Hey everyone :) Wow, it's going to be hard to have anything follow after how well recieved my story "String" was, but I'll give it my best shot!
So this little one shot was written by request for Jenn11. I hope you all, especially Jenn11, like it! Let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy :)
Seth had put his body's protests on ignore half an hour ago. Instead, he opted to simply turn the volume on his iPod up louder; he wouldn't have been surprised if people could have heard his music from across the gym–that is, if anyone would have been in the closed gym that his friend had let him use after hours. He frowned when he found he had reached the ipod's limit, and even then, he still heard it. He still heard Ambrose's voice in his head, even above the blaring guitar and shrieking vocals, above his body's pleads to drop the weight lifting bar. He relished the shaking of his limbs as he thrust the weight into the air, feeling his mind go blank for one blissful moment as all his attention focused on keeping the bar from colliding back down onto his skull. However, as soon as he reluctantly lowered the weight, Ambrose's voice broke back in through the exhaustion and blaring metal music.
When weightlifting didn't clear his head, Rollins decided to go for a run. Placing the weights carefully back on their racks, Seth walked to the unoccupied indoor track, launching at full speed around it, focusing on the rhythm of his feet as they pounded on the ground, the sound of his exhausted lungs, gasping for air. He felt a stabbing pain in his side, screaming at him to stop, but he only pushed himself faster as Ambrose's voice grew louder.
Seth still stood by his choice to leave The Shield, but he never thought his choice would cause this much trouble for him. Had he expected Reigns and Ambrose to be mad? Of course. What even he, The Architect, hadn't counted on, was Ambrose's near obsession with revenge. And then, there were those four simple words that Rollins just couldn't get out of his mind. It was as if Ambrose had curb stomped them permanently into his brain.
Last night, at Summer Slam, Dean had told Seth that he'd loved him. Even after everything Seth had done to him, Dean still called him brother. And even through the searing pain, and his brain begging him to stop running and just give it a little more air, Seth saw the moment, crystal clear in his mind, of Dean planting a gentle kiss on his forehead. He could still feel the pain of the curb stomp that followed.
Rollins stumbled and landed hard on his knees. He pounded his fists into the ground as his body refused to obey his commands to get up, to keep going...to forget. Out of everything that Ambrose had done, why were these four words eating his insides alive? He shouldn't care...but he did.
Seth sat back on his heels, trying to recollect himself. He was The Architect, and he needed to start acting like it. As he thought this, an idea began to blossom. His first plan had failed. He'd tried to break Ambrose's heart before Summer Slam. He'd made it crystal clear to Ambrose that the Lunatic Fringe was never his friend. That Dean was never his brother. And that he'd never given a damn about Dean in the first first place. However, since that plan had obviously only made things worse for Seth, as Summer Slam had proven, he decided that he'd put Dean on the shelf instead. He'd make sure that Dean Ambrose would cease to be a distraction during Seth's rise to the top, no matter how many things Seth had to curb stomp his "former business associate's" head through. He was tired of giving Ambrose time after time to bow out of their feud gracefully. Now, Seth would kick him out of the company himself, permanently.
Satisfied with his plan, Seth slowly rose on shaky legs, making his way unsteadily to the locker room, trying to pretend that he still didn't hear Dean whispering those four little words: "I love you brother."
P.S. I love doing requests for Shield fanficition, so if there is anything you'd like me to try my hand at that involves the boys, feel free to send me a message, and I'll see what I can do about turning your request into a reality! I won't even bite, I promise :)