Miz, who had just been sinking into a daydream, involving John, with deliciously no clothes on, jerked fully awake at the sensation of something sharp being jabbed into his ribs.

“What the fu-“

“Shush”

‘Shush’…..John didn’t shush him, no one shushed him, except that John just had. It had to have been his tag-partner, John was the only one sitting within reach, but yet when he stole a sideways glance, John was sitting perfectly still, listening intently, or at least giving a really fucking good impression, of doing so, to what Vince was saying. How in the fuck he could even manage to feign interest was beyond Miz. The guy just droned on and on, and…..

“And who better to star in our new flagship reality show, than the man who knows ‘reality’, better than anyone else here…..The Miz”

Everyone gathered at the table, laughed sycophantically at the boss’s very weak joke, everyone but Miz, who was feeling very much like a deer caught in headlights, and John, probably out of pity for him.

“Of course, The Miz can’t be expected to hold the whole thing up by himself, as entertaining as he is” if Miz hadn’t felt so dazed and fucking confused, he would almost have been flattered by the way the boss appeared to be kissing his ass. “He needs a, partner in crime, and who better than his real life partner, John Morrison. It’ll be brilliant. The fans love them both already, especially the female ones, right boys?” Vince winked at them. John manfully managed to smile in agreement, while Miz restrained himself from sliding under the table. “Obviously we’ll need some Divas as well. Get the males into the show as well. No question, one of them will be Michelle McCool, the other one….possibly Melina Or Kelly Kelly. Probably some market research needs to be done, before we make our decision. I’ll leave that to you, Shane”

Shane nodded.

“Sure, Dad. I’ll get on to it”

“Right. On to other business” Vince hadn’t even glanced in their direction, but he was dismissing them both nonetheless. Miz knew this, knew it from the hundred and one fucking boring ass meetings he’d been forced to attend, yet for some reason he felt incapable of movement, at least he did until John grabbed hold of his arm, and stood himself, perforce dragging Miz up as well.

“Thank you, Mr. McMahon” John said.

Vince nodded vaguely, already involved in a conversation with Shane over the legalities of something or other. John kept the polite smile plastered on his face the whole way out of the room, never releasing his death grip on Miz’s arm until the door to was safely closed behind them.

“What the fu-“ John’s hold on his arm tightened, something Miz would have thought impossible. “Ow…..stop fucking doing that-“

“Hi, Jane” John said, in a particularly nice voice, interrupting him.

Miz yanked his arm free, and turned around to see Vince’s latest, young, blond and buxom receptionist sitting behind her desk. She had been busy buffing her nails, but quickly put the buffer away, sending over a pretty smile, that somehow drifted right past Miz and landed on John.

“Hi, John……Miz. How did your meeting go?”

“Fine….good. We were just going actually” John jumped in, and started talking, which was probably a good thing; before Miz gave into the temptation to cop a feel of his ass, and let Jane know how utterly wasted all her pretty smiles were.

Jane’s disappointment was clearly evident.

“Are you sure I can’t get you a coffee or, anything?”

“No….no. Thanks, but uh….we have to go to……really, you know, Miz isn’t feeling well. I need to get him out of here…get some fresh air, maybe something to eat. So, yeah, we’ll be seeing you. Bye, Jane”

“Bye, John” she didn’t even bother to tack his name on the end this time, not that Miz had the time to hear it anyway. John was already hustling him out of the reception area and into the hall outside, but apparently that wasn’t safe enough either. They ended up in another conference room, two floors down and on the other side of the building and, thankfully, empty.

John closed the door behind him, then turned around to face Miz.

“I believe you were trying to say something”

Miz opened his mouth, but by now he’d been forced to keep his shock and horror bottled up for so long, that the best he could come up with was...

“What the fuck?”

John slumped a little against the door.

“I don’t know……” he dragged a hand over his face. “You know, you could have had my back out there. You know I can’t lie…..not well, anyway”

“Fuck…I’m sorry, baby” he walked over to John and slid an arm around his waist, just in case he decided to slide all the way to the floor. ”You know, you do, do the dashing hero thing really fucking well though”

John made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a gasp.

“Yeah? Then why do my knees feel weak?”

“Well, you do have The Miz’s arm aroun-“ John shot him the evil eye. “You’re probably just in shock, baby. I know I am” he paused. “How much of the fucking conversation did I miss?”

John shook his head.

“You got the gist…..the horrifying gist. Oh, God…..why me?”

“Um” Miz frowned. “Don’t you mean, why us?”

John hesitated.

“Well….yes, in a way. But it’s different for you. You’ve done this before….remember, you’re ‘long and storied’ reality TV career?”

“Yeah, yeah….I remember” he paused. “Do you remember the third name in that conversation? Of course it’s going to be the only Diva whose fucking in love with me!” he took his arm away from John’s waist, and walked off a few steps, then turned back to face his partner, struggling to keep himself in check…..he wasn’t angry at John. “Fuck, John…..do you even realize….I mean…..if this happens……I’m fucked. How can Michelle not find out about us? She may be blond, but no one is that fucking stupid”

John looked up at him, his brown eyes a lot calmer than Miz felt was reasonable in this situation.

