ORPHANED

:: one hundred thirty-six ::

-915k readers special-

it's crazy to think that in two or three months we will be at a million! i couldn't even count to a million if i wanted to. i already have a long spiel written down for a million so i will keep this short but i wish i could go back in time and tell (i want to say younger me but i haven't aged that much since the start of this) myself what i have ahead of me. maybe if i had known back then this concept that had been brewing in my head would've came out so successful i would've put more time into the plot so it's not so iffy at points. i have to thank you all for accompanying me this long, after this book is done i promise there will be more and hopefully the next stories i write will be better <33

—

naturally, dream had held the door open for george, not only because it is the respectful thing to do, but also because he was trying to better prepare himself for what he would be met with on the other side. it had been a while since he had been in the presence of the heavy glass doors, but it was inevitable that today they prefaced what he knew was going to be a retelling of his guilty conscience.

when it was his turn, he tried not to withdraw from the deceitfully welcoming environment. his eyes squinted in ashamed reluctance, but what he received wasn't a slap to the face, not even a single betrayed smile peered upon him. instead, before he could even recognize it, a familiar weight clung to his form.

"look who finally decided to show up." karl had beamed from where he sat on his self-proclaimed assigned seat.

"took you long enough," quackity sat beside him, dream wasn't sure who's bright idea it was, but he was wielding scissors as he shook his head at the brunette who met them at the counter.

all of them being there left one possibility for the identity of the arms that still clung to him. "aw, it's almost like you guys missed us more than you missed sapnap." he joked, but it only earned him a pinch to the forearm.

the arms separated from his sides and he was met with the frown of the man he had known the longest. "they've been doing nothing but making fun of me since i got back, you were supposed to be the one that saved me, asshole." sapnap pouted with an adolescent lisp that the blonde liked to believe was accurate to reality.

"i don't know what he's talking about." quackity and karl noted in unison, crossing their arms in distaste as if he had just criticized their character.

"good thing you guys got here when you did, i was scared they were going to tear each other into pieces." the fourth voice piped up from where he stood in the doorway between the counter and the back of the shop.

"bad!" dream nearly knocked sapnap over in his determination to greet the other. his arms came out in plans to hug him.

"careful, i have a stapler in my pocket," he warned.

dream's excitement died down at the remark, he dropped his arms and stopped in his tracks. they all were left with genuine curiosity.

quackity was the first to present a question, but it wasn't exactly what the others had been wondering. "why would you name your penis after a piece of office supplies?"

the remaining four tried not to entertain his joke when their eyes came to meet the unimpressed glare radiating off the oldest of the group. "language. i have a stapler in my pocket because i am hanging decorations." he gestured around the room, and surely enough there were tacky christmas decorations pasted to windows, and hung from the ceiling with iridescent ribbon. "speaking of which, quackity did you finish those snowflakes?"

the attention again turned to the man who shone a proud smile as he unfolded several paper snowflakes, holding them up to present to his friends. "oh you bet your ass i did." bad quickly took the scissors back from him, and gave no intention of trying to correct his bad tongue.

"language!" karl inserted for him, and dream had no idea how he originally thought these guys would hold something over his head with the intention to hate him for it.

"don't you think it's a little too early to be hanging christmas decorations?" george had found his spot beside quackity, and crumpled the scraps of craft paper discarded in front of him.

"i don't believe in too early." bad shook his head, offering karl the responsibility of tying strings to quackity's handmade snowflakes, and taking the crumpled paper from george.

"i think too early only counts if he puts up a christmas tree." dream made his way behind the counter, and just for the sake of it, tied his apron around his waist.

"would you look at that, he didn't even want to come here in the first place, and now he's trying to get paid," sapnap exclaimed, mirroring his movements so as to not be left in the dust.

the blonde's eyes lingered on sapnap's nametag, which now adorned a new seasonal sticker. "nice santa hat."

his head swiftly shot in the direction dream was looking and he faced off with his tag for a beat of silence. "weird, i don't remember putting that there."

the adored noise of a held-back giggle that usually led up to karl's joyful laugh could be heard beside them.

"you did this?" sapnap smiled up to the man that still had faded pink in his hair.

quackity pretended to cough, "dream you should look at your nametag too."

now all of their eyes landed on where dream's nametag was pinned, which was inexcusably closer to his crotch than it needed to be. "guys c'mon were in public." his hands came together to cover the tag and he hung onto the caught look george gave for as long as he could before he tried to turn away from him with. thankfully for them, everyone had been too focused on quackity's laugh to catch the glance they shared.

"bullseye." karl had commented when quackity had just about calmed down, and it did nothing but send him over the edge again, causing him to erupt into louder giggles as the others silently questioned why they thought it was so funny.

"if i would've known dream's dick was this funny, i would have started making fun of him for it a long time ago." sapnap shrugged. dream was going to flash embarrassment, but george gave a face that showed him it was unnecessary. there was really no point in more than one of the five to be flustered at once anyways.

—

have we all just decided to collectively gloss over the fact that dream pronounces the t in exactly or was i just absent the day we clowned him for it