Monday came as quick as a heartbeat.

"I gave you a spare key last night in case you want to step out and go somewhere," Dream said, pacing around his living room while Sapnap and George watched in concern. "I work from nine to five on weekdays, so I should be able to see you off back to college. You can help yourself to anything in the fridge. You can go into my room and use anything on my computer, but don't go into the files. When you leave the house, make sure to lock the door behind you. If you want—"

"Okay, Dream, I get it," Sapnap said. "Just go to work, okay? I'll text you if I burn anything down."

"If you burn my apartment down, you're paying for it."

"Ouch. I'm on a student budget, man, my wallet is crying already."

"Easy solution: just don't burn it down."

"Steep promise to make, but sure."

"Just throw me my keys, will you?"

Sapnap felt around the counter behind him, wrapped his fingers around an apple, and tossed it towards him.

Dream froze. Time slowed to a stop, and there were three things he noted: One, an apple was a hard, dense object. Two, his face, while protected by a skull, couldn't handle being hit very well. Three, an apple was coming straight for his face and he wouldn't be able to move in time.

"No!" came a shout before he was pushed to the side and sent scrambling to catch his balance. The apple went rolling to the wall and bounced off, forgotten.

Dream's eyes were wide and his heart pounded. His gaze was trained directly on George, who glared back at him.

"That thing was headed straight for your head," George spat, arms crossed. "Were you really just gonna stand there and take an apple to the head? You absolute idiot. Do all your reflexes go into playing Minecraft?"

Then a third voice said, "Um... you good there, Dream?"

Oh, shit. Sapnap was still there.

Dream whipped his head towards Sapnap and said, "Those weren't my keys."

"Yeah, I thought I would just give you some breakfast on the go, but that didn't go as well as I expected." Sapnap turned his head to take a good look at the counter, then tossed him his actual keys gently. "Sorry, man. I didn't know there'd be so much force put into that."

Dream bent down to pick up the apple and shot him a smile. "No worries, I know you didn't mean to. Unless you intended to assassinate me."

"Assassinate? You're not nearly important enough for that word to be used."

"Wow, thanks."

"You're welcome." Sapnap frowned. "But seriously, sorry about that. Let me buy you dinner later."

"It's okay, you didn't—"

"What was that? I can buy you dinner? Okay, cool, see you later."

Dream glanced down at his watch. He had to leave. He sighed, waved a goodbye to Sapnap and started speed-walking after closing the door behind him.

"You're literally so bad at staying alive," George said.

Dream rolled his eyes. "Dude, it was an apple. Did you really have to step in?"

"Well, I don't want you to get hurt. That could've given you a nasty bruise."

"But it wouldn't have killed me."

"Maybe it would have. You don't know. You're not the one with supernatural future-seeing powers."

"Are you?"

George pursed his lips and stayed silent, prompting laughter from Dream.

"You were so dramatic about it, too," Dream said through his laughter. "You went, 'No!' like I was being murdered or something. It was like something out of some one-star action movie."

"Add another two stars to that. It deserves at least that." George paused to tug Dream to the side.

Dream blinked, the wind of a biker passing by blowing against his arm. nodded when the biker shouted a quick apology. He stood still and noted George still hadn't released his shirt.

"Dream? Hello?"

"Yeah, okay," Dream said. "Three stars."

*

"Seriously, dude, you didn't need to get me dinner."

"Do you want me to throw it away?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Then shut up and eat your food."

Dream squinted at the deceptively innocent smile on Sapnap's face, then sighed and dug a fork into the takeout box. "Thanks, though. It was a long day at work."

Sapnap raised an eyebrow. "You actually talk to people at your workplace? What happened?"

"No, I don't really talk. But, you know."

George in a chaotic mood was a force to be reckoned with. And with George knowing Dream couldn't react, he was free to do whatever he wanted. Being prodded and teased for eight hours straight was not fun.

"Anyway," Dream said, "what'd you do all day without me?"

Sapnap paused to think, then started recounting his experience wandering through the city, embellishing his words with hand gestures and emphasis.

Dream hummed and nodded at the appropriate times and buckled himself in for a long night.

*

"Dream, think fast!"

That was the only warning Dream had before Sapnap tossed a fork in his direction. Dream held his hands out, his eyes desperately tracking it before—

Its downward trajectory suddenly gained speed and clattered against the floor. The wing of the person who slapped it down was only visible to one of them.

Dream snickered.

Chuckles escaped Sapnap's throat, then evolved into full-blown laughter.

Soon, they were both keeled over in laughter, holding their stomachs and imitating the sound of the clatter while George stood by with crossed arms, smiling and shaking his head.

*

"Damn, dude, your coding really improved," Sapnap said, scrolling through various lines of code on Dream's computer. He leaned back in the chair and tilted his head to smile at Dream. "I'm really proud of you."

Dream scoffed and rubbed the back of his neck, his heart warming. "Shut up. You sound like such a dad right now."

