The Cracks in the Ceiling (DNF)

Chapter 3

Trigger Warning: Panic Attack

I was running in the opposite direction of Dream in Minecraft, trying to beat the game before him. By the time I had made a tool or two in wood, Dream had already made several achievements including [stone age] and [acquire hardware]. I sighed and tried not to get distracted, spotting a cave and hurrying in. I could tell Dream was pretty far ahead of me but I wouldn't expect anything less from the Minecraft world speed-running record holder. 

For about two weeks now we had fallen into a steady schedule of making streams and videos separately in the mornings and playing together in the afternoon, most often with a camera for a few hours and off-camera until we could barely stay awake. I had noticed that I was spending less and less time with anyone else, and our playing time together only increased, usually within every few days. 

"Oh come on now..." Dream mocked, laughing maniacally while running past me out of the nether, just as I had finally gotten the [We Need to go Deeper] achievement. 

My cheeks flushed, hot from humiliation again. I decided to not reply, instead creating an ever-growing path across a large lava lake. Dream only seemed to enjoy my silence by laughing in glee. 

"Shut up," I said, knowing it didn't come off as serious as I had hoped for. 

I could almost hear his smile somehow. 

"Not everyone can be as fast as you, Dream." I grudgingly said, finally finding a fortress. 

"Oh yea I'm fast at all kinds of things..." he said, with a hint of a smirk in his tone.

I thought about this for a moment while opening a few chests, considering what to say next.

 "I'm sure you are. I'm not so sure you can be faster than me at everything." I replied, matching his level of cockiness. 

"Power bottom, are we George?" he asked. 

I choked on thin air and almost fell off my seat. I quickly readjusted my hands on my mouse and keyboard, while trying to think of something to say back to that. I tried to not show how much of a mess I was, especially at words like that.  Luckily we were recording off-stream with no face cams, so I could edit that out. 

"Are you... going to edit that part out in your recording?" I asked, my voice cracking ever so slightly right at the end.

 He wheezed, trying to catch his breath. 

"If you want me to, Georgie," he said, getting the achievement for the stronghold. 

"No!" I said, having finally gotten what I needed to so that I could leave the nether. 

"Having trouble keeping up?" he asked. 

In a couple of minutes, he won, just as I had finally gotten to the end and was ready to finish the dragon, myself.  I yelled grunts of frustration and stopped to drink some water. 

Dream's POV:

 I laughed and leaned in, close enough to the microphone for my lips to almost nudge it. 

"Thanks for playing with me, George," I said, as low and sincere as I could.

 Surprisingly, he didn't give me any sort of comeback or normal reaction like he normally would.  

"Same! Gotta go!" he said, aggressively clicking with his mouse to close out everything. 

"Why are you leaving so fast? Is something wr-" I heard the sound of him leaving the discord call and his character left Minecraft only split seconds following it.

 I sat back in confusion. Had I... done or said something to upset him? He seemed really rushed out of nowhere. He didn't seem particularly stressed while beating the game, but right after he finished he sounded almost panicked trying to leave so fast. And I couldn't recall him ever cutting me off like that, either. 

"What's up? Is everything okay?" I texted him. 

A read notification showed almost immediately but he didn't reply. On discord, I could also see that he was still online. Was he trying to avoid me or something? I sat on my bed and tried to rack my brain for any reason as to why he would suddenly not want to talk to me. Had I... said something to offend him? The only thing I could really think of was our weirdly sexual teasing throughout the game.

 I could feel tears threatening to show up. I had probably made him uncomfortable. I sat holding my knees, digging my face in the white t-shirt I was wearing. Why did I let this happen? He was obviously straight, or at least in denial. I knew we had always had oddly suspicious flirtatious comments towards each other, but I must have crossed the line at some point. 

Maybe it was the power bottom comment, that he just hadn't fully processed until we finished. I could feel my heart pounding hard in my chest. Or he was uneasy from one of my remarks and was just trying to act fine until the video was finished and he could leave. It felt like the room was spinning, even as I was trying to lay perfectly still on the bed. My hands felt numb but my body started shaking, and I couldn't stop. 

Eventually, tears started falling down my face, and despite wiping them, I couldn't get them to go away. I had the sudden urge to grab one of the 'GeorgeNotFound' hoodies from my closet that he didn't know I had purchased, but instead wrapped myself in covers. It was almost like a punishment to me. I couldn't wear his hoodies. I had made him uncomfortable, and possibly even ruined any sort of relationship we had together. Sweat soaked through my shirt while and I cried until I didn't have the energy to, anymore. My eyelids felt heavy and I slowly drifted into sleep.