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airports have to be the single most anxiety-inducing places.
george’s fingernails were bit back so far that a couple of them had started bleeding and his lips were beginning to do the same as he continuously chewed on them, having to release his nervous energy somehow.
after he came to america from england, george had never even left the state. florida had been his home since he was in year seven, and now that he had graduated high school, that was all changing.
he was going to university in california, ucla specifically, and he had never been this uneasy in his entire life. it’s one thing to move countries with your parents, but traveling entirely alone to a completely new place was something entirely different, and there had been no way he could’ve prepared himself for the uneasy feelings that were nearly bubbling over the surface.
to add to the anxiety of moving and going to university, there also had apparently been a last-minute mix up with the dorms that he had only heard about in the earlier hours of the morning when the blue light of his phone screen nearly blinded him as he opened messages from the roommate he was supposed to have.
alex had been his name, and george thought they would probably get on just fine as roommates, but according to what he had read that morning, alex wouldn’t be making it this semester, so george would be rooming with a complete and utter stranger - which was not his jam.
he bounced his knee as he looked around the airport, eyes searching for something to focus on since his phone was charging and he couldn’t really come up with another option.
he saw the rows and rows of pale blue plastic chairs that lined each gate, his own being at the very end of a long hallway that he had speed-walked down as fast as humanly possible so as to not miss his flight. it hadn’t really mattered how fast he walked considering he arrived at his gate over two hours early, but better safe than sorry he supposed.
dark coffee-stained eyes scanned the rest of the bland scenery, catching on bright-colored suitcases and information desks every once in a while.
when he finally got tired of that, he returned his gaze to his lap, watching his thumbs fidget with themselves as he anxiously awaited the announcement to board his flight (which probably still wouldn’t come for way over an hour).
in a very short amount of time, he felt his eyelids growing heavy, shutting slowly closed as he fought sleep - and lost. his hands fell to his sides and away from his lap as he slumped against the uncomfortable seat, feeling slumber overtake his body and make his skin grow numb.
sleep had always been an incredibly uncomfortable feeling in george’s opinion, but the body wants what it wants, so he soon found himself in dreamland, where anxiety unfortunately ran just as rampant as it did in the real world.
-
dream’s mom had ushered him out of the door so fast that he barely got to say goodbye to his cat over his mom’s panicked voice telling him how he was going to miss his flight if he didn’t hurry up. he had woken up far too late for an 8:00 am flight, body fighting the early morning light as his mom shook him awake in hysteria.
“i thought you were already up! you’re not even finished packing yet, goodness clay!” she had said at around 6:00 am that morning, forcing him out of bed so he could grouchily finish putting his toiletries in his suitcase and say a final goodbye - at least for the next six months or so - to the rest of his family.
now he was finally in the airport, walking down the large hallway to the very last gate so he could get on his flight to the other side of the country.
he had been to california before, but he knew living there by himself would be entirely different than just visiting his aunt for a summer. he was definitely nervous, nails bit short - which he had of course been scolded for - from the car ride here and anxious energy buzzing around in his brain, but he was also excited.
college was a new experience that he had always looked forward to, dreams of huge parties and sports events filling the time he wouldn’t be studying always having occupied a part of his brain since he had understood what college was. so now that it was finally happening, he knew he had to be at least a bit eager to see what it was really like.
another development he had only found out on the car ride here was that, instead of being alone in his dorm room like what was originally planned, some random guy would be moving in with him. apparently, the guy’s roommate had bailed and they decided to give their room to an upperclassman, so he’d just have to share his own room.
he didn’t mind that, though. on the contrary, he was pretty excited. though he had always loved the thought of college, making friends was something he wasn’t ever too ecstatic about, and having a roommate would just make it that much easier. or so he hoped.
so though the change was last minute, he was thrilled as he awaited the reveal of whoever this mystery man could be. hopefully, they could be great friends.
before he could finish his racing thoughts, he reached the entrance to his gate and found there weren’t many seats left. he scanned the few rows in front of the entrance and saw only three empty seats, so he weighed his options as he studied each one.
the one furthest from the gate was next to a large family who already had a kid crying, and the seat was barely even actually open considering kids were climbing over it every couple of seconds. he felt bad for the kids’ mother, but ultimately decided he would try for another seat.
