Call me Juniper :] Adult, she/they/bee pronouns. Requests and prompts are open! (i just take forever to write them sorry) Main blog @likethesword, on AO3 under the url @likethesword ! Thanks for reading!
I hope you didn’t have a large funeral for me. Have you had a funeral yet? It’s alright if you haven’t. I know this is sudden.
When you do have a funeral, I would like you to look under our bed for a small wooden box. Inside you’ll find dried flowers, the very same ones you’ve gifted to me over our years together. Take these and lay them to rest with me. I had intended to save them, to tell our children of the stories they carry, but I expect you won’t want to look at them for any longer than you have to.
Send word to my mother and father, tell them what’s happened. My father may attempt to blame you, but don’t let him. It is no one’s fault but the snake’s.
And don’t pay for mourners, allow those who come to grieve as they see necessary and not a drop more. I appreciate the well-wishes, but I would rather know that those I love are gathered together. I don’t need anything fancier than that.
Remember to feed yourself, my darling, I know how scatterbrained you can be. You cannot let yourself waste away, no matter how much you may want to. You must care for yourself, if not for any other reason than I have asked you to. It would be my hands, combing your hair and fetching your food, but alas. Yours will have to act where mine cannot.
I hope you find love again, Orpheus. I hope you find someone to hold you when you cry and to smile when you laugh so loudly your whole body rocks with it. I hope she has kind eyes and a pretty voice, I hope she cares for you like I do.
Above everything, my love, know that I don’t blame you. I could never blame you. It is nothing short of a miracle that you came as far as you did, it’s no wonder there was a catch. I’m only glad that I got to see you one more time.
I don’t hate you for turning, Orpheus. I know that you turned because you love me.
Please, take your time in joining me. I miss you already, but I would rather miss you for a thousand years than see you a day earlier than the Fates determined.
Sleep well, my love, know that I am at peace. Love yourself and your new bride with as much ferocity and passion as I loved you. Don’t forget me, but don’t linger longer than you have to.
Prof you fucking genius is it seasonal? Like it happens in spring cause the flowers bloom? Imagine it hitting hanahaki season and looking around a room and seeing whose missing, who’s out on sick leave, thr curiosity the DRAMA
#this is honestly how I initially thought hanahaki in fic worked #coughing up flowers for years because you won’t cop to your feelings? #that’s the stuff #the dying thing puts on really uncomfortable pressure for me #like ‘love me back or I’ll die’ is uncomfortable as hell for me #whereas ‘ADMIT YOU’RE IN LOVE YOU JUST COUGHED UP A BOUQUET!’ #hanahaki-suffering person: ‘no’
THIS IMMEDIATELY IMPROVES THE ENTIRE TROPE! I had really disliked Hanahaki because it’s almost like the other person - if they’re a good person - is sorta blackmailed into either having feelings or being responsible for your death which is Not Romantic, but I can totally get down for FEELIGS made into an aggravating physical metaphor that you could potential deal with if you’d either confront them or get therapy or something.
I am in awe at how much this tweak changes the trope of hanahaki from something I quietly detest from a distance into something I would gleefully read and giggle about to others.
Honestly I don’t even think it’s even the removal of the death thing (like that’s certainly helpful, but you can probably keep it, if you need it for the Drama) that saves it, so much as it is the idea that the problem is caused purely by you not admitting your feelings, rather than the other person not sharing them.
Like, in the standard version of Hanahaki, the point is that the disease is caused by unrequited love, and the afflicted end up coughing up increasingly large amounts of flowers, until either they suffocate or the other person returns their feelings.
A lot of versions do require a confession on top of that, but fundamentally the most important thing is the object of your affections developing specifically romantic feelings for you. Or you die.
As an aro person, I’m sure I don’t need to explain why this trope is uncomfortable for me, considering that it basically paints me as a potential death trap.
Plus some stories also feature ‘The Surgery’, which removes the roots of the flowers from the victim’s lungs, thus saving their life, but in the process makes them incapable of romantic love, which is treated as the highest tragedy.
