Mark My Words || DNF Soulmate AU

Chapter 56

To anyone walking in on Dream and George the fourth day after they decided to start a relationship just for a free two-week trial, the only available reactions would be confusion and perhaps an impending sense of fear.

Fixing the ceiling with a blank stare, Dream lays numbly on his bed, as if having witnessed the fatigue of life and is reconsidering enrollment. His hair fixes itself into a disheveled scruff that crowns him as One Who Has Recently Slept, a title Dream loathes in the current moment. His phone is by his side, just out of reach of his hand, as if when he set it down on the bed it had been with a sort of careless air as to send it such a small but significant distance. His blanket half-shrouds him in a futile attempt to offer comfort, and curls into itself as if understanding that for once, it could do nothing for the disheartened man.

George is kneeling by his side on the mattress, lifting Dream's left arm to his face so that his teeth are half-sunk into tender flesh. When he lets go, the little dents of his teeth form an arranged oval.

Dream's arm falls limply onto the bed.

George laughs, the humor seemingly lost on Dream as the man continues to float in his crestfallen state, and arranges himself sideways to stare at Dream comfortably, "It's not that big of a deal, you know. We can always get back on track again."

At first, it's like Dream doesn't even hear George's words, so lost in his despondency and anguish. But at last, still drenched in disbelief, he shakes his head and croaks, "But we already broke our streak."

Poking at Dream's eyelashes, George doesn't even attempt to mask his amusement, "I know I know, but there's always next time!"

Dream closes his eyes, either from irritation of George's bothersome movements or to fall back into a meditative state of calm.

Attempting to sweep Dream's forehead with locks of his soft blond strands like some sort of makeshift broom, George comforts, "I know you've been trying to fix your sleep schedule and you're disappointed that it didn't work out immediately, but this is literally your first attempt. We can keep working, you got this."

Swallowing uneasily, Dream pouts involuntarily and mumbles, "Not my first attempt. Every time I break the streak it takes me forever before I can get myself to sleep healthily again."

"That's why I'm here," George pinches Dream's earlobe and squeezes the soft flesh between his fingers, "I'll keep you on track, don't worry."

Shifting to the side so he can hug George in a messy tangle of limbs and oddly wedged body parts, Dream whines unhappily, "But it's already 8:30! I'm not gonna get any sleep tonight and then I'll stay up and then tomorrow I'll be so tired and the cycle continues."

Extracting an arm out from Dream's crushing embrace and petting his hair, George shushes him, "You've done it before, you can do it again. We can take tonight off."

At last quiet and seemingly in the process of recovery, Dream presses a kiss to George's shoulder and mutters, "Sorry for forgetting to set an alarm."

"It's no big deal," George reassures, "I forgot too."

They grow quiet, George loosely wrapping his one free arm around Dream's neck and drumming his fingers against his back. The room is still dark, lulling them into a winding staircase of peace, and for a second George almost could believe they would fall back into the nap which had grasped them so thoroughly as to ruin their newly reformed sleep schedule.

Dream pushes himself up a second later though, a yawn stifling his words so they all end up sounding stretched and distorted. George laughs as he sits up as well, finding his way to the edge of the bed to turn the lights on, "Care to repeat that?"