#it’ll be better than this Insha’Allah it’s been a long time | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fabermemorialrink · 7 years ago

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some mistake, part 2

Thanks so much to everyone who’s been reading so far! I feel a little guilty since I know I won’t be finishing this any time soon, but anyhow, here’s some more anyway. Same general story warnings still apply (though none are really relevant for this section).

Derek makes it through another two weeks of school before it all gets to be too much again. He’s sitting in his room on a Saturday afternoon after practice, staring out the window at the treeline trying not to remember all the little needling comments that have been weighing him down all week. Even practice hadn’t really helped to lift his spirits and now he’s stuck in a post-lunch haze with nothing to do but his history assignment that’s already 80% done and not due til Tuesday. His parents aren’t going to call until after dinner, and he could go hang out with guys from the team but he’s in that weird kind of state where all he wants to do is mope near someone who cares enough to sit quietly with him and won’t ask any questions.

A cloud of birds unfurls from the forest canopy like smog over the sky, scattering in all directions, which is suspicious ‘cause he doesn't remember seeing a single bird while in there. Nor hearing any, either. There’s nothing in the woods besides Dex. It’s the weekend - might he be in the woods again? He’d been pretty strange, but it’d been a welcome change from everyone on campus trapped in the same schedule and classes as Derek. And he seems like the type who wouldn’t mind Derek hanging around silently reading his book while he chops wood or goes fishing or whatever. But the forest is spread out over a substantial chunk of land, so they might not even see each other even if Derek goes looking. However, he has nothing better to do and there’s only one way to find out.

He’s more prepared this time, taking a small bag with him with some essentials: water bottle, compass, energy bar, flashlight. He leaves a note for his roommate to tell him he’s gone to the woods just in case he straight up dies for whatever reason and his parents descend on the school to demand answers.

Like last time, the forest is pleasant when he first enters, with sunlight filtering down on his face in scattered beams, and the sound of wildlife forming a white noise that helps him settle into a steady walking pace. No sign of Dex anywhere, though Derek isn't surprised.

There's a nice spot with a stump and even ground where Derek stops to read for a little while, and before he knows it, an hour’s passed, so he decides to head back before he tempts fate and gets trapped again. He'd been certain to go only west, so all he should have to do is reverse directions and head east until he hits the soccer field. Should be easy enough.

But after twenty minutes, during which he should have emerged already, he finds himself in the part of the woods where the plants are overgrown and thick around him, and the light has become more feeble and distant up above. He can still see well, but what he can see is nothing but trees. Again.

Still, this plan should theoretically work, insha’Allah, so he continues east, making sure to watch his compass carefully the whole time, which is probably how he winds up planting his foot firmly into a rotting log and getting caught in it. He doesn't realize he's pitching forward until his other leg is slipping out from under him and he lands hard in the dirt, some sort of weed already poking him in the cheek.

“Ughhhhhh, why,” he groans, letting his forehead drop to the ground. Maybe he'll just lie here for a little bit. Contemplate his lot in life.

A rustle in the leaves causes him to lift his head, and he spots a familiar redhead lurking up in the branches of an oak who jumps down to the forest floor with a sturdy thump. He’s not wearing his vest this time, but he still has his trusty lantern, hatchet, and scowl.

“Sup,” Derek calls, resting his chin on his arms and wondering if Dex remembers him.

“Nursey? Is that- is your leg stuck in a log?” Dex asks, and that answers that.

“That it is, Dex!” Derek replies brightly, waving at him from where he's still anchored to the ground.

Dex closes his eyes and steeples his fingers together as he takes a long breath, before he comes over and helps free Derek from his leg-trap. “What did I tell you about coming to the woods?”

“Not to, but-”

“Exactly. Because you’re a disaster.”

“Super rude, dude.”

“And yet, frighteningly accurate. C’mon, let’s get you home,” he sighs.

“Nah,” Derek says as he tightens the strap of his bag against his chest. “I think I'll stay here for a while.” Now that he's found some company, he's in no rush to return to his empty dorm.

“What? No!” Dex storms after him as he goes traipsing off. “It’s dangerous out here, you fuckin’ doofus.”

“Dex, I��ve been here for over an hour and there’s nothing in these woods more dangerous than my killer good looks.” Derek elbows Dex with a grin, wiggling his eyebrows when he receives nothing more than Dex turning apoplectically red in the face. “And!” he forges on, “even if we do run into some bandits or rabid cougars or whatever, I’ve got you! You’d punch a cougar for me, right?”

“Hell no. I can’t believe I’m not going to leave you out here to die,” Dex grumbles, more to himself than Derek, but he keeps walking alongside him anyway. “This way,” he says when they reach a tiny brook; it’s the first sign of water that Derek’s seen. How had he missed it the first time through?

Dex tries to herd him off to the left, away from the water, but Derek crouches down, watching the clear trickle of water running over the rounded, moss covered stones in the waterbed. He wants to reach out and feel the downy green softness against his fingertips, but something stops him from disturbing the fragile peace of the water, which carries on, flowing and constant. Dex seems relieved when he rises to his feet without touching anything, muttering something that sounds like “she’d’ve been pissed.”

Derek is unsuccessful in his pleas to follow the stream and find out what’s just around the riverbend; Dex tells him to knock it off with his Disney shit and hurry up if he doesn't want to get left behind. For all his complaining though, Dex never ditches Derek, even when he suddenly halts to examine the scarred pattern of bark on a tree, or to prod at the wildflowers peeking out from amidst the sea of tall grasses. Derek knows Dex must be leading him back toward school, so he wants to take in all he can before he gets banished back to school. He laments to Dex that he's never really seen anything like this growing up in New York City, and he doesn't want to miss out, but Dex just grunts and drags him away from the misshapen fungus he's hassling with his foot.

