ORPHANED

:: ninety-three ::

as late afternoon turned to early morning karl and quackity bid the other two goodbye, taking their naturally entertaining personalities, that had filled the silence during the long inactive night, with them. leaving dream and sapnap behind to deal with the problems of yesterday and the beginnings of tomorrow.

normally they found comfort in the warm atmosphere of the coffee shop but lately they seemed to be far from that fellow feeling. dream hated how quiet it got, how sometimes you could hear floorboards creaking, a spoon mixing sugar, fingers tapping against the wood of a table. the silence did nothing but amplify the thoughts that were already running wild in his mind.

"has he texted you? i kind of figure he'd talk to you about anything before me."

dream blinked his eyes, tearing them away from the stack of paper cups in his hand. sapnap yawned, both of them knowing he'd take the opportunity to leave with karl and quackity if presented with the option again.

"you know you could've left, i meant it when i said i'd be fine." seeing sapnap lazily pressed against the wall projected an exhaustion onto the blonde he hadn't felt seconds before.

sapnap shook his head, "i told you i'll have plenty of time to sleep on the plane, i'd much rather be tired with you then be awake on a plane with nothing to do."

dream set down the cups, turning his full attention to the first person he ever called a friend when he had moved here. "yeah until you accidentally fall asleep and don't get up in time to catch your flight."

sapnap groaned, reaching his hands up to rub aggressively at his heavy eyelids. "don't even joke dude, we had to push back my birthday party last year because we all slept in."

"i've been there before." they stood like that for a while, dream's eyes found the basic clock that hung on the wall, watching the thin red line tick past the numbers. "actually no i haven't."

"great that makes me feel so much better about it." sapnap pulled his phone from his pocket, browsing his apps while the blonde watched.

"do you want to go restock the toilet paper-"

"in the bathroom? no thanks."

dream turned to eye the bathroom, it made no sense to him how quickly public bathrooms became unbearably grimy.

"you didn't answer me." dream could hear the beginning of sapnap's whine, turning before the other began to wail.

"what did you say?" dream watched someone ride past the big decorative windows on a bike, wearing a hideously green scarf.

"has he texted you?"

dream broke his eyes away from the man on the bike just before he disappeared out of view. "who?"

"george."

dream watched sapnap walk out from behind the counter, taking a seat beside where the brunette would normally be sat on mornings like this. "right, uhm, george." he opened his phone, knowing his message had still laid responseless, yet a part of his soul still wanted to check. "no, he hasn't responded to me," dream felt both of the sighs fall from their lips. "but he's been leaving me on read."

sapnap's eyebrows rose. "hey that's something, at least we know he isn't dead."

dream pursed his lips, internally debating with himself about the words that threatened to follow. "unless he is dead and someone is trying to make it seem like he's still alive."

sapnap glared at the blonde. "what the hell is wrong with you, why would you say that."

dream shrugged his shoulders trying to push aside the worries he'd put upon himself.

"well now im scared, you should go check if he's home."

dream shot the glare back.

"don't you think it would be a violation for me to show up at george's apartment when he obviously doesn't want to talk to me right now." dream could only imagine how hard wilbur would slam the door on his face this time around.

sapnap rested an arm on the counter to support his head, letting out a breath when they fell into silence again.

"its been a while since its been just us, but this is not how i wanted it to happen."

dream sneered, settling a cup on top of sapnap's head. "you can say that again."

dream thought they were over this, he thought they talked it out, he thought they resolved this, he thought they were over the day's george would freak out over something and leave dream behind for days with no explanation for his actions, staring at an empty stool he figured, apparently not.

"dream."

the voice sounded so feather light in the still of the room, bouncing off the wall enough times it echoed a different voice when it reached his ears.

"say that again." he fluttered his eyes shut, imagining a sleep laced brunette rested against his chest as they woke up in the warm yellow light of the early evening.

"ew what the hell, no, im not playing into your weird kinky fantasies."

there goes the moment, crumbling at the words, gone as soon as it arrived.

"i was really enjoying that kinky fantasy before you ruined it for me." he rolled his eyes at the boy who chuckled at the way they played along with the bit. "why did you interrupt my fantasy sapnap."

"i was going to say i didn't mean what i said the other day, that i will miss you when i'm gone, but i'm not sure i want to say it anymore."

they shared a smile.

"scared i'll use it for one of my kinky fantasies?" dream smirked, raising his eyebrows at the eyes that cringed away from him.

"please don't phrase anything like that ever again." sapnap laid his forehead on his arms, hiding his face from the blonde. "i already have to put up with you and george in real time i don't want to also be involved in your weird mind fantasies."

"how rude, you'd have to be special to star in my mind fantasies."

dream ignored the gasp that came from the boy sat across from him.

—

i really like this chapter and i think it's because i wrote it when i was beyond exhausted. also for the longest time i though /lh meant living hell...not proud of that