Rewrite of a few scenes to make it Darius/Kenji

I cannot believe how much of a rarepare these two seem to be! Ah well, makes me all the happier to feed the hungry masses!

This’ll mainly be rewrites of a few scenes to make them Kenji/ Darius- Without ignoring Brooklyn along the way. It’ll just be integrated in here, aka Kenji’s been a bisexual disaster from the start. (In total shock the show didn’t decide to go this angle, because where is the lie in that sentence!?)

If there’s any specific scene you want me to rewrite let me know, but as of right now I only have five in mind, aka read below. I’ll be thrilled to do more though!

PS, being such a rarepair, has anyone agreed on a ship name for them for me to tag it? I’ve been calling them Karius because I think it’s adorable, but I’ve also been toying with VIPasaurs for my personal amusement.

-Waterfall-

“Of course you would think it’s cool,” Kenji mutters to himself, unable to even look at him… because it was the exact reaction he’d longed to see on her face. The awe, the breathless wonder. These creatures, so powerful, so wondrous in their every movement.

It had been so long, to long, since he’d let himself indulge in seeing that look on Darius’s face… not since the island…

He doesn’t want to look over at him when he starts speaking, but then, Darius is the least likely to ever take a hint about anything, let alone when to stop talking about dinosaurs. “Listen Kenji, Brooklyn felt bad after you broke up. For not paying attention, for not appreciating all this.”

“How would you know that?” Kenji knows how exhausted and frustrated he sounds, and he couldn’t care less. It was probably just empty words from his once best friend.

“She, told me what happened…” Darius said. “How you dump- broke up with her, on top of a mountain.” He sounds so embarrassed to finish as the realization has clearly long sense sunk in.

The words hit him like a familiar blow. The feeling of betrayal every time he looks at Darius now as he turns sharply to him. “When did she tell you that?” He hates how sharp he sounds, he hates the anger he can’t shake, but he hasn’t been able to do a thing to stop it since he heard the news. 

“Um, she came and stayed at my cabin with me for a while. She needed someone to talk to, I guess,” Darius couldn’t even look at him, speaking everywhere from his climbing helmet, to his eyes still flickering to the parasaurolophus down below. 

“Yeah, she needed someone,” he’d never wanted to punch Darius in the face so much in his life than this moment. 

“I’m, I thought you knew,” Darius murmurs, holding the hat up to his chest and clearly getting the same thing from him.

“No, I didn’t know,” he stands fast, to fast, Darius is cringing as he looks at him finally. “I didn’t know she stayed with you, I didn’t know she visited my dad, no one tells me anything!” He wanted to turn away then, to leave Darius here to fend for himself on top of this mountain like he’d done to Brooklyn…but the glow of the sunset was still on his face. He’d finally started talking, and he couldn’t make himself stop. 

The outrage of him being here, at this spot, having given him the reaction he’d wanted from his girlfriend made the worst thing finally come out. “Maybe if I had known, I would have followed her there like a pathetic lost puppy! Maybe I would have wound up at your place and not have to wonder what was going on with you, Darius! Maybe if anyone ever bothered to tell poor idiot Kenji what was going on, I would have finally figured out what it is I’m always doing wrong!”

He shoved him and shouted so loud, he felt the echoes of it off of every rock, every sound wave in the air reverberating back so he couldn’t take the words away. “Maybe I could finally put to rest my stupid crush on the two most selfish people on this planet!”

The recognition came slowly over his face. The little genius was clearly mouthing the word two and could not seem to wrap his head around what one and one was.

Panic seized him, he couldn’t breathe as he snatched up his helmet and securely got the straps back in place only from years of practice as he turned away back to the cliff’s edge.

“Fine, we’ll go see my dad in the morning! If he knows anything-”

“Kenji-” Darius’s voice makes him hesitate. He sounds so small.

But he can’t, he won’t. Not here. Not ever. 

“We’ll ask him about Brooklyn. If someone is after us and my dad knows something, I need to know.” His dad. God, his dad. Somehow the source and root of every miserable part of his life even when he wasn’t supposed to be in it anymore… his face blurred together with Darius and Brooklyn’s the whole way back down; the blood rush, the adrenaline, the trembling feeling of his muscles hard at work, the relief that came from the sweat and strain when it was done wasn’t soothing this ache away. 

