Hello again! I haven't written about The Shield in AGES, I can't believe that! .
I love the direction the boys are going in recently and I'm sure all the other fans of The Shield (especially the ones who have believed since day one) are happy and proud to see our boys finally getting the recognition they deserve.
Lately with this whole Evolution thing and the fact that our boys have been targeted so heavily, there have been a lot of moments that have shown the strength of their bond and their resolve. After last Monday I was really worried for Roman after seeing the blood and the fact that he was coughing (thankfully it didn't turn out to be something serious) thus the reason why I was inspired to write this!
Disclaimer: I own no one, everyone owns themselves (I do own a Shield hoodie that has now been in their presence though! XD), and this in no way reflects the real relationship between those three lovely beings. This is purely a work of fiction that was inspired by the adorableness of The Shield! 3
AN: When there are bold italics in quotations they are thoughts.
Riding into RAW on the high from their victory at Extreme Rules, The Shield had been feeling great. After the match they'd all been hurting but had been full of joy because they had beaten one of the most well-known factions in all of WWE history and it cemented the fact that they were just as good as they claimed to be. So there had been a grand night of celebration for the three men and they had been on cloud nine since.
That is, until they found out what match would be kicking off RAW: a 20-Man Battle Royal for the United States Championship. Dean had been understandably pissed off as he'd defended his title on Smackdown the week before, plus he'd fallen down some stairs at Extreme Rules and was still smarting from it, but he'd never been one to back down from a challenge.
Seth and Roman had accompanied Dean to the ring for moral support and had watched as Dean weaved in between the other Superstars, narrowly avoiding elimination a few times, as one by one they went over the top rope. Thunderous chants of Dean's name filled the arena as he eliminated Axel, followed closely by Ryback. Seth and Roman were feeling nervous as they watched their third partner start trading blows with Swagger and shouted encouragement at Dean along with the fans. The nervousness gave way to excitement as Dean flipped Swagger over the ropes and they were practically beside themselves as they watched Dean turn... only to be hit square in the faced by Sheamus' boot. Numbly, they watched Sheamus carelessly toss Dean out of the ring and heard the tone of the bell.
Dean had been United States Champion for three hundred and fifty one days, longer than any US Champion in WWE history. Three hundred and fifty one days... and it was all just gone.
Roman couldn't look into the ring; couldn't watch the official hand Sheamus Dean's belt. He went to Dean's side and touched the dark-blonde's chest and then grabbed onto Dean's hand when it rose searchingly. Seth and Roman stood above Dean as he collected himself, both of their faces dark as their eyes followed Sheamus up the ramp. Dean stood up slowly, rubbing his head, the realization that the US Title was no longer his settling in his mind. They went back in the ring where Seth tried to say how they couldn't have done anything but Dean wasn't mad at them, no, he was mad at the man making his way out of the guerilla: Triple H.
The COO of the company had a smug grin across his face and it only served to piss the three men in the ring off even more; their mood continued to sour as he went on about how they had gotten lucky the night before and that their luck seemed to be changing before finally informing them that they would be facing their long-time rivals The Wyatts later on in the main event.
During the two hour break they had before their match Seth and Roman spent their time trying to comfort Dean, who had pretty much shut down after Triple H's announcement, and reassure him that he'd get his shot at Sheamus again. There might have been a few hugs and kisses in there somewhere, shared in the secluded corner in the back where they had set themselves up for the night. After about an hour of these condolences Dean turned his focus, and anger, towards their upcoming opponents.
It turned out that the match against The Wyatts was what they all needed to vent their new frustrations and they were closing in on a victory when Evolution's theme hit. In the chaos that followed the boys had been sure the match had gone to DQ but they were proved wrong when, after Roman hit Triple H with a wicked Superman punch, Bray Wyatt caught Roman with Sister Abigail and pinned him.
After that, bad only became worse; Batista went after Dean on the floor and Triple H and Orton went after Seth and Roman. Dean was thrown into the steel steps as Seth was set up for what turned out to be an incredibly painful DDT off of the top rope; Dean was then deposited on top of the dismantled steps and all of Evolution turned their attentions on Roman.
The "Cerebral Assassin" set Roman up for the Pedigree with Batista and Orton watching but Roman fought his way out of it only to turn into an RKO, Triple H then added onto it by completing his Pedigree. Batista went about collecting Dean and threw him into the ring with his prone partners.
And in a final act of humiliation and disrespect Evolution proceeded to perform a cruel mockery of The Shield's patented Triple Powerbomb on Roman.
Roman Reigns hurt. His head. His ribs. His back. Everything.
And more than just physical hurt, there was the hurt of knowing that the men he loved were feeling the same pain because he hadn't been able to help them. Roman Reigns the Powerhouse, the Juggernaut of The Shield had been rendered utterly helpless by Evolution.
He coughed harshly, tasting the blood in his mouth; he was vaguely aware of HHH standing over him, gloating and growling at him, but that came second to his thoughts of Seth and Dean and if they were hurt.
HHH moved away from him and Evolution left the ring; Roman felt the hands of the ringside doctor on his ribs, checking him over. With a shaking hand he pushed him away, struggling to his feet to go to Seth and Dean. However the second he finally stood up straight his legs decided to disobey him again and he started to fall only to be caught by two familiar pairs of hands.
