Chapter Text
By the time Dream wakes up, Sapnap and George are gone, but Karl is still here, asleep in exactly the same place he fell asleep last night- with his head on Dream’s chest.
The dream is still fresh in Dream’s mind. He has weird dreams, sure, and sure they can be a manifestation of his paranoia that he breaks everything he ever touches, but that one was something else. He’s never- or he doesn’t remember- standing up for himself like that. Not just for himself, but for Karl, too, because even though he’s known Karl maybe a month and a half at this point, it feels like forever. It feels like infinity. He’s so angry, not on his own behalf exactly, but on both of theirs.
So he turns slightly to his side to wrap his free arm across Karl’s shoulders, curling around him. There’s nothing wrong with this, with any of it, and fuck his own mind for trying to tell him so. His arms and back ache like he can still feel the phantom pinpricks of icy claws tearing into flesh, but he supposes that’ll wear off as he wakes up.
Whatever the dream was, it lingers in a way. The way that Dream doesn’t want to move, doesn’t want to let go, he doesn’t want to release Karl from the protective hold he has. Luckily, Karl is both asleep and clingy, and does not have any desire to be let go of- in fact, he sort of snuffles and wriggles until he’s all cuddled around Dream, fistfuls of his shirt held tight and careful.
Dream doesn’t go back to sleep. He’s afraid of what he’d find in his rest, but he can space out here. It feels okay, it feels safe, it feels- it feels. That’s the important part.
Karl doesn’t take too much longer to wake up, maybe a half hour before he’s stirring, stretching out and blinking awake. Dream doesn’t particularly want to let go, but he does, eventually, withdraw his arm.
“Morning,” he greets as Karl sits up, hair ruffled and sleepy-eyed. Karl shoots him a smile, disoriented as he tries to gather his bearings.
“Morning,” It’s half-absent, hazed by sleep still, and he rubs at his eyes to try and clear the mist.
“You sleep okay?” Dream drags himself to sitting, too, and Karl hums,
“Had kind of a weird dream, but otherwise, yeah.”
“Mm, yeah, me too,” Dream sighs, pushes a hand into his hair, “I have a sort of recurring- not dream, but location- and it was just a little weirder and rougher than usual last night. Made me a bit clingy.”
“Snap,” Karl replies, and there’s a hand curling fingers in between Dream’s against the mattress, “I think mine was just all the anxiety catastrophizing everything, but I can deal with that. Catastrophizing is kinda normal.”
Dream huffs,
“Me, too. I constantly have weird dreams about how I’ll be responsible for the end of all days, I think the crash and- and last night kind of amalgamated into… weird me telling me I’m basically the antichrist.”
“Anxiety buddies,” Karl replies, chipper despite the sog of sleep that still clings to his voice. Dream exhales hard, a laugh that doesn’t quite make it,
“Anxiety buddies,” he agrees, and then because there’s no good time, “Do you wanna talk about- y’know, the kiss...es?”
Karl groans, plants his face in his free hand, but doesn’t let go of Dream’s. That’s a positive, right? It’s probably a positive.
“C’mon, Dream, I just woke up.”
“Best time to talk about it,” Dream replies, “Get it out of the way.”
“What is there to talk about?” Karl’s voice is muffled by his own palm, and Dream squishes the fingers between his own, like a reassurance.
“I don’t know. Why? If you know why. Or why you did it again? Or if you want to keep doing it?”
“The answer to all of those questions really is just- I don’t know,” Karl picks his face from his palm so the words aren’t badly muffled, “I don’t think I’m like, in love with you or anything. I don’t know. I guess kissing you is nice, though?”
He looks just, completely baffled, and Dream feels a pang of sympathy for him. Navigating emotions and impulses is hard, that’s something Dream can sympathise with, so he leans over to gently bump his head to Karl’s.
“Neither I or Sapnap minds if you want to keep doing it,” Dream says, gentle, “I think it’s nice- I enjoy it. Kissing. I mean.”
Karl snorts a laugh at how awkwardly he says it, some of the tension and nervousness dissipating from his shoulders and heart.
“So you’re okay with doing it again?”
“Sure,” Dream shrugs, “As long as you stop if I ask you too, and, y’know, vice versa.”
“Of course,” There’s faint offence in Karl’s voice, “I would never- if you didn’t want me to.”
“And what about the other way around?” Dream’s head tilts, but it’s not curious this time. There’s almost hunger in his eyes, but it’s different to the hunger that burns when he looks at Sapnap, “Can I kiss you?”
