Chapter Text
It had been two months since Sapnap had returned home.
Of course, he was given attention and love everyday to fill the void that was once empty and he enjoyed it - but sometimes, the other two got a little overbearing.
George would always make sure Sapnap ate enough, or if he needed anything for his healing body. He’d also been much more touchy with Sapnap too, so that in itself was extremely new.
Dream, on the other hand, was over the top with it. George being older and a little more mature, he could probably tell that Sapnap was more into doing stuff himself, so he tried to let Sapnap do just that as much as possible. But Dream was always right next to him everyday.
“Here, let me get that.”
“No, I got it.”
”Be careful.”
“Don’t hurt yourself, Sapnap.”
He’d grab things that were up high enough that Sapnap needed to go on his toes, he’d help Sapnap get dressed sometimes, cooked him meals, etc. Basically, he babied Sapnap.
It seemed he was unaware of it too; that he subconsciously took care of people when he didn’t want to take care of himself or was stressed.
It was frustrating, to say the least, after a point.
—
“There we go,” Sapnap grunted out as he put down two bales of hay in the horse stable, excited that he was finally allowed to do jobs that let him use his strength, “Snack on that or get comfy, I dunno.” He shrugged, petting one of the horses on the nose and moving the hair out of his face.
The weather was nice. The air was fresh and the ground was soft, puddles everywhere as the snow had started to melt. It dripped and froze on pine needles; coating everything in a beautiful scent that cooled you to the core.
Sapnap was wearing just his black turtleneck, not bothering with the white over shirt today. It was cold enough that he could wear his turtleneck but also warm enough that it was all he needed, no longer having to don his big parka for trips that took five minutes outside.
He dusted his pants off and left the stables after that, feeling a cold drop of water hit the top of his head. It made him shiver as he looked up, running a hand through his hair and being hit right on the forehead with another drop. It was cold.
He took a step to the side and watched as another drop hit the little puddle he’d been standing in with his big work boots.
He wiped his forehead off and felt a gentle breeze blow by. Sapnap now walked back toward the house with a smooth and steady pace - just taking in the scenery around their cozy house. It’d been a while since he even left it, so he liked to take it all in.
He helped more in the garden than hunting or mining, basically any of the fun jobs that he liked best. He knew it was just George and Dream trying to keep him safe, but he could only plant wheat seeds so many times until it got too boring or he went insane, so it was a nice change up to help in the stables.
Sapnap rubbed his hands together to warm them up a little as he stomped his boots outside, then entered the house. George was there busy with a brewing stand, and Dream was off hunting and had been gone for a while now.
“Whatcha doin’?” Sapnap asked as he walked up behind his focused partner, glancing over his shoulder.
“Brewing.” George answered, giving him the playfully sarcastic tone with a shrug as he sprinkled some blaze powder into the mixture.
Sapnap smiled a bit and rolled his eyes, “No shit, what’re you brewing?” He gently kicked the back of George’s leg to get his attention.
George just looked back and down at Sapnap’s boots, wrinkling his nose and looking up at the younger again, “Go take your boots off, you’re tracking in dirt. Nasty.” He turned back to the stand and picked up a jar after closing the other one that held the blaze powder.
Sapnap snorted, taking two steps backwards and turning around to do just that. He took his boots off and stumbled a little when he lost his balance for a second, but the boots were off and he was right back next to George in no time.
“George, tell ol’ Sappy what you’re making, please,” Sapnap asked again, standing next to George and watching the water bottles start to sparkle as if they were being filled with glitter when George put the glowstone in. But when he was ignored again, he knew George was just messing with him.
It was nice to see the playful side of George come back when Sapnap had returned home. It took a while, but it slowly started to seep in over time.
“Geooorge..” Sapnap whined now, “Georgieee..” He bent over the counter and rested his head on his crossed arms, cheek squished against his forearm as he looked up at the older one, “Are these strength pots?” He finally asked, George looking to him and putting the glow stone dust jar down next to the blaze powder.
“Obviously,” He laughed teasingly, flicking Sap’s forehead to watch said boy sputter, which made George laugh even more when Sapnap lifted his head to rub the spot on his forehead.
“I can’t believe you would do that to me. You’re always so mean to me and for what?” Sapnap couldn’t help but laugh a little himself, not when George looked so amused.
“I can’t believe you’re already bending over counters two months after rising from the dead.” They all seemed to cope differently with Sapnap’s most recent “adventure.”
Sapnap coped through minor jokes and following orders to eat and rest by the other two so they didn’t fret over him, Dream coped by basically being Sapnap’s babysitter or mother, and George coped through jokes and teasing, also taking care of Sapnap a little too.
Sapnap’s face got a little warm as he now stood up straight, laughing with George now, “Oh, and you act like you’re not into it.”
George just laughed again, shaking his head with an amused smirk as he refocused on the potions, neither confirming nor denying.
“I’m making these because I’m going mining tomorrow. We’re running low on iron and I’m going to have to make a little bit of a trip.” George explained as he picked up a glittery bottle and swished it around satisfyingly, liking the glow in Sap’s eyes as he watched the liquid spin.
“Ah.” Sapnap nodded, then licked his lips, “..George?”
“Hm?”
Sapnap now looked to George with a bit of a hopeful expression, “.. take me with you?”
“What? No-“ George answered almost a little too quickly. That was pretty bold of Sapnap.
It made the youngest’s heart sink, and his expression must’ve given it away since George seemed to instantly soften up.
“Sapnap, I can’t take you mining with me. You know Dream would kill me if something were to happen.” George told him simply as he now picked up the three bottles and put them into a bag that he was going to use tomorrow.
