To The Stars - 16. October, 2018 (A)

Tuesday, October 2nd 2018

"Nina!" Diego yelled through the house. "I'm not playing games here, okay? I need my phone and I needed it ten minutes ago." For real? I only just bought a new one after the freaking tornado took my car, phone and possessions. And the relationships I worked so hard to build. Yeah. They were in the same state as Sean and Ollie's house - blown to hell. "Marshmallow! I'm not joking! Juli? Have you found anything?"

"No," Julian answered, shovelling comically large slices of watermelon into his little mouth and causing one heck of a mess. He had no interest in participating in anything except eating his weight in fruit and the Power Rangers.

Diego swore multiple times in his native language - a language he felt no need to teach to his children partially for this exact reason - and turned back the way he came.

"Nina!" Diego bellowed through the house. "I'm warning you. If you don't give my phone back, Mom won't let you eat dessert until I get back!"

"If you don't have your phone then you can't leave," Nina shouted back from somewhere in this side of the house. "So you can't have it."

"Nina, please! Don't make me buy another one," Diego grimaced. It wasn't as though he couldn't afford it, but it was important that he had one. Plans with the creative team and his friends. Talking to his family. Work and other contracts. "I'll be coming home as soon as I can, alright?"

"No! You're not allowed to go!" Nina shouted, and Diego closed in on her location. In the twins' room somewhere.

"Jillybean, have you seen Nina?" Diego asked his littlest daughter, and she immediately pointed towards the toy chest. Of course. She always used to hide in there if she was in trouble.

"Thank you!" He mussed her hair on his way past, and she laughed. She was still a terror, let's not overlook that, Diego thought of her as he honed in on his eldest daughter's location. But she was getting better. She still threw insane meltdowns and tantrums, but she was no longer hitting and abusing her brother. That was a significant step in the right direction. In the past, he scorned parents who fed their kids pills and forced them to talk to some idiot who nodded his head for three hundred dollars an hour, but things changed rapidly when he had his own kids. Now two of his children took daily medication, and all three of them had therapy once a week. Often Diego attended the sessions, but on occasion, either Doctor Bandyopadhyay or the relevant kid asked him to leave or not to participate. Diego, noticing positive changes in all three of his kids, believed the good doctor knew what he was doing and let him call the shots. He even asked the doctor for a session for himself following the incident with the tornado, but Doctor Bandyopadhyay's speciality was children, so he referred him to a colleague, Doctor O'Brien. He wasn't sure he was ready to talk to someone new. He'd grown to rely on and respect Doctor Bandyopadhyay.

"C'mon," Diego knocked on the lid of the blue painted box. "You don't want to go to the naughty room, do you?"

"I'm not in the box!" Nina insisted, quite obviously from inside the box.

"Nina!" He opened it and saw her crouched inside. "C'mon. Where's Daddy's phone?"

"I'm not telling!" Nina shouted at him angrily. Diego felt like closing the damn lid on her and sitting on it until she gave in, but he decided against that course of action.

"I need it for work," Diego explained to her, kneeling on the carpet so the two could look eye to eye. She had so much of him in her. She had plenty of Audrey, too. They blended so well to make the most beautiful six-year-old girl n the world. It was difficult for him to discipline her because they had such a close bond. He adored her. She was just like him at that age. "Come on. Give it up now, and you won't be in any trouble. Last chance."

"No!" Nina angrily threw a tiny wooden rocking horse at the wall. It was one of Diego's most precious items. It belonged to Luiza, and she often let him play with it when they were very young. When it broke, Diego looked at his daughter with fury.

"Naughty room. Now," he told her, his voice shaking under the strain of keeping calm. He hated yelling at his kids. Audrey trained it out of him. He had to be firm but also set a positive example.

"You're not leaving me behind!" Nina told him furiously, aware that she'd crossed the line but still not giving up. "You always leave me, and it's not fair!"

"We'll talk about this when you've calmed down," Diego told her coldly, looking miserably at the broken toy that meant so much to him. We'll talk about this when I've calmed down, more like. "Naughty room. Come on."

"Fine, but you're not getting your phone, and you're not leaving!" Nina protested, heaving herself out of the toy chest and stomping furiously to the door, kicking over Jillian's blocks on the way past.

"Daddy!" Jilly complained before she began that annoying noise akin to letting air from a tyre. I swear. I can't wait for three weeks without all this.

"It's alright Bean, I'll be right back," Diego briefly stopped to reassure her and chase after Nina. To Nina's credit, she did walk into the naughty room and slam the door shut behind her. Still, he needed to make sure she didn't sneak in any toys or an iPad or something. She was supposed to reflect and calm down, not have fun.

"Go away," Nina told him with an angry frown, standing defiantly on top of the mattress on the floor. He didn't remember ever seeing her so angry. "You leave me all the time anyway so just leave me alone!"

"Leaving you hurts me more than it hurts you, Marshmallow," Diego told her sadly. "I always love coming back for you, though."