“You really think that’s how she feels about you?” Miz nodded. John shook his head. “Then we’re both fucked” Miz couldn’t help smiling at John’s profanity; it was so unlike him. “What the hell is funny?”

“You” Miz went back to him, taking John’s hands in his own. “It took this completely fucked up situation to get you to use the F-word…..well, outside of the bedroom, or being pissed at me, anyway. I’d always wondered….what it would take to drag you down into the gutter with me”

John looked down at their clasped hands.

“I can be happy in the gutter, if we’re there together” he paused. “What are we going to do?”

Miz shook his head.

“Fucked, if I know” he couldn’t help snickering. “Gets easier, you know, the more you use it”

“God……” John took a deep breath. “Try and focus, babe” he paused. “I wonder who they’ll pick as the second Diva?”

“I don’t fucking know. Frankly I don’t see why the fuck it matters, if the first Diva they’ve picked is in love with me!”

John shook his head.

“I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s just…..you know, Mel is cool. She’d probably be cool with us, that’s all”

“You sure about that?” Miz said, not hiding the scepticism from his voice.

“I’m sure she’s not in love with me” John replied.

Miz drew back a little.

“Major ouch”

John bit his lip.

“I’m sorry, babe. It’s just……I can’t help thinking…..doing a reality show could be good for us, I mean, you’ve already done it, so you’d know what you were doing and you could help me learn the ropes, so to speak. Wouldn’t hurt to have something like that on my resume”

“Whoa…..” Miz withdrew his hands from John’s, taking a step back. “Are we still on the same fucking page, here? Much as I hate…..you know…..to get in the way of you adding another string to your bow, or whatever…..like you need another one…..you’re keeping in mind how we would be totally screwed if Michelle found out, right?” John opened his mouth, but Miz hadn’t quite finished his tirade. “Cause, you know, if she fucking found out, she’d freak….and run to management about it, then we’d both be out on our ass! I mean, it wouldn’t be so bad, except she’s all into God and shit. You know how fucking Christians are about….well, people like us”

John cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable.

“Of course we’re still on the same page” he paused. “Except that you’re the one she’s in love with-“

Miz nodded.

“Fucking ironic, ain’t it?”

“Alright…….obviously Vince is really into this idea” John continued, ignoring his interruption. “He wants the three of us, so maybe….if one of us pulls out, he’ll drop it”

Miz frowned.

“What do you mean?”

John sighed.

“I mean……if you….talk to her. Convince Michelle not to join up. It seems to me that Vince is…..very keen on her being in it. If she says no, maybe” he paused, looking at Miz with an intensity he’d never seen in those dark eyes. “I know how much I’m asking of you, babe, and I wouldn’t do it for any other reason……but this is for us. I can’t fucking let you go”

Miz shook his head.

“There you go again……two fucking F-bombs in a row” he stepped forward, and took John in his arms. “I can’t fucking let you go either. Don’t worry, baby…..it’s my turn to be the hero”




Feeling as though he was about to enter a den of lions, Miz raised his hand and knocked on the door. There was a brief wait, then the door opened and Victoria stood there. To say she looked surprised to see him would have been a grievous understatement.

“Miz…..what’s up?”

Certainly not his comfort level, Miz thought.

“Uh…..nothing much……I was hoping to see Michelle. Is she here?”

“Yeah, yeah, she is. Hang on” Victoria ducked her head back into the room. “Nat? Tell Michelle she has a visitor” Miz heard a faint reply of “Ok” then Victoria turned her attention back to him. “She won’t be a minute. Hey, congrats on being the champs. It’s been, what…..five, six months?”

Miz nodded.

“Yeah….something like that”

“Wasn’t it weird?…..I mean, you and John were rivals, then management makes you a tag-team”

‘Weird’……more like the best fucking thing that ever happened to him.

He shrugged.

“We’re both professionals, you know, you do what you have to in this biz”

Victoria shook her head.

“That’s true. How is John, anyway?”

Last Miz had seen his partner, he was working on making a hole in the floor of their locker room with his constant pacing, trying to keep his emotions in check. Miz knew all to well how he felt. Couldn’t really tell Victoria the fucking truth though.

“John…….he’s good”

Victoria laughed.

“Not getting sick of you, yet, huh?”

Miz wasn’t given a chance to respond, as Michelle came to the door, still tugging her skimpy outfit into place.

“Who is it, Vic?”

Victoria smiled at Miz.

“See for yourself”

Michelle looked up, her blue eyes widening.

“Miz……what, what are you doing here?”

“He’s here to see you” Victoria answered her, before Miz could. “I’ll leave you two to it” she smiled again at Miz, then went back into the locker room, leaving them, for all intents and purposes, alone.

Michelle smiled nervously.

“I’m sorry…..I have a match in like ten minutes. Maybe you can-“

“This won’t take long” Miz interrupted her. He didn’t want to be rude, but the knowledge there’d be such a time limit on this ‘meeting’ was to good to pass up. Michelle looked uncertain.

“Oh….ok, then”

“Why don’t you step outside…..give us some privacy?”

