A/N: How many wrestling stories can I write based off of the Grinch? I guess we may never know.

It starts with Adam Cole. Of course it does, pretty much everything of any real significance in Maxwell Jacob Friedman's world starts and ends with that man anymore, but anyway. He digresses.

It's Christmas week and Max is all over the place, barely having time to go home, but finally he gets a breather. The red carpets, the hall of fames, the picking shattered beer bottle glass out of his hair- it all fades away, he gets to go home for a few days to enjoy some time with Adam before World's End. Yeah, there's the big holiday party that TK insists on having for all of the AEW wrestlers and behind the scenes people that Max might decide to make an appearance at just because he's champ and he should, he guesses. But for now he doesn't think about it, only looking forward to going home, collapsing into bed next to Adam, and not moving again until absolutely necessary.

Except that when he walks into their bedroom, Adam is stretched out in bed, watching a weird cartoon with singing creatures and colors so garish that he almost expects the screen to start buzzing in protest. He freezes halfway to the bed, a frown on his face, and Adam looks up at him, a small smile on his lips. "Max? Have you ever watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas before?"

Max blinks, looking over at him. "Uh, no," he says, continuing his journey over to the bed where he gratefully drops down and sighs, relaxing into the soft blankets. "What is even happening?" he grumbles as the strange green creature creeps around on the screen, going from house to house.

"He doesn't want to have to listen to the Whos celebrate Christmas," Adam explains. "So he's stealing all of their gifts and decorations."

Max squints up at him, frowning. "I didn't think you'd enjoy that kind of thing," he mumbles.

"It has a happy ending," Adam shrugs. "It's a decent enough message." He shifts to rest more comfortably against the pillows, letting his hand slowly ghost through Max's curls. "I've missed you," he adds, yawning quietly.

"You look as wiped out as I feel," Max says softly. "Close your eyes, I'll be here when you wake up, maybe we can get something to eat."

"Ok," Adam murmurs. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize," Max says, adjusting himself so that he's closer to Adam, wrapping an arm around him and guiding him onto the pillows so he can sleep more comfortably. He leans back a little and frowns at the TV, tempted to find the remote and turn it off, but the longer it goes on with the Grinch taking more and more of Christmas away, the more Max watches, not very surprised by the end with Grinch realizing that his actions hadn't had the response he'd expected, the Whos celebrating with or without their decorations and gifts. Max scoffs, his eyes growing heavier and heavier. "Like that would ever happen," he mumbles, nuzzling against Adam and quickly dropping to sleep.

The next day, the invitation Max had been expecting arrives via email from Tony Khan himself. He grimaces and sighs, reading over the details of it when Adam stirs and looks over at him, more banal Christmas specials droning on TV not keeping his attention any further. "Something wrong, Max?"

"TK sent us an invitation to the company Christmas party," Max says, tapping absentmindedly at his phone. "I'm not really interested, but-"

"No, wait," Adam says, scooting over to look at the screen. "We don't have to stay long, but-"

"Adam," Max sighs, dropping his head back. "Look, I know I'm champion and should make at least an appearance, but I actually have a couple days off for once and I just want to relax, not- not whatever this is."

Adam reaches out and runs his fingers through Max's hair. "I know. I understand. But like you said, you should at least make an appearance, right? And, well. Where is it?"

Max sighs, sensing he's already losing this fight before it really begins. "It's actually not that far away," he says, checking the email again. "It's at that conference center a few blocks over."

"Oh," Adam says, smiling. "So I could come with you."

Max groans. "Fine," he mumbles, aware that Adam knows he'll agree more easily if it's something they can do together. "The things I do for you." His grumbling eases off to nothing as Adam leans over and presses a kiss to his lips, distracting him as he RSVPs for himself and Adam.

"Thank you."

When Max had said in a promo months ago that waking up every day and fighting to be a better man was the hardest thing he'd ever done, he wasn't lying. it is hard. Especially when there are so many things he's not used to doing, or having. Friendship, a tag partner, hell an actual romantic relationship that's lasted longer than a few weeks, spending the holidays with said romantic partner, on and on. It's all swirling in his brain, leaving him edgy and unhappy as he thinks again about the holiday party that's only days away. That will take up who knows how much of his time, which is precious considering he has the match against Joe to consider, and whatever the hell this whole Devil situation is. Some bland ass holiday party is the last thing he wants to have to spend time at. But he had made promises to both Adam and TK, and fine. Fine. He'll keep them, but it grates at him.