That seemed to give Nina pause, and Diego closed the door to a crack - he didn't like to shut it - and prayed Nina would be better at playing by naughty room rules than Jilly was. It could take an hour or more to have Jilly settle down and accept her fate, but she was easier to handle nowadays. Good. She'd be four soon. Julian, too. And me, thirty-five now. Nobody knew that Diego surreptitiously turned thirty-five in September. He kept his birthday a secret from everybody else and had done so since he was thirteen. All the websites that hosted his profile listed his birthday as different dates of the year - one of them was correct! Not that Diego would tell them that.

"Are you okay, Bean?" Diego asked, feeling a hundred and thirty-five years old as he heaved his body down to the floor, half-sitting and half-laying next to her.

"Nina ruined my blocks," Jilly fumed. She's allowed to be angry, Doctor Bandyopadhyay explained. We're trying to help her find better ways of expressing and coping with the emotions she feels inside. Diego decided on a course of action the psychiatrist suggested. Work with it and redirect it into something constructive rather than trying to invalidate it.

"That was bad of her. Would you like some help building them again?" Diego asked. Jilly loved her blocks. Lego blocks, wooden blocks, anything she could build things with.

"No. But Nina should say sorry!" Jilly smacked her colourful wooden blocks on top of each other. No symmetry or colour coordination. It drove Diego insane to watch her building these colourblind Picasso monstrosities.

"She should," he agreed, scooting along the floor to examine the two broken bits of Luiza's first toy. The force of Nina's throw had decapitated the poor horse that had given both Luiza and Diego so much comfort in their childhood. They were not a wealthy family, rarely able to spare money for such luxuries, so this toy meant a lot. The two of them played with it together. They had fun. Now it was broken in two. Just like their bond. Luiza. I'm so sorry I let our parents do that to you. I'm so sorry I listened to them for so long.

"Your horsey broke!" Jilly gasped, hurrying over to him. "Daddy, why are you crying?"

"Oh," Diego didn't notice he'd let a tear break free from its prison and trickle down his cheek until he tasted it on his lips. "It's nothing. It was just one of Daddy's favourites."

"So why don't you fix it?" Jilly asked him matter-of-factly, and Diego's eyes widened with realisation. Maybe he could fix it.

"Great idea, Bean," Diego gratefully scooped her up into a hug. Jilly giggled and put her arms around him. "You're such a smart girl. Are you going to miss Daddy when he goes to England?"

"Yes!" She reassured him and snuggled into his neck. Awww. Why couldn't she be sweet like this all the time?

"I'll miss you too! I know Mommy doesn't like me very much," understatement of the freaking century, he thought, "but I hope she will let me talk to you on the phone. Remember that, okay Bean? Daddy wants to talk to you while he's away. If Mommy says he doesn't, then it's not true."

"I know," Jillian was surprisingly smart for a girl so young. "Do you have to go away? Mommy cries all the time, and I don't like it."

"Say what?" Diego was surprised. Zoey hadn't shed a tear since he met her, he was sure. She was cold, angry and cruel, and whatever they had was over almost as soon as it began. It was the children. They were the only reason he still had to deal with her. "Mommy cries? When does she cry?"

"When Chase gets angry," Jilly explained, sighing and pulled out of the hug, returning to her blocks. "He yells at her a lot."

"Chase? Is this Mommy's boyfriend?" Diego asked her, and Jilly nodded. Hmm. "Does Chase ever yell at you or hit you?"

"No, Chase is nice to me," Jilly took a short while to decide how to respond to that. "But not to Mommy."

"Okay," Diego inhaled and exhaled heavily. He was still emotionally drained from the night of the storm. This wasn't something he felt ready to process just now. But Jillian came first. She always did. "Do you feel safe at Mommy's house?"

"Yes," Jilly affirmed, and that was a relief. "I like it there. I just wish you won't go away for so long."

"You know I love you, don't you?" Diego asked her. All three of his children had been upset about the upcoming UK tour. It was making him sad. Making him question his career choice.

"Duh," Jilly grinned. "I love you too!"

"C'mere!" Diego grabbed her, and she squealed in delight as he roped her into another hug. Why couldn't she be this way all the time?

When Nina's time was up, Diego went to talk to her and found her lying down under the blanket on the mattress in a sulk. He snuck down and joined her, pulling the rug over him.

"Nina, where have you put my phone?" He asked her gently, and she stubbornly shook her head.

"You're not leaving me. Okay?" She turned on her side so they were facing each other. "I hate it when you go away. What if you died at Sean's house with that tornado? What if the plane crashes or something bad happens and you don't come home again?"

"Nina..." he said quietly. "I miss you just as much as you miss me. I have to go to England tomorrow morning, okay? They need me there. I'm the champion, remember?"

"Only because I'm not big enough yet!" Nina declared. When Diego laughed, she seemed to get angry. "I mean it! When I'm bigger than you, I'm going to beat you and then you won't ever have to go to England again!"

