Chapter Text
It starts with the laughter.
It’s lyrical in a different sense, not the kind of music that could be transcribed into music notes. If it was a song, it would be the most horrendous, out of pitch monstrosity that has ever been bestowed upon human ears, but Dream still found it endearing.
George was laughing at something stupid, his own joke, probably. It was late at night and both of them were weary from a long day of recording. George was in his darkened room, the light from his monitor glowing around him. His eyes were glassy and his face donned an easygoing smile. Dream’s camera, as it was for the last months, was shut off.
He didn’t know why he never turned his camera on. Maybe it was because in the first weeks of knowing George, he never turned his camera on. Now they’ve known each other for too long and it would just be weird and awkward and horrible if he just decided right now to turn off his camera. If it bothers George that he’s never seen Dream’s face, George hasn’t ever said a word of it.
Now, George is laughing and laughing and laughing, and his voice is so smooth, operating with such a candid tenor, a tenderness and ease wrapping around Dream like a kiss goodnight.
Dream never liked his voice all that much - that’s why he tried to spend as little time as possible editing his videos. He didn’t mind his voice at first, but three hours into cutting down hours of footage into a twenty minute video later… he began to believe that his voice was more grating than the sound of nails on a chalkboard.
But George’s voice was right there, alongside the ever agonizing pitch of his own. Where Dream’s voice was pitchy and obnoxious, George’s voice was melodic. While Dream thought he sounded like a twelve year old boy who never quite got past puberty, George’s voice was smooth, it sounded crisp and clean, like the sound of ice skates gliding across a perfectly unblemished rink.
And he blurted it out - because he’s stupid, because he doesn’t think.
“Do you think you can fall in love with someone you’ve never met?” Dream asks, and he doesn’t know why he asks it.
He isn’t in love with George. He knows it, because he’s never been in love with anyone. And there are so many stories and poems and paintings about love that he’s pretty sure what is love and what isn’t. This isn’t love. He’s not in love with George - he’s in love with the moment. He’s in love with pretending like they exist in a vacuum. Like life has no consequences and he can hide in his room speaking to a screen for all of eternity.
George furrows his brow and stares at Dream. Dream blinks self-consciously, and for a moment he worries his camera is on, because George looks at him so earnestly and with so much truth it feels like he’s looking into his soul.
And then the split-second of emotion cracks and fades and George lets out a self-righteous note of laughter. “What, like fall in love with Harry Styles or something?” He says, and his eyes are so bright and full of mirth and he’s smiling with the tip of his tongue poking slightly out.
“I mean - Harry Styles is really good looking…” Dream trails off, and he hears the afterthought of a chuckle from George. “But no.” He finishes. “I mean like, someone you know, but you’ve just never met in real life.”
A breath from George, and three - maybe four - rapid blinks in a consecutive manner. He stays quiet for a moment, considering it quietly. There’s a split-second of thoughtfulness, and then the same easygoing smile slithers it’s way back onto George’s face.
He smiles. “Fallen in love with an egirl, have you?” George joked.
The joke comes with such warmth and such hasty candidness that it takes Dream off guard. “What? No… I-” He stammers.
“I’m kidding.” George waves away, that same expression of thoughtfulness making it’s way back onto his face. “Of course you can fall in love with someone you’ve never met before. Just because it’s on a screen doesn’t make it any less real.”
Dream nods and they stay silent for a moment.
After a heartbeat, George breaks the silence. “Dream, acting like a simp? Damn, she must be really special....”
Dream laughs and his finger hovers over the end call button. He threatens to hang up, but his words hold no weight as the wheezing rise and fall of his laughter carries across an ocean.