FlashbackFunny thing about bad news. Oftentimes it is far worse having to deliver it than it is to receive. And why? Because when we think we’re about to get bad news, we often have an inkling as to how we are going to react. I mean, who knows our own person better than we ourselves do? But to have to deliver it? That is where things grow increasingly uncomfortable because of the relative unknown. We may very well know the person that we have to talk to and confide in better than anyone, but as to how they might react to negative or shocking news? We can assume all that we want but the truth is it’s a total mystery how anyone will react to anything. And when you put off this so-called “bad news” for any length of time out of fear or trepidation, that just makes the waiting even worse.
It was this exact situation where Kristjan Baltasarsson aka Fenris found himself trapped in. Just a handful of weeks ago, after a night out with his boyfriend David Shepherd and the mistaken belief that the famed Elvis Presley churches on the famed Strip of Las Vegas were just more tourist attractions, Fenris and David found themselves joined in holy matrimony. And all by accident. Now while the two men worked out how to fix this, while their friends and loved ones got in the much required laughs at their joined expense, Kristjan knew there were two people that he had to tell, but had put it off for as long as possible. And why?
How would you break it to your parents that you accidentally had gotten married and they weren’t present to see the first of their children tie the proverbial knot?
Aron had suggested saving themselves - and their parents - the trouble. Get an annulment and just pretend like it never happened but there was a voice of reason that brought sense to everyone around them; Ben Jordan, Fenris’s closest friend in the business, stated that doing this could be just as damaging as not telling them at all because it was deceiving them. Keeping secrets, even small ones, could fracture trust even if you have the best of intentions and want to spare someone pain. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them” is a popular sentiment but not always an accurate one. In fact, that very saying is filled with deception and mistrust and that is the point where Ben had won out with reasoning and logic.
Fenris and Aron’s family were strong-willed enough to handle the truth and while the news of it might hurt at first, things could be mended.
This all explained well enough why Fenris looked like he was going to be sick as he sat on the sofa in his and Aron’s condo at Turnberry Place in Las Vegas with David seated at his side. The laptop was open on the coffee table in front of them as the video messaging chat was attempting to contact his family in Reykjavik. While wanting to be there for his brother, Aron knew this was something that he had to handle on his own. So Aron leashed up Kyssa and grabbed his little fella Chestnut and went for a time in the nearby pet park. David made the attempt to join him but Fenris snatched him by the arm and yanked him right back down into the very spot where he now say. Fenris stated simply he wasn’t going to make him do this alone.
“Yeah!” Aron laughed. “You liked it enough to put a ring on it so suck it up and deal with your in-laws!” And quickly closed the door before the projectile thrown by Fenris crashed against the door.
There was roughly a seven hour time difference between Las Vegas and Iceland, so where it was just after noon here in Las Vegas, it would be just after seven there. If Fenris had his timing right, the family would just have finished dinner as his mother and father’s schedule at home remained as firm and rigid as his own. Finally after what seemed an eternity yet was probably more likely only two or three rings, the video chat was picked up from the family’s end in Iceland and the screen was filled with the smiling visage of Fenris and Aron’s mother, Eva.
“Honey, hi!” Eva absolutely gushed in Icelandic as she was prone to do whenever one of her boys called. So many children spent a vast amount of time attempting to separate or distance themselves from their parents but not her boys. Both Aron and Kristjan went out of their way to contact her and her husband Benedikt every few days (at least!) which stoked her family pride. She then saw the one seated beside her son and her smile could only grow wider and brighter at the man who had somehow captured the heart of a child many joked had no such organ beating deep within his chest. “David, dear. How are you?” She automatically switched to broken English as her youngest daughter Freyja had the family learning over the past two years.
“I’m good, Eva.” David fidgeted, having trouble still with any semblance of comfort to the whole family dynamic thing; an unsettling side effect of being raised by Gerald and Mavis Shepherd.
“I’m glad you called dear, there was something I wanted to talk to you about.” Eva started to say which Fenris spoke up, “Yeah, that was why I was calling. I needed to talk to you and Dad.”
“Oh?” Eva questioned but Fenris held a hand up in offering, saying, “But you first.”
Eva said, “Well it’s just that you know Elin and Viktoria moved out and got a place together earlier this year.” Fenris nodded, encouraging her to continue. She went on, “Well there’s a chance that they and Freyja may not be able to get time off from work to make our usual trip to see you and your brother for Christmas.”
