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When Dream’s friends told him that he’d fall for someone someday, he was not expecting the actual involvement of gravity.
The first time Dream saw him, he thought he’d died and met a holy spirit. No, seriously, Dream literally fell out of a tree seconds prior. He genuinely thought he died. It was probably one of the most unpleasant experiences of his life, second only to embarrassing the hell out of himself in front of a cute guy by falling out of said tree. All around, it was not a very good five minutes of Dream’s life.
Anyway, back to the cute guy. So, there Dream was, laying on the forest floor—which was not as comfortable as fairy tales made it seem—in horrendous pain, when suddenly the most beautiful face he’d ever seen popped into his vision. Now, again, at this point, Dream thought he had died. So, when the man opened his mouth, Dream was expecting to hear something beautiful or soft, laced with concern or welcoming him into his holy palace in the sky. But of course, Dream has never been the universe’s favorite, so instead, it decided to pile onto his already incredibly large misery.
The gorgeous man opened his mouth, and in the prettiest accent Dream had ever heard, he said, “That was pathetic.”
Freeze frame. Pause. Sorry, what?
“Excuse me?” Dream said. He had to have misheard the man or something.
“I said, that was pathetic.”
Nope, okay, definitely didn’t hear him wrong.
Dream could not believe what he’d just heard. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to respond to that,” he said. “Do you normally call people pathetic when you see them fall out of trees?”
“Only when I see them get scared by a chipmunk.”
Great, as if his embarrassment couldn’t get any worse. Dream sighed and slowly sat up. “Okay, in my defense, it practically appeared out of thin air.”
“It really didn’t.”
“How did you even see that from all the way down here?” Dream asked, brushing leaves and dirt off his clothes.
The guy shrugged. “I know everything that goes on in my forest.” He reached over and picked a leaf from Dream’s hair, only to flick it back in his face. Rude. Still so pretty, though.
“What do you mean ‘your forest?’”
“Exactly what I said, it’s my forest. I protect it.”
“What, so you’re like a park ranger or something?”
Dream could’ve sworn this man looked at him like he was the biggest idiot on the planet. “You’re joking, right?” he said. “Have you never heard of a forest guardian before?”
If disbelief was a hot potato, they would’ve been tossing that thing back and forth. “Forest guardians?” Dream said. “As in, the magical creatures that live in forests?”
“Yes. Did you learn nothing in school?”
“I learned plenty, but apparently I missed the part about them being real.”
“Well, the more you know. Now, are you gonna continue sitting there like an idiot, or are you gonna get up?”
Ouch, he definitely didn’t hold back his opinions. “You’re kinda mean, you know?” Dream said as he pushed himself off the ground.
“Only to the ones who get scared by chipmunks.”
Full transparency, Dream definitely got a little offended, and he was sure the other man could tell. Seriously, that chipmunk really did show up out of nowhere. Before he could say a word, however, Dream heard the man start to laugh. Whether he was laughing at what he’d said or at the expression on Dream’s face, Dream didn’t know for sure. But whichever it was, he couldn’t have cared less. As cheesy as it may sound, in that moment, all Dream wanted to do was make him laugh again.
“Ha ha, very funny. You’ve got jokes now, huh?” Dream said. “What’s your name, Mr. Funny Man?”
“George,” he said, holding out a hand. “And you?”
“George?” That explained the accent, Dream supposed.
“Yeah, you got a problem with that?” George replied.
“Nope, no problem at all,” said Dream. He reached out to shake George’s hand. “I’m Dream.”
“Nice to meet you, Dream.”
“Nice to meet you, too.”
It didn’t take long for the two to become best friends. Within just a few weeks, it felt as if they had known each other basically their whole lives. Dream learned that George had graduated from a nearby college, George learned that Dream had dropped out—which, unsurprisingly, did not get past him without a few tree jokes. Dream learned that George could do magic, George learned that Dream liked to write in his spare time, and so on and so forth. They learned a lot about each other. A lot. It was like they talked to each other more often than not.
The more time that passed, the closer they grew. From collecting flowers in the forest to spending whole days in the mall arcade, there was rarely ever a day they were apart. George steadily made himself a place in Dream’s life, the change so seamless, they hardly realized what was happening, until eventually, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years.
Somehow, three years passed, and at twenty-two years old, Dream was still fumbling over his crush on the pretty boy from the forest. Except it was no longer just a little crush, he was full-on head over heels for the guy, and George was no longer just the pretty boy from the forest, but in fact his best friend of three years.
