First time in the chow hall then, this will be an experience for the big guy. Our first proper cameo coming your way here too!
Hayley1001, Well I know I keep teasing it, but I promise that brotherly love and angst are coming your way little by little until we hit the flood but until then have some more quirky cute Dean as a present from me!
Mandy, I like how the setting means they have no choice but to get to know one another and naturally because we all know they are meant to be best friends that will happen. Plus you're totally right as always the are boys are cool (no matter the setting!)
Cherry619, I figure that Dean is secretly a people person but like one of those mistreated rescue dogs that only really bonds with their trusted 'human'. Roman is totally his human in this one. The bond is strong and will be even stronger so don't worry about that!
Wolfgirl2013, Thanks, this one is a nice slow burn of a story but it's going to be heating up little by little until the real drama hits!
Minnie1015, Plenty of bonding moments in this story, but only mostly because Roman can't really get away from Dean for a second what with being stuck in prison and all. Only kidding, like he would ever want to get away from his crazy brother. Enforced bonding is the order of the day!
Squeegee Beckinhime, Hey there, nice to have you back on board for another one of my mad stories. I love this one and can't wait for you all to read it all, things are going to be picking up going forward too. There shall be drama and lots and lots of it!
Ohana1337, Haha, well, maybe not the crystal ball part, but the rest of your guess is certainly not too far from the...um...Truth (no pun intended!) Glad you like the vibe, I never know how a brand new story will feel until I start writing it so I'm happy you like its groove!
Cheryl24, The bonding certainly has begun and Roman's mother henning begins in this chapter too because he can't help himself! Well, I certainly don't mention any girlfriends on the outside, so nope, they are both free and easy (although I imagine a catch like Roman dates a lot!)
Guest, Thank you, we have a few more nuggets of information to find out and then we will start to come to the real drama!
Skovko, Poor Roman is trying to tread a really fine line between being a friend and a cop in this one. But which one of those will win out? Dum dum dummmm. Next chapter he is trying to be especially careful, with some amusing/embarrassing results too!
KyanaM, There is a really good bonding chapter coming up in a couple, before we hit into all the crazy drama side of things that is! And as for Dean eating more, well, after this chapter you might see why he's so lean. Roman will not be happy, he loves his food!
SkittlezLvr79, Yeah, Bischoff is certainly a person of interest on the police investigation side of things and so too is solitary confinement, as will become more and more apparent (I hope). Roman is going to have to keep his secret for a little bit longer though (if he can!)
Daisysakura, Yeah, super sweet bromance chapters are my guilty pleasure and always will be! Dean is a guy that needs to have at least one person he can lean on/trust and it helps him that Roman is big enough to have his back in a fight too. Basically Roman rocks!
Wwe21, Dean and Roman are definitely warming up to one another and because they are in such close quarters to one another, there is plenty more warming up and getting to know each other to come. Also, Harper and Rowan's plan will soon be clear!
Stingerette1975, Yep, Dean certainly is a marked man in a sense and we'll be getting to that in a few chapters time (cue worried Roman) but before then we've got a little bit more on your hunch about what's happening which should deepen the mystery...
FreakinLunaticsYard, Haha, no binge reading this time I'm afraid and you're welcome, I'm just always thrilled that people want to read these things! Lots of various drama and peril in this one, but with plenty of brotherhood to balance it out, you have my word!
To the chow hall...
Breakfast Options
Roman wakes up alone the next morning, blinking into the pale light and trying to work out what's gone on. He knows he isn't home because he can't see his dresser or the familiar light shade of his grey painted bedroom walls and nor can he hear the buzz of his alarm clock or the little bird that likes to sit on his damn windowsill and chirp.
Instead he is somewhere that is too bright and far too whitewashed and humming with banging noises and low murmurs and yells.
He frowns and rubs a rough hand over his features –
Remembering is a bitch.
He is in prison.
Oh yeah.
