The tumultuous storm currently occurring in Corpus Christi was the perfect representation for the thoughts going through Finn Bálor's mind at that moment.

The day had started out so promising too. A lazy morning spent in the hotel bedroom with Sami, gentle kisses pressed on the nearest spot of skin available (not on the lips though...neither man wanted to kill the serene mood with morning breath), spooning together with absolutely no intent to move until they absolutely had to. They were taking every chance to rest-up after the hectic travel schedule of the New Zealand and Australian tour.

Then the text message came in from the bosses, 'debuting the body paint tonight, be at the arena early.'

"You don't have to rush in with me, y'know?" Finn had told Sami, albeit with very little conviction, "At least one of us should get to enjoy the sites."

"In Corpus Christi? Nah, its fine, wouldn't be any fun without you around taking photos of everything..." Sami had replied with a smile, "Besides, my text was very resolute. I've to make sure you get there without any distractions."

"Only thing that could possibly distract me is you, though..." Finn grinned as Sami chuckled lightly at his response, "Fine, let's get ready then..."

All their rushing turned out to be for naught, however. The brewing storm in Corpus Christi had turned even nastier en-route to the arena, and the freak thunderstorm had blown out the electricity in the arena. Basic make-up by candlelight was just about doable...but you couldn't very well apply intricate body paint in the dark. Finn would never admit to sulking at this turn of events, nor would he describe his exit from the locker room area as storming off. Sami had merely rolled his eyes at Finn's histrionics, wandering off to put their bags away in the locker room whilst simultaneously giving Finn a chance to cool off a bit.

And so Finn sat by the trade entrance of the arena, sitting on a supply box and watching the storm continue to rage on outside. There was little for him to do except check his news feed on his mobile. He frowned slightly at Sami's most recent tweet...'I don't think anyone really likes Sheamus.' That seemed like a rather unprovoked comment…although thinking about it Cesaro was one of Sami's best friends...guess he was just sticking up for the Swiss native in his feud against Finn's fellow Irishman.

It was the next article that popped up on his feed that had Finn reeling, though. At first he thought it was just a reblog of an older picture of Sami and Daniel Bryan...Daniel still had the shaggy-dog hair in it, after all...'ooh, and Sami's wearing that skinny tie I like'...but then he read the headline.

'Daniel Bryan would love to steal Sami Zayn away from RAW - "We could really use someone like that on SmackDown".'

What. The Actual. Fucking Hell?

Finn was fairly certain the headline wasn't created with the sole intended purpose of pissing him the fuck off in mind, but it certainly felt that way at that moment in time. Finn had all the respect in the world for Daniel Bryan...'but if he tries to take MY Sami away from RAW and from ME then I'm going to break every brittle bone in his body...'

Finn sighed to himself...the body paint might not be on yet, but the demon was certainly making it's presence known in his head.

'…Would Sami even want to go to SmackDown if an offer was made?'

Thoughts of the conversation Finn had with Sami on the flight to New Zealand flittered into his mind...Sami had been worried about being overlooked, and now here's a conveniently timed article about Daniel Bryan wanting Sami for SmackDown. Finn wracked his brain trying to figure out if Sami had been in contact with Daniel at any point over the last week...

A rumble of thunder interrupted that thought process before Finn could dwell on it for too long. The rain was beginning to ease off...'with any luck the lights would be back on soon and I can concentrate on tonight's show...'

"Hey, there you are!"

'Oh, speaking of lights in my life...'

Finn turned his head slightly to see Sami jogging towards him, "Shoulda known you'd be out here storm gazing. There's thunder in my heart, again. Mind if I join you, or are you still in broody-leave-me-be mode?"

"Please stay," Finn moved over slightly to give Sami room to sit down beside him. Sami happily draped his arm over Finn's shoulder, watching on as the storm continued to subside, "Any updates?"

"Still no lights! Oh, but I did bump into Becky," Sami grinned, "Says she's here to visit Charlotte, but that doesn't explain why she was getting her make-up done by candlelight."

"Didn't even know she was here..." Finn mused, mostly to himself, "Better perk myself up a bit before I see her."

"But it's okay to be a sad-sack around me?" Sami teased.

"...sorry about all that, just a bit bothered that they're giving away the big reveal so early?" Finn sighed, leaning into Sami and slipping his arm around Sami's waist, "Can't wait to put the fear of God into Rollins, though."

"He won't be able to sleep a wink for the rest of the week," Sami chuckled, "Couldn't happen to a better guy."

Finn could only nod in agreement, "Hear anything about what you're doing tonight?"

"...yeah, third wheeling it in another feud this week," Sami snorted in self-depreciation, "I get to rough up Sheamus a bit for Claudio."

"Guess that explains that Tweet you posted earlier," Finn mused.

"Oh, yeah! Figured I'd give the whole integrating social media and storyline thing a try," Sami sounded somewhat rueful as he continued, "I'll probably regret it once the match starts, though."

"Nah, Sheamus' bark is worse than his bite, you'll be fine," Finn smiled softly, blinking as his phone beeped with another alert...a reblog of that infernal article. Finn steeled himself, knowing he might regret asking the question but the need to know what was going on superseded the panic, "...you seen this yet, Sami?"