Chronic Hanahaki on its own would still kind of have this problem, it’s just toning it down a bit— rather than being responsible for your death, your crush is instead just responsible for your continued pain/discomfort and frequent hospital visits. Better, but still kind of icky.
Chronic Hanahaki (that could still be potentially terminal in the long term, if you need extra drama) caused by not saying your feelings aloud, regardless of how the other person feels, on the other hand?
Beautiful. Great metaphor for the real effects that repressing your emotions can have on your body. Lots of dramatic potential.
Like, obviously there’s your bog-standard “I love you but don’t believe that you love me, so I will choose to suffer tragically alone rather than risk making you feel bad for not loving me back” thing that the Hanahaki genre was made for, but there’s room for more here as well.
Especially if you expand it to be about supressed emotions in general, rather than just romantic love.
For example:
The character who is in a relationship, but still has trouble verbalising their feelings sometimes, due to past trauma/mental illness, and thus still experiences recurring bouts of Hanahaki. Their partner who reassures them that it’s okay, that they know they love them, and that if they want to say it then that’s fine, but if they don’t feel they can right now then your flowers are beautiful babe, and that’s fine too.
The character who notices flower petals lying around their kid’s room, and doesn’t understand why their child won’t just tell them who they are in love with, so they can support them in confessing their feelings. Only to find out that their kid has actually been dating their same gender best friend for months now, and the Hanahaki was about coming out to their parent.
The autistic character with alexithymia, who by this point just treats coughing up the occasional flower petal as another, rather annoying autistic trait. “Fuck,” they say, coughing up a blood-stained rose and holding it up for their friends to see. “Anyone got any ideas what this one could be about?”
The polar opposite of the traditional Hanahaki thing. The ever happy, toxic positivity character who will die from the flowers choking their lungs unless they finally admit that they kind of hate you sometimes.
The character at the funeral of a family member they had an extremely dysfunctional relationship with, defiantly coughing their flower petals right onto the grave, and refusing to admit that they felt anything other than dislike or indifference for them deep down, because even now, when they’re dead and gone and it doesn’t matter, “you first, bitch.”
The character who witnessed or was told something that they aren’t supposed to know, and not only has to deal with the secret eating away at them, but also has to come up with more and more reasons for why their Hanahaki isn’t going away, even after they confess all their other secrets.
The character who, upon clearing out the house of a beloved elderly relative who recently died, finds a whole room full of rotting flowers, and is faced with the question of what their relative’s big secret was.
Reworking Hanahaki to be a material and physical symptom of emotional bottling or stress is absolutely fantastic, especially because it brings several more layers to the AU that weren’t otherwise worth exploring before when it was just a ‘cough flowers up till you die’ kinda deal. Obviously plenty has been said above me by excellent individuals, but I offer a couple more questions/ideas:
There is a huge following of people who believe the petals or type of flower from Hanahaki symptoms somehow represents a person’s inner feelings, emotions, or state of being.
Does a rose mean you’re holding back a romantic attraction? If your friend is coughing up daisy petals, are they hiding a secret? If you start finding lavender petals in your coughs, should you think about who it is you don’t trust?
On the flip side, perhaps each person experiences Hanahaki with a very specific type of flower, and there are some who believe that flower represents the person in some form–perhaps to the degree of astrology. Someone who is a daffodil shouldn’t date someone who is a lilac, the two of them are intrinsic opposites and they’ll never get along!
Fortune-tellers who say they can read your future if you’re currently experiencing symptoms and bring in a handful of petals you’ve expelled–they’ll read them just like palm lines or tarot cards.
Listen, I appreciate a good cultural adaptation as much as the next person, but I would also appreciate if you all would stop calling the original “icky.” It’s from an entirely different culture where it can be anything from a generic love story—in Japanese cultures, a tragic death like this would indeed be considered romantic—to a commentary on various -isms.
Like by all means, adapt it to western culture. But please stop pretending that westernizing it is “improving” it, as opposed to simply making it more palatable to a different culture.
