Remedy for Memory

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/51982445.

Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandoms: Video Blogging RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound/Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay |
Dream/Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound
(Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound/Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Characters: Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF),
GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Darryl Noveschosch |
BadBoyHalo
Additional Tags: Amnesia, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love,
Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together,
First Kiss, First Time, Polyamory, Head Injury, Injury Recovery,
Temporary Amnesia, Non-Sexual Intimacy, False Memories, False
Pretenses, Lies, Mildly Dubious Consent, Additional Warnings In
Author's Note, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Bottom Clay | Dream (Video
Blogging RPF), Top Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Masturbation, Top
GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Praise Kink, Consent Issues,
Dating, Threesome - M/M/M, Bottom GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging
RPF), Top Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Blow Jobs, Panic
Attacks, Hurt No Comfort, Breaking Up & Making Up
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-12-02 Updated: 2024-05-14 Words: 57,670 Chapters:
10/?
 Remedy for Memory
by JanetBaby99

Summary

Sapnap’s heart clenches. “Yeah dude, we made it. You, me, and George.”
“We’re a family now,” Dream echoes with a content look on his face.
“We’re married actually,” George announces suddenly. “The three of us,” he spares a nervous
glance at Sapnap. “For a year.”
“Huh?!” “What?!”
___________________________

Dream hits his head so hard he gives himself a concussion. Sapnap and George race to his
side at the hospital, but when he wakes up, they find that Dream has amnesia. He does not
remember anything from the past three to four years: both the good and the bad.

With how awful Dream has been feeling lately, George sees this as an opportunity to give
Dream a break from the internet completely, and he ropes Sapnap into not telling Dream
about anything that has come out of his career on YouTube. He also slips in a little lie that the
three of them, Dream, Sapnap, and George, are all married, and have been for a year now.
… What could go wrong?

Notes

Thank you so much RxdMouth for beta reading this fic for me and to everyone who has
listened to me talk about this fic nonstop!!

See the end of the work for more notes

 Just Go with It

When Sapnap gets the call, his heart falls through his ass.

“George,” he yelps, jumping off of the couch. The lazy day the two had been having together
is a far thought in his racing mind, heart pounding with fear so strong it makes his hands
shake. “Come on, get up we gotta go.” He starts patting down his pocket for his keys, looking
around frantically.

“What? Why?”

“That– that call was the hospital,” Sapnap’s chest heaves. “Dream is hurt- he’s- Get up!” He
shouts angrily.

The guilt is immediate, sitting like a stone in the pit of his stomach. George doesn’t know
what’s going on, and he hasn’t had time to even react, but Sapnap feels like he’s fraying at
the edges, unraveling with worry for his best friend.

George’s eyes widen, and he scrambles to his feet, hurrying over to the door to slide his shoes
on.

“They got my number from his emergency contact,” Sapnap finds his key finally, lying on the
couch beside his phone. How did he miss that?

The room is spinning, everything around him moving in hyperdrive right now. How badly is
Dream hurt exactly? He couldn’t even call them himself?

The nurse-doctor- whoever didn’t explain, they just said that Dream is in the emergency room
and that’s so fucked- he had been out getting groceries, what could have possibly happened?
Dread washes over him as he pictures someone hurting him. What if he got mugged?
Attacked somehow? What if someone who hated him recognized him and-

“Sap,” George whispers.

Sapnap’s eyes shoot up at his best friend who’s staring at him with a worried look on his face.
“Come on, we won’t know what’s going on until we get there. Okay?”

He’s never heard George’s voice so level before, calm and wise, sounding like the oldest out
of the three of them for once in his life.

Sapnap nods, taking a deep breath. “You’re right. Yeah.”

“Come on,” George holds the door open for him.

Sapnap’s mind plays over the call over and over in his head.
“Why didn’t they tell us what happened?” Sapnap asks George as he slides into the driver’s
seat of his car. “What if he’s like dying or something?”

“They probably can’t tell us over the phone,” George suggests. Sapnap doesn’t give him
enough time to get his seatbelt on. Instead, he peels out of the driveway so fast he nearly hits
the gate that’s slowly pulling open for them to be able to exit. “If he was dying though, they
would have told us that. Right?”

“I don’t know,” Sapnap gulps. “Holy shit, what if someone like, kicked his ass and Bink and
Bonk weren’t there because ‘I don’t need them it’s just Walmart’. Like what if someone
assaulted him. AGAIN.”

“Take a breath,” George snaps at him suddenly.

Sapnap flinches and dares a glance over at George. He doesn’t look mad. If anything, he
looks just as lost and worried as Sapnap feels, but he’s more collected.

In the back of his mind, Sapnap thinks he should have guessed that George would be calm
during a crisis. He can’t explain it, but it makes sense. Loud goofy-ass George is the one to
look to when panic makes it hard to think.

“Focus on the road, we don’t need to end up in the hospital too,” George turns to look outside
the window. The palm trees they pass against the bright blue sky seem far too cheery-looking.
The sky should be dark. It should be raining. It shouldn’t be two o'clock on a Sunday
afternoon and Dream shouldn’t be hurt and they shouldn’t be racing to the hospital like this.

“What if it was a car wreck?” George asks suddenly, voice grave.

Sapnap’s grip on the wheel tightens.

“He drives fast when he’s alone,” George whispers unhelpfully.

Sapnap knows that. He and Dream are always gloating about who’s driven faster, trying to
break each other’s records every chance they get on every expanse of empty road they can
find.

What if he lost control? Or wrapped his car around a tree?

“I’m scared,” Sapnap admits.

“Me too,” George whispers back.

Sapnap reaches over without thinking, squeezing George’s knee. He doesn’t pull away,
leaning into the comforting touch.

Their relationship has always flirted between the lines of best friends and something more.
Their friendship is far from normal, too intimate and close but never enough to label it as
something more. Dream has been too busy for them lately anyway, even if their relationship
did start to skew towards being something more.
“He’s going to be okay, right?” Sapnap asks.

“Yeah,” George agrees. “He has to be. He’s Dream.”

There’s no conviction in his words. He doesn’t believe what he’s saying.

“Why couldn’t they tell us more?” Sapnap whines, pressing down on the gas.

George doesn’t answer, and Sapnap goes quiet. Music plays through the speakers but he
hardly hears a word of it, driving ten miles over the speed limit the entire way to the hospital.

Seeing the large building is an instant relief, though his anxiety grows as he circles the
emergency room parking lot like a hawk until he finds a spot.

As soon as the car is turned off, both he and George are jumping out of the car at lightning
speed, racing up to the front doors of the emergency ward.

Stepping inside is like stepping into another world. Everything is too clean, too clinical, harsh
fluorescent lighting making everything seem too dull and too bright at the same time.

There’s a line to the front desk, and Sapnap stomps his foot impatiently with a loud sigh. He
earns a few glares from the people in the waiting room, but how fucked is it that there’s a
waiting room at all? It’s an emergency room. Emphasis on emergency .

“Did they bring him in by ambulance?” George asks.

“They had to have,” Sapnap gulps. “They said he’s unconscious.”

“So he’s not like… sitting out here somewhere right?” George asks nervously, looking
around. “They didn’t like, dump him into a seat and hope for the best.”

“No,” Sapnap rolls his eyes. “Idiot.”

George nudges him, and Sapnap nudges him back as they move up the line. At least it goes
fairly quickly, and soon enough they are at the front desk.

“Hi, we got a call from the hospital um- our friend was brought in? He’s unconscious, I’m his
emergency contact.”

“What’s the name?” The nurse asks, looking down at the computer.

Sapnap gives Dream’s name to the receptionist, almost saying the word ‘Dream’ instead of
his actual name.

“He’s in room forty-one,” she smiles. “Do you need help finding it?”

George is already walking off down the hallway before Sapnap can answer.
Without thinking, Sapnap tears off after him, albeit a bit rudely to the receptionist, though she
doesn’t comment.

Room forty-one.

George turns left down the hall, and so does Sapnap.

Room forty-one.

Another left turn, and they’re standing outside the frosted glass doors of the urgent care
rooms, the number forty-one above the sliding doors. They’re shut, but the lights are on, and
George doesn’t wait a single second before throwing open the doors.

The harsh lights are somehow even brighter in here, a mechanical beeping sounding off with
every beat of Dream’s heart.

There’s a doctor in the room, tapping away at a computer who looks up at them in surprise.

“What happened?” Sapnap asks nervously, terrified to hear the answer. Dream doesn’t look
like he got attacked by someone or mugged like Sapnap had been worried about. He doesn’t
have black eyes and his nose isn’t broken like Sapnap had been picturing on the drive there.
He doesn’t even see any blood. There are no signs of a car crash, no broken limbs or cuts on
his face. Dream just looks like he’s sleeping, the only sign that anything is wrong is a plain
white bandage that stretches around his head and through his golden curls that messily spew
over the top.

“Who are you?” She asks. “I can’t give out information-”

“I’m his emergency contact, Sapnap-Nick. Nick Armstrong,” he supplies.

“Oh! I’m glad you came,” The woman smiles at him, extending her hand in greeting. She
says her name and shakes George’s hand too, but Sapnap hardly hears her, too focused on
Dream.

“He was found in the parking lot with the trunk open, the EMTs said he must have hit his
head pretty hard on the trunk and passed out.” The doctor explains. “We’ve done a CT to
look for internal damage, and we’re waiting on test results from a few other tests that focus
on brain function. From the looks of it though, it seems like he has a pretty nasty
concussion.”

“... Are you fucking kidding me,” George snorts.

“Sorry,” Sapnap apologizes on behalf of George. “He um… It’s just that he’s kind of famous
so we thought… maybe someone went after him. Or like, he drives too fast, maybe a
wreck… he just hit his head on the trunk?” Sapnap asks incredulously.

“What an idiot,” George hisses under his breath. The relief is audible in his tone.

“Well,” The doctor smiles at them both. “It had to have been a pretty hard hit to knock
himself out. He’s probably going to be in a good amount of pain when he wakes up, maybe
even disorientated. I’ll have nurses come by and check on him pretty often but for now it’s
just waiting on those test results and for him to wake up. In the meantime do you two need
anything? Water?”

“We’re fine,” Sapnap shakes his head. “He’s going to be okay?”

“I believe so,” The doctor nods, looking over at Dream. “But again, we’re waiting on those
tests, and for him to wake up. The brain can be pretty tricky, especially if it’s gone through
trauma. Do you have any more questions?”

Sapnap shakes his head, George stays quiet.

“Okay, well if you need anything, please do not be afraid to poke your head out. And if he
happens to wake up before one of our nurses comes by, come holler at us and we’ll be in
right away.”

“Thanks,” George mumbles, unable to tear his eyes away from Dream.

She nods and slips through the door, leaving the three alone.

“Fuck dude,” Sapnap walks over to Dream, poking his knee through the warm sheets draped
over his waist. “He’s out cold.”

“Are you poking him?” George asks, walking over to the other side of Dream. He pokes
Dream’s shoulder. “I don’t think we should be poking him.”

Sapnap smiles shakily and pokes him one last time. “Alright, we should leave him alone.
Fucking moron knocking himself out,” he shakes his head, plopping down in one of the
uncomfortable hospital chairs. There are two in the room luckily, side by side.

Sapnap watches George’s face fall, smile dropping when he rests his hand on Dream’s
shoulder for a moment.

“He’s going to be okay,” Sapnap reminds him gently.

George nods, and takes his hand away, walking over to come sit next to Sapnap.

The room falls silent, save for the beeping of Dream’s monitor as they each become wrapped
up in their own thoughts.

“... When he’s better, I’m making fun of him for this,” Sapnap snorts.

“Oh yeah,” George agrees with a humorless laugh.

The worry they both share is palpable, heavy and tense in the air around them. The constant
beep is almost comforting, Sapnap thinks as he watches Dream’s chest rise and fall. The
relief of knowing it wasn’t something worse like he had been imagining is dulled by the fact
that Dream isn’t awake right now. And would they wrap his head in a bandage if there wasn’t
blood? He must have hit it at the back, which makes sense, Sapnap supposes, imagining
Dream trying to stand to his full height and the trunk slamming into the back of his head.
How long did he lie there in the parking lot before someone found him?

Sapnap looks down quickly, unwilling to think about that one for too long.

“We look like slobs,” Sapnap comments, staring down at their pajamas. He’s in ratty
basketball shorts he’s pretty sure he wore to gym his freshman year of high school, and
George is in sweatpants and a stained white shirt, like he dropped spaghetti all over himself.

“... Okay, we weren’t exactly planning on going anywhere,” George huffs out a little laugh,
though his voice lacks amusement, still distraught over Dream.

Time passes, and still, Dream doesn’t move. George finds the remote to the static-y TV in the
corner of the room, flipping through the channels listlessly, making light jokes about
whatever appears on the grainy screen. After a while, he grows bored with it and begins to
scroll listlessly along with Sapnap, one mind-numbing TikTok and Tweet after another.

Another hour goes by, and the doctor who had been in the room when they arrived announces
her presence once more with a quick knock.

Sapnap sits up higher, eager to hear some kind of news.

“All the tests are looking good,” The doctor explains. “He’s asleep for now, and we’ll know
more once he wakes up but it looks like he probably just has a pretty bad concussion, like I
said before. We didn’t see any signs of brain damage.”

Sapnap lets out a sigh of relief. “Thank fuck, holy shit.”

He looks up in apology at the doctor who gives a warm smile and waves him off. “We hear it
all the time. Now we are back to waiting for him to wake up, if he doesn’t show some kind of
response soon then we will do some more tests.”

Sapnap nods. That makes sense.

George asks for more details than Sapnap does, asking what tests they’ve done as if he
understands any of the medical jargon that she throws at them before letting her go attend to
her other patients.

Sapnap turns his gaze to George, taking in the constant worry in his brow.

“You’re going to get wrinkles,” he teases.

“What?” George frowns, turning his gaze to him. His eyes are gorgeous, they always have
been. Even with worry filling the dark pools, Sapnap still finds comfort in him.

“You’re gonna get wrinkles,” Sapnap reaches over playfully to rub his palm over George’s
forehead to smooth it out.
George bats his hand away, rolling his eyes. “Really Sapnap? Flirting? While Dream is
dying?”

It’s just a joke. A poorly-timed joke, but a joke all the same. Still, his temper rises.

“Dream isn’t dying,” Sapnap snaps at him.

“... I was just kidding,” George backs down quickly, worried eyes flashing back to Dream’s
still body on the hospital bed.

Sapnap stares out the door just beyond George’s face, jolted out of his thoughts when George
suddenly slaps his shoulder, scaring the shit out of him.

“He moved!” George exclaims.

“What?” Sapnap looks over at Dream hurriedly. He watches with bated breath, George’s hand
still on his shoulder. Dream doesn’t move. He doesn’t so much as twitch. Hell, if it wasn’t for
the oxygen monitor attached to his finger and the constant beeping sound coming from the
monitor, Sapnap would almost think that he wasn’t breathing at all with how still he is.

“I swear to god he moved,” George whispers. “I’m not kidding.”

They wait a while longer, tension rising with each passing second that nothing happens.

Unable to take it anymore, Sapnap stands up, crossing the few feet of room between his chair
and the bed.

Dream’s face is soft and relaxed, long lashes pressed against his freckled cheeks. Sapnap
looks him up and down, and then slowly, reaches out to poke him again. It feels like he’s a
kid again on the playground, poking a dead bird with a stick to see if it’ll move just to jump
back when all the other little kids gasp. It’s ridiculous.

He pokes Dream’s shoulder.

Dream’s eyes scrunch and Sapnap’s jaw drops, hope surging up inside of him so strong he’s
pretty sure he might be glowing.

“Dream?” Sapnap asks, poking him again. The doctor didn’t say they couldn’t poke him to
wake him up, and there’s no one around to stop him. He does it again for good measure.

Dream’s eyelashes flutter, and soon his arm twitches, fingers balling up into a fist.

“George-”

“I’m going,” George yelps, already jumping to his feet and throwing open the door to go find
a nurse or a doctor.

Sapnap stays dutifully at Dream’s side, watching him slowly bring his hand up to his face,
rubbing at his eyes.
“Dream!” Sapnap bounces on his heels excitedly as blurry green eyes blink open at him.
“Hey, buddy! You’re awake.”

Dream looks around, disorientated as he takes in his surroundings. “... Where am I?” he
croaks, voice thick with disuse.

“The hospital dude, you seriously knocked yourself out getting groceries? You better hope no
one stole your car or something,” Sapnap jokes.

Dream’s brows furrow and he looks around some more. “The hospital?”

He sounds so lost, it tugs at Sapnap’s heartstrings. “Yeah.”

“Why?” he asks as if Sapnap didn’t just tell him.

That should have been a red flag, in hindsight. But as they say, hindsight is twenty/twenty.

“You hit your head,” Sapnap explains again. “George is going to get a doctor right now since
you’re up.”

Dream’s eyes widen at the name. “George?”

“Yeah, we were both at home when we got the call so we both came,” Sapnap explains again,
worry growing with every passing second.

“You…” Dream trails off, looking around groggily still. He stares at his hands and then looks
at the beeping monitor. “George is here? Like… my George?”

Sapnap’s frown deepens. “Yeah… Of course he came, we both did. We were worried.”

Dream’s frown deepens too, mimicking Sapnap as he squints at him. “... Who are you?”

It feels like the world comes to a screeching halt.

“Are you joking right now? Because that’s a fucked up joke, Dream,” Sapnap balks. “That’s
not funny. You scared the shit out of us-”

“What? No. I don’t-” Dream stops himself again. “I don’t know you.”

Sapnap opens his mouth, but the words stick to his tongue, confusion swirling inside of him.
“But- Come on, Dream-”

Dream frowns at him. “Are you a doctor?”

“Do I look like a fucking doctor?” Sapnap asks incredulously, looking down at himself.

Dream just stares at him blankly.

Thankfully, before Sapnap can say anything else, the door opens, and the doctor from before,
followed by the nurse and George come into the room.

“Do you two mind stepping out into the hall for just a moment?” the nurse asks, not even
letting George back into the room as she looks at Sapnap expectantly.

Sapnap takes one last nervous glance and Dream and then nods, stepping out into the hall
with George. The glass door slides shut behind him, and Sapnap immediately reaches for
George’s arm, grabbing his wrist for comfort.

“He didn’t recognize me,” Sapnap gulps, unnerved. “At all. I’m not kidding.”

George tilts his head at him. “Really?”

“He asked who I was and he said- he called you his George but he had no idea who I was, it
was like we’d never met before,” Sapnap rushes to tell him, reaching up with his free hand to
run a stressed hand through his hair, adjusting his hat on his head. “What the fuck. What the
fuck?! What the actual fuck?!”

“Breathe,” George reminds him gently. He doesn’t shake him off of his wrist like he normally
would. He lets Sapnap cling to him, and he’s eternally grateful for it.

After what seems like an eternity, the door opens again, and the doctor from before slips out.

“So it seems like Clay is having some amnesia. Amnesia is normal for the type of concussion
he suffered,” The doctor explains slowly. “It’s more than likely temporary but it’s hard to say
for certain right now with it being so early on.”

“Amnesia?” Sapnap asks skeptically. “Like actually?”

“It’s the term for memory loss. We see it sometimes with injuries like what Clay suffered. It
can be short-term or long-term, and we won’t know until we do additional tests. It could last
for a few hours, a few days, or even a year. We aren’t sure yet. We are going to take him for
testing now, if you two want to wait here you can, or you can run and grab some coffee. It’ll
be a few more hours but we will bring him back here as soon as we can, okay?”

Three hours and a bad hospital cafeteria burger later, they’re back in the room, sitting in the
same uncomfortable chairs. Neither of them said much while they waited, too anxious and
caught up in their own racing thoughts.

Finally, the door slides open, and the hospital bed with Dream lying in it is wheeled back into
the room. He looks more awake now, bright eyes immediately landing on Sapnap and George
with curiosity shimmering in his gaze. He doesn’t say anything, but he has the same look on
his face that he gets when he’s trying to figure something out; sharp and annoyingly smart.
Sapnap reasons he must be trying to work out who they are. He seemed to recognize
George’s name at least. That has to be a good sign, right?

“Okay, are you feeling alright?” The nurse asks as she reattaches the IV to the bag hanging
off of the rack above Dream’s bed.

“My head hurts,” he says quietly, voice still raspy and weird.

“Can you rate your pain for me on a scale of one to ten?”

“An eight?” he asks.

She smiles at him and walks over to a cart, swiping her ID before withdrawing a vile of
medication. “I’m going to get you some pain medication. It’s gonna go straight into your IV.
It’ll make you feel a little woozy, okay? Don’t worry though, it’s pretty normal.”

Dream watches Sapnap and George the entire time the nurse fills the syringe and injects it
into the bag. His eyes never stray from them even as she asks if they need anything else
before she leaves. He says no, and soon the three of them are alone once more.

“Who are you?” Dream asks again, sitting up further in the hospital bed. He’s been changed
into a gown, a warm sheet thrown over his lap.

“It’s- I’m Sapnap,” Sapnap sits up a little taller. “Nick? We’ve been best friends for-”

“What?” Dream’s eyes widen in surprise. “But…”

“You used to call me Pandas,” Sapnap smiles softly at him. This is so fucking weird.

“I know. I know that. You just- you look so different,” Dream whispers in awe. “How old are
you?”

“Twenty-two,” Sapnap scrunches his nose up at him.

“Holy shit. I’m twenty-three?” he asks.

“Twenty-four,” George supplies. “And I’m twenty-seven now.”

Sapnap gives George an incredulous look at the suddenly thick British accent he uses. He
could have swore he had been sounding a lot more American lately…

“George?” Dream asks excitedly, his entire face lighting up.

“Duh,” George grins at him. “Who else would it be?”

“You- you’re supposed to be in England,” Dream looks around. “Did you fly here? Because I
got hurt or something?”

“No,” George scoffs. “I live here idiot. With you and Sap, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Dream echoes in disbelief. He looks at Sapnap again and then George, back and
forth until Sapnap feels dizzy just watching him.

“George?” Dream asks, voice timid and excited at the same time. “Sapnap?”

“Yeah,” Sapnap nods. “It’s us.”

“Holy shit,” Dream whimpers, flopping back against the bed. “They got hotter.”

“Pain meds,” George giggles.

“What?” Dream sits up to look at them again.

“Nothing,” George shakes his head.

“What do you remember last?” Sapnap asks curiously. “You said I look different.”

“I don’t know,” Dream shakes his head. “You were like… you lived in Texas and you had
more acne I guess. We um… we made Youtube videos together right? But not very many?
Your voice was, like… squeakier? Is that mean?”

Sapnap’s eyes widen. He’s forgotten the past few years.

“Do you remember COVID?” George asks.

“Kind of?” Dream tilts his head. “The flu thingy that was like killing people?”

“Do you remember the lockdown? The pandemic?” Sapnap asks.

Dream’s eyes widen. “The what?”

Sapnap and George share a look. Holy shit.

“Do you remember starting an SMP with a bunch of people?” Sapnap asks.

“Um… not really,” Dream struggles for a minute, eyebrows scrunched with concentration. “I
don’t really know what you’re talking about I guess. The doctor said I have amnesia so- I
guess I’m like, missing a lot of things.”

“Hey,” Sapnap hurries to his side to console him with a gentle hand on top of his arm. For a
second he worries that Dream will jerk away from him, but he doesn’t. Instead, he relaxes
with the touch and looks up at Sapnap with wide eyes. “It’s okay. Do you want a recap?”

Dream nods gratefully. “Please. I don’t remember how you got here or George- George
coming here… This doesn’t feel real. It kind of feels like some kind of fever dream and I’m
gonna wake up and you’re both gonna be gone.”

“Uh, okay, um…” Sapnap struggles with where to start. He seems the most concerned with
how Sapnap and George ended up with him, so he decides to start there and work their way
back. “So I moved in a few years ago with you, and we lived together just you and me for a
long time and then last year George got his visa and moved in too. We have a house in
Florida with Patches, do you remember Patches?”

Dream thinks about it for a long time, and then slowly nods. “My cat.”

“Yeah! Patches and then I just got two more cats, but like, they’re my cats but also they’re
our cats because we’re a family. Milo and Naomi. They’re really cute, they’re my babies.”

“We’re a family?” Dream asks.

“Yeah,” Sapnap nods. “Of course we are dude, and when we’re in Florida we have all our
friends there now like Punz and Hannah and Sylvee, Gia- you probably don’t remember Gia
actually… Skeppy! We’ve hung out with Bad a few times and Puffy and-”

Sapnap watches Dream’s face slowly begin to fall, and he cuts himself off worriedly, waiting
for Dream to speak.

Dream worries his lip and looks at George again suspiciously, once again like he doesn’t
believe it’s real. “I don’t remember any of this.”

“I know,” Sapnap whispers, heart breaking at the sight of how lost Dream is. He was about to
mention L.A. and YouTube and how Dream is one of the biggest creators on the platform
now, how he makes amazing music and has gone on tour and done so many awesome things,
but the look on his face says it’s better to save that for later. He looks overwhelmed with just
the little bit of information Sapnap has given him already.

“... Do you want to ask questions?” George asks, scooting his chair up closer to the bed. It
makes an obnoxious squeaking noise as he does, loosening the tense feeling in the air as
Dream cracks a small smile.

“Yeah that might be better,” Dream purses his lips. “I don’t know, I’m so lost right now. And
that nurse was right, these pain meds are wowza,” he looks up at his IV as if he can see the
pain meds there. “I can’t get over the fact that you’re here . Like you’re both actually here .”

“We are,” Sapnap grins. “It’s pretty great huh?”

“Are you kidding me?” Dream asks incredulously, smile growing with every word he utters.
“This is amazing. This is like, the goal . We made it. Did we make it?”

Dream has no idea just how far they’ve made it.

Sapnap’s heart clenches. “Yeah dude, we made it. You, me, and George.”

“We’re a family,” Dream echoes with a content look on his face.

“We’re married actually,” George announces suddenly. “The three of us,” he spares a nervous
glance at Sapnap. “For a year now.”

“Huh?!” “What?!”
Sapnap looks at George in utter shock, mouth open so wide his grandma would tell him he
was gonna catch a fly. Why the fuck would he say that though? What the hell?

Dream’s jaw drops. “We- actually?”

“George-” Sapnap starts, only to be cut off quickly.

“We’re married. All three of us. I mean not officially, three people can’t get married officially
but-”

“George,” Sapnap hisses at him. “What the fuck-”

“Seriously? You’re- you’re my husband?” Dream asks, cheeks going pink. It’s exceptionally
noticeable under the fluorescent lights.

“Yeah,” George lies. “We dated. Online. And then um- when I got my visa and moved in we
got married.”

“All three of us?” Dream asks again, dumbfounded. He suddenly breaks out into a face-
splitting grin. “Oh my god. What? That’s insane. I’ve had a crush on you two for like, as long
as I’ve known you. How did I manage this? Did I like, die and go to heaven or something?
You two like me back?”

“Yeah,” George nods. “We liked you enough to marry you. And each other.”

Sapnap looks between them, worried. Why the fuck is George lying like this?! They aren’t
even dating. They haven’t even broached the concept of having feelings for each other. And
yeah, the feelings are there, everyone and their mother can see that, but this is going too far,
way way way too far.

“George, honey ,” Sapnap hisses with barely contained outrage bubbling inside of him. “Can
I have a word with you?”

George smiles, but Sapnap doesn’t miss the flash of fear in his eyes. “Right now?”

“Yeah,” Sapnap nods with a forced smile. “Right fucking now.”

“Sure, um… in the hall?”

“Yeah, just, give us a second, okay?” Sapnap asks Dream gently before grabbing hold of
George by the collar of his shirt, dragging him up like a scruffed kitten. He makes a noise of
complaint, drawing a little chuckle out of Dream.

“So that hasn’t changed then,” Dream says as Sapnap drags George out of the room. “You
two still fuss. George was taller after all huh?”

“Zip it,” Sapnap huffs, though his words lack any heat.

George stumbles along after him as Sapnap drags him out into the hallway with a quick
glance around to make sure no one is in earshot before growling in George’s face, “What the
fuck do you think you’re doing?”

There have been a lot of times in their lives that Sapnap has wanted to physically knock some
sense into George, and now is one of those times.

“Think about it!” George hisses at him. “He has been miserable lately. Miserable . Everyone
is so fucking mean to him, he’s getting harassed all the time… it scares me. He can’t even
breathe without someone jumping on him. But, he doesn’t remember any of that right now. If
he forgot the past couple of years he forgot like- everything. ”

“So?” Sapnap asks. He can’t for the life of him follow what George is trying to say right now
or what that has to do with telling Dream that they’re fucking married of all things.

“We don’t have to tell him about doing YouTube, we could pretend we never started it or it
never took off,” George shrugs. “And the doctor said his memory could come back in a few
days right? So this could be like, a mind vacation .”

“That’s so fucked up,” Sapnap snaps at him.

“He needs a break!” George insists. “Besides, he doesn’t remember what’s happened these
past few years. Imagine him opening Twitter with no knowledge of what’s happened. Or
literally anything. Tiktok, Instagram, fucking Youtube. Even on my lurker account the other
day I was getting random shitty things about him. We can’t tell him how much people hate
him, it would kill him.”

“… Fuck,” Sapnap sighs. That would probably be bad. Awful actually. It would probably
scare the shit out of him to see the death threats and doxxed information, see all the hate and
abuse he’s gotten over the years. He probably doesn’t even remember Quackity but it
wouldn’t take him long to connect the dots that they used to be close friends.

Sapnap still very distinctly remembers how crushed Dream was over the USMP. He tried so
hard to be a good friend about the drama, even squashing his own project that he put so much
time and effort into. And all the times his family was threatened… That was terrifying. Being
assaulted at a party was terrifying and then it being turned into a meme? Crying over a
friend’s death being turned into a meme?

He tries so hard to play it off like it didn’t affect him, but Sapnap knows him too well for that.

Sapnap glances over at Dream who’s still watching them with a dopey smile, though his head
keeps lulling to the side as the pain medication takes effect.

“Mind vacation,” George repeats as if he’s a genius for even thinking of it.

Sapnap purses his lips. “He did say he wished he could take a break. And when he said it
kind of felt like… he wished he could get away from the internet completely.”

“Right!” George exclaims.

“We can’t lie to him about being married though!” Sapnap insists. “That’s fucked up.
Actually.”
“Okay, then you go in there and tell him we aren’t actually married. Did you see his face? He
was so happy…” George trails off, glancing over Sapnap’s shoulder at Dream. “I miss seeing
him happy.”

God, he has a point again. And what’s worse, if Sapnap went in there and told Dream that
George lied, then Dream wouldn’t know who to trust anymore, or what’s real and what’s not.
He’s still looking at them like he’s worried if he blinks that they’ll both disappear.

“Fuck. What the fuck George?” Sapnap hisses. This is an absolute shit show and the worst
part is, George is right. Dream does need a break and he did look really fucking happy to
know that they’re married.

“This is fucked up,” Sapnap repeats, trepidation making him feel queasy.

“Just go with it,” George begs. “Just for a second. It would be kind of nice right?”

“I don’t know,” Sapnap bites his lip nervously. It sounds appealing but also what’s going to
happen when Dream remembers what actually happened these past few years? What happens
when he finds out they aren’t actually married?

“Just shut up and kiss me,” George whispers.

Sapnap glances over at Dream, finding big green eyes watching them curiously.

“This is so fucked,” Sapnap whispers, sliding his hand over George’s cheek the way he’s
always wanted to do. His stubble is rough under his fingertips as he touches his jaw, over to
the back of his head. His curls are so soft, warm and welcoming as he combs through them.
Sapnap pulls him in, pressing his lips against George’s, his heart hammering in his chest so
hard he thinks he might be sick.

George lets his lashes flutter shut, and kisses him back softly, chaste and sweet. It’s
everything he’s ever wanted for a first kiss with George but the circumstances make
everything feel weird.

“ Heellllll yeah,” Dream says from his room. “Hell yeah. Holy shit. I won at- life or
something.”

Sapnap and George both grin at that, lips still pressed together with amusement.

“Do it again,” Dream giggles from his hospital bed, cheering his best friends on to kiss more.
He sounds absolutely delighted.

Maybe this’ll be okay , Sapnap thinks, kissing George one more time.

What could go wrong?

 In the Movies
Chapter Summary

Dream comes home from the hospital and meets the cats. After that, he lays in bed with
Sapnap and George and asks some questions about their life together.

Chapter Notes

Thank you RxdMouth for beta reading this chapter for me!! ilysm mwah

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Dream can’t stop staring.

He knows he’s staring and he knows it’s creeping them out, but he can’t take his eyes off of
his best friends- his husbands .

The last he remembers, Sapnap was still in Texas. He had a side part and soft auburn hair and
round cheeks soft with lingering baby fat dotted with acne. His voice was squeakier and he
always had voice breaks where it would crack and go high.

He looks so different now. He’s leaner, and he told Dream that he’s been really into working
out lately. He has a thick beard that he didn’t have before, and a mustache too. The acne has
lessened, and his hair curls now, wild and free beneath the cap that he doesn’t ever take off
even in the privacy of the hospital room.

Dream has had a crush on him since they were kids. He can’t really wrap his head around the
fact that they’re together now, physically and romantically. It’s just so weird to him. In a good
way.

The doctors have all said the amnesia is probably temporary, but he still wishes he could
remember being with Sapnap, how they got together, and what their wedding was like. He
has so many questions, but Sapnap gets weird every time he tries to ask, so Dream keeps it all
in and watches them instead.

And George…

George is so much more grown up now. His hair is longer and he doesn’t look as scrawny as
he used to- or maybe that was just because Dream has never seen him in person before. He’s
still very George, loud and crass and he loves to irritate Sapnap every chance he gets. He
wears jewelry now, though from what he can tell, they all do. Nice jewelry.

He has so many questions. Like how he can afford stuff like this. There are diamond rings on
his fingers (though no wedding ring, which he also wants to ask about). The last he
remembers, Bad had to give him money just to pay rent. But George is wearing a pair of
insanely expensive Nikes, and Sapnap has a bracelet that looks like it’s worth more than his
car– does he even still drive that piece of shit beater? Where did the money come from?

YouTube?

Dream worries his lip as Sapnap and George go over the discharge papers with the doctors.
They said he could go home today– but he doesn’t really remember what home looks like. He
has to follow up with a neurologist and someone else he can’t remember the name of, he has
to go in for regular checkups and whatever else. No strenuous activity, blah blah.

His husbands are taking care of it for him.

The thought makes him smile. Husbands. He has questions about that too, like what their
relationship is like and how long they’ve been together. They said they got married a year
ago, but they dated online. How long did they date online? How did that work?

George hadn’t even seen his face from what Dream remembers.

So many questions. Dream is also trying not to overwhelm himself. The doctors said it would
just take time and not to push it, but he wants to know everything and nothing at the same
time. Hearing that he’s hung out with Bad before but doesn’t remember it broke his heart.
And Puffy and Hannah and Sylvee and Punz. He has friends he doesn’t even remember
meeting before, like Gia and someone named Bella and Karl. There’s an inkling of familiarity
to the name, but he can’t put a face to it, or any experiences either.

If he tries too hard to remember, he just ends up frustrated with himself and everyone around
him. The other day he had to apologize to Sapnap and George, though they just smiled fondly
at him, like they deal with this all the time.

He wants to remember so badly.

“You’re all set,” The nurse says as she removes the cuff around his arm and the IV from his
vein. The needle stings, soothed by a cotton ball and a bandaid pressed over it. “Again, if you
have any questions or there are any big changes, pain, anything like that, come back up here
or give us a call. Okay?”

Dream nods with a grateful smile.

“Alright, change out of your gown and toss it in the bin by the door and you’re ready,” she
gives a little wave before slipping out the frosted glass doors that shut behind her, leaving
him with Sapnap and George.

“I am so ready to go home,” George admits.

Dream smiles at that. “Me too. I wanna meet Patches. Again. And Milo and Naomi.”

“We just introduced them to each other a few days ago,” Sapnap grabs a bag off of the floor,
unzipping the contents to reveal Dream’s clothes that he must have been wearing the day of
the accident.

“Did anyone ever go get my car?” Dream asks suddenly, brows furrowed. “If I hit my head
and was brought here, is it still at the store?”

