A/N: So. Here it is folks, the end of Dear Brother! Thank you ALL for following me on this journey. It's been a whole year since I started this, a year and a couple of months. There's a lot of /me/ in this fic and not only has it allowed me to exercise some demons but its also bought me some amazing friends. So. To Kirsty, my best friend and my soulmate. Thank you so much for the constant support and love you show me everyday, this never would have gotten finished if it weren't for you.

And to all my amazing readers who have left so many amazing comments on this. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the last chapter. AND BE SURE TO READ THE END NOTES BECAUSE THIS JOURNEY AINT OVER YET LOL

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When Roman gets back to his apartment, he's crying hard and his whole body is shaking. There's sobs so loud that he think's he's probably going to wake up the whole block and he quickly shuts the door behind himself.

God how could he be so stupid? How could he think it was different this time? How could he not listen to Calvin, and Nikki? How could he let Dean use him again like that? Roman feels worse than when Seth walked in on them, worse than when he got rejected from Georgia tech and worse than when his father wished he wasn't his son. Because this is Dean. Dean his brother, who he's completely in love with. The one person Roman's always trusted with his life and his heart so easily only to have them both broken and ruined by him just as easily.

Roman slides to the floor, back pressed against the door with his head in his hands as he sobs, hot, wet tears spilling down his cheeks and wetting his shirt. What can he do now? Dean and Seth are going to get married, something that ties them together forever and Roman ruined the only decent relationship he's ever had with Karl and Luke just to get thrown away without even being told.

Why had he let Dean into his bed that day he came back? Why did he allow himself to be drawn back into him when he proved a long time ago that he couldn't be trusted.

Roman pulls his phone out with shaky hands and pulls up Dean's contact. He intends on deleting it, never wanting contact with him again but then he's clicking on the little message symbol and typing out a message quickly. He can barely see the screen through his tears.

Why would you do this to me?

He sends before dropping his phone into his lap. Roman doesn't expect a response, but the one he gets is instant.

Because I love you.

That makes Roman sob harder, because how can that be true? How can Dean love him and break his heart so easily, lie to him so readily?

You love Seth

He doesn't know why he says that. It's obviously true, seeing as they're getting married and all. But it seems like the only thing that Roman's thumbs will type. Roman states at his phone waiting for Dean's response. He waits longer than the first, and Roman expects a long paragraph to come back, maybe Dean's explanation as to why he's always strung Roman along only to dump him cruelly in favour of Seth. Maybe it will be a long apology.

What Roman gets is not what he expects.

I love both of you. I always have.

Roman hates that. Because even though Dean says it, it doesn't make it any better. Makes it worse in fact, because it just proves that he loves Seth more because Dean's always chosen Seth. He types back with his fingers shaking even more and a burning pain in his heart as fresh tears fall.

But you love Seth more

He doesn't know why he's still texting Dean. Because even now, it doesn't look like Dean's going to say sorry. That's not Dean, it never has been.

It's not like that rome

Comes first, and Roman's about to ask him what it's like, because he wants to know. But then Dean sends another text.

Can I call you?

And that's when Roman snaps back to reality. If he lets Dean call him, he'll fall into his trap again. He'll listen to all of Dean's spiel about how he loves him, probably hear some made up lies about why he lied but he'll never get an apology. Never has so why now? And Roman decides no. No more. He won't ever fall into Dean's traps again, he won't get caught up in his web of lies that seem to only ever hurt Roman.

Roman's phone rings, it's Dean, because he's taken too long to answer his text but Roman lets the phone ring out letting the tune fade into the darkness around him because he never bothered to turn the lights on when he came in. When the call ends, Roman types out a message.

Never contact me again

And that feels final, especially when he zaps the message into the ether. He can practically hear the message come through on Dean's phone even though he's so far away. He doesn't wait for a response, he can't even guess what it will say but he doesn't care. He can't care anymore. So he blocks Dean's number and deletes it for good measure.

