Chapter Text
DAY ONE
Objective: Manhunt
“Hey guys! Today we’re going to be playing Manhunt. It’s a game invented by my friends and I where they have to hunt me down while I try to get to The End and beat the game. They can die as many times as they want, but if I die, I lose the challenge.” Dream balanced a camcorder in his hands, filming himself waving his hands and giving off his best entertainer voice. His white resin upper-face mask stared back at him in the viewfinder.
“On this episode, it’s just going to be George hunting me. But I’m not going easy on him this time. Make sure to click the link in the description after the video to check out his channel.” He panned the camcorder over in the direction of George for a split second, who waved meekly, before he pointed the lens back to himself.
Dream had done this plenty of times before. He held the camera in his hands, smiling and reciting the classic intro off the top of his head like it was prayer at church. His bones probably said ‘Be Sure To Subscribe’ on them. “Also, according to Youtube, only a small percentage of the people who watched my videos are actually subscribed. If you’re not subscribed, go ahead subscribe now. It doesn’t cost anything and it helps us out a lot with making new content.”
After a thumbs-up, he cut the camera and turned to George, pressing a small button on his body cam as he did so. “There’s no way you’re gonna win this, you know.” He said with a smirk.
“I think you underestimate my level of improvement, Dream.” George adjusted his glasses, a flash of his eyes showing as he did so. “Have more faith in me.” He almost tripped when he said that, but he just acted unphased and hoped that Dream didn’t notice.
But Dream noticed. He noticed everything. He chuckled to himself and George’s cheeks went pink. It was that aspect of Dream that made it impossible to win - his ungodly gift of perception. But George was confident in this round of Manhunt. The world Dream had purchased for this video was larger. It was more expansive, and expensive, and was perfect for George to turn it all around and finally kick his ass.
“You know what? We should raise the stakes a bit.” George said.
Dream rolled his eyes beneath his mask and crossed his arms over his chest. “Of course you want to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, nothing.” He knew George wasn’t bluffing when he said he had gotten better. He had witnessed his skills improve first hand over the past year - in fact, Dream had helped give him some tips. Maybe that wasn’t the best move now that he thought about it, but it was too late for regrets. “Okay, fine. What kind of wager are you looking for? Loser pays the winner one thousand? Five thousand?”
George shrugged. “I don’t know, man. You decide. You’re the one that’s going to lose, how badly do you want to pay?” He put a hand on his hip. “How deep do you want the dent in your wallet to be?”
Dream thought for a moment, idly kicking the dirt as he did. His enhanced totem of undying swung against his chest. “Alright, I have an idea.” He tapped the side of his mask as he thought. “Loser pays the winner ten grand and...you get to take home that pink sheep behind you.” He finally wagered, pointing behind George to note the sheep - as if there was a sheep to be noted.
There was nothing there, but it was a fantastic way to confuse and distract his poor friend. It was a little bit of a dirty trick, but, in all fairness, George should know better by now. George shouldn’t be so gullible anymore. Not after being his friend for so long.
But George turned around without even thinking. “Oh? Where?” He glanced around for a bit, longer than he should have, before the wave of embarrassment came crashing down. He cursed under his breath as he whipped around again. “Hey! Asshole!”
But Dream was already gone. The very second George had turned his attention away from Dream, he was already sprinting in the opposite direction, weaving around the oak trees and doing whatever it took to put some distance between him and George. The wind blew against his mask and chilled his sensitive skin.
He reached up and unmuted his earpiece. “ Geooooorge !” He teased. “You’re never gonna catch me now!”
“Yeah, yeah!” George grumbled under his breath after unmuting his own. He jumped into action, reveling in his stupidity before just pulling out his compass. “I hate this stupid thing.” He muttered. “But whatever.”
Once he was sure George was off his tail, he slowed down and began to harvest the surrounding materials. “How did you already lose me? George, what are you even doing right now?”
“I have shorter legs than you, I’m going to need you to be patient with my running skills.”
Dream began quickly crafting the tools he needed. First, a wooden pick, three boats and a wooden sword in case somebody decided to pop up out of nowhere. He placed his sword in his little belt and decided to hunt for a cavern next. He had been practicing his speedrunning for this very moment and he wasn’t going to switch up his routine now.
George ran through the woods, trying to predict where Dream was heading. If he was subtle enough, he wouldn’t even need much - just one sword, TNT and some flint could do the trick. He smirked and spoke into his earpiece. “You know, it would be super kind of you to just tell me where you are.” He knew it was a fruitless effort to even suggest that.
“I’m in your heart, George, always.” It didn’t take him long to find a wide open cave, and only a few blocks down he saw the mouth of an abandoned mineshaft calling his name. He muttered a small victorious ‘Yes!’ under his breath before making his way down. “As long as you follow your heart, I’ll always be with you.”
“Oh, piss off!” He laughed. He was getting closer. And closer. The compass said so. He could feel a smile creeping up his face.
“You don’t want to follow your heart? Life has bittered you.” Dream scoffed. He double-checked that his chest camera was recording. He quickly made some torches and started to light his way through the cave. This really was a good world - well worth the price. Usually he wouldn’t shell out for a world this big just for Manhunt, but it was a huge discount he couldn’t refuse. It was rumored to have been glitchy for the last users on this server, but Dream hadn’t noticed anything of the sort. It wasn’t glitchy at all. It was perfect.
And he was winning. So it’s extra perfect.
George stopped for a moment to gather some supplies, keeping his eye on the compass the whole time. He wasn’t far away at all. This was going to be so easy. He tried to reveal nothing he was doing over the earpiece as he did so. “You know, I think- oh, fuck !”
