Two
"I'm here for stargazing."
Roman looked at the sky before his eyes met the baby blues of the auburn haired man sitting down, back leaned against the concrete wall of the bridge.
He was not buying his excuse for a second. The former champion was aware that Dean had no place to stay.
"Really?" he asked. "I'd like to join you if you don't mind."
The Samoan man did not wait for his personal assistant's reply and sat down beside him.
"The stars won't show up until later," came Dean's nervous reply. "Like really late at night."
"That's okay. I can wait."
"But… don't you have work tomorrow?"
Roman grinned at him. "You have work too."
"I'm used to late hours. You know being a criminal and all."
"Don't you mean former criminal?"
Dean bit his lip. "Yeah. Former criminal."
"Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"You don't have a place to stay, do you?"
Dean looked taken aback by his comment. "What do you mean? Of course I do."
"I have lots of spare rooms in my home. You can stay with me till you're back on your feet."
"That's awfully kind of you but no."
"Dean, please don't be stubborn. You owe me nothing. I promise."
"Why are you so kind to me?"
"Because I think you're a good person."
Dean shook his head as if that would convince Roman otherwise. "You don't know me, Roman."
He did not know why but he found himself reaching for Dean's hand and squeezed it. "But I'd like to. I hope you'll give me the chance."
Their eyes met again. This time Roman found himself being unable to look away. Dean couldn't seem to either.
He saw Dean swallowing, his eyes flickering between Roman's eyes and lips.
Roman was not sure if he was ready to kiss anyone yet but there was something raw and vulnerable about Dean's expressions.
His honesty was what enthralled the Samoan man. There was no filter in his response and it was a refreshing change from the people around him who tended to walk on eggshells.
"So how about it, Dean?" he said. "Let's head back home."
Disappointment briefly flashed on the auburn haired man's face but he nodded slowly.
Roman stood up and helped him to his feet. "Come on. I can't wait to let you pick your room."
He didn't like this.
He didn't deserve this.
Dean had done a whole bunch of crazy things. Admittedly he did not regret most of them but there was some remorse.
But this… Roman's kindness… he was sunshine in human form and it made Dean feel like the devil standing next to an angel.
Roman lived in a mansion with seven bedrooms and six bathrooms with an infinity pool and a huge lawn in the part of Carlisle where most of the high society lived.
Floating staircases greeted them when they walked into the house with a huge chandelier.
It was so beautiful but it screamed of emptiness.
"Do you get lonely living here?" Dean asked.
If Roman was offended, he didn't show it. "It does. Ever since Xavier's passing, I had people stay over from time to time but for the most part, I like the peace of mind it brings me."
"Who's Xavier?"
"My late boyfriend. He died three years ago from cancer."
Dean felt rotten. The auburn haired ex criminal had been thinking of kissing him in the park when clearly the man was still grieving for his late partner.
There was no way anything could happen between them even if Roman had moved on.
He was out of the Samoan man's league.
"Dean?" Roman asked. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. You have a beautiful home."
"Thank you."
He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's alright. It's easier these days." Roman smiled fondly as he continued, "He was my high school sweetheart. He supported me right from the humble beginnings of my career till the end of his life. I'm grateful to have had him in my life no matter how short. It was always filled with fun and laughter."
"I hope you'll find someone who will bring you that kind of happiness again."
Roman looked moved. "Thank you, Dean. I appreciate your words."
He was shown to several bedrooms but upon Roman's insistence, he took the second biggest one in the house.
It was already furnished with a king sized bed, a reading nook and a big walk in wardrobe and bathroom attached.
There was also a smart TV installed in front of the bed.
"We can go get you new clothes tomorrow after work," Roman informed him.
Dean bit his lip. "You're doing too much for me, Roman."
"I'd like to think of it as helping a friend out," Roman amended. "Help yourself to whatever that's in the kitchen if you're hungry." Then he snapped his fingers and walked out of the room, returning a minute later with a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt. "Relax, okay? Settle down and have a good rest. We have a big day ahead tomorrow."
Dean had a warm shower before he changed into his new clothes and climbed into the soft mattress.
He slept well that night.
Dean seemed like the sort who liked rock so Roman turned on a station that devoted itself to such genre while they drove to work. The sound of Nickelback was currently playing.
Cause nobody wants to do it on their own
And everyone wants to know they're not alone
There's somebody else that feels the same somewhere
There's gotta be somebody for me out there
You can't give up, (when you're looking for) a diamond in the rough (cause you never know)
When it shows up, (make sure you're holding on)
Cause it could be the one, the one you're waiting on
Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
And everyone wants to feel like someone cares
Someone to love with my life in their hands
There's gotta be somebody for me, oh
Beside him, Dean was squirming visibly. "Ummm Roman, can we change the station?"
