Hi :)

not directed at yall you probably agree(below)

even if Dream did cheat on the speedrun who tf cares lmao it's literally a MINECRAFT speedrun who give a singular shit Pff im dead-

yall be like 'my trust violated' stfu he aint even lied to you you just jumped on the hate wagon before he  could respond smh

edit: watched his response, same opinion

also aced de exams are yall proud of me

winter break- expect more frequent updates

ROAD TRIP!!!!
♤

Two weeks had passed.

"Wait, where are we going?" George narrowed his eyes. 

"Saint Augustine," Dream repeated, sitting on the couch armrest. "I thought maybe it'd be nice to get out of the house."

"We've been getting out of the house almost everyday since I've gotten here."

"It'll be fun," Sapnap said.

George threw his legs off the couch, sitting up right. "How far away is it?"

"Like... two hours," Dream shrugged. "Not that long. Especially when you're hanging with someone as interesting as me."

"And me," Sapnap said, looking away from the tv only for a few seconds.

"Yeah whatever," George said. "What's in Saint Augustine?"

"Seriously? What's not in Saint Augustine?" Dream scoffed.

The new truck, which was bought after his old truck's battery died the week before, was filled with belongings not needed for a three day trip to a small town. George didn't mind how long the packing portion was taking- he was not looking forward to sitting in between Sapnap and Dream for a collective 4 hours.

It smelled like new car inside, despite being used and resold. They'd bought it off a guy who was friends with Dream's parents before they moved. Dream said he'd been waiting to get rid of his old car, for reasons he didn't disclose in front of Sapnap.

The old truck had a dent in it, which Dream told used to be a lot bigger.

"You ready to go?"

George looked up. "Uhm.... yeah."

Dream gave a quick smile and walked around the driver's seat. He held the door for George to crawl through to the middle- he was the shortest, so he got the middle seat.

Sapnap was excitedly tapping his foot on the pristine rubber floormat, looking out the window. "This is going to be amazing."

"Totally," George rolled his eyes and buckled his seatbelt. "Mm. Can't wait."

"Debby Downer," Dream said as he closed his door. "We're going to have fun. I promise."

"I'll hold you to it," George glanced over at him mischievously.

"Haha. Gay," Sapnap smirked, earning an elbow in the ribs.

♤

The ride was relatively smooth, apart from the occasional dip in the stretch of road, or Dream pretending to swerve (which only resulted in everybody else's panic) off the lane.

Barely any cars could be seen, while it could've been a worrying sight, George sought comfort from the serene emptiness of the wheat fields and gas stations they passed.

An hour passed, give or take, the backroad they drove upon seemed endless without a clock to keep time, and George had begun to notice something strange about Dream.

He kept chewing his bottom lip, his brow furrowed in deep thought or frustration, and his left arm, the one not steering, was scratching marks into the seatbelt across his lap.

George nudged him with his knee and gave a quizzical look. Dream smiled reassuringly, even if it didn't do much of that, especially after he started bouncing his leg rapidly.

Another few minutes passed of Sapnap's phone game making all of the noise in the cabin besides the constant tap of Dream's shoe against the floorboard.

"Uhm... I have to refill on gas," He said abruptly, and while Sapnap barely acknowledged it, George looked at the gas light, which was more than half full.

He didn't say anything, however, because he was a bit hungry and a gas station didn't sound to bad at the moment. Dream pulled into the next exit, slowing down to read the street signs.

Eventually, they had stumbled upon a Shell station, why it was called that, George didn't know nor care to find out. He waited for Dream to get out to pay for gas, but he passed George his wallet.

"Get the gas, uhm, I'll be right back," George didn't take the wallet, scrunching his nose. Dream huffed. "Bathroom."

He threw the wallet onto the seat and walked around the truck towards the main building, where the bathrooms were built on the outside, around back. George watched as Dream turned the corner, and felt curiosity grip onto his mind.

"Sapnap, get gas, this is Dream's wallet," He passed it once more, and dropped out of the truck cabin.

Sapnap sighed, pausing his game and slouching in his seat.

