Chapter Text
It’s been five days since he’s seen Dream.
George hates to say that he misses him.
He knows that he’s the one who asked Sapnap to switch shifts, but part of him wishes that he hadn’t.
He hated waking up early, but talking to Dream made his mornings better.
One day he tried to go to the building Dream was on during the day, but he couldn’t find the villain anywhere. Dream was probably out doing crime--or maybe stopping crime--but he swears he felt like someone was… watching him.
There probably was no one there though, at least not Dream since he tried calling out to the villain, asking him if they could talk. He even admitted that he missed Dream in a moment of weakness that he spent hours thinking about later that night.
But nothing worked, Dream seemed to have vanished.
George had wanted them gone, had wanted to keep them from growing any closer.
Now that he’s succeeded though, he’s gotta admit it:
It’s lonely now.
He misses Dream’s stupid wheezing laugh, misses all the nicknames that idiot would give him, misses the warmth he felt when he hugged Dream, holding the villain in his arms as he fell asleep.
As George walks home, he can’t help but think about the night that changed everything.
The night Dream saved him.
He hates that tonight is similar to then, Niki having left earlier so she could go out with her girlfriend again, leaving him to close up and walk home alone.
He’ll be fine this time, he knows he will.
He’s learned from then, now he pays more attention, even carries a can of pepper spray in his hand in case he gets put in a position where he isn’t able to use his powers.
He’s on high alert now, which is why he hears that noise.
It’s a low, pained whine, the sound barely audible from where George stands a little ways from an alleyway, but he’s been trained to hear things that most people wouldn’t.
Especially when the sound is of someone in need of his help.
Quickly, George makes his way toward the alley, pulling out his phone and turning on his flashlight, his other hand tightly gripping the pepper spray.
George immediately sees a figure lying prone in the middle of the alleyway, a pool of dark brown seeping all around them. And while blood doesn’t look like the typical red that it would for most people, George has seen it far too much, immediately understanding that this person is bleeding. A lot.
And when he sees that the person is wearing a bright yellow-- It’s green! An all too familiar voice supplies in his mind--hoodie, George is overcome with a deep sense of dread.
George knows that he should just leave Dream here, or maybe even call the organization so they can finally put the villain behind bars.
But... he can't.
So instead of doing that, George sinks to his knees next to the figure, his phone and pepper spray clattering to the ground below as he quickly touches Dream’s neck, searching for a pulse. It’s faint and fluttery, his heart beating much too fast to try to combat the blood loss, but it’s there, and that’s all that matters.
With a groan, hazy eyes open to look up at George, and that’s when he realizes that Dream isn’t wearing his mask, the familiar porcelain laying shattered a few feet away.
This isn’t how he wanted to first see Dream’s face.
He wanted it to be a moment filled with trust, wanted his first time to see Dream to be with a smile on his face.
Not while he’s bleeding out in an alleyway.
And that thought kicks him into high-gear, the man quickly taking off his jacket and pressing it to the oozing wound on Dream’s stomach, murmuring a stream of apologies when Dream cries out in pain.
With the hand that isn’t holding onto his now-bloody jacket, George picks up his phone, blood smearing onto his screen as he types in his pin and calls Sapnap.
“Come on, pick up, pick up.”
“G’rge,” Dream weakly slurs, and even though his voice is wrecked--his modifier is gone along with his mask too, he dully realizes--George is so relieved to hear his name coming out of Dream’s mouth, especially since it means he’s coherent enough to at least understand who’s there.
“Hey, that’s right, I’m here,” George assures Dream, his phone still dialing, his hand beginning to tremble as he holds it, because what if Sapnap doesn’t pick up, “You’re gonna be okay, just keep your eyes open. Can you do that for me?”
“George?” Sapnap's voice suddenly cuts through the quiet night, and George is so relieved he thinks he could cry, or maybe he just wants to cry because Dream is dying. “What’s going on? Who were you talking to?”
“Medical emergency, I need you here now,” George urgently says, and thankfully Sapnap doesn’t ask him to elaborate, instead he hears the sounds of Sapnap quickly grabbing supplies. “Dream’s bleeding out in an alleyway, deep gash on his stomach. He’s only got a few more minutes left if we don’t stitch up the wound and stop the bleeding.”
“Fuck, okay, I have the kit,” Sapnap says as he quickly locks the front door, not even bothering to put on shoes in his hurry. “Where are you guys?”
Once George tells him where, Sapnap hangs up, leaving him in silence aside from the sound of Dream’s labored breaths.
“G’rg’,” Dream tries again, and his voice sounds even worse now, but at least his eyes are still open, staring at George intently despite the pain he must be in. “‘m s’rry.”
“No, Dream, you have nothing to say sorry for,” George quickly replies, setting his phone on the ground so he can cradle the man’s face. “You’re gonna be fine, alright? Sapnap's on his way, he’ll be here any minute now, okay?”
“‘urts,” Dream weakly says, that one little word breaking George’s heart, the ex-hero wishing he could just make Dream’s pain go away.
