Joaquin is sore. Losing to Escobar, losing the LWO, everything that's been going on the last few weeks just makes him ache. He drops back against the hotel bed, feeling his fingers flex against the sheets, wishing he was back in Florida. With Robbie. Enjoying the start of the holiday season.
As if reading his thoughts, Robbie's ringtone blares from Joaquin's phone in that exact moment and he exhales, gingerly rolling over to grab his phone from where it'd rolled when he'd dropped next to it. "Hey," he says lowly, eyes closed, arm thrown over the rest of his face to block out the light.
"Hey, are you ok?"
Joaquin feels guilty. As if Robbie doesn't have enough with Von Wagner to deal with, just when things there seemed to have been calming down, Von and Robbie's relationship stabilized and more solid than ever, it's now Joaquin's turn to be desperate, isolated. In pain. "Yeah," he exhales. "I'm fine." He's not. He's as far from fine as one could be, between LWO disbanding and Raul not being well enough to travel.
"You're a horrible liar," Robbie says softly, and Joaquin bites back a groan at how well his boyfriend can still read him after all of these years.
"Robbie..."
"I know, it's rough. I'm really sorry about that, but..." Robbie hums. "Well, it's December 1st. You know what that means."
"Did you put the tree up?" Joaquin asks. "You always do such a great job with it, bet it's really pretty. Can you send me a picture?"
"Actually," Robbie says, "I've decided to make an exception this year." Before Joaquin can even figure out how best to ask, Robbie chuckles. "I'm waiting until you're home, and you and I can put it up together. How does that sound?"
Joaquin is frozen, his eyes stinging as tears well up in them. "Really? You'd do that for me? I- I know how determined you are to have all of this done on day 1," he says weakly.
"I'd do anything for you, Z," Robbie says softly. "I would hope you know that by now."
"I do, it's just-" He exhales shakily, sniffling. "Just been a hard few weeks. You know."
"I do. That's why I'm going to wait for you. Because you deserve that, and more."
Joaquin can picture Robbie's smile as he rolls over and tries to get comfortable, the image always enough to bolster him through hard nights like this one. "I can't wait to be home," he murmurs.
"I can't wait either," Robbie murmurs. "I'll see you in the morning. And then we can get started on this tree."
Joaquin is the one to find himself smiling this time, relieved that Robbie is that thoughtful and caring, even after everything they both have been through the last year. "Thanks," he says. "Looking forward to it."
"Me too," Robbie says. "I miss you."
"Miss you too," Joaquin responds. "I love you."
"I love you too. See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." This time, when Joaquin drops back against his pillows and closes his eyes, he feels less stressed, eager to sleep so he can go home and spend time with his boyfriend, put all of this behind him until the next time he has to travel out for Smackdown.
It's not the greatest start to the holidays, but he can already feel Robbie changing it for the better.