21:

-Inside Randy's Head-

We got to the arena on time. As for the kind of driving it took to get there? I have no regrets.

McMahon had John and I take a seat first, then he leaned against the edge of the desk that had been put into the room for him and loudly cleared his throat. I had a whole set of answers for any question that he asked, no matter how ridiculous:

McMahon: "Are you two in a relationship?"

Me: "Fuck no!"

McMahon: "You you two sleeping together?"

Me: "I have a snoring problem, so my doctor recommended that I sleep alone."

McMahon: "Have you two been sharing a room together?"

Me: "We aren't sharing a room. We just take turns being in it."

McMahon: "Are you gay, Mr. Orton?"

Me: "If you mean the happy kind, then yeah, I'm gay. I'm over-fucking-joyed."

Oh yeah, I was ready for anything. McMahon opened his mouth and I was already prepared to answer when he asked point blank, "What the hell are you two doing?"

"I...wait, what?" I asked out loud.

McMahon looked at me curiously, then Cena spoke up with, "Look, I think we all know what's really going on here, and I'm not going to waste anymore time. Mr. McMahon, I would like to resign my responsibilities as a member of the WWE."

WHAT THE FUCK?!

:-:

-Inside Cena's Head-

I knew that Randy was going to react badly. He shot up in his chair and shouted, "No fucking way! You're not walking out because of this!"

McMahon put up a hand to calm Randy down, saying, "Now, wait a minute. I think we're all getting a bit hasty here."

I shook my head, replying, "This is what I want to do. If it's going to go down like this, then fine, I'll leave before anyone has a chance to throw me out."

Randy clenched his fists and turned to McMahon, arguing, "This is completely unfair! I'm making sure that Cena is safe from Wade and his little Nexus bitches and this is the thanks I get?"

McMahon furrowed his brow in confusion, then he explained, "Look, I don't like what Wade's doing around here, and frankly, if you're keeping Cena out of harm's way, Randy, then more power to you, but all I want to know is: why is Randy paying for one person to stay in his hotel room if you two are rooming together?"

Randy's mouth dropped open with shock. I was also surprised, but I managed to spit out, "That's it? That's all you wanted to know?"

Shrugging, McMahon replied, "Well, yeah. I don't care if you two are sharing a room, but if the hotels find out you're only paying for one person at a time, they'll ban us across the country, and that would be very bad for business."

I didn't know what to say. I was fully expecting an onslaught of questions, but the reality was that McMahon was just worried about undercharges. I quickly gathered myself and said, "Well, I guess I withdraw my resignation, and Randy and I will be sure to charge for two people next time."

"You're damn right, you will, and as for the resignation, Cena, I wouldn't have approved it anyway," McMahon said.

"Why not?" I asked, confused.

McMahon looked at both Randy and I as he explained, "I don't know what Wade is capable of at this point, especially after losing the Championship. I think it's certainly the best idea for you two to be here and looking out for each other. At least I know you're alive if you're still on the roster."

I wasn't sure if that last part was just a point or a warning from McMahon that we should watch our backs. Either way, I wasn't going to take any chances.

McMahon signaled for us to leave, and Randy and I walked out the door as quickly as possible. Once we were in the hallway, I turned to Randy and asked, "Did that really just happen?"

"I'm not so sure myself," he said blankly.

"Well, I guess we're good, then," I replied.

Randy suddenly grabbed me by the head and pinned me hard against the wall. He brought his lips close to mine, teasing the air between us but not quite going in for the kiss. He whispered to me in an almost threatening voice, "Don't ever scare me like that again."

It was obvious in his blue-green eyes that he was furious with me for attempting to resign. I took his wrists and pried his hands off of me, countering angrily, "I didn't do it because of you. I did it for our family and friends, the people who would be affected by our decision, remember?"

Randy blinked and took a step back, feeling the words he had said to me earlier being thrown back into his face. He said thickly, "John, I didn't mean it like that when I said-"

Someone came into the hallway and Randy quickly moved away from me. It was a crew member and he nodded at us as he passed. I took the opportunity and turned to walk away, telling Randy, "We'll talk about this later."

He knew he couldn't stop me with the crew member just a few feet away. I didn't mean to leave Randy hanging, but I had some bigger issues to look into, like what happened to Nexus after Survivor Series. Besides, I wanted him to stew for a while with the idea that I was angry with him.

I didn't want him to know that the sex immediately after our fight was so fucking fantastic, I couldn't care less what we were arguing about.

:-:

-Inside Randy's Head-

"Come on, fella! Ya ain't even tryin'!" Sheamus yelled at me.

