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Ryan felt exhausted, all things considered.
From being stabbed in the lung, to the adrenaline rush of having to run away from the rest of the Hacketts trying to kill him, to killing the person he had considered a father figure for most of his life. This night had to probably be at least in the top 5 shittiest nights Ryan had ever had the displeasure of experiencing.
Even when it was all over, Silas dead, everyone who had turned, including himself being set free from the curse of shitty goddamn werewolves of all things, Ryan wasn’t able to come down from the adrenaline rush coursing his veins until he met with the others.
He, Laura, and Travis in the uncomfortably silent walk back to the main campground, finally met up with the others who were all visibly shaken and crowded around outside together near the car that never did start, all too conveniently for them.
His friends rushed over to meet him and Laura when they were spotted, returning looking frankly, like complete shit. They looked questioningly at Laura and then back at Travis who was trailing behind them, Laura not at all paying attention to the “ oh finally a fucking cop comes when the shitshow is over ” that Jacob so indignantly exclaimed when she honed in on Max who appeared from the crowd, wearing a crop top and booty shorts for whatever reason.
She ran over to throw her arms around Max and collapse into his embrace, her face in the crook of his neck as Max kissed her head and temple over and over, saying a series of Oh my God, Laura and Thank God you’re okay while rocking her in his hug.
“So, is it over? We’re all here now… so that means we made it through the night?” Emma asked nobody in particular, the answer clear and yet difficult to process considering the sheer number of near death experiences the group had experienced in the span of a couple hours as a whole.
Ryan scanned the crowd, mentally checking off that everyone was accounted for when his eyes locked with Dylan’s, and it was only at that moment that he was able let out the withheld breath he didn’t even realize he was holding since the walk back to the campgrounds.
“Yeah… we made it” he said, exhaustion in his monotone voice now that he didn’t have to be strong and confident anymore.
The coil of fear in his stomach loosened with the fact that everyone was okay, that they were all alive--and amidst the numbness of his mind still buzzing from the trauma of the entire night, he had a distant realization that-- oh-- the relief he felt when he saw Dylan okay was different than the relief he felt when he saw Jacob, for example, alive and well.
It wasn’t a “oh good, Jacob isn’t dead”, it was a “oh thank fuck Dylan is alive.”
The realization was about to slip away from being acknowledged by Ryan with the fact that they still had to prepare what exactly the hell they were going to tell the cops when they came, but before he could put aside whatever feelings he was having to unpack later or just never bother to unpack at all, his heart stuttered with dull panic when he saw Dylan sway in his spot.
He was the only one who noticed. Emma was telling Jacob to please put some pants on, Abi and Nick were out of eavesdropping distance having what seemed to be a serious conversation with the way Nick’s face was dropped into his hands and visibly shaking, Travis was looking wistfully up at the sky that was slowly turning into an orange dawn, and Kaitlyn was checking up on Laura and Max who were still holding each other in a vice grip.
Ryan was walking up to Dylan to ask him if he was alright, intent on leading him inside the broken down car to lay down on the reclined car seat, and really, he had no idea how Dylan was still standing at all. He must be exhausted out of everyone there, even his semi healed stab wound was nothing to losing a limb.
Concern laced his brows as Dylan was, totally not worryingly at all, staring into space at nothingness. Ryan touched his good arm to bring his attention back to him, a pang of concern hitting him right in the heart when Dylan jumped at the contact and gasped as if he really didn’t notice Ryan walking directly in the middle of his field of vision.
Ryan was about to open his mouth to ask how he was feeling when Dylan cut him off with a trembling hand on his shoulder.
He rambled with an urge of panic in his voice, “Oh heeey Ryan, I would really love to sit and chat about all the wacky fun things that we all experienced tonight that totally won’t haunt our every waking dreams and tell you all about my heroic endeavors when you were out there being badass saving the day but I think the pain of having my hand cut off is finally registering and I think I’m gonna have to pass out now.”
Ryan blinked at him, squinting at his pale face in confusion and concern, “What?”
