Flames

Top Wife Guy, part 1

 "It's a good night to be a top wife guy, isn't it?"

Seth wasn't expecting Punk to talk to him, not with AJ right there, introducing herself to Roux while Becky looked on proudly. He and Punk had gotten over their bitter animosity for the most part, though they still played it up on camera convincingly, if the internet chatter was any indication. There was a mutual respect between them now, however grudging, and even if they would never be best friends, Seth felt a vague kinship with his former rival. Must be the Chicago thing, he mused, through he knew it was far more. It was hard to survive in this business without compromising too much of yourself and Punk was one of the few who had managed it. "Always is," Seth replied, "but tonight especially, yeah." He glanced over to see Punk beaming at his wife. For as grumpy as Punk could be, AJ—and their dog Larry—seemed to have softened him somewhat. Seth could definitely relate. "I bet AJ's over the moon, huh? The crowd's going to lose it once they hear her music."

Punk laughed. "Imagine if it was a Becky fake-out, though?" He chuckled appreciatively. "The heat she would get would destroy planets, man."

"Trust me, she thought about it. Said she could skip down the aisle and everything." Seth shook his head in wonder. As much as Becky loved her fans and their loyalty, when she went heel, she was committed to being as obnoxious and unlikable as possible. "I think she even started looking for Chucks to wear...."

"Just ask April." Punk gestured over to his wife, who was kneeling beside Roux and helping the little girl take a pair of custom Chucks out of a box. "She's got connections, obviously."

"Between her and Naomi," Seth muttered, "my daughter's going to have more shoes than I do."

"Because you and your wife are completely innocent in that." Punk narrowed his eyes. "Somehow I doubt that, Rollins." Clearing his throat—and wincing a bit at Roux's ecstatic shriek upon putting on her new shoes—he added, "Thank you. And Becky too. I know you both pushed hard for this. AJ's... well, she's talked about coming back on and off over the years, but... you know. My standing made things difficult, and then I was in AEW, and she would have been welcome there, but it... it wasn't what she needed, you know? She had things she needed to prove here. She was never completely happy with the way she left."

Seth nodded. "Can't blame her for that. She was so far beyond what most of the women were doing at the time. It must have been frustrating as hell." With a small chuckle, he added, "Becky and the current crew complain about the women only getting one match on the PLEs and I know they're right, trust me, but then I think about what it was like in AJ's day when the women struggled to get on TV at all."

"Long way to go yet," Punk agreed, "but with women like Becky and Rhea and Bianca pushing for it and not settling, I think things will start getting better. AJ too, if she wants to stay around." He frowned a bit, then gave Seth a sharp look. "Not a word?"

It took Seth a moment to follow, but he nodded. The locker room attitudes were generally better now, but he could understand why Punk would still have reservations. "Of course."

"She's not sure how long she wants to stick around. Sure, she signed the contract and all, but there was a clause that said she could convert it to a Legends deal if she didn't want to be in the ring." Punk kept his voice low, but Becky and AJ were too busy chatting to pay attention to them. "And if that's what she needs, I respect that. But just having her here now?" He shook his head and sighed. "It feels too good, man. Too right. She was the last thing that kept me holding on to this place and even when I was in AEW, being away was hard. I don't want to get my hopes up—hey, look at those fancy feet!"

The sudden change in subject startled Seth until he looked down and saw Roux standing on one leg and shaking a foot to show off her new shoes. "Look, Dada! New shoes!"

"I see that, sweetheart. They look very comfy." Seth smiled as his daughter twirled around happily. "Did you say thank you?"

Roux nodded as she tugged on Becky's hand, drawing her mother into her impromptu dance.

AJ came up to his side and smiled sweetly. "I would have got Becky some denim shorts," she whispered, "but I didn't want you to get distracted."

Punk must have heard enough of what his wife said, because he laughed. "Yeah. Gotta keep those Bambi eyes in his head so he doesn't have any excuses when he loses."

"What's this about losing?" Becky piped up. "We're just giving AJ a nice warm welcome today, because we're locker room leaders and all."

"If we have to wait until WrestlePalooza to beat you," Punk replied, barely wincing at the awkward event name, "we're good with that."

AJ scrunched up her nose too. "Why does that sound like some knock-off wrestling toy my dad would have brought home for me from the dollar store?" Then she waved a finger at her husband. "Don't do the fake announcer voice. Don't." Turning back to Becky and Seth, she grinned and added, "You're sure you don't mind a few extra training sessions? I know you're busy."

"Not a problem," Seth assured her. "And I've talked to Marek and you two can use Black & Brave whenever you like. I know it's not the closest place for you, but the locals are usually pretty good with privacy and not being jerks."

A hint of anxiety shone in AJ's eyes. "Thanks. I've been keeping in shape, but... well, you know. It's not the same as being in the ring."

Becky managed to get Roux to stop dancing for a few moments and they were putting Roux's old shoes, abandoned for the rest of the night at least, into the box the Chucks came in. "Once you get back in the ring and start running the ropes," she said, "it'll all start coming back to you. When I started training after giving birth, it felt weird for a day or two, and then it's like my brain craved it."

"Tell me about it." Making sure he was a safe distance away from his wife, Seth added, "Apparently none of her pregnancy weight went to her elbows, because every time she elbowed me, it was like being stabbed."

"It was not. Ignore him." Becky ruffled her daughter's curls. "He just wasn't used to fighting someone so scrappy, that's all."

AJ beamed. "Well, you better get ready for more scrappy, because if I have to figure out how to put a Black Widow on that neck of yours, it's going to take a while."

Sensing that the discussion was turning more heavily towards business, Becky nudged Roux and pointed. "Look! There's Auntie Bayley! Why don't you go show off your new shoes? I'm sure she'd love to see them."

Roux never needed much convincing to talk with Bayley, and she was already running over when she called out, "Auntie Bayley! Look at my AJ shoes!"

With Roux safely distracted, Becky squared her shoulders. "Well, if AJ gets to put my hot husband in a move, it's only fair that I get to put her husband in a move—"

"You already gave him a low blow!" AJ replies, hands on hips.

Punk snorted. "I would have appreciated a little bit more indignation there, but I'll live."

While Becky and AJ debated how they would get to attack each other's husband, Punk listened with a mixture of amusement and wariness. For a moment, Seth wondered if, at least in this storyline, being a top wife guy was actually such a good thing, but then he saw the lively glint in Becky's eyes and the way AJ's hands moved faster and faster as she started talking about sequences. AJ's and Becky's careers were separated by years, but they had faced many of the same challenges, the same hurdles. Being able to watch them work together to tear down some of those walls would be an honour—even if he would be in a Black Widow while he was bearing witness.