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"Hey Becks? Got a minute?"
Becky turns to see Dean walking up to her, tapping his phone against his thigh. Jon, she reminds herself. He isn't renewing his contract with WWE and he'll be gone in a matter of weeks, so she'll have to get used to using his real name again. "Hey. What's up?" She does her best not to glance at the closed office where Seth is meeting with Hunter. By now pretty much everyone backstage knows she and Seth are dating, but some opinions matter more to her than others, and Dean's is one of them. Roman seems delighted that his youngest Shield brother is in love again, but she can't quite figure out Dean's take on the relationship.
When he starts glancing around, Becky's heart sinks a bit. Dean is twitchy by nature, but he looks like he's making sure no one else is in earshot. "Got a question for you," he says at last, hopping up on the nearest equipment trunk and patting the spot beside him, staring at her until she joins him.
"Okay. Shoot." She's never been one of those girls who doesn't want to go anywhere without her boyfriend, but she can't help wishing Seth's meeting would finish up quickly.
"You cool if I keep sending Seth dick pics?"
There's enough to unpack there that Becky feels like her brain has gone on a whirlwind world tour. Her mouth opens and closes over and over, but the only word she can manage to squeak out is "What?"
Dean taps the back of his phone. "Are you cool if I keep sending Seth dick pics?" Apparently the addition of a formal verb is supposed to make the question clearer.
"Keep sending?" Becky echoes, still trying to find some sensible footing in this surreal conversation. "You mean you've been sending him dick pics already?"
To her surprise, Dean doesn't look surprised at all. "Yeah. Of course. It's a whole thing. You know, like those flip animation books...."
That unleashes a torrent of images in Becky's head that she really doesn't want to be contemplating, especially since she's next in line to talk to Hunter. "That's really up to Seth, isn't it?" she hedges. A strange sense of relief relaxes her shoulders. The reaction to their relationship has been so positive overall that she's just been waiting for someone to try tearing them down and if it had been Dean, she's not sure if she would have had the heart to tell Seth. It's hard enough knowing that his Shield brother is going to be leaving the company; if Dean disapproved of their relationship—or just her—it could drive a wedge between them that had nothing to do with distance. "I mean, it's his phone and—"
But Dean waves away her concerns like stale smoke. "Nah. I know he's good with it. I just want to make sure you are. I mean, you two are probably going to be married before my birthday at the rate you're going, so I want to keep everything cool, you know? Galina was okay with it for a while, but now with the kids...."
It's another rollercoaster ride for Becky's heart, but at least this loop sends her soaring. Dean's birthday is in December—she's too flustered to remember the exact day—so if he thinks they'll be married by then, clearly he thinks they have staying power. Or that we're stupid, Becky thinks. To Dean, though, those probably aren't mutually exclusive. "Oh. Okay. Well, I mean, if it's cool with him, I'm fine with it."
"Good." Dean is still speaking as he flips over his phone, taps an app icon, and pecks out a few words before hitting the send button.
It's quiet enough backstage that Becky hears the notification tone from Seth's phone and the low rumble of his voice. Even if there was the bustle of a live event, though, she would have been able to hear the sharp sudden curse. "I didn't think you meant right now," Becky hisses. "He's in a meeting with Hunter!"
"Oh." Dean hops down to his feet and quickly shoves his phone in his back pocket. "Well, not like Trips hasn't seen it too. If he wants a subscription, he can ask." Then he plants a sloppy kiss on the top of Becky's head and saunters off. "You're good for him, Lynch!" he hollers back. "Don't let him screw this up!"
"DEAN!" The exclamation bursts out of the office before Seth does, eyes wide. When he notices Becky, he takes a deep breath. "I thought I heard Dean. That bastard—"
"Leave it, Seth." Hunter's beleaguered fatherly tone may sound weary, but Becky knows the power behind it all too well. "Let's finish up here and then you can go yell at him."
Becky manages to shoot Seth an apologetic look before he goes back in the office, but it still feels like an eternity before the door opens again. "Not your fault," he says quickly, coming over to give Becky a kiss. "I want to talk to him before we leave, though, so...."
"Go ahead. I'll let you know when I'm done with Hunter." She takes her time closing the office door behind her, though, and she's not quite sure how to read Hunter's expression. "Sorry about that—"
Hunter shakes his head. "Was it your dick?" The question is almost absurd as Dean's had been. "No. Then you have nothing to apologize for." He clears his throat and loosens his tie, clearly eager to get the last of the evening's work done. "Let's talk about some scenarios for Money in the Bank...."
"Sounds good."
And then Becky's phone dings, and she sets it on Hunter's desk very carefully, face down. Whatever it is, she doesn't want to know. She's had enough surprises for one day.