Chapter 4
Alex and James immediately booked a flight to San Diego after the contract was signed and Teddy Long had left. Their plan was to leave in two days so Alex could make his introduction into Smackdown that Friday. Teddy made sure that they knew to meet with Rey once they got off of the plan to go over everything that Alex needed to do for the show. James had made it very clear to his best friend and brother that he wanted to be there with Alex every step of the way through this new journey in his life. The two close friends then suddenly came to a very bittersweet realization: they wouldn't be in that apartment anymore; they wouldn't be near their family and friends for a long time either. James pulled Alex into a a brotherly hug as they thought about all of the great times they experienced in their home.
James, while a little emotional that everything was changing so fast, couldn't help but relish that he was in the arms of the man he cared infinitely for. Any immature dirty thoughts that would have entered James' mind were absent at this time and, instead, replaced with a feeling of pure enjoyment of every sensation that he took in. His musky smell that was attempted to be masked by Old Spice deoderant, the subtle feeling of his heart beating against his chest, his smooth, olive colored skin which harbored many scars from the martial arts classes, his breath tickling his skin. Everything about that moment seemed perfect for James until a thought crossed his mind and scared him even more than the thought of losing Alex through rejection: Am I.... Am I in love with him...?
Alex felt truly touched that his best friend was choosing to come with him. He felt like James was the twin brother that he always wished for as a child, only ten times better. James had always been there to protect him and care for him even when Alex was convinced that he didn't deserve any of it. As he shared an embrace with his friend, he couldn't help but realize that they had remained in their embrace for an awkwardly long time. Not wanting to make his friend uncomfortable, he let go of the embrace and gave James a confident nod,
"Well, I guess we'd better start packing,"
"Yeah..." James muttered, worried he scared Alex away,
"You okay?" Alex asked, noticing the sudden mood swing in his friend's behavior.
James looked into Alex's eyes and opened his mouth to speak when, almost as if fate found some cruel entertainment in the situation, the phone rang and broke the moment. Letting out an irritated growl which confused Alex, James answered the apartment phone,
"Hello?!" he said in angrily into the phone,
"Don't you answer the phone like that, young man! Especially when it is your own mother calling!"
Alex couldn't help but let out a childish giggle and grin. It was always easy to discern who was calling if he heard that high-pitched voice speaking awkwardly loud into the phone and into James' ear. It was Mrs. Cahill. Alex was always able to tell mostly because she had not yet quite understood that you do not need to yell into a cell phone to be heard on the other end of the phone call. Seeing his friend giggle, James rolled his eyes and smiled, finding the situation somewhat entertaining,
"Sorry, Mom,"
"Oh please. I answer my phone the same way. I just love giving my boys a hard time whenever I can,"
James laughed out loud, remembering all the times when they both still lived at home when his mother would answer the phone with an angry bark that would instantly make him and Alex laugh. As time went on when the both of them lived in the apartment, Alex couldn't help but notice that this interesting way of answering the phone must travel through genes since James began to answer the phone in a similar way. This was especially prevalent in the past few weeks since there were many anonymous calls from fans wanting to talk with Alex.
"So what is going on with Alex? I know that all those fans are hoping that he shows up again like a knight in shining armor or something,"
James smirked as he began to speak, "You know, Mom, you picked the best time in the world to call,"
Then the recounting of the night's fantastic events began. The reactions that Alex was able to hear made him laugh so hard that his stomache began to hurt. It must have gone on for an hour until Alex's cell phone sprang to life with vibration and the ringtone of "Intro" by KMFDM. Alex peered at the caller ID to see that it was a phone number that he did not recognize from another state before he answered the phone, "Hello?"
There was a hesitant silence on the other end of the phone call,
"Anybody there?"
"Y-Yeah..." spoke a man's voice in a nervous tone,
"Okay... Now that we have established that there is someone that I am talking to, who is this?" Alex's childish sarcasm shone through his snarky tone,
"I thought you would recognize my voice. After all, you did save my ass from being beaten down by a chair-wielding psycho,"
Alex's eyes suddenly widened, "R-Rey...?"
