Thirty Five

"What kind of weapons did you use?" Roman asked, holding Dean tight as they laid in bed. "Barb wires?"

"There are those," Dean replied. "Ladders, tables, chairs, thumbtacks… I used a light tube just now. Hmmm shovels, crowbars and chains…"

He held his breath when Roman pressed a kiss to a scar on near his right ab. "Please take it easy."

"If I do that, they'd destroy me."

With a soft sigh, his boyfriend said, "This is all my fault."

"Don't say that, Roman. I would have loved to have worked with you in a team-"

"But it is." Roman's eyes held his blue ones. "I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you for all that's happened."

"The rest of your life, huh?"

"Yeah."

"The vows you've exchanged down there… are they meant to be real?"

"If you mean if it's real in this world, no. It's not." Roman traced his auburn beard. "Don't shave."

Dean laughed. "Oh? You like the beard?"

"I love you with or without it."

"Even when I lose all my hair?"

"Even when you can barely lift a foot."

They lied down together in companionable silence. Dean could see the worry in Roman's face. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like Hunter and Tom coming down here every few days to taunt you."

"They're the bad guys, babe."

"Yeah. I'm aware. I may have to set Tom down and lay out some ground rules."

"Reminds me of when we went to our next door neighbor's wedding in Milwaukee. Remember that?" Dean recalled. "I overheard him telling her about laying the rules down now that she's legally his."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was about to grab the last slice of the wedding cake when I heard it. I was shocked. Well I was also shocked that the buttons on my vest didn't pop-"

"Vest…" Roman said softly. "Dean, you won't believe who's down there with me in the Lair."

"Who?"

"Chief Anoa'i."

Dean sat up immediately. "What? No way!"

"Yes way. I managed to umm… well it's kinda savage but I drank my own blood."

"Pfft. I would have drank it in front of Hunter."

"Wouldn't expect anything else from you." Roman grinned. "Anyways, back to the vest, he gave me one. It's resembles those tactical vests with a cool logo."

"That's neat."

"I think I'll get you one too."

"Nah, Roman. I fight in the streets. I don't use armors."

"A knight uses armor, Dean." Roman pressed a kiss to the side of his head, warming Dean's heart. "We'll go shopping tomorrow."

"But how are you going to sneak out?"

"I'll figure something out."

Blue eyes flew on the clock. "It's eleven now."

Roman groaned. "Yeah. I should get going. I'll be back tomorrow."

Dean nodded. "Okay."

"Get some rest. If the wound's still bad-"

"Go, babe. I'll be fine."

"You'll see a doctor if it gets worse."

"Yeah. Now, go before they discover you're gone."

Roman was about to leave before he turned around. "Do you still have travel sized bottles?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I'll need some of your cologne and that spare toothpaste of yours too."

What was his boyfriend up to? Dean shrugged before opening up the last drawer in their wardrobe and taking out the empty bottle. "What an asshole; demanding you marry his son and sparing the rest of Lakeview because of that. Why do you need the cologne for anyways?"

"It's for me. So that I can smell you there… so that whenever I come back after visiting you, they'll never know."

"That's a good idea."

Once Dean had everything ready, he handed it to Roman. "Stay safe," his boyfriend whispered.

"I will." Dean gave him a quick kiss. "I can't wait for this to be over."

"Now that I have my blood back, it will be."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're so smart, Dean."

Dean was clueless on what Roman had meant.

When Roman reached the bedroom he shared with Tom, he found the brunette snoring with a bottle of wine finished beside him.

Rolling his eyes, he hid the cologne in his side table before heading to put the new toothpaste in the bathroom. As he lied down far away from Tom, Dean's question came back to him about the legality of the marriage.

Not that it had mattered because there was no way Roman would introduce Tom as his husband to anyone who didn't lived outside the castle period. And after what Dean had said - which had him questioning himself even more about the words Hunter had used - he wouldn't have to.

At least he hoped there were no loopholes.

