Dean laid on the bed tiredly staring up at the ceiling. He hated being bored about as much as he hated waiting and here he was doing both. It didn't help that Bray had disappeared or that the house was completely still. It certainly didn't help that he had completely failed in his purpose for coming here. While he had been genuine in his feelings, it had been too little too late. Now here he was, dismissed from Bray's sight and waiting to be collected like a bag of trash. It was humiliating. "Fuck."
He threw his legs over the side of the bed, managing to bring himself upright. It was just too difficult to lay there for any longer, not without having something to do. He was about to see if he could find Bray one last time when he was stopped by the sound of the stairs creaking. Someone was coming. The creak was followed by a voice, a voice that didn't belong to anyone in Bray's family. "It can't be." He was hearing things. He had to be. The voice sounded like Romans, but there was no way it could be Roman's. Dean hadn't seen him before he had left. The only indication he had given was shoving his stuff in Roman's car. There was no way he could have found him based on that.
Slowly standing, Dean moved away from the bed, hearing the stairs creaked again. The creak was louder this time, and so was the voice. His eyes got wide at it, his breathing becoming shallow. "No." As much as he wanted to be, Dean wasn't hearing things. The voice was definitely Roman's. Somehow, some way, Roman was here. "Fucking…fuck!" Dean went for the door, but the voice ebbing from right outside of it stopped him cold his tracks. He was caught, worse than that, he was trapped. Roman had known where to go and like it or not, Dean was about to be found. He numbly stood there, watching as the knob began to turn. His heart began pounding in his ears, muffling the sound of Roman's voice as it pierced the silence of the room when the door finally opened.
"Where the fuck are you taking me you over grown Cabbage Patch Kid?" Dean watched Erick emerge from the dark hallway, Roman's wilted body hanging over his shoulders. "You're all lucky you threw me into that car otherwise I'd be fucking every last one of you up right now." Erick only grunted, obviously annoyed with Roman's attitude.
"I think this is yours." Dean blinked, realizing that statement was meant for him.
"This isn't…"
"Roman?" He snapped his head in Dean's direction, his eyes falling on Dean for the first time. "DEAN!"
Erick brushed past him, Roman turning his head again so he could keep his eyes firmly fixed on Dean. "Put me down asshole." He started to weakly struggle against Erick's grip. The ginger obviously didn't appreciate the sudden need to get down. But he granted Roman's wish all the same by tossing the smaller man onto the bed without much care on how he landed. "Ro?" Dean's eyes wildly shifted from the bed, to Erick and back to the bed again. They took in the sight of Roman's bruised and bloodied face, unable to register what they saw. "What…what happened?!" He looked at Erick, hoping the dopey giant would offer some insight; he didn't. Instead he acted as if the question hadn't even been asked.
"You both need to stay here until Bray comes to see you."
"I'm not waiting on his stupid ass. Go get Angie and tell that lying bitch we're both ready to go." Dean raised an eyebrow to that. Obviously he had missed something.
"Angie needs her space and so do you." Roman got an exasperated look on his face. "Stay here or we won't be responsible for what happens to you, both of you." The taller man looked at Dean when he stated the last part. It was clear he wasn't in Bray's good graces anymore and Roman certainly wasn't. Their only protection from the rest of the family was the room they were currently in. Dean swallowed, quickly nodding. He wasn't going to bother mincing words with the giant, not when Roman was sitting three feet behind him.
Accepting Dean's nod as a firm yes, Erick quietly shuffled his way out of the door, his hand pulling the door closed behind him.
"Thanks for the broken nose." The door fully closed with a click. "Asshole."
Dean turned back to Roman, seeing the larger man sitting on the edge of the bed. "Fucker threw me into the hood of the rental car when we got here." Dean blinked, unsure of what to think about that. He hadn't been here long, but he knew Erick didn't do anything without either a nod from Bray or imminent danger. Seeing as Bray was nowhere to be found, Dean had to wonder what Roman had done to make Erick think he was dangerous. "Harper was no goddamn help either. He just stood protecting Angie the whole time." Roman brought his hand up to wipe away some of the dried blood on his face. "I was only playing at grabbing her." Dean blinked again, not liking the sound of that. By her, he assumed Roman meant Angie.
"You grabbed her?"
"Tried too." He shrugged. "They weren't going to let me onto the property and I wasn't about to let the only piece of leverage I had go." Leverage. Part of Dean didn't like Roman viewing Angie as nothing more than a pawn. This wasn't a game. "I hadn't even touched her and WHAM! That big fucker just came out of nowhere and sent me flying. It wasn't like I was going to hurt her."
"He didn't know that." Roman looked up at him, slightly stunned at that response.
"You…"Roman let out a small laugh. "You're taking his side in this?" Dean rolled his eyes. "What the fuck man? How badly has Wyatt screwed you up since he's had you?" Had. Dean didn't like the implication of that word. "Fuck Dean, I came here to get your ass after he took you and you're sympathizing with them?" Dean quickly started to shake his head no. He definitely didn't like where this was headed.
"I ain't sympathizing with shit." Roman seemed slightly taken aback by that. "You've got it all wrong. He didn't fucking take me Ro." Roman let out another chuckle.
"Right he…"
"I fucking mean it!" That shut Roman up. "He didn't take me. I stole Evangeline's phone and I used it to find Bray." Dean used the back of his hand to wipe his nose. "I came here on my own." Roman gave him an unsure look.
