Showing - Dune Prophecy (AU)
Staring - Albert Atreides X Reader
Rating - 12
Reading Time - 14 min 55 sec (1937)
Both Albert and Y/n had never been…. the biggest fan of other people. It couldn't be helped, they were both nerdy, home bodies who both much preferred to sit in blanket forts and trade Pokémon cards than go outside and be mocked by the rest of the kids their age. That didn't change as they became teenagers, both basically wanting nothing to do with the mainstream popular crowd, much to their families' dismay.
Y/n's mother had peaked in high school as the cheer captain and prom queen her senior year, unable to let it go and often trying to enforce the 'cool new beauty trends' on her bookish daughter, who wanted nothing to do with them.
Albert was in a similar boat; his father had been a football player, and his grandfather, and his uncles, and even his two older brothers. But Albert… got a nosebleed thinking about heights, so… needless to say, he didn't fit too well.
Being next-door neighbours, Y/n and Albert found comfort and understanding in each other
However… Neither set of parents was happy that their kid had planned to spend their senior year spring break… At home playing video games. So Albert and Y/n were given a choice: go out into the local national park for a week camping in nature… Or they'd be sent to an 'All ages friendship camp' all summer.
So needless to say, Albert and Y/n were backpacking the trail towards the campsite, both huffing, puffing, sweating and overall struggling to carry their week of supplies. The two of them looked pretty out of place, wearing heavy clothing despite knowing the weather would be warm. They were lugging a week's worth of supplies through thick brush and uneven ground, sweat dripping off their noses and breath coming out in short, choppy bursts. They made a pretty good pair of wilted flowers as they looked absolutely miserable walking down the trail.
"Why do they hate us…" Y/n groaned rhetorically,
Albert lets out another heave, trying his best to adjust the heavy backpack strap on his shoulder. "Because we're not 'well-rounded' or 'social', apparently." He wheezes out sarcastically, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Your social… You have… DND friends." She groaned, grabbing her inhaler for a moment,
He glances over at her. "Those guys are just as nerdy as us; they don't count."
"Well, how are we supposed to make friends that aren't nerds?" She complained,
"Beats me." He huffed, "I don't want to make friends that aren't nerds."
"Same." She nodded, walking like a drunk turtle down the path, not even bothering to hold her inhaler anymore, just holding it between her teeth, puffing it like a vape.
"You're going to run out at the rate you're puffing on that-"
She waved her hand dismissively at him, and finally, they reached the campsite.
The campsite was a fenced-off area in the park, with an electric fence and large pointed timbers. The site was huge, and very unpopulated, perhaps three tents the whole mile square of campsite. With trees, river creeks, log cabin bathrooms and a small shop selling mostly candy and canned food.
"Oh my god… Is it a mirage or is that actually civilisation?" He stares in awe at the sight, his eyes practically glittering in excitement. "Oh, thank god, we can put this god-awful backpack down. My shoulders feel like they've been torn off."
The second they passed the gates, however, they were stopped by a very smiley and overly friendly park ranger. "Well! How do you do, kiddos! Not often do we get visitors your age." He laughed,
Albert grimaces and glances over at Y/n, "Hey." He said dryly as he was about to keep walking, hoping to get them both away from the hyper park ranger.
"Let me guess, you two heard about some spring break fun?" He chuckled,
"Yes?" Y/n answered.
"Well, well, don't let me stop ya. But of course got to ask you to follow some rules, don't want your spring break getting too cray cray," he laughed,
Y/n physically cringed,
Albert rolled his eyes, "Uh huh… And what rules are those?"
"Well, nobody beyond the gates after ten pm. Clean up the place as you found it, bathrooms included. Keep the fun high and the noise levels low. No loud music, no unattended fires, no nudity. That sound mighty fine to you two?"
"Not a problem." Y/n nodded,
"Can we go now?" He asked, a little impatient.
"Yes, go on, get yourself square. I'll put you up on…. Site 9B, right next to the creek, makes a beautiful spot for pictures and nice little campfire smooching." The guy laughed, giving Albert a playful elbow. "And I'm sure you wanna get on to that, with your nice girlfriend here."
Albert practically chokes and goes beet red, stuttering to even say anything.
Y/n, meanwhile, is covering her mouth with her hand to desperately try and hold in her snorting laughter at Albert's embarrassment, failing pretty miserably. "Thanks!" She laughed, grabbing Albert's arm so they could get away.
Albert immediately spun on his heels, letting Y/n lead him away. "Oh God, oh god, oh god…." He mumbled under his breath like he was having a crisis, mortified by what had just happened.
Y/n just laughed,
Albert continues to whisper his mantra of 'oh god' as she leads him. His face a permanently red as he tried to process what that guy had said. "Oh my god, he thinks we're together."
"Seems like it." She nodded once they arrived at their site, she tossed down her backpack and bags, looking at the beautiful site beside a fresh water creek, already starting to look for the instructions for their tent.
Albert dumped his backpack as well, immediately flopping over on the grass with a groan. "This is a nightmare. An actual nightmare." He buried his face in his hands, hiding his still red cheeks.
