21, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧

I stand outside of a Houston airport and look around.

George and Clay aren't here. Or at least I can't see them.

I narrow my eyes at all the cars passing by.

"You shitheads better not make me do another manhunt," I whisper to myself, walking forward with my suitcase dragging along behind me. I've just been through hours and hours worth of planes, buses and cars. I don't need another manhunt to push me over the edge.

"Hey, pretty girl."

I jump again, flailing my bag around as I turn to see who it is. The figure dodges my bag, laughing to the point of wheezing.

"Clay," I hiss, glaring at the tall green-eyed guy. "You're an idiot. You scared me half to death."

"Aw," he hums, leaning forward and taking my suitcase from my hand. He lets me fall into his chest and pats my head like a dog. "I'm sorry, little Azzy."

George reveals himself from behind him, amusement flickering in his expression. "If it makes you feel any better, he did the same thing to me."

"What? He called you a pretty girl?"

Clay nods. "Of course."

George rolls his eyes.

I raise my eyebrows, smirking mischievously at the two guys. "DreamNotFound? Clay404? Geor-lay? Jelly?"

"Oh my god. Don't even start."

I do a 'hehe'. "Aw, don't blush, Gogy. I didn't know you were that happy to see me."

He blushes harder. "Trust me, I'm not. You're terrible. Honestly, the worst."

"Love you."

"Stop."

I scrunch up my nose at him. "Say it back."

"I--no."

Clay smiles teasingly. "Come on, Gogy."

"Now you're calling me that?"

"Such a little tsundere. So cute."

It takes us a while to get to the address Skeppy sent, but we manage to get there in the car that we've rented. Clay and George let me take the back seat so I can sleep off some of the jet lag. Meanwhile, the two of them argue like a married couple.

"Clay, why is your seat so far back when you're driving?"

"I'm a tall guy. I need more leg room."

"That's so stupid."

"It's not stupid. You're the size of a fetus so you wouldn't get it."

"WeamNotHound," I murmur with my eyes closed, as though I'm having a dream about the two of them. I laugh on the inside.

"Did she just--?"

"Oh my god."

"That's disgusting."

"Disgusting? George, why are you so against?"

"What do you mean, why am I so against it? You're the one that likes someone."

"I know that. But you don't have to be so homophobic."

"I'm not! I just think it's weird when people refer to us as gay."

"Says the guy who talked about all the benefits of us getting married the other day."

They start arguing even more and I have to refrain from crying-laughing. I can't help but smile at them, peeking at the rearview mirror to watch them argue. Clay looks at me in the mirror. Surprise crosses his features for a second but then he gives me a small smile. That's enough to give me butterflies.

I roll over onto my other side and fall asleep. I wake up when we get there and run a hand through my hair, calming it from its natural mess. Clay parks the car somewhere more remote, away from Nick's front door so he doesn't see us. After all, this is a surprise. Even Twitter doesn't know this is happening.

"So, how are we going to do this?" George asks, shutting the door on his way out the car.

Clay locks the car. "I don't know yet."

"I'm sorry," I start. "Aren't you like the Minecraft MrBeast? You're telling me you didn't have a truck with a million roses following us to the house? You're telling me you didn't employ a UFO to gift Nappy with a universal Computer Science degree?"

"Clay's a bad friend."

"Yeah, okay, blame me for the UFOs selling out."

I put my sunglasses on and lean on the boot of the car. "I have an idea," I say cryptically, a finger on my chin. "Get your cameras out, boys."

sapsnack

hi darling besfwend

what is up my dude

how's today for that visit?

haha what

oh, sorry, that reply took like 0.1 seconds too long. i'm already here

WHAT

where are you? i've been waiting for like 3 whole seconds. do you treat all your guests like this?

ur not ur lying

aw, man, i've been here for so long that clay and george have found me

ASPEN LEWIS WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT

NICHOLAS SPARKS I'M NOT MONOLOGUING ANYMORE COME CHECK THE DOOR

The door in front of me opens and Nick stands there, a boyish smirk on his face and his hair a dark brown mess. "Dude, chill," he says nonchalantly. "I was just about to open it."

"Sorry. My aggressive typing mode just slipped out."

