Chapter Text
Everyone else thought it was a reassuring fact that you are physically incapable of harming your soulmate.
Fate thought it was real funny, huh?
Dream and George first met when George moved to Dream’s school. His family had recently come from England and now George’s only contact with his old friends was over discord and Minecraft whenever their time schedules would happen to line up… often leading to a demolished sleep schedule.
So George was isolated in this new country, in a new school, with new people. He was willing to make the most of it at first. He didn’t really like school, but when he put in the effort, he was generally a straight A student. But maintaining connections with his old friends in Minecraft mattered to him more. At school he found himself a small group of new friends, Karl, Quackity, Bad and occasionally Skeppy… when he wasn’t busy working on homework, his part time job, or pranks.
George was willing to make the most of it. He definitely wasn’t happy about living in the US, but his Mum was doing it rough. George’s father was a businessman and rarely home until late at night and gone again early in the morning. His Mum wasn’t as lucky as George. She had few friends willing to mess up their sleep schedule for her. She was lonely and sad most days, she could fool others into thinking she wasn’t, but George could always tell. He didn’t want to make her feel worse by complaining about their new situation, so he tried to be happy for her.
Unfortunately, his optimistic mindset could only last so long. Along with a small group of friends, George also made enemies in just as short a period of time.
Dream, the quarterback of the school football team, singled him out pretty quickly.
“What is wrong with you?” George had exclaimed when Dream shoved him as they passed each other in the hallway for the first time.
“What do you mean?” Dream asked, feigning innocence.
“Why did you push me?” George glared at him.
“Oh, did I?” Dream smirked. “Whoops.”
The response really pissed George off to say the least.
“Who do you think you are?!” George shouted.
“Dream.” The tall blonde held out a tan hand with a cocky smile. “Quarterback of the school football team.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” George said.
“Don’t you know anything about football?” Dream had laughed.
“No.” George frowned.
“You have funny accent.” Dream raised an eyebrow. “And I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. Are you new here?”
“Maybe.” George crossed his arms.
“Oooh! new kid!”
This time George rolled his eyes. He started to walk away. “Idiot” he mumbled.
Dream stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “What did you say?”
George held his head high. “I said you’re an idiot.” He repeated confidently.
“Oh, am I now?” Dream smirked.
“Yes.”
Dream leaned back and studied George. “What’s your name?”
“George.”
“GEE-ORGE” Dream mimicked his accent… poorly. “You from the UK?”
“Yeah? So?”
Dream leaned down so he was right in George’s face. George already hated the fact that the blonde was taller than him. His height alone even seemed to mock George. He started to walk of, shoving George for a second time as he left.
~ ~ ~
After that first interaction it became Dream’s favourite pastime to poke and prod George at every opportunity. George had the extreme misfortune of sharing science, geography and computer science with the blonde, which gave him plenty of opportunities to push George’s buttons.
He stole George’s things, mocked George’s accent, flicked little scrunched up bits of paper at him until George reacted, drawing attention to the two of them and sometimes landing either or both of them in detention.
Annoyingly, Dream never seemed to get detention on his own. George would take detention by himself over detention with Dream any day, but it seemed that their teachers were rather intent on condemning them to the same empty classroom after school hours. Forcing them to sit in uncomfortable chairs, awaiting the hands of the clock in front of them to provide their freedom. Maybe they hoped that doing so would teach them to get along, help them “work through their differences” or something stupid. Therefor the teachers wouldn’t have to deal with their squabbles anymore. Clearly, they didn’t know either of the pair at all, as detention gave Dream even more time to get on George’s nerves which gave George more time to confirm his beliefs that the quarterback was literally the most annoying person to have ever breathed the uncomfortably humid Floridan air.
When George would finally be allowed to leave, he would pack his bag and bolt away from the blonde’s irritating presence as fast as he could.
It wasn’t long before everyone noticed Dream’s behaviour towards George. And because teenagers trying to climb the social hierarchy are jerks, of course they tried to get in on the action and win some popularity points by picking on George themselves. Within the week it wasn’t just Dream jump-scaring George and shoving him, making him drop his books and mocking him in front of entire classrooms.
Bad, Karl and Quackity tried to shield George from it as much as they could.
Bad speculated that Dream teased George so much because he liked that George retaliated. Unlike most students who worshiped the ground he walked on, George stood his ground and called Dream out when he did something stupid.
“I mean think about it.” Bad said as he offered George a muffin that he had baked at home. “Everyone knows Dream likes a challenge.”
“I don’t care why he does it.” George groaned. “I just want him to leave me alone!”
Despite how much Dream drove George absolutely insane, George never resorted to retaliating in a physical way. Choosing instead to fire back a witty comeback of his own or roll his eyes and walk away.
But that could only last for so long.
He had found out the previous night that his old British friends had to cancel on their plans to play cs:go that night in order to study for upcoming exams, leaving George alone with his thoughts that night as he scrolled through social media to try and entertain himself.
