Wind weaved through the blinds. A string with a wooden end flicked back and forth, making small tapping noises against the window frames every few minutes. At some point, while George had been asleep, someone had come into the medium-sized room and opened up one of the windows in the furthest corner away from George.

He assumed they'd opened that one, and not the one near him, because they thought he might somehow escape into the water through the window, but that was poor thinking on their side, considering George wouldn't even be able to fit through any of the windows if he tried.

He huffed slightly at that and yawned.

The tapping of the blinds is what had actually woken George up just a few minutes prior. He'd been having a night of restless sleep, but it was sleep nonetheless, so he was mildly peeved at being woken up.

George thought about Dream, and their previous conversation. Well, it wasn't exactly a conversation, mostly just Dream being an annoying twat, but still. It had been two or so days since then, and there had been no sight of the blonde yet. George was glad he'd eaten just before this whole ordeal, so he could probably last another two days or so before he really needed to eat something. The thought of asking for food from his kidnappers didn't sit well with him, for his pride was too strong, so he just hoped they'd have some common sense and realise they needed to feed him soon. Dream seemed somewhat intelligent, so he hoped the man would come to that conclusion rather soon. And if not him, he hoped someone else on this godforsaken ship would.

George wasn't sure just how many people actually lived on this ship, but he could tell it was far more than just the two he'd already encountered. Throughout him switching between just sitting there and sleeping, he'd heard chatter coming from the other side of the wall, and the sounds of people working. He'd even heard someone screech out cuss words at some point, his voice cracking while doing so, which at the time had made George chuckle just slightly. But then that had sent him into a fit of guilt, because he made the connection that whoever that was might have been one of the children that Dream had mentioned, due to the overall youthful yelling and pubescent voice cracking that had occurred.

He tried not to let it get to him. He had no reason to help them, no debt to pay to them, and no emotional connections with them to make him feel guilty, but despite all that, the familiar feeling was settled deep in his heart, making itself comfortable. George hoped the feeling would go away soon. He wasn't allowed to feel bad.

Lesson one after being left alone to fend for himself, George had decided so many years ago, was to trust no one, to help no one, and to only take care of himself. He'd kind of failed point two for saving Niki the dolphin, but he knew not to do that again. Up until then, those three rules had served him well.

It shouldn't matter that he might be being cruel, he wouldn't sacrifice himself.

They would never get his tears. He wouldn't let them.

George sighed, letting his webbed hands flop over the sides of the glass as he pulled himself into a sitting position, trying to push those thoughts from his mind. The gentle wind blew against his skin, making him shiver slightly. He was always used to being cold, but the sensation was completely different when he was above water.

His skin had never felt like that before. Dry. He'd been above water, of course, but never for long enough to let himself dry. It felt weird.

George tapped the glass under his fingers meaninglessly, as he let his mind wander off to distant seas and gentle breezes.

A couple of hours had passed, and his back was starting to get sore. He rubbed his face with his hand, and, woah. His hand was completely dry, and as he pushed it up his face, he felt his hair. His hair, that wasn't wet.

Both of his hands instantly shot up to the top of his head and felt it. It was fluffy and soft. It was quite clearly the softest thing he'd ever felt.

He cooed to himself slightly and twirled the waves on the top of his head with his finger. His hand brushed through some knots, parting them as he hummed slightly.

He was enjoying himself, which was unexpected due to his current situation, but he let himself pretend he was somewhere else so he could savour the moment of peacefulness.

George really needed to remember that peacefulness never lasted, because just as he thought of how calm he was, the door opened.

He froze in place, hands still up in his hair. Standing in front of him was Dream.

After two days of being alone, he decided to show up, and right when George's mind wasn't on him. Nice.

Dream stands there, and turns around, shutting the door with a soft click, which was a stark contrast to the previous times when it had always ended up slamming shut, sometimes even making the room rattle.

The man turned around again, and bit his lip.

Dream must have then noticed George's hands in his hair, because a confused smile made it's way to his lips.

"What are you doing?" he said with a laugh, and George self-consciously pulled his arms down to his chest.

"It's fluffy." he mumbled quietly.

"Sorry, what?" Dream questioned, unable to hear the merman.

"I said, it's fluffy." George narrowed his eyes as he raised his voice slightly.

"Oh." Was all Dream said to that, which caused George to scoff under his breath.

"Um, I brought you some medicine, for your cut." Dream started, "I was supposed to a few days ago, but, well, you know what happened, so-"

"I'm fine." George muttered.

