Work Text:
Punz was excited for tonight, Foolish had finally gotten back from a job that took him away for a couple of days and they were going out for dinner. It just so happened that Sapnap had also texted him that week wanting to catch up. So to kill two birds with one stone, Punz set up a double date.
Sapnap agreed, they arranged a date and Punz booked a reservation at their favourite restaurant. The place wasn’t too fancy, a perfect place to meet up with friends as well as going on a date.
However, when Punz told Foolish about the date, he didn’t think he would panic as much as he did.
“You never told me it was a double date .” Foolish ran a hand through his hair.
“I told you we were meeting up with Sapnap. It’s the same thing.” Punz didn’t understand the other’s stress. He told him they were meeting up with his friends, it just so happened to turn into going out for dinner.
“It’s so different!” Foolish squeaked out as he had started pacing slightly. It was slightly unsettling for Punz to see Foolish this nervous. Normally he was the nervous wreck being calmed down by a calm and collected Foolish.
“How is it different? If you don’t want to do dinner just say that. I’ll go myself, we have reservations so someone will have to show up.” The idea that Foolish didn’t want to have dinner with him hurt. But he had learned to not jump to conclusions and attempt communication first, so he pushed the thoughts to the back of his head.
“I’m meeting your friends for the first time and meeting them in a public setting is kinda scaring me.” Foolish admits, stopping his pacing in favour of biting his nails.
Punz grabbed his hands, interlocking their fingers before he could do too much damage to his nails. “I’m sorry I never discussed it with you, but it’s just Sapnap and Dream, you’ll be fine.”
“But that’s the issue. It’s just Sapnap to you, but for me that’s your best friend whose opinion matters, who I have to make a good first impression with.”
“Bullshit, Sapnap won’t care. As long as you’re nice to me, he’ll accept you. The first time I met Dream as Sapnap’s boyfriend, he dropped a whole cup of juice on me and accidentally insulted me at least twice.” Punz gave a reassuring smile and squeezed his hands. “You have nothing to be nervous about, they will love you.”
Foolish just smiled at Punz, giving a light kiss to his forehead then lips and excused himself to get ready for the night.
It wasn’t long until they pulled into the carpark and made their way into the restaurant. Punz grabbed Foolish’s hand as they followed the waitress to a table near the back of the restaurant, effectively stopping him from picking at his nails again. Punz knew nothing would fully calm Foolish’s nerves until he met his friends and knew himself he was worrying for nothing.
Sitting at the table, Foolish distracted himself by reading the menu while Punz pulled out his phone, groaning when he saw a text from Sapnap.
“Those idiots are running late and won’t be here for another ten minutes and they have the audacity to say to wait for them to order. I’m hungry, I want my food now.” Punz whined, pouting a little at his boyfriend.
Foolish just laughed at him, grabbing the hand that isn’t holding his phone. “Be patient, Punzo, they’ll be here soon enough. Plus it gives us more time to look at the menu.”
Punz knew that Foolish was just glad he had more time before the inevitable interrogation Sapnap would start so he let him have his minutes of peace. He sighed as he relaxed back in his seat. Putting his phone down on the table he pulled their entwined hands into his lap wrapping his other hand around them.
“I feel like I haven’t seen them in ages, I’m just excited.”
“Didn’t you see them literally last week?”
“Yeah, that’s why I said ‘feel’. It’s only been like eight days since I’ve seen Sapnap but we normally talk more, they’ve all been really busy trying to get their album done as soon as possible. Their shitty manager still has something against me so I’m not allowed in the studio like I used to be.” Punz huffed out as a pout formed on his face.
Foolish squeezed the hand he was holding. “You’ll see them soon enough.”
It wasn’t long before another set of voices were heard, loud whispers arguing over the oven being left on. That explains why they were late.
Punz perked up at the instantly recognisable voice of his best friend. He could feel Foolish tense up next to him. He felt bad about his boyfriend's nerves, but he’d have to meet his friends at some point, he couldn’t just hide him every time they came round. Plus when Punz first mentioned Foolish to Sapnap, he didn’t actually believe him. It was bad timing that whenever Sapnap was free to hang out, Foolish was away working, but after a few months he could see how it was kind of suspicious.
Watching the other two stop their bickering and approach the table, sitting across from Punz and Foolish. Sapnap across from Punz and Dream from Foolish. They exchanged greetings as they got comfortable in their seats.
“Sap, Dream, this is Foolish,” gesturing to his boyfriend, “and Foosh, that’s Sap and Dream.” Punz introduced the group to break the ice.
Sapnap immediately leaned across the table eyeing Foolish. “So you’re the bodyguard.” It was more of a statement than a question but Foolish still stumbled out an answer.
“Uh, yeah. I-I am.” Gripping Punz’s hand tighter but giving the other two a polite smile.
Dream saw the menacing look on Sapnap’s face and decided to jump in before they made Foolish any more comfortable. It wasn’t hard to see the absolute deathgrip he had on Punz’s hand. Dream had been in the same position as Foolish the first time he met Punz, it was terrifying meeting someone’s best friend especially with the bond Sapnap and Punz have. He would even go as far as saying meeting his parents was easier than meeting Punz.
“How did you get into that profession?” Dream knew he did the right thing as Foolish visibly relaxed as he started to talk about his early career and failed college attempt. He never really liked talking about dropping out, but it was a part of his growth as a person so he’ll talk about it.
Punz loved hearing Foolish talk about his past, he rarely did, so when it happened he was happy to sit back and listen. When the waitress came back over to take their order, he was almost ready to give up ordering just to let Foolish keep talking. But his rumbling stomach screamed for food and this place had the best pasta.
