Post by Stormm on Apr 23, 2018 19:41:03 GMT -5
Dozens, if not over a hundred, gathered outside the home of the late Gene and Michelle Michaels. Of those, their three children watched on with sorrow. They had spent a few days there the week prior, collecting any valuables or family heirlooms that were not for sale following their parents’ untimely deaths.
Both Justin and Aaron had somewhat grown up in that house, with Justin being “kicked out” on his eighteenth birthday, as a means of protecting him that he wouldn’t fully understand until just a few years ago. Aaron on the other hand, had a happy home life, until past demons reemerged, and their parents disappeared.
It was at that point that Justin and Lindsay, before having children of their own, had taken him in until he graduated from high school. They were preparing to pay for his way through college as well, until the full ride scholarship to play football for Bill Snyder was presented to him.
Morgan, on the other hand, was the only sibling that had never lived in the home. Biologically, Justin’s twin sister, she was put up for adoption right after birth as the result of fertility treatments presented Gene and Michelle with more than they thought they could handle at the time, and she was fostered to a family in Arkansas. She had her name legally changed back to Michaels several years ago as she came back into the family.
All three of them, Justin’s wife Lindsay making Gene and Michelle’s fourth “kid”, looked on as the rest bid on items as the estate auction began to wind down. The final auction on the bill, the house itself, made all four of them nervous.
Justin and Lindsay had been settled into the long-time family manor outside Kansas City for years now, were not interested in the property.
Morgan, who was too busy jet-setting around the world, a professional wrestler in her own right, and doing work for Justin at Havoc Entertainment, was not ready to settle down anywhere, and had no attachment to the property.
Then there was Aaron. The child with perhaps the most fond memories of the place, looked like he could throw up as the time to auction off the house neared. He was finishing up his junior year at K-State, a dual-sport athlete now, having walked onto the baseball team, hadn’t even began to dream of owning his own home. He’d yet to really accumulate any wealth of his own to that point, and most of what he would have would come from the conclusion of the estate sale. He was too proud to ask Justin for any handouts, and was not about to ask his brother and sister-in-law to buy the house for him.
He was still uncertain of what his plans were after college anyway.
There were several prospect lists he found himself on for both the National Football League after 3 season at K-State, as well as Major League Baseball with his second season there underway.
But it was hard to ignore just how into the “business” he was, mentally, growing up a Michaels. Gene was a prominent wrestler in the midwest in the 80’s before his addictions and lifestyle got the best of him. Then of course, Justin, now a second generation superstar, had made his name famous all over the world as Stormm. Aaron has been a fan of the Force of Nature and that line of work since the first time he saw his brother inside of the squared circle. Not much has changed in the last ten to twelve years since.
Despite the warnings and horror stories that Justin has told his younger brother over the years, all the positives continue to outweigh the negatives as far as he was concerned, even if “big brother” wanted something different for him. At the very least, using his athletic ability in college has given him more of an insight into what he really wanted afterwards more than anything. It was an experience Justin never had, having gone back to college years after jumping into the world of professional wrestling right out of high school, himself.
“Going once… Going twice… Sold!”
The sound of a gavel hitting a wood block brought all four of the Michaels back to reality as the crowd began to thin out from outside the Topeka, Kansas home. The house was expected to go for close to three hundred thousand, and while they could have gone through a realtor to sell the house after the estate sale, they all agreed to just get it all done in one shot. Obviously, those still left after the brief intermission were all interested in the house itself, and could afford to purchase it for whatever reasonable price they saw fit.
Starting off at an unreasonably low price, the auctioneer rattled off numbers with a lightning fast tongue as the bids continued to rise a thousand dollars at a time for what seemed like forever. Aaron was barely holding it together, something he’d been barely doing for the last month since the accident already.
With the bids nearing the soft cap for what they hoped to sell the house for, the crowd thinned even more. This process continued until the bids neared the ceiling for what they thought the house was worth. Each bid continued to rise, but in much smaller increments than they had started with. Justin had grabbed his younger brother’s neck, trying to help him keep it together, as his eyes began to swell and change from white to an irritated red shade.
Then, the bids stalled out.
About forty-two thousand shy of the three hundred mark, the auctioneer asked for any other bids.
He paused, and glanced towards Justin, who gave the “kill” motion with his finger at his neck. Only Lindsay seemed to noticed, but smiled at her husband before turning her attention back to the front.
“I have three hundred thousand in the back. Do I hear three hundred and one?”
Everyone left started to look around, shocked and confused.
“Three hundred thousand going once.”
