Begonias

Chapter Thirty Four|Good Morning

When Dream woke up, he was afraid. He barely kept the scream that was in his throat at bay as he looked around him, seeing that George was blinking awake sluggishly.

When George's eyes landed on him, sweating, eyes darting around the room, muscles tense and twitchy, he knew Clay had had a nightmare.

He got Clay to look into his eyes, and he started to breathe steadily. Clay was quick to catch on as he slowly started to breathe in sync with him, his muscles relaxing as he gazed into George's deep brown eyes.

Dream found himself crying a bit as he suddenly grabbed George, pulling him close. He was relieved, so relieved that George didn't hate him.

George smiled as he hugged back, more gently. Clay was warm and surprisingly boney. Was he this boney the last time he hugged him?

When he was finally able to get it together, Dream pulled away to check the time. It was six-thirty in the morning, they could just get up right now. He smiled sadly at George.

"Sorry about that... I had a Nightmare too, I guess." He apologized, and George's expression softened.

"That's okay, Dream. It happens to the best of us." He said, and Dream couldn't help but thank whatever's up there that he loved someone so caring and awesome.

And then he cursed whatever's up there for giving him a disease that made it even harder to be around them.

He slipped out of bed, George following closely behind, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Dream yawned, and George laughed at him as he yawned too.

"C'mon man, those are as contagious as the virus," George complained, slapping him on the shoulder as he said something about needing to piss, leaving Dream to go downstairs alone.

He was relieved when he saw the living room empty. He went to the fridge, picking through it and deciding on eating some hard salami as a snack.

George came down a minute later after putting his binder on, chuckling a bit at Clay's food choice.

"Breakfast of champions?" He asked, snagging a slice and taking a bite out of it, savoring the flavor.

"Definitely." Clay answered sarcastically, face in a deadpan as he ate another slice in one bite, or more accurately shoved the entire thing in his mouth.

George nearly choked from laughing, kick-starting Clay's laughter as he started wheezing like he always did. George used to find it annoying, but now he found himself basking in the sound.

As the sun started to rise, George dragged Dream out onto the back patio, only for Dream, in turn, to drag the shorter boy back up the stairs and into his room so they could look with the balcony's view.

And when George saw it, his jaw dropped. Dream watched George's face light up as he hummed a song, rubbing circles on George's back.

This was a good morning. He hoped it would lead to a good day.

---

Dream smiled to himself as he wrapped up his stream for the day, glad that he had only had to take a 'bathroom break' twice throughout it, when people kept asking about George.

He had a pretty productive day, having uploaded a video and asked a couple of questions on Twitter and everything. But then he saw a photo going around.

Twitch streamer and YouTuber GeorgeNotFound spotted on a plane Houston bound.

Dream nearly dropped his phone as he saw that George had taken a photo with a ginger-haired kid, while on his flight to Texas, probably. He almost wanted to choke from the fear and anxiety that surged into him.

George probably didn't think before this photo was taken. Dream told himself this as he took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

If they knew that he was in Texas, then it wouldn't be long until they realized he was here to stay.

He trusted George with his life, and he knew that he was almost definitely going to be the one who came up with an idea on how to get the photo deleted, and so Dream sent him the link just as he felt a scratching at the back of his throat.

---

George was a bit shocked as he saw the link Clay had sent to him. For some reason, he hadn't thought about how the photo he took with that kid could be shared, let alone used against him.

This wasn't good. George immediately wrote a complaint, it would probably be taken down in ten minutes or so, but the damages were already done. His feed and Sapnap's too, probably, were filled to the brim with questions about this photo.

He didn't know what to expect next, and he doubted there was anything he could do about this but hope and wait to see how it plays out.

---

George was quick to tell Nick, who apparently had already known, and had already told Darryl. None of them acknowledged or answered any of the tweets, deciding to ignore it and hope for the best in this situation.

George decided to upload a video Early so he wouldn't have to worry about it later. He wanted to have a bit of time just to hang out with his friends and be himself.

The sun was just barely past noon when he went up to Clay's room, going to knock on the door but hesitating as he listened.

Clay was coughing and hacking, and George wondered how long this had been going on, and how much longer this was going to be.

He sighed, sliding down to the floor with his back against the door, leaning his head against it.

Clay was a smart guy, George knew that. But... George was smart too.

From the petals to the blood, to the confession whispered in his ear the last night... George was sure he had put all the pieces together.

But the picture they created was one he was not willing to consider.

He shoved it to the back of his mind for another day.

First chapter of the day.