the seat closest to where he stood was next to an old, santa-looking man who was sleeping deeply, snores sounding like an elephant as he slumped sideways, nearly falling onto the empty seat. on the other side of the seat was a man, maybe in his mid-forties, who was watching ben shapiro’s youtube videos on full volume and wore a maga hat sideways on his head. yeah, no thanks.
finally, his last option. it was a seat close to the actual boarding area and information booth and was on the very end of the row, giving him the most amount of space. the guy sitting in the seat next to his last choice was sleeping, but he was at least keeping to his own space. dream decided that that was his best bet, so he pulled his suitcase through the aisles to sit there and wait for his flight to board.
as he got closer to the sleeping boy, he noticed he seemed to be around dream’s same age. maybe a bit younger, if he were to guess by his stature and soft-looking face. though the better half of his head was covered in a blue baseball cap, dream could see tufts of dark brown - almost black - hair poking out from under it. his eyes were shut tight with heavy eye-bags underneath and he had a slight frown on his face, brows drawing together and corners of his mouth turned down, but somehow he was still, cómo se dice… pretty?
he seemed to be sleeping peacefully, so dream tried his best not to disturb him, putting his backpack down on the seat quietly and placing his suitcase to the left of himself as he sat down in front of his bag.
he wasn’t trying to be creepy, truly, but he couldn’t help but stare at the person in the seat beside him. his appearance was mesmerizing.
from closer up, dream could see the faded freckles that dusted his cheeks and nose, as well as some slight scruff on his chin which lead dream to believe he might be a bit older than he first gave him credit for.
before dream could study him any further, the boy gave a slight shuffle - a break in the deepness of his sleep. he took a deep breath and turned away from dream, face resting on the back of his chair, which was probably incredibly uncomfortable. dream looked away quickly, in case the boy was to wake up.
without the distraction of his seat-neighbor, dream heard the growl of his own stomach. he looked to the clock on his phone, finding he still had at least an hour before it would come time to board. he had seen a couple of food places on the walk in, so now it was just a matter of which one was the closest to where he was now so he wouldn’t have to walk too far.
he stood up, pulling his backpack with him to avoid his valuables being stolen and leaving his suitcase in front of the seat, praying people would have the decency to leave it alone until he got back.
he walked and walked, finding the closest restaurant to be a subway, which he didn’t mind too much. he ordered and sat at one of the small tables, slowly eating away at his sandwich and staring blankly at the wall (head filled with images of a certain boy) until the time should come for him to go back to his gate.
-
george woke up with a start. he had been having a dream about somehow missing his flight that didn’t make much sense. then again, his dreams never made much sense.
his heart was pounding and his hands were shaky, so he decided he needed some kind of distraction. as he went to grab his phone so he could check the time, he noticed the seats had filled in a lot more since he had fallen asleep, someone having left a suitcase in front of the seat next to him. huh, that’s brave.
the time read 7:13, which hopefully gave him enough time to go grab something to eat. he decided to go to the subway he recalled seeing on the way in, pulling both his bag and suitcase with him, because he wasn’t as much of an idiot as whoever had sat beside him. he cared more about his belongings than losing his seat.
he walked past what seemed to be a hundred other gates, some full like his had been, but some empty, not a single soul in sight. he finally arrived at the green-and-yellow-themed restaurant and ordered his sandwich, which consisted of a lot of cheese, a lot of bacon, and approximately two leaves of lettuce.
he paid for the meal and brought it to a chair at the back of the seating area, which only had one other person in it. the person seemed to not be paying very much attention, just taking subconscious bites and staring forward, likely not even noticing he was there.
after george took the first bite of his sandwich, he looked back up to the boy who sat a few seats away from him so he could find something to focus on besides the building memories of his dream that loomed more and more possible as the clock ticked and ticked closer to 8:00.
what he found was a pair of golden-yellow eyes already staring at him, face contorted into a look of shock and something george couldn’t really read. even after george caught the boy’s eyes, he continued staring, george not seeing him blink even once.
the eye contact was starting to become awkward, so he looked back down to his sandwich, taking a couple of bites before looking back up and finding the saffron gaze looking down at his lap instead of george.
he breathed a sigh of relief, somehow not because the stare had been creepy, but because it had made him nervous. it was a different kind of nervousness than the feelings of anxiety he had had all morning, but it made him want to curl up and hide nonetheless.
