Here comes the fallout of Bray being Bray then and also Roman's brave attempt to try to fix things himself. Can't blame a boy for trying right?
Cheryl24, Swamp Thing is back in a big way from now on and he is going to make his presence very much known, starting from this chapter as you're going to see. Because hey, I figure that the boys aren't going through nearly enough so throw in the Wyatts!
Wolfgirl2013, Aww thanks, big of action for you in this chapter and Roman makes what might be his first misstep in this whole thing…
Mandy, From now on Roman is going to have more reason than every to play big brother to Dean since the man seems to find trouble no matter where he goes. But (because I'm an equal opportunities writer) Dean isn't the only one that can find trouble…
SkittlezLvr79, Oh yeah, nothing like lulling you all into a totally false sense of security because I'm always super happy to do that! Lots of big bayou whiskery problems coming the boys way from now on so expect the unexpected!
Skovko, I can sort of imagine Bray turning to leave and then remembering his correct grammar and then going back to add the comma in which I think probably makes it even more creepy…damn, I should have added that in!
Minnie1015, Bray has everything and nothing planned…but mostly everything. I kind of think his ideas are not really planned out but sort of crop up more when he sees an opportunity. He's like the ultimate predator lying in wait. Look out boys!
Guest (Hayley?) Plenty of Dean angst coming but I think it might be time to spread it about a bit first as you will see in this chapter. But yep, Dean will go through the mill emotionally and physically because let's be honest, that's why we're all here!
Guest, Awww thank you, hope you like this chapter because things are going to be a-happening that show a certain someone isn't playing around…
Yippi-kay yay motherfucker, Thank you so much. I'm super glad you like my stories. Makes me stressing about how good they are/not worth it. Got more Shield one-shots coming when this story has finished too! But first, more creepy Bray stuff!
Daisysakura, True, Roman is always trying to make things better because that's what the boy is like. But in this one he tries the direct approach which has…um…debatable results. But Roman wouldn't be Roman without being protective right?!
Drama coming…
A Beautiful Puzzle
It takes them no small amount of time to clear the mess up, at which point they discover that is really is blood since there is no disguising the sharp smell of metal or the way it has started to grow thicker and congeal.
Roman is tempted to call the guards and tattle in the law abiding way that he naturally has, but Dean stares back like he might have gone crazy because evidently that is not the prison way of doing things. Instead they clean it up themselves using toilet roll and their scratchy seldom used prison issue towels, which end up smeared in the deep red substance and make the bigger man equal parts furious and unsure. It is partly because it means that once again without warning Dean is being targeted by Bray, but it is also because the blood has come from someone and yet neither of them can really be totally sure of who.
Bray himself?
It isn't a bad suggestion and frankly the most pleasing assumption of the lot since it means that the bulky half mad moron they are facing hasn't hurt anybody in his quest to freak them out, but does mean that he has cut himself open pretty willingly just to make a god damn point and by the time they have taken the brickwork back to white again, Roman isn't sure if it makes things better or else much worse.
Probably worse.
Dean helps too but only very sporadically since he spends most of the time simply pacing the room, throwing a fist into his opposite palm absently and muttering darkly as he passes items across. Perhaps unsurprisingly given he's being levelled at, the copper blonde's focus is pretty set on revenge and to which end he thinks up some interesting options for how to get their own back on their bearded creepy friend,
"All I need is some tweezers an' a lighter."
Roman snorts wryly in return,
"You got it babe."
For the most part though the bigger man tries to keep cool with it because he doubts hitting the war path will actually help things although inside he is churning like a pot of boiling liquid because he is pretty much furious about the whole thing too and in particular why his poor cellmate is being targeted.
Kindred spirits?
Dean is nothing like Bray.
Dean is a loose cannon and kind of quirky maybe and nor does he conform to the rest of the world, but there is an irrepressible quality that makes him bright and lovable and offbeat and generally a whole lot of fun, whereas the bearded cult leader is straight up malevolent, like he has picked up his character traits from some trite slasher film or else has trawled through the history of serial killers and taken a pawful of horribly messed up traits from each one.
Either way it is something that doesn't belong near them and definitely not outright god damn smeared throughout their cell and so as the bigger man washes off the last remaining blood swipe and tries to ignore the picture of it in his brain, he gathers up the sheets that are also mildly spattered and breathes a heavy sigh out,
"I'll go get these cleaned."
Blue eyes jerk up,
"Nah man, you don't have to – ,"
Roman interrupts him,
"It's all good uce, it's okay."
Naturally it isn't okay in the slightest but in the moment it seems like the easiest thing to say and a lot more succinct then the real words he's thinking but that both of them still subconsciously hear anyway. Namely that the bigger man needs to do something otherwise he will likely blow up or go insane and since washing the bedsheets is his method of coping then who is the copper blonde to stand in his way?
"Uh, okay man – thanks or whatever."
He punctuates the sentence by waving his hands and then folding down heavily onto his newly stripped mattress in his own particular brand of dealing with things and which clearly involves a lot of clicking knuckles and muttering continually under his breath.
Roman reaches out and tousles his hair roughly,
"Don't go anywhere uce, I'll be right back."
Not that there is exactly a list of places he can go considering they are surrounded by four thick perimeter walls and more cameras and dogs and wire than seems possible and also not forgetting fucked up bayou men too.
Roman grunts and then heads for the showers, with the bedsheets bundled up in his arms and giving him something to constrict like a python and therefore pour some of his pulsating hot aggression into because he sure is carrying a whole lot of it with him.
"Fuck Bray Wyatt."
