"This is silly," Ricardo groans, even as he slumps into the warmth of the table, feeling the fingers ease up and down his spine. "El Patron, please..."

Alberto smirks over at him, shaking his head. "Shhh, enjoy it, mi hermano. How long has it been since you've gotten a professional massage? Hmm?" Alicia had barely been gone five minutes, flying out for the week's Raw, leaving Ricardo to drown himself in hour after hour of the World Cup, when Alberto had come to the house, tucked Ricardo into his car and drove off, all but ignoring his protests and confusion.

So now they're here, both getting massages, and Alberto looking much too pleased with himself for surprising Ricardo so thoroughly. "Ridiculous," Ricardo mumbles, before hissing out a breath when fingers dig into his back. "Ay," he mumbles, burying his face in the plush padding.

"Gentle," Alberto chides the man working over Ricardo's back, and he immediately softens his touch, brushing slowly down from Ricardo's neck.

"Lo siento," he says, taking care for the rest of the massage.

When it's over and Ricardo gets up, gingerly stretching his arms out and looking somewhat surprised at the diminished pain when he lifts his arms, Alberto scrawls out a somewhat larger tip than he was planning after the fumble earlier. "Holy crap," he exclaims. "I mean, I still feel a tug when I move sometimes, but... it's a lot better." He smiles fondly at Alberto, who can't help but grin back as he twirls his pen between his fingers. "Gracias, El Patron."

Alberto claps him gently on the shoulder. "Whatever you need, mi hermano, I will provide as long as I'm able." He squeezes his arm before moving to give the sizeable check to the staff so they can leave. "What are your plans now, mi hermano?"

"World Cup," he says. "But I have training to do. James Ellsworth is going to be there." His lips quirk as Alberto rolls his eyes. "He seems like a good guy." Alberto mumbles in Spanish and Ricardo barks out a laugh, only catching some of it. "Jealousy doesn't become you, El Patron."

"Why would I be jealous of that ridiculous man?" he rolls his eyes.

Ricardo shrugs. "Not many of us can see we get to return to WWE within seven months, hm?"

Alberto casts him a glance. "True enough, I suppose." They walk to the car and Alberto drops him off so he can get ready for his evening.

James Ellsworth is about what Ricardo expects. Hard-working, respectful enough, with an interesting mix of humbleness for himself and his situation and smugness whenever Carmella and her title reign comes up in conversation. He's an intriguing grey area of a man and Ricardo wishes he'd had more time to just sit and chat with him before the planned training seminar begins. They do get a few minutes at the end of the night, Ricardo pleasantly surprised when James stays behind to help clean up, wiping the ring ropes down alongside him and a couple of other people from the school. "So, uh, rumor has it that you're involved with Alicia Fox," he begins awkwardly.

Ricardo casts him a quick glance before reclaiming his cloth and getting back to work. "Yeah, we're engaged," he says, lips twitching as he rubs his finger subconsciously over where his ring ordinarily is when he's not in the ring.

James' eyes widen. "Oh. Wow. Congrats. I guess the rumormongers are a little behind in their news, huh?" He chuckles. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It's none of my business." But there's clearly something on his mind and he ducks his head back over their work. "I... uh. Just wondering..."

"Yes?" Ricardo prompts, thinking he knows where James is about to go with this, but not wanting to push just in case he's wrong.

"So how do you, like, gain their attention?" James' brow furrows. "I mean, WWE women are so... beautiful and strong..." There's a wistful kind of look in his blue eyes and Ricardo has to laugh, softly, waving it off when James looks up at him, confused and a little hurt.

"This is about Carmella, right? Your homegirl?" He smirks slightly. "When it came to me and Alicia, we just gravitated towards each other naturally. We were both going through some painful breakups and it led into us keeping each other company. Love came slowly from that foundation." He blows out a breath as his smile softens. "She's the best thing in my life. I wouldn't trade how we came together for anything in the world." He casts another quick glance at James. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you just to take things slow, and let it go where it will. I saw some pictures of you guys after your return. She seemed really happy to be back in there with you."

James nods, his head still ducked. "I hope so," he murmurs. "It's been so long, I thought she might've forgotten about me."

Ricardo claps him on the shoulder as he finishes up. "Apparently not, mi amigo. Just keep doing what you're doing, looks like you're off to a good start."

James smiles, finally catching Ricardo's eye. "Thanks. That means a lot."

"Hey, thanks for coming in and helping with the students. I jacked my back up a couple days ago and it's good to have as many hands on deck as possible." He can still feel the ebb and flow of the pain whenever he moves, is feeling it now even with this simple of a task, but it still feels better than it did, so he takes wins where he can.

James nods, following him out. "Hope that all gets better soon, Ricardo."

"Gracias." They shake hands and Ricardo watches him collect his things and leave after pausing to say goodbye to the others still lingering around the building. "Good guy," he mumbles, turning slowly to handle other business for the day. He has some meet'n'greets, and other training ventures planned, not to mention responsibilities regarding a Sabotage Wrestling event later in the week. It's tiring, this schedule, but there's enough free time for him to enjoy a fair amount of the World Cup.

He just hopes his back holds out to get everything done to his satisfaction.

He's half asleep on Monday, dozing over the droning of the game on his TV screen, when his phone goes off. Squinting at the screen, he realizes it's Alicia and that he's slept through at least one game. Cursing under his breath, he answers and she excitedly babbles before his sleepy answers break through her enthusiastic rambling. "Oh, no, did I wake you?" she asks, the guilt in her voice waking him up like a glass of cold water to the face.

"It's ok," he insists. "I wanted to be awake. So what happened?"

"My worries about WWE were unfounded, I guess," she says cheerfully. "I'm not sure about when my first match back will be, but they caught me on camera and even welcomed me back on social media so that's awesome. I was talking to Bayley, because she was the first to welcome me back when I arrived today, and it just kind of happened!" They all know if the WWE cameramen doesn't want to catch you, it won't, so Ricardo thinks it sounds pretty good, at least for now.

"I'm happy for you," he says with a small smile. "I hope you get more TV time after this. No one deserves it more." It's true, she deserves it, especially after how she'd worked quietly, steadfast, through her injury. He had seen how much pain it'd caused her, and how she struggled with being sidelined during so many pivotal moments in the women wrestling scene.

"Thank you." He thinks she then notices the time because she exhales. "Aw, Ricardo, I'm sorry, I'm interrupting the World Cup, aren't I?"

"It's fine." He laughs ruefully. "I fell asleep, actually, so I'm glad you called or I would've slept through more of it."

"How's your back?" she wonders, frown obvious in her voice.

"Better. I think." He shifts a little, feeling only a dull pain. "Alberto took me to get a massage and it helped some."

"Well, that's good, I'm glad he did something to help you," she says. "It'd be sad if you couldn't walk down the aisle to marry me in a few months."

He laughs. "Trust me, I'm doing absolutely everything I can to ensure that that happens."

She giggles. "Hey, me too." They sit for a few moments, thinking about everything, before she sighs. "I'd love to talk longer but we all have early flights, so I should go." She blows kisses, soft little bursts of sound that he cherishes even as she prepares to hang up. "I love you, I'll see you tomorrow! Let's go picnic on the beach when the World Cup ends!"

He chuckles. "Ok, that's a plan. I'll see you in the morning. Love you too, Alicia."

"Good night," she says softly.

"Good night." They hang up and he stares at the TV, smiling. Feeling lighter than he has been in quite awhile. "It's a pretty decent life, isn't it, girl?" he asks the snuffling Harley, reaching out to stroke her forehead. "Yeah..."