"That's alright." He sighs dramatically. "I have ice for those fingers if you want."

"That would be wonderful," I say.

"Could you two stop trying to be funny for one second?" Clay asks, shaking his head at the two of us.

Nick and I stick our tongues out at him.

"Who even is this guy?" he asks, shooting Clay a weird look.

"I don't know," I reply. "He followed me around. The little guy too."

"Maybe I should call the police."

"You probably should."

We all look between each other for a second. Nick's eyes move from Clay to George to me and back again; he seems genuinely happy, a grin brightening his face. We all start to smile.

"Hey, Sapnap," Clay teases.

"Hey, Dream," Nick says back with the same tone. He turns to George. "Hey, Georgie."

"Hey, Sausage Bap."

"This is wholesome," I murmur, a smile playing on my lips as I watch them laugh and half-bro-hug each other. There's even some fist-punching.

...

💜 💬 ✈️

this is the most texan thing i've ever seen.

I was not invited again

wonder who took this

↳ not george because he's a senile old man that doesn't understand social media

↳ this is a lie

OH MY GOD WHERE IS THIS

↳ SHOULDNT YOU KNOW COWBOY

cute omg!!

i think ur hand despawned

↳ yeah💜

fuck olive. don't listen to the haters

...

The greatest thing about Sapnap's place is that he has like a million speakers. They're littered all over his living room and he's always got music on. For example, at seven PM on this fine evening-night:

"I LIKE YOUR SKETCHERS, YOU LIKE ME MY GUCCI SHOES," Nick sings along to the song, looking up from his phone.

"I'LL BUY YOU THE PURSE, ONLY IF YOU SHOW ME YOUR BOOBS," I continue, nodding frantically along to the music too.

Clay and George share a look of either amusement or disgust—it's a fine line—but Nick and I shrug it off.

"You're idiots," George says simply.

I scrunch my nose up at him. "I'm not an idiot. I'll have you know I'm going to university next year."

"I've already been to university. Child."

I stare up at him with wonder. "I forget how old you are."

"I'm not old."

"No, George, you're pretty old," Nick says.

I nod along with him. "Yeah. Old man."

"Shut up."

Because George is a senile old man, we all end up coercing him into getting us all drinks. It's apparently illegal for any of us to buy any in this country, even though Clay will be 21 soon. Nick and I, however, are utter children. The latter bit is fair.

When he gets back with some drinks, we end up playing Monopoly. And when I say that this is the next World War, I mean it.

"DREAM!" George screams, slapping all of his cards back down on the board.

Clay is wheezing next to me. "It's not my fault you landed there."

I lean over to see what has happened and realise that George's little toy car has landed on a place that Dream owns. It's Boardwalk, one step away from the 'GO' sign. And Dream's even got a hotel on it, which shoots the rent all the way up to $2000.

Nick snorts. "Dream owns, like, the entire rich side of the board."

"What? How? He has Boardwalk, Park Place and all the green ones."

Clay smiles mischievously. "2000 dollars, George. Hand it over."

I scowl at him. "Do you have to be good at everything?"

"You're better than me at arcade games," he laughs.

"What's that compared to Monopoly? Monopoly is the realest of games. Monopoly is Monopoly."

"I DON'T EVEN HAVE 2000 DOLLARS," George continues to yell.

Nick scoffs. "You're from Tea and Crumpets Land. You're not supposed be good with dollars."

Clay laughs. "Az is doing better than you though, Sappy."

Nick blinks. "No, she's not."

I blink. "Clay, how did you know--"

"WHAT? HOW ARE YOU SO RICH?" Nick shouts at me, staring at all the money I have hiding behind my back.

"Uh, luck. You guys keep rolling onto the same places," I explain simply.

Clay smirks. "George, you'll have to get rid of a property or a place to pay me off."

"No."

He laughs. "What do you mean, no?"

"No. I refuse. I won't bow down to you."

Nick nods. "Yeah, Clay, you're not the boss of us."

"Sure seems like it."

A ring sounds from the door. I roll my eyes, going over to it as the three of them bicker loudly in the background. Must be the pizza guy. I open the door and suck in a breath.

Standing outside are Skeppy, BadBoyHalo...and, to my surprise, Celestia and Maia.