Dream perked up and held his earpiece. “George? Are you okay?” He winced as static overtook the speaker. “Dude?”
“Oh, I’m being killed by the stupid - fuck - okay. Okay. Don’t even worry about that. Just an angry dog. Foolish bit on my part. Anyways, Dream. I’m still expecting a pink sheep at the end of this.” George brushed himself off and wiped sweat off his brow. “I want sheep-based reparations.” He looked at the bites on his arm and shrugged it off. He looked down at his compass and grinned again.
“Okay, fine, but I get to name it.” He brought out his pickaxe and began to collect the stone around him for furnaces and better tools. He found some chests and killed some monsters. It was very productive for him.
“No, you’re going to name it something stupid.” George returned to running, grinning as he realized that Dream was going to be right there, right with him. He was going to be right on top of him.
“I won’t name it something stupid, I promise.” He quickly slapped down the crafting bench and began making himself some stone tools along with a handful of furnaces.
On the surface, George kept running. And running. There it was. Dream was right behind all of these trees, there would be Dream.
But he wasn’t there.
There was no one.
The field was empty as George broke the treeline. It took a moment to set in, but then George looked down at his wooden pickaxe in dread. He looked down at the grass under his feet. He was going to have to dig. “Dream, you motherfucker.”
When he heard George’s sounds of dismay he looked up as if he could see through the ceiling. “What? What’s wrong, George?” He couldn’t hold back his laughter.
"Nothing's wrong, I'm going to pull a genius move and - Oh. Oh, no. That was a mistake, I can’t-" The earpiece went to raw static as there were the loud noises of George screaming and too much chaos. After a long beat of silence, George groaned. "Dammit...Don't even worry about it! Everything is, uh...Everything is happening according to plan. I'll...Damn. One moment."
George, on the surface still, stood with a wooden sword in his hands. Him and the sword both looked like they had seen better days. He bat away the purple sparkles still in the air and scoffed. "Alright. New plan."
“Wait, did you just- Did you just die?” He stopped mining the iron on the cave wall to lose his shit laughing. He bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to ward off the wheezing, “You- Is that what I heard above me? Did you try to kill the enderman?”
“Well, maybe I looked at one and happened to think that maybe it could be a happy accident!”
He wiped away a budding tear under his mask and continued to make work of the wall, throwing the abundance of supplies into his previously prepared furnaces, waiting for them to smelt into something usable. He sat down for a moment and stretched out his legs. “What were you even going to do with an Enderman? What, out-pearl me? Wait at the stronghold and box me out?”
“...Maybe.”
“ George!”
“It could have worked!”
“Do you even have a sword?”
“I’ll have you know that I have a sword !” George cried. “And if I did try to kill an Enderman - which I totally didn’t - then I would have won probably.” He started to get to work mining down over the spot where Dream was. “And I will have you know that if I did die - which you have no proof I did - it would have been in a cooler way so you couldn’t have made fun of me for it.” He looked down at his totem gratefully.
“Sure, George.” His reply was short as he was concentrating on the closeness of the noise above him. In the span of only a few seconds, he crafted himself an iron sword and a chest plate, throwing it on and ducking into a small crevice within the cave to hide and wait for his opponent to make an appearance. “I believe you...one hundred percent...” He started to snicker.
But then, the concentration set in. And Dream went silent as his green eyes scanned the cave.
George stopped what he assumed was a few blocks above his friend. He took some spare wood and his crafting table and made himself some basic stone tools. “See, I don’t like it when you go quiet.”
“What? Is my voice that enchanting?” He had hushed himself to a whisper to avoid detection, but it had come out a more mockingly seductive purr. George sputtered and grasped for words as Dream started to chuckle. He dug into the wall behind him three blocks in and then two blocks up, sealing the way he went in. And then he waited.
When George finally found his voice, he groaned in frustration. “No, Dream, it’s because you’re sneaky - oh, you changed sides.” He looked at the compass and walked in a little circle. “Oh, no, where are you going?”
Dream kept laughing as he dug a small tunnel to sit on the other side of George again. And again. He kept circling like a shark. He thought for a second on what his plan should be. On one hand, he could probably surprise attack George and get him out of his hair for a little while, but they were very close to spawn and he would risk losing the challenge if George was more prepared than he thought. On another hand, he could tower to the surface and start running. He needed more food anyways and stumbling across a village would help him an awful lot.
Or he could take the risky gamble and try to find a lava pool. He had enough iron for a bucket and it could make for a really quick win if he found one.
Fuck it , he thought. Desperate times call for weird Manhunt measures.
“I don’t know, George, where am I going- Oh, snap! No way!” He faked a gasp as he turned around to mine away from the direction of the other. Confusing George was his best strategy, and George made it more easy than it needed to be. He thought it was a little endearing that the other was so gullible. It made for some really funny clips and it typically gave him the upper hand. But also, it was just sweet.
And George fell for it easily, as expected. “Did you just fucking find diamond or something?” He rushed to start digging sideways towards Dream’s position. “What did you find? No you didn’t.” He dug, faster and faster, aiming right for him. “Don’t bullshit me, I’m going to end you!”
“No, I...found a village.” He went quiet again, his heart rate increasing rapidly.
“Shut up.” George said. “You jerk, don’t give me a heart attack like that.
Dream took out the excess blocks he had handy and filled the tunnel as he dug, trying to dig around and find a cave ahead, crossing his fingers there would be an opening. Sadly, he found none, but a large piece of cobble did happen to fall from above directly on his toe, causing him to yelp and jump back. “Motherfucker!”
And that was all the delay and distraction that George needed.
Just as Dream yelled that, George broke through the wall. “Oh, hey!” He said cheerily, raising his sword. “Fancy running into you!” His smile glinted in the dim and distant torchlight.
