Chapter Text
After what felt like two weeks of running and hiding, the dull ache where his left hand used to be was finally starting to twinge, a sharp pain shooting up his arm from the bare muscle and nerves hitting the cold air as Kaitlyn, bless her heart, did her darnedest to change the bandage. For someone so small, she did not have a delicate touch. You could tell her tiny hands had mostly been reserved for cars and guns her whole life.
Dylan felt like a rubber band ball that someone had run a knife down the side of, releasing built up pressure he hadn't even had time to process yet. The adrenaline had worn off but now he was just painfully aware of how much pain he was in. Forgetting the nub for a minute, he's cold, he has Nick's wolfy transformation goo in his eyes, his feet are killing him and he's had a pebble stuck in his shoe since they were bringing Nick back to the lodge after him and Abi were attacked and it's only now occurred to him that it's pissing him off.
Pressing his lips into a strained, thin line as Kaitlyn didn't even try to hide her disgust at the state of his wrist post-chainsaw. As she peeled the final piece of bandage stuck to the dried blood and tossed it aside, she cleared her throat, eyes darting around to look anywhere but the mangled limb.
"Y'know what? Totally not even that bad." Kaitlyn said, sounding like she was holding back a gag.
Dylan sighed in mock relief "Oh thank god! I was worried for a minute there!" he fanned his face with ol' reliable rightie. "No reason to wrap it up Kait, I think I'll just go swim in the lake to rinse it off." He pretended to move to stand up and Kaitlyn very firmly jabbed her elbow into his thigh, from where she was knelt in front of him. Using his legs to keep her shaking hands steady while she attempted something so completely out of her depth.
Common sense at her disposal, and very basic knowledge of open wounds and infections, she used the sparce contents of the med kit Abi found for them to clean and redress the wound, apologizing at every wince and flinch from Dylan.
"Wow." was all Dylan said, Kaitlyn let out a deep breath, shaking out her hands which felt like they were stiffening up after the intense focusing.
"What?" Kaitlyn gave her work one final look-over before glancing up at him again.
"I'm...So brave."
Kaitlyn just sighed quietly and started packing up everything she had used out of the medkit.
"I guess in situations like these you can suprise yourself..."
Kaitlyn nodded along, choosing not to respond and pulled a sling out of the kit before closing it.
"I'm quite possibly the most heroic man alive."
She wordlessly hitched his left arm up in the sling to stop him from trying to use his non-existent left hand.
"What do you think of this pose for the cover of Time magazine?" He brought his fingers to his chin, firmed his jaw and stared up and off to the side. Kaitlyn just sighed again and shook her head.
Dylan side eyed her from his pose before slumping his shoulder slightly. "You're not even gonna tell me to shut up huh? Well. Gonna have to get used to people putting up with my bad jokes out of pity I guess." he stared down at his empty wrist.
Admittedly, Kaitlyn was finding it hard to be snarky to the one handed guy, though he did actually save her life despite it. Though she knew Dylan well enough to know ninety percent of the stuff out of his mouth is stupid on purpose and he thrives on people rolling their eyes at him or groaning.
"Don't worry, once I've gotten your blood and skin out from under my nails I'll think of a zinger."
Dylan's reply was cut short by the sound of a car rolling down the gravel path outside the lodge. Peering out the window as car doors opened and closed. Ryan, Laura and what looked like a policeman stepped out.
"Guys!? Dylan!? Kaitlyn? Are you guys all ok?!" Ryan was running up to the lodge while he called out. Dylan got up to move the table they used as a barricade, getting the door open right as Ryan was about to lean against it and push it open.
Ryan stumbled in, catching himself on the door handle and Dylan instinctively backed up a little rather than trying to catch him. Who do you think he is? Jacob?
He made quick eye contact with Dylan, snapping his head in every which direction until they were all accounted for and then back to Dylan. Emma and Abi were curled up together on the couch chatting quietly, now both standing for the new arrivals.
"...Is it..over?" Dylan asked with uncertainty, zeroing in on the way Ryan grabbed at the side of his chest as he stood himself up correctly.
"Yeah." He started, swallowing to wet his dry throat. "I....uh..." He broke eye contact and whipped his head over his shoulder at the two figures following his trail up to the lodge. Dylan followed his gaze and confirmed it was totally a policeman. Well. Better Late than never? Dylan won't be ungrateful. Even though he is feeling some dormant, masculine urge to puff out his chest and ask what the hell took him so long.
He'll leave that to Emma. She's a far more demanding presence.
