TW// Mentions of self-h*rm
George pulled his arm away defensively. "It's none of your business, stop looking at me like that."
Dream wiped the look of terror off his face and took a deep breath. "George...why? What are you gaining from cutting yourself to pieces like this?"
George was offended that Dream wanted to play dumb. Dream had aided George through these situations before. He knew it was George's way of coping. "The adrenaline rush, helps me snap out of my bad thoughts...you don't need to care anymore, since you don't love me."
Dream could hear the sour tone in his husband's voice. "I still care about you...you have to stop doing this, I'm not there to take care of you anymore. You need to be independent and mature." He acted like George could simply turn off his destructive tendencies.
"I am independent, you think you're the only one that can take care of me?!" George tried to take down Dream's ego, but ended up crumbling. "You're right! Be mature and work this out with me."
Dream didn't expect to have his argument turned back on him. Part of him wanted to work out the marriage, but it sounded like an exhausting task. Mentally and physically exhausting. "George... we're not together anymore. Just find someone else, and get over it."
George teared up when he heard his husband tell him to go find a new love. "I don't want anyone new! I want you, why can't you just pretend to love me?!" George picked the photo up off tbe desk and shoved it in Dream's face. "Don't you remember this?! Did all of this mean nothing?"
Dream grabbed the picture from him and looked at it fondly. "I loved you." He put the frame back down. "Look we just don't have the same connection that we used to have. Please just leave me alone!"
George started crying totally now. Tears dripping, nose running. "Dream...please, I don't want to do this. I just want to come home. Everything is so scary, our friends are dead. I just want to come home please...I promise I won't cut, I won't cry, I won't even panic. I'll just be quiet, and you won't even know I'm there!" George begged like he was a child begging their parent to pick them up early from school.
"George!" Dream was uncomfortable to see his husband so messy in front of him. A customer walked in, immediately staring at them with confusion.
Dream quickly led George to the back room, so the customers didn't need to be bothered by his sobbing. "Shh, just calm down. I'll talk to you once this customer is gone." Dream left him to cry in the back, while he took care of his business.
George sat at Dream's desk and brought his knees to his chest. It felt pathetic to beg for a partner back. Yet, Dream was all he knew when it came to love. Dream was the only one that ever made him feel like love was real. Not just a movie concept, or a gimmick in a song.
Dream returned to the back after about 15 minutes. His customer was a regular, and didn't take long to decide on what they wanted.
"Dream..." George whined, looking up at him.
"George...I love you like a friend. I know it's hard, I'm suffering too. This is good for us though..." Dream tried to hold on firmly to his decision to stay separated from his husband. At least this way they were less of a target to the cult. Dream had a strong gut feeling that they would eventually come back to their town.
"But why?! If you cared about me, you'd want to fix this!" George slammed his fist down on the desk. "before Snow Chester everything was going good, we can get back to that! If we were fixed once, we can fix us again!" George argued passionately.
"GEORGE! It's a cycle! We start doing good, something happens, then we fight, then someone gets hurt. I don't want to keep playing this game with you. Go. Back. Home." Dream gestured towards the door.
"I can't, I'm not welcome HOME...Ranboo's house isn't my home, you bitch." George stood up and grabbed Dream's shoulders, making him stand still. "I. Love. You."
Dream tensed up, pulled George's hands off his shoulders. He instinctively held the man's hand to calm him down. "I. Know. That."
George leaned in to kiss Dream, he was shockingly successful. Dream didn't fight back, instead he sunk deeply into the kiss. Like this was the last time he'd ever kiss anybody ever again.
The store's bell rang again and Dream quickly pulled away. He ran out of the room, having a good excuse to take off like a frightened rabbit. His face was stinging with embarrassment.
George stood there with his heart aching, and his lips quivering. He needed to be close to Dream again.
Dream greeted his guest, which ended up being Ranboo. "Oh hey, stopping by on your lunch break to get Tubbo something?" Ranboo worked just 5 minutes away, a 5 minute walk.
Ranboo shook his head and walked towards the desk. "We're no longer spending money on unnecessary luxuries. Just until I get a better job."
"Oh okay, you good? You look a little...out of it?" Dream noticed Ranboo looked like something was going on. Hopefully Ranboo was actually in distress, and wouldn't notice Dream's pink cheeks.
"I just wanted to let you know...your sister stopped by. With some friends." Ranboo looked uncomfortable to say the least.
