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Gentle kisses planted down Dream's torso gently as the blonde man laughed at the feeling, his hands threading through his brunette partner's hair.
"George." He chuckled quietly, smiling softly as the other responded with a gentle hum, not leaving his work. "George, we need to talk about this."
The shorter popped his head back up and gave the other a look of confusion, shifting back up Dream's body to hover above him. "About what?"
Dream sighed. "This." He gestured his hand across the space between them. "Us."
George lowered himself down on top of the taller man, kissing him softly. He gently split them apart a few seconds keeping their face's close with a slight pout. "Do we have to?" He whispered, dilated pupils flicking across the other's face. "Can't we just talk about this when we get home? Everything's kinda... chaotic right now."
He gently cupped the other's face with one hand and kissed him once more. "Can't we just be us for now?" He murmured against the mans lips.
"You promise we'll talk about it when we get home?" Dream asked hesitantly, desperately trying to push away the swarm of butterflies invading his stomach at his friends gentleness.
"I promise," George smiled fondly. "Now can you stop asking me questions when we're about to have sex?" Dream laughed and pushed his head away fondly.
"Deal."
~~~
The car rolled into their impossibly long driveway on the way home from the airport, the two men in the passenger and back seats singing happily to 'Road Trip' as their driver (namely, Dream) groaned at the third rendition of the piece.
"Peace, finally." He sighed, relived, as they re-entered their home, the quiet air only broken with annoyed complaints from Patches as she pressed them on where they'd been. George smiled at him before releasing a bark of laughter as Sapnap sprinted to his room to call Karl.
"Do you need help with the bags?" The brunette offered, not noticing the way Dream's shoulders tensed at the offer of extended time together.
"Nope, it's fine," He squeaked nervously, ushering the other in the direction Sapnap had gone, towards the bedrooms. "I can handle it. Why don't you check on your room?"
The shorter looked at him quizzically. "I'm sure nothings changed since we left."
"Better to check than having it not how you'd want though, right?" The blonde pushed, busying himself with tugging the bags through the open doorway.
"Dream?" George asked curiously, tilting his head to one side gently. "Is everything alright dude?"
The man in question turned around to meet George's eyes and downturned mouth. Fuck, he never intended to make him unhappy. "Everything's fine." He promised, reaching forward gently to reassure the other before withdrawing his hand once realising what he was doing and going back to the suitcases.
"Dream, really." George poked, placing his hand on the blondes shoulder, gently dragging his thumb across the fabric of his shirt. Dream hated to admit how much he'd relaxed into the touch. "I'm your best friend, you can tell me anything."
And he'd shifted away, picking up another bag and hauling it down the corridor, leaving a confused George standing with Patches winding around his ankles. He didn't dare look back, not wanting to see the same disappointment on the others face that had been laced across it previously.
Because George was right, they were best friends. And that was all the brunette would ever want. As much as he'd tried to convince himself that they'd promised to talk and that surely meant something, he was increasingly unsure whether more was something George genuinely wanted, and that it had all just been the San Diego air.
Footsteps pattering behind him signalled the man in question catching up to him, and a brief glance back showed that he carried his own bags behind him. However, he instead strayed off into his own room instead of following Dream, and so he turned around to continue walking.
Dumping his bags in a corner of his room, knowing it would be days before he unpacked them, he flopped onto his bed, pulling out his phone and scrolling twitter he pushed the thoughts of George just across the hall to the back of his mind.
He flicked onto his fanart account, beginning to scroll through and liking amounts of Twitchcon fanart amounted over the past few days until his door squeaked. Snapping his head up to see who it was, his breath caught in his throat as George smiled at him, slipping into the room quietly.
"Sapnap's on call with Karl and my room, as expected, has not changed." He reported, sliding into bed beside the blonde, grinning as if there was nothing they needed to talk about. "So I figured I'd come here."
Looking up at his friend and spotting the hesitation, his expression slipped. "Or, I could go?" He offered cautiously. "If you're not comfortable with this."
Dreams heart dropped and he grabbed the other's arm as he began to shift away. "No!" He rushed, clearing his throat and repeating himself once the brunette had joined him once again. "No. It's fine, don't worry."
"If you're worried about Sapnap, I'm pretty sure he thinks we're fucking anyway." George shrugged nonchalantly.
Dream flustered at his comment. "George!"
His friend looked up at him with an innocent smile. "What? It's true. He came and confronted me the first night we 'shared a bed' while they were at Punz's room, y'know, the day after you kissed me."
Sometimes Dream wondered how George thought he could ever forget such a thing.
