I had done it. I became Hardcore Champion. The cage began to lift. All 6 of them looked devastated. Alex was included in this too. He thought that this was his time. That was not the case. When I got the title belt from the ref, I made it a point to lift Alex's arm in the middle of the ring. "I couldn't have done it without you! I'm so proud to call you a friend!" The look on his face was complicated. We had a great relationship. He was jealous though. Jealous of my position and insecure at the fact he had lost 2 title opportunities now. We went to the back together. They were all happy for us. We went out to eat for a celebration. Suzie sat in my lap in the pizzeria. She was my girlfriend after all. We had a fun time. Alex was more quiet than normal. That was very concerning for me. Weak links could destroy everything we had built. I was going to have to fix this for him. I had a plan for that. Unfortunate timing and hall of fame criteria required I hold 2 belts for 4 weeks to be considered "Double Belted". That meant I was keeping the Hardcore title until after Headshot Haven. I needed to be nice.
Doing my part, I wanted to be a workhorse with the title. Everyone else in the stable with a title was. I defended it in all First Blood matches. This was a hardcore title after all. I defended the championship against a bunch of jobbers. They were, in order, Barry Carlisle, Mark Tremor, Ceasar Fist and Keegan Jackson. That was my month. I was close to that criteria. The whole posse came out to manage me. Headshot Haven was a Brand vs. Brand pay-per-view. No one on the opposite brand wanted to deal with us. That meant we sat it out. Robbie had to defend the Intercontinental Championship on the Battlefield after it. Will and Jamal defended the tag titles the week before. Suzie also defended her title the week before. In full solidarity, I squashed Mark again. Robbie beat Barry with the title on the line. He wanted to do it alone, and he did. With that, I had 5 defenses in 5 weeks. I got myself the 2 criteria. "Workhorse Champion" and "Double Belted" felt good. However it was time to make good on my internal promise to Alex. I told Suzie about it. She was on board too. I called Alex over.
Even though he had been moody, he was still loyal. We helped him with every match he was in. I did notice that he was getting slightly testier with me and all the others though. Now was the best time for this. "What do you want now, Rin!?" he asked. Honestly, he looked annoyed. I grabbed him and shoved him on the floor. "What the hell are you doing!?" he demanded as I straddled him. "I was thinking about you. I wanted to give you something that means a lot to me." I told him gently. Alex looked so confused, it was almost funny. I rolled us over so that he was now on top of me. "Push down on my chest." I told him. "What?" he asked, flabbergasted. "Push down on my chest." I repeated. He nervously complied. "...Like this...?" he trailed off as Suzie counted the pin. She had been an official referee in OPW. This was totally legal. This was worth the peace. "There you go, Alex." I said. He was still confused. "You are the new OPW 24/7 Champion now. You're finally a champion." Suzie informed him. If I had to drop a belt, I chose this one. Alex looked amazed. Then, Alex began to tear up.
