Fuck Sasha, fuck Bayley, and fuck them both fucking hard. Under no circumstances had Tamina pictured herself ending what was meant to be a normal day at work pacing back and forth in the empty locker room with one arm in a sling, hitting her head off the walls in frustration, and trying to prolong the inevitable. It felt fake - it felt like a weird, overly-sanitised, twisted, screwed up bad dream. This sucked.
She had known about Bayley's place at ringside, obviously she had, but what Tamina previously hadn't accounted for was just how goddamn distracting she was. Within the first gruelling ten minutes, Tamina had had her opponent right where she wanted her, held up against the corner of the ring. Sasha, as little as she wanted to admit it, wasn't to blame - she had botched it herself Of anything to fuck up in the ring, Tamina thought, this shouldn't have been it. It was so simple it was practically stupid - and if it's stupid and it works it isn't stupid. Except obviously, this sure as shit hadn't worked, so that definitely made it stupid.
An open fist that had been headed for Sasha's face missed its mark and made hard contact with the ring post, Tamina thrown off balance by Bayley and her bullshit. How the hell had she been performing in stadiums a quarter of her life and one person's yelling somehow managed to throw her off this time? She guessed that it was the atmosphere; her words rattled around in the near-empty room, impossible to ignore. Normally she could tune it all out, all into the same nondescript background monotone.
In the relative quiet, she was genuinely surprised that nobody had heard the 'oh shit something definitely ain't right here' crack as flesh made hard contact with steel. Tamina, however, definitely fucking heard it, and after suppressing her first gut reaction of crying out in pain, her second response was to absolutely not, on pain of death, show that she was hurting. She had spent a moment prone where she'd been kneeling, trying to assess the damage as quickly as she could; the official came to check on her, she brushed him off. She knew it sucked, but she could practically see the scene playing out in front of her of what would happen if she let slip; referee clocks that she's fucked her hand up worse than she'd been letting on, no contest declared, goodbye title shot, Bayley retains championship, back to perpetual irrelevancy for Tamina. Fucking fantastic. She couldn't have that.
That wasn't what she'd worked for. Not after ten years of trying to shove her way into the spotlight, get some kind of decent shot like this. She wasn't willing to let that dream die, definitely not here and now. So she did it. Pinned Sasha, despite her current predicament of a hand that she could barely move. The injury had lit a fire somewhere inside her - or it would maybe be more accurate to say it had lit a fire under her ass. One thing on her mind - make it through this fucking match.
As the bell chimed and her music started to play, all she could hear was the sound of her own blood rushing through her veins behind her ears, and she felt slightly like she was in a dream. Now that she didn't have anything more to fight for, the pain that had previously been subdued by her desperation and adrenaline was putting in a strong appearance, and as it did, all she could think was what she wouldn't have given there and then to kick the shit out of Bayley. She watched the alleged 'best friends' scream seven shades of shit at each other for the camera's benefit as she left the arena practically unnoticed after a few moments of walking around the ring and posturing, ignoring the catfight going on behind her, desperate for five minutes alone to collect her thoughts.
Then she got backstage again and, just like it always did, real life kicked in. Damn, her body was really starting to hate her after the years of fairly constant abuse. But this was new - different and horrendous. When she actually looked at her hand, a gross, pregnant-looking swollen lump had come about just under her knuckles; the entire area of her hand had bruised to a dark, disgusting purple where it wasn't mottled red, and the pain felt something like somebody was shoving blades down between her fingers and into her wrist. The medic backstage had cornered her while she walked back to the locker room, having clocked the way she was awkwardly holding her arm, trying as hard as she could to keep it still as even the slight movement of her wrist as she walked was giving her hell. They had barely had to look at it twice before telling her that it was more than likely broken.
