Despite the fact that both he and Lucas were dumped out of the ring at the same time, only just finishing outside of the final two in what added insult to injury in the closing stages of the opportunity battle royal at Rise To Greatness, David Helms couldn’t have been happier with the debut of the mysterious masked duo of El Lucho Grande and El Lucho Venti, the El Lucho Brothers! Okay, so it wasn’t an original name, and to be honest the entire ‘gimmick’ was more than a little immature, but at the same time the whole point was for them to simply have some fun and test the waters so to speak. It was a test to see if both men still had what it took to be competitive in a company as strong as Supreme Championship Wrestling. As confident as David was about whether they were or not, there was no half in finding out, and through extensive drinking sessions and rough drafts, they had come up with the idea of the coffee-crazed luchadors as a backstory, which had the added bonus that if things did work out, they could just sub out the coffee for their rum once that little enterprise was up and running. They were actually in a good place with that too, but a lot of the process was out of their hands now the recipe was agreed on and the guys were looking at having a sample bottle ready sooner rather than later. 

As for SCW, Rise To Greatness may not have earned either David or Lucas a shot at one of the US or Adrenaline titles, but what it had done was provide them with hope that they weren’t a million miles away from being up there with the best of them. They had finished in the final five in a battle royal that neither had been planning to take part in until a couple days before the show and in all honesty, the match didn’t exactly last a whole lot longer once they were dumped from the ring anyway, so there was definitely a lot to be optimistic about. And sure, maybe it had left some questions needing answers, like how long they could keep things up for before they finally had to decide on revealing themselves, but that and others like it were questions for a later date. They didn’t have to decide anything right away, because it was fun leaving an air of mystery surrounding the Lucho’s anyway. And David had to admit that he was kind of intrigued on how long they could keep it up for, especially if they were going to encounter people who knew him and Lucas well. Regan was going to be the biggest obstacle, but if he could be around her at shows without her instantly figuring it out he’d consider it a win! And in truth, he had had a lot of fun coming up with all the names for his moves, throwing little hints around here and there. It was more fun than he should probably admit to, in all honesty. His finisher, the ‘Nunca Digas Nunca’? That literally translated to ‘Never say never’, which was a nod to his return to the ring and their manager, ‘Nate Patrick’? He was an actor that the two had hired to play the role! Even his name was an amalgamation of David and Lucas’ middle names. Lucas Nathanial Knight and David Patrick Helms: it wasn’t something that you would instantly make a connection to, but the hint was there. 

In short, the two of them had plenty to be happy with about their ‘debut’ and hopefully, the good times would continue to roll as they kept the pretence up. Obviously, this was just their first foray though, and David was trying to be a realist when it came to managing his expectations; there was every chance that once things truly got going - because one battle royal at Rise To Greatness is no barometer for success - things could and probably would become considerably more difficult, they could even get ugly if SCW’s rich history was anything to go by, but it was worth taking that risk as far as David was concerned. They had made a decision to return, they had crafted their ‘characters’ backstories and invented a whole world for them to live in, something David never thought he would do in the business, and as long as they continued to enjoy themselves, where was the harm for him and Lucas to do it? Well, if Regan and Trinity found out, maybe there’d be some harm done to someone, namely him and Lucas, but other than that… Okay, so maybe it was something of a large sticking point, all things considered… but at the same time, what was the harm? David was back doing something he loved, as was Lucas, they were having fun, and when all was said and done, they knew their wives would ultimately forgive them, even if they were a little miffed when the truth did break...

“Nice to finally get our feet wet mate,” Lucas said, as they met for the first time following Rise to Greatness. Their meetups at The Black Dahlia were becoming a semi-regular occurrence following their initial meeting as it was convenient for them both to get to, and the vip area upstairs afforded them a good amount of privacy for talking freely too. “I know neither of us won, but all things considered, we did alright… plus we got through our first match without the masks coming off or something else to give away that it’s us, so I’ll consider that a win.”

David nodded. “Yeah, we can’t really complain bro,” he told him, just as satisfied as Lucas was, despite the fact they failed to win the match. “Surprised we weren’t rustier than we were, if I’m honest. I mean, it’s been a while, you know?”