“If you wanna,” Karl gets out before Dream kisses him this time. The way that he kisses is rougher than Karl, but not mean, just demanding. It’s kind of nice, Karl thinks, to just let himself be taken over by the kiss and the hand Dream smooths up to his waist to hold him.
It’s not spectacular, not life-changing, something in Dream tells him it should be but he doesn’t care that it isn’t.
The only thing he cares about is that they chose this. Both of them. And breaking the kiss doesn’t feel bad, but it’s something, and whatever that something is- it’s okay.
“George and Sapnap are up already,” Dream tells Karl as he shuffles out of bed, heading for his folded clothes, “Dunno how long they’ve been up, they were out of bed by the time I woke up.”
“Weird for George to be awake,” Karl doesn’t look away as Dream strips his shirt off to change, which is kind of funny in the moment.
They head downstairs pretty shortly after that, pausing to give Karl a chance to change. He doesn’t shed the cosy clothes exactly, just switching into a different old t-shirt and an oversized pyjama sweater that’s a kind of pastel pink. Dream tells him it suits him as they’re stepping out onto the landing, and he misses the smile that Karl gives him in response.
They come in to find Sapnap and George on the couch, Sapnap with one leg propped against the back of the sofa to leave room between his thighs for George to sit, leaning back against Sapnap’s chest. They have George’s switch, though they is more Sapnap, and they’re going back and forth with a digital game of chess. Dream doesn’t hear them say anything as they’re coming down the stairs, but does catch a few muffled laughs. As they’re entering into the main room, Sapnap lets out a little pained yelp as George elbows him weakly in the side.
“That’s cheating, Gogy,” He laments, “You can’t do that. I want a rematch.”
“No, you put your rook down, now deal with it,” George replies, all prim and put together, taking the switch from Sapnap’s hand.
Ah, hand, because he was only using one to hold it. The other seems to have trailed vaguely up under George’s shirt, rucking it a few inches and telling Dream that Sapnap probably has his hand splayed over the bottom of George’s ribs. He’ll have to collar him about the whole nothing serious until he sees a therapist thing later, because this looks like it’s gone a little beyond flirting, but like- Dream did just kind of make out with George’s housemate so… evens.
“Morning,” Karl greets, and curls his pinkie finger around Dream’s in the vague essence of a held hand. George and Sapnap look up from the switch to greet them, and Sapnap uses his currently free hand to wave brightly. Dream guides Karl around the sofa to plop on the floor between it and the table, with Karl dropping down next to him.
“You guys were up early,” he comments, and pokes at Sapnap’s ribs with the hand he has free, “What’s the occasion?”
“Dunno,” Sapnap shrugs, “George woke up and it woke me up, we didn’t wanna wake you guys up so we came downstairs.”
George hums in absent agreement, finally deciding on the move he’s making and handing the switch back to Sapnap.
“Mostly just been playing chess,” he tells them, turning his head so he can at least look at them when he speaks, “I’ve been winning.”
“You’ve been cheating,” Sapnap replies, and taps the switch gently on George’s chest. George wheezes like it was a full on punch, and Sapnap rolls his eyes,
“Drama queen,”
“My lungs,” George laments, “You’ve broken my ribs. How could you? My own soulmate-”
Sapnap drops the switch- it’s waiting for George to take his turn anyway- and there’s a squeak of surprise as Sapnap jostles George to reach across him and grab his arm, wrangling him so he can scooch two fingers down the inside of his cuff to press the knuckles to George’s mark. He’s laughing at the jerk that George gives before it’s all the way through, and releases him more out of inability to hold on than pity. George goes fully limp back against his chest, huffing and panting faintly to catch his breath.
“That was just mean.” George grumbles, and Sapnap laughs, the switch abandoned to the side as he curls the free arm over George’s chest in a sort of apologetic hug.
“You brought up the soulmate thing,” Sapnap replies, with the bounce of laughter still in his voice, “Thought I was playing fair.”
“You’re such a cheater,” George laments, but he’s laying in place quite peacefully, ignoring the switch digging into his side. Dream shoots Karl a curious look, receives a shrug and raised eyebrows in returns, which lets Dream know he doesn’t really know what the fuck is going on, either.
“I’m gonna make coffee,” Dream says, after a few seconds of silence, “When are you wanting to leave, Sap?”
“Time’s it?” Sapnap slides his hand from under George’s shirt at last to paw for the switch, dragging it up to home and check the time. Dream hasn’t even found his phone by the time he gets it- he figures he probably left it upstairs.
“Ten forty,” Sapnap answers his own question, “Can we get to the station for the eleven thirty, d’you think?”
