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Dream was standing in the rain, droplets of water rolling down his face, his eyes looking down at George, who tried to blink away both the tears and the rainfall.
"Is this it then?" Dream asked, frowning as his hands softly caressed George's face.
"I don't know what you want me to do," George's voice was pleading, little hiccups that covered his sobs.
"Is this what you wanted?" Dream asked. "Is this really what you wanted?"
"No," George confessed. "Of course not."
"Then why are we breaking up?" Dream asked. "We should just-"
Dream smiled softly, his eyes melting as he gazed fondly at the man standing in front of him.
"We should just stay together," Dream concluded. "Because I love you, Matthew. And I will never stop loving you."
"I love you too, Daniel," George sighed a little out of relief.
Dream leaned forward and pressed his lips onto George's. He was starting to push into the kiss when a really loud yell instantly ruined the mood.
"Cut!" Wilbur yelled. "Cut! That was garbage. That was trash-"
Just like a miracle, a Hollywood miracle to be more precise, the rain stopped instantaneously. Both George and Dream quickly pulled apart and turned to the tall man sitting in the director's chair behind the camera. Wilbur had the script laid out on his lap, his head on his hands, looking absolutely devastated.
"I don't know what you want me to do Wil," George exclaimed.
"I don't know, just not- not that," Wilbur gestured vaguely at the two actors on the scene.
"Be more specific Wilbur," Dream sighed, running his hand through his hair multiple times to try and squeeze out the water. "You're the director. Direct, please."
"Something isn't right," Wilbur said slowly. "Something. Isn't. Right."
"Oh yeah, thanks, we didn't know that from the 27th take of this godforsaken scene," George hissed.
"I don't know what's wrong with it," Wilbur sighed, his eyes staring at both his actors though truth be told, he wasn't looking at either of them. "Let's roll one more time," He waved his hand around.
Dream and George looked at each other, both their eyes equally tired and sick of this, internally groaning so that the boom mic can't pick up on the sound. They shared a look before going to their markers on opposite sides of the closed-off street with apartment buildings they're currently using for filming.
Both Dream and George wriggled in their spot, jumping on their toes to shake out all the tension and to be quite honest, the irritation and exhaustion. They nodded at each other before nodding to the rest of the crew.
"Scene 108 B, take 28. Mark!" Tommy yelled and the distinctive sound of the clapperboard echoed through the studio just before the rain machine turned on.
Both Dream and George waited for their cue which was a yellow taxi cab driving past the camera and honking loudly for the extra New York City ambiance.
"Matt!" Dream called. "Matty?"
George stopped after taking a few steps down the road. He made sure to pause, as his script instruction tells him to do so, and waited until Dream called one more time.
"Matthew!" Dream yelled.
George turned around, bringing his hand up to cover his eyes from the rain, squinting until he can see the figure across the street.
"Daniel?" George whispered, though, that much caught by his mic.
Dream jogged across the street, strategically almost getting hit by yet another cab, jumping slightly across the hood of the car, stumbling on top of the curb, and finding himself in front of George.
"Daniel, what are you doing?" George asked, looking around him.
"I-" Dream stuttered. "You don't have an umbrella."
"Well I-" George began.
"Cut!" Wilbur interrupted.
"We haven't even gotten to the scene yet," George yelled back out of frustration.
"It just-" Wilbur scowled. "Wrong. It feels wrong."
"Alright," Dream sighed. "Can we not then? Can we come back to this scene on a later day?"
"But then we have to block off the road again, and-" Wilbur sighed.
"I'm wet," George yelled. "I'm cold."
"Look we have the road for two more days, right? It's the last scene of the day anyway, we'll just squeeze it in later," Sapnap chimed in. "Look at them, Wilbur, they're suffering and it doesn't look like we're gonna go anywhere."
George looked at Sapnap with a grateful smile on his face, mouthing a little thank you that Wilbur didn't catch, too busy being distraught about his artistic vision not coming to life. Wilbur eventually sighed and nodded.
"Alright," Sapnap clapped loudly. "That's a wrap for today everyone, great work. Let's clean up and get home."
