Eighteen

"What?"

Cesaro smirked. "You need to tour your ass off. Do the shows. Do the interviews. Do the photo shoots. Do the television appearances. You know the drill, Dean. You signed for it. You wanted to get away from all this, remember?"

"What?" Roman said.

"Oh yeah, he wanted to get away from you especially."

Dean frowned. "Shut up, Cesaro." He turned to look at Roman. "Babe, this was when I left you in Florida."

Cesaro rolled his eyes. "Point is I expect you to start tour by next week."

"I have rehab," the auburn haired man informed him. "I can't go on tour next week."

"I don't care how you do it. Make it happen."

Dean gritted his teeth. "How about no?"

"How about legal obligation, Dean? Ever heard of those?"

"Fuck!"

Roman excused himself to go to the kitchen. Dean crossed his arms and stared at his ex boyfriend. "You're an asshole."

"Yes. But you wanted this too, Dean. You wanted to forget him."

"Now I don't."

"Well, you have no choice. I expect you in my office with your luggage on Friday."

Dean slammed the door on him.

Manu didn't stir, merely rolling over before snoring again.

Roman was sitting in the kitchen with a mug of green tea, staring at it. Dean took the seat beside him. "Roman, I had no idea we'd get back together. Honest. I mean you know how adamant I was about not being with you again… circumstances have changed."

"I know that but what about now, Dean? Do you want to head back on the road?"

Did he? Every fiber in his body screamed yes but he was caught in a dilemma between Roman not having a normal life and living life on the road without him.

"You do," Roman noted.

"Look. Let's drop it. I'm going to go and see if there are ways I can get out of this contract."

"Suppose I go with you on tour?"

He shook his head. "Roman, besides the debauchery, there's another reason why I can't let you be with me there. I have crazy fanboys. Do you know what kind of things you'll be subjected to if people knew we were dating?"

"I'm sure no one will know if we don't tell them…"

"And what if people decide to out us?"

"Then we deal with it together."

Dean sighed. "Let me think about it, okay?"

"Okay."

But it turned out that people did out them.

Roman had been scrolling through Facebook later that night when a showbiz news page he had followed, displayed a picture of Dean and him kissing at the airport.

The caption read: Dean's new love?

There were over four thousand comments and nine hundred shares. His face fell; how long had this been up?

His eyes fell on the date: it was on the day he had flown back from Beverly Hills with Dean.

Against his better judgement, he clicked on the comments link and regretted it almost immediately.

I hope Dean dumps his ass!

Why is Dean with this man? Does anyone know who it is?

What does Dean see in him?

He's just another gold digger!

I already hate him.

Roman closed the page. He was in complete disbelief: how could people hate on him for simply dating Dean? It made no sense. There was also another thing: despite Dean retiring from public life, his fans were still his fans. Obviously they were going to keep admiring him.

"What's that you're looking at?" Dean asked, having changed into his t-shirt and boxers. He had called Dr Foley and promised to report the next morning; he wanted to spend more time with Roman.

Manu had woken up and ate the sandwich before gone back to the hotel to check out before coming back to their house. He was now resting in the guest room.

"You weren't kidding when you said you had crazy fanboys," Roman replied.

"What do you mean?"

Roman reopened the page.

Dean stared at the photo in horror. "Someone recognised me? I figured when we moved here, not many people would."

"Babe, you're a rock star. Some of those comments though… these people don't even know me."

"That's showbusiness."

"So what's our next move?"

"Nothing. We keep being ourselves."

"Was it like that when you dated Baron?"

"Nah. Baron was a rock star too, remember?"

Roman closed his laptop and placed it aside before snuggling with Dean. "I just can't believe that people can be so cruel."

"I banged porn stars, made sex tapes, thrown electrical appliances and furnitures out hotel windows… I had fun."

"Dean," Roman started but Dean's statement caught him off guard. "What?"

"It's true."

"There's sex tapes of you floating out there?"

"Yep. And I sued them for it too."

"So there's a chance someone's seen your penis?"

Dean laughed. "I bet plenty of people did."

"Dean!"

"Roman, I didn't know I'd meet someone like you and fall in love."

Well, that was true. "They're not going to get violent, are they?"

"No," Dean replied. "Don't worry. I doubt it'd escalate more beyond petty words or some Facebook or Tumblr pages."

Roman went back to work the next day.

Randy had called him in because two of their staff had called in sick and he agreed to cover. It was better than sitting at home and grieving, he supposed.

Manu made plans to meet up with him after his shift ended. The Samoan man promised him a tour of their small town. Dean dropped him off before he headed back to rehab. Randy expressed his condolences and apologised profusely, promising him more time off.

Breakfast shift was busier than usual. Randy had just launched a promotion selling a breakfast sandwich with coffee for a mere $2.50. That launched a long queue. By the time they cleared the crowd, it was ten.

A group of five men walked in and chose a booth in the middle. Roman brought menus for them. One of them - a brunette with green eyes - kept glancing at him. "Hey!" the guy said when the grey eyed man came over with his notepad upon seeing one of them raised his hand. "Aren't you that guy who was locking lips with Dean Ambrose?"

Roman didn't know what to say.

"Yeah you are!" the guy laughed. "Holy shit! It is you! Dude, how did you get so lucky?"

"Are you boys going to order?" Randy asked coming up behind Roman.

"Yeah. Sure. The pancakes set. Five of it."

Randy nudged him and Roman followed him to the cashier area. "Thank you," he quietly said to his boss.

The blue eyed man shrugged it off. "Nothing to it. I saw those pictures as well as others."

"Others?"