“Okay” Michelle stepped out of the locker room, closing the door behind her, which effectively brought the two of them very close together. Miz fought the urge to back away. ‘For John……for John’. He managed a smile. “How are you, anyway?”

“Good…..really good. How are you?”

“I’m good”

Michelle nodded.

“Good……that’s, yeah….” She trailed off, managing to look scared, excited and nervous all at the same time. Miz certainly got the scared and nervous. He cleared his throat.

“Listen…..Michelle, has anyone from management been to talk you recently? Maybe, about a TV show…thing?”

She shook her head.

“Um…..no. Why?”

“Well” steeling himself, Miz took her by the arm and drew her a few feet away from the locker room door. “It’s just……John and I were called to a meeting, cause you know, we’re the tag champs and everything, and apparently Vince is planning on setting up some reality show. He wants John and I to be in it…..and he’s also keen on having you star in it as well”

“Me?” Michelle glanced away, blushing slightly. “Why me?”

‘Oh, for the love of fuck…….for John, for John’ Miz employed his brand new mantra again.

“You really have to ask? You were Vince’s first choice for a Diva to be in it……you’re so popular with all the fans. You’re pretty, smart, funny……talented”

She looked up at him shyly.

“You really think I’m all those things, Miz?”

She could have been answering it in a general sense, but Miz was acutely aware that she wasn’t at all. This was it……crunch fucking time.

He nodded.

“Of course I do” he paused, reaching really, really, really deep for what was left of his inner nerd, trying for awkwardness rather than giving into the urge to run. “Michelle….you’re all those things, and……and more. You’re beautiful……..I know, you probably don’t know this, but…..I really, really like you, a lot”

Her blue eyes lit up.

“You do? Because I feel-“

“The same way” Miz sighed, a not bad impression of one of John’s sighs. “I know. Which is why we can’t do this show together”

“What? I don’t understand?”

“Michelle……we can’t be together….ever. I’m not the person you think I am. I have a lot of problems, and I am not going to drag someone I care about into the hell that is my life. If we’re made to do this show……I wouldn’t be able to hide the real me from you anymore, and believe me you don’t want to see it. It would just be humiliating for both of us…..trust me”

“I….I…” Michelle seemed lost for words, precisely Miz’s intention.

“Please…..when management does come and talk to you, convince them you can’t be in it. I know you’ll think of a way…….I have to go….I’m sorry…..I can’t” he shook his head, taking his hand off her arm, and turning away to leave.

“Miz…..it’s true, isn’t it?”

“What?” he turned back again. “What’s true?”

She lowered her gaze.

“You and John……you’re more than just…..a tag-team, aren’t you?” Miz opened his mouth, but for once in his life was at a complete loss for words. “I’m not stupid….I guess some people think……but I’ve heard the rumours. I just didn’t want to believe them” she finally looked at him, tears standing in her eyes. “You can’t choose who you fall in love with. This whole…..charade……it’s not about me, at all, is it? You don’t want to do this show, or whatever…..because you don’t want the world to find out about you two, right?”

Miz nodded.

“Management doesn’t know……we’d probably get fired…..if they did. Please, don’t-“

“Tell them?” Michelle shook her head. “No…..I was raised to turn the other cheek. I’d never do anything out of spite…..even if someone hurt me”

“Michelle, I-“

Miz stepped towards her, but Michelle held out a hand.

“No, don’t. I’m going to be late for my match” she sniffed back tears. “Don’t worry, Miz….your secret is safe with me. You have my word…..is that good enough for you?”

Miz nodded. “Good. I have to go” she turned away from him, and walked off down the corridor, leaving Miz feeling about a inch tall.




Miz opened the door to his and John’s locker room, to find his partner lying on the floor, doing stomach crunches. Miz came into the room, closing the door behind him.

John stopped, sitting up and folding his legs under him.

“Kinda thought doing these was a better use for the nervous energy” he said, no doubt in response to the confused look Miz knew he must have on his face.

“Ghnuh” was the best reply he could get out.

“Babe” John got quickly to his feet, and came over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “God…..what happened…….tell me”

Miz let out the breath he’d been holding in all the way back to their locker room, “You want the good news or the bad news, first?”

John shook his head.

“I don’t…….the good, I guess”

“Michelle isn’t going to do the show”

“Thank God” John bent his head, letting his forehead fall on Miz’s chest. “So…..how bad is the bad news?”

Miz automatically put an arm around John, but he was having a hard time getting the vision of Michelle with tears in her eyes, out of his mind.

“Baby….she knows……about us”

“What?” John lifted his head, his dark brow furrowed. “How?”

Miz stroked his back, as much for his comfort as for John’s.

“She’d heard rumours…..and when she called me on it…….I felt….I mean, I had to tell her the fucking truth”

John looked stricken.

“You did……what now?”

“Baby…it’s ok. Trust me” he kissed John’s forehead. “She gave me her word. She won’t tell anyone……we’re safe”

John took a deep breath, then slid his arms around Miz’s waist, pulling him tight against his own body.

“Too close, babe….too damn close”

Miz laid his head on John’s shoulder.

“Fucking A, baby”



Fin.
Shakito.
27/6/08


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