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Punk is trying really really hard to stay big right now, he swears. He's got a match against Seth in a few minutes, nothing major, no titles are on the line, but they'll still be in front of thousands of people. He doesn't even know what brought this on, one minute he was fine and the next he just wanted to curl up on the concrete floor for some comfort. Neither Aj nor Drew came today, at Punk's insistence, but he's starting to regret it. Aj's ahead on her writing schedule and Drew doesn't have a match for a few days, so he told them they should go out and have a date, just the two of them for once.
He doesn't regret it at all, but right about now he really wishes that he could go home and curl up in their arms. But he has a match, and he can't disappoint everyone who came to see him specifically, it just wouldn't be fair. Walking down that ramp as his music plays is unnecessarily difficult, he can't even see the details of the crowd as he focuses on being as presentable as possible. He doesn't make eye contact with Seth, shying away every time the younger man tries. Seth tries to signal at him, asking if he's ok, but he never outright says anything, just throwing concerned looks at him the whole time.
Punk wins, just barely, and from where he's standing in the middle of the ring, he can see Seth laying on the floor, panting, with that same concerned look on his face. Punk doesn't have to do any interviews after this, so he bolts to the locker room the moment he can. No one else is there, and he leans his forehead against the cold metal of the wall, sighing. He doesn't know what brought this on, no sudden stress or anything, but apparently his body has decided that right now it's the moment to regress, and all he wants to do is just go home. He's not even going to bother with a shower, just toweling off some of the sweat, and he's halfway through struggling to get his sweater on when the door opens. It's easier to just shrug the sweater off, and so he does, trying not to whine in frustration as he turns around to face….Seth?
Seth is standing in front of the door, wearing clothes Punk is pretty sure he's seen the other members of shield wear before still with that concerned look on his face that he had on in the ring. “You ok Punk?”
Punk nods, clearing his throat, and bends down to pick his sweater up off the floor. “Yeah, why wouldn't I be?” He laughs, a dry, humorless laugh. “I won.”
Seth just sighs, and leans against the locker next to Punk. “I don't know you just seemed,” Seth runs a hand through his hair, shaking his head. “You seemed off. I was worried.”
“M not on anything.”
“Well obviously Punk, I didn't say you were. I'm just worried.” Something is very, very clearly off with the man, and he's just trying to help. He doesn't know what's exactly happening, but he knows that it's right there, just waiting for him to realize it. He's watching Punk struggle to pull his sweater fully over his arms, stepping forward when the short-haired man starts whining in frustration. “Do you need help with that?”
Punk snaps at him, though it fails to be really aggressive as he's currently losing a fight to a sweater. “No! M not a child-” Punk watches something, he can't place what, change in Seth's eyes, and his mouth widens in silent realization. Punk doesn't know what's exactly happening until Seth steps forward, arms outstretched.
“C'me here little buddy, let me help you with that.” The long haired man helps Punk move his arms to properly go in the sweater, ruffling Punk's hair when he pulls the hood over his head.
Punk wants to swat him off, to tell him to go away, but the feeling Seth is giving him is nice, and he can't help but melt into his helping hands. Seth brings his arms around the other man, swaying them softly in place. “You ok bud?”
Punk nods against Seth's chest, not really trusting himself to not say anything stupid. He's fully lost his battle to stay big now, reveling in the hug while Seth talks nonsense about the match, about the moves and what they could have done. Punk will be honest, he's not really paying attention to the words, so much as Seth's voice. When Punk feels like enough time has passed, he pulls away reluctantly from Seth's arm, wrapping his arms around himself.
“Thank you for that.” Seth smiles at him, going to talk before Punk interrupts him. “Don mean to keep you any longer, you can go now.” He nods towards the door, fully expecting the other man to turn around and walk away.
“I'm not gonna leave you like this, buddy.”
Punk raises an eyebrow in confusion, not quite grasping what he means. “Like wha?”
Seth motions at him up and down with an open palm. “Like this, I know what someone regressed looks like, I don't feel comfortable just dipping out.”
Punk's eyes widen, and he opens his mouth to defend himself, to deny everything that Seth just said, but he can't. He doesn't even really want to. He just wants to hug the other man again. Seth must see the struggle in his eyes because he wraps him in a hug again, holding the back of his head to his neck.
“I won't tell anyone, I promise.”
Punk’s shoulders drop at the words, sighing and wrapping his arms around the other man, mumbling a thank you into his skin. Seth doesn't know how long they stand there, but he doesn't mind. He has nothing to do tonight, his boys will understand, and he can tell that Punk needs this.
“Do you have anyone who takes care of you, bud?” Seth would assume that his wife does, but he needs to make sure the other man has someone there for him.
Punk mutters, so soft that Seth can barely hear what he says, “Aj an Drew.”
Seth can't help the shock in his voice at the second name, snorting a bit. “Drew knows?” Punk hums to confirm. “And he's nice, right?”
“He's my dada. An Aj's my mama.”
“Well why don't you get your bag and I can take you home to them, ok? C'mon buddy.” Punk whines when Seth removes his arms, but he happily grabs his bag at the suggestion of going home finally. He practically drags Seth out of the arena, only stopping when Seth has to point out where his car is. It takes some struggling to get Punk settled in the car, and to get his address in the GPS, but they drive away from the arena singing along to a country station, making each other laugh when they try to hit the high notes.
Pulling up to Punk's house, he listens to him ramble on about drawings he's done recently, and some Australian dog cartoon? He'll have to introduce Dean to that one. He helps him out of the car, and walks up to the door, knocking on it while Punks bounces up and down behind him. The door opens to Drew McIntyre's smiling face- but the smile drops suddenly when he sees Seth.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Shut-” Seth shushes him, waving his hand around, before pointing to Punk next to him. “Little ears don't need to hear that kind of language.”
The comment shocks Drew, and he's honestly too confused to say anything, instead opening the door further to let them in. Punks runs off into the house, probably to go find Aj if the shouts of mama are anything to go by, and turns to the scot who's looking at him with nothing but suspicion. He puts his hands up in mock surrender before he speaks.
“Someone I know does the same thing, his secret is safe with me, I promise.”
“Good, because if I hear one word about this coming out of your mouth, I will break every bone in-”
“Dada?” Seth is saved by Punk poking his head around the corner, interrupting them. The shift in Drew is insane, everything about his demeanor changing to being filled with love by just looking at Punk's face.
“Yes baby?”
“Can Seth have food with us? Mama says is ok.” He points at Seth while he talks, smiling.
“If Seth says it's ok.”
There is no universe where he would ever say no to the absolute adorable face he's looking at right now, and Punk throws his arms up in a cheer when Seth nods. “I'd love to buddy.”
Drew claps Seth on the shoulder and the force of it may or may not have made him stumble forward, trying not to wince. Drew is smiling when he looks at him though, so he's figured he's made some progress with the scot at least. Punk grabs both their hands at the same time, leading them towards the living, excitedly babbling about a new drawing he wants to show the two of them, and Seth can't help but smile. He's never really considered Punk a close friend, but he hopes that maybe today that'll change. He could get used to their company.