"Alright, Marshmallow," he smiled at her. "I promise that when you're bigger than me, I'll stop wrestling overseas. It'll be your turn."

"Yeah and I'm going to make you miss me even more than I miss you!" She said it like a threat, but Diego found it adorable.

"Come on, Nina. Let's get my phone, and we'll watch some wrestling. How about that?" He asked in hope. She could be every bit as stubborn as he was. The throw of genetic dice in creating Nina had been beneficial in some ways - she was fearless, honest and beautiful, but instead of inheriting Audrey's ability to compromise and mediate, she got her father's obstinance.

"Fine! It's in my teddy's belly," she instructed. Diego didn't quite follow.

"In his belly?" He screwed up his face, and she rolled her eyes.

"I cut him open and put your phone in his belly!" Nina revealed, and Diego was flabbergasted.

Jesus freaking Christ, Nina. What the hell kind of demons have gotten into my daughters? Indeed, Nina had cut down the side of one of her bears - how she found something sharp enough to do that alone was cause for alarm - and Diego found his brand new Samsung Galaxy S9 inside. A massive wave of relief flooded him. He'd only just gotten all the necessary numbers, contacts and apps for his job. Having to do it all over again because his daughter didn't want him to go for three weeks would have been a pain. And yet, he understood why she tried what she did. He didn't want to leave her either. I don't want to miss out on my little kids growing up. Perhaps I can wriggle back to part-time in the coming years. When I've made a wrestler out of Lance and he can stand on his own feet. When Gloria, Jimmy and I can tell Marg to go to hell with her stupid company and make our own. Michelle can be our captain.

Diego realised he was still clutching his broken rocking horse in his left hand. And its head. The memories it brought, tainted with sadness now after his daughter threw it. It was such an old thing. Luiza loved it. One of the few toys the two were afforded as young children. She was a damn good sister. She deserved better from us. From me. Jilly's words echoed through his mind.

"So why don't you fix it?"

She made it sound so easy, but that was just her childish innocence, he supposed. How do you even fix a relationship you destroyed over twenty years ago? How do you find a woman who might not be alive anymore because we threw her out of home? What has she done to survive? Who is she now? Diego wanted to know. He needed to. He needed to fix it, and he was currently in a position to do that. Using the phone he retrieved from Nina's macabre hiding place, he searched the web for private investigators. Luiza. Will she even want to see me if I can ever find her?

~

Wednesday, October 3rd

"You've been doing this for nearly a full year," Diego reminded him from across the aisle. "How are you still scared?"

"I've seen Final Destination; I know a bitch can die on a flight!" Lance panicked, his eyes screwed shut.

Man, Diego wished he could snap a photo of Lance right now. They were about to land at Heathrow, and Diego couldn't imagine the homecoming Lance would receive. He was the only one directly from the United Kingdom to perform with KADA Wrestling. Jimmy's parents were from Scotland and Ireland, but he was still American born. Lance was a celebrity all over the world, but in England, he was a national treasure. An icon for the LGBTQ community. There were going to be mobs of people waiting to greet him. And no doubt, Lance would be confidence incarnate when he stepped out to his adoring fans. Smiles and hugs and kisses. Not this boy Diego was with. The one with red-painted eyes screwed shut and rapid breaths coming through his crimson lips.

"If you survived a tornado, you can survive a plane landing," Pearl told him calmly from the seat behind, and she had an excellent point.

"I do not need to think about the bloody tornado right now!" Lance's knuckles were white from gripping his armrests.

"Then think about how happy your parents are going to be in a few minutes," Jimmy offered from the seat behind Diego.

Naturally, they flew in first class. They were far less likely to run into a rabid mob of fans this way and on a nine-hour flight - Miami to London - fans were the last thing Diego wanted. Hell, he barely even wanted Pearl, Lance and Jimmy's company, but this was how the cookie crumbled following the aftermath of Sean's revelation. The groups split into three for now. Gloria comforted Sean while Rachel and Ollie bonded over being the two whose partners had affairs. Diego and Jimmy had been friendly with each other for the ten or so years they'd been wrestling in KADA, but in truth, they'd known each other for many more in the independent circuits around the world. They were travel-buddies now. It was Lance and Pearl who were the free agents. They alternated between the three groups as they saw fit. Today, Lance wanted nothing less than to arrive with Diego in tow. Not being somebody who understood the intricacies and politics of public relations, Diego was smart enough to do as the self-made superstar said. Publicity stunt? Maybe. But there was no denying that the flamboyant boy had revitalised Diego's career, so he trusted Lance's judgment.

"My mate Jane says the place is packed," Lance repeated the same information for the fourth time in the last ten minutes. "Ergh. Bloody buggery bollocks."

"Make up your mind!" Pearl laughed. "Are you excited or scared?"

"Can't I be both?" Lance almost sounded like he was begging her. "I'm so excited to see my home again! But I don't want to die on my way there!"

"You're worse behaved than my twins are on a plane!" Diego was getting exasperated. "We are getting separate flights on the way back. I can't do this again!"

