Chapter Text
Dream smiled brightly as he read over the message he had just been sent.
There’s a party at sapnap’s, George’s text read. It was simple and straight to the point, knowing there was no way Dream would refuse the invitation.
It was already late, way too late to be considering going anywhere, and Dream’s eyes stung with the temptation of sleep. He harshly rubbed his eyes, instead opting to send George a quick ok, and he stood to search his closet for something better to wear than what he already was.
Once he determined that he was presentable enough, Dream opened his door and listened carefully for anyone that might be there. He slipped out as quietly as he could and flinched when the front door made a noise as he shut it. He waited a few seconds to take his hand off the handle, just to make sure he was safe.
Dream held his breath and ran down the steps and onto the sidewalk. As soon as he stepped off the property, he allowed himself to breathe again and began walking down the street.
The chilly night air pricked at Dream’s skin, causing him to put on the spring green colored jacket he had previously decided to tie around his waist. Luckily, Sapnap’s house was only down the street from his own, so there was no need to wait on anyone to pick him up.
Dream still kept an eye on the cars passing by every few minutes. He wondered if one of them might be George. Or if George might already be at the party.
His thoughts were silenced as he neared Sapnap’s house, the music way too loud already, even though it had seemingly started just before Dream left his house.
“Dream!” Someone called from behind him, and he turned to see a very out of breath George running down the same sidewalk Dream had been walking on.
“What the- did you run here? You have a car, idiot,” Dream said, ruffling George’s hair as soon as he was close enough to do so.
“No, Wilbur drove me down here, but I saw you walking and wanted to walk with you,” George smiled. Dream pretended not to notice that Wilbur’s car was nowhere to be seen, and instead let himself think that Wilbur was mean enough to drop off George at a distance he had to run just to catch up with Dream, and then completely ditch both of them.
Actually, maybe that was more likely than he thought.
“You think there’s gonna be alcohol?” Dream asked, starting down the sidewalk again. George walked beside him.
“Yes,” George answered, barely needing to think about the question, “it’s a highschool party, what do you expect?”
“You’re right, you know how I feel about that though,” Dream faked a shudder, making George giggle.
“Yeah, yeah,” George rolls his eyes, “I don’t understand how you hate drinking but can never say no to a party invitation.”
“What, I can’t want to have fun without drinking? Something illegal for us, by the way?”
“As if the noise coming from that house isn’t illegal on it’s own,” George gestures to the night sky and then the dark windows of the houses around them.
“Alright, fine, whatever, think what you want to. But I’m staying away from any of the bedrooms, and you should too.”
“Gross, dude!” George laughs, and Dream can't help but catch George’s contagious laughter.
“It’s true! I learned from last time. Don’t trust it, even if the door’s locked.”
“Sure,” George flashes a smile in Dream’s direction, “but I think you’re the one who needs to be careful about that, since it only happened to you…”
“You’re such an idiot, you know it was an accident.”
Before George had a chance to reply, Sapnap appeared in front of the both of them.
“You didn’t tell me you were coming,” Sapnap eyed George, then smiled towards Dream.
“You told me to invite Dream,” George said, “you should already know that means we’re both coming.”
Dream crossed his arms, noticing the cup in Sapnap’s hand. Knowing him, it was definitely not a soda or juice. Dream decided against saying anything. It was Sapnap’s party after all.
“You’re right,” Sapnap shrugged, “I know Dream would never turn down a party invite. And that you follow him around like a lost puppy,” Sapnap snickered.
“I do not,” George huffed.
“Ah, right.” Sapnap smiled, “I should have said like a lost kitten instead.”
Dream laughed at George’s obvious annoyance, causing George to glare at him.
“You guys gonna stay over afterwards?” Sapnap asked, freeing Dream from George’s death stare.
“Probably not, I snuck out this time,” Dream said, covering his smile with his hand in an attempt to calm his laughter.
“Well I’m gonna stay,” George crossed his arms, “I'm not begging Wilbur to come pick me up again.”
“Same room as last time?” Sapnap offered.
“That's fine.”
“You sure you don't want me to lock a room for you, Dream?” Sapnap wiggled his eyebrows at Dream, “you can cuddle with me if you want.”
“I already said I’m not staying. Or maybe I’d take you up on that offer,” Dream wiggled his eyebrows back at Sapnap. They both laughed, George rolling his eyes rather than playing into their dumb jokes.
“Come get me when you decide you’re actually staying,” Sapnap blew a kiss to Dream and walked back into the crowded doorway of the house.
Dream saw George’s annoyance at the kiss, so he pretended to grab it, throw it on the ground, and step on it. George looked extremely unimpressed at the gesture.
“Sorry if you’re jealous of us being madly in love, George,” Dream fluttered his eyelashes, tilting his head to the side, “I can’t always pander to your needs.”
“Oh, shut up, you idiot,” George scoffed.
“Fine, if that’s really what you want, I’ll break up with Sapnap so we can be madly in love instead,” Dream wiped fake tears from his eyes and sniffled to add to his overdramatic display.
“Okay, it’s not even funny anymore.”
