sunshine smiles and caramel lattes | dreamnotfound coffee shop au

the meeting

Dream was rushing from college class to college class today, having rolled out of bed late. He was already off course and in some part of the campus that he'd never been to.

Shit... he murmured under his breath, this was the third time he had been late to his video programming class. Slightly lost and lacking wifi, he went into the nearest cafe, hoping to not completely ruin his attendance for the semester.

He'd been so annoyed at himself that he barely realized that when he opened the door, it felt like an entirely different atmosphere than anything he was familiar with. The cafe was warm, to say the least, and it was glowing in both metaphorical and literal senses. It was cozy and even though it was empty, it still felt full of light.

Still in a daze, Dream opened up his phone to see his location and looked at the name of the cafe, 'L'manberg' he hummed under his breath.

During the time he was using to locate where he was on the campus, a petite brunette stepped out of the back and asked in a voice with a warm smile,

"Can I get you something sir?" His voice caught Dream slightly off guard, something about it was so calming. He couldn't tell if it was just the atmosphere of the cafe, but he felt himself being pulled in. Dream looked up and opened his mouth to answer, but as his eyes fell upon the boy behind the register, he felt like he couldn't breathe.

Trying to keep his composure, facing an INCREDIBLY cute boy, he nodded and said,"I'll just have a caramel mocha...." he looked down to read the brunettes name tag,"..George."

"Alrighty" the impossibly adorable boy said while popping his tongue. He moved to make the drink, practicing the motions with the utmost ease. "Who should I label the drink for as?" George, that was his name, smiled while saying this, making Dream's heart melt more than he thought possible.

"Uh... Dream is fine." Clay wasn't sure why he didn't just use his real name, but he felt safe with George, so he'd rather just use Dream with him. Thinking that he'd receive an odd look from George or something, he braced himself slightly. George only nodded and mumbled a 'pretty name'. Dream didn't even think George realized how cute that was.

Dream was already twenty minutes late for his class, so he decided he'd just stay in the cafe, feel guilty, and return home. At least he'd have eye candy for the time being. George placed his drink on the counter and smiled. While it was probably just a customer service smile, Dream's heart exploded, almost forgetting to pay for the drink.

"Thank you", Dream managed to say, fumbling with the change. He'd never felt so flustered before.

"My pleasure, you can take any seat you'd like or sit and keep me company!" George grinned and launched into further explanation,"Y'know cause there aren't any customers..."

Dream was in the middle of (gay) panicking when George patted the bar stool and gave him another one of his sunshine smiles. Dream didn't even want to think about what his face looked like right now, way too embarrassing probably.

Dream wished he was in class right now because Ohmygod ohmygod I am sitting with him how do I talk to him what do I say-

Pulling Dream from his thoughts, George's voice sounded as he said,"Do you go here? That's probably a dumb question, but I just wanted to know if I'd be seeing you often!" He giggled.

He had the audacity to fucking GIGGLE. Dream's life was over, flatout cardiac arrest.

Remembering that he couldn't just stare off into space planning out his entire life with George in his head, he responded as quickly as he could,"Oh uh yeah! I was late for class so I kind of had to findwhereiwas" Dream pushed out.

If George noticed that Dream was slightly out of breath, he didn't say anything or had chocked it up to the fact that the blonde boy seemed to have been in a rush. He simply nodded and said,"Me too, but I have night classes, so I work during the day!"

I can do this, it's just a conversation Dream thought to himself. He'd have all the time in the world to lay awake later that night and overanalyze every word he'd said while screaming into a pillow. "Oh cool!! Night classes don't seem that fun though, when do you sleep even?" 

"I don't" George deadpanned, still smiling brightly. Dream (now slightly concerned for the boy), nodded his head in understanding though, having slept in this morning due to how late he was up the night before. 

"Me neith-" Dream started, but as he was saying his sentence, an incredibly unorganized boy rushed in and practically dove over the counter. 

"Sapnap!" George exclaimed.