Costars

Kaylee made a face she often did, lips pursed and shifted to one side, eyes slightly narrowed. It was one Belle saw often, most of the time when Kaylee had to clarify something or admit to wrongdoing. "You've been keeping to yourself more. Going to bed early. I'm not use to you turning in before me." She didn't want to mention how little time outside their videos Belle had been spending with her. Especially after her injury, she would rarely have the brunette to keep her company now that they were on short hiatus from the ring. Belle wouldn't be ignoring her, would she?

Belle leaned back a bit, slightly on the defensive. It was true, she had been avoiding Kaylee, mostly so she could text with Tatiana, or work out plans with the redhead for the few times they had met each other face to face. She couldn't really do any of that with Kaylee hanging all over her. How would she explain texting with somebody the blond didn't know at all hours? "I've just been taking it easy, since you got banged up. between recording and training, there isn't much to do except hang around and chill out."

Kaylee let out a small snort. "You can hang out and chill with me." She just outright said it, why not. She looked down to her part of the shared burger, starting to divide it up into small bite sized pieces with her fork and knife. "You always use to." She felt the need to clarify so the Brunette couldn't just brush her off as imagining things. regardless of what her excuse was, there was no denying it had started to happen. Before and after the move to Japan, belle was like her shadow. They did just about everything together.

This had fast approached topics Belle didn't not want to deal with right now, or in fact ever. "I just haven't felt like doing much outside of what I have to."

"Like rando training, without me? Were you even going to tell me you practiced new moves?" She set her fork and knife down, folding her arms under her breasts firmly.

"What? Why? It's just more wrestling stuff Kay." This was starting to spiral way outside of her control. She could hear a bit of heat in Kaylee's tone.

"Because I need to know these things if I'm going to call the shots in the ring. I don't need you just randomly whipping out some bizarro moves I don't know about." Her stool squealed as she pushed it back, standing up. She plucked a fry from her plate, tossing it at Belle. It bounced off the brunette's face, leaving her somewhat dumbstruck.

"I don't really think it's that important." She couldn't help but feel Kaylee was taking this a bit too personal. The thrown fry had caught her off guard for a moment before she narrowed her eyes in annoyance. She pressed her palm to her cheek, wiping it off of any potential residue.

"Well I do. Are you trying to tank OUR career or something?" She gave Belle an incredulous look. Her planted her palms firmly on the counter, glaring across at the brunette. "No, not that. But I know exactly what you are up to Belle."

Wait. Wait. Wait. And breath.

For a few moments that was all Tatiana did, hoping that Kaylee hadn’t picked up on her squawking and came to investigate. She honestly wasn’t too comfortable in her hiding place. It was a dark, cramp space, barely able to fit her with all the beams in the way, and to make matters worse, she didn’t have much cover above. If Kaylee looked down at the wrong angle at the wrong time…

But it never came up. Kaylee never came to investigate, never even stepped outside, and after a moment, she listened to her phone well enough to tell why that was. She and Belle were arguing - whether her girlfriend had started it up to cause a distraction, she couldn’t say, but it hardly mattered, because a distraction was exactly what it was.

Tatiana decided to take it, moving while the moving was good, heading out through the garden. She’d gotten the impression that this would be the real trick, since she’d have little cover if she was spotted, almost nowhere to hide. Had to keep going, had to keep moving…

She lost a step and nearly tripped up when she heard Kaylee’s final words, however, and she looked back at towards the kitchen with frantic fear. Did she know? Did she really? How could she have figured it out? Was it the messages? Did she look through them when she’d taken Belle’s phone? Or did she have cameras all around the place? What? When? How?

Tatiana kept on moving, but her gait slowed, as the worry took hold of her. She was ready to rush back at a moment’s notice if need be, to do...something. She had no idea what. But if Belle was exposed and it all came out, she didn’t want her doing this alone.

