Disclaimer: As always nothing in this fic belongs to me. It's all property of the WWE even if they are the sort of owners that have a crazy dog, overgrown hedges and play their music loud enough to shake the window panes.
Bad Romance
It killed me that I couldn't even glare at John properly. It was demeaning enough being John Cena's rebound guy but it was even worse being his dirty little secret. As far as everyone backstage was concerned John had a perfect match and it certainly wasn't me. Right now that man was sitting across from John in catering with his admittedly adorable daughter Alanna sitting in his lap giggling at something John had said. Randy Orton was lucky his daughter was there because I was seriously tempted to leap over the table and strangle him until his drug-addled head turned blue.
When John and Orton got together everyone said they had seen their relationship coming from a mile away. They had a natural chemistry that was visible to everyone. It was only a few weeks after Orton and his wife Sam had officially separated that he and John revealed their relationship. No one knew if John had been the cause of the split between Orton and his wife but it couldn't have been all that acrimonious of a breakup if Orton still had joint custody of his daughter and not a hint of his and John's new relationship had turned up on TMZ.
It lasted for a sickeningly sweet 4 months, every day of which I wanted to slap the Anaconda Vise on Orton and toss his body in a dumpster behind some arena. I had always kept my circle of friends in the WWE small. My admittedly difficult disposition made making new friends unlikely. Most people didn't even attempt to get on my very slim good side but John Cena was not most people. John's friendliness knew no bounds and an offhand statement during my now epic promo about liking John better than most of the guys in the back seemed to give him implicit permission to make me his new best friend, following me backstage after my mic had been cut and trying the strike up a conversation. I was almost happy when I had been suspended indefinitely because it meant I wouldn't have John trying to pointlessly make friends every time I turned around. When he stood up to McMahon and got both my suspension lifted and my title match reinstated he seemed to think that would get him in my good graces, which it didn't. He followed that up by acting like some heroic boy scout and preventing McMahon and Laurinaitis from screwing me at Money in the Bank even if it meant he walked into a GTS and lost his title.
I was ready to take the WWE Championship to Ring of Honor when Triple H contacted me and tried to sign me to a new contract. I said no without giving it another thought but it was Colt that convinced me to swallow my pride and call Triple H and commit to a new contract. Colt said that I had spent too many years hanging on to my tenuous position in the WWE to throw it all away when it looked like I was so close to gaining the success I had been working so hard for. I tried to humiliate John when I confronted him in the ring my first night back but he just smiled. I needled him endlessly on Raw in the lead up to SummerSlam, setting him off a few times but his anger never lasted.
In the end it wasn't his niceness that won me over but a glimpse of the ass John Cena could be when properly motivated. I was pissed as hell after Nash attacked me and del Rio cashed in on me. When I finally cornered Triple H I found that John had already gotten there before me and was tearing Triple H a new one for missing his foot on the ropes. He was crossing lines that I had never even thought to cross. I just stood there dumbfounded until it was clear John was about 5 seconds away from hitting Triple H and I dragged a protesting John away. We spent the night in his room mocking Triple H endlessly and venting our shared loathing of del Rio. It was a side of John Cena I had never thought existed much less mirrored my own less than admirable qualities. We stayed up all night coming to an agreement that we would both make sure that del Rio got what he deserved, the best man coming away with the title. John made good on our deal beating del Rio at Night of Champions but del Rio, with his rented cars and his grating ring announcer, would just not go away.
In the lead up to Hell in a Cell the chemistry everyone was talking about was not John and Orton's but John and mine. We were seamless in the ring whether it was cutting promos or getting a little physical. Even the Wrestling Observer agreed giving our Money in the Bank match 5 stars, a feat that hadn't been achieved in the WWE since 1997. In the end we both ended up getting screwed at Hell in a Cell but when I won the title back from del Rio at Survivor Series John was just as excited as I was, almost as if he had won it himself.
We both still hung out mainly with our very separate groups of friends, Randy Orton included in John's circle, but we seemed to gravitate towards one and other, hanging out just the two of us more often than not. I can't say if it was opposites attracting, or his dimples, or his mouthwatering body or his innate goodness that was missing from my life but I fell for him so gradually that I was completely in love with him before I even knew it had even begun. We were both openly gay and I thought that John's friendly affection could possibly be more; that he felt for me what I felt for him, but I was wrong. Of all the confidences that we shared, the fact that his heart belonged to Randy Orton never came up and in a way the beginning of their relationship was all my fault.
John came back from his short time off around Tables, Ladder and Chairs elated. Even though it killed me to hear the details John was so happy he had no problem sharing them, not realizing he was crushing me with every word. Orton had flown down to Tampa to see John and told him that he realized that he was in love with him because all the time that they were spending apart; all those times he was with me. He missed having John all to himself. I had unknowingly incited Orton to action and it fucking killed me. I thought hearing John gush was painful, but I had no idea how much worse it could get.
I had to watch for 4 months as John and Randy became the perfect WWE power couple. I had to grit my teeth every time Orton touched and kissed the man I was in love with but the most horrific thing was when Orton brought Alanna backstage. Together they were the perfect little family. I had never thought to want those things for myself until I saw them together and realized that Orton had everything I could never have with John. I had always despised Orton but now I knew what it was to truly hate. John and I spent progressively less time together until it withered away to almost nothing. Our friendship would have completely died if it had not been for Chris Jericho. Seeing Jericho attempt to destroy me emotionally brought John back to me in some small way. Our fraying friendship was saved by Jericho and his devious actions because, in John's words, he didn't like to see me hurt. That sentence devasted me more than any thing Jericho could throw at me.
When John showed up at my hotel room after WrestleMania with a stricken look on his face. I wondered why John was coming to me and not Orton after his loss to the Rock but I let him in without hesitation. John forced out that it wasn't the Rock that had brought John to my door but Orton. He had broken up with John after they came back to the hotel. Orton was going back to his wife to try to patch up their fractured family. I knew that had to be the deepest wound because John probably thought they were building a family together with Alanna.
When John kissed me I didn't push him away. When he stripped me bare of my clothes and covered my body with his I didn't say no. When he came back night after night I never turned him away and when he asked me to keep us a secret I agreed without a second thought. He was upset and vulnerable and the guilt I felt at taking advantage of the situation was agonizing but I didn't think about stopping it for a moment. I loved him too much. I had said the words once but they were only met with silence and I never let them cross my lips again.
Looking across the room the night of the 1,000th episode of Raw at the table the once happy family occupied the appalling truth was finally driven home. It wasn't me that was taking advantage of John. John, making me his dirty little secret, was taking advantage of me. I was ready to wring both of their necks and didn't care who saw when a hand clamped around my bicep and pulled me out of my seat, dragging me out of the room. John and I had kept our relationship a highly guarded secret, but secrets were meant to be found out and the most unlikely person had caught me out, forging a most unlikely friendship. A friendship I was completely ungrateful for at the moment when all I wanted was to commit justifiable homicide.
AN: I know, I know, what in the world am I doing starting another fic while I still have one out there swinging in the wind? Full credit for the premise of this story and title goes to Alicedavidhatter. I was going to let the current angle just pass me by but the story idea was just too good to resist. Secret Life is waaay AU and this is based on current storylines so I hope I can do both justice. Review and let me know if you're interested in the continuation of this story.