He looked up at the pained, angry faces of his partners and relief washed through him when he saw that they weren't too badly hurt, at the very least they weren't coughing blood like he was.
"You're okay..."
Dean growled, "Yeah we're just dandy Rome; we just got our asses handed to us is all!"
Roman paid no mind to Dean's hostility; he knew that he was just pissed off at Evolution and the hurt of having lost his title earlier in the night was still lingering.
Seth sighed on his other side as he shifted his arm further around his shoulders, "Let's just get out of here and get you checked out Roman."
Slowly they made their way out of the ring and up the ramp; they could hear the fans cheering for them and see the worry on some of their faces when they spotted the blood around Roman's mouth. It was still a foreign feeling to be cheered for by so many people; sure they'd had a fair amount of fans before they turned on The Authority but now there were just so many more people finally getting behind them and it was still a bit strange but in a good way.
When they reached backstage they immediately went to the trainer's room and the doctor looked at Roman while the trainers looked at Seth and Dean since their injuries were less serious than Roman's. They hadn't been the ones coughing blood after all.
Seth and Dean were done rather quickly. Seth's arm had already been bandaged earlier in the night because of his twenty-foot dive at the pay-per view the night before and the only new injury was to his neck. It was sore and stiff from the DDT off the third rope and the trainer had put some Rocktape on it just as a precaution. Dean had taken a few hard throws into the barricade and then into the steel steps and as a result had his lower abdomen taped up. All in all it could've been worse really.
Their main concern, however, was Roman. During the assault they'd barely been able to see what had happened to the big man but they'd felt the impact of Triple Powerbomb through the canvas. As they'd struggled to their feet the first thing their eyes had zeroed in on had been the blood coming out of Roman's mouth as he'd coughed and struggled to stand. They'd all shed their fair share of blood from bumps in the ring over the past year and a half but none of them had ever coughed it up before so this was especially concerning. Also, not to mention how protective Seth and Dean were of Roman so the level of concern was even higher.
Dean was seething, pacing back and forth in the hallway in front of the trainer's room, "I'm gonna kill them if there's something really wrong with Roman. Hell I might just kill them anyway!"
Seth sighed from his place leaned against the wall and put a hand out to still the older man's pacing, "I know Dean, I do too. But hypothetically planning murder isn't going to help Roman right now."
Dean snarled, running his hands angrily through his dark blonde hair, "He's coughing blood Seth! Blood! As in he could have broken ribs! Do you not get that?!"
Anger flashed in Seth's dark brown eyes and the younger man fisted his hands in the front of Dean's shirt, shaking him roughly, "Don't you think I know that?! Don't you think I'm just as worried as you are?! Of course I am Dean! I know he could be really hurt but freaking out about it isn't going to help! He needs us to be strong for him Dean."
Seth watched as the rage melted out of Dean's blue eyes and felt him sag slightly; he let go of his shirt and watched as Dean leaned against the wall next to him and slid to the floor, putting his head in his hands.
Seth sat next to the taller man, putting an arm around his shoulder, "Dean... He'll be okay man, you know that. He's tough; and even if it is something serious we'll be there for him."
Dean lifted his head and glanced at the younger man, "I know he's tough Seth. It doesn't change the fact that we couldn't do a damn thing to help him tonight. ...All we could do was lay there while he got beat up."
"Ah! So that's the problem."
Dean hadn't grown up in the best place with the best people so he hadn't really known the feeling of loving and being loved until the three of them had met and because of that he had grown incredibly protective of Seth and Roman. On top of that protectiveness he also had a bit of a guilt complex; a lot of times when Seth or Roman got hurt he would take it hard and blame himself, saying that he could have done something to help when there had really been no way he could have without hurting himself in the process. He and Roman were kind of the same in that way: they both put too much pressure on themselves. Luckily for them Seth was there to balance them out and set them straight when they got to thinking like that.
"Dean there's nothing we could have done to stop it, we were busy dealing with The Wyatts! And yes we knew that Evolution probably wouldn't leave well enough alone tonight but we couldn't have known when they'd come after us. This isn't your fault Dean and you know the second Roman gets out here he'll read you like an open book and tell you to stop feeling bad about this too."
That made Dean crack a grin and chuckle, knowing that the bigger man would get all over him if he saw him feeling bad about what had happened (in a loving way, of course), "Yeah you're right."
Just then the doctor came out, drawing the attention of the two smiling men. They both shot to their feet, concerned frowns immediately replacing the smiles as the doctor approached them.
Seth spoke first, Dean bouncing anxiously next to him, "How is he Doc?"
The doctor surveyed the two young men before him, both tense with concern, and allowed a small smile to grace his lips, "He'll be just fine boys. Luckily it seems he just cut the inside of his mouth pretty badly and the coughing was from him trying to breathe through the blood. We've cleaned him up and checked that there's no damage to his jaw or anything, which there's not."
Seth and Dean visibly sagged in relief at hearing that Roman didn't have a punctured lung or broken ribs like they'd been worrying he had. Seth shot Dean a look that said, "I told you he'd be okay!"