Belle stared blankly at Kaylee as she made her claim. Did she find something of Tatiana's? Had she seen the texts? Did she dig through her computer history and find how many times she had watched their match? Did she install security cameras she wasn't aware of? This could be a bluff. It wouldn't be the first time. She played it cool as she could, her hands slipping down off the counter as she clenched them. She raised her eyebrows, giving Kaylee a nod to continue.

"You're trying to go solo,  while I'm out of commission. Just admit it." The blond glared across the way at Belle. Clearly she was spending her spare time training. Sleeping earlier so she could get up and work out or do whatever Belle did to get ready. "We agreed we would do everything as a team Belle. That means we don't do singles matches." She clenched her jaw, folded arms tightening.

"I..." Wow, this had taken an interesting turn. "Yeah, you got me. I've been wanting to try my hand at singles stuff, I didn't think you'd get so upset since you were hurt." She glanced off to the side. She had considered this very thing a few times, even before Kaylee had gotten injured. While she enjoyed their tag team shenanigans, she wanted to wrestle people on her own. Nothing was more frustrating than needing to rely on Kaylee in matches... in fact she was starting to see it was a trend outside of AFW as well. "Sorry. Didn't mean to freak you out or anything."

"It's better this way, doing only tag team stuff. It helps build our brand Belle. It's business. People want to see Party Hard, us." She motioned a finger between the two of them, giving Belle a soft smile. her tone had changed completely, far more comforting now... manipulative. "We're a team, we've always been a team. Nobody does it better, ya'know?" She plucked a fry up from her plate, reaching out to offer it to Belle.

She should have known better. It wasn't as if Kaylee didn't do this to her often. That was the problem though. As big and strong as the brunette may have been, to some degree she was conditioned. She had been in Kaylee's shadow for most of her life and despite this being an old tired trick of the blond's to string her along by being nice. She always told herself it wouldn't work on her this time... and then it did. belle reached out to take the fry only to have it tugged away from her. With a soft sigh she leaned in closer as Kaylee fed her the fry by hand. She sighed softly at the rather demeaning situation, just wanting it to be over.

"Friends have to stick together~" She chirped cheerfully, slipping back onto her stool. It was nearly a complete 180 from her attitude moments before. This was the face everyone knew and loved. Kaylee Day, the internet darling. Spearing a bit of her burger with her fork she popped it into her mouth cheerfully. "That's why you're the best Belle." She pursed her lips, kissing the air before blowing it across the way.

It was a good thing that Kaylee was so busy talking, because if she’d stopped and listened, she might’ve heard the rush of air that came when Tatiana finally exhaled. It was a massive sigh of relief, learning that the blonde had no earthly clue about what was really going on under nose, and Belle was smart enough to play it up for everything she could. Let her be wrong. Let her sniff that red herring as long as she wanted.

She was about to keep on going, close to the guest house now, when the conversations path made her stop at the door. It wasn’t just what Kaylee was saying that struck her out of the blue, but the way she said. The subtle hints. The change in tone. Playing after emotional strings, trying to manipulate Belle in just the right way.

It was dirty, it was sneaky, but more than anything, it was familiar.

With one hand on the nob, she looked back towards the house, wishing she could go be by her girlfriend’s side, help her stand up to this. Kaylee and Valerie hated each other, but they had many things in common, and their ability to play the guilt card was one of them. They knew just how to pull at them, the right things to say, and just like that, they were back in line.

It had to stop. But it didn’t like tonight would be the night.

Tatiana opened the door to the guest house and slid inside, keeping the lights off for now - Kaylee might peak out and see them come on, after all. She did shoot a quick text back to her girlfriend, though.

Tatiana: I’m in.
Tatiana: come to me.

Belle shook her head, eyes drifting down to her food. She remained in place, fulfilling her role as blockade to cut Kaylee’s vision off. “Yeah… thanks.” She murmured softly. The blond across her her seemed blind to how dejected she had made the brunette as both women ate in silence for awhile. Belle snuck a peek at the girl across from her every so often, but with the topic more or less won, she didn't seem to pay her much more mind.

“So… how was filming?” She inquired softly, she wasn't really in the mood to chat with Kaylee at the moment but this beat dead silence. She picked up the discarded pieces of fried onions and bacon, popping those in her mouth.