Summary: Sylvia has two problems. One is a ghost in her house. The other is her husband. (Tw: domestic abuse, violence)
Morgan is not a malevolent spirit.
Her visitors treat her like one. They crawl through her rotting house with cameras clasped in sweaty hands, hissing about evil and violence. They bring out objects of prayer to ward her off. Some of them try to trick her into speaking. Into acting. They spend hours recording the whispering of the wind through the cracks in the attic or the creaking of her home sinking into a century old foundation.
Morgan watches them from the slanted chandelier in the foyer and never says a word.
Truthfully, she doesn’t hate them. They’re alive and addicted to the strange cocktail of hormones the body produces when afraid. She can’t hate what is created by nature.
Perhaps that’s why she isn’t a malevolent spirit. She knows addiction and to be alive is to be an addict. Food, water, passion, lust, greed, love, fear. A complex array of cocktails all pumped directly into your receptive brain. The bad ghosts are jealous of it. Greedy for it. And Morgan simply…isn’t.
She has her routines. She stays well out of the way of the people who come to explore her abandoned and withering house. When those who need the shelter of her walls find themselves there late at night, she makes sure that the wind doesn’t blow the doors open, that they choose the rooms with the best windows, that the pests that have started to nest in the roofline don’t wander down.
On days she has no one, she stares out the window of the master bedroom - what used to be her bedroom - into the garden. Her neighbor’s houses shrink and expand, fall apart, get torn down, and then reemerge like new, brightly colored with gleaming windows, but her garden stays the same. The weeds bloom into late spring, pops of white false morning glory all along her wrought iron fence, and wither into long, thin stalks in the winter. The squirrels she once chastised for eating her tomatoes lay down to rest and their descendents descend on the new vegetable patches in the neighborhood.
Then, one day, a man in a white van pulls up. He cracks open the back door and pulls out a long orange banner. This he strings along her fence with precision, pinning it so that it lays flat. He examines his work, nods, pulls out his phone to snap a picture, and then he’s on his way.
When Morgan goes to investigate, she finds the words UNDER DEVELOPMENT emblazoned on the banner.
(Prices reiterated under cut in case text is difficult to read! & boundaries can be found beneath cut)
(Further examples of art can be found @ghosttowndrawsstuff & on Instagram @starbug.png)
Prices
$2 - emote
$5 - shoulders & up sketch
$10 - waist & up sketch
$15 - full body sketch
$10 - coloured shoulder & up
$20 - coloured waist & up
$30 - coloured full body
+$3 for every added shoulder & up person
+$5 for every added waist & up person
+$7 for every added full body person
+$10 for basic background (solid colour, patterns, etc)
+$20 for detailed background
Boundaries
NO NSFW! Artist is a minor <3
I will not draw naked bodies
I will draw gore
No emote requests having to do with Dream SMP Exile (artist of emotes is a c!Tommy introject), however requests for any other category having to do with exile are okay!
Payment upfront, if a month is gone without updates on the piece, you will be fully refunded.
No refunds after the transaction has taken place, changes to the piece can be requested but upon receiving the art, it cannot be "returned" because it is a digital transaction. (Duh.)
Piece will most likely be done within a week of me receiving payment, however if it is not done you will have a WIP of the piece within a week.
On Christmas morning I open the gift you handed me at the last minute as I was leaving and you got me the perfect thing and I just realized you love me back
They can joke with each other without it being mean spirited because they respect boundaries.
The child knows that they can go to their parents when they’re in trouble. They might be angry with the bad decision but will still unconditionally love the child and help get them to a safe place (either physically or mentally)
Parents try to maintain a good work/home life balance, they might have mandatory family fun on weekends or prioritize a family dinner together no matter how busy they are
Parents turn out for the kids activities even if they’re not personally a fan, driving them to clubs and school events
Good communication - if they drive, kids make sure to text when they get to the destination safely and check in often if they live away.
