ORPHANED

:: six ::

dream watched from the pastry stand as sapnap rang up the man behind the counter. as the man grabbed his things and began turning away sapnap spoke up. "excuse me, before you leave can i ask you a question?" the man stopped turning and faced sapnap straight on to give him his fullest attention. dream had to look away.

"do you use shampoo? or do you wash your head with body soap?" the worry in sapnaps voice was almost comedic. dream looked up to watch the mans face change so quickly. instead of laughing at the question he instead picked up his stuff and walked out of the store.

as he pushed through the doors of the shop in walked george with a questioning look on his face. "it's only, what, six in the afternoon and you guys already managed to offend someone." sapnap giggled and turned to dream. dream scoffed and shook his head. "i just lost a bet to sapnap."

it was george's turn to laugh, "you should know better than that now, he has no shame there's no point." dream only shook his head and flicked the back of sapnap's neck. sapnap spun around and pinched dream before rubbing the back of his neck.

"stop being childish dream we have serious work to do. george what do you want?" dream leaned against the wall behind the counter and was tempted to pull out his phone again. instead he decided it'd be best to stay active in the conversation. when he approached sapnap and george they seemed to be arguing.

"what do you mean you like dream's better, they both come from the same machine george." george shrugged and pushed the cup that was sat in front of him towards the boys behind the counter. " i don't know, you just don't make it right."

dream, confused by the interaction decided to speak up. "what's the problem?"

sapnap groaned and handed dream the cup. "george says i don't make coffee the same as you do."

george butted into the conversation, "i'm telling you, whatever you did sapnap, it doesn't taste the same as it did yesterday when dream made it."

dream tried to think about what he did different about the construction of a black coffee the day just before. " i don't remember doing anything special? i was just super nervous." he giggled remembering how scared he was when george had just been joking.

"well i'm not paying for that monstrosity." george crossed his arms and sapnap scoffed. instead of dumping the coffee he decided the only reasonable way of disposing of the liquid was to finish drinking the entire cup. when the cup was empty he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"black coffee is gross." he made a disgusted face and turned to place the cup in the sink. dream looked at george with a smile on his face, and when their eyes met they began laughing. their volume wasn't a problem to the boys but the residents of the coffee shop occasionally turned to stare.

"you guys are going to be the reason i get fired." after dream and george calmed from their personal hysteria sapnap insisted dream teach him how he made his black coffee. after they were certain they made the coffee exactly the same, george was given dream's coffee to drink.

"that just taste better, sorry sapnap, you just suck at making coffee."

dream laughed and sapnap started fuming, "bullshit, they're both the same." george shrugged, "if that's what helps you sleep at night."

sapnap rolled his eyes and snatched a pastry from the display and angrily took a bite of it. his face scrunched and he spit out the half chewed pastry. "it's lemon curd."

**

"if you guys were pokémon i would definitely have sapnap as my main." dream spoke out of nowhere.

"what do you mean, you don't think i'd be a good pokémon?" george's mouth opened in disbelief.

dream giggled, "no i'd have you in my team, i just think sapnap would get me farther faster."

sapnap punched the air, "you hear that george, dream thinks im cooler than you, he'd make me his main pokémon." sapnap wrapped his arms around dream squeezing hard enough to rearrange his ribs.

"so much for getting a good tip dream." george crossed his arms and turned from the counter.

"good thing i'm sharing today's tips with sapnap."

george's mouth fell open in disbelief again.

dream felt nostalgic, having gotten along with this duo of boys so quickly. he smiled as they were caught in a conversation about whether string cheese should be illegal. the nostalgia was strong and yet he still felt unfulfilled. it was strange. he was knocked from his thoughts when he felt sapnap nudge him.

"dream, what are you doing for halloween?" dream hadn't realized how quickly it had been approaching.

"i'm actually not sure, i'll probably walk my sister and her friends around, it's a tradition at this point."

"aw dreamy poo, you're so nice to your sister." sapnap mocked. dream rolled his eyes.

"why'd you ask, you have better plans for me?" dream leaned against the register next to george.

"you should come to this party with my buddy karl and i. he also skates so you guys can talk about that if you want. i think you'll get along." sapnap patted his back in what dream assumed to be a friendly matter.

"you just think everyone will get along, huh?" dream crossed his arms and inspected sapnap.

"i'm only friends with the chillest of people, of course i think they'll get along." sapnap smiled with pride.

dream rolled his eyes and smiled, "i'll take that as a compliment."

"can i come aswell?" george looked at sapnap with pleading eyes. and dream smiled at his face.

"georgie worgie wants to go to the party? i mean if you want." george stabbed sapnap's hand with a fork that he somehow magically acquired. "maybe i won't go then."