Chapter Text
“George, if you do not get your ass out of bed right now I am not taking you to the library on my way to work!” Of course the first thing I hear in the morning is my lovely best friend screaming his head off for no reason. Great, just what I needed to start the morning. He hits his hand on my door for good measure, the sound of it echoing around my small room. I look around and look at my alarm clock that for some reason never seems to go off on time.
“Fine!” I yell back. He slams his hand on my door again, making me flinch slightly, and walks away. I sit up and twist my neck till it cracks, feeling the slight moment of pain before the moment of relief. I brush my hand through my hair, glancing at the little one on my wrist as I do. It was small but there.
“George! Come on!” My friend shouts again and I groan. What the fuck was up his ass this morning? Probably Karl.
“It’s been two seconds you idiot! Give me a moment!” I shout back at him. It truly had been only a moment and I didn’t even have time to grab clothes, so what the fuck did he expect?
Looking down I decided that my pj shirt was nice enough to go out in public in, no stains or rips. I got out of my bed and pulled on the first pair of jeans I saw on my floor, they didn’t seem to be dirty either so they should be fine.
“George, I will be out in the car!” Quackity yells at me for the third time in the last minute. I hear the front door open and close. I groan slightly and I look around my room. I grab my phone off the charger and I grab my book off the desk.
“Guess I don’t even have time for breakfast.” I mutter to myself, I look around for anything else I would need for the day. Phone, book, what was missing? Sunglasses? No, it was cloudy outside. Keys? I don’t have keys, I can’t drive.
“George, please don’t make Quackity late!” My other friend, his boyfriend Karl, yells and I nod even though he isn’t in the room. Why was he so worried? It was an hour before Quackity even needed to be at work. God damn both of them being time management freaks. I wish time travel was a thing already.
“Where’s my lanyard?” I call back to him, not seeing it on my desk where I usually put it. My desk was covered in random shit so that probably wasn’t helping. I should probably clean it when I get back home.
“It’s out here. Grab your shoes and come get it!” He shouts back and I do just that. Pulling on my shoes as I walk I grab my lanyard off the kitchen counter. I looked at Karl, he was shorter than me and had way fluffier brown hair. I stared for a moment as he stared at the coffee maker. I know he likes coffee but he didn’t like it that much.
He always did things more slowly, with less purpose I guess. Since his friend, Chris, died it was like he didn’t ever want to do anything. I guess that’s what happens when your lifes-long friend loses their last life. Maybe he shouldn’t have befriended Chris so closely when he was on his third life when Karl was on his first. Him and Quackity were at least on their seventh life together. They’d see things through together.
“I’ll be back after the library.” I smile at Karl and he nods, not saying anything else to me. I feel so bad that I can’t do more for him, but what could I even say? ‘Hey I know you’re still sad about your friend dying but can I do anything for you?’ God no.
I do a 180 and walk to the front door. I went outside and to my Quackity’s car where he was figuring out what music he wanted to put on. He liked music a lot, he told me that he once wanted to do something in the music field, but he worked at a law office now.
“Took you long enough.” He complains as I open up the door and hop inside. I rolled my eyes but closed the door and reached for my seat buckle, pulling it across me and clicking it into place. He looked over to make sure I was buckled before even turning on the car all the way.
“Whatever Quackity. You’re always early to work anyway.” I remind him and he shrugs as we begin to pull out of the driveway. We sat not talking for a moment as his music began to play, of course it was something from his past life. He was obsessed with music from different times.
“Another book on lives?” He questions glancing at the book in my lap. I glance down at the book The History Of Your History
“I mean yeah.” I nod not knowing what to say next, god I was shit at words. The book was a good read but Quackity didn’t care too much for reading, saying he had enough of that back in law school.
“Don’t you understand it enough already?” He questions and I shake my head. There was so much I still needed to know. I want to know everything the world has to offer. School only teaches you so much, and I need to figure things out if this is the world I am going to be living in for nine more times after this.
“You’re on your seventh life, Quackity. I’m on my first, you know more than I do.” I remind him and he nods. We were like this all the time I guess, I reminded him of things and he would respond with a nod or a shrug.
“Well then it’s pop quiz time. What do you know about lives and how people function?” He questions me and I smile slightly. He could just be acting nice because he rudely woke me up this morning, but it was still somewhat thoughtful. He knew that explaining what I have learned always makes me happy. I didn’t have many people to talk to about this.
“Well you are born as a fresh soul so to say. When you are, you have a one on your wrist, and you get to live your life. You go to school, you learn things and you go to school until you’re eighteen. You then can live the life you want to live. When you die you are reborn as someone new but with all the past memories. You don’t have to go to school again as long as you can ace the tests saying you know stuff.” I explain and he nods, following along but I know he already knows this information.
“What happens after your tenth life?” He questions, knowing we both already knew the answer. We’d seen it first handed just a few months before. It was why Karl hasn’t been completely himself, why he’s been so off.