“Elin and Viktoria I can understand.” Fenris admitted, actually being impressed (IE: stunned) that his antagonistic older sisters had managed to get jobs and move out of the family home. He shook his head, “But why not Freyja?”
“Well dear, that’s a bit of good news I can give you.” She answered. “Freyja’s internship at Grillmarkaðurinn finally ended, and they decided to take her on as an apprentice chef!”
“Out-STANDING!” Fenris smiled, quite the contrast to the usual scowl that he had on his face. His little sister was quite the chef and Grillmarkaðurinnwas one of the more exclusive high-end restaurants in their home city. To just get an internship was highly sought after and competitive, but to be hired on? It spoke volumes to what those in power must have thought of little Freyja's talents in the kitchen. Fenris then noticed the confused look on David’s face so he leaned over and told him as much.
“Ah.” David nodded, finally understanding. He then leaned a touch more into the camera and offered, “Tell her congratulations from me.”
“Thank you, David.” Eva stated with a smile. “That’s sweet. But that’s why they might not be able to make it to America for Christmas and dear…?” Eva sighed, resigning herself to what might come with this next bit of news. “Your father and I are having reservations about leaving your sisters alone for the holiday.”
Fenris paused, staring at the screen as he processed this and said, “So… you might not be able to make it either?”
“Your father and I just started discussing this and we haven’t reached a decision yet so…” But whatever else Eva was going to follow it up with was interrupted by none other than David who spoke up and said, “Why don’t we go there?”
“What?” Eva and Fenris BOTH stated, as her eyes fell to her son’s boyfriend (?) and Fenris turned his head with a quizzical expression.
David shrugged, “We were going to fly in for your usual visit to Jokull’s mother, weren’t we? Spend time in the square like last year?” Fenris nodded and David turned his focus to Eva on the screen. “We could just extend the visit to Christmas.”
“Eva was all but over the moon at David coming up with this solution - having her boys home for the holidays after so many years. Fenris asked him, “You want to spend Christmas in Iceland?”
“Are you kidding?” David almost laughed. “I never saw anything like it when you took me there last year. It made me feel like a kid again! Maybe I’ll see if Esther and Andrey want to come with?”
“That would be lovely.” Eva smiled. “But you said you had news for me and your father? Do you want me to get him to join us?”
“Yeah.” Fenris nodded. “You better.”
“Benedikt!” Eva turned her head to call off-camera. “Your son is on the call! He has something to tell us!”
A few scant moments pass before Eva shifts slightly to the side so Fenris and Aron’s father Benedikt slides into the scene, taking a seat at the table to his wife’s left. Benedikt raised a glass, with a dose of rum inside to greet his boy.
“Kristjan!” Benedikt smiled, then saw David next to him and he nodded, David.” And David smiled yet said nothing. If there was anyone that caused him unnecessary discomfort, it was Benedikt. Although the patriarch of the family did nothing himself to cause this and treated David very warmly when they spent time together last year over Christmas, it was David’s own issues with a fatherly figure that was behind it all. Issues he prayed (pun intended) one day to grow past.
“So what is it that you wanted to tell us?” Eva asked, and Fenris looked down, wringing his fingers together before he looked up and spread his hands wide, answering, “Look, I’m not sure how else to break this to you but to just come out and say it. A few weeks ago David and I went out on the Vegas Strip for a date. Had a few drinks, and we decided to visit a few of the places I took all of you last time you were here. You know, the wax museum? The aquarium?...”
“And…?” Benedikt prodded.
“And, well… you know those funny churches that have Elvis impersonators in them?” Fenris all but cringed.
“Of course.” Benedikt nodded while Eva frowned, wondering where her son was going with this. Benedikt said, “You showed us those churches last time we were there and… what?” He turned his head as Eva had suddenly gripped her husband's hand with a look of alarm.
“Kristjan…” Eva started to say. “You didn’t… Tell us you didn’t!”
Fenris cleared his throat and brought his left hand up to display the carved ring that previously was worn around his neck, a shared gift between himself and David. David, too, bright up his hand to show the same.
“You got MARRIED!?” Eva’s voice rose as Benedikt placed a comforting hand on his wife’s shoulder.
