Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

╔════▣◎▣════╗
꒰ Dream's POV ꒱
╚════▣◎▣════╝

  Clay practically flew to the mailbox when he saw the mailman leave the front of his driveway. He'd been waiting for weeks to get a letter from his dream college. For the past month or so he'd been spending his time in his front room, sending glances out the window every so often to check the street for any sign of a mail truck or a new package at their doorstep. Today wasn't anything new, but he had his hopes up high as he yanked open the mailbox. A neat looking package with the Florida State logo on it sat in the middle of the mailbox, causing Clay to react with a squeak and a bright smile.

  Once he got back inside he sprinted to the kitchen counter, catching his family's attention by slamming the letter down . Clay showed no mercy towards the package as he tore it open with all the eagerness in him that had built up over the past month. Skimming through the small print, he found one phrase that let him release all of his anticipation. "We'll be looking forward to seeing you." Those few words were enough to make him shout "YES!" as he threw his fist in the air, causing his sister to jump.

  "What on earth are you so excited about?" She asked, pointing a fork at him, a piece of her mac and cheese falling off onto the plate.

  "I got in, I GOT IN!" He exclaimed as he held out the letter for her to see. Hearing the ruckus, his parents and siblings filed into the room. His mom was obviously more interested in what was happening, as she was clapping and swaying in a little excited dance. His siblings muttered their congrats, but his mom enveloped him in a hug.

  "Oh Clay honey I'm so excited for you!" she sung out as she swayed with him in their embrace. His dad joined in, and soon after motioned for his siblings to make it a family hug. As soon as the hug was over, Clay went straight for his room, ignoring his families questions. He sat down at his desk and opened discord.

  "SAPNAP I GOT IN," he shouted to the other line as soon as he heard the sound indicating the other had picked up. "WE'RE GOING TO BE ROOMATES!"

  Nick, or Sapnap, was his best friend from high school. They met in freshman year. Sapnap, being the goof that he was, was trying to juggle a pair of basketballs when one bounced a little too high and ended up hitting Clay in the head. They had both burst out laughing, and were friends ever since.

  "Hell yeah man! I can't wait to cuddle you" Sapnap joked, causing Clay to scoff and roll his eyes. "You wish dude, don't make me regret being your roomie." Sapnap chuckled. A calm silence fell over the call as they both took in their reality. They were growing up, soon to be adults. Sure, it made Clay sad sometimes, he'd never be as innocent as he used to be, but it also made him excited for his future. He had decided to major in computer sciences when he was in his junior year, realizing he was actually good at coding stupid things in minecraft for him and his friends to mess around with.

  "Who knows, maybe you'll find yourself a special someone~", Sapnap teased. Clay could practically hear the smirk in his best friends voice. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Clay struggled to find a comeback.

   "..Why would you say that," He deadpanned. Sapnap let out a loud snort as Clay went on, "What about you? I could say the same thing to you Mr. 'hey mamas'" He grins as he hears his friend groan at the nickname. "I'm getting all the ladies dude, what are you even trying to get at" This made both of them laugh. A silence overcame the call again once they settled down. Clay thought about the last time he had major feelings for someone. It was a stupid middle school crush, but he still thought about it from time to time. Shaking the memories from his mind, he found a new topic to get into.

  "What do you think the dorms will be like?" He breaks the silence. Sapnap thought for a while, lips pursing and nose scrunching up. "Eh, like every other college dorm. Big enough so its comfortable, small enough so our shit gets mixed up and we fight over taking each others stuff without permission." They both chuckled, continuing on to the next topic. They talked for a few more hours until both of them decided on going to bed. Going to bed wasn't the same as sleeping though, because Clay buzzed with excitement the whole night. Eventually he fell asleep with a smile on his face, dreaming of what it would be like when he finally got to his dream college.

▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱
『••George's POV••』
▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱

  George looked around his almost empty room, then down to his two packed suitcases. He'd be leaving for his new college back in the states in a week. He was excited, but at the same time he was dreading going back. Not only would he miss his family, but he would also have to deal with the memories going back would bring up. When George started primary school, his parents sent him to live with family in the states, where he would attend school for the coming years. Upon finishing middle school, however, his parents decided to fly him back despite his pleas to stay. He then went on to start and finish high school where he grew up. He decided he wanted to continue his education in the states, and applied for a university in Florida, where he lived for a big portion of his life. As he glanced over at his computer set up, wondering how he's going to pack it all, his mom walks in quietly.

