HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DREAM WOOOOO

you know what this calls for? ANOTHER CHAPTER AYYYYYYY

*ahem* enjoy

TW: anxiety

Previously...

Once both of us are in bed, George cuddles into my side, and I wrap my arms around him. The covers are kicked down to the end of the bed on my side, while George has a blanket partially covering him, even in this heat.

We cling onto each other, wrapped in each other's arms. It's quite comfortable, and I fall asleep to the sound of George's soft snores.

George's P.O.V.

I wake up feeling cold. Something was missing.

"Dream?" I slur sleepily, rubbing my eyes and sitting up. I don't see him anywhere.

"Dream?" I call again, walking down the stairs. The kitchen is empty. I can hear noise coming from the living room, though, so I check in there.

The tv is on, and Dream is sitting on the couch, quietly watching some random show. He must've heard me come in, because he looks up and smiles.

"Hey, sleepy head." Snorting playfully, I sit down next to him, shaking my head.

"Happy birthday, idiot." Dream gasps in mock offense, putting his hand over his chest dramatically.

"George! That's not my name!"

"Well, you're an idiot, so-"

"Pleaseeeeee? For my birthday?" Sighing, I lean against his shoulder, smiling.

"Happy birthday, Clay," I say softly. Dream raises his eyebrows, tilting his head in thought.

"Huh. I think that's the first time I've heard you call me that." I nod, humming in agreement. "In person," he adds at the end.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I like it."

"So... am I supposed to call you Clay then, or..." Dream lets out a chuckle, shrugging.

"You can call me whatever you want."

"Good. I like 'idiot' the best," I smirk, pushing a hand against his chest to get up.

"Geooooorrrrggggeeee!" Dream whines, getting up and following me into the kitchen. He drapes his arms over my shoulders from behind, head resting on my shoulder. I look at him, seeing a pouty face.

"Dream, I'm trying to get the cake, move," I grumble, feeling him back off so I could get into the fridge and grab the pan of batter.

"I'll preheat the oven," Dream murmurs, pressing a few buttons on the oven. "It'll beep when it's ready." I nod, setting the batter down.

"What do you want to do?" I ask, turning back to the blond. Dream shrugs, grinning.

"Spend time with my favorite person."

"...Me?" I wonder, smiling shyly.

"No, Sapnap." My smile drops for a moment, before Dream continues. "Of course it's you! Let's go watch something." I nod, both of us heading to the living room to watch tv. We sit down, before I let out something that had been nagging at my brain.

"How is Sapnap, anyway?" I question, voice barely above a whisper. Dream looks at me, eyebrows raised.

"He's been good. I talked to him this morning, actually. He asked about you."

"What did you tell him?"

"Not much. Just that you were with me," Dream explains. I nod, sighing.

"I'm going to have to tell him eventually," I mumble, fidgeting with my hands. A gentle hand stops my fidgeting, Dream smiling at me with sympathy in his eyes.

"Look, George, you don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to. I certainly won't say anything, especially if you don't want people to know. It's entirely up to you." I know his words are true, but I can't help but feel like I owe at least some explanation for me disappearing for months on end.

"Hey." I look back up, feeling him grab both my hands. "It's ok. Sapnap is good, everyone is doing alright. They all miss you, but you don't have to do anything until you're ready to get back out there, ok?" I let out a long, shaky breath, leaning into Dream's chest.

"Can we please just cuddle for now?" I mumble. Dream wraps his arms around me, moving us both so he was laying across the couch, me on top of him. With a sigh, I rest my head against his chest, feeling his steady- if a bit quick- heartbeat.

"Are you nervous?" I ask bluntly, watching his expression turn to one of surprise.

"What?"

"Are you nervous? Do I make you nervous?" Dream hesitates for a moment, before the oven beeps.

"Oh, look at that, time to put the cake in the oven!" He sits up, and I let him leave to put the cake in the oven. When he returns, he's quieter than usual.

"Dream. Answer the question. Please?" I add, looking at him with puppy eyes. Sighing, Dream lays back down, letting me crawl back into my spot.

"Yeah, George. Maybe? I dunno." I hum in acknowledgment, nodding slowly.

"So that's a yes?" I grin, getting closer to him.

"I said maybe-!" Dream cuts himself off with a quiet squeak of surprise. I'm pulling away from giving him a quick peck on the nose, smiling shyly.

I've never seen him so flustered before.

I lay my head back down on his chest like nothing had happened. Truth is, my heart was pounding, and my face was probably just as red as Dream's. I felt a rush of exhilaration, confirming in my head that this was something I wanted. Maybe not yet, but someday, absolutely.

~

We laid together for awhile, completely silent, before the oven alarm went off.

