After a quiet couple of days spent at home, Orange looks up from the couch when he hears a key in the door, watching as Hook enters the apartment and hesitates in the doorway, smiling at him. "Hey," Orange greets him.
"Hey." Hook deviates away from his usual path to the bathroom and leans in to press a quick kiss to Orange's lips. "You look comfortable."
"I am," Orange says with a small chuckle. "I think I fell asleep watching movies last night."
"Have you moved at all?" Hook teases.
"Yes, Hook, I've moved," he sighs. "A couple of times."
Hook laughs and steps back. "Gonna unload this. I'll see you in a little bit."
"Ok, see ya," Orange says, tilting his head back and listening as Hook makes his way into the bedroom, dropping his bag off. Things go quiet afterwards and Orange sighs, letting his eyes droop closed once more as he thinks about the week ahead, whatever might happen on the road to Forbidden Door and his match against ZSJ. And now Hook's tag match. He squints an eye open and looks around, frowning when he realizes the room is empty, the only sound Orange can hear being the soft droning of the TV.
He sits up a little, forcing himself to wake up a bit more once he glances at the clock and realizes almost a full hour has gone by without him being aware of it, the summer heat leaving him drowsy and even lazier than usual. "Hook?" he calls out, frown growing when he doesn't hear anything. Pushing himself up from the couch, he wanders towards the bedroom and looks around. Hook's bag is laying on the floor by the bed, but Hook himself... no. Orange checks the bathroom, then peers into the kitchen. There's no sign of him anywhere in the apartment. "What the..." Orange finds his phone, considering texting Hook to see where he is, but a thought comes to him and he stops short, looking towards the door. He sighs and stretches his arms up over his head before finding his shoes.
New York is stifling hot for this time of year, the humidity and temperature itself enough to leave things this side of miserable. But Orange shrugs it off and slips out of the window onto the fire escape, not surprised to find Hook sitting there, staring out over the skyline with his knees hugged to his chest. Orange sighs and pushes the window down before slumping down to sit next to Hook. "Hey," he says, pressing an arm against Hook's.
Hook exhales slowly. "Hey," he says. "I'm fine."
"Sure," Orange says calmly, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "Saw Collision." He observes as Hook tenses, which tells him a lot. "You, Shibata and Joe are starting to gel pretty well as a team."
"I guess," Hook says, his fingers twisting together in a way that looks more and more painful the longer Orange watches.
"And you get another opportunity against Jericho, Keith and Bill." If Orange hadn't been suspicious before, the way Hook leans forward and presses his face into his legs would be all the confirmation he'd need to know what has Hook sitting out here in the hottest part of the day, lost in thought. "Ok," he says quietly. "Talk to me, Hook, please. What's wrong?"
"Why would anything be wrong?" he mumbles into the fabric of his pants.
Orange rolls his eyes and taps Hook on the side, once. He then sits and waits for Hook to respond one way or another, almost always able to out-patient him in moments like these.
He's rewarded for waiting when Hook sits back a couple of minutes later and exhales, staring at the nearest building. "I just... I don't want to fail again."
Orange blinks. "Why are you worried about that?"
Hook closes his eyes, tilting his head back against the bricks and letting the sun beat down on his face. "Why wouldn't I be?" he grumbles. "I've lost the FTW title, I keep losing against Jericho. I've already disappointed my dad, and if I fuck this up and disappoint Joe and Shibata too, I..." He shrugs. "I just don't know."
Orange grimaces. "Listen, those situations were different. Jericho had to knock you out with a bat just to make you stop fighting. Then he needed Big Bill and Brian Keith to beat you and Shibata the second time. This time, things are even. There's three guys on each team. You don't think Joe knows what he's doing here?"
Hook sighs. "I don't know. Maybe he's put his faith in the wrong guy, maybe whatever he said he saw in me isn't really there, and Forbidden Door will be a sharp wake up call for us all."
Orange sits with that for a few moments, staring at Hook incredulously. "Hook," he says, quietly holding an arm out.
Hook forces his eyes open and peers over at him, exhaling unhappily.
Orange once more waits him out, watching closely as Hook seems to argue with himself for a few moments before finally pulling away from the wall and tipping over into Orange's side, Orange's lips twitching up as he wraps an arm around Hook, squeezing his shoulder gently. Orange presses a kiss to Hook's hairline and lingers there, letting his thoughts settle before he tries to find a way to reassure him. "You're underestimating yourself and Joe, I think," he says, lazily rubbing Hook's arm. "Joe obviously saw something in you when he wrestled you in January, and he saw you were getting in a bad cycle with Jericho always outnumbering you and eroding your confidence, so he pulled you out of it. But now you have to believe in yourself, and him, and Shibata."
"Easier said then done," Hook mumbles, burying his face in Orange's neck.
"I know, but I believe in you," Orange murmurs, his hand running up to card through Hook's hair. "And Taz believes in you. And Joe and Shibata believe in you. Just don't doubt that, alright? If you start to overthink things before Sunday again, just remember that."
"I'll try," Hook says.
Orange hums and continues brushing his fingers through Hook's hair while he fiddles with his phone with his free hand, calling a never used before number. He waits until he hears it click in before nudging Hook with it.
"What?" he asks, squinting suspiciously from Orange to his phone and back. "You didn't."
Orange merely smirks at him as he takes the phone reluctantly. "Hello?" His face twists and he swats half-heartedly at Orange. "Sorry, bro, didn't know he was calling you. No, uh, things are ok." Hook grimaces and tugs at his hair, Joe clearly not letting it go.
Orange leans against the wall and pays only some attention to Hook's side of the conversation, content when Hook admits a little bit of what he told Orange and Joe seems to echo what Orange had told him just a few minutes earlier, Hook's expressions shifting rapidly as he listens.
Orange smiles slightly when Hook gets off of the phone a few minutes later and huffs, nudging him before sinking back against his shoulder. "Feel better?" he asks, his fingers once more returning to Hook's hair.
"You're the worst," Hook sighs, tilting his head so he can look up at Orange.
"Love you too," Orange tells him calmly, and Hook shakes his head, shifting up to press a kiss to Orange's lips.
"How did you even get his number?" Hook mumbles.
"I have my ways," Orange says.
"So Dad gave it to you." He shakes his head. "Thank you."
Orange smiles. "You're welcome."
Hook takes a couple more minutes, resting against Orange's shoulder, before standing up and holding a hand out to him. "Come on, it's fucking hot out here, let's go back inside. What were you watching?"
Orange smiles and takes his hand, letting himself get pulled to his feet as they walk back inside, Hook shoulder to shoulder with him as they debate what to watch next.