A/N: hello lovely people! Thank you for the feedback on chapter one! Especially thricechampions who left a lovely review on both of my current fics, and dashinginconverse, here's some PunkRoman just for you guys! I'm sort of really excited for this fic and where I'm going to take it, so please feel free to drop me a review telling me what you think! A theme song, of sorts, for this fic would be Move by Thousand Foot Krutch, so, I highly recommend you have a listen to that! And I'm really tired now, it's almost midnight here so I'm going to leave you with this! If you'd like to have a chat/rant/crying session over ambrollins or life in general, my tumblr is psychrollins and my ask box is always open!

Seth's just finishing his shift at the store when Punk pulls up outside with Summer and Layla in the back of his car. He waits until the clock hits five before going to the back to clock out. He tries to be quiet, because he knows that if Kaitlyn sees Punk's car, she's going to drill into him again.

Seth likes his co-worker, he really does, but he really wishes she'd stop butting into his business and assuming things. Because he doesn't know how many times he's going to have to tell her that Punk is not his boyfriend and he's definitely not the one putting the bruises on his face.

His efforts are in vain though, and Kaitlyn rounds the corner and leans in the doorway with an ice cold glare.

"You know, if I didn't respect your damn privacy so damn much, I'd have called the cops on that boyfriend of yours by now."

"How many times Kaitlyn, Punk is definitely not my boyfriend, and he did not give me this – or any other – bruises. He never has, just stupid bar fights, ok?" Seth slings his bag over his shoulder and lets his hands settle on his friends shoulders. She looks up at him with sad eyes and he tries to smile.

"Maybe you should try a different bar then, donut." Seth huffs out a laugh and pulls her in for a hug.

"I like that bar. Look, I'm fine ok. Don't you worry about me," Seth gives her his best smile and presses a gentle kiss to her forehead before sliding past her.

When he finally gets into the front seat of Punk's car, he's almost strangled when Summer throws her arms around his neck from the backseat.

"Hey stranger!"

"Hey Summer, you finally feeling better?" Seth asks, lettingSummer lean over and kiss his temple. Punk huffs out a laugh and shakes his head as he starts the car back up.

"Yep, Layla took very good care of me," Summer says when she's done strangling Seth, she sits back on her seat and sinks into Layla's side.

"I'm sure she did," Seth smirks and Summer smacks his arm lightly, "So where are we going? Cos' I'm starving."

"That sandwich bar on seventh street, you know the one that Layla really likes," Punk keeps his eyes on the road as he talks, but brings one hand up to scratch at the scruff of his beard. Seth notices then, that Punk's wearing nicer clothes than he normally would when they went out to eat after work. Instead of his usual faded t-shirt and sweat pants, Punk'swearing his best pair of gym shorts and a slightly tight fitting t-shirt. Summer's rambling about how Layla can make a mean chicken soup, so Seth doesn't bring it up.

They've been to this sandwich bar a handful of times and Seth already knows what he's going to order when he sits down at a booth. Layla loves it because it's heavily influenced by Japanese culture, and that's sort of her calling, but the foods good so nobody really protests when Layla asks to go there.

When the waitress has taken their orders, Seth leans back and looks at Punk again. It's a rare occasion that Punk swaps his sweats for gym shorts, most of the time he does it to impress somebody, and that's hardly ever.

"I'm guessing by the way you're dressed, we're hitting Regal's after this?" Seth asks, smirking as he plays with the end of his napkin. He's not looking at Punk, but he can tell that he's blushing.

"How, why would you come to that conclusion?" Punk stutters slightly, and Summer snickers behind her hand.

"Because, you hardly ever dress up like that. And face it; you have a thing for that Roman guy." Punk's blush deepens and he doesn't respond, taking a sip from his soda instead.

"Wait, Seth did you say Regal's? Regal's gym?" Layla asks, lips curling around her straw.

"Yeah, Punk met this guy called Roman at a bar who sort of like owns the place. We swapped because Punk said he hated Cena's, and he thinks Roman's cute."

"You do know who's gym it actually is though, right?" Layla arches an eyebrow at Seth and looks at him like she's waiting for him to answer, but Seth doesn't really have a clue what she's talking about.

"C'mon Seth, William Regal!" Layla waves her hands about in a flailing manor, like she really can't believe that Seth doesn't know what she's talking about.

"Actually, Roman said something about a Steven Regal." Punk adds, sipping at his soda. Layla rolls her eyes and gives Punk an annoyed look.

