Two days had gone by since the nightmare incident. Nothing bad had occurred since then. George counted this as a win.

Honestly, that conversation with Dream had really lifted his mood. It wasn't the laughing that had done it, though that was enjoyable, but rather what Dream said to him that made him go red.

Dream said he was brave.

George! Yes, George!

He looked right at the merman when he said it, and there was no one else there, so he couldn't have possibly been saying it about anyone else!

George had not been expecting that.

He'd always viewed himself as...well, not brave. A bit of a scardey cat.

So Dream saying that- the very same Dream that was a fucking pirate captain- so badass, saying that he was brave?

Well, it made some confidence surge through George's heart.

He was sitting and fixing the small braids on the side of Dream's head. Every once in a while Dream would mumble out complaints when George would accidentally pull on his hair too hard, but George would roll his eyes and continue his work.

He knew Dream didn't care, anyway.

George was humming a small melody as he did his work.

George glanced down towards Dream's ear and saw his earrings. They glinted slightly in the light. George wondered if it had hurt to get them pierced.

"George?" Dream wondered aloud. George hummed.

"Do you want to meet some more people today?" George paused, moving his hands down to rest on the glass as Dream turned around hurriedly.

"You've already met Sapnap and Tommy, and they were fine! If you can handle Tommy, then you can handle anyone, really." Dream joked, and George contemplated it for a moment.

Meeting Sapnap had gone well. Meeting Tommy had gone well, despite it being a rather odd experience. Maybe, well, maybe he should.

He bit the inside of his cheek, before letting out a little breath.

"Alright, sure."

Dream cheered, doing a happy gesture with his hands, before standing up and walking out of the room quickly to retrieve his friends.

George stared at him as he left with a fond smile.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Dream walked out quickly, ready to find some of his family to meet George.

Ever since Tommy had had an encounter with him, everyone was begging to meet the merman. If Tommy, out of everyone, got the privilege, then why couldn't they? Had been the main source of argument.

Now, Dream didn't want everyone to meet George today. That would be far too much to handle for the poor merman, who was only just getting used to knowing more than one person, and Dream didn't want to push him until he was ready.

He walked out and saw Wilbur, Phil and Ranboo huddled in a small group, chatting, and beamed. They were the perfect people to meet George!

He rushed over, almost tripping over himself in the excitement, and Phil looked at him with a weird look.

"You alright mate?" the elder blonde asked, and Dream nodded quickly.

"Yes! Er, well actually, I'm here to see if you three wanted to meet George today?"

They stared at him. Ranboo blinked a few times in surprise. Dream coughed awkwardly.

"Wait...seriously?" Wilbur asked, eyes widening when Dream didn't yell 'haha 'twas but a joke!'.

Dream nodded, grinning.

Phil smiled, clapping Ranboo and Wilbur on the back.

"We'd love to!" he agreed, and Ranboo nodded his head with a soft smile.

Wilbur looked like he was about to faint.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

George twiddled his thumbs as he waited for Dream to come back.

Last time, when it had been Sapnap he was waiting for, he was incredibly nervous. But this time? Well, fear wasn't striking through his heart, so that was a good sign.

He wondered how many people he was going to meet. He wasn't keen on the idea of meeting everyone at once, but he wasn't worried. Dream was smart. He knew that it would be too much for him.

The door opened slowly, and Dream crept back into the room, ushering three other people in with him.

The first one was a tall, lanky man with brown fluffy hair. He wore a grey beanie and a yellow jumper, which was unlike the classic 'pirate' look. He had a white-collar shirt underneath it and dark pants that George couldn't make out the material of. His shoes were similar to Dreams'.

The man wore an excited look on his face, and he seemed as if he were to burst any minute.

The man next to him was shorter, but still not short. He had blonde hair, and a bucket had with green (?) and white stripes.

His clothes matched the colour scheme of his hat.

He seemed older, and George wondered to himself if this might be Tommy's father. He knew it started with a 'P', but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

The third person there was taller than the brunette. His hair was half dyed black, and half dyed a blondish white. He seemed young, maybe a little bit older than Tommy.

He looked the least...scary. He even looked a bit nervous, just like George. He found comfort in that.

George realised he'd been staring too long, and let out an awkward cough. He raised his hand and waved slightly.

"Uh, hello. I'm George."

They all smiled at him.

Dream came and sat down next to the glass, while the other three settled a little further away on the floor.

"The name's Phil," the blonde one joked, before gesturing to the brunette "this is Wilbur," he then gestured to the half-black haired guy "and this is Ranboo."

The two waved almost in sync, causing George to let out a little snort.

Dream chuckled at that, not even realising as he copied George.

They sat there awkwardly, not saying anything, so George waved his hands a little bit in the water.

"So...is there anything you wanted to talk about..?" he asked, and Wilbur shot up with a smile.

He pulled out a book, and George did a double-take, because where the fuck did that come from?

George leaned forward and inspected the cover. There was an engraved drawing of a merfolk on the front, painted gold.

George was careful not to touch it, as he hadn't let his hands dry yet from being underwater.

"That's a book...on merfolk?" he asked, looking up at Wilbur, who smiled brightly, nodding.

"Yes! It's very interesting, it's got so many facts, and-" he paused, furrowing his brow, "Is that weird? That I have a book on your species?" he questioned.

George opened his mouth to retort, but no words came to mind. He snapped his mouth shut, looked over at Dream, who also had no words, before shrugging.

"Well I dunno, maybe? I don't really care."

Ranboo snorted, "Where'd you even get that?"

Wilbur looked over at him, face becoming serious, as he brought his finger to his lips, shushing him.

