"Beauty is the most essential, and yes, the most misunderstood of qualities." –Stasi Eldredge, Captivating


Everyone jumped at the sound of Daniel's scream.

Adam and Fandango had surrounded the smaller wrestler. Fandango pinched a strand of straw-colored hair between his fingers and sighed, "It must go, It must ALL go."

"No! No! No!" Daniel squeaked.

From behind, someone grabbed him by the collar of his T-shirt and dragged him over to a row of white couches, where Bray Wyatt (Bray Wyatt?) appeared to be conducting a choir in a slow version of We Can't Stop.

"Sit down and shut up," Corey Graves snarled.

Not wanting to argue with that tone of voice, Daniel sat down gingerly on the edge of one couch, as far from Bray as possible. "There's food over there," Corey continued. "Help yourself, Except for the chicken."

"Um…thanks." Daniel nodded gratefully at him. Deciding he could use a drink to calm down, Daniel headed over to the buffet table to get a soda.

An iPhone flew past his face. By virtue of his excellent reflexes, he managed to lean back and catch it before it could hit the floor.

"Delete it!" Dean Ambrose was yelling at Seth Rollins, who he appeared to be sitting on.

"No!" Seth retorted. "And stop wrinkling my suit!"

"That's illegal, Seth!"

"Chill out, Dean! It's not a big deal! And I can't breathe!"

"Good!"

Curious, Daniel activated the screen of the phone he was holding. He was looking at Seth's Twitter, which was currently boasting a picture of what appeared to be Dean enjoying a chicken wing. The picture was captioned with, "You know where to find him—at the Magic Room." It had been posted only a couple of minutes ago, but it had already been retweeted and favorited by no less than a hundred people.

Looking up, Daniel saw that Dean had mostly gotten off Seth's stomach, but he still had a hold of Seth's tie. Now, Daniel usually considered himself to be a nice guy, he really did. But even the nicest guys have an impish side, and right now, Daniel's was being tickled.

Stealthily, he raised the phone and snapped a shot of the scene before him. He labelled the picture with, "And you know where to find me" and posted it under Seth's account. He deactivated the app and casually sauntered over to the two Shield members.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he commented.

Dean practically flew off Seth, looking embarrassed. Daniel tried not to grin.

"Think this is yours, Seth," Daniel handed the phone back to its owner.

"Thank you!" Seth frowned at the screen. "Now look what you did, Dean—it's got fingerprints all over it!" Daniel tried to keep a poker face as Seth took out his glasses case and began furiously wiping down the iPhone's screen with a lint-free cloth.

"Then stop taking illegal pictures of me," Dean shot back, pouting, as he reclined back on the couch with a tray of chicken wings.

"Who's taking illegal pictures of you?" Daniel asked innocently.

"Him," Dean pointed a chicken bone at Seth. "And he's TWEETING them."

"Roman made me do it, alright?" Seth grumbled, tilting his phone in the light to check if it was clean. "He wants to bring in the females."

Dean blinked. "He what?"

"You have the craziest online fanbase," Seth explained patiently. "Once this gets out on Tumblr, they'll be beating the door down. Take THAT, Sister Abigail. Ro's got Brother Dean." His dark eyes gleamed.

"Ohh. Right." Daniel scratched his bearded chin thoughtfully while Dean backed up slightly.

"So why are you here today?" Seth asked Daniel.

"Brie," Daniel answered simply. "She's had enough of the beard."

"What is it about women and their dislike of facial hair?" Seth ran a hand over his stubble. "Fangirls keep telling me to shave like all the time."

"You too, huh?"

"They keep making comments about how I'm going to get inducted into the Wyatt Family if my beard gets any more out of hand. But dude, you don't win Best Facial Hair at the Slammys by SHAVING."

"Exactly!"Daniel exclaimed. He was beginning to rethink his trimming-and-shaving plan. "I'm going home, and I am telling Brie exactly that!" He started to charge for the door, but a large hand slammed onto his shoulder.

"Nice to see you, Bryan," Roman Reigns said pleasantly. "I told Corey to work on you next so you won't have to wait long."

"Uh, I was just about to—"

"Ye-eah, Brie thought you might, so she gave me a call," Roman patted Daniel's head. "I advise you to sit back down." He turned to Seth. "Stop discouraging my customers, Seth. And believe me, you don't want to grow that beard."

Seth looked chastised. "Sorry, Ro."

"I'll be done with Stephanie soon, so you'll be next." Roman started to walk away, but Dean blocked him with a chicken wing. "Not so fast, bro."

Off Roman's puzzled expression, Dean continued, "Roman, Seth's taking pictures of me in here and tweeting them." His tone was casual, but his eyes were focused like lasers. "What's up with that?"