There was a loud ring indicating the end of filming as the numerous staff member began to collect their things and put them back into the trailers. The set assistants were running over to Dream and George with towels, trying to get them dry as quickly as possible, but Sapnap got to them first. Though, the simp of a man was mostly focusing on getting George dry.
"Thanks, buddy," Dream muttered sarcastically as Sapnap draped the towel over George's back why chucking the other one at Dream's face.
"What is his problem?" George grumbled, his eyes still trained at Wilbur. "We did the scene like a hundred times."
"He's right though," Sapnap shrugged. "It felt- clunky. Something was wrong with it."
"Hey," George scolded. "You're supposed to be on my side," He pouted.
"Now, you know I am," Sapnap rolled his eyes. "I'm just telling it like it is."
"Oh so you're calling me a bad actor?" George shot immediately.
"You're a dumbass," Sapnap replied just as quickly and George only grinned cheekily.
"No, I see that," Dream groaned. "And I feel that too, it just- I don't know. Wilbur's gotta change something, or make some decisions, or else it'll just- stay clunky."
"If I have to spend 27 takes with the rain machine again, I'm going to throw a whole diva tantrum," George threatened.
"Oh, so you didn't already?" Sapnap asked and George instantly elbowed him in the stomach, which he caught with a little laugh.
"Take me home," George pouted.
"Right," It was Dream's turn to roll his eyes. He quickly waved them goodbye as Sapnap took George's hand and walked away to George's trailer.
Dream would usually ask them out for dinner or a ride back to the hotel because of the fact that they were staying in the same hotel during this on-site out-of-city shoot. But something told him that Sapnap was gonna want to get George dry and clean as soon as possible, so he'd rather not wait, both in the trailer or in the hotel.
So Dream walked to his trailer where he quickly took off all his clothes to hand back to the costume department before taking a quick wash.
Normally he'd wash up in the hotel room, but the thought about walking or riding in the car back to the hotel still damp with the water from the rain machine was disgusting. So the trailer shower it is.
It wasn't rare for him to hear people knocking on his door, and that's exactly what he heard when he stepped out of his quick and steaming shower. With only a towel wrapped around his waist, he answered the door.
Yeah he probably should've put more clothes on, but he's also an actor and odds are, most of the people on set have seen him semi-naked at one point or another.
"Sup," Dream answered as he swung the door open.
"Uh-"
Okay. Karl has most definitely seen Dream shirtless before. This is a given. Like previously established, most people on set have most likely seen Dream shirtless. But something about being confronted with a perfectly sculpted abdomen glinting in the light from the droplets of water left Karl open-mouthed.
"I could come back?" Karl offered.
"No, no, please-" Dream swung his door open to let Karl in. "I'll go put on some pants."
"Some pants," Karl mumbled as he stepped into the actor's trailer.
Only pants?
"Have a seat, help yourself to anything in the fridge," Dream waved his hand around as he walked away to where his clothes were stored.
"I'm good, thank you," Karl piped up softly.
"Do you need something?" Dream asked as he came walking back into the lounging area.
Dream was wearing a pair of jeans, though in his hand was a hoodie. Shame. Guess he won't be shirtless anymore.
"Karl, right?" Dream greeted. "You're a writer."
"One of them, yeah," Karl nodded.
"Something you need from me?" He asked yet again.
"Just wanted to talk over some of the little script changes for tomorrow's scenes," Karl said. "I know Quackity usually does it over with you, but he's a little occupied right now so I'm here today."
"Alright, sounds good," Dream said, taking a seat on the couch that he had in his lavish trailer.
All Dream did was look down at the empty spot next to him and Karl obliged, sitting down next to him and opening the pages that were marked down.
"Okay, for this scene tomorrow, we changed some of the lines. Now instead of saying seventeen times going to the same goddamn grocery store, we're changing it to seventeen missed calls and a shitty motel room key," Karl explained. "We're gonna do an extra scene with George about a motel affair, later on, so you get the point."
"Wait, like an actual affair scene?" Dream asked. "I thought Matthew never cheated on Daniel, that it was just insinuated."
