Okay, guys. I had to fix the separators on this so I decided to do a bit of revising. I'll likely do this with any of my other fics that I notice have lost their barriers. I have not forgotten TTWNATD, I promise. For now, enjoy the revised Injuries (and pray these barriers work).

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Injuries of an Untimely Fashion

'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'–'

"Shit! My shoulder!" It was a rare moment during a match that the two wrestlers could manage to exchange a few, barely breathed words. Unfortunately, Randy's words were not something that Hunter wanted to hear from the younger man, "I think it's dislocated."

Well shit. Glancing back at Shawn in their corner, Hunter stooped further to pull his opponent up into a stand, taking a hold of the arm he had obviously been favoring for the past minute or so, breathing back, "Don't worry, we're professionals here."

Thankfully, a dislocated shoulder was something that could be fixed right now, if they were discreet about it. As such, he dragged the Legend Killer over to the corner Shawn was waiting in, bouncing up and down for a turn in the ring. The Game kept a strong hold/lock on his captive's arm as they moved. He was careful not to twist it too far but held it in such a way that would let him pop it into place again, with a little help.

"Wanna help relocate his shoulder?" Hunter asked in a breathless murmur as he tagged his friend in. Randy groaned at the idea of how they could possibly pull it off, but was unable do a damn thing about it in his current position.

"Ouch, yeah. Carefully now." Climbing into the ring, Shawn cast a glance at the clueless Edge while Hunter moved the young superstar into position for a seemingly normal wrestling move.

Then, the Heartbreak Kid swung his arm down towards the injured arm so that it would look to the connect the same moment Hunter popped it back into place, making Orton yell. He stopped his hand just barely from doing anymore than tapping it. It was enough to convince the onlookers that Shawn's attack was the reason Randy ripped out of Hunter's grasp and was writhing on the ring, holding his abused shoulder.

But hey, Shawn thought as he set about continuing their match, at least it was fixed. He had experienced the harsh form of relocating a shoulder mid-match, on behalf of Bret Hart of all people. In his mind, it was better to deal with it quickly than continue wrestling with that sort of injury. They might get yelled at by the medics later on, but he had yet to find anyone who enjoyed working with a dislocated shoulder more than a newly-relocated one.

"Up and Adam, boy." He muttered as he pulled Randy back into a stand and used his good hand to send him towards a turnbuckle, caught off guard when it was reversed and he was the one to hit the corner. Randy wasted no time with making an attack, but leapt to tag his partner in instead, rolling out of the ring while Edge went straight for a spear.

–– ––

Later on, after DX finished beating on them, Rated RKO made their way up the ramp and Randy worked on giving a short explanation of what had happened earlier. How his shoulder had been dislocated and Hunter and Shawn had fixed it. Not pleasant in any way, but at least it was better than wrestling with it messed up. He had at least managed to switch into the ring a few more times before the end of the match.

"Bad luck, man." Adam muttered, thoughtlessly patting him on the shoulder. He pulled his hand back quickly when Randy gave a small yell-like-growl, "Sorry, ouch."

"Yeah. You idiot, thanks so much for the concern." Was the snapped reply, but it was obvious that his younger friend's words were only a result of the pain. The Legend Killer tended to get a right bit more mean when he was hurt, a well-known fact around the locker room. Most of the time, the older wrestlers simply brushed it off with a laugh or something.

Adam was no different and he just shook his head, "Come on, let's get you to the medic station so they can check out your arm..."

"Good idea, Copeland." Hunter's voice sounded from behind them as he and Shawn finally entered backstage, "Don't wanna get yelled at, right?"

"Heh, yeah." His partner chuckled, running a hand over his hair, "You're gonna want a lotta ice on it, Randy. Trust me."

"Yeah. Hey, good work you two." The large man grinned, coming up to pat both of them roughly. Unfortunately for Randy, his hand came down on the bad shoulder and the young wrestler let out a strangled sound of pain (that Hunter ignored), "I know how hard working with an injury in the ring can be, Randy, but you really did a great job."

The only reply he got was a small groan-like whimper of pain. Chuckling, Hunter pat their shoulders once more before turning to head down the hall towards the DX locker room. Shawn winced, moving towards the two and lightly patting Randy on his good shoulder.

"Sorry about that. You know how Hunt is..." He muttered apologetically, before darting after his best friend, calling back, "Don't forget, ice! Lotsa ice!"

–– –– –– ––

"Fuck! My knee!" Were quite possibly the worst words one would hear from Hunter's mouth. Especially in the middle of a match.

