Seth spent his few free days at home visiting his family who he felt he hadn't seen in years and catching up with Marek about the school that seemed to be doing well. They decided that it would be best for Seth to take a little break from teaching classes for a while and concentrate on getting his life back together. He enjoyed being with his family but a part of him couldn't wait to get back to Roman. He tried not to think about what would happen if he couldn't wrestle again. He would worry about that when the time came.

Finally it was time to get back on the road and meet up with Roman and luckily the house shows for the week were all in America so Seth could save a little money.

He showed up to the arena with his luggage and he was lucky the security guard watching the door was a fan and let him in. He pulled his bag along the hallways looking for Roman and he tried to ignore the hostile looks that his co-workers gave him. The Shield weren't very popular backstage back in 2014 so he was used to people being wary of him but he wasn't prepared for the hate in their eyes now.

Finally he heard the deep rumble of Roman's laugh and walked toward the doorway, looking inside carefully. Roman was talking on his cell phone so Seth walked in as quietly as he could so he wouldn't disturb Roman's call. Roman looked up and saw him and a hint of anger glinted in his eyes before he ducked his head and quickly ended the call. Seth tried not to feel sad at the momentary flash of emotion, he knew that he was lucky Roman even let them be in the same room together.

Roman was already in his gear, this time with blue accents and Seth just watched while he wrapped his hands, admiring how gorgeous he was.

"You gonna look at me all day or what?" Roman asked, putting the finishing touches of his gear on.

"Sorry." Seth mumbled before bringing his luggage inside the door. "How was your time off?"

"Fine," Roman said sitting down on the bench and reaching to put his boots on. "You know how it is, you want to do so much but all you really end up doing is sleeping."

Seth took a seat on the opposite bench. "I hear that. I just spent some time with my family and finally talked to Marek about the school, I didn't even workout."

One of the workers knocked on the door and stuck his head in the room. "Five minutes Mr. Reigns."

Roman got up and walked out the door and Seth followed. They had a monitor set up near the entrance to the ramp and he settled himself in front of it so he could watch the match. He didn't bother paying any attention to the guy Roman was wrestling, all his focus was on Roman and it was a hell of a good match.

At the end of the match Roman got on the microphone and thanked everyone for coming. There were a few boos which Seth still couldn't understand and when Roman got backstage he was smiling and this time his smile didn't falter when he saw Seth.

"Great job out there." Seth said, slapping Roman on the back.

"Thanks." Roman said as he grabbed a bottle of water and took a long drink.

"Seth, what are you doing here?" Hunter asked as he walked up to them.

Seth tried not to cringe when he saw Triple H. "Oh, you know I just can't stay away."

Hunter clapped him hard on the back and laughed. "I know how that is. I'm glad you're here anyway."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"We think we have a way to use you. Do you have time to talk now?" Hunter asked.

Seth looked to Roman and then back to Hunter. "Sure."

Roman went back to the locker room and took a shower. He got dressed and waited another 20 minutes for Seth to get back. When Seth still didn't arrive, he grabbed their bags and drove back to the hotel alone and sent a text telling Seth the hotel and room number. He ordered a couple pizzas and they had just been delivered when Seth knocked on the door.

"Sorry I took so long." Seth said as he came in the door. "And thanks for bringing my stuff."

"It's okay." he said. "You're just in time to eat."

"Cool." Seth said looking over the pizzas. "Hey, you got my favorite." Seth looked up and smiled at him.

Roman's instinct was to smile back but he stopped himself and nodded instead. There was no use denying that he remembered all of Seth's favorite things, Seth always knew when he was lying.

They ate their pizza in companionable silence. When they were done he asked Seth about his talk with Hunter and Seth started fidgeting.

"Um... creative wants me to be a manager." Seth said looking down.

"That's great." he said, trying to be encouraging. "It'll keep you in the public eye until you can wrestle again."

"It is a good opportunity." Seth said before looking up into Roman's eyes. "But... they want me to be your manager."

"What!?" he shouted angrily as he lept to his feet. "They never said anything about wanting me to work with someone."

Seth shrank back. "I told them that it would be a bad idea but they won't listen to me. We're supposed to go in for a meeting tomorrow morning before we move on to the next city."

Roman sank back down on his bed heavily. "I knew they were losing faith in me and this just proves it."

"I won't do it, if you don't want me to." Seth said quietly.

He looked at Seth and sighed. "If it's what the company wants, then they'll just pick someone else to do it. It would make more sense if it was you."

Seth just nodded and continued to eat his pizza. They were both lost in their thoughts.

Later that night Seth took his shower and came out wearing the beanie again. It confused Roman that Seth was always wearing it now, knowing that it would probably be hot. Seth shut the lights off and they both settled into their beds.

"Seth?" Roman asked in the dark.

"Yeah?" Seth replied back.

"Why do you always wear that hat?" he asked quietly.

Seth sighed before answering. "Vanity."

Roman was quiet hoping Seth would explain.

"They had to shave my head for the brain surgery and I had other cuts all over it and even though we aren't together anymore, I didn't want you to think I look ugly now."

He shouldn't be surprised that Seth would want to hide his lack of hair and scars but he was. The Seth he had come to know in 2017 would never show any vulnerability like this in front of him, but the 2014 version of Seth always tried to look his best. He had thought that it was just because they were new to the roster and he wanted to impress people, but he never would have thought that Seth was trying to look good for him.

He leaned over and turned on the bedside lamp. He got out of bed and walked over to Seth's bed. Seth opened his eyes and blinked at the light. "What-?"

Roman leaned over and pulled the beanie off Seth's head and looked. There were faint remnants of cuts from where the windshield hit him during the accident and a much deeper and more prominent cut from the surgery and his hair was very short and close to his skin. It made him sad to see the proof of the accident that claimed his memory but he didn't think Seth was ugly.

He looked down into Seth's deep brown and worried eyes. "You don't have to hide it from me anymore and it doesn't make you look ugly, it makes you look strong. You're a survivor."

Seth's chin trembled as he smiled up at him. "Thanks Rome."

Roman nodded and went back to his bed and turned out the light. "Good night Seth."

"Good night Roman."

The next morning they woke up and had breakfast before having their meeting with the higher-ups. They decided that not much would change from Roman's stand point but that they would be a team of sorts again and that Seth would be his opportunistic manager. For the time being they would be neither heel nor face. Even though Roman was reluctant at first, the ideas they had were good and made him feel optimistic that this would actually be a good way of doing things. It would make the both of them look good and keep Seth still visible to the WWE universe.