Okay, so I've been meaning to post this story for a little while, but with the whole Roman bombshell I wasn't sure whether to sit on it or not. But nope, if anything I feel we need more Roman right now and especially stories where he is the big loveable lug we all know. Nowhere is he that more than in my little brother series, so here we go again folks.
I hope you enjoy.
One
Back when Papa Reigns had been a boy in Samoa, his father had taken him off fishing once a year, when the summer was at its peak and the conditions had been perfect and was a tradition that the patriarch had continued from there on.
Every midsummer when he could untangle himself from business long enough to justify taking the long weekend off, he and Roman would put the cases in the pickup and then head to the family beach house up on the cape, where they would kick back and spend long hours usually only hooking water, but having a good time anyway being father and son.
Dean knows all this.
He knows because he's heard it when it is mentioned in family conversation from time to time and because he has come across the pictures in family photo albums and been talked through them by Roman who grins the whole time.
Dean grins too.
"Is pop wet in this one?"
"He fell over the side trying to reel in a marlin, which by the way, turned out to be a boot."
Papa Reigns lets out a harrumph from behind them and then flaps the crumpled pages of his newspaper from the comfort of his favored and well-loved chair, in a way that implies he is less than happy with the narrative but which also completely fails to hide the smile in his tones,
"For your information boy it was a marlin but then that damn boot got itself tangled up in it and I fell in trying to bring the thing up to show you because the deck was slippery."
"You keep telling yourself that pop."
"Mind your tongue boy."
But Dean loves hearing the stories regardless because they are a part of the family he has newly become and so therefore the stories are a part of his history now. Or at least he hopes they will be for a long time to come.
He even gets excited as they come to the summer months because there's part of him that hopes they'll invite him along. Except that then that kind of gets lost in the shuffle of his being kidnapped when his long lost mother and her man show up and throw his neat little world into chaos. Fishing trips seem a lot less important beyond that, not to mention the process of being fully legally adopted which happens only a matter of weeks after that.
Dean is happy though.
Delirious even.
Which is therefore the reason he is bewildered by the question when he heads back into the lounge one night, having helped Mama Reigns to wash up the dinner plates and where he finds his father and brother both pouring over schedules and circling random dates.
"Does September work for you son?"
"Huh?"
Dean is perhaps a little less than eloquent as the family patriarch looks casually his way, because he honestly has no idea what the older man is talking about. But he likes hearing the word son regardless because it's what he is now.
"Does September suit you for our annual boys fishing trip?" Papa Reigns continues, "Because granted it is a little later than usual, but I suppose given everything that happened with that woman it can hardly be helped."
Papa Reigns is talking about his birth mom but he ignores that part of it and blinks at them incredulously,
"You mean– you mean you really want me to come?"
Roman looks up from his work schedule at that point, which is probably Dean's work schedule more than likely too, since he and his big brother do nearly everything together. Well, except for the things that Roman saves for his girl but which is fine by the teenager since he set them up together. Reaching out Roman hooks the hem of his shirt front which is still slightly soapy from helping with the plates and then tows him in a little closer to the table before pulling the scruffy curls into a headlock.
"Damn it uce, how many times I gotta say of course we want you?"
Dean tries to twist himself loose,
"Roman stop."
"Besides which you really need a haircut little brother."
He tousles the messy tresses with exaggerated motion and then laughs as the teenager squirms beneath his arm, because even though Dean has had nearly a year of boxing training he is still pretty skinny and yet to hit his growth spurt and so therefore is basically trapped beneath the elbow for as long as Roman keeps him there.
Papa Reigns chuckles,
"Alright enough, let him up."
Dean springs loose but then lifts his head too rapidly so that the blood rushes out of it and leaves him wobbly for a blink, when he refocuses though, Papa Reigns is looking at him with a smile on the big broad and usually business like face.
"Now you listen here my boy."
Dean grins back,
"Listenin'."
"If I'm being honest then I want you there more than I want this one," Papa Reigns loosens a big calloused thumb towards Roman who fakes a look of outrage that makes the teenager beam more, "And besides, this is a trip for the father and sons in this family and I happen to have two sons which means I want them both to come."
Dean bites his lip to stop from whooping loudly.
"But I never been fishin'."
"First time for everything boy and anyway, I can teach you."
"How to catch fish you mean, or shoes?" Dean grins cheekily and then covers his head over as one of the big schedule books is levered his way in a teasing little swat that he knows would never hurt him, because unlike his old man his shiny new father is parental love personified beyond the faux grumpy front and besides which, he has probably earned it for being insolent but which he knows the big man secretly loves.
"Maybe I'll throw you in myself."
"Pa Reigns you stop that," Mama Reigns comes in behind them, holding an enormous plate of lemon cake up, in spite of the fact they have all had beef hotpot and apple dumplings for dessert and cannot possibly have room for more. But Dean still grabs up a gooey slice in case though and holds onto idly savoring the smell. Because he figures a pocket may open in his stomach and suddenly need plugging.
It helps to be prepared.
"My goodness what's all this then?" Mama Reigns blinks at the schedules which she has to shunt to one side over the top of the table to create enough space for the precious lemon cake and which she then has physically has to bat her husband away from since he is meant to be keeping his cholesterol in check. Instead she hands him a bright stick of celery which he takes with a grumble as Roman helps himself to cake.
Dean can barely sit still at the table,
"Roman an' pop are takin' me with 'em when they go on their fishin' trip in a couple of months, an' pop said he's even gonna teach me to catch somethin', because m' plannin' on bringin' home like the biggest fish there is so we can have it for lunch. Maybe even a whale orsomethin'."
He grins but his mother seems to falter instead,
"Did you say fishing?"
"Uh huh."