"Same person you dumbass. William Regal was the man of Mixed Martial Arts in the nineties, like he conquered everyone, Seth how do you not know this?" Seth shrugs, the name sounds vaguely familiar and he probably did watch a couple of his fights, but Seth had always preferred fighting to actually watching.

"Never really watched it, I mean I did it as a kid but never really watched the sport y'know?" Layla rolls her eyes as the waitress sets their food down in front of them.

"Whatever, it's just cool. Not everyone gets to work out at a former Toughest Man in the World competition winner's gym." Layla says dramatically. Punk picks at his sandwich for a while before looking up at Seth and saying in a quiet voice,

"Roman's fighting tonight."

Seth smirks and takes a bite from his sandwich, "So, I guess we're going?"

"Yeah," Punk blushes slightly and looks anywhere but Seth, "Against some guy called Dave Batista, apparently he and his group have some sort of like, long standing shit with him and Ambrose." Seth nods, having vaguely heard of Roman's opponent.

"We're going to Regal's after this and going to the fight with them."

"You like Roman don't you?"

Punk shrugs, though there's a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You're relentless," Punk sighs, wiping his hands on his napkin. "Yeah, ok, there might be feelingsthere, y'know? He's just sort of, nice." And Seth totally gets it, totally gets that feeling where someone is just sort of there and really fitting and every time you look at them it's like there's no better place to be. Seth remembers Antonio, and then decides he really wish he didn't.

"I get you man," he says, pushing his ex out of his thoughts and focusing on the fact that Punk, his best friend that never really went out on dates, has a crush on someone. "I can see why y'know, he's like, really fucking beautiful."

Punk grins, "Well I guess there's that, too."

"How did you meet this, Roman guy?" Summer asks, her hand stretching out and wiping some food from the corner ofLayla's mouth.

"At a bar, I was with this guy called Jey from work and Roman's his cousin and we met them there. He asked for my number just before I left." Punk says shrugging, like it's no big deal, but it totally is.

"Enough about me, what about you and Dean?" Punk says smirking and Seth scowls. He knows bringing up any guy in front of Summer and Layla will immediately bring the attention onto him, and yeah, Punk's a sly bastard.

Seth can practically feel the excitement building in Summernext to him as he says, "What about me and Dean?"

Punk huffs out a laugh, "Well, you tell me. You know, not like the guy was practically eye fucking you the whole time you were beating Johnny senseless or anything," Seth shifts uncomfortably, he didn't know that.

"Doesn't mean there's anything going on." Seth mumbles, suddenly becoming very interested in the left overs of his sandwich. Summer gently touches his arm and she smiles softly at him.

"Don't you think it's time you put yourself back out there, Seth?" She says quietly, while Layla and Punk bicker about the meaning of one of Punk's tattoos. "It's been almost a year since Antonio, not all guys are like him," He knows that she's right, because Summer always is usually, but even thinking about the shit that Antonio pulled makes his heart ache. Even after a year, he can't seem to understand how someone canpretend to really fucking love you for seven months.

"I know, I'm just, not interested. Like sure if something comes along then yeah I might be into it, but I'm not lookingfor anything." Summer gives his arm a gentle squeeze and doesn't push the matter any further. Seth's sort of thankful he has his friends in his life, because they'd been the person to catch him when he felt like he falling from the empire state building, and all they really want is for him to be happy. And he sort of is.

xXx

Seth can't actually believe the amount of people who have turned out to see Roman's fight. He knows these fights have started to become a lot more popular in the recent weeks, but, this is like an actual fight. Like a boxing match or something, because they're in an old warehouse and there are probably about a hundred people crammed inside, one side clearly is rooting for the other guy, and one side rooting for Roman.

Dean's in the middle of giving Roman a pep talk when a guy – who Seth assumes is a friend of his opponents – strolls over to them with a smirk plastered on his face. When Roman sees him, he growls from deep in his throat and bristles slightly, like a wolf does when danger is near.

"Hey, calm down Reigns, I'm not here to start trouble. Just a friendly chat, s'all," The guys smirk tells Seth that he's anything but friendly.

"Don't wanna' talk to you, Randy." Roman growls again, and Dean has to step in between them, has to keep Roman from going toe to toe with this guy. The guy – Randy – laughs before his eyes settle on Punk, and smirks and tilts his head to the side and gives Punk the once over.

"So, that's your new little boyfriend?" Randy chuckles and Dean has to tighten his grip on Roman. "Y'know, he kind of reminds me of a rat who stumbled out of a colouring book, kind of cute if you ask me." Randy quickly steps away as Roman's fist swings for his face and laughs as he retreats to the other side of the warehouse.

