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The clock hands strike closer to when they're supposed to get here. Dream lays across the carpeted floors in an attempt to sooth himself. The whole way to the airport, sapnap had been on call with him, describing his every move, from pulling into the car park to a minute by minute update on the ETA of the plane.
They wanted to greet George by letting sapnap pick him up instead, for the sake of surprise and privacy.
The minute hand crosses the 12.
He decides to just sit tight and wait, sap would have called him if they met.
The sound of crunching gravel appears in the drive way. A quick move from the couch leads him to the window, where he sees that it's just his neighbors coming back from their vacation.
The next half an hour crawls by with its two hands until it reaches 12.40. At this point, dream is walking around the living room, staring at his phone in hopes of getting some kind of news, either from sapnap or twitter.
The gravel crunches outside again followed by a knock. In one movement, he throws open the door and hugs the figure in front of him tightly.
"I thought you were supposed to hug me first" george says from the grass, luging his bags along with him.
"Nah, he just likes me more" as soon as sap says that, dream faux pushes him away, rolling in eyes in laughter.
Sap takes the bags and brings them inside, and to George's room while dream pulls George into a tight hug. Their arms collide in weird places, not used to hugging each other, but quickly settle from awkward to warmth. They sway from side to side like children in excitement.
"welcome home" the taller says, placing a small, quick kiss on the others forehead.
A blue-green spills over the table, bleeding into the surrounding darkness of the room. The only lights apart from that being the monitor itself. The headphones lay uncomfortably on his neck, sticking to the sweat.
He leans back in his chair, the newest video burned into his retinas. It's half past 4 in the morning according to his computer and he just can't get it done, the image of what he wants stuck like gum in his head.until the soft pitter pattering of footsteps become apparent.
"What are you doing" a familiar voice says. This time without being converted into electrical signels by a microphone.
"I- just had an idea bouncing around in my head. I'll sleep as soon as I'm finished" he stretches his hands behind him and pulls George's arms around his neck.
The older sigh at his reluctance.
"just, don't stay up for too long" he places a featherlite kiss on the crown of his head. "okay? "
He blinks and realises how tired he feels. The other's footsteps slowly recede back to the door.
"I will"
"HI CHAT! " messages start flowing onto the stream. George and sap stand in the middle making silly gestures while waiting for everyone to appear. Karl and quackity start howling randomly before George calms them down.
He starts to introduce the task at hand , making some scones and Yorkshire pudding to challenge sapnap and introduce it to the other. He glances off towards the side, where dream stands cross-armed, keeping an eye on chat.
An hour into the stream, they are preparing the scones, starting a mini competition on who can make the best looking one. Karl and quackity start cheering for their friends, encouraging them to put sour patch kids or fish onto their masterpieces.
As the duo move around in the kitchen, they create a big mess, knocking pans and equipment around. With every fallen whisk, dream winces a bit.
Eventually, George turns to get a bowl from a shelf behind him. Instead he knocks into other pans which topple like a house of cards. George feigns a cry towards the camera while the others laugh at the act.
Dream sighs before stepping behind George. The edge of the frame cutting off right below his chin.
He picks up the bowl the older was aiming for and puts it on the counter.
"you didn't have to-"
He holds george by the shoulders and presses a quick kiss at the shorters hairline before walking off screen.
The chat switches to emote mode.
"Aww man, why don't I get one" sapnap loudly complains. Karl and quackity in turn loudly proclaims their love to him, giggling at George's reaction to the sacharrine compliments.
The stream goes on without a hitch, apart from the many hitches. By the end, sapnap has walked off screen to eat his food in silence, and a testament to how good it tastes. According to him.
Karl and quackity had already left the call to start their own streams. George look off camera at the monitor, eating his creation while slumped over the counter. He, and periodically dream, reads a few subs out before waving to the camera.
"BYE and don't forget that the next time I'll be streaming. It'll probably be the irl manhunt"
"if we find a good place" dream interjects.
"if we find a good place" he echos before sending the chat to quackity's.
The rain clears soon enough and George is called out from his room. For the past few months, whenever dream seems to be editing a new video, he usually calls George to get feedback. However today, dream wasn't in his room, but by the garage.
He gets dragged out by dream, who eagerly wants to find the perfect spot for their stream. They had been scouting for spots, which dwindled down to three places they could visit.
The car ride was nothing special. They put on some music and talked most of the time, switching between stream ideas and random thoughts.
The first place was a park out east. It had been neglected for a while, growing dense with foliage and dirt. There were quite a lot of hiding spaces but it seemed a bit too dangerous if there were three people running at full speed around the area.
The second place was more urban, a building left half completed, missing certain doors and all of its paint and decor. After a quick check, they deemed it as a back up.
The third place was overgrown also, however it was near a small pond like area. The grass slightly damp from the recent thunderstorm. The trees stand tall like soldiers, guarding the lake creating a mesmerizing reflection.
"This... would be perfect. Apart from the slippery floor."
"yeah, spacious too. Guess it's settled" George starts to walk back towards the car. Continuing their previous conversation on the road, unaware the other isn't listening.
Dream continues staring at the scenery in silence.