“It’s like they say about riding a bike mate, once you learn you never forget it,” Lucas pointed out as he picked up his beer. “And let’s be honest, it was an easy way to get going, because there was never any pressure on the ‘new guys’ to begin with, but a battle royal is kind of a shit show too, so finishing where we did wasn’t all that bad considering.”

“I’ll drink to that,” David told him as he held up his own beer and Lucas knocked his bottle against it before both men took a drink. “We probably should figure out what exactly we wanna do moving forward at some point though,” David said as he placed his bottle back down. They hadn’t started on the hard stuff yet, though it would definitely happen at some point given the two men in question. “I know it’s kind of hard to predict what the powers that be have in mind or what whim their booking is gonna send us on, but if we’re gonna keep up the charade for a while, we should have some sort of plan at least…”

“Yeah, you’re probably right bruv,” Lucas agreed, placing his own beer down before sitting back in his seat. “I know them wankers are probably gonna figure out a way of throwing a spanner in the works at some point, but if we have a plan of sorts to work from, we can take stuff in our stride a little better…”

“Exactly,” David said, nodding. “We both know SCW well enough to know what it’s like, but while I’m happy to just wing it, I think some structure wouldn’t go amiss. As much as possible when trying to plan for this business anyway,” he added with a laugh.

It was a joke that Lucas understood all too well; the fact that both knew exactly how the company worked was going to be a huge advantage for the ‘Lucho Brothers’ as they began their SCW journey, but the best part was that there was no expectations on their shoulders at the same time. If Lucas Knight and David Helms had returned at Rise To Greatness, the fans and wrestling world beyond would be expecting them to leap right back in where they left off, but as they were playing the part of weird Mexican imports with a bizarre fascination with coffee, David and Lucas both knew that expectations would be low. “You got any thoughts?” Lucas asked, as David took another swig from his beer. 

“Tag run seems like the most obvious answer I guess,” David suggested, before shrugging. “But I don’t wanna limit you bro, if you have other ideas…”

“I haven’t really thought about it to be honest mate,” Lucas admitted, ruffling his hair a little as he thought about it. “Be nice to hit supreme champ like the rest of you crackmonkeys, but I’ve not really got many goals or whatever. Just gonna take it as it comes and see what turns up I think. You?”

“Well, I’m already a ‘crackmonkey’ so I dunno,” David told him with a smirk as he considered it. “I dunno. There’s stuff I’d love to do, but I’d be waiting a year more or less to get the chance to do it…”

“Oh yeah?” Lucas asked, sitting forward out of curiosity. 

David nodded his head. “Taking Hold of the Flame,” David said, echoing Lucas’ posture as he leant on the table with his forearms. “Obviously never won that during my time in SCW, so that’d be a nice accomplishment if I can get it… and of course, it also ticks off another one in the process; main eventing Rise To Greatness. Bro, I would love to be in that main event just once before I can’t do this any longer…”

“Definitely makes sense mate,” Lucas agreed. “Nothing bigger than Rise To Greatness, just being there is quality, but in the main event has to be something else. Long time to wait for that though, given we literally just appeared at this years’ show…”

“Yeah, well I did say I’d be waiting a year or more,” David said with a grin as he picked up his bottle. “But we’ve a long way to go yet anyway, we literally just made our debut, or Grande and Venti did I guess… we should probably have some smaller targets that are easier to attain…”

“Well I’m all ears if you’ve got ideas mate,” Lucas said with a shrug. “Like I said, I haven’t really thought about it myself. Mostly just looking forward to seeing where shit goes. Be nice to grab ourselves a tag title shot if we can, but I won’t bank on it. Tag division looks like it’s heating up at the minute. Ryan and Summer looked pretty tight in their match against Tommy and Kandis…”

“Autumn,” David said, though he had a grin on his face. It was a joke as old as time at this point, Lucas had told him all about how he constantly got Autumn’s name wrong on purpose when he was still part of the same social circle, because of how much it irritated her. And every time someone would correct him and he’d pretend to not know what he’d done. David felt it was his duty to continue the joke even if only they were there to witness it.

