another revealed truth

two's a coincidence, three's a pattern

trigger warnings listed in opening author's note

✼

dream hasn't been able to focus for the last two hours.

they've been doing pencil textures, drawing little images of different materials using only one kind of pencil (he went for a medium ground, 2b) and, whilst he has got a good few done, he can't keep his eyes on his work.

every few minutes, dream finds himself glancing up at karl. the brunette is beyond focused, his bottom lip bitten into his mouth as he squints down at his drawings. dream doesn't even know why, but the focused expression makes his gut stir. he can't help the way he keeps admiring the pretty boy, wanting more than anything to just get on with his work but being unable to.

he's relieved when their lecturer announces the end of the class and he begins to pack up. people stand up, moving about, and his view of karl is obstructed enough that he can find some peace in the moments of packing away his art and taking his airpods out.

"are you okay?" tina asks, and dream looks up at her with a half-assed hum, hardly processing her words. "you seem distracted," she points out.

"sorry, i'm just tired today." it's not a lie, but he's often tired.

"well i won't invite you to the library with me then," she laughs. he smiles along. "i'll text you later?"

"yeah okay," dream nods, the pair of them moving towards the room exit. "see you tina." she smiles, and he watches her leave before his attention is immediately pulled away at the sight of karl stepping out of the classroom. "hey."

karl blinks at him for a few moments, a thick silence settling over them that leaves dream confused, before the other reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.

karl types something in his notes, turning it for dream to see, and the blond squints down at it. he tries his hardest to make sense of the mess of letters, but he just can't manage it. "i can't read that," he confesses, reaching into his pocket to get his own phone out. "i'm dyslexic."

he opens his own notes app, which is tinted yellow, and passes his phone to karl. he feels the need to apologise, like his disability is an inconvenience, and ends up giving in to the urge, "sorry. i just find it easier to read on yellow, not sure why."

he doesn't know why, because he's been told by many doctors on top of his own research, but he doesn't want to bother karl with the details.

the phone is passed back, and dream sounds out the words in his head as he makes sense of what it says. 'you know i'm selective mute, right?'

"oh, yeah, i think george or sap might've mentioned that," he says. he looks back up at karl, his gaze searching the other's face. stupidly, he asks, "so you're not talking right now?"

the brunette shakes his head.

"wow. you can't talk, i can't read," he scoffs, humoured, "it's gonna be hard for us to communicate."

karl smiles, his head moving slightly in a silent laugh that makes dream grin to himself.

"maybe i should learn sign language," dream jokes, earning a half-amused, half-fond head shake from the other. "i was going to ask if you were free. sapnap's got a lecture, so i have the apartment to myself," dream offers, the pair of them making the silent decision to start walking again.