What if Dylan became conscious in the middle of the game? No reason or logic as to how or why, he just does! I’ve seen people make where Dylan is semi conscious, but I wanted to one an AU where he is practically a human in a monster’s body. Help me add to this people.
I’ve been working on making my own redesign of the werewolves from the quarry since I’m not a huge fan of the tall bald men we got in the actual game, though I didn’t want my design to look like someone’s fursona either. Sooo here’s my final spin on them with Dylan as an example.
I wanted them to look more wolf-like but still have that sense of inner torture & having more sickly features to make the infection feel even more like an illness rather than a curse. Also, a neat little detail I noticed was that in canon the models in the game have very crowded fangs in their mouths. So I decided to take it a step further and have some teeth growing OUTSIDE their mouths through the skin for a more grotesque & painful look.
Werewolf with a second set of human teeth showing reminding you that there’s still a person there O.O
SO! I got caught in a discussion... Since I’m a sucker for body-horror and The Quarry atm I got this idea... What if the transformation acts like a biological armor? The human is still trapped inside the wolf and can be “saved” if you cut the wolf open. (Yes Hemlock Grove inspiration) It also relates to old myths about werewolves where you could tell that a person was a werewolf by cutting them and see if there was fur underneath their skin.
Here’s my werewolf Dylan because he’s a good boy he just ate jam *pats head*
I would just like to point out that Dylan can be seen in the crane as he's fighting the infection (before Kaitlyn reaches him) and he appears to be trying to keep himself down/seated. I say this due to the emphasis on and small bursts of movement from the lower half of his body and legs. It also looks like he's attempting to reach for a button in the crane before Kaitlyn gets to him. I can't be certain as I unfortunately don't know how cranes work nor can I clearly see how the one in the scrapyard is designed, but I think he was trying to close the door via button since he couldn't reach the handle (assuming this model has a door).
Either the wolf really did want to hurt Kaitlyn or Dylan was so fucking scared of something happening but regardless he said "not on my fucking watch" and did his damnest, using the last bit of his strength to tell Kaitlyn to run.
[Space Song plays in distance]
I’m a sucker for monster/creature design and while I kinda dig Max’s and Silas’ designs I am MAD that we never saw Dylan’s werewolf form. So I drew one. Also I want them to have some sort of fur and be a bit more ripped, have some mass as the current design is 90% elbows and knees. I mean Nick with wet hair made him 20 times scarier why not work with something like that? Why not mix in human hair with wolfish fur and make it into some sort of horrendous amalgamation? I might make a gorier version of this. Maybe. I envision a version with parts of their human skin still on them and the wolf breaking thru.
The original transformation is dope tho. Usually it’s “oh no I’ll become a wolf I’m growing a beard honey ruuun”. The Quarry just goes from 20 - 100. BOOM now there’s a monster and it’ll eat your face. It’s something new when it comes to werewolf transformations. (Unless we count Twilight and they are canonically shapeshifters so I don’t).
Maybe it was because what remained of the jeans and tattered shirt clinging onto the wolf's large frame made it click in his mind. But as Laura finally came running in, shotgun in hand, aimed and ready to fire a round of silver into the werewolf's back, Ryan knew it was nothing more than a gut feeling that had him reaching out a hand and yelling at Laura to, “Wait!"
It hadn’t even looked at Laura since she had returned. It was still just looking at him, now silent apart from its heavy breaths. Ryan locked eyes with the werewolf once more, finding the creature returning his searching gaze, and he didn’t know how but he knew, he just knew—
“...Dylan?”
* * *
Turns out, not even as a werewolf could Dylan ever be mean to Ryan.
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* * *
So far tonight, Ryan had: Watched Dylan nearly get his hand ripped off by a vicious beast, fought off hunters, seen the dead body of a close friend, fallen into a mine, been stabbed, been bitten, been forced to shoot a man he once looked up to, and now survived a car crash caused by a werewolf jumping on the roof.
He’d say it can’t possibly get any worse, but with his luck so far tonight, he wouldn’t even risk thinking it.
The three of them — him, Laura, and Travis — move slowly along the outskirts of the woods, keeping the road winding through Hackett’s Quarry always within their sights. It wasn’t that they wanted to move slowly — the quicker this is over and done with, the better — but rushing around in the woods making all sorts of noise didn’t seem like a great idea. They needed to be careful, and they were, scanning their surroundings meticulously for the slightest of movements.
Somewhere within the forest, a lone owl gives a soft hoot from atop its perch. Ryan would usually find such a sound to be nice, atmospheric even. But with everything that's going on he can't help but physically jump at the sound, wide eyes searching for the source. He could see Laura fighting back a smirk out of the corner of his eye at his sudden startle, and Ryan doesn’t try in the slightest to fight back the glare he sent her in return.
“Don’t,” He grumbles, and all that does is turn the smirk into a muffled snort of laughter — and all that does is strengthen his pissed-off glare tenfold.
“Don’t what?” Travis grumbles from ahead of them, not even bothering to look at the two behind him as he addresses them.
“Nothing,” Ryan answers at the same time Laura says, “Laugh at him jumping at an owl.”
“I didn’t—” Ryan tries to argue, but he hasn’t got much of a defense given that he did jump at an owl. “I’m a little on edge, okay?”
“Yeah, I don’t blame you in the slightest…” Laura says, keeping her voice quiet. The teasing smile on her face had softened as she held out the shotgun to Ryan, who frowned at the weapon like it had personally offended him.
“...What?” He asked.
“Take it,” Laura suggests, waggling the gun at him. “You seemed a lot more comfortable earlier when you were in possession of it. Granted, I’ve known you for all of like, two hours, but I get the feeling you’re the kind of guy who… prefers to be in control?”
