Sunrise ~ Ben Pincus x Reader ~ Camp Cretaceous

🦕ྀི (IX)

Chapter Nine

[Ben POV]

Smoke rises from the crashed gyrosphere as Kenji and I stumble out of it.

My breathing becomes more and more panicked as all tons of things that could've happened to Y/N run through my mind. I promised to protect her. And now... now we're the ones that need protecting.

"This is all your fault!" I yell at Kenji, tears threatening to fall from my eyes. "If you could've just let me drive, we'd have found Y/N and the others by now!"

"No, we wouldn't have!" Kenji hollers back. "Because your driving is so slow, that we would've wound up driving in the jungle for hours until we starve to death! You should've just let me drive! Besides, why are you even so worried about Y/N? It's not like you're her boyfriend!"

He hit a nerve. I crumple on the ground and cover my ears in a little Ben ball, and I sense Kenji's glare softening slightly.

"Look, I'm sorry Ben. It's just--" his voice is muffled by my palms, and he gives up with a sigh and doesn't finish his sentence.

Then we both hear rustling. I immediately scurry back in fright, and Kenji backs away, until a tentative female voice rings around the air.

"Kenji? Ben? Is that you?"

I sob in relief, and run up to her, throwing my arms around her torso.
Y/N staggers back at the force of my hug, and she yelps in shock.

"Ben! Oh my, I thought something had happened!" she cries, her head leaning on my shoulder.

"Uh, I'm okay too, thanks for asking." Kenji sarcastically says, rolling his eyes

Y/N breaks away from the hug, and stomps right up to him. Kenji takes a few steps back nervously.

"It was you, wasn't it?! You crashed the gyrosphere!" she hollers at Kenji, who yelps at her tone.

"No! It wasn't me!" he scowls at her, and I feel the urge to pull my best friend away from his glare.

Y/N seems to release a growl, and I see her hand clench into a fist, shaking dangerously, so I rush to pull her back.

When I look at her face, I notice that her eyes are welling up with tears, and she crumples down, and starts to sob silently, her back leaning against the tree in anguish, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

The sight makes my heart painful; I hate seeing Y/N like this.

I crouch down beside her and pull her into a hug, completely ignoring Kenji muttering under his breath from across the clearing.

But I don't notice his glare softening, his eyes flashing with wistfulness, as he sees us wrapped around each other

"Hey, hey. Are you okay?" I ask softly, trying to comfort her.

She seems to cry even harder as she says, "It's all my fault. I had the idea to go after the Sinoceratops. If something happens to the others..."

"It's not your fault," I mumble, burying my face into her hair, making my voice become muffled.

"And I'm sorry, Kenji." Y/N says, her voice cracking. "I'm sorry for taking it out on you. I'm just... I'm just really scared. I've never been in a situation like this before, and I thought I'd handle it well, but... look at me now."