A/N: Mostly fluff in this chapter from Seth's part. That is all. Warnings are the same: Mature language, yadda yadda. DISCLAIMER: I do not own any wrestling personality you may recognize in this story and for any mistakes and misconceptions about D.I.D, I apologize since I am not in any way, nor do I ever want to be, a professional psychologist.
Seth was on his back on his side of the bed, trying to sleep. But how could he when his lover wasn't there with him? His body was screaming at him to get some sleep but his mind was running a mile a minute about what just transpired between him and Moxley. The violent man told him that Dean was in danger of 'dying' and it was all Seth's fault. It was his fault because he was in too much of a hurry to rid Dean- or Jonathan- from this disorder that he neglected to think of the possibility that maybe they didn't want to get better.
No, that couldn't be. No one would want this disorder. Seth laid down on his side, facing Moxley's back. The skin was littered with a few scars here and there; some were from Dean's Chicago Street fight with Luke Harper. Others were ones that Seth didn't know the origin of, probably from their time in CZW or whatever indie wrestling company. He cautiously traced a finger on the scar that ran down from just below Moxley's shoulder.
Seth stopped when he felt the older man tense up. Moxley mumbled something inaudible before turning to face Seth, his eyes still closed in slumber. 'It's not Dean but it's close enough." The two-toned man thought to himself, brushing Moxley's bangs away from his face. But Dean wasn't as messy as Mox when it came to sleeping. The latter kept moving his hands or his legs, mumbling something under his breath as he slept. The champion desperately tried to sleep until he eventually did around 2 AM.
"Tyler? Tyler! Hey!"
Seth woke up to Mox's constant calling and taps on his ass. He grumbled and pushed his face off the pillow before saying, "What?"
"Your boss called," The other man informed, holding up Seth's phone. "Asking about me…er, Dean."
Seth sat up slowly on the bed, his chest and stomach aching from sleeping on his stomach all night. He rubbed his face with both hands to somehow fully wake himself up. "Did you answer the phone?" Seth noticed his bags were in the room and he looked up at Mox with a confused look.
"Nah, I just let it go to voicemail. He told you to call him back. Oh, and I got your bags for you. Figured you were gonna stay over for the night." He handed the phone back to the half-blonde, who immediately dialed Hunter's number and pressed the phone against his ear.
"Hello?" Hunter's voice greeted from the other end of the call.
"Hunter, it's Seth," Seth scratched the back of his head to try to think of how to tell the COO about the…situation. "Sorry if I couldn't answer earlier."
"It's fine. Where are you staying? Your hotel room was empty when Jamie checked in on you."
"Yeah, about that. I had to keep an eye on Dean."
"Where is Ambrose, anyway? Roman said he was with you when you left yesterday."
"Yeah, I'm in his room right now. Hunter, we have a situation. Dean switched last night and I don't know when he'll switch back."
"Can't he just come to work? No one will know the difference."
Seth mentally cursed at the Cerebral Assassin. "No, Hunter. You don't know how his alter fights. I can't give you the details but just look up his indie records and look for videos. I just don't think he should take Dean's place."
He heard his boss sigh from the other end. "Okay, one week. But that doesn't include you, Rollins. You still have interviews to go to."
"I know. Thanks, Hunter."
"No problem. Take care of the lunatic. He may be crazy but the fans just love him for some reason."
And with that, the COO hung up. Seth set his phone on the nightstand next to the bed.
"So, what did he say?" Moxley asked curiously. He changed into a new pair of basketball shorts and a white wifebeater and Seth found it hard to talk all of a sudden.
"One week. But I can't keep an eye on you all day. I have interviews to attend." Seth rolled off the bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Mox just sat there on the bed, thinking about what he should do to keep himself occupied once the younger man leaves.
"Hey, Dean."
"What?" The annoyance in the alter's voice put a smile on Moxley's face. Piss off Dean before breakfast? Check.
"Do you really go to a lot of boring interviews and photoshoots?"
"'Course I do. I don't usually accept photoshoot offers, though."
"How do you deal, man?"
"I just usually ramble on and on about random stuff when they ask me questions and hope that they'll be so confused that they'll take the hint and not ask me anymore."
"Man, it was better back in the indies. Promos weren't scripted and no interviews to go to all that much."
Dean scoffed. "Yeah well, welcome to my life. How's Seth? He's not being a douchebag, right?"
"Nah, he's cool. He's adorable when he wakes up, though. I would have fucked him the second he did if it wasn't for that drool on his cheek."
