ORPHANED

:: one hundred eight ::

the contrast from the comfort of finally being with george to the unending alarm of his phone ringing, on the bedside table wasn't exactly the way he imagined he'd wake up today. he actually imagined a light morning with the brunette still curled to his chest, heat rising where their skin pressed together, the both of them ready to talk about the prior events that lead to this day.

instead of what he imagined, he woke up to empty arms, a cold bed, and a dark feeling in the room. his hands searched the bare space beside him on the mattress, looking for the warmth of the form he was so sure had fallen asleep with.

he opened his eyes hoping they would prove him wrong, that the brunette hadn't left, and he had just been a few inches out of reach. unfortunately for the blonde, his theory was proved correct when his gaze landed on the neat untouched material of the sheet beside him, almost like nobody had been there in the first place. next his eyes scanned the room expecting to find the brunette inspecting the photos hung on the walls, but dream let out a dissatisfied sigh when alternatively they settled on his sister.

"did he leave already?" he sat up from the bed, scared he knew the answer, but he felt the shred of hope grow when a smile spread on her face. however the words she spoke next did nothing to calm the nerves that he had seemed to have woken up with.

"who?" her smile never faltered so he considered the fact that she could've been messing with him, but before he could say anything else she continued. "you've been sleeping like a brick all afternoon." she voiced her words as if she was surprised he had risen from his slumber at all.

asleep all afternoon...if he didn't take that as a sign to fill in the questions he'd woken up with it'd be like, as karl put it, denying blonde people exist. dream rested his head on the wall behind his bed and rose a hand to run through his unmanaged hair. from the corner of his eye he could see as his sister spun back around in his desk chair, turning to flick off the lamp.

"george was never here." she sounded sorry, like she had an idea of what he meant when he asked an unanswerable question. they both sat in the dark again, and it was almost like they had never gotten into a quarrel in the first place.

dream pressed his fingertips to the space on his jaw where george had left a kiss for him, what felt like only minutes before. longing for the heat he felt instead of the still unmoving air currently in the room.

his sister made an effort to lift his spirits. "i left you alone for three days to think about your actions and you've already gone crazy, how am i meant to live in these conditions?"

before he could answer, or even laugh for that matter, his phone began ringing again. she nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound of it, "you should probably answer that, he's been calling you all afternoon." she stood from the desk chair and took several fast strides to stand by the door. "ill be downstairs."

it was suspicious, almost like she didn't want to be in the room when he picked up the phone. dream would have continued analyzing her behaviour if it wasn't for the annoying incessant ring of the phone beside himself. his hands dragged against the skin of his face and he slowly leaned over to read the screen.

"sapnap, just sapnap." and for a second there he had almost let himself believe that his sister had rushed out of the room because it was george calling. his thoughts had been wrong, but perhaps he had spoken too soon.

the blonde took too much time to prepare himself to answer the phone, and right before his eyes the call ended, which would have been nothing out of the ordinary, if it hadn't been for the unread notification sitting at the top of his screen basically begging for his eyes to read. his heart had nearly skipped two beats this time around when the contact name processed in his brain.

better than sapnap

his smile branched across his face faster than ever before. he pinched himself, expecting the entire experience to waver until it was gone and he'd just be spaced out in the kitchen. he stared back at the screen that had turned off after a succession of pinches, he wasn't dreaming this time around. his eyes scanned the text without opening the message, knowing there was "one last hurdle" until it was all easy again.

he called sapnap.

"i was sure you died, i haven't heard from you in 3 weeks."

dream rolled his eyes, "i didn't die."

the other scoffed and dream could hear a smile. "well obviously not, your sister has been reassuring me."

"me speaking to you isn't proof enough?" he swung his legs off the bed, pressing his soles into the cold floorboards.

"has george still not answered you, is that why you're calling?"

it was dream's turn to scoff, but he knew sapnap's skepticism wasn't completely irrational. he made his way to the window beside his desk, ignoring the popping of his bones as he stood.

sapnap however didn't ignore it. "dude have you ever thought about going to see that chiropractor we talked about? you have old man bones."

they both erupted into giggles, the soft morning that dream expected to wake to, not as far away as he originally thought. when a silence fell, he thought back to the conversation he held with the brunette in his mind.

it was time to talk to him. "i kissed george." as the words left his lips he opened his window, letting the cold air of outside fill his lungs.

—

when i was younger i used to think if in your dream you saw someone, in their dream they'd also see you. idk if that makes any sense but...