He never talked about it but being uprooted so close to the end of his schooling had really taken a toll on George. He missed his old friends, his old school, his old house and neighbourhood. He wanted the comfort of knowing that the same fish and chip place he’d eaten from for as long as he could remember would always be around the corner from him. He was still feeling that homesickness when he went to school the next day.
Dream didn’t seem to get the memo.
George tried to be cheerful towards Karl, Quackity and Bad that morning but the truth was he just didn’t have the energy to keep smiling even if they weren’t looking. He didn’t have the energy to act like he was loving life because the truth was, he felt like shit.
So he let them carry the conversation as he took his books out of his locker.
…Only for them to be knocked out of his hand by the tall, cocky, bastard of a quarterback himself.
And as Dream’s best friend Sapnap’s laughter filled the corridor, George finally snapped.
He looked up to Dream smirking face with a murderous look in his eye and made his way across the hallway to stand in front of him.
They made eye contact. Dream was watching him with interest.
George punched him.
Hard in the stomach.
All the onlookers gasped.
For a fairly short and skinny gamer boy, it was a decent punch. George was quite proud of it.
Everyone knew that it should’ve hurt Dream.
But it didn’t.
There was silence as Dream looked at George with confusion. It was then that George started to feel the burn of all the students’ eyes on him. Panic started to set in, he began to feel very claustrophic.
“They must be soulmates!” One of their classmates whispered loud enough for the words to reach George’s ears. Though whispered, it felt like someone had shouted the word right in his ear through a megaphone. It sounded like an alarm in his mind, blaring on repeat. He became hyper aware of all the eyes on him as he stood in the middle of the hallway, unable to harm the most popular student in the school.
Too much. This was too much.
George ran away from scene. As fast as he could, ignoring the stares of everyone who had gathered. He sprinted for the bathroom and locked himself in a stall as fast as he could. Leaning his back against the door as he tried to breath and gather his thoughts.
How?
Why?
Why did his soulmate have to be Dream?
Why did the one person who he could never harm no matter how must he desperately wanted to have to be Dream?
Now even fate was making a mockery of him.
And George hated it.
He felt so stupid and hopeless.
He heard the bathroom door open and recognised Bad’s voice calling his name. George said nothing. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He had no idea what to feel or think right now and he needed the time to process the tornado of thoughts and emotions that was wreaking havoc on his brain.
He needed time to process the fact that SOMEHOW, the person that was apparently meant to match his personality in every way possible. The person who George was supposed to feel most attracted to in the world. The person who George was supposed to LOVE with every fibre in his being. SOMEHOW that person was supposed to be DREAM?
Fate thought it was real funny.
What a cruel joke.
~ ~ ~
‘…Well that was a twist.’ Dream thought.
That was a crazy, unanticipated twist.
A crazy, unanticipated and very welcome twist.
George was his soulmate! He gushed inwardly.
How the hell was Dream lucky enough to score GEORGE for a soulmate! Beautiful, smart and stubborn George was his one and only!
Unbeknownst to anyone other than Sapnap and Punz, the reason Dream picked on George was because he had the biggest crush on the brunette ever… while also being one of the most stupid, awkward dorks of all time…Needless to say it wasn’t the best combination. Teasing the boy was the best way the quarterback could think of getting George’s attention.
It somewhat worked in that George definitely knew he existed. It backfired when George looked at him like he was the reason for all the suffering in the world.
None the less, Dream was on cloud nine when he realised that he felt no pain where George had punched him. Over the moon as it clicked in his brain that his crush was hand-picked by fate to be his perfect match.
His mind had been so caught up in interpreting this new information that it didn’t even have time to react to George running away.
“Oh no.” Sapnap laughed at Dream’s expression. Dream finally snapped out of his thoughts to look at his best friend. “Oh no, dude you’re absolutely SMITTEN.”
Dream actually blushed, normally he would roll his eyes and tell Sapnap to shut up when he said something like that, but he was so happy this time that all he could do was grin the dopiest grin Sapnap had ever seen as he murmured quietly, “He’s my soulmate.”
~ ~ ~
George tried to call his Mum to get her to pick him up, she refused, sadly reminding him of how busy she was at work that day.
He considered wagging school and walking home. He truly thought long and hard over it, but ultimately decided against it. He had poured himself into his coding project for computer science, pretty much the only subject he still cared about, and didn’t want the fact that it would be overdue if he ran away to affect its marks.
So George reluctantly collected himself and walked to his first class, mercifully it was one he didn’t share with Dream. He made sure to sit in the quietest part of the room. He felt somewhat guilty cause it was avoiding Karl and Bad, but he still needed time. He tried to send them reassuring smiles when they cast concerned stares at him.
Most of his classes that morning were Dream-less, to his relief. At recess he managed to avoid Dream and his friends by hiding in the janitor’s closet which thankfully for once wasn’t occupied with students making out.
It was a miracle that George managed to avoid Dream until computer science at the end of the day.
During the very first computer science lesson at the start of the year, Dream sat next to George and shortly after the teacher announced, to George’s dismay, that they wouldn’t be allowed to move seats.
George did his best to take no notice of Dream as he sat himself in his chair next to the blonde and started double checking his code to make sure everything was perfect.