“If I order an Uber now and we get ready, yeah,” Dream shuffles to his feet, “It’s a ten-fifteen minute trip, give five for getting on the train if we have digital tickets- ten to be safe- yeah. We’ll be fine.”
“Do you have time for coffee?” Sapnap pats George’s middle to make him sit up, and Dream shakes his head,
“Nah, I’ll grab something at the station if we’re early enough. If not, I’ll get it in Manchester.”
“Got it,” Sapnap swings his legs over to sit up properly, shouldering George gently, “I’ll go get dressed.”
“See if you can find my phone?”
“You want me to call it?” Karl is already shuffling for his own, and Dream hums,
“Yes, please.”
Dream gets their Uber ordered and the two of them make sure they’re properly dressed before returning to the main room, where George is perched by the windowsill watching for their uber.
Karl drags both Sapnap and Dream into a hug that he has to bribe George to join, but he’s persuasive enough that the four of them cuddle in together in the middle of the room.
Pulling apart, Karl’s fingers curl in the collar of Dream’s shirt to give him a brief, feather-light kiss, and he drops back to the table to pull the doughnuts from the pile of uneaten things.
“Are you sure you don’t want a pack for the road?”
“I wouldn’t say no,” Sapnap makes grabby hands, and Karl grins as he offers them out. To Dream’s left, he sees the flash of confusion and something unrecognisable across George’s eyes as he steps away, too, back to the window. He turns away, and Dream waves for Karl and Sapnap’s attention to hold up a finger,
‘One moment,’
Karl nods, and Dream follows George to the window, stands with their shoulders brushing.
“Hey, you good?” It’s quiet, low to George only, and George huffs,
“Fine.”
“Liar.”
“Screw you,” but there’s a levity to it, “I am fine. Just, I don’t know. Jealous, I guess? Karl has always been so- so easygoing. I’m always jealous of him.”
Dream eases an arm around George’s shoulders, pausing after the first light touch in case he’s thrown off, but he isn’t.
“I’d like to be as carefree as he is,” George shakes his head at himself, “One day.”
“If it’s what you want, it’s what you’ll be.” It’s reassurance, “You’ll be okay.”
George sighs, leans in to the warmth and understanding Dream is offering out to him.
“Thank you.”
Dream gets coffee for himself and a mocha for Sapnap before they load onto the train. Sapnap gets halfway through before he falls asleep on Dream’s shoulder, and Dream holds his cup so it doesn’t spill as they trundle through the light snow.
The line is reliable enough that the snow doesn’t prevent the service, but it is slower than usual, and it’s almost an hour and three quarters before they’re clambering off in Piccadilly to head out into the city.
There’s still the odd white flake spiralling around them as they walk, and Dream thinks, in this moment, there’s nowhere he’d rather be. His life is pretty goddamn perfect. Well- ideally, Niki and the others wouldn’t have been hit by a car, but as far as everything else goes…
He’s happy enough.
Puffy is discharged about six that afternoon, and Dream picks her up from the hospital on his way back from Sapnap’s place to drop her off at home.
Jack is discharged two days later, the same day that Niki goes in for surgery on her wrist, and he’s immediately taken into police custody for the whole beat a man within an inch of his life thing.
Physically, the dude that crashed into them is doing peachy now. Well, peachy is a word for it, he’s still mad fucked up, but they don’t think there’ll be any long-term brain damage from the rattling Jack gave him; the only long-term damage it looks like he’ll have is from the crash itself, and well, that’s just deserved .
Jack’s put out on bail, which is pretty big considering GBH isn’t a small crime, but apparently they don’t believe he’s likely to do it again so they’re happy to let him go until the court date. He’s got to check in at the station once a week. They don’t have a set date straight away, but the estimate for the initial court hearing is about six weeks out, and Quackity is already on top of getting him some good representation, so none of them are particularly worried- just that Jack’s family will have to come to him for Christmas, since he’s not meant to leave the county and he’d miss a date at the station.
But other than that, everything is pretty much fine. They keep Niki in for another two days after her surgery to monitor her, then discharge her, and she’s met outside the hospital by a small party of people who have to resist the urge to hug her because her ribs are kind of fucked up.
She’s managed to persuade them to give her a neon pink cast, despite the fact that they’re usually reserved for the kids, and as soon as she’s out of the hospital, they’re all scrawling their names onto it like they’re ten years old again.
The first time Karl kisses Dream in front of Wilbur, his mouth drops open and he points and stares for a solid thirty seconds. Nobody answers him in any way, so it’s dropped, and not brought up again.
A week before Christmas, Sapnap calls Dream sniffling, and Dream has his hand on his car keys before he’s even gotten through his hello.
