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It’s a Friday night and they’re sitting in front of the television watching football. Dream and Schlatt both cry out in disappointment at the same time, hands flung in the air.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Dream says. “We can still pull through.”
“We definitely can’t,” Tubbo chimes in from the floor where he’s doing his homework.
“I’ll tell you what, kid,” Schlatt says. “Since you’re so cocky. If we don’t pull through, you have to be the one that plays babysitter on Tubbster’s field trip next month.”
“You’re kidding,” Dream snorts, but he’s confident enough in their team’s abilities that he says, “Fine. You’re on.”
His father’s smug grin should be all he needs to know. Their team loses.
Which is how, three weeks later, Dream finds himself driving to the local beach to meet his younger brother’s third-grade class for their Oceanside Field Trip Fun Day. He doesn’t remember getting to do anything like that in third grade, let alone any other grade. Nevertheless, he meets the other parent supervisors at the bright yellow school bus that pulls up two minutes after he does.
“You look a little young to be a parent, mate,” one of the other adults says.
“Brother,” Dream answers. “I’m Tubbo’s brother.”
“Ah,” the man says. “Lost a bet with Schlatt, eh?” Dream raises one eyebrow, and the man holds out a hand. “I’m Philza. Phil. Old friend of your dad’s.”
“You’re Techno’s dad.” Technoblade, his high school rival slash friend, who’s little brother is Tubbo’s best friend- Timmy, or Thomas, or something.
“Well, today I’m Tommy’s dad.”
Right. Tommy.
“Good to meet you, Phil,” Dream says, shaking his hand. “Tommy’s a great kid.”
“Don’t lie to me, he’s a little gremlin monster. Tubbo’s actually a sweet kid.”
“I wish I could tell you you were right.”
Dream and Phil both laugh. God, is this what Schlatt feels like? Dream feels old. He’s only twenty-one, barely out of college, still lives with his dad because he works from home. He shouldn’t feel this old.
The kids get off the bus, some of them rushing to meet parent supervisors. Once nearly thirty of them have streamed off, the most beautiful person that Dream has ever seen follows, carrying a clipboard and with actual clout goggles perched on his forehead. He looks like an angel, the yellow of the school bus forming his halo, and Dream’s heart stops.
“Who’s that?” he asks Phil, and the other man laughs at the look on Dream’s face.
“The teacher,” Phil says, and Dream thinks oh. This is the infamous Mr. Davidson, who Tubbo talks about so excitedly, claims he’s the best teacher ever, even more than he’s done with every other teacher he’s had. Dream figured he’d be some middle-aged man, not this… this god that looks like he’s barely out of high school. “Close your mouth, mate, he’s coming over here.”
Indeed, the teacher is approaching them, looking honestly exhausted, but he’s putting on a brave face.
“I hope you all made it here alright,” he says, and God, he’s British. “So, we’re going to start today by collecting different seashells to be used in class…”
He trails off about permission forms and everything they’re supposed to be doing and a scavenger hunt, and all Dream has to do is keep an eye on Tubbo and the other five kids assigned to be in his group. Easy enough.
He stares at the teacher pretty much the entire time. None of the kids drown, which he considers a win. Tubbo and Tommy run up to him when they’re having group time and dump a bundle of seashells into his arms.
“What’s this?” he asks, amused.
“For home,” Tubbo answers. “Extra seashells. Hold onto them for me, will you?”
With that, the two kids race off. Dream watches them go, then realizes the teacher is staring at him. He looks away hastily when he realizes he’s been caught, and Dream smiles and looks down, feeling like a middle schooler with a crush.
Dream picks out the prettiest seashell. When the kids are all back on the bus and Mr. Davidson is done thanking the adult supervisors for their time, Dream hands him the shell.
“What’s this?” he asks, one eyebrow raised.
“A gift,” Dream says. The little voice in his head chants ask him out, ask him out. He ignores it. “For you.”
Mr. Davidson smiles. “Thank you, Mister…”
“Schlatt,” Dream says, all too quickly. “Dr- uh, Clay. Schlatt. Tubbo’s brother.”
“Tubbo’s brother,” Mr. Davidson echoes. “Nice meeting you, Clay.”
And that’s that. Dream drives home feeling giddy, and this time he doesn’t even judge Tubbo for not shutting up throughout the entirety of dinner.
“So,” Schlatt says with a grin that night, after Tubbo’s gone to bed. “You’ve finally met Davidson, huh?”
“I almost asked him out,” Dream blurts, and his father laughs uproariously.
“Oh,” he says after a moment. “You’re serious. Alright, then, you can go to the next parent-teacher conference.”
Dream doesn’t go to the next parent-teacher conference, because he’s busy on a work project that’s been killing him for the last week. He does, however, have to go in to meet with the teacher after the home phone rings two days later.
“Hello?” he answers. The phone woke him up. He finished the coding project at about four in the morning, and it’s currently… nine. Jesus.
“Hello, is this the Schlatt residence?” an already-familiar voice asks.
“Yep,” Dream answers, trying to shove down his excitement. “Tubbo okay?”
“He’s fine. Well, mostly fine. He’s a bit upset. Mr. Schlatt, Tubbo punched another student. We heard from all parties involved and he isn’t in any administrative trouble, but you still have to come and pick him up for the day.”
“Oh. Great.”
Which is how he finds himself at the front office, sitting next to Philza, who doesn’t look pleased about being there.
“You get a call too?” Phil asks.
“Yeah. Tubbo punched a kid.”
“Apparently Tommy cursed the little shit out after he hit Tubbo back.”
The mother sitting across from them glares. Must be the parent of the offending kid.