Roman looked at him briefly. "Sure." He pressed for the next station. A song he had heard several times before but didn't catch the title was playing:
'Cause I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
An' here I go again on my own
Goin' down the only road I've ever known,
Like a hobo I was born to walk alone
An' I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time
"This is fine," Dean said, seemingly calm now.
"So tell me more about yourself, Dean," Roman requested. "Family? Boyfriend?"
"There's nothing much to say. I haven't seen my family for over fifteen years. I come from a broken home. My dad bailed out on us when I was seven. My mother was always having a different man over every few weeks and my brother was always deep in his cocaine habit. I mean I'm no saint myself. I'm a recovering alcoholic and I got into scrapes with the law every now and then."
Roman's heart went out to him. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's nothing to be sorry about. It's life. It happened and I survived. I'm a survivor, Roman. I did well on my own for a long time until I decked that judge's kid for his offensive remarks."
"Didn't you have anyone to turn to?"
"Nope. I had friends but they were only there for the good times, you know? Except for Finn. He was my friend in high school but he moved back to Ireland at the end of junior year."
He didn't answer the question about having a boyfriend and Roman found himself dying of curiosity to know. "So no boyfriends in high school?"
"Just two." He smiled at Roman then, a dimple appearing. His heart picked up a faster beat then; this guy could be a charmer. There was no doubt in his mind about it. "Do I look like I have ten ex boyfriends or something?"
"No… Yes… Maybe?" Roman stammered.
Dean laughed. Roman liked the way he sounded. Okay what was wrong with him today? "Which is it?"
"I'm going with maybe."
"Going with neutral. And you're half right in this case. I may have had two boyfriends but I do have one night stands a lot. I always use protection though."
As always, he was honest; Roman appreciated it a great deal. "I haven't had sex in ages," he admitted.
"You should go out there and get laid. You don't have to love the person. It's just for pleasure. Sex is always a good thing."
'I'm not sure I know how to sleep with someone without loving them. I've only slept with one person before."
Dean kept quiet for a while before he grinned cheekily.
Roman found himself sighing inwardly with relief. People always never knew how to act around him when he mentioned Xavier except the standard words of comfort and encouragement.
Dean was not treating him like he was made of glass and he liked that.
"Practice makes perfect," the auburn haired man declared.
"I'll bear that in mind," Roman replied with a smile.
They reached the gym ten minutes later which had been opened by Seth who always arrived earlier than the rest. He found his two toned hair friend crossing his arms when he saw Roman walk in with Dean.
"Dean, why don't you get a cup of coffee before we start?" Roman said. "I need to talk to Seth for a while."
"Sure," Dean agreed before he made his way to the pantry.
Roman smiled after him before he walked over to Seth. "Okay," he started. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You're driving him to work too?" Seth said. "You're his ride now?"
"Nothing wrong with that, Seth. He needs time to get back on his feet and I want to help."
"Was that what your mum asked you to do?"
"No but that's what any decent human would do."
Seth groaned. "Please tell me he's not staying with you."
Roman gave him a pointed look. "He is and that's between him and me, by the way so I don't want you telling Rusev about this."
"But he's our best friend too, Roman. You only don't want me to tell him because you know that he'll be reacting the same way as me." Seth huffed. "We care about you, Roman. We don't want people taking advantage of you when you're vulnerable."
"Just because I'm not ready to date means that I'm vulnerable, Seth. And Dean's a nice guy."
"You barely know him, Roman."
"Maybe I do but I like what I see so far."
Seth was staring at him. Roman had to replay mentally what he had said in his head.
Oh.
Oh.
"Stop looking at me that way, Seth," Roman argued feebly. "It's not as if I said I loved him."
"For your sake, Roman, I hope not."
Dean was relieved that, true to Roman's word, using the computer was fairly easy.
They spent three quarter of the day on using computer functions and basic word processing. Roman was patient and always had an encouraging word for him. The blue eyed man found himself writing down notes, something he hadn't done for a long time since high school.
Despite his protests, the raven haired man treated him to lunch at Subway where Dean ordered a footlong Meatball Marinara with two chocolate chip cookies and Coke while Roman had the Classic Tuna with Apple Slices and a bottled water.
"For the record," he said with a mouthful of meatball, "Luigi's has the best meatballs."
Roman was chuckling. "Luigi's? Where is that?"
"You don't know where it is? I'll give you the address; that way you can bring your friends there."
"Or you could just show me where it is and we can have dinner there tonight."