"Well, he didn't really go through with it, but there were some making out some shadowed scenes," Karl told him.
"Alright," Dream grumbled. "What else?"
"There's a little phone call snippet that you need to do with your mother," Karl said. "She's fine, she'll be fine and she's excited about you and Matthew getting back together-"
"Doesn't she have Alzheimer's?" Dream questioned. "She's just fine now?"
"Well we're slowly writing off the scene where Daniel needed to go back home to his mother-" Karl sighed.
"What? Why?" Dream exclaimed. "That was a whole deal."
"Because it doesn't wrap up when you abandon your sick and dying mother to get back together with your boyfriend who already has a kid he needs to take care of," Karl stated in an exasperated tone.
"Okay-" Dream shook his head. "Tell me, right? You saw Wilbur and his little tantrum today, that the last scene we shot, the one in the rain didn't feel right?"
"Yeah, I saw that," Karl agreed.
"Give me some writer input, please," Dream begged. "It's going to drive me crazy if I have to do that scene 27 times again in the rain. Tell me what's wrong with it."
"I'm not a director, I don't actually know what's wrong with it," Karl replied.
"You wrote the script, you wrote the scene," Dream said. "There's gotta be some kind of insight, about how the picture first came into view in your mind about how it's supposed to happen."
"What we write is mostly up to the actor's interpretation," Karl shrugged. "You can film a kiss scene just fine."
"But I can't film it right," Dream said. "Tell me what's wrong with it."
"I can't say," Karl answered curtly.
"What do you mean you can't say?" Dream asked. "I feel it, Sapnap feels it, Wilbur most certainly feels it. It's all weird and clunky, don't you have anything to say about that?"
"I really shouldn't," Karl responded.
"Shouldn't?" Dream questioned. "Now you're just being cryptic."
"Look, there's a writers' room meeting in about five minutes that I have to go to, I'm really just here to give you a quick rundown about the changes," Karl said as he stood back up from his seat.
"Ugh, fine," Dream groaned, lounging back on the couch.
Karl was at the trailer door when he stopped walking and hesitated, doubling back to look at Dream.
"You're staying at the Marriott?" Karl inquired.
"Yeah, of course," Dream nodded.
"Room number?" Karl asked.
"729," Dream replied without any further thought.
"I'll see what I can do," Karl said, even more mysteriously than before. "I'll talk to you later."
Dream knows who Karl was, hypothetically. Like Karl himself said, most of the time when script changes happen, Dream and George both deal with Quackity. Where Quackity is in charge to make sure that the line changes are communicated well and passed on to the actors as seamlessly as possible, Karl, Dream thinks, must be one of the people who work behind the scenes making those line changes.
Before the last 10 minutes, he'd never really talked to Karl all that much. He knew that Sapnap was pretty good friends with him, discussing setting decisions and placement coordination. He knew that George and Quackity are also really good friends with Karl. It's almost a weird coincidence that Dream was the only one who never really got to talk to Karl.
However, even with however much everyone trusts Karl, is good friends with him, and probably hangs out with him tons, Dream felt a little awkward giving him his room number. Nothing bad was going to happen, probably, it was just an all-around odd scenario.
Dream got driven back by one of the set cars, getting off at the lobby of the Marriott having greeted the valet and the security guard. Upon further thought, he should've just volunteered to wait for Karl to finish the writer's room meeting so they can have that ominous conversation. But Dream was starving, and to be honest, he wasn't feeling the shitty set food today.
So Dream sat on his bed, the TV turned on though wasn't really being watched, waiting for the room service to come with his dinner and wine that he's ordered only minutes ago. Dream knew the hotels have an unbelievably bad reputation with room service food, so it was a pleasant surprise when he heard the knock on the door.
His hopes were quickly crushed when it wasn't the food and instead, the one and only Karl standing at his door with a bonded manuscript.
"Ah," Dream said, a little disappointment in his voice. "Come in."
"You expecting anyone else?" Karl asked.
"Room service," Dream confessed.
"Oh, sorry," Karl apologized.
"No, the hotel's just being a little slow," Dream shrugged. "Anyway, what's up?"
