Bodyslam

Meteora

A/N: Good news, my lovelies! I have a new chapter that I'm really proud of here, and I'm almost done with the next chapter (which I'm, dare I say, even more proud of)! That means I won't leave you hanging for weeks. Maybe a week because editing needs to happen, but I promise there's another chapter on deck!

"First of all, congratulations!"

Mitch drops his binder on the announce table with a thunk before sliding into the chair next to Kevin. He manages a tired smile. "The match rating?"

"Of course. Coffee hasn't kicked in yet? I expected a bigger smile for five stars."

Kev's dry observation draws a more animated grin. Mitch raises the enormous iced coffee he's holding in a toast. "Half lack of coffee, half still processing the news. I expected the cage match to do better."

"You guys told the better story by far and I'm not surprised in the least that you're the first one to put us on the five star list. How much time do I have you for today?"

"Plenty," Mitch replies after a gulp of coffee. "I need to get a workout and a couple meals in before class tonight cuz we slacked off yesterday; other than that it's all you."

"Awesome. Is Scott coming up at some point today?"

"Yeah, a little later. He needs to get a workout in too and for whatever reason we never use the fucking gym at home. Anyway, he's finishing that Youtube thing of his and he's got a couple calls to make, so sometime after that. Which actually reminds me, I wanted to run something past you."

Kev leans back in his chair, smiling widely. After this many years it shouldn't be so perplexing when he does the random big smiling thing but it is and here they are. "M'kay."

"Well," Mitch begins hesitantly. "So, Scott wanted to know if I could take a little time off. During the week, of course. He has this whole idea now about getting away to Vegas for a few days, and with everything going on he thought a little vacation might be helpful. And I don't disagree, it actually sounds amazing but shit's so crazy..."

"I will murder you with my bare hands if you don't go on vacation, Mitchell." Kev pleasantly interrupts his rambling. "Just tell me when you're going and I'll cover your classes."

"I mean, I don't wanna dump more work on...."

Kev holds up a hand. "Stop. I know you're stressed. You've never taken time off and you not only deserve it but you need the break. Tell me when it's happening and go on vacation. Don't forget how many times you've covered for me. Anything else or are you ready to go over my stuff?"

Well that was...remarkably easy. He thought there'd be more scheduling involved. And it's still a mildly uncomfortable idea, just taking off and abandoning his classes and training sessions and shit, but Kevin does have a point about how many times Mitch has stepped in when he's been out of town. And Kev is absolutely qualified to handle two or three classes, especially if he leaves detailed instructions and his binder. So it's not - it's not completely irresponsible.

Right?

"Yeah, let's do some work."

Kev nods and wordlessly shuffles through the stack of papers on the table in front of him before sliding a sheet in front of Mitch.

It's helpfully titled "PPV Buys - Final" at the top so it's clear what he's looking at as he scans the list of figures printed in neat rows.

"Oh," Mitch murmurs. He doesn't trust himself to say anything more. He's not sure he could say anything more in this moment, what with his heart starting to pound.