i miss the rain // dnf

decisions

We all walk back into the court room, sitting down after the judge has sat down. I take a deep breath as they all do their talking before the jury comes back out. I'm holding George's hand over my shoulder, his thumb rubbing the back of my hand for comfort. It's been an hour, which is either a good or bad thing. When it takes that short amount of time, it can mean the worst or the best. I take a deep breath as the judge addresses me.

"Dream, please stand." The judge looks at me and I stand with my lawyer. I adjust my hand to were I am holding George's hand from behind, squeezing it like I am about to break it. 

"We, the jury, have decided, for all counts against him, that Dream is not guilty." The spokesperson says for the jury. As soon as I hear 'not guilty', my knees almost give out on me and I break down in tears. George immediately stands, embracing me in a hug. Mia pulls me back because I need to talk to the judge.

"So, Dream. You are found not guilty on all charges against you. We will be in touch with you on how to pay you back for the time that you spent in prison." The judge says and I nod, wiping my tears. "The court is dismissed." As soon as I hear that we were dismissed, I rush around the barrier to embrace George in the biggest hug. Sapnap hugs me and George from the side. All of us are in tears.

-

We pull into the driveway and it feels like we all let out a sigh of relief. I stare at the house in front of us that I haven't seen in months. I was lucky enough that the trial didn't take longer than a day. Some trials like this take months, sometimes years. George turns around in his seat to look at me.

"Hey, are you ready to come back home?" George smiles at me and my focus turns to him, noticing Sapnap is already out of the car. I nod, giving George a smile. I open the car door at the same time George does and we both get out of the car. He takes my hand, leading me to the front door where Sapnap is unlocking it. We walk into the house and I take in the sweet smell of my favorite candles that seemed to have been burned the night before. I look around to see that nothing has changed and the house is clean. I find a soft smile form on my face.

"Get comfortable, idiot." Sapnap chuckles, kicking off his shoes and plopping down on the couch. He turns on the TV to play a movie. I laugh, realizing I'm still in a suit. 

"I think I'm going to go upstairs and change. Maybe shower and then come back down." My smile dies down as I let out a yawn. George has already slipped off his shoes and has headed over to sit next to Sapnap. George looks at me with a small smile and I smile back at him.

"We'll be down here then." Sapnap yawns, turning on an anime that's on Netflix instead of a movie. I head upstairs to my bedroom, opening the door to find it neat, everything in its place. I push off my shoes, take of my suit jacket, and lay down on my bed and letting my body sink into it. I find myself drifting off when I realize I need to shower. I close my eyes, huff, and then sit up to grab things for my shower.

-

I walk down stairs to laughter from my two favorite people. I find my way to the kitchen, the cold floor sending shivers down my spine as my bare feet touch it. I open the fridge when I hear George's laugh find its way into the kitchen. 

"Hey! You're back!" George beams. I turn around, shooting him a small smile. "Don't worry about food, we just ordered pizza. It should be here soon." George finds his way over to me, his lanky arms wrapping around my middle. My arms find their way around his shoulders to hold his small frame. I look down to him looking up at me with a smile. I lean down to kiss his forehead.

"I missed being home." I pause, holding him close. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Dream." George mumbles into my chest, a smile in his voice. I almost don't want to let go of George, but the doorbell rings. George lets go of me to go towards the front door.

"I've got it!" Sapnap shouts from the other room. George turns back around to go back to hugging me. I can't help but smile. I've missed George's touch more than anything in the world. It's hard to remember where we left off before I ended up in prison for about a half a year. We need to talk about where we are now since I know being away for six months didn't really help our relationship. The last place I know we were at was we told each other that we liked each other and we were working on it. And then George told me he loved me and I didn't know what else to say since I didn't know how long I would be in there. Not saying it back probably hurt him a little. Our silent hugging gets interrupted by Sapnap bringing in the pizza that they had ordered. We break apart and Sapnap just looks at me with a small smile and concern. I smile back; nodding to reassure him that I'm okay. I must seem to be dazed and overwhelmed from being home again. All three of us grab plates full of pizza, taking it into the living room to watch a movie. It's nice to be home again with them.

-

I'm laying in my bed, scrolling through all my missed notifications. I have so many that it's almost impossible to even look through. Nobody knew where I was, the boys just told them I needed a break from things. I let out a sigh, turning off my phone, setting it on my side table. I roll onto my back, staring at the ceiling. I can't sleep, even if I try to shut my eyes. I hear a soft knock on my bedroom door, the door opening slightly. 

"Dream?" I hear George's soft voice come from the hallway. I sit up in my bed, furrowing my eyebrows.

"What's up?" I say quietly as he walks in. He sits up on my bed, straddling my legs to sit in my lap. His arms wrap around me and his face is immediately buried in the crevice between my neck and shoulder. I wrap my arms around him tightly. George's breathing becomes uneven as his tears start to soak my t-shirt. This makes me hold him tighter to me; the sounds of his quiet sobs breaking me. I rub his back gently as he slowly calms down. I don't know what all of this is about, but I can understand after I've been away for half a year. Having someone you love be in prison for half a year for something they could have done is heartbreaking. Once George finally starts to calm, he pulls back to look at me. I put my hands on his cheeks, wiping his tears with my thumbs.

"I'm glad you're home." He mumbles, pushing out a small smile. We sit in silence for a little, just looking at each other, taking in every detail like we will never see it again. George takes in a deep breath. "Can we talk about things?" He asks quietly. I just nod, knowing he will want to talk first. "Okay, um. First of all, how are you after all of this? How are you doing? I know how things were before." He looks down and then back up at me, making eye contact. His look is concerned and worrisome.

"I've been better. It's all overwhelming to come back. I've missed this and I've been craving this for months, but it's overwhelming." I pause, wanting to ask him about him saying the L word. George speaks again before I could.

"Take your time, Dream. It's probably not going to be easy." George gives me a small, sympathetic smile. I smile back, deciding to take this opportunity to say something.

"So about what you said..." I trail off, a scared expression washing over his face. I realize this quickly. "No, no, no. It's not bad, I promise." I pause, noticing his expression softens. "I know I didn't say anything after you said it, and that was awful of me. At the time, I didn't know what to say because I didn't know how much longer I would be in there. I didn't want to say it back and then have me be stuck in there for another year not being able to live up to what I said." I pause, noticing George's facial expression becomes more softer, tears welling up in his eyes. "George, I love you. I love you so fucking much and I don't think I could ever stop loving you." George lets a few tears loose, a smile spreading across his face.

"I love you too, Dream."