Sami hovered outside the locker room.
He didn't see Finn as much as he used to, being on different rosters and all. Still, anyone who knew Finn as well as Sami did could see that something was up. It'd been building for weeks now. Sami had just been hoping that he was imagining it.
But then Neville called.
Whenever a conversation with Nev started sans any of his usual I-snark-because-I-care stuff, you knew things were serious.
"Have you tried talking to him?" Sami had asked.
"He never listens to me," Neville scoffed, "I thought about asking Becky or Bayley to talk to him but… It's not that I think they can't handle it, let me make that clear. I just don't want them to have to. It can be a lot to deal with, especially if things go any further. They've never seen him when he's like this. You have. He'll listen to you, Sami."
So he'd agreed to talk to Finn. After Summerslam. After Finn won the match. That should've helped things, right? But maybe it hadn't. Maybe the victory would just push him further down this path. Sami shuddered at the thought of it. He'd only seen Finn really far gone once or twice, but that was enough for a lifetime.
In an effort to find something that'd break the ice, Sami swung by catering first. Finn was pretty dedicated to the whole paleo diet thing, with a few notable exceptions. Those being: his mom's home cooking, the occasional Irish dish Becky whipped up, and Sami's baklava. Unfortunately none of those were an option. But there was a basket full of apples, and fruit was the only sweet thing Finn consistently liked. Sami snagged one and made up his mind to quit stalling and head to the locker room.
Aside from Finn, it was empty. Good. That was good. The less interruptions, the better.
. Sami wasn't gonna deny it. He was worried about Finn, and about what might happen to him if things went pear-shaped. But no matter how… unsettling things could get at times like this, it was still Finn. Sami would trust him with his life
Finn didn't look up as Sami sidled into the room, but Sami knew his presence hadn't gone unnoticed. In addition to other quirks, Finn was always hyper-aware of his surroundings when he got like this.
Now that it came down to it, Sami really had no idea what the hell he was gonna say. He'd always been a terrible liar. So while he psyched himself up for something resembling casual conversation, Sami took a second to look Finn over.
Already the wiriest of the wiry, Finn looked even thinner than normal. Too thin, if you asked Sami, but he was a self-admitted mother hen. Still… they'd been roommates for years, going back to when they were both still in NXT. He knew what "normal" was for Finn, and this wasn't it.
He could only see Finn in profile, but now that he'd removed the paint, there was a sort of hollow look around his eyes, strange and almost sickly. Finn never ate enough when he was like this. It seemed like he sustained himself on… something else. Something other than food. Sami didn't know exactly what, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.
The silence was just about to cross the threshold from "normal gap in conversation" to "uncomfortably long pause." Without quite knowing what was about to come out of his mouth, Sami spoke up.
"Hey, buddy. Good work out there."
Okay. That was normal enough. They were off to a good start. Finn turned his head slightly in Sami's direction – not enough to look straight at him, but just enough that Sami could get a better look at his face. Yep. He did not look well. Kind of ashy, almost gaunt, and his eyes were far too bright a shade of blue. There was something stiff about the way he smiled, too, nothing like the thousand-watt grin Sami was used to.
"Thanks, Sami," he said.
"Thought you might need a snack."
Sami lobbed the apple to him, and Finn caught it without looking back. Alright. Kinda unsettling, but alright. Forging onward, then.
"So…" Sami hesitated, "How are we feeling?"
"Fine," said Finn, "Never better."
He turned, finally facing Sami directly, and leaned against the table, taking a bite out of the apple. There was something about the way he moved when he was like this… Sami wasn't sure he could describe it. It was too fluid. Graceful, but inhuman. More like a cat, or a wisp of smoke than anything. "Predatory." Maybe that was the word for it. It was nothing like the Finn they all knew, with his big ol' smile and the way he posed for pictures like a grade-school choir photo. The whole cool rockstar leader of the Balor club air he put on was one thing. This was a-whole-nother animal.
"Okay. Okay, because – correct me if I'm wrong," said Sami, holding up his hands, "But it seems to me like you're kinda doing that thing again where you "become the demon" or however you want to put it, and I completely respect that and you can tell me if I'm crossing a line or overstepping your boundaries or something, but – I'm gonna be honest with you, Finn – you look like hell, and I'm not the only one who's noticed, and-" oh God, he's babbling again, "And… I just wanted to make sure that you're okay."
It was at that point that Sami realized he'd been looking pretty much everywhere but directly at Finn, and oh boy, things were off to a rough start. Finn was tilting his head at him in that weird, un-Finn-like way, and tossing the apple rhythmically up in the air and catching it with the same hand.
"Are we really going to have this conversation now?" he said evenly.
Ah crap. Deflect, deflect!