"Why? He told you…"
"Because I fucking love him!" Dean slowly began to rub his collar bone in frustration. "He wouldn't fucking talk to me." He rubbed harder. "All I wanted was to tell him I loved him." Roman didn't like that statement. "I called, I emailed, I tweeted and fucking nothing! So I did what I had to. I came here."
"Why? We went over this. He told you he was done. He left."
"I thought I could get him to come back with me. I was convinced he would be so happy to see me, that me coming here would prove that I loved him. I thought it would be enough to convince him to come back." He liked that one even less. "I told him I would do whatever he wanted. I begged him to let me stay." Despite his injuries, Roman stood up, glaring at Dean.
"You fucking did WHAT?!" Dean flinched. "Do you even know what that means?"
"Yea. I fucking told him I'd leave you for him." Roman's jaw dropped in shock. "I told…." Dean didn't get to finish the rest of his statement. The next thing he saw was Roman's fist flying at his face. The next thing he felt was Roman's fist connecting with his jaw, sending shock waves through his face.
Roman stood over Dean, watching him crumple to the floor in a heap. He hadn't been able to stop himself. Something inside him had snapped and he hadn't been able stop the rage that was pulsing through him. He couldn't ignore the truth any longer; not when it was staring him so plainly in the face. Dean had left him. He had left him for Bray. After everything they had been through; the long nights on the road, the wars with the authority….Seth's betrayal, it hadn't been enough. Dean had decided he loved Bray more. He had come here to stay with Bray. Roman couldn't just stand it. He couldn't stand losing to that crazy fuck. Roman sucked in a ragged breath, stumbling back towards the bed. He felt dizzy, no worse than that, he felt like he was going to be sick. He collapsed on to the bed in a heap, the mattress screeching in protest, straining under his weight. How could this have happened? How could that cracked bastard have won? It just didn't make sense to him.
Bringing a shaky hand up, Roman clearly some of his hair out his face. He had only just become aware of its presence. Below him, he heard Dean groan. He dropped his eyes to the floor, watching the smaller man as he slowly began to roll over.
"Ow!" Dean sat up, his hand rubbing his jaw. "Fuck me man."
"How could you?" The blonde looked up at him. "After everything, how could you?" Roman felt himself barely able to hold onto the rage that was still pulsing through him. "I gave you everything you could ever ask of me. I loved you unconditionally. How could that not be enough?"
"Me choosing between you and Bray seems like a pretty big condition." Roman's jaw tightened in utter annoyance. "Me never seeing Bray again seems like another one." Roman felt ready to sock him in the mouth again, but he didn't. This time he was able to hold his temper. Once was enough.
"He forced…."
"You forced that." Dean licked his lips. "For all of Bray's faults, for all the times he's wished you were gone, he always understood why I needed you around."
"You believe that? He was wedge between us, he still is"
"He never forced me to choose." Roman scoffed. "He didn't because he knew he would lose."
"Well he doesn't have to worry about losing here, does he? You obviously offered yourself up to him." Like a whore. "I'm sure he was very happy to accept. Is he going to keep you barefoot in the kitchen with the other women or will he treat you like a man and let you play outside?" The hurt look on Dean's face made Roman regret that the second it had left his mouth. He hadn't meant it to be as cruel as it had sounded, but again he hadn't been able to stop himself. He wanted Dean to hurt as much as he did. "Neither." The smaller man let his hand weakly fall away from his jaw. "He told me to go back to you."
Roman found himself feeling worse. It figured Bray would say that. "He said what I offered him wasn't love and that I should go back to you." Dean looked down at his feet in shame, sniffling. "I came here to try and fix everything." Roman sat there, thinking for a second that he saw tears brimming in Dean's blue eyes. "But I only managed to fuck things up worse." Dean stomped the floor in frustration. "I've lost Bray and now I've fucked everything up so bad with you that you're probably going to leave me too." Dean's fingers laced their way into his hair. "I can't fucking win!" Roman sighed, his fingers absently toying the folds in his jeans. He should leave. After all, Dean had left him for someone else. He hadn't even bothered to tell Roman he was leaving. He just vanished without a trace. But Roman couldn't deny his own blame in the entire situation. He had made Dean choose. He had decided having Dean all to himself was more important than his friends needs. Most of all, after reaching out to him for help, Roman had ignored Dean because he simply couldn't handle the truth. Dean had needed him and he had let him down.
"Let me ask you something; man to man." Dean looked up at him, his hands easily wiping the tears away. "Would you have done this if I hadn't acted like a dick last week?"
"Probably not. Stupid thing was I thought about asking you to help me, but you were still giving me the silent treatment." He shrugged. "So I decided it was better to do it on my own." That felt like a kick to the gut.
"Fuck." Roman dropped his head into his hands, his thumbs rubbing his temples. Had Dean fucked up? Sure. But so had he. The silver lining in all of this was that Bray had officially sent Dean packing. Roman couldn't help but be a little happy about that. He couldn't deny that he at least wanted to try to work things out, if for nothing else then to have a life that didn't involve sharing Dean with Bray Wyatt. "Alright look." Roman lifted his head up, looking at Dean again. "I'm man enough to admit we're not completely fucked." Dean raised a surprised eyebrow. "I'm mad as hell at you, for this and things aren't going to be okay overnight." Dean nodded, obviously understanding. "But we're not fucked." Roman swallowed. "Just let me rest up for a while. We can talk about the rest of it when we get home. Deal?"
"Deal."