"Ro, don't let him get inside your head," Dean says quietly, fingers digging into the skin of Roman's shoulders. "You're over that shit, remember? You got this, Ro." Roman nods and clenches and unclenches his fists a few times. Seth's never seen someone look so ready to fight, so ready to just let go and fucking cause chaos.

Roman's just about to turn away – because the ref for tonight, a small, bearded man called Daniel Bryan who is apparently scared of no one, wants to get the match started – when Punk grabs hold of Roman's wrist. They stand chest to chest for a second, Punk's not that much shorter than Roman, but Roman's broad and it makes him seem to tower over him. Punk's the one to close the gap between them, his hands bracing either side of Roman's neck. Roman seems momentarily blindsided, before his brain finally catches up and kisses Punk back like his life depends on it, hands gripping onto his waist and pulling him impossibly close.

They're both breathless when Punk breaks the kiss, and Seth doesn't miss the look of pure bliss that seems to have settled itself on Roman's face.

"Go get em'," Punk presses his lips against Roman's once more, more a peck than anything, before he gently pushes him towards the ref.

"For the record, you don't look like a rat who stumbled out of a colouring book," Dean says to Punk when the ref is announcing the fighters. Punk huffs out a laugh, eyes settling on Randy over the other side of the warehouse and smirks at him.

"What a prick."

Dean hums, "You can say that again."

In the centre of the warehouse, Roman and Dave square up to each other. Dave's the bigger man, rising above him by a few inches, and has a considerable amount of muscle on his body. And Seth really fears that Roman's going to get hurt, because although he's big, Dave's like, really, really big and the look on his face sorta says 'I really don't care if I snap you in half'.

But when Bryan counts to three and the fight gets under way, Seth decides he shouldn't have been worried. Because Roman is good, like really good, and even though Dave should really be drilling him into the ground because he's the bigger man, he can't pick up any momentum at all. Whenever he sets up a punch or a kick, Roman blocks or counters it somehow. Like he just knows what Dave's going to do before he's done it.

Dave's busted open pretty bad, and the blood on his face is like a veil of crimson; looks sort of like the devils bride or something. Seth has to hand it to him though, no matter how many times he's knocked down, the man gets back up again.

He doesn't get back up again however, when Roman takes a few steps back and then fucking leaps into the air, punching Dave squarely in the face. It's a beautiful sight, Roman sort of looks like a bird gliding through the air. And when Daniel Bryan gets to ten, and Dave hasn't moved, Roman just holds his bloodied fist out in front of him and glares at Randy. It probably means something, because Randy bristles before grabbing onto Dave and pulling him to his feet.

"This isn't over Reigns, not by a damn mile, believe that!" Randy shouts as Roman retreats, pushing past a few people who have scarpered over to help Dave to his feet. Roman ignores him and flips him the bird with a grin on his face. Roman brushes off a few people who try to congratulate him, and makes a beeline for Punk. Everyone else seems to disappear when Roman pulls Punk into him, wasting no time in covering his mouth with his own. And Punk doesn't even seem to care that Roman's hands are leaving bloody finger marks on his neck, he just wraps his arms around his neck and just seems to melt into Roman.

Dean groans, "Oh here we go again, god damn it Roman can you not just like, fucking wait maybe?" Roman flips Dean off, not breaking contact with Punk, and Dean just swats at his hand.

"Horny bastard." Dean says fondly, and Seth has to look awaybecause he feels like he's intruding on something very private.

"He's like, really good." Seth says, if anything it's just to distract himself from the game of tonsil tennis being played beside him. Dean smirks and picks up Roman's shirt, tossing it at the couple.

"Of course he's good," Dean laughs, "I taught him how to fight."

"You did?"

Dean hums, shrugging a little. "Yeah, I did."

"Dean likes to remind me every time I win, y'know so I don't forget it or something." Roman says sarcastically, pulling on his shirt. His lips a red and slightly swollen but he looks elated, like nothing's going to bring him down from this high that he's on.

"Yeah well, I don't ever want you to forget who turned you from the boy who said "I've never been in a real fight," to the man who now says "Punching the shit out of people makes me really fucking horny,"" Dean pokes a finger into his chest, and Roman swats him away.

"Yeah alright, whatever, twat."

xXx

"You're quiet." Punk says to Seth when they're on their way to the bar once Roman had cleaned himself up, Roman and Dean are walking just a bit in front, chatting about the look on Randy's face when Dave didn't make it up after the ten count.

