another revealed truth

insider information

trigger warnings listed in opening author's note

✼

"so," sapnap starts, leaning against dream's doorway with his arms crossed and lips pursed. "you and karl?"

"yeah," dream nods, keeping his eyes on his drawing. he's at his desk, so his back should be to sapnap, but he's sitting sideways in his chair to pay half-attention to the ravenette.

"how's that?"

"good," dream answers, switching for a different pencil. "i'm happy, he's happy," the blond shrugs. he hates that, deep down, he knows that karl isn't happy. they might not really be dating, but karl is still his friend, and he still cares about him, and he hates knowing that there's something really wrong.

every time they have sex he notices the new cuts, and every time he feels more inclined to ask about it, to offer help, to be there like he knows he should. the excuse of 'i promised not to' sounds weaker and weaker every day. he promised karl he'd never bring it up, in exchange for the brunette's openness and trust, but he can't help but think this isn't a promise worth keeping.

"and you got together after halloween?"

"yeah," dream answers. "it happened kinda fast, you know? like you and george." sapnap hums understandingly from across the room.

"i'm happy for you."

dream smiles, "thanks."

"have you told your mom?" the ravenette wonders. "i know karl wanted it to be lowkey but, i don't know, i wasn't sure if that extended to families or what." dream can hear the low resentment in sapnap's tone, the way that the ravenette is still unhappy that it took so long for him to find out. though it makes sense, because they have always told each other everything, so it's understandable that the ravenette would be upset about that sudden change.

"no, she doesn't know yet," dream answers. he tells his mom everything too, even though most people would consider this very early into a relationship, so again he understands why sapnap would ask. honestly, dream hadn't even considered families, and how the word would spread.

"does that mean i can't tell my dad?" sapnap wonders, not pressuring. "he always asks about you and i just wanted to know if i should keep it on the d.l. cause like, obviously, if i told him your mom would find out."

"you can tell him, i don't mind if my mom finds out," dream answers. he momentarily wonders if that's a suspicious answer, because maybe this is the kind of thing he should pretend to ask karl about, but he tries to play it off. "if bad doesn't end up telling her then i'll just tell her in person during winter break."

"alright," sapnap nods. he steps further into dream's room, looking at the art he's working on. "will you tell your dad?" sapnap asks, trying to make it sound casual as he admires the drawing.

"no, probably not. him and holly don't even know i'm gay. i'm not ready to tell them yet," he says. he doesn't want to think about how much more of a disappointment he would become if he told his dad he never wanted a girlfriend, and wouldn't be able to give him 'real grandkids'.

"so you won't tell your dad, but mine can know?" sapnap teases, light-hearted and playful, clearly trying to twist the conversation into something less heavy.

dream scoffs, humoured in a kind of sad way. "well your dad has been more of a dad to me than mine has, so i think he deserves to know."

sapnap huffs out a laugh, "i suppose." the ravenette moves over to the other side of dream's room, helping himself to a space on the blonde's bed. it's good because dream has to shift to work on the other side of his drawing, and sapnap's in a much better position to be seen now - though, he's still only paying the ravenette half of his attention.

"how did you know you were gay?" sapnap asks casually, with his back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. dream has a suspicion that george is in a lecture, and the raveette is bored, so he's resulted to just infiltrating dream's space to occupy himself.

"i had a crush on our old teacher, remember?" dream answers. he feels his chest go tighter at the thought, a weird sort of discomfort creeping into him, and he has to pause his drawing for a moment when his hands start to tense with the urge to shake. he doesn't know why he subconsciously reacts in such a way, considering most people have a crush on a teacher at some point in their lives.

"the art one that used to like, buy you presents and stuff?" sapnap asks, shifting to sit up on his arm just slightly so he could look over at the blond.

"yeah," dream answers, thinking back to when he really started to love art. he would never be where he is now if it wasn't for the constant attention and validation he received from his old teacher, as well as the supplies that were bought from him.

dream has a weird urge to change the subject.

"do you ever think that was like, a bit weird?" sapnap asks, meaningless wonder in his tone. he reaches over to dream's bedside cabinet and grabs a random pen that he can twiddle between his fingers. "isn't there like a rule that says teachers can't buy things for students?"

"i don't know, i don't think so," dream answers. he knows that rule exists, he's been told that before by friends and family alike, but he always brushes it off. why does it matter if his teacher bought him some soft pastels and a few paints here and there?

sapnap shrugs it off, possibly because he picks up on dream's disinterest in the conversation. he flops back in bed again, looking at the pen in his hands. "how do you and karl communicate if you can't read and he can't talk?"

"we've kind of gotten good at just wordlessly communicating," dream answers, which isn't a lie, it just mainly applies to when they fuck. "plus we both have our notes as yellowy so i can read them better, and i've started teaching myself sign language."

"what? really? show me," sapnap demands, rolling over to face dream.

the blond puts his pencil down and spins his chair to properly face sapnap. he decides to show the ravenette the alphabet, because he's practised it enough to be pretty speedy and it looks impressive because it's long and strings together nicely.

he feels giddy with pride over the impressed look that harbours sapnap's features. "that's so impressive."

"thank you," he smiles, probably flushing at the compliment. dream doesn't think there's anything he loves more in this world than people saying nice things to/about him.

"would you and karl wanna go on a double date?" sapnap wonders, rolling over onto his stomach now so he can kick his legs up behind him. "me and george thought it would be cute."

"yeah, sure."

✼

i want everyone to know that i burst into tears when i realised i hadn't posted and had to proofread because i have had the worst day ever and just wanna sleep but i'm still here! i still did it, just for the like two readers who are actually still here

i love you!

-kit