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

𝟷𝟷. 𝚆𝚑𝚘'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜?

Darius had asked BRAD-X to play some music, little did he know it was going to be a deafening death metal song. Everyone is quick to cover their ears, besides Y/N of course, who stands there nodding his head to the song.

"This is pretty sick." He speaks but nobody really hears him over the song.

"BRAD, stop!" Darius shouts over the music and BRAD-X shuts it off.

"Sorry, guys. Guess Kash only has one song loaded on this thing."

"I wish I could've Shazam'd it." Y/N sighs.

"Not to worry," Mae smiles, "Just hearing you say you locked Kash away is music enough to my ears."

The campers begin cheering again, this time with a chant, "We trapped Kash, we trapped Kash!"

"Get back here, Firecracker!" Ben chases after the dino.

The kids eventually split off to do their own things. Y/N follows Yaz and Sammy and they introduce him to their little baby dino, Angel. He pets her and plays with her for a while before wandering off to try and meet Brooklyn and Kenji's dino as well.

When he gets over there, however, he notices the two of them mid-conversation and decides not to interrupt. Instead, he goes to sit with Mae.

"Hey, champ." She smiles at him.

"Hi..." Y/N smiles back but Mae notices his expression is distant.

"What's going on with you, hm?" She nudges him lightly.

"Ah-- nothing." He tries to laugh it off, but Mae gives him a look and he knows he's not getting off the hook that easy.

"Okay, okay," He sighs, "It's just, well... we're going home soon and... I feel like I'm running out of time to... tell someone how I feel." He pushes through the embarrassment and just spits it out.

"Well, you still have some time." Mae reassures him, "And I'm sure it won't be a tough conversation."

"Especially since Ben feels the same way." She stands up and begins walking off.

"What!?" Y/N perks up, "How did you--" But Mae's already gone.

Y/N groans and pulls himself up off the ground, searching for something to do yet again. He finds himself standing cluelessly in the center of it all. Ben and Kenji are talking, he doesn't wanna interrupt that. The girls are also talking, he definitely doesn't wanna interrupt that.

He blanks for a moment, wondering if he should just go sit back down. That is, until Ben calls out to everyone, "Mae and I are going to the med bay to save Firecracker!"

Okay, ominous, but promising.

"Cool! Be careful!" Darius shoots them a thumbs up.

"Can I come!?" Y/N perks up, scanning both Ben and Mae's faces for a reaction.

"Sure." Ben shrugs with a smile.

Mae guides Firecracker with a branch as the four of them enter the airlock. After a moment, she starts explaining the logistics of human-dino bonds.

"Well, I have a special bond with Pierce, but all dinosaur behavior, how and why they act the way they do, it can all be determined based on observable data."

"I don't need 'science' or 'facts' to know what FC does and doesn't like." Ben rolls his eyes.

"FC?" Y/N raises an eyebrow, "Nicknames already? You don't think you're moving a little fast?" He jokes.

They all step into the elevator and Mae sighs, "That's what you need to know anything, Ben, science and facts."

"Oh, yeah?" Ben smirks, "Then how do I know she doesn't like this conversation?"