polaroid angel - dreamnotfound

˖⋆࿐໋₊ 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺

dream walks in after me, letting the bathroom door swing shut behind us. he sets his suitcase down on the floor, opening it and pulling out a white plastic bag. inside is a small container with a blue lid and different labels covering it.

"pee in this cup."

i furrow my eyebrows, searching for some kind of emotion in his expression. but his eyes are completely void of indication. he seems to be dead serious.

"what?" i huff, "why?"
"just- just do it. it's not a big deal right?"
"well, why do you need-"
"i'll explain later, okay?" he insists, fiddling with his sleeves.

i hesitantly take it from his hands, feeling the plastic with my fingertips.

"uhh, i... i don't know about this dream."
"come on," he begs, "for me? please?"
"i mean.. okay, i guess? but you better give me a proper explanation later," i say, still not fully convinced.
"i will, i will, don't worry."

i bite my lip, breaking our eye contact.

"alright, well... i'm only doing this because it's you."
"thank you so much george," he grins, pecking my cheek and ruffling my hair.

with a strange feeling pooling in my stomach, i slowly walk over to one of the stalls. the plain white door easily slides open, letting me into the cramped cubicle. i lock it behind me.

before i do anything drastic, i take my time to observe the container more closely. big letters on it spell out "t-cup", and underneath that the words "remove this label to view results" are printed. i vaguely recognize the object from somewhere. why would dream ask me to pee into this? to sell it on the black market, or to clone me or what? i'm confused.

after taking a deep breath i unscrew the lid, placing it on the floor. this is shady. really shady. and so dumb. why did i even agree to this again? right. because it's dream who asked me. would i piss in a random cup if a stranger came up to be and begged? no, of course i wouldn't. i only gave in because i'm in love with the man who pushed it upon me.

inside the space is a black line you're supposed to fill it to. i sigh and mentally slap myself once more before unbuttoning my pants. whatever. it's too late to turn back now.

it fills up pretty fast, so i empty the rest of my bladder in the toilet. my hand hovers over the sensor to flush it after i'm done. holding the cup carefully, i lean down to grab the lid and screw it back, securing my urine in there.

i don't want to remove the label that's covering whatever secrets are hidden underneath, even though the urge to is strong. however i do inspect the plastic container one last time, just out of curiousity. dream might be wondering why i'm taking so long at this point, but i don't care. this is important.

a few seconds and a couple of spins in my hand later, it dawns on me. my thoughts start racing. yeah. wait. right. that's it. i know where i recognize this from. i've done this before. they made me pee into one of these before i got hired. the company gave this thing to dream.

something about this doesn't sit right with me. at all.

fuck.

they're clearly careless with how they test their future employees, huh? blindly trusting them to not tamper with these cups, or fake their sample just like dream's doing right now.

anger rises in me, but worry does too. the stall door flies open.

"care to explain why you made me do your drug test?"

he flinches when i come rushing out. i'm practically fuming when i spot him nonchalantly playing with his hair, twirling it around his index finger like this is some kind of dumb joke. my tone is aggressive and questioning, though my expression is plagued by sheer disappointment.

"tell me dream," i demand, "i need an explanation."

ever since the day i met him, his confidence and intelligence has baffled me. he's never scared of voicing his opinion or talking about sensitive subjects. his broad knowledge of a long list of things always shines through. he rarely stutters, stumbles over words or overthinks his sayings. you could bring up anything, and he'd be able to carry a conversation for hours. no matter how tense, uncomfortable or threatening the situation, he always knows exactly what to say.

but for the first time ever, dream doesn't have a response. his eyes stare blankly at me, still void of emotion. i can't read him at all. the silence is unnerving.

"dream!"
"i- okay, listen..."

he clears his throat, sighing in shame before attempting to defend himself.

"i had no idea they were gonna push a piss test on me, so last weekend i.. i smoked some weed with my friends. i promise i don't do it often, it just came up and, ended up happening," he admits, shrugging, "it might've showed up on the test. i'm sorry. i just didn't want to lose this opportunity."

i roll my eyes in disbelief.

"so you-" i huff, shaking my head, "you made me fake it for you instead?"

"look, i know it's bad but, it's such a tiny, useless mistake that would fuck up this entire job offer. i'm not about to trip over the finish line now! so i just figured i'd have to do something about it, and-"
"and therefore you take advantage of your lover, who you know would do anything for you, to secure your spot? nice move dream, real nice."

"but you care about me being hired too, right? you don't want me to be turned away just because of some stupid drug test."

i step closer to him, reaching out to cup his cheek as i give my response. my voice softens significantly, completely disregarding of my intentions.

"no, dream. at this point i couldn't give less shits about if you get the job or not. all i care about is honesty. i value it highly. and right now you're disproving the loyal, honest persona you've built up. i'm disappointed. i really am. i'm almost ashamed of you."

he remains as still as a statue throughout my speech.

"and you know what? you're really lucky i love you as much as i do, otherwise we would've had worse problems. but right now i need some time alone. i'll be in the parking lot at five, after work's ended. you're picking me up and driving me back to your place. that sound good? and you better have come up with a proper apology by then."

"okay," he nods, lacking other replies.
"now take your fucking fraud and get out of here," i mutter, handing him the container.

he takes it from my grip hesitantly, slipping it back into the plastic bag where it came from. his suitcase closes up with a click, and he promptly leaves me in the bathroom without another word.