ORPHANED

:: thirty-four ::

george hovered above him, pressing the cold can into his skin.

"hi." dream smiled, staring back at the man with a dumb grin.

"can we leave now?"

dream heard his sister speak from beside him but he didn't turn from the eyes of the man.

"don't you have cake to attend to?" sapnap spoke next, the sound of the can crushing could be heard.

"they're vegan, they don't eat cake." dream knew his sister would be rolling her eyes.

"we should go for pizza then." he felt the eyes return to him.

"no. dream isn't welcome in my car until he's done spilling blood."

dream rolled his own eyes. "fine we'll get a pizza here."

no one protested after that, they all began walking to the tables. dream slowly lowered his head from the wall, feeling a tight cramp forming in his neck. he pushed himself up from the floor, keeping one hand pressed to his nose with the paper towel. as soon as he was on his feet he felt blood rush out of his nose.

"great."

he didn't bother tucking himself into the bench, he sat backwards on the seat and rested his head on the table. again he watched the blaring lights. he felt his brain throb.

"do you want us to order it?" sapnap and karl were practically jumping up and down beside him.

"sure, knock yourself out."

he heard giggles and assumed his sister went with the other two, when george sat on the table and brushed hair from the blondes face.

"can i get the can?" dream closed one eye to watch george.

he frowned when the man left his vision, closing the other eye. he smiled however, when he felt cold return to his face. george attempted to balance the can in dream's eye socket, not entirely too comfortable. dream reached his hand up and grabbed the can, hand completely consuming george's. he smiled at the touch and pressed the can into his forehead.

he opened his eyes to a pouty george, "it's supposed to be for the bruising."

dream pouted back. "but it feels better on my head."

"that's what she said." sapnap's voice was booming with laughter.

dream felt george pull his hand away from his. a frown found its way back to dream's face. he lifted his head from the table, "i'm going to go wash my hands, i don't want blood in my pizza."

he stood from the table and watched as karl made fake vomiting gestures.

"yeah go wash your hands we don't want your nose blood in our pizza either." sapnap repeated and his sister laughed.

he stuck out his tongue and turned back to the bathroom. he was glad george didn't follow him this time around. or maybe that's what he told himself.

he removed the paper towel from his nose and watched as a new stream of fresh blood fell. he sighed. wiping the blood he turned the water on to wash his hands. he held his head over the sink, watching as the blood drops traveled down the drain. he wiped the blood with his thumb running it back under the water.

he looked at himself in the mirror, the bruises setting in on his face weren't pretty at all. he pressed his fingers under his eyes to the slight yellowing of his skin. the pain was bearable, he'd experienced it too many times before. when he gently tapped the bridge of his nose he felt tears form in his eyes.

"ow." he winced, trying not to move his face in a way that put pressure on his nose. he let out another sigh and tried to drain the blood from himself. today was fun, he wouldn't let this ruin his day. he stood over the sink, bleeding himself until the blood was no more.

as soon as he stepped out of the bathroom he crashed into a body. he looked down to see the lady from dodgeball.

"oh sorry." he checked to make sure the blood didn't start gushing.

"i have to talk to you?"

dream stared at her, she obviously was confused about the situation.

"you do?" he wiped his wet hands on his sweatpants.

"i do."

"uhm okay, you can talk now." he ran a hand through his hair.

"i don't want you to think i'm weird or anything."

dream scoffed, "anything you could say to me right now would never top the things my friends have talked about." he decided to drink from the drinking fountain.

"i know you have a crush on that guy."

he nearly choked on the water, and stood from the fountain. "what?"

"the guy who you kept staring at during dodgeball."

"george? no we're just friends."

she glared at him, "friends don't look at each other like that."

dream looked away.

"i want to help you."

"help me with what." he rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pocket. he wanted this conversation to be over, he didn't want to talk about this.

"here's my number, text me if you need anyone to talk to, i can help." she handed him a piece of paper.

he put it in his pocket, sending a forced smile her way. he walked away from the bathroom when she turned behind him. he was never going to text her, there would be no need. she wasn't even making sense, he looked at sapnap like that all the time, why's she only talking about george. he grumbled, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"the man of the hour. you've been gone for ten minutes i thought you got kidnapped." he heard sapnap's voice before he looked up at the table.

"you thought i got kidnapped and you didn't come look for me?" dream sat down next to karl on the ledge, leaving no space for george to sit beside him. he scanned the table, however george was not in sight.

sapnap must've caught on to dream's panic. "george went to go check up on you, i don't know why he's not back yet."