an institution for troubled children

brothers, your honour

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖌𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗'𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊

༄ؘ ˑ

even after his first week, dream still hasn't gotten used to the idea of having every meal at school - especially dinner. it feels weird to leave his bedroom and walk back to the building where he leans to go and eat. yet, he still enjoys it. having every mealtime with his friends is great.

"oh, dream, this is sam and ponk," sapnap introduces as the pair sit down at the table with their food. "i don't think you guys have met yet."

"did you not see each other at the party?" foolish asks.

dream recognises the pair from the first day he arrived, remembering seeing them outside the building, but that's the only memory he has of the pair. "i don't think so," he answers, "it's nice to meet you guys."

"you too," sam smiles welcomingly.

"did you know they're dating?" george asks.

dream's eyes widen in surprise as he silently looks between the pair. it's unexpected, to say the least. dream isn't one for stereotypes, but he can't help the small voice that thinks 'neither of them look gay.'

before dream can answer, ponk speaks. "have you got a problem with that?" he asks defensively, clearly not happy with dream's wordless shock.

"wh- no," dream quickly denies, shaking his head. "i like guys."

"you're gay?" sam asks casually, twisting open his water bottle, and then ponk's.

"unlabelled," dream corrects. "it's basically like-"

"i know what it means," sam interrupts with a comforting smile. "i'm the student representative for lgbtq equality and stuff," he explains.

"oh right," dream nods, "that's really cool. are you a second year?" he asks, relaxing as ponk seems to calm down from his previous hostility and begins to eat his baked potato.

"no, we're both third," sam corrects.

"nice," dream smiles. he looks over as karl and punz sit down at their table, greeting the group as they do.

"i'm going back to the accom," sapnap says suddenly, getting up and taking the rest of his food with him. "see you all." he doesn't even wait for a response before turning to walk away, not looking back at the table.

dream furrows his eyebrows in confusion at the ravenette's decision to suddenly leave, looking along the table to find some similar expressions.

beside him, foolish speaks quietly, question directed to karl. "are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?" he asks.

karl shrugs, looking down at his shirt and jeans. "yeah," he answers simply, "they were still clean."

dream thinks that, if he wasn't sat right beside foolish, he wouldn't even hear the hushed conversation happening between the pair. foolish pinches his eyebrows together, "when was the last time you showered, karl?"