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Roman is not an easily anxious man. He's in control, he's been in control for almost all of his life. He's the older one, he's the one that everyone looks up to, and he takes that role with pride. It gives him a sense of purpose, something to do. It takes a lot to get him worried, except when it comes to his family apparently. He's in his and his boy's hotel room for the night, pacing a hole into the carpet while chewing on his finger nails. While doing so, Seth and Dean are laying on one of the beds, cuddled up against each other, glaring daggers at him.
“Just call him dude.” Seth's frowning at him, having dealt with his worry the whole drive home, because Dean was peacefully asleep in the back seat. Dean's hands are clenched around a pillow, looking suspiciously like he's going to chuck it across the room at the pacing man soon.
Roman was supposed to go out for dinner last night with Jey, but his younger cousin had canceled on him. Now usually this wouldn't be a cause for concern, they're all busy people, working very busy lifes, and they've had to cancel plans suddenly with no explanation before. Maybe he had just wanted to spend some more time with Sami, which that option annoys Roman like no other, but he does understand. If it was serious, he'd cancel anything for his boys. But Jey had been acting funny all night in the arena, more fidgety than normal, clutching onto his twin or his boyfriend at any given opportunity. He wouldn't even look Roman in the eyes when he canceled dinner, just mumbled something about being busy and that he was sorry before he practically booked it away from his cousin.
“Babe, seriously, calm down.” Dean's tone is a bit agitated, but he's not seriously annoyed, just worried. “Your pacing is gonna make me puke.”
“He said no to waffle house!”
“We know babe.”
“Waffle house is his favorite place ever.”
“Yes Roman, we know.”
“Why would he say no to waffle house?”
Seth speaks up this time, rolling his eyes as he does so, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Here's a bright idea babe, why don't you call him and ask him!”
Roman doesn't say anything, just brings his hand up to his mouth to chew at his nail again. He's stopped by a pillow suddenly being flung at his head, hitting him with a soft thunk. He spins around to see Dean smiling like a maniac, and Seth giggling next to him.
“You're gonna worry yourself to death, papa.” Dean smirks, knowing exactly what he's doing to the Samoan. Roman groans and drags his hands down his face, walking over to the bed and flopping down on it next to the other two.
“You, Dean Ambrose, are fucking evil.”
His boys both let out a laugh, and Dean reaches over to run his fingers through Roman's hair, twirling the locks around his index finger. “But papa, you looooove me.”
Roman sighs, and sits up, kissing Dean softly before he huffs again. “Unfortunately I do.”
“Unfortunately?” Dean squeaks out and Seth cackles, throwing his head back. Roman takes a moment to just take in the picture in front of him, his boys both smiling and holding each other. His chest is warm with love, and he can't help but smile too, leaning forward to kiss both of them before he pulls back.
“I think I'm just gonna go to his room. See if he's there.”
“I'm sure he's fine, babe.” Seth puts a hand on the side of Roman's face, and the Samoan nuzzles into the palm of his hand, letting his eyes flutter shut for a moment.
“I'm sure you're right, I just have to check.” He gets up, hand trailing down Dean's leg until he absolutely has to pull away.
“We love you!” They both speak at the same time.
“I love you guys more. And you can't argue because I'm closing the door.” The door shuts behind him with a click and he can hear his boys yelling at him, but he walks away smiling. Some of his anxiety has left him, but he just can't shake the feeling that something is off. Maybe not wrong, but off. He takes the elevator up a floor, having known where his cousins are because they share their room numbers every time they check into a hotel. His family sighs and rolls their eyes and calls him mom in an annoyed tone every time he reminds them, but they do so every time without any real complaint. He stops in front of their door, debating knocking. It's probably nothing, no one is screaming inside the room or anything, and he's trying to calm himself down. Jey probably just wanted a date night with Sami. But that wouldn't explain why Jimmy hasn't answered him-
He huffs and brings a fist up to knock at the door a few short times. There's no answer, and after about ten seconds, he tries again. The door opens just enough for Sami to poke his head out, an eyebrow raised. He goes to speak before Roman cuts him off.
“Where is my cousin?”
A moment of silence passes between them before Sami talks. “What?”
“My cousin. My cousin. Where are they?”
Sami opens his mouth before he closes it, pulling his head back to whisper something at someone. Roman can't hear exactly what he's saying, but it sounds urgent, and he tries to peek his head into the doorway to no avail, his sight blocked by Sami's body.
“Jey's busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Doing stuff.”
Roman has decided that Sami is a horrible liar. If he ever needs someone to come up with a distraction for something, he is not asking Sami, even as a last choice.
“They're both fine, I promise.” He goes to close the door, but Roman pushes his foot in the way, hiding his grimace of pain when the wood makes contact with his flip-flop.
“Let me in.”
“No. Everything's fine. Have a nice day!”
Roman's not one to use his strength against his family, including Sami, unless it's in a playful manner. He huffs and shoulders his way through the door while Sami makes a noise of protest, and closes the door behind them. He can't see the rest of the room, trying to give them some privacy, but he's staring at Sami with his arms crossed over his chest, breathing deeply.
“I feel like something's wrong, and I want to know what.”
Something flashes across Sami's face, and he sighs, shoulders dropping. He's silent for a moment before he calls out into the room.
“Ya amar?”
