The Railroad

Chapter 23

Dream began to protest, but the shorter quieted him with an annoyed scowl.

"I assume you all knew that I was in Tallahassee with my father?" he waited for their nod before continuing. "Well, then I imagine you knew what I was doing there as well..."

He continued to explain his recent life to the three, starting from when he found the cure, including how his mom had passed and that Wilbur was a zombie now but leaving out details pertaining specifically to those events, and ending with their departure from the train. Immediately, both Dream and George were bombarded with an assortment of questions, condolences, and statements of awe.

"Your father was planning to do what with the cure?" -Quackity

"George, I'm so sorry about your mom." -Karl

"Dream, you're a smuggler now! And you killed a dude?!" -Nick

"I can't believe you're a scientist! And the one that found the cure to zombie-ism, of course!" -Quackity

"What happened to Wilbur? Is he okay?" -Karl

"Wait- who is Wilbur again?" -Nick

They met every question with an answer, every condolence with a thank you, and every statement of awe with a chuckle. Dream seemed to have warmed up after seeing their reactions and how Big Q and Karl obviously seemed to care about George. But the brunet was still planning to have a talk with him later about the way he was acting.

"If you're planning to get into the lab unnoticed, I have an easy way to do it," Nick said. "One of my friends, this kid who lives next door, is a janitor there since it doesn't take a lot of prior experience. He knows all the ins and outs and could get you guys in with ease. But, he doesn't trust a lot of people, so you guys will have to make a good impression if you want his help."

"Alright, thanks man," Dream said. "When can we go meet him?"

"Now is fine, though it should only be one of you so we don't bombard the poor kid."

"George should stay here," Karl said. "So we can properly fix his wounds. You guys did a decent job, considering what resources you had, but we should fix it up."

Dream was secretly happy about this, for a multitude of reasons. One, he still wasn't entirely trusting of Nick. He wanted to catch up with the ravenette, find out what happened to him after all these years that led him here. This also granted George the opportunity to find out what's up with his friends and get patched up in the process. Plus, he may trust the thruple, but he had no idea who this friend was and wanted to be the first one to encounter him just in case he was dangerous.

"Okay, then let's go right now. You ready, Sap?"

"Sap?" Quackity asked.

"Oh, yeah," Nick laughed, "It's a nickname he and our other friend, Darryl, had for me. Sapnap."

"That's cute," Karl awed with an adorable grin.

Both Quackity and Nick looked at their boyfriend admiringly, sharing the brunet's happy smile. The way they all looked at each other reminded Dream of he and George, and it made him beyond ecstatic. Not only was one of his best friends very happy, but his relationship confirmed that his feelings for George were romantic and not simply something arisen from spending the past week with one another.

"I'm ready, Clay. Let's go," Nick said, giving both boys a kiss before heading to the door.

The blond gave George's forehead a quick kiss before following, murmuring "Stay safe, princess" into his ear.

The shorter blushed profusely and stared at Dream as he met Nick at the door, looking at Karl and Quackity, who were making kissy faces at him, with a shy expression.