"Really? Then you should call me—"

"Finish that sentence and I'm kicking you out of my house."

Sapnap laughed, knowing Dream didn't have the heart to kick out his best friend. "How'd you learn all this in such a short amount of time anyway? You never said you were doing anything productive when I texted you."

Dream's gaze fell on George, who stood in the corner of the room, mouthing some song Dream could probably figure out if he was better at reading lips. He could feel his grin melting into a fond smile, but when his heart wanted to do something, it was going to do it. No stopping that. "My roommate's a really good programmer, actually. He taught me a lot of stuff."

"I can tell. There's no way you could write code this neatly. That roommate of yours must be amazing."

Now, they had George's attention.

George's lips twisted as if he were desperate to hold back a grin before he ultimately settled on hiding his mouth behind his hand (Not like that made a difference. Crinkled, shiny eyes always meant a genuine smile). His head was tilted away, but the split second glances he made in their direction weren't quite as quick as he thought they were.

Dream chuckled and finally allowed a warm smile to break through to his face. "Yeah, I guess he is."

*

One sentence was enough to send chills down Dream's spine.

"Since when did you wear medium sized shirts?" Sapnap asked with a frown. He pulled a familiar dark gray shirt out of the closet and turned around to Dream, its hanger hooked onto his index finger.

George sighed and smacked his palm against his forehead. "You really put our clothes together and thought that wouldn't be suspicious? You're such an idiot."

Dream almost rolled his eyes. Leave it to him to completely doubt Dream was capable of anything.

Sapnap may know him, but Dream knew him, too. Now that he had more time to consider his mannerisms, it shouldn't be too hard to lie.

"My brother comes over a lot," Dream said. "I keep a spare set of outfits for him."

"Your brother who only just got his driver's license?"

"No, I'm lying, you idiot. My roommate must've left some stuff behind. There's not a lot of space in the apartment, so we just share a closet."

"Oh." Sapnap hung the shirt back onto the rack. "Then I probably shouldn't mess with it. Short people are the angriest people."

"I'm not short!" George shouted from the corner of the room.

Dream snickered, pointedly ignoring George's glare when he did so. "Yeah, they are."

*

Staying up until two in the morning probably wasn't a good idea in the middle of the week when Dream had work, but what else was he supposed to do when his friend was kicking his ass at Monopoly? Not retaliate by kicking his ass at Uno? Unbelievable.

And now they were both sprawled over the floor, exhaustion finally settling in their bones.

"Dude," Sapnap mumbled, "I still remember when you blocked me on Skype over me killing you in Minecraft. What the hell was that?"

Dream had to laugh at that. "You promised you wouldn't, then you did."

"No, I didn't. I don't remember what I promise, but it sure wasn't that."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Children," George said, shaking his head. He sat cross-legged on the floor in between the two. "You two are absolute children."

Dream rolled his eyes, and of course, George pretended he didn't see.

"I miss playing Minecraft together," Sapnap said. "What happened to that channel you said you would make? You know, the one with the Minecraft plug-ins?"

Dream groaned and buried his face into a pillow. His skin crawled where he was certain George was eyeing him curiously. "We don't talk about that. Let's just not bring it up."

"Okay, then what do we talk about? Your roommate who you may or may not be dating?"

Not even a split second passed before Dream burst into laughter. Somewhere in the midst of his laughter, he could vaguely make out George's light chuckles.

Sapnap gasped and shot up. "I knew it! You don't even have a roommate, do you? Was that just a cover story?"

"Sapnap, I can't right now—" A fit of giggles interrupted Dream, eventually fizzling out into a wheeze. "Cover story—what am I, an undercover cop? What's wrong with you?"

"What else am I supposed to think? I can literally hear you talking to someone after the point where you're supposed to be asleep every night."

"You can hear me?"

"I mean, not completely, but still. Are you saying I'm wrong?"

"If I was dating someone, why would I not just tell you? I've told you about my past relationships."

"I don't know, they might be, like... a drug lord or something and you needed to protect their identity."

"You're such an idiot," Dream said, his laughter finally dying down. "No, I really do have a roommate. I'm not hiding a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever from you."

Sapnap sighed, inhaling all the energy left in the room and exhaling pure exhaustion. "You would've introduced me to them at some point, man. Just saying."

That was factually correct, and they both knew there was no room for debate there. Dream's history with Sapnap had always been honest and straightforward. There would be no reason for Dream to keep something from him, much less an entire person.

But was two in the morning really the right time to have a discussion about Dream maybe having a friend who wasn't quite human or about the existence of things beyond the mortal realm? Right after they spent the past five hours screaming at each other over Monopoly and Uno? George had been silent throughout that entire conversation; what was he thinking?

"Go to sleep, Sapnap," Dream said with a yawn. His eyelids tugged down even through his efforts to keep them up. "We'll talk about this later, okay?"