now that the boy wasn’t looking at him though, george found time to study him.
from where he sat, george felt like he could see all the details of this kid’s face, which was weird considering he wasn’t very close. he determined it was because the guy’s features were so defined.
he looked to be about george’s age, maybe older, with sandy-blond hair on his head that paired well with the color of his eyes. his freckles were a deep, dark color that complimented his lightly tanned skin. his chin had some light stubble, the hair there much darker there than that on the top of his head, but it looked good on him.
he scooted his chair back a bit so he could see the boy’s outfit that was obscured by the table he sat at, but then george’s trance was interrupted when the boy looked up at him slowly, george not wanting to have another awkward staring contest and looking away as fast as he possibly could.
as he kept his eyes averted, he felt a familiar gaze boring into the side of his head, but he couldn’t make himself look again so he kept staring at his sandwich, which was extremely uninteresting and diminishing fast.
soon enough, he ran out of bites to take and he had to get up soon, or else he would probably look really weird, sitting there staring at the table with no food to eat.
so without another glance, he planted his palms on the table and pushed himself up and out of the restaurant, taking his trash out with him so he didn’t have to spend another second under the burning gaze of whoever that guy was.
thoughts of blond hair and eyes the color of sun rays quickly began to take over the formerly anxious ones that had filled his mind, and george honestly couldn’t tell if that was for better or for worse.
-
when the once sleeping - now definitely awake - boy walked into that subway, dream somehow didn’t even notice. in fact, it took him until the guy ordered a sandwich, got it, and sat down just a couple feet away from him for him to even avert his eyes from the blank wall he had them trained on.
but when he recognized a barely familiar baseball cap and saw a remembered swoop of dark chocolate hair, his eyes refused to look away. it was like he had lost control, his mind keeping his eyes there without his knowledge, with the same effort it used to keep him breathing and blinking.
it had taken everything in his power to make himself look away. it had felt like he was somehow going against his own human instinct.
when he finally did, he kept his eyes down and focused on his lap which was, in his opinion, extremely monotonous. he let his eyes unfocus and think about where this guy could possibly be going. he had to be around college age, and dream had to work extremely hard from keeping his mind from going where he didn’t want it to go.
alas, we all have those moments. y’know, the ones where we think up some random scenario and how we think it would go, no matter how outrageous they may be.
so eventually, his mind did go there.
he thought about how they both would be on the same flight, separated by where they sat but giving each other sideways glances every once in a while. then, when they landed, they’d think they’d never see each other again. that is, until they end up in all the same classes at ucla and they become best friends, then, more than friends. and they’d book their flights home together, eventually getting-
his made-up story was interrupted when he heard a chair scrape against the tile on the ground, causing his head to snap up to only be met with the boy sitting a bit further back than he was before, still nibbling on the same sandwich and keeping his eyes on the meal.
dream had finished his own sandwich already, specifically when, he couldn’t remember. as he watched pale pink lips take tiny bites from a meat and cheese-filled sandwich, he laughed internally about how long it was taking him to finish.
now, don’t get him wrong, he knew all about slow eaters. he had three siblings at home, all of which were always left at the table long after himself, but this was some next-level shit. he had to be sitting there for what, ten minutes maybe? before he finally got up and walked out, not sparing dream a second glance.
he wondered if the guy knew that it was him who had left his suitcase next to him while he slept. he wondered if he knew that they were to be on the same flight in around half an hour, headed to the same place.
the more he thought about it, the more outlandish it was to think that, out of all the places he could be headed, they were both headed to exactly the same place, but dream could honestly only hope.
-
when george showed back up at his seat, it hadn’t been taken just yet. and neither had the empty seat next to him, the owner of the suitcase having not gotten back yet from wherever they had gone.
he sat back where he had before and let his eyes fall to the suitcase and onto the plentiful amount of stickers that had been placed on it, most looking very new as if the owner of it had just stuck them on it prior to this trip.
and with his eyes focused on something, studying each shape and assumed color of the stickers, he thought back to the boy who practically radiated the energy of the sun.
his slightly tanned skin, his warm-yellow hair, his even warmer golden eyes… george could almost imagine him right now, sitting in the empty seat next to him.
he imagined they would realize they were on the same flight together, and then they would be seated next to each other on the plane, exchanging numbers and talking for the five hours it should take to fly across the country.
as he stared at the seat next to him, the blond practically materialized before his eyes, george making sure each freckle and fold of clothing was accurate. he imagined them becoming fast friends, texting constantly and meeting up when they weren’t in classes or working.
and a small part of him, a quiet whisper at the back of his mind told him he wished to be more than friends, but the thought was pulled right out from under him when the made-up version of the boy spoke a word to him.