So that was just absolutely peachy - because another major injury was exactly what she needed at this stage in the game. She was resisting leaving the locker room - avoiding contact with anybody who'd be able to confirm for good what she was already thinking; maybe if she kept delaying it then it wouldn't be real. Wishful thinking. She'd had it in her sights for all of five seconds and now the only thought that could go through her brain, whizzing around in stupid circles like an annoying bug, was the inevitable concept of losing out on the title match. If the suspicions of herself and literally everyone else proved true and she'd broken her hand, that definitely put a spanner in the works with getting back in the ring in any good amount of time, and what use was that to anyone? So she was kissing that dream goodbye just as it had been in her sights. Frankly, she'd rather have just accepted the consequences at the time and let it get called as a no contest than give herself false hope, now that she thought about it. She had known within herself from second one that her hand was completely busted, but something within her had just screamed at her to keep going, hell mind the consequences or the futility of it all. Pain and adrenaline do weird things to a person's brain. It certainly gave her tunnel vision, that was for certain.
"Hey..." the voice was quiet, tentative - barely opening the door a crack. Tamina whipped her head around to face the intruder, immediately turning back when she clocked who it was.
"Fuck off." A knot formed between her brows, frustrated. Bayley shouldered her way through the the door, almost as though she was trying to slip through unnoticed, standing awkwardly in the empty space like a kid who'd lost her parents in the grocery store. Tamina didn't stop her slow, frustrated pacing. "Did you not hear me? Read the goddamn room, get out."
"No." Bayley shrugged. Tamina huffed a sigh out through her nose in frustration.
"What do you want?"
"To check if you were okay. Heard you got hurt." Bayley said with a note of genuine concern in her voice. That weird childishness she'd always had still endured despite the heel turn and the alleged newfound maturity that had come along with it, and it was difficult to be mad at. However, Tamina wasn't mad. She was frustrated, and in pain, and in all honesty she felt like screaming, and Bayley's presence wasn't doing much else besides aggravating her. Bayley apparently hadn't wasted much time in taking her makeup off and getting out of her ring attire; in gym leggings, and a too-big maroon sweatshirt that was drowning her. The thought of getting changed hadn't so much as crossed Tamina's mind until now - she'd come out of the ring, been cornered about her hand almost immediately, had it dealt with as much as she would allow - ice pack and sling - and then practically shoving her way out the door, muttering something about wanting to get into comfier clothes - bullshitting to get some time alone with her thoughts, - having promised to come back to get it properly checked out. She didn't know how long she'd been in the locker room, wasting time - could have been five minutes, could have been five days for all she cared. Again, anything to try and procrastinate the inevitable for as long as possible.
"Bayley, get out." She said, making firm eye contact with the floor as Bayley sat down on the bench, legs crossed nonchalantly.
"Jesus - look, I just wanted to see how you were doing. That looked rough." She grimaced.
"Please, just-" Tamina got half of the sentence out before her voice cracked, a lump in the back of her throat, squeezing her eyes shut to try and keep the tears that had just decided to put in an appearance contained. She bit her lip. "Just leave me the fuck alone."
"Talk to me." Bayley said, again with a sort of concern - seeming to finally either be noticing or acknowledging the gravity of the situation.
"I've got nothing to say." Tamina shrugged, wiping her eyes aggressively with the heel of her useable hand. "Definitely not to you."
"I don't get why I'm the bad guy here." She shrugged. Tamina started at her, dumbfounded, her face still torn somewhere between murderous and melancholy.
"Are you for real?" Tamina started to raise her voice, starting the sentence in the hope that some kind of argument would form in her head in the time it took her to say it, before realising she was about to take up arms in a battle she'd lose - and not because Bayley's argument skills were any better than hers, but because her position was fucking stupid. She was upset, and she wanted a reason to be upset. Which granted, was herself. But she didn't want to deal with that right now and wanted to stick a different face to it - Bayley, in the midst of it, kind of just looked like a kicked puppy. "No, you're right." She sniffed. "It's my fault. It's my stupid fucking fault - I messed up, and now it's..." Tamina screwed up her face, trying to hold in the sudden surge of emotion that had just overcome her. Perfect, so she was crying about this now. Had to let it out somewhere - she'd been feeling it build inside her since the stupid mistake had happened in the first place. That was one thing she'd always liked about being in the ring - it put having to feel things on hold. Nothing mattered in the moment. Until afterwards, when it all came crashing back down to Earth.
