Note: First person POV, OFC from non-wrestling background
English is my second language, I apologize for any grammar/wording mistake.
This is a work of fan fiction using characters from wrestling, I do not claim any ownership over them.
@thecristsandcallihancult @monstersmaid
Part Two “I wanna talk to you about something.”
Road trip usually made me sleepy, but I was too nervous to even think properly now. We would arrive at the stadium within one hour, and for the first I’d meet Fulton’s friends.
It might sound weird that we finally got chance to meet each other’s friends after five-months dating. The schedule conflict had been the issue, we had friends who must travel around to work, and both of us agreed to meet them when they were gathered together. Which meant, I was about to meet not only one or two wrestlers, but whole group of them.
“Are you sweating?” Fulton eyed me, joked. “They’re not gonna interview you, lil’ bird. They just wanna know what kinda person you are.”
“What if they don’t like me?”
“They will like you. Take it easy, they’re all nice people.”
As a wrestling newbie - I only knew how it looked like - my subconscious reply was “no they are not nice, they hit you with chairs”. And it made Fulton laugh hard.
“My bad, I should teach you the basic. Those scenes you saw is part of the story plot, we all have plots at some level. It may be easier for you to consider it as TV show.”
“But you got hurt... I don’t wanna see you get hurt.”
No matter how many times I told myself that wrestling was his passion and job, and he could handle it well, seeing him got injures still scared me. The biggest worry I ever had while dating an artist was “my boyfriend cut his finger when sharpening pencil”, to date a wrestler was something way different. I was very frustrated during the first month of the dating when he returned with bandage wrapped his arm or bruises on back
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” He gave me his hand and waited for my response, “Trust me.”
Nodded, I put my hand on his, he grasped it and rubbed carefully. He might not be good at comforting people by words, but he had his way to show consolation and support.
I looked outside of the window, we were getting close to the destination. Wondering what a real wrestling match would be like, I heard Fulton’s voice, “I wanna talk to you about something.”
The serious tone gave me bad feelings.
“When we were with your friends, you said you don’t wanna move in together now.”
Swallowed hard and told myself to act cool, I replied, “well, it’s only five months and we never talked about financial stuff.” The latter part was a lie, I was hoping to use it to make the statement more cogent. The thing was, I had never been through this stage, it’s a totally new concept to me.
“We discussed the financial stuff weeks ago, it was the day I got my contract with Impact, remember?”
You had no idea how much I hated his good memory sometimes.
“Right...” I coughed embarrassingly. Wording was an art that I wasn’t equipped with, especially when I panicked, I didn’t even gave second thought to what I said, “you know it can end up in bad way right?”
“What do you mean by ‘bad’?”
My voice faltered, “moving in can be different from what we think... W-what if we break up?”
Fulton’s face clouded over, brows knitted together in exactly the same way when he faced a difficult opponent in match. “So you think it will somehow ruin everything. I kinda start to wonder if you have enough faith in our relationship.”
I screwed up.
Having the thought that he might refuse to talk to me, I turned away, couldn’t help feeling despondent. The abnormal aura between us did not vanish after we arrived the destination, although Fulton acted like nothing happened and introduced me to his friends - he even grinned like usual, but I could sense his displeasure.
The meeting with his friends was short since they were in hurry of preparing for the match, but they were all friendly and considerate people. They knew it’s my first time watching wrestling show with almost zero knowledge, and were willing to answer every question I had, even the stupidest ones. After a short chat with the Sami Callihan - whom I learned that actually had easy-going nature in real life rather than the malicious personality in rings - about what the main event was tonight, I looked up and found Fulton was gone. I didn’t even have the chance to say “good luck”.
A hand patted my shoulder, it’s Jake Crist, “looking for Fulton? He already went to the ring. Aren’t you going to watch the match?”
“I’ll just stay here.” I forced a smile.
The younger Crist stared at me for a while, said, “I don’t wanna be gossipy but did you two have argument?”
“It’s my fault.” I replied, eyes downcast, “I said stupid things and upset him.”
“This is how relationship works. Couple always argues about small things.”
“But today is the first time he brought me to meet you guys, it’s so special for him and I ruined it.”
“Don’t say that. Whatever the argument is, I believe there’s a reason.” Jake gave me a comforting smile. “Fulton talks about you a lot. Every time he mentions ‘Birdie’, we know the topic is about you.”
I blushed. He liked to give me pet names.
“You two are deeply connected, things will work out.”
I nodded, feeling much better, “thank you.”
“By the way, you can also watch the match here.” Jake turned on the TV.
The first scene I saw was Fulton leaning at the corner of the ring, face covered in blood.
“Hey are you alright?” Jake asked me.
Slightly shaking my head, I bit my lips in disquietude. It didn’t take long to know that Fulton lost the match, he looked like a beast in trap, wounded and dispirited, I wanted to hug him so badly, hence the first thing I did when he walked into the room was to grab his hand.
But he gestured stop, “Don’t touch.”
My arm froze in an awkward posture. Everyone in the locker room turned their sights to us, the confusion in air suffocated me. I didn’t want to act like grouch in front of his friends, it would embarrass him, so I mumbled “sorry” and left quickly.
Wandering in the hallway, I tried to figure the reason that he said those words: was it because the argument we had in car? Or was he displeased that I didn’t go to the auditorium but stayed in backstage? I made mistake too and I wanted to fix it. Maybe we could try cohabiting first? It sounds fine for me...
With no attention paid to signs and turning, I somehow got lost in the building. Guided by intuition, I took another turn and was immediately stunned by the person appeared in front of me. It’s Fulton. He looked better than when he was locker room minutes ago, all the blood and mess was cleaned up.
“Where have you been?” he asked in worries.
“I got lost.”
Fulton let out a sigh, “like always...”
Before he went further, I cut him off, “I want to apologize.”
He looked puzzled, “what is it for?”
“I’m sorry for what I said. I have faith in our relationship with no doubt, but I never went so far in the previous ones and didn’t know what to do...”
Fulton dragged me into his arms, I was relieved a little in his bear hug. “I’m sorry too, Birdie.”
I looked up at him for an answer.
“You’re gonna think it’s stupid... I was covered in blood and I don’t wanna ruin your dress. I know how much you like this dress, you only wear it on special occasion.”
I wasn’t sure which one surprised me more: the reason why he didn’t want me to touch him after match, or how much attention he put on the details. But this was not what I needed to consider now.
“Listen, I have been thinking about what you said. I shouldn’t push you, if you’re not comfortable with moving in now, I’ll wait.”
Grasped Fulton’s fingers, I asked, “what’s about we start with cohabiting?”
“Are you sure?” his eyes widened. “I don’t want you to force yourself...”
“I’m sure.” I threw my arm around his waist, “by the way, can you take me to another wrestling show, I’ll definitely be out there to support you.”
With little strength, Fulton scooped me up and let me sit on his shoulder, “whatever you want.”
