another revealed truth

the story begins

trigger warnings listed in opening author's note

✼

dream scrolls through his spotify, looking at the different emoji-named playlists and trying to decide which one fit the vibe today. whilst all of their names were technically pictures, dream read them as words - like knowing that the teddy emoji was his nostalgic songs.

he ends up shuffling his calm music, since it's still relatively early and he doesn't think he could handle anything too upbeat just yet. the blond glances up at himself in the mirror, ruffling his hair about a bit so it covered up his airpods before reaching out to take his lanyard from the hook he'd been using to keep it safe.

he hangs it over his neck before stepping back and checking out his reflection. the simple t-shirt and baggy jeans was a nice outfit, in his opinion, though he already knows he's going to look mundane compared to most of his overly eccentric art class.

dream pockets his phone and grabs his backpack before making his way out of his bedroom, still feeling half asleep despite the fact he's surely been awake for over an hour now.

sapnap and his boyfriend are still on the couch, just like they had been thirty minutes ago when dream had crossed over to the bathroom to brush his teeth, but they seem to have woken up since then. george still looks very drowsy, with his face smushed unattractively against sapnap's peck, but the ravenette looks much more with-it as he offers dream a big smile, his hand moving methodically along the brunette's spine.

dream finds himself unable to comprehend how close the two boys have come since college started three weeks ago. you would never look at the boyfriends and suspect that they met at freshers, or that they've only been dating for just over a week, because they're just so perfect and inseparable.

their happiness almost makes dream wish that he had gone to more freshers so that he could've found someone for himself - even just a fling would've sufficed. though, when he thinks about the music and lights and sweat and noise, he's glad that he didn't go. whilst it's disappointing now, dream knows that past-him would've hated every moment of being in an overcrowded club full of strangers.

"mornin'," sapnap croaks, voice still rough from lack of use overnight (or something else, but dream doesn't want to consider other options).

the blond looks down at his wrist, taking a moment to make sense of the numbers and hands before understanding the time and glancing back up to ask, "shouldn't you be in a lecture right now?" he feels his brows furrow with mild concern, and he can't help but feel almost parental as he looks at his best friend for an answer.

sapnap shrugs and the movement jostles george enough to make him grunt unhappily. "it's fine, i can miss one lecture," he dismisses.

dream doesn't know if sapnap purposefully skipping makes him feel better or worse - better, because he would've felt bad if sapnap accidentally messed up, but worse because of his friend's dangerous lack of care.

"but you missed one on monday too," dream points out, turning away from the pair to head into the kitchen. the apartment was mainly open plan, besides bedrooms and the bathroom, so he can still see and hear the couple perfectly fine as he pulls open one of their cupboards.

he doesn't want sapnap to feel like he's scolding him or something, or trying to be controlling, but dream thinks he's valid for worrying about his best friend's attendance.