Disclaimer: I don't own anyone.
Rated: T
Warning(s): Slash, Foursome, Daddy!Kink, Sub!Seth, Sub!Dean, Sub!Roman, Daddy!Hunter, Allusions to Past Abuse, Spoilers for Royal Rumble '16, etc.

A/N: This is a companion story to Daddy's Care: Roman Edition and Daddy's Love: On His Knees. You do not need to read the other stories first to understand this one, but it is recommended that you do.

"Roman!" Hunter stormed down the near-abandoned hallway after his boy. It had been ten minutes since the conclusion of the 2016 one-versus-all Royal Rumble match, and he'd seen the way that Roman had broken when, after surviving twenty-eight other superstars, his Daddy had been the one to throw him out of the ring.

Roman paused just outside of the locker room, casting Hunter a side-long glance. He looked tired and depressed, and his eyes narrowed when they fell upon the WWE World Heavyweight Title that now rested on Hunter's shoulder. "Bet you just couldn't wait to rub that one in, huh?"

Hunter sighed, "I really didn't mean for you to find out this way." He slid the belt off his shoulder and held it at his side, "But I couldn't stand to see the old man hurt you anymore."

Roman frowned, "So you think that I can't handle myself?"

"That's not what I'm saying at all." He looked deeply into Roman's eyes, trying to will the younger man to understand. "It's my job to protect you, both inside and outside of the ring. Don't think that they were exaggerating when they said that they'd work you into an early grave."

"And, you see, I was dumb enough to think that you'd respect me enough to let me make my own decisions and fight my own battles. You don't own me just because you're my Daddy. And you certainly can't control me, either." Roman hissed darkly.

"You're really not understanding my point at all, are you?" Hunter asked, exasperated.

Roman shook his head, "No, I'd say that it's you that isn't understanding me. You can't just pick-and-choose whose side you're playing for when the mood strikes you. Either you're with the Authority or you're with me." And then, softer, "It's time you finally made a damn decision."

And with that, Roman entered the locker room. He didn't slam the door closed, as Hunter had expected he would. He didn't lock the door, either. And that was because he knew, after everything that had transpired, that the likelihood of Hunter following him inside was slim to none. After everything was said and done, Roman knew full-well what side Hunter was bound to take. After all, siding with the broken fragments of the Shield didn't really lend itself well to job security.

Without a word, Roman went and sat down beside Seth, who was working on a crossword puzzle. The two-toned man had been going out of his damned mind ever since his knee injury had put him on the shelf for six months to a year. As soon as he could put weight on it without the aid of crutches, he could go to physical therapy. But by the size of the ice-pack precariously perched upon his knee brace, it didn't look like that would be anytime soon.

"You know, the doors here are remarkably thin. If some idiots were to have sex in the hallway, you could hear the whole thing." Seth remarked absently, while filling in a four letter word for 'love'.

After a moment of silence, Roman cocked his head to the side, "What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

Seth rolled his eyes, "It means, genius, that I could hear everything going on out in the hallway, including that little fight you and Daddy had." He sighed, closing the book and tossing it onto the table that was currently propping up his bad leg, "Now, would you like to tell me what it is that's got your knickers in a twist?"

"You are a strange, strange man..." Roman almost sounded fond. Almost. "And it wasn't 'little'. That bastard knew he was the last entrant into the Royal Rumble match and he didn't tell me. It was like he was setting me up to fail."

Seth looked confused, "Why would he want you to fail? Don't you remember how proud he was of you when you came home with that title?"

Roman did remember that. Hunter had been in so much pain, but he'd still managed to pull Roman up off his knees and make him promise to never bow to anyone, not even him. He'd told him that he was proud of how Roman had stood up against the Authority, even if it had taken everything within him not to cave under their oppressive hand. He'd told him how proud he was that he'd become a champion. And that just made everything that much worse.

"Yeah? So what if he was proud? He knew how much being a champion meant to me, and he stabbed me in the back." Roman said.

Seth crossed his arms over his chest, readying himself for a fight. "Ever think that maybe, just maybe, he was actually telling the truth about trying to protect you?"

"I don't need protection." Roman said softly, weakly. His adrenaline was crashing and all of a sudden he just felt so weak.

Seth sighed, "Remember when we were still with Paul, and he told us that he'd decided to bring Phil on as a client? None of us really knew what to make of it - was he bringing him on as another sub? Was he our replacement? But we should've been able to read the writing on the walls, understood the signs."

Essentially, they'd been reduced to the likes of tools, being placed on the backburner as soon as a new, shinier toy came along. They'd been expected to protect Phil and expect nothing in return, to be his henchmen, ready to deliver at his beck and call. And when they'd finally screwed up majorly and cost Phil the WWE Championship... well, none of them really talked about their last night with Paul Heyman, or why they detested the Royal Rumble.