If it’s a big family with multiple siblings, parents take time for all of the kids, and while older siblings might help raise the younger kids, the burden of parenting isn’t on them
In terms of discipline, when a kid messes up, the parent will explain why they’re in trouble and deserve a fair punishment and leave room for making it up. It becomes a learning experience
Children look up to and respect their parents. Little kids might try to mimic them. They know their parents aren’t perfect but appreciate that they try their best and work together to make the relationship strong
Parents try to act as overly-affectionate in public and it kind of embarrasses the kid but they secretly appreciate it and know that if they need someone to kick up a fuss in their defense, their parents will have their back.
the parent(s) speak frankly with their kids about their own flaws, personal history, and trauma. they may wait till the kids are older to acknowledge severe traumas, but they are clear and honest with them, and willing to admit to their own mistakes.
parents actively listen to their children, gain an understanding of their interests, and attempt to relate. this is usually extremely embarrassing for the child.
they give their child space to be alone and privacy with their friends and online. they do not feel the obligation to involve themselves in every aspect of their child’s life, especially when they’re a teenager.
parents trust their child to tell them what the child needs to tell them. they may experience anxiety over what their child hides from them, but they don’t put pressure on them to reveal their secrets.
parents allow the child to experience natural consequences for their actions, rather than punishing them for every misstep.
parents help their child to become financially responsible at an appropriate age.
if the child is involved in activities, like clubs, sports, or extracurriculars, the parent tries to be involved as well.
keep in mind that a parent-child relationship is a *relationship*. a healthy relationship has rapport; inside jokes; a consensus on what’s ok to say and what isnt. older children especially ought to have near-equal say in these relationships, and even a very young child should feel as though their needs, wants, and passions are being considered :)
it can be tough if you haven’t had very good parents to model, so my advice is to keep in mind the dynamic of a pair of very old friends. only one has known the other since uhh.. pre-birth!
How to Write Dialogue for (most) Dream SMP Characters
A few months ago, I remembered seeing a lot of posts giving advice on how to write dialogue for DSMP Characters. And while those posts contained numerous helpful pointers, overall, they fall just short of capturing what it means to write in a character’s Voice.
Unique character Voices, while tricky to get right, are usually achieved by giving each character a distinct set of words to say, in a manner that distinguishes them from the rest of the cast.
With this in mind, I’ve spent the past few days combing through almost Thirty Hours of VOD footage to collect nearly all of the unique words, phrases, and speaking habits of every major and minor character on the Dream SMP (involved in 2+ story arcs.)
Before Reading:
Sentence-Starters are single words or phrases which begin a sentence. (ie. “Y’know, maybe you should try something different.”)
Sentence Paddings are reoccurring words added to the middle of sentences. (ie. “It’s like he just can’t cry.”)
Sentence Endings are single words or phrases which end a sentence. (ie. “There’s no need to fight, I hope.”)
All three of these types can be combined with one another to create more natural-sounding sentences. For instance, if a character has the two Sentence-Starters “Okay” and “So,” they can be used like this; “Okay, so, I’m a bit worried.”
(Note: When certain traits or phrases aren’t obvious with how they should be applied to dialogue, an (ie.) will be added below to illustrate them.)
Wilbur
General Traits:
Repeats himself for emphasis. Sometimes these repetitions will add additional information. More often, this repetition is focused around a specific word with the circumstance of the sentence being changed each time.
ie. “I’m living in an eternal limbo again. I’ve been through limbo, I’m out of limbo, and socially, I’m still in this limbo.”
Highly eloquent in language, bordering on poetic.
Highly introspective; significantly less so after Eret’s betrayal and onward.
Occasionally makes literary analogies and references, sometimes breaking the Fourth Wall to do so.
Curses semi-frequently. Wilbur is the only known character to use the word “cunt,” although rare.
Common Go-To Swears - Fuck, Shit, Prick, Bastard, Hell, Ass (Including all variations and combinations.)
Tends to hum when he thinks to himself.
Stutters most often when offended, shocked, or surprised.
Generally addresses characters semi-formally, often by title or role.
Often slips into long-form monologues when self-reflecting.
