Work Text:
Dean never really cared for his birthday. Birthdays were nothing special to him. The only one he had looked forward to was his 18th because it meant that he could officially start wrestling. Sure, his 21st birthday was fun, but it wasn’t like it meant anything. Just that he could now legally do everything that he’d already been doing since he was 12. December 7th always felt like just another day. Hell, most years he didn’t even remember that it was his birthday until some fan or interviewer pointed it out.
This year though, he knew that he wasn’t going to forget it. He was turning 30, and apparently that was a Big Deal. At least that’s what everyone kept telling him. He’d seen the state of denial that Roman got himself into when he turned 30. He glared at anyone who so much as mentioned that it was his birthday, and when New Day started singing to him he threatened to shove the trombone up Xavier’s ass. Then when Renee turned 30 she spent the whole day joking about how it was her 23rd birthday and right before they went to bed that night, she asked him, in all seriousness:
“Think you’ll still love me when I’m all old and wrinkly and my tits get saggy?”
Even Seth was freaking out about turning 30 and that wasn’t going to happen for another 6 months.
Dean felt ok about turning 30, though. Actually, if he had to think about it he would say that he was kind of… proud of himself. There had been a time in his life when he would’ve laughed at the idea of making it this far. But now he was looking forward to his 30s. He was picturing a future that included marriage, children, and a house with a backyard, instead of one that included nothing more than an early grave.
It still weirded him out that so many people acknowledged his birthday. His phone had been blowing up since midnight: calls, texts, emails. People were sending him letters, cards, and fan art that made him look way better than he actually did in person. For so many years he’d go through the day without a single happy birthday from anyone, and now suddenly it felt like his birthday was a national holiday or something.
The best moments though, were the ones he spent with his friends and his chosen family. He was astonished that they could have so much love to offer. They took so much time and effort out of their day to be with him, to celebrate him.
Renee woke him up with kisses and waffles and bacon and the best blowjob he’d ever gotten at 6 in the morning. She bought him hiking boots and wrote him a letter that he can openly say made him tear up. They spent the morning cuddled up on the hotel bed. She kept telling him how glad she was that he was here and that she had him. She even thanked him at some point, just for being born, just for existing.
Seth called him while he was in the middle of physical therapy, and Dean didn’t even get to ask how he was recovering because Seth immediately grunted through an off-tone rendition of Happy Birthday. He then told Dean that he missed him and that he couldn’t wait to come back and tear it up in the ring with him again, and that he had a gift waiting for Dean in Iowa but he had to come visit Seth in order to get it.
When he got to the arena, Dean was greeted with a bear hug from Roman.
“Happy birthday brother. Welcome to the dirty thirty club. Glad to have you on board now.”
He gave Dean a sketch that Jojo had made him. She was standing on his shoulders as he blew out the candles on a delicious looking pink cake. She wrote “Happy Birthday Uncle Dean” in cursive at the top of the paper. He shook his head, grinning; the girl had better handwriting at 7 years old than he did at 30.
As he walked on, he received dozens of fist bumps and pats on the back from guys like The Usos, Harper, Wyatt, Truth, and more people than he can name. He noticed that just this once, he really didn’t mind getting touched so much.
New Day gifted him with a special rendition of his theme song on the trombone. Naomi baked him a cake and he had to physically restrain himself from eating the whole thing because it was so good. He got a ‘happy birthday, kid’ from Vince and Hunter called him to his office to personally wish him well on his birthday and thank him for the work that he’s been doing.
He got a call from Regal and they ended up catching up on the phone for a good hour before Dean had to get ready for his match. He got another call from Drake who went on about how proud he was of Dean and how his 30s are going to be the best years of his life so far. How Dean deserves every good thing that has happened to him and the best was yet to come.
They even had a small celebration for him after RAW went off the air, with him and Roman standing in the ring as thousands of people sang for him.
He couldn’t go to sleep that night, but it wasn’t because of nagging insomnia or an aching body. He couldn’t go to sleep because he kept replaying every little ‘happy birthday’ and ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you’ that he had heard that day. He wanted to commit each and every precious one to memory. He was so filled up with love and warmth that he felt he was glowing with it.
Dean never thought that his birthday meant much. But today, it was special. Today, he felt special. He was surrounded by the people that he loved and that cared for him and he just felt so cherished and appreciated. He loved his birthday.