ORPHANED

:: seventeen ::

sapnap was eager, anytime they moved to a new obstacle he was quick to clear the area. dream thought it was funny, he'd never seen sapnap that excited. it didn't feel right to him that he was having so much fun and george was sitting just feet away excluded from the group. he'd been in that position too many times, he didn't want george to get bored with no one to talk to.

"karl." dream called out to karl. karl looked over at him, currently laying chest first on his board and sliding on the pavement. he was obviously getting bored, "you should teach sapnap how to do a trick, i'm going to go check on george." dream turned to face sapnap. he was sure there were stars in his eyes.

sapnap pulled karl away before he could accept the offer and dream skated his way to the bench. his eyes focused on the older who was now rubbing the tips of his sneakers. he was almost knocked off his feet by that god forsaken child on a scooter. he stepped off the board and rested it on his hip, again glaring at the kid. he made his way to george on foot.

he slumped down on the bench, laying the board in between his legs.

"you don't have to pity me, go have fun with karl. i'm okay with waiting." george rested his elbow on his thigh, holding up his head mumbling into his hand.

"that kids out to get me, i think if i get on my board i'd be in serious risk of my own safety." dream turned his head to face george. george looked up from his shoes to stare at the kid.

"you could take him." george turned, looking from dream to the boy on the scooter.

"well i know i could take him i'm like seven times his size. the point is if he knocks me off the board and i'm skating at a high speed i'm guaranteed to loose at least a layer of skin." dream spoke, george no longer seemed interested in the kid. dream followed his gaze to see him staring at sapnap unbalanced on karl's skateboard as karl had his head thrown back in laughter.

"you want to try on mine?" he asked turning to look at the older. george met his eyes, they stared at each other for a while. george shook his head again. he stretched out from his previous position and let his back rest on the bench. he rested his head and stared at the sky.

dream took the time to again inspect the way the sleeves of the shirt george had been wearing, hung almost to his elbows. he stared at the exposed skin of his pale neck. he watched as george's chest rose and fell with every breath he took. he felt captured by the rhythmic noise of george's breathing. his eyes couldn't break away and he could feel a smile stick to his face.

"take a picture, it will last longer." george turned to face dream. dream didn't have anything to say. instead he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the older pressed into the old bench.

"dream." george sat up from the bench mouth agape.

"that's what you get for being sassy with me." dream laughed.

"delete it." although george was whining, a particularly unattractive trait, dream couldn't help but want to tease him more.

"no, i'm keeping it." dream smiled sliding the phone back into his pocket.

george rolled his eyes. "fine, just don't post it."

dream told himself not to say what he was thinking, but of course that never really works out for him.

"why? you don't want your girlfriend to see it?" he laughed to try and lighten the tone of his previous questions. he expected george to get up and leave. he'd never pressed into the others personal life, because george never pressed into his.

"i don't have a girlfriend, idiot." george turned his head back to the sky, cheeks dusted a beautiful color of pink, in contrast to his light skin.

maybe pink isn't such a bad color.

"do you like karl?"

dream turned to face george who was now staring directly into his eyes. "of course i like karl, any friend of sapnap's is a friend of mine."

george was back to facing the sky. "do you hold hands with everyone?"

dream was surprised by the question, he never really thought about it. "i don't think i've ever held hands with sapnap?" dream turned to see karl holding sapnap up and pointing to one of his feet. the sun was starting to set. he turned back to george who looked away when he noticed dream was facing him.

"you held hands with karl though?"

"yeah, we almost died because of it. skating while leaning your weight is not easy. i'd blame sapnap but the look on his face when we got out was priceless." again his eyes found karl and sapnap. now karl was on the board repeating an ollie and probably explaining the mechanics to sapnap, who stood not took far away staring with interest.

"you held hands because sapnap wanted you to?"

dream turned back to george, "i mean yeah, i think he was having more fun than the both of us."

"oh."

dream knocked his knee into george's. "you look tired." dream turned his entire body to face the older. the sky was now a pleasant orange.

"just a little." george said turning his head to face dream again.

"did you have coffee today?" dream asked, concerned that his friends was more tired than usual.

"yeah, i guess i just couldn't stay asleep long enough for my liking."

dream frowned.

"i think it's because i had a really weird dream last night." george sat up from the bench and turned to face the younger.

"what was it about?" dream rested his head on his arm ready to hear about what kept george up all night.

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at the moment i have it so that this story has around 30 chapters (and i haven't even finished brainstorming) look forward to plenty of content (;