Up above

United

The next night was almost as bad. George returned to his small home with a void in his heart. Something was dragging on him and causing him to feel this way. Something he recognized as dream. He had only seen him a few times, but the connection for George was there.
When he saw the blond for the first time, he almost dropped to his knees. After being in the dark for so long, everything about the dream's anxiety triggered George's motherly impulses. He had a tremendous desire to look for dream and tell him that everything would be well. He wished he could pull Dream close and murmur lovely nothings to him and only him. Instead, he was stranded alone in a tangle of blankets and an even tangle of thoughts. He desperately needed to sleep or he wouldn't be able to operate properly the next day.

The light was filtering through the cracks in George's drapes as he eventually fell asleep. The darkness that had engulfed the city had long since vanished. The sun was setting over the horizon and streaming through everyone's windows, hoping to rouse the people. George lay still, his eyelids falling with each passing second. The clock was ticking faster and faster. His night was fruitless, and he was lost in a haze because of dream. He was expecting that something would finally knock him unconscious, but the moment his eyes began to grow heavy, the newly woken city began to live again after sleeping all night. The noises outside his house woke up the entire neighborhood, especially George. After that, he gave up on sleeping, because nothing was productive enough to get him to sleep.

Time flew by faster than usual. George was getting used to and enjoying his job. With all of the freebies and compensation he receives as an employee, the park is becoming a home away from home for him.He didn't say all of that to deny the possibility that the real reason he got up to go to work was to gaslight himself.

The week passed without a glimpse of a dream. When he didn't see the puppy dog eyes that never fail to touch his heart, George was dismayed. Did he do something wrong that made Dream uneasy? Or was he overthinking things? Maybe he'll return next week? Is something wrong with him? Is he all right? Did he discover something more interesting to do? George couldn't stop his mind from going to the worst places. George was ill to his stomach because he hadn't seen dream after assuming they'd start having this consistent habit. Was his previous remark too harsh? He needed dream to come up here and face him, then stand back and let George think.

But the next day, presumably a Monday, dream reappeared. He arrived alone once more. He was seated in the second to last row, far away from George. To top it all off, George had no choice but to seat some random person next to him. The park was full enough to house the entire city, so George had to jam people on the rides today, which meant he couldn't sit next to dream even if he wanted to. To make matters worse, dream began conversing with the person in line alongside him. George wasn't sure what they were saying, but he noticed Dream's silky lips moving at a rapid pace.

He had no place for jealousy, but it didn't stop him from feeling it. He was forced to sit them together because of his job, and they were already bonding. Maybe he was jealous of how attractive the stranger was and how Dream stared at them in the same way he did at George. He offered the stranger the same puppy dog eyes he gave George, which just fueled the fires in George's eyes. He was glaring daggers at the man and hadn't even realized his second job was waiting in the queue. With his newfound acute jealousy, he almost failed to ensure that everyone was safely seated. He also didn't want to get fired, so he eventually had to check.

When he arrived at Dream's row of seats, he first stared at Dream, then at the stranger. Some of George's built-up jealousy vanished when he observed they weren't holding hands, like George did with dream.