Kalisto never knew what to believe about love, or how one finds his way into it. He always assumed it was different for everyone, that there wasn't "one way" or "right way" about it. One thing he did consider to be truthful: he'd know when it happened, even though it'd never happened before, and there wouldn't be a question about it.

He'd know.

And damn everything if he didn't know tonight. Or, at the very least, understand it was possible.

It could have been any other night, but this was different. Things were changing and Kalisto would take little time to comprehend it.

The Lucha Dragons had a match against Tye Dillinger and Jason Jordan, two pretentious men who seemed to work together grudgingly yet dominantly. Kalisto wasn't worried about the fight. It was a non-title match and neither Dillinger nor Jordan were too menacing. He followed the match from the apron, playing with the rope attached to the turnbuckle while Cara and Jason waged war on one another.

Jason assaulted Cara with a Backbreaker, but Sin Cara escaped the pin before the third count. Kalisto was impatient and irked, active on his toes, all too ready for the tag. Jason detected this and glared back at Kalisto. His lips coiled upward. Smug bastard. He hiked his arms in the air, mocking the Lucha chant. Tye laughed loudly from his corner. Disrespectful smug bastard.

Kalisto was certain Jason would return attention to his fallen partner, but instead Jason reeled around and knocked Kalisto off the apron with a chop to the side of the head. Kalisto smacked against the ground on all fours. His wrists and knees absorbed the sting of the fall. By the time he staggered back into his place, Jason had tagged Tye into the match once again and the aggression continued.

Come on. Kalisto nearly cracked a tooth from how tightly his jaw was clamped. Embarrassing, really, how much this affected him. This was the job, wasn't it? He and Sin Cara trained to go through this shit night by night. Wins and losses, hits and blows both delivered and received. This was to be expected. He should have been used to this sense of almost helplessness by now, one partner stuck watching the other defend himself. But the sensation never settled or numbed. It was one thing to care about your teammate, one friend to another. It was another for Kalisto to witness the drubbing of his icon, his role model, and of course—a secret he protected from the world, save for one friend he trusted—his crush.

This was where professionalism blended with emotion in the same way water mixed with oil.

He had to shake this.

Sin Cara kicked out of another pin. He was out of reach, but it didn't stop Kalisto from stretching an arm towards him like the two could connect from here somehow. Tye just giggled. Kalisto's anxiety was bemusing? Dillinger loomed over the Lucha Dragon and pressed his fingertips together, mocking the action Sin Cara performed during the team's entrance. Kalisto screamed to him in Spanish. He's not tagging me in 'cause he's afraid I'll knock him out. That's gotta be it. He's getting off on being a total douche. Kalisto gripped the top rope tight with both hands. Come on, Cara...

Tye rammed a foot into Sin Cara's torso, who buckled from the pain. Once more he was cornered with both opponents glaring down at him. Jason slapped Tye's hand. Tye roped Sin Cara into his arms and swung him towards the opposite corner—Kalisto spanned his arm far as it would go, yet his partner was still out of reach—then moved to launch Cara back into Jason's corner.

But Sin Cara was ready here. He swung Tye with strength of his own, heaving Dillinger into the corner instead. Jason mistakenly booted his own partner in the face, and Tye flopped to the mat. The motion had also brought Cara to the mat again, and he rolled onto his side.

Kalisto was practically in the air now with each bounce. This was it. A chance to make it in, finally. "Come on, come on, come on," he encouraged his partner. A vengeful Jason charged at Kalisto, but the shorter Lucha Dragon crouched before he was struck again. Sin Cara grabbed Jason and cast him aside like a discarded rag and finally, finally, made the tag to Kalisto.

This is Lucha!

A fully-charged Kalisto was unstoppable. He performed a Springboard off the top rope, dodged a punch, and flattened Jason to the mat with a Corkscrew. Tye tried to interfere but Kalisto countered his presence with a kick to the midsection, then took hold of his wrist and flipped Tye over and out of the ring. Sin Cara joined his partner in the ring. The crowd was digging the comeback. Kalisto led them in honorable chants of "Lucha! Lucha!"

Sin Cara eyed Tye on the floor. Kalisto heard him utter something like, "Hang on, let me take care of..." before his voice disappeared along with him—through the ropes, outside the ring, razing Tye Dillinger.

