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Jey Uso followed his brother as Jimmy tore his way through the curtain back into Gorilla and the hallway beyond. Sami had long disappeared up the ramp by the time the twins made their way back to Gorilla following their Monday Night Raw segment together in the ring. Tension, anger and frustration were coming off the older twin in waves causing Jey to eye his brothers back wearily.
“How couldya go out there and be talkin’ to him, Uce?” Jimmy growled, not even bothering to turn around and look at his brother as he stalked forward ahead of Jey. He knew his brother was following behind him as he continued to bombard his younger brother with his reasoning for why they can’t trust Sami. “He ain’t family, leave him out of this.”
Jey shook his head at his brother’s comments, not bothering to respond. He wasn’t going to be able to convince Jimmy anyway, he knew that. When his brother got like this, he knew that it was best to leave him alone to cool off.
“You listenin’ to me, Uce?” Jimmy asked with a note of frustration leaking into his voice, turning to glare back over his shoulder at Jey.
“Yeah, Uce. I be listening…” Jey responded in a flat tone in an effort to placate his brother, glancing to his right and left as they crossed an intersection between hallways hoping to catch a glimpse of red hair. He knew he needed an out, a way to get his brother off his back so that Jimmy could cool off and Jey could try and sort this mess out.
After a moment longer of following his brother, he slowed his pace slightly and took to rolling his right shoulder, reaching across his body with his other arm and pressing his left hand to said shoulder. Jimmy, having sensed that his brother was not following behind him as he had been, turned and started to make his way back to Jey with a look of confusion.
“What you doing?” Jimmy questioned, his eyes moving between Jey’s shoulder and his face.
“I gotta head to the trainers, tweaked my shoulder in the match last night.” Jey stated quietly, not quite looking at his brother as he rolled his shoulder again.
“You have another match tonight, Uce… Why didn’t ya get this looked at earlier?”
“It wasn’t a priority, I’m fine. I gotta go though, go back to the locker room. I’ll meet you there after my match, Uce.” Jey asserted, attempting to brush his brother’s concern off.
Jimmy took a step towards his twin, his eyes raking over his brother’s face. Jey caught a glance of his brother’s eyes as they looked him over, an unreadable expression within their depths that worried Jey that his twin would call him out, call his bluff. He narrowly avoided breathing in a sigh of relief as Jimmy shook his head and let out an audible exhale of his own.
“Yeah, okay Uce… I be seeing you later. Get fixed up…” Jimmy grumbled, scrubbing his hand across his face as he turned away from his brother and walked away.
Jey waited until his brother was out of sight before dropping his hand from his shoulder. He wasn’t being completely untruthful; his shoulder did hurt. But he had other plans for the time he had left before he had to be back at Gorilla for his dark match. Turning away from the hallway his brother was retreating down; it didn’t take him long to find his way back to the hallway that housed most of the Raw roster’s locker rooms. He wasn’t entirely sure if Sami had a room to himself or if he was in the main locker room, but his question was answered a moment later when his eyes found the name plate on the door he was walking past.
Pausing in front of the door, he took a deep breath to steel himself for what was bound to come before rapping his tan knuckles against the stained wood.
Jey heard a slightly muffled “come in” from the inside of the room and pushed the door open a crack at the invitation.
“Hey, Uce… Can we talk?” Jey asked tentatively, poking his head through the door but not walking into the room yet. He wasn’t sure where he stood in Sami’s life after the previous few weeks between all of Jey’s time on Smackdown and his comments to Sami on Raw the previous Monday. He just hoped that Sami would hear him out.
Sami had his back turned, hunched over slightly as he sorted through his gear bag sitting on the bench in front of him but at the sound of Jey’s voice he turned around. After taking a moment to study the visitor with an unreadable expression, he nodded slightly.
“Yeah, Jey… Come on in.”
The door had shut behind him before Jey spoke again.
“Uce… Look, what you said out there tonight—.” Jey begins, gesturing with his hand in the general direction of where the ring was set up.
“—was all true, Jey. I went out there at Crown Jewel for you.” Sami cuts him off, needing Jey to know it wasn’t all an act, it was his way of showing Jey that there was more than one way to go about this, more than one path to take to support his family while supporting himself too. “Look, I understand your obligation to your family, but you need to look after yourself too… I love you, man. I don’t want to see you become what you were before…” Sami added, trailing off before he dwelled too much on their shared tumultuous history. Some memories were better off in the past.
Jey meanwhile was caught up on one particular detail, three seemingly purposeful words towards the end of Sami’s statements. Jey furrows his brow slightly at the admission; that was three now, three times in one night.
“Uce, why you keep saying that?”
“What?”
A pause as Jey looks at Sami incredulously. There was still some distance between them, with Jey lingering close to the doorway and Sami standing by his gear bag.
“I love you…” Jey reiterates the last part of Sami’s statement. “Why you keep saying that?”
