Birthday Crisis

"E..." Xavier whispered.

"I..." E whispered back.

"E..."

"I..."

"I swear to god if you-"

"OOOOOOOO!" E screamed as he jumped out of his slumber, causing Xavier to jump as well.

"Shhhhh! Kofi's still asleep and we can't wake him up," the tag team champion smoothly said. "I've left a note saying we've gone to an interview about SummerSlam and he can meet us at the arena. I think he's meeting his brother today anyway so we'll have enough time. Come on, get ready, we'll leave in half an hour."

The frizzy haired superstar changed into casual clothes, brushed his teeth and put his hair in a bun before meeting with E by the door. The bigger male decided to just wear gym clothes and had the key in his hands.

"Xavier... have you been saving up for this?"

His shorter friend suddenly became unconvincingly confused and raised his brow. "What? For one day in a year? Come on E."

E shrugged it off and opened the door so the two could leave the apartment. "Are you sure it's okay to leave him on his own, without notice, whilst he sleeps? I'm sure he sleeps commando as well."

Does he? Was Xavier's first thought. He'd never noticed before, not that he watched Kofi sleep before.

"He'll be fine, now let's hurry!" He urged as he shook his head to block out his previous debate in his thoughts. They shuffled through the hotel's busy morning residents and took the stairs rather than the packed elevator. Before they knew it they were in the SUV ready to go, but not without signing a few autographs.

"You guys gonna watch us retain our titles at SummerSlam?" Xavier shouted and the entire crowd outside their hotel yelled back to let him know they were. E started the car and they began their journey to the closest party store.

"You know, you never gave me an honest answer. Look, I'll turn this camera off-"

"Camera? Since when-"

"God you and Kofi don't listen," E laughed. He may have shook his head in disbelief but deep down he knew there was no surprise in hearing that. "We were filming Ride Along last night and we'll be filming another episode tomorrow. Now confess, you did plan all of this ahead of yesterday."

The YouTuber had no choice but to sigh and stared at his feet trying to avoid eye contact.

"Ok, fine, but I did the same for you and you know I did."

"That may be true, but did you feel the same way? Right now, I can tell you want this to be perfect."

All the questions were starting to annoy Xavier, not E or even the questions themselves but the fact he didn't know what to say. He had seen Kofi in a different way, but that was because of them hanging out regularly for UpUpDownDown. They bonded over video games, comics and anything remotely nerdy. So why couldn't he just tell E that? Instead he was freezing like an idiot. A stupid idiot.

"Look I know what you're thinking, 'oh if I only like one of us, it's gonna cause conflict'," E explained. He wasn't wrong, in fact, he'd said everything Xavier feared. "But honestly, I don't mind. To be honest, I've kinda been digging someone of my own and it doesn't involve either one of you..."

Who? Was Xavier's first thought but he was happier to hear that E was okay with it all. "Okay...well I guess you don't need me to say it-"

"Oh I do, so I know you trust me enough."

"Well, I guess I should. Okay. I...like...him. A lot. I want this day to be perfect for him."

E started squealing and jumping around like a schoolgirl which weirded Xavier out. "How romantic! Now, you have to trust me when I tell you who I've been digging recently."

"Jey?"

E's head turned quicker than he'd ever done but the whiplash didn't matter. "How did you know?"

"Easy, you're going to crash the car..."

"Xavier..."

"Come on. I've seen the way you stare at him. Since he turned into a bad boy you've been drooling over him. Every time they have a match you make us watch it, and I've seen where your eyes go," Xavier grinned.

"Well, you have candid photos of Kofi on your phone."

"You followed five fan pages about Jey."

"You say Kofi's name when you sleep."

"You took screenshots of-wait what? Do I actually?"

E laughed and banged the wheel with his hand. "No but you thought you did. Well you have, but not commonly. It's like your body knows when Kofi isn't around, you're like 'Oh Kofi, press the X button' and I have to try not to laugh."

Xavier thought about it for the short remainder of the travel and tried to think of what the 'X button' could have meant. They found the Pirate's Parrot and parked the car outside. E grabbed his coat and Xavier grabbed his wallet. The two champions walked into the shop and immediately they were taken aback by the heavy pirate theme. Brown walls with beige stripes, plastic pirates popping out of the walls and a wooden floor were just a few of the many features that had Xavier and E wondering if they had walked into an actual pirate ship.

"Hold on, I think this is just a pirate shop. Like not trying to sound stupid, I mean I don't think they sell party items."

The owner heard and approached them. "If you want party stuff there's a Wal-Mart next to us, don't worry we only really get customers on Halloween."

The owner's smile made Xavier feel bad and he pulled out his wallet. "Do you have..." He whispered the rest to the owner and he nodded, leading Xavier to the secret request. He returned with a huge present box and E was intrigued.

"What's in that?"

"You'll have to wait and see. Thanks for this," Xavier waved at the owner and they left the shop to put the present in the car. The owner was right, there was a Wal-Mart next to the pirate shop and they tried to be as quick as possible.

The shorter wrestler spotted the party section and pulled E with him.

"Ah, here it is. Okay, let's get as much as we can and get them blown up quickly."

He picked up his camera and aimed it his and E's face.

"Welcome to UpUpDownDown, it's me and Big Wool-"

"Mmmmm, yeah," he weirdly groaned with a smile.

He vlogged as they shopped and as soon as they had everything they walked with a pace to the car and stuffed everything in, forcing Xavier's head to be pushed against E's shoulder. Once they finished vlogging E carried on driving and Xavier paused to reflect.

