Chapter Text
Dream groaned as he stood up and stretched after shutting down his pc following the hurricane stream. Next to him, George scoffed.
“What are you, an old man?” he teased.
“No, that’s you,” Dream quipped. George raised an eyebrow.
“I don't know, I’m not the one sounding like I’m dying when I stand up,” he replied.
“Maybe because you haven’t stood up yet,” Dream said, staring down at the still-seated George.
“What can I say, it’s comfy here,” George smirked.
“Yeah, because you insisted in sitting in my chair,” Dream laughed.
“Hey, if you’re going to drag me to a stream this late at night then I deserve the nice chair,” George retorted.
“It is not that late! Besides, you’d just be laying on the couch scrolling through Tik Tok anyway, you might as well help me out,” Dream said.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, idiot,” George mumbled. Dream smiled. He could tell George was getting bored of their bickering and decided to humor him.
“How about we make something for dinner? We need to use up as much of the stuff in the fridge as we can before the power goes out,” Dream offered. George wrinkled his nose.
“Ew, I don't want to cook,” he snarked, knowing full well Dream had every intention of doing the cooking himself.
“Good thing I’ll be doing the cooking then,” Dream replied, making his way out of his office and knowing George would follow. George did follow, grumbling the whole way to the kitchen.
“What do we even have to eat in the fridge? We always order food but nobody’s delivering because of the hurricane! I couldn't even get lunch today," he complained.
“Yes, George, people aren’t going to deliver in the middle of a hurricane,” Dream laughed. “We have some eggs that won’t keep if the power goes out, and some veggies Sapnap bought for smoothies and never used. I figured I would use those and make some fried rice. I’m sure we have rice around here somewhere…” he continued, trailing off as he began contemplating the possible whereabouts of the rice. George hummed, seeming uninterested but not complaining. Dream smiled to himself as he began rooting through the cabinets for the enigmatic rice and George sat at the counter to watch his struggle. He knew George was excited- though neither of them would ever acknowledge that- by his lack of complaint at Dream’s suggestion.
After many minutes of searching, Dream emerged from a cupboard, triumphant, holding a bag of rice. He gathered all the ingredients he would need from the fridge and began preparing the food as George intermittently watched and scrolled on his phone. Dream prepared the rice to the best of his memory and began chopping up the veggies when George, sitting at the counter behind him, snorted out a laugh.
“What?” Dream asked, wondering what George found so funny.
“Twitter figured out it was me moving your avatar around and are making funny memes. Look, this one is you flying through the hurricane!” George was holding out his phone with an amused look on his face when Dream turned away from the vegetables to look. It was a picture of Dream’s bright green avatar in the little gray weatherman suit flying through black-and-white video footage of the hurricane with the caption it’s a little windy, a quote Dream had said during the livestream. Dream chuckled.
“I’m glad they’re finding it funny,” Dream said, returning to cutting up the veggies.
“They were really worried about us, you know,” he continued, chopping an onion in half. George hummed noncommittally. Dream snorted at the lackluster response.
“What? They were. It was very nice of them George, our fans care about us,” he teased the brunette.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” George said, pretending to be annoyed. “Is that food done yet?”
“No George, the food I started ten minutes ago is not done yet,” Dream laughed.
“Well hurry up, I’m hungry,”
“Says the one who didn't want to cook earlier,”
“To be fair, I’m not cooking. You are,” George said smugly.
“Like usual,” Dream said lightly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” George gasped in mock offense.
“We all know you don’t do much cooking around here, George,” Dream replied, dumping the veggies into a pan.
“Why would I when I have you to cook for me?” George said, making Dream laugh again. Dream would cook for George every day for the rest of his life if it meant he got this easy banter with his best friend.
“What am I, your personal chef?” Dream asked, turning around to face his roommate as the food began cooking.
“Yep! Now chop chop, Chef Dream, I’m hungry,” George demanded, putting on the air of a snooty royal and waving his hand in Dream’s direction. Dream stumbled into a clumsy bow.
“But of course, your majesty, I will be sure to inform the vegetables you want them to cook faster,” he teased.
“Good, they should cook faster,”
It wasn’t too long before the food was done and the two were sitting side by side enjoying their meal as the wind and rain battered against the house. The meal was filled with little quips and funny banter between the two so they barely noticed the worsening weather. After they finished, Dream told George to go charge his phone while he could before the power went out while he did the dishes. George hopped back down the stairs just as Dream was putting the last of the dishes away.
“Why don’t we watch something on TV while we still can? Hurricanes can be boring,” Dream said while drying off his hands.
“Sure,” George shrugged, but made his way to the couch and flopped down in the middle, picking up the remote and scrolling through the various options.
“Move your feet over, I need to sit down,” Dream swatted at where George’s feet splayed over an entire third of the couch.
“No, sit somewhere else,” George responded stubbornly. Dream just rolled his eyes and moved George’s feet aside, sitting down and then pulling his feet back onto his lap. Dream was used to George’s antics after two years of living with him.
“You find what you want to watch?” Dream asked. George nodded, clicking onto the first Harry Potter movie in the series. The two settled in to watch the movie and did their best to ignore the hurricane raging just outside their doors.
Dream was faring much better on the ‘ignoring the hurricane’ front, being used to them after living in Florida his whole life. George, on the other hand, kept twitching nervously, clearly trying not to show how distracted he was and failing. Dream didn’t notice at first, absorbed in the movie despite seeing it at least a dozen times. But when George didn’t laugh at one of his favorite scenes, Dream turned to look at his friend and noticed his restlessness, eyes constantly straying from the TV and towards the windows, where the wind violently lashed the rain against the glass panes. After a few minutes of watching George fidget, Dream sighed and turned to face him.