“Nah,” Sapnap dumps the clothes onto the bed for him. A pair of black sweatpants and a gray
sweatshirt. It resembles what Sapnap and George were wearing when they showed up at the
hospital a few days ago, “We sent Punz and Cate- Catlyn is Punz’s girlfriend,” he explains.
“Punz drove your car home for you. It is nice and safe in the garage.”

They have a garage.

It’s such a small little piece of information but he tucks it away in the back of his mind as he
struggles to imagine what their house might look like. He pictures his parent’s house, but
warped, a garage attached and maybe an upstairs. He wonders what color it is, it’s tan in his
mind but something tells him that isn’t right.

Slowly, Dream drags himself out of the hospital bed, stretching onto the balls of his socked
feet. He starts to untie the hospital gown before his face grows warm at how Sapnap and
George are both in the room with him.

That’s silly though, isn’t it? They’re his husbands. He may not remember it but they’ve
undoubtedly seen him naked… they probably even have had sex. There’s no reason to be
embarrassed to take his shirt off in front of them.

“Do you want us to go?” George asks, blinking owlishly at him.

Dream’s eyebrows raise. “What? No, why? It’s fine… you’ve seen me naked before, right?”
he asks nervously with a little chuckle. “Married. And all.”

“Right,” George glances at Sapnap. He’s always doing that, like they’re checking in with
each other.

“... I’m sorry this happened,” Dream’s smile drops, worry tugging at his heart. “This can’t be
easy on you guys. Like your husband just forgetting everything.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Sapnap assures him. “Don’t apologize. Seriously.”

Dream nods and turns his back to them as he finishes untying the gown. At least he has
underwear on, he thinks as the gown falls off of his shoulders, leaving him standing in front
of Sapnap and George in nothing but socks and briefs. He spares a glance over his shoulder,
finding George staring like a hawk and Sapnap looking away very pointedly.

Weird.
“Um… When we go home, can we talk?” Dream asks, grabbing the sweatshirt and sliding it
on. The gray material is super soft, though he looks down at the pattern on the front in
confusion. “What’s on my shirt?”

“It um…”

Dream turns, holding it out for George to look at. He suddenly bursts out laughing, a big
smile on his face. “It’s your ‘Adult Films’ shirt. You wear it all the time. That and one that
has like a naked lady on the back, but you always cover it with a bag or something.”

Dream’s jaw drops. “I wear this in public?” he giggles, looking down at it.

“Yeah, you actually wore it to perform in once,” Sapnap smiles.

George hits his shoulder and Sapnap’s smile drops.

“... What’s going on?” Dream asks, eyes narrowed at the action.

Sapnap just shakes his head. “We’ll talk about it later at home. ‘Kay? Just- put some pants
on, handsome.”

A giddy smile worms its way onto Dream’s face. “You think I’m handsome.”

“Well yeah, have you seen yourself?” Sapnap asks, grinning back.

… Kind of. Briefly. It was too weird to look for long though in the bathroom mirror of the
hospital room so he simply didn’t. His hair is so long, and he’s so much paler than he used to
be. It was weird to see his scruff and the way his face filled out. It looked like a Snapchat
filter just permanently stuck to his reflection, he hardly recognized himself.

Dream pushes the thoughts out of his head and grabs the sweatpants, sliding them on quickly.
After that, he shoves some really nice Nikes on. They’re like George’s and Sapnap’s, too new
and too clean. They aren’t the same ugly little black pair that he used to wear all the time that
are shabby in comparison.

“Do we have money or something?” Dream asks curiously, examining the shoes. “The shoes,
the jewelry- are we rich or what?”

“Um,” George looks at Sapnap. “Yeah. You’re kind of famous.”

Dream’s eyes widen. “What?”

“We were gonna talk about it more at home. You’re a musician,” George nods.

“Oh. What happened to doing YouTube?” Dream asks. That had been his passion from what
he last remembers.

“It didn’t really work out,” Sapnap shrugs. “We got a couple thousand subscribers. But then
you started making music and it really took off. You’re amazing.”
“And I performed in this shirt?” He asks. “Like… on stage?”

“Yeah, you just finished your first tour not that long ago,” Sapnap grins. “It was amazing.
You even got George to get on stage with you, you did a song with Yung Gravy it was epi-”

“Who?” Dream giggles. “What kind of name is that?”

“He’s- never mind,” Sapnap waves him off. “But yeah. You’re rich, you’re famous, you’re
very hot-”

“Okay,” Dream interrupts, face burning.

Sapnap grins and grabs the bag, gathering up the last of their things. “Got everything?”

Dream nods. He doesn’t know where his phone is, or his wallet or anything. He’s pretty sure
it’s all in the bag that Sapnap is carrying for him. “Can we listen to some of the music
sometime? I wanna hear.”

“Yeah,” Sapanp wraps his arm around his waist as they exit the hospital room for the first
time in what feels like forever. The hand on his hip burns, and Dream’s stomach feels like it’s
full of butterflies.

“... It’s kind of a bummer that YouTube didn’t work out,” Dream admits as they make their
way out of the hospital. They slip out to the parking lot, heading to the parking garage. The
air is cold and stiff inside, but Sapnap’s hand never leaves his skin, keeping him warm. “That
was our dream.”

“Yeah,” George shrugs. “But whatever. It was shit, and people suck so I don’t really care.”

“People suck?” Dream cocks his head.

“Yeah,” George walks closer, brushing up against his shoulder. Dream doesn’t have the heart
to tell him that being squished between them makes it kind of hard to walk. “We were friends
with a lot of people and then they turned out to be shitheads. It’s a good thing we don’t talk
anymore.”

He says it nonchalantly, but Dream has always been able to read George like the back of his
hand. He’s hurt by whatever happened. Deeply hurt.

“Oh,” Dream hums.

“But it’s fine now, you’re a hot sexy musician and they’re losers,” Sapnap says, more to
George than to Dream.

George stays quiet, and Dream follows suit, content to just think about things silently as they
make their way to the car.

He almost walks right past the matte-black Tesla. It doesn’t even occur to him that the car
might belong to Sapnap.
“Dream-” Sapnap calls with a little giggle as Dream stumbles.

“Huh?”

“Right here, buddy,” Sapnap unlocks the car, pushing open the handle to the door.

“Oh,” Dream’s eyes widen.

Is he really that rich? That’s insane. And just from music?

Dream has always thought that he was creative, but to become like… rich just off of music?
That’s crazy.

He climbs in the backseat and stays quiet as they drive out of the parking lot.

It’s a relief to see they’re still in Florida. He was kind of starting to question it at one point,
but the palm trees are familiar and the warm glowing sun. The freeway is smooth in the fancy
car, breezing through traffic.

“Patches is gonna be happy to see you,” Sapnap comments.

Dream smiles to himself. He’s excited to meet Patches for a second time. He loves cats. He’s
so giddy he nearly bounces in his seat as they exit the city and move towards the suburbs.

They don’t live close to his parents, he guesses. This is a different part of Orlando.

The apartments turn to painted houses, and the painted houses turn to brick. Before he knows
it, they’re in a gated community, driving through houses so big he can’t comprehend it. Who
even needs that much space? Growing up, he lived in a good-sized house, they had to with as
many siblings as he has, but this… this is like, the shit you see on TV.

Slowly, the car comes to a stop in front of another gate, and Dream’s eyes widen.

“Here?”

“Yup.”

The house is fucking huge. Massive. And green .

“What the fuck,” he whispers under his breath, drinking in the sight.

“It’s pretty cool huh?” Sapnap asks.

Dream can’t stop staring.

The car rolls into the garage, shutting them inside, and even the garage is massive. There’s a
red Tesla right beside Sapnap’s now, and Dream’s eyes bug out at it. “Is that mine?”

“Yeah, I have a truck too but we keep the Teslas in here,” Sapnap explains.

What the fuck. What the fuck what the fuck what the fuc-
“You okay?” George asks gently.

“... Yeah,” Dream breathes. “Just. I remember asking Bad for money to pay rent and like. Eat.
This- this is insane.” George’s words from earlier linger in his head and he looks up at him
hesitantly. “Bad is still my friend right?”

“Yeah,” George smiles. “Bad is still Bad. He’s good.”

“Good,” Dream lets out a breath of relief.

The three clamber out of the car, and Dream trails nervously behind George the entire way,
unable to take his eyes off of the soft curls on the back of his head. He wants to touch them,
know what they feel like between his fingers. Maybe later he can find out… if they’re
married it wouldn’t be weird to touch his hair or even kiss him.

God, Dream wants to kiss him. George and Sapnap both. He wants to know everything, how
they feel and how they smell and what they’re like when they touch him too. It doesn’t have
to be sexual, he would settle for a warm hug or maybe a makeout session if one of his
husbands is down.

Sapnap opens the door to the house, and the three of them step inside.

“Wow,” Dream looks around.

“This is just the hallway, idiot,” Sapnap giggles.

“Still,” Dream glances around. “What’s that way?”

“The second kitchen that we use for-” Sapnap cuts himself off sharply.

“We haven’t really figured out a good use for it yet,” George cuts in. He takes Dream’s hand,
leading him the opposite way.

They step into a living room lined with dark gray couches and recliners. There are blankets
on the couches and pillows even, and Dream vividly imagines the three of them napping
together under them and cuddling and having lazy days.

The TV on the wall is huge, and there’s a winding staircase that is actually straight out of a
movie. The coffee table is made of glass, and hanging out just beneath it is a cat. Her tail
flicks, and she gives a quiet little mirrp with a big stretch as she wakes up from her nap.

“Hi Patchy,” George coos softly. “I brought Daddy home.”

“WHO?” Dream giggles. “I’m Daddy now?”

“What?” George hisses with a quick side-eye, cheeks turning pink. “No. Shut up. I was
talking to Patches.”

“You would never call me Daddy,” Sapnap says solemnly.

“That’s because you’re not-”

“I could be-”

“No.”

“George, come on-”

“Call me Daddy again,” Dream interrupts their familiar bickering just to watch George
become more embarrassed.

“Stop,” George glares at him.

Dream giggles and turns his attention back to Patches who’s walking towards him with big,
bright green eyes locked on him with little mewls coming out of her with every step.

“She missed you,” Sapnap smiles fondly.

“Aww,” Dream crouches down, sitting down crisscross on the floor. He kicks his shoes off
just to get comfy, and presses his back against the couch, hands rubbing through the soft rug
he sits on as he waits for Patches to approach him.

She saunters over and immediately walks onto his lap, two paws pressed to his chest as she
headbutts his chin. A warm purr starts in her, and Dream’s heart melts. Her fur is so soft,
shorter than he was picturing, and darker. She’s so pretty though, and oddly enough, she kind
of looks like him in a way. People always say that pets tend to look like their owners.

Dream smiles as she rubs up against his neck, slowly curling up on his shoulder like it’s her
bed. She’s still purring like crazy, and Dream looks up at Sapnap and George in awe, both
still watching him closely.

“She likes me,” Dream whispers, petting down her back as he holds her close.

“She loves you, dude,” Sapnap smiles. “Let me go find my little shits, I’ll be right back.”

Dream nods, and Sapnap disappears off into one of the millions of other rooms.

“... You’re cute,” George states bluntly.

“What?” Dream asks, looking between him and Patches over and over. How did he get this
lucky in life?

“Getting all teary-eyed over a cat,” George gestures at him.

“I’m just so happy,” Dream admits, scratching gently down her sides.

“Ta-da!” Sapnap suddenly reappears, a kitten in each hand.

“Milo,” he holds up the darker one. “And Naomi,” he holds up the lighter one.

They somehow also look exactly like Sapnap. And George, weirdly enough.
Sapnap walks over to them and dumps the two kitties on Dream too.

Patches squirms, and Naomi accepts one brush of his hand over her spine before she’s darting
away. Milo, the one that most resembles Sapnap, chills out on his lap.

Dream’s heart swells and swells as he holds the cats until he feels like he could burst.

His life is incredible.

“Dream? What’s wrong?” Sapnap asks gently.

Dream looks up, holding both the cats close to his chest as he looks at his best friends- his
husbands.

“I have everything,” he admits with a teary smile.

He can feel their confusion, but Dream can’t continue until he swallows, looking down at the
cats. “I have this big amazing house and fancy cars and three cats and two husbands. I
married my best friends,” he looks up at them as a tear snakes down his cheek. “I must be
like, the happiest guy in the entire world all the time. Like, I don’t know, I guess it’s just-
overwhelming. To not remember any of it and then come back to this.”

Milo nips at his fingertips as he rubs over his face.

Sapnap and George stay oddly quiet, so Dream keeps talking. “I just… I’m so happy right
now. I don’t even know what to do. I can’t- you were in England and Texas and I didn’t think
I would ever even meet you in real life and now you’re here and we have this- this family
and-”

“Hey,” Sapnap crouches down beside him. “Take a breath.”

Dream tries, and his heart squeezes painfully with joy so intense he tries to flap his hands, but
with two cats on him, it’s impossible so he just makes a distressed little noise and looks at
Sapnap, hoping he’ll understand.

“You have no idea how cute you look right now, Jesus fucking Christ,” Sapnap looks away
quickly.

“What?”

“Shut up. Don’t talk for a sec,” Sapnap shushes him as he flops down on the couch behind
Dream. A warm hand reaches out, running through golden curls that snag on his knuckles but
not in a way that hurts. It stings, but it feels amazing too, and he can’t help leaning back into
the touch.

Dream frowns, cocking his head to the side. “Why?”

“Too cute. I’m getting cuteness aggression. I’m going to strangle you,” Sapnap looks away
pointedly.
Dream giggles softly at that. “You wouldn’t strangle me. I’m your husband. You love me.”

He says it almost as a guess, because hey, maybe he doesn’t love him or something. But then
Sapnap looks at him with so much love on his face, Dream melts into a puddle on the floor.
“Yeah,” Sapnap breathes, petting his hair once again. “I do.”

Dream’s heart skips a beat, leaning into the kind touch at the back of his head.

George watches them closely, and Dream squirms under his gaze, but it feels too good to pull
away, so instead he leans against Sapnap’s legs and keeps petting the cats. Milo grows bored,
and soon, he chases off after his sister, but Patches stays, nuzzled against him with happy
little purrs.

“I love her,” Dream breathes, rubbing his face against her head. Her little ear flicks at the
feeling, paws flexing as sharp claws dig into his sweatshirt.

“She’s alright I guess ,” George smiles at him softly. His big brown eyes are squinty with
happiness, and Dream melts further and further until he’s curled up against Sapnap’s legs,
cradling Patches, slumped down with a giddy grin that he can’t keep off of his face.

His head throbs dully, an ache that hasn’t ever gone away since the accident. He doesn’t want
to take a pain pill, they make him a little dizzy, and inevitably sleepy, but the longer he sits
there, listening to Sapnap and George chat idly, the more he thinks he probably needs one.

“You okay?” Sapnap asks, noticing how Dream’s shoulders have slowly grown tighter the
longer they’ve sat there together.

“I need a pain pill,” he admits softly with a timid smile thrown over his shoulder at him. “My
head hurts.”

“Okay! Here, do you want to go lay down?” Sapnap asks, removing his fingers from his hair.
Dream mourns the loss instantly, but before he can complain, Sapnap is wiggling out from
beneath him and is heading towards the kitchen where they dropped off the medications from
the hospital on the bar separating the two rooms.

“… can you guys lay down with me?” Dream asks timidly. “I just… I want to lay down and
rest but I want to spend time with you too. I don’t want to be alone.”

The nights when Sapnap and George would go home and he would still be in the hospital
drove him insane. He didn’t want them to leave and would spend hours after they left reeling
from their presence until he inevitably fell asleep. Besides, his questions… maybe they
would be easier to ask if they’re in bed?

He pictures it, curled up in between them while they talk about their wedding and who sleeps
where in the bed and who steals the blankets. He wants to know if they keep their
toothbrushes in the same cup and if the bristles touch occasionally and he wants to know who
wakes up first and who cooks breakfast. He wants to know everything .
“It’s a little early,” Sapnap giggles. “It’s only…” he takes a quick glance at his phone. “Five
p.m.”

“Please?” Dream begs quietly, giving him his best puppy dog eyes.

“I’m not tired,” George shrugs. “I have stuff I could do instead-”

“Please George? I-” he looks at him longingly. “I want to touch you. And cuddle. You
remember it but I don’t, I don’t know what it feels like to hold you.”

George’s eyes dilate, and Dream can’t help but cheer internally, knowing he’s got his friend-
husband exactly where he wants him.

“... For a little bit,” George concedes.

“Yes!” Dream does an excited little wiggle, jostling Patches around. He feels bad about it
when she raises her head and blinks lazily at him.

He presses one last kiss to her forehead before detaching her from his shoulders, setting her
down on the floor gently before pulling himself up onto his feet. His knees pop, and he
stretches lazily, not missing the way George stares at his stomach when his arms cause his
sweatshirt to ride up. He drops his arms with a smile at the man and turns his attention to
Sapnap who is coming back to the living room with a glass of water and a pill in his hand.

Dream scrunches his nose up at the sight, but holds his hand out for it, accepting it into his
palm as he takes the glass from Sapnap. “Thank you… do I have pet names for you? Like…
baby or something?”

Sapnap’s cheeks go pink, and he gives an awkward chuckle. “Sometimes. Sometimes you
still call me your brother. Freak.”

“Whaaat?” Dream’s jaw drops in shock, an incredulous smile playing on his lips.
“WHAAAT.”

“I’m teasing,” Sapnap hits his shoulder.

“I only called you my brother to like, hide the massive crush I had on you,” Dream justifies,
taking a swig of the water before tossing back the pill.

“Yeah, I did too,” Sapnap shrugs. “I was just teasing. You don’t call me that anymore.”

“Good,” Dream giggles. “That would be weird.” he looks around the room, overwhelmed by
the amount of hallways. “Where’s the bathroom at? And our room?”

“Come on, since we have to take a nap with you,” George huffs as if he’s annoyed.

Dream just smiles so hard his cheeks hurt, and follows him to the stairs. “Guest rooms are on
the first floor, our rooms are on the second.”

“Oh, do we not share a room?” Dream asks curiously.

Sapnap falters behind him, but George keeps going, so Dream keeps following up the
winding staircase.

“Nah, we take turns sleeping in each other’s beds. You have the biggest so we usually end up
in yours,” George answers. “We thought since we’re all so busy a lot of the time, having
different rooms would be good for when our sleep gets fucked up.”

Oh. That makes sense, Dream supposes, though he thinks idly about their toothbrushes
sharing a cup and sighs when he realizes that isn’t a domestic reality.

That’s okay though. They’re married, there have to be other things they do together that are
couple-y.

The second floor is very similar to the first, a long hallway with branching rooms and
different spaces and in the middle, a ping pong table.

“Wow,” he says as he steps around it, following George.

“Yeah,” Sapnap’s hand lands on his lower back, guiding him towards the room still. “We
have a basketball court too. You kept saying you would play with me when we had it built
but you never do, you’re always too busy. Punz comes over and uses it with me though.”

“Oh,” Dream frowns. He’s too busy to spend time with his husbands? That kind of sucks.
What has he even been doing that could be more important than them?

George opens the door to one of the rooms and the three step inside.

Dream’s jaw drops again. “Is that crown molding?”

Silence follows, and then Sapnap and George both cackle at him as he takes in his massive
room.

“That’s what you see first? Not the whiteboard or the giant bed or whatever but the fucking
walls?” Sapnap asks incredulously.

“You’re so weird,” George giggles, shoving him further inside.

Dream stumbles, half smiling as he looks around. “And- the bathroom is attached?” he points
at a door.

“Yeah, go take a shit, we’ll get all comfy in your bed,” Sapnap teases, kicking off his shoes
carelessly.

“I don’t have to shit,” Dream’s face burns indignantly, watching them both clamber into the
bed.

“Go,” Sapnap shoos him.

Dream sighs, and heads towards the bathroom. Which is also fucking massive, he realizes as
he steps inside. There are pillars by the bathtub for god sake. He’s never going to get used to
this.

He takes a quick piss, looking around at the marble countertops and makeup sitting on one
side of the double sinks. Is that his? He wears makeup now? He can’t think of who else
would have makeup in his bathroom if the guest rooms are downstairs. As a kid he had to
share a bathroom with his sisters so there was always makeup on the cabinets, but upon
closer inspection, even the makeup looks bougie.

Dream shakes his head, flushes, and tucks himself away, heading over to the mirror to
examine himself once again, now in the comfort of his home instead of the harsh hospital
bathroom.

… His hair is so curly.

Dream leans in as close as he can get to the mirror, nose nearly brushing the cold glass as he
looks at his face, taking in every new freckle that has appeared on the bridge of his nose and
on his cheeks, the pretty color of his eyes. His hair has gotten darker, and it’s so long.

Carefully, he pulls on one of the curls, watching it stretch down and then bounce back into
place. His beard is thick, scratchy as he runs his fingers over the coarse hairs. He leans back,
and tilts his head, watching his reflection move too. He kind of feels like a bird, preening in
front of a mirror, not recognizing that it’s himself that he’s looking at.

It’s just so weird. He filled out so much, he isn’t scrawny anymore. He’s big.

Dream glances at the door to make sure he is still alone before flexing in front of the mirror,
seeing if he has muscle. His eyebrows shoot up at the definition in his body, and his chest
especially.

“Did you fall in?” Sapnap calls.

Dream drops his arms and sighs, taking a step away from the mirror.

“Coming,” He calls back, taking one last glance at himself before turning his back on his
reflection and heading back to the bedroom.

The first thing Dream sees is Sapnap, lying on his side with the blankets around his knees,
cuddled up against a pillow, smiling at George who is lying on his side with his back to
Dream. He can’t hear what they’re saying, but they look so happy Dream is instantly drawn
to them, eager to insert himself into that happiness and be a part of it. The second thing he
sees is the distinct lack of room on either side of them, leaving only the middle open for him.

Dream hesitates at the edge of the bed, looking in between them. Is this how they normally
sleep? Does he always take the middle? It sounds nice, being wrapped up in the middle of
them, surrounded by warmth and love all the time…

Dream’s heart tugs, but he can’t come up with a reason why, so he bites his lip, and ignores it,
crawling onto the bed.
“Come on, baby boy,” Sapnap pats the bed in invitation. Him welcoming Dream in to take
the spot in the middle has Dream crawling even faster, eventually flopping down a little too
hard right in between them.

“Hi,” Dream smiles fondly at his best friend, drinking in the low, golden light that envelops
them, making them all seem to glow. It looks like something in the movies, when the couple
finally settles down for the evening just to end up with white sheets pulled over their heads to
hide passionate kisses from an invisible audience.

“Hi,” Sapnap whispers back softly, green eyes scrunched with a gorgeous smile.

George shuffles closer, but he doesn’t touch his waist like Dream is expecting.

Dream frowns to himself, cheeks burning slightly. He feels a bit awkward initiating cuddling,
but they’re his husbands, they have to have done this a million times now. He shouldn’t let
feeling awkward and out of place stop him.

They’re probably both hesitating to touch him because they know he feels awkward, he
reasons internally.

Embarrassment makes the tips of his ears burn, but he ducks his head down and says softly,
“You can touch me. I know I’m being weird since I can’t remember everything but… it’s still
okay.” Dream stammers, trying to put into words what he’s trying to say before flapping his
hands out a little. “You won’t make me uncomfortable if you act like you did before- I mean,
however you normally acted before I hit my head. I don’t know- did we kiss a lot? And
cuddle?” he asks hopefully, wide eyes turned to Sapnap.

Sapnap looks over his shoulder at George, and Dream waits with bated breath as they have
some kind of silent conversation over him that he wishes he could follow along with.

Finally, George’s hand slides over his hip beneath the blanket.

Dream’s face splits into a huge grin, wiggling around to push his butt against George’s hips.

“Stop moving,” George giggles softly, curling around his back.

Dream kicks his feet out a little, squirming even more when George’s arm slowly wraps
around his stomach to hold him in place.

This is perfect. He spent so many lonely Florida nights fantasizing about things like this. He
used to dream of holding George somehow, or George holding him, he used to imagine
awkward first kisses and hand holds with Sapnap and the flirty little conversations they
would always have over Discord now being whispered in quiet nights with blushes obscured
by the night sky.

“Can I ask questions?” Dream asks Sapnap again, bringing his knees up to bump against his.

“What do you want to know?” Sapnap asks, eyes flickering to George briefly.
Dream rolls onto his back so he can see both of his husbands. “Um… how did we get
together?”

“Online, we told you that,” Sapnap smiles.

“But… did I make the first move? Or did George? I know it wasn’t you, you’re too shy,”
Dream chides.

Sapnap’s jaw drops open playfully, and with a giggle, Dream gently takes Sapnap’s hand in
both of his, rubbing his thumbs over his palm and up to his fingers.

“What? I would totally make the first move,” Sapnap shakes his head.

“It was me actually,” George quips. “I made the first move and then Sapnap copied me.”

Sapnap’s eyes narrow at him. “I didn’t copy you-”

“You did,” George states.

Dream giggles softly. “Even married you two still act like when we were younger.”

“Not as bad,” George hums against his neck. “We had to have a talk about being nicer to each
other not that long ago.”

“What else?” Dream asks. “What was the wedding like? And you moving in? When did you
move in?”

“Um-” Sapnap starts. “I moved in first, and you and I lived together for a while until George
moved in last year. The wedding was…”

“It was too romantic,” George supplies. “Way too romantic. You sprung for the whole works,
the venue, the flowers, and then you had allergies from all the flowers.”

Dream’s eyes widen as he imagines it, a big ballroom, or maybe it was outside in the Florida
sun, arches and vines and fresh flowers on every table. He imagines Their parents being
there, or at least, he hopes that their parents would be there, and their friends.

“Did we have a honeymoon?”

“Yeah,” George’s hand tightens on his stomach. “In- in Antarctica.”

“What?” Dream chuckles. “Why Antarctica? Are you fucking with me?”

Sapnap laughs. “No, we really all three went there! It was a lot of fun. You got sick though.”

Dream flops around some more. “That’s so cool. Do you have pictures on your phone and
stuff? Like of the wedding and everything?”

“Um- yeah, I think so, we can look at them tomorrow,” Sapnap offers.

“Okay,” Dream smiles. “And um- where’s my ring at? And your guys?”
“Uh-” George starts. “We um- I don’t wear rings very often and neither does Sapnap. I don’t
know where yours is, maybe you weren’t wearing it that day.”

Dream frowns. Why wouldn’t he wear it that day? He was wearing other rings that day.
“Huh,” He purses his lips trying to think.

“It’ll turn up, you always leave your rings in the bathroom, it’s probably around here
somewhere,” George supplies.

Oh. Yeah, that- he doesn’t remember wearing jewelry very often before this, he could never
afford the nice stuff, but it makes sense that he would take it off and forget it, he does that
with his jackets all the time and shoes. His mom used to yell at him for leaving his clothes
around the house.

“You’re an amazing husband,” George whispers. “You’re always so- I don’t know.”

“You’re always here for us,” Sapnap interrupts. “You could be busy as hell but if I came in
your room and said I needed you, you would drop everything for me.”

That sounds like him, Dream wiggles around some more. He has always adored the two of
them endlessly, he can’t think of a single thing that he wouldn’t do for them.

Dream plays with Sapnap’s fingers idly, rolling back over to reach him better, memorizing
the lines on his hands and the joints of his fingers and the way his nails are shaped. While he
does he gazes at Sapnap’s gorgeous face, breathless as George pushes his face up against his
neck, rough stubble scratching Dream’s delicate skin and a warm hand resting against his
stomach to keep him in place.

He can’t help how he moves, bursts of energy zinging through him, electrifying him to his
core. He’s just too excited at the prospect of being loved.

“You married me ?” Dream asks, amazed.

“Yeah,” Sapnap whispers.

“Both of you?” He asks over his shoulder. George nods, chin resting on Dream’s shoulder.

“How did I pull that off?” Dream’s cheeks burn as he admits with a quiet, embarrassed laugh,
“You both got so hot. Like you were hot before but… I can’t believe you married me . I
lucked out completely, hit the jackpot.”

George just laughs, though he can feel the heat of his cheek against his neck. Sapnap is
blushing too, which makes Dream feel better about the way his face burns too.

He squirms around some more, unable to sit still.

“Stop moving, you’re such a wiggle worm,” Sapnap teases.

Dream squeezes his hand, wiggling closer to George, basking in how it feels to be held by
both of them, legs brushing against one another’s beneath the sheets. “I can’t help it, I’m just
so happy.”

“Stop it,” George giggles, trying to hold him down even more.

“No,” Dream fights against him playfully, smiling so hard his face hurts while they try to
hold him down. It ends with George’s leg thrown over his thighs, pinning him down while
Sapnap holds his shoulders, his face just inches from Dream’s.

“ You love me ?” Dream asks him incredulously.

“Yeah,” Sapnap gives him such a fond look that Dream’s stomach fills with butterflies. “I
love you a lot.”

Dream’s lip wobbles, and he bites down on it between his front teeth as he looks at Sapnap’s
face, eyes drifting down to his lips.

Hesitantly, he leans forward.

Sapnap pulls back, and Dream’s heart drops.

“Sorry,” Sapnap breathes.

“Did I do something wrong?” Dream tilts his head curiously at him.

“No! No, you’re fine,” Sapnap shakes his head. A guilty look worries its way into his brow,
and Dream frowns, wracking his brain to figure out why he would feel guilty right now. Is he
misreading him?

“You kissed George. At the hospital. You won’t kiss me?” Dream asks. “Did- I mean, you’re
not going to hurt me. I want you to kiss me.”

“You don’t remember things though,” Sapnap’s eyes fill with worry. “I don’t want to do
something I shouldn’t.”

“Just kiss him,” George hisses. “Before you hurt his feelings, idiot.”

Sapnap glares over his shoulder at George before looking back at Dream. He gives him a
tentative smile, waiting patiently.

“Okay,” Sapnap nods. “I can kiss you?”

“Yeah,” Dream pushes his head back into the pillow again. “Please.”

“Don’t- you have no fucking idea how cute you look right now,” Sapnap groans.

Dream’s cheeks darken as he tries to imagine what he looks like right now, blonde curls
spread out of the pillow with pink cheeks and big doe eyes. He still isn’t too sure how to feel
about how he looks but Sapnap is looking at him with so much desire it makes his stomach
do a flip.
“We’ll take turns kissing you, how ‘bout that?” George asks against his shoulder, digging his
chin into his skin. He probably doesn’t realize that the feeling kind of hurts, which only
makes it that much more endearing to Dream.

“Okay,” Dream breathes excitedly, turning to Sapnap first.

Sapnap searches his face, and for a second, Dream worries he’s going to look at George. He
doesn’t want him to look at George right now, he wants Sapnap to look at him. He knows this
has to be really weird for him and he understands that Sapnap keeps turning to George for
guidance but…

Thankfully his eyes do not stray from Dream’s face. He gets to drink in the sight of his best
friend's face uninterrupted, see the same moles and freckles up close that he used to zoom in
on in pictures sent online. Nervous green eyes meet each other, and slowly, Sapnap grabs his
face, warm thumbs sliding over the apples of his cheeks.

Dream stops breathing with anticipation, watching Sapnap grow closer and closer before his
eyes inevitably fall shut at the first brush of their lips together.

Dream sighs into the kiss, though it’s nothing more than a chaste press of Sapnap’s lips
against his. It’s amazing. Dream’s hands fly up to grab onto Sapnap, knocking the stupid hat
off that he wears to weave his fingers into auburn curls, tugging at them excitedly to get him
closer and closer.

His brain races, running over the facts that he knows and what he last remembers, piecing it
together as he moves against Sapnap.

As soon as Sapnap pulls away, their breath mingling against one another, Dream whispers
earnestly, “I love you.”
Sapnap pulls away frantically, wide eyes startling Dream.

“What?” Dream whispers worriedly, mind immediately racing towards the worst; he fucked
up somehow, he broke the tentative moment and ruined it-

A little inkling in the back of his head says he ruins a lot of things, but he doesn’t know why
or have the memories to support it.

“I’m gonna throw up, sorry,” Sapnap whispers, jumping out of the bed quickly as he races off
towards the bathroom, one last quick “I’m sorry!” thrown over his shoulder.

“What?” Dream looks at George. “What did I do?”

“Nothing,” George assures him easily with a little giggle. “He ate some leftovers out of the
fridge this morning, I bet they were bad. Come here, darling.”

Darling . Oh, he likes that.

“Are you sure?” Dream asks nervously, sparing another glance toward the bathroom.
 “Yes, Dream, Sapnap is fine. He’s just being a little weirdo,” George assures, sitting up and
cupping his face, gathering up Dream’s scattered attention. “It’s my turn, isn’t it?”

Dream blinks slowly, taking in the dark brown eyes watching his every move. George smiles
softly at him, assuring him everything is alright as his fingertips graze his cheek.

“Ready?” George asks.

Dream nods hesitantly. He has always wanted to kiss George. George and his stubble and
dark eyes and perfect lips that he used to dream about late at night. It’s still so hard to
comprehend that George is actually here and he’s about to kiss him. If he thinks about it for
too long his brain will start spinning, so he simply closes his eyes and waits.

George is gentle, a barely-there brush of his lips against his. He immediately wants more,
craning his head up in invitation. George moves against him sweetly, nipping lightly at his
bottom lip and following his lead until he pulls away with a breathless kiss, fireworks
exploding in his brain and heart twisting.

He almost says he loves him too, but he stops himself, still unsure if he messed up somehow
with Sapnap before.

“Aren’t you going to say you love me too?” George purrs, using his thumb to trace his
bottom lip.

“I-” Dream hesitates, trying to look towards the bathroom again. George doesn’t let him, a
strong hand on his chin, keeping their eyes locked together.

“I love you ,” George offers.

Dream’s heart squeezes. “I-I love you too. I always have.”

“Let’s keep kissing until Sapnap comes back,” George suggests, already leaning in to pepper
quick pecks over his cheeks and nose until Dream can’t help but grin and squirm, trying to
escape the ticklish feeling. “I wanna kiss you forever.”

Dream likes the sound of that.

Chapter End Notes

Let me know what you thought!! :D

 Two Truths and a Lie
Chapter Summary

George buys wedding rings for them all and spends the day with Dream after Sapnap
becomes worried about what they’re doing again. After dinner, Dream asks to shower
with George, and much to Sapnap’s chargin, George agrees.

Chapter Notes

Thank you @ottergonedark for beta reading this chapter for meeee ily thank you!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

George has never loved someone as much as he loves Dream and Sapnap.

His reasoning for what they’re doing makes sense in his head. He’s doing this for Dream.
And for Sapnap. And himself, which he acknowledges is a bit selfish but he can’t bring
himself to feel guilty about it the same way Sapnap does. Before Dream hit his head, he was
miserable and mopey and wouldn’t leave his room for days, everything seemed to upset him
and he was so… gloomy all the time. George always caught him lurking on Twitter, as if his
curiosity got the better of him and he just had to see what was being said about him. There
was no escape though. The hate migrated onto TikTok too, and Instagram, once Dream
started searching for himself on there.

It scared the shit out of him, honestly. Dream is the embodiment of sunshine, seeing him
depressed and scared and hurt for so long was driving George insane.

George has always always been observant. Just as much as he noticed what has been going
on with Dream, he noticed the same thing with Sapnap. It was getting to him too, not being
able to defend Dream from anything and everything. It was eating away at him, slowly,
painfully. Sapnap threw himself into work to compensate for it, and if he wasn’t at work, he
was working out, anything to keep himself busy and exhaust the endless energy that he has.
Sapnap being gone more and Dream secluding himself left them all stranded, feeling like
they’re miles away from each other even in the same house. It sucked.

There had always been feelings between them. George has been in love with them for years
now and he thought before everything went to shit that they were getting close to admitting to
those feelings.

This was just the perfect opportunity to fix everything.

George keeps telling himself that as he takes the ring out of the Walmart bag. It’s a cheap
silver band, nothing that they would normally wear, but they had three of them that all looked
similar, and the little diamond lodged inside the band almost makes it look like it cost more
than it actually did. The $15 he spent on the ring is well worth it, he decides as he places it in
the spot where Dream usually dumps his rings at the end of the day. He shoved it back a little
bit on the dresser, so it looks like it’s been displaced, knowing Dream will find it later. He’ll
probably be ecstatic about it, George thinks with a giddy smile.

Once he makes sure Dream’s ring looks believable, he pulls a similar one out of his bag,
slipping it on his left ring finger.