“You die, boom gone. No coming back, no fresh soul or new lives.” I joke and he laughs a bit. Death was sensitive around Karl, but between us we tried to keep the jokes going so we didn’t cry about it. Quackity knew Chris for a few lives, I only knew him for a few years, I befriended people who one day would leave me forever. I tried not to think about that as I read books all about what happens when you die.
“Good job. What book are you picking up today?” He asks as we slowly start to pull into the library parking lot. He slowly pulled the car to the stop. I reached to unbuckle my seat belt and see that he was staring at me, the long scar across his face ever so present.
“I want to find one that is based on the theory of the afterlife, even if it isn’t real I still want to take a look at the thought of it.” I explain and he nods, turning to look out the front windshield. “I love you, thanks for the ride.”
“Don’t say I love you, that’s gay.” Quackity jokes as I open up the door. I stare back at him for a moment. He was holding back laughter and I could see it in his face as he turned to look at me again. He knew that I said I love you to those I was close with, but he still made jokes about it every time.
“Quackity you are dating a boy.” I point out and he shrugs. He really was trying to hold back his laughter now.
“Get the fuck out of my car douche.” Quackity says pushing my shoulder slightly. I pout at him and he rolls his eyes. “Fine I love you too.” I laughed slightly and hopped out, trying not to step in the puddles from the previous night’s rain fall. I slam the door closed and he speeds out of the parking lot, on his way to be early to his job.
I turn and begin to walk towards the building, looking it up and down like I have done a million times before. It was a nice library, tall and had thousands of books. Reaching the front doors I pulled them open and walked inside.
The cool air conditioning felt nice compared to the Florida heat outside. If I hadn’t met Quackity in his semester abroad I probably wouldn’t be living here with him and Karl. He came to Britain almost three years ago to study at university, even though he didn’t need to go to school again. He said he wanted to study for this new job, and that’s when we met.
I was only seventeen at the time but we became really good friends despite the two year age gap. So when I reached the age of eighteen I left, I moved to Florida with him and his boyfriend Karl. Since then they have been my only friends, well do librarians count?
“Oh good morning George, checking the book back in?” I snap out of my thoughts by the voice at the front desk. Looking up I saw Wilbur, a very nice librarian, who I could probably say is my friend. I nod and walk over to him, handing him the book to scan. I pull my library card out of my lanyard so he can scan that too.
“Yeah I am.” I smile at him as he scans both items, takes the book and puts it on a cart behind him. He was tall, and therefore his limbs were long enough that he didn’t even need to move from where he was to put it on the cart a good two feet behind him, just leaning a bit. I wonder what it’s like being so tall.
“What did you think of it?” He questions, handing me back the card so I can slide it back into my lanyard. Wilbur was nice, he could be overly sassy sometimes but he was a good person to have conversations with. He liked books as much as I do.
“It was good. I’m looking for another book on the theory of afterlife, know where I could find it?” I question. He nods and he turns to his computer, typing in a few things, the old keyboard making a very loud clacking noise. He always had recommendations for books for me or would help me find one about the general topic I wanted to read about.
“You know you are the second person to question me on that today. Except this other guy isn’t on his first life like you are, he is on his sixth life. He wants to know as much as you do though.” Wilbur says, and I nod. I knew a lot but not all too much about lives.
“Do you know if he’s still here? I like having conversations with people about their thoughts and if he’s wanting to read the same types of books maybe we could discuss theories.” I smile and Wilbur chuckles slightly at my enthusiasm. It was always fun to find people who like reading the same types of things I do. Don’t get me wrong, Quackity was nice to talk books with but he didn’t read them like I had.
“I believe he is. The book is on the third floor, shelf ten, aisle eight.” Wilbur smiles at me and I nod, turning to go towards the very old elevator. I take it to the third floor and go over to where Wilbur directed me. I saw no one in the aisle so I began to scan the shelves for the book.
There were so many books that filled the shelves, it made me happy seeing all the books, stacked neatly in order. That was one of the reasons why I loved the library so much, it was organized and everything had a place. It was the complete opposite of our house.
Quackity was like a hurricane everywhere he went. He would pick up things just to place them down somewhere else, making it impossible to organize. Karl was pretty good at trying to keep things clean, but even he couldn’t keep up with Quackity.
My room was a mess purely because I get too wrapped up in my books. If it wasn’t for Karl coming to collect dishes out of my room every once in a while then I would probably have half of our cutlery and mugs in my room.
I scanned the shelves trying to find the book but realized Wilbur didn’t tell me the title of it, just where to find it. I sigh and try to think of what it could be named. I look at shelf ten and see a few books with the word ‘afterlife’ in the title.
The Idea of Something More Even if it wasn’t the exact book it seemed like that could be interesting enough. I reach my hand forward to grab it but another hand collides with mine. I jumped off to the side, not realizing that another person had joined me in the aisle. Was I really that sucked into reading the titles of all these books? Or was this person just a ninja?