“I know it hurts, I’m sorry,” George whispers, gently brushing his thumb against Dream’s cheekbone, and the touch must be soothing since Dream tries his best to lean into it without moving the rest of his body. “Sap’s gonna be here any second though, okay? You just gotta stay awake a little longer.”
“T’red,” Dream slurs as his eyes slip shut, and no, that’s not good.
“I know you’re tired, I know, but you gotta keep your eyes open,” George hurriedly says, gently tapping Dream’s face to get him to open his eyes again.
Thankfully it’s at this moment that Sapnap comes barreling into the alleyway, sinking to his knees beside George and placing the first aid kit next to him.
“Put him to sleep, George,” Sapnap commands as he begins putting on gloves and prepping the needle for the stitches.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“This is gonna hurt like a bitch, no sense in making him be awake to feel it.”
And George knows that’s true, so even though he doesn’t like it he gives the gentle command for Dream to sleep, the relaxed expression settling onto his pale features greatly contrasting with the blood surrounding them.
“Those fuckers broke his mask too, huh?” Sapnap angrily asks as he begins doing the first stitch, and George knows that these will certainly need to be redone later when they have more than just a flashlight in an alleyway to work with, but for now they’ll do the job of stopping Dream from bleeding out.
“Yeah, it’s on the ground over there,” George replies, jerking his head in the direction of the shattered mask. “Let’s take it with us, we might be able to fix it.”
Sapnap just wordlessly nods his head, far too concentrated on the action of weaving thread through skin to respond verbally.
When Dream is a bit more stable, the two of them carefully bring him home, their coffee table and couch turning into a makeshift hospital room.
Together they patch him up with better equipment and more time, Sapnap being the one to stitch up the wound on Dream's stomach because George's hands are shaking far too much.
They clean Dream as best as they can, then set him up in their guest bedroom, George taking far more care than he really needs to as he pulls the covers up and around the villain.
And once he's done, George goes out to the living room where Sapnap is cleaning up some of Dream’s blood and braces himself for a lecture.
Because there's no way that Sapnap hasn't figured out that he cares about Dream.
But instead of yelling at him, Sapnap pulls him into a hug, squeezing him tight while complaining about what an idiot he is.
He's glad George is safe though, even if his friend is so stupidly in over his head right now.
Chapter 16
When Dream wakes up, it’s to a deep panic, because he’s gone from being ambushed to suddenly waking up in some place he doesn't recognize.
But George is by his side, and for the briefest, most terrifying of moments, he thinks that maybe George betrayed him.
He figured out who George was the day the ex-hero shared a bit of his backstory, it lining up with Hero 404's own story too perfectly to be a coincidence.
Maybe George was even the reason he got ambushed, and now he's in the custody of heroes.
But George assures him that he's safe at their house, the only ones there being him and his roommate, and, despite it all, Dream finds himself believing him.
Because even though he knows George used to be a hero, Dream trusts him.
With a raspy, broken voice, Dream softly asks, "W-Why did you save me?"
"Looks like we're even now." George says with a teasing grin.
And Dream knows he should smile back, should just accept that, but he can't help but ask, "Is that... the only reason why you saved me?"
"Well…” George starts to say before hesitating, until he finally bites the bullet and continues: “Remember when you said that the world would celebrate if you died? I... wouldn't be one of them."
And those words make Dream smile so wide his jaw hurts, because maybe to someone else that wouldn't be much, but it tells him that George cares, and that means the world to him.
Epilogue
Throughout his recovery, George and Sapnap are so, so nice, but Dream can’t forget that they both used to be heroes. And that means they could turn on him, could kill him, at any time...
But he wants to trust them, wants to trust them so badly that it hurts.
So he lets go of his fear, even though it’s hard, and learns to truly trust them.
And by the time Dream's recovered, the three of them are close, so close that they don't want him to leave.
When Sapnap and George say that Dream can stay, he wants to more than anything, but he doesn’t think that he can, because that would put his friends in danger.
But they assure him that it'll be fine, they both have powers to protect him if it came down to that, and the news proclaimed him dead after the ambush, so really he could just.. leave the villain life behind.
Dream knows that he could make a grand return from the dead, show them all that it takes more than some measly ambush to kill him
But… he never wanted to be a villain.
Not only that, but he's just so tired.
There's never been a way out before, and now that there is...
He'd be stupid not to take it.
So, after asking them far too many times if they're really okay with him staying, he agrees.
Just like how they gave up the hero life after George got hurt, his days of being a villain are just… over.
They're done…
He's… free.
He never thought he'd make it this far.
But damn, he’s gotta admit that it's nice.
He gets to spend his days with George and Sapnap, hanging out with one of them while the other is at work, then once all three of them are home they watch movies together, playfully bickering over how the person who chose the movie has no taste.
It's... everything he ever could have wanted.
He never imagined having a life like this, but he wouldn't want to change it for anything.
With George and Sapnap, he's finally... happy.
He's got people who care about him, he doesn't have to worry about anything trying to hurt him.
He can just… exist.
Live.
And he can't wait to live this new life.