#jacob custos oneshots

[ruewrote]

𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑏 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑠.

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protective, but in the sweetest way:

   – jacob is definitely the type to keep an eye on you, not in an overbearing way but more like a silent guardian. he knows you can handle yourself, but he can’t help but worry sometimes, especially after everything that’s happened at hackett’s quarry.

   – he’s always the first to throw his arm around your shoulders or stand a little too close when things start to feel sketchy, but he does it with a casualness that makes it feel comforting, like a constant reminder that he’s got your back.

affectionate goof:

   – jacob shows his love through physical affection, whether it’s ruffling your hair, giving you playful shoulder bumps, or sneaking up behind you to wrap his arms around your waist and spin you around.

   – he loves making you laugh, often telling terrible jokes just to see your smile and when you do laugh, he grins proudly to himself.

endless compliments:

   – jacob’s never shy about telling you how beautiful you are. whether you’re dressed up or just lounging in sweats, he’s always got something sweet to say.

   – “how’d i get so lucky, huh?” he’ll ask with a lopsided smile, pulling you into his lap as he playfully pretends to think about it. “seriously though, you’re gorgeous.”

casual dates:

   – jacob’s idea of the perfect date is something relaxed and fun, like a late night drive, a picnic by the lake or binge watching a dumb reality show together.

   – he loves the idea of little adventures, like spontaneous road trips to nowhere, and insists on pulling over to explore random spots just to make memories with you.

secretly a hopeless romantic:

   – even though he’s a bit of a jock and acts all cool, jacob has a soft side when it comes to you. he loves surprising you with random little things. flowers he picked himself, your favorite snacks, or even handwritten notes he leaves around the house.

   – sometimes, when you’re lying together he’ll get quiet and just stare at you, thinking about how lucky he is. when you catch him, he’ll just blush and pull you closer, mumbling something like, “can’t help it, you’re too cute.”

jealous, but playful:

   – jacob can get a little jealous, but he tries to laugh it off. if someone’s flirting with you, he’ll come up and drape himself over you, saying something like, “hey, babe, didn’t see you talking to this random person here.”

   – you’ll tease him about it, but he knows it’s all in good fun. he trusts you completely, but he also loves any excuse to show everyone that you’re his.

cuddling is a must:

   – no matter where you are. whether it’s the couch, a hammock or even on the grass under the stars. he’ll pull you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you protectively.

   – he loves resting his head on top of yours or tangling his legs with yours, making sure you’re close enough to feel his warmth. it’s one of the ways he feels most connected to you.

late night talks:

   – jacob loves those deep, quiet conversations that happen late at night when you’re both half asleep. you’ll be lying in bed and he’ll start talking about the future or random dreams he’s had.

   – sometimes he gets a little vulnerable in these moments, telling you about his fears, his insecurities, and his hopes and you always reassure him, which means alot to him.

playful banter and competition:

   – jacob loves a bit of friendly competition and he’ll challenge you to silly things like arm wrestling, races.

   – of course, he’ll always let you win (he’ll pretend he wasn’t trying), just to see you smile. 

not so secretly sentimental:

    – despite his sometimes goofy exterior, jacob holds onto little mementos from your time together. he keeps a collection of photos, random doodles you’ve made, even concert tickets from dates.

    – one time, you found him staring at a photo of you two and when you asked about it, he just smiled softly and said, “this one’s my favourite.”

comments and reblogs are appreciated ˗ˋˏ �� ˎˊ˗

© ruewrote 2024.

[dreamqueenkala]

Any and all currently posted fan-based works:

“The Quarry” Masterlist:

Fanfictions:

CHRYSALIS |•••| THE QUARRY FANFICTION

Table of Contents:

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5–WORK IN PROGRESS

SPELLBOUND

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3–WORK IN PROGRESS

SALEM’S GROVE

Table Of Contents:

Disclaimer & Face Claims

Prologue

Act 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3–WORK IN PROGRESS

DEJA VU

Prologue

Episode 1

Episode 2–WORK IN PROGRESS

NSFW FIC:

Day 1

Max 1

Oneshots:

Max Brinly

Secret (MxF) NSFW

Collar (MxF) NSFW

Abigail Blyg

N/A

Jacob Custos

Overheard (MxM) NSFW

Kinktober 2022 Collaring (MxM) NSFW

Magnet (MxF) NSFW

Bliss (MxM) NSFW

Ryan Erzahler

N/A

Nicholas Furcillo

Splash (MxF) NSFW

Travis Hackett

N/A

Laura Kearney

N/A

Dylan Lenivy

Care (MxF)

Bloodlust (MxF)

Enough (MxM) NSFW

Getaway (MxF) NSFW

Jokester (MxM) NSFW

Kinktober 2022 Praise (MxF) NSFW

Messenger (MxF)

Needy (MxF) NSFW

Emma Mountebank

N/A

Headcanons:

Albino Counselor Crush (D. Lenivy)

Male Counselors & their Kinks (Somewhat NSFW)

Counselor Reactions After Dawn

Random Things:

Song Gif Post #1

[ruedavis]

𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑠.

pairing: jacob custos x fem!reader

warnings: strong language

song inspiriation: im not the only one by sam smith

word count: 602

back to hackett’s quarry for another summer of fun.

i had my headphones in the whole car journey there but could still all of the loud voices beside me. kaitlyn and dylan argued about something stupid had knocked into my side.

my eyes skimmed over the trees we drove past - feeling a bit motion sick i looked back into the packed car to lock eyes with the last person i wanted to see.

jacob. surprisingly we used to be the best of friends but that soon flipped around when i realised he fucked me over so he could screw emma.

as i had thought back to all the times we had hung out together it really didn’t surprise me now, the subtle but obvious touches, him always being by her side, him making excuse after an excuse as we had made plans together.

yes, yes i know what you’re gonna say. y/n why didn’t you see that? that’s so obvious! blah. blah. blah.

it’s kind of hard to see someone’s a walking red flag when i’m wearing rose tinted glasses isn’t it?

i was deeply falling for that boy and i thought he had felt the same about me since we had spent every waking minute together, i obviously found that out a little too late.

we had finally arrived back at the camp really early in the day so we had more than enough time to set up. i went off to one of the cabins near the radio shack, setting my stuff and a few of the necessities as i heard the door slam shut.

turning around to be face to face with jacob.

“we need to talk.” 

i scoffed at his empty words and carried on with my tasks at hand. he stood in the same spot as when he had walked in, just watching me do things before trying to speak again.

“we really need to put this behind us dude, like i miss you, don’t you miss me? miss us?”

my back was facing away from him. stopping fluffing the campers’ pillows. “you have some fucking nerve walking in here talking about some what? comfort? empathy? something to make you sleep better at night since emma didn’t want your sorry ass?”, jacob looked at his feet in response.

“no c’mon jacob. wanna fuck around with me a bit more, huh?” 

“y-you know it wasn’t like that y/n!” i went to walk around him to the exit of the cabin, done with his obvious bullshit. that’s when he grabbed my arm, him with the upper hand with his clear strength advantage. it was no use.

tears filled my eyes as i struggled, “i can’t believe you! i can’t believe you’d come back and do this to me again.” i stopped flailing my arm and started to push at his chest.

“i hate you.” my strong jabs soon turned weak as my sobbing became stronger - i fell and bawled into his chest and he just stood and took it, soon catching my fragile figure.

after a couple of minutes of standing in that position the brunette spoke, “im so sorry. i really am, i never meant to hurt you.” with that said realisation kicked in and i pushed myself away from him, taking a small glance in his direction.

“i loved you.”

he was looking back at me with a pained expression, i honestly couldn’t careless on how he felt in that moment of time.

i gathered myself before walking out the door to the others, he did not think to stop me again, but when he did turn around to do so the door had slammed in his face.

i know i’m not the only one...

[kitkatscabinet]

Hi I saw your Jacob x reader from the quarry. I loved your writing btw!!! Can I request more Jacob?? Like maybe something where reader has a thing for Jacob but at the beginning of summer, saw that Emma did too so reader backs off cause they’re friends but also cause she thinks Emma’s prettier and that Jacob would choose her anyways. Then when they’re playing truth or dare stuff comes out and Jacob and reader end up together?? If that made ANYYYY sense at all lmao

This was so fun to write and I ended up getting a little carried away. Thank you to everyone that has said they love my writing and yes you can absolutely request more Jacob! Hope you enjoy :D

Word count: 1173

Genre: Fluff, I know you probably wanted angst but this kind of ended up with a comedic twist.

Jacob had caught your eye from the moment you had arrived at Hackett’s Quarry, you couldn’t say you would usually go for the jock types but he had been unbelievably sweet from the get-go. You had been sat next to each other during the initial orientation Mr Hackett had given and your sides had started to hurt from holding in the laughter his quiet commentary had inspired. Leading him to grin in success every time he noticed you smile, the two of you had spent the rest of the day together before the kids arrived.

Jacob ended up being one of the people you spent the most time with apart from Emma. That was how you had noticed the influencers interest in him. Deciding to be a good friend you had slightly backed off, you liked Jacob sure, but it wasn’t like you’d fallen madly in love with him. Emma was also one of your better friends and the two deserved to be happy. It wasn’t like anyone had noticed your slight crush anyway, you were a very laidback person and your interactions with Jacob weren’t very different from how you acted around anyone else, so you couldn’t even blame your friend for not noticing your feelings.

You stalwartly ignored the small part of you that yelled you wouldn’t stand a chance against Emma anyway. The part that decided Jacob couldn’t possibly be interested in someone like you anyway, besides everybody loved Emma. Hell you loved Emma, there was a reason you were friends after all.

At first it had actually been pretty fine, your crush hadn’t been that big you reasoned and pulling away from Jacob had allowed your friendships with Emma and Dylan flourish even more. The problem arose however, when Jacob himself had hunted you down one afternoon and asked to speak with you in private. He had lead you over to the boat house and his silence along the way had made you a little tense, worse case scenarios running through your head at a mile a minute. Seeing that Jacob wasn’t going to speak up first you did.

“What’s up?” you had asked with a smile genuinely happy to see him and trying to defuse the tenion. That smile had faded as you noticed the serious hurt on his face

“Did I do something wrong?” the crack in his voice left you feeling nauseous as you truly took in his body language. He was hunched in on himself slightly, all normal confidence gone and his eyes, oh his eyes were wet with tears and you rushed to rectify it. Desperately wanting to fix whatever had made Jacob feel so small, so unsure of himself.

“What? No you’ve done nothing wrong that I know of. Where’s this coming from?” your tone incredulous as you watched his face carefully

“It just, it feels like you’ve been avoiding me lately and I thought I might have done something” he said trying to shrug nonchalantly but you could tell he was upset by the slight wobble in his smile and fiddling hands. Stepping over to him you quickly assured him that that was not the case and even ended up promising the two of you could spend your free time tomorrow together, just the two of you. He had beamed widely at that and you had ended up linking arms with him on the way back to the lodge for dinner.

That was where the issues seriously arose, as you spent more time with him you couldn’t stop your crush from growing into something more. It was only when you saw Emma laughing with Jacob one afternoon that you were fully reminded of why you had stepped away to begin with. Forcing a smile on your face you went about your day and continued to be friends with both Emma and Jacob unaware of Kaitlyn’s constant disapproving gaze.

As you sat on the log watching the ongoing game of truth and dare that had resulted from the minivans refusal to start you found yourself hoping to every god that existed you would be ignored. What you weren’t privy to was the fact that Emma had well and truly grown out of her initial like for Jacob, and she had noticed how the pair of you behaved around each other. Any other day she’d wonder what she had done to deserve a friend like you but by this point she was tired of her friends dancing around each other, so she decided to be the push that was needed.

“Jacob, truth or dare” she asked, a wicked grin growing on her face as the man enthusiastically chose dare. “I dare you, to kiss the person that you like the most” she egged on, noticing you slumping slightly from your spot.

You couldn’t quite stop the slump in your shoulders at Emma’s words and Jacob’s overexcited expression. However, your brain stalled a little as he jumped up and made a beeline straight over to you, leaning down to kiss you like it was the best thing anyone had ever asked him to do. You couldn’t think much in the next few seconds the feeling of his lips on yours the only thing you could register. When he pulled away he had the biggest smile you’d ever seen covering his face and you finally registered Emma’s cheers as everyone waited for your reaction.

“Jacob what?” was all you managed to blurt out quite dumbly still in shock. It was his turn to be confused now

“I thought you knew. I told you I liked you last week and then you said you liked me too, remember?” he said a little nervously now. That was news to you.

“Fucking when!” you shouted, hands coming to rest on top of your head in distress

“Uh, last Tuesday… I was walking you back to your cabin cause you were tired and I confessed and then you confessed…” he trailed off the two of you staring at each other in blatant confusion, until vague memories of the event came back.

“I was so tired I thought that was a dream” you admitted as your fellow counsellors were staring at the absolute circus in front of them in awe.

“Wait I thought you two were already dating” Dylan chimed in “you’ve literally been holding hands and hugging for all of this last week” his dumbfounded tone setting off a chorus of incredulous laughs from Emma and Abi.

“Oh, my God. We’ve been dating for a week” you said absolutely shell shocked before you suddenly rounded on Jacob once again. “We’ve been dating for a week, why didn’t you tell me!” you demanded, pointing an accusing finger at him.

“I thought you knew!” he defended, like you were the only idiot present. Deciding not to waste anymore time you stood up with a laugh and threw yourself into his chest, the cheers of your fellow counsellor making the smile on your face grow even further as Jacob hugged you to him.

Taglist: @laurakearnxy @wolfsquad @rainbows-dreams @dylanlenievy @kestisvrse @aaetherr69 @sheriff-hackett

[multi-fandom-imagine]

Jacob deserves so much better, how about something where Jacob x reader are childhood friends and neither really realise that they’re perfect for each other (she defends him from the other counsellors and he’s just always there for her) and maybe she gets infected protecting him or something then reunion at the end ???

A/n: OH MY GOD! Yes! I can’t help but love him. I don’t know if it’s because Mike was my favorite in until Dawn. Idk I just feel bad for him. I also love this request, my boy Jacob.

Implied Abby/Emma Romance. Everyone lives Au.

You and Jacob have been best friends since you were babies. You two did everything together, though you may not have been as popular as the jock was it didn’t stop Jacob from defending you when ever you got bullied.

Though you did notice every so often while at camp the man giving dirty looks to Nick or Dylan. While you took it up yourself to defend Jacob when the people would call him an idiot or anything else demining and all the counselors knew it. And one particular counselor was going to take it upon herself to fix the matter.

Emma was honestly tired of you two dancing around each other's feelings. Wrinkling her nose she tossed the bag of chips in the air watching you talk to Jacob, you were pointing something and of course the big himbo had his eyes glued to you looking like a love sick puppy. Oh tonight was going to be fun, she liked you and you like Jacob and this game will help you to be together.

But of course she'd never get to night because everything was going to go to shit.

You and Jacob were running, running from something. You did not know what it was and you weren't about to find out well you hoped you weren't about to find out. But it was getting harder and harder to run. It was getting harder and harder to breath, your chest hurt and your legs were starting to feel numb, though that is when you saw it.

From the corner of your eyes you saw it, the creature that chasing you and Jacob. It was moving faster and you knew it was going for him. Squeezing your eyes shut you pushed yourself for any ounce of strength you might have to shove Jacob out of the way before the creature hit into you. You and whatever it was tumbling in the sicks and mud.

