Folsom Prison Blues (5/11)
"Tell me about yourself, Dean."
"You have my entire life story in that folder. What's there to tell?"
"Well, I'd like to hear it in your own words. And I don't have to tell you that these don't usually give the whole story."
Dean eyed the court ordered prison shrink from across the table. She seemed like a nice enough girl. But that was just it, she was a girl. Fresh out of college and looking to make a difference in the world, starting at the high security prison down the street from her studio apartment. She had a shock of red hair and big round eyes that gave her a permanent deer in the head lights look. Dean figured that she was pretty, and probably would have been worth a try on the outside.
"Okay, Dr. Milton-"
"Anna."
"Alright, Anna. What d'ya wanna know?"
"Start at the beginning. What's your earliest memory?"
And so for the next half an hour, Dean talked nearly nonstop about his life. He didn't really get into specifics, just stories that he remembered about Sammy or his dad. It was a lot easier than he had expected maybe it just felt good to talk without any fear of repercussions. As long as he didn't get too dark, Anna would listen happily to his stories and keep him off the meds. If there was one thing that Dean did not want, it was to get doped up. All he was looking for right now was to keep his head down and maybe get transferred to a mid-security prison by the end of the decade. He figured it would be easier to sleep at night if he knew that his blockmates weren't rapists and arsonists. Never could tell with those. Murderers were easy to understand, even the few pedophiles they had in the clink were predictable. But the rapists and arsonists Dean would never understand, so he tried to give them a wide berth.
"Very good, Dean." Anna tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. Dean thought that she'd be the touchy-feely type if she had been allowed to touch the prisoners. Even with the three guards standing outside the door of the therapy room, Dean still had his ankles and wrists chained together. "Now," she flipped through Dean's folder "this says that you just got transferred with a new cellmate about a week ago, Castiel. How do you get along with him?"
Good, except for the inappropriate boners, Dean thought bitterly to himself. "Fine." He shrugged. "He's quiet, we get along pretty well. He hasn't tried to rape me yet, so that's a plus." He joked, his smile faltering when Anna's face blanched. "But seriously," Dean started quickly "he's a good guy. Don't know too much about him, but I think we could be friends."
Anna regained her lost composure. "That's great, Dean. Being friendly with your peers will help your sentence feel more manageable." She glanced down at the folder again and frowned slightly. "What exactly has Castiel told you about his imprisonment?"
"Not much, except that he's innocent. I think he's about half way through his sentence and he's up for parole in a couple of months." He tried to cross his arms but was stopped by the chains. "Why?"
"No reason in particular." Anna lied badly. "He's been notoriously closed to the other prisoners. It's nice to see that he's opening up." She checked the large clock on the wall. "And that's all the time we have, I'll see you next time."
It was getting increasingly difficult for Castiel to keep his attraction towards his cellmate a secret. It wasn't just that Dean was arguably one of the more attractive prisoners to come through Folsom in the last decade. It was that when Castiel should have found him infuriating, he found him charming. He would never admit it, but Dean chewing with his mouth full during meals, having the attention span of a four year old on speed, and his complete and utter devotion to his brother was adorable. Or, as adorable as a lifer could get. The point was, he thought he was keeping it under wraps successfully, until one day at lunch.
Since Dean had moved into Castiel's cell, he had gotten into the habit of following Castiel around from place to place. Castiel doubted he was even aware of his own actions, since most of the time Dean was talking happily about his car on the outside that he called 'Baby', or recounting another time he got drunk and into a fight over a girl. Most of the time, Castiel just nodded silently while pretending to read whatever book he had pulled off of the library cart that week. At meal times, they ate with Castiel's small circle of acquaintances, Jacob, Gabriel and occasionally Crowley.
"And so, by this point, I was like six beers deep and still trying to hustle some pool." Dean explained, stabbing his Salisbury steak viciously and stuffing it into his already full mouth. "And this monster of a guy is just eyeing me from the corner of the bar. I only see that expression on somebody for two reasons, if they wanna fuck or if they wanna fight. So, I walked up to this guy. He was like freakin' hulk, had to be at least 6'5'' and I say to him 'Are we cool? Or am I gonna have to go to the alley and tear your ass apart?'."
Gabriel chuckled. "And what happened next, hot shot?"
"That's when it gets good. He looks right at me and says, 'Guess you're going to have to tear my ass apart, ese." Dean poorly mimicked a Mexican accent. "And so I did, we went to the back alley and I just gave it to him. No mercy. I tore that cholo apart. I bet he couldn't walk for days."