“Hey George.” Dream greeted. His voice was uncharacteristically soft.
George glanced at Dream but said nothing, he was quick to return his focus to his work. Well, at least that’s what he was trying to do. It’s hard to focus on letters and numbers on a screen when you’re suddenly hyper-aware of a person sitting next to you. Suddenly every click of a keyboard, sigh of a student or breath of the blonde next to you is ten times more noticeable and distracting.
“Come on George, I’m not trying to mess with you.” Dream said. “I just wanna talk.”
“Yeah? Well I don’t.” George snapped back.
“It’s not like we can stop being soul- “
George’s head snapped back to look at Dream again. “Shut up!” George hissed, despite being mad he really didn’t want to have to put up with the whole class staring at him. “I am NOT your soulmate.”
Dream reached forward and pinched George’s forearm. George felt nothing, no pain, point proven. He glared daggers at Dream.
“Leave me the fuck alone.” George growled. He saved his code onto his USB before ripping it from the computer and marching his way up to their teacher’s desk and handing it over abruptly. “I’m going to the bathroom.” George informed the teacher before storming his way out of the classroom.
This was a horrible day. A horrible, horrible day. And he couldn’t even talk to his Mum or friends about it because they would all be busy. He didn’t think finding his soulmate would ever make him feel so alone. Then again, he didn’t ever think that his soulmate could ever be Dream.
He slammed the bathroom door behind him and checked to make sure he was alone.
Then he sunk down to the door.
He wasn’t going to cry.
He wasn’t going to cry.
He didn’t like crying.
He didn’t want to be more vulnerable than he already felt.
If he cried, then fate won, and he had already given it so many victories. It had succeeded in stealing his father for long business trips. It had succeeded in dragging George and his family across an ocean, away from everything they knew and loved. It had succeeded in isolating him from his friends. It recruited Dream to mock him even more. And finally, fate’s most recent stunt, the cruellest prank it could ever pull. It had tied George and Dream together with a soul bond. The thing that was supposed to be the brightest light and source of joy in his life. A bond that meant George could never hurt Dream for all the things he did.
And what did George do to deserve any of this? He was a good student, he never bullied anyone, he did his best to help his mum cope with moving away from their friends and family. And yet somehow that meant fate was allowed to treat his life like some joke?
George frowned. “Oh haha, wouldn’t it be so funny if we made George’s soulmate Dream?” He said bitterly in a silly voice. “He hates him so much! Wouldn’t it be funny if we made it so they can’t hurt each other? He’s been through so much already, wouldn’t it be funny if we added another thing to make his life hell?”
He shook his head. “What, did fate think that I would fall hopelessly in love with Dream on the spot?” he said sarcastically.
George sighed and pulled himself up off the tiles of the bathroom floor and looked at his reflection in the dirty school mirror. There he was. Fate’s comedy skit. The soulmate he couldn’t stand was the punchline. Discovered through a punch that would never hurt him.
He smiled bitterly at himself. He didn’t know why. Maybe he was just too sick of life at this point to cry about it.
On his way back, the computer science classroom school was dismissed for the day. All the doors on that hallway opened and students flooded from their own classrooms and swept down to the exit. George was caught in the current, trying to fight his way up the stream of teenagers to collect his bag and books that he had left behind. He tensed every time he someone addressed him or spoke about him.
“Hey George!” said the kid who always helped people after he finished his own work.
“Hey Dream’s soulmate!” Someone jeered.
“I’m so jealous that your Dream’s soulmate.” Said some random girl.
“Sup George!” Said someone George had never spoken to.
“Hey, isn’t that Dream’s soulmate?”
“That guy punched Dream today and it didn’t hurt him, are they soulmates?!”
If George heard the words ‘Dream’ or ‘soulmate’ one more time then the quarterback wasn’t going to be the only person George punched that day.
At last George reached the end of the crowd. He heaved a sigh of relief as the computer science classroom came into view.
And then Dream walked out, holding his school bag. When he noticed George Dream gave a small smile.
George glared at him and held out his hand for his school bag. “Hand it over.”
“Can we talk first?”
“No.”
‘Please?”
“NO, Dream.” George growled. “Give it!”
“Look, George, I just wanna- “
“Give. It!” George shouted. “You don’t get to mess with me everyday since I’ve come here, mock me in front of the entire school, make my life miserable and then ask to talk!” he snatched his school bag from Dream’s hand. “I don’t care that we’re soulmates! I want nothing to do with you. I wanna graduate from this bloody school and go back to England where all my friends and family are! I wanna forget that I ever had to come to this hell hole. I wanna forget you Dream!”
Dream’s expression started to change from a soft smile to an expression of hurt. But that didn’t stop George from continuing. If he couldn’t hurt Dream with fists, he’ll hurt him with words instead.
“So we can’t hurt each other, so what? That doesn’t have to mean anything! We’ll finish school and I’ll go back to England. You can do whatever you want here, and I’ll do whatever I want there.” George slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Just please leave me alone.”
And with that, George turned his back on the quarter back and followed the rest of the school out into the carparks and started to walk home.