“hey,” the voice said, wavering slightly with the short word. his voice almost sounded too realistic, not like one george could’ve made up in his mind, so the brunet just stared.
the boy blinked once, then twice, then three times, staring at george with a strange look on his face. somehow, the brit still didn’t process what was actually happening until a tanned leg bumped his own and burned warm through george’s sweatpants.
oh. he was real.
“oh- um, sorry, hi,” he answered as quickly as possible, which was funny considering he had just taken his sweet time practically eye-fucking the guy. in his defense, he hadn’t realized this was the actual person who had been sitting in the subway just minutes ago. he thought he was a figment of his own imagination.
“are you on this flight too?” he asked dumbly and cursed himself internally for the stupid question while gesturing to the opening of the gate.
he couldn’t really put into words why this guy was making him so flustered, but it was costing him the veil of sanity he put on that was already sheer to begin with.
the guy let out an uncharacteristic giggle that made george’s stomach feel funny, “yeah, you?”
george nodded, attempting to look away. he was afraid that if he stared much longer, the guy would get creeped out and run away to sit somewhere else. though, it was only fair that he got to stare considering the holes that had been burned in his skull from the subway.
“well, my name is dream,” the guy started again, commanding george’s attention back to him and seemingly enjoying it.
dream, dream, dream.
george rolled the strange name around on his tongue, finding that, strangely enough, the name really suited the guy.
“i’m george,” he answered, and watched the gears turn in dream’s head. the brief silence gave him a second to catch his breath, which apparently he had lost some time in the last couple of minutes.
it felt good to have air back in his lungs, but if he was being entirely honest, he liked the way they had felt empty a bit more.
“you’re british, right?” dream asked, which surprised george. his accent had been slowly fading over the years, having been surrounded by americans and only americans. his mother was british, of course, but his father was american, so his accent had been mixed to begin with.
“yeah,” he answered, “you can tell?”
this made dream laugh again, this time a bit louder and for longer. george was quickly finding his laugh to be addicting, and he wanted to make him do it more. it felt good.
“yes, i can hear your accent. lots of my friends are british, for some reason.”
now it was george’s turn to laugh, even though he knew dream hadn’t said anything particularly funny. he chuckled and had to cover his mouth to stop it from turning into an actual laugh, or else dream might think he was unhinged. which, arguably, he was, but dream didn’t have to know that just yet.
“i don’t have any british friends, actually. maybe i will now that i’m going to uni though. i’m assuming ucla is a bit more diverse than a random-ass public school in small-town florida.”
he watched the expression on dream’s face change from intently listening to looking like he was choking in a matter of seconds. his face was turning a barely noticeable shade of red and his eyebrows raised, showing george more of those heart-wrenching eyes - but that’s not what george was trying to focus on right now.
“you’re going to ucla? like, right now?” dream chocked out, face slowly calming itself despite the uncalm nature of how he had just spoken.
“yeah? wait-” no. it couldn’t be. there was no possible way that one of the most attractive people george had ever met just happened to be heading to the same university as him on the same exact flight. “are you?”
he received a nod in response, which was all he needed. “no fucking way,” he let out, probably cursing a bit too loud for such a public space, but he really couldn’t help himself. it was all honest and unfiltered shock.
they just stared at each other for a couple of seconds, which was drawn out to feel like an eternity. george swore he could get lost in citrine kaleidoscope eyes, watching the colors shift every time dream slightly moved his head. maybe, just maybe, he’d be seeing a lot more of them in the near future.
“so, you’re a freshman then?” dream asked, and george nodded, “me too. do you have a roommate?”
attempting to get over the initial shock, george engaged in the conversation, figuring maybe they could get to know each other and this wasn’t just a stupid airport crush where they’d never see each other again.
“well, i did, but something came up, family i guess, so now i’m moving in with someone else. no clue who though.”
at that, dream’s eyes grew impossibly wider, face returning to what it had looked like when they first found out they were going to school together, if not even more animated.
