Post by Dean Harper on Nov 18, 2023 17:33:24 GMT
The camera comes on to Dean sitting on the couch in front of the pictures of Damien behind him.
“This new way of doing the extinction event is weird for me. It’s all teamwork. Doesn’t matter how good I do. If the rest of the champions suck a dick I’m screwed. Though I think I only have to worry about one. Wraith might not like me much anymore but we both know he’s going to throw everything at my…our father. Brooklyn also hates me. But she likes gold as much as I do. Besides, having gold keeps her faction alive. Alexandra is here too I guess.” Dean shrugged. “It could be worse odds.”
“I keep thinking about something….” Dean leaned back on the couch running a hand through his hair.
“All I’ve ever wanted in my life. All I’ve ever fought for. It has always been for a family. To have a home to go home to. To feel loved and to love in return. I had it with The Pack but I left it, betrayed them, and threw away the closest thing I ever had… I did it because I knew I wasn’t allowed to have something that was mine without paying the blood price. I went to my father. I rebuilt a family with him. And then I made one with you…”
Dean sighs and looks up at the ceiling. “I've made some real big mistakes. But you make the worst one look fine. God, Maxine was right about you.”
He shakes his head, “So here we are. Extinction event. Survival of the fittest.” Dean licked his bottom lip, “You know it’s funny… I knew this was coming. No, honestly. What’s more, Kane then to start having personal issues when there’s a title on the line, huh? You really are your father’s son. He’d be soo proud of you.”
“You know I could try to be above the whole situation and try to come at this fight as if it was about nothing but your athleticism and skill. But we both know that when we’ve left it down to skill I’ve beat you every damn time. Every. Damn. Time. The son of extreme and the heir to the Kane legacy and just like your dear old dead dad you eat the pin to me every time. So in that sense, you really are living up to the legacy he left behind.”
Dean looks directly at the camera, “Too personal? Should I leave our troubles off the screen? Should I sit quietly to the side and pretend everything is fine? You can talk about loving me in promos but heaven forbid I mention that you left, again. No. You won’t talk to me. You refuse to go to couples therapy. Your silence and passive aggression when I want to figure out what went wrong.”
“This is my time to talk and you get to shut the fuck up.”
Dean stands up, “See because this isn’t professional. It’s never been professional between us. From our first match, my introduction against you and two other guys. I flirted. I chased. I beat you. I recruited you to The Pack. Your first match after the reveal you made a public declaration of your love for me. We weren’t even dating at the time. How could I not be smitten by that?”
Dean grabs the camera and starts walking, “But it wasn’t about me, was it? It was about pissing off your dad. Everything about us was about pissing off your dad, wasn’t it? You said you wanted to be something besides being seen as his shadow. You spent a year distancing yourself from him. We got back together, you proposed. You even won over my father and Tara. We semi-retired together.”
The camera catches him walking out of the house to a backyard. “Blame me for going back to work, right? Do you think I’m stupid? I saw this coming and I tried to head it off at the pass. You were acting like you wanted out for months. I went back to work because I thought maybe you wanted more space, maybe having me home all the time was too much. You said I was crazy. You said everything was fine. Oh but could I distance myself from my father and the family he was building? Oh, and don’t try to make things better with Rowan. Oh and be less aggressive. Don’t pressure me to be a father but also complain about being excluded from parent time.”
“Yes, sir. Whatever you want. You're the light of my life. The love of my life. Whatever will make you happy.” Dean mimes shooting himself in the head with his fingers, “But that only made you more unhappy.”
“You asked for the separation. What did you think I'd say to that? Was I meant to beg you to stay? Was I meant to make a public show of how much you meant to me? Was I meant to fight you tooth and nail? Was I meant to lock you in the basement until you loved me again?”
“I said nothing. I let it happen. I’m not begging you to love me. You are an adult, Warren. You can make your own choices. I tried to help you out, I really did, but now I know that I can't. I gave you everything and you took it without giving anything back. You took me for granted…I’m sorry…” Dean sets the camera down in the backyard as Dean sits on the steps of the back porch, holding a bloody and damaged bat across his lap.
“You keep saying in your promos you still love me.” Dean rubbed a hand over his face, “I wish I believed you. I wish those three small words had the power they used to. I wish I still felt those words.”
“ See… there's a burning in my pride. Like a little… nervous bleeding in my brain. There was a time I loved you enough I would have just left. If you’d told me you didn’t love me anymore I would have just let go. I would have done anything for an ounce of peace for you. I know you’ll say something meant to pull on my heartstrings leading up to this match. You will say that you loved me just to put it in my face.”