Dream whipped around so fast that it was a surprise his neck didn’t snap. The minute he had the other in view, he slashed him right across the chest. “Back up, George!”
George stumbled back but bounced back quickly. He made sure his camera was still working before squaring up again.
Dream held up his sword and braced himself. With his heart racing and his adrenaline pumping, it felt like the walls were shrinking. His only focus was on George, who was boxing him in. He needed a way out of this situation as fast as possible. Chances of escape seemed slim, but the low odds only made him more excited.
On the off chance he did die, he knows that there’s not enough footage from today’s game to post online. They’d just have to play another game. Whenever this happened, it felt like an arrow right through his pride. It was so frustrating to not do everything right the first time, even if low odds and high stakes were his favorite mix. He took a deep breath and channeled his ego.
He didn’t want to prove that George was better than him. So he would just have to win.
“Let me go, George, I don’t want to hurt you!” Dream cried.
“I’m looking forward to my money and my new sheep.” George laughed. He stepped through the hole in the wall until he was standing with his sword at Dream’s neck. He wished he could see his expression beyond his mouth - it would make this even funnier. He dramatically started to inch the stone blade closer to Dream’s throat. He was dragging it out for the fans, knowing that Dream would have been annoyed if he didn’t. “Any last words, friend?”
Dream stepped back the smallest bit, pushing himself against the wall completely. He shivered at the feeling of the cool stone. He peered at the other man through the holes in his mask, thankful it could hide the playful panic in his eyes. He was a little miffed that he couldn’t see George’s own eyes - but the light sensitivity caused by his heterochromia was much more important than Dream’s demented manhunt pleasures.
Dream had completely run out of ideas on how to get out of this situation, and for a slim moment almost started to accept his loss. He smiled the smallest bit and asked. “Can you tell me you love me before I go?”
“Maybe next time.” George rolled his eyes and lifted his sword, but in a stroke of sheer luck in Dream’s fiery favor, he somehow managed to miss and get his sword stuck in the stone next to his friend’s head.
Maybe his foot had slipped. Maybe his arm spasmed. It didn’t really matter how. But now, George was stuck there and Dream was already starting to gloat.
“George...come on!” He laughed.
“Hey!” George cried, yanking at the sword. “Wait!”
Dream took the chance to slice at George’s side, causing the other’s knees to buckle. “Plan ahead better! Be smarter! Jesus, George. How did you do that?”
“Fuck you!” George hissed.
“Should have given everything a bit more thought!”
"Give this some more thought!" George yanked his sword out of the stone and swung at Dream, hitting his chest plate with all the force he could muster. He slid over to stand between him and the exit. “You know you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“I know, I’m very stalk-able.” Dream smirked. “Thank you for admitting it.” He tried to dodge George’s next swing, but he felt the sword in his thigh before he even could respond. He looked down at the monitor on his wrist and grimaced. Only five hearts left.
Even though Dream was talking a big game, he was floundering. His adrenaline and the narrow tunnel were making his head spin. The air down in the tunnels was suffocating. “I keep wanting to do some martial arts shit but I know I’ll only end up on my ass.” He joked. “This wasn’t the best venue for a showdown.”
George let his guard down, lowering his sword. "Damn, dude, what is up with you today? Did you not get enough sleep or something?" He teased. He pushed up his glasses and started to chuckle. “You usually would have my head in your hands by now.”
“I’m perfectly fine. Did you not get enough sleep today?” He retorted before giving a sharp swing to the others left. He wanted to drive George inwards, away from the exit. All he wanted to do was slip past. “Mr. I Missed An Easy Kill!”
George let out a pained groan and stumbled back as he was hit, but he wouldn't go down this easily. He whipped out his pickaxe and, in a split moment decision, lowered the floor below them enough to drop a few meters down. George landed on his feet, pretty proud of himself and looking just a little smug.
When the two of them dropped down, Dream stumbled and caught himself on the wall in front of him, slamming his palm down just next to George’s head onto the stone. He fought to catch his breath and roll his sore ankles. George, meanwhile, leaned against the stone to avoid Dream crushing him with his chest.
Once Dream steadied himself, he pressed the tips of his fingers against his mask right where the bridge of his nose would be. He looked for words to describe his level of frustration. “George, what is wrong with you? Now we’re stuck in a hole with no way out unless we tower together. There’s not even enough room for us to fight! What was your plan here?!”
That was a wonderful question. He would love to answer it if Dream wasn't so painfully close to him now. Too much contact was suffocating. He didn’t do that. He scooted a bit to the side, to put some inches between his face and Dream's hand. "I, uh...I mean...My plan was to win and I didn't exactly think beyond that..." He trailed off and fixed his glasses again. It sounded stupid outloud. "I mean, we're still playing. You have to go down for diamonds and I have to kick your ass, so..." He sounded a little pathetic. He could already predict the bullshit people would be saying in the comments. He ran his fingers through his hair.
Moments like this reminded him that he wasn’t up to Dream’s high standards. In his mind, he was far below him. But when this video was released, many others would agree. Per the usual. It didn’t make any of this easy to stomach.
Dream knocked on the front of his mask a couple times while he tried to ponder a solution, eventually coming to terms with a lot of this having to be cut from the footage. George in front of him was fighting the urge to apologize over and over again. He had no clue what to do, so he just held his sword close to his chest and looked down at his totem of undying necklace. It hung there, small and stone with shiny eyes and endless life buried inside it.
It’s expression was mocking.
