Dear diary: Rhea Ripley & Damian Priest
Summary: With Finn’s move to SmackDown and Blake Monroe using her heartbreak against her sends Rhea to Damian’s room at the end of the night
Warnings: Some angst and hurt 🖤
AN: Their relationship is completely platonic. Credit to gif owner
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“Hey, Babe, let me call you back. Someone’s at my door.”
Damian said, tossing his legs off the edge of the bed.
“Ok, just call me back, I’m just packing.” Lola smiled, kneeling on the ground in front of her suitcase. “I love you.”
Another fast knock echoed through his hotel room as he was making his way towards the door. Tossing his phone on the bed.
Damian looked through the peephole, seeing Rhea (as he assumed), a smile crept on his face as he opened the door quickly.
Rhea stood there in an oversized hoodie with its hood pulled over her head, casting her face in a dark shadow that did a terrible job at hiding her tear-stricken face.
“Come inside, come here.”
He didn’t wait for an answer before pulling her inside the room, letting the forgotten door shut behind her.
“Rhea, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Rhea sat down on the edge of his messy bed, knocking her hood off to bring her hands up to her face, mumbling beneath them.
Her voice sounded weak. Like she’s been crying for hours before now.
“Then call Jey, it’s 1 back home.” There was a sincerity in his voice, but he was also confused as to why she showed up at his door when the solution was literally in the palm of her hand.
The name left a disgusting taste in her mouth.
Damian had a physical reaction to the name of the old friend he once called his brother. It made his stomach turn; he could see the guilt of it on Rhea’s face.
“Why?” Was the only word he could muster out with a nervous chuckle.
“Blake mentioned him and SummerSlam in her bloody vignette last week, and now all of this shit tonight. I don’t miss him, but I miss us, you know?”
Rhea brought her knees up to her chest, her slides tumbling to the rough carpet floor. Her forehead fell against her knees.
“He was a cheating ass, that acted like a child whenever you wanted him to do anything else than play his fucking game. You don’t miss him.”
Rhea let out a frustrated groan, looking up at him with teary eyes, her hair framing the sides of her face.
“I don’t miss his dick, Damian, I miss us!”
The woman snapped. Every emotion she felt was being targeted towards the last true member of the Judgement Day she loved left.
“Don’t tell me you don’t miss Finn? I know you do. He was your best friend, your brother, you won the tag titles together, and traveled the world together with us. You. Miss. Him. Don’t make me feel like I’m going crazier than I already am.”
Every word that left her mouth felt like a bullet going right into his chest. The cracking in her voice made it hurt worse. Damian swallowed hard around the lump that was slowly starting to form in his throat.
“Rhea…” He moved towards her, sitting next to her on the bed, tossing his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. “Of course, I miss Finn. I saw him at Mania, and I couldn’t help but feel proud of him when he walked out there with that face paint on.”
The last time the Demon showed up, it was him vs Edge; the man they all kicked out and attacked him and his wife. The same weekend, Rhea bested Charlotte Flair, and Dominik fought his dad. Even with Dom and Finn losing their matches, it was a big weekend for all of them.
It was their first Mania as a family together. It was special, and Rhea hated how every good memory was now tainted with the memory of Cleveland.
“You're not crazy, Rhea. Not any crazier than me.”
The Aussie fell into him, wiping the stray tear that rolled down her cheek. The breath she took was shaky as she opened her mouth.
“I don’t miss Dom, but I miss our chats, watching you boys play Tekken, bouncing around the ring because we all had the zoomies from pre-workout, or when we built that pillow fort in your apartment and watched all the Halloween movies because Finn hadn’t seen them and Dom still jumped like he hadn’t.”
Damian chuckled, remembering how much hot chocolate and popcorn with M&Ms that night.
“I miss my bloody family, I miss all the fun we used to have together.”
She had no more love in her heart for Dom, but a connection like that doesn’t just die because the relationship did.
There would always be a string of fate attached to them together, even if it was now dull and gray.
Damian pulled her head towards his chest, bringing his other arm around her as Rhea crumbled into him; his own heart ached, having to fight Dom tonight made every old wound bleed like new.
The lump in his throat got hotter as more tears spilled from Rhea’s eyes, clinging onto the back of his shirt, her arms stretched around his waist.
“I hate Finn for destroying what we had, but I’ll always have a piece of love for him even now. You're not alone, Rhea. I understand how you feel; they ripped my heart out that night, too.”
Priest cradled the back of her head, feeling her body shudder as she said, “God, I hate how they still have the power to make us hurt.”
She hated herself for shedding actual tears over the family that betrayed her, but it didn’t stop the wave of emotions from flowing out.
The truth was, Damian did too. He did everything he could to move past it. Forgot the good times and used his anger and pain to climb the ranks once again.
Just one little problem… he couldn’t. He was stuck in a tag team with R-Truth, who didn’t know how to do what he was told and leave Keys alone.
He was, by all means, now a joke when he was once a history maker, arena shaker, El Campeón. And he got so close, so many times, but never close enough.
And he wouldn't let Finn spend a single minute of his weekend without hurting just as badly as they are
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This took waayyyyy too long for it to be so short but as soon as I heard Blake bring up SummerSlam and Dom I had to do something 🤭🖤
