Chapter 5: An Auspicious Moment

When Scout got back to her hotel room after the show, she sat down in her pajamas with her laptop, scrolling through reactions of her debut on Twitter. She had gained almost fifteen thousand more followers in mere hours across social media. Some of the comments were glowing, kind, snarky or flat out hilarious.

"Watching this bit made me pregnant."

"The natural progression of your career after you lose the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar to Quentin Tarantino."

AEW had posted the announcement of her signing with an edited picture from the photo shoot, "Scout Coopersmith is #ALLELITE." She saved the picture to her laptop because she liked it so much.

Scout was still popping with all sorts of energy after her reception at the show. People liked her and Kenny together, they were intrigued. Probably because they were so different and came from almost completely different worlds.

Her phone vibrated and she looked to see her brother calling and picked up immediately, "Hey Jem."

Jeremy laughed, "You've called me that more recently. I think it's because you think I'm not going tease the shit out of you if you use it."

Scout sighed, "All right. Maybe so."

"Your nephew is one hundred percent certain that Kenny Omega is going to be his uncle."

She shook her head emphatically, "Ah. Well, I'm sorry to tell my darling Trent that Aunt Scout is not the marrying kind."

Her brother sighed, "I'm not going to burst that bubble for him. He's living his best life…but be real with me, kid. Is there something going on?"

Scout loved and alternately hated it when Jeremy called her "kid." She adored the affection at which he said it, and loathed the inaccuracy of the pet name. They were only a year apart in age.

"It's just for show. We do have a lot of fun with it though. I've told him how much I like to mess with the press."

Jeremy chuckled, "Ah. Yes. Yes you do. Is it okay if Trent FaceTime's you tomorrow? He has all the questions."

She smiled, "Of course it is. I can't wait to talk to him."

A firm knock came upon her hotel room door and she took her phone over to look through the peephole and saw Kenny waiting outside wearing jeans, a hoodie and a crossbody bag slung around his shoulder.

"Hey Jem, I gotta go. I'll FaceTime you guys tomorrow, alright?"

Her brother could not contain himself, "He's there isn't he?"

She hurried him off the phone, "Call tomorrow, I promise."

After ending the call, Scout opened the door and smiled, "Hey! What's up?"

Kenny smiled, "Just came by to see if you wanted to grab something to eat? But if you're busy we can catch up later."

She waved him in and held up her phone, "Just Jeremy giving me a hard time, standard brother stuff. I gotta call my nephew tomorrow…but I haven't eaten except for a late lunch with Brandi."

Scout shut the door behind him and he shrugged, "Out or in?"

She stopped and put out a hand, "Wait. You'd want to go out to eat?"

Kenny shrugged once more, "Why not? Nick, Matt and I try to get out as much as we can. Worried someone is going to see us?"

She feigned offense, "Of course not. Let me change."

Scout disappeared into the bathroom and realized she still had the makeup from the taping on, except for the little spots that she had cleaned off due to the blood. She changed back into her beat up jeans and UVA hoodie.

She stepped out and saw that he had picked up one of her advanced copies and was thumbing through it. Scout grabbed her puffer jacket and scarf along with the AEW toboggan from her gift basket.

Kenny looked up and smiled, "It's not that cold out."

As she put on the hat over her ears she shook her head, "Chicago in November. The Lake Effect is real. You should go get a coat or jacket."

He shook his head, "I'll be fine. Not going too far. It's late."

She shoved her phone and her slim credit card wallet in her back pockets of her jeans and shrugged, "Alright then. Let's go."

They walked a few blocks to a late night pizza place, which didn't serve deep dish and Scout thought it was tant amount to blasphemy considering the city they were in. It was close to a college campus and of course, Kenny got recognized…and she got recognized and finally a group of three guys in their early 20's approached them. They had just been at the show and asked for a picture with both of them.

One of them told Scout that she was "badass" and fist bumped her.

For some reason, it felt like one of the nicest things anyone had ever said about her.

When they sat at a booth, Scout adjusted her toboggan and tapped her cell phone on the table, "College dudes have never shown so much interest in me. What a trip."

Kenny smiled, "You killed it tonight. Absolutely killed it. The tears in your eyes."

Scout took a sip from her can of sparkling water, "Ah, Marnie told me how she did it when we filmed the movie. You have to recall the saddest moment of your life and live in it again, actively."

"Marnie…the actress you went to the Oscars with?"

She nodded slowly, "Yep. We were pretty close on set."

Kenny leaned forward and asked gently, "What was your saddest moment."

Scout liked the way he asked, it was quiet and respectful. She looked at her hands and then at him, trying to be brave, "Jem and I lost our mom when we were young, I was about 15. Our Dad was this brilliant man. He was an English teacher and wanted to be a writer. After mom, he coped with the bottle. He wasn't mean or angry. Just terribly sad. He drank himself to death ten years ago. It's not lost on me that I did what he couldn't…so all of that, all at the same time. That is what I was thinking about. The horrible irony."