The stranger looked at me, looking me up and down before squinting his eyes slightly. I looked him up and down just like he was doing to me. Don’t stare at people unless you want to be stared at back.
He was tall, taller than me at least and I’m a good 5’9. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. His face was also littered with freckles that dusted his nose bridge the most. He was wearing a green jacket, not bright green but more of a forest green, he had a pair of sunglasses hanging off of his shirt collar, even though it was cloudy out today. He stood like he knew what he was doing, like he had a great amount of purpose about him.
I know I hadn’t seen him before, I would have remembered that face and the way the freckles danced around his face. But something about him seemed so familiar and comforting at the same time.
“Oh sorry, you could have it.” Was the first thing he said to me, and it took me a moment to realize what he was saying. Well, it took me seeing him pointing to the book on the shelf to realize what he was saying.
“Oh no you can have it. I can find another book.” I quickly tell him but he shakes his head. I bite my lip, feeling a bit of blood pour out before I run my tongue over it to try to stop it from bleeding further. The last thing I need to do in front of a stranger is bite my lip enough to the point where I start bleeding. That would be very weird and he might think I’m a vampire. I’m not.
“No it’s alright, I just hadn’t gotten a chance to read this book, it came out during my last life and I never got around to reading it.” He tells me. I looked at him, was this the man Wilbur had mentioned downstairs? Wilbur had said the man was on his sixth life but nothing more than that, so this could be the guy. Looking down I see the jacket covering the place where he life number would be.
“Are you sure?” I ask, not taking my eyes off of his wrist. His eyes glanced down at where my eyes were staring and if he understood what I was trying to ask, without actually asking, he just ignored it. His eyes travel back to the shelf, looking over the books that sat there.
“Yeah I’m sure. I’ve got enough time and enough life to read it at another point.” He shrugs and I nod, grabbing the book off the shelf and holding it close to me. It was actually heavier than it looked, how long was this thing? It felt like it was a brick not a book.
“So you’re on your later lives then?” I ask and he nods, humming slightly. It didn’t sound like a tune or a message, just a general hum of agreement. It actually seemed nicer instead of answering with a snappy yes or no like he could have done.
“I’m guessing you aren’t.” He tells me and I shrug but then I shake my head and nod. What the fuck was I doing? I know the answer to this. What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Yeah this is my first life.” I admit and he laughs slightly. His laugh was soft but grew a bit louder and a bit more high pitched. It still held a gentle undertone to it, like he was trying to tell a story just through his laugh alone.
“Oh so you’re a freshie then?” He taunts slightly, and I feel my face grow red at the term. It was used as a taunt to those who are on their first lives, making fun of how little they know and how they have so much to learn. I hate it because I feel like I know quite a lot, well maybe I wanted to learn a lot so I wouldn’t be called that.
“Well how many lives are you on?” I ask and he scoffs. He rolled his eyes and I felt confused on why he seemed offended. That was an honest question, it’s not like I was asking his credit card information, plus if he gets to know my life count then I should get to know his.
“That is actually quite a rude question, Mr.?” He says and it took me a moment to realize what he was asking. Fuck why was I so out of mind right now. My usual train of thought had jumped off the tracks and was in another fucking country right now. God fucking damn it.
“Davidson, George Davidson. You can just call me George though! Most people do, my dad is Mr. Davidson, well was Mr. Davidson. But yeah people just call me George, no mr.” I rambled, god damn I was so flustered right now. Why I was flustered I have no idea, there was nothing in this moment that could make me this flustered.
“Well George. I’m assuming since this is your first life that you truly haven’t been taught about things you can just ask or say?” He questions, squinting his eyes like he had done moments ago. It was an odd squint, like he couldn’t quite see me all that well. That or like he was trying to see into my brain, did he have x-ray vision? That would be super cool.
“Not really. They don’t really teach you that in school. They kind of touch on it but not really.” I admit and he nods, like he was thinking but he still didn’t take his eyes off of me. It’s like he was still trying to see through my head.
“What do they teach in school these days? I haven’t been in a few lives. Do they still teach about the world?” He questions and in my head I think this has to be the man Wilbur was talking about. With saying he was in his later lives, saying he hasn’t been to school in a few lives. So this guy is on his sixth life then.
“No. They must talk about the system of lives. I haven’t been able to be taught about the world, but I have read about it a lot. I’ve read a bit too much according to my friends, but it’s not my fault. I want to learn about it so much! I want to see places, try different foods and do stupid stuff like climb up the effile tower, or take cooking classes in italy or even go to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.” I list off what I really wanted to do. The things that have been on my to do list for years now. I realized I was rambling and I closed my mouth so as to not embarrass myself more in front of this stranger.
“So why don’t you?” He questions, shrugging his shoulders. I kinda want to laugh at the question. It was harmless but there were almost a million different answers to it. I decided to just go with the one that seemed easiest to explain.
