Skylar wraps her knuckles on Seth Rollins' hotel room door early the next morning. Two hot beverages in her hands she smiles when he turns the handle to let her in.
"Morning," she greets him warmly as she hands his coffee over to him.
He mumbles a greeting then takes a sip of the caffeinated liquid and musters a smile, "You're incredible."
"Rough night?" She laughs at his dramatic display.
Another sip of coffee and he grumbles a response, "I was up late playing Switch. Just couldn't fall asleep after the drive, so I sunk some serious time into Breath of the Wild."
"Say no more," she holds up a hand. "Kenny had me up until four am playing Splatoon with him."
"That's nice that you can play online with your boyfriend from halfway around the world," Seth tries to hide the twinge of jealousy on his face.
"Boyfriend?" Skylar giggles as the statement sinks in. "Kenny is NOT my boyfriend."
"But.. I thought..." Seth stammers sleepily.
"Hahahahaa, no. Kenny is my brother," Skylar can't help but laugh at the awkward realization on Seth's face. "You thought..." She starts to laugh so hard that her only thoughts come out in short gasping bursts. "You thought Kenny was my boyfriend!" Tears start to well up in her eyes as she tries to stop laughing. "Oh, that's rich!" The embarrassment on his face just makes her laugh harder. "I can't wait to tell Kenny!"
"Okay! Okay!" Seth finally chuckles at his misunderstanding.
Catching her breath she takes a sip of her tea, "Sorry, that was REALLY funny."
"Hilarious," he says dryly as he turns to the TV and puts on a movie channel. "Figured we could use the movie to cover up our voices. I know Dana is my neighbor on that side."
"Good idea," she nods. "Last thing I need is this getting out to the rest of the locker room because the gossip queens can't keep their mouths shut."
Seth raises his eyebrows, "Oh shit. This whole thing with you is going to be a Bullet Club thing isn't it?"
She tries but fails to hide her smirk, "Maybe."
"The whole V-Trigger thing the other day makes total sense now!" He exclaims. "And actually now that I think about it you're a lot like Kenny in the ring."
"Did you guys get to work together much?" She wonders.
"Had a match with him and D-Bry in Ring of Honor," Seth confirms. "It was really good. Those two are both magic in the ring." Skylar smiles at the praise for her brother. "You guys probably did a lot of training together huh?"
"We did," she nods. "I think I drove him nuts. No dude wants their kid sister tagging along wherever they go."
Seth snickers, "Yeah, I have a feeling the bigger buzz kill would have been trying to keep you out of trouble."
She sticks her tongue out at him. Her phone ringing interrupts their chat. "Speak of the devil," she shows Seth the screen where a picture of Kenny lights up.
"If you need to answer that go for it," he tells her.
"Hello Hoshi!" She greets as Kenny's face pops up on her device.
"Good morning Koneko," he yawns. "Just wanted to see what you're up to today."
She smiles at the love she shares with her brother. "Today I'm going to do some promo work with Seth Rollins. Say hi Seth!" She turns the phone to Seth who waves a quick hello to the leader of the Bullet Club. "Are you going to bed now? This seems early for you."
"Going to bed early tonight," he confirms her suspicion. "Matt, Nick and Marty are coming in early tomorrow morning. We're going to meet up with Kota for breakfast."
"Aww tell the Bucks I said hey!" She gushes, missing her friends. "Get some sleep Hoshi. I'll call you before I go to bed."
"Sounds good, love you Sky," Kenny tells her. "And keep your hands to yourself Rollins."
Seth holds his hands up defensively. "Love you too, Kenny," Skylar rolls her eyes as she hangs up with her protective older brother.
"See, always needing to keep you out of trouble," Seth chuckles.
"I'm sure he's a lot more worried about YOU causing trouble right now than me," she snickers.
Seth holds his hands up as if to feign innocence. A few minutes later and they get underway with some promo work. They spend an hour or so working on different talking points and speech patterns before they end up playing Mario Kart on Seth's Nintendo Switch. They have to force themselves to stop playing before they become obsessed with beating each other. After one final race Skylar stands up to leave and Seth walks her to the door. He holds it open for her as she exits the room after a hug goodbye. Skylar walks down the hall to the elevator. Behind her Finn emerges from his room, seeing Seth grinning as he watches Skylar walk towards the elevator.
"Hello?" Skylar answers her phone a few days later as she sits on her couch rummaging through a pile of clothes in a basket in Winnipeg.