"Hola, mi amigo," responded Rey in that same nervous tone,
"Holy crap! I owe you so much for what you did, Rey. You didn't have to put your career on the line for me,"
"I'm sorry, what are you talking about, hombre?"
"Teddy... Teddy said that you-"
"I said what are you talking about?" Rey responded in a joking sarcastic tone,
"Ohhhh.... I see," Alex laughed,
"Anyway, I was told to call you to make sure that you will be getting here at least by Thursday. There is a lot for you to do in order to get yourself ready,"
"Ready...?"
"Your first show! Teddy wants to put you on right away, remember?" Rey asked, letting his anxiety show in a slight squeak in his speech,
"That's right! That's right..." Alex's excitement was discernable at first, but was suddenly drowned out by a slight nervous fear that he would be on Smackdown right away.
"No need to worry, papi. It's the other guys in the show who should worry about getting their asses handed to them by you!" Rey giggled a little bit, getting flustered at the fact that he had just referred to Alex as 'papi.'
Alex couldn't help but blush at being called papi, "W-Well, I'll call you wh-when we land on Thursday. I'd like to meet with you right away to go over everything I gotta do,"
"S-Sure! That sounds cool," Rey responded with nervous excitement,
"Alright. I'll t-talk to you later... papi,"
Feeling too embarassed to hear Rey's reaction to the pet name, he quickly hung up the phone and, almost as though he were irritated that he sounded like a complete fool, angrily dug into his forehead with the phone like an angry teenager. What the hell kind of impression was that?! I mean, come on! I called him papi!
James, who had long since ended the phone conversation with his mother, watched Alex's behavior during his phone conversation with Rey. He couldn't help but slowly feel his heart break as he recognized the vibe that Alex was giving off. The way he got as anxious as he did, his nervous stutter, his beat red face... Alex had some sort of attraction to Rey Mysterio. As this thought worked its way through James' mind, his mood became somewhat dampered. He had always hoped that if Alex would show any sort of homosexual behavior, that it would be for James... Not someone else. Wow.... I really didn't see that coming... he thought to himself as he watched his friend irritatingly pick apart all the stupid things he had said in the conversation. Bottling up his heartbreak, he then put on a fake smile and thought to himself, Besides, I wonder if CM Punk or Chris Jericho are gay.
*** 2 DAYS LATER ***
The flight felt three times as long as it should have felt for Alex. The entire time was spent wondering what was going to happen in his life during the next few days and, as they drew closer to their destination in San Diego, worrying about how he looked. This made James grin childishly, but then immediately realize why Alex was so worried about his physical appearance.
Alex was a pretty good looking guy. He had short wavy hair that he had dyed a shade of dark red and usually kept it in spikes. Occasionally, a bang or two would dangle down in front of his forehead and emphasize his "messy but stylish" hairstyle that he had perfected. Alex's eyes were a deep golden brown and his skin was a very attractive smooth olive tone thanks to his Hispanic heritage. He stood at six feet and two inches while weighing a muscular one hundred and ninety pounds. Alex was by no means a bodybuilder in any sense of the word, but he was certainly bigger and more intimidating than most normal guys his age. His physical health was obviously attributed to the many martial arts classes and numerous work out sessions that he attended religously. It wasn't an obsession or anything for Alex, but more a personal goal of his to stay as physically fit as he could so he wouldn't slip into the immense depression that he experienced after everything with his family. On the flight, he wore a black tank top under a stylish white button-down shirt with nicer looking jeans and black dress shoes. Around his neck was a somewhat shiny chain with a charm that hung down to the center of his chest that depicted an evil, smiling skull.
James was also not too bad looking at all. He had dark hair that he usually kept under a black newsie cap and had a pair of lighter green eyes that were shielded by black aviator sunglasses. Alex always made fun of those glasses because he thought his friend looked like a wierd human bug, which would elicit the same angry growl from James. His skin tone was much lighter than Alex's, having been Caucasian, and he stood at five feet eleven inches while weighing one hundred and sixty five pounds. James' body, while nowhere near as build as Alex's, was still well toned as he tried to keep up a steady work out schedule. For the plane ride, he wore a black t-shirt under a comfortable black hooded sweatshirt, stylish jeans, and a pair of gym shoes. James wisely decided to dress down for the fligh since they would be sitting in the same chairs for a few hours as the plane made its way to San Diego.