Kalisto was left alone with Jason Jordan. He had no intentions of allowing his opponent any sort of advantage. He flung an arm behind Jason's neck and rocketed into the air, sailing backwards over Jason's form, nearly doing the splits in his landing. The SDS finished off the match. The official hit the mat thrice and the bell rang just as many times.

The Lucha Dragons had won.

Kalisto smacked the mat with his fists, ecstatic about the victory. Maybe it wasn't a title win, or even a title defense, but damn, it felt good to win.

He caught a blur of yellow in his peripheral vision. Sin Cara was returning to the ring to congratulate his partner.

That's when the spark went off.

Strange, not just metaphorical but Kalisto truly felt some physical spark within him. Looking at Cara now, envisioning that handsome smile of his beneath the fabric of his mask, knowing those eyes were regarding Kalisto with the utmost joy. Sin Cara enveloped Kalisto in a single muscular arm, firm hand on his shoulder, and Kalisto fell victim to that spark. It meant something, but what? He curled both arms around Sin Cara's neck and took his partner in close. Skin on skin, chest against chest, Kalisto couldn't help but wonder if that erratic thumping was Cara's heart or his own. If there was a cause for it outside the standard exhaustion of a wrestling match.

Sin Cara touched his back. Kalisto heard his sultry voice over the shouts of the crowd, the boisterous declaration of the ring announcer. "I'm proud of you."

The official was fetching their tag team title belts which they'd brandish for the world to see, the deserving champions. Sin Cara took his partner's hand—not in a way the ref did to raise their arms to the crowd, but a true hold, squeezing the fingers, a gentle hum of electricity droning in the contact. This sensation was quite new to him too, just like the spark, with the same result: Kalisto surrendered to a compelling force unknown, lured towards the closer touch of his partner once more. A hand behind Cara's neck, the other on his chest. Damn Kalisto's gloves for deadening the feel of Sin Cara's warm skin under his caress.

The pair was separated when their titles were returned to them. The official flaunted the NXT tag team champions to the crowd, still celebrating the victory.

Kalisto cradled his title. He was proud of himself, too.

Proud of his partner. Proud of their team.

Cara nodded at him, indicating it was time to leave. Work was over. Time to get out of here. Kalisto ambled with his partner out of the ring, up the ramp. He was still so weary. His heart was pelting his ribcage like hail on a rooftop.

"We did it," Sin Cara said, draping an arm over Kalisto's shoulder backstage. Other NXT stars surrounded them, moving in and out of the locker rooms, preparing for matches and recovering from others. A normal night for anyone else. Nobody knew nor cared about Kalisto's condition. This could no longer be an ordinary night at work, not after feeling...whatever the hell that had been back there.

"Yeah, we did," Kalisto agreed, realizing he'd left Cara a response of empty silence. "Wasn't much, but a win's a win, right?"

"Of course. They were just our training dummies tonight. Can't get rusty before we get the opportunity to defend these guys." He tapped the plates of his glimmering championship belt.

Kalisto grinned.

"Wanna shower or anything before we go?"

"I'm good for now."

"Alright. Need a ride back to the training center?"

"Nah, man, I'll walk it," Kalisto teased. "What is it, three miles? Little less? I can make it. I run that much in a daily workout." Trying to show off, are you? an inner voice mused. Impress him? Why are you just babbling?

"The distance wouldn't hurt you. I'm just afraid you'd get mugged."

Kalisto scoffed. "Yeah, okay. You'd have to be pretty stupid to try to hold me up."

"With those guns? Sure, I'd be running scared myself." Sin Cara squeezed Kalisto's bicep. Somehow a touch to the arm had an impact on his knees. They nearly gave out from under him. Sin Cara had touched him hundreds of times and counting by now. What made this time so different?

What had changed?

"I wouldn't mind a ride," Kalisto said. The extended-stay hotel where Cara was currently living was several miles north of the training center and even further away from Kalisto's place, so the partners had been meeting at the training center each morning for drills and bumming rides off each other on Thursdays to Full Sail University. They spent nearly every hour of the day together, until it was time to separate for the night in their respective dwellings.

