Chapter Text
Yaz is honest to god going to kill Kenji.
They’re running through the forest, and her ankle still hurts like hell, (Sammy told her she should rest, but you can’t really rest when you’re running for your life) and they should be back at the cavern. But no , Kenji had to come screaming about how he found a dead dinosaur they can roast and eat. (Which like, ew Kenji. They may be trapped on an island with no way out, but she’s not about to eat a dinosaur.) This alerted a nearby Deinonychus, and now they’re running for their life.
So yeah, if this Deinonychus doesn’t get him first, she’s totally going to kill Kenji.
“Up here!” Brooklyn is pointing to a tree that has low hanging branches. “We can climb it.”
“No!” Darius shouts. “Deinonychus’ can climb trees with their claws.”
Said dinosaur is catching up to them, and fast. They are so going to die.
“Okay I have an idea.” Darius says, turning around to face the dinosaur. “We need to get to that tree and climb it.”
“I thought you said Dein-whatever can climb trees.” Kenji says, and he has a point, even though he’s the one that got them into this mess.
“I did say that.” Darius acknowledges, and the dinosaur is approaching them, watching them carefully. “When I say go, run straight at the tree and climb it.”
“But what about Yaz?” Sammy asks, and her heart swells at the way Sammy says her name.
“I can do this.” She says, and puts her full weight on both of her legs to prove her point. It hurts, a lot, but it doesn’t matter right now.
“Okay,” Darius says quietly. “Ready, set, go!”
And they’re sprinting towards the tree, and her ankle is on fire, she’s seeing spots, and the Deinonychus is on their heels. They’re climbing the tree, and the pain is almost unbearable. She’s definitely going to murder Kenji.
“Okay Deinonychus’ can’t fly, so if we draw it up here, and jump to the next tree we should be fine.” Darius turns to jump to the tree next to it.
“Come on guys. We can make it.” Brooklyn is the next to jump, lands by Darius, holds onto him a little longer than normal. (She knows she’s not the only one who notices, she can see the smirk on Kenji’s face)
Kenji jumps next, and next it’s Sammy, who almost slips, and then it’s her turn.
The deinonychus is right behind her, and every step she takes is painful, she can hear them screaming at her to jump. She looks at Sammy, who seems terrified, and she’s not about to die right now.
She jumps.
She lands.
She falls straight into Sammy’s arms.
(It’s the only place she wants to be in.)
The deinonychus looks at them, studying them, before giving up and climbing down.
“Haha take that Dein-whatever!” Kenji cheers.
“Come on guys,” Brooklyn says, already climbing down. “Let’s go home.”
Yaz isn’t sure she’d call this place home, but then she turns to look at Sammy smiling softly at her, and what was she thinking about again?
She doesn’t remember, but really, when Sammy smiles at her like that, she forgets everything else.
(You would too, if she smiled at you like that)
They get back to the cavern untouched. Kenji is still animated after their run-in with the dinosaur of the day. “That was awesome! I mean, did you see how close that was? Man, if we ever get out of here, we’re going to be celebrities.”
Sammy tenses up next to Yaz. “We are getting out of here right?”
“Of course we are,” Darius says, glaring at Kenji, who raises his arms in surrender. “People are coming back for us. We just have to hold out and survive until they come.”
“That means no screaming about a dead dinosaur you find, got it Kenji?” Brooklyn interjects.
Kenji blanches. “I mean, yeah. I guess.”
They’re all silent for a little bit, until Yaz speaks up. “I know at the monorail I said I didn’t consider us friends and all, but like I’ve never really had friends. But you guys are the closest things to friends I’ve ever had.”
Sammy grins. “I knew you’d come around Yaz.” And suddenly she’s being hugged. Her brain is short circuiting, because Sammy’s hugging her, and she smells like jade and pineapple (which is a weird, but oddly satisfying combination), and Sammy’s hugging her .
She ignores Kenji’s smirk, and Brooklyn’s thumbs up. Like Brooklyn and Darius don’t sneak off in the middle of the night when they think everyone else is asleep, and Kenji didn’t sleep talk that one time about how much he likes Ben.
Later that night, when everyone else asleep, even Darius and Brooklyn, she rolls on her side to face Sammy.
There’s so much she wants to say like I’m kind of scared by how strongly I care for you and My heart leaps whenever you hold my hand or hug me and You make me feel stupidly happy, and I like that . Instead she just whispers. “You’re like, my favorite person here.”
She can see Sammy’s smile in the darkness. “You're my favorite person too Yaz.”
The words make her insides get all jumbly. If she was braver, maybe she’d lean over and kiss Sammy, or tell her that she really, really likes her. Instead, she whispers goodnight, and lets the sleep wash over her.
(And if she dreams of Sammy, and lets her mind wander about her, she really can’t be blamed for that, can she?)