“Cheers mate,” Lucas said, chuckling as he grabbed his beer and held it up for David this time and David duly obliged by knocking his own bottle against it and they both took another swig. “Alright, so how about we just make a plan to enjoy the ride while it lasts and think instead about when we’re gonna blow up twitter with the unmasking?” he suggested as they both put their beers back down on the table. “That should be an easier decision to make, right? Or is it one of them we’ll know in the moment, type deals?”

“I think it’s more the latter to be honest bro,” David offered, scratching the label off of his beer bottle with one fingernail. “I mean, it’s gotta be big, you know? You don’t waste that kind of pop in a match against Sammy Thomas Davies and Chlamydia, do you?”

“The flipside is that we could end up waiting forever for a perfect moment that ain’t ever gonna come,” Lucas pointed out and David gave a nod of agreement. 

That said, it didn’t mean they should rush into anything. “A fair point dude, but at the same time it’s got to build up first anyway. I mean, we’ve had one match so far, nobody gives a fuck about the Lucho’s and we have no real indication of whether we can do this consistantly… neither of us wants to end up with egg on our face, right?”

“True,” Lucas agreed. “At the same time, I don’t wanna let it fizzle out either. All we need to do is build some momentum and get under some people’s skin. It’s Ryan and Spring holding the belts, I know for a fact that I can find ways to get under Ry’s skin if we really wanna push the matter and we probably know enough about Autumn too, to push a few buttons.”

“I want us to earn things bro,” David told Lucas, thinking about everything that had led them to the decision to come out of retirement in the first place. “Think about all the shit that’s brought us back; it’s assholes like Zoe or Sienna, demanding shit and acting like douchebags that brought us here, I don’t want these guys we’ve created to turn into the same thing…”

“I’m not suggesting we make them entitled little cunts, bruv!” Lucas told him with a laugh, and even David managed a wry smile. “I’m just saying that there’s ways to get people’s attention, ya know? Isn’t that what Winter’s all about? “Have I got your attention now?” and all that shite she comes out with?”

“Point taken,” David conceded. “But we have to do it all above board. No slipping into vintage Lucas,” he added, smirking. 

“Killjoy,” Lucas replied with a grin. “Alright, nothing underhanded or naughty, scouts honour… we can still push things in that direction though. Win a few matches here, poke a bit of fun there, get people that are normally oblivious to anything that doesn’t serve to polish their own ego and Bob’s your father’s brother.”

“If that’s all it takes, I’m in.” David told Lucas as he raised his beer once again, holding the bottle up. “Here’s to seeing how far we can take two crazy coffee obsessed Mexicans in a company full of people that don’t give a fuck about anyone but themselves…”

“To El Lucho Grande and El Lucho Venti, hopefully the most successful team we’ll ever be a part of,” Lucas added, lifting his own bottle.

They didn’t get as far as clicking the bottles together. “You’re those fucking Mexican guys?!” a voice said and both snapped round to see Jason standing less than five feet away, carrying a bottle of rum and three empty glasses, that he was evidently bringing to join them in a drink. David and Lucas sat in stunned silence at the sight of him, neither knew he was actually in town, this was the first time either had seen him at the Dahlia, so his appearance had come as something of a shock to both of them. “What the actual fuck are you both thinking?” he asked before walking over to the table with the bottle and glasses, which he places down on the tabletop but didn’t take a seat. 

“When the hell did you get into town?!” David asked, ignoring the question to fire off one of his own but Jason waved it away. 

“That doesn’t matter right now, why the fuck are you pretending to be coffee obsessed Mexicans?!” Jason asked, pulling an empty chair from a nearby table before spinning it around to sit backwards on it, leaning his arms on the backrest. “Is this some sort of weird midlife crisis or something, because it’s pretty fucking odd guys, even for you!” 

“Alright dickhead, there’s no need to go mental over it,” Lucas told him, laughing to himself as he grabbed the bottle of rum that Jason had brought to the table. He pulled out the stopped and poured three measures before grabbing one of the glasses and thrusting it in Jason’s direction. “Here. You sound like you need this.”

“And keep your voice down alright?” David added, looking sternly at his brother. “The last thing we need is you outing us before we’ve even got started!”

