🐚 | vineyard promise, snf

[21]

on their last day there, they both accidentally slept in. just a few hours ago they had been watching movies and making stupid remarks about bad acting or how fake everything looked like they were girls at a middle school sleepover. then, when george finally forced them to go to bed, they forgot to set an alarm for their flight.

rushing out of the house an hour before their flight was not something george ever wanted to do again. they arrived just in time for boarding and found their seats fairly quickly, so at least they had some kind of luck on their side.

"another... how long is it again?" george asked, shifting in his seat. he requested the aisle seat this time so he could leave the plane even faster. he was crushing sapnap's hand in his, body stiff as he waited for the plane to take off.

"ten hours," sapnap replied. george groaned and leaned sideways onto sapnap.

the flight back was significantly better than the flight to texas. they worked on crossword puzzles together (sapnap said he felt old doing them) and they both slept, busying themselves with unrealistic dreams.

at the last five minutes, the intercom crackled, stirring both of them from their sleep. "ladies and gentlemen, we'll be landing in london in five minutes. please put your tray tables up. flight attendants will be coming around to collect trash..." the pilot droned on and on.

george, completely awake at the news of landing in five minutes, sat up and nudged sapnap awake.

"i hate this part," george grumbled. sapnap was half-awake putting away the crossword puzzle book in his backpack; he sat back and gave george a tiny grin.

"but this is the best part!"

"you're like still asleep, shut up."

niki picked them up from the airport. george didn't even want to think about how difficult it was just getting out of the plane and through all the gates. just like christmas time, it was packed, and while george was comfortable with holding sapnap's hand freely, they still almost lost each other four times.

"hi niki," sapnap said with a bright smile, giving her a side hug while george wrapped his best friend in a huge hug.

"hi, george, sap! how was the flight?"

george groaned, "absolutely horrible. i hated it. i never want to go on another ever again."

niki laughed, and sapnap snorted.

"whatever. you slept for both of them." sapnap rolled his eyes, leaning forward between the front seats. niki just watched them bicker, not saying a word about their hands locked between seats.

since it was almost new years, niki, george, sapnap, and punz planned a new years party. unlike the halloween party, it was much smaller, with only minx and some other people punz invited as other guests.

the week before new years was spent with planning. for most of them. sapnap spent his time doing homework assignments, but did come to hang out around the cafe with george and niki sometimes, even bringing along punz. although, most of the time, sapnap was in george's apartment and not even his own.

"hi, kitty!" sapnap cooed softly, crouching down to greet the little kitten. she'd gotten bigger over their time in texas.

"her name's harper," a sleepy mumble came from the couch. sapnap looked up to see george peeking over the cushions to stare at him.

picking harper up in his arms, sapnap shuffled over to the couch, sitting down where george made room for him.

"that's a pretty name," sapnap said, leaning down to press a light kiss to george's head. george smiled sleepily and shifted so he was laying across sapnap.

the door opened (again), making sapnap look up from harper. niki, seeing them on the couch, closed the door silently and put a bag of food on the counter. harper jumped out of sapnap's arms and trotted over to niki, meowing up at her.

"hi, harpy," niki whispered. she settled the cat over her shoulder as she opened all the food, sapnap walking over to help once he carefully escaped george's body.

"so, how are we doing new years?" sapnap asked, nudging niki lightly. the pink-haired girl paused, thinking.

"just a little gathering. some decorations, lots of food," she replied, shooting a small smile at sapnap. sapnap nodded and helped plate the food niki bought.

"should we wake him?" sapnap asked when they finished. niki followed his gaze to george still on the couch; he hadn't moved at all since sapnap left.

niki shook her head. "let's not. he's been using all his free time to plan this thing. george doesn't even like parties."

"i think he's just excited for new years. who knows?"

unlike the halloween party, the music was softer and not as loud, and the atmosphere was much more controlled. there was an opened bottle of champagne on the counter and basically everyone was holding a glass. the apartment was decorated very differently from the last party in george's apartment (more streamers and shiny shit than black and orange balloons).

only two people were missing.

george and sapnap sat on the balcony, passing a cigarette between them. half-full glasses of champagne sat on the balcony table. the grey blanket was wrapped around their shoulders for warmth, pressing their sides together for as much heat as possible.

they heard faint shouts and laughs from below them on the sidewalks, but couldn't see where exactly they were coming from. it was dark, being almost 11:50pm, even though there were lights decorating every building in sight. the lights circled trees, lamp posts, even the railing of the balcony.

there was a crash from the inside; george groaned, looking over his shoulder. minx was hiding behind punz, but her bright purple hair was a dead giveaway to where she was.

"she can't go one party without breaking something?" george muttered, sticking his middle finger up and turning back around. sapnap laughed, cool air escaping his mouth into the air along with the smoke.

the glass door slid open, drawing george's attention away from sapnap again. harper scampered out onto the tile, climbing onto sapnap's lap and burrowing into the blanket with him. it was silent for a few more minutes, both boys watching the snow fall and land gingerly on the lit-up railing.

"hey, it's almost midnight," sapnap said softly. he put out the cigarette and tossed it away, then turned slightly to face george.

"you're right," george replied, raising an eyebrow.

sapnap's smile grew. "and at midnight on new years, what do couples do?"

george rolled his eyes but didn't stop a smile from spreading on his face. "if you wanted a kiss, you could have just asked." he leaned closer.

"wait! you can't kiss me until new years!" sapnap gasped, pushing george away gently. george pouted and began checking his phone every minute until midnight.

"one minute," george whispered, clicking his phone off. their friends inside started shouting the ten second countdown. without realising it, both boys ended up shifting closer to the other.

as fireworks went off outside, george felt like they were going off inside him when their lips touched as the countdown reached zero. sapnap's hand was cool and gentle on george's jaw, hushed words mumbled against each other.

"you won't leave?"

"never."

george didn't stop smiling the rest of the night.

FIN.