Work Text:
The house was not small, nor was it empty. It was lived in. The couch cushions ruffled up, dented where someone had sat down just hours ago. The kitchen sink held unwashed dishes from dinner and the fridge had a bottle of orange juice that did not have enough liquid left, to fill a whole glass.
The house was never empty, one of the three occupants was always present. And tonight was no different. The oldest of the three had just finished streaming, leaving the discord call he had been in since before they even started streaming. He leaned back against his chair, looking at a message he had received half an hour ago. The phone stream was still bright, the message yelling at him, taunting him. He did not know what to make of it, and the stream suddenly made him feel uncomfortable and exposed.
Sapnap [1:45am]: Dream texted me that he left for a drive, and that we don’t have to wait up for him… He didn’t want me to tell you, but I felt like you should know.
George had read the message over and over and over again, over the cause of the last thirty minutes of his stream. He did not have a facecam today, and he was thankful for that, because the chat already noticed he got a lot more distracted in the last few minutes, he did not want to deal with them asking questions or speculating why he kept checking his phone.
He was sure Sapnap knew though. And Karl and Bad and Callahan had their suspicions when Dream announced that he had to leave halfway through the stream.
For chat, it wasn’t that uncommon. Dream was a busy man, it was late and he could leave whenever he wanted. But he had promised to stay before they started, had said he couldn’t wait for them to play, and now he did not only leave the voice chat, he also left the house, in the middle of the night, to go for a drive.
George did not know what he should do now. Dream had told Sapnap, and not George, that he left. Dream had told Sapnap not to tell George in the first place. And George? George felt lost and alone in a large house, he had only recently moved into.
He could go to Sapnap and talk to him, maybe explain why this all hit him so hard, why Dream left in the first place, and why the man didn’t want George to know… but he couldn’t bring himself to.
And so George walked into the kitchen, finished the juice and then sat on the couch. He stayed away from the crease on the couch, left by Dream, who always sat in the same spot, his legs sometimes stretched over the whole couch, and sometimes he left room for George or Sapnap to join.
George stared at the spot for a while, his thoughts wandering off to the place, the moment that had led to this mess in the first place.
A week ago, George and Dream had found themselves on this very couch, in the middle of the night, just chatting. They happened to both be awake and found one another in the kitchen, to get a drink, and instead of encouraging each other to go back to bed, they started chatting, about everything and nothing. They eventually moved to the couch to sit down, and it was where George had found himself, leaning his arm against the backrest, smiling as Dream talked animatedly about a new project he had in mind. He used his hands when he talked, and his facial expressions were clear and open and it was fascinating for George to finally have a face to all the words that were being spoken, with such care and passion.
George did not exactly remember how it happened, but he interrupted Dream’s talking by pressing his lips to Dream’s, in a short delicate kiss, that was turned into desperate, quick kissing soon after.
He was not sure what pressed him to make the move, nor did he remember how long they ended up kissing for, but he did remember, very vividly the feel of Dream’s stubble against his chin, how his lips pressed, urgently against his own, and how his own hands found their way to Dream’s hair to press him closer, always closer.
Dream had pulled away first, smiling at George, and George, for the first time in his life felt his heart in his throat and he choked out the words that he better should have swallowed down.
“I… I think… no I.. I am… I’m in love with you.”
Dream had not responded, hadn’t said a word. He just looked at George, blinking slowly. And George had to witness how the smile slowly fell off his face, and got buried behind confused, maybe even cold eyes.
Dream stammered a few words, no comprehensible sentence leaving his mouth and he got up and he walked out of the room.
That was a week ago, and George had barely seen Dream’s face since then.
George did not tell Sapnap about what happened, but the look Sapnap sent George across the breakfast table was enough for George to know that Sapnap knew. Dream had told Sapnap and now Sapnap was taking pity on George.
George, who never said his emotions out loud, who had trouble expressing himself properly, and meant what he said. George had spilled his heart, for once in his life, and he was rejected in the cruelest form. Dream left the stream and the house, because Bad and Karl were teasing Dream about how he was a simp for George, because George had asked for something in game, asked and started whining, clinging to the sense of normality. He did not expect Dream to join, as he had not talked to him in a whole week, but Dream came and they acted like there hadn’t been tense air in the house for a whole 7 days.
