ONE YEAR LATER

"This is why I don't like Randy Orton." He spoke with bile-tasting disdain dripping from each word. "He's had his eye on Seth. I always sensed it, so I did everything I could to keep Seth from him." His hands clenched into an even tighter pair of fists. "And here he goes and hypnotizes Seth into this bullshit!" The table shook to the force of heavy hands striking its surface.

The blonde looked over from the kitchen at the mess of askew cutlery and now spilled coffee and juice laying atop the small table. He sighed heavily, turning off the running tap as he did, and forgoing washing the dishes to assist with clearing the table.

"Ever since I met him, I've always done things his way. No matter how ridiculous or selfish his demands, I never said no. I gave him what he asked for without any argument." He looked to the blonde stood across the table, "So why can't he just do as I ask this one time? Why does he have to be so fucking stubborn?"

"Well, you know what they say." The blonde replied as he stretched across the table with a few sheets of paper towel attached to his hand. "Like father like son."

"He's my brother." He snarled, before sighing loudly – head hanging low in defeat. "Why can't he just understand that I've only got his best interests at heart?"

"He says he's got my best interests at heart, but he's just so blinded by his hatred of you that he won't allow himself to admit when he's wrong!" His brows furrowed in intense fury. "I'm an adult now, so he should respect my decision and stop being so stubborn!"

"Well you know what they say. Two peas in a pod." The brunette drank back a swig of his coffee. "And to add, you're only eighteen."

"Well, I'm legal!" He snapped viciously, before wolfing down another forkful of pancake. "N'sides, iz not like iz 'atters to you!"

"You…don't talk with your mouth full." The brunette sighed heavily, "This is why you're still a brat."

He quickly drank down a heavy helping of sweet coffee, before slamming the red mug against the wood table. "If I'm such a brat, then that must make you some kind of pervert, old man!"

"And now you're calling me names. Like a brat." The younger man set up to respond with all the ire currently expressed on his face, however the brunette stepped in with the remainder of his sentence. "Anyways, it's not such a bad thing living on campus." He smirked wickedly, "You might meet someone who you like more than me. Maybe a nice girl you can marry and have kids with."

The younger man felt his jaw reconfigure to fit the words that stood on the bumps of his tongue. However, in that same moment, his mindset lost its footing on a more pertinent issue, and so threw aside the childish anger for adult levelheadedness. "Why would you say that? You sound just like him." He looked to the older man with saddened eyes, "I don't want someone else. I want you. I'll only always want you. Why won't anyone believe me?"

The older man heaved a low breath as he raked back the short bristles of hair atop his head. "It's not like I don't believe you, it's just…" He sighed loudly as his eyes set to the tear-stricken eyes of the man sat ahead of him. "When I was married, I knew that she was the person I would be spending the rest of my life with. Then, we divorced, and after three years of being married, I have nothing to show for it." He put his arm across the table, and grabbed hold of younger man's hand – squeezing tightly once he fully grasped it. "I love you. I know that. I also know that you're the last person I will ever love, because I know that if you do leave me, there'll be nothing left for me to give to someone else. I know all this and it fucking scares me." His fingers tightened their hold on the young man's hand. "You've only ever known Roman and been in that kind of brotherly relationship. You don't know what love really is, what it does, and how much it hurts once it's gone. But I do." His jaw clenched as he forced back the overflowing emotion threatening to overwhelm him. "That's why I'll keep telling you what reality is so that you don't ever have to go through the kind of hell that I've lived."

To the painted words, the younger man took a moment to look at the hand that trapped his own. Veins that were buried deep in his own skin were conversely on full display beneath the thin layer of skin coating the older man's large hand. His touch sensors felt the roughness of the older man's palm and fingertips, as it grated across his own soft flesh. Just in their hands alone, one of their many differences showed in all its bright colors. Age was like a roaring river descending from the mountains towards the sea. It was an unstoppable force of destruction that could never be bridged, and in its watery churns, it carried the muddy contents of experiences that he had yet to live or know. To add, the love that they had proclaimed to each other many times over was never something of a similar nature. His love was the kind that allows people to see stars and roses and is filled with those sun-shiny days that others sing about. On the contrary, the man he loved held a very different feeling. For the older man, love wasn't something people could promise to have for another. People could say it because it summarized all they liked about each other, and what they tolerated about each other, but it could never have any deeper meaning. Love, for the older man, was just a word that stemmed from a feeling. And feelings change given time and circumstance.

"I know you're trying to protect me by keeping a safe distance between us, but I love you Randy." He spoke with his eyes still sitting on the older man's hand. "But" He paused with a clenched jaw, "if you want me to leave, I will."

"I don't want you to leave, Seth!" The brunette shouted, as he gripped the younger man's hand tighter, "Didn't you hear a word I just said? I want you—"

"So you don't want me to leave?" Seth asked with his eyes set focused on Randy's lightly panicked expression.

