When George woke up, it was with a rather content feeling in his heart. He'd told Dream his name. He thought he'd regret that. He looked over at Dream who was reading a book, apparently already awake. He didn't regret it.

George felt weird about how quickly he was growing accustomed to Dream's presence around him. It wasn't too long ago that he couldn't even stand the idea of the man being in the same room as him, let alone talking to him. But now, well- now George liked it when he was there. He knew he shouldn't. He knew it was bad. Because it would end bad. Soon they'd be at Schlatt's kingdom, and all of his and Dream's progress would be gone. But George just couldn't help it. There was something interesting about him. Whether it was the mystery behind the mask or the fact that he was just so nice, George wasn't sure. It was probably both of them, now that he thought about it.

Dream was brave. He lived a hard life. He protected his family. He was different to George. George just wasn't like him. He felt like a coward. He was making friends with the enemy. He was selfish. He had no family to protect.

He glanced over at Dream again. George wanted to be like him. He wanted to be brave. Dream was brave. Why couldn't he be? George bit his lip. He didn't know why he felt like this. He had barely any social interactions to take notes off. No past experiences to contrast against this, to help him understand what to do. He remembered bits and pieces of his pod. He remembered some of it vividly. But it wasn't enough. None of it was enough. It was of no help to him.

It was kind of funny. He was like this because of humans. Humans had ruined his life years before. They'd taken his family and taken all chances of him knowing what to do when they did so. But he needed those experiences that he'd missed out on to connect with other humans.

Funny. In a dark way.

God, George was more of a mess than he thought he was. Finding humour in his family's deaths? Sure, he was incredibly sad about it, and he wished it had never happened, more than anything he wished that. And yet he found humour in it?

Dream wouldn't find humour in his family's deaths. That's another thing that separated them. Dream was good. George was not. Maybe if George spent more time with him...well maybe Dream could teach him to be good. George had the basics down. He just needed an extra push. Dream was nice. He'd help him with that, surely.

George sighed again. Yesterday had been good. He didn't want to ruin it. He couldn't ruin it. He'd never meant to tell Dream his name. It wasn't on the list of things to do. But it just slipped out. George wondered what else would accidentally slip out. He wondered what else he could say that he knew he shouldn't.

George shook those thoughts away and sat up from under the water, droplets falling from his hair, which caused Dream to turn over from reading his book and smile at George. He flipped his book shut and placed it on his blanket.

George smiled at him slightly. He wasn't sure how to proceed. Telling Dream his name had been a big step, one that he wasn't expecting.

"You sleep a lot." Dream commented, causing George to look up at him with a weird look.

Dream laughed to himself, fidgeting with his hair as he sat with George.

"So what are we doing today?" George questioned the other man. Maybe they'd toss a ball between them, or talk about things, or maybe Dream could find something else to occupy his time with-

"Well, I was thinking you could meet one of my friends today." Dream cut George's inner rant off.

Wait, what? That was not a good idea. That was a bad idea. Sure, Dream was cool, but Dream was special. All humans aren't like Dream. Although yes, he talked about his friends all the time and how nice they were, but he's probably biased! Yes, that's it. Dream is just biased, and his friends are probably evil humans, just like the ones that ruin everything. Why would Dream suggest that? Was he going to do something? George shouldn't- he just shouldn't.

"I can already see you overthinking this." Dream chuckled, a patient smile on his face.

George looked up at him, worry on his face as he bit his lip.

"You'll be fine. It's just Sapnap. You can meet just him today, no one else, I promise." He murmured sincerely.

George looked to the side in thought. Well, if it was just one of them. Maybe.

"Please, George." Dream pleaded "he's my best friend." George narrowed his eyes, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Okay. Fine. Just him." Dream smiled excitedly, giving George a pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Georgie!" George was startled by the nickname, and why he liked it.

"He'll be super pumped, just wait, I'll go get him!" And with that, Dream was up, slipping his shoes on and running out of the door.

"You forgot your coat-" George tried, but the door slammed shut.

------- -------

Dream left the room in a rush. He had to get Sapnap before George changed his mind! He was pretty happy that George had agreed to it, albeit surprised. He thought George would be more standoffish at the idea.

Well, he had seemed like that when Dream first mentioned the idea, but he had ended up agreeing. So that was something, right? Improvement, maybe?

Dream just wanted George to have something to do. Sure they had their fun chatting and playing with the bouncy ball, but he felt like he was boring the brunette. He had to leave constantly for his captain duties, and that left George alone a lot. So if he could introduce him to Sapnap, at least Sapnap for now before anyone else, maybe George wouldn't be so lonely.

