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There were only ten short minutes before the end of the year 2021.
In ten short minutes, Florida would be following the rest of the world and entering into a new part of the decade.
George always thought that New Years was pretty pointless. There’s not really anything special about counting down from ten and taking a shot or blowing some stupid, loud confetti tube and pretending that next year is going to be different.
And don’t even get him started on New Year's resolutions. George wasn’t an idiot- he knew those things never actually happened. They were just something people would say they’d do, but instead never actually put an effort into working towards that goal.
Basically, George didn’t like New Years. But, he hadn’t necessarily told any of his friends about this ideology of his.
“George!” Sapnap called from the array of couches he’d set up this afternoon, “Come back!”
Right, George had claimed he’d escaped to the bathroom, but, instead, he was just trying to avoid the countdown, seeing if his friends would somehow, hopefully, forget him. It was apparently to no avail.
He slowly, and painfully, opened up the bathroom door, revealing a grinning Sapnap. “What were you doing in there for so long, George?”
The brunette grinned right back. “Your mom, of course.”
Everyone started laughing so George made his way back to his spot on the sofa, situated in between Dream and Karl.
The timer on the screen enthusiastically announced that there were less than eight minutes left until the fabulous, extraordinary year of 2022 would occur. George hated it.
“What’s everyone’s new year's resolutions?” Karl asked, voice alight with amusement.
“Graduate law school. And get more viewers than Dream on at least one of my streams,” Quackity admitted, sending a grin Dream’s way as he took another sip of his Monster.
The blonde chuckled and relaxed further into the couch. “And my resolution is to make sure that never happens... I mean the second one, obviously.”
Dream drifted off into thought for a moment before turning towards George with a half sort of smirk on his face. “And,” he said, voice lowering so it was hard for anyone but George to hear it, “I’m gonna get George to say he loves me on stream.”
George ignored the look in Dream’s eyes and the pit in his stomach, opting instead to shove his best friend's shoulder, give a roll of the eyes, and mutter, “As if.”
Dream grimaced for a second, but only a second, and then he was laughing right along with George. “You’re such an idiot,” he breathed out.
“And you love me,” George replied back with a shit-eating grin.
“Gross. Absolutely disgusting. I hate this,” Sapnap interrupted with faux annoyance on his face. “My new year's resolution is to finally court Mrs. Wastaken and become Dream’s step-dad.”
“You’re the worst,” the blonde huffed in between a chuckle.
“But you love me,” Sapnap mocked, sending a pseudo death glare George’s way.
The brunette really did hate New Years, but this, this was okay.
The clock on the television clicked down to two minutes. Karl was running around, grabbing everyone confetti poppers for the big drop while Quackity was pouring small shots of champagne. Sapnap was off somewhere else, probably pissing himself with excitement, which left only Dream and George together on the couch.
The blonde strung an arm around George’s shoulders and pulled him closer so the brunette was leaning against his chest. “I’m really glad we met up this year. I hope you know that,” he said, mouth implanted somewhere in the top of George’s head.
“I am too, Dream.” George said, a casual eye roll thrown his friend's way as he smiled upwards.
The moment of domesticity seemed to be over as Dream came up with an idea.
“Geooorge,” he taunted.
“What's up, idiot?”
“Do you have what Americans call a ‘New Years Kiss’ in that British land you call home?”
George’s face turned a light shade of red before answering, “Yeah, of course. Everyone has that.”
“Okayy,” the blonde drawled out. “So, how much do you think they would freak out if we kissed when the clock hit zero?”
The brunette’s face turned even more red as he attempted to remain calm. “I think Sapnap would freak out the most, then Karl, and I think Quackity would just act cool about it.”
“Are you willing to bet on that?” Dream asked, voice low with mirth.
George brushed aside every single thing in his head that was telling him no, it’s not okay to kiss your best friend, let alone want to kiss your best friend, and answered back with a confident grin. “Prepare to lose.”
Dream chuckled, but the moment was thrown away all too soon as their three friends returned. Karl handed everyone a set of confetti poppers, and Quackity placed a shot of champagne for everyone on the table in front of them. Sapnap just returned to his usual spot, watching Karl and Quackity do all the work.