"What the HELL took you so long?" Emma said to the policeman as he entered the lodge, slow scanning the room. Dylan probably would have said hello first but who is he to complain.
The cop didn't immediately respond, when he did it was calm. "Been here the whole time ma'am. Are you all accounted for?"
Abi piped up from where she was behind Emma, gently holding her hand while Emma tried not to yell more. "No! We don't know where Nick and Jacob are!" She looked around at her co-workers with big hopeful eyes. "Nick would be...ok now right?" She locked eyes with Ryan who nodded.
"Yeah. Hypothetically he's just... naked and covered in blood somewhere." Ryan started. "Jacob was ok the last time I saw him. He...was making his way back to you guys." It suddenly dawned on Ryan that Jacob had about an hours head start and wasn't here yet. He turned to look at the policeman as he let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers.
Putting his hands on his hips, the cop addressed the room. "Alright. Back-up is on the way but its best we're all in one place when they arrive so we can... discuss... tonight's events...and make sure we're all on the same page." He looked at each of them pointedly. He didn't have to explain himself. Dylan couldn't imagine how this would look to people who weren't here. It certainly doesn't help that the werewolves turned back into humans when they died so now there are just a bunch of dead people floating around with mortal gun wounds and guns with all of their finger prints all over the them.
Dylan did a half hearted fist pump in place of a clap. "Alright so, search party mode. Lets go find our missing boys." Only to be shot down by the full adult in the room.
"Son, you're one hand short of a complete set. You aren't going anywhere." The cop said in his best dad voice. Probably wasn't intentional, that's just how it sounded to Dylan. "Don't need you passing out when the exhaustion catches up with you."
The cop scanned over each of them, landing on Ryan. "You either. A half-closed stab wound and a potential concussion are enough for you to be sidelined. The rest of you with me."
Laura, who had been impatiently bouncing from foot to foot, piped up. "I'm going to the island to get Max. I'm sure he stayed put after turning back to normal. He's a good little boyscout like that." She was already halfway out the door before she finished.
Emma called out behind her "Cool! Cant wait to meet the guy who almost killed me like three times!"
"Well maybe you shouldn't have been snooping? Damn." Was all the formerly one-eyed girl said before running off towards the island.
The cop - Who introduced himself as Travis- gathered up the girls and headed out into the woods.
And then there were two.
...
Two who totally smooched at the campfire.
Sure it was a game, but he still chose Dylan. Which he was quietly giddy about for ten minutes before it was ruined by werewolves.
Momentarily distracted. His brain circled back to Laura and her beautiful un-scarred face. Then remembered how all of Nicks injuries healed after he was attacked because he was wolfing out. So that means Laura must have gotten infected.
"Dude... You good? You look like you're zoning out." Ryans usual monotone voice hit Dylans ears as he stared at the door that Laura had left through.
Dylan sucked in his lips and released them with a pop. "I'm just now coming to the realisation that if we hadn't dramatically removed my hand in a fit of passion, I could have just wolfed out in the woods with Nick until you guys killed the big bad." Hand on his hip, clicking his tongue like he'd made a poor move in a chess game.
Ryan stared dumbfounded at Dylans 'awh heck I dropped my toast' tone, while talking about his severed hand, before replying. "Ok first of all... it wasn't a fit of passion."
Dylan shifted his weight to his other leg, making an exaggerated thinking face. "Huh, Funny. That's how I remember it."
Ryan bit back a smile despite the morbid topic, teeth sliding into the semi permanent groove on the back of his bottom lip from all the times he had to bite back a smile all summer. "Secondly. You probably would have just killed or mortally wounded one of us when you turned."
He turned to face him now, pointing at his left wrist. "But, I'd still have lefty. And me and Nick could have done some wolf bro bonding."
Ryan resisted the urge to shake his head at the phrase 'wolf bro bonding'. It took every bit of brainpower he had to stay on topic in any given conversation with Dylan. He'll always say something weird or make a random observation that Ryan is absolutely not quick-witted enough to keep up with.
All summer when Ryan would see Dylan, Nick and Kaitlyn together, it was just an endless stream of banter. One of them could say total nonsense and the others would act like it made complete sense, bouncing off eachother naturally.
Ryans never been good at that, especially not with coworkers. Whenever he tried in the past to come up with something clever to say, it was usually the awkward thing that ruined the flow of the conversation and made everyone else sit in silence before one of them changed the subject. So he sticks to just smiling and laughing at others being naturally witty while staying quiet.
He's lucky that somehow he managed to attain a 'brooding and mysterious' reputation rather than a painfully awkward one. Although he's not sure how.
