Brooks Jensen is happy for his friends. Of course he is. There's nothing Fallon and Briggs deserve more than the opportunities they're receiving this weekend. But it still aches somewhere deep inside of him that he couldn't even get past Lexis King to even maybe get a shot at the match this Saturday to join them. It gets worse when he sees his next travel is for Tuesday- the following taping. Nothing for Deadline.

He breathes in deep, turns his phone over so he can't see the screen, and rolls onto his stomach to try to get some sleep. it takes awhile, but he manages at some point because he's forced awake by noise at his door, and when he opens his eyes, it's morning out, the sun pouring in through his drapes.

He groans, rubs at his eyes and only just sits up in time for Fallon to leap on top of him and smirk as he gasps and flails around a bit. "What the hell, Fallon!"

She smirks and nudges into him, hyper and excited and glowing in the early morning light. "Good morning to you too, Brooks!" she chirps. "Came to see you, get your silly butt out of bed."

He grimaces at her, shaking his head. "Why? Ain't like I'm goin' anywhere." He drops back down into his pillows and tries to drown himself in his pillow case before she grabs all of the pillows and tosses them aside. "Fallon!"

"You're doing no such thing," she says cheerfully. "We've got a surprise for ya."

"We?" he grumbles, hesitantly rolling over and squinting at her. It's then that he realizes she's not alone- Briggs is in the doorway, arms crossed his chest, watching them with a small smile on his face. "Josh? What's going on?"

"Think it'd be obvious, man," Briggs says, pushing off and walking towards the bed. "Ain't no way Fallon and I are doing Saturday by ourselves. You're comin' with us."

"No, I'm not," Brooks says slowly, fresh pain stabbing up his rib cage as he says it. "Ain't got travel for Deadline. Not doin' nothing until NXT this Tuesday."

"Well," Briggs says lowly, "Fallon and I figured they might do somethin' like that, but we talked it out, figured some things over, and we bought you a ticket so yeah, brother, you're comin' with us!"

"Wha-?" Brooks gapes at them. "You... you did what?"

Fallon throws her arms around Brooks, laughing. "Consider it part of your Christmas gift," she tells him. "You think we're really gonna go just the two of us to the last big NXT event of the year? Please." She squeezes him tightly. "You're gonna be right there with us, celebratin'!"

He squeezes her back, then looks up at Briggs. "Really?"

"Hell yeah, man, right by our side, where you belong." Briggs snags his free hand and squeezes it tightly. "Like we'd let you stay at home and mope, c'mon now."

"I wasn't mopin'," Jensen huffs, getting himself untangled from the sheets and Fallon both.

She lets out a surprised noise at his sudden movement, but bounces back up onto her feet. "Coffee run!" she declares to the room in general before taking her leave.

Brooks exhales and nudges at his luggage with his foot, glad that he hadn't really bothered to unpack after NXT Tuesday. He'll need to get dressed, figure out the details of his flight, and everything else, but for now, he allows himself to absorb the moment. How his friends weren't going to let him just sit at home and dwell on his inability to do anything worthwhile enough to be able to join them. "Hey, Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," Jensen says quietly. "All of this, makin' sure I get to go Saturday and everything, wantin' me there. It uh, it means a lot."

Josh stares at him for a moment, then grabs him and tugs him in for a tight hug. "Hey, man, you're my partner. I always need you in my corner, man. Ain't no way I'm leaving you here alone."

Jensen nods. Digs his fingers into Josh's shoulders. "Thanks," he mumbles. "Y'know if roles were reversed, I'd feel the same."

Josh eases back and smiles at him, knocking his knuckles against Jensen's jaw. "Yeah, brother. I know. Now c'mon, let's go see what Fallon's up to with that coffee before she burns your apartment down."

"I heard that!" Fallon yells at them from the kitchen, and Josh shrugs as Jensen laughs.

Might not have a win under his belt to look forward to this weekend, but he's going to be spending it with his two favorite people. What more could a guy ask for?