behind closed doors

dinner

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖌𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗'𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊

☾

two knocks on his door, followed by a bored-sounding, "dinner's ready."

he sighs to himself, begrudgingly dragging himself out of bed. he makes his way out of his bedroom and downstairs, typing out a response to some random meme that george had sent him.

sapnap had been messaging too, but he couldn't bring himself to reply. he just felt too guilty for his feelings.

the blond heads into the dining room, taking his seat beside his brother as he clicks send.

"dream, no phones at the table," his dad scolds as he pours everyone a glass of water.

"sorry," he apologises. "i was just sending something," he excuses, sliding his phone into the space between the back of his thigh and his chair.

"it's okay, just don't get it out again," the blond man says.

kristin serves dream a plate of food and he thanks her. she says, "you're welcome," and shifts her attention to punz and asks, "how much would you like?"

internally, dream lets himself have a petty thought about how she didn't ask him how much he wanted.

"just a few spoonfuls is okay," punz answers politely, thanking her when she serves him.

once everyone has their food, dream begins to eat, stabbing away at the chicken pasta.

"how has school been, dream?" his dad asks, shovelling a forkful of food into his mouth.

"good," dream answers, a smile finding its way to his face at the simple question. "we had double art today which was fun," he recalls excitedly.

beside him, punz snickers quietly.

his parents don't seem to hear the teasing noise as his mother says, "that's nice. what were you doing in art?"

and, with the recent judgement from his brother, dream can't find himself to summon the same excitement he'd had just seconds before. he shrugs, feeling disappointed, "just like, painting stuff," he answers dismissively, "nothing interesting."

"nice," his dad nods, and neither of his parents try to dig for any more details after that.

"and how was therapy, punz?" the brunette woman asks, looking over at the eldest son with a soft smile.

he shrugs, poking at his food, "fine."

"why just fine?" their mom asks, a gentle edge to her voice.

"we touched on some sensitive subjects," punz answers.

"like what?" his dad asks. "if you don't mind saying," he adds, making it clear that punz doesn't have to answer- even though the blonde definitely already knew he wouldn't be forced to talk.