Work Text:
Sami’s got a bag full of ice and an ache in his jaw when he settles into his hotel bed in the evening after Jey makes his choice. The pain is a physical reminder of what he’s lost, which, honestly, feels like everything. Roman wants him dead. Jimmy and Solo have no qualms following Roman’s orders down to every manipulative, calculating syllable. Kevin wants nothing to do with him. No belt either, no, the only thing across his torso is the angry red scratch he obtained while diving through the ropes in an attempt to catch Roman off guard. For a while, he still had Jey. He thought he had Jey.
You really thought I was gonna choose you?
Jey’s words still ring in his ears as if Jey’s here himself, shouting them for hours on end. And really, Sami isn’t actually sure what he had thought. They had been brothers in arms, but the Usos were brothers. It made sense that Jey would choose Jimmy, but Sami can’t help but feel bitter about it, anyways. Jimmy has been trying to get Jey to return to their abusive cousin’s side for weeks, does he even get it? Does he understand that this isn’t what families do to each other? Does he know Jey is miserable? Couldn’t he have just come with them?
It continues to bother him until he falls asleep.
— — —
He gets his answer on Friday.
“What would you do,” Jey asks the crowd emphatically, “what would you do?”
Sami, having been on the other end of Roman’s manipulation as well, thinks he knows what he would do. He would have taken the out. Sami gave him an out, tried to give him everything, why doesn’t Jey get it? Why do neither of them get it? His frustration comes to a head when Jimmy threatens to put Cody on the shelf, “just like we did to Sami Zayn”. After everything, how can he say that? Sami hops the guardrail without a second thought and tackles Jey, whose hands fly up to shield his head from Sami’s fists. When they’re separated, Jey only hits him two or three times before switching off with Jimmy, who gets his hands on him as Jey goes after Cody. Sami and Cody make an alright team– Sami’s got Jimmy slammed against the announce table, and Jey is wading through audience members trying to escape Cody stalking after him. Cody’s a good guy.
He’s a good guy, but he doesn’t get it. Cody knows the Usos are Roman’s lackeys, who run interference for him and get their hands dirty so Roman’s stay clean, so the belt stays clean, so the Island of Relevancy stays afloat. Sami knows that Jey and Jimmy have to work overtime not to get thrown to the sharks.
Sami knows what Jey’s laugh sounds like, what his smile looks like– not the mean kind, not the ones deployed over an opponent’s prone body, or delighting in his cousin’s unearned victories. Sami knows what it looks like when Jey smiles, happy and appreciative, when Sami remembers his Waffle House order or when Solo makes a rare facial expression that cracks them all up.
Sami knows Jey is terrified of Roman.
He doesn’t know why Jey doesn’t just take Jimmy and come with him.
It’s something that continues to bother him, but he thinks, you know what? Fine. If Jey wants to fight him, they can fight. Jey can make his own choices, he brought this upon himself.
It continues to bother him from hotel room to hotel room, apparently you can’t just will your problems away, because he’s still thinking about it when somebody knocks on his door. It’s probably Cody, coming to check up on him or talk strategy for Mania.
When Sami opens the door, Jey looks for all the world like he just got caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. Sami stiffens, moving to prepare himself for a hit, an argument, something, but all Jey says is, “Can I…?”
Sami hesitates for a second, peeking his head out the doorway and looking for any sign of Jey’s brothers. Nobody’s there. It’s just Jey, shifting his weight and looking anywhere but at Sami. He doesn’t want to let him in. Jey betrayed him, put his hands on him, and now he wants Sami to let him into his hotel room? Yeah, right.
Wordlessly, he steps to the side and lets Jey in anyways.
Jey walks in with his head hung low, hands clasped firmly in front of him. He looks like he may as well be seeking repentance. He turns to face Sami, who hangs back by the closed door, out of superkick distance. Jey seems to notice this, and his face does something sad. He’s still not talking. Sami isn’t in the mood for this. “Why are you here?” he asks. Jey says something under his breath. “What?”
“I didn’t want to do it,” Jey says, his voice cracking mid-sentence. “I never wanted to hurt you. It was– it was Roman–”
Jey puts his head in his hands and sits down on the edge of the bed, sniffling. He pulls his hands away and looks away, and Sami can see he’s actually making a great effort not to cry. Sami’s heart drops into his stomach. Tentatively, he approaches Jey. “What was Roman?”
“He always goes for Jimmy– always– because he knows I’ll give in, he’s so–”
“Jey,” Sami interrupts, putting a hand on Jey’s shoulder. “What happened?”