"E, what if what I said might happen, and backfire? I don't want Kofi to feel bad..."

"You just explained the whole emotions thing!"

His eye twitched and he doubted himself. "Yeah, but I don't want him to feel super bad to the extent where the top layer of emotions is so upset he can't be happy."

E smiled and nudged his friend. "Hey, when he sees what you did for him I'm sure he'll be paralyzed with gratitude."

"Thanks, E. Really. You're such a good friend."

"Possibly best man?"

"Ah, let's just focus on the party for n-"

His phone vibrated and it was a message from Kofi.

So you guys left me on my own at the hotel? Was this some sort of punishment for the channel I forgot about lol? I'll meet you at the stadium I guess, maybe a call or message about anything in particular whilst I'm getting there?...

"What do I do?"

He showed E the message and the weightlifter fixed his gray beanie. "Just ignore it. It'll add...suspense."

Xavier turned his phone off and looked outside the window.

"I hope this goes well."

Kofi was in his car driving to the arena but he couldn't concentrate. Checking his phone got boring but he refused to miss anything. It hurt him that there was nothing to miss. He called Seth and put the phone at the front and on loud speaker.

"Hey Kof, what's up? Happy birthday dude!"

The Ghanaian laughed and played with his hair at a red light. "Thanks, Seth, and nothing much. Just waiting for Xavier to wish me the same. I messaged both of them and Xavier saw the message." He may have said it calmly but it was hard to.

"Wait they haven't said anything yet? That's weird. Before what happened happened, Dean always left stuff in our rooms to surprise me and spent the day with me. Even when we, you know-"

"Seth you don't have to hide it," he grinned. "We went out for a year and stuff didn't work. But I did appreciate the birthday cuddles."

"Well I'm sure whatever's happening has a reason. Take care Kofi."

"Sure...actually Seth, one last thing?"

"Yeah sure."

"How did you let Dean know you liked him?"

There was a brief pause.

"Not liked, I still do. But I just told him. I could tell something was there whatever it was and I just asked him if he felt the same way. And you should tell Xavier too."

Kofi nearly gasped. "That obvious?"

"Totally. Good luck dude."

"Later." He hung up and carried on driving. All he could think about was if he could tell Xavier after he couldn't even remember his birthday.

Xavier and E arrived at the arena and quickly got out of the car, carrying on with the vlogging. They pulled everything out of the car and lugged it to a secret room, walking past Aiden English in the process. Xavier put a sign on the door about the party and hoped it would encourage more superstars to join the party and help.

"E you set up the tables and I'll blow up the balloons."

A few minutes in and they were ahead of schedule, with Kofi's favorite flavor of skittles being laid out on top of the cake. Seth knocked on the door and entered with a concerning look. "Holy crap you guys did a lot."

"Xavier did a lot. I just lifted everything," E interrupted.

"Well Kofi sounded hurt on the phone so I think you should tell him, and I think there's something else you need to tell him."

"Tell me what?"

Everyone turned to the African high flyer and looked in shock.

"Woah. This is awkward."

After making the video displaying their failure to keep it a secret the two friends found themselves alone on the table, sitting next to each other. For a while, the conversation was just humorous remarks about the whole day but Kofi decided to shuffle closer to Xavier.

"So... what did Seth mean? What do you want to tell me?"

"I, I... got you a present," he lied.

Why can't I just say it? He thought.

"Okay, where is it?"

"Close your eyes."

It intrigued Kofi and he did so, blinding himself with his eyelids. Xavier led him to another room where the huge box from before was and patted him on the shoulder. "You can open them now."

Kofi obliged and gasped at the sight. It was a seven-foot teddy bear dressed as a pirate. A beaming smile revealed his teeth and he hugged Xavier. "Why thank you Woods."

"That's not the whole present. Look at the feet and the paws."

The dreadlocked dynamo scooted to the bear and looked. The left paw had 02.24.06 stitched into it, the right paw had 06.29.08 stitched into it, the left foot had 04.26.15 stitched in and on the last paw it was 08.14.17. Kofi had a tear running down his cheek and Xavier wiped it away, worried.

"You put my first ever match, my first ever championship win and my first tag team championship win with you guys. This means a lot to me, Xavier, it really does." He allowed a few more tears to flow down his face before he noticed the last date. "Why did you pick today out of all my birthdays?"

"Because it marks the day I ask you this. Kofi Kingston, will you go out with me?"

His tattooed arm reached to Kofi's and he held his hand, staring into his eyes with reflective brown pupils that gleamed with the hope that Kofi would say yes.

"Of course I would!" He laughed, sniffling. "I was trying to find a way to ask you."

Xavier gave a smirk that pushed a smile from Kofi. "You still can."

"Xavier Woods, will you be my boyfriend and constantly annoy me when we play games? Hug me when I'm cold and hug me when I'm warm?"

"Without a doubt yes," he smiled. The frizzy haired athlete moved his hands to Kofi's waist and Kofi did the same. Slowly moving their heads towards each other, pixels flew as they embraced in their first kiss, ignoring all the cheers from E and Seth, a drunk Dean's non-English cheering and everything around them. They only cared about feeling each other.

"I told you they were perfect for each other," E whispered.

"No you didn't! This is the first time we've spoken in a week!" Seth denied.

Dean stood up and fell against the wall. "I, I, I knew it from four years ago, when they first formed." He mumbled.

"We formed three years ago."

"Whatever."

I wrote most of this in one sitting, literally, this was a two hundred word draft when I started. Might do a one-shot for Ambrollins and Jey/Big E as well. Also tempted to do a one-shot for Seth/Kofi in the past.