The Mask - DreamNotFound

A Boy and A Boy

The only time it was acceptable to go outside in Florida was either in the dead of winter, when the rest of the country was draped in a thick blanket of snow and the temperatures in the Sunshine State settled into the low seventies, or early in the morning in summer, before the sun had peeked over the horizon.

That was a philosophy Dream stood by. The heat of a Florida summer was something that he had grown used to after living there his whole life, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it. He preferred the rainy hours, in which the sun retreated behind brooding storm clouds for a little bit, letting the gentle precipitation cool down the scorching heat. The rain would only last for awhile though, since Florida weather was spasmodic and could change from one hour to the next. Sub-tropical climates were like that, he supposed.

Unfortunately, rain didn't seem to be in the forecast that day. Even though the sun wasn't completely up yet, Dream could tell just by the lack of clouds in the sky that it was going to be another hot and humid summer day.

He was on the small balcony attached to his apartment, leaning against the metal railing and watching as pink crawled up the rapidly lightening sky. He clutched a cup of coffee between two shaking hands, occasionally bringing it up to his lips and sipping the bitter liquid. It had cooled down considerably, since it had been nearly two hours since he brewed it, but he kept drinking it, needing something to do with his mouth and hands.

His thoughts buzzed in his head like the cicadas in the trees, and the calm of the early morning did little to ease his anxiety. It was still there, turning his stomach and making him wish he could drown himself in his cup of coffee. He tried to keep his thoughts away from the source of his worrying, but like all intrusive thoughts, it wouldn't let him be.

"We should Skype sometime!" George said randomly, breaking the half-silence of the TeamSpeak call.

Dream blinked, stopping in the act of adjusting part of the thumbnail he was creating. He processed what his friend said, and pulled a face as he replied.

"Why? TeamSpeak has better audio quality, and I can hear you fine, unless there's something going on with it on your end—"

"There's nothing wrong with TeamSpeak!" George insisted. "There's just no video feature."

Dream froze, his stomach dropping. "I don't exactly need to see you while playing Minecraft," he laughed nervously, ignoring how fake it sounded. "That would probably be counterproductive."

"We wouldn't use it while we're making videos," George said, and Dream could practically hear the eye-roll in his voice. "Just when we're chilling. I know we usually just use TeamSpeak for that too but you know... I'd like to match the name to the face sometime," he finished with a small laugh, oblivious to the fact that Dream was suddenly having trouble breathing.

"Um," Dream said, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. "I'm not sure if that'll work."

"Why not?" George asked, bewildered.

"Uh," he scrambled for an explanation, "I don't have Skype on my computer."

There was a beat of silence, during which Dream cursed his stupidity and lack of quick thinking, and George let out a small laugh.

"You do realize you can download it, right? I thought you were the tech genius out of the two of us."

"I am the tech genius," Dream retorted, and George laughed again. "Leave me alone, I'm tired."