“Whatcha doin?”

George looks over his shoulder, his entire demeanor shifting at the sight of Sapnap. He
doesn’t need a mirror to know his eyes are sparkling and he’s smiling like an idiot. “Hi
kitten.”

A smile tugs at the corners of Sapnap’s lips. “Stop.”

“What?” George hums playfully, eagerly forgetting what he’s doing in favor of touching
Sapnap in some way. Now that he’s allowed, he can’t keep his hands to himself. He could
become obsessed with this, he thinks. No- he knows he could become obsessed with touching
Sapnap, feeling him up and running his hands through his hair and grabbing and squeezing
every inch of him he can get to.

As soon as he’s within touching distance, George is running his hands along Sapnap’s
stomach and over his hips, wrapping around his back to pull him close.

“You know what,” Sapnap whispers, their breath mingling with how close they are to each
other. He cranes into George ever so slightly, smaller frame veering into him until their chests
touch. Bright green eyes challenge him, and George can’t help but get closer and closer,
tension growing as their lips almost brush, staying just millimeters apart.

“Dream isn’t watching,” Sapnap comments.

“I can only kiss you when he’s watching?” George questions curiously, mirth playing at the
corners of his lips, curling them up as he searches Sapnap’s face.

“I didn’t say that,” Sapnap shrugs.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” George asks playfully, noses just barely touching. He watches
with glee as Sapnap’s lashes flutter.

“Ye-yeah yeah. Yeah,” he nods eagerly.

George grins, and then presses a chaste kiss to Sapnap’s lips.

Sapnap huffs, and immediately tries to deepen it. The chasteness isn’t enough, he wants
more- probably just as bad as George wants more.
Kissing Sapnap is like coming home after a long day. Kissing him makes George feel like he
did when Sapnap showed up at the airport to see him in London, back when he was still
separated from the life he craved. Kissing Sapnap is reassurance and safety and an
undercurrent of dangerous adventure that sends a thrill down his spine every time their
mouths move against one another, stubble scraping against a full beard until George is sure
his face is turning red.

George reaches up, cupping his face, drawing him in closer and closer until his lungs scream
for air and they have no choice but than to pull apart and pant against one another’s lips.

“This may be about Dream,” George whispers breathlessly, rubbing the pad of his thumb
over the coarse hair of Sapnap’s beard. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you too. You
know that?”

Sapnap nods, dazed and eyes still foggy from the kisses.

“You get it?” George repeats. “I want to kiss you all the time.”

Sapnap gulps, and leans in for another, a needy little look in his eyes that reminds George of
a puppy dog. He can’t help but give in to him, kiss him as much as he wants.

“I bet he’s looking for us,” Sapnap whispers as George peppers kisses over his jaw, nipping at
his chin to make him jump. “He’s so clingy.”

“I love it,” George admits in the safety of Sapnap’s neck where he can’t see how his cheeks
darken. He smells nice, like rich, dark cologne, expensive and piney and manly. It’s not
something George would pick for himself but that doesn’t stop him from leaning his head
down on his shoulder to smell him better.

“Me too,” Sapnap admits right back. “He’s cute.”

“Here,” George grabs his hand, slipping the extra ring onto his ring finger on his left hand.

“You got wedding rings?” Sapnap asks incredulously, pulling back to examine the band.

“They’re cheap but they’ll work,” George shrugs.

Sapnap takes George’s hand in his, examining their matching wedding bands. “Where’s
Dream’s at?”

“On the dresser so he can find it,” George smiles, admiring how the bands glint against one
another.

Sapnap takes one last look at the rings before looking up at George. “Wish we were actually
married. And together.”

George frowns, eyebrows furrowed. “We are together. I mean, we are now… right?” he asks
nervously.

“Are we?” Sapnap asks.

George lets out a frustrated huff. “Do you want to be or not?”

“Damn George,” Sapnap giggles lightly. “Don’t get your panties in a wad. It was just a
question.”

“Okay, well, I feel like it would be easy to just say what you want outright instead of asking a
bunch of nonsense questions,” George grumbles, uncertainty making him feel ill at ease.

“Okay,” Sapnap concedes. “I want to be together. Actually. Not just as a lie.”

“Good,” George hums. “That wasn’t too hard now, was it?”

“You’re such an ass,” Sapnap shakes his head. “Do you feel the same way or not?”

“Duh,” George scoffs.

Sapnap flicks his ear, making him flinch. “Fuck off, lets go find Dream and do something
together or something. I’m tired of you.”

“Tired,” George echoes. “Wired. I’m wired right now,” he takes Sapnap’s hand, lacing their
fingers together with a casualness and familiarity that makes his head spin. Sapnap lets him,
lets himself be dragged out of the room and down the stairs. He always follows George. The
thought puts a warm gooey feeling in his chest.

Dream is lounging casually on the couch, Patches on his chest once again, her face tucked
against his neck. George can practically hear how she purrs from here. The love those two
have for each other has always made his heart melt, even from miles away.

“Hi baby,” Dream whispers, voice high pitched and sweet. It has George perking up
instantly, cheeks warm. He had almost been asleep, lulled by the bright white screen of his
computer in the otherwise dark room. He hasn’t been able to bring himself to go to bed yet,
he doesn’t want to miss a second of time with Dream today. He’ll probably sleep call with
him, though he’ll lie in the morning and say it wasn’t intentional, he just happened to fall
asleep after he switched over to his phone on Discord.

“Hi,” George replies dumbly, brain foggy with sleep.

“Wha- George ,” Dream giggles. “I was talking to Patches.”

His voice is soft, gentle and kind in a way he always reserves for late night Discord calls with
George. He doesn’t use the voice with anyone else, not even Sapnap as far as George is
aware, though he doesn’t think he would be jealous if he did. It’s special though. It’s Dream’s
George voice.

“Oh,” George’s eyes widen. That makes sense. His face heats up with embarrassment,
grateful that Dream can’t see him right now.
“She’s being so sweet tonight,” Dream continues on, not lingering on George’s slip up.
“She’s sitting on my chest so she can sleep on my shoulder. Like a parrot.”

George gnaws on the inside of his cheek as he imagines it. He pictures a broad chest, big
hands he’s only seen a few times, and a soft warm cat purring against him. He wants to see it
so bad.

George swallows thickly.

“I love her so much, you’re my baby huh?” Dream coos softly. George picks up on a soft
smooching sound, and gentle purring that follows, interrupted by a fond chuckle.

George’s heart clenches in his chest, beating so hard he can hear it. “She loves you too.” I
love you too.

“She does,” Dream echoes, oblivious. “I can’t wait for you to meet her.”

George stares intensely at the two on the couch, the memory floating around in his head. It’s
the sight he always craved to see, the broad chest and big hands and soft warm cat. Patches
can’t seem to get close enough to Dream, and there’s a little wet patch on his Sooner’s shirt
from her drool.

He wants to touch them. He wants to hold them both in his arms and smother Dream because
why is he so fucking cute.

“Hi,” Dream grins sweetly at them both.

“Hi,” Sapnap echos, crossing the room to flop down on the couch too, because he’s normal.
George isn’t normal. He can’t move. He’s obsessed.

“George?” Dream asks curiously, big bright green eyes looking up at him like a puppy.
“Whatcha doin’?”

He wants to kiss him so fucking bad. Whisper over and over how much he loves him until
Dream gets sick of hearing it and then he’ll say it a few more times just for good measure.

What comes out of his mouth is totally different though.

“She’s drooling on you,” George states. “That’s disgusting.”

Dream just chuckles, that dark, gorgeous chuckle with his perfect teeth and lips curled into a
grin, cheeks scrunches and pink. “She’s sweet. She can’t leave me alone today.”

Slowly, George pulls himself from his thoughts, and cross the room, walking up to Dream.
He’s allowed to touch him now and so he does, combing his fingers through wild curls that
snag around his knuckles. He’s forgotten about the cat beanies he used to wear even in the
house, another awesome amazing thing to come out of this if anyone asks George. He loves
Dream’s hair. Before his face reveal he really downplayed his curls– or maybe he just didn’t
have them, he did shave his head once when he was living with Sapnap. Either way, almost
as soon as George got here and got to discover the wonderful perfect curls, Dream also
discovered cat beanies and then he never took them off. It wasn’t fair.

Dream preens into his touch, smiling softly and blinking slow, like he’s on the verge of sleep.
It’s only when George goes to comb through his hair one more time does Dream suddenly
perk up.

“The ring,” Dream’s eyes widen. “I haven’t seen you guys wear yours before.”

“Rings bug me,” George answers honestly. “And Sapnap always takes his off in the bathroom
when he has to shit and then leaves it there,” he lies.

“Hey!” Sapnap’s jaw drops.

It’s a careful balance. Like two truths and a lie.

A truth makes it plausible, believable, and the lie is just close enough to the truth it blends in.
He should probably feel bad about how he’s lying to him but then Dream smiles at him and
he can’t bring himself to feel bad about it at all.

Dream carefully cradles George’s hand, examining the ring closer. It makes his heart skip a
beat how Dream holds him, like he’s something precious. He’s always doing things like that,
holding George and caring for him, cradling him when he thinks he’s been hurt somehow and
looking him over with such gentleness it makes George squirm.

He sits up to look at it better, displacing Patches. She falls into his lap, and George reaches
down with his free hand to love on her a bit until Dream is done.

Dream thumbs over the ring, and then looks up at George with big puppy dog eyes. “I wish I
knew where mine is. I would never take it off,” he promises, as if that would make it appear.

George resists a smug smirk that threatens to take over his face, knowing the matching ring to
their set will be so easy to find, he just has to get Dream to go look for it.

“Can I see yours?” Dream looks up at Sapnap.

Sapnap sighs. “I guueeeesss,” he pushes himself off the couch beside them as if it were a
huge inconvenience to walk across the room. Dream grins the whole time until Sapnap is
standing right beside George, their shoulders brushing when he holds his hand out for Dream
to see the ring.

“It's so pretty,” he sighs dreamily, holding his hand too.

“You’re pretty,” Sapnap quips.

Dream’s cheeks darken and he leans up, asking for a kiss.

Sapnap bends down, kissing him sweetly.

George’s stomach flips at the sight, a pleased, content feeling growing in his chest.

Dream’s fist latches onto Sapnap’s hoodie, pulling him into it. George thinks he even sees
some tongue action, which is a major improvement from Sapnap running away the last time
they kissed.

Maybe he’s coming around to it, George wonders. He’s finally starting to understand why
George wants this so badly.

Dream pulls away with one final peck to his lips, and George makes his move. “I think you
usually leave your rings on your dresser. Maybe your wedding ring is there?”

“Maybe,” Dream echos, face lighting up. “I should go look huh? I still can’t find my phone
either, maybe it’s there too.”

“Yeah,” George agrees.

Dream’s phone is in his office which is firmly locked, the keys tucked away with all the
spares in the kitchen drawer. He’ll admit it’s a bit fucked, but what happens if Dream tries to
Google his music and gets his Youtube instead? And then he knows they lied, and-

“I’m gonna go look,” Dream carefully sets Patches down on the couch so he can stand up. He
steals a quick kiss from George, looking absolutely delighted for a second, before darting off
towards the stairs, a little hop in his step as he thunders up it.

“You’re evil,” Sapnap comments playfully, sitting down where Dream was.

George follows, sitting beside him so he can pull Patches into his lap. She mirps at all the
movement, and starts making herself comfortable on him, placing both paws on his shirt and
kneading his stomach with little biscuits before curling up.

George lays his head over on Sapnap’s shoulder, fingers buried in her soft fur. Sapnap doesn’t
push him off, though he does shoulder him a little until he’s more comfortable.

They make a cute little family, George thinks fondly. The three of them and their three cats.
Milo and Naomi are around her somewhere— probably in Sapnap’s office, they prefer it
there because of the walls they can climb. It’s far from a nuclear family but George can’t
think of anything more perfect.

A few moments later, Dream comes thundering back down the stairs, hoping on the balls of
his feet a few times with utter giddiness. “I found it!” he yells, hurrying across the room. “I
found my ring!”

He excitedly holds his hand out in front of Sapnap and George both, the cheap Walmart ring
on his finger.

George let’s out a little breath of relief that it fits.

“I’m glad you found it,” Sapnap says, unable to keep the smile of his face at the joy on
Dream’s.
“Me too,” George agrees.

“I also looked around my room for other stuff to maybe jog my memory,” Dream says
casually. “And I found something really cool.”

George’s heart lurches. “What is it?”

He went through Dream’s room the other day and wiped off his whiteboard and looked for
signs of their current life in there. He cleaned it up the best he could, hid what he had to in his
office, but what if he missed something?

“Tada,” Dream presents a raggedy looking paper as if it had been stuffed in tight places and
folded a million times, hidden out of sight. “It’s- I think I was writing a song. About y’all. Or
like, I think it’s about you guys, it’s definitely a love song. Do you wanna read it?”

Dream wrote a song about them?

George’s mind races. He knows Spotlight was about Sapnap, and he has a feeling Paranoid is
about him… a song about the two of them together just further confirms how in love Dream
was with them though.

“Yeah, let’s see it,” Sapnap scoots over, giving Dream room to slide in between them.

He does so excitedly, unfolding the contents and then holding them where they both can read
them easily.

Sure enough, scrawled in Dream’s messy handwriting, is a song.

George scans the lyrics, every mention of ‘love’ ‘need’ and ‘want’ making him feel a little
more insane. It’s definitely a love song. Whoever it’s to is just vague enough that no one
would pick up on anyone specific. He’s sure some people will get a little bit insane and label
it a DNF song, say it’s Dream confessing to him, but there are lines that are most certainly
about Sapnap. There’s no doubt in his mind that this isn’t only a love song, but it’s a
confession to both of them.

George imagines being pulled into Dream’s office one day and hearing a demo of it, watching
Sapnap’s face shift as the rough song filters over the headphones. He’s sure Dream wouldn’t
have just shown them the lyrics first, he would have had them listen. He would want to watch
the realization of what it is slowly come over their faces, gauge their reactions in that
analytical way he always does when he isn’t sure how something is going to play out. He
would probably have a plan for either a good reaction or a bad one, and knowing Dream, he
would probably be banking on a bad one.

… He almost wishes he could have got that. This though, this is perfect . There was already
no doubt in his mind that Dream loves them, but this is just further confirmation; icing on the
cake if you will.

George can’t keep the grin off of his face.

“Holy shit,” Sapnap breathes, eyes wide as he looks down at the paper.
“It’s pretty good right?” Dream asks like an over excited puppy.

“I-“

Dream cuts him off, pointing excitedly. “I think this line is about you.”

Sapnap’s eyes widen and he reads over the line again. “Dream,” he whispers quietly in
shock.

“I wonder if I was going to record it or something,” Dream looks it over again. “It seems
pretty good. I still can’t find my phone though and I don’t remember the passwords to my
iPad and stuff so I couldn’t really find out. Maybe it was meant to be like a surprise or
something? That’s why it’s on paper,” Dream grins, going a million miles an hour, talking so
fast he almost stutters. “So you wouldn’t find it. If I ruined the surprise I’m sorry, this was
just— I don’t know, this was really cool. I think it’s good too. Maybe later we can listen to
my songs?”

“We can,” George promises. “Right now if you want to, I can play us some.”

“Later okay? I’m gonna go look around my room some more,” Dream asks, already standing
up again. He flashes them a beautiful smile. “I love you both so much.”

“Love you,” Sapnap echos. His voice is rattly, and George flashes him a warning look.

Dream doesn’t notice, and soon enough he’s trotting back up the stairs once more, leaving
them alone.

The silence is heavy.

George waits, tense and ready to fight. He knows it’s coming. Sapnap’s shoulders are tight,
his jaw squared.

“This is so fucked up,” Sapnap whispers finally.

“Shut up,” George groans.

“This is so fucked up.”

“Shut up ,” George repeats with a snarl.

“We shouldn’t know this about him, George,” Sapnap whines, stressed. “He kept this a secret
from us for a reason!”

“Yeah because he was in love with us and was scared we wouldn’t love him back,” George
sneers, frustration building inside of him. Why can’t Sapnap understand what a good thing
this is?! “We do love him so what’s the problem?”

“I don’t know!” Sapnap groans, flopping back against the couch. “It just feels wrong. Like
we’re doing something we shouldn’t.”
“Aren’t you happy?” George grumbles, eyes narrowed. “He loves us. We love him, we’re
finally together- I don’t know why you’re so against this. Throwing up when he kissed you
and now this? He’s going to find out and it’s going to be your fault ,” he accuses with a sharp,
mean glare.

Cowed, Sapnap pouts silently, mind still racing so fast George can see it on his face.

His reaction was harsh, and George immediately acknowledges that, but he can’t bring
himself to regret it either. This is important. Dream needs this, they all need this.

_________________________

Sapnap was scarce the rest of the day. He claimed he needed to stream, his contract requiring
so many hours a week.

George made up a lie that he was cleaning in one of the other rooms and working out or
whatever, anything to keep Dream from questioning what he was doing in there by himself
for hours.

Him and Dream spent the day in his room together, talking. Dream recalls what few Discord
calls he could remember with George, and George fills him in on everything they’ve done
together. He tells him about going to Antarctica, Chile, and Spain, and he watches Dream’s
eyes widen at all the places he lists even in the U.S. He tells him about meeting all their
friends, having the whole Munchy MC group stay at their house. He tells him how loud it
was, and how him, Sapnap and George all hid in the bathroom once only to be caught by Bad
and teased relentlessly for it. He tells him about Techno, and how good of friends they were,
he tells him about Sylvee, Hannah, Punz and Skeppy all living close by. He almost offers to
invite them over before thinking better of it.

By the end of the day, Dream is exhausted, and George can tell it that it was information
overload.

He’s quiet, clinging onto George everywhere they go. He even tries to follow him into the
bathroom once, making George laugh for a good long while before Dream told him to stop
while blushing like a madman.

Sapnap finally comes back around dinner time, though he stayed quiet even when George
presented him with his takeout order that he didn’t even have to ask for. He just remembered
it. Because he loves him or whatever.

The three eat almost silently, though Sapnap does warm up eventually when Dream’s tired
head flops over onto his shoulder where they are sitting on the couch. He holds him gently,
wrapping an arm around him on the couch and pulling him closer, their boxes in their laps
dangerously close to falling over.

“One day I’m going to remember everything,” Dream promises under his breath.

“I know,” Sapnap kisses his hair. “It’ll be okay until then though. Don’t beat yourself up
about it.”

George’s eyes widen.

Oh.

Dream is upset.

… He didn’t even realize.

“I just want to remember,” he replies miserably, curled tight up against Sapnap. “George told
me about how many cool things we did and- I’m glad he told me but…”

George wilts.

Dream looks at him, drinking in his expression and then he slumps down too. “Sorry,” he
says simply.

“Don’t be,” George assures. “I should have known. It was too much huh?”

Dream nods sadly.

“It’ll be okay baby,” Sapnap kisses his forehead. “George was just trying to help.”

“Yeah,” George agrees with a grateful smile tossed towards Sapnap who gives him a tight
one in return. The two of them have always been great at communicating with each other
silently, and the words go unspoken but understood.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Me too.’

“I know,” Dream replies. “Like I said, I’m glad you told me. It’s just overwhelming how
good of a life I have that I can’t remember.”

George nods sympathetically.

Silence falls, and guilt at upsetting Dream is still eating away at him, so George focuses in on
his food, eating a bit faster than necessary.

“I need to go shower,” George announces once he’s finished eating. As much as he adores
sitting here and doing nothing but existing with them (even when Sapnap is mad at him), he
can also smell himself, and it’s getting to be a little gross. Plus, he could use the alone time to
get his head back on straight.

He stands up, stuffing his now empty box of food back into the sack to be thrown away later.

“... Can I come with you?” Dream asks softly. “I um- I need to shower too. We could just do
it together.”

George’s eyes snap up at the request, wide with surprise.

Sapnap’s jaw drops. “What?” he hisses.

“We’ve showered together before,” Dream tilts his head at George curiously. “Right? I
mean… it was like my favorite thing to do when I had a girlfriend before so- if we’re married
then- then we’ve showered together like a million times right?”

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck-

“Yeah,” George nods, head completely devoid of thought.

“ George ,” Sapnap snaps at him.

“... Why are you guys being so weird?” Dream asks with a little pout.

George dares a glance over at Sapnap. He looks like he’s two seconds away from getting up
and smacking some sense into George.

“I just-“ Sapnap tries to cover for his outburst. “I don’t want to go too fast with you. You
don’t have any memories-“

“That doesn’t change the fact that we’re married,” Dream insists. “You’ve got to have seen
me naked before right? This shouldn’t be a big deal.”

Sapnap stares at George.

George stares back.

“You’re still being weird!” Dream accuses, voice growing louder and higher pitched.

George shakes himself out of his stupor. “We’re not, idiot. You are.”

“… Oh,” Dream looks taken aback at that.

George cringes internally. “We’re just worried. Since you don’t remember. That’s why we’re
being weird about things.”

He scrunches his nose, thinking. “And you’re trying to be careful with me or something
because I don’t remember things. But you don’t have to be. I’m not gonna like break or
something. Can we just do what we normally did together? Before I
hit my head?”
“Yeah,” George agrees without thinking. It’s obvious Dream isn’t going to let this go— he
has that stubborn look in his eyes that George knows all too well. “Sure. Let’s go then, I don’t
got all day. Chop chop.”

Sapnap shoots him an incredulous look, eyes wide, and then he squares his jaw and opens his
mouth.

George stops Sapnap with a sharp look.

You’re going to ruin it.

His words must be echoing in both of their heads right now, because Sapnap stays silent as
Dream adds his box to the bag and hurries up to George, somehow looking like a little pup
despite his almost 6’3” height. His eyes are bright and he’s smiling again– a relief to see.

“Come on,” George sighs, turning on his heel sharply.

Dream follows him dutifully up the stairs. He almost takes them into George’s room to
shower, but then decides Dream’s is bigger for the two of them to cram under the warm
water. He leads the way, leaving the door to his bedroom open behind them just in case
Sapnap wants to join. He doesn’t want it to feel like he isn’t invited, not that George thinks
he’ll actually show up.

Hot on his heels, Dream nearly stumbles as they make it to the bathroom, and then George
does shut the door behind them, more out of nerves than anything else.

With the door shut, George turns and looks at Dream. At least he’s blushing, which makes
George feel a little better about things as he starts up the shower.

“I’m excited,” Dream blurts out. “That’s really dumb huh? To be excited about showering?”

George shrugs. He’s excited too. “Nah.”

“I’ve never seen you naked,” Dream keeps blabbering. He always blurts out every thought
that comes to mind when he’s nervous about something. “I don’t guess- I’ve ever seen you
though. Until now. Or kissed you. Like current me, memory me has.”

“Memory me?” George asks. Steam is beginning to fog up the glass of the shower, but he
gives it a little longer before he starts undressing, not wanting to jump straight into a cold
shower when he’s already on edge.

“Yeah like- the me who has the memories that I don’t currently have,” Dream says, as if that
explains it any better. George supposes it kind of makes sense, to Dream it must seem like
there’s two versions of himself.

He’s never seen Dream naked before either, not that he’s going to tell him that.

“Ready?” He asks dumbly. Why would he ask that?

Dream nods either way. “Yeah, I’ll show you yours if you show me mine…” he stops
himself, brows furrowed. “Wait…”

“Other way around, darling,” George laughs lightly.

“Yeah,” He giggles. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. There we go. Get naked.”

He can’t stop smiling now. Dream is so dumb. He loves him so much it makes his ribs ache.

George carefully keeps the nerves off of his face as he reaches up and pulls his shirt off by
the back of his collar. He moves as nonchalantly as he can, shoving everything he wears
below the waist off in one push. He then toes out of his socks, and stands up fully.

George stands back up sharply, looking to Dream to do the same. “Your turn.”

Dream’s face is bright red, and he knows his must be too as they look at each other.

“Sorry,” Dream breathes, tugging at his own shit. “I’m nervous. That must sound so stupid to
you though-”

“No,” George assures immediately. “I get it. It’s- it’s new. For you,” he tacks on. “The last
you remember of me I was still in England, of course you would be nervous. We don’t have
to do this, we can shower separately. You’re a millionaire, a high water bill won’t run you
dry.”

The last thing he wants is for Dream to be uncomfortable. As exciting as showering together
sounds, he would much rather Dream be happy. That’s why they’re doing this whole thing
after all.

“No, I want to,” Dream assures. “I’ve wanted to see you naked since you said we’re
married,” Dream lets his eyes trace down his exposed body.

George fights the urge to squirm, unable to control how his blush spreads down to his chest
and covers the tips of his ears. He lets Dream look, his gaze a physical touch to his skin, from
his chest, down his stomach, to his dick and thighs and then back up to his face.

George swallows nervously. “Did you get enough or you want me to turn around? Full body
scan,” he jokes.

“Well-” Dream giggles warmly, leaning over as if to steal a glance at George’s ass.

George snorts, almost coughing.

Dream peels his shirt off, tossing it onto the floor. George’s eyes immediately go to his chest,
his nipples, the hair that trails down his stomach into a cute little trail beneath his belly
button. He’s perfect, soft stomach and pecs that George wants to feel all over.

Next go his pants, and the tight blue briefs he wears. He steps out of all of it, hands
awkwardly hovering around his soft cock.
George swallows thickly. Dream is big. He knew he had to be decently big but holy shit, even
soft the sight makes his mouth water, begging to feel the weight of him on his tongue. He’s
cut where George is uncut, and he desperately wants to just hold his soft cock in his hand. It
doesn’t have to be sexual, he just wants to touch.

“Um-” he looks down at himself and then at George again. “... Wanna see some cool scars?”
he asks playfully, twisting around to show George his hip. “Got that one when I was like
twelve falling off a scooter,” he points to a silvery line. “Annnd I got that one from some
coral at the beach like a million years ago,” he points to one on his leg.

George’s cheeks hurt from how endearing he is, showing him his childhood scars because
he’s nervous.

“I got this one from my older sister’s bike,” George offers, pointing at his knee. “I tried to
ride it but obviously it was too big for me. And this one,” he lifts his arm up above his head
to show off his armpit. Above the tuff of dark hair, is a long stretch of scarred skin, a deep
line engraved in his skin. “I was on top of a fence, and I kept telling my friend to shut it to
pretend I was flying. Or something, I don’t know.”

He wishes Sapnap was in here too. He wants to see all of his childhood scars too, he surely
has one. They were all three rough as kids, tumbling in the grass and doing stupid things that
they can’t bring themselves to regret even now. One in Texas, one in Florida, and one in
London, and yet they all still ended up here together years and years later. There’s something
enchanting about that, Dream would say it’s fate. It’s enough to make him believe somewhat
in the idea of soulmates and destiny or whatever.

“Get in the shower,” George tilts his head at the glass. “Before it gets cold.”

“Got it, bossy,” Dream teases, walking forward.

George steals a glance at his perky ass before following.

The water is scorching, and Dream yelps while George relaxes into it.

“Don’t be a baby,” George hisses, dipping his head under the hot water, wetting his hair.

“It’s hot!” Dream whimpers.

“Hush,” George pushes him under the water next.

Dream giggles, letting out a pained little sigh. “ Georgeee .”

With his curls now damp, he really looks like a puppy. George commits the sight of his hair
plastered down to his head to memory as he grabs the shampoo. He squirts some into his
hand, and scrubs his own hair first before getting more soap and reaching up to bathe Dream
too. It’s just an excuse to touch his hair some more.

Idly, George thinks it would be a million times better if Sapnap was in here too.
Dream’s hands slip over George’s wet hips as he pulls him closer while he scrubs at his hair.
It feels so good to be held it steals his breath away.

George pushes Dream back under the water, rinsing his hair out, and does the same for his
before picking up a bottle of body wash.

Strawberry cream scented.

George snorts. “You’re so…”

“What?” Dream grins, unable to stop looking at George’s face. It makes him blush.

“Nothing,” George shakes his head. They forgot washrags, so he uses his hand, squirting soap
into his palm before rubbing it around.

He starts at Dream’s chest, massaging the soap into his skin tenderly. He rubs over his
shoulders, and down his sides, over each rib and his sternum. He goes for his stomach next, a
pleased growl building in his throat at getting to touch him like this. It’s so intimate, almost
more intimate than if they were being sexual right now. There’s tension, but there’s
something more to every touch. It’s the care that makes it special, the love he’s showing
Dream right now.

Neither of them speak as he moves over his hips, rubbing the soap over dimples in his skin
and freckles that he would kiss if it wouldn’t leave him with suds in his mouth. Next, he
reaches around, smoothing his hands over Dream’s ass when he doesn’t pull away from him.
His cheeks are round, cute, and they fit good in his hands. After that he moves around to his
cock. He’s soft, velvety in his palm that he cups around him, carefully working the soap over
his shaft and down around his balls too.

Dream chokes, and George pulls away quickly.

“Sorry,” Dream whispers, face red as a tomato. “I um- if you keep playing with it like that
I’m gonna get hard.”

Relief makes his brain short circuit. He didn’t make him uncomfy. “Oh. I was worried,” he
admits.

“You can keep going,” Dream assures softly.

George does so, working down his thighs next. They’re strong, pure muscle still from when
Dream used to run miles a day on a treadmill when he couldn’t leave the house. He leans
down to do the rest, but that puts him at eye level with his cock again, so George stands up
quickly and shoves Dream under the scorching water once more.

“Can I wash you too?” Dream asks, squirming under the hot water.

George’s cheeks turn pink. “Yeah, I guess. If you want.”

“I do want to,” Dream smiles dreamily at him.

George silently hands him the soap and bites his lip while he gives his body the same
treatment. He even flicks his nipple and makes him jerk away, just to giggle like a little shit
and keep going as if nothing happened. He works over his chest, stomach and thighs. Dream
gropes his ass a lot more than necessary, practically pinning George up against the shower
wall, bracketed in by strong arms while he feels him up.

Eventually he has enough, and washes his cock for him, George’s hands braced on his
shoulders and lip bitten red between his teeth at the sensation.

Finally, he does his legs, and George feels like he can breathe again without hands against his
body.

“Wow,” he hums, trying to sound unaffected.

He fails.

“Yeah,” Dream nuzzles into him, pressing his chest against George’s, hugging him tightly.
“Thank you for showering with me. I needed this,” he lays his head on his shoulder,
squeezing him tight.

George swallows, throat tight, letting Dream hold him as long as he wants. They’re touching
all over, slick skin soft from the soap. It’s the most intimate hug George thinks he’s ever
experienced.

Eventually, the water starts to grow cold, so he shuts it off, and steps out first to hand Dream
a towel.

They dry off together, sharing shy smiles with darting eyes as the moment ends. It’s almost
awkward again by the time they’re opening the door to the bedroom and stepping out into the
cold room air.

George’s eyes immediately zero in on Sapnap lying in the bed, playing on his phone.

He looks up when they step out into the room and smiles at them. “Fresh and clean?”

“Yup!” Dream hums. “Unlike you.”

“I’m clean,” Sapnap scoffs.

“You didn’t shower today,” Dream points out.

“Okay but I’m not-”

Dream walks up to Sapnap, still wrapped comfortably in his towel around his waist, cutting
his words off.

Sapnap looks nervous, which makes George nervous. He watches with bated breath to see
what Dream is about to do, and how Sapnap will react, ready to do damage control if need
be.
“Hey Sap?” Dream asks sweetly.

Sapnap sits up a little, looking over Dream’s barely concealed body. “Yeah?”

Dream leans down, invading Sapnap’s space almost as if going in for a kiss. Sapnap leans
forward, welcoming him in, but as soon as he does Dream grins deviously.

George watches with utter delight as Dream shakes his curly wild hair like a wet dog, sending
dots of water all over Sapnap who screeches “DREAM!”

Dream just keeps going, sloshing water all over Sapnap and the pillows and sheets, wetting
everything that he can.

“Stop it!!” Sapnap yells, holding his hands out at Dream to shield himself from the cold
droplets.

Dream leans forward, and starts rubbing his wet hair all over Sapnap’s hands and arms like a
menace. The two wrestle, and eventually Dream collapses on top of Sapnap and the blankets,
giggling breathlessly, the towel barely sitting on his ass anymore.

George watches them both fondly. He hasn’t seen Dream laugh this hard in a long, long time.
It almost looks foreign on his face even, the way his eyes crinkle and he almost wheezes but
stops just short.

Sapnap wraps his arms around Dream’s neck, also breathless with joy. “What is wrong with
you?” He asks, fingers trailing over Dream’s shoulders, scratching him gently. “You’re like a
fucking dog, dude.”

“You like it,” Dream accuses, rubbing his wet head on Sapnap’s now soaked shirt.

George stares intensely at the two. He wishes Dream was always this happy, albeit a bit
selfishly, because Dream’s happiness makes him happy, and Sapnap too. Doesn’t everyone
win in this situation?

George is determined to keep them both this happy. No matter what.

“Come here, idiot,” Sapnap holds his arm out for George, beckoning him closer.

George follows the command without hesitation, eagerly falling into his ‘husband’s’ arms.

As soon as he’s resting up against his warm chest, their sides pressed against one another,
Sapnap steals him in a kiss, and George almost audibly yells ‘yes!’ Sapnap loves him.

“Next time let me shower with you,” he requests to George, kissing along his jaw.

George preens, tilting his neck to give him more room. “I’ll go shower again. Right now.”

“No,” Sapnap giggles at the enthusiasm. “Just… I wanna be included. Ya know.”

 He’s in. He’s not going to ruin things with Dream. And he wants to shower with George!!
This is perfect.

George sags in relief. “Got it.”

Chapter End Notes

Let me know what you thought of this chapter!! :D

 A way to be forgiven
Chapter Summary

Sapnap wakes up to Dream pressed against his back with a boner. He wakes him up and
pushes him away, but then Dream decides later that he wants to have sex. Selfishly,
Sapnap and George go with it, but Sapnap becomes upset after.

Chapter Notes

WARNING: Dream does not have his memories!! He is under the impression that
Sapnap and George are his husbands. While he remembers who they are and he loves
them and is very consenting, because he does not have his memories, this chapter can be
considered dubious consent!!!
he wants to have sex but not having memories created an issue.
Please read with discretion, if this is triggering for you please do not read! Take care of
yourself and make ao3 an enjoyable experience for yourself by not reading

Thank you RxdMouth for beta reading this chapter for me!!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It’s not Dream’s fault.

Sapnap knows this, but he can’t help cursing him internally. Of course, this would happen to
him and not George, because why wouldn’t it? George would know how to handle this better
than him.

It’s not Dream’s fault but there is definitely a boner pressed up against Sapnap’s ass, he can
feel it, tucked away in Dream’s boxers.

Dream is wrapped almost entirely around him, pinning him down beneath his slumbering
body as he drools on Sapnap’s back and shoulder, strong arms wrapped around to rest on his
ribs, and warm hands planted on his sides, holding him in place like a pillow.

George is still asleep too, on the other side of him, the two of them bracketing him in
completely. It’s warm– too warm even, being squished between the two of them, cocooned in
blankets. It’s the safest he’s ever felt in his entire life, and if he’s being honest, Sapnap
doesn’t even remember falling asleep. He remembers talking Dream and George into at least
putting underwear on after their shower escapades, and he remembers the three of them
giggling together until the pillow beneath him felt too comfortable and the arms around him
too comforting.

And now Dream has a boner against his ass.

Sapnap shuffles awkwardly, pushing himself more into Dream and away at the same time.
The movement jostles Dream enough that he stirs, a sleepy arm pulling Sapnap back into
place with a muffled noise. His hips jerk, rutting against Sapnap hard enough that it jolts him
fully awake.

His eyes widen at the feeling, jaw dropping open. His own cock jerks in his pants, not
immune to Dream and his perfect body humping against him.

He’s still so sleepy too. Sapnap’s eyes threaten to fall shut, enjoying the attention and touch
more than he should. His brain is laggy, and he can’t think things through when he feels
Dream push closer and closer to him, their legs tangled together beneath the sheets and on the
verge of overheating.

Dream rolls his hips into him, jostling him awake once more. Sapnap lets out a sleepy moan,
half in protest at being moved and half in encouragement for him to do it again.

As nice as it is, Sapnap doesn’t think he should let it go on. His voice croaks as he whispers,
“Dream.”

No response.

“Dream,” He says again, louder.

