It was a Sunday night, and WWE had come to Boston for their annual Night of Champions pay-per-view. As per usual with the company, things had gotten physical even before the show went televised, with a 16-Man Battle Royal for a match against US Champion, Antonio Cesaro.
A certain One Man Band had been part of that frenzy, but had been eliminated before it had even started, due to his cockiness.
He was now in the locker room, with his head in his hands, smoothing his shoulder length ginger hair out of his face. Once again, he'd messed up a massive chance, all because the guys in creative had told him there'd be "better things to come". But when? When was he going to get a rise to the top? He had potential, being a part of Nexus and all, but after the dissolution of that group, and then its splinter cell, The Corre, Heath heavily suspected that no one knew what to do with him anymore, and, because of his girlish looks and silly accent, he was made a jobber to almost everyone.
He sighed. There was no one on the entire WWE roster that had it worse than him.
Or so he thought. He lifted his head when he heard footsteps down the hall, trying to appear as if he hadn't been going through some angst-filled guilt trip. He recognised that spiked hair and purple ring gear from a mile away- it was none other than the Long Island Iced Z, Zack Ryder.
He'd gone on to win the aforementioned Battle Royal, but, judging by the disheartened look on his face and lack of a big gold belt, not the US title.
"Hey Zack." Heath said nonchalantly.
"What do you want, Slater?" Zack replied, with a pinch of anger in his voice. He took a swig from his almost-empty can of Bud Light Lime.
Heath knew this wasn't the time to be making small-talk with him, but he had to do something to get his spirits up, he needed at least one person to talk to.
"N-nothing man." Heath answered, disgusted by how he was disgusted by the southern drawl in his voice.
Zack, who had been previously checking his hair in the lenses of his shades, put down his can and stopped what he was doing. "You're lying, Heath."
"N-no I'm not." he stammered.
"Heath, stop it."
"Stop what?" he asked, trying to keep calm.
Zack sighed. "Heath, I know you seem stupid on TV, but hell, you're more intelligent than this!"
He walked a few steps closer to him, standing so he overshadowed the other man.
"What's been going on?" he asked.
"It's that US title match." he explained falsely. "I had one chance, and I failed-"
"HEATH, SHUT UP!" Zack interrupted loudly. "That match was booked for you to lose; you knew that from the start-"
He suddenly paused, realising what had really happened.
"Oh my God, bro… you're unhappy because of how you're booked?"
Heath nodded sadly. "Every time I'm in a match, Zack. EVERY FREAKIN' TIME! I'm made to job to everyone, EVERYONE! Even Lita, for God's sake! LITA! Do you know how embarrassing that is, to job to a girl?"
Zack nodded. "I know how embarrassing it is to job, period. I've been where you are bro."
"What do you mean?" Heath asked, confused as to how Zack could be unhappy with all the exposure he was getting.
"I've been like you were- I went to the top, because I knew I deserved to be there." he explained. "I was in the main event of RAW, just like you were with Nexus. I had championships, legitimate championships; not just silly Internet ones, proper ones, US titles, tag titles!"
In Heath's mind, he had flashbacks to the times when he won the tag championships with Justin Gabriel. He'd never recaptured those same feelings since losing them and going with the decision to permanently break up his teaming with the Cape Town Werewolf…
Abruptly, he was snapped out of his recollection by the voice of Zack. "You OK, bro?"
"Wha-? Oh yeah, fine." He flicked his hair.
Zack couldn't help but chuckle. "Look, the point I'm trying to make is this-"He put a hand on Heath's shoulder. "I just lost a title match, and right now the social networks and webshows are the only thing keeping me relevant." Keeping his hand where it was, he bent down, so that he was now on the same level as Heath. "You're not alone, bro."
"We have more in common than I realised." Heath commented, cracking a grin.
Zack had to look away for a brief second, as the sudden flush of happiness that rushed through his body seeing the look on Heath's face was a tiny bit overwhelming.
"You weren't hurt during that title match, were you Zack?" he then asked out of the blue.
Zack's head whipped around to face him hearing this question. The Neutraliser was made to work only if Antonio dumped the opponent right, and if the opponent sold the impact. Both of these things happened during Zack's match, so to the kids and the clueless adults in the crowd, it definitely looked like it hurt. But then there was the aftermaths, when those tiny pangs in his neck that, although not career-threatening, were heightened by his emotional state at the time…
He stuttered a series of incomprehensible phrases. He didn't want, nor need Heath to know he'd been even the slightest bit damaged.