You barley registered the pain of it's teeth digging into your arm, the claws digging into your skin. But someone was screaming that was that you knew and then as if it never happened thanks to the thing flying off your body and then everything went black.

Watching your still form, Jacob could feel the panic set in, the bile rising up from his throat as he watched your still form. You were still breathing, that he could tell but the blood. Their was so much blood, squeezing his eyes shut he felt the tears slide down his cheeks."What do I do? what do I do? You need to tell me what to do!" Trying to calm himself down he quickly tore off his sweater gently wrapping you in it, Kaitlyn....she would know what to do.

"Don't worry Y/n....you'll be safe....I'll keep you safe."

Jacob had left for a moment, just a moment to find Emma but when he came back with the woman you were gone. Ryan tried to explain that you changed, changed into one of those creatures and tried to kill Dylan so he had to shoot you.

He couldn't believe this, he couldn't believe that you got shot. He had stormed off, he did not care what the others did because he had to find you. He had to make sure you were alive, he had to make sure you were okay because if he did not then how would he tell you his feelings for you. He had mentally cursed himself, he should have realized it sooner because now he may never get the chance to do so though his legs felt numb and throat felt raw.

Stopping at a tree, he felt more tears slide down his cheek. "This is all my fault, god I'm such a screw up....everyone's right, I'm such a fucking idiot." he whispered then suddenly he tensed hearing twigs snapping.

"Jacob"

That couldn't have been you, could it? Standing up he quickly wiped his eyes. "Y/n."

"Jacob?" Your voice was getting closer and soon you were a few feet away. You were wearing a large green dress along with a pair of boots that did not fit you, not to mention you were covered head to toe in blood.

"Y/n...shit what the hell happened to you? what are you wearing?"

Blinking, you glanced down then rubbed the back of your neck."I woke up in a cell with Nick, um some old guy got us out. He gave Nick some clothes and this old woman gave me a dress and these boots. Oh Chris....I mean Mr. H was their too! he tried to explain everything...did you know his family was cursed. Like they tried to save this kid but then everything went to shit and...okay I'm getting off track and well. Chris and Nick went back to the camp while this big guy sent me on my way where he last saw you...so where I am I came to find you be-."

While your rambling was cute, Jacob could not help but be grateful that you where here and now he was going to kiss you now. He was going to make sure that you knew how he felt. Stepping close he pulled you in for a kiss, he may have had to bend down for the kiss but at least you were kissing him back. Your body pressed into his as he held you close.

Once the kiss was broken, Jacob let out a small chuckle as he pressed his head into yours. His thumb gliding across your cheek wiping some of the dried blood away. "I take it back, the dress looks good on you....and if you haven't figured it out. I like you Y/n."

A small laugh escaped your lips as you hid your face in his bare chest." I kinda figured and I like you too Jacob...oh and Jacob."

"Hmm?" Jacob smiled as he rested his head on top of yours just holding you close.

"We should probably get back to camp, get you a sure so you won't get sick."

"Ah yea, that's probably the best course of action."

Getting back to the camp was easier with Jacob carrying you on his back though it was odd to see the place filled with people. Police, paramedics, journalist, well this was going to be fun.

You first spotted Ryan, Chris Hackett and that Laura girl talking to a police officer as a boy you never met was standing off in the background. You were happy knowing that the two did not turn on the man, you didn't think he deserved it after everything you had found out. Your gaze then traveled to Emma holding Abby's hand, a small smile forming on your lips. You had a feeling that those two would get together.

Biting your lip you then spotted Nick and Dylan talking to a reporter, Dylan becoming energetic as Nick did his best to explain the night he went through but it was Kaitlyn that spotted you both. The young woman rushing to your side. Passing by an ambulance that held a shivering Caleb, the boy had a blanket wrapped around him.

"Oh thank god you're alright....oh you look like shit Y/n."

"I think she look's hot." Jacob let you slide off his back as he tugged you close to his side.

"Of course you have to think that, you love her."

Rolling your eyes you rested your head on Jacob's shoulder as the two started to bicker back and forth. You couldn't wait to get back home, you couldn't wait to tell your parents.

You were quite positive that they'd be thrilled knowing you and Jacob were finally together.

[mythicalheartbeat]

Thinking about the counselors having a night to themselves and they're drinking and having a good time, just hanging out, and there's music playing and Dylan pulls Jacob up to dance with him and they're swinging around and Jacob has the thought of 'oh! he's really pretty' and he ends up with a lil crush that he doesn't know how to process

[chipper9906]

Truth Or Dare 2.0

Pairings: Dylan Lenivy/Ryan Erzahler

Word Count: 14,422

Status: One Shot - Complete

Summary:

“Don’t underestimate me, Ryan. I beat off a werewolf. With one hand. Using a flamethrower. And I dropped a car and squished one. And, most importantly, I am taller than you.”

Ryan just stared at Dylan, waiting for the moment the penny dropped and Dylan would have realized what he had just said. “You… beat off a werewolf… with one hand?”

Dylan opened his mouth for a retort, then quickly shut it again. “Okay, poor choice of wording, but my point still stands.”

* * *

An extra scene before the cops show up at the end where these two idiots actually get to talk about things.

Link To Fic

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Click Below To Keep Reading

* * *

Well… This night sucked balls. Even one’s as patchy as Jacob’s. Allegedly, anyway. 

Gotta say, when he had made the suggestion of one last big bonfire send-off before they all go their separate ways, this had been the last thing he’d expected. Then again, how in the hell was he expected to guess that the reason their camp leader was so on edge about them staying one extra night wasn’t because of the typical ‘leaving a bunch of dumb, hormonal teenagers to their own devices’ worry and instead more of the ‘bunch of goddamn monsters prowling about the place eager to sink their teeth into young and supple flesh’ kind of worry. And that very same camp leader turned out to be one of the monsters himself. As well as his kids. Who have turned Nick. Oh, yeah, and, one of which bit his fucking arm, and is now the reason he’s walking around here with a goddamn stump for a hand. Well, them and Ryan. Who cut off his hand. With a chainsaw. After he all but begged him to. 

Oh, God… Ryan… He hasn’t seen him since Nick friggen exploded (or the werewolf thing exploded out of Nick, he supposed) and he and badass eyepatch girl — who only just happened to be one of the counselors that didn’t show up — headed off together out into the woods to find and kill their, presumably, soon to be ex camp leader. 

Yep… Ryan… Out in the woods… At night… With a bunch of werewolves out and about… With only Laura for company… Who happens to be bit and could turn herself any moment…

Fuck… Did he mention this night sucked balls?

“You okay?” Kaitlyn asks as she takes a seat next to him on one of the benches they had pulled upright, concern etched into her features. Dylan takes one look at her, at the dried flecks of blood that caked her face — that he knows is mirrored upon his own face — and he cracks. He begins to chuckle, one of those almost silent kinds that wreck your upper body with tremors, leaning back with his face pointed towards the ceiling, hiding the grin stretching across his face with his last remaining good hand. 

Kaitlyn stares wide-eyed at him. “...Should I… Take that as a no?”

“Sorry, I just—” Dylan shakes his head, laughter still in his voice. “—You know, we just spent a whole night running away from and fighting literal monsters, and y’know, I kinda lost a hand and a little bit of blood with that, and now after tonight — which has been one big adrenaline dump, by the way — it’s just me, you, Abi and Emma — Oh, and the body of a dead kid over there. Who was once a werewolf. Who also happens to be the son of Chris Hackett. Who is also a werewolf. And we have no idea where everyone else is, or if they’re even alive, especially the guy I really happen to like who I kinda thought something might happen with after what happened at the party, and is now deep in the crack of what was already butt-fuck nowhere hunting down a werewolf with someone who will soon also be a werewolf, so in conclusion—” Dylan took in a deep breath, ready to cap the end of his monologue to a rather startled but attentive Kaitlyn. “—Yeah, I’m doing good. How ‘bout you?”

“Okay… That was… a lot,” Kaitlyn says not unkindly, Dylan’s unwavering smile not at all matching the rest of his speech. “But, uh, yeah, I guess asking if you’re okay was kinda stupid… I don’t think any of us will be after this… Not for a while, anyway. But… we will be. Eventually. All of us, okay? Ryan’s one tough cookie, you know that. He and Laura will find Mr. H and they’ll… y’know… and this will all be over. Curse’ll be lifted, Nick will be human again, and once Jacob realizes Emma’s not out there he’ll circle back to the lodge and find us.”

“Yeah, well, when you say it like that, it sounds easy as pie.”

Kaitlyn rolls her eyes. “Yeah yeah, it all sounds like insane bullshit. But after tonight… I dunno. Maybe it’s the fact that this horrible night is nearly over and the approaching sunrise is making me feel optimistic, or maybe it’s just the fact that I’m somehow still alive after all this, but… I think they’re all gonna be okay. I really do.”

Dylan smiles gently at Kaitlyn’s encouraging words, sighing softly. “Yeah… I hope you’re right…”

Kaitlyn smiles back, placing a hand on Dylan’s back and giving it a few pats. “So… the guy you really like, huh?”

Dylan shoots Kaitlyn a playful glare. “Really? Are we really doing this? Are we gonna pretend like I didn’t bring this up back at the scrapyard? Or the fact that you literally saw my lips on Ryan’s during Truth or Dare?”

“Well… You know…” Kaitlyn shrugged her shoulders. “I knew you liked him, but I didn’t know you really liked him,” Kaitlyn teased him mercilessly, bumping her shoulder into his. “There’s a difference, you know.”

“Wow, we really are doing this,” Dylan deadpans. “You want me to go ask Emma if I can borrow some of her makeup and have a little girls' night, huh? Talk about my feelings? Maybe curl my hair?”

“Okay, first of all—” Kaitlyn holds up a finger. “—I would totally be up for that; you could definitely rock some nail polish.”

“Uh, did I say I couldn’t—?”

“And second of all—” Kaitlyn continued before Dylan could get another word in. “After all the shit that’s gone down tonight, I’d really like to talk about normal ‘who has a crush on who’ kind of stuff, you know?”

“Uh… Sort of?” Dylan replied. “It’s just, y’know… I didn’t think you’d wanna talk about me liking Ryan…”

“Why not?”

“Because… uh…” Dylan awkwardly scratched at the back of his head. “I kinda got the feeling that… you might’ve had a thing for him too?”

“Ryan?” Kaitlyn asked, eyebrows raised. “I mean… I always thought he was pretty hot. I have eyes, you know. And he’s got that whole…”

“Sexy brooding loner thing?”

“Yes!” Kaitlyn yelled, the triumph and tone of ‘holy shit, someone who understands’ shining through her voice forcing a few more pearls of laughter from Dylan. “And yeah, I guess that kinda drew me towards him, but…” Kaitlyn paused, the corners of her lips curling up as she shrugged her shoulders. “It kinda felt like… there wasn’t so much of the ‘loner’ part whenever he was with you.”

Dylan couldn’t help but smile at that, which he did his best to hide by ducking his head. “…But still the sexy brooding thing, right?”

“Oh, for sure,” Kaitlyn easily agreed. “And I’ve seen that smile before.”

“What smile?”

“That bashful, practically drunk with giddiness one on your face right now. It’s the exact same one that was on your face after you and Ryan kissed. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that Ryan kissed you.”

“It was a game of Truth or Dare…” Dylan mumbled, trying and failing to hide his reddening face. “Kissing people is like, ninety—nine—point—nine percent of the game. And besides, he said he wanted to kiss both of us.”

“Yeah, well, he still had to choose one of us in the end, didn’t he? And he chose you, bud. Now, I’m not completely sure, but I think you typically kiss people who you like. Like, really like.”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“Come on!” Kaitlyn lightly shoved his arm. “What happened to the cool, suave ‘DJ Dylan’ I’ve got to know these past two months?”

“Oh, him? Yeah, turns out all of my cool power was stored in my left hand,” Dylan says, giving his stub a weak wave. “Now all I’ve got left is my distractedly good looks…”

“Uh-huh, sure,” Kaitlyn ever so slightly mocked. “I’m sure that’s all you offer. Not your kind heart, and your determination to cheer up everyone around you, your overall warm personality…”

“Are… Are you flirting with me now? Coz gotta say, I uh… appreciate that and all, but I don’t quite swing that way.”

“Did I ever tell you that you’re insufferable? Like, just in passing?”

“Hmm… You know, you might have mentioned it. Or… or was it everyone else I’ve ever interacted with in my entire life? These things tend to get a little muddled up in my mind…”

Kaitlyn snorted with laughter, throwing her hands up. “You try and cheer a guy up, and this is what you get…”

“Well… to be fair, mission partly accomplished,” said Dylan with a thankful smile. 

“I… partly cheered you up?”

“Well yeah. Don’t take that as a slight against your ‘cheering up’ abilities, it’s just—” Dylan waved his hand through the air in an attempt of a gesture of ‘this whole bullshit’ towards the past evening. “—You know, I think there’s only so much we can all be cheered up right about now, and uh…”

“And most of the rest is made up of knowing everyone’s back here alive and well?” Kaitlyn guessed, though her tone gave away just how little of a ‘guess’ it really was and more ‘right on the money.'

“Yeah… I’m always one for ‘positive thinking’ and ‘optimism over everything’ but… With what we’ve seen? Like, Nick just… just fucking exploding into that thing and—” Dylan’s hand unconsciously moved towards the remains of the other. “Seeing what happened to my hand when one of those things saw it as a friggen chew toy, it’s… It’s hard not to worry, I guess.”

“Well… we’re one werewolf down, right?” Kaitlyn flinches after she says this, an unmistakable look of guilt flashing across her face as she glances over at the space the body once was. They had since moved him, placing an old sheet they had found upstairs across his body for… respect, he supposed.

God… Caleb… Another one of the Hacketts just… gone. Kaylee, now Caleb, and if Ryan and Laura do what they set out to do… Chris, too. Whilst he knows that yeah, it was a werewolf they were shooting and, if Kaitlyn hadn’t shot it that they would most likely either be bit and turned or a mess of meat on the floor… that didn’t make it any easier when he shifted back and… and to see him like that… Just… Just a kid, just like them, turned into a creature he had no control over, and now… just like that, he was dead. 

Maybe the sheet was for respect… Or maybe it was because they just couldn’t face the guilt of seeing him like that. 

“Right…” Dylan mumbles down at his feet. Whilst it sucked to look at it in that way, it was all they could do. Just because it sucked doesn’t make it true. The fact of the matter is, that they’re one threat down. One less reason, one (hopefully) major percentage jump that everyone will make it back safe and sound. “One less werewolf…”

One more chance that he might see Ryan again. 

“Guys…? Guys!” Emma’s whispered shout from upstairs startles Dylan, both him and Kaitlyn nearly falling off their seats at the unexpected yell. They both jump up, craning their necks up at the railing to where Emma and Abi are standing, peering out the lodge's windows. 

“What?” Kaitlyn calls back. 

“Someone’s coming,” Abi answers, up on her tiptoes as she leans closer to the window, trying to get a better view. “There’s a car pulling in!”

“A car? Who’s? Who’s driving?”

“Dunno, it’s hard to see. I can kinda see them…” Abi mumbles, cupping her hands around her face against the window, squinting harshly as she peers down at the mystery visitors. “They’re getting out of the car, and… There’s a few people, I think? Friggen suns in my eyes, they’re just… blurry black blobs and they’re-- shit, they’re coming this way!”