"Yeah, he drools in his sleep a lot. But at least you didn't have to deal with him sleepwalking."
"He sleepwalks?"
"Yeah, pretty much when he's stressed out. One time, I woke up with him pissing in the closet. The hotel staff wasn't too happy about that."
"Mox?" Jon turned his head to see Seth dressed in a Glamour Kills shirt, those ungodly tight pants, sneakers and a baseball cap and those really nerdy hipster glasses he likes. "I'm gonna be back around noon, okay? Don't mess the room up, order room service if you want as long as it isn't too expensive-"
"You sound like a mother," Mox drawled out, sitting up on the bed. "I'll be fine. What you should be concerned about is whether or not you'll pass out sometime later. Those pants look like they're cutting off your blood circulation."
Seth stuck his tongue out childishly before retrieving his phone. "I don't know. I like to give the fans something to look at while I'm out on the street."
Mox whistled shamelessly when Seth walked to the front of the bed and bent down to pick up a pillow that fell off the bed the night before. "Yeah, well it's a great tactic."
"I know it is," Seth looked at his wristwatch and swore loudly at the time. He needed to get to the radio station for his interview in five minutes He grabbed his jacket and his keys. "I gotta go. And for the love of everything holy, stay outta trouble."
"I'm not making any promises!" Jon yelled as Tyler went out the door. He slid off the bed and looked around the hotel room, trying to find something to keep himself occupied. He spotted Seth's laptop carrier on the sofa not too far away from where he was standing. He walked over, zipped open the bag and pulled out the device along with its charger. He set both items on the table and marveled at the laptop for a minute.
"Figured he'd be into Razer stuff." He muttered. The sleek Razer Blade Pro was impressive and Mox smiled at the memory that Dean had given it to Seth for his 28th birthday. He opened the laptop, making a lucky guess about the password, (which was, of course, DeanAmbrose1207.) and checked the games and software and programs the laptop had. Turns out Tyler was into making videos, what with all the video-editing software he had. And it wasn't just regular stuff. Of course he had Sony Vegas Pro and that Adobe video-editing stuff, as well as a few screen capture programs.
"Mox, what are you doing?" Dean questioned and Mox could picture him tapping his foot as he crossed his arms.
"I'm bored. And he didn't say anything about not touching this fucking Razer Blade you got him." Jon browsed through the documents section, looking through folders. Some were boring like typed documents, old vacation photos and letters to people. But the others were interesting.
"I didn't know he kept copies of his Cyberfights matches on his laptop." He muttered, clicking on the file folder. He watched every video, each one more teasing than the last and each article of clothing Tyler wore became smaller with each episode.
"Okay, Jon, that's enough. I don't even understand why you would watch this. You've already seen him naked so what's the point?"
"Don't be such a pussy, Dean. Lemme have a little fun during my freedom," He exited the folder and looked for another interesting file, stumbling across one named "For Dean 2015". "What's this?"
"I don't know. Click it." Dean's anticipation to see what's inside the file was imminent in his voice.
The violent alter chuckled at Ambrose's excitement. "Wait, aren't you the one telling me that I shouldn't poke around your boyfriend's laptop?"
"This is different," Dean explained. "It doesn't look R-rated to me."
"It might be. We'll just have to check it out." And with that, Jon clicked the file folder and there was only one video in it. It was titled "No one…" and nothing else. It didn't seem to be anything too explicit but, then again, it's the title that made it seem so innocent. So he clicked on the video and it opened on the Media Player.
It was a black screen for two seconds before Tyler came into view, too close to the camera as if he was still adjusting it. But he moved back and sat on a couch. He wore nothing but a pair of jeans, which looked similar to the pair he slept in last night. The background was illuminated by a bathroom light.
He cleared his throat and finally spoke, his eyes in contact with the camera, "No one can make me truly happy. No one, not even my friends, my family. No one ever made me feel truly happy."
He appeared miserable as he dropped his gaze to the floor. He rubbed his hands together for a good five seconds before looking back to the camera, a big smile on his pretty face.
"Except you, Dean. I know you hate drama and I'm sorry if this would make you barf up your lunch because of how fucking cheesy it is but it's true," A slide show started to play while he spoke, he and Dean were the usual people in the photos. "I couldn't think of a single day when you didn't make me smile because of how fucking hyper you are. I lost count of how many days you made me feel alright when I was going through tough shit. Remember when I was feeling bad because I thought being a bisexual was a bad thing? Yeah, you remember. You told me that there was nothing wrong with that and that as long as you love me, other people's opinions shouldn't mean anything."
