November 29, 2011
John and Punk awoke to the phone ringing with their wake-up call. Both men headed for the shower taking a practical shower which was not their usual MO for shared showers. They dressed quickly and packed their things, making their way downstairs where the roster members who were taking the trip to Yokohama were assembled. Punk looked around at his assorted co-workers and wondered if it was too late to take Google Map's advice and kayak across the Pacific.
The usual road agents where there with the addition of one man that he didn't recognize. The unknown man raised his fingers to his lips and let out a high pitched whistle that caught the attention of the group. "I'm Nick out of the Tokyo office. It's my job to get you in and out of Japan in one piece and prevent any international incidents. I have your visas so we're set there. All that's left is for everyone get your stuff together and get on the bus. We're taking a commercial flight out of Columbia to New York so if we're running late I doubt they're going to hold the flight for us."
As it turned out they would have held the flight for them since they were the only ones on it. Punk thought they should rename the Columbia Regional Airport to the Columbia Rural Airport. There was one ticket desk and they just piled their luggage in a corner. Their plane was a small turbo-prop that only sat 20 and didn't have any overhead compartments because the ceiling was so low. If only they were taking less people along they could have taken the WWE jet or they could have chartered a bigger jet if the one runway they were working with was long enough for a jet to land, which it wasn't. Soon enough they were all seated in their death trap of a plane. The pilots didn't even bother to close the cockpit door so Punk figured if they were going down at least he'd have some prior warning. The flight was pretty bumpy and Punk could barely hear himself think over the sounds of the propellers though it didn't seem to bother John who was asleep and kept trying to make Punk's chest his pillow. They finally landed and made their way through LaGuardia.
They switched to Virgin Atlantic where they had booked the entire upper class cabin for the flight to Tokyo which was going to take twelve hours, they all had their own beds, even if they were a little small for some of the guys. Even though he and John were seated next to each other it was a little strange because there were partitions between the seats and he and John would have to sleep with a wall between them. The roster mingled in the cabin for the first couple of hours of the flight but eventually everyone returned to their own areas and settled down for a long uninterrupted sleep which they were usually denied. Punk awoke after a couple of hours to find John looking over the partition at him.
"You're watching me sleep, that's kind of creepy you know," Punk whispered with a sleepy smile.
"I watch you sleep all the time, this is just the first time that you caught me, move over."
Punk sat up and moved towards the front of the bed. John lay in Punk's bed resting his head in Punk's lap.
"Don't you think this is a little risky?" Punk asked, his hand almost involuntarily running itself over John's scalp.
"I'm rapidly approaching the point where I just don't care anymore."
"This cabin isn't exactly full of people who are especially fond of us."
John just stared up into Punk's eyes. "Have you been to Japan before?"
"No. I assume you have?"
"Once or twice but it was on overseas tours and we didn't even stay the night," John murmured picking up Punk's other hand and kissing the palm.
"Could you two keep it down, I'm trying to…Whoa."
Punk and John looked up, John's mouth still on Punk's hand. Zack was looking at them over the partition in the next row in complete shock.
"We'll keep quiet, you should too," Punk said, a hint of warning in his voice.
"Zack, listen…" John said pleadingly.
"No worries, my lips are sealed," Zack making a locking motion over his lips before his head disappeared back below the partition.
"You should probably go back to your own bed," Punk said pulling his hands away from John.
John leaned up, kissing Punk softly before going back to his own bed.
Punk tossed and turned for the rest of the flight. When they finally landed in Tokyo Punk looked at John who seemed to have gotten about as much sleep as he did. They deplaned and had to wait to get through customs before they took the high speed rail to Yokohama which cut the hour trip between the cities in half. By the time they got to the hotel it was 2AM. Some of the roster elected to explore the nightlife of the town but Punk and John made their way to their hotel room. When they opened the door it was so bright in the room as if the lights were already on.
"What is that?"
Punk walked over to the open curtains and looked out. A block or two away from the hotel was a tower that was lit up with white lights.
"Any idea what that building is?" Punk asked.
"No clue," John said, wrapping his arms around Punk's waist and brushing his lips behind Punk's ear.
Punk turned around and pressed his lips to John's. They didn't bother closing the curtains for hours.
November 30, 2011
When they woke up the next morning Punk took the opportunity to drag John all over the surrounding area, Zack tagging along with them. Punk decided that as long as Zack could keep his mouth shut he really wasn't all that bad, even allowing Zack to get a few shots of him and John together that Zack promised to email him when they got back to the states.
Punk led them to the Yokohama Marine Tower, which was the lit up building that they had seen from their hotel room. It was a now defunct inland lighthouse that had an observation tower at the top. As John passed the elevator and made for the stairs Punk and Zack exchanged a pained expression but followed John up the stairs. From the observation deck there were amazing views of Tokyo Bay and Mount Fuji. They eventually found their way back to the hotel and boarded the bus to the arena with the rest of the roster, everyone sharing stories of their wanderings in the city.
The show showcased a different group of roster members than usual, the road agents selecting the wrestlers that would most appeal to the Japanese audience. Unfortunately this included Kevin Nash and Punk hoped Triple H would hurry his ass up and get back soon so that he might never have to see Nash's decrepit ass again. He became a true Zack Ryder fan as he and his tag team partner The Big Show defeated Nash and Ziggler.
