"The only other real man left on 205 Live is Hideo Itami?" Drew Gulak's voice, dry but teasing, breaks into Ariya Daivari's thoughts as he leaves the room where he'd been interviewed. "I'm not sure if I should be offended or what."

Ariya turns and smirks, peering over his glasses at him. "Well, excuse me, I figured you were so busy obsessing over how to end Brian Kendrick's career that you wouldn't notice anything I had to say, much less care." He leans closer to Drew as he walks up to him in the hallway. "I've seen more of Jack Gallagher than you since my return anyway." He runs a hand down Drew's arm and squeezes his fingers. "Started to get curious why that is, really. Not that I mind Jack, granted, but still. He's not you."

Drew sighs and runs his free hand through his hair, absentmindedly squeezing Ariya's hand back. "I don't know, I just didn't want to distract you, I guess. Getting your footing back after an injury, especially something as serious as what you went through, it's not easy. We both know that." He looks up at him with a vague smile. "I'm very glad to see you're back to full-strength though." He lifts their hands and watches as Ariya flexes his fingers, remembering the last time they'd seen each other, how he couldn't grip anything. The terror both of them had felt in that moment, and what it could've meant for Ariya's future. "Forgive me?"

"I guess." Ariya lets go of Drew and raises his hand, Drew staring at him for a minute before it dawns on him and they highfive, lowfive, and then makes their hands into fists, motioning like they're operating a train and chanting, "Choo choo!", Ariya laughing when Drew echoes him, a wistful grin on his face. "Those were the days, huh?"

"Yeah." Drew sighs. "He was such an asshole."

"Definitely." Ariya glances over at him. "I miss him."

"Me too." They grin at each other, shuffling their feet for a few seconds, remembering the better times of the Zo Train.

"I have an idea," Ariya says suddenly and Drew looks up at him curiously. "You can make all of this up to me by spending Christmas with me at my place. I don't want to hear anything about Kendrick the entire holiday, and we're just going to watch stupid movies, eat a ridiculous amount of food, and maybe play pranks on carolers. Alright?"

Drew hesitates and Ariya points at him warningly as he waits for an answer. He then holds his hands up, nodding. "Fine. I'll be honored to spend Christmas with you. As for Brian Kendrick- who? Once I beat him next week, I'm done with all of that stupidity."

"Great. See you then." Ariya smirks at him, oozing calm confidence as he walks past Drew, down the hallway to see if he can figure out where Itami may have gone to follow up on their earlier conversation.

"Hey, Ariya, wait a second!" Drew calls after him, walking quickly to catch up with him, and Ariya pauses, turning in time for Drew to cup his face and rasp his thumbs over his facial hair. "I really have missed you," he murmurs, leaning in and kissing him softly.

Ariya exhales, gripping Drew's arms, a small smile spreading across his face as he's reminded of the main thing he'd had to leave behind when he was injured. "I missed you too," he responds, resting his forehead against Drew's.

Drew kisses him again, eyes bright with, Ariya thinks, hope. "I'm really looking forward to spending Christmas with you."

Ariya's eyes gleam as he nods at him. "It'll be great to catch up," he agrees. "And hey, maybe we can even talk to each other sometimes at arenas, who knows. Get really wild with things."

Drew laughs a little and shrugs. "Yeah, anything's possible. 'Tis the season, huh?"

"Yeah, it's a pretty good time to feel like anything's possible," he says softly, leaning in and kissing Drew. "Though," he says, making a face, "I have absolutely no idea what to ask Santa for now."

Drew laughs and wraps an arm around him, walking with him down the hall. "Well, I guess since I just ruined that for you, I suppose I'll just have to help you think of a last minute plan B."

"Definitely the right thing to do to work towards a better 205 Live," Ariya agrees, feeling pleasantly warm everywhere that Drew is touching him. Considering how things were seeming only a couple of months ago, still so touch and go with his career and health while he struggled to rehab his neck enough to avoid surgery and get cleared, Christmas looks like it's going to be a really happy holiday, unlike what he was expecting.

He grins and rests his head on Drew's shoulder for a moment, the two of them pausing to glance in at catering and its massive, brightly lit Christmas tree before continuing on, happy just to be together again.