more than i thought i did (dnf)

epilogue

" Stop! You're ruining my hoodie, dipshit!" The young blonde whined, shoving the tall man next to her.

"I can get you new ones whenever you want, it doesn't matter," Dream wheezed, ruffling the teen's hair next to him with a mess of white on his hands, only to be swatted away.

George rolled his eyes at the antics and the ingredients strewn messily across the marble counters. He took the cake-mix-covered hands of the taller and moved them to wipe off against his jeans.

"That's enough of that, unless we want to have nothing left to bake our cake with."

Dream felt his head whirr as the shorter's hands moved to interlock with his own, completely disregarding him and his sister's bickering from the seconds before. There were a few seconds of stillness, the blonde's pupils wide with infatuation and sweet honey before small fingers pinched his cheek out of his trance.

"Are you two gonna help me or did I come over for no reason?" She said before her hand was pushed away by the taller and a melody of laughs poured from George's mouth.

"You did say this cake was for us, so maybe we shouldn't help you," Dream retorted, leaving one of his hands intertwined with his partner's, and giving a small laugh.

"Yeah? And you called me while in the middle of your 'George doesn't love me!' crisis, I feel like I deserve some compensation here."

"Oh, fuck off!"

George laughed again, smile beaming with each contraction of his chest, giving a soft squeeze to the larger hand against his own before placing his hands against the dismissed bowl of dry ingredients.

"Okay, okay, enough about Dream being a hopeless romantic, I for one actually want to finish this. Can one of you get the water?"

Dream's eyes scanned where they left their mess of materials, before laying his eyes on the clean measuring cups and swiping them before turning to the sink.

"How much?"

"One and a fourth cup," George muttered, back to the blonde, who tried to fill the two measuring cups as best he could without spilling anything onto the already dirty counter. The dull pour of water from the faucet drowned his senses, until he heard soft giggles from the pair behind him, growing into loud laughter and snorts. Dream felt a confused smile grow on his face as he turned around, small cups of water still in his hand.

Dream felt his heart soar, the symphony of the love he'd finally accepted playing at its full volume and drowning out any other sounds. The inferno of emotions and intense fear, 'why's and 'how's spiraling in his head only adding fuel to the flames burrowing themselves deep in him, having finally become the soft, dim warmth he'd always wanted them to be.

He had turned around to see his younger sister and his boyfriend lost in their own playful world, boxed cake mix halfway in the bowl and halfway spilled onto the counter and their clothes, the white material covering their clothing and hair in spots like snow. George had wiped his hands off onto the shoulder of her black hoodie, causing her to retaliate by throwing a small clump of powder from the counter directly onto his chest, flurries of white filling the air along with the sweet smell of vanilla.

Dream watched the pair laugh, continuing to scoop up mix and toss it with no real aim onto each other, and his chest clenched. This very moment, with his kitchen full of love, curling itself in warm tendrils of bubbling laughter and wide smiles, was something he had considered nothing more than a dream, a dream that would never become a reality. The life he had ached for far longer than even he realized was now his. The realization sunk in far deeper than he had intended it to, as both of the pair turned towards him, goofy smiles stuck to their faces as he could only stare back with astonishment.