“We didn’t MEAN to!” Fenris tried in vain to explain the situation that he and David had found themselves in. “We had a few drinks by then and we thought it was just another tourist trap!”
David, opting to try to take some of the heat off of his boyfriend/husband, jumped in and said, “We got back here and Aron told us what we actually did and…”
“My son got married…” Eva’s voice cracked and she shook her head. “.. without his family. Without me.”
“Mama…” Fenris started to say but Eva held a hand up and she stood up and walked off camera before Benedikt could stop her from doing so. Fenris hung his head and David placed an arm around his upper body, hoping to offer his man some semblance of comfort in this tense situation.
Benedikt then turned back to the camera and he asked the obvious, “Why is this the first we’re hearing about this?”
“Because of that.” Fenris answered without hesitation, nodding his head in the direction his mother had just taken her leave. “We were just going to have it undone and not tell anyone but…” he shrugged. “You deserve the truth.”
Benedikt took time to process this, nodding in understanding and he then looked up into the camera from his end and asked, “So what happens now?”
Fenris shrugged, “We do what we were going to do before. Have it annulled and act like it never happened.” Not noticing the stricken look of disappointment on David’s face before it all but vanished instantaneously. Before anything else could be said, there was a knock at the door of the condo, prompting Fenris to look first to the front door, then to his father. “Papa? Someone’s here. Can I call you back?”
“Take care of what you need to.” His father nodded. “I’ll talk to your mother.”
“Bye, Papa.” Fenris smiled genuinely toward the man that raised him to be the man he was, and the call was ended. Fenris rose to his feet and huffed at David, “That went as well as expected.”
David could just smile as he watched Fenris cross the threshold of the condo to reach the front door. Once opened, all David heard was,
“Wow. You look like shit!”
“No! No way! Absolutely not!”
“Carter..”
“There’s no way… NO!” But then David stood up and watched as Fenris stepped aside and a group of people entered the condo. Some he knew well enough through his own time in SCW and yes, SCU; namely Ariana and Krystal. He even knew Miles but the other three? Two women and someone who looks as if he had seen better days with his face seriously messed up.
Wait… Carter? As in… Helluva Bottom Carter? David walked across the foyer to reach the gathering and upon closer inspection, he realized the one who was almost unrecognizable was indeed Carter. David shook his head.
“What the hell happened to you?” David asked, but Carter looked at him briefly before looking straight at Miles and Ariana and he shook his head, almost pleading, “Please.. You can’t be serious!” But Miles all but ignored his protests and he walked up to Fenris and he said, “We need to talk.”
Fenris frowned as David remained and Fenris allowed Miles to escort him around toward the kitchen area. Fenris turned his back to the counter and leaned against it, waiting as Miles glanced back briefly over his shoulder before returning his attention to the volatile “White Wolf.”
“What happened to him?” Fenris asked, nodding a head toward the direction of his “guests” even though he had some semblance of an idea due to locker room gossip.
Miles sighed before he confessed the entire story, “His boyfriend… Lazarus. You know about the rumors…?” He raised his brow questioningly, to which Fenris nodded. Miles ran a hand through his curly hair and said, “Well … it seems to have hit the fan. Carter vanished from Twitter so his family flew in..”
“His family?”
Miles jetted his thumb back, “That’s his mom and grandma.” Fenris nodded that he understood and Miles went on to explain, “They were growing concerned so they came to Las Vegas and we all went to the loft he lives in with Lazarus and we found him like… that.”
Fenris’s eyes strayed just off to where the others would be gathered and he stated more as a statement than a question, “His boyfriend did that?”
To which Miles nodded. “Yeah. Carter all but said he did. We had our suspicions with the bruising and that broken finger incident, but this…” Miles turned to look back to where David was talking to the gathering, and it was clear that Carter was further protesting even the very idea of staying in the same place as Fenris, a man that he shared a very antagonistic relationship with despite sharing the same past of being trained at the famed GO Gym.
Miles turned back to Fenris and he said, “Kristjan… his family and I need a favor…” Kristjan’s eyebrows rose as he folded his arms over his chest…
And suddenly from the kitchen’s direction everyone heard the outburst, “WHAT!?!?” Startling everyone and causing heads to turn.
