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Rain fell around the garden. The whole of Central celebrating in the large fashion that they had done for years and Dream looked out over the edge of the balcony despite the sounds of the party inside. He didn’t want to spend his time in there any longer than he had to. The celebrations of Central were something that he had grown overly fond of in his time as King but he also knew when they were beginning to become too much for him. He knew when they were too much and were climbing at his nerves in the back of his throat. What he needed and when he needed it.
George was still inside. Playing the diplomat with everything else that was happening. Their people, their knights. Everyone that was there to celebrate their wedding anniversary with them and for them. The celebration of what it was to the nation. The ending of everything that had happened to them all those years ago. It had become nearly a sort of a national holiday. The celebration of their bond and all that it meant. The lack of hiding for him and George. The comfort they could take in the family they could raise.
They got to enjoy the fruits of everything they had worked so hard for and they could see the smiles on their people’s faces. The laughter that would ring through the air and the knowledge that it was done.
Tommy raised his squire. Tubbo and Ranboo had theirs. His brothers were enjoying their retirement for everything that they had done over the years and Dream smiled at knowing that he was finally beginning to settle into his time as King.
Their counterparts were there at the party with him. Despite the storm that raged outside, all of them laughed and drank and enjoyed the company of each other through the night. They enjoyed the time they all had with one another. The softness they could hold for each other. They enjoyed what lives they could all live and Dream stood to breathe the air with the knowledge that everyone they had lost was with them still.
They were not gone just because they could no longer be seen.
He’d seen Farfadox so many times smiling at the empty space beside him. He had seen his squire laugh and he knew that it was Robin still there with him even now. That his first squire was looking over the rest of them to make sure they got to live the lives they were meant to live.
He breathed deep in the rain. Sticking his hand out from under the safety of the balcony roof and feeling the splatter against his palm.
He’d stopped wearing his gloves.
He’d stopped wearing his mask.
He had stopped hiding all of the parts of himself that he thought needed to be hidden in order to be accepted and now, after all these years where he had seen death upon grief and everything else that tried to rip into his heart, Dream was happy.
He felt like he was enough.
His Kingdom was enough.
His family was enough.
His love was enough.
He was human and got to enjoy every part of it and all that it would bring for him. He could enjoy everything that was meant to be his from the beginning.
He thought of the stories that his mother used to tell him. The storybooks where she would read him about different lands and distant rulers. All the power they held and all the love in their hearts. How the knights slew monsters and the crowns rewarded them highly. How they would have their lives and loves and they were adored by their people. His father had taught him that all of that was a lie and now where Dream stood to look out at the yard and the world and the storm and the mountains and the wall and guards celebrating on top of it, he knew it was truth.
He had found truth.
He had made it the truth.
His truth.
“Wishing the rain away?”
He turned with a smile on his face to his husband. George looked at him as if it was their wedding night all over again. The both of them looking at each other like they meant the world to one another even after all of their years together. When they had first met they had been children and George had chosen him in a fit of anger. He hadn’t wanted to take in a squire but he had done so anyway to spite his father. The weak link. The broken one. The one he thought wouldn’t survive the night.
“We’re a bit old for that.”
George used to be afraid of storms. The thunder and the lightning that would make him jump and run to his father’s arms. The same fear that their son had inherited.
“Where is our little one?”
“Hiding with his grandparents.”
The darling Crowned Prince of Central. Protected by his three older brothers and the pride of both his and George’s life. If he was hiding from the storm then he and George would have their moment of privacy here. They would have their time to be with one another as people and nothing more.
Nothing less.
“Your father will protect him from the mighty winds.”
“My mother was always the better protector thank you. My father just happened to be the one I was closer to when that story happened.”
“And yet it’s the most notable one. The little Prince clinging to his father’s arms in the middle of a party because he was scared by the thunder.”
“You’re going to tease me now?”
“Has that not been all of our years together?”
George’s raised eyebrow brought a laugh bubbling out of him with his husband soon to follow. The both of them coming to rest against the railing of the balcony and Dream let himself relish in the view of it.
They hadn’t had their time alone on their anniversary in years. The nation had wanted to celebrate everything that came with it and they had wanted to give the people what they wanted. They didn’t want to push anyone away when it was what was needed to be shown as good rulers. They couldn’t risk that.
They wouldn’t.
And so—
“Why were you outside?”
George’s voice was soft. Quiet and just for the two of them. A tone that he would use when they were in their room and getting ready to rest for the night. Their peace that would leak into the walls and fill them with the comfort they had both spent their lives chasing after in desire.
“I just needed some air.”
George looked up to him with brown eyes that caught in the grey light of the storm.
“Your neck?”
“It’s fine. An ache that I’m fairly certain is from craning it to color with our little one all morning while you attempted and failed to recreate your mother’s recipe.”
George rolled his eyes at him.
“You sure you’re alright?”
He nodded.
“I’m sure.”