“I don’t want to go alone, and I don’t know much about the world. I’ve actually never left this town while here. I am from Britain but moved here a few years ago, but I haven’t left this town since then.” I admit. I had thought about it before, thought about just leaving everything behind and just being able to go out and see the world. My mom said that’s how she met my dad all those years ago.
“Oh, that’s odd. I’ve seen the world a few times. Like I said I’m on my later set of lives. Don’t ask which one because it is rude to ask people that.” He tells me, like he was trying to drill into my head that I was being a douche or something. I nod, not knowing how to say what I want to say. I never thought it was weird to ask people that, most had been open with me before when I asked this question.
I look him up and down for a moment. He seemed strong, I wondered how much he would be able to lift. He also seemed to have a set amount of confidence about him. How does someone just be confident? He also seems trustworthy, maybe that’s why he felt safe to be around. Could I trust him? Well could you truly trust anyone?
“I know I just met you and this may sound weird but will you show me the world?” I blurt out. He stares at me for a moment like he was processing what I even said. Which is fair, it was a loaded question coming from a stranger who he barely met a few moments ago. That and I took plenty of time to try and figure out what he had asked me before so it was only fair that I gave him time.
“What? We just met each other, you don’t know me! I could have been Ted Bundy or something in a past life.” He tells me and I roll my eyes. That was something that almost all the books had told me to be careful of, people could be dangerous in their past lives. What if they’re dangerous in this life book? Ever think of that?
“Were you?” I ask him and he looks down at the ground, a slight blush creeping up on his ears. It was kind of cute, he was looking like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“No.” He mumbles. I smile at him. The tops of his ears were now bright red, and even though he was slightly taller than me I could still see the bright color, similar to a tomato at the top. Cute.
“Well then I don’t see the problem! I trust you, you seem nice and like you said you’re later in your lives so you must know so much and have seen so much! Please!” I beg and he stops for a moment, like he was thinking. Was he thinking or was he still just embarrassed?
“Are you willing to do things with a stranger who you don’t even know?” He asked me. And I shrug. There was not much to lose here. Quackity, Karl and I have a plan to meet in our future lives if we somehow die. We planned out a certain day, September 1st, at the train station whenever we’re 18. He shifts from one foot to another and it snaps me out of my thoughts.
“Worst case is you kill me and I’m reborn with a revenge plan.” I tell him and he laughs, the same soft laugh that got louder as he continued. I think it’s pretty.
“George, you don’t even know my name.” He points out, and I realize I didn’t. It was my turn to blush slightly. I had asked him to show me the world without even asking his name. Oh shit Quackity and Karl are gonna kill me if he doesn’t kill me first.
“Well what’s your name?” I ask him, tilting my head to the side making him laugh slightly again. I really like his laugh. It felt safe, like he would protect me even though we just met. Jesus I feel way too safe around this guy.
“It’s Clay, but most call me Dream.” He tells me, sticking out his hand for me to shake. I reach out and shake it. His hands were soft but rough. Like he tried to take care of them but forgot to. His hands were bigger than mine and probably could crush my fingers if he wanted. To be fair his whole existence seemed like he could crush me if he wanted to.
“Dream?” I question and he shrugged. “Where did that come from?” I continue to ask. That wasn’t too rude was it? No I don’t think it was. It was an honest question, how do you get from Clay to Dream. It’s like how people get Peggy from Margaret. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But seriously how do you get Peggy from Margaret?
“Sapnap, he gave me that nickname after I gave him the nickname Sapnap. It kinda just stuck so people just call me Dream.” He explains and lets go of my hand. Who was Sapnap? Was I supposed to know who that was? And what does Sapnap mean? Like tree sap taking a nap? “Want to go get coffee?” He asked me.
“Right now?” I ask him and he nods. “I don’t have a car.” I say and he raises his eyebrows at me. “What?” I question the look he’s giving me. He tilts his head to look at me and again squints his eyes like he was trying to see right through me.
“You are 20 years old and you don’t have a car?” He questions and I’m taken aback at how he knew how old I was. I try to think if I told him how old I was. I don’t think I did, so how did he know?
“How the fuck do you know how old I am?” I question him, panic in my voice slightly. Was this guy secretly stalking me? How much did he know? Did I have a stalker and I just never knew it? Was that even possible? How much did he actually know about me without me knowing?
“You’re wearing a lanyard that has your id in it, showing your age.” Dream points out, pointing to my lanyard. I look down and realize that when I put my library pass back I put it behind my id. I wanted to smack myself in the face, of fucking course I did. I’m not important enough to have a stalker.
“Oh.” I say blushing again. He turns towards the elevators. His hands were in his pockets and he walked like he owned the place, still so much confidence. I felt stupid for a moment, like I should have guessed how he knew instead of assuming he was a stalker.
“Come on, I’ll drive. I know a really good place for coffee.” He tells me leading over to the elevator. I hold the book in my hands as I follow him downstairs to the front desk, Wilbur smiled at the both of us. When was Wilbur not smiling?
