Disclaimer: The characters and real people in this story do not belong to me. The characters belong to WWE and the people own themselves. There's some mild swearing, but other than that, you're good to go!
A/N: So this came out of a discussion with someone about the Hall of Fame ceremony and how H had seemed possessive/uncomfortable over Stephanie while she was speaking with Chris and how Chris had touched Stephanie's stomach and H's reaction to it. Anyways, this is...different for me. Where I'd intended it to go is not where it ended up going, like at all. I'm actually surprised with where this ended up and the characters of it and have decided to extend it by maybe one more chapter.
Anyways, it's in H's point of view, which is way different for me. I've never really tapped into him before and I thought it'd be a dark, scary place, but then I ended up with this. Little nervous about how you'll like it, but like I always say, if you want to be brutal, go right ahead. So hope you enjoy and if you want to leave a review, please do because well...this story is so not me and I need to know if it's okay! :P
He couldn't really explain his hatred for Chris Irvine, if you could even call it hatred to begin with. He knew that hate was a strong word, but whenever he saw the blonde man who seemed to shadow him like phantom, this ire drew up deep into his soul and bubbled and then it was like he saw red whenever Chris was around. He masked it well; it took him years to master it, but he was so good at the impassive mask now that he could be around the man and even sometimes pretend like there wasn't hatred or whatever hiding beneath his thick skin.
Except on this night, this night was different and he could feel it.
But he had to go back to before, before this night, before this year, before Chris's debut even. He had to go back to the phone call he'd received from Kevin Nash. He hadn't talked to the man in years, the Kliq had drifted apart and was now just another part of wrestling lore, but back then, when they'd been friends, they looked out for each other, like brothers, they always said. They were brothers. So Kevin had called him, told him everything he needed to know about a new recruit coming into the company.
"You've got to watch out for this one," Kevin said, all joking evaporating from his voice.
"Kev, man, I don't see what the big deal is," Paul told him. He'd heard about the guy, Chris Irvine or Jericho as his ring name dictated. He didn't much watch WCW so he wasn't familiar with everyone there, but the guy was a cruiserweight over there and barely anything more so what did he have to fear. He was finally getting the push he deserved and now that he was in the main event, he planned to stay there.
"I'm telling you, he has it. Eric didn't like him for some reason, but I'm telling you, the guy's got talent, everyone here can see it but the higher-ups. I'm just warning you, if you don't want to lose your spot, look out for him."
He'd not completely taken the words to heed, but he'd kept a close eye on the guy. He had to admit, when Chris debuted, he'd been impressed. He had the look, the skills, both in the ring and out, and Kevin was right, he did have the elusive "it" factor. Still, they traveled in separate circles and their storylines didn't converge so he didn't worry about the guy. He maintained his spot and Chris languished in the mid-card where he belonged.
Then he'd started a feud with Joanie. He'd been with Joanie at the time and he loved her. He loved everything about her and when she'd told him off-handedly one night that Chris had stiffed her a bit in the ring, he remembered the feeling, even now, years later, that bubbled for the first time in him. Yes, maybe that was the point where it truly began. He'd been so angry that night he'd wanted to seek out Chris and beat him, but Joanie had placated him, told him she actually liked it that Chris didn't treat her differently because she was a woman. He'd let it go that night.
But had he ever truly let it go?
When he'd started dating Stephanie she was already friends with the guy. He was personable it seemed because most everyone liked him. He'd never tell her who to be friends with and so they continued to be friends. Then they got closer…and closer…and closer…and he sat back and watched it all happen. They were just friends, Chris was married, but then she'd start going to bat for him during production meetings, they'd start hanging out at night and they had this relationship that Hunter wasn't a part of and maybe that's when the anger that had started with Joanie completed its journey to hatred.