In the kitchen, Miles stepped closer to Fenris to hopefully keep their voices down and the conversation as private as possible. Miles reasoned - nay, implored with his friend, “We had to get him out of there, Kristjan! If we waited any longer he might have ended up a statistic!”
“So, what?” Fenris motioned with a wave of the arm yet keeping his voice down which, if you knew him, was quite the effort when that infamous temper of his was on the rise. “Suddenly you expect me to be a babysitter!? Why me?”
Miles answered, “Because Lazarus knows where everyone else lives! And even if he knew where you lived, he’d be stupid to even try to get close to Carter when you’re around.”
Fenris’s eyes narrowed, “Are you flattering me?”
“If that’s what it takes.” Miles reasoned, before he took that final step to confide in his friend. “Kristjan, please. It won’t be forever, and this is the safest place that I could think of!”
Fenris exhales sharply through his nose, looking past Miles for a brief moment and then back to the matter at hand. He and Carter did not get along, not even closely. They have had an antagonistic relationship ever since Carter made one feeble attempt to land him and Fenris shot him down - hard. Carter’s pride had been sorely wounded that day and it never fully recovered. But the kid, if what Miles said was true, could be in legit danger. The evidence to that fact was overwhelming and standing right in his own front room. And… it brought back the memories he had tried to bury where his eldest sister herself was the victim of domestic abuse. So … he could sadly relate.
His expression, hardened even more than usual, spoke volumes as he looked up to Miles and nodded once….
“Okay, it’s settled.” Miles said as he and Fenris walked back into the main living area of the condo where everyone had been waiting. “Kristjan agreed he could stay here and he’d watch after him.”
To which everyone was greatly relieved, everyone that is, except Carter. The young man turned to his mother with his one good eye and shook his head, “Mom, please. No! I don’t want to stay here! You don’t know what he’s like…”
“Hey!” Fenris frowned, calling him out. “I am standing right here!”
Carter turned away from him and back to his mom and she leaned in, taking his shoulders in her hands. She implored her baby boy, “I know, you’ve made that clear! But honey, we need to keep you somewhere safe until this situation is over!”
Watching this heart wrenching scene unfold, Carter’s Grams, Joan, turned to look at both Miles and Ariana and she asked, “Do you really think this is the safest place for him?” To which Ariana nodded and Miles simply said, “I do.”
Joan nodded and looked at her grandson, “That’s good enough for me then.” And that was all that needed to be said. Carter at that very moment felt utterly betrayed at that very moment by the two women who he was closest to, but suffice to say, if his Grams and Mom agreed, the matter was settled. Whether he liked it or not.
“I can’t give up Aron’s room without his consent.” Fenris admitted to Miles. “He’s part owner of this place now, so… but I can get the sofa ready.”
“Lovely.” Carter grumbled, being relegated not only to staying with the last person he;d want to stay with, but sleeping on a sofa. He shook his head when he felt Fenris nudge his arm and he turned to find Fenris pointing toward said sofa, “Have a seat.” He said in a tone that screamed he expected it to be followed.
Carter frowned at this as Fenris turned his back on him and the man walked toward the hall that led to the bedrooms, only for him to glance back and do a double take at Carter still standing and glaring in his direction.
Carter stood defiantly and said, “I don’t NEED you telling me what to…”
“SIT!” Fenris bellowed and he watched as everyone there - Miles, Carter, Ariana, Krystal, Carter’s mom and grams and yes, even David - fell into the nearest seat available! Fenris looked around at the almost-comical scene and he just shook his head and with a roll of the eyes, he turned and walked off to get the things Carter would need….
“Finally!”
A spotlight flashed on and fully illuminated one lone person standing inside of a six-sided ring, that one person being Fenris in his most familiar of surroundings; the famed GO Gym. He is dressed for combat in his white faux leather jacket, matching latex shorts and his favorite cap on his head. The camera draws closer as the White Wolf rubs his palms together and he nodded, the very picture of confidence worn on his face.
“That’s the only thing that I can say when this match was announced. FINALLY! I get Jack Washington in the ring, one on one! Man to man with nobody else out there to interfere and nobody sticking their noses into things to ruin something that I have been waiting for, for a very long time!”
“Jack…”
Fenris tilted his head to the side with a smarmy smile and shook his head.
“How long has it been? How long ago was it when you and I actually set foot inside of the ring against one another? October of `21? Hm?”