Looking across the room he searches for his cellmate and then blinks a little in what feels like concern when he cannot immediately make out the lanky body or the overabundance of copper blonde fluff.
Luckily however he has a left a scrawled note on the pillow,
Gone down to the chow hall to get the rations served up.
His writing is neater than the bigger man has bet on but also pretty clumsy like a youngster with a pen and it makes him snort in wry sort of admonishment because he feels like an ass for having nearly lost his shit.
Dean is at his prison assigned workplace –
Nothing too major.
Roman flops back again and then lets out a sigh like he is thinking of snoozing but that at the same time he knows his body won't allow because he is locked in a federal penitentiary for god sakes and therefore in the last place he can put his feet up.
Damn.
Pulling back the covers he shuffles across the concrete to the tiny little basin installed above the can which isn't a massively appealing hygiene option but in the general scheme of things is the only one he has. Luckily though the icy water is refreshing and having thrown it at his face he feels a little more alive or at the very least resigned to his first full day in prison, which is likely the positive attitude that he needs to get by. He slips himself back into his less than snazzy uniform which hasn't lost any bright its lustre throughout the night and then filters out onto the mezzanine platform before weaving his way to the dining –
Chow hall.
Right.
Inside it is packed.
Bright orange jumpsuits are nearly everywhere in a broiling soup or some bizarre lurid mass and on top of each one is a scowl and some beard growth or else a shaven head with tattoos instead of pink skin. Roman has always considered his own inking to be a good indicator of where he is from and what he considers his character and background but the guys he is surrounded by take that theory to the max. Every way he looks there are gang signs scrawled darkly or outlawed biker handles or the standard teardrop marks, some of which have obviously been professionally stencilled but the majority of which he figures have been done while inside.
In short they lack distinct imagination.
Not that he attempts to stare at any of them too hard.
Instead he swiftly crosses the space towards the counters then follows the others by grabbing up a tray and shuffling along the less than palatable breakfast options while at the same time narrowing his eyes for the scruffy head of hair.
"Alright you animals, fuck, m' comin'."
He hears him before he sees him then tips his curious gaze up to find his cellmate bringing over a steaming tray of something that he slides into place behind the reinforced sneeze guard, before switching out the empty container and pulling off the heavy lid.
Pale looking oatmeal stares back glumly.
Roman misses the outside world a whole hell of a lot.
"Hey, there he is."
Dean's voice snaps him out of it as his happy sounding tones cut in through the steam and he looks so genuinely pleased to see him standing there that the bigger man can't help but twitch his lips back in response.
"Sure am, I was hopin' to see you in a hairnet."
He is kidding since the copper blonde shows no signs of having one and in return the blue eyes spark back at him wilfully as the younger man grins and then sticks out his tongue, trapping the tip between his top and bottom molars like he is trying to stop himself from laughing too hard.
He flicks his hair like a cover girl model,
"These luscious locks are too damn beautiful to cover up."
"Whatever you say uce."
Dean beams again broadly but their exchange is interrupted by a sudden low cough as the guy hovering silently in the breakfast line behind Roman makes an unsubtle hint for him to move the fuck on.
Dean picks up a ladle,
"You havin' some oatmeal? Promise you man, it's way better than it looks."
Roman pauses but then shrugs his shoulders lightly and heaves out a breath as he hands across his tray because he trusts that his cellmate isn't going to try and poison him, besides which everything looks like the buffet from hell. Not that he can stop his stomach from clenching as he watches the tacky mixture slop down heavily from the spoon and he then steps back as Dean gestures with the ladle to a point somewhere way off on the far side of the hall.
"You can usually get a seat at the back man, head over that way, I'll be finished up here pretty soon."
Behind him the line keeps shuffling forwards and a tray bumps him with purpose in the back. Dean shoots the holder a look across the sneeze guards but doesn't saying anything so in turn Roman nods his head, then grabs himself a tiny packet of sugar on the basis that the oatmeal isn't likely to taste great.
Maybe he should even grab a bag to hurl into?
