It wasn't like Paul had never noticed. Because he had. Many times. Even back before they were truly together and it was all just a game played out in front of rabid audiences, he had long taken notice.
The way that the woman looked at him, as silly as it sounded. But it was the truth. No matter what was going on, what they were doing, if they were in the ring, backstage, or even just sitting around at home, if he was speaking, her eyes were on his and full of admiration.
Because that was the thing, back in the beginning; Stephanie truly, honestly, thought the world of him.
Which wasn't that special, he would admit. A lot of women, whether they knew of his accomplishments in the wrestling ring or just caught a glimpse of him on the street, no doubt felt the same way. Would give him the same stares and respect and think just as highly of him.
But it wasn't the same. He couldn't really explain it. Especially not back then, in the early days. Later he'd be able to tout her above all others in the fact that, over a decade of marriage, and the woman still looked at him the same damn way.
As if he was constantly impressing her. Like no matter what he did, she was always interested in it and wanting to know more about what he was doing. In the interviews they did together, she would always look to him, as if just as intrigued by his words as anyone else listening would be.
Because she was was the strongest woman he knew. Hands down. The hardest working by no comparison. But that in no way stopped her from, at her core, being weak for him. Letting him take control.
Paul amazed her. Back then. Even now. Always.
It helped, of course, early on, that he found her so unbelievably attractive. He never would have acted on this, of course, (boss's daughter and all), until she did. Even still, he might have never even tried to risk his career for her if it wasn't for the intense gazes and conversations that he had with her.
They had begun hanging out a lot, during the start of their on screen relationship, practicing lines and jabs and somehow it just became...more. He'd known what he was doing, of course, to her, before the first real, unscripted kiss. He wasn't an idiot; he could tell that she was, at the very least, somewhat attracted to him. From the way she'd duck her head at times and blush, if only faintly, when he entered a room. When he spoke to her.
Even when they were acting out their shenanigans out in front of the crowds, there were times when she would say something to him, whether into a mike or just softly between them, that he knew was real. It just was. There were also parts, of course, that were completely scripted and they were, after all, still doing a job. A fun one, granted, but a job.
And he sort of did have a lot more going on at the time than just wooing Stephanie McMahon (although, it could be pointed out, he wasn't purposely wooing her at all; she was just getting herself hyped off unintentional things). Upkeep on a wrestler's body involved many long hours at the gym and careful sculpturing. Not to mention he had (albeit a small one) a life away from the ring. From WWF.
He had a real life.
But, for those few hours a week, when he was Hunter and she was his wife, he could toy around with Vince's daughter. Until he played too much and the game got too real. You know, as he'd mentioned before, that first time she kissed him.
It started in the most innocent of ways. Talking after a meeting about the new story lines they'd be introducing that following week. It had been so long, so very long ago, that he couldn't quite remember what (although he was certain his wife did and, should he be asked, would play it off as if he remembered the whole thing) had spawned the kiss. He just remembered leering down at Steph, teasing her over something, when suddenly she kissed him.
Chastely, he recalled and she was rather flustered by her actions as soon as she pulled away. There was a good chance he said something, but there was an equally as good a one that he didn't. He did remember her rushing off and them not speaking again until right before the show, a few days later.
Stephanie tried to pretend like it didn't happen and he was ready to allow her to until...well… It happened again. And that time was definitely his fault, as he'd been the one that was all pissy that day about something or other (he was sure he'd been butting heads with someone in the locker room) and used her as a kind ear.
That, somehow, turned into his face being far too close to hers and, honestly, he kinda wanted it that time. Or at least he wouldn't let her pull away, when she tried. He knew, especially after that first kiss, how the woman felt about him, so the blame laid squarely on his shoulders for pushing things even further.
He wasn't a great guy back then. And he wasn't thinking. Sleeping with Vince's daughter could spell a massive amount of trouble for him. But he did it. After that second kiss (that led to a third and fourth), he somehow managed to drag Stephanie out of the arena and they snuck off to a hotel and, well…
It wasn't romantic or anything. Nothing Paul would ever want his daughter to know about. That that was the beginning of their true relationship.
