soon [dylan o'brien] [2] ✔️

21.

dylan woke up the morning of brooke's return. her flight was scheduled to come in at 1:47 pm and dylan planned to be there with his friends at 1:30 pm. they all planned it, letting dylan back into their group chat, of course without brooke. they all forgave dylan, even though it didn't count to him. what mattered was brooke's forgiveness, and he hoped she could find it in her heart to do so.

he climbed out of bed at 9 am, making sure he had enough time to get him and his kids ready. they had been staying at dylan's since the day brooke said it was okay, and he was more than grateful. he loved those kids more than he loved anything ever. they were his everything.

he jumped into the shower quickly, making sure he didn't smell like the whiskey he drank every night, after putting the kids to bed, to calm his nerves about seeing brooke again. he kept telling himself it would be fine, but would it be?

he got out of the shower, drying his hair and letting the towel hang loosely around his waist. he pulled out his shaving cream and razor and began to shave his beard away. he would miss it, but he had to look good for brooke.

he finished, rinsing his face with warm water and looking at himself in the mirror. "you got this, dylan. you can get her back." he told himself, running his hand through his damp hair. he walked back into his bedroom, getting his clothes for the day: dark jeans, a white v-neck, and his black converse, not forgetting his mets snap-back.

he walked into his kid's room that they shared, waking them up gently. "emory? payson?" his kids slowly yawned as the opened their eyes, rubbing at them. "you ready to see mama today?" dylan asked, knowing it would get their attention. emory was the first to shoot out of bed, climbing all over dylan as her excitement built up. then came payson, who was still very tired but excited nonetheless.

dylan went to emory's closet first, picking out her outfit, making sure brooke would love it. then, he did the same to with payson, smiling at them while he picked them out. he helped payson into his clothes while emory changed herself, mixing up her shoes on accident. dylan saw this and chuckled to himself, helping her put her shoes on properly after making sure payson was finished. emory smiled up at him when he was finished, completely in awe at her dad. dylan ran a brush through her hair, making sure her small curls had no tangles. he flattened payson's hair down, which seemed nearly impossible with his small cowlick in the middle.

"do you guys want pancakes?" dylan asked them once they were ready. both kids yelled and ran downstairs, letting dylan know that they did in fact, want pancakes. he made his way down the stairs, texting his friends to tell them his small family was ready when they were, even though it was only 10:30 am. he got a single text back from tyler, telling him to relax. that only made dylan more nervous.

he walked into his kitchen and started making pancakes. within minutes, they were done and the smell was lingering throughout his home. the kids smelled it, too, running into the dining room as they both sat down simultaneously. dylan brought out their plates with the pancakes, emory's made a smiley face with syrup poured into the eye and mouth holes, while payson's were simple circles, with syrup on the side, just how he liked it; the faces on his food always freaked him out.

dylan sat on the other side of them with his pancakes, watching his kids eat and talk to each other, feeling so content with life.

after they finished, the kids ran back into the living room to play while dylan cleaned up. he turned on his music as he washed dishes, something he had always done. the first song to come on was the song that was playing when dylan first met brooke: grenade by bruno mars. it seems dumb, he knows, but it's the song that was playing over the radio on set, June 5th, 2011. it's the song that was playing when brooke smiled at him for the first time, and spoke her first words to him. he can remember those words like it was yesterday: "hi. i'm brooke. i think i'm playing your love interest?"