“What’s wrong?” Dream demands, and Sapnap laughs, a little watery,
“Bad’s going to America for Christmas and New Years,” He tells Dream, “His… friend, his best friend, they have some shit going on and I’m glad he’s finally getting over it but he’s going and Punz decided he’s going to see his family and I’m going to be alone-”
“No you’re not, idiot,” Dream scoffs, “You know fine fucking well you’re always welcome here.”
“Isn’t your family visiting for Christmas?”
“Yeah,” Dream replies, nonchalant, “But you can come hang out with us. And if not- I know Karl and George are having their own Christmas, I’m sure you could ask them.”
“I- do you think they’d have me? I mean, I love you and all, but I don’t know if I’m ready to spend Christmas with your family. You still haven’t told your dad, have you?”
Dream feels a wash of shame, and exhales sharply, which makes Sapnap laugh a little, gentle,
“That’s not judgemental, Dream, I’m just asking. I don’t want to put you in an awkward place.”
“I- no, I haven’t told my dad,” Dream admits, buries his face in his palm, “I guess you’re right. I will tell him, though, and if you wanna come over for a little bit at any point…” It’s left open ended, an offering like an olive branch, and he hears the smile on Sapnap’s face when he laughs again, followed by the clack of keys as he types.
“Sure, if you’re ready. I’ll message- who’s gonna be nicer- Karl, ask them if they’d be okay having me over christmas.
“They will be,” Dream says confidently. He knows George and Karl well enough, he’d like to think, to know that about them. There’s no way they’d be content to let Sapnap, someone they love, be alone on Christmas when he doesn’t want to.
The conversation drifts for a time, idling into the next time they’ll see one another- probably Monday, since Dream’s family arrives Tuesday evening.
Sapnap pauses halfway through a sentence, and Dream hears him clicking and typing in the background before he exhales hard, relief thick in his breath.
“Karl said they’d be happy to have me,” He tells Dream, “I’m- thank God.”
“I told you they would,” Dream replies, and in the background,
dreamwastaken — Today at 11:27 PM
💜💜💜
Karl 🍥 (He/Him) — Today at 11:27 PM
💚💚💚
“I’m still gonna facetime my family, but I’m just… glad that I won’t be alone. I really hate being alone, just don’t wanna like- burden people with that.”
“I get that,” Dream agrees, “I fucking hate being alone. That’s part of how George and I bonded, ‘cause I hate being alone and he offered to sleep call with me.”
“I think you’ve mentioned, yeah. I- yeah.” A soft sigh, “Speakin’ of sleep calls- I’m tired. You wanna sleep call with me?”
“It’s eleven thirty,” Dream teases right back at him, but shuffles to his feet with his phone in one hand, “Yeah, sure, I’ll at least lie down for a bit. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
On the Monday, they go on a date. Nothing big, just coffee but organised specifically to be a date so it feels special, and Sapnap pushes a… somewhat large box across the table toward Dream.
“Christmas presents,” he says, “There’s four of them in there. One for your mom, your dad, Drista, and you.”
“You got my family Christmas presents?” Dream says, half awed, “That’s so fucking cute, dude?”
“Yeah, I just kind of went based on what you said about them. I debated getting Drista a whole-ass skateboard, but like- taking that home would be a pain-”
“And my mom would kill you,” Dream says, and Sapnap nods,
“And your mom would kill me.”
“What did you get her, then?”
“Uh, there’s like, a prepaid card for a store back in your city that sells skateboards, and then a bunch of like. Safety and education stuff. Also tech decks, because you can’t convince me they’re not cool.”
“She’ll love it, but tell you she hates it,” Dream grins around the side of the box, “What about my parents?”
Sapnap explains his lack of real knowledge boiling down to more practical things- a travel pillow, because Dream mentioned his dad has issues with his neck when he flies long distance. A necklace with his mom’s birthstone, because it’s the sort of thing she likes.
“And what did you get me?”
“You’ll have to wait ‘til Christmas to find out,” Sapnap grins at him, cheeky, “No opening it before then, either.”
“Aww, come on!”
“It’s less than a week!” Sapnap throws a hand up, fake exasperated, and Dream pouts but it’s not genuine.
“Fine, I guess.” He relents, amused, “I’ll wait, I’ll wait. I didn’t bring your Christmas present, I was gonna drop it at Karl and George’s place on Christmas Eve.”
“That probably would have been easier, huh?” Sapnap eyes the large box, “Well, you can drive, I can’t. Suck it, loser.”