So he didn't tell most people that.
Rather, when asked when he and Stephanie first got together, he would always claim it to be, simply, during his quad injury. That they had been toying with the idea of it for awhile (if not having gone on a few dates previously), only for her to consider it a call to action on her part and take care of him.
Which was kind of true. He wasn't so sure he truly loved her before that. But he certainly did after that. And was not, at all, going to take the very heavily implied suggestion from Vince that it would be better for him and his career if he considered severing his ties with Steph.
Things were easy to look back on and decide what was right and wrong. Back then though, there were many times that it all felt wrong. He was sure that's really what spawned on a lot of their relationship. Because it was kinda scandalous, for both of them. Her father certainly wouldn't want her dating a wrestler (or at least not one of his) while it wasn't exactly great between him and the other guys in the locker room, for them to see him as securing a McMahon and therefore his spot in the company.
But neither cared. He figured that was another thing that Steph loved about him. More so than his looks or the way he treated her (which was quite well, he felt), he thought that it was the fact that he was willing to put it all one the line with her family, give up the thing he'd coveted above all else just to be with her, that really won Stephanie over.
She got pretty teary, anyways, if it was brought up.
That couldn't carry them, of course, for the rest of their relationship. They did hit other bumps along the way, as any other couple would. The biggest, by far, happened during his first quad tear.
Which, yes, he considered that time the binding of their future. But every day wasn't a piece of cake.
He was pretty agitated during that time period. Very easy to piss off. And Steph still had her own stuff going on, her own work, her own life, while he was sidelined during what, at the time, he considered would be the height of his career.
It was aggravating to him. More so than anything else had been up to that point. He would have days where he was pissed at himself and many more when that aggression had worn on himself and he began to take it out on others. She was a rather easy target.
But Steph was patient. With him. For the most part. There were other days when she flat out told him that she wasn't the one that got him injured; his body had been the one to do that. And, point blank, if he'd rather she didn't spend the very limited free time she had coming over to his home to care for him, that could very easily be arranged.
And that was for certain one of the things that most attracted Paul to the woman. She might have held him in high esteem and, for the most part, was seemingly enraptured by him, but he was not going to treat her in any way that she did not wish to be. He could be as loud and tough and strong as he wanted to be, out in the ring, but in their relationship, she was not one to be intimidated.
If that wasn't bewitching then Paul didn't know what was.
The good must have outweighed the bad, because she was right there regardless. Perhaps he apologized a lot. He felt like she forced those out of his lips a lot. He wasn't good at being sorry to other people, especially when he thought that he wasn't wrong.
He quickly found out, however, that Steph frequently felt the same. And if she wasn't wrong, but his thought contradicted hers, then what did it make him? Hmmm?
Hopelessly smitten, probably. Days when she couldn't be around turned into hell for him. Even though, as he got more mobility in his leg back, there were many other things for him to contend to (such coming back better than he ever had been), he felt as if she was all he thought about. She probably was too.
Most of his favorite memories from back then would be when she'd come over and he'd choke down whatever dinner she made him (he'd never admit it, but she wasn't as great cooking as she thought, especially not back then) before they'd go lay around in bed, him resting on his good side as she sat up next to him, allowing the man to curl around her as she recapped all that had gone on since they'd last seen one another.
A lot, typically. That probably had more to do with the fact that Steph never knew how to shut the hell up, but that was okay. Because she beat working out alone and listening to hardcore rock for your only source of company.
As the one with more relationships under his belt than her (and a lot more long term ones), much of what went on back then was under his dictation. He set the pace on things. Stephanie had been enamored with him from the beginning, as previously stated, so it was up to him to drag her back down to Earth at times.
Not that he could blame her. They had sort of played out a marriage, the good and the bad of it, which, while completely separate from their true relationship, no doubt made up a lot of their early memories together.
But it did feel good, when they were finally completely finished with one another on screen for a bit. He could get back to his element, which he did well. Even though he felt that his glory years in the business had definitely been in the 90s, Steph frequently told him that his had only just begun.
