Just as Sapnap was done with ordering food he heard Dream calling for him and he got a bit worried. After all, he had just gotten out of the hospital.
"Yeah?" He yelled back and went up the stairs and then to Dream's room. The door was open and Dream stood in front of his computer. He looked at Sapnap with an accusing look.
Oh god, he knows. Doesn't he?
"Something you meant to tell me?" He asked and Sapnap looked confusedly at him. He shaked his head, probably not that convincing. "Really? Then can you please be so nice and tell me why all my friends know? Huh?" Sapnap frowned and looked away.
Shit.
"Shit."
"Yeah 'shit'. Did you have to tell them?"
"I didn't mean to, it just kinda happened." Sapnap answered avoidingly, not being able to look him in the eyes. And it was true he hadn't meant to tell them about it, it just kinda slipped.
"You didn't mean too?" Dream asked, not sounding the slightest convinced. Sapnap nodded and looked at everything except for him. He then heard how Dream scoffed. "You probably told them about my panic attack too."
"Not all of them..." Dream looked at him, confused.
"What do you mean 'not all of them'?" It wasn't as if he had anything to lose now.
"Well...first i was in a call with Karl, Alex and George and you know, we kind of thought that they deserved to know so we-"
"We?"
"Yes, we. So we told them and they asked why and then I kinda told them. Not only Alex and Karl but also George. So then he started to ask why you had a panic attack but I didn't answer that." Dream sighed and put his head in his hands.
"Now he will never stop asking me why." He said into his hands and Sapnap could barely hear him.
"Then why don't you just tell him. You told me, why is it so different with him?" Sapnap finally looked at him and he looked up from his hands. He stared at Sapnap as if it was obvious. Then something clicked. "Wait-...George-" Dream interrupted him.
"I lied." Now Sapnap was really confused.
"What?"
"About the reason I have panic attacks, I lied." Sapnap watched as Dream sat down on his bed. "I only told you that so you would stop asking." Sapnap was, if possible, even more confused.
"Then what is it?"
"I think-no i know. Um…" Dream stopped and then laid down on his bed, looking at the ceiling. It almost looked as if he was fighting an internal battle "I like him." Sapnap stared at him with his mouth open.
"Oh my fucking god." He exclaimed. All this shit was starting to give him a headache.
Are they fucking serious?
"How long?"
"I don't know. A while I guess. But I realised it on that Jackbox stream."
So Sapnap was right. Or half right. Dream wasn't the one who fell in love first, but he still did. Idiots, is what they are, both of them. Sapnap only sighed and went to hug him.
"You should tell him." He whispered against Dream's neck.
"What? Are you crazy? I don't wanna ruin our friendship!" He yelled and Sapnap pushed him away so that he wouldn't scream in his ear.
"You really think that's going to happen?" Sapnap asked while looking into Dream's eyes.
"What do you mean?" Dream looked confused.
"Just that, maybe it leads to something good. You don't know?"
"Exactly, I don't know. Wait, are you insinuating something?"
"I'm just saying that you shouldn't jump to conclusions. Maybe...he likes you back." Dream scoffed.
"Yeah, sure." He said sarcastically. If only you know how wrong you are. Sapnap knew that it would be easy to just tell them both and then it would be solved. But he also knew that it wasn't his place to tell, therefore he decided to not do it.
A little while later they sat on the couch watching some random movie with pizza in front of them. Sapnap looked over at Dream and it looked as if he was deeply interested in the movie as he looked at the TV, barely blinking. But Sapnap could tell that he wasn't actually watching. Almost as if he could sense his gaze, Dream turned to look at him.
"What?" He asked but Sapnap just shaked his head and turned back to the movie. "Wait, I just remembered, you weren't done explaining how you told the others." Sapnap was quiet for a bit, trying to come up with an easy way to tell him.
"Okay so after i had told Karl and Quackity i was in a call with-" Sapnap thought back to the people in the call. "-I guess it was basically the whole smp. I don't really remember, but at least ten people." Sapnap looked at Dream who gave him a look that said 'continue'. "Then someone asked how you were and stuff like that and all of a sudden everyone in the call was invested and-i don't know. It just slipped, I'm sorry. I really am." Dream nodded. "But I didn't tell them the reason."
"Only George, Karl and Alex?" Dream asked and he nodded. "Okay."
"Okay? That's your response?"
"What do you want me to say Nick? That everything is fine and we can move on? Well I can't say that because I can't move on. I have ruined everything!" His voice cracked.
"What do you mean?" Sapnap asked slowly and watched as Dream looked away.
"With George. I have ruined everything. He is my best friend and he doesn't deserve any of this."