“You’re a loser,” Dream snips back, and Sapnap grins,
“Your loser.”
“You’re so fucking lame,” Dream wheezes, but reaches across the table to hook his fingers around Sapnap’s, “I love you so much, even if you are an idiot.”
“Love you too,” Sapnap replies, pulling Dream’s hand up so he can kiss his knuckles, which just sort of makes Dream wheeze and flush wildly.
Christmas goes by… easily, considering. It’s not an easy conversation to have with his dad, the whole I’ve met my soulmates- yes two- and they’re both dudes and I’m dating one of them and also potentially dating the other one’s housemate and maybe also the other soulmate in the future depending on how therapy goes conversation.
But it’s a conversation he has regardless, and he introduces them to Sapnap, and briefly to George and Karl, and he hands off Sapnap’s Christmas present. It’s a Build-a-Bear cat, all black with green eyes and a lime green collar, with the ‘birth certificate’ certifying its name as ‘Catnap’ which Sapnap thinks is adorable for a hundred reasons.
Dream cries when his family leaves, but he’s not alone when he’s waving them off at the airport, not by a long shot. He’s expecting to be, but when they turn up, Karl, George, and Sapnap are already waiting for them.
Drista’s taken quite a liking to Sapnap, in the way that she’s decided he’s extremely bulliable and thinks it’s hilarious to do so.
He waves his family off, and when he turns around, he’s immediately pulled into a crushing hug by Karl that quickly develops into a group cuddle huddle.
Sapnap joins Dream on the way back. Karl drove him and George, so they take their own car, planning to meet back up at George and Karl’s house. The journey is mostly quiet, just music playing a touch under ‘loud’ and traffic buzzing in their ears, the sleet making the road slick but not icy enough to unnerve Dream as they go. Sapnap murmurs occasional affection at him and falls asleep against the window, and Dream thinks that, despite the ache of missing his family, he’s happy with his life.
That night finds them, once again, in Karl’s bed curled up together. This time, George is curled closest to Dream, head pillowed on his chest as he slides drowsily between sleep and waking, waiting for Karl and Sapnap to come upstairs.
“First therapy session’s the fourth,” George tells Dream hazily, “I think maybe I’m not ready, but I will be.”
“Good,” Dream combs his fingers through George’s hair, “You can go to sleep, you don’t have to wait for those nimrods.”
George takes his word on that, apparently, yawning once more before he stops fighting the drowsiness dragging on him.
When Sapnap and Karl come in, Sapnap is bright pink, and their hands are held between them in a way that’s just different enough from Karl’s usual clinginess that it garners Dream’s attention.
They both see him eyeing their held hands, then Sapnap’s face, and Karl giggles nervously, releasing Sapnap to start getting changed. Sapnap crawls into bed, still pink, and Dream nuzzles the side of his head as he curls into his side.
“Yeah?” It’s a breath of a question, and Sapnap nods.
“Yeah.”
Karl clambers into bed to snuggle into Sapnap, and that’s how the night takes them.
New Years is a fucking experience, that’s for sure.
They head into Manchester with, basically, the whole fucking crew. Bad isn’t back from America yet, but Punz is, and he doesn’t manage to escape the gripping hands of Dream and Sapnap getting ready in the apartment.
He’s dragged out into town with them, and half the group goes bar hopping whilst the other half chooses the one pub that’ll let Tommy in and stays there. Dream is part of the latter, but Sapnap and George disappear for a few hours with Punz, Wilbur, Quackity, and Techno of all people.
Niki, Jack, and Puffy take up a table of their own to the side, mostly so that they have the space to exist without putting the three of them at risk of irritating their injuries.
The girls can’t drink on their pain meds, and Jack isn’t meant to, but he’s not taking his pain meds, so it doesn’t matter. Dream calls him an idiot, and Jack laughs at him.
The hopping gang returns around eleven in the evening, by which point Karl has taken up residence sat on Dream’s lap, Ranboo has accepted his fate being squished between Tommy and Tubbo, and Fundy has gotten entirely too drunk for someone that’s been sat in a pub for three hours doing nothing but vibing.
Sapnap greets Dream and Karl both with a brief kiss as he plops into the seat beside them, dragging George behind him.
George has the flush of alcohol staining his cheeks pink even in the warmth, and Dream gives him a little grin, Karl extends a hand over the table that George threads his fingers into immediately
“Hi,” Karl greets, squeezing George’s fingers, “You’re cold.”
