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Alex, so far, was enjoying being in a tag team. Now that he’d gotten past his irritation with Sabin, he’d discovered that Chris was actually fun to be around. He was funny and thought Shelley was funny, their interests outside of wrestling lined up nicely and it didn’t hurt that the guy was a fantastic wrestler too.
However, it meant Alex had to tell him the truth.
Sabin had taken the news…. Surprisingly well.
The wrestling industry was pretty notorious for its large monster populus. So it probably wasn’t a shock that Shelley himself was not human.
He’d lost the right to call himself human the moment he’d breathed his last breath.
Alex hadn’t told him how it happened, and to be 100% honest, he hadn’t told anyone. But as always, Chris had changed that.
They were in the locker room after a match, Shelley sitting on the floor, his back pressed against the cold metal of the lockers. Sabin sat on a bench nearby with an ice pack pressed to his shoulder. Their conversation had lapsed into silence at this point, Shelley drumming his fingers against his legs, enjoying the quiet when Chris suddenly burst out
“Was it bad?” he asked quickly, his eyes darting around the room. Alex stared at him, pushed himself into a standing position, before taking a seat next to his partner and gesturing for Sabin to keep talking.
“It’s just…” Sabin trailed off, glancing around the locker room “you never talk about it” he whispered, dropping his head down closer to Shelley’s. Alex glanced around the room.
“Talk about what?” he asked, confusion lacing his tone “Chris, no one else is here why are you whispering?” he continued, furrowing his brows at his partner
“You know… the thing” Chris then brought his hands up to his face and mimed biting down with elongated teeth, finally helping Alex realize what he was talking about.
“When I was turned?” Shelley asked, nervousness creeping into his tone. Alex hated thinking about it. How it had happened, why it had happened.
God. what an idiot he’d been, thinking he meant more than he actually did to his sire… Shelley shook his head furiously, as if to physically dislodge the thoughts from his head. Sabin leaned away from him, clearly getting nervous about Alex causing a scene. Shelley cleared his throat
“Sorry, it’s just…” he paused, starting to wring his hands together and run the bottom of his boot against the cold tiled floor of the locker room. “It’s kind of stupid… not really a good story to tell”
“Stupid?” echoed Chris, tilting his head to the side “It can’t have been that stupid surely” Alex laughed mirthlessly.
“You really want me to tell you, huh?” Shelley sighed, reaching over and patting Sabin on the leg “Strap in buddy, it’s a long stupid story.”
Shelley’s sire was one of the first monsters he’d encountered while wrestling. Detroit had been a hotbed of creatures while he’d been growing up, so he was used to the idea of someone he worked with, hell, idolised as a teenager being more than human.
Getting to work with him, Alex thought at the time, was incredible. Sure, he was essentially unreachable past 11pm and his drinks always carried the stink of blood but Shelley found he didn’t mind that.
After all, love always had a good way to blind him to, in hindsight, obvious red flags.
They were sitting in his private locker room, Alex sorting through footage on his camera when he was beckoned over to where his sire was sitting, legs propped up on a table, his eyes glittering dangerously.
“Kiddo,” his mentor started. “You’d do anything I asked, wouldn’t you.” he stated, gesturing for Shelley to come closer. Alex obliged, nervously shuffling over.
“Of course” he stumbled out, before taking a breath to steady himself “i’d die for you, you already know that.”
His sire smiled, before swinging his legs off the table and standing up to his full towering height.
“Perfect” he stated bringing both of his hands to press down on Shelley’s shoulders. “This might sting” he explained, before abruptly lunging and biting down on Alex’s neck. Pain exploded across Shelley’s body, making him scream out, clawing at the broad back of his mentor, trying to stop him. He wasn’t sure how long he was drinking, but it felt like hours to Alex, who could feel himself fading away. His arms dropped down, all of his energy to fight gone. His eyes closed, too tired to keep them open. The last thing Shelley felt was his mentor gently lowering him onto the table, sliding into the quiet abyss of unconsciousness.
Alex’s eyes shot open. He was starving. He sat up, locking eyes with his mentor, holding a cup of something that smelt delicious.
“Here, drink this kiddo” Alex took the cup in his shaky hands, before downing the cup quickly, his eyes darting up to meet the taller’s ones
Kevin Nash smiled down at him, before patting him on the head.
“Much better.”
“He eventually told me what he did,” Shelley explained to Chris, his eyes locked onto the floor. ”And it sort of forced me to stay with him, and eventually it all got too much” Alex turned his eyes to his partner, who looked both distraught and furious, his fists clenched in his lap “but you reached out, and now here we are” Shelley ended that with a smile, reaching out and taking one of Sabin’s fists and gently unfurling it. Chris exhaled, his blue eyes softening now that the story was over.
“I’m so sorry” he breathed out, stroking his thumb over his and Alex’s clasped hands “Thank you for telling me” he seemed to steel himself, his eyes sharpening. “I’ll make sure no one does anything like that to you again.”
Shelley grinned at his partner again, squeezing his hand.
“I know”