Zack frowns, glancing around yet another locker room. "Dammit, how many rooms are in this arena?" he mumbles to himself, still not seeing the muddy blond hair he's looking for in the sea of superstars. "C'mon, bro, where are you hiding at?" He searches for only a few minutes longer before coming upon Dolph's bag abandoned in the main locker room. He nudges it with his toe a time or two before sighing, leaning over to pick it up. Snags Heath, who is wandering around, and convinces him to drive him back to the hotel.
After ten minutes spent listening to Heath sing to both songs that came on the radio, Zack is relieved to see the hotel, quickly getting out of the car. Leaning back in, he grins at Heath. "Thanks, bro, I owe you one."
"Damn straight, man," Heath drawls. "See ya 'round."
As Zack heads inside, he hesitates at the door and watches as Heath drives back in the direction of the arena to watch the rest of Night of Champions with Wade. Releasing a breath, he squares his shoulders and makes his way inside, listening to the door shut solidly behind him. Adjusting his grip on his and Dolph's bags, he makes his way towards the bar, suspecting he knows where Dolph had opted to drown his sorrows. Dropping the bags on either side of the nearest stool, he slips up onto it and glances over at the brown drink in Dolph's hand, motioning to the bartender. "You have Budlight Limes?"
The bartender nods, reaching over and grabbing the bottle before sliding it towards Zack. He sips from it before nudging Dolph, smirking faintly as their eyes lock. "Hey, kid."
"Hey, bro." Zack reaches over and rubs his neck. "You ok?"
"No," Dolph says decidedly, taking another long drink from his glass.
Zack nods, draining a good half of his budlight before sliding off of his stool. Pressing a hand to Dolph's shoulder, he leans in. "I'll be right back." He catches the bartender's eye and shakes his head subtly before slipping into the main lobby, dialing. Thankfully it's early enough that Pizza Hut is still delivering, so he places an order for a meat lover's pizza with breadsticks and extra marinara sauce before returning to the bar.
Dolph is looking blurrily down at the liquid in his glass, swirling it around blankly. "Hey, gimme another-" he's just ordered, when Zack shakes his head, sitting down next to Dolph once more and putting his hand over the glass, lowering it to the bar. "Kid, what-?"
He hums and lays a $20 on the bar, checking with the bartender. When he nods that that's enough, Zack removes his hand from the glass. "Finish up, bro, then we're gonna go up to the room and relax for awhile."
Dolph groans and stares at him incredulously before drinking the rest down sluggishly. "Fine, Mom," he huffs. As soon as he puts it down, Zack gets up and grabs the bags, helping Dolph to get to his feet and leading him to the elevators. They're silent on the way up and as Zack eases him onto the bed. Dolph doesn't seem too drunk, but he's clearly sore from the match, and depressed over the loss, and the alcohol clearly hadn't helped.
"You want a shower?" Dolph shakes his head, closing his eyes and leaning into Zack's touch as he brushes his fingers through Dolph's hair once more before checking the clock. Finding that there's still plenty of time before the pizza comes, he leaves his wallet next to Dolph just in case and heads for the bathroom, taking a nice, long shower. After washing out his hair, and soaking under the pelting water for a few more minutes, he shuts the water off and wraps up in a towel, breathing over the fogged up window.
He hears a knock at the door a minute later and peeps the bathroom door open, watching as Dolph walks unsteadily towards it and answers, Zack's wallet absently held in his hand. He chuckles to himself, relieved when Dolph rolls with it, pays the guy and takes the boxes before heading back inside. "Zack?"
"Yeah?" he asks, pushing the door open.
"You ordered pizza?"
"Yeah, bro. You hungry?"
"I guess," Dolph sighs, trudging back over to the bed and settling down with the boxes resting in front of him. Zack bites his tongue at how grease is going to get all over the sheets and joins him, pulling on some shorts and grabbing the paper plates he'd started bringing for nights like tonight where neither of them feel like eating out.
Handing over one of the plates, Zack starts to serve himself before realizing that Dolph's not rushing for any of the food, despite how enticing it smells. He frowns and looks up, finding that Dolph's staring ahead blankly. "Hey, bro, come on. You gotta eat something," he says softly. "Don't make me feed you."
Blue eyes now fixed on him, Dolph releases a breath. "Would you?"
Zack pauses and slowly puts his own plate down, grabbing one of the breadsticks and dipping it in the nearest container of marinara sauce. "Here." He waits patiently until Dolph takes a bite, watching him. "Is it good?"
Dolph's nod is reassuring, that bite enough to wake something up in him as he reaches finally for the box of pizza, piling a couple slices onto his plate. Zack smiles and lays the breadstick down over the pizza, pushing the marinara sauce towards Dolph before finishing serving himself.
They eat in silence for awhile, Zack mumbling appreciatively over the warm food, before he realizes that Dolph is especially quiet so he looks up to check on him. "Bro?" he asks softly, not that surprised to find Dolph had fallen asleep mid-bite. He chuckles, reaching out and grabbing the breadstick from his slack fingers, putting it down on the plate and moving the box aside so he can shift Dolph until he's laying more comfortably. Finding some napkins left behind from some other restaurant they'd been at earlier in the day, he pours some water over it and wipes Dolph's fingers off. "G'night, bro," he says softly, kissing him quietly before finishing his own food and putting the rest of the pizza into the fridge.
Turning the lights off and sinking down next to Dolph, he wraps an arm around him and holds him close. "You'll win it back, you'll see." He kisses the back of Dolph's neck before closing his eyes and falling asleep himself.