He groans, muffled in Sapnap’s shoulder. His hips give a little twitch again, and Sapnap
imagines his cock dripping with precum, hot and wet and trapped in dampened underwear.
His chest rises and falls faster with excitement.

“Dream,” he tries again, albeit a bit breathless now. He almost wants to let him keep going
until he finishes, but that feels wrong.

“Wha?” he slurs, grip tightening on Sapnap’s stomach.

“Dream, you gotta get up dude,” Sapnap pushes against him, much to his own
disappointment. He really doesn’t want it to stop, but awareness comes to Dream faster than
it did for Sapnap.

Once he’s awake, he’s flying off of Sapnap, letting him up quickly from the bed.

Sapnap looks over his shoulder, and Dream’s face is burning red, his hand shoved between
his legs as he sits on his knees. “Sap!” he hisses under his breath, nervous eyes flittering over
to George still sleeping soundly next to them.

“Why’d you say my name like that?” Sapnap asks incredulously. “ You were the one humping
me .”
Dream’s face gets even redder, somehow. His hair is wilder, and he looks ridiculously cute as
he squeezes his eyes shut. “Sorry,” Dream whispers. “I’m so sorry oh my god-”

“It’s fine,” Sapnap assures with a little laugh.

“I’m so embarrassed,” Dream laughs awkwardly, still looking anywhere but at Sapnap.

He’s going to find out and it’s going to be your fault.

Sapnap decides to take a page out of George’s book for once. “Why are you embarrassed,
baby? I’m your husband.”

He hates how easily the lie leaves his mouth and he hates how much he wishes it was real.

At that, Dream’s face breaks out in a gorgeous smile, though the apples of his cheeks are still
bright pink. “Oh. Yeah.”

“I just didn’t want you to feel weird,” Sapnap holds his arms out, welcoming Dream back in.
“Especially since you weren’t awake.”

At least that part is true.

“Right,” Dream says, still blushing like a madman. “I… I guess it’s okay then?”

Sapnap gestures towards himself again, and Dream slowly crawls to lie back down against
him, tucking his face against Sapanp’s chest, embarrassed. Hesitantly, Dream rests his hips up
against Sapnap’s, hard-on still squished between them, though now he doesn’t dare move.

It’s still torture, Sapnap thinks. He wants to touch him so bad and now he can feel how hard
he is, how big his cock is, begging to be touched and just out of reach. It makes his
imagination run wild, thoughts racing with possibilities.

“It’s okay,” Sapnap promises, easing Dream’s worry. He’s still very embarrassed, hiding his
face against Sapnap as tight as he can so he can’t see him.

Sapnap tentatively wraps his arm around him, holding him close. “You’re cute,” he whispers
against his hair.

“I was dreaming about you,” Dream sighs. “And then you were actually under me. That-”

Dream was dreaming about him.

Holy shit.

Sapnap grabs his chin quickly, tilting his face up so he can steal him in a kiss, loving how he
can feel the heat from Dream’s cheeks against his own.
Dream’s hips jerk and Sapnap’s stomach flips with arousal.

It’s all too easy to work his tongue into Dream’s mouth, licking over his teeth, nipping his
bottom lip before kissing him again in apology for the whimper he draws out of him with the
action.

Dream’s hands come up to find Sapnap’s face, cupping his chin and running down to his
chest, holding him close. It makes his heart skip a beat, thundering in his chest so hard he can
hear it. Their lips keep moving against one another’s in a constant pace; a perfect, sloppy,
morning makeout session. He always fantasized about this, especially living with Dream for
so long. He used to imagine pushing him up against the sink– especially the morning he
walked in on him shirtless, fixing pancakes. He wanted to crawl into bed with him and kiss
him stupid and giggle at how their shared morning breath would hit each other’s noses.

This is a little more intense than what he used to imagine, but he isn’t complaining.

Dream humps him slowly, like he’s waiting to be told no again, hips grinding in little circles,
putting pressure against the bulge in his boxers. Sapnap almost doesn’t tell him no. He almost
lets it happen, because god, imagining Dream cuming in his boxers up against Sapnap’s hip
sounds like a wet dream.

That isn’t right though. He can’t- they aren’t married as ridiculous as that sounds. They aren’t
actually married and Dream is doing this because he thinks they are and the guilt of it all is
going to eat him alive.

“Woah,” Sapnap stops him with a hand to his waist, holding him in place. His knuckles are
white, and he’s sure it probably hurts, but his stupid dick is taking over his brain and begging
him to let go and get off together. It would be so easy to slip his hand inside his boxers and
pull them both out, let the heads of their cocks bump against one another and shafts line up,
slick with one another’s precum–

“Sorry,” Dream whimpers, tensing back up. He comes to a complete stop, still pressed as
tight as he can get to Sapnap, though he’s once again doing it to hide, rather than get off. “I’m
sorry. I-I thought- I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” Sapnap groans, his stupid dick half-hard in his pants, stealing his blood and
making it hard to think. “I shouldn’t have kissed you like that.”

Dream drops his head back down to his chest, but Sapnap doesn’t miss how his cheeks are
bright red, and not in the good way. In the humiliated kind of way where he knows Dream’s
chest is stinging right now and he wants to go hide. His gut twists again with guilt.

“I want to,” Sapnap clarifies, desperate to make him feel better. “Like if it’s any consolation,
I want to touch you so fucking bad. It’s just–”

“No memories,” Dream supplies meekly, pouting.

“Yeah,” Sapnap lies.

Or… it isn’t a total lie. It’s just a lot more complicated than the fact that Dream doesn’t
remember the last few years.

“It isn’t because you think I’m gross or ugly or something, right?” Dream jokes.

Sapnap’s heartstrings tug. Dream doesn’t even remember how self-conscious he became the
first month or two after the face reveal. Seeing ‘he’s ugly’ trend in all caps after he finally
braved revealing his face had messed Dream up. He wouldn’t admit it, but he started talking
down on himself. He used to have so much more confidence, especially after the insane
amount of weight he lost and how healthy he became over the years.

Maybe he still feels that insecurity, Sapnap worries idly. Maybe there’s a little itch in the back
of his mind that tells him he should feel a certain way about his looks but he can’t remember
why.

Sapnap purses his lips. Dream is gorgeous. He wishes he could show him that and make it
stick in his brain better than random stranger’s opinions on fucking Twitter of all places.

“No, Dream,” Sapnap kisses his forehead. “I think you’re so pretty. Prettiest boy ever.”

Dream squeezes his arm gently, but doesn’t respond.

“I want to have sex with you,” Sapnap promises, cheeks warming. “Like, really fucking bad.
But it feels wrong if you can’t remember me, ya know? I didn’t want to stop you though. I
wanted to let you get off against me and wake up with cummy boxers.”

“Ew,” Dream laughs softly.

“Right? I was like, drooling, over the thought of your cummy boxers,” Sapnap keeps going,
encouraged by the way Dream laughs.

“Stop,” chuckles.

“Can I interest you in some breakfast since I can’t have your cummy boxers?” Sapnap asks,
trying to redirect them before he loses his mind and tells Dream to ride his thigh again.

“What about George?” Dream asks.

Sapnap turns his head, regarding George who is still snoring like the dead, jaw dropped open
and drool seeping out of his mouth with every rumble of his chest. He pokes him once,
roughly, jabbing his finger into his ribs.

Nothing.

He then picks up his arm, lets it dangle for a bit before letting go. It flops down to the bed,
lifeless.

“I think he’s fine,” Sapnap laughs.

Dream giggles, nuzzling into him tighter. “Okay. Can we maybe go get something? You and
me?”

Sapnap’s heart flutters. “I would like that a lot.”

Sapnap chooses a small diner about twenty minutes from their house. He used to pick up
their dinner there every now and then, bringing it back for Dream since he couldn’t leave the
house. He liked their patty melts the best, always ordering onion rings and a Coke to go with
it. He knows his order by heart even now. Maybe once he remembers, Sapnap can bring it
home for them again one day. It used to make Dream’s day. It would brighten his mood every
time.

They dress in their baggiest hoodies and sweatpants, even though the Florida air is sticky
with humidity as they clamber into his Tesla. He doesn’t mention their other cars, not
wanting to overwhelm Dream even though he really really wants to drive his truck instead.

The drive is nice, and Sapnap tries not to feel too guilty about the fact that they’re leaving
George behind. It’s nice just being the two of them though, especially after… everything.

The diner is old and run down, the yellow, peeling paint on the wooden exterior a good
indicator that the food is going to be bomb as fuck. They’re horribly slow, taking an hour to
even get their drinks out to them. Sapnap doesn’t mind though, because Dream looks
downright giddy right now, asking if they used to come here often.

“Sort of,” Sapnap explained. “It was a you and me thing. George wasn’t impressed with this
place.”

“George is weird,” Dream quips casually. “ I’m impressed.”

It’s so painfully normal. Like this, Sapnap can almost forget that Dream doesn’t remember
him.

The rings George got the three of them flash on their ring fingers with every lift of their
orange juice cups, each pull of their forks through fluffy pancakes. Other than that, it’s just
nice. It almost feels like a date even, especially when Sapnap rubs the inside of his shoe
against Dream’s legs, pulling him into a game of footsie that keeps going until Sapnap is
pinned down beneath him and whispering at Dream not to crease his Nikes.

Sapnap pays, not that Dream offers. It’s another nice thing. Dream never lets himself be taken
care of, but now he doesn’t have a choice.

“I like this,” He decides out loud as they pile back into his car. “I get to make you all full and
happy and pay for your food and shit and you can’t stop me.”

“What, do I not normally let you pay?” Dream scoffs with a beautiful smile playing on his
lips.
“No! You don’t let us pay for anything ever. And George likes it because he’s greedy but it
just pisses me off. Us paying rent on our L.A. house was like- a fight.”

“... What do we use the L.A. house for?” Dream asks, tilting his head.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck. Abort , his mind screams.

“Um- your music,” Sapnap says stiffly. Him and George decided not to mention NRG or
anything that has to do with their streaming to avoid suspicion. “We were flying back and
forth a lot and then we decided a house would be better.”

Definitely not for NRG too or Vidcon or their content creator friends or anything else they
end up in L.A. for. Nope.

“Oh. Okay,” Dream shrugs. “I was just curious.”

He says it so nonchalantly, meanwhile Sapnap is on the verge of freaking out. His heart is
pounding, dangerously close to revealing something he shouldn’t. George’s words still ring in
his ears, and he’s terrified to be the one to mess everything up.

He can’t do this without George, they need to get home already. He takes it all back, he needs
George to be able to be around Dream right now.

But then of course Dream is stupidly sweet, leaning over to press a soft kiss to Sapnap’s
cheek. “Thank you for breakfast,” he whispers. “I had a good time.”

“You’re welcome,” he replies, brain turning to soup.

“I love you so much,” Dream nuzzles against him.

Sapnap’s breath catches in his throat. He’s wanted to hear those words leave Dream’s mouth
since they were younger, but now they just feel wrong every time he says them. Maybe
because it is wrong, he thinks, stomach in knots and his throat tight.

“Love you too,” he whispers back, hoping Dream can hear how genuine he is.

_______________________________

“We should have sex,” Dream announces casually while they’re lying in bed that night,
calming down from the day before they sleep.
Sapnap chokes on his water, eyes wide as he coughs spastically into his arm.

“What?” George asks, just as surprised.

Dream at least has the decency to look embarrassed. “I just… I don’t know.”

Sapnap finally calms down, though his throat still feels raw from how hard he coughed. “I
don’t think that’s a good idea,” he says instantly.

Dream’s shoulders fall, and he curls in tightly to George’s side, hiding from him. From him.
Not George, from Sapnap.

What the fuck?

“Yeah- I- you’re right,” Dream concedes instantly, voice small and nervous. “Sorry. That was
a bad idea.”

George sends Sapnap a puzzled look over his head, and Sapnap returns it. Dream, oblivious,
clings tighter to George, tucked away beneath his arm, fingers buried tight in his shirt.

Sapnap reaches over George and pokes Dream’s shoulder. The man doesn’t budge.

“Hey,” he tries again. “Is this about this morning?”

“Forget it,” Dream begs. “Let’s just go to sleep.”

He sounds so… sad.

Sapnap’s heart squeezes in his chest. “Dream, I told you this morning I just don’t think it’s a
good idea because you don’t remember us,” he sends a worried glance to George, silently
promising to fill him in on things later.

“What happened?” George asks anyway, fingers trailing soothingly down Dream’s back.
Dream shuffles closer, and an ugly feeling stirs in his gut.

It takes him a while to put a name to the feeling. Jealously. He’s terribly jealous right now
that George is comforting him and Dream wants his comfort and yeah, George is lying in the
middle right now, but Dream is clinging on to him and not Sapnap.

“Nothing,” Dream waves him off. “Just forget it, seriously, it’s not like- I don’t know. I feel
weird. About how I look I guess. I mean, I’m hot but…” his fingers ghost over the gnarly
scar on his hip. “I look so different and something keeps telling me that I don’t like how I
look very much and I don’t know why and this morning I know you said no because I don’t
have my memories but I got so self conscious and you married me so obviously you like me
but I just got worried that you don’t like how I look and that’s why you said no but I want
you to like me and I want you to like how I look because I like you and I always have and I
know you keep saying I don’t remember you but I do I just- I don’t remember the past few
years it’s not like I don’t remember who you are I’ve loved you longer than we’ve been
married and-”
Dream finally runs out of breath, cutting himself off as he gasps from his endless rambling,
the kind of rambling he always does when he’s nervous or scared about something. He lets go
of George’s shirt, and flaps his hands out, stimming as he worries his lip between his teeth
and dares a glance at Sapnap.

He hates this, he decides. He hates when Dream gets insecure about himself, the man is
literally perfect. He hates that he’s looking at Sapnap too like he’s the one who caused it, and
yeah, in the back of his head, he knows that it’s lingering hurt from the Internet that’s making
him feel like this, but it hurts to think that Dream is scared that he doesn’t want him when in
reality he’s all he’s wanted for years.

“Dream, baby, look at me,” Sapnap tries.

“I’m sorry,” he replies miserably. “We don’t have to talk about it or- do something or- I just-
if you don’t want to we don’t have to. I want you to want it too and you don’t and it’s okay,”
Dream promises, reaching over George blindly. His hands find Sapnap’s, gentle fingers
tracing over the back of his hand to comfort him when it should be the other way around.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck-

His brain stops working completely. “Let’s do it.”

A needle dropping in the room would sound like a gunshot.

“What?” Dream asks.

“Let’s do it. If you wanna have sex and you’re positive that you want to have sex with me
and George regardless if you have your memories or not then yeah, let’s do it,” he says before
he can think, words coming out of his mouth mindlessly.

His heart hammers as he waits for an answer.

“But-but do you want to?” Dream asks nervously, bright green eyes finally meeting his. His
cheeks are pink, making the color stand out that much more. He’s so fucking perfect.

Sapnap’s stomach flips. “Yeah, I want to.”

“I want to,” George quips.

Dream snorts, looking over at him next. “We know, George.”

“ What ?” George hisses. “What do you mean ‘we know’?”

“You aren’t subtle,” Dream teases. “You’re horny.”

“I am not,” George pouts, turning to look at Sapnap. “Am I?”

Sapnap shrugs, going along with it. “I don’t know, I mean, kind of .”
George’s jaw drops, and then he rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Fine. Are we having sex or what?”

“Yeah,” Dream grins, cheeks pink. “I think so.”

“Then come here, darling,” George coos, adoring how Dream clambers over him instantly to
get closer to both of them. He knows George adores it. He loves any time him or Dream
make fools of themselves for him.

Dream sits on his hips, waiting excitedly for direction like an overeager puppy.

George crooks a finger at him, and Dream is following quickly, leaning down to steal a kiss.

It’s only then that it sets in what exactly they’re about to do.

Sapnap’s heart skips several beats, stomach full of butterflies that make it feel like his insides
are doing flips right now. Holy shit, he’s about to have sex with Dream and George. And
George is hooking his finger at him too and he’s body is following before his brain can even
comprehend it.

Dream pulls away, and Sapnap takes his spot next, kissing George happily. Kissing George is
something he’s wanted to do for years– back when George didn’t even like him. Every jab,
every smartass reply and rude remark just made Sapnap want him more and now that he
knows George wants him too, it’s all-consuming.

He kisses him greedily, licking into his mouth. There’s the lingering hint of Dream on his lips
that Sapnap chases, but more than that he wants to taste George. He wishes he could have
kissed him like this years ago.

Fingers trace up his side, exploring and tentative, and Sapnap tries not to jump as Dream
works his shirt up a little bit. He isn’t the most confident, but Dream’s hands make up for it,
smoothing over his sides.

When Sapnap finally pulls himself from George’s kiss, Dream is ready and waiting, begging
to be kissed too. He doesn’t keep him waiting for long, leaning in happily to feel his lips
against his. Dream inhales sharply, pushing into Sapnap instantly. His lips are chapped but
soft, and Sapnap can’t get enough of how their beards scrape against one another, how Dream
despite being so much bigger makes himself smaller for Sapnap, letting him take the lead and
dominate the kiss.

George wastes no time in grabbing hold of Sapnap’s shirt and working it the rest of the way
up his chest. He rudely interrupts their kiss to pull it over his head, giggling at how it snags
on his chin.

“Ow,” he complains lightheartedly as it’s dumped unceremoniously off the bed.

“What?” George asks, reaching for his chest.

Sapnap squirms, covering himself up before George can twist his nipples, unable to keep the
smile off his face. “Stop it,” he snaps, reaching down to do the same to George. George is at a
disadvantage for the game he started here, because Dream is still on his hips, and he doesn’t
stand a chance already half pinned down.

George squirms and tries to fight him off, growling like a wild animal and yelling ‘no’!

Sapnap yells triumphantly when he manages to grab hold of George’s shirt, yanking it up to
thrust his hand under blindly. He finds his nipple, and twists it, making George screech.

Dream can’t stop giggling, eyes scrunched shut and the barest hint of a long-lost wheeze in
his lungs with how hard he laughs. “Stop, stop,” he keeps repeating, looking insanely happy.
“You’re so- guys, stop.”

“No!” George keeps reaching up for him.

Sapnap knocks his hands away easily, twisting his nipple again to make him yell.

“Ouch! Stop it!”

“You started it!” Sapnap insists.

“So? Let me go!”

Dream just laughs. It's the happiest Sapnap has heard him in months. The entire room feels
lighter with it. He strips out of his shirt too, leaning over to snake his arms around Sapnap’s
stomach. He starts kissing along Sapnap’s neck and down to his shoulder, nipping softly
every time Sapnap gasps. It’s distracting enough that he forgets about messing with George in
favor of being touched, enjoying Dream’s hands on his hips, working down to play with the
waistband of his shorts.

George, after being ignored for a bit, stops covering himself up, keen eyes locked on Sapnap
as he pulls his shirt off over his head. They have one of their signature silent conversations,
both in awe that this is even happening right now.

“You should have showered with us, Pandas,” Dream whispers in his ears. “I wanted to see
you yesterday too.”

Sapnap shivers, words stuck in his throat. Dream’s voice is dark and deep, full of intent, and
he can’t think with his hands running over his body.

George urges Dream up, jostling him around as he grabs hold of Dream’s sweatpants, tugging
them down his thighs.

“Get my underwear too,” Dream orders. “So we don’t have to move around so much.”

“Bossy,” George quips, grabbing hold of his underwear.

Sapnap’s mouth fills with drool as George pulls Dream’s underwear down slowly, exposing
pale hips and soon enough dark hair at the base of his cock. Sapnap admires the dark purple
scar that traces along his hip and stomach, strong thighs that are slowly exposed as George
works his clothes down to his knees and then off completely.
Sapnap’s cheeks warm at the sight of his cock, soft and cute between his legs.

George works his shorts off too while Dream is hovering above his hips, and drool fills his
mouth at the sight of George’s cock too before Dream settles back down on top of his hips,
covering him up with his cute, perky ass.

George raises his eyebrows at him as if to say ‘your turn’, the want in his eyes not unnoticed
by Sapnap.

“I’m so excited,” he admits. “My heart keeps going ‘ ah’ right now.”

“What?” Dream chuckles. “Say that again?”

“Ah,” Sapnap makes the noise again, chest feeling light at how it makes his frien-boyfrie-
husbands laugh.

“Oh my god,” Dream laughs. “Take your pants off already.”

“Okay, I’m going,” Sapnap chuckles, tugging at his pants. The lighthearted atmosphere
makes it feel easier as he takes them off– the self-conscious voice in the back of his head
quiet for once. The only time he hesitates is when it comes to his briefs. They’re long, a lilac
purple that usually pokes out from beneath his shorts. A quick glance up at the pair of them
has him meeting George’s eyes immediately though, and for a second, he stops.

Then something in George’s eyes softens, and Sapnap pulls his underwear down quickly,
wiggling out of it so the three of them are naked on the bed together.

“Where’s your lube at, Dreamie?” Sapnap asks, looking towards the nightstand.

“... I don’t know, Sap,” Dream says bluntly. “I don’t remember.”

Sapnap’s face turns pink, and George bursts out laughing. “Oh my god, you asked him-”

“Shut up,” Sapnap grumbles.

“Why would you ask him though-”

“Shut up!” Sapnap brings his hand down onto George’s thigh, slapping the skin. It just makes
him laugh harder, and soon Dream is in on it too.

“Whatever,” Sapnap rolls his eyes. He reaches over to the nightstand, pulling the drawer
open. There are a couple books, chapstick, and random items that aren’t useful right now. No
lube. He shuts the drawer and checks the one below it, letting out a sigh of relief when he
finds an almost empty bottle.

His face warms as he thinks about Dream using it alone, while they’ve been in the house with
him too. Did he just jerk off with it? Or did he finger himself too?

Sapnap’s stomach burns with arousal as he sits back on his heels, waving the bottle around.
“How we doing this, boys?”
“However,” Dream replies happily, George’s mouth attached to his neck, sucking hickeys
into his skin.

“Turn around, I think Sap should fuck you first darling,” George says, taking charge.

Heat floods his stomach, chest burning. It feels like George is giving him the first time like
it’s a gift, because they both know that this could go a million different ways and this is the
one that Sapnap wants the most.

In the back of his mind, he vaguely wonders how George knows he wants this so badly.

“Do I normally bottom?” Dream asks.

“Do you want to?” Sapnap asks, to be sure.

“Well, yeah, but, I was just wondering. As far as I can remember I haven’t done this with a
guy before so,” Dream says awkwardly, running his hands up and down George’s chest
admiringly.

Sapnap’s blood runs cold.

Dream hasn’t done this with a guy before. As in he still hasn’t.

He turns around, George scooting to sit up a little more as Dream faces Sapnap, lying his
back down against George’s chest. His hands wrap around his stomach, knees bracketing
Dream in, and warm, sharp brown eyes watch Sapnap’s every move.

Except, he can’t move.

… They should probably stop, right? This is a shitty way for Dream to lose his first time with
a guy. Sapnap’s too- to be fair, and he isn’t sure about George. A more selfish, greedy part of
him though doesn’t want to stop. He’s too excited about having their first time together. This
is so much better than he ever imagined it to be.

In the past, he thought even though Dream and George both liked him, they would choose
each other in the end. DNF and all that.

But they chose him too. They’re all three here right now, he wasn’t forgotten or left out and
he isn’t third wheeling in his best friend’s relationship, he’s a part of it even if some aspects
of it are made up.

Fuck it.

Sapnap places both of his hands on Dream’s knees, pushes them to the side so he can see all
of him.

Dream pushes his hips up in offering, and Sapnap runs his palms over his thighs, amazed that
he’s even allowed to be touching him right now. His cock twitches with interest, and Sapnap
can’t keep his hands off of it any longer, taking him in his hand.
The heavy weight on his palm is exhilarating. His touch is tentative and a bit awkward, he’s
never jerked another guy off before, but he’s trying. He wants it to be good for him. He’s soft,
so Sapnap works on massaging his cock first, leaning forward to steal kiss after kiss, licking
over his teeth and tongue until electricity races up his spine.

Dream keeps letting out breathless little noises, urged on by the way George is maiming his
neck right now.

“Chill out,” Sapnap chides softly, against his lips.

“No,” George nips sharply at his neck.

Dream’s cock jumps in his hand, hardening with each tug of his fingers. He keeps chasing
Sapnap’s mouth, eager and excited. It takes a bit for Sapnap to pull away long enough to find
the lube once more, picking it up and squirting some into this hand.

Dream grunts, displeased at his cock not being touched, but Sapnap shushes him, making him
laugh softly. “Come onnn .”

“I’ve got you,” Sapnap promises

George kisses over Dream’s shoulder, arms wrapped around Dream’s chest and knees around
his waist while Sapnap steals him in kisses over and over, fingers trailing down between his
thighs.

Dream gasps when his fingers touch his hole. It’s the prettiest sound Sapnap’s ever heard in
his life, encouraging him to touch him more.

He prods his hole gently, rubbing over the puckered entrance, feeling it flutter at the
attention. Vaguely he wonders if even Dream has touched himself like this before; excitement
racing up his spine at the thought of being the first one to ever get to touch him here.

He pets over his hole, teases his thumb down the seam of his balls, and makes him squirm,
drawing his knees up, eyebrows knitted together at the feeling and big green eyes pleading
with him to do something more.

“Don’t tease me,” Dream pouts softly when he doesn’t get his way. Sapnap just keeps playing
with him, pushing his fingers against his hole just enough for the tip to slip in, kneading the
rim slowly so his back arches.

“He likes that,” George comments idly.

“No shit,” Dream snaps sassily at him.

Sapnap chooses that moment to push a finger inside of him, watching Dream’s eyes roll back
and his jaw drop. “ Ohmygod .”

He pumps in and out of him the best he can, thinking back to past times fingering girls. He
doesn’t know if he needs to go slower or not for Dream, so he airs on the side of caution and
goes painstakingly slow. It’s fun, watching Dream’s eyebrows furrow and then he starts
gnawing on the inside of his cheek, looking more and more frustrated until he’s riding
Sapnap’s finger, hips canting up and down needily.

“Sap,” he gripes eventually.

“What?” Sapnap plays dumb, making George snort.

Dream huffs and Sapnap concedes quickly, knowing that stubborn look in Dream’s eye all
too well. He pushes in a second finger beside the first, curling them up awkwardly. It must
feel fine though, he thinks, watching Dream squirm in between them.

He works a third in eventually sharing a sloppy kiss with George over Dream’s shoulder
while he spreads him open. Their bare bodies press against one another, sliding filthily with
every move of their hips. The wet squelch of his fingers in and out of Dream’s hole makes his
gut stir with arousal, his ankles hooking around Sapnap’s bare thighs to pull him closer.

“Ready,” Dream begs against his shoulder, thrusting his hips up at him.

“Shh,” Sapnap pushes him back against George, continuing to work his fingers in and out of
him.

“ Sap ,” Dream pleas, voice raspy with need. “Come on, please.”

“Pathetic,” George snorts, sending a sting of arousal twisting in his gut. On a normal day, he
would probably be pissed if George called him pathetic like that, but in this context, he
craves it.

“Okay, okay,” Sapnap finally concedes when Dream whimpers, thighs spreading so far he’s
sure it has to hurt. He looks so perfect spread out between them, put on display with a bashful
blush on his cheeks but green eyes filled with desire so strong it overrides the embarrassment.
He’s so perfect.

Sapnap pulls his fingers out, trailing them over Dream’s pretty, unblemished thigh. He wants
to suck bruising hickeys into the skin, mark him up so every time he sees himself he knows
who he belongs to, but that’s something for another day. Dream’s cock is leaking, curved to
the side and tip angry red from neglect, and he’s still pleading to be fucked with the biggest
puppy dog eyes Sapnap has ever seen on his face.

George smirks darkly over his shoulder at him, and Sapnap shivers at the look as he scoots
closer, lining himself up with Dream’s hole. He rubs the head of his cock over it a few times,
smearing the lube around as he pumps himself a few times.

“George,” Dream flops his head over onto his shoulder so he can look up at him.

“What?” George asks softly, giving him a side-eye.

“What ‘bout you?”

“I’ll get off, don’t worry, you just be a good boy for Sapnap,” George redirects his attention.
“Look at him, isn’t he pretty?”
Dream’s eyes drift over to Sapnap once again. His face heats up as he feels Dream’s gaze
trace down his body before going back up to his face. “Yeah.”

“Are you going to take him well?” George asks, snaking a hand around Dream’s chest. It
winds around his neck, never squeezing, but holding him in place so he’s looking right at
Sapnap.

Dream swallows, humming in agreement.

Sapnap squeezes himself at the sight, the tip of his cock bumping against his entrance.

“To do that you have to focus,” George tuts in his ear. “Are you focusing on Sappy?”

Dream nods quickly, though his movement is limited by a hand on his neck.

“Good boy,” George praises him softly.

Sapnap can’t take it anymore. He pushes into him, working the head of his cock inside and
then slowly sliding the length in until he bottoms out, watching Dream’s eyebrows knit
together and his eyes slip shut before he hurriedly blinks them open to pay attention like
George told him to. It’s the hottest thing he’s ever seen in his entire life.

Sapnap keeps his thrust slow, setting a gentle, steady rhythm. Dream’s thighs rest across his,
their bodies pressed as tight to one another as they can get with George pinned beneath them
both. George’s free hand that isn’t holding Dream down reaches over to touch Sapnap every
now and then: a loving caress of his palm over his forearm, delicate fingers on his side. If he
can reach, he’s touching, a barely there little reminder that while this about Dream, it doesn’t
change how much Sapnap and George love each other too.

Dream whimpers and gasps, tilting his hips down just enough to change the angle. Once he
hits just right, Dream is noisy as hell, tiny little gasps falling out of his parted lips with every
thrust, urging Sapnap to speed up. He can hardly control himself, Dream is so tight around
him, hot wet heat dragging him inside, making his brain foggy with the tight band of arousal
growing in his stomach, winding around over and over until he’s sure he could burst. It’s so
good, it’s too good, and Sapnap can’t calm down– it’s going to be over too soon at this rate
but he can’t bring himself to stop either.

Their shared pants and moans fill the air, George whispering praise for both of them beneath
his breath, just barely audible over the sounds of Sapnap fucking Dream harder and harder
with every thrust and rut of his hips.

George moves his hand off of Dream’s neck, and Sapnap doesn’t hesitate to move in, sucking
bruising hickeys into Dream’s skin over and over. He keens, fingers digging into his back,
half whispers of ‘Sap’ falling out his mouth.

Sapnap’s hand slips down to Dream’s cock, noting how George plays with Dream’s nipples,
squeezing the delicate buds between his fingers; plucking them meanly and tracing his nails
along the pink edges to make Dream keen and whine. He joins in on the fun, still thrusting
into him while he plays with his dick.
“Too good, it’s too good-“ Dream squirms against his hand as if he’s unsure if he wants to
push him away or not.

Sapnap tightens his fist around his cock, giving him something to fuck, and Dream chokes on
his spit with how hard he gasps, hands flying to hold onto Sapnap’s wrist.

“Shh, I got ya, Dreamie-boy,” Sapnap promises, slick fingers working his red, sensitive head.
“I’ll take care of you.”

He throbs at each pump of his hand, and Dream’s head drops to his shoulders, incoherent
mumbles falling out his mouth around the occasional plea of “Sap”.

“I’m still here,” George complains lightly. He doesn’t sound actually upset though, if
anything he sounds like he’s enjoying this as much as they are. Sapnap spares him a glance to
check, finding a familiar spark in his eyes and his signature ‘:]’ smile on his face.

“I know, Georgie,” Sapnap promises, leaning over Dream’s shoulder to steal a kiss from him.
George hums happily into his kiss.

“Focus on Dream, whatever,” George huffs as if he’s annoyed when Sapnap knows he’s the
furthest from it. “It’s fine.”

“I will,” Sapnap quips at him, leaning back to touch Dream more. His cock is still buried
deep inside of him,

“Close!” Dream half sobs, eyes squeezed shut tight.

It barely takes a few more strokes of his hand before he’s spilling over it, mouth dropped
open in a pretty ‘o’ shape.

Sapnap fucks him through it, slams into him over and over until he cums inside of him,
buried as deep as possible. The release is the best thing he’s ever felt in his entire life, with
Sapnap’s hole pulsing around him from the aftershocks rocking through his body. Sapnap’s
vision goes white, missing the view as his cock slips out of his used hole that now drips with
his cum.

“Fuck,” Dream whimpers, head flopped over on George’s shoulder tiredly.

“You’re not done,” George jostles Dream around who just groans, limply.

“Stop it,” he complains lightheartedly.

George doesn’t stop, pushing Dream up just enough to slip his cock between his ass cheeks.
“Nope, my turn. You were worried about it earlier.”

Dream groans playfully, and Sapnap huffs out a breathless laugh.

George keeps rutting against Dream’s ass, squeezing his cheeks around his cock to give
himself something to fuck; slicked by the leftover lube and cum falling out of his used hole.
“Come on darling, don’t you want to be a good husband for me? Make me feel good?”
Dream quakes, biting his lip. “I like it when you call me that.”

“A good husband?” George questions.

Dream nods, looking blissed out. “Love being your husband.”

His words are mumbled and slurred with exhaustion, but Sapnap has never heard something
sound so honest before.

His stomach suddenly twists with guilt.

Fuck. This is fucked.

George cums, and the second he’s finished, Dream is flopping back on top of George.

“Hey!” George cries, trying to wiggle out from beneath him. Dream just laughs.

“What?”

“Let me up!”

Dream groans, still in a playful mood despite how sleep tugs at his eyelids. “No. I’m tired.
Now you gotta cuddle me. You’re my husband. Husband duties. You fucked me now you
gotta love on me.”

George flicks him, but Dream just keeps giggling. “You’re a brat.”

“Husband duties,” Dream turns his attention to Sapnap, poking him roughly on the thigh.
“Clean me up, husband.”

Sapnap swallows against the lump in his throat. “Right. I’ll um… towel.”

“Wipes,” Dream insists instead.

“Got it,” he nods, almost glad to pull himself out of the bed. Before he leaves the room
completely to go find wet wipes, Sapnap slides his clothes on, feeling particularly dirty and
awful about himself. The clothes feel like safety, giving him something to hide in as he
hurries to the bathroom, not wanting to leave Dream waiting longer than necessary.

He finds the wipes under the cabinet, forcing himself past the god-awful feeling in his
stomach. He can’t take time for himself right now. He needs to be there for Dream, but god,
all he wants to do is stay in the bathroom and hide for a bit. Think over the fucked up things
he’s done and try to come up with a way to be forgiven.

Sapnap swallows against the tears that brim just beneath his eyes, stinging his face as he
blinks them away.

Walking back to Dream’s bedroom, Dream is happy as ever, head against George’s chest and
lying down against him plastered as close as he can get. He looks like a content cat, smug
smile on his face and eyes shut as George pets his hair.
George looks happy too.

Why can’t Sapnap be like them? He just feels like a piece of shit right now.

“Pandas,” Dream hums, not moving from his spot. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” he says stiffly. Sapnap pulls some of the wipes out of the packet and gets to
work, cleaning Dream off. He’s gentle, never touching more than he has to.

“I always knew it would be you,” Dream keeps talking quietly. “I think I realized I loved you
when we were a lot younger. Like before we even met I knew I wanted to date you,” he
giggles. “And now we’re married. Who knew.”

He sounds so dreamy, like he’s living out his wildest fantasy right now.

“I’m just so happy,” he keeps talking, rubbing his face against George’s chest like a cat; his
beard leaving his skin red in his wake. “I have my Pandas and my George and they love me
and take care of me and-”

“Stop it,” George pushes his head off of his chest. “You’re making me itchy. I’m allergic to
you.”

“Shut up,” Dream ignores him, trying to rub his face on him some more.

Sapnap cleans him up silently and then throws the wipes in the trash bin beside the bed. He
hovers awkwardly, wanting to tuck tail and run, but Dream is making grabby hands at him
before he can even think about it, still babbling about them.

Feeling worse and worse with each passing second, Sapnap climbs into the bed. He tries to
put some distance between them, but Dream is clingy, wanting to be close to them both. He
doesn’t want to cuddle, but he doesn’t want to make Dream feel bad either. Everything is just
bad right now, bad bad bad and he wants to cry .

Dream flops in between them like a rabbit, lying on his side, every bit of stress completely
gone from his face.

