ORPHANED

:: one hundred forty-two ::

It took hours of begging and convincing before dream even considered the idea of bringing his sister to work with him. For no real reason now that he thought about it, it was probably the safest establishment in the city, but for some reason, there was an anxiety that hung over him anytime he thought about it.

"I don't understand why you don't see all the plus sides to me coming with you."

despite it, she sat across from him at the counter of their sacred coffee shop, attempting to fold a napkin into some type of origami.

"what are you making?" he took a napkin of his own from the pile deemed 'fails' that sat beside her. he didn't know much more origami than she, but he didn't have much else to do at the moment, so he was just testing his memory.

she shrugged and held it up to the light, flipping it between her hands to find an angle where it resembled anything other than a crumpled napkin. "they make this look so easy on t.v." she grew visibly agitated after a fold didn't meet the edges evenly. "stop distracting me, i was about to list all the good things about myself."

dream rolled his eyes, "oh here we go."

"i'm being serious, if you took me to work with you you'd always have someone to talk to, and..." she trailed off but tried desperately to mask her lack of qualities as distraction due to her poor origami. "and no one wants to attack a group of two, that's just foolish."

"and so you can make me order food for you?"

"oh, hush."

"alright, go on then."

she shredded the napkins and stuffed them into the bottom of a cup. "okay, i don't know, but that's not even fair. i didn't have time to prepare my argument."

"right." he was dismissive but only because it was his older brother obligation to tease her.

the sound of the bell above the door pulled away their attention and they would've dropped the topic had it been a regular customer. "ah, now i see," her words followed that stupid grin she always has on her face when she thinks she knows something. his anxiety about the situation was back and increased with every step closer they grew.

the brunette smiled at them from where he found his new seat beside the youngest blonde. "hi."

"hello george," the smirk in her voice was probably distinguishable to all the people in the room.

"you just have impeccable timing don't you." ironically dream had finished his napkin art, and handed over the disheveled paper rose he had created through mindless recollection of his art class.

george took the rose and they both seemed to be on the same page when he ignored the unbelieving look his sister gave them. instead, he presented it to her, "look how cool!"

she tipped over the cup of scraps and crossed her arms. "what have i gotten myself into."

he ignored her and the mess she made, knowing she'd give in and clean it herself if they made no note of it. "so what have you been up to george, it's like i haven't seen you for two whole days!"

"oh my god right, like something revolutionary would happen in two days."

"actually," george directed a finger into the air if almost to physically cut her sentence off and insert his own. "i finally went christmas shopping for secret santa," dream fought off disappointment that the brunette had neglected to invite him along.

it however caught his sister's attention and appeared to be a topic she wasn't too conflicted to talk about. "ooh, who'd you get?" she leaned in closer to the brunette as if it'd be better to tell her in the confines of his personal space. "you'd tell me who you got right gogy?"

dream was starting to wonder if he should be concerned with how much closer she and sapnap were than he and the other. "gogy? who told you about that?"

"what do you mean, everyone knows about gogy." she nudged george with her elbow and overenthusiastically wiggled her eyebrows.

the brunette seemed desperate to stop her from looking at him as she was. "i can't tell you who i got, otherwise it'll ruin the surprise!"

"that sounds like something someone who got dream for secret santa would say."

he scoffed, crossing his arms, knowing he'd have no way to prove himself. "well, i didn't"

"right, that was a very convincing performance george." dream interjected himself to add a slow clap because he not only had an obligation to tease his sister, but george would always fit his criteria.

"it doesn't matter anyways, i couldn't find anything."

"what a shame," his sister straightened herself in her stool as if his answer was unsatisfying to her.

"speaking of, if someone pulled your name for secret santa what would you want?" the brunette shone a mischievous smile, proud of himself for playing into the joke.

dream pretended to think but he had a feeling if george had gotten him for secret santa he would enjoy anything he'd get.

"i want a room makeover." apparently they had gotten so absorbed in their conversation that his sister was beginning to feel left out, which was not unusual for people that spent time with the two. "what about you george? since someone isn't nice enough to ask you."

he paused for a moment as if it was strange for anyone to ask him of such a thing, "i wish i had a list of things i wanted right now." his eyes turned towards the ceiling, "there's so much to choose."

as he was distracted she dropped a bombshell on them "if my brother proposed, would you say yes?"

they paused and found a strangulating dead silence, unsure what would follow. dream wasn't sure if he was supposed to jump out of the window beside him now or later, but he was seriously considering the prior. he wouldn't survive the brunette's answer, after all.

"well, i wouldn't say no."

—

surprise cameo from foolish as well (there are too many cc's named after nouns and verbs) spoiler alert: the planned end chapter of this book takes place on july 4th but there will be one epilogue chapter afterwards (;