When George woke up, it was with a very different feeling than he was used to. He felt lighter, and not as weighed down to the floor. He guessed having no tail would do that to you.

Last night, he hadn't reacted so much, he'd probably been in a state of shock at the fact that holy shit, it had worked.

He now sat on the floor, where Dream had slept all those nights, in a pile of blankets and a pillow. He clenched the foreign fabric in his hands and let out a gentle sigh at the feeling. It was incredibly soft and very, very dry.

He nudged the blankets off with his legs, deciding it would be a good idea to start working on using them. It was really fucking weird, as he wasn't used to moving two things at once, but his body naturally seemed to take over.

He leaned forward slightly to stare at his legs, which were almost crossed.

They were...well, he wasn't sure how to explain them. They looked like any average human legs, but he couldn't inspect them fully due to the pants over his skin. His legs matched the skin tone of his upper body as a merman, and he let out a breath as he analysed them.

Toes were weird, he decided. They didn't look natural. He cast his gaze onto the floor, coughing slightly.

Grot.

He lifted his shirt up slightly to look at his waist. It was weird, not seeing the scales blending into the skin that was usually there.

George almost felt a little bit sick at not having much familiarity left on his body. He was still colourblind though. Typical. Out of every merman feature he had to keep in this form, it was being colourblind? George let out a snort of amusement at his luck.

Something shifted next to him, and with a start, he looked to the side. Oh, Dream was there. Not close enough to touch, but close enough to feel the body heat radiating from him. He was curled into a ball to keep warm, with no pillow and a very thin blanket. George felt guilt stab at his heart.

He'd asked Dream to stay, and he did, but he sacrificed his comfort for him. Dream was something else, that was for sure.

Dream's mask was askew slightly, not enough to see any of his features, but enough to see part of his cheek.

So George did what anyone would do, and reached forward to poke it.

Dream snapped up with a sharp breath, looking around quickly before he saw George and visibly relaxed.

George let out a soft chuckle at Dream's reaction, and Dream adjusted his mask with a laugh.

"Sorry," Dream murmured, "you startled me."

George shook his head with a smile. Dream let out a breath, looking down at George's legs.

"So...legs." Dream whispered, and George let out an abrupt laugh, covering his mouth with his hand quickly.

"Legs, indeed." George responded, and Dream chuckled.

"How does it feel?" Dream asked, and George paused. He thought for a moment. He felt completely different...like he wasn't in his body, but also was. He was still him, he still looked...mostly the same, but he was also so different.

George wasn't sure how to explain this to Dream, so he just gave him a gentle smile and settled with: "It's weird."

Dream laughed, "Yeah I'll bet!"

George smiled fondly at Dream, noticing a bit of stray hair stuck under Dream's mask. Without thinking, he leaned forward, moving it from under Dream's mask and tucking it behind the blonde's ear.

He glanced up at Dream, or, his mask, and stared at him for a moment, trying to imagine the man's face. Dream opened his mouth to speak, but the words got stuck in his throat.George, just now noticing the extremely close distance between them, and realising what he'd just done, retracted his hand quickly, holding it into his chest. His face burned red, but he wasn't alone in that, as he took note of the red tones on Dream's bottom part of his face.

They said nothing for a moment.

Dream opened his mouth to speak, but George coughed slightly, scratching the back of his head and looking away.

"Uhm, should we work on walking?" George suggested, snapping Dream out of his daze, who coughed and nodded slightly.

Dream stood up, stretching a bit, before reaching out to help George.

"Let's get you onto kneeling first, cause that will help you stand up." Dream helped him onto half sitting on his knees.

George blinked slightly, before looking up at Dream, waiting for what was next.Dream held out his hands for George to grab onto.

George hesitated for a minute, face still burning from what just happened.

He grabbed onto Dream's hands, letting out a steady breath. Dream slowly helped pull him to his feet.

George stumbled instantly, falling onto Dream, who held onto his shoulder's, steadying him.

George's heart was beating at a rapid pace. All of this was so new, so crazy. This was completely uncharted territory for him, and he wasn't sure how to process it.

He looked down at his legs, which were standing! Dream's grip on his shoulders tightened slightly when George wobbled, and the brunette let out a shaky laugh.

He glanced up at Dream, who was smiling down at him and grinned back, eyes shining.

They stood like that for a minute or two, letting George adjust to standing up before Dream slowly extended his arms and took a step back. His hands were still on George's shoulders, but only lightly now.

"Okay, I'm going to let go. Just work on staying up." Dream said, George responding with a small 'ok'.

Slowly, Dream removed his hands, and George wobbled on the spot. George held his arms out, steadying himself. Eventually, he managed to stand there, though with his hands still slightly out for balance.