Ryan’s frown deepens at the accusation. “What makes you think that?”
“...Probably the fact that you were the one acting in charge back at the pool house?” Laura replied. “And the whole ‘you’re not the boss of me’ thing?”
“...Yeah, okay. Fair.” Ryan reaches out, snagging the shotgun from Laura and proving her point. “But you better not be handing this over to me so that I’m the one who has to shoot Silas if we find him—”
“When we find him,” Travis interjects firmly. Ryan didn’t even realize he was still listening to their conversation. “I’m not letting him get away this time… Not again…”
“Yeah, I’m sure you haven’t been saying that for the past six years…”
Travis comes to a sudden stop at the comment, both Ryan and Laura nearly colliding into the back of him. He slowly turns around to face them, looking like a man close to his breaking point as he stares Laura down. “I really do not have the patience for those kinds of comments, okay? Not now.”
“Alright, Jesus… Was just a joke to lighten the mood.”
“Lighten… the mood?” Travis repeats, huffing in disbelief. “Jesus Christ, is it -- are all teenagers like this? Lighten the mood? You realize what’s happening, right? Near enough my whole family are dead. My ma, pa, both my brothers, my niece? All gone.”
“Yeah, I realize that. And me and Max have been trapped in a fucking jail cell for two months, wondering if you were going to leave us there to rot for the rest of our fucking lives,” Laura shot back. “So forgive me if I try to keep things light amidst all the shitty trauma this is going to bring, okay?”
Ryan glanced anxiously between the two, shotgun still held firmly in hand. “He… has a point, though.”
Laura turns her affronted look to Ryan. “Whose side are you on?”
“No ones,” Ryan answers, backing away from Laura’s burning glare. “But we’re about to go hunt down an actual child and kill him, and I can’t say I’m in the mood for jokes either.”
“Thank you,” Travis directs to Ryan, which only seems to annoy Laura even further.
“Whatever,” Laura grumbles. “Pretty sure you’re not in the mood for jokes ever. I’m starting to wonder if you’re capable of laughing. Or smiling, when I think about it.”
“I laugh. And smile,” Ryan answers, strangely offended by the… insult? He didn’t know what that was supposed to be. “Dylan makes me laugh all the time.”
Laura raises an eyebrow at the claim. “Well, if I see Dylan again before the night is over, I’d like to shake his hand for achieving the impossible.”
“Alright, enough,” Travis snaps. “We’ve got a job to do, remember?”
“Kinda hard to forget,” Laura says dryly. Travis can only roll his eyes, turning his back to the two as he begins to walk forward again. That is until he hears Laura say, “Especially when it feels like we’re doing the wrong thing here…”
Travis whips back around so fast that Ryan has to resist the urge to raise the shotgun, fully expecting the cop to reach for his gun. “Fucking excuse me?”
“You’re telling me there isn’t at least a small part of you that disagrees with all this?” Laura asks, not looking phased by Travis’s wrath in the slightest. “It’s not the kids' fault all this happened. I just… Don’t you think there’s something else we can do—”
“You can’t be serious,” Ryan says, feeling that familiar spark of anger appear in his chest. “I literally said that to you about Chris, but you were insistent we had to kill him—”
“I thought Chris was the original!” Laura defended herself. “I found out about Silas same time as you! And I was kind of on a timer at that point. I’m just… I’m tired of all this death. Maybe we can do something to prevent this one. Something like—”
“Like what? Like lock him up in a cage the rest of his life? Keep him nice and drugged and docile? Because that doesn’t seem like much of a life to me. And Kaylee—” Travis’s voice cut off, blinking heavily as he fought to get his voice under control. “She saw that. She saw the miserable life that poor boy was subject to, and she set out to change it. Now, I wish nothing more than to go back in time and stop her kind heart from doing what she did, but I can’t. What I can do is save my nephew — save the only family I got left. It’s a goddamn miracle that Silas hasn’t bit anyone else these past six years — and trust me, I’ve spent those six years looking for anything that could be a better way than this. But there isn’t. This is all we’ve got.”
Laura stared right back at Travis, two intense gazes locked onto one another. Travis looked like he was just waiting for some other argument to be thrown in his face, entire body tense like he was prepared for a fight. He was probably feeling grateful that Laura no longer had the shotgun in hand…
Laura’s the first to look away, though her gaze is no less serious as she turns her attention over to Ryan. “You can’t tell me you’re not feeling conflicted about all this.”
“Of course I am,” Ryan says like his answer should have been obvious. “This — all of this — sucks. But we’re in too deep now. I’ve… I’ve already had to kill Chris. And yeah, now you, me, and Max aren’t cursed anymore. But it’s not just about us, is it? I’ve got no idea who bit Nick or… or, fuck, Dylan. He’s probably already turned by now, and if it wasn’t Chris or Kaylee that bit him back in that radio hut, then… then he’s still cursed. We could still save Caleb. We could still save Nick and Dylan. And we could prevent this from happening to countless others that would come across Silas if we turned back now.
“So, yeah. Obviously, I’d really rather not kill a kid who’s had a real shitty life from what I can figure out. But… we don’t have any other choices, Laura. The night’s nearly over, which means the full moon is nearly over, and…" Ryan looks over to Travis. "I’m assuming he turns back to his normal self outside the full moon?”
“I have no clue,” Travis says with a tired shrug of his shoulders. “Poem doesn’t mention anything about the original wolf’s abilities being separate from the others. And given the reports I’ve read of a ‘feral albino child’, I’m going to assume he does.”
