People had warned him. John, AJ, even that voice in the back of his head, reminding him. Tag teams never last in wrestling, especially when one partner is your boss, much less a McMahon, which means there's an automatic power inequality at play. But he'd always liked Shane, and had grown truly fond of him, and he thinks it was mutual, even though he knows he is annoying, and pushed hard for this, and Shane had come out on the worst end of things a lot during their partnership. So Mike had told him, when things were so close to the surface, when he could barely breathe, when he knew it could affect their partnership. About Maryse, and Monroe and her new child being Heath's, and Mike's marriage to AJ, and Sara Louisa. He had faith in the man that telling him these things would cause no harm.
Now he's here, not even two weeks later, struggling to breathe after being held in Shane's triangle choke, his body aching, his mind racing, his heart pounding loudly in his ears. "He knows," he chokes out, gripping his father's arm. "He knows everything."
George looks down at him, still a little dazed too from Shane putting his hands on him. The guy he'd admired enough to inspire his son to start partnering up with him had done all of this, had hurt both of them. And now... now he has knowledge of something that, if told to the wrong people, could easily shatter Mike's life, AJ's, his granddaughter's. Sometimes, he hates the wrestling business, sometimes he hates the fact that Mike had gotten wrapped up in all of it. Hollywood, WWE, everything. He closes his eyes and squeezes Mike's shoulder. "It's going to be ok," he says slowly, not sure if he means them or not himself. "We'll figure this out." He stares his son in the eye and shakes his head. "Let's go home, see that wife and daughter of yours."
Mike nods, faintly. "Yeah. Let's." One benefit of being in his hometown, they're not far from his mom's house and Mike breathes a little easier when they pull into the driveway less than twenty minutes later, Mike loitering by the car while George unlocks the house door. AJ is waiting, he can see her in the doorway, and she quietly slips past her father in law to join him, easing up on her tiptoes to hug him. "I'm so sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about," she says, cupping his face. "Are you ok?"
"No, not really," he says, grimacing as she gently strokes his throat. "He... I can't believe this. I've ruined everything. He knows the truth, and I... I'm gonna lose everything, Heath, Maryse, you. We're all going to be so screwed..."
She kisses him, carefully. "Shhhh. Let's not think about that right now." Entwining their fingers, she turns him back towards the house. "A certain little girl wants to hug her father right now. And you need something soothing for that throat of yours. C'mon now."
Mike's mom greets him with a hug and he rubs her back awkwardly, feeling more and more disgusting the nicer people are to him. He thinks they should be screaming at him for being so gullible, so stupid. So soft after all of his many years in this business.
These thoughts are still spiraling around in his head when they return home to California, Mike taking the week off to recover, get his head back on straight, or do his damnedest to. He lays side by side with Morrison on the beach that Tuesday, staring up at the crystal blue sky overhead. "Is this what it felt like?" he asks suddenly and John blinks, tilts his sunglasses down and leaning up on one elbow to peer at him.
"Did what feel like?"
"When I betrayed you," Mike says, rubbing anxiously at his chest, feeling the sharp sting of betrayal and fear there as his secrets continue to taunt him, so close to being common knowledge that he feels like he's been on the cusp of a panic attack since late Sunday.
John swallows hard, and looks away. "Well, I mean. You and he only partnered for a couple months," he points out, not unkindly. "You and I... we had years. You know?"
Mike stares at him, eyes wet and wide. "Shit, man. I'm so sorry. I really, really am. I've done this to so many people over the years. I've never really been on the other side of it like this." He shakes his head and sits up, burying his face in his hands. "I deserve this, all of this and more. I've been such a shit friend, such an awful person. Oh my God, how can anyone stand me?"
John sits up too, leans closer and drapes an arm around Mike's shoulders, squeezing. "Hey, listen. You're not the same person anymore, ok? You're... you've settled down. You have a wife, and a kid, and you've outlasted a lot of us in WWE. That has to stand for something, right?" He chuckles when Mike peeks at him through his fingers. "We stand you because Sara Louisa adores you, because AJ loves you, because you're my best friend. Because my life would be damn boring without you." He pauses and sighs. "I'm not sure what to tell you about this Shane nonsense, but we will get you through this one way or another. We all have your back, never forget that."
John's words remain with him, and it's thanks to them that he doesn't completely freak out when Shane announces that he and Mike will compete at Wrestlemania. Nor when the text comes in a little later.
Remember my father's lock box? Consider this yours. You beat me, I'll let it go that you've been lying to my family for years. I beat you, the entire world knows your dirty little secret. Have a good night. And Mike? You'd better show up to work next week or else.
-S