Hidden Behind the Screen

Chapter 1

George had been streaming him beating minecraft for roughly three hours now. The first few worlds he tried on he ended up dying, but eventually he found a good one and was currently looking for the stronghold. In the beginning, Sapnap, Bad and Dream were there, but Sapnap had to go eat and Bad needed to film a video with Skeppy. Leaving just Dream and George alone on teamspeak while George was streaming.

"Don't throw another eye yet, it's still too soon," Dream said after George moved to the slot in his hotbar with the ender eyes in it.

"I wasn't even going to throw an eye, I was just going to keep them in my hand," George said while shaking his head.

"I'm sure you were," Dream responded in a teasing tone. Sometimes it annoyed George how well Dream really knew him. It was just a minecraft game and a simple change in the item he was holding, yet Dream could still tell exactly what he was going to do. But it also made George feel light inside, knowing that Dream knew him so well and would always be there for him.

The chat seemed to tune into George's thoughts because they all began commenting about how easily Dream could read George.

A donation of $20 came through the TTS "I triple dog dare you to tell Dream you love him." Dream was watching George's stream so he heard that dono and noticed George's lack of response.

"Are you going to say it?" Dream asked with a tint of hope.

"Say what?" George responded trying to seem clueless so he wouldn't be forced to tell him. He knew Dream would be able to tell that he was lying, but he still tried to get out of it.

"Oh come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about George," Dream replied. "Tell me you love me."

The chat began to freak out when Dream said that, it was well known that George had never said "I love you" to Dream on stream before. Everyone just assumed George was shy and only ever said it offline. But, the truth was that George hasn't said it offline either, he's never actually told Dream he loved him and that was something that hurt Dream.

The phrase had always come easy to Dream and George envied him for that. It wasn't as if George didn't love Dream, he did, maybe a little too much. And that was the problem, that was the thing that scared George into never wanting to say it. He knew how perceptive Dream was and thought that if he ever actually said those three words out loud Dream would be able to see right through him and figure out the truth.

The chat continued to flood with comments teasing George and jokingly feeling sorry for Dream. George spared a glance to read through the chat and saw one of the comments saying "omg is he blushing???" This caused George's face to flush red, which Dream noticed right away since he had his stream open.

"George I can see you blushing on stream. Just say those three words to me and I'll stop. It's not even that hard. Come on I'll say it... I love you George... so much. Now say it back," George was too embarrassed to notice that Dream's tone of voice got more serious and lost the teasing edge to it.

"No," George replied, simply trying to get out of the situation and move on.

"George," Dream said in a serious voice, shaking George out of his panicking thoughts. "I love you, see how simple it is." George would be lying to himself if he said Dream saying those words didn't give him butterflies and make him feel a warmth spread inside him. His comforting voice paired with those words, directed at George made him feel wanted and loved.

But he still couldn't say it back, because he knew no matter how badly he wanted to, he feared Dream would find out the truth when does. He would find out about his feelings, and that was a thought that absolutely terrified George.

"I'm not going to say it back, I might just not even love you back. Just stop," George said with a harsh tone, he needed this conversation to be done with. He was beginning to feel overwhelmed, not just with Dreams words, but the fact that he was still streaming and thousands of people were listening to their conversation.

"Fine," was the response given by Dream and before George could apologize another donation came through.

"Could you please say happy birthday Eric, it would really make my day, love you <3" the TTS read. George cleared his throat, "uh yeah, happy birthday Eric, I hope you have a great day, thanks for the dono.

It felt like the whole stream could feel the tension between the two boys, George tried to divert everyone's concern by focusing on the game instead. He began travelling by boat when he reached an ocean in the direction of the stronghold and started looking underneath the water for the tell tale signs of it.

The chat was filled mostly with comments of support and luck for George finding the stronghold, but there were the few odd comments still mentioning what had just happened previously.

George kept getting distracted by reading those comments instead of fully paying attention to the game, while Dream was eerily silent.

"Thank you Stephanie for the 5 gifted subs," George said while looking at his second monitor, causing him not to notice the drowned swimming up to his boat from the ocean ruins. The mob threw a trident breaking George's boat, which floated to the bottom of the ocean floor, bringing his focus back to the game. "Ugh, the stupid trident guy is trying to kill me."

George clicked the keys on his keyboard moving his avatar further from the drowned but he was much slower now that his boat had been destroyed. "How does he do so much damage?" he asked in disbelief as he got hit by another trident blow, the swimming had brung his hunger bars down by one and half, not allowing him to regenerate. A dolphin made its way into George's view exciting him, "yes, come here dolphin, please." Before the dolphin speed took effect the drowned threw another trident doing four hearts worth of damage killing George.

George groaned in disappointment staring at the 'you died: respawn or title screen' screen, "well, I think that's going to be it for streaming today. It was extremely fun and I'm thankful you could all join me. Hopefully next stream we can actually make it to the End or at least the stronghold before dying," he joked. "Thank you all again, see you next time."

George pressed the end button for the stream and closed minecraft and was just met with silence. "Dream?" George asked. "Do you want to stay on call for a bit? I don't have anything to do for the next few hours, we can play bedwars or just talk if you want."

"I have to go," Dream replied in a sharp, sad tone. He quickly disconnected from the call leaving George alone to sit alone in his silent, empty bedroom with regret for what he had said earlier.

Why was he so stupid? Why couldn't he just say it back? What was wrong with him? Why was he like this? Why did he have to feel this way for his best friend? Why couldn't he just be normal? Why, why, why? He probably hates you, you couldn't tell him you love him.

George sighed and got out of his chair and flopped onto his bed dramatically. He pulled out his phone, opened messages, then clicked on Dream's contact.

George (1:43am): It was just a joke Dream

George (1:43am): I'm sorry for saying I didn't love you

George (1:45am): Dream?

George (1:48am): Please answer me

George (1:53am): Hello???

Dream (1:57am): *read at 1:57am*

George sighed, he could tell Dream read his message and Dream knew he would be able to see that. He didn't think Dream would end up being upset over George not saying "I love you" back to him. They bantered like this all the time, on and off stream about George not wanting to say it back. Yet, this time was different, Dream never got mad enough to just flat out ignore George before and that worried him.

George shut his phone off and changed into his pyjamas. He plugged his phone into his charger and then got into his bed under the covers. Thoughts worrying about Dream and about his feelings for him raced through his head. It made him tired thinking of it, so much that he fell asleep and his mind finally became peaceful.