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“Boys!” Seth says for what feels to Kevin like the hundredth time that day, “boys, boys, BOYS! Here we aaare, about to handle business tonight!”
By his side, Sami nods with a grave expression on his face, something Kevin takes note of with slight dismay, “of course we’ll handle business,” he tells Seth, who rubs his hands together excitedly, practically bouncing in place, “can you tone it down, though? It’s not that big of a deal.”
“C’mon Keeev, when’s the last time we even got to tag together, huh? Can’t blame a man for being EXCITED to have his good buddies by his side, especially when I wasn’t expecting it at all! And in the main event, no less!”
…your good buddies, huh?
Raising an eyebrow, he decides not to fight the snort that escapes him, “I don’t know about Sami, but you and I tagged together QUITE recently, in case you forgot again. And it didn’t turn out all that spectacularly either! Hey! Don’t, okay?” He tells Sami, who had taken a step closer, his mouth already halfway open in order to no doubt moderate the argument that felt just around the corner, “don't bother, Sami. I just had to get that out!”
Seth makes a face of offended outrage and Kevin feels annoyance start to needle at the back of his neck. Considering the vast number of instances where they had tagged, faced each other, plotted against the other, bickered, and competed in all types of matters - from titles, to contenderships… to even the right to host a damn talk show at Wrestlemania - all the things which had indeed happened between them were becoming harder and harder to accurately shuffle through as the years piled on.
Luckily, Kevin has a good memory.
Unluckily, that never seems to make much of a difference when it came to the two of them.
“Let bygones be bygones, Kev! That’s what I always say!” Seth grins.
“I have never, EVER heard you say that!”
“Kevin!” Sami pipes up, putting a hand on his shoulder, “come on, what’s the point in fighting?”
“We’re NOT fighting! Just having a spirited discussion, that’s all!”
“HahaHA, that’s riiight!” Seth adds, clapping his hands together with enthusiasm, “that’s you and I down to a T, Kev! We've got the whole spirited thing in spades, baby!”
Urrrgh…
“Right…” Sami says, a hint of awkwardness in his voice, “look, as I said, there’s no point in you two… spiritedly discussing whatever happened in the past. We’re all on the same page now and we’re the champions of this brand, so let’s go out there and put the Judgment Day in their place, uh?”
“Sami, Sami, Samiii,” Seth muses, clasping the back of Sami’s neck with enough force to make him wince, “you’re absoLUTELY right, but you know how our old friend here gets some times - just no fun at all. Come on, man! I’m trying to get us PUMPED for the match!”
Glancing at Sami’s tentatively optimistic expression, Kevin sighs and brings a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, “right, okay, whatever! Let’s just get this over with, I can’t wait to punch Dominik in the face - maybe that’s why I’m so pent up, from hearing his voice out there just now.”
“That’s the spirit!” With a smack to Sami’s back, Seth moves to grab a near empty bottle of water sitting on a nearby bench and, with a cackle, dumps the remainder of it over his head, shaking his hair and making Kevin and Sami take similar steps back to avoid getting splashed, “oh, Sami! Can you go ahead? I wanna have an extra quick word with Mr. Anger Issues before we go out there.”
“I do NOT have ang—”
“Hey, heeey, come on!” Sami pleas, his hands raised between the both of them, “I’m going, but you two better behave because I am not about to lose to the Judgment Day of all people because my partners keep bickering.”
With a laugh, Seth gives his head another shake in what Kevin can tell is another attempt to get water onto him. He makes a tremendous effort not to blow up when a few droplets cling to the fabric of his shirt, instead letting out a groan, “it’s fine, Sami, just go, we’ll be right behind you.”
Although he still looks doubtful, Sami concedes, “alright, okay, I’m going… slowly… just—” he starts moving towards the door, looking at the encouraging smile on Seth’s face with slight suspicion, “okay, okay, I’m gone. Just don’t take too long!”
“Be there in a flash!” Seth tells his retreating back. As the door closes, he turns to Kevin without a word, instead planting himself firmly in place and standing there with his lips half-puckered and a gleeful shine in his eyes.
“What are you doing?” Kevin asks.
“I’m waaaiting.”
Oh, not THIS!
“Waiting for WHAT, exactly?” He asks again, although he already knows where the conversation is headed.
“Don’t tell me you were planning on leaving without even a smooch for good luck?” Seth pouts, earning himself a leer from Kevin, “not even a small one?”
“Shut the hell up, it’s not happening.”
With a look of mock-offense, Seth places a hand on his chest, “Keviiin! What happened to you? Did becoming a champion suddenly make you feel like you’re too good to give your old pal some love and support?!”
God, he’s SO irritating, why do I even put up with this…
“Oh, I KNOW you did not just call it that! Look! We don’t need luck against the goth squad, and I’m certainly NOT kissing your smug face again any time soon.”
“Pfffh, hey! I’m usually calm and collected - a proper champion of the people and all that! Only reason I’m smug right now is because I get to kick ass with you and Sami tonight! But I know you missed tagging together as much as I did, so stop playing hard to get and just get over here!”
“Hard to— I’M NOT PLAYING HARD TO GET!”
“Fine! If you say so, go ahead and prove me wrong, then!” He puckers his lips again and Kevin can basically feel the steam coming out the side of his own temples.
“Real question - was your mom a goldfish? Because there’s no other way you forgot about what you did to me last year.”
“Hey now!” His smile falling through, Seth takes a step closer, “I thought we had moved past that whole Stone Cold thing! You got what you wanted in the end, right? You got the show AND you got a match with him - everybody went home happy!” Kevin opens his mouth to argue, but is silenced when Seth continues, seemingly more to himself than to him, “… everybody except me, actually… I had to deal with that bleach— huh! Nevermind. Like I said, bygones be bygones! It all turned out alright - look at us now! Both here on RAW and both holding gold! Life is pretty good right now, Kev, so loosen up!”
God, he’s insufferable! Why am I even—
“And how does kissing you count as loosening up, exactly?” It comes out less peeved than he’d intended, which Seth seems to take note of, if the smirk returning to his face is any indication.
—considering it?!
“It does count if you do it right!” Kevin rolls his eyes, making Seth laugh again, “plus, it’s for good luck!”
“I told you before, that whole luck thing is bullshit.”
“Come on, Kev!” He whines, “it’s been a while!”
Nope! Not falling for it this time!
“Urgh! Let’s just go before Sami gets jumped by the Judgment Day out there and we end up in a two on three handicap match.”
Throwing his hands up in the air dramatically, Seth huffs, “FINE! Don’t blame me if we lose the match now!”
Just the most insufferable—!
As Seth turns to leave, still rambling about life’s injustices, Kevin grabs the end of the tape around Seth's wrist and pulls his surprised face closer to press a rather forceful close-mouthed kiss to his lips.
“There!” He says, letting go, “happy now?!”
Seemingly dumbfounded for a short moment, Seth’s face soon splits into a huge grin, “I feel a little bit better, for sure! Still, I know you could put a bit more effort into—”
“Seth.”
“…Kev?”
“Shut up and let’s just go?”
The sound of Seth’s boisterous laughter unfortunately does not annoy Kevin as much as he would like it to.
Damn it! Every single time...