We were in the ring, practicing before the arena filled up with fans for Monday Night RAW. Sheamus and I weren't scheduled to fight each other, but it made for good practice runs when our opponents were busy lacing their boots or picking their nose or whatever else the fuck people do backstage.

Fuck. I liked the sound of that. I really want to find Cena.

"Oi!" Sheamus called me to attention again, ripping me away from my thoughts of Cena.

That made me really angry.

I took a swing at him, and he pulled back to miss it, so I tried to leg-sweep him, and when he countered, I turned it into a spine-buster.

"Aw, fuck-it-all!" Sheamus yelled, grabbing the back of his head in pain.

I was already back on my feet. I smiled down at him arrogantly and reached out to help him up. Sheamus muttered an Irish curse at me as he took my hand. Once he was on his feet, he rubbed the back of his neck, mentioning, "Oi, Randy, yer one helluva quick fighter."

I nodded a thank you, and we started to take our positions again, but I heard the voice of CM Punk yell down to us from the ramp, "Hey, Randy!"

Looking up to see Punk coming toward me, I wasn't focused when Sheamus took advantage of the distraction and rushed me. I brought my left arm up and overextended my shoulder, angling my entire body so that Sheamus missed me by inches and went crashing into the turnbuckles.

My body continued to move with my shoulder as I rolled through the air and glided down to the mat, then I rolled out of the ring before Sheamus could try to counter me again.

One of the advantages of having hypermobility in my shoulders was that it made it easier to get out of the way.

Sheamus pulled himself out of the turnbuckles and cursed me again. I looked back at Punk, who had made it down to me, and I realized he was being followed by Tyson Kidd. I was confused until I saw Kidd roll into the ring and ask Sheamus for some practice runs.

Punk was making a setup so that he and I could talk alone.

With a light, almost friendly smile, Punk motioned to some arena chairs nearby and said, "Why don't we chat?"

I leaned in and said in a low tone, "We can take this backstage. I don't want anyone hearing us."

Punk laughed loud enough for Kidd and Sheamus to stop and stare at him. He waved them away and told me in a similar low tone, "You think I would take my chances being alone with you? I would rather keep this more affable, if you don't mind."

I watched him cautiously as Punk led me to our seats. I was not only wary of him, but of his words. I didn't know what affable meant, and I knew that Punk was aware of that. Jericho was another wrestler that seemed to enjoy using words that I couldn't understand. Punk had that same look on his face that Jericho did when I couldn't quite catch what he was saying: they thought I was just a lug head athlete with a nice body but no education.

I hate it when people think I'm stupid because I don't know always know what they're saying. Cena doesn't do that to me. I know he's damn smart, but he doesn't throw it back in my face like the other assholes. That's one of the things I love about Cena. He doesn't treat me like a lug head. God, I really want to see him right now.

"Excuse me? Hey, hey!" Punk snapped his fingers in front of my face.

I came back to reality and glared at him. Punk looked me over questionably and said, "Thought I'd lost you for a second, there. I was afraid you were having a stroke or something."

I had no idea I was so lost in thought. Punk had an expression on his face that was similar to Cena's when he talked about that faraway look in my eyes, but where Cena's expression was full of awe and a sense of curiosity as to where I went off to, Punk just looked like he thought I was completely pathetic.

"What do you want, Punk?" I stated boldly.

He sighed and answered easily, "I'm assuming you've heard I'm the hooded attacker that's been bashing your boy lately, but I'm done with all that now. I want to make amends, and I know you're just the man to talk to!"

It disgusted me how chipper he sounded. Like we were talking about the fucking weather.

I leaned into Punk and stated, "You better give me a good reason why I shouldn't break your neck."

Punk shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but I couldn't tell if he were just mocking me or not. He went on, explaining more deliberately, "I have a request for you. If you can fulfill it, I'll do nothing to harm your little Johnny."

I glanced at Sheamus and Kidd. They were still busy in the ring, not paying attention to us. I smiled and took Punk's hand, squeezing his pinky finger and twisting it to the point where it was about to break.

Punk yelped in surprise, and Sheamus and Kidd stopped to look at us again. I still had the smile on my face, so Punk waved at them like everything was alright, and Sheamus and Kidd went back to fighting. Punk looked at me with watery, pain filled eyes and I whispered to him, "You will never call him Johnny again. Only his close friends and family call him that. You don't have that privilege."

