So here's what happened: I wrote the next chapter, then completely deleted the entire thing without backing it up because that's my life and I learned nothing in high school. So I re-wrote it, hated it, and re-wrote it again. So hopefully this version is decent. Here she goes again! What'd you guys think of the last chapter? Why exactly did Finn Balor go after Seth? What's up the goth princess, Zahra Schreiber's, witchy sleeve?
"I don't know, Dad," Stephanie McMahon sat at the long conference table with the other creative team members. Mr. McMahon was on speakerphone, his words commandeering and sharp to those that sat in the room. "We've set up Paige and AJ once more, and hopefully we can feud those two properly this time around. Bringing real-life into this isn't a great idea, given AJ and Seth's pasts..."
"Look, all I'm saying is for the greatest stories to be told, there needs to be a little bit of truth in them. If we plant the seeds that there is more going on with Finn Balor and AJ to the fans, they'll grab that idea and run with it. Since AJ and Seth have gone fairly public with their relationship at this point, our fans know that they are exclusive."
"Maybe, but I don't want to cause any more gaps in their personal lives," she argued, glad that she wasn't able to be seen by Vince.
"Why waste the opportunity, though? My sources tell me that AJ and Balor got along famously in Florida. It'll hardly be acting on their parts. Plus, we've already got the recording of Paige and Seth's meeting in the locker room. It's a simple way to begin a feud between the two men, catapulting Finn into the proper bracketing for the future. That being said, I've got to meet with Hunter to get him to drop the NXT title-"
"There really could be a better way," Stephanie argued weakly, but she was on the losing end here. Turn the two women against each other, turn the men against each other, and there ought to be a solid story, right? Well, it made sense in Vince's uncanny mind. She rubbed her temples, trying to avoid eye contact with her team. If she showed weakness in front of them, she'd be played like a damned fiddle. Yet, when it came to her Dad, he just didn't seem to see things the way she did anymore. Meddling in her stars' personal lives wasn't something she wanted to do anymore.
"Nonsense, Steph. I expect an audio clip between Seth and Paige to be edited and sent to me promptly. We'll dub the scene, play it as a story enhancer, and in the next few weeks, we can create some heat between the two male champions. In the meantime, it'll show Paige is sly and AJ Lee is just smitten with a pretty boy. She moves on to Finn...and all is well."
"We've really tried to branch out from love triangles, though," Stephanie pointed out. "Don't you think it's setting women's wrestling back a ways?"
"Well, Steph, to be honest, no. There are so many women who aren't doing a darned thing on the roster. Neither of those women are even on the horizon for the championship, so we are essentially doing them a favor and giving them television time. Something to do while we let Charlotte run with the title for awhile."
With an exasperated sigh, Stephanie McMahon finally agreed. Unfortunately, he had a point. And if he was willing to get the ball rolling in Finn Balor's direction, things would look up for the company. Some of the men and women seated around her held their lips together in grim lines, not wanting to make their personal opinions known-you simply don't cross the boss. Others nodded their heads, scratching whatever ideas they had bouncing around onto their legal pads.
Whatever the outcome, Stephanie McMahon truly hoped she didn't lose very talented athletes over something so...stupid.
It had been two weeks since Seth had been faced with the Demon King, the budding storyline from the uppers becoming more clear each day. The latest, he'd heard, was that Finn Balor would be dropping his NXT title to Samoa Joe, a wrestling phenomenon that deserved to hold gold just as much as the latter. Once this happened at an NXT Takeover event, it was all a matter of time before Finn Balor made his official debut to the main roster.
Seth couldn't help but to feel uneasy about this transition. He knew Finn deserved everything he got, yet at the same time, the last interacting with him had certainly left a bitter taste in the back of his mouth, watchful and aware of his every move. Even if he eventually dropped the title to the newcomer, he was more worried about the blurred lines between professionalism and personal life between the other man and his very newly, public girlfriend, AJ Lee.
It wasn't that he didn't trust AJ, because he did. But the way things had been going for the pair had been hell. Between the fights about his nutjob ex-girlfriends to Finn dropping hints that he'd shown April his ceiling, Seth knew that it was just a matter of time before his time as the "Face of the Authority" was about to burn up. He'd be pushed aside eventually, Balor taking complete control of the heel persona that Seth had been granted. Whatever was coming from the creative team was big, and he knew it. The last few weeks of writing were so basic and noncommittal that it was clear they were planning something that would shake things up monumentally.
"What's eating you, Gilbert Grape?" AJ sat down on his hotel bed, her white towel still wrapped around her from the shower she'd just emerged from. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her, nestling into her freshly washed hair. Pressing his lips against the back of her head, he allowed her to lean back into him, nestling against his core.