Kalisto found himself missing Sin Cara in the hours they were apart.

A side effect of the crush, right?

Or something similar...something stronger...

A muggy breeze pushed through the campus's exterior. November wasn't too chilly here in Florida, but some nights were crisper than others, especially after rainfall. Kalisto's skin pulled taut, rigid with goosebumps at the gust.

"You cold?" Sin Cara asked.

"Not very," Kalisto lied. He'd pulled his yellow t-shirt back on after the match, but this paired with his workout shorts didn't make for a particularly warm outfit. Sin Cara was the smart one, bringing along a black jacket with the bronze letters "NXT" stitched to the shoulder.

"Then you're shivering, why? Because you have pneumonia?" Cara joked.

Maybe he wasn't cold. Maybe this was just another damn side effect.

"Here." Sin Cara shrugged out of the jacket and handed it to Kalisto. "Remove the symptom."

"Thanks." Kalisto tried so hard to play it off casually but he was teeming with frenzy. How endearing was this? Did this, like everything else, have meaning to it? He pulled the sleeves over his arms, tugging the zipper up. He felt better already. Comforted and safe, the way he felt when Cara held him in his arms. In a way, this was like Sin Cara holding him. Smelled good, too.

Who knew a crush could be so destructive?

Who was he kidding? This wasn't a crush anymore. This went beyond that bubbly, giddy sensation he felt around Sin Cara on most days. This was confusing, new and wonderful and as intriguing as it was scary.

The drive to the training center was short, too short for Kalisto's liking. Not long enough to get more than a couple of songs played over the speakers. Sin Cara killed the engine in the parking lot, and the Dragons sat in silence for a moment.

"You okay?" Cara asked.

"Well, I was hoping you'd go all out and walk me to my car," Kalisto said.

Sin Cara chuckled. "Claro que si. I can do that."

"Hey, you're the one who said I could get mugged out here," he defended outside the car. Amusingly, Kalisto was parked just two rows away from Sin Cara. "You're not gonna let me just take that risk, are you?"

"No, I won't. I'll protect you."

Kalisto almost couldn't breathe. He had to rack his brain for a nonchalant answer: "Well, you owe me."

"Oh, I owe you?"

"Yeah. I totally saved your ass from Jordan and Dillinger earlier. Did you see me flying?"

"I did. Here I thought we worked well as a team, but whatever."

"Yup. I'm going solo. Tag team titles just aren't good enough for me. I want more."

"How dare you."

Kalisto giggled. From this area he had a good view of a pleasant and familiar site: the white mangrove tree, under which Kalisto and Sin Cara had officially agreed to a tag team, the two of them. Mangrove trees were plentiful in this state, even around this building, but that one was special to Kalisto. The location of a historical moment for his career. For their careers.

Kalisto loved that tree.

He loved the Lucha Dragons.

He loved being a champion.

He loved his...partner...

"Listen, Sin Cara," Kalisto said, voice dwindling to a more serious tone. "I know you were really bummed out when you learned you had to come here. Kinda felt like a downgrade, a step back in your career. But for what it's worth? It means a lot to me that you're here. I'm glad you are."

Kalisto wished the mask could be off his face for just a second, so he could observe Sin Cara's reaction besides stillness. "I was bummed out," he responded, "but I'm not anymore. Being here with you, it's much better than anywhere I've been before. I wouldn't change it for anything."

"Even if you could go back? Like, right now, if you could? Would you?"

"No. Not without you. And definitely not without this." Sin Cara shrugged a shoulder, referring to the title belt.

Kalisto smiled. He was important. He meant something to Cara.

Cara certainly meant something to him. The world, perhaps? came that inner voice again.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have killer eyes, Kalisto?" Cara asked suddenly.

Kalisto swallowed hard. "Uh...maybe once or twice, but...not you. Not yet." He was getting flustered. Thank God for the darkness of the night and partiality of his mask to hide away his flushing cheeks.

"I mean that. They're stunning. Especially when I say something nice to you and you get that light in them."

"Like right now, I take it?" He was out of cool, casual and collected things to say. Kalisto was a mess and Sin Cara was the operator of the crane wrecking him right now.

"Yeah. Like right now."

