ORPHANED

:: one hundred twenty-four ::

the seconds they spent outside turned from minutes to hours, and before he knew it, dream had managed to clear out the driveway enough to pull his car in. with his task completed earlier than imagined, he turned his focus to the poor looking beginning of a snowman that sat beside the driveway accompanied only by the visionary pout spread on his sister's face and the troubled frown that belonged to the brunette.

"it looks pretty obvious that you've never made a snowman before." shaking his head he joined them in front of the disappointing mound of snow.

she covered her ears, "george get him away from here, he's stinking up my creative impression."

when neither of them made an effort to move, she took matters into her own hands, quickly stepping up to push the taller blonde away from their hour's effort at a snowman.

dream scoffed, leaning most of his weight into the arms she used to hold him up, unmoving. "creative impression? it looks like patches' poop."

she paused her attempt at relocating him, staring past them with an unreadable wide-eyed expression. dream figured he most likely took it too far and stepped away from her, cautious of her naturally aggressive hands, knowing he'd be the first target had she decided he deserved it enough.

"that's just what i needed, an inspiration, a muse if you will!" a light went off behind her eyes and she bolted her way back into the house, leaving behind the two, bewildered to what she had meant.

george turned to him, looking for an answer but all the blonde could do was shrug, so they shifted their attention away. "i honestly have no idea where it went wrong. it was fine when we started and now it looks like..." he paused, walking around the heap to find a word to describe its form. "well, this."

dream nodded, just as confused as the other. he had never made a snowman either but he was sure he wouldn't have messed it up this badly. his ongoing train of thought was cut short, however, when his sister swung open the front door with an evil smile and patches cradled under her arm. finally, he put two and two together and he knew he shouldn't have said anything in the first place. "oh no." was all he could manage before the cat was being set into the snow.

all eyes turned to the dark brown fur that looked out of its element against the bright white. she didn't move at first, seeming to process what exactly it was that was happening and deciding if she was for or against it. there was a meow, and she turned to the blonde taking a step in his direction. it was probably a bad idea but looking up from the cat to the pure joy on his sister's face he knew he was ready to be a bad influence.

he got closer to the ground to beckon her over, "c'mere patches." and hearing the familiarity of his voice only made her step faster. she found her way to the blonde's legs, rubbing her head against his knee until his hand met her face.

george bent down to offer his own hand to the cat that liked the snow more than any of them would have imagined. "hey patches, do you remember me?"

dream retracted his own hand to leave the cat with no other option but the brunette. not to say he didn't think patches would immediately recognize the other, after all, she seemed to like cuddling with him most after he got back from george's. the brunette ran a shaky hand against her like he was scared of leaving her with a bad impression. she laid down on the snow in front of him and the brunette turned to the blonde with surprise.

"i think she might actually like you more than me." he reached out to pet her where he could, but eventually grew bored of watching the cat, and instead turned to the brunette that couldn't seem to stop smiling. "and you might like her more than me."

george laughed, "i had a cat back home. i remember having to beg my mom to get one" he glanced up from his hand to find the blonde's eyes before returning his awareness to the cat. "i wonder where he is now."

"you don't have him anymore?"

their focus turned to the girl that crouched down with them.

he shook his head. "i don't actually know what happened to him."

dream couldn't help but notice how george kept fighting against himself to keep up a smile, he wasn't alone in his observation though because as soon as his sister caught on she was quick to change the mood.

"what was his name?"

george now held onto a genuine smile like it had been an inside joke with himself. "felix."

"felix?" his sister questioned. and dream wondered why he had never heard any stories about this seemingly beloved cat.

"yeah, like felix the cat."

and for some reason, that statement was all it took for dream to let free a laugh he hadn't felt before.

"why are you laughing?" his sister glared at him, and he tried to calm himself down under her dagger-like eyes.

"nothing, nothing." he tried to wave off the attention but his sister was not keen on letting him off the hook just yet. he gave in, holding in one laugh before he answered, "i am so sorry george, it's just that you are so bad at naming things."

she most likely would've said something about him being rude if it weren't for george's laugh that erupted against his own. her glare eased until she was giggling herself. it was probably a strange sight to see, all of them crouching around an indoor cat that sat in the snow, as they all found themselves laughing maniacally. but at the moment all the blonde could focus on was the bubbly warm feeling he felt in his stomach in severe contrast to the cold he felt in his toes.

—

i feel the need to clarify just incase there is any miss interpretation on my part but, i am in fact a 'george is taller than sapnap truther' and i refuse to accept any other idea because i know it is the truth. it may not be canon in this story but it is irl