“Okay, so… obviously, this is going to suck. But the more we stand around here and argue, the less time we have to find Silas. Given that shooting him in his ‘beast’ form is gonna be hard enough…”
“Right…” Laura mumbles dejectedly. “Having to shoot him in his human form would suck even more…”
“Exactly,” Ryan agrees. “So can we please just… stop arguing?”
“I’d be more than happy to oblige,” says Travis, gesturing with a flick of his head for them to continue walking. “We might have injured Silas with the car, but with his healing abilities it won’t be long before he’s up and fit as a fiddle.”
“Given how fast Laura healed before she even turned? I imagine he already is,” Ryan said. “I’m actually kinda surprised he hasn’t found us first with all the arguing—”
The timing couldn’t have been any worse.
Maybe if Ryan hadn’t been talking, they would have heard it. Except, they did hear it. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was it was only for a few seconds, only long enough to register the sound of paws thundering towards them, twigs and dead, dry leaves being crushed under the beast's speedy gait. Long enough to hear it, but not long enough to actually do anything about it.
Ryan doesn’t even see the werewolf. Not at first. One second he’s looking at Laura and Travis, the next the beast has slammed into him with considerable force. The shotgun goes flying out of his hands, landing somewhere within the brush of the forest. His entire view gets shifted, thrown down onto his back. Pain explodes in his ribs from where the werewolf had hit him, both the initial impact and the fall to the floor knocking the wind out of him.
“Holy Shit—” Laura exclaims at the same time Travis yells to her, “Go! Find the shotgun!” Laura does as she’s asked, running in the direction the shotgun had flown off towards. Meanwhile, Travis scrambles for the pistol in his holster, quickly pulling it out and taking aim.
Not that Ryan sees any of this, of course. Kind of hard to when there’s a werewolf sitting on top of him, his view taken up by the beast's face hovering just above his own. Ryan gets a good look at its piercing yellow eyes as they stare right back at him, dirty gray skin slick with blood — whether that was of its own or someone elses he didn’t know. But the skin was dark, definitely not white. So… if this wasn’t Silas, then…
Who was about to maul him to death?
The werewolf’s mouth opens, revealing two rows of elongated, sharp teeth. It snarls at him, a long and low growl that Ryan could feel rumbling through his body. It moves closer, long and lanky arms either side of his head, hot gross breath washing over his face, and Ryan closes his eyes, trying to get away from–
A loud gunshot pierces through the air. Ryan’s eyes pop back open, glancing up to see the werewolf had reared back, face twisted in both pain and fury. Both their heads whipped over to the source of the sound, seeing Travis standing with pistol in hand, determination set on his face. The werewolf directed its snarl towards Travis now, which Travis responded to by firing another round into the creature. The round rips through the creature's chest, and it lets out a mix of a growl and a yelp of pain at the hit. But the bullets were not silver. It would hurt, but not for long. Travis stared the beast down, index finger pulling at the trigger of his pistol once again… But instead of a gunshot, there’s only the ‘click’ of an empty chamber.
“Shit!” Travis curses, keeping frantic eyes on the werewolf as he hurriedly searches for another magazine he didn’t have. Ryan’s eyes flicker over to Laura, to what was likely all of their last hope now, but he already knew it was too late. Even if she had hold of the shotgun right now, there wasn’t enough time for her to get a shot out before it’s killed him. Maybe she could save Travis, and maybe herself.
But not him.
Ryan tried to take advantage of the werewolf's distraction and attempt to wiggle free, but his movements only serve to bring the beast's attention back to him. He freezes under the werewolf's starved gaze, its terrifying growl returning full force. Ryan clenches his eyes closed, knowing there was nothing he could do now but wait for the agonizing pain this beast would surely bring; claws slicing through his stomach; teeth sinking into his throat and ripping out his jugular, the hot breath washing over him soon to replaced with a flood of his own warm, wet blood.
Then… the growls stop. Not a complete stop, but more like… like it slowly tapers off. There are only the werewolf's strangled sounding pants above him, and Ryan opens his eyes to try and figure out… well, why it's not killing him. But the moment he opens his eyes, its growl returns, and as Ryan stared directly into the wolf's eyes, he could just about see in the dim light of the setting moon the way its dark pupils constricted and dilated over and over again, like someone was flashing a light on and off in its eyes.
The growls increased in both volume and pitch as the werewolf reared onto its back legs, placing both of its hands… paws…? Whatever they were, onto its head. It shook its head side to side, its growl increasing impossibly more in volume until it had crescendoed into a howl. It seemed like… like it was in pain. Like it was fighting something. Something… in itself.
“What in the…” Travis muttered, lowering his gun in his shock. He could only stare gobsmacked as the beast held its own head, now still as it looked down at Ryan. Ryan looked right back into those piercing yellow eyes, finding… not hunger. Not uncontrollable anger. But… sorrow. Deep, encompassing sorrow.
He wasn’t sure how he knew. Maybe it was because what remained of the jeans and tattered shirt clinging onto the wolf's large frame made it click in his mind. But as Laura finally came running in, shotgun in hand, aimed and ready to fire a round of silver into the werewolf's back, Ryan knew it was nothing more than a gut feeling that had him reaching out a hand and yelling at Laura to, “Wait!”
It must have been the strangeness of the command that actually got Laura to stop in her tracks, giving Ryan an actual double-take for stopping her from trying to save his life. Ryan kept one hand held out towards Laura, returning his attention to the werewolf still on top of him. It hadn’t even looked at Laura since she had returned. It was still just looking at him, now silent apart from its heavy breaths. Ryan locked eyes with the werewolf once more, finding the creature returning his searching gaze, and he didn’t know how but he knew, he just knew—
“...Dylan?”