And then Roman's all alone in the dark with nothing but his jumbled thoughts and his shaking hands. He needs a drink. And Tylenol.

He stands up on shaky legs, depositing his phone and keys on the work top and turns on the lights. He avoids all the glass surfaces so he doesn't see his red blotchy, ugly face.

Roman pours himself a double whisky and takes four Tylenol with it, then swallows down the rest of the whisky. Roman only took four Tylenol a couple of hours ago, and he's not sure whether taking another four will do anything to him but he doesn't really care. Maybe he'll sleep for a whole day and get to pretend that none of this shit has happened. He goes to pour himself another double whisky, but then decides to just swig out of the bottle. It would all be unnecessary pouring anyway since he's going to probably finish the bottle.

He sits down on the floor, doesn't want to go into the front room and sit on the couch where he and Dean first made out again. Doesn't want to go into the bedroom where they've been fucking for months. Kind of hates sitting in the kitchen that he always cooked for Dean in. So Roman drinks more, takes long swigs from the bottle and savours the burning in his throat. It matches the burning in his heart. He sits there for a long time, until almost three quarters of the bottle is sloshing around in his stomach and his blood. He's woozy, feels his head pounding and his stomach churning and eventually he feels it all rising in his throat and then Roman's up on his feet, the bottle falling from his hands and smashing on the tiles, and running into the bathroom before puking the entire content of his stomach into the toilet.

It burns his throat and tears stream down his face as he wretches into the toilet. Roman feels like there's nothing left inside of him when he finally collapses onto the floor beside the toilet. He breathes heavy, his whole body exhausted from how much exertion it had took to empty his stomach.

"What the fuck is happening to me." Roman croaks, his voice hoarse and heavy, his mouth tasting disgusting. He flushes the toilet, putting the lid down and sitting on it so that he can wash his face. He catches his reflection in the small mirror on the wall then and he scoffs, he looks disgusting. So much for ma's cooking. That's what Seth had said wasn't it? That he looked like he needed his mother's cooking. Poor Seth. Roman feels sorry for him. Maybe he didn't when they were kids, when his and Dean's relationship could have been over at any moment and all it was was a fling. But this? Now they're adults, in a serious long term relationship. Seth was so in the dark. He had no clue that for months Dean had been sleeping with Roman. How did he not tell? Dean spent every night at his house? He's a nurse. He's probably been on the night shift while Dean's been sleeping in his bed.

Should he tell him? Tell him, sorry, your husband to be has been sleeping with his brother, the same brother he cheated on you with when we were kids, for months now and I just thought you should know, or should he leave them be? Seth was so excited when he announced it. Had been so excited that he'd begged Roman to come to the dinner without Dean knowing because he thought it would be special.

He can't do that to Seth. He just can't. He's a good guy, who's never done a bad thing to Roman, his only crime is loving the same man that Roman does. No. No he can't tell Seth and ruin everything.

Roman washes his face and brushes his teeth, pulls his hair back into a bun on the top of his head and goes back into the kitchen. He cleans up the spilt whiskey and the broken glass from floor and gets rid of it. He's not crying anymore, just an aching reminder every time he lets his mind wander and his thoughts drift to Dean.

He goes into the front room and switches on the TV, puts on the discovery channel and watches a documentary about the galapagos islands and then one about hammerhead sharks before he finally dozes off on the couch.

It's not a particularly long snooze. Roman wakes up at some point to an aching in his bladder. He gets up to pee and his brain reminds him of the events of the night, that Dean isn't tucked up in his bed and calling for him to hurry up and pee because he's cold, he can't text Dean and tell him about a fucked up dream.

It's a heart wrenching thought, to be so, so lonely again after two months of Dean practically living with him. But it's not even a thought it's reality. There's no one here but him. He washes his hands and heads back into the living room, eyes threatening to spill tears again but he pushes them away with the heel of his hands.

