ORPHANED

:: one hundred one ::

the call ended after that, the both of them lying about being busy and having other things to attend to. dream didn't mind, he didn't have the mental capacity to solve his problem today, which is why he had put it off for so long.

"what's with the stupid outfit?" he turned from the stove to come face to face with his sister, who had looked too tired for someone who just woken up. she cradled patches in her arms, staring at him with an unimpressed smirk.

dream glanced down to the apron he had tied around his waist, using it just to remind himself of the days he'd wake up to prepare coffee and laugh with his friends. "what's up with the stupid face."

she set down the cat on the kitchen island and he turned back to the stove. "is that the best that you've got?" he stacked the pancakes on a plate ignoring her comment.

"all of these are for me?" her voice pitched higher, and her eyes shone as she snatched a pancake off the stack, tossing it between her hands because of the heat.

he felt a playful smile meet his lips and smacked her hands from the pile. "make your own."

she reapproached the pancakes with a plate in hand and an innocent grin, knowing he would give in. he rolled his eyes, restacking the pancakes onto her plate.

she sat at the island where his mom sat before, impatient to indulge in her favorite breakfast food. he set a water bottle down in front of her, knowing it was in no way equal to the multiple times she had checked up on him during his state of seemingly unending misery. but he hoped one day he could repay her for it.

he sat across from her, finishing off his now cooled coffee. today he was friends with the silence, enjoying it more than having to converse about things that he didn't find fully intrigued him. however he couldn't seem to ignore the way she stared at him. "what."

she opened her water bottle, taking a long slow sip, the anticipation nearly killing the blonde. he stole a blueberry off her plate, as a fee.

"were you serious about talking to techno?"

his hands retracted from her plate, coming to rest pressed up against his mug. "i don't know." his eyes found the countertop. curious about how much of his conversation with sapnap his sister had overheard.

she threw a blueberry at his head. trying to get his attention. when he ignored her pestering it quickly became a game of her seeing how many she could get to bounce off his head in just the right angle, so they landed in front of patches, who sat patiently on the floor, enjoying the blueberries almost as much as the girl in front of him.

it took one last blueberry that he assumed she aimed into his eye on purpose before they both burst out into laughter, finding comedy in the stupidest of things. she kept the conversation alive after that. "if you could have any superpower what would it be?"

patches jumped onto the counter, knowing she'd be harder to ignore if right in front of them. dream contemplated an answer never finding a satisfying resolution. "maybe like superhuman hearing? so i can hear if people are talking about me, i don't know."

"that's so gross, you'd have to hear everyone's bones moving and their every muscle contracting twenty-four seven." she appeared to have thought this through longer than he had, making them both uncomfortable with the picture she pained in their brains.

"what if i could turn it off and on?" he thought that would be a good compromise but she seemed to have already thought about it.

"what if you miss something? you can't just turn it off that's not how superpowers work." she bit a blueberry in half and fed it to the cat.

they both sat at the table trying to find a way for his imaginary superpower to work out for him. "what if it only works if they were really close to me?"

she stared at him. "listen to yourself. that would make the superpower useless."

he should've seen that. "alright genius, since you know everything. what would your superpower be?" he set her plate and his mug in the sink, leaning against the counter ready to criticize her answer.

"the power to manipulate probability." she crossed her arms, a smug look on her face, she thought about this a lot longer than he had. "ask me why."

"why."

"because then i can make the probability that you man up and talk to george one hundred percent."

now he was just getting tag teamed.

"how about you manipulate the probability that george stops running away from me everytime something unideal happens." he turned from her, staring at the dishes in the sink.

she stood from her stool, and he could hear her leave the kitchen, "too bad superpowers aren't real." she advance up the stairs.

he sighed, wanting to avoid the chime he felt in his pocket, yet nonetheless he retrieved his phone. when he processed who it was that had texted him back

he was quick to open the messages.

'long time no see.'

that was the last thing he would've suspected to receive after the text he had sent.

'i haven't heard from you in a while, i assume all is going well'

he sighed, debating with himself about how to go about this. he thought about his conversation with sapnap and nearly regretted sending the text at all. but here he was, again at a problem he couldn't hide from, at a wall he couldn't turn from. something he'd have to face head on.

'i thought so too, but i haven't heard from george in two weeks'

with every person he spoke to about this he was reminded of how dumb he was for not just facing his fears and talking with the brunette. low and behold his ignorance would always win.

—

btw i came up with the whole plot about jared on the spot. originally they were just going to split george and dream during laser tag because they work too good on a team together and dream would get jealous of the random blonde guy george would get teamed with, but then i saw a comment saying "imagine georges ex shows up to laser tag" and i couldn't waste an opportunity like that! we were never supposed to meet the ex he wasn't even meant to have a name