Headaches and Birthday Cakes
Headaches and Birthday Cakes
A Teen Wolf RPF One-Shot
For peet4paint or Yuletide 2012
Colton Haynes, Dylan O'Brien, Tyler Hoechlin
The day after Tyler Posey’s 21st birthday party, Dylan O’Brien woke up with the worst (legal) hangover he had ever had. Dylan rubbed his eyes with the end of his loosened bowtie and propped himself up with his elbow on Posey’s bare stomach. Posey winced a little in his slumber, but seemed to return to his unconscious bliss as he shifted, further exacerbating his look of complete disarray as his arms went even more backwards up the head hole of his shirt instead of the sleeves. It couldn’t really be said that Posey’s shirt was actually on him, because it was hanging off of his arms and that was the only place of contact except for where Posey’s wild hair was using the shirt as a pillow. Posey still had frosting on his ear from his birthday cake, of which the leftovers were prominently being showcased on the table in the center of the room. In other words, it was clear that Posey had had a wild night. Dylan rubbed his eyes with the bowtie again and his vision sort of cleared. He could see across the hotel room and saw some red blob he assumed to be Holland’s hair coming out of the bathroom door and there was some sort of big lump on the armchair. Dylan blinked (Why did his eyelids feel so stiff?) and then he realized that that lump was actually Colton.
Dylan’s headache suddenly sharpened. Colton. It had been about a week since Colton had dropped that bombshell on Twitter, of all places. To say that it was a shock wasn’t quite accurate - Dylan still felt like it was just some sort of drawn out prank and it wasn’t actually going to happen. The idea of Colton leaving Teen Wolf had been sort of a running gag ever since season one - nobody knew where the rumor had come from, but it had firmly staked out a constant seat on the gossip train. In an effort to dispel some of the uneasiness, Colton had turned it into a joke - When Tyler Hoechlin was running late, Colton would exclaim with an exaggerated huff, “That’s it! I’m quitting for real!” When the cast did their first table read for Season 2 and Colton learned that Jackson was supposed to be swallowing a snake, Colton broke character and said, “I don’t even want to know what kind of sexual innuendo could be made out of this. Seriously, I’m quitting before I find out!” After these declarations of quitting, the rest of the cast and crew would always laugh and good-naturedly smack Colton on the back with an “Oh, Colton.” It was always just a silly joke, just a rumor.
And then suddenly it wasn’t. Somewhere along the line, Colton must have stopped thinking it as a given that he wasn’t really going to leave. Somewhere along the line, Colton must have decided that not only was it a possibility that he could leave, but it was what he was actually going to do. And somehow, nobody had known that this change had happened. How could they have not known? How could Colton not tell them?
Dylan locked his jaw and unwittingly also added force to his elbow, digging into Posey’s stomach. Still asleep, Posey made some sort of grunting noise and moved around again, becoming even more tangled in his shirt. The grunt wasn’t very loud, but it woke Colton from across the room. Colton righted himself on the chair, and groaned while he stretched.
“Shit, I feel like...well, I feel like shit.”
The pressure in Dylan’s jaw shifted as he managed a lopsided smile. “Good morning to you, too, Colton.”
Colton seemed to still be in the same daze from last night and so, for some reason, he thought it was a good idea to try to get up from the chair. Colton stood up for an instant and his legs gave out - Dylan could swear that Colton's way down managed to wobble back and forth several times despite occurring in the span of a second.
Colton giggled to himself as he sat in a heap on the ground (There was no other way to describe it). “Oops!” Colton looked up at Dylan and grinned. Dylan’s smile was still on his face and he was just too tired to make a new response. The two of them sat there for a little bit; the only movements were Dylan moving his hand to his head to try to dull his throbbing headache and Colton’s shoulders shaking a little as he continued chortling to himself.
“Hey, why didn’t Hoechlin come with us to Vegas?”
Dylan glanced at Posey, still completely unconscious and oblivious to the tension suddenly threatening to push at the walls of the room. Good. Dylan’s brain was hazy and he furrowed his brow, determined to answer in the least hurtful way possible to everyone involved.
