homeless [dnf]

i - homeless

this story is inspired by "since i saw vienna" by wilbur soot. wonderful song

this is my first time writing a dnf fic, but i wanted to try something new! i am not a native english speaker, so please bear over with me if you catch any mistakes.

i will, of course, take it down if the CC's ask me to :)

hope you'll enjoy it!

***

"leaving ascetic belongings in hostels and restaurant bins. 

the roads are my home, horizon's my target. if i keep on moving, never lose sight of it"

Dream was always on the move. Always looking for that one place he wished he could call home. Now don't get it wrong, he had a home. With his family in Florida. His family meant everything to him, more than everything to be honest. But Florida didn't feel like home, it hadn't for a long time.

It hit him when he was in school. He didn't feel like he belonged, so he acted up. He wasn't the best kid, he'll admit that. So he saved up, every single penny he got from working went to a savings account. When he turned 18, he would be gone. He would be out searching the world for his home.

21 years old now, 3 years had gone from when he first started searching. He had visited more countries, places, cities, than he could have ever dreamt of. Sometimes he forgot what he was looking for, just enjoying where he was.

The beauty of Paris, how he had loved it there. The city of love. The view from the Eiffel Tower was breathtaking. He had gone up there the first night he was in Paris, it had been calling for him. Lighting up once in a while, he could easily see it from the room in the hotel he was in.

 Standing at the near edge, looking over Paris, he felt as if he was flying. In that moment he just .. was. Everything had been paused. He wasn't looking for a home, he wasn't on the move. No. He was just there, living in the moment.

The food in Cancun. The people in Mexico. Everyone had treated him so nice, though he was just another stranger. A sweet family had invited him for dinner after he had asked them for places he should see in Cancun. Happiness had swirled around inside of him, engulfing his whole body within a few seconds.

It had hit him, when he sat in the kitchen watching how the family was interacting with each other, he hadn't even been afraid when he had said yes. He thought back to his sisters, they would probably have been afraid. Maybe they wouldn't even have been traveling alone in the first place.

God how he hated the world sometimes. He loved his sisters and it always hurt him how they were scared to do so many things, because you could never know what would happen.

The wind blew his hair around as he drove down road. He was all alone, no cars in sight. Loneliness was slowing eating him from the inside, so he did the only thing he could think off – he called Sapnap. He had met him when he was in Texas, it was one of the first places he visited in a hope of finding home. He hadn't found it, but he found Sapnap instead – gaining a new brother.

"Any progress?" Sapnap hadn't bothered to say hi, jumping straight to the case instead, he knew all about Dream's plan. His voice was husky, Dream had probably woken him up, sometimes he would forget about the timezones.

"Did I wake you up?" Dream asked, he wanted to forget about his quest for just a little while.

"Yeah, but it's okay," His voice was genuine, it made Dream ease up a little bit. "So, how's it going Dream?" Dream hadn't expected their conversation to be serious, so the question made him overthink his answer. Should he tell him? Or should he just try and change the subject, hoping he would forget ever asking? He settled with the first one. After all, he trusted Sapnap.

"I can't just call my friend?" Dream laughed, the laugh was empty and he knew Sapnap knew that. He sighed. "I'm starting to think I'll never find what I'm looking for."

"A watched pot never boils," Sapnap hummed. Dream's face crinkled together in confusion, what is that boy on about now?

"What are you even talking about? Maybe you should go back to sleep."

"I mean, you might not find it because you're looking for it. You go from place to place, looking for what you can call home. Have you tried going to a city just to go? Maybe you want to try some food from Denmark, or you want to ski in Canada."

Dream didn't say it enough but sometimes Sapnap was clever. Not that he would ever tell him that it would just inflate his, already big enough, ego.

"I've never thought about it like that," Dream mused as he pulled his car into an abandoned parking lot. He had some googling to do.

"Yeah yeah, I know I'm smart." The smirk in Sapnap's voice was clear, he didn't even need to see it to know that it was there.

"Calling you an idiot would be an insult to all stupid people," Dream wheezed as he heard Sapnap trying to come up with a comeback. He huffed and the older boy could almost hear the eye roll.

"Whatever," Sapnap with a mocking tone. Dream just wheezed harder, his chest was starting to hurt and his eyes watered. "Do you have a place in mind?"

Gasping for the air that had left his lungs, he tried to calm down enough so the words could roll of his tongue, "I'm thinking England. I've never been there before, there seems to be a lot of places that I could visit. Might just stay there for a little while."

Sapnap hummed, sleep engulfing his body again, "Sounds like a good idea. Remember, I'm always ready to join you, just say the words."

"Thanks Sap. I appreciate it." And he meant it. He really did appreciate it; most of all, he appreciated Sapnap.

"Goodnight man, take care." Dream hung up after saying goodnight, and the silence was quick to take over. He turned on the radio, letting the music flow out of the speakers in his car and dance around in the air around him.

The roads are my home, horizon's my target

If I keep on moving, never lose sight of it

Dream blinked. Again. And again. It was like the song was aimed at him, the words shot at him like bullets from afar.

I'll pick up my hiking boots when I am ready

And I'll put down my roots when I'm dead

He choked on the air, the same air filled with music. Would he ever find home? Or would he, like the song had said, first put down his roots when he's dead? Maybe some people just aren't supposed to find a home; a place where they truly belonged. Maybe he should just go back home to his family, a place where he knew he was loved, but where he did not belong. Or maybe move to Texas, to be closer to the younger man that he had come to love like a brother.

He shook his head free from the thoughts. No. He couldn't give up now, he didn't spend the last 3 years for nothing.

Maybe, just maybe, if he did not look for it,

he would find home in England.