Roman looked guilty. "Oh. Um. I need to find hair spray. Bye."

"Run, and I'll put this wing on your hair, pretty boy," Dean threatened. Immediately, Roman's hand flew to his long locks protectively.

"Come on, Dean, give me a break," Roman pleaded.

"Hey, I'm just here to eat chicken, alright?" Dean hugged the tray to his chest. "Not to be anyone's Barbie doll."

"I'm not asking you to pose," Roman explained. "Just sit there, eat, and do whatever you want. And you get free food."

"You could have at least told me," Dean sounded wounded.

"Would you even have agreed to come here if I did?"

Dean considered. "I'd be here…somewhere."

"Seth and I will keep you safe from the fangirls, I promise. This is the only thing I'm asking you to do for me. And I wouldn't be asking if I didn't need you." Roman looked pitifully at his friend.

Daniel could see Dean wavering. "Fine. But no more secrets, alright?"

"Deal." Roman quickly pulled Dean into a hug. From his vantage point, though, Daniel did not miss the devious glint in Roman's eye. But he didn't say a word—he was too curious about what Roman had in mind.

"So if Seth's using Dean to bring in the ladies, who's attracting the guys, Roman?" Daniel asked. "Because there's a lot of them too."

"Paige," Roman replied. "She's doing a promotional photoshoot now, but she's coming in after."

"At least she knew," Dean grumbled in the background.

"Mr. Reigns!" Stephanie called. "Are we doing business or having casual conversation?"

"Later." Roman hurried off. "And keep up the marketing, Seth."


Adam and Fandango stared into the waiting area.

"You call them," Adam muttered.

"No you call them!"

"I don't want to call them!"

"I don't either."

"Tell Roman to call them."

"You tell him to call them."

"What is wrong with the two of you?" Corey hissed as he came up behind them. "Keep the line moving!"

"Corey, the Wyatts are next," Adam said plaintively as he unwrapped a lollipop and stuck it in his mouth, a usual nervous habit of his. "I don't want to interrupt."

Corey looked at Bray, who had moved on to a rendition of Dreams by Fleetwood Mac. "Who's working on them?"

"We are," Fandango said miserably. "Dude, please take them and let us have Bryan."

Corey looked at Erick and winced. "Hell no. Those two are all yours. Thank goodness Roman kicked Harper out or I'd have to suffer too."

"Hey guys, I couldn't help but overhear you." Daniel came up to the three of them, smiling. "Adam, Fandango, I'll make you a little deal. I'll deal with the Wyatts if you never bother me again."

To his amusement, Adam and Fandango practically knelt at his feet. "Bryan, I'm sorry for everything I've ever said about your hair," Fandango sang out as he shook Daniel's hand so hard, Daniel thought it would snap off.

"You're the swellest guy on the planet!" Adam added. "Have a lollipop!"

Corey's eyebrows were furrowed, as though he were trying to figure things out.

"We have a deal, right?" Daniel repeated.

"No problem!" both of them chorused. "Corey, you're the witness!"

Corey shrugged in silent acceptance.

"Great." Daniel took a deep breath and walked over to Bray. The patriarch of the Wyatt Family stopped singing when he saw Daniel, and the rest of the voices died down.

"If it isn't the little turncoat," Bray growled.

"Look, Bray, I'm not here to cause trouble." Daniel held up his hands. "I just came here to tell you Adam and Fandango are ready for you. And from what I'm told, they're prepared to give you the works."

"Is that so?" Bray rasped.

"Yeah. They're just waiting for you to, uh, finish your service or whatever this is."

Bray motioned for his audience to settle down and turned to Daniel. "Lead on."

Adam and Fandango were congratulating themselves on their good luck when Bray and Erick walked up to them. Both hairdressers stopped smiling.

"Daniel Bryan tells me it's our turn, and that you are prepared to provide royal treatment," Bray intoned. "We're ready."

Adam and Fandango paled. "We had a deal!" they yelled at Daniel.

Daniel grinned. "I promised to call them for you. There they are."

Adam spluttered and almost swallowed his lollipop. He turned to Corey. "Dude!"

"He's right—you had a deal." Corey looked amused. "Come on, Bryan—I'm ready for you too." The two of them walked off to a chair. As Corey got him settled in the chair, Daniel thought to himself how good it felt to be heel again.

Suddenly, there was a blast of flame outside the salon.


AN: I'm not sure when the next update will be because I'm heading to London for Raw, but rest assured, I'll be working on this story from where I am because the inspiration will surely be strong :) Thanks for the support, and hope you all enjoy the chapter!