Post by Ziggy Morgan on Sept 10, 2021 18:54:28 GMT -5
I never signed up for any of this.
Or, like, maybe I did and just didn’t know it until it was too late?
Didn’t matter. None of it really did. Fucking morose as it sounded? None of this shit mattered without her. I hate sounding like a shitty character in someone’s shittier story, but everything was so much worse with her gone. Water was drier, the sun was dimmer, weed didn’t get me high the same. And smiling? That shit came to a full on stop. I couldn’t even enjoy what Knox had done to that clown, or be infuriated at what they did to Hope.
I had barely come out of Tirri’s guest room since getting in from the hotel. They were aware of what was going on, and he poked his head in once in awhile but thankfully they understood giving me space. Who wants to see a grown man cry, or look like he’s about to at any given second anyway?
Fucks like Sykes, Morgan, Myojin? All these people that divebombed and started getting in her head, twisting her up and triggering her. I couldn’t stop it. It felt like having my dick ripped off and shown to me. What the fuck could I do? Take her phone, forbid her from twitter? Fuck no. That ain’t me. She spent plenty of time being dictated to and pushed around in the life before ours, i’d be fucked sideways with a 12 gauge before I became anything like them.,
A sniffle as I sat up from the bed. I hadn’t changed clothes, showered, anything since Devil May Cry. I just remember waking up with Knox cradling me like a fucking baby, shoving him away. We yelled, I freaked out, blamed him even though I knew even as the words flew out that he wasn’t at fault. Then I came here, and dodged the questions for half a day before Tirri demanded answers.
How could I not dodge them? Failure was like ash in the mouth and a knife in the gut. The suffering was real.
Real as her absence.
Another sob threatened to crush me as I reached back to her side of the bed, running my hand over the emptiness. I feel my head bow, pulled down and weighed by the sorrow.
Then, a notification.
I had ignored twitter for the most part, resolved not to deal with anything outside of being depressed.But this was a DM so hey, why the fuck not, right?
Was it really 4 in the afternoon?
My heart skipped a beat.
Nao.
It was her.
She was alive. And she had her phone!
The next hour was a feverish attempt at trying to find out where she was, but between her lucidity and the fact that I am not a fucking PI despite doing my best to play one on TV it proved difficult. They had installed something to throw off her location, maybe a VPN? I had her all but wipe the phone, waited, and tried to track her again.
Then she went silent.
But I got something.
I, Got. Something.
Riverside, huh?
Bet, Bitch!
The smog of the Inland Empire was always Bert’s least favorite part of the place. And his least favorite part of his least favorite shithole? Riverside. Exactly where the fuck it pinged her. He had a list of apartments in the area pulled up on his phone. And in probably the smartest move of his young life, he didn’t come alone to look for her. A glance to the shotgun seat as they pull off the I-15.
“Thanks for comin, yo...just hope your dad doesn’t freak.”
“If he does, I’ll deal with it.” came the gruff reply from Donny Mason. The 6’10’’ man looking serious as he stared at the road ahead. “You got a plan I hope? Or are we going to just tear the place apart brick by brick?”
“That’s the thing, yo. I aint even sure what the place is. The ping google gave me was more a ‘general area’ thing. Probably got cut off in the middle of locating her..” he trailed off with a sigh “I guess, this is the part where I tell you what’s really up huh? Although i’m guessin you got a small idea, since you work for that bitch Banch in SWWS. Congrats by the way on the W.”
Bert came to a stop at a light, fingers drumming on the steering wheel.
“She was the victim of human trafficking, yo. Her issues, with lucidity? Mix of the after affect of the life, the drugs and a gunshot wound to the head. If you look, there’s a scar behind her ear…” he sighs again, sneering “And the people she escaped from, the ones who started all this? They want her back. Been chasing us for a while. Some dude had a rifle pointed at our room a month or two back, I snuck up on him and beat the shit out of him, left him naked in the mountains...:” a laugh.