"hopefully it doesn't rain that day"
----
It's jinxed, the weather report predicts that it would be heavy showers throughout afternoon. Dream had spent a majority of his past week checking in on the selected area, ensuring there was enough wifi coverage and signel.
Sapnap suggests its better to do it soon, claiming that they shouldnt wait for the perfect moment, if it ever comes.
The back up location is perfect, apart from a bit of lag. They had a blast running around with each of them taking turns to be the seeker. They hired some people to control the cameras, which were set up on their body cams and certain corridors in the building.
Multiple jokes and clips materialise from the stream, it being one of the most fun ones they had and dreams slight eye/forehead reveal. (he didn't want to run around with a full on helmet)
After the stream. They all crashed at home, resorting to a relaxing time by the hottub.
"I totally caught you"
"YOU DIDNT, George back me up here"
"Nah. He did"
"shut up. You weren't even there"
"I was actually seeing right through the walls. Trust me"
Dream rolls his eyes and takes another sip until small droplets start to make their presence known. Soon enough another downpour starts. Sapnap quickly gets up, carrying his pizza with him and hides inside, attributing it to how tired he is and definitely not him having a weak immune system.
The brunette tugs on dream's arm.
"Don't you want to go inside? It's getting pretty heavy. " George asks, his legs still submerged in the warmth. Dream looks at him for a bit, and shakes his head.
His hand flutters down to the ground, on top of dream's. They sit there for a bit more time. Looking at the moonlight bouncing off the surrounding.
"maybe I should sit out here more often" George reasons, his eyes stuck on the sparse bit of stars in the sky "It's hard to sleep without your voice through the phone"
Dream doesn't respond. He's not sure if he heard him or is simply to enthralled by the scarce stars.
"You can always come to my room. It's the perfect temperature, there's patches and"
"and? "
"you won't feel alone"
George listens to this proposition and hums with approval.
The rain eventually subsides, instead leaving his his entire body chilly except for his hand on top of dream's.
"I'm glad you're here" dream voices out, his voice surprisingly uneven. "I don't think I've ever said it. Well. Around you anyway"
George nods with a slight chuckle.
"Im glad I'm here too."
They sit around for an hour more, neither of them talking or even attempting to move from their position until sap comes back to the entrance of the yard, holding George's phone up. His sleep riddled eyes barely open.
George hesitates to get up. His hand still on dreams in a lazy grasp.
"That's probably your parents" the younger reasons. George quickly excuses himself, giving a quick headkiss before leaving.
By the time he comes back, he realises dream - now out of the tub and on the grass- had taken the opportunity to call someone. Probably his mother or sister, based on how much he smiles while talking to them.
George decides to leave, he's sleepy anyway. Dream catches him just about to, and waves before remembering something and continuing to talk on the phone.
"Get up george! We gotta go"
George protests in mumbling sentences and rolls over where he realizes the curtains are pulled back fully, but the room was still shrouded in darkness. He wakes up and scans the room, realising the blond isn't at his desk, like always.
"I need to show you something" dream says. He's by the door frame looking into the room, fiddling with a watch on his hand that he has never seen before.
---
George thought they were going to some club, or a secretive high end restaurant by how dream seemed to be dressed. However, they seemed to be taking a route hes seen before.
The car slows to a halt on the overgrown grass. The surrounding slathered in darkness, which reminds George that he has no clue what time it is. Dream had gotten out to "check something", leaving the older in pure confusion.
His phone flashed the weather, which said it would be clear skies with a cool breeze, the first in a week. Right below, the time stated 4.00 am.
Soon enough, dream opens the car door, the sleeves of his white shirt dusted with a bit of dirt.
"did we hit something?" George asks. Dream shakes his head before telling him that he could get out of the car now.
In front of him, in the sparse moonlight filtering through the soldier-like trees, a picnic mat is set up. In the middle, a basket and some lanterns.
George is rooted in place. The last hours. No. Days, slowly coming into focus. Dream either realises or reads his mind that he is slightly shocked and takes his hand, leading them to the mat.
"I brought along some food" dream whispers while George is still mesmerised by the view. The lake had an almost shimmering effect under the moonlight.
"why'd you bring me here?"
...
"I wanted you to see the view."
"This is what you wanted to show me? We've been here before" George chuckles half-heartedly. He picks up one of the items from the basket.
"of course not that Georgie, I thought ya know, you said it would be nice to sit out as see the stars. So I decided we could have a picnic"
"you made this? Impossible" the older says, holding a half-eaten sandwich. Dream simply nods and smiles snarkly.
"..."
"okay to be honest, my mom made these"
George, taken by surprise, starts laughing.
"but I swear I helped" dream chuckles along lightly.
Soon after, when their basket is void of food, they sit in silence watching the last glimpse of the stars dissapear into the gradual sunrise. The sky a perfect candy coloured hue.
They lay on the thin mat. Dream's white sleeves, which had been dirtied by grass stains and dirt, wrapped around George. Both groggy with sleep weighing down on their eyelids.
The sun starts to come up slowly. The sky turning a into a plethora of hues, serving as a background to the lake and it's soldiers.
Dream gives a slight squeeze and kisses his forehead. George just burrows deeper into his grasp, a smile forming to the thought of this perfect night.
"love you too"