George quietly followed where Dream had, seeing the multiple rusted signs for the bathroom hanging by single screws. He felt a gust of cold wind blow by, carrying with it the scent of smoke.

George rounded the corner, scuffing small asphalt pebbles with his shoes. Dream turned on a dime, dropping something on the ground and stepping on it.

"Shit, uh..." He scratched his neck.

"Dream, I don't care," George said. "But it's not good for you."

He tapped his thumb and index together before he pulled another cigarette from the pack in his pocket. A lighter seemed to appear from his palm to light it, and then slipped back into another pocket.

"I know it's not good for me," He said apologetically. "I tried to quit a year ago."

"And you've hidden this... since I got here?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm normally good at it," Dream grimaced.

George crossed his arms. "Why did you start?"

"Started six years ago," Dream shrugged. "Why do you think?"

"Oh," He said. "Sorry."

"No need," Dream shook his head and sighed. "You weren't there."

"There?" George pushed.

Dream looked him up and down, a crucifying gaze that froze George in place and made it feel like there were ants underneath his skin. Then he spoke. "There when it happened."

George nodded, deciding it wasn't time nor place. "I hope you stop soon."

"Tsh. Why?"

"I care about you," he said incredulously. "It could kill you."

Dream's gaze softened, and George could move again. "I don't."

"Don't what?"

"Care."

Dream flicked the cigarette at the wall and walked past George, barely brushing his shoulder. Another gust of cold wind pushed against him, and he shivered this time.

♤

Sapnap didn't try to break the silence, even his phone was muted as he tapped away on the horizontal screen. George was scrolling through twitter, his eyes glazed over and he wasn't really looking at anything. Dream was focused on driving- very focused on it. Almost too focused. Purposely focused so he wouldn't have to talk about something else.

The wheat fields had stopped a while back, almost thirty minutes beforehand, and there was only 15 minutes left on the GPS to their hotel room where they'd stay for three days.

George glanced at Dream's hand on the steering wheel, gripping it tight enough to turn his knuckles white. It was a common occurrence, he always had drove like that, as far as George had seen.

Which made him wonder how Dream's sister had actually died. Of course he'd picked up little things, like how Dream had always driven himself places, his occasional drifting on the road from being distracted easily.  The reluctance to go to the hospital, Dream's flat out refusal to drive longer than a few hours, even as much as Sapnap had pushed him when he couldn't afford a plane ticket to Texas. 

Of course, the midnight calls when Dream had nightmares about it- whatever it was, George now knew it must have been about his sister.

And then there was the "I'm used to talking about it". With the story that had started to form in George's head, it didn't bode very well.

George brushed it off however, because even if Dream had been the accidental cause of his sister's death, he'd never blame him for it. There were always circumstances and reasons to why things go the way they do.

He reasoned that with Dream refusing to talk any details of his sister's death despite it was six years prior and she was 13, there must be something hidden in the cause and manner of death Dream didn't want him to know.

George often thought about turning to the internet, looking up his sister, now that he knew Dream's last name. It always felt like an invasion of privacy, though, to simply look up Dream's past like that, as tempting as it was.

"We're here," Dream said.

"It looks nice," George mumbled, leaning forward to see the hotel.

"I love hotels so much," Sapnap sighed, hand on the door handle already.

"Calm your tits, Nick," George snickered.

Dream pulled into a parking spot close to the front door, where they'd hopefully check in. George didn't think much of it, but he could tell Sapnap had begun to plan out scenarios in his head of how many different ways this could go wrong.

Of course, there weren't many, and they weren't exactly probable at that.

George stayed quiet while Dream did the talking at the front desk. It was an unusual monotone voice and none of the charm that George was used to.

"Floor five, room 601."

"Thank you," Dream slid the room card off the counter and into his palm.

"How many beds?" Sapnap asked.

"Two, and a fold out couch," He answered, holding the card between his index and pointer for Sapnap to take. "Here. I'm gonna pull the car around back."

"I'll help," George offered, tugging on Dream's sleeve.

"I don't need you."