Roman winced at the memory. Nothing pleasant had ever come from associating with the likes of Paul Heyman. Perhaps the same could be said about Hunter. Just when Roman thought that things were getting better, that the hurt they'd endured in the past was finally behind them, Hunter found a way to once again prove him wrong. Never before had Roman so desperately wanted to be right about something.

"So you're saying that I should've seen the writing on the wall and seen this whole mess with Hunter and the title coming?" Roman wasn't buying it.

Seth shook his head, "No, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm trying to say is that sometimes, you just can't predict how something is going to turn out. Sometimes, shit just happens, and it's not really anyone's fault. It's just a fact of life."

Roman wasn't swayed, however. "Hunter knew what he was doing. He knew it the whole time." He looked down at his hands, which were shaking, "He never wanted me to have that title, and he was never proud. Haven't you realized that half the shit that comes out of that man's mouth is simply lip-service?"

"Roman..." Seth looked as thought he'd been struck across the face.

"Look..." Roman ran a hand over his face, trying to calm himself down. "I know that you love him, and somewhere underneath all this anger and frustration, I do too. But everybody lies, Seth. Like you said, it's just a fact of life."

"He wouldn't lie about this." Seth said firmly.

"Wouldn't he?" Roman countered, one eyebrow raised.

It was then that Seth threw in the towel, clearly recognizing an uphill battle that he'd be unable to win when he saw one. Grabbing his crutches, he got to his feet with only a little bit of difficulty, before hobbling to the door and declaring that he was headed out to try the macaroni and cheese that was being served down in catering. In other words, he'd leave Roman to suffer alone.

It didn't help that, after everything, Hunter was filming a short clip for the WWE Network with his ex-wife, Stephanie McMahon. Roman rolled his eyes as he watched how the cow hung off of him, completely unaware of how desperate she was making herself seem. Most everyone in the back knew that Hunter was the happiest he'd ever been since coming to be with his boys, and that Stephanie had essentially become an unavoidable annoyance.

All of the superstars and divas had been forced to watch the filming, to reaffirm the dominance of the Authority over the entirety of the WWE. Roman was completely unimpressed and the anger rolled off of him in waves. Hunter, seemingly able to sense his boy's discomfort, offered him a placating smile. Unspoken was the reassurance that all of this pomp and circumstance would be over soon. His thanks? The one-finger salute.

Once everything was said and done, Hunter none-too-gently disentangled Stephanie from his body and made his way over to Roman. The minute they locked eyes, Hunter lost track of what it was he'd planned on saying. Instead, he settled on, "Roman... I didn't actually think you'd show up."

Roman laughed wryly, "Considering that my job depended on it, I'd have been a fool not to." And then, softer, darker, "You and Stephanie seemed to be pretty buddy-buddy."

Hunter sighed, "Please don't start with that, Roman. It's all storyline. I can't stand that woman's guts and she knows it. She's milked me for everything I have and then some, and she'll take anything else she can get her hands on."

Just then, Dean's hand landed on the big man's shoulder, silencing any retort he might've had, "Sorry to interrupt, but I thought the big guy might like some dinner before Sethie eats it all."

"You weren't interrupting anything." Hunter opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced by a glare from Roman. "And food sounds great right about now."

"We're not done talking about this, Roman." Hunter said, watching as Roman continued to walk away from him, paying him little mind.

"Actually," Roman stopped, before turning around and narrowing his eyes at Hunter. "I think we are."

He knew, of course, that they were far from being done talking about everything that had transpired. Hunter knew that Roman would continue to bottle up his anger inside until he was ready to burst, and he'd let everything out in one particularly nasty outburst. Seth's little temper tantrums would seem almost pleasant in comparison. But there was no way to speed up or tone down the inevitable explosion... he'd just have to stand-by and wait.

In the meantime, Dean turned to Roman, reaching up and gently touching his forehead to feel for a temperature. "Are you feeling alright, Roman? Because, back there, it kinda seemed like you were jealous of Stephanie. And you and jealous... well, they just don't mix."

"I'm not jealous." Roman snapped back, taking Dean's hand and forcibly removing it from his person. "What reason would I have to be jealous of that bitch?"

Dean shrugged, "Maybe because it seems like she's got Hunter wrapped around her little finger, and that, much as you don't want to admit it, she holds more control over your life than you do."

Roman frowned, "I just wish she'd keep her nose out of other people's business, that's all."

"Ha, well, you lost any chance of that when her daddy dearest got arrested." Dean sighed, before muttering, "And you're damn lucky it wasn't you."

If possible, Roman's frown seemed to deepen. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Dean ignored him, in favor of following a seemingly random train of thought, "You know, that'd certainly explain a lot... what if Stephanie put Hunter into the Royal Rumble as payback for her father getting arrested. To hurt you, because you hurt her."