The werewolf whimpers. It actually whimpers at him, head tucked low and mouth now closed, only appearing somewhat less threatening without its canines out on display. “Hey… Hey man, it’s me. It’s Ryan.” Ryan speaks softly, kind of like… how he’d speak to a dog, actually. The werewolf — Dylan — whimpers again at his voice. It slowly brings a hand down, clawed hand outstretched. But Ryan does not flinch, not even as it ever so gently touches a claw to his face. It was… it was more of a caress than anything.
“It’s okay.” Ryan was sure he was going crazy, because even if this was Dylan, he was still trying to reassure and… tame, he guessed, an actual werewolf sat on top of him. Taking one giant risk that could easily be his undoing, Ryan reaches up his hand, curling it gently around the werewolf's arm next to his face. “It’s okay, Dylan. I’m not gonna hurt you. And you’re not gonna hurt me, okay? Let’s just—”
Dylan pulls his arm away out of Ryan’s grip, and that seems to confirm that it was indeed the giant risk that will be his undoing. But then, to Ryan’s horror, Dylan’s running a claw along his own wrist, breaking open the skin and letting his blood flow. He holds his arm over Ryan’s face, letting his blood trickle out onto Ryan, turning his face away to stop most of it from going straight in his mouth. Dylan huffs softly, apparently deciding the coverage was good enough after a few quick sniffs of the air.
Ryan blinked rapidly up at Dylan, both in his shock and to stop the blood dripping down his face from getting into his eyes. Something rumbled out of his chest, not quite a growl, but Ryan couldn’t shake the feeling that Dylan was trying to communicate with him somehow, in this form he was trapped in. “Okay… We’re okay, right? You’re not—”
Travis suddenly surges forward, sinking the needle of the syringe into the back of the werewolf Dylan. Just like that, the peace is broken. A snarl rips out of Dylan, whipping around as he takes a swipe at Travis. But this wasn’t Travis’s first rodeo, having already leaped out of the way of the beast's swing the moment he had injected him. Dylan tries to take another swing, but it’s already too late for that now. The drugs pumping through his system slow him down, and the next swipe of his claws are sluggish and weak. He sways in place for a moment, the continuous growl he had been making since being injected quietening with every passing second. Then… he slumps over, crashing onto the ground next to Ryan.
Ryan scrambles up onto his knees next to Dylan, who had yet to be dragged fully into unconsciousness. Bleary eyes gaze up at him, breaths now long and slow as the drugs do their work. But through the cloudy haze in his eyes, Ryan could see the terror underneath fighting to shine through — a terror that did not at all belong to the beast. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay, Dylan,” Ryan soothes him — or at least tries to. “I… We’re gonna save you, alright? We’re gonna get you back to normal. I promise you, Dylan.”
Ryan had no idea if Dylan could even understand him in this form, but he was going to say all of this anyway. Even in the slimmest of chances he could hear it, Ryan had to say something, something that would help lessen the pure panic he saw in those golden eyes. “I’m not gonna leave you like this. No way in hell, you hear me? I will get you back.”
It’s not long after that Ryan sees the awareness leave Dylan’s eyes, head slumping back against the hard ground as his eyelids shut. The drugs had done their job; Dylan was out cold. Ryan sat stock still next to him, listening hard for the gentle sounds of his breathing and the subtle rise and fall of his chest. Out cold. Not dead. Just… Asleep.
“Come on. We need to get a move on.” Travis is the first to shake out of the stupor, though eyes still wide as he looked down at Ryan and Dylan.
“...What?” Ryan turned his head over his shoulder to ask, still caught up in a daze. “I… I can’t just leave him here, alone. I can’t… I can’t leave him.”
“Yes, you can. And you will,” Travis asserted, carefully placing the used syringe back into his pocket. “We have a job to do.”
“But…” Ryan glances back down at Dylan, an uncomfortable tight band of worry clenching around his chest. “He… He can’t protect himself like this. What if another one comes along—”
“They won’t hurt him,” Laura jumps in, tone significantly more sympathetic than Travis’s. A sad smile pulled at her lips as she looked at Ryan, perhaps seeing him in a different light than she had before. Certainly seeing some things in a different light than she had before.
“No, they won’t,” Travis agrees, apparently deciding Laura’s way was better than his abrasive one. “Look son, he’ll be fine either way. If we find and kill Silas, then great; your boy here will be cured, along with every other werewolf around here, so it’s not like they’ll be any others to ‘come along’. If we don’t find and kill Silas — which we will, but this is just for argument's sake — then he remains a werewolf and, if another werewolf comes along, it won’t matter. Werewolves don’t harm their own.”
“Oh,” says Ryan. “Right, the uh… the blood thing, you mentioned it—”
“Exactly,” says Travis, whilst still remaining somewhat kind, not doing much to hide his growing impatience. “But you know who won’t be fine if we don’t get a move on? Us. There might be enough tranq flowing through his veins right now to take down a whole damn herd of bears, but that’ll burn through his system faster than you’d like. Trust me. You stay here, all that’s gonna happen is he’s gonna wake up, and as touching as… whatever the hell that display was, I wouldn’t bet my life on it that it’ll happen again. And I can’t imagine that, uh…” Travis gestures with a weak wave of his hand towards Dylan, waiting for Ryan to fill in the blanks.
“...Dylan.”
“Right, I wouldn’t imagine that ‘Dylan’ here would be feeling too great if he woke up cured of his werewolf infection with his teeth buried somewhere in your ribcage, now would he?”