Usually defaults to being the head of a conversation; introducing, managing, and elaborating on topics throughout, especially when speaking to three or more people.
Circumstantial Phrases:
You and I, we’re ━ (To connect positively with someone.)
ie. “You and I, we’re used to seeing the good in people.”
I wanna pick your brain / Can I pick your brain? (To ask about someone else.)
Don’t say that, I’ll cry (Affectionate banter, only to Tommy.)
I’m afraid ━ (When hopeless or delivering bad news.)
ie. “I’m afraid there’s no getting out of this now.”
There’s no reason to ━ / There’s no reason for ━ / There’s no need for ━ (When being threatened or breaking up a fight.)
when the lover takes the beloved’s hand and presses it against their chest where their heart is. or when the beloved takes the lover’s hand and presses it against their cheek.. i was going somewhere with this
Behold, my latest attempt to string words together and make something!
Bad Days Aren't As Bad With You
2 chapters hurt/comfort benchtrio
Sometimes Tommy wakes up but isn't fully there. He has days where he feels more dead than alive. Thankfully, Tubbo and Ranboo are there to pull him back to Earth.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
TWs for dissociation and anxiety! I'm writing this all from my own personal experience so please let me know if I need to fix anything!
Oh hey, this got much worse after my joke post, so, uh, if you think this is a bad idea that will leave people vulnerable to harassment and getting hacked (a tumblr special) like I do, please consider filling out the feedback form.
You are much better off supporting small time creators via other systems, trust me.
i will say this as a ‘creator’ who has literally done this before and who has been told i need to change things within my creations to be more culturally sensitive: it is fucking easy to put “hey i’m writing about X as a non-X person. I did my best to research and to try to portray it in a respectful manner, but if I got anything wrong, please let me know and I will work to fix it”
and when someone takes that offer and goes, “hey you did this thing bad/wrong/inappropriately” it’s easy to say, “thank you for telling me, i will continue to research and I will do my best to change that into something more respectful.”
it’s easy ! it’s free ! it’s better than digging ur heels in the sand and throwing a hissy fit over the fact that u got smth wrong !!!
what people think is hard about writing: describing the joy, love, beauty, grief, loss and hope that form the richness of human experience
what is actually hard about writing: describing basic actions such as turning, leaning over, reclining, gesturing, saying something in a quiet voice, breathing, getting up from chairs, and walking across rooms
I’ll spill out a brilliant, wrenching portrayal of a character’s struggle with grief over a loss and his complex regrets and guilt and then a page later I’ll have to write that a character who’s lying prone raises his head and shoulders up to look at something without fully getting up and I’ll get so angry I want to strangle an eagle with my bare hands
How to Plot A Complex Novel in One Day (It WILL take all day)
Now first, I have to say, that the plot you’re able to come up with in one day is not going to be without its flaws, but coming up with it all at once, the entire story unfolds right in front of you and makes you want to keep going with it. So, where to begin?
What is your premise and basic plot? Pick your plot. I recommend just pulling one from this list. No plots are “original” so making yours interesting and complicated will easily distract from that fact, that and interesting characters. Characters will be something for you to work on another day, because this is plotting day. You’ll want the main plot to be fairly straight forward, because a confusing main plot will doom you if you want subplots.
Decide who the characters will be. They don’t have to have names at this point. You don’t even need to know who they are other than why they have to be in the story. The more characters there are the more complicated the plot will be. If you intend to have more than one subplot, then you’ll want more characters. Multiple interconnected subplots will give the illusion that the story is very complicated and will give the reader a lot of different things to look at at all times. It also gives you the chance to develop many side characters. The plot I worked out yesterday had 13 characters, all were necessary. Decide their “roles” don’t bother with much else. This seems shallow, but this is plot. Plot is shallow.
Now, decide what drives each character. Why specifically are they in this story? You can make this up. You don’t even know these characters yet. Just so long as everyone has their own motivations, you’re in the clear.