Jey takes a deep breath. “I wasn’t talking to them. For days. Weeks. I didn’t wanna talk to any of them. I came back to defend the titles with Jimmy– that was when I ran into you– and then I left again. I love my brothers, man, but I just… I needed space, you know? That messed-up shit they did to you… I couldn’t do it. Even if you betrayed us. Not after everything. Anyways, Roman didn’t like that. Kept sending Jimmy and Solo after me, had them blowing up my phone, everything. I told Jimmy to buy me time, and he did, for a bit. You know Roman. It’s a miracle he even let me go for as long as he did. Had to come back sometime. He started with you. Told Jimmy and Solo it was your fault I wasn’t coming back. That’s why they were on your ass– my fault, uce.”
“That’s not–” Sami starts, but Jey holds up a hand, eyes closed, like he’s about to tell him it gets worse. Sami listens.
“When they didn’t get you, Roman said… he said if Jimmy couldn’t get me back by this week, he wasn’t gonna blame you anymore. It’d be Jimmy.” The silence that falls over both of them is potent. They both know what that meant. “He had a gun to my brother’s head, you understand? I couldn’t let him get hurt. Not again.”
Sami sits down, giving Jey a bit of room. “I’m sorry, Jey,” he starts, “but I don’t understand– you both could have come– Solo could have, even. Why stay with him?”
“It’s not that easy. We got family, and Roman’s head of the table. The Tribal Chief. He snaps his fingers”-- Jey snaps– “Me and Jimmy are out. We lose it all if Roman don’t like how we breathe around him. Not to mention that creepy ass Wise Man in his ear telling him whatever he wanna hear. He was the one who tipped him off to what you and me were doing.”
“God, fuck that guy.” Sami interjects, fed up with Heyman without him even having to be in the same room. Jey’s head snaps up to look at Sami, perplexed, before his face splits into a smile, a real one, and a laugh escapes him.
“Yeah, uce. Fuck him. Weird ass old guy, always tryna start shit.”
“Always! Telling Roman to find me guilty at the Tribal Court, like, shut up! You don’t even have a law degree!”
Jey laughs again, and if Sami removes the context from this moment, he can pretend they’re having a normal night. They just got back from Waffle House, where Jey probably stole at least two waffles off Sami’s plate, smiling while he did it, and Sami let him do it with little more than a mild complaint. They’re both happy and full when they get to the Usos’ hotel room, Jey and Sami on one bed, Jimmy on the other, Solo in the mildly uncomfortable office chair. Maybe Jey or Sami look a little too long at the other’s lips while they’re talking, maybe their hands brush by accident looking for the TV remote, and neither of them acknowledge it. And it’s fine.
It’s not fine, now. Jey’s smile fades, heartbroken and wistful, like he just thought the same thing as Sami. “I wish you didn’t do it,” he says quietly. “None of this would have happened if you had just fallen in line.”
“I’m not sorry for what I did,” Sami admits, “but I’m sorry for what it did to you and Jimmy. You shouldn’t have to put up with him. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t stand up to him if it means saving someone I care about.”
“I cared about you.”
“I tried to save you.”
Jey is quiet for a moment, staring at the floor. “You already did.”
Sami blinks. “What?”
“Told you, uce. I didn’t like you at first, didn’t trust you. Took months too long to come around. You saw the good in me. I thought the good in me had gone three years back, when I told Roman ‘I quit’ in that cage and started doing all his shit for him. You made me think… maybe the good wasn’t gone.”
Sami covers Jey’s hand on the bed with his own. “It’s not gone. Jey, it’s not. He forced you. I knew how he treated you–”
Jey takes his hand out from under Sami’s and stands up in irritation. “So you left m– us– for fucking Kevin Owens–”
Sami follows. “I tried to help you! I don’t know what else you want from me–”
Jey turns around, and his face is suddenly extremely close to Sami’s. For a second, Sami was afraid Jey was trying to headbutt him, but Jey stops just short, eyes flicking over Sami’s face before settling on his mouth. Sami thinks he gets it. “Jey,” he croaks.
“I ain’t been allowed to be selfish the last three years,” Jey murmurs. “Just let me wish I didn’t have to lose you.”