He says it out loud and draws a look from another passing inmate but the guy doesn't question it or try to change his mind, which therefore likely means that he agrees with the sentiments or is trying to keep clear of the bigger man's fractious mood since the undercover cop must seem pretty damn ferocious half strangling a bundle of linen to his chest. Mildly he thinks back to his conversation with Dean from earlier about how everyone ends up with a prison nickname and so quickly lowers his blood covered sheet pile before he ends being labelled the bedwetter or worse.
Luckily the room that houses the single shower stalls is largely pretty quiet since most people are having their chow and there is only one door that has clothes and towels hung over it and two more people who are on their way out. Roman sidesteps them then kicks one of the stalls wide while throwing the bedsheets down onto the tiles and then reaching over to flip on the showerhead which hisses and then coughs out a pathetic dribble of lukewarm drops.
It is easily the thing he misses most about the outside –
His super powerful, massaging fountain jets that pummel his skin into wakefulness each morning as he stumbles through from his own comfortable bed, without the need for god damn flip flops or a ton of sanitizer for everything he has to touch. He misses his couch and his flat screen television, he even misses the morning chirping of that irritating bird because at least the thing sings next to a window that can be opened and isn't frosted over to try and cut out the world.
Pushing those thoughts back, he gets down and scrubs the blood out and then watches grimly as it turns the water pink and sloshes around on the grubby hepatitis tiles before turning in circles and being sucked down.
It isn't a perfect job but they instantly look better and after another few minutes he shuts the water off and then sets about bodily wringing the sheets out which is another pretty good way of shaking off the building stress, since he images the off-white material to be Wyatt and so wrenches and twists as hard as he can while actually grumbling like some sort of an animal.
He likely sounds insane –
But it actually helps and is why after another squeeze, he blows out a breath then bundles the stuff back up and turns to leave the now totally empty shower room which then turns out to not be so empty after all.
Roman stops dead.
There is a figure stood in front of him and blocking the door with his considerable girth, which is partially hidden by a long length of beard growth but cannot disguise the ever rounded gut and the pale little eyes that are narrowed with amusement although none of them have a lot they can honestly laugh about and on seeing him the big man instantly feels the heat rising in the prickle of his skin as his hackles rise up.
Bray Wyatt.
Bray Wyatt is standing in front of him looking like he's just through telling a joke and is so damn twisted and proud of his actions that Roman is moving before he even knows he is, trampling haphazardly over the dropped linen and hauling the slightly smaller man up by his lapels.
"You god damn bastard."
Together they stumble backwards and into the unrelenting grime of the wall, with Roman bearing his full weight down on his rival and basically throwing him into the tiles which the rounded man bounces up off like a beach ball before being pushed right back into them for a second time spine first. Roman clenches his hands fast around the collar with the possible intention of choking the guy out and his words are stuck on a theme as he rumbles them, positively spitting them he's so damn worked up,
"You sick son of a bitch."
Bray grins wider,
"Is there a problem? Because I'm gettin' the sense you're a little riled up."
He doesn't singsong the words like the bigger man is expecting and instead sort of lets the fetid things slither out and then twist themselves right around Roman's system until he can barely think straight or focus very much.
He growls instead,
"You stay away from my cellmate."
"Dean belongs with me."
Bray seems to think of that as fact since it leaves his lips not as argument but as a statement, like he is commenting on the weather or international affairs.
"He isn't you and he isn't a damn thing like you."
"Isn't he?"
"I'm warning you – ,"
"He's just waiting to be torn apart like a beautiful puzzle that needs putting back together."
Roman slams him back with a grunt, watching as a tiny winces flickers over Bray's whiskered features but which then disappears almost as quickly as it came, to be replaced instead with an eerie indifference that kind of puts the bigger man onto the back foot, because how the hell can he threaten him into deference if the creepy bearded psychopath is turned on by the fear and how can he keep Dean safe from his clutches if their enemy treats the whole damn thing like a game?
Roman wraps a non-playful hand around his windpipe.
"Leave him alone, this is the only time I'll ask."
"You can't save the damned."
"You might wanna watch me."
Except in throwing out that word he is setting himself up, since watching is the very last thing he has been doing given that his attention has been focused entirely on his foe and it means that he has overlooked the looming presence behind him, which then makes itself know with a kidney-based right hook,
"Agh – ,"
Roman throws his head back and hisses in sharpness because frankly the blow has come out of nowhere, only he knows that it hasn't and he also knows he's been stupid and is likely to pay pretty heavily for the mistake. He tries to turn in an attempt to put his fists up, but then Bray is moving with a new turn of speed as he grabs the undercover man and flips their position so that Roman instead is pressed back first to the wall and which Bray then by launching a fist up right underneath the big man's rib cage, landing beneath the sternum where the soft, squishy tissue is and burying right into it with a brutal looking grin. It produces a ripple of pain and an exhalation that bursts from Roman's lungs and explodes across the space but also leaves him bent pretty much double so that Bray can swing an uppercut at his unguarded face.
Thwack.
Knuckles connect across the top of Roman's cheekbone and his vision explodes with fiery bright stars so that he wobbles a little but doesn't give into it which then means that he is aware of Bray slowly backing off.
He also hears the chuckle,
"Tell Dean I'll be seeing him."
Roman bites a groan back but cannot find the words, since his cheek and gut feel like they're on fire, besides which he is struggling just to stay on his feet and also to contend with the growing awareness that he hasn't helped at all.
He has only made things worse.
Next chapter Dean finds out what has happened...let's just say that he is not impressed!
