Blue Christmas

Chapter 3

"Dream? Hey, Dream, wake up!" The voice was gentle in Dream's ear, whispers only meant for him despite the apartment being empty aside from the two of them. His eyes fluttered open, taking a second for the sleep and blurriness to be swept away by reluctant eyelids. He gave them a second to focus on the brunet leaning over him, softly rubbing his shoulder in an attempt to rouse the Floridian, and he let out a groan, stretching as his aching bones popped from, well, sleeping on a couch for 10 hours. His eyes widened in surprise as a furry grey flash darted across the room and leapt into his lap, Dream's lips turning upwards into a grin as he watched the cat circle around a few times, before finding a comfortable position and sitting down.

"Sorry for waking you up, its just 11 now and I thought it might be good to help you get over the jet lag!" George's eyes were still a little red from the night before but his expression was much brighter.

"It's okay!" Dream's voice was croaky and a little scratchy from sleep, deeper than usual and addictingly charming. "Hello Cat!" He cooed softly, a smile growing on both his and George's faces. The cat mewed in response, leaning his face into the hand scratching his chin.

"Breakfast?" George asked as he walked towards the kitchen, Dream hesitantly lifting the cat off of his lap to follow.

"What do you have?" Dream yawned as he stretched again, barely aware of the 2 inches or so of skin between his hoodie and jeans becoming exposed until he felt a hot gaze burning it, following the scald to George who turned to look away so fast that Dream could have sworn that he should have got whiplash.

"Oh- umm yeah cereal, toast, the usual stuff, not anything exciting sorry!"

"Just some cereal would be great, thanks!" Dream grabbed a bowl from the cupboard George had just opened, pouring himself some cornflakes before adding some milk and sprinkling sugar on top.

"I'm so sorry you had to sleep on the sofa!" George mumbled through a mouthful of cereal.

"It's fine, seriously! I was so tired I barely noticed it to be honest."

"Fine but once we've finished eating, I'll show you where the spare room is and we can bring your stuff up there. How long are you planning on staying, by the way?"

"Oh- my flight back is in 10 days, but if you have stuff planned I can always go see some other people for some of them-"

"No you can stay for all 10!" George interrupted him, speaking quickly and stumbling over his words. "I mean, if you want to of course."

"Okay!" Dream chuckled, watching as the Brit's cheeks went a subtle shade of pink.

"You know, I'm sorry you had to deal with... all that last night Dream I... I shouldn't have made you deal with that, especially after you had spent all night travelling and-" 

"George, seriously, it's okay!" Dream cut of his ramblings, meeting his hickory brown eyes, which seemed to be peppered with specks of gold as they were illuminated with the sunbeams of a late December morning. "Don't apologise for what you went through. None of this is your fault, you know that right?" 

George nodded slightly in response, his gaze flickering between his lap and Dream. 

"If anything, I'm glad I could be here to help you get through it all, okay? Never feel like you're a burden or a pain because you're not! I promise you." Dream gave him a comforting smile, which George attempted to mirror. "Anyway, I do have a question for you." Dream's tone changed from sincerity to something a little lighter as he grabbed the two bowls, rinsing them and putting them in the dishwasher as he spoke. "I have two plans, and you need to tell me which you would prefer over the next few days, okay?"

"I thought you were meant to be the guest, not me!" George snickered playfully.

"Does it matter?" Dream rolled his eyes, letting out a chuckle. "What I was saying is, we can either go full Christmas-mode, we can celebrate together, do gifts, have a Christmas dinner, do all that fun stuff and you can have the best Christmas ever without your family, or, we forget that it's Christmas and just do what we would have done if I came any other time of year."

"Okay..." George dragged out the word as if he was savouring the feeling on his tongue, his expression one of contemplation and confliction. "Can I have some time to think about it?" 

"Sure! How about you let me know by the end of today?" Dream proposed, and George nodded as he stood up to help Dream tidy.

The pair brought in Dream's luggage, bringing it to where he would be sleeping. Dream did admit that the bed felt a lot comfier than the sofa he slept on but refused to say that he did have a bad night's sleep anyway. They decided that it would be a good idea to take advantage of the fact that they were together in person and stream, settling on trying to beat minecraft but Dream controlled the mouse and George the keyboard.

The stream was chaotic as ever, the Christmas-themed messages coming through in chat and donations barely putting a dampener on the mood because neither could be far from elated that the other was sitting right next to them whilst they streamed rather than the usual 4365 miles, give or take a few. The footage would be perfect for a video, George somehow managed to have his facecam on all stream without Dream accidentally doing a face-reveal and Sapnap joined a voice call with them the whole time, nothing short of pissed that the two had met up without him, but all in good humour of course. 

"What do you want to do now?" George asked as he logged off his computer.

"I don't mind, why don't we have some lunch?" 

"Okay I know exactly where to take you!" George's eyes lit up and Dream couldn't help but smile.

"Where?" 

"I'm not telling you- come on, grab a coat, we're going somewhere!" George laughed, grabbing his hand and yanking the Floridian down the stairs. Dream would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy the feeling of the warm hand in his, fingers interlocked tightly. He made a mental note to buy some hand cream for him, however. Those dry knuckles have got to be painful.

George led him out the front door and through the backstreets of Brighton. Dream took in the sights, finally having the chance to admire the town for what it was for the first time. As seagulls squawked overhead, two boys struck dumb with love walked with their hands intertwined and their hearts interlocked, neither wanting the moment to end... but alas, like all good things, it did. The loss was only very temporary, quickly broken by George:

"This, Dream, is Talia's Tea Room! The food here is so good." He explained to him as they were led inside and directed to a table for 2 in the corner. The tea room was quaint, walls painted a warm cream with duck-egg blue accents,  littered with vintage art. There was a table by the counter with some rather delicious looking cakes enclosed in glass domes and the tables were clad with cloths with some beautiful floral patterns.

The pair were handed menus, and once they picked, the food was delivered quickly.

"You were right, this is so good!" Dream exclaimed, his words muffled by the toastie in his mouth.

"I'm always right." George said, raising his eyebrow as he attempted to hold a serious expression for all of 2 seconds before it cracked into giggles.

"That's debatable." Dream shot back, and George rolled his eyes, dunking some more home-baked bread into his soup.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier, you know."

"You have?" 

"Yeah- and I think... I think I've decided." George set down his spoon as he met Dream's gaze with certainty.

"There's no rush!" Dream reassured him, but George's expression remained the same.

"I've decided that I want to celebrate Christmas."

Sorry for the slightly shorter chapter, but I wanted to publish something! My aim is to get this finished by Christmas, although I'm not sure if I will be able to, I keep on getting more and more ideas for this!