“Look.” Dream took his hand off his mask and waved it in front of himself, talking with his hands remaining a habit even with the little amount of room between them. “Let’s just mine down and see what we hit. If we hit a cave, we can get out of this tiny hole and figure it out from there. If we hit lava, we can just... respawn and I’ll cut it from the footage.”
Instead of responding, George just kept looking down.
Dream tried to crane his neck in a way that would allow him to look down at George better, to get a read on what his thoughts were, but the mask cut off just enough of his peripheral vision to make it more trouble than it was worth. “What do you think?”
"I mean, to be fair, you cut most of the footage anyway so it's up to you." George shrugged. He made the executive decision to not look up at Dream because it was just too embarrassing. He was still swimming in his idiocy. He kept his eyes trained on the wall to his left. "So...down? Do you want to do it? I can...scoot over or something."
Dream let out a small sigh and removed his hand from the wall, rolling his shoulders before taking out his pickaxe and readjusting. “If I mine your toes, it’s not my fault.”
“If you mine my toes, I’ll mine yours right back.” He snapped.
Both of them shared before they made the descent.
George let himself fall with the floor, letting Dream guide the process. “You know.” He said. “You always expect me to have this grand plan but I promise you, I’m just winging it all the time.”
“C’mon man, you act like we haven’t been playing together like this for months, I know that.” he said with a playful eyeroll, hoping that it translated through tone. “I know you like the back of my hand.”
“What’s my favorite song?”
Dream shook his head. “I said like the back of my hand. I didn’t say quiz me.” He stopped mining for a split second. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” George winced and readjusted his feet.
“Water.” Dream frowned. “Running water.”
“Dream, I don’t hear anything.”
He hesitated before shrugging. He went back to mining, and only got about two more meters down before the floor opened up into a tunnel aiming down. Both George and Dream let out cries of panic as they slid down over the stone and off into the air, where they plunged into a terrifyingly deep ravine.
Dream’s instincts kicked in an instant. He grit his teeth and he pulled out a boat. When he was in it and safe, he then reached out for George.
George understood without a second thought. He did well with plans if he wasn't the one to make them, and he did beautifully with sponentaity. He reached back out for Dream as well, catching the fabric of his sleeve and using it to balance himself inside the boat as they tumbled down, down, down into the depths of this ravine. George's glasses flew off for a moment, but he caught them above his head and slipped them back on just as they landed at the bottom.
The impact shook both of them, but no damage was taken. George didn't realize until they landed that he was still holding Dream's sleeve. He let it go instantly and shook out his hand. "Well." He said brightly. "Another happy landing!"
“Aha, yeah, nice!” He glanced over at George for a moment and gave him a once-over to check he was unharmed before raising a hand for a high five. “That was actually kind of epic, I’m not gonna lie.”
George reciprocated the high five. “Do not cut that out of the footage because that was pretty badass of you.”
“Of course, I am pretty badass.” He shrugged his shoulders as he stepped to get out of the boat. However, he underestimated the distance and ended up stumbling over the edge, nearly losing his balance in the process. After waving his arms wildly, he managed to remain upright, fix his balance, and clear his throat. “You didn’t see that.”
“I got an eyeful of something , that’s for sure.” George stood up and hobbled out. When he was on solid ground, he looked around in awe. “Damn...this thing is massive.”
“This is definitely the biggest ravine I’ve seen in a while.” Dream looked up. “Glad to know the sun is still up.”
“Look at all the lava.” George muttered to himself. “This place is insane.” They had landed right in the middle of two massive lava pools, and the heat was making him sweat under the bridge of his glasses.
“It’s kind of beautiful.” Dream said.
“A vacation hot spot.” George chuckled.
Dream turned and looked at George. “Hot spot?”
“...because of the lava.”
“That was so bad.” Dream groaned. “You get one more try to say anything about this ravine.”
“Okay. Well, then. What a lovely place to kick your ass!” He turned around and reached for his sword, only to find that it was gone. It must have broken in the shuffle. George’s face fell. “Oh...well then.”
Dream shook his head as he reached to pull out his sword. “In that case...I guess the game is back on. Right?” He cocked his head.
“Is it?” George laughed half-heartedly. He started to back up slowly with his hands up in surrender. “We can always count to ten before restarting. Maybe even give a longer heads-up. We can take our time preparing again! Maybe we could-”
Dream shook his head. “See you on the other side, Georgie!” He smiled as he lunged towards George, swiping hard to try and slash the others chest. His eyes were trained right on his friend’s heart. His swing was perfect in form, strength, and stance.
However, it was lacking in aim. He completely missed his friend, and rather had caught something a little more important than even George’s own chest. His sword snagged right on the others necklace, the totem of undying, and the momentum sent it flying right past George’s head and towards a pool of lava behind him.
Everything moved in slow motion. Both men watched in shock as the necklace landed into the The totem sunk in and sizzled, the eyes glinting at the two men as it slowly dissolved and disappeared into the molten earth.
Dream immediately started yelling as he watched it burn. “No, no, no! No. No! Fuck. Fuck me. Fuck. No, no. No.” He sank to his knees in the direction of the fallen totem. “No…” He groaned heavily as he accepted that the piece of jewelry had been lost for good.
George barely had time to react to any of it. His hands helplessly clutched at his own neck as he watched the necklace burn. The panic from the attack left residue in his head as well - the image of his friend charging at him with such precision was something he wouldn’t forget soon for more than one reason. He walked over to stand where Dream was kneeled. “Um...so...that didn’t cost too much, yeah?” He looked at the bubble in the lava where the totem used to be. “We can get a new one for next time, right? How much was it?”
