if i could drown in you, would you let me

let me go

Spend a day without talking to George, simple, right? Friends can go a day without talking; it's no big deal. Dream would be on stream with Tommy for a good chunk of the day anyway. It was just the hours in between now and then that would be difficult.

The discord server had been going off all morning with ideas for new youtube videos. Dream struggled to talk without directly addressing George. But even just sitting there silently, watching George describe coding ideas, almost had him melting in his seat.

jump in VC 2 im sick of typing, wrote Sapnap. No, this cannot be happening. It was hard enough reading George's messages, let alone hearing his voice. He would break. He entered it anyway.

"Gimmie one sec, guys," he said before anyone could speak. "I've gotta feed Patches." He ripped his headset off so he wouldn't have to hear George's voice. He could still hear it echoing through the headset, the faintest whisper of George speaking. Dream hovered there for a moment, just staring at his headset. He couldn't stop; he didn't want to stop. He wanted desperately to put them on and to hear George speak. But if he did, even for a moment he knew Dream would talk to George, he wouldn't be able to help it. Patches wrapped herself around Dream's ankle and meowed loudly.

"...unmuted..." came from the headset. He couldn't make out the rest. Dream checked; he hadn't muted himself. If he stayed any longer, he would've put the headset back on. Dream shook his head and walked away with Patches trailing behind him. He hadn't lied, he did need to feed Patches, but it was just an excuse—an excuse to avoid George, to avoid himself.

The tile floors felt amazing as he walked into his kitchen to grab food for Patches. Having broken AC in Florida was a death sentence, no it was a torture sentence; death would've been kinder than the humid heat.

Dream couldn't even hear the ghost of George's voice anymore. The headset was too far away. He should've been grateful that Patches needed food, that he had an excuse to leave the room instead of being stabbed over and over with George's voice. But knowing that in the other room, he could've been listening to George laugh? It was killing him more than the heat was.

This day was supposed to give him a break. It was supposed to remind him that he didn't need George to function. But the longer it took for him to give his cat food and water, the more he realized how weak he truly was. How much power George held over him. Dream just needs it all to stop; all of the little things George did that Dream couldn't help but fall for.

Dream didn't need a break from George. He needed to be reminded of all the reasons why falling for George was a bad idea. The break couldn't solve anything. That's how Dream justified putting the headset back on and not speaking for just a moment. He just listened to his friends talking without him. He listened to his friends, being friends with no hidden motives.

"Bad, you cannot be serious," said George with his perfect accent. He pronounced every word so carefully, just like he did everything else.

"I am you muffin-head!" Exclaimed BadBoyHalo jumping onto the defensive as he always did.

"My next YouTube video is not going to be coding Minecraft to turn Dream into a flower," responded George, exasperation coating his voice. Dream broke his silence with a wheeze.

"What are you guys talking about?" He asked, laughter still tugging onto the end of his sentence. George exploded into laughter; it was the most beautiful thing Dream had ever heard.

"George wanted to do another one of your videos where you try to beat the game while you're transformed into something else," started Bad trying to explain his thought process. "But, he didn't know what to transform you into, so me and Sapnap were just throwing out ideas!"

"And you thought I should be a flower!" Dream was trying so hard to sound typical, but George was still laughing, and every time his discord icon turned green, Dream died a little inside.

"Well, when you say it like that," said Bad, still having to defend himself.

"No, it's a great idea, Bad," said Sapnap. He was trying to stop his laughter; it was evident in his voice. "Dream will stay in one place for the whole video."

"I could pick him up," giggled George, still recovering from earlier. Dream caught himself before he said something. He still hadn't technically talked to George today; he was talking to all of them earlier. There was never going to be a way to avoid George truly, and Dream knew that. It tore him apart, knowing that if he keeps talking to George, it'll kill, and if he doesn't, it'll kill him too.

"Well, I'm not hearing any better ideas." Thank God for Bad being able to fill in the silence Dream couldn't. "Dream, what do you think?"

"Yeah, Dream, do you want to be a flower?" Asked Sapnap. A smile threatened to appear on Dream's face.

"It depends. What kind of flower?" It was so comfortable joking with the two of them. Dreamed slumped down in his chair, why couldn't it be this easy with George? Why did he have to make it so hard?

"Whatever flower you want," responded Bad with a smile. "Oh, oh! You should be the lily. It's so pretty."

"Yeah, Dream, you'd be such a pretty flower," said George making Sapnap laugh. Dream almost audibly gasped. What. The. Fuck. Why did George calling him a pretty goddamn flower send butterflies down to his stomach. He had to disconnect. He had to go; he couldn't do this anymore. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. What could he do, what could he say? He pulled his headset off again and left himself unmuted like it was an accident.

"Patches no!" He yelled, praying he was loud enough for them to still here. Patches looked up from her spot on the bed. "Get out of there." He disconnected from the server before he could think better of it.

He flopped onto the bed next to Patches before groaning into his pillows. Why was he so, so soft? George telling him he would make a pretty flower shouldn't send him spiraling. He should be able to laugh it off and move on as he can with Sapnap and Bad. He was so fucked.

And he still had to stream with Tommy later. How was he supposed to do any of this? How was he supposed to function for the rest of the day, knowing George thought he would make a cute flower?

That was the dumbest thing Dream had ever thought in his entire life. What was happening? He could stream with Tommy because George was joking. Joking. Joking. Joking.

"FUCK!" He screamed into his pillow. He just had to move on. He had to forget George had ever said anything ever. GeorgeNotFound? Who is that? Dream had certainly never heard of him.

He didn't know anything about George's stupid, perfect, freckled face, or how to make him laugh so hard his head nearly popped off his neck, or how his smile felt like a direct ray of sun shining onto Dream's heart. He didn't know anything. His phone chimed. George texted. Shit.

is patches okay? He asked. Dream should shut his phone off; today was break day, remember? He wasn't going to say anything directly to George.

are you okay? Fuck. Why was George so perceptive? Why did he have to know Dream so damn well. Why did it make Dream feel so good to know George cared. Why did he have to consume every word George said like it would be the last one he ever read?

we're both fine. He responded before he could think, thinking got in the way of too much.

she just got into my chords, ive gotta reboot my pc. He hated lying to George so much. He didn't deserve it, but Dream had no choice. If he was going to keep George in his life, he was going to have to lie. These were the most important lies he would ever tell, and they were the ones that would hurt him the most. 

A/N: I very much don't like this chapter but it is what it is. Anyway, thank you for reading Chapter Three! If you have anything to say please leave it in the comments and leave a vote if you enjoyed it. Chapter Four will be posted by the end of next week, see you then :)