Chapter Text
It was a well-known fact that when a person turns twenty-one, the first sentence their soulmate will say to them - or did say to them, for those lucky enough to have already met their soulmate - appears on their arm. For this reason, it’s common for many people to write down the first sentences spoken to them by each new person they meet - just in case.
Dream, like most young people, didn’t bother with this. The idea of soulmates and fate was outdated and felt so limiting for this generation. Him and his best friends George and Sapnap often joked about being each other’s soulmates despite thinking it was dumb. Naturally they had all written down the first words they had said to each other over crackly discord calls – but only as a joke. Privately, Dream quite liked the idea of a soulmate. The idea that someone was so perfect for him and he was so perfect for them that it was written into the very fabric of the universe. It was beautiful to him.
George was a few years older than the others, so he already had his mark but like the stubborn man he was, he refused to tell either of his best friends what it said. This was a lot easier to do for him since he lived an ocean away from the other boys but it didn’t stop them from constantly begging him to tell them.
Dream longed for the day when he was to turn twenty-one. He couldn’t wait to finally see the markings on his arm that would finally tell him who his soulmate was. He didn’t particularly care who his soulmate was, but sometimes, when he was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, he couldn’t help but silently, secretly hope, that his soulmate was a certain brunet he had already met.
***
When the day of his 21st finally arrived, Dream woke up as normal and after a few minutes of rubbing the sleep from his eyes and checking the time, he froze with the realisation. It’s today. And he couldn’t help but notice an ache in his stomach that he really couldn’t explain.
It’s just nerves, right? Yeah. Everyone feels like this…
As he was about to turn over his wrist and see what fate had in store for him, a thought entered his mind and he found himself frozen once again.
What if it actually is George?
Dream shook his head in an attempt to clear it but that seemed to only make matters worse.
What if it isn’t?
For some dumb reason that thought made him feel truly sick, the ache in his stomach spreading up to his chest. He decided he wasn’t going to look just yet.
After showering, spending too little time choosing an outfit and a bit too long styling his hair, Dream made his way downstairs for a birthday cup of coffee. In an unusual turn of events, Sapnap was already awake and sitting at their kitchen island eating a bowl of cereal. As soon as Dream rounded the corner, Sapnap’s eyes were on him.
“So?” He questioned.
“So what?” The blonde mumbled, knowing exactly what Sapnap was talking about but hoping if he played dumb he could get out of the conversation that was inevitably coming.
“Don’t play dumb, you know exactly what.”
Fuck.
“Sap, I haven’t looked yet.” Dream said dismissively.
“What?!” The younger boy spluttered “I thought you were excited to know?”
“I was. I- I am. It’s just, I’m nervous ok? I was gonna look and then I couldn’t. I don’t know it’s dumb.”
“Dream it’s not dumb. Well okay, maybe it is, but you don’t have to look if you don’t want to. Wanna go for a drive? I’ll give you control of the aux ‘cos it’s your birthday.”
Sapnap always knew exactly what to say. He really was the best friend Dream could ask for and in this moment especially, he was glad the two had decided to move in together now, even if they still had to wait for George to complete the trio.
***
When they got back from the drive, Dream felt a lot better. He had barely thought about his soulmate mark or George the entire time. Even when his thoughts did return to the subject upon entering his room, he felt ready to look. He just wanted to know what it said, regardless of the whole George thing. With a shaky breath, Dream pulled up the fabric of his sleeve, turned over his arm, and read:
“I’m so glad you said that”
Oh. Oh, it’s not George.
Dream read the words over and over again, he tried to get them to change, to match the words George had spoken to him in their first call that he had written in his notes app and repeated to himself like a mantra but no matter how hard he willed it, they didn’t change, and they didn’t match. Both of their names were written in the fabric of the universe, but not together. George wasn’t his soulmate.
George isn’t my soulmate.
***
Sapnap heard a loud noise from down the hall. It almost sounded like Dream had fallen or something. Immediately he got up from where he had been sitting on the couch and walked to Dream’s bedroom to check on him. The door was closed which was more than strange as in all the time the two had lived together, Dream’s door was always open for him or patches to wander in whenever they wanted. Sapnap called his name and when he didn’t get an answer, he decided to go in and check on his friend.
“Dream?” Sapnap started opening the door. He was stopped by a weight which he quickly noticed was Dream himself. “Wha- Dream? Dude are you okay?” This was said in a much softer tone than before and when Sapnap didn’t get a reply he eased the door open enough for him to get through.
He crouched down next to Dream and finally got to properly examine his friend. Dream was slightly rocking himself back forth, his breathing erratic and he had tears falling down his cheeks from closed eyes.