But he would introduce Dean to anyone or anything as his. Assuming the day Dean would ever want to be tied down to him that way that was… whatever Dean wanted, he'd do it. If Dean decided marriage wasn't what he wanted, Roman would roll with it. If Dean decided that it was, the grey eyed man would walk down that aisle with him.

He was just about to doze off when he heard Tom whispering to who knew who, "It was worth doing that to Ambrose. Teach him a lesson not to mess with me."

A laughter from a deep voice. Hunter. Roman would know his voice anywhere. "Well played son. I'm proud of you. I'm surprised he's sticking it out considering what the ultimatum was. I'm surprised he hasn't caught on yet."

What the ultimatum was...

Oh, it's a lesson Tom wanted to teach Dean? And his stupid father… Roman would gladly do the same to him, he silently promised himself.

He would humiliate Tom badly.

And Hunter as well.

When he awoke the next morning, he was in a good mood with what he had planned. Hopefully, the law would be on his side. He entered the hall, only to find the priest, Michael Cole arranging flowers near the altar. "Excuse me, Michael?" Roman called him as he approached. "Do you have a second?"

Michael turned around with a smile. "Yes, Roman?"

"Listen… how does a marriage work around here?"

"Well, like marriages up there."

"So suppose it's within your kingdom's context…"

"What kind?"

"The kind where your King said that if I married his son, he'd spare everyone in Lakeview."

"Well, what's your question?"

"How can I annul the marriage? Do you have annulments around here?"

"We do. But let me ask you this: were you given a time frame?"

"Nope," Roman mimicked Dean.

"And you've been married for two days?"

"Today's the third day."

"Well, I am the only one who can grant you the annulment but you'll have to inform Tom-"

"Gladly."

Michael looked at him keenly. "May I ask why are you annulling the marriage?"

"Personal reasons." Involving a beautiful auburn haired man he had left upstairs. "Hunter has no honor."

Michael reluctantly nodded. "Yeah. His dad wasn't like that. Pity. But marriage is highly revered in a place like this, believe it or not. So to make an ultimatum - even in the motivation of greed - has its consequences."

"Like?"

"He has to under law not touch you for seven days if he wanted to avenge."

"But he's broken that rule several times."

"This is severe, Roman. If he doesn't abide by this, the whole kingdom is burnt. The reason is because of the rich history of this place where a king loved his wife so much that after her death, he married no one because those were his eternal vows to her."

"And?"

"He placed a curse on the whole castle that no vows relating to such be broken. If vows were broken, the person who made them would no longer cease to be. The king and queen were kind of like soulmates, I'd like to think."

Roman smiled. "So if I were to annul the marriage…"

"Yep."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because I promised a certain someone that I'd help you if you asked for it."

"Who?"

Michael took a deep breath. "Vince," he revealed with a cracked voice. "He's my husband." The priest held out a hand with a wedding ring around it.

Dean was not in a good mood that morning when he found out that it was not Wade he'd be fighting with next but Damien Sandow who the auburn haired man had fought with in The Arena a few times in his teenage years and twice in New York.

He really wanted Wade because before he had left New York, someone sent him a video of Wade trash talking about him which pissed him off to no end. And now that Wade was here, he apparently had to fight Damien first according to Bret before he could touch that English prick.

"Get the fuck out of my way asshole!"

Some of the personnels stayed out of his way as Dean walked towards the shower room at Death Fights HQ.

"Awww poor Deano," Wade Barrett mocked him as he was heading the opposite direction. "No sugar and no honey makes Deano an angry man. What's the matter? Boyfriend dumped your ugly ass? Don't worry; there's a lot of other fishes in the sea. You know ugly ones."

Dean grabbed him by the collar of his polo tee and slammed him against the wall. "No one on this planet has a right to act like they know me. Don't ever act like you know anything about me. Don't ever talk to me like that again."

Several officials were at their side trying to separate them. "Alright, guys. Break it up. Break it up."

Wade looked shaken, the son of a bitch.