Perplexed by Seth's deadpan question, Randy put on hold his need to think, instead choosing his desire to act. "Yes." He spoke bluntly, "I don't want you to leave me, Seth."

"Then I won't." He heaved a heavy breath, "I'll stay with you and keep showing you how much I love you." He smiled tenderly at the older man, "I can promise you that."

Randy coughed up a quick smile as he hung his head for a moment. "You sounded like an adult just now."

"I have my moments." He replied cheekily.

Randy looked back at the younger man with a charmed expression on his face. "If you intend to keep that kind of promise, then I guess I have no choice but to live with you."

Instantly, Seth's face lit up with a bright smile, "Really?" Randy nodded in reply. The younger man quickly pushed up from his chair and leaned over the table – knocking some of the items on the way – and planted a long kiss on Randy's lips. The kiss broke a short time after, as Seth pulled back and sat back down in his chair. "Thank you."

"You should thank me in bed, but" He grinned deviously, "you're still a brat."

"I'll make you regret that, old man." Seth snapped back brazenly, before his tone took a downturn. "If I could just get Ro to accept us."

"He will."

Seth looked up at the older man, "How are you so sure?"

"Because he's your brother." Randy smiled tenderly at him, "I just know he will."

"He must think because I'm his brother, and because I have a soft spot for him, and because I love him so damn much, I'll just accept his and Randy's relationship and condone them living together in the city." His eyes narrowed to the vast open landscape beyond the confines of his balcony. "He's still just a kid. He doesn't know anything about love, and relationships. College is the time in his life when he would be experiencing those things, finding out who he really is, and then meeting somebody to share the rest of his life with." His brows furrowed once more, "Randy's got him all backwards."

"You know Randy would never hurt him, Roman." The blonde spoke from the older man's left side.

"I know. I know." He conceded before sighing as his gaze slipped to the ground directly beneath the suspended balcony. "It's not like I'm worried about Randy hurting Seth on purpose. It's just that Seth doesn't know little things like underlining tones, or words beneath words, or even actions behind other actions. He doesn't get intricacies and that could cause him to misunderstand something Randy might say or do. And then he would be hurt by it, and being in the city so far from home, he might not be able to recover." His hands tightened over the railing. "Randy's been down that road before. He's been married, and divorced. He's lived that part of life, so he knows all the ins and outs, so on the other hand, Seth could tread waters that he shouldn't be treading and cause Randy to leave him. And then he would be hurt by it, and he'd most likely break down, and being so far from home…" He trailed to a halt.

"You're worried they'll end up like us nine years ago?"

Reigns looked to his left before sighing heavily and looking ahead, "Yeah." He admitted, "We didn't understand nor think about the details. We didn't even consider the rules, and that cost us. That cost us a lot."

"That's true." The blonde agreed with his attention on the greater distance. "But, it's like you said Roman. Randy has experience. We never had experience." He looked to the older man, "Thinking about it now, you're actually my first love." Roman looked back with a gaping shock settled on his face. The younger man chuckled lightly to the reaction. "Back then, we were kids, Roman. You were looking for someone you could protect, and I was looking to be protected. We never communicated anything else past that point, took what we thought was love at face value, and we lost a lot of years because of it." He smiled thinly at the older man, "Seth actually has a better start than we ever did. He's got someone in his life who knows what love really is, and who's willing to share that knowledge for the betterment of their relationship." With an outstretched arm, he gently petted Roman's shoulder. "There'll probably be days when those two argue, and fight. And Seth might run back here every now and again to vent. However, I know Randy will do whatever it takes to make it right, and win Seth back."

Roman took a moment's pause, before looking at the man gazing at him with a light smile. "How can you be so sure of that?"

"Because as far as you're willing to go for me, he's willing to go even further for Seth." He smiled brightly –exposing the dimples embedded in the sides of his face. "And when it comes to a last chance at love, there's nothing a person won't do to make it last." Roman looked on with deep-rooted understanding. "You and I are proof of that."

The older man sighed weakly, before bringing to light a large smile. His arm instantly lifted and wrapped around the blonde's shoulder – bringing the man close enough to plant a light kiss in the mass of curly blonde hair sat atop his head.

"I'll talk to him when he gets back." He spoke with eyes gazing down at the younger man, "Thank you Dean, for listening, and for the advice." His voice lowered slightly, "I love you."

"Me too." Dean smiled as he placed a light kiss of his own on Roman's lips. "But it doesn't get you out of kitchen duty."

A short-lived fit of laughter shot from Roman's throat, ending once he felt Dean's arm squeezing around his waist. "It was worth a try." He smiled tenderly, "But before that," His eyes shifted back to Dean, "let's commemorate the start of having the house all to ourselves."

Dean glanced slyly up at the older man, before shaking his head beneath a thin smile. "Lead the way."

"With pleasure."