He didn’t even have a second to react before Dylan’s eyes went glossy in response and he swayed before tumbling down hard like a chopped down tree right into Ryan’s shoulder. He let out a pained wheeze when he twisted his body to catch Dylan’s limp form from under his arms before he could hit the ground and slowly lowered him down, pain flaring at his side at the strain of making sure Dylan wouldn’t fall onto his bleeding arm.
He didn’t acknowledge the pain with the worried panic that took over, his entire focus on Dylan as he gently and then not so gently slapped Dylan’s cheek then checked for his pulse and his breathing in a panic, all the while exclaiming, “Hey, Dylan, Dylan, talk to me man.”
Kaitlyn was the first to notice the commotion, as she quickly turned her head towards them and stood up quickly with a muttered “ Oh, shit ”, leaving Laura and Max both looking towards the scene with matching concern on both of their faces. The worry deep in his belly grew when he placed the back of his hand near Dylan’s mouth, feeling the way Dylan’s breathing became shallow and stuttered, his complexion nearly white as if his body was just reacting to the amount of blood he had lost all night.
“Oh crap, is he okay?” he heard Abi call as she stumbled over to them with worry and fear in her voice, Nick following behind with a whispered God …as he saw the amount of fresh blood that was dripping from his stub into the clean bandages that seemed to have just been wrapped.
Before Ryan could answer his friends that had huddled around them with confident reassurance that he sure as hell wasn’t feeling, police sirens wailed as they approached with an ambulance in tow that Travis must have called at some point with his radio.
Emma jumped and cursed at the sound of sirens that were probably only a few feet away before Travis walked up the the crowd that had formed around Dylan to address the group for the first time, only briefly acknowledging Dylan before looking at each of them with a grave expression. He sighed deeply, sounding more tired than he’d heard from the man the entire night.
“Listen up, police are gonna take you guys in for questioning. It doesn’t matter how long they interrogate you, do not say shit , you be honest about what happened tonight and I assure you, you’ll all be sent to the psych ward and rehab right after that. Just shut up, refuse to say anything without a lawyer, and I’ll handle the rest.”
There was no time to argue as the police finally rolled up, casting a red and blue light on the shadows of their faces as the group squinted towards the burly man who had exited the police car, the ambulance parking right next to the group in tow.
Travis went over to speak to the police officer in private as the paramedics got out of the vehicle, not wasting any time to ask who was injured by the way they quickly got a gurney out and went straight for the handless teenager passed out on the floor.
It seemed like the paramedics around the quarry were equally as rude and not well adjusted to society like Travis because they hoisted Dylan on the gurney without care and were booking it before they could assess if anyone else was injured.
Ryan had his view focused on Dylan as he was carried into the back of the ambulance, not noticing Laura pulling one of the paramedics aside and pointing at him before that same paramedic went up to him and lifted his shirt without permission. He responded with a baffled-- woah, what the hell? rude? - before that same paramedic wordlessly pushed him into the back of the ambulance with Dylan, not caring when he was near-shoved into the ambulance causing Ryan to trip and ungracefully belly flop onto the ambulance floor with a resounding -- oof.
He brushed himself off as he stood and flipped off the rude asshole paramedic through the circle window of the door that was promptly shut on his face. He watched the faces of his friends as they watched him, expressions equally worried and equally relieved, as the paramedics sounded their sirens and drove off once more, speeding straight to the nearest hospital to finally get them the help that they needed, most importantly, the help Dylan needed.
When the rest of his friends were out of sight, he walked back to Dylan and stared at his slack face peacefully sleeping as if he wasn’t one red cross donation away from certain death from blood loss.
It was then that he finally came to a certain realization with a hard pang in his chest. He was terrified at the thought of losing Dylan.
Laura was never going to stop making fun of him for responding with “neither.”
==
Dylan had no idea where he was, who he was, or what he was the first blissful seconds after blearily opening his eyes to the fluorescent lights and white walls that surrounded him.