“You wanted me declawed and muzzled. I did that for you. I’m over it. I’m over you. I’m over-breaking myself to make excuses for you. I’m over you taking everything I say in the worst possible way. I’m tired of feeling like I have to fight you to get you to act like you even like me. But I’m mostly tired of the way you hurt and use our son because you are too selfish to think about how anyone else feels. I’m tired of feeling like the bad guy. I’m tired of being the problem. My love deserves to be celebrated, not tolerated. Not settled for because you couldn’t fuck who you really wanted to.”
“Did you think it was a secret? Did you think I couldn’t tell the way you looked at her? Do you think I didn’t see the way you lusted after her? You really do think I’m blind or stupid, don’t you? It’s not just a sexual fantasy, you are emotionally cheating on me with her. Talk to her in ways you refuse to talk to me. You build up these walls and refuse to let me in. Your stepfather beat you. Your biological father was an abusive fuck. Your mother was useless and just stood by and watched. I know these things but not because you told me. No, you won't be vulnerable with me. Fuck me, right? But her, oh you can tell her everything. She’s "perfect".”
“Don’t feel the need to pretend with me anymore. I see you for what you are now. I was so blind in believing everything you said. I was so fucking stupid. I believed you when you wove that tale of true love and soulmates. Of feeling like we were two halves of the same soul. You were just blowing smoke up my ass so you could be relevant, weren’t you? Or was it just love bombing me until I took out all your enemies? Why lie to me? Why not just come out and say what you wanted? Why not just admit I was nothing more then a fuck to fill you until who you wanted got ready for you? Why propose? Why waste both our times?”
“There’s never been a part of you that I haven’t loved. I always accepted every part of you, even the stuff you didn't share with me. All I wanted was your love and your honesty.”
“I’ll handle the filing and get the lawyer to draft it up for your signature ready for you by tomorrow. Assume you won’t be -“ Dean looked off to the side, “Fighting me for custody. Which is a goddamn shame. Our son is the best thing in this entire world. We could have been the Addams family. We could have rebuilt a life out of our trauma. I killed for you. I died for you. But this is what you wanted. I don’t want your money so I should put you back on the market fresh-faced and vulnerable by your next match. That’s what you wanted right? To be the poor little victim of the big mean monster. I bet the crying might actually be real tears as you slink your way into her bed. Because you are incapable of taking responsibility for your own fucking actions.”
“You’re the one who wanted something, someone else. You’re the one who pulled away. I just decided that I love myself enough to stop trying to be who you wanted.” Dean smirked at the camera, “There’s no denying what I’ve always been. But remember you choose this. You never even tried to fix whatever was wrong with us. You ran, like you always do. So cut the bullshit. You didn’t ever love me, you never did. It was a curiosity that you got bored of. Like a new hobby. So fuck off with the woe-is-me act. No one is buying it here. Save it for the next up-and-coming talent you can side into the bed of.”
Dean turns the bat so the words FUN TIMES face the camera, “You get to be prey this week.”
Our coming-of-age has come and gone
Suddenly, this summer, it's clear
I never had the courage of my convictions
As long as danger is near
And it's just around the corner, darlin'
'Cause it lives in me
No, I could never give you peace
Dean sat alone in his hotel room. Without Damien there the isolation was crushing. Everything in his life had been built around the illusion that he had a family that loved him. Damien did the way any child loved their parents. But other then that Dean felt completely alone. Dean looked at the black envelope he’d had in his pocket since their anniversary. He hesitated. Would it make a difference? Was it too late? First anniversary gifts were meant to be paper. That’s what it was. It seemed like the perfect gift at the time.
But I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm
If your cascade, ocean wave blues come
All these people think love's for show
But I would die for you in secret
The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
The threads within the paper symbolize the strength and connectivity of your blossoming relationship. Paper is also a blank slate, a reference to the beginnings of a new life together, that’s what everything had said. He’d thought it was romantic at the time he’d bought it. Avengers number 7. It had cost a decent amount but with the way Warren had been so excited about the Marvel movies and talked to Dean about the comics…at least he used to. Over the years Warren had changed a lot. Recently it felt like there was a stranger wearing his face. Would this version of Warren even have cared that Dean remembered he liked comic books? Did this version of Warren even like comic books anymore? Did an anniversary present even fit them anymore? How many marriages separated in the first year? Was this just another failure? Just proof his grandmother was right about him all along?
Your integrity makes me seem small
You paint dreamscapes on the wall
I talk shit with my friends, it's like I'm wasting your honor
Dean considered throwing it into the trash. One more thing he’d give to Warren to have it thrown back in his face. Another thing to be told is that it wasn't good enough. Only for Warren to assume the worst and turn it into another thing to use against him. Another way that Dean was ruining everything.
