"Hey Dream, could you grab the picnic blanket from the cupboard? I can't reach it" George calls through the house, a reply from a distant room, followed by the blond's appearance in the hallway.
"Sure" he mumbles with a smile, reaching his arm up and barely having to stretch his body, he was just that tall.
"There you go" he says, handing the striped blanket over, waiting for George to grab it and pulling him into his chest once he did.
"What?" George laughs, his mouth contorting into something that his friends had dubbed the "Dream smile".
Dream shrugs his shoulders while taking the small brunet in his arms, picnic blanket stuffed between their chests forcing a certain space between their bodies.
"You're an idiot," George scoffed, trying to loosen from the tight grip the other had on his back, deep chuckles escaping his stomach as the blond forced small pecks on his cheeks and forehead, pulling him even closer.
"I thought we talked about this, no PDA in the house!" Sapnap nearly shouts as he and the curly haired enter the hallway, baby Daniel gently braced against Karl's hip, kicking and wiggling his arms and legs.
"Oh shut up" Dream says, finally letting go of the brunet and moving over to his son, enjoying the laughs coming from the infant's mouth when he strokes a finger over the soft features of his face.
"Hi buddy!" He starts, pushing his hands under his son's arms, slowly lifting him from Karl's grasp, the man's face developing into a sad expression as the baby was taken from him.
"Did you have a good nap?" The blond continues to talk to Daniel in his well trained baby voice, while rolling his eyes at the exaggerated pout that Karl was showing on his features.
The baby giggled at his dad's craziness, closing his tiny chubby arms around Dream's neck and rubbing his face on the blond's cheeks in excitement.
"Are you being silly? Yes you are, yes you are" The baby voice continued, the little one in Dream's arms squirming and wiggling at the chuckles traveling through his entire body.
"Did you change his diaper?" Dream asked, looking up at Karl and Sapnap, the two men that had agreed to get the boy from his room once he had woken up from his nap while the others packed for their trip to the park.
"I did" Karl raised his hand, while smiling and making faces at the boy, who was now playing with Dream's collar.
"You don't even live here and you've changed his diaper more often than Sapnap" George laughs, watching the offended look sprout on the youngest' face.
"He's here like all the time, he might as well live here" the youngest scoffed, turning his eyes to his friends as he crossed his arms over his chest, visibly still offended.
"Whatever. We're all ready to go now aren't we?" George changes the subject quickly, eyeing the few bags stood by the door, ready to be picked up and carried to the park with them.
"George, you wanna take Daniel?" The blond asks, watching the man's face light up as he nods, stepping forward and lifting the child into his arms.
"I thought maybe we could put him in the carrier so we don't need to drag the stroller along?" George suggests, Dream nodding and opening the cupboard door to his left, searching for a few seconds, before pulling out the green and white carrier and handing it to George, who skillfully clasps it around his waist and settles the baby in it facing his chest.
"Alright, Karl Sapnap, could you take these two bags? I'll take this one" the blond asks, fingers pointing towards the bags while his eyes stayed glued on George, who was petting soft strokes over his son's back and head. The baby, still tired from his nap, leaned against the man's chest, looking comfortable and smiling at Dream.
The other two men do as they're told, grabbing bags and throwing them over their shoulders, all of them lining at the door to finally leave the house.
The warm July air hit them like a wall of fire, all of them having to halt for a second to adjust to the heat surrounding them.
"Are you sure this was a good idea? It's so hot." Dream asks the others, mainly directing his question to Sapnap, who had brought up the idea of a picnic in the park.
"Oh come on, don't be a pussy, we have food and water with us, we'll be fine. We can just lay somewhere in the shade" the questioned man responded, pointing to the bag he was carrying which was stacked with plenty of water bottles.
"He's right," Karl joins in, "also if it gets too hot we can just leave again. It's not like we need three hours back"
Dream nods, walking closer to George and his son, pressing little kisses to both their faces before smiling dumbly at the brunet and holding his hand out for him to take.
George observes the long, lanky fingers right by his and lets his own glide over the soft skin for just a second before pulling back slightly. He turned around to the other two men, who had obviously been watching them but turned their heads when George looked at them.
The brunet rolls his eyes and lets out a small scofflike laugh before turning back around and intertwining his hand with the blond's much bigger one, walking down the hot pavement of their Florida neighbourhood.
Slowly they follow the street's flow before turning right, into the park. Unlike the last time they walked through here they didn't stay on the designated path leading to several playgrounds and small ponds, they swayed off it and up a small hill, their goal being a big patch of shade, created by a tree on top of the hill, just next to a small wooden bench.