“I can’t wait to remember everything,” he admits, eyes still closed.

Sapnap’s eyes brim with tears, blurring his vision. He looks at George, surprised to see him
looking just as upset.

“Me too,” George lies, petting Dream’s hair still. He twirls a curl around his finger, eyes
never straying from Sapnap who can’t control the tears streaming down his face.

God, this is so fucked. He’s the worst.

Oblivious, it doesn’t take long for Dream to fall asleep, practically purring between them.

Sapnap doesn’t speak and neither does George. He doesn’t even know what there is to say.
It isn’t until Dream starts snoring that George dares to break the silence.

“Are you okay?” He asks quietly, voice hushed and careful.

“Dream’s never been with a guy before,” Sapnap blurts out, guilt eating him alive. “He-that
was his first time. He doesn’t even-“

“Sap,” George’s face falls.

“I feel so fucking bad,” he whimpers. “I knew it and I still-“

“It’s okay,” George comforts him gently, carding his fingers through his hair.

Sapnap leans into the touch. “I wanted it. I wanted it so bad and it was so fucking selfish.”

“Did you feel like you had to do it?” George asks nervously.

“No,” Sapnap huffs, disappointed in himself. “I like, consented. It wasn’t like that. I wanted
to have sex with him so bad I didn’t stop and think-”

“He wanted it too,” George points out unhelpfully.

“Yeah but-”

“And he said he wanted you even from what he can remember, so like what, back when he
was nineteen? That’s a long time to want someone, Sap.”

“Yeah but…” Sapnap struggles. “This is too much. I just feel really bad,” Sapnap admits
tiredly. “I need a minute alone.”

“Okay,” George whispers. “I’ll stay here with him.”

Sapnap gives him a grateful look before pulling himself out of the bed.

He takes one last look at the two of them. Dream is snoring, looking downright adorable
curled up next to George. Somehow he manages to look love-drunk even in his sleep.

Sapnap mopes in his own bed, the sheets cold and lonely. After a few hours had passed, he
wanted to go back to Dream’s room but it still feels so wrong to take comfort from the man
he’s hurting so he stays in his own bed. It’s isolating, but it’s the punishment he deserves,
Sapnap decides.

He’s almost asleep, his cheeks finally less itchy from all the crying he’s done, and his
emotions calm enough to rest when a noise outside of his door pulls him out of his sleep.
 A quick knock at the door startles him out of his thoughts. The door knob rattles, and soon it
swings open just enough for Dream to poke his head into the room.

“Sap?” Dream asks quietly. “Are you okay?

“Fine,” Sapnap croaks, though his voice is wet with tears.

“... Can I come in?”

Fuck.

Chapter End Notes

Let me know what you thought of this chapter!

 What could go wrong?
Chapter Summary

Dream seeks Sapnap out after waking up without him, but in the following days
becomes increasingly more frustrated with how him and George have been acting and
treating him. Dream also remembers something.

Chapter Notes

Thank you so much RxdMouth

for beta reading this chapter for me!! :D

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Can I come in?” Dream asks softly, nervously hovering outside Sapnap’s door, fingers
drumming along the edges of the wood with anticipation.

He didn’t mean to fall asleep. He had just been so relaxed and tired; fucked out and happy
with his husbands squished into bed with him.

Waking up with just George had been more than confusing, but George was asleep and he
didn’t want to wake him up to ask where Sapnap had gone. Instead, Dream just got out of bed
and went to find him himself, hoping maybe to sneak in some cuddles with just Sapnap
before going back to bed with George or something.

Sapnap looks so fucking upset though.

It’s startling, the difference between how Dream feels versus how Sapnap looks. He isn’t
facing him, but Dream can see how tense he is even from the doorway, and his voice is filled
with tears when he says, “Yeah,” stiffly.

Dream hesitates. He doesn’t sound like he really wants Dream in there with him right now.
What could have happened? He doesn’t even think he’s been asleep that long, what could
have changed so drastically?

Unless…

Did he do something?
Dream bites the inside of his cheek, eyebrows furrowed. He thought… things were so good.
The sex was good, and it was fun and he thought…

He shrinks in on himself, suddenly a little embarrassed for even being there. “I can go.
Sorry.”

“Come here,” Sapnap orders, his back still turned to Dream.

Well, now it sounds like he’s in trouble, or Sapnap is angry at him or something. Again.

It seems like Sapnap is always upset when it comes to Dream, like he’s always doing
something to make the other mad. Dream doesn’t know what though, and it makes his heart
do funny things in his chest. It’s enough to make him queasy.

“Dream,” Sapnap calls him again, tone unyielding and exasperated.

Dream winces, “Sorry.”

“Just… come over here.”

Even just standing there, he’s managed to make him mad. He sounds so… done with him
already.

Suddenly, Dream wishes he was still in bed with George, but that’s silly, right? He shouldn’t
be afraid to spend time with Sapnap. He’s his best friend.

“Okay,” he pulls himself away from the door, taking a tentative step inside.

Sapnap still doesn’t turn over.

Dream hesitantly walks up to the bed, knees dipping against the mattress but he doesn’t dare
climb in just yet. He waits for Sapnap to acknowledge him again at least.

That acknowledgment comes in the form of a bone-deep sigh. Whether he's actually annoyed
right now or not, Dream has no idea. His brain is still sensitive from having sex, emotions
barely controlled especially after waking up without Sapnap. The sigh hurts his feelings more
than he cares to admit, making him wince in place. He doesn’t want to annoy him. He just
wants to actually be welcomed into the bed. It’s one thing to be accepted and another to be
tolerated.

When it doesn’t seem like he’s going to get the acceptance he craves, Dream ignores the
throbbing ache in his chest and the way his hair stands on end with nerves and climbs into the
bed.

Sapnap still doesn’t say anything.

Dream keeps his distance the best that he can. As much as he wants to plaster himself to
Sapnap’s back, he leaves at least a couple inches of space between them. He doesn’t rest his
head on the same pillow as him, as much as he wants to. Instead, he lays his head down on
his arm, ignoring the discomfort in favor of focusing all his attention on Sapnap.
His mind races as he tries to come up with some reason why Sapnap is so upset right now.
His first thought is that it’s him; he’s done something. It makes sense, he supposes. George
and Sapnap had been focused on him when they had sex, so if one of them had upset Sapnap
then it was surely him right?

A little voice in the back of his head says a lot of things are his fault but he doesn’t know
why. Guilt simmers in his gut as he tries to think but without the memories that correlate to
the feeling all he can come up with is the present moment lest he end up a frustrated mess
like usual. So was it the sex? Did he say something while they were having sex that he
shouldn’t have?

… He can’t recall what he would have said though that would have been this bad.

… Was it not good?

Insecurity flickers through, mixing in with the unease and anxiety inside of him like curdled
milk in soda. It bubbles and fizzes, making him nauseous.

“Are you okay?” Dream asks tentatively. His brain shouts over and over that it’s his fault.
Maybe he was too loud or too needy. Maybe the way he clung onto Sapnap made him
uncomfortable… but that’s weird considering they had sex and they’re married. Is that the
problem then? The fact that he isn’t the same as before? He doesn’t remember what Sapnap
likes now, he doesn’t know how to be good for him in bed. He feels like a fucking virgin all
over again bumbling through things and waking up with only George when Sapnap had been
the one to actually fuck him made it so so much worse.

“I’m fine,” Sapnap answers, voice stiff and unyielding.

“Okay,” Dream concedes easily, not wanting to push when he already isn't welcome. “Did-
did I do something?” Dream asks tentatively, terrified and desperate to know the answer. “I…
I thought I did good but- if I messed up somehow I would want you to tell me. Was it not
good or-“

“No baby, you were perfect,” Sapnap promises, finally turning over to look at Dream. He
looks so soft and sleepy right now, and Dream wants to touch him so bad his fingertips ache,
but he keeps his hands to himself.

“Are you sure?” Dream asks nervously, feeling heat creeping up his neck and cheeks with
embarrassment. “I know it probably wasn’t as good as when I had my memories. I bet it was
better then- last I remember I had like, one girlfriend in the past, and um… well, I’m sure you
know. Y’know? So… If it was that bad you could tell me,” he jokes weakly.

“Dream,” Sapnap rolls over, looking heartbroken. Dream can’t for the life of him understand
why. “You were amazing,” Sapnap grabs his face, squishing his cheeks together. “Stop it.
You felt so fucking good I’m still thinking about it.”
So what did he do wrong then?

Dream’s cheeks burn against Sapnap’s cold fingertips. He slumps down, still just as confused
as before.
“I want to fix it. Whatever I did I wanna fix it,” Dream whispers, pushing into Sapnap as
close as he can get. He wiggles around until he gets comfortable, content against him. It feels
safe right here. So why does everything still feel so off?

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Dream. Literally nothing. You’ve been- you’re perfect,”
Sapnap promises, rubbing his thumb over his cheek, tracing the freckles. “Beyond perfect.
I’ve just been feeling weird lately, it’s not your fault.”

Dream nuzzles into his hand, taking comfort from his best friend. Sapnap is his rock, the
most constant presence in his life other than his literal family. He wishes he could tell him
how much he means to him but putting it into words is hard.

“Can you turn over so I can spoon you?” Dream asks, heart soaring at how Sapnap chuckles.

“You want me to be the little spoon?” Sapnap asks. “I can hold you instead.”

“You’re the one who’s upset, let me make you feel better,” Dream pleads, gentle hands on
Sapnap’s hips urging him to turn over.

Sapnap hesitates, and for a second, Dream is terrified that he’s going to tell him no, but
slowly, Spanap rolls back over, pulling the blankets back enough for Dream to squeeze up
tight to him.

Dream lets out a grateful sigh, and squishes himself up against Sapnap as tight as he can, as if
proximity could make him feel better.

The silence isn’t uncomfortable per se, but there’s something unsaid between them that
lingers uneasily, and Dream isn’t sure how to address it. It almost makes him want to fill the
silence, so he does, saying the first thing that comes to mind.

“I think I realized I loved you when I was seventeen,” Dream mumbles against the base of his
neck, strong arms wrapped around his stomach. “Or maybe a little before that even. In a ‘I
love you as more than a friend way’. I’m sure you know this already but… it’s always been
you.”

“... Dream,” Sapnap whispers weakly.

“Just let me talk?” Dream asks.

Sapnap falls silent, and Dream waits a minute longer, collecting his thoughts as he struggles
with what he wants to say next. He plays idly with the sheets, lacing his fingers through the
fabric and brushing his fingertips against Sapnap’s stomach until he shivers.

“... I don’t actually know what else I was going to say,” Dream admits sheepishly, cuddling
impossibly closer. “I just wanted you to hear that and then like, think about it I guess.
Because I love you and I want you to know that I love you. With or without my memories.”

“Stop,” Sapnap snaps at him suddenly, making Dream jerk away with surprise at the sudden
hostility in his voice.
Dream’s eyes widen, and his heart slowly sinks inside his chest, hurt radiating throughout
him so sharp he can’t catch his breath.

The room falls quiet again, and Dream panics internally as he waits with bated breath for
Sapnap to say something. Anything.

“... I’m sorry,” Sapnap says finally, voice dark and raspy. It almost sounds like he’s about to
cry, and Dream’s heart drops down into his stomach. He didn’t mean to make him cry.

What did he do?

It feels like no matter what he does he messes up somehow.

“I shouldn’t have- that was mean, I’m sorry, Dream,” Sapnap squeezes his wrist
comfortingly.

Dream shuts his mouth, scared to mess up again, so he just stays quiet.

Sapnap squeezes him again. “Please say something.”

“I don’t understand,” Dream admits, closing his eyes against the stinging sensation beneath
them. “You’ve seemed off since- I don’t know. You say you love me but you pull away and
you didn’t even want to kiss me a few days ago and now-“

“I know,” Sapnap sighs. “It’s my fault, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how that would make
you feel.”

“I just don’t understand,” he repeats mournfully. The first few days since the hospital were so
good. Sapnap was all over him but lately, things feel so beyond weird between them.

Dream almost wishes he was still in the hospital. At least Sapnap liked him then.

Tears sting his eyes even worse now. He doesn’t know what he did. Is it really the whole
memory thing? Or is it something more?

What if their marriage was having problems or something before this? What if… what if
Sapnap doesn’t love him like he says he does?

“I’m sorry,” Sapnap repeats. “I’m really sorry, it’s not your fault, I should be an asshole to
you like that.”

His guilt is palpable, and Dream cringes, hating every second of it.

“Would you tell me if something was up with us before I hit my head?” Dream asks
tentatively, almost afraid to know the answer.

“What do you mean?” Sapnap asks, voice hard.

Dream ducks down against him, hiding as tears drip down his face. Something is wrong.
“… I made you mad again,” Dream whispers, forlorn.

“No, no baby- I’m not mad,” Sapnap promises quickly.

“Upset,” Dream supplies.

“No,” Sapnap shakes his head. “Never. I love you. I love you so so much,” he rolls over,
cupping Dream’s face. He wipes his tears with a gentle thumb over his cheek. “You mean
everything to me. You know that?”

Dream doesn’t know that. He does in theory because why else would they be married if they
didn’t mean the world to each other but…

Something is so wrong and he can’t figure out what it is. Sapnap is being so weird.

“... If something was wrong between us before you lost your memories, I would have told
you,” Sapnap promises. “I wouldn’t just let you believe that nothing is wrong. That would be
fucked up.”

“It would be,” Dream agrees. “I would rather know the truth.”

He waits, but Sapnap doesn’t elaborate anymore, and Dream doesn’t try to force him either.

When he feels Sapnap’s shoulders shake, he doesn’t say anything then either. He just
squeezes him tightly and tries to let him know that whatever’s wrong will be alright.

_____________________

“Let’s go on a date,” Dream says excitedly, a few days later.

Sapnap is still acting weird around him, oddly distant and strange, and George keeps glaring
at Sapnap like he’s pissed about something he won’t tell Dream about. He knows something
is wrong but no one will tell him anything and their secretive little… act is killing him.

Contrary to what seems to be popular belief: he isn’t stupid. They’re hiding something from
him. He’s trying not to think the worst but it’s hard not to spiral when all he can do is think
about them– they’re all he knows at the moment.

So the obvious answer to Dream is a date! They need to do something fun together and
maybe things will go back to normal. Or maybe they’ll decide they’re done hiding whatever
it is and they’ll tell him!

… Well. That’s a bit naive. But something has to give around here. And he still feels oddly
guilty about it all so taking Sapnap and George out to a nice date might make things at least a
tiny little bit better.
“A date?” Sapnap asks, pursing his lips. It looks like he wants to say no already, but Dream
tries not to let it get to him. Still, his skin prickles with unease.

“Yeah!” Dream bounces in place, trying to keep his energy up. “I was thinking maybe
dinner? Or we could go see a movie? Maybe both? Or we could um– I don’t know, we could
go walk around the mall and like, eat junk food and spend too much money for all I care, I
just want to spend time with you guys.”

Honestly, all of it sounds fun. It’s been a few days since their diner date, and without a phone
or a password for his iPad and stuff, he’s starting to feel extremely cooped up. He tried to ask
George to use his computer the other day but they ended up getting distracted. Not that he’s
complaining when the distraction had been each other’s lips and hands.

Dream shivers, heat flaring in his gut at the memory of George on top of him, rubbing their
cocks together until Dream came all over himself; George breathing heavily in his ear while
whispering how good Dream is for him; the feeling of their wet heads sliding against one
another…

He didn’t even know he had a praise kink, but apparently, George knows, and he knows it
well.

… Sapnap hasn’t been interested in doing more than kissing him. Dream is trying not to feel
too discouraged, but it just makes everything feel even weirder.

He wishes whatever’s going on that Sapnap would just tell him already.

He really hopes going on a date will help them.

“Um… Dream, don’t forget you’re kind of famous,” Sapnap says nervously.

Dream’s shoulders slump. Right. Famous for the few songs George and Sapnap have let him
hear.

He’s trying really hard not to be upset about that too, but there are so many things he wants to
know that they won’t tell him about. They get weird and dodgy, and he can kind of
understand why. If he was in their position, he would want to protect them too, but the
mystery of it all just makes him more and more curious until it feels like it’s eating away at
him.

Plus when Dream was exploring the house the other day for lack of anything better to do, he
had come across a locked room, right across from George’s office. George said it was just a
closet that they keep valuables in, but it’s been bugging him since. Like there’s something in
there that they don’t want him to see.

He’s been trying to find the spare keys since.

“Yeah,” Dream pouts, slumping down against the couch. “You’re right. Going out probably
wouldn’t be a good idea, huh?”

“Well,” George starts, looking at Sapnap contemplatively. “There’s that one restaurant.”
“Which one?” Sapnap tilts his head at him.

“The one by the airport that you have to make reservations for. Or not like by the airport but
like, you know that one street and you go down-”

“Not really,” Sapnap chuckles. “Bro talks like he knows how to drive.”

George rolls his eyes, looking especially handsome when he flashes a cheeky grin at
Sapnap’s comment. “You know what I’m talking about. We only ever go there when we don’t
want to be recognized.”
Dream perks up at that. When we don’t want to be recognized.

He files that information away in the back of his mind to ask about later.

“I mean, I guess we could go there,” Sapnap shrugs, seeming disinterested.

Dream’s eyes widen, sitting up quickly. “Really?” he asks excitedly. He can’t control the way
his entire body lights up, relieved that he doesn’t have to stay in the house all day again
today.

“Why not,” Sapnap shrugs. “What could go wrong.”

Dream’s smile falls. What’s with the attitude?

“You don’t have to go,” Dream says shortly. Suddenly he’s completely fed up with him-
which probably isn’t fair- but the warm satisfaction is worth it when Sapnap’s eyes widen at
the snap. The resentment that had been growing at the way the two of them- Sapnap
especially- act seems to burst like an over-inflated balloon inside of him.

“What?” Sapnap asks, his face morphing with sadness.

Dream can’t bring himself to really care. “I said you don’t have to go. It’s not like I’m forcing
you to spend time with me. You can stay here, I don’t care.”

Heartbreak washes over Sapnap’s face, and Dream’s gratification at lashing out slowly
dampens, replaced by guilt that makes his stomach twist.

“Dream,” Sapnap whimpers.

Dream shrugs back at him in mockery of all the shrugging Sapnap did at him just now.
“You’re the one acting like you don’t want to be around me,” he says, giving in to the urge to
be petty.

“That- that’s not it,” Sapnap insists, a desperate little trill in his voice, eyes wide as he begs
for Dream to understand. “I want to go. I really want to go, don’t leave me out.”

Resigned, Dream slumps down, pouting as he stares at the floor. “Then don’t act like that. I
hate it. You act like you hate me or something.”
The statement is more than a bit dramatic, he knows Sapnap loves him, but it gets the
reaction that he wants.

Sapnap’s entire demeanor changes. “Dream, come on,” he begs softly.

Dream purses his lips, holding his gaze, unwilling to be the first to apologize. Not this time.

“... I’m sorry,” Sapnap sighs, resigned. “I don’t hate you baby. I want to spend time with you,
I’m just… it’s nothing,” he waives it off in the end.

“... Let’s go get dressed, it’s nice. I’ll make reservations,” George offers. “Meet back here in
like ten?”

Dream nods, pleased with himself.

George crooks his finger at him, and Dream gets up off the couch and walks over to where
George is sitting. He crooks his finger at him again, and Dream leans down, smiling softly
when George steals a quick kiss to his cheek.

“Be nice,” he pleads softly as Dream pulls away, dark brown eyes looking desperately
between Dream’s. “Sap is just worried about you right now.”

Dream sighs. He can feel Sapnap still watching him, his eyes unstraying from his every move
like he’s still waiting for Dream to snap at him again.

“I get it,” he says, a bit agitated about the entire thing still. “No memories,” he echos ruefully.

George has the decency to at least look a bit cowed. “Yeah.”

Except, Dream knows there has to be more to it. He just has to figure it out.

Dinner time rolls around, and Dream has spent the better part of the afternoon in his room
getting ready. It was kind of fun to pour a lot of time into himself. He did skin care- some he
only remembered vaguely how to use- and took a long shower, cleaning himself well in case
his husbands stop being fucking idiots and they have sex later. The chance is slim though.

After that, Dream trimmed his beard, tried on a bunch of different outfits, and finally settled
on the one; a warm, fuzzy blue sweater and big oversized pants. The outfit is comforting, but
he isn’t sure why. In the end, as he’s spraying on cologne, he decides he must have worn it a
lot, if the wear on the sleeves and the hole made by the button on his jeans into the sweater is
anything to go by.

For a while, Dream hovers by the door, waiting for his husbands to catch up. He tries not to
be impatient but he’s going stir crazy.

What feels like an eternity later, he finally hears them both. Sapnap enters the room first in
his usual hoodie and shorts, and George follows; wearing his techwear pants and loose black
shirt, somehow looking far more well-dressed than Sapnap and Dream both.

“You look hot,” Sapnap compliments still, walking up to Dream. He rubs his hands over
Dream’s hips in appreciation, looking him over so intensely it makes Dream blush.

Dream melts at the attention, guilt eating at him now that he’s being shown positive affection.

“I’m sorry,” Dream whispers, wrapping his arms around Sapnap in a tight, warm hug. The
smaller man fits so perfectly against his chest, it steals his breath away. He wants to hold him
there forever and never let him go.

“I’m sorry too,” Sapnap kisses his neck softly, gentle little pecs as if he could kiss it into his
skin just how sorry he is.

Dream lets his head lull to the side. “Keep touching me.” He demands.

“Oh yeah?” Sapnap chuckles under his breath, sliding his hands down over Dream’s ass,
grabbing him through his pants.

Dream lets out a happy little hum in appreciation, clinging onto Sapnap even tighter.

“Right in front of me huh? And I’m not invited?” George teases.

Dream steals a glance at him, only to be met with a leer and sharp eyes tracing over his entire
body. He shivers despite the warmth of his sweater.

“Yeah, figured you could watch us fuck and get off to it again,” Sapnap teases, still clinging
on to Dream. “Like a cuck.”

George’s eyebrow raises up at him, a challenge. “I’ll show you a cuck-“

“What does that even mean?” Sapnap hisses.

“It means next time you wouldn’t even be allowed in the bed,” George threatens playfully.

“Dream wouldn’t do that to me,” Sapnap says confidentially.

“Might be funny,” Dream giggles.

Sapnap pulls back with a scandalized look on his face. “What the fuck? Dream. I expect that
from George but from you? My baby? Sweet boy? Sugar-“

“Stop,” Dream giggles.

“He likes darling best,” George quips.

Dream’s face heats up, and he ducks down against Sapnap to hide how he blushes. “We’re
going to be late,” he deflects from the attention.

“So?”
“We made reservations,” Dream pouts playfully, holding onto Sapnap tightly. “And I'm
hungry. You should feed me.”

“Alright, fine, let’s go I guess,” Sapnap concedes eventually, lacing his and and Dream’s
fingers together.

Dream’s heart squeezes happily, following behind the two of them silently as they make their
way to the garage.

Sapnap’s Tesla is waiting, the garage is already open and ready to go. George takes the
passenger seat like usual, but Dream doesn’t complain as Sapnap opens the door for Dream
first and then himself.

He smiles, sliding into the seat and letting the door be shut for him. He likes the princess
treatment if that’s what he’s getting. He hopes Sapnap doesn’t stop, it makes his chest feel all
fluttery.

The car ride is longer than expected, but it’s nice at the same time. Sapnap is singing in the
front seat and George is blabbering to him while he does. His words don’t really make sense,
he’s more just making noise, but it’s nice all the same, especially when the two keep stealing
glances back at Dream and pausing so he can talk too.

Things almost feel normal. It’s exactly what he wanted so badly to begin with.

They pass the airport like George said they would, and Dream watches George playfully
nudge Sapnap when they do, whispering, “Bro talks like he knows how to drive.”

“Shut up,” Sapnap laughs.

Dream giggles, excitement growing as the car rolls into the parking lot slowly.

It looks like a nice restaurant- definitely the kind that you need reservations for.

Dream stares at the building closely, eyebrows furrowed. The red neon sign tugs at the back
of his mind, like an itch he can’t scratch, making his entire body feel weird and
uncomfortable.

Sapnap turns the car off, and both he and George have a hand on the door handle ready to
jump out of the car, but Dream feels frozen in place. His throat is dry, and his hands weave
together nervous, still staring at the neon sign.

“Dream?” Sapnap asks when he makes no move to get out of the car. “You good?”

“I don’t… I don’t like this restaurant,” Dream says, certain but unsure of why.

“What? What’s wrong with it?” Sapnap asks casually.

Dream opens his mouth and then hesitates. He doesn’t want to make Sapnap upset again.
“Dream?” George asks curiously.

Both of their eyes are on him now, and he can’t stop looking between their faces that are
slowly growing with concern and the neon sign.

“I’ve eaten here before,” he says carefully, eyebrows knitted together as he racks his brain for
information that he simply doesn’t have. “And… I didn’t like it.”

The silence that follows is deafening.

“... Guys?” Dream asks nervously, picking at his nails.

“You remember?” Sapnap asks, turning around to stare at Dream with bugged-out eyes.
“That- we only started eating here like a year ago. So you remember?”
His words sound frantic, and Dream’s eyebrows knit together with mild fear. “I-I don’t know.
Not really.”

“How did you know that then?” George asks, eyes wide as he turns to face Dream
completely, searching his face for something that Dream can’t place.

Dream opens his mouth, but his words dry down to his tongue.

“Dream?”

It feels like an interrogation instead of a question but he doesn’t have the answers they want
from him.

“I don’t know,” Dream whimpers. “I just did. I don’t remember why I don’t like it.”

He almost wants to apologize, but that doesn’t make any damn sense. Isn’t getting his
memories back supposed to be a good thing?

He just wants them to stop looking at him like that. It’s the oddest reaction he thinks he’s ever
seen out of them— which is saying something.

The entire situation makes him feel increasingly uncomfortable while they both stare. Slowly
he wilts under their gazes, feeling bad for even daring to open his stupid mouth. He could
have kept it to himself. He should have.

“Okay. It’s okay,” George assures finally with a faux nonchalant attitude. “Do you want to go
somewhere else then?”

“No,” Dream stares at the sign nervously, wanting to get out of the car more than anything.
“This is fine. Let’s just go in.”

Sapnap is tense, and so is George, as much as he’s pretending not to be as he climbs out of
the car.
 Dream follows them both, numb.

Why does it feel like something bad is about to happen?

Chapter End Notes

Let me know what you thought of this chapter! :D

 An entire ocean
Chapter Summary

After a fight, Sapnap leaves, unable to handle being around George and Dream. Alone,
George breaks down and Dream comforts him.

Chapter Notes

Thank you so much RxdMouth for beta reading this chapter for me!! :D

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“I can’t do this,” Sapnap whispers.

George rolls his eyes. Of course Sapnap is chickening out now. It’s a little late for that, but
Sapnap can’t seem to understand that.

Dream is in the bath after he found the stash of bath bombs he keeps under the sink. George
imagines he’s doing a whole self care thing right now, so he and Sapnap have some time
alone to actually talk about things now that their date is over. Dream didn’t happen to
remember anything else, but the one thing he did remember had scared George and Sapnap
both so bad the date was cut horribly short. Thankfully Dream didn’t seem to notice.

“It’s a little late for that,” George says, tone short and curt. “Dream would freak if you iced
him out now.”

“I know that,” Sapnap snaps at him, hostility making his shoulders tense.

George frowns.

Sapnap softens a little at the look on his face, though he still looks just as distraught. “I know
it’s too late. I just- going into this, I didn’t think about what would happen if he got his
memories back. Or like, when he got his memory back.”

“This wasn’t meant to be forever,” George explains, doing his best to put his thoughts into
words so Sapnap will understand. “It was just meant to be a break for him. So he could be
happy again for a little bit.”

“Okay but we lied to him. A lot,” Sapnap insists.

“I know,” George groans, running a stressed hand through his hair. The entire lie definitely
got away from him. It wasn’t meant to go as far as it did, but here they are. He feels terrible,
anxiety threatening to eat him alive every time he sits and thinks about it for too long.

In the beginning it didn’t feel selfish to want to do this. Maybe a little, because yeah, they
could have made Dream happy without the whole marriage lie, but in his head, it seemed
perfect. They pretend to be married and Dream is happy, and when he gets his memories
back, he’s still happy because now he has Sapnap and George too in a way he didn’t before.

It’s only now that they’re in too deep that he realizes just how selfish that was.

“He’s going to hate us,” Sapnap sighs mournfully.

“Maybe not,” George says hopefully. “Maybe this’ll all turn into like some kind of really
funny joke in the end.”

“No, he’s going to get his memories back, realize we lied, and then he’s going to hate us,”
Sapnap growls, suddenly furious.

George shrinks down in his seat.

“... I’m not blaming you,” Sapnap adds. “I’m not mad at you- I mean I kind of am, but I went
along with it. I wanted it too.”

George stays quiet.

“I think I’m gonna go get some fresh air.”

George’s brows furrow. “What?”

“I’m gonna go get some fresh air,” Sapnap repeats, standing up from his spot on the couch.
Milo hops down from his resting spot with the movement, giving a long stretch before
sauntering off.

“What like go on a walk?” George asks. “Go skate? What are you doing?”

He’s a little frantic at the thought of being alone with Dream right now. Why would Sapnap
leave at a time like this? Just a few hours ago Dream had admitted that he remembered
something and now Sapnap is choosing to leave the house? Leave him ?

“Hey,” Sapnap walks over to where George is sitting, crouching down next to him with a
warm hand on his knee. It’s comforting, but George is still freaking out internally. “What’s
wrong?”

George’s eyes widen. He didn’t think he was being that obvious. Sapnap has a way of being
able to read him unlike anyone else though, they all do when it comes to each other.

George relaxes a little bit into the comfort of Sapnap’s hand, leaning in closer to him without
thinking. “I’m just scared I guess,” he admits quietly.
George searches Sapnap’s face for a response, glad to see his same fear mirrored in his eyes.
It makes him feel less alone. “Me too.”

“What if he remembers something when you’re gone? And it’s just us? What if- what if he
remembers everything or something and then it’s just me here to deal with the damage.”

“Hey,” Sapnap soothes him. “That won’t happen. I just need a little bit of time away from all
of this. It’ll be okay, he’s going to go to sleep soon anyways right?”

George shrugs. Dream did get up pretty early today, and it’s nearing ten at night. It wouldn’t
be a stretch to say that he’s going to go to bed soon. “I guess.”

“Okay, so no biggie right? It’ll be okay,” Sapnap promises with a kiss to George’s cheek.

George leans in, silently begging Sapnap not to leave him still. He receives another kiss to his
lips this time, but it doesn’t ease the hollow, terrified feeling in his chest. He wants to hold on
to Sapnap’s sleeve like a little kid and whisper ‘please don’t leave me. Please.’ until he
decides to stay.

That doesn’t happen though.

Sapnap pulls away with one last squeeze to George’s knee. “You’ll be fine. I’m gonna go stay
the night with Punz and Cate.”

“What?” George hisses, alarmed. Warning bells go off in his head like a loud siren, blaring
that this is a bad idea. “No-”

“Yes,” Sapnap cuts him off instantly. “I need to get away from this,” he gestures vaguely at
George.

George pulls back, hurt and indignation flaring up inside of him.

Silence follows.

“... You know what I mean,” Sapnap adds, at least having the decency to look guilty.

“Fine,” George spits, frustration simmering with the anxiety and making his insides writhe.
“Go.”

“... Don’t be mad,” Sapnap begs, big green eyes pleading. “I just need a break.”

“I said go,” George snaps at him, pulling away from him entirely.

Sapnap groans, sounding exhausted. George is exhausted too though. And Sapnap always
does this, he’s been doing it for days now. He literally said earlier that he wanted this too!!
But here he is, running away again like a coward, leaving George to tend to Dream on his
own like always.

Dread builds and builds inside of him, but it’s not enough to get past his anger at Sapnap
right now, so resolutely, George decides that he can do this. He can take over and take care of
Dream and Sapnap can run off and hide like he always does, only sticking around when he
feels like it.

“... I’m sorry,” Sapnap whimpers.

“Go,” George repeats.

“I’ll be back in the morning, before y’all are even awake. Okay?” Sapnap pleads again.

George doesn’t look at him, he simply stands up, and starts towards the stairs. Dream is
probably close to finishing his bath by now anyway.

“I love you,” Sapnap calls after him.

George ignores him pointedly, trotting up the stairs.

Once he’s sure that he’s out of Sapnap’s line of sight, he stops on the stairs, trying to calm his
rapid breathing and racing heart.

A few minutes later, he hears the door in the kitchen open and close, and the garage open,
meaning he’s truly alone now. Well, alone with Dream anyway.

George’s heart twists with anxiety, making his stomach feel queasy.

With trepidation slowing him down, George makes his way to Dream’s bedroom, unsurprised
to hear the tub draining from the attached bathroom.

He sits on the bed, staring down at his hands as he thinks. His brain races with all the worst
possibilities, stomach in knots, like Dream is going to somehow regain every single one of
his memories in the bath or something insane like that. He wrings his fingers together, flexing
until his knuckles turn white.

The door creaks open, and George looks up just long enough to catch sight of Dream.

Dream is soft and warm from his bath, glowing with the lingering heat of the water. He
smiles softly at George, greeting him cutely. “Hi.”

“Hi,” George swallows thickly, holding back tears. He’s the love of his life and George is
ruining everything.

“What’s wrong?” Dream tilts his head curiously at him like a puppy.

“I’m just having a bad night,” George tries to wave him off, sniffling softly. “Did you enjoy
your bath?”

“Yeah,” Dream shrugs, clearly not about to drop it. “Would have been nicer with you in it
with me.”

George forces a smile. “Next time,” he promises, though there probably won’t be a next time.
Dream is going to get his memories back soon and he’s going to hate him and not want
anything to do with him. And Sapnap will throw him under the bus, he thinks, paranoia
making his skin crawl. He’ll tell Dream about how it was his idea, and yeah, to be fair it was,
and then Dream is going to forgive Sapnap and tell George to leave. He should probably start
thinking about where he can go honestly. L.A. wouldn’t be bad. Putting the distance of an
entire country between them would probably suffice.

He just hopes that Dream doesn’t ask for an entire ocean.

George would give it to him though, if that’s what he asked.

“What’s wrong baby?” Dream asks, sitting down on the bed. He’s wearing only a towel slung
low across his waist. It’s like he completely forgot himself in an effort to comfort George and
it only serves to make him feel worse.

“Aren’t you cold?” George asks, trying to deflect.

“Nah,” Dream waves him off. “I can put clothes on later.”

“Could you put your pants on and then hold me for a little bit?” George asks politely.

“Yeah,” Dream nods, standing up quickly. “Of course. Lemme actually find my pants,” he
looks around the floor where he must have left them.

He looks really fucking cute, walking around with his head down, looking for things on the
floor.

Dream locates some baggy, worn plaid pants; stepping into them quickly and dropping the
towel to his floor unceremoniously, his attention already back on George.

George sniffles again, and Dream hurries over, climbing onto the bed. He crawls towards him
on his hands and knees, sitting back on his heels once he gets close enough and immediately
holds his arms out.

George’s shoulders slump, and he can’t help but fall right into his arms. He shuts his eyes,
and takes a deep breath; breathing in the scent of his stupid strawberry body wash.

Dream holds him close, skin warm and almost sticky from the heat of the bath still lingering
on him. His nose is in his hair, breath hitting George’s curls.

“Can we lay down?” George asks, eager to get closer to him somehow.

“Yeah, ‘course,” Dream nods, already starting to guide them both back. George doesn’t even
bother to open his eyes, letting Dream guide him back until his head hits the pillows. He pulls
the blankets back, and immediately flops down on top of George, pinning him down to the
bed.

“What are you doing?” George grumbles, doing his best to sound unhappy despite how much
he loves it. Dream squishes him perfectly somehow, like the world’s best weighted blanket
made just for him.
“Holding you,” he replies simply, snuggling in closer. George’s chest is pinned down, and his
hips too, leaving only his arms free. It feels intentional, and George rolls his eyes fondly as
he laces his fingers through Dream’s soft curls.

Dream hums.

It’s insanely comforting.

George worries the strands between his fingers, and Dream stays silent, giving George the
option to talk about it or not.

“Me and Sapnap had a fight,” George whispers, voice strained. “He’s staying with Punz
tonight.”

