Archive of Our Own

Bron and Seth’s relationship may be considered “weird” by some. Sharing a hotel bed, Bron without a shirt, laying perpendicular on Seth’s abdomen, watching the sunset from the adjacent balcony while Seth lazily scratches his head. They’ve never done anything—Seth would never do his boys like that—they both just relish the contact, Bron especially does.

The older man is texting Roman and Dean back home currently. He occasionally needs to stop scratching Bron’s head to free up his other hand. Every time, no matter how brief the loss of contact is, Bron always rubs his head against Seth’s stomach as a silent demand to resume what he started. The older man may or may not have sent a small video or five of Bron’s behaviour to his boys.

They’re both needed for a couple matches this week. Right now, Bron has 2 days of downtime while Seth is needed in the following evening.

The younger man begins to doze off when the sound not too dissimilar to an earthquake roar wakes him. His head shoots up and he stares at Seth. “Sorry,” he chuckles, “We should probably go get something to eat.” Bron lies back down on his stomach and hums in acknowledgement. “You want anything?” Bron hums again in approval. “What do you want?” The younger man mumbles, “Whatever’s good.” Seth rolls his eyes before asking, “I need you to get off me so I go get ‘whatever’s good.’ I’m guessing you want to stay here?”

Bron hums again, still not moving from Seth’s stomach. He gives Bron’s head a few shakes before he reluctantly rolls off him and accidentally falls off the bed. The older man can’t help but laugh as Bron shuffles towards his own bed and collapses onto it.

Seth begins to change into his outside clothes. Shedding his oversized red sweater and black shorts—tossing them back on the bed as he deems them still mostly clean—and changing into a basic pair of jeans and plain shirt.

The older man pats the side of Bron’s face before leaving, filling him with fleeting warmth. “I won't be out for long,” are his parting words.

The sound of the door closing sends Bron into action. He springs out of bed and dashes to his suitcase. Rummaging through its contents—under all the tank tops he’ll have to rip through and excess socks to hide these items—he finds his shameful secrets. His collar and rope. He always takes these whenever he’s away from home; they help him relax if he has a match that goes particularly poorly. Though, being that close to Seth, making the older man treat him this way, always puts Bron in the same mood. Seth, by some miracle, doesn’t know exactly what it does for Bron. It’s better for Seth to think the younger man is just really needy than… this. Bron knows he does this to himself, but he’s too selfish to stop.

Putting on the collar, rope in hand—soon to be mouth, he flops on the older man's bed. The shame of possessing these items melts away as he slips—closer to nosedives—into his headspace. He knows he doesn’t have a lot of time; he’s banking on the fact that Seth texts him when he’s coming back like he usually does.

The younger man starts to gnaw on the rope toy while rolling about on the bed and growling. He’s been due for a new rope for a while now. The hundreds of times Bron has sunk his teeth into it has almost completely torn through it. He can’t bear to part with it however. He bought it along with his collar years ago, it has too many memories. He’ll use it until it’s ripped in half and then some.

The collar. His collar is the thing he cherishes most in the world—It is possibly second to only Seth but the younger man would never admit that, even if only to himself. It’s something he bought online when he was 20, giving into the intrusive thought of wearing one that lingered in the back of his head for years. He figured he should keep it basic—black leather. There was an option to add a nametag; after debating with himself for an egregious amount of time, he decided to get the round silver nametag with his name engraved on it. After tearing open the package a week later, he’s hardly without it when he’s home. Often, he absent mindedly feels the tag between his fingers when thinking.

After playing for a few minutes, Bron finishes burning off most of his built up energy—it’s hard for him to not get this high energy when he can’t run around in his yard like usual. Now, he’s simply lying in bed, staring at the rest of the sunset, tag being twiddled between his fingers. Bron knows he should be wrapping this up soon, who knows how soon Seth will be back?

Finishing that thought, he hears his phone sound a short vibration. Shuffling off Seth’s bed and towards his own, he grabs it and checks the screen.

‘Seth🧡: Got Little Caesars’
‘Seth🧡: Coming back’

The younger man sighs.

‘Me: Ok’

Knowing his fun is over he grabs his rope and takes off his collar, burying them under all of his clothes at the bottom of his suitcase before grabbing a shirt. Defaulting to Seth’s bed, Bron decides to watch TV to help him get back into “Human Mode.” After about 15 minutes, the younger man hears the unlocking of the hotel door. He quietly grumbles to himself—not quite annoyed at the older man, more so the whole situation—wishing Seth’s trip for food took longer, he never feels like he has enough time.

“Have no fear! Pizzas here!” announces Seth as he enters the room, showing off a large box. Bron can’t stay upset if he tries after any of Seth's ridiculous displays. The older man always knows how to make him feel better—even if he’s not intending to—it’s one of the main things Bron loves about him—Wait! No. Bron doesn’t love Seth and if anyone says otherwise they’re getting speared. Suppressing the smile forming, the younger man replies with a simple “Thanks” while moving closer to the edge of the bed to make room.

They eat in a comfortable silence. The older man lets Bron have a majority of the pizza. Between bites of his food, Seth mentions, “Oh, by the way, tomorrow morning, I want to swing by the mall to get Dean something. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to get some snacks for the next couple days we’re here.” Bron responds,“Nice. I’ve been dying to get out of this room.” Seth chuckles, “You’re dying to get out of here but not enough to go on the drive with me? I’m hurt,” he sarcastically ends. Bron quickly spits out an excuse, “I wanted to see the rest of the sunset.” The older man agrees, “Fair. It was a nice view,” before he goes back to his pizza.

In the morning, driving to the mall, Bron stares out the window lost in thought. Seth has a match tonight; Bron should have at least a couple of hours of alone time. At the same time, the younger man doesn’t want Seth to be away for so long. Having matches so close in time and location where they can stay together is the only real time Bron can have that kind of contact with the older man. These opportunities don’t come as often as he’d like and he doesn’t want to squander that time. The only reason Bron makes Seth entertain him that way before and between matches is because it’s just them. Imagine trying that when they’re back home with Roman and Dean? He’d just be getting in the way. Honestly, making him unknowingly gratify him only when it’s just the two of them is even worse.

Bron considers how selfish he really is. Seth isn’t his. Seth doesn’t owe him anything. He’s trying to keep Seth for himself. He’s using Seth for his sick gratification. All behind his partners’ backs. Bron really is terrible. What is he doing? He should get another room. He should—

Bron snaps out of his spiral at the feeling of the older man shaking his shoulder. When did they get to the mall? “Yo, Bron. You’re feeling ok?” Seth implores with an extremely concerned expression. Still not completely mentally present, Bron stumbles out “Yeah yeah yeah I’m ok. Was just spacing out for a bit.” Seth’s face flashes a small frown before simply replying, “Ok.”

Leaving the car, Bron quietly follows close behind the older man like the sad puppy he’s trying not to be currently. His eyes are fixated to the back of Seth’s feet to know when to resume and stop walking. Occasionally, Seth will ask for the younger man’s approval of the snacks he’s putting in the cart. Bron just nods or hums at whatever he says, not even glancing at the contents in the cart. His silent spiraling is beginning to pick up again like a hurricane; his body’s running on full auto-pilot at the moment.

Once again, Bron is pulled out of his own head at the contact of the older man. They’re in an aisle of toys? “We’re almost done here; I just need to get something for Dean here. You should get something too, it looks like you need it.” Seth says before walking off, patting the side of Bron’s face to punctuate. …Toy aisle? Bron collects himself and begins to look around. Seth has already disappeared, much to his dismay. Is Seth already sick of what he’s going through?

None of the toys catch his attention. Bron’s self-worth actively disintegrating and the older man’s vanishing act isn’t helping him locate anything specific. After wandering around for a few minutes and finding nothing, he’s back to running on auto-pilot. All he wants is Seth—Seth to come back, he means—and go back to the hotel so he can be consumed by his immense shame in peace. He checks his phone, hoping Seth has said anything about his whereabouts—nothing. He grumbles to himself and shoves his phone back into his pocket. Looking back up, Bron finds himself in the area of pet toy aisles.

He silently condemns himself but figures there’s no point in fighting it. There’s a far greater chance he’ll find something here. Explaining it to Seth is a problem for future Bron. Shuffling through the aisles, the younger man is disappointed to find the pet toys here equally unremarkable. “Too much for small animals,” he grumbles to himself. That is until he spots something of note in the worst degree, a leash. The thoughts don’t even need to cross his mind for his heart to start racing. He glares at the floor until he’s made it past that cursed object.

After power walking a few meters, he finally looks back up. He spots something—basic and passable as a toy for humans—a bouncy ball. It’s light pink and about the size of a tennis ball—he’d prefer if it was black or orange but it’s not a deal breaker. Grabbing it, the ball is pretty dense. He gives it a moderate throw against the ground and it bounces back up to his shoulder. Bron can actually have a lot of fun with this ball.

Walking back to the aisle Seth left him in—which took longer to find than he’d like to admit—while bouncing the ball as he goes, he waits for his return. The ball is keeping him mostly occupied from those thoughts, though Seth still being absent puts a low ceiling on his mood. Pulling out his phone again, he finds that the older man still hasn’t contacted him. It’s been close to 30 minutes; where is he? Did Seth leave without telling him? No, he isn’t like that. Bron sighs before deciding he should just ask him.

‘Me: Hey. I got a toy. Where are you?’

The younger man considers deleting the message and just being patient. Another 2 minutes goes by, Bron hasn’t looked away from his phone, and the older man hasn’t even read the message. There’s still time to delete it.

‘Me: I got a bouncy ball’
‘Me: You didn’t leave without me right? Lol’
‘Me: Still where you left me in case you’re looking’
‘Me: You’re not mad at me are you?’

Dumb. Stupid. Ridiculous. …Pathetic. Bron sinks onto the floor. He begins to bite his nails with fervour. It’s a habit he’s been meaning to get out of. After biting them as low as they can get, he gnaws at the back of his fingers. Glancing back at his phone, he finds only 5 minutes have passed since he debated sending those other messages. He really is pathetic; the poor dog can’t handle being away from his owner for a few minutes. Not even that. The selfish dog can’t handle being away from his fix for a few minutes.

