meet me in the woods ☾grayson dolan au

n i n e

[ 09 ]

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His body was cold. He felt a cold rush of wind against the bottoms of his feet and he jolted awake, resting on his elbows as he worried that he was still in the woods. A ruffle of blankets to his right surprised him, but he immediately calmed down once he saw Ryder pop her head over the side of the bed to look down at his place on the floor.

"You're awake, thank god. You scared me half to death."

"What?" Grayson groggily asked in confusion as he watched her climb down to hover above him.

The back of her hand rested on his forehead, feeling he was still a little warmer than normal. She pushed him back onto his back and pulled a blanket out from under her bed. "Sorry you're on the floor."

"Why am I naked?"

"You're not."

"Almost," he sighed referring to his boxers being the only fabric covering his body. "Why?"

Ryder unfolded the blanket, placing it over Grayson's body that was covered in little goosebumps. "You were burning up, you needed to cool down. It worried me."

He pulled the blanket into his body the second it touched his skin, encasing himself in the captured warmth. "But it's better now?"

Ryder nodded and got down on her knees. Her hand wove its way into his messy hair, massaging his scalp in a way that made him close his eyes in pleasure. She smiled softly at the sight and continued. "It's much better."

Grayson hummed, focusing on her fingers in his hair. He couldn't lie when he said this was one of his favorite things. I'm sure anyone would agree.

"Gray?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what happened?" She swallowed, trying to speak softly enough to not trigger him but still to try and push him for an explanation.

"When I passed out?"

She nodded, "yes, that too, but I'm talking about all the hours you were gone."

Grayson's eyes opened just enough so he could stare at the ceiling in thought. "I really don't want to talk about it, maybe tomorrow, but I know when I passed out I was terrified."

"Terrified?"

He knew he said he'd talk about it tomorrow, but the words came out of his mouth before he could think wether or not to speak at all. "I was hurting you. I was hurting you when I wasn't trying to-"