"I reckon Ollie and Rachel are freaking," Jimmy giggled. "Rachel will have her meltdown and Ollie won't have any idea what to do."

Ollie. Sean. Diego had not even begun to process what he thought of Sean right now. The boy lost everything. His home, his possessions, his pets and, although nobody truly knew the current state of his relationship with Oliver, possibly both men he loved. Still, Sean outed Diego as bisexual, and he'd also outed them both as cheaters. The memory of Ollie's face, wet with tears as he tossed the shiny engagement ring into the rest of the rubble of the house, never went away. Etched itself into Diego's brain. How are we all going to work together? Diego had such strong feelings for Sean, but they were currently tainted with disillusion and bitterness. Diego worked hard to secure the physical part of the relationship he sought with the younger boy - Oliver gave them his blessing. Why couldn't Sean leave well enough alone? Why did he have to have a crisis of conscience at that exact moment in time? Why couldn't he wait for literally any other moment? To drop that bombshell in front of all their friends. Right after an E4 tornado flattened their house.

"Whereas Ollie and Gloria would have had their eleventh glasses of champagne by now," Pearl smirked.

She was Lance's first friend at KADA. The two bonded quickly, and they often travelled, toured and went sightseeing together. Pearl was from Japan and Lance from England - they were both far away from their families and rarely got time off to visit. While Pearl secured a few weeks leave, Lance had no such luck. Michelle and Margaret both wanted him on television as much as possible. Gloria had to point out to Diego the other key attribute the two had in common - neither of them looked like the rest of their side of the roster. Where the women were slender and petite - Gloria and Betty aside as bodybuilder types - Pearl was obese. Where the men were muscular, toned beefcakes or obese powerhouses, Lance was a twink. He had muscle on him, sure, but he was incredibly lean and lithe. Sean was in a niche between the two - he was sturdy and well-built, but he was small in frame and stature. Diego hated when his thoughts shifted to the boy he was in love with. It happened often, but he had no idea where he stood with him. Sean didn't answer his texts, but he wasn't responding to Lance's either. It seemed like he needed some space.

"We're on the ground," Pearl announced to Lance. "You can relax."

"Hey, look!" Diego teased him. He was dapper - a word Lance taught him - today in his new tailored shirt, red with black trim, black waistcoat and black pants with red loafers. "Once again, Lance rides out the storm."

The boy shot him a filthy look. Lance made sure to look his best, too. His makeup wasn't as severe as usual, but it was still a thorough job. His hair, wavy and longer than ever, trickled down his shoulders like lava down a rocky mountain. He wore a white shirt with a frilly collar and sleeves, skin-tight black jeans tucked into tall, black high-heels heavy with silver buckles. On his sternum rested one of his patented oversized bowties - a black, shiny one. When Diego first saw Lance in his style of fashion, he thought the boy a jester and nothing more. How could anyone take this idiot seriously in an industry like theirs? Now, he was almost excited to see what Lance would wear. He seemed to have an endless supply of eccentric outfits, and Diego always felt let down when Lance dressed too casually. The colossal bowtie was cute.

"I will body slam you!" Lance threatened in jest, his red, red eyes glittering with mischief.

"You will? When's the last time you won a match, Lance?" Jimmy teased, and Lance shot an even filthier look at him.

"I'm just waiting for the perfect time to win," Lance explained, all them smirking. The outcomes for the matches were predetermined before the show, and Lance had lost every single one of his matches so far. It made sense. He was new to the industry and had to pay his dues. "Like in my hometown for example! Don't worry about me, honey. I'm just saving myself for marriage."

Pearl and Diego shared a look of concern. It was unlikely for a babyface - a good guy - to win in their hometown. As of now, Lance and Diego were babyfaces, but they were gradually turning into heels - bad guys. Lance often helped Diego cheat to defeat opponents, many of whom were babyfaces. This made everything unpredictable. Michelle would know how to handle things in the best way, but Margaret was different. She focused solely on the short term - which often worked, but the company was going down a bad path in the long run. Diego guessed they were forcing a slow heel turn for the two of them so that Lance could win in his hometown as a babyface to bring the house down.

On the other hand, Kodeine, a rather unfortunate looking wrestler who had recently signed a contract from a rival company, was being slowly pushed into the main event status. He was a babyface, and that meant that either he would turn heel or Diego and Lance would. If he were to make the heel turn, then defeating Lance in his hometown would be a great way to do it. He just hoped Marg wouldn't waste a great opportunity. Have a babyface versus babyface storyline was incredibly rare. The crowd needed someone to cheer and someone to boo - it raised the stakes.

