A/N: I have a ko-fi page now! If you want to help me stay caffeinated to keep the words flowing, my account name over there is corneroffandom. Thank you! Either way, enjoy the chapter.
After watching UFC, Ricardo is eager to return to wrestling training. Alicia has already left for Raw this week and he tries not to worry too much about her match against Ronda. He paces around the house, playing on his phone, and teasing the puppy as she runs around his legs. He sees a poster including all of the non-caucasian women, including Alicia, on twitter, so he RTs it. Leaning down to stroke Harley's nose as she paws at him, he smiles. "Gotta support our girl where we can, right, Harley?" He sighs. "I hope her match goes alright. Our wedding is less than two months away now. She wouldn't find a broken arm very fashionable."
He sighs and crates Harley before heading out for the renovated Hybrid School. He loves this place, how well it's all coming together so quickly. Pride urges him to tweet Mike and Maryse, offering them use of his school. Mike is always filming something somewhere, and he thinks maybe Heath would be interested in doing something between their schools. Neither responds immediately and he shrugs, turning his focus to his students and other responsibilities waiting for him.
Once he's finished, there are DMs waiting for him- Mike thanking him for the offer and promising to consider it in the future, and Maryse informing him she'd let Heath know so maybe they could figure something out between their two schools perhaps. He thinks that's about as well as he could hope for, pocketing his phone and heading home to pass the time until he gets to come back for more training. He has private lessons in the morning, and then nothing much to do until Raw.
The more time goes by, the more anxious he feels. Alicia seems calm, not too disturbed, whenever they talk on the phone, but he thinks she's being overly optimistic. He closes his eyes and presses his knuckles into his temples, rubbing in slow circles. "Just try to take care of yourself, ok? I love you, Alicia."
"I love you too," she tells him. "I'll call you as soon as the match ends. Ricardo?"
"Yeah?"
"It's going to be ok. I promise you."
"I hope so," he says softly. They exchange byes and he turns back to playing with the dog while absentmindedly watching the start of Raw. He half-pays attention, curious about a few things but all in all too focused on what might happen with Alicia later. He smiles when they give Alicia a hype package before the match, sitting a little straighter when the match begins. Alicia comes out to Alexa's theme music, which makes Ricardo roll his eyes a little, but then Alexa hypes her up, talking about her being the first African American Divas Champion, and how she's been such a long lasting WWE competitor, which makes Alicia swell with pride. It all comes to an end when Ronda comes to the ring, accompanied by Natalya.
Alicia tries, she does, but even with Alicia and Natalya's distractions, Ronda keeps fighting back and fighting back and eventually locks her in the armbar, Alicia quickly tapping. Ricardo breathes a little easier when Ronda lets her go quickly enough, not repeating what she did to Stephanie McMahon all of those months ago.
Alicia is safe and within ten minutes, he's talking to her on the phone, her voice soothing whatever remains of his anxiety. "You're ok?"
"I will be," she promises him softly. "I know I lost... but I'm still happy. I was Ronda's first match on Raw, and I main evented for the first time in my career. Not a lot of women have done that, you know?"
He smiles. "I'm proud too, Alicia. You deserve all of this. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yes, you will." She blows a few kisses into the phone. "Get some sleep, I'll be home as soon as I can."
"Alright. Good night, Alicia. I love you."
"I love you too," she says.
He listens to her breathe for a few moments before she hangs up, Ricardo pressing the end button a few times too, putting his phone down. "Guess she's ok," he tells Harley with a smile. "And she wants me to get some sleep." He does feel pretty exhausted, body not even willing to wait for him to get to bed before his eyes get heavier, and his body sinks into the cushions, the warm weight of his dog across his legs helping him drift further into sleep. 'Good night, Harley," he says, voice fading away as he falls asleep right then, right there on the couch.
He wakes up the next morning to Alicia kissing him hello and he sighs, eyes fluttering as he strokes her arm, searching for any swelling or anything out of the ordinary. "I'm ok," she promises him, kissing him again. "Great, now, actually." He wraps his arms around her and she smiles into his chest. "Did you forget you have a suit fitting later?" she asks and he tenses up, groaning. "It'll go really fast, I promise you." She laughs. "Come on." Standing up, she tangles her fingers with his and draws him up off of the couch. "You'll bet the most handsome groom ever. But first..." She smirks at him. "Coffee."
"You're beautiful," he says, something he thinks every time he looks at her, but saying it with special enthusiasm at the mention of coffee.
She just laughs and draws him out into the kitchen to get some food and drink into him before they begin focusing on wedding plans.
