Uninvited

Chapter Twenty Two|Forced

Dream hummed as he buried his head further into George's embrace, taking a deep breath of the boy's scent and feeling the tension slip from his own shoulders like water over stone.

George chuckled under him as he ran his fingers through Dream's hair, hearing the boy purr under his fingers.

They were in his room, just curled up together on the couch, George using one hand to pet the demon and another to hold his phone and scroll through Twitter absentmindedly.

Suddenly, though, Dream sat up, throwing George's arms off of him and accidentally giving George whiplash. One second the demon was there and the next, his closet door was closing. He heard a knock at his bedroom door, hurrying to act natural.

"George?" George made an exaggerated humming noise in response, scrolling through his feed as his dad walked in, looking around his room.

The only noticeable thing was that there were a bit more articles of clothing on the floor than usual, thank whatever's up there. If there had been a pair of mugs of tea that were still warm, or a green shoe sticking out from somewhere (George doesn't really own anything green), it would've been a dead giveaway.

"Your mother and I are going out for dinner tonight, and you're coming with us." George grit his teeth, freezing in his scrolling.

Any time his parents had a bad day, they had a habit of making him do things he didn't want to. After all, if he fought back, it would give them someone to berate; a scapegoat for them to take out their frustration on.

Recently, George hadn't been giving them the chance. He'd been bending over backward to avoid it. He didn't want Dream to see the absolute shit relationship he had with his parents.

"Sure, just let me get ready first." George stood up in his basketball shorts and an oversized tee, Dream's shirt George realized a second too late. Thank whatever's up there, his father just raised an eyebrow at him as the large shirt collar exposed some of the expanse of his neck.

"Hurry up, we're leaving in ten minutes." George really wanted to take a shower, but he guessed that was out of the question. And with that, his father left the room and George let out a sigh of relief. Dream waited for a moment before slipping out of the closet, his face twisted in distaste.

George had already changed into a pair of jeans, and he was putting on deodorant while he used his free hand to awkwardly check his closet for something to wear that his parents wouldn't nitpick about.

In the end, he pulled on a solid blue-grey V neck tee, and Dream would compliment the way his arms looked in that shirt if he agreed with this whole situation, but he just didn't.

"Why did you say yes? You obviously don't want to go." Dream asked, watching as George pulled on a pair of socks and black Nikes.

"Because if I didn't, we would've just started yelling at one another," George answered as he started to lace up the shoes.

"So?" Dream asked as he stepped in front of George, who was heading to the bedroom door. The boy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose like a frustrated parent, his brows drawn.

"I would rather you not have to hear that," George answered as he looked back up at Dream, a forced smile on his face. Dream sighed, leaning down and wrapping George up in a hug.

George was frozen for a moment before he hugged back, rubbing the younger boy's back in small circles. Eventually, Dream pulled back, stepping away from the door so George could leave.

George sighed as he left, and Dream closed the door behind him, going over to the window they had in the upstairs TV room. He watched as George and his parents piled into the car, watched as they pulled out of the driveway.

For some reason, Dream couldn't shake the feeling that he'd made a huge mistake.