A/N - I haven't written fanfiction in years and I haven't written WWE fanfiction for even longer but I couldn't let this one go. I am a die hard Ambrollins shipper (yes this will have a hint of SLASH, if you're not into that then you don't have to read on) and all the promos and looks that they've been giving each other in the last couple of months have damn near fucked me up (there will be language to) so I just had to write about them to get it off my chest. I have parts of a whole story going around my head right now but I've never been good with the long ones so I thought I'd just start off with a little reactionary oneshot.

Battleground 2016

He felt someone's eyes on him as he walked back through the curtain with his title safely held on his shoulder. Whoever it was could wait though as Bryan and Shane congratulated him once again for retaining the title. They were fucking beaming at him like he'd given them the key to the most successful show on earth; hell he probably had although Dean knew there was no way Steph would take this lying down. There was no chance in hell Stephanie McMahon was going to let her show not have a top title for the roster, i.e. Seth, to fight for. But, Dean wasn't going to put a downer on Shane and Daniel so he let them look at him like he was their fucking savior. Hell, even Cena was looking at him like he'd pulled off some miracle and saved Smackdown so he really was not going to spoil things. The eyes never left though, not through the cheering, not through the pep talks, not through the hugs, not even when Shane called for some dumbass Smackdown huddle with the shout of Yes on the count of three, they stayed there throughout and when Dean excused himself to his locker room the eyes followed him there.

One of the perks of being the champ meant that he got his own locker room. The privacy had been fantastic up until now. Now Dean felt like having the rest of the roster there to back him up for the sake of having to see Big Show change might not be so bad after all. It was a maximum of ten seconds after Dean had entered his locker room that someone else barged in after him.

"What the fuck was that?" Dean shook his head slightly and put his title on top of his suitcase. He knew this conversation was coming but he was not expecting it so soon. Dean couldn't help but rub a finger over the nameplate and take confidence from the fact that the title was still his before he turned around to face the inevitable.

"What was what Roman?" Playing it dumb seemed like the best tactic to go with but looking at his brother's face, perhaps he was wrong.

"Don't play dumb Ambrose!" Roman was seething. Dean swore he could see some froth coming out of the samoan's mouth as he took a step closer to the champ. His shoulders were tense as he inched forward and Dean could tell that his neck was tight from the match just by the way he stood. Roman was pissed and hurt. He still respected Dean's personal space boundaries though which Dean took as an extreme plus.

"I just wanted to make sure that we were on the same page big guy, you don't need to get all intimidating and shit. There are a couple things that you could be pissed off about and I don't want to piss you off more by mentioning the thing that you could be pissed off about, be wrong but then make you be pissed off about that and thus making you double pissed. Do you see what I mean?" Dean watched as Roman tried to follow on with his ramble, sitting down in the process because, man he ached like a bitch and no intimidating samoan was going to prevent him the luxury of sitting down. Roman ran his hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh before shaking his head and smirking. Dean smirked back, he knew a little 'insane' ramble would calm Roman down but man was it relief to see he was right.

"You know what I'm talking about Ambrose." Roman sighed heavily and sat of the opposite bench, wincing as he went down. "What the fuck was with you teaming with Rollins huh?" Dean winced.

"Maybe I thought I couldn't beat you on my own." As soon as the words were out of his mouth Roman snorted and Dean couldn't keep in the small smile as he stared at his championship.

"We both know that's bullcrap so try again." Dean continued to stare at his title.

"I've never pinned you dude, it's not that hard to believe."

"You believe you could beat a beast if you were given the opportunity, hell you almost did when you fought Brock. So yeah, it is hard to believe." Dean looked up from his title when he sensed the big guy stand up again. Roman paced the room once before coming to stand in front of Dean once more.

"So, I'll ask you again and I'm going to be pissed off if you don't give me the right answer this time. Why did you team up with Rollins?" Dean opened his mouth to answer him but closed it again soon after. He looked at the title again, stared at it really, until Roman blew up making Dean flinch.

"I don't fucking believe you! We're meant to be brothers and you've just turned your back on me because of one mistake! I thought you were more loyal than that Dean!" His eyes were no longer on his title as he stood up to face Roman head on with fists clenched at his sides.

"Don't you think I would have turned my back on you when you got shot after shot at the title whilst I was stuck fighting stupid idiots like Jericho? But did I? No. I went out and celebrated with you after you won the title at Mania even though I was hurting like a bitch. I would never turn my back on a brother, even if he's dumb enough to do drugs because I don't screw over my family unless they royally fuck me over first!" Dean and Roman stood toe to toe, Dean's eyes wild throughout his diatribe, spit flying out of his mouth in anger.

"He's not lying." Roman spun with his fist ready to attack the voice that just came from the door. Dean rolled his eyes at the sight, sitting back down although still tense and ready to fight at any moment.

"Always have to be dramatic don't you Seth." The formerly two-toned champ moved to stand closer to Dean, his weight leaning slightly more on his left knee as he walked around Roman and fell onto the bench next to the champ. Roman watched his former brother intently throughout, an incredulous look appearing on his face at the lack of protest provided by his supposed brother about the traitor sitting comfortably next to him.

