South London Forever // George Karim

-cuddles and tears and sappy feelings-

literally 3k of slightly angsty fluff and hugs, ur welcome

<3

Freddie pushed the wiggling dog's tongue off her face and curled back into her blankets that smelt like sage incense and dust. Her face was warm, Lockwood must have kept the fire going after she fell asleep. Considering she was supposed to be the one looking after George as he calmed down, it was embarrassing that she'd been the first to melt into the pile of doonas and go to sleep.

She wiped her eyes, which were sticky with sleep, and went to roll onto her back. Something was stopping her, and then Freddie realised that there was an arm tight around her middle.

The blankets were twisted over her legs and shoulders as she rolled back the other way into George, who shifted a bit and muttered something. Freddie wasn't sure if it was directed at her or not. "Morning Georgie boy."

"Hey."

"Do you... do you feel better?" she asked quietly, trying not to embarrass George over everything that had happened or wake herself up too much. She liked the comfort of being in bed with the fire crackling and Chai snuffling at her feet.

"Uh, yeah." George's voice was weak and low. "I'm sorry that wasn't-"

Freddie reached out and held her hand over his lightly. It was warm and his fingers curled over hers a moment later. They shook. She smiled as reassuringly as she could, but she didn't really know if she had a nice smile to begin with. "You've got nothing to apologise for, okay? No more saying sorry, or bad things about yourself."

"I mean, I did lie to you, a lot." George started to work himself up immediately, his voice getting higher with anxiety, and rustled in the blankets as if he was about to get up. He pulled his arm off her waist. "I shouldn't even be here, I've completely ruined-"

"George."

"Sorry. Shit, I mean... uh..." He trailed off and went silent, his breath rattling in the soft silence of the library. Chai shuffled around at their feet, snuffling in the blankets that shifted as George sunk back down.

"It's okay, look... Honestly, I don't think it's a very good idea to leave, I don't think you should go back to live with your- with Edith." Freddie took a deep breath and tried not to let the tears threatening to spill drip down her cheeks. She didn't want to lose George, she didn't want him to go back and live with that monster of a human.

She wanted to wake up and find him cooking breakfast with the warm breeze and the happy dog and she wanted to play the violin for him and show him all the books in the library and take him to the great pizza place near the Archives. She wanted to wrap him in blankets and steal from Agencies together and have him listen to all her favourite records and let him ramble on about things he'd read. Freddie wanted to hold George so tightly in her arms that nothing could hurt him again.

Freddie just let her hand sit atop his instead, and tried to put her feelings into words. Not the ones that involved things Lockwood would tease her about, of course. Freddie gulped. "I want to keep you safe, but it's still your decision, so... maybe we could have breakfast and think about it properly, if you really don't want to stay?"

"I... It's complicated."

Freddie chewed the inside of her lip. "I figured."

"Why aren't you kicking me out, Freddie? I tricked you." George's voice cracked, and his breathing started to speed up again, catching every few seconds.