Chapter Text
The spinning bottle came to a slow pause, the green blur coming to a stop facing George. The man let out a moan, the exasperated sound drowned out by the cheers of the rest of the group. The frozen bottle sat in the centre of carpet, the boys sprawled about in a circle around it, each boy in various degrees of tipsiness. Despite being the only completely sober person in the group, Dream almost felt a little drunk alongside them. The giddiness in the air was infectious.
"No fair, dude, I wanted to land on George!" Karl yelled, flopping down on his back. Sapnap patted his shoulder sympathetically.
George's face scrunched up. "I shouldn't even have to do it. I didn't want to play this stupid game in the first place".
"Oh my god, shut up, you bore. Pick truth or dare." Quackity looked way too pleased having landed on George, and Dream felt a mixture of sympathy for George and excitement to see how his best friend would react.
This was only their second night together as a group, everything feeling new and fresh and strange. Karl and Quackity had flown in the day before George, but they had all wanted to wait for the games and activities until the Brit had arrived in the sunny state. Now, with all of them together, the buzz in the air was alight. They sat squashed closely together in their messy circle, with blankets and pillows strewn about, the lights dim and the room smelling of alcohol. Dream hadn't felt this happy in a long time.
"Whatever," George grumbled. "Dare."
"Pussy," Sapnap coughed out, likely mainly to hear Karl giggle, which he did.
"How is picking dare the pussy option?!"
"Oh, for you it is, Mr. Refused To Tell Me His Middle Name Until A Year Ago."
"Well I figured you'd probably do something weird with it, freak."
Sapnap narrowed his eyes. "Don't make me come over there and kiss you," he threatened, mainly to make George make a face, which he did.
"Ew."
Dream rolled his eyes, a smirk on his face. "Ok, children, let's let Alex give his dare to George."
Attention shifted to Quackity, who suddenly looked significantly more smug and pleased with himself. Dream braced himself for whatever he was doing.
"You know what, Georgie, my little discord kitten?" Quackity began, cut off by George fake-gagging at the name, "I'll give you a dare, but I'm going to be extra nice and let you fall back to picking truth if you don't like it."
George looked sceptical. Dream figured he would do the dare anyway, no matter how stupid, just because of the terms. George could be self-destructively stubborn when he wanted to be.
"Whatever, give the dare, dumbass."
Quackity smiled, looking all-too-thrilled. "Kiss Sapnap."
The reaction was instantaneous, from all members of the group. George practically flinched back with a disgusted look on his face, Sapnap's eyes shot open and he let out a bark of laughter, Karl slapped a palm over his mouth, and Dream frowned. That wasn't what he was expecting Quackity to say, despite the trajectory of the earlier conversation. Sure, they all jokingly flirted and messed around with one another, but Dream didn't think any of them would take it any further. Especially George and Sapnap. The image entered his brain for a single moment before he pushed it out with disgust. His stomach felt weird at the thought.
Dream looked to George. George looked back to Dream, but whether he was looking for his reaction or seeking his defence, Dream didn't know. He came to his defence anyway.
"Quackity, that's gross, they're not going to do that."
"What, jealous, Dream?" Sapnap suggested, teasingly. Dream made a face at him. "But yeah, Quackity, that's not going to happen." He then looked to George with glee and mirth on his face. "As much as I would love to smooch my little Gogy."
"I hate you so much," George muttered, but he couldn't quite hide the fondness in his voice.
"Hey, hey, I'm not going to make anyone do anything they don't want to do." Quackity held his hands up. "George can just pick truth instead if he doesn't want to french our dear Sappitus."
George rolled his eyes. "Whatever, then, I'll pick truth."
Dream's chest felt marginally lighter now that they had moved on from the dare. He didn't know why Quackity had suggested Sapnap of all people, anyway.
Quackity looked considering. He paused for a few moments before seemingly deciding.
"Tell us about your past girlfriends."
Though he was interested in the answer, Dream thought that, as fair as truth questions go, it was pretty tame. Karl said as much.
"Dude, that's so lame." Karl looked admonishing. "You're meant to ask him his favourite sex position or something."
Sapnap waved that away, sitting up eagerly. "No, no, I like the question. George never tells us anything about his dating life. I wanna know."
Dream finally looked to George, who was sat directly in front of him across the circle. Dream thought Quackity could have done far worse, but George looked strangely hesitant and unnerved by the question. He was looking down at his hands in his lap, though his eyes were shifting about. His teeth gently chewed on his bottom lip, reminding Dream of the period of time when his lips were always red and chapped. They always looked soft now, and he almost wanted to pull his lip away from the teeth that could harm them again.