“Draining. Some no name director trying to be a big shot making things take forever. Really, we shoot higher quality content on my phone in less time. It's no wonder they need a paid service to shovel out this stuff. It was amateur hour” She giggled, nibbling a fry off the top of her fork.

“Sounds rough. Well, you’re home now. Relax. I left your stuff in your room, figured you could get it sorted out…” She waited a beat or two before following up. “If you don't feel like unpacking tonight, I can help tomorrow. I am pretty run down from my personal training stuff. Gonna take a small jog after this, then go crash I think.”

Kaylee made a face at Belle as she was preemptively cut off from requesting the brunette put her stuff away for her. “Don't push yourself so hard.” She settled for being supportive, she could have Belle do it tomorrow. “Thanks for the food.”

Belle glanced up to catch Kaylee smiling at her. It wasn't often the blond was really genuine with anyone, let alone her. She couldn't help but feel there was some sort of string attached and yet… she couldn't help but crack a small smile as well. Outside of her uncle, Tatiana and Kaylee we're really the only people who could tear down her normally tough demeanor. “No problem” She dug into her burger, looking to finish up her meal to check on Tatiana as soon as possible. Truth be told, she had lost her appetite but didn't really want raise suspicion by suddenly showing no interest in eating.

“I should be cleared to wrestle in about a week or so, so you don't have to worry about flying solo. I know how much you like getting in there and doing your thing.” Kaylee nudged her plate across to Belle, a silent offer for the few fries still on her plate. Though it was also a subtle way to ditch her plate to avoid having to wash it.

“Thanks…” Not subtle enough. It wasn't like this was her first rodeo. She gripped the edges of her makeshift plate made of the torn deliver back. Tugging it up, she leaned it forward to pour her remaining food onto the plate. She crumpled the bag up, setting it aside. “Going to lay down?”

“Yeah, I was up really early today. Film Nazi director. If you want you can come keep me company.” Kaylee pushed herself out from the island, slipping off her stool. She sashayed to the sink, washing off her hands. “I haven't even seen you for a few days.” She looked back to Belle, really pouring on her cutest look, even batting her eyelashes.

“We’ll see. Still have a few things to do before I can relax.” She knew better than to look Kaylee’s way, instead focusing on her food.

“Well, you can relax with me.” She shook her hands out in the sink, walking up beside Belle. She reached out, flicking her fingers out to pepper the brunette with a gentle spritz of water. “You can let yourself in” She winked, moving back around the island. She slipped her arm back into her sling as she moved past, plucking her phone off the island as she left to go back to her room.

Belle flinched at the small splash of water on her face, peering sidelong over at the blond. She remained silent at the offer, watching her leave the kitchen. She wiped her hands off on her shorts before pulling out her phone to check it.

Belle: On my way.

Once she had been sure Kaylee was gone, she hurried herself along. Stuffing her face with the rest of her food and cleaning up after herself. She made a quick round of the house, packing a few items into a gym bag before making her trip out to the guest house. She had thrown on her jacket and her sneakers, leaving her socks behind. It wasn't like she would need them. She would make her way through the garden, crossing over the ornate woodwork bridge, weaving along the path to the guest house where she would send another quick text, just in case Tatiana was waiting on the other side with a bludgeon ready to club whoever walked in.

Belle: Here.
Belle: Coming in.

She took a moment to shake off the awkwardness with Kaylee before twisting the knob and slipping inside.

It was a long wait in the guest house, or at least what felt like a long wait. After waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, she got around the area well enough and found a nice little bean bag to plop down, setting it near the entrance, where she’d have the most light from the windows. It was a good place to sit, especially with the clouds rolling in a light, spritz of a rain starting up on the outside. A good time to sit and think and imagine.

She closed her eyes, crossed her legs, leaned back and let her imagination take her through the moment, dreaming a little dream. All at once, she was in different world. It was a world that wasn’t unlike the one that they were in now, with the same rules and places and things all about. The sun came up, went down, then the Moon showed up and did the same thing right after it. Sure as clockwork.

