Two weeks after Dean and Seth's first match, they have a rematch for the championship. It's the same rules as the first, just a bit longer – 20 minutes, instead of 15.

Dean had been the one to demand the rematch, though it had been given to him without much fuss. Fans are just eating up the feud, as he had been told. They can't get enough of it. He won't ever admit he can't get enough of it either.

This match is redemption, he thinks as he storms out from backstage before he's even announced, heading into the ring briskly, without putting on a show for the camera like he did last time.

Redemption for making a fool of himself in that last match, being unable to pin Seth at least once.

But mostly, redemption for his plan horribly backfiring and ending up with Seth under his skin rather than the other way around, with him under Seth's skin, like it should be.

He doesn't really give a fuck about Seth. Seth is just some kid who thinks he's good enough to make it big. Like he really thinks his stupid band shirts and baseball caps are gonna get him somewhere. Kid's got an ego the size of a watermelon just because he has some shiny medal around his neck.

Dean is determined to right the wrongs he created, determined to take that championship, determined to bury himself under Seth's skin, be that pain in Seth's side he feels whenever he moves the wrong way.

He won't let Seth win.

Once in the ring, he walks in a circle, bounces up and down, whatever he can do to quiet the buzzing in his mind, at least temporarily. He doesn't know if it's just the anticipation of finally kicking Seth's ass to the curb once and for all, or if it's something else, something he doesn't quite want to attempt to identify, but he feels like a balloon overfilled with air, ready to burst at any second. He feels like the energy inside him is going to burn him from the inside out if he doesn't try to control it or let it out.

He pauses in his pacing when he hears Seth's entrance music hit, waiting impatiently for Seth to come out. When Seth does, it's before he's even technically announced – he's apparently just as determined as Dean is. Dean notes that he's wearing another one of those dumb band shirts, finds himself wondering how many band shirts he owns, or if they're just his entire wardrobe.

He doesn't have much time to wonder, as he realizes Seth's heading straight for him, dropping showing off in favor of getting the upper hand over Dean. But Dean's quicker than he is, and he grasps Seth and flings him into the ring immediately, distantly hearing the bell ringing to start the match officially.

Seth hauls himself to his feet almost instantly, throws Dean down and starts throwing punches anywhere he can reach. Dean manages to roll out of the ring, trying to conserve his energy, but Seth's hot on his heels, stalking him as he walks around the ring. Seth grabs him by the hair, slams his face down on the apron a few times, before dragging him over to the steel steps that lead up to the ring and slamming his face down on their surface too.

He then shoves him back into the ring, and Dean manages to stand, running at Seth in hopes of hitting him with a good clothesline, but Seth stops him with a chop that drops him to his knees. As he stands, he focuses on Seth, who's yelling something at him.

Oh. Dean now realizes Seth had still been wearing the medal, and is now dangling it from his fingers, taunting him with it.

"You want this, huh? You don't deserve it!" Seth shouts, proceeding to deliver a series of hard kicks to Dean's midsection, driving him back down onto the canvas.

As he sits for a moment, trying to catch his breath, he finds that Seth is moving away from him and onto the apron opposite from him. He takes advantage of the opportunity and gets to his feet, running directly at Seth, using his full weight and the momentum he had created to knock Seth off the apron and into the steel barricade just in front of the crowd. He delights in seeing how stunned Seth is, in a heap on the mats outside the ring, trying to recover.

When Seth recovers and makes his way back into the ring, Dean is on him at once, shoving him down onto the canvas and putting him in a tight headlock. "Tap out, princess," he hisses, and Seth says something that sounds vaguely like no.

Dean eventually makes the mistake of loosening his grip just a little to try to pull Seth's hair with one hand, only for Seth to sink his teeth into the meat of Dean's other hand. Dean yelps and lets go, shaking his hand.

Seth is crawling over to the ropes, trying to use them to stand up, and he's got both hands on the bottom rope, but Dean puts a foot on his back to stop him. He reaches down, grabs a fistful of Seth's hair and pulls as hard as he can, and he relishes in the scream of pain Seth makes. He lets go and slams Seth's face into the turnbuckle with the foot that had been on Seth's back. Seth just lays there, like he's stunned again.

"C'mon, get up," Dean says, suddenly irritated by Seth's apparent sluggishness. When Seth doesn't bother to move any faster, Dean does it for him, hauling him over to the center of the ring and placing him in a rear chinlock. He pulls as hard as he can, thoroughly enjoying the noises of pain that fall from Seth's lips.

He lets go after a minute or two, trying to figure out what to do next, what part of Seth he should target. Seth lays sprawled out on his back on the mat, chest rising and falling rapidly.

He decides to target Seth's left leg, grabbing Seth's foot to lift his leg and driving his own foot firmly into the back of Seth's thigh a few times. He lets go of his foot and chooses to drive his elbow into Seth's thigh after his leg falls back onto the mat.