The teacher is the one to bring all three children down to the office. The mother takes her son and leaves immediately, but not before Dream spots the nasty black eye already forming.
“You do that?” he asks Tubbo, jerking his head. Tubbo nods, his head kept down. Dream holds out a hand for a fist-bump, which seems to brighten Tubbo’s mood considerably.
“Maybe don’t encourage fighting,” Mr. Davidson says. Phil nods and grabs Tommy’s shoulder, dragging him out and muttering about not using certain words in front of adults, but Dream holds Tubbo back from following.
“What happened, Mr. Davidson?” he asks.
“George is fine,” George says (holy shit, he’s got a first name now-). “Another student was being rude to one of Tubbo’s friends-”
“Ranboo,” Tubbo says stubbornly. “Because he has trouble remembering things sometimes. But that’s not an excuse to call him names, so I punched him.”
“Right,” George says. “The other student attempted to hit back, but-”
“I dodged, like you taught me,” Tubbo says excitedly. “And then Tommy said the naughty words he learned from Wilbur.”
“What words?” Dream asks. Tubbo opens his mouth, like he’s prepared to answer.
“Don’t,” George says quickly. Tubbo closes his mouth instantly. “It was nice seeing you again, Clay. Maybe I’ll see you around again some time.”
“Maybe,” Dream agrees, and his brain repeats the
ask him out
chant, but he doesn’t do anything other than wave and steer Tubbo out the door.
They tell Schlatt the story at dinner.
“You should’ve seen it, Dad!” Tubbo cries. “I was like- wham! Bam! And he got a black eye! And then he tried to hit me and I dodged, and Tommy said-” He pauses, silently asking for permission. Schlatt, looking like he’s about to burst into laughter, nods. “‘Fuck you, you little shit! That’s what you get for being a dick!’ And then we got in trouble.”
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m proud,” Schlatt says with a nod. “Good job, kid. Go do your homework, okay?” Tubbo nods and rushes off, and their father turns to Dream. “Thanks for picking him up, bud, I know you were probably tired.”
“It’s fine,” Dream says, almost too quickly.
“You got to see the teacher again, didn’t you?” It sounds… resigned. Like Schlatt knows exactly where this is going.
“Yeah,” Dream agrees, trying to keep the smile off his face. “I did.”
He sees George again at the next parent-teacher conference. He gets to sit in the tiny elementary school chairs with Tubbo outside the classroom and wait to go in, and when they do, George looks pleasantly surprised.
“Hello,” he says. “Jay couldn’t make it?”
“Big meeting out of town,” Dream lies easily. Schlatt’s at home, on the couch, probably asleep by now. It’s been a long week for all of them, and Dream was all-too eager to take his father’s place at the conference. “How’s Tubbo doing, George?”
Tubbo’s an excellent student, is what the rundown is. Dream couldn’t be prouder. When they’re getting ready to leave, George holds his hand out, and Dream takes it and holds it for just a moment.
“You’re supposed to shake it,” George tells him, amused.
“Right,” Dream says with a nod, shaking it quickly. “Thank you. Um. Thank you.” He feels like he should say something else, ask something else. He doesn’t.
“So,” Tubbo says the second they’re in the car. “You have a crush. ”
“What?” Dream sputters. “I- no I don’t!”
“You so do,” Tubbo says teasingly. He proceeds to spend the entire rest of the car ride making kissy noises and teasing Dream about his crush. He doesn’t stop until they get home, when he says, “I promise I’ll keep it a secret from Dad.”
Which, alright. Schlatt already knows. But still.
Dream gets a text the next night. He’s about to go to bed when he sees the message from an unknown number.
Hey, is this Clay?
He replies with, Yes, who’s asking?
George Davidson. Tubbo gave me your number. Said it was important. Somehow I don’t believe him.
Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. George fucking Davidson is texting him. For real. On his phone, there are messages from George Davidson.
He’s going to fucking kill Tubbo.
He stays up for hours texting George- thank God it’s a Friday- and by the time he actually makes it to bed, it’s nearly two in the morning.
He continues texting George all weekend, and then the week after that, and then the week after that. If his family notices him smiling at his phone a lot more, they don’t say anything. He nearly asks George out several times, but he manages to refrain from doing so.
George gets there first.
Hey, I have two tickets to Friday’s baseball game, would you like to go?
Holy. Shit.
He says yes- of course he says yes- and it’s one of the most incredible nights of his life. He nearly asks George out again immediately after, when they’re sitting in his car, both high on the adrenaline of their team winning and decked out in their supportive colors. Dream drives them to George’s house to drop him off, and George turns and looks him dead in the eyes.
“So… wanna make out?” Dream asks, half as a joke.
“God, I thought you’d never ask,” George replies.
Dream doesn’t make it home until much, much later. Schlatt gives him a knowing look.
“Save it,” Dream grumbles through the massive grin on his face.
He signs up to be a parent supervisor on the last day of school, the SMP Elementary School Field Day. He ends up getting completely soaked with water, along with Phil and George, and Tubbo’s entire class is screaming at them in pure joy. It’s their ‘reward’ for winning out of all the third-grade classes, and based on how Tubbo is yelling, it’s a pretty big deal.
Phil offers to take Tubbo home. Dream agrees easily, staying to help George clean some stuff up, and they end up sitting in his classroom for hours, and by the time they’re done their clothes have long-since dried. They’re about to head out when Dream spots a seashell sitting on George’s desk- the one he gave him on the field trip when they first met.
“You kept it,” he says, pleasantly surprised. George flushes a deep red.
“Yeah,” he says. “I guess it stuck with me.”
“George-” Dream starts. “Do you maybe- want to go out some time? Like, on a date? Would you like to officially date me?”
George grins at him. “I thought you’d never ask.”