A middle-aged gentleman with salt and pepper hair was visibly upset with losing the bid, and began search for whoever bid the asking price, as he was hoping to steal the house away. His eyes met Justin’s, and noticed Aaron, doing a poor job of holding back his tears, and Justin nodded toward the man.
“Three hundred thousand going twice.”
No counter bid came in.
“Sold, for three hundred thousand.”
The low rumblings of crowd dissipated as quickly as they started up as the congregation broke apart. The only people left were those paying for and gathering the items they had purchased. Justin, however, removed his hand from Aaron’s neck, and reaching into his front pocket, and removed a set of keys. The jingle-jangle grabbed Aaron and Morgan’s attention, and with an open hand, Justin pressed the keys against Aaron’s chest.
“It’s yours.”
He didn’t know if he should be happy, sad, or angry with his brother, but he grabbed the keys anyway. “I didn’t ask…”
“You didn’t have to, and we didn’t expect you to.” Lindsay chimed in with a smile, both Justin and Morgan were not far behind with their smirk.
“Besides, you’ll end up paying us back eventually, so this is only a temporary handout.” Justin admitted. He would go on to explain the theatrics, and how it worked out to a much better deal in the long run to do this, than to sell to someone else.
“What’s the catch?” Aaron pondered. “Other than me paying you back for my third of this later?”
There was another long pause as Justin shot Morgan a quick glance, and she got the hint and meandered away. It worried Aaron for what Justin and Lindsay were going to ask of him at this point, given all they had already done for him the last seven years or so. “There’s no catch.”
Aaron rolled his eyes at Lindsay’s statement.
Flicking his right hand into Aaron’s abdomen, Justin defended his wife’s statement. “If there was a catch, you’d know about it.” He affirmed. “As well as you are doing for yourself right now in college, we have no doubt that you’ll go far after you graduate next year.”
“Just as long as I don’t…”
A little bit of brotherly love followed as Justin interrupted his brother again, this time grabbing him in a headlock. While Aaron ended up being slightly taller than his brother, he was still the smaller of the two by a good thirty pounds or so, and still not as strong. “The only thing you need to worry about is actually graduating, and staying healthy.” Justin confirmed. “Whether you stick with football, go with baseball, or end up in the ‘business’, we’re not worried about your future at all, or your ability to pay us back.”
It was the first time that Justin had ever considered the idea of Aaron becoming a wrestler, and while that was part of the fun in the past, the youngest Michaels was not sure how to take it, and simply nodded his head. He still had one more year of college to make up his mind, and wasn’t going to make it up right then and there, and press his luck. Instead, after being released from the headlock, he wrapped an arm around Justin, and the other around Lindsay, and thanked them for making it happen.
Seeing that, Morgan was not far behind in joining in on the family hug.
“Can you get me tickets to come watch Trauma next week?” Being unable to help himself, Aaron did press his luck.
Family bonding time was over, and Justin simply shook his head. “I think you’ve got some baseball to play, and a few more weeks of school to finish up, you’ve had enough time, you need to get back to your routine.”
Aaron nodded, knowing Justin was right.
“You don’t want to see him wrestle Braddock anyway, it’s not going to be much of a match.” Lindsay quipped with a nudge of her elbow.
“Watching him put on a clinic are some of his better matches though.” Aaron admitted. “He’s getting old, so who knows how many more matches like this we’ll see!”
Before being put back into another headlock, the smaller, more agile Michaels sibling was off to the races, house keys in hand, and the Force of Nature didn’t bother to make chase after the first few steps. They all shared a laugh nevertheless, and Aaron made his way back to the group.
“I know the Icemann Invitational is kind of a big thing, and that the first match you ever saw me wrestle was the match where I actually claimed it twelve years ago, so I already got everyone tickets for Living a Legacy.” Justin admitted
The excitement level was sky high, but the question still remained, would the Force of Nature still be in the tournament come pay-per-view time?
“While he has no doubts on beating Braddock next week, we can’t guarantee he’ll beat the winner of the Tyler Scott and Gabriel match, but as the North American champion, he’ll be wrestling regardless.” Lindsay said, painting a vivid picture of the next month or so of Pure Class Wrestling bookings for Stormm.
“I won’t guarantee it, but having beaten them both recently, I’m also not too worried about it either.” With his near trademark smirk, Justin beamed with confidence. “I see myself in the finals more so than just simply defending my title.”
“Sounds a lot like a guarantee!” Morgan pitched in, and before Justin could react, Aaron flicked her for him, and it was her turn to make chase.
“Hey now, you two!” Lindsay yelled, her mom voice emerging, but she was not heard.
