Case 404

[ Love Hurts ]

Dream's eyes widened. "What did you just say?"

"We can run away. From this, from everythi-"

"George, no." He cut him off. "You don't understand. You don't need to run."

"What? Are we forgetting I'm going to be executed in the next few days?"

"Your kingdom is looking for you. All of them." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "They aren't far away at all."

George stayed silent. 

"They're going to find you. Ravaryn has the best knights in the world. And when they do, you'll be free. You're going to become king in the next few years. You don't need to run, George. You'll be found."

"What if I don't want to be found?" George grabbed Dream's hand and began to rub his thumb over Dream's knuckles. They were always bruised. "I want this. I want you."

"George, your destiny is to rule Ravaryn. To be king."

"My destiny is with you. Please, don't make me go back there."

Change their mindset. Manipulate. You are in control, even when you don't think you are.

Dream looked away, contemplating. "You know I don't want you to. But it's too dangerous. It's too dangerous with me. I'm unpredictable, you know that." 

"I don't care. Dream, I love all of you." George shocked himself with the statement. 

Dream smiled and let out a small laugh. "What was that, George?"

"No-Nothing. I don't know why I said that."

"Is it true?"

George took a breath and slowly exhaled. If he was going to do this, he would do it right. "I love every part of you. I want you forever. I want you to heal, and I want you to hurt. I want you to laugh, and I want you to cry. And I want to be there for all of it. Because I love you, Dream. I loved the boy years ago, and I love you now. I love you so much it hurts me."

Dream paused and took the confession in. He repeated the last line with guilt in his voice. "I hurt you?"

"You do. You hurt me in ways I didn't know was even possible. It hurts when you touch me, it hurts when you talk to me, it hurts whenever you look at me. All of it hurts. But that doesn't mean I don't want it. Love hurts, it's such a physical pain that I've never experienced before."

Dream looked away from George. "I'll never stop hurting you."

George put his hand under Dream's chin and made him face George's direction. "The day you left. I remember it."

Dream's eyes widened in shock. 

"You lied. You said that they took you before you got to my castle, I know that isn't true."

Dream cleared his throat. "Most of it was. I did want to run away, I wanted to tell you everything. But when I climbed into your room window, you were asleep." There was a bit of disappointment in his voice. "So I just sat on the bed next to you, and I moved the hair out of your face. You were always such a heavy sleeper."

George let out a small laugh under his breath. "I guess I wasn't that day."

Dream smiled. "And I just stared at you for a few minutes. You were so beautiful. You looked like you were at peace, I couldn't wake you up. The dream you were having was much better than reality. So I let you stay in there. I didn't want to tell you what was going to happen to me, you didn't deserve that."

"Keep going." George egged on. George wanted him to say it. 

"..I kissed you on your forehead. I told you that I loved you. And then I left. I wasn't ready to say goodbye, so I didn't. "

"Why did you do that? Tell me." George demanded. 

"I thought I was never going to see you again."

"But you have. You left me with that. I thought you were dead and I was never going to get to say it back." George's eyes began filling with tears, remembering all the pain he had felt over the last few years. "It wasn't fair."

"Hey, love. I know." He wiped away a tear from George's face with his cheek. "I'm sorry."

"That's why I'm begging you. Please. I don't want to be royal, and I don't want to die here. God, I just want you!" George felt like he was talking to a wall. He was embarrassed. Here he was, confessing his undying love for someone who hadn't said they loved him back.  

"I know, George! It's just.." Dream's words faded off.

George tilted his head and squinted his eyes in realization. "Oh, I see now. It's not that you don't want to leave with me. You don't want to leave at all." 

Dream dropped his head and sighed. "Power is intoxicating."

George frowned. "You don't need that power anymore. Not with me."

"Who am I without it?"

"The boy I fell in love with." 

Dream looked at George with eyes full of anguish and let out a sigh. 

"Is there a reason you're not saying it back, Dream?" George questioned with disappointment. 

"You've said it yourself. There's a reason we didn't say things before. Why say them now?"

George smiled and let out a breath. He quoted Dream as he did to George. "Because we don't have anything to lose." 

Dream brought his hand to the side of George's cheek. George felt as though Dream's hands we made for him. "I love you, George. I love you more than anything you can imagine. But if you love someone, you let them g-"

George placed his hand over Dream's. "No," George cut him off. "Don't start that cliche shit with me. Do not let me go."

Dream moved his hand from George's cheek and place it under George's chin. He brought George's face closer to his and ran his thumb on his lips. 

The two locked their eyes together for a few moments. Dream's eyes flickered with passion and lust. George saw it clearly in his eyes, he gave into it. 

George closed the space between their lips with a gentle, but passionate kiss. The two curved their bodies into each others and let themselves be completely devoured in one another. 

Dream pulled away and brushed the hair off of George's forehead with his fingertips.

"George."

"Yes, Dream?" George smiled with the thought Dream was coming around to the idea of them running away together. 

"I'm so sorry."

"For wha-" 

George was cut off with Dream plunging a syringe into George's thigh. 

George looked up with frightened eyes, and Dream held the back of George's head to keep him from falling. "You'll be okay. We'll meet again."

George began to see spots in his vision and looked around. He became lightheaded, he wanted to throw up. He looked at Dream once more, but before he could say anything, he lost consciousness.