And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences
Sit with you in the trenches
Give you my wild, give you a child
Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other
Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother
Is it enough?
But there's robbers to the east, clowns to the west
I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best
But the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me
Was it enough? Was there anything worth fighting for? Could he ever live with him again? Could he love him again? Was it a lost cause? Was embracing the darkness and not holding back anymore going to rip them apart?
Did he care anymore?
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
He’d spent good money on the book. Fuck it. He’d resell it. Use the money from it to get Damien a dog. A dog would love Damien without question. A dog wouldn’t make Damien go to bed crying. A dog wouldn’t make Dean consider jumping off a very tall building just to make it stop hurting so goddamn much.
“You feel like you earned the big boy pants now that you got qualified for the extinction event, huh? You have to make teamwork to make the dream work. Here’s a spoiler, sweetheart. I don’t care if my team loses. All I care about is beating you until your legs twitch and your sister has to make another body identification with the IWF lawyers scrambling in the background. I’m going to wreck your whole life. I practiced with your father. That was the warm up. Do you think I would be a good dog and stay in the yard just because you ripped my heart out? Did it ever occur to you that without trying to please you I would have no reason to hold back? Motherfucker, you don’t have a clue what’s coming down the pipe for you. You honestly think I wouldn’t set the whole world on fire to make you pay for everything you took from me?!” Dean laughs. “Well, honey, you haven’t even begun to see the reign of terror I’m going to unleash. I don’t flirt with darkness, it groomed me and raised me up. You can pretend to be a better man and tease being the darkness, but you don’t have the thirst for it. You are flighty. You are pathetic. You used to be something. There was a time you had that pull. When you could sell that hotshot thing. But the fans have seen you fail too often to believe in you now.”
“I honestly hope you have some of that fire back in you, sweetheart. Wouldn’t be any fun if you were still all submissive when I break you. And I am going to break you. This week your body. Next week? There are so many options it’s hard to know where to start. How is Shea by the way? Did she ever change those locks? What about Vivienne?”
“In fact, I might even make sure my team does win this event just so I can keep one more thing from you. After all, this is the belt I won from your dad and fucked you on top of when he died. I’m sure you wouldn’t want it now.”
Dean took the bat and smashed the camera, cutting to black.
“This new way of doing the extinction event is weird for me. It’s all teamwork. Doesn’t matter how good I do. If the rest of the champions suck a dick I’m screwed. Though I think I only have to worry about one. Wraith might not like me much anymore but we both know he’s going to throw everything at my…our father. Brooklyn also hates me. But she likes gold as much as I do. Besides, having gold keeps her faction alive. Alexandra is here too I guess.” Dean shrugged. “It could be worse odds.”
“I keep thinking about something….” Dean leaned back on the couch running a hand through his hair.
“All I’ve ever wanted in my life. All I’ve ever fought for. It has always been for a family. To have a home to go home to. To feel loved and to love in return. I had it with The Pack but I left it, betrayed them, and threw away the closest thing I ever had… I did it because I knew I wasn’t allowed to have something that was mine without paying the blood price. I went to my father. I rebuilt a family with him. And then I made one with you…”
Dean sighs and looks up at the ceiling. “I've made some real big mistakes. But you make the worst one look fine. God, Maxine was right about you.”
He shakes his head, “So here we are. Extinction event. Survival of the fittest.” Dean licked his bottom lip, “You know it’s funny… I knew this was coming. No, honestly. What’s more, Kane then to start having personal issues when there’s a title on the line, huh? You really are your father’s son. He’d be soo proud of you.”
“You know I could try to be above the whole situation and try to come at this fight as if it was about nothing but your athleticism and skill. But we both know that when we’ve left it down to skill I’ve beat you every damn time. Every. Damn. Time. The son of extreme and the heir to the Kane legacy and just like your dear old dead dad you eat the pin to me every time. So in that sense, you really are living up to the legacy he left behind.”
Dean looks directly at the camera, “Too personal? Should I leave our troubles off the screen? Should I sit quietly to the side and pretend everything is fine? You can talk about loving me in promos but heaven forbid I mention that you left, again. No. You won’t talk to me. You refuse to go to couples therapy. Your silence and passive aggression when I want to figure out what went wrong.”
“This is my time to talk and you get to shut the fuck up.”
Dean stands up, “See because this isn’t professional. It’s never been professional between us. From our first match, my introduction against you and two other guys. I flirted. I chased. I beat you. I recruited you to The Pack. Your first match after the reveal you made a public declaration of your love for me. We weren’t even dating at the time. How could I not be smitten by that?”