Grabbing her hand, Justin and Lindsay began to walk towards the house while the younger siblings acted more like pre-teens than adults. “Come on now!” Justin shouted. “Aaron, you need to show us this house you just bought, anyway!”
Both Justin and Aaron had somewhat grown up in that house, with Justin being “kicked out” on his eighteenth birthday, as a means of protecting him that he wouldn’t fully understand until just a few years ago. Aaron on the other hand, had a happy home life, until past demons reemerged, and their parents disappeared.
It was at that point that Justin and Lindsay, before having children of their own, had taken him in until he graduated from high school. They were preparing to pay for his way through college as well, until the full ride scholarship to play football for Bill Snyder was presented to him.
Morgan, on the other hand, was the only sibling that had never lived in the home. Biologically, Justin’s twin sister, she was put up for adoption right after birth as the result of fertility treatments presented Gene and Michelle with more than they thought they could handle at the time, and she was fostered to a family in Arkansas. She had her name legally changed back to Michaels several years ago as she came back into the family.
All three of them, Justin’s wife Lindsay making Gene and Michelle’s fourth “kid”, looked on as the rest bid on items as the estate auction began to wind down. The final auction on the bill, the house itself, made all four of them nervous.
Justin and Lindsay had been settled into the long-time family manor outside Kansas City for years now, were not interested in the property.
Morgan, who was too busy jet-setting around the world, a professional wrestler in her own right, and doing work for Justin at Havoc Entertainment, was not ready to settle down anywhere, and had no attachment to the property.
Then there was Aaron. The child with perhaps the most fond memories of the place, looked like he could throw up as the time to auction off the house neared. He was finishing up his junior year at K-State, a dual-sport athlete now, having walked onto the baseball team, hadn’t even began to dream of owning his own home. He’d yet to really accumulate any wealth of his own to that point, and most of what he would have would come from the conclusion of the estate sale. He was too proud to ask Justin for any handouts, and was not about to ask his brother and sister-in-law to buy the house for him.
He was still uncertain of what his plans were after college anyway.
There were several prospect lists he found himself on for both the National Football League after 3 season at K-State, as well as Major League Baseball with his second season there underway.
But it was hard to ignore just how into the “business” he was, mentally, growing up a Michaels. Gene was a prominent wrestler in the midwest in the 80’s before his addictions and lifestyle got the best of him. Then of course, Justin, now a second generation superstar, had made his name famous all over the world as Stormm. Aaron has been a fan of the Force of Nature and that line of work since the first time he saw his brother inside of the squared circle. Not much has changed in the last ten to twelve years since.
Despite the warnings and horror stories that Justin has told his younger brother over the years, all the positives continue to outweigh the negatives as far as he was concerned, even if “big brother” wanted something different for him. At the very least, using his athletic ability in college has given him more of an insight into what he really wanted afterwards more than anything. It was an experience Justin never had, having gone back to college years after jumping into the world of professional wrestling right out of high school, himself.
“Going once… Going twice… Sold!”
The sound of a gavel hitting a wood block brought all four of the Michaels back to reality as the crowd began to thin out from outside the Topeka, Kansas home. The house was expected to go for close to three hundred thousand, and while they could have gone through a realtor to sell the house after the estate sale, they all agreed to just get it all done in one shot. Obviously, those still left after the brief intermission were all interested in the house itself, and could afford to purchase it for whatever reasonable price they saw fit.
Starting off at an unreasonably low price, the auctioneer rattled off numbers with a lightning fast tongue as the bids continued to rise a thousand dollars at a time for what seemed like forever. Aaron was barely holding it together, something he’d been barely doing for the last month since the accident already.
With the bids nearing the soft cap for what they hoped to sell the house for, the crowd thinned even more. This process continued until the bids neared the ceiling for what they thought the house was worth. Each bid continued to rise, but in much smaller increments than they had started with. Justin had grabbed his younger brother’s neck, trying to help him keep it together, as his eyes began to swell and change from white to an irritated red shade.
Then, the bids stalled out.
About forty-two thousand shy of the three hundred mark, the auctioneer asked for any other bids.
He paused, and glanced towards Justin, who gave the “kill” motion with his finger at his neck. Only Lindsay seemed to noticed, but smiled at her husband before turning her attention back to the front.
“I have three hundred thousand in the back. Do I hear three hundred and one?”
Everyone left started to look around, shocked and confused.
“Three hundred thousand going once.”
A middle-aged gentleman with salt and pepper hair was visibly upset with losing the bid, and began search for whoever bid the asking price, as he was hoping to steal the house away. His eyes met Justin’s, and noticed Aaron, doing a poor job of holding back his tears, and Justin nodded toward the man.
