When George woke up the next morning, he was...exceptionally warm. He groaned softly and shifted a bit, stretching his arms up as high as he could before opening his eyes, blinking blearily. He glanced to his left.

There lay Dream, his arm thrown over George's chest and his legs tangled around George's, his blonde hair flopped out all around the pillow he was using. The sun from the window shone right along his cheek, illuminating the little bit of drool that had escaped his mouth as he snored.

Pretty.

George frowned and shook his head. "What the hell?" He muttered, slowly twisting away from Clay's grasp and getting out of bed.

Where did that come from?

CW: body image, sh, panic attack and mentions of vomit.

He walked into the bathroom and, as he turned the shower on and began to undress, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. A gasp escaped his lips.

He was even thinner than he had been the last time he had looked, really looked, at himself. He had to have weighed around 120 pounds by now. He was a skeleton.

The scars on his arms and legs were prominent against his pale skin, becoming more and more difficult to hide. They practically shone under the fluorescent lights of the bathroom. He felt tears welling in his throat.

What had he become? He looked disgusting.

But that didn't stop him from laying a towel out on the bathroom floor and opening the bottom drawer under the sink. The blade seemed heavier than usually, and as he carved into his skin George felt guilt weighing heavy on his chest. It pressed right where his heart was, making it hard for him to breathe. He took in a few shaky, gasping breaths, trying to calm his racing heart before this turned into a full-blown panic attack.

Too late.

A knock sounded at the door, and Clay's voice drifted through the wood. "Georgie? You in there?"

Georgie heaved, vomit rising in his mouth as the scent of copper and his struggle to breathe mixed together. He hurriedly crawled over to the toilet and gagged into it. Clay knocked again.

"Georgie? You okay?"

George gagged again into the toilet before managing to speak. "I'm fine, Clay," he called weakly. "Go away."

So of course Dream opened the bathroom door and walked in, disregarding the fact that George had said no.

"What the-" Dream's yellow eyes grew large, taking in the blood smeared across the bathroom floor from when George had crawled over to the toilet. His eyes landed on George, who was still throwing up into the toilet and trying to find the energy to breathe properly.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, Georgie," Dream said, his words rushed as he shut the bathroom door behind him and hurried to kneel beside him. "It's okay, you're fine, just breath."

George shoved at him weakly, his stomach clenching tightly. "Get out of here," he rasped. His watery eyes were making it hard for him to see the blonde man, but he attempted a glare nonetheless.

Dream shook his head and rubbed circles into his back. "I'm not going anywhere. Just take a deep breathe in for me alright? Like this-"

Dream inhaled slowly through his nose, looking at George to prompt him into doing the same. George followed his lead, keeping an eye on Dream's breathing patterns by following the rise and fall of his chest. Dream gently grabbed George by the waist and moved him a bit so that he was leaning against the wall beside the toilet before sitting next to him and gently picking up his hand. George's heart squeezed tightly at the small gesture, his heart rate finally slowing down a bit as he continued to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth.

Dream stood up and walked over to the sink, looking in the drawers for something before he found what he needed. "Let me see your leg," he whispered, sitting back down at George's side.

George shook his head stubbornly, pulling his bleeding leg up to his chest. Blood quickly poured out from the wound he had created, spilling all over his front.

"George," Dream said, a bit louder now. "Let me see it. Now."

George shook his head. "I don't want you too," he muttered, trembling a bit with the effort it took him to not start bawling and allow Clay to comfort him. "It's embarrassing."

Clay sighed and reached out, grabbing George's face between both of his hands and gently turning his head towards him. George's cheeks burned at the contact, and he ignored the way his stomach leaped pleasantly at the touch.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Georgie," Clay said, using his thumb to brush the tears out from under George's eyes. "We'll...definitely talk about it when we're done. But, right now, just let me clean it up. Please. You're making it worse."

George exhaled shakily before nodding, extending his leg out so that it was flat on the ground. The cut was deeper than he usually did them, right on the edge of his boxers. Dream inhaled through his teeth at the sight before grabbing the cloth he had taken from under the sink and wetting it in the shower, which had long since gone cold. George whined as the cloth touched his skin, sending sparks of pain shooting up his spine as Clay carefully wiped away the blood so he could bandage the cut.

"Sorry," Dream murmured, pausing for a second so George could get more comfortable. George breathed slowly before nodding at Clay, who starting wiping up the blood once more. George grit his teeth to prevent anymore sounds from escaping his lips.

It was a slow process - the cleaning, and then the bandaging. Clay had turned pink before pushing the leg of George's boxers up minutely to wrap the bandage around his thigh securely.

George watched him in amusement, the pain dulling to a throb as Clay tied the bandage off and sighed. His hands were stained red.

"Thank you," George said, watching as Dream picked up the rest of the bandages and put them back under the sink. Dream shrugged and sat back down next to George, leaning against the wall.

"Can we talk about it now?"

George shrugged awkwardly. "There's not much to talk about."

"George."

"I'm serious!"

Clay shook his head and grabbed George's arm, painfully exposing all the white scars and still healing cuts on his forearms. "What's this then?" he demanded.

George yanked his arm back and scowled at him. "It's nothing, Dream," he snapped defensively. Dream sighed and looked down at his hands, which were still stained red.

"Why do you do it?"

"Why does anyone do it?"

Dream huffed and gently nudged George with his foot. "How long has this been going on?"

George didn't see any point in lying. "Since Oliver left."

"That's nearly two weeks, Georgie!"

"I know."

Dream picked up his hand again and squeezed it. "I know there's not really anything I can say, but..."

George tightened his fingers around Clay's. "What?"

"Will you tell me? When you feel like you need to? I just want to help you, Gogy. I love you."

George turned bright red. "You can't just say that!"

They laughed together, heads leaning towards each other slightly. George let himself bask in Dream's warmth for a moment before speaking.

"Yeah. I'll tell you, alright?"

Dream grinned happily and squeezed his hand tight.

"Hey! What the fuck are you guys doing in there?"

The two of them jjumped as Sapnap yelled at them through the door.

"Nothing!" Dream called back, getting to his feet and then helping Georgie up. Sapnap gasped dramatically.

"Is Dreamnotfound finally coming true? Oh, wait until I tell Twitter-"

"Sapnap!"

AN: this one was a bit longer, and a bit of an emotional ride but i had lots of fun writing it!! The discord server is up and running - i'll put the link here but you may have to type it in manually if you want to join. An easier link to access is pinned on my twitter @/sin_city007

I love you all!

https://discord.gg/wGvRb5Naem