Seth was sick. Literally.

He'd apparently caught the flu or something like that; he hadn't listened to what the doctor had to say. Some sort of bacteria had entered his body and he was now chained to his bed for a whole week, like a dog or something similar.

Despite how bad that sounded, to Seth it all seemed… okay. For the first time he was actually a little relieved to not be able to go to school. Relieved and it all had to do with tutoring.

He didn't wish to admit it but that class had gotten to him a lot more than he could've ever imagined. There was just so much more to it than the math. When Rollins had first heard of the idea he'd been excited, ecstatic to be able to spend some time with his attractive teacher.

Roman.

His connection with Dean did not make him any less good-looking.

Dean.

Damn that bastard, always ruining everything with just his mere presence.

Seth sighed.

He could honestly go on and on forever about how much he hated Dean and liked Roman. How much tutoring annoyed him. How much he wished it would all be over and he could go back to being the bright kid with no C's in calculus.

"Sweetheart." The overly sweet tone of his mother's usually raspy voice awoke him from his thoughts. She entered the room with such grace and control, it almost made Seth place a book over his head and practice walking, "Your dad and I are going to your school to ask for your assignments for the week." She sat on the edge of the bed, "Of course, you won't be able to come with since you're sick and all." Her pretty eyes locked into some distance unknown to Seth and she sighed, a hint of disappointment evident, "Too bad."

"Yea…" He sighed, unsure what to say next that would not disappoint her any further. He failed and nothing came out.

"Well then, we better get going." She stood up, and without regarding her son any further, walked out.

The young boy sighed and relaxed back onto his bed.

Relax.

His body was too tense for that. On one side his parents' were obviously upset he had to miss school. There was nothing he despised more in the world than disappointing them and he'd done just that. On the other, there was the second thing he despised the most.

A thorn on his side that was gonna take some time to get rid of.

More time than he'd thought. All thanks to Roman.

Another Monday.

Roman sat on his desk, papers sprawled out on the wooden surface. He sighed in resignation at the fact that he wasn't going to be able to finish grading before lunch.

Before tutoring.

A day in tutoring without Seth. He'd met the boys' parents earlier in the day, before the bell had rang for first period. Both individuals had knocked politely on his door and introduced themselves.

"Hello Mr. Reigns?"

"Come on in."

A really pretty woman came to view, small handbag at her side. He hair was brown and cascaded in light curls down to the middle of her back. Her stance was accentuated by a gray business suit and pointy heels. Behind her stood a bull of a man; easily as fit and similar in built to Roman, his appearance could scare a bull. His head was shaved bald and he also paraded a black business suit and red tie.

The pretty woman stretched out her small hand towards him, "Stephanie McMahon."

Their aura was something else. The brief tension both individuals, so clean cut and well put together, gave off was pretty noticeable and a little, a little intimidating? Roman had no idea what it was but right away without ever saying a word to either he could tell, they were people of power.

The fact made him stand as quick as he could in appreciation and grant her his hand. Hers were soft as silk, "Roman. Roman Reigns."

"Nice name." The man was the one to speak in return, Stephanie only giving out a brief nod as they shook hands, "Hunter Helmsley." They also shook hands, the man's filling the void previously left by Stephanie's much smaller hands.

Speaking of Stephanie, she spoke next, apparently spotting a little of Roman's sudden confusion at seeing those two perfect strangers in his class, "We're Seth's parents."

Okay, now it all made sense.

No, it really didn't. What were they doing in his class? Where was Seth?

"Oh okay." The man couldn't help his smirk at the mere mention of that name, "I thought you might've been some private detectives or something. Those suits are-" He couldn't finish his current train of words, realization of the position he'd put himself in hitting hard. He hoped he hadn't made a complete fool of himself. Hunter chuckled and Stephanie only smiled dryly, "What can I do for you?" Okay things were already awkward.

"Yes we get that a lot, but Mr. Reigns we're here to collect our son's homework. You see, he is sick and won't be able to attend classes for the week." Her disappointed expression was not lost on Roman.

His expression dropped worse, "Is he alright? What- what happened to him?" He tried to act calm and collected but his feelings betrayed him. He was worried sick.

"Just a case of the flu. We had a long chat with the doctor, however, and he will be fine."

Relief was not yet catching up to him, "Are you sure? Sometimes doctors have no idea what they're talking about-"

Stephanie spoke, "Well our family doctor also happens to be one of the best in not only the state, but the country. So whatever he says goes." She took note of his worried gray eyes, "He'll be good. As good as new."