The silence washed over them both. The music from the ballroom behind them echoing out into the air and mixing with the sound of rain and thunder. This was their home. Their Kingdom. Their everything that they had worked so hard for over the years. It was everything that they had wanted and more. A family and a life that they could well and truly call their own. It was the protection that they could hold for the rest of their lives. It was their safety that they could nurse and love and they could enjoy. Their home and their people that were laughing so brightly. Their family and friends who were dancing in circles as the waltz continued inside.
He saw Hannah and Oliver dancing with each other. Spinning in circles arm in arm with each other like they were friends rather than former Lead and Queen. He saw Sapnap and Punz roughhousing with one another and showing off their skills to the other advisors around them. He saw Francis and James with their two children at their sides as they danced jumping in a circle holding hands with each other. The young Prince of the East with wings hanging from his back and a smile on his face that matched his other father.
George followed his eyes.
“He reminds me of James, when he was a boy. When he still smiled.”
He looked at everything they had inside. How Mason had Abigail perched on his shoulders and carried her around the room like she was everything in the world to him. The golden dress she wore and the golden crown on her head while her father wore silvers against the black of his suit.
“I love this. Everything that we built.”
George hummed. His head against his chest.
“Me too.”
He saw George’s parents coaxing their sons to dance. All four of them playing and bantering off each other. Shroud and Michael even joining in and all of them being rowdy with one another. He saw the grins on their faces. How George’s Father’s face wrinkled when he laughed. How his mother’s eyes crinkled on the corners.
One day they could only hope to be so lucky.
“George?”
His husband hummed.
“Will you dance with me?”
George looked up at him.
“You hate dancing.”
“It’s our wedding night.”
“Our wedding night was years ago, Love. In case you’ve forgotten.”
“I could never forget.”
He whispered it. Bringing a hand to George’s head and tucking his hair behind his ear.
“Not your hair. Not your eyes that night. Not your skin under the moonlight or how we kissed.”
“Dream, we’re in public.”
“And?”
“They can see us through the windows.”
“Then lets leave the windows.”
“And go where? Inside?”
He dropped a hand down to George’s. Taking him softly and tugging him lightly.
“Come with me?”
George’s expression melted.
“Always.”
Dream moved onto the steps. His eyes tracking George’s face as he pulled them both out into the rain. The cold drops of it searing into his skina nd soaking into his clothes and Dream pulled them down into the grass. Their boots leaving tracks for crushed blades and mud to settle with each other. Everyone would be upstairs. The windows here would be private. They could have their privacy.
“We’re getting soaked.”
“And you said you’d dance with me.”
“Did I?”
Dream stole his lips into a kiss before he could continue to argue. George’s head tilting back to give him more access and Dream took it like a man about to drown. Bringing their bodies closer to one another until they were flush. The music could still be heard through the open doors letting in the fresh air of the storm. The rain pelted down on them heavier by the moment. Striking into their skins and bringing them together the longer they went.
Their hands tangled together. Dream wrapped an arm around George’s waist.
“Taking the lead for a change?”
“Would you rather you order me?”
“I’ll save that for later.”
Their lips met again. Soft and full of the love that tasted like the vows they swore to each other on this day years ago. They started into the steps of their dance. Moving with one another like it was everything in their nature to do. Like it was the only thing they were capable of. Like it was what they were born to do.
“If we keep dancing like this we will ruin the grass.”
“Let it be ruined.”
“What’s gotten into you tonight, Dream?”
He spun George. Watching him under the grey light as the rain plastered his hair to his face. As the lightning flickering in the sky caught in his eyes. As he pulled him in close.
“Can I not just love you the way I always have?”
“I don’t think you loved me when you were eight and throwing mud at me to make me look at you.”
“Well you certainly can’t say you loved me at first sight, you have documents saying how much you hated me.”
“Yes, well, I was a child.”
“Childish wants. And one who deserved mud to be thrown at him.”
“What if I threw mud at you now?”
“And ruin my outfit? George, what would our people think?”
“That I married a fool.”
“You married the love of your life.”
George pulled him down to kiss him again.
“I can’t argue with that.”
Dream met his lips with his own.
“I know.”
They had their hope. They had their home. Something that was finally enough for the both of them. A place where they could be safe and everything was theirs. A place where they could be happy. Where they had peace and no longer needed to fight. A place where they could have their happiness and they could hold their joy and they never had to be afraid again.
“Dream?”
The song came to a close inside. The rush of the music catching their ears and bringing their hears in time with the beats.
He thought of their family inside. United and living as one. All of them happy. All of their pain finally in their past. All of the hurt they had endured finally at a rest.
“I love you.”
Dream looked down to him. His love in his eyes and pouring out of him with every beat of his heart. Standing in the rain and holding the man that he loved. The one that had been with him through everything. The one that he would die for. The one he would always come back for.
And he repeated the promise he would say a thousand times more.
“I love you too.”
And that was enough.