Las Vegas, Nevada -
Las Vegas High
By the time Carter and Miles stepped through the front doors of Las Vegas High, Carter was more nervous than any championship wrestling match had caused him to be. He hated school as a kid, but once he and Miles became the proud parents of a 16 year old, there was no avoiding the hallowed halls of high school.
And today was just another average morning. Nothing dramatic or life changing to anyone there except maybe the teenagers convinced every small thing was the end of the world. Such atrocities as homework over the weekend or a surprise quiz in Spanish class. But standing there with Miles at his side, Carter could not stop thinking about how much this place had come to mean to Kevin. It seemed the exact opposite of his own experiences in school.
Kevin was not just showing up because he was legally obligated to or because Carter and Miles forced him to. He had started building something real here. He had slowly made friends. He had friends he looked for in the halls before and those that looked for him come lunch time. He had joined clubs that meant something to him, such as the LGBTQ and Video Game clubs and he and Connor were holding out hope to start a Dungeons & Dragons club for all of their fellow teenage geeks.
Here, he had a life that belonged to him outside of the condo, away from Carter and Miles and outside of everything that had happened to him before. For a kid like Kevin that had gone through hell quite literally, that mattered more than Carter thought he could put into words.
As they walked toward the administration offices, Carter glanced down one of the halls and saw a few students standing around their lockers, talking and laughing like they had all the time in the world. It hit him then in a way it had not when they were sitting at the kitchen table with calendars and flight times spread out in front of them. This was Kevin’s world now. Enough that Carter and Miles had never seriously considered taking him out of school, not even for a second.
That had never been the plan.
They were not here to ask if Kevin could be switched to online classes for six weeks. They were not here to discuss transferring him. They were not here to tell the school they had already made a decision and everyone else just had to deal with it. They were here because they had a plan, and because both of them believed Kevin deserved adults who would do this the right way.
Miles glanced over at him while they waited outside the office. “You look like you’re about to get called into the principal’s office.”
Carter huffed and rolled his eyes before he looked up into his husband's own. “We are quite literally in the principal’s office.”
“You know what I mean.”
That got a small smile out of him, although it faded quickly. Carter shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and leaned back against the wall. “I just don’t want this to turn into a conversation that makes me second guess myself.”
“It won’t.” Miles said, his voice quiet but confident. “Because we’re not going to let it. We already know what we’re doing. Kevin stays here. End of story. We’re just working out the details.”
Miles was right. They had already made the important choices over how work would blend with Kevin's social life. Kevin would remain at Las Vegas High. He was staying with his friends. He was staying with Connor. They were not going to make him work around their travel schedule. If anything, it was going to be quite the opposite. The only question left was how to make the travel work with as little disruption as possible to his life and his education.
A moment later the office door opened and a woman with a kind face and a folder in her hand stepped out to greet them.
“Misters McKinney-Kasey? I’m Ms. Alvarez, the school counselor. Thank you both for coming in.”
They shook hands and followed her inside. The principal, Dr. Harlan, was already there waiting for them. He was older and more serious in countenance than Ms. Alvarez. After greeting them he gestured for everyone to sit at a small round table instead of the desk. This made everything feel more like a conversation and less like they were about to be judged.
Once they were seated, Ms. Alvarez smiled at them and said, “Before we get into the travel schedule, I just want to say how well Kevin has been doing.”
Both Carter and Miles looked at her.
She went on. “He’s settled in more over the past few months. He’s engaging more in class. He’s made friends. He seems more comfortable here.”
“We’re glad to hear that.” Carter nodded, the tightness in his chest easing just a little. “There are times we have to stop him from racing out the door long enough to eat breakfast.”
That garnered a chuckle or two and a few soft smiles. Miles added, “He really likes it here.”
It was true. Kevin really did like it here. He was more than a little nervous his first day and huddled in on himself those first few days. But friends like Connor helped to bring him from out of his shell. Maybe he would never be the kind of kid who bounced through the front door talking a mile a minute about his day, but both Carter and Miles had seen the change.
They had seen the way Kevin’s shoulders had relaxed over time. They had seen the little smiles Kevin tried to hide, the way Connor’s name could change his whole expression before he could even think to try and hide it. His life inside of these halls was real.
The school mattered because Kevin mattered.
Dr. Harlan folded his hands on the table. “Ms. Alvarez said you wanted to come in ahead of time to discuss an upcoming international travel schedule?” More of a statement than a question.
“Yes.” Miles said. “We wanted to make sure we were doing this responsibly so it doesn’t affect Kevin negatively in any way.”