“I don’t know, man. I think he had some other commitment. Maybe like a baseball game, ha.”
Colton didn’t seem to catch the lack of mirth in Dylan’s laugh. “Haha, yeah, I can see that. Still, a baseball game isn’t as important as friendship with Posey, right?”
Dylan couldn’t help the thought that popped into his head But chasing network television is more important, huh? Dylan shook his head, not in response to Colton’s rhetorical question, but in response to his own thoughts. Dylan couldn’t fault Colton for taking care of his own career. Colton had to put himself first and it was unfair of Dylan to blame him for doing what was right for himself.
It still hurt, though.
“I have a great idea!” Colton said brightly. The cheer in Colton’s voice incited a flash of pain with Dylan’s headache. How could Colton be so damn happy?
“What?” Dylan wasn’t sure he really wanted to know what this great idea was.
“Let’s call Hoechlin so he can join in on the fun!”
This was not a great idea. In fact, this was a terrible idea. It was hurting his brain, but Dylan’s thoughts raced as he tried to figure out how to dissuade Colton from doing this.
“I mean, the party was last night, Colton...The fun is essentially over...”
“Can’t nobody hold me down, yo! I’m gonna call him!”
The blood rushed to his head as Dylan hurried over to Colton and tried to get to him before Colton could get out his phone. But despite Colton’s impaired cognitive abilities, Colton surprisingly had a steady grasp on his cell phone. Dylan tried to wrestle it away, but Colton had somehow already dialed Hoechlin’s number.
Dylan gave up and just hoped that Hoechlin wouldn’t answer. Actually, now that he thought about it, that could very well happen. And that wouldn’t be such a good thing, either, because that meant that Hoechlin was still, well, not very happy with Colton.
Dylan could hear the busy tone as it repeated itself over and over again. With each monotonous sound, Colton’s smile faded a little. Dylan wasn’t sure, but as Colton’s smile died, it seemed like his eyes were filling with something that read to Dylan like...like fear?
Colton took his phone away from his ear and tapped the screen to end the call. For a moment, Colton’s face was crestfallen.
“Maybe Hoechlin is busy...He’s probably busy with whatever kept him from coming to the party.” Dylan tried to be logical.
For a second, Colton didn’t answer but then, sweeping that look from his face, Colton chirped, “Actually, my phone’s been kinda stupid and not working lately. Let’s call from your phone!”
And before Dylan had even had a chance to process the idea, Colton had snatched Dylan’s phone and was calling Hoechlin.
“What - No - “ Dylan threw his hands up hopelessly. Colton was determined to get through to Hoechlin.
And, after just one of those now-familiar busy tones, Dylan could hear Hoechlin’s voice from the phone. “Hey, what’s up, Dylan?"
Colton’s lips pressed together and then, after what seemed like an abnormally long pause, he finally released the inhale he had been keeping in. “Wassup, Hoechlin!” Despite the pep in Colton’s voice, his eyes flickered with fear again. “It’s me. Colton. I took Dylan’s phone.”
Dylan closed his eyes and the throb of his headache was the loudest thing Dylan could hear.
It seemed like an eternity until Hoechlin’s voice finally came through the speaker. “Oh. Hi.”
Colton just continued barreling on, “We missed you out here, buddy! The party was CRAZY. Posey definitely celebrated his birthday in style and now he’s completely conked out. I think Holland fell asleep on the bathroom floor. Dylan and I are the only ones awake right now, and, let me tell you, we’re both nursing pretty bad hangovers. Altogether, it was a ridiculous night and you should’ve been here! What’s the dealio, dude? Why couldn’t you come?”
Colton panted a little after spewing all that out - he hadn’t taken a breath that whole time. Dylan mentally braced himself. He wasn’t sure what the outcome of this would be, but he had a feeling it wasn’t going to be too good.
“Fuck you, Colton.”
Well. That was quite strong. Dylan’s intuition was unfortunately correct.
Colton didn’t even seem taken aback. “So you didn’t come to the party because of me? I didn’t realize you cared about me that much!” Dylan didn’t understand why Colton was goading Hoechlin like this.