"We're giving him some time to rest but would like his homework as well." Now it was Hunter's turn to butt in.

"Yes, you see, we believe in keeping the children busy at all times. We want Seth to rest but also focus on school while he's at it."

"Well don't push him too hard. He has to rest." Those words came out before they could be stopped.

"Yes we are very well aware of that fact."

A small silence followed after those last words by the woman; it filled the room with its ice cold presence. Both Stephanie and Hunter looked at him as if waiting for something.
"Oh yea-" The attractive teacher turned to one of his desk drawers. Opening the large compartment he pulled out a manila folder, "The homework."

The bell rung to lunch.

Roman's students all stood up in unison, handing in their papers one by one.

"Alright guys see you all tomorrow." He nodded towards each one and tried his best to ignore the overexcited teenage girls winking at him.

He couldn't focus on them. At all.

He would be lying to himself if he said there hadn't been one thing and one thing only in his mind all morning.

Seth.

He was worried about the boy, too worried almost. He hadn't been able to focus fully on teaching and that was becoming a problem. When something interfered with your one job then a line had to be drawn. He had to stop thinking about him, it was taking over.

Then an idea came to mind, something he could not help once it was in motion. He could always go and visit Seth to see how he was. Maybe he was actually sicker than his parents had made it sound. But then again, if somebody would be worried sick, no pun intended, it would be the boy's mom and dad; they'd both seemed pretty relaxed, oblivious to it even.

Maybe it wasn't such a big deal. Maybe Roman was just exaggerating, a typical side effect of caring too much about someone. Uh oh. This was territory he did not want to be in. This had danger written all over it. The moment you become so attached with someone you, you're bound to get hurt doing it.

"Knock knock."

All thoughts were gone at the familiar presence now in the room. A presence that could not keep Roman from cracking a smile, the first one all day, "Hey Dean. How are you?"

"Peachy fucking keen man-"

"Dean…"

"Oh, right." The young teen headed towards his usual spot, "I forget how you don't like cussing." He mocked Roman by making a disgusted sound.

"Yea well this is school, not some jailhouse."

"Jailhouse." Again he mocked.

"Hey Dean?"

"Yo."

"Sit in front today. Seth's not gonna be here all week, so you can take his spot." He motioned for the youngest teen's desk right in front of the classroom.

"Huh?" Ambrose looked genuinely confused. Seth Rollins was not going to be in school all week? That was fucking new. A cluster of words that did not go together, "Are you serious?"

"Yea, sit over here."

"Hah." The teen scoffed playfully, "That's new. Seems Mr. Brainiac might be human after all and must give out to the regular human ways."

"Yea, he's sick." Reigns frowned, not too flattered by the reminder, "I guess a very… human thing to do."

"Fucking a!" The teen tried stopping himself from going any further upon catching his teacher's menacing eyes. Menacing but gentle. He pointed towards the deserted spot, "And what makes you think I wanna sit in that geek infested chair? Might turn me all smart and… whatnot."

"Yea, we don't wanna risk that." Reigns raised his eyebrows, "Believe me I would much rather have you back there where I don't have to see your face up close but my legs are a bit sore today so, yea, don't think I wanna walk that much-"

"Alright alright. Whatever." With defeat, the young boy walked over to the desk and sat down, not before wiping some of the surface with his hand. Roman only watched in amusement. As if that would keep the evil Seth demons away. He motioned with his arms, waiting for Ambrose to be done, "Oh, yea. Continue now."

Reigns had no choice but to roll his eyes, a chuckle threatening to escape his lips; then it hit him. This was going to be his first tutoring alone with Dean. That was interesting. A couple weeks ago he would've never gotten the rebellious teen to show up, now he was there no problem by himself. Now the two were alone.

He honestly did not feel prepared for that but would play it off as composed as he could.

"Think of Seth's parents." He mentally told himself, "Think how intimidating they are. How cool they are. How graceful."

Oh yeah, he was ready now.

Or maybe not. Who knew anymore with so much that had gone down between him and teen before. All in a matter of weeks.

"So Dean, anything you need help on today?'

"Nah." The teen did not look up once, he seemed to be doodling something onto his backpack which was still on his desk.

"Is that a no?"

"Yea."

"A yes?"

"Nah."

"Jesus Christ, Dean."

"That's my name, don't wear it out." The teacher simply sighed in frustration. He, however, wasn't annoyed at all.

"Okay, Dean."

"I wanna know more about you."

"What?" This was new. Since when was Dean Ambrose interested in him?

"Yea. Tell me about you."