When Dean entered the locker room, he sat down on the long bench and lit his cigarette, trying to focus on the positives that would happen today: Roman would be visiting him. Bret had sent him a message agreeing to increase his price. Shopping for a tactical vest.

There. Two and a half positives; he still wasn't convinced about the vest.

"I'm kicking your ass next, Ambrose!" Damien Sandow taunted from the corner of the locker room.

Jesus Christ. This again? Damien and him had never gotten along. Dean guessed it was because he still viewed the blue eyed man as a rookie. "You're gonna have to run me over with a car to get rid of me, sunshine!" he shot back.

"I just may take you up on that offer!"

"You and me at Denny's parking lot-"

"Ambrose!" Mike Kioda, one of the referees, called him. "There's a guy outside near the entrance wanting to talk to you."

Dean huffed. "I'm busy!"

"Yeah, well you have no choice. Come on outside."

Grumbling under his breath, he made his way to where Mike said the guy was. Only thing was the guy happened to be Mark. "I trained you for this, Dean?"

"Mark!" Dean thrilled and hugged him tight. "You're alright!"

"Not too bad. Regal's homemade herbal soup certainly helped." A smile ghosted his face. "This is definitely you, Dean. Not what I trained you for but definitely you."

"Isn't it? I'm about to make a fuck load of money here."

"So you've stayed out of trouble?"

"Well, Roman is sort of in trouble… with… I don't know… with his husband."

Mark did a double take. "I'm sorry but did you say-"

"Yep."

"What? When did this happen?"

"A couple of days ago. It's a long story." Dean explained to Mark what had happened in his absence.

"This is madness," Mark commented.

"You don't say. Anyways that's what we've been up to."

"So he's still there?"

"Yeah but he's meeting me later."

"Way to keep the romance alive…"

As if on cue, Dean felt his heartstrings tugged. "Roman's looking for me. Oh crap. I have yet to practise."

Taking out his cellphone, he sent a message to his boyfriend informing him of his whereabouts.

"Why don't Roman and you tie the knot? You've been together for so long," Mark remarked.

"Because it's not something we need," Dean answered him simply.

"Both of you feel the same way?"

"Yeah."

"Hmmm…"

Seriously what was Mark up to? "What? Roman doesn't want to get married either, Mark."

"Have you asked him this?"

"Yes. He said our history's richer so it wasn't what he felt he needed to do."

"Okay."

Roman arrived dressed in a blue and white checkered shirt beneath a black suit and pants with his hair in a man bun about ten minutes after Mark had left. "Hey," he greeted Dean with a kiss. "Don't worry. I didn't kiss him today."

"What?" Dean puzzled.

"How would you like to have a little revenge on the asshole for what he's shown you?"

"I'd love to but how?"

"I have something in mind."

Dean grinned. He was looking forward to it already. "I haven't practised yet."

"No problem," Roman replied. "I'll wait for you."

The two lovers walked down to the gym where Wade was doing push ups like a man on a mission. "That's Wade," Dean informed Roman who had sat down on an armchair. "I just found out I'm not fighting him."

"The guy who made those YouTube videos rants on you. So if not him, then who?"

"I have to fight Damien Sandow."

"I remember you talking about him a couple of times before."

"Bastard still views me as a rookie."

Wade stood up and smirked when he saw Dean's reflection in the wall spanned mirror, flexing his arms. "Back for a sneak peek, Ambrose?"

"I don't know. I never liked sneak peeks or trailers. I prefer feature length films."

"How much did you pay for the Armani model to come here?"

"That's my boyfriend, asshole."

Roman smiled warmly. "Roman," he said, offering his hand.

"Wade," the Englishman said. "Nice to meet you."

"Same."

"Wait. You're really dating Dean?"

"Yeah I am." Dean bit back a smile when Roman looked at him confused before turning back to Wade. "Why? Is there a problem?"