Dream grinned, "Go George! Go George!" he cheered, jumping on the spot with arms held up in the air.

George went red with embarrassment, considering what he was only learning now was something that babies knew how to do better than him, but in his defence, he'd never had legs before.

"Okay, Georgie," Dream grabbed his attention, "try taking a step."

George's eyes widened.

"Already?!"

"Better now than later!" Dream said, clapping his hands, and George let out a shaky breath, before nodding his head.

"Okay."

He brought to his mind the memories of people walking. He'd certainly thought about it a lot, and he'd watched how Dream and his other friends had done it.

All he had to do was copy them. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

- - - - - - - - -

George was wrong, it was very hard.

He had stepped forward, immediately falling to the floor. Dream had rushed over in panic, helping him back up, and they'd tried again.

He kept falling over. Many times. His whole body was aching by the time he was done.

He'd ended up being able to walk, although incredibly wobbly.

So here he was, with Dream, practising, after about three hours, to walk around the room.

He stuck close to the walls in case he fell over, so he could grab onto something if it came down to it. He turned to look at Dream, who was standing next to him, and paused in moving. He let out a heavy breath, and Dream flashed him a smile.

"This is harder than I was expecting." George murmured, and Dream gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder, before jumping in the spot.

George looked at him in utter bewilderment, and Dream laughed at the look on his face. George scowled back at him, but couldn't fight the smile off his face.

"The hell was that?" George questioned, letting himself lean his back against the wall. He deserved some rest.

"I just had a great idea!" Dream exclaimed, and George raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

Dream smiled, "I'll be right back!" and then he was off, running out of the room.

George wondered to himself if he'd ever be able to run.

Maybe.

A few minutes go by, and Dream's rushing back through the door, a wooden stick in his hand.

He bounded over to George, holding it out.

George leaned forward to inspect it. It was definitely wood, but it was polished. The top of it was curved over, and the bottom of it had a little rubber bit.

He made a sound of confusion and Dream laughed.

"It's called a cane."

A cane? Huh.

"It's to help you walk," Dream continued, and George looked at him in confusion. How the fuck was this supposed to help him walk?

Dream flipped it over and set it on the floor, gripping the handle.

"You lean some of your body weight on it, see? It makes it easier to walk." he passed it over to the brunette, who hesitantly grabbed it, copying what Dream had done and leaning it on the floor.

"Okay, now, walk across the room and back, but use that." Dream instructed.

"Okay."

He took a step, leaning some weight on the cane and moving it forward.

George smiled to himself, walking across the room much easier than before, but still not fluidly as normal humans did.

He turned around and grinned at Dream.

"It works!"

Dream laughed loudly, "that's the idea!"

George walked back over to Dream with the cane, and smiled, looking up at him.

He realised, even standing up, that Dream was taller than him.

He'd thought about that a lot when he was in his merman form, Dream had always been taller when he was like that, obviously, but now? Well, George didn't mind it, but it was still surprising.

Dream's towering form over him somehow made him feel safe.

Protected, if you will.

George continued to look up at him, and he bit his lip. But then, his hand slipped from his cane, as he'd not been holding onto it too tight.

He moved forward to try and catch it, but seriously overestimated his abilities, because as soon as he tried, he fell over.

On top of Dream.

The two of them tumbled to the floor, and Dream smacked his head with a groan.

George looked down, hands leaning against the floor as he sat on top of Dream.

They stared at each other for a moment, before Dream coughed.

"Uh, George."

George's eyes widened as he scrambled to get off Dream.

"Shit, sorry!"

He rolled onto the floor, grabbing the cane to help him stand up.

By the time he'd done that, Dream was already up and dusting off his clothes.

They looked at each other for a moment, brown eyes meeting mask, both equally red due to blush.

An awkward silence hung throughout the air, and George felt like he was going to drown in it.

"Do you want to meet the rest of the crew?" Dream asked hesitantly, after a moment of silence, obviously trying to 'change the subject'.

George's eyes snapped up, grip tightening on the cane.

He thought about it for a moment. He should feel more worried than he is. He should want to say no. But that's just it. He doesn't want to say no.

He smiled slightly, nodding his head.

"Yeah, okay, let's do that."

Both boys grinned at each other, trying to push away the fast beat of their hearts at the thought of the other.

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!!!!

HERE IT IS! GEORGE FINALLY WALKS! EVEN THOUGH HE'S REALLY NOT THAT GREAT AT IT!!

Welcome back oldies of the book, and welcome to those new here!!

Also, I wrote half of this in science class. Lmao.

Time to go cry over homework :D

Happy reading

-Bee

(4/2/21)

Co-posted on ao3