All he knew was that he felt good and like shit at the same time, a wonderful paradox that could easily describe Dylan’s entire life up to now. It’s only when his eyes started focusing and his ears registered the sounds of beeps that he realized he was in a hospital and when he got to thinking why exactly he was chilling in a hospital bed, the events of the night hit him like a truck. A flaming dumpster truck on fire with gas tanks that explode and cause adjacent dumpster trucks to light on fire, to be more accurate.
God, Dylan needed a beer and he doesn’t even like beer.
He groaned, rubbing his eyes with his good hand and turned to his side, the side with his bad arm, and froze when he saw Ryan at the side of his bed, cheek on his hand as he snoozed soundly, breathing deeply in and out. Dylan blinked hard at the sight, taking a guilty second or two to gush in the fact that Ryan was just casually by his bedside, seemingly waiting long enough to have fallen asleep waiting for Dylan to wake up from… surgery?
He took a look at his stub, noticing the fresh medical-grade clean bandages around it, and most importantly, noticing how it looked… more stubbier than before? Shorter? Shit, they had to take off more of his arm, didn’t they? Dylan sighed, not really that phased all things considering. Might as well take some more arm off, not like it made a functional difference whether he had half an arm or 75% of an arm.
He chose that moment to instead watch the way Ryan’s chest rose and fell with his breaths, the way his long thick eyelashes rested on his cheeks and twitched with what were probably dreams, mouth slightly parted with that cute mole on his plush lip that had kissed him at the campfire-- and, shit, Dylan, keep it in your pants.
He was still completely whipped for this man, and he wasn’t even entirely certain that Ryan didn’t have a little forbidden crush on Laura, confident and heroic as she is. He sighed, loud and whiny, causing Ryan to promptly snap his head out of his hand. “Uh, wha?” Dylan wanted to giggle at the red print on his cheek and drool that trailed from his mouth, but he kept it in, choosing to be a good man and not make fun of him when he was so patiently and kindly worrying for Dylan and sitting by him. Good job, Dylan.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty. Got in your beauty sleep before the big dance?”
Okay, geez, Dylan, not so good a job, tone it down a bit. No man wants to be alluded to being beautiful twice, literally not even 0.5 seconds after waking up.
Ryan blinked the sleep away from his eyes as he processed his words, quickly snapping out of his grogginess and wiping the drool from his mouth as he leaned over Dylan to check his bandages and roam his eyes over him almost as if he was making sure he was still in one piece-- a piece minus a hand, at least. Dylan wanted to squirm from the attention.
Ryan heaved a big sigh before quirking a small a genuine smile at him that made Dylan’s heart speed up, just a bit.
“Guess you’re doing well enough to crack jokes.”
“You know me, traumatic situations are the best time to crack some jokes. Did you come all this way to check on me? You shouldn’t have,” Dylan faux bashfully looked away, a hand resting on his cheek like a shy maiden. He didn’t have to be looking at Ryan to feel him rolling his eyes.
“So I did. Maybe I was worried about you after you passed out ever so gracefully after giving me a fair warning that you would.”
Dylan looked at Ryan, taken aback by the honesty of him admitting he was worried for him. He cleared his throat. “Well, you know, that’s just the reporter in me, reporting the news before it happens.”
“Hm. Is reporter Dylan from the same multiverse as blasé Dylan or Dylan Dylan?” Oh there we go, Ryan was totally fucking with him now.
“Okay, I know you’re saying that as a funny haha but quantum theory supports the idea of there being multiple universes so yeah, there probably is actually a multitude of different Dylans out there.”
“Sounds thrilling,” Ryan said with his monotone voice and smiling that little damn smile again, the genuine one that made his heart race, and Dylan had the urge to look away and hide his face, but he stayed strong. “Maybe Dylan Dylan will have to include a lesson on quantum physics along with the tech lesson you promised me.”
Holy hell, Ryan was full on flirting with him, wasn’t he?
“Oh, yeah, yeah of course. The tech lesson. Mhm. Gonna put you down for that. A whole curriculum,” Dylan stuttered, cringing at himself for the way the conversation came to a lull after that-- nice one, Dylan. The second Ryan dishes it back, you freeze.