It wasn’t until he hit the ground with a grunt and looked up did he realize it. Darius was still following him. Trying, and failing, to copy him. More stumbling and falling his way back down and unsuccessfully catching himself with another slam into the rocks… but he was still going.

Kenji turned sharply away back to his trailer… but when he got there, he didn’t lock the door like a small, petty part of himself wanted to. 

Later, long enough he was starting to get worried as darkness fully fell, he heard the crunching gravel of his approach, felt him hesitate and wait on the other side of the door for a long time, to long, he was wondering too if he should even bother, but he tried the door and immediately cussed as it squeaked upon opening. 

He tried it again, it squeaked again, and it was maddeningly hilarious to watch him try and force his frame through as small a space as possible to stop it continuing to make noise. Then of course it slammed as he let it go on the right side and he face palmed and glanced cautiously at the bed to see Kenji still lying there, showered and fully awake, just watching him. 

Pointing silently at the bed roll on the ground, he rolled over. Darius said nothing as he slowly toed off his shoes and flopped down. That was that.

At least, he wished it was. 

-Charming Studio Apartment, with Rustic Bathtub and Skylight- 

“Darius?” Kenji stepped back inside, still not fully convinced the entire gaps missing from the panels even counted this place as having an inside.

He spotted him in the bathtub. It was not long enough for him, his knees scrunched up above the rim as he slowly sunk down, clearly wishing to disappear from sight.

A very understandable feeling. After everything that had happened, the constant travel… well, thankfully Darius hadn’t once brought up any subject that wasn’t front and center. Aka, they hadn’t discussed anything that wasn’t Brooklyn. 

It was so awkward.

But it was also exactly what he needed too. Darius always somehow managed that. 

Part of him wondered if it was deliberate. If Darius was just choosing to never mention anything that happened on top of that mountain again because he was freaked out and felt repulsed by him now.

But the way Darius had never once hesitated upon touching him, holding him, being near him. It didn’t feel different, like it should have. It just felt like it always had, finally being there for each other again like they should have all along.

Until just now anyways, the stupid fight over the phone.

Maybe he wasn’t the only one hiding something. “These voicemails, all from after she died, there’s hundreds of them. What aren’t you telling me man?”

Darius takes a deep breath, and then exhales it slowly. He’s never looked so small and miserable. Not when he was the smallest, runtiest kid Kenji had ever seen in his life while running away from monsters larger than some buildings, not while he was making all those tough calls nobody else was going to, not once in his life. “I think, I was in love, with Brooklyn.”

It was like a damn broke. Kenji smothered a gasp, and then he doubled over laughing. It was painful, and choking, and soon it turned into sobbing all over again as two words kept circling in his mind over and over. ‘Of course.’ 

Of course Darius and Brooklyn were meant to be together, he’d been the one in their way all this time. Of course that explained why Kenji somehow managed to have a crush on both of them, it only made sense, he’d always wanted everything he wasn’t supposed to have. Of course this was bound to happen. Everybody always left him.

“Kenji, hey, it’s not like- please don’t-” Darius was there, just like always, somehow comforting him! He pulled him into a hug and Kenji dissolved. He’d swear he was actually floating away as the misery kept hitting him harder with every gasping breath. 

Of course his dad had died from a dinosaur, and it was the only moment he’d ever done a single decent thing for his life. Of course he’d die the moment Kenji had needed him again. Of course Brooklyn had died, Darius had probably told her right after their breakup and they’d, they’d-

When it all finally stopped, when the world kept spinning and reality came back from playing tortuous visions across his mind but instead let him cough and feel and breathe again, of course he was still there. 

Darius still held him tight to his chest all over again, hugging him. Keeping him safe, even when he didn’t know that’s what he’d needed.

The silence lasted so painfully long, Kenji wondered if the world had actually stopped outside. ‘The drop,’ he vaguely remembered. They were supposed to be here for a reason. For all he knew, he’d screwed that up too.

He pulled back, and Darius let his arms fall away, but the look of tight misery on his face was like nothing Kenji ever thought he’d put there. It wasn’t the exact same grief he’d seen in every Bowman when anyone spoke about Fredrick, but it was the same tightness around the mouth. Misery, sorrow, regrets.

