Ariya lounges backstage, watching the monitor broadcasting the match going on in the ring currently, but listening to the Best of 205 Live show airing on the network. Next to him, Drew is sitting, fiddling with his wrist tape and looking a little sore and a lot cranky. "Are we going to leave soon?" he asks, grumbling under his breath as the tape tangles all the more at his impatient tugging.
Ariya distractedly reaches over, works his fingernails under the tape and loosens it, easily coiling it off of Drew's wrist as he gapes. "Do you wanna leave soon?"
"Yes," he says insistently, and Ariya looks over at him with a smirk. "Come on, you can't really be interested in any of this."
"Ah, I dunno," he says cheerfully. "It's a little fun to look back at the year that was. See old friends, remember good times." He stares at Hideo Itami from the fatal four way back in January and, for a brief moment, wonders how he's doing, wherever he might be right now, before shrugging his shoulders and turning his focus back onto Drew. "'Sides, Jack's in the ring. That doesn't interest you in the slightest?"
"Nope," Drew says stubbornly and Ariya hums, running his fingers over the residue still sticking to Drew's wrists and hands. They sit in silence for a few more moments until Jack's match ends, almost at the same time as the replay of the fatal four way. "Now?" he demands and Ariya's grin grows.
"Yes, fine, now," he says, and Drew exhales like he's been holding all of the oxygen in the room until Ariya said the magic words, up and out of the room like he hadn't just wrestled a couple hours earlier.
By the time Ariya catches up with him, he's dressed, his luggage sorted, and Ariya's things are waiting near Drew's. "Come on, let's get out of here," he insists, and Ariya shrugs, not sure what the big hurry is as he lazily follows Drew out to the rental car.
He gets some inkling of an idea, however, when Drew takes a turn away from their hotel and into the downtown area. It's bitterly cold, Ariya's shivering, which he always despises, and he shakes his head warningly. "Drew..."
"Just a few more minutes," Gulak says and Ariya groans, falling silent when the car coasts into a parking spot. "C'mon, trust me?"
"You know I do," Ariya says, exasperated. "But..." His words fail him when Drew reaches over and lightly curls his fingers around Ariya's, lifting them and lightly kissing his knuckles. "Oh, dammit, you do not play fair, Gulak."
"Never have, never will," he grins. "C'mon." Ariya sighs but follows him out of the car and into the park, Drew looking around in awe at the trees decorated with soft, twinkling lights. He exhales and looks back, reaching out for Ariya's hand. "Please?"
Ariya rolls his eyes but meets him half way, smoothly taking his hand and allowing himself to be led along the path, listening to Drew react softly to certain sets of decorations. "It's kind of amazing, huh?" he asks. "All of this work, and it's so worth it when you see it all put together like this."
"I guess," Ariya says, only swayed a little by it all while seeing it through Drew's eyes. Otherwise, all he feels is like he's about to freeze to the spot while they stand there and take it all in. He knows he's not exaggerating when he shivers hard enough to lose hold of Drew, who turns and looks at him in concern.
"Hey, c'mere." He wraps an arm snugly around Ariya and kisses the top of his head. "Geez, man, I'd have thought you being from Minneapolis, you could take the cold better than this," he jokes.
Ariya scoffs and leans into his warmth. "Yeah, right," he grumbles, his lips trembling enough to make speech difficult. "Listen, as nice as this is, what do you say we go back to our hotel room, where it's warm and quiet, and we can enjoy all the festivities we want there? Hmm?"
Drew's eyes glint as he smirks. "Well, when you put it that way..." He keeps an arm around Ariya, doing his best to keep him warm, as they walk side by side back to the car, both equally eager to leave all of a sudden.