Dream rubbed his hands up under his mask once, twice, and then readjusted it to fit properly. “No, no, money’s not a problem. They’re a lot cheaper than you would think, it’s just...Fuck.” He sighed and turned his head up to face George. “You’re vulnerable now. We’ll have to stop this video completely. I can’t chase you down and kill you if, you know. You won’t come back.”
“Oh.” George exhaled slowly. “Right.”
Dream pushed himself up off the ground and brushed himself off. “And it’s totally my fault. It was a stroke of bad luck that that happened, but hey. At least we got it on video.” He picked his sword up off the ground, sheathing it as he did. He gave one last longing glance at the lava and then turned back to George. He placed his hand on the other’s shoulder. “Are you okay, man? I nearly took your head off there.” He gave him a crooked smile.
“I’m fine, dude.” Dream’s touch felt like the lava. He pulled away from it after indulging Dream for a bit. “It would have been great content if you did take my head off. Half sad you didn’t.” George glanced over at the boat. “So...now that I’m ‘vulnerable’...what’s the plan?”
Dream paused, thinking about the assortment of things he had. He then started counting on his fingers. “Okay, okay, so...” He started, running a hand through his hair as he came up with a plan. “We have this place for another... six days, so we could probably do what we usually do post-game. We could build some shelter and just wait out the days until we get teleported back.” He explained all of this while moving his hands wildly, subconsciously thinking that it was going to help his words make more sense.
It did make sense to George. “Sounds fine with me. Maybe we can explore a bit. Go on a little adventure or two.”
“Good idea. Hell, maybe we can film some kind of stupid filler video for our channels while we’re at it.” He took another look at the area around them. “I’m thinking we can build a staircase up to the surface and see where we can start building from there...” He stopped in his tracks and reached up for the back of his neck, untying the totem and handing it over to George. “Here.”
George blinked hard. “What?” He shook his head and stepped back. “No, no, I’m not taking that! You need that!” He crossed his arms. “Let’s just build out and make a house like you said. That’s like, barely dangerous at all! You can keep that and I’ll be fine.” He turned around and started looking at the edges of the ravine. “It’s going to be dark soon so we should jump at it.”
George was facing an issue he dealt with a lot - an uncomfortability at Dream’s kindness. He was generous, too generous, and it sometimes scared the absolute shit out of George because he knew that it would get Dream killed. It went hand in hand with George’s utter fear of being the weak link.
Instead of facing any of these thoughts, George started to walk ahead, hoping Dream would drop it. “Look, that section could be easy to turn into stairs!”
“Hey! No!” The second the other had started to walk away, Dream was on his tail in an instant.
“Oh, look at this stone-”
“George!” He grabbed a portion of the other’s sleeve, forcing the other to slow down. “Seriously, dude, please take the necklace.” With the tone he was using, it seemed more like a demand than a request. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to let up on this. George could see it in how clenched his jaw was. “I would feel a lot better if you had it.”
George could tell that this conversation wouldn’t end any time soon. He knew Dream - and he knew how truly stubborn his man could be. He stopped struggling and turned around, shrugging off the touch. “Here, compromise. We alternate. Okay? If I have it today, you have to have it tomorrow.” He took the necklace and put it on. “See? Happy? You can untwist your panties now, Dream.” He chuckled.
Inside, he was panicking just a bit. Seeing Dream without the totem made the reality of the situation set in. It had been over a year minimum since they were in a server without enough totems. They hadn’t had the shadow of death on their tails for plenty of years. Now, George had to look at Dream and feel a little sick. “Now you’re naked to the elements.” He joked through the stress. “Next thing we know, you’ll have some more sexy scars.”
Dream scoffed playfully, content with the conditions that were set. Content that everyone was safe. “Okay, George, keep talking about how sexy I am.“ He then took out the blocks he had stored away, starting to place them along the ravine wall as a makeshift staircase. “If I can survive the elements and defeat the dragon with a shock collar on my arm, I think I can survive a few regular, non-shock collar related nights without problem, thank you very much.”
“Whatever. Acting like you didn’t like the collar.”
“Oh, shit.” Dream paused and scrolled through his inventory on his watch. “You lost your sword, right? Here, take this too.” He pulled out the last of his iron, handing the two bars over to George so he could craft himself a weapon. “It’s nothing fancy but it’ll get us to Stop Number One, yeah?”
“You know you need supplies too, right?” George cocked his eyebrow. “You can’t just give everything to me. I can certainly handle myself.”
“Oh, no! Two iron! I’ll simply die without it!” Dream waved his hands and rolled his eyes. He began to climb up the staircase, placing blocks as he went.
George followed. He looked down at his chest. “Oh, yeah. Turn off the cameras or no?”
He continued placing the cobble, stopping only for a moment to answer his question with a shrug, “Honestly, it’s up to you. I think it could make a good ‘manhunt gone wrong’ blooper video. Maybe like an extreme survival thing.”
“You really think of everything.”
“I have to.”
Being shorter made him a bit slower, but George did his best to keep the climbing pace. “I think it could be hilarious if you want to. Like some kind of found footage movie.” He chuckled.
Dream smirked. “‘Minecraft Manhunt gone wrong?! Trapped in the Wilderness!’”
“‘Minecraft, but we coded it so we have to build a cabin and survive winter.’”
As they got closer to the top, Dream could hear the sounds of birds and animals again. It gave him some spare comfort. “A part of me wishes that we brought the streaming gear instead. This would be epic Twitch content. Maybe this will be a great test-run for a future challenge.”
"It's good Twitch content until we resort to cannibalism in the woods." George laughed. "Now lead the way. I don't like how low the sun is getting. We have limited time.”
