Work Text:
George stepped on the platform and snuck a glance at the man so many people had come to fear. The same man who used to be George’s best friend. The same man who had been there when he first awoke in this world, the only companion he had at the time.
Dream didn’t look up at him, his face was hidden by a veil of messy, dirty blonde hair. George didn’t know whether it would be better for his nerves if Dream looked at him or not. At least the lack of eye contact made waiting for the lava wall to fall less awkward.
But eventually the lava wall behind them resumed its flow and the netherite barrier that was separating them dropped. George held his breath and started inching his way towards the prisoner.
When Dream finally looked up, his green gaze pierced George’s soul. His feet rooted themselves to the floor and he found himself unable to look away. George had never seen his face before, had never been able to look Dream directly in the eyes like this. His face had always been concealed behind the mask that was lying in two pieces next to Dream.
He could see freckles, for the first time ever. George had imagined seeing them under the warm light of the sun, highlighting them against the blonde’s natural tan. Instead, they were almost hidden by the flush of Dream’s cheeks that came from living surrounded by lava.
But they were still there
And those eyes, gold to George. As nice as they looked without his colour-blind glasses, George still kicked himself for being unable to see them properly.
“Whenever I imagined revealing my face to you, I never imagined it being like this.” Dream laughed bitterly, his voice sounded quiet and numb.
It didn’t sound right. That wasn’t the warm voice that George had come to trust so much.
“Neither did I.” George said, his voice even quieter than Dream’s. Barely audible over the popping of the lava. The silence was suffocating. Dream lowered his gaze and George found himself once again in control of his feet. He instinctively edged his way towards one of the obsidian walls, seeking the security of it. He felt somewhat guilty for the action, but he hadn’t spoken to Dream in months and he couldn’t stop Tommy’s horror stories from spilling into his mind.
“I didn’t think you’d come.” Dream admitted after a bit.
“Why not?” George didn’t know what else to say.
“It’s not like you.” Dream replied. “You tend to avoid conflict or drama if you can. That’s why you sleep through every war.”
The edges of George’s lips turn upwards slightly. He missed feeling so well known. That was the hardest thing about losing your best friend, losing the comfort in being understood. Losing the comfort of being able to understand and predict them in return. He looked at Dream again, how much of his best friend was still there? How much did he still remember? Did he care about anything of their memories anymore?
It was almost funny. Here Dream was without his mask, and yet George couldn’t read him any better than he could when he still wore it. There was no signature green hoodie, in its place was an ugly, ruffled orange jumpsuit. There was no relaxed, easy-going aura about him. It had been replaced by a tense, guarded presence. George had dreamed of being able to see Dream’s eyes light up as he laughed, that unforgettable, stupid, iconic wheeze.
He wasn’t sure if this version of Dream even remembered how to laugh.
“…How would you have done your face reveal?”
Dream’s lips twisted into a small smile, igniting a small spark of hope within George. “I never really settled on an idea. Sometimes I thought I’d do it for your birthday or Christmas or something. Other times I thought it would be easier and funnier to just randomly do it on a random day. Like, just take it off in the middle of a conversation or show up to your front door without it just to see how you’d react… Maybe I would’ve taken you to a nice location or something, we could’ve watched the sun set over the community house or go somewhere brand new...”
George slowly approached Dream, who looked up in surprise once he realised George was moving. George paused in front of him, waiting to see if he’d retaliate. He didn’t. Taking that as permission, George sat down next to him, leaving enough space between them so that their shoulders wouldn’t bump unless one of them purposefully leaned towards the other. Enough to get his peace offering across. Dream studied him carefully, George did the same, lifting his goggles off his face to rest on top of his head so Dream could look him in the eye. If Dream was unable to wear a mask, surely it was only fair that George was equally as vulnerable, right? They searched each other’s expressions for any signs of a threat, or remains of the person they used to know.
George watched as Dream gingerly moved his hand towards George’s. George didn’t pull his back. He sat completely still as he felt Dream’s shaking fingers brush the back of his hand, sending sensations that made his breath hitch and his heartbeat speed up. Barely daring to breathe, he twisted his hand so that his palm was facing up. Dream’s touch was feather-light on George’s skin and he flinched. Dream quickly withdrew his hand like he had just burned George and looked up to his face, eyes wide with panic.
“That tickles.” George said, grinning softly.
Dream smiled as well, bigger than any of his smiles so far, and reached out to gently enlace their fingers. George rubbed the back of his hand with his thumb and Dream let out a deep breath beside him. As if George’s touch had just freed him of every burden he’d ever carried.
“I missed you.” Dream whispered.
“I missed you too.” George replied. He let go of Dream’s hand and smiled at the sad look on his face that was quickly replaced with a different expression as he watched with interest as George trailed his fingers up his arm. He rested he hand on Dream’s shoulder and gave him a moment to adjust to the touch before rubbing reassuring circles into his shoulder.
After a minute, Dream carefully leaned against George’s shoulder. George left him there for a moment, then decided he could do better. Dream looked at George with surprise again when George guided the prisoner into his lap. He waited to see if Dream would sit back up or try to move away. Dream stared into George’s eyes, forever searching his gaze, before he relaxed. Curling himself into George’s warmth. George ran his fingers through Dream’s long, untamed hair. Gently untangling it and massaging the dirty blonde’s scalp. Dream keened at the touch. His eyes fell shut in bliss. George’s heat beat evened into a calm and steady rhyme as he played with Dream’s hair. His breathing deepened and his shoulders relaxed as he let being with Dream again remove the weight from his own shoulders.