There was no response from Sapnap other than a light snore.

They never ended up talking about it.

*

If TGIF Thursday was a thing, Dream would gladly coin the term and claim himself king.

"Dude, this is, like, the perfect date," Sapnap said, turning his head to take in the city from all angles. "First you treat me to dinner, now we're just walking around town. Next thing I know, you're gonna take me to a festival and win a plushie for me."

"No," Dream said.

"Damn. Heart been broke so many times I don't know what to believe."

"You know, it's really weird hearing you just say that and not sing that."

"I do know."

Thursdays were the best nights to have dinner out with friends, at least in Dream's town; most people tended to wait until Friday or Saturday to let loose, whether it be with family or friends. Tonight was no exception. The restaurant they went to hadn't been empty, but it wasn't so busy they had a hard time hearing each other.

And now they walked on a path along a river on the outskirts of town. The air was deliciously humid and the clouds above them just fluffy and gray enough for Dream to be wary of rain. The only sounds that played were their footsteps and the rush of water.

Sapnap stopped walking and turned to stare at the rushing water just a few feet away from them. "I have no idea why you guys haven't put rails next to this thing yet. I would've thought some kids would've come in and slipped and ruined it for everyone."

"Same, but it's Florida. I think a lot of people here just grow up learning not to fuck with nature," Dream said. He inched closer to the water, wincing when water oozed out of the dirt beneath his shoes. "Ugh, it's been raining so much lately. It feels like stepping in water with your socks on."

George, whose foot was in the air in preparation for following him closer to the river, stepped back and wrinkled his nose. "Ew, why would you say that?"

A chuckle escaped Dream's lips as Sapnap stepped closer to the river.

Sapnap rolled his eyes. "I get the squeaky noise is funny, but come on."

"You think it's funny, too."

"Yeah, I do," Sapnap laughed. He stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned in to look at his reflection in the river. "You know, I never thought I'd be standing here with my Minecraft pen pal when we first met."

Dream stepped closer to the river and kneeled down, watching rocks shoot through to who knew where the river led. Sapnap was right; why hadn't this been blocked off long ago? He couldn't imagine falling into a river of jagged rocks would feel too comfortable.

Dream shrugged. "Me neither. It's kinda incredible."

"It is."

There was a lot Dream could have said to that. He could've made any combination of comments on how grateful he was that he met Sapnap in the first place, how thankful he was for his current comfortable life, even how in some twisted way he was glad the hotel had messed up—but he didn't. He allowed unsaid words to linger in the air, long enough for them to stick around but not so long their meaning was missed.

No words or glances were exchanged, but some part of him told him Sapnap understood anyway.

Finally, Dream lifted his head to look at Sapnap. "Looks like it's gonna rain soon again. Let's head back."

Sapnap's response was glance up at the sky, then a quick nod. He turned, planted his foot into the ground, then time stopped.

Dream's mind ran in overdrive but his body refused to move a muscle.

There were three connections his mind made right then and there: One, the dirt in the river bank had been displaced over days of inconsistent rain. Two, the river bank was tilted, meaning whoever was unfortunate enough to slip would also be unfortunate enough to make contact with very unfriendly-looking rocks at the bottom of the river. Three, his best friend was about to be one of those unfortunate people.

Dream's heart stopped as he watched realization, then horror fill in Sapnap's eyes.

What could he do? Oh, god, what could he do—

No, no, no—

Move, move, move—

And someone did move.

There was a flash of light before Dream opened his eyes to George holding Sapnap by the wrist and waist, pulling him away from what would have been a head injury at best and at worst...

Well, maybe not death, but there was no way of being completely certain of that.

George dragged Sapnap right to the edge of the bank, then released him on the floor with a thud. He flinched and mouthed an apology, but Dream didn't think being dropped on the floor the slightest bit harsher than he would've preferred was Sapnap's biggest problem.

Sapnap blinked, staring at the sky with a face void of expression. He blinked, blinked, blinked, then turned to Dream. "Hey. What just happened?"

"You tripped," Dream said, breathless, "and now you have mud on you. Let's try to to back without tripping again."

Sapnap offered him a pity laugh before standing up with shaky legs. "Yeah. Let's just go."

Neither of them addressed the elephant in the room.

The trek back home was fast-paced yet silent. All the jubilation from the day had been sucked out. Neither Sapnap nor George made any attempt at eye contact or conversation with Dream. And to be fair, Dream didn't make any such attempt either. There were questions that needed to be addressed, but the static in Dream's mind drowned them out.

It was only when they got home someone broke the silence.

Dream looked up from his phone when Sapnap emerged from the bathroom wearing pajamas and damp hair.

"Hey," Sapnap called. "I need to ask you something. Nothing bad, it's just been on my mind."

"Go for it."

"Dream..." Sapnap chuckled and gave him a warm smile. "You can give it up now, you know. I know your roommate isn't human."