Adam's asleep, worn out and sore after rehab, and Max is sitting on the living room couch, flicking mindlessly through TV channels, Piper circling at his ankles before hopping up on the couch and settling down next to him, tucking up into a cute little, furry ball. He's about to make another circle of the channels, listless and far from thrilled, when some familiar music attracts his attention and he stops, frowning as that cartoon Adam had been watching the other day begins playing again. "For fuck's sake," Max mumbles, settling down against the cushions to watch. "How many times does this Grinch cartoon get played?"

He winces and looks down at Piper when the Grinch begins using his whip to spur his dog on, reaching out to pet her, smirking when she arches into his touch, purring. "Don't worry," he says. "I'd never treat you like that."

The cat looks thoroughly unimpressed and Max turns his attention back to the TV, his frown growing the more he thinks about this- and how he feels about the upcoming party. He grumbles and thinks about Adam's comment regarding this cartoon and its message. "Ugh, whatever," he says, crossing his arms over his chest, quirking an eyebrow as Grinch once more goes from house to house stealing the various things from these Who houses. "I mean, he had the right idea," Max muses, tapping his fingers against his arm. "Too bad he fell for their festive bullshit at the end."

The party is the following evening and he spends the next few hours wide awake, staring at the ceiling. Plotting, planning. Despite this, he's awake long before Adam and sneaks out to the living room, typing painstakingly on google to research what he needs to see his plans makes a few phone calls, smirking as money talks, as always. "Perfect," he says. "I'll see you there in an hour."

They'll need to move quickly, he knows. He also has faith that a few extra greased palms will help things happen. Feeling a little guilty for leaving Adam alone, he ventures back into their bedroom and leans over him, lightly kissing him. "Hey," he says softly as Adam stirs, blinking up at him sleepily. "Sorry, I just wanted to let you know I have a few errands to run before the party tonight. I'll be back home in plenty of time to change and pick you up."

"Oh, ok," Adam mumbles groggily.

"If you need anything, you know how to reach me."

Adam smiles up at him. "Yes, I do," he says, nuzzling into Max. "Have a good day."

"You too," Max says, guilt growing. "Spend the day relaxing, and making yourself even prettier. I'll see you soon." Another kiss and he's up and out of the apartment, breathing deeply before he heads to the ground floor and his waiting car.

The manager for the center is waiting for him when he arrives, a curious look on her face. "Are you sure this is ok?" she asks, hesitating before she unlocks the door.

"Of course it is," Max says. "TK himself told me to come on in, drop off my gifts early, and he asked if I could make sure everything's set up sufficiently while I'm here. Don't worry about it, everything's great, I'm sure." He grins at her, charming and pleasant, and she gives in, letting him head in first. She only stays for a few moments before he convinces her that he'll be ok on his own, just needs to drop off a couple of presents before his surprises could be ruined.

"Alright," she says, swayed by the hopeful look on his face. "I'll be in the office. Call if you need anything."

"Yes ma'am," he agrees, watching as she takes her leave. Once he's alone, he breathes in deeply and exhales slowly. "Alright," he mumbles. "Let's get this show on the road." There's an exit in the back and he pushes it open, nodding grimly at the men he'd hired who begin to parade into the building. There's a u-haul truck parked as close to the door as they could manage, and Max stands back and watches as they steadily fill it up with the various decorations filling the main room.

It doesn't take as long as Max had feared, and before he knows it, the room is shadowy, all hints of holiday cheer gone. He turns in a slow circle, smirk growing across his face. "Perfect," he says, clapping his hands gleefully. Pressing some more money into the men's hands, he motions them out and they leave, set to drive the u-haul off to a storage unit Max had rented for this. Once they're gone, he takes his leave as well, even bothering to lock the center's door as best as he can before closing it, trying to keep other staff from realizing something's wrong before he's ready.

He returns to the apartment after driving around, trying to shake off some of his jitters. He's so eager to see how this all works out, the general reaction to a holiday party with no sign of the actual holiday. He smirks and taps his thumbs against the steering wheel before finally taking one final loop of downtown before turning back towards his and Adam's apartment.

Adam is dozing when Max returns and he wakes up, squinting up as Max settles in next to him on the bed. "Hey," he greets him, sighing as he kisses him. "Errands go alright?"

"So far so good," Max says, kissing him again. "So is there anything you need to do before the party?"

Adam crinkles his nose, then nods. "Probably a shower," he sighs. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize," Max says. "I'll be right back." He gets a bag for Adam's leg and they work together to get through it, Max bracing Adam as best as he can while he helps him wash up and shampoo his hair, even running some of the shampoo through his rapidly growing beard, causing Adam to laugh and lean against Max.

