Becky/Seth Oneshots

4. Count On It

Becky regrets her choice of workout partners, or at least one of them.

Prompt: "We can count to our own doom, thank you!"

Becky's face was on fire and it wasn't just because of the intense workout Joshy had run them all through. "We can count to our own doom, thank you! And some of us can do it in one than one language. Right, Sheamus?"

Sheamus held his hands up in surrender. "You know I'm not one to argue with The Man," he said hesitantly, "but your rep counting has been off all day, Becks."

Seth laughed as he toweled off his chest. "Or are you going to say that reps are counted differently in Irish now?"

"You're all horrible." Becky put her hands on her hips and walked away from their small group. She wasn't quite sure what was wrong with her today. For the past few years, she had worked out more with her male friends than her female ones, so seeing them in nothing but shorts and shoes was nothing unusual. Her reaction to it—or at least one of them specifically—was very new. And very annoying! "it's not like I was trying to cheat or anything!" she insisted. "I was doing all the workouts, just like you. I just... miscounted, that's all!"

"Miscounted repeatedly," Seth teased. He tossed his damp towel into a laundry bin at the back of the gym. "Did they not teach math at clown college? Is that why they're always asking someone else to count how many clowns fit in the car?"

Sheamus let out a low whistle. "Careful, mate, or you'll be the next one out with a broken face."

"Except in your case," Cesaro added, "it will be on purpose."

Becky shook her head and kept walking to loosen up her muscles—and to keep herself from thinking too much. "Only thing I'm breaking today is your records," she declared, "so if you're all done yapping, can we get back to it? Some of us have plans tonight."

"Oooh. Plans." Sheamus slung an arm around Seth's sweaty shoulders. "Hear that? Our Becks has plans. What are your plans, Becks? Is that comedian boyfriend of yours finally going to take you out somewhere, or is he just going waste the time he does get with you and complain that he only gets to see you on Wednesdays?"

"Hey, hey." Cesaro, ever the voice of reason, smacked Sheamus on the arm. "Becky stopped teasing you about dating someone young enough to be your daughter," he said with a slight smirk, "so be nice."

Becky muttered something in Irish that made Sheamus go even paler than usual. "Have your bro fest," she said simply, grabbing a bottle of water from the cooler. "I'm going on a bike." She grabbed a chunk of ice from the cooler and lobbed it at Sheamus before heading over to the stationary bikes. She would have rather kept lifting weights, but the bikes didn't require a spotter and they gave her a bit of space. And they're mindless, she thought as she grabbed her phone, plugged in her ear buds, and picked a playlist that would drown out the sound of the weights—and whatever comments the boys wanted to make about her lacklustre love life. Why did I ever tell them anything? she chastised herself as she started to pedal. Since she and Charlotte weren't close anymore, she had confided in Bayley first, and Bayley in turn suggested telling Cesaro, Sheamus, and Seth to get their opinions. Never again. Next boyfriend I get, they aren't even learning his name.

A gentle tap on her arm made her look up to see Cesaro beside her. She did her best not to sigh when she paused her song and took her earbuds out. "Ignore them, Becks," he said gently. "You're so much like... well, one of the guys that sometimes they forget you're not."

Becky shot him a look. "That's not as reassuring as you might think." She slowed her pace, though, and waited until Cesaro settled on the bike next to her and started pedalling himself to continue. "You know how people always used to say the women's locker room was petty and full of bickering. This isn't that much better, you know."

"I know. If I may?" Cesaro waited for Becky to nod before he said more. "You don't seem happy with Jeff. It's more stress than fun, is it worth it? I know breaking up with someone is rarely a treat, but sometimes it's necessary."

She was quiet for a long moment. Jeff wasn't horrible, not outright. His jokes were pretty flat, she had to admit, and he could be annoyingly possessive, but she had met far worse men. You've also met better, Becky reminded herself. "I know. It's just... there's so much going on, with The Man and feuding with Charlotte and setting up a match with Ronda...."

Cesaro managed to shrug without affecting his rhythm at all, of course, because the man was a freak of nature. "That sounds like a weak excuse to me. Actually, it sounds like a reason—the perfect reason to break things off if you aren't happy. Tell him that you already hardly have any time together and it's just going to get worse in the coming months and you need to focus on your career."

Becky looked at him with a grudging mixture of suspicion and respect. His logic made perfect sense, which made her wonder why she hadn't thought of it already. It also made her wonder just how much time he had spent analyzing her relationship and why. As far as she knew, he and Sara were still together and happy, so he couldn't be making a move on her. "That's a good point," she said at last. "I'll think about it."

"Soon," Cesaro urged, sliding his feet off the pedals and standing. "And as someone who can count to his own doom, as you say, in five languages?" He ruffled her hair and kissed the top of her head before stepping back. "Some things are never easy to say no matter how many languages you know. But they still need to be said so you're free to say the words you really want to say to someone else."

Before Becky could ask what he meant, Cesaro bowed slightly and headed back to the weight section of the gym. She watched him go until she realized Seth was looking over at her, and she put her earbuds back in, cranking the volume until it almost hurt. She didn't want to hear the boys or the weights, but most of all, she didn't want hear her own thoughts.