"For today's fake date, I've planned an exquisite adventure," Sapnap stepped out of the bathroom, his hair dripping wet after having showered. A puff of steam trailed after him, signifying that the shower he had taken was far from cold.
"Well if you're using big words like 'exquisite', I'm sure it will be," Dream joked as he folded his shirt and placed it in his suitcase.
It had been just over a week and Dream had decided it was almost time to check out and head home. It had been fun, sure, but Dream had never been away from his house for this long, and even though he had to prepare to live on his own, he admittedly missed his mother's embrace and his father's stupid dad jokes.
He had preached that moving out would be one of the best days ever since he had hit puberty and began to distance himself from his parents, but now that he was capable of living on his own, reality was frightening.
"It will be marvelous," Sapnap added, pulling a shirt on over his head, the fabric darkening as it became wet, "Spectacular. Fabulous."
"Fabulous didn't fit into that dialogue whatsoever," Dream teased, turning to make eye contact with Sapnap. He faltered as he saw Sapnap was pulling on underwear, still trying his best to keep himself semi-presentable by holding the towel over himself, "I hate the word fabulous."
"You shouldn't," Sapnap could be heard behind Dream, hopping around and trying to get his leg in the other hole of his boxers, "The gays are supposed to love that word."
"Yeah, well this gay doesn't," Dream remarked, quickly backtracking, "This guy. I'm not labeled yet."
"Yeah, okay," Sapnap came up from behind Dream and trailed a finger down his back. It was teasing and mocking, but Dream still find himself shivering under the gentle touch, "You'd still take dick, though."
"Oh my god," Dream sighed into his hands, also successfully hiding his blush, "That's disgusting. Leave."
"Fine," Sapnap surrendered, backing up with his hands held up in the air, "I'll go on our fake date on my own."
"Yeah, you do that," Dream flopped back down against the pillow, tucking himself snuggly into the comforter, "I'll stay here and take a nap."
Sapnap stared at Dream for a moment, eyes squinted and focused on Dream's stupidity. Dream was fake sleeping, but smiling - and trying not to laugh-, completely giving away that fact that he was indeed not trying to sleep.
His sole purpose was to annoy Sapnap, and he was easily achieving his goal.
A few moments passed where Sapnap walked around the room, packing last minute items he wouldn't be needing for the next few days, and checking in on Dream every so often to see if he was done playing his childish games.
It had been maybe fifteen minutes before Dream finally opened one of his eyes to look at Sapnap, to see what he was doing because curiosity ended up taking over. Sapnap quickly caught him clearly awake and rushed forward, set on pulling Dream out of bed.
"Let's go!" Sapnap exclaimed breathlessly as he pulled at Dream's arm, Dream struggling to keep his weight on the bed, "You don't even love me enough to let me take you on a date?"
At that, Dream gave in; but subtly, nevertheless. He had to pass it off as Sapnap winning their little game of tug-of-war and finally stood up, acting as though Sapnap had actually managed to pull him up.
In truth, they could've been there for hours, Dream never budging, but Dream wanted to go on that date, mainly because it was as close as they'd ever get to the real thing.
"Finally!" Sapnap placed a hand on Dream's back and pushed him forward, urging him to walk out the door.
Eventually, with a bit more teasing, Dream decided he'd let his playfulness rest for a moment, and headed out for the day.
The streets were filled up again, although now it wasn't rainy and muddy, but rather sunny and warm. The people surrounding him made Dream begin to sweat and he ended up having to remove his sweatshirt, which may have been a wardrobe mishap, as he hadn't been properly prepared for today's heat.
Underneath the hoodie, he was sporting an old, worn t-shirt that Sapnap had gotten him as a Christmas gag. It had a pride flag across the front of it and stated 'I'm a gaymer' across the front in big, bold lettering.
It had been funny at the time, and it still was, but suddenly it made a lot more sense. Dream almost laughed at the irony, but kept it in, opting for a dopey smile that went seemingly unnoticed by the latter.
"I see you kept my shirt," Sapnap finally pointed out as they approached their first destination.
The place they were entering was a small shop, one decorated in beads and cheap streamers, like many others on this street. It was partially hidden under a quite large awning, which had faux ivy dripping from it, covering up the sign.
It wasn't until they entered that Dream discovered where they were.
"Of course I kept it," Dream shoved the conversation aside with a wave of his hand and spoke as he searched over the funky decor of a waiting room, "Fortune telling?"
"Not just any fortune telling," Sapnap shoved a streamer to the side, revealing a whole new word, "Couples fortune telling!"
Dream sputtered out a loud wheeze, tucking his face into his hands to quiet himself. Sapnap elbowed him in the side, trying to get him to calm down, and after much difficulty, Dream finally found himself able to breath again.
"That's literally so dumb," He joked, "The most cliche thing you could have possibly gone and done was get us couple fortune readings, and here we are."
"Come on," Sapnap pleaded, "It'll be fun."
A few minutes passed, Dream and Sapnap waiting patiently for the couple who was already in there to finish up.
When they finally were done, they walked out hand and hand, all giddy and giggling, Dream sure that whoever this person was had given them some dumb, insignificant news on how they'd end up happily married.
They were only truly in this for the money. Nothing these fortune tellers said was real.
An old woman dressed in lots of bright colors and beautiful patterns stepped in and ushered them into the back room, no words exchanged whatsoever.
