lo and behold

chapter five: boyfriend's a dick

trigger warning for underaged drinking in this chapter<3 -j.

George was grey on Friday.

It was like the world when it had rained that one night, making the day that had come after more somber, quieter. The crickets were louder and the earth smelled stronger. Just like George, only this time the clouds were over his head, the crickets were nowhere to be seen, and the earth smelled just the same as it had the day before. He had no bright colors on that day, only a white sweatshirt and dark grey sweatpants, hood up and head down as he walked the track alone.

Dream didn't ask any questions as he broke off from Sapnap and Poki, who'd become fast friends. He simply walked up next to George and settled in with the other boy's pace, slower today than it was yesterday. "Are we still going skating today?" he asked gently, touching George's shoulder and then pulling away as the shorter student nodded, though the quiet sniffle he'd heard didn't go completely unnoticed. "Okay," he said, staying by his side.

Strangely enough, there was nearly nobody at the skate park that Friday. Dream pulled his skateboard out of his backpack, but stopped when he noticed that George had gone to sit on the bench instead. "Tell me what's on your mind," he'd asked quietly, sitting down next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, pulling George into his chest slowly.

Suddenly, tears fell down the brunette's face, hot and fast, soaking into the front of Dream's black t-shirt. "I got dumped," he spoke weakly. "I don't even know what I did wrong, you know? It was like it was out of the blue, and I suppose I should've expected it, since he really was just using me, and-" he broke his sentence off, hiding his face in his sleeves as he cried.

"Hey, hey, hey, George," Dream comforted. "It's not your fault, yeah? Michael's a douche for using you, you know? That was fucked up of him to do to you," he ran a gentle hand through the hair he could reach under the hood of George's sweater. "Just explain it to me when you feel ready. You don't have to say anything right now." Dream felt so, so split. It was rather disgusting, really. Who could ever feel even partially happy when their friend got dumped? Apparently, he could, which made him swear to squander the feeling as best as he could as he rubbed circles soothingly on his friend's back, using his other hand to reach into his backpack and open the can of Monster he always had on him. "Want some?" he murmured questioningly, gently nudging George off of his chest as he handed him the can of soda.

"Thanks," George sighed, taking a deep breath as he drank.

They sat like that for a long time, sharing Dream's energy drink in a comfortable silence.

It was the type of silence that settled over you like a warm blanket fresh out of the dryer. Nothing needed to be said, elaborated on. Simply having another in one's company was enough to soothe the both of them from the emotions of their week.

Finally, Dream got up. "I need to get home today," he said. "Ready to go?"

George hesitated. "Actually," he began quietly. "Can you take me to Rae's house? She's having, um, a party today, and she invited me."

"Are- are you sure?" Dream asked, a bit worried that George would try and throw himself into something to take his mind off of the end of his relationship. He'd known about the party, sure; Sapnap had invited him after Poki had invited him, but he'd declined, opting to study for his midterms instead.

"I'm sure," George set his jaw as he looked up at Dream. "Do you know where she lives?"

"Yeah, she's one block away from me," Dream overrode his judgment, letting himself accept that he couldn't control George's actions, and that if this was what he wanted to do to take his mind off of things, he couldn't do much about it. He felt slightly safer in the fact that multiple friends of him and George's would be there in case things got out of hand.