pairings: assistant!reader x laiys (dylan)
warnings: secret relationship, sneaking around, kissing, sexual tension?, implied intimacy, mild swearing. mostly fluff.
note; trying new theme and kinda changed my writing style lmk what u think! also don’t count on me to be fully back ill try to post twice a week :) !
you had been ron’s assistant for a little over a month, and the tension with dylan had been building since day one.
it wasn’t something either of you had ever actually talked about, and honestly, you weren’t even completely sure when it started. maybe it was the first time you caught him watching you from behind his camera while you were helping ron with something. maybe it was the way he always seemed to end up near you whenever you were at the core house, even when he didn’t really have a reason to be there.
dylan was ron’s cameraman, which meant he was usually somewhere behind the camera, following ron around while everyone else did whatever they were doing. he was quieter than most of the guys, but you had noticed pretty quickly that he wasn’t actually shy.
not around everyone else, at least.
with you, though, things were different.
there were always these little moments that neither of you ever acknowledged.
stolen glances across the room.
accidental brushes when you passed each other in the kitchen.
the way his hand would linger for a second too long whenever he handed you something.
sometimes you’d catch him looking at you, and the second your eyes met, he’d suddenly become very interested in whatever was happening on his camera.
you did the exact same thing.
neither of you ever said anything about it.
you were heading out the front door of the core house, bag over your shoulder, ready to drive home after a long day. you had been running around helping ron with different things since earlier that afternoon, and by the time you were finally leaving, you were exhausted.
the sun had already gone down, and the lights around the basketball court were glowing through the windows. you had one hand on the front door when you heard footsteps behind you.
dylan was jogging down the steps, hoodie half-zipped and hair messy like he had been running his hands through it. he stopped a few feet away from you, looking slightly out of breath.
you raised your eyebrows. “what’s up?”
“uh…” he rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly looking much more nervous than you were used to seeing him. “can i talk to you for a second?”
you nodded, adjusting the strap of your bag on your shoulder.
he glanced back toward the house for a second. you could faintly hear ron and the others talking inside, completely unaware that dylan had followed you out.
“i’ve been wanting to ask you this for weeks.”
your heart immediately started beating a little faster.
“would you…” he paused, almost laughing at himself. “would you wanna go out with me? like, on a date. just us. tomorrow night?”
he gave you a small, awkward laugh. “yeah. i know ron’s our boss and i’m his cameraman and this is probably a bad idea but…”
he looked down for a second before meeting your eyes again.
“i can’t stop thinking about you. so. yeah.”
you could feel your face getting warm, but you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling.
“okay,” you said softly. “yeah. i’d like that.”
the relief on his face was immediate.
his shoulders relaxed, and this soft, genuine smile appeared that you hadn’t really seen from him before.
“cool,” he said. “good. okay.”
you laughed quietly. “you seem surprised.”
“i wasn’t sure you were gonna say yes.”
“i don’t know.” he shrugged. “you’re you.”
you smiled. “that doesn’t explain anything.”
you both laughed, and for a second neither of you moved.
it felt strange after spending so long pretending there wasn’t anything between you.
dylan looked toward the house again.
“i’ll text you the details,” he said. “and… don’t tell ron yet? please?”
“because i don’t want it to be weird at work.”
that made you laugh again.
“okay. i won’t tell him.”
you finally opened the door, but before you could step outside, dylan called your name again.
you drove home that night with a smile you couldn’t really get rid of.
the next day, dylan texted you around noon.
you: you literally asked me out last night.
you stared at the message for a second before another one came through.
dylan: don’t wear anything too nice
dylan: because now i’m nervous
dylan: i know. that’s the problem.
you couldn’t stop smiling at your phone.
the first date was at a quiet little sushi place that wasn’t too far from where you lived. neither of you wanted to go anywhere too crowded, mostly because you both knew how easily someone from the house could randomly show up somewhere.
you were both slightly nervous at first, which was almost funny considering how long you’d already known each other.
you had spent weeks working in the same house, talking whenever you got the chance, but suddenly sitting across from him at an actual table felt completely different.
dylan seemed to feel the same way.
he kept laughing at himself whenever he stumbled over his words, and you caught him looking at you more than once before he quickly focused on his food again.
eventually, though, you both relaxed.
you started talking about everything you normally didn’t get the chance to talk about at the house. random stories from before you met everyone, things you wanted to do, places you wanted to visit.
dylan ended up telling you stories about working with ron that you’d never heard before, and you couldn’t stop laughing at some of them.
“i can’t believe you didn’t tell me that.”
“because it’s embarrassing.”
you laughed. “that’s even worse.”
he shook his head, smiling.
halfway through your meal, he looked across the table at you.
you immediately smiled. “so?”
“you haven’t told ron, right?”
you shook your head. “no. you told me not to.”
he let out a relieved breath, leaning back slightly.
“good. i haven’t either.”
you laughed. “you really think he’d care that much?”
you smiled, picking up your drink.
dylan shook his head. “i know he’d lose his mind if he found out his assistant and his cameraman were dating.”
you both looked at each other.
you smiled into your drink.
“but seriously,” he continued, “i just don’t want to make things awkward for you at work.”
you were surprised by that.
“i thought you would’ve asked him first or something.”
dylan laughed softly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“nah. i’m doing this behind his back.”
you raised your eyebrows. “wow.”