And no one but Sapnap picked up on the sudden shift of air when Dream joined the call.
No one noticed the relief George exhaled when his best friend started talking like nothing was wrong, getting excited for the stream, for their plan.
And George had gone along with it, acted like this was okay, that they were okay. It gave him hope that they would be okay, again.
But no, Dream was teased for being a simp for George, was being teased for being so easy to convince and how weak he was for the Brit.
And George noticed. He noticed the hitch in Dream’s breath at the comment. He heard the will to leave before Dream announced himself five minutes later, to not draw suspicion. He heard it in the empty laughs and the following silence.
They were not okay, and George was tired of waiting.
That was why he was on the couch, passed 2am, waiting for his best friend to come home, so they could talk. But 2am turned into 3am. And 3am turned into 4am.
George found it harder to stay awake. He was scrolling through twitter and instagram, tweeted some stuff and liked fanart, but his eyes became heavy. His fear of missing his chance of talking to Dream was what kept him awake, if only barely.
And as the clock was about to strike 4:30am, George heard the front door open and he sat up straighter, putting his phone down and turning to the noise.
Dream entered the room, not having noticed George yet, as he tiredly shuffled towards the stairs.
“Where have you been?” George asked from his spot on the couch, startling Dream who had clearly hoped to get home undetected.
“I…”
Dream looked around, his eyes not catching George’s. But George was tired of running.
“You texted Sapnap, but not me.”
“You were streaming.”
“You told him not to tell me.”
“And yet he did.”
George sighed. “It’s not his fault. I’m sure he is just tired of us fighting.”
Dream shifted from one foot to the other, crossing his arms over his chest. “We’re fighting?” He asked.
George raised an eyebrow at him. “We’re not?”
The shrug he received in return might as well have been a slap to the face. He was so tired.
He got up from the couch, looking at Dream as he rounded the furniture, stopping right in front of him.
“Oh, so you’re ignoring me for a week is not us fighting?”
“I wasn’t ignoring you,” Dream argued weakly, “we streamed together, right? I wouldn't do that if I was ignoring you.”
Disbelief made itself present in George’s chest and he dug his nails into his palm, to keep calm. “You left the room as soon as I entered. You text Sapnap instead of me, or even both of us. You leave the stream the second someone jokes that you could possibly like me. And you’re telling me, you’re not ignoring me?”
“I needed some space.”
George gaped at him, his mouth opening and closing again and again, as a way of coping with how speechless Dream made him. He lifted his arms to Dream’s chest and pushed.
“Then tell me that, you asshole!”
Dream stayed silent, catching himself from being pushed away so suddenly. But George was not done.
“Tell me you need space and time and whatever! But don’t leave me wondering if I messed everything up! You can’t just kiss me and then leave!”
Dream tightened his arms around himself and in any other situation George might have found himself staring at the muscles flexing in Dream’s arms at the gesture, might have wanted to reach out and relax the tension his body was expressing, and wipe the distress off his face. But this was not any other situation, because George was fuming.
“You kissed me, first of all,” Dream said lamely, looking away from George’s furious eyes, “and then dropped the biggest bomb on me! You think that confession didn’t affect me?”
“We kissed. I kissed you and you kissed me, it doesn’t matter at all who started what! It was clearly mutual, with you not pushing me the fuck away! I thought confessing it was safe! You kissed me, I thought I had a chance! But
no,
you up and left me, for a whole week. And now you’re only talking to me because I’m forcing you!”
Dream pushed himself forward and looked down to George. “What do you want me to say?” He asked, his voice dropping to a level, he only used when he got upset. He was done getting blamed it seemed, but George was not scared of him.
“I want you to tell me that it was a mistake, and that you wanna take it back,” George challenged, “tell me you think kissing me is wrong.”