"Just surprised." Wade's face was one of surprise when he looked at Dean. "How did you get so lucky to find such a-"

Dean was about to retort but Roman beat him to it. "Nah. I'm the lucky one."

The former MMA fighter's heart did a flip. "Give me thirty minutes," Dean informed Roman, kissing him on his cheek.

"Take all the time you need, baby boy. I'll be right here."

"I don't know about this vest, Roman."

Roman smiled at Dean's expression. They were both at a sports and army wear shop owned by a military man at the quiet part of town which Roman had found out about via Reddit of all places. "Why not?" Roman wanted to know. "It's black. It's cool and SWAT like."

"And do you want me to start arresting people too?" Dean asked.

"You can always cuff me."

"Oh when this whole thing's over, you bet your ass I will."

The Samoan man looked at him, face full of hope. "So you will?"

Dean sighed dramatically. "If it means so much to you-"

Roman cut him off with a hard kiss. "It does."

"Then we'll get it. Now, ummm… back to our plan. Are you sure it's safe?"

"He can't touch us, remember?"

"And if he does?"

"Then I'll die protecting you."

"I don't want you to. I'll die protecting you. How about that?"

"You already did before, remember?"

They went back home where Roman unveiled his vest to Dean whose blue eyes enlarged at the sight of it. "That is so cool."

"Imagine us both-"

"Banging each other with it on? I'm way ahead of you, babe."

Roman chuckled upon hearing that. Only Dean would think that. "I meant us on the battlefield with that. But hey. If you want to do it wearing that-"

"With you being cuffed would be a sweet, sweet bonus." Dean's smile faded. "Are you sure you want to annul the marriage?"

"I got back my blood. We'll be fine."

Dean nodded. "Okay."

When they reached Hunter's castle an hour later, Roman enquired from one of the servants about him. "The hall," the old man had informed him.

Hand in hand, the two men strode with purpose towards the hall. "No matter what happens, we leave together, okay?" Dean said.

"Together," Roman affirmed.

Hunter was laughing with a huge crowd - probably friends of his - alongside Tom. Michael was lighting a candle by one of the long tables near the entrance door. His eyes met Roman's and he nodded.

But as the raven haired man discovered barely seconds later, Michael's eyes weren't the only ones that caught sight of the two lovers. "What is this dirty little street rat doing here?" Hunter demanded.

Dean looked at him, mouthing "street rat" in mock outrage.

"Oh. He's here because I invited him," Roman explained. "You know, missing him badly and all."

Tom shook his head in disapproval, striding up to him. "You-"

A hand raised up stopped the brat from coming closer. "Tom, I want an annulment…"

"What?! Oh ho I don't-"

"No, wait. I'm sorry; I didn't mean that."

"See? You need me, Roman."

Roman shook his head. " No, Tom. What I meant was I demand an annulment."

"You can't annul my son, Roman-" Hunter started cockily.

"Actually I can. I believe your terms were to marry him and you'd spare Lakeview. Well, I have married him, Hunter. And now that that's over with, I can annul the marriage. Michael?"

Michael nodded. "Since you brought the request up, we are granting it to you on the account of the promise made by Hunter which you have fulfilled." Michael removed the ring from his finger. "Annulled."

Hunter was furious and probably would have headed for him too until one of his guests held him back, reminding him of the curse softly. Roman noticed that Dean was standing in front of him, ready to spring into action.

"Just you wait, Reigns!" Hunter promised. "In seven days, I'll be bringing you down with everyone. I have your blood."

Roman pouted. "Okay." He held Dean's left hand. "Ready?"

"Not quite," Dean answered before he grabbed Roman and dipped him down, planting a long kiss. When they were both standing, Roman panted. That was one hell of a kiss, he thought. "Now, I'm ready," his boyfriend said before shouting over his shoulders as they left the hall, "See you in seven days, Grandpa!"

When they were a few feet away from the castle's entrance, Roman turned to Dean with a cheeky smile. "Hey, Dean?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"Kiss me like that again?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

A/N...