Chapter Text
With a sip of coffee, George carefully got to work on his computer, trying to drown out the noise of the party from downstairs. Of course his roommate Dream had to have one when he was trying to work - that too on a weekday.
The two were forced to live together until one of them could move out and find another place to stay. They didn’t hate each other but they often got into fights about dumb things, arguing about who was the worst roommate (“Like an old married couple,” Dream’s friend Sapnap from college would say, “Y’all would both be equally insufferable to live with.”) George was trying desperately to save up for a new place with his coding job so he could finally escape Dream. It seemed like they were both equally looking forward to that. (Well, at least they agreed on something.)
He was about to type another line of code when a fast song started playing, and he lost his train of thought. Groaning in frustration, he headed towards the staircase and caught sight of Dream chatting with some girl.
"Hey, Dream! Can you turn the music down, I'm trying to work!" George shouted.
"What? Sorry, can't hear you!" Dream said smugly, brushing the girl's hair out of her face. She giggled, and George rolled his eyes.
"I said turn down the music! But you must've heard 'keep flirting and ignore everything I'm saying'!" George remarked.
"Alright, alright! Calm down, I've got it," Dream said, reaching for the speakers. It was only slightly quieter than before, but George really didn't want to hurt his voice by yelling at him again, and went back upstairs.
George thought of going back to the office, but he knew there would be no use trying to concentrate with the racket downstairs. So he decided to just try and get some sleep.
As he approached the bedrooms, he heard some noises outside, which sounded like people snoring. Guess some people are staying overnight, George thought, but had to stifle a scream when he opened his door. He was met with the sight of a couple tangled together under the sheets, sleeping in his bed.
George closed the door in frustration, sitting outside his room. It was one thing for Dream to hold a party when he was working, but on top of that, now he'd let some couple end up in George's room without his permission?
Dream had really gone too far this time.
-
"Dream! How many times have I told you, when you have parties, don’t let people in my room!" George yelled.
"Come on, it wasn't even my fault!" Dream shot back. "Those people stumbled in there all drunk and shit! How was I supposed to know they were gonna crash there last night?"
Another day, another argument. No matter what, Dream and George would always find something new to fight about. And George definitely wasn't happy after spending the night on a couch - that too, the uncomfortable one in his office, because practically every spot in the living room was occupied by people from the party. (And Dream certainly hadn't made any effort to move anyone in his drunk state.)
"Doesn't matter! I asked one thing of you and that was to keep people out of my room! How hard is that?"
"There were twenty people in the place! You seriously expect me to be able to keep track of everyone?"
"Well, it was your party, and you decided to have twenty people here," George scoffed. "This has to stop. I can't have you throwing parties when I'm working. Seriously! I barely got anything done last night because of you!"
Dream didn't have a comeback, so he just angrily picked up his hoodie from the floor. "And for fuck's sake, stop stealing my clothes!" He stormed out of George's room, leaving the other fuming behind him.
George sighed in annoyance. His roommate was practically the most irritating person in his life. Well, at least he was only here on a temporary basis. As soon as he got the chance to move out, he'd take it immediately - he just needed more money.
He attempted to clean up his room - the couple had just slept there but left the place in an absolute state. (George would have absolutely blown a fuse if a random couple from Dream's party had sex in his bed.)
As he re-adjusted the bed sheets, he realized his alarm clock was missing, and went downstairs to look for it.
“Hey, Dream? Have you seen my alarm clock?”
“No,” Dream said, unhelpfully. “And before you say it, I highly doubt that the couple stole it,” he snorted. George rolled his eyes at the snarky response.
He was about to go back upstairs, but stopped cold when he heard some soft noises coming from outside.
It sounded like an animal... a cat?
He heard it again. No... the cat is younger. Maybe it's a kitten?
George rushed to the window to see the strangest sight - a tiny kitten, no bigger than the palm of his hand, was on their doorstep and looking more lost than ever. His jaw dropped in shock.