"Don't say that, it's not your fault."
"How is it not my fault?"
"Because you can't control things like that, you know that."
"But still, why did this have to happen? Everything was perfectly fine before and now…" He was unable to finish the sentence and Sapnap saw tears on his cheek. He quickly made his way over to the other side of the couch and hugged him.
"It's okay, everything is going to be fine. I promise."
"How can you know that?" I don't.
"I just know." Sapnap said and Dream sighed. "By the way, can you explain something to me?"
"Uh, I guess I can give it a try. What is it?"
"Well, okay. At the hospital you said that it was because you were questioning your sexuality, but then you said that was a lie."
"Correct." Dream said, encouraging him to go on.
"Does that mean that you're not questioning your sexuality or what?" Dream nodded. "Then what..." Sapnap trailed off and Dream let out a chuckle.
"I'm ambiguous, same as before." Oh right. He already knew that. Out of nowhere a thought popped up in his head. Well, it wasn't really out of nowhere. He thought about it a lot.
"Can I tell you something? Like we're already in the feelings-mood so..." Dream laughed.
"And there we have it everyone: How to ruin the mood." Dream joked but quickly became serious again. "Tell me."
"I think I like Karl." Dream raised his eyebrows.
"Really?" He asked and Sapnap hummed. "How does he feel?"
"I don't know...I haven't told him."
"Why?"
"I don't wanna ruin our friendship." Dream scoffed.
"Why are you allowed to think like that and not me!" Sapnap started to laugh and Dream soon joined him. "God, we're hopeless." They ended up falling asleep on the couch while cuddling and paying almost no attention to the movie.
George didn't have anything to do. He knew that Dream would probably be home by now but he wasn't sure if he should call. The last time he talked to him was before the call when Sapnap revealed that it was a panic attack that had caused the crash. So it had been a while, at least compared to how often they used to talk. Now he was hesitant to call because maybe Dream needed to rest after coming home from the hospital.
Convenient enough Tommy messaged him asking if he wanted to join a call and talk. He accepted and before joining he checked who was in the call. It was Tommy, Wilbur, Phil and Tubbo.
"Hi, how are you?" Tommy immediately greeted him.
"Uh, been better. You know how it is."
"Yeah...I do." If anyone else catched Tommy's unusual tone, they didn't say anything about it. They just greeted him and they started to talk about some everyday things. For the most part it was things that had happened in England or just in general in their lives. But George noticed how everyone seemed to avoid the topic of Dream and the car crash everyone in the call knew of, Sapnap had made sure of that. Until Wilbur finally took courage and asked.
"So, how's Dream doing?" George stopped and shut his eyes. He had known that one of them was bound to ask the question but he hadn't prepared himself.
"Um...he's doing fine or at least he was doing fine the last time I spoke to him."
"That's good to hear." It went quiet as nobody had anything to say.
"By the way, what was that before?" Phil asked, breaking the silence.
"What do you mean?" Tubbo asked.
"Well before when George joined and said something like 'You know how it is' and then Tommy's answer. It was just a bit weird but I don't mean to snoop or anything."
"Oh, that." Tubbo said a bit suspiciously.
"It feels like we are missing something. Is it something with Dream?" Wilbur said and George silently damned himself. Why did he have to act so weird all the time? At this rate Dream would figure it out by just looking at him.
"Um...George?" Tommy hesitantly asked.
"Yes?"
"Are you going to tell them?" George considered the risk of letting even more people know of the secret. There was really only one and that was of course that the chance of it spreading to Dream was much bigger. But Phil and Wilbur didn't speak to Dream that often so maybe that wasn't as big of a risk as he thought.
Well, fuck it. I don't care anymore how many people know. As long as Dream doesn't, it's fine.
"I like him." There was a confused silence. "Like in a not platonic way." He clarified.
"Dream?" Phil asked and George hummed in confirmation. "Oh, that was not what i expected."
"Yeah, that was...wow." Wilbur said and George let out the breath he had held in. There was nothing he could do now.
"How come these two already know?" Phil asked, referring to Tommy and Tubbo. George then had to go in depth on explaining what had happened on the stream and then after. Both Tubbo and Tommy added details that George missed and after about ten minutes they had explained that whole night.
"Oh god, i knew about that whole thing that happened with Dream but i didn't know that there was so much more-" Wilbur was interrupted by the sound of someone joining. "Hello?"
"Hey!" Sapnaps voice greeted them and George smiled. He hadn't talked to Sapnap in a couple of days and missed him.
"Oh, hi Sapnap!" Tubbo said and the others followed his example.