"Strange? She lives like 30 minutes away from here, mom must of drove them. What's the problem with that?" Dream was confused. Ranboo worked at a fast food restaurant, not a liquor store or something like that. "Nothing bad about her wanting a hamburger covered in grease."
"No- it's not about her being there. It's who she was with...the vibes were off man. Everyone in the group was laughing, except Drista. They all ordered food, except Drista. At one point I swear she looked like she was going to cry." Ranboo expressed his concern for Dream's sister. It wasn't like she could just walk home, it would be a long and agonizing walk home.
"Dammit, I'll call her." Dream huffed, not in the right mind to deal with this. He was likely to fight those kids and end up in jail.
He took out his phone and called, the ringing stopped short. Letting him know she purposely declined the call. "No answer..." Dream opened the back door. "George, watch the store I have to go check on Drista."
"Excuse me?" George was upset that Dream expected him to just take over the shop for him. He had done it before, but now was different. If Dream didn't even want to love him, why would he want to do his job for him?
"Just a few minutes, okay? Be back as soon as I can." Dream closed the door and left with Ranboo. They walked back towards Ranboo's workplace. Ranboo went to eat his lunch, and Dream headed towards the playground. Which was apparently the direction the group ended up going in when they left.
Dream found them pretty fast once he got to the playground entrance. It wasn't a good sight.
Drista was being kicked, slapped, hair pulled, spat on, and whatever else the group could think of. They were taking turns, the audacity of them was sickening.
"HEY! The fuck are you doing?!" The kids stopped and all grouped up in front of Drista. She was still on the ground, sobbing and panicking. He expected the kids to run off, but they were much too bold for that.
"The fuck do you want, bitch?" One boy spoke, clearly not scared of him.
"What the hell are you doing to that poor girl?!" Dream didn't want to embarrass her by saying he was her brother.
"She started it, we were fighting back." A girl justified their brutality.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Dream tried to shoo them out of the area. They only took a couple steps back. Dream tried to pull Drista off the ground, but she screamed so loud his ears started ringing.
"Are you her brother or something?" One asked, being smart enough to realize how similar they looked.
"Yes, you little brats better go before I call the cops." Dream threatened sternly, standing in front of Drista.
"The cops aren't going to lock up a bunch of minors..." The lead boy said, not being intimidated.
"No, but they will put a bunch of minors in mental health recovery. Get out of here, unless you think straight jackets are cool." Dream was heavy breathing, resisting the urge to punch the teens in the face.
They all rolled their eyes and started walking off, taking their sweet time. Mumbling insults, and shouting a couple slurs as they left.
Dream kneeled beside Drista and tried to pick her up again, she kept screaming each time he tried. "What's wrong? Can you get up?" He used his sleeve to wipe some blood off of her face.
"Mn...D...Dream, they stabbed me." Drista choked on her tears.
"WHAT?" Dream checked her torso, quickly finding the wound. It would of been more obvious if she wasn't wearing black. "Fuck...fuck...fuck." he pulled his sleeves over his hands and held it over the wound. It didn't look serious, but it was definitely a painful and bleeding injury. "Why the hell did this happen?!"
Drista whimpered and cried out in pain as Dream lifted her up and laid her against his lap. "I told them I was in Snow Chester when the attacks started..."
Dream was immediately disgusted. They did it because they figured she was LGBT+ because she went to Snow Chester. "Those little bastards..." Dream took out his phone to call an ambulance. He probably could of driven her and saved some money. She wasn't rapidly bleeding out. Yet he was afraid to move her on his own, incase she had something broken.
-
Hours went by and George had called Dream excessively. He ended up working all day, and even closing the shop for Dream.
As he was finally walking through the door to Ranboo's house, he got a call back.
"Where the hell did you go?! I worked ALL DAY!" George complained, before Dream could even speak.
"George...can you come to the hospital." Dream asked weakly, sounding timid and needy.
"H...huh? Are you okay?" George immediately thought Dream was sick.
"Drista was beaten by a group of school mates...it's pretty bad..." He cleared his throat, he had been crying. "I could of lost her, had I not caught them and stopped it. I'm so scared." Dream shuddered at the thought of losing yet another person.
"Oh my god! Seriously? I'm on my way. Stay as calm as you can." George put their emotions aside to go be supportive. Supportive to both Drista and Dream.