Chapter Text
Each clutching a suitcase, Dream and George were running to the Eastern Train Station. The clock tower had just alerted them that the time was three o’clock already. Which meant the train would be leaving in fifteen minutes.
They had left a rushed note for Margery which read: ‘Leaving town. Won’t be back.”, written in Dream’s handwriting. They contemplated whether or not they should leave her money, as a sort of ‘last salary’, but ultimately decided against it. They needed every penny with none to spare. Dream assured him his father was going to take care of it. Speaking of his father, there’s a note left for him as well. George didn’t know the contents of it, but he figured it wasn’t exactly his business.
Their town had two stations: East and West. The West station had trains more often and they travelled to bigger cities, which is exactly the reason they decided to take a train from the East station. There were no major towns or cities the East Station trains lead to. They figured if someone tries to find them, they’d first look at the bigger towns, considering most people who run away try to find a better life in the city. So using reverse phycology, they headed the opposite direction.
When they arrived at the station the train was already there, waiting for passengers. They hurriedly went to buy tickets from inside the station and ran back out to finally get on the train. This one had separate compartments instead of a bunch of seats crammed into the same space, so at least they had some privacy. It wasn’t hard to find an empty one, since barely anyone used this train station; there were maybe a dozen other passengers and them.
They got situated in the first empty compartment they saw and finally felt like they could relax. The booth doors were made solely out of wood, no glass, and the brunette was extremely thankful for that. He had the constant fear of being watched and judged, so this makes him feel more at ease.
They sat across from each other, both on the seats closest to the window. George felt a weight in his chest, so he decided that maybe sharing his thoughts might help with that. “I’m sorry.” He muttered, turning to look out the window of the unmoving train.
“What for?” Dream had his eyebrows scrunched with a little pout George couldn’t help but find adorable.
“Well” George tuned his gaze to the ground, boring holes into Dream’s shoes with his eyes. “all the money we have is, well, your money. And I feel awful that I cannot provide anything useful for now.”
The blond gave a genuine laugh, startling George and making him look up. “Don’t worry your petty little head, Georgie.” Dream wore a reassuring smile and leaned across to give his knee a pat. “Besides, my suitcase is filled to the brim with items we could sell. Even finding work would not be necessary for a loooong while.” Leaning back, he confidently crossed his arms over his chest and leveled George with a self-assured look. George felt a little bit less bad about the situation, but the items in Dream’s bag were still from his house. His stuff that they would be selling for more money.
The train finally took off.
“Y’know, if we were married funds would be shared and you wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like that.” Dream said with the stupidest, dumbest grin, looking very satisfied with himself. The brunette rolled his eyes.
“Dream, you know we can’t get married.” And despite that it still gave him a pleasant flutter in his stomach. That would be exciting, wouldn’t it?
“We can... pretend to be?” Dream said, hopeful and still grinning.
George wore and equally idiotic smile. “Did you just propose to me?”
“No.” Dream began rummaging through the side pocked of his bag, not even looking. All that could be heard was the clinking sound of tiny metal objects hitting each other. The blond pulled out something, which he hid in his hand and stood up. “George Norbert Founders, will you marry me?” He went down on one knee, all the while trying not to crack up. He opened his palm to reveal a silver ring with a dark blue stone. “Now I did.” He whispered wearing a grand smile.
“I do!” George said mockingly, with a very exaggerated gasp as the taller slipped the ring onto his finger. They both knew this didn’t mean anything to the law, but it meant everything to them. The brunette looked at him and an overwhelming feeling occupied every part of his being for one split second. He was in love with Dream.
“You can pick a different one if you’d like. I have quite a few.” Dream said with a sheepish smile, scooping up a bunch of rings out of the same pocked to show him. Just the thought of the blond worrying over whether or not George liked his randomly picked, fake marriage ring was absolutely adorable.
“This one is lovely.” He reassured, and quite honestly he doubted there would be a better ring in that bunch. This one was not only in his favorite colour, but it also fit him almost perfectly. Not to mention Dream picked it for him, even if by chance.
George stood up from his seat next to the window, crossed the small space between the two rows of seats and sat on the opposite side next to his now husband. He placed his hand on the other’s thigh, palm up and rested his head on his shoulder once he felt the warmth of another hand in his own.
The brunette felt a gentle shake of his shoulder, which woke him up. Apparently he had fallen asleep. “George, I think this is the town.” In actuality, they hadn’t chosen a destination, deciding to just get off somewhere and play it by ear. They quickly picked up their bags and hurriedly got off the train. It was already around six o’clock and the sun was beginning to set, the town visible in the distance. On the other side of the tracks was a meadow with a dirt path which appeared to lead right into town. So they took it.
It wasn’t very hard to find a motel, since there were three just off the path immediately upon entering the town. Which was a good sign. It meant it wasn’t a small town and it probably had a lot of visitors annually. Also they could keep switching motels every once in a while to cover their trail if anyone ever tried to find them.
The motel they chose seemed to be the smallest out of all of them, with only two floors. Behind the counter was a bored looking man with a funny mustache and comically small glasses.
“Good evening, gentlemen. Looking for a room?” He asked, zero enthusiasm in his voice.
“Yes!” George replied before Dream could even think about it. He was very eager to just rest already.
“Unfortunately, you and your” The man paused, throwing them each a glance. “brother” …brother?! “will have to share a double-bed room. Others are occupied.”