“I know it sounds crazy yo, but it aint a lie Donny.”
Donny glanced to his side, seeing worry on the features of his friend. He shook his head and chuckled. “Honestly? Not even the craziest story I’ve heard. Part of me says I was better off not knowing but I’m glad you told me. I assume pops isn’t to be informed?” He paused, staring outside. “I’d assume if he was to know, Knox woulda told him.”
The big man sighed a bit and cracked his knuckles. “You got any hardware Bert? Since you mentioned a guy with a rifle I’m wondering if fists are gonna be enough here”
“Pistol in the glove box. I was gonna take the rifle but it was gone when I got back, which...says a lot about who we’re dealing with..” a pause “That’s the other thing though, this wasn’t the same people. I got my suspicions, that it was that Johnny Sykes fuckbag. Because another girl, involved in all this? She’s been kind of a mole for me. Told me Ahmya hasn’t turned up over there so...this was an outside job. I just don;t fuckin know why.”
He shakes his head as the light finally changes and they drive on, the area they enter decidedly on the nicer end of things. But hey, it was organized crime, yo. Those dudes don’t cheap out.
“I think your Dad is gonna catch on eventually. He made some comment on twitter about noticing some shit, and much shit as we give him the dude is sharp as a tack.” Bert shook his head “And Knox? Shit..I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but he’s like balls deep in this shit too. Literally. He married a mole on the inside and now they’re all...I dunno, playing action hero.” he shook his head, spitting out the window “Making shit worse some days, I swear.”
In response to Bert’s revelation, Donny gave a weary chuckle. “Kamari. Kamari is your mole. Pops keeps grumbling how Knox isn’t exactly being subtle about her, but the fact that he refuses to own up to it is killing pops. Anyway…” He opens the glovebox and picks the pistol up, doing a quick check of it. “You ever used one of these Bert? Just wondering whether I should keep it or hand it over to you.” He gave him a pointed look. “Did two years in the british army before mum got sick enough that she needed a fulltime carer in case you wondered”
“Probably better with you, then. I’ve held and pointed em more than used em..” a chuckle “Used to hold up winos when I was going through a shitty phase...keep that under your hat, though. Like if it became public? Kamari and Knox probably both get done in.” he lets the silence hang in the air as he pulls up to a curb, lifting his phone and double checking “This is the first place..there’s like, five buildings yo. Just gotta stake out, peep and handle shit as it comes..”
He unbuckles his seatbelt, getting comfortable “But hey, while we’re talking women...you and Avalon? That real or just fucking with the old guys?”
“Just fucking with the old guys, atleast for now. We do get along swimmingly so who knows” Donny replied, staring outside. “I got no plans to get involved with anyone, not soon atleast. Last whirlwind romance I witnessed ended up with me sitting in a car in California staking out some human traffickers.” he shrugged. “Speaking of which, got any idea who or what we’re looking for? I doubt they’re gonna let her walk outside”
"Nope." He replied honestly, checking his phone "All I got to go on is Sykes, and a tall guy she mentions. But, SWWS has those parking stickers like Level Up right? Let's us in the talent parking area? I figure we scope for those.."
He grimaced "All this assuming it was Sykes.." he took a swig from the water bottle that had been resting since Nevada "She says she's okay. So like...it's not life or death but it's still fucking kidnapping, yo."
Donny nodded in response. “Aye. I’ll keep my eyes peeled. What do you reckon, once we find the right place… Are we gonna get her out by talking or is this gonna get nasty? Or worse, bloody? I can explain bruises and cuts to Pops as a bar brawl and all he will gripe about is not being invited, but if I show back home with a hole in me, he’s gonna lose it.” The big man fiddles with the pistol a bit, trained or not, he didn’t enjoy them. Didn’t enjoy the prospect of taking a life, especially not with such ease. “You probably shoulda called that Rivers-woman. Queenie or something. I bet the masked fuck of hers coulda stormed the castle or something…”
“Not that I don’t appreciate the vote of confidence.”
