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Orym bounces on the balls of his feet, barely containing his excitement as the line moves forward in front of him. Looking around at the familiar gimmicky decorations that denote the magical theme of this particular rollercoaster, his eyes fall on a sign that is new. “Singles will be paired. Thanks!” Wrinkling his nose in mild confusion, he wonders why they needed to put a sign up and word it so vaguely. Surely everyone knows the drill: you ride a rollercoaster by yourself, you get sat next to a stranger. That’s just how it works. They didn’t need to make such an ominous sign about it. He looks up at it again and snorts, pulling out his phone and snapping a quick selfie of himself pointing and looking up with hopeful doe eyes at the sign and sends it in the group chat to the others.
Orym: Hey guys, I think they turned Magic Missile into a speed-dating experience.
He’s close enough to the ride now that he can see through to the observation deck where Ashton is holding Orym’s water bottle and gets to witness in real time Ashton squint at the screen before facepalming into their phone. Orym snorts again and shoves his phone into his pocket, bouncing out of excitement once again, counting and realizing he might get on the next ride. He can’t help the smile that breaks across his face as he watches the train of riders roll out and his heartrate pick up slightly as the line moves forward, filing into the gated positions as one of the workers begins to assign people to their position.
A tired looking college student points at him. “How many? Just one?” At his nod, they direct him to a gate in the middle of the ride where another single rider is standing, shifting their weight nervously back and forth, flinching each time a scream is heard from the ride outside. Orym smiles sympathetically but scans his new seat buddy with a bit of respect. To be a nervous rider and go solo is a level of determination to be admired. As his eyes flit over the muscular legs and broad back, dark hair pulled up in a messy bun, the guy turns around and Orym’s heart stutters a bit in his chest and he quickly looks down so as not to get caught staring. The guy was gorgeous and he can’t help but think, “Too bad it isn’t a speed dating experience.” He chances another glance up at him and sees that the stranger’s sky-blue eyes are staring wide at the oncoming ride and the guy jumps when the worker indicates it’s time for them to get on. Orym’s heart is now doing that little tap dance of adrenaline for multiple reasons - the small smile the guy gave to the worker that disappeared the second he stepped onto the ride and it shifted under his weight - peak among them.
Orym eventually can’t take it any longer as he scrambles into the car and pulls the restraint down. He leans around it. “First time?”
The guy startles again but relaxes at Orym’s easy smile. He gives a nervous laugh as he pulls his own restraint down. “Aha, yes. What gave me away?”
Orym settles in, letting the worker check his buckles and leans his head back. “You’re a bit jumpy, friend, that’s all.”
“Oh, I thought I was hiding it well.”
Orym laughs. “Maybe. But I know the signs. My friend,” he points out to the observation deck where Ashton is waving at him. “Used to force themself to go on these with me cause they knew I love them but they were always a wreck afterwards. Now he holds my stuff for me and eats all the fried food the park has to offer. Win-win for everyone.”
Orym hears the thunk of the guy’s head hit the back of the seat. “I just wanted to prove to myself I could do it at least once and now I’m regretting everything.” The sentence ends in a yelp as the train lurches forward and begins to roll down the rails.
Orym waves to Ashton as they pass by the observation deck. He’s pretty sure he hears a “Stay alive, don’t die!” and rolls his eyes.
The train lurches into the pulley that tugs it up the big climb and Orym struggles to lean forward. “Well, props to you for choosing Magic Missile as your first one, usually people work up to this one. Also it’s over in a minute tops, so even if you hate it, it’ll be over quick.”
The train continues clanking up the climb. No response from his seat buddy.
Orym reaches out and taps the guy’s hand, concerned. “Hey you good, man?”
The guy grabs Orym’s hand tightly and weakly says, “Uh yeah, I think it’s too late to back out now, huh?”
Orym laughs, squeezing back. “Just a little too late, but hey! Enjoy the view!”
The front of the train reaches the top of the hill and begins to disappear from view.
The stranger replies, “That requires opening my eyes and facing the reality of my own stupidity and hubris.”
Orym feels his heart picking up as they reach the crest of the hill and their ride smooths out and he grips the stranger’s hand tighter. “Nah, man, this is the best decision you’ll ever make. Open your eyes!”
Dorian opens his eyes and for a split second the world is frozen and he can see for miles, trees dotting the rolling hills, broken up by a glittering lake, puffy white clouds drifting lazily in the sky and then suddenly -
Whoosh!
The ground is racing towards him, or he is racing towards it? He couldn’t move if he wanted to and then suddenly the sky again, then the ground and they’re twisting and he’s upside down and rotating and falling and climbing and -
Whoosh!
The train slows to a crawl and Dorian becomes aware of the delighted laughter that's been coming from the seat next to him ever since the first drop and the fact that he’s still holding the hand of the guy he got sat with. He sits still though, unsure if he can move or not, heart racing, mind blank, skin tingling. The guy next to him leans around his restraints and squeezes his hand.
“So what’d ya think?”
What did he think? What did he think? He couldn’t think. He -
Dorian leans forward and meets green eyes and unbidden a laugh spills from him.