“Whatever shall I do to appease you, Georgie?”
“You can shut up and actually go into the house with me,” George turned on his heel, taking a step towards the front door, “Or you can stay out here all alone.”
Dream quickly dropped the act and followed behind George. As soon as they stepped into the front room, the music enveloped them. George immediately headed towards the table in the kitchen, which was surrounded by people Dream recognized from their school. Some of them he knew were definitely not seniors, and Dream wondered why they had been invited. Sapnap usually stuck to inviting people in their grade.
George grabbed one of the cups off the table and poured some random can of beer into it. Dream knew George would probably want to drink, but he was hoping it would be later into the night when most people had already left. Now, he felt obligated to stay and watch over George.
Not that George couldn’t protect himself, because he could, but Dream knew George became a whole lot more of a smartass when he was drunk enough. And he also knew that George always stressed out about the things he might have said after sobering up.
Before Dream had a chance to warn George about that possibility, George had already finished his first cup and was pouring the second one.
Dream not-so-subtly grabbed George’s arm and dragged him as far away from the kitchen as he could. George happily followed Dream into the crowd of dancing people. The music was distracting enough that the other people were a blur, and Dream managed to distract George from the drinks by dancing with him.
Not too long after, someone had bumped into Dream. They talked for only a minute, before Dream realized George had left his field of vision. Dream apologized to the person, and quickly ran off to find George.
It wasn’t hard, George was in the first place Dream had thought of, the kitchen, and of course, he was getting yet another drink.
“Oh,” George smiled in Dream’s direction, “I thought I lost you.” He threw the empty can somewhere behind him and walked towards Dream. He tilted his head and frowned, “You’re always around me. Maybe you’re the one following me like a puppy,” George giggled at his own joke.
Dream sighed and shook his head, “I lost you for like, two minutes. How are you already so drunk?”
“Come on, ‘m not that drunk,” George took a sip from his cup, “yet.”
“Right, ok,” Dream rolled his eyes. “You can drop the ‘yet,’ I’m not losing you again.” Dream grabbed George’s arm and led him back into the crowd of people. He scanned the room for Sapnap, and as soon as he realized he wasn’t in the living room, he dragged George upstairs.
Dream knocked on the door he knew was Sapnap’s bedroom, and looked away as soon as the door opened, revealing Sapnap’s barely-there appearance. “I need you to unlock George’s room,” Dream said, his face growing hot from interrupting whatever was going on.
“Ugh, okay, one minute,” Sapnap slammed the door shut. Dream glanced at George, who was simply messing with Dream’s jacket sleeve.
“You usually wait until most people leave before you start drinking,” Dream said, “so what’s all this for?”
“Was annoyed,” George said.
“With what?”
Before George had a chance to answer, Sapnap’s door slammed open again. He looked, understandably, upset about having to leave his room.
Sapnap stomped down the hallway, Dream and George following closely after, and unlocked the door at the very end of the hall.
“There you go,” Sapnap murmured. He noticed Dream was holding George’s hand, definitely noticed the blush across both of their faces, then huffed a laugh. “Don’t go too wild,” he said, before walking back to his room.
Dream ignored the comment and pulled George into the room, glancing at the clock that read 3:00 AM. It had been only two hours since they had arrived at the party, and Dream cursed George’s random need to drink way more than usual and caused both of them to miss out on the rest of it.
Dream wasn’t sure when he had become accustomed to the blaring music, crowded rooms, and staying over at random places that he had never been to before. At the very least, this was Sapnap’s house, so he had an excuse if his parents caught him sneaking back in the morning.
George stumbled over to the bed and practically collapsed on the soft mattress. Dream shook his head, already accepting the fact that he’d have to fix George before even considering going to sleep.
Dream locked the door behind him and walked over to George. He pulled off George’s shoes and jacket carefully, throwing them somewhere in the corner of the room. He carefully pulled the blanket out from underneath George, shoved him all the way onto the bed, and covered him up. Dream made sure George was turned on his side for fear that he may get sick and not be able to wake up.
His eyes burning with tiredness, Dream realized there was no way he'd have enough energy he’d be able to walk home now. The adrenaline of the excitement that others had been radiating was now worn off, something that would have likely happened on the walk home if he had decided to stay downstairs longer. He was thankful that he had the chance to stay at Sapnap’s instead of definitely getting himself caught trying to sneak in while not making any noise through his sleep-drunken state.
Dream half-considered sleeping on the floor to avoid George complaining in the morning about “personal space-” something he clearly didn’t know the meaning of since he would just lay all over Dream whenever he felt like it- but instead decided to climb onto the side of the bed, hoping it would allow him to fall asleep easier.
While he had decided against resting underneath the covers, Dream allowed himself to face George. He reasoned that it would make it easier to wake up if George needed something, though even he knew that made little sense.
Before Dream knew it, his eyes began to feel heavier, the burning drifting away as he allowed his eyes to close more and more. Eventually, the tiredness manifested itself as a dull headache, something he just couldn’t argue with anymore.
So, Dream closed his eyes.