dnf oneshots

36. don't talk to me

Mute x Won't Shut Up AU
[Requested by ItsALolBitShow]
Dream is only known as the kid who was born unable to talk. He's also known as a nerd, but his main trait is being mute. It's all anyone seems to care about at least. So they avoid him, which he's absolutely fine with. But then there's a new kid on the first day of school after winter break, and he seems dead set on being Dream's new best friend. [fluff]

Dream has always loved winter. 

It very rarely snows in Florida -- Dream has seen it maybe once -- but he and his family always travel somewhere cold during winter break. When he was in fifth grade they went to New York, ninth grade was Iceland, last year was Quebec, and this year they went to Alaska. He's always loved the snow and feeling the cold weather seep into his bones. It's a once-a-year feeling, since it hasn't dipped past 30 degrees in 20 years, so he always savours it. 

He doesn't need words to describe his love of snow and winter. His family always sees it in his eyes the second they arrive in the new city. They see it in his snow angels, his and his sister's snowmen, the shaky lines across the ice whenever they go skating, his cheeks that have been kissed by the cold until they're red, his wide smile and happy-flapping with his hands. They've always understood him. Words are an inconvenience anyways. 

Coming back home is always kind of suckish. Back to shorts and t-shirt and sunglasses and sunscreen. Not a snowflake in sight. 

And then there's school. An eight hour hell of studying and too many people and learning useless information that will serve no purpose past graduation. The only people who need to have the Periodic Table memorized are scientists, and maybe two kids in his grade will become scientists.

Maybe.

-

Dream never sits in the cafeteria during lunch. It's too loud and there's too many people, which means he can completely shut down if it gets too much. When it happens, it's like he goes to sleep while still being awake. It's only happened once while at school, and a teacher had to wake him up for his class. So he's resorted to the stairwell no one ever goes in, in the back of the school near the locker rooms. He isn't sure where it leads -- he's never bothered going up -- but he sits there every lunch, starting homework from his morning classes, or finishing it for the afternoon. No one ever bothers him considering he's sure the only people in thie school who knows it exists are admin. 

Today is no different, except his family hasn't gotten the chance to go grocery shopping after coming home. So there's no food. Which means he has to toughen up and go into the cafeteria for food. Or starve. Honestly he's thinking about it. 

He tugs his backpack higher over his shoulders and steps into the line. They're selling chicken burgers today, which sound good enough, but he isn't sure how good they'll actually taste. Stereotypically, school food tastes awful, but he's never heard people complain about the food here.

As he's watching the student volunteers prepare the burgers behind the glass, someone comes up next to him, frowning. He glances up at Dream, back at the burgers, up at Dream, down at burgers. He chuckles, and Dream starts getting bad vibes. He inches away, accepting a plate with the burger and a pile of fries.

"Is the food here any good?" the boy next to him asks. British?

Dream glances back at him as he takes a chocolate milk from the cooler. He shrugs; to be fair, he doesn't actually know. He's never had it.

The boy hums, and takes a plate anyways. He thanks the student who handed it to him, and waits behind Dream as he pays for his food. As soon as the transaction goes through, he nods to the woman behind the register and scurries out of the cafeteria. The noise dims the further he goes, until he pushes open the stairwell door. Just as he begins to settle down, the door opens, and the same boy stands in the doorway with a sheepish grin on his face.