ORPHANED

:: one hundred twelve ::

dream and his sister sat through an entire movie and still their mom had yet to return with the pizza they ordered almost half an hour ago. dream whined through the entirety of it, hoping his sister would sympathize for him and turn it off. he kicked her and talked over the screen but she had a strong will and she was not going to let him win.

"why are you being so fussy." she hit him with a pillow, her eyes turning back to the screen.

"hungry." he pretended to cry into his hands. "i don't want to watch this." his complaining came to an end and she got a notification immediately after, they glared at one another and she stood from the couch to receive her phone. dream rolled his eyes "no phones during the movie." he mocked the words she had repeated already so many times today.

"shut up, if you don't want to watch this than i'll put something else on." she stared at her phone, grinning like she had a terrible idea running through her mind.

"i don't want to watch another movie until the pizza gets here."

"oh, i have a feeling this will make you feel better."

dream felt a form of panic swell in his throat, there were so many things she could have put on the screen, and frankly he didn't want to hang around to see what it could be that she was so eager to play. he stretched off his seat, lazily walking his way into the kitchen. it felt like he had been sitting all day long, which wasn't very far off. he raided the fridge for anything that would hold him over until his mom arrived.

he settled at the kitchen island with a bunch of frozen grapes, knowing his mom would kill him if he'd eat them all but he was ready to weigh the consequences. that was, until a familiar voice blared from the living room and he nearly choked on said grapes. hearing the voice he had been confused, so obviously he did the only reasonable thing and walked back into the living room.

instead of seeing the person who the voice belonged to sitting in the living room, only his sister was there. she pointed to the screen and the blonde couldn't believe his eyes. quackity's blaring laugh echoed through the room, while karl mimicked an australian accent, and off to the side a chat flew by, words illegible. he had seen this before, of course he had, he didn't live under a rock, but so many questions still hung in the air. so he asked the only person he knew could give him an answer.

"...what the hell is this?" slowly he sat beside her, eyes still locked on the friends he hadn't seen in forever.

she shone a satisfied smile, kicking her feet up to rest on his lap. "quackity is a streamer."

thinking back to the day of the party when he and george camped up in his room the blonde figured he should've seen this coming, no normal person has soundproofing in their room for no reason.

"you know i didn't believe you at first when you told me you were friends, but then you took me out for laser tag and lo and behold it was him."

dream felt his jaw hang open no matter how many times he tried to close it. it wasn't hard to believe, they never talked about things like this, and of course quackity had the personality of an influencer, someone a lot of people would find happiness in even if only for a few hours at a time.

"i've been watching him for years now, but that day i met him in person i didn't believe he was real." she was interrupted by karl and quackity exchanging terrible gordon ramsey impressions. "he's trying to convince karl to become a streamer as well because everyone loves him."

now a smile found dream's face. he remembered thinking both quackity and karl's spirits would be stifled by a regular day job, this proved his point. on the topic of streaming he thought back to the guys from home. "i remember when tommy wanted to be a streamer."

she laughed at the memory "i remember that too."

together they turned to the screen watching his friends with a light feeling in the air.

"do you ever miss them?"

he could see her turn to inspect him, so he offered a sincere smile, eyes never leaving the two people he still considered friends. he tapped on his knees, "all the time." he might have left them in the past but they never left his mind, so many simple things would catch his eye and suddenly he'd be back in the forest with the others.

the doorknob rattled and he was quick to stand from his seat, pushing his sister's feet off his lap to help his mom at the door. dream took the boxes from her arms, holding the door open to allow her into the house.

"woo, could you believe it was so busy today."

dream set the pizzas on the coffee table, and the look of hunger on his sister's face as she followed his movements showed she could've eaten for the both of them. "everyone must be craving after thanksgiving pizza."

dream sat on the couch and watched as his mom smiled at the screen. "who's this?"

his sister beat him to answering the question, "quackity, dream's friend."

she smiled harder, shuffling closer to inspect the face that was on display to be admired. "hey, if i was your age i'd be all over quackity." she laughed with herself

he shared a look with his sister, both of them cringing. "ew."

"don't let him hear you say that." dream opened the top box and the smell of greasy pizza almost sent both himself and his sister into shock.

"who get's first slice?" his mom's question lingered in the air for a second.

"he was eating your grapes." accompanied with an accusing finger and he knew it wasn't going to be his.

—

you know how writers have to basis some of their writing off real life events they've experienced? that's why i've made dream so oblivious and dense, he knows he should talk to george about their problem but he doesn't want to mess up what he already has even if it means risking loosing it all. thankfully i've gotten myself out of that situation so you all should have full hope that they will fix this (: