late for the love of my life

ch. 7

"Let's get dinner."

Dream sat up from his prone position, interest piqued at this sudden offer from George. He usually left long before the sun went down, partly because Sapnap got home in the evenings and also because nighttime was always dangerous. Something about the darkness made it feel like only he and Dream existed, nothing else mattered.

George didn't want any close calls, so he avoided it so it had no chance of happening. Though, he was quick to make exceptions, like today.

"Really?" Dream asked eagerly, "You don't need to leave earlier?"

George shook his head, letting the words spill out before he had the mind to stop them, "Sapnap is away for the next few days, visiting his family. And I just don't want to go back to my empty house yet."

"Well I'm not complaining," Dream smiled, letting his blind hope sweep him away slightly, "You can stay here, if you want, until he comes back."

George paused. He'd intentionally not mentioned to Dream that Sapnap wasn't here recently, having been gone this whole week already. He swallowed, knowing he wanted Dream to suggest he stay over, and hated how much he craved to comply.

"You don't even have a guest room," George said breezily, ready to change the subject, "So, where should we eat?"

Dream took the rejection, he knew it was a long shot anyway, as they looked over the options on his phone that were nearby.

"Ooh, that one is really good! We should go there," George exclaimed, pointing at a restaurant a few streets away.

Dream's wallet weakly coughed with emptiness in his pocket, the prices being out of his range as a broke college student. He was, unfortunately, stuck in that stereotype.

He was considering the logistics of getting a quick part-time job to make up the money he would need in the next few hours before they went out to eat.

George noticed his hesitancy, elbowing him to question what the hold up was, "Dreammm, can we go? Do you not like that one?"

Dream swallowed, straightening himself out, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. It would be fine, the next week for food money would just be a little tight, that was manageable. "Yeah, I mean, no. We can go here, no problem."

George studied him for a moment, confusion melting as he saw Dream zoom in on the menu, casting a creased, worried glance at the prices.

"My treat."

Dream turned fully to face George. "What? No, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

George tugged on his sleeve, a smile quickly covering his face. "Come on. I'll pay. Just this once."

Dream was always adamant on paying for his own things, George found he was especially stubborn about that. It wasn't often that they did expensive things, but this was making George question whether their outings put a strain on Dream. It was just an unspoken rule that they paid their own ways, it was never an issue, never brought up.

"George, seriously. I got it."

He didn't know why he felt so generous today, but George was not willing to take no for an answer, "Fine. A trade then. I'll buy you dinner and you can give me something else as recompensation."

Dream seemed to take this offer into genuine consideration, which satisfied George already. He spoke slowly, mulling it over, "Well, what would you want?"

"Doesn't matter," George grinned, "Whatever you want to give me."

Dream didn't express his immediate thought, the one that made his eyes slip down to George's lips, to go any further, insisting instead, "Give me some ideas, some equivalency."