Here comes the fallout of Roman trying to be the hero. Dean is less than impressed to put it mildly! Brotherly love for the win!
Cherry619, Roman does have a pretty big to-do list at the moment admittedly the poor guy! We'll be getting back to the case in the next chapter but first he has to deal with his cellmate. This is why I loved the prison setting…no escape from all their woes *rubs hands together wickedly*
Daisysakura, Roman really did try to stay calm but hey, he cares about Dean too much not to want to beat Bray bloody. Except it didn't really work out all the well for him huh? Lots of Dean angst coming shortly but first a little vengeful Dean to whet your appetite!
Mandy, Dean is…um, fractious about the whole thing let's put it like that. But Bray is totally not finished yet so there's that on the horizon too. Got a huge couple of chapters coming up after this one so brace yourself for those. Glad you still love it!
Wolfgirl2013, Yep, Dean is not a happy little bunny in this one. But Bray is only beginning his twisted little games. There's still much more to come from his whiskery features!
SkittlezLvr79, Big time, Roman made a rookie mistake and forgot about the swamp brethren. Like Bray would ever go anywhere alone? But on the plus side we get a bit of protective Dean in this chapter. Or maybe that should be a bit of murderous Dean?!
Minnie1015, I thought it was about time Roman got himself into trouble. I mean, he can't be serious and super sensible all the time (most of the time but not all). Besides, for some reason I wanted me a furious Dean in a jumpsuit swearing and pacing in a tiny little room, so here 'tis!
Stingerette1975, See but Bray wouldn't see having his backup there as being a coward, he would see it as having had superior intellect on the matter. Of course the rest of us would say cowardly though (not to his face obviously). Dean is super not happy in this chapter though, understandably!
Cheryl24, Banjos and the squeaky runner of an unvarnished rocking chair perhaps? Or crickets in the background on a dark and spooky night? Ugh I love crazy pants Bray so much as a villain. He needs to find a new 'family' on TV ASAP and go back to being freaky.
Skovko, Sorry but I can't make things too easy on the boys yet, we've got a lot further to go first. Besides, Roman always comes out on top so I thought maybe I would beat him up a little bit in this one to even things up a bit. I mean, fair is fair right? Lol!
Hayley1001, Bray loves thinking he has the upper hand and he is totally thinking that right now. Dean is not impressed in the least but he's mostly worried. Still, lots more Bray and general angst to come between the boys so plenty of time for Roman to give back!
Ohana1337, If you mean here comes angry pants ranting Dean then you would be right! Poor Roman was only trying to help, but then no good deed goes unpunished and all that jazz! Plus they are in prison so I can't make it too nice for them in there!
Time for Dean's reaction then…
Hell No
Dean is sitting reading on his uncovered mattress when Roman stumbles in through the door, doing his best to look and act natural and clutching the wet bed sheets clumsily against his chest.
His cellmate doesn't look up at him as he enters and weirdly seems to be totally cool, like some insane killer had never snuck into their personal space and daubed a chilling blood-written message for him at all. He flicks a page of The Seventh Scroll idly and then snorts a little,
"Never read this kinda thing before, I like it though – you got the next one in the series?"
Roman grunts gruffly,
"Probably, check the pile."
He is attempting to sound like everything is groovy but obviously falls pretty wide of the mark, since Dean lets the book fold down onto his stomach and then looks up quickly with appraising blue eyes. His mouth falls open,
"Shit, uce – ,"
"I'm okay."
But obvious his face paints a very different show since the copper blonde scrambles off the bed baby horse-like in a tangle of limbs that nearly trip their owner up. The book hits the mattress then slides towards the concrete and lands with a clatter which neither man seems to hear and in an instant Dean is pushing down the bedsheets and probing at what is obvious a fast swelling black eye.
"Who the fuck did this?"
It's a reasonable question given that they are surrounded by nearly three hundred punch happy guys, but it still rankles slightly in having to say it and so the bigger man doesn't and simply pushes him away,
"Forget it uce, it's done."
Dean blinks after him,
"Hell no I won't forget it, who came after you man?"
He is standing behind him with his fists clenched tight together and his mood doesn't lighten as Roman crosses towards the sink and begins to dampen a washcloth with precision which he then lays blissfully across the eye that took the hit.
"I wasn't being careful."
"What does that mean – fuck man."
Dean barks the word out suddenly and loudly and in response to it his cellmate winces a little bit, because he knows he's worked out who his assailant was and so also knows that nothing good will follow on from that since their roles have reversed and it is his friend now on the warpath, which is both completely worrying but pretty touching as well.
Roman puts out a hand,
"Babe,"
"Bray did this didn't he?"
His answer is a sigh and in response to the not admission, something shivers across the blue gaze, then briefly turns red and makes the bigger man grab his shirt front in an attempt to physically hold him in place.
"Uce, hey – don't."
Dean growls and shakes him again off in a purposeful march towards the open door which can basically only mean heap big trouble and doesn't bode well for any of them. Roman reaches out and takes a firmer hold again and then hangs on tight as his cellmate thrashes about, trying to loosen the tightly locked fingers and ignoring the way they are stretching out his shirt.
"Roman, let go."
"Not a chance."
"But he hurt you."
Dean looks genuinely physically upset and although it is wrapped within layers of pure murder, it is there because the copper blonde cares about him and is a testament to how close the two of them have drifted in their few weeks together.
Dean and he are family now.