The doctor wasn't finished however, "But he does have a few bruised ribs. It's nothing too serious but I'd advise him to be careful and take it easy. That goes for the both of you too. Although in this line of work, that's not very likely to happen."
The two young men chuckled darkly in agreement with the doctor's words, knowing that they'd probably be having a match if not matches on the Smackdown taping the next day. With that the doctor clapped them on their shoulders and told them that they could go in and get Roman.
Upon entering the room they saw Roman laying on one of the examination tables with one of his arms thrown over his face with the other resting gingerly across his stomach. The blood had been cleaned off of his face and he didn't look like he was in pain, which eased their worries just a little.
Seth gently stroked the big man's shoulder so as not to startle him too badly. The tan, tattooed arm moved away to reveal tired gray eyes and Roman smiled softly when he saw Seth and Dean standing over him.
"Hey guys."
Dean, suddenly overcome with the relief that the larger man wasn't hurt as badly as he'd feared, leaned down and kissed Roman soundly on the lips, his hands coming up to cradle that perfect face.
When they parted Roman's face was a delicious shade of red and (not that he'd ever admit to it) there was also a light flush across Dean's face. Seth smiled at the sudden display of affection from the other man; while Dean was wholly in love with them he usually reserved displays of affection for when they were in private when it was just the three of them and there was no chance of being interrupted, so it was a rather big deal that he kissed Roman smack dab in the middle of the trainer's room.
Roman laughed softly, cheeks still bright red, "What was that for?"
Dean sighed and leaned his forehead against Roman's, his thumbs caressing his cheeks lightly, "I was just really worried about you, that's all."
Judging by his expression Roman knew it was more than that but he let it slide, happy to see Dean look so content in that moment.
Seth watched his partners silently for a moment, allowing Dean that moment of comfort he so desperately needed, before clapping his hands together to get their attention, "Well boys, I think it's time we head to the hotel don't you?"
Roman nodded and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Seth and Dean watched anxiously but were relieved when Roman stood, if only a little shakily. Seth wrapped his arms around the larger man and kissed him softly, letting his relief flow through the kiss to let Roman know that he too was so glad that Roman was okay.
And so they left the venue and made their way back to the hotel. They were supposed to get an early start the next day so once they entered their shared room all three men immediately flopped onto the bed.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence Roman voice broke the quiet, "...I'm sorry."
His words made Seth and Dean's eyes fly open and they both turned to the large man between them. What in the world did Roman have to be sorry for?
Seth was the one who said what they were both thinking, "What could you possibly have to apologize for, Rome?"
Roman shrugged slightly, fidgeting under the intense gazes of his lovers, "Y'know... for not helping you when we got attacked."
Two pairs of eyebrows shot up in surprise and confusion and this time it was Dean who spoke, "Roman, there was no way you could've done anything. You took a Sister Abigail, an RKO, a Pedigree and a freaking Triple Powerbomb all within like two minutes! You were bleeding Rome."
Roman sighed, knowing Dean was right but still not liking it, "I know, I know. But you guys got hurt too! Seth, you got your head bounced off the canvas from the top rope! And Dean, you got slammed into the stairs a few times, right?"
Seth sighed and reached out to take Roman's face in his hands gently, "Roman, listen to me: this is not your fault. You were hurt, Dean and I were hurt; there was nothing any of us could do to stop them fromoing that to us."
He looked steadily into the man's gray eyes until he nodded softly and then kissed him softly on the lips, "That's my baby!"
The two-tone haired man rolled onto his back and grinned at his bedmates, "Man, between the two of you I spend most of my time trying to convince you that things aren't your faults. You guys should pay me fees or something for my services."
Dean laughed from the other side of the bed, "Man, Roman gives you enough to warrant your 'services' for the both of us. Did you forget the 'services' he provides you at night?"
Roman started to turn red at the not-so-subtle innuendo and buried his face in Dean's shoulder; Seth grinned wickedly over him at the other blonde, "He provides you those services too, Dean."
Between the two men Roman was almost as red as a tomato, "Oh my God, you two are so bad!"
Dean snickered, "Aww but you love us babe!"
"You're damn lucky I do, jerk."
"Yeah, I am."
Roman turned red again with Dean's soft admission and peeked up at him to watch the tender smile spread across that handsome face. His heart fluttered when he looked at Seth to see a similar smile spreading across his face, love shining in his dark brown eyes.
"I love you two so much."
"We love you too Roman."
And so for that night thoughts of vengeance against Evolution could wait. The three men were content to just forget about their worries and enjoy each other's company, knowing that no matter what happened in the ring they were bonded by something much stronger that would outlast any feud: love.
Believe that.
Whoa that turned out so much longer than I originally thought it would! :D Not including the Author's Notes it's 3,164 words; that's probably the longest one-shot I've ever written. XP
Thanks for taking the time to read this and (sorry about the self-advertising here) if you liked this one there are two other "Justice & Love" fics, in case you didn't know. They're not related in any way, I've just entitled them all "Justice & Love" as a series of sorts. Even if you don't read/haven't read them, I still thank you for reading this one!