At that moment their food came out and after server left, Scout flicked away a rogue tear and smiled at him, "It's crazy how much I trust you, considering we haven't known each other but three days."

Kenny took a bite of his pizza and smiled slyly, "We have great chemistry. You probably know a better, brainier word for it."

She nodded, "I do, actually. Simpatico."

Over their late night dinner they talked over their next week; Scout was going to spend time with Brandi and her baby the next day, as well as have lunch with Britt, who fascinated her with the very different aspects of her life, and that she'd probably fly back home on Thanksgiving to spend time with her brother and nephew.

"I haven't been super present in Trent's life the past few years. My book got published after he turned five. He just turned nine last month. We don't have much of a family anymore so it's important to me. His mom isn't around, either. He's a big reason I signed on, he thinks you hang the moon and after tonight he seems pretty convinced that you're going to be his uncle."

Kenny laughed, "So what you're saying is I might get invited to speak at his school's

career day?"

She put out a hand to stop him in a teasing way, "Whoa. I don't think you should get ahead of yourself."

Kenny walked back to the hotel with Scout, his hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie. She had been right about needing a coat.

They decided to go back to Scout's room and watch a replay of the event, to see what it looked like through the camera lense.

He sat on the couch in the sitting area and watched as she kicked off her shoes and peeled off her fake eyelashes.

"Ow. Fuck. Fuuuccck. Want some tea?"

Kenny chuckled at the profanities she unleashed and shook his head no, "But water would be nice."

She put a mug full of water in the microwave and let it heat for a minute and opened the mini fridge that was stocked with water and a few diet Cokes from the vending machine.

Once the bag of mint green tea was in the mug, she sat next to him on the couch and handed him the bottle of water. Scout picked up her laptop from the coffee table and signed on, closing out of open windows including one that looked like part of the next book she was working on.

Finally, she went to YouTube and searched their names together. Over a thousand videos had been made in the past three days about them. Celebrity gossip sites, fan vlogs, wrestling vlogs, etc.

Kenny laughed when he saw one was featured on Entertainment Tonight. Scout turned and looked at him curiously, "Wanna watch it?"

He shrugged, "I mean, it's an auspicious moment. I never thought I'd be on Entertainment Tonight."

With that, Scout clicked the video and what followed was shots of her at the Oscars, at her movie's premiere and then his in ring work…even some from matches in Japan. Finally there were still shots of them tonight, him reaching out his hand to her and the picture of them at the airport.

"Academy Award Nominee Scout Coopersmith has made a surprising venture into the world of Sports Entertainment by signing an on air talent contract with All Elite Wrestling. Rumors surrounding the writer also entail a whirlwind romance with top wrestling star, Kenny Omega. Omega is Executive Vice President of the promotion and also the number one wrestler in the world as decided by Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 500."

Scout turned to look at him, a sweet half-smile on her face, "Well, look at you being number one. I'm so proud of you."

He shook his head, "But there's so much more that I've done."

She nodded, "I know. It's frustrating. I always get thrown into the dating speculation, not what I'm writing or how smart I am or all the things I want to do. It's always shocking to hear your life whittled down to a fact or two. I mean, we contain multitudes, but people only care if I spend a hot weekend in the South of France with Jake Gyllenhaal."

He raised an eyebrow, "But did you?"

Scout shook her head, "No. I met him on a red carpet once. Shook hands. That's all it usually takes. And I'm not even an actress. Imagine what a smoke show like Margot Robbie gets rumored to do just by meeting someone? I bet she gets frustrated, too."

Kenny saw the empathy on her face and knew she truly understood what he was trying to say. Scout patted his knee and shrugged, "We knew this was going to happen. At least it was positive."

She found the segment from Rampage and hit play. Scout was sitting at the commentary booth with a headset, waving to people around her when she was introduced.

Excalibur opened with, "So Scout, you're working on a project with Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes…would you want to tell us a little about that?"

She smiled, "Well, it's in the early stages but we've been collaborating on a television project that's an hour long drama about a girl in a small town who dreams of a life in professional wrestling. Brandi has been kind enough to invite me here to learn more about the industry and talk with some of the talent."

Ricky Starks jumped in, "Speaking of talent…can you elaborate a little more on just what happened between you and former AEW Champion Kenny Omega?"

"What a transition," Excalibur quipped.

Scout shrugged, "I can't explain it really. It just sort of happened. I had never met him before."

His music hit perfectly on cue and the wink he gave her made her blush. It was super endearing, but she should never play poker. As the match played, Kenny realized just how close the chair had actually come near her head. He tensed up thinking of how poorly that would had gone if Scout would have been hit with a steel chair right in her very recognizable face on live television.

