Seth was breathing heavily, cuddling in bed with Dean after their... earlier activities. Dean had finally unlocked the handcuffs keeping Seth's hands in place, letting the younger man rake his fingers softly through his light brown curls. He was almost purring from the small, loving action. Seth noticed this, pressing a soft kiss to his lover's forehead. He had an uneasy feeling, however, as if Dean wasn't telling him everything. Call it whatever you want, but Seth always knew when something was wrong. The birthday boy sat up, startling Dean out of his relaxed trance. The brunette looked up at his soulmate, puzzled by his actions. "Baby, what aren't you telling me?" Seth asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know. I've just got the feeling that I'm missin' something here. Are you hiding something from me?" Seth's piercing brown eyes searched Dean's for any flicker of emotion. All he saw was unmistakable love looking back at him.

"Of course I am! You've still got presents to open. And we still have places to go," he exclaimed giddily, a huge smile on his face. Seth beamed back relieved, though the nagging feeling didn't go away entirely. "We are opening the rest of your presents and eating some cake, but first..." Dean slowly got up, Seth whining at the loss of contact. The Lunatic Fringe picked up his soon to be husband bridal style, carrying him towards the bathroom. "We need to get cleaned up."

XxX

After a steamy shower together, the two proceeded into the living room of their shared apartment in Vegas. A considerable amount of presents lay scatter along the loveseat on the other side of the room. They were all different sizes, colors, and shapes, and lay beneath a pile of cards. Seth looked shocked to see this many things for him. Dean grinned at him. "Well, don't just stand there like an idiot. Open 'em already!" Seth eagerly scampered over and grabbed one of the biggest boxes in the pile. It was from Roman. He ripped the wrapping away and practically tore into the box to find the new laptop he'd been eyeing for the last few months there. He ogled at the sleeker, more high-tech design.

"You're the best, Rome!" He picked up another box, blue and red striped from Jimmy and Jey, and found various boxes of chocolate and candy. Milk Duds, Hershey's bars, Snickers, Twix, Airheads, Sour Patch Kids, and countless others were crammed into the box. He grabbed a Twix and bit into it, savoring the taste. He got a few movies and PS3 games from Galina and CM Punk. His parents had sent him gift cards for all his favorite restaurants. A few friends back home had sent him some of the comics and books he'd left behind (and by some, that meant a collection that was built up over thirteen years). Last were Dean's presents. "I saved the best for last," he told his lover. Dean blushed a bit and watched Seth carefully open the last three boxes.

The first was an unlimited free pass to a local arcade Seth couldn't get enough of. He could see it now: standing at the counter buried in a pile of tickets waist high, beating Dean at ski ball and having an air hockey war, all the pizza and slushies he could have on his cheat days... He snapped out of his daze and grabbed another present. The second was a smaller, can shaped package. It was the most curious looking. When he ripped it open his eyes went wide and he gave Dean that "Really?" look accompanied by a smirk. It was a can of whipped cream. "What? I forgot it this morning, so I thought I'd just give it to you instead. We can have some fun with that..."

Seth blushed and picked up the last present. It was shaped like a book. Since when would Dean walk into a bookstore of any kind? The man liked to read sure, but he wouldn't be caught dead in a store filled with books. He had an image to maintain after all. Seth carefully took the wrapping paper off and froze. He was staring at a photo album. He flipped past the cover and saw that it was even organized: High School, FCW, The Original Shield, Now. They'd all gone to highschool together, not seeing each other all again until FCW. Their friendship improved until they became the Shield. It was the closest they'd gotten to being official. Then there was the betrayal and all that jazz. After all had been forgiven, they got back on track and were in a relationship. They reformed the Shield and went back to being on top in WWE, in singles careers and as a tag team. Now, here they were on his birthday, reminiscing about everything with smiles. It brought tears of joy to Seth's eyes seeing all the pictures of them together.

"Dean, this is..." He couldn't even form words to describe his feelings. He leaped into his lover's arms and kissed him with so much love and passion that it could be felt states away. He didn't care about the tears he was smearing on his lover's face or how he was practically clinging to him. "There aren't words..."