“Ah, yes. My brother, whom I am related to, yes. That would be no problem, sir, we’ll take the room.” George could not be any happier with this outcome. Before entering, he was trying to script out his words to ask for a room with a double bed without raising suspicion. This was perfect. No need for complicated lies, phew. Dream placed the money on the counter and the man gave them a key. “Second room on the right.” He explained, pointing the spiral staircase to the left of the lobby.
Once inside the room they placed their bags next to the one dresser in there and with a tired groan, George threw himself diagonally on the bed, hearing the bed creak underneath him. The blond chuckled and shifted around the room some more.
After a while he said: “Make some room for me.” The pout could basically be heard in his voice, which the brunette found adorable. He turned over to lay on his back and make space for Dream. The other laid down on his side to face George, so he in turn did the same. They kept their gazes locked, soft smiles on each of their faces.
“Dream?”
“Yeah?” He whispered back. Through the pause between the next words, the only sound echoing through the silence were their quiet breaths.
“I love you.” George muttered with all the bravery he possessed. The surprise on the other’s face was quite amusing, especially the flushed, shy smile that followed.
Both their smiles grew into grins. “I know.” Dream brushed the brunette’s hair out of his face, letting his hand rest on his cheek when he pressed their foreheads together.
“George?” Despite his attempt not to, the short boy giggled. He knew what was coming.
“Yeah?”
“I love you.” George bit his lip trying to keep his smile from spreading any further. Dream was suppressing his own chuckles.
“I know.” The brunette said, with finality, before leaning in and pressing their lips together in a lazy, but affectionate kiss.
It was a very short kiss, but that didn’t make it any less satisfying. They were both exhausted, so they didn’t dive into any passionate kisses, but they did share a few more short, gentle ones.
Surprisingly, the next morning George woke up first. Dream was sleeping soundly, still sporting his clothes from the day before. They both were, actually. They woke up in the same bed, same as yesterday, but it wasn't the same at all. The brunette carefully ran his fingers through the locks of blond hair, lifting it up to reveal a shiny forehead. Planting a delicate kiss onto it, he was careful not to touch his bruises. He slowly stood up and went over to where their bags laid.
The day before, Dream told him to put all of the clothes from the wardrobe in his bedroom into the bag, and he did! However, George had also found a small sewing kit at the back of one of the drawers. So he took that as well.
He fished it out of the bag, along with a pair of trousers, which belonged to Dream. After quickly changing into them, even if they were a bit too long for him, he sat down on the unoccupied side of the bed and laid out his blue pair across his lap. Grabbing a reel of thread in what he hopped was yellow, George began making it thicker by layering single strings of thread together and tying a knot at the end. It was a poor attempt to imitate embroidery floss. Once it was threaded through the needle with the largest hole from the kit, he made the first jab into the slacks on the pocket right below the waistband. He began working as best as he could, hoping for a decent result.
He was going to ask Sadie to do it for him a few days ago, but for some reason he had decided against it back then. He did regret it, seeing as she would’ve definitely done a better job than him. However, it didn’t matter much anymore, he just wanted to have that as an emblem, something to remember their place back home by.
Soon enough he was finished. His periwinkle blue trousers now had a tiny little dandelion, or at least something that vaguely resembled that, embroidered onto the left pocket. He was honestly proud of himself! He could’ve done a way worse job; it wasn’t even half bad!
Quite surprisingly, Dream was still asleep. George didn’t mind, though! He had one more thing he wanted to do and he preferred doing it in private.
He went back to the bags, putting away the sewing kit, in his and pulling out the stationary box he knew Dream would take, form the other. Taking a pen and a piece of paper he stood up and placed them on the dresser he wanted to use as a table.
In the letter he was writing he explained to his parents and siblings about the train ride, leaving out all the significant details such as where they ended up and… the ‘proposal’. He mentioned ‘Clayton’ and fully assumed they have already heard the news already. Which was most likely going to be old news by the time they receive the letter. George made sure to explain his reasoning for leaving. How he felt ‘judged’ and how it was ‘the way people treated them differently’ which pushed them to run away. They felt ‘no longer welcome.’ George didn’t mean to shift the blame onto others, but… it was their fault. He hoped his parents would understand and won’t hold any grudges against him. Against them.
He didn’t feel like lying in this letter and the words ‘I’m sorry’ seemed like the biggest lie he could tell at that moment. So he left that out. He did assure them however that he was in ‘perfect health’ and ‘the happiest he’s ever been.’ Which he hoped would ease his parents’ worry, if they were worried at all.
He would sprinkle in questions such as: ‘How is everyone doing?’, ‘Are you preparing for Christmas already?’ and ‘Are you done with field work for the winter?’; which were usually used to provoke conversation, however George knew he will not be putting a return address on the envelope. So these questions, he asked out of politeness. He didn’t necessarily need them answered.
“…I won’t be back for a while, although I do imagine I will come back sometime in the far future. Make sure not to miss me too much!” He wasn’t sure if he should be joking with them, maybe they hated him now, but it didn’t matter. He won’t know. Not anytime soon anyway.
George didn’t mourn his sudden departure, solely because he knew he would go back at some point. He did wish he could’ve bid them proper goodbye, however, he considered this letter a way to set thing straight and hopefully be forgiven. They may not live at a home together anymore, but his family will forever live with him in his heart.
The brunette let out a sigh of relief, finally giving the closure he felt he owed to his family. “P.s: Hope you didn’t forget my birthday!” You know what, he was going to joke with them! That maybe the last time they hear of him for a while, so he is going to make it memorable.
“…Best regards, George.”.