ORPHANED

:: one hundred eleven ::

the blonde felt like he was floating, just days ago he was debating there was no chance he'd be lucky enough to be put in a situation where he actually started to believe they'd be okay in the end. now he stared back at soft brown eyes sharing a warm smile with the boy who stood just inches away. dream watched george's gentle hands move from the drawstrings of the sweatshirt he was wearing to the strings of the sweatpants the blonde had on.

dream held his breath as the other's hands grew near. he focused his attention on the space between them, knowing his thoughts had began to run wild. he focused on the sound of the wind to distract himself, knowing this picture would revisit him in the night before he'd fall asleep. he was quick to take hold of george's wrists, gathering their collective attention as the words that proceeded seemed to just slip past the blonde's lips.

"you're beautiful."

the brunette's face burned bright red, scanning the blonde's eyes it became more vivid. he looked away.

"do you want me to walk you home?" he held george's hands closer to his chest.

the brunette shook his head, never reconnecting eye contact. "you don't have shoes on dream."

"i can go put shoes on, i'll be quick?" yet he didn't move a muscle, waiting for his confirmation.

"ill be alright, plus it looks like your sister is waiting for you."

dream turned to the window, catching glimpse of a figure peeking behind the curtains. he rolled his eyes and pulled the brunette back into his chest. it was a different hug than the one just minutes before. that one had been a reuniting hug, this one was a quick goodbye, like they both knew they'd see each other again very soon. "text me when you get home?"

george nodded, still pressed to dream's chest, the heat on his face from earlier seeping into the blonde's soul. slowly they released from each other, cherishing the company until the last minute it was gone. the brunette playful pushed against his chest, "go on, get inside you've got a family waiting for you."

dream smiled at the gesture, opening the door behind him to show he was going inside. "okay, okay, alright i'll go in." he took one step inside the house to prove himself. "bye george."

george smiled back, "bye dream." he wove a hand acknowledging the origin of the eyes that stared into the back of dream's head. the blonde watched the brunette walk away before he closed the door.

he smiled again, ignoring his sister's questioning gaze as he made his way to sit at the table. however she followed him, glaring until he decided it was time to answer her questions. "what?" before she could even decide what question to ask first he spoke over her. "am i dreaming? pinch me."

she took a seat beside him, a devilish grin dancing on her face. "gladly."

although she pinched him rather hard, he rested his face on his palms, smiling at the remembrance of everything that happened today.

"that was my favorite hoodie of your's to steal." she moved to sit across from him, knowing he'd ignore her if she was out of view.

he ignored her anyway.

he had a strong feeling it would all be okay, and he carried that strong feeling with him everyday after.

**

the best thing about the week after thanksgiving is that dream's mom was tired of slaving away over food so they'd just order in. with nothing for them to do they'd sit around in the living room and watch movies, this year dream had wanted to do anything but that.

since their fateful meeting at dream's house, it was almost impossible to reach both the blonde and the brunette. they spent every hour of their days absorbed in their phones, texting each other and talking about careless things that really had no meaning other than making the other laugh.

his sister wouldn't have it, she made it very clear that he was only allowed to use his phone in between movies, so he had to cut his conversation with george short, but that didn't stop him from rereading the conversations they had. he could tell you exactly where he was when george told him the story about how wilbur payed to keep the dildo, but not for the use you'd think, instead he had it up on display in his room, like an otherworldly centerpiece.

the blonde scrolled farther back in their conversation and his eyes found the first text he received from the brunette after not having heard from him for the entire month.

'i know you're probably mad at me for as wilbur put it, ghosting you, but i wanted to let you know that you gave me the confidence to take action over my life. it started with jared, but didn't just end there, obviously in the midst of getting my life together i realized that i left one major problem behind. i have to apologize to you first before i can move on and solve more minor problems down the line. i really do appreciate you dream and although i might not be able to explain it to you now, i hope sometime soon i can prove it.'

it nearly brought tears to his eyes, george confessed he had written the text the first few days he stopped showing up but he didn't know when the right time to send it would come around. he closed the app and smiled at the picture of himself and george sat in the back of sapnap's car the night of his birthday.

that had been a good day and he wanted to remember it forever.

"what are you smiling at?"

dream set his phone beside himself at the sound of her voice, knowing if she was back it meant she was going to throw a water bottle at him.

"your mom."

she rolled her eyes. "ew you creep, that's our mom to you."

—

there is a single (1) intentional heatwaves reference in this story and we have yet to approach it, any other time was strictly a coincidence...also this chapter took so much longer than normal to write