On the TV, for some reason, is the travel channel. He must have fell asleep on the remote, because he wasn't watching it when he fell to sleep. On the screen is white sandy beaches, bright blue seas and holiday makers enjoying the hot sun. Roman thinks it must be nice to go on holiday, to get away for a while. Be in a completely different place and not think about anything related to your normal life at all. He thinks he could do with a holiday. He doesn't want to stay here in Pensacola, where his brother is getting married and where there's no one who loves him.

Maybe he just needs to disappear. How easy is it to disappear? Can you just up and go without anyone knowing a thing? Well, no, probably not. He'd need to tell AJ that he needed time off. Not that he doesn't deserve it.

The excited woman on the screen tells him that you can book cheap flights at the airport, find cheap hotels and hostels once you're there and just explore. There's not always a need to plan a holiday apparently. You can just disappear.

That's when Roman stands, goes into his bedroom and packs a bag. He's going to disappear for a while, clear his head, cleanse himself of everything that's happened in these short few weeks. Once he's packed his bag with everything he thinks he might need, he writes a note telling Karl that he'll be gone for a while, not sure when he'll be back and to tell AJ. He slides it under Karl's door on the way out. What's the point in waiting around until sunlight? He can go to the airport now, ask for a flight to wherever and just be free for a while.

He hails a cab asks for the airport and then he's on his way. Roman's head swims with places he could go. Places where no one will find him. Where his past won't follow him, where people don't know him as Roman Reigns the guy who's failed at everything he's ever attempted, where he'll just be Roman. Roman the tourist, Roman the holiday maker, just another face in the sea of thousands.

The airport is sleepy, most people asleep on benches waiting for delayed flights or the ones who chose to fly at night are waiting for their flight to be called and ready to board. Roman heads over to one of the desks where a tired looking woman is sat clicking away at her computer. He asks about the next available flights, how much they will cost, and if he can get on any of them. The woman lists off flights that he can get on that leave early in the morning, an array of destinations but there's one that excites him the most.

"I'll take the flight to Hawaii please."

He's got more than a couple of hours until his flight leaves, so he lays down on one of the benches that isn't occupied, maybe he can sleep a bit more. First, he texts Nikki and tells her where he's going. He wants to disappear, but Nikki will no doubt attempt to contact him at some point, maybe show up at his apartment unannounced and he doesn't need to worry her when she can't find him.

She's obviously working, or just got home, because she responds quickly, telling him to be careful, have a good time and that she loves him and will see him soon. He snoozes for an hour, wakes up to the alarm he set and then goes through security. It doesn't seem real, really. That he's leaving Florida, at least for a short while. He's never really left Florida before, maybe when he was a kid when his family actually used to go on holiday but now for a long time.

On the plane he pens a long letter to Dean. In it, he tells him how much he loves him, how much he's hurt him, and how he'll never let him hurt him again. But when he lands at Kona International Airport in Hawaii, Roman throws the letter in the trash.

He takes a cab to the nearest beach, wants to walk a little and enjoy the sun before finding a place to stay. There's a bar at the top of the beach, a little tiki bar complete with flames and all the other traditional details. It's not very busy and he sits on a stool placing his bag beside him.

"A new face, how lovely." A pretty blonde woman says, stepping behind the bar. Roman suspects she must be the bar lady, server or whatever you call them. "Where are you from?"

She's forward, but her voice is warm and she has a friendly smile.

"Florida, Pensacola. I just got here."

She smiles, "Holiday on your own?"

Roman laughs, "Yeah, needed to just, get away. Disappear."

A knowing smile ghosts over the woman's face and she pours him a drink. "Welcome to the island of runaways."

/

A/N: MUAHAHA. You didn't think I'd leave the story without finding out why Dean did what he did, without a REAL ending, did you? Well if you did, think again. Because there's going to be a SEQUEL. KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED FOLKS!