Chapter Text
"SHUT UP, SAPNAP!" Dream exclaimed into the call, laughing at his best friend after he mocked him for missing his jump for the tenth time.
The voices of his friends, Sapnap and George, echoed through Dream's headset as he whipped his Minecraft avatar around to whack Sapnap's. "OW!" Sapnap exclaimed in response which made Dream laugh and caused George to almost fall off his chair.
"I saw that George," Dream teased his friend who turned red. George flipped him off and the trio burst into peels of laughter. It was three in the morning for the Orlando resident, Dream, but as a gamer and streamer, he was used to having a messed up sleep schedule. Plus, George, who lived in London, would be awake. Sapnap, on the other hand, was always down to join a call with his two best friends.
"Alright guys, I'm going to dip. Goodnight!" Dream said as he waved his hand to the camera, stupidly remembering that his camera wasn't on.
His friends bade him farewell and punched his avatar a few times, something they'd always do when someone had to leave. He chuckled and exited the call, removing his headset and going on his phone.
He's known Sapnap since they were teenagers and George for about three years. With them, he'd formed the DreamSMP, a Minecraft server and group consisting of members who played Minecraft and streamed on the site, Twitch. They also posted on youtube and occasionally played other games.
While he'd gotten close to the other members, such as BadBoyHalo and Karl Jacobs, Dream still had a special connection with Sapnap and George. He felt safe around them.
Dream dropped onto his bed, scrolling through Twitter when a notification from Snapchat got his attention.
It was from George.
He opened the app to see the red icon under George's name, signifying that George had sent him a picture, and clicked it. He grinned when he saw the picture of Sapnap and George making funny faces at the camera. George had captioned it as "we miss you already".
Something about that caption made Dream's cheeks heat up, but he ignored it. Instead, he opened his Snapchat camera and clicked a picture of his bed, making sure his face wasn't visible.
He hadn't shown his face to the internet yet, and neither had George seen it. It was only Sapnap that had been able to see Dream's face. It wasn't as though he didn't trust George, but more of what he felt George would think if he saw Dream's face.
He captioned the picture as "will dream about you" with a laughing emoji at the end and hit 'send'. Instantly, George's Snapchat icon appeared on the screen and the snap Dream had sent was opened.
George sent back an eye-roll emoji through text in response. Dream chuckled, shaking his head slightly at his friend. The small smile was still plastered on his face from George's response till he turned the lights in his room off and went to bed, shutting out the world.
Dream usually didn't have issues sleeping but that night, he was awoken abruptly. His hands were clammy with sweat and his shirt was plastered to his back. He didn't even realise when the room got too stuffy. He sat up, running his hands through his dirty blonde hair and cringed when he realised how wet they were. He reached for his bedside lamp and flicked it on. On his bedside table rested his water bottle and a tiny box. He reached for both, fumbling with the box.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath.
The box contained a small packet of pills. He hadn't needed to take them in a long time so he was reluctant to take them then. Dream owed it to Sapnap for helping him overcome his anxiety in the past few years but he'd still kept the medication that his therapist insisted he takes when he felt overwhelmed.
He frowned at the thought of having to rely on some stupid pills to help him sleep but took them anyway. He chugged down mouthfuls of water after popping a pill in his mouth. He was about to head to sleep again when he noticed another notification on his phone. It was a text from George. Normally, he would have put off reading texts till the morning but for some reason, he couldn't do that to George.
He picked up his phone from the bed and clicked on the notification which led him straight to the I-message app. "Do you want to call tomorrow? Just you and me?" read the text.
The ends of his mouth arched upward, a slight grin on his face. He sent back a "sounds cool, let me know the time" and turned off his phone, before wrapping himself in his blankets.
He felt warm, a funny feeling that he hadn't felt in a long while.
Dream wasn't sure whether it was George's invitation to a call with him or the medication that helped him drift off to sleep. Whatever it was, his sleep was uninterrupted that time around.
The sun's warm rays trickling into Dream's bedroom the next morning awoke him. Squinting his eyes, he reached for his phone to check the time as well as notifications. It was ten, not too bad, he thought. His Instagram was flooded with people tagging him in posts and the same for twitter.
