Swept Away By The Tide

This is what I get for my hard work, Adrian thinks. I don't know how to feel about this.

He sits quietly in the conference room, listening to Hunter lay down the specifics of what he wants to see from this stable. Sandwiched between Wade and Drew, Adrian feels even smaller than his five-ten height and wants to sink down in his chair so he can hide. Not very professional of him, but he's terrified at the idea of being in a stable with any of the people in this room minus Paige. Paige, he knows. Paige, he is familiar with. But Wade and Drew are a little more mystical even if Wade has just really bounced back and Drew is a glorified jobber. From what Hunter is saying, that won't be going on much longer, though. His plans sound ridiculous, a little higher and a little more farfetched than any of them can achieve. But finally, a few of the choices made in the company thus far make sense where from Adrian's vantage point, they never did.

Now, Adrian understands why Wade was catapulted to such success as Bad News Barrett and given the Intercontinental Championship to wear around his waist like an ill-gotten prize.

Now, Adrian sees why Paige was elevated to the main roster so quickly and why it was decided the Divas Championship would be rewarded to her instead of to Naomi, whom seemed a shoo-in.

Now, Adrian can forgive JBL for pushing him into a "win or go home" match against Tyler that forced him to drop his NXT Championship far too soon for his liking and get pushed to Raw.

But just because all of the pieces are finally in place doesn't mean he's okay with any of it.

William Regal sits on the far side of the table, studying Hunter and no doubt listening to all of his words with that careful focus he possess. Considering the four British wrestlers in the company are being repackaged as a stable, it only makes sense to have Regal come in as their manager. No one else can possibly do them a better service as a manager, and Adrian feels stupidly proud for at least earning his place in this stable so he can work closer with Regal.

And there are plans to set him and Drew up for the Tag Team Championships. That is nice to hear, at least, and he's happy he won't simply be thrown in for the fact he has trunks with the British flag on them and a nice accent to go along with it all. That would be a personal insult.

"Is all of that perfectly clear?" Hunter asks, and all of them chorus together saying that it was even though Adrian didn't listen to ninety percent of what the big man said. "Good. Go on now."

Regal rises from his seat and waves for them to follow him; Adrian is quick to scamper out of his chair and follow behind the older man, not missing the chuckles from Wade and Drew as they rise more gracefully and follow as well. Funny, he's the one who's supposed to be light.

The fact no one talks as they head for their new locker room is a bit addling, but Adrian just keeps his mouth shut and glances over at Drew in silent consideration. Playing tag team partner to the bigger man isn't going to be as hard as it would be with anyone else his size. Drew is six-six but wrestles like a smaller guy, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to make a good partner for him. Their skill set isn't so different. This will work just fine.

Drew catches him watching and grins, nudging him lightly in the ribs with his elbow. "Welcome to the main roster, Neville. Ready to make the fans believe in the UK?"

"Sure," Adrian says, which earns a weird duo of laughter from Wade and Drew that doesn't make sense to him. But he doesn't chase it down. For now, he's just going to go along with the flow because he doesn't have any more options available to him. Typical.

A/N: Welcome to the British Stable for lack of a better name right now. What's that you say? Drew McIntyre was released from his WWE contract on Thursday? NO. Well, this is as good a place as any to say I will continue to write my fanfiction as if that never happened because fuck the WWE. Drew was amazing. So was Jinder. 3MB forever.

These chapters will all be pretty short, around seven hundred words each. Layla will show up when I debut the new Championships so don't you worry. I have not forgotten her.