Stalker // DNF

23: Catalyst

Dream's index finger prods George's, then retracts an inch to float once again in the air. George's hand, numb in the cold sky, sparks at the finger which Dream hit.

He turns his head up from the ground to grudgingly meet the others' eyes.

'What are you doing?' he mutters quietly, his voice not having a large distance to travel to reach Dream's eardrums.

Dream doesn't reply or break the eye contact as George feels his finger return and hook around George's palm.

'You let me do this...' Dream mumbles, his finger loosening as he pulls it away. George feels an immediate absence on his skin, which is quickly discarded as Dream's hand returns. He doesn't look down, yet he feels Dream slip his fingers between George's.

The friction running across George's fingers where they rub against Dreams erases the numbness. When their hands slot together and the movement stops, the insensitivity completely disappears and is replaced by George feeling as if his skin is burning under Dream's touch.

'Would you let me do more?' Dream says under his breath.

George feels the burning sensation spread up from his hands, run across his arms and finally coat his chest. The sensation forms roots which bury into his thorax, setting his lungs on fire and terminating his voice.

His eyes stare helplessly and wordlessly as he forces down a harsh swallow. Dream gazes in return, his pupils full of expectancy and thinning patience.

George feels the grip around his hand tighten as Dream squeezes more firmly than he had in the rescue centre. He begins to tilt his head down as he feels Dream tug his hand toward the painter's body. George stumbles forward, his other hand quickly ripping out of his pocket to land with a thud on Dream's chest for balance.

Once steadied, he looks up and intends to playfully hit Dream with his fist. However, the intensity of Dream's stare stops him in motion and freezes the 'What the hell?' that was rising in his throat.

His hand, lost with no given command, stays flat on Dream's chest, rising and falling with Dream's steady breaths. George remains in silence, words unable to form coherent sentences in his mind.

The closeness Dream had caused between the two increases George's awareness of their height difference. The small gap between the two causes George's neck to crank up to meet the eyes which were freezing his movements.

Dream's hand clutching his, Dream's warm chest resting beneath his palm, Dream's torso nearly touching his own in nearness, Dream's iris' reflecting the moonlight and refusing to move from George. Too much, too much, too much.

Dream's eyebrows crinkle in the centre as he looks down and whispers, 'What are you thinking, George. I can't tell what you're thinking.'

George can't think, not with the burning sensation covering his entire body, not with his lungs fighting for air and not with Dream's hand enveloping his and preventing the shake he's sure is present in his palm.

'I don't...' his voice trembles, its low volume being washed away in the wind. 'I don't know what I'm thinking.' 

He finds Dream's gaze lifting his own, its enchantment erasing his knowledge of their location in a public park, in the dark evening with the freezing weather. He deepens the pressure of his hand on Dream's chest, pinching a small amount of the material between his fingers.

He finds himself leaning more forward into Dream's presence, nearer to his hand and following the pull of their locked eyes.

'I don't know what I'm doing,' he utters while observing a shift in Dream's breathing, each breath becoming more shallow, as he nears subtly.

The twist of George's fingers against Dream's cloth relaxes the tensed muscles of the painters face, pulling his lips down to remove any hint of a previous smirk. George's eyes dart down to observe the change, and he can't move his gaze back up to their original placement for a second, unable to rip away from Dream's mouth.

'What am I doing?' George breathes unconsciously, dragging his eyes back up to see Dream had inched nearer to George, his head hanging lower than it had been, minimizing the distance between their heights. The dark sky and limited lights shadow his features, yet up this close George can see the traces of stubble scattered across Dream's jaw and chin, eventually trailing down his neck.

George's eyes trace his face, his focus distracting him from Dream's other hand creeping up through the air. He doesn't catch the movement and flinches when the cold palm lands gently on his own jaw, Dream's pinky finger cupping his chin.

Dream's icy thumb caresses George's flaming cheek, his eyes constantly scanning George's face for any movement or expression. George doesn't let one pass, his brain unable to process thoughts and his entire body feeling like a magnet, tiring from resisting the pull towards the other.

Dream's breaths increase in rapidity, with no indication reflecting on his face, only the subtle pressure George can feel under his open palm. The movement makes him aware of his own heartbeat, racing dangerously fast in his cavity, but this time fear wasn't its catalyst.

Dream leans down further, his motions slow and he only continues when he catches George's reciprocation of lengthening his spine, pulling him upwards.

George feels out of control, his body moving with no directions from his mind, his limbs only powered by his inability to resist the pull.

His face lifts in the air and Dream's warm breaths tickles his face. George's eyes dart between the artist's eyes and lips, eventually unmoving from his mouth as they are a fingerbreadth apart.

Dream pauses as his face looms directly over George's, a small slip would end in a collision.

George stops at Dream's halt, feeling their breath mix together in the outside air as their lips hover inches away from each other. He looks at the lines cut into Dream's mouth, decorating his lips with small slits, teasingly close.

George tries to remain patient, but Dream's nearness and aromatic scent dancing around his nostrils captures him, making him unable to remain steady and unmoving for any longer. The small parting of Dream's mouth, and the shaky breaths which exit the slit, routinely inject tingles into George's lips, which Dream's breath barely travels to reach. Multiple things occupy and plague his mind; his breath, nearness, chest, hands, gaze, warmth, lips, Dream. He can't think sensibly, he's barely thinking at all.

He gives in.

His fingers release their pinch to grab a fistful of Dream's coat to pull him nearer. Simultaneously, Dream's hold of George's jaw tightens ever so slightly to lift George's face nearer to his. The cold air no longer flows between them as the gap is closed and George's eyelids flutter shut.

Dream's lips, warm from the breath which passed them, land gently on George's. George feels a slight stiffness in the gentle pressure, the tension apparent on Dream's mouth. But when George releases his fist, allowing some material to loosen from his hand, he feels Dream relax.

Dream tilts George's chin upwards with a small lift from his cupped hand, allowing George to more comfortably lean into Dream. Their lips slot together, their body warmth exchanging from one to another. George purses his lips against Dream's and presses further before pulling back, breaking the kiss as soon as it started.

Dream's hand loosens from George's face and falls to his side when George takes a step back. His eyes are full of fear, desperately studying George's expression for anything.

George grudgingly tears his palm away from Dream's chest, letting go of the material it held.

'I've never been a fan of PDA,' George smiles, surprised any words could be heard over the pounding of his heart.

Dream's eyes soften at George's grin and a smile of his own tickles the corners of his mouth.

'There's no one here,' he looks around, glancing down the empty path.

'We're still in public,' George replies, looking down and remembering the pebbles grounding him to Earth. He smiles at the bafflement in Dream's voice and tugs his arm down the path as George continues walking, his fingers still tied in a lattice with Dream's.