Some of the thoughts that entered Alex's mind about his lifelong hero had disturbed him to a certain degree. Sure, he had seen Rey Mysterio's shirtless body plenty of times on the television, but it seemed as though seeing it in person had a profound impact on his mind. Alex couldn't help but constantly think of the sensation of Rey's breath brushing across his skin when they talked in the ring, or the feeling of his smooth skin in their handshake. As Alex thought about this, he suddenly noticed a physical reaction in his nether regions. He thanked God that James was asleep as Alex managed to slowly retrieve one of the two pillows under his head without waking him. He instantly took the pillow and held it against his chest and layed back, hiding his ever growing 'physical reaction' with the bottom of the pillow. It worried and surprised him that he would get this excited over thinking about another man, let alone Rey Mysterio. After a few minutes of trying to think of something else that would make it go away, he dismissed the odd thoughts and instead focused on what was to come. Lucky for Alex, his concentration and mental motivation was beginning to be constantly interrupted by the monstros snores that would escape James' sleeping form and echo into the rest of the aircraft. Alex caught a dirty look from an elderly woman who was two rows in front of his row and responded to her rude gesture with an immature shrug of his shoulders. As a joke, that would continue for the rest of the flight, Alex slowly reached his hand over James' face and delivered a painful flick to his friend's nose, then quickly lay back and pretend to sleep as James dazily looked around to see what woke him up.
Rey had been an inward nervous wreck after hearing Alex's voice on the phone the other night, and even moreso as he arrived at the airport to pick him and his friend up. Rey swore in Spanish when he realized that he was a half an hour early, and decided that he would just sit in one of the chairs in the terminal, dealing with the horrible torture of waiting. That was the worst part of the situation for Rey. If he had arrived at the perfect time to pick them up, there wouldn't be any window of oppurtunity for the horrible build up that usually involved thousands of nervous fears of what he might say or do. Alex had truly surprised Rey with how much of an impact he had on the "619 Superstar". He had spent the past few days, now out of the hospital, trying to come up with a good explanation as to why and how a rookie from the audience could cause such behavior. He saved me from being utterly destroyed by Batista... but there have been others who have come to my rescue before and I thankfully don't think about them nearly as often... It could be because he is Hispanic like me... but so was Eddie and I didn't feel this way towards him... The explanation continued to escape Rey's grasp until he remembered the ending moments of the night of Survivor Series when he got in his car to leave Alex and James. He remembered looking down at his crotch after driving for no more than five or ten minutes to see that his pants were stretched in a tent from his manhood. He remembered laughing and blaming it on the bumpy roads and the long span of time since he last had intercourse with his beautiful wife. The possible explanation that crossed Rey's mind as he dwelled on those moments made him numb with confusion and misplaced fear, Am I... attracted to him...? After a few moments of trying to think of an argument that would disprove the idea, he put the whole situation into the back of his mind as he waited for Alex and James to arrive. Rey inwardly prayed that it was not because of that reason. He wasn't by any means homophobic, but it scared him that he could have such thoughts about another man when he was married with two beautiful children.
As the seconds went by as the plane pulled up to the air port, the knot in Alex's stomache got bigger and bigger. The level of anxiety he felt was surprising. It almost felt as though he was the nerdy kid in school that was about to ask the prettiest girl in school to dance. It didn't make sense. We already met once! Why is this so much more nervewrecking?! he thought to himself as James looked on with an expression of mild enjoyment and inner bitterness.
Rey tried to find the reason to remain seated as the doors opened and people started coming out of the plane, but eventually stood up nervously and peered through the crowd to try and find Alex. His heart pounded with anxiety, but also with excitement that he was about to see his Alejandro again.
