Disquiet Comfort

Johnny hungrily ate his own food while Taylor began speaking. He'd eaten eel so much, that he could definitely tell that this was exceptionally good, even for being a small little cafe. He chewed vigorously as he smiled at Taylor, listening to her words until she got to her point.

"Huh?"

Everything else made sense. Both of them had a lot piling up and Johnny was feeling the stress of it all too. He felt restless at the very least, unsure how to quiet himself down, and he knew it was the same for Taylor, but...

"Why didn't you tell me?" He said quietly, looking concerned but trying not to give away much more than that.

Taylor shrugged, and her eyes wandered around the room while she searched for an answer. "I dunno, I just..." She pursed her lips, and then leaned across the table toward Johnny and lowered her voice.

"It's just embarrassing, ya know?" She said. "I don't want to have this problem, but, like... It was out of hand. I just thought I could be tough and plow through everything, but the panic attack thing... man..." She shook her head and gazed down at nothing in particular. "IMy body just did it. I couldn't help it. I feel like... If I don't have my body working as good as it can, I've got nothing, ya know?"

Johnny frowned at Taylor's words. He really didn't like seeing her in a helpless state and he knew she would do whatever she could IF she could without people as long as she could. it wasn't that she didn't know the value of support, she definitely did, but she still liked to be independent and be in control of things. If she was seeing a therapist, then it was because she had no choice.

Johnny reached under the table and grabbed her hand. "I just wish you'd have told me. Just cause... I wanna know and junk." He said, tilting his head. "But... I think you've got way more than your smokin hot bod." He said grinning. "You'd figure out a way out of any problem, I know it, babe." He encouraged. "And even if you couldn't do it alone, you're not alone. Everyone would help in whatever way they could."

Johnny paused. all of the usual platitudes were nice and comforting, but he thought that it just wasn't enough. "Still... I know it's not that easy. I really don't know what I'm gonna do myself. I've just been staying in my routine, thinkin it's gonna be ok but I know that when I finally get in that ring, I'm probably going to get killed. That roided up freak can squash my head like a grape. And Kelly's a different kind of pain in the ass, but both of em aren't just... people that can be dealt with the normal way. Fuck that, man." He said and pushed his tea away form him and squeezed Taylor's hand.

Taylor listened, an inscrutable expression on her face, wide eyed and unflinching. She heard Johnny out, and then squeezed his hand back harder and pulled it back across the table and leaned into him.

"Babe," she said sternly, and she obviously wasn't going to tolerate any arguments. "You're going to fuck him up."

She put Johnny's hand halfway between them and clasped it with both of her hands. Her gaze didn't falter, and she leaned even closer. Her voice lowered somewhat, to a throaty near-whisper. "You don't need to be as big or as strong, you just need to be a better fighter. And you are. And his bitches won't interfere, because they know that if they even think about it..."

Her lip curled up into a lopsided smirk, showing just a hint of her bright white teeth.

"Yeah..." Johnny said half hearted as he looked at Taylor and felt her touch. He liked it. He needed it. He hoped she did too.

"Yeah, I kind of had the right idea last time. We'll see how it goes this time around. "You gonna be there? I know his girls ain't, but I still want ya around. And not just in the seats. Just..." He paused and turned away.

"I know it might be hard but as long as it's just me and him, don't step in, ok? It's just gotta be the two of us, man to asshole."

Taylor cocked her head at Johnny's wishy-washiness. She knew by experience what it felt like to be facing down daunting odds, and she knew that to have any chance at all, you had to get your head in the game.

"Babe," she said more insistently. She squeezed his hand again and grabbed his chin to keep his eyes on hers. "You got this. I'll be there, for you and to make damn sure those other fucking cunts don't get any smart ideas, but I'm not gonna get between you and King. I won't have to."

She leaned farther over the table, folded over it at the waist enough to worry that the hem of her dress wasn't quite completely covering her butt. She slid her hand up his arm and moved her other hand off his chin to grab him by the collar and pull him in until they were nose to nose.

"Say it."

"I fucking got this!"

Johnny barked confidently as he stared into her eyes. He leaned forward and kissed her, squeezing her hand. There was renewed and real determination in his gaze.

"Let's get the fuck out of here. We got so much shit to see still." He said with a grin.