Never Let Go || 𝘋𝘕𝘍

Spending the Night

George was jolted from his sleep by a hand shaking his shoulder. He quickly sat up, eyes wide and blurry, and looked around to find the source of what had awakened him. He soon realized that Dream's eyes were open and he was watching him with an amused expression – at least, what George thought was an amused expression. It was hard to tell because his face was so beat-up.

"Hey. I guess you fell asleep," Dream said, his voice scratchy and tired. George regained his composure and self-consciously wiped the drool from his chin with the back of his hand.

"Yeah – I guess I did," he said. "What time is it?" He asked, looking at the clock on the nightstand. It read 1:23 AM. George looked at his phone and noticed 11 missed messages from Bad and Sapnap. Outside the window, the sky was dark and the streets were quiet. "So, you got into a fight with Brad, huh? Exactly what I told you not to do," George said in a cross tone. Dream fiddled with the buttons on the side of the bed until he found the up button, so he could sit himself upright.

"He approached me in the hallway after you left and started dissing you, Sapnap and Bad, so of course I had to take it to him. Nobody gets to talk about my friends like that," he said.

"Except you didn't beat him up, and Sapnap got involved in the fight, too. He beat you up! Have you seen yourself?" George asked.

"Sapnap got dragged into it? Is he okay?" Dream asked worriedly.

"He's fine, he's at your apartment with Karl and Bad. Bad said he needed some butterfly stitches, but nothing too serious," George replied, his tone softening slightly. "But that was still a really stupid thing to do. I don't understand why you can't just leave a fight and let the assholes say what they want. I understood the time at the coffee shop, but I do not understand this," George unleashed his anger. "You don't need to fight our fights for us – someday you'll pick a fight you can't handle, and you're going to get yourself into serious trouble. People die in fistfights every day," he continued.

"I do it because I care about you guys, you know. I don't like getting into fights. It's painful and ruins your reputation. But I wanted to for you guys. I'm not a laid-back person, if you couldn't already tell. I'll never let someone say those terrible things about you guys and go unscathed," Dream replied evenly. George sighed.

"It's obvious that I'm not going to change your mind about this," George stated, and Dream nodded his head painfully. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you," he concluded as he sat back in his chair and went on his phone to read Bad and Sapnap's messages. They were all asking about Dream, wondering if he was awake yet. George told them Dream was awake and doing fine.

"Is that Sapnap?" Dream asked.

"And Bad," George said with a nod.

"Would you ask him if he's alright? I didn't want him to get involved in the fight, but I guess he did anyway."

"Sure," George agreed, then proceeded to ask Sapnap if he was okay. He said Yeah, I just had a few cuts on my face, but otherwise I'm fine. George informed Dream and he sat back.

"Good," he said. "Did you say Karl was back? I haven't seen him in a while," Dream also asked.

"Yes, he got back just in time to see you all fighting," George replied. Dream was silent.

"Listen George, I'm sorry I got into a fight. I probably look pretty messed up right now. I just got so angry at Brad, for saying those things to you and about you. He humiliated you, and I wasn't going to let that happen," Dream confessed. "How did the fight break up, anyway?" Dream asked.

"Well, after Brad started choking you I had to step in. I punched Brad and... I'm pretty sure I broke his nose," George said, hardly containing his smirk. Dream's eyes widened and he gave a raggedy laugh.