It took Lance a short while to sort out his jitters while they went through customs, but by the time he walked out, Diego by his side, he was all smiles. Pearl and Jimmy were first, both earning a big rumbling cheer from the fans that had been waiting for the superstars to emerge from their flight, but for Lance... just wow. They erupted. Everyone cheered and whistled and yelled support for their special boy. The one who represented them. The queer icon. The British darling. There was something that amazed Diego, though. Throughout his career, he struggled with crowds and charisma. Even when Lance was his valet, they wanted to see him, not Diego. But here, the crowd embraced him. They loved him as they loved Lance. Their careers were entwined at the moment, so England adored Diego. Wow. I had no idea I was so popular here, Diego thought with a huge smile as he greeted and shook hands and let people take his picture. Wow. This is incredible. Lance must have known this would happen and that was why he insisted they fly from Miami together. Diego would have to thank him for that. Eventually, they forced their way past the fans and progressed to their baggage collection.

"'Ere 'e is!" An obese woman in middlescence and a big, greying ponytail threw herself on Lance the moment they made it out the front door of the airport.

"Mum!" Lance wrapped his arms around her as much he could, and the two began laughing and crying at the same time. A big man, not quite as big as the woman, joined the group hug, as did a very pretty young woman around Lance's age. Diego's eyes lusted after her immediately. She was petite and slim-waisted, but with ample breasts and curvy hips. That was Jane - Lance's best friend and frequent dance partner. He'd seen clips of them together on Youtube. While the four of them wept and laughed and hugged, Diego stood there awkwardly. Pearl and Jimmy had already taken their cabs to their hotel. Diego hadn't been given leave by the queen of England just yet, so he waited until the emotional family reunion finished. It must have been hard for Lance's family, he thought. The tornado that threatened their boy's life, and they were all the way on the other side of the globe. It was only now they could comfort him.

"What took you so bloody long to come visit then?" The man asked, presumably Lance's father. Garth. Garth and Sue. And Jane, of course. There was no sign of a younger brother, though. Zander must be at home. A shame. Diego wanted to meet little Zander.

"Miami is the dog's bollocks," Lance smiled at them. "Diego, come and meet everyone."

Diego didn't like the looks he received from the three people staring at him. He knew they disliked him greatly for the way he treated Lance for so long. Especially Garth. Lance had spoken of all the times his father had spent some time in "the bird" - Diego had to google what the hell he meant - because he was protective and beat up all who hurt his little boy. Jane. Oh, what a woman. Gorgeous red-auburn curls and a generous view of her cleavage from her low-cut top.

"Olá," Diego waved nervously, wary of how cold he suddenly felt. The chill from these three strangers was enough to make his blood pump through his body in tiny ice chips.

"Diego Silva," Sue grossly mispronounced his name with her ugly accent. "Oh, I've been achin' to meet you for a long time now."

"You're not so big in person," Jane smirked. She was wearing stilettos and was the same height at him. Lance dwarfed everyone in his tall heels.

"You kept my boy safe in that tornado, then?" Garth asked, and Diego shyly shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, don't be so coy!" Lance rolled his eyes and linked his arm around Diego's. "Tornado comes, right? I panic like a right lunatic, and this guy puts himself in front of me to protect me when it goes over, and the spit hits the fan. He's been keeping me safe for a long time now."

"C'mere!" Sue embraced him tightly. "I can't thank you enough for being there for my little boy. I'm glad you two sorted your differences!"

Diego couldn't believe how comforting this hug was. There was so much love in this woman - even if she was sharp of tongue. His mother hugged him of course, but not as much as he would have liked. His father chastised her for "coddling" him. Sue's hug made him feel warm and secure. Lance always talked about how amazing his parents were, and it took Diego all of forty-five seconds to see why.

"I'm Garth," Garth approached once Sue was done. Diego shyly offered to shake hands, but Garth did exactly what Lance did some time ago. He brushed the hand aside and pulled Diego into a big, comforting hug. Oh, man. Diego could certainly get used to these. "Thank you for looking out for my boy, Diego. It's a pleasure to meet you, son!"

"Pleasure's mine," Diego replied, and then it was Jane's turn.

This hug was slightly different and sent blood rushing to a place Diego would prefer it didn't. Jane was beautiful. So beautiful. If Sean doesn't want to meet up, then I could definitely have some fun with this girl. If I had Lance's blessing, he suddenly told himself. You can't just sleep with your protégé's best friend. You slept with Sean while you were both in relationships, he reminded himself. Besides, Diego's penis had caused more than enough trouble in the last eight or nine years. Children, breakups and cheating. He had three weeks in England, and he intended to make them as drama free as possible before he went back home to tantrums, homework and lawyers.

Still, he was surprised at this reception. I suppose I only imagined them to be angry with me, he thought. Lance must have smoothed things out well because according to Gloria, the red boy had been brutally honest about the way Diego treated him early on. By training Lance personally, helping him get rid of that parasitic little turd Danny and proving his valor during the storm by keeping Lance from harm, his family seemed to have immediately welcomed him as one of their own.

"It's been a strange ten months!" Jane exclaimed, being the one to walk with Diego towards the car park. Lance was busy catching up with his parents, so Jane was the one to keep Diego entertained. "I'm watching you and my bestie kiss and be so cute together on screen, but he's been texting me about what a twat you are."

