Scavenger Hunt

Can we Talk now?

“Can we talk now?” George asked, his tone serious as he turned to face Dream fully. The laughter from moments before faded into the background, replaced by a palpable tension that hung in the air.

“Yeah, I think we should,” Dream replied, feeling his heart rate increase. He sat up straighter, the playful energy from their gaming session dissipating. The stakes were higher now, and he could sense the gravity of their conversation.

George shifted, leaning forward slightly as if he were preparing to spill out everything he had been holding back. “Look, I know we’ve been dancing around this for a while, and maybe I’ve been avoiding it too. But I need to know what you think about… us.”

Dream swallowed hard, the question echoing in his mind. He had thought about it so many times but had never found the courage to speak the words. “I’ve thought about it a lot too,” he admitted, his voice steadying. “And I—”

Before he could finish, George's eyes darted away, scanning the room as if looking for an escape. “Oh! Look over there!” he suddenly exclaimed, pointing toward a cluttered shelf in the corner. “Isn’t that the next clue? It has to be!”

The abrupt shift in George’s demeanor caught Dream off guard. “What? Where?” he asked, trying to follow George’s lead but feeling the conversation slip away from them.

“Right there! I think I saw something sticking out,” George insisted, moving away from their spot. The tension hung in the air, palpable, but George was now fixated on the shelf.

“George,” Dream called after him, a mix of confusion and frustration bubbling up inside him. “We were talking about—”

“I’ll grab it!” George interrupted, rummaging through the assorted items with exaggerated enthusiasm, clearly avoiding the deeper conversation they had started.

Dream stood there, torn between his feelings and the awkwardness settling over them. He wanted to push back, to drag George back into the conversation, but he could see how desperately George was trying to deflect. The moment felt fragile, and Dream didn’t want to shatter it with pressure.

“Okay,” Dream finally said, stepping closer. “Let’s just… find the clue, then we can talk.”

George’s shoulders relaxed slightly at that, though Dream could still see the uncertainty in his eyes. “Right! Let’s do that,” he said, a little too eagerly, as if the distraction could erase the tension between them.

They began to sift through the cluttered shelf, Dream’s heart racing as he felt the unspoken words hanging in the air. Every time their hands brushed against each other, a jolt of electricity shot through him, a reminder of the connection they shared—but also of the uncharted territory they were edging into.

“Here it is!” George exclaimed, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper and waving it in the air like a trophy. “I found it!”

Dream couldn’t help but smile at George’s enthusiasm, even as he felt a pang of disappointment for the conversation they had let slip away. “What does it say?” he asked, trying to refocus on the hunt.

George unfolded the paper, squinting at the faded ink. “It says… ‘To find the answers you seek, look to the place where our journey began.’”

“That’s pretty vague,” Dream replied, trying to suppress the rush of excitement at the challenge. “But I think I know where it is. Isn’t that the old gaming setup from when we first started?”

“Yeah!” George said, his eyes lighting up with a mixture of nostalgia and eagerness. “That’s where everything started for us.”

As they exchanged glances, the tension between them was still palpable, but the thrill of the scavenger hunt brought a spark of energy into the room. The prospect of revisiting their past—a time when everything felt simpler—brought a rush of warmth to Dream’s heart.