Same foods, same TV shows, same cars, same everything that mattered. There was only one, major difference: no Kaylee, no Valerie.

They weren’t dead, but they weren’t around, either. Maybe they just didn’t exist in this world. Didn’t matter. What did matter was that they had each other, they were together, they were happy. They didn’t live in this mansion and they weren’t at her dingy apartment, either. They had a nice place on the outside of town, modest, but big enough for two people and maybe, someday, a third. They woke up beside each other every morning - sometimes Belle would be staring at her when she woke, sometimes Tatiana would be looking her way. Tatiana would try to make breakfast for her, and fail until the worldlier brunette came into help.

From there, they would train together or go out and catch a movie or just hang out at the mall and make fun of boys. They’d enjoy each other’s presence, all day. Rarely parting. Always close. Always smiling and laughing.

And at night…

She was broken from her pleasant little fantasy when she received the text, showing Belle was on her ways. Tatiana stood up and steeled herself, not wanting to look too emotional or sullen. Her girlfriend was cool, so she needed to be cool. She had to be worthy of this woman, not some clingy, sniffling teddy bear.

But that all fell apart the moment the door open and Belle slipped inside. She rushed forward with open arms and didn’t say a word as she brought them around her girlfriend and pulled her in for the tight, loving hug she hoped she needed.

”I’m sorry.” She sighed, exhaling against Belle’s chest as they pressed together. ”I am so sorry you have to put up with stuff like that, and I’m sorry for putting you in that position, and I’m just…” Tatiana bit her lip, shutting that down before it got into blubbering territory. Instead, she merely pulled back and looked Belle in her bright, blue eyes. ”Is it always like that?”

Belle backed into the guest house, closing the door quietly behind her. The light rain had left her hair speckled with dewy droplets that seemed to sparkle as she turned. As Tatiana embraced her, the two bumped back into the door. She had almost dropped her back as the redhead clutched her, hugging her close.

It was welcome and warm, even on a good day she would take these as many times as she could get them from Tatiana. “Hey… I wasn't that long.” Belle gently set her bag aside, wrapping her strong arms around her girlfriend to give her a tight squeeze and a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

Her smiling eyes fell more neutral as Tatiana apologized. Why? What had she done? Right. She had heard everything… well, most of it. She wasn't sure at what point Tatiana had actually reached the house. There had been enough for her to be concerned though about her BFF’s treatment of her.

Why was she apologizing? It wasn't like she had caused the interaction. Sure, she was part of the reason why Kaylee has been suspicious in the first place but still. It had been none of the blonds business, it's not like her girlfriend should be paying for this. Her brow knit slightly in equal parts annoyance and anger. This was supposed to be their day, she didn't want to alienate Tatiana.

“It's fine, don't worry about it.” She let it all bubble back down to a quiet simmer. She wanted to be a good example, the pillar. Tatiana was clearly feeling emotional at the moment, all Belle had to do was comfort her. There was no need for escalation, just a quiet somber moment then they could move on. Please, she wanted to just move on.

Once Tatiana pulled away and they met eyes, she could see the faint glisten to her partners. Was shy crying? No, but perhaps on the verge. She felt a pit in her stomach, a stiff knot that felt as if she had just been punched. She wanted this to be better. How could she make this better.

“Is it always like what?” she knew exactly what she meant. Kaylee. Was it always like this with Kaylee. “No…” Yes, ever since the early days of their careers the two had been inseparable. Kaylee was a bright spectacular star and Belle was the one beside it, dimly lit by comparison. She wasn't sure when or how it happened, but she fell into everything with Kaylee. All the girl had to do was ask, and there was Belle ready to carry any and all burdens. It was who she was. Strong. Loyal. Dependable… expediable… exploitable? Stop it Belle.

“She is just having a rough day, that's all.” Why had she felt the need to jump to Kaylee’s defense? She didn't know. Belle couldn't even count the amount of times Kaylee had dragged her through the mud, thrown her under the bus, or used her as a verbal punching bag. Regardless of the trials they faced together, Kaylee almost always was left on top. Pristine, untouched, while Belle often times wallowed in the depths. Everything except wrestling really.

