They were woken up to a sudden, but calm, knock on the door. Dream reached over for his mask as he saw George get out of the other bed, and sleepily went up to the door.
"Who is it?" George asked, his concern overriding his tiredness. A voice he recognized responded.
"I'm Mark, Sapnap sent me to come get you, we've won the battle and people are awaiting you two in the main room."
George looked at Dream, who was sitting up on his bed now, for confirmation. Dream looked unsure. He put his mask on, and got up, with his sword drawn.
"Okay, we trust you, but I'm coming out first with my sword drawn. If someone is planning something, this is a warning to leave Mark alone."
Dream gave George a nod, and he opened the door. They found Mark alone, to their relief. Dream put away his sword.
They followed him to the two doors, the one going backstage, the other into the crowd. The guard headed into the crowd, while Dream and George went backstage, and found Sapnap waiting for them.
Sapnap smiled as he spotted them. "You two are okay! Well, I figured you were, but you can never be too sure." Sapnap said.
George smiled. He was glad to see Sapnap mostly untouched. "What happened?"
Sapnap cleared his throat. "Well Daniel came and told me about the head guard's death. One of the generals from the other side overheard somehow, and warned people on his side. It was pretty easy to chase them all off with them discouraged. It was a smart idea, to kill him instead of just imprisoning him. They might have run towards the castle, instead of away."
Dream sighed in relief. It was the right call after all.
They all went onto the stage, accompanied by the crowd's applause. George took the front stage.
"Congratulations everyone, we won!"
The crowd went wild. There was whistling and cheering, and smiles on all their faces. Sapnap and Dream were clapping alongside them.
George waited for the commotion to die down. "Thank you all, so much. Without you all here, fighting for our kingdom, we wouldn't be here right now. You all have changed history." George sniffled a little. "Thank you... all." As the applause grew, George stepped back, and Sapnap took the stage.
"He's right, you all worked so hard over the past month. And I'm sure most of you are excited to get back to your families and your day to day job. But I will give this opportunity regardless. Any of you, who want to become a full time guard, you just go to General Paul. If you have any questions, you can also ask him. Thank you for all your hard work. You're dismissed."
Most of the crowd headed outside of the castle, ready to go back to their families. But a few stayed behind, heading off to the general.
George watched impatiently. He didn't really want to go back to his throne room and work, he wanted to take Dream back to his room. He wanted to just talk to him and...
He looked over at Dream, who was currently talking to Sapnap about something.
He blushed. Who was he kidding, he wanted to see his face more. But he felt embarrassed to ask. So he thought up an excuse.
"Hey Dream, I'm kinda tired... can we go back to my room and just chill for the rest of the day?"
Dream raised an eyebrow under his mask. He felt like that wasn't the real reason he wanted him alone, but he didn't comment on it. "Ya sure, let's go."
A few minutes later, they were sitting in comfortable silence around George's lit fireplace in his room. Dream broke the silence.
"So." He started, looking at George. George looked back.
"What was the real reason you wanted me here?" Dream said with a grin.
George's face went a little red. Dream was totally onto his lie. "Well I-"
Dream interrupted. "You wanted to see me without my mask more, didn't you?" Dream said, still grinning, barely inching closer, just to freak him out.
George went even more red. "I um... nooooo...." George squeaked out, looking away from him. Dream laughed.
"I saw you watching me sleep last night, you can't hide it."
George's face, somehow, went even more red. "You were asleep!! You saw nothing!" Dream started wheezing at George's obvious embarrassment.
After he got over his laughing fit, he pulled George's chin to face his own. With his other hand, he then took off his mask, and looked him in his eyes. He slowly released his hand, setting it down on his lap.
It was the first time he looked at George this close in person, without the muffled vision of his mask of course. Dream's face also started getting a tad red, he looked even more beautiful in person. George was staring right back at him, his red cheeks calming down, but his feelings not.
George suddenly looked away. "Sorry, I'm probably making you feel weird staring at you like that, heh. If you are, you can just tell me to stop, or you can just put on your mask, I don't mind."
Dream chuckled a little, and turned George's head to face him again. George's face heated up again, as Dream wasn't letting go.