"What do you mean-"

"I meant what I said, I'm fine. I don't need your shitty human medicine." George gestured to where his injury had been, and Dream noticed that there was just a thin line there now, a scar of what used to be.

"Oh. You used your-"

"Yep."

"Right."

Dream shifted his weight from side to side for a moment before he sat on a bench attached to the wall, and they both just sat there in awkward silence for a minute.

George looked up at Dream, his fingers tapping his tail under the water, while Dream bit his lip and looked anywhere but George. He only assumed that, though, because with the mask you could never quite tell, but the way Dream's head was angled to the side led him to believe that.

Dream's leg bounced anxiously, the back of his shoe making an annoying tapping noise as it hit the floor. George narrowed his eyes at the continuous noise, and glared at Dream's shoe.

They continued like that for who knows how long, before George had enough.

"Stop." he grumbled, which caused Dream to stop the tapping and look up at him in surprise.

"Huh?" he asked, and George gestured to his foot.

"Stop tapping. It's annoying."

"Sorry, my bad." Dream said, scratching the back of his head, before he continued. "Have you given what I said any more thought?"

"What do you mean?" George asked, shifting slightly so he was less out of the water

"Well, I thought, maybe if I gave you a couple of days, you'd reconsider."

George shook his head. "No," he paused, before adding "sorry."

Dream visibly deflated, but his anger from last time seemed to have vanished. George wondered what caused this, but he didn't complain. He was not a fan of screaming.

"I know you've got your heart set on that answer, but it's in your best interest to just listen to me." Dream said shortly.

George decided to ignore him. That usually made people go away.

Dream bit his lip, "Again with the silent treatment?" he whispered, and when he was met with no answer, he let out a short breath.

"Stop ignoring me, please. I've been nice about all this, and I don't want to get angry again." Dream stated, "I don't like it when I'm angry. I just really, really, need those tears. You have an endless supply of them, what's the harm in giving some to me?" Dream asked, oblivious to the true nature of healing tears, and George bit his lip, anger creeping onto his face, but Dream paid no notice and continued.

"I bet, if you gave them up, I could probably convince Schlatt to let you go too. He wants your tears, he doesn't need you after that. Please, forgive me, I just need-" George cut him off.

"As I said before, you don't deserve them!" he snapped, startling Dream. "You beg me for them, but you don't even think, do you?" Dream opened his mouth to retaliate, but George held up his hand.

"You- you took me! From where I was happily living. You took me away from that. How am I supposed to forgive you?" George questioned, tears prickling at his eyes, but he didn't dare let them fall. "You've got this whole 'i'm not the bad guy in this situation' shtick going on, but did you even think for a second about how I felt? I'm fucking terrified right now! I feel like I'm going to throw up just talking to you, because you could kill me at any moment!" He yelled, and he could faintly hear all movement and chatting from outside come to an abrupt halt, but he didn't care.

"You leapt straight into bargaining on what you could get from me. You didn't even ask my name!" George breathed quickly, tears running down his face, despite the fact that he'd promised himself he wouldn't cry.

Dream sat there in shock, his mouth open slightly. He rubbed his finger over it when he noticed, and snapped it shut.

He leaned his elbows on his knees, and let out a shuddering breath.

"What's your name?" George looked up in shock, his face wet with salty tears.

The nerve of this man! After everything George had just screamed at him about, he ignores it and asks his name? That's the part Dream wanted to focus on? George didn't care that he'd been upset about Dream not asking before, it was totally inappropriate in the situation.

George said nothing. He stared up at Dream with narrowed eyes, and pain on his face. He shook like a leaf. Dream didn't acknowledge anything else he said.

"What's your name?" Dream asked again, louder this time.

George let out an angry breath, clutching his sides. "You don't get to know. You don't deserve to know."

Dream's lips pressed into a thin line.

The room was silent, the only sounds coming from the soft whistling breeze, and George's hiccups from crying.

Dream opened his mouth to talk again, and George's head snapped up.

"Go." George growled out.

"What?"

"Go. Leave me alone."

"Please-"

"Just go!" George snapped, and Dream sighed.

He stood up shakily, and opened the door.

Dream looked back at George, who looked at him with venom in his eyes, before he left the room with a gentle "okay".

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Hello friends!! Another chapter done, woohoo!

The fluff between them will be coming soon, I promise. I gave you a little bit of wholesomeness before ripping it away from you, so I apologise for that lmao.

I desperately want to write the cute stuff now, but I don't want to rush it, so you're gonna have to wait! I know, I'm evil

Thanks so much for your support, happy reading!!

-Bee

(19/1/21)

Co-posted on ao3