“Come warm me up, then?” It’s more bold than either Dream or Sapnap expects, and they’re both shocked by the response but Karl is twisting to slide over Sapnap’s legs and kneeing George in the thigh until he stands up so that Karl can sit down and drag George down into his lap, cheerfully wrapping his arms around George’s middle and hooking his chin over his shoulder, making a grabby hand for his drink until Sapnap slides it over into the palm of his hand.
At the table beside them, Tommy wrinkles his nose and pulls a face at the whole scene.
“You guys are gross,” he says, but it’s with affection, “We’re in a public place, man, c’mon.”
“We are literally in the Gay Village, Tommy,” George replies, head tilted back against Karl’s shoulder, “This isn’t just normal, it’s expected. Actually, you’re not being gross enough.”
Ranboo slings an arm around Tommy’s shoulders in response, and Tommy faux grumbles about it, returning to sipping on his cola (almost certainly spiked, because Wilbur is here.)
It seems like the last hour of the year crawls by at the speed of light, a weird takes-forever-takes-no-time-at-all experience that has Dream blinking with one arm around Sapnap’s shoulders in the booth, and opening his eyes with his little group crowded together watching the TV. Three minutes to go and the bar is already jostling, vibrating with the TV turned up on the last interviews and music acts before the countdown. Wilbur is fighting to keep his arm around Quackity with how roughly Tommy is jostling him, and Tubbo laughs raucously as 5up is, for not the first time, knocked stumbling by an overenthusiastic Fundy stumbling into him.
George has Tina and Brooke on facetime. Corpse has promised he’ll be back for the countdown, so there’s a space beside Tina loaded up with blankets as she and Brooke laugh at how much of a mess George has become- and they’re not wrong. He’s coated in a fine layer of sweat from the heat and the alcohol, his hair is sticking up everywhere, and his shirt collar is ruffled on one side from when Sapnap had wrapped an arm around him to noogie him into oblivion. Karl hangs off of his shoulder, waving, and he’s joined shortly by both Dream and Sapnap squishing in to frame.
Corpse settles back into bed with thirty seconds to go. Dream beams at him, and Corpse waves- Dream knows he can’t hear them, since Tina and Brooke have the earphones, but he mouths an i love you! At him anyway, and by the smile that creases the corners of Corpse’s eyes, he understands.
“Ten!” They hear Wilbur above all else, the pub is humming with electric energy, the TV barely heard over the roar of them counting down, the screen panning out over London and the Eye on the Thames.
The delay puts Corpse, Tina, and Brooke a second behind them, but they’re so distracted by the shouting they don’t really pay attention. It’s just overbearing,
“Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” And Sapnap is dragging Dream into a hard but quick kiss so he can turn to pull Karl into the same. Somewhere off to the side, Quackity is dragging Wilbur down so hard Dream thinks he’ll be surprised if his back doesn’t hurt tomorrow- then Karl is kissing him and he doesn’t really think at all. There’s shouts and calls and party poppers going off. Tommy picks Tubbo up by the thighs and promptly topples backward as he overbalances, Ranboo jolting out to grab Tubbo from Tommy’s failing grip before he can drag the poor guy down with him.
Techno taps his drink to Jack’s, a silent solidarity between the two poor fuckers third wheeling (Eighth wheeling? More wheeling?) their friends, but enjoying themselves regardless.
The minute isn’t over by the time Dream catches his breath and drops to talk directly into George’s ear,
“Can I kiss your cheek?” It’s almost a shout, even at this distance, but George barely hears it. It takes a second, but his fingers curl into Dream’s collar and he nods, so Dream slides across the last couple of inches to press a kiss to George’s cheek.
In comparison to the fierce kisses between Sapnap, Karl, and himself, Dream kisses George carefully, like he’s afraid a rougher touch will break him.
Sapnap and Karl are absolutely not as considerate as they pick up on the okay and scuffle with one another to see who’ll be first to get to the other cheek. It’s Karl, and Sapnap all but shoulders Dream out of the way to take his place, and Dream fake pouts for all of two seconds before he can’t resist the desire to laugh any more.
They head out a little over an hour later. Niki and Puffy are the most sober of the lot of them, and Ranboo's only had the one drink (peer pressure), so it’s the three of them wrangling the rest of the party. Sure, Techno appears sober, but it’s just good acting and more than once, Ranboo has to fasten a hand around his wrist to stop him from challenging a lamp post to a fist fight.
They stop by the apartment first to drop Punz off.
Sapnap and Dream probably could stay here, too, in Sapnap’s room- but there’s no way that George and Karl would fit on Sapnap’s twin bed, so they’re going to be in the hotel room instead.
