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“Ben, are you sure—”
“Yes Darius, for the hundredth time, I know how to row a boat. We did get away from the Mosasaurus on our own just a few months ago.”
Darius almost pointed out how it had been Yaz that had done most of the rowing, but decided not to rile the older boy up any further. It was his own idea to come all the way out here, after all. The least he could do is be as accommodating as possible to poor Ben, who had been dragged all the way along with him. It wasn’t like he forced Ben to go with him or anything—he doubted anyone could make Ben do anything he didn’t want to now, hardened as he had been by the ordeal on Isla Nublar—it was just…well, nobody else had wanted to come with him, and he had been perfectly ready to venture out on his own when Ben had done the… the thing again.
One arm around Darius’ shoulder. The other forming a fist that rested on his own heart. Fierce blue eyes shining with promises of exploded gondolas and drool-covered berry patches.
“I’m in.”
So really, Darius could hardly be blamed for both of them being out here in the open in a jungle full of dinosaurs, now could he?
***
It had been several days since their little Camp Fam gained three new members. With Kash effectively detained and Firecracker, Angel and Rebel finally getting used to outdoor air at last, there was little to do aside from waiting for the next transport plane to take them all home. Which had certainly been a strange notion for sure—to think that they could all now relax and just let themselves… be.
So of course, they had all gone restless in less than twenty four hours.
Yaz had been the first to crack. Finally having enough time to wind down and address her trauma, it hadn’t taken the former track star long to completely let loose of the floodgates she’d bottled up for months. It had not been pretty (nor ended with a single dry eye in the room) but ultimately necessary. Ben had compared it to pulling out a poisonous thorn—it hurt, but now the healing could begin. He only meant it as an observation spoken candidly, but something about it tugged at Darius’ heart. That night he ended up replaying it over and over in his head as he lay in one of the fancy bedrooms in Kash’s captured compound.
Darius was the second to get stir-crazy the very next day.
Ben supposed he should count his lucky stars that the dino nerd had managed to keep his urge in check for as long as he had, while being surrounded on all sides by dinosaur biomes of all kinds imaginable and a paleontologist who actually seemed to know what she was doing. Mae had only mentioned it once, ONCE, that the Spinosaurus was doing well after her relocation to the river biome, and that was it. Darius’ eyes lit up like one of Ben’s patented explosions, and really he only had himself to blame for his predicament right now.
***
Which turned out to be rowing another kayak (honestly, did ALL of the other methods of water transportation go extinct while they had been on Nublar or something?!!) down the river biome and trying to keep Darius from toppling them both every time the younger boy squealed in excitement over a new dinosaur. Oh well, he supposed there were far worse places to be.
Not a whole lot of better places though.
Huh.
“So… Darius,” he said, desperate to fill the silence lest his own thundering heart attract Darius’ attention and every predator in the vicinity. “Are you really sure this is where that dinosaur belongs? The Spina—”
“Spinosaurus aegyptiacus,” the younger boy said without looking back, eyes fixated on the tablet Mae had generously lent him to help him practice communicating with the dinosaurs. “And yes. I told you guys that Kash only wanted to throw her into the desert to see how long she could last in there. Honestly, it was a miracle that she was still well enough to chase us all the way back here.”
Ben couldn’t help a snort. “She tore up that sabertooth tiger without much of a fuss. Hard to believe she wasn’t doing well in there.”
“Yeah well, the Kem Kem beds were subjected to seasonal droughts all the time, so I guess they must’ve had some adaptation to deal with arid climates while traversing patches of available freshwater.”
“I see,” Ben said, not seeing at all. Then his eyebrows suddenly quirked up as an idea crossed his mind. “Wait, if she mainly lives in the river then what does she eat?”
“Duh. Fish, of course.”
“Huh. So kinda like a giant grizzly bear then. You know, eats fish, can run on land, mean as hell, the whole package.”
Daris turned back to look at Ben at last, smiling that same soft smile he normally only reserved for when Bumpy and Firecracker were around.
“You’re just full of surprises aren’t you Ben?”
Whatever Ben’s reply might have been, it was drowned out by a yelp as the kayak shook violently, and both boys clutched the items in their respective hands in an iron grip—Darius to keep the tablet from dropping, and Ben to stabilize the boat from capsizing. The water around them churned and moved, like the whole river itself was awaking from a long slumber.
A huge shadow suddenly appeared from the depths, and before either of them could react, a giant sail rose up right next to them and kept going higher and higher until the shadow it cast all but smothered them. A long, powerful neck then followed, tossing backwards to reveal two rows of spear-like teeth that were holding onto a fish that easily dwarfed their entire boat. The fish thrashed about in vain, spraying Darius and Ben with a tiny curtain of foam that sparkled in the morning sun.
It was utterly breathtaking.
The Spinosaurus’ jaws gave one final crunch, and the boys winced at the sound of bones snapping. A series of smaller waves shook the kayak slightly as the great dinosaur waddled over to the riverbed, where she deposited her prize and began to feast.
