motel floor, clutching each other as if the other would disappear if they let their grip slip for even a second.
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Hook couldn’t tell you how long the two of them sat there holding each other. Right now nothing existed but Danhausen.
The other man had called down since he was first woken up, the tears had dried and the sobbing had stopped. He was now limply lying in Hook's arms his breathing still somewhat erratic but otherwise back to normal.
Hook fought with himself if he should just let all of this pass or if he should ask the older man what had happened. He lastly decided on the latter not wanting his friend to suffer in silence.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Danhausen raised his head to look at him. His eyes were puffy and red from all the crying he had done.
The man tried to speak but his dry throat caused him to cough.
Hook got up from the floor, pulling Danhausen with him, he sat his friend on the bed before walking over to his bag and retrieving a water bottle. He handed it over and watched the demon finish it in one fell swoop before setting the bottle aside and lowering his gaze to stare intently at a stain in the carpet.
He sat back down on the bed, reaching for Danhausens hand in an attempt to catch his attention, the only sign of acknowledgment was a grunt that the other let out. Not being able to stand the silence any longer, Hook pulled Danhasuen into another embrace but this time manoeuvred them so that he was lying on his back while the other had his head pillowed on his chest, his hand trailed pattern down the normally crooked back.
Gathering his courage he tried again to bring up the topic of the nightmare.
"D, I know I'm not the best at this whole "talking about your feelings" thing but whatever that was back there was more than just some bad dream. It's fine if you don't want to talk about this with me but you-"
"Okay." the other said in a quiet voice.
"Huh?" was all Hook could think to reply with, fearing that anything else could just send Danhausen scrambling back into his shell.
The demon set up slightly and turn onto his side, gaze firmly locked with his own before reiterating "Danhausen will tell Hook what his dream was about but Hook has to promise that he will not...judge...Danhausen for what he is about to hear."
He knew that Danhausen was serious about his request so to reassure him, Hook again took his hand and intertwined their fingers, squeezing their hand tightly together and whispering "I promise."
Danhasuen closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before beginning to recount his story.
"The place Danhausen is from is very different from this place. It is always dark and the beings living there are very evil. Very, very evil and not very nice at all. But Danhausen is very evil AND very nice which made him different from the others. They wanted to hurt humans but not like Hook or Starkshausen, they wanted to really hurt them. Kill them even. Danhausen never wanted that, he wanted to fight yes, but never to kill. The others treated Danhausen cruelly because of that. They hurt him, called him names, and made him feel like he wasn't worth anything."
Danhausen took a break from speaking trying to gather his thoughts.
It was clear to him that the older man had never told anybody what he was now trusting Hook with. He followed the other example and rolled onto his side as well so that they were looking right at each other and his unoccupied hand found its way back to Danhausen's face, gently holding his face in his hand. The demon's eyes widened slightly before he continued.
"Danhausen was all alone in the other place and dreamed that he could leave it forever. He thought that maybe possessing a human would let him leave it all behind but the others wouldn't allow Danhausen to try, they said he was too weak, that even a human child would be strong enough to resist Danhausen. So he stopped trying.
But one-day Danhausen came across someone trying to reach out to the other place with a black mirror. There was a man whose name was Danhausen, he said he'd offer Danhausen anything for a desire of his to be granted. Danhausen was exstatic! He granted the man what he wanted and in exchange Danhausen got the man's body so that he could live in the human world!"
Several questions entered Hook's head the longer the demon went on "Wait so your not simply possessing that body? Also, what's the chance of a demon and a human having the same name?"
Danhausen let out a laugh as if he was thinking Hook was being silly "Yes, Danhausen is not possessing this body after the man got his wish his soul left this body to venture beyond and simply took over. It is as much his body now as Hook's body is his."
Hook felt strangely relieved as Danhausen said that. He wasn't sure what the original Danhausen had wished for but he was a lot more comfortable now that he knew that the man had given up his body on his own terms rather than being unwilling strung along in Danhausen's demonic shenanigans.