"Yeah, I was a twat," Diego was getting so fond of that word. "I was expecting you to kick me in the balls when I met you."

"I was expecting to kick you in the balls!" Jane laughed. She had lovely blue eyes and a scar on her upper lip. She must have had a harelip when she was born. Diego still thought she was lovely. "But then Lance told me all about you covering him in the storm so he wouldn't get hurt and now you're free to keep your nuts free and painless. I'm Jane, by the way!"

"So you're Jane," Diego mumbled, his noisy luggage crunching on the asphalt behind him. "There are two questions I want answers to."

"Oh, yeah?" Jane asked.

"What color is Lance's hair? And his eyes?" Diego asked, desperate to find out.

"Red. Are you blind?" Jane tutted and slapped him on the back. She was a celebrity in her own right. She and Lance won a televised dancing competition in 2014 and came runners-up in 2015.

"His natural colors," Diego thought she was funny. He could grow to like her, he was sure.

"Nuh-uh," Jane lectured him, a smile on her glossy pink lips. "Lance's hair and eyes are whatever color he wants 'em to be. You'll get used to it! We all did."

"He must have been a piece of work when he was younger," Diego said thoughtfully, wondering how he'd manage to raise Julian if he wanted to play dress up and wear makeup.

"Well, yes and no. Mostly yes!" Jane laughed heartily as she reminisced on the good old days. "My babydoll decides he wants to do something and he'll do it. You can't talk him out of it! So he says to me one day 'I'm going to dye my hair red' and I say awesome! He says to me he's gonna walk downtown in drag and I say well... okay, good luck babydoll. But then he tells me he's going to America to become a professional wrestler? I told him no, but he doesn't know what that word means. You can't ever tell my doll no!"

"Yeah, I really, REALLY see what you mean," Diego shook his head. "The guys in the locker room, me in particular, gave him hell when he first arrived and he never gave in. He's a tenacious kid."

"Tell me about it," Jane giggled, brushing her wavy auburn hair behind her ear. "I've missed him so much. Do you mind if I ditch you for a while and catch up with him?"

"No, be my guest!" Diego was wondering where the hell the Lovecrafts parked their freaking car. They must have walked halfway to the London house by now. Lance had invited him to stay as a guest at his family home, but Diego refused out of fear of trouble with his family. They compromised. Diego would meet the family to get rid of any potential bad blood at the airport, and then he was free to go to the hotel. Jane was someone he was worried about, but she was every bit as delightful as Lance claimed. "But Jane, would you like to get together while I'm in the country?"

"Are you hitting on me?" Jane's mouth curled into a smirk the same way Lance's would have in the same situation. Peas in a pod. "It sounds a lot like you're hitting on me."

"Yeah. What the hell," Diego thought about all the times he saw Sean making out with Ollie right in front of him despite the affair they were having. That Sean allegedly loved him, but let Ollie put his hands all over him. Especially that Sean was such an asshole that night. Sean won't even talk to me right now. I deserve to have some fun. Some good times. "If you've got no plans, then I'd like to see you. One on one." He smiled warmly at her. She was gorgeous. But she was canny, too. If Lance's word could be trusted, then he and Jane had no secrets between them. There must have been some discussion about Diego's tendency to let his penis wander from partner to partner.

"If you ask Lance nicely then... we'll see," Jane winked at him and skipped away to leap onto Lance's back like a pet monkey.

Lance laughed and hoisted her up so that she was comfortable, and they walked together while Garth dragged Lance's luggage for him. Diego couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. He wasn't sure whether he wanted Lance's attention or Jane's. Maybe he just wanted a bond like that with someone. Audrey came close, but she was too much like a mother to him. Gloria would always be extremely close, but she was babysitting Ollie right now. Jimmy was cool, but the two were both introverted types, and their interactions weren't thrilling. He had a special bond with Sean, but Sean ruined it. For everyone. He waved goodbye to the Lovecrafts and Jane as they sped off, then he used his phone to hail a taxi.

~

Friday, October 5th

Whew. Gloria was definitely going for broke. Anyone watching backstage could see how frustrated she was with the division and her job. This new girl, Heather, was even worse at wrestling than Lance. This was annoying for Diego to watch, too. Heather was supposed to be a serious contender for the Women's Championship - the belt Rachel still held. The problem was that Margaret was pushing people to main event status who had absolutely no business being there. Lance was a unique exception - as an entertainer and valet, he was dynamite. As a wrestler, he was far too inexperienced and sloppy. The women's match went for three minutes - a generous time frame afforded to them these days. Gloria, dressed in her blue attire with the matching blue streaks in her hair, wrestled like a demon out of hell and Heather wasn't able to keep up. Diego knew what she was doing. Gloria was using Heather as an example to show Margaret and Jerry that these girls aren't good enough to be on the main roster.