"Just the direction of creative," he admitted, though kept his main concern under lock and key. "The last few shows have been...shit. Embarrassing. Whatever it is they're planning, it's not going to turn out good for me."
"Hmmm," she nestled against him, drawing his arms to wrap around her. "Maybe things are going so well for you, you're fearful that it won't last forever?"
Seth chuckled a little. "Maybe, but it's more than that. I've been going through the motions with no direction, and it sucks. I know they're priming Balor to take the belt, which is fine..."
"Seth, knock it off," AJ muttered. "Don't you think your preoccupation with Finn has been going on a bit long?"
"Seeing as he has the potential to take everything from me? Not really," Seth muttered in response, and AJ sat up straighter, turning to face him.
"I'm still going to be here, no matter if he has that stupid belt or not," she took both his hands in hers, now kneeling in front of him, the white towel beginning to give. If he wasn't so frustrated with the show that evening, he would have taken it upon himself to pull the tiny bit of Egyptian cotton to complete the unraveling, allowing for his breathtaking girl to flaunt her body.
"AJ...I do believe you when you say you two weren't together. But it's clear that his sights are still set on you, and I'll be damned if he takes the belt and you, too."
AJ made a half giggle, half snorting sound. "I've got what I need, right here...in front of me," she purred, slowly crawling towards the Architect, brushing her lips onto his. In an instant, Seth gave in to her. Sure, he'd been annoyed at his eventual replacement popping in to his life, but still he found that AJ was able to completely clear his mind. He didn't have any self-control when it came to her.
Suddenly, AJ pulled back, a look of surprise on her face. "Oh my gosh! I'm sorry for the total random thought, but my old buddy Colt Cabana has been blowing up my phone for actual weeks. I hate asking you, but all my old things from Chicago...well, I need to keep them somewhere. Do you mind if I keep them in your basement until I buy a condo?"
Seth gave her a lazy smile, then kissed her once more. "Timing is kind of off for this discussion," he replied, pointing to the obscene tent that had formed beneath his black sweats, "But nonetheless, it's something I've been rolling around in my head for awhile."
"You've been wanting me to ask that your house be a small storage unit until I actually have time to start looking for an actual place to live?"
Seth kissed her forehead, his eyes sparkling. "No, not quite. One second," he swung his legs around to the side of the bed, his bare feet making small pats against the hotel room floor. He finally got to his black jacket, pulling out a little envelope from the breast pocket.
"I've been thinking...since it's been hectic for you and all, that maybe if you needed somewhere to stay..." his words were all sorts of jumbled, and he clearly hadn't rehearsed whatever he was going to say to her.
AJ quirked an eyebrow in response, pulling the towel tighter around her as the fabric began to sag.
"Well, here," he placed the envelope in front of her, which she carefully opened. It was a spare key.
"Seth...are you...what?"
"Well, I was just thinking that you might have time off while I don't. You're going to run your bank account dry staying in hotels and stuff every time you have off. You might as well have some kind of sanctuary. You can just put your things in the guest bedroom until you've got a potential home of your own..." he trailed off, unable to finish the rest of his thought.
"Continue," AJ demanded. "I know you've got more to say, but you don't have the right words. Spit 'em out."
Seth laughed, stretching his arms up over his head. "I mean, unless you don't want to start looking for your own place. You can always just stay with me."
AJ gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "That's pretty serious, Seth. Are you sure that you want to do that?"
"I'm sure, sweetcheeks," he drawled, dropping back on to the bed before tilting her chin up towards his face. "I'm sure about you, about us, and about what I want this to be in the long run. Fuck what the company thinks about it, you know? No matter who they bring in for me to square off with, and no matter who they want me to drop the belt to...the only thing I know for sure is that I want to come back to something real. And...before you, things have never felt so certain before. I love you more than I ever thought possible, April."
"Aren't you worried this seems to be kind of...moving fast?"
Seth gave her a look of worry. "Not to me, no. There have been all kinds of enemies coming out of the woodwork, and we've proven ourselves stronger than they are. But if you're worried that it's moving too fast, that's okay. But please, take the key. Like I said, even in the meantime, you can use my Iowa home to go to when you have a few days off at a time."
"Thank you, Seth," she replied quietly. She took the envelope from the bed, slipping it into her black cross-body bag that she normally carried around with her everywhere. "That's very sweet. I'll try to get hold of Colt and see if we have a common time to meet there. I know his wife or whatever is starting to get antsy about all my stuff in his house."
"If you don't mind me asking, how did Colt get it? All of your belongings, I mean?"