“If we’re resorting to cannibalism, it’s gonna suck for you because I probably don’t taste very good.” They reached the top not too long after, both of them smiling with relief as soon as the grass touched their shoes. “Real question, though.” Dream said. “Do we want to find a village for the night, try to build a makeshift house, or just wait in a hole in the ground? Because we need a plan probably.”
"A village guarantees that we won't need to resort to cannibalism so I don't have to find out how you taste." George said, brushing some dirt and grime off his shirt as he got comfortable on the surface. "It just seems smarter. Shall we?"
Dream waved a hand out at the open landscape. “Alright, let’s go.”
He took a few steps forward and looked back at George expectantly. Since they were technically still recording, he tried to think of a way to mess with him, finally settling on something appropriate. “Are you coming? Do you need me to hold your hand?”
His mouth quirked into a playful smile, and he knew there was a part of him that hoped George would say yes. He was a hands-on man. He had read once about love languages, and he didn’t know how else to vocalize his feelings besides endless levels of touch. Sapnap was used to it. Many others were too. It was just in his nature to like contact, taps and pats and handholds alike. To him, it wasn’t weird or unwarranted. It was just the easiest way to show affection in his mind - to show his friends he still cared, even if they knew it or not.
Sometimes words just weren’t enough.
But George was the opposite. And he proved it with his response.
George laughed at him and sped up a bit to walk next to him. He elbowed him in the side. “In your dreams, Dream.”
Dream’s level of affection had always been something that set off alarms in George, both good and bad. He wasn’t much of a toucher - especially not just with his friends - but for some reason he didn’t feel like he was itching from the inside out when it was Dream doing the touching. It didn’t make it any more comfortable, just simple. Electric. Painful in a different way.
He also found himself reaching for Dream more than he had reached for anyone else. But that still was a rarity.
As they both continued to walk, George perked up. “Hey. Hey, look!” Just as the sun had started to begin chasing the horizon, he seemed to hit the jackpot. He pointed at a dusting of lights that painted the horizon. “Found one!”
When George perked up, he turned in the direction of the village. “Oh shit. Nice one.” He glanced over at the other, adjusting his mask as he did. It was a habit, similar to how one would adjust a pair of glasses periodically.
He looked George up and down, causing the other to raise his eyebrow. “Um...aren’t we going to go?” George asked.
Dream exhaled and nodded. Without another warning, he started bolting over to the village. “Whoever gets there first picks the house!” He finally cried over his shoulder, flipping George off and letting out a loud victory cry.
“Motherfucker!” George cried. He chased after him, the lights of the village getting closer and closer. As he took off running, he realized exactly how hungry he was and how excited he was to curl up in his own bed. His energy level wasn’t up to what he had been trying to convince himself of.
Dream didn’t even bother to check behind him, charging as fast as he could to reach the first lamp post he could see. Honestly, he didn’t even care about which house they stayed in, but he would think of a way to make it entertaining. It was kind of his job to do exactly that, and he liked to think he was good at it.
He really did think of everything.
He was panting up a storm by the time his finger tips finally brushed the stem of the lamppost, almost falling over in the process. Glad he didn’t twist an ankle, he punched his fist in the air. “Yes! Let’s go! ” He threw his arms in the air and hopped around in a makeshift victory dance.
George stumbled up after him, panting. He wiped sweat from his brow and sighed. “Okay, okay...” he exhaled. “Fine. You win.” He stood for a moment leaning against the lamppost. “Congrats.”
When he finally could breathe again, he pushed himself off the lamppost and stood up straight. “Don’t pick something stupid.”
Dream let out a devilish laugh, tongue between his teeth, and began walking off into the village, rubbing his hands together like a villain in a kids movie. George groaned at the theatrics. He tapped on his mask a few times as he glanced around, taking in the architecture of the village, “Okay, okay. House, house, house. A good house...”
He was trying to make a big show out of deciding, but he already knew the exact house he wanted. He always knew which kind of house to choose, no matter which friends were streaming with him. He knew what annoyed each of them. George’s, though, was his favorite. He had a plan from the beginning.
Something that would get under George’s skin. Something he should totally have seen coming.
He pointed to the house directly to his right. A tiny three meters by three meters house with a potted plant inside, a clean bed, and literally nothing else. Two windows, one torch. It was as simple and cramped as they could come. “That one.” He turned to George and crossed his arms. “We can stay in that one.”
“Oh, fuck no!” George cried. “There is no way that I am going to stay in a fucking closet with you!” He was almost laughing from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. This wasn’t a surprise. He knew something stupid was coming. “Now come on, choose a real house for us.”
Dream took one glance back at the house, then back to George. He stared for a minute before pointing his thumb back at the house. “This one.” Without missing a beat, he stepped up to the door and swung it open. “I won the race, I got to choose the house. Those are the rules.”
He took one last glance at George before walking inside. It was certainly cramped - he had to duck a bit to stand - but it was warm and dry and nice. A house was a house to him. “Welcome to El Casa de Dream!”
George walked over with his head in his hands. “Of course, you’re serious.” He muttered. He stepped up to the doorway and stood in the entrance, tapping his foot and leaning on the doorframe. “‘El Casa De Dream’, eh? So where is George gonna sleep then?” His eyes scanned over to the bed. “I’ll need something soft if I’m taking the floor.”
Dream was actually a little bit shocked that George was even entertaining the idea, but he also wouldn’t put it past him to play with his feelings then pull the wool over his eyes and think of some grand joke to send his mind spiraling. He blinked out of his thoughts for a second and gestured at the bed. “What, you don’t think we’ll both fit a twin?” He said with full confidence that it would warrant a reaction worthy of keeping in the footage.
George’s cheeks tinted pink. “What?!” He sputtered. His nervous laughter sounded a little too desperate out loud. “Yeah, no, just for that? You can room alone.” George threw his hands up in surrender and turned to leave the house. He could totally find another. He would just see Dream in the morning.
