Las Vegas, Nevada -
Last week“So, was I wrong?” That wasn't just a simple question where the proverbial “Man of the Hour,” Kristjan Baltarsson aka Fenris was concerned. If you were close to him, you would know just how hard of a question that was for someone like him to ask. It wasn't just an admission of guilt, it was admitting that he might be wrong about something - anything.
And to the person on the other end of this video, his close friend Willow, felt the sting of the question all the way to where she resided in Washington state. She did not answer, at least not quickly enough to suit Kristjan. He frowned as she bit her lower lip and cast a glance off camera on her end.
“Well!?” He prompted in his not-so-subtle way, to which she coolly replied, “Give me a minute. It takes time to properly sugarcoat a response where you're concerned.”
“Shit!” He fell back against the cushions of the sofa’s backrest, curling his fingers up against his lips as he looked anywhere but at his friend.
“Oh now don't pout. With those lips you look ridiculous.” Willow teased him, and that was enough to get him to look back at her, but the smile she wore was enough to keep him from saying to her what he probably would have said to any one of his other friends and acquaintances. Yes, even Mackenzie Page.
Willow leaned forward, her face changing from a soft teasing expression to one of concern and caring. She asked, “Kristjan, can I be honest with you about the situation?”
He said nothing, just motioned his hand for her to go ahead. And she did. She asked, “You had a pretty rough time coming out, didn’t you?”
“If you call the world finding out when I didn’t want it to, being harassed by fucking reporters, oh and let’s not forget the threat of a sex tape being exposed, then yes.” He nodded. “I guess you could say that. What’s your point?”
“My point is,” She stressed, “Is that despite the fact I know very little about David, since I don’t watch wrestling, it sounds like he’s had a bad time himself. Being brought up by religious fanatics? Abused physically and emotionally? Being practically brainwashed into going back into the closet, and then he laid eyes on a certain bronze Adonis that undid that.”
Fenris smiled that oh-so-cocky smile of his and quipped, “Flatterer.”
Willow continued, “And now he’s paying for it. It just sounds to me like you had it easy compared to what that poor guy went through. And is still going through. Now, before you ask, no. I don’t think it was right that he pretty much broadcast ed what you two did together behind closed doors for all the world to hear. Oh and speaking of that…”
She gave him a funny and obvious wink.
“Good for you!” She almost laughed, causing him to bury his face in his hand while his neck flushed a charming shade of red. She went on, “But, on the flip side…”
Fenris sighed, muttering, “... fucking knew it…” As he raised his head to look at her. He watched as she smiled her most charming smile from her side of the call and she said, “You’re probably the first man he’s allowed himself to get that close to on a personal level, maybe in years. You denying anything happened to protect your privacy probably hurt him so bad…”
“Stop. Please.” Kristjan finally said, eyes closed and he held a hand up. “I get it. I fucked up royally...”
Just as Kristjan was about to continue further on with this conversation, he was interrupted by a hearty and rapid-fire knock on the front door of his condo. Kristjan cast a quick glance toward the door, then leaned back on the sofa and called out, “Aron! Door!”
“I'm busy, K!” Aron replied, calling out from elsewhere in the condo. “Get it yourself!”
“I'm on a call with Willow!”
“I'm ordering our dinner!”
“God damn it!” Kristjan half muttered, earning a soft, lighthearted laugh to escape from Willow as she shook her head at him.
“Go on.” She said, dismissing him. “I'll call you later. Okay?”
“Fine.” He grumbled, not ready to actually end the call with his friend, but at the same time, not savoring how she had just effectively put him in his place and exposed his shortcomings where David Shepherd was concerned. She smiled brilliantly, casting a wink at him as the call was brought to an end.
Just in time for a second knock but rather than get up straight away, Kristjan called out, “Who is it??”
And instead of an answer through the closed door, he got a knock in response. Kristjan turned his head and gave the door across the condos foyer a dirty and incredulous look.
“Who! Is! It!?”
**Knock! Knock!**
“God DAMN it!” Kristjan threw himself up from his seat and stormed over to the door. ‘Who the fu-!?” But the exact words were cut off as he threw the door open and found himself staring into the innocent, smiling face of Despayre.
“It’s rude to yell at someone’s door.” Despayre said casually as he strode past a perplexed Fenris and into the condo, his father Synn casually following. Fenris slowly shut the door and glanced back and forth between them as they stood in the foyer and turned around to him.
“What are you doing here?” Kristjan asked.
“What?” Despayre held his arms out in wonder. “Do I have to have a reason to come visit you?”
“You’ve never done it before.” Kristjan answered that chosen gauntlet, walking past them to which Despayre just shrugged and said, “Well, you’re a very unpleasant individual.” Earning a nudge from his dad and an owl-look toward Gabriel’s student who spun around to give him a hard stare.
“Oh, hi.” Their heads turned as Aron returned to the front room, switching his phone off and tucking it into his back pocket. He settled onto the arm rest of the nearest chair and linked his fingers together as he asked, “What brings you guys here?”
Despayre spun around and smiled at the younger of the two siblings, stating, “Oh, Mister Mark asked me to come here to give the big lug here…” He jetted a thumb at Kristjan. “Some news about his match at the Supercard.”
“Why you?” Kristjan asked, to which Despayre answered, “Because I'm the safest.”
“Joshua…” Synn nudged him a second time and shook his head in the negative, whether it be the truth or not. Despayre blinked at his dad, unable to process what he might have said wrong so he turned away to Kristjan who walked around the sofa and had a seat on the far left.
