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"you guys are so stupid," george says with a laugh, looking down at karl with an amused headshake. "how are you even going to get out?"
karl shrugs, he and sapnap lost in laughter as they stare up at george from the ridiculous hole they've dug, "chandler can pull us out."
"no way," the brunette refuses from where he is sitting at the top of the hole, snow saw in hand. "we made that ledge so you could climb back out."
"that's gonna collapse if we try and step..."
george cuts off the rest of their conversation, looking back over his shoulder with furrowed brows at what sounds like the distant sound of quiet cries.
he's met with the ridiculous snow mound that his friends have built by piling up all the snow from the hole they decided to dig out in the inside of their tent. then, past that, he focuses his gaze on dream's tent, squinting at the red material to see a shadow moving about on the inside.
as he focuses, the muffled crying becomes easy to listen to, and he's quick to straighten up in worry.
"george, come down!" karl's voice pulls him back in the moment, causing him to look back at the brunette.
"uhm, i will in a bit," he says, not sure if he's telling the truth. "i'm just gonna go check up on the sick idiot," he says, standing up and feeling the cold air hit his face once more after being blocked by the tent walls.
the cold feels almost hot on his skin, which is completely paradoxical, but somehow so so true. it honestly feels like burning, stinging the surface and tinting it red- which, coincidentally, is a colour used to portray heat...
"alright! don't be long babycakes," karl calls back jokily as george turns away from the tent, he and sapnap bursting out into fresh laughter whilst the brit just fondly shakes his head at the couple. he isn't sure how chandler deals with them.
he treks his way through the snow towards dream's tent, his boots making it hard to move quickly since they're so darn heavy. though, as he gets closer and the crying gets louder, he finds the motivation to move increasing swiftly, till he is speed walking through his own discomfort to get there as soon as possible.
he drops to his knees outside dream's tent, his knees cushioned by the ridiculous amount of snow, and makes quick work of unzipping the door.
he realises now, when he's so close to the sound, that it isn't exactly crying -more just a mix of whines and sniffles- but it's as close as.
"dream?" he speaks cautiously, hearing the sounds immediately cut out.
a fleeting moment passes before george gets the response of a sad sounding, "mhm?"
"are you okay?" he asks, stupidly, since the answer is obviously no. he crawls his way into the tent, closing the zip behind him to block out the cold wind. he still can't see dream, vision obstructed by the second layer.
"not really," dream sniffles back sadly.
george nods apologetically as he begins to undo his boots before realising dream can't see him and verbally replying, "alright, one minute!"
the only response he gets is another sad hum, and it's enough incentive to make him undress quicker. he removes all of his outer layers that are covered in snow, leaving them in the little opening to prevent making the sleeping area wet before turning around and unzipping the second door.
as it folds down, it reveals dream. or, well, it reveals the mound that george assumes is dream.
"what's up?" he says, climbing into the warmer area of the tent (warmer, hardly, because it's still so cold that he feels a little bit like death) and zipping the door up behind him again.
"am sick," dream replies. the blond sits up slightly, only his eyes and nose visible over the blanket edge as he peers over at george.
his nose is red from the cold, cute if it wasn't for the fact it was clearly upsetting him, and his eyes are bloodshot from near-crying, glassy in a way that george easily recognises.
"you're sick little guy?" he asks, more to check that the blond is regressed than to repeat that he's sick.
as expected, dream nods sadly.
"awe, i'm sorry," he pouts sympathetically, crawling over to his friend to kneel by his makeshift-bedside. "what feels icky, hun?"
pet names always feel thick on george's tongue, unnatural because he has never been one to use them, but he forces them out just to see the way that dream's expression lights up every time without fail.
"'m nose and head and throat," the blond replies, rolling over properly so george could see his whole face and the tip of his shoulders. "everything, ac'shully."
"well that isn't fun," george tries to sympathise, reaching out to stroke back some of his friend's messy hair in the hope that the minor comfort will help. he forgets that his hands aren't warm just because his gloves are off, and quickly has to retract it when dream recoils from the cold. he squeezes his hands between his own thighs then, hoping he could heat them up a bit before touching the blond again. "is there anything i can do to help?"
instead of answering, dream says, "i coughed up red," and reaches his hand just slightly out from under his blanket to point at a tissue by his bedside which did, in fact, have blood on it.
george's eyebrows furrow, now worried beyond thinking dream is exaggerating his cold because he's small, and he makes a very important mental note to talk to jimmy or one of the medical crew... or both.
he masks his concern for the sake of the little though, presuming that the blood might've been dream's trigger for slipping in the first place and not wanting to make it worse or scare him more.
"and you're still talking to me and not even complaining?" george says, exaggerating his pride, "wow, dreamie! you're so so brave," he compliments, smiling at the cute blond.
it makes dream smile, small and flustered, "t'ank you," he mumbles, shy.
a long moment passes where george stays quiet because he isn't sure what to say (usually sapnap was better with little dream, maybe he should go and get him? ) but then, dream speaks again.
"can we cuddle p'ease?" he asks hopefully, right as his tummy rumbles.
easily george replies, "of course we can." then, because he thinks it's the mature thing to do, he adds, "i'm going to go and get you some soup first though, to warm you up and fill your tummy." he reaches out with a still-cold hand, tapping the sleeping bag where he expects dream's belly to be.
dream nods a few times, evidently excited.
at the same time, george thinks it'd be smart to inform jimmy and sapnap of the situation- little dream will probably love all the attention.