Then it led him to tonight. Stephanie had been angry all day. He didn't know if it was because of the pregnancy because she never said anything to him about it. Not that she didn't say anything about the pregnancy in general, but Stephanie was one of those people who liked to suffer in silence. It was easier to believe that it was because of the baby and not because she was mad at him about something. She had seemed off for a few days now and he didn't know what to attribute it to. It had really come to a head the night before. They'd spent the day with the girls and then at night he proposed taking her to a fancy dinner. She'd agreed and he'd brought his family with them, Vince and Linda taking care of the girls.
Stephanie had been short and testy all evening, though only he could see it. She'd been polite and friendly with his parents and sister, even nicer to his nephew and niece, but it was a show that she was putting on quite well. She looked at her watch constantly, her hand just below the level of the table as she glanced at it. Sometimes he caught her sighing and then going back to her food, picking at it, but not really eating it. She took a few bites, then looked at her watch and then looked at her plate again. He'd been compelled to ask her if she had a better place to be, but he didn't want to tune in his family to his marital strife so he kept his mouth shut until they were in the hotel lobby after they'd all split up for the evening. The talent had to stay at an undisclosed location.
"Is something wrong with you?" he asked, finally able to use the voice and tone he'd wanted to use all evening.
"No, why?" she asked, but she was using that same testy voice she'd used before dinner.
"Because you've been looking at your watch the entire night and I'm starting to think you have someplace better to be and if that's the case, maybe you should be there." He didn't mean to get so mad at her, but he was tired of her looking angry at him. It was starting to make him angry.
"I'm sorry that I wanted to know the time," she snapped at him. She said nothing else to him as they went up to her room. "I'm going for a walk," she told him, going through her suitcase for something comfortable to wear. "Don't follow me."
"I'm not letting you out there this late at night," he told her. Was she crazy or something? Everyone knew they were in town for WrestleMania. There was nowhere she could go without being mobbed by people. "You're not going anywhere alone."
"Yes, I am," she told him.
"No, you're not."
She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "Look, I'm not going anywhere far and I'll put a baseball cap on or something and a big sweatshirt and nobody will know it's me, okay? I'll disguise myself. That way I won't get mobbed. Besides, I like the fans, I like interacting with them. I know that it isn't your favorite thing in the world, but I enjoy it."
"I just don't want you to get hurt or something," he told her, walking over and kissing her on the forehead and then kissing her lips, those sweet, moist lips. She kissed him back briefly and then pulled away.
"I'll be fine," she said, emphasizing the last word and drawing it out to far beyond its normal conclusion. "You worry too much about me, you know…"
"I'm supposed to change that?" he wondered incredulously.
"Lighten up a little," she said, squeezing his bicep. "I promise, I won't be gone long."
She was gone for three hours.
He'd been worried after the first hour, after the second hour, he'd been terrified and after the third hour and countless calls to her cell phone, she strolled into hotel room and he'd rushed to the door, enveloping her form into his own for that moment, she felt so very small. She hugged him back and then pulled away to stare at his face. He'd been worried about her and it was only now that he took a moment to realize she smelled like heat and the faint smell of smoke.
He'd asked her where she was and she'd told him she made a quick stop by Chris's concert, the one he was doing with his band. He'd wondered why she didn't tell him she was going there, why she didn't even drop him a line. She said she thought she had and when she looked at her phone, the message was there, but she'd forgotten to send it. She apologized and he'd accepted, but wondered if that was why she'd been on edge the entire evening, if she was just biding her time until she could steal away and go see Chris in concert.
She'd told him over breakfast that Chris had invited her, but she knew it wasn't his thing so she'd not invited him along. He didn't like her explanation, but what could he realistically do? Go back in time and stop her from going? They were friends after all and she never stopped him from going out with any of his friends, never a word passed from her lips in protest to him going out for hours with Shawn. She never called him to check up and never pressed for information when she came back. They were trusting, but maybe, just maybe he was too trusting.