 "Georgie..," she sighs and looks down at him, a frown plastered on her face. "We're going to miss you so much. Why do you insist on going back?" The question hit George hard. He honestly didn't know why himself, but something about the thought of going back gave him hope. He didn't know what he was hoping for, but it was there. He shrugged at his mother, which earned him a disappointed look. He didn't want to talk about his impulsive actions, so he pretended he was getting ready for bed. George's mom opened her mouth to speak, but soon closed it and shuffled out of his room, leaving him alone with a bare room and his racing thoughts.

  George continues packing once he's sure his mom is out of earshot. He starts putting parts of his pc in a box which would arrive with the rest of his stuff in the states the same time he did, so he could make his dorm worth living in. The silence starts to get to him, and he decides to call a close friend of his. Eret would also be packing to move to America, but they would be on the complete opposite side of the country from George. He pulls out his phone and opens his favorite contacts. He taps Erets name and put the phone on speaker. It rings for a few seconds before he's greeted with a deep voice saying "What's up?"

 George smiles at the familiar voice coming from the other line "Hey Eret, just wanted to call and ask how things are going?" 

 "I'm doing alright, thank you for asking." George can hear the smile on his friends face. "Did you need something?" George debates on weather to confide completely in his friend, or keep the lighthearted conversation going. He goes with the latter, hoping Eret won't see through his facade, "No, I'm good." but of course he does. 

 "Cut the bullshit George, what's on your mind?" George huffed, half glad his friend could read him so well. "I don't understand how you're so good with emotions," George chuckles. "I don't know, I'm just kind of..." he goes silent. What should he say? Nervous? Confused? He couldn't decide. The silence went on long enough for Eret to speak up. 

  "Take your time, I'm here." Eret reassures, its comforting. 

  "I don't know man, it's just..." He starts. "I can't find the right words. I'm excited to go back but at the same time there's this gut wrenching feeling that won't go away, you know?"

  "I understand, it has a special place in your heart, you had good and bad memories there." Eret says, their voice is soft. "It's completely normal, you'll be just fine, I promise." His voice trails off towards the end. George listens to her words as they settle in his mind. "I guess you're right, I just hope when I go this time it ends off better than last time." He recalls his last memory from the states. He goes silent for a long moment and continues packing up his pc parts. "Thank you, Eret. I really needed that." He smiles as he hears a chuckle from his phone. "Anytime, I knew you had something on your mind." George rolls his eyes. "Yeah yeah, you can just read everyone like a book." They both laugh. The phone call goes on for a few minutes more.  George thanks Eret once again before he decides to keep packing and hangs up. He feels... lighter, now that he's gotten that off his chest. 

  George finishes packing the rest of his stuff as fast as he can, not wanting to spend the rest of the week worrying about it. He puts his stuff off to the side and lies down on his bed as he grabs his headphones. He opens Spotify and taps "shuffle" on his playlist. A familiar tune comes on. "Hm, good start." Amazing Day by Coldplay flows in his ears as he closes his eyes and slowly drifts. 

Chapter Text

╔════▣◎▣════╗
꒰ Dream's POV ꒱
╚════▣◎▣════╝

  Clay woke up extra early that day. He had barely gotten any sleep the whole week from how excited he was. Last night was especially hard, since today was finally the day he's making the trip to the place he'd be calling home for the next four years. Walking down for some breakfast, he was greeted with the smell of bacon and eggs. He quickly shoveled a plate down his throat and ran back upstairs to get ready. 

   "Hey Clay," he turned around to see his mom with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. "You should be leaving soon, right?" He nods as he packs his phone charger and headphones. "Make sure to come say goodbye to everyone before you take off."  The boy nodded again, giving his mother a thumbs up and a big smile before he finished shoving a few final essentials into his backpack. He slung the backpack over his shoulder and started off. 

  Dream was loading his things into his car, he was fully dressed and ready to go the moment he finished. But there was one last thing he had to do. He ran back into the living room, looking around to see his whole family. They all had sleepy looks in there eyes but bittersweet smiles on their faces. 

  "Well," Clay started softly. "I guess I'll catch you guys in a bit." He laughed along with his family. "I'm gonna miss you guys, I promise I'll come and visit whenever I can." His little sister was the first to come up and hug him tightly. One by one, the rest of his family piled into the hug.

  After about a minute or two, the hug broke and Clay said his final goodbyes before he walked out the front door and to his car. He opened the door and slid in, his hands rested on the steering wheel. "Here we go..." he mutters to himself before he revs up his cj7, pulling out of the driveway and heading towards his future. 