"Huh?" I mumble sleepily, sitting up and off of Dream.

"The cake!" He jumped up, running to stop the beeping. I followed him into the kitchen eagerly, watching as he pulled the cake out of the oven, large mitts covering his hands. It was weird, seeing Dream wearing oven mitts, and I couldn't help but let out a giggle.

"What are you laughing at?" He asked teasingly, smiling.

"Nothing! How's the cake?" I switch subjects quickly, getting on one of the chairs at the counter.

"It looks good, I think." Dream is inspecting the pastry from all sides, nodding in approval. "Needs frosting, though." I nod in agreement. "I have some in the pantry, I think, just give me a minute." I sit at the counter with the cake, feeling slightly proud that we had managed to make a decent looking cake amidst our food fight.

"Got it!" Dream yells triumphantly, holding a container above his head. "It's chocolate!"

"It'll be good with the vanilla cake," I point out. Dream nods eagerly, opening the container and immediately sticking his finger in to get some frosting.

"Mmm!"

"Dream!" I whine, grabbing the container. "We need to have enough for the cake!" He waves me off, nodding.

"Yeah, yeah, it'll be fine! Here!" He hands me a butter knife, both of us spreading the chocolate frosting over the cake.

Dream was licking the frosting off his knife, trying to find any bits of frosting left in the container. I stared at the now-frosted cake, a distasteful look on my face.

"It looks horrible," I comment, Dream pausing for a moment to look at our cake. He just shrugged, going back to licking the knife.

"It'll taste good, though," he pointed out. "Probably."

"That's convincing." The cake really did look horrible. It had already been slightly lumpy and uneven before the frosting, but now there were big globs of frosting on some parts of the cake, and barely any on other parts. Dream had probably eaten half of the container of frosting, leaving the cake with an uneven coating.

Sighing, I spread some of the globs out, making it look a little more even. Whatever.

"Here, you can have this." I hand Dream the butter knife, which he is quick to accept.

"Thanks!" I can't help but smile at him, happily enjoying the frosting.

"Yeah, yeah. Do you have any candles?" I question. Dream nods, holding the butter knife in between his teeth while he searches through a random drawer.

He drops a handful of random birthday candles on the counter, all mismatched and half burnt. I shrug, grabbing the best looking candles to put on the cake. I can feel Dream's eyes on me, but I ignore it, carefully placing each candle.

"George, I know you're colorblind, but I don't think I'm turning 17," he giggles.

"There's not enough candles!" I exclaim in defense, trying not to laugh at his stupid joke.

"There's more right here!" Dream points at the tiniest candle stub I've ever seen in my life, just a burnt out piece of wax.

"I don't think I can even call that a candle anymore. Which side even goes up? I don't see the string thingy!" By now, I'm laughing along with him, making fun of this well used candle. "Why- why did you even keep that!?"

"I don't know!" Dream wheezes, pounding his fist on the table. I can see tears in his eyes from how hard he's laughing.

"Breathe, you idiot!" I exclaim, nearly in tears myself. It wasn't even that funny, but being with Dream just made everything feel 100 times funnier. Especially when he wheezed, his face would get all red and his eyes would squint from how much he's smiling.

"I'm good! I'm good!" Dream reassures, finally starting to calm down from his wheezing fit. Eventually, all that's left is a few quiet giggles.

"Here, let's light the candles." Dream gets out a lighter, lighting each candle. I watch the dancing flames, questioning the whole tradition.

"Why do we even do this, anyways? Light candles only to blow them out right after?" I wonder aloud.

"No need to get philosophical on me, Georgie," Dream smiles, setting the lighter to the side. "So..."

"So?" I tilt my head, waiting for him to finish.

"Aren't you gonna sing happy birthday?"

"I- what?" I feel my face heat up, and it's not just the candles. Dream is smirking at me, looking all smug.

"No?"

"Um..." I look away, biting my lip nervously.

"George, it's ok, I don't expect you to sing-"

"Happy birthday dear Clay~" I sang quietly, not bothering with the rest. Looking back up, I'm met with a very shocked Dream.

"George- you- you actually- I-" he stuttered, completely at a loss for words.

"Shut up and make your wish already," I mumble, watching as he nodded, closed his eyes for a moment, and then blew out all his candles.

"Happy 22nd birthday, Dream."

It feels dumb again 😓

But also idk cause it was cute??? Whatever uhhhh that was a really long chapter (almost as long as my d-)

*coughs* right, uh... follow me and I'll set up a story vote, I'll explain it all on the announcement later ok? Follow me to make sure you get notified cause I'm very hectic with posting schedules and it could literally be out at any time 😩🖐