p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"AEW World's End, Max's POV:/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, you son of a bitch! Why don't you hit me? Huh?!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max's stomach clenches. He hasn't been looking forward to this reveal - if only because the fear that it will be Adam on the other side of his Devil mask has been eating at him. He's not stupid. He knows kayfabe is kayfabe and life is life, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been having the greatest time of his entire career since Adam became his friend, both in and out of the ring. They had connected first because it was a good storyline... Max, the scumbag who had been despised since he turned on Cody Rhodes. Adam, just back from an injury and needing something to bring him back into the spotlight. The two of them together somehow rocking a chemistry that nobody had seen coming - least of all them. But through that, Max's character had reflected his life a little too much for comfort - Adam had made him feel safe and supported in a way he hadn't in a long time, and everything about rejection sensitivity, a huge part of how ADHD affected his life, had somehow managed to be pushed to the side as the two men triumphed in and out of the ring./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Adam, no! Hit me. Don't hit him! Don't you fucking hit him!" Max screams back as the masked men seem to think over who to take out first. 'It's not fucking real, Max. It's not real. It's a story. One you're doing a damn good job telling...' but not even his own cocky voice can make him step away completely from the emotional mess in his head right now. It feels real, because he and Adam are both good at what they do. So good that they almost believe it themselves, and story or no story, Max's shoulder is fucked, and Adam's foot is broken, and he doesn't want anyone to get hurt anymore than they already have. It's part of the show, putting your body through the ringer... but it's different when neither he nor Adam is at full strength. And it's different when this is so much more than a coworker or a friend. No matter what, this is the man that Max loves, and he will die before he sees him hurt./p
hr style="margin: 0.875em auto 1.2525em; border-style: solid; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; width: 359.234px; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.12px; background-color: #ffffff;" /
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"AEW World's End, Adam's POV:/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't you fucking hit him!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max's words cut like a knife, and Adam can't help feeling like a piece of shit here. Max had brought up the Devil storyline to him, and Adam had played it off. He'd never revealed the truth he knew, because creative had made it pretty clear that this was supposed to be kept tightly under wraps, and that they wanted a genuine reaction from Max when the truth came out. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But the difference in then - months ago when he'd agreed to this - and now is that now, Max is his friend. Now he's... maybe even more than that. Now he's one of the few people in the world that Adam can truly say he loves as much as anyone in his family. Max matters to him. And hearing the other man's voice, gritty with determination and care that Adam knows comes from somewhere that kayfabe has never been, makes him absolutely sure that he's made the wrong decision. Max is a good actor. He could've pulled the shock off even knowing full well exactly what was going to go down. Creative has the right to the storylines... they have the right to write things out however makes sense for AEW. They don't have the right to the trust between Adam and Max, and right now, Adam's got a sinking feeling that Max will feel more betrayed that Adam lied to him in the real world than that he's turned heel in their story./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The lights go down - the crowd goes wild - the lights come up - and either Max is the greatest actor in the history of professional wrestling (Adam's pretty sure Cena and The Rock would like a word on that), or the look in his eyes is real hurt - real betrayal./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Adam blocks out Max's words of shock, pain, betrayal. If he listens to him right now, it'll break his heart, and he can't let the crowd see him soften toward the man he's just betrayed. In the storyline, that is. Just in the storyline, right? Goddammit, please, just let it be in the storyline./p
hr style="margin: 0.875em auto 1.2525em; border-style: solid; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; width: 359.234px; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.12px; background-color: #ffffff;" /