Sami brings a hand up to Jey’s face, cupping his cheek as he closes the distance between them. Jey freezes for a moment, and Sami worries that maybe he really was going to headbutt him, but then he relaxes and grabs Sami’s waist as he reciprocates. Sami’s head is swimming. If he’d been told at the start of it all that this is what it would end in– some sort of tragic Romeo and Juliet romance between himself and the guy who seemed to hate him the most– he wouldn’t have believed it for a second. Jey was strong and self-sufficient and distrustful and no amount of wearing-down-the-walls plans Sami made accounted for falling in love.
That’s what this is, he thinks, while Jey tips his head to kiss him harder, deeper. It’s love.
They break apart, and it’s just as soon as Jey opens his eyes that he also looks away, like he’s overwhelmed. “Jey,” Sami says softly, the hand on Jey’s face smoothing a thumb over his cheekbone. “Hey. Jey. Look at me, please.”
Jey obliges, meeting Sami’s eyes.
“You’re not losing me.”
Jey closes his eyes again, leans in to press his forehead against Sami’s. “I can’t come with you.”
“It’s okay.” Sami presses another brief kiss to Jey’s mouth. “We can just keep sneaking around backstage and in the parking lot. Nothing more romantic than the overwhelming smell of sweat and exhaust.”
Jey groans and bats at Sami’s shoulder, but there’s no real push behind it. “Be serious.”
“I am! Are you not into making out while Cody’s giant face smiles down on us from the side of the production truck?”
Jey moves like he’s gonna step out of Sami’s space, but he’s smiling. “You the worst, man. I’m leaving.”
“Okay, okay, fine.” Sami grabs Jey’s wrist and puts it back on his waist. “Are you gonna… do something about Roman?”
Jey’s face hardens. “I… I’ll get him. Not before Mania. But I’ll get him. I have to.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I…” Jey scrubs a hand over his face. “I don’t know. Hey, I don’t wanna think about this anymore.”
They have to talk about it sometime. “Okay.”
“Help me not think about it.”
Sami leans in. “I can do that.”
They kiss again, more impassioned this time. Jey’s fingers dig into Sami’s waist, pull him in so they’re nearly flush together. He tilts his head again; from there it becomes a blur of wandering hands and tongues and these little noises Jey keeps making that Sami desperately wants to hear more of.
That might actually work out for him, because there’s currently something pressing into his leg. Sami makes the difficult choice not to ask if it’s the tag team championship belts in Jey’s pocket, or if he’s just happy to see him.
Sami puts a hand on Jey’s chest to gently push him back, and he wants to give himself a pat on the back, because he does look thoroughly distracted. He’s looking at Sami like he’s all he’s thinking about right now. He’ll make this quick. “Do you want to go further than this?”
Jey startles, and then seems to gain awareness of his arousal, stepping back. “Oh, shit, um. My bad. We don’t gotta do all that.”
“I’m asking if you want to.”
Jey swallows. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. You?”
Sami nods, re-entering Jey’s space, Jey’s hand curling lower on his hip now. “Yeah, Jey.”
It takes all of two seconds for Jey to get Sami up against the wall, his tongue back in Sami’s mouth and his hand slipping under Sami’s shirt. It feels good and he’s wanted this for so long and he’s muttering all of that and more against Jey’s mouth in between frantic kisses.
Jey gasps at the words, and Sami takes it as encouragement. “You’re so perfect,” he says, and Jey shudders before moving away from his mouth, opting instead to bite and lick at his quickening pulse in his throat. It gives Sami more room to speak. He can take a hint. “So good, Jey.”
Jey’s hand skirts down Sami’s stomach and stops when his fingertips reach the waistband of his pants. “Yeah?”
Sami tips his head back against the wall. “Jey, it’s nice that you keep asking, but you should know the answer to probably anything you want to do is going to be a resounding yes.”
Jey nods, not meeting Sami’s eyes for a moment. “Just don’t wanna fuck this up, s’all.”
“Unless you suddenly decide you actually want to kill me, you’re not gonna. I promise.”
Jey nods, and kisses Sami again while he plunges his fingers under Sami’s waistband. He strokes Sami’s hardening dick through his underwear before cupping him with his palm. Sami gasps, gritting out Jey’s name while he tries not to buck into his hand.
“C’mon,” Jey exhales as he rubs him, not enough, just enough to drive Sami insane. “Talk to me.”
Sami struggles to string words together in a comprehensible way. “Knew you’d be good at this.”
Jey smiles. “I’m barely even touching you.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been thinking about this forever, so you— oh, fuck— have no idea what this is doing to me.”