There were times in his relationship with Stephanie that he believed her to be having an affair with Chris Irvine. It wasn't that way immediately. He hadn't one day woken up with this suspicion. It happened in 2002, before they were even engaged to be married. Chris had proposed a storyline wherein Chris and Stephanie would have been having an affair the entire time he was away rehabbing. He'd been quick to protest, but Stephanie had said nary a word. It raised red flags in his mind, but when he'd protested, Chris had not fought and neither had Stephanie so he'd set it aside as just one man's ambition to get to the top.
Don't get him wrong, he trusted Stephanie implicitly, but he couldn't keep the thoughts out of his mind. He understood a man and woman could be friends and Chris was still married and had three kids of his own, but still…there were times. Like when Chris had come back from his hiatus or whatever the hell he called it. Stephanie had wanted him back. They'd been talking in bed one night, a rare night when Aurora was completely conked out and was not going to wake up during the night. She'd just come out and said that she wished Chris would come back already. He was aware they kept in touch. She mostly made him aware of anything that dealt with Chris, another way that he could squelch those affair thoughts in his mind.
She said she wished he'd come back and then she up and made it happen. It was like she asked and he immediately said yes to her, like he couldn't say no. Then another red flag right where he'd taken away the last one. Why was he so willing to come back? It had been two years and what, one word from Stephanie was all it would ever have taken to get him to come back? Then Stephanie, who considered this a coup, was extremely into him coming back, setting up the entire "Save Us" campaign and then wanting to push him to the moon. He'd admit it, if only to himself that he was jealous.
Yes, he, Paul Levesque, was jealous of Chris Irvine.
It felt like Chris had Stephanie in ways that he couldn't and it bothered him. He was married to her, had kids with her, and yet, there was something off-limits to her when she was discussing Chris. He had come first and Paul could never change that, no matter how hard he tried. Maybe it wasn't a physical affair, but Chris had part of her that he didn't get and it bothered him to no end. Yes, maybe the journey of his hatred was just beginning really. He was a suspicious man in general so this did not bode well for him.
When Murphy was born, he didn't know why, but he'd had doubts, little ones, like nanobots that burrowed themselves in his skin and took residence in his brain. The doubts quickly faded, like rain on a humid day. Then, now that Murphy was older, they came back with a vengeance. It was just little things. Murphy was blonder than he'd ever been and Stephanie was not blonde at all, shouldn't her hair be darker? Why was it curly? He'd never had a curly-headed day in his life and he'd seen Stephanie's baby pictures and her hair was straighter than an arrow. Then Paul had seen Chris's daughters and they looked a bit like Murphy. Was he crazy, probably, but with the nature of Chris's relationship to Stephanie, he wondered, maybe just obliquely, if Murphy was not his daughter, which lead him to thinking about this newest child.
Then there had been their storyline from 2008, which they'd both lobbied for. It was a lot harder this time around to convince them to nix that and go with Randy Orton in Chris's spot. They hadn't seemed happy with it, but again, they didn't protest it so maybe this really was just in his head and he was projecting something onto them that wasn't really there in the first place.
So here he sat, parsing out these thoughts as wrestlers who had come before him were inducted into the Hall of Fame. He'd be there someday and he'd already chosen Shawn to induct him. Stephanie was sitting next to him, angry again over something he didn't know and again, this was making him angry too. She looked beautiful tonight, he'd told her so earlier and she'd just grunted as she continued to put on her makeup. He'd been readily rebuffed at her response and their conversation, which merely consisted of a word here and there, was brusque for the entirety of the evening. She kept looking around, looking bored and it was affecting his own mood.
When it was finally over, everyone milled about. He stood, talking to his father with Stephanie standing idly next to him, still with that disinterested look on her face. It was too bad that such a pretty face was marred by that look. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chris dodging people to get over to where they were. Then, the smile he'd been looking for and trying to get all evening graced her face, making her beam and it was towards him. Red flag, red flag, red goddamn flag! He turned towards them, but Stephanie was already turning towards Chris. His father's words started to muddle together as he focused on Stephanie and Chris, who were talking in low voices. He inched closer to her, possessively he knew, and kind of stood on the outskirts, a place he felt a lot when she was with Chris.