His feeble attempt at a diversion was cut off by Heath, whose face had now taken on an uncharacteristic look of worry.
"It's OK, Zack. You can tell me, I've probably been through worse." There was no hint of humour in his voice.
"Well, um… I hurt my neck a little, and my body aches all over, but I'm sure it's nothing serious." he replied, trying to keep as quiet as possible.
"Zack," Heath said, standing up and putting a hand on his shoulder just as had been done to him earlier, "If it's you, it's always serious."
He locked eyes with Zack.
"Come on, man, sit down. You need to take it easy for a bit."
Zack let out a sigh, half of relief, half of exasperation- he heard that countless times when he'd been chokeslammed by Kane, and did it make a difference then?
He pushed that thought to the back of his mind, hobbling towards the bench, which, although it wasn't very far away at all, made the aches in his body even worse. He grimaced in pain, prompting Heath to reach out, keeping him upright.
"It's alright, Zack. I'm here."
He didn't know why, but those words made him feel safe.
Even as he sat down, Heath didn't remove his arm.
He quickly called him out on this.
"Uh, um, sorry." he replied awkwardly, taking it away. "I-I'll take it off if you want me to, I-I was just…"
"Heath, don't take it in a bad way." Zack interrupted. "It just seemed a little weird, gave out the wrong sort of messages, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know." Heath replied, his cheeks temporarily blushing redder than his hair.
Zack let out another chuckle; this one was a lot more forced. Heath had began to fix him, but something was missing, something he couldn't quite put his finger on…
Out of nowhere, he yawned. He instinctively looked over to Heath with wide eyes.
"Tired, bud?" he asked in a sarcastic tone, raising his eyebrows.
Once again, Zack tried to find a way out, but ended up admitting a truth he should have realised earlier- he got thrown around by Cesaro, and it had wrecked his energy levels.
"Mhmm." he replied, beginning to blink quickly in order to not doze off.
"It's OK to feel like that, you know. You've been through twice the stuff I've been through tonight."
Zack felt Heath's arm loop back around his shoulder. He was just about to reiterate what he had said earlier, but the red-haired male spoke before he could.
He beckoned, seeming to want Zack to move closer. "Come over here."
The other man was perplexed as to why they needed to get any more intimate, but obeyed his command nonetheless.
"No, closer than that." Heath instructed, a quiet giggle escaping his lips.
Zack gulped, and, quickly checking to confirm that no one else was around to see, scooted over, sitting on Heath's lap. He felt like a child, in his current position, and prayed to Bieber that this wasn't going to go where he thought it was.
"Zack, let me tell you a story." he said. "That is, if you're OK with that."
Zack nodded, feeling all manner of emotions.
Heath cleared his throat softly, beginning to speak. "When I was a little kid, I had this one grandma. She was so good to me Zack, we used to stop over at her house all the time, some of the things we did… well, I'd probably be arrested if I attempted 'em now."
Zack smiled. Though they grew up in completely different places, Heath and Zack's childhoods were much alike- they grew up with the one dream of being a WWE Superstar, all whilst juggling family matters and the standard shenanigans a kid would get into.
He continued. "So, anyway, we used to stop over at her house for a night each week, and every night she sang this one lullaby, how did it go…?"
There were a few moments of silence as Heath searched his mind for the missing lyrics.
"Oh, I remember now." He cleared his throat for a second time, and Zack knew exactly what was coming, though, strangely, he stopped himself from covering his ears.
Before he could even begin to ponder why, Heath's arm came back into play. Zack was pulled slowly near to Heath's shoulder, and, quivering softly, he listened helplessly as The One Man Band began to sing:
Hush a bye
Don't you cry
Go to sleep my little broski…
By the end of these first lines, Zack suddenly had every reason to be interested. With one simple eyebrow raise from him, he could tell that Heath had intentionally changed the lyrics to make Zack feel more at ease. Second, the very nature of the voice of the Virginia native was surprising, to say the least- on TV, Heath was a completely hopeless singer, totally tone-deaf- but here, now, with Zack, he was showing what seemed to be his true colours. His voice was soft and sweet, and his gorgeous accent finished every word with a flourish he'd never heard before.
