Streaks of morning sunlight drifted their way through the kitchen window's blinds, light reaching the floor and warming the tile under George's bare feet as he made his way towards the coffee machine. A yawn stretched his mouth open wide, his entire body following its lead as he stood up on the tips of his toes and sent his arms out. Stretching first thing after waking up was always such a nice feeling, George thought to himself as his heels returned to the ground and his arms reached out to work on preparing his coffee. While the pot was being made George turned around to rest his lower back against the counter top, arms leaning back to hold himself up.

George felt like having a lazy morning today. His mind was still decently hazy from sleep-but the good kind of hazy, not the gross feeling you get when you're woken before you're ready-and having a fresh cup of coffee and scrolling through Twitter seemed like the best way to spend his first few hours of the day. George cast his gaze towards the living room couch he would probably be sitting at for the next few hours only to be met with a very unexpected sight.

A pair of legs greeted George at eye level, moving across the living room slowly. He blinked his eyes, wondering if maybe he was still asleep this entire time. It wouldn't be much of a surprise, George couldn't remember his last peaceful morning like this. Of course it would be just a dream. Except, the warm rays of sun hitting the back of his sleep shirt and the cool feeling of countertop beneath his fingertips fer entirely too convincing to be made up by his brain. Things clicked into place a moment later when the legs fell gracefully towards the ground, feet touching the living room's rug and a torso lifting up to replace it.

Of course, George sighed, blaming his still sleep-hazy brain for being so behind this morning. It was just his stupid gymnast roommate, pulling stupid stunts entirely too early in the morning.

"What are you doing?" George frowned, turning away for a moment to pour the now fully made coffee into his mug. When he turned back and took a sip the coffee burnt his tongue slightly. Dream grinned at him from the living room, making his way towards the kitchen and shrugging his shoulders, taking the pot of coffee from beside George to make his own cup.

"Walking on my hands," he said simply, waiting for longer than George had before drinking from his own mug.

"I mean, I saw that. Why did you decide that-"George paused his sentence to glance at the digital green letters on the stovetop. "Seven in the morning was the best time for that?"

"Well, why not?" Dream asked, grin not once slipping from his lips, even as he sips from his now cool enough mug.

George simply sighs, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. "It's too early for this."

"Aw, c'mon now," Dream says, voice dripping with honey. "I bet if you could do a handstand you'd take every opportunity you could to show it off too."

"So you were showing off for me, then?" George quirks an eyebrow, a teasing lilt to his tone. "I bet I could do a better handstand than you anyways."

"Oh Georgie, don't fool yourself," Dream placed a hand on George's shoulder, exaggerated frown tugging down his lips. "We all know you don't know how, you don't have to pretend."

"Oh, shut up," George swatted Dream's hand away, setting his mug down and pushing himself off of the counter. "Just watch me."

Truth be told, even though Dream was known to be the gymnast by their friends, George had some experience too. He wasn't very vocal about it, gymnastics ended up just not being his thing, but he had done it for quite a few years and knew more than Dream thought. It had been a while, but George didn't think that would hinder him too much. As he headed for the carpeted floor of the living room, just in case, a plan hatched in his mind to trick Dream. George was going to fail his first attempt at a handstand, and when Dream started to laugh George would cut him off to challenge him to a bet. Being underestimated by Dream, it was sure to be an easy win. He knew that Dream would take the bait-he never turned down a challenge.

Taking a deep breath in George prepared himself to fall, closing his eyes for a moment as he considered how best to make this fall look convincing without truly falling and hurting himself. Setting his hands on the ground, arms shaking already, George slowly starting to shift his weight forwards and onto them.

"Hey George, maybe you shouldn't-" Dream started to say, but George had already thrown the rest of his weight forwards into his hands.

George stayed on his hands for barely even a second before he came crashing back down again, landing heavily on his knees and grunting at the pain. He expected to hear laughter from Dream at any second, but none came.

"Are you okay?" Dream asked, hand coming to rest on George's shoulder softly. George looked up at him, blinking slowly. This was not going at all according to his plan, and Dream's soft gaze was making his mind totally blank.