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"A few hours after the end of the show:/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Max," Adam says, face to face with the now-former AEW World Champion across a table in a diner instead of across a ring in front of Max's hometown fans. "I wanted to tell you. I swear I did. They wouldn't let me. You know how it is with these storylines. It's not personal. It's not even about us - the real us, that is. You're still my Max. I'm still your Adam. What happens in that ring doesn't change that. It can't. You're not your character any more than I'm mine. We never have been, Max. If we were, you wouldn't still have Cody on speed dial, and he sure as hell wouldn't answer your calls. You know that."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max's hurt hides behind the cocky look that he's used in the ring more times than Adam would like to count. "It's just kayfabe, huh?" Max replies. "Was it just kayfabe for us to be friends in the first place? We're just playing a role, right? I mean, movies get made all the time, and the actors never speak again... story's still good as fuck. You can put on a great show while you don't even really like your co-star." He pauses, looking at Adam through the defiance that has made him a household name in the ring, and the name that Adam likes saying most in the world. "Adam, I told you, I fucking get it. I've been doing this a long time now. I know how it works. I just needed some time to cool off from an intense fucking show. That's all. I told you to leave me alone and we'd talk later. Why can't you just fucking listen to me?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Because I knew something that you didn't, and it sucked that I didn't tell you. I should've. I wish I had, no matter what they said. You're my priority - not some stupid storyline that's going to be completely forgotten by the time we're both healed up enough to do anything with it anyway. I couldn't just leave you alone because I fucked up and I'm sorry. You had the right to know what was coming, Max," Adam replies gently. Fuck, this hurts, and he hates knowing that the betrayal in the ring felt like a real betrayal to Max. "Besides, there are plenty of people who played enemies in movies and shit and they're friends and more than friends in real life. Hell, look at Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. They're best friends in real life, but sworn enemies in the X-Men movies..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max raises a hand, palm out, his face all too familiar. "Adam, I swear to god, if you hit me with some stupid comic book fanboy bullshit to talk your way out of this, I'm going to punch you in the face." He pauses, then adds, "And just so we're clear? I'm not talking about kayfabe."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Adam isn't quite sure how to take that until Max's serious face breaks and the lightest hint of a smile crosses his lips. "Look, Adam, I know the difference," he says, unable to hide the hurt behind the smile. "It's... It's a show. It's a story. We tell it, and we do a damn good job, because we're the fucking best in the world. But... shit, dude, it felt nice to turn face for once. Like to actually be the guy that people were cheering for in the ring. And that happened because of you. Because they liked span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"us/span."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I know at the end of the day that nothing changed between me and you out here, but in there? You're the reason they cheered for me, and they're not just going to keep cheering for me without you. They've called me their scumbag... but I'm still a scumbag to them. And that was okay when it was all I had been... when it was all they knew about me. But now, I've seen the other side of it... I've been the guy that people cheer for and love and want the best for. I never had that before. And now it's going to be gone, and I can go back to being the scumbag - but it's... You know the rejection thing we talked about with my ADHD. It's not that I want to take it seriously and feel like shit about it. It's... This is the thing that I've always been afraid of... It's why I've always been comfortable being a heel. Who cares if they like me when I don't like me either. But this is like... I started to see myself as somebody they could like, and now I'm back to MJF, the asshole who can't keep his friends, and back to being booed." He stops there, thinks about it, and then adds, "I kinda liked being liked."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Max," Adam says softly, his voice gentle and caring, but Max immediately stops him. "Nope! We're not gonna do that 'span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Max,' /spanthing where you try to make me feel better. It is what it is, dude. Don't lie to me in real life. Bad enough to lie about a story. I'm good at playing a heel, and I'll be just fine continuing down that path." Adam can see the protective walls going up around Max, and he knows that his window is closing before Max puts on his happy face and pretends he's fine, hurt or no hurt./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No," he says, this time firmly enough to stop Max from saying another word. "Have you even... have you even span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"looked/span at Twitter?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You mean span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"X/span?" asks Max, his attempt at playing it off completely a little too obvious to Adam./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Stop changing the subject, or I swear to god, I'm gonna wait til you go to sleep and throw out every jar of pickles you own," Adam says, a twinkle in his eye./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""HEY!" Max replies, holding up one finger and staring Adam down. "That's anti-Semitism, and I will not stand for it. I have young Jewish kids looking up to me, and I won't let you threaten a Jewish man's pickles. It's wrong, and you know it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Adam can't help it then. He bursts into laughter. This is his Max. The Max he had been so afraid to hurt... the Max he would continue to be afraid to hurt. "How the fuck is that anti-Semitic?