Fatherhood: Part One
Sept 3, 2018 11:51:04 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2018 11:51:04 GMT -5
Ty walked into the Starbucks and wasn’t sure if he had showed up before them or not. There wasn’t any sign of them so he looked around for the most secluded spot and took a booth there. The hope was that enough people had seen Dom and Annie at the con today that they shouldn’t be bothered now so late at night.
They entered the building together moments later, Dom holding the door open for Annie to go first before he followed her in. A small sign of chivalry many thought he might be incapable of. They’ve dressed down for the meeting, wearing hoodies, jeans, and sunglasses to hide themselves from the stares of potential fans.
Annie saw their friend sitting there, and she gave Ty a small wave. But she didn’t go over straight away, instead turning to give Dom a quick kiss on the lips before she headed towards the counter, and left Dom to make his way over to where Tyberius King was sitting. Harter eased himself into the booth, taking a seat opposite his friend as he greeted Ty with a nod. “Sup.”
Ty gave a friendly smile.
“What’s going on man? Long day?”
“Long few days,” Dom laughed as he wiped the sleep from his eyes, “thank God this is only once a year.” Frontier Con was in town before All Star Showdown VII, one of FGA’s largest shows of the year. Despite not being on the card, Dom was in attendance to work the convention; meeting fans, posing for photos, answering questions in the Q&A sessions, facing his fellow wrestlers in trivia quizzes, and more. It wasn’t an easy task, but Annie had flown in early from her temporary residence in Las Vegas to support him.
“But I’m guessing that isn’t why you invited us out for coffee,” Dom said with a wry smile. He had his suspicions for possible ulterior motives.
“There’s a few things I think we gotta talk about.” Ty could tell my Dom’s smile that he had a feeling that this conversation could have it's uncomfortable moments. “First I think we need to figure out what we’re going to do about UE. You and Annie get another shot at the tag titles on the next Defiance. This might be the right time to get momentum on our side.”
“What are we talking about?” she said as Annie approached the table with two drinks in hand, a cold brew with a splash of vanilla for herself and an Innocent smoothie for Dom. Her eyes widened, however, when she saw the empty table before her. “Oh my God, Ty. I’m sorry, I thought you’d ordered already…”
“Shit” said Ty aloud. “I knew I forgot something”. He let out a small laugh and just shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I’ll get one after. I was talking to Dom about how to try find a way to take care of UE for good. If you have any suggestions I’m open to hear them love”.
“Have you tried the salted cream cold foam cold brew?” she asked as she sat down next to Dom, finding a position nestled under his arm. Fortunately for him, from that position Annie can’t see him face palm.
“Not suggestions for coffee, Annie,” Dom nudged her..
“Oh,” she almost mewed, “well you gotta try it if you haven’t already, Ty. It’s amazing! But, uh, UE? We can probably start by taking those tag titles from them.”
Dom took a swig of his smoothie and placed the bottle back on the table as he looked towards Ty. “Always a good place to start, right? I doubt they’ll make that easy though, we all know how they work. But I say we use the numbers game…” he shrugged his shoulders, “...Jaxon’s gone, Fel’s off somewhere else. We neutralize Capone and then there’s two of them, three of us.”
“Uh huh,” Annie nodded, before she added “and the iced vanilla bean coconut milk latte too…”
Ty just laughed a little. “I don’t really like coconut milk, but I do want to try the salted cream cold foam cold brew. The cascara one was really good so I’m sure that one is awesome”. Ty then turned his head to Dom. Now focusing more on the business side of things. “It’s a good idea. How do you propose that we neutralize Capone? Doesn’t he always have some kind of posse with him?”. Ty folded his arms on the table and intently listened to Dom.
“Nothing a forklift in front of an office door won’t fix,” Dom stated.
“Good thing I know how to drive one huh?”, Ty added with a bit of confidence.
“Well it’s that or we take them out with bats and chairs,” Dom half-joked as he flashed King that infamous crooked grin. Ty just shook his head as Dom continued. “Jorge, Benny, Max, and whoever else won’t even know what hit them!”
“No sneak attacks,” Annie scolded her boyfriend between sips of her cold brew. She had to wipe the coffee from her top lip before she leant up to give Dom a kiss on the cheek. “You promised we’d be on our best behavior in HKW.”
“Fine, but the forklift is still a viable option.” Dom rolled his eyes, “What can they do, about ten miles per hour? That’s enough for a hit and run, right?”
