#dreadlocks bear

I looked outside of the window, we were getting close to the destination. Wondering what a real wrestling match would be like, I heard Fulton’s voice, “I wanna talk to you about something.”

The serious tone gave me bad feelings.

“When we were with your friends, you said you don’t wanna move in together now.”

Swallowed hard and told myself to act cool, I replied, “well, it’s only five months and we never talked about financial stuff.” The latter part was a lie, I was hoping to use it to make the statement more cogent. The thing was, I had never been through this stage, it’s a totally new concept to me.

“We discussed the financial stuff weeks ago, it was the day I got my contract with Impact, remember?”

You had no idea how much I hated his good memory sometimes.

“Right...” I coughed embarrassingly. Wording was an art that I wasn’t equipped with, especially when I panicked, I didn’t even gave second thought to what I said, “you know it can end up in bad way right?”

“What do you mean by ‘bad’?”

My voice faltered, “moving in can be different from what we think... W-what if we break up?”

Fulton’s face clouded over, brows knitted together in exactly the same way when he faced a difficult opponent in match. “So you think it will somehow ruin everything. I kinda start to wonder if you have enough faith in our relationship.”

I screwed up.

Having the thought that he might refuse to talk to me, I turned away, couldn’t help feeling despondent. The abnormal aura between us did not vanish after we arrived the destination, although Fulton acted like nothing happened and introduced me to his friends - he even grinned like usual, but I could sense his displeasure.

The meeting with his friends was short since they were in hurry of preparing for the match, but they were all friendly and considerate people. They knew it’s my first time watching wrestling show with almost zero knowledge, and were willing to answer every question I had, even the stupidest ones. After a short chat with the Sami Callihan - whom I learned that actually had easy-going nature in real life rather than the malicious personality in rings - about what the main event was tonight, I looked up and found Fulton was gone. I didn’t even have the chance to say “good luck”.

A hand patted my shoulder, it’s Jake Crist, “looking for Fulton? He already went to the ring. Aren’t you going to watch the match?”

“I’ll just stay here.” I forced a smile.

The younger Crist stared at me for a while, said, “I don’t wanna be gossipy but did you two have argument?”

“It’s my fault.” I replied, eyes downcast, “I said stupid things and upset him.”

“This is how relationship works. Couple always argues about small things.”

“But today is the first time he brought me to meet you guys, it’s so special for him and I ruined it.”

“Don’t say that. Whatever the argument is, I believe there’s a reason.” Jake gave me a comforting smile. “Fulton talks about you a lot. Every time he mentions ‘Birdie’, we know the topic is about you.”

I blushed. He liked to give me pet names.

“You two are deeply connected, things will work out.”

I nodded, feeling much better, “thank you.”

“By the way, you can also watch the match here.” Jake turned on the TV.

The first scene I saw was Fulton leaning at the corner of the ring, face covered in blood.

“Hey are you alright?” Jake asked me.

Slightly shaking my head, I bit my lips in disquietude. It didn’t take long to know that Fulton lost the match, he looked like a beast in trap, wounded and dispirited, I wanted to hug him so badly, hence the first thing I did when he walked into the room was to grab his hand.

But he gestured stop, “Don’t touch.”

My arm froze in an awkward posture. Everyone in the locker room turned their sights to us, the confusion in air suffocated me. I didn’t want to act like grouch in front of his friends, it would embarrass him, so I mumbled “sorry” and left quickly.

 Wandering in the hallway, I tried to figure the reason that he said those words: was it because the argument we had in car? Or was he displeased that I didn’t go to the auditorium but stayed in backstage? I made mistake too and I wanted to fix it. Maybe we could try cohabiting first? It sounds fine for me...

With no attention paid to signs and turning, I somehow got lost in the building. Guided by intuition, I took another turn and was immediately stunned by the person appeared in front of me. It’s Fulton. He looked better than when he was locker room minutes ago, all the blood and mess was cleaned up.

“Where have you been?” he asked in worries.

“I got lost.”

Fulton let out a sigh, “like always...”

Before he went further, I cut him off, “I want to apologize.”

He looked puzzled, “what is it for?”

“I’m sorry for what I said. I have faith in our relationship with no doubt, but I never went so far in the previous ones and didn’t know what to do...”

Fulton dragged me into his arms, I was relieved a little in his bear hug. “I’m sorry too, Birdie.”

I looked up at him for an answer.

“You’re gonna think it’s stupid... I was covered in blood and I don’t wanna ruin your dress. I know how much you like this dress, you only wear it on special occasion.”

I wasn’t sure which one surprised me more: the reason why he didn’t want me to touch him after match, or how much attention he put on the details. But this was not what I needed to consider now.

“Listen, I have been thinking about what you said. I shouldn’t push you, if you’re not comfortable with moving in now, I’ll wait.”

Grasped Fulton’s fingers, I asked, “what’s about we start with cohabiting?”

“Are you sure?” his eyes widened. “I don’t want you to force yourself...”

“I’m sure.” I threw my arm around his waist, “by the way, can you take me to another wrestling show, I’ll definitely be out there to support you.”