ACID RAIN // DNF AU

Notes

I am not a professional writer (although I do like writing other types of stories, not just fanfics, and I read a lot of books), and I obviously won't know every detail about grammar and things like that.

The chapters alternate between Dream's and George's POV, so their length is subjective, and there will be some very short chapters because I am using this as a writing tool.

There is mention of underage drinking in this story, so I want to clarify that I don't condone this (and that none of the characters are alcoholics). Technically, George is used to it being legal for him to drink. At one point, George is a little worried that he's a binge drinker (basically, someone who doesn't drink all the time but drinks a lot all at once until they're completely wasted and can't think right) but he does not have any problems like this in actuality. Remember, never drink and drive! These characters go to lengths to avoid this, but be very careful and NEVER get in a car with a drunk driver!

The focus of this story is angst, and there is no smut-like writing (note: I went to such great lengths in the plot of the story to avoid it—you'll see)

Cursing/language

The reason I don't add other friends of George's and Dream's like Sapnap, Quackity, Karl, Bad, etc. to this story is because they would not be very deeply involved, and I wanted to create new characters for this to make it more fair to them. This story depended on the contrast between light, sweet moments and the darker, more serious ones, so throwing off that balance would have been dangerous. I thought they didn't really fit any of the characters I wanted them to be, so I just left them out.

This is a work of fiction. This AU (alternate universe) story was not entirely intended to be fanfiction—I wrote another version with my own characters, but since Dream & George have stated that they don't care about fanfiction, I took inspiration from them for these characters to practice my writing because it's easier for me to base some characters off of real personalities. Obviously, I changed some aspects of them for this story. I also did this to make the plot more interesting. I do understand that they are just friends. (Side note: it's actually very funny to read this and then watch videos of them and see the very extreme differences.)

Differences you should know before the story are that they are the same age (eighteen), they are not and have never been YouTubers (which is why I'm only calling Dream Clay in this story), none of their pets exist. George's colorblindness is not that heavily mentioned, but it is a part of this. I recommend skipping ahead to the story now, but if you want, these differences are listed below for clarification.

Music used:

"Strawberries & Cigarettes" by Troye Sivan

"Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood

"Finally//Beautiful Stranger" by Halsey

"Kiss" by Lil Peep

...& an original song ("Acid Rain") that I wrote for this. It's not very good, but then again, I'm not really a songwriter.

[Spoilers - These are revealed slowly throughout the chapters, so you don't need to read them here unless it's too confusing. I picked out the ones that are most difficult to understand.]

What backstory did I create for them? In this AU, George and Dream went to the same elementary and middle school before George moved away to London, and they were best friends. They kept in touch a little bit throughout the years through social media, but George didn't know much about Dream's life. They reconnected about a year before the story when they found out that George and Dream were going to apply to the same college for their first choices, and this is when they begin to develop feelings for each other. They started talking almost daily from that point on, so they become best friends again (it's just because they're soulmates and get along so well that this happens <3). They met up once before this story takes place when they went on a college tour together. They both got into the school, which would start a little bit after the end of the story, and George is visiting Dream again just for fun in the beginning.

What are their sexualities in this story? Dream has known he was bisexual since around freshman year of high school, but George still doesn't really know his sexuality. He feels like no label perfectly fits him, which is okay because he's only eighteen here. However, just think of him as gay if that's what works best for you—it doesn't matter all that much.

Who is Jacob and what happened between him and Dream? Dream had a boyfriend in high school, Jacob, who is asexual (someone who doesn't experience sexual attraction). Their breakup happened because, although they were in love, they weren't compatible because they wanted different things. Dream didn't pressure Jacob to do anything, but he was attracted to Jacob in a way that he didn't return and they just weren't endgame. It was pretty devastating for them in the beginning, so by the party at the beginning of the story, they still aren't entirely over each other. The way that relationship messed his mind up is what I thought allowed me to not write anything smutty, so this story is a little weird. It's also why Dream is uncomfortable with his sexuality in a different way than George, which creates more problems between them.

Why do I use side characters? You may not think they're necessary, and that would be correct--only Jacob is really essential to the story because of what I wrote above, but I could have worked around that. However, Tasha provides a reason George would assume Clay was straight, and the other girls provide an object of his jealousy. I didn't want them to have to take the bus home in that crucial scene where they both needed to drink at the second party, and the Truth or Dare game started by Clay's friend group was also a rather important plot point that increased the tension between them but did give them a happy moment (singing popular songs).

Why change things about Dream and George? I needed the two of them to be able to go out in public without worrying about being recognized, but I could have made it so they didn't care. The main reason I didn't make them YouTubers is because I needed them to worry about losing their friendship, something that they had sustained long enough to be important to them but that had a gap in it during late middle school and half of high school where it could conceivably make sense that they wouldn't know each other's sexualities. I only changed their ages because I didn't think of any reason Clay wouldn't go to college, and being just out of high school would give them freedom to visit each other and legally make them adults. The issue with this was that they would definitely have to drink underage, but this is pretty common. I wanted to make George live somewhere in America because I have no idea how citizenship works, but I ended up just leaving it.

How is foreshadowing used? This was an important element in my story, and you may have picked up on some examples of it. Try rereading this and noticing these scenes next time! One of the places I used it: the very first song, "Strawberries & Cigarettes," because it depicts a toxic relationship that seems sweet on the surface--this also works to trick the reader into thinking there won't be a happy ending.

Where are Dream and George's families, since they're only eighteen? Dream actually is living in his parents' house in this story, but they're on vacation with his sisters. This situation is just one of the issues that comes from making these characters Dream and George: George's family isn't mentioned just because I don't know how many siblings he has (at least one sister, apparently). The families aren't relevant to the story, but in my own version of this, this part made more sense because I actually explained it and created characters for the families.