She was his biggest cheerleader. His little dork. She thought highly of his prowess in the ring and out. In all things. And though the woman had a problem with rambling on, there was nothing she liked more than to just lay around with him and listen to him tell her his views on things. Not even things only pertaining to the company. And it wasn't even that they shared all the same opinions; rather, it was that the way he spoke of his, with such confidence and conviction, that she didn't care.
She loved to hear him talk. Loved to sit in the gorilla room during the show and watch the way he expertly handled the mike. He was such a little asshole; but a loveable one, she'd always amend.
Not that he needed her to.
They both probably held their breaths more than they would admit, after that Valentine's Day proposal he surprised her with. Problems should have started sprouting more than they were, both no doubt felt. Things seemed to be going along just fine.
He'd honestly never felt more confident in a decision. Still though, it would be a lie to say he wasn't fearful of what marriage would bring to their relationship. After all, it wasn't known for fixing any problems, nuptials weren't, but rather creating them.
Yet, none came.
Not to say they didn't fight. Because they did. They both had rather strong personalities, his a reserved, calming river bubbling under the surface while she was excitable and more prone to feel emotions heavily than he, creating, at times, rather contemptuous environments.
Still, it never lasted long. Not a single fight. And they both tried to keep them far way from the business as possible. He just wanted to be Triple H there and she wanted to be the boss's daughter. He'd heard before that working with a spouse could lead to fractures in the marriage, but he never found this to be the case.
Maybe...well… Maybe he and Steph were just meant to be together. Because as time tacked on, rarely was there a day when her face wasn't a welcome sight for him backstage. When it wasn't a comfort rather than a detriment to have her milling around.
He actually truly enjoyed spending time with his wife. Over all others. And though their propensity to spend as much time together as possible made it hard to keep to their characters, he never fought it. And besides; a lot of her stuff was behind the scenes. Completely. Which kept her very busy.
It was rare that they could spend more than a few minutes before the show together. But when they could, well, they certainly used them.
She liked to hear him around the other guys. She always had. Especially him and Shawn. For some reason, and perhaps simply because she truly was the one for him, she actually still found their antics funny. Even when they'd long worn on everyone, but themselves, she would giggle and laugh and…
Maybe she just liked seeing him happy. He figured that had a lot to do with it. It was the same with the way he enjoyed watching her behind the scenes, getting things taken care of, throwing herself into work as hard as any one, even when she was pregnant, because she believed in the business. She loved the business.
He liked watching her run her business.
It helped too, of course, that he got along so well with her family. It helped big time. Had he and Vince not been able to ever work things out, back when he thought that it wasn't such a great idea for him to be interacting with his daughter, Paul had a feeling that things with he and Steph probably would have gone south. There was no one that she looked up to more than her father. And he revered the man in many ways himself. There became an overarching respect between both Paul and Vince, in which both only wished for the best for Stephanie, that eventually developed into probably the best father-in-law relationship Paul could have ever hoped for.
Of course, another ball should have dropped at some point. He was warned of it many times. That the honeymoon period would end for them and, slowly, they'd grow to resent one another and have to either learn to work around that or, eventually, find the other distasteful. While he never could picture that for himself and Stephanie, it was always in the back of his mind.
What story was more well known than that? Huh? Everyone falls out of love. Everyone. And the two of them spend so much of their days working with other attractive people, very long hours at times with the opposite sex, that it was almost asking for trouble.
Maybe, he thought once, after their first daughter was born, that was when the resentment would begin. He torn a quad not soon after that, putting him out of commission and into a rather foul mood for the most part, leaving Steph to care for the baby a lot of the time.
Clearly, that was begging for a problem to arise.
But, yet again, none seemed to appear. The foundation was too well built. They fought some. More, perhaps, than before. But that had more to do with the lack of sleep, probably, and the tension he had built up in himself over the fact that he'd, once more, been the own cause of his debilitating accident.
If anything, Aurora helped things. She...calmed him, in many ways. There were times when their disagreements between one another would have been worse, had Paul not been very cautious of the fact that the baby was sleeping in the other room and had no intentions of waking her. Or Steph could be picking at him about something and he could be just as snippy back, but they'd never raise their voices, refused to get irate, because Aurora was down on the floor, playing with her toys, and, while not having a grasp on the English language just yet, certainly knew tones. And they never wanted to upset her.