“Was it that bad?” Dream asks, concerned as he wraps his arms around George tightly,
squeezing him until he’s short of breath.

George nods, eyes squeezed shut. Sapnap had said he loved him and he didn’t respond. That
must have hurt him so bad. He feels like shit for it but the thought of texting him ‘I’m sorry’
makes him want to puke.

“What was the fight about?” Dream asks curiously.

George falls quiet, hating himself more and more with each passing second.

Dream doesn’t let go, but when faced with silence, his grip lessens on him, and George thinks
it’s the worst thing he’s ever felt in his life.

“Do you love me?” George asks quietly.

“Of course,” Dream purrs happily, nuzzling his face against George’s chest.

“Would you love me no matter what?” he asks.

“What, like if you were a worm?” Dream asks. “Are you asking if I would still love you if
you were a worm?”

George’s heart drops again. Dream doesn’t seem to notice it, but that meme is fairly recent.
It’s another little bit of his memory coming back.

“More than that,” George whispers, running his fingers through Dream’s soft golden curls
that lace around his knuckles.

“George, I would love you no matter what,” Dream kisses his chest gently, warm lips making
George’s heart jump in his chest. “You couldn’t do anything to make me stop loving you.”

“Even if I’m a bad person?” He asks.

“You’re not,” Dream promises, kissing his chest again and again, warm hands wrapped
around George’s ribs, holding him in place so he can lavish him with love that he doesn’t
deserve.

“I feel like one,” George admits, clinging onto Dream. He feels like a piece of shit for even
holding him like this, admitting what he thinks about himself when Dream doesn’t know the
reason why. Dream shouldn’t be comforting him, especially about something like this.

“Everyone feels like a bad person sometimes,” Dream justifies quietly against his chest. “It
doesn’t mean that you are. You’re kind, you’re loving, you’re funny and sweet and smart.
You’re everything I could ever ask for in a partner.”

George’s chest heaves, Dream’s head rising and falling with it.

“Think about it,” Dream squeezes him. “I wouldn’t have married you if you were a bad
person, George. I wouldn’t have waited tons of years for you to move here. Neither would
Sap. Things will work out, I know they will.”

George nods frantically, eyes squeezed shut. He gnaws on his bottom lip, holding back tears.

Dream doesn’t say anything else. He just holds him.

He’s never felt so overwhelmed with love in his life, it makes him feel queasy.

Tears wet his cheeks, a little whimper leaving his mouth that he can’t bite back.

Dream doesn’t say anything as George hiccups, choking on the emotion that swells inside of
him.

Why is he so fucking kind? And perfect and loving and sweet and-

George resists the urge to squeeze Dream as tight as he possibly can. He tugs on his hair
softly, another shuttering whimper leaving his chest.

“You’re okay,” Dream promises, holding on tight.

George nods, and takes a couple steadying breath, urging himself internally to stop crying to
hard. It takes some time, but soon enough the tears dry to his face in a tacky trail that makes
him itch, and his breathing slows.

Dream shifts subtly, and George’s eyes shoot open.

“… are you hard?” George asks incredulously, staring at the ceiling.

“No.”

George narrows his gaze, and jerks his leg out. “... You are. You literally are,” his jaw drops
in confusion. He can feel the bulge on his leg!

“No I’m not.”

“Dream!”
“Stop, okay… listen,” Dream sits up, a very serious look on his face. “You… you were
crying and-“

George’s eyes widen. “You got hard from me crying ?”

“No!” Dream yelps frantically, big green eyes pleading with George to understand. “No but-
the- the noises you were making and- you’re just so cute…” Dream pauses, and George
squeezes his lips shut around his laughter.

“Are you laughing at me?” Dream asks quietly.

George shakes his head, eyes squeezed shut, lying through his teeth. He doesn’t dare open his
mouth, otherwise he’s going to snort. What the fuck? That’s what got him all excited? George
crying?

What a freak, he thinks fondly.

“Stoooop,” Dream whines, a smile playing at his lips. “It’s not like that. George, come on.
You sounded cute it’s- quit,” Dream pinches his arm lightly to get his attention, but it doesn’t
matter, George is giggling hysterically at him, laughing so hard it becomes inaudible, hand
flailing uselessly like a seal. He tries to get words out, but the entire situation is so absurd he
can’t think of anything to actually say.

“Ugh,” Dream laughs softly, sitting up to steal a kiss. He misses, and plants one right on
George’s chin. It calms him down enough to tilt his head just enough so Dream could really
kiss him.

His lips are so soft, George marvels as they move against his own chapped ones. His face
smells like watermelon– from a face mask he’s sure. Everything about Dream is soft, from
his lips to his cheeks, down to the big hands that encircle George’s wrists, holding him close
against him.

“I love you,” Dream whispers against his lips.

“No matter what?” George asks, selfishly, searching Dream’s face. He waits to see some kind
of indication: a worry in his brow, a glint in his eye, a twitch of his lips or a flare of his nose,
something to show that Dream is lying when he promises, “No matter what.”

George never sees it.

“What if I did something really wrong?” George pushes. “What if I hurt you?”

“You wouldn’t,” Dream answers confidently. “ But if you did, I would forgive you.”

George purses his lips, about to keep prodding at him, but then Dream rolls his eyes,
obviously done with the conversation. When Dream is checked out of something, he can be a
real brat, so George drops it, trying to force his brain to be content with what Dream has
given him.
“Can we have sex?” George asks to change the subject. “We don’t have to but… I would like
to.”

“I wanna have sex,” Dream looks up at him excitedly, eyes bright and wide with renewed
interest. “Wanna fuck me?”

George bites his lip. It’s adorable how excited Dream is. “Would you maybe want to fuck
me? Instead?”

Dream’s eyes widen, a look on his face like he just won the jackpot. “Really?”

“No, I take it back actually,” George deadpans at him, making Dream giggle. It’s a bright airy
sound that sends a tingle down George’s spine.

“No don’t,” Dream pushes into him, smothering him into the bed completely as he cranes his
neck up to steal a kiss.

George sighs into his lips, letting his eyes fall shut. Dream is gentle, squeezing down on his
waist as he deepens the kiss until George feels light headed with the lack of air. Breathing
isn’t worth not kissing though, so he lets it happen, clinging onto Dream when the room
spins, hoping he’ll keep him grounded.

His mouth tastes like toothpaste, minty fresh and clean as his tongue swipes over his. Their
teeth gnash, nipping at one another lips before Dream strays away from his mouth and moves
down his chin and neck, brushing his soft lips over George’s stubble. Dream hums at the
feeling but keeps going, latching onto his neck.

George normally isn’t a fan of hickeys. In fact, he kinds of hates them on himself. Leaving
them is fun, but having to worry about covering them up is a pain and the possessiveness that
comes with them usually rubs him wrong.

Not with Dream though. Never with Dream. He’s pretty sure he would let Dream do anything
to him without hesitation, Sapnap too if the idiot would stop being so mad at him.

George relaxes, putty under sinful lips that suck bruises into his skin, mean teeth worrying
the skin until there’s no doubt that there will be a mark there later.

He wants matching ones from Sapnap on the other side, and George’s heart pangs longingly.
“Dream,” he whimpers, desperate for comfort still.

Dream just moves down lower and lower, down to the collar of George’s shirt. He nips at the
fabric, and then looks up at Dream happily. “Can I take your shirt off?”
George nods, heart fluttering.

Dream slowly peels his shirt off of him, George doing the bare minimum to help him get it
off, but Dream doesn’t seem to mind. He just pulls it off of his head, steals a kiss, and then
sits back to admire George.

“What are you doing?” George asks, nervously, hands fluttering uselessly around his chest
for lack of anything better to do with them.
“Just looking,” Dream grins giddily at him.

“Do something else,” George demands. He’s never been particularly self conscious but
something about how Dream is looking at him makes him squirm, a blush on his cheeks.

“Okay,” Dream concedes, reaching down for George’s pants. He pulls them down his thigh
slowly, fingertips grazing George’s thighs as he does so.

After that, he pulls his underwear down, letting them rest on his knees as he wiggles
backwards enough to take them off completely.

“You too,” George nudges Dream’s hip with his foot, looking pointedly at his pants.

“I’m getting there,” Dream promises with a little giggle. To please George though, he gets too
it immediately, working his pants down and off that he had hurriedly shoved on not long ago.
He’s commando, making things a little easier as he reaches up and grabs for the lube sitting
on the dresser.
“Ready?” Dream asks, opening the bottle.

George nods, bringing his knees up to give Dream access.

“... You’re so cute,” Dream compliments at the sight.

“What?” George hisses. “Stop.”

“No. You’re cute,” Dream moves to lay down between his legs, squirting lube into his hand.
He moves it around, warming it between his fingertips. While he works the lube, Dream
begins kissing his knee and up his inner thigh, making his way to the crease of his thigh.
George sighs at the ticklish feeling, breath catching when Dream kisses his cock next.

“Dream,” he groans, head falling back as he wraps his soft lips around his cock, socking on
the soft member lightly.

Wet fingers slide between his cheeks, rubbing around his rim. George spreads his thighs open
more at the feeling, reaching down to weave his fingers in the mess of perfect curls on top of
Dream’s head. He’s so achingly gentle, pushing one finger in and sucking at his cock as if he
would need a distraction from the small stretch.

George supposes it has been a really long time since he last got fucked. He’s excited that
Dream is going to be the one to touch him now, though he still really misses Sapnap.

“You’re doing good,” George praises as Dream begins pumping his finger in and out,
stretching him out.

Blood rushes south, encouraged by how Dream mouth’s at his cock. He kisses down over his
balls, laps at them eagerly before going back up to suck on the head, working George half
hard with ease.

“Another,” George instructs, through one of his legs over Dream’s shoulders to pull him
closer.
Dream chuckles at the demands, but does as he’s asked, sliding another finger inside of him.
Two is a bit more of a stretch, and George gasps as the intrusion, arching into Dream’s
mouth.

“Fuck,” he sighs, rocking back onto his fingers. “That’s really good. Your fingers are big,” he
comments. Way bigger than his, that’s for sure. Dream is fingering him way better than he’s
ever been able to do for himself.

It doesn’t take long for him to become fully hard, not with Dream’s talented mouth moving
all over his length, nose buried in his pubes and hot breath panting against his wet skin
occasionally.

“One more,” George urges, wanting to get on with it already. He wants Dream inside of him,
and a voice in the back of his head says this may be the only chance he gets to have Dream
like this. He’s going to hate him soon.

George whimpers, chest tight.

“You okay?” Dream asks softly at the noise, pumping his fingers in and out. “Is it too much?”

George shakes his head frantically. “No. Keep going.”

“Okay,” He kisses his cock again, right on the vein that drives George crazy. “Let me know
when.”

George nods. He can do that.

The stretch from two to three fingers isn’t as bad as he expects it to be. The burn is
pleasurable, working his muscles open that relax even more when he thinks about what’s
coming. He wants him inside of him so bad it almost hurts.

“Okay, enough come on,” George tugs at his hair, urging him up.

Dream pulls off of his cock, bright eyes locking with George’s. “Ready for me to fuck you
now?”

George nods. It’ll make him feel better, he thinks hopefully. Getting Dream inside of him will
fix the awful hurt in his heart right now.

“Okay,” he withdraws his fingers. “More lube or anything?”

George purses his lips thinking about it. “Kiss me?” he asks eventually.

Dream’s eyes light up, and he leans up quickly, pressing a sweet kiss to George’s lips. His
mouth tastes bad, but George doesn’t really care all that much.

He sighs when Dream pulls away, sitting back on his heels with his hands resting on George’s
knees. “Ready?”

George nods, lifting his legs up to rest on Dream’s shoulder.

Dream eagerly moves forward, lining himself up with George’s wet, loose hole. With a kiss
to his ankle, Dream smiles against his shin, nuzzling against him so sweetly it takes George’s
breath away.

“I love you,” George whispers, heart breaking.

“Love you,” Dream echoes. He then rubs the tip against his hole, teasing him until George
lets out a frustrated little huff. Only then does he push in, a little too hard and a little too fast.
He bottoms out before George can comprehend it, the stretch making his stomach hurt.

“Dream,” he tries to warn, but Dream is already pulling out, fucking into him again and again
with quick jack rabbit thrusts.

“Ow,” George whimpers softly. It doesn’t hurt enough to stop Dream, he can take it, but it’s
enough to draw a little noise out of him, and Dream who is attentive as ever, immediately
looks at him.

“What’s wrong?”

George doesn’t answer.

“Too fast?” he guesses.

George nods. “You can keep going though.”

“I can stop,” Dream adjusts his grip on George’s thighs nervously. “I’m sorry baby. I got so
excited to touch you.”

George’s face burns, and he quickly looks away.

“I wanna be good for you,” Dream says eagerly.

George reaches down, squeezing his hand. “You are good for me. You’re always amazing,
darling. Keep going.”

Dream full body shivers at the praise, and George can’t help but smile as he starts thrusting
into him again, this time much slower. It feels a lot better, far from painful now with how
Dream attentively watches his face, moving his hips with slow but deep thrusts that make
George’s head spin.

George digs his fingers into Dream’s hand, holding onto him tightly. It’s amazing, his breath
catches in his throat and his cock twitches between his thighs, not going unnoticed by Dream.

“Am I doing good now?” He asks, reaching down to grab hold of George’s cock.

“Yes, fuck,” George throws his head back against the pillow at the touch. “Keep going.”

“I am,” Dream promises, playing with his cock in his hand. He’s not very good at it, idle
pumps of his fists barely in time with his thrusts but it’s enough to make George feel like he’s
going crazy.
Dream is achingly gentle, one big hand spread out over George’s hips, holding him in place.
Time passes slow, George doesn’t know how long they stay like that, it’s hard to tell or think
past the way Dream is looking at him and touching him. His hips start to ache, and his back
hurts, but George doesn’t want him to ever stop, even when his cock turns an angry red from
being teased, precum dripping over Dream’s fist and wetting his hand, making each slide that
much more delicious.

“Close,” Dream whispers, still keeping up his pace from before. George doesn’t know how;
he’s sure if it were anyone else, Sapnap or hell even George, he would be pounding into him
senselessly right now. Dream has too much self control, George decides.

“Me too,” He groans, arching into Dream’s touch, begging for more. “Touch me.”

“I am,” Dream insists with a cock, tired grin.

George growls with frustration, about to bat Dream’s hand away and do it his damn self when
finally Dream chuckles, and tightens his fist, pumping him up and down until George arches
back against the bed, keening at the sensation.

His brain is white hot and empty, nothing left inside of it except for thoughts of Dream and
the insurmountable pleasure he’s giving him. George pants and whines, thrashing against him
until his vision blanks and his ears ring with the orgasm that’s forced out of him.

Dream keeps working his fist almost mindlessly, milking George’s cock while he pounds into
him, only now breaking the painfully slow thrusts he had been giving him before hand.
George chokes on the overstimulation, but he bites back his whimpers and complaints,
watching through hooded eyes as Dream chases his own orgasm.

He cums with a loud moan, burying into George deeply one last time before hot cum paints
his insides.

George falls limp like a rag doll against the bed, Dream holding his gaze he rides out the
aftershocks inside of him.

Slowly, Dream eases George’s legs off of his shoulder, helping him lie down fully.

“Fuck,” George groans tiredly at how his muscles burn at the change in position. He’ll surely
hurt tomorrow too, but he can’t bring himself to regret it at all when Dream is looking at him
like he’s his entire world.

“You’re cute,” Dream compliments, cheeks flushed and hair wild with his cheeky grin
stretching his face. He looks good, fucked out and happy.

George grunts at him. Dream looks pretty cute himself but George can’t make his mouth and
brain coordinate well enough to say that.

“I’ll go get wipes,” Dream offers, leaning down to press a quick kiss to George’s cheek. He
preens into the attention happily, letting his eyes slip shut as the bed dips and Dream hurries
off to the bathroom.

Mournfully, as George lies in bed alone, he can’t help but think about how much better it
would be if Sapnap was here beside him. He misses him horribly, his heart hurting so bad it
makes his stomach churn.

If George knew how to fix everything, he would.

Dream comes back quickly, thankfully, before he could start to spiral.

“You haven’t brushed your teeth,” Dream comments, George’s wet toothbrush with
toothpaste squirted on it held in one hand, and wipes in the other.

“Wha?” George laughs softly. “What am I supposed to do with that?”

“Brush your teeth, nasty,” Dream giggles, handing him the toothbrush as he sits on the bed.
“And when you’re done I’ll take it back to the bathroom for you.”

“Oh my god,” George giggles. “Thanks I guess.”

Dream shakes his head, giddy.

George rolls his eyes, and pops the toothbrush into his mouth. It feels weird to brush his teeth
lying down like this, but it makes Dream happy so he does it.

He lets himself be moved as Dream takes a wipe and cleans them both up, starting with
George. He wipes down his body, and between his cheeks, cleaning up the mess the best he
can without a proper bath. Dream looks up every now and then to make sure George is
brushing his teeth, making them both giggle softly each time.

Eventually, Dream deems them both mostly clean, and tosses the used wipes into the bin by
the bed. He then looks at George expectantly.

George takes the toothbrush out of his mouth and scowls.

“What?” Dream asks.

Unable to answer, George looks around for somewhere to spit. There’s no cups, no bowls and
the bin feels like a weird place to spit in.

Resigned to his fate, George swallows.

“Ew did you swallow it?” Dream asks incredulously, voice loud in disbelief.
“What else was I supposed to do with it?” George asks. “Spit it into your hand?”

“No! A cup!”

“I didn’t have a cup!” George insists.

 “Nasty,” Dream shakes his head, chidding softly under his breath. “Disgusting.”
“You’re disgusting, why did you make me brush my teeth in the bed anyways?” George
narrows his eyes at him. “That’s weird. You’re a freak.”

“You’re the one that swallowed toothpaste!” Dream cries. “That’s like- soap!”

“It’s not soap, it's toothpaste!” George argues.

Dream just laughs. “Whatever. You little weirdo.”

“At least I don’t get hard from my husband crying,” George says petulantly, loving how
Dream’s cheeks go pink.

“Whatever. Go to sleep,” Dream grumbles, setting his toothbrush and the wipes down on the
night stand. He then turns off the light, and crawls into bed beside George.

There’s an achingly empty spot beside them. Neither of them acknowledge it.

“I love you,” George whispers, just so Dream knows. He should probably remind him more,
in case he ever forgets, he thinks.

“I love you too George,” Dream kisses the top of his head, snuggling up against his back.

It’s comfortable, and after getting his brains fucked out, it’s all too easy to let his eyes slip
shut, especially with the comforting presence of Dream pressed right beside him.

Time passes quietly, filled with silence and the faint sound of their shared breathing. Dream
pulls away a little, but George doesn’t mind, his brain finally quiet enough to fall asleep.

George drifts off slowly, sleep taking him just after he feels the bed dip and the door to their
bedroom close.

Chapter End Notes

Let me know what you thought of this chapter! :D

 Remember Every Moment
Chapter Summary

Dream sneaks away from George to find his office. A quick Google search shows that
Sapnap and George haven't been very truthful with him.

Chapter Notes

Thank you RxdMouth for beta reading this chapter for me!!
Warning: this chapter contains description of panic attacks, please take care of
yourselves!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Dream carefully crawls out of the bed, heart lurching at the sight of George snuggled up,
fucked out and sleepy. He feels bad for leaving, especially with how distressed George had
been just a little bit ago, but he’s been waiting for a moment alone for too long to pass it up
now.

He frowns sadly, hesitating at the edge of the bed. What was the fight about that was so bad
that Sapnap left? Going to stay at Punz’s house? They’re married. He didn’t even like, take
the couch or something. It had to have been brutal. And sure, he knows Sapnap and George
can get into it pretty bad sometimes, but do they still do that now?

It seems insane to him.

The way George cried is haunting, and Dream swallows thickly, hoping to never hear or see
him do that again. And the questions? Is he a bad person?

George is one of the kindest people he knows. A little thoughtless at times, but George is the
person you call when you need someone to sit with you for hours just to get coding done.
George is the person you need most when it feels like the world is crashing down around you.
George is like sunshine in dark clothes, little rays poking out with every smile and laugh and
well timed joke that lightens the mood instantly. He’s been there for Dream through the worst
moments in his life, and he can’t remember exactly what happened but… he knows George
was there.

Dream stares down at him, his lips parted and breathing heavy as sleep takes him. He looks
adorable with his hair wild against the pillows, cheeks still flushed from before.
God he wants to kiss him so bad. Dream’s fingers twitch, wanting to reach out and touch him
but he can’t bring himself to wake him up either.

Reluctantly, Dream turns around, walking towards the door. He takes one last look at George
before slipping out.

As soon as the door is closed behind him, Dream pulls out George’s phone, typing in the
password quickly.

george: everything okay? It’s Dream, I have his phone.

Sapnap doesn’t answer.

Dream purses his lips, unsure if he wants to push things or not. On one hand, having some
kind of answers past what gibberish George had spewed earlier would be nice. On the other,
he doesn’t want to make Sapnap mad either, especially considering Sapnap seems to always
be mad at him.

Hmm…

Deciding that George is worth Sapnap being mad at him, he pushes.

George: George is really upset. What happened?

Finally Sapnap responds.

Sapnap: nothing

The lackluster response isn’t what Dream was expecting. It’s more disheartening than
knowing whatever it is that’s going on.

George: please talk to me

Sapnap: George is an assshole. That’s all. Don’t worry about it

George: Did he do something to you?

Sapnap doesn’t answer for a long time, and Dream shifts his weight back and forth anxiously
as he waits.

Sapnap: no not really. He’s just an ass

Dream: you married him

Dream smiles slightly at the joke, hoping it will help Sapnap loosen up a bit.

Sapnap: doesn’t make him less of an ass

George: he cried pretty hard. Whatever you said

Sapnap promptly stops responding.

Dream waits.

And he waits a little longer.

Finally, he gives up with a deep sigh. He’s wasting precious alone time right now when he
shouldn’t be. This is the perfect opportunity: George is asleep and Sapnap is out. He’s
completely alone, and there’s no one around to distract him from his snooping.

He doesn’t want to sound suspicious, but… looking back on things, there has always been
someone with him lately. It’s odd how clingy they are, right? Like, in the beginning, it was
because Sapnap and George were worried about him, concussions and all that. But it’s almost
too convenient that he starts looking through things and magically one of them is around to
distract him.

He’s probably thinking about things too hard, Dream reasons with himself. There’s no reason
for them to be trying to distract him, their reactions earlier to his memory has just put him on
edge.

Still, it can’t hurt to snoop a little.

There’s one room in particular that has struck up some kind of itch at the back of his brain.
George says it’s a closet, but if so, why is it locked? And it’s right next to George’s office,
down the hall from Sapnap’s… that kind of implies that the locked room would be Dream’s
office right?

Why would it be locked?

Dream purses his lips as he trots down the stairs, mind racing. He’s going to feel so fucking
stupid if it actually is a closet. If he opens that door and it’s a bunch of winter coats or stored
Christmas decorations or something ridiculous he’s going to feel so guilty for ever doubting
them. He feels guilty now even. They’re his husbands. They wouldn’t lie to him or hide
things, right?

If it’s not a closet though, he isn’t going to know what to think. He doesn’t know which he
wants it to be.

Dream walks into the kitchen, beelining to the drawer he opened the other day by mistake,
looking for a serving spoon to use with dinner. Sapnap had shut the drawer quickly and
redirected him to the actual drawer, but Dream still saw it.

He pulls open the drawer next to the fridge, heart thumping loudly as he searches the
contents. For a split second, he almost thinks the worst: Sapnap came in and moved it, or
George, and that would actually mean something fucked up is happening.

Luckily, he finds what he’s looking for. Nestled in between odd batteries and stolen
silverware from restaurants, there is a ring of spare keys.

Almost every key has a label on them due to almost every door in the house having a lock on
it. Dream picks up the ring and thumbs through the different keys, trying to read the chicken
scratch on the yellow stickers on each key.

He finds four keys labeled as office. Just ‘office’. No indication of which one goes to which
room.

With a deep sense of dread growing in his stomach, Dream carefully keeps his thumb and
forefingers on the four keys, and makes his way to the mysteriously locked room.

The first key does jack shit. It gets stuck in the lock, and he has to shake it free.

The second key is the same.

Dream frowns and quickly glances through the list of keys again just to be sure he didn’t miss
something, but none of the labels look even remotely close to the word ‘closet’, another red
flag.

He tries again.

Dream jimmies the third key around, but the handle doesn’t budge.

His heart sinking, Dream begins to feel really fucking stupid, chiding himself internally.

Why would I ever doubt them? This is stupid. It’s a closet, it’s probably just not labeled on the
keys. It’s nothing.

The fourth key slides in, and when he twists it, the doorknob loosens.

Dream’s eyes widen.

Slowly, he twists the knob open, and pushes open the door.

The first thing that greets him is a big, neon sign. A red play button with the word Dream
written underneath it.

Dream blinks at it. YouTube?

Suddenly his entire heart sinks.

That’s YouTube. And that’s his name plain as day.

So… they did lie?

He doesn’t want to believe that. Why would his literal husbands lie to him over something as
stupid as YouTube? What, so he made a couple goofy videos and they flopped or something?

Were they just trying to hide the fact that it didn’t take off? The last Dream remembers, he
had been super passionate about making YouTube work out… maybe they wanted to save
him the heartache of knowing it didn’t?

Dream’s gaze trails over to the bed. It’s nothing to really note. An OU blanket is thrown over
the gray blankets beneath, and without a doubt Dream knows this is his office. For some
reason, the sign wasn’t enough, but the blanket solidifies it for him.

His eyes trail over to the desk, piled high with…

“Merch?” Dream asks, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

Tons of merch.

The more he looks, the more piles he sees of it, hoodies with smiley faces on it, flames and
even GeorgeNotFound and Sapnap written on it. There’s plushies, a weird looking white blob
thing and a man– that definitely has to be George, there’s a smiling flame little thing…

“What?” Dream asks out loud, completely baffled by what he’s seeing right now. He reaches
down, picking up one of the sweatshirts discarded randomly into the floor. He looks it over,
and then at the tag.

DreamBranding.

DreamBranding?

What the fuck is that?

… That’s his name. The merch is…

Dream clutches the sweatshirt to his chest as he pulls the desk chair out from the his desk.
He sits down gingerly, looking around at the odd little trinkets on his desk. They don’t strike
up any memory in particular, but he knows they’re his. And they’re important to him. There’s
a beaded blue and green bracelet with the words ‘DNF’ spelt out on it, a little pink rose
quartz elephant that sends a pang through his heart even though he can’t remember why.
There’s a Minion polaroid picture with him and Sapnap together, and a rock he distinctly
remembers George handing him once and he slipped into his pocket just to make him happy.

Hesitantly, Dream turns on the computer. It roars to life– a gaming pc far nicer than he ever
imagined owning, but he supposes that goes along with the cars and the fucking mansion
which he can apparently afford from more than just music like George and Sapnap said.

His heart hammers in his chest, making blood thrum through him so loud he can hardly hear
anything else as he waits for it to boot up.

The lock screen in generic, nothing special or spectacular or memory jogging.

For a second, he’s terrified there’s a password on it. By all accounts there should be. But he
clicks it open, and it unlocks.

The desktop is painfully normal. Purple space theme, nothing extraordinary or telling about
his life these past few years. He pulls open Google, and the first thing he does is look up his
name.

Dream.

Dream is just a word, and yet, when he types it into the search bar, it autofills in, meaning
he’s searched himself before.

A link to a YouTube account comes up, and a description.

Clay, better known by his online alias Dream, is an American YouTuber, Twitch streamer and
singer who is known primarily for creating Minecraft content. Dream has been active online
since 2014, but did not gain substantial popularity until 2019, with the release of his
"Minecraft Manhunt" YouTube series.

Dream’s jaw drops.

Substantial popularity?

His stomach churns as he clicks on the link. Suddenly his face is plastered all over the screen,
along with a YouTube link. In the description, he reads: 31.8 million subscribers.

What the fuck.

What the fuck.

Dream swallows, reading the number again. That can’t be right. That… Sapnap and George
said he didn’t even do YouTube, it didn’t work out. This…

Why would they lie?

Dream scrolls a bit, and follows the link to Wikipedia next.

Reading through it makes him feel insane. He almost wants to stop completely, turn the
computer off, lock the door and crawl back in bed with George. It sounds nice. He wants to
wrap up in George and pretend nothing ever happened and tomorrow things will be normal
again.

He does none of that though.

He scrolls down to the part of his Wikipedia labeled controversies.

After the controversies, he moves down to music. At least Sapnap and George didn’t lie
about that. Oddly enough, on the entire wikipedia, his ex is mentioned, and yet… there’s no
mention of his current husbands.

They must keep their relationship secretive, Dream decides. That’s probably why he wasn’t
wearing his ring when he hit his head right? He left it at home because he was in public.

He repeats that to himself as he pursues the YouTube channel. Millions of views, millions of
subscribers, tons of videos with Sapnap and George both in them and Bad.

Suddenly, there’s no one in the world he wants more than to talk to Bad. Bad would know
what to do right now. Bad would help him, he always has, there’s no one he trusts more
except for Spanap and George… but now he isn’t so sure he should.

Dream clicks out of Youtube, and then scrolls. Instagram, and then… Twitter.

The last tweet he made was a long time ago, but then a tiny voice says to type his name in the
search bar, so he does. Pictures of him follow, pictures with George and Sapnap, videos of
them playing games together, art of them all…

He just keeps scrolling. He scrolls and scrolls, the nice tweets slowly turning mean, and then
downright malicious. People hate him. Their intensity is terrifying, entire accounts dedicated
to hating him, wishing the worst for him…

Tears spring to his eyes, but he can’t bring himself to stop. He just keeps scrolling and
scrolling, reading the worst things he’s ever seen said about him and then reading more right
after it.

His shoulders begin to shake, eyes burning.

He wants a hug. He wants Bad to tell him things are okay. He wants Sapnap and George but
that feels wrong. He wishes he never came in here, he shouldn’t have been so nosy because
now when he needs comfort the most he can’t even go to his husbands because they fucking
lied to him. He was vulnerable and they lied to him.

For a brief second, Dream almost thinks to go get George. George could explain, right?
There’s a reason, a really really good reason that’s going to make up for all of this and it’s
going to make sense and Dream isn’t going to feel nauseous when he explains the way he
feels queasy right now and-

… He’s too scared. He’s scared of George now. And Sapnap. If they lied to him once about
something as big as this, who’s to say they won’t do it again? He can’t trust them. And if he
can’t trust them…

He can’t trust anyone.

Dream rubs a hand up and down his arm in faux comfort, looking around the blurry room.
He’s so alone. There’s absolutely no one he can turn to right now.

A whimper builds up in his chest, escaping him partially in a hushed, barely there sigh, high
pitched and pathetic sounding even to his own ears. His entire world is imploding around
him, and Dream is desolate, left in a dark room, alone, surrounded by things he doesn’t
recognize anymore and no one to comfort him. If he looks at his computer, all he can see are
the cruel words the Internet shouts at him, and there’s no relief from the people he trusted
most in the world.

Biting his lip, he struggles not to fall apart completely. With shaking fingers, Dream clicks on
Discord, bookmarked in the upper part of the screen.

He expected a few names to come up, maybe a couple servers. There looks to be thousands of
people on his Discord though. It’s so overwhelming he almost shuts it completely as he
scrolls through the list of people he doesn’t recognize. Some leave a bad taste in his mouth
for reasons he can’t put a memory too, he just knows that he needs to stay far, far away.

Finally, he finds a familiar, comforting name.

Dream: bad

The response is instant.

Badboyhalo: Dream!!!

Dream: Bad help

Dream: please

Badboyhalo: what do you need help with? 0w0

Dream’s fingers tremble as he tries to type out a message but none of the words he comes up
with makes any sense. How does he even tell Bad that he hit his head, lost his memories, and
Sapnap and George have been lying to him since? That doesn’t even begin to sound
believable. Bad is going to think he’s lying and god, what if he ignores him then? What if he
thinks Dream is just pulling his leg and doesn’t respond? And then he’d be even more alone
and Bad wouldn’t trust him and he needs somebody right now so badly his fingertips ache
and his chest feels hollow and it’s all bad it’s bad and horrible and he’s going to- he’s going
to freak out he-

Dream’s chest begins to rise and fall rapidly, completely lost on what to do.

Finally, he hits the phone button next to Bad’s name.

The app rings for a while, the familiar chime from his teen years spent on call with Sapnap
and their other friends and eventually George too.

Eventually it chimes as Bad joins the call.

“Hello!” Bad says cheerfully, oblivious to Dream’s turmoil right now. “So what did you need
help with? I’ve got some food cooking right now but I can stay and help with stuff for a little
bit-”

“I just-”

Dream’s voice cracks. He drops his head, bottom lip trembling as he struggles not to cry. He
can’t even talk, and the awful feeling inside his chest grows. He swallows past the emotions
and tries again. “I just needed a friend right now.”

“Oh,” Bad’s tone softens, dropping the happy trill in his voice. “What’s going on?”

“I… I don’t know,” Dream whimpers, crowding closer to the mic as if getting closer to it will
get him closer to Bad.

He used to do this a lot, he remembers suddenly. He used to spend a lot of time slumped over
his desk as close to the mic as he could get to talk to his friends online. This isn’t the first
time he’s been this upset at being alone… he’s spent years alone.
The face reveal.

Dream’s eyes widen as tears streak down his cheeks, trying to make sense of the sudden
memories and the new information he’s learned.

“Did something happen?” Bad asks again. “Where’s Sapnap and George at? You haven’t
called me like this in a long time.”
His tone is soft and gentle and Dream sniffles. “I guess being married means I don’t come to
you about stuff as often. Huh?”

“Married?” Bad echos.

Dream frowns. “Yeah? Me and…” A horrible knot of anxiety twists in his stomach, making
him nauseous. “Me and George? And Sapnap?”

“What?” Bad asks again. “You guys got married? I haven’t heard from any of you in a few
weeks but I thought you were busy! Where are you? Huh? Vegas?”

The world is crashing in on him. The room is getting smaller. Nothing makes sense and it
feels like he can’t think straight.

“We aren’t married?” Dreams asks, the floor falling out beneath him.

“No? Not unless you muffin heads tied the knot and didn’t invite me. That would be rude,”
Bad replies, chipper tone dampening. “I didn’t even know you guys were dating! Which is
weird because we talk to each other about everything. I would want to know something like
that, Dream.” He says kindly, so genuinely wanting to be involved in his life that it brings a
fresh spring of tears to his eyes.

Dream hangs up abruptly.

The computer dings with incoming messages and calls, but Dream hardly hears them over the
ringing in his ears.

They aren’t married. They aren’t married. They- they aren’t even together. Are they? It’s-

Dream’s chest begins to rise and fall rapidly, eyes unable to focus on the room around him.
Everything is blurry like he’s moving at lightspeed when in reality he hasn’t moved a single
inch. His body is completely stagnant, save for the way his chest heaves.

His vision swims, unable to get enough air. Everything feels wrong.

Dream sobs openly, choking on the mess of noise and tears. It’s loud, violent, too much and
not enough at the same time. He keeps glancing at the door, wishing someone would hear
him and come in. He imagines George’s kind face asking him what’s wrong and Sapnap’s
warm arms holding him tight and making everything okay again.

But no one ever comes.

___________

The panic attack lasts what feels like hours.

When he manages to stop crying long enough, he looks up more about himself. That triggers
more memories, and inevitably, Dream panics again, ending up in hysterics, curled up in the
corner of the room far away from his desk.

Sleep tries to take him as exhaustion sets in. It’s four in the morning before he gives in,
crying himself to sleep.

It’s the worst sleep of his entire life. The sound proofed walls aren’t meant to be slept against.
His entire body is sore when he opens his eyes again a few hours later, only serving to make
him feel worse. When he stands up to ease the crick in his bones, he sees his computer, and
the cycle repeats.

He remembers everything .

He remembers how love sick he had been, how head over heels he was for Sapnap and
George both. He remembers writing them love songs and cherishing every moment with
them. He remembers being terrified for them to ever find out how he feels, he remembers
them spending less and less time together because… things got bad.

Dream furrows his eyebrows as he struggles to think.

