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Maybe it all started when the stars were born, maybe it didn’t. It was hard to pinpoint the exact moment the universe deemed them soulmates, deeper in the sense than your normal soulmates. At least, Dream liked to think about it that way. Almost everyone was fated to be with another, two red strings crossing paths with one another until you drew your final breath. Dream, however, felt as if his bond with Sapnap went deeper than that. They were not fated to meet, they were born from the same star. Two halves of one whole. A choice made by the universe so long ago that fate forgot, but their souls did not.
Sapnap said he was too sappy. Ironic, considering his nickname.
Still, Sapnap was the soulmate that Dream chose to have everyday. Their strings did not lead to one another, but that didn’t mean much to either of them. Both of them had met their string partners and still had chosen to be with one another. Sapnap’s soulmate had taken it badly and moved on, out of reach for any form of contact. Dream’s soulmate hadn’t really cared and stuck around, becoming the final piece of their trio. His bond with George was different from his bond with Sapnap.
He loved Sapnap in more ways than words could ever explain. Their love wasn’t meant for words, for something as simple as those would never be enough. They didn’t need words. They just needed each other.
“Hey,” George flicked him on the forehead, distracting him from his thoughts, “we came here with a purpose, didn’t we?”
“Huh,” Dream absentmindedly rubbed his forehead, “Oh yeah. Rings.”
George shot him a look, “Rings? As in like, wedding rings? As in you took me to the mall in order to help you pick a ring to propose to Sapnap with and are now just telling me?”
“Yeah.” Dream couldn’t stop the sappy smile from growing on his face. He had been planning on proposing to Sapnap for months now and had finally come up with the courage to do so. A candlelight dinner, champagne with a home cooked meal, the perfect ring– “Ow. Would you stop doing that?” Another flick to his forehead led him to glaring at George.
“Stop getting lost in thought when I’m mad at you.” George rolled his eyes, “Seriously? You couldn’t have told me this in advance? How am I supposed to be prepared to play the role of grieving soulmate on such short notice?”
“I didn’t tell you because I wanted you to act normal. There is nothing weird about this.”
“Ah yes, there is nothing weird about bringing your soulmate with you to buy a ring for another man– Don’t fucking hit me.” George managed to jump out of the way in just enough time to dodge his punch. Dammit. Dream would have to try again later. “Seriously, though, thanks for picking me. I’m really happy for you. I’m glad you are going to propose, it took you long enough.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dream approached the mall directory, quickly finding the Kay Jewelers which was thankfully not too far away from them. He took the lead, George following behind him.
“‘Every kiss begins with Kay…’” George mumbled as they walked, before shaking his head. “I really thought you were hopeless for a while there. Hell knew Sapnap would never propose to you. He still thinks you are one drunk night away from marrying me in Vegas.”
“First off, I would never marry you. Secondly, if I were to ever marry you, I would do it somewhere trashier than Vegas. It’s what you deserve. Third, I don’t even drink?” Dream stopped walking in order to jokingly shove George into Hot Topic before continuing once his best friend righted himself and flipped him off. “I love Sapnap. Of course I’m going to marry him.”
“ I never doubted that.” George replied, “I’m saying Sapnap did. Idiot.”
“Aww,” An older lady cooed as they walked by, “it’s always so sweet to see two soulbound on a date together. I hope you both are very happy together–”
“He cheated on me with my brother and we are on the way to sign our divorce papers.” George replied, monotone, as he grabbed Dream’s wrist and started to drag him away from the gasping lady. “Let’s move you whore we are running out of daylight. Anyway, yeah, ring shopping. What exactly are we looking for? Gold, silver, black?”
“Why are you like this?” Dream groaned, awkwardly waving goodbye to the stunned lady. “Um, I saw this pretty nice looking red and gold one? That’s what I was planning on getting.”
George stopped suddenly, causing Dream to slam into his back. He turned to look over his shoulder with a deathly glare, causing Dream to frown. “You have a ring picked already?”
“...Yes?”