"But I told him we were just friends who cuddled sometimes. Gotta kiss the homies right?"
Dream smiled awkwardly and settled into bed, turning off the lamp beside him as George did the same, plunging the room into darkness. "Yeah." He agreed.
He should be awarded a medal for not having a voice crack while saying a singular word.
George, happy with this response, pressed closer to him, arms wrapping around his middle and head tucked against his chest. He reciprocated the touch giving in guiltily to the warm feeling it provided.
This would be the death of him.
---
For the next week, things remained mostly the same.
During the day, they'd all collect in the living room, ate breakfast while making fun of each other (mostly Sapnap and George) and then streamed or worked on content unless they had prior plans, and just learnt how to co-exist.
However, at night, they'd part, going into their own rooms and getting ready for bed, mostly in solidarity, until George knocked on Dream's door, let himself in, and climbed into bed with him.
Sometimes they talked, sometimes they just existed while they scrolled through social media on their phone's, and others they spoke through discord on others streams.
In Dreams opinion, it was peaceful. Calm.
It felt like everything he'd expected for when George finally came to Florida and more.
But they still hadn't talked.
And as much as Dream enjoyed the peace, he knew it wouldn't last.
Sapnap was catching on, and his heart was beginning to hurt knowing everything they did and yet there was nothing more that was going to come after it.
He didn't like those late night thoughts, the ones that threatened their routine, their peace, but drifted off to sleep regardless, George still in his arms, lead still in his heart.
---
It was two weeks after they returned when Sapnap confronted him.
Early morning, George still asleep, breakfast being made, and Sapnap finally asked.
"What's going on between you and George?"
Dream whipped around at the sudden noise, spotting his friend, wrapped in a blanket, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. "Excuse me?"
"C'mon Dream, surely you don't think I'm that blind." Sapnap responded with a scoff. "You've been attached at the hip since Twitchcon. You sure nothing's happening?"
Dream turned back to his slowly burning crepes. "Nothing's happened. We're just friends."
"I didn't say you weren't." The ravenette pointed out, moving to sit on a bar stool at the kitchen island.
"But you don't believe it." Dream snapped back, annoyed at the way British pancakes cooked.
"No, I don't," Sapnap admitted. "But that's because I know you, and I know you like him. So, chances are, you're hanging out more because something happened."
"I don't like him." Short, sweet and a complete and utter lie.
The man behind him scoffed. "Sure. Why are you making Crêpes, exactly?"
"Because."
"Yes,
because
, George likes them."
Dream hated when Sapnap was right.
"So, give up hiding, what happened."
Sizzling of more batter drizzling into the pan filled the silence that stretched on afterwards.
"We're just friends."
Sapnap sighed. "So something happened, but you're friends. Is that it?" Dream shook his head. "Dude."
"Fine!" His friend exploded. "Fine, something... something happened. But he said we'd talk, and we haven't, so we're friends Sapnap, and it's staying that way."
Silence.
"Feel better now?" Sapnap's voice was fonder after asking.
"Yes." The blonde grumbled, turning back to his breakfast making attempts, plunging them into peaceful quiet again.
"Are you going to tell me what happened orrr?"
Dream rolled his eyes at his best friends persistence. "It started at Twitchcon."
"Wait, so you were fucking!" Sapnap cried accusingly, causing flushed cheeks on his friend.
"Sapnap!" Dream hissed, blazing red.
" Hey, you didn't tell me you have some friends-with-benefits thing going on with our best friend at Twitchcon, I'm yelling all I want." The younger grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning back as if considering this new information.
"We aren't friends with benefits!" Sapnap ignored this protest, stroking his chin wisely, still thinking.
"If you're friends with benefits," He began thoughtfully, ignoring the sound of disapproval from the other. "What's the problem?"
"I told him we needed to talk, he said we would when we got back, and we haven't."
Sapnap's eye's furrowed. "What would you need to talk about?"
"Sapnap."
"What? You're fucking -"
"We're not fucking. We haven't done anything since San Diego."
Sapnap considers this for a moment. "So you've fucked before, you like him, he likes you, what could you possibly need to talk about?"
"But that's my point, he doesn't like me, so we need to talk about me liking him, and how he wants to go about it." Dream responded calmly, serving food onto each respecting persons plate and placing them on the island, ready to eat.
"Says who?" The raven-haired asked, shovelling pieces pancake into his mouth.
"Says me, says my brain."
"Well, your brains dumb." Was retorted through a mouthful of breakfast. "Did it even think to ask whether or not it was right?"
Dream considers this. "No, but-"
"Exactly, so take the advice from my brain, which is clearly smarter than yours, and just talk to him." Sapnap reasoned, stabbing his fork into his crepes.