Whenever someone -mostly Dylan- replied to something he said with a joke, he would respond completely sincerely or seriously. Then approximately five seconds later he realised 'oh shit that was a joke'.
Fucking obviously it was a joke.
Dylan didn't actually think Ryan was listening to a podcast about him. He was trying to joke with him. Any of the other counselors would have said something like; "Yeah Dylan I'm up to episode 22 covering your high school experience" and taken the opportunity to roast him. Which is probably exactly what Dylan wanted. But instead Kaitlyn had to jump in and save the flow of the conversation as per usual because Ryan has a habit of taking people at their word.
He's gotten better at it. Slightly. Mostly with lazy flirting that basically just amounts to acknowledging he's being flirted with. He'll work on how to be charming and interesting in conversation some other summer. But for the moment he's just learnt that most of the stuff out of his co workers mouths are satire, sarcasm or deflections.
"You two spent like, all summer together. You didn't bond then?" Ryan let his thoughts slip out. Dylan waved his hand at him dismissively.
"Oh sure we did. And by that I mean I spent two months asking him inane questions about Australia and talking about who we thought was cute."
Ryan tried not to react to obviously to that. He knew Dylan was doing it again. Blatantly flirting with him without a care in the world or seemingly any fear of rejection.
Dylan continued "I just think our Summer Bro Bonding could have used a montage of us frolicking through the forest together with our wolf arms linked, talking about our wolf crushes."
Dylan smiled to himself, like he does when he says a joke in his head to vet it before saying it out loud. The corners of Ryan's lips curled up almost automatically at the sight.
"Also Nick's, admittedly adorable, pining for Abi would have been more bearable with the added drama of an impromptu wolf transformation." He wandered over to the nearest chair by a table and took a seat, lowering himself down more uneasily than intended, his good arm shaking under the strain and Ryan took note, Dylan's voice now background to his thoughts.
There's no way he isn't in serious pain. He must be so exhausted and sad or frustrated. Ryan was trying to think of a way to get him to lie down and let his brain and his body rest for a bit.
"-and if the corny, salacious romance novels I've found on my moms bookshelf are anything to go by, stuff like werewolves and demons are super alluring." He finished with a wink and Ryan was forced to avert his eyes and resist uttering 'smooth' again.
"Can't say I'm into literal monsters." Ryan's classic deadpan tone followed by Dylans, mocking seriousness.
"Are you trying to tell me watching me explode into a seven feet tall goblin dog wouldn't have turned you on? I definitely misread some signals."
Ryan automatically furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what signals he was talking about before quickly acknowledging it was more sarcasm. All he could manage before the silence got too long was a "I'm...sorry?"
Dylan sighed dramatically. "No, no, it's fine. I just have to reassess my whole 'Woo Ryan into falling for me' plan and get rid of all the parts that include me dressing up as bigfoot."
Eyes on Dylan with something between bemused and endeared. He couldn't help himself. He had to ask. "How do you do that?" Ryan said slowly, curiously. Taking Dylans raised eyebrow as a cue to elaborate he sighed and scratched at his neck, looking at the walls around them for an answer.
"You told me that you basically have a 'Summer Camp Persona'. That all your quips and wise-cracking and your... very forward flirting... was just an act you were putting on." Ryan paused to glance at Dylan's face that had retreated back. He couldn't explain it in a better way. The relaxed facade fading into a somewhat tense, hyper-aware expression.
"How do you just... turn off your social awkwardness like that?" He chuckled lightly at the end, if anything just to ease his own awkwardness.
Dylan leaned back in his chair, breathing out and blowing a raspberry simultaneously. "Honestly it's all thanks to my multiple...undiagnosed mental illnesses." He met Ryans eyes with a wry grin. There was a moment of silence before they both let out quiet chuckles, like both of them felt like it wasn't appropriate to laugh fully.
Dylan leaned forward, fiddling with the sling around his shoulder. "Probably added a couple more to my trail-mix of a brain after all of this."
Ryan scoffed lightly "If your brain is trail mix, mine is...uh like... a bag of....dirt...and rocks....and shit..." He was mentally thumping his head against a wall.
"You've painted a beautiful picture." Dylan said softly, elbow on the table, chin in his hand.
"Shut up." Ryan huffed, causing the other counselor to chuckle.
There was a moment of silence where Dylan stared at the table and Ryan looked anywhere but Dylan. Everytime eyes landed on the other, the other wasn't looking, lather, rinse, repeat.