After ordering, the conversation went smoothly. Sapnap had decided to lay off Foolish for now and focused more on answering Foolish’s questions about the band.
“It’s such a pain, man. We need to get this album out and then we’re done.” Sapnap mumbled out, aggressively picking at a napkin, tearing out small sections and leaving a mess on the table. Dream winced at the sight of the little pieces of paper scattered across the table knowing it will be a hassle to clean up.
“What are you planning on doing after the contract runs out?” Foolish asked, he wasn’t as clued in about the details of their nightmare management.
“They can fuck off, we find a new deal and I can make out with Dreamie in public. Simple.” Sapnap smiled at the thought of finally getting to publicly show his love for his boyfriend. His plan had successfully worked in getting the media off their backs and stopped the dumb fake dating plan, but they were still under orders to keep their relationship a secret.
Dream scoffed at Sapnap’s words, looking offended at the idea. “We will not be doing that in public, I still have some decency.”
Sapnap just pouted and fell into Dream. “You guys hear that, he hates me. My own boyfriend hates me.” He whined leaning against Dream’s shoulder.
Dream just rolled his eyes as Foolish giggled at the two and Punz muttered an “Oh my God.”
Wrapping his arm around Sapnap, Dream quickly changed the conversation. “So Foolish, you mentioned playing football earlier, do you still play?”
“Not anymore, I just watch it now. Mainly NFL and college.”
Dream’s face lit up at the reply. “We need to watch the season together!” Dream said excitedly, leaning forward to get closer, accidentally jolting Sapnap off of his shoulder. “I have to force Sapnap to watch it with me, but now you guys can come over and we can watch it together.”
Punz sent a glare to Foolish. “What have you just got me into?”
Foolish would feel sorry if he wasn’t desperate for someone to watch football with. “Yeah, sounds good! Punz refuses to watch it with me, it’s not the same watching it by yourself.”
Punz was about to object when Sapnap grabbed his arm from over the table. “Wait, this can work in our favour.” he whispered out despite the other two still being able to hear him. “They can watch their football and we can sneak into the other room and drink and eat their snacks.”
Oh, that didn’t sound too bad.
Punz turned back towards Foolish. “You guys can be football friends, it’ll be nice to have someone who understands what you’re talking about now.”
Foolish giggled in return, but Punz knew he was glad to have somebody. Punz was polite enough to listen to his football rants and tried to offer some comments back, but it was clear that he had no idea what he was talking about.
Soon the food and drink arrived at the table and the conversations slowed to allow them to eat. As Punz expected, the pasta was the best he’s ever eaten and it was quickly shovelled into his mouth.
After the meal the pairs made their way back to the carpark together. Foolish and Dream were walking ahead talking animatedly about their favourite football teams. Punz and Sapnap were only a couple paces behind them.
Sapnap walked a bit closer to Punz, bumping their shoulders together. “I’m really happy you found someone. Foolish is really nice, it’s good to see you comfortable around someone. When you were on tour, I got real worried about you, bro. I’m glad it worked out for you.”
“Yeah… It wasn’t a good time, Foolish really helped though. I really appreciate him for that.” Punz hated thinking about that tour, meeting Foolish was really the only positive thing that came from it.
“Then I appreciate him too.” Sapnap smiled goofily, making Punz laugh, forgetting all the bad memories instantly.
“Y’know Foolish actually thought we were dating for a bit.”
That made Sapnap stop where he was, sending a look of disbelief in Punz’s direction.
“He what?” Sapnap exclaimed way too loudly. Punz was quick to shush him.
“With the photos that were taken in the hotel, he thought we were dating. To be fair, I don’t blame him. You did use those pictures later to pretend we were dating.”
“Hey! That wasn’t my doing, blame the gossip sites, not me.”
“Seriously though, I hope you and dream get to declare your love for each other to the world or whatever you want to do soon.” Punz pulled Sapnap closer with an arm around his shoulder.
“Yeah, we need to do it soon before a drunk Quackity goes live on Instagram again and gets a bit too honest while answering questions. George had to grab his phone off of him the last time. It was funny at least, but I’d kill him if he announced it before I did.”
“I’m sure you’ll get your moment.”
“I will, just one more song to record for the album then I’m free to post all the photos of us, even the risqué ones.” Sapnap smirked while staring straight ahead at Dream.
“Please, don’t do that.”
“Okay, fine, I’ll just send you them separately.”
Punz made a face and pushed Sapnap away by his shoulder. “Why do you do this to me?” Disgust coated his voice as he shook away the idea of whatever those photos could contain.
“Because you have fun reactions, duh.” Sapnap giggled at Punz’s distaste.
Catching up to Dream and Foolish who had stopped when they reached Punz’s car. Sapnap quickly attached himself to Dream’s side and wished the two goodnight before they made their way to their own car. Sapnap’s hand easily slipped into Dream’s back pocket.
As soon as they entered the car Punz turned to Foolish, “I told you they’d like you.”
“It was still scary.”
“Just wait till you have to meet my parents. They are a lot more judgemental.”
“Don’t tell me that!” Foolish groaned and fell forward, resting his head onto the dashboard.
“You’ll be fine.” Punz giggled and started the car. Reaching over with his free hand to grab Foolish’s. “Everyone loves you for a reason.”
“I only love you though.” Foolish replied, making Punz giggle more.
“I only love you, too.” Flashing him a grin before concentrating back on the road.With a soft smile, Foolish relaxed back into his seat. Enjoying the melodical sound of Punz’s laughter. Yeah, he definitely only loved him.