Work Text:
Iyo Sky and Sol Ruca had a tremendous match on Monday night. It was a technical showcase, one that Iyo greatly enjoyed being part of with such a new superstar. It felt like a cleansing, of sorts, after saying goodbye to Asuka.
It was difficult not to get caught up in the moment to moment feelings. There were so many things happening all at once, and she didn’t have time to process them all. It really required Iyo to compartmentalize and take things moment by moment.
Before her flight the next day, Iyo found herself in the gym. There were other superstars about, but they were all in their usual pairs and groups. She felt a pang of sadness. Most recently, she’d have had Rhea to exercise with prior to her move to SmackDown. Before then, she’d have been with Asuka and Kairi Sane. When she came to the main roster, Bayley and Dakota Kai were her gym buddies. Now she was alone.
She put on her earbuds, chose an audiobook, and started her routine. She liked to warm up on the treadmill first just to get the blood pumping, and then she did a full body round. She was going to focus primarily on her core today, since you could never have enough core strength these days. Her ribs had mostly recovered from Jade Cargill’s assault.
She went to the torso twist machine and began her reps. Her mind began to wander. What was it that Rhea wanted to talk about? She hated when Rhea brought something up and didn’t elaborate, but that wasn’t really the time. If it was important, everyone in the conversation needed to be awake. She was already falling asleep when Rhea had initially brought up that something was on her mind.
What could it be? They’d progressed past the initial ‘I love you’ stage pretty quickly, all things considered. They’d been married now for not quite a month. They had a joint budget. Most of the major pitfalls had been discussed or successfully avoided…she wasn’t sure what she was missing.
As she moved on to the next machine, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see none other than Sol herself! She took out her earbuds.
“Hey, Iyo. Just wanted to thank you again for the match.” Sol smiled.
Iyo observed the young woman before her. When the match started she knew that she was in the presence of someone extremely talented. She’d seen her NXT highlights and had seen her up close for herself in the Royal Rumble.
“I meant what I said, Sol. You are the future.” Iyo replied with a bright smile.
Sol’s facial expression didn’t change very much, but Iyo could read that there was a bit of uncertainty about her. She had the look of one about to make a request, but unsure how to form the words. Iyo just smiled kindly and waited for her to figure it out.
“Uh…Could I…I mean…” Sol, who looked the part of the consummate extrovert, was a little shy. “Can I…work out with you?”
Iyo’s eyes widened in a bit of surprise. She hadn’t expected that at all. She nodded and smiled. “Sure!”
The two of them started to exercise together and it was nice. It had been a few weeks since Iyo’d had a training partner, and that seemed the same for Sol. They got a post workout smoothie and began to chat.
“So…how’s married life?” Sol asked, gesturing to Iyo’s wedding ring.
Iyo flushed with pleasure. “It’s…nice. But not that different from before. Rhea’s sweet.”
“There’s something about those Australian girls.” Sol laughed a little sadly.
Iyo nodded sympathetically. “It took a long time for Rhea and I to get to this place. We fought for years. But look at us now!”
“Yeah…?” Sol leaned back in her chair, thinking about what Iyo had said. “When I met Zaria I knew she was going to be someone special to me.”
“When I met Rhea, she was so gorgeous to me and I didn’t know how to say it in English.” Iyo quipped. “But we made magic in the ring that day. With very little prep.”
”So…what changed? How did you get from there to here?” Sol asked, leaning towards Iyo earnestly.
“We…had to beat the respect into each other.” Iyo nodded.
“…Really?” Sol asked.
Iyo nodded again. “That’s what did it. We are wrestling soulmates. We had to get to a place of respect first. And then after…everything was easy.” She smiled, glancing at that ring.
“You must miss her a lot on the road.” Sol said, marveling at that.
“I do. But we talk every night, and when we can be together we take every opportunity.” Iyo explained.
“…Maybe Zaria and I can beat the respect into each other, then.” Sol grinned.
“Good luck!” Iyo said as Sol made her way out of the gym and presumably to the airport.
The next show was in Greensboro, NC. Rhea would be at SmackDown in Columbia, SC the Friday preceding, so there was an opportunity for them to get together. It would be a quick drive. That was a good thing because Iyo missed Rhea. She missed her eyes, her arms, her lips, her hugs, the way she hogged the bed with her long legs, the way she rolled her eyes when Iyo wanted to go to another store but never said ‘no’.
Iyo pondered all of this as she made her own way to the airport. The rental car needed to be returned, and she’d probably grab something quick to eat there. The airport was about a half an hour away from where she was, but traffic wasn’t too bad. She turned on the radio prepared to just let it and the GPS serenade her en route.
Instead, she got a phone call. From Alexa Bliss.
She was surprised to hear from her, so she went ahead and answered through the car speaker. “Moshi moshi. Hey, Alexa. What’s up?”
She tried to keep her voice calm, but her mind began whirling with possibilities. Was something wrong with Rhea? Had Jade done something else? Did Rhea need help? Was she hurt?
“Iyo…can you please come get your wife?!” Alexa said, annoyance clear in her voice.
“Wait, what’s wrong with Rhea? Is she alright?” Iyo asked.
“Yes! She’s fine! She’s just the most stubborn woman I’ve ever known besides Charlotte.” Alexa replied, exasperated.
“Oh…” Iyo relaxed. This wasn’t a call for backup in that sense. “Well, what’s going on?”