“Alright—” Ryan holds a hand up to stop Travis from talking, face scrunched up at the image his words had procured. He shakily gets up to his feet, wincing as he holds a hand to his sore ribs. They probably weren’t faring too well after being stabbed and smacked into by a werewolf. “Alright, I get your point… I just…”
“You’re worried. I get it,” Travis cuts him off. “But the longer we stand around here talking, the more likely that worst-case scenario plays out. So let’s get going, shall we?”
Ryan shares a look with Laura, shotgun now back in her hands. The pull to her lips tells Ryan she understands his concern, but the shrug of her shoulders tells him that she fully agrees with Travis here. Ryan can only sigh, casting Dylan one last nervous frown before turning back to them.
“Okay… Let’s end this.”
* * *
Bile rises in Ryan’s throat at the sound of the shotgun going off, forcing himself to look away from the grizzly sight. It was what had to be done… Or at least, that’s what he was going to tell himself. It’s all he could do. He was just thankful it didn’t end up being him to pull the trigger…
He had already had to do that too many times tonight… He didn’t want to add another to the list.
“Please, let’s just… let’s just go before w- we have to see him like that in human form,” Ryan all but begs.
“It’s too late for that.”
Ryan doesn’t know why he looks over after Laura’s comment, but he does. And it was a hundred times worse than he could have imagined. He was… He was just a kid. He knows this, and yet seeing his little body sprawled out in the nest he had made for himself, skinny and neglected and now with a fucking shell of silver pumped into his body, it—
It was too much.
“Fuck!” Ryan spits, turning around on the spot to force his gaze away. He shuts his eyes, shaking his head side to side to try and clear the image from his mind. He couldn’t think about it. He couldn’t think about what they had just done. No, he… He had to think of why they had done it. The good that will come out of this shitty situation. The lives that have been saved, both present and future. Those now released of a terrible curse—
Ryan opens his eyes, the wet shine of guilt being replaced with determination.
“Dylan. Holy Shit, Dylan—” He spins back around to a startled Laura and Travis, not expecting the sudden outburst.
“Wait, what about…?” Laura awkwardly gestures with a nod of her head towards Silas’s body.
“I’ll… take care of it,” Travis said. “This is my family’s mess, and I said I’d help clear it up. Every last bit… I’ll come back later, but first things first, my priority is getting all you kids the hell out of here. So yeah, we should probably go find your friend — uh, Dylan — because those drugs are probably worn off by now, and he’ll be waking up feeling pretty confused and, well…”
“Traumatized?” Laura guessed, getting a shrug of — let’s face it — agreement at the assessment.
But Ryan didn’t respond much to the comment, already pushing past them and back in the direction of where they had left Dylan. Travis and Laura quickly followed, the former grabbing hold of Ryan’s shoulder and pulling him back. Ryan opened his mouth to argue, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort, letting the cop take the lead.
“’I’m kinda closer to Dylan,’ He severely understated,” Laura said as they walked, letting the teasing tone soak into every word. Ryan side-eyed her, already not liking where this was going. ‘Who do you like more?’ I asked, to which he replied ‘I don’t know, maybe neither.’ You know, like a liar.”
“Shut up…” Ryan grumbled, hurrying his pace in an attempt to get away from this conversation. “I didn’t know, okay.”
“Oh, bull—” Laura was not having any of that. “Either you lied which, given how much you like to hide away as soon as anyone tries to make a crack into that little introvert shell of yours, seems more likely. Or, you really didn’t know at the time, and that would be so sad that…” Laura trailed off, the truth smacking her in the face at the sight of Ryan so wound up, practically able to hear his teeth grinding down to dust. “Oh, Ryan… You really have only just figured it out, haven’t you?”
“I said I’m not in the mood for jokes. Not about this—”
“No, no — I’m being serious here, Ryan,” Laura insisted, any pretenses of joking around about this chucked out of the window at the oh-so-rare vulnerability that had begun to leak through the cracks. “Have you… Have you seriously only just realized?”
“No. Maybe. I…” Ryan didn’t know why he was even considering telling Laura all of this but… after tonight? It’s not too much of a surprise that it all comes spilling out of him. “Look, I… I’m not great with people, obviously. Half the time I barely know what I’m thinking, let alone others. So… I thought it would be best if I tried to keep to myself as much as possible; enjoy the summer my own way. And yeah, all my co-counselors were nice and I got along with them, so long as…”
“So long as you could escape every now and then?” Laura guessed.
“Yeah… But Dylan, he… he’s the kind of guy who just wants everyone to be his friend, y’know? So when I first met him, he seemed… too much. The constant jokes, and the wise-cracking comments… He just wanted to make everyone around him laugh. It took me a little bit longer than it should have that ‘everyone’ included me, too.”
“... And by ‘bit longer’, you mean…?”
“...End of the summer?”
“Ryan—”
“Yeah, I know,” Ryan muttered. “But… he was constant with it. I didn’t know how he kept it up, just always in high spirits, even when he had to get up insanely early to set up his broadcasting systems and get out the morning announcements. But he did it every day, always with a smile in his voice. Thing is though… that’s all I really knew of Dylan. And yeah, I… I liked the parts of him I did know. But when you spend a whole summer with a guy that does nothing but joke around all day, when he does start flirting with you out of nowhere on the last day…”
“...You weren’t sure if he meant it. If he liked the parts of you he knew,” Laura guessed — by which Ryan means, was right on the money.
“All he really knew of me was that I was the camps sailing instructor who got on well with Chr- with our camp leader, and tended to skulk off to be alone… Not really much to go off there… Oh, and that I’m ‘broody, mysterious and alluring.'”
“Uh…”
”His words, not mine,” Ryan said with a hint of a smirk.