Jey has an odd response to this, which is removing his hand completely, but then he’s tugging down Sami’s pants and underwear enough to get his dick out, and spitting in his own hand, and this is fine, actually. It’s fine when Jey gets his hand on Sami properly, leans back in to continue his ministrations at Sami’s throat while he strokes him. “So tell me.”
“Tell you— what?”
“What it does to you.”
Sami can barely think straight, but sure. “Drives me insane. It was distracting backstage. I wanted to jump your bones, but it was hard…” Sami trails off. With your family always around goes unspoken. He’s meant to be distracting Jey. Jey is doing a rather spectacular job of distracting him. “It was hard. Can't do that in front of a live audience.”
Sami breaks off into a series of gasps and moans as Jey bites and licks down his neck, using his unoccupied hand to pull Sami’s shirt collar aside and get at that skin, too. Sami should probably tell him not to leave marks. He really doesn’t give a shit. Even if he did, a lightbulb seems to go off in Jey’s head, and he drops to his knees in front of Sami. “Yeah? What’d you think about?”
Sami doesn’t get to process how Jey looks at him before Jey is mouthing along the side of his cock. Jey takes him into his mouth, moving his head only for a few moments before pulling away. He sits back on his heels and looks up at Sami expectantly.
Frantically finding two available brain cells to scrape together, Sami says, “I, uh… this, sometimes. A lot of things. Whatever would let me kiss you, mostly.”
Jey pushes his face into Sami’s hip, pressing a kiss there. “You know what I thought about?”
“What?”
“Doin’ this in the locker room. Watchin’ you try to be quiet so nobody hear you outside. I’d treat you good.”
“I know,” Sami exhales, running his fingers through Jey’s hair. “You are. So good, Jey. So good.”
Jey makes a noise low in his throat and takes Sami’s cock back into his mouth, sucking him while Sami’s fingers twist in Jey’s hair. Jey grabs Sami’s hips with bruising pressure, holding him in place against the wall. Jey takes him down to the base; Sami is torn between closing his eyes to keep this from ending too quickly and wanting to watch Jey with rapt, unwavering attention.
Suddenly, it hits him that this is the last chance they might ever get to do this. Jey made his choice, and he’s not gonna get to go back on it. At least, not without endangering himself or his brother. Sami had been joking about sneaking around the parking lot, but even that would only give them a few minutes at most before Jey’s whereabouts would be questioned. “Hey,” Sami gets out, stroking his fingers through Jey’s hair. Jey looks up, and he must see something sad in Sami’s eyes, because he stops what he’s doing immediately. He looks scared, and Sami hates it. “No, baby, you’re okay,” he reassures, moving his hand down from Jey’s hair to his cheek. Jey turns his face into it, pressing a kiss to his palm. “It’s just– can I fuck you?”
Jey’s breath catches, his eyes widening as he shoots to his feet faster than Sami’s ever seen him get up before. He kisses Sami with force before stepping back to get his shirt off and throw it somewhere across the room.
God, finally, Sami thinks. He’s seen Jey shirtless countless times, but never had the opportunity to really look. Jey’s strong, muscular, covered in tattoos that Sami wants to trace with his fingers until he can recreate them blindfolded on memory alone. He’ll have to commit to memory as much as he can, tonight. He runs his fingers slowly up Jey’s abs, and the full-body shudder he gets in response is rewarding. His hands reach Jey’s chest, and he brushes his thumbs over Jey’s nipples. It wrenches a noise from Jey that sounds like it’s been punched out of him, and Sami files that information away for later. He’s interrupted by Jey frantically grabbing for the bottom of his shirt; for a moment, Sami is worried Jey is going to rip it. He bats the hands away and pulls Jey back in to kiss him again, slower now. “I want this to last,” Sami admits. “I want to take my time while I still have you.”
Jey tips his head back in frustration, then drops it against Sami’s shoulder. “Killin’ me,” he mumbles. “You’re killin’ me.”
Sami’s sure there isn’t an inch of skin not covered by hickeys on his neck, but he allows Jey to acquiesce by turning his face into Sami’s throat to lick over the marks forming there. Whatever lets Sami put his hands on Jey.
And oh, does he put his hands on him. He reaches around and feels up Jey’s back muscles, which shift under Sami’s fingertips as Jey fails to stay completely still under his attention. He feels Jey’s pain, really, he does; there’s nothing more he wants than to watch how those muscles and the tattoos covering them move and tense up underneath Sami. He wants to see the flex of Jey’s arms as he grasps desperately at the bedsheets when Sami makes him come.
