Not gonna lie, it’s been kind of weird not having Aniya on the road with me since I made my return. It’s funny how you come to rely on something, huh? I guess I just took it for granted that she was always gonna be there with me at ringside cheering me on. That sounds morbid as fuck, I admit that: it’s like I’m posthumously remembering the good times I had with my wife and that’s kinda fucked up, not gonna lie… come on Jase, head on straight buddy, let’s not turn this into a melodrama that Bree would be proud of creating, huh? Never gonna tire of making that kind of shot by the way, truce be damned. That’s another thing entirely though, isn’t it? Okay so maybe my reasons for returning aren’t exactly the same as David’s or Lucas’. I’m not looking to be a hero, I just got signed fit to return and wanted to take advantage of the fun and games, but let’s be honest, Bree is being the biggest entitled cunt I’ve ever seen her so how long is it really gonna be before we’re butting heads again? Sure, truth be told, being civil in person isn’t that difficult, and seeing the appreciation from both Amy and Dom makes that even easier, can’t deny that… but Bree is only ever one snarky comment from snapping at any one time, and we all know that I’ve got a big fucking mouth so how long before I say or do something that sets her off? Willing to bet dollars to donuts that it probably isn’t wrong, though I also admit that Dave may get there before I do and if that’s the case I can leave him to deal with it…
...what? I’ve had my fair share of Bree’s megalomania, it’s about time someone else handled it. And let’s face it, Dom doesn’t really need an excuse to get angry with me, but Dave? Can’t see him snapping at golden boy the way he has with me over the last couple of years, so maybe I should let Dave handle that particular battle.
Okay, okay, I wouldn’t do that. I made a commitment when I threw on a mask of my own and decided to have some coffe-based fun, and I guess that means helping out wherever needed… but with the way Dave has been pretty candid about the reasons for his return, it’s probably not gonna be long before he’s butting heads with people like Bree and Sienna, so I know I need to be prepared for whatever’s gonna come, just like the good boys count I am! What the fuck was I saying to get me here, anyway? Oh shit, yeah, Nia! Yeah bro, it’s kind of weird not having my wife on the road with me this time around, even if I get her reasons for wanting to take a step back. It does make sense, her time is pretty limited already and I would rather she spend it on things that matter to her instead of trying to be there for my dreams while sacrificing time for her own projects. And I’m not an idiot, I know how important the club and New Horizon are to her, even if the latter is Amy’s baby first and foremost. Even with that said, seeing Aniya get so involved the way she has, I hold my hands up and admit I’d have to be a horrible bastard to take her away from that now I’m back inside of a ring and I may be a douche at times but I’m not that much of a dick that I put my own career over everything that’s important to her…
And it wasn’t as if I had a shortage of people around in SCW anyway, was it? Amy was still on the road, albeit in a managerial capacity these days and obviously I had Lucas, Dave and Regan too. SCW was becoming a real family affair, we just needed the return of AJ and Jenni to make the switch from Emerge and we’d be set! Though making that comment makes me realise how sucky it is that Nia isn’t gonna be around this time, even if it’s selfish of me to think that way. I wasn’t gonna let it get to me though; unlike some assholes in the world I actually support my wife in what she does, and that was exactly what I told Amy when I explained to her about Aniya stepping back. “I’m kinda surprised she didn’t run it past you herself to be honest babe,” I told her as we set up the mats by the side of the ring at BlackOut. I still can’t believe that I’m actively helping train people now. Me. I’m a jackass, who the fuck wants to learn from Jason Helms when - at let’s be real here for a minute - when my more successful and probably more talented brother co-owns not just one but two schools. But hey, the world is a fucked up place, isn’t it? “You know, with her wanting to dedicate more time to New Horizon?”