If Dream could have pinpointed the very moment he fell for George—emotionally, not literally—things probably would’ve been a lot easier to understand. But fortunately or unfortunately, there never really was a specific moment in time. That buildup of warm, fuzzy feelings came slowly over time, always through the little things. Sometimes, Dream felt like he could listen for days as George rambled on about new plants he’d learned to grow or a new video game he finally beat. Other days, George would argue so passionately about why vanilla was the best ice cream flavor, Dream would have to choke down butterflies just to argue back.
Slowly but surely, Dream became infatuated not just by sparkling eyes and a pretty smile, but also by smart words, warm hugs, and an incredible personality. George became more than just a pretty face; he was kind, he was safe, and he was more than Dream could’ve ever hoped for. Suffice to say, Dream was inexplicably, unequivocally in love with his best friend.
And he was absolutely terrible at dealing with it.
If Dream knew love was gonna be the most unreasonably complicated thing in the world, he would’ve taken all those YA novels he’d read in his childhood far more seriously. This was genuinely absurd. Feelings are so unnecessarily complicated, and for what? Clearly not Dream’s mental wellbeing, that was for damn sure.
Anyway, moving on. Overall, everything was great. It was hardly as dramatic as romantic fiction made it seem. Their friendship was strong, and Dream was happy where they were. He didn’t want anything more. How could he, when he already had everything he could want? Yeah, George was beautiful, and yeah, his smile could light up the whole forest, and Dream would’ve done anything to see it every second of everyday, but aside from that, Dream didn’t need more. He was perfectly content with the easy banter and friendly compliments. He was completely alright with simple goodbyes and platonic greetings. He didn’t want to hold George’s hand every time he collected small rocks, or wrap him up in hugs whenever he beat his high scores at the arcade. Dream didn’t want to take him on ice cream dates or out to dinner. And he definitely did not want to kiss every single freckle on George’s face until he laughed his wonderful laugh every time he grew a new plant or showed Dream some new magic he’d been working on. He definitely didn’t want any of that.
Okay, yeah, Dream was never a very good liar. He wanted all of that and more.
Unfortunately, Dream was way too afraid to let him know that. He loved what they had; he didn’t want to risk anything changing for the worse. He wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself if he ruined things. George meant far too much to him. So, Dream resigned himself to hiding his feelings ‘til the end of time if he had to. He wouldn’t let any silly feeling of his change things. But of course, one person can’t stop change or time, so things changing was bound to happen eventually. To no one’s surprise but Dream’s own, it didn’t go quite the way he expected.
The conversation had started rather suddenly. It was warm and bright that day, so the two of them decided to hang out in one of the meadows by a creek in the forest. They spent most of the morning messing around—climbing trees, trying to see who could collect the most rocks from the creek, and other random activities like that. Definitely not typical summer activities for two guys in their twenties, but oh well, stereotypes can shove it.
As the day went on, the temperature outside only grew hotter. Eventually, the two decided to take a break and lay in the grass, just chilling out and looking at the sky. Of course, “chilling out” never really lasted very long with them, and they quickly found themselves in a very heated debate over the shapes they saw in the clouds. Honestly, though, Dream didn’t really care all that much about the clouds. He was too distracted with sneaking glances at George.
“You’re staring,” he said during a lull in their debate.
Okay, so maybe Dream wasn’t as subtle as he thought. It was fine, though. There was no way George could possibly suspect anything. People look at their friends all the time, right? He could totally play it off. It’d be simple, like a nice, easy Ferris wheel ride.
“You don’t seem to think I notice, but I do,” George said. He turned his head to look at the blonde. “Why?”
Dream forgot how much he hated Ferris wheels.
“I, uh—What do you mean ‘why?’” He said. Letting his friendship go down in flames was not on his to do list for that day.
“You know what I mean. You’re always staring at me; I want you to tell me why.”
“You want me to tell you why?”
“That’s what I just said, isn’t it?”
“Why do you want to know why?” Stalling, like lying, was never Dream’s strong suit.
George was quiet for a moment. “Do you want to hear the truth, or do you want me to keep playing dumb?” he said.
Now Dream was confused and starting to get anxious for a whole new reason. What did he mean by that? Dream resigned himself to his fate. He couldn’t keep running away. “The truth, I suppose,” he said quietly.
“You sure?”
No. “Yeah.”
