About You Now

The Truth Hurts

"So you finally asked Echo, huh?" quizzed Dean, a brotherly grin cast upon his lips, at the same time ignoring Roman jogging down the hall behind them; no doubt he would attempt to convince them to forgive and forget as he had done many times since ending things with Serenity. Still, the Samoan didn't want to understand that Serenity wasn't their problem; he was and what he had done. "Still thinking of asking her the other one?" he asked, recalling this had been the most determined Seth had been about anything in his school life, even more determined than getting on the wrestling team.

"Hey," called Roman, acting as if the trio still shared the strong brotherly bond they'd once been known for. The moment he caught up with them, their previous conversation died, and the shared grins disappeared, replaced with silence. It was as if all the air had been sucked away. All the love had faded the moment he had joined them again. Roman sighed upon sensing their coldness again, the anger that radiated from them as if they believed he was the enemy that would finally destroy them. "How many times have I got to say I'm sorry?" he sighed, noticing how both glanced at each other as if they were reading each other's minds before they turned and walked away again. Roman, however, simply shook his head and ran to catch up again; he wasn't about to give up that easily; they were his brothers, and he wanted to fix their friendship, their brotherhood, and return the closeness that had once been between them.

"Sorry isn't gonna fix it," worded Dean, stopping at his locker to put his side bag into the tin can and retrieve his gym bag. He and Seth had plans to work out for a bit, and both knew the NXT Hall gym would be the quietest; only the Darklings had access to it. "You did everything you could to rip us apart, our family apart; you knew what you were doing when you burnt the bridge; you didn't care then, so why start now?" stated Dean, walking off to rejoin Seth further down the hall. The Architect had stopped at his own locker, next to Echo and AJ's; he'd gotten his gym wear but had stopped to look over the photos delicately placed on Echo's locker; a soft grin appeared upon seeing the one of him and Echo together.

"I don't expect you to understand," started Roman, instantly regretting his chosen words, especially with his next sentence. "I did what I did because I thought I was in love," he added, almost crashing into Dean when he stopped in the deserted corridor. Seth, too, seemed to have heard his words as he simply shook his head and walked toward the nearest staircase. "I didn't mean it like that."

"You didn't do that for love; you did it for yourself," simply replied Dean, "We know, love, I'd do almost anything to see Renee smile, but I also know she wouldn't demand I tear apart my brother's happiness to prove something to her," he added, recalling all the times he hung out with Renee, Echo, AJ, and Nikki before the miss-matched family had come together, the trips to the cinema to see a random film, random little meet-ups at Pumpkin Spice and the study sessions on the weekend. Even then, Renee had never expected anything and always encouraged him to keep working on his own friendships and brotherhood. "Seth turned everything he knew about school life upside down to prove to Echo he was serious about his feelings for her. Our family formed because of it, and you say we don't understand what someone would do for love."

"He also cheated on her with Becky, broke her heart," added Roman, being thankful Seth wasn't in earshot, but still, he and Dean knew it was the truth. "He made promises he couldn't keep. You may have been faithful and treated Renee like a queen, but that doesn't mean either of you truly understand love; it doesn't mean either of you found your person," he added, once again regretting his word choice. "Seth swore he'd never go through the high school romance again after Lacey; he never looked at anyone after she broke him ..."

"I've made promises I didn't keep for one reason or another, too," spoke Dean, defending Seth, his brother. "Yes, Seth broke Echo's heart, and he suffered the consequences of his dumbass decision when she found out; unlike you, Seth regretted his actions; he suffered when she wasn't there but didn't push her because he loves her and knew he deserved the pain. He spent every day since she came back trying to make up for the pain he caused. What have you done, Roman, other than shift the blame and make excuses?"