After coming to the realisation that he, Dream, was in love with George, he struggled to figure out how to proceed with this.

He couldn't be in love with George. It- it fucked everything up! It would ruin their friendship, and George would find out, and be weird about it and then decide he didn't want to stay on the boat, and then he'd leave, and break Dream's heart.

Okay, that was worst-case scenario, but Dream was new to this! He'd had maybe one or two past flings when he was a teenager, but nothing serious, not like this.

It had been yesterday that he'd realised it, and it had been on his mind ever since then.

How was he supposed to ignore it? It swirled through his mind like an annoying song you just can't get out of your head, and made his heart beat faster than normal when he so much as looked at George!

He rubbed his face, flopping onto his bed as he stared up at the roof in his bedroom.

George was off doing who knows what with Tommy and Wilbur, but all Dream knew was that he was not here.

Dream had alone time.

Dream did not think he liked alone time.

He'd grown so used to the constant presence of George that without him he felt incomplete. Dream groaned in annoyance and ran a hand through his blonde locks. Yet another reason he couldn't say anything. If he was feeling shit from just half an hour without George, then how would he be able to handle the brunette up and leaving?

George had said he wanted to stay, so Dream couldn't do anything to fuck it up, anything to convince George not to stay.

He had to keep it a secret.

Dream sighed again, pushing worried thoughts of the man he loved, yes, still weird, out of his mind. Today was the day. George was going to give them his tears.

The blonde heaved himself up off the bed, making his way to the door and walking into the main room, looking for George. He found him sitting at the table, learning some sort of card game with Wilbur and Tommy, the latter laughing at him every time he failed.

George groaned and dropped the cards onto the table, crossing his arms with a huff.

You got this, Dream.

He forced a chuckle out at the sight, alerting his presence, and George spun around to look at him, a smile gracing his lips at the sight of the man.

Dream came over and sat down next to the brunette, and George slipped his hand into Dream's. He had to fight off the blush he knew was coming, and calm himself. Nothing had changed. Just act like you did before you realised, Dream. You can do it.

Dream smiled slightly, and Wilbur gave him a weird look, but didn't say anything.

Tommy and Wilbur continued to play, and George shifted his chair to lean towards Dream.

They made eye contact, and Dream's heart skipped a beat.

Every single time.

George smiled at him, squeezing his hand.

"Let's get it over and done with." the merman said, and Dream hesitated, before nodding.

Wilbur and Tommy stopped their conversation, looking at the two of them.

"Get what done?" Tommy questioned loudly, and Wilbur flicked him, but also looked at the pair in curiosity.

Dream let out a breath, running his hand through his hair.

"George has agreed to give us healing tears."

Wilbur's eyes widened, and Tommy grinned.

"Big man, i'm glad we didn't have to cut you!" he joked, and George looked at him in wary confusion.

Wilbur elbowed Tommy, who grumbled and rubbed the side of his stomach that had been hit.

Wilbur smiled, "I'm so glad! I've got a vial if you need that?"

George raised an eyebrow, obviously unaware of what that was, and Dream had to push back a fond smile at his confused look.

He looked over at Wilbur and nodded, "That would be great Wilbur, thank you."

The man shrugged, before getting up, his chair scraping back on the floorboard a bit. He moved out of the room and down the hallway, disappearing into his room to get a vial.

A few minutes later, he was back, handing the vial to George, who rolled it around in his hands.

Dream looked at him expectantly, and George went slightly red.

"I have to cry to make them." George stated, obviously.

Dream quirked a brow.

Yeah. They were tears. That was a given.

George shook his head, noticing Dream's confused look.

"I don't really want to cry in front of everyone. So, i'm just gonna go to our room, i'll be back in a bit." he said, and Dream's eyes widened.

His face heated up when George said 'our room', but he pushed the thought aside. 

Instead, he flashed a smile, "Okay, take your time."

George bid the three of them goodbye, before walking down the hallway, the door thudding shut behind him.

Dream watched him go with a smile.

