#mandrews

Neither really remembered exactly how it happened after all these years just that it did.  Maybe the beginning of it happened when they bumped into each other at the aftershow party with a mixture of NXT and NXT UK wrestlers.  Or maybe it was before during that night's show.  Either way, something started that night.

She'd just come back from an injury, a little bit nervous about getting hurt again but the way she moved during her match that night had captivated him.  She was bouncing and giddy, full of energy racing around the ring despite the fear hidden in her eyes.  

There was a struggle for her, the fear was taking over getting the better of her.  Nothing was going in her favor that night because of it.  She felt like she was at the lowest point of her life.  Failing in front of fans that had awaited her return.  Forever in her head, so afraid to disappoint people.  She was at her lowest but no one was the wiser.

His match had been after hers.  She was still walking up the ramp after her win when his music had hit.  He was dancing and pumping his arm making his entrance when they crossed paths.  Stuck in a moment frozen in time staring at each other.  

It was hard to explain just what exactly they were feeling, it was like being drawn to a roaring fire after hours spent out in a chilly winter's night.  There was something in the air that clung around them, swirling and floating, eeking in close.  He saw a look in her eyes, a little glint of emotion that lit a fire from within him.

Flashes, images of forehead kisses, and sleepy mornings rushing past his vision.  Late nights spent cuddled on the couch watching cheesy comedies just so he could hear her laugh, see the way she smiled.  Shaking his head loose from fantasies finding himself standing within three feet of her.

She was sweaty and flushed, holding her arm to her chest, but she couldn't look away from him.  A nervous shy kinda smile creeping over her lips as he grinned at her.  Not entirely sure why he did it, but that gentlemanly side of him took over.  Bowing in front of her, taking her good hand in his kissing it.

For a second the air fled her lungs altogether.  Lightheaded and a little star-struck her head fell forward, hair covering the flustered emotion of it all taking over her.  Biting her lip to keep from smiling like a fool.  Any plans of heading backstage and getting a shower were put on hold as she followed him down to the ring, her hand still clutched in his.  Taking a seat next to Beth Phoenix at the announcer's table she couldn't stop the grin that seemed plastered on her mouth.  

Watching his match intently, mostly ignoring the commentary beside her, not failing to notice the sly smile from Beth.  Every so often she'd catch Mark glancing her way with a playful smirk and a wink.  It'd been so long since someone had made her feel like that.  Warm and fuzzy and confused.  That little thing deep inside that made one comfortable and safe.  Strong and riding on cloud nine but also weak in the knees at just the sight of him.  Maybe it was all in her mind.  

************

They eyed each other from across the room at the after-party, surrounded by mutual friends.  The downward glances and hidden elation each time the other smiled their way.  He liked the way she'd look away running her tongue over her bottom lip before she bit it like she was trying to keep from grinning too openly.  

His friends kept nudging him to go talk to her. Tyler Bates and Trent insisting he 'grow a pair' before someone else took her attention away from their little awkward across the room dance.  Mark raised his glass her way in a little toast, smiling like a fool.   She couldn't more like wouldn't hide the way he was making her feel.  Grinning in response to his cuteness, a jaw-cracking sort of smile lit up her face.  

Mark didn't have the confidence just yet to walk up to her, instead trying to play it smoothly from across the room.  He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt like that, maybe in school ages ago.  He was convinced if he went up to her he'd become a stuttering mess.  

Kissing her hand before his match was a spur-of-the-moment thing, he still wasn't sure what compelled him to do it.  When she didn't drop her hand from his he just went with the flow.  Feeling her squeeze tightly around his fingers, little jolts, little shocks of something that could have been his imagination.

Seeing her stay out there for his match was like getting shot with adrenaline.  A rush, a natural high coursing through him each time he glanced her way.  How she looked at him, the dozens of unspoken words flashing across those eyes of hers making him feel unbreakable.  

He never fully understood something he'd read long ago until seeing the way she looked at him.  A quote that said, 'there's a difference between a boy that likes you and a man that wants to feel your soul against his'.  She hadn't even spoken a word to him and somehow he felt invincible with just a look from her eyes.    

Mark was full-blown crushing on her since he'd seen the clip Dunne had sent him of her singing 'Fall to Pieces' backstage at a Take Over event a few months before.  She was in her ring gear trying to psych herself for the match.  When Dakota had asked her in the video why that song; she grinned in return jumping up and down dancing.

"Reminds me of when I was happier."

Even after all of that he was still internally freaking out unable to walk across the room.  It was childish he thought to himself like he was back in primary school afraid to talk to the pretty girls.  

"Nice shirt," he mouthed her way tugging at the sleeve of his own.  Mentally slapping himself because she was wearing a faded Ramones zip-up hoodie.

He honestly didn't know what else to say.  It was cliche and asinine but he was afraid to be close to her again.  Afraid he might blow what could be because he couldn't help but want to kiss her again.  He wanted to know if her lips felt as soft as they appeared.  Would they give off the same little jolts being touched?

