⍟ Broken Strings {A Chaos Theory x Male Reader Story - Ben}

𝟹. 𝙵𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚛 𝙵𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚜

"Well, I've gathered that now!" Y/N huffs.

The three of them assume their usual defensive position, back-to-back. They listen out, hearts beating faster as the chirping grows nearer.

Out of the trees, three Dilophosaurus pounce, circling the trio and spitting their poison. Kenji and Sammy leap out of the way, Smoothie tumbling from the backpack. Y/N ducks down, the black liquid almost grazing his hair.

Kenji rushes to retrieve Smoothie, a Dilophosaur charging right for them. Thinking quickly, maybe too quickly, Y/N jumps forward, tackling the dinosaur to the ground. While this probably isn't entirely out of character, he definitely wouldn't call himself an expert.

The creature rolls them over, Y/N having to hold its neck back as it bites at his head. He rears back his leg and kicks the dinosaur in its middle, sending the predator stumbling back.

Smoothie runs off, hiding under a rock. The Dilophosaurus chases after him, snapping as its head is unable to fit in the small slot.

Smoothie squeals, jumping forward and jabbing the Dilophosaurus in the eye with his head and spooking it off. Smoothie lets out a little bellow, banding his tail against the ground.

Another one of the dinosaurs lunges for Sammy, but she frantically slaps it away with the tablet.

As the predator runs off, Kenji rushes over to retrieve his boy, "Okay, buddy, papas got you." He puts Smoothie back in the bag.

"Got him?" Y/N calls.

"Got him!" Kenji nods.

"Okay, okay! Let's go!" Sammy rushes off, jumping over the log. The boys follow, panting as they run aimlessly.

"Do you think they're following us!?" Kenji shouts.

"I'm not looking back to check!" Y/N boosts forward, "And I'm getting real sick of literally fist fighting dinosaurs! When are we investing in shock prods!?"

"That's what I've been saying!" Kenji huffs.

"Can we focus?" Sammy turns around suddenly and stops, the two men bumping into her. The three of them turn to see headlight approaching rapidly. Definitely fast enough to flatten them if the driver hadn't stopped an inch away from Sammy's face.

They take a second to catch their breath, the adrenalin flowing through their veins even more heightened than before. When Y/N looks up through the windshield, he almost can't believe his eyes, "Ben!?"

Ben, along with Brooklyn, Yaz and Darius, all sit in the truck in front of them. The lot of them let out a relieved sigh at the notion that they haven't just committed vehicular manslaughter on the other 3/7ths of the Nublar 7.

There's no time to celebrate, however, as the Dilophosaur catch up, creeping toward the car.

"Get in!" Brooklyn urges, Darius and Yasmina opening the back doors. Sammy, Y/N and Kenji stumble over themselves, hurrying to leap into the car and squish into the backseat with their friends.

Ben speeds off, not stopping until the dinosaurs are off their trail. When he does screech to a halt, he skids sideways, throwing up dirt as the truck settles in the grass. It's silent for a moment, Brooklyn rolls down her window and Ben opens up his door, checking for any sign of danger.

When the coast is presumed clear, Darius opens his door and everyone in the back seat topples out, landing in one big pile. Besides Sammy, who gracefully steps over them with a gasp.

Finally, the realization hits and they begin to laugh, all happy to see one another. They fall into a group hug, as per usual, all glancing around.

"It's so good to see you guys!" Darius grins.

"I-- I can't believe this!" Brooklyn can't help but chuckle.

"I mean, this is--" Ben's sentence falls short, "We're all... We're all back!"

"Ah..." Y/N pulls away with a small smile when he notices himself holding Ben's hand, he's quick to clear his throat and look elsewhere, but Ben can't help but crack a grin.

"Uhm, uh... yeah." Kenji looks down awkwardly when he becomes aware of Brooklyn standing next to him.

Ben's smile fades, but Darius speaks up, "Uhm... what are you three doing here? I mean-- I thought you were headed home."

"Yeah, we thought so too." Y/N nods, "Until the Pyroraptor decided it wanted to pay a visit."

"Pyroraptor?" Brooklyn raises a brow.

"Big, feathery monster that terrorized Ben's friend's village." Yasmina fills in.

"It escaped the BioSyn van." Y/N goes on, "Almost slaughtered a bunch of tourists. And then we discovered that, well, Bumpy's here. Here in BioSyn valley."

"What!?" Ben takes a step closer as the others gasp.

"We came to get her right away!" Sammy ensures him, "But Dodgson dumped us in the forest like a bad habit."

"W--We gotta find her!" Ben heads frantically for the truck, "Get her out of here, and... Wait! Where's--"

"Got him right here for you." Kenji holds a sleeping Smoothie out to Ben.

"Aw, Smooth Man." Ben grins instantly as the baby dino stirs away, "I was worried about you. Are you okay?"

"You'll be proud to know that our little Smoothster faced off against some big scary Dilophosauruses and won." Kenji relays, "So, I'd say he's doing pretty good! We might want to protect him forever, but... he can hold his own."

"The egg... in Senegal..." Brooklyn slowly realizes, "Is that... Bumpy's?"

"Uh-huh." Ben grins, "This is Smoothie." He holds the little dino out to her, "You wanna meet him?"

Brooklyn slowly reaches forward, offering Smoothie her hand like he's a suspicious dog. She giggles softly when the dinosaur welcomes her, pawing at her and tumbling into her palms.

"Let's get Bumpy out of BioSyn's clutche." Ben turns back to the others.

"We managed to stop Santos, but the Atrociraptors weren't the only dinos BioSyn trained to kill." Darius explains.

"Yeah, there's a whole new generation coming up thanks to our old friend Dr. Wu." Yaz scoffs.

Kenji's eyes blow wide, "Dr. Wu is here?"

"Yeah, and he's on our side." Brooklyn nods, freezing when Kenji, Sammy and Y/N turn their heads at her in surprise, "It's a whole thing." She waves it off.

"We're headed to a research outpost to destroy Wu's data." Darius goes on, "But I bet we can use the servers to find where they're keeping Bumpy too."

"Anyone else just catch a serious case of deja vu?" Kenji chuckles.

"Oh, yeah! It's just like old times." Y/N shakes his head.

Sammy throws her hands up in mock surprise, "Darius? With a plan? Who'd have thunk!"

Everyone laughs, even Darius, though he waves them away, "Just get in the car."

As the others pile in, Darius turns to Y/N, offering up the keys, "You said it was just like old times, so I figured we'd stick to our roots."

Y/N shakes the other man by the shoulder and snatches up his offering, "You're the best, D!" He climbs into the driver's seat, the other man getting in the back.

"Everyone buckled in?" Y/N glances back as he adjusts the rear-view mirror. He's met with a clamor of complaints about his reckless driving as he puts the car into gear.

"Whattt?" He grins, "It's just like when we were kids. Except now I have a license and ridiculously fast reflexes." He turns the radio up and peels out through the trees.