“Oh you found a good book!” Wilbur smiles as I walk up to him, handing him the book. I nod and pull out my library card again, handing it over to him. He scans both items again. “I’m assuming you’ll finish this in another two days.” Wilbur jokes.
“What can I say? I like books.” I joke back. Wilbur hands me back the book and card and looks towards Dream. Dream doesn’t quite give a smile to Wilbur but more of a straight face. He also nods a bit but Wilbur tilts his head to the side like he was confused.
“Are you checking anything out?” Wilbur asks but Dream shakes his head no. “Alright, you two have a good day then. Bye George!” Wilbur smiles and turns around, starting to push the cart of check in books somewhere out of view. Dream leads me out to the parking lot and to an old Dodge Derango. It was a nice shade of blue, but it did look like an older model.
I learnt everything I know about cars from Chris before he passed. He was a mechanic, and loved cars through all his lives apparently. A good thing about being able to remember everything from all of your lives is that you can remember all the useless information about everything.
“There might be some stuff on the front seat, let me move it for you.” Dream says quickly as he unlocked the car. He hopped in the front seat and quickly began to move things out of the front and to the back. I saw through the window as he moved papers and some trash out of the front. I opened up the door and hopped in once it was clean.
“Thank you for driving.” I say softly as he starts up the car. He nods as he buckles and turns to me, waiting for me to buckle in as well, something that reminded me of Quackity. Once I am fully buckled we drive out of the parking lot and off down the road.
“So George, what’s your favorite kind of music?” Dream asks me. I stop to think for a moment, I wasn’t entirely a music person but I did have a few favorites. Growing up in a house where music was basically my dad’s life, and then having him leave suddenly made it hard to enjoy music as much as I did.
“I like some classical music. Not over the top fan though. What about you?” I ask him and he hums for a moment, again with no tune or rhythm to it. Maybe at some point he’ll actually hum a tune, I feel like he’s the type of person whose voice would be great for humming or singing. It wasn’t too deep but it wasn’t high pitched either. It was a perfect center point. Why the fuck am I focused on his voice?
“I like some pop, some rock, just a bunch of stuff in general. I like almost everything. My sister loves music a bit too much so I listen to lots of it almost all the time.” He tells me. So he had a sister then. The most I know about this guy is his name, there’s someone named Sapnap, he has a sister and he’s on his sixth life.
“That’s cool. Does she play any instruments?” I ask and he nods his head but doesn’t elaborate beyond that. We sit in silence, not exactly uncomfortable silence but not quite comfortable silence. It’s just, we exist silence. We soon pull up to a coffee shop and he parks the car.
“This place is pretty good.” He smiles as he turns off the car. I nod and unbuckle my seat, leaving the book in my seat. We walk towards the door and he holds it open for me. It was a kind move and it made me happy.
“Thank you.” I smile and he nods, walking in behind me. Looking around the shop there was so much artwork on the walls, a little stage in the back with a microphone stand, and a lot of tables. There were about three other people sitting at the various amount of tables. Walking up the counter there were two workers there, a boy and a girl.
“Oh brother of mine.” The girl at the counter said, walking up to us a bit more. She was staring directly at Dream. He rolled his eyes before turning slightly to me and then back to her. She stared at him like she was waiting for some sort of explanation for why he decided to come inside of this shop right here, right now. That or maybe she was waiting for him to introduce me to her.
“George Davidson, this is Drista Watson, my sister.” Dream introduces us, so that was his last name. She turns to me and stares me down with the same look that Dream had, feeling like she either couldn’t see me well or she was trying to see into my brain. Is this a family of mind readers? If you can read my mind, say potato.
“Nice to meet you George Davidson, what can I get you?” She smiles at me and I look up at the menu. There were so many options and I bit my lip. How did I not tell him I’ve never had coffee before, he said he was taking me to a coffee shop. God damn it I’m stupid.
“Uh, what’s good?” I ask Dream, turning to look at him. He gives me a confused look in return. Drista also gave me a slightly odd look. I feel like as a barista you shouldn’t be able to judge someone for asking what’s good. Well, was she judging me? Was this judgement? Oh fuck I’m so over thinking this aren’t I?
“George, it’s coffee.” He tells me and I feel my face start to blush yet again. This was like the third time I’ve blushed just today. I usually don’t get embarrassed this much. What the fuck is making me this embarrassed and flustered? I would blame it on something I ate but I have yet to actually eat today.
“I’ve never had coffee before?” I admit, but it sounded more like a question than a statement. Dream stares at me and I turn to glance at the display case of desserts to avoid eye contact. There were tons of cakes and breads, they all looked good. Shit maybe I’m just super hungry.
“Drista get George a venti peppermint mocha with whipped cream and sprinkles. And a cookie.” Dream tells her and she makes a weird face at him that I can’t quite place what it means.