A notification snaps Bron’s head back to his phone. It’s a text from Seth! Sitting up straight and taking a quick breath, he reads the message.

‘Seth🧡: Hey. Finally got something for Dean. Sorry it took forever. You’ll see why in a bit’

Bron wouldn’t say he’s jealous of Dean—he doesn’t exactly have the right to be jealous—but he often gets an odd feeling in his chest at the mention of him. The younger man still holds him in high regard however despite them not being very close—their relationship being akin to “a friend of a friend.” If Seth has chosen him then he must be as great as the older man, the same goes for Roman.

‘Me: It’s fine. Same place where you left me’

Seth reads the message but makes no further addition to the conversation. Bron reflects on the tone of his reply. The flat “It’s fine,” and implying that Seth “left” him. There’s no point in trying to edit or delete the message; it’s already been seen. The best thing to do is keep up a positive facade to compensate. “Fake it til you make it” he says.

Standing back up and dusting himself off, he adopts a far more casual and relaxed persona for the older man’s arrival. Glancing at his phone, he can see his reflection on the dark screen. When did he start crying? Seth’s going to meet him soon, he shouldn’t be dwelling on that. Wiping his tears away, Bron skims his socials in an attempt to take his mind off of everything.

The younger man is pleasantly surprised to find Seth standing in front of him, wearing a large smile… and a giant snake? “Guess what I got,” the older man needlessly asks while bouncing in place. Bron almost forgot what he was upset about at the sight before him. He decides to indulge the question. “Is it the 15 foot long stuffed snake you’re wearing?” Seth’s smile grows wider before launching into his recount of events, “Yeah! I wanted to get Dean a stuffed animal cus he’s in love with them but doesn’t have a whole lot.” Who would’ve thought the Lunatic Dean Ambrose loved stuffed animals? “There I was, wandering around for ages looking for something good. Everything was really lame or small enough to be a keychain. I was close to giving up honestly until I found this department store kinda like Build a Bear but they do a lot more cooler and exotic animals. Looking around I found this giant snake and knew this was good enough. It took like a million years to fill but it was totally worth it.”

Bron can’t think of much to say other than, “It’s really cool. Dean’s going to love it.” Taking another look at the scale of the snake, he adds, “we’ll probably need to get another suitcase though.” The older man seems to only now realize, “Oh yeah, totally.” He gasps to himself before following up with, “By the way, what did you get?” Bron pulls out the ball and bounces it against the floor. “Bouncey ball.” Seth slightly tilts his head, “That’s it?” Bron shrugs, “You know me, I’m not that needy.” He can’t help but snort at that, “You’re the most needy guy I know. You demand I scratch your head and beg me to continue if I stop like a puppy.” The younger man’s heart races at that last comment. “Whatever. Let’s get going, it’s been forever.”

Back at the hotel, Seth and Bron have defaulted to their usual inside attire—Seth in his red sweater and Bron in his ‘being shirtless.’ Though, Bron is own bed for the first time in this trip other than when he’s sleeping. Both of the men are watching whatever half decent show or movie the TV has to offer. That is until the older man clears his throat, “Hey… I’m sorry for calling you super needy and making that puppy joke earlier. You’ve been pretty distant since, literally.”

Seth apologising for his behaviour when he’s been perfect the whole trip catches the younger man off guard. “No no no no no,” he frantically reassures, “You haven’t done anything. I’ve just been thinking, it’s nothing.” He hesitates before asking, “Can I come back to your bed?” Bron’s internal screaming is silenced as Seth chuckles and invites him over. Assuming his usual position—laying across Seth’s abdomen—Bron melts into his touch. There’s a voice in the back of his head, telling him how wrong this is, telling him he shouldn’t be enjoying this, asking what Dean and Roman would think, but it’s almost impossible to hear when he’s this close to Seth. “You know,” Seth starts, his voice nearly incomprehensible to the half asleep Bron, “you can tell me anything.” And he’s out like a light.

Bron is greeted with the sun approaching the horizon the next time he opens his eyes. The two other sensory inputs he meets right after is the older man shaking his shoulder while softly calling his name. “Bron. It’s time to get up. Da— I have to go to my match soon.” Right. His match is tonight. With a huff, Bron rolls off of him—and, not learning his lesson the first time—falls onto the floor. “I’m starting to think you do this for my amusement,” Seth says while stifling his laugh. “Shut it,” Bron flatly responds as he slinks to his own bed.

“Why do you have to like… do these matches? Why can’t you just scratch my head and watch TV with me forever?” The younger man groans. This is the only way he can be honest with his desires, spoken under a veil of humor and sarcasm. “Well,” Seth starts as he begins to change, “It’s my job and I like doing it. Besides, you have your new ball to entertain yourself with.”

Looking out at the balcony, staring at the developing sunset, Bron retorts, “Fine. I’ll just be here with my ball and this sunset. Alone.” Seth smiles, “After your match tomorrow. We’ll spend the entire day together and I’ll be here to scratch your head and watch the sunset like we do every other day, alright?”

The younger man lets out a huff, not having any further argument. He spends the next few minutes staring at the ceiling, dreading Seth’s departure. “Bron,” the older man catches his attention, “can you sit up for a second?” Quickly complying with the request, Bron finds himself face to face with Seth—only a few inches of space between them. Seth smiles before he pats the side of the younger man’s face. “I’m heading out now. Just wanted to look at you before I go. I’ll hopefully be out for about 2 hours. You'll be fine being here yourself, right?” Not wanting to worry him more than he already has today, Bron simply nods his head.

Like clockwork, Bron gets up, digs through his suitcase, and fetches the rope and collar. He’s hesitant to put the collar on however. Without Seth, those thoughts are beginning to resurface. Some masochistic part of his brain wants to listen to those thoughts and stew in his own shame. A slightly more rational part of his brain believes that regressing to his headspace will silence these thoughts—a substitute for the older man. Another, much larger part of his brain—the nagging voice he detests—insists Bron should just be honest with what he wants from Seth. An actual conversation, not blanketed by facetiousness. That’s ridiculous though. The younger man is content with the way things are.

Going with the most obvious choice, he puts on the collar. He takes refuge on Seth’s bed and starts to chew on the rope. Being truthful this time, Bron watches the rest of the sunset and then some. The transition from vibrant orange to midnight blue, while stunning, was only able to occupy Bron from the older man’s absence for only so long. He’s unsure how long it’s been, only that it’s been far longer for his comfort. A hollow feeling is beginning to grow in his chest. Bron stretches his whole body—stiff from not moving during the entire event—and rolls over onto his stomach.

He’s surprised to find something lumpy pinned underneath him. Partially rolling off the object and pulling it out, it’s Seth’s red sweater. Bron stares—processing what he found—before he slowly pulls it towards his face and gives it a test sniff. Seth really hasn’t bothered to wash this the whole trip? Bron smells it again, holding it to his nose longer. That hollow feeling is starting to be filled with something warmer. While the smell isn't all that potent, having something this personal to Seth more than makes up for it.

Taking another exceedingly long whiff, he growls in satisfaction as he comes up for air. Bron, rejuvenated, bites the sweater as he does his rope. Rolling, growling, biting is a routine he follows for the next half hour. Unfortunately, his excess energy was burned as fast as it appeared. He sprawls out on the bed, his nose buried in the red sweater. Bron is out like a light soon after.

The sound of Bron’s phone ringing stirs him awake. Who’s calling? …Seth obviously! Scrambling off of the older man’s bed and to his own, he lifts the phone to his ear and waits for Seth to speak—it’s harder for the younger man to speak while regressed. “Bron? You ok? I called twice before and you didn’t answer. I was getting worried.” Bron hums and adds “asleep.” The older man lets out a sigh of relief, “Ok. Well I’m finished here. I should be back at the hotel in like 30 minutes.” He hums again before hanging up.

Checking the time he finds that… 2 hours have passed?! He kind of regrets taking that nap now. Silver lining, he’ll have the real Seth back soon instead of that… sweater… The realization hits hard enough to nearly induce a heart attack. The sweater Bron was playing with is still here—covered in his bite marks and slobber! This is fine, he has 30 minutes to cover this up. He could wash it—No, there isn’t a washer nor dryer here. He could say it was dirty and put it away—No, where would he even put it? He could own up to it—Right, hilarious. He could hide it and feign ignorance—Exactly.

Now is the problem of finding a hiding spot for it. Scoping the room, there aren’t any spaces where it wouldn’t at least eventually be found. While thinking if he could hide it between his mattress and bedframe and sneakily grab it when they’re leaving, Bron begins to twiddle with his dog tag between his fingers. Of course, just hide it with the rest of the skeletons in his closet. His rope, his collar, and now Seth’s sweater are all now hidden. Closing the suitcase, Bron lets out a heavy sigh.

Turning on the TV, he begins to throw his ball against the wall from Seth’s bed repeatedly to help himself calm down. The 30 minutes feel closer to 30 seconds—Bron’s only barely collected himself—as he hears the door unlocking. Hopefully the older man is able to work his magic on him. “Guess who beat Punk’s old ass into the ground?!” Seth announces as he walks inside. This gets a partial smile out of the younger man.

“Let me guess, Drew McIntyre?” Seth seems genuinely taken aback by his quip, “What? No? Me— Wait, you’re joking,” he shakes his head and smiles, “You’re terrible, you know that?” Bron’s smile wavers for a moment. “It was just that match; what took you 2 hours?” The older man sighs as he approaches his bed, “You know how they like me doing promo’s around the beginning and my actual matches around the end. I just sat around bored for most of the time. I should’ve texted you but hindsight is 20/20.” He catches himself, “Wait, but you were asleep earlier so it wouldn’t have really mattered.”