He nodded that he understood. I let go of his pinky, feeling some disappointment that I couldn't have just broken the damn thing off. Punk cradled his hand against him, saying quietly, "I underestimated your amount of...aggression, Randy."

I reached my arm around his chair and Punk's entire body tensed up. I kept the theatrics up with a grin and a relaxed attitude as I explained, "You know, Wade made that same mistake. It seems that no one who tries to mess with Cena understands how truly desperate I am to make sure that he stays happy."

"Desperate?" Punk asked curiously.

I leaned in closer to him to make him more uncomfortable and continued, "I've been in love with John for almost a decade. I was almost sure from day one that he would never return my feelings for him, but I wanted to try. Every day, I hoped that he would notice me. I talked with him, I joked with him, I fought with him in the ring, I called him from home, but never once did he realize what I felt inside. Every day I waited, and every day that went by that kept me away from John, well, those feelings turned into rage."

"Rage?" Punk repeated.

I nodded my head slowly and went on, "Rage. Just pure, unrelenting rage boiling inside of me. I could barely stand it sometimes, wanting so badly just to go up to Cena and tell him how I felt, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't disrupt him like that. Soon, it became too much to just watch him from afar. I wanted all of him, all the time, and for each day I couldn't have him, the rage boiled higher, and higher, and higher..."

"But he did return your affections," Punk pointed out, smiling uneasily.

I gave him a hard punch on the arm, making him flinch, then I replied in a light tone, "Yes, exactly, he did!"

Returning to my usual low tone, I stated, "But as soon as he did, Wade started fucking things up."

Punk swallowed hard and said, "Well, yeah, but Wade's not around anymore, and you've got Cena, so there's no need for the rage, right?"

I closed my eyes and sighed heavily to give Punk more reason to be afraid, then I opened my eyes again and replied calmly, "That's what I thought. Being with Cena should've destroyed the rage, but it didn't. You see, when I'm around Cena, the rage is gone. I don't feel it at all. But when he's upset, or hurt, or damaged by someone, the rage just overtakes me and I can't control myself, and then I do really, really bad things."

Snorting a laugh, Punk asked shortly, "Like what? Are you going to strangle me?"

I turned my head to one side and returned with a question of my own, "Did Wade ever tell you about how I did that to him?"

Punk's arrogance disappeared and he stared at me as I went on, saying truthfully, "If John had not been there to make me stop, who knows what I would have done."

I could see from Punk's expression that Wade had told him the story. He still seemed unconvinced, saying, "You wouldn't kill me. You'd get caught."

With a slight smile, I replied, "It's not about a crime scene. What I'm saying is: when it comes to my John, there's no telling what I would do for him."

Punk looked straight into my eyes. He could see that I was telling the truth. He looked away and tried to gather himself, saying, "Look, I will stay away from Cena, and I will keep Nexus away from him if you will do one thing for me."

"Oh, and what's that?" I asked darkly.

"All you have to do is intimidate Wade until he leaves on his own," Punk said.

What? That's it? I didn't believe it.

"Why do you need me to get rid of Wade? Why not get him to leave yourself?" I asked.

Punk frowned a little, replying, "I was hoping you'd jump at the chance. The problem for me is that he doesn't see me as much of a threat. Wade's only fear is you, Randy. Don't ask me why, but that's the truth."

I leaned back and considered what Punk was asking of me. He became frustrated that I didn't answer right away, so he stood up and stated, "What, you want some additional incentive? I happen to know that Wade has pictures of Cena in his car that he uses for his...fun time."

I was up and in Punk's face faster than he could blink. He put his hands up to stop me and said quickly, "Wait, wait, wait, I have a spare key, and I'll give it to you to get the pictures out. Wade is staying at the hotel on 47th, and you should try to go after 10 because he'll be asleep for sure with how much he's been drinking today."

He pulled the key from his pocket and handed it to me. I yanked it away from him and stashed it in the back pocket of my jeans, but I didn't stand down. Punk added awkwardly, "Of course, if you continue to intimidate Wade, I'll reward you by giving you more information about what Wade has on Cena, and I know everything he's said about Cena, too. That is, if you really want to hear it."

I wanted to know everything, no matter how much it enraged me, but I wasn't about to let Punk know that.

Pretending to consider his offer, I replied dryly, "I guess I'll see what I can come up with, but you better come up with even better, or the deal's off."

"Absolutely," Punk nodded in agreement.

Then I turned on my heel and walked calmly away, betraying nothing as I left Punk behind.

:-:

"Hey, John, love what you did with the chair to Nexus last night," Daniel Bryan said from behind me.