“They each can go at different speeds. It’s just finding the right one to do the job. I was against sneak attacks too Annie but at some point we have to asked if they wouldn't try to do the same to us”. Ty’s tone had more of a sound of seriousness.
“Of course they’d do the same to us,” Annie replied, “they’re Upper Echelon, they’re the cheaters here. Like at Fall of Tyrants, or Burial Grounds or, like, literally anytime.”
“And we’ve got to be better than them,” Dom said, a hint of resentment in his voice. As a career heel this run as a face in HKW still felt foreign to Dom Harter, but he smiled at Ty again. “Look, we’ve got a title match at Defiance; best case scenario is we take the tag titles from them, worse case is we find the straw that broke the camel’s back. And we can be justified in fighting fire with fire…”
“Do you think so?” Annie asked
“At some point we’ve got to try something different. I’m sick of getting fucked after every turn by these guys. I tried to be the good guy and do things the right way but you can only go that route for so long. I made a change”. Ty alluded to the switch back to Hotep. “So I think we take some pages out of our old playbooks”. Ty looked confidently at Dom, knowing they can do this.
“I’m in if you guys are…” Annie said innocently enough, before she took another sip of her coffee. She could feel Dom giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, and she smiled.
“Is that all you wanted to talk about Ty?” Dom asked.
Ty hesitated for a small second. “No, I think we need to talk about Tatum and Ina”. He said it tenderly, feeling that was the best way to go about the situation.
There was a moment of silence as the three looked at each other. Dom shifted in his seat slightly so as to rest one arm on the table. He leant forward and spoke firmly. “No, we don’t.”
“Dom” Ty spoke with a sense of caring, “You know sooner or later we’re going to have to so we might as well take care of it. This isn’t going to be an argument. I just want us to talk about this like adults”. Ty was firmer on the last sentence. Letting Dom know he wasn’t going to let this go.
“You want to help Tatum take my daughter even further away,” Dom stated, “the only thing you need to be told is that that isn’t happening. Anything else is between me and Tatum…” he paused, “...and Twitter, apparently, if she wants to keep trying to drag me.”
“Guys, is this really the time or place?” Annie asked, tentatively.
“We’re done, right Ty?” Dom asked.
“It’s ok Annie, Dom is upset and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be. I’m sure he’s going through a tough time with this too”. Ty switched his gaze from Annie to Dom. “I also want you to know that I was thinking of you when I agreed to this. You and I have been friends long enough to know I wouldn’t have your interests in mind too. I want you to meet her Dom. I really do. I want to help that happen. Things between you and Tatum are going to be rough for a little bit. I wanted to try and help that and be the buffer. I’m not trying to take her away from you. You’re more than welcome to come visit in Russia and it’s not like I’m not back and forth all the time. You would see her. Now we don’t have to drag this out any longer if it makes you uncomfortable. I’m just asking that you reasonably think of what I’m saying to you before you say no. You’re one of my best friends Dom and you’re going to be a great dad. Let’s just try to get to a stable spot”.
“Visit her in Russia…” Dom repeated the words incredulously.
“Or I’ll bring her to you”. Ty said calmly. “I want to work this out with you too man but I want it to work out with them too. I want this to be a comfortable setting for everyone”, Ty was still keeping a straight head and was trying to get through to his friend he had no ill will.
“Comfortable setting?” Dom said as he nodded his head. “Ok, sure. Give me Ina, and Tatum can fuck off to Russia.” he said, firmly. “None of this you can have her on weekends bullshit she’s been spewing in the custody trial, knowing full well that’s when FGA and HKW have their shows. No need to fly back and forth to Hawaii to see my daughter, who got kept secret from me for four fucking years - because I really don’t like flying enough to make that trip regularly. So Russia’s definitely out the question! And there’d be no more of Tatum getting to say I don’t wanna see Ina, while making it as awkward as fucking possible…” Dom paused to take a drink of his smoothie, “...she can dump our daughter with me as she chases this pipe dream, instead of some uncle I’ve never met three thousand miles away.”
“Alright Dom”, Ty said with compassion. “I think I’ve gotten you worked up enough for today. Just know I came with good intentions man. I’m still your friend and you can still count on me. None of that is going to change”, Ty stuck out his hand towards his friend.
Dom hesitated for a moment before he shook Ty’s hand. “You’re good. Tatum can go fuck herself though.”
