another revealed truth

fulfilling an urge?

trigger warnings listed in opening author's note

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george smiles down at his phone, practically grinning at the faces on his screen.

"bye, bye!" he says, waving happily as his brother and niece wave back. he instinctively unlocks the front door to the apartment with the keykard in his lanyard, not having to process his movements as he pushes the door open and steps in. "love you!"

"love uncle georgie!" flora cheers back, adorable as ever, and george scrunches his face in adoration over her cuteness as he pulls his lanyard off of his neck, letting it open on force and reaching over to drape it over the hook on the inside of the hallway.

"bye george, we'll call you soon."

"bye wil." george offers one last wave before the call ends, finding himself still smiling even as he reaches back to push his phone into his back pocket. he sighs, content, and glances back at the door.

it feels odd that he didn't process coming in.

george stands in the hallway for a long moment, looking at the closed apartment door, and regrets the way he so simply came in. a nagging little want in his mind pops up, telling him he has to go outside and enter again, just so he can process it.

he shakes his head, trying to brush the though off, and goes to walk away down the hallway.

he hardly makes a three steps before groaning in annoyance and reaching back to grab his lanyard off of the hook. he sighs to himself, shaking his head in frustration, and turns around to leave the apartment again. he waits outside in the main hallway for the door to slowly drift shut, feeling frustrated with his own persistent brain.

after a moment he reaches over, unlocking the door again, this time with more thought, and then lets himself in. he hangs his lanyard up again, admittedly feeling better now that he got a second chance, and kicks his shoes off in the hallway.

george heads into their shared kitchen and spots a stray glass on the side of the counter. it doesn't bother him too much, honestly, because he knows karl is busy and has other, more important, things that occupy his mind over the stress of washing up. george doesn't feel anger as he crosses the room to wash the glass, actually feeling sort of good that he's able to help out the brunette in little ways like this.

when the glass is clean, george dries it. when the glass is dry, george puts it away.

he notices, when he checks their cupboard, that there is significantly less plates than their should be. george knows that karl eats, to a proper standard, if not a little unbalanced, and he can't help but wonder if his best friend has a pile of dirty plates stored away in his bedroom collecting mould.

the thought makes him grimace, hating the thought of both the mess and the idea of his friend living in conditions like that. karl has bad days as it is, and he struggles with so much, and the thought of him having the added stress of dishes as well as the added mess makes george incredibly unhappy.

he knows it isn't really his place to involve himself in the cleanliness of karl's room, but he can't get over the thought. plus, he'd like to talk to his roommate anyway. any excuse to talk to karl is one he'll take. he constantly wants to know how the brunette feels but he doesn't want to be overbearing and make him feel like he's being pressured into talking when he doesn't have the energy for that.