Randy watched in a slight daze as Shawn climbed into the ring to check on his partner, ignoring the ref. The two teammates exchanged a few whispered words before Hunter rolled out of the ring in the direction he had thrown Edge shortly before. The other member of DX turned and started dragging Orton over towards the other edge of the ring.

"We gotta end this quick... You two are gonna go through the announce tables." The Heartbreak Kid informed him as he was shoved out of the ring.

"What? Are you insane?" Not much chance for talk after that, because Shawn stunned him with a couple blows to the head.

–– ––

After the match, Shawn refused to leave Hunter's side, despite the younger man insisting he go take care of himself. The Texan was adamant that he was going to stay put with his friend.

"Shawn, come on, at least go shower and get some ice for your back." Hunter muttered, lifting himself up on his elbows, "Go take care of yourself, I'm not going anywhere."

"It can wait, Hunt." That put an end to the conversation for the moment, and both men sat in silence until he spoke up again, "Hey, Hunt?"

"Yeah?"

"This—"

At that moment, the physician entered the room with Vince, both of them looking grim. The two wrestlers cut their conversation short and turned to look at the new entries. From the way they looked, it gave very little hope to the duo. In fact, Shawn found himself unable to feel any hope whatsoever that this might be anything less than a serious months-out injury.

"Bad news, Mr. Levesque..."

"Hunter." Both of the wrestlers corrected immediately, wearing identical frowns.

"...Hunter. We'll need to get you to the hospital to be sure of just how badly your quadriceps is torn..." The physician started, wringing his hands in front of him. He never liked giving bad news to the wrestlers, especially not when it was these two friends. He saw them too often, honestly.

"Give it to me straight, doc. How long?" Hunter asked wearily, scooting back so that he was able to lean against the wall the bed was propped against.

"Six months, easily."

Similar sighs left the duo, and Shawn buried his face in his hands wearily. His movements were almost mirrored by his best friend, who brought a hand up to run over his face. Six months. Too long of a break for them to be able to brush off. Degeneration X was officially disbanded once again.

That was hardly what particularly mattered to either of them. Hunter was going to be out of the ring for six months and, while he would be able to spend the time with his family... It would have felt better if such a break happened under better circumstances and not when he had been planned to headline several Pay-Per-Views. Wrestlemania included. It did not help that he already had an injury like this before and they could only hope it would not be as bad as the last tear.

"Geeze, Hunt. When I complain about everything always happening to me... I hardly meant for you to go out and get yourself hurt like this!" Shawn tried to joke, looking up as the silence was finally stretched too thin.

"You know me... Always taking things too literally." Hunter replied with a halfhearted grin before turning to look at Vince, "So, what are we going to do about Mania?"

"Well, obviously we'll need to find John a new opponent..." McMahon replied, looking uneasy about talking the matter over so soon after the bad news.

"Right... Well, why don't you go work on that." The Game nodded towards the door, "Take the doc with ya, will you?"

Vince raised an eyebrow and looked between the two friends before nodding. Tapping the physician on the shoulder, he gestured towards the door. With that, the two wrestlers were once again left alone. They sat in silence for awhile before Shawn sighed and stretched, leaning back in his chair again.

"So... This is the end. Man, what a short run!"

"Hey, I'm sure it won't be the last run for DX, buddy." Hunter replied, smiling slightly before glancing towards the door and gaining a more serious expression, "Look, Shawn... About the Wrestlemania thing..."

"Oh no, Hunt. You're not gonna—"

"You fit the bill perfectly. Think about it. John and you have good chemistry both in and outside the ring and you make for a great match." He refused to let up, leaning toward his friend with a small gesture, "Come on, Shawnie, you know it'll be fun."

"Ehh..." Shawn looked away, glancing back at his friend every so often before sighing, "Look, I'll think about it okay? But that's all I'm promising!"

"Cool. That's all I'm asking, bud." It was the bigger male's turn to sigh as he leaned back again, "You really should go shower, man. Get out of your wrestling gear and stuff."

"I'll be fine."

"Shawn, please... I gotta call Steph anyway. It'll be a better use of time for you to go do that stuff while I make the call." Compromise might work with the stubborn Texan. If not, Hunter figured he would just have to kick the man out to make sure that he would take care of himself.

"... Alright. I'll go change and stuff while you call Steph. Say hello for me, will ya?" Standing, Shawn stretched again and waited for his friend to nod before moving toward the door. "Listen... I'll be back in a jiff, alright?"

Another nod, and he was gone. Hunter sighed softly and reached for his phone where it was laying on the nearby table. He called Stephanie and talked to her for a short while. Not very long, as they both agreed that they could catch up more completely later. She gave a light hint to flying into town with the kids tomorrow, which lightened his spirits as they hung up.