“What? Wait, t-th-that’s not--” Dylan stuttered as Kaitlyn hurried past him, snatching up the shotgun as she turns to face the door. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, right? Someone could be coming to help? It’s people, not werewolves. It… it is people, right?”

“Uh, last I checked, werewolves aren’t capable of operating a car,” Emma says with as much sass stuffed into her tone as possible, somehow still able to keep it up even as both her and Abi descend the stairs in a panic towards the safety of the shotgun. 

Dylan’s eyes flicker anxiously between the shotgun he’s not even entirely sure has any shells left, and the door. “We don’t know that for sure.”

“I’m sorry, have you seen one driving a car?”

“No, but, it’s not like they have access--”

“Would you both shut it!?” Kaitlyn hisses, barely taking a second to glance at them out of the corner of her eye, keeping her focus on the doors. The brief moment of silence after her command is interrupted as the door squeaks open, only to be stopped as it hits the table they had pushed up against it earlier in the night. 

Everyone in the room seems to collectively agree to hold their breath. The door softly closes, and then once more is pushed open, only to again be halted by the table. Another pause. The door shuts. Another pause. And then the door is opened again. Harder. It collides with the table harshly, the bang of wood against wood reverberating around the quiet lodge. The table inches forward ever so slightly at the impact, and Kaitlyn raises the butt of the shotgun to her shoulder, taking aim. A part of Dylan is screaming at him to just yell out, ask who it is that’s trying to get in. But at the same time… he’s seen horror movies. He knows how that shit usually plays out…

Whoever’s on the other side repeatedly slams the door against the table, making a clear effort to enter the safety of the lodge. Dylan feels his heart in his throat as the table is moved further and further, the door slowly but surely opening with every swing. Kaitlyn’s finger smoothly moves over to the trigger, finger hovering ready to fire. With one last big hit, the table slides across the floor, and the door swings open, revealing in the doorway—

“Oh my God--” Kaitlyn exclaims, immediately lowering her weapon. The bloodied police offer in front of them surprisingly only looks marginally startled to have seen the shotgun aimed at him, a deep sigh of what Dylan hopes is relief punching out of him at the sight of the teenagers. 

There’s much more to the appearance of the police officer that would and should be raising many more questions in Dylan’s mind, but that all goes right out the window once he sees the people that had been hidden behind him. 

“Nick!” Abi’s shriek rings out before Dylan even has a chance to process what he’s seeing. In a flash she’s shot past them, racing towards him before coming to a sudden stop in front of a very bloodied Nick (Jesus, why was everyone covered in blood?), seeming understandably cautious. It’s not exactly easy to forget being thrown across a room. Literally. Like, end to end in one throw. “Oh my God, you… you’re alive?”

“Yeah…” A rather shell-shocked (again, understandably, Dylan figured) Nick replied, nervous eyes darting around the room. 

“Found some stragglers,” comes the voice of Laura, very much not a werewolf and… somehow now back to two eyes…?

“Oh my God, Jacob--”

“Emma, fuck, I was so afraid you were--” An… oddly undressed Jacob limps further into the lodge, dried blood crusted to his leg; not that the injury seems to slow him down as he makes a beeline towards Emma, all but crushing her as he envelops her in the mother of all bear hugs — that of which Emma seems happy to both accept and return.

Dylan should probably be focusing on their reunion too, except for the fact that he was kinda distracted by something else. That being, he was staring in disbelief and, let's face it, heart skipping, sweet sweet relief at the sight of Ryan, shotgun in hand, alive. 

He was alive. 

He barely registers the feeling of Kaitlyn’s subtle yet encouraging nudge to his ribs, moving forward before his brain has a chance to catch up with the rest of his body. Ryan’s eyes — which had been scanning around the room — land on him, and even just the small, subtle smile that flicks at the corner of his mouth along with, if he’s not mistaken, that same relief Dylan knew he was displaying like a neon sign at the sight of him was enough for his heart to go into overdrive. 

Ryan stumbles back slightly as Dylan smacks into him a bit harder than he anticipated, really only kept in place and upright by Dylan’s arms wrapping tightly around his back, squeezing him close with the little energy he had left. 

“Hey--” The deep rumble of Ryan’s voice vibrates across Dylan’s chest, and, to Dylan’s surprise, he feels Ryan’s spare arm return his embrace, that small squeeze he gives in return giving Dylan all the reassurance he needs. 

A little voice in the back of his mind tells him that he’s likely holding on to Ryan longer than most would consider socially acceptable, but quite frankly, at this point… Fuck it, right? 

“Hey, man,” Dylan replies in greeting, able to hear the smile in his own voice clear as day “So, uh… Is that a shotgun I feel pressed against my side, or are you just happy to see me?”

Ryan’s chuckle next to his ear is about the sweetest sound he’s ever heard, and he can’t help but laugh lightly in response to it. The two pull away, Ryan’s hand lingering on Dylan’s shoulder along with the curl of a smile on his face. “I know I already said this tonight, but uh…” Ryan pauses, the smallest hint of a grin Dylan so rarely gets to see gracing them with its presence. “I guess 'both' is off the table?”

  * * *

 The lodge had returned to a… relative level of quietness. Most of the others were huddled together at one of the dining tables towards the back of the room, deep in hushed conversation. Filling in the blanks, from what it seemed like. Especially for Nick — poor Nick, who was sat with his head in his hands, after… after being told of what had happened. What he had done. Things said whilst… not exactly himself. Not that he had much to worry about, given Abi’s hand reassuringly rubbing up and down his back. 

Jacob had finally been relinquished of his half-nakedness, having retrieved some of his warm, dry clothes from the minivan. Though, his face was still covered in blood. Then again, he can’t say much — he still had yet to clean up all the blood he could still feel stuck to him, dry and crusty and gross. God, a shower sounded great about now… Actually, some real medical attention for his rustic, homemade attempt at an amputation sounded a little bit more great. Actually, not his attempt. Was actually done by the guy he has the hots for. That’s a… weird story to tell the grandkids if he’s ever heard one. 

Speaking of said hottie, Dylan once again found his eyes drawn over to him. He was stood by the door, speaking in too quiet of a voice to Laura, their conversation ineligible from this distance. Whatever the topic is, it’s wrapped up quickly. Ryan offers the shotgun to Laura, the weapon passing hands as it had done many times tonight, and then Laura’s pulling Ryan into a one-armed hug. She pats his back as the two separate. There’s a brief pause, some words passed, and then both sets of eyes turn to Dylan. 

As cool and nonchalant as ever, Dylan nearly snaps his neck with how fast he averts his gaze to the ground, pretending like he wasn’t at all staring at them and instead was passing the time by himself by observing this very interesting panel of wood flooring that definitely wasn’t the same as all the other panels of flooring. Nope. Not at all. This was a hundred percent something worthy of his attention, and not something he was pretending to look at so it wouldn’t seem like he was a creep trying to eavesdrop on a private conversation.

“Sup.” Dylan glanced up at the sound of Ryan’s voice. He all but collapsed onto the bench next to Dylan, running a hand across very tired eyes. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, joined hands hanging between them. “Hell of a night, huh?”

Dylan huffed out a breath of laughter in agreement. “Yeah, that’s… the more mild-mannered way I’d put it, but sure.”

Ryan exhaled from his nose, craning his head to the side to look at Dylan. “Okay, how’d you put it?”

“Oh, you know.” Dylan shrugged his shoulders. “Something along the lines of ‘Fuck this shitty ass night, and all the stupid dumb fucking trauma that’ll come with it’. I feel it really encapsulates the emotions this night has cruelly clawed out of us, y’know?”

“Hmm… yeah, your way of saying it is better.”

“Of course it is, I’m a master craftsman when it comes to waxing poetry.” Dylan playfully digs an elbow into Ryan’s side. “C’mon, let me hear you say it. I mean, since you think it was the better way of saying it and all.”

Ryan chuckled once more, looking up to the ceiling as he takes a deep breath in. “…Fuck this shitty ass night, and all the stupid dumb fucking trauma that’ll come with it.”

Dylan’s face cracked open into a pleased smile, nudging his shoulder into Ryan’s. “There you go! And word for word, too! Wow… you really do listen to me…”

“I mean… There wasn’t that much to memorize--”

“Shh, you’re ruining the moment--”

“And of course I listen to you,” Ryan continued, stopping Dylan mid-sentence… joke? “It’s hard not to listen to people who catch my attention.”

“Oh,” Dylan all but squeaks, thankful for once for the dark and gloomy atmosphere of the cabin for hiding what he had no doubt was his slowly reddening face. “That’s, uh…cool. Shit, wait, that came out douchey and like I don’t care. I just, uh… appreciate it, I guess. T- That is to say I do care that… that you care… I… This isn’t making any sense, is it?”

“I’m… figuring out the meaning in the mess of words you just spewed out,” Ryan teased. “You know, as the ‘master craftsman when it comes to waxing poetry’.” 

“Ugh, I know I said I appreciate you listening to what I say and all that, but I was hoping you would have just… glossed over that part.”

“Nope. Sorry. Seems I’m listening to every word you say,” said Ryan. “Even the stumbly, tongue-tripping ones.”

“Yeah… Pretty sure the universe is like, mocking me and making me do that only when I’m speaking to you,” Dylan mopes. 

“Huh…” Ryan says, glancing away and down at his joined hands. “Only around me then?”

“Yep…” Dylan trails off, leaving a long wait between sentences. “Only you…”

“You, uh…” Ryan pauses, tapping his thumbs together absentmindedly. “Figured out why that is?”

Dylan smiles to himself, a small shy one that Ryan misses. “…I have a theory.”

“A theory, huh?” Ryan speaks around his smile. “Well… you are the science guy.”

“Like… Bill Nye?”

Ryan snorts. “Nah… someone much cooler.” He tilts his head to the side, meeting Dylan’s eyes. “You’re Dylan Dylan, The Science Guy. And I, for one, am looking forward to getting to know him a little better.”

“So long as I get to know that Ryan Ryan guy a little more.” Dylan’s smile slips slightly as something in the room catches his eye — or more specifically, something not in the room. “Hey, uh… Where did Laura go?”

Ryan raised an eyebrow at the question. “You’re only just noticing she’s gone now?”

“...Yeah? It’s not my fault you’re so distracting.”

Ryan shook his head, though it didn’t do too much to hide his fond smile. “She’s heading back to the island to find Max. Hopefully, alive and… human.”

“Right…” Dylan mumbled, the implication behind Ryan’s words suddenly striking him. “I take it that means… Mr. H?”

The crestfallen look on Ryan’s face made Dylan’s chest hurt, the poor guy practically deflating at the sound of his name. “…Yeah. We found him. He’s, uh… He’s gone.”

“Shit…” Dylan whispered softly. “Jesus, Ryan, I… I’m so sorry, man. I know you guys were close, and… Fuck, I don’t even know what to say…”

“Don’t think there’s much you can say. I mean yeah, it fucking sucks, but… not like we had much of a choice. If I hadn’t… If I hadn’t shot him, then… Max would’ve been stuck with this curse, and so would Laura who… Well, let’s just say wasn’t quite Laura at the time all this shit went down…”

“Wait, so… she did turn?” Dylan asked.

“Mm-Hhm,” Ryan hummed. “Without shooting Chris, without ending that line of infection, of the curse, then…” Ryan shook his head. “Laura could have done a lot more damage. Both she and Max would be out there, along with Chris, Caleb, and... It would have put you all in danger, so…” Ryan sighed heavily, resting his forehead on the palm of his hand. “What other choice did I have?”

In one of those exceedingly rare times, Dylan found himself without words. Though, this seemed like the kind of situation where perhaps he didn’t necessarily need them. Of course, he wouldn’t know, but for Ryan, just the simple nature of his presence next to him, a warm and comforting beacon in this cold and unforgiving night, simply listening and understanding was more than enough. 

“Oh, right.” Ryan startled, turning his arm and running his hand gently up and down the blood-crusted skin. “And I would have turned, too.”

“You…” Dylan blinked rapidly in his shock, certain he must have misheard that part. “You were bit?”

“W- Well, yeah, but I’m fine now,” Ryan assured him, taken aback by his alarm. “I kinda agreed to it, actually.”

Again, Dylan could only blink at Ryan, his mind trying to process that which didn’t make much sense to him. “You… gave consent to a werewolf?"

“She wasn’t a werewolf at the time--”

“Wha--” Dylan spluttered, things just getting weirder with every word. 

“It was the only thing Laura could do to keep me alive!” Ryan tried to explain. “I was bleeding pretty bad after that big hunter dude stabbed me--”

“You were stabbed!?” Dylan’s exclamation echoed around the room. It was then that the excessive amount of blood soaked into the side of Ryan’s shirt clicked in Dylan’s mind. Before Ryan could even attempt to explain further, Dylan was already yanking at the end of his shirt, pulling it up in a frantic attempt to examine what he was sure to be a horrific wound in need of first aid. “Fuck dude, you should have said something so Kaitlyn could…”

But there was no wound. Not even a scratch. There was blood, sure, but blood that was now old and long since spilled from his body. The only thing that greeted Dylan was smooth skin and a particularly flustered-looking Ryan. 

Ryan’s awkward cough was the reminder Dylan needed that he should probably drop his shirt and stop ogling now. “Uh, as I was saying…”

“Right, sorry…” Dylan quickly released Ryan’s shirt, knowing full well that that was an image that would now be forever seared into his memories. 

“So, uh, yeah — as you can see, knife wounds gone,” Ryan continued. “Laura offered to bite me so I’d heal and, y’know… end the werewolf lineage.”

“Wow…” Dylan exclaimed. “Y’know, uh… never pegged you to be the kinky one, Ryan. A bit of biting and bloodplay, woof, I mean--”

“Hardy har har,” Ryan drawled. “I can assure you I was in no way enjoying teeth biting into my flesh and being infected with… whatever the hell werewolves infect you with.” Ryan rubbed absentmindedly at his arm, wincing at the memory. “Shit hurts like hell…”

“Oh, does it?” Dylan asks sarcastically, making a point to wave his amputated arm through the air. “I never could have known.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ryan said with a roll of his eyes. “Actually… how did you know to chop your arm off? Like, we hadn’t figured out any of this stuff at that point. We hadn’t even met Laura yet. Why’d you tell me to do it?”

“Oh, well…” Dylan glanced down at his arm. “I, uh… I’d like to say that I’m super awesome smart and put together that the black stuff spreading up my arm looked a lot like the stuff in Nick’s leg and made the connection that we were both infected by something, but uh…” Dylan inhales sharply through his teeth. “Honestly? All I could really think at the time was ‘ow ow ow, fuck this hurts’ and… I wanted the pain to stop.”

“So you just…” Ryan made a chopping motion through the air with his hand. “Thought that was the best way to stop the pain?”

“...Intuition?” Dylan offered meekly. “I mean, I was right, wasn’t I? Like yeah, having a chainsaw slice through my arm hurt like hell, but nowhere near as much as that shit spreading through my blood did. It burned, dude. Well, I guess you know that too, now. Ah… crap…”

“What?”

“Here I am moping about losing a hand while you’ve been stabbed, nearly died, then infected, then forced to kill Mr. H… And I thought I had had it bad this evening…”

“Let's… not set up a competition to try and figure out who had it worse,” Ryan insists. “This night sucked for all parties involved.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.” 

“You know… I just had a thought.”

“You say that like it’s a rare occurrence.”

“Wha--” Ryan looks over to Dylan’s sly smile, narrowing his eyes mockingly. “Okay, ow.”