He also knows he’ll regret it if he rushes things. He coaxes Jey’s face back up to his, kissing him again as he slides his hands back around to Jey’s chest, moving his thumbs in slow circles around his nipples. It doesn’t take long before Jey is gasping against his mouth, his body shuddering against Sami’s own. “Please,” Jey grits out. Sami may want it to last, but he doesn’t want to torture Jey.
“Get these off,” Sami says, hooking a finger in Jey’s waistband. He doesn’t need to be told twice, nearly stumbling as he rushes to remove his pants and underwear. For his part, Sami does the same, finally stripping off his clothes.
Jey sits on the end of the bed, and Sami retrieves a half-full bottle of lube from his bag before returning, pushing him back until he can settle between his legs. Jey props himself up on his elbows, eyeing the bottle with a strange expression. “Who’re you fucking?”
“Huh?” Sami looks at it, realizing why he’s asking. “Oh. Um.”
“Kevin?” Jey asks, his voice low and defeated.
“No!” Sami specifies quickly, “No. Not him. It’s just, ah– god, this is embarrassing– myself. Is who I’m fucking. Me.” He pauses. “…Thinking about you.”
Despite them both being naked, Sami still feels embarrassed. Jey doesn’t seem to feel the same, sitting up fully to kiss Sami again, hand tangling hard in his hair. Sami pitches them backwards; he’s on top of Jey now, who is licking into his mouth and grinding up against him like he’ll die if he doesn’t. He pulls back to get the lube. Jey makes to sit up, but Sami puts a hand on his chest. Jey stays down, and Sami uncaps the lube, coating his fingers in it. “We’re gonna go slow, you ready?”
“Yeah, fuck, Sami, c’mon,” Jey pants, spreading his legs to accommodate him.
Sami slowly sinks a finger into him, rocking it in and out. Jey squirms beneath him. “You okay?”
Jey nods, his lips slightly parted. “Keep goin’.”
Sami adds a second finger, and Jey’s back arches up off the bed. There’s already a sheen of sweat on his chest, and his hair is messy where Sami has run his fingers through it, and Sami thinks he might be one of the most wonderful things he’s seen. “You’re so beautiful,” he says, awed. Jey whines, and Sami has to hear that again, so he continues, “I've wanted you since I first saw you, y’know? Needed you.”
Sami punctuates that sentence by adding a third finger, and Jey’s fingers twist in the sheets on either side of him. At this point, someone can probably hear them. Sami still can’t bring himself to care. He angles his fingers slightly, and it only takes a few moments before Jey is stringing nonsense together, Sami and please and I’m ready.
Sami removes his fingers, gets more lube on his dick before hiking Jey’s legs up on either side of his waist and pushing into the heat of his body. They both groan at the sensation, Jey reaching up to wrap his arms around Sami, trying to get him as close as possible. “Fuck, you feel good,” Sami says.
Jey’s hand tangles once more in Sami’s hair, pulling him down to kiss him filthily, teeth and tongue. Sami bottoms out inside of him, and would be content to stay there forever until Jey pushes weakly at Sami’s shoulder. “Move.”
Sami pulls back and thrusts in again, and he has to refrain from paying too much attention to the sounds Jey is making; this will be over too soon, otherwise. He starts out slow, afraid of hurting Jey, but Jey is whining, raking his nails down Sami’s back, and Sami wants to make him feel good. He picks up the pace until he’s fucking Jey in earnest, angling his hips enough to hit the same spot that made Jey crazy.
Jey is moaning on every thrust, and Sami can’t help but do the same. He hadn’t been lying, earlier. He’s wanted this forever, but assumed it was destined to remain a fantasy. Now that he knows what it’s like to kiss Jey, to hold him, to fuck him delirious, he doesn’t know how he’ll live without it.
He wants to tell Jey he loves him. Instead, he curses in between gasps of Jey’s name, telling him how good he looks, how perfect he is.
What could have been seconds or minutes or hours later, Jey tries to form a coherent sentence. “S– Sami,” he starts, “wait”— Sami stops dead; he moves to pull out– “no, not– I wanna– can I ride you?”
Sami has to put a superhuman amount of effort into not coming then and there. “Yeah,” he exhales, “yeah, yes, please.”
He pulls out and turns them over so Jey is on top of him. If Jey looked beautiful underneath Sami, he looks like a god above him. Jey wastes no time in lining himself up and sinking down on his cock. Sami grabs Jey’s waist, and digs his fingers in when Jey responds, “Yeah, like that, grab me.”
