ORPHANED

:: one hundred forty ::

after a few too many mishaps and the repeated noise of the two hitting the ground ringing through the walls of the usually peaceful coffee shop, they all managed to find their way outside, some of them only bruised emotionally. dream was worried it'd be overwhelming for bad, offering to work for fun and then leaving before he made much of a difference, but bad reassured him that he'd be fine alone.

he had noticed then a new drawing on the whiteboard that had gone forgotten. beside his imperfect fork were two dimes adorned with an appalling attempt at a freehanded drawing of whichever president was inscribed in the metal. he made no further mention of it but it made the seemingly permanent smile on his face all the more unmoving.

they stood in a circle off to the side of the pavement to ensure they weren't more tiresome than necessary. they were there for several unrecorded seconds before it was no longer fun to be outside.

"i should have brought a coat." karl stated once in passing, which caused quackity and sapnap to shuffle closer to him. "thanks, guys."

at the sight of the other three george decided to join in, but of course, he wasn't one to share. the brunette pressed himself into the blonde's side until he was close enough to link their arms together and tuck his free hand away into dream's pocket. the blonde, being audacious as he was, decided it was the perfect time to take a moment and slip his hand into his pocket, encapsulating the other's cold hand in his own.

"oh, real cute guys." it was easy to realize that quackity was frustrated instead of unbelieving. he turned from the others to dramatize the situation, but karl pulled both him and sapnap closer and connected their arms himself.

"see all better!" karl tucked his hands into his pockets and the other two copied. "except now my butt is cold."

"whoa karl, that's very forward of you." sapnap attempted to joke, but he couldn't take himself seriously, still trying to shake the feeling he had gotten from getting caught so off guard by what the other had said.

"here you can sit on me." quackity shook himself from their fixed arms and laid himself down in the snow. they all had to pretend they didn't have the same thought. when there was no movement that followed his own he lifted his head to find why there was hesitation. "fine whatever," he began to wave his arms around in the start of a snow angel but was rendered stationary when both karl and sapnap sat on top of him.

george had been the first to laugh about it, prying open an onslaught of laughs that were held onto for too long. dream would never admit it, but he thought it was thoroughly endearing to feel the way george's hand would tighten in his hold in rhythm with his laugh. "we could probably sled on quackity!" he was a bubbling mess of joy, excited in an all too similar way to how dream was in high school, almost like he had never left.

and despite it being a playful offer, quackity kicked his arms and legs to showcase that he was strongly against it.

"yeah we could all fit on top of him if we tried." it was a beautiful feeling to know you were the reason behind the brunette's mesmerizing laugh, so dream tried his damndest to be that reason so he could hold onto the feeling forever. he realized quackity's behavior reminded him of an animated cartoon and was about to make another comment, but before he could even open his mouth to speak he felt the all too familiar impact of a snowball directly into his shoulder.

of course, his attention snapped to the three on the ground, each of which was pointing at another and exhibiting innocent smiles. when dream instinctively reached down to form a snowball of his own, karl and sapnap were off the ground, assisting quackity up, and on the run, leaving behind the person-sized print they made in the snow.

george released himself from dream's arm in a way to liberate the blonde of his burden, as well as ready himself to fight alongside him. "of course now they'd run."

dream shrugged, mindlessly packing snow into his palm and ignoring the way his fingers called out in protest, "at least they left me with the best." he offered a wink to the other, who pulled the borrowed hat over his eyes.

"you're such an idiot."

dream couldn't see it, but he knew for a fact the brunette would be sporting a bashful smile, he could feel it in his heart. a peace settled over them while dream adjusted his hat until a disbelieving gasp was shared between them when dream exposed his eyes in time to see george get struck in the head.

"what the fuck?" his voice growled, and the three further down the sidewalk averted their eyes, but quackity schemingly shifted the blame towards sapnap with a subtle point. "george get behind me, use me as a shield." that was when the inevitable attack of snow had begun.

it was a treacherous back and forth battle, with screaming and dramatic prancing, dream was sure somewhere along the line a shoe was thrown at him, but they were incessant, and neither side wanted to be the first to surrender. it was most likely a peculiar scene to watch five borderline grown men participate in such a heated snowball fight as they navigated the area like their life depended on it, but the fun they were having overshadowed everything else. that was, until sapnap set forth to fight against dreams defense in an effort to hit the prized brunette.

"let me hit him!" his exasperation reflected in the poor excuse of snowballs he slung their way.

"he's sick!" dream called back, taking a more presumptive approach to protecting the brunette by drawing him into his chest.

—

let me tell you all something, being a hopeless romantic and delusional are the worst traits a nice person like me can have. literally instead of ending up in relationships i'm helping these people develop the confidence they need to get back with their exes