"George?" Dream asked, a playful lilt to his voice, trying to draw George out of wherever he went.
George looked up at his voice, stared at Dream for a moment, and looked away again. Dream missed the contact.
George sat back, his face still looking conflicted, but it was clear he was attempting to hide it. Dream didn't quite understand the hesitancy, aside from George's usual shiftiness. He was pretty positive George has had a girlfriend before, having memories of George occasionally rescheduling old discord calls for date nights.
"This is dumb," he finally said, but Dream couldn't tell if he meant the question or something else.
"Well answer or pucker up," Quackity said with an almost maniacal-type laugh.
"Stop dragging me into this Quackity." Sapnap rolled his eyes. "Answer the question, Gogs. I'd rather not have Dream show up with a knife in my room tonight."
Dream's head whipped over at that. "What?"
"I-"
His attention was recaptured by George.
"Well," the brunette began quite slowly, as if feeling out his words, "I haven't actually had a girlfriend before."
The room went quiet.
George pursed his lips.
The room grew loud again.
"Bullshit," Dream and Sapnap exclaimed loudly at the same time.
Sapnap went to keep talking, but Dream cut him off, his tone both firm and confused. "You've definitely told us about girlfriends before George. And you've definitely been in one within the past year or two. I remember."
"Yeah, what about all those months where you literally refused to film on Friday or Saturday nights, and we finally pried it out of you that those were date nights."
"And-"
George cut in, something close to annoyance in his tone. "I've never said anything about a girlfriend. I've talked about a relationship."
The room hung still in a confused silence. Something tickled at Dream.
"Ok . . . ?" Sapnap said slowly. "And what the hell does that mean."
Dream was vaguely aware that Karl and Quackity were remaining silent during this conversation, leaving it to the trio to sort out. He noticed the confused looks they shared between themselves, however.
He went back to studying George, who was looking more put-out than Dream had ever seen him, with a clenched jaw and tight eyes.
George pressed his lips together, and spoke two simple words in a flat tone.
"I'm gay."
The room went quiet. It didn't grow loud again for many precious moments.
Dream's mind felt both empty and full. Both numb and full of overlapping static. He felt himself frowning as he started at George, but he couldn’t really make himself stop. He scanned his best friend from head to toe, feeling weirdly disconnected from himself. How could he not know? It didn't feel like information that should be profound or life-changing, and yet it still felt that way to Dream. He knew that sexuality didn't really matter, but somehow Dream's world felt as if it had tipped on its axis.
"Oh," Karl said quietly, the first to speak. George's words still hung in the air, the echo of them holding firm.
"Oh," George repeated, flatly. There was something defensive and firm in his voice. Dream recognised the look of a guarded and closed-off George very well, and something in himself switched on at the sight of it. The dazed frown cleared off his own face. He uncrossed his legs from the criss-cross position and sat himself up. George's eyes shifted to him and hesitantly followed the movement. Dream moved the glass bottle out of the way and shuffled across the carpet. The brunette leaned back warily at Dream's movement, like a cautious cat. Dream shifted forward until he was directly in front of his best friend, their knees touching through their sweatpants, their unsure eyes meeting, before scooting forward until he was right beside him.
Before George could react, Dream wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in close.
George sat frozen still for a few solid seconds, his back firm and his hands held still in his lap, but Dream held tight, and his best friend slowly softened in his arms. Dream's arms were wrapped tightly around his shoulders and upper back, his nose in the brunette's hair. George hooked hesitant arms back around Dream, tucking a shy head into the spot between his neck and shoulder. He could feel a breath leave the older man, and Dream hugged him even tighter.
His second time hugging George, and he never wanted to let him go.
"Sorry we're such shitheads," he muttered quietly into George's hair, the soft curls brushing his nose.
He felt a gentle hand poke softly at the knots in his spine, and eventually a head that nodded in acknowledgement.
With his eyes closed, he couldn't see what was going on behind him, but heard sounds of quiet shuffling. Not a moment later, he felt another set of arms slide around him and George, with someone pressing in close to them. He recognised the cologne as Sapnap's. Another set of arms joined the fray, and another followed right behind them, until all five friends sat huddled together on the living room floor. It was stuffy and hard to breathe, but he suddenly felt a consuming love for all of them. He pressed a hidden kiss to the top of George's head.
"Yeah, so we're kinda dumbasses, Gogs," Sapnap said, bashfully. "Sorry."
"Yeah," George agreed, but Dream could hear the smile in his voice.