Dream was surprised about how empty the park was. Usually on a nice day, the place would be buzzing with people. Parents bringing their kids to get them out of the house, young couples making out in the hidden spaces by the tree, lonesome people finding the perfect spot to read and drink their overpriced Starbucks beverages.
But not today. Today the space was completely void of anyone. The reason for this probably being the staggering heat that was still dehydrating them as they made their way up the hill not protected by any shade whatsoever.
After just a few minutes of strolling over the dry grass they finally reached the top and were able to relax in the shade a bit, before taking the big picnic blanket out of one of the bags and placing it in the middle of the shadow patch.
George loosened the carrier from his waist, carrying a baby strapped to your chest up a hill was exhausting enough but doing it in this type of weather was another kind of difficult.
He pulled Daniel from the fabric and sat him down on the blanket, the baby flapping his arms and legs at the newfound freedom. He seemed to enjoy himself while the adults around pulled out some of the water bottles, trying to cool themselves down.
The shade was giving them a nice enough chance to do so Dream thought, the difference in temperature between the shade and the sun must have been at least ten degrees.
Once all the bags have been loosened from their sweaty shoulders and hands, they sit down on the blanket as well, enjoying a few moments of peace and quiet to calm their breath before the baby got bored and decided to crawl all over them, laughing and patting them until they finally paid attention to him.
The excitement over his leisure turned into frustration quickly, his mind obviously realising the now worsening discomfort of being hungry, which Dream, in great parently fashion, immediately understands, sighing and sitting up, pulling the bag of food from the ground.
They relieve the bag of Its contents. One by one the little boxes and tupperware tower on top of each other, the baby already trying to grab the food that he sees.
"What do you want, baby? You want some goldfish? Or some cheerios?" George asks the boy that was now sat in his lap, showing him the respective food choices the child had in front of him to get him to decide.
"Cheerios?" Alright, here have some" he says after the cheerios had clearly won, the baby whining and stretching his grabby hands towards the little plastic box as George opened it.
Happily Daniel dives into the food offered to him, munching on the small circular rings that were one of his favourite snacks.
Once the baby was satisfied and very enthralled in his own food, the men had a chance to look at the beautiful options in front of them that almost looked like a feast.
Between boxed snacks and mashed up fruit for Daniel there were three different cheeses, pieces of sausage, white bread, grapes, bananas, apples and a lot more. The fruits cut into bite sized pieces in case the little one wanted some too.
All in all they could see that there was a lot of effort that had been put into this picnic, some of the other snacks, like the cucumber or the peppers were even cut into cute shapes, like stars or hearts.
The boys start grabbing at all different foods, George opting to have mainly fruit, while Sapnap was spreading butter on his third piece of bread, placing cheese on top.
Once their bellies were filled to pretty much its full capacity, they rid the blanket of the containers and laid down. Most of them were tired and exhausted from eating so much but of course Daniel, who had refused to eat more than a couple of cheerios, was full of tiny toddler liveliness.
"You've got energy huh buddy?" the youngest of them coos as he stands and pulls the baby into his arms, stepping from the blanket and throwing him a bit too high in the air for Dream's taste.
Sapnap, not the nurturing kind like Dream or George, often played quite rough with Daniel, much to the little one's liking, giggling and squirming for the man to do it again. Dream placed a tan hand over his eyes to halt his overprotective parent side from stopping the fun his son seemed to have with his uncle Sapnap.
"He'll drop him one day, I swear. I'll kill him" he whispers as he loosens the hand from over his face turning to his side to connect his eyes with the brunet's, which were only a couple centimetres from his, the men being entirely too close for people that claimed to be just friends.
The smaller laughs quietly, not even thinking about loosening his eyes from skimming over the blond's incredibly attractive features, his beauty only enhanced by the stray slithers of sun dancing on his perfect skin.
Slowly George scoots even closer, way past the imaginary line of closeness they shouldn't cross, leaning his face on the blonds chest, lower bodies pressing into each other like it was no big deal, like this happened all the time. Truthfully, it happened more than the two would admit. And if they were caught, then it was never on purpose of course, then it was always accidental, never intentional. Because if it were, that meant they were more than friends, something to discuss, to talk about, to figure out and they didn't want to deal with that right now.