“Yeah,” the younger man adds, “I was out not long after the sunset. Sleeping makes it feel like you come back faster.” Seth softly giggles before he pats the side of Bron’s face, though it doesn’t fill him with the usual warmth, “It’s too bad the locker room doesn’t have a bed. I could sleep through my down time and feel like I can get back to you quicker.” As he’s leaving to get a shower, Seth mentions, “I know you said you were dying to get out of here, but going to the mall doesn’t really count, it’s basically a bigger version of the hotel room. So, we’re going to the park tomorrow. That’s good?” Though, he closes the bathroom door behind him before Bron can answer.

The park. That sounds nice to the younger man. Besides his rope and collar, Seth and the park are the 2 things he adores most. Bron thinks about bringing his ball so they can play Catch; it’s a basic game but Bron’s crazy for it. He’ll really have to fight himself to not end up regressing. You may as well take him out back “Old Yeller” style if he did in front of the older man. Simply getting food is a lot more safe.

Coming from the bathroom in only a pair of long gray sweatpants, the older man surveys the bed. “Where’s my sweater?” Well, he would have to ask at some point. “What?” replies Bron. “You know, the red one, I wear it all the time.” insists Seth. “I haven’t seen it since you started changing to leave,” he cooly feigns ignorance. The older man gives a defeated huff, “It’ll turn up eventually. But hey, we match now,” he positively spins the mood as he indicates their bare torsos. This gets another small smile out of Bron.

As Seth climbs into bed and starts scratching the younger man's head, he yawns, “Sorry, but I won’t be able to do this for long. I’m pretty beat—not beat as bad as Punk though,” he laughs to himself. “I’m staying to enjoy every second of this as I can. Deal with it,” Bron firmly says. He laughs again, “Yeah, yeah it’s no problem. I like doing this for you, you know.” His heart skips a beat hearing that comment. Bron merely hums, not trusting himself to not say something stupid.

Something feels weird. Everything that the older man has done that usually fills him with warmth and ecstasy, feels muted—still there, but the feeling could be far stronger. Bron can only assume it’s about the sweater. He stole, marked up, and hid something that belonged to Seth. His body denying him the pleasure from Seth’s touch is penance for his sin. On top of that, even if Seth actually likes doing this, it doesn’t make Bron any less selfish for pretending this level of physical intimacy from Seth is him doing it for the benefit of Bron’s regression. It will never be that way.

Taking a moment to glance at Seth, he’s already asleep, that was fast. Repositioning, Bron lays face up parallel to him, staring at the ceiling. He should probably move to his own bed, but if he’s already accepted that their relationship won’t be anything past this, what’s the harm? Also, listening to Seth’s snoring is a bit comforting. Maybe Bron can get a couple hours of sleep tonight.

“They’re going to love you, Dean especially.” Seth mumbles to himself before snickering. Still in the middle of waking up, “What did you say?” the younger man asks, yawning right after. “Oh! You’re awake now. I was just talking to myself, nothing important.” Trying to sit up, Bron finds Seth’s arms wrapped around his chest like he’s a giant teddy bear. “Sorry,” he chuckles, “You never left my bed and you kind of gravitated closer to me. I figured this would be fine.” The older man begins to pull away. “No… It’s fine. You can keep doing this,” Bron hesitantly spits out.

“You sure? Ok,” he says, pulling the younger man in closer than before. “Let’s get IHOP before we go to the park. How’s that sound?” asks Seth. Bron isn’t one to turn down going to IHOP, so he answers “Sounds good.” Though, the building will still be there later, right now, the younger man is going to try and enjoy this a bit longer. Seth seems to think the same thing as they both lay in silence for an exceedingly long time.

Is he snoring right now? Damn it, now Bron wants to go back to sleep now too. He knows the older man is going to be upset at himself for oversleeping, however. So Bron has to be the responsible one and—“Seth?” No answer. “Seth.” he says, getting louder. “Seth!” practically shouting.

Seth shoots up, bringing Bron up with him. “What?! Who?! Where?! Oh! Bron, what happened!” He frantically asks. “What happened is that you fell asleep and wouldn’t wake up. We’re still going to IHOP and the park right?”

Seth takes a second to process what the younger man said. “Right! Sorry ba— Bron. You’re just so warm and I’m not used to not having my sweater so you just knocked me right out,” Bron’s chest tightens. He releases Bron from his hold and jumps out of bed, “Let’s get going.” Power walking towards the door, he halts, “Oh, yeah. I need clothes.”

Sitting opposite of each other, they order their food. Seth gets a fruit bowl with a cup of coffee while Bron gets 2 pancakes drowned in syrup and drinks the complimentary water. Before the younger man can start eating, Seth takes his plate and begins to cut the pancakes on his behalf. Sliding the plate back to him, the older man begins eating his own food. Bron considers saying something along the lines of “I can cut my own food, you know,” but holds his tongue, figuring he should just accept Seth is trying to do something nice for him. Taking a bite of his food, he swears he can see a shadow of a smile appear on the older man's face.

After paying the bill and walking back to the car, Seth asks, “So, you liked your food?” Bron thinks to himself that it’s just a simple question and to not overthink it. “Yeah, it was good,” he answers honestly. Seth merely looks back forward and smiles to himself, not saying anything else. When both men are seated in the car, Seth partially leans over to the younger man's side, but stops and moves back when he finds he’s already putting on his seatbelt.

Driving to the park, Bron starts thinking again. Spending time with Seth has been great, but it feels wrong. It’s that damned sweater. Even after he’s tainted their relationship, the older man still treats him with the same level of respect and care. Though, that’s only because he’s intentionally keeping him in the dark. There’s 2 options—tell Seth what happened, freeing him from the dread weighing on him at the cost of their friendship. Or—carry this burden forever, sparing Seth the pain of being unable to see him the same way.

The latter is the only option, he cares about him too much to do that to him.

Bron is brought back to reality when Seth is unbuckling the younger man’s seat belt. They make eye contact. “We’re here," Seth says, smiling. “You were just staring off in silence for a bit when we stopped, you sure you’re up for the park?” he asks, his smile partially fading. “Yeah, of course I am,” Bron insists. The older man’s face perks up as he pats the side of Bron’s face before getting out of the car. “Fake it til you make it,” he repeats to himself.

He follows behind Seth for a few minutes until they reach a park table to sit at. Like at the IHOP, they sit opposite of each other. Currently, they’re discussing the specifics of the younger man’s match he has tonight. “I’m fighting Jey tonight. Should be easy,” he says off handedly. “How long are you going to be out?” Seth wonders. “I don’t have to do any promo at the start and sit around for 2 hours like you. I should just be in and out.” The older man nods. “Sounds good, sounds good,” he says trailing off.

“Hey,” Seth starts, “would you be interested in staying at my place for a bit sometimes? Like this—staying at these hotels—is really the only time we spend a long time with each other. I want to do this more often. Besides, Roman and Dean would love yo— to have you around."

The younger man is unsure how to respond. He does wish to stay with Seth like this more often. But with Dean and Roman it would feel like he’s trying to keep all of Seth’s attention for himself. Seth did say that they would love to have him around. Maybe they’ll treat him like Seth does. But having all of them treat him like that—like a dog he derives so much gratification from—without knowing feels wrong. But if everyone’s happy, does that make it better? At least it won’t feel like he’s trying to steal Seth if it’s all of them. Maybe he can completely circumvent this issue by being open about his regression to all of the men, but that’s stupid.

So, coming to his conclusion, Bron answers “That sounds great.” A huge smile appears on the older man’s face. “For a second there I was worried you were going to say ‘no,’ it’s whatever now,” he says as he dismissively shakes his head. “By the way, I figured you didn’t want to just sit around at the park all day.” Seth starts, looking down towards something hidden from Bron’s sight. “So I took the liberty of bringing your ball,” he announces while placing it on the table. “Oh, nice,” Bron says, forcing a smile. “Come on, let’s go find a big empty area,” insists the older man. Bron has little choice but to follow.

They end up walking for many minutes, approaching the edge of the park, walled in by a large hedge. The space rests atop a sizable incline and is void of anyone else—the nearest person about 200 meters away if he had to guess—this comforts the younger man. “Now, we’re not going to be playing some lame short distance catch. We’re going to be launching this as far as we can to each other. And not to toot my own horn, but I think I’m pretty good at Catch,” Seth gloats. “Yeah, you’re pretty good at ‘catching balls,’” Bron retorts. Seth simply flips off the younger man before they both burst out in laughter.

“Whatever. You take this” as he lobs the ball towards Bron “while I get some distance.” Off Seth goes, leaving Bron to admire the landscape. He meant it when he said staying at Seth’s place sounds great. So why does he wish he could take his answer back? It’s not because of Dean and Roman—he doesn’t feel threatened by them. More so, there's a lot that can go wrong with them. He could make a total ass of himself the first time there. Or they find his closeness too weird. Or—No, Bron won't mess anything up with them.

What’s that in the distance? Oh! It’s Seth! He’s waving his arms high in the air, trying to catch the attention of the younger man. Hastily, he hurls the ball forward. Not a bad throw if he does say so himself. Seth runs to the side a bit and perfectly catches the ball. Bron snickers to himself, remembering his quip from earlier.

Unfortunately, Seth is a lot better at catching than he is throwing. When he launches the ball back towards Bron, he has to sprint a good 20 meters and jump to successfully catch the ball. Returning the ball to the older man, Bron finds himself smiling.

Again, Bron has to sprint a good distance and end in a jump to catch the ball. Compared to Seth, his throws are perfect. This process is repeated dozens of times, the smile on his face never fading even while panting like a dog. …Oh. That’s why he’s so happy and hyper despite running the equivalent of a marathon.

After a few more passes between the two, Seth begins walking towards the younger man, ball in hand. Bron isn’t going to wait for an hour for Seth to walk to him, he’s going to close the distance, and fast. Sprinting towards Seth, the older man welcomes him with open arms. That is until he notices Bron isn’t slowing down, and he defensively puts his hands out in front of him. The younger man spears into him, knocking them both onto the grass.