“George, it’s going to be fine. I made sure everything was all set, and we won’t be hit by the worst of it. I wouldn't have kept us here if it wasn’t safe, okay? We can go to the theater or something if the windows are making you nervous,” Dream said softly, rubbing a thumb over George’s ankle.
“I’m fine. It’s just pretty windy,” George said, but scooted a little closer to Dream towards the middle of the couch.
As the hours wore on and the weather continued to worsen, Dream realized why George had chosen movies he’d seen dozens of times. He didn’t have to focus too hard on them, and they likely brought him a sense of familiar comfort in the unfamiliar situation. When a tree crashed loudly outside and George flinched violently, Dream wrapped an arm around him and pulled him into his side. It said a lot that George didn’t pull away and instead snuggled into Dream’s side. Dream looked down at his friend now nestled next to him and his eyes softened as he stared at him. He was a little worried about George, this was his first time experiencing a hurricane and was clearly not having fun with the experience, despite trying to hide his reactions. Dream just wanted to wrap George in his arms and shelter him from the hurricane and all the fear that came with it, but he wasn’t going to push past the already-closer-than-usual contact he was being allowed.
They were almost halfway through the third movie when the power went out. George stiffened where he sat pressed against Dream, his breath halting as darkness descended over the house.
“It’s alright, we knew this would happen,” Dream soothed, running his hand up and down George’s arm to remind him he was right there. Dream pulled out his phone and turned on his flashlight.
“Let’s go get the lanterns,” Dream said, moving to get up. George clutched onto his arm.
“Dream, I left my phone upstairs,” George said in a small voice.
“Okay, we can go get it,” Dream stood up and held out a hand to George. To his surprise, George took it with no hesitation. The two made their way upstairs by the light of Dream’s phone flashlight. George retrieved his phone and they went back downstairs to the stash of battery-operated lanterns, setting up a few around the kitchen and living room. Dream tweeted the update about the power going out, knowing the fans would want to be kept updated on what was happening.
George was sitting nervously on the couch nearby in the unnatural light of the lamps. He was clearly trying to suppress flinching every time a new gust of wind assaulted their home as he scrolled on his phone.
“You doing alright?” Dream asked, concerned. George chuckled weakly.
“I thought this would be really cool, and it was for a while, but now it’s just making me really nervous, especially since the power is out,”
Dream nodded in understanding.
“It’s pretty spooky, I get it. We can head into the basement if it makes you feel better to not see it,” Dream offered. George shook his head.
“The idea of not knowing what’s going on makes me more nervous than at least being able to tell what’s happening,” he explained.
“Okay,” Dream took a seat next to George.
“I’m going to book us a hotel before they fill up completely, it’s going to take a while for the power to come back on and we can’t stay here while it’s out,” Dream explained, tapping something into the search bar on his phone.
“What about the cats?” George asked. The three small felines had been hiding since the first traces of the hurricane appeared.
“We’ll come back and check on them, they’ll be alright without us in the house for a few days. I’m going to book us just one room with two queens, okay? I want to leave as many rooms for other people as possible,” Dream explained to George.
“Okay,” George shuffled a little bit closer to Dream as another tree fell outside in a particularly large gust of wind.
It didn’t take Dream long to book the room, though he wished he could do more to make George feel comfortable. Staying at a hotel was far from enjoyable and only marginally better than staying in the house with the power out. He had a feeling that being away from the familiar surroundings of the house wouldn't really help with George’s unease in the aftermath of the hurricane. They couldn’t stay at the house with the power out, though, so Dream was going to do his best to make George feel as comfortable as possible even in the impersonal hotel room he had just booked. Until they got to the hotel, though, Dream was going to still do his best to assuage George’s fears in the present storm. He contemplated for a while what would make George feel comfortable at that moment. He came to the conclusion that the joke he made on stream about George sleeping through the hurricane might actually hold some merit. George couldn't be scared if he was asleep, right? He turned to his fidgeting roommate.
“It’s getting pretty late, we should get some sleep so we can pack up in the morning when the storm has calmed down and head to the hotel for some breakfast,” Dream told him. George nodded.
“Alright, sounds good to me,” he said, standing up and slowly making his way towards the stairs.
“Hey, take one of the lamps with you so you can see,” Dream gestured to one near George. George picked up the lamp, then lingered for a moment, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, clearly reluctant to go upstairs alone. His tight smile didn’t fool Dream. The storm was clearly affecting him, even if he wouldn’t admit it. After a bit more anxious fidgeting, he seemed to make his mind up and headed up the stairs.
“Goodnight George,” Dream called after him.
“Goodnight,” George called back down. Dream picked up a lamp of his own and headed to his room to attempt to get the best sleep he could with the loud wind just outside the windows.
Dream flicked off the lamp and lay back in bed, allowing the darkness to blanket over him. Lightning flashed through his window, lighting up his bedroom for a brief second. The loud boom of thunder and the wind buffeting against the siding made him hope George had fallen asleep quickly and wasn’t awake worrying about the hurricane. He had half a mind to go check on him and see how he was doing, but he didn’t want to seem overbearing or make George feel like Dream didn’t think he could take care of himself. Dream was sure George would text him or come get him if he needed something. After some time Dream finally drifted off to sleep with troubled thoughts of George’s wellbeing filling his mind.