Dream looked at Sapnap with worry, but Sapnap seemed to ignore him, following the old lady with certainty.
So Dream followed, even though he felt that stepping into this room was surely a death wish.
The room was decorated just the same as the waiting room- with random newspaper clippings and beads, streamers and historic images. It was pretty, but not indifferent from the rest of the city.
It took almost a half hour for the entire process, and all she managed to say is that they were meant to be, that they loved each other dearly. It was simple, bland, and something anyone could hear and take personally.
Dream sighed out of pure pleasure as they were finally leaving. He began to slip past the beaded curtains, before he felt boney fingers wrap around his wrist.
This is how he dies: to an old woman dressed in practically rags. He'd get a crystal ball knocked over his head and he'd bleed out with no help.
He didn't fight it, just turned around and was forced to stare down at the woman, who was so much shorter than him. It was then that he realized that if things even escalated a tad bit, he could probably poke the woman and she'd fall over.
With this drastic height difference, she had practically no chance of beating Dream in a battle to the death. He felt safe again, after playing around with the idea in his head, and he finally began to speak, quickly being interrupted.
"Dearie," Her voice was weak, "You have to tell him."
"Tell him what?" Dream laughed awkwardly, "There's nothing to tell him."
"Oh, but there is," She smiled suspiciously, "They told me, Dream. They told me that you love him."
"I do," Dream furrowed his eyebrows, "We're dating. We're a couple. That's why we're here."
He swallowed his secrets, and watched nervously as the woman went back to sit behind her desk.
"But you aren't, darling," She placed a hand on her deck of cards and fanned them out across the table, picking out one and holding it up for her to read. She placed it back carefully, "They told me you're in love, but he doesn't know it. It's simply fake dating. For what reason, I couldn't be too sure, but I'm sure you have your reasoning."
Dream went to speak once more, but she held up a boney finger, silencing him.
"Now go," She waved her hands, ushering for Dream to leave, "Tell him or regret it."
As Dream left the building and caught up to Sapnap, who was leaning against the brick wall, admiring the view of a crowded street, Dream wondered how the hell that woman, who he thought was spewing absolute bullshit, had managed to tell him exactly what he wanted to hear.
It was odd, how she had just figured out that they weren't really dating. It was entirely possible that she had sensed it by the way the pair interacted, a practiced skill she had picked up over the years, after talking to hundreds, probably thousands of couples, but she seemed so genuine.
She had discovered their secret with such ease, and who was Dream to pretend it had all been fake? Perhaps she really was psychic, really knew what she was talking about.
And if she did, Dream had some planning to do, because confessing to Sapnap would be a difficult task, that's for sure.
Dream walked alongside Sapnap, their fingers brushing as they always did. It had grown so familiar, and Dream almost felt as though it would be weird to pull away, so he simply didn't.
Instead, he wrapped his pinky around Sapnap's, and they continued down the street without any words spoken between them.
It was only a few more minutes before they made it to a dock, rows upon rows of kayaks lined up along the edge of the wooden path.
The body of water was nothing but a small lake, and it was just a little less than crowded, but the sun was setting and reflecting on the water, and it looked so inviting.
Dream was quick to pay for a kayak, and lead Sapnap to the side, where he helped Sapnap into the boat, before stepping in himself.
"It's so pretty," Dream commented as he pushed them away from the dock. He carefully began rowing the boat, feeling stupid as Sapnap watched him.
"It is," Sapnap confirmed, "I like being here with you."
"I love being here with you," Dream admitted quietly, staring down at the shimmering water, "It's been fun."
"Well, it's not over yet," Sapnap teased, although his voice was laced with sadness, as if he was well aware that normality was creeping back, and that returning to Florida would cause them to go back to their day to day lives, "We still have some time."
Dream nodded in agreement, circling them around the edge of the lake, watching blissfully as Sapnap reached his hand over the side and drug his pointer finger across the surface, creating little ripples, that broke up the images painted in the water.
It tickled his heart, a phrase that seemed to be the only thing he could use to describe the feeling. It was odd, sure, but the way he tingled and seemingly shook as he watched Sapnap, so pretty under the setting sun, the reflection of the rippling water bouncing around on his cheekbones, was something similar to being tickled, that burst of joy you get, laughter flooding your lungs, no matter how much you want it to stop.
He smiled to himself, taking the rest of the time he had on this wobbly kayak to stare at Sapnap, seemingly going unnoticed.
It felt wrong, in so many ways, to be watching so intently, as your best friend did something so simple as admire the beauty of a city that deserved their admiration. It was enticing, however.
Everything seemed so perfect now, and maybe in a different timeline, in a different universe, even, Dream would've kissed Sapnap. He would've cupped his cheek and murmured to him all the sweet nothings he had mustered up in his months of pining, of longing.
But this was his reality, the one where fear overruled his feelings, constantly reminding him that anything and everything could end poorly, and that admitting something of such importance would be ridiculous.
It wasn't the time, nor the place, but Dream still kept his promise to himself.
One day he'd say something. One day he'd tell Sapnap everything he'd been withholding.
But not now, because now simply wasn't the time.
***
Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been really focused on other things, like school and streaming, and I've also started working on some one-shots on AO3. I promise to get back into the swing of things now. Thank you for all the support and patience. : )
Word Count: 2,249