Rating: Mature
Character(s) and Relationship(s): Jon Moxley + Eddie Kingston
Warnings: spoilers for 2022 Full Gear
Wordcount: 983
Summary: Eddie and Mox have a talk after Full Gear.
Notes: Mostly kayfabe-compliant. Written as a gift for my partner, and as Day 1 of my 2022 December Talking Meme on Dreamwidth. The Claudio thing is from this Tumblr post my partner sent me.
Eddie's bedroom light is already on when he gets home. He knows for a fact that he turned everything off before he left, so there's only one reason it could be on.
"I just texted you," he says, pushing the door open, because of course he was watching. That's his goddamn best friend fighting for the belt defense.
Mox is sitting on Eddie's bed. Both knees are bouncing a mile a minute, his head is down, and his hands are clenched into fists. He doesn't look up when Eddie enters the room.
Eddie makes his way into his bedroom, taking his jacket off and moving around as if Mox isn't there. He'll talk when he's ready, Eddie knows, and not one second before.
Eventually, Mox says, "How long, do you think?" His voice is dead. He's moved past rage and into numbness, which Eddie knows is fucking bad.
There's something about the way Mox's brain works, and the way Eddie's brain works, that gels. Even at the beginning, when they'd first met, Eddie'd been able to follow the leaps of logic and trains of thought that confuse most people talking to Mox. So he knows exactly what Mox is asking. "Dunno," Eddie says easily. Regal. They're talking about Regal, because who else is there to talk about? "I don't think it was all a lie, for whatever that's worth. I don't think he was playin' you from the beginning."
Mox sighs heavily. "Claudio wants us to have an orgy about it."
Eddie stops in his tracks. "Who wants what?"
"Claudio said we should have sex," Mox repeats. "All of us. Me, Wheeler, him, and Bryan. Or at least sleep in the same bed."
"That ain't gonna fix shit," says Eddie, even though he knows Mox knows that.
"It'll probably make it worse," Mox agrees. "Claudio doesn't think it'll fix us either, but he says, you know, it'll be like a team bonding thing."
Eddie fusses with the pillows on the bed behind Mox, just to have something to do. "I want it on the record that I'm not making a sex joke about bonding."
"Don't pull punches on my account," Mox says, voice dripping with sarcasm. Then, lighter: "You know I like it rough." He looks up, finally, and Eddie takes it as an invitation, sitting next to Mox on the bed.
"Boy, do I," Eddie says, affection warming his tone. He still doesn't touch Mox, just in case, but Mox shifts his weight to the side and presses his upper arm against Eddie's.
Before he can say anything else, Mox mutters something, then says, "I don't understand," and there's anger in his voice, but also some other kind of distress Eddie's only heard rarely from him. "I don't get it. What the fuck does that little bitch, that spoiled child, have that I don't? What can he give His Lordship that I can't?" His fists are clenched so tight Eddie can feel him trembling.
"Wanna know what I think?" Eddie asks. He knows that's why Mox is here, and not with his faction: because Eddie isn't going to bullshit him, no matter what, and because Eddie would kill Regal if Mox let him. "I think it isn't about him."
Mox turns his head sharply to look at Eddie. Eddie pointedly leans back, propping himself up on his forearms. "How can it not be about him?" Mox asks harshly. "That fuckin' brat is the AEW World Fuckin' Champion. What the fuck, Eddie? His Lordship can't possibly think he'd be a better champion than I am. God knows I ain't perfect, but I'm not fucking MJF."
"You wanna let me talk, or what?" Eddie asks. "You done?"
"'m done," Mox mutters.
"Here's what I think," Eddie says, and even as he starts talking, his theory snaps into place, crystallizing in his mind. "It ain't about you. It ain't about him. It's about Regal. It's a power play."
"Of course it's a power play, it's William fuckin' Regal," Mox snaps.
Eddie puts a hand on his shoulder. "Thought you said you were done," he says. He doesn't try to inflect his tone at all; in this state Mox isn't going to bother picking up on subtleties with him, and it frankly doesn't matter. He knows Mox'll shut up either way.
"He's making a statement to the league. To AEW as a whole." Eddie taps his foot, thinking. "Moxley this, Friedman that? Who the champion is won't matter. What matters is who's behind the champion. Regal's tryin' to prove that he's the one who makes champions champions. If he's backin' someone, they'll win, is what he's saying. He can make you or break you. Today it's you, tomorrow it's MJF."
"And you think His L-- you think Regal's just playing both of us," Mox says. It's the first time in a long time that Eddie's heard him call Regal anything but "His Lordship." Eddie's not sure what that means.
"Yeah, I do," he says. "Bottom line? Not your fault. Not anything you did or didn't do. Just Regal being a real motherfucker, and he happened to use MJF to make his shitty point. So are you gonna?"
"Gonna what?" Mox asks, brows drawing down in confusion at the sudden change in topic.
"Have a Blackpool Combat Club orgy," Eddie says, like it's obvious.
Mox's legs stop bouncing, first one, then the other. "I'm not sure, actually," he says. "I better ask the guy I'm sleepin' with if he's okay with that."
Eddie lifts an eyebrow. "So ask."
Mox leans back next to Eddie, mirroring his position. "I'm gonna go fuck two guys you hate and also the new kid I'm mentoring," he says. "If you don't want me to, I won't."
Eddie smiles, just a tiny thing. "Go have fun, Moxie," he says. "And when it makes shit worse, you tell Claudio I told you so."