Cyndi - Writes Sappy Things ✿

Hold Me Gently ▹ an ongoing connected universe

▹ read chronological order HERE ⬪˙ publication order ▽

⬦ “I am now”

⬦ Be My Shoulder to Cry On

⬦ We’re Just Two Ghosts - Rhea/Dom

⬦ Hold Me Gently ⁀➷ follow up to ▲

⬦ Welcome Back, Handsome ;)

⬦ “Please don’t leave me behind”

⬦ You’re My Right Decision

⬦ The Paper Ring ⁀➷ companion to ▲

⬦ The Romcom Incident

⬦ I Want: This, You, Me, Us

⬦ We Should Kiss

⬦“So, you and my brother, huh?”

note⁀➷ Hold Me Gently is marked with 🌴 and is a nonlinear canon/fiction (Jhea) universe, closely following the TV/PLE shows

Just the Three of Us ▹ multi-chapter Jhea pregnancy fic

One | Two | Three | Interlude | Four | Five (coming soon)

note⁀➷ this series launched from the same-named drabble (HERE), and chronologically leads to said drabble and after it ♥︎

They Never Saw Her Coming ▹multi-part Jhea mystery/suspense series featuring Rhea’s determination to infiltrate and then tear apart Roman’s Empire. Will Jey Uso stand in her way?

One | Two | Three (coming soon)

The What-ifs ▹ possible three-part series!

♡ Your Lips Taste Like What-ifs

The Rhea is Bluey Series ▹ Rhea vs blue mist 0-2

❦︎ They Can’t Take Us Anywhere

❦︎ Why You So Blue? ⁀➷ part two ▲

Drabbles ▹ Stand-alones ▹ Mini fics

❀ You’re My Airbender

❀ “When did you…?”

❀ Then Come Home

❀ Just the Three of Us

❀ Only Your Smile Can

❀ And Now Forever Begins

❀ “Can we edit that out?”

“Naw. I’ll let you do the honor.”

“Okay.” Lifting her left arm, she tapped her index finger on her chin, her engagement and wedding rings sparkling beautifully under the studio lights.

Jey often told her she purposely flashed her rings whenever she could. So what if she did? Her man had done real good picking them out, and she wanted the world to know that she’d traded up, shaken off the dead weight that’d been dragging her down.

Now, Jey’s rings fit proudly around her finger, a symbol that her heart was tucked safely inside his.

She could smile, or cry, just thinking about it.

Instead, Rhea half turned in her seat so she was facing the camera. “This, ladies and gentleman, is WWE Superstar, the man we all call ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso, but I lovingly refer to him as the pain in my ass.”

He grinned, stretching his legs out under the table, the toe of his shoe bumping hers. “In, on, around, over, undah. As long as I’m near tha’ ass, I’m good.”

Rhea covered her mouth, hiding the grin and the faint blush tinting her cheeks. “Flattery will not save you from the brutality, peaches.”

“Wanna bet?”

Her right brow arched. “What’re we wagering?”

“Two hours, no questions.”

“Deal.”

Jey squirmed in his seat, his temperature rising. Across from him, his wife pierced him with her glare, expression challenging. Never one to back down, he slipped his sunglasses off and winked. Her lips twitched, and that was the confirmation he needed.

Two hours. No questions. Hell yeah.

Rhea watched as he adjusted his shades behind his head, his black shirt pulling and stretching in all the correct ways. His biceps flexed, tanned skin and tattoos daring her to leap across the table.

Discreetly, she cleared her throat. “You choose first.”

Suddenly nervous, he shot her a look before picking up the first card, then sighed in relief. “Easy.” He leaned back. “Since you both work and travel together, name one thing you do to keep from growing tired of each other.”

“Who says I don’t grow tired of you?”

Jey rolled his eyes. “Please. I barely leave the room and here you come right behind me.”

Rhea pursed her lips in thought, purposely delaying answering the question. Let him sweat it out.

Jey tipped his head back, perfectly at ease.

“Whatever,” she conceded. “Outside of talking out our shit, we cook.”

“Don’t forget the naked part.”