Dream immediately lost his mind laughing, doubling over and wheezing like he just got the wind kicked out of him. He tried to raise his hand towards the other, a pathetic attempt at reaching. “No, George!” More laughter. “Don’t go!” He took a deep breath, trying to wear out the giggles. He wiped away a tear that was forming under his mask and adjusted it appropriately. “George! I was kidding! Kidding! ”
He followed after him in a half-hearted attempt to calm him down. “We can get a different house if you want. I just wanted to fuck with you, man.” He said with a smile still plastered on his face, the corners of his eyes scrunched beneath the mask. “Or I can just go grab another bed from some other house in case you’ve grown attached to this one.”
This man just didn’t stop.
George shook his head. “You’ve lost your chance, Dream, now I have to go sleep in some random house with some random stranger!” He called back over his shoulder. Dream’s laugh was contagious - he couldn’t stop the giggles bubbling up inside him. “Oh, the tragedy of it all.”
He looked around the village and decided on a two story house that looked relatively empty. “Oh, no! Here I go! Going alone!”
Dream threw his hands in the air in defeat, giving his head a shake before quickly following. He turned and practically jogged more enthusiasm than necessary, and whined. “George, don’t be like that.” He did a tiny jog to catch up to the other one, patting him on the head. “You know you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“I’m well aware I can’t.” He jumped from the physical contact and ran his fingers through his hair. “Now, come on. We need to pass out.”
Upon entering the house, he discovered it was empty. It actually looked like it had been abandoned for a while. It wasn’t dusty or musty, just stale. A simple stale house. There was a crafting table and stone cutter on the bottom floor, untouched for a little too long. A ladder took the two up to the top floor, where there was a chest and two beds.
When Dream got to the top floor, he felt a little sad about there being two beds. These beds, plus the other ones abandoned throughout the village? That was more than enough for Sapnap or Bad to be here. He missed them. But it was better that no one joined them this time, though. Less mouths to feed. Less people to worry about.
He sorted through his inventory, noting that all he had was a single loaf of bread for sustenance. He glanced over at George, who looked a lot more exhausted than he did, and held out the loaf of bread after he summoned it. “Here, you’ve gotta be hungry by now.”
George was sitting on the edge of one of the beds, enjoying being off his feet for longer than a few seconds. He was deep in his own head when Dream spoke to him. He perked up, blinking hard. “What? Oh, thanks. What are you eating?” He reached out to take it.
Dream shrugged in response, making his way to the ladder before the other could protest any take-backsies or propositions regarding the food. He kicked his foot down on the top rung, giving George a small salute before he climbed down. “I’m about to find out.”
“Wait!” George sprung off the bed. “You can’t go out alone! Especially without this!” He scrambled to take off the totem and hand it to Dream. “Take this. Or let me come with you. Or both.”
Dream sighed and rolled his eyes, descending the ladder another few rungs. “No, you’re gonna stay here, I’m gonna find some carrots or a pig or something, I’m gonna come back, then we’re gonna go to bed. That’s the plan.” Another rung down. “I’ll be fine, just stay here and relax. You look really exhausted.”
“Dream-”
“Please.” He said again, his voice firm. “Rest.”
George bit the inside of his cheek. He taught hard for a moment, before he reached over and leaned in close to put the totem on Dream himself. “Fine. But here. And you can’t convince me otherwise so don’t even try.” He said. He leaned away from Dream and pushed up his glasses.
The gears in Dream’s brain almost halted to a stop momentarily, put off by George suddenly coming closer to him. Typically if George went in for anything, it was for the kill. The odd little sign of the affection was new, even without any touch. When he realized what was actually happening, though, he was too late to protest. With the totem already on his neck, he sighed. “Fine. But stay. Here. Seriously. I won’t be gone for long.”
He gave George one last look and then climbed down the ladder.
George sat there on the ground by the ladder for a moment, lost in his head again. Finally, he stood up and went back to his bed.
He took the moment alone to take off his glasses. He rubbed his eyes and let out an exhausted groan. Even though he sounded annoyed and looked destroyed, he was happy. He liked when things went wrong with Dream. They were some of his best memories and their best times. He liked winging it with Dream. He liked not having a plan. And it was selfish to think, but he was happy it was just them this time. It had been a while since just the two of them went on an adventure like this - if one could even call it an adventure. It brought him more joy than he would feel comfortable admitting.
He started to eat, instantly feeling better, and just decided to look out the nearest window and watch the woods around the village. As George was cozy inside, Dream was busy running around throughout the village to trade or snatch whatever he could. Prepping for the long term was now on his mind. A perfect plan, full inventory. That’s all he needed.
And to keep George safe. That was the goal.
When he made it back to the house he was holding an abundance of potatoes and wheat, interested in nothing more than to finally eat something. He instantly got to work on the crafting table, hollering up as he began setting up furnaces. “Honey, I’m home!”
George put his glasses back on and slid down the ladder. "Well, well, well. Looks like your trip was successful."
Dream turned to George, mouth full of bread, and held out another loaf with his other hand, knowing the one from before wasn’t enough. He finally swallowed and said, “Well, depends. If I was looking for tasty food, I'd say I failed.”
George took the bread, a smile playing at his lips. "All food is tasty food if you've been as stupid as we've been today." As he started to dig in, he paused eating to say, "Remember. Save some. We have six damn days still."
Dream rolled his eyes. “You know we’ve had more food than this in manhunt before, right? There’s no way we’d seriously die of starvation of all things.” That’s when he remembered something very important and glanced downwards, grabbing the necklace off of his chest. He tugged it off and handed it over. “Here. I’m not letting you forget this. It’s still your day.”
