So, Roman is celebrating his first week inside in this one and Dean is super keen for them to commemorate it somehow. Some more bonding and background info in this one but the drama is coming in a big way, I promise!

Guest (Hayley I'm thinking) If there's one thing you can be sure of in my stories, then it's that Deano will take a knock at some point and Roman (and Seth if he's there) will freak out about it. Got some protective Roman coming soon and then lots and lots more after that!

Mandy, Aww, I'm super glad you liked it and that you found our boy so cute in that last one. I figure that Dean would be the worst person to ask to still for any length of time. Lucky Roman is so patient I suppose! Thank you for the compliments on my writing, I've gone all bashful!

KiaraKitty08, Hello there *waves* Glad you're enjoying it and the good news (I hope) is that there is still plenty more to come with this story with lots of drama and twists and turns too. But first Dean needs to be Dean a little bit more...like in this chapter!

Wolfgirl2013, Thank you and I will keep it up, I promise. Enjoy Roman and Dean celebrating his first week inside though even if Dean is not quite the party planner he thinks he is!

Skovko, Yep, I just felt that Roman didn't have enough secrets to sit on and things to remember not to say so that I thought I would throw another one at him (sorry Roman). Trust me, the truth will come out eventually (except not R-Truth this time unfortunately!)

Cheryl24, I know, poor Dean, not only is he stuck in prison but I then kill off his best friend as well. I'm so mean to him sometimes. But, on the plus side while he might have lost his best friend, he has found a brother to look after him. Swings and roundabouts maybe?

Minnie1015, Haha, glad you liked the part with Dean and the phone cord. I have a friend who cannot sit still and is always getting herself into trouble and I imagine that he is totally the same. Love that you pick up on those little bits by the way, makes me happy!

Cherry619, Yeah, from this point on Dean is sort of glued to his side except when they can't physically be which might become a problem in a chapter or two...but first it's the big celebration or at least as Dean can make it in prison, which isn't very big at all!

KyanaM, I cannot think of anything worse than having to call your boss mom, so I feel Roman's pain and embarrassment there! Yep, plenty of drama further down the line when the truth about Roman and Sami comes out, but you'll have to keep reading to find out when and what!

SkittlezLvr79, I think it's safe to say the solitary confinement is not the happiest or healthiest place to be but I won't say any more than that. Roman's work assignment gets mentioned in this one, then in a couple of chapters we get an even closer look.

Stingerette1975, Roman's mom card is pretty much going to go wild in this story as are his big brother and badass cards respectively too. But yeah, Dean will be crushed at some point, not going to tell you when though or how or even if they can patch things back up (evil laugh).

Guest, Thanks, glad that you're still enjoying it, hope you like this chapter too. Dean tries his best to be a good friend!

Ohana1337, Yeah, Dean will be so upset when he finds out the truth that he will need lots and lots of hugs, which is probably why it's lucky that we're both on standby! Still, Roman will need hugs too because the poor guy is caught between a rock and a hard place after all!

Daisysakura, Oh the drama indeed (because you know it's coming at some point in this story, even if I refuse to say when!) Aww, I felt bad for always making Hunter so mean so I figured I would be good to him here, but yeah, heel Hunter is the best type mostly!

Here comes a prison party then, sort of...


Prison Wine

For the next week they fall into a little routine of sorts which carries them through the identically long days. Dean gets up early and goes off to the kitchens and then Roman swings by near the end of his shift to force in another god awful helping of oatmeal before they head off together to do a handful of things. Running laps in the yard is one pastime for example and another is hitting the television room although the choices for viewing aren't particularly inspiring and they are both keen to avoid confrontations for the remote. In the end therefore they usually find themselves library bound or reading in the relative safety of their cell, which is comfortable enough but inescapably boring.

No wonder mental health issues in prisons are so high.

By the sixth day in Roman finds himself wondering whether there is even a police case for them to follow at all, because frankly he can see someone who has been locked up forever just upping and choosing to take the easy way out.

He stops thinking that way pretty quickly however because –

No.

Dean knew his former cellmate too well and even the man who had been shouting in the chow hall had been utterly positive about the health of his friend, besides which something just feels like it's rotten and it isn't his decision in any case to bail out and so he sucks in a breath and determines to keep his head down and see through the mission like he promised that he would.

But god is he going to want a promotion, or a raise or maybe a medal of some sort.