He then forces Seth to stand up, pulling him up by his hair. He props him up against the ropes, hooking his left leg over the middle rope, and kicks viciously at his leg, trying his best to damage it. Seth attempts to hit Dean with a couple of chops, but they're weak, desperate, and Dean hardly feels them. He backs off despite that, watching as Seth struggles to his feet and limps to the middle of the ring, where Dean proceeds to shove him back down and put him in a figure-four leglock.

He grins at Seth, who is thrashing, shaking his head, desperately trying to get himself out of the position he's stuck in. "That hurt, princess? Huh? That hurt?" he asks, and reaches over and slaps Seth across the face. Seth recoils, reaching for the ropes, but Dean's not going to let him get that far.

It's just after he decides that that somehow, Seth manages to turn himself over, placing the pressure of the hold on Dean, making him grit his teeth and clench his hands. He forces himself to ignore the pressure, and slowly manages to get Seth back in the position he had been, but it's a looser hold. Seth takes advantage of the looseness of the hold to crawl over to the ropes and cling for dear life, as if the ropes will protect him from Dean.

Nothing could possibly protect him from Dean.

Seth manages to get into the corner and uses the ropes to stand, but Dean's all over him again, hopping up on the middle rope and pulling Seth's hair as he swings at him.

It's just pure coincidence that when Dean feels a sudden wave of dizziness and starts to fall off the second rope, he pulls himself back up, causing his crotch to bump into Seth's face.

He pretends that didn't happen.

Seth apparently notices, and retaliates by grabbing him and launching him into a powerbomb off the opposite turnbuckle. The impact sends Dean onto his knees on the canvas, pain tingling up and down his spine, along with something else that feels like that electricity he felt last time, mingling almost pleasantly with the pain.

He chooses not to think about what that could mean, instead getting to his feet and running at Seth, hitting him with another clothesline. Dean goes for Midnight Special, sure that this is it, and pins Seth, but Seth manages to kick out just before the referee counts to three. His resilience astonishes Dean.

Dean feels that anger returning, that feeling he can only describe as 'how the hell haven't I gotten a pin yet' resurfacing. He gets back to his feet and rushes at Seth with another clothesline, but Seth ducks and hits him with Avada Kedavra, sending him rolling under the bottom rope and onto the mats on the floor outside the ring.

Seth follows him, staggering on his feet outside the ring, and shoves Dean back into the ring. He follows again, and goes for a pin, but Dean makes a point to irritate him by placing his foot over the bottom rope, and then when Seth tries to pin him again, shifting his pin so that Dean's feet can't be put over the ropes, he grabs the bottom rope with his hand. Seth groans in frustration and drags him to the middle of the ring, pinning him a third time, but Dean kicks out just in time.

Seth gets off of him and goes over to the corner, climbing up onto the top turnbuckle, with his back facing Dean. Before he can do anything, though, Dean manages to rush over and shoves Seth off the turnbuckle, causing him to crash face-first into the metal crowd barricade outside the ring.

Dean goes after him, rolling out of the ring and heading over to him, hopping over the crowd barricade and pulling him into the crowd just as the one-minute warning is announced. Dean pulls him over to the announcer's table, lifting him onto his shoulders and dumping him unceremoniously on the table.

"Get out of the way!" Dean snaps at the announcers, his irritation with Seth being the only thing fueling his actions at the moment; right now, he couldn't care less about the championship, or the time limit on the match.

He just wanted to make sure Seth Rollins knew who the better one of the two was. He wanted to make sure Seth Rollins knew he could never beat Dean, because even though Seth still had his championship, he had never really beaten him, and Dean wouldn't let him beat him even if he died trying.

"You still think you're better than me?" he shouts at Seth, who doesn't seem to hear him. "You're never gonna be better than me. You fuckin' wish you were better than me. Hell, you fuckin' wish you were me!"

Seth punches him in the face, and they start trading blows like they had at the beginning of the match, but they're both worn down and weary, and their punches are slow, almost rhythmic. But their weariness causes them to lose balance, and they fall, Seth first and then Dean, right off the announcer's table and onto the floor.

It's there, sprawled out on the floor just a few feet from the announcer's table, that Dean hears the bell ring to end the match. He also hears the match being declared a draw, but this time, he barely cares.

He's oddly satisfied; Seth didn't technically win, because he never pinned Dean, never made him submit, never let him stay out of the ring for a ten count.

They'll probably have another rematch, and Dean knows he'll win that time around, but at least Seth still can't honestly say he beat him.

He finds himself grinning, even as he lies on the floor with his eyes closed, barely able to move, pain and that weird electricity radiating out from every part of him.

He's already looking forward to the second rematch.