But out here, it was just them and their friends.They didn't care about it being "too much" or if they were going "too far", it was just them and their friends, so instead of pushing George back and sharing a look with him that said "we can't" or "we shouldn't" he closed his arms around the man and pulled him even deeper into his embrace, his free hand moving to the locks falling into a messy chaos on his chest, massaging the scalp hidden under all the silk as George made subtle noises of comfortableness in forms of sighs and deep breaths.
"Come on buddy, I'm getting tired man" the guy still throwing the baby up high into the air huffs, clearly out of breath from the strenuous exercise that was tossing and catching a nine month old over and over again.
"Let's take a break from that, yeah? So I can catch my breath?" Even against the protests of the baby kicking and punching him with as much strength as a child of his age could, he stopped with the fun activity, standing and breathing deeply.
"I know, but I need a break, how about we go down to the playground and we can play there? Then these two love bugs can have their peace and quiet for a bit" He chuckles at the last few words, quickly bracing the baby against his hip, swapping looks with Karl who seemed happy to accompany them down to the swingset.
"Dream is it alright if we take him?" Sapnap asks, watching the blond give a drowsy nod followed by his tired voice "just make sure you don't kill him" he mumbled into George's shoulder, Karl giving a thumbs up as Sapnap called a quick "got it", already descending down the hill.
The two men, still cuddled up on the blanket, had a perfect view on the small playground underneath. Granted it was pretty far away and the only thing they could see was the blurry outlines of people, but they were still within their vision, which calmed Dream's overprotective parent thoughts down slightly.
Even though being able to see them eased his nerves he still pushed up on his elbows every once in a while, trying to check up on the three now playing in the cool sand.
"Baby he's fine, lay down" the brunet whispers half asleep, petting his hand over the broad chest he had his head placed on.
"What did you just call me?" The blond's voice was small and quiet, slight shock covered it as he averted his gaze from the playground beneath and moved it to the man on his chest.
"Oh come on. Don't pretend you don't like it" the smaller of the two scoffs, the other laughing and dropping his arms from under him, making the both of them fall hard to the floor.
"Dream!" The brunet shouts, the fast movement scaring him, hands clasping around the man's waist even tighter.
Dream's deep laughter rattled the both of them, George struggling to hold on with the heavy motion of the blond.
Once his laughter had calmed a bit George scoffed and lifted his head, chin poking into the man's chest whispering "You're an idiot" trying to do so with the most serious face he could muster.
"You're smiling"
"No I'm not" the smaller responds, the faint smile getting wider and more obvious by the second.
"You are! You are smiling!" The blond calls, now starting to tickle the grin out from the boy, his plan being somewhat successful and turning their cuddles into a full on ticklematch with them writhing around the dirt ground hard on Dream's back.
With one swift movement Dream flips George around, pressing the man's back into the hard ground as he knelt over him, knees braced on both his sides, wrists pinned to the floor, chests close, faces closer.
The harmless tickle match was over but whatever this was, it was much more interesting, Dream thought.
The smaller boy who was pinned tightly underneath the bigger man's weight, blushed deeply, the red tones of his face shining brighter than even the sun, and Dream laughed at the guy beneath him.
"I win" the blond whispers bending down, eyelids fluttering shut as he got closer to the other's mouth.
Just as he wanted to connect their lips, a strong force pulled him away and forced his body back against the floor. George had used this vulnerable, soft moment against him, freeing himself and pushing the other back down, straddling the man and sitting right on his crotch, which Dream was very aware of.
"Not so fast pretty boy" George looked ethereal from this angle. The man's low lustfull voice, combined with the pressure on his crotch was making Dream go wild.
"I win" the boy whispers, bending down to the blond's flushed face and kissing his lips gently but with passion, in the process bucking his hips just in the right spot for Dream to moan and push him off his body.
"George," he breathed, hand moving to push sweaty hair from his face.
"What? You don't like it?" The smile and voice that George had in that moment was killing him and it took every single ounce of sheer impulse control not to just take the man right then and there, on the picnic blanket in the shining sun.
George sat on Dream's lap, hands braced on his chest, gliding over the loose shirt slowly, watching the deep blush spreading over the guy's body.
"You can't tell me you don't like it when I do this." George's voice was low and lustful and driving Dream crazy. The smaller bucked his hips another few times, Dream's head falling back, all his focus on trying not to moan, not wanting anyone to witness whatever this was.
"George" he huffed, hands gripping George's hips tightly, halting his movement completely.
"We can't" he adds, as George tries to move through the hands that were probably bruising his skin they held that tightly.
The devious smile on his face faltered as his horny brain fog cleared enough to let reason in and he understood.
