Mark My Words || DNF Soulmate AU

Chapter 4

Dream asks the question so softly it makes George want to cry.

He thinks he might be going crazy.

"I... I don't know. I don't think so?" George says, then a little later, "Maybe."

He continues on before Dream can cut in again.

"Honestly I don't even know, something has just been biting at me lately and I don't know why that is," he frowns at his soulmark, then laughs nervously, "You make it sound so serious. I'm just being moody."

Dream doesn't buy it, "It's okay to be anxious about these things, ya know? We all get nervous sometimes."

"Yeah, I know," George dismisses, "But it's fine. I was just in a silly goofy mood."

Dream chuckles a little at the joke, and maybe he hears the way George closes up, so he makes way for another conversation topic. George keeps up for as long as he can and talks for as much as he's able to manage before he feels himself slipping away again.

For some reason, his soulmark has been making him think a lot lately.

Every person has a soulmate and a soulmark to help them find that soulmate. A pair of soulmates share identical soulmarks somewhere on their bodies which are unique to them and them only. The placement of the soulmark is random, and some people have the unfortunate opportunity of living with soulmarks in strange places.

George has heard about people having soulmarks on their scalps, which required either some shaving or just a whole lot of obscure visions between hundreds of strands of hair and a heap of trust from the other partner.

He's also heard of people having soulmarks on more intimate places, which makes him wonder about their situations and think about whether his own soulmate has an unfortunate soulmark placement or not. He tries not to think too hard about it though, the topic has always made him go redder than he ought to. He prefers to fill his brain with other things. Like Minecraft, like getting more followers and subscribers, like his friends, like his soulmate.

Ever since his youth he had wondered lots about the person. What they looked like, where their soulmark was, what their personality was like, how would they interact with George. He tries not to go into detail on any of these things, for fear of being let down when the time comes. He simply stares at his soulmark and thinks and hopes that'd be enough to satiate his curiosity.

They would be soulmates though. Soulmates don't disappoint.

He slowly re-focuses on Dream's voice as it fills the space around his ears. Shoot, he's completely missed the past five minutes of what Dream was talking about. Guiltily, George listens and tries to catch on to any details to fill himself in. A few minutes later, he has slotted himself back into the conversation smoothly. Dream doesn't suspect a thing. Mission accomplished, George thinks smugly.

Then Dream's laughing that quiet wheeze he does when he's very amused.

"You zoned out for a good five minutes there," Dream says, voice wobbly from trying not to laugh, "I was talking about, like, giant neon burgers and you didn't even react."

Heat shoots up George's spine and explodes in his head, and he rushes to apologize.

"Sorry, sorry," George rubs at the nape of his neck awkwardly, "I was just a little..."

"Distracted?" Dream finishes for him, "Like you said you've been lately."

He's got that stupid softness in his voice again and George doesn't think he can deal with it today.

"It's literally nothing," George continues to deny, despite feeling like he's probably wrong, "Stop overthinking."

He doesn't know if he says that to Dream or himself.

"Fine, whatever you say," Dream shifts around and George can hear the sound of fabric rustling around.

"Are you in bed?" He asks incredulously.

"Yup, moved when you had that little moment of distraction," Dream teases.

"Ugh," George complains as another wave of embarrassment makes him bury his face in his hands, "You're the worst."

And then they pick up the conversation like it had never been dropped. George allows himself to finally stop clouding his brain with thoughts even he doesn't quite understand and focuses on the rise and fall of Dream's voice. Maybe it's because he's tired, but there's a certain texture to it that makes it so listenable, for lack of a better word. He does everything to keep Dream talking.

Finally, when hours fly by and George feels his eyelids drooping without warning, he yawns.

"Okay, I think I'm gonna go," he says when the conversation lulls to a close, "I'll text you about that idea later and we can talk then."

"Cool," Dream replies, "Yeah I think the viewers will like it, as long as you do it correctly."

"Of course I'll do it correctly," George rolls his eyes, "You can hang up now."

He gets up out of his seat to grab some water and waits for the indicative noise that Discord produces when a call ends. No sound comes after a while he looks back at his computer curiously.

Dream is still on the call.

"Dream?"

"I... I know we don't, um," there's a pause here, like Dream isn't sure how he wants to keep going, "We don't talk a lot about soulmarks and stuff, but you know you can come to me with anything, right?"

"Yeah?" George walks back to the computer, and sits down.

"Yeah," there's a certainty in Dream's voice that makes a soft smile emerge on George's tired face.

"Thanks," George says, and a moment later, "You too."

Dream gets it.

"Yeah. Okay," George can hear the smile in Dream's voice, "Bye."

The call ends.

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Kang's Note: Boom, another one. Done. I'm scared now, my finished chapters are running low. Aaaaah please don't give this a lot of attention so I have the motivation to keep going nooooo that would just be the worstttt /joking. Hope you enjoyed! Comment for your neighborhood DNF writer to maintain the motivation to keep writing. See ya! Have a good day!