One

He was running late again but he didn't care; he hated Monday mornings.

Let his partner wait for him. Besides, all the guy did was load up on jelly donuts and a pot of coffee before he even began to work at noon. As Dean Ambrose waited for his turn to place his order for coffee and maybe a multigrain bread filled with cream cheese, his eyes shifted on the cafe's interior.

It had brick walls with dim lighting with wooden chairs and tables all over. Pictures of Polynesian people were hung on the walls with some fern plants being placed near the entrance. There was nothing pretentious about the place and that was what made Dean enter it.

When it came to his turn, his eyes fell on the man serving him. Polynesian, he guessed about thirty with full arm sleeve tribal tattoo and black hair tied neatly in a ponytail. His brown eyes were warm as was his smile. Genuine. Just like the place.

"Can I have your order, Sir?" he asked.

Dean's eyes fell on the man's name tag. "Yes. A small black coffee with the cream cheese multigrain bread." Then he added coyly, "Roman."

The man named Roman laughed warmly. This guy was a life sized teddy bear though he was all muscles, Dean noted. "That's not fair," he said. "You know my name but I don't know yours."

Dean gave him a slight smile. "Well if I gave you mine, it'd have to be for good reasons."

"Such as?"

"Such as for my coffee order or an investigation."

"Investigation?"

"I'm a cop."

Roman grinned as he placed Dean's bread in a brown bag. "You don't look like a cop."

"That's because I hate dressing snootily." Dean looked down at his three quarter black t-shirt and denim jeans. "I prefer casual. You from around here?"

"I'm an American, sir. An American Samoan to be precised."

"That explains the pictures."

Roman handed him his order. "You can pick up your coffee from the pick up counter. Tyler will be preparing it shortly. That'd be five dollars."

Dean nodded and handed him the money. "Do you own this place? I usually go to Mrs Foley's Cafe but it's closed for a week now."

"Oh that must be why I haven't seen you here before. No, I don't own this place. My brother does though. I work for him."

Dean looked behind him and found no one else there. He looked back at Roman who was smiling at him. "You know," the blue eyed dirty blond said, "There is another reason why I could give you my name."

"And what's that?"

"You go on a date with me."

"Really? You and me?"

"That's usually how dates go. Yes."

"Well…"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No. I mean the last relationship I was in was over a year and a half ago."

That was quite some time ago. "So how about it, Roman? Let me take you out on a date."

"But why?"

"Because I could use the company of someone like you… someone with a sunny disposition."

"That's a refreshing thing to hear. Sure. I'd love to… uhmm… I don't have your name."

"Dean," Dean replied, grinning. "Dean Ambrose."

Roman extended his hand and Dean shook it. "Roman Reigns."

"I'll pick you up at six, okay? I hope you like Italian."

"Yeah I do."

Dean grabbed his coffee, nodding his head before he headed out the door.

It was a good start to a usual crappy day.

"You keep eating like that and I keep wondering how you never put on any weight," Dean said as he walked to his desk and set his breakfast order on it.

John Cena laughed. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Isn't it?" he asked his partner. "I'd worry about my sugar levels."

"But Dwayne doesn't seem to think so."

"That's because Dwayne and you are extraterrestrial beings while the rest of us, normal warm blooded human beings have to worry about how everything that goes into our bodies affect us."

John laughed. "When will you ever come to one of our dinner parties?"

"I don't do dinner parties."

"You haven't since Seth and you broke up."

"That's his thing, not mine. I only went to those because he loves flaunting things. His hair, his clothes, his figure…"

"You," John added.

"Me?" Dean repeated. "I'm no George Clooney so there's nothing to flaunt."

"Maybe you need a trip down memory lane. We were both promoted after the crackdown on Randy's drug operations. Of course, he'd want to flaunt you. Our faces were in newspapers across the country."

Dean rolled his eyes as he sipped his coffee. Good coffee, he thought. He wondered if Roman brewed the beans himself.

"Look," John continued. "I'm just saying that it'd be nice to have you around. Hey. I'll set you up on a blind date."

"No need. I'm already going on a date tonight and I'll see how it goes from there."

"Wait. You mean you actually asked someone out?"

"Yes. You act like it's a rare thing. I pursued Seth, you know."

"Well, is this guy anything like Seth?"

"Nope. He's different from Seth and that's a good thing."

"When did you meet him?"

Dean sighed. "This morning, John. At the cafe."

"And you're already taking him on a date?"

"It's been done before, John. I'm not the only guy who's done this."