“I always liked your hair long. But you’ve got to admit, this long is a little bit excessive.” George tutted.
Dream scoffed and rolled his eyes. “What makes you think I have any control over how long it gets? Do you see any scissors in here?”
“You could burn some of it off in the lava.”
“WHAT?! I am NOT setting my head on fire just so I can get a haircut.”
George giggled and twisted strands of Dream’s hair. “You should at least try to clean it up a little… Karl braids Sapnap’s hair sometimes, I could probably ask him for a couple of hair ties for you.”
“…That would be nice.” Dream admitted quietly. “…How are they?”
“Karl and Sapnap?” George leaned back and looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Sapnap told you about Kinoko Kingdom when he came to visit, right?”
“I think he may’ve mentioned it.”
“It’s where we’re living at the moment, it’s a big mushroom city.”
“Is that why you have the dumb hat?” Dream teased.
George glared mockingly at him. “Whatever, shut up.” He subconsciously adjusted his mushroom hat, reassuring himself that it wasn’t stupid. “But yeah, I probably talk so Sapnap the most these days but even then, I mostly keep to myself. He seems alright, I guess. Karl spends most of his time writing in a journal, he seems pretty distracted these days. Sapnap’s mainly worried about finding Quackity, none of us have seen him in months.”
Dream tensed in George’s lap. His reaction did not go unnoticed. “Dream?”
“George…” Dream sighed, seeming conflicted. “I wasn’t originally planning to tell you this but…” Dream stared blankly at the lava wall. “I see Quackity every day. He comes to my cell with all kinds of weapons, sometimes even things you wouldn’t consider weapons… And he… He tortures me. Every. Day.”
George’s eyes widened with horror. “Why does he do that?”
“You know how Shlatt gave me the Revive Book? How I revived Tommy?”
“Y-yeah. I heard.”
“I memorised it and burnt it. No one else has that knowledge anymore but me.”
George stared down at his old best friend, not sure what to think. He was withholding the knowledge of how to bring back the dead, but he was being tortured for it. His best friend was being tortured. Whose side was he supposed to take?
“Why don’t you tell him then? Would that make him stop?” George asked cautiously.
“Yeah, but then why would he keep me around?” Dream said. “…I’ve done things George. I’ve done things, and I don’t even know why I did some of them. I can’t go back. Acting this way is all I really know how to do anymore. The Revive Book is the only thing that’s stopping them from killing me!” Dream said. George had heard almost every version of Dream’s voice, but he had never heard it as desperate and lost as this. It broke his heart, tore his brain in two. He was perfectly aware of how messed up Dream was, but Dream was also the only thing he still gave a damn about, despite how he tried to act.
He wanted to help Dream. But he knew he shouldn’t. He wanted to walk up to Quackity and scream at him. But he had no idea how that would work out. He wanted to run free around the world with Dream again, but Dream was a criminal guilty of manipulation, the destruction of a nation and murder. Not to mention the fact he now literally had power over life and death itself.
How the hell was he supposed to win in this scenario?
“You’ve dug yourself quite the hole here Dream.” George said. eventually.
“I know.” Dream replied.
George squeezed his hand, unsure if he could do anything to support him other than that. Dream gripped it tightly in return. “You’re an idiot.” George murmured.
“I know.”
~ ~ ~
To Dream maybe the obsidian room was a prison, but to George it was quickly becoming a place of comfort. They were hidden away from the world together in their own little bubble that George had missed so much it ached.
“Times up.” Sam’s stern voice said through the cell’s speaker. Dream’s face filled with dread and George felt arms wrap around his waist and cling tight.
“No.” Dream whispered. George recognised pain and fear in his voice, despite rarely hearing that tone before.
“Hey, hey.” George said, lifting Dream’s chin so he could look him in the eye. “I’ll come back soon.”
“How soon?”
“I don’t know, as soon as I can. Sometime within this week.” When George saw the doubt in Dream’s eyes. He cupped his freckled cheek “I promise, okay?”
“Okay…” Dream agreed reluctantly.
“Good, now can I get up?”
“No.”
“Dream! I need to go! I promise I’ll come back as soon as I can with hair ties from Karl… How about I bring you a picture of my house in Kinoko Kingdom as well?”
Dream perked up at that. “Really?”
George laughed. Interacting with Dream was more interesting now that he could see his expressions. Not only was he rebuilding the neurons in his brain related to understanding him, but he was adding a whole knew level of depth to that understanding on top of that. Like making a 2D image 3D. Like coming back to an old bridge with planks rotten from lack of care and rebuilding it twice as strong.
George was finally allowed to separate from Dream and wait for the platform’s return. The netherite blocks were back up, a cruel reminder that they couldn’t be close like that for long anymore. A reminder that Dream had chosen to cut the ties between him and his friends. It felt so wrong leaving Dream to suffer for his crimes. Especially now that George knew about Quackity coming to torture him daily. And he was doing nothing without it.
The guilt was overwhelming and confusing. He was trapped between two points of view, two sides and he somehow managed to feel guilty for betraying both of them.
He snuck a look back to Dream as the platform started approaching. He was shocked as Dream ran towards the netherite barrier and threw his arms over the top of it to wrap them around George and pull him as close as he could manage.
“Dream?”
Dream said nothing, just nuzzled into George’s neck
Sam’s impatient shouts filled the large room, calling George back to a painful reality. A complicated, tangled mess that he had no clue how t