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

George sighed, slumping back on the door as he got into the room.

He stood there for a moment, leaning against the frame, before walking over to the bed, and sitting down on it with a bounce.

He held up the glass vial and inspected it. It was small, very small, so he could easily fill it up with his tears in a few minutes.

He blew out a shaky breath, willing himself to cry. He never had to do stuff like this when he wasn't injured, or someone else wasn't either. There always was a reason for him to cry, so crying just for the sake of making them was a foreign feeling to him.

Tears started to well up in his eyes, and he tried to reach into his energy source to get the magic.

Except, he didn't feel anything.

The familiar tingle of magic that would run through him did not appear.

He blinked slightly, furrowing his brow, and tried again.

Nothing.

Just plain, old, non-magic tears.

George blew out a breath, running a worried hand through his hair.

"Think, George, think." he muttered to himself, trying to figure out how to get his tears to work.

He had to do this. For Dream. And the others.

George gulped, fear enveloping his senses. This had never happened before. It always worked. Always. Sometimes it took a bit more energy than he was used to if he'd conjured them not long before, but it had been almost two months since he had made some! It should be working!

This didn't make sense. No sense at all.

What would Dream say?

Would he be mad? Oh god he hoped he wouldn't be mad. George wouldn't know what to do if he made the blonde feel like that.

George sighed, steadying himself, and rubbing the useless tears away from his eyes.

Dream wouldn't be mad. He knew Dream. Dream would figure it out. It was just his merman instincts kicking in and telling him he had to be wary.

It was fine. He was fine.

He rubbed his thumb over the glass vial, and bit the inside of his lip.

Standing up, he walked over to the door, hand resting over the handle.

He held it there for a moment, hesitating, before sighing and opening the door.

George walked down the hallway, standing in front of the three men, who all looked up quickly at the sound of him approaching.

He winced at Dream's hopeful look, and turned his gaze to the ground.

"We might have a problem," he started, ignoring the confused sound from Wilbur, "it's not working."

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

Hello friends!!! I suspect you already had an idea that something would go wrong, so this chapter probably isn't much of a surprise hahaha.

I am aware this chapter is posted super early in comparison to my normal schedule, but that's because I took a bit of a mental health day off from school, so I had more time to do it. Yes, yes, I know, probably shouldn't be updating when I'm supposed to be taking a mental health day, but the fanfic grind never stops!

I've got another question from the Q&A:

Wattpad:

Okay story time. I was on a facetime call with my best friend and we were watching mcyt clips (as you do) and I was thinking of all these good dnf fanfics i'd read and telling her about them, and after talking for a bit, I decided I really really wanted to write one. So I said to her "What would you say if I decided to write one?" and she said "Do it right fucking now I dare you." So I was like,,,, okay!! And I sat around for a bit brainstorming ideas and the mermanxpirate trope just came to me, because I love those kinds of books, and she encouraged me to do it, so here we are! There was a lot more planning and brainstorming after that to get my plot down, but that's the main story. Shoutout to Oakley, my gal, because without her kind words and encouragement I don't know if I'd have done this

As for the tips, i'm pretty bad at giving advice, but i'd just say, find an idea that you really like and work on it. Don't put your effort into writing something you don't love, or you'll hate it. It will take time to find something that sticks, but it will work out in the end! Try and write down chapter ideas and the main plot that you want to happen before diving into writing, because it makes it ten times easier. And don't forget to take breaks and relax!! If anyone wants more in depth tips you can dm me, but I don't want to clog up the author's note too much

Thanks so much for the question!

Also guys...big news.

Are you excited? I sure am! Although I will miss this very much, i'll still be working on stuff when it's done, so you can go and check that out when the book is complete! I've planned out the next 9 chapters, but if any chapters get too long i'll split one into another, so it'll either be 9 or 10 left. Get scared, get excited, you're in for some stuff :P

As always, thanks so much for reading, I love each and every one of you so much!!

Happy reading!!

-Bee <3

(11/2/21)

Co-posted on ao3