Flames

Messy, part 1

Charity work. Seth knew Becky would bristle at calling her title match with Maxxine that. For all her accolades, Becky still felt like an underdog and kept advocating for those she felt deserved more chances than they were being given. Sometimes it didn't work out so well—Xia Li and Tegan Nox were eventually released from the company, through no fault of hers—but there was no doubting she had helped boost the profiles of many of the now-undeniable women on the roster. Which group would Maxxine eventually fall into? Seth wasn't sure. She was definitely trying; he knew training with Nattie and TJ in the Dungeon was no joke. But Maxxine was still also glaringly green in the ring. A few weeks of accelerated training was no competition for decades in the business.

And yet Becky didn't seem all that concerned about looking weak. She was curled up on one of their tour bus couches to take his call, hugging the pug-shaped pillow Roux had insisted Seth get for her before she left home again. "There's the AJ factor," she explained, "although that's lost a bit of its shine since she's been gone so long, hasn't it?"

Seth shrugged. "Yes and no? I mean, yeah, it would have been better if she had been around more. You two would have been killing it on the mic. But on the other hand, if you never know if she's there, it makes her appearances more of a surprise and you could act all paranoid about it."

"Paranoid?" Becky's change in tone was so sudden that Seth almost wondered if he'd said something wrong, but then he saw her grin. "It's not paranoia if the company is working against you with corrupt referees and—"

"The Usos?" When Becky looked at him blankly, Seth sighed. "It's not paranoia; it's the Usos? It was in one of their themes."

"I'll have to look it up," Becky replied. "Roux's always listening to the yeeting one, so that's what's stuck in my head."

Seth had to laugh. Roux was back in a loving-wrestling phase, and that included listening to wrestling themes all the time—including when they were out for walks. So far, they had been fortunate enough to not be spotted by anyone who knew they were wrestlers, but he knew it was inevitable. "You think I should warn her that you're going to lose?" he asked. Roux was in the next room, having a video chat with his brother, and from what Seth could tell, they were currently discussing what dinosaur would make the best name for a football team.

Becky paused for a moment, tugging on the pillow pug's ears. "I don't know. What do you think? I mean, I know at some point, she has to learn to... process things as they're happening or whatever. Real life doesn't always come with spoilers. What kind of mood is she in?"

"She had a good day. There was a guest presenter at school, so you'll hear all about that when you talk to her," Seth reported. "And when I picked her up, she wanted to go to the park with a friend, so they played for a bit. Helped use up some of her energy. She in the other room talking to Brandon now."

Becky chuckled. "What a saint he is! You better not let her talk his ear off."

"Nah. He likes it. Where else can you get high-quality dinosaur conversations these days?" Seth waited until Becky was done laughing to continue. "Are you sure you're cool with all this?"

For a moment, he thought Becky was going to be coy and pretend not to know what he was talking about, but she sighed and rested her chin on the pug pillow. "Yeah. Mostly. I mean, I wish Maxxine's skills were further along, obviously, but the title's not going to grow if it's only being held by me, or even Lyra."

Lyra was another wrestler Becky thought was underutilized, and Seth agreed, but he also knew she couldn't elevate everyone on her own. "They could do an interesting program with her and Ivy," he suggested, hoping he sounded upbeat.

"That would be nice. They have history and all. Maybe they'll have Maxxine go visit NXT and accept a challenge from one of the girls there." Becky set the pug pillow aside and reached for a coffee. "I guess I shouldn't complain. At least they're doing something with the Intercontinental title. It must be so frustrating for the girls on SmackDown...."

More than once, Seth had questioned the logic of introducing two mid-card titles for the women so close together. It wasn't a matter of talent: he knew there were more than enough skilled women on the roster to create intriguing feuds with layered stories. The question was whether Creative would give them the material—and if they would get the screentime to do the stories justice. "Is that your way of saying you want to join Team Blue again?" he teased, trying to lift her spirits a bit before her scheduled title loss. "You and Giulia could have fun in a feud. Or you and Chelsea...."

"Oh, don't get me started on what me and Chelsea could do!" Becky was quiet for a moment, as if imagining all the possibilities. "And then I could finally fight Alba...."

"But Netflix loves you too much," Seth pointed out. "They'll want to keep you."

"Netflix has SmackDown almost everywhere but the US, doesn't it?" Becky sipped at her coffee and set it aside. "Well, I guess I can't become the first two-time Women's Intercontinental Champion unless I lose it once, right?"

Seth couldn't help but laugh. "That's one way of looking at it, yeah."

"And maybe it'll help reboot the feud with AJ. I really want that to happen—properly this time." Becky reached for a snack bowl, looked inside, and put it back.

"Meaning I don't have to watch you motorboat Punk again?" Seth laughed, but part of him was the slightest bit envious. Not of the motorboating—he was sure Becky would do that to him if he asked—but because of the chemistry Becky and Punk had. Wrestling-wise, Seth knew he and Punk were well matched, but somehow the promos never seemed to quite hit the mark the way Becky's interactions with Punk did.

"No one made you watch," Becky pointed out. "And it would have been easier if it were Roman—"

"No." Seth's tone was sharp, but he knew Becky could hear the laughter in it. Roman had already used Becky as ammunition against him once in a feud, and the only reason Seth didn't mind Becky being brought up again now with Punk was because he knew he and Punk were in similar positions. "Let's just go with 'No more motorboating' period."

"Fine, fine. We never had to explain that to Roux, did we?" Becky looked deep in thought for a moment. Neither of them made their promos too watered down, but they tried to make them so Roux could watch them without too much confusion on her part or discomfort on theirs.

Seth shook his head. "Thankfully." Then he paused for a moment. "I should probably let you go. Speaking of Roux, it's suspiciously quiet over there, so I should probably go check on her."

"Good plan. Give her a hug for me. I'll call back later. Love you." Becky blew him a kiss before the screen went dark.

Seth shut down the app and tucked his phone in his pocket as he rose to check on his daughter. Outwardly, Becky was handling the impending loss well, but he knew it rankled her at least a little bit. On the other hand, Roux would be very vocal about her displeasure. His favourite two girls in the world had very different ways of dealing with things, and he was still learning to navigate them both.