“Thanks for that,” Seth says sarcastically as he pats the side of Bron’s face. “Oh, you’re really sweaty now,” he wipes his hand on his shirt. “You had fun?” Seth asks as he scratches the younger man’s head. He nods vigorously while humming in approval. Seth smiles, “I did too. But now, I’m pretty tired, and I’m guessing you are too.” Bron shakes his head with the same ferocity. “Well,” the older man starts, “if we go back to the hotel, you can lay with me on the comfy bed instead of the hard ground.” He shakes his head again. “How about if we go back to the hotel right now—after you’ve gotten a shower—I’ll give you a kiss?” Seth negotiates. As if the park was currently on fire, Bron pulls Seth off of the ground and drags him to the car as fast as he can, the older man laughing the whole time.

Back at the hotel, after his—very reluctant—shower, Bron throws on a pair of pants and steps out of the bathroom. “Feels better now that you’re clean, doesn’t it?” Seth snobbishly asks. Unamused, the younger man simply grunts in response, still in his headspace. Approaching Seth’s bed, he belly flops on top of him before turning to make eye contact.

“You know,” the older man's face grows a sly grin, “if you want something, you have to ask for it.” Bron buries his head into the mattress, “kiss.” He chuckles, “I can’t hear you with your head in the mattress.” The younger man lets out a muffled groan before dramatically turning his head back to Seth, “kiss,” he mumbles, unable to make eye contact. Seth leans forward, “One more time. You’re going to have to speak up,” he says, stifling his laugh. “Kiss!” Bron shouts, sending the older man into a fit of laughter.

He buries his face back into the mattress out of embarrassment. Coming down from his outburst, Seth scratches his head, consoling him. “I’m sorry. I was just playing. Can you face me?” Lifting his head, he finds Seth’s hand under his chin, guiding his head closer. Bron climbs higher up the bed, their faces are inches apart. With Seth pulling him closer, their lips connect for just a moment. The connection ends as fast as it was established.

Bron’s body is on fire. It feels like his heart is going to burst out of his chest. The kiss overrode his body’s denial to derive any significant amount of pleasure from Seth’s touch. He wants to do it again. How does he even go about that? Just ask? Why is he freaking out so much over this kiss? There wasn’t anything romantic nor sexual behind the kiss. It was a friend kiss, that’s all. But he’s sure Seth wouldn't mind doing this again, or else he wouldn’t have offered at all. That can be their new thing, friend kisses.

“Hey, Bron? Are you still with me?” The older man asks. Remembering where he is, slowly shakes his head. “I didn’t upset you or cross a line with that kiss did I?” Seth worries. Bron shakes his head, faster this time. “Ok,” he sighs. “Again?” the younger man hesitantly asks. Seth’s face has a look of uncertainty before shifting into a smile, “Let’s just watch TV right now,” he states as he pats the side of his face.

Moving back town to lay on Seth’s stomach, Bron faces the TV, worried he’s done something wrong. He can feel that the older man’s stomach is tense. The head scratches don't give him any kind of feeling. On top of all that, Seth has to constantly stop scratching his head to do something Bron can’t see.

Hours have passed and neither of the men have said a word since. He’s been in his “Human Mode" for a while, which made this uncomfortable silence all the much worse. It’s about time Bron has to leave for his match. He’s not feeling up to it in the slightest but being away from the older man might do them both some good. Seth takes the indication of Bron getting dressed that he has to go soon. He gets dressed himself, as he’s essentially the younger man’s chauffeur on these trips. Despite the mutual silence between the two, Seth takes the liberty of bringing Bron’s gear bag.

Entering the car, Seth leans over just a bit to the younger man before catching himself and correcting his posture. The drive to the facility is just as quiet; neither of the men realize the radio is on. For once, Bron’s head isn’t racing with thoughts, replaced with deafening silence instead.

In the parking garage, before the younger man closes the car door behind him, Seth calls for his attention. Stone faced, looking forward, hands on the steering wheel, he says flatly, “We need to have a talk later.” Bron freezes for a moment before closing the door and heads to the locker room.

Finally alone, Bron is able to have his break down in peace. He messed up. He messed up bad. Why did he ask to kiss again? Why couldn’t he just let it be a one time thing done as a joke? Even worse, he proper regressed in front of Seth?! He’s glad Seth just thought he was being his usual weird and needy self. Why’d he have to go and make everything weird like he always does?

Oh and the talk. No one ever needs to “have a talk” unless it’s something bad, like right now! This is it. This is the end of their friendship. Seth’s not going to want him in his house right now, around Roman and Dean. No, he’s not going to want Bron to be around him either. All of this because he had to go and want things from Seth.

Is the ground tilting sideways or is it just Bron?

Climbing his way onto a bench, he tries to catch himself. He doesn’t have time for this, he has to get changed. Putting on his ring gear is a sudden challenge; it’s like the clothes are fighting him. He’s grunting and growling as he tries to put on his singlet. “No,” he catches himself, “you don’t make those noises now. Just slow down.” Taking a deep breath and moving slower, he’s able to wrestle it on. Putting on his boots goes with similar ease. This small victory over his gear calms him.

Checking his phone, he finds he has about 15 minutes before he has to make his entrance. He also finds he has a text… from Seth. Figuring whatever he’s said couldn't make Bron feel worse, he opens the message.

‘Seth🧡 has deleted this message.’

The universe really knows how to kick a man while he’s down. Putting his phone in his bag, Bron gets up and waits just before where he’ll make his entrance.

The universe really does have some sort of vendetta against him because before he knows it, his entrance music is playing. “Fake it til you make it,” he mumbles to himself before walking out.

In the ring, Bron hears the bell ring twice before he realizes the match is already over. Looking around: there’s an unconscious Jey Uso in the middle of the ring, the top half of Bron’s singlet is off, and the announcer's desk is destroyed.

Once he has the go ahead, he makes a beeline back to the locker room, he checks his phone. Nothing new. It’s fine. It’s whatever. He doesn’t care. He’s just going to take a cold shower and hope he can’t tell if he’s crying in it. It’s not like he deserves the luxury of a nice, hot one.

Cold shower administered, he only slightly regrets punishing himself this way. Maybe he can stay in Seth’s bed again, that’ll keep him warm—hilarious—that bridge has burned and that ship has sailed. Toweling off his body and putting on his normal clothes, Bron gets his phone again and starts going through his socials. He’s not procrastinating, just emotionally preparing for this talk he’s totally not trying to avoid.

After about 10 minutes of doomscrolling, his phone sounds off a notification. This is it. Seth actually committed to sending that message he deleted. Taking a deep breath, “It can’t get any worse,” he convinces himself. Steeling himself for what he’s about to read, he finally opens the message.

‘Roman🕷️: He isn’t mad at you.’

…Roman? Since when did he have him in his phone? Wait—it was just before one of Bron and Seth’s trip together, one of the first ones. Roman found the younger man in the locker room and told him to exchange their numbers “In case something happens.” Well something finally happened.

WAIT—SETH TOLD ROMAN WHAT HAPPENED?! Bron wishes with every fiber of his being to just disappear into nothingness. His earlier fears were proven true: he’s made a complete ass of himself and he wasn’t even there in person.

Taking a moment to slow down, Bron reads the text again. What does that mean? Obviously, Bron understands the sentence but that claim hasn’t matched what he’s seen. Seth was nearing levels of silent fury to Roman himself. And who wouldn’t be mad after what Bron did? He certainly would be if their roles were reversed—that’s a complete lie, who is he fooling? The point is: Roman is giving the younger man the benefit of the doubt. The talk can wait a couple more minutes.

‘Roman🕷️: You have read receipts on. Just go talk to him’

It’s upsetting that Bron is able to be commanded by Roman when he isn’t even here. It’s more upsetting that he's having certain thoughts about Roman while walking to the lion’s den. Now’s not the time to think about Roman treating him like Seth does, now’s the time to face oblivion head on.

In the parking garage, every step feels like he’s knee deep in molasses. Is it too late to get an Uber or something? Bron’s running through what might happen exactly in his head to emotionally prepare—it’s not helping. “It can’t get any worse,” he repeats.

Approaching the car door, he can see through the window: Seth’s vigorously typing on his phone, completely oblivious to the younger man waiting outside. The sound of the door opening brings him back down to reality. Seth quickly puts away the phone trying to look as calm as possible while doing so—not even glancing at Bron after. Getting inside and putting on his seatbelt, the older man starts the car. The car ride back to the hotel is just as quiet, except the silence is occasionally cut with a vibration from Seth’s phone which he ignores.

At the hotel, they make their way to the elevator. Bron’s movements feel wrong in someway the whole way there. Standing still in the elevator doesn’t make him feel any better. The trip up feels so much longer. He grips the railing against the wall with all his strength, it’s the only thing stopping him from collapsing right there. 1…2…3…4…5! Finally! He’s free of this metal coffin!

Power walking to the room, he realizes, he doesn’t have the room key. Have no fear, Seth is here! No… Seth being here is just making him more fearful. Approaching the door, Seth unlocks it and walks in, still pretending the younger man doesn’t exist. Taking a moment to take a deep breath or 5, Bron walks in after.

Throwing his bag next to his bed, Bron finds Seth sitting on the end corner of his bed, hunched over, looking at the floor. “Can you… sit here,” the older man shyly request, “Only if you want to,” he quickly adds. Not wanting to upset Seth more than he has, he sits on the opposite corner of the bed. Taking a quick breath, Seth starts, “I want to say everything I want to say first. You can ask your questions and say what you have to say when I’m finished, alright?” He establishes. Bron slowly nods his head, slightly confused.

“I’m sorry,” he starts. Without knowing what he’s apologising for, the younger man wants to tell him he didn’t do anything wrong. Remembering what he just said however, he holds his tongue. “I’m so sorry for that. I made a huge mistake offering to kiss you while you were still in your headspace. It was even worse actually following through with it. I should’ve established your boundaries way before that.”

…What.

He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows. He knows.

Just kill him now. Of course he knows. It was that stupid game of Catch! Bron knew he shouldn’t have played! But he just had to make Seth happy! Stupid, stupid dog! This is so much worse than Bron telling him himself. He at least would’ve kept his agency and a shred of dignity. Does Seth know about why he likes the head scratches so much? Of course he does!

