ORPHANED

:: ninety-eight ::

bad continuted rambling off advice and throwing what dream could only assume to be really good ideas about what he could do to move forward, into the air. unfortunately the blonde's mind was on something else, he tried not to think about it, but he was almost helpless when his mind focused in on it.

he avoided thinking about what george could be doing, where he could be, or who he could be with. the thought of who seeming most persistent out of them all. yet he still attempted to will his brain in shaking the thought out of his mind.

he pressed his face farther into the wood of the table.

"i kissed him bad, and i fucked up our friendship because of it. now i won't know if he's actually okay because i have to converse with him vicariously through will."

"language. im sure george has a good explanation, have you thought about how you're letting this get to you? maybe you're just overthinking i mean?"

dream actually had thought about whether he was overthinking, perhaps overthinking the idea of him overthinking. but then all the times he'd been with george where he had to physically restrain himself from reaching out and pulling in the smaller, resting his hands on the curve of his waist, or pressing his lips to his came to mind. he had withheld then because they were just friends. he could only imagine what george thought about him from just a kiss.

they were just friends, if even that much. just friends. nothing more.

sometimes his brain had the tendency to make him think things that would only put him in a terrible mood. he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut harder than ever before, watching the darkness of his eyelids begin to spin.

"you weren't listening to me, were you?" bad's voice consumed him like a sudden burst of light after a power outage.

he lifted his head to be met with the lights of the coffee shop that all of a sudden felt too bright. "no offence to you bad, but i don't think this situation can be helped."

the brunette seemed to take offence to the words spoken between them. crossing his arms before he continued speaking with a furrowed brow. "you need to get off your high horse if you want to solve this problem with george."

dream shot him quizzical look, unsure why bad seemed so invested in a problem that had no effect on him.

"this can be solved so easily if you stop being childish dream, you need to invite him out so you two can have a civilized conversation and solve this problem like the adults you both are supposed to be."

dream seemed to be getting as agitated by the words as bad. "were you not listening? george doesn't want to talk to me."

they both let out a sigh, dream resting his elbows on the table again and bad carefully sipping from his cup of coffee trying to calm himself before anything.

"you're telling me you think george stopped talking to you because he found out about the kiss and he thinks you were hiding it from him. if thats actually the case, he's not going to make an effort to ask you about it because he'll think he already knows the full story. you guys need to get together and talk about the kiss, george leaving whenever he pleases with no explanation, and your feelings for eachother, because otherwise you'll just continue to run around in circles." he finished his speech by setting down his mug for the very last time.

"tell him about my feelings?" it almost felt like bad was patronizing him. dream knew it was good advice but it was as practical as him just packing all his things and leaving, never to speak or feel for the brunette ever again.

that advice was thrown out the window almost as quickly as it was suggested.

**

skating home he spent a lot of time thinking about what bad had said. replaying the conversation in his head a total of too many times in a row. he was frustrated at first, but slowly with every replay that ran through his brain, he came to realize bad was feeling the same way. after that dream began to feel guilty for the moping he did while someone willing to help him was just feet away.

his sister waited on her usual spot on the couch for him to come home. complaining about how he had been out around an hour later than normal. he only rolled his eyes already annoyed by the idea of having nothing to do but put up with her for the rest of the weekend. he flopped down face first onto his bed, having spent so much energy talking about a problem he didn't want to face he could've fallen asleep then and there.

"god i'm so tired of being the person all my friends dump their problems onto." she sat on his legs, seeming to disregard the fact that he would've given anything to be alone.

dream's eyes turned to patches who stepped into the room, hopping onto the bed to join them in their collective misery. "what are you talking about?"

"they're like, stuck in like a love triangle or something, and since i know all parts of the triangle by association, they come to me expecting me to make all their problems go away." she got worked up about as quickly as he did.

he thought back to how bad felt having to deal with his problem.

"they kind of remind me of you sometimes."

patches laid beside him and he reached up a hand to pet her. "how?"

"i knew you were going to say that." she threw an empty water bottle at his head. "they get themselves stuck in problems for no reason, and then wait around until last minute to ask for help."

dream scoffed. "that's nothing like me."

"yeah, okay, whatever helps you sleep at night."

—

you guys like me too much so i think it's time to drop some unpopular opinions! i only eat soggy cereal, i prefer pulpy orange juice, mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream flavor, and i drink diet coke instead of normal coke (: (all things i've found have made people i know irl visibility aggressive)