“We can talk more about that later. I’ll catch you guys before Defiance and we’ll make a plan. Let’s get these mother fuckers”, Ty said coldly and confidently. Ready to finally start putting the nails in UE’s coffin.
They entered the building together moments later, Dom holding the door open for Annie to go first before he followed her in. A small sign of chivalry many thought he might be incapable of. They’ve dressed down for the meeting, wearing hoodies, jeans, and sunglasses to hide themselves from the stares of potential fans.
Annie saw their friend sitting there, and she gave Ty a small wave. But she didn’t go over straight away, instead turning to give Dom a quick kiss on the lips before she headed towards the counter, and left Dom to make his way over to where Tyberius King was sitting. Harter eased himself into the booth, taking a seat opposite his friend as he greeted Ty with a nod. “Sup.”
Ty gave a friendly smile.
“What’s going on man? Long day?”
“Long few days,” Dom laughed as he wiped the sleep from his eyes, “thank God this is only once a year.” Frontier Con was in town before All Star Showdown VII, one of FGA’s largest shows of the year. Despite not being on the card, Dom was in attendance to work the convention; meeting fans, posing for photos, answering questions in the Q&A sessions, facing his fellow wrestlers in trivia quizzes, and more. It wasn’t an easy task, but Annie had flown in early from her temporary residence in Las Vegas to support him.
“But I’m guessing that isn’t why you invited us out for coffee,” Dom said with a wry smile. He had his suspicions for possible ulterior motives.
“There’s a few things I think we gotta talk about.” Ty could tell my Dom’s smile that he had a feeling that this conversation could have it's uncomfortable moments. “First I think we need to figure out what we’re going to do about UE. You and Annie get another shot at the tag titles on the next Defiance. This might be the right time to get momentum on our side.”
“What are we talking about?” she said as Annie approached the table with two drinks in hand, a cold brew with a splash of vanilla for herself and an Innocent smoothie for Dom. Her eyes widened, however, when she saw the empty table before her. “Oh my God, Ty. I’m sorry, I thought you’d ordered already…”
“Shit” said Ty aloud. “I knew I forgot something”. He let out a small laugh and just shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I’ll get one after. I was talking to Dom about how to try find a way to take care of UE for good. If you have any suggestions I’m open to hear them love”.
“Have you tried the salted cream cold foam cold brew?” she asked as she sat down next to Dom, finding a position nestled under his arm. Fortunately for him, from that position Annie can’t see him face palm.
“Not suggestions for coffee, Annie,” Dom nudged her..
“Oh,” she almost mewed, “well you gotta try it if you haven’t already, Ty. It’s amazing! But, uh, UE? We can probably start by taking those tag titles from them.”
Dom took a swig of his smoothie and placed the bottle back on the table as he looked towards Ty. “Always a good place to start, right? I doubt they’ll make that easy though, we all know how they work. But I say we use the numbers game…” he shrugged his shoulders, “...Jaxon’s gone, Fel’s off somewhere else. We neutralize Capone and then there’s two of them, three of us.”
“Uh huh,” Annie nodded, before she added “and the iced vanilla bean coconut milk latte too…”
Ty just laughed a little. “I don’t really like coconut milk, but I do want to try the salted cream cold foam cold brew. The cascara one was really good so I’m sure that one is awesome”. Ty then turned his head to Dom. Now focusing more on the business side of things. “It’s a good idea. How do you propose that we neutralize Capone? Doesn’t he always have some kind of posse with him?”. Ty folded his arms on the table and intently listened to Dom.
“Nothing a forklift in front of an office door won’t fix,” Dom stated.
“Good thing I know how to drive one huh?”, Ty added with a bit of confidence.
“Well it’s that or we take them out with bats and chairs,” Dom half-joked as he flashed King that infamous crooked grin. Ty just shook his head as Dom continued. “Jorge, Benny, Max, and whoever else won’t even know what hit them!”
“No sneak attacks,” Annie scolded her boyfriend between sips of her cold brew. She had to wipe the coffee from her top lip before she leant up to give Dom a kiss on the cheek. “You promised we’d be on our best behavior in HKW.”
“Fine, but the forklift is still a viable option.” Dom rolled his eyes, “What can they do, about ten miles per hour? That’s enough for a hit and run, right?”
“They each can go at different speeds. It’s just finding the right one to do the job. I was against sneak attacks too Annie but at some point we have to asked if they wouldn't try to do the same to us”. Ty’s tone had more of a sound of seriousness.