Ryan looked to be at a loss for words too, looking as if he was collecting what he wanted to say next. After a beat, Ryan broke the momentary silence, “I don’t know if you were serious, but I wasn’t kidding about taking you up on that offer and, well...” Ryan scratched the side of his head, looking awkward, “Spending more time with you.”
Dylan gaped at Ryan, jaw hanging before he snapped it shut and tried not to look desperately excited.
“I knew it. You are into pirates.”
“What?”
“I mean, cool handsome guy totally swoops in and saves the life of the guy he definitely hasn’t been crushing on for months while getting his hand passionately cut off by said crush and concocting a genius plan whilst bleeding out that makes the scary werewolf run away and saves all his friends.”
Ryan stayed silent, raising an eyebrow at him as he struggled to keep his face stoic before breaking into a grin as his cheeks darkened with the fact that Dylan just admitted--oh fuck-- Dylan admitting that he’s been crushing on Ryan for months.
“You know, cool, heroic, handless, all I need now is a hook.” Dylan wiggled his stub up at Ryan to stress his point and to hide his mortification that Ryan probably put together just how embarrassingly whipped he is for him, just what are in these pain killers ? “This doing anything for you?”
“Well, you were pretty damn badass and you did totally save us, I’ll give credit where credit is due,” Ryan responded, to Dylan’s surprise. A light blush flushed across his cheeks, not expecting the actual compliment.
Ryan was being so sweet and Dylan honestly had no idea how to handle it. He still wasn’t even sure that Ryan returned his feelings. After all, he could just be feeling bad for him because he amputated his hand, or just be playfully flirting with him without any real feelings attached or just want to hang with him as newfound trauma-bonded bros that flirt a bit or-- well, he might as well bite the bullet.
“Does this mean you… like me?” Dylan asked in a casual tone of voice as if he was asking him about the weather, avoiding eye contact and taking a sudden interest in the creases of his hospital gown.
Ryan froze, not saying anything for a few seconds too long and tortuous for Dylan’s liking. He bit the inside of his lip before opening his mouth to tell Ryan nevermind, just goofs, just joshing around, just ignore me, before Ryan interrupted his thoughts.
“Dylan, I have been flirting with you since we were in Chris’ office.”
Dylan snapped his attention back to Ryan who looked absolutely baffled, squinting and eyebrows drawn together in confusion.
“You have??”
“I chose to kiss you at the campfire.”
“But it was a truth or dare dare!” Dylan matched a baffled, flabbergasted expression of his own.
“I literally just said that I want to spend more time with you and get to know the real you more. I, quote on quote, said that I wanted you to teach me about tech and physics.”
“I thought you were joking??”
“Why,” Ryan palmed a hand over his face, utterly exasperated, “Why would I be joking?”
Dylan threw both his hand and his stub up in a “fuck, I dont know” gesture, looking like a deer in headlights that humor and wit couldn't hide.
Ryan sighed, looking frustrated but not frustrated at Dylan per say. “Look. When you first started flirting with me, I was interested, and I thought I was flirting back but the thing about--” Ryan air quotes, “Ryan Ryan is that he’s not really able to express things well or make things clear to other people which is why he comes off as a mysterious recluse loner when in reality I’m just… antisocial and bad with people.” He sighed again, Dylan keeping his trap shut as Ryan spilled himself to him for the first time, “And it isn’t until I wasn’t sure you were alive or not that I realized that, shit, maybe I do actually like you and don’t want you to die of werewolf disease!”
“Wow, thanks.” Dylan cut in, shutting his uncontrolled trap again when Ryan shot him a glare.
“Which is why, yes, Dylan, I have been serious this entire conversation and do want to… give this a shot, if you want to. After this is all over and the police hopefully clear us from being condemned and incarcerated as homicidal maniacs.”
Dylan was blushing at this point, unable to hide his wide dopey grin, utterly in the moon that Ryan liked him back. That he wants to give this a shot and get to know him. He would be riding this high for days, definitely.