"How's it going man? Haven't talked to you in ages." Wilbur asked.
"If you don't count that time I accidentally leaked some stuff." Sapnap let out a nervous laugh. Oh, yeah. Just 'some stuff'.
"Yeah, but we didn't really talk then." Wilbur agreed.
"I guess not. But i'm good, just been a lot of hectic days recently y'know." Sapnap said and George silently agreed. It really had been.
"Dream's doing good I hope?"
"Oh yeah he is. We had a serious talk and cuddled." Sapnap said casually and George let out an accidental sound. A sound that was definitely not a reaction to Sapnap and Dream cuddling...definitely not. Just a cough-sound, nothing more.
"Don't be jealous George, if you want to come here, book a plane ticket and come here. It's that simple." Sapnap said as if he had any idea of what the hell he was talking about.
"It's not that simple." He protested.
"Technically it is pretty simple." Tommy added to the conversation but it was not that helpful.
"Exactly! I bet Dream would even pay for everything if you asked him to." The last sentence seemed to be hinting at something and also seemed to be delivered with a winky face.
"What? Money has nothing to do with it. It's everything else that's hard..."
"Hard hehe."
"Seriously Sapnap? I swear to god, you have the humor of a fourteen year old."
"For all you know I could be fourteen, you don't know." After that the conversation swiftly moved on to easier topics such as potential vlogs where Sapnap, being the only one from America in the call, felt a bit left out. They also began talking about the Dream smp lore story-line where George now was the one feeling a bit left out. He didn't have the biggest role in it and couldn't really say he kept up with the other's story-lines. So he guessed he had himself to blame for that one. Anyway, they were all abruptly interrupted when somebody else joined the call. That somebody else turned out to be no one else but Dream.
"Hello." He greeted, sounding nervous. George wasn't sure how to feel but was quick to be the one who answered first.
"Hi." He was pretty sure that his smile could be heard, even if it was only by one word. The call filled with mixtures of 'Hey man' and 'Hello mate!' before it went silent. Usually when these sorts of calls occurred, it was never quiet. The talking often went on for hours after hours until somebody had to leave. Then it was a temporary pause to the talking but it quickly continued after they had left. But now it was one of these very rare silences that only happened when something quite big had taken place. Like when somebody had been cancelled or called out on something bad they had done or, in this case, Dream had been in a car accident and George had told them he was in love with Dream.
"By the way Wilbur, I saw your stream. Great job with the lore, you could feel the emotions."
"Thank you Dream! It was really fun to do and-"
"Wait, when did you have time to watch that stream? You haven't had your phone in days!" Sapnap rudely interrupts.
"I might have stolen it from you for a bit to have something to do." Dream says nonchalantly.
"What? Why?"
"I just told you why, to have something to do! Remember? You stole my phone? That reminds me, you haven't even given it back!"
"Fine, fine, I will give it back!" George heard shuffling and then a door open.
"Why did he take your phone?" Tubbo asked.
"'You're just going to Tweet something stupid if i let you have it.'" Dream said in the voice he used when he mocked someone. This time it was most likely Sapnap.
"Dude, you can't mock me when I'm right." George could barely hear Sapnap, but since Dream's user light up, he assumed Sapnap was in Dream's room now.
"I wouldn't Tweet something dumb!" Dream tried to convince them, but even he sounded unsure of that.
"Yes you would, I know you." Sapnap sounded closer to the mic now.
"I wouldn't!" Dream once again tried to convince them.
"Yes you would." George said, involving himself in the conversation.
"Wha- You're supposed to be on my side George!" Dream said and George frowned.
"Why?" He asked, genuinely wondering why he was 'supposed to be' on his side.
"Uh...because!"
"Because." George mocked in an American accent.
"Stop!"
"Stop." He mocked again.
"You're such an idiot." Dream mumbled and all of a sudden Sapnap bursted out laughing.
"George, George! He's blushing! He's actually blushing!" He shouted and everyone else started to laugh, except for Dream.
"I'm not! Sapnap!" Sapnap tried to respond but was laughing too hard to be able to get something out. "I literally hate all of you so much."
"Sure you do Dream." George said.
Dream stared angrily at Sapnap and looked as he shaked of laughing. His cheeks had gone even more pink when Sapnap had called him out on it.
"Stop laughing, it's not even that funny!" Sapnap just kept laughing. "If you're just gonna laugh then go back to your own room."
"But it's nicer here, your room is so much colder than mine."
"It wasn't a question." He snapped. Sapnap was taking the joke too far and it wasn't funny anymore. Sapnap looked up at him. Confusion crossed his face and he raised his eyebrows. Dream stubbornly looked away from him.
