George wasn't sure what kids were like. He'd never really had enough experiences with them to know. There had been no babies when his family died. There had been merfolk younger than him, that was true, but not by enough to actually be considered children.

From what he could tell when he'd swum past baby dolphins in the past, was that they were excitable. Small, loud, and excitable. George was fine with noise, he'd been quite loud around those he felt comfortable with when he was young, but the level of noise that little dolphins made was incredibly annoying. He'd always steered clear from them.

Human children were probably the same. That was one thing that seemed to be a common factor among all species. Children were small, sometimes cute, and generally made lots of noise.

Teenagers? Now, he was more familiar with them. He was 24, so if he thought about it, in the grand scheme of things, it really hadn't been that long since he'd been a teenager himself.

Out of his pod of 14 merfolk, there was only one other around his age. Karl. He'd been a few years younger than him, but their age was close enough that they bonded. He'd never really bonded with his pod like he had with Karl, other than his mother of course. He wasn't related to the other though, pods were funny like that. They'd meet other pods as time went on and then meet those they loved and break off into new pods, it was something that was common. His mother and him had joined his pod when he was 4, though he was never told what happened to his father. Things didn't always work out, he guessed. Karl and him were basically attached to the hip. They did everything together. But then Karl died. Along with the rest of his pod, in an attack. Because of humans. George had been the only survivor. In the mix of blood and screams, he'd hit his head, and woken up on the seafloor, directly below where the attack had occurred.

No one was there. Blood had wafted through the water. Sharks had been attracted to it, so George couldn't stay long. It was traumatising. Especially for a 15-year-old.

George felt jealous when Dream talked about the crew. He tried not to. He really really did try. But it was hard not to be. Dream had mentioned his bad family experience before he'd met the crew, but he had it good now. He had his family, even if they were a found one.

But anyway. Back to his thoughts on teens. He was thinking about them because one specific teenager had decided to pop in for a visit.

He'd only just begun warming up to Sapnap, so he really wasn't expecting to see anyone else quite yet.

He was sitting, alone, for the first time in a while, because there was some meeting downstairs that the two men were attending.

The door burst open, smacking on the wall, and a little gremlin teenager had made his presence very much known.

He had extremely blonde fluffy hair, a bandaid over his nose, and the general 'pirate' sort of look going for him. He wore a lot of red. He grinned, as George jumped in surprise, clutching his chest.

"Ayeee big man!" the boy exclaimed, coming in to sit by George who pressed up as far against the glass as he could away from the blonde.

"I'm Tommy! You're that merman bitch aren't you?" George blinked at him in surprise. George felt wary around him, but something about the teenager's presence was nice. He just seemed innocent. Not tainted like adults were. He looked happy.

George peered at him in curiosity. Tommy stuck out his hand towards George, who glanced down at it in confusion.

Tommy let out a bark-like laugh, and said: "You shake it."

George looked up at Tommy, back down to his hand, before relaxing his back slightly and raising his hand.

He mimicked what Tommy was doing, but the blonde shook his head with a smile. "Other hand, big man."

George narrowed his eyes for a moment before he switched hands and grabbed onto Tommy's. This was weird. He'd never made contact with anyone after just meeting them. Tommy then moved his arm up and down, shaking George's hand. George did the same.

"Now, when you shake someone's hand, you're supposed to introduce yourself."

"Uh, my name is George." George blinked at him as Tommy dropped his hand.

Tommy looked up slightly in thought, before looking back towards the merman.

"Weird name for a merman, innit?" George let out a surprised laugh.

"Dream said the same thing." he mused, growing more comfortable in the boy's presence. Not as much as Dream, not by a long shot, but the boy was nice. Confronting, but nice.

"Guess he's not so dumb then." Tommy stated, before scratching his chin.

George smiled slightly at the comment. Dream often made jokes, but he always seemed a bit wary when doing them, as if George would be offended or something.

The two of them continued to talk for a bit, before both of them heard a shout from below deck.