He did not get a chance to relax much, though. Soon after the phone conversation ended there was a casual knock on the door. A second later, John Cena was entering the room with a slightly awkward air hanging around him. Hunter raised a curious eyebrow and sat up a bit more. This was going to be good, he rarely talked to the younger wrestler outside of work.

"Sorry... You got injured." John offered lamely, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah... Thanks." He returned. John nodded, hesitating for a moment before turning to leave. That was when the idea struck Hunter. He nearly jumped out of the bed, wincing when he jarred his knee, "Hey—ah, John, wait!"

"Yeah? Woah, dude, don't try to stand!" The young wrestler wasted no time in rushing over to help him back onto the bed, "Something wrong? Want me to call the doc?"

"No, no. I'm fine. Sorry if I worried you, I just. Have a favor to ask." Grunting as he dragged himself back to a comfortable position with John's help, Hunter shrugged, "It's... Important."

"Yeah? What is it, man?" Cena asked once he was settled, stepping back to lean against the wall.

"Would... Would you mind looking after Shawn? I mean, just... Make sure he's taking care of himself?" He asked, hesitant for exactly what he was asking.

John stared at him for a moment, a bit stunned. After a moment, he shrugged, "Shawn's pretty cool... I don't think he needs any help..."

"Look, I've seen what it does to him when the whole locker room is against him. And I've also seen how fast they can turn on you back there." Shaking his head, Hunter frowned, "I know things are different now compared to how they used to be. But... He needs a friend. You know. Someone he knows will have his back, even if it's not technically..."

"Needed?" Cena offered, tilting his head when the other man nodded, "I think I understand... Don't worry about Shawn, okay? I'll take good care of him for you."

It was a light joke, but the underlying promise was completely serious. Hunter couldn't help but smirk, feeling like there was a weight being lifted off his shoulders with that one promise. He had been worried that with his injury, his best friend would end up suffering somehow. Ridiculous maybe, but Shawn was a sensitive being. Tthere was a good chance he would have a bout of depression with his friend's departure. If he tended to neglect himself normally, then he definitely would suffer without someone there to watch out for him after Hunter took leave.

"Thanks, John. Really."

–– –– –– ––

A few weeks after Hunter's injury, a similar occurrence to Randy's in-ring mishap happened. This time though, Shawn was the victim of jarring his shoulder mid-match. It was an amateur mistake that he was mentally screaming at himself for—Taker had come out for some reason during his and Cena's match with Rated RKO and the Heartbreak Kid had let himself get distracted to a point that he failed to take a fall correctly. As a result, he felt his shoulder pop out of it's socket.

It was about as painful as when his back hit a hard surface multiple times. He reacted about the same way, stomping his foot multiple times on the canvas. Then without much thought he turned and attempted Sweet-Chin Music. It connected sharply, sending the unsuspecting Edge flying off his feet. Funnily enough, his shoulder felt a bit better after that and he wasted no time tagging John in.

Not long later, the match hit that 'out of control' level as John sent Randy flying out of the ring. Edge climbed into the ring and went after him. Before Shawn could even think about climbing in to take part, he was yanked off the apron by the other half of Rated RKO. He connected hard with the ground and took a moment for him to recover. He managed to get there in time to stop Randy from climbing into the ring, throwing him in a random direction.

Unfortunately, that random direction ended with the Dead Man. He looked less than happy about having someone thrown right into him. Wide-eyed, Shawn backed up from the obviously disgruntled man. That was not supposed to have happened. Mainly because Taker was not supposed to be out here. To be honest, a furious Undertaker frightened most and the Heartbreak Kid was no exception.

"N-now, Taker... It was an accident..." He stammered, backing up into a corner. Not good, not good, definitely not good, "I-i didn't realize you were there."

There was no response past a large hand shooting out to grab his throat. Next he knew, Shawn was being tossed back into the ring with his captor right behind him. The Dead Man made short work of Cena and turned his attention back to HBK. Reaching down, he grabbed the small man's bad arm and lifted him up with it. In that same motion, he somehow managed to pop it back into place. Shawn did not even try to stop the shout of pain that left him after. Not that it really mattered—Everyone already knew he had been favoring it. That was the good thing about wrestling, you rarely ever had to hide the pain all that much.

He lacked enough thought to spare towards realizing the fact that he was about to be Tombstoned into the canvas. It occurred to him about the moment it actually happened. Oh... Ow. He groaned as Taker left him laying there and heading back up the ramp. This was not how the match was supposed to end. For the life of him he was unable to figure out how it had wound up like this. Not that it did not follow the typical Shawn Michaels trend of luck, but...

