Sometimes, Wade thinks, his face pressed into the palms of his hands, he can understand why O'Neil has issues teaming with Heath. Like how Heath sounds like a feeble puppy whenever he tries to bark like Titus. "Dammit, Slater," Wade sighs, peeking through his finger in some embarrassment for his significant other.

He's relieved when the match finally begins, except that Heath taunts by trying the bark again, making things even worse... until they lose. "Of course," Wade exhales, shaking his head. "Dammit."

He stares down at Boodah, who looks confused and fretful as he examines the TV. "Do you think you could teach your owner how to bark properly, boy?" he wonders, reaching out and idly scritching Boodah between the eyes as the dog flops close to him and pants happily. "Not that it would help his win-loss record, I suppose, but yet... hm."

Boodah lays his head against Wade's lap and whines until fingers start stroking through his fur, searching dark eyes on Wade's face even as the dog relaxes against him, panting happily at being petted.

They're still sitting like this when Wade's phone goes off. He absentmindedly grabs it with his free hand, answering it automatically. "Hello."

Heath's exhale of a sigh greets him and he fights not to laugh. "Well, let me have it," he grouses, running his hand through his hair.

"Now why would I go and do a thing like that?" Wade wonders, just to continue, "Boodah and I were looking into good dog schools for you, teach you how to bark appropriately and everything."

"Oh shut up," Heath laughs, which is a step in the right direction for Wade. "I bark fine."

"A newborn puppy's bark is more menacing than yours," Wade scoffs. "Didn't Titus tell you not to do that?"

"Oh c'mon, a lot of the things he says he don't mean!" Heath protests. "If I listened to everythin' he told me not to do, I wouldn't do a damn thing!" Wade stays quiet for a long moment and Heath grunts. "Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything," he says, smirking as he looks down at Boodah.

"Exactly! Your silences are deafenin' sometimes!"

Wade exhales a laugh and then sighs. "Ginger, he's your partner. You need to communicate and... all of that nonsense or this partnership of yours is never going to work. You know that."

Heath grunts. "Yes, yes, I know that. I just... ugh, I want to have fun and he's just a big ol' non-fun stick in the mud all'a the time."

"Maybe just pick your battles," Wade suggests. "And if he doesn't want you to do something, at least try to respect that."

"I guess," he mumbles churishly, so out of the norm for him that Wade has to chuckle. "Don't laugh at me."

His pout is obvious but Wade knows he's really uncertain about all of this so he refrains. "Look, you were a decent partner to Gabriel for awhile, and you were fine in Nexus and the Corre... Even made a somewhat decent leader in 3MB. Just, go back to that. Alright?"

"Yeah, we saw where that got me," he grouses. "But fine, I'll try. I will."

Wade smiles. "See, it's not that hard. For now, just get some sleep and try not to obsess over it. Things will work out."

"Alright. I know they will, somehow." Heath exhales. "G'night, Brit. I love you."

"Love you too, you ridiculous ginger. Good night." Wade hangs up and eyes Boodah. "He's not going to stop, is he?" Boodah's whimper makes him chuckle as he pets down the dog's nose and turns back to the TV.