head in the clouds

chopsticks

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Sushi night:)

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"Food is here, Dream!" George calls from downstairs, and Dream is up on his feet in seconds.

"'Kay!" He shouts back, dropping Patches' feather toy in front of her on the carpet before racing down the stairs, beelining for the dining table. There, he finds George lifting familiar plastic trays out of a brown paper bag.

It's sushi time!

Dream plops down in his chair with a happy noise, one leg pulled up for comfort, marveling at the yummy food being laid out in front of him.

Ever since he tried sushi for the first time with George on his first night in Florida all those months ago, it has been one of his favorite foods in the whole wide world. And it is no different with little Dream, who only seems to love it more (if that's even possible).

So it came as no surprise when he, regressed to about four, bounced into George's room in the early afternoon today asking if they please could have sushi tonight. To which obviously the answer was yes.

Dream feels a little bit younger now, floating comfortably in his headspace as he waits for their meal to begin.

George smiles at him. "Looks good, doesn't it?"

Dream nods and wiggles in his seat. "Mhm, I love sushi sooo much." He beams up at his friend.

"I know you do," George says with a slight chuckle as he sits down across from him.

"Here you go," he hands him a pair of metal chopsticks. Dream immediately recognizes them as the ones that came in the matching set they bought.

Dream takes them excitedly, "Matching– George we have matching!"

"Yeah, we have the same ones!" George holds up his pair, clicking them a few times.

Dream looks down at his own, his smile faltering a bit. He doesn't know how to make them move like that...

"But I dunno how George..." He mumbles, taking one in each fist and clicking them together sadly like they're drumsticks (they are not).

"Hey, don't be upset love. I'll show you, just look over at me."

Dream glances over right away, impatient to learn.

"So you place one of them like this." George lays one chopstick in the bend between his thumb and pointer finger, which Dream copies as best he can, slightly slowed down by the mental fog of his headspace. "Then you hold the other one with your thumb and pointer finger, see? And move it up and down, just like that."

Dream copies that too, moving his hand like George does – and it works! It's a little awkward at first but the more he clicks them together, the easier – and more fun – it gets. With some patience, he gets the hang of it eventually.

He nips at everything he can; the placemats, his shirt sleeves, and George's sleeves too, giggling playfully as he does. Chopsticks might just be the best invention to date, he's sure of it.

"I know it's a lot of fun, but use them on your food, love." George redirects him softly after a while of him doing anything but eating.

But Dream doesn't want to do that – he would much rather use his newfound chopstick abilities to practice picking up cool stuff than to do something as boring as placing food in his mouth.

George is quick to notice his dismay. "What's wrong?" He asks, slightly amused at the boy's frowny expression.

Dream huffs and kicks his foot against the leg of his chair lightly. "Wan' you to do it," he mumbles, a hint of a whine lacing his tone.

"You want me to feed you?" George clarifies softly, gaining a nod and some brief, shy eye contact from Dream. "Alright, of course I can, darling."

Dream perks up a bit, it's all okay.

"Open up!"

George places a kappamaki roll in his mouth. They're the ones with rice and cucumber rolled up in seaweed into a nice, bite-sized roll, and sprinkled with sesame seeds on top.

Dream definitely likes this type of sushi the most, especially when he's little. The flavor is perfectly simple and mild on his senses, no risk of overwhelming him.

"Mmmm," he croons while he chews, rubbing his foot against the leg of his chair contentedly. I tastes so good!

"Yeah," George smiles at him from across the table. "That's your favorite, isn't it baby."

Dream nods as he swallows, then he echoes, "Is my fav'ite."

He clicks his chopsticks together a few times and uses them to point at the kappamaki rolls. "Wan' more, p'ease," he says, giving George an expectant smile.

And so between his own bites, George continues to feed him piece by piece, until eventually all of their sushi is gone.

By the time he's chewing his last bite, Dream has his head in his arms on the table, still using his dominant hand to play around with his chopsticks. They really do top any other fidget toy he owns.

"Are you all done?" George asks him, making him nod slowly in response without looking up.

He swallows the last of what he had in his mouth and lets out a content sigh. The combination of being full and having been so excited about the chopsticks is starting to make his eyelids droop.

Which George notices, of course. "Aw, are you a bit sleepy too maybe?"

"Little bit sleepy," he mumbles, his words slurring together just the tiniest bit.

"Is it time for a post-sushi nap?"

Dream giggles. "I think so."

And before he knows it he's being led to the couch by a soft hand, the same one that then goes on to tuck him in with the fluffiest blanket they have.

"Ni ni," Dream mumbles, halfway to dreamland already.

George kisses his forehead. "Night-night, baby."

—

965 words

hi !!! it's me !!

ty Amwex_ for betaing this :)

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