"Being... totally for real here. Exclusive look into the elusive Dylan-Dylan." He began, tapping his fingers on the table. Ryan glanced up with interest clear on his face, though Dylan was making a point of not looking his way.
"If... I... make jokes about it. I... don't have to think about how it makes me feel." he confessed, tone light and breezy.
Ryan didn't at all know how to respond to that, and it seemed like Dylan wasn't looking for a response. More so he just wanted to get it out there.
In fact Ryan wasn't sure what possessed him to say what he said next but the fumbling that followed would haunt his thoughts at three AM for the next year and a half.
"I...wouldn't mind seeing more of Dylan-Dylan." He said slowly, watching with dread filling his soul as Dylans face curled into a mischievous grin.
"How much more are we talking here?"
Ryan actually walked away a few steps before turning back in a fit of anxiousness. "That's not what I meant! I-... ugh." He fully turned away from Dylan, the other counselor giggling behind him. That's not what he meant. But what was he trying to say? It slipped out before he really thought about it.
He couldn't deny that he liked Dylan. If anything that conversation on their way to the PA room just made him realise it. The thing is. The flirty, wise-cracking Dylan was as intimidating to Ryan as it was endearing. He's pretty sure he was holding back feelings because he was worried they were just a completely wrong fit for eachother. The last thing Ryan wanted to do was bore Summer Camp Dylan when he eventually realised there's nothing mysterious and alluring about Ryan and it's just a bad case of having nothing interesting to say most of the time.
But the sweet, science loving Dylan who convinced Chris to let him make dorky morning announcements and tells jokes to make people like him, was someone he could get on board with.
"I just meant...you're... witty, and...and fun and funny... sometimes... most of the time." He admitted, not looking at Dylans small, almost sceptical smile.
"None of that's fake, even if its just 'Summer Camp Dylan'. That's still you. I just... wanna... I don't know..." He paused and rubbed the back of his head, finding the courage the glance back at Dylan's face again. Feeling his heartbeat speed up when he found what he actually wanted to say.
"I wanna... spend time...with the you that you are...when you feel...safe and comfortable..." Ryan's naturally slow speaking paced somehow slowed even further as he tried to vocalise his thoughts as accurately as possible.
Dylan felt like he'd just been wrapped in a warm blanket.
"Oh ...Cool!"
Cool? Are you fucking kidding me? Dylan mentally told himself off.
He quickly righted himself, hyper aware of the lovestruck expression he had been wearing. "I mean. We can... totally make that happen." Dylan wasn't even trying to stop the giddy smile returning to his face. "Pretty sure we have the shortest distance between us. With the exception of Abi and Emma who live an unfair hour and a halfs drive away from eachother." Dylan remembers noting Ryans chosen college is a five hour car ride from his own. He's gone on longer roadtrips for stupider things.
"Though, if Dylan-Dylan is what you want, I can't promise I can turn this off anytime soon. Summer camp Dylan is a feisty entity and he won't be so easily contained." Dylan gestured to himself and Ryan just shook his head, biting his bottom lip, finding interest in the window frame.
"I don't mind. I'd probably miss him anyway... or whatever." Ryan sighed at himself and Dylan resisted the urge to say something mockingly smug, instead just letting the moment settle as it was. He was happy in this little bubble of theirs, pretending nothing was wrong for a bit before the real world catches up with them and they have to try and explain this mess and process everything that's happened.
But the silence inevitably got too long for Dylan and he had to break out one more line.
"Are you sure you're not just telling me what I wanna hear because you feel bad for unceremoniously removing my hand?" Dylan put his chin in his hand once more, feigning a pout.
Ryan fought the instinct to shout back 'You told me to do it', and instead tried a different approach.
"Well yeah I figured the least I could do was... be around to... lend you a hand." Ryan's delivery was as awkward as it felt and Dylan's vacant expression actually made him a little nervous.
After a tense silence, Dylan scoffed. " I can't believe this." He said quietly with genuine annoyance in his voice.
"...What?" Ryan panicked that he had crossed a line. The others always make fun of eachother but Ryan's never sure what's ok to joke about and what isn't with these people.
Dylan let his hand flop onto the table. "You beat me to making a classic 'lend me a hand' joke. This is outrageous." Ryan felt the knot that had been twisting in his stomach release and immediately get replaced with his own brand of mild annoyance.
Dylan flung his arm out to the side in a dramatic shrug. "Well that settles it. You have to go on a date with me now, at least until my pride is healed and I don't know if it ever will." It was Dylan's turn to bite back a grin this time.
