#oh dear! the anons are enabling this behaviour!

[thlayli-ra]

hi knightreigns anon back again 🎉 how do you think that knight, having been a loner for so long and very used to taking care of himself, would respond to aftercare (particularly from roman)? he seems to me like a guy who’s very “i can take care of myself” but lets face it… sometimes you Can’t. and roman wouldn’t let him.

oh and on a darker note- knight is alone, both by choice and as a result of him being kind of an asshole. would roman exploit that. how well would it work do you think

ANYWAY thank you for indulging me i will probably be back. i hope your day is going well !

Hello again! Back for more mindless dissecting of two lovely, beefy gentlemen, I see? Very well...

(Friendly reminder that this is all my own head cannons based mainly on my fanfictions)

To answer your question, would Knight accept aftercare from Roman? Yes, absolutely he would! Simply because he needs it. His back is all swollen and torn, he's exhausted and beaten down from not only their match but also their play in the Winner's Room and if Roman is offering to rub lotion on his wounds and lather him in praise, he's gonna take it.

Because first of all, Knight likes intimacy (in my fics, he's a big ol' slut!). He likes to bat his big, blue eyes, get fawned over like the prettiest girl at the ball then rock someone's world between the sheets. He has an ego, remember, or as he calls it, 'an undeniable kavorka'.

He is also not above using other people to meet his needs, which is a by-product of him being a loner. If he can't get something done by himself, he will find someone who can. For instance, in 'Break These Chains', he seduces and manipulates Bobby Lashley to help free him from Bray Wyat/Uncle Howdy's clutches.

What he struggles with, however, is the concept of altruism - doing something out of kindness, with no ulterior motive. He experiences this when Bobby find him in a extremely rare moment of vulnerability (Knight is the kind who never lets the mask slip) and it makes him question his motives for once;

"You were supposed to stick to the game plan. Seduce him, have him put down Wyatt and Howdy, maybe have a little fun along the way if you were lucky enough... You were never supposed to go and start having actual feelings for the guy."

Yet, by the end of the fic, Bobby lightly scolds Knight for smoking a cigar in his car and Knight's immediate reaction is 'oh well, guess that's it then'. That's just how the world works in his mind, you get what you need from somebody and move on (I have a sequel in mind that will challenge this mindset greatly for him!)

So going back to Roman, the after-care is purely transactional. Both men got what they wanted and leave it at that, then when Knight inevitably goes for Roman and his championship again, there's nothing personal between them.

As for your other query; would Roman exploit Knight's loner status?

Yes. Kinda???

Roman's at the top of the food chain in WWE. He's the Undisputed Champion, he's the Tribal Chief, he is untouchable. There's nothing he really needs from Knight. Like I said in my last post, he's more a toy for Roman to play with or take his frustrations out on.

Roman wouldn't so much exploit Knight's loneliness as expose it and use it as a way to mock him. Roman is surrounded by his Bloodline who does his every bidding. If he wants Knight for his Winner's Room, he'll send Jimmy and Solo to 'collect' him, he'll have them attack Knight in the ring so he can pick at the bones, he'll have them restrain him or wear him down, maybe even pass him around a bit. Oh and uh, Paul Heyman likes to watch... just saying! All just to highlight how easily it is to get to Knight since he's left himself wide open while also saying 'you can't touch me, look at what I have. You wish you had this!'.

The closest Knight has ever had to an ally (and look, he's right there in that gif👆) is John Cena, who's something of a mentor to Knight and eventually passes the torch to him, hence why Knight now wears an arm band as part of his gear. But what happened to Cena? Roman had Solo take him out! In a very specific way too - they targeted Cena's throat!

Silencing a prolific speaker? Taking one of his greatest weapons away from him? Hmmm... think there was another message there?

In the end, it was this exact advantage that won Roman the title match - he had his Bloodline to help him through while Knight had nobody in his corner. Perhaps one day, Knight will make a deeper connection with someone, somebody who is open to his friendship, has similar interests and similar goals. A similar catchphrase, even? Perhaps...?