"I, uh-yes, yeah. I'm fine, Dream." George spluttered, turning away from Dream's soft yellow eyes.

"I can do it," George muttered a moment later, deciding to let go of his lie now that Dream had given an entirely different reaction than expected. George started to go back into position, both hands and feet on the ground ready to try again, but a warm hand planted on his back stopped him.

"Hold on, George. I don't want you to get hurt," Dream said. "I can try to teach you, if you really want to do it."

"Teach me?" George asked, almost breaking into a laugh. He probably knew just as much as Dream did, but something stopped him from saying so. Maybe it was the hand on his back that hadn't left even when he pushed himself back up onto his legs, or the gentle way Dream was treating him right now, but regardless George waited to hear Dream out.

"Yeah, I could show you how to do a handstand. It's not too hard, it's easier when you start on the wall." Dream explained himself, and George followed along with every word. Soon enough he found himself standing by an empty wall of the living room, Dream standing right next to him and detailing exactly what to do.

"Pay attention to your hands," Dream advised, reaching out and taking George's hand closest to him into his own. One hand cradled the bottom of his hand as the other traces a finger the spot just below his fingers at the top of his palm. "Try and put more weight on this part of your hand. It'll help with balancing."

"Right," George swallowed down a lump that had lodged itself in his throat, already missing the featherlight touch across his palm as Dream pulled his hands back. He definitely didn't need to show George that way, did he? There must have been another way that didn't feel quite so... intimate. Not that George hated the way Dream's hand felt around his own, though.

Dream continued to guide George into a position in front of the wall, hands on the ground far enough from the wall that he wouldn't run into it when kicking up into his handstand, but close enough to have the solid support. Once George was the correct distance from it Dream tapped his right side twice, and George felt electricity drift through every nerve ending in the area, face already red despite the fact George hadn't even turned upside down once.

"Use this leg to kick up and against the wall, okay?" Dream instructed and George nodded despite his head being tucked away from view. He was thankful for this, it meant Dream wouldn't see the bright coloring in his cheeks.

When Dream stepped back George kicked his leg up, foot rising into the air until it met with the wall, making a dull thud sound. George didn't even think about the fact that he was supposed to seem like he didn't know what he was doing here. He didn't really need to-years of no practice had really dampened his ability to hold a handstand for long. His arms wobbled beneath him and he threatened to topple over yet again, inhaling sharply and bracing for an impact that never came.

A pair of hands had found themselves around his waist, catching him and lowering him ever so gently down until feet met solid ground once more. They lingered only for a moment before pulling back sharply.

"Sorry," Dream said quickly, hands shoved behind his back. "Just didn't want you to fall."

"It's fine," George shrugged, fully standing up now. Looking up into Dream's eyes George cursed his genetics not for the first time for making him short and colorblind, wishing to meet Dream's eyes better and see their true green color. Although, George thought as his eyes darted anywhere else around the room, not wanting to be caught staring for too long, even if they came across as a bit more of a yellow color to George, Dream's eyes were still perfect.

Dream's teaching continued throughout the rest of the morning, and despite not being quite what he had planned, George really enjoyed the time spent with his roommate. He had expected after that morning though, for it to never be brought up again. He figured it would just be another moment for George to think back on when he would lie awake in bed with visions of the taller, green-eyed man playing on repeat in his brain. He was surprised to find that Dream kept offering to teach him more and more, from mastering his handstand on the wall and off, to doing cartwheels in the back garden in the early morning. This usually ended in George collapsing in the grass in exhaustion while Dream's wheezy laugh rang out above him, putting a grin on George's face despite the struggles he faced while doing cartwheels.

Throughout all of his teachings the small touches never stopped. In fact, they became more and more frequent and much less subtle as time went by. George, who was barely used to getting hugs from his friends, was absolutely adoring the human contact, especially when it was coming from Dream. When George let his mind wander at night he still did think of their lessons, imagining that the touches weren't quite as platonically intended as he knew they were, imagining what it would be like if Dream's hands around his waist were because he wanted to put them there, to hold him, rather than just steadying him that way when he stumbled.

He imagined that Dream loved him, not stopping to think about what this meant for his own feelings towards his best friend.