"I couldn't do this on set, for obvious reasons, but here," Karl said, handing Dream the manuscript in his arms.
"I already have my own copy of the script," Dream said. "All you need to do is tell me the changes, you don't need to print me a whole new script."
"No," Karl corrected him. "This is the old script actually. The old, old script."
Dream looked at Karl quizzically as he slowly took the manuscript from Karl's hand.
"The reason that rain scene is so clunky? The reason it's weird and doesn't make sense?" Karl muttered, his tone annoyed. "It wasn't supposed to be written that way."
Dream flipped over through the pages, seeing very familiar scenes and dialogues that he's had to memorize over the course of filming this movie, though right at the very end, about the last 3 pages or so, he was confronted by pages that he's never even seen before.
"And all the rewrites? Your mother's Alzheimer's getting written off like the common flu? All those weird criticisms that you have on why things happen the way they happen?" Karl said, walking past Dream and sitting in one of the chairs. "It's all to accommodate that last 3-page change."
Dream stayed quiet, his eyes quickly scanning over words and words, processing each line as fast as he can humanly read.
"They're-" Dream muttered once he finished reading, looking back at Karl who sat there patiently waiting for him. "They're not supposed to end up together."
"Of course not," Karl chuckled. "Not now, at least. Daniel had to take care of his mother, Matthew needed to take care of his daughter. They spent more than the better half of his movie fighting and we see their relationship begin to crumble inside out, especially with the cheating insinuation. It wouldn't make sense that they just forgive and forget, apologizing and making up."
"Then why change it?" Dream asked.
"Wasn't my decision," Karl shrugged. "They wanted a movie with a happy ending."
"Why?" Dream questioned.
"It's gotten to a point where tragedy's too mainstream now, apparently," Karl mumbled. "It feels like I'm writing for a Hallmark movie, believe me, I don't love it either."
"So what's this last part?" Dream asked.
"Ten years later," Karl said. "That's the natural progression of time. Daniel's mother is dead, Matthew's daughter is going to college. They meet again, now a lot more mature than before, and suddenly things seem plausible again."
Dream was going to say something when there was yet another knock on the door. This time he knew for a fact that it was his food. The hotel staff entered the room and placed the food on the table before leaving with a sizable tip form Dream.
"Did you eat yet?" Dream asked Karl as he popped open a bottle of wine. "I ordered pizza, so it should be more than enough for the two of us."
"Oh," Karl was mildly surprised. "No, I haven't actually."
"Grab a slice," Dream told him as he started to pour the wine into some glasses. "You drink?"
"Occasionally," Karl replied.
"They recommended this with the pizza," Dream handed Karl a glass half full with wine. "I know nothing about it."
"Thank you," Karl mumbled hesitantly.
"Alright," Dream said, sitting down on the other chair and continuing to read every little change in the script.
Karl gave more than just his insight.
"Originally, it was supposed to be a car crash," Karl said. "The tipping point was both of them being so distraught and all over the place, being young and stupid, that neither of them changed into the snow tires, and they were fighting in the car, and they spun out. That was the start of the fight."
"We started fighting over an empty gas tank and getting stranded on the side of the road," Dream reiterated as if Karl didn't know all the painful changes they'd made to his masterpiece.
"A little less dramatic, huh?" Karl hummed. "At least that also means less money on the budget."
"Come on that's ridiculous," Dream complained.
"Oh, and that was supposed to happen just before Adelaine's ballet recital, so Matthew was supposed to be in the hospital due to the crash and that's why he missed his daughter's show," Karl continued.
"That was just-" Dream shook his head in disbelief. "That didn't even exist."
"I know," Karl said defeatedly.
"These all seem like little changes but with every little bit, it's starting to pile up and the story makes less and less sense," Dream said. "And you're okay with this?"
"I don't know what you want me to do," Karl shrugged. "I wrote the original script, but in no way am I the senior writer in that room."
"Your writing is gorgeous," Dream complimented. "Everything makes sense, it makes more sense than I've ever seen it. And they destroyed it."
"Welcome to Hollywood," Karl replied cynically.
