“We brought muffins!" Bad exclaimed proudly the moment I opened the front door. Sapnap stood behind him with a grin just as wide. I assumed he helped.

"Did you make those yourself?" I asked.
"Yeah! They're blueberry," Bad replied, letting himself in. He placed the plate down on the coffee table and plopped himself down on the couch. Sapnap followed, taking up the leftover space of the couch and leaving me to stand by the door.

"Where's Dream?" He asked.
"Upstairs coding something."

"Really? Without you?"

"What do you mean?" I ignored the flutter I had since gotten somewhat used to.

"You guys have been inseparable since you arrived." He gave me a sideways look. "Did you do it? Did you finally break Dream?"

It was more like he broke me. Not in a literal way.

"No. We don't have to be together all the time. We are separate people." We actually hadn't been together since the night we kissed. The most he said to me was the day after when he told me after breakfast, "I'm going to code something for a friend" and then left, never to be seen again until I came up to bed.
“Did you guys have a fight or something?" Bad asked.

"No. Why do you guys think something happened? Nothing happened." I leaned against the door, tapping it with the pads of my fingers. They both stared at me. My first thought was that they knew exactly what happened. That they knew that three days ago their best friends kissed under the stars. But there was no way they could. Right? Was there some afterglow people had after kissing? Or was that only after sex? Actually, I didn't want to think about that.

"Alright," Sapnap said, getting up to his feet. "I'm gonna go say hi."

"Okay," I said a bit too quietly, following Sapnap with my eyes as he walked up the stairs and disappeared.

"Aw, I'll stay with you, George," Bad said with a warm smile. "Come sit down."

I took Sapnap's place, but I stayed curled up into the corner of the couch. Bad grabbed a muffin and handed it to me.

"Try it! This was Sapnap's first time making muffins."

I hesitated before grabbing the muffin. He cocked his head to the side.

"Why do you look so scared?" He asked in a gentle tone that nearly pulled the answer right out of me. "You look like a tiny lost puppy."

I was overreacting. I was definitely overreacting. I took a bite out of the muffin. It was a little hard, but otherwise it tasted fine. Maybe a bit mediocre. I'd blame it on Sapnap.

"So what's Dream coding?" He asked when I didn't respond.

"I don't know," I replied. "Truth be told, we haven't really spoken in a few days."

"Really? Why? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. He's just been busy."

"Does that bother you?"

“No, not at all. I mean, it gets a bit lonely sometimes, but it's fine." I glanced up at him before looking back down. Find something to focus on. I settled on a tiny mark on the wooden coffee table
"Yeah, I mean, this is how life's going to be like when you get married, right? Might as well get used to it now."

"I guess." I was already used to it. I didn't care that Dream was working. We both already knew how busy we got. It would just be silly to assume we'd have time every single day to just sit down and talk for hours. What bothered me was the fact that I knew why Dream was upstairs coding. I knew he was avoiding me, and I was avoiding him too. But that didn't necessarily mean I liked it.
“If you ever want me and Sapnap to keep you company, just let us know," He said. "We'll come right over."

A smile tugged on my lips for the first time in a few days, "Thanks." Bad was always such a warm person to be around, and it somehow radiated even more in person. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

I took a deep breath. I knew I was going to regret asking this. "Have you ever been in love?"

He raised his eyebrows and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Oh." He grabbed a muffin. "Yeah."

"How did you know you actually loved them?"

He shrugged. "It felt special, I guess. One day I just thought 'you know what? I want to spend the rest of my life with this person'. Why? Are you in love?"

"No," I said a bit too quickly. "I was just thinking about what you told me before. I just wanted to know how you were so sure."

"Why are you bringing it up now? That was weeks ago." He stared at me with a confused look. And then like a lightbulb went off in his head, he gave me a knowing smile. I wish he was as clueless as he always made himself out to be.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because something happened between you and Dream." He took a bite from his muffin. "Tell me! What happened?"

There really was no point in hiding it anymore, was there?

"He—uh—he kissed me," I mumbled as I took another bite from my muffin.

"What?"

I smiled as my face burned scarlet. My small chuckle came out shaky. I wished Checkers was still there. That way I could look at him for emotional support. "He kissed me."

Bad just about choked on his muffin. "What!? Oh my goodness!"

"Be quiet!" I quickly shushed.
"Okay, you have to tell me everything now!" He grinned. I rolled my eyes. He was like the girls I went to school with.

"He took me to the park a few nights ago," I started, "And we started talking about our... feelings. And we both found out we felt the same way about each other and he kissed me."

"Aw, that's adorable," He said. "I'm so happy for you! But why aren't you guys together then?"

"It was in the heat of the moment!" I exclaimed. "He was being all mushy and sensitive."

"Hey, I don't kiss Skeppy just because it's the heat of the moment."

I stumbled on my words. "It didn't mean anything."

Bad laughed. "Are you sure, George? Or do you not want it to mean anything?"

"Stop, Bad," I said when my brain could no longer keep up with my racing thoughts.

"You know, George, I always knew you two ragamuffins would get together," He said. "Ever since you guys met."

"No way. You're lying."

"No I'm not," He said. "Okay maybe not right after you guys met. Soon after is a better way of putting it."

I laughed. That was absolutely ridiculous. My heart may be confused now, but it was definitely set in its ways when I met him. He was just another annoying school boy I had to work with. I knew for a fact nothing was there back then.