Still, he just had to be a bit of a sass about it.
“Wait a second…” He said dramatically as if he was coming to a illuminating realization. “Does that mean I can finally have your number?”
This time he did see Ryan roll his eyes. And before he could process what was happening, Ryan leaned in and grabbed the hem of his hospital gown and pulled him into a kiss.
A kiss like the tender one they shared by the campfire, lips pressing to lips as they simply breathed before splitting apart gently. Dylan suppressed a giddy shiver as he watched the way Ryan stared at his lips, mouth parted and taking him in before leaning in for another kiss, this time more insistent, with Dylan craning his head up to deepen the kiss as Ryan licked his bottom lip, making Dylan sigh and part his lips for Ryan to explore his mouth.
Dylan felt dizzy with the surprising intensity of the kiss, feeling and hearing the way his heart monitor sped up with fast beeps like the ones thrumming in his chest, and before he knew it, Ryan got up from his seat to sit down next to Dylan on the hospital bed without breaking the kiss, caressing the side of his face gently with one hand and boxing Dylan in with the other arm next to his head.
In response, Dylan hooked his good arm around the back of Ryan’s neck, relishing in the way he felt Ryan shiver when he brushed the fine hairs at the back of his head with his fingers.
They broke the kiss to take deep inhales of air, panting and staring at each other with hooded eyes before crashing their lips together for more, all hot breaths and lips and tongue, both insatiable and insistent for more, fueled by excitement of something new and the unacknowledged despair of having almost not reached this point at all.
And, of course, Dylan thought when the sound of Ryan quietly groaning sent static buzzing all the way down to his toes, the third ingredient of any good kiss— inherent horniness. Dylan whined softly when Ryan nibbled at his bottom lip, surprised at all that there was enough blood in his body still to have enough to go south and coil deep in his stomach when he felt Ryan rub a thumb under his eye and switch positions from his cheek to rest at the side of his neck and jaw.
Dylan’s hand traced down from the back of his neck to feel at the hidden muscle of his back, reaching down and down to the small of his back before sliding to feel up Ryan’s side and-- Ryan broke the kiss with a sharp pained inhale. Dylan blinked, mind foggy as he panted, thrown off by the sudden end of the kiss.
“Sorry,” Ryan said, looking regretful for breaking the kiss. His voice was deeper and hoarser than he’d heard before.
Dylan shook his head, bringing himself back to his senses and suspiciously looking at Ryan’s side, “Are you hurt?”-- he had to clear his throat before repeating the question, the words stuck in his throat as he recovered from the dizziness he felt from the kiss, feeling concern replacing his less holy emotions and thoughts he was having.
“Uh.. yeah kind of, but it’s all good. They stitched me up already and its already kinda healed after I was bit, werewolf healing properties and all.”
“Excuse me, when you were what? ” Dylan exclaimed. “Okay, from the top, what happened exactly?”
“Well,” Ryan shrugged, looking sheepish, “I got stabbed by one of the Hacketts in the lung and Laura had to bite me so I could heal or else I was gonna die from blood loss. And it kind of worked because it did kind of heal and the doctors stitched me up, which, by the way I had to awkwardly explain why I had a scar that looked old and new at the same time, but anyways, that’s the story.”
“Wow okay. Stabbed in the lung and healed by werewolf germs. Cool, cool, and you just weren’t gonna mention anything about that ever or?”
Ryan shrugged. “You never asked.”
“You’re as insufferable as me sometimes, you know.”
“I didn’t think that was possible.” Ryan breathed a laugh which tickled Dylan’s lips by their still close proximity.
“Har de har har,” Dylan countered, eyes gleaming with humor as Ryan glared at him for the quote call back and pressed another kiss at his lips to shut him up.
“By the way, werewolf bites and missing hands aside,” Dylan spoke in between the space of their lips, “this was the kind of kiss I was hoping for when you chose me at the campfire.”
Ryan raised a brow at him. “You were the one who broke the kiss first.”