Dean gulped. "What?"
"Yeah. I mean we gotta eat, right?"
"I know-"
"So we'll eat at Luigi's."
He wondered what Roman saw in him to be this nice. Or was he like that to everyone? "So I saw a lot of pictures of you wearing boxing gloves… were you an amateur boxer?"
Roman smiled wryly. "I was a professional boxer."
Dean found himself blushing. "I don't follow sports."
"That's alright."
"So did you win any belts?"
"I was a former heavyweight champion. But I relinquished the title once I heard of Xavier's diagnosis and time he had left."
"That's a very loving thing to do." Any man would be lucky to have him.
"The title means nothing to me. I just wanted to give him the best kind of life where he could live in comfort. That was why I worked hard. But as to seeing how little time he had left, nothing seemed to matter any more. I was depressed for months until Seth and my other best friend, Rusev stepped in to help me get myself together."
Dean chewed on his cookie thoughtfully. That would explain the evil eyes Seth tended to give him. He was merely looking out for Roman. "Wait. That means you're undefeated."
Roman nodded as he sipped his water. "Yeah, I am," he acknowledged as he screwed the cap back on.
"Do you think you'll ever go back and do it again?"
"Not really. I'm done with boxing professionally. Running this gym is enough for now."
Maybe he was not suitable for Roman but surely someone out there was. Dean wished he knew good people that he could introduce to the raven haired man.
"Are you done with your meal?" Roman asked.
"Yeah," Dean replied, pushing his tray aside.
"Great. Let's get you some new clothes, huh?"
Dean looked down at his leather jacket and white tank top. "Ummm I'm not getting rid of my jacket. It stays."
Roman laughed. "Wouldn't have it any other way. Would you like to go to Abercrombie and Fitch, Gap, American Eagle-"
"A thrift shop will suffice."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm sure."
They found some good steals downtown where Roman bought him an entire wardrobe despite his protests again. He even got him three pair of shoes and a flip flop. "Roman, you know I'll pay you back. It's going to take time though-"
"I don't want to hear anything from you about repayment, Dean," came Roman's stern reply. "You've had a rough start in life and I just want to make it easy for you as you slowly make your way up. Okay?"
"Okay," he agreed reluctantly.
They left the purchases in the car and headed back in where a burly man with shoulder length hair and beard was chatting with Seth close by the office. Roman's face melted into a huge smile. "Rusev!"
The man named Rusev hugged Roman when he saw him. "Roman!" he greeted. "I just dropped by to tell you that I made plans for this Saturday for all of us."
"Rusev…"
"It's your birthday, Roman. You have to celebrate it."
"That's in two days. What if I had made plans?"
"Pfft." Rusev waved him off. "You?"
They both laughed and started to chat. Dean felt odd standing there so he decided to sneak off. Just as he was about to walk off quietly, he felt Roman reach for his hand. "This is Dean," he introduced. "He's my new personal assistant. He's currently undergoing training so be nice to him."
Rusev smiled and shook Dean's free hand. Roman was still holding his other hand. "Nice to meet you, Dean."
That was a relief. Dean didn't think he could stand another suspicion from any other friend of Roman's. "Thank you. Nice to meet you too, Rusev."
He excused himself on the pretense of going to the gents when he bumped into Rhyno near the entrance of it. The dark haired personal trainer smiled at him and Dean wondered why.
"Dean, right?" Rhyno said.
"Yeah?" he answered hesitantly.
"I don't know how you're doing it but I have not seen Roman smile like this like… ever. And it's not just me who's noticed it. Almost everyone has. So thank you. Thank you so much." He patted Dean before heading off to the free weights section.
Dean had no idea what Roman was like before they met but if what Rhyno said was true, then he was glad to have cheered the beautiful grey eyed man up.
"Dean?"
He turned around and found Roman smiling at him. "Uh.. I was just going to the gents. Well I was but then Rhyno talked to me-"
"Relax, Dean," Roman assured him. "I just wanted to know if you'd like to come to my birthday party this Saturday."
"Oh… are you sure? I mean I wouldn't want to impose on you with all your family and friends present-"
"Dean, you are my friend. I'd be honored to have you there."
Honored? Dean should have been the one to feel that way. "Sure. I'll come."
Roman beamed. "Great. We can go together. I'm grabbing a cup of coffee. Do you want one?"
Dean shook his head and when Roman had headed for the pantry, he found himself mulling over what to give someone who had everything.
A/N I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for the outpour of support thus far. It really means a lot. And your kinds words and aaaahhhh I'm so grateful. You have no idea! Next chapter will be the party. :-)