Things got bad, his friends turned on him, he got busy and stressed and heartbroken and
terrified and he drew in on himself. The day he hit his head… they were going to have a
movie day and spend time together. Dream had scrawled the song he wrote for them on a
piece of paper to give to them, figuring things can’t get any worse for him. And then he ran to
the store and…

They aren’t married.

Dream thinks he’s going to be sick.

The third time he wakes up, bent over his desk with his phone in hand that he found in a
drawer, he realizes it’s morning.

He sits up, wiping at his raw eyes that burn at the touch of his hand. A quick glance at the
time on the computer shows it’s ten in the morning.

Dream whimpers. He probably shouldn’t stay here anymore. He doesn’t want to get caught in
here now and have to confront them both right now. If he’s being honest, he doesn’t know
what to do at all.

He stares blankly, trying to make his brain work.

Maybe a bath?

No. He’s too tired for a bath. It’s a new level of tired he’s never felt before, a bone deep
exhaustion that aches down to his core as his body begs for rest. A shower would be better so
he can’t fall asleep. Or at least, he doesn’t think he could fall asleep standing up. After his
shower, he needs to sleep. Sleeping at a desk or against a wall sitting on the floor isn’t nearly
as good as actually resting in his bed. And then maybe once he doesn’t feel like dying he can
confront them.

That’s a good plan, he decides, pulling himself out of the gaming chair he’s been camped out
in for the better part of the night. There is a bed in the office but he couldn’t bring himself to
rest in the soft comfort, it felt too plush for the turmoil he had been going through. This
morning, he’s too tired to feel much of anything.

The house is alive when he cracks open the soundproof door. Voices come from the kitchen,
accompanied by the sizzling of pans as breakfast cooks. The smell wafts through the halls,
enticing him closer, especially with the laughter he hears from the others. He hears the name
Milo being screeched, and more giggles follow.

It sounds like family.

Dream carefully locks the office door back, and slips the keys into his pocket, making his
way to his bedroom.

He tries not to stop in the kitchen, but a chipper voice calls his name, and Dream freezes like
a dear in the headlights.

“Good morning!” Sapnap replies cheerfully when he catches sight of Dream.

Numb, Dream stares at him. He looks incredibly happy, bright eyes and a big smile and warm
gaze.

The lingering zaps of his anxiety attack race through his finger tips. Dream twitches, eyes
still raw and itchy at the corner.

“Me and George made up,” Sapnap keeps talking to Dream, completely oblivious to what he
just went through. “Now he’s fixing me breakfast like a good little husband.”

“Pancakes,” George quips, flopping the batter over into the skillet that sizzles away.

Dream just stares. Husband .

They aren’t husbands. They never were.

Bile rises in his throat. The scene in front of him is so domestic, Sapnap eating a piece of
bacon, sitting on the cabinets next to George while he cooks them breakfast. They look every
bit like the happy couple they pretend to be.

Dream’s eyes lock on the flash of a silver band on Sapnap’s finger.

Where did George find rings? Dream wonders idly. He had to have found some pretty quick.
Did he run to a mall? Did he even bother to get something nice?

He probably didn’t. Dream isn’t worth it.

It’s a cheap shot at George, but still, Dream wilts. After everything he just found out, he feels
he’s entitled to being a little petty.

Sapnap leans over, stealing a quick kiss from George. He just barely misses his mouth,
landing a wet kiss to the corner of his lips that makes George grimace and pull away quickly.

“Ew.”

“Come back,” Sapnap begs sweetly. It’s pretty fucking cute, the way he begs with soft words
and big eyes. It gets George’s attention too, and he leans up for a better kiss. This one lands
on his lips. By all accounts it should be sweet, endearing with the way Sapnap melts into
George and keeps him there longer than he should, kisses him until the pancake burns on one
side but George can’t stop kissing him long enough to see the smoke.

Dream thinks he’s going to be sick. His breathing picks up, labored and heavy, on the verge
of a total meltdown again, this time right in front of Sapnap and George. He wants to shout at
them, tell them to fuck off and stop kissing and touching each other, scream in their faces that
he knows the truth and they don’t have to keep lying.

Instead, he stays quiet, watching with a blank expression while his thoughts begin to race, a
dark cloud looming over him with an impending breakdown as he begins to think. If they
aren’t actually married, if they aren’t actually together, why would they do this to him? What
did they want? What was the goal? Was it a joke? Some kind of elaborate prank? Did they
know he had feelings for them and decided it would be funny to fuck with him when he
couldn’t even defend himself?

What about the sex? All the careful caresses and tender moments and whispered ‘I love
you’s?

Dream wants to say no, they wouldn’t do that to him. He wants to think that they would
never hurt him like that but… right now he doesn’t know what to think. Not knowing what to
think makes him inclined to believe the worst.

Dream just keeps staring. They kiss each other and they whisper soft ‘I love you’s’ and they
mumble at Dream that they made up this morning when Sapnap came home and that things
are okay now.

Dream just stares.

Everyone does this to him. He doesn’t really know how he knows this, but… something tells
him that he always sees the best in people, trusts them a little too much, loves them a little
too hard, and that vulnerability is always taken advantage of.

He thought Sapnap and George were safe though. He thought…

Feeling incredibly stupid, Dream struggles to bite back tears, bottom lip quivering as he looks
at his… friends. Just friends.

He got played. He got used .

There’s no use in crying over spilt milk but he can’t seem to hold the tears back anymore.

“Dream?” Sapnap asks, concern dripping from his words.

“Why did you marry me?” Dream asks under his breath, barely audible in the morning air. He
can’t bring himself to look at them so instead he stares at their chests as he waits for an
answer.

For a brief second, he thinks they might admit to the lie. ‘ We were just playing a prank. It’s
not real. We were just joking we aren’t married we don’t even like you-‘

“Because we love you,” George answers honestly.

Sapnap gives him a soft smile that he just barely sees out of the corner of his eyes that are
still trained on the ground. “Because we want to spend forever with you. Duh.”

He sounds so genuine and it only serves to make things worse.

Dream’s lip wobbles. Tears bead his waterline, a twisted snarl just barely kept off his lips.

They’re lying right to his face.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

Dream just shakes his head.

In a sick, twisted way, Dream almost wishes he didn’t know what he does now. He wants to
sink into Sapnap’s arms and hug him and let him pet his hair and tell him everything is going
to be alright even if it’s not.

Sapnap hops down off the cabinet and hurries over to him, soothingly rubbing at his back. He
wants it to be real so bad. It still feels real- there’s nothing in his memories to refute them not
being married but the evidence is overwhelming.

He hates himself for how he finds so much comfort in Sapnap’s touch right now. He should
push him away, scream in his face but instead he lays his head on his shoulder as tears drip
down his cheeks and onto the shirt of his closest friend.

“My head hurts,” Dream lies, voice choked and quiet. “Really bad.”

“Do you need to go lay down?” Sapnap asks worriedly.

“Just hold me?” Dream begs, struggling to choke back erratic sobs. Just for a second. Just for
one brief, measly second, he can pretend that things are going to be alright. Sapnap and
George are his husbands and they love him and they would never think to hurt him. They
would never lie when they whisper that they love him and the ring in his finger right now is a
real testament to that. It’s real.

“Of course,” Sapnap wraps his arms around him comfortingly.

 It’s real, Dream keeps repeating internally while his skin crawls. It’s real.

Chapter End Notes

Please let me know what you think!! I love reading comments. I also made a new
Twitter @Janetbaby_99 if you wanna be friends!! :D Also, @thirstyjei is amazing and
made art for this chapter if you wanna check it out!!!
 I think he knows
Chapter Summary

Sapnap takes care of Dream after he says his head hurts. Dream is still acting strangely
after he takes a nap though, and Sapnap has a realization about why.

Chapter Notes

Thank you so much RxdMouth for beta reading this chapter for me!!

Please stop asking me to update this fic, I will update as soon as I have time to write and
finish a chapter.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Sapnap holds Dream close, looking up at George for direction.

George doesn’t seem to know what to do either.

“How can I help?” Sapnap asks Dream instead.

Dream just shrugs miserably.

“Okay, how ‘bout I take you to bed?” Sapnap offers. When his head hurts he takes a shit ton
of Tylenol, drinks a glass of water, and lays down. Surely that would help Dream too right?

Dream nods, just once, a subtle movement.

“Okay, I’ll be back,” Sapnap promises George, apologetically. The pancakes were supposed
to be a nice little breakfast to make up for last night. He still feels like a total ass right now,
but Dream needs him more than George does.

Crawling back to George this morning with his tail tucked and an apology on his lips had
been hard. Thankfully George didn’t give him too much shit about it, he just seemed thankful
not to be alone anymore. He wants to make it up to him still, maybe after he takes care of
Dream he can do something for him.

“Okay,” George nods, still standing dutifully by the skillet as batter sizzles away against the
iron. “I hope you feel better,” he says, trying to catch Dream’s gaze.
Dream doesn’t look up. He doesn’t even acknowledge that George is speaking to him right
now.

Sapnap pulls away, shaking Dream out of his stupor. He looks up at him with big green eyes,
rimmed red and teary still. His cheeks are stained like he’s been crying for a long time now.

“Have you already taken something for the pain?” Sapnap asks.

Dream shakes his head, slumped down.

Sapnap takes him by the elbow, steering him to lean on his shoulder. Dream resists, but the
second he’s close enough again, he’s melting into Sapnap, like he craves nothing more than
to be held.

With his heart aching for the older man, Sapnap begins walking them to the stairs. He cringes
internally, hoping he’ll be able to make it up to them. Dream seems completely out of it,
stumbling and barely grabbing onto the railing after the first few steps.

Sapnap worries his inner cheek. Hopefully, it isn’t something to do with his concussion or his
memories. If so, they should head back to the doctor, get him checked out again. He has an
appointment in a few days but…

Dream whimpers, coming to a stop outside of his bedroom.

“What’s wrong?” Sapnap asks, keeping his voice soft. His hands hover over Dream’s arms
uselessly, unsure how to help but desperately wanting to care for him.

“I… nothing,” Dream wraps his arms around himself.

Sapnap opens the door for them both, guiding Dream inside.

“Would a bath help maybe? Like the warm water and the steam? Or a shower?”

Dream looks towards the connected bathroom, and takes a deep breath, like it’s the biggest
walk he’s ever seen. “I need one.”

“Maybe it’ll help your head,” Sapnap kisses his temple gently. “I’ll go start it, okay? Which
one?”

“A shower,” Dream replies softly.

“Okay, I’ll get the shower running, grab you some Tylenol, you just wait right here. Sound
good?” Sapnap runs his hands through his hair just once, soothing and kind.

Dream shrugs. His face is completely blank. He looks downright miserable.

Heart wrenching in his chest, Sapnap pulls himself away from his husband and hurries off to
the bathroom.
Once he’s in the spacious place, he starts the shower, sticking his hand under the water. It’s
icy at first, prickles racing over his warm arm before slowly heating up. Dream likes his
showers hotter than hell, so he waits until the skin on his wrist is turning pink from the heat
before calling it good.

He then walks over to the mirror, opening up the medicine cabinet. He finds the bottle easily,
and fills up Dream’s water cup with some tap water, just enough to take the pills.

Dream is standing in the doorway, looking like a ghost.

Sapnap jumps, eyes wide and shoulders tense. “Jesus Christ,” he yelps.

“Sorry,” Dream whimpers, looking small and withdrawn. “Just wanted to know what you
were doing.”
“It’s fine,” Sapnap lets out a shaky breath, holding the cup and pills out to Dream.

He takes them both gratefully, swallowing down the pills and drinking the little bit of water
Sapnap got him.

Sapnap takes the cup when he’s done, eyes tracing over his face as if the medicine could help
that fast.

Dream just looks at him miserably. There’s something in his eyes that puts Sapnap on edge,
like he’s just so… tired. There’s bags under his red, raw eyes, and everything about him looks
sad. Like it’s hard to even hold himself up.

“Is it bad?” Sapnap asks.

“Yeah,” Dream chokes, voice cracking. “It’s really fucking bad.”

“Come on,” Sapnap takes his hand gently, leading him into the bathroom. He takes him over
to the shower, setting the cup down haphazardly, more concerned with helping Dream
undress and get in. He puts his hands on his hips, ready to help him pull his shirt off.

Dream cringes away from his touch, big eyes turning back to Sapnap with a wide eyed look
like he doesn’t want to be touched at all.

“Sorry,” Sapnap holds his hands out in a peace offering. “I was just helping.”

“... It’s fine,” Dream’s shoulders slump. “Thank you. For helping me,” his breath hitches, as
if he’s about to start crying again.

Sapnap’s heart tugs painfully. He keeps his distance, watching Dream undress himself. It isn’t
sexual, it’s just intimate, watching his partner shakily remove his clothes, looking on the
verge of a breakdown.

“Are you sure it’s just your head?” Sapnap asks, worry gnawing at his bones. “Did something
happen?”

Did you remember something?

“It just hurts,” Dream looks away from him, taking his underwear off.

“Can I shower with you?” Sapnap asks. Maybe he could wash his hair for him, and his body
too, so Dream doesn’t have to do anything but stand there and try to feel better.

Dream winces visibly again. “Why?”

“Well,” Sapnap wrings his fingers together, suddenly nervous. Dream’s entire demeanor is
off, everything about this interaction is weird right now. He wants to chalk it up to the pain
but something feels wrong. “The other day you said you wanted to shower together,” Sapnap
grins at him, trying his best to make him feel better. “I could wash your hair and take care of
you. Make you feel better.”

“Oh,” Dream stares at him. “Yeah. I guess.”

There’s something odd in his expression, and Sapnap wilts instantly. “I don’t have to, I’m
sorry. You probably don’t feel good, huh?”

Dream shakes his head.

“Okay,” Sapnap conceded instantly. “I’ll leave you alone then so I’m not bugging you. Do
you need anything before I go?”

The last thing he wants to do is make Dream feel worse.

“No it’s fine…” Dream decides. “Get in.”

He then steps into the shower, leaving Sapnap the only option but to follow.

Sapnap hurriedly strips out of his clothes, tossing them carelessly to the floor as he stumbles
into the tiled shower.

If Dream looked miserable before, he looks pitiful now, with his hair wet like a drowned rat.
He keeps shying away from Sapnap, looking at everything but him, and he once again
wonders if something else happened that has him acting this way.

“Are you sure you want me in here?” Sapnap asks, nervously. “I can leave.”

“Stay,” Dream begs softly.

“Okay, can I touch you?” Sapnap asks, the scalding hot water hitting his wrists and thighs.

Dream nods.

“Okay,” Sapnap carefully grabs his elbow, pulling him under the spray of water. Some of the
tension falls out of his shoulders at the warmth, and Sapnap does his best to narrate what he’s
doing. “I’m gonna wash your hair. Keep your eyes shut.”

Dream stays deathly still, letting Sapnap work. He’s careful not to touch him more than
necessary, washing his hair gently. Tangles and curls snag around his knuckles, but he
carefully works them loose, using the conditioner to free the strands with gentle fingers
combing through it.

After that, he grabs the loofah, and Dream’s favorite strawberry body wash. At the first touch
of the sponge to his skin, Dream lays his head against the shower wall and cries.

Sapnap bathes him gently, worried eyes tracing over his face every few minutes.

“Are you okay?” He asks.

Dream shakes his head.

“Do you want me to stop touching you or anything? Turn off the shower maybe?” Sapnap
asks, desperate for a way to help.

“No,” Dream whimpers.

Sapnap suppresses a whimper. “How can I help?”

Seeing Dream like this is killing him and not knowing how to make it better is even worse.

“I don’t know. Nothing’s gonna fix it,” Dream whimpers mournfully. “Just do whatever you
wanna do.”

Sapnap pauses at that. “... I don’t understand,” he admits.

“I-” Dream takes a heaving breath. “I just wanna lay down.”

“Okay,” Sapnap nods, guiding Dream under the water once again.

They both stay silent as Sapnap finishes washing him off and dries him off. He guides him to
the bed next, sitting on the edge while Sapnap gathers clean clothes for him.

“You don’t want to have sex?” Dream asks defensively when Sapnap gets on his knees to put
his underwear on for him.

“No,” Sapnap frowns. “Not right now, you don’t feel good, baby. And you’re upset.” And
then, softly, “Did… Did I do something?”

“Nothing that a husband shouldn’t do,” Dream snips at him.

Nothing that a husband shouldn’t do? What does that mean?

Before he can ask, Dream is turning over, putting his back to him as he rests his head on his
pillow. It’s an obvious dismissal, and the cold way Dream is acting makes Sapnap withdraw
into himself.

“Do you need anything else?” he asks, one final time, still worried out of his mind about
what could be going on with Dream right now. Is it just the pain? Is it something else? What
does he do? How can he help?
“No. I’m fine,” Dream huffs.

“Okay,” Sapnap stands up slowly, taking one last look at him. “I love you.”

Dream doesn’t respond.

He takes a troubled, deep breath, and grabs a change of clothes, slipping them on himself.
Dream doesn’t talk to him again, even when he lingers before deciding better of it and
turning around, letting the man rest.

Sapnap tells himself that it’s just because he’s tired as he turns around and slips out the door,
closing it behind him so Dream can get some rest.

_________________

The pancakes were cold by the time he got back to George, but he didn’t really care about
that. He told George everything that just happened, and George was just as confused as
Sapnap.

After that, Dream sleeps for hours.

Sapnap goes into his room to check on him a couple of times, and each time, he’s dead
asleep, almost as if he stayed up all night long. That doesn’t make sense though. George says
they went to bed together last night.

He’s starting to think maybe he’s sick, or he’s getting sick, something . George said not to
make any doctor’s appointments until Dream woke up, but George didn’t see him in the
shower, George doesn’t know how weird he was acting.

Sapnap streams to pass the time, careful not to show how stressed out he is on camera. It goes
well, playing games is fun, chat is decent for once, and he doesn’t push himself to spend
forever on the stream either. He answers a few questions about where Dream has been, saying
he’s been grinding Minecraft lately, and tells an anecdotal George story to keep the viewers
satiated.

Once he’s done, he edits for a little bit, that way at least one of them is getting content out. At
least it isn’t abnormal for Dream and George to go completely silent online for long periods
of time.

Eventually, he can’t stay away any longer. He has to go check on Dream or he’s going to go
insane.
Sapnap takes his time logging out of his computer, and he drags his feet getting to the door,
trying not to seem as desperate as he feels. He wants to know Dream is alright more than
anything.

He makes sure to lock his office as he leaves. What they don’t need right now is Dream
stumbling in and finding all of his equipment and shit, that would bring hell to pay. It’s bad
enough he’s already curious about his own office. They made up a quick lie about it being a
closet, but Sapnap still caught him the other day jiggling the handle curiously.

How much longer can they keep this up?

It’s been on his mind now for a while. How much longer can they get away with this facade
they’ve created, and what are they going to do when Dream remembers everything? It kept
him up all last night, queasy with guilt. Punz was probably ready for his ass to go home this
morning with how many times he got up randomly to pace around the room, clutching at his
stomach as if his hands could suppress the nausea and the anxious sweat that beaded his neck
every time he thought about Dream.

God, he really hopes Dream is okay.

Sapnap tries to go slowly down the hallway, but he ends up practically running. He’s pretty
sure Dream is still in bed, he hasn’t heard him get up and George hasn’t said anything to him
about him getting up.

It’s why he almost passes Dream completely on the couch. Sapnap just barely catches sight of
golden curls as he rounds the sofa, about to start trotting up the stairs.

“Hey,” Dream says casually.

Sapnap spins around, getting whiplash from how fast he turns his head to look at the man.

“Hey,” Sapnap smiles at him, glad to see him up and about. He looks a lot better than he did
this morning, his hair wild and crazy from drying against his pillow, but his eyes are a little
brighter, and he doesn’t look like he’s going to fall over if the wind blows too strong. He’s
curled up in a ball on the couch, in the spot he used to always sit in before-

Sapnap’s heart falls out through his ass.

He’s wearing a Dream smiley hoodie. It’s lime-fucking-green, the original hoodie, with a big,
black smile stretching across the chest. It looks downright sinister today.

Patches is curled up on Dream’s chest, partially obscuring the mark, but there’s no doubt in
his mind what he’s wearing.

Sapnap’s heart skips a beat and then begins to race faster than he comprehends. George hid
all of their merch. Sapnap had kept Dream occupied for a few hours just after he came home
from the hospital and George had gathered every single little bit of merch that he could
possibly find and piled it all in Dream’s office before locking it. Blankets, plushies, hoodies
galore, anything that had anything to do with YouTube and their current lives had been
locked away in Dream’s office. So what is he doing with it now?

Why is he wearing it?

How did he find it? Does he know what it means? What’s going on?

Sapnap thinks he’s going to have a fucking meltdown at this point. He’s terrified, eyes wide
and brows furrowed, unable to keep the expression off his face.

“What have you been up to?” Dream asks casually, staring at him. His tone is even but…
there’s that weird feeling again, like something is just slightly off. Wrong .

Sapnap snaps out of his stupor and quickly schools his features into something more neutral.
“Um- just- Where did you find that?” Sapnap asks. The smile stretches across Dream’s chest,
the hoodie lime green and so deeply familiar it gives him whiplash to see it after so long.

“In my closet,” Dream shrugs casually.

“It’s-its kind of weird,” Sapnap tries to comment. Did George miss one? They had both
double-checked though, where could he have found this one?

“What, a smiley face?” Dream asks. “You’re weird.”

He sounds casual. He sounds fine. There’s no indication that he has any clue what that smile
means or who it represents.

Something about the entire interaction feels off though. Dream is normally so bouncy and
excited to see Sapnap. Now he’s subdued, withdrawn into the comfort of the hoodie that
hides him from view. He even has the hood up, curled up in a little ball, frowning at Sapnap.

He used to always be frowning. Everywhere he went he frowned, walking like a ghost

through the halls of their house if he wasn’t glued to his computer. The worst was when he
had tears in his eyes, or his eyes had been rubbed raw.

To see it returning terrifies Sapnap down to his core.

“Are you feeling better?” Sapnap asks, scared to get any closer to him.

“No,” Dream smiles ruefully at Sapnap. “Not at all.”

“I’m sorry,” Sapnap whispers. “Do- Do you want me to make any appointments for you
maybe? Go see a doctor?”

“Nope,” Dream dismisses him. “Nothing they can do about it. Come sit down.”

… Sapnap doesn’t want to.

He wants George.
Where is George? Why isn’t he with Dream? Why is Dream wearing that fucking hoodie?

Dream keeps petting Patches, looking incredibly casual, but there’s a sharp look in his eye
that puts Sapnap on edge. It feels dangerous.

“Why did you marry me?” Dream asks, when he makes no move to come sit with him.

Sapnap blinks. He asked that this morning too…

“Because I love you,” Sapnap answers carefully. “What’s going on?”

Dream shrugs, his eyebrows suddenly knitting together as he smiles against sudden tears. He
bites them back, and whispers under his breath, “I don’t think you love me.”

“What?” Sapnap asks, jaw dropping.

“I don’t think you love me,” Dream repeats like it should be obvious.

At that, Sapnap does get closer, hurrying to Dream’s side. The closer he gets, the more upset
Dream becomes until the tears that had gathered along his waterline streak down his face.

“What?” Sapnap asks again, cupping his face. Dream’s beard scratches his palm, leaving him
itchy, but Sapnap doesn’t care. “Why would you think that?”

Dream doesn’t answer, he just rests his head in Sapnap’s hand.

What does he do?

Where the fuck is George?

Sapnap looks around frantically for the other man when Dream shuts his eyes, but George is
nowhere in sight. He’s on his own for this one.

“Dream?” Sapnap asks, unsure what to do.

“Sorry,” Dream whispers. “I’m sorry.”

He says it so mournfully. He sounds heartbroken, like he’s apologizing for something beyond
what’s going on in the moment, but his apology makes no sense either, he hasn’t done
anything worth apologizing.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, baby,” Sapnap promises, pulling Dream closer.

Dream falls into his chest, nestling his head against his shoulder and his arms around
Sapnap’s waist, holding him tight. “I feel like there is. I’m being weird.”

“No, you aren’t,” Sapnap lies, anything to comfort him.

“When did you find out I loved you?” Dream questions.

It’s another out of nowhere question. It’s unrelated to the moment, it makes no sense, and it
only serves to put Sapnap more on edge.

“Um…” He wracks his brain, trying to think. What have they told him already?

Fuck, the web of lies they’ve created is getting out of hand.

Deciding to be honest, Sapnap admits, “When I moved in. I knew you had a crush on me
when I moved in with you.”

Dream wilts, like it’s the most devastating thing he’s ever heard.

Sapnap doesn’t know how, but it feels like he’s fucking up somehow.

“And you’ve known since. How I’ve felt,” Dream mutters.

“Well duh,” Sapnap chuckles nervously. “We got married.”

“Right,” Dream agrees dully, lacking the enthusiasm he usually carries when anyone brings
up the fact that they’re married. He loves being married, he’s always so excited with every
little reminder…

“Where’s your ring at?” Sapnap asks.

Dream looks down at his hand, bare. “I just took it off for a bit. I wish I hadn’t,” he sniffles,
looking up at Sapnap. “I want it back.”
The words he speaks feel loaded in ways that Sapnap can’t comprehend.

“What?”

“... Can we cuddle for a little bit?” Dream asks, taking Sapnap’s hand in his own. His fingers
ghost around Sapnap’s ring, rubbing over his palm and knuckles.

“Yeah,” Sapnap agrees instantly, bewildered and still anxious.

Careful of Patches, Sapnap helps Dream lay down better, curled against him tightly. Despite
his size, he feels tiny in his arms.

“What’s going on?” Sapnap begs to know, petting over Dream’s arm.

Dream just shrugs. “Nothing. It’s my fault. I made myself upset.”

“What can I do to help?” Sapnap begs once again. He would do anything to help.

Then, Dream says something that makes his blood run cold.

“Just help me forget,” he pleads. “And tell me you love me.”

Since he hit his head, all Dream has wanted is to remember. H’s wanted to remember
everything, kept talking about how badly he wanted his memories back… to say he wants to
forget now makes Sapnap’s hair stand on end.
 Sapnap squeezes him tight. “I love you,” he whispers as genuinely as possible.

He hopes Dream knows that it’s real. If nothing else is real, his love for Dream and George is.

__________________

Dream falls asleep easily. First Patches jumped down, and then Sapnap slipped out of his
arms.

With a heart full of dread, he sets out to find George.

Of course, the man is asleep in his bed. He doesn’t even have the heart to be mad at him right
now though, not knowing what he knows.

He’s going to throw up, Sapnap thinks. He’s going to be sick. The guilt is too much, eating
away at his bones and making his hands shake as he grabs George’s arm.

“Wake up,” Sapnap begs.

George doesn’t stir.

“George please,” he whines, shaking him slightly. “Please. I need you. Get up, come on
please, please please-”

George’s face scrunches, and he stretches as he slowly comes back to life. His big brown
eyes blink open, confusedly looking at Sapnap with disdain.

“George I think he knows,” Sapnap whispers, panicked.

“What?” George frowns deeply at him, looking around the room, still disorientated from the
hours of sleep he got randomly.

“He knows,” Sapnap repeats. “Dream knows, he- he remembered something I swear-“

“Okay,” George placates, sitting up. He looks more alert now at the panic in Sapnap’s voice.
He stays quiet for a minute as he tries to piece together what’s happening. “What do you
think he remembered?”

Sapnap opens his mouth, gaping like a fish as he struggles to think. “... Everything?”

Chapter End Notes

Let me know what you thought!

 Playing Pretend
Chapter Summary

Sapnap and George confront Dream about what he remembers, and Dream explodes at
them.

Chapter Notes

Hi! This may be a bit of a long author's note, I apologize. I'm back! It's been over a
month since I updated this fic, I apologize. I want to let everyone know that I will be
staying in this fandom and continuing my fics, or at the very least, finishing this fic. If
that makes anyone uncomfortable, please do not forget to unsubscribe from my ao3 and
any of my updating fics that you may be following. Thank you for all the support
throughout the years, and if we were friends, I hope we can continue to be friends, my
dms on twitter are always open if you want to talk about anything. I wish you only the
best in life! <3
Again, I'm so sorry it took so long to update this fic. I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
Thank you so much @Ottergonedark on Twitter for beta reading this fic for me ily
mwah!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Dream stubbornly doesn’t move from the couch. He lies there and rots, his face tucked into
the scratchy couch pillow beneath him. Sapnap left at some point while he was asleep,
probably to go get George and talk about everything that just happened.

Dream probably doesn’t have much time left. He needs to go hide, his stunt earlier with his
hoodie was too far. He doesn’t even know why he did it. It would have made pretending so
much easier if he had just kept his mouth shut and left the hoodie in his office. He just
couldn’t help it.

Regret makes his bones ache, self loathing squeezing around him like a vice. Why did he
have to be so dramatic? Why did he pull out the theatrics?

He should have just…

Dream’s fingers twitch with fear.

Everything about this situation has been terrifying since he stepped into that fucking office.
He should have never done it.
He wants to know why. Why would they do something like this to him? He doesn’t
understand, he loved them so much, but now they’re what? Playing a prank on him? Fucking
with him when he couldn’t defend himself? It doesn’t even sound like something Sapnap and
George would do but his brain can’t come up with any other reasoning.

The same thoughts just keep circling his brain, on and on.

He’s afraid of them, he realizes slowly as he blinks the wet tears from his lashes onto the
pillow that have welled up. He’s lovelorn and hurt and knowing he can’t trust the two people
who matter most to him is making him too afraid to even move. He’s glued to the couch,
frozen in place.

Quietly, Dream sniffles, curling into himself. He really needs to get up and at least go wallow
in misery in his room where the other’s can’t-

Dream hears the footsteps, but it’s too late.

He stays in place rather than risk trying to run, entire body tense, flighty. His head throbs, and
every instinct in his body insists on him running away or at least sitting up; he needs to brace
himself somehow for whatever it is that’s coming. He recognizes the footsteps. Hell, he could
recognize George by his breathing alone, the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest that has lulled
him to sleep on restless nights, the feel of his presence and the way his hair stands on end,
every molecule in his body honed in on his being.

The arm of the couch dips with weight, a leg swinging beside him as George sits on the side,
leaning over.

No one speaks, at least not immediately. There’s an action packed lull of silence that comes
first, tense like the smell of rain on the earth before a tornado hits, the sickly greenish sky and
fresh scent leaving no doubt that disaster is to come.

“Dream?” George asks, fingers trailing up and down his back. It feels comforting, but Dream
doesn’t trust the hand he used to love no matter how good it feels. He stays tense, waiting for
some kind of finishing blow; a laugh, a ‘gotcha’ moment, something.

Nothing happens. George just keeps rubbing his back.

Dream doesn’t move. He can’t think, he can’t breathe. The touch is too casual, too
comforting from the person who has hurt him so much. It doesn’t feel right.

“Can we talk?” George asks, voice gentle and soft as if he were talking to a wounded animal.

Dream doesn’t acknowledge him. He doesn’t know how. He’s panicking internally, unsure
how to respond to keep his cover.

He doesn’t remember.

He doesn’t remember.

He doesn’t want to remember.

George keeps rubbing his back, every slide of his fingers scorching with betrayal. It’s bitter,
leaving a bad taste in his mouth the more he touches him. George does it so casually, which is
fair, Dream supposes. He did fuck him after all; their touches should by all accounts be casual
like this.

His stomach rolls with unease.

“Did you remember something?” George asks, tentative and quiet; sounding unsure of
himself in a way that is mismatched for who he is as a person. George is never unsure of
himself.

“No,” Dream lies, eyes already brimming with tears. He curls his fingers absentmindedly
against the pillow beneath his head, wishing George away. He just wants to be left alone right
now, he doesn’t want the gentle fingers curling through his hair and he doesn’t want the soft
tone George uses on him like he’s some kind of scared animal.

“... What did you remember?” George asks carefully.

Dream doesn't move. He doesn’t breathe. His arms keep his face carefully obscured, face
down on the couch as tears drip down his face.

“Nothing,” he lies desperately.

“… I don’t think that’s true,” George whispers, tugging on the sleeve of his hoodie.

Something in him snaps.

“Quit,” he snarls, sitting up with a harsh glare directed at George. He yanks his arm back
protectively, curling it up underneath his chest where he can’t touch him anymore.

George’s eyes widen, and all of Dream’s wrath melts away. Guilt eats at his bones as he flops
his head back down, hiding his face, urging himself internally not to cry anymore, his eyes
are still raw from earlier.

“I’m sorry,” he begrudgingly adds, voice heavy with guilt still. “Please just…”

He wants to be left alone. Or held. Both preferably if that would somehow work.

“Okay,” George tentatively goes back to rubbing his back. His fingertips ghost up his spine,
over and over. The repetitiveness is soothing and grounding, helping Dream regulate his
breathing slowly with every slide of his feather light touch. “I love you.”

Dream can’t respond. He chokes on the lump on his throat, hiding closer to the couch as if it
would save him from the world.
George doesn’t demand he say it back, he just keeps rubbing his back.
Dream doesn’t really know when George moves away or when Sapnap comes back into the
room. He dozes, in and out of sleep, always keeping his face carefully concealed. Even when
the two begin to chat quietly, he still doesn’t raise his head or acknowledge them. It’s only
when his stomach rumbles uncomfortably and his bladder begins to ache does he start to even
begin to shift from the position he’s been in for what seems like an eternity.

Sapnap is talking under his breath about something when Dream stirs for the first time,
daring to lift his head long enough to blink his eyes open and take in the room around him.
As soon as he moves, Sapnap stops talking.

He mourns the loss of his voice filling the uncomfortably quiet air. Even with how hurt he is,
Sapnap’s voice still brings him comfort.

Dream doesn’t sit up immediately. At first he just stretches, and blinks against the overhead
light that he hates. Why is it even on? It can’t be that late in the day to even need it, and yet
the harsh light beats down on him, and he squirms, squeezing his eyes shut in discomfort.

“Hey baby,” Sapnap calls softly. “Need anything?”

Dream doesn’t react. The words make him more alert, but with being awake comes the
intense empty feeling in his chest and instant fear, having no one to turn to or trust anymore.

“Hungry?” Sapnap asks. “Or thirsty? I’ll get you whatever you want.”

His voice is quiet and soft and for a second, Dream almost says yes. He wants to crawl over
and curl up in Sapnap’s lap and let himself be taken care of.

Dream doesn’t respond. He just squares his jaw and waits for something to happen. He
knows George must be frustrated right now. He probably wants to drag him up and make him
talk, and if George doesn’t, Sapnap definitely does.

“Dream?”

Dream whimpers. His heart is beginning to pound, a harsh jolt to his system after resting for
so long. It makes him feel sick, nerves and anxiety filling up his empty stomach until he feels
like the energy swirling inside of him is going to make his heart beat right out of his chest.
He could run the length of a football field right now and it wouldn’t be enough to stop the
vibrating in his skin that feels wrong over his body.

There’s no hiding though. There’s no escaping whatever confrontation is about to come. It

feels like impending doom. He can see the dark storm clouds and how the sky darkens with
rain in the distance, the promise of hell to come but it’s still miles away from him, inching
closer.
He takes a deep breath, imagining the flash of lighting across the murky sky.

He counts the seconds internally before the thunder rumbles as he sits up.

One.

Two.
Three.

“Hi,” Sapnap smiles softly at him. “Did you sleep good?”

Dream nods stiffly. The sound of rolling thunder disguises itself as Sapnap’s gentle tone.

“Need anything?”

Dream doesn’t answer. He passes it off as grumpiness from the lingering sleep in his eyes as
he rubs at his face and gets up, stalking off to the nearest bathroom without a word of
acknowledgement. Thankfully, neither of them push him for a word either. They let him
leave, slipping into the hall and into the bathroom.

The feeling of impending doom grows.

Dream makes quick work of pissing, though he lingers before flushing the toilet. They can
definitely hear when he flushes, and then they’re going to expect him to come out and talk
and-

Dream takes a deep breath, and flushes the stupid toilet. He can’t just sit here and stare at his
piss. He can’t hide in a bathroom forever.

At least when he looks in the mirror, he recognizes himself.

It’s an odd feeling to go from not being able to comprehend his own reflection to looking at
himself ruefully in the mirror. There’s bags under his eyes, his skin is pale, he looks like
absolute shit, and yet, the only relief that he’s felt since he stepped into the office comes from
looking at the green of his eyes, and the faint freckles on his cheeks. He finally looks like
himself again.