"I have my methods." he replied mysteriously, doing a weird wiggling of his fingers.

Phil laughed loudly, before catching himself and letting the laugh get muffled underneath his hand.

Wilbur chuckled at that, while Ranboo shook his head, before opening the book.

Phil, Ranboo, Dream and George all peered forward.

"So I was reading, and I found out a lot of really cool things, that are like- wow, you know?" Wilbur did a little jazz with his hands.

The three others nodded.

"Like, merfolk are colourblind? Crazy!"

Dream choked on his spit in surprise.

"You're colourblind?!" he demanded, and George nodded frantically.

"Yep!"

"Since when?!"

George blinked at the dumb question.

"Since forever, Dream."

"What-"

Wilbur waved his hands, "We're getting off-topic!"

Dream pointed at George, "We're talking about this later."

George shrugged.

"Anyway," Wilbur continued, "I was flicking through it, then I saw this bizarre page." he flicked over to it, placing his pointer finger on the title.

"Shapeshifting." Dream echoed what the title said, and George furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Yes. Shapeshifting." Wilbur breathed, "There's this whole page on the process of turning a tail into legs." George blinked in surprise, as they all looked at him.

What the fuck.

"Did you know you could do that?" Dream questioned, and George shook his head quickly, not wanting Dream to think he was lying to him.

"No, I- well, my mother might have mentioned it before, but I never really thought- it's just-" he didn't know what to say.

He faintly remembered stories his mum had told him and Karl, of how merfolk could change, and it was used many years ago to live alongside humans, but he thought it had died out, or it was just a myth! He never expected there to be writings on it, or for it to be truthful, for that matter.

They all continued to stare at him before Dream glanced back down at the book.

"How do you do it?" Ranboo asked.

Wilbur flipped a page over.

"You have to charge a moon heart under the light of a full moon- a merfolk has to do it, humans can't- and then you just...sit out of the water holding the rock and when you dry it just...happens? And then you can switch whenever, I think, after that."

George blinked in surprise.

"It's a full moon in three days." Ranboo mentioned.

They all sat there, unsure of what to do.

"Wilbur, how long have you known about this?" Dream asked, and Wilbur ran a hand through his hair.

"A few weeks." he responded, and Dream sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

A sour look crossed Wilbur's face.

"Well, Dream, I was going to tell you a while ago, but when I tried to bring it up you snapped at me to be quiet."

Dream coughed awkwardly, muttering a small "sorry". George laughed.

"What's a moon heart?" Phil asked, breaking the silence.

George perked up a little bit more.

"They're these crystals that are sacred to merfolk heritage. They connect us to the moon and the ocean, basically the heart of our culture. All pods carried them around." George explained, smiling at being able to share his history.

George noticed Ranboo wince slightly, maybe in guilt at the situation, but George didn't comment on it.

"Where do you get them?" Dream wondered, biting his lip.

George opened his mouth to answer, before closing it. He let out a breath.

"Well, I don't know actually," he responded, "I never actually saw us getting them. The elders just always had a supply."

Dream let out a sigh of disappointment before Wilbur looked up quickly.

"I have a rock and crystals collection." he announced, causing everyone to look over at him.

Wilbur smiled slightly, "There's no guarantee that it'll be in there, but I've gotten them from all sorts of weird places. You never know."

Phil nodded his head, patting Wilbur on the back with a smile.

"Good idea, Wil."

Wilbur flashed him a quick grin, before looking over at George.

"Can you describe what they look like?"

George let out a breath, "Oh gee, well, it's been a while, but if I'm remembering correctly, they're kind of clear? They're pretty sparkly, and they're usually pointy," he ducked his head, "that's all I can remember, sorry." he muttered, but Wilbur shook his head.

"I'll go take a look!' he announced, rushing out of the room quickly.

They watched him go, and then Dream turned to George.

He put his hand over George's, who flushed slightly, before murmuring: "Are you ok with this? Like, would you actually want to try?"

George bit the inside of his lip.

"I mean...yeah, we could try it. I'm not exactly opposed to the idea." Dream smiled at the response.

"We could finally get you out of this annoying room!" Dream cheered, and Phil laughed. George forgot those two were still there.

"Think about it George, I could show you so much cool shit! And you could try more foods- and meet more of us, anything you want." Dream beamed, and George's heart warmed.

Dream was very excited about this, that much was certain. George would hate to disappoint him if Wilbur didn't have a moon heart.

"Wouldn't it be cool, Georgie?" he asked, and George found himself nodding.

"Yeah," he breathed, matching Dream's smile, "that would be pretty cool."

Ranboo and Phil exchanged a knowing glance between the two of them.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Wilbur came back in.

"I was looking, and I could only find one thing that matched the description! I would have liked there to be more, because the chances would be higher then, but still, I got this! Wow, I really do hope it is a-" "Wilbur." Phil interrupted, Wilbur flushed at the rant, "sorry!" he laughed, and Phil smiled at him patiently.

He came back down to the group and unwrapped the cloth around the crystal, holding it out to George to inspect.

George leaned forward as he stared at it, eyes widening.

"Well...is that it?" Dream asked.

George looked up at the four men, before smiling broadly at Dream.

"Yes," he murmured, "that's it."

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Hello friends!!! This is the longest chapter I've done in a while haha!

I actually have homework from most of my classes that I need to do by the morning but I wrote this instead because I am the queen of procrastination :D

AnYwAyS, I really really hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks so much for all the love and support :))

Also happy February!

Happy reading!!

-Bee

(1/2/21)

Co-posted on ao3