What aren’t these characters giving away right off the bat? Give them a secret! It doesn’t have to be something that they are actively lying about or trying to hide, just find something that perhaps ties them into the plot or subplot. This is a moment to dig into subplot. This does not need to be at all connected to their drive to be present in the story. Decide who is in love with who, what did this person do in the 70’s that’s coming back to bite them today, and what continues to haunt what-his-face to this very day. This is where you start to see the characters take shape. Don’t worry much about who they are or what they look like, just focus on what they’re doing to the story.
What is going to change these characters? Now this will take some thinking. Everyone wants at least a few of the characters to come out changed by the end of the story, so think, how will they be different as a result of the plot/subplot? It might not be plot that changes them, but if you have a lot of characters, a few changes that are worked into the bones of the plot might help you.
Now list out the major events of the novel with subplot in chronological order. This will be your timeline. Especially list the historical things that you want to exist in backstory. List everything you can think of. Think about where the story is going. At this point, you likely haven’t focused too much on the main plot, yeah, it’s there, but now really focus on the rising actions, how this main plot builds its conflict, then the climactic moment. Make sure you get all of that in there. This might take a few hours.
Decide where to start writing. This part will take a LOT of thinking. It’s hard! But now that you’ve got the timeline, pick an interesting point to begin at. Something with action. Something relevant. Preferably not at the beginning of your timeline - you want to have huge reveals later on where these important things that happened prior are exposed. This is the point where you think about what information should come out when. This will be a revision of your last list, except instead of being chronological, it exists to build tension.
Once you’ve gotten the second list done, you’ve got a plot. Does it need work? Probably. But with that said, at this point you probably have no idea who half your characters are. Save that for tomorrow, that too will be a lot of work.
After you’ve plotted the loose structure of your novel from this, see my next post to work on character!
Made a list of all the AU’s I could think of. Used to help me when I have no ideas, decided it could help others and I should post it. It took a few weeks to fill it out this extensively and I have no more interest in adding to it, so please don’t bother suggesting anything （；￣д￣）
TWs: miscommunication, a bit of anxiety. Let me know if there’s one I should list!
AN: So this is actually a school assignment, but since my teacher thought it was good and I still like it, it’s goin here. I know I don’t usually post MCYT content, but I’m hoping to change that soon! Don’t worry, Sanders Sides will probably stay my main priority for a while. (Also yes I’m still supposed to be on hiatus I know I’m a bad Christian shhhhh /j) Enjoy!
EDIT! This is now available on AO3 here! for your viewing pleasure
George felt his head bounce against the school bus’ window as it bumped and sputtered its way down the road. He closed his eyes, hoping to catch up on some of the sleep that he had missed out on the night before, and now was sorely missing. This didn’t last long, however, because the bus screeched to a stop and the sounds of other teens climbing out filled his ears. George just sighed and was about to close his eyes again when he felt a pair of strong shoulders crash into his.
He pulled his head away from the window to meet his best friend’s lively green eyes. “Dream, I’m trying to relax,” he huffed, doing his best to smother the smile he felt creeping onto his face. “Do you mind?”
“Nah, I don’t mind at all,” Dream responded with a cheeky grin, making George roll his eyes. He was just about to put his earbuds in when Dream grabbed his hand, stopping the movement.
“Uh, actually,” Dream said, looking down at where his and George’s hands met, “I had something to ask you.”
“Mhm?” George just continued to scroll through his phone, seemingly not minding the contact.
Dream suddenly found himself supremely more nervous than he had been a few moments ago. He took a steadying breath and just decided to spit it out.
“There’s a new movie I wanna see coming out in theaters tonight, and I was wondering if you’d wanna come with me?”
At this George turned his attention from Twitter to focus on Dream’s face. After a momentary pause, he smiled. “That sounds like fun! I’ve got homework to do, but you could pick me up later tonight?”
Dream let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding. “Yeah, totally. Around eight?”
“Perfect, it’s a date then!”