"Finn, I've warned you about these clickbait articles before...hey, scruffy Daniel, that's a while ago now, huh..." Sami peered at the headline, "...hah, 'could really use' me, eh? Bit late now, had his chance in the Draft and he didn't seem to need me then."

"...yeah, but..." Finn took a deep breath, "It sounds like he really wants you on his show...if some kind of trade was offered...would you go?"

"Oof, that's a loaded question for a Monday afternoon..." Sami scratched his beard gently as he thought about the question, "Not voluntarily, no."

'Well, that's a bit of a relief.' Finn nodded, looking for some final confirmation, "You don't think you'd get featured more on SmackDown?"

"No guarantee of it," Sami shrugged, "Sure, there are less people to compete against for the spotlight, but there's also less time to fight over that spotlight for. I mean, I'd be up against Deano for airtime…and Orton and Cena, of course…AJ, Wyatt, Ziggler are all right up there already…Baron, Kalisto and Apollo are on the rise. Oh no, even worse, I'd have to put up with The Miz again! No thanks! Nah, the cons of moving to SmackDown far outweigh the one positive."

"Only one?" Finn asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"Well, it would be nice to walk around corners without double-checking to see if Kevin is lying in wait to ambush me," Sami chuckled, slightly nervously, "But otherwise...nah, I'm happy where I am. Why on earth would I want to be anywhere you weren't? That's what's been bothering you, Finn?"

"...little bit, yeah," Finn admitted, "Was thinkin' about what you said last week..."

"Well, you don't need to worry about that. Did some thinking myself after your pep-talk on the plane," Sami gave Finn's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "I figured, hey, as long as I'm getting to wrestle and entertain people regularly, then that's what matters in the end. I'm thinking…well, it's not like the reason El Generico is fondly remembered is for being involved in epic storylines? Sure, missing SummerSlam's a kick in the ass, but it's the only show I've been left off since my call-up. That's a pretty good run, really! Means I can watch your big match without being bruised and achy for once. I'm just going to think of this as a holiday weekend in Brooklyn. Paid!"

"I s'ppose that's one way of looking at it," Finn snuggled a little closer into Sami's embrace, "I'm just happy I don't have to compete against you for Match Of The Night in my first Pay Per View!"

"Hah, that's probably the reason they left me off!" Sami laughed, "Can't be upstaging the Demon in his grand debut now, can I?"

"Oh, that would have been a tragedy," Finn sighed contently, hearing Sami's joyful laughter made him feel much better about that wretched headline, "I'm glad you're here with me, Sami."

"It's like you said after WrestleMania, if I had to pick between my career and you?" Sami pulled Finn as close to himself as he could, "There's nothing that Daniel Bryan, SmackDown or RAW…anything, anywhere, anyone could offer me that would make leaving you behind worth it."

"Wow, Sami…that's…" Finn smiled brightly at his partner's words, bringing his hand up to cup Sami's cheek to look into the warm glow of Sami's eyes, "…you know I feel the same, right?"

"'Course I do," Sami confirmed, leaning forward slightly, noses bumping together gently, "How you feel about me? That's the one sole thing in the whole world that I know for definite."

"Good…that's…that's the best thing…second best thing…first…" Finn tilted his head slightly, their eyes closing almost simultaneously just as their lips brushed together. Finn heard a soft sigh of appreciation, but damned if he could tell you which one of them made it at that point in time. There was a soft rumble in the background, the sound of rain beginning to dissipate as the storm seemed to calm down around them.

Finn barely felt the swipe of Sami's tongue against his lips before he heard his phone beeping in his free hand. A second later a similar beeping sound came from the vicinity of Sami's jeans pocket. Finn was tempted to ask Sami to ignore it, but it was bound to be work related…

"Mmm…" Sami smiled softly as he reluctantly pulled back, reaching into his pocket for his phone, "Yeah, that's pretty much the best thing, you got me there."

"Yay, I was right for once…" Finn beamed, checking his messages, "Power is back on…aww, back to reality, I guess."

"Interesting choice of word for someone about to be made-up all demon like," Sami chuckled, "…'get Bálor to make-up and don't be distracting him…' Oh no, they're on to me! Curses!"

"Your fiendish plan has been foiled!" Finn laughed as he hopped off the supply box, reaching out to take Sami's hand when he too got up, "…uh…could you maybe come with me? Sit with me while I demon up?"

"Really?" Sami squeaked, the sudden pitch change causing Finn to laugh even more, "But…you never want anybody else around when the paint goes on?"

"I know…but…" Finn's laughs subsided, making way for a bashful grin, "I…kinda want to keep you in my sight. Just in case."

"In case what…? Bryan tries to kidnap me? You think he has access to masked ninjas and a rental van to pull that off?" Sami chuckled, shaking his head at Finn, "But if it'll make you feel more at ease, I'd be honoured to sit with you and watch the magic unfold before my eyes."

"Always indulging my idiotic schemes," Finn sighed happily as he led the way back to the locker rooms, "T'anks, love."

"The cross I have to bear…" Sami grinned, once again draping his arm around Finn's shoulders and pulling him in close, "Woe is me for dating this dork…"

Finn could only chuckle as he once again slipped his arm around Sami's waist, "You love my antics, really."

"Love you, really."

Finn was fairly certain his body paint artist was going to give him Hell for his sudden inability to keep an idiotic grin off his face...

...but at that moment in time nothing else mattered.