Ever.
And the last thing he wanted to do was fight in front of their children. He was always cautious of that. Even when the other two were born. Perhaps it was because he and Steph came from rather functional families (though hers, at times, could appear otherwise) that they were so good at that. He knew that bad cycles tended to repeat, but he hoped good ones did as well.
Things were so good between he and Steph many times that it could almost be taken for granted. This was another thing he had heard. That things could become stagnant, in such a way. Though their schedules could be rather hectic at times, both found themselves to be able to weather that storm quite well. They developed their own schedules, with the kids, and though the business was a top priority, it never rightly outweighed the responsibilities they felt at home.
It was actually probably the (semi) quick succession in which they had their children that kept them so close, especially Murphy and Vaughn. Steph was always concerned about her figure (again, they both did work with rather attractive people on a daily basis; though there was no distrust between she and Paul, that never stopped the drive to remain the best looking woman in his life) and staying in shape. Which just so happened to be what he was in a constant battle with.
So a lot of their personal time was spent there, honestly, in the gym. Whenever they could be. If Stephanie loved watching her husband speak, fight, hell, just exist, then she certainly loved watching him workout. He was the most dedicated man she knew. No matter how good of shape he might be in, if he felt as if he needed to drop a few, that would be all he would work on until he achieved his goal. Nothing in the gym was good enough for him. He would always train harder and push himself to new limits.
With her spotting him frequently, of course.
Not that he disliked it either, watching her workout. She used to feel as if he were mocking her, back when they first began to workout together, all those years ago, when he was trying to get back into shape after his first quad injury, but she'd quickly found out that wasn't the case. Rather, he was truly impressed with her. He just showed it with soft chuckles and cheesy grins
Because he loved watching his wife work. Be it at WWE, in the gym, or even at home, with the girls, on project or something, just seeing her in her many elements really did something to him. Deep inside.
He loved Stephanie. A lot. And after all they'd been through to get together and then stay together, he knew neither was planning on ever dropping their end of things and allowing their foundation to crumble. Even if she did one day, he'd be more than willing to hold it up on his own until she was ready to shoulder her half again.
His wife had become his entire life.
Which is why, that day, as they were doing press for WWE '13, and the question was asked of them just how they kept their marriage together after so long, that Paul only grinned, watching Steph try to meekly walk back the question, making some sort of joke of how, perhaps, that wasn't something that should be said aloud.
When the interviewer asked again, however, and caught Paul's eyes, his grin turned wider before he said, "What keeps the fire burning? A big log. It keeps the fire burning."
Then Steph laughed, that one that only he could get out of her, his smile somehow managing to grow.
And that night, after she'd scrubbed off all her makeup, and he was in bed, casually glancing through the messages on his phone, she finally brought it up again. He'd managed to avoid being scolded for it so far, but he'd known it was coming.
"A big," she said as she walked across the room to join him in bed, "log, Paul?"
"Mmmm." And even though the bed was far too big for the both of them, somehow he enjoyed it that she laid practically atop him. Tossing his phone to the side before his arms around her, he asked, "Is it not?"
"Well, that's a rather relative question, I think."
"To?"
"A lot of things." When she sat up and moved to swing a leg over him, he only grasped her hips, steadying her in his lap. Grinning at him, she said, "Time, I guess, would be the big one."
"I feel like it's only gotten bigger."
"I had a feeling you would."
Raising an eyebrow, he said, "Do you not?"
Steph only rested a hand against his chest before whispering, "Oh, I most certainly do."
"Right," he whispered before leaning over to press a kiss against her lips, "answer."
This, obviously, comes from that time that Paul gave that cutesy answer when they were out promoting (I think) the 2013 video game. It was just a really silly couple moment and, to me, something that he clearly said just to get her to laugh. I've noticed that in interviews too that Steph frequently stares up at Paul the same way she used to back in the early 2000s which is just shows too well how strong their marriage still is. That alone deserved a story.