George held up his hands. "No, no! It's technically your day now. Today is over. Keep it."
Dream’s face fell. His jaw clenched. “Well, what if...a creeper spawns in the house? What then? Idiot. Take it.”
"What if you need it for that?" George cocked an eyebrow. "Or what if a spider gets in and goes straight into your bed? You need it, Dream, take it." He bat the necklace away.
Dream huffed in mock irritation. He was on the verge of pouting. “Yeah? Well, what if an enderman makes it in and thinks you’re looking at it? I’m the one with the face mask here, George, they won’t suspect me.”
“Endermen are not that smart!”
“But one already totally kicked your ass! You’ll need this totem in case I sleep through the attack.” He set the half loaf of bread on the table and put both hands on the necklace as if he was ready to put a collar on a rabid wolf.
"But what if your dramatics attract every zombie to our door! Wouldn't be surprised if that happened at this point." George cried. He slipped into a defensive stand, just in case Dream decided to jump. "It looks handsome on you, Dream, you should keep it." He teased, finishing it off with a laugh.
“What? George!” He tried to make his nervous chuckle sound like an intentional one best he could. He took a single step forward and yelled. “ Just wear the damn necklace !” On cue, he jumped forward, hoping that he was fast enough to slip the necklace on the other.
George tried to slide out of the way, but he was overtaken by the taller man much too quickly. Before he could even realize what was happening, the necklace was around his neck. "Hey!" He cried.
Dream took a very quick step back and laughed triumphantly. “There! It’s on you! Now you have to keep it!”
He glanced at the ladder for a brief moment and then bolted for it, trying to run from George before he attempted anything to give it back. And he was successful at first, too. He made it up the whole ladder until his foot slipped last second, causing him to fall face-first onto the upstairs floor. He braced himself on the fall, mostly unharmed but still jostled. “Dammit…”
George crawled up after him, laughing. "How graceful of you." Right when he was about to walk past Dream, he slipped the necklace off of himself and lowered it onto him. He pat his shoulder for good measure. "It's all yours, buddy.”
“No.” Dream didn’t hesitate with a strike back, reaching a hand up and pulling on George’s leg, hard. When he toppled backwards, Dream stumbled into a low stance while trying to take the necklace off at the same time. “It’s all yours !”
He eventually got it with the price of throwing his balance a little too far forward and just propelling himself onto the other. The necklace left his hand and hit the ground next to them first. Dream barely caught himself in the fall, nearly crushing George to death. George's eyes were closed, ready for impact.
But when they didn't hit, and he opened his eyes, he found himself inches from Dream's mask.
George's glasses were askew. His one uncovered blue eye was wide and filled with complete embarrassment. His cheeks flooded with pink. "Um..." He was very aware of every inch of himself, every inch of Dream. "You, uh....you missed. With the necklace...uh..."
Dream groaned and started to push the front of himself, shaking his head as he quipped. “No, George, it was actually my plan all along to lose my balance and make a fool of myself. I know I missed! ”
He huffed and looked next to where his palm was resting and noticed how close the fallen totem was. “Because...now I can do this!” He said quickly and made a motion for the totem, managing to unravel and slip over the others neck in the mere blink of an eye. When he realized he succeeded, he sat up straight, throwing his fist into the air. “Yes! In your face, George, you won’t be able to get me again!” The loud sounds of his self-applause echoed in the room.
George just kind of lay there in shock for a moment. The necklace didn't register. When he finally started to compose himself, he fixed his glasses and smooth his shirt. He sat up and started to scoot away to get out from under his friend. His stomach wouldn't stop flipping. "You, uh...you got me. You win. But you still have to have it tomorrow. First thing in the morning."
Dream finally caught onto what his friend was doing and brought himself upright, brushing himself off. He chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s the deal. Got it.” He held out his hand towards George, offering to help him up off the ground. He grinned lopsidedly.
George didn't take it. He decided to just push himself up onto his feet and fix his shirt. "Well, we should probably get some sleep." He forced a smile.
Dream smiled back.
After a beat of silence, George followed it up with, "Thank you. For everything today."
The energy was off. George was guarded. He was too tense. Too terse. Dream caught onto the weird mood right away and pulled his hand back. It must have been all the contact. He unbuckled his chest plate and followed all of the cues to get ready for bed. “Of course, dude.” He worried about his bottom lip between his teeth.
Then he turned away.
Dream kicked off his shoes and took off his hoodie before picking up both the beds and putting them next to each other in the center of the room. They always slept like that, and a little awkwardness wouldn’t change that. As he set it up, he was forcing himself not to think too hard on the situation. He was trying to chalk it up to them both having a far too long day. And it probably was. Too much contact, too little time. George could get weird about that, even if it was an accident.
It was impossible for Dream’s negative thoughts to not poke at his brain, though. It was hard to ensure he was pleasing someone that was so hard to read.
George crawled into his own bed and faced the far wall, staring away and burying himself into his sheets. He tried to rein in his thoughts and sort them through, but it was an ill-fated attempt. It wasn't going to happen. But hopefully sleep would come quickly, and it would be easier to explain what he was feeling tomorrow. And he could stop being such a mess around his best friend.
Dream crawled himself up under the covers and turned over to face his side of the wall. His pillow bumped his mask annoyingly, and he really was not in the mood to deal with it. Knowing he’d probably wake up first anyways, he slipped it off and set it to the side quietly.
Once he was settled into his spot, he yawned and mumbled. “Good night, George.” He pulled his blanket up to his chin.
George took off his glasses and set them aside. “Good night, Dream.”