"How did you know then?"

"It was more of a feeling, but I had the same feeling with my sister and her best friend. They got married this year."

“Well you're wrong this time. I'm straight." The lump in my throat seemed to swell as I said that.

"Yeah, and so's Dream."

All the words left on my tongue suddenly poofed away, leaving me with nothing left to say. Nothing left to defend myself with in a losing argument. He knew he won, even if he didn't say so. He ate his muffin with success written all over his face.

Footsteps emerged from the top of the stairs, and not only did Sapnap come down, but Dream did too. We made eye contact, and my heart leapt into my throat. They both looked uncomfortable. Dream looked ready to run back up the steps the moment Sapnap let go of his arm.

"Hi Dream!" Bad exclaimed, somehow not sensing the awkward tension between us. He grabbed a muffin off the plate and held it out for Dream. "Try one! Sapnap and I made it."

"Thanks," Dream replied, gazing up at me as he took the muffin. He took a bite and immediately gagged. Bad frowned.

"You don't like it?"

"No," Dream said, his eyes widening. "I-I meant— it's not that bad. Sapnap made it trash."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Well first off, I hate blueberries, and it's hard. I swear it almost broke a molar."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Sapnap said, snatching the muffin and taking a bite. "You're just being overly critical."

"What do you think then?" Dream asked.

"Tastes magnificent," He replied. "You just have defected taste buds."

"What do you think, George?" Dream's voice quivered slightly when he said my name. Hearing him say it nearly knocked the wind out of me.

"Uhh," Everybody looked at me. Bad looked the most scared, his eyes about ready to pop from his glasses. "It tastes fine to me."

His scared look quickly melted away as if it was never there in the first place, "Thank you, George."

To get things straight, I didn't lie. I just said it wasn't as bad as Dream was making it out to me.

Dream waved me off, "Whatever. Y'all are weirdos." He turned on his heel and entered the kitchen. My legs itched to follow him. To talk to him again. It was like craving chocolate. It was an overwhelming urge that I chose not to follow.

“So what have you guys been talking about?" Sapnap asked, looking between me and Bad.

"Muffins," Bad replied, looking to me with a smile, "What about you guys?"

I saw a hint of a smile before he 'suddenly' started coughing. "Nothing." He still had a soft smile on his face that he tried to cover up with his hand.

"What's Dream been doing?" I asked.

"Coding like he said. He's working on something with Fundy," He shrugged. "Didn't tell me exactly what."

"Oh."

"So, George, what have you and Dream been doing? Before you guys— well, before he started coding," Sapnap asked.

"Nothing."

"Well, Dream told me you guys go driving sometimes."

I let out a soft laugh, and I knew I was blushing way too much for the drives to be just drives around. "No."

"Oh, my God!" He laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing."
He  knew. Of course he knew. Sapnap could get virtually anything out of Dream. All he had to do was look pretty, maybe bat his eyelashes all cutely, and Dream would give in. I got up to my feet.

"I'll be back." I walked into the kitchen where Dream sat on his phone eating from a bag of Sour Patch Kids. "You idiot."

He glanced up from his phone. "What?"

"You told Sapnap!" I sat next to him.

"He cornered me, George. He basically strangled it out of me."

I crossed my arms. "Then what did he do?"

He blinked. "He asked me what happened."

"Dream!"

"But he said it in a really... persuasive way."

"You have the resistance of a twig."

"I know." His lips cracked into a smile. "I love you?"

I bit back a smile. That was the cutest thing I had ever seen. It was cuter than every puppy and kitten combined.

"Really?" I said in the most monotone tone I could muster.

"I'm sorry," He said softly.

"I—" I ran a hand through my hair. "Fine. I can't really get mad anyway. I told Bad."

He grinned, "George!" He pushed me lightly.

"Dream!" I mocked with a laugh. "He asked me in a really persuasive way, Dream!"

When he wheezed, it was a different experience than when he just laughed. His entire face seemed to light up when he wheezed, his eyes became squinty, and his smile went from ear to ear. His face turned so red, his ears looked ready to burst into flames.

And when he finished, he shook his head and let out a little, "Oh, my God," and reached into his bag of Sour Patch Kids. He pulled out a blue one and handed it to me. "Want one?"

I took the child-shaped candy and popped it into my mouth. I cringed as the sour taste hit me. He watched me with a small smile.

"I miss you," I whispered, not tearing my eyes away from his.

"I miss you, too," He replied, popping another Sour Patch Kid in his mouth.

"Why'd you just disappear from me then?"

He shrugged, "I wasn't sure how you felt about the—uh—kiss. You kind of just brushed it off."

"So instead of asking, you decide it would be better to completely lock yourself away from me?"

"Well it sounds stupid when you say it out loud."
“Because it is stupid."

He chuckled. "I won't do it again."

"Thank you."

He got up and opened his arms. "I'm sorry. Are we okay?"

I let out a sigh and nodded before going into his arms. He was so warm in his green sweater. It was like hugging a 6'3 pillow. He rested his head on top of mine.

He laughed, and I could feel it against my body. "How long have you two been standing there?"

I broke from our hug and turned around. Sapnap and Bad were standing standing in the doorway looking in. Both had wide smiles on their faces.

"Long enough to know this isn't about a green card anymore," Sapnap said.