ORPHANED

:: one hundred twenty-three ::

the snow was beautiful, bright empty white reflecting the sun like a freshly painted fence, opaque enough to completely hide the unshoveled concrete. it was definitely the most snow the blonde had ever laid eyes on. being a child of florida for most of his life it was rare for snow to fall in the first place, forget about it sticking, and then piling on the ground. all of this adds up to the very fact that he shouldn't have been driving.

"hey george." he glanced beside him, trying to meet the brunette's eyes.

"yeah?" he looked worried, as he would soon come to find out was rightfully so, but the smile on dream's face managed to calm his nerves before he knew he had any reason to be worried.

dream turned back to the road, trying to suppress the evil smile that kept returning to his face. "i've never driven in the snow before."

george seemed to freeze, processing the words before his head snapped in dream's direction. "you're joking?"

the blonde bit down on his bottom lip, shaking his head facing out the windshield before turning back to the brunette.

"are you actually insane? why are you smiling, you psychopath, we are going to die." he might have been worried for a split second, but it seemed that george held a lot of trust in dream.

"relax, we are nearly there anyway."

george crossed his arms, "i think id feel safer if it was me driving."

"are you kidding me?" dream quickly caught on to the playful aura that seemed to bounce back and forth between them. "you couldn't even drive in an empty parking lot, how do you think you'd manage to drive while it was snowing?"

george shone an offended smile, "you just fail to realize how bad of a driving instructor you are." he accusingly pressed his finger into the blonde's bicep.

"what?" dream choked on a laugh, pulling into a parking space at the most familiar of places for the both of them. "i am a perfectly fine driving instructor, you were just distracted by my hands on yours."

the brunette scoffed, "that is just not true!"

dream turned off the car, grinning at the man that kept his arms crossed, "is too. now come on." he stepped out of the car, waiting for the brunette to join him on the other side before they started down the unshoveled driveway.

every step he took was calculated and cautious, trying to avoid falling over as well as leaving a trail for the other to follow. it had been one quick shallow step that threw them off, dream had seen it coming, but as george tried to advance up the unrealized step he would've fallen on his face if it weren't for the hold dream had on his arm.

they giggled for a second, stunned at the discovery of dream's sixth sense that involved keeping the brunette out of danger's way. the blonde slid his grip down george's arm until their hands entwined, carefully pulling him up the step before the door.

"thank you." he smiled, recalibrating his balance, and squeezing the hand that encased his own, protecting it from the cold that his other hand, unfortunately, had to endure.

dream ensured george was okay with a shared nod before he turned back to the door. he began a motion to knock, but before his fist hit the door, it opened in front of them.

dream's sister eagerly held the door open, scanning the both of them before reacting. "george!" she brought the brunette into a hug first and dream couldn't help but roll his eyes. It wasn't news to him that his family would like george just as much as he did. he looked past them, noticing the decorations that had already been hung.

"what the hell, you guys already set everything up without me?"

"almost everything. we left the tree, but now that you're finally here we can do that later." she moved from george to the floor and began to put on her shoes, staring at them with a mischievous beam. "i knew i heard you guys at the door. did you see the snow?" then she stood, pulling her coat over her shoulders before making an effort to push past them.

"zip up your jacket and calm down, you are going to fry your brain." dream closed the door behind her and they turned back around, watching as she held her arms out to the sky. "i promised her the first time it snowed we would make our first snowman together," he explained to the brunette who smiled at the girl that radiated with her excitement.

"that reminds me, mom said to tell you she wants you to shovel the driveway." she walked a few steps over from the path dream and george walked to the door, "i tried myself, but it wasn't as easy as i thought it was going to be. i guess i still need you for some things." she shrugged, turning to george with a newly adapted smile. "don't you love the snow george?"

he turned to dream before his sister, sharing an awkward smile as he stated his current discomfort. "i think there's ice in my sock."

the blonde sputtered a laugh as he stepped away from the door, george followed, and both of them still watched the girl that eagerly threw herself on the ground in a first attempt at making a snow angel of her own. "george, help me up!"

the brunette turned to dream conflicted yet still asking for permission. "go on, i have to go get the shovel i'll be right back."

george's eyes twinkled, and before dream could say anything else he was carefully stepping in the direction of the girl on the ground.

the blonde had left with one of them on the ground, he did not expect to return to them both evilly giggling as they wriggled around in the snow. as he approached them it was almost as if they could smell him, their heads snapped up from the ground. "dream, help us up."

he'd be lying if he said he didn't know what came next.

—

sort of rushed because i wanted to take a shower but i wanted more george and drista interactions so here's that! i can't remember if i've said this already or not but i'm taking this writing less seriously in the sense that i've started to use exclamation marks, not sure if any of you have picked up on that yet