"I need heart, not crazy." Bert replied with an even tone "We go in and take her, use the gun as a prop if we have to. Otherwise we just bash their damn heads in and take her for ice cream." A nod
"We'll get it out without bloodshed. Just gotta be smart."
“Smart…” Donny shook his head. None of this was smart, but he knew smart wasn’t an option. “I sincerely hope we find her. I’ve kinda grown to like her. She’s like the big sister I never had. It’s… weird. You know what I mean dude?” he sighed. “And here I thought backstage politicians and crooked bookers were the biggest problem I was gonna face in the biz.”
"It usually is but, like...think about it dude. In Japan, Mexico? They start training as young as like, 9 yo. Even if ten thousand people are on the up and up theres probably as many who use that for their sick fetishes." He shakes his head in disgust.
"These people though...they bought her and her sister. Had em singing until they quit looking like thirteen year old dolls. Switched them to wrestling. Ahmya got away…." He trails off, shaking his head "Fuck this."
He gets out of the car then, motioning for Donny to follow as he heads for the entrance. The pair of Short Change Heroes do get in, Bert ringing the bell like an annoying kid before an older lady approaches.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, yo.." he clears his throat "I'm Ron, this is Dan. We're with strippergram. Here to see...well I'll be honest the clients name is kind of hard to pronounce. What apartment is the little, short hair Asian girl in? Twenty somethin? Stupid pretty?"
A suspicious look until she eyes Donny's physique. She turns to her laptop, after a few keystrokes "Apartment 32B. How long is the show, tiger?" Old lusty lady. Nice.
"Long as the singles keep flowing. Appreciate you! Let's go meat man." And Bert headed out the door.
“Meat man?” Donny whispered to Bert, not quite sure if he should be flattered or offended. “Good improvisation there though. Good way to make sure I never tell this to Pops, he’d never let me live it down” He chuckled, but then went serious, acutely aware of the cold steel of the pistol pressing on his back. “32B. There.” he pointed towards a door. “You do the talking, I’ll stand behind you and look menacing. I can easily wallop them over your head short stuff” that last part was a return jab for meat man, and a way for Donny to calm his nerves.
Bert laughed "Hey man, she was looking at you like a piece of." The pair made their way to the door, Bert tried peeking in but the curtains were drawn. They were hiding something. He went to the door and knocked.
Nothing.
Knock knock
From inside, a small scream.
Fuck this
Bert threw himself into the door. And bounced off. Fuck.
Donny grabbed his shoulder to move him aside with ease, took a step back and bumrushed the door, which gave in with a loud crack, and Donny found himself tumbling in like a falling oak tree. “Ahmya??” He hollered, climbing to his feet, with Bert hot on his heels shouting for the girl.
But instead of the one they were seeking, they found something else as a dumbfounded couple on the couch stared up to the pair who had broken into the house, their state of undress and positioning making it obvious that they weren’t just busy, but GETTING busy. Donny puts 2 and 2 together and grabs Bert by the scruff of the neck and yanks him out of the house, picking him up and taking off running. “Fucking hell that wasn’t what we were looking for” he groaned as he turned the corner and put Bert down. “What the fuck was that???”
"A misdemeanor." He replied, his tone defeated as he punched the wall by them "FUCK!" he declared before plopping down and removing his beanie to run a hand through his hair. "You know that Sykes dude? He said something, stuck with me.."
Bert looked off down the street, wringing his beanie in his hands "Said I was taking advantage of a sick girl, yo...and like, normally shit people say don't mean shit but like…" he sighs "I've wondered the same shit, you know?"
