"1, 2, 3!"
Dolph Ziggler slowly rose from covering Chris Jericho, screaming and boasting to the crowd.
The outcome of his match with Chris Jericho on the RAW of August 20th 2012- the night after he'd been defeated by the man at SummerSlam- meant that, in storyline, Ziggler kept his precious Money in the Bank briefcase and Jericho's WWE contract was terminated. In reality, though, Chris had a number of tour dates set up with his long-running metal band, Fozzy, and was being written off TV to facilitate them.
Dolph spent a few moments standing over his fallen opponent and celebrating with his onscreen girlfriend Vickie Guerrero, before letting himself get hit with his own briefcase by Jericho, and a Codebreaker for good measure, before the latter left the arena to the cheers of the crowd.
It was a good few moments before the younger man got up to leave, accompanied by Vickie. The soreness of both the match and the attacks following it went away soon enough, but there was another matter he needed to tend to. After getting dressed and becoming Nick Nemeth again, he politely asked Vickie whether he could go off on his own, before making his way down one of the arena corridors towards the line of dressing rooms, conducting his own judgements of their owners as he went.
The Miz. A pretty good guy, who Nick felt he got along with well due to their similar personalities both on and off-screen.
John Cena. Nick turned his nose up just at the sight of seeing that man's name on a door, which was, unsurprisingly, larger than everyone else's. He was the golden boy, and had been for over 10 years. People like him (or maybe just him alone) were one of the reasons that Nick and many others on the roster were without credible world title runs.
He didn't need to waste time on him, he decided, and so he moved on to the next door, smiling when he saw the name on it.
Chris Jericho.
He quickly smartened himself up before knocking on the door lightly.
No response.
He knocked again, a little harder.
Again, nothing.
He looked around, making sure that nobody was watching him, before he knocked very firmly, calling as he did so.
"Chris, open up! It's me, Ni-"
He ended up stopping mid-sentence and almost wanting to kick himself for being so stupid. Why would Chris still be in the dressing room? He's got a tour to get off to; he'll be in the parking lot with the band!
Groaning, Nick broke into a sprint, looking to find him before the moments passed. As he went out the nearest door he could find, the vast open space outside of the arena threatened to consume him.
"You always manage to make things difficult for me, lionheart."
He began hurriedly walking again, looking left and right, trying to find his destination. He was starting to get intensely anxious, and considered just heading back to his hotel room and admitting defeat, until a familiar voice jested to him from behind.
"Lookin' for someone, babe?"
The younger man immediately whirled around, seeing exactly the face he'd wanted to.
"Chris!"
Nick took no hesitation in running towards his boyfriend, giving him a tight hug. "You had me worried…I thought you'd left without saying goodbye to me."
Chris' smile grew bigger. "Now, why would I ever do that?"
Nick gave a small shrug, lightly blushing. "Great match tonight, by the way. You got me good with that Codebreaker."
Chris chuckled. "I do try my best for you, dolphin."
His blush grew heavier at the sound of his pet name, something which still gave him a taste of his wrestling personality outside of the ring. "So," he restarted, addressing the entire band, "when are you guys scheduled to fly out?"
"In about an hour." the Lionheart answered. "But we'd like to get there a little earlier, so we're not rushing."
Nick nodded understandingly. "How long will you be gone for?"
Chris' easy-going smile faltered at that question, and he gazed down at the floor.
"I…I have no idea."
He looked around, seemingly trying to get answers from any of the other band members, but they all responded with a shake of the head.
"Really? Not even a rough guess?"
"Not even that, baby. Are you…are you concerned about me leaving you for so long?" he asked, clearly being cautious.
Nick nodded. "It's just…WWE have got so much set up for me in the next few months, and honestly, I would have a harder time going through it all without you being there."
"Dolphin…you can be a great World Champion without me, or anybody else. You know that full well."
Nick sighed. "It's not just the World Championship, Chris. They're not scheduling for me to do that for a few months yet…but, they are thinking about putting me in the TLC main event against Cena-"
"Really? That's brilliant, babe!" Chris interjected, clearly happy about this unknown turn of events.