"Well this does not make your case any more convincing! Look at you! You're happily sat next to the guy that hurt you the most!" Dean sighed and looked at his championship once again. He knew it would be difficult to explain to Roman but crap he wasn't expecting it to be this hard.

"Come on Reigns. You must have sensed that Dean had forgiven me during all those promos. Even you can't be that stupid." Dean winced and shook his head at Seth's phrasing as Roman turned up his steady glare to and anger filled one that burnt a hole through Rollins.

"Oh calm down big dog. He hugged me on live television whilst you were in the ring! How could you have possibly missed that?" Roman kept his glare on Rollins as he thought back to that Ambrose Asylum promo, remembering the one armed hug and how he'd just shrugged it off as another way of Dean playing his mind games. Then he thought back to all the other little things that had taken place over the past couple of months and how he'd just shrugged them off as mind games as well. Holy shit, Dean had forgiven Seth. The two sat on the bench recognized the change in Roman's expression as soon as he'd realized the truth in Seth's words and breathed a silent sigh of relief as the big dog turned to pace for a few seconds. He finally came to a stop, looking straight at Dean as he ran a hand through his hair.

"One, you are insane if you've forgiven the jackass but whatever, I don't care just as long as he knows that I'll never forgive him." Roman was sure he heard Seth mumble about how he was sat right there but ignored him.

"Two, that does not explain why the two of you attacked me like a couple hounds and did our powerbomb!" The switch in Roman's demeanor was immediate, from pissed off but holding it back to fully letting loose and shouting once again. Dean looked at his title once more and felt a hand cover his knee and squeeze gently. That only seemed to anger Roman more as he caught a glimpse of just how much Seth had been let back into Dean's life since he'd been away. Before he could say anything though, Dean spoke up.

"You betrayed me. The one thing we all promised from the start was that we'd never use illegal enhancements. That was the one rule that I cared about the most. Was I fucking pissed when this one went and attacked us? Of course I was! And even though he did some really shitty things, I got it. I understood that using me was a great way to get himself to the top. Even if cinder blocks were a little over the top." At that Seth squeezed Dean's knee again, part in apology, part in encouragement to continue.

"What I can't understand is the need to use drugs to get to the top. Look at all the people who've died Roman! Yes, I know what you did wasn't as bad but that's not the fucking point! I've seen first hand what drugs do to people, how easily they can get hooked into something worse. So, when we made that promise to each other never to do shit like that, that was when I committed to being your family and you broke it! And I know I can't speak for princess here but I'm pretty sure he feels at least partly the same way. So tonight I just snapped alright. You can't just waltz back in here and think everything will be fucking unicorns and rainbows when you did the one thing that you knew would hurt me the most." Dean breathed a sigh of relief at finally getting that off his chest. Roman had been getting distant for while before all the shit came out but Dean just thought the crowd was getting to him. Once he found out the truth it was like a glass ball had shattered in his chest. The fact that his brother would do such a thing damn near ruined him and almost certainly would've cost him the title if Seth wasn't there to distract him.

"Roman didn't react for what felt like an hour. He just stood there and stared at his two Shield mates. Dean was back to staring at his title and Seth had moved closer to him, keeping a steady hand on his knee.

"Hey Dean, a bunch of us were going..." All three of them locked up to the open doorway where Bryan was standing. The new SmackDown GM immediately took note of the tense air that was in the room.

"Hey, is everything alright in here?" Seth was the only one to look at him and nod, the other two having already turned away from the new entrant.

"Uhm. Well a lot of us are going to hang out and play video games before everyone has to split. Breeze and Woods demanded it. The invite's there for you. You too Seth. So, ugh, hopefully we'll see you there." Bryan nodded uncomfortably before quickly leaving the room with Roman Reigns' glare on his back.

"What the fuck!? I don't even get invited to game night? I make one mistake and the world goes batshit. I am not up to dealing with this right now, not after being betrayed by a brother yet again. I'm outta here man." And Roman was gone. He didn't look at Dean once as he marched out of the room and that cut Dean more than being accused of betrayal immediately after spilling his guts up to a man he thought he could trust. Now the guy couldn't even look him in the eye. Another big sigh left Dean's mouth as he leaned back on Seth, the latter moving his hand from Dean's knee to around his shoulders. They just sat there for a few moments, just taking in everything that had been said.

"Right, come on. I wanna play video games and you cost me the title tonight so you have to do as I say." Dean looked at Seth, incredulous for a second but a grin soon appeared on his face, glad that the subject had been changed.

"And why do I have to follow your rules princess? I'm the WWE Champion, I can do what I want." Seth snorted and shook his head before slanting his lips over Dean's for a moment.

"Because, Ambrose, I always get what I want. Now move it and quit calling me princess." Dean was pulled up to his feet, smiling the whole time as he grabbed his title and was dragged out of his locker room.

"Whatever you say, princess."