I turned around to face him and smiled broadly. We were waiting in the makeshift lunchroom of the arena for more food, which the crewman were set to bring in any minute. I mentioned quietly, "I was hoping someone would appreciate that."

Bryan laughed and replied, "Hey, I've was a part of Nexus for like, ten seconds, and I had to try to beat those guys during NXT, and I can tell you, I appreciate it!"

I laughed as well, then an idea came to mind. I asked Bryan, "What was it like? Before Nexus became a group, I mean."

Bryan opened his mouth to answer me, but Randy came barreling into the lunchroom at that moment and nearly ran right into me, stating boldly, "We need to talk now."

"Hey, I'm talking to him, if you don't mind," Bryan countered angrily.

Randy turned to Bryan and glared at him so harshly, I was surprised Bryan didn't drop dead on the spot.

I turned to Bryan and asked, "What were you saying? I really want to hear it."

Bryan opened his mouth to reply, but Randy cut him off again, focusing on me as he demanded, "Now, John!"

Bryan tried to step between us, shouting at Randy, "You can't just interrupt-"

Without warning, Randy bitch slapped Daniel Bryan across the face and said dryly, "Stop it."

"Ow! What the fuck, man!" Bryan held his reddened cheek, then he tried to come after Randy.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" I came between the two and put my hands out to stop them.

I took Randy by the wrist and started leading him away, calling back to Bryan before we left, "I'm sorry! We'll talk later!"

I pulled Randy out into the hallway, then I let go of his wrist and turned around to face him. He was still moving and he collided with me, taking me by the shoulders and pushing me backwards through the door to an empty room. He let go of me and turned to lock the door. I argued with him angrily, "What the hell was that back there? You didn't need to slap him!"

Randy turned back to face me and leaned against the door with folded arms, saying with his dry sense of humor, "I was jealous. That bitch was totally hitting on you."

"Stop it, alright? It's not funny! Bryan was going to tell me something useful about Nexus," I said.

Randy's gaze lowered as he realized that he had interrupted at the worst possible time. He looked back up at me again and said, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to tell you that I talked to Punk."

"What did he say?" I asked curiously, stepping closer to Randy.

He sat up straight and started moving toward me as he answered, "He says he'll leave you alone and keep Nexus away from you if I do my best to scare Wade off."

"What? That's it?" I asked, confused.

Randy broke his gaze from me again, and I knew he wasn't telling me something. I asked a more pointed question, "What else did he say?"

He went around my question, saying simply, "If I do what he wants, you've got nothing to worry about."

"Randy, what else did he say?" I asked again.

We were inches from each other now. Randy dropped his folded arms and shook his head, replying, "All I want is to make this right for you. He gave me that chance, and I'm taking it."

"That can't possibly be all he wants, it's too easy," I argued.

"It's all we've got for now. We should just go with it," Randy persuaded me.

I let out a heavy sigh. Randy was right, we should just go with it until we knew for sure what was going on. Randy looked down at me and asked, "Could I ask you something?"

"What?" I replied.

"Can I kiss you now, or are you still mad at me?" he asked with a mock pleading face.

I let out a short laugh and asked, "What is wrong with you? Are you always so randy, Randy?"

He squinted one eye in disgust and stated, "Did you just use my name as a sexual pun?"

I laughed out loud and Randy grabbed onto me, pulling me into a deep, passionate kiss. It was harder to kiss him when he was standing at his full height, which was several inches taller than me, so I pulled away and said, "Damn, I can't reach you!"

So I proceeded to jump on him.

Randy stumbled backwards and we both landed in a pile of folded chairs. I laughed so hard, I was almost in tears. Randy chuckled himself, but I could tell he wasn't too happy with me. I joked to lift his spirits, "What the hell? You were supposed to catch me and hold me up!"

Scoffing, Randy replied with a twinge of frustration in his voice, "You caught me off-guard."

My cell phone started to ring in my pocket. I pulled it out without looking at the person calling and told Randy before I answered it, "Remind me never to ask you to carry me over the threshold!"

Randy clenched his jaw and looked away. I could tell he was totally annoyed by my teasing. I put the phone to my ear and asked, "Hello?"

"...John?" came a quiet voice with a slight accent.

I didn't have to check the person calling. I knew that it was Justin Gabriel.

Assuming he was calling on behalf of Nexus, I asked darkly, "What do you want?"

Randy turned to face me and went on full alert. I waited for Gabriel to answer me, but there was an odd noise coming from the other end.

Was that...crying?

"...John, I need your help," Gabriel pleaded, his voice sounding desperate.