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Dylan has never lost a staring contest in his life. He has also never had to hold the gaze of a precocious eight-year-old.
It was his first meeting with the younger Erzahler. He and Ryan had been maintaining a semi-long distance relationship while they attended university in different states. Successfully, too—he was allowed to be smug.
Luckily, Dylan finished up his semester requirements early so that he could come spend the holidays with Ryan, who also recently got custody of his sister. Due to that drama, Dylan and Ryan agreed it was best to wait to out their relationship to her to keep her from getting overwhelmed with life changes.
Nevertheless, Ryan was confident they would get along, Dylan was excited after hearing so much about Sarah... It was the perfect start to happy holidays.
But. There was always a big butt...
Sarah Erzahler’s eyes were piercing. She looked like Ryan in that same quiet, judgemental way. From Ryan, it made Dylan swoon.
From Ryan’s sister, it simply made him sweat. Just a tiny bit. Or a lot.
"How does Ryan know you?"
"Oh, we work… worked together at the Hackett's Quarry Summer Camp.” She should already know about this, considering she lived with Ryan and Kaitlyn, the two former counselors deciding to rent an apartment together since it worked out with their commute. “Your brother was a pretty rad sailing coach, have you ever gone with him?”
“No,” she replied without looking up at him. "That camp made Ryan late to pick me up from Nana’s this year."
“Oh...That sucks, really sorry that happened–"
"And Nana shouted at me all night about it."
“She did? Why did she do that?”
“Because she thinks he was ‘out there getting sodomized in hell’”.
Dylan blinked.
Okay. This is fine. He resisted the urge to ask “Uh, so what would you think if he was? ”
To be fair, Ryan was getting sodomized in hell, technically, if sodomy was finally responding to Dylan’s flirting and hell was a cursed summer camp filed with bloodthirsty werewolves. “So uh, do you know what that means, Sarah?”
She glared at him. He wasn’t sure if that meant yes or no, but guessed it definitely meant he wasn’t getting in her good graces. “Why are you here?” she demanded.
Well, I’m meeting my boyfriend’s little sister who he loves most in the world and whose approval is essential to building the idyllic life I’ve been imagining since I met him and the more realistic but still awesome partnership we’ve been actually forming for the past six months.
No biggie.
“Your brother and I are getting pretty close,” Dylan explained, forcing a grin before thinking of Ryan made it more genuine. “And I was real pumped to meet the most important little girl in his life!”
She blinked at him. “You’re huge.”
“What?”
“Way taller than Mikey’s older brother.”
He had no idea who Mikey was. “Oh, haha, I get that a lot.”
“That doesn’t make me a ‘little girl.’” She held his gaze for a bit before looking back down at her notebook.
Damn it. Being gay means you’re bound to disappoint some people in your life, but disappointing people with your dumb ass is equally painful.
“You know what, you’re right. I’m sorry, Sarah, I’m just really nervous meeting you but the problem is… I’m actually pretty lame around people I like.”
“Why are you nervous?”
I don’t know if I should tell you that I love your brother in a not-brotherly way. I want you to like me because I don’t want us to just tolerate each other for Ryan’s sake. I’m still not sure if you actually know what sodomy is.
“I have social anxiety sometimes.”
Silence reigned for a bit and eventually Dylan resigned himself to a failed first meeting. Ryan and Kaitlyn should be back soon from their food run to save him from this awkwardness.
It was disheartening. Sure, he wasn't the favorite counselor of the camp kids, but Blasé Dylan usually made things easier. Blasé Dylan was a dick, though, and bailed on him today.
He took out his phone and scrolled a bit so that he wasn’t stuck staring forlornly at his boyfriend’s little sister. He pulled up Ryan’s instagram and scrolled down until he reached the portion he hadn't seen yet. God, this guy was hot.
He finished mooning (heh) over and liking all the photos before Sarah deigned to speak to him again.
“What happened to your hand?”
Dylan waved his stump between them. “Oh, this li’l old thing?”
She nodded. “Did you have an accident?”
“Mhm, maybe.” Getting some inspiration, he leaned forward, trying to exude an air of mystery. “Tell me, what do you think happened?”
“I don’t know…”
“Come on, I’m sure some ideas are swirling there.” Pirate would be the obvious one. Ancient battles. Sacrificing a limb to the devil. Ryan was the storyteller, but Dylan could keep up if the source material was rich enough.
“Um, Erica told me that if you touch the mercury inside a thermometer, it will poison you and you have to cut off your hand so that it doesn’t spread to your whole body.”
Firstly, he didn’t know who Erica was either. B, that was… shockingly close to what actually happened, what the heck. And three, “You guys still use mercury thermometers?”
“Knock, knock, bitches,” Kaitlyn said, entering the room, carrying pizza boxes.
“Kaitlyn, language.” And there was Dylan’s man, holding the door open like the gentleman he is, but maintaining enough broody aloofness by not carrying the boxes himself.
“I hear you and Nana swear all the time,” Sarah exclaimed, running over to them.
“Oh yeah? And who said I was worried about you?” Ryan ruffled his sister’s hair affectionately. “Maybe I want to protect the ears of this dork over here.” He leaned over the armchair Dylan was sunken in and kissed his cheek. “Have you been bullying my boyfriend, Sarah?”
“He’s your boyfriend?!” Sarah exclaimed, raising her voice for the first time.
“I’m your boyfriend?” Dylan echoed stupidly, feeling his cheeks burn.
Ryan raised an eyebrow at him. “Does this surprise you?” He took a soda can out of the bag he was holding and pressed it against the flushed skin.
Dylan took the can and automatically opened it up. “No, I just…” He knew that Ryan wasn’t exactly in the closet, but he also wasn’t sure if Ryan wanted Sarah to know about the two of them considering this was the first time he was meeting her.
But to be casually claimed like that… Dylan took a sip of his soda to hide his beaming.
Ryan smiled at him knowingly before turning to his sister. “And you, I said I was bringing over someone very special, right?”
Dylan waited in anticipation as Sarah scrunched her eyebrows, observing them. She turned to Kaitlyn. “So are you their girlfriend, too?”
Dylan choked on his drink and Ryan had to pound his back with a fist.
“Oh, they wish,” Kaitlyn cackled. “Nah, still just your tutor, missy. I’m too good for these fools.”
And maybe, just maybe, as Ryan chuckled and Sarah sighed, Dylan felt a little lighter now. And significantly less sweaty.