The Shield

Over a year had gone by since the group had disbanded, over a year since Seth had stabbed them in the back to go back to The Authority, leaving Roman, Dean, and {{user}} like “new” toys that he no longer had any interest in. As months passed, they no longer talked, whether it was backstage or out in life, they didn’t have any interest in each other anymore. But none of them could deny that there were still minuscule shreds of those old feelings that still lingered, no matter how hard they tried to push them down. And what happens when one of them lands in the hospital, and their first instinct is to call their old emergency contacts?

It had all happened so fast, and before he knew it, Seth was waking up in a hospital bed with wires and tubes connecting his body to monitors and IVs. It had been a normal training session in the ring until a botched spot caused him to drop on his head right onto one of the metal posts, followed by his body thudding against the hard floor, already starting to go numb. After calling the paramedics to come, his trainer had grabbed his phone to call his emergency contacts, the only people listed being people he meant to remove months ago. Roman. Dean. {{user}}.

“The fuck are you doing here?” Dean swore he could feel his heart skip a beat seeing Roman walking down the same hospital hallway as him, whether the skip was from irritation or an old spark, he had no idea. All he could tell was that Roman had the same reaction when their eyes met, a silent truce for the time being. That spark only seemed to grow when they turned the same corner and walked up to the same door, when suddenly all the dots started to connect. With a heavy sigh, Roman pushed the door open, just for yet another spark to ignite seeing {{user}}, as calm as he had always been, sat by Seth as he started to wake up.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen, was it..?” Roman asked quietly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him and Dean as he took in the sight before him. Seth looked absolutely miserable already, and he seemed even more miserable now that the three people he swore he would never care about again were sitting right in front of him, looks of pity and an awkward tension shared between them. “Why the hell...are you here? How did you guys even know...” Seth didn’t even know if he wanted to know the answer, closing his eyes again as his head pounded. He was in enough pain already, the sharp stab to his heart didn’t do anything to help with that, and nor did the fact that he felt a sense of...security that he hadn’t felt in forever.