She tilted her head and scrunched her eyes from across the crowded room unable to understand what he was saying.  Between the shitty dim lighting and the loud noise, her head was pounding.  She watched him tugging at his shirt and pointing towards her but still two and two weren't forming in her brain, not when he was smiling at her like that.  

Crossing the room, pushing her way through people, ignoring the idle chatter directed her way as she stepped closer to him.  Witnessing the panic in his eyes, the slight shake of the glass in his hand.  

"Can I tell you a secret?"  She grinned as the tip of her sneaker bumped into his. 

Nodding his head confused watching her fingers trembling as they tugged the zipper down slowly pulling open the sweatshirt revealing a 'Junior Live and Acoustic from Cardiff' t-shirt.

**********

After NXT finished that following week, she caught a red-eye to see his match the next night in the UK.  All those frequent flyers miles were just sitting there collecting dust anyhow.  They spent a couple of days while they tried to figure out just what was happening between them.

Events just seemed to seamlessly flow together.  The laughter and jokes between them came as easy as breathing.  Arms wrapped around each other felt as natural as anything.  Her hand held in his was like it was made just for him.  Soft and warm, velvety smooth.  

Curled up on the couch in his flat, her head on his shoulder, fingers trailing over his.  Leaning in kissing her forehead just because she looked too damned cute not to only to be met with a smile that sent his heart soaring.  

Time flew by and soon she was flying home.  Awkward heartfelt goodbyes at the airport.  Neither wanting to say goodbye at all.  Goodbyes seemed so final for something that was new and still unknown.  There was small talk of both of them coming to see the other again.  There were appearances for the both of them set that would have them traveling near each other in the coming weeks.

And that's what happened.  When he had to show up for an appearance on NXT he stayed with her.  The first time was pure accident, his hotel had been double booked and he had nowhere to stay.  Knocking her door a few hours before the show, a sheepish grin on his face as he regaled his tale.  

She gave him that smile that set his heart on fire and ushered him inside.  Taken aback when he entered the kitchen to see a family staring back at him.  Nerves coursing through him feeling guilty having interrupted, maybe he could back out and stay with Tyler or Trent.

"You must be the Welshmen," the older gentleman had questioned offering his hand to Mark.  

"Y-yes?!"  Glancing to his side feeling her hand on his back.

"Dad," she groaned slightly annoyed before introducing him to her family.  

They'd come to see her wrestle that night, her chance at a title belt.  Her mother urged him to sit at the table while offering him food.  Telling him he looked too skinny to wrestle, a comment that made him chuckle.  Her little sister kept asking him to say all sorts of words to hear his accent.  

Feeling comfortable and welcomed he relaxed, telling stories of his career and teaching her sister how to say vulgar phrases whenever her parents were out of earshot.  Mark couldn't help himself but smile at Y/n each time he caught her attention, seeing that expression flooded in her eyes.  

"He kinda does look like a modern-day Arthur I suppose," her father had whispered in her ear.  Loud enough for Mark to overhear. "What are you two exactly?"

"Still early to tell," she blushed catching Mark's cheek flush a rosy hue from across the kitchen.  "But I'm pretty sure he's my person though."

Her father chuckled, "can you elaborate?"

"You always told me not to look for love, let it find me.  He found me."  Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear smiling at Mark talking with her mother and sister.  "There's no rush in whatever this is, it's like going in slow motion.  Getting an eternity in just a small conversation or having a hug feel like forever.  I like it and I like him, I trust him."

"You've trusted people before and that didn't end well."  That fatherly tone not escaping Mark's ears.

"The only difference is he's seen me vulnerable.  He saw what others didn't and refused to look at anything other than what was beneath the fascade and that's ..."

"Something of fairy tales."  Her father spoke, not in a condescending tone, but almost like he finally believed in something she had all along. 

 *******

Twice a month she managed to slip away to the UK to see him and once a month he made his way to the States.  The in-between were filled with calls and texts.  Late nights laying in bed talking over Facetime.  A relationship brewing and strong emotions flooding them through and through.  

They made the most of the time they had together and then the pandemic hit.   No flights, no way to see each other besides from behind a screen.  Days turned into weeks of emptying themselves of things they had never spoken aloud to others.  Thoughts and fears, of childhood traumas and dreams.  He shared new music he'd written, some she'd even inspired him to write.  

It felt like forever before the world had started to go back to normal.  Pushed through more training at the Performance Center to make sure all wrestlers were up to snuff performing in front of live crowds again.  Thrust into show after show, hardly enough time to breath.  The only thing keeping her grounded was hearing his voice, even if it was only through the phone for the time being. 

All that time apart made them both realize how much they needed each other.  How much each and every touch meant.  The gentlest of hugs, the tenderest kiss.  Just the ability to feel her breath on his skin as she was nestled half asleep on him on his couch.  Or feel the way she squeezed his hand before performing a jog with his band.  