"Hm? Sorry, I'm sorta just like, I dunno in my own world or something." Seth says. It's true really, he's sort of just enjoyed watching the night unfold, enjoyed seeing Roman win his fight and Punk finally decide that it's ok to have feelings and didn't feel the need to talk at any point.

"And I'm sort of like, still shocked that you kissed Roman. Whatever happened to the whole, "PDA is for asswipes,"thing?"

Punk laughs and shrugs, a small blush creeping onto his face, "I dunno, I'm sort of shocked at myself too. But, that Randy guy just sort of like got under my skin with the whole rat comment. Like he was sort of trying to say that I wasn't good enough, so I just kissed Roman to make sure he didn't think that too." Seth knows for a fact that even if Roman had thought that before – which he obviously didn't, with the way he sort of just looked at Punk with hearts in his eyes – he definitely didn't think that now.

"Well Roman seemed to enjoy it," Seth flashes Punk a smile, and gets his shoulder shoved in reply.

It's way past midnight now, but Seth doesn't feel tired, and he doesn't have an early shift in the morning, so when Roman suggested they grab a beer, Seth didn't say no. The bars busy, for late on a Wednesday night slash Thursday morning, but they sit at the bar and order a couple of beers. He's sat next to Dean, with Punk and Roman sat just a little away from him on his other side, and he suddenly gets why Dean said that Roman was a horny bastard. Because he can't keep his hands – or his lips, for that matter – off of him. It's sort of adorable, really.

"He gets like this every time he wins a fight." Dean says, bringing his beer to his lips and taking a swig – and Seth tries really hard not to watch his lips wrap around the rim of the bottle.

"Like what?"

"Handsy, horny, whatever the fuck he wants to call it. S'likeall the adrenalin or something just like, goes straight to his cock. Usually has to go home and take care of himself, though." Dean laughs, "Bit of a sadistic fucker, getting a hard on after beating someone half to death, but sorta why I keep him around."

"Punk won't ever admit it, but that shit turns him on too." Seth says, laughing when Roman finally has enough of keeping things PG and pulling Punk away from the bar. Well, there goes his ride home.

"Glad he's got someone though, it's been a while for him," Dean's voice is a slow, soft murmer, and it sort of reverberates around Seth's brain, all melodic and beautiful.

"Yeah, yeah they're good together." Dean sets his beer bottle down, resting his elbow on the bar and letting his head rest on his fist, head turned towards Seth.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

Seth smiles sheepishly, picking at the label on his beer. "Sorry, I just, I do normally, sometimes my mouth doesn'tknow when to shut the fuck up, guess it just doesn't feel like talking tonight."

"Something bothering you?"

Seth shrugs, "I dunno, I guess seeing Punk finally like, admit his feelings or whatever, just brought up a lot of stuff I thought I'd buried." Seth sighs, Antonio's face making an appearance in the back of his head. "Just stupid ex bullshity'know? I'll be alright, just a few more beers and I'll probably talk your ear off."

Dean orders two more beers and then turns to Seth and grins, "I have no problem with that."

xXx

Dean ends up walking Seth home, no matter how many times Seth tells him he's not that drunk, he can walk himself, Dean insists. It's almost three in the morning, and Seth is really fucking glad he doesn't have to be in work until the afternoon, because he knows he's going to be hungover as fuck in the morning.

The worlds sort of spinning in front of his eyes and his legs feel like they're not even attached to his body, and he's pretty sure he'd be sprawled across the floor if wasn't for the strong arm around his waist.

Dean and Seth had in fact, had more than just a couple more bears. And Seth had indeed talked like a fucking maniac, but Dean never seemed to mind, just sort of grinned and indulged in Seth's humour.

They manage to get back to Seth's apartment in once piece, and Seth fumbles for his keys from his pockets.

"Thanks for walking me home," Seth mumbles quietly, feeling like his eyes were ready to close on him. Dean was standing right in front of him, sort of making sure Seth didn't fall backwards or something. He's so close, and Seth sort of has this big urge to just kiss him, but the grounds moving and he decides that he's probably embarrassed himself for one night. Drunk Seth is a sort of wise Seth, sometimes.

"Don't mention it," Dean says, and once Seth's finally unlocked the door, he takes a few steps away from him. "You're coming to the gym tomorrow, right?" He asks. Seth steps inside and stands in the doorway and smiles slightly.

"Course."

"Good. See you tomorrow, then. Night Seth."

"Night Dean."