AJ gave a weak smile. "By sheer, dumb luck. It was either that, or Phil was gonna donate them. When I left, you know, I didn't have much time to pack. So I packed my essentials, hopped on the bus, and didn't look back. As awful as it was, I knew that deep down I was making the right decision. Anyway, Phil had asked Colt to help him load some stuff to be donated to Goodwill one weekend, and once Colt got there, he realized that all the things that were to be 'donated' were all of my collectible things. Phil's new...love interest...baby mama, whatever...she had been remodeling my gaming room into a damned nursery and wanted to see the stuff I'd left behind out the door. So instead of loading my stuff on to a trailer, Colt's been hanging on to it for me. But yeah, he's been pretty adamant about getting it out of his spare room. I just haven't had anywhere to take it to, yet."
Seth took in her words, not replying. He drew a breath. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that," he said finally. "I want to make sure you don't ever have to feel that sort of pain again."
AJ gave him a lopsided grin, kissing the corner of his mouth. "I love you, Seth," she stated simply. She was on cloud nine with him.
During Smackdown the next day, the creative team had finally gotten the approved clip to air. The tiny interaction between Paige and Seth had been caught on camera, and with tons of editing, the team had managed to forge an entire conversation between the pair, despite the exchange never actually happening. Seth had recognized the scene as the time where Paige had offered a truce, admitting that as much as she didn't like Seth getting involved with her friend, she wasn't going to be added to the list of people who wished them apart, either. The camera panned the locker room, slowly focusing on Paige and Seth sitting next to each other, both smirking. The camera backed away, and Paige began to speak.
Seth had watched alongside Kevin Owens, who didn't believe that the footage was edited. Whoever had spliced the words had done a phenomenal job, and it looked authentic. Deep down, he knew that AJ would think it was an actual conversation, too. After the evening they'd had together the night before, Seth could only hope that AJ would still trust him. Still, the camera appeared to be a hidden camera and was so well-done and convincing, it didn't look at all like regular WWE programming.
"I know things have been heating up for you and my old friend," Paige said in the clip, though Seth had never heard her say those before that moment. "But I think you and I have been on the same page for a long time."
"She's just a way to keep the championship belt around my waist," Seth heard himself say. But his voice was manipulated, more obvious that his words had been multiple promos dissected and meshed into a coherent sentence. "You know what they say about crazy chicks."
"I sure do. I've got a proposition for you. You keep luring in AJ, and I'll be certain to give you exactly what you want, Champ." Seth watched on the screen as he shook hands with the raven-haired woman, both of them smiling. If he didn't know better, it would look really, really bad. Realizing that his girlfriend probably wasn't aware that it was a reconstructed segment, worry began to overtake him as he searched through the contacts on his phone. She was backstage here somewhere, but wasn't participating in any matches for the evening. He guessed that this was exactly why she hadn't been scheduled to appear.
Kevin laughed heartily after the segment faded to black the commercials about the newest Mattel wrestling ring beginning to play. "You little player, you," he chided.
"It's not how it looks!" Seth defended himself, his face panic-stricken. "C'mon, man. Paige and I haven't seen eye-to-eye on my relationship with AJ at all. Whatever just happened...didn't actually happen like that," he hit 'send' on his phone, hoping that AJ hadn't been paying any attention to the show that night.
"Man, I don't know. That doesn't look like kayfabe," Kevin thought aloud. "And by the way you're reacting, I know it wasn't scripted. Here I thought Paige didn't actually like you...but now it kind of makes sense.."
"Seriously, fuck off!" Seth growled, frustrated both with Kevin Owens and the fact that his girlfriend hadn't responded to his text message yet. "That segment was completely edited! And the only reason they did it was because AJ and I specifically asked to keep our relationship off from WWE television. A damned punishment by the McMahon family, if I ever saw one!" Seth was seething, ready to barge into Stephanie McMahon's office next.
Kevin put his hands up in defense. "Alright, man. Chill! I'm just telling you how it looks," he replied, over-pronouncing his letter "U" as many Canadians tended to do.
"I know how it fucking looks," Seth muttered, checking his phone once more for the text he hadn't yet received.
AJ's mouth was still agape, even though the segment had long-ended.
She thought it was weird that she hadn't been scheduled to appear that night, but it made sense now. The writers were using a hidden camera to gain momentum on the story, and it wasn't necessary that she be on the show if they had plenty of footage to push the feud between herself and Paige forward. On one hand, she was wise enough to know that the WWE writers were conniving enough to create whatever they wanted out of a segment, even if it wasn't authentic. But the way it was shot, and the way that Seth and Paige had been speaking abashedly...as much as AJ wanted to believe it was a scripted promo, it definitely didn't appear that way. It seemed that Seth and Paige were in cahoots, which almost made sense. Paige hadn't been supportive of their relationship since day one, and why not? Could it possibly be because she'd had her eye on Seth the entire time?
