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.
"You did what? Holy shit! That's amazing," Dream said, and George smiled, feeling good about himself. "Thanks for that. I owe you now," he added.
"No, you don't. It was the only way to get him to stop. I thought he was going to kill you there for a minute," George said, then in a lower voice he added, "that's why I was so angry at you. I guess I have a hard time expressing my emotions, so my worry and fear turned into anger. I'm sorry, too," George confessed. He had never told anybody – except for family – about his hard time with emotions.
"That's okay. I see now that it was a pretty stupid thing to do, but it seemed right at the time," Dream said.
"Ha. You need a better conscience," George observed.
"You don't say," Dream agreed, then laughed. George laughed too, and afterward he felt as if a big weight had been lifted from his chest. He was no longer worried, and for the first time all day things seemed like they might just be alright.
Soon after, Dream started coughing so George alerted the nurse, who came in and unhooked the drip from his vein. She then handed him a tall glass and set a pitcher full of ice-cold water on the nightstand, instructing George to make sure he drank it all by the end of the night. Dream also asked for some food and she said she would bring him a sub from the cafeteria.
After the nurse returned with the sub and Dream was in the middle of eating, Sapnap called. He asked to talk to Dream so George handed him the phone.
"Hey, Sapnap," Dream greeted.
"Dream, how are you bud?" came Sapnap's voice from the speaker on the phone.
"I'm fine. George is here with me. Did you know he broke Brad's nose?" Dream asked, face lit with amusement.
"Yeah, it's all everyone's talking about! That shit was awesome, man. The fight was over after that," Sapnap said, and George and Dream snickered.
"I'm glad he did it when he did it, because I had pretty much given up," Dream said.
"Yeah, about that, Brad kinda kicked your ass, man. What's up with that?" Sapnap asked. "You shouldn't pick fights if you aren't sure you can win."
"He was the one who picked the fight! You heard him cussing you and George out. I wasn't just gonna stand and listen to him," Dream said defensively.
"Yeah, yeah. Oh well. You'll get him next time," Sapnap said.
"Sure. Anyway, the nurse said I gotta stay here overnight, so I'll see you tomorrow," Dream said.
"Okay. Bye," Sapnap said, then hung up, Dream handed George back his phone and he slid it into his pocket.
"You should head home, George. It's really late," Dream said, and George shook his head.
"No, Dream, I'm not leaving. I need to stay here and make sure you don't die in your sleep," he said before smiling. Dream shook his head.
"Where are you going to sleep?" He asked, looking around the room. "That chair looks pretty uncomfortable," he added. "I can't let you stay here for me. What about your work? And school? You should go home and sleep in your bed, or you're going to be sleep deprived," Dream said. George hesitated. It did sound nice to sleep in his own bed and get a good night's rest...
"No," he decided firmly. "I drove your car here, so it would be weird if I just left you here alone. I'm going to stay until morning, when you get released," George said. Dream frowned, then shrugged.
"If you say so," he gave up, and George nodded.
"Good."
A few minutes later George became extremely tired, exhaustion drowning his thoughts and making his eyelids heavy. He looked at Dream and noticed he was already asleep. With a sigh, he rested his head on Dream's leg and soon fell asleep, weariness tugging his mind into darkness despite the uncomfortable position he was in.
The next morning George opened his eyes to sunlight shining in his face from the curtain-drawn windows, and a sort of tickling sensation on his head. He didn't move as he realized Dream was fiddling with his hair, twirling the strands in his fingers and combing gently through the snarls. George felt his face heat up and his heart begin to beat faster. After a few minutes of letting Dream fidget with his hair, George took a deep breath and slowly sat up, blinking his eyes furiously to pretend like he had just woken up. As he moved his back he gave a groan of pain, as he had been slouching all night.
"How come you always wake up before me?" George asked sleepily before yawning.
"I don't know, but good morning," Dream said, ignoring the fact that he had just been touching George's hair.
"Sorry I fell asleep on you, I was pretty tired," George apologized.
"It's fine, but you should've gone home last night. You aren't looking too good. You've got big bags under your eyes," Dream said.
"Ha! You're one to talk," George said, and Dream smirked.
"Yeah, I know. But still," he said in a more serious tone. "You didn't have to stay here with me. I could've spent the night alone," Dream said almost scoldingly.
"Yeah, well, I didn't want to leave you. Is that such a crime?" He asked, and Dream shook his head.
"I mean, no," he replied. George nodded.
"Alright then. What do you say we get you out of here and get some breakfast and coffee? I'm sure the professors wouldn't care if we called in sick today. I mean, you did almost die," George said, standing up. Dream sat up and swung his feet out of bed.
"Sounds good to me. I could use a day of rest," he said before standing up. He blinked furiously for a moment, as if trying to regain his bearings, before taking a step and wobbling, beginning to fall backwards. George caught him before he fell, stabilizing him by holding on to his arm. "Maybe more than a day," he corrected himself, and George scoffed.
"Yeah," he agreed. "You good?" He asked.
"I think so. Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
George let go and exited the room, allowing him to change back into his clothes that were left on the table. After Dream was done they made their way to the front desk and he checked himself out of the hospital. They told him to give them a call if he was feeling dizzy or intense pain in his head, and told him to take aspirin for the pain. They also said his stitches would dissolve in a few days once the wounds were healed, and instructed him on how to dress the wounds. He thanked them, paid the bill that was due using his wallet which had been found in his car, and then Dream and George left together.