"George, I don't mind. I just... was worried you would recognize me, I guess. But since you don't, I could care less."
George gave Dream a face of confusion. Dream let go of him. "-It's something I don't think I'm ready to get into... it's just about my family."
George gave him a sweet, understanding smile. "I understand, it's not something I'm going to pry out of you. But when you feel comfortable, will you tell me?"
Dream looked at the king. He could tell he was trying to be respectful, but he was still really curious nonetheless, and it would come back up eventually. But if he ever did tell him, George might never look at him the same. He might get fired, or even imprisoned. But...
"Ya I will."
George smiled again.
—
George woke up, unaware of where he was. As his surroundings came into view though, he saw that he fell asleep on the couch in his room. He was a little confused, he can't remember ever falling asleep here.
That's when he realized. He felt his heart skip a beat, and his face went red. He sat up quickly, and tried scooting away, but Dream's arm was around his shoulders.
He had fallen asleep half next to, half on top, of Dream. Thank goodness he hadn't woken up yet, or George might have actually died from embarrassment.
As he became more conscious, he started remembering what happened. Him and Dream were talking practically all day yesterday. And they must've drifted off to sleep. But the more he thought about it, the more weird it was. He had so much trouble falling asleep, how did he fall asleep before Dream?
He tried getting up fully, but as he feared, Dream started to stir. George froze, still entangled in his arm.
Dream immediately noticed George. They both sat there, not saying anything, or doing anything. After like, a whole minute, Dream slowly let go of the king. They both stared at each other. Eventually, George saw Dream's muscles tensen, as Dream, unknown to George, hid the blush that he felt creeping onto his cheeks. He missed his cover up, he always relied on his mask to hide his emotions. Then after what was an awkwardly long amount of time, Dream chuckled.
George blushed a little, Dream's laugh was so cute. "Morning George."
George's heart melted at his deep morning voice. Oh how it made butterflies explode in his stomach.
Dream laughed awkwardly again. "Sorry, you fell asleep on me last night, and I didn't want to wake you up since you are always talking about how hard it is for you to fall asleep-"
George scooted away, an inch or two, embarrassed by the obvious discomfort in Dream's voice.
"Oh, don't worry, it's fine! I'm, um, sorry that you had to sleep on my couch..." George started, trying his best to reassure him.
Dream sat up straight and laughed. "No, I was fine, trust me, I've slept on worse. I'm glad you got some sleep though, you've been going through a lot. I was glad to see you asleep before ten."
George looked him back in the eyes, and stared at him blankly. "...Was I really asleep before ten?" George muttered in surprise.
Dream nodded, confused by his tone. "Ya, you were completely out. Why?" George breathed it all in. He hadn't been asleep that early in years.
"Wow, I just have never fallen asleep that early, probably since I was still a teenager." Dream mirrored his surprised expression now.
"Huh, you must have been really tired last night." George's shock slowly faded into confusion. He was just as tired as usual last night, if not less so.
"I mean, I got a decent night's sleep the night before, which is better than this past month. So I was no more tired than I usually am at that time." George answered.
He started blushing a little, wondering if it had anything to do with Dream. In fact, being this close to a mask-less Dream, after having slept literally on him last night, George needed to get away from Dream's eyes. He stood up suddenly.
"I should go get ready. I'll be in the bathroom. You can wait here, or outside. I don't care." George said as he hurried away. Dream watched as he went inside his bathroom that was connected to his room. He winced as George slammed the door shut.
What was that about? He just got all flustered and left. Dream finally let his creeping blush free. Maybe he should have woken him up last night... But he was just so cute asleep!
Dream sighed. He hoped he didn't make George feel too weird. Thinking about it though, Dream started wondering if he might want to confess to him. He knew that George would never feel the same way, but at least George would know why he acted a certain way.
He thought about it, but he decided against it. There was still so much George didn't know about him. Or rather, so much he didn't know about his family. It didn't feel right confessing to George without him knowing what monsters his parents were.
He grunted, and laid back down on the couch, with his hands over his face. Things were so complicated with him. He rolled over, and his eyes latched onto the mask resting on the side table. He smiled to himself. Maybe one day he will tell George the truth. And maybe, just maybe, he'd understand.