“She and Charlotte just keep arguing. Everything is a contest! I had to stop them from getting into a fight at the gym.” Alexa explained further.
“…That does sound like Rhea…” Iyo replied, thoughtfully.
“So how the hell can I reign this in? Because I’m going to kill one or both of them at the rate we’re going. And I don’t think you’re ready to be a widow yet.” Alexa was joking…or was she?
“Rhea can be reasoned with. Most of the time.” Iyo said. “You just have to remind her that she respects Charlotte. Charlotte’s earned her respect.”
“Ok, and how do you suggest that?” Alexa replied. There was a crash in the background of the call. Alexa sighed deeply. “They’re currently wrestling in this gym…”
“You have to let Rhea cool down. She can be reasoned with after she calms down.” Iyo replied.
“Alright…I’ll do my best. But, seriously, you’re gonna be a widow if I can’t figure this out.” Alexa hung up the phone.
Iyo did not envy Alexa’s attempts to play peacemaker. Alexa’s negotiation skills were top notch and had worked wonders for Wargames, but this was another thing entirely. That was an event with a specific goal and end date. Rhea could be on SmackDown for months to come. Even if she lost the championship, she might stay on SmackDown’s roster.
The thought of Rhea being on a separate roster for months without end dismayed Iyo every time it resurfaced. It was reality. They both accepted it. That doesn’t mean they liked it, though. Still, there would be opportunities. They would make the most of any of those that came their way, and would savor times to meet up when they could.
Iyo made her way to the airport and got ready to head to the next taping. She’d call Rhea later to see if she could help Alexa at all.
THE NEXT DAY
Rhea Ripley was doing her best to adjust to this move to SmackDown, but it hadn’t been easy. If anything, time made things more difficult. Because now there were even more people added to the equation. Dealing with Jade, B-Fab, and Michin would have been bad enough with Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Giulia, and Kiana James already there. Now there was Fatal Influence thrown in on top.
It was the morning, and she had a flight this afternoon for the next SmackDown taping. She was alone, packing up before heading to the airport. She was looking forward to seeing Iyo after the show. Those meetings with Iyo were one of the things keeping her going.
These circumstances with Fatal Influence had forced Charlotte Flair back into her orbit. Alexa was cool. She got along with her just fine. But Charlotte? She was impossible to deal with most of the time. Everything for Charlotte was a challenge, a debate, an opportunity to get a ‘win’ in some way. And Rhea was not about to back down from any challenges.
Clearly Alexa had called Iyo because Iyo scolded her about her behavior last night. Iyo just didn’t get it. Neither did Alexa. Charlotte kept nettling her. It’s not what she said, it’s how she said it. It was the smug look in her eyes. It was the way she’d looked at her in the lead up to Wrestlemania 39.
They never moved past that feud. Charlotte just had a way of making Rhea feel like the past few years hadn’t happened at all. She was still the somewhat unproven talent from NXT that Charlotte saw as a would be usurper for her throne. Someone not worthy of her time.
It didn’t matter that Rhea had defeated Charlotte on the biggest stage in the industry or that she’d never technically lost the belt or that she’d won it again just weeks ago. All of her accolades, all of her successes, none of it mattered. To Charlotte, Rhea would always be some kid. Some upstart who didn’t know what she was doing.
That’s why she had to prove herself. She would get Charlotte’s respect—permanently. Or die trying. It was all so frustrating. If Charlotte would chill, there wouldn’t be a problem. If Charlotte tossed out a challenge, Rhea couldn’t resist taking it. She would not show weakness or deference to anyone.
Her ringing phone jarred her from these thoughts.
“Wepa!” was the first thing she heard and she couldn’t help but smile.
“Wepa! How are you, Damian?” Rhea was thrilled that moving to SmackDown meant she got to see her best friend more often. That was the one saving grace.
“Uh…you got a sec?” Damian asked.
“Yeah, I got time. What’s going on?” Rhea replied, ready to leap into action.
“…What does it mean when you know somebody’s Starbucks order?” Damian asked.
“Uh…”
”And, for that same person, you’ve also learned how they like the temperature in the plane and how they need two blankets?” He went on.
“Dude…”
”Yeah…I’m sorta at a loss here.” Damian replied.
“Well…who is it?” Rhea asked.
“…Promise not to laugh?” Damian said.
“Yes. I promise. Absolutely.” Rhea replied with a nod he couldn’t see.
“…It’s Truth.” Damian said, completely deadpan.
“…” Rhea processed that. Her mind went absolutely blank. She couldn’t believe that he’d said that. Had she heard that correctly?
”…Yeah.” Damian said.
“…Damn, dude.” Rhea replied, for lack of anything else to say.
”It’s crazy. I feel crazy. But I kind of…like it?” Damian continued.
“Follow your heart, dude. That’s all I can say. Don’t waste time fighting it.” Rhea said. “I want you to be happy. Even if…”
“…Even if it doesn’t make any damn sense? Copy that.” Damian replied, but she could hear the smirk in his voice.
“If you needed someone’s permission to lean in, you have it. Go for it.” Rhea grinned.
“…Thanks. I really appreciate it.” Damian said, relief in his voice.
”See ya in North Carolina!” Rhea said.
“Yeah, see ya there.”
Rhea hung up the phone. She didn’t know what to think about any aspect of her life right now. In a world that had clearly gone half crazy, the one thing she knew with absolute certainty was Iyo. Iyo was her oasis, her safe place, the anchor tethering her to this ever shifting reality.
Maybe it was time to move in together.