24, 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

- Aspen seems nervous when she gets there — but not purely because of how Clay paid for her flight or how this is the next step in their relationship.

- A stream later, Aspen gets a call from her dad. He's just saying hello.

- He is a paediatrician who found out she was in the US from a young client of his who was watching her stream.

- He asks her to come visit him as she's in Florida; she says she's busy and hangs up. Their relationship is clearly strained.

- They have their first official date on the rooftop — Clay has a really tall flat that she admires idly

- She admires the fanart he has in his 'secret room', joking that she thought it would be a sex dungeon.

- They watch a movie. They cuddle with Patches; it's really cute.

- Aspen stumbles downstairs in only Clay's shirt to find a thirteen-year-old girl sitting around the dining table. His sister.

- Clay rushes down and the girl smirks at the two of them, knowing fully well what's going on.

...

"I predicted it," Female Little Dream says.

- Female Little Dream explains that she ran away from home because she didn't want to do an elective and decided to come to Clay's. Aspen tells her how selfish that is to her mum, feeling personal about it.

...

"Clay was supposed to end up doing nothing with his life. I mean, he skipped school all the time and he only liked being on his computer. He never really talked to anyone. He was supposed to be the weird one," Female Little Dream mutters. "Now that he's famous, I'm suddenly untalented."

"I don't think that's true."

"I can sing. Kinda. And sometimes I can spell," she says, amused with herself. Her expression slowly drops. "It's not like I'm jealous, though. I just feel kinda useless."

"You're not."

"Of course you can say that. You're, like, perfect. You're pretty, fashionable, famous, funny, and, like, you probably have a car."

"First of all I'm not. Second of all, you're so sweet and I'm planning on dumping your brother for you."

"Good."

"But also," I say. "Your mom loves you."

"I know that. She just doesn't have to put all this pressure on me."

"Think of it this way. She sees her streetsmart thirteen-year-old daughter skipping class to go who-knows-where. That's not a trip for discovery. It's a mother's heart attack. Doing stuff like this won't help you figure out what you want to do. It only makes people worry. Be grateful that your mum cares enough to go running all over town to find you."

"I am..."

"I know you are."

"I'm sorry. It probably seems really insensitive that I ran away because your mom..."

"It's okay. It's not insensitive. If anything, I'm being a bit selfish here," I say. "Giving you this lecture is something I wish someone would have done to me when I was a kid."

"I wouldn't mind being the 13-year-old version of you."

I laugh. "Oh, yeah?"

"I'd love to be pretty with money and fame and a boyfriend and friends--"

"Stop," I say, shaking my head at her amusedly. "By the way, I don't have a car. I take the subway."

"You take the subway? But you're an adult."

"I'm only eighteen. I don't have that much money."

"Then get Clay to buy you a car."

"Don't you dare bring that up to him."

"He'd do it, you know."

"That's the problem."

"I'm telling him."

"Seriously, I don't want him thinking he's David Dobrik again--"

"But I like David Dobrik," Clay says, coming out of nowhere. He turns to his sister. "Mom's back at the house. Come on, kid."

"She's gonna kill me," the girl grumbles.

"Well, on a normal day she would. But since this is the first time she's meeting my beautiful girlfriend..." he murmurs, slipping his arm around my neck and smiling down at me.

"Oh god. I'm not wearing the right thing."

He kisses my hair. "You look great. Trust me."

"I don't even know what she likes. How am I supposed to talk to her?" I say. "But forget that. I didn't even get her a gift or a card or anything. She's going to think I'm rude."

"Don't be an idiot."

"I'm being perfectly reasonable."

"Mhm."

"Would you two stop making out so I can hurry up and kill myself?"

- Clay and her come out as a couple.

- People find out that Olive tried to make a move on him (Celestia accidentally reveals this on a stream with her and apologises quickly after)

- Aspen gets a call from the hospital. Her dad is dying. She rushes there with Clay.

...

"You hated me," Dad goes, coughing. "I didn't wanna force you to come down like this."

"I don't hate you. Especially not when you're..."

...

- Several weeks pass of Aspen staying at Clay's but only moping. He tries to comfort her but she doesn't want help.

...

"When I was a kid, my dad sent me money. That was it. I hated it. I didn't want money to be the only currency of love in our relationship. That's how it turned out though."

"That's why you're weird about me paying for you," Clay mutters, piecing everything together.

...

"My dad took care of every kid but his own. Distance means everything."

"What does that say about us? 'Distance means everything'?"

"I don't know, Clay."

...

- When her dad dies, she announces that she should go back to England. She needs to be away from Florida.

...

"He wasn't in my life from a young age, but he did care. His life was dedicated to caring for loads of kids everyday. A man like that doesn't deserve to die so young, whether I liked him or not. I just can't be around here...knowing that."

...

- Their relationship is rocky.

- Dream's perspective.

- Not wanting to be alone, Dream goes back down to Texas to visit his buddy Sapnap.