"No, Chris, you didn't let me finish…they're thinking about putting me in the TLC main event versus Cena, and near the end, when Cena's climbing, AJ Lee comes out, pushes him off the ladder and gets me the win. Afterwards, we enter a relationship storyline, we gain a bodyguard in that Big E Langston guy from NXT, and then I win the world championship."
There was a moment of silence as everybody tried to take all the information in.
"…wow." Chris said quietly, breaking it. "W-why are you so scared about all of that, Nicky? I mean, you're basically starting your own stable-"
The younger man's expression immediately hardened. "Why do you think I'm scared?!" he hissed, though he got the feeling he would've been shouting if there hadn't been the danger of somebody else watching them. "Chris…me and AJ are going to have to get very, very close for this, you understand that, right?"
Chris nodded, seeming a little hurt at how angry his boyfriend was getting.
"So, if you understand that, you're also going to have to understand that when I'm kissing her out there in front of those crowds…I'm going to be thinking of you."
The two pairs of light blue eyes were locked upon each other, the older man's face unreadable.
Another period of uncomfortable silence.
That was, however, until a soft whimpering was produced from Dolph's side.
"I-I'm worried she'll…r-replace you…I'll e-end up loving her…more than I love you…"
Within a few seconds, the whimpering had morphed into crying.
Chris instinctively stepped forward, pulling his boyfriend into another hug, rubbing his hand up and down his back, gently caressing it. He tried to remain calm for the sake of the younger man's sanity, but every sob he heard, every teardrop he saw run down his cheek, and every shake he felt convulse through his body made him feel as if years of his life were being slowly torn away from him.
"Shh, dolphin...shh, it's OK…" he cooed, moving his hand up so he was running his fingers through Dolph's hair.
"I-I want you to…s-s-stay…" he said in a shaky voice.
Chris exhaled before giving his answer, the truth almost being too hard for him to relay. "I wish I could stay, baby boy, I really, really wish I could…and, listen, I know how much you love me, and I know that you'd never leave me for AJ. Don't ever doubt yourself like that, sweetie."
"B-but…how c-can I not doubt myself…w-when you're not there to guide me?"
Goddamn, Chris thought bluntly, biting his lip. He's too good with those rhetorical questions.
"You're perfectly capable of guiding yourself, baby." He sniffed, putting his hands on the younger man's cheeks, which by this time were hot and red from all the crying, lifting his head, though Dolph was still neglecting to look at Chris.
"Come on now, Nicky…." he coaxed, lowering his head a little. "Let me see those beautiful eyes, baby boy."
He reckoned that his count for mushy pet names was in double figures by now, but he didn't really care. All that mattered to him at that moment was Dolph's wellbeing, because he had a pretty good idea of what Vince McMahon would do to his upcoming World Title run if the supposed holder was a gibbering wreck come TLC, at the very earliest.
Slowly, Nick's eyes rose, locking onto Chris' again.
"Dolphin…" he spoke deliberately, making sure his lover heard every word, "would you be able to do me a really big favour whilst I'm gone?"
He nodded.
"Every match, every promo, every moment with Big E or AJ or anybody else…make sure to try your hardest at it."
The younger man opened his mouth to make a counterpoint, but Chris placed a finger on his lips, silencing him.
"Because, I want you to know this now, Nick-"
He lifted his finger, moving it slowly downwards. "I'm always gonna be with you…right here. No matter where I am."
At these words, the movement of his finger stopped, as he uncurled the rest of his hand and placed it flat on the area where he estimated Nick's heart would be.
He noticed this, and raised his right hand, placing it over Chris'.
"Always?" the younger man enquired, now fully recovered from his crying fit.
"Always." the older one replied softly, taking his hand away from his lover's chest and pulling him close, into a kiss. The other Fozzy members had been as much of a part of their relationship as the two wrestlers themselves from the beginning, and so the oncoming display of passion didn't faze them.
Nick flicked his tongue around Chris' mouth in short motions, asking for entry, which he gave with no qualms. Their eyes snapped shut, and their hands manoeuvred their ways across backs, down torsos, and teasingly along jean waistlines. Both men moaned, lost in the moment.
