Work Text:
“George…” Dream whispered quietly, carefully running his finger through the older man’s hair, trying his best not to startle him. He continued to comb through his hair slightly as George moved his head to the side, laying his ear against Dreams heart, hearing it beat. Humming softly in response against Dreams chest, tightening the grasp he had on his friend’s shirt, not wanting to move.
“You okay darling? Comfy?” he asked tentatively, keeping his voice quiet. George just hummed again, pushing his head further into the taller male’s chest, fists still clutching onto his shirt, pulling him closer, closing his eyes again. Dream just laughed silently, rubbing the littles back gently, eager not to cause him discomfort, he leaned further into the sofa, figuring he would be there for a while. The two of them soon fell into a slumber, holding each other closely, George lying across his chest, his head returning to its original position, resting in the crook his neck. The rest, however, was short-lived as the younger was soon awoken by the sound of the door opening, smiling slightly when he saw George was still asleep on his chest, holding him loosely with a pacifier between his lips, brushing his hair out of his eyes. He looked up Sapnap standing in the doorway, also smiling towards George.
Dream was delicately stroking his forehead when Sapnap spoke, “How old is he right now?” moving to sit in the armchair opposite them.
Dream just shrugged in response, mouthing “Not sure, maybe one, slightly younger, he’s not talking” desperately trying not to wake the little asleep on his chest. Sapnap looked at him, confusion in his eyes, as Dream drew small circles on the sleeping mans back with his finger.
“Not at all?” Sapnap asked, still confused, “Not even like putting a finger up or something?” he questions further, knowing that even if George was non-verbal, he’d give some form of signal to his age. That being said, something about his mannerisms seemed different today, younger. Dream shook his head, he seemed equally as confused about the situation as Sapnap.
“He’s younger than usual, a lot younger, I’ve never seen him like this before” He whispered, eyes concerned as he spoke.
“I can see, has he been like that all day?” he asked gesturing towards the sleeping form.
“If you mean asleep, quite and on my chest, then yeah. We’ve been here for like four hours or something now. I don’t know what happened to cause this, you know?”
As if he knew he was being talked about, George rubbed his eye, lifting his head slightly, looking between Dream and Sapnap, trying to sit up slightly. Dream saw Georges struggle, placing his hands against his back, moving them into a sitting position as George fell against his chest, head in Dreams neck once again, wrapping his arms under Dreams holding him close, which was met with Dream weaving his arms under Georges, one resting on the back of his neck, the other on his shoulder.
“George, can you tell me how old you are baby?” Dream tried again, while Sapnap watches also awaiting the answer. Much to their disappointment, George just whines, burring his face further into his friends’ neck, squirming slightly in his lap, trying to get closer. Sapnap and Dream look at each other, Sapnap shrugging, while Dream repositions his hand on the littles shoulder to move the small of his back rubbing circles soothingly, kissing the side of his head lightly. The three of them sit like that for a while longer, in comfortable silence, before Dream feels a tugging on the back of his shirt and George starts whining softly, pushing his head further into the neck, continuing to claw at the shirt in his grasp.
“Hey, hey, Georgie, what’s wrong darling?” he asks quickly pulling George impossibly closer, adding slightly more pressure to his hand rubbing the littles back, trying to calm him down. He looks up to Sapnap, across from them, as if begging for some form of advice, to which he was met with nothing as he just shook his head and mouthed “Don’t look at me, you’re the caregiver here not me.”
Dream entirely panicked when he felt hot tears running down his neck, “Hey, hey, hey baby, come one darling, shhhhh, don’t cry baby” he cooed rocking George slightly, entirely out of his depth here.
He normally had some form of communication to go on to figure out what was wrong, now he was entirely alone and had nothing to go off, “Hungry, darling? Is that it little one?” he asked hopefully, figuring guessing was better than nothing, his prayers were met when George sniffled and rubbed his eyes, burrowing his head to agree.
“Okay, come here, baby, let's go get you fed, hmm?” He said lightly, picking up George, holding him against his hip, carrying him into the kitchen as Georges head lay against his shoulder, sucking lightly on the pacifier in his mouth, eyes slightly red from crying. Everything was going swimmingly until he tried to sit George down of the kitchen counter, in order to make him a bottle, but he was met with resistance. George started crying again, grabbing onto his shirt, whimpering, looking up at Dream, eyes glassy with tears in a silent plea to not be left alone. Dream just scooped him back into his arms, rocking them slightly, cooing in his ear, trying to calm him down.
“Shhhhhh, I’m here baby, I'm here, not gonna put you down again okay, I'm here”, he said calming the little, scratching his scalp slightly, “you’re okay, you’re okay, baby” he whispered next to his ear until he calmed own. He held George tightly against his hip, swaying slightly as he made up the bottle, before returning to the living room to greet Sapnap again, sitting back down on the sofa George curled up in his lap. He gently removed the pacifier from between his lips, placing it on the arm of the sofa, before replacing it with the bottle, George playing with Dream hand that was wrapped around his back, pulling on his fingers slightly, balling them into a fist while he drank quietly. When he was finished Dream placed the pacifier back between his lips, before he made grabby hands towards Sapnap, pulling against Dreams arm slightly trying to move towards him.
“You wanna come cuddle with me now?” Sapnap asked, tone slightly exaggerated, “I wanna cuddle with my favourite boy, c’mere” he laughed standing up, to collect George from Dreams lap, sitting them back down in the armchair. He pressed his finger against Georges nose, making a “booping” noise, smiling as George giggle slightly, before crawling his way into Sapnap’s arms, curled up, closing his eye’s once again. Sapnap responded by brushing his hair away from his forehead, smiling as his breathing quickly evened out, signalling he’d fallen asleep again.
“You’re right man, he’s young right now” Sapnap spoke brushing the littles hair slightly, continuing to smile down at him.
“Yeah, he is, we should probably talk about this tomorrow, or whenever he’s bigger, somethings caused him to go this young, just not sure what…” Dream sighs, looking at Sapnap as he cradles George in his arms while he sleeps.
“He’s gonna be okay man, you know that right?” Sapnap says noting Dreams focused thoughts and concerns, “He’s got you, of course, he’s going to be okay” he continues, looking at the sleeping little in his arm’s brushing his hair. Dream smiles at them, Sapnap’s right, everything was okay, it was more than okay.