❆ Out Here Drippin' On Finesse

[Stian]

2018 - MARCH NINETEENTH ❆
QXT ❆
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY ❆

Sebastian took another drink from his imported Molson Canadian and eyed the man he was sharing a standing hightop bar table with. Alyx had made horrible first and second impressions with him but since leaving the Factory he'd seemed a normal enough guy. That building just did something to people.

Sebastian was glad he'd been able to convince Alyx and Aurora to stay a little longer to enjoy the night. Shiloh was going on about something she'd seen inside the Factory but Sebastian's ears perked when he heard Aurora's voice.

“... to the bathroom and then we can go?”

Sebastian got up instinctively as he did when he heard Aurora needed to use the restroom, but annoyed Shiloh pulled him back to the table before he could step away. It didn't even register that he'd tried to accompany Aurora to the bathroom or that he'd been stopped. Instead he took another gulp of his beer and looked over at Alyx again.

“So what’ve you got planned for the rest of the night?”

He said it, implying Alyx would be spending the rest of his night alone. As nice as he'd presented himself the rest of the night, he still didn't trust the man. Alyx drank his own drink and smiled.

“Friend's having a gathering tonight - they usually do to watch the Factory, drink, smoke, y'know...”

Sebastian didn't like how this sounded, but what came after Alyx’s pause, to him, was worse.

“... then take her back to my place, give her a cat bath, throw it in her.”

As Alyx let out a cocky laugh, Sebastian came to an instant boil. If he'd been holding his beer bottle it would have shattered in his hand. Instead, his fingernails dug deep into his palms, drawing blood. His brain told his hand to swing a punch at Alyx’s face as hard as possible, but before he could his best friend's voice chimed again.

“Line for the bathroom is too long.”

Suddenly, the nice, presentable Alyx Flash was back in the room.

“No problem, you can go at Ginny’s. Let's go.”

Alyx grabbed Aurora's coat and his own and had his arm around her waist leading her toward the door. Aurora turned around and, a little sloppy, waved goodbye to Sebastian and Shiloh.

Alyx tried to run after her, but his girlfriend's arm locked on his. She swung him toward her and grabbed his face between both of her hands and pulled him close.

“That girl can handle herself, Sebastian. She's a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them.”

2018 - MARCH TWENTY-FOURTH ❆
BROOKLYN WRESTLING ACADEMY ❆
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK ❆

Aurora ran across the ring and leapt into the air, flipping forward. Sebastian stood waiting and she lined her thighs up with the top of his shoulders. Her calves wrapped around his back and she sat up on his shoulder, his head buried in her pelvis, waiting for the impact. Instead, her weight suddenly crashing into him sent Sebastian stumbling backward. The ropes caught him from tumbling out of the ring and he regained control of their bodies, wrapping his hands around her slim waist and gently placing her on her feet.

As soon as she was safe on the ground, Sebastian gave a frustrated sigh and went to the corner where he'd placed his water bottle. He ran a hand through his sweaty hair and drank from his bottle, his eyes locked on Aurora who was looking at the white brick walls of the gym around them.

They hadn't teamed together in three months, well before they made their way to the Factory, as Sebastian had won title contendership in a number of promotions to end the last year which required him to fight alone. Of course they'd used their tandem offense to help each other during their matches, but it had been months since they'd had to be completely in sync with one another. The idea behind renting out this wrestling school's Brooklyn gym for a weekend was to take the opportunity to get back on the same page. But the timing on their “Better Together” lift was just off.

Frustrated, Sebastian threw his water bottle down on the mat and bounced out of the ring.

“This is about the messed up F.F.G. at Warzone isn't it?” Aurora asked. (She refused to call their signature move by the name Dijuanna gave it, opting to use the initials instead.)

That wasn't what this was about, but Sebastian bit his tongue. Shiloh was right: Aurora was a big girl and could make her own choices. She’d known the kind of person Alyx was from the second he slammed a door into her and it wasn't his place to tell her otherwise.

“I admit, I've been a little hesitant after that, but you need to know that wasn't on you. Thadd got up faster than either of us could have expected. I hate to say it, but we underrated his stamina and resilience.”

Sebastian shook his head.

“It's nice of you to accept responsibility for that too, but the fact is I underestimated them. I thought I had a lock on knowing what it takes to keep these people down after beating two of them our first week here, but some of these people are on a whole other level, Rory.”

Sebastian’s phone rang and he glanced to the corner of the ring where he left it. Shiloh's name (with a pink heart beside it) glowed on the screen but he left it and leaned into the corner instead.

“I won't let either of us underestimate anyone here again, although I'm not quite sure how to estimate a convicted criminal.”

Aurora shuddered at the mention of their opponent's past. After a beat, Sebastian cleared his throat.

“Dijuanna called. She did some digging on Siobhan. She knows a guy who knows a guy that put the criminal through training before she came to the Factory.”

Aurora didn't say anything. From his tone, she could tell it was worse than they'd anticipated. Sebastian exhaled.

“On the bright side, according to this guy, she thinks she knows a couple submission holds and that's enough for her to get the win. Hopefully she goes into this match still thinking that - it plays right into our hands. No one in this company knows submission wrestling more than us and that doesn't end at applying holds, that extends to knowing how to escape them. Now, according to this guy she gets the most pleasure out of applying armbars and chokeholds, so Dijuanna is sending a guy through here tomorrow to help us specifically with those holds.”

The corners of Aurora's mouth turned up at the thought and preparedness put in to this match. Sebastian looked into Aurora's eyes.

“You're unbeatable in every important metric of a wrestling match, Rory. You're the best high flier this company has, and those two fighters will be clueless on how to stop that. We've seen Declan at work twice now to know that you're faster than him and from what I understand, Siobhan isn't exactly a speed demon. She won't stand a chance at catching you to attempt to over power you and neither will Declan. You're right - we need to play to our strengths and make them wrestle a match instead of getting sucked into their fighting game.”

Sebastian and Aurora held their eye contact steadily, neither getting uncomfortable with one another enough to look away.

“Like I said, we have the biggest edge in any match: trust and experience. Siobhan has to have seen Declan abandon his partner last week. Any man in a ski mask would pull him away from the match. There's literally nothing that would stop either of us from watching each other's backs.”

Sebastian walked over to Aurora and brushed a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. He knew she hated when her hair got in her face during a workout.

“Literally nothing. I said it after our match and I'll say it again - Declan Hale was not built for tag team wrestling and should not have been a partner last week. We would have won that match if he didn't run off. From what I understand, Siobhan isn't exactly looking to touch any man that isn't her incarcerated husband, let alone cooperate with someone as unreliable as Hale. I'm finished being caught off guard by the people in this company. We have our gameplan, yes, but I need to be ready for them to come at me swinging and be able to counter their strengths - hardcore fighting - against them. I'm not making the same mistakes twice. We'll beat them any way we can.”

Aurora put a hand on Sebastian's chest and pushed him to the center of the ring. They still hadn't broken eye contact.

“Seb, just like we always have, we'll beat them with finesse.”

Aurora ran across the ring and leapt in the air. Without thinking, Sebastian wrapped his hands around her waist, lifting her in the air and held her straight above his head. They didn't waiver. No one lost their balance. They smiled wide at each other. It was perfect and they found their rhythm.

EPILOGUE

2018 - MARCH TWENTIETH ❆
1 THOMAS STREET ❆
NEW YORK, NEW YORK ❆

It was four-thirty in the morning when the door to their condo cracked opened and Rory snuck her way in. She sniffed back tears as she locked the door behind her and walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

The sound of Rory holding back tears made Seb boil. He was going to murder Alyx Flash.