ORPHANED

:: one hundred thirty-two ::

when their trio separated into a duo a newfound silence fell over them. with no more overbearing need to impress and entertain his sister had tuckered herself out and barely held herself together for the train ride home. somewhere along the ride, she had turned to him with sleepily laced words and dream felt every syllable burn into his soul.

"he seems so sad sometimes."

there was no need to elaborate on who, he had mainly been the subject of the day after all. still, the words hit him with realization and a burning hatred for the times when he couldn't have been there. "he has been through a lot."

when their eyes met again she tried to hold back a smile for as long as she could before her teeth broke past her lips.

"what?"

she shook her head and turned out the window, "you're so in love it's sickening."

and if he hadn't been affected before, now he was burning up with a blush he had no choice but to hide. he reached across the table and pulled the strings of her hoodie to close the hood around her face and hide his in the process. "you are so annoying," but his hateful words were said with fond undertones. he could always trust his sister to understand him.

"i'm just saying," she defended, and despite turning to the scenery out beside them, she left the hood closed around her face hiding her from exactly what it was that she wanted to see.

dream copied the action, admiring the light from lamps that bounced off the brightness of the snow. he looked forward to this christmas. although he would be far from longtime friends there were other people here he had met that he wouldn't want to leave for the world.

"you make him happy you know."

her words had cut through his prolonged thought like a record scratch.

"what."

this time when he had wanted more elaboration she had shut herself off and left him alone with the idea to ponder what it had meant. maybe that's all she had to say, but dream would have loved to hear what it was that made her think that.

the picture of a giggly george hung in his mind, accompanied by wide smiles and rosy cheeks. strung together with breathless laughs and eyes that always sparkled with excitement.

"he makes me happy too."

dream was unsure if it was because it was the verge of a confession, or because it was his sister that he was confessing to that made his heart flutter and filled his head with air. but he knew that it felt right, and after the words left his lips he repeated them in his mind to enforce the truth and run back the idea in his mind as long as he could.

"i'm glad." finally she unveiled her face to showcase the sincerity in her smile. "it's about time."

**

it had been another lazy snow day at george's apartment as they cuddled together on his bed to mindlessly watch the tv, but for the most part, they spent their time together speaking about unrelated things and the movie only catered them with background music.

it had been in the middle of a conversation about what animals should and shouldn't have gone extinct while george had his hands tangled in the blonde's hair when they both had gotten a text.

as they peered over to the bedside table where their phones had been left, long forgotten about, neither of them were sure they wanted to know what the text could have meant.

"don't open it," george whispered between them as if the phones would've heard them and then known they were ignoring the text on purpose.

dream didn't have any real concerns with his phone so his shoulders were shrugged and his hands pulled the brunette's waist farther into his embrace.

his eyes fell shut as nimble fingers scratched his scalp and lightly carded through freshly washed hair as a reward. it was then that both of their phones erupted into a call and disrupted them from their comfort-filled bliss.

a groan left their lips in unison and george let dream give in to the call and pick up the phone. he hadn't bothered reading the text and pressed the phone up to his ear with no prior knowledge of what he was throwing himself into.

"guess who's back, back again." his voice sang into the line and dream felt himself scoff with admiration at the remembrance of the person on the other side of the call.

george watched him with curious eyes and mouthed questions that went unanswered. instead, dream put the call on speaker and did what he could to avoid showing his embarrassment led on by the next words his friend spoke.

"yup, and i know you're with george, so you better tell him too."

the brunette's eyes caught a spark when he seemed to have caught on to who it was on the phone. "you're back?"

"i'm back and i'm sitting at the register waiting for my complimentary welcome home drink." he tried to sound seriously disappointed but he couldn't work around the smile that always sounded in his voice.

"you're just sitting there alone? that's kind of depressing." dream joked with recollection of the many times sapnap bragged about coming back an influencer.

there was a scoff and it was obvious he was trying to format a comeback. "i'm not alone karl is here!" a faint 'heyo' could be heard behind him but he continued. "and i wouldn't have to be alone if all my friends would've came to pick me up from the airport."

"i don't like airports." george excused himself and turned away from the call, slight guilt could be seen on his face even though he had the most memorable morning, waking with kisses cuddles, and warmth that he would never get enough of.

"are you guys coming or do i have to wait even longer to see my friends who i've missed since even before i even left?"

—

linked another erie kids show that i watched when i was younger at the top of this chapter, surprisingly compared to the other one i didn't get nightmares from this one and it was actually probably my favorite show at the time