ORPHANED

:: sixteen ::

dream shook his head, "no reason i was just wondering." dream said a lot of things that he didn't mean too, for this same reason he got exceptionally good at saving himself from situations as such. when he looked away from george, sapnap stared at him.

"let's go. we just broke you guys out of capitalism." karl stood behind the bench and smiled at the rest of the group. and of course they all smiled back. karl was first to step away from the bench, leading them.

"so sapnap, how'd you manage to convince thomas to take out shifts?" dream walked beside george, the other two walking in front of them.

"oh god, i don't want to hear about what he had to do." karl laughed.

sapnap punched him in the arm, "it wasn't hard, if anything it was payback for all the late hours i had to make up for him."

dream held out a fist for a fist bump. sapnap gladly returned the gesture. "that's the way to do it." dream smiled, sapnap was smarter than he let on. from the corner of his eye he could see george uninterested in the current topic. when sapnap and karl fell into their own conversation dream nudged george.

"you alright?" dream turned to face george offering a warm smile. george matched the smile and quickly looked away. "yeah, it's kinda weird how quickly we became friends. kinda awkward, huh?" although george wasn't facing the taller, dream could easily see the smile return to his face. "i never thought working in a coffee shop would get me two new friends." dream didn't mind conversing with himself in the company of george, but when george spoke up he enjoyed talking even more.

"its kinda crazy how everything turned out." george turned to smile at dream first this time. the warmth from a few nights before bled into dream's bones. warming him from the inside out. a squeal broke dream from the trance that was george's smile.

karl was jumping up and down at the sight of the skate park not very far from where they had currently stopped walking. "last one there is a rotten egg." before anyone could process his words he shot off in the direction of the park.

"i'm not losing, later losers." sapnap started running next.

"they remind me of dogs." george rolled his eyes.

"you're not gonna run?" dream asked taking a few steps in front of the older to walk backwards in front of him. george shook his head. "well i don't want to be a rotten egg, hop on." dream turned around to let george on his back again, he removed his bag allowing room for george. there was less hesitation this time around.

when dream felt george's legs lock around his hips he started running. ahead of them karl and sapnap were tied in first place. "i'm going to weigh you down." george whined from behind dream's ear. dream only smiled. years of football practice prepared him for this very moment.

it was easy to catch up with the other two, it was a struggle to pass them. karl was actually fast, sapnap and dream only had the advantage of their long legs. "i'm not a rotten egg." dream spoke up, both karl and sapnap turned to see him in step with them, george clinging to his back. this was all he needed to press his legs harder and gain a few feet on the others.

when they met the gate of the skatepark dream let george slide down his back and both of them cheered for either boy. "sapnap, don't let karl pass you." dream spoke trying to encourage sapnap.

"karl, beat him, beat him." george's voice was higher than dream's, most likely easier to hear from the distance. so dream was surprised when he saw sapnap speed up, holding up a hand for a high-five as he reached the gate. dream held up his hand. sapnap won.

karl kept running despite having no competition. as he ran through the gate sapnap took it into his own hands. "i guess you're the rotten egg."

karl frowned.

"haha, you're a rotten egg." george laughed at the look on karl's face.

"i'm not a rotten egg." karl pretended to cry.

"guys, he's not a rotten egg." dream smiled over at karl.

"yeah, listen to dream, i like dream." karl smiled pointing at the taller.

"he's our rotten egg." dream smiled, sapnap and george laughed.

"yeah, he's our rotten egg." sapnap wrapped his arms around their 'rotten egg.'

"this is why i skate and don't run." karl shook his head from being encased by sapnap's arms. sapnap released him. "you didn't have to run with a board i count that as a win for me." karl pointed to the board in his hand.

"whatever you say, rotten egg." sapnap joked poking out his tongue.

all the boys walked to the small obstacles, karl and dream were quick to warm up on the rails and the ramps. after a good repetitive warm up they skated to the bank ready to show off their coolest tricks. sapnap was mesmerized just by the actions they took to grind the rails.

"so that was a warm up? it looks like a full blown routine." sapnap spoke stunned from beside karl.

dream noticed george was no longer watching and was now sat on a bench typing away on his phone again. karl called to dream, he turned around just in time to avoid being crashed into by a child on a scooter. he glared and walked to meet karl on the other side of the bank.

"wanna drop in together?" karl asked board already locked on the ledge. dream would never turn down an opportunity to skate.

"you guys should hold hands when you go down." sapnap was enjoying watching them a little more than dream would have expected. he set up his board and reached his hand out to catch karl's. he's never tried this, but he knew sapnap would be excited no matter how it ended.