Ah, one more mellow remark surfaced in his mind. Maybe it could carry him over: "Wish I could return the compliment, but you cover up a good deal of your features this way." Kalisto traced a lazy finger over Cara's mask, from cheekbone to chin.

Sin Cara was quiet again. Kalisto wished to God he knew what his partner was thinking. Hoped to God Sin Cara was kept in the dark about his own thoughts...

Cara's head veered side to side like he was checking the scene for something, or someone. Then both hands lifted to his face, and he pinched his mask between his toned fingers and drew the mask off his head.

Kalisto couldn't hide the small gasp he pulled through his parted lips. Sin Cara was so. Fucking. Handsome.

His dark hair was styled in a butch cut, giving a military look to him. His eyes were big and chocolatey—Kalisto could think of no better way to describe them than smiling, beholding Kalisto uncovered with a light like the kind he'd mentioned seeing in Kalisto's eyes moments ago. His chin was sable with a close-trimmed beard. Chiseled jaw, structured cheekbones, stiff neck.

So. So. Handsome.

It was the first time Kalisto was seeing him unmasked and he hadn't words to say. He wasn't just taken by his looks, but baffled Sin Cara had unmasked in the first place: that definitely meant something. He was allowing Kalisto to view him past an identity he lived for, served, fought for day by day. Past the mask was Sin Cara as just himself, the core of his being, the vulnerability of an unprotected luchador.

He must have respected the hell out of Kalisto to let him in like this.

Oh. And gorgeous as all hell.

"Well, here's that compliment back for you," Kalisto said, clearing his dried throat. "You have some killer eyes, too." Disarming, even.

Sin Cara smiled. "Thanks."

That one word. Hearing that was all Kalisto needed to confirm it. He'd heard the smile in Sin Cara's voice before, and only detected such an expression. Now he was witnessing it for real, and his knees were close to failing him completely. His smile was a true killer. Lady killer, he figured, and man killer for anyone who looked his way with these sort of feelings in his heart...

Everything was coming together the way it was meant to.

"You okay from here?" Sin Cara asked. Kalisto blinked, jerked back into reality on a hook. "Or do you need me to follow you home to make sure there's no muggers tailing you?"

"I think I can make it from here," he managed.

"Alright. Good night, Kalisto."

"'Night, Cara."

Sin Cara opened his arms and once more captured Kalisto in a tight hug. Kalisto embraced him, this is strange and weird and awesome and I don't know what's going on but I like it and my mind's all jumbled and my heart is burning up hold me closer Sin Cara hold me here all night—

He didn't comply with Kalisto's inward wishes, of course.

He didn't know.

Sin Cara released him and wandered back in the direction of his car. "Te veo mañana."

"Si. Buenos noches."

Kalisto sat in his car and watched Sin Cara return to his own vehicle, start up the engine, and slowly pull out of the lot. He sat alone in silence for a few minutes, trying to lasso all his snarled thoughts.

Untangling them resulted in just one leftover.

One word. A million meanings.

One feeling. A million reactions.

One awareness. Countless consequences.

Kalisto moved out of the car and headed towards their white mangrove tree. The grass was damp but he situated himself on the ground, comfortable in Cara's jacket, drinking in the pleasantries of this discovery, watching the moon and the stars glint above his stupid-smiling face.

Everything was coming together the way it was meant to.

Did Sin Cara feel the same way? He didn't know.

What would this mean for their partnership? Didn't know.

What was he going to do in response to this revelation? Didn't know.

Did it scare him? Of course.

Did it please him nonetheless? Hell yeah.

There was much he had to learn. So much he hadn't figured out yet.

But damn everything if he didn't know one thing tonight.

He'd been right before. Right all along. When he finally found himself in love, he'd know it.

And he knew it. He knew.

Kalisto leaned against the tree and admired the faraway celestial bodies.

I am in love with Sin Cara.

Pretty mushy, right? ;) GOD, I can't tell you guys how much I miss Sin Cara. He needs to reunite with Kalisto already! Until then, I'm on my knees praying that Kalisto gets his United States Championship back from ADR tomorrow night. Hope you enjoyed this piece of cotton candy-esque fluff, meanwhile. Hope you enjoy this ship as much as I do. :)

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