"It's a fucking shame, huh?" Dream shook his head. "Could've been great."
"I'd just-" Karl sighed. "I'd love, just once, to be able to see what I wrote, every single word of it, come to life."
Dream thought about it a little, his eyes still reading over the beautifully written words on the pages in his hand.
"Let's do it," Dream said, placing the pizza that he was eating back on the plate and standing up.
"What?" Karl was confused.
"Let's do it, we'll act out the scene right here and now," Dream urged, walking over to where Karl was sitting and tugging on his arm.
"That's- no, we don't need that," Karl shook his head, gently pulling his hand away from Dream.
"Yes we do," Dream said. "You deserve to see it happen at least once, and I for one would like to try and act out a scene that is properly written," He made a little snide comment. "Maybe I can use this and try to channel it when I film the rain scene again."
"No, this is stupid," Karl told him. "George isn't even here. He out with Sapnap."
"There are two people in this scene. One," Dream pointed to himself. "Two," He pointed at Karl.
"I'm not an actor," Karl said.
"You're better," Dream assured him. "You created these words. Wrote them with love and passion. You'll be fine."
"Dream this is-" Karl started to talk but Dream quickly shushed him up.
"You don't-" It was actually a little terrifying how quickly Dream was able to get into character. "You don't have an umbrella."
Karl stood there, looking up at Dream, not knowing what to do. But the look in Dream's eyes was nothing but encouraging, and somehow, the word he's written years ago came back to the surface.
"I don't mind the rain, you know that," Karl told him.
"Adeline's gonna catch a cold if you get sick," Dream mumbled nervously.
"Daniel," Karl interjected. "What do you want?"
Karl had written out a 20-second pause, which for all its dramatic effects, were far too long for anyone's comfort. But that was the point. It was a silent conversation that happens between two souls that at one point, knew each other so well, though now, seemed like complete strangers.
"Is this it then?" Dream asked, bringing his hand up to touch Karl's face.
"I don't know what you want me to do," Karl was no actor, but even Dream could feel the raw emotion in his voice.
"Is this what you wanted?" Dream asked. "Is this really what you wanted?"
"No," Karl answered far too quickly. "God knows I never wanted this."
Dream pulled Karl's face towards him, slowly as their foreheads rested against each other. It was the most intense eye contact that Karl has ever felt in his life, his heart thumping out of his chest, he was sure Dream would be able to hear it.
"To everything that we've ever done together, Matthew-" Dream whispered, his lips only inches apart from Karl's.
"And to everything that could've been," Karl replied.
It was a cleverly written callback from earlier in the movie, so beautifully tied back that Dream was appalled when he learned that it had been written out.
"I love you," Dream mumbled, his voice shaky.
Before Karl could reply -exactly like it was written in the script- Dream pressed his lips against Karl's.
Karl doesn't know if this is the overwhelming emotions carried over from the scene they were acting out or if it's just the way it is. The kiss was absolutely explosive, every single nerve ending in Karl's body jumped. Dream's lips were soft and sweet, tasted like the wine the both of them has been drinking the entire night. His hand on Karl's face was firm and warm, pulling him even closer and closer as the kiss deepened.
It was a long kiss, and it was a very passionate kiss. Karl doesn't think that he's ever been kissed this passionately before.
And when they were done, the Dream finally pulled away, leaving Karl's body now cold and empty, Karl's mind forgot entirely of what was happening. He left utter bliss, his thoughts completely fuzzy. Thankfully, it wasn't his line.
"Goodbye," Dream whispered against his ears before pulling away.
Dream only pretended to walk away, as much as he could in his little hotel room before he cut the scene and turned back to look at Karl.
"How's that?" Dream asked.
Karl was still standing there, his entire body frozen and his brain lagging ever so slightly.
"Huh?" Karl hummed.
"The scene?" Dream said. "I thought it felt pretty good. It wasn't clunky at all, it followed the natural progression of the storyline, it felt a lot better than the newer rain scene?"
"What?" Karl muttered as his brain tried to catch up to him.
Dream looked at him with a mildly amused look on his face though he kept quiet and waited patiently.