Sapnap groaned softly, eyes rolling a bit more as he did so.
“Nothing would happen..! You know I can take care of myself, and Dream wouldn’t ‘kill you.’ Just tell him it was my idea!” Sapnap tried to reason with George, who still remained stubborn.
Thankfully for Sapnap, he was just as stubborn.
“I haven’t been out of the house in so long! You and Dream get to go out and do all the fun things, and I can’t even go up to the cliff alone..!” He whined in hopes that would work, but no dice.
George shook his head, “I’m sorry, but-“
Sapnap pouted. Not meaning to look as sad as he did but he couldn’t help it. He stared at George with lips slightly pursed and puppy dog eyes. The broken iris still threw oldest for a loop.
The look alone was enough to make George hesitate. But cuteness be damned, this was Sapnap’s safety they were talking about.
“.. But you still have trouble balancing and seeing sometimes. You almost hurt yourself last time you held a sword and.. I’m not ready to let you out into the world again, Sapnap. Not when you’re still fragile.”
Sapnap’s face did something. The puppy eyes were gone and replaced with an accusatory look, Sap’s arms crossing and back straightening to flex the one inch of height he had on the older.
“Fragile?”
Uh oh. Maybe George should’ve worded that better. It was almost amazing how much Sapnap hated being called that.
George nodded though, standing his ground for the younger’s sake.
“You think I’m fragile..? That- I..” Sapnap stammered a little, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Like ever. Before I got left behind in the nether-“
George quickly corrected him with a finger pointing to him, “We did not leave you behind, Sapnap, don’t you dare start that.”
Sapnap looked guilty for a split second, but he also didn’t like when the older acted like his parent or something, he already had Dream doing that enough.
“Oh I’m so sorry. Before I sacrificed myself for you and Dream; I was better at combat than you, and I can handle myself just fine.” Sapnap told him, sounding bitter as he looked away from George with his arms still crossed.
“Keyword; before. Sapnap, you were gone for two months because your wounds were fresh and fatal. You even said you barely got out of there alive! You need to think! You still need help doing stuff a-“
“No!” Sapnap interrupted with an aggressive point of his finger to George, “I don’t need anyone’s help! It’s just Dream being on my ass 24/7 because he thinks I could kill myself if I’m doing so much as drinking fucking water unsupervised! And you treat me almost the same!” A little exaggerated but to the point. They both tended to fire each other up sometimes. Plus Sapnap was a little restless.
“Do not interrupt me. I’m just trying to keep you safe!”
“I don’t need you to keep me safe!” Sapnap argued, voice starting to rise a little too loud that it pissed George off.
“You almost died, Sapnap! You almost fucking died in the nether and disappeared for months! How do you expect us not to want to keep you safe?! Christ, you think we do this because we don’t trust you or something, but-!“ George caught himself before he got too far, taking advantage of Sap’s silence to breathe for a second, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose and rub his eyes, then sighing and looking up and Sapnap, “.. but we’re not.. ready.. w-we’re not ready for there to be another chance you could be gone again..”
The words lingered and the silence was loud.
The argument hit George a little more than it hit Sapnap. It just reminded him how quick the younger could be taken away from them, then it cycled into how little grasp they had on life and survival, because it almost always came down to coincidence or luck sometimes. Sapnap didn’t seem to think that, which was odd considering he was the one who nearly died due to the coincidence that his shield had broken.
Sapnap was quiet as he thought of George’s words, he truly didn’t know how to respond to that. His whole stature loosened up, coward even as he started to feel remorse for being too loud and getting hostile.
George didn’t think he’d get a response anyway, so he looked over Sapnap once more and then went back to packing his bag with a worry wrinkle in his forehead just above his eyebrow. It always showed up when something stressed him out.
He was stuffing tool materials in and wood, making sure to bring some stone for furnaces just in case, checking items off a mental checklist.
In reality, he was really just trying to distance himself from the silence by making himself busy. It was a little too much and it sucked knowing he was partly the reason why it was heavy. Maybe he shouldn’t have yelled at Sapnap. Sapnap was right, after all. Even George couldn’t remember the last time Sapnap had been out of the house either, meanwhile him or Dream were gone almost everyday.
“.. I’m sorry..” Sap’s voice croaked and it was loud coming out of nowhere, snapping George from his thoughts.
George paused what he was doing and swallowed the nervous feeling he felt, looking back at Sapnap.
“What?”
“I’m sorry..” Sap repeated, rubbing his arm that was once sprained and looked down at the floorboards, “For yelling.. that.. that wasn’t cool. You and Dream are just trying to protect me, I know. A-And I appreciate it.”
The boy seemed like he had so much more to say but felt guilty saying it and it was a little heart wrenching to see.
He now cleared his throat and scratched behind his head, under the white bandanna knot, “I think I’m gonna go upstairs, Dream wouldn’t want me up right now anyway,” He turned toward the wooden stairs and took one step before he stopped, turning to George with a nervous look, “C-Can we not tell him about this? He’ll freak if we do.”
George just watched Sapnap, the boy was just a roller coaster of emotions. And he had been for a while.
George cleared his throat and nodded slowly, “Yeah. ‘Course.” He didn’t know if he should apologize in return, so he just decided not to as the moment had seemingly passed when Sapnap made his way upstairs, then he heard a door close carefully, as if Sapnap was trying now to be quiet to not upset George further.
A wash of shame covered George's body when his partner was out of sight; he just yelled at Sapnap for wanting to go outside.. god, why did he have to be such an asshole about it?
George let out a stressed sigh and rubbed his temples, then he finished up stuffing his bag, walking to the front door and hanging it up on a small hook for tomorrow as he tried not to worry about what Sapnap was doing.