A Smile With A Bite. DNF

Part Four

Dream could tell by George's abundant energy and huge smile on his face that he wasn't starving like he was yesterday. That put a smile on Dream's face. He had never really worried about George this much. He was the kind of guy that always seemed to just deal with the stuff going on in his life. He didn't complain to any excessive degree but that didn't mean he was happy all the time either. Now that Dream knew he struggled with his uncontrollable vampire bloodlust, Dream worried about him like he would suddenly keel over any minute.

Today, Dream didn't have to worry though. Dream, George, Sapnap, Karl, and Quackity all met up to eat lunch and go to the batting cages. None of them were particularly good at baseball since none of them played but swinging bats around together was a nice change of pace. If the five of them were hanging out, it was always while playing a video game and talking over discord, miles away from one another. It was fun to meet in the real world and do spontaneous things like this sometimes. And George seemed to enjoy it.

"Have you even hit a single ball, Karl?" George teased mercilessly from the other side of the protective net. Quackity cracked up laughing beside him.

"George, what are you even talking about? You're literally dog water! I'm doing so much better than you!" Karl shouted back as he got in position to hit another.

"Twenty bucks says he misses the next one and I don't," Sapnap said from the station beside Karl's, bar over his shoulder and eyes on the fake pitcher in front of him.

"Twenty bucks says you both miss!" yelled Dream.

"Whatever dude! I'm actually good at this," Sapnap retorted.

In unison, Sapnap and Karl's stations revved to life and a baseball fired toward them. They both swung, and just as Sapnap predicted, he managed to hit his ball and Karl missed. Quackity burst out laughing, and although George did as well, he fell into a quiet laughter as he sunk toward the ground. Dream chuckled at them both and watched as Sapnap and Karl argued through the mesh netting between them. Sapnap liked to brag and Karl liked to bicker so they bounced off of each other easily. They argued like an old married couple.

"Okay, George and I are next," Quackity insisted after he sobered from his laughter. He jogged into Karl's cage and snatched his bat from him. "Come on, George!"

"Hold on, hold on," George said through desperate gasps. He was still knelt on the ground, collecting himself after laughing so hard. "Let me get some water first, Quackity."

"Hurry up," Quackity impatiently insisted through his own unstoppable giggles.

George stood to his full height and made his way around the net cages to get to Dream. They locked eyes for a moment and Dream flashed him a bright smile before reaching for George's bottle of water. He offered it to him, but George overestimated his reach and grazed his fingers over the bracelet on Dream's wrist. There was an instant burning sensation in his fingers—so hard that George cried out a curse and jumped back in shock.

Dream's eyes widened and he leapt from the bench he was lounging on. "George! Are you okay?"

George had covered his hand in reaction to the pain, and as he looked at it again, he revealed a burn mark that was still sizzling across his finger tips. Dream gaped at the wounds. Luckily, George had only grazed the bracelet so the vervain that soaked it hadn't done too much damage. His body healed in seconds and erased all memory of the wounds right before George and Dream's eyes. The pain still lingered for a few extra seconds, however.

"I'm fine," George said as he shook the faint pain from his hand. He glanced at Dream's bracelet and then up at him. "At least we know the thing works."