Sami’s body language changes then, his eyes falling away from Jey’s as he clenches and unclenches his fists several times before taking to rubbing his hands together in front of him.
“Why are you here, Uce?” Sami inquired quietly; his eyes directed downward at his hands. The conversation had taken a turn, a turn into a topic that Sami didn’t want to address at the moment. “You’ve got a match tonight; you should be getting ready…”
“I came here to talk to you, to talk about what ya said out there ‘night… Are you coming to Smackdown on Friday?”
“No, Uce.”
“Why?”
“I already told you… I can’t do this again, not even for you.”
Sami turns away from Jey then, running a hand through his hair before busying his hands in his gear bag once again. Jey knew Sami better than most, he didn’t want to have this discussion, but he would make damn sure that they did. Striding over to the bench, he rounds the side and places himself directly in front of Sami, the bench and gear bag between them. The unspoken words hung in the space between, Sami didn’t want to have to go through watching one of his closest friends change, to watch as he pushed him away again. He couldn’t, wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t put up with the abuse, the pain, the manipulation and most of all he couldn’t stand, and watch Jey take it. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself from intervening and that would only earn them both a beating from the rest of the Bloodline, if Roman had indeed not changed with Sami suspected. Sami’s sentiments, the ones that Jey could hear loud and clear even without being spoken, were Jey’s own fears for Sami too. Jey hoped that he would be able to protect him and Jimmy.
“Uce, ya gotta come. Please, I need you to come.”
“Why? You’ve got your family back, for better or for worse. You don’t need me. Jey… I can’t—.”
“I do. You family too, I said that in the ring, and I mean it. It wasn’t for show. My family won’t be back together and whole until we get Solo back and you.”
Jey could see Sami working his jaw, a telltale sign in the redhead when he was upset about something, a habit that Jey had picked up on early in their friendship.
“Look, Sami. I gotta go back to them because they need me. I don’t got much going for me now on Raw, I lost my title… But you are still on Raw. You are all I got left here.” Jey sighs, reaching out tentatively to brush his fingertips against Sami’s shoulder. “And I don’t want ta lose you, Uce…” Jey adds quietly, the oppressing silence of the locker room prevailing in the space between them. “Sami, just please come on Friday. Do it for me… Because I love you too.”
Sami’s eyes, having moved to Jey’s hand as his fingertips, made contact with the black fabric of his hoodie, dart to Jey’s eyes at the end of the statement. As questioning hazel eyes find confident dark brown, a small playful smile comes to the face of Jey.
“What? You think I forgot whatcha said earlier? Nah, I know you better. I knew what you meant then. Truth is, I’ve known for a while just with the way you’ve been actin’ around me… It just took me some time to figure out how I felt too. Truth is, I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Sami…”
Jey watched as Sami’s eyes widened at the explanation, his previously fidgeting hands stilling as he sucks in a breath. He was speechless, Jey had rendered Sami speechless, a feat within itself. Sami couldn’t believe what was taking place, what Jey had just said so openly.
Before Sami could collect himself, Jey stepped over the bench in one fluid motion and the two men were now on the same side. Jey moved closer, backing Sami up into the row of lockers that comprised one side of the room. As the cold metal pressed into Sami’s back, Jey’s eyes hold a question as they dart between the redhead’s lips and his hazel eyes.
“Sami?” Jey questioned quietly, taking a step away from the redhead after a few moments pass of silence. He needed to know if Sami wanted this. “Are you—.”
Jey was rapidly cut off as a hand reached forward, wrapping pale fingers around the front of his t-shirt, pulling him back in towards the redhead. In the short distance between, their chests close to touching and their breath intermingling, Sami leaned forward and brought his lips to Jey’s own, a gentle brush of contact before pulling back.
“You don’t even want to know how long I’ve been waiting to do that.” Sami whispered, bringing his hand up to brush the side of Jey’s face as a small smile comes to his features. A moment passes, before Jey is pushing Sami up against the metal wall again and chasing Sami’s lips back to his own, pressing his lips firmly against Sami’s. Sami’s hand drops from Jey’s face, taken aback by the fierceness of the slightly taller man. The kiss deepens after a few moments by Jey’s hand, and Sami cannot help but let out a small sound of surprise at the intensity and passion of it all, bringing his hand up again to tangle in Jey’s short black hair as Jey does the same with Sami’s own.
They remain this way, bodies pressed together until they have to break apart for breath. As they break the kiss, they remain as close as they can with Jey leaning in to press his forehead against Sami’s own.
“The irony of this situation is not lost on me, Jey…” Sami babbled quietly after several moments, trying his best to equalize his breathing between harsh breaths. “We had to come halfway across the world to express our feelings?”
Jey couldn’t help but grin at that, leaning in to brush his lips once again against Sami’s slightly chapped ones before pulling back and reluctantly taking half a step away from Sami.