He said, “You’re not exactly filling my head with confidence. I meant why did he have you deliver -- whatever this news is, instead of telling Aron. You know… my manager?”
Despayre just puts on his best innocent look (that gets them every time) and shrugs without saying a word. Kristjan leans back and sighs, beckoning him to go on. He said, “Alright, out with it? What about my match with Washington?”
Despayre said, “Well first you have to promise me that you won’t get mad until I’m finished.”
Kristjan just stared at him. Stared hard, then turned and looked at Aron who seemed just as equally clueless to what was going on here. Kristjan exhaled sharply and turned back to Despayre and said, “Okay, fine. I promise.”
Despayre said straight away, “Candy changed your match up. She’s making you and Jack wrestle each other in a great big kiddie pool filled with Unicorn pudding.” He paused, looked left and then right, and finally said, “I’m finished.”
The room was immediately filled with a very tense silence. Kristjan paused, waiting for the inevitable punch line. Despayre was a proud and practiced practical joker, so it was obvious this had to be just another one of his childlike ribs. Only -- he wasn’t saying anything. No denials. No “Just kidding!” or “Gotcha!” He just was casually inching his way back toward the front door of the condo.
Kristjan looked straight to Synn and pointed toward Despayre, “What is he talking about?” But before Synn could deign to answer, Kristjan turned to Aron who was already on his phone, searching for an answer as Kristjan said, “Tell me he’s kidding!”
“K…” Aron’s eyes were glued firmly to the screen of his phone. His flesh was not as tan and healthy as it had been less than a minute ago. He knew exactly what was about to happen, and how his beloved older brother was about to react. Aron slowly turned his head to Kristjan’s imploring eyes and he gave a slight shake of the head. “He’s not kidding. Candy changed it. You guys are… you’re wrestling in a tub filled with pink, purple and blue pudding…”
Kristjan quickly snatched the phone from out of Aron’s hands and stared at the screen….
Out in the hallway….“IS SHE FUCKING OUT OF HER GOD DAMN MIND!?”
“WHAT THE FUCK DO THEY THINK THEYRE DOING!?”
“I’M NOT A FUCKING SIDE SHOW FREAK!”
“IS SHE STONED!?”
And more, so much more, audible cursing that devolved from English to even louder Icelandic cursing as the door shut behind Despayre and Synn as they quickly and wisely took their leave. Despayre stared with wide eyes at the closed door, hearing thuds and crashes emanate from within as they could also hear Aron attempting to calm his brother down; a monumental and improbable task! Despayre then looked up at his dad and smiled.
“I think that went well!”
“So… sorry everybody. Aron here, and I’m afraid that you’re going to have to put up with me this time around. I’m sure by now that you heard how my brother reacted to Candy’s little alteration to his match against Jack Washington and, well, let’s just say that he’s not in his best frame of mind right now. And knowing him as you do by now, that’s probably saying a lot. I know I’ve had a handful trying to calm him down and convince him that things aren’t as bad as they seem, but he’s just not hearing it. So, here I am. Acting the part of manager and you know what another term for manager is when their wrestler won’t talk - 'mouthpiece.’”
“The sad thing is this was a match that my brother was really looking forward to because, let’s face it; I think there’s a lot of similarities between Jack Washington and Fenris. Both won the world titles in their rookie years. Meteoric rise for both men. And if I have to say, both with a certain sense of self importance. Yeah, I’ll be the first to admit that Fenris has a lot of confidence in himself in every way that you can think of; from his actual physical appearance to disregarding that and belief in what he can accomplish inside of the ring. Sound like anyone we know? Like, Jack perhaps? I think the only real difference is Fenris has more of a capacity to show respect towards someone once they’ve earned it. From what I’ve seen of Jack, the moment a match is booked for him, he’s already looking down on his opponent with a haughty sense of derision. Like he believes the match is a mere formality (okay, that sounds like my brother as well), but has anyone else noticed that Jack seems to have the unique talent of looking down his nose at people while that nose is stuck straight up in the air? Almost like he can’t believe he actually has to be inside of the ring with you, let alone have to touch you, in order to walk away the winner.”
“Sure, Fenris is confident. Brash. Cocky. And by his own admission - mean. From ‘the Cockney King’ Ben Jordan to Caleb Storms and just about every name in between, my brother has been in there against the very best. And do you know something, Jack? Only two men in this sport has ever managed to walk away with a win at his expense; Ben Jordan and Austin James Mercer. This is why he was looking forward to this match. This was why, for the first time in what seemed forever, Fenris was actually excited for a match. Because he has yet to get the chance to face you inside of the ring, and you’ve accomplished almost everything that he has! It’s almost like the two of you are on parallel career paths! And then - Candy stepped in. She decided to have some fun at the expense of the two of you, and now suddenly? All of that excitement went right out the window.”
“My brother may be something of an exhibitionist. He is a proud, proud man. But he is also one of the most physically dangerous athletes on the roster. Black belts in Judo, Muay Thai and Jeet Kune Do. Trained in hapkido. Extensive experience in kickboxing and MMA… still feeling confident over there Jack? Because I can honestly say that my brother was dangerous enough when this match was originally scheduled to be a regular one-on-one. But now that it’s been changed to a Pudding Match and he’s about went post apocalyptic nuclear?”
“I guess I just want to say … it’s been nice knowing you.”