Dean grabs the camera and starts walking, “But it wasn’t about me, was it? It was about pissing off your dad. Everything about us was about pissing off your dad, wasn’t it? You said you wanted to be something besides being seen as his shadow. You spent a year distancing yourself from him. We got back together, you proposed. You even won over my father and Tara. We semi-retired together.”
The camera catches him walking out of the house to a backyard. “Blame me for going back to work, right? Do you think I’m stupid? I saw this coming and I tried to head it off at the pass. You were acting like you wanted out for months. I went back to work because I thought maybe you wanted more space, maybe having me home all the time was too much. You said I was crazy. You said everything was fine. Oh but could I distance myself from my father and the family he was building? Oh, and don’t try to make things better with Rowan. Oh and be less aggressive. Don’t pressure me to be a father but also complain about being excluded from parent time.”
“Yes, sir. Whatever you want. You're the light of my life. The love of my life. Whatever will make you happy.” Dean mimes shooting himself in the head with his fingers, “But that only made you more unhappy.”
“You asked for the separation. What did you think I'd say to that? Was I meant to beg you to stay? Was I meant to make a public show of how much you meant to me? Was I meant to fight you tooth and nail? Was I meant to lock you in the basement until you loved me again?”
“I said nothing. I let it happen. I’m not begging you to love me. You are an adult, Warren. You can make your own choices. I tried to help you out, I really did, but now I know that I can't. I gave you everything and you took it without giving anything back. You took me for granted…I’m sorry…” Dean sets the camera down in the backyard as Dean sits on the steps of the back porch, holding a bloody and damaged bat across his lap.
“You keep saying in your promos you still love me.” Dean rubbed a hand over his face, “I wish I believed you. I wish those three small words had the power they used to. I wish I still felt those words.”
“ See… there's a burning in my pride. Like a little… nervous bleeding in my brain. There was a time I loved you enough I would have just left. If you’d told me you didn’t love me anymore I would have just let go. I would have done anything for an ounce of peace for you. I know you’ll say something meant to pull on my heartstrings leading up to this match. You will say that you loved me just to put it in my face.”
“You wanted me declawed and muzzled. I did that for you. I’m over it. I’m over you. I’m over-breaking myself to make excuses for you. I’m over you taking everything I say in the worst possible way. I’m tired of feeling like I have to fight you to get you to act like you even like me. But I’m mostly tired of the way you hurt and use our son because you are too selfish to think about how anyone else feels. I’m tired of feeling like the bad guy. I’m tired of being the problem. My love deserves to be celebrated, not tolerated. Not settled for because you couldn’t fuck who you really wanted to.”
“Did you think it was a secret? Did you think I couldn’t tell the way you looked at her? Do you think I didn’t see the way you lusted after her? You really do think I’m blind or stupid, don’t you? It’s not just a sexual fantasy, you are emotionally cheating on me with her. Talk to her in ways you refuse to talk to me. You build up these walls and refuse to let me in. Your stepfather beat you. Your biological father was an abusive fuck. Your mother was useless and just stood by and watched. I know these things but not because you told me. No, you won't be vulnerable with me. Fuck me, right? But her, oh you can tell her everything. She’s "perfect".”
“Don’t feel the need to pretend with me anymore. I see you for what you are now. I was so blind in believing everything you said. I was so fucking stupid. I believed you when you wove that tale of true love and soulmates. Of feeling like we were two halves of the same soul. You were just blowing smoke up my ass so you could be relevant, weren’t you? Or was it just love bombing me until I took out all your enemies? Why lie to me? Why not just come out and say what you wanted? Why not just admit I was nothing more then a fuck to fill you until who you wanted got ready for you? Why propose? Why waste both our times?”
“There’s never been a part of you that I haven’t loved. I always accepted every part of you, even the stuff you didn't share with me. All I wanted was your love and your honesty.”
“I’ll handle the filing and get the lawyer to draft it up for your signature ready for you by tomorrow. Assume you won’t be -“ Dean looked off to the side, “Fighting me for custody. Which is a goddamn shame. Our son is the best thing in this entire world. We could have been the Addams family. We could have rebuilt a life out of our trauma. I killed for you. I died for you. But this is what you wanted. I don’t want your money so I should put you back on the market fresh-faced and vulnerable by your next match. That’s what you wanted right? To be the poor little victim of the big mean monster. I bet the crying might actually be real tears as you slink your way into her bed. Because you are incapable of taking responsibility for your own fucking actions.”