As expected, the foliage thins out the longer he walks with Dex, and soon enough he can see a clearing ahead past the edge of the wood. He prepares for another casual goodbye, but Dex turns abruptly, effectively checking Derek into a new direction, running parallel to the boundary of the woods.

“Whoa now,” Derek says as he almost loses his balance, but Dex steadies him and keeps moving. Soon, they come upon a worn patch of dirt that spirals downhill in a thin, almost invisible path; following it requires that Derek walk behind Dex, and they weave down until they reach flat land. The path continues on a few more yards, ending outside a towering, time-worn tree with a nest of thick, intertwined roots that partially hides the opening to the hollow at the bottom. Derek stares in awe as Dex clambers up and into the hollow before waving impatiently out at him.

“C’mon, I thought you wanted to see something cool.”

Derek doesn’t need to be told twice. He fits himself inside next to Dex, marveling at how oddly roomy it is. It’s uneven below him, some roots looping into the hollow and disrupting the dirt, but there’s something comforting about this space, tucked away at the end of a secret path, surrounded by low-growing leaves that drown the soil in bright, saturated green. He feels like a fairy tale runaway, or a forest spirit, hiding from thunderstorms, or humans. Protected from whatever lies in wait out in the real world. He turns to see Dex watching him, wearing some unreadable expression. It’s not annoyed, is all Derek can tell, so he grins and holds out a hand for a fistbump.

“Yo, this is the best thing I’ve ever seen, dude.”

Dex squints at his hand for a second, before he turns an endearing shade of pink and bumps Derek’s hand with his own fist. He sits and observes Derek feeling out the inside of the hollow, trying to memorize the feel of the hardened, ragged wood under his hands. There isn’t enough vertical space to stand without hunching over, but they might be able to squeeze even a third person in here.

“You can come here, if you want,” Dex says once Derek settles back down besides him. “It’s not too far from the outside. It should be safe.”

“Really? You’re gonna let me use your secret clubhouse?” he teases. He’s not gonna complain; this tree is the coolest hideout he can imagine. And while it’s not like Dex owns the woods or anything, he’s right to say that Derek keeps getting in over his head, so if Derek can figure out how to find a landmark, it’ll be a good launching point for further exploration.

“Like I said, it’s your funeral if you fuck around in the wrong part of the woods. But,” and Dex sighs, picking at a pebble embedded in the dirt, “I know you’re gonna keep wandering around no matter what I say, so you should at least know how to find something in the forest.”

“Thanks, Dex. You’re alright, for a feral forest child.”

Dex snorts, jabbing Derek with the toe of his boot. “You’re pretty damn persistent for a hipster nerd.”

“How’d you know I was a nerd?” Derek asks, surprised.

With an unimpressed huff, Dex lifts his hands for some vicious air quotes. “And I quote, ‘shit, it’s all like Mirkwood up in here.’ I��d’ve gone with Fangorn myself, but-”

“Seriously? And you call me a nerd?” Derek laughs, and then they’re fighting over where in Middle Earth would be the shittiest place to live, which warps into a discussion of which fictional world they’d choose to be transported into if they could.

They're still arguing about whether humans would actually bother to fly if they had the ability to when Derek realizes that Dex has brought him back to the edge of the soccer field.

“Are you just a klutz, or are you also directionally challenged?” Dex asks after he plants Derek right on the very end of the woods next to a thin birch. Derek never thought he was until his compass plan went so terribly wrong, so he shrugs helplessly, and Dex tacks on, “Outside of the forest, I mean. Rules are different in here.” When Derek confirms that yes, he can normally figure out how to follow directions, Dex pulls out a pocket knife and carves a small diamond into the bark. They walk straight back west until they hit the hidden dirt path they followed earlier, Dex telling him, “You’re in the outer ring, so there shouldn’t be any problems. Just do exactly what I just showed you, and you’ll be fine.”

“Find the birch, go west, follow the path, chill inside awesome tree. Got it.”

“Good.” Dex flicks a loose leaf off Derek’s shoulder before he sticks his hands in his pockets, his face turning serious. “Look, Nursey, I don’t know what your reasons are, and I can’t tell you not to keep coming back, but...you have a real life out there. Don’t forget that.”

“I know,” Derek protests, because how could he forget? Everything's always been too real for him, too many possible consequences and complications. It's why he spends so much time just trying to keep afloat. “But sometimes, I just need to- I need space.”

Dex looks sad, somehow, when he nods, and Derek doesn't know if it's for him, or something else. “Okay. Just, I dunno. Keep it in mind.”

In the quiet of the forest, under the dappled sunlight, Derek notices for the first time the worn threads on the hem of Dex’s shirt, the patched hole on the jeans that don't fit him quite right. The thick callouses on his palms and the letters KAP carved roughly into the handle of his hatchet. All the details that spell out a life that Derek knows nothing about.

You're real too, so why are you out here, he wants to ask, but he gets the feeling that he won't receive any answers. There’s a guardedness to Dex that Derek can’t break past. It curls around Dex like the long, spindling branches that catch on Derek’s jacket, as if the forest itself is concealing him in its depths, and Derek doesn't know the right way in.

#nurseydex #nursey #dex #omgcp fic #some mistake

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