The Hartbreak Associates

The Announcement

As weeks went by, the boys paid extra attention to keep their association a secret, especially around the Hart Foundation. More often than not, Aiken became late. He always shook it off as traffic or being caught up in conversation with Vince McMahon. Freddy had made sure to hide any hint of association with Shawn from his father. The only hint they couldn't hide was the nice formal outfits. Freddy always wanted to be in his best button up shirt, while Aiken dressed in his best blazer. Bret soon took notice and took Aiken aside. 

"What the hell's going on with you and Freddy?" Bret asked. "You guys are never this formal!" Aiken shrugged. 

"Don't worry about it. Vince just told us to be more formal."

"Vince?" Bret raised his eyebrow. "If that was the case, he would've told me and Edge." 

"He's been meaning to tell you both but forgot. We're alright, really." With that, Aiken walked away. Bret and Owen kept a close eye on the young ones. Most importantly, they kept an eye on Shawn. To them, his influence was important on how Aiken was acting. Soon enough, Shawn took the two aside. 

"I think tonight's the night," he said. "Our secret will be out to the world!" Aiken looked enthusiastic while Freddy looked terrified. 

"But my dad won't like this!" Freddy gulped. Aiken pat him on the shoulder and reassured him that he and Shawn would take care of Bret. 

Aiken turned to Shawn and mumbled slightly. "So we're announcing it tonight?" Shawn nodded. Aiken wrote something down in a pocketbook he had gotten the day before before looking back at Freddy. 

"Don't worry, Freds," Aiken assured the boy. "Anything that happens tonight shouldn't affect us an awful lot. Besides, if all goes to shit, we have each other!" Freddy smiled as he adjusted his jacket. The three were more tight knit than ever and almost nothing was going to change that. 

After hours of rehearsing what was going to go down, the three stood backstage, waiting to go out there. Shawn stood in front while Aiken and Freddy were side by side in the back. Deep down, the nerves all of them had was unmatched. They didn't want to mess anything up. Plus, Aiken had told Bret about a match, not an announcement. The thoughts of the young boys vanished when Shawn turned to them. 

"Are you two ready?" Shawn asked calmly. Aiken gave a thumbs up while Freddy nodded. Shawn took it as a confident yes as he gave the signal to a worker to cue the music. As 'Sexy Boy' blared through the speakers, Shawn went out first. Freddy felt Aiken take his hand as they followed behind. The audience seemed confused as to why the children were with Shawn. Were they adopted? There was no way. They had parents. The three got into the ring and Shawn took the mic as Aiken and Freddy stood by his side. 

"Now," Shawn started. "As you all know, I'm the commissioner of this company. Well, I thought 'wouldn't it be fun to have some company,' someone to help me carry on my intentions for this company to be successful? Well, I found two amazing people for the job. They're younger than you'd expect from assistants but that's what makes them special. Allow me to introduce to you, my assistants: Aiken Copeland and Freddy Hart!" The audience had mixed reactions. Some cheered, some booed, but all of them had the same confusion plastered on their faces. Wasn't Freddy Bret's son? And wasn't Aiken the adopted son of Edge? Why did they agree to work with Shawn Michaels of all people? Those questions were interrupted by Bret's theme playing. Bret stood on the ramp, visibly pissed. 

"What do you want, Hitman?" Shawn sighed, clearly not in the mood to deal with Bret. 

"Why is my kid with you?!" Bret yelled into the microphone. 

"He chose to side with me, maybe because he had enough of you." Shawn smirked at Bret, who scoffed in response. 

"Bullshit!" Bret raised his voice even more. "You must have forced him. Did he, Freddy?" Freddy didn't say anything. He was behind Shawn now. Soon enough, Bret was in the ring. Aiken tried to break up the two, but they ended up getting into a brawl. Aiken tried to drag Shawn off but ended up getting pushed away. It took multiple officials to get the two seperated. By this time they got the two men seperated, Freddy had run off. Aiken's instinct told him to check on Freddy, so that's exactly what he did. 

Freddy looked traumatized as if his own father had hit him. "Aiken?-"

"Freddy? Are you alright?" Aiken asked worriedly. Freddy didn't respond. Aiken asked again, the same thing.

"I thought maybe he'd react less harshly," Freddy's quiet voice shook. 

"What are you gonna do about it?" Aiken asked. "He's protective of us. I mean, yeah, I'm upset he called me a liar, but hes extremely protective and you can't change that about Bret." Freddy shrugged. Aiken could tell he was shaken up and brought him back to Shawn's office. Freddy grabbed the match cards from one of the filing cabinets and looked at one specific one. 

"To think they got along once," Freddy laughed. Aiken laughed along with him.

"Yeah," Aiken added. "It would be a miracle if they got along again!" Freddy nodded right as Shawn came into the room.

"Freddy," Shawn asked. "Are you alright, kiddo?"

"I'm fine," Freddy assured Shawn. "It just got overwhelming, that's all." Shawn ruffled Freddy's hair and gave him his cowboy hat. Freddy's smile was everything to Shawn. Even if this was to annoy Bret, maybe having Freddy by his side wasn't as bad as he anticipated. Aiken couldn't help but stand next to Shawn as he sat down.

"What's bugging you, kid?" Shawn looked at Aiken, worried. "You don't usually hang around me like this unless you're upset."

Aiken sighed. "I'm just a little hurt."

"It was Bret, wasn't it?"

"Yeah.."

Shawn grabbed Aiken's shoulder. "Listen to me, no matter what Bret said about you, you are still my associate. Your feelings matter too. Now, should we piss Bret off more next week?"

Aiken smiled. "Hell yeah!"

"That's the spirit!" Shawn smirked. The three went on with the night pretty good. Little did they know that one event would change theirs and Bret's life forever.