after you, blue || dreamnotfound

five

George

The smell of burning pancakes was what woke George up. George groaned in frustration. Who the hell was making pancakes? George slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes ferociously. He turned his head to check the clock that rested on his nightstand. 8:15. Wednesday, September. George frowned, confusion clearly written on his face.

"Mom?" George called out sleepily. "I thought you were going to sleep in till 10."

No response.

"Mom?" George tried again. The stench of burning pancakes only grew thicker. Suddenly, a terrified yell came from the kitchen.

"STOP BURNING, YOU FUCKING PANCAKES, I NEED TO FEED GEORGE."

Um. Dream? George huffed and slid out of bed quickly. He combed a hand through his hair, and quickly changed into something more comfortable, before pattering down the stairs into the kitchen. What greeted his eyes was an absolute mess. The cupboards were all half open and burned pancakes were littered all over the table.

"What the hell Dream?" George yelped, looking up to meet his eyes. "What are you doing and why are you STILL HERE?"

Dream chuckled nervously, before slowly inching to the left, covering up the burnt pancakes. George raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"Well, you're taking a day off for school today so I thought I could help you feel better."

"Yeah, I'm taking a day off," George stated, staring dead into Dream's eyes. He hated that he had to look up to meet Dream's gaze. "I'm resting. Not you. I'm the burden, so you should go bother someone else. Why are you here anyways?"

"Because I care ab- Because I have nothing better to do. We- kind of uh- fell.. asleep—yesterday. Togther. Your mom let me stay for a day," Dream shot back, covering his face because of who knows what. "Besides, my attendance record isn't great anyways. What's a few absent days gonna do. Make it worse?"

"That's exactly what it's going to do," George said, lightly shoving Dream to the side. He allowed his gaze to linger for a few seconds before peeling it away from Dream. "Here. I'm making the pancakes. You go sit there and look pretty for the camera."

"You think I look pretty?" Dream smirked.

"Shut up!"

Dream stalked over to the table and chairs, silently watching as George poured pancake batter onto the heated pan.

"So what's the plan?" George looked back at Dream. "I just sit at home moping?"

"No," Dream interjected. "You sit at home moping, Dream shows up, then you stop moping because we have lots of fun together."

George couldn't hold back his giggle. "Ok, sure."

"Actually, I was going to take you to the flower gardens," Dream grinned. "So you could make maybe me a flower crown."

George scoffed, turning back to the pancakes. "In your dreams."

"Well you see, that statement doesn't work here," Dream says proudly. "I am Dream."

George fought back another giggle, and rolled his eyes. He started to plate the pancakes. A heavy silence hung between them as George brought the plates of steaming pancakes to the table. He sat the pancakes down on the table, and handed Dream a fork.

"Thanks George," Dream said with a taunting smile. "Oh, what would I do without you."

George knew Dream was just mocking. And even though George tried his hardest not to admit it. He just couldn't help but hope at least a fraction of those words were real.