Dream exhaled, putting a hand on George’s arm and held on tightly, almost to the point of pain. “What, you think I’m some sort of homophobic asshole? You think I’m disgusted? Is that what you want to hear?”
“If that’s what you feel, sure. Go for it. You broke my heart already, let it fucking shatter on the floor.”
The silence that followed was deafening and George turned around, janked his arm out of Dream’s grip and walked towards his bedroom. He didn’t know why he had even bothered trying in the first place…
He heard fast paced footsteps behind him, following him into his bedroom and Dream walked in without invitation and closed the door behind him.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” the taller one started.
“Well you did. And you keep doing it. Now leave me alone.”
“No.”
“Dream,” George warned.
“No. I left earlier and that was clearly the wrong choice. I’m not leaving until we sort this out.”
George closed the blinds in his bedroom, purposely not looking at Dream. “I have nothing left to say to you, Dream.”
“George please.”
George turned around to him again, regretting it instantly. He should have stayed strong and not looked at him. “Please what? What do you possibly want me to say that I haven’t made clear before?”
“I’m sorry, okay?”
“Good for you. Now leave me alone.”
“I shouldn’t have left.”
“No, you really shouldn’t have. But now you should. Go. Away.”
Dream stayed put. He was as much of a stubborn bastard and George himself was. And it showed. There was no ending this conversation until Dream deemed it over.
“I’m not leaving again.”
“Why the hell not?”
Dream sighed, leaning against the door behind him, his arms crossed over his chest again, his arms clutching tightly at his arms.
“Because I hurt you, and I want to apologize.”
“I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Why not.”
Because I laid myself bare in front you. I showed my emotions clear and open for you to handle with the care you usually have and all you did was crush it in your palms and leave me shattered. You left me to wither away under your silence. And I’m tired of pretending that it’s okay,
George thought, but he didn’t say any of it. He stayed quiet instead, his arms hugging his chest.
“George, I… I was overwhelmed. And I needed time to think. I didn’t think it would hurt you this much. It was selfish of me, but I am here now… and I lo-”
“Don’t,” George spat out, glaring at him under his hair. “Do not say it.”
“But George, it’s true.”
“No. No fuck that. Fuck you.”
Dream pushed off the door, taking careful, slow steps towards George. He reached out to take one of George’s arms from around himself into his own hand. His hand slid down his arm to his wrist, until he got to take his hand. George let him, his eyes glued on their hands instead of Dream’s face.
“I needed time to think. It was so much new information to process. And I messed up. I know that,” Dream hummed softly, tracing his thumb over George’s knuckles.
“And you can be mad at me for however long you want. But George, I love you, too. My… That… Your confession was so much, I felt like I was drowning in it. I didn’t think radically.”
George took a shaky breath, his hand slowly closing around Dream’s hand. “Why did you ignore me for a week?”
“Because I got scared the more I understood what it all meant.”
George looked up: “What does it mean?”
Dream’s face was graced by a small smile, and he lifted their conjoined hands up and kissed George’s fingers. “It means everything. You mean everything.”
George’s breath hitched, biting his lip hard. But Dream used his other hand to cup his cheek. He ran his finger over his bottom lip, to pull it from between George’s teeth. “I got scared. But I’m here now, okay? And I’m not running away again.”
George swallowed, focusing on the thumb on his lip.
“Can you…”
Dream smiled patiently at him, regret and guilt evident on his face, and George was readily forgiving him. “Kiss me.”
And Dream did just that. He leaned down and replaced his thumb with his mouth in a lingering kiss. There was no movement for a while, and Dream leaned away, to smile at George, but George had other ideas. He got onto his tiptoes to kiss him again, mapping out Dream’s mouth with his lips and tongue, exploring everything he was given.
Dream gave everything willingly, letting George take what he wanted, because he was able to take equally much in return.
George pulled away first, only for a little bit. “Don’t leave me like that again..”
Dream nodded softly. “I will try not to...”
George nodded slowly and leaned his head against his chest.
And if Sapnap woke up, finding the two of them tangled in George’s bed, holding onto one another like they would disappear if they let go, well then that’s between the three of them.