She sputtered in surprise. “The hell we do!”

“Damn near then.”

“Underwear is not naked, peaches.” Rhea gripped the table, shaking her head at him. “Here you go again making the world think I’m the exhibitionist, when you’re the one that would wrestle nude on live T.V.”

He grunted. “I’d wrestle you in the nude on live T.V.”

Heat crept up the back of her neck. Damn the higher neckline on her tank top. It was damn near suffocating.

“See,” Jey said, eyes twinkling. “You’re thinkin’ ‘bout it.”

She glared at him, heart thumping questionably underneath her skin. “You bloody, arse.” Rhea couldn’t go one day, or one event, without her crazy man making horny remarks. It was no wonder they’d gotten dubbed “freaks” and “sex addicts” by the dirt sheets.

Okay. The last one always made her laugh.

It was kind of true, but only after she’d agreed to be his girl. Jey was too smooth with his words, and his body made her want to do things she’d never thought about before. Could the world and dirt sheets honestly blame her? Hello? She thought not.

Two hours, no questions.

Rhea shifted in her seat. She didn’t dare look him in the eyes. “I hate you,” she whisper-yelled knowing full well he was eating up her predicament.

He bit into his bottom lip, gaze not missing one inch of her discomfort. Oh, hell yeah. “She’s right, tho’.” Jey pulled his eyes away from her to look into the camera. “We like findin’ recipes and tryin’ them at home.”

“The ones from around the world are our favorites.”

“Gotta shout out our sis, Naomi. She’s the one that bought us a recipe box for our anniversary.”

Rhea lifted her hands into the shape of a heart. “Love you, Nai!” She’d already had a small recipe book from her nonna that she treasured, but Naomi’s gift had kickstarted a new hobby both Rhea and Jey enjoyed.

Her husband was a terrific cook, everyone knew that. He loved bragging about it. He also loved cooking her Samoan food, quietly watching for her reactions.

Rhea knew it was an honor. Jey inviting her into his family and sharing his traditions with her wasn’t something she took lightly. She wanted to know every facet of him, and vice versa. Rhea made it her mission, when they were in Australia for work, to give him the full Aussie experience. Even if he didn’t understand or like some of it, he still got to witness and participate in her home and what called to her living so far away.

As they’d grown closer and started traveling together, their friends had labeled them “foodies” and Rhea loved it. She loved him and food and collecting random shit from around the world. In their living room, she had a scrapbook of photographs of her and Jey, and sometimes their friends if they were all together, along with paper napkins and miscellaneous items. Each was a reminder of a new phase in her life. One with genuine friendships and the love of her person.

Cooking and recipe finding had become more than just eating to survive. It was a chance to be herself.

How could she grow tired of Jey?

He was the man that sang to her when she was consumed with anxiety, on the brink of another debilitating panic attack. Her other half. The cheesy missing piece in her life. He was the man that said “eff it” and did ridiculous dances in the middle of a crowd just to make her smile. He was her cool breeze on a warm day, and she loved spending her work days and her free days with him, no matter how sickening they seemed to outsiders.

“Man, I’m still cravin’ the balanzoni we had in Bologna.”

Rhea’s mouth watered. She’d nearly licked her plate, right there on the narrow patio, sunset picturesque behind them. “Don’t even remind me.” She swiped her finger over her lips, checking for drool. “If anyone has an authentic recipe, please send it to us.”

Across from her, Jey nodded in agreement. She tapped her long nails on the stack before snatching the top card. No-brainer, she thought cockily. “If it came down to rescuing your twin brother or your wife, who would you save first?”

Jey didn’t even blink, he just lurched forward, fumbled around for a wing and shoved half of it into his mouth. Regret was instantaneous.

“You’re shitting me right now?” Rhea stared, offended, as he coughed around the large chunk of chicken. She would’ve kicked him if she didn’t think he’d start choking. “You bloody bastard. There’s no way you’d choose Jim over me.”

Jey swallowed, then immediately hacked around the heat tickling the back of his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut, a single tear leaking out. “Holy shit. Y’all sprinkle all of these wit’ ghost peppa dust or somethin’?”

