Dream was woken by the monotonous droaning of his phone on the desk beside his bed. He groaned, sitting up and itching his blonde, slightly greasy hair with a disgruntled expression on his tanned face. He scratched at himself, examining the marks that the sheets had left upon his arms.
The sun was filtering through his blinds, preventing any further sleep that he may have wanted to indulge in.
His phone buzzed again.
Dream reached out for it, his hand brushing past a glass of musty water that had been sitting there since the start of August. He winkled his nose at the smell that the water had managed to emit. Switching on his phone he checked the time. 15:06. He had slept for 6 hours, a new personal record.
Lying back down, Dream casually scrolled through twitter, retweeting particularly amazing fanart and liking some of his followers replies. He laughed to himself about something Sapnap had said, and pausing for a bit, tweeted back a witty reply.
Yawning, Dream switched to Discord, scrolling through his private messages and ignoring Tommy's borderline offensive angry dms.
A notification caught Dream's eye and he tensed his muscles in shock. Panic briefly taking him over.
He had forty-three unopened messages from his Mum.
Oh no, he had fucked up.
Gingerly tapping on the notifications, Dream opened the app, gritting his teeth in pure terror and anticipation.
"Clay call me immediately."
"Clay where are you??"
"Don't tell me you're asleep."
"Clay your father and I are worried."
"Please i love you."
"Text me as soon as you get this."
And one final message.
"It's Granny."
His vision clouded, his muscles froze, his fingers clenched the bed sheets beneath him, pulling the fabric taught.
Sweat dripped down his face, past his clouded eyes as he stared in fear at the phone in his hands. The cold metal pressed against his hands, pushing marks into his skin but Dream didn't care, he pressed down on the phone harder, willing it to snap beneath his grip.
The unbending metal bit into his palms, marks forming where the screen edges cut into his soft hands.
His whole body shaking he slowly turned on his phone, unlocking the screen while staring unblinking at the phone with round eyes full of fear and hatred. He dialed the number.
One ring.
Two rings.
Three rings.
"Clay?"
"Mom."
"Clay, oh thank god you're alright." his mom breathed sighs of relief down the phone.
"Me and your dad thought something must have happened." Dream could hear her try and cover the speaker.
"He's fine Dave, he's okay."
"Mom, what happened." his voice was cold, he didn't want to waste time with his parents.
"I'm so sorry dear, Gran's sick." Dream's breath stuck in his throat. He struggled for air, more sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Sick?"
"It's cancer. Stage Four."
The world disappeared. His breath stopped. His arms tensed.
The next few minutes were a blur to Dream, he remembered saying his goodbyes to his parents and hurriedly hanging up on them. Nothing else was coherent.
Now he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling in utter shock.
He wasn't close with his family, they hadn't had an argument or anything but he had simply drifted away from them as he got older. Everyone that is, except his Gran. She had always been there for him and had always seemed to understand him above everyone else.
He could feel himself losing his battle against the sadness that was soon to set in. He knew the depression that was forcing him backwards was inevitable.
His phone beeped.
He ignored it, closing his eyes and turning away from the object emitting the noise
It beeped again.
He pulled up the duvet further, over his tousled, slightly greasy hair.
The phone started ringing.
He sighed in exasperation, angrily getting out of the safety and warmth of his bed to pick up the call.
Grog.
He felt his vision cloud for the second time that day. He hadn't replied to the british boys message last night out of fear of saying something wrong. Could he perhaps know? Maybe he had figured it out.
He accepted the call.
Immediately the silence of Dream's stuffy room was interrupted by George's smooth voice.
"Dream!"
"Hey George!"
He couldn't panic, he just couldn't. If he were to panic he might give away everything and George could never know how much that fanfic changed him. He couldn't know his true feelings. Dream flopped back down on his crumpled bed, stifling a yawn and holding his breath for what thing George would say next.
"You haven't been online in so long, are you okay?"
He cared. He noticed that Dream wasn't there and he cared. No, he was being silly, he would do the same for Sapnap.
"I'm fine, it's nothing."
"You can tell me Dreamie, I'm here for you."
"It's just-"
All of a sudden everything came pouring out about his Gran. He sat there, crossed-legged as he spoke about the pain he was feeling, telling his heart and everything he felt to his best friend. The years of memories with her, the unexplained and unrivaled connection, the smell of her clothes and the warmness of her heart and her hugs. He told him everything.
After he had done speaking there was a silence, Dream could feel George gathering his thoughts through the phone and felt a swell of affection towards George's lack of words.
"I love you Dream."
His breath caught, George never said. He never said that to anyone. Not even Sapnap or Karl who he'd known for years. He knew that it meant a lot to the boy who had probably not experienced much love and affection growing up. He could feel a smile growing on his face and he hurriedly hid it although George could not see his face. Brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes Dream spoke back into the phone.
"I love you too George."
George turned on his camera.
It was clearly an accident because the view Dream could see was certainly not the most dignified. But still he took in the pale skin, the brown eyes and matching hair with a deep hungry thirst. He wanted to feel his skin, look into his eyes and hold his hand. He wanted to grip him by the hair and kiss him. He wanted to mark that pale skin, show his dominance over him. He wanted George to be his.
As quickly as the camera was switched on, it was switched off and Dream felt the hungriness in his belly fall. He could vaguely hear George apologising and saying that it was an accident but all Dream could think about was how much he wanted George. It scared him. He had never felt this way before.
Leaning back against his bed he listened to George talk, hungriness being replaced with amusement and affection as he talked to his best friend. The moment was over and he hoped it didn't return.
