The King's Dream

Chapter 4: The Moon Sees All

"Dream, I know you hate me and all, but I've watched you fidget around and chuckle and laugh to yourself this whole time." George clenched his fist tighter around Dream's shirt. "I don't care if you think this whole thing is a joke or if you think you're so much better than everyone, but do not interrupt us again. We are discussing important things, far more important than whatever lame jokes you were thinking about."

Oh, it's about that. For a second I thought... Dream twitched slightly beneath his mask. Such a small act got a big reaction out of the prince. George stared straight through the smile, his hand trembling ever so slightly. He let his gaze glance down to his other bandaged hand, clutched tightly onto his clothes. Their faces lay inches away from one another and George was risen onto his toes to even get high enough. Dream furrowed his brows before taking a deep breath in.

"Alright, I get it."

"I'm serious, Dream. Don't mess this up for me."

Dream rolled his eyes jokingly and moved George's arm off. "I won't, I promise."

Dream's shoulders brushed George's as he walked around him, grabbing George's wrist gently. "Watch your arm, you're going to hurt yourself more, Princess."

The night's cold air felt humid and moist instead, like a cloud of thick fog had engulfed the clearing. There was steam practically radiating from George, and his hands were clammy from gripping Dream's blouse. The prince walked back to the entrance, turning away quickly as his eyes met Dream's. Once again, Dream was at the door, holding it open. He gave a slight bow almost apologetically, but George, head lowered, continued walking.

The two returned into the room and commenced the rest of the meeting. Dream intentionally stayed perfectly still this time around, though the effort was almost too much. At one point, he couldn't even remember whether he was breathing or not. The whole time, George didn't look over once at Dream. In fact, he kept his focus within the table, ignoring other distractions and noises.

"Okay, that is the finalized plan and the best we have right now. If my father feels he wants something to be changed, he'll meet with you all again once he's back."

Captain Puffy pushed back her chair and got up, nodding at the young prince. "Thank you, sir."

The leaders exchanged farewells and gratitude before slowly exiting the cottage to their next destinations. George stayed until the rest of the council had gone, and the clearing was left with just the prince and his knight once again. The moon shone brightly above, illuminating the dark sky. George sighed a cloud of steam, shoulders relaxing.

"George," Dream spoke out after almost a minute of silence between the two.

The prince turned to face him with a dead stare.

"I want to apologize for interrupting, it wasn't my intent to be rude. I don't want to be seen as something I'm not."

George turned away from him and began making his way back to the castle. "It's fine."

Dream shook his head, letting out a frustrated groan, and ran up beside him. "Look, for what it's worth, your plan was good. It was smart."

George raised his eyebrow but made no extra comments.

"Maybe you're not as useless as I thought you were, okay?" Dream's voice was rising in pitch, desperate for approval.

"Whatever excuse this is, I don't need to hear it. We just have to tolerate each other. It's fine if you don't like me because I certainly don't think you're the best person either."

Dream stopped for a second, then proceeded walking, "Jeez, you don't have to be an ass about it, Princess."

George remained expressionless while making his way along the original path."Well, now you know how I feel whenever you open your mouth." George's voice was sharp and quick.

The two remained silent the rest of the way back, the clear boundary between them expanding with every step closer to the castle. Dream started heading off a different path as they entered the grey halls of the magnificent building. He turned back to watch George continue walking, not noticing that Dream had strayed from the normal path. He shrugged and picked up his pace.

"Dream!" George called after a second.

Dream whipped his head back around.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"It's the middle of the night," He stated.

George had a confused look on his face, "And?"

"I'm... going to bed?"

The prince exhaled. "You're meant to stay with me, remember?" He leaned his head back and dropped his shoulders, looking both physically and mentally drained.

"Oh. Right." Dream walked over towards George and they headed to his room. "You've got a guard right there, what do you need me for? I was kinda looking forward to sleeping in peace tonight if I'm being honest."

"Well, you just can't argue with my father. He's a stubborn man with trust issues. This is just for tonight, it doesn't matter about the other days. You need to seem like you're competent for at least one night."

The stationed guard opened the familiar large doors for them.

Both men froze.

"Right... slight problem I forgot to mention, there's only one bed." They paused to stare at George's huge bed, covered in soft blue sheets.

"So where would your guard sleep in this situation?"

"I think you're meant not to sleep. I haven't a clue, my last guard just- never mind." George stuttered. "Well, you could always um," George motioned to the bed with a shrug.

Dream stared at George, eyes wide, although George couldn't tell with his mask on. "Yea...no. I think I'll take this really comfortable-looking chair." He walked over to George's desk and pulled the chair out, positioning it in a way he could sit and see his employer at the same time.

Dream crossed his left leg over the right and let his bow and arrows lay gently on the floor. Adjusting his position, he pulled and ruffled a bit of his shirt trying to find comfort in the hard chair. Something rustled. Dream looked up to find George halfway through taking his shirt off, spluttering and clearing his throat aggressively after nearly choking at the sight.

George turned around at the noise, greeted by the expressionless smiley face. He flipped his palms up, holding both arms out, "Yea?"

"N-nothing." Dream stuttered.

George made a face and scowled when he realized, quickly turning back around and throwing a shirt over his bare body. You have got to stop thinking it's still him. He looked back, embarrassed, as Dream looked away.

"Get the lights, please," George ordered, turning back the other way.

Dream rolled his eyes and got up from the spot to put out the sconces and chandelier. The room gradually went dark and Dream walked blindly past the rustle of George getting into bed, knocking over a few items on the way.

"Oh my god! Watch where you're going."

"Oh, come on." Dream got back into his seat crossing his arms.

"It's not even that dark, how did you almost trip?" George chided. He scuffled around under his blanket, the faint outline of his body illuminated by the night's glow. "The moon is so bright tonight. It's beautiful, isn't it?'

Dream nodded in silent agreement with George for once, but it was too small of a gesture for it to be seen in the dark.

"Dream, you piss me off a whole lot, you know?"

"Yea, yea."

George scoffed. "I'm sleeping now."

It's going to be a long night, isn't it, Princess? Dream responded in his head and settled into his chair for the night.

a/n:

This chapter took a while to come out and it's short. I apologize, I mean, I never listen to the things I say, so there will probably never be a good uploading schedule for me. This week especially, I've been really stressed with school and other things. I really love writing this story, but I don't really want how I feel to reflect onto my writing because if it did, the story would probably suck. I'll do more updates on tiktok though!