“Fuck Sykes” Donny spat out with a frustrated groan. “I saw you with her. The way she looks at you. The way she acts around you. The way YOU act around her. Thats not fucking taking advantage. Trauma or not Bert, that girl loves you. Genuinely loves you. And the fact that we are here, in middle of Hicksville, California on the thinnest of leads tells me you love her. Genuinely. So fuck Sykes, and fuck anyone who tries to gaslight you into believing anything else.” He underlined his words by following Berts lead and punching the wall, leaving a dent on it. “Fuck em all.”
Bert looked up to the dent, then to his friend. He nodded before averting his gaze downward "The shit I get into, yo." He reached into his hoodie, pulling out a joint and sparking up "You're a good friend, Donny. We appreciate you and your dad tryin to help." He takes a puff, offering it to Donny before blowing the smoke out and continuing.
"This was inevitable. She's not with the ones who took her at least but.." a laugh "I'm just repeating shit now. Whole thing is fucked off."
Donny takes the joint and inhales deeply. He wasn’t a smoker, cigarettes or weed, but right now the situation was so absurd he didn’t care. He coughed a bit afterwards and shook his head. “Understatement of the century. If I had any sense I’d just walk off and never talk to you ever again. But then again… Sense isn’t something I’ve been blessed with from my genes. It’s fucked, but at least you ain’t alone with this shit. I know what it’s like to lose someone you love way too soon. No way in hell am I gonna watch you go through it Bert. We’ll get through this.” He patted Bert on the top of the head. “And she will too. Or there’s hell to pay.”
"Damn right." Came the reply. The two spent a good minute there medicating, before finding themselves seated at a taco truck feeding the munchies and laughing at the absurdity of life.
It was a salve. It numbed shit.
But it was gonna work out. For better, or way fucking worse. For them.
The camera cuts on to a dimly lit bedroom. Bert’s legs are seen walking from it as it comes on, he plops on the bed. He looks decidedly disheveled, eyes bloodshot and hair a mess. He lets out a sigh, gaze going everywhere but the lens.
“Some shit..you just can’t put into words.” he croaks out, voice hoarse for the same reason his eyes are red and puffy “I can’t get into shit, but I guess this is me saying that i’m not sure Ahmya will be present for our title defense..” he trails off, going silent. After a moment he clears his throat hardly, and continues.
“Al Fresco, I ain’t gonna front. You got the same ‘it’ factor me and Ahmya do. Couple weirdos who shouldn’t be as good as they are. But, then, I guess that’s all of Level Up huh? Island of broken toys who shouldn’t be the best damn roster in wrestling, but are.” a small chuckle, a sniffle and a sigh.
“It doesn’t matter though. If I show up alone, i’m still fighting for our gloves. Because when she comes back - and she will be back- I’m gonna make sure that her glove is waiting for her like I am.” another beat of silence, a scoff “Besides, I ain’t gettin beat by the stuck up bitch who got lucky by beating her with a roll-up at dead by daylight. So, Andre get your fuckin fancy palet ready for some creme de la Bert, bitch. You can wash it down with some Bong Water. Careful though, I heard it knocks folk on their ass. Especially light weight, light footed phony tough guys like you.”
“What’s it like being defined by one lucky fight against some has-been ‘legend’, dude? Can’t imagine being that close to irrelevancy..but hey, when this goes to shit i’ll come to your Dennys and you can make me a Grand Slamwich, bitch.”
“Then there’s your partner. Rich and ginger. At least you were born as soulless as a CEO, my dude. Must have made the rest of the corporate bullshit that much easier. But that easy life?” he finally cracks a smirk, breaking up the morose appearance if only for a couple of seconds “It ends at EXP, yo. Because whether it’s me and her, or just me? I ain’t goin down without a fight, if I go down at all yo. This shit means too much to me right now, it’s…”
“It’s all I got.”
He lets out a shaky exhale, scoffing to clear his throat and reaching for a joint. He sparks up brazenly on camera, taking a puff to calm his nerves.