“So, if you heard him say that, then…”
“Because I still don’t know for sure how serious he’s being. Even that was said in a joking manner,” Ryan tried to explain. “Even now, I’m… I’m not completely sure.”
“Okay, so… wasn’t exactly expecting this kind of conversation with you, but… Has he said or done anything else that might suggest he likes you?”
“Uh… He asked for my number?”
The look Laura shot him spoke louder than words. “He… Asked for your number…”
“Twice.”
“Twice?!”
“I didn’t know if he was—”
“Joking, yeah, I get the idea,” Laura said, shaking her head at Ryan. “Next you’re gonna tell me Dylan kissed you and you’re still not sure…” Laura laughed at her own comment — at first — until she noticed Ryan’s deafening silence. She had to give him a double-take, nearly tripping over her own feet as her mind came to a grinding halt. “Ryan…? Please don’t tell me—”
“It was Truth or Dare, alright? We were playing Truth or Dare, and I was dared to kiss either Dylan or Kaitlyn. I chose Dylan; it’s not like he had a choice in the matter.”
“So, what, you’re saying there was no option to back out if it made anyone uncomfortable?”
“Well - no, there was; everyone had to consent first—”
“And Dylan didn’t back out?”
“No—”
“So surely that means he consented to the kiss?”
“I guess, but—”
“And how did he react?”
“I…” Ryan huffed, looking out into the depths of the woods as his face slowly began to flush at the memory beside the fire pit. “He… he sat back down and was… smiling? And he kind of… giggled, I guess. But that could easily have been from embarrassment and, y’know… alcohol. I mean, some of the others were cheering and whistling, so he—”
“Jesus Christ, this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Travis cut into the conversation from ahead, startling them both. He had come to a complete stop, turning around to face the two of them. “I know you probably don’t want to hear advice from a fifty-six-year-old cop, but I’m gonna give it to you anyway.” Travis pointed a finger directly at Ryan’s blood-splattered face. “You’re an idiot—”
“Jesus, Travis. I was gonna find a nicer way to break that to him…” Laura admonished him.
“I’m not finished.” Travis briefly pointed his finger towards Laura before returning it to Ryan. “You’re an idiot — if you think that boy doesn’t like you. You were there when you were getting attacked by him in his werewolf form, right? Now, what I saw there… I've never seen before. Ever. Not in my six years — that’s seventy-two full moons — of witnessing werewolf transformations. They are brutal. Ruthless. Killing and devouring without discrimination; without a care of who they’re sinking their teeth into. And yet, what I saw… He did what I thought was impossible. I saw that boy look into your eyes, and he fought back against the beast. He stopped himself from hurting you. So yeah, I’d say the kids probably got a thing for you…”
Travis turned back around, marching on ahead and leaving Ryan in a stunned silence whilst Laura tried valiantly to hide her snorted laughter in her arm, losing the fight at the sight of Ryan’s shell-shocked face. She gave Ryan a reassuring pat on the back, breaking him out of his stupor and encouraging him to continue moving.
“Never knew you had such a soft spot for love, Travis…” Laura teased.
Travis snorts. “You think that’s what that was?” He retorted over his shoulder. “I was just trying to shut you both up before I hurled…”
* * *
The sun had finally made its appearance, signaling that this hellish night was well and truly over. Most other mornings, Ryan would be appreciating it for the comforting warmth it brought after the chill of the night. But right now, he was most thankful for the fact he could properly see where he was going.
“There—” said Travis, coming to a stop and pointing to something up ahead. Ryan’s heart leaped up into his throat, knowing there was only one thing Travis would be pointing out to them. “Right where we left him.”
At first, Ryan was rooted to the spot. It was Dylan… He was him again, fully human and… not quite as clothed as he was last time he saw him; jeans and shirt reduced to flimsy pieces of cloth just about hanging in there. The drugs were only just starting to wear off judging by the way Dylan was fumbling his way up onto his hands and knees, confusion radiating off the poor guy as he assessed his own half-naked condition.
Then, Ryan was running, feet moving before his brain had even caught up with itself. Dylan’s head snapped up at the sound of his rapidly approaching footsteps, still sitting on his knees on the leaf-covered ground. Past the understandable bewilderment Dylan must have been feeling after waking up in the middle of the words, his eyes practically lit up at the sight of Ryan, relief replacing the drugs pumping through his body.
“Dylan—” Ryan just about gets out as he slides down onto his knees in front of Dylan. His body still seemed to be in charge of the decision-making, flowing straight from the slide to pulling Dylan into an embrace, burying his head into Dylan’s shoulder. He released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding at the feeling of Dylan returning his impromptu hug, the other boy's grip reassuringly firm against his back. “Are you… are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I think so... Really should have just cut off my hand like I asked, man…” Dylan manages to complain, and Ryan croaks out a laugh he didn’t know he had in him after tonight. He pulls away, though keeps his grip tight on Dylan’s shoulders, scanning him up and down for any injuries that might not have healed in time before he turned back and… mostly, to reassure himself that Dylan was still right here, real and alive in front of him.
“Shit, Ryan, you’re… you’re covered in blood,” Dylan realized, eyes wide with panic. “Are you hurt?”
“No, no I’m fine. It’s, uh… it’s your blood, actually.”
Dylan just blinked at him. “It’s… My…?” Dylan groaned, bringing a hand up to his head with a wince. “What the hell happened? Why do I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck?”
“That’d be the morning after effects of being a werewolf,” Travis interjects, he and Laura stood a good few feet away from the two. “And… the tranquilizer wearing off..”
“...What?”
“What he means by that is he’s apologizing for drugging you up,” Laura corrects on Travis’ behalf, getting a less than impressed side-eye from the cop in response.
