𝓌𝑒 𝒻𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝒾𝓃 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝒸𝓉𝑜𝒷𝑒𝓇 ; 𝓈𝒶𝓅𝓃𝑜𝒷𝓁𝒶𝒹𝑒

[vii.] ;; 𝒿𝓊𝓁𝓎

july fourth is independence day. as a surprise to nick, dave had gotten george, clay, darryl, and zak to come out and visit (george got his visa the month before nick moved to california, a surprise to almost everyone except for clay, whom he gotten married to. dave still cannot believe they're actually married), celebrate the holiday with them. dave's never liked the basis of independence day – secretly, he's only in it for the pretty fireworks.

it's midday when a knock on the door snaps him out of his thoughts, and before he can get up, nick is sliding across the hardwood floor on his socks, almost slipping and collapsing against the door. he takes a moment to gather his bearings before he opens it, and he almost slips again when he realises who's at the door. "george? dream?" the blond and brunet both grin, arms opening wide, and nick hugs them both tightly, tears pricking the corners of his eyes as he looks at his best friends. dave stands back awkwardly, though he smiles at the sight of the three. "dave, they're here!"

"that they are. and two more people are on there way." he tells him, and nick just about screams. he lets go of george and clay to slide over to dave, wraps his arms around the taller's torso and burying his face in dave's neck. clay looks amused, george looks surprised; nick kisses dave's jawline softly, a smile lacing his lips.

"dude, i'm so happy!" nick exclaims, closing the door behind clay and george.

"we can tell." george says, ruffling nick's hair. "it's unfair, i'm the shortest one here now." the brit pouts, and clay grabs his husband's hand, chuckling. "it's not funny!"

"just wait until zak gets here, geo," clay says, and nick actually jumps (dave knows he should tell him not to, their downstairs neighbours will get upset, but he doesn't want to see the excited smile slip from his face; the neighbours getting mad will be worth it, he wants to see that smile on nick's face all the time), hands flapping in the air.

"skeppy is coming too? what about bad? is bad coming?" he looks at dave, eyes shiny with happy tears, and dave has never been more in love. "is he?"

"yep. both of them are coming. unfortunately, though, i don't have much room here, so i'm unsure they all can stay over. i could put bad and skeppy in my room, i'll sleep on the couch, but i've no clue where dream and george will stay." he mumbles, half to himself, and nick claps his hands together.

"dream 'nd george can have my bed!" at first, the brit and floridian protest, but nick claps again. "no questions! you guys're sleeping in my bed, i'll keep dave company on the couch." clay's eyebrows raise ever so slightly, a question on the tip of his tongue, but george asks it first. it's like they can hear each other's thoughts, dave thinks with a soft shcuckle.

"when did you guys get together?" nick flushes, looks down and shakes his head. dave, on the other hand, tries to suppress the blush threatening to invade his cheeks and brushes his hair out of his face.

"we're not together." he simply replies, monotone as ever, and clay snorts in disbelief.

"yeah, right."

"he's right, we're not- not dating," nick says, then quickly changes the subject. "when will bad and skep be here?" clay mumbles something under his breath that dave doesn't quite catch, and he assumes it must not be important.

"they'll be here in about an hour. then we can start the celebration." dave murmurs – he doesn't regret inviting them over, but he can already feel the tendrils of a headache slipping in. he sighs and sits down on the couch, gesturing for the others to sit down. nick, of course, sits down beside him, and george and clay take the couch opposite of them.

the three make idle chatter, mainly about whatever show is on – supernatural, he thinks, a good show – whilst dave is about to doze off. they get through an episode and a half before another knock on the door snaps dave out of sleep, jerking up and sighing. his headache's gotten worse, and he stumbles to the bathroom, opening one of the cabinets to check for the aspirin. he takes two, cups water in his hands and swallows the tablets, stepping out just as george walks in.