ORPHANED

:: seventy-one ::

-230k readers special-

forgot to add it the first time around, thank you all! lots of love from me, you make me happy <3

—

he bit the inside of his cheek, trying to hold himself back from saying something terrible. to his dismay, he had been informed, george's 'friend' was an opponent on the opposing team. he huffed, ushering them into the waiting room. this could not have gone worse for him.

when the door was closed behind him, the lights flickering off, a few things caught his eye. first, the bright pink hair that sat atop both his sister and karl's heads were literal beacons, practically begging for them to be scouted out in the dark. second, george had chosen the wrong day to wear his yelllow sweatshirt, the color sickeningly bright having been illuminated by the black lights.

they stood no chance against the other team, who wore almost full black, the only person on their team wearing colors be the girl around his sister's age, who spoke with her in the front of the room.

a duo wearing checkered shirts announced the rules to the group. dream's team obviously wasn't too invested in that, however they shot up when the duo offered to let them change their names.

dream watched his friends scuttle to the screen, excited to enter in a alias. he didn't bother asking questions, handing george a vest with blaring lights to watch as the smaller man strapped it to his chest.

sapnap pleaded along side quackity to allow them to have inappropriate names. dream wasn't sure how, but the two of them convinced the staff to not block out the very few inappropriate things they could fit into the three character limit. maybe they were amused by their determination, maybe they were intrigued.

his sister tapped him on the shoulder.

"can i borrow your bracelet, i want to put my hair up."

he glanced down to the lime green strings that rested against his wrist. his mind skipping over the lines of color that were braided into the center of it.

"and your sweatshirt, i need to hide my hair."

he removed the bracelet, handing it to his sister.

"i won't lose it." she began tying up her hair.

"you better not lose it. my little sister made that for me." he smiled when he saw her roll her eyes, she waited expectantly for the sweatshirt dream had yet to hand over.

he sighed pulling himself out of the sweatshirt, knowing she wouldn't let up unless there was absolutely no other choice. this was going to singlehandedly save his entire team, he had tried to convince himself. he handed her the fabric, watching as she cringed when her head rose from inside the warmth.

"smells like cologne."

he scoffed, pushing at her head. "what, would you prefer if it smelt like sweat?"

she stuck out her tongue shaking her head as she retreated away from him.

together, his team sat on their bench, awaiting for the sign that the previous round had finish.

"now that i think about it, we want george on our side."

dream's head snapped in the direction of the person trying to nerf their entire team.

"but he's on our team?" sapnap stated as if the guy was dumb.

if george was on the opposite team dream knew he wasn't going to play at his highest ability, wanting to shy away from hitting the other.

"you can't just take one of our teammates, your team already has a one man advantage." dream recounted.

seven against six

"you're not really that serious about a match of laser tag are you? plus, george doesn't seem to mind."

dream could feel his teeth crash together. the noise of the previous match finally coming to an end. the blasting noises from the room over subsiding. he turned to george, hoping the other would tell him off.

george didn't say anything, rubbing at his arm as he directed his attention away from his friends.

"perfect, come and join the dark side, georgie." dream watched him as he patted on his thighs, expecting the brunette to sit on his lap.

he watched the entire interaction, as george walked to sit beside him. he sat, reserved, his hands hanging past his knees, the guy beside him reaching over to rest a hand on his waist.

george flinched from the touch.

as the people from the last match filtered out, the other team stood, believing they'd have an advantage of entering the arena first.

"good luck blondie, let's see if i can put george to better use than you can." he smirked, stepping into the darkened room, his friends following behind.

he felt his hands clench into fists at his side, taking a step forward to follow after him. he stopped at a weaker force, trying to push against him.

"please."

dream stopped his movements, looking down to the origin of the soft voice. george pressed his face into the center of dream's t-shirt, abstracting dream's view of his face.

"please don't start anything."

his voice was mumbled against the fabric of his shirt, pushing back waves of anger that built up inside the blonde. his sister's friend called him over, waiting for george to join them on their side of the map.

dream stood and stared as george walked into the room, his head hanging low.

"dream."

sapnap tried to rest a hand on his shoulder, only for it to be shaken off.

"let him be sapnap, he needs time to cool off." his sister, bless her soul, had experienced him in this state one too many times, knowing exactly how this would play out.

he let out a breath, feelings of frustration from the previous day, and the anonymity of this guy who george seemed to know. dream had always told so much to george, but now that he thought about it, did he really know the brunette at all?

he stepped into the arena, feeling his friends trail closely behind. he knew he was going to be breaking all the rules in the next three rounds of fifteen minutes.

—

too much going on on twitter,,,,brain hurt,,,school tomorrow,,,,,want sleep. anyways, i can't figure out a name for this mystery guy, we should all collectively decide. sorry for dropping this on top of all the stuff happening today, but i'm tired and i'm scared im going to fall asleep very soon