As George went back to looking at his phone, the bus came to Dream’s stop. He grabbed his backpack and gave his friend a goodbye smile, then made his way off the bus and up his driveway. When he was sure that it had turned the next corner down the street, Dream did a little jump and let out a whoop. He was so sure that George would turn him down that now that he hadn't, Dream wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. After a moment of stimming, which mostly just meant standing in the driveway clicking his tongue and shaking his hands up and down, he had regained his composure enough to be able to enter his house without immediately being teased by his sister.
At 7:30 that evening, Dream was standing in front of his full-length mirror and evaluating the outfit he had chosen. It was nothing fancy, just a pair of jeans and a lime button-up shirt, but that was exactly the issue. Was it too formal? Or not formal enough? This was his first date with George after all, he didn’t want to disappoint.
It was in the middle of this scrutiny that his sister spoke up, leaning against the doorframe casually. “You look fine, idiot,” Drista said with a teasing grin. “You know he’s gonna like you no matter what you dress like, don’t stress about it.”
“But what if I overdress? Or underdress? What do people even wear to movie dates anyway?”
Drista shrugged. “I dunno, I’ve never been on one. Probably what you’d wear for a usual date,”
“Thank you for the help, dear sister,” Dream said sarcastically, turning his head to give her a deadpan expression. She stuck her tongue out at him, so of course he had to stick his tongue out at her.
Their teasing match was interrupted, however, by their mother calling up the stairs. “Clay, George is going to be expecting you! Shake a leg!”
“I’m going!” Dream hollered back, taking one more moment to fuss with his hair. Drista sighed and walked over, fixing it for him.
“You’ll be fine, Clay. You’ve known him for, like, ever, and just because you’re going on a date doesn’t mean that either of you are any different than you were this morning.”
Dream nodded, and Drista gave his arm an affectionate whack. “Now get out of my house, you nerd.”
“I’m still older than you!” He protested as he grabbed his keys and walked out the front door.
The drive to George’s house was a short one, and soon enough he was knocking on the front door of a small ranch-style house that served as the Found household. He took a step back from the door when he heard muffled barks and scrabbling of nails on the other side. George cracked the door open, pulling three very excited dogs away from where they were trying to push out the door and run into the front yard. He smiled a bit sheepishly at Dream, then turned his head to call over his shoulder. “Mum! I’m leaving!” After a faint response had been hollered back, he shoved his way out past the dogs and onto the front porch.
George huffed, brushing his sweater free from the dog hair that clung to it. “Sorry about that, the dogs just get excited when someone comes to the door.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m used to your dogs by now,” Dream chuckled, bumping his shoulder against George’s. “You look nice.”
“Thanks,” George fidgeted with the hem of the blue sweater he was wearing, kneading it between his fingertips. The outfit wasn’t really anything special, but it was one of Dream’s favorites. The color made the brown of George’s eyes richer, and it looked especially good paired with the light pink blush that was currently painted across his face.
Soon enough the two of them were sitting in the plush red chairs of the theater, watching previews and waiting for the movie to start. It was a pretty small showing, there were only two other couples in the entire room, so Dream and George were free to spread out. George had his legs slung over the armrest, leaning his back against Dream’s shoulder, occasionally tipping his head back to give him an upside-down grin. In a way that confused George to no end, Dream had managed to fold his long legs underneath him so he was sitting cross-legged on the chair. He had one arm hooked over the back of the seat, not quite around George but close enough to feel the warmth coming from him.
The background chatter of the theater quieted to a hush as the lights slowly faded and the beginning of the movie started to play on the screen. George flipped around in his chair to sit normally and shuffled closer to Dream’s side in excitement, causing butterflies to erupt within the taller boy’s chest. He casually dropped his arm to rest around George’s shoulders, then settled back to watch as the main character dashed onto the screen.
The movie’s plot climax was fast approaching, and George wasn’t handling it very well. He was curled into Dream’s side as the scene around the main character exploded, and he practically shoved his face into Dream’s shoulder with an anxious squeak when the character onscreen only narrowly avoided the hunters chasing him. Dream couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle at George’s reactions, earning him a firm whack to the bicep.
