When a servant brought Skeppy and Mary into the throne room, George discovered neither of them had really changed.
"George!" Mary was the first to barge in, he saw nothing more than a flash of colors before he was trapped in between her small arms and all the water was pressed out of his gills.
Skeppy meanwhile looked tired and annoyed, but relieved nonetheless. "I'm so glad you're back in one piece, little brother", he said as he hugged George.
"Hey, don't call me 'little brother', I'm literally only a few months younger than you!", George hissed.
The servants and guards around them looked like they thought: "Oh no, here they go again."
"My apologies for my a little overly exited children", the king said as he turned towards Dream. "And I'm also sorry for everything I'm sure you had do endure because of my son and the difficulties he probably caused you. I'm deeply indebted to you, sir."
Wow, that's a first, Dream thought. The king of the merfolk says he's indebted to a siren... Not that he knows I am one, but still...
"Oh, no, your majesty, it was lovely travelling with your son", he said like he had learned to in his lessons in behavior and manners, only that this time he actually meant it. He had enjoyed George's company a lot on their journey, although admittedly not always.
"May I remind you that lying to the king can be punished with death?", the king said, but his amused humourful tone made it obvious he was joking.
"Dad!"
"I wasn't lying", Dream said truthfully. "I really loved spending time with George." Tons of memories that had burned themselves into the back of his head popped up. "I admit he may not always be easy...
but I really like your son."
As Dream was speaking, he was looking straight into George's eyes.
Brown and blue. Colors that had never been important to him before, but that he would never be able to forget again now.
And red. Dream could've held a whole two-hour presentation about the shades of red George's face could be colored depending on the light, the colors of the surroundings and of course, the way he was feeling. Right now his cheeks were a dark dusty pink.
His lips parted slightly as he realized the meaning of what Dream was saying. For a second, it was completely silent in the room as the two were looking at eachother, nothing else mattered.
"Wow, that sounded like love confession", Mary cut in, arms crossed in front of her chest. "It wasn't though, right, Mr..."
"Dream. Just Dream, please."
"Soo..." Skeppy swam closer to Dream, observing his unreadable mask. "Were you confessing your love? Because if you were..."
"We'd love that!", Mary screamed.
"No- wha- Mary! Don't interrupt me while I'm being cool!"
"You mean attempting to be cool and failing miserably?", George asked, seemingly unbothered.
"Wh- hey!", Skeppy yelled and crossed his arms in front of his chest, pouting. "I'm going back to Bad, you're all mean."
With that, he left, but not without turning around once more before leaving the room. "If you were confessing your love to my precious George, I will have your head on a platter for dinner", he threatened. It didn't seem that convincing though, given his pouting voice.
After he had left, Dream cleared his throat and moved a hand through his hair uncomfortably.
The king's eyes had narrowed. "George, could I talk to you for a second?", he asked, suspiciously eyeing Dream.
"Uh, sure?"