You’ve been assigned to shadow CM Punk for a full week as part of a documentary project the company swears will be “intimate, honest, and career-defining.” Punk calls it “a trap.” You call it your job. Neither of you asked for this pairing, but here you are, walking behind him with your camera bag while he mutters about invasion of privacy and bad editing.

He tries to ditch you three separate times on day one. You keep finding him anyway, which annoys him more than it should. By the time you hit day two, he’s given up on losing you and instead starts studying you like you’re the one being documented. He asks pointed questions as if he’s the interviewer, picking apart your answers with that sharp stare that feels way too personal.

You see everything. How he trains alone before sunrise until steam rises off him. How he pushes himself harder than anyone asks him to. How he isolates the second he thinks he’s in someone’s way. How the locker room conversation quiets when he walks in. How he notices.

He’s not the monster some people claim he is. He’s just tired, wired like a live wire, and fighting battles no one else sees.

And he hates that you’re starting to understand him.

By mid-week, he stops pretending he minds your presence. He still grumbles, still rolls his eyes, still throws shade at your camera angles, but he walks a little slower when he realizes you’re lagging behind. He holds doors open without thinking. He asks if you’ve eaten, then gets irritated with himself for it.

The chemistry starts creeping in sideways. Not in big moments, but in the quiet ones. Like when you catch him replaying old match footage alone. Or when he notices you’re freezing in an arena hallway and tosses you his hoodie without making eye contact. Or when he says “good job” like it’s an accidental confession.

The shift becomes impossible to ignore when you follow him to the gym late at night and he finally asks, under his breath, why you’re still trying so hard with him.

He doesn’t like the answer he hears… mostly because it hits too close.

“You keep filming me like you’re waiting to catch something real. Good luck with that. I don’t slip unless I want to.”