Chapter Text
“Honey, I’m home!” Dream calls out mockingly as he pushes the apartment door open, dropping the few plastic bags he was holding onto the ground.
“Thank God, I was just dying without you here,” George is standing over the sink, scrubbing the last of the dishes they had used for dinner last night.
“I could only imagine,” he chuckles. “Here, I got you something.” Dream places two brown takeout bags onto their kitchen table and reaches into one to pull out his food.
“I told you not to get me anything!”
“Yeah, well I thought back to every other time you’ve told me that and then stole my fries when I got home,” Dream rolls his eyes playfully, taking a bite from his cheeseburger.
George laughs lightly, pulling out a chair to sit across from his persistent roommate and reaches into the greasy McDonald’s takeout bag to find the food Dream had brought him.
“I’m serious you know, I shouldn’t be eating this right now. I have a date in like, an hour,” he chews.
“He says as he bites into the burger,” Dream mumbles.
George sticks out his bottom lip in a pout, his brown eyes meeting Dream’s green ones. He dramatically bats his eyelashes a few times, Dream immediately breaking into a fir of harsh wheezes.
“Oh God, George, don’t ever…” he playfully slams his hand down onto the table, making a poor attempt at catching his breath. “Don’t ever do that again. What was that? Oh God, what were you trying to do?”
“I was trying to make you feel bad for being so passive-aggressive. You’re such a dick,” George takes a sip of his drink.
“Excuse me?” Dream asks, putting on a fake tone of betrayal. “Who bought you that cheeseburger combo you’re currently inhaling?”
Instead of giving the other man a verbal response, George shrugs his shoulders before filling his mouth with a handful of fries.
“You’re impossible,” Dream shakes his head, going back to his burger.
George stands from the table, a smile on his face. “Thank you; for the food, not for calling me impossible. But really, I can’t finish this all right now. I gotta go get ready for this date. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way out.”
Dream isn’t able to get a word out before his roommate has exited the room, leaving him to clean up the small mess that the two had created.
The blond let out a tired sigh, glancing back over to the front door where he had previously left the small number of groceries he purchased. I’ll take care of that later, he decides, sipping his drink. He quickly finishes up the last few bites of his meal, tossing the garbage into one of the paper bags and pushes it off to the side. He takes another glance around the kitchen. It was obvious George did a lot while he was gone; the counters wiped clean and dishes neatly organized in the rack to dry, and here he was just leaving things lying around for later and making more of a mess. Perhaps George had been right all those times he told Dream he was a shit roommate. Another long sigh comes out of the man as he leans his head down and rests it on the table, eyes fluttering closed.
He wasn’t going to fall asleep here, no. He just needed a little bit of a break. Turns out spending most of your day driving to different grocery stores trying to find some stupid cookies from the UK that George swore were available in America got very tiring, very fast. Dream just hoped George wouldn’t be too disappointed that he wasn’t able to find the foreign snack anywhere.
“You good, dude?” George’s voice causes the younger man to sit up in shock.
“Shit, you scared me.”
“Were you sleeping?” George stifles a laugh.
“Shut up, man. I was not,” he waves him off.
“Sure,” George says sarcastically. Dream watches him closely as he collects his wallet from the table and moves to a mirror hanging on the wall to attempt to style his hair.
“Hey, I couldn’t find those cookies by the way. I tried everywhere, I’m really sorry,” Dream is still looking at him, speaking with genuine sorrow.
“Huh? Oh, no worries man. I can probably just order them from Amazon or something. Thanks though.”
Dream didn’t answer, feeling only a bit annoyed that he had spent his day on a wild goose chase for some damn cookies, only to find out they were probably available online the whole time. It wasn’t a big deal though, it seemed like a very George thing to do. He couldn’t be mad at him for it. Honestly, he didn't think he could ever be mad at George for anything.
“Right. Well, I’m heading out. I don’t know when I’ll be back,” George grabs his set of keys from the counter. “But if the opportunity arises, I’ll let you know if I’m not coming home tonight,” he winks.
“Gross, bro.” Dream laughs. “Have fun,” he waves.
“Don’t forget to feed Patches!” George calls on his way out of the apartment, the sound of the door shutting cutting him off.
Dream can’t help but roll his eyes. Of course he wasn’t going to forget to feed his own cat. Even after almost a year of living together, he swears George still sees him as some child who can’t take care of himself. Don’t get him wrong, he loved living with George, but there were times where he wished he would just let him be instead of nagging him to do certain things all the time.