If there is one small positive to the whole thing however – because he figures that there has to at the very least be one – then it is definitely the fact that all the time spent in Dean's company allows a true kinship and honest to goodness bond form. Dean loosens up almost hour by hour and slowly begins to share details about his crappy life.

Never too openly though –

He isn't like that.

Instead he sort of tosses random stories and facts out and often when he figures that Roman isn't listening or when they're deep in the middle of something else, like jogging around the cold yard perimeter or laying back head first and page deep in separate books and in return Roman is careful to not react to the statements as if Dean is some animal he's trying not to scare off.

"We went to some museum when I was in school once but I totally couldn't see – like – a single fuckin' thing 'cos I had two black eyes, so everythin' was kinda fuzzy."

Or –

"I nearly burned the house down once, my mom had been gone for – like – ten days or whatever an' I was gettin' bored of only havin' potato chips to eat, I figured I could maybe heat up some pasta, but turns out you need water 'stead of cookin' 'em neat."

Mostly they are just vague and idle little statements and never an autobiographical blow by blow, but they slowly mount up until they paint a vivid picture and although there are still great big patches of missing color, the portrait of his life still comes together pretty well.

It isn't a particularly happy picture either –

Dean has had things pretty rough and then some.

But in spite of that, when Roman's one week anniversary of having reluctantly shuffled in comes up, the copper blonde still manages to throw them a party –

Like an actual, genuine party of sorts.

It starts with him hustling his ass into their cell room having returned from wherever he had taken himself off and which had frankly in itself been a pretty damn weird thing since he usually hung near Roman like a dog.

He's hiding something beneath the waistband of his issue pants and for a second the bigger man is a little cautious about what it is, since its size and placement is decidedly unsettling and doesn't blend too well with the copper blonde's wide grin.

"Uh, uce? Do I wanna know what that is?"

Dean pulls it out with an actual ta da and then holds it aloft so that it swishes in the halogens and turns the beams into little rainbows of light.

Huh?

He is holding a bag of thick yellow liquid that looks a whole lot like bodily fluids and so for a second Roman merely blinks back in bewilderment and tries to work out what to say.

"Is that – ,"

Dean grins,

"C' mon man, I know I'm kinda crazy but m' not freakin' pissin' into plastic bags just yet – it's pruno."

"It's what?"

"Prison wine."

Roman falters and then takes a look at the bizarre concoction again which possibly does have an alcoholic tinge to it the more he actually studies the swirling thing, although whether or not he wants to drink it is debatable and probably unwise at best, since he figures it might land both of their loaded hides in confinement on the provision that it doesn't turn either one of them blind first.

"Where did you get that?"

"There's always someone brewin' somewhere."

"Alright why did you get that?"

"For your first week anniversary man, not gonna let that go by without a party an' this right here is the only real way I know how, plus – y' know – we're kinda in prison, so it's not like we can go for a night on the town."

He crosses the room with the sloshing bag of pruno and then places it carefully between the beds on the nightstand before opening up not one but two cans of soda which he proceeds to then pour in their entirety down the plug. Initially it seems like a slight waste of cola since cans in prison don't really come cheap, but the bigger man is far too mesmerized to stop him and so simply sits in silence, blankly looking on.

Dean waves a hand,

"Go watch out for the guards uce."

Roman blinks.

Did he just say uce?

Regardless though he levers himself from the mattress and then hovers on the threshold trying his best to look cool or at least like nobody that people will want to talk to, which his dark brows and tattoo always manage pretty well.

Nobody is moving about much below the mezzanine, because they're getting pretty close to being locked down again and so people are mostly floating back to their cell rooms or stretching out the last bit of relative freedom that they have.

Even so there are still prison guards moving about lazily and since he isn't really keen for his cellmate to get caught he cannot hold back his slightly terse sigh of thankfulness at the sound of the copper blonde's gruff tones.

"'Kay it's done."

Dean is holding up two cans of soda but even from where he's standing the smell is all wrong and Roman wrinkles his nose up on instinct because the prospect of actually drinking the concoction frankly seems to be getting worse and worse.

"What the hell is in that?"

Dean shrugs idly,

"Whatever they can lay hands on most of the time – like – fruit cocktail mostly, bread, ketchup that shit."

"Ketchup?"

"Yeah – I mean – we're in prison here man."

He hands one of the cans across the space in between them and purely from that the fact that's he looking so damn proud, his bigger roommate takes it with a grumble and then watches as the copper blonde chugs a ton down.

His face says it all,

"How is it tasting?"