Unfortunately, this talk isn’t over just yet. “You didn’t do anything wrong, please know that. I do wish that you told me about your regression earlier so we could’ve had that talk, though. I didn’t want to come right out and ask because you already seemed insecure and I didn’t want to scare you off. Like at the mall—I thought you were upset you had to leave the hotel and drag you out of your headspace. That’s why I wanted you to get a toy for yourself.”

He’s known since the mall?! But… the older man seems ok with it…? He hasn’t shamed Bron. He doesn’t look disgusted by Bron. He’s just been on about how he should’ve been better. Even though he’s wrong about what happened at the mall, Roman was right, Seth isn’t mad at the younger man. Bron just wants to cut this conversation short now, but he persists, as the older man still has more to say.

Seth finally turns to face Bron—unable to make eye contact—and finishes, “Just keep an open mind with what I’m about to say, please. I was always wondering if you were regressing when we stayed at these hotels. I fully figured it out the evening before my match and you were laying on me like usual. I was texting Roman about what you were doing and he said it reminds him of Dean—he’s also little. That’s when it clicked.

And so, getting to my point… I love you. I love spending time with you between matches. I love how close you always want to be to me. I think about you all the time. And I hate having to go back home without you.

I want to be whatever you need me to be: your… you can be my… you know, or something like that!” He says, growing visibly more insecure. He then mumbles, “And partner—if you want—we wouldn’t be opposed to that…We can just be the first thing, it’s no issue,” he says in a clearer tone with an edge of panic—pretending he didn’t just propose the idea of them dating. “Roman and Dean—when he’s big—would treat you just as well as I do. That’s why I pitched the idea of you coming over more. Even then, I’m sure you’ll love little Dean, he’ll definitely love you,” right now, it sounds like he’s trying to sell the younger man a car.

Truthfully, Bron’s brain broke at “He’s also little.” He’s staring blankly at the older man, needing a bit to process everything he’s heard. Seth says he loves him—Just, WOW—but he thinks Bron is little? The younger man learned about age-regressing not too long after buying his collar. After caving and looking up “why do I like acting like a dog,” he learned about pet-regression. That sent him down a few forums, trying to make sense of things, and he saw “age-regression” tossed around a handful of times and saw it compared to pet-regression.

He mentally groans to himself, now Bron has to explain what his deal is. A part of him wishes Seth figured out exactly what’s up with Bron, he doesn’t know how to go about explaining it. Though Seth did say that he wants to be whatever he needs. And if Dean is little—also, WOW—and the older man is fine with it, then Bron being a puppy shouldn’t be too much for him to handle.

“Hey, Bron,” Seth catches his attention, his nervousness poorly hidden behind a crooked smile. “I’m done. You can say what you need to now,” he chuckles to himself. Bron silently gets up from the bed, leaving the older man trying to choke something out, as he walks to his suitcase. “Just rip off the bandaid,” he mumbles to himself, opening the case. Digging through his clothes, he finds them: his collar, his rope, and Seth’s sweater.

Throwing the items on Seth’s bed, he announces, “I’m not little. I’m a puppy.” Bron immediately cringes, realizing how overly dramatic his display was. Seth cocks his head, his nervousness replaced with confusion, “You what?” The younger man sighs and grabs his phone. He types “pet-regression” into his search engine before lobbing the phone to the older man. Taking his seat back onto the corner of the bed, he waits for Seth to finish his research.

After a few minutes of fiddling with the phone, he places it between them and starts to laugh.

Bron knew he should’ve tried to avoid this talk all together. He needs to take a walk. But before he has a chance to sit up—as if Seth sensed his distress—the older man puts his hand on Bron’s shoulder. This keeps him in place, though it still isn’t pleasant having to listen to Seth laugh at him.

It takes another good minute for Seth to be able to speak again. “I’m sorry,” he says, taking many deep breaths after. “I’m not laughing at you. It’s just this exact same thing happened with Dean. One night, me and Roman found Dean with a pacifier in his mouth. He didn’t want to explain why so he just looked up ‘age-regression’ and passed us the phone. You tossing me the phone gave me a flashback that hit like a truck.” Seth’s laughter picks up again. Bron can’t help but giggle a little bit now after his story.

“Ok, ok,” Seth huffs, “So you’re a puppy, not little, my bad. Everything I said is still true though. So, how do you want to move forward from here?” Bron wants to strike while the iron is hot but doesn’t know how to voice his desire. Being with Seth in that way is the most he could ever want. Holding immense admiration for Dean and Roman, he too wouldn’t be opposed to potentially developing his relationship with the other 2 men—especially if they’re just as pleasurable to be around as Seth.

Leaning his face the crook of Seth’s neck, he mumbles, “I want to try the dating thing.” Seth chuckles, “We’ve been over this; if you want something, you have to ask, loud and clear.” Pulling himself back, Bron makes direct eye contact with a glare that can melt steel. “I want to try the dating thing,” he says, flatly.

Seth, the man who refuses to learn, gives Bron a peck on the lips before saying, “I’ll get us all to have a discussion when we’re back home. Don’t worry, Roman was the one who suggested I ask you, and Dean’s basically been my hype-man for this after he learned what Roman said.” Bron, visibly unammused, continues to glare. “What? You’re out of your headspace—I’m pretty sure—what’s the problem?” Bron simply replies, “Principles.”

Putting his hands up in mock surrender, the older man agrees, “Yeah, fair. I’m sorry. I guess this is the best time of any for you to set up your boundaries and what I should expect when you are regressed.”

Letting up on his hostile appearance, Bron starts, “Well I’ve almost always been in some wavelength of my headspace with you in the hotel rooms. Letting me lay on you and you scratching my head put me like that. And I want to apologise for that. I know you said you’ve suspected for a while and didn’t mind doing it, but it felt wrong being gratified like that without knowing exactly why I liked it so much,” his face turning more to remorse.

“And don’t try to say I shouldn’t apologise! I’m sorry and you’re going to have to deal with it!” Bron suddenly adds. Seth simply smiles, letting him continue. “Now, onto my boundaries. You… haven’t actually done anything I’ve had a problem with. Even the kiss I didn’t even mind, it was just really surprising. Actually, I thought you were upset with me when I asked if we could kiss again. Whatever, it’s in the past now.

Now, onto what to expect from me… just everything I’ve already been doing I guess. I’ll still be demanding head scratches and give you very little personal space. Though, I’d say I get more emotional when regressed. You’ve probably figured it out yourself, but talking is harder for me when I’m regressed. I can spit out some short stuff but you’ll have to go off my body language mostly.

And I should probably mention this now,” he says while grabbing the sweater, “When you were at your match, I was missing you real bad. I found your sweater and it smelled like you, so…” showing off the still damp, chewed up sweater, he turns away. “I don’t know if you should expect this from me—because I surprised myself after I realized what I did—but I guess there’s a small chance of something like this happening in the future. I’m sorry about this too,” he confesses in a meek tone.

Placing his hand under the younger man’s chin, Seth gently directs him to face him again. “It’s fine,” the older man’s gentle smile warms his heart. “It’s just a sweater, we can wash it. I doubt this will happen again because you’ll have Dean and Roman to lean on. We all miss each other like crazy when one of us has a match, they’ll understand. Sorry for interrupting, but I didn’t want you to continue beating yourself up over this. You can keep going now,” Seth finishes, releasing Bron’s face.

Taking a second to recollect his thoughts, the younger man continues, “I also have some requests… I would like to be able to wear my collar and bite my rope around you when in my headspace. And—you don’t have to do these ones, I won’t mention these again if it’s too much—I would like to be able to bite you and you bite me too… and sometimes call me a ‘good boy’ or ‘puppy.’ Are any of these terms or conditions too much for you?” Bron skakily asks.

The older man pats the side of Bron’s face, “No. Not at all.”

Shoving his face against Seth’s chest, the younger man comes undone. The ridiculous part is, he’s never been happier. Seth stays silent—knowing he needs this—and simply holds him closer.

Bron’s sobs devolve into occasional sniffling after about 2 minutes. “Hey, Bron? I have an idea,” the older man proposes, “tomorrow, you can spend the entire day in your headspace with me—I’ll follow your terms and everything—and we can watch the sunset at the park. How’s that sound?” The younger man merely nods his head in response.

Bron separates from Seth after relishing the hug for a few more minutes and begins his nightly rituals, Seth following suit. Planning to remove Bron’s items from the bed—and Seth’s sweater which he will mourn until they’re back home—the older man gets an idea.

“Is your collar comfortable?” asks Seth. “Yeah? I’d say so. What are you getting at?” responds Bron, a part of him thinking Seth will try to get him a new collar. “What do you think of wearing your collar before you go to sleep, so you can start the day with it on? It should help with our plan for tomorrow,” pitches Seth. “Yeah. Let’s do it,” the younger man says with a growing smile, “Right now, actually.”

Seth grabs the collar and takes the liberty of putting it on Bron for him. The both of them totally aren’t smiling like idiots after. He flicks the younger man’s tag before giving him a quick kiss and walking off to the bathroom. “What was that for?” shouts Bron. “I just wanted to do it. You said you didn’t mind so I’m kissing you every chance I have now.” The older man shouts back. He rolls his eyes, though not minding the promise of that.

In bed, Seth has one arm secured around the younger man. His free arm is providing some pre-sleep head scratches for Bron. The TV is playing at a low volume: background noise to help Seth sleep. The younger man lets out a deep exhale. Who knew being honest with the people closest to you could be a good thing? Not Bron, upsettingly. But, people live and learn. Grabbing the arm wrapped around his chest, Bron drifts off to sleep.

“God morning, puppy,” Seth greets, lightly shaking his shoulder to coax him awake. Bron buries his face into his pillow and lets out a long groan. The older man chuckles. “Just because you don’t have a match today, doesn’t mean you can’t have a schedule,” he says as he begins to rub the length of Bron’s back, “Besides, I already let you sleep in longer than usual.”