“Beauty and the Bong. That’s our tag name by the way, so..Al Fresco. Even if the Beauty isn’t there to steal the show? You’re not gonna be able to handle a hit off the Bong. And I promise the both of you that….
Bitch.”
Or, like, maybe I did and just didn’t know it until it was too late?
Didn’t matter. None of it really did. Fucking morose as it sounded? None of this shit mattered without her. I hate sounding like a shitty character in someone’s shittier story, but everything was so much worse with her gone. Water was drier, the sun was dimmer, weed didn’t get me high the same. And smiling? That shit came to a full on stop. I couldn’t even enjoy what Knox had done to that clown, or be infuriated at what they did to Hope.
I had barely come out of Tirri’s guest room since getting in from the hotel. They were aware of what was going on, and he poked his head in once in awhile but thankfully they understood giving me space. Who wants to see a grown man cry, or look like he’s about to at any given second anyway?
Fucks like Sykes, Morgan, Myojin? All these people that divebombed and started getting in her head, twisting her up and triggering her. I couldn’t stop it. It felt like having my dick ripped off and shown to me. What the fuck could I do? Take her phone, forbid her from twitter? Fuck no. That ain’t me. She spent plenty of time being dictated to and pushed around in the life before ours, i’d be fucked sideways with a 12 gauge before I became anything like them.,
A sniffle as I sat up from the bed. I hadn’t changed clothes, showered, anything since Devil May Cry. I just remember waking up with Knox cradling me like a fucking baby, shoving him away. We yelled, I freaked out, blamed him even though I knew even as the words flew out that he wasn’t at fault. Then I came here, and dodged the questions for half a day before Tirri demanded answers.
How could I not dodge them? Failure was like ash in the mouth and a knife in the gut. The suffering was real.
Real as her absence.
Another sob threatened to crush me as I reached back to her side of the bed, running my hand over the emptiness. I feel my head bow, pulled down and weighed by the sorrow.
Then, a notification.
I had ignored twitter for the most part, resolved not to deal with anything outside of being depressed.But this was a DM so hey, why the fuck not, right?
Was it really 4 in the afternoon?
My heart skipped a beat.
Nao.
It was her.
She was alive. And she had her phone!
The next hour was a feverish attempt at trying to find out where she was, but between her lucidity and the fact that I am not a fucking PI despite doing my best to play one on TV it proved difficult. They had installed something to throw off her location, maybe a VPN? I had her all but wipe the phone, waited, and tried to track her again.
Then she went silent.
But I got something.
I, Got. Something.
Riverside, huh?
Bet, Bitch!
The smog of the Inland Empire was always Bert’s least favorite part of the place. And his least favorite part of his least favorite shithole? Riverside. Exactly where the fuck it pinged her. He had a list of apartments in the area pulled up on his phone. And in probably the smartest move of his young life, he didn’t come alone to look for her. A glance to the shotgun seat as they pull off the I-15.
“Thanks for comin, yo...just hope your dad doesn’t freak.”
“If he does, I’ll deal with it.” came the gruff reply from Donny Mason. The 6’10’’ man looking serious as he stared at the road ahead. “You got a plan I hope? Or are we going to just tear the place apart brick by brick?”
“That’s the thing, yo. I aint even sure what the place is. The ping google gave me was more a ‘general area’ thing. Probably got cut off in the middle of locating her..” he trailed off with a sigh “I guess, this is the part where I tell you what’s really up huh? Although i’m guessin you got a small idea, since you work for that bitch Banch in SWWS. Congrats by the way on the W.”
Bert came to a stop at a light, fingers drumming on the steering wheel.
“She was the victim of human trafficking, yo. Her issues, with lucidity? Mix of the after affect of the life, the drugs and a gunshot wound to the head. If you look, there’s a scar behind her ear…” he sighs again, sneering “And the people she escaped from, the ones who started all this? They want her back. Been chasing us for a while. Some dude had a rifle pointed at our room a month or two back, I snuck up on him and beat the shit out of him, left him naked in the mountains...:” a laugh.