“Oh what, so you were just gonna go to town with my mouth if I didn’t back up first?”
Ryan gave him another short kiss, honestly the two were unable to stop now that they had started. “Maybe I was. It’s a mystery.”
Dylan laughed breathily, blushing a light pink that he felt warm his cheeks. “Yeah I think I’m done with mysteries after all this, for a good long while.”
“Think I might invest in a new hobby that doesn’t involve listening to podcasts about unresolved murders and hags of quarries. Hags of quarries as they relate to hacketts specifically.”
“Yeah that sounds nice. Guess you’ll have to find something else to talk to the kids about at campfires.”
“Hmm.” Ryan took that moment to nudge Dylan to the side, “make some space I'm coming in,” and settled right next to him in the hospital bed, limbs at an awkward angle as he tried to take up as little space as possible.
Okay, that was really cute of him and totally didn’t make him want to scream.
“So where do you want to go first?” Dylan asked, shoving down the urge to kick his feet in the air and giggle like a school girl.
Ryan tilted his head towards Dylan, their faces only inches away from each other. “What?”
“Where do you want to go first when I take you out on our first date?”
Ryan rolled his eyes away smiling, looking bashful. He liked causing that expression, score for Dylan .
“Your choice.” And well, shit, he knows they just fully made out and confessed to each other and are currently laying side by side on a hospital bed together but if that just didn’t confirm they were, what, dating now?
Dylan voiced his thoughts. “So we’re like, dating now?” And realized how stupid the question was considering he was the one who just asked him out on a date, again, right after they just fully tongue in mouth frenched eachother.
But to his surprise, Ryan seemed to be on the same boat by the way he didn’t respond with snark like he expected, “Not the sequence of events I was expecting that would lead us to start dating but go figure.”
Wait, what?
“You expected us to start dating?”
Ryan looked away and coughed awkwardly. “I mean… I guess a part of me thought it was a possibility from the second I found out you were gay. And, well, I’m bi with a preference for dudes,” he gestured vaguely with his hands in the air, like he was putting two puzzle pieces together, “and you’d make me laugh and were witty and flirty all the time so I always figured you were into me—”
“Ryan, that is literally so adorable I might cry.”
Ryan‘s cheeks darkened, another score for Dylan. “Shut up.”
“I might have lost a hand but I gained a—“ his voice cut out at the word boyfriend , swallowing before quickly reaching for words to fill in the brief silence, “a dating… partner.”
“Dating partner.” Ryan repeated with that monotone voice of his.
“Well, I don’t think the b word applies until we go on at least 2 dates, one of those being you visiting my house and meeting my cat.” Nice save, Dylan.
“Smooth…”
“I mean, I don’t even know where you live so you probably won’t… have the chance to visit if you live in a whole other 10 cities away from me.”
“Depends how far the camp is from you. I don’t live far from here.”
Ah, Dylan thought. Which is why Ryan was close to Chris Hackett and his kids. Probably visited him even beyond summer camp. He swallowed the sadness he felt for Ryan, that could be another conversation for later. Probably was too recent of a wound to bring up now.
“I live a good… two hours away from camp.”
Ryan perked up at that. “So… close, then.”
Dylan smiled. “If you consider two hours of freeway traffic close, then yeah. Pretty close.”
“I’ll have to take you up on your cat date in that case. That’s one date down before the b word can apply.”
Ryan would be the end of him , Dylan thought. He was just too cute. He felt his cheeks warming up again with a fluttering in his chest. He was grateful his pain killers let him think clearly enough to not melt into a giddy dopey blob. Not clear enough to apparently stop himself from staring at Ryan, eyes trailing back to his lips and smiling to himself, feeling happier than he imagined being after losing an arm and gaining at least one mental illness alongside the others probably.
Ryan side eyed him before turning in bed slowly to avoid straining his side, before laughing softly and meeting Dylan in another chaste kiss, hands combing through his mussed hair and making him sigh and smile into the kiss.
He could get used to this. He couldn’t wait for Dylan Dylan to learn all about Ryan Ryan.