Silence.
Ben sat stock-still, gripping the paddle hard enough to turn his knuckles white. It took him more than a few seconds to recognize Darius’s voice through the rushing of blood in his ears, and that the younger boy was calling him.
“Ben!”
“H—huh? What?”
“I said we need to get closer.”
It took all of Ben’s willpower to not scream right then and there.
“YOU WANTED MORE OF THAT?!” he hissed between his teeth. “We were ‘close’ enough a couple seconds ago and she almost squished us!”
“And now she’s away again! Come on Ben, how am I supposed to study her behavior if I can’t even see her?” Darius said, looking all the world like he was asking Ben for a second serving of cookies.
“What if she eats us?!”
“She won’t. You saw it for yourself, her main diet is fish. And now that she’s finally back in her home, she probably won’t be as aggressive anymore. Please, Ben?” Dark brown eyes bore into Ben’s soul and he almost wanted to curse aloud because how was this his life? Why did he have to go and fall in love with someone whose idea of a perfect date consisted of running up to a giant carnivore that easily towered over a house?
Wait. Well actually, he did adopt Bumpy and Firecracker, so someone like Darius seemed right up his alley, to be honest.
Relenting with a sigh, he mumbled a small ‘Fine’ before began rowing towards the direction of the Spinosaurus. The kayak made contact with the rocky riverbed with several loud crunching sounds, and both boys winced and held their breath in case it rattled the huge feeding dinosaur. Thankfully, she seemed fully engrossed in her meal, so after a few minutes they both loosened and stepped out of it.
Darius was watching the spectacle with pure awe, fingers flying across the tablet’s surface as he took notes of everything unfolding before them. From the species of the fish the Spinosaurus was eating to the angle at which she tilted her head back to swallow her food, nothing escaped the boy’s frantic typing as his notes rapidly filled up faster than Ben had seen anyone type—even Mae herself. He was impressed, but not surprised.
He already knew his Darius was second to none.
Letting out a contented sigh, he tapped the younger boy’s shoulder softly before standing up and wandered off in hopes of finding some more berries to stock up. He had lived in the wild long enough to know there were few places safer than within the territory of a satisfied apex predator.
***
Too busy writing, Darius did not realize the wet sloshing sound of the feeding Spinosaurus had stopped, and the riverbed had gone unnaturally still. It was only until a low growl shook him from his concentration that he looked up.
And nearly dropped the tablet in sheer terror as he found her staring straight at him—two searing embers that seemed to pressed him straight into the ground, and Darius found himself helpless to so much as twitch a muscle.
“B—Ben? I think we need to—”
His blood ran cold as he turned to look at his side only to find empty air. Had something happened to Ben while he wasn’t paying attention? Damn it, how many more times must this happen under his watch? How many more times must his friend come to harm because of his love for dinosaurs?
Thump. Thump. The Spinosaurus was making her way towards him now, teeth bared in a growl so powerful in sent waves coursing across Darius’ body. Frantically opening the dinosaur voice app, the boy held out the speaker towards her while pressing on a certain frequency.
A series of smaller growls played from the device, and the great carnivore paused with her head tilted to one side as if in confusion.
“Friend,” Darius said, hitting the button again and the growl repeated itself. “Friend. I am your fr—”
The dinosaur let out an actual roar this time, causing birds to flee in her wake. Her posture turned low and her claws scraped the stony riverbed—she was ready to pounce.
“Here boy, here boy! Come on!”
Both human and dinosaur turned to look at the source of the voice. There, with a dead fish in his hand, was Ben standing in front of a group of baby Spinosaurus. He tossed the fish into the air, and one of them leaped up to catch it between its jaws like a weird scaly seal.
“Oh, you’re quite a hungry one aren’t you? Fine, more where that came from,” Ben said, then reached into his pouch to pull out another fish and threw it, causing another baby to leap up to catch it. Finally, taking out the last fish he looked straight at the direction of Darius and the adult Spinosaurus and (Darius tried to stifle a gag) sank his teeth right into its pale flesh.
Slowly the younger boy chanced a look up at the huge dinosaur (who he now realized was a mother) and sucked in a breath as her yellow eyes stared at him for an agonizingly long time. Finally, a glint of intelligence twinkled in the corner of her eyes as she blinked once, then returned to her meal at last. Letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, Darius relaxed his shoulders and clutched at his heart, while in the distance Ben trotted towards him after tossing the rest of the fish to the baby dinosaurs.
“T—thanks,” he said breathlessly, too shaken up to move and just resigned to standing still while Ben patted his body all over to check for any signs of injury. Satisfied with what he found (or lack thereof), Ben stepped back and placed both hands on his hips as he regarded Darius silently.
“I… I guess I was trespassing on her nest without realizing,” Darius said, flashing Ben a nervous smile as he found himself increasingly trapped under Ben’s intense gaze. “I just don’t understand why the recorded voices didn’t work, again! I did everything right, I followed Mae’s instructions to the letter, and— hey!”
