Rose & Thorn: Renee/Seth

The Jon/Renee/Seth backstory

"Holy shit, man!" Dean's voice was just barely louder than his clumsy booted footsteps and Renee's attempts to swat his arm to shoosh him were futile. "You were fucking amazing, man. They totally bought it. Every last mark."

As they stumbled past Roman's hotel suite—they were making enough money now that they didn't need to share anymore, and Dean was dating Renee—they all fell quiet out of respect. Roman, the third member of The Shield, should have been out with them, celebrating the pitch-perfect betrayal that had just played out, but his young daughter was having a rough day so he had bowed out, wanting to call home to comfort her.

No one had seen the betrayal coming; not a single dirt sheet or wannabe wrestling insider had a clue. Even most of the wrestlers in the back were taken by surprise, and that was a rare thing nowadays. "You were great too, man. And Roman." Seth shook his head in woozy wonder. He was riding a natural high from the adrenaline too, the rush of pulling off the type of storyline twist that would have blown his mind when he was a kid.

"That's going to be replayed for years," Renee declared, clinging to Dean's arm for balance. Their room and Seth's were further away from Roman's, but they still tried to stay somewhat quiet in deference to everyone who was already trying to sleep. "It's going to be one of those Do you remember when...? moments of wrestling."

"Making history and making money," Seth added. For a while, it had always felt like it would be one or the other. He had created a lasting legacy in Ring of Honor, but opportunities there were limited. The sky could be the limit in WWE, but that depended entirely on the whims of the McMahon family, and luckily they seemed to see the value of The Shield. "We're going to be running the whole damn show soon."

It was a bold prediction, cocky even, and Dean and Seth both knew it, but that didn't mean it didn't hold a note of truth. They had all had very different trajectories in NXT, but now that they were united in The Shield, they were prepared to dominate. "To the Shield boys!" Renee declared, pulling a bottle out of her purse. Seth couldn't tell what it was, but he could see that it was full. "One last round?"

"C'mon, Seth." Dean grabbed his arm and pulled him in their wake. "Our suite's bigger." Then he laughed and grinned. "Among other things."

One last round defied any sort of math or logic. Since they had no cups in the suite, they drank directly from the bottle, passing it to and fro until their aim started to waver. Then they started leaving it on the dresser between drinks, not that there were many pauses. After a particularly long pull, Renee straddled Dean's lap and kissed him. "Hey, now. Be nice to our guest." Her skirt had bunched up around her thighs and she pushed it up further so she could sit comfortably. "We're fancy bitches here, remember? We drink only the finest liquor from the source. Bottle. Whatever."

Dean ran his hands up Renee's legs far enough that Seth caught a flash of red underwear. "Seth's legs used to be this smooth. Early days, man. You remember? They had you looking like a Ken doll."

Renee giggled. "Truly a loss."

"Not for me. If he'd been all shaggy bear when you first met him," Dean mused, "you might have picked him instead." He narrowed his eyes, but it didn't seem to help his vision at all. "You still waxing, man?"

Seth grabbed the bottle and took a swig to see if the question made any more sense afterwards. It didn't. "Fuck no. We change in the same locker room, idiot."

"Not like I look." Dean gave Renee a sloppy kiss, sliding his hands up her shirt. "For all I know, you shave your balls too."

The sober part of Seth's brain, adrift on a churning sea of adrenaline and alcohol, knew better, but the rest of him took the accusation as a weird sort of dare. "Nope and nope." He lurched to his feet and started unzipping his jeans. "See?" he proclaimed when he had his jeans down to his knees. "Still hairy as fuck."