Even Sapnap looked taken aback. Guilt briefly struck Dream's face, but it quickly disappeared after being covered with the same blank expression. George absentmindedly put a hand over his chest, a habit of his when something unexpected happened.

Dream pulled the keys from his pocket, giving a small insincere wave as he left.

"What was that?" Sapnap scrunched his face up.

"I don't know," George crossed his arms. "He probably meant it as in like, I don't need you to help me with the car."

Sapnap gave a sympathetic look, which George hated. It made him feel like he was some sort of patient with an incurable disease, and was waiting for death.

Dream returned to the room minutes later, with all of their bags. He smiled, setting them by the door. "I got our stuff... Uhm, I didn't want to inconvenience you."

"Thanks," Sapnap nodded, jumping onto one of the beds. He rolled onto his back and sighed. "Dibs."

"Dibs on the other one," George called.

"Guess I get dibs on the couch," Dream said, nudging George with his elbow as he passed.

"It's basically another bed," He said, surprised at the sudden change in attitude.

"I guess," Dream started opening all of the drawers around the room. "It'll suffice."

"Heh... You could share mine," Sapnap joked.

"I could just take yours," He laughed. "I paid for it."

George felt better, as Dream did too, apparently. His mood change had been more sudden, but appreciated. Even if it was  exhausting, George didn't expect more to come, Dream was always direct about how he was feeling.

"That's what you think," Dream chuckled.

"What are you guys talking about?" George's mind cleared again, he had been getting lost in thought more than usual recently.

"Just joking around," Sapnap said, pulling a tv remote from the nightstand. "I'm not doing anything today."

"Oh. Me neither," George agreed, lifting himself into the other bed.

"You can sit with us, Gogy," Sapnap said. "Sleepover stream."

George rolled his eyes, yet he still opted to sit with them. He wasn't interested in whatever they were watching, but he was perfectly comfortable to lay on the bottom half of the bed and look at his phone. The tv played loud, but felt muffled by George's thoughts. 

He hated his mind being cloudy like it was. He couldn't figure out why it was filled with thoughts he couldn't make out. George rolled over so he was facing away from his friends. He tried pinpointing one word of any sentence that flooded his brain, but only found frustration when he couldn't. 

Something that helped drowning out these types of attacks was music, and investigating something he'd been trying to figure out. George liked to look over broken and old code he'd never finished, which seemed to stop the onslaught of messy thoughts. 

But he didn't have earbuds, or his laptop, so he flipped around so he could see Dream and Sapnap. Their eyes were focused on the TV, even if they were glazed. George sighed quietly, stretching the sleeves of his hoodie over his cold hands. 

He glanced up at their faces, still focused on the screen. George sighed louder, narrowing his eyes.

"George, what's wrong?" Dream deadpanned.

"I'm bored," He smiled.

"Oh no," he said in the same flat voice, eyes never leaving the tv. "Anyways."

"Shut up," George's smile widened and he rolled onto his back. "What are we doing tomorrow?"

"Up to you two," Dream shrugged. "I came here every year up until I was 19, and nothing's changed."

"Well if it's such a bore we didn't have to come," Sapnap said.

"It was my idea," He retorted. "Be quiet now, I'm trying to watch this guy cook a whole pig."

George ended up falling asleep, which meant Dream got George's bed, and Sapnap got the pullout couch. He complained, electing to wake George up, but Dream refused, instead moving him so his head wasn't hanging off the edge and there were covers over him. It got cold in hotel rooms, especially when there was no heating system.

Dream never ended up falling asleep that night at a reasonable time, a combination of Sapnap's snoring and the subconscious feeling of danger from being in a new place, and of course the light thunder outside.

Around three AM, he silently walked to the couch, rolled Sapnap onto his side so he'd stop snoring, got back into his own bed, and lulled his headphones out of the nightstand. He blasted shuffled music, shoving his phone under the pillow next to him.

♤

haha- not updating for more than a week 

anyways i'll update more sorry, i seem to only be able to write when i'm not supposed to be writing (midnight, in de car), i just get a lot of inspiration that way (tf wrong with me)