“And you still dragged me out of bed at 10am. To go ring shopping with you. When you already had a ring picked.”
“...You are my moral support?”
“...If I wasn’t so desperate to win best man over Karl, I might consider leaving you here all alone without your ‘moral support.’” George huffed, crossing his arms. “It’s like my 15 hours of beauty sleep and amazing opinions mean nothing to you.”
Dream laughed, shoving George forward slightly and restarting their journey. “Thank you, George, for sacrificing some of your beauty sleep to come support me, your best friend, in a very scary moment of his life. Yes, you can be my best man but I can’t promise Karl won’t be Sappy’s.”
They were very close to the store now and Dream could start to feel his hands shaking. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on George next to him. Really, he wasn’t kidding when he said he brought George for support. Even though he was beyond excited to marry Sapnap, the thought of actually buying a ring and proposing terrified him. He didn’t really think Sapnap would say no, per se, but the small chance that he would scared him. “I’ll find a way to win Sapnap over as well.”
“How can you be both of our best man?”
“I’ll make it work.” George seemed to notice his nerves, seeing as he gently bumped himself into Dream’s side. “Hey, the platonic man of my Dreams –haha–, don’t get yourself all stressed out. Seriously, I think Sapnap’s going to cry tears of happiness when you propose. He won’t be able to shut up about it for weeks and I’m going to hate it. It’s all going to go great and then you get to plan a very cute and sappy wedding where I will, admittedly, cry.”
“I love you.” Dream said, reaching over to quickly wrap an arm around George in a quick hug. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I feel positive emotions about you too.” George joked, pulling away with a smile. They entered Kay Jewelers, Dream waving back towards the greeter at the door. “Let’s go find that dumb ring.”
As they approached the glass case where the jeweler was standing, Dream noticed the older man eyed them weirdly. He wasn’t surprised that he immediately noticed they were soulmates, seeing as soulstring would softly glow when you were close to your soulmate. Dream prayed to whatever God was out there that he would not say anything about it. “Good morning, sir, I’m here about a ring I saw online? I, uh, saved the picture if that helps.”
George snickered next to him, causing Dream to elbow him. “Oh of course,” the older man’s name tag read Jeffery, “just show me the photo and then we can talk sizes. We might not have that specific ring in the store but we can always order it here. I must say, you don’t get a lot of people who bring their soulbounds with them to buy rings.” His eyes drifted to George and Dream couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for what was about to come poor Jeffery’s way. “You must be one special lad.”
God did not listen.
“Actually,” George pouted, “my good ol’ soulbound here decided that he wanted to marry my dad instead. Y’know, DILFS and all that. I’m still working on getting over it and my therapist told me exposure therapy might be the best bet! So! Here I am!”
Jeffrey's face turned sheet white and Dream could do nothing but sigh. “He’s… Okay, whatever. Anyway,” Dream pulled up the photo and showed it to the man, “that’s what I’m looking for in a size… 15?”
“My dad has big hands. It’s how he carries the weight of his sins.”
“We do have that ring in the back!” Jeffrey said, quickly heading away from them. Probably in an attempt to escape whatever was going to come out of George’s mouth next. “Let me check if we have a size, uh, 15!” With that, he left the glass area and headed into the back.
Dream shot George an exhausted look, “Why do you keep doing this?”
George did nothing but shrug, “That’s what people get for assuming things. Just because we are bound doesn’t mean we are going to get married and adopted 15 gay kids.”
“Why do the kids have to be gay?”
“Do I look like I know how to raise a straight kid?”
Dream wanted to bang his head into a wall, “Please leave poor Jeffrey alone. He’s traumatized. He doesn’t make enough money to put up with this.”
“Fine. I just want you to know that my next line was a good one, but, just for you, I will leave him alone. However, if he makes another comment on our bond I will go balls deep into this.”
“Please never say it like that again.” Dream closed out of his phone, gently placing it back into his pocket and looking down at the jewelry before him. He had never really been into diamonds or anything but the shiny jewelry did wonders for his ADHD, keeping him entertained as George typed something on his phone. After a couple of minutes, Dream turned to George. “So how’s the love life?”