Papa Reigns puts a hand out and pats her arm gently which confuses Dean a bit because instead of looking happy she looks like she is worried and so he instantly he panics he has made her upset.
"Mom?"
Blinking a little like she is waking from a daydream, the family matriarch paints on a smile and then reaches her hand out which she sweeps through his tangle with light loving strokes that brush some of the looser knots out and which the teenager leans into like some beaten street dog, which is precisely what he is, or at least what he was.
Not so much now though.
Papa Reigns takes over clearly knowing the problem,
"Now no worrying about him Ma. Because Roman and I will be with him the whole time and we will keep ourselves glued to him, I promise you that now. So none of this panicking about the boy falling overboard or any of that sort of nonsense do you hear me wife? Because I'm not in the habit of losing sons on these fishing trips and I have absolutely no plans of starting that business now."
Dean blinks.
Oh.
His mother is worried about his safety.
It takes a beat or two for him to figure that part out, since people caring for him is all still a pretty new thing and since his parents before had beaten him raw or had left him completely or kidnapped him for ransom. He turns to catch her blouse hem not liking her being anxious and liking even less being the cause of it,
"I'll be okay, Roman an' pop are gonna look after me."
"I know they will baby."
His bigger brother blows out a snort,
"Damn straight uce, been through too much with your damn ass to let your scrawny behind get eaten by a squid now. Not even a lost marlin shaped boot is going to get you," Roman throws a wry look over at his father who glares back at him over a chorus of hushed snorts and then throws his hands up,
"Dean son, looks like it might be just the two of us."
"Fine by me pop."
"Hey uce," Roman lifts up a brow, "Might wanna remember who you live with little brother."
He then follows that up by reaching a hand over and resuming the loose brotherly headlock from before, in response to the teenager insolently poking his tongue out and which makes their patient mother throw her hands up before reaching over to slap at Papa Reigns again who has used the distraction to sneak a slice of cake. Roman mercilessly ruffles the off blonde tangle as his little brother struggles,
"Roman ugh come on, no fair."
"Need to hear you say you're not going without me."
"I probably won't go without you?" Dean offers up instead.
"Nope not good enough," Roman tousles the hair harder so that nothing short of conditioner and a teasing comb will be able to fix it and in response the teenager throws a hand out, but manages to knock over a glass of coca cola which promptly sails over the white tablecloth then hits the pale carpet in a wave of black stickiness.
Mama Reigns gasps and everyone stops.
Oh no.
Dean can hear his heartbeat beginning to pound in triple time as he watches the sugared mixture blend and bubble in the weave. He has been here before. Back when his father spilled a beer one time but then blamed him and made it clear him up.
Damn little shit, look what you made happen.
Dean is back there in a second,
"M' — m' sorry."
He slips free of the headlock then grabs up a napkin which he throws on the puddle as he lands on his knees, but which then panics him more as the white cloth turns brown on him because now he has made not one but two messes to clean up and because his father will beat him raw because of it.
Roman calls out to him tentatively,
"Hey uce?"
"He - he'll hit me. He's gonna be so angry. I gotta clean it up. It - it was an accident I swear."
He is rubbing the napkin further and further into the carpet and breathing so hard he feels he needs to throw up, which wouldn't exactly help the whole puddle fiasco and so he hiccups at the knowledge and swallows it back. He is breathing fast too which makes the world all kind of spotty and there are tears beginning to prickle in his eyes. He is expecting at any second to feel a boot to the stomach or the back of hand swiping in across his head and which is why he then flinches and lets out a whimper as fingers brush across his shoulder and make him scrabble back.
Mama Reigns is crouched on the carpet in front of him with a hand over her mouth.
Mama Reigns.
His mother now.
Dean blinks and then ever so slowly looks up again.
Papa Reigns and Roman are both watching from the table with silent but heartbroken looks of concern, but on the plus side they remind the teenager where he is precisely and more importantly therefore where he is categorically not. He is not in his crappy childhood home any longer and his murderous birth father is safely locked up.
Mama Reigns moves in a little bit closer,
"Baby can I touch you?"
"Uh – uh huh," Dean nods, but he cannot stop the shiver that briefly runs through him as she reaches towards him and pulls him into her arms before beginning to rock and shush him like a baby as the scent of her perfume begins to flow through his veins.
He blows out a breath and then sags,
"M' – m' sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about sweetheart, nothing at all and besides, I've wanted to change this carpet since forever."
His mother now.
He feels himself relax.
"Now this is why the poor boy needs himself a fishing trip," Papa Reigns offers from the table in broad tones but pointing at his wife with the tip of his dinner fork, which has a piece of lemon cake rammed on the end. Dean snickers weakly and his safe new father winks at him,
"So, does this mean I still get to go?"
From where he is tucked against the buttons of Mama Reigns blouse hem, Dean sounds heartfelt but defeated all at once and in response to the missive all eyes swing to the matriarch, who pauses briefly with her hands still in his hair and with what is obviously still a measure of doubtfulness.
"Oh baby, how could I ever say no to those big blue eyes? But now promise me you'll your lifebelt the whole time and to listen to whatever Pa and Roman tell you to do and not to get too close to the water?"
The teenager nods super keenly in response, but cannot stop the grin that is forming on his features.
Dean Reigns is going on his first boys' fishing trip.
Teen Dean is well and truly back everybody. Also, there is more Papa Reigns in this one too because I feel like Pop still needs to have his moment and so this piece is going to have a lot more focus on the father and son theme.
Hope to see you next time.
Okay, so we're going once a week with this one this time because I'm so busy right now I can hardly think straight, but if I get on top of things I'm hoping to speed the posting up. But for now then, Wednesdays are officially Little Brother days. So strap in for the good times (or whatever type of times they happen to be, I mean it is me we're talking about here after all!)