"Uh, Dream? It seems like we have a problem here..." George said worriedly. The kitten was all alone, no sight of an owner or mother cat anywhere.
He heard Dream give an irritated sigh as he came down the stairs. "Look, if it's about the alarm clock, I swear that the couple didn’t steal it, and I’ll look for it later but not right now since I-”
Dream gasped when he saw the tiny kitten outside, and his whole face lit up. "Oh my god, it's a kitten!" he squealed. George raised an eyebrow.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Open the door," Dream said eagerly.
“Um… okay.” George released the lock and pushed the door open, and Dream immediately ran out and scooped the kitten into his arms.
“Aw, you poor little thing,” Dream cooed, petting her gently. “Why are you out here all alone, huh?”
George blinked in surprise, watching Dream handle the kitten. He was used to Dream being all cold and annoying, and didn't know he had a thing for animals. It almost made him a little more bearable - almost.
“Oh, thank god it’s not too cold outside, that would’ve been dangerous for her,” Dream said. “Hey, can you hold her for a minute? I just gotta check something.”
“I-” Before George could respond, Dream handed him the kitten and began looking in the bushes. She felt so tiny and vulnerable in George’s hands, her innocent blue eyes gazing up at George expectantly.
However, George got distracted by Dream continuing to look around, making a bit of a mess in their front yard. George gave him a confused look.
"Uh, Dream? What are you doing? Looking for a pot of gold in there?" George said sarcastically.
Dream rolled his eyes. "No, idiot. I'm looking for her mother. If the mom is there, it's really important to keep them together, especially when the kitten is so young."
George was surprised about Dream's prior cat knowledge, but nodded. “Oh… right.”
Dream smiled. “My older sister fosters kittens, and I sometimes go to her place to help her out a bit. I ended up learning a lot in the process.”
“That’s, uh… that’s nice, actually.” George smiled back.
The kitten interrupted them with a soft meow.
“Oh, she must be hungry,” George realized. “But what do we give her? I guess we have some milk in the fridge…”
“No, we can’t,” Dream said. “Cat’s can’t drink cow milk, and small kittens can only drink kitten formula.”
“Kitten formula?” George asked. “Is that like baby formula?”
“Kind of, yes. But we don’t have any, so we’d better take her to the vet to get her checked out, they’ll probably give us some. There’s one just a few minutes away if we walk. Can you find her a blanket to wrap her in while I call them? I don’t have a carrier.”
“Wait, we’re going now? But- ” Before George could answer, the vet picked up and Dream started talking. So he just went inside to find the blanket.
As George scoured the pile of blankets in the living room, he wondered how on earth the kitten had ended up on their doorstep of all places. He realized he was probably the last person to be trusted with looking after a small kitten - the pets he’d had growing up were almost entirely looked after by his siblings, with him maybe occasionally filling their food bowls. I am not prepared for this, he thought. At least Dream knew a thing or two about it, but that involved (shudder) working together with him. Wonderful.
George decided it was probably best if the vet found a different place for the kitten, that way he wouldn’t have to worry about struggling to look after a small animal but also he could avoid having to communicate with Dream. It’ll be fine. They’ll see the vet, get the kitten assessed and find another carer for her. Problem solved.
He returned outside to see Dream was off the phone. “I found a blanket,” he said, and Dream looked up.
“Nice, give her to me,” Dream said, gently wrapping her in the blanket. “The vet said luckily they’re not busy today, so we can just go straight there.”
“Oh, that’s good,” George said, watching as the kitten burrowed into the blanket and fell asleep.
“Well, she’s a cute one, I’ll give her that,” George said, and the two of them smiled.
“Yeah, Patches is adorable,” Dream said, petting her. George just rolled his eyes.
"You named her already?"
"You bet I did," Dream said. "Suits her, doesn't it?"
George sighed and shook his head. "Dream, no. If you name her, then you'll get attached to her. And we're not keeping her.”
Dream cheekily raised an eyebrow. "Who says?"