He scrolled through his social media, liking posts and tweets about him. He smiled when he came across a drawing of him and George that someone posted. His fandom was so talented, using descriptions of his face he'd put out on the internet to make realistic enough drawings of him.
"They're literally boyfriends," read the caption. He pursed his lips, knitting his eyebrows as he analyzed the caption.
His and George's fanbase liked shipping the duo and they would occasionally fuel the fans by saying they loved each other in videos and streams. It was meant to be a joke but for some reason, Dream always felt giddy with happiness when George said it back. He didn't understand why- George was his best friend and Dream wasn't into men, was he?
"Hey Dreamy-poo," George teased when Dream joined the discord call with him. He rolled his eyes, even though George couldn't see it.
"Shut up, Gogy," he responded, his cheeks somewhat heating up.
"I don't mind that. It's cute," George replied simply, turning his head away from the camera to set up his computer.
Dream wondered what it would be like if he turned on his camera suddenly. Would George like what he sees?
Dream frowned at the thought- why did it matter whether George liked what Dream looked like or not? He turned back to the screen, seeing George fumble with his set up cracked him up. It was adorable.
George's head snapped back in the direction of the camera, glaring at Dream. "Shut up, I'm setting it up. It's messy," he said. "Quit laughing at me, you idiot."
This made Dream laugh even more and George rolled his eyes again, diverting his attention to setting his PC up. "Do you need help?" Dream asked through his laughter.
"Yeah," George gave in, angling his camera down at his desk.
Dream let out a snort when he realised what the issue was. "You haven't plugged it in yet," he replied, wheezing as he watched George's eyes widen at his foolishness.
George went red and muttered a 'thanks' before starting his PC up. Seeing George like that, Dream couldn't help but smile. He found it so cute when George messed up like that.
He shook his head abruptly. Calling his guy best friend's actions cute was weird. It was comical if anything. Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that he felt more than platonically towards George.
He could blame it on his closeness with George. While he'd known Sapnap longer, he and George played games and streamed together more often than he and Sapnap did. Through this, he got a lot closer to George.
Not only was it weird that he found George cute, but also it felt wrong. Dream had a girlfriend who he'd been dating for nine months now. He was straight, for sure.
The duo spent hours going through coding and Minecraft championship practice. It was close to two p.m. when Dream said he needed a break. "My girlfriend's coming over in a few and I haven't even showered," Dream said, putting his phone down after receiving a text from his girlfriend, Ally.
He heard George chuckle on the other end. "Go and shower then, you stinky poo," George replied, his eyes fixed on the Minecraft game in front of him. "She'd dump you if you're stinky."
Dream laughed, shaking his head and pulling his shirt off. He made sure the camera was still off although part of him wondered what would happen if he turned on the camera as he was shirtless. How would George react?
Dream exhaled sharply as he realised how wrong it was for him to even think that way. George would probably be weirded out by his sudden stripping and besides, it didn't matter what George thought. He kept reminding himself that.
"See you soon, George," Dream said. "Go sleep, it's pretty late."
He saw George's lip arc upwards slightly as he rolled his eyes, which returned back to the game. "Bye Dream," he replied, emphasising the 'bye'.
Dream disconnected from the call, still grinning without realising. He walked into his bathroom, meeting his reflection in the mirror.
He caught himself smiling and stopped instantly. Was he always smiling subconsciously around George? His eyes went down the mirror to his body. His body was perfectly toned, his abs nothing short of perfect. His biceps were what his girlfriend called 'the pull factor' which he guessed meant were attractive.
He stepped into the shower, removing his sweatpants and dropping them on the floor next to his pile of laundry he had yet to clear. He grumbled, knowing Ally would definitely chide him for not cleaning his laundry.
The cool water against his body tensed his muscles. He ran his hands through his hair once again, letting the cold water reach his scalp in hopes that it might clear his mind of all the thoughts he had zooming in his brain.
He shut his eyes, easing into the serenity of the water cleansing his mind and body. George's face crept into sight again. He jolted back up, eyes wide open. Why was he unable to get George out of his mind?