Sapnap tells the group to wait whilst he sees Punz upstairs- they take Ranboo with them mostly to make sure the two dumbasses don’t break anything whilst drunk- and when Sapnap returns, he’s got Catnap cuddled against his chest and Ranboo holding his hand like a kid.
“Didn’t want to wait for the elevator,” Ranboo explains as he releases Sapnap into Dream’s care, “Had to be held back somehow.”
Getting them up into their hotel rooms is sort of like herding cats. Ranboo collects everyone’s keys and slaps sticky notes with whose key it is onto the little plastic cards, and between him, Niki, and Puffy, they plan the most efficient route and split of the group to make this as painless as possible. Ranboo takes Jack so he’s not tempted to be too roughly friendly with Niki- the collarbone is still fragile, even an arm around her shoulders can be rough- and Niki chooses to take Dream and his gaggle of dumbasses. Like picking teams, it goes- Ranboo takes Tommy and Tubbo, Niki takes Fundy and 5up, Ranboo takes Wilbur and Quackity, Niki takes Techno.
They split up, and begin the process of dropping people into their rooms to rest. Before they separate on the landing of the first floor, Karl gives Quackity a quick kiss, a murmured ‘Love you,’ and releases to let him follow Ranboo away.
Niki and Puffy deposit them in their room first, a double bed and two singles that they fully don’t intend to use as they drag off coats, jeans, and shoes. Karl disappears into the bathroom to scrub off his eyeliner, and by the time he returns, Dream has already hopped into the shorts and shirt he plans to sleep in, and George is already propped up against the pillows wearing one of Karl’s old shirts because apparently his are comfier to sleep in and that’s why he stole it and shut the fuck up Karl, you’re not getting it back. Sapnap is struggling with the buttons of his shirt, and Dream is laughing as he tries to help with the mess he’s made of himself.
They eventually manage to get them all changed and piled up in the bed in a toss of limbs and laughter, Karl fishing over the edge of the bed for the light switch, and then there’s darkness and the sound of the city humming along below, the occasional pop of a firework, and their breath.
“Three days to go,” George whispers, squished pleasantly between Dream and Karl.
“Three days to go,” Sapnap agrees from the other side, “love you guys.”
He gets it echoed back at him three times over, and it doesn’t even feel strange to hear it from George. He folds his fingers around George’s on Dream’s chest, and the four of them fall asleep.
Therapy goes well.
They all sort of build it up to be a big thing, like after the first session, George will be immediately ready to make choices he can’t right now.
The unfortunate fact is that he comes back less sure than he went, exhausted and broken down, but refreshed in a way that he trusts he can build himself back up. Sapnap and Dream were meant to come over, but he texts them last minute
Georgie [17:32]
hey i know you guys were gonna come over but that was… a lot rougher than i thought it would be. could you hold off?
Dreamie [17:35]
ofc 💙
So he ends up in Karl’s bed, as he usually does, watching Adventure Time and being held like he’s made of glass, which right now, it feels like he is.
Dream, Sapnap, and Karl officially announce that they’re dating about two weeks after that. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone, really, but Drista does call Dream to exclaim,
“That little weasel?” which Dream tells Karl means that she likes him.
The cycle goes. George goes to therapy, comes back feeling beaten and bruised but ultimately better. Dream changes meds mid-January, and by the end of February, he feels like he’s seeing the light of dawn for the first time in maybe years. Wilbur performs twice more at the same bar he’d played in the night this all kicked off, with a lot of the same crowd, and it gets him picked up into a band of all things.
Valentine's Day is a fun time. Of course, Dream goes out on a date with Karl and Sapnap, but it’s a fraction of the time they spend with George, Wilbur, Quackity, Techno that evening. (Karl and Quackity booked their own date the night before, cheaper and quieter.)
It’s mid-March by the time George approaches Dream.
They’re out on a group picnic at the park, in which Wilbur has bopped ice cream on no fewer than four of his friends’ noses. Dream has trailed to the pond by himself, mostly to take photos of the cygnets following their parents across the water, leaving Sapnap and Karl behind to giggle with one another whilst Quackity uses them as human shields from Wilbur’s attacks.
George paces through the sun dapples that stain his skin with green through the canopy of leaves, padding up behind Dream as he’s crouching and cooing at the swans even as they hiss at him, his laughter filling the air warmer than any spring sun.
George crouches next to him.
“Hey,” he greets, quiet, and Dream fumbles his phone for a second in surprise before he turns, beaming, to George,
“Hey! Have you seen the cygnets?”
George looks over the water, where the swans have stopped paying attention to Dream now, and are preoccupied with a small child a little ways around the pond throwing the bird feed they provide at the side out onto the water, the cygnets paddling furiously behind them.