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Have you ever even span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"been /spanto a Jewish deli?" Max demanded, before immediately answering his own question. "Of course you haven't, because you're from East Bum Fuck, and nobody there would know a Jewish deli if it bit them in the ass."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Max!" Adam stops him again. "Stop changing the subject. Seriously. I won't throw out your pickles, but I span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"will /spanblock you from Chugs Twitch streams for the foreseeable future, and with this bum foot and your shoulder fucked up, do you really want to take away entertainment that's that easy to access?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max almost responds, thinks better of it, closes his mouth and gives Adam a look that says he better make this good./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Now assured that he has Max's attention, Adam takes out his phone and opens up Twitter, going into his mentions before handing it off to Max. "Look, dude. Look. 99.9% of those tweets are people telling me what a piece of shit I am for what I did to you... how much I suck, how I'm garbage, how you're better than me, and I know it..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""True," Max interrupted./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Whatever, dude. What's important here is, they're saying this shit to me because they love you. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"You,/span Max. Those people there? They're on your side. I'm the asshole to them... and probably to both you and myself at the moment, but... Trust me, Max. I gave them a chance to see how much about you there is to love. But they don't love you because of me. They love you because being with me showed them who you really are. And deep down somewhere, you've gotta know that's true."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max's eyes are a little misty as he loses count of the tweets defending him, saying how much better he deserves. Adam knows better than to mention it. Roughly wiping his eyes with the cuffs of his hoodie, he lets out a little laughter. "You're right," he says. "They didn't like me because of you. They like me because I'm better than you..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""And I know it," Adam replies, shaking his head. "We all do, Max. They love you, and I love you. And nothing that happens in a ring changes that."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Nothing changes that I love you, either," Max finally says, wincing slightly as he adjusts for his aching shoulder. "Except if you touch my pickles. I'll kill you. No kayfabe."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, you son of a bitch! Why don't you hit me? Huh?!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max's stomach clenches. He hasn't been looking forward to this reveal - if only because the fear that it will be Adam on the other side of his Devil mask has been eating at him. He's not stupid. He knows kayfabe is kayfabe and life is life, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been having the greatest time of his entire career since Adam became his friend, both in and out of the ring. They had connected first because it was a good storyline... Max, the scumbag who had been despised since he turned on Cody Rhodes. Adam, just back from an injury and needing something to bring him back into the spotlight. The two of them together somehow rocking a chemistry that nobody had seen coming - least of all them. But through that, Max's character had reflected his life a little too much for comfort - Adam had made him feel safe and supported in a way he hadn't in a long time, and everything about rejection sensitivity, a huge part of how ADHD affected his life, had somehow managed to be pushed to the side as the two men triumphed in and out of the ring./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Adam, no! Hit me. Don't hit him! Don't you fucking hit him!" Max screams back as the masked men seem to think over who to take out first. 'It's not fucking real, Max. It's not real. It's a story. One you're doing a damn good job telling...' but not even his own cocky voice can make him step away completely from the emotional mess in his head right now. It feels real, because he and Adam are both good at what they do. So good that they almost believe it themselves, and story or no story, Max's shoulder is fucked, and Adam's foot is broken, and he doesn't want anyone to get hurt anymore than they already have. It's part of the show, putting your body through the ringer... but it's different when neither he nor Adam is at full strength. And it's different when this is so much more than a coworker or a friend. No matter what, this is the man that Max loves, and he will die before he sees him hurt./p
hr style="margin: 0.875em auto 1.2525em; border-style: solid; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; width: 359.234px; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.12px; background-color: #ffffff;" /