Rhea snorted, unable to stop herself. “It can’t be that bad.”

Another tear plopped onto his cheek. “Damn that shit’s already gettin’ to me.” And because his body was keen on betraying him, he sniffled loudly enough for the microphones to pick up without issue. “For real, baby. That stuff is wack.”

She snorted again, waving her hand in front of her. “And Jim’s never finding out about this episode. He’ll never let me live down the audacity of you opting out of answering.”

He nodded, reaching for the glass of milk next to him. “C’mon, hon. I ain’t know the context. Maybe there’s water, but you both know how to swim, so…”

“How’s this for context?” She wiggled her hand between them, and one by one lowered every finger but the middle one. “You’re welcome.”

Jey knew exactly what possessed him. That snappy, sarcastic, tone of hers always, loudly repeated, always had the reverse effect on him.

Lifting out of his seat, he ignored her shocked gasp, and sucked that daring finger right between his lips. “Mmm,” he hummed, placing his hands flat on the table to sturdy himself.

“Babe,” she squeaked, her face rapidly moving through shades of pink to magenta.

“Cut!”

Both Jey and Rhea froze, her middle finger in his mouth. She rubbed at her chest with her free hand, eyes widening, but still staring intensely into his.

“Guys, if we want any footage to air, we need to lower the rating back to acceptable.”

“Sorry,” Jey said around her finger, his own slobber dripping into his beard. Still, he didn't budge.

Rhea turned her hand over, her other fingers uncurling under his chin. “Does this cut into our two hours?”

His nostrils flared at the suggestion. “Hell no.” He tipped his head back, letting his teeth nip into her flesh.

Her eyes hungrily followed the trail of saliva left behind. “Good to know,” she whispered low enough no one else on set could hear.

“Take a second to cool off and then we’ll roll,” one of the producers called out, yanking Jey from his trance.

“Yeah, sure thing.” He stole one final heated look with his wife before parking his ass back in the chair. His body was on fire thanks to her, not the damn wing.

Rhea wiped her finger on her black jeans, her thigh absorbing the dampness. “Shit,” she said under her breath. How did she always end up in this situation?

The answer to her question tugged on the front of his shirt, his face flushed. To anyone else, Jey seemed agitated by the warmth from the lights and filming equipment. Rhea knew better.

“You got a little dribble in your beard, cupcake.”

“Huh?”

She rolled her eyes inwardly, charmed by her cornball mate. “Your beard? Drool?” Pointing at her face, she rubbed at her chin.

Jey blushed, reaching up to wipe across the scratchy hairs. He pulled his hand away, silently asking if he’d gotten it all.

Rhea smiled fondly. “Here. Lean forward, love.” When he did what she asked, she used the sleeve of her brown cardigan to dab at the gleaming remnants. “There.”

“Thanks,” he muttered, embarrassed he’d made a fool out of himself on the set of a popular show.

She understood him too well, knew he was close to working himself into a pity party. Rhea craned her neck to steal a quick kiss. “Love you, sexy man.”

“You better.”

They didn’t realize the crew had quietly counted down to action again, the camera rolling as the tender moment was captured for the world to see.

———————————(っ˘ڡ˘ς)-———————————

Rhea grumbled around a bite of the spicy wing, miffed that Jey wouldn’t give her an out for incorrectly guessing when their first date was. “I still don’t see how I’m eating this, like a bloody champ by the way.” A bit of chicken flew out her mouth onto the table. She glared at it.

Jey waved the card around. “I’m the one wit’ the hurt feelin’s. Can’t believe you don’t know when our first date was.”

She chomped down on the rest of the wing. “You picked the first hang out that wasn’t even labeled a date and called it our first date. How was I supposed to know?”

Bristling, he tossed the card onto the table. “It felt like a date to me. After all that damn time, you finally wanted to hang out. I dunno. It felt special.”

So help her… she melted. Like ice cream on a humid day, sweet liquidy goop. She disgusted herself.