“I know it sounds crazy yo, but it aint a lie Donny.”
Donny glanced to his side, seeing worry on the features of his friend. He shook his head and chuckled. “Honestly? Not even the craziest story I’ve heard. Part of me says I was better off not knowing but I’m glad you told me. I assume pops isn’t to be informed?” He paused, staring outside. “I’d assume if he was to know, Knox woulda told him.”
The big man sighed a bit and cracked his knuckles. “You got any hardware Bert? Since you mentioned a guy with a rifle I’m wondering if fists are gonna be enough here”
“Pistol in the glove box. I was gonna take the rifle but it was gone when I got back, which...says a lot about who we’re dealing with..” a pause “That’s the other thing though, this wasn’t the same people. I got my suspicions, that it was that Johnny Sykes fuckbag. Because another girl, involved in all this? She’s been kind of a mole for me. Told me Ahmya hasn’t turned up over there so...this was an outside job. I just don;t fuckin know why.”
He shakes his head as the light finally changes and they drive on, the area they enter decidedly on the nicer end of things. But hey, it was organized crime, yo. Those dudes don’t cheap out.
“I think your Dad is gonna catch on eventually. He made some comment on twitter about noticing some shit, and much shit as we give him the dude is sharp as a tack.” Bert shook his head “And Knox? Shit..I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but he’s like balls deep in this shit too. Literally. He married a mole on the inside and now they’re all...I dunno, playing action hero.” he shook his head, spitting out the window “Making shit worse some days, I swear.”
In response to Bert’s revelation, Donny gave a weary chuckle. “Kamari. Kamari is your mole. Pops keeps grumbling how Knox isn’t exactly being subtle about her, but the fact that he refuses to own up to it is killing pops. Anyway…” He opens the glovebox and picks the pistol up, doing a quick check of it. “You ever used one of these Bert? Just wondering whether I should keep it or hand it over to you.” He gave him a pointed look. “Did two years in the british army before mum got sick enough that she needed a fulltime carer in case you wondered”
“Probably better with you, then. I’ve held and pointed em more than used em..” a chuckle “Used to hold up winos when I was going through a shitty phase...keep that under your hat, though. Like if it became public? Kamari and Knox probably both get done in.” he lets the silence hang in the air as he pulls up to a curb, lifting his phone and double checking “This is the first place..there’s like, five buildings yo. Just gotta stake out, peep and handle shit as it comes..”
He unbuckles his seatbelt, getting comfortable “But hey, while we’re talking women...you and Avalon? That real or just fucking with the old guys?”
“Just fucking with the old guys, atleast for now. We do get along swimmingly so who knows” Donny replied, staring outside. “I got no plans to get involved with anyone, not soon atleast. Last whirlwind romance I witnessed ended up with me sitting in a car in California staking out some human traffickers.” he shrugged. “Speaking of which, got any idea who or what we’re looking for? I doubt they’re gonna let her walk outside”
"Nope." He replied honestly, checking his phone "All I got to go on is Sykes, and a tall guy she mentions. But, SWWS has those parking stickers like Level Up right? Let's us in the talent parking area? I figure we scope for those.."
He grimaced "All this assuming it was Sykes.." he took a swig from the water bottle that had been resting since Nevada "She says she's okay. So like...it's not life or death but it's still fucking kidnapping, yo."
Donny nodded in response. “Aye. I’ll keep my eyes peeled. What do you reckon, once we find the right place… Are we gonna get her out by talking or is this gonna get nasty? Or worse, bloody? I can explain bruises and cuts to Pops as a bar brawl and all he will gripe about is not being invited, but if I show back home with a hole in me, he’s gonna lose it.” The big man fiddles with the pistol a bit, trained or not, he didn’t enjoy them. Didn’t enjoy the prospect of taking a life, especially not with such ease. “You probably shoulda called that Rivers-woman. Queenie or something. I bet the masked fuck of hers coulda stormed the castle or something…”
“Not that I don’t appreciate the vote of confidence.”