"Yo, Shawn!" John shook him lightly, "You alright, man?"

Shawn opted not to reply past groaning and rolling his way out of the ring. The younger wrestler followed him out, helping to steady him as they walked slowly up the ramp. They stayed silent until they were backstage, at which point Shawn paused to say something. Nothing came, though, because at that same moment they caught sight of the Dead Man waiting against the wall. The duo did not say anything, mutually and silently agreeing it would be better to wait for him to speak first.

"Randy wanted me to remind you to get some ice for your shoulder." Mark muttered finally after a moment, looking at Shawn, "And next time, I suggest for you pay more attention to where you throw things and people."

Shawn growled slightly as he separated himself from his partner's support, "Gee, thanks."

He started to walk past the Dead Man, but was stopped by a large hand coming down on his bad shoulder. A choked noise of pain escaped him and Mark squeezed his hand in response. It was definitely not a pleasant sensation and he was once again reminded of the last time this particular injury had occurred... Man, it was not until moments like this that Shawn really realized how cruel his fellow workers—and friends—could be to one another.

"You might wanna get this shoulder checked out by a medic, Michaels." The large man suggested softly with a smirk, "Make sure everything is alright."

"Nnn... Yeah, medic. Got it. Thanks." As soon as his shoulder was released, Shawn started off down the hall quick as a flash and without another word to offer.

John watched him go, blinking when Mark turned his attention to him, "Uh..."

"Don't worry about him too much." The Dead Man suggested, nodding in the direction Shawn had gone, "Michaels ain't so stubborn as to not get checked out after an injury—Even a dislocated shoulder. He just needs to be reminded at times."

Before he could even nod, the large man was gone. It was good advice—John had been keeping good to his promise to Hunter. He was working on befriending Shawn and not just treating him as a co-worker. It was surprising, how easy it was to worry about the Texan. There was a difference in Shawn when Hunter was gone. He became more serious somehow... Carefully guarded around others but not unfriendly. It occurred to John that Hunter had acted much like this when their roles were reversed, but on a lighter scale. The two best friends were almost mirror opposites, it seemed, when they were separated compared to when they were together.

Shaking the thought from his head, John detoured to the medics station to make sure they would check on Shawn's shoulder. He was pleasantly surprised to find that Randy had already dropped by to let them know. After that, he made his way to the locker room to shower and change. There was also a mental note to pick up some ice for his ribs, groaning when he stretched. Just as he was finished getting dressed, there was a knock on John's locker room door. Calling for whoever it was to hold on, he finished tying his shoes and darted over to unlock and open the door. Much to his surprise, Shawn stood outside the door, leaning on the door frame with a small smile. Clear tape held a bag of ice securely to his shoulder and he was holding another bag of ice in his hand.

"Sorry to bother you, John, but uh..." He rubbed the back of his head and laughed a bit nervously before continuing, "My back is acting up and I..."

"Wanted to know if you could catch a ride?" John finished for him, stepping to the side and allowing him to enter, "Sure. I'm just finishing getting my stuff together, then we can leave. That good?"

"Yeah." Shawn moved over to the bench and lay down on it, placing the ice from his hands under his back. He was silent while the other finished getting ready.

The drive to the hotel was silent. So was the elevator ride up to their floor. John told himself that it was stupid to feel awkward. This was part of what he wanted, it was what friends did. Besides that, he had realized a lot lately that the older man was just the quiet type. Well, at least he hoped so. Otherwise the only other option was that John himself was some really bad company.

Shawn paused outside his room, placing his head against the cold surface of the door, "Hey, John... I just wanted to thank ya for the past few weeks."

"Dude, it's cool." John blinked, rubbing the back of his neck as he turned to fully face the older man, "You're my friend, and I know I'm not Hunter or anything like that but... It feels good to be helpful. Ya'know?"

"Yeah, hey... About that." Shawn turned around, smiling weakly, "I know Hunt put you up to all this but, if you ever need a favor or something... I got your back, alright?" He waited for a stunned nod before opening the door to his room and slipping inside. The door closed quietly behind him.

John stood there for a moment before slowly turning and continuing down the hall to his own room. He grinned as he unlocked the door and entered, realizing what had just happened. The older man had basically just accepted his friendship. Yeah, John knew he was definitely not Hunter or anything but... Shawn and him were going to be alright.

Fin

There it is. Not my best, I know, but it's just a little something...Let me know your thoughts in a review! Do eeet!

Side note: Yay for the return of DX!