"I mean, if you can think of a better time to have it, my schedule's pretty open."
Sami shrugged in what he hoped was a disarming fashion. It earned a quiet laugh and a faint smile from Finn, which was a good sign.
But Finn's gaze was still fixed on him, and Sami knew he wasn't just imagining the temperature in the room rising. If Finn shut him out now, Sami wouldn't have a prayer of getting through to him anytime soon. He wasn't about to let that happen.
"It's just…" Sami floundered for a moment, "Usually you leave the whole 'demon' persona in the ring, but it seems like it's kinda sorta bleeding into rest of your life. Again."
As Finn glanced away, he set the apple down with a carefulness that bordered on unnerving.
"That was years ago, Sami," he said, pushing himself away from the table, "And… I'm sorry you had to deal with that. But I've got a better handle on it now. I'll only keep it up as long as it's necessary, you know that."
That sounded way too close to an I-can-quit-whenever-I-want for Sami's liking. And – wait, 'as long as it's necessary?' Something clicked in Sami's brain. He took a step closer, eyeing Finn keenly.
"Is this about what happened on Monday?" he asked.
The air around Finn shimmered like a heat mirage, and a creeping sort of darkness seeped into the corners of the room. Okay, then, apparently hit the nail on the head with that one.
Nobody else'd seen what provoked the backstage brawl between Finn and Bray Wyatt. Only Sami, Becky, and Bayley had been in that hallway, just hanging out and talking, when Wyatt turned up.
Sure, it was easy enough to dismiss it as empty threats after the fact. But when the lights began flickering overhead, and that unsettling laugh echoed down the hall, and the whispers started circling them, coming from everywhere and nowhere, letting them know he'd be coming for the three of them once Finn had fallen and wasn't able to protect them anymore – it was hard not to let it get in your head.
It wasn't for nothing that Wyatt targeted that specific group of three in order to draw Finn out. The girls were practically kid sisters to him: Bayley, his buddy from NXT, and Becky, who he'd been a mentor to back in Ireland. And then there was Sami himself, who considered Finn one of his best friends.
When it came down to it, Sami couldn't blame Finn for letting himself be baited like that. Luckily the officials broke things up before Wyatt could goad Finn into unleashing something resembling literal hell. But then there was the incident with the "viscous substance." Yeah… the commentators weren't fooling anyone with that description. Anyone with functioning color vision could tell what that bucket was full of, and getting doused with it would be enough to push anyone over the edge.
In the here-and-now, Finn looked up, locking eyes with Sami. His expression wasn't one of rage anymore, but it was something just as deadly serious. Enough so that Sami felt pinned to the spot.
"You don't have to worry about that anymore, Sami," he said, "Wyatt's not getting near you or Becky or Bayley ever again. Not if I have anything to say about it."
If that wasn't a big neon sign reading 'Proceed With Caution,' Sami didn't know what was. He just had to find a way to put this delicately, that's all. He could do that. He was Canadian, for crying out loud.
"Don't get me wrong," said Sami, "I'm not saying that I don't appreciate you going to bat for me, because I do. I can't even say how lucky I am to have a friend like you. It's just… You don't have to take this all on by yourself, y'know. The rest of us wouldn't even be here if we didn't know how to take care of ourselves. "
Finn shook his head.
"You don't understand-"
"Maybe I don't!" Sami interrupted, "I probably don't. But that doesn't change the fact that-"
"Enough!"
Finn seemed to blur and flicker, and then abruptly glitched across the room like something out of a horror movie to plant himself not two feet in front of Sami. If this wasn't something Sami had experienced before, he would've jumped out of his skin. As it was, he still flinched.
"After everything," Finn growled, glaring up at him with those too-bright eyes, "After he's pushed me and mocked me, and then to go after you and the others?"
The air around him was growing warmer by the second. It took all of Sami's resolve to hold his ground.
"Wyatt isn't going to go away until something makes him. And this? This is what stopped him! This is the only thing that stopped him, and it's the only thing that will! It's the only thing that works anymore!"
"But it doesn't!" Sami shouted, "Not always. Remember that steel cage match against Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship? You lost. And last year at Summerslam! Sure, you won the match, but you had to forfeit the title and you were out of action for six months."
The mention of Summerslam must've struck a nerve, because Finn's mouth twitched into something like a snarl. But Sami had too much momentum going to back down now.
"This doesn't make you invincible, Finn. And even if it did, look what it does to you! Whatever the issue is, this is not a sustainable solution. Not at all. And I'll be damned if you expect me to stand by and let you burn yourself out over this. It's not worth it, Finn. Losing you – you losing yourself –isn't worth it."