George met Dream’s eyes, and it felt like the older man was staring into his soul. “I know why. In fact, I’ve known for a while, I just want to hear you say it,” he said.
This could’ve gone two very different ways, meant two very different things, one of which Dream was incredibly scared of. So scared, he thought his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. But as Dream stared into George’s eyes and watched the way the dandelions and daisies around them gently framed his hair and face, all Dream could see was warmth. The sunshine was warm, his smile was warm, everything about him was just so warm.
His hand was especially warm, heat practically seeping through his fingers as they tangled with Dream’s own.
“I don’t—I don’t understand,” Dream said. He did, he just couldn’t believe it.
“I think you do.”
“How’d you know?”
George chuckled a bit. “You’re really not as subtle as you think you are,” he said.
“George, I—”
“But I suppose I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking for any bit of hope I could latch onto, as well.”
And just like that, it felt as if time had frozen around them. Dream couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Yet again, he was rendered speechless by George. It’s funny how easily he always managed to do that.
Dream’s chest felt tight. He couldn’t help the incredulous laugh that escaped himself. “You’re not joking, right?” He said, voice shaky. He desperately prayed George wasn’t joking.
George smiled that beautiful smile, truly a breath of fresh air if Dream had ever felt one. “No. No, I’m not joking,” he said.
George started to laugh, and together, the two quickly dissolved into a fit of giggles. In their laughter, Dream felt tears welling up in his eyes. He couldn’t help it. He seemed to carry that sentiment a lot, but it was always true. Dream could never help himself when it came to George.
George reached over, brushing away Dream’s tears and pulling him from his own head. “You make me so happy,” Dream sniffed.
“You make me happy too,” George replied, his own voice growing watery. He turned away and sat up quickly, bringing his hands to his own face. “Oh my god, you’re gonna make me cry now.”
Dream laughed and sat up. “Oh well,” he said. He pulled George’s hands from his face, then kissed his palm. “Is that such a bad thing?”
To anyone else who could have possibly gotten a glimpse of the two, they definitely would’ve looked like a mess. Two young men sitting in a meadow, crying their eyes out is probably not a pretty sight. But to them, it was perfect. It wasn’t some huge gesture or occasion, it was just Dream and George, and that was all it needed to be.
George smiled at Dream, all watery and pinched, like he was trying to act like he wasn’t clearly crying just as hard as the younger man was. Call Dream weird, George definitely would, but it was one of the cutest expressions Dream had ever seen. “You’re such an idiot,” George said.
“That I am,” Dream replied with a smile. “But you love me anyway.”
“True, I do.”
“You do?” And there were the tears again. Damn, Dream really didn’t think he could cry so much.
“I do.” Dream watched as George raised his hands once more. He gently cupped Dream’s face, brushing featherlight thumbs under his eyes for the second time. It was so soft, as if he thought holding any harder would hurt. “I really, really do.”
A shaky breath and then a laugh sound through the meadow. If they came from Dream, from George, or from both of them, Dream couldn’t tell. “I love you too,” he said. He chuckled. “God, I’ve loved you for so long, what the hell.”
“I gathered,” George said teasingly. Dream shoved him a little for that one, he won’t lie. “I think I’ve loved you just as long.”
It was Dream’s turn to joke. “Alright, alright, it’s not a competition,” he said, smiling as he mockingly rolled his eyes.
“Well, of course not. If it was, you know I’d win.”
“Oh, yeah? Says who?”
“Says me.”
Sitting there on the forest floor in a fit of laughter, tear streaks all over their faces, Dream knew there was no place he would have rather been. Once the two calmed down, Dream leaned forward and rested his forehead against George’s. “I can’t believe it took us this long,” he said. “We really are insanely pathetic.”
“Nope, I don’t think so. You’re the pathetic one.”
Memories of their first meeting flashed through Dream’s mind. Who knew, all those years ago, that someday they’d end up right at that moment? “Yeah, you’re right,” Dream replied fondly. He took one of George’s hands, lacing soft fingers between his own. “I am pathetic. But that’s okay, I don’t mind being pathetic, as long as I’m with you.”
George squeezed their hands and smiled that wonderful smile. How fitting, a beautiful smile for a beautiful man. “Always,” he said softly.
Inches apart and distance closing fast, Dream smiled to himself. It may not have been exactly how he’d imagined it, but it seemed his friends were right in saying he’d fall for someone someday. And fall for someone he did. He really, really did.