His boss took out an iPad from underneath the counter and tapped on the Facebook icon. He found a page called "Anti Roman Reigns" and saw pictures of Dean and him out and about. Most of them were intimate with Dean kissing him, his hands on Roman's waist. Some of it were him whispering in his ears.

Roman felt his face turning red. "Gosh, Randy. What you must think of me." He felt like he had to explain more. "Dean's an affectionately physical person and-"

"Hey man. That's your boyfriend. You guys are just romancing like how other couples do. There's nothing wrong with that." His boss patted him. "I won't stand for customers coming in here giving you a hard time."

"T-thank you."

When their orders were ready, Roman served them. As he turned around, he tripped over one of their foot and fell on the floor. The whole table laughed. What was this? He quickly got up on his feet.

"Hey!" Randy yelled to the group, his face red. "I saw that! Get the fuck out!"

"We paid money, man!" brunette said.

"Not yet you haven't!"

"You'll see this on our Facebook!" one of them, a blond, threatened.

Randy smirked. "I'm quivering over a bunch of smarks. Come anywhere near here and I'll have my men come after you."

The five of them couldn't have disappeared fast enough. Roman helped to clear the order from the table, wondering how to handle the situation. It was clear that Dean had underestimated his fans; they could be a violent lot.

His boss patted his back. "You want to take some time off and rest for a bit?"

"No, it's okay," Roman replied.

"I think you ought to. We won't be busy till lunch time. Maybe go down to the rehab for a bit and see Dean. You have to tell him, Roman."

So Roman took his advice.

Dean looked happy to see him. "This is a surprise," his boyfriend grinned. "Guess I'm not the only one who can't stay away-"

"Dean, we need to talk."

His boyfriend gulped. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"What?" Roman was perplexed. "No. Where did you get such an idea?"

"Well, usually, when people start a conversation like that, you know it means the end of a relationship."

"Well, it is about our relationship so…"

"Fuck."

In the privacy of his boyfriend's room, Roman paced in front of Dean who was staring at him. "Dean, there are more pictures of us now."

"Were we naked in any of these?" his boyfriend wanted to know.

"Dean! Be serious!"

"I am being serious."

"No but-"

"So what's the problem?"

"I'm being harassed, that's the problem."

Dean's face changed; he seemed angry now. "What? Who?"

"Some customers at Javawocky. I got tripped. I'm fine. Randy threw them out."

"Fuck, Roman. I'm sorry. None of the guys I dated got bullied like that-"

"They were all rock stars. Even Cesaro is a top executive."

His boyfriend hugged him. "I'll get Brock to follow you-"

"No, Dean. It'd be too obvious."

"Roman, you just got tripped. Am I supposed to wait for you to get beaten up by fans next?"

"Maybe we should lay low in public…"

"That's fine and all but what about when you're out alone?"

"It could be a one time thing."

"If you insist. But if I hear of one more incident-"

"I understand."

Dean told him to lie down before removing his shoes and socks. Then he slowly massaged his ankles and feet. Roman was moved by his loving gesture.

They had a hard time breaking their kissing before Roman had to leave reluctantly.

He took a taxi back to work and finished off the rest of his shift. After clocking out, he sent a text to Manu to see him at home first. His friend insisted to meeting him at the mall a few blocks away from Javawocky so Roman agreed.

He walked out for a bit to head to the nearest drugstore when someone shoved him against the brickwall of the building before something hard hit his head. Roman held it and saw the group of five men staring down at him.

"Whore!" one of them screeched.

"Stay away from him! He belongs to us!" the brunette yelled.

What the-

"Hey!"

The five men scurried when they saw Brock walking towards them. Dean must have called him despite telling Roman otherwise. "Brock?"

"Roman, you're bleeding!" the bodyguard said. "Let's get you to a hospital."

He touched the side of his forehead. "What? Brock, there's no need-"

"No arguments."

"I'm supposed to meet my friend-"

"Ask him to meet you at the ER. We're not taking any more risks."

Dean rushed to the ER where he found Manu talking to Roman who was sitting down on the bench. "Roman!" he said.

His boyfriend looked surprised. "Dean!" he replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Brock called me-"

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. Damn it. I had no idea that you'd be hurt like this!"

"It'd probably be worse if Brock hadn't been there on time."

"This is all my fault!"

"Dean, this isn't your fault. This is something out of your control."

Dean sat beside him and pressed a kiss to his bandaged spot. Roman's face turned red. "Sorry," the auburn haired rock star apologised. "Couldn't resist."

"You asked Brock to look out for me."

"I had to. I love you, Roman. I'm not about to let some fans rough you up."

"So what do we do now?"

"We'll discuss it at home."

"Home? What about rehab?"

"I told Foley I'll be back tomorrow."

"Dean-"

"No, Roman. You're my priority."

His boyfriend kept quiet. Dean held his hand while they waited. Manu sat on the other side while Brock stood at the corner, his eyes surveilling the place. His mind was in a frenzy; how did things escalate so badly?

It was a good thing he went with his instinct on recruiting Brock despite what he had agreed to earlier.

The doctor came and updated them on Roman's condition. It wasn't anything serious but he was to come back again if he felt disoriented, dizzy or weak even though scans showed that he was perfectly fine.

They went separate ways from Brock who promised to be at their home by nine the next morning.

In the comfort of their house, Dean insisted Roman relaxed while he called for some Thai takeout for the three of them. As he boiled water, he felt anger towards his supposed fans. Why would they hurt someone who made him a very happy man?

He had to work out a plan to protect Roman from more harm.

But what?

A/N Thank you for your kind reviews… Can't believe Christmas is around the corner!