⍟ Strings {A Camp Cretaceous x Male Reader Story - Ben}

𝟺. 𝚁𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐

Y/N watches Mae carefully as she conducts her experiment, ready to help with whatever she needs. This has been going on for about an hour now. The other campers are playing cards while Mae works, and she just so happened to appoint Y/N as her little helper.

"Uh, Mae!" Kenji calls from the couch, "I need your help."

"Yes?" Mae doesn't take her eyes off her work.

"Does a full house beat four of a kind?" Kenji asks, much to Y/N's annoyance.

"No, stupid." He scoffs.

"Aw, man!" Kenji tosses his cards down on the table.

Darius throws his down next, a sly smirk on his face, "Boom!"

"Don't mean to interrupt all the fun, but if anyone wants to round up some chestnuts from the forest, I make a pretty mean soup." Mae spins around in her chair to face the kids.

"I'll go," Yaz decides after a moment of consideration, "It's getting kinda boring beating these guys."

Y/N glances at Mae, his expression speaking volumes.

"Take Y/N with you, just in case." Mae nudges the boy towards the door and the two teens leave together.

The pair walks into the dense forest, scanning the area for what they need.

"You know, it's surprisingly nice out here." Yaz smiles, looking up at the trees.

"Yeah, nice ambiance when you're not fearing for your life." Y/N smirks.

"Hey, look." Yasmina out some chestnuts and begins plucking them up from where they lay.

Y/N joins her, and they both follow a bit of a trail, picking up nuts as they go.

"So, uhm, Yaz... how are you taking the Ben stuff? I'm always here to talk-- or whatever." Y/N offers as he sticks some chestnuts into his pockets.

"What?" Yaz quirks an eyebrow, "Oh!"

"I didn't-- I don't like Ben. I just didn't want to embarrass him in front of you guys. I know you like him, I'd never-- you know."

"Oh, right. Thanks-- I mean! What!? Ben!? Noooo." Y/N almost chokes when he realizes what she said.

"Yeah, right." Yaz nudges him, "You guys would be cute."

___

Later that day, Y/N sits on the cooler beside Mae's desk, watching intently as she peers through her microscope. Yasmina sits beside him, her cheek pressed against his shoulder. She's fast asleep and has been for the past 10 minutes.

Suddenly, she shoots up with a gasp, knocking Mae's tablet from her lap.

"Hey, are you okay?" Y/N holds her by the shoulders, his eyebrows knitting in worry.

"Huh?" Her eyes finally focus on Y/N's face, "Uh, yeah. I'm good." She shrugs nonchalantly.

"You two should really get some rest too, I can watch for BRADs on my own." Mae insists once again as she retrieves the tablet from the ground.

Y/N shifts his gaze and spots the others fast asleep strewn across the living room.

"Yeah, we've been through a lot." Yaz sighs, "But I'd rather stay up, if that's okay."

"You're the boss." Mae shrugs, "Except for when you're assisting me, then obviously I'm the boss."

"Y/N, hand me that petri dish." Mae motions to the side of her desk and Y/N is quick to hand it to her.

Mae takes the dish and pulls of a piece of the sugar cube inside. She places the crumb into a test tube full of teal water that quickly turns green.

"Oh no. This is bad, this is really, really bad." Mae frowns at the liquid while Y/N and Yaz watch in confusion.