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When Sapnap agreed to stay at George’s house for a couple of weeks he had assumed Dream was going to be there too.
They were a trio afterall, so when George offered Sapnap his spare room, he naturally thought Dream would also be staying there. George and Sapnap hadn’t been as close with each other as of recently- Of course, they still called every day, messaged each other at every spare moment, fell asleep on facetime a couple of nights in a row and they could easily rely upon each other for allnighters if one of them couldn’t sleep- But they weren’t as close.
Or maybe that was just Sapnap’s insecurities talking. George and Dream had gotten closer lately and he’d felt a little left out. Sure, it gave him the opportunity to grow closer with his other friends, but he was jealous of the way George would scream for Dream’s help instinctively instead of Sapnap’s.
Jealous? Was that the right word? What did Sapnap have to be jealous of? It’s not as if Dream and George were actively trying to exclude Sapnap, right? It was just for the lol s, right? Right ?!?
Sapnap didn’t know any more, and you would be absolutely right if you assumed Sapnap would become only more confused when he was sharing an apartment with just George. No Dream to help him straighten out his thoughts, no Dream for Sapnap to hide behind, no Dream for George to target all his sleepy-flirts to.
No Dream. Just George and Sapnap.
Why did it feel so strange?
They were watching a movie, Sapnap barely could recall the plot of it. The flashing lights of a chase scene were glowing in reflection of George’s pale and almost-translucent skin. George’s brown eyes were wide, his pupils expanding as the tension from the film continued to grow and grow. Occasionally, George would grab onto Sapnap when something he didn’t expect would happen. He would reach out for Sapnap’s sweater-covered arm, grip his nails into the thick fabric of it and hold his breath, waiting for the scene to lose it’s edge.
It was fine. It was fine .
Until Sapnap leaned away from George to somewhat lie across the large couch, cascading his legs on George’s lap. It was a casual action-- A casual action that Sapnap immediately regretted once George’s fingers began playing with a stray lace on Sapnap’s sweatpants.
Suddenly, everything was not fine.
A jumpscare took place on the screen. Sapnap hadn’t expected it (he wasn’t really paying attention) but George’s reaction was so much worse.
Sapnap could always rely on George to have the most over-the-top reaction to anything, but this… was too much.
George screamed, one hand flew up to cover his face and the other reached for Sapnap’s arm.
But Sapnap’s arm wasn’t there anymore.
No, he’d moved out of the way. George’s hand gripped onto the sensitive spot of Sapnap’s thigh, clinging to it like he feared he’d melt to a puddle if his grasp weakened.
Sapnap let out a yelp that he couldn’t hold back, and George let go.
George’s eyes were on Sapnap’s, guilt and embarrassment on his beet-red face. Sapnap was sure his face looked similar.
“Sorry!” George babbled, rushing through an apology, “I didn’t mean to- I just, got a fright- I didn’t even know this was a horror movie, what the fuck was I thinking??”
Sapnap watched him. Watched the thin layer of sweat on the back of George’s neck, the hand that was still stretched towards Sapnap, as if waiting for Sapnap to grab it. He watched the reality settle on George as he came to terms of what he’d done, by accident or not, he looked really, really embarrassed .
It was cute.
At thoughts like those, Sapnap would depend on Dream to distract him from them… But Dream wasn’t here .
So all he could do was…
Stare .
Until he laughed.
George flinched, and paused the movie as he watched Sapnap laugh and laugh at George’s dumbstruck expression. Sapnap hadn’t been paying enough attention to even realise this film was a horror movie, he hadn’t been watching at all . He wasn’t even 100% sure what George had gotten frightened of in the first place.
It was just George. All he could look at was George.
And normally, that was scary- scarier than any film - but now, as George blushed, pouted and turned slightly away from Sapnap, he only felt overjoyed. A smug and proud grin was hurting Sapnap’s cheeks, this was just so funny .
“You’re-” Sapnap wheezed again, for good measure, “You’re so cute, George. L-Look at you!”
Sapnap brought his hands to his stomach and cackled some more.
George gave the crumbling remnants of his best friend an offended expression,
“Shut up , you asshole. It’s not that funny.”
“It was !” Sapnap continued, sitting up so he could see George better, “It was the funniest and you know it.”
George brushed a hand through his dark hair and gave Sapnap the stink-eye. It was an expression that Sapnap knew incredibly well, but it was his first time seeing it in real life, not through a screen, or an entire ocean away.
That’s when it hit Sapnap. George was here. George was here , with Sapnap, they were literally sitting on the same couch. At some point in between Sapnap’s fit of laughter, their legs had gotten entangled with each other. Sapnap didn’t untangle them. Neither did George.
It was ridiculous that Sapnap had felt so nervous. Why was he wasting time being so worried?? This was George , Sapnap knew more about George than he did with himself. They were close, so close that they almost shared a soul. Sapnap knew George’s soul so well .
So why bother holding back?
Sapnap reached for the remote, his arm brushing past George as he grabbed it from the arm rest behind his british friend. Sapnap pretended not to notice the way George stilled at the contact, but he couldn’t stop the final breath of his dying laughter from fluttering into George’s ear as he pulled back.
Though, while leaning away, Sapnap grabbed hold of George and pulled him down with him, until the smaller boy was lying on top of Sapnap, cheek pressed against his heart.
“Don’t be scared, Georgie, I’ll protect you.” Sapnap teased.
George moved his cheek, and Sapnap’s heart burst as George wiggled around until he got into a comfortable position on top of Sapnap’s warm body. His chin lay on top of Sapnap’s chest as George stared up at Sapnap.
“Fuck you.” He replied, but his eyes were blown wide with undeniable fondness.
Sapnap was smitten. Oh God , he was so smitten.
Sapnap pressed a button on the remote and the movie continued. George’s arms folded underneath Sapnap’s body, pressing them as close together as he could manage. George’s cheek listened to the rhythmic beats of Sapnap’s heart as his eyes were pointed to the screen.
Somehow, Sapnap couldn’t focus on the movie- Not when another jumpscare occured, or when a sudden loud noise emitted from the movie. Not even when the movie came to a close, and George was impossibly even closer to Sapnap, their bodies tangled together, their arms reaching and brushing and touching .
No, Sapnap couldn’t focus on the movie, but he could definitely tell you the number or freckles on George’s face. He could tell you about the dimple on his chin and the splash of pink on his cheeks. He could retell the way George squeezed his face into Sapnap’s neck when a graphic scene became too much for him to handle, or the way George hummed along to Sapnap’s heartbeat, as if they were making some sort of tuneless love song.
Sapnap barely took his eyes off of him at all. He was really here, afterall, Sapnap didn’t want to waste any time.
And when no one moved away when they both grew tired, Sapnap would say it was worth it.
“Your heartbeat is lovely.” George murmured, long after the movie had concluded and the credits were reflecting on George’s cheek.
It was a rather strange thing to confess, but it made Sapnap happy.
“Thank you. You have a nice face.” Is what he thought was appropriate to reply with.
A low rumble of what Sapnap identified was a tired chuckle rose from George’s throat. It was breathy, sounding a little forced out of tiredness. Sapnap felt an overwhelming feeling of peace settle on him at that.
“It would be so embarrassing if we fell asleep like this.” George teased.
Sapnap pulled George closer to him, closing his eyes as his lips left a ghost of a kiss on top of his fluffy hair.
“We’ll tell everyone it was an accident.”