“I loved it.”
He looks down and where their hands are still joined and lets go, cheeks flushing even more than what the adrenaline had reddened them.
"Sorry about that. I'm, uh, I'm Dorian."
Orym unbuckles himself and tries to not examine the feeling of loss from Dorian letting go of his hand. He smiles at Dorian who still looks a bit shook from the ride, windswept and jittery and holds out a hand to help him stand up. "I'm Orym. I'm glad you liked it! And no worries about the hand."
Orym helps Dorian stand, not letting go until the taller man is standing more or less steadily on his feet and following him off of the train in the direction of the exit. Dorian leans against the banister, out of the flow of the other riders exiting and takes a deep breath, covering his face with shaking hands. Orym stops with him, concerned but not wanting to be a creep.
Dorian breathes for a few seconds and blinks his eyes open. “Ah, I’m fine. Adrenaline.”
Orym pats his back and nods knowingly. He grins mischievously and bounces on the balls of his feet again, pointing to the picture hut. “Wanna see what face you were making on that last loop?”
Dorian groans and lets his head droop and Orym pull him towards inevitable embarrassment. Orym’s friend is already there, doubled over laughing.
“Fuck Orym, were you laughing the whole time?” They manage to get out when the two of them approach.
Orym hasn’t stopped smiling yet. “Probably, it’s so dang fun. Ashton, this is Dorian. Dorian, Ashton.” Orym squints at the photo and bursts out laughing. He is, in fact, pictured mouth wide open laughing like a hooligan clutching the hand of the guy beside him whose face looks like he died two loops back and saw his own ghost on loop three. Dorian snorts once beside him, claps a hand over his mouth and shakes trying to hold back his laughter.
“Dorian?” Ashton salutes with Orym’s water bottle, snickering as he looks over at the picture again. “You might need to hop on that fuckery ride again, pretty boy, I think you left your soul somewhere on loop two.
Dorian loses the battle with controlling his laughter as Orym snickers beside him and Ashton takes advantage of the attendant being distracted to take a picture of the screen with their phone.
Ashton hands Orym his water bottle and sunglasses back and begins ushering the two of them away as the photo booth attendant starts glaring at their group, pulling out another water bottle from their backpack and handing it to Dorian. “So what’s your deal, Dorian?”
Dorian takes the water bottle thankfully. “Well, my brother convinced me to come out here but abandoned me almost immediately, turns out he just was meeting someone here and he disappeared. So I’ve just been wandering around, trying to gather the courage to get on a ride.”
Ashton raises an eyebrow. “And you chose this one?”
Dorian eyes the train screaming around one of the loops and laughs weakly. “Go big or go home?”
Ashton shakes his head and continues ushering the two of them away. “You are just as bonkers as Orym is. Now, I was promised water rides when it reached 90 degrees out and it did while you were in line, so,” they lean in and wiggle their eyebrows suggestively. “Drench me Orym.”
Orym rolls his eyes and slips his sunglasses on, shoulder checking Ashton as they continue walking. Orym looks over at Dorian who’s sort of following them and smiling at their antics.
“Do you…want to join us?” He asks him hesitantly, tripping over an uneven part of the sidewalk when Dorian pulls his hair down and shakes it out to finger comb it from being blown around on the ride. He elbow jabs Ashton again when they snort into their water bottle and shake their head with a knowing look. Orym shoots him a glare before turning back to Dorian with a big smile. “At least until you find your brother again?”
Dorian looks around, finishing putting his hair back up. “Yeah, if I’m not intruding on your day, I’d appreciate the company. You two seem to know the park really well and it’s more fun with people.”
Ashton hefts the backpack onto their back. “Yeah man, the more the merrier. Our friends are going to join us later, so you can meet them then. I just took the early shift with the adrenaline junkie here who insisted on getting here when the gates opened.”
Dorian relaxes and nods. “Then yeah, I’d love to stick with you.”
Orym bounces out ahead of them grinning excitedly. “Then let's go! Tidal Wave is this way!” He begins zipping through the crowd.
Ashton sighs and starts muscling through the crowd after him, Dorian jogging to keep up. “I swear, he turns into a fucking five year old once we walk through the gates. I need to get a backpack leash for him.”
Dorian laughs, keeping an eye on the bright shirt zig-zagging through the crowd ahead of them.
Ashton continues, “Normally he’s so serious. Not boring. Just…this side of him only peeks through every now and again. But here it’s like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Hence why I’ve got the dad backpack today.”
Dorian looks over. “Normally he’s the dad friend?”
Ashton pants as they catch up to where Orym is shifting excitedly at the entrance to the ride. “You have no idea.”
“C’mon c’mon slowpokes!”
Ashton leans against the fencing and breathes for a moment, pointing at Orym threateningly. “I know where you’re ticklish, you wily fucker.”
Orym yelps and dances away, blushing and laughing.
Dorian shakes his head again at their antics.
Ashton heaves off of the fence and claps his hands. “Alright kids, let's go.”
Dorian follows them into the line, suddenly feeling very thankful Cyrus had abandoned him on arrival. He may have just stumbled his way into an amazing bunch of new friends.