"This is tutoring-"

"I know." He still didn't look up, too busy drawing on the cloth of his dirty backpack.

"Not some get-to-know-your-teacher hour."

"Technically it's only thirty minutes but okay."

"Why do you wanna know about me?"

"Because I am done with this homework and since Rollins is not around to annoy the hell out of, then I turn my attention fully…" He placed his elbows on the desk, index fingers caressing at his chin before pointing at Roman, "to you."

"Wow. That was- that was pretty insightful Dean, good job." He chuckled and leaned back onto his chair, "There's not much to know actually-"

"Bullshit."

"Huh?"

"I call bullshit on that one. And I know you don't like cussing and whatnot, this is not a 'jailhouse' or whatever the hell you called it earlier, but I know some strong bullshit when I smell it."

"Ugh." Roman furrowed his brow in disgust.

Something Dean ignored, "See I might look dumb and even act like it sometimes, I might even be dumb, but I get a very good… hunch, when it comes to people."
Roman leaned forward onto his own desk, placing both elbows on the small space, mirroring the boy, "Huh. And what does that uh, 'hunch' tell you now?"

For a moment, the light brunette was silent. His eyes bore through Roman, examining every inch, every pore on his face. His expression was focused, like a detective when questioning. After what seemed like a full minute, he spoke, "I think… there's a lot more to you than you let on. You said you moved here this summer, and that's true. But the thing is, it's not that you're here, it's why you're here. Maybe a falling out with a friend or family member." He paused a few moments, then continued, "Then it hits me that this place is pretty small and unknown so it's a nice spot to… hide out… I also think you're scared of something."

Wow. That was unexpected and almost too perfect of a story. Reigns raised his eyebrows dumbfounded, "Wow, that's- that's quite a story." He chuckled awkwardly and paused before speaking, "And afraid of what exactly?" His deep voice dropped in a second, "What do you think I'm afraid of, Dean?"

"I don't know." The teen shook his head lightly, never once taking his eyes off his teacher, "The possibilities might be endless."

"Well, that left me speechless." The attractive individual stood up, pretending some half-assed stretches as an attempt to cool down. He felt a bit dizzy, "One hell of an evaluation there Dean. Ever considered a career in psychology?"

"No fu- no way."

"Good, you're learning."

Time went by as fast as it had been given to them.

"So what about basketball?"

"Oh come on man are you serious? I HATE basketball with a passion."

"Oh come on, seriously? Didn't you play in middle school or something?"

"If by play you mean feel up panties behind the bleachers during gym, then yeah, I guess I played very well." Ambrose chuckled to himself, in deep remembering.

Roman rolled his eyes, they'd been immersed in this sports conversation for ten minutes and he still couldn't get a favorite sport out of Dean; or a favorite anything for that matter, "Weren't you a little young for that?"

"I was never too young for anything." Ambrose smirked.

To which Reigns just sighed, about to give up on this, "Well, what about football?"

"What about it?"

"You like football?"

"I mean, my old man watches it on occasion."

"You?"

"Nah. Why don't you make me wear a neon muscle shirt and call me Dolph Ziggler already, geez."

"I didn't know he played."

The teen scoffed, "We don't know A LOT about him."

Well, who would've thought there was more to the bleached blonde, vain exterior and shades.

"I played too."

"Oh." Now Ambrose was regaining interest and immediately Reigns' own regret with it, "High school jock?"

"Uh, sorta." The teacher rubbed thumb and index finger against the rough surface of his beard, "More… college I guess."

"You played college?" Dean raised his eyebrows in astonishment. He seemed impressed, something that cracked a self-conscious smile out of Roman.

"Yeah. I was on a scholarship. Well, it wasn't all that really-"

"Yeah, tell that to Ziggler" The teen blew out a raspberry. Very child of him, "Were you good?"

"I guess. I don't know really."

"How can you not know? You're either good or you sucked ass there's no not-knowing."

"They told me I was."

"Ah, then that means you were."

"It doesn't really matter- it's not like I'm going back anytime soon to play college football." Reigns chuckled awkwardly. Him and his big mouth that knew no bounds.

"That still doesn't answer the question. Something tells me you're evading it."

"Evading?" Roman raised his eyebrows.

"You know what I mean."

The teacher sighed, clear to him that he wouldn't be able to get out of this one without giving the teen a bit more information. Resigned, he added, "People said I was good. I don't know though. To this day I still don't know if I was ever any good."

"Why not?" The kid was leaning forward more and more each time, his chest now firmly pressed against the edge of the desk, his foot kicking at his back lightly, its little thud the only sound in the room.