He looks questioningly and nods his head in the affirmative, raising a hand and extending a forefinger.
“That’s right, just over one year. The match where you, Vinnie and I were going to find out which one of us would move on to challenge Alex Jones for the World Championship. And yes, I remember. I remember all too well what happened in that match. You won. You. Pinned. Me! That’s the edge you have going into this one, isn’t it? That’s the bragging point you get to indulge in when you walk out here to talk your shit and tell the world everything that we’ve already heard before from you. You did what I can count on one hand how many times it has happened; you beat me! But…”
He lowered that forefinger and his hand clenched into a fist.
“Let’s not forget how it happened, hm? Let’s not forget that the only reason that you got one over on me was because of Marcus Cage, Candy’s worse half! Or… did you honestly think that you beat me legit? I had Vinnie down, Jack. I had him pinned, beaten! Until Marcus pulled me out of the ring, screwing me over and saving the match for you! I sincerely hope that you sent Candy and Marcus a fruit basket because you owe him big! Without him, you never would have got the jump on me to end that match and you never would have walked into High Stakes in what should have been MY opportunity!”
He then sneers and shakes his head.
“Not that I’m bitter. Of course, there was also the time I thought I’d finally get a match against you and it was signed, sealed and delivered - then ruined when once again, Candy had to step in and try to make things more…”
He air quotes.
“...Fun! Taking us out of the ring and into some pool filled with fucking pudding!? I am not a sideshow freak so I bailed, I admit it! I didn’t get into this sport to take part in shit like that, so you got to wrestle my brother instead and yeah… you won. Congratulations, Jack! You beat a manager who IS a trained wrestler but has had less than five matches in four years! And even though it was held in that ridiculous pudding and not an actual ring, I was pretty damn proud of the showing my little brother gave against a former World and Internet Champion! But that all was then… this is now. And there is nobody to interfere. Nobody to ruin this match and nobody that is going to save your ass.”
“Jack, I will fully admit that you are one of only a handful of men in SCW who I have actively sought out to face and test myself against because when I look at you, I see me. I see a wrestler with stars in their eyes and everything laid out before them, the entire world ripe for the picking and yet… there you stand. Content to wallow in our own mediocrity. What have you done lately? What efforts have you put in to stand out from the masses and make yourself known once again? You are a former World Heavyweight Champion! A former Internet Champion! And now you are little more than card filler! Have you no shame? Have you no ambitions? Have you no desire to once again be at the top and regain the standing you once had when everyone looked at you as some crowned prince of the ring? Because if not, you might as well at least try to do the honorable thing and turn off that spotlight above your head and call it a night because if you have no ambition, you have no direction! And if you have no direction, then quite simply - you have no goddamn idea where you are headed. You are a lost soul, a child left alone in the woods with little more than breadcrumbs to find his way home.”
“So man up, Jack! I did not wait this long for a match against one of the more impressive and fastest rising stars in the business since – well, me, just to turn around and find myself facing down a little wayward soul traipsing off to his pity party. I want to face the man that beat Alex Jones and Kris Ryans for the World Heavyweight Championships! I want to face the cocky bastard that beat Ken Davison for the Internet Championship! So give THAT man to me, Jack! That is the man I want to face and beat!”
He shook his head with mock pity etched on his otherwise handsome facial features.
“Don’t do this to me, Jack. Don’t make me face some shell of a man that once was.”
He adjusted his cap and stared off into space momentarily, lost in thought before he nodded.
“You and I have a lot in common Jack, that is reason enough to want to truly test myself against you. You and I both made our names first known through the Blast From the Past tournaments. You may not have won the whole thing like I did, but you made enough of an impression that people wanted to see more of you. The bosses wanted to sign you, and ever since then? You rose to the fucking stars like a rocket ship! Or at least you did, until that rocket ran out of fuel and you just were left puttering around like the Little Engine That Couldn’t! So yeah. This is me trying to inspire you. This is me trying to light a fire under your ass and get you back to being that same man that first made me want to face you in the first place! Because you are in a very unique position, Jack. You are one of only two men - the other being Ben Jordan - who ever got a win over me and I never returned the favor. That man then was golden! The man I see now is just…”
He shakes his head derisively.
“... Sad.”
Recent Posts