George leveled him with a glare, “Oh you know. Normal.”
“How’s Wilbur?” He couldn’t stop the shit eating grin from growing on his face, especially when George dramatically groaned and collapsed onto the glass case. “Oh come on, it can't be that bad. Wilbur loves you.”
“Wilbur loves being a pain in my ass.”
“Oh I’m sure he does– Hey! Breakable glass! Right here!” Dream squeaked as George reached out his foot in a strong kick. Honestly, he would be impressed but unsurprised if George somehow managed to kick the glass and shatter it. “I’m going to invite Wilbur to the wedding. Actually, you can be Sapnap’s best man. I want Wilbur.”
George gasped at him, kicking his foot forward again. Dream caught it in his hand, which honestly left them in kind of a weird position to be standing in in the middle of Kay Jewelers. “You just want Wilbur and I to walk down the aisle together, you bitch.”
“It’s my wedding with your dad, I get to pick.”
“I’m telling Sapnap you said that.” Jeffrey chose that moment to come back, uncomfortably looking at George. George just leant his head backwards, making eye contact with the jeweler as he was draped across the glass display with his foot in Dream’s hand. “Oh hey Jeff. How’d the ring hunt go?”
Jeffrey did the smart thing and didn’t even acknowledge George, instead focusing on Dream. “So we do have that ring in size 15 in the back, so you are able to head on home with it today.” Dream nodded, dropping George’s foot. His best friend let out an almost silent ‘oof’ in response. “Unless you are worried about the sizing since your, uh, partner isn’t here. I can hold onto it if you wish to check?”
“Nah I measured his finger one night when he wasn’t paying attention.” He ignored George’s eyebrow wiggle, “I’ll take it. Thanks for the help Jeffrey. Do we process the payment with you or–”
“Actually!” Jeffrey laughed uncomfortably, “My wife called me while I was in the back. She broke her, uh, left fibula. I have to go check on her, so my manager will help you out. Thanks for choosing Kay!”
With that, Jeffrey was off. George snorted, “Left fibula…”
“Look at what you did to that poor man George. He’s too scared to even cash us out.” Dream smacked him on the back of the head, carefully grabbing the ring and its box and heading towards the only other employee in the building.
“Y’know,” George peered over his shoulder, “we could just take the ring and run–”
“No.”
“You are no fun sometimes, I hope you know that.”
They approached the nice women standing in the other glass area, who greeted them with an innocent smile. Poor lady must have not been forewarned by Jeffrey. Dream hoped she wouldn’t fall into the same trap. After all, George had only promised to leave Jeffrey alone. “Hello! Jeffrey had a family emergency, so I’ll be able to finish checking out your order today. Did you find everything okay?”
“Yes ma’am, thank you. Jeffrey was very kind, it’s a shame what happened to his wife’s… fibula.” Dream smiled, handing her the ring and its box.
He watched as she quickly cleaned it before gently placing it in its box. “Is that going to be all today?” Dream nodded, watching as she took a quick second look at the ring before glancing at George. Oh no. Please, no. Don’t do it. “Are you sure this is the right size?”
“Yep.” Dream silently begged her to leave it alone. Please.
She didn’t. “Are you… sure ?” She eyed George openly this time, glancing down at his hands. “Your partner's fingers seem a little too small for this ring. I would suggest a smaller size.”
Dream couldn’t help but look at George, begging with his eyes for him not to do it. It was too late, however, as he noticed the gleam in George’s eyes. George lent forward, looking the lady in the eye as he whispered. “I’m just the side hoe. He has managed to convince his lovely boyfriend that I died, tragically, in a fire. However, I live in their basement and secretly eat all the good chips while they are away like a racoon.”
She did nothing but blink at George, before turning back to Dream. “Okay! It’s going to be $569.87, would you like to pay cash or card?”
“Card.”
