#and I'm sure the sexism they have to put up with is just endless

[softquietsteadylove]

Thenamesh Actor AU. Both of them being in a press conference to promote their new series/movie but after a while the reporters are asking Thena some really rude, uncomfortable and sexist questions and Gil warning them that they are here for the movie and not for those question. They still asking her those question so Gil (sweet protective Teddybear) runs out of patience, says something like that’s enough! gets up grabs Thenas hand and just walks out with her leaving everyone stunned, most of them and even Sprite impressed!

Would be super cool to read more of protective and supportive Gil :D

"You don't really have to finish this stupid press conference, do you?" Sprite rolled her eyes as she handed Thena a bottle of water.

"Yes, we do, that's the press part of the press conference?" Thena snarked right back at her frosty sister between sips.

"They're not asking you any real questions," Sprite whispered rather loudly at her, glancing out on stage to where the audience of mostly media reporters was waiting for the five minute break to end. "Except if you're single or not."

"No surprise there," Thena murmured, capping her water and handing it back to Sprite to finish. "But it's almost over. And then Gil's taking us for lunch."

Gil was the only reason Sprite hadn't charged out onto stage and made an absolute scene in her sister's defense.

As much as Thena probably wished Sprite wouldn't think of doing something that could embarrass them both like that, it wasn't enough to stop the temperamental teen.

But Gil had risen to Thena's defense at every opportunity.

"Okay," he sighed, smiling at them both as he rejoined them. "Ready to go back out there?"

"I'm afraid so," Thena smiled, walking back out beside him to finish up the media circus that had been this particular press set. She took her seat next to Gil. He gripped the back of his chair as he sat, deliberately budging it just a little bit closer to hers. The lighting guys would probably be livid over it, but she couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, so, where were we?"

"You had a stunt question," Gil volunteered readily, "for Thena."

Thena held back a sigh.

"Right, so, with the underwater scene, you both trained to be able to hold your breath for quite some time, given how long you're in those wet suits."

This was starting to sound like a real question.

"Are you able to wear underwear in something like that?"

Maybe not.

"Are you kidding me?" Gil glared right at the reporter. "You haven't asked a decent question yet, and I warned you about this already."

"Look, man, the questions get written for me, I'm just asking them."

"Well, don't," Gil stood firm, not caring how argumentative he had to be.

Thena moved her arm on the chair's armrest, letting the side of her hand just brush the side of his. "Anyone else?"

"Gilgamesh, you've done diving work before haven't you?"

Thena happily listened to his answer recounting his time on other projects. She had already all but written off this release as a bust. She wasn't going to be getting any questions that weren't disgusting, so she might as well let Gil answer any and all of them until they could leave.

"Training for this was actually really interesting," he looked over at her with a smile, "Thena's a champ--did way better than me when we were being instructed."

"Well, you know what they say about being able to hold your breath."

Thena kept her expression neutral, although she managed to glare at Sprite, who she knew was about one question away from pulling the fire alarm on them.

"No, I don't know," Gil sat up straighter, glaring at the audience as a whole. "What do they say?"

The reporter cleared his throat, offering at least some shame, "s-sorry."

"If you guys don't want to interview us, that's fine, we'll just go," Gil held out his hand.

Thena tapped the back of his hand with her finger lightly, "it's okay, Gil."

"It's not," he grumbled, but sat back and lowered his mic. He looked at her with a sigh, "you get one more comment like that, and I'm gonna take one of those cameras and shove it-"

"Okay, Thena, here's something we all want to know-"

Gil looked relieved at the sign of a legitimate question, but Thena frowned, not nearly so hopeful for it.

"Apparently Eros was spotted with an actress on the set of his movie, meeting him at his trailer. He's made some implications that it's a big name, that she's currently on another project and that she's naturally blonde-"

"Are you asking if I've been sneaking off set to sleep with Eros?" Thena asked point blank.

"Well-"

"Enough!" All heads turned to Gil as he pushed out of his chair and tossed his - very, very expensive - microphone away. He moved in front of Thena, pulling her hand into his as he faced down the reporters and their cameras. "I cannot believe how disrespectful you have all been through this entire interview."

"Gil," Thena murmured, but he was far past forgiving, at this point. He pulled her to her feet, her hand in his, still shielding her behind his larger frame.

"You can't just leave in the middle of your own interview!"

"You've barely asked any real questions," he glared right back at them on his way off stage, "and I don't answer to animals."

Sprite was filming him from offstage. She was so going to leak this online. She would wait, of course, until stories popped up about how Gilgamesh had so rudely interrupted his own press conference. And just in time, she would offer the reverse angle, wherein he was so valiantly defending his costar from a horde of assholes.

Those in attendance were still uttering their protests as Gil rushed Thena offstage. "Sorry, sorry, I know your manager will...well, I don't know, but my manager certainly is gonna kill me."

"That was cool, though!" Sprite grinned at him, eager to offer her support to his act of defiance.

Gil looked at Thena, her hand still in his, "I'm sorry. But I couldn't sit there and listen to them...say stuff like that."

"I'm afraid you get rather used to it," Thena rolled her eyes, which only seemed to discourage him further. She gave his hand a squeeze, not letting go quite yet. "But no one can blame me for running off if it was your idea. So, you've still saved me from it."

Gil kept her hand in his, letting her much colder hand soak up his warmth. "Anytime."

