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George Davidson was the seventeenth person to step foot on Mars.
The Ares III crew had determined which order they would be stepping on the planet long before they ever took off, just like the crews of Ares I and Ares II had done before them. And, just like the previous two crews, they got their numbers tattooed on their forearms together, as a team bonding activity. So George has a little 17 near his left wrist that he looks at, sometimes, and thinks about how far he’s come since he got it.
Even though he was the fifth member of the crew to step out of the MAV and have his feet hit the ground of that little red planet, he was the second to actually get the tattoo. Technoblade had been the first, of course, barely even wincing while the rest of the crew cheered him on. Then Sapnap and Puffy had started bickering over which of them were bravest, and George had shoved between them and sat down in the chair.
It hadn’t hurt all that much, but he told the others it hurt more than anything in the world. Niki, who already had a tattoo, just laughed at him, while Sapnap and Puffy both looked terrified. Dream had just smiled, because he could always tell when George was lying, even back then. He’d gone next, George teasingly offering to hold his hand and being completely surprised when Dream accepted.
Now he’s standing in his living room, both arms wrapped around Dream’s neck, and he can see that little 17 on his wrist out of the corner of his tear-filled eyes. Dream sniffles a bit, and then they both laugh and George reaches up to peck him on the lips again.
“So-” Dream starts, and George shakes his head.
“Talk later,” he says. “Kiss me now.”
Dream laughs at how demanding George is, but still obliges. George pulls himself impossibly closer, because he’s so, so in love it practically hurts.
He’s felt like this before, too many times. Feeling like his heart is going to burst out of his chest with how in love with Dream he is. Even in the MAV, as they were leaving Hermes and getting ready to touch down on Mars, looking at the beautiful planet below them growing closer and closer- the whole crew was looking at the sky, and George was looking at Dream.
Cliche, he knows. He couldn’t help it then, and he can’t help it now. He can’t keep himself from staring into Dream’s eyes and thinking that everything is going to be okay. For the first time since he was first trapped on Mars, George really feels alive, and it’s all because of Dream. If there was ever any doubt about him dying out in space, there isn’t any more, because everything around him is bright even in the dark living room and he feels like what Dream says he is- a miracle.
“You called me a miracle,” he whispers against Dream’s lips. He can feel Dream’s smile grow as he pulls back, then rests their foreheads together.
“Because you are one,” Dream replies. “We’ve been over this.”
“But you’ve never called me a miracle before,” George points out. “You just tell me that it’s incredible I survived.”
“Miraculous,” Dream agrees. “And every time I said that I really meant I love you.”
George breaks into a beam, unable to stop himself, lets the tears that have been building up fall.
“I love you, too,” he says. “In case you didn’t know.”
“I know,” Dream laughs. “You made it pretty clear, I think. It’s too bad I had to wait this long to find out.”
“You would have found out sooner,” George says, remembering suddenly. “On Hermes. I confessed to you in one of the earlier logs, and I ran in and shut the computer before you guys could see it.”
“I remember that!” Dream laughs. “We were- we talked about it, after that, wondering what you actually said. We assumed you had gotten yourself hurt, or something, and didn’t want us to know about it.”
“Oh, you’d know about it,” George says. “I want to make it very clear exactly what I’ve been through to you guys, make sure you know how strong I am-”
“Sure, tough guy,” Dream laughs. They’ve pulled away from each other now, but George’s left hand is locked in Dream’s right. They’re wandering toward the stairs, not quite going up yet, because if they go upstairs they’ll have to sleep and George wants to stay up and stare into Dream’s eyes forever.
“No,” George says, going back to the topic at hand. “I confessed for the first time. That’s what happened. I didn’t want to- I don’t know. I don’t even know what I was thinking back then. Probably that I didn’t want to fuck up our friendship.”
“I almost kissed you so many times,” Dream confesses. “I was afraid of the same thing. That things would change, or that you wouldn’t-”
“We’re both idiots,” George says, and Dream laughs. “We’re both huge idiots, we could have been dating this whole time-”
“Yeah, if the Commander hadn’t killed us for dating during the mission-”
“Right,” George agrees, and then he laughs. Dream smiles gently at him and squeezes his hand, then leads him up the stairs.
A long time ago, they shared a bed for the first time. It was in a hotel while they were doing press, and for some reason, the NASA team working with them had only booked four bedrooms. Niki and Puffy decided to share, leaving the other four staring at each other awkwardly. George had sighed and taken Dream’s hand, dragged him into the hotel room and created a pillow barricade between them.
They had woken up with the pillows on the floor, wrapped in each other’s arms. Neither of them had talked about it, and George doubts they ever will.
But now, with the roles reversed, Dream leading George gently into the room they’ve shared for a long time now- maybe they will talk about it. Maybe they’ll talk about it all.
George was the seventeenth person to step foot on Mars. He has the tattoo on his wrist to prove it, the tattoo that he looks at as he snuggles against Dream’s chest. There’s a 16 on Dream’s wrist that settles next to his.
That night, he dreams of sun-colored hearts and stepping foot on red planets one after the other, and when he wakes up, he still feels alive.