“Three hundred thousand going twice.”
No counter bid came in.
“Sold, for three hundred thousand.”
The low rumblings of crowd dissipated as quickly as they started up as the congregation broke apart. The only people left were those paying for and gathering the items they had purchased. Justin, however, removed his hand from Aaron’s neck, and reaching into his front pocket, and removed a set of keys. The jingle-jangle grabbed Aaron and Morgan’s attention, and with an open hand, Justin pressed the keys against Aaron’s chest.
“It’s yours.”
He didn’t know if he should be happy, sad, or angry with his brother, but he grabbed the keys anyway. “I didn’t ask…”
“You didn’t have to, and we didn’t expect you to.” Lindsay chimed in with a smile, both Justin and Morgan were not far behind with their smirk.
“Besides, you’ll end up paying us back eventually, so this is only a temporary handout.” Justin admitted. He would go on to explain the theatrics, and how it worked out to a much better deal in the long run to do this, than to sell to someone else.
“What’s the catch?” Aaron pondered. “Other than me paying you back for my third of this later?”
There was another long pause as Justin shot Morgan a quick glance, and she got the hint and meandered away. It worried Aaron for what Justin and Lindsay were going to ask of him at this point, given all they had already done for him the last seven years or so. “There’s no catch.”
Aaron rolled his eyes at Lindsay’s statement.
Flicking his right hand into Aaron’s abdomen, Justin defended his wife’s statement. “If there was a catch, you’d know about it.” He affirmed. “As well as you are doing for yourself right now in college, we have no doubt that you’ll go far after you graduate next year.”
“Just as long as I don’t…”
A little bit of brotherly love followed as Justin interrupted his brother again, this time grabbing him in a headlock. While Aaron ended up being slightly taller than his brother, he was still the smaller of the two by a good thirty pounds or so, and still not as strong. “The only thing you need to worry about is actually graduating, and staying healthy.” Justin confirmed. “Whether you stick with football, go with baseball, or end up in the ‘business’, we’re not worried about your future at all, or your ability to pay us back.”
It was the first time that Justin had ever considered the idea of Aaron becoming a wrestler, and while that was part of the fun in the past, the youngest Michaels was not sure how to take it, and simply nodded his head. He still had one more year of college to make up his mind, and wasn’t going to make it up right then and there, and press his luck. Instead, after being released from the headlock, he wrapped an arm around Justin, and the other around Lindsay, and thanked them for making it happen.
Seeing that, Morgan was not far behind in joining in on the family hug.
“Can you get me tickets to come watch Trauma next week?” Being unable to help himself, Aaron did press his luck.
Family bonding time was over, and Justin simply shook his head. “I think you’ve got some baseball to play, and a few more weeks of school to finish up, you’ve had enough time, you need to get back to your routine.”
Aaron nodded, knowing Justin was right.
“You don’t want to see him wrestle Braddock anyway, it’s not going to be much of a match.” Lindsay quipped with a nudge of her elbow.
“Watching him put on a clinic are some of his better matches though.” Aaron admitted. “He’s getting old, so who knows how many more matches like this we’ll see!”
Before being put back into another headlock, the smaller, more agile Michaels sibling was off to the races, house keys in hand, and the Force of Nature didn’t bother to make chase after the first few steps. They all shared a laugh nevertheless, and Aaron made his way back to the group.
“I know the Icemann Invitational is kind of a big thing, and that the first match you ever saw me wrestle was the match where I actually claimed it twelve years ago, so I already got everyone tickets for Living a Legacy.” Justin admitted
The excitement level was sky high, but the question still remained, would the Force of Nature still be in the tournament come pay-per-view time?
“While he has no doubts on beating Braddock next week, we can’t guarantee he’ll beat the winner of the Tyler Scott and Gabriel match, but as the North American champion, he’ll be wrestling regardless.” Lindsay said, painting a vivid picture of the next month or so of Pure Class Wrestling bookings for Stormm.
“I won’t guarantee it, but having beaten them both recently, I’m also not too worried about it either.” With his near trademark smirk, Justin beamed with confidence. “I see myself in the finals more so than just simply defending my title.”
“Sounds a lot like a guarantee!” Morgan pitched in, and before Justin could react, Aaron flicked her for him, and it was her turn to make chase.
“Hey now, you two!” Lindsay yelled, her mom voice emerging, but she was not heard.
Grabbing her hand, Justin and Lindsay began to walk towards the house while the younger siblings acted more like pre-teens than adults. “Come on now!” Justin shouted. “Aaron, you need to show us this house you just bought, anyway!”
