Between Friends (dnf)

Manager

"I refuse to be your assistant, Dream." George scoffed with a hard eye roll.

Dream had approached George on the subject multiple times in the last week. He couldn't explain it, but he just felt like today would be the day that George agreed- so he might've been a bit pushier than his last attempts.

"Fine- how about my manager? You will manage my day," Dream corrected with a hopeful smile.

Hearing the change in title seemed to intrigue George. He paused in the middle of reaching for the blender, glancing at Dream over his shoulder.

"And you do what I say?" he confirmed, giving Dream one last skeptical once-over.

For some reason, alarm bells were going off in Dream's mind. George had that look in his eyes- the one Dream typically did his best to not get involved with. Alas, he desperately needed someone to get his life on track, so despite his better judgment, Dream agreed.

Listen, if Dream could hire a live-in personal assistant, he would, but the fact of the matter was that wasn't a feasible option. He couldn't hire someone to move in, but he could, however, hire someone who had already moved in- it was the perfect compromise.

Or so he thought.

"Just wake me up, get me motivated for the day, help me plan stuff out, and- I don't know- remind me to eat a couple times." Dream shrugged, laying out the simple tasks he expected of his assi-... manager.

"Bet." George smiled and Dream feared he may have made a mistake- a big mistake.

Dream went to bed that night feeling anxious. He thought of all the disastrous ways George could start his day. Confetti cannons. Ice water. A mariachi band. By the time Dream fell asleep, his head was aching. Dream almost texted George canceling the whole manager idea.

Almost.

Morning light filtered into Dream's room and the air smelled both sweet and savory. He was pulled from his slumber gently, the atmosphere feeling as peaceful as a Sunday morning in his childhood home.

"Good morning."

With a yawn and stretch, Dream opened his eyes to find George across the room. He was setting down a plate of food and a cup of juice on his desk.

"Morning," Dream answered skeptically. Admittedly, he was on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. The last thing he expected George to do as his first act of being his manager was to wake him up with breakfast in bed.

"Eat." George pointed at the plate before sitting down in the computer chair.

Dream shuffled to the source of the delicious smell. He was in the middle of eating a piece of bacon when George began reading off the handwritten agenda he made for him.

"You don't have any meetings until tomorrow, so today is going to be your catch-up day. It looks like you've got three major things to tackle- what you want the warehouse to do with the surplus of defective merch, picking something from the growing pile of video drafts to start editing, and your laundry has a serious funk to it." George laughed towards the end, stealing a slice of toast off the plate of food he'd brought up for Dream.

"Ugh, I hate laundry," Dream grumbled. He couldn't deny that his leaning tower of dirty clothes was growing to be damn near as tall as he was.

"Eat the frog." George shrugged, handing Dream the half eaten piece of toast instead of setting it back down on the plate. "Get the hardest task of the day done first so you can ride that dopamine for the rest of the day without it looming over you."