It had to be boring to just sit in a glass tank all day, alone with your thoughts.

Dream bounced down the stairs and to the door next to his own room. He knocked on it a few times. Sapnap opened it after the third knock. He raised an eyebrow when he saw it was Dream.

"Dream? What's up dude?" he asked, leaning against the doorway.

Dream grinned, grabbing Sapnap's arm and tugging him away, the other man only barely shutting his door before he was whisked away.

As they walked, Sapnap gently tugged his arm back.

"What are you doing? Why are you pulling me?" Sapnap questioned, an incredibly confused look upon his face.

Dream turned around as they reached the stairs.

"You're meeting George today."

"Who's George?" Sapnap asked. Dream didn't respond.

"OH!" Sapnap said, smacking himself on the head lightly after a few seconds of thought, "the merman's name is George? When did he tell you?"

"Yesterday!" Sapnap blinked in surprise, before shaking his head.

"Hold on- did you say I'm meeting him?"

"Yep!" Dream said simply, grabbing Sapnap's sleeve again and pulling him up the stairs.

"And he agreed?"

"Yep!"

Sapnap groaned, "Dream- hold on a second." They stood together in front of the corridor.

"Stop saying 'yep'. Just-"

"What?"

"Well, this is weird! He's totally fine with meeting me?" Dream nodded, before lifting up a finger slightly.

"Well, he was a bit weird about it at first, but I got him to agree." Dream watched as Sapnap ran a hand down his face, eyes wide and blinking before he smiled slightly.

"Okay."

Dream beamed, walking down the corridor towards the door, Sapnap following after him as he opened it.

------- -------

George sat quietly after Dream left. It was just one friend. Dream's best friend, at that. They'd be fine. Perfectly fine. Dream wouldn't let anything happen.

George let himself relax slightly after noticing his heart was beating erratically and his shoulders were tense.

"Chill, George. Chill." he murmured to himself.

The door swung open. Dream walked in with a large smile on his face. A man walked in behind him. George recognised him from before, when he'd just gotten here. Dream was taller than him, but the man, Sapnap, was not short by any means. Why was everyone freakishly tall? Well, he'd only met two, but still, it was odd.

Sapnap shut the door quietly and followed Dream. He looked nervous. At least George wasn't the only one.

Dream came and sat on the floor, patting the spot next to him for Sapnap to sit in. He did so, hesitantly. They sat there for a moment, George not taking his eyes off the newcomer, before Dream clapped his hands together.

"Sapnap, this is George. George, Sapnap." George resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He already knew the man's name. He was in no need of an introduction.

"Um, hi." Sapnap said, a small, uncertain smile on his face. George studied him for a moment, before saying "hello."

Oh jeez. This would be weird.

------- -------

Turns out, it was not so weird. Two hours had gone by, and George had actually started to like the man. Sure, he wasn't Dream. It would take him far longer to trust him, or like him as much as he did Dream, but the man wasn't all that bad. Sapnap was actually...kind of cool.

George had been a little bit quieter than usual, which was super quiet, considering he didn't talk a lot, even with Dream. He wasn't sure how to interact with Sapnap, but he was perfectly happy listening to the two of them banter between each other.

George already knew from Dream that the two of them were best friends and that they'd known each other a long long time, but if he hadn't been told that, he would still be able to see that it was true. The two of them were clearly close. George smiled at the sight. At seeing Dream so happy.

They joked about and told George stories of when they were teenagers, getting into trouble. George had listened with great interest. It was cool to hear about these things, especially when he knew Dream wouldn't have told him himself. (Sapnap had shared few embarrassing stories of youthful Dream that had caused the dirty blonde to blush in embarrassment).

So, even though George liked Dream's presence more than Sapnap, he wasn't a bad addition. He was alright. Maybe once he knew him more, he'd like him more. Sapnap was close with Dream. George felt the need to impress him. He felt like he had to make Sapnap like him, and that he had to in the future be a bit nicer to the man.

George didn't understand why he felt like that. And he didn't like not understanding.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x -x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Hello friends!! I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to update yesterday :((

I was busy, like I mentioned, and even though I was still going to try and find time at y friend's place to write, some stuff happened and I felt too stressed to write. I hope you can understand

Also! I didn't realise then, but a days ago we reached one month of me posting this story! Crazzyyyyy.....thanks for sticking around :))

Happy reading

-Bee

(26/1/21)

Co-posted on ao3