Ryan shrugged, a bashful smile forcing it's way onto his face. "I can think of worse things to do I guess..."
It was then when the boys realised there was dim light coming from outside. Dylan turned his head to the window where the morning sun was lighting up the sky before it breached the horizon.
"I think I could sleep for about a year..." Ryan let his shoulders slump, suddenly noticing his own exhaustion. But he didn't want to fall asleep. He was afraid that falling asleep and waking up would be the trigger that took him from this post-win euphoria to being a traumatized wreck, forced to acknowledge that everything was real. He just wanted to stay in this moment of delirious happiness with Dylan and forget that things would have to progress from here.
A hum was all he got in response from Dylan, who he looked at just in time to catch his face tightened in a pained expression, holding his left arm to his chest.
Ryan can't even imagine what he's feeling right now. He wasn't totally lying he did feel guilty, even if Laura said they did the right thing, it didn't feel like the right thing. One thing Ryan knew was that he wanted to be there for Dylan. He wasn't sure if that was just right now or for longer but he'll cross that bridge when they get to it.
Choosing not to comment on it, Ryan walked up to him and held out a hand to the other counselor. Dylan stared at the hand, up at Ryan, then back to the hand before taking it, far more bashfully than Ryan was expecting.
He helped him to his feet and walked him over to one of the couches lining the room. Ryan wished he had painkillers or something to give him but he and Kaitlyn already ransacked the place looking for any and came up empty. They would have to wait until help came.
The sat down and Ryan relaxed back into the couch and put an arm out for Dylan to come closer. "Close your eyes for a bit."
Dylan surprisingly, wordlessly leaned into his side stifly at first, but quickly unraveling once his body received the first bit of comfort he'd gotten in a very long night. Ryan was careful of where he put his arm that was around Dylan, half out of nervousness and half from not wanting to touch his left arm incase he was touchy about it.
Ryan's arm eventually found its place gently on Dylans side as he almost immediately fell asleep, face pressed into Ryans shoulder and neck. Ryan let his head tilt against his, feeling his exhaustion grow, but never actually falling asleep himself. Even so, listening to Dylan breathing deeply in his sleep was calming enough.
The others arriving back a short while later wasn't even enough to wake Dylan. They found them together. Jacob had stumbled across Nick. Absolutely no idea that Nick had been a werewolf ten minutes prior.
They were all considerate enough to keep their teasing and congratulations to a minimal volume. With the exception of Jacob who did not know up until now that Dylan was down a hand. Kaitlyn slapping a hand over his mouth with lightning speed before he started freaking out.
Nick, who was wrapped up in a blanket, cautiously wandered towards them, stopping halfway. Looking from Dylan to Ryan and back again.
"I....I didn't do that did I?" The poor guy looked positively traumatized. Looks like he doesn't remember anything while the infection was taking hold but one of the girls no doubt filled him in. Ryan shook his head. "No uh....I did." He pressed his lips together and Nick furrowed his eyebrows. He went onto explain as Nick took a seat on the other side of his friend and pushed a bit of hair off Dylan's forehead before settling back into the couch with a sigh.
Ryan's eyes fell on Jacob who was looking less traumatized, more...guilty. His eyes were darting around to everyone like he was expecting them to yell at him or something. Ryan decided to put a pin in that for later. One thing at a time.
Travis, looked angrier than he did before he left. Or maybe it was closer to sadness. Or a mix of both. He went downstairs for a long time. Kaitlyn told him Caleb was down there. Ryan took her word for it. He didn't wanna see for himself.
Laura and Max showed up not long after. Max is a sweet guy. He immediately wandered over to Emma and introduced himself, no doubt Laura filled him in on his werewolf antics on the walk back. He's pretty certain him and Dylan will get along like a house on fire when he wakes up. Laura made eyes at Ryan, raising her eyebrows at him with a smug smile. "'Neither' huh?" Her eyes pointedly dropped to Dylan. Ryan just raised a middle finger and she winked at him. Cool girl. Super cool girl.
After some time, all of the counselors taking a few moments to sit in relative silence, whispered conversations occuring occasionally. Travis stormed back upstairs, slowing his pace once he was within view of all of them. He seemed like a dude who was struggling to keep it together. His face softened somewhat once he met the exhausted expressions of the kids around him but his voice was still firm.
"Alright. Listen up." He said, right as the sound of police sirens approached.
He let out a long sigh, closing his eyes. Only opening them to lock eyes with Laura. Ryan found himself securing his hold on sleeping Dylan as the cop spoke. "This is absolutely going to suck ass."