While the payment was processing the lady did her best to ignore George. George, meanwhile, took out his phone and replied to a text message. Dream hoped that this would be the end of it. Please. “Okay you are all set to go!” She handed him the bag which held the most important item Dream had ever bought. His engagement ring for Sapnap. “Thanks for shopping with us today! And, uh, good luck with. That.”
George shot her a salute. “Thanks ma’am. Maybe one day he will let me out of the basement for dinner– Okay bye nice chat!”
Dream dragged George out of the store with a wince, trying his best not to look back at the poor lady behind the counter. “I can’t bring you anywhere. Why do you torture me so.”
George only smirked, “This is what you get for waking me up before 2pm, you bitch.”
―
Getting the ring that day changed things a bit. Dream had been prepared to have to wait to receive the ring, and so he planned to do the dinner once he received the arrival date for it. However, now he had the ring and nothing else. With Sapnap just sitting there, on the couch in his comfortable pajamas, like it was any other day.
Which, to Sapnap’s knowledge, it was. He knew nothing about the ring burning a hole in Dream’s pocket and the secret trying to spill from his tongue. All Sapnap knew was that Dream had just come home from a late breakfast with George. Nothing more, nothing less.
Dream had no plan, no home cooked dinner, and no way to keep this a secret. So much for a romantic, candlelit dinner. “Hey babe, I’m home.”
Sapnap looked up at him with a soft smile, blinking tiredly. God, Dream was so in love with him. How was he supposed to even think of anyone else when someone so perfect was sitting there on his couch? In the home they shared. In those fuzzy pajamas that made him look like a soft cloud. “Welcome home Dream. How was George?”
“Oh y’know, he was…. George.” Dream plopped down on the couch next to him, not being able to stop himself from leaning forward and kissing Sapnap. His boyfriend kissed him back, slow and soft. Dream pulled away, watching as Sapnap yawned and stretched. “Boring, compared to you.”
“Impossible.” Sapnap yawned again, rubbing his eye. “George is anything but boring. I swear he does cocaine or something.”
“I think he’s just like that. Must be the trauma.” Dream couldn’t stop himself from pulling Sapnap into another soft and slow kiss, gentle like waking up from a good dream. “I missed you.”
“I missed you more.”
“No way. I missed you the most.” He shoved himself forward so he was face first against Sapnap’s chest, feeling more than hearing his chuckle. Cuddling with Sapnap was almost enough for him to forget about the ring in his pocket, but not enough. Well, Dream had no better plan then now anyway. “Hey babe?”
“Mmm?” He felt Sapnap wrap his arms gently around his waist, holding him in a loose cuddle.
“Got something for you.”
Sapnap rested his head on top of Dream’s, “Oh? I didn’t see you carry anything in the house. I was hoping for breakfast.”
“Well,” Dream stuttered for a second, nerves rushing through him, “I hope you like this better than breakfast. It’s in my jacket pocket, your left.”
Dream didn’t lift his head up, too nervous to make eye contact with his partner. He felt Sapnap move his hand, reaching in his pocket and grabbing the case that felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. Sapnap inhaled deeply, causing Dream to shift his position a bit. “...Dream?”
“I know it’s not the most romantic time in the world.” His voice came out muffled and Dream winced. He lifted his head a bit so Sapnap was able to hear him better, “I had this whole plan for a romantic, candlelit dinner with champagne and all that. I was going to go down on one knee and hit all the cliches. Honestly, I can’t wait. I’ve waited for what feels like all of eternity. So, Sapnap, will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
“Really?” Dream shot up, dislodging Sapnap and causing him to drop the ring box. They both fumbled for it before Dream managed to get it, softly handing it back to Sapnap. Finally, he met Sapnap’s eyes. “You want to marry me?”
“Why would I ever want to marry anyone else?” Sapnap smiled, his eyes tearing up. “You’ve been my forever since the day we met. I would love to marry you.”
“Oh thank god,” Dream groaned, “I was scared you were going to say no. I would have died.”
Sapnap laughed, pulling him back down onto his chest. “No way. Nice ring by the way, I like the color. It’s a good red. I love it. I love you.”
“I love you too, My Forever.”