Kenji put his hand on his chest to keep him at length as he gasped and choked out, “did, did you two ever-”

“No!” Darius said firmly. “It- I didn’t even realize until, she moved in and- I didn’t even think I could ever feel that way, about anyone Kenji. It just, happened. I told her, it just came out, and she let me down gently. I knew she didn’t feel the same. I wished, I didn’t. I wished I could take it back that second. That’s why I wasn’t there, that night. I, thought she, I thought I’d-”

Kenji let his hand fall away, he felt so empty. He’d never felt so drained, like he was still drowning and the next wave didn’t care as it crashed into him anyways. He shook his head slowly, hair falling into his eyes, face hot and scratchy from the drying tears.

But it finally made sense. Darius had always been there, for all of them. Without hesitation. He’d always known the kid had once blamed himself for Ben getting torn out of that monorail by those flying death trap wannabe birds. He’d have never, ever made that mistake again. Not unless something else had happened. 

Something he didn’t know how to face. Something that had nothing to do with dinosaurs. 

What was it about his life that had invited such a malicious joke into it? What curse had his dad put upon him? It was his feelings for Brooklyn that had scared him away that night…

“Kenji, I-” Darius tried again, putting his hand over his chest where his had just been. His eyes were on his empty hand at his side, so lost. “I’m sorry. What, what did you mean when you said, two people-”

But then there were lights. The sounds of a truck approaching, the squeal of brakes. 

Side by side, the two tensed, rose from their crouch, and approached the dilapidated planks of wood keeping them enclosed from the outside. 

The allosaurus exchanged trucks along with a very obvious bag of something worth more than people's lives to these guys, and just like that, Kenji was tossing his helmet to him. “We’ve got to go.”

Darius revved up his bike without hesitation. The weight of having a passenger wasn’t familiar in the slightest before all this, Kenji had been a bigger advocate than his mom against having his license for this thing. It had taken Brand being on Darius’s side to convince the other two to lay off and let him live his life. 

Kenji put his arms around him though as if he’d done it a dozen times before, and tried not to wonder if Brooklyn had ever asked for a ride as they took off once more. It wasn’t important right now, none of it was. He’d sort out the questions once they had some answers. 

-Warehouse*-

The crackling of a stun prod being threatened in their face was not new, but the sting of betrayal still kind of hurt. He wasn’t sure why he was still so surprised. It was slowly starting to feel like he could never trust anybody. Not one person besides them had ever seemed to have good intentions when it came to dinosaurs.

Of course it was Darius at the front. Kenji didn’t need to see that look of fury on his face, the betrayal he’d personally feel, just for being involved here. “Cabrera? You’re the one behind all this!?” Watching him put the pieces together, watching the rage wash over him as he realized, “you’re selling dinosaurs!” Kenji knew that sound of disbelief, that anyone could do something so monstrous. It was always there in small doses every time they talked about the difference in their dads. 

“Darius,” Sammy tried in her way to get him to stop antagonizing the guy with the electric stun rod. Kenji already knew that wasn’t going to back him down before she’d even begun.

“DPW is supposed to protect people from dinosaurs,” Darius was still speaking, sounding so righteous, so confident everybody felt the same way. “Apparently, everyone just needs protecting from you!”

He wasn’t just stalling for time, but it was giving them a chance at least.

“Hey, I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Cabrera said, without lowering the prod. 

“That weapon says otherwise,” Ben snapped, still cradling Bumby’s egg with the tenderest, protective embrace a parent could.

“Do what I say, and you’ll be fine,” Cabrera only sounded like every sleazy businessman Kenji had ever known, waving his other hand around in a placating hand while holding all the cards with the other.

“Is that what happened to Brooklyn?” Kenji’s voice choked with anger and grief as he watched the ends stay pointed at only Darius. “She didn’t do what you said, so you killed her?” He wasn’t going to let Darius stand between them all alone as he pressed his shoulder against him, but the threat stayed firmly ignorant of him.

Cabrera threw his shoulders back, sounding exasperated, like he was scolding them for the inconvenience of having to explain. “The allosaurus was only supposed to scare her a little. Send a message. Get her to stop.”

“Is that why you sent those atrociraptors after us?” Darius snapped, still trying to advance forward, clearly uncaring of the danger he was still in. “To send us a message!”

“Atrociraptors? What are you talking about?” Cabrera said.

Darius wasn’t buying it, as he slammed his fist against the nearest metal container, the echoing boom of it causing every dinosaur in here to roar its disapproval with him. “Don’t lie to us!” The cattle prod followed his every moment still in a sickening game.