Whatever, he thinks, squaring his jaw at himself in the mirror. Whatever is going to happen is
going to happen, he’s only delaying the inevitable now.

Reluctantly, Dream washes his hands, swallowing against the lump in his throat. He lingers at
the door, just for a few more seconds of peace, before walking out into the hall.

Immediately, he’s met with George’s timid smile, peering at him from the living room.

It’s as if lightning strikes again.

One.

Two.

“Come here,” George calls. “Are you hungry? We can order food,” he offers.

The storm grows closer.

Dream nods mindlessly. For a brief second, he almost tucks tail and runs to the safety of his
bedroom to wait out the storm.
Instead, he slinks forward, shoulders drawn in as he takes a seat back on the couch where he
had just been. The cushions are still warm from where he had been laying, and he quickly
draws his legs up, curling tightly around himself, arms around his shins with his knees to his
chest. He feels too small for his body, and everything is still so very wrong.

They lied to him about so many things.

“Sushi sound good?” George asks casually, as if Dream’s entire world hasn’t been destroyed.

Dream nods. He doesn’t really care.

Something unsaid grows between the three of them as George tries to order food. Dream
honestly couldn’t answer if they asked him what he ordered, he doesn’t know. He can’t think
about all the options that George lists off, he just nods mindlessly and hopes that it’s
something he’ll like, because he really is starving, if he can get past the intense nausea that
makes him want to throw up and cry all at once.

“Okay, it’s ordered,” George promises, setting his phone down.

There’s the lightning again, Dream thinks.

One.

The storm is on him now, the tense air growing until it’s cloying and suffocating, the entire
room caught in the mood. “Are you ready to talk about it?”

Dream bites his lip to keep his emotions at bay. He’s always felt things strongly, but in this
moment, it’s as if he has every emotion imaginable filling his entire body until he thinks he’s
going to explode.

“What did you remember, darling?” George asks gently. It’s a tone Dream doesn’t think he’s
ever heard come from the older man, except maybe when he’s talking to one of the cats. It
only serves to make Dream want to scream.

“Nothing,” he tries to lie one more time.

“Dream,” Sapnap sighs, sounding disappointed. Dream can’t keep the snarl off his face at the
tone. Sapnap is disappointed? Sapnap has no fucking right to feel disappointed in this
situation.

“What?” he asks, glaring at him.

Sapnap shrinks, backing down, and Dream instantly feels guilty. Which is stupid right? He
has no reason to feel guilty right now, if anyone should feel guilty it’s Sapnap and George,
but this is how it always goes. Everytime someone wrongs him, he’s always the one who’s
bad. He’s done bad, he feels guilt, he wants to make things right so he can be good again. He
apologizes when he has no reason to apologize, he appeases, he rolls over and does
everything he can to see things from the other person’s point of view and he does what he can
to make things right.
Only, in this situation, no matter how he tries, he can’t seem to see it from their point of view.
The question of ‘why’ rings in his brain constantly.

“Stop pretending you don’t know what we’re talking about,” George orders. It’s gentle, but
firm, demanding for Dream to listen to him and do as he’s told. “We need to know what you
remembered so we can talk about it together. Okay?”

Dream shrugs petulantly, resisting the urge to grovel for George to just drop it and hold him
instead.

George raises an eyebrow at him, face serious, lacking all his usual humor and snide smirks
that have been so familiar throughout the years.

“Please,” Sapnap begs, looking truly desperate.

Dream’s heart clenches. “It’s nothing,” he tries to lie one more time. “It-it’s… I-“ he takes a
shuddering breath, looking at George for guidance.

George immediately gets up and moves to take a seat next to Dream, wrapping an arm around
his shoulders. That simple gesture starts the water works all over again, eyes stinging as he
tries to think of what he can say and do.

In the end, he comes up with nothing.

“Why?” Dream asks finally.

Why. Why why why- it’s all he wants to know. Why would they do this to him?

“Why what, darling?” George asks, though Dream can tell by the look on his face, he knows
exactly where this is headed.

“Why would you lie to me? The way you did?” Dream asks, a single, scorching tear rolling
down his cheek.

“Dream-”

Another tear joins the first, and then another and another. He looks down, letting them drip
down the bridge of his nose as he chokes back sobs. “I just don’t understand- and I’ve been
trying to understand but was it a joke? Or a prank?”

“So you remembered it all?” George’s face falls.

Why would he be disappointed? Because they couldn’t keep up the game? Dream doesn’t
understand, he doesn’t know what’s going on.

His head throbs painfully. He nods, unable to speak.

“Dream,” George sighs, sounding distressed. His hands wave uselessly as he flounders,
mouth agape. No words come out, and it only serves to make Dream feel even worse.
The lack of an immediate explanation feels like confirmation in the worst way. His vision
becomes completely blurred with tears, hiccuping over his breath as he tries to regulate
himself to no avail. “It was a joke,” Dream sobs, bearing his teeth against the pain. “It’s a
fucked up joke and you don’t love me but it wasn’t ever a joke to me and I don’t understand-
why would you do something like that to me- I- I-“

“Breathe,” Sapnap tries to remind him, scooting to the edge of the couch. He hovers
anxiously, a hand out reached with the desire to touch but he never dares to get close. Dream
doesn’t know if he’s grateful or not.

He tries, but his chest only heaves.

“Take a deep breath,” Sapnap reminds again, unhelpfully. The most frustrating part is that he
thinks he’s helping though, and it makes Dream want to snarl at him.

“I loved you,” Dream whines. He sounds hysteric even to his own ears. “You told me we
were married and you let me believe it and we aren’t you lied to me you- you never loved
me-”

“No! No that’s not true, that- Dream, come on,” Sapnap begs dropping down to his knees in
front of Dream. He places his hands on Dream’s thighs, trying to comfort him.

“It is! I saw the office, I saw- I remember,” Dream hisses, his emotions threatening to
strangle him.

“We did lie! We lied to you, I’m so sorry,” Sapnap whispers.

It feels like the world is crashing in on him all over again in a never ending cycle.
“I did love you though,” Sapnap keeps talking, words fast and hurried. “I did it because I love
you and so did George, I promise it wasn’t just some sort of joke-”

“Liar,” Dream whispers harshly, shoulders trembling.

“We’re not lying,” George squeezes him gently.

Dream flinches from the touch with a harsh glare. “I don’t believe you, I don’t- I can’t
believe you, I was hurt and you- I couldn’t even defend myself. You knew I liked you and
you played a prank on me and teased me when I couldn’t even tell that it wasn’t real.”

“It wasn’t a prank, it- I wanted to give you a break!” George insists. “You were stressed and
you kept saying how you wished you could just forget about the internet and-”

“I’m not talking about that!” Dream yells frantically, hands flapping with the amount of
anxiety coursing through his body. “You told me we were married and I believed you! I
trusted you, I-”

Memories of the past few weeks come rushing back to him: lying in bed cuddling, playing
with their hands, revealing secrets that if he had his memories from before he wouldn’t tell
another soul. The kisses they shared, the showers and the sex and every genuine ‘I love you’
he uttered, all of it feels like thousands of little cuts now, raw and aching and bleeding still.
The worst part is, he still wants it to be real.

Dream covers his face with his hands, curling in on himself to hide away. He struggles
against choked sobs that threaten to wrack his body, urging himself to calm down. Of course,
that’s impossible though when the sources of his turmoil are rubbing at his shoulders and
squeezing his knee and trying their best to comfort him. It makes him feel frantic, and a last
ditch plan to save the life he wants more than anything has him pulling his face out of his
hands and turning to George.
Dream searches his face, taking in the guilt and worry written in the lines of his face. He
would do anything to keep him, no matter how hurt he is.

“Please,” Dream begs, slipping his arms around George’s waist. “Can we just pretend like I
was trying to do? Please, please,” He frantically lets his hands slide down his waist,
squeezing George tight. He grits his teeth, grimacing to keep himself from losing it all over
again. “I can’t understand so can we just-”

George pulls his hands back up with a gentle, guiding touch, and Dream sobs at the clear
rejection.
The joke is over.

“Let’s just take a minute to calm down, alright?” George offers.

Dream snarls viciously, a heated anger unlike anything he’s ever felt before washing over
him, protecting his wounded heart. “No.”

“Yes,” Sapnap insists, siding with George. It feels like another betrayal, though rationally, of
course he would side with him right now.

“Fuck you,” Dream points at George angrily as if there were anyone else his words could be
directed at. “Get the fuck out of my house. Now.”

He then turns to Sapnap with that same accusatory finger. “You too. Get out.”

“Dream-“ Sapnap holds his hands out pleadingly.

“Fuck you.”

“I didn’t-“

“Sapnap didn’t do anything,” George whispers, voice strained and shoulders shaking. “It’s
my fault. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Dream I’m so sorry.”

Dream’s breath catches in his chest. He blinks stupidly, his anger fizzling out at the sudden
apology.

“I’ll leave, okay?” George pulls away slowly. His absence makes a pit form in Dream’s
stomach, and he immediately regrets it, wanting to reach out and drag George close once
again, but as much as his heart craves it, his brain says the distance is what he needs, so he
lets him go.
George looks nervously at Sapnap, and then back at Dream, looking incredibly small. He tugs
nervously on the hem of his clothes, standing on socked feet that slide against the tiled floors
of their home.

“Can I explain?” George asks. “Before I leave?”

… He wasn’t expecting this.

Dream blinks, lashes wet against his cheeks. His brain is oddly quiet in a way it hasn’t been
in a long, long time. George waits patiently, looking defeated.

Finally, Dream just shrugs. It can’t hurt any worse than he already hurts right now right? So
yeah, his best friend can explain how he lied to him about being married and let Dream
embarrass himself as some kind of joke. Why not.

“You were so sad for so long, and we always knew you liked us. You knew we liked you too,
right?”

No. Yes. He doesn’t know. Kind of? Yeah, before he hit his head he had been planning to tell
them that he liked them, and there was never doubt in his head that their relationship was way
more than a normal platonic friendship but… the chance to tell them that on his own terms
was taken from him.

“I guess,” he replies stiffly when it becomes apparent that George is waiting for him to say
something.

“You were so happy when I said we were married. I haven’t seen you happy in a long time.
You were smiling more and laughing and… I took it too far,” George whispers, his voice
small and terrified. Everything in Dream screams to reach out and touch him, comfort him,
make things okay again like he always does when him and George have a fight.

“I did too,” Sapnap adds, voice deep and cracked with emotion. He isn’t looking at Dream,
but somewhere off to the side. “It was George’s idea but I took it too far too.”

“It was never a joke,” George insists, big brown eyes wide and palms up in a display of
honesty. “It was never ever a joke. I love you.”

The righteous anger that had filled Dream’s body dissipates, leaving a smoldering pile of hurt
in its wake. He squares his jaw, unsure how to respond to that.

“I guess that’s all. I love you a lot,” George swallows thickly. “I’m- I guess I’ll go pack a bag.
I’ll go out the back,” he says as he stands. Dream doesn’t miss the glint of wetness in his eyes
or how his nose is beginning to turn red just like Sapnap’s.

“Me too,” Sapnap says quietly, pulling himself up on creaking joints to stand too.

Dream takes a shuddering breath. He doesn’t like being alone, he doesn’t really want them to
leave, but he doesn’t want them to stay either. He needs space he needs time to think he needs
a hug he-
 Sapnap takes one last sad look at Dream and whispers, “If you need anything, you can always
call. I won’t go far.”

The tenderness in his voice kills him.

Dream doesn’t respond. He doesn’t know how. He watches the two of them make their way
up the stairs, leaving him alone just like how he was wishing for earlier in the day.

Bitterly he wishes they could still be playing pretend, he could really use his husbands right
now.

Chapter End Notes

Let me know what you thought of this chapter! I have moved back to my original
account on Twitter @Janetbaby99 if you want to be friends :D
 Penchant for Selfishness
Chapter Summary

George leaves like Dream tells him to, and then spends the next four days spiraling,
disconnected from the rest of the world. It isn't until he thinks to check his Discord
messages that he realize just how badly he has messed up yet again.

Chapter Notes

Thank you @Ottergonedark and @whotookquiche for helping me with this chapter!! :D
sorry the update is so late ;-; I got really stuck on how I wanted this chapter to go but I
know where I want this fic to go now!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

George can hardly see through the tears as he shoves clothes haphazardly into a random
backpack he found in their shared closet. He thinks it might belong to Sapnap, but he isn’t
sure and he doesn’t care enough to find out.

Tshirts, a pair of shorts, a handful of underwear and a couple of socks he hopes match. He
doesn’t know what else to grab or how much more to pack. Does he try to get a flight right
now?

It’s nearly 7 p.m. and while flights don’t usually have time constraints, it sounds like a pain to
try and make it to Los Angeles right now.

Dream was clear though. He needs to get out.

George’s mind races a mile a minute as he tries to think about where he can go. If Sapnap
was leaving too, it would be easier, but he had already texted their group chat that he would
be going to the guest house. It seems like only George is the one who needs to leave
completely, and the intense rejection makes him irrational. He knows he’s being irrational
right now, thinking of London and L. A. before hotels in the area or an Airbnb or even a
friend’s house but it feels like no matter what he does, how far away he goes, nothing will
ever fix what he’s done.

Sapnap did it too , his treacherous, hurt brain supplies.

But Sapnap is Dream’s closest, longest, friend.

George distinctly remembers Dream answering a fan's question at Vidcon last year. He can’t
remember the exact question or even the exact response Dream gave, but the question was
along the lines of “if you could only talk to George or Sapnap for the rest of your life, who
would you choose?” And Dream had played it up before eventually answering “Sapnap.”

At the time, George had brushed it off and played along, pretending to get up and leave while
smiling and shaking his head, assuming Dream didn’t want it to be clipped to death into a
DNF moment, but now, he can’t help but wonder just how true that answer was. Maybe it
wasn’t just a throw away answer, maybe he truly meant it that he would pick Sapnap.

Whatever. He can’t focus on that right now. Later, when he’s out of the house and it feels like
he can breathe again, then he can think about that.

George wipes frantically at his cheeks that itch as tears streak down his skin. All he succeeds
in doing is smearing the wetness around and making the uncomfortable feeling even worse,
which only makes more tears spring to his eyes.

Quickly, George pulls his phone out, and orders an Uber. It’ll be at the house in seven
minutes, so he grabs his charger and then stares emptily at his room. What else does he need?
A laptop? For what?

George looks around uselessly, taking in the life he’s built here in Florida. It isn’t forever, but
it feels like it’ll be forever before he’s allowed back in this room. The future looks bleak, like
a black hole right now. He doesn’t see a way to ever recover from this.

His explanation of things from his side didn’t make a difference. Dream had just stared at
him without so much as the smallest acknowledgement to what he was saying. Nothing is
going to fix this.

Selfishly, he wonders what would happen if he refused to move from this spot. Would Dream
give up on making him leave? Or would he double down, scream and shout until George
caved?

As soon as the thought crosses his mind though, he knows which one it would be. Dream told
him to leave, and if he didn’t respect that, Dream would let him get away with it no matter
how badly it hurts him. He can picture how Dream would slump down, the defeat in his eyes.
He wouldn’t say anything to him either. He would just ignore him and hide away in the rest
of the house and George would only succeed in hurting him that much more.

God, how he cried earlier is haunting him.

George sniffles, and grabs his laptop, tossing it carelessly into the bag. If anything it’ll be
good to have in case he does end up going back to London. After that, he slings the backpack
over his shoulder, leaving his room without a glance back. He trots down the stairs, and
doesn’t stop to pet the cats as he passes them in the living room. He tries not to think about
moving out and never seeing them again.

Thankfully, he doesn’t bump into Dream as he slips out the backdoor, shutting it quietly. He
doesn’t see Sapnap either while he waits for the Uber.
The sun is too bright, he thinks ruefully. It should be storming, and he should be drenched.
The birds shouldn’t be chirping and he shouldn’t be so hot right now, in fact, he should be
freezing, shivering from the rain soaking down to his bones. But it’s sunny, and the entire
world doesn’t know that his is ending right now.

A black car rolls up to the gate, and George slips out quickly, throwing himself down in the
backseat without even double checking that it is his Uber.

The driver doesn’t say a word to him, and George doesn’t either. It hurts to think about
talking past the lump in his throat. Instead, he stares out the window, watching the only safe
place he’s ever known disappear from his view.

______________________

The ride to the hotel is anticlimactic.

Checking in is more of a pain than he’s used to it being since he didn’t have time to book it
online, but at least they had a vacancy.

The room is too sterile and devoid of life when he swipes his card and shuts the door behind
him. It’s generic, far from personal with the mass produced paintings on the wall and the
weird patterned curtains that obscure the grand view of the parking lot. The air conditioner is
on, and he can already picture trying to sleep tonight and going from too hot to too cold while
the giant machine rattles on.

George sits down on the bed, the itchy sheets scratching his skin as he curls up on top. He
fucked up and forgot to bring any toiletries, he realizes. There is some shampoo and
conditioner in the shower and a bar of soap but no toothbrush or toothpaste. It’s late, and he
doesn’t want to go get one either. He doesn’t have the energy.

George flops down, his head hitting the pillow. The bed is hard and stiff and his eyes prickle
again with brimming tears. He wants to be home, he wants to cry it out in bed and then talk to
Sapnap and maybe Dream if he’d hear him out. He wants to steal one of the cats and make
them cuddle so he has something warm and soft to hold to comfort him.

Slowly, he withdraws his phone from his pocket. There are a few missed texts from Sapnap,
but he can’t even bring himself to open them, and there’s nothing from Dream, not that he
dared to let himself hope that there would be.

He lets his phone drop down to the bed, lost in the sheets. He doesn’t pick it up again. He
doesn’t turn on the lights when the dying sun’s light fades from the walls. He doesn’t leave
the bed again. The most he does is turn onto his side, curling up with his legs drawn almost to
his chest, making himself as small as possible.
George’s mind races with possibilities. Dream will never forgive him for this. He had been so
caught up in living out his dreams that he didn’t stop to think about how things would be
once Dream got his memories back. It never even crossed his mind. What did he expect? He
had grown so used to Dream having no memories anymore that he didn’t anticipate him
getting them back. His heart feels like it’s going to give out thinking about how hurt Dream
must be right now with no one to comfort or trust anymore. He’s never going to be welcomed
back, there’s no way to earn forgiveness now.

He imagines moving to L.A. and seeing Sapnap on occasion when him and Dream are in
town. He imagines moving home to London, and never seeing either of them again. He
imagines Dream forgiving him eventually, but things never being the same again. They
would have polite conversations over Discord but he wouldn’t ask George to come back, and
George wouldn’t expect him to either. Each scenario is worse than the last, until he’s heaving,
shaking and falling apart in the solitude of the hotel room.

He can’t breathe, he can’t see, he’s spiraling and it takes everything inside of him not to call
Dream and beg to talk to him. He cries until his ribs and back physically ache from the sobs
rattling through him. He cries until his eyes are rubbed so raw he almost thinks they could
bleed if he touches them again. He cries until there’s nothing left inside of him and he’s too
exhausted to stay awake a moment longer.

__________________________

Golden sunlight filters in through the patterned curtains of the hotel room, waking George
gently. It’s a small kindness from the universe to wake slowly, though reality still sets in the
second his eyes open.

George stares blankly at the wall, watching the sun rise and stretch, the light moving further
and further across the wall until he feels stable enough to get up. There are things he needs to
do, especially since he doesn’t know how long he will be staying here.

The first thing he needs to do is find something to eat, and then go out and get some
toiletries. He could just Uber home, but the thought of running into Dream and breaking that
boundary he set makes him want to curl up and die, so he’ll just buy new ones.

He sits up, his entire body stiff and weird feeling. He hadn’t slept with the sheets or blankets,
the bed mostly unused, and he didn’t change clothes either. Normally putting on pajamas is
his favorite part of the day, getting comfy and cozy and relaxing, but he didn’t take care of
himself at all yesterday.

The food they ordered yesterday for dinner didn’t have a chance to get there before George
left, not that he could have stomached it anyways. Now though, his stomach growls, feeling
hollow, and there’s a horrible taste in his mouth from not brushing his teeth yesterday.
Quietly he gets up, taking a quick piss before changing his clothes, pulling some out of the
stolen backpack. The change of clothes makes him feel slightly better, and he promises
himself once he has toiletries, he will come back and properly shower.

George grabs his wallet and phone, though a quick tap of his screen proves that the device is
completely dead.

Maybe that’s for the best though. He won’t be tempted to reach out to Dream and he won’t be
tempted to try and talk to Sapnap. Because that’s all he wants to do right now is talk to them.

George slides his shoes on, and leaves, the dead device sat on his bed and forgotten.
Hopefully he can navigate without it.

Thankfully the hotel has breakfast. He would much rather have McDonalds, or something…
he doesn’t know, better, maybe. But this will work for now. It’s not like he can get to a
McDonald’s without a car anyways.

All of the food he tries tastes bland and weird, kind of cold from sitting out since 7 a.m. when
it is now nearing 10. It’s sustenance though, and he ate worse in his uni days. Hell, even his
days in London during Covid. He ate some bizarre things to keep from having to actually
cook and care for himself; frozen dinners that were never quite right and nights where he
would eat random bits of whatever he had in his cabinets to get him by. Ramen was a
favorite, it was filling and warm and only took three minutes to cook.

Thinking about how depressed he was only makes the food in his mouth taste that much
worse.

Once he finishes all he can stomach, he throws his food away, and slips out the front door of
the hotel, taking a quick scan of the street.

The sun is warming up, though the air is still cool as he looks around, thankful that the
humidity hasn’t set in just yet.

He’s never had to navigate this area like this before. He’s used to Sapnap or Dream always
driving him around or Ubering. It probably would have been a lot smarter to charge his phone
and go to a Walmart or Target or something, but charging his phone would give him a way to
contact his husbands so it’s better not to.

George stops mid step at that.

… They aren’t his husbands. They never were.

He looks down at the cheap ring still on his left hand.

The lump in his throat returns as he takes it off, slipping it into his pocket. If he could go
back in time and tell himself how this was going to play out, he would, but hindsight is
always 20/20.
With a deep breath, George takes off towards the convenient store he can see across the
street. It doesn’t look the nicest but it’ll make do.

With a bag full of shower supplies and a pack of toothbrushes and toothpaste, George heads
back to the hotel. As soon as he gets back to his room, he climbs into the shower, brushing
his teeth while he’s under the hot water. He scrubs at his skin until it turns pink, and washes
his hair until his head vaguely hurts from the rough treatment. He isn’t doing anything wrong
though, he rations. He’s taking care of himself.

After that, he crawls into the bed and lies under the covers, turning on some day time
television show to fill his time. He still doesn’t trust himself to charge his phone.

_________________

The next two days pass in a haze. It’s the same routine. Wake up, eat breakfast at the hotel,
shower a little too roughly and then lie in bed. He’s learned what foods are good at the
breakfast bar, and which channels will play movies. He uses his laptop to door dash food
when dinner time rolls around, and never once, does he dare to charge his phone.

It’s scary how similar his routine is in the hotel as it was during the worse days of waiting for
his visa. He had it down eventually. Wake up, shower, call Dream. Wake up, shower, call
Dream. All he’s done now is replace Dream with day time television and think time. And oh,
does he have time to think.

He over analyzes everything from the hospital since. George goes over the past few weeks
with a fine tooth comb, finding every little way he’s fucked up until he’s miserable with a
pounding headache. He’s even started writing out apologies on the hotel notepad with the
shitty pen they leave at the desks, though none of his apologizes ever come out right. They’re
always too calloused, either talking about himself the entire time or trying to justify his
actions in some way. He wanted to give Dream a break from the internet. He didn’t mean to
hurt him. He wanted Dream all to himself for a while. He wanted to know what it was like to
be with him. He loved him. Dream loved him too, there was proof of that in his song.

The words ‘I’m sorry’ are hard, but he writes them down. He scrawls them in big letters, digs
the pen in until the ink pool and smears and bleeds onto the pages beneath it. And then he
crumples the paper up, throws it away, and tries again.

And again.

And again.

It’s never right, it’s never enough. And then he gives up and tries again the next day.
The bin is overflowing with balls of paper on day four of being in the hotel. He hung up a
sign on the door to keep housekeeping out, preferring complete solitude.

It’s on the fourth day that he dares to open his laptop and check Discord.

He feels good today. He feels calm. He isn’t going to frantically call Dream and beg him to
listen, he isn’t going to drive himself crazy opening up their messages and staring at them
trying to find the words to say. He isn’t going to try and type out a lousy apology either. All
he’s going to do is to check out what has been going on since he left, see if anyone needs
him, and then he is going to shut his computer and crawl back into bed. It’s late anyways,
he’ll door dash some dinner and eat in bed and scowl at the crumbs later when he tries to
sleep, once again, all too achingly familiar.

When he opens Discord though, his eyes widen, and his jaw drops.

There are hundreds of messages from Sapnap.

He scrolls to the top, eyebrows knitted together as he leans in close, reading over the
messages. The first few only ask why he isn’t answering his phone, and then there are a few
about Dream, or how things are in the guest house. Then, things begin to take a turn. Sapnap
starts to ask where he’s at, what he’s doing, and a new franticness enters his tone as he asks if
George is okay and why he isn’t answering his phone. A few messages beg him to respond,
citing that it’s been an entire day since he’s heard from him, and then two. It goes on and on
until Sapnap sounds nearly hysterical, begging George to give him even a small indication
that he’s alright.

Guilt threatens to swallow him whole.

George swallows thickly as he struggles to come up with an appropriate response. He doesn’t

even know what to begin to say. Four days of radio silence… Sapnap must be pissed.

He never even stopped to consider that Sapnap would want to talk to him right now. He
thought… he thought they were both mad at him, or foolishly that Sapnap would cut off
contact with him to save his relationship with Dream- and George wouldn’t hold it against
him if he did. He knows, afterall, where he stands with them.

George straightens up in the uncomfortable hotel chair, the material scratchy against his
thighs where his shorts have ridden up. He rings his hands nervously, unsure what to do.
Sending just a text wouldn’t feel proportional, but a phone call makes him feel queasy.
Anxiety has his heart beating a million miles an hour even thinking about talking to Sapnap–
even though it’s all he’s wanted to do for days now.

He can’t not answer though. He needs to at least say something.

With a deep breath to calm his racing thoughts, George’s mouse hovers over the call button.
He’s scared. He’s so scared. And the endless messages demanding his attention is even more
overwhelming.
Slowly, he glances over at his list of servers. He’s in tons, but only one sticks out to him.

He moves his mouse over to the one labeled “comfy”. He clicks on it, heart hurting to see
that the last time they had used VC there had been years ago.

He hits join, and sends a single text: join comfy.

It feels safer here, in a familiar space that’s only his and Sapnap’s. He’s spent many nights
here in this VC. It used to be his favorite place to be until he learned what it felt like to be in
Sapnap’s actual presence, and then the VC took second place.

Almost instantly, Sapnap joins too.

“Jesus fucking Christ I want to kill you.”

George cowers down at the righteous anger in Sapnap’s voice. He drops his eyes down to the
grainy wood pattern beneath his laptop as he waits for a verbal lashing from his hus-

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Sapnap hisses at him.

“I don’t know,” George replies miserably. He can’t do anything right, can he? He fucked up
with Dream, he fucked up with Sapnap, he’s selfish and awful and irredeemable and no
fucking wonder neither of them can stand him anymore.

“Where the fuck are you?”

George looks around. “Um… a hotel.”

“In Florida?”

George nods, and then realizes Sapnap can’t see him. “Yeah. Florida for now.”

“I thought you fucking left and didn’t say shit to me,” Sapnap admits, sounding distraught
through the crackly speakers. “Or like, something fucked up happened to you. Four days,
George, I wanted to call the cops to go look for your ass.”

George wants to melt into the ground and let it swallow him. “I’m sorry.”

Sapnap’s voice softens after that. “I was just worried. You can’t just disappear like that.”

George doesn’t say anything to that. He stares down at the keyboard, waiting for Sapanp to
say something more.

“Are you okay?” He asks in lieu of his silence.

“Yeah,” George offers simply. He doesn’t elaborate. He doesn’t tell Sapnap how fucking
awful things have been these past few days. He shouldn’t worry him, it’ll make things harder
when George does end up moving away. He can’t guilt Sapnap into caring for him like that.

“Did… have you spoken to Dream?”

“No,” George whispers. “Have you?”

“No. I haven’t gone near the house. I scooped Milo and Naomi and made them come to the
guest house with me so he wouldn’t have to care for them too. They’re pissed about it too but
oh well.”

The sinking feeling in his gut worsens. “I thought you two would have made up,” he blurts
out.

“What? No, Dream hates me just as much as he hates you right now,” Sapnap chuckles
humorlessly.

George can’t speak. His eyes sting, and he can’t bite back tears in the silence that follows.

“... Why did you do that?” Sapnap asks eventually.

“Do what?” George takes a deep breath, bracing himself for whatever it is that he will have to
explain now. He’s fucked up so many different ways,

“Why did you say I had nothing to do with it? I did.”

Oh.

George frowns. His voice is tear soaked and rough with his next words. “It was my idea. My
fault.”

“But it wasn’t just you,” Sapnap insists again. “It was your idea but I went along with it. I
played it up, I made it worse. We both did fucked up things, it isn’t fair for you to take the fall
for all of it.”

George’s bottom lip wobbles, and he bears his teeth as he bites out “but this way you still
have a chance. To make up.”

George can feel how stunned Sapnap is through the phone. “... What about you?”

“I go home.”

“... So that’s your grand plan?” Sapnap asks incredulously, tone growing higher pitched the
more upset he becomes. “Just fuck off back to England instead of solving your problems?”

NO.

That isn’t his plan!

That…

George grabs at his hair, tugging at the strands between his knuckles with stress. That isn’t
what he’s trying to do at all, and the anxiety from earlier feels like it’s going to make his heart
explode.
“No. I- I fucked up so bad,” George whimpers, getting closer to the computer in desperation
for Spanap to understand. “I- there’s no way Dream will ever forgive me. There’s no way.
There’s no way there- but he loves you.”

Sapnap doesn’t say anything, so George keeps talking and talking, running his mouth to
convince him he isn’t running to get away, he’s trying to help for once.

“You two have a chance, and I don’t- I want you to be happy.” All he wants is for Dream and
Sapnap to be happy. That’s what got them into this situation in the first place, that and
George’s penchant for selfishness.

“Where does that leave you?”

George rolls his eyes. Isn’t it obvious? “In London.”

“He loves you too,” Sapnap whispers. He sounds so sad.

That’s okay though, George thinks. He’ll get over it when Dream forgives him and they move
on.

“Not like how he loves you,” George replies. He tries not to sound so sad about it.

“George,” Sapnap sighs his name, like he doesn’t know what else to say. George doesn’t
know either.

“I don’t want that,” Sapnap adds on. “I don’t want that at all.”

Tears swarm his vision, dripping down his cheeks with a scorching feeling that makes his
entire body ache. “Neither of you love me the way you love each other, and it’s okay. I
shouldn’t expect it. Hell, you probably don’t love me at all-”

“I love you,” Sapnap whimpers. “I love you, I love you-”

“Sap,” George whispers, trying to calm him through crackly speakers. It feels all too
achinging familiar, the way he has no way to comfort a loved one other than through words
spoken to a microphone. It’s a desolate feeling and George hunkers down, biting back his
own feelings.

“Why would you ever think- I mean, I love you, of course I love you,” he keeps insisting.
“You’re so fucking stupid I hate you sometimes but that doesn’t change how much I fucking
love you.”

He says it with such conviction.

“I wouldn’t have agreed to marry you if I didn’t love you. I’ve loved you for years, George, I
loved you before you would even look at me. Don’t put words in my mouth like that ever
again.”

George cries quietly.

“Are you crying?” Sapnap asks.

He can’t bring himself to answer.

“Please don’t cry,” Sapnap begs. “Please. I love you, I just want you to know that I love you.
Things will be okay eventually, I promise it just- Dream just needs time and we just need to
make it up to him.”

“What if we can’t?” George asks fearfully, terror striking through his heart like electricity.

“George,” Sapnap whimpers, tears in his voice.

His heart clenches violently.

“If we can’t, will you be with him for me?” George asks softly. “And take care of him-“

“Stop it. Please come home,” Sapnap sobs. “Please. Please. I’ll come get you.”

“I can’t do that,” George whispers.

“Yes you can,” Sapnap insists petulantly. “Just tell me where you are and shut the fuck up
after that.”

George snorts, though the small laugh only makes him cry harder, choked noises leaving his
lips.

“I can’t do that.”

“Air drop. Me. Your fucking location. I already have my keys in my hand, I’m walking out
the front door right now. You’re not going to stop me, and you’re too stupid to use a fake
name, so I’ll call every hotel in the area asking to speak to George Davidson, and when your
stupid little hotel phone eventually rings at like four in the morning the only thing I’m going
to say is ‘got you bitch’ and then I’m pounding on you door until there’s noise complaints.
I’m so serious right now. You think I won’t do it? Because I will.”

George chokes on a sob that melts in with a laugh, making a gross, wet noise. “Fine.”

Sapnap’s relief is palpable through the call.

Since his phone is still dead and long forgotten, he can’t airdrop his location. Instead, George
shakily types in the name of the hotel, and copies and pastes the address into Discord. He
hesitates for a moment, before pressing send.

“Thank god,” Sapnap groans when he gets the notification. “I’ll be there in twenty. Don’t
hang up.”

And George doesn’t. He doesn’t know what else to say, or even what else there is to say. He
simply waits silently at his desk, listening to the noise of Sapnap clambering into his car and
the brief disconnect when his phone’s bluetooth connected.
True to Sapnap’s word, around twenty minutes later, George hears the car come to a stop, and
as Sapnap turns it off and shuts the door, he asks, “What room number?”

“Second floor, room 213,” George answers, throat tight. His entire body feels like a live wire,
knowing Sapnap is just downstairs in the same hotel as him. He doesn’t know what to do
with himself. He feels like he’s going to explode.

George listens closely to the elevator ding, and the thud of Sapnap’s footsteps across the
dingy carpet of the hotel hallway.

“213?” Sapnap repeats.

George looks over, seeing the vague shadow of two feet outside his door from the light
spilling in from the hallway.

He swallows, and almost lies.

“George?” Sapnap asks. He can hear his voice on the other side of the door.

“I’m scared,” George breathes.

Sapnap tries the door handle. George watches it jiggle, but not budge.

“Please let me in,” Sapnap begs. “I’m hanging up now.”

“Don’t,” George whimpers. He doesn’t want him to hang up, he wants to exist forever in the
comfy VC with him.

“It’ll be okay,” Sapnap promises.

Discord beeps, and George stares at the door. He wants to not answer at all, or hide, but
neither are an option, and now that Sapnap knows where he is, there’s no running either. He
won’t go away until George opens the door.

With a deep breath, George pulls himself out of the chair. He creeps towards the door quietly,
waiting for something big to happen, but it never does.

Slowly, he opens the door.

Sapnap looks soft, standing in the hallway’s yellow lighting wearing a big oversized hoodie
and tiny shorts that disappear beneath it. His eyes are red rimmed, and his face is puffy,
which is a given from how hard they both just cried. George knows he doesn’t look any
better.

As soon as the door is open enough, Sapnap is pushing his way inside, and throwing his arms
around George in a bone crushing hug. It doesn’t even feel good, it just hurts the way Sapnap
squeezes him so tightly, but it’s comforting to Sapnap, so George toughs it out, struggling to
breathe until his grip lessens. Once he lets up some though, George can’t help the way he
melts into him. Suddenly it doesn’t feel like he’s trapped thousands of miles away across an
 ocean anymore. He’s here, and Sapnap’s touch has a way of making it feel like things might
just be okay.

“Don’t do that again,” Sapnap begs in his ear.

George can’t promise that he won’t, so he just hugs him harder, digging his fingernails into
the soft material of his hoodie.

Sapnap kisses his temple briefly, before burying his face back down into his neck as close to
George as he can possibly get. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” George whispers, biting back a fresh wave of tears. “I love you so much.”

Chapter End Notes

Let me know what you thought!! :D And just a lil reminder my new twitter is
@Janetbaby999 if you wanna be friends :3
End Notes

Let me know what you thought of the first chapter! My Twitter is @Janetbaby99 if you
wanna be friends :D

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