He keeps the pressure as Jey starts to move, and he thinks this might ruin him. Jey’s hands are splayed on his chest to keep himself steady as he rides him; he’s got that look on his face he gets when he’s concentrating, like this is everything that matters to him right now. Sami has to reward him, somehow. “Fuck, Jey, you’re so good at this.”
Jey’s rhythm falters; he whines, “Keep going.”
Sami starts to buck up as Jey’s hips come down, desperately meeting his thrusts. “You’re so fucking hot, you’re so good, want you like this forever”— Jey pitches forward, takes one of his hands away from Sami’s chest to start stroking himself– “yeah, baby, that’s it, you take it so well, I love you so fucking much, fuck I’m gonna come–”
“In me,” Jey says. He’s hardly moving now, Sami fucking up into him and pulling Jey’s hips down hard. “In me, Sami, fuck–”
That’s all it takes for Sami; he pulls Jey flush against him and holds him there as he comes inside him. A second later, Jey moans brokenly, and Sami feels Jey’s own release hit his chest and stomach. They both breathe heavily, covered in sweat and come. Jey pulls off of Sami’s dick, collapsing on top of him. He kisses Sami once before burying his face in Sami’s neck. They stay like that for a few minutes, Jey’s breath against Sami’s neck and Sami’s hand absentmindedly carding through Jey’s hair. Sami eventually thinks Jey might have fallen asleep on him, and nearly startles when something is mumbled into his shoulder.
“Huh?” He asks.
Jey picks his head up, but stares determinedly at what must be a very interesting fiber on the pillow beneath them. “Said, I love you too.”
Sami freezes. “What?”
Jey looks at him, eyes wide in alarm. “Thought you said– when you were– you said ‘I love you’.” Jey cringes. “Shit, was that like, a ‘heat of the moment’ thing? Fuck, I–”
“No! No, Jey, it wasn’t.” Sami cups Jey’s chin, turning his head to kiss him softly. “It, um. Kind of slipped out. But I meant it. I was trying not to say it because I didn’t want to make it weird.”
“Oh,” Jey says. He kisses Sami again, hard, and if they were younger it probably would have gotten Sami going again. He’s too tired, now. “Well. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Sami replies fondly. “But we should probably clean up.”
Jey seems to realize now that he’s been laying in his own come on Sami’s chest for some time. “Oh. Uh, yeah. Come on.”
They shower together, and to Sami it somehow feels more intimate to wash Jey’s hair in a cramped shower than it does to fuck his brains out. He likes taking care of Jey, making him feel safe and loved.
They get back in bed when they’re done, Jey laying his head on Sami’s chest while Sami plays with the curls at the nape of Jey’s neck. Of course, it can’t last.
“I can’t stay the night here,” Jey says. He sounds like he’s about to fall asleep. Sami selfishly wishes that he would.
Sami kisses Jey’s forehead. “I know. Promise you’ll come see me again, though. Or I’ll come see you.”
Jey smiles against his chest. “That a threat, uce?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m talking roses in hand. I’m talking standing outside your hotel room with a boombox. I’ll come out in the stands at our next show singing ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’.”
Jey groans. He pushes himself up to look Sami in the eyes. He looks serious. “I’m gonna figure out what to do about Roman.”
“I know you will. I just wish you knew you didn’t have to do it alone.”
Jey nods. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about everything. That prolly wasn’t the last time I’ll have to lay hands on you.”
Sami snorts. “Just pull your punches when you do it, man.”
Jey laughs. “Aye, you too, bruh! You got a mean right hook.” He shakes his head. “Stop distracting me. I’m tryna talk about serious shit.”
“I’m so serious right now.”
“Whatever. Anyways, I, uh. I get it. Why you did what you did with Kevin. Couldn’t ever hate you for it if I tried. But I’m gonna miss you.”
“Still not going anywhere,” Sami corrects. “Does it make you feel better to know Kevin and I aren’t fucking?”
“I ain’t gonna hold you, uce, it does.” Jey admits. They both look at each other for a moment before breaking out into laughter.
“Holy shit,” Sami says, stunned. “You’re jealous! Jey Uso is jealous! I have to– I have to put this in the newspaper, you–”
“—Shut up–”
“I can’t!” Sami laughs, until Jey kisses him to shut him up, and it’s incredibly effective.
Twenty-some minutes later, Jey is saying he actually has to go now, and Sami is asking if he’ll see him again soon, and Jey looks sad when he tells him maybe, he hopes so.
Sami does too.