“C’mon, you know I was joking.” At least, Dylan hoped so. Ryan was kinda hard to read sometimes. Was one of the damn things that caught his attention. “What was the thought?”

“Just that… You… Probably didn’t have to lose the hand…?”

“Come again?”

“Well, if we’d left you infected and not chopped your hand off, you would have just been cured by now.”

“Uh… yeah, sure,” Dylan said with an exaggerated nod of his head. “You’re also cutting out the part where I would have turned into a goddamn werewolf, Ryan.”

“Only temporarily--”

“Yeah, and in that temporary time I was a werewolf, who knows what I could have done? I could have hurt someone, could of…” Dylan closed his eyes, squeezing them shut. That was… something he didn’t want to think about. He couldn’t even imagine the guilt, turning back to himself with the sunrise, the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, not knowing whose it was… “Losing my hand sucks, sure, but… risking the chance of me turning to have kept it? Nah, man. I’ll take this over living with the guilt of having fucking mauled you to death or something…”

“...Fair point” Ryan agrees quietly after a long pause. “How are you holding up? With your arm, I mean.”

“Uh, you know…” Truthfully, it hurt like a bitch. But, at the very least it wasn’t still bleeding, so… look at the bright side and all that, right? “Not as bad as it could be. You made a pretty clean-cut, must of… I don’t know, pinched off most of the blood vessels and shit when you sawed off my hand.”

“Yeah, I… don’t think I’ll be getting into the tree-felling business any time soon without getting some horrific flashbacks.”

“I… think we’ll be getting them anyway after tonight.”

“True…” Ryan conceded. He took another glance at Dylan’s injured arm, brow furrowed in worry. “We really should get you some proper medical attention for that hand, man… Werewolf infections might be off the table now, but regular infections will still mess you up.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not think about what kinda shit was on that chainsaw.” Dylan’s face scrunched up in disgust at the thought. “Do we… actually know what we’re gonna do now? Like… what’s next…?”

Ryan sighed heavily, leaning back on the bench. His gaze flickered over to Travis, who sat alone next to the body of his nephew, still hidden under the cover. His hand lay over his nephew, head bowed and eyes closed. So many of his family… gone. Taken by the effects of a curse brought upon themselves. 

“I think Travis — the cop over there--” Ryan nodded his head in Travis’ direction. “—Is gonna try and reach out and get into contact with some more cops. I mean, there’s every chance your, uh—your signal…booster….thingey… did its job and reached out further than just the camp.”

“Doubt it, but…” Dylan trailed off. “Shit… What are we gonna say when the cops show up?”

“I think that’s what Travis is trying to figure out?” Ryan offers. “He’s been covering up a few disappearances for Chris for the past six years, but… I don’t think you can cover up tonight. There’s just… too much death. Too many questions.”

“Can we not just… tell the cops the truth?” Dylan asks. “I’m sure we have more than just our word to back everything up.”

“We can try, but they still might not believe us. Even when all the evidence was put in front of me, I still didn’t believe it. I—I couldn’t believe it. I was so certain there was another explanation, and… the cops might see it that way, too.”

“Fuck,” Dylan spat, last remaining hand scratching anxiously at his chin. “So what, they show up and just arrest us on the spot?”

“Honestly dude, I really don’t know. Chances are they’ll get you to a hospital first to treat your hand. Actually, they’d probably have to take all of us given that we’re covered in blood and will need to be checked over, but… if they suspect foul play? Then yeah, they’d probably have to bring us in for questioning and stuff like that.”

“Even with another cop that’s backing up our story?”

Ryan shrugged his shoulders in response. “We won’t know till they get here.”

Sunlight was already beginning to filter through the small gaps of the blinds, illuminating a few spots on the wooden floor. Dylan could see some of the claw marks Caleb left behind around the lodge, dug into a few posts and panels. It was strange, how much of a difference the sunlight made. Made them feel… safe. As if, simply the absence of the dark was what made the difference between life and death. 

“Least the nights over…” Dylan muttered.

Ryan grunted in agreement. He rocked in his seat for a moment before standing from the bench, Dylan’s eyes following his movement. “I think I need some fresh air.”

“Oh, okay.” Dylan tried his best to hide his disappointment, but he could hear from the sound of his own voice that he did not hide it well in the slightest. It took him a bit longer than it probably should have to realize Ryan had yet to move to go outside, glancing up to see him still by his side, staring expectantly. “Oh, you want me to…?”

Dylan scrambled up to his feet, following a lightly chuckling Ryan towards the door. He glanced over to the others as he passed, trying and failing to hide a smile at Kaitlyn’s overly excited smile of encouragement and thumbs up. Hmm, how torn he was between giving a thumbs up in return, or a middle finger…

It wasn’t until they were sat down at the base of the stairs outside that Dylan allowed himself to truly appreciate the gentle warmth of the early morning sun on his face, tilting his head back with a sigh. The sounds of the birds happily tweeting away as they fluttered between the trees brought that sense of peace that staying at Hacketts Quarry Camp usually provided, relaxing some of the tension that had locked up his body for almost the entire night. 

“You know what really sucks?” Ryan breaks the peaceful silence they were sitting in. Not that he was complaining, of course. Any moment that Ryan opened up to him was one of celebration. 

“What’s that?”

“That this is what I’ll think of from now on. All the good years I had here, both as a camper and this one as a counselor… This summer was so great, and without all this, it would be something I would look back fondly on for the rest of my life, but now…” Ryan sighed, looking glumly out at the road. “Now all I’ll be able to remember when I think about this place is all this nightmare-inducing garbage…”

“What? No, no, no—you can’t think like that--”

Ryan scoffed. “Kinda hard not to, man.”

“Well, I’m telling you not to.” Dylan’s oddly commanding tone caught Ryan by surprise, looking over to the other boy with an eyebrow raised in surprise. “Don’t think about tonight. Tell me one of your good memories instead.”

“...I don’t think that’s--”

“Tell me. A good memory,” Dylan repeated firmly, returning Ryan’s raised eyebrow. “C’mon, something from this summer even. Anything good, anything that made you smile or laugh or something.”

“Um… alright…” Ryan gave in to the order, mind scrambling to come up with a good memory. It mustn’t have taken too long given the beginnings of a smile that pulled at his lips, an almost silent huff forcing its way out. 

“You got one?”

“Yeah, uh… You remember when we first ran into each other at camp?”

Despite the way Dylan’s heart practically leaped into his throat at the thought of Ryan’s good memory involving him, he still let out an annoyed groan, already knowing and dreading this story. “Oh, God…”

“It was like, first day of camp I think. Kids had already arrived, and I was making my way down to the lake to finish setting some stuff up. I walked past the pool house and then heard this massive splash, and you were just… in the pool. Drowning.”

“I was not drowning,” Dylan complained. “I am an excellent swimmer, thank you very much.”

“I sure as hell didn’t know that at the time,” Ryan said through his laughter, the memory flooding back to him. “Didn’t realize you were faking it to teach the kids a lesson about not swimming unattended until after I’d ran over to get you out.”

“Lesson worked, didn’t it? Kids didn’t try and pull that stunt again.”

“Man… I was both scared shitless that you were actually gonna drown, but also thinking to myself ‘Why the hell did Chris hire a counselor to perform lifeguard duties who can’t swim?’”

“I mean, that probably should have clued you in that I was faking it.”

“Hard to think straight when it looks like someone's dying on the other side of a fence from you.”

“Touché.”

Ryan shook his head, no longer laughing but his smile still plastered to his face. “Then when I got there to help you out of the pool, and I realized there wasn’t any danger, and the kids…” Ryan huffed. “Those kids really took a shine to you, dude. They were laughing so hard, I thought they were gonna start drowning.”

“Can I, uh… Can I confess something?”

That statement certainly caught Ryan’s attention, finding himself straightening up unconsciously. “Confess what?”

“So, I… I hadn’t planned to… end up in the pool,” Dylan mumbled his confession.

“But… then why were you…?”

“Ugh, okay…” Dylan went to clap his hands together for dramatic effect but wisely stopped just in time. “So, anyway, uh… First day of camp, like you said right? Do you remember how fucking hot that first day was? Like, stupidly hot. I’m talking smack you in the face, ‘Hey, summers here!’ kind of hot?”

Ryan nodded, wondering where he was going with this. “…Sure, I remember.”

“Right, so… Kids had already arrived, and they were supposed to be unpacking in the cabins. Which, to be fair, most of them were. Except this group of kids who decided the best way to beat the heat was to sneak into the pool and go for a swim. Now, you know me,” Dylan paused, placing a hand over his heart. “I’m always one for a little bit of tween rebellion, but at the same time, I probably wouldn’t be the best of counselors if I left a bunch of kids swimming unattended and they end up… drowned.”

“Yeah, that’d probably put a damper on things.”

“Not a good look,” Dylan agreed. “So, I head into the pool house, trying to think of the best way to teach these kids that ‘fun begins with safety’ in a way that doesn’t make them think I’m lame, and then…”

Ryan leaned in closer at Dylan’s pause, taking notice of Dylan’s slowly reddening face. “That’s… when you walked past.” Dylan found himself unable to meet Ryan’s eyes, returning to his previous solid method of staring at the floor. “You were passing by, carrying a bunch of life jackets and stuff, and I just…” Dylan finally found the courage to look up at Ryan, taken aback by how intensely he was listening. “I.. couldn’t stop looking at you. Guess my brain kinda shut down after that, coz it turns out I’m not so great at staring at someone and watching where I’m going at the same time. Next thing I know…”

“You fell in the water…” Ryan finished for him, the realization hitting him. “Because of…me?”

“...Yep…” Dylan popped the ‘p’. “Not my finest move.”

“I feel like I should apologize for distracting you,” said Ryan. “It was an unforgettable first impression, though.”

“I’m just surprised you didn’t question why I jumped into the water fully clothed.”

“In my defense, I was focusing on the relief that I wasn’t pulling a dead body out of the water on my first day of camp. And I just sorta… assumed you were body shy or something.”

“I was in jeans.”

“...And committed to the role?”

Dylan snorted, lowering and shaking his head. Ryan’s intense gaze settled on him, the subtle smile Dylan often pulled out of him yet to leave his face. “Appreciate you coming to my rescue, by the way,” Dylan said. “You even had to break the rule of ‘No Running’ to come save me. I’m sure that must have been a difficult decision for you.”

“Oh, definitely,” Ryan agreed, voice thick with sarcasm. “Follow the unbreakable rule set by a faded sign, or make sure my co-counselor doesn’t die.”

“An almost impossible choice!” Dylan played along with much glee. “And yet, you sprinted through that pool house to get to me like my own personal knight in shining armor.”

“Mmm, just needed a horse and the image would be complete," said Ryan.

“Don’t make me jealous, dude," Dylan said, lowering his voice and wriggling his eyebrows at Ryan. 

“Of… what?”

“Of… y’know, the horse?” Dylan said like that explained anything. “Coz you’re… riding…it.”

With the silence that stretched on after that little gem of a statement, Dylan was sure he had just managed to put his foot in his mouth in the worse way he ever has. “Wow, that was… smooth as ever, Dylan.”

“Can we… pretend like I never said that?”

“Not a chance. It goes straight into one of those ‘good memories’ you told me to think about.”

“Good memory, huh?” Dylan inquired. “Not… ‘scarring’ or ‘traumatizing?’”

“Nope. It goes right next to that night we were on cooking duty.”

Dylan threw his head back, scrunching his eyes closed with an exaggerated groan of despair before opening one to peek at Ryan out of the corner of it. “I warned you the second we were paired together that cooking isn’t my finest skill.”

“Dude, you managed to burn water. I didn’t even think that was possible!”

“Technically, it wasn’t the water that got burnt,” Dylan corrected, index finger raised as he made his point. “It was the sugar.”

“You realize that doesn’t make it any better?” Ryan asked through his laughter. “Why were you adding sugar to the water?”

“I misread the recipe! It said salt, I saw it as sugar.”

“We were making pasta, dude.”

“And I took the kids through a taste trip they’ll never forget!”

“I know I won’t,” Ryan joked. “How are you gonna survive heading off to college?”

“Probably by eating from the canteen like most others in the dorm,” Dylan shot back. 

“Alright, and after college?”

“Uh… takeout and ramen?”

“I am genuinely scared for your health,” Ryan admitted, eyes wide. “You know what, let’s make a deal.”

“Sure. Actually, wait, no -- what kinda deal?”

“How about… I teach you how to cook. Pay you back for the tech lessons you offered to give me.” Ryan made the offer like it was nothing more than a second thought, but for Dylan, there were practically fireworks of victory going off in his mind. 

“You’re offering to… teach me how to cook?” Dylan asked, hoping the excitement shrieking through his head wasn’t slipping too much into his voice. 

“If it stops you from making pasta that I’m sure is what the spaghetti from Elf would taste like, then yes, absolutely.”

“I’m sorry, can we just go back to the fact that you, Ryan, have watched Elf?” There was no way Dylan could hide the excitement from his voice now. 

“I… might have.” Ryan looked away, playing awkwardly with his hands. “My sister loves watching it like, every Christmas. It’s kinda tradition at this point.”

Dylan’s teasing smile softened at that, not quite used to seeing Ryan so… vulnerable? Open? It was something new, that’s for sure, and he wasn’t too oblivious to realize he should be careful in the way he pushes and prods here. “Well, it, uh… It’d make for a good background movie while you give me cooking lessons. Maybe… over winter break or something?”

Ryan paused, his hands coming to a standstill. A beat passed, and then he forced his eyes up to Dylan’s expectant face. Dylan almost missed Ryan’s response with how hard his heart was pumping in his chest, the sound of his blood roaring through his ears. 

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

"Cool, cool, that's–uh, I'm... looking forward to it." Ladies and Gentleman, once again, Dylan Lenviv: Master craftsman of words. “Hey, so… since we’ve now technically agreed to like, meet up and do something after all this—providing we’re not thrown in jail of course—wouldn’t it make sense if you, I dunno, maybe… gave me your number?”

Ryan hummed in thought, regarding Dylan with a tilt of his head. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever had someone so persistent to get my number.”

“Third time's the charm?” Dylan offered meekly. “Should I… Should I take that as a no, or…?”

Dylan glanced down at the movement he saw out of the corner of his eye. Ryan had his hand held out, palm facing upwards. Dylan stared blankly at the hand for a few seconds before realizing (what he thought) Ryan wanted, pulling his good arm across his body to give Ryan a ‘low-five’. 

“I was actually… asking for your phone…” Ryan said awkwardly, hand still held out. “So I can put my number in it. If you want it, that is.”

“Oh--” Dylan scrambled through his pockets for his phone with more urgency than he approached most of the life-threatening events of the past night. “Yeah, sure, here--” Ryan took the phone from his hand, the light brush of his fingers across Dylan’s palm as he plucked it from his hand sending shivers up Dylan’s arm. 

The phone’s battery was nearing low enough to get Dylan’s anxiety rising again (not that Ryan couldn’t just write down his number on a piece of paper or something, but whatever), watching—but pretending not to—as Ryan diligently entered his details into Dylan’s contacts. “There you go—” Ryan held the phone back out for Dylan to take. “I’m already nervous about the amount of memes you’re gonna send me at like two in the morning or something.”

Dylan clicked his tongue, pocketing his phone back in his jeans. “Only the freshest for you.”