“Dream, not everyone loves peppermint like you do.” Drista starts but Dream waves his hand. She stopped talking like he had done some sort of magic trick. Was it magic or was it just something they had learned as siblings?
“George will love it, plus he’ll love the whipped cream and sprinkles more than anything else.” He starts, and I hit his shoulder. He turns to look at me with a slight smile on his face.
“What does that mean?” I ask in an accusatory tone that holds no malice behind it. I tried to hold a straight face. It was hard as he stared into my eyes, and even though his face wasn’t holding a smile, his eyes sure were. It was like they were sparkling slightly, even though that isn’t really possible.
“It means you seem like a whipped cream and sprinkles guy.” Dream retorts in the same tone. I laughed a bit and that seemed to have caused him to also crack a smile and start laughing himself. What the fuck does that mean?
“Alright, Dream, do you want the same thing?” Drista asks and Dream just nods, not losing his smile. “I thought you didn’t know anyone else other than Sapnap. How long have you known each other?” She asks as she taps her screen. Dream pulls a phone out of his back pocket and looks at it.
“An hour.” He says, putting the phone away and pulling out his wallet. He slides over a 10$ bill. “Keep the change.” He tells her and starts walking to the other end of the counter. I follow him.
“How much do I owe you?” I asked him, grabbing my wallet from my lanyard, I had certain amounts of cash that even after three years confused me slightly. Why is it all the same color? And why were they all worth different amounts if it’s the same size?
“Nothing.” Dream tells me and I roll my eyes, pulling out a five dollar bill, trying to hand it to him. He shook his hand slightly. He stared at the bill in my hand, like it was daring him to take it from me but his mind was saying no.
“Take it.” I tell him and he shakes his head. “Take it, I owe you it.” I tell him but again he shakes his head. It was slightly annoying, it wasn’t that hard to just take the money out of my hand. Why was he being stubborn? Were all strangers who you meet in libraries this stubborn?
“No. You owe me nothing. Consider it a welcome to the world gift.” Dream chuckles and I roll my eyes again. This better not be our whole friendship. I hate it when people spend so much money on me but won’t let me pay them back. Even now I’ll throw a red sock in a load of Quackity’s whites if he won’t let me pay for dinner.
“Here you guys go.” Drista says, sliding the drinks onto the counter with a cookie bag. Dream walks over and grabs both of the cups, handing me one of them and then pointing to a table behind us. I sit down and he sits across from me. He pulls out a cookie from the bag and slides the bag over to me. He bites into the cookie and looks at me as crumbs fall from the cookie.
“How have you never had coffee before? Did mom and dad not allow it?” Dream asks through bites of cookie. I break off a piece of mine and put it in my mouth before I answer, chewing and swallowing the yummy sugar cookie. The frosting was really good.
“I was raised in London, so coffee isn’t the biggest thing over there. And when I moved over here I just never got into it.” I admit, taking a sip of the coffee. It was sweet and I enjoyed the peppermint flavor that came as an aftertaste. It reminded me of Christmas, despite it only being August. Tasted like opening presents by the fire and drinking hot cocoa. Well I guess this basically is hot cocoa but with coffee and peppermint in it.
“What brought you to America?” He questions as he sips his own drink. I swallow what I had in my mouth before I reply. I wasn’t raised in a barn. I had at least some form of manners.
“I met a friend when he was studying there for a semester. He was my only true friend that I connected with a lot so a year later when I turned eighteen I moved to live with him and his boyfriend Karl.” I explain and he nods, humming slightly again. I was starting to enjoy listening to him when he hummed, it was gentle and nice.
“So why don’t they show you the world at all?” He asks and I nod while thinking, it was a fair question. There were a few reasons why they didn’t show me the world. Each was reasonable enough. I never thought it to be unfair, they were my friends and friends don’t make everything about themselves. Then it wouldn’t be a friendship.
“Well Karl doesn’t love to travel all too much, and Quackity has this job that it’s hard for him to leave for time off so he can’t really go anywhere.” I explain and he nods. It really did suck that I couldn’t travel the world with either of them but I understood. Quackity worked really hard and for a really long time for this job, a job he wanted since his fourth life. And I would never force Karl to go anywhere if it made him uncomfortable. I wouldn’t allow anyone to do anything they didn’t want to do. It wouldn’t be right.
“Two questions, one, what kind of name is Quackity, and two, what do you do for work if you had money to move here?” He asks, chuckling slightly. I laugh and out of the corner of my eye I see a woman stare at us. Dream looks at her as well and laughs a bit more, making her roll her eyes and stand up and leave, we just made a woman leave for laughing. That just made us laugh a bit more. It took several deep breaths to calm down before I was able to answer his question.
“The name Quackity, just like the names Sapnap and Dream, is just a nickname. He got drunk one night and kept quacking like a duck which Karl and I found hilarious so he got the nickname Quack, which eventually turned into Quackity. And I currently don’t have work. Let’s just say I got a lot of money from my family so I really don’t have to right now.” I tell him, looking away so as not to make eye contact. I didn’t want to explain that my dad lost his tenth life and left millions of dollars to my family, meaning my mom, my sister and I.
