It shouldn't have surprised her when George got a text from Dream, from what she knew they talked almost constantly and set aside most time for just the two of them, sometimes even avoiding joining a bigger group just to spend time with each other.

It was close to 7 am now, both still somehow not tired. Dreams request for George to join Sapnaps stream was right on time for them, and also the time for Astrid to leave.

It felt like she had been there for days when in reality she had only entered the house the night before.

"I need to join Sapnaps stream" he spoke quietly, not a fan of loud noises at the best of times.

"It's okay," she sat up from her position leaning against him, stretching, "I should probably go anyways"

"What? No" he spoke too fast to stop himself, "just...just stay"

She was silent for a moment, not looking at him. This was happening more and more now, him requesting she stayed later and later each time. Almost as if hanging on to the time they spent together, but perhaps she was just getting her hopes up, she shouldn't read too far into it just to get hurt.

"Why?" She spoke just as quiet.

"I... want to spend time with you, outside of" he paused, "y'know"

She did, they had never really spent time together outside of sex, not until a few weeks ago at least.

"I want us to be friends"

Her heart stopped, friends of course that's why he wanted her to stay, no deeper reason as she told herself.

Just friends.

She nodded allowing him to lead the way to his room, watching him fall to his chair and find his way to their server, joining the call before muting and turning to her, his eyes looking her up and down as she sat on his bed drowning in his oversized hoodie.

"You're a bit far away to hear..." he licked his lips, trying to get his point across without saying it outright.

Astrid stood carefully, stalking towards him before softly perching on his lap, grabbing on as he spun and pulled her backwards and into his chest.

It was nice, to be so close, but she had to remind herself not to get too attached.

His headphones were unplugged, and the camera off like it always was on somebody else's stream. His thumb rubbed soft circles on her exposed thigh.

Astrid almost fell asleep listening to them speaking, despite their often yelling, she was losing her fight against her lack of sleep.

That was until a certain conversation caught her attention.

They had just been joking around, teasing each other as they usually did, until George had mumbled something that caused Sapnaps surprising rebuttal.

"George you're literally an idiot," he stated, "and bitchless" a short language from Bad before Sapnap continued, "oh sorry I forgot you're not bitchless" he laughed it off, obviously oblivious to his twitch chat now exploding in confusion, or at least he was faking obliviousness.

Her eyes widened, head turning to look at George, whose face was slowly turning red like the room had heated up in the last ten seconds. His eyes trained on the monitor as the other boys laughed, avoiding her eyes at all cost, even as she shifted on his lap to catch them.

"Shut up, Stinknap" that was his ultimate reply, his voice shaking as he licked his dry lips.

"Oh, good one George" the boys laughed again, Astrid had to cover her mouth to stifle her own giggle.

They continued their teasing before Dream swiftly changed the subject, obviously, he had thought forward to the aftermath when the others hadn't, but that didn't stop Astrid's own teasing.

The smirk on her face and finger pressing into his side caused him to flail enough for him to push her away just a little before pulling her back to his chest, holding her hands down to stop the assault.

The sudden burst of heat in her chest at his actions scared her, not only the way he held her down but the fact he had obviously been talking to his friends about her, them.

She didn't know whether to welcome the feeling or to run away scared of it.

——————

Written: 19th June 2022

Published: 22nd June 2022

Just a short one to get me back into writing sorry for disappearing for a while hopefully better updates now, im acc very invested in this book bc for some reason there are like 10 george books???