“Hey, relax!” Cabrera snapped, finger thumbing the switch back on without hesitation, sparks flying back in the air. “I’m the one with the stun prod here.”

Darius didn’t back down, not for a second. “You don’t ‘send a message’ with dinosaurs unless you want someone to get hurt.” The blue flickering lights glowing off his face in the ever lightning warehouse as sunrise came upon them made everything take on a horrendous glow of horror being just as imminent. 

“Well I tried sending actual messages, but they didn’t deter any of you!” Cabrera finally moved his attention to someone else, Ben.

He gasped and shifted as if he could block Bumpy’s egg from further safety, even being as far away as he was at the back. “You’re the one who sent those threats on Dark Jurassic?”

“Like I said, I don’t want to have to hurt you,” he flipped the switch back off again, like it had all been a kindly mistake as he adjusted his tie, tone smoothing back out from menacing to gentle again. “But if it comes down to choosing between my operation, or telling a story about the famed Nublar Six, well, you know which one I’ll pick.”

Kenji felt more than heard Ben nudge Sammy but didn’t dare turn around to see what was going on back there. He wanted to snap, to lunge in this guy's face for being the one to make them no longer the six anything! For that stupid threat still being pointed in Darius’s face!

“You say you don’t wana hurt us,” Sammy came charging forward like a fearless bull defending her territory. Something passed between her and Darius as she took attention. “Fine, then what do you want?”

“Stay out of my business! No more snooping around. You know I can find you, no matter where you are,” Cabrera said with surprising calm, as if discussing this over a table.

It wasn’t until Yaz came up on Sammy’s side, pressing close to her that Kenji realized Ben had taken another cautious step back farther from them…and there was a soft clack of something heavy being set down.

Oh crud, here we go.

“Except Darius,” Cabrera had never really taken his eyes off of him, but he turned that weapon back on now to prove his point, its crackling end an inch from his chest. “I want him back working for the DPW, gives us credibility. Let’s me keep an eye on him, and the rest of you.”

Darius would have said yes. Kenji knew it, because he knew him. He would have agreed to be under constant watch, constant threat, as some sort of penance for what happened with Brooklyn, to be the first one to fall if Cabrera decided they needed another message. Bile rose in the back of Kenji’s throat at how that future could unwind-

“Now!” Ben snapped the command, then charged. Apparently, that was the plan. He barreled past them and tackled Cabrera. The guy tried to dodge, but Ben wasn’t having it, managing to knock him off his feet, then stood stunned at his own success for only a beat. As soon as Cabrera rolled, losing his hat, Ben was too, lunging for the weapon.

Not fast enough. Cabrera got it, flicked it on with practiced ease, and dove towards Ben-

But Darius had already rushed in right after, pushing him out of the way, and getting the full throttle right to the throat.

He couldn’t gasp, couldn’t even scream. His body fell with a horrifying, twitching spasm.

“Darius!” All four of them shouted.

Kenji and Ben were beside him in an instant.

People were moving, yelling around him, but Kenji heard none of it. All he could see were Darius’s eyes, open, but empty.

Ben said something, squeezed his shoulder and ran off. The girls were shouting. He didn’t know if they understood, even realized- but it didn’t matter. He knew what to do. He’d trained for this, even if there wasn’t a rockslide in sight.

“Nonono!” He set him down to rough, but he wasn’t panicking as he supported his head. Kenji started moving without thinking, CPR kicking in on the most important person left in his life as he curled one set of fingers onto the back of his other hand, locking them in place, and started chest compressions. “Darius!” He wasn’t breathing. He was not breathing. Smoke was tinging around the collar of that stupid yellow jacket like a beacon, just waiting to catch fire. He stopped, tilted his jaw up, and pinched his nose shut to press his lips down, exhaling deep.

He’d imagined their first kiss a dozen times. Usually in those moments between waking and dreaming, when he wasn’t sure who he was holding tight in his arms and didn’t care to remember. It would be slow and gentle, or rough and passionate. It didn’t matter which, Darius always responded by pulling him closer.

Not this. Not cold, clinical, life saving breaths that didn’t even count. 

“Darius, no come on man! I can’t lose anyone else,” he sounded hysterical, he felt like his world was coming apart at the seams as he went back to pressing hard, rapid, but perfectly, evenly timed thrusts against his heart.