“Don’t laugh at me! It’s a very intense moment!” He mumbled, though the effect of his statement was diminished slightly by the fact that he was still hiding his face in the lime green fabric of Dream’s shirt.
“Aww, don’t worry Gogy, I’ll protect you,” Dream cooed teasingly, patting his head fondly. With a quick glare towards him, George turned back to look at the screen, though he didn’t move from where he was basically plastered to Dream’s side. Maybe if he had looked closer, he would’ve seen the smitten looks that Dream couldn’t resist giving him every couple of minutes. Or maybe he would’ve caught the way that Dream stiffened momentarily when he grabbed George’s hand, caught up in the moment. Or the relief that flooded over him when George just squeezed it without a second thought.
The two of them got so caught up in the movie that it took both of them by surprise when the lights came back on and the credits started rolling. George pulled away from Dream’s hold to stand up, which made him pout for a moment, but returned to stand at his side when he had gathered his things. Together they walked out into the parking lot, where George talked animatedly about the characters of the movie while Dream watched in amusement. The drive back to George’s house was filled with much of the same, George sharing his thoughts on the plot and characters while Dream listened happily, throwing in his own opinions here and there.
Dream did his best to swallow his nerves as he walked George up to his front porch, catching his elbow when he went to open the door.
“I had a really nice time tonight, George,” He smiled at his best friend, hoping he sounded a lot calmer than he felt.
“So did I! Thanks for inviting me. We should do this again sometime,” George chirped.
“You think so?”
“Definitely!”
“In that case,” Dream said, taking a deep breath and trying to gather his courage. “Would it be alright if I kissed you goodnight?”
This seemed to take George off-guard, taking a small step back and giving him a baffled look. “What? Why?”
“It’s okay if not!” Dream rushed to backtrack, bringing one of his hands up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. “I just figured that’s what people usually do after a date goes well.”
So many emotions flickered across George’s face in a matter of moments. Disbelief, realization, guilt, eventually landing on a mix of confusion and sadness. “Clay,” He started softly. “When you asked me to come with you tonight, did you mean it romantically?”
A look of horror and embarrassment struck Dream’s features. “Did you think I meant it platonically?”
George nodded silently, and Dream buried his face in his hands with a groan. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I should’ve made it more clear. Jesus Christ, I’m such an idiot.”
“Hey, hey, don’t talk about yourself like that!” George said sternly, drawing Dream’s gaze from his palms to his blushing face. “Maybe there was a communication issue, and maybe neither of us completely understood the point of tonight, but that does not make you an idiot,” his voice softened as he watched Dream’s face flush.
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Dream mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets self-consciously. “I should probably get going,” he went to turn away but felt a hand reach out and grab his forearm before he could.
“Clay, I…” George hesitated, trying to find the right way to say what he wanted to say. “I did really enjoy myself tonight, and I’m sure that I would’ve acted differently if I had known how you felt about me,” He quirked his lips up into a smile. “Can we try this again? Do it right next time?”
Dream’s eyes shone with cautious excitement. “Really? You wanna go on an actual real date with me?”
George nodded, and Dream smiled excitedly. “Okay, let’s do that.”
George turned to look at his front door, then back at Dream. “I gotta go, it’s late. Text me when you get home, okay?”
Dream nodded, then reached out to gently squeeze one of George’s hands. “Yeah, absolutely. Good night, George.”
George hesitated for a split second, then rose onto his tiptoes to press a quick kiss against Dream’s cheek. “G’night, Dream,” he murmured, then disappeared inside his house, leaving Dream on the porch in stunned but ecstatic silence.
Today is the first day of Lent, so I'm going offline until Easter (April 4th). If you need me, you can message me on Discord (there are a bunch of people who have my contact there) or just drop an ask in my inbox and I'll get to it when I get back.
You can message Koda @/does-this-look-inanimate-to-you , Tess @/patton-cake , Gabi @/gabnapp , or Hazel @/definitely-a-living-human for my discord ID