"I love you," he mumbles, sighing softly as Max helps dry him off with probably one of the fluffiest towels Adam's ever felt.

"Love you too, Baybay," Max says, peering at him. "You good? Wanna go sit down for a few minutes, I'll get ready and then come help you?"

Adam sighs, then nods. "Yeah." He leans against Max while Max helps him back into the bedroom. "I can't wait until I'm not as much of a burden," he says, gingerly shuffling around until he's sitting down on the bed, catching his breath.

"Hey," Max says sharply, cupping his face in his hands. "Adam, look at me."

Adam grimaces but does so, blue eyes boring into Max's.

"You're not a burden," Max tells him. "You're injured, and you need help, and that's ok. Hey, when my neck was fucked, you never denied me help, did you? Lately, with my hip and my arm? Come on, man. We lean on each other. it's what we do. Don't tell me you honestly think I mind helping you? It's the only thing that really makes me feel like I'm doing anything purposeful."

"Max," Adam says with a frown.

"Everything else feels like it's slipping through my fingers, man," he says, looking away, unable to meet Adam's eyes any longer. "I can't figure out this Devil situation, I don't think I'll be able to keep my promise to you about the tag titles, I don't know how much longer I can hold onto the Triple B with everything else going on. Please don't make me feel like I'm failing you too."

"Max," Adam says quietly, reaching out for him. "Hey. I'm sorry. Of course, you're right. We help each other. But look, maybe you're right and we should skip tonight's party. You have enough going on, you should take every opportunity to relax that you can. Come on, let's just call Tony and tell him we won't be there after all, I'm sure he'll understand."

Max had forgotten the party, and what he had done, and now, with Adam staring so sincerely at him, ... well... He has to see it through, no matter what. "No, no," he says, squeezing Adam's hands. "You want to go, we'll go. I have tomorrow to rest before I fly out for Dynamite. it'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Adam asks with a frown.

"Yeah, of course." He smiles at him. "Come on, let's go pick you something to wear." He squeezes Adam's hands once more before getting up and heading over to the closet, flicking through the various options they both have for the evening.

When they arrive at the party, it's obvious things aren't going well. There are a lot of people milling around outside, looking agitated and confused. "Huh," Adam says, struggling to reach back and get his crutches out of the backseat but failing until Max sweeps around and gets it out for him, patiently holding them as he maneuvers his way out of the car. "Thanks. I wonder what's happened," he says, brows furrowing as he watches their colleagues pacing around.

"Let's go find out," Max says, careful to keep his expression neutral as they walk over towards the building.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Adam asks once they're close enough.

"We're not sure," Action Andretti says. "The place was decorated, but now it's not. Tony Khan is trying to figure out what happened with the manager, but she's not sure either. It's a mess."

Adam frowns, shuffling forward on his crutches to peer through the open doors. "Wow, that's weird," he says.

"Tell me about it," Andretti sighs. "I was kinda looking forward to this too." His disappointment, and the varying emotions on the other wrestlers' faces do little to effect Max, but the growing perplexed frown on Adam's face leaves Max a little uncomfortable, steadily growing worse as they head inside together.

The room is quiet, empty. As uninspired as it had been when Max had left earlier in the day. He hopes the manager doesn't say anything about the timeline of his arrival versus when she discovered things were missing, but Adam's sigh distracts him from this anyway.

"This is s such a bummer," Adam muses. "Why would someone do something like this?"

"No idea," Max says. "Looks like there's still a food table. Want me to get you anything? A drink? Something to snack on?"

"A bottle of water, please," Adam says, watching as he nods and slowly begins to make his way across the room.

It's not a far journey, he's just about within range, when he actually takes a look around. Although more people are in the building now, it's clear the entire party is affected by the lack of decorations. But those inside are trying to put on a brave face, talking, laughing and eating like there isn't something pivotal missing.

"It's awful," he hears Dalton Castle say, voice spreading through the room and gaining some attention as his Boys nod and motion with their hands, agitated.. "Where is the pizazz? The good cheer? " He shakes his head. "We really just can't have anything nice anymore. Someone always has to ruin it."

He doesn't want to think about it, but the cartoon from before is flashing through his mind. The Grinch and his jealous, selfish ways slowly getting worn down by the ever cheerful Whos still celebrating Christmas even without decorations or gifts. Max hesitates by the food, listening to the murmurs around him, people discussing what might've happened to try to sabotage this party before moving on to other conversation.