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"AEW World's End, Adam's POV:/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Don't you fucking hit him!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max's words cut like a knife, and Adam can't help feeling like a piece of shit here. Max had brought up the Devil storyline to him, and Adam had played it off. He'd never revealed the truth he knew, because creative had made it pretty clear that this was supposed to be kept tightly under wraps, and that they wanted a genuine reaction from Max when the truth came out. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But the difference in then - months ago when he'd agreed to this - and now is that now, Max is his friend. Now he's... maybe even more than that. Now he's one of the few people in the world that Adam can truly say he loves as much as anyone in his family. Max matters to him. And hearing the other man's voice, gritty with determination and care that Adam knows comes from somewhere that kayfabe has never been, makes him absolutely sure that he's made the wrong decision. Max is a good actor. He could've pulled the shock off even knowing full well exactly what was going to go down. Creative has the right to the storylines... they have the right to write things out however makes sense for AEW. They don't have the right to the trust between Adam and Max, and right now, Adam's got a sinking feeling that Max will feel more betrayed that Adam lied to him in the real world than that he's turned heel in their story./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The lights go down - the crowd goes wild - the lights come up - and either Max is the greatest actor in the history of professional wrestling (Adam's pretty sure Cena and The Rock would like a word on that), or the look in his eyes is real hurt - real betrayal./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Adam blocks out Max's words of shock, pain, betrayal. If he listens to him right now, it'll break his heart, and he can't let the crowd see him soften toward the man he's just betrayed. In the storyline, that is. Just in the storyline, right? Goddammit, please, just let it be in the storyline./p
hr style="margin: 0.875em auto 1.2525em; border-style: solid; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; width: 359.234px; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.12px; background-color: #ffffff;" /
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"A few hours after the end of the show:/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Max," Adam says, face to face with the now-former AEW World Champion across a table in a diner instead of across a ring in front of Max's hometown fans. "I wanted to tell you. I swear I did. They wouldn't let me. You know how it is with these storylines. It's not personal. It's not even about us - the real us, that is. You're still my Max. I'm still your Adam. What happens in that ring doesn't change that. It can't. You're not your character any more than I'm mine. We never have been, Max. If we were, you wouldn't still have Cody on speed dial, and he sure as hell wouldn't answer your calls. You know that."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max's hurt hides behind the cocky look that he's used in the ring more times than Adam would like to count. "It's just kayfabe, huh?" Max replies. "Was it just kayfabe for us to be friends in the first place? We're just playing a role, right? I mean, movies get made all the time, and the actors never speak again... story's still good as fuck. You can put on a great show while you don't even really like your co-star." He pauses, looking at Adam through the defiance that has made him a household name in the ring, and the name that Adam likes saying most in the world. "Adam, I told you, I fucking get it. I've been doing this a long time now. I know how it works. I just needed some time to cool off from an intense fucking show. That's all. I told you to leave me alone and we'd talk later. Why can't you just fucking listen to me?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Because I knew something that you didn't, and it sucked that I didn't tell you. I should've. I wish I had, no matter what they said. You're my priority - not some stupid storyline that's going to be completely forgotten by the time we're both healed up enough to do anything with it anyway. I couldn't just leave you alone because I fucked up and I'm sorry. You had the right to know what was coming, Max," Adam replies gently. Fuck, this hurts, and he hates knowing that the betrayal in the ring felt like a real betrayal to Max. "Besides, there are plenty of people who played enemies in movies and shit and they're friends and more than friends in real life. Hell, look at Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. They're best friends in real life, but sworn enemies in the X-Men movies..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max raises a hand, palm out, his face all too familiar. "Adam, I swear to god, if you hit me with some stupid comic book fanboy bullshit to talk your way out of this, I'm going to punch you in the face." He pauses, then adds, "And just so we're clear? I'm not talking about kayfabe."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Adam isn't quite sure how to take that until Max's serious face breaks and the lightest hint of a smile crosses his lips. "Look, Adam, I know the difference," he says, unable to hide the hurt behind the smile. "It's... It's a show. It's a story. We tell it, and we do a damn good job, because we're the fucking best in the world. But... shit, dude, it felt nice to turn face for once. Like to actually be the guy that people were cheering for in the ring. And that happened because of you. Because they liked span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"us/span."