Forcefully rolling Bron onto his back, Seth flicks his tag and gets out of the bed and walks off to the bathroom. He comes back to find that the younger man hasn’t moved an inch since. “Do I have to kiss you ‘Sleeping Beauty' style for you to get up?” Seth sighs. Bron cracks a small smile and nods his head. Slowly shaking his head to himself—trying to suppress a smile—Seth leans over and kisses him on the forehead. “That’s all you’re getting until you get up for real.” Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, the older man starts to type on his phone.

Bron dejectedly sits up and crawls to the edge of the bed. Resting his head on Seth’s shoulder, he spies their conversation—the older man is talking to Dean currently. He takes a moment to pat the side of Bron’s face, saying, “Good boy. You still have to wait a bit.”

‘Me: Gm’
‘Me: He wants to give it a shot’
‘Me: Sorry forgot to say last night’

Bron can only assume this is about him.

‘Deany: nfknhdhciasuygascuciaucuy’
‘Deany: I KNEW IT’
‘Deany: I CALLED IT SO HARD’
‘Deany: GIMME AAALLLL THE DETAILS’

Bron can’t help but snicker at this while Seth rolls his eyes.

‘Me: 🙄’
‘Me: There’s no details to give’
‘Me: …Ok there’s this one thing. We’ll talk about it when we’re back’

‘Deany: You can’t give me some vague detail and leave me hanging for however long’

‘Me: I can/am/will.’
‘Me: A regressed Bron is more patient than a big you’
‘Me: Let that sink in’
‘Me: Tell Rome about the situation now btw’
‘Me: Ttyl ly’

‘Deany: NAH WHATS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?????’

Tossing the phone behind him, Seth turns to the younger man and finally delivers that promised kiss. “Isn’t it better when you wait for things?” He needlessly asks. “Also,” the older man starts, his face growing with a look of shame, “I know we’re going to talk about it eventually, but was it ok I told him about your regression?” Bron simply nods.

Seth smiles, “Ok. So we’re going to the park late this afternoon—we can play some more Catch and eat something before the sunset—but what do you want to do before? I think we should get out of the hotel again.” Seth leans forward, adopting a look of contemplation. “We need to get an extra suitcase for Dean’s snake…” He shoots up, causing Bron to jump back an inch, “I got it—sorry Bron—a drive! We don’t really explore the new places we end at up for our matches, this could be a nice change. Plus, you can still wear your collar. How’s that sound?”

Bron lets out a yip in response. The older man’s face lights up in elation. “I didn’t know you did that! That was the cutest thing I’ve seen from you!” He exclaims. The younger man’s face burns and retreats into the crook of Seth’s neck. “You don’t need to be embarrassed,” he consoles, “But it’s a plan. We’ll go in a couple hours; it’s still kind of early.” Bron pulls his face out and glares at the older man. “Don’t give me that look. You’d sleep through the whole day if I let you.”

Seth gets up and walks towards the hotel phone. “I’m ordering room service for breakfast. What do you want?” After a couple seconds of mutual silence, he realizes, “Oh, yeah, sorry.” Taking a moment to think, he picks up the phone.

“Have no fear! Breakfast is here!” Seth announces. Bron opens the containers to find one with bacon and toast, and the other being a fruit bow. “The fruit bowl is for me,” Seth claims, “I figured you’d want something you eat with your hands for breakfast. That was the correct call, right?” The younger man doesn’t seem to have even heard the question as he’s already digging into his food. “I guess I was right,” he mumbles to himself.

Bron sprawls out on the bed and rests his eyes after finishing his food, leaving the older man a small section of the side. Seth just keeps eating his food—frequently glancing at the younger man, admiring his shirtless form. He wonders: dogs lie on their backs as a sign that they trust someone. Does the same thing apply to Bron and him currently? Of course he knows Bron trusts him. But to trust him so much while like this—while treading this new ground for the both of them—it warms his heart. He wonders if rubbing his stomach is ok.

Seth pats the side of Bron’s face, catching his attention. “Stomach pets?” He asks simply. The younger man gives a short hum in response. He’ll take that as a “yes.” Firmly placing a hand on his stomach, he finds it’s softer than he expected—not to insult Bron, it’s nice. Maybe Seth can lay on him so he can figure out why the younger man is so obsessed with doing it. Sliding his hand up and down, he earns a deep, soft growl from Bron.

The older man keeps this up for many minutes, generating many different sounds and reactions from him. Currently, Bron is squirming with his hands up—similar to how a dog’s paws bend when they stand upright—while emitting a low howl. While he’s at it, Seth wants to try the biting idea the younger man proposed the night before, in hopes to heighten the experience.

Sliding his hand from Bron’s abdomen, he makes his way over his chest. From chest to forearm, Seth makes it to the younger man’s hand. Bron is seemingly unaware of what he’s planning—most likely still reeling from the older man’s stomach pets. Seth moderately bites Bron’s fingers for a moment. The shock sends him shooting up, their faces inches apart. Worried he messed up, Seth is about to begin begging for forgiveness until Bron grabs his hand. In mirrored strength, the younger man bites his fingers, topping it off with a quick kiss on the lips.

Flooding with relief, Seth pats the side of his face and says, “Thanks, puppy. And can you give me some more room on the bed. It was clear you wanted to go back to sleep before I started rubbing your belly. And I can give you more head scratches if you move, ok?” Bron rolls over closer to the opposite side of the bed while Seth takes his spot. Once comfortable, he invites the younger man to lay on him as usual. Commencing the head scratches, he states, “I’ll give you 1 hour, alright?” Bron gives a dejected hum in acknowledgement while the older man grabs his phone he disposed of earlier.

Opening his phone, he’s greeted with a handful of unread messages. Most of them are from Dean—he went on for a while, inquiring about Bron regressing, and making an “A Few Good Men,” reference—but 2 are from Roman.

‘Rome: Hey.’
‘Rome: Heard the talk went well.’

‘Me: Yeah’
‘Me: Turns out didn’t mind the kiss’
‘Me: He’s a lot more open about his regression now’
‘Me: Also got Dean a gift. Don’t tell him though’
‘Me: Also also you don’t get to know either. Just expect me bringing home another suitcase,

Unsurprisingly, Roman responds almost immediately.

‘Rome: Great all around.’
‘Rome: I don’t want to pry too much—especially when he’s not here to say it himself—but do you know what age Bron gets to?’

Seth snickers to himself.

‘Me: He doesn’t regress to a certain age perchance’

‘Rome: ‘You can’t just say ‘perchance.’’
‘Rome: And you’re not even using it correctly here.’
‘Rome: And what does that even mean?’

‘Me: Like you just said, you don’t want to pry when he’s not there to say it himself. You’ll understand soon enough’

‘Rome: Touché.’

A minute passes between messages.

‘Rome: You can totally tell me tho cus I’m Roman’
‘Rome: What haappeennnddd last night’
‘Rome: You can’t lie to me my luxurious locks knows all’

‘Me: Omg Dean is that you’

Another 2 minutes pass.

‘Rome: Dean stole my phone.’
‘Rome: He’s been dealt with.’

‘Me: Is he still alive?’

Roman is typing for a concerningly long time.

‘Rome: Yes.’
‘Rome: I shouldn’t keep you distracted from Bron for much longer.’
‘Rome: Love you. Bye.’

Seth considers correcting Roman—telling him Bron’s asleep—but he figures he can take this time to get in a nap himself. It couldn’t hurt. Putting an alarm on his phone, Seth eventually drifts off.

A shock from his hand wakes the older man. He’s greeted with Bron holding two halves of his rope and him looking like he’s on the verge of tears. “Aww, puppy. You broke your rope?” Seth asks rhetorically. Bron gives a slow nod, his eyes pointed downwards. “It’s no problem; I can fix it.” He surrenders the rope to Seth. He notices how worn the rope has gotten. It’s cute how long Bron’s cherished it, though he may need something more than just nostalgia.

It only takes a second to tie the two pieces back together. “And presto,” he announces while returning the rope to Bron. The younger man’s sorrowful expression doesn’t let up as he leans his face into Seth’s shoulder. “Keep,” Bron spits out. While rubbing his back, Seth consoles, “You don’t have to get rid of it. But maybe getting a new one wouldn’t hurt.” The younger man doesn’t respond.

With his free hand, the older man grabs his phone to check the time. About 1½ hours have passed. Didn’t he set an alarm for an hour? Checking his alarms, he finds that he set the time but never turned it on. He rolls his eyes at himself before checking on Bron.

“Hey, puppy? Are you feeling any better?” There’s no reaction from the younger man. “Would going on a drive make you feel any better?” Bron nods his head after a few seconds. He separates from the younger man before patting the side of his face while Bron leans into his hand. “You’re such a brave puppy, you know that?” Seth praises. The younger man can’t help but smile. “Come on. Let’s get dressed. Or do you need help while you're like this?” Bron is unresponsive for a few seconds—thinking—before he shakes his head.

Before they’re about to leave the room, Seth stops the younger man. Flicking his tag, he says, “We should probably remove your collar until we’re in the car. We don’t want to be getting weird looks do we?” Bron looks down with a disappointed expression and touches his collar. “Just for a few minutes,” Seth reassures. He nods, giving the older man the go ahead to remove it. Hiding the collar in his pocket, Seth pats Bron’s face and repeats, “Brave puppy.”

Walking down the hallway, he notices Bron repeatedly bumping their hands together. Seth chuckles before clasping the younger man’s hand—him sounding a delighted hum in response.

In the car, Seth fastens the collar around Bron, straightening it before moving to secure the seatbelt. “I know you probably don’t need me to, but I like doing these small things for you,” he states. Bron grabs his hand and gives it a firm bite. The older man gives a soft smile. “Thanks, puppy.”

The drive to the same mall as before is short enough where Seth wouldn’t consider the drive to have officially commenced yet. Besides, they’re currently making an errand, it wouldn’t count. “Bron?” Seth catches his attention. “I’m going to pick up the extra suitcase. I should only be a few minutes. You can handle being here alone, right?” The younger man nods. Scratching his head, Seth praises, “That’s my brave boy.”

He stops himself before getting out. “I almost forgot I brought it.” Reaching into the glove compartment, he pulls out Bron’s rope. “This should keep you entertained while I’m gone,” he says while tossing it to the younger man.

