It was the night of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and only few hours were left before the big start. Superstars and Divas were leaving the hotel and getting into the Target Center in Minneapolis where the show was scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET but, as always, there was a pre-show, this time it was The Brotherhood against Rybaxel. It was definitely not the match that everybody was looking forward to. There were other matches that were supposed to be great and fulfill everybody's high expectations, like certain two matches both of which had six participants.
Before they left for the huge show, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns sat down on the leather sofa in the hotel lobby to wait for their crazy Shield co-member who was always late. They started talking about the upcoming match with the Wyatt Family to avoid getting bored by waiting, which could easily take more than ten minutes. They probably should have just knocked on Dean's door to make him leave the room already, but they didn't realize that it was the best way to get him out of the hotel room until they came down to the lobby, and then they were just too lazy to go up again and then all the way to Dean's room to get to him. So instead they just kept waiting and waiting.
Other superstars were walking by on their way to the place where the Elimination Chamber was taking place. Some seemed to be relaxed; others listened to music in order to loosen up. Seth and Roman were calm enough; they were actually feeling really enthusiastic about their match and the whole show. With the turbulences inside the Shield, and the uncertainty of how much longer they'd last as a team, they tried to enjoy it as much as they could.
When they saw their WWE colleagues, they said hey to them or did some small talk if anything at all. They were spending with them most of their time so there wasn't much to talk about. It all changed when Renee Young made her way across the hall, and being accompanied by a fellow Canadian, Christian, she approached the hotel exit before being stopped by Seth calling her name. Noticing her trying to avoid him, he lifted himself up from the comfortable sofa and headed toward Renee.
"Can I have a word with you, Renee?" he asked her politely.
Christian didn't care much, he simply continued walking outside, leaving the two of them alone.
Renee sighed when she realized there was no way out of the inevitable conversation which would sooner or later happen anyway. She was naïve to believe that Seth would forget about what she told him earlier that week.
"Alright," she said unwillingly.
Then she followed Seth who moved closer to the hallway to get distance from Roman. He understood that Roman was not supposed to know about Renee's feelings for their mate. When he stopped walking, thinking that he found the ideal spot for their chat, he turned to Renee and looked into her unhappy eyes. He was well aware of the fact that Renee preferred if the upcoming conversation never happened, but he couldn't let it go. He cared for both Renee and Dean so he wanted to know what was going on between them.
"No more escaping," he advised her.
"But we need to get to the arena," she tried to get a rid of him. Unsuccessfully.
"We've got enough time," he opposed. "Moreover, I couldn't focus if I didn't know what's happening with you two. Do you want me to ruin the match because of thinking about your secrets?" he tried to make her feel guilty for not wanting to tell him.
"Well, no," she started. "But we both know that my secrets will be the last think you'll be thinking about when you'll be facing Bray Wyatt. And," she continued. "It's just one secret," she corrected him, while looking around to make sure that nobody was close enough to hear them. "And it's not even a secret anymore, since you know it." She turned her offence mode on, but two could play that game.
"So does Dean know?" he asked mockingly. "Can I talk to him about you having feelings for him?"
"No!" she shouted. A little too loud, she realized immediately. She lowered her voice and continued, "You know I cannot tell him."
"Why not?" He sincerely did not understand. Seth gently looked at her and tried to make her see the right direction which she should take. "What's the point of torturing yourself with keeping it to yourself only and hoping something would happen on his own initiative?"
"See, that's the thing. I don't want anything to happen. I don't want things to change between us. We're friends. That's the way it should be," she kept explaining, but she herself wasn't convinced by her words, so neither could be Seth.
"Renee, are you listening to yourself?" He chuckled. "That's the way it should be?" he repeated her own sentence. "Why? Who sets the rules? Just look around," he said, and pointed his arm to the direction where he hoped to see other wrestlers but at the moment there was nobody, so he just put his arm down again, lifted his eyebrows in disbelief, but let it go to continue. "I mean, there are plenty of Superstars and Divas having off-screen relationship and it works for them. It's even convenient because they can spend more time together and they do the same job as their partner so they can understand each other."
"But I'm not a Diva," she countered, looking down at the floor. "I don't wrestle, I'm a TV broadcaster. I don't have the same job as him, so there's only time advantage left which is more of a disadvantage, when you really think about it, since it can get annoying spending so much time with your lover," she said, acted as if she was only looking for reasons why her relationship with Dean should not happen.
"Renee, Renee . . ." Seth kept calling her name since she wouldn't listen to him. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Firstly, you are a Diva. You're as good as any wrestler, and you know as much about wrestling as any professional, don't underestimate yourself. And secondly, you know you want it, so stop looking for excuses and tell him how you feel," he told her.
At the exact same moment, Dean walked out of the corridor behind the corner that they were standing at and before Renee could see him, he placed his hand on her back what totally freaked her out since Seth didn't give her any signal that Dean was suddenly standing behind her.
Seth went quiet as Renee turned around to see Dean's happy face, which was in opposition to Seth and Renee's scared blank faces. They were sure he heard them.
"Yeah, I agree with Seth, you should tell him," Dean gladly contributed with his opinion to what was now a dead conversation. But as soon as he looked at Renee, his smile disappeared. "Renee, are you ok?" he asked when he saw how pale she was. He took her hand and placed his fingers on the vein on her forearm, close to her wrist, to feel her heartbeat which was really fast. He supposed he scared her, which he did, just in a way he wouldn't understand. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to frighten you." He caressed her blonde hair and smiled at her to make it up to her.
Renee was still speechless so Seth took the initiative and tried to save her. "Next time whistle before touching somebody who doesn't see you," Seth advised him.
That made Dean think of Luke Harper whistling in The Wyatt Family promo, and that idea didn't convince him them whistling was a way to go. It could be pretty spooky as well. It definitely wasn't something that would calm one down.
"Ok, we should really go now," Seth continued after he looked at the time. "What took you so long anyway?" he changed the topic and started walking towards Roman to leave Renee alone. She wasn't in mood to handle Dean's asking her questions.
"Oh, I was on the phone," he replied.
Before Seth could ask follow-up question, they reached Roman, who stood up when he saw them approaching him. He put his headphones down and smiled at them, forgetting to be mad at them for taking their time.
"Hey, guys, I was browsing the music on my phone and you wouldn't believe what I found. Check this out!" he told them, looking all enthusiastic.
He pressed play and the song "Who Let the Dogs out?" started to play. Seth and Dean burst into laughing hearing the song they haven't heard in years. But it was appropriate. The Hounds of Justice were about to be unleashed and ready to tear their opponents apart.