Destiel One-shots

Prisoners

Set in AU

You could always tell when there was a new prisoner at Kansas State Penitentiary. The yells and catcalls the other prisoners shouted as the new guy was lead to his cell always gave it away. So when a guard opened up the door to Dean Winchester's cell, he wasn't surprised to see a new guy walk in.

"Well look at that," Crowley, Dean's other cellmate, called. "Fresh meat's all ours."

The new guy was handsome, a look Dean was sure wouldn't last in this place. He had dark hair, and he kept his head down, dropping the itchy state issued blankets on the lone empty bed in the cell and sitting down crosslegged on it. He stared at the floor, refusing to meet either of their eyes.

"So what's your name, newbie?" Dean asked casually, shuffling a deck of cards. There wasn't much to do in the cell, so he and Crowley spent a lot of time playing cards, trading cigarettes in poker, swapping stories of their time on the outside to pass their time on the inside.

The new guy didn't respond. Didn't even glance up.

But Dean was a prisoner that had a lot of respect in the prison. People knew he wasn't to be messed with or disrespected. So when the new guy ignored him, Crowley saw that as an insult to Dean's honor. And nobody insulted Winchester's honor.

"Hey," Crowley reached over and slapped at the new guy's arm. "He asked you a question, dumbass."

"Aw, leave him alone Crowley," Dean retorted. "It's his first day." Dean turned his attention to the newbie, walking across the small cell to stand in front of him. "Hey." No response. He snapped his fingers in front of the guy's face. "Hey, short stack, come on, I know you can hear me."

Slowly, he picked his head up and stared at Dean, blue eyes stunning the man.

"That's better," Dean offered. "You may think that keeping your head down will keep you out of trouble, but it just makes you look like easy prey. Keep your head up, look confident, and people are less likely to mess with you. Got it?" He nodded. "Good." Dean tilted the guy's head up a little further. "Besides, you got nice eyes. Folks might like to see them." He offered the new guy a smile, and went back to his card game.

New guy kept his head up after that.

New guy's name was Cas Novak, but seeing as he didn't say a word, nobody knew that. Dean deemed him Short stack, even though Cas wasn't short. He didn't talk to anyone, but Dean talked to him. And since Dean talked to him, everybody else tended to stay out of Cas's way. They didn't pick on him like they normally would with the new guy. Dean had claimed him, and so he wasn't to be touched.

But since nobody really noticed Cas, he got to hear more. Learned more. Picked up on little things few others did.

"MAIL CALL," One of the guards shouted one morning. The guard walked down the rows of cells, dropping envelopes and small, approved packages in the cells for prisoners. Cas didn't get anything, naturally. No one would send him a letter. Crowley too, was left empty handed, but Dean got a letter.

"Winchester!" The guard stopped before their cell, holding out a letter. Dean took it gratefully, and the guard started walking, but Dean reached out to stop him.

"Wait, Benny! Benny Benny Benny," Dean started. The guard sighed.

"What do you want, Winchester?"

"My little brother's gonna be on the TV tonight," Dean explained. The prisoners didn't have TV's in their cells, but there was a room they could go to to watch it. They usually got about an hour of TV a day, if they were lucky.

"TV hour's at 4, Dean, you know that."

"Yeah, but he's on at 6. I was hoping you could take me out, let me watch?"