“Look, I didn’t want to ruin Posey’s birthday by having it all come out right now, but okay, since you insist, let’s just let it all out.” Hoechlin was usually so in control of his emotions, but these words were about to burst through his restraint.
“Okay. Let’s,” Colton responded flippantly.
The only thing Dylan had going through his head ended up coming out of his mouth in a murmur, “We’re going to wake everyone else up...”
Colton’s voice suddenly escalated in volume. “Good! I want to know exactly what you all think of me. How much of a jackass do you think I am? How much do you all fucking hate me? Let’s just get it all out in the open!”
Hoechlin began speaking before Colton even finished and his voice, too, was raised. “You’re possibly the worst kind of jackass there is! Because you’re not an asshole to people who antagonize you, or even to people in general. You betrayed people who trusted you and who cared about you!”
Colton was shaking now. “I admit it! I’m a selfish bastard! Go on, hate me. Hate me for leaving you all! Hate me for breaking away!”
Hoechlin’s voice trembled with the vibrato of his full fury. “You’re missing the whole point, you dumbass! The problem is that we don’t hate you! We don’t blame you for doing what you felt was right by your career. What we’re so angry about is that you didn’t fuckin trust us enough to tell us! We had to find out through Twitter. You didn’t have the decency to even give us any kind of warning before announcing it to the world. And then you just remove yourself from our lives completely and when you do come back, you just waltz in like everything’s all fine and dandy!”
“But I’m not fine,” The sudden drop in Colton’s volume meant that Dylan almost missed what Colton had said. Colton put the phone closer to his mouth and looked directly at Dylan with the fear unveiled in his eyes as he repeated, “I’m not fine. I’m still not sure I made the right decision and I don’t know where I’m going and I’m just - I was afraid that none of you would want anything to do with me.”
There was a silence on the other end of the phone line. Colton asked, almost plaintively, “Tyler?”
Hoechlin’s voice came back to them, also much softer. “I’m here, Colton. I just - it’s going to be strange without you. And I think we all need to go about getting used to this slowly, so let’s just - let’s just keep that in mind, okay?”
“Okay,” Colton said, and the sight of the dashed hopes in his eyes was breaking Dylan’s heart. Colton had clearly still been hoping that things could be the same, and that if only they pretended hard enough, thing could instantly work out. And Dylan had been holding onto all his bitterness, but to hear in words where the pain was actually coming from and to see that everyone, including Colton, was hurting - Dylan now saw that what was truly important was for them to all take care of each other.
“Aww, I love you guys,” Dylan said with his signature wry spunk, but sincerity resonated from the words’ core as he put his arm around Colton’s shoulders. Colton cracked a smile and they could hear the grin in Hoechlin’s voice.
“I love you all, too.”
“I love you all back.”
Dylan averted his attention to the center of the room. “Now, I don’t know if there’s any scientific evidence to back this up, but I hear that birthday cake is the best cure for hangover headache, so I’m gonna go get myself some. Sucks to be you, Hoechlin, you’re missing out.”
Hoechlin laughed. “Yeah, I guess I am. Tell Posey when he wakes up that I’m sorry I missed the party. If he ever wakes up, that is.”
Colton laughed, too. “Yeah, I can’t believe he’s still asleep. Holland’s still out, too. It’s incredible. You know, I think I’m going to join Dylan in eating some of that cake. I only had a bite of it last night, but it was delicious.”
“Sounds good. I’ve got to go now, but bring me back some, okay?”
“Sure thing, Hoechlin.”
“Thanks.” Hoechlin paused. “Miss you.”
“I miss you, too. I miss you all.” Colton hung up the phone after the goodbyes.
Colton turned to Dylan and smiled. “Ugh, I have a hangover headache, too. You think this birthday cake cure thing will work?”
“I dunno, man, but let’s find out! My headache is killing me!”
Truthfully, Dylan’s headache wasn’t hurting him at all anymore. In fact, his head didn’t feel all that heavy anymore. And, Dylan realized, neither did his heart.