"Hey? Where's Tommy?" Tommy froze slightly, a sheepish grin flicking over his face.

George looked at him in amusement.

"Not supposed to be here, Gogy. I'm supposed to be at the meeting." George blinked slightly at the incredibly weird nickname but didn't comment on it.

They heard another shout, this one sounding like Dream: "OH FOR FUCKS SAKE."

The sound of two people stomping upstairs made George laugh, while Tommy chuckled nervously.

Dream burst into the room, Sapnap right behind him. Sapnap didn't look so angry, mostly a little bit annoyed at the meeting being interrupted. Dream's mouth was curled down, so George assumed he wasn't happy. His posture was stiff and annoyed.

"Tommy!" Dream yelled, "what the hell?!"

Tommy stood up, holding his hands up in surrender, laughing worriedly.

"Big D! Main man! How's it?"

Dream stomped over to Tommy and guided him to the door.

"You weren't supposed to see him yet! I told everyone to specifically wait until he was comfortable!" Dream scolded, while Sapnap gave Tommy a pat on the shoulder.

Tommy rolled his eyes.

"It's not like George is mad! He loves me! How could he not?" Dream let out a sarcastic 'oh I'm sure', but George spoke up.

"Dream, it's okay."

Dream whipped his head around, mouth parting in shock.

"Huh?"

"I said, it's okay. He's not that annoying." George laughed.

Sapnap blinked in surprise a few times, before scowling and crossing his arms.

"How come it takes Tommy this quick to get on George's good side but it's taking me days?" He joked, and Dream flicked him.

George shrugged.

Dream let out a breath, letting go of Tommy, who dusted himself off.

"Okay. Well- alright then."

Tommy stuck his tongue out at Dream's back, causing George to let out a laugh, which made Dream turn around quickly and look at Tommy. The boy stopped making the face instantly, shrugging as if he didn't know what George was laughing at.

Dream looked at him for a moment longer, before Tommy let out an excited shout.

"Gogy, I can show you my book! It has many pretty ladies in it."

Dream whacked him playfully.

"No, Tommy." He said, before shoving him out of the room.

Tommy let out a grumble but walked off anyway, Sapnap following soon after.

"See ya, Tommy." George called, hearing an ecstatic "BYE GOGY!" and then a quieter and nagging "He likes me better" directed at Sapnap.

George heard the sound of Sapnap whacking him before the door closed.

Dream looked over at George, walking over and sitting in front of him where he usually sat.

He leaned his back against the glass, and George shifted forward.

"Sorry about Tommy." he murmured.

"Like I said Dream, it's fine." George responded, and Dream hummed slightly.

They sat still for a moment before George broke the silence.

"Your hair looks long enough to braid in some bits," George pointed out "can I try?"

Dream stilled in surprise, before nodding slowly.

"Okay. Just don't move the strap holding my mask." he agreed, making George smile.

"Don't worry blondie, I'll respect your identity. For now."

Dream let out a quiet laugh as George started pulling on Dream's hair, braiding it.

They continued like this for a little bit. George was only able to braid little bits on the side of Dream's head, but it was still fun.

George started to hum a melody. The one his mother used to sing.

Dream relaxed against the glass as George worked on his hair.

"Hey George?" the blonde got George's attention.

"Yes?" George responded, not stopping from braiding.

"Can you sing?" Dream asked, causing George to pause slightly, before nodding his head slowly, then realising Dream couldn't see him from behind.

"You want me to sing?"

"Mmmhmm." Dream hummed a yes.

"Oh. Okay. What do you want me to sing?" George went back to braiding his hair.

"I don't know," Dream said, "anything."

"Anything." George echoed.

"Just sing for me George." Dream joked, and George smiled warmly.

"Okay Dream. I'll sing for you."

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Hello friends!! Another chapter, even though it's short!! Thanks so much for all the support and love!!

Happy reading!!!

-Bee

(29/1/21)

(also omg, 4.3k???? woah!! thank you!!!!!!)

Co-posted on ao3