Making his way through the mall, he begins to think. He referred to Bron as his brave boy. ‘His,’ in the same way he’d refer to Roman and Dean. They’ve been in a committed relationship for years, however. He and Bron have been friends for quite a long time, but they’ve only now started to develop their relationship. Even then, Bron said he wanted to try the dating thing. Bron’s not even sure if he wants this to be a serious thing or not.

Seth groans to himself. He was so focused about talking about Bron’s regression, he didn’t ask a single question about the romantic aspect of their relationship; he just assumed he would be ok dating 3 people simultaneously. Sure, they’re all going to talk about their relationship back home, but Seth assumed—as usual—it would mostly be about Bron’s regression.

Seth takes a deep breath. It’s fine. Bron isn’t going to stop wanting to be friends if the dating thing doesn’t work out. He was pretty responsive to the idea of spending time with Roman and Dean before the idea of a relationship was proposed—maybe he’ll be open to spending time with them while regressed, too. When they’re back home, he’ll make sure the romantic aspect of their relationship is discussed in greater detail.

Seth cringes a bit, realizing that he may have given the other men back home some unrealistic expectations. He’ll be sure to apologise for that if it doesn’t work out. Right now, the older man should keep up a positive attitude, it would be unfair to Bron otherwise. “Whatever happens, happens,” he mumbles to himself.

Remembering his objective, Seth picks up his pace, looking for suitcases.

On the way, the older man’s attention is caught: An aisle of pet toys. Considering the dire condition of Bron’s rope—even though he didn’t respond to the idea of it—maybe he’ll appreciate a new toy he can gnaw on.

Perusing the items, he’s disappointed to find most of them too small. Surveying the rest of the aisle from where he’s standing, a dog leash catches his eye. Seth wonders if something like that would interest the younger man—he quickly backtracks, deciding he should wait when they’re back home to even think about something like that.

Staring at the suddenly very interesting ceiling, he presses on a number of steps, trying to banish those thoughts. Bringing his gaze back down, the older man is greeted by a number of light pink balls—Bron’s ball. He snickers to himself before continuing his search.

Nearing the end of the aisle, Seth is disappointed to come up empty handed. Turning right at the end, he spots in his peripheral vision, the perfect gift. Another rope toy. It’s thicker than Bron’s current one, so it should last much longer. It’s striped black, grey, and orange—his favorite colors. And it has the same feel as his current one, so it should still feel nice for him to bite. Glancing at the back of the cardboard it’s contained by, the manufacturers are offering a lifetime warranty? “These guys must be pretty confident in their product then,” Seth mumbles to himself.

Grabbing the toy, Seth remembers his original goal—again—and makes his way even faster in search of suitcases.

Acquiring the first suitcase optimal for transporting the snake—a simple, black, medium hard shell—Seth is near jogging to checkout. He’s hoping, wishing, and praying that Bron is ok after being left alone in the car for so long. Can Seth be charged for animal cruelty? Sure, the animal is an adult man, but still.

He swings open the car door, only to find the younger man with his feet up on the dashboard, attacking his rope. Seth could deflate like a balloon after the sigh he let out seeing this. He moves to the back of the car and puts the suitcase in the trunk.

Entering the car, he finds that Bron is still in his own world with his rope. The older man is unsure if he should give him the new rope. It feels wrong to try and replace it. Sure, it is functionally better—as functionally better a rope can get—but Bron seems content with his current one. He’s had this rope for who knows how long; the time spent with it can’t just be substituted. If it breaks, Seth will just fix it again. Tucking the toy in the glove compartment along with Bron’s ball, he decides he’ll hold off on giving Bron the new rope.

“Hey, Bron,” calls Seth. The younger man jumps in surprise before smiling at the sight of Seth. Leaning over to his side, he flops in Seth’s lap. He chuckles while beginning to scratch Bron’s head. “I wasn’t gone that long, was I?” Bron gives a fervent nod in response. He laughs, hoping it’s just Bron being an overdramatic puppy and wasn’t neglecting him.

“Ok, ok. The drive can officially start now.” Seth announces as he flicks Bron’s tag. The younger man lets out another yip that melts Seth’s heart, but he hasn’t moved off of his lap. “I can’t drive with you on my lap, sorry,” he regretfully informs. Without a fight, Bron sits up straight. “Good boy,” Seth commends as he fastens both of their seatbelts. “Now, the drive can officially start.”

Not having a particular destination, Seth decides to drive west. The younger man winds down his window, staring intently at Seth for him to do the same for the rest of the windows. Unsurprisingly, this created a vortex inside the vehicle, causing the older man’s hair to blow wildly. Bron’s face displays a sly smile. “You little trickster,” the older man accuses. As they’re not just out of the city yet, Seth grabs one of a few dozen hair ties in the glove compartment and ties his hair back at the next stoplight.

That trick Bron pulled reminds the older man of Dean—little Dean, specifically. He always tries—and often fails—to pull tricks on Roman and Seth. Once he hid all the clocks in the house so he could stay up past his bed time—forgetting their phones also tell time. Another time he put the butter in the box of margarine and vice versa—not realizing the actual sticks were still labeled. And most recently, colored in Roman’s tattoos with a marker while he was asleep—he was caught literally red handed.

That brings Seth to his main concern: how will Bron and Dean interact? When he was operating under the impression that Bron was also little, the older man assumed they would be like brothers. Now? While their headspaces are pretty different, Seth believes they’ll still get along great. Though, they probably shouldn’t be left alone together if they’re both regressed: someone big should keep an eye on them.

Glancing over at Bron—“WHAT THE HELL?!” Most of Bron’s top half is sticking out the window, him staring off into the distance. Gripping the hem of his shirt, Seth yanks him back inside. Stabilizing the car first, he whips his head back to the younger man. “Bron! What were you thinking?! That’s a bad dog!” Doing his best to keep the car straight while re-fastening Bron’s seatbelt, he turns and grumbles to himself afterwards.

“Cows,” is all the younger man chokes out, sounding like he’s on the verge of tears.

Great. Now Seth feels like the worst person on the planet. He sighs before pulling over onto the shoulder of the road.

“Bron? Can you look at me?” Bron's looking at the floor with his hands wrapped around his collar. It’s clear he’s holding back tears. Despite the older man’s request, Bron doesn’t move an inch. “Look, I’m not mad. I was just… scared.” That word seems to catch Bron’s attention; he turns slightly towards Seth. “I didn’t know if you were going to fall out or get hit by a sign or what. I’m sorry for being so aggressive. I just want to keep you safe.”

Seth extends his hand halfway towards the younger man. Bron slowly moves his hand to meet. Mimicking his slow pace, Seth pulls Bron’s hand closer and gives it a firm bite, topping it off with a kiss on the bite mark. “You’re not a bad dog.” Bron smiles and does the same to Seth’s hand.

“What were you even looking at by the way? It had to be something interesting to do that.” Wiping his tears away, Bron simply points behind him.

Looking past the younger man, Seth spots at least two dozen cows grazing off in the distance. “Oh, yeah, of course. You told me,” he chuckles to himself. “The landscape is nice, so I can’t blame you too much for doing that. You can still look at the cows from inside the car, understand?” Bron nods his head before resting his head on the door, staring at the cows. Seth takes a photo of the man with the cows in view before starting the car.

Seth thinks how it’s been a few hours since they’ve had breakfast. He isn’t exactly hungry but is unsure about how the younger man is feeling. It’s not like he can get a real answer while Bron is like this, but he might as well try. “Hey, you hungry?” Bron has been captivated by the view outside even since the cows have long passed—he seems oblivious to the older man's question. Blindly reaching over to Bron, he taps him and repeats his question. Bron gives a short hum in response.

“What do you want?” Seth asks, hoping he can get at least a one word response. Instead, Bron grabs his hand and bites it. “Thanks, puppy, but that doesn’t really help,” he informs. In response, he bites Seth’s hand again. “I’m asking what kind of food do you want,” he clarifies, wondering if Bron misunderstood the question. The younger man gives a low growl before firmly grasping both sides of Seth’s hand and biting one last time.

The realization hits the older man harder than when Bron tackled him to the ground yesterday. “Oh! You want a sandwich!” Bron yips in response. Pulling out his phone to find the nearest sandwich place, he can hear Roman’s condemning voice in the back of his head: saying it’s dangerous to text and drive. Well luckily Seth’s not texting. Even more fortunately, there’s a Subway 20 minutes away. Even more fortunately, Dean and Roman aren’t here to silently make fun of him for his choice of food from Subway.

At the Subway, Seth is sure to wind up the two front windows just in case Bron tries to pull a similar stun from earlier. Sure, they’re parked now, but a grown man with a dog collar sticking half of his body out of a window will probably draw a lot of unwanted attention.

Stepping through the building’s doors is only now when the older man realized he doesn’t know what kind of sandwich Bron wants. While walking to the counter, he’s reading at the menu displayed above. As to not be annoying trying to decide what he wants when he’s already about to order, Seth picks the first thing he thinks the younger man will like: an Italian BMT. For him: a “skinny bitch”—coined by Dean—chicken wrap.

A few minutes later, Seth is back in the car with the food. “Have no fear, sandwiches are here,” Seth announces. Bron gives him the slightest glance before going back to his rope. “I’m sure this sandwich tastes better than that rope,” he jokes. The younger man leans over to Seth—thinking he’s going for the food—and pulls his seat belt over him, failing to get it to actually buckle however.

“You want to leave?” Bron nods. “You still want to go to the park?” He nods again. “So you want to eat at the park?” He shakes his head once more. Checking the time—with the time it will take to drive to the park from here, play more Catch, and eat—Seth agrees that it’s best to go to the park immediately.

The sky is slowly starting to adopt an orange and pink tint. The younger man is back to gazing out the window. Seth's making it a point to check on him every minute to make sure another couple dozen cattle doesn't invite him to endanger himself. While the drive hasn't been very stimulating for the older man—not including that event, Seth will never live that down—Bron's been enjoying himself, that's all Seth could ask for.