“You two jerks are the only people in here,” Jason told them as he took the glass from Lucas but held it loosely from his fingertips instead of drinking. “I came by to grab the books to take back to the house and Jane told me you were both up here. Figured I’d join you both for a drink and in the process I learn you’ve both gone fucking insane...  coffee luchadors? Really?”

David and Lucas both smirked. “Yeah well, I know you’re the guy in the family that can’t get enough of the stuff and the stronger the better, but why not?” David said, picking up one of the other glasses of rum to take a sip. “Besides, it’s just window dressing. Helps cover up the fact it’s us beneath the masks.”

“But you’re David Helms and Lucas Knight, why the fuck do you need that stuff?” Jason asked, finally taking a sip of his drink, not even bothering to savor the flavour despite it being some of the better stuff they stock in the bar. “You could have just come back and boom, instant pop?!”

“And what if there wasn’t one?” Lucas asked, cradling his own drink in both hands. “What if we returned and no one gave a fuck? Or worse yet, what if we returned and just flat out sucked? It’s been a while since either of us have been in a ring mate, so the masks are basically a safety net. If we suck, the fans never have to know it’s us. If it goes down well, we drive a few fans mental when we take the masks off. Simple.”

Jason looked at Lucas like he was nuts. “Dude, one of you is running around in spandex and a mask with giant horns on and the other one is basically the guy from the Spooky Scary Skeletons meme. Even if you remove the masks, you’re gonna get laughed at eventually…”

“Still gonna get a bigger pop than you’ve ever had though, little bro,” David said with a wink and Jason flipped him the bird with his free hand. “Alright fine, it’s a bit dumb, but at least we’re doing something instead of sitting back and watching SCW go to shit. Would you rather we ignore everything that’s wrong with the place right now and leave it to get worse?”

“I mean, no, but I don’t see why you have to play dress up to try and save the world. You’re not in the Avengers!” Jason said, rolling his eyes before sighing. “If you wanna come back, great, I fully support that. This shit is in your blood, both of you. But the costumes, the crazy backstory and the weird looking manager guy? It’s unnecessary.”

“Didn’t you debut in a bear costume?” Lucas asked, and Jason cracked a smirk for a moment. 

“Point taken, but my original point still stands,” Jason fired back, not letting Lucas derail him. “You’re David Helms and Lucas Knight!”

“Exactly!” David said, and Jason looked at him in confusion. “You hit the nail on the head, dude. We are David Helms and Lucas Knight… and do you know what that means? People have expectations. They expect us to win matches, they expect us to be major players. They expect us to be serious, to do this, do that. They basically see us as one thing and that leaves us virtually no room to try new things and have fun…”

“But a couple of random Mexican blokes turn up out of the blue?” Lucas said, picking up where Dave finished off. “Well, they’re knew, they don’t know the lay of the land, don’t know how things operate or who they should and shouldn’t mess with, talk shit about or go after. It evens the playing field because there’s no pre-existing ideas about them.”

“And that’s how you justified coming up with a story that’s so childish?” Jason asked, though he was clearly trying to fight against the notion that David and Lucas were making good points. 

“Again, you debuted in a bear costume,” Lucas pointed out and Jason sighed. 

“You’re really clinging to that one, aren’t you?” He asked and Lucas sat back in his chair, grinning. 

“Yep!” He told the younger Helms brother, a grin still plastered across his face and David sat back too, seeing it as a war well won. 

Jason looked from Lucas to Dave and back again before sighing and draining his glass ready to pour himself another. “You know, you’re really ruining my mojo right now,” Jason admitted as he refilled his tumbler and then topped up David and Lucas’ glasses. “I’m so fucking close to a return, and I was ready to climb right back on that horse then you two happened…”

“So that’s what the third degree is about, you think we’re stealing your thunder,” David said, eyeing his brother skeptically. Lucas gave him a similar look from where he sat too, but Jason shook his head. 