AJ gulped, taking the idea in. Sure, Paige had been seeing what's-his-name, but whose to say she wouldn't jump on the WWE Champion if the opportunity presented itself? Wasn't is possible that Paige had been feigning her disinterest in Rollins because she was technically seeing someone? And if that was true, too, of course Paige would discourage the relationship Seth and AJ had begun.
And as for Seth, his words in the promo seemed plausible...especially given his recent explosion when Finn had appeared at an event. His prized possession was the belt, and that was frustrating for AJ. Sure, she'd held a belt before, but Seth had taken it to another level. Keep AJ on his good side, he keeps Finn Balor at bay, too.
Jesus, was she overthinking this?
It's not real, it's only a script... AJ reminded herself of this over and over until it was practically a mantra. Yet, somewhere deep inside, she felt that it might not be completely fake. If it was a scripted bit, certainly Seth would've told her about it? Or at the very least, Paige would have?
Or, it was possible that neither of them had mentioned it airing because neither of them was aware it existed at all. She knew that the management wasn't happy that neither she nor Seth would put their relationship on air, and it was possible that this was punishment because of their unwillingness to do just that. Obviously, she'd been thrown in a storyline with Paige and Seth was thrown in a storyline with Finn Balor, but this seemed too surreal to have been done by accident. No, the writers knew exactly why they were doing what they were doing.
And now, AJ wasn't sure if they'd chosen Paige because they had no other option, or because like AJ had a former connection to Finn, Paige and Seth had been connected as well...
She was suddenly aware of the text she hadn't yet opened, her phone buzzing quietly to remind her that it was there. Unlocking her screen, she'd realized she'd gotten not one, but three text messages from Seth. Another from Paige. Two from Colt, and one from an unknown number.
What the? What's up with that?
Swing by my room later. Whatever that was, was BS.
Please say something. I'm thinking Vince is mad or something.
Opting to stay quiet for the time being so that she didn't say anything she might regret, she moved on to the other messages.
What the actual fuck? Why would production DO that? Paige had texted, and AJ felt a little bit better. It wasn't completely impossible that the entire segment that evening was staged, after all.
Got your message. I can either mail you the packages, or you can meet me this weekend? That text was from Colt, and he'd accidentally sent it twice.
Hey, AJ. Finn here, got a new number. Just saw that weird thing between Seth and Paige. Either the team did a great job editing, or that was real. Sketchy if you ask me.
Her mind in a total blur, AJ went back to the texts from Seth. Of all people, she'd sincerely hoped she could trust him. They'd come a long way since their earlier times spent together, and as much as she wanted to believe he was completely head over heels in love with her as he claimed, sometimes there was that nagging voice in the back of her head that reminded her that she wasn't good enough.
Part of her, no matter how deeply she hid it, believed that her friend Paige would have been a more viable option for Seth. She fit into the type he'd acquainted himself with, after all...
It's not real. It was just writing.
But then, as Finn had mentioned, that whole thing seemed really weird. And, she reminded herself, the WWE hardly ever gave a second thought to proper editing, the most extreme the got usually being Undertaker's unnecessary lightning or Bray Wyatt's smog during their promos. She wanted to trust that Paige and Seth were telling the truth, but still, she found herself feeling very uneasy.
The last thing she wanted was to be let down again, and it almost seemed like that's what was going to happen...again.
Seth watched as the show closed, the very same image appearing on the screen that he'd experienced firsthand. It was the same scenario he'd unfortunately seen when Finn Balor had made an appearance on the main roster, toting around his NXT title like he was hot shit.
How in the fuck did a camera capture that?
Finn Balor leaving AJ's locker room, a smirk on his face and a clear look of admiration on hers. Unlike Seth's falsified interaction earlier in the evening with Paige-which was completely edited-there were no words exchanged between his enemy and his girlfriend. There didn't need to be. Just as it had a few weeks past, it looked as incriminating as it had when he'd first seen it.
As much as he wanted to believe that there was nothing between Finn Balor and AJ, there were telltale signs that she adored him.
She ought to be looking at me that way, Seth thought angrily. Yet, the cameraman had managed to capture the gleam that was in her eye as she watched him swagger down the hallway, and the jealousy within began to rear its ugly head once more. Even if AJ was completely pissed off over the segment aired between himself and Paige, at least it was one-hundred percent fabricated and manipulated. This bit? Well, he'd seen the original version himself: AJ Lee still had a soft spot for Balor.
As the WWE logo appeared on the bottom of the screen, the camera followed Finn as he walked down the hallway, just as he had a couple weeks ago. Seth got up in a hurry, pushing his chair in to the table he'd been seated at. Kevin still sat beside him, and wisely decided not to say a word as he clamored to his feet.
Seth quickly glanced at his phone, noticing that AJ hadn't replied to his text message from earlier. In a fit of frustration and anger, he shoved it into his sweatshirt pocket. It was his turn to be pissed off.