With the way the light is painting the younger man, Seth is taking increasingly longer glances at him. A part of him wants to pull over right now and give Bron all the head scratches and praises he could ever want. That can wait until the park, though. Seth's not exactly sure why he feels this way all of a sudden—that's a lie, he knows exactly why. He doesn't just love Bron; he's in love with Bron.

While Seth did technically say that he loved him already, it was more so a platonic kind of love—especially because he thought Bron was little when he said that. That kind of love hasn't disappeared, of course. But when proposing the idea that they date, Seth was only slightly more sure of it than Bron was.

So why does he feel like he's in love with Bron only now? Stop—what is he thinking? Seth needs to get this idea out of his head. He already established that Bron is just testing the waters of their relationship. Seth needs to slow down about this love thing until they're back home. He's going to set himself up for a world of hurt otherwise.

They're at the park now? Right—the park! “Positive attitude,” Seth mumbles to himself. Bron hums while turning to the older man. Putting on a welcoming smile he dismisses, “I was just thinking, it's nothing. Let's go now.”

Bron is the last person who needs to be told to go to the park. Undoing his seatbelt, he's out of the car with his rope before Seth can know it.

Being alone, Seth breathes a sigh. Grabbing the bag of food, he thinks to bring the new rope just in case Bron's old one breaks. Would it be a good time to try and give it to him if that happens? “The worst he can do is reject it,” Seth comforts himself. Hiding the rope at the bottom of the bag and keeping the ball in his pocket, he follows the younger man.

There's just one problem: Bron is nowhere to be seen. Seth begins calling for Bron while scoping the park. A good 2 minutes of shouting with no Bron in sight, the older man begins walking to their spot from yesterday. His intuition is proven right when he finds Bron laying flat on the grass, gazing at the rest of the park.

“Could you not see me looking for you from up here?” Seth interrogates. Bron nods his head, simultaneously rubbing his face on the grass. “You just wanted to chill out here with the grass giving you free scratches?” Bron smiles and again nods. “Silly puppy,” he condemns while while grinning.

Sitting down next to the younger man, Seth gives him two options, “Do you want to play or eat first?” Bron simply points to the bag. Seth passes him his food and admits “I didn’t know what you wanted exactly so I just got you an Italian BMT because it has a lot of meat.” Bron makes no objection; he continues tearing through the paper.

The older man holds off on eating himself; he watches Bron eat for a moment, waiting for any kind of distaste for the sandwich. As Bron eats with no complaint, Seth finally gets to his food. As he takes his first bite of his wrap, he feels an overwhelming sense of judgement being radiated from the younger man—Seth will never escape this curse.

As Seth finishes his wrap, he notices Bron holding the last 2 inches of his sandwich. “Do you not want to eat that last bit?” Seth wonders. At his question, the younger man holds it closer to Seth’s face. “Is this for me?” Bron nods his head. Seth decides to bite the sandwich right out of Bron’s hand, earning a yip from the younger man.

Now satiated, the older man proposes they begin their game of catch. In response, Bron begins running in the opposite direction, his tag’s jingling growing fainter. Seth takes this as his desire to start the game; he begins going in the opposite direction of Bron—walking instead as the younger man is covering enough distance for the both of them. Once he’s felt there’s enough space between them by now, Seth turns around to find Bron has wildly overshot the necessary distance.

“This will get him going,” he says as he pulls out the ball. Lining up his shot, he launches the ball with far more accuracy than he did yesterday. He can see the shrunken image of the younger man slowly grow as he races for the ball. Unsurprisingly, Bron is unable to get to it before it hits the ground and rolls the rest of the way to him. He seems to have learned his lesson as he returns the ball from his current spot.

Preparing to receive the ball, Seth finds that it will fly right over him. Running further back, he jumps and perfectly secures the ball. “Did he overshoot it on purpose? Petty dog,” he laughs to himself. They repeat this process for several rounds as the sky deepens in its orange hue. The older man also learns that practicing semi-intense cardio immediately after eating doesn’t yield a great feeling in the abdomen. Still, he braves on for Bron’s sake—Bron doesn’t seem to be affected at all, not slowing down in the slightest during their game.

When he deems it late enough—and only partly because his body is starting to give out—Seth decides to end the game. Walking towards the younger man, as he did yesterday, Bron breaks into a sprint towards Seth. “Not again!” Seth cries before beginning to run away from him. Unfortunately, this only encourages Bron to hunt him down with more determination and he spears into the older man once more.

Rolling over with a groan, Seth is face to face with the younger man panting but still wearing a large smile. “You’re going to kill me doing that one day,” he says miserably. Patting the side of Bron’s sweaty face, Seth informs, “The sunset is going to happen soon. Can you help me up?” The younger man climbs off of him and pulls him up—Bron doing the majority of the work in getting Seth to stand.

The younger man is refusing to release Seth as he drags him to their original spot. He plops down next to the bag and waits for Seth to follow suit. Once both are situated, Bron grabs his rope and goes at it. Knowing the day is just about over, the older man asks, “Did you have fun today, puppy?” Bron fervently nods his head. Seth smiles, “I had a lot of fun today, too. “Do you want to do this again sometime—spending the day in your headspace I mean?” Bron nods his head with the same intensity. Suddenly—

The younger man’s rope breaks once more. They both stare at it in silence for a moment. Looking up at Bron, Seth can see tears welling up in his eyes. Holding his hand to the side of Bron’s face, he interrupts, “No no you don’t have to cry. I can just fix it again like before.” The younger man shoves the two halves of the rope to Seth.

A part of him isn’t certain about following through with his plan at the moment. Like he was thinking before: he can just perpetually fix the rope. The old rope is familiar. He doesn’t want Bron to feel like he’s being forced to accept the new rope because it’s “better.” Right, he’ll fix it right now. He’ll fix it right now. He’ll fix it right now... Why won’t his hands move?

“The worst he can do is reject it,” he remembers.

Seth drops the two rope pieces. “The worst he can do is reject it.” He reaches for the bag. “The worst he can do is reject it.” He pulls out the new rope. “The worst he can do is reject it.” He extends his arm to the younger man. “The worst he can do is reject it.” And Bron takes it.

Bron examines the rope—looking at the pattern, feeling the texture, testing the toughness—before looking up at Seth. He brings the rope close to his chest and hesitantly questions “Mine?” The older man nods his head though his face still has a look of uncertainty. Bringing it closer to his mouth, Bron gives a test bite before sounding a cheerful hum. He evolves into more confident bites until he’s playing indistinguishably from his old rope.

That being said, after about a minute of attacking the rope, Bron stops. He picks up the 2 pieces of his old rope and mournfully states, “Keep.”

Seth is unsure what to do currently. It’s great that Bron likes the new rope. It’s also great that Bron doesn’t want to abandon the old one for the new one—which is what Seth feared he would make Bron feel he’d have to do. But now? Fixing the old rope—when it’s inevitably going to break again—doesn’t feel right. Seth’s unsure if this is even his call to make in the first place.

That is until he comes up with another solution.

“Puppy? Can you do 2 things for me?” Bron slowly shakes his head, looking like he’ll burst into tears any second. “Great. First thing: can you extend your arm?” He complies with a slightly puzzled expression. “And the second thing: can you close your eyes until I tell you to open them? Just trust me.” Bron follows this request with no resistance either.

Grabbing the first piece of rope, Seth ties a simple knot around the younger man’s extended wrist—leaving it a bit loose so it can come on and off any time. He grabs the second piece and does the same to his own wrist.

“Ok, you can open your eyes now.” Bron lets out a gasp and before he knows it, the younger man is crying into his shirt. Rubbing his back, Seth chuckles “I’m glad you liked it.”

Seth knows he should probably let Bron cry it all out, but he also knows Bron will blame himself for missing this view. He gently separates Bron from himself and lifts his chin. Seth wipes the tears from his eyes and says, “If you keep on crying, you’re going to miss the sunset.” A faint smile appears on the younger man’s face before he slams his face into the crook of Seth’s neck and mumbles.

Trying to suppress his laugh, the older man reminds him, “You know I can’t hear you when you do that.” Letting out a low growl as he pulls out his face, Bron quietly repeats, “Love you.”

Seth is a bit too stunned to annoy Bron further with his low volume. Those words were more than loud enough for him. Even though Bron is currently regressed, those words didn’t come from nowhere—Bron has to feel that way to at least some degree. Platonic or romantic? To a great or little extent? Seth doesn’t care. Hearing those words makes him feel like he’s at the top of the world.

To not scare Bron, simply says, “I love you too.” To his surprise, the younger man is the one to instigate this kiss. It’s as brief as all the ones before, but it carries a wave of something new yet familiar. It reminds Seth of when he first kissed Dean and Roman—that’s it! Seth is pretty certain of how he wants this whole “dating thing” to go now.

“Thank you for that,” is all the older man can get out. Bron smiles and pats the side of Seth’s face before resting his head in his lap and staring out at the horizon. The contact fully brings Seth down to Earth. “It’s finally starting,” he mumbles to himself, “It looks a lot nicer out here.”

He starts scratching Bron’s head as usual—it’s like clockwork now. The cool air mixed with the only noise being of the two men’s breaths fills Seth with a type of relaxation that’s hard to come by. Looking down at the younger man—the evening light enveloping him—Seth finally figures out the reason he’s in love with Bron. It’s days like these; even after all of the ups and downs they go through, they still end up relaxing together watching the sunset.

Seth couldn’t tell you how many times he’s had to vent to Roman or Dean about wishing he could spend more time with Bron when he was back home. Or how many times he had to be the one to put on a brave face while the younger man so openly mourned having to leave. Or how often he just thought of Bron, wishing he was near him in general.

It’s honestly astounding it took Seth to realize he was in love with Bron. Though, he shouldn’t get his hopes up too high, “World of hurt,” remember? …No. What Seth shouldn’t do is worry about the “What if’s.” If it ends up not working out—then Seth will cross that bridge when he gets there. He’s not going to ruin a perfect moment with his over-thinking.

Right now, he’s enjoying a beautiful sunset with the man he loves, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.