Chapter Text
The pitter patter of rain on the window is a quiet accompaniment to Sapnap’s studying. He leans back in his chair and yawns softly. It’s 8:00 and the sky is dark and he can hear the rain start to come down harder.
A loud frantic pounding on his front door startles him in the middle of his lazy stretch. He ruffles his messy hair, socks sliding on the cold floor in his haste to get to the door. He’s not expecting anyone today, especially at this hour, so he is understandably shocked when he finds none other than George at his front door.
“Dude you look ROUGH,” Sapnap blurts out, before he can stop himself. Sapnap guesses George has fallen victim to the same harsh rains he was watching from his window. His hair and clothes are absolutely soaked, and he’s wet enough to be dripping water on the floor.
George only rolls his eyes. “Let me in Sapnap I’m going to freeze!” and Sapnap does. He steps to the side and welcomes George in, cringing at the way that George’s sneakers are making squishing noises. “I missed the bus and I was walking home for like ten minutes but it started raining harder and your apartment was the closest.” George hesitates in the entry hallway of Sapnap’s apartment, looking dead on his feet but obviously hesitant to sit down anywhere. Unsure about where to go, George turns back to Sapnap with a question on his tongue. Sapnap sighs and makes the decision for him.
“Go shower. You’re dripping all over my floor like a dog” Sapnap steers him to the bathroom.
“Shut up” George says, but he’s smiling as he takes the clothes that Sapnap lends him and closes the bathroom door behind him.
Sapnap sits on a kitchen stool and watches the water boil. He can hear the shower running, and his dryer tumbling George’s wet clothes around. He knew George was lying to him; if he was walking for that long from the bus stop he would have been closer to his own home than to Sapnap’s apartment. And the way his eyes were shifting and he couldn’t hold eye-contact with Sapnap was a dead giveaway. Obviously George doesn’t want to go home, and just this once Sapnap decides not to pry.
The water finishes boiling right as George steps out of the bathroom, hair damp and cheeks red from the hot water. Sapnap grins at George, who is pulling down the sleeves of Sapnap’s hoodie on him.
“Georgie you’re dripping water all over my hoodie” he says in a british accent, mimicking George. Before George can respond, he’s lunging forward to grab the towel in George’s hands and drying his hair roughly. George is wiggling around in Sapnap’s grasp, grabbing at Sapnap’s arms and trying to free himself from his assault. He laughs at George’s loud indignant yells, and scruffles George around a little more, just because he can. George is out of breath and even more disheveled looking after Sapnap’s treatment and Sapnap fondly listens to him complain from the kitchen counter as he turns to pour the boiled water into the mugs of hot chocolate he prepared.
“Hot chocolate? Are you a child?” George teases, and Sapnap snorts at him because they both know very well that George was the one who gave Sapnap this hot chocolate in the first place. George sits and waits for the hot chocolate to cool a little, and Sapnap moves to clean up a little. His fingers brush against George’s nape as he takes the towel from where it’s hanging around George’s neck, and his heartbeat quickens at the little act of intimacy. He can’t help the surge of warmth when George doesn’t even flinch at the slight touch the way he used to before. Sapnap hesitantly starts to dry George’s hair again, unsure how much George is willing to let him do but George doesn’t say anything. He only hums his consent and Sapnap takes it as the permission it is.
Sapnap is gentle this time, rubbing softly at George’s hair until it’s dry, and after that continuing to massage George’s head with his hands. They sit there and make idle chit chat, Sapnap is careful not to talk about George going home and instead they talk about Minecraft, Dream, and their next manhunt. Sapnap tries not to think too hard about the way that George is slowly leaning back against him; back pressing against Sapnap’s chest and he continues to massage. He tries even harder not to think about the way his heart beats just a little quicker. George sips his hot chocolate slowly and stares at Sapnap’s untouched mug on the counter across from him.
“Your hot chocolate is going to get cold.” is all George says, but Sapnap gets it. He steps back and takes George’s towel to his laundry basket, hands tingling from the warmth of George underneath his hands. When he returns to the kitchen, he sits on the opposite side of the counter this time, starting to sip on his hot chocolate and smiling back when George sees that they’re face to face now. They sit there chatting until both of their drinks are gone, and when Sapnap stands up and reaches over to take George’s mug to the sink, he sees George frown slightly. When he finishes rinsing the mugs, George is still frowning, getting up so slow, it’s almost as if he doesn’t want to leave the warm kitchen and venture back out into the rain, back home.
“Wanna stay over tonight?” Sapnap casually offers, smiling.
“YES!” George accepts his offer a little too fast and a little too loud to be casual, and his ears turn red at his mistake. Sapnap can’t bite back his smile as he quickly backpedals, “I mean it’s still raining, and if I go back outside I’ll get sick because I just showered, and it’s getting really late and dark and my clothes aren’t done drying yet so if I leave now I’ll have to come back and get them again……”
George’s face is getting redder and redder and Sapnap’s smile is so wide at this point as he guides a sputtering, flailing George to his bedroom, laughing at George when he finally gives up on the excuses and hangs his head in defeat, letting himself be easily maneuvered by Sapnap, face glowing red like a firetruck.
George practically sinks into Sapnaps mattress, suddenly looking exhausted as the weight of the day hits him again. Sapnap only smiles fondly, admiring a sleepy George as he cleans up his study material from his desk from earlier. George is halfway asleep when Sapnap finally turns off the light and moves to exit the room.
“Sapnap? Where are you going?” comes George’s drowsy voice from the bed.
“Going to sleep?” Sapnap asks questioningly, tiling his head towards the living room - towards the couch.
“No way! Come back here, there’s no way I’m going to kick you out of your own bed. Come back” George grouches, waving his arm around at Sapnap from under the blankets.
“You sure?” Sapnap asks slowly, “I don’t mind the couch for tonight.”
George only grumbles back at him, and Sapnap’s face lights up. That’s the closest George is going to get to admitting he wants Sapnap to stay, and Sapnap ready to take anything that he can get from George. He immediately pounces on the bed, landing on top of the other and pinning him down, laughing at the scream of shock that he manages to rip out of the other boy and making smooching noises at the other’s face.
“SAPNAP GET OFF ME!” he yells, straining and trying to push Sapnap’s kissy faces away from his own face.
“NO WAY! YOU LOVE ME! YOU WANT TO CUDDLE ME! YOU SAID IT YOURSELF” Sapnap says ecstatically, suddenly dropping his whole weight on George.
“GO AWAY I never said any of that!!” George wheezes, the breath knocked out of him as he starts shoving at Sapnap’s shoulder and trying to get him to get off him. Sapnap listens and rolls over, but when it’s clear that he won’t take his arm off from where it’s slung over George’s chest, George gives up and just reaches to pull the blankets over Sapnap’s body as well. His chest is warm, and he sinks further into Sapnap’s pillow. It smells like him, and he finds that he’s not as disgusted as he should be at this whole situation. In fact, it’s almost like he…. Enjoys it. His face is starting to flush red again at the thought and he’s shook out of wallowing in his own embarrassment by Sapnap.
“Are you sure this is okay?” Sapnap’s voice is quiet now too, now tired from all the studying and the roughhousing. George rolls his eyes, even though it’s dark and Sapnap can’t see him well.
“I already said it was fine didn’t I? Our socks are on….”
And Sapnap laughs at that, and his quiet laugh is as clear and bright as a tinkling bell.