"I know but other guys aren't like you. You usually analyse about things like that. I remember you waiting a whole week before you decided to ask Seth out."

"There's something about him like I said. Maybe it's warmth. Or his calm persona. Either way, I wanted to know about him more. I was attracted to him so I asked him out." Before someone else thought like me and did the same, he added quietly.

"Is he good looking?"

The word good looking wouldn't have done Roman justice, Dean thought. He was gorgeous. "He's okay," he lied.

"Then bring him to our party; it's on Saturday. Or if he's shy, it'll be just the two of you and us."

"Are you crazy? I just met him. I'm trying not to scare him away."

"You'll scare him away when you insist on sleeping with him on the first date."

"Was that what Seth told you? He pounced on me first. I would have waited if he had asked."

"So you won't be pouncing on this one?"

Dean shook his head. "Okay. Let's stop gossiping like women at the market and continue with the investigation on Billy Kidman."

John bit into a sugar powdered donut. "Still can't believe that a grown man can get raped."

"John, are you serious? There's a thing called rape drug you know."

Roman Reigns combed through his black locks and adjusted his Nike t-shirt while waiting for Dean. While he had always wanted to become a chef, his brother had came to him asking for help at this cafe - Spice - and Roman had given up on his ambition.

The years in culinary school had gone to waste but he had no choice. Family needed him and family always came first for him. He had tried to revamp his brother's menu and was only given a few go aheads.

The cream cheese multigrain bread was one. So were some other pastries he had baked like the spicy tuna sandwich, the sweet potato stuffed donut and salted caramel mocha bun.

He hoped he looked okay.

He had never dated a cop before. His last boyfriend, Jason Jordan had been a vet. Nothing complicated in that relationship. Roman wanted commitment and Jason didn't. So they broke up. No drama. No ill feelings. Just lots of best wishes to one another.

Dean seemed like a nice guy. A little reserved but Roman was sure he was a great guy underneath that surface. Roman had thought he looked somewhat okay from far but up close, at the sight of his scruffy look, he had to admit he was undeniably attracted to him.

He fiddled with his phone while waiting, playing Scrabble on it.

"Roman? You ready?"

He looked up and found Dean smiling at him slightly by the door. "Yeah," he replied, quickly pocketing his phone and stepping out of the cafe. "I'm leaving," he announced to his brother who was in the kitchen.

"Okay," came his brother's reply.

Roman turned to Dean who had an eyebrow raised. "Do you want me to go in and meet-"

"No," Roman replied immediately. "It's okay. He doesn't really care what I do."

A slight frown on the cop's face. "What do you mean? About your life?"

He nodded after a while. "Yeah." There was no point in lying. Especially to a cop. Roman found himself wondering how well could Dean read people.

"Well, it's his loss," Dean said. "Come on. Let's go. I made reservations at Italia."

Roman found himself bracing for what he hoped would be a great evening. It'd be a shame if it went otherwise, he thought.

Italia was a nice restaurant with faux Italian decoration but delicious food. Roman had never been there before but he had heard nothing but great things about it.

"What would you like to have?" Dean asked after they both looked through the menu.

"Just the baked eggplant parmesan," he replied.

Dean made a face; Roman bit back a smile. "That sounds unappetising."

"It's basically layers of eggplant, fresh mushrooms, cheese and pasta sauce."

"Yeah? I guess I'll have spaghetti and meatballs."

"Classic."

"Oh I'm a classic guy. I love classic rock, classic motorcycles and guitars."

"Seems to fit you."

Dean smiled. "Yeah?"

"Like I said, you don't look like a cop. You look like a-"

"Criminal."

"I was going to say bad boy."

"That's because I am. I have some rough edges but I am harmless. Unless you push me over the edge, I mean." He leaned slightly forward. "Tell me more about yourself."

Roman willed himself not to get lost in those blue eyes. "I studied to be a chef but I ended up here at my brother's cafe. I love reading; I'm an avid reader. I love music from the sixties till the nineties and I am a huge fan of Sidney Poitier."

Dean smiled. "Really?"

"Yes."

"That's something different. I've never heard anything like that before."

A waiter came and Dean placed their orders along with two bottles of San Pellegrino.

"Thank you for taking me out," Roman said.

"Our date's not over yet, Roman. We still have a few more hours." Dean looked at his watch. "You're not in a hurry, are you?"

Blue eyes met brown ones. Time didn't seemed important to Roman then.

"No."

A/N I hope you guys like this first chapter. Have a great week ahead.