"I need heart, not crazy." Bert replied with an even tone "We go in and take her, use the gun as a prop if we have to. Otherwise we just bash their damn heads in and take her for ice cream." A nod
"We'll get it out without bloodshed. Just gotta be smart."
“Smart…” Donny shook his head. None of this was smart, but he knew smart wasn’t an option. “I sincerely hope we find her. I’ve kinda grown to like her. She’s like the big sister I never had. It’s… weird. You know what I mean dude?” he sighed. “And here I thought backstage politicians and crooked bookers were the biggest problem I was gonna face in the biz.”
"It usually is but, like...think about it dude. In Japan, Mexico? They start training as young as like, 9 yo. Even if ten thousand people are on the up and up theres probably as many who use that for their sick fetishes." He shakes his head in disgust.
"These people though...they bought her and her sister. Had em singing until they quit looking like thirteen year old dolls. Switched them to wrestling. Ahmya got away…." He trails off, shaking his head "Fuck this."
He gets out of the car then, motioning for Donny to follow as he heads for the entrance. The pair of Short Change Heroes do get in, Bert ringing the bell like an annoying kid before an older lady approaches.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, yo.." he clears his throat "I'm Ron, this is Dan. We're with strippergram. Here to see...well I'll be honest the clients name is kind of hard to pronounce. What apartment is the little, short hair Asian girl in? Twenty somethin? Stupid pretty?"
A suspicious look until she eyes Donny's physique. She turns to her laptop, after a few keystrokes "Apartment 32B. How long is the show, tiger?" Old lusty lady. Nice.
"Long as the singles keep flowing. Appreciate you! Let's go meat man." And Bert headed out the door.
“Meat man?” Donny whispered to Bert, not quite sure if he should be flattered or offended. “Good improvisation there though. Good way to make sure I never tell this to Pops, he’d never let me live it down” He chuckled, but then went serious, acutely aware of the cold steel of the pistol pressing on his back. “32B. There.” he pointed towards a door. “You do the talking, I’ll stand behind you and look menacing. I can easily wallop them over your head short stuff” that last part was a return jab for meat man, and a way for Donny to calm his nerves.
Bert laughed "Hey man, she was looking at you like a piece of." The pair made their way to the door, Bert tried peeking in but the curtains were drawn. They were hiding something. He went to the door and knocked.
Nothing.
Knock knock
From inside, a small scream.
Fuck this
Bert threw himself into the door. And bounced off. Fuck.
Donny grabbed his shoulder to move him aside with ease, took a step back and bumrushed the door, which gave in with a loud crack, and Donny found himself tumbling in like a falling oak tree. “Ahmya??” He hollered, climbing to his feet, with Bert hot on his heels shouting for the girl.
But instead of the one they were seeking, they found something else as a dumbfounded couple on the couch stared up to the pair who had broken into the house, their state of undress and positioning making it obvious that they weren’t just busy, but GETTING busy. Donny puts 2 and 2 together and grabs Bert by the scruff of the neck and yanks him out of the house, picking him up and taking off running. “Fucking hell that wasn’t what we were looking for” he groaned as he turned the corner and put Bert down. “What the fuck was that???”
"A misdemeanor." He replied, his tone defeated as he punched the wall by them "FUCK!" he declared before plopping down and removing his beanie to run a hand through his hair. "You know that Sykes dude? He said something, stuck with me.."
Bert looked off down the street, wringing his beanie in his hands "Said I was taking advantage of a sick girl, yo...and like, normally shit people say don't mean shit but like…" he sighs "I've wondered the same shit, you know?"
