The flight to New Zealand had taken off without a hitch, and the little 'Seat-belts On' light had turned off. This was Finn's cue to reach into his pocket for his phone, eager to show Sami the picture he'd spent nearly all his time backstage at RAW trying to get.

"I can't believe it took me so long to find Puff Daddy to get that photo…like a minute more and I'd have had to miss out to leave for the tour!"

"s' Diddy…" Sami replied, a somewhat far-away tone in his voice.

"Eh, whatever, he'll always be 'Daddy' to me…" Finn trailed off, frowning slightly as he thought about what he had actually just said, "Maybe I should rephrase that…?"

"Mmm-hmm…"

Finn's frown only deepened at the non-committal response from his partner. He looked to the side to see Sami had his head bowed slightly, his forehead scrunched up slightly in thought.

"Hey, you okay Sami?" Finn put his phone away, turning his full attention to his perturbed partner, "Feelin' airsick or something?"

Sami sighed gently, letting his head fall to the side on top of Finn's shoulder, "No…just…just thinkin' to myself about some stuff."

Alarm bells immediately started sounding off in Finn's brainspace, "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"…maybe…" Sami looked over and winced at the worried look on Finn's face, "It's nothing major and it's nothing about us, I swear."

"But it is something that's bothering you, yeah?" Finn let his own head rest on top of Sami's, "Probably best to get it outta your system before we get to New Zealand…"

"I s'ppose…it's really silly, though…"

"Nothing silly about it if it's making you sad. C'mon," Finn widened his eyes and gave Sami his best puppy-dog expression, "Let me help you?"

Sami huffed slightly at the look being shot in his direction, trying not to feel bad about immediately giving in to it, "…do you think I've peaked already? My WWE career, I mean?"

"God, no, you've still got championships to win," Finn smiled brightly, "…and I need you to carry my arse to a 5-star match when we finally get to wrestle over the Universal Title…that is still really dumb to say out loud, by the way…'Universal Championship'…sorry, why'd you think that?"

"…I 'unno…just being left off of RAW this week?" Sami ran his hand through his hair, trying to figure out the best way to articulate his thoughts, "…not having anything lined up for SummerSlam? It kinda feels like I've been forgotten about…"

"I don't think anybody thinks that…" Finn nuzzled the top of Sami's head gently, "Only reason you weren't on RAW proper was 'cause we had to catch this flight, yeah? You had some high-profile matches on the last two RAWs, didn't you?"

"Yeah…but it just feels like I've gone through all this before?" Sami leaned in a little closer to Finn's gentle cuddling, "…beat Kevin in a hellacious match to get rid of him in Ring Of Honor…promptly get ignored for most of the rest of my tenure there."

Finn grinned cheekily, "Thought that was Generico?"

"Finn, please…"

"Sorry, serious face back on now," Finn immediately put on the most exaggerated serious expression he could manage, "Grrr."

Sami couldn't help but chuckle lightly despite himself, "Anyway…I put all my effort and gave my everything to finally end things between Kevin and I again here…finally get that decisive victory…and yet he's the one who gets a match for SummerSlam? All I got is to be a footnote in your match with Rollins…am I really nothing more than 'Little Pal' Sami Zayn?"

"Hey, you were a highly entertaining chapter at the very least," Finn wrapped his arm around Sami's shoulder, pulling him in as close as the airplane seats would allow, "There's still a week to go? Something could still come up…"

"Yeah, if I'm lucky they'll feed me to Braun Strowman on the pre-show or something…" Sami stopped himself, closing his eyes as the sting of tears began to prickle, "Sorry, that's not fair on him…he's doing really well for himself…"

"S'okay, you're allowed to feel upset about this…" Finn soothed, gently kissing Sami on top of his head, "Maybe I could start a Twitter campaign…'book Sami Zayn for SummerSlam', hashtag SummerSami…SamiSlam? SummerSlammiZayn?"

"Those are all patently ridiculous," Sami shook his head fondly at Finn, "Use them all."

"Will do!" Finn grinned, "You're too good to be passed over Sami, and they know it. If they're keeping you off the SummerSlam card, then they must have something big for you for after. Hey, maybe I'll get my wish and you'll be my first challenger for the new belt."

"Yeah, I know…I said I was being silly, but there's still this tiny little voice in my head saying that I don't deserve all this," Sami wiped his eyes, "I feel awful for thinking that way…I mean Cesaro and Neville both deserve to be on the card too and I'm just thinkin' about myself."

"Hey, don't feel bad for that…you hardly ever let yourself be selfish," Finn gently took Sami's chin in his hand, turning Sami to face him without any resistance, "I know I'm heavily biased in your favour, but believe me when I say that you absolutely do deserve this and a whole lot more besides. Trust me, you and I, we'll be kings of RAW in no time."

Sami snuffled gently, resting his forehead against Finn's. Finn caught the slight upturn of Sami's lips just a fraction of a second too late, "…finally admitting you're old enough to be called a 'King' now, Finn?"

"You're being snarky, you're gonna be okay," Finn laughed softly, pulling back slightly to kiss Sami's forehead, "So, New Zealand huh? Is that another new country we can add to the 'Sami Zayn Has Wrestled In' list?"

"It is, actually…but you knew that already from reading my Twitter," Sami grinned, "Hey, thanks for listening to my nonsense, Finn. You were right…felt good to get that off my chest."

"Well, it was either that or put up with a mopey Sami for the entire flight," Finn smirked, "Long enough journey without having to deal with that on top of it."

Sami rolled his eyes, "Love you too, Finn."