Sprite pulled out her phone, pretending to text while her sister and her not-boyfriend stared at each other. In reality, she had a picture of Gil pulling Thena along, ever so valiantly holding up an arm to shield her from everything going on. She couldn't wait to send it to Thena and watch her lose her mind over it.

"Uh, r-right," Gil blinked as the reality of things sunk in again. He looked around them, hearing the audience officially give up on them coming out again and start standing and packing up. "Lunch?"

"Please," Sprite murmured as she typed up her message, "I'm fucking starving."

"Sprite," Thena chastised, not that it made a difference. She took her purse back from her sister; her phone was buzzing but she knew better than to look at it now. It was just from Sprite, and it was just to annoy/embarrass her, anyway.

"Any requests?" Gil asked the woman beside him and her sister on the other side of her.

"I just read about this new taco place," Sprite suggested, slipping her phone away to tell them about it. Thena had to use her phone eventually, and when she did, she would be greeted by a very romantic looking picture of her and Gilgamesh with the message:

you and the hubs! make it ur background

[vickiexz]

i'm so confused that i can't help but ask wth happened that roman reigns isn't popular anymore??

oh sweet summer child

roman reigns’ “popularity” is a very complicated beast. he’s popular in the sense that he is one the wwe’s biggest merch movers, is consistently highlighted in shows and ppvs, and has a pretty decent following among young kids and ladies. which by company standards is enough. but for smart ass fans who think they know everything about wrestling and how the wwe should be run, it’s not.

for what it’s worth, a big part of the blame lies with the wwe. vince mcmahon saw that roman was big, pretty, homegrown and had a family pedigree within the company, and strapped a rocket to him before he was ready. when he was with the shield, he was fine. people loved him as the big silent powerhouse as long as he had the dynamic of seth rollins and dean ambrose to bounce off of, and the crowd went bananas whenever he wrecked shit (they still do, honestly). his problems started when they split about three years ago, and his weaknesses became more apparent. he’s a brilliant athlete and fast learner, but he doesn’t have the agile diverse moveset of some indie worker who’s been wrestling since he was a teenager. he’s also a naturally quiet person who doesn’t do well having to recite long monologues in front of a huge crowds, but the wwe kept on writing bad scripts for him that he didn’t have the mic skills to make work, and the audience ripped him apart for it.

then he got hurt. he spent six months out recovering from hernia surgery, and when he got back he got the superstar of the year award at the slammy’s (which is a fake awards show that supposedly is determined by fan votes). unsurprisingly, the audience called bullshit. it was pretty obvious at that point that the wwe was trying to convince its audience that roman was something that he was not simply by saying so, which pissed a lot of people off. they also were giving him the misguided superman treatment - trying to show the audience that he was dominant and impressive by having him never lose cleanly, but then not giving him any real or consistent character development that would make him a heroic figure. instead, his characterization mostly made him look arrogant and bland.

this is where shit gets weird. roman got better. being dropped into the frying pan at first didn’t agree with him, but he adapted. now he consistently puts on excellent matches with fan favorite wrestlers. the writing of the show has also figured out how to better work with him, by giving him short and sweet promos, and capitalizing on the beastly nature of his physicality and style of wrestling. the writing isn’t perfect, but that’s a problem consistent through all of the wwe’s shows and characters, and isn’t exclusive to roman.

but the audience doesn’t seem to care about any that. or at least, a certain portion of the audience that is very very noisy did not. most people who are actually interested in, you know, enjoying wrestling and having a good time have figured out that they can just relax, watch roman work and cheer him. but there’s a lot of people that are extremely invested in being right, and having already decided on a point of view, don’t want to give up on it. they want want to act like they know more about the wwe than the wwe, and never want to be worked, because who wants to be a mark and admit they’re doing exactly what a big fat company is telling them to do? they insist that roman is still being “shoved down our throats,” that he can’t wrestle, that he’s not worthy of the position he’s in in the company, and they give him endless shit for it. the vitriol spikes during wrestlemania season, which roman has main evented for the past three years, and this year he got the honor of facing the undertaker in what was most likely his last match ever, which sent his hater through the roof. it’s now pretty much expected that whenever roman walks out, he will be faced with a tsunami of boos, and there isn’t a whole lot any one can do to change that.

there’s also a lot of sexism involved. smarks will say shit like “only women like roman, and it’s just because he’s hot,” as though women’s role in the fandom is illegitimate and male fans have never found a female wrestler attractive. like i said, it’s complicated, and it’s at a level now that’s pretty disgusting. kids at wrestling shows who just want to enjoy themselves and cheer for roman end up getting intimidated by older men who shout them down. roman’s older brother just passed away really suddenly and twitter was riddled with assholes saying it should’ve been him instead. but sure, yeah, it’s the “booking” that they hate, and yet you cheer vince mcmahon when he shows up.

sorry i wrote a book as a response, it’s one of the most talked about issues in all of wrestling, and there’s some incredible articles and threads written about it (personal favorites are lady j’s building an empire series which she sadly hasn’t finished yet, and tim kail’s “you will keep booing roman reigns and it will change nothing” which is amazing). and i haven’t even touched the racist aspects of it. a lot of people say that best way to remedy the situation is turn roman heel (make him a bad guy so that the boos will actually be justified). that might have been a viable option maybe a year ago, but the wwe knows what they want from roman now, and they’re getting it. and with the audience acting as predictable as they are now they know exactly how to control them. so one way or another, everyone’s getting worked.