Carter leaned forward a little. “The company Miles and I wrestle for is on a tour and the next few stops are overseas. Germany. United Kingdom. Denmark and Japan. The tour runs about five weeks. Three are on consecutive Sundays, then the last one is two weeks later. We’ll be traveling back and forth, not staying overseas the whole time. The biggest issue is that because the shows are on Sundays, Kevin would probably miss Mondays coming back.”
Miles picked up from there. “We have no intention of pulling Kevin or transferring him to some online school. Our goal is to keep him in class as much as possible and make sure anything he misses is handled right away. We wanted to ask if there’s a way for him to get Monday assignments in advance when possible, or have them available digitally, so he can work on them while we’re traveling and turn them in when he comes back on Tuesday.”
Carter nodded. “We’d also give the school notice before every trip. We’re not trying to spring anything on anyone.”
“The first concern…” Doctor Harlan answered, “Isn’t really the paperwork side of it. It’s whether Kevin can keep up with the pace. Travel can wear adults down, let alone a sixteen-year-old trying to stay on top of school at the same time.”
“That’s our concern too.” Carter said immediately. “We’ve discussed the possibility that if one of us is booked and not the other, Kevin can stay home and not miss any time. But if both of us are needed overseas, then we’d need to bring him along.”
That was Ms. Alvarez’s opportunity to chime in with her expertise. She said, “Kevin has made a lot of progress here. I want to echo that. He has found a rhythm, and I don’t want to see that disrupted if he starts coming back exhausted, stressed, or already behind before the week even begins.”
For a second Carter just sat there, hands clasped together, eyes on the table. Not because he disagreed, but because hearing someone else say it out loud made all of it feel worse and him guiltier. They had known this was the risk, it was why they were here. But there was something about hearing people from Kevin’s school talk about his stability like Carter and Miles were putting him at risk just got under his skin a little. Professionalism aside.
Carter finally looked up and said, “We’re not here because we want the school to work around our careers. We’re here because Kevin’s school life matters enough that we’re trying to work our careers around that.”
Neither Ms. Alvarez nor Dr. Harlan said anything, so he kept going.
“He’s finally got something here that feels normal. He has friends, a life. Miles and I are not interested in tearing that apart because we have flights to catch. If this can be done without hurting him, then we want to do it the right way. If it starts hurting him, then we stop and figure something else out. Miles and I even said if we had to make a choice, Kevin would come first before our careers.”
“And if it gets to the point where the travel is too much?” Miles said. “Then he stays home on the remaining weekends with someone we know and trust. We’re not going to drag him through something just because we can.”
That seemed to shift something in the room. Dr. Harlan leaned back in his chair and let out a slow breath. “That’s good to hear. Not just the fact that you planned ahead for solutions to the dilemma but also that you as professionals are willing to put your child ahead of your own careers. I’ve been in this profession for thirty years and I can personally attest that not every parent is as open minded about those options as the two of you”
Ms. Alvarez smiled and said, “I think what helps here is that you’ve clearly thought about Kevin first. That matters.”
Carter sat back a little, not relaxed exactly but less tense.
Ms. Alvarez looked down at her notes again. “I think there’s a way to make this workable. Kevin stays fully enrolled here. For the Mondays he’ll miss, teachers can provide assignments in advance when possible or post them digitally. He can turn in whatever he completes once he’s back on Tuesday. If there’s a test or something that can’t be done remotely, then that would have to be handled on a case by case basis with the individual teacher.”
“That’s fair.” Miles said.
Dr. Harlan nodded. “The important part is communication. We need notice before each absence. We need Kevin making a real effort to stay current. And if his grades start slipping, or if it becomes clear that the travel is taking too much out of him, then we revisit the arrangement.”
“Agreed.” Carter nodded.
The rest of the meeting moved into practical details after that. How much notice teachers would need. What kind of communication the school preferred. What could reasonably be expected and what might have to be flexible depending on the class. It was not dramatic. There were no arguing or butt hurt moments. Just four adults sitting in a room trying to build a plan around one kid’s life and make sure it held.
By the time they stood and shook hands again, there was an agreement in place. Kevin would stay at Las Vegas High. Monday work would be handled in advance where possible. Communication would stay open. Everyone would keep an eye on how he was coping, and if the arrangement started affecting him in the wrong ways, they would come up with a solution.
When Carter and Miles stepped back out into the hallway, the sounds of the school hit them again all at once. The bell rang somewhere nearby. A classroom door opened. A group of students spilled out into the corridor in a burst of chatter and movement. As they started back toward the front office, Carter looked down the hall one more time and imagined Kevin there among everyone else, heading to class, maybe pretending not to look for Connor while absolutely looking for Connor, trying to act like a normal teenager even though his life had been anything but normal for far too long.