Darius’ unease was instantly replaced by an indignant squawk as Ben swatted the device right out of his hand, causing it to tumble to the riverbank unceremoniously. “This is expensive!” he said, picking it back up and frantically wiping in with the helm of his shirt. He paused, however, when he heard the sound of giggling coming from the boy standing in front of him. But it wasn’t in response to something funny, nor did it sound like Ben was mocking him.
“Darius,” Ben said, voice slightly strained as he shook his head softly, smile never quite leaving his face, “what do I have to do to prove to you that’s not how any of this works?”
“But Mae—”
“Did you just conveniently skip over the fact that Mae raised her dinosaurs from birth? That maybe they already had a connection with each other and the whole voice thing was just the icing on the cake?”
Ben could see the stubbornness dying down in Darius’ eyes somewhat. Good. He was no stranger to hunting strategies, having been on both ends of that dynamic himself far too many times. Right now his prey was losing the will to argue back, but any sudden movement from him will just spring Darius into action again. He needed to circle him like that sabertooth cat. Tire him out.
He stepped closer, placing a hand on Darius’ shoulder. “You’re a man of science, Dare. You know it’s a fact that Bumpy cares about me. Did you think I used any fancy tech to force her to do that for me?”
“N—no! Of course not!”
“Did you use any fancy tech to beat that game that earned you the trip to Jurassic World in the first place?” Oh, that was a good one. Ben had to mentally pat himself on the back for that. And judging from Darius’ flustered look, he knew it had hit the mark.
The patient cat finally pounced.
“Did you think I needed any fancy tech to tell you I love you?”
Brushing Darius’ cheek softly with the back of his fingers, Ben leaned in and pressed his lips into the younger boy’s. Darius’ surprise only lasted less than a second, before his whole body relaxed as he seemed to melt into Ben’s arms.
“You taste like fish,” Darius grumbled against his mouth, but did not make any effort to pull away. A deep chuckle bubbled up from within Ben’s throat, vibrating across their connected bodies pleasantly. When they pulled away, the poor tablet had long ended up on the ground once more.
A small chirping sound caused both boys to look down, and they saw one of the baby Spinosaurus had wandered over to where they were standing, its snout poking Ben’s pouch as if looking for more fish. Ben pulled out one, but instead of feeding it to the dinosaur he pushed it into Darius’ hand, then gave the younger boy a wink.
Whispering a tiny ‘Thanks’, Darius took the fish and held it out to the Spinosaurus. The small dinosaur gave it a few sniffs, before reaching out a deftly spearing it with both its jaws. With an unmistakable backward tilt of its head, it tossed the fish towards the back of its throat and swallowed it whole. Satisfied, it ran straight up to Darius and nuzzled its snout into his hand, letting out a low rumbling sound almost like a cat.
Darius just continued to pet at the dinosaur, awestruck. He turned to look at Ben, then instantly blushed when he saw the older boy was wearing that same expression, but directed at him instead.
Something loud got all their attention, and they turned to see the mother Spinosaurus had finished eating at last. The baby dinosaur ran back to her, and along with the rest of their family they all entered the river with a loud splash and began swimming away, sails undulating in tandem with the waves.
“Err… Ben? What are you doing?” Darius asked as the older boy rapidly discarded his shoes and socks. His tank top was the next to go, but before Darius’ brain could register what was happening Ben was already bolting towards the water.
“Come on!” he called back loudly, head jerking towards the direction of the swimming dinosaurs. Realization finally hit, Darius grinned back and quickly shed his own clothes (but still carefully folded them neatly and placed Mae’s tablet onto them on the ground). Then he quickly ran after Ben, and after a few seconds cold water pressed onto him from all sides as he leaped into the river.
He resurfaced, wiped water out of his face, and looked around. There was now no sign of the Spinosaurus family anywhere. He looked at Ben, and the older boy mirrored his confusion.
“Wait, where did they g— WHOA!”
Darius let out a loud squeak as something pushed against his body from directly below him. Seconds later, Ben and the rest of the river shrunk in size as he was lifted several meters into the air. Once the shock had passed, he realized he was on top of the mother herself, whose log-like snout he was clinging onto for dear life. He quickly let go and righted himself, giving her what could hopefully pass as a sheepish smile. The great dinosaur merely continued cruising down the river, and Darius was still trying to wrap his mind around this whole situation when he heard his name being called from below.
“Woo! Way to go, Dare!”
Ben was looking up at him, face beaming and so, so full of love. He was having one of the baby dinosaurs atop his head as well, and the whole thing finally caused something to wake up in Darius.
“I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD! WOOOOHOOOO!”
The Spinosaurus opened her own mouth to release a fearsome roar, almost as if to back him up. The movement nearly dislodged him, but he went on yelling, yelling his heart and feelings and the anxieties of the recent days away. Her babies wasted no time joining the chorus, and then finally came the one voice Darius could recognize anywhere. And Darius finally understood.
Because no technology could possibly replace Ben’s voice to him either.