- As he takes his stuff out the car, he overhears Celestia crying hysterically inside the house. This is the conversation he overhears:

"You know when I tweet stuff like 'women' with a heart emoji or 'Az over men'?" Celestia trails off. Her voice breaks as she continues. "At what point does that stop being a joke?"

There's a long silence. Celestia's face is blotchy, her foundation ruined and her cheeks burning red from anger or frustration; Clay doesn't know. All he does is watch them, unblinkingly, his head feeling empty but heavy at the same time. He watches as Nick goes in to hug her and murmurs something low but loud enough for him to hear:

"You like her." Nick pushes her head into his shoulder. "You're in love with Az."

"I'm surprised you aren't," she snaps, bawling into his chest.

"I thought about it. In the beginning, I mean," he continues softly. "It's not so often that a guy can talk to a girl so freely, like how I talk to Az. But it never got to that point. The more I saw my two friends together, the more I wanted them to get together."

Another silence.

"When Clay told me he liked her, I was also really happy for them."

"But now..."

"But now it sucks."

"Yeah," Nick grumbles into her hair. "It sucks."

"I don't have a chance, do I?"

"I can't say," he breathes.

"And I thought you were some advice angel."

"I'm definitely an angel. I dunno about the advice part."

She laughs lightly. He doesn't but he smiles.

"She loves you, Celestia."

"Not in that way though."

- Nick and Celestia continue to have a close relationship. They bond over their heartbreak but there is a deeper connection between them that nobody actively points out.

- Olive shows up at her door. She's received death threats and more.

...

"I understand if you hate me. But I need to apologise."

I nod, letting her in cautiously.

"I wasn't friends with you solely because you knew the Dream Team. I just...I thought you were cool. I mean, my idols liked you so I immediately did too. I guess I was trying really hard to become 'one of them', the same way you did. But I was trying too hard I got cocky and it turned into meddling. That doesn't excuse it though. I made a move on a guy that I knew you liked, for Chrissake. And I'm sorry. I just hope that one day you won't hate me."

"I've run out of anger."

"Your dad...I heard. I'm so sorry." She seems genuine.

"That's okay," I mutter. "Nobody deserves to be slut-shamed or sent death threats. Please don't think you deserve them."

"Thank you."

"I'll clear all of this up in the morning, okay? As long as you don't mind me telling the full story..."

"That's fine. I just...I just want it to stop feeling like the whole world hates me."

"They don't," I say. "Everything they're saying is half-hearted."

- Knowing Aspen is still down, Dream gives her the chance to make some money.

- She ends up winning one dollar.

...

"It's okay, babe. I'll take you out on a date worth the 5000."

"I wish."

But you're not here.

- Aspen's first physical appearance in the world of the internet since her da.

- She meets Wilbur, Niki, Fundy, Phil, Tommy and Tommy's dad in Brighton.

- It's Wilbur who forces her out — and an enthusiastic Tommy who really wants that gold content.

- When Aspen and Wilbur meet Tommy's dad, they shake his hand and notice similarities between Tommy and his dad. They both drink at the same time; they take a bite out of their sandwich in the same way; they have the same laugh. Aspen and Wilbur share a look and laugh about it afterwards.

- Dream phones her to ask her if she's having fun. He says he can't come see her anytime soon.

- Wilbur and Az relate on long distance.

- Tommy jokes about wanting for views for his vlog. He looks at Aspen and goes, "If only I could get Dream here..." and waves his brows up and down.

- They all go to the beach. Aspen eventually decides to go to the water. She is poked by something and, thinking it's a dangerous creature, she screams and falls back.

...

"You keep falling around me."

...

- It's Clay surprising her.

- They both get on the train back to hers and confess that they missed each other. Everything seems to fall back into place.

- Aspen ends up in a Manhunt video.

...

"Baby, I'm gonna get you."

Clay laughs. "I like the sound of that."

"Ew, baby?" George criticises.

"Aw, Dweam's a wittle baby," Nick says in a really bad British accent.

"Disgusting behaviour," George continues.

Nick makes a puking noise.

- Azzpen rickrolls herself to Never Gonna Girl You Up when Tommy calls her up, asking whether her and Clay are dating. Clay answers the phone instead. Tommy goes red on stream, exposing their relationship.

"You were really drunk. I mean, we all were but you went to sleep so fast."

"Don't remind me."

"And you slept on Clay."

"I know."

"It was pretty cute actually."

"Yeah, it was. But it would have been cuter if you didn't drop your face on his lap like a coconut."

"Or like those things that hit a gong?"

"Oh, yeah? Like a mallet?"

"That's the one. She was like a mallet hitting the gong."

"But the only sounds made were snores."

"I was not snoring. I don't snore."

"Uh-huh."

"I don't!"

"Okay. You don't."

"You sound like you don't believe me."

"That's because I don't. But that's okay."

@dreamwastaken

finish the sentence: dream was taken...

💬 x 🔁 x 💜 x

@azzpen

by me

💬 x 🔁 x 💜 x

@georgenotfound

hostage...in a game

💬 x 🔁 x 💜 x

@sapnap

from behind

💬 x 🔁 x 💜 x

└─────── ──➤