"What if it goes badly?" His friend fretted, pushing the food on his plate around gently as he stressed. "I don't want to assume he wants what I do and then get it wrong and fuck everything up."
"So what, be miserable until he mans up and comes to you?"
"Sounds 'bout right." Dream responded with a shrug.
"You're going to wait, until George, King of Being Bad at Feelings, comes and starts to have a serious conversation with you. That's your plan?" Sapnap pressed, staring at his friend with confusion.
"Sounded better in my head." The blonde mumbled disheartenedly.
"Just," Sapnap sighed as he heard footsteps pattering down the stairs. "Talk to him. You don't need to be miserable."
"Who's miserable?" George questioned, padding into the kitchen adorned with an oversized hoodie that was clearly Dream's, earning a roll of eyes from Sapnap, who set his plate up beside the sink. He pointed at Dream as he walked out of the room, mouthing 'talk'.
George furrowed his eyes at the action, peering over at Dream who was sat admiring him fondly. "What was that about?" He inquired, snapping the other out of his trance.
"Nothing, something about Karl. I made pancakes, want some?" The blonde brushed off the question, holding out a warm plate.
And the way George's face lit up at the sight of the food made up for the copious amount he'd burnt that were now hiding in the bin.
---
"We need to talk."
Dream turned from his desk where he was editing and stared in disbelief at the brunette standing in his office doorway. "What?" He fumbled, removing his headphones to better pay attention.
"We need to talk." George repeated, letting himself in and sitting on the bed stationed in the room. He patted the space next to him when Dream continued to stare.
He followed the request, stationing himself a little away from his best friend, still mostly frozen from the unexpected push to talk.
"What did you want to talk about?" He asked when he finally regained control of his body. George looked at him for a second, as if assessing the correct response to the question.
"Avocados." He decided upon, settling his hands in his lap, fidgeting as if he was nervous about something, and it too everything within the blonde to not reach out and take them into his own to calm him down.
"I didn't think you liked avocados," Dream pointed out with furrowed eyebrows. "In fact, you've said before you hated it."
"Well I don't anymore, and now I want it all the time." The shorter responded, crossing his arms.
"O-kayy," Dream considered. "That's doable. I'm sorry I didn't know, I could've made it for you sooner. When did you start liking them?"
"Oh, ages ago," He responded, nodding his head as if agreeing to his own words. "Like, a year? Before I got here. But when I did get here, I started liking them more and more."
His words had become increasingly more confusing and cryptic. "Coming to Florida made you like avocados more?"
His friend nodded.
"They're just, cool, and really pretty and stuff," George was blushing. Why was he blushing? "And they're funny, and nice and caring and yeah, I really like avocados."
Dream was so confused. None of those were adjectives for a fruit. Something dawned on him.
"George, are you, using avocados as a metaphor for a person." He asked, adoring the way the flush on his friends face deepened at the question.
"No." The brunette squeaked shyly, fidgeting with his own hands again.
"You were!" Dream gasped in delight, giving into the urge to take George's hands in his own, intertwining their fingers together. "Who is it?"
Somehow his friends blush deepened as he opened his mouth to admit who it was. "You know how we said we'd talk when we got back?"
Dream processed this new information. "Me?" He asked shyly, a small smile forming on his face. "'Avocados' is me?"
"Shut up." George responded, the insulting not packing a punch considering the adoration lacing his words and smile slowly forming on his face.
"Awww, George!" Dream grinned, shifting closer to the other and pushing his forehead against the other's. "I think you're really pretty and cool and stuff too."
"You're an idiot." He got told, the endearment causing both their smiles to widen.
"An idiot you like." The blonde boasted happily.
"Love." He mumbled, lowering his head.
"What?"
"An idiot I love." George admitted hesitantly, glancing back to assess the damage of his confession.
"You're adorable." Dream told him, detaching their hands and moving George's face back to look at his, bumping their noses together gently with a smile.
The brunette intertwined their fingers once again tentativly. "Does this mean you like me too?"
"I love you more than you will ever know." He whispered, fond confession whispered into the air between them for only them to treasure.
Gently, George pushed his head forwards and connected their lips, Dream softly kissing him back.
"Oh gross, you're dating now." Sapnap stated, covering his eyes and screwing his face up in disgust and glaring at them.
"Sapnap!" George screeched, grabbing a pillow and pulling away from the blonde to his his friend over the head with it, fighting against his defences.
Dream watched them with a laugh, warmth flooding him as he watched his two favourite humans try to destroy each other with pillows.
This was home.