“We go all out, what can I say?” Jey exclaimed happily, his grin brightening into a full-on smile as he takes in Sami’s state, the state that he had caused Sami to be in. His normally pale cheeks were flushed a rosy color, his bright red hair disheveled in some places from the Samoan’s fingers. He figured his appearance was much the same, the lingering feeling of Sami’s fingertips digging into his scalp still apparent. He held onto that feeling, held onto the glorious view of Sami in front of him now. He needed it and so much more, but he knew now was not the time.
“Sami…” Jey begins, reaching towards Sami and taking one of his hands in his own, intertwining their fingers together. “I gotta go…” Jey sighed, the reluctance clear in his voice. He wanted to stay, live in this moment forever just the two of them, but he had a match to get to. Jey’s fingers squeeze Sami’s hand once before he loosens his grip and goes to turn away only for Sami to stop him by tightening his grip on Jey’s hand.
“Wait, Jey.” Sami calls, causing the Samoan to turn back towards him. Jey watches as Sami brings their joined hands up, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of Jey’s hand before untangling their fingers and moving his hands up to the back of his own neck in order to undo his keffiyeh.
Jey’s expression is one of confusion, watching Sami’s nimble fingers unwrap the piece of red and white checkered cloth with care and reverence. The cloth is soon off his neck and being held between Sami’s two hands. Sami glances down at it before looking up to catch Jey’s eye.
“Would you—. Would you like to wear this tonight?”
Jey’s immediate reaction is a bright smile, feeling honored beyond words that Sami would ask. Jey knew how much Sami valued his culture, his heritage, and his faith. To offer for Jey to wear a small piece of what made Sami who he was, the Sami who he loved, was an incredible feeling.
“Course, Sami…” Jey agrees, unable to keep the influx of emotion from his voice as he answered. Sami smile brightened, as he brought the keffiyeh up to Jey’s neck and began to wrap it carefully, starting with the cloth already in a triangle and wrapping one of the shorter ends around his neck. Sami’s deft fingers make quick work of the process. Jey breathes in the closeness of Sami and the residual body heat that is still present on the scarf, his mind drifting back momentarily to the time in Tribal Court when he gave Sami his red flower lei. As Sami’s fingers come around to tie the knot in the back, Jey is brought back into the present with an involuntarily shiver as the Syrian-Canadian’s pale fingertips brush against Jey’s neck. Sami smiles at the reaction from the dark-haired man, bringing his hands back to the front of Jey in order to arrange the fabric evenly in the middle of Jey’s chest. After a few moments of fiddling, he placed his hand flat on the scarf that Jey was now wearing and moved his gaze up to meet Jey’s.
“Laayeg ʒalaik, Jey…” Sami compliments, his tone teasing as he removes his hand and places it on the side of Jey’s face instead. “Alan sayakun al’amr kama law kunt hunak maeka…”
“What did you say, Sami?” Jey queried, cocking his head slightly at the playful tone of the redhead as he brings his tan hand up to cover Sami’s hand on his face.
Without answering him, Sami leans forward and kisses Jey gently before pulling back and giving him a teasing smile.
“I just said that it looks good on you.”
“There’s no way that’s all you said, Sami!”
“That’s all that you need to know!” Sami teases, reluctant to let Jey go.
“E toalua e mafai ona taaalo i lenei taaloga, Sami.”
“Is that Samoan?” Sami questioned exasperatedly, prompting Jey to nod. “Oh, come on, Jey!”
“You started it.” Jey stated plainly and Sami couldn’t argue with that.
Sami shakes his head fondly at the banter, dropping his hand from Jey’s face as they take a few steps towards the door together before tugging on Jey’s hand to turn him back around and bring him back in towards him.
“Sami!” Jey laughs, his whimsical tone like music to Sami’s ears as he shakes his head. “I have ta go… I wouldn’t if I didn’t have ta, but I do—.”
“Yes.”
Jey furrows his brow, a look of confusion in his eyes and on his face as he looks at Sami.
“Whatcha mean by “yes”?”
“Yes, I’ll be at Smackdown on Friday.”
The smile that lights up Jey’s face at the answer to his question makes Sami feel weightless for a moment. A smile, the rare kind that Jey had let Sami start seeing only after their embrace at Survivors Series 2022 in Boston.
“Thanks, Uce. I knew you would!”
“You kissing me had a lot to do with it.”
Jey shakes his head, laughing.
“You have to go, or they’ll start looking for you.” Sami sighs, sobering up for a moment,
“I know…” Jey agrees, tightening his hold ever so slightly on Sami’s hand as they continue their walk towards the door together. Upon making it to their intended destination, Jey stops and turns back around to look at Sami. “I be seeing you after my match?”
“Of course, Jey.” Sami promises, releasing Jey’s hand as Jey placed his other hand on the door handle to pull the door open. As Jey steps through the threshold, Sami adds under his breath so that only Jey could hear, “Always…”