dnf oneshots

23. memories

Memory AU
It was years ago now, before they were Dream and GeorgeNotFound. Just when they were Clay and George, barely 6 and 9. [nice.] But then George left. As the years pass, both forget about the friend they made. Both keep forgetting, even as they meet again, as DreamOnPVP and GeorgeeeeeeHD. Even as they grow to become Dream and GeorgeNotFound. But then George begins to move to the US. And he stumbles across an album from 16 years ago... [this isn't a relationship one, just a cute friendship one]

George was only supposed to spend the summer in Florida, going to another dumb camp his parents sent him to. Friends weren't on the list. Clay wasn't on the list. But still, I guess it was inevitable that the two would meet. That the two would become fast friends. 

But it was also inevitable that George would eventually leave. His parents were still in the UK. He wasn't even 10 years old. No matter how much he wanted to stay, no matter how much he wanted to live in Florida to stay close to Clay. He had to say goodbye.

So, at the last day of the camp, the two boys stood, clutching each other, wishing for more time. Wishing for another chance.

"We'll meet again, Clay," George whsipered, ruffling the shorter boy's blond hair. Clay looked up, eyes damp with tears. 

"How will we know it's us?" he asked sadly. 

George smiled, wiping his eyes. "We just will," he promised. "Remember our bracelets." He held out his wrist, where a yellow braided bracelet was wrapped. Clay had made it out of green string, but it appeared to be yellow to George. Not that he said anything.

Clay smiled and looked at his own bracelet, a woven blue one with a small charm in the middle. George had called them promise bracelets the day they were made. "A promise we'll see each other again."

Yet as Clay waved goodbye to his friend, clutching his older sister's hand, he felt as though maybe George had been lying.

How would they know where to meet again? How would they know it was each other? What if they forgot? Clay was prone to losing things -- what if he lost his bracelet?

"You had something special, Clay," his sister had said, leading him towards their mother's car. "You can't forget a bond like that."

Clay really went "watch me, bitch."

////

As the years passed, the memories of the best summer of their lives slowly faded from their minds. The memories were replaced with more, from other summers, or weekends after school, or vacations to different parts of their respective countries. They began to forget their old friend, as did their families.

George became a studious boy: he did very well in school, got good grades, the usual. He took coding classes, and programmed in his spare time. He took on Minecraft, always building new things, or practicing PVP on mobs. He adopted the name "GeorgeeeeHD" and began to play with new friends.

Clay wasn't as good. He was a rebel, and his ADHD didn't help. He skipped classes, didn't do school work, just to prove a point. In high school he taught himself to code, played sports, and took on Minecraft as well. He began speedrunning, and over time, he got good at it, too. He gave himself the username "DreamOnPVP" as he began to play in different games on platforms like Hypixel. 

One day, when Clay, now just Dream, was around 16 and George was 19, they both joined a server called MunchyMC, run by BadBoyHalo. They didn't know it yet, but he would later become one of their best friends. They didn't know it yet, but they were about to reconcile.

Give it a year or two (really just one). Dream contacted George about programming something for the server. After being ignored, he did it himself. He didn't realize it was his old friend.

Eventually, they both became programmers for the server, and later, became friends. Again.

They still didn't realize.

They didn't realize all through the beginnings of their YouTube accounts, their Twitch accounts, even the start of the Dream SMP server. 

They grew closer, and still didn't realize. But at that point, it had been years since they last remembered those few months.

More time passed. George and Dream grew closer. But they hadn't met up yet. Well, not that they remembered. 

George, however, had met up with loads of other Dream SMP members, including their best friend Sapnap, previously PandasCanPVP. It was just a waiting game for the two, a clock counting the seconds until they truly could meet again.

////

And after what seemed like forever, the time has come. George is moving to Florida to live with his best friends.

He combs through everything in his house, deciding whether to pack it (clothes, things of value, etc.), donate it (furniture, things he doesn't need/use anymore, etc.) or get rid of. He won't be packing things in his kitchen, as Dream and Sapnap already have these things in Florida. He won't need his sheets, but what else is he gonna do with them? He makes a reminder to pack them anyways.

Once he's done with his room, he brings a few boxes into the living area of his apartment, and begins packing books and DVDs and CDs and such. He carefully takes frames off the walls, and wraps them with bubble wrap. 

Two boxes down.

He comes across a shelf full of albums from trips he's been on, first day of school pictures, graduation pictures, and yearbooks. He pulls each one out to flip through briefly. There's too many to go through each one. 

As he's packed at least a dozen, he reaches for another. It's a bright blue, and the front is covered with cloud stickers and glued-on palm tree cutouts. In terrible handwriting and black marker is scrawled out "camp Florida."

George blinks. He has no memory of this. So he opens to the first page, where a picture of 9 year-old George, standing in front of a camp sign, smiling shyly at the camera, sits. George chuckles to himself as he reads what his mom wrote underneath and flips the page.

Picture after picture of him; making crafts; canoeing; trapping fireflies; in his tent; playing games; learning to play the guitar... all with the same young boy with hair like a golden retriever's fur and bright eyes. 

His mom referred to the boy as "Clay."

Something about the boy's face pulls at George's mind. He flips until he finds a picture of him and the boy, posing with a fish they had just caught. But that isn't what he cares about. He strains to look at the boy's face, trying to pull a memory into his mind. Trying to see why he recognizes him.

It's something in his eyes; the dangerous glint. His mischevious smile. His messy hair.

It clicks.

George hurriedly pulls up the screenshot he took secretly a few days ago when Dream sent him a picture of his face so he knows who he was at the airport. He lays his phone next to the picture of the boy, and focuses on the similarities.

The same eyes. The same smile. The same hair. The same dimple on the right cheek. The same small scar on the left temple. 

There is no way that this small boy isn't Dream as a kid. Plus his name is Clay.

But there is also no way that this also is in fact Dream. He's never met him befo-

Something falls from the back of the album. Gently, George lifts it up -- a yellow braided bracelet.

He remembers.

Word Count 1257

~A/N~

i could've written more, but its cooler to leave it like that

i hope u guys liked this one. honestly this is probably my favourite au idea, i just didnt give it justice.

also, i tried to make their pasts as realistic as possible, with that dream has revealed about his school life. i probably didnt match it up entierely, and i made up some of it (especially on george's end) but i tried ;-;

dont forget to eat!!

love you <333

song that reminds me of this oneshot: Life Itself by Glass Animals