Finn blinked, and for a moment he seemed taken aback. The fiery aura surrounding him dimmed from a blaze to a smolder. He took a step back – staggered, really – and Sami had to hold himself back from reaching out to steady him. They weren't out of the woods yet. He couldn't risk driving Finn away again.
When Finn found his voice again, it was shaky and unsure.
"I've been holding this off for a whole goddamn year, Sami," he said, "I can't-"
"That's not what I'm saying," Sami cut in, a little more gently this time.
Finn was silent, so Sami pressed on.
"It can't be easy for you, the whole dual natures thing, being caught between Finn and Balor. I can't even imagine… And I understand that all this-" He gestured vaguely at Finn, "Is a part of you, just as much as anything else. I wouldn't ask you to stop being what you are any more than I'd ask you to stop having blue eyes. And I know it's usually not a bad thing. But you gotta find a balance, or that part is gonna end up eating you alive."
Silence again. Finn's shoulders slumped ever so slightly, and he scrubbed his hand across his eyes.
"Just because someone knows they won't fall, that's no excuse for them to go around standing on ledges." Finn's voice was faint. When he looked back at Sami, it was with a rueful smile. "Is that it?"
"Something like that, yeah. Especially not when they've got friends who love them an awful lot. "
That wasn't even subtle. But then again, it wasn't meant to be. Finn was his best friend, full stop. Sami wasn't afraid to get sappy about it.
"Well, we wouldn't want those friends to worry, now would we," said Finn, "Just want them to know that they're loved, too."
And that was the crux of it. Not everybody was that lucky – to have a friend who'd do anything for you, whether it was fighting crazy hillbilly cultists or confronting you about a problem before it went too far. And Finn just looked so worn out it almost broke Sami's heart. Alright, enough beating around the bush. It was hug time.
"C'mere, buddy." Sami closed the distance between them in one long step and wrapped his arms around Finn.
Finn all but collapsed into the hug. His head rested heavily against Sami's shoulder. That feverish heat still radiated from him, but Sami was relieved to note that it seemed to be cooling down, however slowly. He rubbed Finn's back reassuringly as they stood in silence for a moment.
"I'm so tired, Sami," said Finn, finally sounding every bit as exhausted as he looked.
"I know, habibi," said Sami, "It's alright. Just gotta give yourself a chance to rest, that's all."
"I honestly might fall asleep on you right now."
"Eh, I don't mind," said Sami, "Besides, I've been that told I make an excellent pillow."
At that moment, they heard the sound of somebody clearing her throat, and it came from the direction of the doorway.
"Are we interrupting something?"
Sami and Finn looked up to see Becky leaning against the doorframe, winking cheekily at them, with Bayley peering in over her shoulder. Neville must've sent them, the sly dog. Sami was sure of it. Finn waved them in.
"Don't be silly," he said, "There's always room for more."
"You don't have to tell me twice," said Bayley.
She bounced past Becky, and the pair of them upgraded things to a group hug.
"It's good to see you looking more like yourself, Finn," she said.
"Yeah," said Becky, "I was starting to think we'd have to stage a full-scale intervention, banners and everything."
"There's no need for that," Finn laughed, "I'm doing a lot better now, honestly."
"Actually, I was just about to come find you two," said Sami, turning to the girls, "Because we need to take this young man back to the hotel for some much needed R&R."
"I like the sound of that." Becky flashed that ever-ready grin of hers. "I'm thinking movie night: Star Wars, the Muppets, Disney… Whatever you want, Finn."
Bayley's hand shot into the air.
"Ooh! I'm in charge of snacks!" she volunteered.
Finn laughed again and took a step back, looking the three of them over.
"You guys are incredible," he said, "You know that, right?"
"You're pretty incredible yourself," said Becky, slugging him gently on the arm.
"I'm serious. I mean it."
"And so do we," said Bayley.
"Alright, alright," Sami intervened, "Before we stand here complimenting each other all night, I move that we take this back to the hotel, get settled in, and then we can tell Finn how much we love him."
"Seconded!" Becky said immediately, before Finn even had a chance to open his mouth.
And with Bayley declaring that the motion was carried, the pair of them gathered up Finn's things and ushered him and Sami towards the door.
Finn still looked like he needed a five week long nap, but his smile was warmer and brighter in spite of it. Not quite a thousand watts yet, but they'd get him there. Sami would make sure of it.
(Note: To the tune of "Demons" by Imagine Dragons, because I love me a good cliche sometimes XP. In the build-up to Summerslam, I was having thoughts about Finn giving into the Demon persona and Sami having to talk him down, and it turned into the this interim ficlet because why not and because I also love me some platonic fluff.
After the fact I realized that I don't know if anybody shares my headcanons about Unseelie prince Finn and Seelie prince Neville being sometimes friends/sometimes rivals. Ah well. Now you know, haha. Thanks for reading!
-M )