Gloria was a great heel. She'd been both a good and a bad guy, but most of her career she'd been a heel, partially because of her height and build, and partly because she was so damn good at it. She'd had several different flavours of heel character, but she sold this one so well because it came close to home. She was frustrated with her job. In character, she was desperate to win a match after so many losses. Gloria grabbed Heather by the hair and lifted her off her feet. It looked as though Heather would be in immense pain, but this attack of Gloria's drew attention to the hair pulling, not that Heather was bracing her weight on Gloria's forearms with her hands. It was basic misdirection. Earlier, Gloria kicked Heather in the face - the boot did not connect, but Gloria slapped her thigh at the same time it appeared to hit to make a sound of impact. The crowd was looking at the kick, not Gloria hitting herself.

"Raaagh! Is this what you want, Heather?" Gloria roared in Heather's face. Jesus Christ, Gloria. She was bringing it tonight. It wasn't hard for Gloria to channel her anger into her character. "Yeah, pretty little girl? Welcome to KADA!" She threw Heather clear across the ring. This was far more intense than most women's matches these days, which were comprised primarily of far more basic and safe moves. Gloria decided she wasn't going to do that, though. They'd been given three minutes for a match. Three minutes wasn't a lot of time, especially for it being the only women's match on the card tonight.

"You wanna play with the big girls, huh?" Gloria continued shouting at Heather, and Diego knew she wasn't just Gloria in character. She was tired of this. Gloria grabbed Heather by the arm and flipped her over onto her back. Heather didn't sell it very well. Diego sighed sadly. When Heather was on the offence, Gloria sold it brilliantly and made Heather look fantastic. It was a shame Heather couldn't do the same in return. "Huh? Pretty little girl?" Gloria gave a running kick to Heather's undercarriage, and Heather once again undersold it. "This is who you want?" Gloria shouted at the crowd, pointing to the woman she was dominating. "This is what you want to see? This Barbie doll?"

Oof. Margaret was watching this somewhere, and one of two things would happen. Gloria would be punished for making comments like that about one of the wrestlers, or it would become a new angle for them. Personally, Diego liked the idea of Gloria demolishing these new bimbos and becoming the Women's Champion again, but that didn't seem likely. Blondes in their twenties. That was the criteria for Women's Champion, these days. In the end, Gloria did gracefully let Heather take her down with one of the weakest top rope clotheslines Diego had ever seen in his life, and it made big, strong Gloria look piss-weak when Heather pinned her for the three-count. Disgraceful. Send Gloria in there with Sean, dude. That's a match that could get anyone off their feet.

"Still can't believe this is happening," Cameron Wright, better known by his ring name Kodeine, complained as he, Diego, Lance and Chandler Dunbury waited by the curtain for their tag-team match.

"Get a grip," Chandler was chewing at his nails.

Gross. He was a chubby man with a mohawk and a long beard. Not unattractive per se, but he certainly didn't look pretty. In this match, he was serving the role of "space-filler." The storyline progression was all about Kodeine, Diego and Lance. Chandler's music hit first, and the crowd wasn't particularly interested. It brought to mind most of Diego's ten-year career in KADA. Minimal crowd reactions. He could get top match ratings of course, but he was never the main draw of the match. Kodeine's was next, and the crowd went pretty wild for him. He had been stacking up victories over the past few months as his push was beginning and Diego's feud with Ollie and Sean was ending. It was highly likely that Diego would drop his title to Kodeine. He'd been the champion for a very long time now.

Next, Diego's music roared. Helicopter by Bloc Party. He'd had it since he debuted in KADA and he was thinking about getting rid of it. When he and Lance entered together, it was always to his music. Not today. Today, although he was the Heavyweight Champion, this wasn't all about him. He entered alone to a relatively strong reaction. Not one that his friends might receive, but since he was out here without Lance Lovecraft, that was a big deal. A year ago, crickets were the only ones who made any noise. Good work, Michelle. And Lance, too. You finally made me relevant in some way. Diego took the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he tried his best to minimise his accent for the London crowd. "It is with great honour and pleasure that I personally introduce you to my tag team partner tonight." The crowd buzzed with that. The cheering got more intense. "From London, England!" Diego lapped up the attention he was getting. It was awesome. "A very dear friend of mine," he paused once more for dramatic effect. "Lance Lovecraft!"

Immediately, the music to Froot began booming through the arena, and it was possibly the loudest reaction that Diego had ever heard before. While Lance's raucous crowd reactions were usually mixed - cheers and boos - this one was just a cheer. Lance looked happier than Diego had ever seen him when he came merrily prancing out of the curtain, clad in his brand new wrestling clothes. He had them tailor-made ahead in time for this exact show. His tiny shorts, his arm sleeves from hand to elbow and his long boots were glittery and in the colour and pattern of the British flag. While the song played, Diego stepped back a little bit so Lance could have the spotlight to himself for a little while, and the boy dazzled his fans with some of the moves that made him famous before he reached for Diego's hand. Diego stepped forward, and the two shared a brief kiss as they always did during their entrance. The crowd's cheering hit a crescendo, and they took an extra long trip down the ramp so Lance could interact with everyone by the barrier. Man, the energy in here. Whew.