"Yeah," Karl nodded after a few seconds. "Yeah that's exactly how I imagined it being, thank you."
"No, no," Dream said. "Honestly, Karl, your version is amazing. It's disappointing, almost."
"Tell me about it," Karl replied timidly. "I'll get over it eventually, I just- Thanks, I guess? For validating me."
"It's my pleasure," Dream gave him a little bow. "At least I have some emotions that I'd be able to channel tomorrow, even with different lines."
"Right, right," Karl nodded, though, by the blank look in his eyes, Dream wasn't sure if Karl knew he was moving his head at all. "I should go. You have an early call time tomorrow."
"I do," Dream agreed.
"Bye," Karl quickly said and walked out of Dream's room before he could hear the taller gentleman bid him goodnight.
Karl didn't stop walking until the elevator, and that was only because he literally couldn't walk in the elevator. Karl pressed his back against the walls, his hands gripping the railings as to hold himself up from sliding down all the way to the floor.
It was, undoubtedly, the best kiss Karl has ever had in his life. And Karl felt the most amazing he's ever felt but also, simultaneously, ridiculous.
It was a stage kiss, right? Dream is one of the most famous actors in the whole world, and this is quite literally his job. They were running lines, acting.
Karl had no idea how they did this. That Dream could spend hours in the day pretending to be in love with George, kissing and holding his hand, all the while Sapnap was just watching. And once the call time was over, George would saunter off to Sapnap, and that was that.
It was impressive, that they were able to be professional, while Karl entirely wasn't.
It was a little voice in his head accompanying the thumping heartbeat that told him he caught feelings and was swooning over a stage kiss from someone who was unbelievably out of his league.
So Karl went to bed that night with the only goal that is trying to forget about the kiss.
Honestly, he thought he did a pretty good job.
When the next morning came, he did nearly forget about it entirely, going about starting his day without a care in the world. He got onto set a little late, seeing a lot of people already bustling around. He made a stop at the refreshments table, making himself coffee with cream and sugar. He stole a chocolate croissant which he held by biting it down as he stirred in his sugar.
"Dude what happened?" Quackity asked the second he got close to Karl. Karl was startled so back that he bit down on his croissant.
"What?" Karl mumbled, pulling the croissant out of his mouth as he tried to chew and swallow what was already in his mouth.
"They had a meeting, a couple of guys earlier, I didn't even hear about it," Quackity said. "There are changes to the script, some pretty big ones."
"And they didn't tell us?" Karl exhaled out of pure exhaustion.
"No," Quackity frowned. "Dude, I don't know either. But we gotta go, they're shooting the rain scene right now."
"Right now?" Karl said. "It's the morning?"
"I don't know," Quackity was getting increasingly irritable, clearly unhappy with being out of the loop and confused about all that is happening.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming, I'm coming," Karl said, walking after Quackity while trying to finish the rest of his breakfast.
When they passed through the fenced-off area, Karl knew that filming had already started based on the fact that it was raining just a few feet away from him. Karl walked slower and more carefully as to not disturb the ongoing filming, seeing both of the lead actors standing in the rain.
He couldn't hear much too clearly as most of that noise was usually picked up by the boom mic and not because Dream or George are screaming, but it was starting to look pretty good. Karl split his attention for a little bit, watching as Quackity went and stood by Wilbur, both of them watching the filming feed, though while Wilbur was completely focused, Quackity had the time to talk to Sapnap.
It looked like regular filming, nothing much has changed. Karl saw it happen, how Dream pulled George into a passionate and loving kiss just as he did the night before to Karl himself. His stomach turned a little bit, but he all too quickly threw it off as a sign that he needed more breakfast. Suddenly, he'd forgotten that Quackity had told him about script changes.
"Cut!" Wilbur yelled, followed immediately by a loud ringing, signaling the people on the set that they could start moving like regular people again without fear of interrupting filming. "That was- That was-"
Wilbur nodded slowly. Dream wrapped himself in a towel and scruffled up his hair before walking over to the Director's chair.
"Finish the goddamn sentence Wilbur," George demanded.