"C'mere - sit down." Bayley said, patting the space on the bench beside her with a sympathetic grimace on her face. After a second or two of staying where she was, not really wanting to accept comfort from the person she'd been baselessly mad at for the last god knows how long, but now realising she desperately needed comfort from somewhere, Tamina eventually accepted the offer. After she slumped down on the seat, the facade went entirely - crying bitterly, fat tears rolling down her cheeks and taking her eyeliner with them. Bayley was watching on, concerned for a moment, before reaching over to place a hand on Tamina's shoulder. When the other woman looked up, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, Bayley was sat with open arms. Tamina looked at her incredulously.
"I'm a good hugger," she shrugged. Paging Captain Obvious. Tamina reluctantly leaned into the embrace, still in a weird, confusing flood of tears. "You're gonna be okay - let it out, girl. It's okay." Bayley leaned her head on Tamina's shoulder, reaching up to brush a few stray strands of hair away from her forehead. A wan, tight-lipped smile broke across Tamina's face for a second, before it melted away again almost immediately.
"It's not okay." She muttered. "I've been doing this for like, ten years. The only title I've ever held is a fucking joke, and this is as close as I've gotten in a long, long fucking time to anything worth a shit. I'm forty-two - time isn't on my side here, there can't be many more years of this left in me, and I really, really can't afford to keep fucking myself up like this. I need to leave some kind of mark before age catches up with me or my body craps out. But apparently I can't even throw a punch." She melted back into the bitter weeping, chewing the remains of her lipstick off with her bottom teeth and feeling even stronger now that she'd spoken it into existence like her world was falling apart around her.
"Well, clearly you can - think about how much that would have sucked for Sasha if it had landed. It's just...look, I know this is weird. Wrestling in an empty room, it's weird. It's not what you're used to. This isn't the end of the world - c'mon, you've survived worse."
"Shitty timing though," she grimaced, still biting at her lip. "This isn't how this was meant to end..."
"Look, it's not over - think about it, once you come back from this, it's more personal. You'll have spent your whole time healing brewing a grudge, you'll cut a couple of promos in a cast, and then once you're better you'll have a reason to kick both of our asses five times harder; you fought through this shit, you didn't let it beat you, you won the damn thing. People are all over you right now - they're loving you, they won't let you get forgotten about just like that." Bayley was making a lot of sense, and Tamina wasn't sure whether or not she liked it. She wasn't really taking in what was being said; it all felt a bit like heartwarming gibberish and flattery. Frankly at this point she was committed to just being self-indulgently miserable. Even if 'dealing with' the whole mess constituted drawing to the rational conclusion that all wasn't lost, she still didn't want to deal with it at that moment. Bayley kept talking. "All that matters right now is that you're hurt, and you need to take care of yourself. I mean, unless you're Wonder Woman and plan to use some kind of superhuman healing bullshit powers, hiding back here and pretending like nothing's happened isn't going to make it go away." Bayley still had her arm around Tamina's shoulder, nonchalantly winding a lock of the other woman's hair around her finger.
"I know it won't, but I can't even think straight, it doesn't even feel like this is really happening, and I-"
"Look, whether you like it or not, it is happening. It has happened. You're overthinking - what's the use in trying to wrap your brain around this now? You're gonna have plenty time to think when you're healing. Right now, we don't care about Tamina the wrestler, we're worried about Sarona the person."
"We? Who's 'we'?"
"Please, like I'm just gonna leave you by yourself to get stuck in a rut again." Bayley said, shuffling closer into Tamina's half-embrace. The other woman was still sat bolt-upright, stiff as a board and unable to relax with both feet planted firmly on the floor. "You're stuck with me now."
"Great." Tamina rolled her eyes, reaching over again to wipe away the residual tears and eye makeup. She sniffed, her heart still a little heavier than usual.
"Don't pretend to be mad - you don't scare me."
"And I don't find you cute right now despite how hard you're trying to look that way but whatever." Tamina let out a small laugh.
"You're saying that, but I got you smiling now. Not really so tough, are you?"