With a small pout he loosens the blond's hands from his hips, slowly climbing off the blond not before sending another thrust into Dream, making them both shake in the sensation.
"You are horrible, you know that?" The blond whispers as George snuggled his head back against his chest, their position returning to the one they had had earlier, when the other's had left.
For maybe a half hour the two lay in each other's embrace, the first few of those minutes Dream shifting his lower half a suspicious amount, George smiling in the know that this was his merit.
At some point the shifting stopped and a sweet calmness fell over them as George cuddled deeper into his chest, sunrays heating their skin up nice and warm, making them forget over their deep desires and lust, at least for the most part.
They dozed off slightly in the warm comfortable air around them, waking from something or better someone, being placed on them.
"Woah, hello sweetheart" the blond blinks open his eyes, loosening his hand from George's hair to pull the child towards the two of them, the little one, happy to be in his dad's arms, let's himself drop onto the still free space of his chest, right next to George's head, who lifts one of his hands to gently stroke over the baby's soft cheek.
There they were, the three of them laying together, cuddling, outside, on a blanket with sun occasionally bouncing over their features.
Of course, Daniel being a young child, nearly a toddler even, he couldn't manage to sit still for more than just a few minutes. Skillfully pushing his tiny body off the man and crawling up even higher, nearly sitting on Dream's neck, clapping his hands in excitement.
"Dada" The child stutters out, hands flying over the blonds face, not being particularly gentle, slapping and hitting over the skin. The man however did not care one bit, eyes opened wide as he sat up, George falling from his chest, and baby sliding down to his lap.
"Did he just-" he looked around to the other's, the men seemingly unimpressed by the near abuse the baby had used on his dad's skin.
"Slap you in the face? Yeah he did" Sapnap says, still perplexed at why this was some great revelation that was worth letting George fall onto the floor for.
"No no, he said Dada, I heard it, I swear he did" Dream excitedly explained, quickly getting up from the blanket to walk towards Karl who was making his way up the hill, standing still when he met Dream at the top.
"Why do you look like you won the lottery?" Karl asks Dream, looking to Sapnap standing close to them leaned against the tree and George having now sat up on the blanket where he fell from the man's chest. Both of them shrugging their shoulders, watching as the blond's giddiness took over even more, him now jumping up and down in one spot, child giggling on his arm.
"He said Dada! I'm telling you he did" he excitedly yells, a bit too loud seeing that Karl was merely a few feet away.
Karl understood what big of a deal this was. Now both of them were jumping up and down, yelling and squealing at the little child, trying to get him to say it again.
"Daniel, come on say Dada, Dada, yeah go on, you said it earlier, Dada" the blond tried to no avail, the only sounds coming from the baby's lips, being small insignificant babbles and squeaks.
"Come on you can do it, Dada!" Karl incouraged the boy even further, but still nothing.
George now feeling like he was missing all the action that was happening, slowly pushes himself from the ground and walks over the the men who were still bending over the little one desperately trying to repeat the huge developmental step Daniel had done earlier.
George steps close to the three stood tightly in a circle, Sapnap still watching from his position by the tree, and pet a gentle hand over Daniel's face making him smile.
The baby stretches his arms forward, obviously trying to symbolise that he wanted to go into George's arms, maybe hoping there he wouldn't be pestered and pushed to say words he just really didn't feel like saying right now.
"Oh come here buddy, are they crazy? Yes they are, yes they are" The brunet slurrs in his baby coo once Daniel was secured on his belly, face right infront of his own.
Without hesitation he reaches his hands out once more, just like he had done with Dream, slapping and playing with his skin, the fun he had with that, no one could explain.
Out of nowhere the boy lifts his face higher, to make eye contact with George, who smiled a deep smile showing his perfectly white teeth that glistened in the blinding sun.
Apparently the beautiful smile and pretty teeth was something not only Dream enjoyed, cause when Daniel saw them, he clapped his hands together, yelling "Dada Dada Dada" over and over again, so loud that none of the men could deny it this time.
George's mouth drops open, gaze swapping between the boy's happy face and Dream's shocked expression, no one really knowing what to say.
Not only had Daniel spoken for the first time with all of them present to hear, he had also called George his dad. Wether the infant did it intentionally or just cause he could say the word, none of them knew, none the less it made things awkward in a way none of them could explain.
"He called you dad" Dream mumbles quietly, looking into George's eyes, who turns his head to the side and quickly replies.
