"Holy shit, dude, you're fucking crazy," Sapnap muttered as him, Darryl and Dream trudged back up towards their towels where Karl and George sat peacefully until now.

"It wasn't my fault you nearly inhaled all that salt water," Dream replied, scooping up his towel and wrapping it around his neck.

"Dude, what? You were literally the one aggressively splashing me in the face. Darryls screaming didn't even make you stop."

Dream started laughing. "Let's just say I didn't hear him, yeah?" He then playfully winked at a glaring Darryl.

"I gotta admit, Sap, it was pretty funny from afar," Karl added, standing up and grabbing a hold of his water bottle.

"Fuck you too, Karl."

"Ahem," Darryl muttered, crossing his arms and clearing his throat.

"My bad."

"Anyways," Dream started, "we should take a break and go down to get some ice cream."

"Good idea, it's hot as hell." George replied, finally standing up and brushing some sand off of his shorts.

The four boys all pulled their shirts on, grabbing their full bags and walking down the left side of the beach towards the small ice cream parlor.

When they arrived, there was barely a line besides a girl picking up her ice cream cone from delivery.

The employee waved his hand in signal for the group to walk up.

Before ordering, they scanned the display cases which held over thirty flavors beneath the glass.

Dream stood beside George as their eyes wandered the displays.

"You wanna share one?" Dream whispered, sending goosebumps up George's arms and up his back. George glanced at him and looked up slightly.

"No," he finally muttered, shoving Dream away.

Dream started laughing at the blush on George's face as he walked to the opposite side of the display.

After they picked their ice cream flavors, each payed for their own cone and walked back out in the blazing hot sun and towards where their towels had lied alone messily before.

They lied out their towels again, all five sitting to eat.

Darryls was quickly melting due to him taking large breaks from licking it.

"Out of all flavors, you got hot tamale?" Sapnap blurted over to Karl.

"It's actually good, Sapnap."

The group of girls beside them shot weird looks. "I told you to call me Nick in public, Karl." He whispered.

"My bad. They look kinda clueless though."

Dream glared. "I swear to god if one of you expose us in my own state-"

"Shut up, Clay. We told you the best solution for that is shutting the fuck up and not saying anything if a group is approaching us."

George rested his face down, staring at his own thighs as he tried his best not to laugh.

Karl however, didn't give two shits and started giggling like crazy.

Like always, Darryl was in his own little world on his phone.

"You guys act like children. Like Tommy."

Dream scoffed with a glare.

His phone dinged again. The group fell into silence as George shifted his body to sit more comfortably.

Annie

You literally ghosted me after all this?

This girl really would never shut up. It was most definitely true she had a boring life.

Instead of replying, he angrily shoved his phone away into his duffel bag.

He could've just been straight forward and told her he wasn't interested, but an excuse later would be much easier to deal with.

"You good, Dream?" Sapnap asked, raising his ice cream cone.

"Yeah. I'm good."

Karl and Sapnap exchanged glances, before Sapnaps face pulled to a quick smirk.

He jumped up to his feet and walked towards Dream.

"Will you come with me back to the room so I can pick up my sun glasses?"

"Uh.. sure?"

Sapnap grabbed Dream by the hand and practically dragged him up.

Once they were a far enough distance from the group, Sapnap started, "what's going on?"

"Really, man? It's nothing."

"Is Annie texting you?"

Dream glared, but nevertheless he nodded.

"Just tell her you're gay."

Dream punched Sapnaps arm firmly, a stern look on her face. "Hey."

"What? Everyone in the house knows that you and George-"

"Nick, if I'm completely honest, I expected you to be more supportive than this. At this point, it's getting old. The teasing, the nudges, those dumb fucking smirks. Can you be serious for once? This situation is serious."

Sapnap was silent for a moment as they continued to walk.

"I know, Dream. I'm just happy for you. One night George was going on this whole rant back at your house because of teasing, and it honestly convinced me he didn't like you the way I thought he did,"

Sapnap took a breath.

"George is good at hiding what he feels. He was willing to hide it for the sake of your friendship, as were you."

Dream glanced at Sapnap, who turned his focus solely on the sand that danced through his toes as he walked.

"If I'm being honest, Sapnap, I'm not fully sure of what he specifically wants."

"What?" Now Sapnap stopped walking, crossing his arms to face Dream.

Dream shrugged, his eyes bringing him anywhere but Sapnaps.

"Doesn't he want you?"

"Yes. I mean, I don't know. He said he does but doesn't seem to want to talk about.. us. I can't really blame him because of the distance and stress but-"

"Who cares, Clay? You want each other and that's all that matters. You can't stay away from you feelings forever. You have to toughen up sometimes and talk about shit."

Dream dragged a hand down his face as he began to feel his eyes start burning, watering.

Sapnap noticed immediately, pulling him into a long hug.

"This is harder than I thought it would be, Sap." He whispered.

"I know, man. I'm here."