"Okay, you're kind of cute." Tamina cracked a smile, rolling her eyes.
"Thank you," Bayley grinned, giving a small sort of satisfied nod. "By the way, what exactly were you doing in here?"
"God knows. I kind of just walked out of the medical room - said I wanted to go get changed. Really I think I just wanted a few minutes alone to try and clear my head." Tamina pursed her lips, looking down at her injured hand again with a bitter grimace.
"And clearly that worked great." Bayley said. Tamina breathed a laugh through her nose, elbowing Bayley in the arm. "What? It's true. You're really not helping yourself here."
"Well, thanks for the expert opinion. How did you know where to find me?"
"I didn't - I'd kind of just planned to go looking, and this was my first stop. I guess I got lucky."
"Creep." Tamina rolled her eyes.
"No way! One, I wanted to see if you were okay. And two, I had to check that you definitely weren't mad at me cause I don't need that crap on my conscience."
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"Well, you seemed pretty pissed when I came in."
"I was...look, I don't know. I'd been telling myself that I messed up cause I couldn't block out you being a pain in the ass at ringside. But I messed up cause I got distracted. Which is stupid, and also not your fault. So you're off the hook. Conscience still clean."
"Thanks," Bayley smiled. "And I'm sorry. I know you said it wasn't on me, but I still feel bad. I think I was kinda laying it on thick, I dunno."
"Look, it's fine. Now you're the one overthinking."
"Guess so." Bayley shrugged, before standing up. "Okay, where's your stuff?"
"What are you doing?" Tamina said with a ghost of a laugh in her voice.
"Being proactive." She shrugged. Tamina begrudgingly directed Bayley to the location of her bag. She felt slightly like she was being parented. Bayley retrieved the black gym bag from where it had been stashed, dropping it down on the bench. "Okay, that thing weighs a ton, you've clearly got half a closet in there - what do you need?"
"Give it here." Bayley shoved the bag towards her, unzipping it first, and Tamina began to rifle through as best she could one-handed, basically just searching for whatever t-shirt and sweatpants smelled the cleanest. She successfully grabbed a pair of sweats and a grey tank top, fishing her sneakers out along with them. Instinctively reaching to unzip her vest with both hands and immediately wincing in pain, she turned back to Bayley. "Look, I hate that I'm even asking but do you mind helping me get out of this thing?" She sighed, somewhat defeated again. This just felt pathetic.
"Sure." Why the fuck zips had to be two-handed jobs Tamina had no idea, and she was still recovering from the bolt of pain that had just fired up her arm from the slight movement. Bayley's touch was slow and careful, gentle so as not to jostle her any more. "See, told you I'd come in useful." Tamina gave a small smile. "There. Done."
"Thanks. I'm really sorry for being a pain, I-"
"No you're not - it's fine." Bayley smiled. "Like I said, here to help. Don't like seeing a sister trying to tough it out through stuff like this alone. Even if your hand is jacked, you were still amazing out there."
"Thanks," Tamina said, suddenly kind of bashful as she slipped her sling off over her head, grimacing at having to let her injured arm support its own weight again. She placed the ice pack down on the bench, gingerly slipping her vest off over her shoulders with her face pained and drawn, immediately picking the ice back up as the pain started to sear through her hand again almost immediately, pressing it to the injury as she cradled her hand close to her chest.
"Can I see it?" Bayley asked, gently placing her hand under Tamina's as the other woman lifted the ice pack again - she wasn't sure it was giving her much release from the pain any more, but at least she felt like she was doing something about it. "Shit, that's gnarly."
"Yeah, it's definitely got worse since I last looked at it," Tamina curled her lip. The bruising was darker, and the swelling worse - coupled with the fact that the pain was yet to subsist even a little, she wasn't convinced that she needed to be told again that she'd broken something.
"God." Bayley grimaced. "Does it hurt?"