Castiel choked on his food. After a few greedy gulps of air, he tried to calm himself down. Dean was talking about beating a stranger up in the bar. Just another one of his stories. He wasn't talking about taking the guy to the back and having his way with him. Cas took another breath to steady himself.
"You alright there, Cas?" Dean asked, curiously.
Castiel just nodded mutely, willing the flush in his face to disappear. After a weird look, Dean left him alone, but there was still one pair of eyes trained on Castiel. Castiel looked up and found a smile spreading across Gabriel's face. Castiel's heart sank to his stomach. This could not be good.
"So, Dean-o. Do you do that often? Take guys to the alley and really give them a good pounding, I mean." Gabriel asked innocently.
Dean shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Sometimes you just need to get it out of your system, you know?"
"Not really my style." Gabriel said easily. "But I think Castiel might."
Dean gave Gabriel a confused look and then let out a short bark of laughter. "You're kidding me, right? Cas?"
"You'd be surprised." Gabriel winked and returned to his meal, a smirk playing across his features.
This was not good, Castiel thought. Even if Dean hadn't picked up on Gabriel's less than subtle hinting, Gabriel still knew. Castiel didn't consider Gabriel a particular threat, the fact that Castiel's most closely guarded secret was now out in the open was not a reassuring thought. And Gabriel was not known for his secret keeping abilities. For the rest of the day, Castiel withdrew into himself and had a panic attack playing through all the potential situations that could come out of this. More than anything, he hoped that Gabriel's comments hadn't meant anything to Dean, and Dean hadn't picked up on the innuendo.
But of course, luck was not with Castiel and the gods seemed determined to make his sexual preferences known to the world. Dean was mostly quiet after lunch, slipping into his usual food coma and snoring heavily in the bunk next to Castiel. True to form, Castiel's traitorous thoughts found Dean's hearty snores endearing rather than annoying during their quiet hour. That was manageable however, and further Castiel and Dean were away from curious eyes. Their outside rec time was a different story.
In theory, the outside time could be used for a multitude of different activities. The prison yard had a baseball field, a basketball court, free weights and bleachers just to sit and watch. Castiel usually opted to sit on the bleachers, either reading or quietly observing. Outside time was usually used to solidify gang relations, or incite fights. It was one of the only times that they weren't shackled, and had a certain amount of freedom granted to them. Dean, Castiel had noticed, favored watching the prisoners with him, occasionally elbowing Cas in the ribs and pointing out a drug deal going down out of sight of the guards. But today was different, and Dean walked right by Castiel and towards the free weights.
It was a warmer day, the sun was out and shining and many of the prisoners were opting to stay in the shade and away from the blaringly hot blacktop. But Dean, as Castiel watched, headed straight to the free weights section of the pavement and grabbed some of the larger weights. He worked methodically, working through some inner plan. Castiel had never been one for weight lifting, he preferred running or skiing for exercise, but he had to admit that Dean made it look appealing.
"He's a different one, isn't he?" Crowley asked, appearing as Castiel's side. "And don't act coy; you've been making cow-eyes at him for the better part of an hour."
"What did you want, Crowley?"
"Ouch. No pleasantries? Tsk tsk, Castiel." Crowley clucked. "Anyways, tell Men's Health over there that his shipment is in. That is unless you like him a little frustrated."
Castiel frowned and kept the mask of indifference on his face. "I'm sure I don't know what you are referring to."
"Of course you don't sunshine." Crowley grinned predatorily. "A word from a friend? Tell Mr. Winchester to cool it with the strip tease, he's gonna get the boys all riled up."
Castiel's head snapped back towards the work out area. Sure enough, Dean had unzipped the top half of his jumpsuit and was wearing only a rather tight wife beater on his torso. And in a particularly cruel twist of fate, Dean chose that moment to find Castiel on the bleachers and send him a grin. Castiel's mouth went dry and his brain went offline for a moment. It was a true testament to how long Castiel had been celibate by how easy it was for Dean to get him going.
Collecting himself, Castiel returned his gaze to his book. Even if he hadn't managed to get through a single page for the rest of the hour, it was important that he didn't see Dean again until they were back to the cell. Even then, it would probably be in his best interest to keep to himself. Having friends was a big enough liability, let alone a grade school crush which could only reasonably end up with a knife in Castiel's side. Romantic relationships were pretty much unheard of inside the clink, and Castiel was in no hurry to change the status quo, as tempting as it was. He had the potential to be out of Folsom in less than a year, and he couldn't afford to have anybody get in his way. Even a foul-mouthed pretty boy who may or may not be playing with Castiel's libido on purpose.
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