The Hartbreak Associates

Commissioner and His Canadian

The office space lay cold and empty. The exterior simply held a black wooden door with a name tag, "Shawn Michaels," it simply read. It looked like any normal part of the locker room. The interior was different. It was decorated wall to wall in Victorian decor. That's how Shawn loved his locker room. He liked it modest and presentable. This was the same room where he spent hours doing his hair or would dress in his finest clothing and yet somehow forget underwear. The man himself was cocky and arrogant but that's what he was known for. Now, the office only had one person inside. The child could have easily been mistaken for a girl because of their long hair. However, the child was a boy. He stared aggressively at papers in the office space and came across one.

"Why I Hate Shawn Michaels.." the child read as he turned on the tiny office light. "Wow, there's a lot on this list. Only the angstiest teen could've ever dreamed of writing that." The boy threw the paper away in a steel trash can in the corner of the compact room. As the boy sat in the swivel chair behind the burgundy desk, he stared at a photo and chuckled, thus promptly reminding him of years ago.

7 YEARS EARLIER

Aiken had agreed to babysit Breck, a young boy who belonged to Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The two had grown quite close in the time Aiken had babysat and were practically inseparable. Aiken had met Hunter from his best friend/brother figure Bret Hart, who had made it big in the industry, while Hunter was still trying to find himself. Aiken took a part time job babysitting his newfound friend's son for 5 dollars per week. On this particular day, Aiken had decided to use the money to get some ice cream from catering for Breck, whose birthday was coming up. Shawn happened to be there when Aiken had bumped into him.

"Hey!" Shawn exclaimed. "Watch it, will you, Copeland?!" Aiken simply rolled his eyes.

"Maybe if you weren't right in front of me, I would have seen you!" Aiken grumbled. Shawn went to yell, but he noticed Breck and sighed. Breck had established Shawn as an 'uncle' because Hunter talked to Shawn a lot.

"Why are you even here? I'm here to get the last of the ice cream." Shawn smirked confidently.

"Actually, that's why we were here. Breck wants some of the mint ice cream before it ran out." Breck smiled innocently while Shawn scowled.

"How funny, I was here for the same thing.."

"Maybe we can share, Uncle Shawn!" Breck said, eyes lighting up. Shawn visibly cringed and got aggressive.

"Hell no! The mint ice cream will go to me because I deserve it, not you! Me! I'm the one who works almost every single day busting my ass so my life can be decent!" Aiken took Breck's hand and led him away, promising that he would get some ice cream. Once Aiken dropped Breck off with Hunter, he went into his locker room. He pulled out an old, perfectly flat piece of paper and started to write with a red pen. The words read:

"Why I Hate Shawn Michaels by Aiken Copeland"

Aiken wrote his reasons in red ink that bled like an open wound. That's what their relationship was: salt inside of an open wound and it seemed like it would be like that forever...

Suddenly, a average sized man with dirty blonde hair opened the door, which made Aiken fall out of the swivel chair onto the floor. The papers he looked at went with him.

"Aiken!" the man suddenly exclaimed. "What are you doing?" The boy fell out of the chair as the papers he was staring at fell onto the hardwood floor with him. He scrambled to pick them up and placed them on the desk.

"Shawn!" Aiken exclaimed in fear. "How- how did you get here??" Shawn furrowed his brow.

"I thought I told you I needed coffee," Aiken broke out into nervous laughter as he eyed the paper in the trash.

"Oh yes! I specifically remember you telling me about that!" Shawn walked into the room, taking his cowboy boots off and placing them on a smaller looking carpet in the room with a rack on it. He started to walk towards his desk and snap his fingers, which prompted Aiken to get up and move. Shawn sat down with a smirk.

"You know, I was thinking about something on the way here.."

"You want to torture Bret, I know," Aiken rolled his eyes with a smile. "I know just how to do so." Shawn looked over to Aiken curiously. The wonder in his eyes craved to hear the idea. Aiken had never seen Shawn so intrigued about a single idea he's ever had in his life.

"We recruit Freddy," Aiken said. "He may be 10, but he can make a good cover up for stuff that happens around here." Shawn's eyes lit up before going back into the thinking stare he had previously.

"That's great, don't get me wrong," Shawn began. "But I traumatized him by beating up Bret right in front of him. He probably has a bad view of me. How do you expect us to recruit him with that?" Aiken looked down at his hands before looking back at Shawn with a smirk.

"We lure Bret and anyone else away, so we can recruit Freddy in private!" Shawn happily punched Aiken's chest.

"You're a genius, kid!" Shawn exclaimed. "I knew I wouldn't regret having you as my right hand man!" Those words made Aiken feel something he could never imagine feeling. His stomach felt butterflies as a massive smile creeped across his face. The smile was replaced with a startled expression when Shawn clapped his hands.

"Now, let's find a way to get revenge on Hitman!" Aiken raised his fist in agreement while laughing with Shawn. Though deep down, he felt dumb for having to betray his best friend and lie about it. Bret was like a brother. It broke him to lie, but if it's what it took to get close to his rival, he just had to do it. In one part of his mind, Aiken began to plan how to he could convince Freddy to join Shawn, since Bret was strict about his son being around him. The other part begged Aiken not to do it. As hard as it was, Aiken avoided that part of his brain. He felt awful but he wanted Shawn to like him. He was not backing out this easily.

"Thought of anything yet?" Shawn asked, writing frantically in a notepad. Aiken's eyes met Shawn's in what one can describe as an evil stare.

"I say we get Davey or Owen to bring Bret away and I bring Freddy here when he's alone!" Aiken's voice rang with enthusiasm as Shawn pat his shoulder.

"Not bad!" he chuckled as Aiken smiled. From there began a long winded string of attempts to get Bret Hart away from his son. The boy was the best thing to happen to the Harts. Only pure childish bribes could get in the way of that miracle.