"Holy shit uce."

"That good huh?"

But the real point of note is the fact the younger man used the word uce and as easily as if he has been always been saying the thing and it makes the long haired Samoan grin back at him because he likes the fact that it is being used at all. He shakes his head and then tips back the soda can, letting a splash of the pruno hit his tongue at which point he then rapidly wishes he hadn't because as he has expected, the taste is not good.

He coughs,

"Shit dog – ,"

Dean laughs loudly and weirdly he is still busy chewing his gum which likely hasn't helped the overall tanginess but which the quirky individual can't seem to go without.

"I know, it sucks right?"

"Does it always taste like ass or – ?"

His reply is a casual shrug,

"Mostly, yeah."

"You do this often then?"

Dean shakes his head at him and it makes the fluffy little bangs swing back and forth. He crosses to the beds and then settles himself lazily with his back pressed up tight against the white wall and already Roman can see a blush creeping across his cheekbones that hints at how big a mouthful his crazy roommate has tried to take.

"Nah uce, this kinda stuff is plain fuckin' trouble, one way ticket back down to solitary, y' know?"

"Sami end up there too?"

Roman doesn't mean to say it but the question sort of slips out over his tongue and he tenses a little bit as Dean reacts to it with a startled looking blink and then a slow nod of his head.

He takes himself another gulp of pruno,

"Yeah, he did."

"I'm sorry man."

Dean shrugs,

"It's whatever – I mean – that's just the way it goes, right?"

"Prison?"

His copper blonde cellmate grunts,

"Life."

Roman assumes he isn't trying to wound him but in spitting out the word it drives a stake through his big heart because it is yet another thing to file away into the compendium of messed up shit that Dean has had to endure. Roman thinks back again to the line about his mother having been away and leaving him for days and then the simple fact he has never mentioned a father and in an instant more and more pieces of puzzle make sense. Most notably the way Dean likes to stay close to him or has taken so readily to using the word uce, because he knows it means brother and that it therefore means family which is evidently a concept he has never known much.

Roman smiles warmly,

"Well, your ass has got me now."

Dean tries to brush off the feelyness with a snort and then takes another pretty big glug of pruno which he more than likely will then live to regret. Roman on the other hand only sips lightly since he knows that he probably needs to keep himself sharp or at the very least try to avoid being hungover the night before his very first day of prison work. He had been given his assignment letter hours beforehand and had blinked at the paperwork in both relief and pure shock because either his boss had pulled some strings after all, or else they had been blessed by no small amount of luck.

Roman Reigns, Housekeeping.

It is honestly too perfect –

It is the one role in the place that will get him in and out and more importantly than that, give him access to the filing rooms and the records and maybe even the evidence they need.

Dean folds himself heavily down onto the pillows, nearly spilling the rest of his drink. His blue eyes look bleary with alcohol exhaustion, which is probably the result of not having had any in months but there is an actual dreamy expression on his features like he's happy and so the bigger man figures it isn't too bad.

"Tell me 'bout your fam'ly uce, bet you grew up in a nice big house."

Roman nods back at him,

"Yeah, I was lucky."

"M' not – I ended up with a whole lotta shit."

Dean grunts roughly in amusement as he says it but the noise is by no means a chirpy little sound, being instead driven solely by years of resentment and probably with good reason based on the snippets Roman has heard. He reaches a hand across the gap in between them and places it over the other man's knee and Dean looks up at him with blinks of exaggeration because he has managed to get blitzed almost impossibly quick.

"Hey, it's not too late to change things around uce."

"Nah, that ship sailed 'long time ago big man."

Roman shakes his head,

"I ain't about to believe that."

"C' mon, I've got nothin' dude."

"Well, you've got me."

His sentiments come out a little cutesier than he intends them, but he still means every word of the sentence nevertheless, because partly he figures that he will find it impossible not to become attached to the man, but mostly because his friend needs looking after and he makes the cop feel weirdly brotherly and warm.

Dean grins back at him lazily,

"Fuckin' teddy bear – an'body ever tol' your ass that b'fore?"

"Not if they wanted to live."

Dean snorts roughly, then shuts his eyes and settles himself down. Behind him there is a warning beep and then a loud grating clatter as the cell doors shut and lock for the night, but by which time the younger man is already snoring and it makes the big man grin,

"That's gonna hurt in the morning uce."


Roman is right, it really does but not only that, Dean has another problem or possibly at least the beginnings of one…place your bets on what that is!