The difference between the two of them had never been more apparent than in recent days. Kaylee’s attitude had gotten not only Belle, but the blond put in danger. She wasn't as invincible anymore. She was flawed, human… but this only seemed to play into her hand as well. Even in defeat she always won. She was just too good at twisting public image, far to many people at her back. It was almost infuriating. How could the blond ever learn if she never really tasted failure? Why was Belle always there to coddle her after, even feeling like this?

“Well… welcome to the guest house.” The sooner they could disregard the current conversation the better. She leaned down, intending to give the girl a small kiss, incentive to forget. Those eye though, big and beautiful but somehow sad. She didn't want to patronize her. Trying to make light of the girls concern only made it feel worse. She glanced away, choosing to simply hug the redhead close again in silence. “I'm just happy you are here."

Tatiana was grateful for her girlfriend’s distinct scent when she brought her in for a tight hug, burying her face in that long, auburn. She let the smell fill her nostrils, and all at once she was filled with so many wonderful feelings, memories that she’d built up during the short time they’d known each other. It was a great way for her to come down from the past few moments, and helped her resist the growing urge to march into the house and give a confused Kaylee a piece of her mind.

She had words. Many words. She’d save them.

They met eyes, and Tatiana could see that Belle could see she was starting to get a little misty. She started to bring a hand up and wipe them away, but decided against it. Little point to hiding them now. Belle knew they were there, and she didn’t like hiding things from her, anyway. Best to be honest. As much as possible.

”I’m sorry to...I’ll stop saying I’m sorry. Sorry. Tch.” She winced, knowing she was getting a bit too needy here, trying hard to dial it back. Belle was a grown woman, younger than her by a little bit, but far more mature. She could handle herself, didn’t need to be coddled. She had to get out of mommy-mode. Belle didn’t need that right now - she needed a girlfriend. If Tatiana wanted to help her cope, she had to accel at that.

Belle’s kiss on the lips did wonders to calm her, and with a sniff, she nodded and took that unspoken plea to forget everything that had just happened. They were here. Together. Unless Kaylee had psychic powers, she wasn’t going to find them. They didn’t need anything else.

Eager to accept Belle’s embrace, she pulled in close and nuzzled the side of the brunette’s neck, finding a nice area to wedge her face in between the shoulder and the neck. ”I am. I am here.” She ran her hands down Belle’s back, so strong and solid, so tough and unyielding, the kind of muscles that seemed strange on a woman so kind and caring. ”I’m here as long as you’ll have me.”

"Shush." Belle snickered softly. She wasn't sure if she should find her girlfriend fumbling with apologies so adorable, especially when she was trying so hard to be supporting. She could say without a shadow of a doubt she hated having Tatiana worry about her well being like this. It was easy to just push it all down and out, not have to ever really deal with it all. Having her in her face though, feeling it with her made it not only more real, but unavoidable. She couldn't help but want to withdraw, to keep all of this from her more than ever. She respected the girls wishes, didn't want to hide anything from the redhead... but at what point was it better keep it bottled up to shield Tatiana from having to burden it with? She knew it wasn't healthy, for her or their relationship, but it's how she knew how to cope.

She let out a soft content sight as the redhead nuzzled up against her, wanting nothing more than to settle down in the quiet empty guest house to just soak in her presence. "Sounds like you're going to be here a very, very long time." She almost giggled as Tatiana's small affections brushed a slightly sensitive spot, sending a small chill through her. Belle caught herself, keeping from getting too wrapped up in the moment. "Did you eat yet? You should eat, before it gets too cold." Despite making such a declaration, she did very little to help it come to pass, keeping the girl held tight within her arms.

"Well, it's not as big or fancy as the main house... but we have Netflix." She offered hopefully. In truth she didn't really need anything but the redhead, but maybe this was a good time to actually watch Stranger Things while they didn't have the world at their fingertips anymore.