Eventually, the match started. This was Lance's first ever tag-team affair. Even though Diego and Lance had been together for over seven months, they'd never actually wrestled as a tag team before. It was exciting. Diego had been watching Lance slowly improve during their training sessions. The boy was still too new to be wrestling in his part of the roster, but he was doing the best he could. A few times Lance was too slow or sold poorly, but it wasn't a horrible performance from him. Unfortunately, he took a lot of offence in this match, and getting beaten up was his weakest point. Kodeine, as the rising contender for the Heavyweight Champion Diego, needed to look strong. Diego, as the champion, couldn't afford to look weak. Tag team matches were good for this. Kodeine could showcase a plethora of offence on Lance, who was considered the protégé and had no credibility to lose as someone who had not yet won a match, while Diego dominated Chandler, whose purpose was to make the champion look good. Throughout the match, if Diego were the man in the ring, the crowd would often chant for Lovecraft, and rather than being bitter about it, Diego smiled.

The match's ending was something nobody in the world would have seen coming, Diego thought. As Diego and Lance took turns beating up Chandler, making sure he didn't tag Kodeine in and trying to either pin Chandler or make him submit, Kodeine riled up the crowd. Chandler dodged a spinning kick from Lance and dove to tag in Kodeine, who dominated Lance with relentless offence. Lance did his best to make Kodeine look good, and he didn't quite get the job done, but it was much better than he would have done had Diego not taken him under his wing. The crowd was on fire. Kodeine was the good guy, but Lance was the homeboy. For whom do they cheer?

Kodeine set up his finishing move on Lance, but Diego, while the referee wasn't looking, kicked Kodeine in the side of the head from his place on the ring apron, forcing him to release Lance. With Kodeine groggy, Lance hopped up onto the second rope of the turnbuckle, hooked his arm around Kodeine's head, then leapt and gracefully somersaulted forward, landing on his butt on the canvas with Kodeine's chin on his shoulder. The crowd went insane, and Diego didn't blame them. The Diamond Dust was a pretty sweet move for a finisher, and he worked with Lance a lot so that the younger man mastered it for when he was ready to win matches with it.

Kodeine sold it like a champion, and Lance pinned him for the three-count, winning his first ever match in KADA. Froot blared through the arena. In character, Lance comically screamed in shock and delight. He leapt to his feet, ecstatic and surprised that he actually won a match for a change. Diego, also in character, jumped up and down on the ring apron excitedly and hopped in. Lance leapt on him for a hug, locking his legs around Diego's waist, and the two kissed. It brought memories of the way the two kissed for seemingly no reason at Sean's house that night.

"Here are your winners," Sherrie announced from her chair by the commentator's table. "The Heavyweight Champion Diego Silva, and London's very own Lance Lovecraft!"

The crowd was deafening. "Lovecraft!" Clap clap clap. "Lovecraft!" Clap clap clap. "Lovecraft!" Clap clap clap.

Diego put Lance down, and one of the backstage crew handed the British boy a microphone. Diego was excited to see how he would play the audience.

"Oh..." Lance choked immediately, and Diego's heart stopped for a second. "I can't tell you guys how much I've missed being here! London is my home!" Diego exhaled in relief. The crowd ate those words up, though. "Leaving to go to the United States of America to become a wrestler is the hardest thing I've ever done, but I don't regret it at all. Every time I leave that curtain, no matter where I am, it's London that I'm representing. It's England. It's the United bloody Kingdom!" The fans roared their appreciation. "And to have my first ever win in the place I was born and raised... it means the world to me. You all mean the world to me! Thank you for everything you've done for me!"

With that, Lance passed the microphone back and slipped out underneath the bottom rope to go and give all the high fives and forehead kisses the fans in the front rows could handle. Diego heaved his heavy championship belt over his shoulder and waited by the ramp for him to finish. The camera would be firmly on him right now. No doubt Kodeine would be fuming backstage. He had repeatedly objected to losing to Lance tonight, but Diego didn't see it as a big deal. Kodeine lost to Lance because the pair cheated. That didn't make Kodeine look weak. It pushed Lance and Diego further into heel territory, and it gave the London crowd exactly what they wanted. Michelle explained that it'd be alright and Kodeine would defeat Lance in a singles match next week. It was Diego's interference in the tag team match that progressed the story, not which of the two defeated Kodeine. Still, he was acting like a spoiled brat. Be thankful you're getting a push at all, you twat. It should be Sean. Not you.

Diego smiled so wide when Lance finally made it to Garth, Sue and Jane, all of whom Lance had purchased front row seats for. He hugged the three of them, and Diego could see the red boy's eyes wet from emotion as he finished his round and approached Diego once more. Diego took the boy's hand, and they walked back to the curtain, the audience still chanting.

"Lovecraft!" Clap clap clap. "Lovecraft!" Clap clap clap.

This boy has a big future in wrestling, Diego thought as they made it to the back. He's going to be bigger than I ever will be. We just have to get him there.