"Dean, are you seeing this?" Jon asked, his eyes transfixed on the show in front of him.
Dean muttered a "Yeah, I see it" before going quiet again.
Tyler kept talking in the video. "How do make it look so easy? I just…ugh! I can't keep up with you, Ambrose, but that doesn't mean I won't try. You're just so worth it." His expression turned to one of shame and guilt. "I'm sorry if I haven't been the same lately. I'm sorry if I seem easily irritable but I'm just under a lot of pressure. I'm sorry for what-" He wiped at his eyes, even though there were no visible tears. "For what I've done. I know it's because you think I hate you for living with a condition you didn't ask for but Dean, it's not. I love you, no matter what. No matter what's going on in that wonderfully hyperactive brain of yours, I will always love you. You could have an eating disorder, borderline personality disorder, heck, even schizophrenia. I'll still fall in love with you all over again."
"I'm sorry for the mess I made and I know it's my fault that we almost lost you. Dean, I love you. I'm really sorry. But babe, sometimes it's just hard to see you when you're not yourself. It's hard for me to see you get in trouble for something you never intend to do. And it hurts me to know that it's affecting your job. I just want what's best for you."
The Armenian released a shaky sigh and his brown eyes were focusing on everything except the camera but it was clear that he was on the verge of tears. "I love you, no matter what. Believe in that." Then he stood up again and the video ended.
Jon leaned back against the red couch of the hotel, feeling as if he just trespassed on someone's territory. He had a feeling that Dean was supposed to see this when they switched back. When did Tyler record this? He checked the properties of the video and saw that it was made and edited last night, just after 4:20 AM. He must have woken up and decided to make an apology video.
"Woah," Jon muttered, closing the video player. "Dean…"
"Yeah, I know." The alter answered, his voice low.
"Do you wanna switch back now? I mean, I can't be a replacement for you, y'know. We may look alike but he wants you."
"I hate it when you get all preachy on my ass. I'm supposed to be the rational one around here."
"Well, you're still in isolation so one of us has to take that title for a while. How's Jonathan?"
"He's doing good." Dean sounded amused and like he was about to burst out laughing.
Moxley's navy eyes squinted. "Did you just-"
"Ha! See what I did there?"
"Yeah, sure. Make fun of our core who already has self-issues. I swear, sometimes you turn into a jack-ass when you're in there for too long."
"Is that the reason why you're a jackass most of the time?"
"Shut up, you sarcastic fuck."
After a few hours of watching porn and youtube videos, Mox fell asleep with the laptop safely put back on the table. His head rested on the arm of the sofa and his feet dangled by the back of his knees on the opposite end.
Seth arrived a little later than he promised but he was exhausted and he couldn't care less. He threw the jacket onto the floor and spied Jon on the couch, still asleep. He saw his laptop out of the case but he didn't attempt to fight with the blonde for poking around his computer.
He went to the bathroom to change into nothing more than a pair of grey sweatpants. He went out of the bathroom to check back on the blonde. Jon was still lying down on the sofa but his was wide awake this time, just staring up at the ceiling and running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair.
"When did you get back?" The violent man asked, gesturing for Seth to come closer.
Seth approached him, tying his bi-colored hair back into a bun. "Just now, actually. What were you doing with my laptop?"
Moxley shrugged his shoulders as Seth sat down on the floor. "I got bored so I played a few games. By the way, I think your laptop has a virus or something."
"You installed something, didn't you?"
"Maybe. But whatever." Mox bit his lip as he thought about what to say next. "I watched the video you made last night."
The Armenian visibly stiffened at the mention of the video. He wanted to scream, get furious at Jon for messing with his files. But he couldn't really blame him and deep down, he wanted the blonde to find it, knowing that Dean was probably going to see it as well.
Seth rested his elbows on his knees and let out a deep sigh. "Did….Did Dean see it?"
Jon nodded, letting his arm dangle from the edge of the couch to give Seth a comforting pat on the head. "Yeah, he loved it. But he's not ready to come back yet."
Seth brought his knees up closer to his chest and sighed in resignation. "Did you eat yet?"
"Yeah, a few hours ago. Ordered a pizza. There's still some in the fridge if you want." Jon answered, his fingers twirling mixed-colors locks of Seth's hair as he stared up at the ceiling again.
