Drying, damp, towel off and slung to the floor.
Seth paused in folding tee shirts, separating dirty clothing from clean in his luggage, gave Roman a concerned look.
'Don't do it, man.'
'I'm going to, I HAVE to, I should've already.'
'Maybe...maybe it'd be best for you to forget him.'
'That's something I won't even try.'
'You may not get him back.'
'Or I might, I have to give it a go to find out.'
'Well if you don't, I'll still...WE'LL still be here for you.'
'Your boyfriend won't. He's pissed at me after he caught us under the ring together.'
'That's his misjudgment, seeing us both on our knees.'
'YOU were on your knees, I was on all fours. Great reason for him to spazz out.'
'He's too obsessive and possessive, overprotective of me, since we were teens.'
'Crazy about you. I won't blame him, he has a good man.'
'And I have a mad one, mad as anger, mad as psychotic.'
'You're both screwed up and I'm touching the border.'
'Hey, don't let Zeb hear you say that!'
Roman laughed along with Seth, accepted the shoulder rub, hair tousle, pats on the back and returned them, gently with a grin.
Their group's shell was cracking, paint chips flaking off.
Yet they were still strong, despite Bray's hateful butting in.
Roman touched his own hair, felt it dry and inhaled.
Spine straight, gaze strong, heart not so much.
The shaved and bony face, face altered and hard to look upon, this changed face different and terrible, not the loveable cheery insane one he'd grown fond of.
Crouched at the partly tied boots, received a startled stare, when he dumped his mass of mane in Rose's lap.
'Here, have fun. Braid it like you used to, I won't complain or stop you.'
Adam hopped up from the bench, tumbling Roman over. 'What ARE you doing, sir?!'
'I'm NOT sir! I'm your BOYFRIEND, your Cupcake! I remember who you really are and you're NOT this...whatever this is!'
'I don't understand-'
'Yeah you DON'T! Justin told me about you, about Ray, that whenever he was in a traumatic situation he'd turn into an alter ego, a multiple personality to deal with the stress. Leo happened to be his favorite.' Roman glared and sniffled, bit his lip while thinking. 'My favorite too. And the only time Ray didn't change over was when Justin ran away after his father was killed by poachers. Ray knew...Leo knew his adopted mother couldn't be alone then, she needed him so he stayed normal and watched over her for years.'
'Sir, I honestly have no idea-'
'I'm CUPCAKE!' Roman yelled, a bull charge bellow, shook Adam's shoulders roughly. 'I didn't forget you but you forgot me. I've been whoring myself, letting Justin touch me to learn more about your younger days. I KNOW those sheep trampling you messed you up but dammit, there's bigger reason you turned into this disgrace. Something horrible, damaging. I want to fix things, I want Leo back, you're IN there, I can sense you.'
'' I can't sit here and listen to nonsense and stories, I have a party to go to.'
'You're standing not sitting. And Leo never went to parties, he went to amusement parks, zoos, any place that had animals. Dammit, Ray, Leo, come back, turn back, be yourself again. You're better and more deserving than this.'
Adam shoved and stomped past Roman, out of his grasp, boots barely tied.
A giant flying leap halted at the exit, blocked it, full shadow, tall.
'You changed into this personality, with no explanation but you were still tweeting as Leo weeks after. Listen to me, you can be yourself again, be right again. And I'll help you, please. I will.'
The door thumped the back of his neck during exit. Roman slid down, sat on his heels and hid his face, both hands coverage.
Vision a blur, head spinning.
The cannon fire boom of a door slam captured Seth's attention as much as the bitter given-up face did.
'You were right. I HATE you were right.'
'Hey, hey, I'm so-'
'Don't mourn for my loss. Sorry is no help.'
'But I AM! I feel bad about the shit that your life became.'
'My other side.'
'Yeah.'
It shocked neither, it was longed for, the small touch of lips, arms entwined.
Hair mixed, stirred, tangled together, lookalike hair excluding the bleached streak.
'Your boyfriend is gonna hate me more.'
Bottom lip bit and tugged on by white teeth, fingers finding skin under cloth layers.
'He's having karaoke night with Podium Jerk's favorite meal.'
'Dean is FRIENDS with Heath?!' Roman found this more surprising than the makeout session he was enjoying with his former tag belt holder.
'Yeah everyone's gone weird this year. Cesaro's bonking a human Goat, a ballroom dancer's smitten with curry, and my sister-' Seth grinned sarcastically. 'Has a title she never defends and she gets time off, not for injury or illness but so she can seduce my half brother back to WWE.'
'Well, if anyone's going to be this generation's sluts, it's Punk and April.'
'And they can make little skank babies.'
'Yeah.' Roman laughed, a cold, hate filled laugh, feeling horribly nauseated, aching inside and using sour insults to strike back.
It didn't ease his pain.
Nor did the mouth, deep down and pleasant in his lap, pulling on him, above and beneath, draining him dry.
They were caught once again and this time Dean remained silent, only shrugged, swayed drunken towards them, sort of fell on Roman and joined in, claiming Samoan testicles for his lips before traveling to Seth.
The threeway calmed each of them, differently.
Calm while suffering.
Beth examined the cobwebs, the candles, the skull collection while waiting for Christian's medical checkup to finish.
No ordinary one, he was being looked over by Kane, not in an office but into the arena basement.
The larger man had apparently created a way for men to be able to be the mothers, carry babies, give birth.
The WWE had become a VERY odd place since she'd retired.
It was their tag team plan, both to be pregnant, with baby Edges, using his surprise to them sperm he'd had frozen and saved from his early twenties.
Beth watched a tiny spider climb the wall in front of her.
Everyone had secrets.
Some wonderful, she thought, smiling and feeling her stomach.
Others bad.
The hot air balloon was a glorious sight, massive and red white and blue striped, in a zigzag diagonal pattern.
Picnic packed, another necessities prepared.
'Ready to go?' Wade swatted at the annoying music notes darting around his face, trying to rob him of his sunglasses.
'Yeah! I'm...uff...oogh...'
A tremendous pretending to be perturbed while actually quite amused huff of a sigh pushed from Wade's mouth as he shoved his husband's upturned in jeans bottom and flailing legs up and over, into the balloon basket with a plop.
'Hey I could make it without help!'
'Not until you lose some of that flab, Clementine!'
A lovely and charming dimwitted scowl and tongue stuck out, taunting him.
'One day I'm going to steal your gavel, Banoobsy.'
'Only call me that when we're around deaf people.'
'I LIKE calling you Banoobsy!'
'Call me something more honest, like your superior, great leader, perfect master, unbelievably gorgeous, handsome, attractive, the toughest and best, strongest unbeatable fighter, true champion, intelligent beyond words, and as wise in speech as I am great in bed.'
Heath raised his eyebrows and chuckled, ticklish when the music notes dove into his hair.
'I'll call you Fart Face instead.'
