"Painted Mess"
Ryan's Apartment. Las Vegas, Nevada [May, 20, 2017]
[Off Camera]
Harley sits on the bathroom counter, lazily dangling his legs as he watches Ryan cleaning the paint splatters off his naked body with a wet washcloth.
"Did ya get any paint on the canvas this time?"
He teases with a grin, snickering a little bit.
Ryan smiles brightly at the teasing he's grown to expect. Carefully wiping off the blue paint over his chest he can't believe he's gotten so much on him.
"Oh I managed to get something painted. Though I think I got most of it."
Going to rinse off the wash cloths, the former SCW champion sighs as he still has a lot of paint to get off, though this has all been a good distraction for him.
"I'm surprised you didn't get much on you."
"I kept my distance, knowing how reckless you are."
Harley sticks his tongue out with another giggle and takes the washcloth from Ryan. He squeezes out the water and takes over the process, cleaning up the spots high on Ryan's arms that he hasn't gotten yet. He gives a little tug on the bigger man's arm to turn him enough to look at his back.
"How the hell did you get paint on your back?!"
Chuckling the blue eyed man is really surprised at that. Trying his best to look at what Harley is seeing he can't.
"Guess I got carried away. I knew that smug on the wall wasn't there before."
Ryan rests his hands against the sink, looking in the mirror at the small man.
"I keep zoning out. I'm actually kinda nervous coming into work this week, you know?"
Harley's smile falters at that confession, but he tries his best to be supportive with a smile as he continues to clean up his boyfriend.
"Talk to me about it. What's going on?"
His lips twitch a little as he let's out a long breath. The stress of getting back down after getting so high getting to Ryan.
"You know what it's like, Harley. You work so hard for something and then completely bomb right at the end. It's frustrating. If it wasn't for the huge week off from SCW I'd probably ask for some time off before getting back to the title hunt. "
He says with a heavy tone in his voice as he looks over at Harley.
"Now I have a match this week that I'm tempted to not even show up."
Harley frowns and wads up the washcloth before tossing it into the sink. He takes a hold of Ryan's hand and gives him another gentle tug to guide him in front of him. Pretty lazy of him to do instead of just getting down but there you are.
"Is it important to you?"
He looks up into Ryan's baby blues and gives both his hands a gentle squeeze within his own.
"What's important to you right now?"
Ryan stares back at Harley, a small smile tugging on his soft lips as the other has that effect on him. Closing his hands on Harley's he squeezes them back.
"You. Little Zane. I can't think of my career right now being important. I'm just eye candy."
"You're more than that."
Harley frowns at Ryan's self-image. He pulls him in closer, guiding the SCW star's arms around him.
"You're Ryan Keys. Former Roulette Champion. You're a star."
Pulling the small brick shark in, he wraps his arms fully around him. Kissing the side of his head Ryan feels like this is where he belongs.
"Sometimes stars fall. But this time I'll have you out there."
He says with a faint smile while pulling back slowly. Ryan's eyes stay on Harley's face while wiping off a smudge on it with his thumb.
"I can't bring you backstage or have you come out with me without Christian asking questions, but I got you a ticket for this week. I'll feel better knowing someone out there is cheering for me."
"I'm always cheering for you. No matter where I am."
Harley leans in and presses his forehead against Ryan's, staring into his eyes.
"Thank you.."
With a genuine smile Ryan has his forehead against Harley's. Looking down at him with affection.
"Okay. How about we get cleaned up, order some food and crash for the night. Sound good?"
"Mmmmmm..."
Harley puts a lot of effort into looking like he's considering that offer.
"I guess you don't need to train when you're Ryan F'in Keys."
He grins and gives Ryan a huge smooch on the cheek, being overly obnoxious about it.
"He does need to train. I got a whole week to do it. And you are gonna help me."
Ryan says with a more confident tone as he looks himself over at the mirror and figures that his clean enough.
"C'mon. You can pick what we get to have tonight. And try to get something you can pronounce this time. Cool sounding foods don't always taste good."
