An Ocean Away
okay. i know i made a joke about it literally in the answer to my last ask. however. i have decided to actually start doing little mini fics that i either a) started years ago and never finished, or b) are ideas from/based on something from years ago that i wrote in the spur of the moment
this one happens to be the second option: based on this clip from april of 2021!! throwback to baaaaby baby george omg i love him so much my little man. definitely took some creative liberties with the clip inspiration, but, pretty close still nonetheless :)
i’m excited to keep this going here and there!! there have been a lot of concepts i’ve been meaning to do for ages but thought maybe they’re too outdated to do (especially anything smp related) so maybe this will give me a good reason to get those done <3 that’s about all i have to say, so i hope everyone likes the fic!!
(technically, there’s no actual tickles involved, but still) lee!george, ler!dream, ler!badboyhalo, 2.4k words
enjoy!!
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“George, check discord,” Dream’s tired voice crackled through the microphone, lighting a fire in George’s chest from an ocean away. He blinked back into reality, having fallen into a trance watching BadBoyHalo wander around the SMP for the last 10 minutes, curled up in front of his computer in his dimly lit bedroom. He scooted his chair in, pushing his fingers out of the sleeve of his too-big hoodie, pulling at the blanket over his legs to make sure it didn’t catch under the wheels of the chair as he moved. He clicked off Bad’s stream, navigating to his and Dream’s discord messages, the preview notification letting him know that Dream had sent him a photo about two minutes prior.
It was a piece of fanart.
Fanart of him. And Dream.
Fanart of him and Dream, where Dream was tickling him to pieces.
It wasn’t anything too drastic– Dream with his arms wrapped around George from behind, fingers pressing into his ribs, lips close to his ear, presumably whispering something that would make George’s stomach flip about as much as it did in that moment, while George pushed him away, his face bright pink with a huge, shy smile– but Dream knew exactly what he was doing by sending it to him.
On Bad’s stream. In front of over a thousand people.
Had Dream lost his mind?
He wasn’t able to stop the shy giggle that made its way out of him, but he bit his bottom lip hard as soon as it escaped, smiling so wide it almost hurt his cheeks. He squirmed in his chair, one foot landing back on the ground as he adjusted himself, pushing himself to sit straighter, then slumping back down, pushing his chair a few inches back, then closer towards the desk, before finally settling on using his toes to twist the chair side to side nervously.
He clicked off their messages, into his and Bad’s, then into their group chat, before landing back on Dream’s, the image sending a new wave of flustered energy through him when it graced his presence again, making his flustered giggling return at full force.
“What’s going on over there, Captain Giggles?” Bad asked, chuckling himself, unable to ignore George’s intermittent laughter any longer. The nickname alone made his chest flutter again, bouncing his leg, growing antsy and shaking his head at no one.
“No, nothing, s’nothing, Dre– Dream’s just…” He stuttered, adjusting his headset over his ears and shifting his microphone around.
“He’s what?” Bad pressed, a smile audible in his voice, and George momentarily wished he could go back in time and slap himself before he ever met the two of them, but Dream’s laugh pulled him back down again.
“Yeah, what am I, George?” Dream asked, smug, and George could tell from the way his voice sounded that he had sat up straighter in his chair– taller, more alert, more confident.
“Just… an idiot,” George muttered, speech slurred and jumbled, both from how sleepy he was and how flustered he was. Dream and Bad both laughed at his reply, moving on with their own conversation about something else on the server that George was only kind of paying attention to.
He clicked on the message bar on the bottom, beginning to type out a reply, before deciding that his keyboard was much too loud and his monitor was much too big and bright to be doing that on, so he migrated back to Bad’s stream and returned it to full screen, before grabbing his phone and finding his home in Dream’s discord messages there instead. While his phone was much smaller, it was much closer to him, and the same photo shocked him for a third time, making the butterflies in his tummy flutter rapidly and forcing him to let out another quiet giggle. From there, his fingers flew, his hands clammy and shaky as they held the device close.
are you insane
He couldn’t think of much else to type. He still smiled, though, when he heard Dream let out a chuckle from the other end of the call, followed by the clacking of his keyboard, clearly much less shy about it than George was.
i saw it on twitter and it was just too cute not to send to you
look at your smile :(((
Dream was trying to kill him.
you’re trying to kill me.
