Al Roker. God did he hate Al Roker. It had started off as such a great thing; he had been one of only a small handful of stars to grace the WWE float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It had been cold, true, but it was still a wonderful experience, especially with his lover and broadcast partner by his side.
Then, later, he had learned of that damn Al Roker's goof; Jerry "The Ring" Lawler??? "The Ring"??? Everyone knew it was Jerry "The King" Lawler! He and his lover had ranted over that one, on air and in the back. What an outrage!
Stupid as it might have been, he just wouldn't let it go, so he and his lover had decided to stop by the television study where Al worked and confront him. They were going to set him straight; he wouldn't be saying Jerry "the Ring" Lawler again!
"Let's go," he had stated as their car pulled into the parking lot.
"No." His lover smiled, reaching out and tracing a finger over his lips. "I wanna do this by myself." He leaned forward, briefly brushing their lips together. "I'm doing this for you"
He grinned, smiling at his life partner. "Love you," he murmured, grinning at the other man as he climbed out of the car.
"I'll be back soon," his lover told him, giving him a smile, then turning and walking away.
So, he had waited in the car. And waited. And waited. He had at first entertained himself by imagining the wonderful, play-by-play recap he would get of the confrontation once his lover returned. However, there were only so many times that he could picture Al's face and the triumphant smirk on his lover's lips before he became impatient to hear about the reason thing.
He had grown worried, fearing that his lover might have been hurt, or possibly detained by hostile network security guards. Perhaps he had angers Al and been sat upon by the still ample sized man. So, he had gotten out of the car and headed into the building, asking around until he found the way to Al's dressing room.
He had rushed to the door and shoved it open, prepared to come to his lover's defense, if necessary. Then, he had frozen. He didn't believe what his eyes were seeing. His lover...his life partner...his man...in the arms of Al Roker? Kissing?
He wasn't a man to cry, but he couldn't help the tears that filled his eyes. There was no awkwardness in the touch he was seeing; there was only familiarity and comfort. They had done this before. They had been together. They were together.
Then, it dawned on him; the slip had been a setup. An excuse for them to have this illicit rendezvous behind his back. "I - " he had choked, feeling his throat constricting with betrayal. "Jim, how could you?" He turned and ran, wanted to get away from the proof of his lover's infidelity as fast as he could.
"Jerry, wait!" JR had cried, but the King didn't stop for a second. He kept running until he was back at their car. JR flew out into the parking lot, chest heaving, waving his arms and begging King to stop and let him explain. But King didn't want to hear a word of it, putting his foot to the gas and zooming away, cursing the day he'd heard Al Roker say his name.
THE END