"No but it's fun seeing your face when you try it."
Harley giggles at an apparent memory of Ryan being brave enough to try food that Harley couldn't even pronounce.
"You're crazy enough to do anything, aren't you?"
He raises a brow at the way Harley's says this. Wondering what the smaller man is thinking.
"Yeah... where are you going with this?"
Ryan asks with a chuckle as he pokes at Harley's sides.
"Nowhere. I'm just saying that whoever you're up against in your match should be very worried. Who knows what you'll do?"
Harley smiles up at him.
"No one knows what I'll do next. That's why I'm the best entertainment SCW has. If they aren't busy looking at me, they are gasping at what I'm doing."
Ryan's eyes light up before playing around with Harley's hands.
"I got something special up my sleeves for this week... even if I don't plan on wearing any sleeves."
"Sleeves would just hide this sick ink."
Harley grins and trails Ryan's inked arms with his fingertips, getting lost in the intricate designs of his tattoos for a moment.
"And you don't have to tell me how you make people gasp."
Wink wink. Nudge nudge. You know what he's saying.
"Alright monkey. Go grab my phone and pick a place to eat. Let me worry about making people gasp."
A chuckle comes from him, patting on Harley's sides to have him run off.
"I mean it. Nothing exotic."
"We'll see."
Harley's face carries a mischievous grin across his face as he hops off the counter and races into the other room.
________________________________________________________________________________
Moments later....
[On Camera]
"You know, I've been in this position before. I work up so hard, I get everyone hyped and 100% behind me until I reach the top, grab the title and claim it for myself. I'm on top of the world... Or at least for a little while. I am named a champion, the thing most of us are fighting to be ever since we signed to SCW. We work hard, we sacrifice, we hurt, and in the end we get a shot. That's how this system works. But there are those who thing they can by pass the system., thinking that they are so above it all, thinking the're the greatest wrestler to ever step inside the ring and demand privileges that they have not earned."
"At Into the void I came in as a champion, ready to once again take on my challengers. It was no surprise to me that I saw some reoccurring characters. The same people I have faced time and time again, and why? Because they think they're entitled to be a number one contender. And that is not how this works. It's because of this petty selfish act that other people don't get a chance to get ahead."
"Steve Ramone, he had no right to be in our match at Into The Void. Why was he in it? Oh, because he got outplayed once again by me, ending up losing his title. He lost it so bad he needed to use his rematch clause. Ramone has lost to me so many times that he doesn't even deserve to have those clauses given to him each and every time he loses. The same goes for James Tuscini. The man is busy on his unsuccessful tag team career, getting hsi ass handed to him, and what does he do? He dusts off his on and off again rematch clause from his back pocket and instantly gets a match fro the title. Seems fair right?"
"To me the only real challenger for my Roulette title in that entire match was Kris Halc. He started from the very end of the line, worked his way up like you're supposed to and challenged me for my title. And that was a match that I was more than wiling to give him. After everything was all said and done he came up the winner. That is something that I can't get mad about. He worked, he did what he was supposed to do and won. And I will do the same."
"To Mark and Christian, if they are watching I want you to hear me on this. DO NOT give me ANY rematches clauses. I don't need it. If I am going to be the roulette champion again, and I will, I'm going to do it like it's supposed to eb done. Starting all the way from the bottom. And it's only fitting that I see a familiar face there."
"TNA, Travis Nathaniel Andrews. I can't say that Im surprised to see him again, but I can't say that I'm all too happy to be facing that man again. A former champion that left with his tail between his legs as soon as it got tough. Now we are both on even playing fields down at the bottom floor waiting to climb back up. And only one of use will get to the top first. And you can bet that I'm going to be that man."
"There is a fire lit up inside me again, the hunt for the title is clear on my mind and there is only one thing I want. I want my title back. And I'm gonna get it back eventually. It doesn't matter how many people I have to beat. What does matter is that after this week, I'll have one win under my belt, getting me that much to what I lost. And there is no stopping me."