“They’re cute,” George comments, smiling, and it’s true. They’re fuzzy, light grey, can’t be more than a week or so old, honking at one another and snapping over the food.
“Yeah,” Dream plops into sitting on the concrete, pats the ground beside him to encourage George to drop too, which he does quite peacefully. They sit for a few minutes in quiet, watching the swans and the ducks on the pond, the ripple of the water in the sunlight. Dream’s eyes glue to the birds, and George finds his attention slowly pulled away. It glues to Dream, instead, the bright line of sun highlighting his features and pulling bright color to his eyes, even if it’s a color that George can’t really see. He doesn’t need to see it properly to know it’s beautiful, and his breath shakes and he’s scared but not of the future.
“I think I’m ready now,” he says, hushed, “I think I’ll be okay.”
And Dream’s attention is on him immediately, intense and concerned with pink affection laced behind it.
“Are you sure?”
George nods,
“I still don’t know if what I feel is, you know… love. But I do feel something, and I’m okay not knowing. I- I’ve enjoyed everything we’ve been doing so far,” he glances over his shoulder, to Sapnap and Karl, curling around Quackity from either side whilst Wilbur descends on them.
“I’d like to keep doing it, and to, uh… make everything kind of. Official? I just- if it goes wrong, if it doesn’t end up the way we want, provided none of us seriously fuck one another over- promise me you won’t leave? Having you guys around has been some of the best times of my life. I don’t want to lose you to this.”
He holds out his pinkie, meets Dream’s eyes, and Dream almost melts in place as he curls his little finger around George’s.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he promises, “ We aren’t going anywhere. If you wanna be ours, you’re ours, and if it doesn’t work out, you’re still gonna be our friend.”
George smiles. It’s a beautiful sight, and Dream smiles too, just by the light of his passed on happiness.
“I think I love you,” George says, and Dream laughs, not mocking, but gentle.
“And I love you, too. Can I kiss you?”
A pause, George swallows. This will be it. No back tracking, not when they’ve built it all up to be this thing. He could say no, say he’s not ready, he knows Dream would understand. But if he said he didn’t want it, he’d be lying, and he’s sick of taking every safe choice.
“Yeah,” he says, breathless, “You can.”
And maybe the world doesn’t shift and swirl around them, maybe there’s no choir of angels or birds singing, but the sunlight feels warmer and the breeze feels gentler when Dream presses his lips to George’s for the first time, when George’s hands find their place on Dream’s shoulders and it feels, for a second, like they’re meant to be there.
If this isn’t love, then that’s fine. It’s still care, it’s still affection, still something and he knows that he wants Dream- and Karl, and Sapnap- like this, with him, for as long as they’re happy to have him back.
His breath catches in his lungs, thick and warm and cosmic, clouds of nebulae and stardust, all honey-sweet.
“I- yeah, I liked that,” He can barely catches his breath before the words are spilling out, “I wanna do that again.”
“Whenever you want,” Dream promises, dropping to rest his forehead to George’s, “Do you wanna tell the boys?”
George inhales, slow and hard, one hand finding Dream’s to lace their fingers together.
“Yeah,” he says, careful, “I do.”
“Privately? I can drag them over here.”
“Please,” George replies, and Dream squeezes his hand, stands from his spot and leaves George in his place with a ruffle of his hair to retrieve his boyfriends.
They take it well, as expected. And equally as expected, Karl is the first to jump to kiss George- it’s been far too long in the wings, for all that they’re a group now, they’ve known one another for so long and been lowkey pining for the majority of that time without really realising it. It’s kind of funny, watching the way they pull apart and stare at one another for a few long seconds- Dream has to hold Sapnap back- as they figure out just what’s happened. How they got here. All the years of venting to one another, holding onto one another to stay afloat, supporting each other and living together, watching each other fall in and out of love or the closest thing to with an amalgam of pride and jealousy.
They kiss again. Sapnap whines that he hasn’t had his turn yet, and Dream elbows him hard.
For all the fire that Sapnap boasts, the way he kisses George for the first time is gentle, not cautious but soft. It’s telling him he’s loved, that he’s cared for, that he’s not alone in a single gesture, the press of lips to lips and a hand cupping the side of his face.
And despite the dreams, the world doesn’t end.
Nothing is easy. There’s fights, tears, struggles and therapy and changes in medication. But there’s apologies and cuddles, dates and laughter and feeling okay and living, perfectly imperfect.
Maybe okay isn’t forever, and maybe they don’t have all of the answers, but they have now. They have happy.
And what more can they ask for than that?