"Like a bitch." Tamina said with an expression on her face that was half-smile, half set jaw as she went on to attack the problem of her undershirt - getting that off was going to be nothing short of a nightmare. As she undressed with a painstaking amount of effort - note to self for future, if you plan on breaking a hand again don't make it your dominant one - pulling her left arm out and then her head, before trying to ease the other sleeve off without moving her hand any more than was absolutely necessary, her teeth in her bottom lip all the while to try and give her something to focus on that wasn't the goddamn pain, she couldn't help but notice that Bayley's eyes hadn't left her for a second - the other woman sat about two feet away from her and staring at her with both concern and a strange sort of wide-eyed interest. "God, that sucked." She dropped the shirt on the floor, leaning back in just her bra and letting out a heavy sigh. Bayley was still looking at her, almost transfixed. "You okay?"
Bayley's next move was supremely unprecedented, and under any other circumstances would have been considered kind of weird by Tamina, but after how well today had gone thus far, she was willing to accept that maybe she was just in the fucking Upside Down somehow. Standing up and turning to face her, Bayley leaned into her and placed a soft, chaste kiss on Tamina's lips. The other woman's eyes remained wide open for a moment, trying to process what on Earth was happening - until she found herself kissing her back, accepting it as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Bayley had one foot on the ground between Tamina's legs, and her other knee resting on the bench. She lifted one hand to gently cup Tamina's face, stroking her cheek lightly before burying it in the other woman's dark curls. Tamina let out a wavering sigh, a totally different kind of adrenaline rushing through her bloodstream as she pulled Bayley closer to her, until the brunette was practically sitting in her lap. Her lips were soft, and the taste of her mouth carried a sweet, minty chapstick edge. The warmth of the other woman's body pressed against her; the rhythm of her breathing - the heady, and yet somehow still gentle, passion with which she deepened the kiss, almost desperately - was overpowering. Tamina could barely catch her breath, her hand now resting on Bayley's ass, and the other woman sat straddling her legs. She had no idea what had gotten into her - what had gotten into either of them. Why Bayley had done what she did in the first place, why she had just accepted it so readily, and why she really, really didn't want it to stop.
Bayley was the one to break the kiss, sitting up with both hands still resting on Tamina's shoulders and a breathless, excited grin on her face. Tamina couldn't help but smile back at her, still catching her breath too.
"What just happened?" She said, almost dumbfounded.
"I think I should be asking you that question." Tamina smirked, watching Bayley blush and relishing it.
"I don't know, I just...it was like something hit me. Bolt from the blue." Tamina was the one feeling her face get hot now - still staring at Bayley with a mix of confusion and wonder.
"I...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad you did." Tamina said. She still couldn't entirely work our what was going on - but one thing was for certain, if Bayley's plan had been to take her mind off her injured hand, or to make certain that she wasn't mad at her, she'd succeeded wildly in both departments.
"...I kind of want to do it again." Bayley admitted with downturned eyes, her cheeks still pink.
"What's stopping you?"
Bayley smirked, reaching to pull her sweatshirt over her head to reveal a bright blue sports bra, pressing her half-nude body into Tamina's own - as Bayley's lips crashed into hers, Tamina felt so confusingly alive. Bayley had grown braver now, reaching to grab at Tamina's tits with both hands and making the other woman shudder. Tamina pulled her closer, kneading into her asscheeks with her hand; Bayley moaning softly as she pulled Tamina's face closer to hers with a handful of the other woman's hair, catching Tamina's lip between her teeth for a moment. Had it not been for her current situation, Tamina would have been more than okay with going further - with just fucking her, there and then.
If it had been fifteen years ago, this felt like something that would have been done as a storyline, for the sake of making a few people gasp or clutch their pearls. Enemies in the ring, secret lovers outside of it. But now, it was nothing like that - no scandal, no bullshit. It was just theirs; nobody else around to know, or care, Bayley sat in Tamina's lap and fitting there so perfectly it was like it was made for her, lips locked together and hands (or hand, in Tamina's case) all over one another's bodies, simply exploring freely and loving every second of it.
The real-life implications of this were slowly starting to occur to Tamina. What if this wasn't just some stupid spur of the moment thing, and then both of them had to deal with...feelings? But then, equally horrifying - what if it was? What if after they left this room, this was it? She didn't like that thought one bit - maybe it was just the heat of the moment, and then again maybe it wasn't. But then, what did it matter now? It felt like time had stopped almost entirely, and nothing happening outside of that room truly existed.