“She didn’t say a thing,” Amy told me, adjusting the mats into place as I lifted them from the cart and placed them roughly where they needed to go. Normally they just stayed out but we’ve been using the floor space for a new training drill the day before that needed the harder floor so we had to set stuff up again. “Not that I don’t appreciate it though. Any help appreciated, especially from someone who goes above and beyond like Aniya does to help. Maybe she just wanted to let you know first before she talks to me?” Amy suggested and that probably was the reason. I mean, it wasn’t as if Amy was gonna turn down the help, because who turns down help with running a charity and it’s fundraising events? But it would be kind shitty if Nia told Amy about her plan before explaining to her own husband wouldn’t it? “How do you feel about it though? I know you’re trying to think about her wishes, but are you okay with her decision?”
“I’m not gonna say I’m over the moon that she isn’t gonna be with me anymore but I do get it,” I admitted, shrugging. “And I wouldn’t try and stop her or talk her out of it. Nia does what she wants, you know how she can be. People think I’m stubborn,” I added with a smirk. Amy gave me a wry smile but didn’t comment. “Besides, my loss is your gain, right?”
“Yeah, I guess that is true,” Amy said with a nod before repositioning the final mat that I’d just tossed on the floor. “And I can’t say we don’t need the help either. The more hands the better, especially with the fundraising side of things. Aniya has proven pretty gods damn good at that.”
“Like I said, she’s stubborn,” I told her, grinning. “She doesn’t take no for an answer, so people don’t stand a chance when she starts pushing for donations.”
“Well you won’t catch me conplaining, not if she keeps bringing the donations in anyway,” Amy told me, still smiling as I grabbed the cart to begin wheeling it away. “And I suppose one of you needs to concentrate on the bar, keeping that ticking over. Evidently that’s not gonna be you now you’re back in the ring again. Between the show schedule and this place, you’ll be lucky if you get more than an evening or two to yourself…”
“That was kinda the argument she made, among others,” I told her as I wheeled the cart back to the storage cupboard and she walked with me as I pushed it.
“Oh yeah?” she asked, clearly wanting to know what else Nia had said in order to convince me it was the right call for her to give up her job as my valet.
“Well, the bar and the foundation was one thing,” I told her as I stowed the cart in the closet. “But she also mentioned the fact that we more or less weren’t getting any younger and that her going on the road with me was basically a secondary form of birth control that stopped us from considering starting a family…”
And that’s when there was something, not sure how to really describe it, a flicker of emotion I guess? It passed over Amy’s face for a moment before she got it under control again but it wasn’t so fast that I didn’t see it. “That’s fantastic,” she told me, though there was something niggling at me that said she didn’t entirely mean what she was saying. “I um… I didn’t know you were thinking of trying…”
I shrugged. “We weren’t, really…” I admitted as I closed the door to the storage closet and turned back around to walk back to the ring. Had to double check the ropes were tightened before classes started and there wasn’t long left before students started showing up. “So the suggestion kind of came as a surprise to be honest, but I guess we are around the age we should be thinking about it… she’s right, we aren’t getting any younger, are we?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Amy said before turning away as I made to climb into the ring and she wasn’t exactly being subtle about the fact that she wouldn’t look at me, because there wasn’t really anything to look at where she was looking.
“Alright, what’s wrong?” I asked as I dropped down to sit on the apron of the ring and hold my hands in my lap as I looked at her. “You’ve turned into Ice Queen Amy since I mentioned Nia suggesting we think about trying for a baby…”
“Please don’t call me Ice Queen Amy, it makes me sound like Selena’s sister,” Amy said, shooting me a crooked smile before she sighed and joined me on the apron. “I’m sorry,” she told me, leaning her head on my shoulder. “I don’t mean to be a killjoy, it's just… hearing that you’re trying reminds me that it’s something I’ll never do again…”
Not gonna lie, I did feel like a bit of a dick when she told me that. Dunno why I didn’t think of it sooner in all honesty; I knew that Amy had been told she couldn’t have kids anymore, and I can’t say it wasn’t pretty insensitive to start talking about our mine and Nia’s plans to her knowing that fact, but I’m truth I’d just forgotten. “Fuck, Ame’s, I’m so-”
“No, don’t do that,” she said, patting me on the knee. “It’s me that should be sorry, I really don’t want to drag you down about being excited, that’s not fair. It’s not that I think it’s a bad idea, I think it’s a great idea I really do… it just reminds me of the fact I can’t do that again.”