Before he could think anymore about this, the older man's voice interrupted his internal ramblings.
" The name also originally belonged to the other Danhausen but Danhausen inherited it along with his body."
"So what was your name originally?" He asked very curious to know the answer. Despite being raised catholic, Hook didn't know a whole lot about demons and the like so the only demonic names he knew were from the first few seasons of Supernatural.
"Danhausen didn't have one." the other replied almost casually, but having seen Danhasuen at his most vulnerable he knew that it was obviously bothering him.
"What do you mean you didn't have one? How does somebody just not have a name?"
"Names among my people are earned, like title belts," Danhausen explained, "but the others never let Danhausen earn his so he didn't have one. When they were talking about him they would simply call him "creature" or something like that."
A flash of anger lit up Hook's spine but he suppressed it before any of it could show on his face and give Danhausen the wrong impression so he simply squeezed their hand together even tighter and mumbled a quick "I'm sorry."
Danhausen simply waved his attempt at sympathizing away "Hook has nothing to apologize for. He didn't cause any of that, they were already treating Danhausen that way long before Hook was even born."
All of this was a lot to digest for the younger but in a way, it also explained some things about the other like his constant need to be more powerful. It was still hard for Hook to wrap his head around the fact that Danhausen of all people had suffered so much in the past.
Sure, he wasn't a big fan of the other when they first meet but almost as soon as they started working as a team did he warm up to his lovable weirdo.
He was way past the point of denial so Hook had to admit that he developed a massive crush on the other.
"I guess that explains why your nightmare was so intense, I'm pretty sure I'd freak out too if I had to go through all of that."
Danhausen broke their eye contact at that and started fidgeting with the bed cover.
So there was more to the dream than Danhasuens past trauma.
Hook went to try and dig deeper "Come on D, I can see that there is something more bothering you. You can tell me if you want I won't judge."
Danhasuen had begun to nervously chew on his bottom lip before his eyes found Hook and he began to spill the last of his secrets "This nightmare was indeed more than that. The other times when Danhasuen has had a bad dream he only dreamed of the others being cruel to him or of being back in the other place. But this time Danhausen dreamed that...it was somebody else saying and doing all those things to him."
"Who was it?" He didn't like where this was going.
"You," Danhasuen answered barely above a whisper.
Before Hook could say anything to the revelation dropped on his head, Danhausen continued "Danhausen knows Hook would never do something like that but...he is scared that maybe one day Hook will see that all those others were right about Danhausen. That he will also think that Danhausen is weak and worthle-"
Before either of them knew what was happening, Hook pulled Danhausen into a brutal kiss, trying his best to suffocate the words being uttered.
It definitely wasn't the best kiss he's ever had, at least on a technical level, but he still felt like his heart was seconds away from exploding. That was just the effect Danhausen had on him he concluded, always making him feel too much and still wanting more at the same time.
They pulled away from one another breathing heavily, not being able to do much more than stare at each other.
"Your not."
"What?" Now it was Danhausen's turn to be confused.
"You not worthless or weak. You've been through actual hell and you're still here, that's pretty damn strong if you ask me. And don't worry about me leaving because I'm not going to, we're partners now. Sorry to say but you're not going to get rid of me any time soon."
Danhausen's face broke into a big and bright grin, one that he couldn't help but reciprocate.
The older man pulled Hook into another kiss, this one slower and much more gentle than their first. There was nothing he wanted more than this, Hook thought, having Danhausen in his corner.
Maybe even other places.
The demon broke their kiss to look him in the eyes and lightly rest their forehead against each other.
"I don't think there is a world where I'd ever want to get rid of you."
Laying here with Danhausen in his arms being able to kiss him, touch him. Hook sent out a silent thank you to whoever was responsible for bringing them together like this.
It is curious, how quickly a nightmare can turn into a dream.