ORPHANED

:: thirty-two ::

the team spread apart on their half of the enclosure, dream, george, sapnap, and karl standing in the back to avoid being running targets. the balls where lined up in between the two teams. they stood, awaiting the signal. the whistle was blown and all hell broke loose.

the boys team tried to swoop in and collect the balls, desperate to weaken the team at the start. the girls team hadn't needed such a head start, having been more agile than the enemy. they bounced around from trampoline to trampoline, hands open ready to catch.

dream's eyes darted among the girls in front of him. he watched as they jumped out of the path of the projectiles, counting on the boys behind to catch them. dream felt a ball as it loomed towards him, he stepped out of the way.

a whistle was blown, dream turned to inspect the rest of the team. george was holding onto a ball, suprise written on his face.

"am i out?" he turned to dream dropping the ball.

"no you got someone else out." dream smiled at him.

"oh." george picked up the ball again.

the game resumed, all balls in their court. literally. dream found interest in his sister, watching as she hurled the ball towards a kid with wide eyes. the poor boy didn't even have time to react. the whistle was blown.

the rounds went on. the girls team winning a majority of the time. dream kept getting out because of the amount of times he turned to praise george, loving that smile that reached his face after the words left his mouth. the boys got tired of dodgeball and left the girls team with no opponents.

"what now?" dream's sister realigned the balls in the middle of the court.

"you can play against the guys?" the lady spoke again, spinning the whistle around her finger.

"can we have karl on our team." dream turned from the lady to see a group of girls swarming the pink haired boy.

"we know karl looks like a little girl, but we can assure you he is a man." sapnap spoke, entertained by the awkward face karl wore.

"they're literally the dream team, you can't separate them." dream's sister rolled her eyes at her friends. they let up, letting karl make his way over to the opposite side of the rink. again they spread out. and the whistle blew.

dream was a sweaty person, he was competitive even at things he wasn't good at. right now, he could feel actual sweat forming on his warm skin. he was thankful for the socks because otherwise he'd have been slipping around on the trampolines. he looked up at the worst possible time.

in front of him was a dodgeball, heading straight for his face. he braced himself, there was no way out of this. he felt the impact, not only in his face but in his neck, and even his shoulders. he made no effort to regain his balance. falling backward onto the trampoline.

a wipeout.

...also a foul. you're not supposed to aim for faces.

he heard ringing in his ears. closing his eyes and enjoying the way the cool material of the trampoline lowered his body heat. he felt serene in the best way possible. dream opened his eyes to see a worried george cradling his face. he smiled, what a beautiful sight to open your eyes to.

he looked beyond the man to see his sister, karl, sapnap, and the lady observing the round, standing around him. he felt embarrassment set in. he, a six foot man, was just swept off his feet by a girl in middle school. he sat up.

george was quick to support him in unnecessary places. dream felt fine now, he could go for a nap, but that wasn't new.

"who hit me?" he wasn't sure if the words actually left his mouth because instead of an answer everyone spoke over him. the sound flooded back into his ears, everything louder than he remembered.

"let's get him up." dream attempted to stand on his own, only to have sapnap and george wrap his arms over their shoulders. he frowned.

"this is kind of excessive, don't you think?" again, no response. he sighed, the noise probability only audible in his brain.

he allowed the boys to remove him from the trampolines, although a big part of it was dream just walking, with his friends at his side. they sat him down, dream felt his head rest in between george's thighs.

he looked up from his position, inspecting the jaw of the man who had seemed to be talking to someone.

"you need to get your boyfriend to the bathroom, he doesn't look so good."

dream felt electric, having been mistaken as george's boyfriend, and george not speaking up against it. he smiled up at the brunette. he knew his face would look dumb with how hard he was smiling but he couldn't seem to help it. george looked down at him, eyebrows furrowed.

he felt a hand press to his cheek. george's hand was cold against his face. and again he was hoisted onto his feet, george wrapping an arm around him, and dream wrapping his arm around george. dream could feel george's hand on his own, he smiled at the calming circles the man was engraving into the cold of his skin.

george pushed open a door, dream flinched at the bright lights inside of the room. the floor felt so cold, even through the fabric of the socks. he wanted to lay on the floor. george wasn't having it.

"dream please." his words didn't process fast enough for dream to stop his actions. instead the blonde flopped down onto the floor, george in his arms.

dream looked up at the rows of light on the ceiling. it irritated his eyes.

"what am i to do with you?"

dream looked down from the light to see george looking up to him with those beautiful eyes of his.

—

i really wanted to get more chapters out yesterday but it was so chaotic, in the meantime RedDevision- drew another amazing picture for this story (you can find it in the art book) i hope you check it out!