  Palm trees flash by the windows of Clays jeep as he speeds down the highway, eager to get to his destination. Situations he expects to happen when he gets there play out in his head, taking up most of the car ride. He decides to turn on the radio after a few minutes of silence. A soft melody fills his ears as a song he'd never heard before plays through his speakers. When the song ends, he makes sure to catch the name from the radio host. 'Amazing Day', he made a mental note to himself to add it to his playlist when he got to it.

  Clay pulls into the parking lot of the main building, he quickly turns off the car and grabs his backpack before sliding out slamming the car door behind him. He walks up to the front of the building and looks around. He reaches for his phone in his back pocket and pulls it out, going to his contacts and tapping the one listed "Hey Mamas". It rung for a few seconds before the person on the other end picked up. "Where are you Nick? I'm at the front of the main building I thought you were here already." Clays tone was slightly annoyed but still light hearted as usual. "Sorry dude, traffic sucks here." The man scoffs from the other end of the call. "I'm almost there, give me like 3 minutes tops, alright?" Before Clay can answer, he hears a beep and he's greeted with his lock screen which is a picture of Patches. He sighs and chuckles softly before shoving his phone back into his pocket.

 A bench on the other side of the street catches Clay's eye while he was looking for a place to wait. He waltzed over and took a seat, leaning back and looking up at the sunny Florida sky. The slam of a car door and a short beep brought him out of his trance. He brought his gaze back down to a short brunette boy walking into the main building. His attention was brought back to his phone when it started ringing loudly. 

  "Hey Sap, you here yet?" He looked around for a car that resembled his best friend's. He spots the ugly grey 2001 Honda Civic that he recognizes to be Sapnap's and flags him down. 

 "Yeah one sec." Sapnap hangs up and parks his car. He quickly gets out and greets his friend with a bro hug, patting Clay's back a little too hard. "Dream!" He exclaims, breaking the hug. "I missed ya, bud" Clay chuckles at the nickname. "I missed you too, pandas" They chat for a while, catching up and cracking jokes, before they decide to go inside and check in to get their room number and keys."

   "Come on, we gotta get the keys for our dorm. I can't wait to blast the air conditioner with no consequence." Clay jokes. "I can't wait to sleep, that plane trip took a huge toll on my muscles." Sapnap whined as he leaned against Clays shoulder. Clay scoffed at his best friend's exaggerated expression. He led them inside towards the front desk. "Hi, we're here for our dorm keys?" Clay greets the woman at the front desk.

  "Of course, names please?" She turns towards her desktop.

  "Clay and Nick, we requested to be roommates." He informs her. After a few seconds of the woman typing, she looks back up at them.

  "Sorry, but you two are in separate rooms." She hands them each a different key. What? No, that can't be right.

  “We requested to share dorms, this has to be a mistake” Clay bargains. He stood next to Nick, who also looked confused.

  “I’m sorry sir, there’s nothing I can do about that,” she shuffles through some paperwork, “but hey, at least you’ll be in the same hallway, and I’m sure you’ll have lovely roommates.” She adjusts her square glasses, scans a piece of paper and then points at Clay. “See, you’ll be sharing a dorm with a Mr. George Davidson.” His face drops. No, it couldn’t be. He asks her to repeat that, but he heard her right. It’s got to be a coincidence, right? George is a common name, so is Davidson.. “Oh and look, he’ll be coming in all the way from London! I’m sure you’ll have lots to talk about.” Oh no. The lady went on to tell Sapnap about his new dorm mate, some guy named Karl, but Clay was too caught up in his own thoughts to listen. Flashbacks of elementary and middle school came back to him, leaving him feeling bittersweet. He missed his old friend dearly, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to rediscover why he missed him so much

  His mind flashes back to the short brunette boy that walked past him earlier while waiting for Nick. Was that him? He looked so... different. In a good way of course. What? No, what are you saying? Stop thinking about his looks. Was that really him? After all these years?

  Nick nudged the boy beside him and broke the silence. "Well we might as well go find our dorms, come on" He starts to head towards the housing buildings, dragging Clay along with him. On the walk there they mutter about how disappointed they were. Once they found hallway 75 -9, the one their rooms would be on, they decided to split up to look for their own. Clay gulped as he remembered what the receptionist said. He hoped it was a coincidence. He didn't know what he would do seeing his old cr- friend for the first time in five years. Room 18, here he goes. He took a deep breath and stuck his keys in the doorknob, but it was already unlocked.