Seth declined the offer and looked at the man on the couch, then to his laptop. An idea popped into his mind. "Mox?"
"Hm?"
"Can you like…bring out your alters at will?" Seth had to tread this road carefully. He didn't want to have to come to work with a black eye or a limp tomorrow. He took out his phone and checked for any messages before setting it to video.
Jon was perplexed by the question. "Yeah, why?"
"How?"
Jon sat up on the couch and glared daggers at Seth as he answered, "We meditate and learned what triggers brings each of us out. It sounds weird and a lot of people will tell you that people with D.I.D can't do it, that their alters aren't aware of each other. What's with the sudden interest?"
Seth chewed on his bottom lip. "I asked Dean yesterday if he wanted to see a psychologist and-"
"You what?!" Jon demanded, standing abruptly and causing the younger man to flinch. "So that's why Dean was so 'easily' broken: You gave him the hint that you wanted to get rid of us!"
"I was doing it for his own good," Seth replied, standing up from the floor as well. He almost regretted doing so because now he was looking right into Mox's dark navy blue eyes, which were filled with a weird mix of burning hatred and child-like fear.
"I was just thinking of his career."
"If, by some miracle, you get us to a fucking psychologist," Jon gripped Tyler's shirt collar and pinned him against the wall separating the kitchen from the living room. "And we somehow get all fixed, what makes you think that Dean is the one that's going to stay? If anything, Jonathan is going to stay. And even then, he won't be able to wrestle anymore. So what makes you think that Dean is going to stay with you, when you know for a fact that he existed because of abuse?"
Seth never thought of it that way. He always assumed that whoever is going to stay is going to possess some aspect of his alters' beliefs or mannerisms. But no, one is going to stay and the others will be as good as dead. And it scared Seth to think that maybe, "helping" Dean would mean killing him. Maybe that's the reason why Dean didn't want to get help. He knows that he isn't the original persona, he knows he's going to fade once they get help.
Moxley couldn't control the words coming out of his mouth. He was so furious at Tyler for all he did to Ambrose that he had to say what was on his mind. "Is that how you repay that person who loves you, Tyler? Is that it? Do you want Dean to die?!"
"No!" Seth cried out, the thought of losing Dean was too much to bear. "That's not what I wanted! That's never what I want! I just want what's best for him!"
Jon sneered at him. "You think killing him is what's best? You think killing US is what's best?!"
"Jon, stop!" Dean pleaded in the back of Moxley's mind. He had been watching the scene unfold from their subconscious and it was getting out of hand. He needed to get back.
But Jon ignored his alter's request. "If Dean had died last night, would you have been happy knowing that your lover suffered because of you?! You're fucking-"
Jon's sudden pause caused Seth to worry. He cupped the blonde man's cheek and tried to see if he was hurt.
[Dean's/Mox's subconscious] (This is gonna sound a bit fantasy-like)
"What do you think you're doing, Moxley?!" Dean lunged at his alternate self as soon as he pulled him from the conscious world. "How can you fucking say that?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for trying to defend my alters!"
"But doing it like this? Jon, Seth doesn't need any more guilt! Didn't you ever stop to think that maybe he felt guilty because he made me go into isolation? Dammit, I'm trying to keep him from getting any mental disorder! He doesn't need to go through what we go through!"
Jon pushed at the WWE superstar, Dean almost colliding with Jonathan. "Oh, boo hoo! Because your pretty princess is too precious for this world, right?"
Jonathan watched as his protectors bickered but he didn't do or say anything to stop it. He knew what was going to happen next and he waited for it. He needed his turn to talk to Seth.
[Conscious world]
Rollins held on to Mox (Dean? Mox?) when he almost fell back. He had this glassy look in his eyes again and his mouth hung open in mid-sentence and his fingers and wrists occasionally twitched. Seth wanted to move them both back to the couch but he held on, trying to see if the troubled man was switching.
Seth noticed the familiar twitching on the man's neck, which he associated with them switching, and a small groan. The blonde raised his head and those striking sky blues were looking around the room confused. After a few minutes of silence, Jonathan finally spoke.
"Seth, I think we need to talk."
A/N: I do not know how D.I.D works and what happens to an individual's alters once successfully cured so please excuse my blatant lack of knowledge. But I am researching as much as I can and asking a few psychologists about this disorder. But…cliffhanger! See you in the next chapter and hopefully, Jonathan and Seth will get along.