A Stamford number delivers a familiar voice, "Skylar, it's Hunter. You busy?"
"Nope," she admits. "Just packing for the next loop."
This seems to please her boss, "Great. But stop packing. You may have to start over." He pauses and she can almost hear him smiling.
"What's going on?" She tries to hide the nervousness in her voice.
"We're going to pull you off of TV until your debut," he tells her. "You're planning on going to Wrestle Kingdom in a few weeks right?"
"Yeah, I already got the time off," she explains.
"Perfect," he pauses as she hears him ruffle through some paperwork. "Can you go out to Japan early? Spend some time with your brother? More importantly with the Bullet Club?"
"Uhh," Skylar stammers trying to figure out what Hunter is implying. "I'm sure I could. I'd have to get my flights changed.. Why am I going out there early exactly?"
"Don't worry about your flights. We'll take care of them," he informs her. "I need you to get into the public eye with the Bullet Club. So that when you debut here it breaks the Internet. Pictures with the guys. If you can get on the Young Bucks YouTube show that would be great. You know, just getting as many eyes on you as possible. It'll be good for both companies honestly."
"I assume that this is not a thing that were clearing with Jado and Gedo?" She asks already knowing the answer.
Hunter is quiet, "Wasn't planning on it, no."
"I'll do the best I can," she tells him. "I'm not sure how much they'll let me get away with over there."
She can hear his smile broadening, "That's all I ask. I'm not expecting a full out DX/ WCW invasion. Just do what you can."
They stay on the phone a bit longer to work out flight details. She's expected to be at TV on Monday and then she's set to fly out to Tokyo for two weeks. She immediately starts tossing clothes around her small apartment so she can reassess her packing situation and get as much Bullet Club centric stuff in her bag as she can.
"Whoa there sister Hoot," Karl laughs as Skylar rolls her huge suitcase away from the baggage claim with another carry on piled on top of it. "What do you need your entire closet for? Raw is only one night!"
She looks at the boys sheepishly, "Actually, would you guys mind dropping me off back here after the show?"
"What do you mean Hoot? Are you ditching us?" Luke almost looks hurt.
"Aww you guys, don't make me feel bad," Skylar tells them. "It's nothing crazy. I've just got some time off to spend with Kenny before Wrestle Kingdom."
Karl's face turns green with envy, "You get to go to Wrestle Kingdom?! Man I miss those boys out there. Some seriously good brothers."
"Some of the best brothers around, " Luke agrees.
"So I'll be over there for two weeks. Then I'll be back to riding with you guys," she explains. "I think when I get back they're planning to start working on my debut."
"Do ya tink dey're aiming for the Rumble?" Finn asks after running through the timeline in his head.
She shrugs, "I hadn't thought about it. That would make sense though." She starts to walk towards the rental counter with the three boys following her. "I do know that I'm debuting with you guys though."
The footsteps behind her stop, "What?" Three voices say in unison.
She flips her hair to the side and then looks back at them over her shoulder, "Can we talk about this in the car?"
The four of them breeze through the rental process and find their car. Luke takes the wheel with Karl riding shotgun. They barely reach the highway before the subject comes up again.
"So you're gonna be with us on TV?" Luke asks excitedly.
"That's the rumor," she nods.
Finn huffs and looks out the window, "Surprised dey aren't sticking you wit Seth Rollins."
"Excuse me?" Her head turns slowly in Finns direction.
"You guys have been spending an awful lot of time together," Finn almost spits as he crosses his arms. "I saw you coming out of his hotel room the other morning."
Her fists clench angrily, "Are you fucking kidding me? You're being a salty jerk because I spent some time with Seth?"
"You deserve so much better than him," Finn grumbles. "You don't need a guy who has had his nudes all over the Internet. You're better than that."
"Coming from the guy who's junk is clearly visible in every single pair of his trunks," she fires back with a smirk. That statement actually makes Finn crack a smile. "I knew you did that on purpose! You know exactly what you're doing in those tiny tights."
"When you've got a cock that hangs down to your knees it's hard to hide," Luke pipes in with a howl.
"Oh my god you guys are awful," Skylar cackles.
Karl turns in his seat to look at her, "So, you and Rollins huh?"
She tries to fight back the blood rushing to her cheeks, "No. That's not a thing. Hunter assigned him and Finn to train me before my debut. Except that was supposed to be a secret. So you three hoots can't say a word to anyone!"