I didn’t understand the whole leaving everything you have thing. I know that if you die in your lives one through nine that you can keep a bank account, keep everything you ever earn and then on your tenth life you can give it to your family. But the term family was what confused me the most.
How was someone family if you only gave birth to them? What if they were on their 5th life when you gave birth to them? Did that still make them your kid even if they were older than you? What if they lived longer than you? What if you had a kid in previous life, would they still be family?
“Can I ask a question, as someone who has more lives than me?” I ask and he nods. “What does the whole family thing mean, like transferring through lives who’s considered family forever?” I ask and he puts his coffee cups down after taking a sip.
“So what is generally seen as a forever family is your soulmate. Your soulmate can be anyone you meet, but generally it’s someone who you fall in love with on your first life, or at least have matching lives with. So if someone falls in love with someone when they’re both on their third life that’s generally their soulmate. So beyond your soulmate forever family usually is kids who you give birth to that are a fresh soul. Because you’re the one who brought them into the world in the first place, so therefore you’re the reason why they’re there.” He explains and I nod along while munching on my cookies.
“Is it possible to have a soulmate who isn’t on the same life as you?” I ask, thinking of my father and my mother. I know it is possible, they’re proof of that, but is it really possible? I’ve heard stories before and know that it doesn’t end well, but is that because it isn’t meant to be?
“Yeah totally. A soulmate can have any amount of lives while you’re on any amount of lives. But it’s encouraged to find someone who has the same amount of lives as you so you can be with them through the rest of your lives together.” He explains and again I nod. My mom and dad were three lives apart, and I can’t imagine how hard it’s going to be for my mom for the rest of her lives without my dad.
I guess it’s similar to Karl losing Chris, but they weren’t soulmates. Well they could have been platonic soulmates. Platonic soulmates are still considered soulmates right? You could still be in love with someone like family and want to spend your lives with them, right? Dream suddenly pulls his phone out of his pocket, seeing that it was ringing.
“Hello? Yeah. Yeah I can. Okay, see you soon. Bye.” He says into the phone and then he hangs up.
“Can I ask who that was?” I question and he nods as he pockets the phone. I watch as he bites his lip before answering the question like I do sometimes. It’s odd to see someone else do it for a change, does my face really look like that when I do it? Or is it just because it’s his face that it looks like that?
“That was Sapnap. He needs me at home for some reason. Can I take you back to your place?” Dream asks and I nod, thankful for him offering a ride instead of just ditching me here. We both stand up and throw away the cookie bag trash. I still had a lot of my drink left, I wanted to finish it since it was really good.
“I appreciate it. The drink, the cookie and the ride.” I smile as we walk out into the parking lot. He unlocks the car and we both hop in and he buckles. I take a moment to put my drink down before I buckle. I picked up the book from where I had left it and ran my hands over the spine of it again. It seemed so beautiful, maybe I’m a bit too in love with books.
“It’s no big deal. Now which direction am I heading?” He questions. I try to think for a moment, I have such a shit sense of direction. Where were we? What does that street sign say? Does that say 5th street or 6th street? No if we went up from the library that means we’re on 5th.
“Uh south.” I say and he nods, pulling out his phone yet again and unlocks it. I look at his background and see it was another guy holding a cat. Was that Sapnap? Or was it another sibling of sorts? Or was it a partner? Glancing at his hand I don’t see a ring of any sort, so he wasn’t married at least. Maybe he was before?
“Here how about you type in your address and then you can also put in your number in my phone.” He tells me, handing the phone to me. I nod and type in my address into the maps app. Once it pops up and starts giving instructions I go to the contacts app. I input my phone number, my first and last name and hit save.
“There, you have my number now, and technically my address.” I add, laughing a little bit just hoping that he’ll also laugh. When he did I felt my face heat up, a little warmth spreading to my cheeks, why did I love this a bit too much? We drove in silence for a bit after that, and it felt comfortable. It didn’t feel odd like it did last time. No, this time it felt nice.
“Alright Mr. George Davidson, I believe this is your place.” Dream smiles as we pull up. Looking up at the house I saw Karl was on our porch swing, reading a book. When the car pulled up he looked directly at us. I knew what was coming but ignored it. I wanted to enjoy this moment for one second longer.
“Thank you so much for everything today, Dream, I appreciate it.” I smile and Dream nods. I unbuckle my seat belt and open up the door. “Text me so I have your number okay?” I ask and he nods again. “Bye!” I smile as I hop out and close the door. He waves at me through the window before he pulls off. I walk up the driveway and see Karl hadn’t gone back to reading his book.