“Peaches.” Ugh. Rhea wanted to kiss his pouty lips. “It was special. It was the literal beginning of this.” She pointed between them. Ugh. Shit. Crap. All of it.

Maybe he was right.

Cheeseburgers and fries, two blocks from the hotel most of the Raw roster had been staying at, ended in the first time he’d held her hand. Rhea had been scared, but with Jey it was easy. His hand brushing hers, his pinky finger locking around her sweaty one.

That day was vivid in her memories. From the scent of his amber cologne, his beard freshly trimmed. She knew it was because she’d paid so much attention to every detail of his face, when he appeared at her door, the first words out of her mouth were “you look good.”

Thankfully, they’d both turned a darker shade and he’d smiled, the right side of his mouth slanting higher. All evening, her heart had wedged itself into her throat, and yet it was natural flipping her hand… palm up… waiting for him to make the next move.

He had.

“You look good,” Jey echoed her memory, eyes locking onto the sliver of shoulder peeking out from her cardigan. She was effortlessly beautiful to him. “Real good, damn.”

Rhea’s chin lowered toward her chest, her blood simmering below the surface. “So you’ve said.”

“So… would you say that’s our first date?”

“Yes.”

Jey’s brows lifted in question. “For real?”

She nodded. It was hard for her to let go of control, to not have a plan for everything in her life. Just because they never used the word “date” didn’t mean it wasn’t, and Jey had always been ten steps ahead of her when it came to their relationship. If he said it was technically their first date, it was.

Smiling faintly, he snatched another card, both hands gripping it with enough force to tear through the strong material. “Name each other’s favorite entrance.”

“Backlash, in France.”

“Too easy,” he accused, smirking.

She crossed her legs under the table, her right hand coming up to rub at her chest. “That’s top tier for any entrance, baby, and you know it.”

“Jus’ didn’t think it was your favorite.” Jey’s brows waggled. He knew her better than she liked to admit. “Still got some wings on the plate. Wanna ‘nother one?”

Her nose scrunched at the thought. As much as she’d love to prove herself right, acid was building in her esophagus from the two she’d already eaten. “Nope.”

Jey flashed her all his white and gold teeth. “Tell everyone your favorite entrance of mine.”

“WrestleMania 38,” Rhea rushed out. Judging by the big dopey grin on his face, he understood loud and clear.

“Ahh.” He sat back, bringing his arms up to lock behind his neck. “Why that one?”

Rhea snatched up a wing, her mouth still tingling from the previous bites she’d taken. “Ugh. You suck so much.”

“Tell the truth or take a bite.”

She bit off a corner of the wing, then tossed the rest back. Her stomach didn’t want it. “Because your crazy ass was crawling with your tongue out. There. Happy?!”

Jey turned to the camera. “See, folks. My woman took one look at my freak ahh and decided I was hers.”

“I decided you needed that freaky ahh spanked.”

Jey bolted up, eyes glimmering with a spectrum of emotions, namely awe and want. “Damn,” he muttered.

Her hands covered her mouth. “Cut?”’ she squeaked out, too mortified to look at the Hot Ones crew.

“Keep rolling. Hands off asses for the time being.”

“Hear that?” Jey winked. Damn her tendency for blushing around him was making time drag on. He was about ten seconds away from tossing her over his shoulder and leaving the building.

“Shut up.”

“WrestleMania 40.”

“What?”

His face softened at the confused look marring her pretty face. “My favorite entrance of yours.”

“Why?” she asked, dumbly. Still reeling from her earlier confession.

“You kno’ I love all your entrances, boo, but that one takes the cake. Hair, makeup, gear? Gotdamn to all that sexiness goin’ on. Add in your band being there for ya. It was perfect, and I remember cheesin’ so hard for you in the back.”

“You’ve always been a fan, huh?”

Rhea’s a fan. Rang in his mind. Jey could slap Finn for every crime he committed, and yet… those three words had meant the world to a lovesick punk running around trying to get any of her attention on him.

“This where I eat a wing?”

Rhea made sure he was watching before dramatically rolling her eyes. “Be my guest. We all want to see you cry again.”

