HunterMuse: I would of loved to volunteer to co-star with you on your birthday, but...uhm..I'm a little tied-up now with Jericho. *glares up at Mari* you ever gonna let us out of these handcuffs?! Anyways Sean..you and I have made some great fic together, and I'm sure we'll hook up sometime in the future (because we are that damn good), but..that time is not now.

JerichoMuse: I'm sorry for occupying Hunter, and I'm also sorry for not inspiring Chris enough to write a fic about the two of us...uhm...breaking the walls down. Not like anyone wanted to read about that or anything.... :)

ShaneMuse: Well, I would be sorry for not hanging with you, but considering I've been non-existent since January or so, you should've expected it. Boo-ya!!!!

ShawnMuse: I'm not sorry! At least you get some lame attempt at a birthday fic! I don't get anything! And I thought she thought I was a sexy boy....

DepecheModeMuse: I'm sorry that Depeche Mode hasn't written any birthday-ish songs to inspire Chris.

UndertakerMuse: I'm sorry for letting myself be portrayed as strangely as I am here. I don't know what was wrong with me...

KaneMuse: I'm sorry for being stubborn and screaming "Pick Me!" when Chris was making the pairing then not being a good muse when it came time to write.

SeanMuse: I'm sorry for being unworkable and...hey, aren't I apologizing to myself???

Chris F: As you can see, we here in my head love Sean very much and hope he has a wonderful birthday despite the fact this fic really sucks. Here goes nothing.

Title: Iris

Author: Chris F.

Rating: PG-13

All Sean wanted was to be left alone. He didn't want Hunter telling him about the latest master plan, he didn't want Stephanie bitching at him, he didn't want Jesse trying to force him into drinking himself into oblivion. All he wanted was to be alone.

He was almost curled up into the corner booth in the back of the hotel bar. All around him, people kept talking loudly. It was beginning to give him a headache. He could see the Acolytes making drunken passes at every woman in the establishment, Eddy Gurerro and Chyna enjoying a romantic order of French fries, Test and Albert complaining to each other about Trish, and....

"You just gonna sulk over here all night?" the man asked.

Sean looked up with tired eyes. "Since when do you care? Go away, Mark."

Mark, aka the Undertaker, stared down at him. "Just asking. You're too young to look that damn depressed."

"Spare me the shit, ok? Just. Go. Away."

Ignoring his protests, Mark slid into the booth. "Hell kid, when I was your age I was just starting here." He appeared to think for a second. "That's right, it's your birthday today, isn't it?"

Sean glared at him. "Keep it down, willya? I don't want the rest of them to hear."

"Why? Afraid they'll start singing to ya while making you wear a big hat?"

"You were at Chi-Chi's for your last birthday, weren't you?" Mark just smiled. "I don't know why you're here, but I'd appreciate you leaving."

Mark leaned across the table. "Not until you hear me out. See, my little brother's been all gloomy since I came back, and I think you're the reason why."

Sean sighed. "You wanna kick my ass for hurting him? Go ahead. Have fun."

Mark shook his head. "That wasn't the answer I was looking for. Now I know my brain may be fried from too much embalming fluid, but I can put two and two together, and I think you and my brother are both moping around because that messing around you two did last summer meant more than you thought and then you wrecked it, and now you're too proud to apologize and he's too stubborn to forgive you."

Sean set his head down on the table. Of all things, Kane was a topic he didn't want to get into. "Is there a point to this?"

"Sure is." Mark flicked Sean in the head, causing him to look up, annoyed. "I figured I've known you, what? Five years? More? And I've never got you a birthday present. So I'm gonna fix that by telling you to wait your skinny ass right here while I go talk to my brother and get him down here for you."

Sean blinked at him in shock. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Nope. Now, if I go through all the trouble of getting Kane down here and you've taken off, I will hurt you, understand?" Sean nodded. "Wait here then." Mark stood up and went into the main part of the hotel.

Sean took a deep breath and let it out. Even if Mark had been setting him up, it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

***

Mark arrived at the door of the room he and Kane were sharing to see Triple H pounding on the door. "I just wanna talk!!!!!!" he was yelling.

"You got a reason why you're harassing my brother?" Mark asked, leaning against the wall.

Hunter turned to face him. "I just want to talk to him. I have something to tell him."

"Does it concern Sean?"

Hunter gave him a 'how the hell did you know?' facial expression. "Yeah....all that shit that happened...that was because of me...I told Sean to do it...he should know that, so he can stop blaming Sean..."

"He knows already." Hunter's expression got even more confused. "He told me all about what happened with him and Sean. He knows it was because you were a prick. So why don't you go along on your merry way now before you mess things up between then again?" Hunter, feeling like the whole world had gone nuts, went back to his hotel room.

Kane was sitting on one of the beds. "Get rid of him? he asked.

"Yup. He was just trying to help though. Would be kinda sweet if I didn't hate him. Now, as my younger brother, you have an obligation to listen to me..."

"Shut up."

Mark grinned. Kane seemed to have developed a sense of humor while he had been gone. "You shut up. Anyways, see this here package of Hostess cupcakes? This is my last one, so appreciate the sacrifice I'm making. You are going to take the cupcakes down to the hotel bar and you are going to patch it up with that little runt you miss so much because I am so sick of you shuffling around and playing that dismal music and eating all the ice cream."

"He hasn't apologized."

"Well you haven't given him much of a chance, have you? Now get your red ass down there before I drag."

Kane shrugged, figuring if everything else went wrong, he still got free cupcakes out of the deal. He took the package and headed downstairs.

***

Sean heard Kane coming before he could see him. It was impossible not to, with the heavy footfalls combined with the nervous tension that ran through all the wrestlers at his appearance. Sean swallowed nervously and looked up. "Hi Kane."

"Mark said we have to talk." Kane sat down across from Sean and an uncomfortable silence stretched between them until Kane said "You start."

Sean bit his lower lip. "I...Hunter told me that he could get me higher in the ranks by joining DX. He...he told me you had been saying some things backstage, about maybe I had been right about being weak....I panicked."

"I knew all that. Why didn't you talk to me?"

"Because I'm stupid." Sean laughed bitterly. "I'm sorry. I was wrong."

Kane looked down. He had a plan for if Sean had been hostile, but he had no clue how to deal with the man's honesty. "I....I brought cupcakes. Closest thing we had to a cake."

Sean couldn't help but smile. Kane opened the package and they each ate a cupcake. When they were done, the smile was still on Sean's face. "This all seems so surreal...your brother..you..."

"I know. It's weird for me too." Kane absently reached over to brush a piece of hair out of Sean's face, and as his fingers touched Sean's face, the opening notes of a song struck.

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cuz I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

Sean smiled wistfully. "You know, with my luck, we're both gonna end up getting really drunk tonight and we'll forget we made up."

Kane smiled back behind his mask. "Unfortunately, that's my luck too."

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later it's over
I just don't wanna miss you tonight

Sean wanted to crawl over the table and into Kane's lap, to beg him to take him right there in the booth. But that would be very inappropriate and Sean didn't much feel like being arrested on his birthday. He settled for holding Kane's hand tightly.

And I don't want the world to see me
Cuz I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

Kane stood up, and for a moment, Sean's heart stopped. After this, after everything, he was leaving. But then Kane sat down on the other side of the booth, and drew Sean into his arms. "Happy birthday." he whispered, and somehow, Sean knew it would be.