"Hey, don't break down on me now. We've still got a few things left to do," Dean said, just a hint of nervousness in his voice. He still had one more present to give to Seth before the end of the day. He was determined to make the moment absolutely perfect. "You got a suit?" Seth smiled at him in confuzzlement.

" 'Course I do, why?"

"We are goin' somewhere fancy tonight!" Dean declared. "I get to spoil you all day, so you can't say no. *claps hands together* So I hope you're hungry. I'm takin' you to the most expensive restaurant around here!"

"Dean, you don't have to waste your money on me. We could just stay here and order out."

"Spending money on you is a privilege, not a waste," the brunette retorted. "Seriously, let's get dressed. Unless you wanna mope around here all day..."

"But it'd be with you... And my cake," referring to the two tiered marble cake sitting in the kitchen.

"But it wouldn't have barbecue, seafood, and all the overpriced food you could eat." Right on cue, Seth's stomach rumbled obnoxiously, making both men laugh simultaneously. "See what I mean?"

"Alright, you win. But there better be a trip to an arcade planned afterwards."

"In suits? We'll look ridiculous."

"Yeah, ridiculously handsome. So what if we're a bit overdressed? The only person's opinion that matters is yours," Seth said, pulling Dean in for yet another soft kiss.

"If you *kiss* keep doing that *kiss*, we'll never *moan* wanna- Jesus, Seth!- leave!" he yelled, voice a slightly higher pitch than usual. Seth grinned mischievously before grinding against Dean. The older man let out a low groan and did it right back. Before he could do much else, however, Seth pulled away with one last kiss and headed towards their room. Dean did not whine from the loss of contact. Do you need your ears checked? "You're just gonna leave me with this raging boner, man? That's just cruel!"

"I thought you said we had somewhere to be?!" his boyfriend shouted from the next room.

"Sly bastard," Dean mumbled before going to look for his clothes.

XxX

Dean had spent almost a thousand dollars to reserve seats at Vegas' fanciest restaurant. Did he mention it was almost a thousand dollars for each seat? "Jesus Christ, Dean! You spent all that money just for food?!" They were being lead to their table, which sat in the middle of the spacious, luxurious place, and were receiving curious looks by other people dining in as well. Dean flashed them all hearty smiles that spelled out "Fuck off" in bold neon letters as they passed and proceeded to pull Seth's chair out for him. "Aren't you a gentleman?" Seth asked lightheartedly, still ogling at the sight before him. The place had three levels: the main floor, where everyone ate, a mini casino right above it, and a balcony reserved only for special guests.

"I try sometimes, ya know? And you're askin' why this place is so expensive. *hands him a menu* Here." Seth flipped through its many pages, eyes growing wider by the second at all the dishes they served. He didn't think he'd be able to choose. "Now do you understand?"

"There has to be at least one dish from every country on here!" he exclaimed. Dishes from France, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Japan, China, Russia, New Zealand, Singapore, and America, of course, to name a few. Dean thought Seth looked positively adorkable (no, that wasn't a typo) when he was excited. His inside melted and he felt that familiar cloud nine feeling come over him. "I could get this seafood platter, the pasta specialty, ooh! Barbecue..." For a fancy restaurant, they had a lot of common foods here too.

"Order whatever you want, everything's on me." Seth did just that, making sure he got a little of everything that caught his eye. Dean, just for the heck of it, ordered the same along with a few of his personal favorites, making whoever worked in the kitchen probably have a heart attack. They got a few bottles of various champagnes along with their meal. Seth raised his glass.

"To us, on my special day."

"Don't you mean to you?"

"Don't ruin the moment, baby. Just go with it. I'm not that self centered."

"Heh. Well..."

"See? There it goes," he chuckled. They clinked glasses and enjoyed the rest of their dinner. When they ate until bursting point, someone from the casino floor showed them to the balcony. Seth marveled at the breathtaking sight. Vegas never slept it seemed, as lights zoomed past. From here, you had a view of the whole city. Even the Vegas Strip didn't look as sinful as usual. "It's beautiful..." Seth whispered. Dean held him from behind, smiling gently at his lover.