Did she want anything more from this? Anything more from Bayley? Who really knew? It would certainly make life that bit more awkward at work, that was for sure. Once her head was clearer if she didn't like the thought of it looking back, she could always blame it on being intoxicated with the pain. Bayley's attentions towards her body had grown less aggressive and come full circle back to tender and touching; Tamina's face held gently in her hands, one thumb stroking her cheek - Tamina's functional arm was wrapped around her back, holding Bayley close to her as the brief wave of passion melted away into slow, sensual kisses. The touch of Bayley's skin on hers, the softness of her lips, the gentle rise and fall of her chest with her breaths - and even apart from that, her sudden interest; the simple pleasure of being wanted - was making Tamina feel like she could melt. They broke apart again, both panting softly and grinning like dumb schoolgirls - foreheads pressed together as they gazed into one another's eyes, perfectly picturesque and gross, Bayley's hand still stroking Tamina's hair.
"You know, you have a really fucking beautiful body..." Bayley purred, kissing Tamina's cheek softly.
"First time I've heard that in a while," Tamina rolled her eyes.
"Shut up - look at yourself," she smirked, running one hand down the curves of Tamina's body.
"That's really not something you hear a lot in this business unless you look like a Barbie doll, you know that as well as I do."
"It's true. You're gorgeous..."
"I could say the same thing about you." Tamina squeezed Bayley's ass again, making her squeal. Tamina dipped her face in close to Bayley's again, going back for one more kiss - Bayley's lips lingered on hers for a moment or two, murmuring contentedly.
"Well, if you wanted to help take my mind off this shit then it worked," Tamina said with a laugh as they broke apart again. Bayley's smile widened.
"I don't know what I wanted, but I liked what I got." She said, still sat on Tamina's lap and seemingly showing no intentions of moving. Tamina rested one hand on Bayley's waist, still trying to piece together what exactly in the hell was happening, and yet loving it all the same.
"I mean, it was better than a kick up the ass."
"Meanie," Bayley laughed, resting her head on Tamina's shoulder nonchalantly. Tamina gave a small smile, glancing to Bayley snuggling into her like a cat and feeling a fantastically unfamiliar gross fuzziness somewhere inside herself. That better not be the aforementioned feelings, or she was gonna be pissed.
"You seem pretty comfortable if I'm so mean," Tamina shrugged.
"You're comfy," Bayley responded, no shits given.
"I thought you were trying to get me out of here. Being proactive or whatever it was that you said."
"Gimme a couple more minutes," Bayley smiled, nestled into Tamina's body and apparently showing limited signs of willingness to move. Not that she was complaining. At all.
Tamina shuffled around in her seated position, trying to get more comfortable with Bayley on top of her. Now that her distraction was no longer suctioned onto her face, the pain radiating from Tamina's (presumably) broken hand was starting to pipe up again, and she grimaced; Bayley apparently feeling her wince and lifting her head to look at her, concerned.
"You okay?"
"Fucking hand," Tamina replied with bitterness. "This sucks. Real life sucks."
"Amen. As much as I don't wanna, I think we need to stop screwing around and go get you fixed up."
"Do we have to?" Tamina pouted; knowing she was right, but still not ready to leave this speck of glitter in the grey behind. She felt something in the back of her brain nagging at her. Something within her didn't like Bayley's phrasing, that was it. 'Screwing around' - it didn't quite sit right. Testing the waters, she looked up at Bayley with the best pleading puppy eyes she could muster. "I don't want this to end."
"It doesn't have to," Bayley said softly, a small smile playing about her lips. "We can always call it 'to be continued'."
"Are you flirting with me?" Tamina cocked her head, raising an eyebrow at the brunette. That felt better. Slightly more certain.
"What do you think that was?" Bayley responded sardonically.
"Don't know. Just screwing around?" Tamina teased, realising she also should probably think about clothes as Bayley stood up, putting her sweatshirt back on - Tamina couldn't help but watch her for a moment as she did, admiring her.
