There was silence for a moment, and no one dared to speak.

George continued to look at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with any of the three humans sitting there.

"It's...not working?" Dream questioned, confusion laced through his voice.

George shrugged, "I can't access my magic energy source." he said, finally looking up, and seeing the worried looks on all three of them.

They were silent before Wilbur's eyebrows shot up and he leapt out of his chair, startling the others.

"It's because you have legs!" he shouted, and George winced at the sound.

Wilbur noticed this and lowered his voice significantly.

"You're not in your merman form," Wilbur explained, "you said your other merman qualities weren't working in this form, and that's probably why you can't access your magic."

George's eyes widened in realisation, and he internally smacked himself.

How had he been so dumb that he hadn't thought of that?

Tommy and Dream nodded along with Wilbur, and George smiled.

"Right, well- does anyone have some water I could use, or..." George said, and Dream nodded.

"We can go upstairs to your old room, the tank is still there."

George had to suppress a shiver when Dream mentioned that glass box. He only realised after being free from it just how much he hated it.

Dream crossed over the room, obviously noticing the look on George's face, and smiled, hooking their arms together.

"It'll just be for a few minutes," he soothed, "then we can come back down here."

George nodded after a moment, and the two of them bid Wilbur and Tommy goodbye before making their way up the stairs.

George had a much easier time moving up and downstairs now, there was basically no struggle at all, but Dream still liked to be a support beam for him, regardless of his abilities.

George snickered slightly at his protective nature, and Dream glanced down at him.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked, a smile slipping onto his face.

George shook his head, giving Dream a pat on the shoulder as they reached the top. He walked ahead of Dream.

"Don't worry about it!" he called back, and Dream laughed, racing to catch up with him.

George opened the door to the room he used to sleep in, and looked around. It was different from this angle. You know, not being trapped in the water.

It'd been a while since he'd been in here, but it hadn't changed.

The glass box was still there, and he made his way over to it, sighing as he looked at the water that rippled slightly from his feet bounding on the wooden floor.

Dream came up behind him, looking down at it.

George turned to Dream, sighing slightly, and he noticed the man go red as soon as they made eye contact.

Weird.

He shrugged it off, and sat down in front of the water.

His hands held onto the glass, and he bit his lip, glancing up at Dream, who was still standing above him.

"Could you please wait outside?" George murmured, and Dream hesitated for a second, before he nodded, ruffling George's hair, who smiled slightly, before making his way out of the room.

George watched the door shut, and turned back to the water.

He reached his hand out to the water and bit the inside of his cheek.

Here we go.

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

Dream stared at the door that he'd shut behind him, standing there for a moment, unsure of what to do, before he leaned against the wall, slumping down to sit on the floor.

He rubbed his thumbs together, twiddling with his fingers while he waited.

He sighed as the minutes ticked by, time growing longer and longer and still no sign of George emerging.

His mind wandered as he thought about George. The man he loved. Dream blew out a shaky breath. That thought would never get easier. He'd never really thought he'd fall in love, especially with a merman of all people...but life surprises you sometimes.

He'd had enough scares and worries to last him a lifetime, and he decided, when this Schlatt business was over and done with, he'd take some time to relax.

Maybe go exploring with his crew, and with George. Put the pirate life on hold for a bit. Who knew.

Dream was in the middle of running his hand through his hair when the door started to open, and he jumped up to his feet quickly.

George stood there, eyes slghtly puffy from crying, and Dream stared at him. The man must have waited to transform back again instead of calling for Dream as soon as he'd gotten the tears.

George smiled, holding up the small vial, handing it to the blonde.

Dream inspected it, and his eyes widened. They looked like any normal tears, except for the subtle blue glow to them.

Dream glanced back up at George, and smiled at him.

"Thank you." Dream murmured, sincerity evident in his voice.

George blinked slightly in surprise, before shrugging.

"No biggie."

Dream rolled his eyes. Considering it had taken this long to get him to agree to it, it was definitely a biggie, but if George wanted to pretend it wasn't, then he wouldn't argue with the merman.

He knew what it was like to be on the recieving end of George's yelling.

Not a great experience.

The two of them made their way outside, down the stairs and back into the main room, Dream's eyes widening.

The whole crew had gathered there in the time they'd been gone, and were sitting at the table, waiting.

Their heads shot up as they entered, and Wilbur raised an eyebrow, a silent question on his face.

Dream nodded, and Wilbur relaxed into his seat.

The blonde held up the vial in his hand, and everyone leaned forward to see it.

They made their way over to the table and took their seats.

Phil looked over at the tears, and tilted his head to the side.

"They're blue." he murmured.

"They glow." Tommy deadpanned.

George snorted next to Dream, and Dream glanced over to him, smiling warmly.

"Thank you, George." Sapnap said, and the others all murmured their agreement.

George shrunk into himself a little at the praise, but smiled at them.

"You're welcome." he whispered, blushing from the attention, and clearing his throat uncomfortably.

If he squeezed Dream's hand just a little bit tighter, and Dream ran his thumb over the other's comfortingly, well, nobody had to know.

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 - x - x

Hello friends!! Really short chapter, I know, i'm sorry :((( - I haven't had a lot of energy today so that's probably why I cut it a bit short.

Hope you enjoyed it anyway!

Happy reading!!!

-Bee

(12/2/21)

Co-posted on ao3