“So long as you spruce it up with whatever quantum physics problems you have for your college assignments,” said Ryan, digging through his own pockets. 

“Sure. Maybe if you help me enough, I can convince administration to put both our names on the degree.”

Ryan huffed quietly, finally yanking his phone out of his pocket. Dylan watched as he carefully pulled his earphones out of the sockets, before holding the phone out for him to take. “C’mon, fair’s fair. Number for a number.”

“Hmm, let me think about that…” Dylan drawled with as much sarcasm as he could muster, snatching the phone out of Ryan’s hand with such speed that it nearly brought out a full-on laugh from Ryan. “God, why would I want to give my phone number to the guy I’ve been flirting with all night and tried desperately to get his number from… Honestly Ryan, the audacity for you to assume I’d want to give you my number,” said Dylan as he entered his number into the phone, scanning over the details a few dozen times to make sure he had entered them correctly. 

“My bad. Sometimes I just miss those kinds of signals.” Ryan replied, plucking the phone from Dylan when he saw he was finished. 

“Not gonna lie, I was actually kinda tempted to call the number to make sure you hadn’t given me a fake,” Dylan admitted. “But uh… no signal.”

Ryan ‘tsked’ his tongue, leaning back against the stair behind him.“Guess that means you won’t find out about my betrayal till after you’re home.”

“Okay, I know that’s probably a joke, but if I try and call your number and a pizza place picks up instead, I will find a way to track you down and beat your ass.”

“Uh, okay one—you’re gonna beat me up?”

“Don’t underestimate me, Ryan. I beat off a werewolf. With one hand. Using a flamethrower. And I dropped a car and squished one. And, most importantly, I am taller than you.”

Ryan just stared at Dylan, waiting for the moment the penny dropped and Dylan would have realized what he had just said. “You… beat off a werewolf… with one hand?”

Dylan opened his mouth for a retort, then quickly shut it again. “Okay, poor choice of wording, but my point still stands.”

“Alright, so you’re gonna ‘beat my ass’. How exactly do you plan on tracking me down?”

“I have my resources,” Dylan said slyly, straightening with pride. “Tech guy, remember? And besides, I got your email address in that information thingey we got. You can’t escape me, Ryan. Either you’ll be getting a flood of annoying texts from me, or you’ll have given me a fake number and be receiving a strongly worded email.”

Ryan tipped his head, admitting defeat. Then, unexpectedly, he reached out, placing a hand on Dylan’s shoulder. His grip was loose, and yet the warmth of his skin bled quickly through Dylan’s shirt. “Well, if there was anyone who was gonna attach to my side like a puppy and refuse to leave, I’m glad it ended up being you.”

Dylan tried to think of a joke, or a retort, or anything really to say in response to that, but his brain simply wasn’t cooperating with him. It had gone blank, instead focusing all their effort into focusing on the bubble of warmth that had formed in his chest, nearly as warm as Ryan’s hand still lingering on his shoulder. And—speaking of lingering—Ryan’s gaze has yet to break from Dylan’s, perhaps the longest Ryan had maintained eye contact with him since… forever. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Ryan asked, and oh wait, maybe he still could--

“You just did.”

And… there goes Ryan’s hand from his shoulder. “Dude.”

“Sorry, sorry, that’s--” Dylan waved off his own attempt at a joke. “Ask away.”

“So, tonight—or, last night technically, I guess—before all this shit went down; back at the campfire, and in Chris’s office… you were…”

“...Still in possession of both hands?”

“Flirting,” Ryan corrected firmly. 

“Uh… yeah?” Wait a minute, did he…? “Did… Did you only just realize that?”

As it turns out, Ryan can pull off quite the impressive bitch face. “I’m not that oblivious, dude. I guess I was just a little… confused.”

“Sexuality wise, or…?”

Bitch face number two, right there. “No, I figured out that a while back. It was just… Why then? We went the whole summer with really only the bare minimum of interactions — mostly co-counselor-slash-co-worker stuff and maybe the occasional friendly conversation every now and then, but… that was pretty much it. Honestly, when you did start flirting with me up in Chris’s office, there was a part of me that thought… maybe you were messing with me? I just… I couldn’t figure out why after two months of us all being together, why you were only then starting to make a move right before we were all about to go our separate ways?”

“Oh, right…” And if that wasn’t the question right there. The very same question he had asked himself just two nights ago, staring at the bottom of the bunk above him, wondering why he had never made that move. Except… he knew why. “It was… a lot of things.”

“...Like what?”

“Okay, uh… Obviously from the first day I kind of… had a thing for you. And, y’know, I saw Emma and Jacob hook up like, almost immediately, and I thought to myself ‘Welp, I’m sure that won’t end in disaster.’ Summer fling, promising not to get attached, then just saying goodbye at the end of the summer and, y’know, ‘bye bye, see you again never?’ And that’s… that’s just not my kind of style, I guess. I figured out fairly quickly that… that if anything were to happen, I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t want the end of summer to be the end.”

“Ah…” Ryan said, a look of understanding crossing his features. “So you assumed I wouldn’t want that and thought it better not to do anything?”

“Not…exactly,” Dylan continued. “To tell you the truth, I… well, I was a coward.”

“What? Dude, being too nervous to ask someone out doesn’t make you a coward--”

Dylan felt that damn ‘bashful smile’ Kaitlyn was talking about pulling at his cheeks at Ryan’s defense of him, saving his dignity by turning his head and covering his mouth with a pretend cough. “Alright, maybe not a coward, but… sometimes I just overthink things. I mean, let’s be honest with ourselves here Ryan, beginning of the summer you couldn’t even class us as ‘friends’. More like ‘awkward co-workers who have yet to properly address the weird way they met’. And… well, even after getting to know you more tonight, there’s still times when I can’t read you right. So, when I thought about actually making a move, it was like… like my brain thought of all the things that could go wrong.”

“Go wrong how?”

“Like… what if you weren’t interested in guys? Or even dating full stop? Camp had only just started, and we had two months ahead of us where we needed to work together. I didn’t want it to become awkward, you know? Especially if something did happen, and then realized we didn’t work together. Having to work together with a guy who rejected you is one thing, but a newly made ex—slash—fling gone wrong?”

“Yeah, that would be… an uncomfortable situation.” Ryan had to admit. 

“Precisely.”

“But… why were you so sure it would go wrong?”

“I wasn’t,” Dylan insisted. “But my nerves got the better of me. It wasn’t until the minivan broke down and I realized we would be spending another night here that I thought ‘Well… what have I got to lose?’ I could shoot my shot, and if you turn me down, then… well yeah, it would still suck, but it would only be the one night and then we’d be going home. If you didn’t turn me down, then well,” Dylan shrugged his shoulders with a small smile. “We’d be… where we are, I guess. Just… without all the werewolves and blood and general all-around violence. And, preferably, I’d still have both hands.”

“Kinda hard to forget about the whole werewolves part though, which… still seems crazy to me. Like… werewolves are real?”

“Seems like it. Man, Twilight lied to me… Those werewolves were not big and fluffy and, most importantly, looked like an actual wolf. They got the big part down but other than that they were… mean.”

“Hold on—” Ryan held out both hands, rearing his head back in disbelief. “—You were poking fun at me for having watched Elf, and are now admitting you’ve watched Twilight?”

“Oh, you’re telling me you haven’t?” Dylan challenged, giving Ryan a knowing look. “We were all tweens at some point, Ryan. Watching Twilight is like, a rite of passage into teenage…dom…”

“I don’t think that’s a word.”

“Don’t avoid the question, Ryan.”

“I… might have watched the first one—”

“Oh, you lie!” Dylan didn’t hesitate to call him out, noticing full well the way the muscle under his eye twitched — a dead giveaway. He knew that look of self-cringe, of remembering that phase of your childhood. “You watched every single one of those suckers, and little Ryan loved them.”

“Alright, I watched Twilight!” Ryan confessed, Dylan finally managed to yank the truth out of him. “And yeah, I’ll admit, I enjoyed them as a kid.”

“Hell yeah you did!” Dylan grinned with success, holding out his good hand. Ryan could only deny him for all of four seconds before caving into Dylan’s pleading eyes, giving him the high five he desired. “Nothing to be ashamed of, dude. You gotta experiment to find out what you like, after all.”

Ryan exhaled sharply from his nose, wondering if Dylan was hinting at what he thought he was thinking. “Why do I get the feeling you started questioning your sexuality after watching Twilight?”

“One of many things that helped me realize,” Dylan said. “I mean, when you’ve got a hot dude without his shirt on for like, ninety percent of the film, it tends to smack you in the face.”

“Yeah, I imagine that’d have an effect,” Ryan agreed. “So, uh… I’m genuinely curious here… What exactly would you have done if everything had been normal last night?”

“Uh… what do you mean?”

“After Truth or Dare,” Ryan answered. “You’d kinda jokingly asked me for my number a few times before that and then, y’know…”

“We kissed?”

“Right.” Ryan pretended the heat warming his face was actually the sun. “Were you expecting… more?”

“I… guess?” said Dylan, sounding unsure. “I mean, look -- more had happened than I thought would happen at that point. After that kiss at the fire, I… started to hope that maybe…” Dylan sighed harshly, struggling to find the right words to explain himself. “Maybe you liked me too. I guess from there I would have tested the waters a bit further, but…”

“But then the werewolf thing happened.”

“Yeah…” Dylan’s eyes slid away, the way his response trails off telling Ryan there was more to this before Dylan had even continued. “And the… Laura thing happened.”

“I’m sorry, the ‘Laura thing?'”

Dylan shrugged his shoulders, tall frame hunched over, picking at the bandages on his wounded arm. “You seemed pretty frustrated with each other at first, but I wasn’t sure if that was tension or that tension. I don’t know, maybe I look into things too much, but…”

“Dylan, are you… jealous of Laura?”

“Yeah, and I kinda hate it,” Dylan also hated how easily he admitted that to Ryan. “I mean, she can definitely pull off the badass act, whereas I—”

“Dude, you better not call yourself a coward again,” Ryan asserted strongly, turning on his seat to fully face Dylan. “The shit you’ve gone through tonight? Soldiering through losing your hand, and still doing everything you could to help people; fighting off werewolves with… wait, did you say a flamethrower?”

“Not a flamethrower per se, but it… threw flame, so… close enough?”

“Okay, and you hear that, right?” Ryan said firmly. “Shit, I had a gun with me most of the time. The fact that you did that, you saved Kaitlyn unarmed--”

“C’mon man, little early on the arm jokes, don’t you think?”

“--And right there. Even after tonight, you’re still able to come out of it smiling and joking. And you saved us with the feedback loop idea, remember? You did that. You figured out you needed to remove your hand after being bitten. You saved Kaitlyn using only what you had on hand. You, Dylan, are a genius and a badass.”

To say that Dylan was feeling taken aback by all this was an understatement. For a while, he could only stare blankly at Ryan, that bubble of warmth in his chest about ready to burst. Ryan’s eyes were practically boring into his, pleading with him to hear the words he was saying, to know he meant them. 

“And are you forgetting about Max?” Ryan added on, gesturing with his thumb behind his back in the direction of the quarry, to the island where said person was supposed to be waiting. “To say she’s ‘taken’ would be putting it lightly. You heard the story same as I did, right? She went out hunting werewolves by herself to try and save him. Dude clawed her eye out, and bit her, and she still fought tooth and nail to get him back. If that isn’t love, then I don’t know what is.”

And that made sense to Dylan. It really, really did. But it wasn’t like his brain was ever going to make it that easy for him. Because all that didn’t necessarily mean Ryan doesn’t like Laura, does it? It was just… a reason why nothing would happen. Yeah okay, he hears how stupid that sounds now he really thinks about it, but still—

“You know what, just… forget I brought it up.” Dylan gave Ryan a strained smile, that of which immediately had Ryan frowning. Ryan looked about ready to say something, but Dylan beat him to the punch before he could. “I’ve got no filter on right now, what with all the blood loss and no sleep—" Dylan somewhat stumbled to his feet, leaving a perplexed-looking Ryan still sitting on the steps. “Maybe we should… head back inside. Check up on everyone and, uh… well, I’d like to sleep for a few hundred years before the cops show up and slap handcuffs on us.”

Dylan all but mumbled his words, barely giving Ryan a second glance as he made his way towards the entrance to the lodge. He had missed the way Ryan watched as he left, deeply frustrated, but not at Dylan. He was fighting with himself, with his own mind, trying to decide how he felt, on what he knows he should say. He just needed to find the right way.

And then… He found it. 

“We never finished that game of Truth or Dare.”

Dylan paused, hand frozen on the door to the lodge. He slowly turned around to see Ryan now standing at the base of the stairs, leaning past the railing to keep Dylan in his line of sight. He wasn’t exactly sure what Ryan was trying to say by that. He had only said it just as fact, stating what had happened. And… yeah, that was what happened. They didn’t finish it. “Uh… yeah, no, we didn’t.”

“So let’s finish it.”

Dylan couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. Ryan somewhat swayed where he stood, one hand still on the stairs railings, eyes pointed down at his own feet as he kicked senselessly at the dirt. Call him crazy, but Dylan thought he almost looked… nervous. What for, he had no clue. “You want to play Truth or Dare? Just the two of us?”

“Yeah, I… I wanna finish the game.”

Dylan didn’t try in the slightest to hide his confusion, waiting for Ryan to walk over to him by the door before he continued. “Not gonna lie to you Ryan, I’m a little too sober and a little too tired to be dared to run naked through the woods.”

That brought another smile out of Ryan — even through his nerves — breaking some of the weird tension they had found themselves in. “Trust me, I don’t want to do that either. Won’t be anything like that, I promise.”

Dylan closed his eyes, blowing a long puff of air from his mouth as he contemplated the weirdness of all this. Sure, not the weirdest thing to happen tonight, but… weird nonetheless. Especially from Ryan. And yet, he would be lying to himself if he said there wasn’t part of him that yearned to return to that moment in time. The possibilities of what could have happened, had it not been for the interruption that would send them fighting for their lives. 

Dylan’s fingers slipped away from the door handle, turning the rest of his body to face Ryan head-on. “Alright, bring it, Ryan. Hit me.”

“Right where we left off,” Ryan pointed out, the corner of his mouth twitching up. “Truth or Dare, Dylan.”

Dylan blurted out his answer before he had even really made his choice. “Truth. I’ve got no secrets, but… you’re free to look for them.”

“Does Laura actually bother you?”

Son of a bitch, that’s the very topic he was trying to get away from. Guess Ryan just wasn’t going to let this go… “No man, Laura doesn’t bother me. I’m pretty sure if it weren’t for her coming in and explaining everything, we’d all be puppy chow right about now. She even saved your life—not exactly gonna forget about that anytime soon.”

“So why are you so uncomfortable talking about her?”

“Because I… couldn’t blame you if you went after her,” Dylan muttered, voice soft and sounding almost defeated. Ryan’s inquisitive frown all but vanished, smoothing into something that was… not quite pity, but… more like hurt. And that was something new Ryan learned about himself—just how much it pained him to see Dylan hurt, too. “It’d suck big time, but… I get it. Plus she’s got that cool eyepatch thing going on. Always thought pirates were cool…”

Ryan shook his head, amazed that Dylan was still able to throw in a light-hearted tidbit even when that was probably the complete opposite of how he was feeling right now. “Well… we’d only need to get you a hook for that hand, then you’d be on the same level,” Ryan joked, much to Dylan’s astonishment. “Actually, Laura’s eye is healed now, so you’d be more pirate than her.”

