photographs | chris chambers ✅

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Somehow Dylan hasn't fallen asleep. The tiredness he felt in the first hour-and-a-half soon resided, most of his senses shutting off from the cold. The crack of a branch makes him aim the gun automatically, only to find Chris at the barrel.

" Sorry," he apologizes, lowering his aim. His voice sounds inverted in his own ears. Chris grabs his blanket, moving to sit beside Dylan.

" You're freezing," Chris states, wrapping him in the blanket.

" I'm fine," he grumbles, his eyes looking forward into the darkness. A heavy sigh escapes him, heat rolling across his skin, feeling better than any massage he could get. " Thank you," he whispers, placing his head on Chris' chest. The latter tenses a moment before relaxing, placing his arm around him, pulling him closer.

" You're welcome." Silence surrounds them soon. Time could pass and neither would notice, both in their own world until Chris breaks the silence once more.

" You could take college courses." Dylan moves his head up, his look expressionless.

" So could you Chambers."

" They won't let me."

" They won't let me either. We're in the same boat Chambers. You n' me."

" You know, no one even asked me if I took the lunch money. I just got a three-day vacation."

After a moment Dylan asks, " Did you take it?"

" Yeah, I took it. You knew I took it. Gordie knew I took it. Everyone knew I took it," a moment passes before he speaks again. " Maybe I was sorry and I tried to give back."

" You tried to give it back?" Dylan inquires, raising an eyebrow. He moves off his chest so he's now sitting beside the blond. Knowing himself Dylan would've kept it like the asshole he was pictured as.

" Maybe, just maybe. And maybe I took it to Old Lady Simons and told her. And the money was all there. But still got a three-day vacation because it never showed up. And maybe the next week Old Lady Simons had that brand new skirt on when she came to school."

" It looked like shit," he responds. Chris only gives a dry laugh.

" Yeah. So let's just say that I stole the milk money but Old Lady Simons stole it back from me. Just suppose that I told that story. Me, Chris Chambers, kid brother of the Eyeball Chambers. You think anybody would believe that?"

" No," Dylan whispers.

" And d'you think that that bitch would have dared try something like that if it would have been one of those dicks up from The View if they had taken the money?"

" Hell no!"

" But with me! I'm sure she had her eyes on that skirt for a long time. Anyway, she had her chance and she took it. I was the stupid one for even trying to give it back." Chris' lip begins to quiver and he starts to shake a bit. Dylan leans off the tree, getting a better look at him. " I never thought - I thought that a teacher-Oh who gives a fuck anyway?"

His body racks with sobs, soft sobs leaving his lips. Dylan gently pulls the crying boy to his chest, Chris instinctively hiding his head in the crook of his neck. Tears flow down his neck and his chest. A small shiver runs up his spine at the feeling before relaxing once more.

" I just wish I could go to someplace where nobody knows me. I guess I'm just a pussy, Dylan," Chris mumbles, his hands gripping onto Dylan's shirt and waist tightly.

" No Chris, never." Time passes slowly, Chris' sobs turning into light sniffles. Soon he sits up against the tree once more. Their hands lay beside each other, Dylan's breath getting caught in his throat because of it.

He forces himself to take a heavy breath in, allowing his nerves to disappear. Slowly, all of his anxiety disappears as he begins to speak.