  When he opened the door, his fears were confirmed. The boy who stood in front of him was, with no doubt, his childhood friend. After the mini panic in his brain calmed down, Dream took the opportunity to take in how much his friend had grown. He was still shorter than him, which made Dream smile. His brunette hair was short at the sides, but came up in a fluffy mess at the top of his head, the brown in his hair complimenting the barely visible freckles on his cheeks and his chocolate brown eyes. He wore a light blue polo shirt paired with high waisted black pants. Dream brings his eyes back up to the boy's face, noticing he's been staring for a while. He wonders if the other will recognize him.

  "Uhh.. Hey," He breathes out, "George?" The other looks up at him with wide, luring eyes. Oh God was he fucked.

▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱

『••George's POV••』

▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱▰▱

  George was already on the road, his cousins house was a fair distance away from campus. He had stayed at his cousins house for one night before he would actually go to what would be his home for the next few years. The radio was playing a song that he had heard many times before. Iconic Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood. He chuckled as the chorus of the song played throughout his car. George had been questioning his sexuality for the longest time, he thought he was bi, but sometimes he questioned if he was just gay. His best friend Eret told him that one day it would come to him, and if it didn't, that was okay too. Not everything needed a label. He always had that in the back of his mind. 

  George was getting closer to campus, he saw the main building from afar. "I actually made it." He muttered to himself. A warm smile spread across his face. He pulled up to the building, parking right in front of it. There were a lot of people, people he didn't know. He took a second to compose himself before stepping out of the car. He took a deep breath before getting out and shutting the door, locking it with his keys. He looked around, he spotted a tall, dirty blonde man sitting on a bench glance at him. He looks rather nice... and cute. George hated himself for that last thought, but ignored it and walked inside. He went up to the front desk and asked for his room number and key.

 "Name please?" The woman asks looking up at him with a smile.

 "George Davidson, I'm an international student?" He informs her. She looks at her desktop and types a few things before looking back up at him. 

 "Here you are good sir, your room will be number 18 in hallway 75-9, have a nice day." She gave him a small wave.

 "You too." He smiles politely. He makes his way towards the dormitory and finds his room. He unlocks the door and takes a step in. He looked around, it's a bit smaller than he imagined, but it's alright, he can live with it. He walked over to one side of the room where an empty mattress lied atop a simple wooden bedframe. He placed his suitcase down as he started unpacking.

 Voices outside of his room interrupted George from his unpacking. It sounded like whoever was out there was arguing, but it quickly turned into laughter. Then silence. It was then George realized someone was standing in the hallway by his door. Assuming it was he new roommate, he quickly fixed up his hair in the mirror that was there when he arrived.  Thoughts flew through his mind as he heard rustling outside the door. He thought he had left the door unlocked, but he heard the clinking of keys being pulled out and the soft 'chink' of them being placed in the keyhole.  Understandably, George was very nervous. He was about to meet the person he'd be spending the next four or so years cramped up in a tiny room with. 

  George is brought out of his thoughts when the door finally opens. A man around George's age stood in the doorway, possessing a backpack and a small suit case. George recognized him from the parking lot, but it felt like there was something more to it then that. Looking the male up and down, George noticed many things. He was wearing a greyish-purple... lavender?  shirt and brown trousers. A small silver chain hung around his neck and fell nicely against his collarbones. Crew socks plastered with minecraft creepers were visible from his black Nike shoes. A grey zip-up hoodie loosely hung over his shoulders. George looked up to his face, feeling a sense of familiarity rush over him, along with many other emotion. Oh no George thought He's hot.  A loose piece of dark blonde hair fell directly in front of the male's yellowish brown eyes. They must be green  George thought to himself as his eyes skimmed over the other's facial features. Soft scruff covered his chin and jawline, making it seem like he skipped shaving that morning. As his eye's flickered up to the man's lips, George noticed he'd been staring for an uncomfortable amount of time when the other clears his throat. 

  "Uhh.. Hey," the stranger said, his voice sounding a bit breathy, "George?" 

  George's face dropped. How'd this guy already know his name? After a moment he concluded that the receptionist must have told him, but that didn't distract George from thinking of the way his name sounded coming from the other man's lips, and the unplaceable nostalgia that came with it.

  "Oh, um yeah-" he replies, "I'm assuming you'd be my roommate?" George continues, only half of what he said being a serious question, the other half a joke. It goes over the man's head, though, so he moves on. "What's your name then?" 

   Silence fills the room for a few seconds, a disappointed look taking over the taller boy's face, leaving George confused. Finally, the stranger speaks up, 

  "Oh. I'm Dream" He puts on a fake smile that George somehow sees right through. He returns the smile anyways and goes to shake his hand. Getting closer only made George more flustered. Oh boy was this going to be a long few years.