“I… I turned…” Dylan said quietly, a fresh wave of panic setting in at the thought. “Oh no… Oh God, I… I was with Kaitlyn when it happened… Shit, did I… Did I hurt anyone?”
“I…” Of course Ryan wanted to reassure Dylan here, but… the truth was, he didn’t know. He hadn’t been there. He had no idea what could have happened between Dylan turning, and their ‘reunion’ not long ago.
“Given what I saw earlier? I doubt it,” said Travis, only deepening Dylan’s bewilderment. “Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself…”
“Seen… what?” Dylan asked, eyes darting between Travis and Ryan.
“You don’t remember anything?” Ryan asked.
Dylan shook his head. “No. I remember being in the scrap yard with Kaitlyn, then… then there was a lot of pain, and… I woke up here.”
“Well, you… kinda went against everything we know about werewolves and stopped yourself from mauling Ryan,” Laura told Dylan. “And… us too, now that I think about it…”
Naturally, there was only one thing Dylan picked out from that, the closest thing to guilty puppy eyes Ryan’s seen from Dylan appearing as he asks, “Did… Did I attack you?”
Ryan reaches his hands up, taking Dylan by surprise as he gently holds the sides of his face, forcing Dylan’s attention onto him — not that he needed to. “We’re okay, Dylan. I’m okay. And that’s all thanks to you.”
“I still don’t know how you did it…” Travis said, something akin to respect, or perhaps even awe in his voice as he addresses Dylan. “I’ve watched plenty of werewolf transformations, of many different people… And they’re almost always the same. There’s nothing, nothing that will snap them out of their blood lust. Not until morning. Not until they’re themselves again. And yet...” Travis huffed in disbelief. “You had him on the ground. You were right on top of him, and I… I thought your friend here was as good as gone.”
“Fuck…” Dylan swore softly, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry, Ryan… I didn’t—”
“Dude, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Ryan cut Dylan’s apology off, almost laughing at how unnecessary it was. “You didn’t hurt me. You fought back against the curse, even when… I don’t know, it seemed like it was hurting you or something. There was even enough you in there that you cut yourself and bled on me to cover my scent, I mean…” Ryan huffed a laugh of disbelief. “You’re a goddamn genius, Dylan. Even as a werewolf. You’re… you’re amazing.”
Dylan still managed to duck his head despite Ryan’s hold on his face, trying his best to hide the flush of pink to his face and sheepish smile at the compliments that often go unsaid. Then, strangely, Dylan starts to laugh quietly to himself, shoulders shaking with each hushed chuckle. Ryan somehow managed to perfect a mixture of a fond smile with a confused-slash-worried frown, able to hear the affection in his own voice as he asks, “What? What is it?”
“Ah, nothing, just…” Dylan tries to dismiss his own thoughts with a wave of his hand. “It’s just that… What you said about me being a werewolf and attacking you…”
“...Yeah?”
“Well… When I pictured being on top of you, that wasn’t exactly how I was imagining it.”
Ryan can’t help it. He laughs this bark of a laugh that takes all four of them by surprise, Laura in particular staring at Ryan like the act of him laughing had broken the laws of physics or something. Even Dylan looked a little taken aback by Ryan’s repressed snorts, though that wasn’t to say he was sporting his own goofy smile. And just the endearing fact that something as inconsequential as his laughter was enough to bring out the brightest of smiles from Dylan was perhaps why he pulled Dylan’s face towards him to taste the smile for himself. The usual worrisome voices in the back of his head seemed to dissipate at the soft touch of Dylan’s lips. He didn’t care that they were in the middle of the woods. He didn’t care that Dylan was covered in blood. He didn’t care that Travis and Laura were a few feet away, watching this all unfold. He didn’t care that soon the police would be called and they’ll have to undergo heavy questions and dodge accusations. He didn’t care the likelihood was that he and Dylan would be going their separate ways after all this; different schools, different paths of life. For once in his life, he thought… He’d figure it out as it goes. Focus on the now. And right now, right in this moment, he wanted to kiss Dylan.
And he got what he wanted.
Dylan’s fingers were curled into the top of his shirt, fingertips lightly pressing against the skin of his chest through the thin material. They were both — as you could imagine — too preoccupied to notice Travis’ exasperated sounding, “Oh, Jesus…” as he turned away from the sight, meandering towards the road to give the two their privacy. Nor did they see Laura’s knowing smile, glad to see the two of them figure things out. Except… perhaps also a little nervousness making the smile waiver, hoping that when she gets back to the island that her reunion with Max has as much of a happy ending as theirs did.
Ryan pulled away as the need for air grew too much, resting his head on Dylan’s as they both caught their breath. His hands — still on Dylan’s face — were soon covered by Dylan’s larger ones, their breaths slowing to a steady pace, chests moving in sync as their breaths matched. Ryan closes his eyes, savoring this moment of peace that was a long time coming; the warmth of Dylan’s skin bleeding into his own adding to the warmth in his chest that had been steadily growing with each minute he spent in Dylan’s company.
“You have no fucking idea how glad I am that you’re okay…” Ryan whispered to Dylan, eyes still firmly shut.
Dylan managed a small smile, thumb lightly brushing against the back of Ryan’s hand. “I think I have some idea…”
“I thought we were gonna have to…” Ryan choked on the words he didn’t want to say. “Never thought I’d say it, but I’m glad a cop has a good supply of sedatives.”
“Yeah, that’s… concerning, when you think about it.”