“I know, and that’s why I’m sorry I brought it up,” I told her. “It feels like I’m rubbing it in your face now and that was never my intention, I swear.”
“I know babe,” she told my, giving my knee a gentle squeeze before taking her hand back. “And I mean it when I say I’m happy for you, I do. You and Aniya are gonna make great parents, you really are. I know you’re questioned it in the past but you really have helped so much with Loki, and Aniya has been great with Jaina when she needed someone. So please don’t feel sad or get annoyed at yourself for telling me, alright?” She said, giving me a reassuring smile as the door opened and a small group of the students started to make their way inside. We watched as they filed in, there were only five of them so far and they all wandered off to one side of the room to put down their stuff. “Hmm…” Amy said and I turned to look at her.
“Hmm?” I asked her, wondering what she had on her mind.
“Anything wrong with that picture to you?” She asked me, covertly nodding her head over to the students that had just walked in. I turned to look properly and at first I didn’t get what she was talking about.
“I mean, should there be?” I asked her, feeling like I was missing something obvious, like I couldn’t see what was right in front of my face, but honestly all I saw were students getting ready for the mornings classes.
“You haven’t noticed how there’s someone left out?” Amy asked and I looked at her with confusion before turning to look back at the group again… only I picked up what she meant this time. It was a group, two more had walked in while we were talking now so there were seven of them, only one of them wasn’t joining in with the rest who were all talking.
“You mean Niamh?” I asked, watching as the blonde in question stood a few feet apart from the rest of the group, stretching out her leg while the rest talked among themselves. “I mean, sure, she’s not joining in the discussion but she’s warming up. To me, that just shows she’s got more common sense than the rest of them, if I’m honest. They should be doing the same thing…”
“Babe, we start every class with stretches and a warm up routine,” Amy replied, and I knew she was right about that. It still didn’t strike me as too off though. “Besides, it’s not just now, this is just kind of a physical example of what I’ve been noticing. You haven’t spotted it?”
I looked over at Niamh again and I’ll be honest, I hadn’t really thought much about it until Amy mentioned it, but the more I thought about it, the more it did make sense. I mean, I’d kinda just seen it as her keeping herself to herself, I can’t say I’d be concerned about anything where she was concerned, not really. But maybe I should have been? “You think there’s a problem?” I asked, turning back to look at Amy.
She shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, I just get a feeling that something’s amiss. She spends a lot of her time alone, doesn’t really mix with the others, join in with them talking to one another?”
“That’s not exactly a big deal though,” I told her, still wondering if we were seeing more than what there was to see. “Some people are just happy in their own company, maybe she likes keeping herself to herself?”
“Maybe…” Amy said, considering it. “I don’t think so though. I get the feeling she’s avoiding being part of things, like she’s purposefully holding back and keeping herself to herself. I know being an island of one isn’t exactly a huge problem, but in training? I like these guys to stick together, at least until they go out into the world looking for work…”
“I can talk to her if you like?” I offered. It wasn’t exactly gonna be a big deal to do so, and I was happy to help in any way I could while working at BlackOut.
“I’d appreciate it,” Amy told me, smiling. “I want to bring her out of her shell, get her more involved but I don’t want to do it in front of everyone because embarrassing her is the last thing we should do to try and get her more involved, you know?”
“Yeah, I get that,” I told her, nodding. Last thing a shy kid needed was to become the centre of attention, assuming shyness was her problem to begin with anyway. For all I know, she just really gated people. “Maybe she just needs a little more help that some?”
“Like mentoring maybe?” Amy asked and weighing the idea up, I gave a noncommittal nod. “That’s not a bad idea, actually.”
“Maybe we could ask Kelsai to do it?” I suggested. There wasn’t a single person in the whole of BlackOut that was friendlier than Kelsai Adamson-Mason, and if anyone could get Niamh to open up, it would be her.