“Who was that?” Karl asks me as soon as I am in ear shot. I bite my lip. I didn’t want Karl to freak out over a new person in my life, the last time it happened he said that he got a wrong feeling from the guy and that I shouldn’t be friends with him. In the end he was right in the fact that the guy was a total scumbag, so that’s part of the reason why I don’t have a lot of friends here. But when Karl heard he didn’t even say ‘I told you so’ just offered to watch a movie with me and made popcorn.
“No one.” I lie, trying to dodge Karl to get to the front door but I get blocked by his hand grabbing my arm. He forces me to turn and look at him and he’s glaring at me. Karl had this way about him that felt like he was glaring into my soul, like he knew all my secrets. It wasn’t like he could see through me like an x-ray, just like he already knew all the information before I even knew all the information.
“George. Who was that?” Karl repeats but this time it wasn’t a question, it was a demand. I felt my face blush out of shame. He pushes me onto the swing next to him so I don’t try to get through the door again. God damn it, why was I so weak? I need to work out more.
“His name is Dream.” I shrug, looking at the ground instead of Karl. I feel his hand on my shoulder, not in an angry way but more of a soothing way. Like a parent consulting a child after scolding them. It was actually quite nice, and it reminded me of how long it’s been since someone offered some sort of comfort.
“Okay. How’d you meet him?” He asked me. I know Karl was just trying to look out for me, he became like a second parent to me when I moved here to the states. He was like a replacement dad for the one I lost. I never asked him to, or even said that I missed my dad, Karl just kind of did it one day.
“At the library. Wilbur said he’s on his sixth life and we met by both reaching for the same book. He took me out for coffee and he said he would show me the world.” I explain, leaning back and accidently knocking Karl’s hand off as I do so. Karl nods and he hums slightly, it wasn’t like Dream’s hum. Karl’s hum was like he was disproving of what I said, even if he wasn’t.
“This isn’t a love at first sight thing is it? Falling in love with someone on their sixth life when you’re on your first isn’t very smart.” Karl states and I nod. I knew all the warnings, I knew all the stories of the unfornatue who did such a thing. Hell, I saw Karl lose his best friend and they were only three lives apart.
“No it’s not. I don’t have a crush on him or anything. He just took me for coffee and since he is in his later lives he said he would show me the world. And if he does something wrong, is an axe murder or something of the sort you guys can get revenge for me until I’m reborn and old enough to do it for myself.” I tell Karl and he laughs, it was nice to see him smile again. His smile was always so genuine.
“Alright, sounds like a plan.” Karl chuckles and I nod, looking down at the book he was reading. “Okay before you say anything, yes I am reading Harry Potter again, no I will not apologize for it. Now go clean up your room, it's a mess.” Karl tells me, pointing to the door. He probably had gone looking for mugs and plates in my room again and seen the mess.
“You sound so much like a parent. You know you aren’t actually my parent right?” I chuckle as I stand up and he nods. He knew I didn’t mean any true harm in the question, meaning it more in a teasing way.
“Someone needs to remind you to take care of yourself and pick up your room every once in a while. Now go.” He says, still pointing to the door. I roll my eyes and stand up. Even though he isn’t my dad I know I’m going to do exactly just that, mostly because it’ll make him happy.
Making it back up to my room I kicked off my shoes and glanced around the room, Karl definitely came for the mugs. There were still tons of clothes all around the floor, my desk was still a mess and my bed was unmade. At least almost all the trash that was not on my desk was in the trash can.
I start to pick up the clothes first. I throw them in the hamper in the corner of my room, I’ll do laundry later. I then settle over to my desk where I throw out all the trash and organize all the papers into the file cabinet right next to it. I finish by making my bed and taking out the trash, ignoring Karl’s smirk as he watches me taking the bag to the bin. He was being smug that I was actually listening. If only he could do the same with Quackity then the house would be spotless, but Quackity was a bit more push back-ish so it probably wouldn’t work.
Once I am back in my room, laying on my freshly made bed I take off my lanyard and put it on my desk right next to the book from the library. I could either start reading or I could find something to watch on my laptop.
The choices run around and around in my head. The book sounded interesting, but Quackity wouldn’t be able to take me to the library until Friday, and since it was Monday I didn’t want to burn through my book all at once and then not have anything to read till then. But at the same time there usually wasn’t much that would catch my interest online.
I roll my eyes at the fact that I can’t even make a simple choice. Why the fuck am I so indesicive. I decided to just pull out my phone instead, which I hadn’t since that morning when I pulled it off of the charger in the first place and I checked my notifications.
There were a few there. One from twitter about someone getting canceled, one from facebook letting me know that my mom liked someone else’s photo, one from spotify asking me if I wanted to get spotify premium, which I never would because fuck spotify. Of course I’m not going to get it if you spam me with ads for getting it. I’ll just use apple music. That or youtube always works well enough.
At the top was one new notification from an unknown number and I felt my heart start to race, I knew exactly who it was before I even clicked on it.
How does dinner this weekend sound? I’m thinking Marco’s -Dream