“Nah douche nozzle, you did that just by having the nerve to be in SCW before me,” Jason said with a scoff. “Seriously, you show up with our surname and everyone makes the comparison whether you want them to or not, so honestly, you being back doesn’t matter in that respect… but when I am signed off as fit, whenever that is, I have to return with the knowledge that it’s you two ass clowns under those masks! I have to hide that fact from everyone, including the people I care about…”

“So join us,” Lucas said, throwing his hands up behind his head as he sat back. “Don’t go giving me that look sunshine,  think about it for a minute. You don’t wanna come back and hide the fact that you know the secret identity of the Lucho’s? Then be a Lucho. You’re not fit yet, right?” he asked and Jason shook his head. “Okay, so you’ve got time then. Come up with an idea of what gear you want, make some rough designs and I’ll speak with the same person that made us our gear.”

Jason stared at Lucas like he was talking an entirely different language, but David’s face lit up. “That’s a fucking great idea!” He told Lucas excitedly before turning to point at Jason. “No really, it is! You come up with a new Lucho, and he can be the younger cousin or something! Then you get to join in our fun and games until we finally reveal it’s been the three of us more or less the entire time! You get your big return, we get to continue our fun without you being a killjoy because you’re in on it, and down the line the fans get a huge moment when not one or two but three big names return!” 

“And think of the irony behind it,” Lucas added. “The two ‘brothers’ turn out to be cousins-in-law or whatever the fuck you two are to me at this point, and the ‘cousins’ turn out to be brothers! And you don’t have to get some extravagant gear like this chuckle head to cover up all the doodles on your body, so getting something made will be super easy. Hell, you can buy any generic fucking mask from ebay and it’ll work, as long as you can sort out that fucking mane of yours beneath it!”

“And you know it’ll be fucking cool for those fans to see the Helms brothers in a ring together for the first time in probably close to fifteen years…” David added, adding a cherry on top of the overladen icing on the cake. He thought it was a great idea and was surprised that Jason wasn’t jumping on it straight away, given his penchant for tomfoolery and trolling. In fact, that was the argument right there. “Think about it… what could SCW’s biggest troll do to actually troll the fans harder than return under a mask pretending to be someone else for weeks or months at a time before finally revealing it’s them, huh?! So come on bro, how much of a troll are you?” 

David knew as soon as he’d made the challenge that he had him where he wanted him. Jason looked at them both like a deer caught in the headlights; he blinked but couldn’t function enough to say anything for several seconds. His head turned from one to the other, trying to process how ridiculous the whole idea was, but every argument he tried to make seemed weak and he knew they’d counter anything he said. “Fuck it,” he finally said as he found his voice and drained the rum in his glass in one before slamming the tumbler down onto the table. “You had me with trolling the shit out of people; I’m in.”

“Atta boy!” David said, reaching over to punch his brother on the arm and Lucas gave a sarcastic round of applause before reaching forward to refill Jason’s glass. 

“But when Aniya and Amy get pissed at me, you’re taking the fucking blame!” Jason told his brother as he accepted the glass from Lucas. 

David let out a laugh and Lucas smirked. “Bro, when the truth comes out, if Regan doesn’t kill me first I’ll gladly take the flak from all the significant others you happen to have at that point,” he said chuckling to himself before raising his glass. “Then let’s do it again; to the Lucho’s. Grande, Venti and… whatever the fuck you’re gonna use!”

“To The Lucho’s!” Lucas echoed, raising his glass. 

“To Grande, Venti and Trenta,” Jason added, already knowing he had no choice but to follow the pattern. And if he was gonna follow that pattern, he may as well be the biggest size available in Starbucks, right? David and Lucas looked at each other before shrugging and Jason lifted his own glass so the three could meet in the middle, clinking their glasses together before bringing the tumblers to their mouths to drink. In truth, neither David or Lucas had intended for their secret to come out, especially not after only one match into their newfound fledgling careers, but under the circumstances, they had made the best out of it that they could. And if nothing else, Jason finding out about their little scheme had meant that they actually strengthened their team, or would do anyway, when Jason was finally declared fit to return. And whenever that was, David was sure that it would only add to their fun and games too. Now all they needed to do was actually get going. But that wasn’t on them. They just needed to be booked when shows started up again. The clock was ticking. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say the coffee machine was brewing. A fitting metaphor, si?