"Shut up," Bayley elbowed her playfully in the shoulder, Tamina play-acting like it had hurt worse than it did and reaching over to grab where her elbow had made contact, faux-wounded. BIG fucking mistake; she inhaled sharply, practically yelping with the pain of once again forgetting that her right hand was basically entirely out of commission.
"Fuck..." she murmured, biting her lip. Bayley looked concerned, sitting down at her side and wrapping an arm around her.
"Crap, you okay?"
"This is definitely fucking bad," Tamina replied through gritted teeth, her brows knitted as she cradled her injured hand in the other.
"You really need to stop moving it," Bayley frowned, an air of concern in her voice as she helped Tamina back into the sling, gently pressing the ice pack to her hand and sitting back down by her side, one arm still around her shoulders and her other hand cradling Tamina's injured one. "You're gonna make it worse."
"So first you came in here to fix your guilty conscience, then you hit on me, and now you're basically mothering me. Pick a motive." Tamina smirked, a slightly brighter note back in her voice as the aftershock of the pain started to subside once again.
"Making you feel better. There's my motive." She shrugged, Tamina lifting one foot up onto the bench to untie her boot lace.
"So, what now?" Tamina said as she kicked her shoes off, standing up to shuffle out of her leggings and into her sweatpants. Never before had an article of clothing looked more inviting.
"What do you mean?"
"Look, I hate to be practical here but like..." she trailed off, hoping that Bayley could pick up what she was leaving unsaid.
"How about we don't be practical and just let whatever happens happen?" She shrugged her shoulders, a lopsided grin on her face as Tamina side-eyed her. "I mean it. Look, life is weird. Just...enjoy this. Whatever it is. I know it was only a kiss, but..." Bayley's cheeks were turning pink again. "Just...just know that I wouldn't be mad if it didn't end here."
Stuffing her feet into her still-laced sneakers and giving up entirely on the idea of having to put any item of clothing on that involved pulling it over her head, Tamina rummaged around her gym bag for a zip-up hoodie, pulling one arm through the sleeve and letting it sit on her other shoulder. Bayley was looking at her almost pleadingly as she got dressed, wanting her to say something. Tamina looked at her for a moment, before taking a step towards her; placing one hand on Bayley's waist and pulling her closer - leaning down to kiss Bayley on the lips again. She felt the other woman smile through the kiss as she looped both arms around Tamina's shoulders, giving into the embrace entirely. Living in the fucking moment for once, not wasting time over worrying about what would happen if she'd done this different at that point - Tamina felt just a little freer.
"That's what I think about that." She smiled, her hand still on Bayley's hip and still feeling the warmth of the other woman close to her.
"Good." Bayley said with a cute little lilt to her voice; reaching to fasten Tamina's zip about halfway, before tilting Tamina's face back towards hers and kissing her again - not lingering as long this time; Tamina aware that for the first time since she'd stepped foot in the ring that a sense of calm was starting to wash over her; her body having felt like it was electrified since before the match had even started. "Now, haven't you got an emergency room to go to?"
"Haven't you got anywhere better to be than here?"
"Nowhere I'd rather be."
A/N: So, I actually started writing this weeks ago, probably around about the time of the Smackdown episode where the idea of Tamina challenging for the title was brought up (so, before any of the actual matches had happened) and after the real-life match that this centres around happened, I couldn't really be assed changing it to fit the details. I've been sitting on this one for a WHILE, being a fairly recent wrestling fan I had to keep going back and editing stuff as I learned the ins and outs of it.
No particular alliance to this pairing - really, I wanted to write something about Tamina seeing as she is for all intents and purposes my bae and spirit animal, and after workshopping this a bit with both Sasha and Lacey as the romantic counterpart, Bayley just slotted into place better cause she's easier to write as. This is a fairly one-and-done 'Jesus Christ I need to get this crap out of my system' type fic and idk if I'll be revisiting this or WWE fic in general (apologies for any inaccuracies,) but it was fun to write nevertheless. Hope you enjoyed! :)