“Please, Darius, I’m sorry, I forgive you okay, for everything, please don’t do this, you can’t die on me too, not you-” he stopped and went to breathe for him again, he would keep going until this worked because it had to, he could not die- exhale one breath, then two- 

The wild buck, the hot air blasting into his face, head butting his nose and jolting away as Darius finally breathed. He coughed and rolled over and was gagging, breathing- 

“Oh thank god, D, don’t you ever do that again,” he had Darius pulled tight to his chest, hugging him and keeping his hand pressed to his neck, his calloused fingers convinced he could keep his pulse going over that rough patch of burnt skin.

“Kenj- can’t- breathe-” Darius was trying to wiggle back away.

“What, oh,” Kenji released him, just enough that he could hold him at arm's length and ensure his eyes were really looking at him.

“Guys, come on, we got to go, we can’t stay here forever,” Ben had his arm and was trying to help pull him and Darius up, while the other kept Bumpy’s egg close to his chest. He didn’t know where the girls were until Sammy was on Darius’s other side and Yaz was at his back, trying to urge them all into a run. 

Kenji didn’t release him as they got moving. The animals were in an uproar, Yaz quickly took the lead with the cattle prod. He had no idea what had happened to Cabrera, and frankly he didn’t care in the slightest if he’d slipped into some carnivores cage.

“We’ve already checked all the doors and they’re locked,” Yaz called back. “We’ve got to find another way out.”

“L-loading, do-” Darius tried to splutter, one hand clutching Kenji’s painfully tight across his shoulder, but Kenji couldn’t complain. The bruise he’d find there later just meant he was still breathing, he wished Darius would hold on tighter, put more weight on him than he was currently allowing as he stayed under his arm and staggered at their pace.

“Don’t talk right now D, we got this, we’re getting out of here,” Kenji panted.

“Guys, if every exit is locked except one, this is probably a trap, right?” Ben’s voice was a concerning pitch of anxiety like that dweeby kid all those years ago now, trying his best to support Darius on his other side, the two in a struggling compromise as Darius kept trying to rub at his throat and not lean on them. Kenji felt like stepping aside and vomiting as Darius kept coughing.

“Yeah, probably, but-” Sammy stopped trying for any reassurance now as she came to a stumbling halt slamming into Yaz, the three of them coming to just as graceful a freeze behind them as the bay doors began to open. 

The sunlight pouring in held no promise of relief.

-The Airport-

“Why are you still here?” Kenji snarled.

“What?” Darius took an automatic step back.

“Just go! Leave, like everybody else!” He swiped his hand in front of him, convinced Darius would vanish like a mirage. That he’d even followed him back here behind this building must have been some mistake.

Darius didn’t though. He stood his ground, squared his shoulders, and pulled him into a hug. Kenji didn’t resist. He wanted to. He stood there, tense, fighting the urge to give in and relax. This was a trick, this was a hug goodbye… but Darius didn’t let go and soon the trembling started in his fingers, and kept growing.

He didn’t start crying again, but it was a close thing. The only reason he didn’t was because he was out. Out of tears, out of emotion to give. His arms came up and circled Darius and held him tight from pure memory of knowing he should do it, but he was so numb, the trembling was growing. The feeling wouldn’t connect.

Dusk had settled in when things plateaued back, his mind was forced to connect with the realization that he was still alive, somewhere. A part of him that had a faulty tether, but there as he breathed and realized Darius was still there. That warmth radiating off of him.

“Why are you still here?” Kenji asked. He could hear how rough his voice sounded. He knew by breaking this spell, he’d probably send him running off, after Brooklyn, or wherever their friends were. Somewhere, anywhere that wasn’t here.

“Because, I’m not leaving you Kenji. I’m staying, just like I always have.”

Kenji didn’t know when the trembling had stopped. His hands cramped though from how tight he was clutching Darius.

Darius wasn’t ever going to bring it up. Kenji had finally assumed that, back in the carrier, when he’d had ample opportunity to follow Kenji any of the times he went to get lettuce. He’d had all the chances to try and pull him aside, talk to him alone. He’d been acting perfectly normal though. Giving him space, acting like nothing happened.