———————————(っ˘ڡ˘ς)-———————————

Jey did in fact cry again. It wasn’t his damn fault he couldn’t remember some toy from her childhood. He was about to yell “rigged” on the question cards when she started giggling. His girl, his tough “beat ‘em all up” girl was straight giggling because of him.

He was always stupefied by the sound.

After two years, it still had to sink in that Rhea loved him. A man with so many flaws he was ashamed of himself, and yet she looked at him like he could cure her brokenness. How was he so damned blessed?

Rhea tugged her cardigan back up her arm, a few more titters exiting her mouth. The look on Jey’s face had been too much. He pulled off shocked and offended brilliantly.

“Eat another one, peaches.”

“I’m good,” Jey sniffled, a stream of tears ran into the goop spilling from his nose. He accepted a paper towel from one of the crew members, bopping his head in thanks. “Your turn, baby girl.”

“We’ve come to the end, and to test the strength of your relationship, reveal, or eat a wing, the moment you knew you were in love with your partner.”

Jey blew his nose, eyes watering. “We already kno’ the moments tho’. Is this a freebie then?” He looked around the room asking for confirmation.

“Whatever you want, man,” answered one of the producers.

“You got a different answer?”

Rhea shook her head. “I always tell you I fell little by little after SummerSlam, but it was the moment you ran out to protect me and Priest that I knew I was in deep trouble.”

His heart did a quick thump-thump-thump before correcting itself. “I was exactly where I needed to be.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re not revealing the whole truth, so eat that wing.”

Some things didn’t need to be broadcasted to the entire world. How and when and where she knew she was in love with Jey Uso was for them only. As long as Jey knew, she was happy with that.

She picked up the wing, wincing when her chest burned under her breastbone. Tums. She needed Tums.

Jey leaned forward, his fingers wrapping around her wrist. “What’s wrong? Reflux?” She nodded her head once. “I told ya to fake the damn spice being on ‘em. Baby Uso is like its pops and don’t like that crap.”

Baby Uso.

Baby Uso.

“Oh, shit.” Jey licked at his lips, blood thundering recklessly in his ears. “Did I…?”

Rhea pressed her left hand into her chest, slowly leaning back in her seat. “Can we edit that out?” Her eyes were still on her husband, but the question was for the crew.

“Cut. Let’s cut it for now.” The producer, a man most likely in his mid-thirties, short dirty blonde hair, approached. “First, congratulations?” He looked between them. “Whatever you absolutely don’t want in, we’ll leave out, and keep the news from leaking.”

“Uh… thanks,” Jey answered, face red from the slip up. “Whatever you wanna do, sweetheart. You lead, I follow.”

She was twelve weeks pregnant. Their family, friends and coworkers already knew. Behind the scenes, their bosses were planning a way to seamlessly shift her to maternity leave. The next step was to inform their fans, and then Rhea wanted to go dark until she was ready to return to work.

Under the immense scrutiny and online hatred she and Jey received, she’d been pulling back and withholding sharing so much of her life via social media. That now included her child.

Jey tugged on her wrist, lifting her hand to kiss her knuckles. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.” And it was. Rhea sucked in a calming breath, then glanced at the producer. “Keep it in. We only ask that you don’t use it to tease or advertise the episode. I want the reveal to be a surprise for our fans.”

Jey sighed in relief, his lips brushing her knuckles again. “We’ll tell our work this is how we’re breaking the news, and they can figure out the rest.”

“Sounds perfect to us.” The producer clapped his hands together. “Whenever you guys are ready, we’ll have you stand for the ending b-roll.”

Rhea leaned over the table, planting a kiss on Jey’s lips. Her cardigan had been more to hide the small bump poking out. She didn’t look pregnant yet, but her belly had started to round underneath her clothes, and she was already doing all that she could to shield their little miracle from the world.

“Just for that,” she said, lips not leaving his. “Three hours, no questions.”

“Deal.”

If he slipped her a little tongue, on camera, who was anyone to stop him?

𓍯𓂃𓏧 the end

note: the opening was taken straight from the Hot One Versus introduction, so credit is given to them.