count on me

homophobia in an interesting font

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖌𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗'𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊

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"she doesn't need more pacifiers, dream," george scolds, taking them off of the blond and putting them back on the shelf they came from.

"it's her birthday," dream argues, going to grab them again just to have his hand slapped away. "she can't just wake up tomorrow to no presents!"

"she'd going to be one, dream, she wouldn't even know," george points out, continuing down the aisle with an already full basket of baby presents. "plus, you buy her stuff like every week."

"she deserves it," dream mumbles in response, taking the pacifiers back off of the shelf when george wasn't looking before following close behind. he couldn't resist- they have minecraft bees on!

he trails behind as george leads the way to the cashier counter, holding the pacifiers behind his back as inconspicuously as possible.

george stops at the till, lifting the basket up onto the side.

the much older lady behind the counter smiles, voice crackly as she says, "good afternoon."

george replies with an incredibly socially awkward, "hey."

"afternoon," dream chirps from just behind the brit, leaning over to put the pacifiers with the rest of their shopping. george glances back at him with a glare, which he only responds to with a smile.

"is it a special someone's birthday?" the older woman asks slowly with a sweet smile, shaky hands holding up the pink balloons they were buying before scanning and bagging them.

"my daughter," george answers, reaching into his pocket to get his wallet out even though the poor woman was nowhere near finished.

"awe sweet," the cashier coos. she glances up at dream, looking back at the bag as she asks, "and why's dad been banished to do the shopping? mom busy?"

"her mom isn't in the picture," dream says, already knowing that george wouldn't want to answer the older lady's question. dream feels his stomach go a little tight, and he wonders if they made a bad decision by choosing to go to this independent store, rather than a big chain or something.

the woman nods, going back to her job.

george glances back over his shoulder to dream, who offers him a sweet smile. george reciprocates it but it doesn't look so genuine.

"do you know how much this was?" the lady asks, shakily holding up a panda teddy, which they were only getting because sapnap would like it. "it's lost its tag."

"no, sorry," george apologises.

"why don't you go check?" dream asks george, tapping the brit's side. he was going to offer himself but he didn't think george would appreciate being left alone with the possibly homophobic shop owner.

"uh, okay," george nods, stepping back. "where about's was it?" he wonders.

"oh no, don't worry about that," the lady responds, reaching under the counter. a small buzzing sound echoes as she presses some kind of help button. "my wife will know how much it costs."