lo and behold

chapter six: i'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby

They never really talked about that night after it had happened. It was a weird situation; Dream didn't know if George remembered anything from that night, however badly he'd wanted to ask.

He'd woken up with the comforting weight of George sprawled across his chest, smiling as he'd run a gentle hand through the brown tufts of hair resting over his body. "Good morning," Dream had whispered, slowly detaching himself from the rousing person in his arms.

The memory still brought a smile to his face as he knew that even if George couldn't remember his drunken night, he would've remembered the sobered morning.

"Hi," George had replied, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and almost immediately cringing as the sunlight hit his face. "Oh, god, my head hurts," he rolled over and slid his Blackberry phone open. "Oh, fuck, my mum's called me fourteen times!"

"Yeah," Dream chuckled. "Stay here, it'll be okay. I'll get you some Tylenol and a coffee and then I'll drive you home."
He greeted his mother as he walked down the stairs, not needing to explain as he opened the medicine cabinet and shook out two Tylenol into his hand. "Did you make coffee today?" he asked.

His mother smiled at him. "Yes, I did. Did you and your friend sleep well last night?"

Dream looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he filled a mug with steaming coffee. "Pretty well," he shrugged. "I'll see you in a bit, I'm taking him home later."

She merely nodded as she sipped from her own mug, smiling behind her son's retreating back, unbeknownst to him.

"Hello, Elmswood High!"

The crackle of the intercom in his second period class shook him out of his pleasant reverie as he refocused his eyes on the board and listened to the announcement currently playing, recognizing Bad's voice almost immediately, as the bespectacled student was, after all, the head of the student council.

"Valentine's Day celebrations are starting today with our Flower-gram system! Buy one today during your lunch period and have it delivered to your flame secretly or with a name attached this Friday during fourth period! In other news, lunch today will be..." Bad's voice trailed off as Dream thought about what he'd just heard.

Flowers. He thought back to when him and Sapnap were just kids, chasing each other and tumbling in the grass with each other. "We should pick flowers!" Sapnap had exclaimed, running off to grab at the dandelions just beginning to fluff in between the blades of grass in Dream's backyard. They'd each given a bundle of bright yellow dandelions to their mothers that day, making them look at each other and laugh as they ruffled Dream and Sapnap's hair affectionately.

Would George smile like his mother had?

"Three dollars, please," the blue-haired girl smiled up at Dream, handing him a slip of paper. "Just write down who you want to send the flower to and if you want to remain anonymous or not."

Dream dug into the pocket of his denim jacket and came up with three crumpled bills, scrawling down George's full name quickly and marking the 'Anonymous' bubble before handing the money and paper back to the girl manning the Flowergram booth. "Thanks," he mumbled, looking down as he quickly walked away and back to his lunch table.

Quackity immediately exploded into chatter. "Dream!" he cackled. "Did you actually just buy George a flower?"

Sapnap clapped Dream on the back. "He's making moves," his friend had exclaimed, a grin on his face as the four ate their lunches.

Bad smiled at Dream sincerely. "Dream, I really hope George likes the flower."

"You won't believe what happened today, Dream," George clapped his hands excitedly as he smiled up at the other boy. "I actually got a flower today in fourth period!"

Dream found it especially hard to conceal the smile threatening to break on his face. "Really?" he asked, trying to assume a normal level of interest. "Who, uh, who gave it to you?"

"That's what's bothering me," George replied, high spirits taken down a bit as he turned the flower over in his hands. "They told me the person who gave it to me was a secret admirer."
Dream merely hummed in response. "Maybe they'll tell you who they are sometime," he remarked lightly.

"Whoever it is," George smiled to himself as he gently held the cut red rose. "I hope they like peppermint mochas as much as I do."

------

Dream didn't really know when it started. It had just happened, as smoothly as

February had melted into the end of March. He found himself standing outside of Starbucks, texting George as he pulled at the sleeves of his denim jacket, trying to stay warm.

"To: george :)

'i''ll take you to school, b rdy in 10. have a surprise 4 u!'"

" From: george :)

' OK! :>'"

"What would you like?" the coffee shop employee asked, smiling at him as she snapped her gum.

"Just a Tall peppermint mocha," he smiled back, digging in his pocket and handing her a five dollar bill.

She assured him on the short wait as she opened the cash register and handed Dream his change.

Five minutes later, he'd put the steaming coffee in the cup-holding pocket of his backpack, using the plastic cap to keep the coffee closed as he drove towards George's house.

"How did you know?" George had asked, one hand around Dream's waist and the other holding the peppermint mocha as they rode through the suburbs towards Elmswood High.

"I didn't," Dream chuckled. "I just thought you'd like it," he supplied as an afterthought.

"It's my favorite drink, actually," the brunette's smile could be heard in his voice. "Thanks."

Dream hummed in response. "You're welcome."

Then, it had happened again the next day. And the next. And then, Dream was spending all of the birthday money he had on extra gas and coffee as he took himself to the Starbucks and George to school every day, the chillier March giving way to a warmer April.

But it was okay, because every morning Dream got to see George greet him with a smile, standing at the front of his house and waving excitedly, backpack swaying as the straps moved on his arms. And after the breakup, he vowed to never take George's smile for granted again.

"My rose is still alive," George grinned as they walked into the school together, the April sunrise shining onto his face as they opened the door to the building.

"Really? How?" Dream asked as he motioned for George to go in first.

"Thanks. I don't know, honestly," he mused. "I just put it in water for a while, and it hadn't died yet, so I planted it in a pot of dirt. And it's still alive, so I must've done something right," George laughed lightly.

Dream felt a rush of ever-so-familiar affection. Of course George didn't know that it was him who'd given him the rose, but it still meant enough to the brunette to make an effort to keep it alive.

Their bond had grown alike to a flower, Dream realized. Nurtured by the initial interest they'd somehow shown towards each other, though they were complete opposites. Watered by the skate park, the laughter they shared, the tears Dream helped George through. Repotted by the stages of increasing trust they'd went through, starting with George letting Dream take him to his class, and now they drove together to school every day, the brunette drinking the coffee the blond supplied him with every day.

It was a wonderful thing to everyone who'd seen it, and even more for the two people who'd lived it.