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the phone buzzing in ryans ear woke him up in the cool hours of the morning.
he groaned weakly and rolled see see who was calling him at the tender hour of.. 4am, and he quietly answered with a weak, gentle morning voice. “..mhhf.. hello?”
“..r..ryan?”
ryan sat more up when he heard dylan's voice, especially hearing how quiet and squeaky it was. dylan didn’t have a masculine voice, and ryan loved that about him, but the way his voice shook from a single word.. ryan sat up. “dylan? w..” he rubbed his eye. “whats wrong?”
“no, um.. nothing, just.. sorry it’s late,i shouldn’t..”
“dylan.. what is wrong, dude?”
dylan was quiet for a moment, ryan hearing a soft whimper, and getting out of bed. he put dylan on speaker, and on a pair of pants, having slept in his boxers. ryan didn’t know many things, but he knew the other would not have woken him if he didn’t need him. “dylan?”
“i..i just, i had a bad dream, okay?” dylan mumbled weakly. “and i.. wanted to hear your voice, i’m sorry, i know it’s late, but i didn’t know who to call an..” he sniffled. ryans heart felt softer at the admission, and he threw on some sandals before he locked his front door. dylan would never ask him to come over, especially at 4am, but he knew dylan liked company when he was upset.
“it’s okay, dylan.” ryan spoke quietly. “talk to me.. what was the dream about?” he coaxed, starting his car. he was grateful dylans college ended up being so close to his own, usually if they were driving at 4am, it was to the gas station for snacks, not for one of them having bad dreams. he knew they both did.
after that night, who wouldn’t have nightmares?
ryan knew he did. when he had bad dreams, he usually turned on his lamp and buried his head in a pillow or his phone until his mind stopped racing, and then tried to go back to sleep. he’d never had such a ream that made him want to call anyone. sure, it would’ve been nice to maybe have dylan around, but…
“....i had a..” dylans voice broke ryan from his trance, and ryan placed dylan on his dashboard phone-holder before starting the car. “..my dream uhm…”
“take your time.”
“ryan.. you’re real, right?”
the question caught ryan a little off guard as he pulled out of his campus parking lot, pinning his lip between his teeth. “yeah, dylan. i’m real. why? was that… your dream?”
“i don’t.. i don’t know..” dylan hiccuped, and then his voice sounded muffled as he spoke to someone else, which ryan took as schrodinger laid on dylans head and dylan telling him off.
“i’m real, dylan.” ryan assured, his tone gentle as he kept his eyes on the road, finding his way to dylans campus with almost ease. “i’m as real as you need me to be.”
dylan kinda wheezed as ryan parked and turned off his car. he hoped he remembered which building was dylans, and he quietly said “dylan? hey, you there man?”
“..yeah?”
“which campus building is yours?”
the silence on the other end of the phone made ryan nervous, but he didn’t take the question back. he waited by his car for dylans answer, which came as a lot of shuffling. “wh.. wait, are you here?”
“yeah, i’m in the parking lot. which building is yours? i didn’t get snacks or anything but..”
“you– ryan, it’s 4:30 in the morning! you- you’re here?” dylan got up, wiping his face with his good hand before he got up and slid his slippers on. he moved to the window of his dorm, and surely enough, he saw a mysterious figure and familiar license plate in the parking lot of his college. he felt breathless as he quietly said “..b..building two, i’m.. i’m in dorm 217..”
“okay, unlock the door. i’ll be over in five minutes.” ryan looked for building two, his feet carrying him over to the building with a giant sign at the door painted with a big white 2. he opened the door and entered. (he’d been telling dylan for weeks now to tell his headmaster to install a god damned lock on the front door to the student dorms, but right now he was a tad grateful he could just walk inside.)
he didn’t say anything to dylan, he just hung up when he reached door 217. he took a deep breath and knocked, hearing nothing for a while before he heard the door open. the hinges creaked as dylan opened it, wearing nothing but a white shirt and some black boxers. he had red eyes from the tears, and motioned ryan inside with his stub. “sorry for the mess.” he whispered in a small, hushed tone.
