Alicia's words haunt Ricardo. The whispered cadence of her voice tickling against his skin, making his insomnia worse. Since leaving WWE, he's stagnated, he thinks. Grown complacent. Focused more on training than his own career; pushing those around him to be better, more determined in their own paths. Not that he would change anything that he's experienced the last few years, the time spent in India, in England, Australia and all of the other places.

Absentmindedly rubs his ankle as he sits on the couch and plays with the puppy, still learning his surroundings and getting to know his new owner. Ricardo smiles half-heartedly when he yips up at him, rolling and squirming around until he almost falls off onto the floor, Ricardo's hand the only guiding force that keeps him where he belongs. The apartment is quiet with Alicia back on tour with WWE; she hadn't been on Raw this week but Noam has a tag match on 205 Live, so he imagines she'll be around for that.

"I caused all of this, didn't I, puppy?" he mumbles, rubbing the dog's soft ears between his fingers. "I wasn't just lax in my career. I let Paige run off with Alberto. I let Alicia get swayed by Cedric. And now Dar..." His eyes darken, fix on the wall opposite of where he's sitting. "I've been weak. My younger self would be so ashamed of me by now." He scoffs and pillows his face in his arms, barely noticing when the dog starts to lick his face, whining at the emotions he's letting off as he thinks it all through. "I've let too much slip through my fingers."

Getting the puppy had been something he'd decided with no suggestion, no advice from anyone else. He'd wanted a dog, so he'd gotten it. Simple as that, and the first feeling of freedom he'd had in too long, especially with the world choking and strangling him with each headline he sees, every whisper from friend and foe alike. His soul screams out for his people, fear and uncertainty darkening each day, adding to his turmoil, and he's at his breaking point, can feel the shift in the air around him. The need for change.

Feel the rage. Feel the rage.

Feel the rage.

He sleeps there that night, on the couch, the puppy curled up against his side, head clearer than it's been in a long time. Alberto, Paige, Cedric, Noam, none of it matters anymore. He knows what he wants, what he needs. What he deserves.

He's staring at the sun sparkling against the ceiling when Alicia's car pulls up, the door slams as she gets out and heads for the apartment. Sits up and faces the front door as she stumbles in, dropping her bag and already griping about Neville's actions the night before, but none of it matters to Ricardo as he stands up, her anger, his dishevelment from sleeping on the couch irrelevant.

Her words finally die away and she stares at him, eyes wide, uncertain. His touch is gentle but possessive all at once. Fingers brushing along her jaw, against her lips, watching her skin flush as he presses closer. She lets out a soft, muffled noise, and he breathes in before his lips follow his hand, parting her lips and kissing her slowly. The sound she makes this time encourages him, guides him to move his fingers down her neck to brush against her collarbone. She closes her eyes, finds his hand and interlaces their fingers until he presses her against the wall, intent on deepening the kiss, reinforcing his point.

Alex became a jackass. Cedric was boring. Noam is a manchild trying to be more than he actually is. Ricardo is on Alicia's level though. They have the same kind of fire, the ability to fly off the handle at the smallest thing. He can ignore it by hiding behind yoga and meditation and all of those be better tropes all he wants, but in the end, at their core, they're the same kind of broken, angry people who can only understand each other until they burn the other to dust or take out the entire world around them. Or both.

Pulling away, he presses his forehead to hers and smiles in some, bitter kind of success as she gapes at him, her own lips shifting into a dark kind of grin that matches his own. There are so many things he's feeling, so much that he could say right here, but he settles for something simple. "I missed you."

She closes her eyes, kisses his nose, clings to him like letting go for even a second would shatter her into tenuous pieces. "I've missed you too."

Feel the rage...