The Hartbreak Associates

The Blossoming of a Hart

Freddy had been working backstage in WWE for a while now. It gave him an opportunity to do school while still associating himself with the company. He aspired to be just like his father, but deep down, he just couldn’t. He didn’t feel like a man half the time, even if he copied his father. Sure, pink was his father’s thing, but he didn’t like pink in the way his father did. Pink represented more to him. It seemed like Aiken was the only one, other than his family, that didn’t judge him for it. With Aiken back more often, he felt more comfortable wearing pink around others. Deep down inside, however, he could hear someone begging to be set free. Someone that if he revealed, he could get made fun of by everyone. The secret was kept for a while, in fact, it had been kept since the 90s. He needed to find the right time to bring out the real him.

One night on Smackdown, Triple H called Freddy in to talk. Freddy rarely got called in to talk to Triple H, so he was pretty nervous. The locker room Triple H had wasn’t the biggest, but it was big in the eyes of a teen.

“Freddy, I called you in here because Vince is thinking of inducting your dad into the Hall of Fame!” Triple H exclaimed. Freddy was ecstatic. The Hall of Fame was one of his favorite times of the year. It was like a family reunion of sorts. He got to see people who he hasn’t seen in a long time.

“That’s great!” Freddy’s eyes lit up. “But who’s going to induct him?”

“We were thinking of letting you do it,” Triple H answered. “It’s a huge responsibility, you think you can do it?”

“Of course I can!” Freddy looked at Triple H with confidence. “I won’t let you down!” He walked out of the room, feeling confident. He ran to Aiken’s locker room and burst through the door.

“Aiken! I’m inducting my dad into the Hall of Fame!” Aiken jumped up from his chair upon hearing what Freddy said. He immediately hugged the teenager.

“Dude, that's amazing! Now you have a chance!” Freddy looked puzzled.

“Chance at what?”

“Showing him your true self, of course!”

“...you want me to come out?” Freddy looked quite nervous. It shocked Aiken that he was this apprehensive.

“I thought you’d be less hesitant about this, Freds. Your dad will support you, we’ve proved this already!”

“It’s not my dad, Aiken. It’s Bradshaw..” It took the two a minute before they could process what they were talking about.

Years earlier…
Freddy had been walking around the building in a pink shirt with strawberries on it. However, because of a kind seamstress in the building, she managed to turn it into a more feminine romper. Bret had told Freddy that he loved his new sense of style, so he felt more comfortable wearing it. As he was walking around, he ran into JBL, who had looked him up and down upon seeing him.

“Hello Mr. Layfield!” Freddy had tried to greet JBL, but he wanted nothing to do with it.

“Get the hell away from me, you sissy boy,” he grimaced while walking away. It was because of those words that Freddy feared coming out most.

As Freddy snapped back into reality, Aiken had sat him down.

“I talked to Vince about Bradshaw, and he’ll make sure he cannot get you. If he does, I’ll handle him, alright?” Freddy softly smiled at his friend and nodded. He knew Aiken always had his back. The nerves of getting bullied were getting to him. However, he refused to quit so easily.

Before the Hall of Fame that very month, Aiken called Freddy and told him to meet him at a certain address. He was skeptical but went anyway to see what the fuss was all about. When he got there, Aiken was standing in front of a massive dress shop. Freddy couldn’t contain himself.