Roman doesn't recognize the term, but Sami's tone gives away the fact that it's probably a pet name of some sort. He recognizes Jey's voice as he answers back a shouted ‘yeah?’
“Roman wants to say hi to you.”
There's silence, then he can hear the hurried whispers of his younger cousins. He's patient though, growing up with those two meant he had to have a lot of patience every single day of his life. There's a shuffling noise before Jey pops around the corner, Jimmy standing behind him with his arms crossed. Something about the way that Jey is standing makes Roman want to wrap him up in a hug, but he can't tell what it is.
“Sorry about dinner.” Jey's voice is soft, mumbled, and Roman feels every ounce of worry leave his body when the younger speaks.
“I'm not mad, I was just worried about you.”
“We were uh. We were busy.”
Is everyone in his family really that bad at keeping a secret?
“It's ok, just wanted to make sure you were ok.” He gives in, stepping forward and wrapping Jey in a hug. The younger man shoves his face into the crook of Roman's neck and he smiles, patting his cousin on the back. From where he's walked forward, he can see that there's some sort of lego creation sitting on the floor, little pieces strewn about on the carpet next to it. “Were you playing with legos?”
Jey hums, nodding his head where he's still hugging the older man. “Tamā showing me and Jimmy hows to build a flower.”
If Roman's uncle was in the building, he would know. Even if no one told him, he would be able to just feel it. He's always had an uncanny ability to tell when family was nearby, and he ruined several surprise parties when he was younger by doing so. So he's not talking about his actual father, and he's definitely not talking about Jimmy, so that leaves-
He looks over to Sami, and his eyes are wide, a look of panic across his face as he tries to figure out what to do. He looks at Jimmy and he's not doing any better. He looks slightly less panicked, but he's glaring daggers at Roman, daring him to say something. It clicks in Roman's brain what's going on and he chuckles, pulling back and letting Jey grab onto his hand. He turns to Sami and sees he's trying to calm his facial expressions, except he's failing and now he just looks kinda constipated, and his lips curl into a smirk while he turns back to Jey.
“Why don't you show me your legos?” His voice is soft, and he's using the same tone he usually uses with Dean. He doesn't know exactly how old his cousin is right now, he just knows that he's definitely little. Jey very excitedly drags him by the hand over to the legos and he starts picking up random pieces, babbling away about what they are. He looks up momentarily to look at Jimmy, and his cousin raises his eyebrows at him.
“You're not gonna ask what-”
“I know what.”
Jimmy's eyebrows furrow, and he can see Sami doing the same thing next to him.
“I don't think you do.”
“I do, Jimmy. Do you have something more important to say than the little one currently trying to show me his legos?” He raises one eyebrow at Jimmy, watching as the younger opens and shuts his mouth a few times, before he shakes his head, sitting down carefully next to his brother.
Sami sits down behind Jey, and he immediately leans back against him, not stopping his rambling as he explains the importance of each piece in the….dinosaur he's holding up. Roman thinks that's what it is at least. They sit on the floor until his hips and his back start to ache -he doesn't say that because they will call him an old man- and Jey hops up to go find his turtle to show Roman. The moment Jey is distracted looking for it, Sami turns to Roman.
“Thanks for, for not freaking out.”
“Nothing freaks me out- ow!” He's cut off when Jimmy smacks him slightly on the shoulder, rolling his eyes.
“Don't be sarcastic.”
“I'm not! I was genuinely worried that something was wrong last night, it just being that he was regressed makes me feel better.”
“If you don't mind me asking,” Sami clears his throat, getting Roman's attention. “How do you know about, this?”
“That's not my place to tell. But I promise I'm fine with it. As long as you take care of him. Or I'll rip you to pieces.” He turns to face his cousin, pointing a finger at him. “You too.”
“I'm his brother!”
“Exactly, I know what you're capable of.”
Their arguing is stopped by -And Sami is saved by- Jey running back into the room, waving his turtle in the air. “Found it Roro!”
Roman doesn't tend to like nicknames if they don't come from his boys, but this one makes his heart melt and he smiles, taking the turtle when it's handed to him, dramatically gasping. “It's really soft!”
“Yeah! Tamā gots me it at the arcade!”
“It's wonderful, Jey.”
“Mhm! Can we get lunch?”
Roman and Jimmy chuckle while Jey clings onto Sami's side, wrapping his arms around him as he asks.
“How about we get some waffle house to make up for last night?”
“YES! I LOVE YOU RORO!” Jey's shouting, making Sami wince and flinch his head away from him, and Roman smiles.
“Go put on your shoes then Jey.”
Jey runs off, talking excited nonsense the entire time, and Roman turns to the other two men still standing next to him. He wraps them both in a hug, pulling them close to him, and he smiles. “Thank you. Really.”
Jimmy pats his back, smiling at him, and Sami squeezes him tighter, nodding.
“Of course. He means the world to me.” Sami's eyes are soft, and Roman bites back a joke about it, not wanting to ruin the moment.
“Ok, les go!” Jey's bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet and he grabs at Roman's hand again, holding his turtle with the other. Roman smiles at him, letting the younger man lead the four of them out of the hotel room, hearing the door click behind him. He lets the other three talk about whatever, sort of spacing out as he thinks while they walk. He's glad he came down here and checked on them, even if this is the last thing he expected to have happened, he's really glad that it did. He feels closer to his cousins now, and he squeezes Jey's hand once, smiling softly while he does so.