“Of course they’d do the same to us,” Annie replied, “they’re Upper Echelon, they’re the cheaters here. Like at Fall of Tyrants, or Burial Grounds or, like, literally anytime.”
“And we’ve got to be better than them,” Dom said, a hint of resentment in his voice. As a career heel this run as a face in HKW still felt foreign to Dom Harter, but he smiled at Ty again. “Look, we’ve got a title match at Defiance; best case scenario is we take the tag titles from them, worse case is we find the straw that broke the camel’s back. And we can be justified in fighting fire with fire…”
“Do you think so?” Annie asked
“At some point we’ve got to try something different. I’m sick of getting fucked after every turn by these guys. I tried to be the good guy and do things the right way but you can only go that route for so long. I made a change”. Ty alluded to the switch back to Hotep. “So I think we take some pages out of our old playbooks”. Ty looked confidently at Dom, knowing they can do this.
“I’m in if you guys are…” Annie said innocently enough, before she took another sip of her coffee. She could feel Dom giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, and she smiled.
“Is that all you wanted to talk about Ty?” Dom asked.
Ty hesitated for a small second. “No, I think we need to talk about Tatum and Ina”. He said it tenderly, feeling that was the best way to go about the situation.
There was a moment of silence as the three looked at each other. Dom shifted in his seat slightly so as to rest one arm on the table. He leant forward and spoke firmly. “No, we don’t.”
“Dom” Ty spoke with a sense of caring, “You know sooner or later we’re going to have to so we might as well take care of it. This isn’t going to be an argument. I just want us to talk about this like adults”. Ty was firmer on the last sentence. Letting Dom know he wasn’t going to let this go.
“You want to help Tatum take my daughter even further away,” Dom stated, “the only thing you need to be told is that that isn’t happening. Anything else is between me and Tatum…” he paused, “...and Twitter, apparently, if she wants to keep trying to drag me.”
“Guys, is this really the time or place?” Annie asked, tentatively.
“We’re done, right Ty?” Dom asked.
“It’s ok Annie, Dom is upset and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be. I’m sure he’s going through a tough time with this too”. Ty switched his gaze from Annie to Dom. “I also want you to know that I was thinking of you when I agreed to this. You and I have been friends long enough to know I wouldn’t have your interests in mind too. I want you to meet her Dom. I really do. I want to help that happen. Things between you and Tatum are going to be rough for a little bit. I wanted to try and help that and be the buffer. I’m not trying to take her away from you. You’re more than welcome to come visit in Russia and it’s not like I’m not back and forth all the time. You would see her. Now we don’t have to drag this out any longer if it makes you uncomfortable. I’m just asking that you reasonably think of what I’m saying to you before you say no. You’re one of my best friends Dom and you’re going to be a great dad. Let’s just try to get to a stable spot”.
“Visit her in Russia…” Dom repeated the words incredulously.
“Or I’ll bring her to you”. Ty said calmly. “I want to work this out with you too man but I want it to work out with them too. I want this to be a comfortable setting for everyone”, Ty was still keeping a straight head and was trying to get through to his friend he had no ill will.
“Comfortable setting?” Dom said as he nodded his head. “Ok, sure. Give me Ina, and Tatum can fuck off to Russia.” he said, firmly. “None of this you can have her on weekends bullshit she’s been spewing in the custody trial, knowing full well that’s when FGA and HKW have their shows. No need to fly back and forth to Hawaii to see my daughter, who got kept secret from me for four fucking years - because I really don’t like flying enough to make that trip regularly. So Russia’s definitely out the question! And there’d be no more of Tatum getting to say I don’t wanna see Ina, while making it as awkward as fucking possible…” Dom paused to take a drink of his smoothie, “...she can dump our daughter with me as she chases this pipe dream, instead of some uncle I’ve never met three thousand miles away.”
“Alright Dom”, Ty said with compassion. “I think I’ve gotten you worked up enough for today. Just know I came with good intentions man. I’m still your friend and you can still count on me. None of that is going to change”, Ty stuck out his hand towards his friend.
Dom hesitated for a moment before he shook Ty’s hand. “You’re good. Tatum can go fuck herself though.”
“We can talk more about that later. I’ll catch you guys before Defiance and we’ll make a plan. Let’s get these mother fuckers”, Ty said coldly and confidently. Ready to finally start putting the nails in UE’s coffin.