Hmmm.
Okay then, maybe not.
Besides which the food is merely one of his problems, since heading through the chow hall feels like being back at school with the exception of the ever present threat of mortal violence that hadn't been an issue when he was fourteen years old. Still, there is something pretty weirdly familiar about the feel and overall layout of the place, from the bunched little cliques having murmured conversations to the general air of uncertainty that prevails.
Luckily though he has a pretty good game face and it gets him in one piece right the way across the room, whereupon he slides himself onto a table then huffs a sigh out and starts to poke at his gruel.
"God damn – ,"
It is even more solid than he had readied himself for and potentially needs the assistance of a heavy duty knife, which he is honestly considering trying to use on it when a sudden commotion makes him look up.
"What the – ,"
Every head is turned in the direction of a man who is bellowing above the general roar and has pulled himself up onto a table like a speaker who is about to make the opening keynote talk. He has black hair that falls to a point beside his cheekbones and is tightly twisted into jangling braids and they whip about and slap him in the eyeballs as he casts around the chow hall and holds up his hands,
"Yo, everyone, can I get all of y'alls attention?"
Roman is surprised that some people then groan and go back to their gloopy morning oatmeal torture instead, while others still share looks with each and then grin or nudge elbows like a guy mounting tables at eight in the morning is by no means a new or unusual thing. In the background a bored looking guard lumbers forward but the sudden soapbox speaker seems not to much care, because he then launches into a long sounding monologue which is pretty hard to follow but grabs his interest nonetheless.
"As y'all people know my cellmate has been missin' but I the got news on what happened to him now."
Roman blinks.
Did he say missing?
Not everyone though is suckered into the reveal, since a shout rises up from the back of the chow hall and lifts a wry chuckle from the gathered and glaring crowd.
"Probably couldn't stand your crazy any longer."
More voices add in,
"Shut up – ,"
"Si'down you ass."
But the man on the table is not to be persuaded and so simply presses on like the whole room is rapt, which is true enough but not quite in the way he is wanting since they mostly seem hopeful that at some point he will fall.
He clears his throat,
"I just done got off the phone with his mother, an' he's dead – y'all hear me? Murdered, that's what he was, an' this place an' those people sittin' up there all pretty are the ones what did it – y' hear me chow hall – y' hear what m' tryin' to get into your thick skulls?"
He is met with loud snorts and then a crackling of radios as the prison guards suddenly fall over themselves to make him stop, in a burst of speed they hadn't shown a minute earlier and seem only to have stepped up to when the murder word popped out. Not that it really means anything precisely because maybe they simply don't want a riot to start?
Either way they form in a circle around the table and then roughly try to wrestle the shouting man back down, who in return tries to launch clean over their baseball caps while still throwing his thriller movie style plot musings around.
"I'm tellin' you – he got taken down there then never came back again, it ain't right y'all hear?"
He hits the ground with a bang, having finally been grabbed and then tackled by a prison guard who looks like more of a alpine mountain than a man and who is copied by several of his non-smiling colleagues in a tight pinning movement as they slap some cuffs on.
The man protests wildly,
"It's the truth, it's the truth y'all, never stop lookin' until you find out the truth – ,"
He keeps on shouting right the way through the swing doors and his voice bounces back off the stark housing wing floor but gets lost in the reemergent and unbothered chatter which returns to its old level not five seconds after that.
Roman blinks.
Wow.
Rough fingers slap his table and he startles a little and then looks up, surprised but also not to see Dean stood in front of him and looking pretty cheerful but very vaguely unsettled too. He slides into the seat installed opposite his cellmate and then blows out a breath,
"Is the oatmeal alright?"
"Uh, what the hell just happened in here uce?"
Dean shrugs mildly,
"Happens occasionally, 'specially with him – kinda ironic given his name though, right?"
Roman frowns a little,
"What is his name?"
"Truth."
Next chapter Roman finds out something that will affect Dean heavily. How many more secrets can he keep from the guy?