Nick had just broken away from Chris' cashmere lips, and was proceeding to move down to his neck, when a vibrating in his pocket interrupted his plans. He made a displeased face when he glanced down at who had called him.
"It's Vickie."
Rich, the band's guitarist, took the opportunity to give him a friendly pat on the back, as he answered the call as respectfully as he could.
"Hey, uh, Vickie-"
"Nick, where the hell have you been?! It's been 20 minutes!" She wasn't screeching in the way she did onscreen, but her anger was still clear.
"Gosh, really?" Dolph raised his eyebrows, genuinely surprised that everything with him and his Lionheart had taken that long up to now.
"Do not play that game with me, Nick." she said, lowering her voice. "Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd think that you were trying to say goodbye to Chris or something…"
Nick smiled, as did everybody else, trying desperately not to laugh. "Vick…no offense or anything, but for your information…I like to refer to him as my boyfriend."
"Jesus, babe…" Chris commented quietly, not believing how he'd managed to gather enough courage.
"What the-? Nick, can you explain this to me? Are you gay or-?"
"Vick…I'll do exactly that at the next live event, okay? Right now…"
He redirected his gaze over to the still shocked Chris.
"…I have more important things to worry about."
With that, he hung up, immediately garnering whoops and cheers from Fozzy.
"Right, so, now that's over…where were we?"
He was about to resume working his lover's neck, before Chris pulled him up to his lips once more. Nick didn't complain, though; instead, he just let the older man leading his tongue in a wild dance.
It was about two minutes before Chris pulled away, clearly against the younger man's will.
"I thought we weren't that far along yet." Nick admitted, his cheeks going red from embarrassment for the third time.
"We weren't." Chris responded, brushing down his jacket. "It's just…"
He sighed, and Nick knew almost straight away what was coming.
"You've gotta leave for the airport, haven't you?" he asked flatly.
"Yep." Chris replied in an equally void manner, before doing something incredibly unexpected.
Wiping his eyes, it was clear that all those moments of being the strong one to offer the comfort were catching up with him.
"I'm so sorry, baby." he murmured.
Those four words were enough to make Nick, in one swift motion, fall into his lover's arms.
The younger man buried his head in Chris' neck, inhaling sharply so he could get one last smell of his cologne. He was on the verge of tears yet again, but this time it seemed justified, as they held onto each other for all that they were and ever would be.
"I love you so much, Chris."
"I love you too, Nicky."
All too soon, Chris found himself being tapped on the shoulder by Rich, who pointed at his watch to indicate that their time was up.
The couple shared a soul-searing last kiss- a gentle one, on the lips- before their hands parted, and Chris began walking to the car that was to drive them to the airport.
As he got in, Nick never took his eyes off the vehicle as the window rolled down, and Chris' face appeared, giving him a wave and blowing a kiss.
"Love you!" Nick then blurted out, stepping back as he did so. It wasn't really necessary, but he was probably just drawing out the goodbyes, which were deceivingly necessary at this point in time.
Chris audibly chuckled in response. "Love you too, baby!"
Another wave, and another blown kiss, before the car came to life, driving away and leaving Nick standing on his own, a singular thought running through his head.
He's gone.
Chris is gone.
My Lionheart is gone.
"Come on, Ziggler." he said to himself, thinking like his onscreen persona for a moment. "Crying ain't gonna do anything for your ego."
"Nick, who are you talking to?"
He turned, seeing Vickie standing before him.
"No-one, Vick. I'm gonna head off to the gym."
"This late?" she asked quizzically. "Are you sure they're open?"
"One's gotta be." He turned back, looking up at the sky, which had darkened in a display of rapid beauty. "If I'm gonna get that World Championship, I have to try my hardest. And all that's gotta start somewhere…"
A/N: Eeep! It's that JeriZiggler one-shot I promised I'd write, and it's over 2,000 words! It came a bit late, but I feel so proud, and I think I still got the desired feeling out of it that I wanted. So much angst, so many pet names…if I owned a Sap-O-Meter, it'd be off the charts. :'3
Hope you enjoyed this!
Wishing you a happy life,
Blaze xoxo