He needed something to happen though. He needed Darius to know that hadn’t just been an impulsive, spur of the moment comment, something he regretted saying. Well, he did regret it, but only because it was going to change everything.

“Look, Kenji, when I said I loved Brooklyn, I wasn’t lying, but, I don’t know what I’m doing! You know that,” Darius waved his arms at himself, there was a terror deep in his eyes as he watched Kenji carefully for a reaction.

This was how he’d felt when he’d said it to Brooklyn, Kenji knew instantly. Afraid of his own feelings, of showing a part of himself he’d never really taken the time to even consider about himself. 

“I just, want to understand, I mean obviously you can’t explain my feelings to me because that’s what I’m trying to tell you, I don’t, I’d never want you to think I loved her more than you or that it was even the same kind of love or-"

“I get it, D, okay, stop, stop panicking,” Kenji gently stepped forward and lowered his flailing arms. “It’s okay, I get it, okay, I promise.” He was talking in a soothing, gentle tone like he’d seen Darius and Ben and Sammy do a hundred times to talk down a rampaging dinosaur. Smooth, soft, coaxing, just letting nonsense come out to stop that panic in his eyes. “Neither of us, knows what we’re doing, it’s great to have company. I’ve been kind of, living in that ever since the watering hole,” he chuckled nervously at finally having said it, out loud, so many years later.

“Since, since the watering hole?” Darius stuttered. He clearly thought he was correcting Kenji, that he meant the waterfall. Two very different places.

“Yeah,” Kenji agreed shamelessly. He kept talking, blurring past his dazed face, getting it all out now. “It was pretty obvious though that you never, felt the same, and I did, do, gah, I don’t even know either. It was real with Brooklyn though, it was. I just, with everything that happened to my dad, you really think I wanted to, admit that- or that I might be, well, it didn’t matter. We, we were happy…”

He didn’t know when that changed with her. He didn’t even know if it had ever been real for her. She’d never changed since the day he met her, not really. Even on their very first date, she’d always prioritized answers for everything except him, instead of inviting him along!

On their first date off the island, he’d laughed and cheered her on about her next story in detail. He’d respected her wishes when she said not to call her every night, just keep waiting, and held it in when she talked about all the crazy things she uncovered and brushed off what she’d done to get there; but when he’d been trying to come up with a plan for himself that avoided college, when he’d needed her, he just got a few texts and vague support she’d be happy with whatever he was doing.

Moments like that whirled through his mind in a collage of blurred feelings. Had she always just used him as a fall back when she needed someone besides her phone? Had she ever seen him as more than just that idiot she met on the island, an afterthought?

But Darius, gods things had only gotten more complicated with him over time. They’d shared a room, they’d shared everything with each other… except Kenji’s first crush.

He’d done, research. He’d been too curious about himself not to, trying to find some balance in his life, and he’d read a few things, a few suspicions had formed. He’d like the idea of calling himself bisexual, but never really comfortable enough to say it out loud. Afraid that Brand and Kelly** would instantly guess his twisted, hidden wish.

It had been him to offer the two comfort though when they worried Darius remained relatively unsocial despite his and Brand’s best efforts. Whether Darius was asexual, anti-social, or just a weird guy, none of them had pressured him on the issue when he kept smiling and enjoying life to the fullest so long as it had dinosaurs and his friends. 

 Darius had never once wavered to hear Kenji out on anything he ever needed to get off his chest, more often than not Brooklyn herself. He’d moved out of the Bowman home as soon as he possibly could though just to get some air away from him, to convince himself to take that step away and focus on Brooklyn. It had worked, for a while…

“Look, can we just, put a pause on, this,” Kenji gestured between them. “Don’t freak, okay D. We’ve always been best friends, since day one as far as I’m concerned. Let’s just, focus on-”

“Hey guys!” Ben was coming after them.

Darius just met his eyes, and nodded once. Just like that, everything was the same… but not really. Not anymore.

Because now, for the first time in his life as Kenji looked off into the sunset after her, and then let his eyes settle on Darius waiting until the last moment to turn and face Ben, he felt like he had a real choice in his life.

-Italy-

“But, isn’t that what I’m doing too?” Darius asked nervously.

“No,” Kenji shook his head and smiled, feeling calm, right with the world for the first time since, since long before he’d broken up with Brooklyn really. “Because I’ll be waiting for you here when you get back.”

