Wrestling

"Bam worked a miracle with the ice packs last night. I--we are going to head to the gym just to stretch out and do some light exercise. You know, keep the joints loose."

Linda nodded, setting her mug down. "Take your time. I’m going to watch the morning news and relax. Don’t rush back on my account."

Bambietta walked over to the entryway, grabbing a new choice of sneakers from the floor and quickly slipping them onto her feet. She tied the laces with significantly more speed than she had demonstrated in the bedroom.

"We’ll pick up some food on the way back," Bambietta offered, straightening up and grabbing her small gym bag from the hook by the door. "Any requests?"

"No dear. Surprise me," Linda said. She reached a hand down to scratch the dog behind the ears. "Have a good workout. Both of you."

Jey unlocked the front door, holding it open for Bambietta. He looked back at his mother one last time. She looked peaceful. He offered her a warm smile, stepped out into the carpeted corridor, and pulled the door shut behind them.

---

"She looks better," Bambietta observed quietly, standing close beside him as they both waited for elevator to reach them.

"Yeah, she does," Jey agreed. "I think knowing it’s definitively over helps. Even if it ended the way it did, the uncertainty is gone. She doesn’t have to wait for the next show to drop anymore, or for an unexpected Billy attack."

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime. They stepped inside, and Jey hit the button for the underground parking garage.

When they reached the sedan, Jey naturally moved toward the driver’s side of the door.

He looked at Bambietta who didn’t ask him not to drive this time. He rushed over to open her door at the passenger’s side, shut it for her after she got in, and then got into the driver’s seat.

"Lifestyle right?" Bambietta asked.

"Yes. Lifestyle’s the only gym I go to around here."

"Fenri knows how to run a gym, that’s for sure." Bambietta hyped up her billionaire friend a little.

Bambietta cracked her knuckles, one hand at a time, working through her fingers like she always did before a workout. "I remember when she told me that she bought up half the block near Nishinomiya and turned it into that building complex."

"Here we go."

"Hotel rooms upstairs on the fourth and third floors, full spa on the second floor, gym on the first floor level and the reception at the ground floor. It really puts a lot of businesses to shame."

"You’ve told me all this before, plus we go there often," Jey said, merging the sedan onto the main road.

"I like telling you things you already know," she said, reaching over to turn the radio dial down a notch. "Makes me feel important."

Jey laughed. He pressed a hand flat against his ribs out of habit, nothing, then dropped it back to the wheel.

---

Lifestyle sat 27 minutes away in the glorious Nishinomiya, tucked behind a row of glass storefronts that sold everything from designer handbags to imported coffee beans. The main building front itself didn’t look like much from the street. Tall with dark tinted windows, a sign mounted beside the entrance that simply read LIFESTYLE in thin, elegant lettering. Nothing too flashy.

Jey pulled the sedan into the large parking lot around back, then drove to the section reserved for members with gold tier membership access. He and Bambietta had that access thanks to Fenrisha’s generous discount. Back when Jey had first signed with JW and needed somewhere quiet to exercise that wasn’t crawling with cameras.

They walked in through the side entrance, avoiding the main lobby where hotel guests checked in with their rolling suitcases. The hallway leading to the stairs of the gym floor smelled faintly of something sweet, probably piped in from the spa section a floor above. Soft music played from hidden speakers.

The front desk attendant, a young woman with her hair ponytailed very tightly, recognized them immediately and waved them through without asking for their cards.

"Madame Laurent left word she wants to see you both if you came in today," the attendant said, her English properly practiced. "She’s on the gym floor right now."

Bambietta raised an eyebrow at Jey. "That’s new."

"She’s almost never in the Japan branch," Jey said.

The climbed up the stairs to the gym space, high ceilings with exposed steel beams painted black, the equipment arranged in clean rows instead of the usual chaotic clutter most commercial gyms suffered from. Floor to ceiling windows lined one side, looking out onto a private sit-out with a pool nobody was using this early.

A handful of members were scattered around, mostly hotel guests in expensive workout gear who probably had no idea what professional wrestling even was. That was why Jey preferred here above any other gym closer to home.

Standing near the free weight section, in the middle of correcting some businessman’s deadlift form with nothing more than a raised finger and a few sharp words in accented English, was Fenrisha Laurent.

She was taller than Bambietta by very little margin, same height as Jey, with tousled up brunette hair. She wore simple black athletic wear, nothing branded, nothing flashy, it had the kind of quality that didn’t need a logo to prove itself to anyone.

She noticed them the moment they stepped onto the floor. She said something quick to the businessman, patted his shoulder, and walked over.

"There he is," Fenrisha said, looking at Jey, her french accent thick around the vowels. "The man who cannot stay out of the headlines."

"Good morning to you too," Jey said.

"Ana," Fenrisha said, turning her attention to Bambietta and pulling her into a quick, firm hug. "You look tired."

"So fucking tired," Bambietta admitted, smiling faintly at her long time friend.

"Damn, I saw the show," Fenrisha said, releasing her and stepping back, crossing her arms. "The whole thing. That knee looked bad. Real bad, not the kind you fake for a storyline. Is he okay?"

"It’s real," Jey confirmed. "Ruptured ACL, torn meniscus. Front office cut him loose this almost immediately."

Fenrisha’s expression didn’t shift much. She knew a lot about running businesses and making those kind of decisions.

"Family drama playing out on live television," she said. "Not exactly my cup of tea, but it certainly draws numbers, doesn’t it."

"Apparently it does," Jey said flatly.

"Come," Fenrisha said, gesturing toward the far end of the gym floor where a set of mats sat arranged near a wall of mirrors. "You’re not lifting heavy today I presume."

"I told him the same thing," Bambietta said, shooting Jey a pointed look.

"For once, listen to someone who actually cares about you," Fenrisha said, leading them across the floor. Her walk carried a whole lot of hip swaying. In the end, Bambietta was the one staring, not Jey.

Fenrisha continued, "Light work. Some stretching. Maybe something to keep the blood moving without stressing anything."

Jey dropped his gym bag near the mats and pulled off his tank top, tossing it onto a nearby bench. The bruise along his ribs had faded slightly, the deep purple mellowing into something closer to fit his skin colour, but it was still there, still visible enough to make Fenrisha’s mouth shift when she glanced at it.

"Aren’t you going to comment about the bruise?" Bambietta asked softly, not sure where exactly Fenri was looking.

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