"The night's not over yet. We still have an arcade to go to." He took Seth's hands into his handled them out the door and into his car. They spent most of the rest of the evening trying to beat each other and earn more tickets. With Seth's unlimited pass, they tried everything. They were having so much fun, they didn't notice the funny glances from customers or the annoyed ones from the staff. And if their massive pile of a couple thousand tickets was anything to judge by, they didn't care either way. "Okay, it's either the new Nerf gun set that we need to try out, or, pfft, action figures of us!" They were looking at the expensive prizes and they were the only things that looked worth spending tickets on. Seth pointed to the Nerf guns and the guy behind the counter handed it to him, gawking at the amount of tickets they still had left. "And we'll be back to but the entire thing next time!" Dean shouted over his shoulder.

"So, we had *cough* breakfast, an amazing dinner at that overpriced restaurant, and we started an arcade game war. Anything else?" Seth was holding Dean's hand, both sitting in his Camaro with sappy grins on their faces.

"I have one more thing to give to you, then we can go home. But first, *pulls out a blindfold*, put this on." Seth did as he was told, a bit skeptical at first, but he trusted Dean with his life. The ride was only a few minutes, their hands never leaving each other's, before Dean slowly undid the blindfold. Seth had another cheesy, sappy, lovey-dovey smile on his face. They were in a deserted part of the desert. It was open with nothing but mountains and trees in the distance. Above them was a canopy of blazing stars. The younger man embraced Dean. It was Dean's favorite stargazing spot, the place where they'd spent their first night together. "Surprise." The two lay in each other's arms in the hood of the car.

"You only come out here when you're in a really good mood or about to tell me something crazy."

"How about both?" He sat up with Seth and then leaned in and took his breath away with the most passionate, love filled kiss he'd ever given him. Seth moaned, cupping Dean's cheek and pulling them closer. Dean wrapped his arms around Seth, but stopped Seth before he could swing a leg over his hip. "Wait." Dean stopped kissing him, placing a hand over Seth's leg and between their chests while sliding off the car. Seth stopped unexpectedly, looking guilty.

"Did I do something wrong?" He looked like he was blaming himself for Dean's reaction. He turned away and glanced at the ground in shame. Dean immediately grabbed his face and gave him a hard glare.

"You never do anything wrong. Never. I just... I won't be able to give you your last present if we have sex. We can do that after..." Dean suddenly looked nervous. He got a bit twitchy and his once cocky stance was now shy. He scratched the back of his neck and avoided eye contact with his lover.

"You're nervous. Oh God, what are you about to do?"

"I'm not gonna sound like myself. Don't you say a word until I'm finished, 'kay?" Seth nods vigorously. Dean took a deep breath and tried, failing successfully, to relax. "We, um... heh, I'm gonna sound like some sap sayin' all this chick flick stuff. Ever since I met you, I knew you were something else. It wasn't just your looks or your wrestling style, those beautiful brown eyes or your a-adorable, well, used to be adorable, hair. *Seth scoffs at him referencing the blonde patch* It was you, you as a whole. Your dorky personality drew me in, swallowed me whole. I... I got afraid because, y-you know, I don't trust anyone that easy. With you, it, it was different. Even... even after all that's happened, we never gave up on each other, and our love... Our love just got stronger. And the reason I'm sayin' all this stuff is because... I want us to spend the rest of our lives together. A-As more than boyfriends..." Seth's breath caught in his chest. Was Dean saying what he thought he was saying? His boyfriend grabbed his hands and pulled him off the car. They were in the center of the area now. From his back pocket, Dean withdrew a small velvet black and blue box and hid it behind him. "Uh... God, this is harder than I thought it'd be. Heh... What I'm tryin' to say is... (serious voice) Colby Lopez, *gets down on one knee and presents the ring* will you marry me?"

Seth's brain froze and time seemed to freeze with him. He couldn't believe his ears. No wonder Dean had been so insistent on taking him out for the night! It had all led up to this. He couldn't speak, couldn't think, couldn't move. He just kept staring at the golden ring his lover held. When time finally decided to speed up again, he leaped into Dean's arms and kissed the life out of him. "Yes! Yes, Jon, of course!" Dean had to push him back, just enough to slip the ring into his finger, before pulling him back in. He picked up and gently laid Seth on the hood of his Camaro, unbuttoning the shirts under their suit jackets. "I love you. I love you so much..." They continued undressing each other until all their clothes had been thrown into the car.

"I love you too. Happy birthday... fiancé..."