Flames

"Sorry about your ceiling", part 2

"Well, that wasn't our best night," Seth remarked after they had watched the highlights of the RAW episode that had just finished not even an hour before. Becky had been tagging with—and predictably abandoned by—Charlotte against Natalya and Trish Stratus, culminating in a pre-SummerSlam beating. Later he had hobbled out to confront Brock Lesnar and endure yet another mauling of his own; his impassioned vow to win back the Universal Championship hadn't moved the audience as much as he had hoped.

Becky was sitting back against him, half asleep if the laxness in her shoulders was any indication, and she reached up to toy with his hair. "But on the bright side, your hair was amazing. All those curls. . . ."

"Spoken like someone who's never had naturally curly hair," he laughed, nuzzling her hand.

"Oh, shut up. Your curls are lovely." Becky twisted around just enough to kiss him. "I should get some sort of clause put in writing that says you have to leave your hair down and dry more often." After a moment, she added, "And you have to stop attacking Lesnar, because I don't care what Creative says or what Heyman says, I don't trust him not to seriously hurt you one day."

"And what kind of writing would this clause be put in, hm?" Seth shut his eyes and rested his head against hers. "A pre-nup?" Before Becky could reply, he reached for his tablet. "How tired are you?" he asked, pressing the power button.

Even though her eyes were half shut, Becky's voice was still clear. "I won't turn into a pumpkin yet," she replied. "Why?"

"Remember that interview I did just before the ESPY Awards?" At the time, Becky had joked that Hunter must have scheduled it so that Seth couldn't distract her while she was getting ready, and it had made them both wonder if their frantic quickie before the MTV Awards earlier in the season had been more obvious than they thought. "It's going to be posted soon," Seth continued, opening a video file. "And since I got to see your commercial early, I thought it was only fair to give you the chance—"

Becky grabbed the tablet from him, turning so that she could wrap an arm around his waist and tuck her head under his chin. "I'm awake enough."

Seth tugged the tablet back and adjusted the volume. "The first bit's just about my childhood and stuff. Nothing new to you. We can fast forward if you want—"

"Nope." When Becky snuggled in closer, focussing on the screen as the interview began, Seth smiled into her hair. Most of the early interview was all things Becky had probably known even before they started dating, but she seemed happy to listen to them again. Around the twenty-minute mark, though, she flinched a bit. "Ah. 'Power couple'," she echoed. "That always bodes well for us. . . ."

"Just listen, Irish." Seth reached over to the bedside table and grabbed his tablet stand, setting it up on the bed so he could wrap both arms around her.

To her credit, Becky did listen for the first minute or so, but then she poked him in the ribs. "So I didn't look good enough for you to date before?" she quipped.

Seth quieted her with a kiss. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Now listen."

With a sigh, Becky settled back, and he could feel her blush spread as he talked about how they met, how they started dating, how he felt about her. "Well," she managed as the interviewer moved on to talking about the ESPY Awards, "I guess you're forgiven."

"Good." They both were quiet through the most of the middle of the interview, murmuring things back and forth. When he was detailing his average weekly schedule, they both laughed. "Yeah, I know. That's a good week, right?"

"These days, yeah." Becky stretched out her legs a bit, careful not to hit the tablet stand.

"Last question," Seth said, pointing at the clock at the bottom of the player.

"That's not ominous at all. . . ," Becky chuckled. He could feel the tension starting to settle into her shoulders, making her stiffen up a bit against him. "I know, I know: Just listen."

It hit me really hard earlier this year when I fell in love with Becky. Seth was surprised that he was the first to take a deep breath. After all the vitriol that had been aimed at them online, he knew Becky was wary about discussing their relationship any further; in fairness, the interviewer had offered to leave it off the table, but Seth couldn't imagine talking about his year and his growth without mentioning her, especially since she was so instrumental to both. I started to look forward to the second half of my life.

Becky made a strangled little sound and waved at the tablet. "Pause it," she mumbled, turning around to hug him and bury her face in his shoulder. "Pause it."

With Becky squeezing him, it took Seth a moment or two to pause the video, and he dragged the progress bar back to the start of his Are you happy? answer. "There's more, you know," he said gently, stroking her back. He could feel hot tears against his shoulder as Becky sank into him and he stayed quiet, rocking her gently.

She shook her head. "I can't see. I'm crying, you dope."

Seth laughed warmly and kissed her head. "Just listen, then." He jacked the volume up so Becky would be able to hear, even with her face pressed to his chest, and took the video off pause. And all these things I thought I never really was interested in—like being married, being a husband, having kids—started to feel like options for me in the future.

"When I can see past all these stupid tears, Colby Lopez, " Becky cursed, "you better not be holding a ring, I swear." She grabbed the edge of the blanket and dabbed at her cheeks. "I'm going to tell Roman you made me cry." She was laughing as she said it, though.

"There's no ring, I promise." It felt like an odd thing to be telling someone you loved, but very little about their relationship had been typical. "And don't tell Roman, because I've had enough beatings this past week or so."

After she had composed herself a little more, Becky finally raised her head. Her face was splotchy and tear-stained, her eyes wet and reddened, but the sheepish little smile on her lips meant everything to Seth. "At least you didn't call me your better half," she quipped weakly.

"Like I said, I've had enough beatings this week." Seth kissed her softly and swiped his thumbs across her cheeks. The video had already stopped and the tablet screen was starting to dim from inactivity, but neither paid it any mind. Listening to the interview again had taken Seth aback as well; he had sounded so confident, looked so content, and those were things he had always struggled with. How strange, then, that it took a fellow wrestler to help him see—and not only see, but look forward to—a life outside the business he loved so much and had focussed on so completely for his entire adult life.

Becky sat back a bit and stroked his beard. "You promise there's no ring?"

Seth held out both hands to show they were empty. "Not today." Then he grinned. "I can't make any promises about tomorrow, mind you. . . ."

"You're horrible." Becky fell back against his chest, smiling as she sniffled.

"Are you going to tell Roman that I didn't give you a ring now too?" Seth smoothed hair away from Becky's damp face. He knew how much she hated crying, so he tried to not dwell on it.

Becky just shook her head. "No. Because then he'd probably just call you a dumbass and take you ring shopping. Same with Naomi." She was quiet for a long moment before she pulled him down into a kiss. "Thank you, by the way."

"You could have led with that," Seth grinned, "instead of calling me horrible or threatening to tattle to Roman."

"And you could have been less goddamn sweet," Becky countered, her sternness somewhat undermined by her residual sniffles, "but here we are."

Seth wrapped his arms around her and brought her close. "Here we are," he agreed.