Embers // Dylan O'Brien X Reader

~2~

"Okay, we got tomatoes, bell peppers, a cucumber, lettuce. What else?" you read from your grocery list.

"Goat cheese?" Dylan suggested.

"No, we still have some at home from earlier this week. What are we missing? I feel like we're missing something." You chewed on the inside of your cheek as you looked around the produce section of the grocery store. Dylan rested his forearms on the handle of the grocery cart, not making any effort to help.

"Salad dressing!" you then victoriously exclaimed.

"Darling," Dylan said, holding up the bottle you had already placed in the cart.

"Right..." you muttered. "C'mon, Dyl, what are we forgetting?"

"I honestly don't know. How about we do the rest of the groceries and maybe then you'll remember?" he suggested.

You stuck out your bottom lip. "All right," you agreed before following Dylan to the next section of the store. You turned the corner and nearly crashed into the teenage girl building a small mountain of packs of toilet paper. She couldn't be much older than sixteen.

"Oh, my God, I'm so sorry," you instantly rambled, grabbing onto the girl's arm to keep her from falling over. "I was not looking where I was going. I'm really sorry,"

"Oh, no probl-" she said before looking up. Her eyes widened. "You're Y/N L/N."

"I am," you confirmed before playfully nudging your head toward Dylan, who was trailing behind you with the cart.

The girl's jaw dropped. "This is officially the best day of my life."

You couldn't help but laugh. "What's your name, honey?"

"It's ehm..." She nervously swallowed. "It's Elizabeth."

"Nice to meet you, Elizabeth," you said.

"Can I give you a hug?" she asked timidly.

"Yes, of course." You opened your arms for a hug and she turned to Dylan afterwards. He gave her a warm hug, rubbing a hand over her back.

"You're, like, my favourite celebrity couple, ever. Can I please take a picture with you two?" she said, excitedly waving her hands through the air as she talked.

"Absolutely," Dylan said, nodding. Elizabeth drew her phone from her pocket and the three of you snapped a bunch of pictures.

"These are amazing, thank you so much," she said as she scrolled through them. The broad smile never left her face and her green eyes sparkled.

"No problem," you replied. "It was really nice to meet you, Elizabeth, but we gotta go."

"Yes, of course. Thanks again," she said, waving softly.

You walked off with Dylan, still smiling from Elizabeth's excited reaction.

After collecting the rest of your groceries -and remembering what you missed in the produce section, namely corn- you headed toward the register. As you walked past the vitamins, you spotted the women's section. You stopped.

"Just in case?" you asked Dylan and he shrugged. You smiled softly before taking three pregnancy tests and dumping them in your cart.

***

You suppressed a yawn under your hand, snuggling further under your blanket. Your legs were stretched out across the couch, your feet resting in Dylan's lap. An old rerun of the Office was playing on the TV but you could barely keep your eyes open, so you missed most of it.

"You okay?" Dylan asked softly and you sat up, not having noticed your head had started to fall to the side.

You blinked to wake yourself up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"From?" he asked.

"Existing," you said drily.

"Fair point." He laughed softly, shaking his head at you. "Come here." He opened his arms and you clambered to the other side of the couch, gladly wrapping your arms around your boyfriend, curling up against him. You contently exhaled. "What's on your mind?"

"I was just thinking about Elizabeth," you replied. "She was really sweet."

Five years ago, not long after you and Dylan had met at a convention, you started dating and you quickly knew he was the person you were supposed to have a family with. It took one conversation to discover he wanted the exact same thing. The first three years of your relationship had been hard. You wanted to spend every single second together but you were often apart because of work. You worked in the social media business, mostly focused on the movie and tv industry, which is how you had ended up on the same convention as Dylan. But in those first few years of your relationship, you were both trying to make a name for yourselves. Dylan took on almost every acting job and you were all over the place interviewing people and writing articles.

It wasn't until Dylan had started filming the final Maze Runner movie that he decided to slow down. You had been at home more as well, choosing to take time off for your family. Two years ago, you decided to start trying to have a baby, but it hadn't happened yet, sadly.

However, while being in a relationship with a rather well-known actor had its amazing perks, it also had a few downsides. Most of Dylan's fans were incredible. They supported your relationship in every way possible and even though they didn't know you were trying to get pregnant, they somehow knew you were going to have a family one day. The downside, however, was the toxic fans. They wanted Dylan to themselves and would send hate your way at any given chance. A bit after you had announced you were dating, you even had to deactivate your Twitter for a while because it was just too overwhelming.

You'd also had a few encounters in person with people like this. They only wanted to talk to Dylan and even though he tried to include you as much as possible, you knew better than to insert yourself in a situation where you weren't wanted.

"Yeah, she really was," Dylan agreed, kissing the top of your head. The doorbell rang and Dylan gently lifted you off him to go fetch the pizzas you had ordered for dinner. You sat up on the couch and waited for him to return. Your eyes drooped shut and you nearly drifted off to sleep before you jolted back up as Dylan placed the pizzas on the coffee table. "Were you asleep?"

"No," you quickly said. "Almost."

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, frowning lightly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," you said, but you were interrupted by a yawn. "Actually, can you put my pizza in the fridge? I'll eat it tomorrow or something."

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Not anymore. I'm not feeling too well. I think I'm gonna turn in early."

"Oh, okay," he said, somewhat surprised. "Feel better. I love you."

"Love you too." You leaned down to give him a kiss before you headed toward your bed. As soon as your head hit your pillow, you were out like a light. 

I just want to thank everyone who has been so supportive and excited about this book! I appreciate all of you so much ♡