Then it happened. Through the dozens of people walking into the building from the airplane, through all of the family members that were embracing after not seeing each other for so long, through the irritating airport security, through the obviously dysfunctional family argument, through the loud laughter of happy children, their eyes met. The moment they made eye contact with one another sent a very palpable feeling of desire throughout the both of them. It was almost as if they wanted nothing more than to remain in this moment for all time and lose themselves in each other's eyes. Neither men had ever been this impacted by any romantic relationship in their lives, which scared them slightly. While the both of them tried to think of other reasons to explain this sudden desire, the one thought and desire that was undeniable in their minds was the desire to let all of their stressful problems fall away and stay in this moment forever.
Alex slowly approached Rey with James following close behind in a bitter mood. Suddenly, he realized that James had given him his bag and muttered something about needing to use the bathroom before walking off into the crowd. Alex was so immersed in his connection with Rey that he couldn't accurately percieve anything else going on around him. As James walked quickly to the bathroom, both Rey and Alex slowly approached one another, each step making them all the more immersed in the connection they shared. It felt like it took forever to finally come face to face, but neither of them cared. They stood no more than a foot away from each other and took in the sight before them and savored every sensation, neither of them realizing that the other man was feeling the exact same way.
Rey swallowed hard, finding that his mouth and throat were completely dry, and spoke, "H-Hola, amigo,"
Alex's mouth spread in an awkward grin and responded in kind, "Hey, buddy,"
Rey felt his face blush heavily under his red and black mask, "H-How was the flight?"
"It was p-pretty good... Heh, there was a really annoying woman who kept on shooting me mean looks..."
Rey laughed slightly while Alex tried to find some reason for why he thought that talking about the woman would be a great conversation starter.
James approached the both of them, wearing the mask of someone who was totally alright with what was going on, and gingerly yelled, "SIX! ONE! NINE!"
Rey nearly jumped out of his skin from being startled, then laughed, "Duuuude! Tienes miedo a la mierda de mí, cabrón!"
He may not have spoken Spanish, but James did recognize the last word as 'asshole,' and decided to screw around with the smaller man a little bit, bringing him into a bear hug, "Awww! That's such a sweet thing of you to say! I think he likes me, Alex!" James felt a small chunk of the bitterness he felt reveal itself in his tone, but he was more focused on joking with the WWE Superstar.
Alex laughed as Rey jokingly wrapped his arms around James' stomache and lifted him off of his feet, squeezing about twice as hard as James had which elicited a painful groan from his throat. Rey giggled as he continued the joke, "Te eché de menos baby!"
The humor continued for a few more minutes before they made their way out of the airport and over to Rey's car. As they walked, they talked about everything that had happened in the past few days and the stresses involved. Neither Rey nor Alex could resist grinning sheepishly anytime they said anything to one another, and it began to annoy James. As they approached the nice sports car, Rey spoke, "Alright, here's the situation. You guys already have a hotel suite reserved for you at the hotel down the street from the arena. If its alright with you, cabrón," he spoke to James, finding a funny pet name for him, "do you think I could drop you off at the room so you could take care of unpacking while I kidnap your amigo? I gotta get him to the arena right away,"
James raised a brow at his new pet name, then muttered something under his breath before dramatically sighing and agreeing to the plan. This plan made Alex a little nervous: they would be alone together in a car. He immediately pushed the thought from his mind as Rey and James joked before they all got into the car. The two suitcases were laid in the open seat in the back next to James as the car pulled out of the parking lot and in the direction of the hotel.
The car ride was a little bit more awkward than they thought it would be. The three men pretty much just made idle witless conversation about very general topics such as "that local sports team" or the weather. The car pulled up to the hotel and James climbed out of the vehicle with both his and Alex's luggage. Alex spoke through the open window, "Thanks, dude. You're my hero,"
"Yeah, yeah. Just get back here in one piece sometime soon. I might die of boredom,"
"Heh. I'll do the best I can,"
James gave a nice smirk before entering the higher quality hotel and the car pulled out of the hotel parking lot and back onto the street.
The anxiety in the air between the two men left in the car was thick enough to cut with a knife until Rey finally spoke up,
"S-So, um, Batista's been on a bit of a rampage lately,"
Alex's heart went into his throat, "I figured he would..."