Darius smiled, and it lit up the whole country as far as Kenji was concerned. He was so wrapped up just watching that, the way his eyes lit, like he was something just as interesting as a dinosaur, he didn’t realize Darius was leaning in until his lips had pressed firmly against his.

There was a long hesitant moment where Kenji could not process what was happening. In all his wildest fantasies, in all his crazy dreams, and all of those vivid hallucinations he’d never let himself dwell on out of pure guilt, he’d always been the one to kiss Darius, and Darius had always pushed him away, wiped at his lips, spit in disgust and asked what the ever dino-fucking-sorus he was doing. He’d made himself imagine that part every time to end the delusion.

So it usually stopped there and shut down real quick.

This, was real. This had the cold bite of weather stinging against their skin, this was Darius giving a shaky exhale and then pulling back, and then stumbling farther back and biting his lip, embarrassment coloring his rich, dark skin. “Sorry, I thought, I mean, I know I’ve never, I was doing that wrong wasn’t I? I thought-”

“Nah, man,” Kenji shakes it off quickly and holds his hand out. Darius swallows and hesitantly takes it, letting himself be pulled back. “Don’t think that, I just, never know what you’re going to do next. Always loved that about you, you never fail to surprise me,” he chuckled, gently taking his chin. Darius took an unsteady breath but leaned into his touch, and then Kenji was kissing him.

It was real. ‘Finally,’ the word echoed in the back of his head…but more. It was better than anything he’d ever dreamed it could be. He moved his lips softly, gently against him, savoring every feel of Darius’s returning kiss. 

This was happening. He could hardly believe it, but it felt so warm, so good, it couldn’t be a dream. His hand fell down, resting gently on Darius’s waist, wanting him closer, wanting to show him everything- 

But then Darius hesitated, pulled back, and Kenji dropped his hands away. “S, sorry, to much?” Kenji asked.

“I, um, I guess. It just, occurred to me, well no, I said it, and obviously you know, that I-”

“Oh, hey, wow, Darius,” Kenji rubbed an awkward hand through his hair, trying to pretend that wasn’t exactly where his thoughts had jumped too. “Obviously we, I mean god, Brand’s going to probably kill me just for, let’s not jump the gun here. We should, definitely wait and-”

“Right, okay, waiting, until we’re back together. Sounds like a good plan Mr. VIP.” Darius instantly relaxed, even gave him a joking smile, and gently took Kenji’s hand.

“Hey, when have I ever come up with a bad plan?” Kenji smirked.

So, I wrote the first three scenes upon my first watch of Chaos Theory, but I wasn’t confident enough to post it because it wasn't really long and cohesive enough to be its own thing. I only just wrote the last two in conclusion of the show and decided to finally post this after the most recent season because it at least has a semi-loose ending I can work with if I wish to upon more. I really do just adore these two though and have shipped Karius since I started Camp Cretaceous though, nobody can convince me Kenji wasn’t doing his best to impress Darius like a kid meeting his first crush, and exactly zero people can convince me this boy wasn’t going through a bisexual crisis upon realizing he had a crush on Brooklyn And Darius during all that craziness on the boat at the beginning of season four.

Darius all but confirming his aromantic status though has me hesitant to do anything more with all this. I still love the pairing, but being unfamiliar with that status on the rainbow flag myself I don’t want to presume anymore for Darius even if I’ll go down with this ship!

*Darius is wearing a yellow jacket just like Dennis Nedry, and I don’t care it’s a loose connection, I legit thought it was some subtle earmark that we were at least going to get a fake out death for him!  (not some subtle hint he was suddenly wearing Brooklyn’s favorite color, lmao!) (Alsoalso, wrong fakeout death for which character!)

**Given that Darius’s mom’s name is never stated (seriously the lack of any of the kids parents names ever getting dropped is kind of weird but whatever) I went with Kelly Malcom. Does this make sense logically/ time wise? In theory… sure. She was roughly twelve during Lost World, and this does take place twenty-ish years later, more than enough time to have two kids, and while she does look a bit older than in her 30’s, I think her husband's illness/ stress/ animation can wave that aside.

Would she have let her son go to a dinosaur infested island given her past? Given the circumstances, I don’t think she would have denied Darius anything, no matter her doubts and fears.

Does this connection exist just to amuse the absolute shit out of me? Yes. Yes it does.

 I hope you enjoyed alllll that.