That was what they were fighting for.
Not just keeping Kevin with them. Not just making travel schedules work. Not just surviving the next six weeks.
Something better than that.
Something normal.
“Well, Logan, you and I are about to have our second dance, and I can already hear the way you’re going to spin it.”
"You're going to walk in with that smug little grin on your face, gold around your waist, and convince yourself that means the balance has shifted between us. You’re going to tell yourself this time is different because I’m not standing across from you with a championship of my own around my waist. You’re going to look at the belt you’re carrying, and decide that somehow that makes you the man with the advantage.”
“That is exactly the kind of thinking that gets people hurt.”
“Because the truth is, Logan, gold doesn’t make you the man. It never has. It just reveals what kind of man is carrying it. And when I look at you holding the Roulette championship again, I do not see some unstoppable force. I do not see some elevated version of yourself. I see the same man I already know, just with another excuse to run his mouth.”
“Yeah, you’re a champion again. Congratulations. But let’s not rewrite history just because you finally found a belt that fits around your waist. Let’s not pretend the path back there was some clean, undeniable rise to fame or glory. Let’s not act like the whole world didn’t see exactly why you’re standing there with that title now. You’re a champion again because Brooke could not help herself.”
“That’s it. That’s the only reason you beat Ryan Keys two weeks ago!”
“Brooke stuck her second-hand nose where it didn’t belong, got involved in a match that had nothing to do with her, and handed you the opening you needed when she distracted Ryan Keys! So you can shine that belt up and whisper sweet nothings to it if that makes you feel important, but don’t mistake outside interference for superiority. Don’t confuse somebody else doing your dirty work with you being better than legit beating the man in front of you!”
“Because those are not the same thing! Not even close!”
“And while we’re talking about people getting cute where they shouldn’t, let’s take a little walk down memory lane, shall we? Let’s remember what happened the first time Brooke tried to get involved when you and I crossed paths. Let’s remember what happened when she thought she was clever and could play her little games and walk away smiling.”
“Tempest put her through a god damned table!”
“So if Brooke is under the impression that this time around she can flutter around ringside, put her hands on me and change the course of this match without consequence, I would advise her, very politely I might add, not to press her luck. I imagine she’s still feeling it from the last time she decided to get brave at the wrong moment. Some lessons are supposed to stick, sweetheart. I hope that one did!”
“As for you, Logan, I know exactly what you see when you look at me right now. You see a man without gold. You see a man in his first match back after Alexander Raven and I went to hell and back! You might even see a man whose road back to the World Heavyweight Championship got blocked off.”
“And in that little mind of yours, you probably think that means you’re catching me at the right time. You probably think I’m frustrated and distracted. You probably think you’re meeting a version of Helluva Bottom Carter that is trying to figure out what comes next.”
“On that last point, you’re actually right. I am figuring out what comes next. And what comes next is this!”
“When one road closes, I do what I have always done. I find another one and I walk right on in! My road back to the World Heavyweight Championship hit a roadblock, sure. It’s my own fault. That happens in this business. And if I need to carve a brand new path back to the top, then that is exactly what I am going to have to do!”
“And that has to sting a little the fact that the first step on this new path starts with you, doesn’t it? Because of all the men I could have drawn for my new path, fate picked my fellow GO Gym alumni. Fate picked Logan Hunter. Fate picked the man who wants so badly to believe that one belt around his waist suddenly changes the story between us.”
“It doesn’t.”
“You are still the same Logan Hunter who is always looking for the shortcut, always looking for the angle, always ready to puff his chest out and talk like he’s ten feet tall as long as somebody else softens the target first! You want to carry yourself like a king because you’ve got gold again, but being champion because Brooke bailed you out is not the same as being champion because nobody on the roster can stop you!”
“I hate to disappoint you Logan but I have never been in the business of making Logan Hunter feel good about himself. You can walk in carrying more gold than Fort Knox, but once that bell rings, all the noise fades out. Then it is just you and me again, same as it was the first time around, and you are left to deal with the kind of man standing across from you!”
“A man who does not need a belt to be seen! A man who does not need outside help to get the job done! A man who has been knocked off one road and is stubborn enough to make the next road twice as complicated!”
“That is who you’re getting, Logan!”
“So wear your gold. Hold it tight. Let it make you feel bigger on the walk to the ring. Let Brooke hype you up and tell you how great you are and how this is your time. Then step in there with me and find out the hard way that none of that changes what happens when Helluva Bottom Carter decides his new climb starts now!”
“It starts with my GO Gym alumni. It starts with Logan Hunter. And it starts when I remind you that a title around your waist does not mean you’re above me. It just means you’re next.”