He was having a panic attack.
“Okay, Dream you don’t have to talk but I want to get you into bed so you’re more comfortable. Is that okay?”
Dream managed a small nod and with that Sapnap slid one of his arms under Dream’s legs, the other around his waist, and lifted him high enough that he could carry the blond over to his bed on the other side of the room. As Sapnap was pulling away to get Dream water and leave him to rest, a hand reached out and held on tightly to his arm.
“Please don’t go, Pandas.”
Dream sounded so small and so vulnerable like this and Sapnap hated seeing his friend in such distress. He decided to climb into the bed next to Dream, allowing the man to curl into his side, and resolving to get him water and help him talk through whatever happened when he was feeling better.
***
A few hours later Dream stirred, slowly pulling himself from sleep when he was made aware of the feeling of a hand rubbing up and down his back slowly. He could feel a chest rising and falling rhythmically below him and he realised he was with Sapnap. It wasn’t unusual for the two to cuddle and even nap together sometimes but it was unusual for Dream to not remember it being initiated.
“Sap? What’s going on?” The brunet looked down at Dream with a kind but slightly worried expression.
“Are you feeling alright?” he asked.
“Um yes. Yeah, a bit confused and kinda thirsty I guess…” The blond trailed off, looking up at Sapnap in the hopes of finding an explanation.
“Let’s go get something to drink and then talk about it, sound good?” Sapnap sounded cautious in his question but Dream was still a bit too out of it to really notice so he simply nodded and followed Sapnap out his room and into the kitchen. He took a seat at the island while Sapnap filled a glass with water.
Sapnap joined his friend, placing the glass in front of him before asking, “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Um,” Dream started, thinking hard about what the last thing he did remember was. As his memory returned, he felt the colour drain from his face, “I looked at my soulmate mark.”
He hoped that one sentence would explain everything, single sentences did hold a lot of power after all. Sapnap looked at him with such understanding that for a second Dream thought he could read his mind.
“You don’t have to explain any more than that if you don’t want to,” he began carefully, “but if you are up for it, I think it would be a good thing because when I came into your room earlier, you were – uh- I don’t actually know but I think it was a panic attack? Of sorts?”
The care in his words made Dream melt, and for the second time that day, he was so glad Sapnap was his best friend.
“I- I think I will talk about it. But I don’t fully understand myself so this could be a load of rubbish.” Dream laughed awkwardly at the British phrasing. Clearly he had picked it up from spending too much time talking to a cute British boy that just would not leave his thoughts today. He rubbed the back of his neck, took a breath and began speaking,
“So we got home from the drive, thank you for that by the way, I really enjoyed it. And um, anyway I felt better about the um soulmate thing, so I checked. I checked and um- this is so stupid. It’s so stupid, Pandas, but I guess I was subconsciously hoping that George would be it.” Dream felt his voice waver but he continued before Sapnap could interrupt his train of thought,
“I hoped that his words would be the ones on my arm but they aren’t and- and I don’t really know what happened after that. I felt like the floor dropped from under me and I remember feeling like falling and that’s it. Next thing I know I wake up next to you which, thanks. Thank you, again, for helping me. Sorry you had to deal with me and are having to deal with me right now. This is all so stupid and I’m such an idiot but I- I really hoped he would be it for me, Sap.”
Dream’s voice trembled as he finished, clearly holding back tears. Sapnap, who had listened carefully to his every word and despite wanting to jump in at certain points to reassure his friend, waited until he was sure the other had finished before pulling him into a hug and whispering reassurances into his hair as he rubbed the older boys back comfortingly.
When his breathing evened out, Dream pulled away from Sapnap’s arms so he could drink what was left of his water before turning to his friend to thank him.
“I haven’t even given you my genius advice yet,” the brunet joked, and despite still feeling a slight ache in his chest, Dream couldn’t help but to smile.
“Okay then, what’s this genius advice you claim to have?”
“You don’t need some stupid boy, you’re a strong independent Dream!” Sapnap said in a ridiculous voice, “but in all seriousness Dream, I’m sorry. I know there probably isn’t anything I can say to actually make this easier for you but think about it this way, the soulmate marks we have are meant for romantic soulmates right? So even if he isn’t your romantic soulmate, he definitely is your platonic soulmate. Well, one of them. Because I am also your platonic soulmate and you better not forget it.”
Hearing those words from his best friend, correction platonic soulmate, did help to ease the ache still present in Dream’s chest. He knew he probably just needed some time to process or whatever and honestly it probably was for the best that George wasn’t his romantic soulmate because the expectations and complexity that would come with that could potentially ruin their friendship and Dream could never risk that. Never.