Even so it doesn't stop the bigger man frowning, with one hand still pressing the wet cloth to his face and his other one gripping his near frothing roommate, who he finally manages to pull back a half a pace,
"Uce, cool down, I don't need you getting hot here, I'm still kinda reeling with this as it is."
It seems to work a little, or maybe it's his weariness but either way the younger man mildly calms himself and although he still looks ready for action and is flat out fucking furious Roman figures that it's a start and so finally unwinds his fingers from the tee front and then turns around to drop into a heavy sit on his bed.
Hell yeah, that feels better.
Dean huffs an antsy breath out,
"What happened uce? You were only gone five minutes. What the fuck went on down there?"
Roman opens his mouth but then doesn't say anything since he is pretty much still trying to figure that part out himself, because one second he was wringing out the blood tangled bedsheets and the next he was bent forwards trying his best to suck in breath.
He sighs a little then turns his palms over,
"Like I said babe, I wasn't being careful enough."
"Not an answer."
Dean isn't budging and clearly wants something more concrete than that but the truth of which is liable to make him charge out of there and go headlong into some sort of weird bayou-man fight. Still, Roman has gone beyond pretending nothing much happened and he isn't the sort of person that feels happy having to lie. The undercover thing is already enough to work with, so he doesn't want to throw in extra bullshit as well.
He raises a heavy brow,
"Promise you won't go crazy?"
"M' promisin' nothin' – ,"
"Dean man, come on."
Blue eyes flash fiercely underneath the long bang fronts which bounce a little as the younger man shakes his head, then repeats the general crux of the matter with a bark of frustration,
"He beat you the fuck up."
"Not worth going down to solitary over, trust me uce, I don't want your ass back in there."
Roman isn't even remotely kidding either, since the thought of it sends general paroxysms through his heart and not without good reason either given everything that has happened down there and the way that people in the isolation unit don't seem to come back out again.
Not unless they're encased in a body bag at any rate.
Dean is still watching him pretty darn closely and so the bigger man relents but tries to keep the telling calm, since the copper blonde is liable to go off like a rocket and their cell is too small to take the ensuing hellacious bang.
"Bray came in and I up and went for him, but forgot to watch my back."
Roman ends with a shrug and although it hasn't totally filled all of the gaps in, it has painted enough of a picture that his cellmate curls a lip and hisses out a curse word which is then swiftly followed by about eighteen more.
"Fuckin' asshole bastard shit – ,"
Roman tunes out the rest from that point onwards and instead focuses his energies into stretching out across the bed and angling the washcloth right over his eyeball, which is starting to feel just a little bit sort of puffy and will probably be a nice shade of purple by lunch. It isn't the first shiner he's been given in his lifetime but it's definitely the one that hurts the damn most which is in part down to the fact that Harper is a giant but that he also feels in a far more mental sense as well, since he should have been paying far better attention –
He should have known one of the burly lackeys would be around.
"Uce, y'kay big guy?"
Dean crosses towards him in the typical louche sort of foot scuffing way that he has and then hovers in total brotherly worry as the older man blows out a semi contented sigh,
"I'm good."
"Want me to go an' get you somethin' for it from the commissary? Think I got credits for Tylenol at least."
Roman snorts fondly,
"Nah, think I'll just ride this, thanks though babe."
"Where else did he get?"
"What?"
Dean folds his arms and then huffs a little breath out before absently waving his hands in the air, like he does whenever he is amped up or fractious and generally struggling to find the right words. Roman often marvels at how the copper blonde's reflexes seem to move faster than his by no means lethargic brain and how it sometimes leaves him floundering for several seconds as his major motor functions wait for his grey matter to comprehend.
He gets there eventually,
"Bray must have hit you more man. I mean, he must 'a thrown – like – a couple 'a knocks in?"
His eyes are scanning up and down his cellmate's body like he might at any moment start bleeding out right there and then and in response to it the bigger man shrugs back lightly and then removes the fast drying towelling cloth with a sigh,
"Nothing that gets to me as much as this sucker."
He points to his bruise and earns himself a rolled eyes grunt, which is then swiftly followed by Dean reaching over and snatching the cloth which he refreshes in the sink, letting the water run icy for a moment before wringing it out and bringing it back.
"Here."
"Thanks babe."
Dean blinks back at his friend for a second and suddenly a flicker of amusement is back, but it is evidently tangled with something more awkward because he raises a hand and quickly scratches at his head,
"What is that?"
"What?"
"That whole weird babe deal – not that I don't like it, I mean, I don't exactly care – ,"
He tails off hopelessly and it makes the brown eyes crinkle because the need for validation is both heart rending and cute, because it seems pretty clear that in his thirty years of living, that no one has bothered giving Dean a pet name before or maybe even taken time to tell him that he matters.
Roman smiles mildly,
"I can stop if you want?"
Dean gapes,
"What? No – uh – I mean, whatever, it's your choice so do or don't since I'll still answer, y' know?"
"Yeah, I know babe."
Blue eyes flicker upwards and then hold on with a twinkle like he gets that he's being played and in return the big dog shrugs back mildly and then replaces the washcloth with a halfway contented breath.
Dean pats his leg in general understanding but his voice sounds hard,
"Bray Wyatt will get his."
Roman nods back with a quiver of pure malice and a mildly concussed grin,
"You'd better believe that."
Next chapter Roman makes strides with the case but comes up against a further problem, because when have things ever worked out simply for him?!