"Well, I have to go and be on Karl's stream." He said in a bad attempt to a lighthearted tone. "Bye everyone!" Everyone said their goodbyes and before Sapnap left, he placed a supportive hand on Dream's shoulder and gave a light squeeze. The conversation started in the call again but he was no longer listening. He was too focused on why it had been so funny to Sapnap. And why he had specifically told George how red he was and not the others.
He reached for his phone that laid on his desk charging and grabbed it. Conveniently enough, or actually not conveniently at all, he received a text from George right as he opened the phone. It read:
Can we talk?
Dream debated saying no but came to the conclusion that he had to talk to George evenly and it was best to get it out of the way. But he still tried to drag it out.
We are talking
George's response was immediate.
Private.
Now?
Stop stalling idiot
He did stop stalling and took a deep breath.
"I have to go...um see you guys later i guess." He said.
"Oh okay, it was good talking to you, man." Wilbur said, followed up by Tommy.
"Have a good day, big man."
"Thank you. Also before I go. Tommy, when did you plan on doing that lore stream?" He asked and it may or may not have been him stalling again.
"Oh, well tomorrow. But I can postpone it if you aren't feeling like it. I know you're on a break." Tommy said and Dream was happy with anything that made him have to drag out his conversation with George. Even if it was only by seconds.
"Yeah...can I come back to you with that one? I'm not sure."
"Of course, don't feel any pressure about it."
"Thank you Tommy."
"I'm also going to leave." George said and everybody said their goodbyes. After leaving the call he waited for George to call him and after a couple of seconds, he did.
"Hello." He answered.
"Hi." It went quiet, something that seemed to happen a lot recently. "Are you scared to talk to me or something? Why are you stalling so damn much?" That was a great question George.
"Just you yelling at me." He accidentally confessed.
"Why do you think I'm going to yell at you?" George questioned while almost yelling at him.
"You mean you aren't going to do that? Then what are you going to do?"
"I just wanna know if you are okay."
"I am." He said but it was only a half-truth.
"You're lying." George signed and his tone sounded as if he hadn't expected much more from him. Dream didn't say anything, therefore not denying or confirming it. "Why can't you just talk to me? You obviously told Sapnap so why can't you tell me? Don't you trust me?" He sounded heartbroken and that alone broke Dream's heart.
"I do!" He quickly assured him. "I just can't tell you. If you knew why you would understand why I can't tell you."
"But you can tell Sapnap?"
"George, listen. You are my best friend," And that's all he will ever be… "And you are the first person I would tell if something happened in almost every case. But this is the exception I can't tell you about and I'm sorry about that." George didn't say anything for a while.
"Is he the only one who knows?"
"Yes." He confidently said but then remembered. "If he hasn't told Karl yet, that is."
"Yeah, seems like he can't keep any secrets huh?" There was a brief moment of laughter at the jokes before it went serious again. "It's just, you could have died and I can't help but wonder why this is happening. I want to help you."
"I know. I...know." He then said something he would probably regret saying later. "You could come here, to Florida." George seemed a bit shocked.
"I..."
"It's okay if you don't want to." Dream quickly assured when George seemed hesitant, but he couldn't ignore how it hurt.
"It's not that I don't want to but I just...how do you mean? Like visiting or moving?" Dream thought for a second.
"It's up to you. You know you're always welcome here. Doesn't matter if it's visiting or moving here." It did actually kinda matter. If they just met up for a few weeks he could maybe hide his feelings. But if he actually moved in it would be really hard to do that. Not to speak about how hard it would be to get over his feelings if they lived under the same roof.
"I know we spoke about this before but...the plan was always to live together. Me, you and Sapnap. Right?" Yeah that was always the plan, at least until I fell in love with you.
"Yeah?"
"But what if you don't like me in real life? Or that we can't live together because we three don't match? If it goes horribly and-"
"George, stop. First of all, there is no way that I wouldn't like you. I know who you are and I like that person. That isn't going to change just because we meet in real life. Second, we can have a test period for a couple of weeks. Where you come here to visit and we can do a bunch of fun stuff and vlogs. Or just take a break from the internet for a couple of weeks to just get comfortable together. Then, if it goes well you can move here if you want."
"...Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure George."
"Can I think about it?"
"Yes, of course."
It only hit him after he left. He had invited George to Florida. Here to his house. There was no way this would go well. Inviting his best friend whom he was in love with was like voluntarily going into fire without any sort of protection. Except online he did have protection, he could at any moment mute or just leave and then deal with the consequences later. But if they were in the same house that was not possible.
There was also the possibility of George saying no. Which would hurt more than anything else would.
