I Now Pronounce You Dream and George

chapter fourteen

a/n: first of all, thank you so much for all the reads and comments, it really blows me away. second, i'm not a doctor, so bear with me when it comes to the medical stuff. third, there's a little bit of nsfw subject matter as comedic relief, i know it's a tad jarring and out of place, but i wanted to lighten it up. love you guys : )
oh, i also made a twitter @/profescryer if you wanna be updated on updates lol. you don't have to follow but it'd be kinda cool if you did ;-; i just wanna be able to talk to you guys outside of annoyingly long authors notes :')
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George frowns at his feet as he follows Sapnap to Lexi's car. "I'm wearing Dream's shoes," he mumbles as Sapnap unlocks the doors, wiggling his toes in the comically large Nikes.

Sapnap nervously glances at George, waiting for the tears, but the shorter man's eyes stay dry.

"I didn't realize it when we left," he continues, his tone void of emotion. "I just put on the first shoes I saw. I don't know how I didn't notice."

Sapnap adjusts the seat and carefully backs out of the parking spot. "You weren't thinking. You were worried. Nothing wrong with that."

"What you said earlier- how did you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Please, Sapnap, don't play dumb."

Sapnap rubs the back of his neck as they gently stop at a red light. Part of him is glad George is thinking clearly, but the other part is worried about George's sudden stoicism. Bottling emotions as big as his could be dangerous. "Dream told me."

"When?"

"When I called about coming to stay with you guys the first time," Sapnap admits. "The day the official came."

"What exactly did he say?" George asks.

Sapnap knows what George wants to hear, even if his voice is unreadable. He wants to hear that Dream loves him as more than a friend, too. But it's not Sapnap's place to tell George, and Dream hadn't said another word about it, so he may not even feel the same way he did however many weeks ago that was.

"Just that he was worried you'd get caught," Sapnap says, not lying, but not being completely truthful either. "He didn't want you to have to leave, and he didn't want to talk to you about it because he knew it stressed you out. So he told me, and I promised not to tell you or anyone else."

George accepts the half-truth easily. "And the other thing you said?"

"About you discovering you're in love with him?"

"Yea." George's monotone voice is barely audible.

"What do you want me to say?"

George is silent. The soft purr of the engine is the only sound for what feels like hours.

Sapnap breaks first. "You're overreacting. The 'surgery' is just to put his hip back in. I don't even think they're going to be making an incision, they just need to put him under so he doesn't feel it."

"I'm sorry-"

"I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad," Sapnap interrupts, keeping his eyes on the dark, empty road ahead of him. "I'm telling you because that is how I knew. You are usually the most calm and levelheaded of us three. But today? The fear and the panic I saw in you today made it obvious that the crash made you realize just how important Dream is to you. As more than your best friend/fake husband."

George doesn't reply once again. When Sapnap glances over, he can see tears glimmering in George's eyes. His delicate jaw is set, stubbornly fighting tears.