“You’re the one who wanted something, someone else. You’re the one who pulled away. I just decided that I love myself enough to stop trying to be who you wanted.” Dean smirked at the camera, “There’s no denying what I’ve always been. But remember you choose this. You never even tried to fix whatever was wrong with us. You ran, like you always do. So cut the bullshit. You didn’t ever love me, you never did. It was a curiosity that you got bored of. Like a new hobby. So fuck off with the woe-is-me act. No one is buying it here. Save it for the next up-and-coming talent you can side into the bed of.”
Dean turns the bat so the words FUN TIMES face the camera, “You get to be prey this week.”
Our coming-of-age has come and gone
Suddenly, this summer, it's clear
I never had the courage of my convictions
As long as danger is near
And it's just around the corner, darlin'
'Cause it lives in me
No, I could never give you peace
Dean sat alone in his hotel room. Without Damien there the isolation was crushing. Everything in his life had been built around the illusion that he had a family that loved him. Damien did the way any child loved their parents. But other then that Dean felt completely alone. Dean looked at the black envelope he’d had in his pocket since their anniversary. He hesitated. Would it make a difference? Was it too late? First anniversary gifts were meant to be paper. That’s what it was. It seemed like the perfect gift at the time.
But I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm
If your cascade, ocean wave blues come
All these people think love's for show
But I would die for you in secret
The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
The threads within the paper symbolize the strength and connectivity of your blossoming relationship. Paper is also a blank slate, a reference to the beginnings of a new life together, that’s what everything had said. He’d thought it was romantic at the time he’d bought it. Avengers number 7. It had cost a decent amount but with the way Warren had been so excited about the Marvel movies and talked to Dean about the comics…at least he used to. Over the years Warren had changed a lot. Recently it felt like there was a stranger wearing his face. Would this version of Warren even have cared that Dean remembered he liked comic books? Did this version of Warren even like comic books anymore? Did an anniversary present even fit them anymore? How many marriages separated in the first year? Was this just another failure? Just proof his grandmother was right about him all along?
Your integrity makes me seem small
You paint dreamscapes on the wall
I talk shit with my friends, it's like I'm wasting your honor
Dean considered throwing it into the trash. One more thing he’d give to Warren to have it thrown back in his face. Another thing to be told is that it wasn't good enough. Only for Warren to assume the worst and turn it into another thing to use against him. Another way that Dean was ruining everything.
And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences
Sit with you in the trenches
Give you my wild, give you a child
Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other
Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother
Is it enough?
But there's robbers to the east, clowns to the west
I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best
But the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me
Was it enough? Was there anything worth fighting for? Could he ever live with him again? Could he love him again? Was it a lost cause? Was embracing the darkness and not holding back anymore going to rip them apart?
Did he care anymore?
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?
He’d spent good money on the book. Fuck it. He’d resell it. Use the money from it to get Damien a dog. A dog would love Damien without question. A dog wouldn’t make Damien go to bed crying. A dog wouldn’t make Dean consider jumping off a very tall building just to make it stop hurting so goddamn much.
“You feel like you earned the big boy pants now that you got qualified for the extinction event, huh? You have to make teamwork to make the dream work. Here’s a spoiler, sweetheart. I don’t care if my team loses. All I care about is beating you until your legs twitch and your sister has to make another body identification with the IWF lawyers scrambling in the background. I’m going to wreck your whole life. I practiced with your father. That was the warm up. Do you think I would be a good dog and stay in the yard just because you ripped my heart out? Did it ever occur to you that without trying to please you I would have no reason to hold back? Motherfucker, you don’t have a clue what’s coming down the pipe for you. You honestly think I wouldn’t set the whole world on fire to make you pay for everything you took from me?!” Dean laughs. “Well, honey, you haven’t even begun to see the reign of terror I’m going to unleash. I don’t flirt with darkness, it groomed me and raised me up. You can pretend to be a better man and tease being the darkness, but you don’t have the thirst for it. You are flighty. You are pathetic. You used to be something. There was a time you had that pull. When you could sell that hotshot thing. But the fans have seen you fail too often to believe in you now.”
“I honestly hope you have some of that fire back in you, sweetheart. Wouldn’t be any fun if you were still all submissive when I break you. And I am going to break you. This week your body. Next week? There are so many options it’s hard to know where to start. How is Shea by the way? Did she ever change those locks? What about Vivienne?”
“In fact, I might even make sure my team does win this event just so I can keep one more thing from you. After all, this is the belt I won from your dad and fucked you on top of when he died. I’m sure you wouldn’t want it now.”
Dean took the bat and smashed the camera, cutting to black.
Well howdy there pardner.