Amy didn’t seem to impressed with the idea though. “That’s not gonna work,” she said, shaking her head. “Kelsai has a loaded plate already, working both SCW and GCW. She doesn’t have the time to take this on, even if we both know she’d jump at the chance to do so. Plus, she isn’t on the staff, so we can’t really ask her to take on a staff members responsibility can we?”
“Wouldn’t really be a responsibility though, would it? She’s just have to befriend her, not train her?” I pointed out but Amy shook her head.
“Kelsai still attends classes despite being a wrestler in two of the biggest companies in the business,” Amy pointed out. “I don’t want to add to her workload, when she’s still trying to improve herself let alone improve others… you could do it though?”
Okay, so that was somewhat out of the blue. “Me?!” I asked, shocked. “Fuck sweetheart, I’m the last person anyone should be picking pointers up from, surely?”
She gave me a little chuckle. “Maybe two years ago, I’d you were still being an asshole to everyone, I’d have agreed,” she told me with a grin. “But you’re not that guy anymore and I know you care about these kids, I can see it when you take classes. I think you’d be the perfect example, in all honesty. Besides, you’re good with people; you get people talking and isn’t that what we want?”
Couldn’t argue with that. I mean, I could, because I can argue with the best of ‘em… but it was a valid point. “I guess I can give it a go…” I agreed, shrugging. “I mean, what’s the worst that can happen, right?”
“Exactly!” Amy said, smiling again. “Okay, you go have a word with her before class gets underway and then we’ll take it from there!” Shrugging, I nodded before hopping down from the apron. Amy did so too, and I wandered over to the wall as Amy got everyone’s attention. “Alright guys,” she said loudly and everyone stopped to look at her. “I’m just gonna head to my office and grab some stuff and then we’ll get started. Five minutes to make sure you’ve got water and you’re ready, okay?”
She got a bunch of replies of “yes coach” before nodding and turning to head for the door. She looked over at me and nodded and I winked back at her before turning to casually wander over to where Niamh was stretching her left calf muscle. “Hey kiddo,” I said as I approached, coming to rest on the wall where she was stretching.
Niamh looked up and then stood up, smiling at me. “Hey coach!” She said happily. I still wasn’t used to being called that no matter how many times I heard it and I’m not sure I’m ever gonna get used to it if I’m honest.
“You got a minute?” I asked, knowing full well that she did. Amy was making sure she would, hence the excuse of heading to her office, she didn’t actually need anything for the mornings class, but wanted to give me a few minutes to chat with Niamh about what we’d discussed.
She looked hesitantly at me but nodded. “Sure thing. Everything okay?” She asked as I headed towards the ring.
I was trying to make it look like I was just showing Niamh something if any of the other students looked over; I didn’t want her singled out, especially if Amy’s suspicions turned out to have some merit. “I just wanted to check in really, make sure you’re doing alright?” I told her, leaning against the ring postcard casually. “I know this can be difficult at first and if you’re having any problems we want to help out where we can, you know how it is…”
“Oh,” she said, looking puzzled. “Well, yeah, I mean, sure it was difficult at first, but isn’t everything new you learn?” She asked and I had to admit she had a point. “But I think I’m getting there now; it threw me off a bit originally, because a lot of what I already knew from my jujitsu didn’t really translate to what we were learning but I think I’m past that now. Why, is something wrong!” she asked nervously, suddenly biting her bottom lip.
I threw my hands up to try and calm her worries as I spoke. “No, no, nothing like that sweetheart, was just checking. We noticed that you don’t really spend a lot of time socialising with the other students and I wanted to make sure everything was okay more than anything.”
“Oh, yeah,” she replied and looked unsure of herself again. “Well, I guess it’s a fair assessment. I don’t exactly spend a lot of time mixing with the others…” she admitted, guiltily. She had nothing to be guilty about though, if she didn’t want to mix with others I didn’t see a problem with it. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t more to it.