"You really caught him off guard with how you so easily brought him down,"
"You mean how we so easily brought him down, right?"
Rey grinned under his mask, "We did kick his ass," he then laughed,
"Hell yeah! And we'll do it again if we have to!"
The car ride did not last more than ten minutes as the hotel is only a block or two from the arena where Smackdown was to be held at. The huge structure intimidated Alex slightly from inside the car as he thought about all of the people that would be watching from the thousands of seats. Rey pulled the car into the back area of the arena where the crew and superstars would go to enter into the building and get to where they needed to go, and was somewhat surprised to see that the crew was still setting up everything. The men and women who wore all black had been walking back and forth through the doorway while bringing something from the large truck that was parked in front of the door, the back door all the way open. All sorts of lighting and sound equipment filled the truck and seemed endless as the crew slowly but surely emptied the vehicle. After Rey parked the car near the truck, they both exited the vehicle and made their way through the entrance. As they walked, Rey introduced Alex to the crew members that they would pass, making Alex dizzy with all of the names he had to remember. The both of them walked through a set of double doors and came face to face with the ring and stage, now dark since the power was not activated yet.
Alex was stunned to see that the arena seemed to be three times as large from the inside as he saw all of the empty seats. He marveled at how massive the arena was, then became visually fixated on the ring. There, he would make his debut as a WWE Superstar and give the people just what they wanted. The sight left Alex speechless and slightly emotional as he recognized that his dream was really coming true. Rey smiled as he saw Alex's facial reaction, finding himself entranced with everything about the newcomer. When he saw a small tear fall out of Alex's left eye, his smile faded, "Is everything alright?" he placed a hand on Alex's shoulder without even realizing it,
"Yeah... Yeah, everything's fine. Its just," Alex took a heavy breath before speaking again, "Just family stuff... Its no big deal. Heh."
Rey turned Alex's face so they would look into each other's eyes once again, "I know we pretty much just met, but I know when people aren't telling the truth, amigo,"
Alex felt touched by how much Rey was truly worried about how he was feeling, and he spoke after clearing his throat nervously, "I, uh... I just really wished that my brother and sister could have watched me finally make it..."
Rey's heart trembled when he realized that it was something very emotionally connected for Alex, and, with a caring tone, spoke, "You know, if you ever need somebody to talk to about anything, you can talk to me. No matter what,"
"Thanks, Rey. I'm fine, just a little speechless," Alex spoke with true feeling behind the words, realizing after he spoke that the 'speechless' part of the sentence came out as though he was speechless because of his feelings for Rey, and he instantly flustered.
Rey grinned like a nervous schoolgirl for a second before quickly diverting his attention back to the ring, "S-So, uh, yeah. This is where all the magic happens," he began to walk down the concrete pathway to the ring with Alex following close behind.
Alex climbed into the ring by sliding himself under the bottom rope and getting a true view of the arena. It was absolutely amazing. He was about to tell Rey how incredible he felt when the sound of the door they had just previously entered from being kicked open cause Alex to turn his head. Rey had done the same and the both of them felt the adrenaline start to slowly go into effect when they saw Chris Jericho in the doorway, wearing his usual cocky smile and carrying his usual asshole attitude.
"What the hell do you want, Jericho?" Rey demanded with an angry tone,
Chris's smirk widened and he spoke with an evil tone, "I just wanted to give our new blood a nice welcome wagon, shortie! No harm in that right?" Before Alex or Rey could respond, Chris continued, "Wait, actually there is."
There were a few footsteps heard from behind Chris and, from behind the unwanted welcome wagon, walked Batista. His rage was more than identifiable by his horrible expression and evil grin on his face. Rey immediately climbed into the ring and stood next to Alex as the two men sauntered their way into the arena and approached the ring.
Rey and Alex glanced at each other for a moment before returning their gaze to the two men and getting themselves in a fighting stance as they realized that their slow saunter turned into an all out angry sprint. Alex thought to himself, Bring it, assholes! It's gonna take more than these two idiots to take us down!
Author's Note: How are you guys liking it so far? Please review and let me know how its going.
