Chapter Text
He’d been helping Karl and Sapnap decorate the server for hours now, building Christmas trees and adding fake snow that would be a pain to clean up after December. They weren't even halfway done but George could feel his eyelids drooping and a pain building in his lower back.
"Hey, guys I think I’m gonna go. I'm tired,” He adds in a yawn for dramatic effect.
“We still have so much to do!” Karl cries, obviously attempting to persuade him to stay for his stream. He always did this and normally George would give in for a good half an hour, bickering until he either stayed or left, but not today.
Sapnap scoffs, “You sleep like twenty hours a day.”
“And with that insult,” George chuckles, “I’m leaving.” Finally out of the VC, he relaxes. Sinking back into his chair, he allows the darkness he hadn’t quite noticed, envelope him. Karls stream was still playing on his PC and he sees that they've moved on from badmouthing him to talking about their Christmas traditions. Big Q joined in George's absence and is telling a story about his family's version of the holidays.
A rock drops to the bottom of his stomach and he immediately turns off his PC, sinking him into complete darkness. Even though he can’t see the tiny Christmas tree he pitifully put up in the corner of his room, he can still feel it mocking him for attempting to celebrate by himself.
It was the first time he couldn't travel to family or friends for the holidays, the threat of a pandemic and at-risk relatives making him homebound. They’d all offered to zoom him in but he’d denied. They were all together and he knew he’d simply be the forgotten computer at the end of the dinner table.
The mocking of the Christmas tree becoming progressively loud he pushes back from his desk. Fumbling around in the dark he finds a pair of shoes and a winter jacket and leaves his apartment.
He stops dead once outside, the average cold rain of a classic London December has instead been replaced by a solid two inches of snow. “Is this a joke?” he mumbles. The snow he would normally enjoy instead has turned into a burden. Instead of snowmen building with his younger cousins, it’s instead become an annoying reminder of everything he was missing. Digging his hands deep into his pockets, he turns his head to the ground in a feeble attempt to keep the continuing snow from entrapping itself in his eyelashes.
He starts walking with no real idea of where he’ll end up. He focuses on the growing numbness of his hands and his wet shoes and just keeps walking. Taking a left, then a double right, and then a left again, repeating the process until when he looks up he doesn't recognize where he is.
The streets are empty and it's begun to snow so hard he can’t see the street signs. He pulls out his phone to map him home, the cold becoming too much. The screen illuminating his face he sees a notification.
Dream: Hey, how’s the server looking?
George rolls his eyes, Dream could just turn on Karls stream but this was his way to initiate conversation. Starting the directions he begins to walk as he responds.
George: Looks good. Will be hard to clean up though
Dream: I thought you were supposed to be in bed?
George: You texted me and I had to immediately cease all action
Dream: Call me?
George: Sure
Hands stiff from the cold he dials Dream and puts the phone to his ear. “What's up?”
“Woah are you sick?” The concern in Dreams' voice makes George chuckle. “You didn’t sound sick on stream,”
“No. I’m outside. It’s really cold here,” he responds, and in mentioning the cold it forces him to acknowledge how freezing he actually is. His pants have become soaking wet from the continuously falling snow and are chilling his legs.
“Isn't it like four am? Why are you outside?”
George rolls his eyes. “I wanted to go for a walk.”
Dream pauses, “You okay?”
He silently curses Dream and his strange ability to perceive his actions so well. He debates on giving a rant to Dream about how disappointed he is he can’t spend the holidays with family but decides against it. It’s not that he would have any mind, but he didn't want to burden him. Unlike himself, he gets to spend Christmas with his family, and knowing Dream, if he told him about his choking loneliness he’d spend his own holiday worrying more about his friend hundreds of miles away rather than his family.
“Uh, George…?” Dream clears his throat.
“What? Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just wanted to clear my head.” He didn’t realize he’d been silent for so long.
“You sure? You can talk to me about an-”
George cuts him off mid-sentence, “It's snowing here. Like a lot,” He knows Dream has more to say but he also knows he won’t push it.
“How much?”
“Two inches I think and it keeps snowing.” He hums and for a moment they sit in silence. They did this frequently on calls, neither of them desired to fill the silence as it was never awkward. On the other end of the call, he can hear Dream sigh.
“You must be cold.”
He’s freezing. “I’m not too bad.” He looks up, finally recognizing his surroundings. He always loved London when it snowed. The Christmas decorations that were commonly beloved never held his personal interest, all the colors merging into one yellow hue but everyone can enjoy the snow.
“When you come down to visit me you have to come down when it snows,” He says.
“I'd like that.” George can hear him smiling. “Describe it to me. I wanna see the snow.”
He chuckles, “Describe it? I can just send a picture.
“You could, but I wanna see it how you see it.” George can’t help but smile as he begins his description, “I think the first thing I always notice after a fresh snow is the road.”
“The road?” Dream laughs.
“Well yeah! After new snow, the roads are perfect, sheets of white and it’s nice. After a while they become sludge but right now, they're nice…” he continues on, going into detail about all the things he’s never noticed, and in a strange way, it feels like they're exploring London together. When he talks about the gothic architecture he was forced to study in school, Dream makes him go into such detail he has to stop to absorb all the little things.
When he’s finally made it back to his apartment he can hear Dream slightly snoring on the other end. He considers yelling into the phone to wake him but decides against it, instead clicking the end call button and entering his apartment alone.