Scout must have noticed his unease and smiled, "It looked great though."

The tight shot on Scout's face, with tears in her eyes, almost took his breath away. Especially now knowing what she was thinking about in that moment. She looked heartbroken, but lovely and compelling.

When the show ended, they sat in silence for a moment, having saw the bigger picture. Scout turned her body towards him after putting the laptop back on the table, "So where do we go from here?"

Kenny thought for a moment and then said, "I'm going to get you t-shirts I have for merch. Next week wear one, that will give us time to get you some suits, then maybe wear the t-shirts under them? As for story, you walk out with me to the ring…how comfortable are you with hitting someone with a kendo stick?"

Scout just chuckled, "What a question."

"I'm all about comfort levels, I want to make sure you feel safe and supported."

She shook her head, "You surprise me, Kayfabe Boyfriend. Most people would argue wrestlers are a bunch of cavemen, but here you are…having open conversations about consent."

Kenny laughed a little at the term 'Kayfabe Boyfriend', but continued, "There are plenty of people in the industry that are cavemen. But it's my responsibility to keep you from getting hurt, I got you into this. That includes, you know, anything that we do together onscreen. I want to make sure we're on the same page."

Scout looked amused, but gently reminded him, "I trust you. I want to make a good story. So where you lead, I'll play along."

A long pause passed between them, until Scout's phone chimed and she exhaled slowly and looked down, "Shit."

"What?"

Scout just shook her head, "I blocked Sean's phone number a while ago. He still sends emails."

She opened up the email and looked pissed off, "Saw your little stunt tonight. I didn't think you we're into giant, oiled up, douchebag men. Hell, I didn't think you were into men at all anymore."

Scout scrolled through more text and shook her head, "I should've dumped him when he negged my book getting published. My silly little hobby. Could make a few hundred bucks. That hurt me more than the jealousy. Like I wasn't serious about my writing. I think he was mostly mad I found something I loved more than him."

Kenny watched her face screw up in slight anger and cautioned her, "Don't respond to that."

"Oh I won't. But I will add it to the file I keep in case I need to get my lawyers involved."

He didn't liked being called an oiled up douchebag, but he definitely didn't like what her ex was doing to her. It was abusive, plain and clear.

"Was he talking about the Oscars? That last part you read aloud?"

Scout put her phone down and sighed, "This doesn't leave this room…But I rebounded by dating Marnie for about a month. She's a wonderful person, and way out of my league. But it wasn't the right time, she's on her way to being an enormous movie star. Neither of us had dated women before. This all happened after the Oscars. I don't label myself. I want to be open minded and I just think the right person will be the right person. But Sean likes to harp on it and fetishize it, though he doesn't know the truth. It hurt his ego, a lot like tonight probably did. It blows me away that I stayed with him for seven years…I was so dumb."

Kenny felt a little floored by her admission. He didn't think that she had delved into what surrounded him or his past, and what he held close to the chest. He remained a very private person, by and large. It was nice to know that someone else was in the same boat, but seemingly under way more scrutiny in the public eye.

"Are you and Marnie still friends?"

Scout nodded and looked a little sad, "Oh yeah. We don't talk a lot, schedules are mismatched and she's dating her business manager now. He seems nice. She invited me next month to the New York premiere of her new movie, so I'm going to fly up for the night. She doesn't have a spiteful bone in her body. It just, didn't work out. We had fun though."

Scout looked at her hands, clearly taking a moment from everything she just said, "You're not an oiled-up douchebag, by the way."

He smiled in a self-assured way, "Oh, what you'll learn about me is that I'm pretty confident, shit like that doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that he's harassing you. You don't deserve that."

She nodded, "Thanks."

Kenny looked at her for a moment, her brow was furrowed and he decided to switch gears on the conversation, "We do this web series every week, called Being the Elite. Matt and Nick head it up. I think you should appear on it. We can add some depth to our story, flesh it out."

Scout gave him one of her slow, mysterious smiles, "I'll have to watch some tomorrow. I'm hoping to take a crack at starting the script for the as yet unnamed pilot, too. Tonight was amazing, Kenny. I just wanted you to know that. I had so much fun."

That was exactly what he wanted to hear. He couldn't help smiling in return, "So did I. We'll talk more tomorrow. I think we both need some sleep. I'm going to head out."

As he stood up from the couch and she followed, bidding him goodnight as he walked down the hall to the elevator. Kenny felt like his new trajectory with Scout was going to reach a lot of people. Their kayfabe relationship had a lot of people wondering, and he couldn't wait until Wednesday.

Notes:

I hope everyone is enjoying! Thanks for the reads, the kudos and follows. 3 the entire story is up to date on A03, but I will be uploading chapters here.