“Nah, that’s fine kiddo, you’re entitled to speak or not speak to whoever you want,” i told her, trying to ensure she wasn’t worrying about the reason I was asking. I didn’t want her thinking that there was anything wrong with being quiet or keeping herself to herself because there wasn’t. “I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything else going on that’s all, that it was through choice rather than you being excluded or something like that.”
“No, definitely not,” Niamh confirmed, shaking her head. “No, everyone here is really nice, I just… confidence can be a thing for me at times and I don’t just, you know, throw myself into a group setting and instantly become part of the conversation… I want to work on that though, I do.”
Well, credit where it’s due, the fact she wanted to try and be more social was a big tick for her character. But it also gave me a way in to what I needed to talk to her about too. “Well it’s definitely something we can work on,” I told her, smiling to try and put her at ease. “I mean, if nothing else, you could do with that confidence for when you’ll have to cut your promos, right? I know that Nadine is the promo coach, but I could probably teach you a trick or two and hopefully help you get some confidence while I’m at it if you’re interested?”
“Oh, wow yeah, that’d be cool!” Niamh told me, beaming. “I mean, we’ve actually watched some of your promos in class, along with several other SCW stars, so learning a few things from you would be awesome!”
Okay, who in their right fucking mind was letting the students actually watch my promos?! Unless it was a ‘what not to do’ type deal, in which case that made a lot of sense. I didn’t say that out loud though, because that wouldn’t have done anyone any favours, but I made a mental note to ask Amy about that one when I got a chance. “Alright, cool. I’ve been talking to Amy anyway about maybe doing some sort of one to one mentoring with people where time allows, so you can do me a favour by being my guinea pig I guess? If that’s alright with you, that is?”
I didn’t want the chick to feel like she was obligated, that it was her choice whether she accepted the offer or not, but she nodded her head enthusiastically when I asked, which was a good sign. “Wow, that would be wicked!” She told me with a shit load more enthusiasm than I would have expected. “Are we talking about in-ring as well, or just promo stuff?”
“Nah, in-ring work too doll,” I confirmed; she obviously had no idea that me and Amy had ulterior motives with this, but she didn’t need to know that either. It was about trying to bring her out of her shell and into the group properly rather than isolating herself, but if she believed that it was more a case of special one to one training as part of a program that I was starting then what was the harm? “I haven’t really thought of the finer details yet but I’ll put a program together over the next few days and we can get going with it from next week, sometime. It’ll mean extra work on top of your current classes though, is that good with you?”
“Sure is coach!” She told me with excitement. Seriously, if you could bottle the stuff I’d have just hit a goldmine.
I noticed Amy walk back into the room over Niamh’s shoulder and figured that was as good a time as any to wrap things up without making it obvious. “Alright, cool. I’ll figure some things out and we’ll start next week. Looks like class is about ready to start anyway, so I’ll leave you to get ready, but I’ll let Amy know it’s a on. Go on, go grab your water and stuff, we’ll talk later…”
“Okay coach!” She told me, beaming again. Seriously, who the fuck gets that excited about extra work to do?!
I didn’t say anything again though, letting it slide as she rushed off to grab her water and towel. Amy came walking over towards me as the rest of the class started grabbing their stuff too, ready for the start of the class. “Did I stall for long enough?” She asked.
I nodded. “I think I just got myself a protege,” I told her with a smirk. I didn’t know if I should find it hilarious or pity the chick, but it was happening either way. Man, who’d have known this shit was gonna be a thing when I first returned to the business back in two thousand eighteen?! Gods, if you’d told me back then that this would be a thing I’d have laughed in your fucking face yet here we were, not just teaching classes at a wrestling school but actually taking one of the students under my wind. Damn, what a fucking difference time can make… guess Dave isn’t the only Helms that actually gives a fuck about the business after all, huh? Just don’t let me turn into a goody two shoes like him, because the day that happens is the time I ask for a fucking bullet, believe me. I’m definitely no last shadow of hope, that’s for sure. Last Bastion of Assholery… that’s more my style. Ha.
