Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue. They belong to WWE.
Note: This my venting my frustration over what happened at WrestleMania during the Main Event. This is probably as angsty as I will ever let 'What Brothers Are For' get.
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Seth was nervous as he approached Dean and Roman's room, not sure how he'd be received. Yeah, Roman had known ahead of time that his big push was being postponed because of the backlash from Royal Rumble, and Seth was getting the belt earlier than planned, but still, Seth couldn't imagine that him showing up, with or without the belt, would be warmly received.
It still hurt that he'd been the one to take Roman's dream from him, at least for now. Hunter had promised in the meeting that Roman would get another shot, but they wanted him to work on his mic skills and expanding his moves a little more. Personally, Seth thought it was all crap and told Hunter so in private. Roman had all the tools, his problem was Vince and Creative's vision didn't fit Roman, no matter how hard he tried to squeeze himself into the mold.
What really bothered him was how this whole thing was done. Vince insisted that this be done AT WrestleMania, a swerve that would throw the fans. Seth hated the idea; if Roman wasn't ready, then don't push it to WrestleMania, let him lose to Daniel Bryan at FastLane and Seth could cash in, but Vince was determined to keep the sanctity of the Royal Rumble stipulation, and there were a lot of doubts about Bryan due to his neck, so Roman was stuck watching his months of hard work go up in smoke, on the biggest night of his career, in front of his entire family, because of something that wasn't his fault, and Seth was the one that had to light the match.
He knocked softly, hoping that Dean and Roman hadn't gone to bed yet.
Dean opened the door, looking tired and sore from his own match, "Seth? What're you doing here?"
Seth sighed, "I, uh, I came to see how Roman was doing."
Dean sighed and stepped out of the room, "Seth, I appreciate it, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to see him right now. I know that what happened wasn't your idea, but he's…really upset right now."
Seth looked at Dean hard, "Dean, you're not-Roman's not mistreating you, is he?" He didn't want to believe that Roman would ever raise a hand to Dean, but he also knew how such a bitter disappointment could change people.
Dean's eyes widened with shock, "No! Seth, how can you think that?! This is Roman we're talking about! The guy who can't stand to squash a spider, no matter how big and nasty it is."
Seth nodded, "I know, but we both know how shit like this can affect people."
Before Dean could say anything, the door opened and Roman's head popped out. "Dean? Who are you-?" He froze when he saw Seth.
Now, Seth could see why Dean had hesitated, Roman had taken his contacts out, but even with his glasses on, Seth could see that Roman had been crying.
"Seth," Roman said, leaning against the doorframe.
Seth gulped, "Hey, I just wanted to come by and…apologize for tonight. I tried to get Vince and Hunter to do something else but-"
Roman held up a hand, "I know, Paul told me about it. I know you tried to get Vince to at least let me get the win before you cashed in, but Vince wouldn't do it." He sighed, "Even knowing about it doesn't make it hurt any less. It just sucks all around and it's not your fault. You did what you were told."
Seth nodded, "Still, I'm so sorry, Roman. I know it won't fix things, but I am sorry."
Roman nodded, "I know, but it doesn't change the fact that I did everything Vince and Creative asked me to do and when it didn't work as quickly as they'd hoped, they threw me under the bus in front of the world and my family."
Seth felt sick at the bitterness in Roman's voice, wishing that he could say something to fix this.
Roman seemed to sense his thought because he patted him on the shoulder, "Don't beat yourself up for this, Seth. You didn't have a choice, and I'm not mad at you or blaming you for what happened, okay? You and me? We're good, okay?" He stepped back, pulled Dean's dozing form off the doorframe and went back inside, closing the door in Seth's face.
Seth sighed, feeling slightly better than he had before, but still knowing that he'd deeply hurt one of his best friends bothered him. Vince was sure that Roman would come out of this with more respect from the fans, Seth knew Roman and knew that Vince's pat on the head was not going to suffice. One day, Roman was going to explode on Vince, Hunter, and the fans for what happened tonight. As an employee, he should give them fair warning, but as a brother he wanted to sit back and watch them find out why you never want to piss off Roman Reigns or his brothers.
The End