Dylan brought up his amputated arm to eye level, cracking a smile at the image. “Can’t wait to see the look on my parents' faces when I deny the super cool futuristic hand prosthetic for a hook.”

“Look cool as hell though.”

“Hell yeah,” Dylan agreed with an enthusiastic nod of his head. “So… you dig the pirate look?”

Ryan bit back a grin, swaying about where he stood. “Depends what kind of pirate we’re talking about. Like… Captain Jack Sparrow?”

“Ah, a bit of Depp, huh?” Dylan teased. “I think I could probably rock some facial hair… Would make for a good Halloween costume.”

Ryan hummed a laugh, eyes scanning across Dylan’s face. “That’d be something to see. Kinda--” Ryan paused, gesturing with a wave of his hand at Dylan’s face. “--Having a hard time picturing you with any facial hair though.”

“Pfft, uh, yeah — there’s a reason I keep it shaved off,” Dylan said, like the reason for that would be obvious. “The raw sexual power it invokes is simply too overwhelming for anyone to handle.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I’m telling you, man, you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off me.”

Ryan tilted his head up, regarding Dylan with an analytical eye. “If you say so, man. Guess we’ll… have to test that theory come Halloween time, huh? That’s, uh… part of being a scientist, right? Theory and experiment and all that.”

“Spoken like a true scientist yourself there, Ryan,” Dylan jabbed. He stood there smiling at Ryan for a good few seconds too long before remembering that they were in the middle of something, forcing himself back into reality. “Right, next round. Truth or Dare, Ryan?”

“Truth.”

“I, uh get the feeling this is gonna be more a game of ‘Truths’ than just ‘Dares’,” Dylan tried to joke, but something in his voice seemed flat, unsure of something. Ryan picked it up on it, but didn’t say anything — mostly because the slight pinch to his brow gave that away. Dylan’s head was dropped, eyes scrunched up as he bounced on the balls of his feet, trying to force out the question he wanted the truth to, but was having trouble gathering the confidence to ask. Ryan opened his mouth, about to ask Dylan if he was okay when Dylan blurts out his question. 

“Are you actually gonna keep in contact?”

Ryan clearly wasn’t expecting that question given by the way his partly opened mouth snapped shut, the small questioning frown that had already been on his face only deepening. “What?”

“You know, it’s just… Like, I know we swapped phone numbers and everything and you’d think that would answer my question for me, but…” Dylan groaned, annoyed with himself. “I know I’m overthinking it way too much, but I can’t help but wonder if you just… gave it to me so I’d stop asking? Like, you know, how you said I was persistent and all that, maybe I was annoying you or something--”

“Dylan—” Ryan stopped Dylan mid-ramble, looking truly baffled by what he was saying. “You can’t really think that, can you?”

Dylan’s small little shrug in response was genuinely hard to see for Ryan. “—’S not just that either. Like with the whole ‘bad memories’ thing; what you said earlier about this place—this night—replacing all your good memories with bad ones. Maybe that’d… happen with me, or something. And then even if you wanted to call or text me or whatever, anytime you thought of me, you thought of… werewolves and death and a whole bunch of other nasty shit. So it’d just be easier to not reach out. To just… forget.”

“Dylan, that’s not gonna happen,” Ryan said with such certainty that Dylan almost believed it without any other reassurance. “I mean, wh--what’s with all the ‘if you wanted to?’ Of course I want to keep in contact with you after all this, trauma aside. In fact, I’d even make the argument that the trauma will make us closer.”

Ryan reached out, placing a hand on Dylan’s shoulder, hoping it would help him get his point across. Dylan knew that from where his palm lay just by his chest that Ryan must have felt how fast his heart was racing, making a valiant effort to jump free from his chest. 

“Sure, this night was mostly hell, but you’re one of the reasons I was able to get through it. There’s a ton of bad memories, but there were good ones too that kept me sane, and practically all of them involve you. And I know for a fact that the same could be said for everyone else. You… you make me smile, man, when a lot of others can’t. I’d be stupid to cut that out of my life. To not want… you.”

Never mind Ryan being able to feel his heart beating, he could probably hear it at this point. Any issues with keeping eye contact seemed to be long gone, Ryan’s gaze locked into his — at least until they flickered down for the briefest moment to Dylan’s mouth before coming back up again. Dylan swallowed so harshly that he could hear the click of his own throat, although just barely past the sound of his pulse thudding by his ears. 

“Truth or Dare,” Ryan asked, and Dylan was too busy remembering how to breathe that he didn’t even think about it, answering more on reflex. 

“Dare.”

But it seemed to be the answer Ryan was looking for. Ryan’s grip changed, flat palm now curved as his fingers gently grasped into the material of Dylan’s shirt. “Kiss me.”

Dylan’s brain malfunctions at the dare — command, really — and he can only just blink in surprise before blurting out “…What?”

“I dare you to kiss me.” Ryan sounded confident, but Dylan liked to think he had gotten to know him a little bit better the past twenty-four hours. There was something hidden away behind his eyes, something almost like… like he was worried Dylan might turn him down. 

“Okay…” But Dylan was still in shock, and his brain had yet to fully restart. “Just so I know, will all other kisses only be initiated for Truth or Dare, or just these two? And hey -- why am I always the one to kiss you? Is it always gonna be like that too, or—”

Dylan stopped talking, but not of his own choice, as any other words he had to say were swallowed by Ryan’s lips. The kiss was soft and gentle, akin to the one by the fire, like they were dancing around each other, still trying to figure one another out. It lasted far too short for Dylan’s liking, Ryan pulling away before he even has a chance to savor it. But Ryan hadn’t pulled away completely, mouth still tantalizingly close as he says, strangely, “Sorry.”

“For what? Kissing me?”

“No, for not,” Ryan’s breath whispers over his lips. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to, and didn’t want to just… do it without asking or something.”

“Oh,” Dylan breathes. “Oh, no, I wanted to.”

And apparently that’s all the reassurance Ryan needed, because all of a sudden his lips are on his once more — although this time… not quite as gentle. It’s rushed, hard, desperate. Ryan’s leaning into him, body almost flush against his. Dylan lets himself be pushed, his back colliding with the door behind him, the impact against the wood sending out a loud ‘thud’ that shudders the door. He didn’t even know if hitting the door hurt, because he was too focused on the warmth of Ryan’s mouth — the feather softness of his lips, pressure demanding and oh so alluring. There’s a taste of salt from sweat and iron from blood, could be from either of them, or even a werewolf, but then Ryan’s deepening the kiss and all he can taste is him. 

Ryan’s hand on his shoulder moves, sliding down across his chest and leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. Dylan’s own hand had reached out for Ryan, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and trying to pull him closer than what was probably physically possible. Of course, there’s not much he can do with his other hand given that it’s currently laying in a puddle of his blood back in the radio shack, but that’s not to say he couldn’t almost feel what it’d be doing if still attached to his own body; trailing up Ryan’s body, exploring every inch of skin available to him; reaching up to caress his face, to pull him in deeper, fingers running through his hair—

“Hey, was that you guys-- OH, shit—!” It’s only thanks to Ryan’s impeccable reflexes that Dylan doesn’t fall back through the door Kaitlyn had just opened, grabbing hold of his shirt and pulling Dylan upright. Dylan stumbles into him, nearly knocking them both over in the process, Ryan’s other hand grabbing onto his arm to keep him steady. 

Kaitlyn had covered her eyes with her hands, already partly turned back towards the lodge. “Sorry, I thought I heard you guys banging on the door to get back in, but turns out you were banging up against the door.”

“Much as I’d like to put on a show, I’m not much of an exhibitionist,” Dylan managed to sound cocky despite the tint of redness spreading across his face. “And if I was, it sure wouldn’t be for free. Probably… ten bucks for the show.”

“Come on, man, Jesus…” Ryan said, the disappointment and disgust in his voice so strong that Dylan panicked, thinking he had just royally messed this up. “We’d be worth more than that to watch. Hundred bucks, minimum.”

Dylan’s responding grin had the potential to outshine the morning sun, holding up a hand for Ryan to high-five. “I’m so proud of you.”

Kaitlyn pulled her hand away from her face in time to watch the two high-five, torn between wanting to laugh or nail her ‘I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed’ face. “I’ll just… leave you guys to it. But with the reminder that the cops are on the way, and I don’t want to add ‘public indecency’ to the list of things we have to explain to them.”

“...Noted,” Ryan says, awkward as ever, made even more awkward by the little hand wave he does in acknowledgment.

Kaitlyn slips back through the door, then reaches out a hand through the door, giving the two a little thumbs-up as she calls “Congrats on acting on all that sexual tension!” before her hand too disappears from view.

“Do you think she’s jealous?” Dylan leans down to mumble quietly to Ryan.

“I heard that!” Kaitlyn’s muffled voice comes from behind the door.

“I mean—” Dylan raises his voice. “—Don’t you think that Kaitlyn is a super awesome friend for encouraging her friends to be happy?”

“Better!” Kaitlyn calls back. “And damn right I’m a super awesome friend!”

Ryan chuckles softly at the back and forth between them, the sound only brightening Dylan’s smile. Ryan steps up to the wall next to Dylan, finger’s brushing down his arm as he slides down the wall to take a seat, encouraging Dylan to sit down with him. Dylan slides down slightly less gracefully than Ryan manages, the after-effects of adrenaline and blood loss along with, uh, well, let's face it, his remaining blood having headed in a different direction than his brain during that kiss leaving his legs a tad bit shaky. 

“...You good?” Ryan asks at the sight of Dylan crashing to the floor, one hand up against the wall to steady himself.

“Yeah, just…” Dylan winces, already able to feel the blossoming ache on his tailbone. “Hurt my ass…”

“I’m… not gonna kiss it better.”

Dylan snorts, stretching out his legs and adjusting himself to be more comfortable. “You wish, Erzhaler.” 

The two sit in comfortable silence for some time, serenaded by the sounds of bird songs. It was the most peace they’d had in quite some time. No screaming kids, no temper tantrums, and — this was vital here — no werewolves tracking down their scent. Just the early morning sun, the whistle of the day's cool breeze, and the songbirds fluttering between the trees. 

“I’m bored,” Dylan declared after roughly five minutes of said peace. 

Ryan had some kind of comment along the lines of how they should be thankful to be bored and no longer fearing for their lives, but also... 

He was kinda bored too. 

And tired. 

Very, very tired. 

Ryan pulled out his phone, untangling the mess of wires his earphones had become tucked away inside his shirt. He wordlessly held one out to Dylan, who happily plucked it out of his hands and into his ear, whilst Ryan put in his own. The pull of the cable between them meant they had to huddle even closer together, but… neither of them were complaining. 

“You gonna show me the boner podcast?” Dylan asks. 

“Bizzare Yet Bonafide.”

“You still knew what I meant, though. Hey, maybe we could get a guest appearance on there?” Dylan suggests brightly as Ryan scrolls through the episodes he had downloaded onto his phone. 

“Doubt they’d believe us,” Ryan pointed out. 

“If we just told our story, sure,” Dylan agreed — at first. “But we’ve got evidence to back it up. Evidence that werewolves are real! Shit… Kinda makes you wonder how much of that podcast is the actual truth. If werewolves are real, then what else is? Vampires? Zombies? Wendigos? Bigfoot? Nessie?”

“Nessie?”

“Y’know, the Loch Ness Monster,” Dylan answered. 

“Oh. Well, if you’d asked me only a day ago, I would have said there was no way. Now, it seems like nothing is off the cards… We even know that ghosts are real too, so… that’s cool. And… horrifying.”

“That’ll have to be the topic on our guest appearance. I can see it now--” Dylan held out his arms in front of him, picturing the episode's title. “--The Hag of Hacketts Quarry: Two Survivors Tail of terror. Get it? Like tail. Like, a wolf’s tail instead of story tale?”

Ryan’s thumb paused scrolling, slowly turning his head to face Dylan. “I… don’t think the werewolves even had tails.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly checking out their asses,” said Dylan. “Actually, play the Hag of Hacketts Quarry one--” Dylan points to the episode title he could see on the screen. “--See how accurate the story was. Then when we appear on the show, you can rip into them with all the inaccuracies while I provide the comic relief.”

“As in--”

“Oh, shit, dude,” Dylan hissed, the sudden urgency in his voice catching Ryan off guard. He had reached over with his good hand to grab hold of Ryan’s arm, eyes wide as they stare out into the forest. 

“What?” Ryan asks, head snapping back and forth between the forest and Dylan’s panicked face. “What is it?”

“Look, over there,” Dylan continues in a hushed voice, gesturing with a nod of his head towards the woods. “Is that a wolf?”

Ryan’s blood all but runs cold, peering intensely between the trees, waiting to see the beast's thin, lanky frame flash by. “Where?”

“No, a normal one.”

It takes a while for the joke to click in his mind. When it does, Ryan has full intention of letting his thoughts on such a joke be heard, but the proud, sheepish smile on Dylan’s face makes it hard to do that. Instead, all he can get out is a defeated-sounding “Dude…”

“Sorry,” Dylan says, not sounding sorry at all. “Was kinda funny though, right?”

Ryan chose to press play on the Hag of Hacketts Quarry episode instead of answering that, assuming Dylan would take that as a cue to stop talking. 

“Wouldn’t it be funny after all this that an actual bear came out of the woods and mauled us or something?”

“Oh My God…”

* * *

 Barely any time had passed at all before Kaitlyn came out to check on them, perturbed by the uncharacteristic silence. She peeks her head around the door, hoping that she wouldn’t see those two dumbasses deciding to take the risk and bone in the woods, but she’s greeted by a much more pleasant sight and… to be completely honest, an adorable one. 

She grins, getting out her phone, grateful there was still some battery left for her to snag this photo. They sat center frame of the snap, Dylan’s ridiculously long legs sprawled out next to Ryan’s, sat as close to each other as they could get without being in each other's laps. The earphones were still just about placed in their ears, Ryan’s head resting against the wall whilst Dylan had slumped into Ryan’s side, head resting on his shoulder, both of them sound asleep despite the murmured tones of the podcast they were listening to still playing through the buds. But perhaps the most heart-warming thing about the sight was of Dylan's amputated hand held ever so gently in Ryan's, in a way that suggested his grip didn't simply loosen as he fell asleep, but that he was being extra careful not to hurt him. 

She had figured the photo would serve as good blackmail material. Or at least, she had until she sent the photo to Ryan (after convincing him over damn email to give her his number after Dylan refused to give it out without asking Ryan despite her pleading), only getting a thumbs-up emoji from the guy in response, of all things. 

It was kind of funny, she thought. There were many times when Ryan could seem… indifferent. Too withdrawn. Like he didn’t care. And yeah, a thumbs-up emoji certainly didn’t give too much away as to how he was feeling. But that was just how Ryan was. And those that know him — and know him well — know he gives away much more about how he feels than just by what he communicates to others. Sometimes, you just have to look for it. 

And when enough time had passed — of months upon months of discord calls and police investigations — when they were together again in person for the first time since the end of summer, she looked. She looked, and she saw as Ryan pulled out his phone to check the time — just a flash of his screen. But in that brief glimpse, she saw the photo.

 Saved as his phone's wallpaper. 

Dylan might have been the one to catch feelings first, but that right there? Well… let’s just say there’s a bet going on with the rest of the group as to when those idiots manage to fall head over heels for each other. She was the only one to place down twenty on Ryan figuring it out first. And judging by that wallpaper…?