The inability to relish in the smallest things like that was a wake-up call to just how easily actions could be taken for granted.  The ability to show her how much he needed her, how much he wanted her in his life with just a look instead of verbalizing it over their time apart.  

Words could come and go and lose their meaning but an action, an action would always speak volumes.  That was how all of this started he realized one night, thousands of miles across the world from her.  The action of her dancing to one of his songs.  The action of smiling at her on that ramp so many months ago.  The action of kissing her hand and griping her hand in his.  

Actions, little movements, moments in time that spoke louder than any words either could have ever yelled at the top of their lungs.  Actions that lead to emotions that lead to more.  Lead to trust and faith, lead to an endless possibility and boundless eternities.  

Tiny little actions that lead to love.  A feeling of home and safety and warmth and laughter.  Of nothing that had ever felt like this before.  He felt loved like never before.  It was like an all-seeing, all-knowing kind of love.  One that looked past the ugly, past the blemishes and the flaws.  Bad habits and mannerisms that were poked fun of and joked about instead of given an ultimatum to change.  

The acceptance of who they were, really were beneath the smoke and mirrors and glitz and glamor of photoshoots and promo videos.  It was loving all of all the insecurities the other had and getting them to see that it was what made them who they are.  It was loving the other despite how sleepy and groggy they looked in the morning during a quick Facetime before the day started.  

Finding beauty where there was no makeup and finding himself falling more in love with her each time she smiled.  Falling deeper with every smile and yet hurting so badly at the thought of never getting to see it in person again.  

All that time apart, all the pain and heartache seen in their eyes at the challenge of being so far apart.  It wasn't perfect but it was a roadblock, a hard time to overcome and become stronger from.   Infatuation was fragile and would have crumbled under such circumstances, but that love that grew between them was like an anchor keeping them safe from the storm.  

There was only one problem, neither in all that time had uttered those three little words.  Both couldn't deny to themselves that they felt it, but saying something like that over the phone or through a screen didn't feel right.  Something like that felt so deep down to the soul was something that needed to be said in person.

He wanted to come to the states as soon as flights were back up and running but it was one thing after another.  A show here or there, training, band practice.  Mark was beginning to think he'd never see her again.  His bandmates had come over excited about a gig, the first one since the lockdowns had started.  

The venue was small but crowded.  Voices and laughter filling the building.  It felt incredible being in front of people again performing live.  Song after song, feeling the excitement rushing through the crowd.  He missed the exchange between his bandmates seeing a face in the crowd.  

Pausing after finishing a song, they convinced him to sing the cover song he'd been tinkering with the past month.  Thinking they were nuts because it wasn't their style.  It'd been something he'd been screwing around with because of her, a little something he was going to use to segway into telling how he felt.  

Mark was about to argue when he felt little jolts prickling at his skin as a warm hand touch his forearm.  His head-turning so fast it should have caused whiplash.  Seeing that smile that he missed live and in person.  Engulfing her into him, smashing her into his bass guitar earning a little yelp.  

A barstool had been set on stage, she was prompted to sit amongst the band.  Mark couldn't stop smiling, whispering how much he missed her as the music picked up from the rest of the band.  He stepped up to the mic staring at her the whole time.  The crowd was getting into it even if it wasn't their usual sound.  

Die-hard fans had seen her pictures pop up on his and the band's social media pages for months.  Shared videos of their exchanges talking about music and the like.  Even a few times he'd gotten her to sing without realizing he was filming a live stream at the time.  She made him happy and the whole world could see it even through pixels on a screen.  

So she said what's the problem baby What's the problem I don't know Well maybe I'm in love I think about it every time I think about it Can't stop thinking 'bout it

The grin slowly growing from one corner of her mouth to the other.  A flush erupted across her skin topped with goosebumps hearing his voice, hearing undertones of what he was really trying to say.  

How much longer will it take to cure this Just to cure it cause I can't ignore it if it's love It makes me want to turn around and face me but I don't know nothing 'bout love Oh come on, come on Turn a little faster Come on, come on The world will follow after Come on, come on 'Cause everybody's after love

There was that look in her eyes, the one that had him deep down, tugging at every fiber of his being.  That feeling he only ever got from her.  Like the whole world was rushing past them while the two of them moved at a fraction if at all.  That slow-motion; caught frozen in time while the world spun wildly around them.

Just the two of them smiling, feeling like forever the briefest of minutes that had passed.  An eternity staring into eyes that looked at him as if he was the only thing in the world she needed.  There were a lot of things he was willing to ever go without doing or seeing again, but not that smile, not that face.  Not that glimmer of pure adoration in her eyes as she stared back at him.   

He stopped playing, his bandmates continued without him.  Taking a couple of steps, coming to a stop in front of her.  Glancing between her eyes as she stood.  Gingerly cupping her cheeks, feeling the little shake, the little tremble as she leaned into his touch.  Bumping his forehead to hers.

"I love you," three little words said in unison making the pair crack into a smile.