Despite his best attempts, the party is on-going, people making the best of it despite the sudden loss of holiday cheer. He leans back against the wall and takes it in, frown growing as he once more tries to ignore memories of the Giinch cartoon. It's only when he looks over and sees the look on Adam's face, a small smile on his lips even as he tries to shift on his crutches and converse calmly with Anthony Bowens, that the full scope of his actions hit him and he drops his head back with a groan. "Shit. Adam, what have you done to me?"

The party is so much more bearable without the lights and the music and the mess, but... well. Max sneaks his way to the backdoor and sneaks out, finding himself once more staring at where only a few hours earlier he'd been watching the guys he'd hired fill up a U-Haul and cart everything away. That eventually led him here.

Grimacing, hating himself a little more each moment for losing his conviction like the Grinch did, he lifts his phone and redials the number he'd used earlier. "You want to make triple pay?" he asks, scraping his fingers through his hair and staring at the opposite wall, gritting his teeth. "Bring it all back." He pauses and rolls his eyes, voice tensing up dangerously as he tilts the phone to respond with as much venom as he dares. "You heard me. Just do it."

He returns to Adam's side with a couple bottles of water and a plate of snack food, apologizing and offering him a few snacks. They're still standing there, talking with the Acclaimed- ignoring the yearning gazes Caster keeps throwing his way- when there's an engine outside and various conference staff members, who had been called in when everything was found missing, puts a wedge on the backdoor and starts entering with a confused look on their faces.

"Hello," the manager says, speaking up so her words can echo through the room and be heard by most of them. "I apologize for the inconvenience but we've just discovered the decorations that had been presumably stolen have suddenly reappeared outside. Give us a few moments, and we'll get everything set back up." She then shoos everyone out as work begins behind them, trees and lights and everything in between once more slowly filling the room.

Adam beams once they're allowed to return nearly half an hour later and turns to look at Max. "Now this is feeling more ike a Christmas party," he says happily.

Max is still uneasy, but finds himself smiling a little too, drawn in by Adam's pure happiness now that things are festive once more. "Yeah, I guess so," he says, blinking a little when Adam frees his hand from the crutch and laces his fingers with Max's, squeezing gently.

"We won't stay for long," he promises. "Just let me know if it gets too overwhelming."

Max blinks, then nods. "Yeah," he says quietly. "Ok."

Adam beams at him and for a little while, Max actually thinks he's going to get away with the crap he tried to pull here tonight.

-x

A couple of hours later, he and Adam are snuggled up tight in bed, sheets and blankets tangled up around them in an attempt to keep them warm over night, when Adam lifts his head and looks up at him. "Max," he says quietly.

"Yeah?" Max murmurs.

"Was it you who stole the holiday decorations today?" Adam wonders, searching Max's face steadily.

Max's eyes slam open and he stares back, his hopes of avoiding this very conversation crashing down all around him. "What?"

"Did you have a Grinch moment, and return everything when you saw it wasn't stopping us from still celebrating?" Adam watches, chuckling a little when Max sputters and struggles with a way to answer. "It's ok," he promises. "I'm not mad. You... you fixed what you did in the end, and I think we had a really good time at the party."

"it wasn't too bad," Max concedes, looking at him with barely masked concern in his eyes that maybe Adam is more disappointed, or angry, than he's letting on.

Adam hums, brushing his thumbs down over Max's jaw. "Next time, don't force yourself to do something you don't want to do," he murmurs. "People would've understood if you sat this one out. I would've understood."

"I didn't want to disappoint you," Max says quietly, resting his head against Adam's. "It all just seemed so... frustrating and pointless, with so much else going on. I didn't want to go to a holiday party, but then I saw the look on your face when you realized everything was gone, and all of the others around us, how you all were trying to carry on despite the lack of .. pretty much everything, and realized that, just like in Grinch's world, you all are going to celebrate with or without anything festive so I just... realized it was really depressing without it and had everything returned," he admits.

Adam hums. Strokes a hand down his side, smiling up at him. "I know how hard it can be to make the right choice," he says, leaning up to kiss him. "Thank you for doing so today."

Max sighs, kisses him back. "Yeah," he breathes out, resting his forehead against Adam's. "I, uh. it's not easy. But... I'll keep trying," he promises.

Tomorrow will be another day, full of choices to make, and urges to do something questionable or selfish, and Max will have to fight once more to continue being better, to continue taking care of more than just himself. It's a daunting thought, but the longer he stares into Adam's eyes, the more certain he is that he can accomplish this. One decision at a time.