“you’re lying,” was all he said, and looked at george expectantly, like he had figured out some puzzle.
“what? no- i’m not. why would i be lying? i just got the memo this morning, i can show you if you want…?”
“no- no, i just- i also got very similar news this morning that someone had lost their roommate and needed to move in with someone because their room was being taken by upperclassmen…” he paused, and george was getting more astonished by the second, each new coincidence making him want to go back on his atheism and start to believe that maybe there was a god. “are we seriously gonna be roommates?”
they shared their stupefaction, both rambling on about how crazy of a coincidence this was and how they couldn’t believe this was happening. their conversation slowly calmed down and transformed into more of a getting to know each other discussion as time went on, talking about their families and old schools and friends, learning more about each other than would be appropriate for the average strangers meeting in an airport.
george figured this was different though, much different, and he relished in their conversation, enjoying learning about little tidbits and facts from dream’s past.
before their conversation could go too far back into their pasts or get too deep though, the announcement came for their flight to board. dream had the bright idea of exchanging numbers, which george accepted enthusiastically - though not without a few stutters and fumbles along the way.
in their conversation, seat numbers had been brought up, so they figured out they wouldn’t be sitting in the same row. george figured their luck had run out, but he guessed he could survive for five hours without this fast friend.
dream seemed to feel the same, reassuring george as they walked together to get their passports and boarding passes checked, exchanging quick goodbyes when they had to find their seats that felt almost too sad for the short distance and time that they’d be away from each other.
but george found himself already missing the other’s close presence when his head began to buzz once again with anxieties, worries about a loud and upset baby getting sat next to him or the plane getting smashed to smithereens if they just so happened to crash.
and he sat in that uncomfortable seat, nearly feeling deja vu from just a couple of hours ago as his legs bounced and his lips were bit raw once again, no amount of chapstick able to repair the bright pink skin he had torn off.
-
dream was still in disbelief.
as he sat down in the airplane, he mulled over the past hour or so of events in his head. with coincidence upon coincidence that had brought them together, he couldn’t help but feel as if fate was on his side.
when the plane started moving, he started to feel the need to talk to george again. obviously, he couldn’t at the moment, considering they were in a moving plane and he couldn’t necessarily just get up and walk over to where george sat, but he figured the least he could do was shoot him a text.
-
dream: r u ok?
george: not really, how’d u know?
dream: just a hunch
dream: but what’s wrong?
george: i really hate flying. the first and last time i did it was when i moved here, and after that i never wanted to do it again
dream: aww, that sucks
dream: is there anything i can do to help?
george: just talk to me ig, if that’s ok?
dream: yeah, ofc
dream: so, what do u think ur major is gonna b?
-
by the time they were taking off, george seemed to be a lot more relaxed. of course, there wouldn’t be any service while they were in the air, but they dragged out their goodbye long enough so they never actually had to say it, undelivered messages saying it for them.
and dream poked his head out from his aisle seat, craning his neck up to look at where he had left george a few minutes ago. he found that chestnut eyes were already searching for him, and they found each other. locking eyes for a few quick seconds and giving shy smiles that made dream feel like he was in middle school again, giggling and blushing at the mere sight of his crush.
and he realized that what started out as an airport crush, one he could only daydream about in hopes of them coming true, seemed to have the growing potential for something much more.
neither broke the trance, eyes remaining locked on each other while swirls of purples and pinks shot through the air between them, only being broken by the occasional flight attendant walking between them.
when it became too much for him, dream pulled out his phone again and snapped a picture of george, immediately putting it as his contact photo in his phone.
george laughed confused, messaging dream to see why he had taken the photo before realizing it wouldn’t send and cursing modern technology for not coming up with service that worked 35,000 feet in the air.
dream smiled at him one last time before leaning back into his aisle, a smile that made george’s knees grow weak, even though he wasn’t even standing.
george turned back to face the seat in front of him, quickly realizing that he hadn’t even been freaked out a single bit during takeoff. in fact, he had been whatever the opposite of that was. completely serene. tranquil, calm, subdued, and all positive emotions that came with as he had been looking at his new friend/roommate/crush/whatever else this could become.
and he smiled knowing that maybe university wouldn’t be so bad.
and dream smiled knowing that maybe making friends wasn’t as hard as he had always made it out to be. though he hoped this would grow to be more than a friendship.