“Fuck Sykes” Donny spat out with a frustrated groan. “I saw you with her. The way she looks at you. The way she acts around you. The way YOU act around her. Thats not fucking taking advantage. Trauma or not Bert, that girl loves you. Genuinely loves you. And the fact that we are here, in middle of Hicksville, California on the thinnest of leads tells me you love her. Genuinely. So fuck Sykes, and fuck anyone who tries to gaslight you into believing anything else.” He underlined his words by following Berts lead and punching the wall, leaving a dent on it. “Fuck em all.”
Bert looked up to the dent, then to his friend. He nodded before averting his gaze downward "The shit I get into, yo." He reached into his hoodie, pulling out a joint and sparking up "You're a good friend, Donny. We appreciate you and your dad tryin to help." He takes a puff, offering it to Donny before blowing the smoke out and continuing.
"This was inevitable. She's not with the ones who took her at least but.." a laugh "I'm just repeating shit now. Whole thing is fucked off."
Donny takes the joint and inhales deeply. He wasn’t a smoker, cigarettes or weed, but right now the situation was so absurd he didn’t care. He coughed a bit afterwards and shook his head. “Understatement of the century. If I had any sense I’d just walk off and never talk to you ever again. But then again… Sense isn’t something I’ve been blessed with from my genes. It’s fucked, but at least you ain’t alone with this shit. I know what it’s like to lose someone you love way too soon. No way in hell am I gonna watch you go through it Bert. We’ll get through this.” He patted Bert on the top of the head. “And she will too. Or there’s hell to pay.”
"Damn right." Came the reply. The two spent a good minute there medicating, before finding themselves seated at a taco truck feeding the munchies and laughing at the absurdity of life.
It was a salve. It numbed shit.
But it was gonna work out. For better, or way fucking worse. For them.
[O REC]
“Some shit..you just can’t put into words.” he croaks out, voice hoarse for the same reason his eyes are red and puffy “I can’t get into shit, but I guess this is me saying that i’m not sure Ahmya will be present for our title defense..” he trails off, going silent. After a moment he clears his throat hardly, and continues.
“Al Fresco, I ain’t gonna front. You got the same ‘it’ factor me and Ahmya do. Couple weirdos who shouldn’t be as good as they are. But, then, I guess that’s all of Level Up huh? Island of broken toys who shouldn’t be the best damn roster in wrestling, but are.” a small chuckle, a sniffle and a sigh.
“It doesn’t matter though. If I show up alone, i’m still fighting for our gloves. Because when she comes back - and she will be back- I’m gonna make sure that her glove is waiting for her like I am.” another beat of silence, a scoff “Besides, I ain’t gettin beat by the stuck up bitch who got lucky by beating her with a roll-up at dead by daylight. So, Andre get your fuckin fancy palet ready for some creme de la Bert, bitch. You can wash it down with some Bong Water. Careful though, I heard it knocks folk on their ass. Especially light weight, light footed phony tough guys like you.”
“What’s it like being defined by one lucky fight against some has-been ‘legend’, dude? Can’t imagine being that close to irrelevancy..but hey, when this goes to shit i’ll come to your Dennys and you can make me a Grand Slamwich, bitch.”
“Then there’s your partner. Rich and ginger. At least you were born as soulless as a CEO, my dude. Must have made the rest of the corporate bullshit that much easier. But that easy life?” he finally cracks a smirk, breaking up the morose appearance if only for a couple of seconds “It ends at EXP, yo. Because whether it’s me and her, or just me? I ain’t goin down without a fight, if I go down at all yo. This shit means too much to me right now, it’s…”
“It’s all I got.”
He lets out a shaky exhale, scoffing to clear his throat and reaching for a joint. He sparks up brazenly on camera, taking a puff to calm his nerves.
“Beauty and the Bong. That’s our tag name by the way, so..Al Fresco. Even if the Beauty isn’t there to steal the show? You’re not gonna be able to handle a hit off the Bong. And I promise the both of you that….
Bitch.”