"So how funny was Uecker's speech?" Chris laughed and Stephanie laughed as well. He'd made jokes earlier and she'd barely deigned him with a look.
"It was hilarious. God, I remember being around Andre when I was little and it was always just a crazy feeling, especially when you're a kid, you just look up and then you keep looking up and looking up and then you see this face and you're terrified, but then he was so nice," she explained. He inched closer as it seemed Stephanie was inching closer to Chris.
"He was larger than life almost literally," Chris joked.
"So Jessica isn't here tonight?" Stephanie asked, looking around. Paul listened to her voice, trying to detect anything from it, but it was a simple question.
"Nah, she…well, she took a vacation earlier this week and I was at home so we kind of switched places," he said hesitantly.
"Oh, that's too bad," she told him. "I can't believe she missed your concert last night, it was completely epic. I've never seen you play live before and so this was a new experience for me and you are quite the showman."
"Like you didn't already know that," he teased and their rapport was so familiar. They really were two old friends. Maybe he was just seeing things and there was truly nothing there to worry about. He probably was. "I'm glad you could come." Hunter tried not to stare, but he could feel a little glance from Chris and it was one that was wondering how much Stephanie had told him about where she'd been.
"I'm glad I could come too," she told him, her voice becoming softer. He thought she only used that voice for him so hearing her use it with him was a shot to the stomach, but he bit his tongue, just watching them, as if watching them would hold all the secrets. "I had a great time."
A great time doing what?
"Oh, the baby just kicked," Stephanie said, laughing and placing her hand on her stomach. "Do you want to feel?"
Paul almost did a double take and then did when Chris reached forward and pressed his hand against his wife's stomach. What the hell was going on? His jaw slowly dropped as he watched. Stephanie looked up at Chris expectantly, waiting for him to feel and when he wasn't, she grabbed his wrist and moved it a little on her stomach. He couldn't believe his eyes. Stephanie hated when people touched her stomach while she was pregnant. It was one of her biggest pet peeves. She'd actually snapped at old ladies when she'd been pregnant with Aurora. But Chris was the exception? His grubby hand all over her stomach like he owned it?
"Oh wow," Chris said. "That's awesome." He laughed, obviously having felt the baby kick. It was not his baby, it was Paul's and he felt compelled to say something, to blurt out that he needed to step back and then he would pull Stephanie away from him. "I haven't felt that in a really long time, not since…Murphy probably."
Murphy? Why Murphy?
"Oh yeah, God, she was like an acrobat in there, I swear, she's still like that, always trying to jump off furniture, I'm not sure she doesn't realize she doesn't have a harness attached. Didn't you say Cheyenne was like that?"
Why was Stephanie comparing their daughter with Chris's daughter? Why? And why was Chris's hand still on her stomach. He was almost willing it away when Chris pulled it away and good thing too.
"Yeah, my little Chey the flyer. She loves to fly around like a crazy person, airplane is still her favorite game," Chris chuckled and Paul wanted to rip this guy's throat out. Here Chris was, making his wife laugh and smile and talk and he'd been trying all evening and nothing! There was no justice in this.
Chris had a part of Stephanie he would never have. Why? He didn't know. He just had her in a way that Pau would never have her. They'd not looked once in his direction to include him in their conversation. Instead, they were off in their own world. He'd ignored the rumors he heard, the whispers, he'd ignored them all, but they didn't have to have sex to cheat. They were cheating right now, right in front of him and neither one even cared. Chris had carved a niche in Stephanie's heart and it was obvious he would never reach or fill that niche, it was Chris's and Chris's alone. Chris owned that part of her, had owned it even before he had come and claimed however much of Stephanie's heart he did own, where it felt like it depleted more and more each day.
In that way, he was the other man.