"What are you panicking about? Not the first time someone's assumed we're dating." She chuckled as she gathered her tools,
He groaned, his voice muffled by his hands. "Oh God, don't remind me."
"Albert. Think positive, I'd he thinks we're a couple of teenagers on a spring break romantic getaway. He's going to be less likely to bother us." She explained as she began to set the tent up,
He lifted his head to peek one eye over at her, watching her attempt to set the tent up. "Less likely to bother us?"
"He's not going to come around and check on us, late at night or the early morning. Ask what we're doing or where we're going. Not if he risks seeing… Teenagers… Doing it."
Again, he choked on air, going bright red at her implications. "He won't see us… 'Do in'….."
"No, of course he won't. But if he thinks he might see such a thing, he won't come bothering us."
"God… The fact that anyone might think we're a couple is horrible…." He groaned.
"ohh, am I so hideous and horrible, Albert?" She laughed, kneeling down to playfully tickle him,
The second she starts tickling him, he lets out a yelp and pushes away, trying his best to scramble away from her. "Y/n! Stop! Stop!" He chokes out between laughs.
"Come on then, help me with the tent." She told him
He rolled over onto his stomach, panting softly from the tickling as he tried to regain his breath. "O-Okay, okay… Just don't tickle me again…" He mumbled, getting to his feet and dusting off his shorts.
"No tickles, just come on and help me, or you can sleep with the bears."
He sticks his tongue out at her and rolls his eyes, but moves over to help her set the tent up regardless. "Yeah, yeah… Whatever." He mumbled.
After a full hour, the tent was set up close to the creek with a beautiful view over the mountains. It wasn't a very big tent, but it was good enough, a large main foyer of red canvas with a zippable sleeping compartment on each side. One for Y/n and one for Albert. Slowly, they put their air beds up and began getting as organised as they needed for the week they'd be here. Both of them were exhausted by the end of setting everything up. The sun was just beginning to set behind the mountains.
Albert flopped down on his air mattress, immediately sprawling out in a starfish position. "I'm never moving again." He groaned, throwing an arm over his face.
"Yeah? How you gonna eat?" Y/n laughed, coming to kneel by his airbed.
He lifted his arm a crack to peek one eye up at her. "I'm sure my survival instincts will kick in when I start to starve." He mumbled sarcastically.
"Well, kindly don't eat me." She laughed,
A small cheeky smirk spread across his lips, and he lifted his arm up higher off his face. "Can't make any promises." He joked, flashing his pointed canines jokingly.
She rolled her eyes and flipped him the bird as she pulled out some gummy worms from her bag.
"Oh, dear! She flipped me off! The horror!" He put on the most dramatic, sarcastic voice possible.
"You should have auditioned for the school play. You'd have been a way better Dorothy."
"Oh, please. I totally should have. I could have done ten times better than her."
"Wouldn't have been hard." She chuckled as she lay on her own airbed, the two not having zipped their sleeping compartments so they could see each other clearly across the tent. "Ughh, my feet are killing me…" She whined, looking at her socks.
"Oh my God, saaaaame." He groaned, a small pop coming from his back. "Why did our dumb parents think making us do this was a good idea…."
"Because they are so out of touch, it's ridiculous." Y/n sighed.
He lets out a snort and rolls his eyes. "God, I feel for anyone we end up with." He mumbled, clearly dreading the idea of either of their parents meeting his or her significant other.
"Ehh,h cross that bridge when I get to it." She shrugged,
"Oh, please, I'm sure someone will sweep you right off your feet." He teased, propping himself up on his elbows.
"Can they do it now? My feet really hurt." She joked. "No, I'm not… Going to worry about it. Maybe in a few years, when people's brains are actually developed."
He lets out a small chuckle, amused by her joke. "God, I wish I had that mentality. I still remember people asking me, 'which girl I had my eye on' in middle school."
"And? Who was it?" She chuckled
He rolls his eyes at her question. "No one. That's the thing, people just assume I have to have a girl I secretly have a crush on." He said, giving Y/n a very pointed look. "Like, nope, I'm just happy to hang with the same nerds for life."
She nodded and smiled, biting the head of a gummy worm.
"Hey, Y/n?" He asked her, his tone much softer than his mocking from moments before.
"mhm?" She asked as she chewed,
"You're… You're not planning on… Getting a boyfriend soon or something, right?"
"Nope. Why?"
He shifted uncomfortably on his air mattress at her question, "Just… Curiosity, I guess." He mumbled, avoiding looking at her.
"No, teenage boys are dumb. They smell like sweat and jizz most of the time. A group of ten shares a Braincell." She laughed. "Present company not included."
He lets out a bark of a laugh, turning his head to smile over at her, "Oh-oh god, that is scarily true." He chuckled, shaking his head in amusement
"I want someone… Mature, refined, inelegant." She explained. "I want a nice bottle of wine, and… These boys are grapes. They're not done yet."
He lets out another laugh, "Oh yeah, most of the guys in class are like that. They still have a lot of 'pressing' to go."