That caused Roman to pause. Honestly, much as he didn't want to admit it, it made sense. Stephanie was just the right kind of vindictive to pull a stunt like that. Even if it hadn't necessarily been Roman's fault that her father had gotten arrested, she needed someone to blame and Roman was an easy target. Roman continued to find new ways to embarrass and humiliate her family without even trying. And you know what they say: payback is a bitch.

Could that have been what Hunter had been referring to when he said that he was trying to protect him? Had Hunter struck some sort of deal with Stephanie? By taking his WWE World Heavyweight Title, had he saved him from an even worse fate? He remembered Hunter mentioning something about being worked into an early grave, but he'd been so angry at him then, he hadn't really stopped to think about it...

"Hey, at least this is better than Royal Rumble '13." They both shivered at the memory. It didn't take much to top such a horrible night. "Its what... 1 AM? At this point, I believe we were on our way to the hospital because Seth's head wouldn't stop bleeding."

Roman sighed, "I don't need to be babied by him."

"I don't think he's trying to baby you, Roman. It's just that he doesn't want you to get hurt and he knows what Stephanie is capable of, and that scares him."

"I don't need to be protected, either. I can take care of myself." Roman said, remaining defiant.

"Yeah, well, he's gonna end up protecting you whether you like it or not. And somewhere, deep down inside, I know that you like it." Dean said, punching Roman lightly on the shoulder. "Now, go talk to him before he gets crushed under the burden of carrying that belt around."

Hunter stared at the belt in his hands - it still bore Roman's name. He wondered if he'd ever be forgiven for trying to make things right. Roman hadn't seen the monstrously long list of possible matches that Stephanie had already planned out, storyline after storyline, handicap after handicap, to try and weaken Roman to the point where he either lost or forfeit the title, or he keeled over from sheer exhaustion.

"You don't look so hot." Roman said softly, closing the small distance between them. "Listen, about earlier..."

"I wanted you to see this." Hunter said, handing over Stephanie's list. Roman hesitated for a moment, before taking it. "That's a comprehensive list of all the matches that Stephanie was planning for you until January of 2018... including opponents, stipulations, and handicaps..."

Roman looked it over and, sure enough, everything that Hunter was saying proved to be true. "You traded my WWE World Heavyweight Title to save my career..."

Hunter couldn't look him in the eye, and instead chose to focus on a spot near his feet. "You're a talented performer, Roman. And I've seen how much this business means to you - how it's helped you to grow in and out of the ring. With the kind of schedule Stephanie was threatening you with, you'd make it a year... maybe less."

"You don't have much faith in me." Roman said softly. But even as he said it, he didn't really believe it.

Hunter shook his head, "No. I have all the faith in the world in you. And I know you'd work yourself into an early grave for this business. So I took the lesser of two evils."

"You did what you thought was best, even though you knew that I'd end up hating you for it." Roman finished for him.

"Isn't that a Daddy's job?" Hunter asked, his voice utterly broken.

Roman didn't think he could ever remember seeing Hunter this distraught before. Perhaps it was because he'd never stuck around to see the aftermath of one of their little tantrums, or because Hunter always buried himself in paperwork before there was ever a chance to question it. It hurt to think that there was something that Hunter had been hiding from them after all... even if it was one of the less pleasant aspects of their relationship.

Roman looked at the paper again. If he'd thought that a one-versus-all handicap was bad, he obviously hadn't admired Stephanie's unique brand of sadistic humor before. The things she had had planned for him were downright scary, even Roman could admit to that. And if Stephanie had shown Hunter that sheet when she offered him his ultimatum, it was no wonder he'd chosen the path that he did. So Roman did the only thing that he could do.

He crumpled up the paper and threw it into the trashcan, before plopping down onto the bench beside Hunter. Eyeing the belt in Hunter's hands for a moment, he shook his head and gently pushed it toward Hunter's chest. No matter whether or not the circumstances were ideal, he'd won the title, and Roman could accept that. Hunter frowned, not sure that he was understanding.

"It's okay." Roman said, after contemplating his words for several moments. "I mean, I'm not happy that I lost. Or that you didn't tell me you were going to be in the match. But you were trying to protect me... and that's more than anyone's ever done before."

"You'll never know how proud I am of you. Champion or not... you make me so proud every day." Hunter sighed, pulling Roman into a tight embrace. "So... are we okay?"

Roman nodded. "Yeah. We're good." And then, "And I'm still gonna kick your ass and take back my championship, old man."

Hunter laughed, "In your dreams, kid." And for the first time in a long time, he actually hoped he was wrong.

A/N: Next up: Daddy Meets Kelly.