She’s won. 

[dreamqueenkala]

I saw opportunity and had to take it 🤭 personally felt like I had to make this one a little gay but I can make one with a female partner too if this one is liked enough

BLISS

|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|

Warnings: P*rn without Plot; Mentions of Overstimulation; Mentions of Marking; Mentions of Mutliple Org*sms

Male Reader x Jacob Custos

|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|

Jacob grunted as the male beneath him clenched around his girth, pressing his back harder against the tile walls, the shower head raining rapidly cooling water over both of them. His fingers were grasping his jaw, palm placed over his lips as the guy spluttered and mewled into his hand. His pupils were blown as he glared deep into the males eyes, grinning an almost evil smile, his tongue gliding over his teeth.

“You like how deep I fuck you, huh, babe?” Jacob cooed, dark eyes taking in his boyfriends flustered expression, his smaller hands clawing at his back and the wall desperately. His hips snapped up harshly against the others, a squeal of ecstasy muffled against his palm that had the ravenette chuckling. “Yeah you do.”

“Bet you can cum a third time before I cum, babe. Yeah? You wanna cum again?” Reaching down, he fisted the smaller boys own cock with a growl, pressing a kiss to his throat where he’d already thoroughly marked his skin. “Shhh, gotta stay quiet, baby. Don’t wanna get caught.”

The male squealed and whined desperately beneath the appendage draped over his mouth, thighs quivering around Jacob’s hips and his eyes filled with overstimulated tears. Fucked to bliss, his nails dug deep into Jacob’s shoulders, adding to the pretty pink and white lines that already painted his muscled flesh. Jacob’s grin widened and a throaty laugh bubbled in his throat, his hand suddenly wet and warm, a thin sheen of translucent liquid dribbling down his partners chin and over his wrist.

“I fuck you so good, don’t I, babe? Fuck you stupid, huh? Cum again, baby, and maybe…maybe I’ll cum inside.” The males muffled whimpers and pleas for release encouraged Jacob as his thrusts picked up pace, his back and ass growing more bruised form the battering against the wall with every buck of his lovers hips.

Jacob was sure he’d have to carry his boyfriend home again after that workout.

One again thinking of Jacob. Fucking his partner in the gym locker room shower. Hand over their mouth while he fucks them ruthlessly. Hoping he fucks them just hard enough to make them whine and moan through his hand while pretending he doesn't want them to make a sound. Bonus points if he manages to fuck them so hard they start to drool through his hand 💦😏

[writersus]

Chapters: 1 Fandom: The Quarry (Video Game) Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Warnings: No warnings apply Relationships: Jacob Custos & everyone (no interactions) Important Tags: AU - canon divergence; Jacob Custos is not kind to himself

His best and really only solution was pushing North, probably. And his best guess of North was where he pushed onward. Through more wooded terrain and paths, Jacob jogged just as he had for 70% of the night anyway. Now was different though. He had a new goal beyond surviving. And it didn’t involve Emma this time. Well not directly. He had to survive and get that beautiful car moving again.

*Or* Jacob Custos got them in this mess, and he could either lie down like a bitch and die in the forest or he can at least try and fix it. So he's gonna try and fix it. Pray for the guy.

------------------------

First lil jump back into (creative) writing after like a decade of not doing it with a kind of character analysis on Jacob.

[grievedeeply]

THE QUARRY MASTERLIST

hello and welcome to the masterlist of all of my works for the decision based horror game, ‘the quarry’! requests are open, and feel free to send me a message at any time! things with no link are up and coming works, soon to be published!

blog information | send a request | taglist form

last updated: 07/07/22

ryan erzahler

oneshots:

all you cared about — finding ryan bleeding out on the floor and running out of time, you resort to desperate measures to save his life.

in sickness — ryan shows up to your house sick and you take care of him, until he shocks you with a sudden confession.

headcanons:

dating ryan

dylan lenivy

headcanons:

dating dylan

emma mountebank

headcanons:

dating emma

jacob custos

headcanons:

dating jacob

nick furcillo

oneshots:

a glimpse of him — an infected nick's comments make you think back on your past with him and hope for a better future.

headcanons:

dating nick

abigail blyg

kaitlyn ka

oneshots:

humane thought — after being infected, you make a difficult step towards protecting kaitlyn from yourself.

laura kearney

headcanons:

dating laura and max (polyamorous)

being laura and max's s/o and getting infected

max brinly

oneshots:

honey - max's affectionate nickname for laura gets to your head until he confesses to you after realizing he might not have you forever

headcanons:

dating max

dating max and laura (polyamorous)

being max and laura's s/o and getting infected

multiple characters / misc

emma, max, dylan, ryan and nick with an ambiverted partner

being the only werewolf in the hackett family with control

being travis hackett's child

travis hackett reacts to his child getting infected

being travis hackett's child and dating one of the counselors

the counselors reacting to you offering to put their head in your lap

[ruewrote]

𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑙𝑒.

PAIRING: jacob custos x fem!reader WARNINGS: consensual biting GENRE: pure fluff SONG INSPIRATION: i like me better by lauv WORD COUNT: 471 REQUESTED: yes

navigation | ask | the quarry masterlist

normally you weren’t one for pda, especially not wanting to see it in public.

that quickly changed when you finally got into a relationship with your long term crush, jacob custos.

it started out small, nudging your hands closer to each other before interwinding your pinkies together, the two of you too shy to fully commit to an actual handhold, not like it took long for you to get more comfortable with each other.

the day isn’t complete without at least one kiss from the other, your personal favourite being when you were sick one time and jacob made the effort to run to your house, climbing up your window just to give you the biggest, sloppiest kiss on your heated cheek before making his way back home with the dopiest smile on his face.

the next day he got sick too, but he didn’t care in the slightest since you were able to spend your days facetiming each other, ‘till this day he says that it was ‘worth it’ and you honestly wouldn’t want it any other way.

right now you were laid in his arms, your cheek pressed against his bicep, his front to your back as he lazily scrolled through his socials. dropping your phone as you started tracing your fingertips down his arm, pulling a deep hum from him.

you loved times like these, the peaceful moments where you’d lay in his arms or he’d lay in yours and you could just exist around each other. a social battery was no such thing when it came down to you guys.

your fingertips tracing down to his free hand that was sprawled out in front of you, intertwining your fingers with his own, his thumb gently brushing over your knuckles, making you smile.

as cheesy as it sounded, you couldn’t think of one thing you’d rather be doing right now.

turning over, slightly out of reach as your lips pressed against his arm, leaving little kisses. jacob whines from the loss of contact, his hand gently pulling your hips back onto his own as you kiss at his skin. 

as he was distracted your teeth nipped at him, he let out a grunt, but didn’t protest so you went in for the kill and bit his bicep. gently of course, but enough to leave a faint mark.

moving back to leave a peck on the new mark, before curling back into his arms and started watching his tiktoks again.

“ya know if you were still hungry you could’ve just told me, but then again i don’t blame you…i truly am a snack.” he joked, you playfully rolled your eyes, laughing at his silliness.

from then on it became a thing for you to do, the two of you acknowledge it as another part of your guys love languages.

comments and reblogs are appreciated ♡

© ruewrote 2024.

[dreamqueenkala]

Heyya, do you mind doing a one shot where Dylan and a female counselor pretends to hate/dislike each other in front of other people but always give out little notes to meet each other in private? You can do fluff or smut or both it's up to you! Thank you!

I’ve been doing so many smut requests lately and I’m lowkey a little tired of it, so I’m glad you left this idea open to me. This is so cute imo too so thank you for the request! Hope it’s to your liking :) I also hope it’s alright for me to implement an OC this time around—trying to work on my descriptions and personalities in my writing.

MESSENGER

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Warnings: Profanity; Implied Sexual Themes

Female OC x Dylan Lenivy

|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|

“God—Dylan, can you grow the fuck up!?” She snapped, fingers threading through her wild cocoa curls and tugging lightly. Her cheeks were darkened with what seemed to be rage, blue-grey eyes narrowed as she glared at the brunette male, whom stood a mere ten feet from her with his hands on his hips. His nostrils flared, his neck and ears darkened with the heat of his own anger as he glared back, raising his middle finger to her in mock shock.

“Oh—wow! Whoops, ‘dunno how that happened!” Dylan hissed, extending his tongue and blowing a raspberry in her direction. “Maybe it’s just because you’re a bitch, Parker.”

Kaitlyn and Jacob stood at the other end of the lodge, near the stairs, eyes locked on the bickering duo with the formers arms crossed over her chest. “Man, I knew they hated each other, but this is getting old. What’re they arguing about now?” The short woman inquired, hip cocked and brow raised.

The jock beside her shook his head, hands in his pockets as they watched the two step face to face, screaming profanities and cruel words back and forth. “Dylan made a remark about the tattoo on her tailbone—saw it yesterday when we all went swimming. Called it a tramp stamp and, uh…weeeeell, she snapped.” Came Jacob’s reply, the tall broad-shouldered male fidgeting with his shirt hem.

Kaitlyn let loose a wince of distaste at the admittance, pursing her lips with a deep exhale. “Ooh, yikes. And I thought you were stupid.” Jacob grunted in agreement as the girl moved away, then blinked.

“Wha—Hey! Kaitlyn!?” He turned on his heel to face her, completely dismissing the duo fighting across the room and choosing to follow the shorter girl outside.

On the other side of the lodge, Parker slammed her palms against the tall male’s chest, scrunching a piece of paper against the fabric of his shirt inconspicuously. Dylan stepped back at the touch, hands reaching up to grasp at his shirt as if her hands had hurt him, discreetly grasping the paper in his left fist. “Just stay out of my way, loser.” Parker, licking her full dark lips, sneered at the brunette with a roll of her eyes, turning on her heel.

“Whatever.” Dylan clicked his tongue, honey butter eyes watching her hips sway almost hypnotically as she left the lodge. Glancing around the room, Dylan deemed the area clear enough and glanced down at the slip in his palm.

‘Boathouse. 9 PM. Miss you already.’

Dylan gritted his teeth to contain the grin pulling at his lips, slipping the message into his pocket. Kitchen duty. He reminded himself. He had kitchen duty. Just one more hour to go. The boy cringed at the thought as he entered the kitchen—son of a bitch, the towers these campers left behind. No wonder Nick refused to do the dishes after dinner.

Dylan sighed. He might be a little late.

•••

••

•

9:34 PM

Dylan stepped along the path, a sweater replacing the t-shirt he’d originally worn, sweats loosely hung on his hips. Stumbling slightly along the dirt path, the brunette finally made his way to the boathouse. The lights were out, a familiar silhouette leaning against one of the railings near the water.

Dylan stopped and took a moment to admire the girl as she gazed up at the half moon above them. The light reflected off the water made her soft cocoa skin glisten, giving her an angelic appearance. Her gold and chocolate curls fluttered around her shoulders with the light breeze, her thin fingers tapping against the railing lightly. Her lips were parted as she hummed softly to herself in time with the beat her fingers tapped out, back arched slightly and hips swaying lazily.

Dylan bit his lip and reached up to ruffle his hair slightly nervously, moving a little faster. His footsteps transitioning to the wood floor alerted Parker of his presence, her blue eyes flickering to meet his silhouette. She clicked her tongue and straightened up, a hand now placed on her hip.

“Damn, took you long enough. Was starting to think you weren’t gonna—“ Parker’s scolding was cut short by soft lips pressed against her own, her thin brows raising with surprise. She stepped back and found herself pinned to the boathouse post behind her, one hand gripping the railing to the side whilst the other squeezed his left bicep. Dylan’s hands gripped her hips and pulled her flush against him, a soft exhale of amusement leaving the girl at his desperation.

“F-Fuck, you’re gonna suffocate me—“ She managed to chuckle against his lips, once again quickly silenced by his lips greedily suckling at her own. Her reluctant protests ceased completely the moment his tongue pressed against hers, a breathy mewl escaping her lips as one of the males hands weaved into her hair on the back of her head, guiding her impossibly closer.

“I missed you.” Dylan mumbled, lips trailing down her cheek to her jaw and finally her neck, tongue tracing her pulse point in her throat. Parker’s head tilted back, teeth nibbling at her lower lip. She raised one of her legs to curl around his hip, his hand still grasping her waist sliding down to squeeze her plush thigh through her pajama bottoms. “It’s so fucking hard not to just pin you against the wall during the day.”

“I know. You don’t know how bad I wanted to kiss you this morning after that hike.” The dark-skinned girl replied, rolling her hips against his. The groan she received in response made her breath catch in her throat, the sensation of his teeth gliding over her neck making her eyelids flutter.

“You have me now, babe.” Came his reply, his back straightening as he guided her hands to slip under his sweater, shivering at her cold fingertips.

“How long are we keeping this a secret, Dyl?” She murmured, pressing her own open mouthed kisses to his collarbone.

“One more week, Parks.” His fingers traced the sweet sensitive flesh just below her ear, her soft swooning exhale drawing a smile across Dylan’s lips. “Just one more week.”

“One more week, then we’re official, yeah?”

“Official?” Dylan chuckled softly, nuzzling her cheek gently as he tugged his shirt over his own head. “You’ve been mine since day one. I’ve always been yours.” Parker bit her lip and giggled softly, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips before her fingers slid down to tug at his sweats.

“Love me, Dylan.”

“I already do.”

[ruedavis]

𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒.

pairing: jacob custos x fem!reader

warnings: strong language

song inspiration: only by RY X

word count: 836

jacob walks off angrily after cussing out nick for kissing emma. she looks pretty smug with herself, what an ass.

“that was such a dick thing to do! you know how he feels about you,” she opens her mouth to retaliate. the others sitting - watching you both in awkward silence. 

“and i swear to god if hear ‘summer fling�� come out of your mouth again next time it will be your teeth,” with that said you make your way to search for jacob.

you would say that you can’t imagine how he feels but in a way you can. you have been feeling that way since you started out as a councillor this summer, ever since you got here you fell hard for someone who barely even acknowledges your existence.

not because he was rude - no! it was quite the opposite actually.

you’d seen him follow her around like he was damn lost puppy whenever your eyes were to drift over to him.

you have mixed emotions though. as much as you see him with her, you’d also catch him looking at you occasionally. it’s always down to coincidence though.

as you were singing camp songs with the kids and you would see him in the near distance watching over you, smiling. you’d bring your attention back to the children, an embarrassed blush spreading across your cheeks.

your two groups would accidentally bump into each other’s sometimes as you took them out to teach them about the wilderness, the small people would giggle and whisper amongst themselves as they’d watch you try and very badly fail to not make a fool of yourself in front of him.

before they left, a girl with pigtails and a cheeky smile gave you a note, they all got on the bus and left, after they did you opened up the piece of paper - it was a list, they made it based on all of the councillors who they’d put together and they put yours and jacob’s initials together.

you laughed it off thinking nothing of it, folding it up then putting it into your jacket pocket.

cut back to now. you had finally found jacob sat at the end of the wooden bridge just above the lake water. you quietly walk over and sat down beside him. looking over in his direction to see tears running down his cheeks.

“i know you probably don’t wanna talk about it, but i just want to say what emma did back there was out of order,” your eyes skimmed over the water - you could feel his eyes on you, still you stayed as you were.

glancing over to him with a soft smile, “you deserve better than that.” he smiles back then wipes away his tears and sniffles. 

“it’s so dumb, i agreed that it was just a fling, i agreed on this, but why does this have to hurt so much?” your eyes scanned over him - that felt a little too close to home.