Dream stretches out his arms and lets out of quiet yawn before standing from the table and gathering the trash he and his roommate had left behind. There’s a brief moment where he makes eye contact with Patches, who is sitting quietly in the doorway. He holds up a finger towards her; as if to tell her that he’ll fill up her bowl in just a minute, before walking over to the trash can to dispose of his garbage and George’s half-eaten burger.
Reaching into one of the cabinets, he pulls out a large bag of cat food and makes his way over to her bowl. Leaning down to pour the pellets into her bowl, he sees Patches wait patiently next to him, occasionally rubbing her head against his leg. Once he closes the bag, he takes a seat next to his cat on the floor, watching her slowly begin to eat. He observes her with a soft smile, thinking back to the day he first got her, his mom warning him over and over again that this was a really big step.
Without him even realizing it, Patches finds her way into Dream’s lap. “Comfy?” he smiles, patting her head lightly.
He thinks back to the day he and George first met at the coffee shop around the corner to talk about the possibility of George getting to rent out the extra room in Dream’s apartment. He laughs slightly, remembering the way George’s face lit up at the mention of Dream owning a cat, explaining that he had to leave his own with his mom back in London. Dream recalls thinking that after that moment, none of the other questions seemed to matter, nor did the other candidates. He had found his roommate.
It’s around 10:30 p.m. when Dream is sitting on the couch, Patches curled up next to him, watching highlights of the latest football game. At this point in the night, the lights in the apartment are all off, his eyes are closing for an extended period, and he can’t help but fall in and out of sleep.
It’s no surprise that he jolts to life when he hears a click at the front door, his mind immediately going into panic mode before he can make out George walking through the door frame, flicking the lights on in the kitchen.
“Jesus, you really need to sleep more,” George giggles, his head peeking into the other room briefly.
“I didn’t think you were coming home,” he rubs the sleep out of his eyes, looking down at Patches, instantly feeling ashamed for accidentally waking her up.
“I texted you like, half an hour ago.”
Dream taps his phone’s screen and eyes over the various missed notifications from the past hour. Sure enough, there are three missed messages from George.
hey sleepyhead
i’m on my way home
i have a surprise for u :D
“Surprise? What’s my surprise?” He watches George as he makes his way over to the couch, flopping down next to him and Patches.
“I brought you a slice of cheesecake, it’s in the fridge.”
“You are the best roommate in the existence of roommates. No other roommate can compare to you, Georgie,” he says sweetly, tilting his head with a smile.
“Nope. No. Never call me that again, Clay.”
“Oh, God. He pulled out the real name for that one,” Dream holds his heart dramatically and makes a burning sound with his tongue. “It stings, Georgie,” he can’t help but add extra emphasis on the nickname.
“I have an immense amount of hatred for you. What are we watching?” He reaches out to stroke Patches.
“Football highlights,” he says, watching George’s gentle hand run over Patches’ body.
“Cool,” George looks up at Dream for a moment, watching his eyes go wide at George potentially being interested in sports for what seemed like the first time in forever. “Just kidding, we’re watching Mamma Mia.”
“What? No, George. C’mon now,” Dream scrambles as George grabs the remote and switches Netflix on.
“Too late,” he grins at the younger man. “Plus, I think the best roommate to ever exist in roommate history should get to control the television for the night.”
Dream stayed quiet at this, no longer bothering to argue back. It was clear he was fighting a losing battle.
A few minutes pass, the only sounds filling the room being the television and George’s humming before curiosity gets the best of Dream.
“So, how was the date?”
“Hmm?” George looks at him questionably.
“Y’know, since you ended up coming home instead of…” He trails off, attempting to refocus on the movie.
“Oh,” George can’t help but laugh a bit. “I think it went well! He was super sweet and wants to get together again soon. As for the whole coming home thing, he didn’t seem like a first date kind of guy, I guess.”
Dream simply nods his head, watching the musical number taking place on the screen. “Right. Well, I’m glad you had a good time.” He can feel George’s eyes burning holes into him but refuses to turn his head.
“Yeah, thanks,” the brunet finally responds. “I’m gonna make some popcorn, be right back.”
Dream finally turns in his direction, watching him leave the room. The blond released a breath he didn’t know he was holding in.