Clearly not going anywhere with fifteen minutes still to lunch, Roman spoke as if he was in front of the entire school, everyone judging his every word. He was trapped in a cage and only his words could open it, how much he revealed, "I came up with an injury." Only after his chest began to ache did he realize he'd been holding his breath for long. This was the last thing he wanted to talk about, the last thing he would tell anyone.

Yet he was telling Dean. The person sitting next to him with his attention fully on him, taking in his every sentence.

And yet with that much information, he responded as casually as possible, "Was it bad?"

Reigns sighed, "Yea- yea I mean it kicked me pretty hard."

"How long?"

"Huh?"

"How long was it till you could play again?"

There was a pause. A sudden silence, a moment to think. The older man looked towards the window in admiration of the wonderfully cloudy sky outside, his mind in a completely different place. For a moment he wished he was a cloud, floating high above.

The boy waited and waited until he decided to speak, so distant, so lost, "I was- I was never able to play again. It sidelined me for good."

Dean only stared. Even when Roman tried to play it off as nothing, it was evident. This wasn't a fresh wound, but boy did it still hurt him like a bitch.

That was his cue to change the subject. Reigns might've been his teacher, but even Dean knew of limits.

"So what about Seth?"

"What about him?" Roman felt a wave of surprise and relief wash over him, mostly relief.

"Did you like the little kiss?"

"DEAN!" Okay, now it was mostly surprise. That and shock. Though how could he still be surprised with Dean? "What is WRONG with you?"

"It's only a question." The brunette chuckled and played it off as if that wasn't a giant elephant in the room.

"You're incredible." He rubbed at his face and sighed, something he did a lot when he was with Ambrose.

"Come on. It's an innocent little question." His raspy voice was light, a playful little grin threatening him.

"Yeah about a not-so-innocent subject. Geez, Dean don't you ever think about what comes out of your mouth?"

"Nope. I try, but it's just not gonna happen." He sighed, smirk still there, "I just go with it."

Okay, now he was beginning to feel frustrated. He didn't want to be asked about Seth, things were already weird enough between them. Hell, Roman had even thought about moving the boy to another teacher for tutoring. Of course, that was a plan that had not come to fruition, and neither was getting angry at Dean. No, he'd already nearly lost the student once, he wasn't going to do it again.

Instead he decided to once again follow up on his game.

And after a brief pause, he played, "Well Dean, with how much you talk about Seth… I would say you're the one with the little crush."

"What are you insinuating?" Another big word. Yeah, he was playing the game alright. The teen's expression dropped in second, he seemed angry, body tensing up, "Are you saying I like Seth? You're saying I like that little dweeb?"

"Dweeb." Reigns snorted. No reaction came from Ambrose, "I mean, just judging by the way you always tease him. That's all. Usually when someone teases another person so much, it means something."

The boy scoffed, "Please. For all I know, it's you who loves to kiss dudes in school."

"Dean…"

"What made you kiss him? Or did he kiss you?" The man sighed, "For sure he kissed you. It was him wasn't it? I mean of course he fucking LOVES you or some shit. Fucking dweeb."

"That's TWO words in less than ten seconds. TWO." He motioned with his fingers, exasperated though clearly not as annoyed as he should've been. But why?

"Would you kiss me?"

"Huh?"

"Would you kiss me? I mean, I'm pretty cute, I know."

Okay, that left him speechless, "Dean, I-"

"You would huh? I can tell by the way you're blushing." Oh boy, he was right, his skin did all of a sudden feel hot, "It's cool though, like I said, I ignite those reactions in people." Big word, "I might even let you kiss me in the future who knows, if you're lucky." His eyes widened, "Eh, another reaction." Now he was just plain proud of himself, "I've kissed a dude before so it shouldn't be that different. Don't worry." Roman's mouth dropped, he did not expect this at all, "But I'm not about that gay shit. No way man. Not me." He quickly corrected himself, his confession clearly an accident product of his big mouth. Guess they weren't that different after all.

Then the bell rang.

"Wow." The older individual let go of his breath, something he hadn't even realized he'd been keeping. Again.

The teenager stood from his desk, grabbing his backpack and getting ready to leave. Roman remained in his seat. He had no idea what'd just happened. Too much information had been the theme of this session. From both of them. What was this, therapy?

"Wrestling." Reigns had to look up at the person standing in front of his desk. Dean regarded him then continued walking towards the door.

"Huh?" He called out, still dazed.

"You asked me what sport I liked." He continued on, matter of factly, "I like wrestling."