Yeah, that was good.
nooooo
not yet ;)
George squirmed in his seat again, pulling the sleeves of his hoodie over his fingers again, crossing his arms over his chest as he pulled his legs up again, curling his toes around the edge of the chair and muffling more breathy laughter into his arm.
“George,” Dream prompted during a lull in his and Bad’s conversation, and George dreaded what would follow, his nerves just barely starting to get back to normal. “You still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” He replied, collected, albeit still sleepy, furrowing his eyebrows. “Why?”
“You haven’t said anything in a few minutes,” He finished, and George knew instantly that he was still messing around– he wasn’t free from Dream’s grasp just yet.
“Oh, sorry. Just tired, I think, but I’m still here,” He replied, as Bad answered a couple questions from chat in the meantime.
“Good,” Dream said back, clearly smirking, and George was embarrassed to admit how quickly that reply got him right back where his nervousness started.
Seconds later, his phone screen lit up again, alerting him of a new discord message.
georgie
One word, and Dream already had more nervous giggles bubbling up in his chest. He had George wrapped around his finger– and they both knew it.
yeah?
George let out a sigh, willing himself to calm down, eternally grateful that his camera wasn’t on. He could feel the heat on his face, helplessly aware that his flushed skin would be incredibly obvious and visible, even with the awful lighting from his computer monitor and the single, warm-toned lamp he had turned on in his room.
is that how you’re gonna react when i get to actually tickle you for the first time?
Any resolve George had hoped to hold onto flew out the window as soon as Dream hit send.
His embarrassed giggles returned again, even more nervous than they already were– which George didn’t even know was possible until it happened. They came out higher pitched, squeaky, completely involuntary, and he couldn’t stop it if he wanted to. He slapped a hand over his mouth, practically melting against his chair, resting his elbow in his desk and slumping down to hide in it. He dropped his other foot to the floor now, both legs bouncing nervously, as he stayed curled up with his head in his arms, mentally begging for the carpet below him to open up and swallow him whole.
“Oh my goodness, George, are you okay?” Bad asked through fond laughter, and George let out a groan, peeking one eye up to watch as Bad’s chat flew faster than his tired brain could process, filled with messages about his laughter and Dream’s smug responses and theorizing about what could be causing both of those things. “What set you off like that?”
“I sent him something,” Dream explained after recovering from his own smug laughter, voice smooth and sickeningly sweet, a tone that George recognized immediately, harkening back to their late nights discord calls with just the two of them where Dream would tease him in the exact same way. This only made George want to crawl into a hole even more, but he was still thankful that Dream wasn’t making him explain what had happened, because he might have actually died.
His thankfulness was short lived, however, when Dream reminded him that he was still insane, and still thrived off making George squirm and whine from thousands of miles away.
“Can I send it in the group chat, George? To show Bad?” Dream asked, and George had to bite his lip to stop himself from whining in response, reminding himself that they were still live, so he had to try to contain himself, even if Dream was making it so hard to do so just by existing and talking the way that he did.
“I hate you,” Was what he decided on instead, muttered softly into the sleeve of his hoodie that kept him comfortably warm and fuzzy– not a yes, not a no, enough for Dream to make a decision. He heard Dream chuckle, the sound vibrating through his chest and squeezing around his heart, another whimper threatening to escape his throat before he swallowed it down. He heard a few clicks, then watched the screen of his phone light up again, where it had been abandoned on the side of his desk.
oh baby :((
you’re so cute :(((
is it okay if i send it?
George felt the warmth spread through his chest again, feeling his lips form a small pout as he read each message as they came through. He squirmed and altered his position again, pulling the sleeves of his hoodie over his hands and picking his legs up, curling up under the blanket and scooting closer to his desk so he could still reach his keyboard and mouse.
mhm
He turned off his phone and placed it face down on the desk as he took a few seconds to get cozy again, shifting and squirming and wiggling, adjusting his hoodie, glancing between Bad’s stream and his now unoccupied hands in his lap, fidgeting with his fingers bashfully.
