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Quackity refuses to stay at George’s house, which is fine, it’s just a bit of a hassle. The night after the streams, and Quackity’s last night in the UK, Sapnap decides to stay the night with him in the hotel instead of at George’s for the night. Tina obviously has her own hotel.
The whole point of them being there is because George was lonely, but one night isn’t going to kill him. At any rate, it gives him an excuse to call Dream.
“Streams looked fun tonight :)” A text from Dream comes through do not disturb, buzzing in George’s lap. He reads it a few times and debates texting back, but decides just to call him instead.
Discord rings a few times before Dream answers. “Hello?”
“Hey,” George replies. He’s tired, more tired than he realized he was, and it’s suddenly hitting him.
“You sound tired.”
“I am.” George knows he’s being difficult. He knows he’s saying the bare minimum and killing the conversation.
“Are Nick, Q, and Tina gone?”
“Yeah.
“Are you okay?” Dream sounds sincere, he’s trying so hard to get through to George and his emotions.
"I'm great," George is being honest. When everyone is there, he feels awesome. His flat has never felt this alive and he's rarely felt this loved.
"You seem like it," Dream baits, aiming at what he knows will get George to snap. "You know, it's really nice that so many of your friends went to go see you."
George hums, clearly upset, but still won't say anything. He's tired in every way.
Dream gives up the theatrics. "I'm sorry I'm not there, George," he huffs.
"It's fine," George whispers.
"You know I love you, right?"
"Yes."
"And just because I'm not there, that doesn't mean I love you any less?"
"What's the point of this?"
"I'm sorry." Dream cries and hangs up.
George is left shocked and alone. The feeling of sitting alone in his dark apartment in an empty call is all too familiar.
He knows Dream is an emotional person, they're practically opposites in every way. He knows that Dream can overreact and blame himself for non-existent problems between the two of them.
It's happened before, and it's far from the last time it'll happen in the future. That doesn’t mean it’s any less frustrating every time it happens, just because it’s a thing that they do.
Dream just needs a nudge. An annoying poke with a stick to remind him that George is there, that he’ll always be there, and that he’s not getting rid of him that easily. It’s simple, really.
It’s just a simple nudge, poke with a stick, I'll always be there for you, you’re not getting rid of me that easily talk that Sapnap is a lot better at giving than George is, no matter how many times they’ve had to go over it.
It’s fine, because it’s a lack of communication that always gets them into this mess, from one side or both, and it’s never how they get out of it. George can bite the bullet and talk to Dream about both of their feelings, regardless of how messy or how much either of them cries.
They’re both home alone tonight anyway.
George rings him on Discord once. He doesn’t answer. The first call is never expected to be answered, even when they’re not fighting. They may be close and live their entire relationship through the internet, but the first call will never get picked up.
Neither does the second, third, fourth, or fifth. It’s in the middle of the sixth Discord call, after three phone calls and eight texts, that Dream finally picks up. George sighs.
“What do you want?” Dream pouts.
“You’re sorry for not being here?” George asks? “Make it up to me.”
“What? How?”
“Talk.”
“About what?”
“Why are you sorry?”
“Why am I sor- what?”
“Why are you apologizing for not being here? It was never the plan to meet up here, why are you sorry for not following a plan we didn’t have?”
“Not everything is about a plan, George.”
“Not everything is about being spontaneous. Stick to the plan as much as you can. I’d rather wait.”
“You don’t want to meet me?”
“Of course I want to meet you, I just want to do it how we planned.”
“Why not now? Why not the sooner the better?”
“Because now when we do it, it’s it’s own thing. If you come now, it’ll just be another meetup.”
“I wish I could be there with you.”
“I wish you could have been here for a long time.”
“I wish I’d met you sooner.”
“What’s the point in wishing that?”
“What’s the point in wishing anything else?” Dream asks. “If I’d have gotten to know you earlier, maybe we’d already be living together by now. Maybe we’d have been living together for a long time. Maybe we’d look back on this time in our lives and laugh.
“I can’t imagine ever looking back at this time and laughing at ourselves, it’s just gonna look sad. You’re meeting everyone because you were depressed and lonely, I’m too anxious to go outside, neither of us get anything done because we’re both just waiting all the time.
“How are we supposed to enjoy this time now when it’s all just miserable? Did we do this to ourselves?”
“We obviously didn’t do this to ourselves, Dream,” George assures, “Sure, you picked to be a faceless creator, but I guarantee if you walked down the street right now nobody is going to notice you. It just wouldn’t happen. I have friends in the UK, I just don’t message them, I don’t hang out with them as often because they’re not you.
“The things we’re struggling with now are still just as real as they would be with or without the added layers on top of them. Your anxiety about people recognizing you is irrational, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not real. You don’t have to invalidate your own emotions to confirm the fact that the things going on around you suck.”
Dream lets out a soft cry and sniffles. “Where’d you get so smart?”
“I’ve had a bit of practice.”
“You do actually know that I’d drop everything in a heartbeat and fly there right now if you wanted me there, right George?”
“Right now?”
“You’re an idiot,” Dream sniffles again.
“If you really couldn’t take not having me there, I’d get my passport as fast as one can possibly speedrun that process and be there on the next flight there.”
“And you’d be real.”
“And I’d be real,” Dream repeats. “But you’ll be just as real when your Visa is approved super soon and you’ll be on your way here in no time, okay? So I won’t even need my passport, because you’ll just be here by that time anyway.”
“I like your wishful thinking.”
“Thanks,” Dream replies, “I’m spewing sappy bullshit I don’t necessarily believe.”
“That makes it a lot better.”
“If your Visa gets denied, I’ll marry you for it.”
“How optimistic.”
“Does that count as a proposal?”
“If it does then we’ve been engaged for a long time.”
“Wow, that’s kind of crazy.”
“You’re an idiot.”