He was enamoured, entranced… in love.
He was snapped out of his daydream by Heath asking a question he full well knew the answer to.
"Do you want me to continue? From the top?"
"Sure, bro." Zack replied, not really knowing where he was.
Heath smiled, letting Zack slip downwards into a cradle-like position.
It took a few seconds for him to notice. Even after realising, a large part of him just ignored the fact he was now being cradled by a man only two years his senior.
Heath kept his word, starting from the top of the song:
Hush a bye
Don't you cry
Go to sleep my little broski
When you wake, you shall have
All the pretty little broskis…
Heath began to rock Zack slowly back and forth, looking down at him with mysterious, but caring, brown eyes.
Zack knew that, at that moment, he could have just fallen asleep on the spot, but he also knew that the song hadn't ended yet- there was much more of that heavenly country harmony that he hadn't been subjected to.
He leant backwards, resting on the bend in Heath's arm. The back of his head just managed to touch the exposed skin- it was lukewarm, and gave Zack even more comfort.
Sensing Zack's relaxed feeling, Heath began singing the first verse:
In your bed
Daddy said
Broski's riding off to LI
One by one
They've begun
Dance and prance for little broski
Blacks and bays, dapples and greys
Fist pumping in the night
When you wake
You shall have
All the pretty little broskis
There were a few more moments of blissful silence, as Zack drifted further and further away from reality, away from all the pain, and into a state of complete and utter happiness. He remembered that, about a month ago, Heath had threatened on Twitter that, when they next met, he'd play a lullaby on his forehead- now, he was doing it across Zack's entire body, and not only was he willing for it to be carried out, but it was a lot less painful than he'd thought it would be.
Exhaling softly, he listened intently as Heath switched key, running his hand across Zack's cheek:
Can you see the little broskis
Dance before your eyes
All the pretty little broskis
Will be there when you arise
Can you see the little broskis
Shining before your eyes
All the pretty little broskis
Gonna be there when you arise-
The older man stopped, visibly inhaling. He was so happy; he was on the verge of tears.
Swallowing his happy-sadness, Heath quietly proceeded to the final chorus:
Hush a bye
Don't you cry
Go to sleep my little broski
When you wake
You shall have
All the pretty little broskis-
All of a sudden, Zack's eyelids began to flutter; even if his heart wanted him to stay awake just so he could get one more look into those wonderful eyes, his head knew that he was tired, and needed sleep. Reluctantly settling down, he let the tiredness overtake him, and began to descend into slumber.
This behavior didn't surprise Heath, far from it, he carried on singing, quieter and softer still, watching as the younger man's eyes closed:
All the pretty little broskis,
All the pretty…little… broskis.
By the end of the song, Zack had succumbed, and was fast asleep. Heath only smiled, thinking about the comment regarding lullabies he'd tweeted to Zack a month ago.
Mission accomplished, he thought proudly.
For a moment, he thought in real-life terms; how the hell was he going to make it so no one knew this had happened?
This flurry of practicality was short-lived, however, as Heath pushed the question to the back of his mind, knowing that, really, there was only one more thing he needed to do.
Slowly, he bent down, placing a gentle kiss upon the man's tanned forehead.
"Sweet dreams, Zack."
...crud, it looks like the whole "write-a-wrestling-based-slash-oneshot-to-fill-time-between-posting-chapters-of-main-story" schtick is a regular thing now.
Anyway, hi again guys. I decided to write this, like my last oneshot, completely out of the blue, on the back of the comment mentioned in the story, which, for the record, was brought up on the RAW of 9/3/12. Plus I can't get enough of Heath and his goofy antics (or his bad booking, or singing voice, which I hate and think is better offscreen, respectively), plus I'm an absolute mark for anything Zack Ryder. #WWWYKI ;)
For the possibilty of writing again for the pairing, I'll just have to see where their mini-feud, and my mind, goes. Given my imagination, I have a habit of saying I'll never write for a pairing again, but taking one tiny prompt and evolving it into something of a quite high standard.
I know this story was vomit-inducing in terms of sweetness, and the roles were confusing, but I'll be damned if Heath doesn't bottom in future stories ;D
Wishing you a happy life,
Blaze xoxo