“sorry for just showing up.” ryan said gently as he stepped inside, bending down and taking a moment to say hello to schrodinger. he then turned, standing and looking to dylan. “..i told you i was real.”
“... thank you for coming.”
ryan just nodded. they slid through the small dorm to where dylans bed lay, and ryan laid down. he moved further back and patted beside him, but dylan climbed on the bed and sat between ryans legs. though ryan was unsure what dylan wanted, he let the other come to him. with all their flirting and gentle, tender touches, he was unsure where this relationship was, but knew he wouldn’t take advantage of dylans vulnerable state.
so when dylan moved to lay down, resting his head on ryans stomach, his arm draped loosely around his waist as he rested his head on ryans waist, ryan felt his breathing hitch at the action, but he was more nervous about what to do with his hands. he settled for one holding dylans good hand and the other threading in his curls. neither spoke for a long time, but ryan felt they didn’t need to.
“i was scared.” dylan finally said. ryan didn’t look down at him, keeping his eyes on the ceiling. “when i woke up and you weren’t here. i thought you.. were dead, or something happened. and i needed to call you. i needed to know.”
“i’m real.” ryan breathed. “..are you?”
“..yeah.” dylan answered, gently moving his nub more around ryans hips. “yeah, i’m real too.”
“..good.”
neither spoke again. dylans breathing was soft and he occasionally hiccuped, and ryans was trying to figure out how his lungs worked at feelings dylans warm breathing on his stomach. ryan felt something settle by his elbow, and it was vibrating, so he knew it was schrodinger settling back into bed.
“ryan?”
“..y.. yeah dylan?”
“... i really like you.”
“..okay.”
ryan almost hit himself for that one. but he heard a soft snort and felt dylan shift in the darkness of his room, and ryan was less worried that he’d upset dylan. “sorry. that uhm.. that was a bad response.”
“it’s okay. i know you’re not.. like.. the same amount of..” dylan fumbled and ryan felt dylans face turn and press into his stomach for a moment, before he turned his head again and started over. “i know you and i both.. express ourselves differently. just because i can say it doesn’t mean you can.”
“... i think you’re cool, dylan.”
“you may be the first.”
pause. ryan felt the heat in the air and he was kicking his own ass for fumbling this bad. he had a beautiful boy in his lap basically admitting he liked him and ryan still couldn’t say it back. so he instead asked “how are you feeling?”
“okay. better, now that i’m not alone.”
ryan just nodded, even if dylan couldn’t see it. he found himself moving his fingers in dylans hair, and took it as a good sign when he heard dylan sighing. he was trying to think of all the words he wanted to say and found none of them were good enough. he asked a question. “..dylan? are we.. are you… are you my boyfriend?”
dylans silence was long. like he was considering ryans words. ryan felt dylans chin in his stomach and he could tell the other was looking at him. “..do you want to be my boyfriend?” was his answer.
“i think so.” ryan kicked his own ass again. “no i.. i do. i know i do. i’m sorry. you have to know i didn’t come here to ask you out when you were sad and vulnerable..”
“i know.” dylan said. “but i think it was kind of what i needed to hear. that you’re my boyfriend and you’re real.” dylan quietly squeezed his hand and his eyes trailed to ryans face, which he could only see a little from the slit in his curtains. “after having a dream that i lost you.. you being here and telling me i’m your boyfriend..”
ryan made a small noise, his eyes still trailing on the ceiling as he smiled a little. “i’m.. i’m glad. now um.. you should try and sleep. and i promise i’ll be here when you wake up.”
“okay.”
–
later, when the rumors came out of dylan having a boy in his dorm, dylan didn’t deny them.
when the rumor of dylan kissing the strangers forehead came out, he didn’t deny those either. he added that he walked this stranger to his car too.
when the rumor came out about dylan dating this strange boy, he didn’t deny them.
like ryan, the rumors were real.