John made short work of the Miz to the delight of the Japanese audience due to Miz having taken the time to learn insults in their native language. The Japanese crowd absolutely loved John and that seemed to boost his performance in the ring to levels that Punk hadn't seen in a while. Punk had obviously neglected to notice that the hate that John faced these days was causing his in ring performance to suffer. Punk was glad that the crowd was so receptive and John's sunny mood was absolutely blinding when he returned from the ring.
Punk himself faced del Rio who had made the trip without his ring announcer so the usual interference was cut down to zero. They had their usual highly competitive match but Punk put him away before del Rio could resort to his usual tactic of trying to dislocate his shoulder from his body.
That night the entire roster took the train back to Tokyo to take the traditional trek to Ribera Steakhouse that all wrestlers visited when touring through the area. They passed through the Shibuya area of Tokyo which was like Times Square on steroids. They were lucky that their unofficial tour guide Nick was there because they would have never been able to cross the busy street due to none of the wrestlers being able to quite figure out the hectic five-way crosswalk.
They finally made their way to the restaurant, he and John sitting at a table with Zack and Kelly. Punk found the combination of steak and rice a little strange but the restaurant was fun, welcoming their raucous group. At the end of the meal instead of the standard check being delivered to the table they all received silver satin jackets with the Ribera name on the back. Also on offer were pairs of unbearably loud Zubaz pants that had been so popular in the 80's. The whole roster donned the jackets but Zack was the only one to go into the bathroom and change into the pants. He looked crazy but Punk had to give him props for not caring what anyone thought of him. They spent the rest of the night under the huge big screens and bright lights of Tokyo. Leaving the city Punk spied a wooden entrance way that seemed totally at odds with the urban atmosphere that surrounded them.
When Punk and John were back in their room John choose to don the crazy pants and walk about the room while Punk rolled around the bed in laughter. He had never been so happy to strip John out of his clothes in his life.
December 1, 2011
The pants made a repeat performance in the locker room the next day while they were putting their gear on for the final house show in Yokohama. John had pulled on the Zubaz pants along with his Ribera jacket. Punk just stared at John with his trunks in his hand for a few moments. John turned to look at the staring Punk.
"What?"
"Are you seriously going out there like that, can't you have the jorts make a come-back or something?"
"As I clearly recall you've gone out to the ring in questionable attire before. If I let that go without a single comment I can go out to the ring like this."
"I think if you look around you'll find I'm not the only one looking at you strangely."
John looked around and indeed the entire roster, other than Zack, was looking at him like he had lost his mind.
"Awesome gear!" Zack yelled from across the room.
"You're lucky you're John Cena and can do pretty much whatever you want," Punk said, shaking his head, despairing of John's personal style.
Zack's comment turned out to be spot-on because when the crowd saw John they were even louder than they had been the day before. Punk found he could forgive any sort of strange attire when John beat down Kevin Nash in the ring. Punk again beat the hell out of del Rio and found himself so uncharacteristically happy that even John was looking at him askance.
On the bus ride back to the hotel Punk sat up front with Nick getting the information he needed for his plans for the rest of the day. They returned to their hotel room and John changed into his normal attire. They took the train back to Tokyo with some of the roster that wanted to get as much fun as they could out of their overseas trip.
Punk led John to the wooden entrance way he had spied the day before.
"What is this?" John asked questioningly.
Punk's answer was cut off when John found himself surrounded by two sets of small arms.
"John Cena! John Cena!"
There were two young boys with their arms wrapped around John's middle. Their parents hurried to retrieve their children but John just crouched down to their level.
"Hi boys, what are your names?"
"I'm Ty and this is my little brother Steven we're your biggest fans."
"I'm sure you are. Do you know what this place is, my friend won't tell me," John nodding his head toward Punk. The kids looked at Punk with wide eyes and the younger of the two children opened his mouth to say something but their parents stepped in.
"Sorry about that."
"It's no problem; I always loved to meet my fans. So what is this place?"
"It's the Meiji Jingu Temple, the kids love to visit."
"Are you on vacation?" Punk asked.
"No, we both work for the American Embassy. I take it you've never visited the temple before." Both John and Punk nodded. "How about we walk you through, the kids would love it."
John and Punk followed the kids and their parents through the temple, following their lead and bowing before the wooden entrance.
"A temple, really? That doesn't seem like your speed."
"There's more to Japan than satin jackets and bright lights, a little culture won't kill us."
They eventually came upon the main section of the temple which was a waist high pool.
"Just do what we do," the kids said with excitement and Punk and John repeated their motions, following an intricate series of hand washing. John looking at Punk trying to figure out what Punk had gotten them into when he followed the motions of the kids and lifted his hands to his mouth, washing it out with the water. They eventually clapped twice when the kids started pulling on John's shirt.
"Now you make a wish and then you bow!"
John followed the directions of his fans and watched as Punk did the same. They walked back the way they came, Punk and John walking behind the American couple, their hands brushing occasionally.
"So what did you wish for?" John asked Punk.
"Don't you know that if you tell it won't come true," Punk said with a smile and squeezed John's hand.
John squeezed right back and thought about the wish he had made. Of course it was about Punk, but it was a wish that he knew could never come true. Their careers made it impossible and it was only something that could be gotten in a few states in America and Canada.
AN: I don't celebrate New Year's Eve (a quirk of mine) so I took the opportunity to write, which I did while watching JAWS so you're lucky one of our boys weren't the victim of a shark attack. Again, I have not been to the place I'm writing about so forgive me any errors. Best of luck with your New Year's resolutions!