"Oh he probably doesn't even know what that means, he'll say it to anyone" as George talks, the baby's attention focuses back onto the man's face, once again calling "Dada" before leaning his head against the stubble on the brunets chin, hands flinging to his own eyes, rubbing them as they were starting to get tired.
"Are you tired sweetie?" George tries to steer the conversation away from the little one recognising him as his dad, and into a new topic.
"I think he's getting sleepy now, maybe we should head home?" He continues towards the other's, all of them exchanging views and nodding, the long exposure to the heat and their stomachs still filled to the top with great foods had made them all hazy, ready for a nice nap once back at the house.
"George, here I can take him, you don't have to-" Clay starts, walking over to the man who was already closing the clip of the carrier on his waist, while the other hand was skillfully holding the now dozing child steadily against his chest, trying not to wake him, as he pushes him lower and into the fabric with his head lying comfortably against him.
Dumbfounded Dream closes his mouth, there was no arguing over who would take the child now, seeing as the boy was strapped to George's chest, like a bomb that could go off at any moment.
While George walked slow steps around the patch of shade to make sure Daniel wouldn't wake up, the other's picked up every last box and container that they hadn't put in the bag yet, before Dream lifted the blanket in the air, shaking it to get rid of crumbs and then folding it into a small bundle of fabric.
They look around checking if any of their belongings were still hidden somewhere on the ground, underneath high grass and pretty flowers. Not being able to find any of them they assume they have everything and together they make their way back down the mountain, George walking slow and steady steps in an attempt to keep the little boy on his chest asleep, petting a gentle hand on his back and quietly mumbling sweet words to him.
Dream, Sapnap and Karl trailed behind George, the two brunets making casual conversation while Dream stared ahead, looking at the man who was now softly cooing to his son, pressing kisses to the baby's head to calm him.
He loved the bond George had with Daniel, it was sweet and full of love. Now that Dream thought about it, the fact that Daniel called George his dad instead of him, wasn't even so bad. He was nurturing, kind, basically around the boy all the time, the blond understood how their situation could be confusing for a small child.
Dream's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a gentle touch to his hand, he slightly jolted before realising the person standing next to him was George, holding out his hand for the blond to take. Dream smiled deep, before carefully wrapping an arm around George's waist and pulling him in, pressing a soft kiss to the man's lips, other hand moving to his chin, to deepen the kiss.
George doesn't back away. Usually they only kiss when no one was looking, when it was just them, but here they were, stood on a small pathway, baby strapped between them, lips connected and only ripped apart by Sapnap's sharp voice cutting the air behind them.
"Guys, can you do that later? You're blocking the path" Even with Karl's elbow to the stomach he didn't quiet down his voice even one bit.
"What, I'm right" He mumbles as Karl shoots him a stare that looked like it could kill with just a few blinks. Dream and George, lips seperated but faces still close, laughed and intertwined their hands making their way further along the path, much to Sapnap's enjoyment, who mutters a quiet "finally" under his breath.
They walk slowly and without much conversation back to their house, both pairs holding hands and swaying them back and forth in gentle movements.
Finally at home, George and Dream climb the stairs to the nursery. Once there the brunet unclipped the carrier and let the child glide into his arm, the boy waking and squirming slightly.
"Shh, shh it's all good buddy, go back to sleep" he whispered as he held the baby close to his heart, petting and stroking over his back and hair to soothe him back into a gentle sleep.
The baby squealed and lifted his head, blinking at George, he opens his tired mouth, slurring the word "Dada" before letting his hair hit the man's shirt and drifting further into rest.
"Yes baby, Dada" the brunet says, exchanging a look with the blond who was standing by the door of the room, smiling wide.
Once George was completely certain the baby was sleeping, he bent down and placed him in his crib, one last kiss on his head before lifting himself up and just admiring the small bundle that was now snoring softly.
"He's perfect" the blond whispers as he steps behind the brunet, engulfing his body with his arms and pulling him into his chest, little kiss pressed to the spot where their faces meet.
"Yeah, he truly is" The other responded, head nestling deep into the warm comfortableness that Dream was, taking his arms and wrapping them even tighter around his waist, soft breaths lingering on his skin.
"And you're his Dada now" the blond laughed, trying desperately to not be too loud and wake the child again.
George laughed aswell before letting his hand glide on the bigger ones around his middle, loving how Dream's grasp around him felt.
"Yeah, I guess I am" he says, eyes thoughtfully flickering on the child's sleeping body.
"I'm his dada" He mutters more to himself than anyone else.