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I know at the end of the day that nothing changed between me and you out here, but in there? You're the reason they cheered for me, and they're not just going to keep cheering for me without you. They've called me their scumbag... but I'm still a scumbag to them. And that was okay when it was all I had been... when it was all they knew about me. But now, I've seen the other side of it... I've been the guy that people cheer for and love and want the best for. I never had that before. And now it's going to be gone, and I can go back to being the scumbag - but it's... You know the rejection thing we talked about with my ADHD. It's not that I want to take it seriously and feel like shit about it. It's... This is the thing that I've always been afraid of... It's why I've always been comfortable being a heel. Who cares if they like me when I don't like me either. But this is like... I started to see myself as somebody they could like, and now I'm back to MJF, the asshole who can't keep his friends, and back to being booed." He stops there, thinks about it, and then adds, "I kinda liked being liked."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Max," Adam says softly, his voice gentle and caring, but Max immediately stops him. "Nope! We're not gonna do that 'span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Max,' /spanthing where you try to make me feel better. It is what it is, dude. Don't lie to me in real life. Bad enough to lie about a story. I'm good at playing a heel, and I'll be just fine continuing down that path." Adam can see the protective walls going up around Max, and he knows that his window is closing before Max puts on his happy face and pretends he's fine, hurt or no hurt./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""No," he says, this time firmly enough to stop Max from saying another word. "Have you even... have you even span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"looked/span at Twitter?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You mean span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"X/span?" asks Max, his attempt at playing it off completely a little too obvious to Adam./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Stop changing the subject, or I swear to god, I'm gonna wait til you go to sleep and throw out every jar of pickles you own," Adam says, a twinkle in his eye./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""HEY!" Max replies, holding up one finger and staring Adam down. "That's anti-Semitism, and I will not stand for it. I have young Jewish kids looking up to me, and I won't let you threaten a Jewish man's pickles. It's wrong, and you know it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Adam can't help it then. He bursts into laughter. This is his Max. The Max he had been so afraid to hurt... the Max he would continue to be afraid to hurt. "How the fuck is that anti-Semitic?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Have you ever even span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"been /spanto a Jewish deli?" Max demanded, before immediately answering his own question. "Of course you haven't, because you're from East Bum Fuck, and nobody there would know a Jewish deli if it bit them in the ass."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Max!" Adam stops him again. "Stop changing the subject. Seriously. I won't throw out your pickles, but I span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"will /spanblock you from Chugs Twitch streams for the foreseeable future, and with this bum foot and your shoulder fucked up, do you really want to take away entertainment that's that easy to access?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max almost responds, thinks better of it, closes his mouth and gives Adam a look that says he better make this good./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Now assured that he has Max's attention, Adam takes out his phone and opens up Twitter, going into his mentions before handing it off to Max. "Look, dude. Look. 99.9% of those tweets are people telling me what a piece of shit I am for what I did to you... how much I suck, how I'm garbage, how you're better than me, and I know it..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""True," Max interrupted./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Whatever, dude. What's important here is, they're saying this shit to me because they love you. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"You,/span Max. Those people there? They're on your side. I'm the asshole to them... and probably to both you and myself at the moment, but... Trust me, Max. I gave them a chance to see how much about you there is to love. But they don't love you because of me. They love you because being with me showed them who you really are. And deep down somewhere, you've gotta know that's true."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Max's eyes are a little misty as he loses count of the tweets defending him, saying how much better he deserves. Adam knows better than to mention it. Roughly wiping his eyes with the cuffs of his hoodie, he lets out a little laughter. "You're right," he says. "They didn't like me because of you. They like me because I'm better than you..."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""And I know it," Adam replies, shaking his head. "We all do, Max. They love you, and I love you. And nothing that happens in a ring changes that."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Nothing changes that I love you, either," Max finally says, wincing slightly as he adjusts for his aching shoulder. "Except if you touch my pickles. I'll kill you. No kayfabe."/p