Flames

Workhorse, Clotheshorse, part 1

Workhorse. It was turning into yet another wrestling cliche. Workhorse title, workhorse champion. Seth couldn't help himself, though. He hadn't fought so hard for so long to have his efforts go unnoticed. Earlier in his career, his ambition might have been more self-serving, but now it was for the whole industry: his coworkers, his students, other companies. He wanted the children of his generation of wrestlers to grow up knowing their parents, not losing them young to substance abuse. He wanted wrestlers to get healthy and stay healthy and prepare themselves for their lives after their time in the ring was done. He wanted to bring wrestling back to its hey-day, when it was must-see and breaking through to the mainstream.

He also wanted to learn a way to articulate that clearly, because he apparently hadn't yet, at least not according to Twitter.

Becky sighed as soon as she noticed he was looking at his phone. "What is it now?" He was sitting in the Black & Brave office and she gently shoved his feet off the desk so she could perch there. "Something with your Bears?"

Seth shook his head. At least she got the name right this time, he thought. Becky loved to tease him about football by feigning ignorance, so the fact that she wasn't meant he must have looked serious. "Just one of the interviews I did. They asked about Roman, so I answered...."

"Ah." Becky set down her coffee and stood up again, going behind the office chair and gripping Seth's shoulders. "And now people are acting like you're riddled with envy? Well, that's patently ridiculous. Everyone knows you're The Joker. Claudio could be a good Riddler, though. We should suggest that for Halloween. I could be Poison Ivy...."

Seth tilted his head back and smiled up at his wife. "Your distraction techniques are getting too obvious. You need to diversify."

Becky groaned and kissed his forehead. "I spend most of my time with you and Roux now," she pointed out, "and she's still pretty easy to distract, thank god."

"And me?" Seth turned his face to the side and kissed her hand.

"That depends on how much privacy is available," Becky laughed, kneading his shoulders. "If we have privacy? Very easy. If we don't... well, then it depends if I can whisper in your ear."

"Can't disagree there." Seth spun the chair around and grabbed Becky around the waist, pulling her down onto his lap. The chair protested a bit, but he knew it could handle both of them. "Yeah, so now I have to filter out the usual trash replies."

"Let me guess. Secondary title?" Becky tapped his arm for every point he made. "Consolation prize? Just envious of Roman's status? Waiting to jump ship to Hollywood? Cringe? Touch grass?"

Laughing, Seth nuzzled her neck. Becky caught even more shit than he did online, and most of the time she hadn't even done anything to deserve it. "I think cringe and touch grass have become meaningless now. I don't know what the new version is."

"Probably depends on whether you're on Threads or Hive or... there was a new one that started with a C, wasn't there?" Becky asked, resting her head against his.

"Don't ask me. I don't like any of them. If I knew how Jon got away with hardly any social media, I'd copy him in a second." Seth shut his eyes when Becky started stroking his hair. It was something so simple, but he still found it soothing. Sometimes Becky would find herself with Seth's head on one side of her lap and Roux's on the other, and she would joke that she finally had the curls she had always wanted. "Although I suspect that's because Renee handles it for him."

"Probably." Becky kept petting his hair, occasionally tugging on a curl; the randomness of it reminded him of Duck Duck Goose. "I know I saw something with Roman about you wishing you had his schedule," she said slowly, "but that was in character."