Ricardo isn't even sure why it matters so much, just something to pass the time, he thinks, but the bus is kinda cool looking, with roses sketched into its side and loud music coming from inside. Ricardo doesn't get to do much anymore since his time as Alberto's ring announcer had come to an end, and he thinks perhaps if he'd been allowed onto the bus, he could at least have some fun, but Adam Rose seems to be going out of his way to make it impossible one way or another. Locks, parking it in different places, anything and everything...
So he doesn't have much hope when he turns the corner into the parking lot and finds it sitting there, empty and abandoned yet again. He sighs, dejected, and rests a hand on its side, making his way slowly to the door. He's amazed to find it unlocked, almost impossibly easy to just walk in. He gapes around, awed by the lights, the music, everything that he's only briefly experienced before getting hauled away, knocked to the floor of the bus.
Adam Rose sneers down at him, digging his boot in Ricardo's chest as he pins him down to the matted carpet. "You can go back and tell your boss that someone who thinks I'm going to react positively to venal type coercion does nothing but annoy me further. Tell him he tries it again and I'll gladly show both of you just how protective I am of my parties. Alright?"
"But- but-" Ricardo only gets a moment or two longer to gawk at the panoply spread out before him before Adam gets ahold of his tuxedo collar and slings him around, unceremoniously throwing him clear out of the bus.
He stumbles, hard, and crashes face first into the opposite wall, groaning softly.
His memories waver and darken before sharpening into something almost dream-like, Alberto kneeling near the ring they tend to practice the most in, a faint smirk on his face. "If you keep inviting random cabrones off the street, this will start to feel more like a gymkhana than an actual wrestling practice session."
The world darkens, then solidifies. "A what? El Patron?" he asks, lips feeling numb and oddly swollen.
"Ah," Alberto says with that strange haughty kind of pity only he was capable of. "I suppose you didn't experience such things in your childhood, hmm?"
"No, El Patron," he says quietly, relieved when Alberto stands and holds a hand out to help him stand as well. "What is it?"
"Just a sports meet,' Alberto says, immediately losing interest in the topic. "Don't worry about it."
"Alright, El Patron," he says, turning his attention to the saguaro and other plants Alberto has always kept in random places around his house. Ambiance, he had called it once upon a time when he had first taken Ricardo on a tour of the house, before he'd moved in permanently. "Are we to begin training then?"
Alberto sounds almost fond as he responds. "Yes, Ricardo, but first you have to wake up."
Ricardo sits up, choking and gasping on thin air, and blinks hard upon finding Alberto kneeling next to him, a worried look on his face. "El Patron?"
"Ricardo!" he exclaims, rubbing slow circles in Ricardo's thigh. "Are you alright? I was coming out to get something from my car and there you were, unconscious on the ground. Who did this?"
Riicardo blinks sluggishly and reaches out for his former employer, grimacing when Alberto tugs him upright. "Ow. Um. Adam Rose caught me trying to get onto his party bus again," he sighs, morose. "I think he thinks you're trying to force your way onto the party through me or something." His memories of everything Adam had said are scattered, vague, but he remembers that much.
Alberto rolls his eyes. "As if such a pathetic excuse for a party would be in my interest." He pauses, seeing the look on Ricardo's face, and rests a hand on his back, guiding him back towards the arena. "Come, mi valiente, the show is already begun."
A week passes and Ricardo tries to put the party bus behind him, not wanting a repeat of this past Monday, so going to Raw is kind of a grim endeavor. He walks by the bus on his way through the parking lot and barely dares to chance a glance at it before he resumes his interviewing duties, trying to make himself useful backstage.
He's just interviewed Los Matadores when there's a soft knock on the door of the locker room he'd been assigned to for these. "Come in," he calls, frowning. Uncertain who would bother knocking instead of just coming in.
He gets something of an answer when Alberto enters, casting a quick glance around before reaching out for him. "Ricardo, come with me," he says, quirking his fingers until Ricardo's fingers slip in between his.
"Wh- where are we going?" Ricardo wonders as Alberto walks resolutely through the halls of the arena.
"You'll see," he hums with a faint laugh, finally pushing through the doors to the parking lot. "Come, come." Even when Ricardo hesitates, Alberto continues encouraging him along until finally they arrive at the party bus.
"El Patron, I don't think-" Ricardo mumbles, glancing from the bus to his significant other before looking back down at his feet.
Alberto smiles at him, dropping his hand, before walking up the steps to the bus door and knocking confidently.
Adam Rose himself answers and they stare at each other for a long, tense moment before Adam looks over his shoulder at Ricardo. "Well, are ya comin' in or not?"
Ricardo's jaw drops. "H- huh?"
"You heard me," Adam responds before turning and heading back to the party.
Alberto rolls his eyes, then smiles down at Ricardo. "Well? Go ahead, mi valiente. The whole party is waiting for you."
Ricardo still just gapes inside before turning and throwing his arms around Alberto. "Thank you," he murmurs. "Te amo."
Alberto's chuckle is as warm and all-encompassing as his touch when he hugs Ricardo back. "Te amo, mii valiente. Now go!" He gives him a gentle push inside and winks when Ricardo looks back at him, alit in the strobe lights and already moving subtly to the music.
It's wild and loud and there's always someone moving or doing something. It's impossible how good it makes Ricardo feel, to finally be here, experiencing the party bus himself and at least for a little bit, distracting him from anything bad.
He laughs and dances a little harder, enjoying the current music thrumming through his body. He knows he'll be feeling this in the morning, but that's fine. He's wanted this for so long, now that it's here, he's not going to squander it, especially considering Alberto went to all this trouble.
He definitely owes the man, but that's a matter for tomorrow. For now, he resolves to make this one of the best nights of his life.