There were only 20 seconds left now. All his friends had stood up, watching the television with such an intensity George wasn’t sure if they were watching the news or some extremely well-filmed porn documentary.
At some point, Dream had pulled George up next to him, keeping their hands entwined as the countdown began. George's stomach was pure mush.
The brunette wasn’t even counting alongside his friends, but that was okay. He wasn’t enjoying the whole New Years' countdown thing because of the actual counting: he enjoyed it because his friends looked super excited to be doing it. And he was happy as long as he got to be with them. As cheesy as it sounds, George was really glad he’d met them.
When the clock hit zero, George was suddenly pulled by his waist into Dream’s grasp. The blonde said something, George nodded, and then they were kissing.
They both tasted like alcohol mixed with grapes (yes they had tried to do the 12 grapes tradition earlier by the request of Quackity- and it under no circumstances ended up well) but neither boy really cared.
George placed his hands along the back of Dream’s neck, tugging on the hair at its nape as Dream kept his hands at George’s waist, opting instead to push his tongue inside of his best friend’s mouth.
It was over too soon. And upon opening their eyes, the duo was met with two sets of widened eyes and one set of annoyance.
“What the fuck was that!” Sapnap asked with a voice so high it was almost laughable.
“You guys owe me 5 bucks each, thank you very much,” Quackity spoke nonchalantly as he held his hand out.
Karl swatted his hand away as he just looked at George and Dream with pure suspicion.
In an attempt to break the silence, George removed his hand from Dream’s hair and placed it onto burning red cheeks. “You owe me money as well.”
Dream smiled sheepishly, “What if I just kissed you again?”
“No,” Sapnap interrupted. “Get a fuckin' room if you’re gonna do that. No one wants to see it.” His face was serious for a moment too long before he burst out into laughter, the rest of them following suit soon after.
The boys settled back onto the couches, but this time George’s legs were placed on top of Dream’s as he leaned against the couch cushion.
“So George,” Karl began, finally speaking for the first time since he witnessed the kiss, “What was your resolution? You never actually said it.”
“Oh,” George blushed with embarrassment. “I actually didn't have one. I don’t really believe in them.” He shrugged, trying to place the attention anywhere besides his face.
It was silent for too long when Dream stood up, brushing George’s legs off of himself in the process, and reached out for George’s hand again. “We’ll be right back, guys,” he assured the trio.
“Yeah, right,” Sapnap scoffed. But Dream was already pulling George outside to the deck.
It was quiet outside. The sky was filled with stars and the moon lit up the spot the duo had decided to stand in; the pair was practically bathed in the moonlight.
“You said you don’t believe in New Years resolutions, right?” Dream asked softly, hand still entwined with George’s.
“Yeah,” the brunette smiled, beginning to pull away. “We should really talk about what happened back there, Dream.” His voice was unsure, nervous.
“I know it was a lot, but just let me say this, okay?” Dream spoke, voice soft as he traced George’s knuckles with his thumb.
George nodded, opting for Dream to continue. “Well, George, my new year's resolution from last year actually came true.”
“Okay?” the brunnete responded, unsure as to what his friend was talking about.
“It came true in the last 10 seconds of 2021, George!” Dream was smiling now.
“Your new year’s resolution was to kiss me?” George questioned, eyes wide with shock.
Dream’s ears were a burning shade of red. “It took all year but I finally did it, yeah.”
“Oh my god, you’re actually an idiot!” George blurted out, causing Dream to chuckle. “If you’d told me at literally any other time in the entirety of last year, this could have happened so much quicker.”
Dream’s eyes were filled with glee as a smile was spread wide across his face. “Oh my god George, you actually do love me!”
“Obviously,” the brunette mumbled. He pulled on Dream’s collar and instantaneously they were kissing again.
They were so caught up in each other that they didn’t even notice the three pairs of eyes glancing their way.
“I fucking told you guys Dnf was real,” Quackity taunted.
Laughter filled the air that night as George finally started to believe that maybe, just maybe his 2022 would be much better than 2021. All because of his best friend's stupid resolution...