“i like you too much to wait for his permission.”
that made your stomach flutter.
you tried to hide it by looking down at your plate, but dylan noticed anyway.
he laughed, and you couldn’t help smiling too.
by the time the date was over, neither of you really wanted to leave.
you ended up sitting in his car outside your place for almost twenty minutes, talking about everything and nothing, neither of you making a move to actually get out.
eventually, dylan looked over at you.
you laughed. “you keep saying that.”
“i’m trying to figure out how to ask you something.”
and that was basically how it started.
a couple weeks later, you were officially together, but no one knew.
the main guys had absolutely no idea.
you and dylan had gotten surprisingly good at keeping it quiet around the core house. there were too many people around all the time, and the last thing either of you wanted was for ron to find out before you were ready to tell him.
so you kept it between yourselves.
stolen glances across rooms.
quick brushes of hands when no one was looking.
texting each other from opposite sides of the same house.
sometimes you’d be sitting in the living room with everyone while dylan was across the room filming ron, and your phone would suddenly buzz.
dylan: stop looking at me.
you’d look up at him immediately.
he’d already be looking at you.
you’d have to bite back a smile before anyone noticed.
the other cameramen figured it out pretty quickly, though.
gilbert was probably the first one to notice.
you had been standing in the kitchen one afternoon, talking to dylan while everyone else was busy, when gilbert walked in and immediately stopped.
you and dylan both looked at him.
gilbert looked between the two of you.
then he slowly backed out of the kitchen.
dylan just shook his head.
“i’m not the one hiding in kitchens.”
after that, gilbert definitely knew.
jawhn figured it out not long after, mostly because he always caught dylan staring at you while ron was streaming.
drew figured it out because you weren’t exactly subtle around each other when you thought nobody was watching.
rocket somehow figured it out because, according to him, “you two are not good at this.”
instead of exposing you, though, they just started helping cover for you.
sometimes gilbert would conveniently distract ron if dylan needed to pull you aside.
drew had once walked into a hallway, saw the two of you standing suspiciously close together, and immediately turned around.
you had nearly died laughing.
“thank you,” dylan called after him.
“i don’t wanna know,” drew yelled back.
one afternoon you were in the kitchen grabbing something for ron when dylan walked in.
you barely had time to look up before he caught your hand and pulled you toward jason’s camera room.
you were laughing as he pulled the door mostly closed behind you.
“i haven’t seen you all day.”
“you saw me literally two hours ago.”
you opened your mouth to argue, but he was already leaning down to kiss you.
you melted for a second before remembering exactly where you were.
you pulled back slightly.
“ron’s literally upstairs .”
he glanced toward the door.
“then why are you doing this?”
you tried not to smile back.
he laughed quietly before leaning in to steal one more quick kiss.
then he opened the camera room door and walked out like nothing had happened.
you waited a few seconds before following him.
when you stepped back into the kitchen, you saw ron sitting on the kitchen island.
dylan answered from across the room without missing a beat.
“woj had asked her to get something from jasons camera room.”
ron nodded, completely unconcerned.
neither of you said anything.
another time, you were helping set up for a stream when dylan walked past you in the hallway.
you were both alone for maybe two seconds.
his hand brushed against your back as he passed, lingering just long enough to make you look over your shoulder.
he was already walking away.
you narrowed your eyes at him.
he glanced back and smiled.
you mouthed, “seriously?”
he just shrugged before disappearing around the corner.
you had to turn around and pretend to be busy with whatever you were doing because you could feel your face getting warm.
the secret made everything more complicated.
but somehow it also made everything more exciting.
one night, after everyone had finally gone to bed, your phone buzzed.
you stared at the message for a second.
you smiled to yourself before quietly getting up from the theater room and telling drew and rocket that you’d be right back.
you slipped out through the back door and crossed the yard, looking around to make sure nobody was still awake.
the second you stepped inside the guest house, dylan was already waiting for you.
you barely had time to close the door before he pulled you closer, kissing you like he’d been waiting all night.
you laughed softly against his mouth, hands resting against his chest.
“you saw me this morning.”
you shook your head, smiling as he kissed you again.
the night eventually turned quieter, the two of you tucked away in his room with the rest of the house completely unaware.
you stayed close afterward, curled against his chest while his fingers traced lazy patterns along your back.
for once, neither of you had to worry about someone walking into the room or catching you looking at each other for too long.
dylan looked down at you.
“i hate sneaking around.”
you smiled against his chest.
he was quiet for a second.
you laughed quietly. “yeah. it is.”
he leaned down and kissed the top of your head before settling back against the pillows.
outside, the core house was completely quiet.
everybody was asleep or busy, completely unaware that you had slipped out of the house to spend the night with ron’s cameraman.
you knew eventually you would have to tell ron.
you just weren’t sure when.
for now, though, you were perfectly happy staying right where you were, curled up against dylan while his hand rested lazily on your back.
neither of you wanted to move.
but eventually, you knew you would have to slip back inside before anyone woke up.
dylan seemed to realize the same thing.
you groaned immediately. “i don’t want to.”
“then lets just stay here.”
“ron’s gonna fucking kill me.”
you both stayed there for another few minutes anyway, neither one willing to be the first to actually get up.
because as much as you hated sneaking around, there was something about having this little secret between the two of you that made it feel like it belonged completely to you.
and for now, that was enough.