“Bad, check the group chat,” Dream said, and George let out a huff of air, his breathing somewhat regulated again even as his head grew dizzier and his poor tummy fluttered with butterflies. He heard Bad gasp, a smile audible in his voice when he spoke next.
“Is that what I think it is?” He asked excitedly, and Dream hummed in confirmation. “Oh, that is so cute, that’s really cute.”
“Who is that, George?” Dream asked softly, and if George was in the same room as him, he could have shot lasers at him through his eyes. “Is that me and you?”
“Dream…” George whined, pulling the collar of his hoodie over his mouth to hide his giggles.
“Can I show that on stream?” Bad asked, and George’s stomach flipped, protests leaving his mouth before he even registered the question.
“No, no, no! Nohoho, no,” He whined, no fight in his voice, but still shaking at the thought of something like that being shown to their audience. He knew Bad wouldn’t do anything like that without his undeniable permission, but it was still enough to make him giddy and nervous all over again.
“C’mon, Georgie, let him show it,” Dream teased, and George shook his head at nothing once again.
“Nohoho! No, no,” He continued to protest, feeling the tension and anxiety rise in his chest, starting to get slightly nervous about continuing their activities in front of an audience.
George always prided himself on being able to control a situation on stream, making sure things would go a certain way, or at least be able to wrangle things back in if someone like Dream or Sapnap or Bad decided to tease and mess with him to fluster him, but this was a different situation. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to keep himself from completely falling into Dream’s trap, and with Bad there as well, it would only happen even faster. He still trusted them to know they would take care of it, but the thought worried him nonetheless.
“Can I at least describe it to them?”
“No! No, you can’t, you can’t,” George squirmed in his seat, running his fingers through his hair. He huffed again, biting his lip nervously, anxious energy turning antsy again.
“Alright, alright, I’m just teasing. I’m not gonna show it,” Bad reassured, and George hummed in acknowledgment. “But it’s a very cute piece of fanart, George, I’m glad I could see it. Did you commission someone for that?”
“Wh– no–!” George stuttered, giggling in surprise, not expecting the question. Dream chuckled too, answering much more eloquently.
“No, no. Obviously he didn’t,” He said, slow and soft, voice thick like honey once again, and George melted at his tone like a lovesick baby kitten, collapsing in his chair for the millionth time that night.
“Well, either way, it’s very, very adorable. I love it a lot, I saved it already on my phone,” Bad explained, the words flowing through George’s ears in slow motion.
“Y-you…” He stammered again, processing that Bad actually saved the drawing of Dream tickling him to his phone, and he broke into shy, squeaky giggles again. The other two let him wind himself down, kindly letting him breathe for a moment, and George decided that was as good a time as any to click into their group chat and type out another message.
bad
can you end
if you want
pls
His fingers trembled over the keyboard, and he squeezed his fists together, hoping it might help to calm him down slightly. He heard Bad chuckle through the call, answering another question from a donation, before a response came through.
aw :(
does someone want our attention?
George swore he was about to implode.
cmon
no more on stream
He replied, knowing he wasn’t making as much sense as he’d hoped, but confident that the other two would understand him. Dream’s response came first, reassurance over everything else.
okay, sweetheart, it’s alright
not too much longer, don’t worry
we won’t leave you hanging
George let out a soft sigh, ashamed to admit how much the simple words calmed him. Bad’s response came next,
anything for my gogy :)
lemme say my goodbyes and i’m all yours you lil muffin
Immediate relief flooded over him, followed by the sudden realization that he had technically just asked Bad to end his stream so he and Dream could focus more on teasing him, which he did not think through when he started typing. When he started giggling again, even as Bad tried to talk to chat and had to mute the call to do so, Dream couldn’t help but comment on it.
just heard that realization hit in real time
huh, cutie?
George bit his lip, typing up a quick reply,
shut up
i can barely breathe
He heard Dream chuckle at his message, and the group chat stayed still for a few moments. Eventually, George watched Bad’s stream go offline, and he returned to the discord call once more.
“So,” He began, and George was already laughing before he even finished. “Where were we again?”