“we accept the love we think we deserve, and you definitely deserve everything but this!” he laughs whilst playfully nudges you with his shoulder.

“oh also, if it’s any constellation look at what one of the kids gave me before they left,” you reached into your pocket and pulled out the list.

you waited for his reaction, it wasn’t what you expected, you were expecting some sort of ‘ha-ha yeah right!’ or like he’d fall over laughing from how ridiculous it sounds.

except that never came. the comfortable silence laid thick between the two of you.

“i think they’re kinda right, ya know?” you nearly got whiplash from how fast you turned towards him, your words came out stuttered, your mouth went dry too. it couldn’t be right?

“w-what do y-you mean?”

“you and me? i think we’d be smoking hot.” jacob’s words echoed in your head. that’s when you finally realise, he was looking at your lips and started to lean into you.

your eyes widen, pressing your index finger to his lips “slow your role, loverboy.” his expression turned back to hurt as he looked away from you obviously embarrassed and started apologising profusely.

realising your accidental fuck up, “nonono! i completely agree, dude i’ve literally been crushing on you the whole of summer! i’m just not gonna be a rebound, okay?” he nods in agreement.

to break the awkward silence, you abruptly stood up and stole the brunette’s fitted cap and put it in on yourself instead, then started to fake model with it, he soon realises what you’re doing and pretends to snap pictures of you.

“miss, miss! over here! can you tell me what you’re wearing?” 

you both continue to joke around before you get up and start making your back to the others. there’s nothing but banter between the pair of you and the air has definitely been cleared for now.

“it’s kinda disappointing that you look so good in my hat what the fuck bro.”

[kitkatscabinet]

Word count: 1757

Pairing: Jacob x gn! reader

Summary: It’s been a supremely shitty night, but at least you’ve got Jacob to keep you company

Warnings: blood, mentions of injuries, swearing

The pounding in your head had slowly started to fade and luckily the wound on your hairline had stopped bleeding. What was unlucky however, was all sorts of fucked up situation you had somehow found yourself in. The previous events of the night were now somewhat blurry, but you could vaguely remember receiving the butt of a shotgun to the face from an old man after running frantically from some… wolf like creature. That in itself was embarrassing, how the old bag of bones had managed to sneak up on you was a mystery to begin with and now you were locked in a fucking cage. Your first instinct had been to reach out to try and shake the bars and you’d gained a painful shock to the hands that had melted the skin due to your grip, your muscles were still occasionally spasming minutes later. The sound of a door swinging open caught your attention as you stood and got as close to the bars as you dared, desperate to see what was going on. However, the scene before you was the last thing you were expecting. Yelping you reared back at the sight of two men dragging… something behind them and locking it in the cage next to you, before they turned to leave once again.

“HEY! HEY! Let me out of here you motherfuckers!” you yelled, putting on a brave façade only to be promptly ignored as they walked out. The shoddy lighting in the room made it hard to make out exactly what the creature was that had been dumped in the cage but you could tell it wasn’t any normal animal or human. Not finding any options for a way out you laid back down on the ground in frustration, tears welling in your eyes as the realisation began to set in that you might die here. The increasingly loud growls coming from behind you had caused you to abruptly turn only to rear back as the creature attempted to lunge for you. All of a sudden you were incredibly grateful for the electricity flowing through the bars. Forcing your breaths to slow you closed your eyes in attempt to drown out everything.

Zoning out, you were unsure of how much time had passed before you were once again alerted to someone entering the room. Immediately gasping in shock as you noticed the hunter’s newest victim.

“Oh my god! Jacob. What’ve you done to him!” you shouted at the men only to be immediately threatened with a shotgun levelled at your face as you were told to step back. Watching in worry as your fellow counsellor was roughly thrown inside with you and you were once again left alone. Kneeling beside his prone from your shaking hands frantically hovering as you assessed him for injuries, unsure what to do. Ripping your shirt, you attempted to clean the mangled gore that was his foot before eventually wrapping it up as tight as you dared to stop the blood flow. Sitting back down you pulled his head into your lap, hands stroking over his hair unconsciously as you squeezed your eyes shut in an attempt to stop the tears.

You weren’t particularly close with the man, preferring to hang with Dylan most of the time and occasionally Ryan when the kids got to be too much and you both needed the quiet. However, he’d always gone out of his way to include you and you’d never belittled him and had even ripped Dylan a new one for doing so. Looking down at his unconsious and bloodied body you hoped to any god out there he would wake up.

 Jacob slowly awoke to the sounds of sniffles and the warm feeling of thumbs slowly rubbing circles across his cheeks. Eyes opening, he was surprised your face hunched over his, your eyes were closed and he took the time to take in your features. He was quickly startled at the realisation that not only were you crying, but your face and hair were covered in blood and he had the sinking feeling that it wasn’t from an external source.

Eyes opening at the confused call of your name, you looked down to see the source staring up at you “Oh thank god you’re awake” you said, voice watery from the tears. Noticing him start to move you pushed him back down by the chest “Woah, woah, woah don’t try to get up yet. You’ve got a head injury. Not to mention your fucked up foot.” Wiping a hand over your face you attempted to wipe the exhaustion away in a futile attempt.

“Why are you helping me?” Jacob blurted out somewhat dumbly.

“Um why wouldn’t I? Even if it wasn’t the right thing to do, I wouldn’t just let you suffer” you answered back, confused at his reaction.

“I, uh, I don’t know… I just got the feeling that you didn’t like me all that much” he trailed off in a whisper, eyes darting away from your shocked face unwilling to look you in the eyes and missing your devastation at his confession.

“I’m so sorry I made you feel that way Jacob” the remorse in your voice apparent to his ears “Is that why you were always so quiet around me.”

“I guess… you’re the only one who’s never been mean to me before… I just didn’t want to annoy you” he said, vulnerability incredibly evident in his tone and you found your heart breaking for him.  

“I don’t like who you and Emma are when you’re together” you admitted “you’re not good for each other, she doesn’t take your feelings into account but you need to accept that she doesn’t want a relationship” you tried to explain, not wanting to offend him but desperately needing to convey the message. “I mean you sabotaged our ride out of here just to try and change her mind” you huffed out.

“How did you know?” the panic in his tone evident

“I didn’t entirely, but you just confirmed my suspicion. You weren’t exactly subtle, you know” you snorted throwing your head back to look at the ceiling. Only to look back down immediately as your ears registered the sounds of sniffles.

“I’m so stupid. This is all my fault” he said, crying in earnest now “Emma still doesn’t want me, Abi and Nick got hurt… you got hurt and now we’re stuck in this fucking cage!” he ended with a yell, hitting his fist against the ground in frustration.

“Hey, hey, hey, stop that” you said, desperately trying to soothe him, taking his hand in one of yours and using the other to lightly smooth over his hair in an attempt to calm him down as you suddenly wished you’d gotten to know him better during your time at camp. You began randomly blathering on about anything and everything trying to take both of you rminds off of how fucked everything had gotten. Unaware of Jacob’s eyes tracking your every movement in awe, enraptured by your cute expressions and flailing hands as you recalled the last time you’d been to a party that had ended in you pushing some jerk into a pool. 

You’d shifted a few times in the hours, especially after Jacob had noticed your mangled hands, raw and bloody from grabbing onto the electrified bars for so long, still occasionally shaking as the muscles spasmed. Refusing to let you continue rubbing the comfortable circles into his skin with your less affected fingertips, Jacob had taken your wrists in his hands to help stop the light trembles. He’d pulled you into his lap and wrapped you in his arms at some point, your back pressed to his chest as you desperately tried to conserve warmth. Feeling immeasurably guilty Jacob had gone out of his way to try and make you laugh; he hadn’t forgotten the tears you’d tried to hide from him and the longer you spent together the more he enjoyed your laugh.  That was how Ryan found the pair of you hours later, fully wrapped around each other in an attempt to share heat and comfort.

Being let out of the cage by your fellow counsellor you and Jacob had finally managed to hobble outside in what had been a slow and painful process, him having to lean most of his weight on you due to his ankle. You had collapsed on the ground in a fit of relief and exhaustion forgetting about the additional weight you were supporting causing Jacob’s bulk to land on top of you. Wheezing out laughs as Jacob quickly apologised, worried he’d hurt you. Eventually your laughs devolved into deep heaving sobs as the stress of the night caught up to you, your head was pounding and your poor hands were burning and you worried greatly they would never heal properly. You sniffled out a light laugh between the sobs, touched at his concern for you and awkward attempts to make you feel better. Throwing your arms around his neck in a bruising hug it was now Jacob’s turn to reel at the weight, back hit the ground he allowed you to cry into his neck as his arms slowly snaked around you in return, one hand coming up to rub the back of your head lightly as you had done for him earlier.

Jacob wasn’t sure how long you cried in his arms before your breathing evened out, looking down as the sobs stopped his breath hitched as he noticed you’d cried yourself to sleep. Face smoothing out serenely and breaths tickling his neck causing a familiar fondness to fill his chest at the sight. Hesitantly he pressed a kiss to your hairline and slowly manoeuvred you until he could slowly stand. Wary of waking you he slowly began to walk in the direction of the lodge, occasionally checking to make sure you were still sleeping peacefully he allowed himself to think back on the night’s events. Recalling your kind touch and words, the way you’d laughed at his jokes, eyes crinkling in delight. How you’d teased him but not in a malicious sense as people usually did, refusing to leave him behind during your escape and Jacob felt his ears flush and butterflies fill his insides. He’d decided, once this hellscape of a night was over, he was going to ask you out on a date. He could only hope you’d say yes, giddiness filling him as he tried to think of the perfect first date.

[montysstuffs]

💕Welcome to my filthy brain 💕

•I must let it be known that my work and page are 18+.

♡  Haley! | lvl 24 |a horny she/they | ♡

I went on hiatus bc I had a lot going on. But a year later and I’m back to this hellsite.

Genres: fluff, angst, smut. I also enjoy writing dark themes 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

My Conditions

I will write whatever as long as that person/character is not a minor.

I, under no circumstances, will write for watersports, scat, vomit, snuff, necrophilia, wound fucking, extreme gore, specified mental illnesses, suicide, pedophilia, and underage.

Absolutely not accepting any racism, homophobia, transphobia, fat phobia, any of the phobias. I have time, you wanna be big and bad, get off of anon.

ANYWHO

Obviously, I’m gonna have SFW stuff on here, but this blog is literally to dump my thoughts. My inbox is closed, for now. But only for a little while.

Tags will be placed, but I am only human so if I miss any, please let me know!

I am black and plus size so expect to see a lot of that round these parts. However! everyone is welcome to submit, read, and ask anything they would like.

Fandoms I write for

Lowkey a masterlist

They Cloned Tyrone (Current Hyperfixation)

Fontaine

Tyrone

The Quarry (video game) I no longer write for this. I’m sorry.

The boys and their kinks

The boys and their aftercare

Nick furcillo

Anything you can do, I can do better

Mean Nick Request

Breeding Kink

Ryan erzahler

Lost Time

Breeding Kink

Jealousy blurb

Heavenly

Dylan lenivy

Breeding Kink

Jacob custos

Breeding Kink

The Girls And Their Kinks

Abigail blyg

•Apologies

Dark Red

Emma mountebank

Kaitlyn ka

Laura kearney

Devilman Crybaby

The Witcher (Netflix series)

Feral Geralt

Dating Geralt would include

The Voyeurs

will add more later

Celebrities (and their characters)

Henry Cavill

Chris Evans

Justice Smith

Ben Barnes

Adam Driver

Jon Bernthal

Cherry pie HC

Cherry pie oneshot

😙💨🍃 w/ Dbf!Frank

Oscar Isaac

Random Characters

Michael Myers (Halloween)

Luke Nightingale

Coming soon: The Devil’s in the Details

Random thought dump

will be updated

[ruewrote]

𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔.

PAIRING: jacob custos x fem!reader WARNINGS: miscommunications, no use of y/n, jealousy GENRE: angst, fluff SONG INSPIRATION: love lies by khalid & normani WORD COUNT: 761 REQUESTED: yes A/N: this was requested but i think i got a little carried away so sorry if this is not what you meant :')

navigation | ask | the quarry masterlist

Everything was fine between you and jacob…well that’s what you thought.

A couple of months before summer break started he had asked if you wanted to join him as a counsellor and of course you said yes, you wanted to be supportive! And you thought it’d be better than missing him the whole time he was away too.

The drive there was pretty chill and wasn’t too far away from where you lived, thinking of it like a mini road trip, snacks, songs, him. You couldn't ask for anything else, yeah well that was before you actually got there.

After putting your bags in your rooms, you went to meet up with the others. It was nice finally putting the faces to the names, well that was until jacob’s mood soured. He became overly possessive over you, always having his hand on your waist, keeping you close to him.

You could understand why, the playful flirting from Nick wasn’t helping, but he was just kidding and he knew that right? …right?

It didn’t help that Chris kept you doing tasks that separated you, spending so much time away from each other irritated you both since that was one of the reasons you wanted to come here in the first place!

Lingering gazes, brief hugs, only a little amount of time to talk.

It was halfway through the stay when you decided enough was enough, rolling out of the bottom bunk that you were sleeping on to go and talk it out with him.

The sound of heavy breathing and snores were heard throughout the cabin, you slipped on your shoes and a hoodie and slid out of the door. You wrapped the material tighter around you as you crept to the next tiny building over.

Sneaking around to the back window was your safest bet since you remembered how creaky the door had been when you went to meet up with him daily.

You tapped against the glass lightly as you noticed he was still awake too, but were careful enough to not wake any of the others. He gestured that he’d meet you out near the steps, you nod before making your way over and taking a seat.

It didn’t take long for him to come out and sit down beside you.

A couple of minutes go by, nothing but silence was shared between you two, trying to think of how to even start this, because what even was this? Not once in your friendship or relationship had it ever been this quiet, funnily enough not even when you slept. you think that’s what worries you the most.

“Did I do something wrong?” your voice came out almost like a whisper but he heard you.

“W-what no? Of course not! Why would you even think that?” he questions you, sounding hurt by what you said.

“Well what else am i supposed to think?”

“when my boyfriend has been practically avoiding me on a trip that he wanted me to come on?” raising your voice slightly, before lowering it when remembering people were sleeping inside.

“The only time you’d acknowledge me was when we’re around the others and even then you’re not there with me. You act differently, shoulders squared, chest puffed, acting like you have something to prove to them…” you trail off as you look down at your hands, not really wanting to look him in the eye.

“What changed? Seriously, what was it? Because I'd like to not be punished for something that I clearly didn't do!” your eyes stung with tears as you looked up at him, guilt. Pure guilt and regret was what covered his features.

That was what broke him, “I'm so sorry, babe.” 

Tears of his own welled up in his eyes, wrapping an arm around you, pulling you close into his side. “You didn't do anything wrong, I swear.” 

Your crying turned to sniffles now as you listened, “I got all in my head when the guys first met you, got a little too over protective over you… a little more jealous than I'd like to admit, but I should've never taken it out on you.”

“You're the one person that doesn’t deserve to be treated  like this. Ugh, I'm such a dick.”

“...yeah you were for that.” he pulls back from you, but doesn’t let you go. Looking into each others eyes just makes you both burst out laughing, leaning into each other for balance 

“I’m glad you idiots made up but some of us are trying to sleep!” Dylan calls out.

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© ruewrote 2024.