Chapter Text
1. We’re all made of stardust.
Ryan couldn’t sleep.
He lay awake, sitting across one of the bottom bunks of the male counselor cabin. Nick was sleeping on the bottom bunk next to his, sleeping like a baby. Jacob was sound asleep above Ryan, snoring, as he always did. It was annoying, but Ryan had gotten used to it quickly. Dylan, on the other hand, would complain about Jacob’s snoring on a regular basis.
Speaking of Dylan, he wasn't here.
Ryan hadn’t seen him come into the cabin, and he was pretty sure it was close to midnight.
Maybe he was taking a walk? Who knows.
Ryan sighed, staring at the wood of the top bunk. He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t sleep, to be honest. He could block out Jacob’s snores most nights, but something told him that it was something else that was keeping him awake. He sighed, rolling his head back and forth to try and find a comfortable position to lay in. He could feel himself finally drifting off, snores from above fading away. He heard some creaking noises coming from the ceiling, but he didn’t want to think about that right now. He just wanted to get some rest…
CLANG!
With a shaky breath, Ryan’s eyelids flew open as he sat up with a jolt. “What the hell was that?” He mumbled quietly.
Something told him that he should probably go and see what made the loud noise. It probably wasn’t a good idea, but it was going to bother him if he didn’t know, and that was another thing that would keep him awake. Ryan hastily threw some shoes on, grabbed a flashlight from his backpack, and went outside, making sure to not wake up Nick or Jacob. He quietly crept down the stairs, shining the flashlight around the surrounding area. There was no sign of anything or anyone else around.
It was probably just a scared animal, he figured. It could’ve been a bear.
“Psst! Ryan! Ryan!”
He turned around at the hushed call of his name, only to be greeted by no one.
“Up here!”
Ryan nervously pointed his flashlight up to where the voice was coming from; the roof of the cabin. And what he saw… was definitely not what he expected to see, to say the least. It was no animal, but Dylan Lenivy, the one and only. He sat on the roof’s ridge, waving to the other counselor. It took Ryan a solid twenty seconds of shock to form a proper sentence.
“What the fuck are you doing up there?” He asked quietly, but still projected his voice; wanting Dylan to hear him, and also not wanting to wake up any campers.
“Okay! So, funny story!” Dylan grinned, as if this were a normal Tuesday for him. “So, I was looking at the moon, and I thought to myself, “Hm, the moon is being blocked by that huge tree. What if I climbed on top of the roof? Maybe I could get a better view.” And so, I stole the ladder from the shed near the lodge, dragged that bad boy all the way over here, and set it up behind the cabin. But, once I got up here, I accidentally hit it with my foot and knocked it over.”
“You dragged it all the way from the lodge?" Ryan asked, disbelief in his voice. “Do you know how far that is from here?”
“I know, right? My arms are killing me.” Dylan said, clearly proud of himself. “Anyway, do you think you could, uh, put the ladder back up here? So I don”t have to jump down? Please? Pretty please?”
Ryan rolled his eyes, unable to hide a small, amused smile. “Fine.” He shook his head, walking to the fallen ladder, and heard Dylan’s excited “Thank you!” as he leaned down to pick it up. With a bit of struggle, he managed to tilt the ladder up into the correct position, then adjusted it so that it leaned to the back of the cabin.
“All set.” He called out.
“Actually, you should come up here!” He heard Dylan say.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, dude! This is a killer view.”
Ryan sighed. Was he really about to do this?
“...Okay. But I’m not getting on the roof, I’m only going to stand on the ladder.”
“Fine by me.”
Ryan started to climb up the ladder, climbing rung after rung until he was at the same height as Dylan. He had a bright smile on his face, illuminated by the glistening moon above them. It was in the third quarter of the moon phase cycle, and while it was beautiful, it probably didn’t require dragging a ladder through the forest to see it.
“How long did it take you to bring this here?” Ryan asked.
Dylan hummed, trying to think of the answer. “Uh… twenty… thirty…? Uh…” He shrugged. “A long time.”
“You know you’re going to have to carry it back, right?”
He looked at Ryan with surprise, as if that thought had never occurred to him. The surprised expression turned into one of annoyance, and he let out a long groan.
“Y- You know- whatever. Mr. H will find it in the morning.” He sighed.
There was silence between the two of them after that, but it was a peaceful, comfortable silence. Both of them looked at the moon and the stars, listening to the occasional sounds of a faraway owl.
“I think that’s Saturn right there.” Ryan said, pointing to a bright light in the sky above them.
“Really?” Dylan turned and raised a curious eyebrow. “How do you know?”
“Well… I don’t know for sure, but… My sister was really into astronomy a couple years back. I learned a few things from her.”
A small “Hm.” was earned from Dylan as he looked back up. “I’ve never been able to tell the difference.”
“Well, planets are brighter than stars, for one.” Ryan began to explain. “And they look kind of like a disc instead of a dot, since they’re closer to earth.” He could see Dylan squinting, trying to distinguish the two objects.
“Actually, speaking of stars… you wanna hear something crazy?” Dylan questioned.
“Sure. Shoot.”
Ryan could see the moonlight shine on him as he spoke. “I read about this study once that scientists did, and it turns out, humans share, like, 97% of their atoms with stars.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Pretty cool, right?”
Ryan didn’t answer right away. A human having the same atomic makeup as a star? He’d never heard of that, but it was definitely something interesting.
“Yeah. Cool.” He replied calmly.
“So, it pretty much means that we’re all made of stardust.” Dylan continued, and his face lit up. “Okay, dude. What if I got beheaded, and instead of blood spilling out of my neck, it’s a bunch of stardust?”
“Beheaded?” Ryan chuckled. “This isn’t the 1700’s.”
“Hey, you never know! There could be a guillotine hidden around here somewhere.”
“I doubt it.”
“Or! What if I got attacked by a werewolf, and it sliced off my head?”
“Oh my god.”
The two of them laugh quietly, accompanied by the stars above them.
“Well, I think I’m gonna go to bed.” Said Ryan as he readjusted himself on the ladder. “You better hope Mr. H doesn’t find out you stole this.”
“Look, when I wake up to do announcements tomorrow, I’ll wake up earlier than usual and drag this back to the shed.” Dylan shrugged. “No one will suspect a thing.”
“Alright, if you say so. Night, Dylan.” He said, waving briefly before climbing down the ladder.
“Night!” The other waved back, watching Ryan disappear down the ladder. Ryan gave Dylan one last smile for the night from the ground as he slowly opened the cabin door, walking inside.”
We’re all made up of stardust, huh?
It was definitely an interesting thing to think about.
And little did Ryan know, Dylan would tell him many more things that summer. Many more interesting things.