"That was good," Wilbur said. "Could do with some tweaks, some improvements, but already so much better than yesterday."
"Told you," Dream said, his eyes meeting Karl's.
Dream was quick to wave him over, which was confusing, to say the least, but Karl was in no position to argue, so he simply walked over.
"Give him your headphones, Wil," Dream said.
"I'm not giving him my headphones," Wilbur retorted.
"Let him watch the scene, oh my god," Dream rolled his eyes and stared flatly at Wilbur, who ultimately sighed and passed Karl a pair of black headphones.
Karl was starting to feel nervous and uneasy, and confusion didn't begin to describe it. The fact that Quackity now looked like he understood and was simply grinning at him wasn't making him feel any better. So he put on the headphones and watched the screen that Dream pointed at.
It looked like the same scene. The exact same scene that's been filmed over a dozen times yesterday alone. Dream ran from across the street to talk to George, cars were passing. There was a camera change. They leaned in, foreheads pressed against each other, and then there it was.
"To everything that we've ever done together, Matthew-" Dream's voice was almost too quiet to hear had it not been picked up by the microphones.
"And to everything that could've been," George replied, his words mimicked Karl's last night almost perfectly.
After that, Karl took off the headphone immediately, missing the whole kissing scene for the sake of looking very confusingly at the people surrounding him. Dream was looking particularly proud of himself.
"What-" Karl stuttered. "What- Why-"
"Sounds better," Wilbur told him. "Dream's right- I mean, you're right, but Dream called me at 3 AM last night and dropped that version of the script in my hotel room so- You're both right."
Karl's eyes darted towards Quackity and Sapnap, both of whom were nodding enthusiastically.
"Give us a brand new script, or an old one, I guess," Wilbur said. "You have till the end of the day to enact all the changes you want, final version, and we'll start reshooting scenes tomorrow."
"Oh," Karl's eyes lit up. "Okay. Okay," He started nodding vigorously. "I can do that."
"You better," Wilbur sang. "Consider this a promotion."
When Wilbur left to talk to the cameras and set stagers, Sapnap, George, and Quackity left with him. Karl suspected it was less to do with them needed to do more work and more so that they could leave Karl alone with Dream.
"What did you do?" Karl asked Dream.
"Your words were good," Dream said simply. "I just told the right people about it."
"So you-" Karl looked around, a bit overwhelmed and the whole situation. "You gave them my script?"
"It wasn't my fault that you ran out of my room after I kissed you," Dream shrugged. "You left it."
Karl's cheeks grew two shades redder while Dream gave him nothing but a cheeky grin. Karl bowed his head, trying to hide the increasingly obvious blush having been just caught, but Dream wasn't having any of it. Dream brought his hand up to Karl's chin and title his head upwards so that their eyes would meet.
"You have a lot of work ahead of you today," Dream said.
"I do, yeah," Karl agreed, a little breathless and still a little hot at Dream being so close to him.
"When you're done though, later tonight, I'd like to take you out to dinner," Dream told him. "I'd rather not our first date be the shitty hotel pizza we shared last night."
"First-" Karl's voice was at loss to him.
"Date," Dream finished Karl's sentence for him. "I'd like to take you out on a date."
"Really?" Karl asked.
"Really," Dream chuckled. "What do you say?"
Karl didn't know what possessed him to do it, but Karl leaned up and pressed a quick kiss on Dream's lips, no more than a few seconds. A little smile curved across Dream's face as Karl pulled away.
"Sounds good," Karl nodded enthusiastically. "I'm- I'm from New York, so I can show you all the little food spots. And oh, I can pretty much get you into anywhere, though someone like you probably gets into most places anyway-" Karl started to ramble. "Do you want to eat pizza again? Or like, maybe food trucks? Tacos-"
Dream shook his head, noting how adorable Karl was before pulling him into a kiss. Much deeper than a peck this time. It was a stomach-fluttering, feet-popping kiss. Karl's entire body weight nearly fell onto Dream just by how much he was swooning.
"Get to work, writer," Dream muttered against Karl's lips. "I'll see you tonight."