Ryan opened his eyes, immediately finding himself overwhelmed by the adoration shining in Dylan’s eyes. It… wasn’t a sight he was used to. But it was something he would get used to. Something he’ll come to accept. Those little voices in the back of his head reminded him that ‘he’ll have to actually SEE Dylan again after tonight for that to happen.’ This time, he doesn’t push the voices away, nor listen to their worries. Because of course he was going to see Dylan again. What a ridiculous notion that he wouldn’t. So what if that meant potentially traveling across the entire country, to another state far from his own, either driving countless hours or getting on a stuffy plane with uncomfortable seats? It didn’t matter. Because it was worth it.
God, was Dylan worth it.
“I’m so glad I met you, man,” Ryan’s confession came easy, hoping Dylan would know just how much he meant it.
“I’m glad I didn’t eat you,” Dylan couldn’t help but joke, but the teasing smile quickly turned somewhat serious — as serious as Dylan could get, anyway. “And… I’m glad I met you, too. And I’m glad you agreed to the party, despite… all of us nearly dying. I’m glad you picked ‘dare’ at the fire. I’m glad you picked me.” Dylan’s face quickly shifted, brow pinched in thought. “Damn, I should really go thank Emma for giving you that dare…”
Ryan shook his head, unable to fend off the smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “You okay to stand?”
“Oh, uh - yeah, yeah I think so—” Dylan answered, looking up to Ryan as he got up to his feet and held out a hand to him. Dylan took the offered help, leaning his weight on Ryan as he struggled to stand, still a little wobbly from the tranquilizers. He finally managed to straighten himself up, hand still clamped around Ryan’s and pinned between their chests, the two stood closer than they realized they’d be.
“I’m, uh… I’m glad you kissed me again, too,” Dylan added, his grip on Ryan’s hand tightening.
Ryan returned the squeeze of his hand, eyes impossibly soft as they met Dylan’s. “Me too.”
“...Be even more glad if you kissed me again—” Dylan could barely finish his sentence before Ryan had closed the already minuscule gap between them. Dylan let out a small squeak of surprise against Ryan’s lips, before letting himself sink into them, relishing in each and every one of these he’d get from Ryan.
“You better give me your damn number after this…” Dylan mumbled against Ryan’s lips, smiling at Ryan’s responding chuckle.
“Only if you give me yours.”
Dylan grinned. “You got yourself one very enthusiastic deal.”
“Hey—” Laura’s voice made them jump apart, both turning to face her as she seemingly appeared out of nowhere at their sides. The two of them stared blankly as she held a hand out to Dylan, and Laura could almost physically see the cogs turning in both their heads. Eventually, Dylan reached his hand out, to which Laura grabbed hold and gave it a shake.
“Uh, I appreciate an ‘out of the blue’ handshake as much as the next guy, but…”
“Just making good on something I said earlier,” Laura said with a sly smile, shooting Ryan a knowing wink before turning away and heading back the way she came.
“...What was that?” Dylan asked, head swiveling between Ryan and Laura’s retreating form.
“She… mentioned she wanted to shake your hand for ‘achieving the impossible’,” Ryan said, bending his fingers to place bunny ears around Laura’s previous words.
“Oh,” Dylan blanched. “And that is…?”
“That you make me smile and laugh.”
“Oh, I do, do I?” Dylan teased. “Nice for someone to appreciate my hard work. Man, I had to do so much to get those smiles out of you the entire summer. There’s only so long you can act like an idiot for before the method acting turns into just… being an idiot.”
Ryan rolled his eyes, but only further proved Dylan’s point with his smile which, naturally, Dylan pointed out — literally, pointing a finger at Ryan’s smile. “Ah-ha! Got another one!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ryan lightly smacked Dylan’s hand away. “Kinda seems like you enjoy being an ‘idiot’, though. Which you aren’t.”
“I like being your idiot.”
“Dude, that’s like… the cheesiest thing you could have said to me.”
“Worked though,” Dylan noted with a satisfied grin.
Ryan scoffed with a roll of his eyes, turning away from Dylan to hide the smile that said it very much did work. “C’mon, we should probably, uh… get going.”
“Hey—” Dylan quickly jumped over to Ryan’s side, matching his pace as they made their way towards where Travis and Laura were waiting. “Just so you know, even if it is hard work making you smile, I’m more than up for the challenge. Y’know, like every good scientist is.
“Uh-huh,” Ryan hummed, partly giving Dylan what he was fishing for with a half-smile, focusing on the path ahead as they walked.
“And with results like that?” Dylan was not looking where they were going, placing all his attention on Ryan instead. “I’d say the hard work is more than worth it—”
Ryan grabbed hold of Dylan’s arm, trying to pull him out of the path of the tree stump he was about to go sprawling over. “Fuck, shit—” Dylan stumbled at the pull, lanky legs making quite the show as he half tripped—half leaped over the stump. Ryan had to hand it to Dylan: he was able to recover and continue walking by his side like nothing had even happened. Really, the only evidence there was of that whole thing was Ryan’s muffled laughter echoing between the trees.
Dylan cleared his throat, eyes now focused forward. “See? Got you to laugh again. Completely planned. Didn’t at all nearly fall on my face.”
Ryan didn’t respond with words. As they walked, side by side, hands lightly brushing against one another, he reached out and hooked Dylan’s pinky finger. That was all it took for Dylan to pull the rest of his hand towards him, lacing their hands together. Ryan gave Dylan a quick side glance, the other boys face softly illuminated by the rising sun behind them, lighting up the abashed yet happy smile on his face.
Huh… You know, he didn’t get why Dylan was so intent on making him smile. But now, given the butterflies waging war in his stomach, heart skipping, kind of hard to breathe feeling he got looking at Dylan’s smile?
